“Misery” is the 8th song in my series on the 186 original Beatles songs released from 1962 through 1970. “Do You Want To Know A Secret?” was the last entry. These first 8 songs are the 8 Lennon/McCartney originals included on The Beatles 1963 debut album, Please Please Me.

This is a pretty unremarkable song as far as Beatles originals go. It seems to sort of putter along until it’s completion (after just 1:48) with only a few elements of interest and even those moments are sort of silly (like the “la la la la” vocal from Lennon as the song draws to a close.) This is definitely not among my favorite Beatles recordings.

Musical Analysis

I’ve been getting lazy with this with my last few entries by basically just stating the key of the song and the time signature and then saying check out The Beatles as Musicians for more information but I want to reverse that trend and begin to really delve into these songs from a music theory perspective. I think this should make this a cool learning experience for myself (as I am no music theory expert, I’ll have to be learning as I go) and hopefully for anyone else who is intersected in it. ‘

The song is in the key of C and in 4/4 time although it opens up in 6/8 time (”The world is treating me…”) The form of the song is: Intro -> Verse 1 -> Verse 2 -> Bridge 1 -> Verse 3 -> Bridge 2 -> Verse 4 -> Outro (fadeout.)

The intro begins on an F chord (that’s the IV chord in the key of C) and goes to the G (the V chord) it then goes to a C chord (although this isn’t notated in the score) then there’s a little Am (that’s the vi chord) to G bit (2 beats on each) before we go into the verse which is C-F-C-F-F-G-C-Am on the first verse (one measure for each) and then C-F-C-F-F-G-C-C on the second and third verses (note the second C instead of an Am like on the first verse) which both head into a bridge of Am - C - Am - G7 (2 bars each.)

The final verse is only seven bars long (the last bar is cut) as it heads into the Am-C back and forth (one bar each) of the outro (as it fades out.)

When looking at the score for this song I noticed that there is not a single accidental which means that every note of every part of the song are among the seven notes of the C major scale (in other words this song can be played entirely on the white keys on a piano!)

The vocals are sung in unison by John and Paul except for during the title word “misery” which is sung in 3rds. The harmony on “misery” goes from a B and D (a minor 3rd) on the first syllable (”mi”) up to a C and an E (a major 3rd) on the second and third syllables (”se-ry.”) Having the harmony only on this title word is kind of cool. This is the sort of thing you may only notice subconsciously at first but it’s cool to sort of dig into the song and take a peak into what John & Paul were thinking when they constructed it.

The verse melody a drop down from “I’m” (which is an E note) to “the kind of” (these syllables are sung on a G note) back up to “guy” (A to C) to “who” (a D which heads back to the E.) Then there’s the “world” (an F) to “is treating me” (on A) which is a slightly higher version of the same thing (although F down to A is a half step less of a drop.)

The bridge melody, on the other hand, just drops down (without the raise back up.) It goes E-D-D-C-C-B-B-A (on the Am) G-F-E (on the C) in the first half of the bridge (which is a full octave drop starting on the 3rd degree of the scale - would this be considered an example of phrygian mode? Or is there more to it than that?) and E-E-D-C-C-B-B-A (on the Am) A-B-G-G-F-F (on the G7) in the second half of the bridge.

Looking at the intro it’s interesting to see how all of the chords used in the song are introduced in the intro and that the unison into harmony vocal “hook” is also introduced there. Another way of looking at it is that the intro is essentially the second half of the verse. Although the intro is very short, it really gives a pretty good glimpse of what the song is all about.

The piano overdubs (which were added by George Martin) are also kind of interesting as they add a little flavor to the song and they also hint (in the very slightest of ways) of the orchestration to come on future Beatles songs.

How about the bass? There’s nothing here to really hint at the awesome bass lines McCartney would lay down on future Beatles songs. In fact, I can’t really think of anything to say about the bass on this song, it’s barely noticeable even when it’s what I’m actively listening for.

What The Beatles Said About It

Lennon: “It was kind of a John song more than a Paul song, but it was written together.”

McCartney: “It was our first stab at a ballad and had a little spoken preface. It was co-written. I don’t think either of us dominated on that one, it was just a job, you could have called us hacks, hacking out a song for someone.”

McCartney: “She turned it down. It may not have been that successful for her because it’s a rather downbeat song. It was quite pessimistic.”

(the “she” in this quote is Helen Shapiro.)

McCartney: “He was another lad with an eye for an opportunity, and he had a minor hit with it. He used to do it on tour with us… not amazingly well.”

(the “he” in this quote is Kenny Lynch. this was the very first cover of a Lennon/McCartney song released. Lynch later appeared on the cover of McCartney’s 1973 classic solo album Band on the Run.)

Mono Vs. Stereo

In general when it comes down to the mono vs. stereo Beatles argument I’m on the side of stereo. I like to hear the details in the music. I like to be surrounded by the different elements. Mono just sounds kind of “flat” to me in comparison. And I don’t mind the often awkward stereo mixes of The Beatles as much as some folks do. But all of that said, I think the mono version of this song is definitely better than the stereo. It just sounds kind of “off” in stereo. It has a lot more power in mono. Buy the Mono Box Set and check it out for yourself.

Songwriting

The song was written by Lennon and McCartney for Helen Shapiro (who had just had to #1s in the UK and was headlining their early 1963 tour) but her management turned the song down. They then offered it to their fellow tour mate Kenny Lynch who released it on March 22, 1963 (the same day the Please Please Me album - which included The Beatles version of the song - was released.)

Who Played What?

Lennon: rhythm guitar & lead vocals.
McCartney: bass guitar & lead vocals.
Harrison: lead guitar.
Starr: drums.
George Martin: piano.

Recording

Like most of the songs on the Please Please Me album, this song was recorded on February 11, 1963. George Martin added piano overdubs on February 20th.

Last.FM Ranking

#161. Definitely not among The Beatles more well known songs.

Covers

As I mentioned earlier, this song was the very first by The Beatles to have a cover version of it recorded and released (by Kenny Lynch in 1963.)

Flamin’ Groovies released a cover of it on their 1976 album Shake Some Action.

Available On

1963, Beatles Songs, The Beatles

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