Nothing You Can Know That Isn’t Known

From The New York Times:

So what on earth does Jonathan Gould think he’s doing by adding to the flood with “Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America” — aside from guaranteeing himself a floor audience of completists and getting to write off bootlegs on his tax returns? Is there anything left to say, any detritus left unpicked through? Well, I for one didn’t know that Linda McCartney’s sobriquet in her high school yearbook was “Yen for Men.” Intrigued yet? Here is his take on “Something,” George Harrison’s second-finest moment as a Beatle (I’m an “If I Needed Someone” fan):

“Though it gives the impression of being highly melodic, the tune in the verse is actually very narrow, moving in a range of five notes, which allows George to sing it with great relaxation and force. What gives the song its melodic flavor is the pining electric guitar riff that introduces the verse and the bridge. ... This memorable hook not only adds ‘top’ to the tune; it also provides a tangible expression of the ‘something’ that the lyric wisely leaves unsaid (much as McCartney’s extraordinarily active and expressive bass line suggests an undercurrent of powerful emotion beneath the self-possessed surface of the song).”

(Contrast that with the totality of Pattie Boyd’s assessment in “Wonderful Tonight”: “I thought it was beautiful.” And George wrote the song for her!)

More here.