How Days of Doing Nothing Inspired John Lennon To Write “Nowhere Man”

John Lennon and Paul McCartney struggled to write songs for Rubber Soul. Yet whatever writer’s block they may have endured soon gave way to a transformation for the band. Rubber Soul helped shift the focus from pop singles to the album as a greater medium for expression.

But before Lennon got there, he did nothing. Literally, nothing. And by doing nothing, he wound up writing an iconic tune that proves nothing is still something, especially in the hands or mind of a Beatle.

A Beatle Does Nothing and Sleeps All Day

Lennon had retreated to his home amid the dizzying days of Beatlemania. For long periods, he’d do nothing but sleep or have sex, apparently. “I don’t mind writing or reading or watching or speaking, but sex is the only physical thing I can be bothered with any more,” he told the Evening Standard at the time. The article went on to describe Lennon’s epic sleeping.

Isolated at home, the world’s biggest rock star remained utterly idle, which led him to write a Beatles classic.

He’s a real nowhere man,
Sitting in his nowhere land,
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.

“Nowhere Man” may have been inspired by Lennon’s life of leisure, but the song didn’t come easily. “I’d spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good and I finally gave up and lay down,” he said.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, it arrived in its entirety. It shows the value of space and silence to the creative process. We often make plans, attempting to plot out a creative thing or some destination. But Lennon’s song is a lesson in letting go. Perhaps there’s a little nowhere man inside each of us.

Doesn’t have a point of view,
Knows not where he’s going to,
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?

Changing Rock Music Forever

With Rubber Soul, The Beatles unwittingly changed the future of rock music. It inspired Brian Wilson to craft Pet Sounds, which in turn created a rivalry between The Beach Boys and The Beatles as the two traded masterpieces in the 1960s. How ironic for Lennon’s directionless chapter.

Photo by Eyles/Daily Herald/Mirrorpix via Getty Images