130. Come Together

It was a number one hit, and one of John's favorite Beatles songs. I like it...fine

This is a song I go round and round on. I can recognize so many brilliant elements. I completely understand why many people love it. I just—for whatever reason—don’t.

It’s not that I hate it. It’s a good song, and I like listening to it. We’re already into the portion of the list where every song is one that I actively enjoy and will be very happy to hear. Still, we are toward the lower end of that field. And I’ve spent three decades trying to sort through why exactly that is.

Let’s start by noting some of the strengths. It’s got an incredible bass line, which gels perfectly with John’s spooky lyrics. And the guitar riff when he gets to the ‘come together…right now…over me’ refrain is fantastic. Ringo’s drumming is great. Like everywhere on Abbey Road he’s just getting incredible sound out of the kit. And the solo is nice. It opens up the song a bit, giving you a wider sense of perspective. Which makes the return to the verse that much more incisive. A great example of George’s understated playing style.

All that said, I always find myself a bit underwhelmed by the overall sound of the thing. I think John wrote this with the idea that it would be a bruising song, one that would really pummel the listener. But when he brought it into the studio, Paul helped him transform it into this final state. They made it slinky, bluesy, brooding, maybe a bit groovy (or in Paul’s term ‘swampier’). That was partly to avoid copyright challenges (oops).¹ But also partly just a matter of taste. Because if you try to play Come Together as a piece of nasty rock and roll, it is…really not all that interesting.

You can hear it on the earlier takes. For example Take 5 (located on the Super Deluxe set):

And from his later live performances in 1972 with Elephant Memory:

In addition to having a quicker tempo, these versions are much louder, much more abrasive, much more aggressive. And, frankly, they’re not very interesting? I think mostly what they reveal is that there’s just not all that much actually here in this song, once you drag everything out into the light.

So the studio refurbishment by Paul and the crew is certainly welcome, and it does transform a pretty meh song into something that’s startling and unique—which sounds like nothing else the Beatles ever did, and not really like anything that anyone else ever did, either.

And yet, I still feel the song itself resisting. John himself seems to have tolerated Paul’s suggestions, recognizing that they really did improve the song. But I don’t think his heart was in it. He wanted his song to be big and loud and propulsive, and I think that deep down he resented being forced to trade in its authenticity for the sake of making something that sounds good. And I can’t help but feel that it works more in spite of itself than because of itself.

I’ve noted before that my favorite Beatle is Paul these days—and probably will be forever. This song is a good example of why. He did so much to elevate John’s work, to the point of transforming quite a few ‘John songs’ into something richer and more exciting than they would otherwise have been.

And look, even if I personally don’t adore the song, it’s obviously a huge track for many millions of other people. It was a #1 hit in its time and if anything is even more popular now (it’s one of their most-streamed songs on Spotify, for example). Still, to my ears, it sounds a little bit betwixt and between. And even if I can grasp why others love it so much, I just can’t get there myself.

But I suppose it’s good for even the most popular songs to have a few doubters here and there. It wouldn’t be healthy for anything to be universally adored.

1. I’ll have more on the copyright issue in a standalone post sometime soon.