Yes It Is

Infobox Single
Name = Yes It Is


Artist = The Beatles
from Album = Beatles VI "in the United States
Released = 9 April 1965 (UK) 19 April 1965 (US)
Format = 7"
Recorded = Abbey Road Studios 16 February 1965
Genre =
Length = 2:41
Label = Parlophone (UK) R5265
Capitol (US) 5407
Producer = George Martin
Chart position =
Reviews =
Last single = "I Feel Fine" (UK-1964) --- "Eight Days a Week" (US-1965)
This single = "Ticket to Ride" (1965)
Next single = "Help!" (1965)
A-side = "Ticket to Ride"

"Yes It Is" is a 1965 Beatles single credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney (though written almost entirely by Lennon) which was first released as the B-side to "Ticket to Ride". It features some of The Beatles' most complex and dissonant three-part vocal harmonies and showcases George Harrison's early use of volume pedal guitar. Over the course of an arduous, five hour recording session, The Beatles attempted fourteen takes of the basic track before perfecting it, more than any other song they recorded in 1965.

"Yes It Is" was known to be one of Lennon's least favorite compositions, along with "Run for Your Life", "It's Only Love", and "Dig a Pony". In his 1980 interview with Playboy, he described it as an attempt to rewrite "This Boy" that "didn't quite work."cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1/dba05help.html |title=Beatles Interview Database |accessdate=2007-10-09] Paul McCartney on the other hand described it as "a very fine song of John's," and that for his part, he'd only "helped him finish [it] off." Some writers have concluded that the song is an oblique reference to Lennon's dead mother, Julia, and his grief over her death (especially lines such as "I could be happy with you by my side" and "if I could forget her"). In that vein, it can be interpreted as one of his first self-referential compositions, a style of writing which would soon come to dominate his songwriting.

Original pressings of the single erroneously show "Yes It Is" as from the film "Eight Arms to Hold You" ("Help!"), in which it did not appear at all.

The song appears on "Beatles VI", the British version of the "Rarities" album, "Past Masters, Volume One", and also on "Anthology 2" in a version that combines the second and fourteenth takes.

Notes