Just as Yesterday mysteriously came to Paul McCartney, Nowhere Man simply came to Lennon at dawn after he’d stayed up all night, struggling to come up with a new song for Rubber Soul. He happened upon a phrase, “nowhere man,” which, he felt, described his own fears about himself.
“I’d spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay down. Then ‘Nowhere Man’ came, words and music, the whole damn thing as I lay down. I thought of myself sitting there, doing nothing and getting nowhere.”
Recorded on 21 and 22 October 1965, Nowhere Man is one of the first Beatles songs to be entirely unrelated to romance or love, and marks a notable example of Lennon’s philosophically oriented songwriting. Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison sing the song in three-part harmony. The lead guitar solo was performed in unison by Harrison and Lennon. The pair played identical “sonic blue”-coloured Fender Stratocasters on the track. The song appears in the film Yellow Submarine, where the Beatles sing it about the character Jeremy Hillary Boob after meeting him in the “nowhere land”.
Nowhere Man
The Beatles
He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Doesn’t have a point of view
Knows not where he’s going to
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen
You don’t know what you’re missing
Nowhere man, the world is at your command
He’s as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere man, can you see me at all
Nowhere man don’t worry
Take your time, don’t hurry
Leave it all ’til somebody else
Lends you a hand
Ah, la, la, la, la
Doesn’t have a point of view
Knows not where he’s going to
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen
You don’t know what you’re missing
Nowhere man, The world is at your command
Ah, la, la, la, la
He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Nowhere Man lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Filosofa's Word 
One of my favorite songs!
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YAY!!!!
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😀
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You can play any of their songs safe in the knowledge that I’ll like it, apart from Long And Winding Road (one of Paul’s granny tunes) and Revolution #9 (which is just weird). And Keith is right in his comment – either you saw his post yesterday or you’re psychic 😊
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Heh heh … I knew that. I’m not sure if I saw Keith’s post or not, but for some reason this one came to mind, so perhaps I did!
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Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News.
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Thanks, Ned!!!
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This song was a breakaway from love songs, and possibly gave George Harrison the opening to write The Beatles’ first real protest song: Taxman, which opened arguably the best Beatle’s album, Yesterday and Today.
I found the Wikipedia write-up on Taxman to be very interesting. Apparently it was more influential on Rock music than I realized at the time it came out. In my mind these two songs, Nowhere Man and Taxman, added a whole new direction to a legacy of brilluant genius.
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Taxman was actually the opening track on Revolver – the one you mention is one of those mash ups the record company did and wasn’t released here. If you meant Revolver was one of their best I agree wholeheartedly – and we got the full 14 track version here, while they only gave you 11 over there 😉
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Oops. Today was a bad day for me. Now I know how bad!
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Don’t worry, we all have days like that! Hoping today will be better for you 👍
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Ki’ll be happy with a good hour, while I am awake. I’m okay with starting small, and building into more… But thanks for the well-wishes.
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You’re welcome 😊
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Hmmmm … I don’t believe I had ever heard “Taxman” before tonight. Not destined to become a favourite.
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Thanks Jill for the context. I shared with Clive and Scott recently about a good movie on John Lennon as a teenager called “Nowhere Boy.” He was dealing with teen angst as well as being caught in the middle of a tug of war between his mother and her sister Mimi who raised John with her husband. He was forming his band and added a guy named McCartney to the group. McCartney would recommend a young friend named Harrison to join them. It is a great movie with Kristen Scott Thomas as his Aunt Mimi. Keith
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Hmmmm … did I see that post? If so, perhaps it was subconsciously the inspiration for me playing this one! I really don’t recall … (old age and senility are taking their toll). That movie sounds good, though … I will check it out on Amazon!
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Jill, I think I included a paragraph on one of my movie posts, but mentioned it in comments to both recently. It is very good, in my view. Lennon was a hot-tempered young man for awhile, until events helped him grow-up more. Keith
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Or perhaps his music gave him an outlet for the angst that was leading him to be hot-tempered.
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This is a great story and shows that someone true inspiration comes when we least expect them or aren’t purposefully looking for them.
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Exactly! Sometimes you just have to step back and relax, and then like a lighting bolt, inspiration hits!!! I’m waiting for that lightning bolt tonight … 🤣
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