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TL;DR:

  • Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ “Drive My Car” was difficult to write.
  • He said it had a “little twist” similar to the one in “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown).”
  • The track was not included in the original American edition of Rubber Soul.
The Beatles in black-and-white
The Beatles | Central Press / Stringer

Paul McCartney said The Beatles‘ “Drive My Car” includes a lyrical twist. In addition, he said the song was challenging to put together. Notably, the track was initially released on different albums in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ ‘Drive My Car; made him think of Zsa Zsa Gabor talking to a toy boy

In the 2015 book Conversations with McCartney, Paul said it usually doesn’t take a long time for him to write a song. He felt his best songs usually came together “in one go.” He said every time he tries to write a song, he wants to know if he’ll be able to finish it.

In addition, he discussed the origin of “Drive My Car.” He said he had a difficult time figuring out what the lyrics of the song should be. The Beatles came up with a line about gold rings and disliked it, but they couldn’t think of a substitute.

“And finally we just got manic, ‘Oh, let’s forget it, let’s just do the next bit,'” he recalled. “We moved off the block and somehow I thought, ‘Drive my car, great, that’s great!’

“And that was the whole idea then,” he added. “Oh, you could be my chauffeur! As if you were talking to a girl, or Zsa Zsa Gabor was talking to a toy boy.”

Why Paul McCartney felt The Beatles’ ‘Drive My Car’ was similar to ‘Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)’

Subsequently, Paul discussed the “little twist” in the song. “And ‘Drive My Car’ is that he hasn’t actually got a car,” he said. “One of these days I’ll have one and then you can drive it.”

Paul said “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” had a “little twist” similar to the one in “Drive My Car.” “In ‘Norwegian Wood’ he burns her place down after having talked about how wonderful all the wood is,” Paul said. “He burns it because she wouldn’t let him have it. That was the little twist of that. So that was all right.”

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How the song’s parent albums performed in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Drive My Car” was never a single, so it never charted on the Billboard Hot 100. It initially appeared on the album Rubber Soul in the United Kingdom and the album Yesterday and Today in the United States. The latter reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for five weeks and stayed on the chart for 32 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Drive My Car” never charted in the United Kingdom either. On the other hand, Rubber Soul hit No. 1 for eight of its 42 weeks on the U.K. chart.

“Drive My Car” wasn’t a hit but Paul said its lyrics had a nice surprise for listeners.

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