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Paul McCartney wanted The Beatles‘ “Got to Get You Into My Life” to sound like an American R&B and soul song. The song is Paul’s ode to pot.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon of The Beatles performing in the U.S. in 1966.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon, writers of The Beatles’ ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’ | Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images

The Beatles’ ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’ is an ode to pot

In 1964, Bob Dylan introduced The Beatles to marijuana, and they fell in love with it. After that, it was always around. Paul loved marijuana so much that he made “Got to Get You Into My Life” an ode to pot.

In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he thought it would be a good idea to write a song with “Got to get you into my life,’ and only he would know he was talking about pot.

Years later, Paul told people what the song was about. However, when he recorded his ode to pot, he was alone, he took a ride, and didn’t know what he’d find there.

“It was very joyous at that time,” Paul wrote. “The scene turned darker a few years later, as the whole drug thing did, but it started off as a rather sunny-day-in-the-garden type of experience.”

Paul wanted ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’ to sound like American R&B and soul

Like “Eleanor Rigby,” “Got to Get You Into My Life” has instruments that The Beatles had never used before. Paul wrote that he and the band had been having fun trying out different sounds in the arrangements.

The brass section in “Got to Get You Into My Life” was directly inspired by the American R&B and soul that Paul was listening to at the time, including Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave.

Paul wrote, “That was enough impetus for me to think, ‘I’ll have a go at that.’ That’s often how things happen with me. I’ll hear something on the radio and think, ‘Oh wow, I’m going to do my version of that.'”

Paul got some horn players, trumpets and saxophones, into Abbey Road Studio Two. Then, he explained to them how he wanted it, and they understood it immediately.

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Paul worked with Cliff Bennett on his cover

Cliff Bennett and Rebel Rousers covered “Got to Get You Into My Life,” and Paul produced it for him. The Beatles knew Bennett from their time in Hamburg, and there was a mutual admiration between them.

Paul wrote, “He was one of the first people to notice a song, called ‘If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody,’ that Freddie and the Dreamers covered, and he said, ‘Wow, that’s the first rock and roll song I’ve ever heard in 3/4 time.’ He was very astute to notice something like that. He was a good singer, and he became a friend.”

Paul said it was always interesting working with another artist who was recording one of his songs. It makes him ask questions about how it should go. Should it be exactly like his version or changed up a bit? Some songs have more “breathing room” than others. Then, “the question comes up about whether to improvise in a song like this.”

“Got to Get You Into My Life” is a simple, cheerful song, but it had a lasting effect on many fans.

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