Analysis of the Song, You´ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, by The Beatles

“You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”, a ballad composed by John Lennon in 1965, juxtaposes the new and old Beatles in a thrilling manner. This song represents the Beatles’ returning to their instrumental roots from The Quarrymen with Paul’s bass, George and Lennon’s acoustic guitars, and Ringo’s percussion forming the main instruments throughout the piece. This song comes at a time when Lennon lyrics and tonal timbre proved susceptible to Bob Dylan’s influence , causing Lennon to impersonate Dylan’s vocal style as he searched for his own. This side of the album also illustrates the huge collaborative effort that George Martin and the Beatles put into creating our listening experience, as the lyrics and song titles of the first side of the album present the background for this piece. Lennon builds on this background by detailing how he feels that he must conceal his emotions from the world, especially after his mother’s death. “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” demonstrates the beginning of an introspective, yet simpler Lennon who begins to reveal his emotions through his songs, and the album’s structure serves as a base for the story of Lennon’s piece.

To understand Lennon’s attempt at displaying his raw emotions through this song, one must also understand the influence behind Lennon’s decision. Bob Dylan influenced all of the Beatles in a significant way in their early Beatlemania years: Dylan introduced the Beatles to marijuana, mistaking “I can’t hide” for “I get high” in “She Loves You”. While the Beatles experimented with several energy drugs, they had not yet used marijuana, and they soon discovered that it bestowed the group with the ability to relax and escape from the stress of dealing with Beatlemania. After ...

... middle of paper ...

...se on both the tenor and alto flute, one an octave higher than the other. While the return of the verse and the flute’s soothing sound give this ending a vague happy feeling, the contrast between the flutes’ pitches and timbres cannot help but leave the listener with a feeling of tension and apprehension over what will ensue.

“You’ve Got to Hide You Love Away” exemplifies Lennon as a maturing artist, no longer producing lyrics for moving and dancing but for sitting and thinking. As Lennon continues in his career, his songs become even more introspective as he delves deeper into the use of drugs and trying to discover himself. The story this song tells, both as a member of the album Help! and as an individual entity, marks the true influence that Bob Dylan held over Lennon in his early Beatlemania years and the influence’s lasting impact on Lennon’s years to come.