Why a 1990s Rock Star Hated The Beatles’ ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’
A 1990s rock star hated The Beatles‘ “Got to Get You Into My Life” and said he would never play it. That’s saying something, considering this star has covered Beatles tunes over and over! “Got to Get You Into My Life” eventually became a hit once the American public got more into funk music.
A star hated the horns from The Beatles’ ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’
Wayne Coyne is the frontman of The Flaming Lips, a trippy band most known for the hit “She Don’t Use Jelly.” His band once released a track-by-track remake of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band that is far more avant-garde than the original. Some of it sounds downright abrasive! During a 2014 interview with Newsweek promoting the remake album, Coyne named “Got to Get You Into My Life” as his least-favorite Fab Four track.
“I forget the name of it,” he said. “I don’t always like the big horn sections. [Starts singing: ‘I was alone … I didn’t know it at the time!’] It’s a Paul song. But there are some John Lennon songs I don’t like as well. ‘Got to Get You Into My Life!’ I wouldn’t personally play it. That’s probably one I don’t like.”
The song is 1 of The Beatles’ classics despite what Wayne Coyne said
It’s not surprising that the frontman of a psychedelic rock group wouldn’t be a huge fan of “Got to Get You Into My Life.” The song is not psychedelic at all, and even its lyrics are straightforward. Any connection between the song and drugs is easy to overlook, as the lyrics could also be interpreted as being about a love affair.
However, it has a great, funky feel and Paul’s commanding vocal performance adds spice. Very few of the Fab Four’s songs are danceable, but this one would be perfect for a New Year’s Eve celebration. It’s probably for the better that this tune didn’t become a single until the 1970s. It fits in so much better with the sound of 1970s pop music than the sound of 1960s pop music.
How ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’ performed
“Got to Get You Into My Life” became a hit single in 1976, six years after The Beatles’ breakup. Then, the track reached No. 7 and stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for sixteen weeks. It lasted longer on the chart than any of The Beatles’ songs aside from “Twist and Shout” and “Hey Jude.”
“Got to Get You Into My Life” appeared on The White Album. That record reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for nine weeks. It lasted on the chart a whopping 215 weeks in total.
According to The Official Charts Company, “Got to Get You Into My Life” never charted in the United Kingdom. In contrast, The White Album was huge there, hitting No. 1 for eight weeks. In the 1980s, The White Album recharted at No. 18. The record spent 39 weeks on the chart altogether.
“Got to Get You Into My Life” is a classic even if Coyne can’t see it.
