There's A Place

Although the Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, released in early 1963, is not known for having been an experimental, groundbreaking masterpiece, such as some of the band's later efforts, it certainly left a mark on popular music. Some of the most enduring tracks off the record are simple, effective pop tunes like "Love Me Do" and "Twist and Shout," but, in my opinion, the most memorable song is "There's A Place." Later released as a B-side to the "Twist and Shout" single, the song occupied the penultimate spot on the album, and is interesting from both a musical and lyrical perspective. In terms of the songwriting and arrangement, the song uses more advanced harmony than their typical compositions: the song opens with a harmonica playing a D# over an E major chord. This major seventh interval is dissonant and almost unsettling, but also simultaneously pretty. The vocal harmonies are also complex, particularly on the lyric "and it's my mind," wherein the band utilizes a mixture of thirds, fourths, and sixths, as opposed to just using thirds, which was commonplace at the time. Lyrically, the song touches on deeper ideas than would have typically been expected of a pop band in the early 60s. Instead of writing the usual love song, Lennon and McCartney decided to shed light on the idea that, when they are sad, the place they go to console themselves and feel better is their mind, not "round the back of the stairs for a kiss and a cuddle," as McCartney later put it. This was a step beyond their normal territory, and foreshadowed further developments in lyrical writing from the band.