Steven Spielberg Reveals His Romantic Connection to The Beatles’ ‘Michelle’
“Michelle” is one of The Beatles’ most romantic love ballads and has been the song to set the mood for many romantic moments. While it’s impossible to know how many people have been impacted by this song, director Steven Spielberg recently revealed that The Beatles‘ track served as a spark in a passionate encounter he had.
‘Michelle’ is one of The Beatles’ greatest love ballads
“Michelle” is a track from The Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul. The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, with contributions from John Lennon. The song was released as a single in various countries and reached No. 1 on the charts in France, Belgium, Italy, Norway, and New Zealand.
The song is unique because McCartney decided to throw in a few lines of French. While writing the song, the “Yesterday” singer spoke to a childhood friend’s wife who taught French to get all the words correct.
“I asked her what sort of things I could say that were French and which would go together well,” McCartney said (via beatlesbook.com). “It was because I’d always thought that the song sounded French that I stuck with it. I can’t speak French properly, so that’s why I needed help in sorting out the actual words.”
Steven Spielberg listened to ‘Michelle’ before kissing his college crush
Steven Spielberg, director of The Fabelmans, recently spoke with BBC Radio 4 and shared a few songs that impacted his life. The legendary director selected “Michelle” and shared a story on how the song remained in his memory.
“I was a freshman in college, and there was a girl I liked a lot. She would agree to let me take her out to dinner, or to a jazz club, or out to a movie, but she would never ever, ever let me kiss her. And we were driving back from someplace, and we pulled into the big parking lot by the dorms on the college campus at Long Beach.”
“‘Michelle’ came on. I think we heard it for the first time together on the radio, and the melody is just heart-achingly beautiful. I look over at her, and she’s got tears in her eyes, and just before the song is over, she jumps over on my side of the car and starts kissing me. And when I got to know Paul [McCartney] a number of years ago, that was one of the first stories I ever told him!”
Steven Spielberg became a fan of The Beatles after listening to ‘The White Album’
Steven Spielberg had already been a fan of The Beatles before his “Michelle” story. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the E.T. director said he “couldn’t get enough of The Beatles” after listening to 1968’s The White Album.
“The paradigm for change came when I moved away to college. That’s when the White Album came out and I couldn’t get enough of the Beatles,” Spielberg said. “For the first time, I began to get into what was considered normal for somebody my age. I wasn’t a Beatles fan until I listened to the White Album and became an instant convert.”
