When I Get Home - Beatles Music History

"WHEN I GET HOME"

(John Lennon - Paul McCartney)

Underrated and underappreciated. These two words adequately describe the song "When I Get Home" as it pertains to The Beatles cannon as a whole. Various music authors have described the song as "hastily assembled," "one bluesy holler too many" and as "fairly forgettable." Many avid Beatles enthusiasts are accustomed to skipping over the song when the album is played. Some self-proclaimed "hard core" fans claim to be unfamiliar with the song.

Could there be 'more than meets the eye' when it comes to "When I Get Home"? Although this was the very last offering for the British "A Hard Day's Night" album, does that mean it was simply rushed through and deemed to be without merit?

Lennon and McCartney have been very vocal in interviews about which of their compositions were "hack songs" or a "work job," meaning songs that were cranked out in a hurry as filler material. "Hold Me Tight" and "Little Child" fit that description, according to their composers. But neither John nor Paul described "When I Get Home" with those words. In fact, upon examination, we'll find that much care and thought went into this charismatic song.

"I'd rather write a song with chords all over the place," John said during an interview around the time this song was recorded. The complicated structure in this song shows that The Beatles were excelling at experimenting with the different ways chords can relate to each other. And lyrically, we see Lennon expressing honest, simple desires for normalcy amid the chaos of Beatlemania.

No, "When It Get Home" does not have hit potential, and is arguably the least commercially accessible of all the tracks on this album, but what it has to offer is worth finding. A true hidden gem!