This Boy

This Boy

I have a personal relationship, a history, with the song “This Boy” by the Beatles. It was released in November 1963, when I was thirteen, as the B-side of “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. I heard it then. I recall the Beatles being interviewed on the BBC’s Tonight by Cliff Mitchelmore in their first flush of success. They were asked which of their songs was their favorite: John, Paul, and George all said “This Boy” with no hesitation; only Ringo made a different choice (I forget what but it was rockier). Clearly, the decision to put it on the B-side was motivated by its relative lack of market potential—it’s a slow ballad. Many Beatles fans don’t even know the song. It was written by John Lennon, though credited to Lennon-McCartney. It starts low and slow, building to a rousing, almost hysterical, middle eight, then reverting to the low and slow. If you asked me my favorite Beatles song of all time, I would say “This Boy”. It has a hypnotic simplicity, beautiful harmony, and coiled passion unsurpassed by later work. Fifty-seven years later, when I decided to take singing lessons, my ambition was to sing this song, especially that middle eight (“Till he’s seen you cry-y-y”). I had no expectation that I would achieve this ambition: it is high-pitched, powerful, and loud. Now, five years later, I sing it all the time, almost every day; and I am here to report that I nail it. It took me about three years to start to reach the pitch and power; now I don’t find it a stretch. The moral is obvious: practice, practice, practice. I often mention this song to people I meet (as when I met a woman the other day walking her dog when I was out skateboarding). If you don’t know the song, give it a listen—and try to sing it.[1]

[1] I was amazed to discover the other day that the now-famous middle eight was initially supposed to be a guitar solo, but that was changed during recording to what we have now—John Lennon at his raucous soulful best. It is surely one of the wonders of popular music.