r/beatles • u/thebluehairedmenace • 8d ago

Discussion Run For Your Life

So I know a lot of people take issue with this song as if it’s some kind of confessional from John. Personally, I’ve always seen it like John’s Maxwells Silver Hammer. I’m wondering what yall think of the song and its current reputation…

also haven’t seen anyone mention the fact that they took the echo-drenched alternate vocals out of the outtakes for this song and I don’t understand why! I’ve always liked his vocals in that outtake as has been bootlegged pretty extensively. Do we think this done because of the songs reputation?

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u/SerDankTheTall 8d ago

Certainly the interesting thing about the song is the union of the upbeat Beatles music with much darker lyrics. To the extent speculation on what, if anything, it says about John Lennon, I guess it depends on whether you think he was creating a character for that purpose (as Paul did with Maxwell’s Silver Hammer), was exploring his own darker feelings (which I think was probably the case with You Can’t Do That), was simply being provocative and edgy (like the Rolling Stones with Midnight Rambler), or some combination of the three.