“In My Life”: Is it the Greatest Song of All-Time?
Illustration by @appeloniachao_design.According to Genius, "the song originated with John Lennon, and while McCartney contributed to the final version, the extent of his contribution is in dispute. George Martin contributed the harpsichord-like instrumental bridge (actually a piano recording played at double speed).” George Martin is credited as the producer of the song.
Music is as subjective as it comes and my personal song rankings constantly shift.
So, I’m not arguing that this is the greatest song of all-time. With this blog I’m mostly just pointing out a couple things I noticed when randomly listening a few days ago in an attempt to exercise some half-baked thoughts that arose in my brain.
I do have a handful (more than a handful) of songs that would be in close consideration for the top spot if I was forced to make a greatest songs of all-time list and “In My Life” would be one of them.
Here’s what is great about this song…
The Way They Framed the Message
It’s a love song where they talk about two things: 1) remembering all the wonderful memories of people, places, and things In My Life and 2) the love they have for you means more than all of those wonderful memories.
All the descriptions of people places and memories come and gone are described with general language and ultimately serve to show how high the bar for love is in their life, leading to the statement of unequivocal love at the end of the second chorus, which feels like a huge payoff as a listener:
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more
The second verse leads us here by saying:
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
The first chorus is dedicated to the past memories and the second chorus is dedicated to the new love.
The first chorus ends with:
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all
And is changed in the second chorus:
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more
The past and the present both get a verse and a chorus and then a there’s break where a cheerful piano solo lets us breathe and wonder about the meaning.
It’s About Love Past and Love as Something New
It gives us understanding of the magnitude of the love and how new love and present experiences keep us going giving us an exciting outlook for new things to come. The general nature of the songs makes you think about your own past experiences and relationships and gives heavy nostalgia.
Themes of changing relationships between lovers and friends, death and living, and how all these places have their moments are explored not specifically through lyrics of the song, but are potent because of the complex structure and delivery by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Over time competing factors arise in relationships with friends and family that you have cultivated, causing splits and evolutions one can never completely control.
Through the prism of comparing their new love to everything else good and bad in their lives, you all at once appreciate the roads past and the road ahead, while at the same time delighting in the struggle to appreciate meaning from it all.