Because – The Beatles

2014/07/24ABBEY ROAD,The Beatles

世界が丸いから
僕は目覚める
世界が丸いから

ビートルズが1969年にリリースしたアルバムABBEY ROADの8曲目。クレジットはLennon – McCartneyだが、実質的にはジョン・レノンの作品である。

オノ・ヨーコがピアノでベートーベンの月光ソナタを弾いていた時にジョンが冗談で譜面を上下逆さまにした。これをヨーコが面白がって逆さになった譜面をそのまま弾いて聴かせたところそのメロディが意外と面白く、それにインスパイアされて作られた曲。

中間部からMoogシンセサイザーが登場する。
これはジョージ・ハリスンが購入したもの。彼らがこの楽器をレコーディングに使ったのはこの時が初めてだった。

John Lennon (1969)
I’ve just written a song called 'Because’. Yoko was playing some classical bit, and I said 'Play that backwards,’ and we had a tune. We’ll probably write a lot more in the future.

Paul McCartney (1969)
I like John’s 'Because’ on the second side. To say, 'Because the world is round it turns me on’ is great. And 'Because the wind is high it blows my mind.’

George Harrison (1969)
'Because’ is one of the most beautiful tunes. It’s three-part harmony, John, Paul and George all sing it together. John wrote this tune. The backing is a bit like Beethoven. And three-part harmony right throughout. Paul usually writes the sweeter tunes, and John writes the, sort of, more the rave-up things, or the freakier things. But John’s getting to where he doesn’t want to. He just wants to write twelve-bars. But you can’t deny it, I think this is possibly my favorite one on the album. The lyrics are so simple. The harmony was pretty difficult to sing. We had to really learn it. But I think that’s one of the tunes that will impress most people. It’s really good.

John Lennon (1980)
I was lying on the sofa in our house, listening to Yoko play Beethoven’s 'Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano. Suddenly, I said, 'Can you play those chords backward?’ She did, and I wrote 'Because’ around them. The song sounds like 'Moonlight Sonata,’ too. The lyrics are clear, no bullshit, no imagery, no obscure references.