"Michelle" by The Beatles

A song that has moved me for years, and it's moved millions of people, is Michelle, by The Beatles.  Why does it "get" us? Eli Siegel, the poet and philosopher who founded Aesthetic Realism in 1941, came to this enduring principle: "All beauty is a making one of opposites, and the making one of opposites is what we are going after in ourselves."

Beatles LP

1. Continuity and Change

Michelle begins with that lovely, steady, reassuring guitar introduction. Then you hear Paul McCartney singing, coming in on the same pitch -- but the key seems to have changed, and it feels like a new world, represented perhaps by the mysterious lady of France, Michelle! There's change and continuity, a feeling of wonder and yet rightness, and I think it's stunningly beautiful.  

Isn't this exactly what we are looking for in our lives -- to see the world as fresh, to find sudden new interest, while at the same time to feel there is continuity and security? We want to feel we can count on a friend, or a person we love, and we want to feel we can be counted on too.

This is what I hear in the very first bars of "Michelle." It thrills me every time! Even the guitar intro isn't only steady of course. The high note stays constant most of the way through, while the lower note is descending. 

2. Feeling and Precision 

As to the rest of the song, opposites I hear in particular are sameness and difference, logic and emotion, and strength and yearning; and the individual, represented by the lead singer, and the world, felt through the backup singers, instruments, and the steady beat. Play the song and see what you hear. 

I have to say something about Paul McCartney. His singing is some of the best of rock and roll. He conveys such large, warm, sincere emotion and he's so precise, careful, cultured even in the slower songs such as this one and Yesterday. He's right on pitch yet his voice is alive, vibrant, goes through things, and has you feel it all matters so much.

PS: I love it that it's in English and French. It's a second Entente Cordiale with a better purpose. Or maybe an Entente Amoureuse... 

The Beatles performing