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Beatles - Help! Song Meanings

The Beatles released this song in the UK and US in 1965, when there were strong anti- war sentiments around the world for the Vietnam War. I have always thought that Help! was about the Vietnam War.

Submitted by: silverbeatle
Added: 2005-08-11 22:09:41     Rating:

Basically John calling out for help, Beatle-mania was very pressuring on him.
He did say in an interview that he was subconsciously crying for help

Submitted by: breakascene
Added: 2005-11-17 15:59:54     Rating:

No, basically, when John Lennon was younger, he was a rebellious child and teenager. John's calling out for help because he feels like he can't really be unique anymore and he can't be independent. DUH.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-01-24 17:09:12     Rating:

I agree that it was John calling out for Help during beatle-mania. The lyrics do say "When I was younger... I never needed anybodies help in anyway... And now my life has changed in oh so many ways... but every now and then I feel so insecure.." Which doesn't really agree with the idea of this was about John when he was younger. Hes just saying that he didn't need the help when he was younger, but now that he life has changed, it's different. With the pressures of fans and publicities I'm sure it was difficult to feel you were independent when you always had someone following you around.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-02-07 04:37:34     Rating:

I was always under the impression that Help! was describing the reasons why he first began using LSD. The album itself was released around the time the beatles became heavily involved with psychadelic drugs

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-03-10 13:02:15     Rating:

So much bad information on this site. This song has nothing to do with the Vietnam War or drug use.

This song came out at the height of "Beatlemania" and yes, John is crying for Help. Specifically he is crying out to his wife which by this time he had become increasingly estranged. He's calling out to her to help keep him grounded during this period of insanity in his life.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-03-13 01:28:23     Rating:

This song is about a bad trip.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-03-13 01:38:11     Rating:

This song is about him needing a friend through a bad trip.
"When I was Young...I never needed anybody's help..." when he was younger he never did drugs, but now he needs help during his bad trip.
"I do appreciate you bein' 'round" a bad trip always goes better when someone is there to calm you down
"help me get my feet back on the ground" refers to the friend calming him through his time of need
"Now my life has changed in o so many ways" trips usually tend to give you a new view on life.
"my independence seems to vanish in the haze" again he needs someone around to help him through all of the confusion.
"every now and then I feel so insecure" bad trips can leave you feeling depressed and down.
It's really obvious when you think about it

Submitted by: LintheSwithD
Added: 2007-05-30 15:46:58     Rating:

Lennon wrote the lyrics of the song to express his stress coming from the quick rise to a massive level of success for The Beatles after years of obscurity.

Wikipedia.org is a very reliable source.

Submitted by: BubblyBubble
Added: 2007-11-26 00:51:56     Rating:

I am sad yo say this but the song is about drugs. After Bob Dylan introduced the Beatles to pot, John got addicted and then wanted help. I'm not really sure though.....

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2008-01-07 23:28:37     Rating:

Guys, they wrote this song for the movie HELP! They called the movie Help! and they needed a song to go with it so they wrote that one after coming up with the title for the movie. I watched the documentary.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2008-02-21 14:47:10     Rating:

I think breakascene is right. The lyrics say, "When I was younger... I never needed anybody's help in any way" that makes sense to John being rebellious when he was young and not being able to be independent anymore.

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