Lyrically Speaking: For No One

   It almost feels like cheating to pick a Beatles song for this feature.  I mean, just because everyone knows every note, every lyric by heart -- does that mean I shouldn't be able to share my thoughts? I say no.
  Yes, I could have pretty much picked any song from their epic discography, but "For No One," off of arguably the best Beatles album ever, "Revolver," is an amazing song.
  What gets me the is the depths of the heartache in each stanza: "She wakes up/ she makes up/ she takes her time and doesn't feel she has to hurry/ she no longer needs you." The horrible emptiness of a guy whose lover has psychologically left him.
  And the chorus -- "And in her eyes you see nothing/ no sign of love behind the tears cried for no one/ A love that should have lasted years" -- is broken-hearted poetry.
  The music too is sparse and sad, just Paul and Ringo on this cut. Paul reportedly plays a clavichord (a medieval stringed keyboard), as well as piano and bass. A French horn takes the solo, adding to the mood.
  From Wikipedia: McCartney recalls writing "For No One" in the bathroom of a ski resort in the Swiss Alps while on holiday with his then girlfriend Jane Asher. He said, "I suspect it was about another argument." (To read the whole entry, click HERE)
  For some reason, when I think of the Beatles and how they broke up in 1969, this song always comes to mind...


For No One
Your day breaks,
your mind aches,
you find that all her words of kindness linger on
when she no longer needs you.

She wakes up,
she makes up,
she takes her time and doesn't feel she has to hurry;
she no longer needs you.

And in her eyes you see nothing,
no sign of love behind the tears cried for no one.
A love that should have lasted years.

You want her
you need her,
and yet you don't believe her when she says her love is dead;
you think she needs you.

And in her eyes you see nothing,
no sign of love behind the tears cried for no one.
A love that should have lasted years.

You stay home,
she goes out,
she says that long ago she knew someone but now he's gone;
she doesn't need him.

Your day breaks,
your mind aches,
there will be times when all the things she said will fill your head;
you won't forget her.

And in her eyes you see nothing,
no sign of love behind the tears cried for no one.
A love that should have lasted years