When I saw Help! on a big screen at the 1981 Houston Beatlefest, I was hooked. To a teenager living in an era twenty years removed from Beatlemania, it still looked like a lot of fun to be a Beatle. They seem very close in Help!. The stories of what was going on behind the camera abound. John Lennon is in what he later called his "Fat Elvis" period.
On this song, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", Lennon is doing his very best Dylan. You can hear the birth of something like "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" from Rubber Soul in Lennon's voice, and the instrumentation.
They do kind of slip into your subconscious mind. I also love Help!. I know the critics think it's vastly inferior to A Hard Day's Night, but for me, it's much more entertaining. My mental image of The Beatles has always been based on how they were portrayed in Help!. Did you know it was once titled "Eight Arms to Hold You"?
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