Somewhere

Album: Play On (1969)
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Songfacts®:

  • Yellow Hair was a Missouri band that formed when the four members were in high school and relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, because two of the members went to the University of Nebraska. They weren't around for long, but did release two singles. The first one, the breezy "Somewhere," has some staying power and gets occasional placements. It was written by their bass player, Scott McCarl, who later joined The Raspberries.
  • Scott McCarl told Songfacts the story behind this song: "I really can't think of another song, a complete song, that I wrote before 'Somewhere.' I don't know what the song is about. I don't know where the chorus is - I'm unsure if it even has a chorus! But with this song, none of that seems to matter. It just feels good, it just feels right.

    'Somewhere' just came, it was not forced in any way. There is no denying the real ones. But it's not just the song, it's the recording of it, too. The arrangement is as simple as the song itself. Some lines are me singing, some are Ted Paxson - one part, two parts, whatever felt right. Early on, I remember trying out bits for it with my mom in the hallway of our home in Omaha, which had great echo. She could sing the alto part to anything that came on the radio - perfect every time.

    I like my bass line as the main two chords are vamping, which they do a lot. It plays this little melody going down, then comes right back up again, giving some extra life to those two repeating chords. There's some Association feel to all that harmony we put in, though we weren't necessarily big fans of that band.

    The odd first chord you hear at the start, I got that from a 'Special Beatles Chords' book I had. Yeah right, like G7, A minor, and D are somehow 'special' and for their use only! I don't read music or know all that much theory, and I lost that 'Beatles Chords' book 50 years ago. What do you think that first chord is? I would be interested to know.

    Anyway, in the end it's a dreamy, pretty song. I hope you enjoy it. I hope it takes you 'Somewhere' really neat."
  • Yellow Hair never released an album, but "Somewhere" was included as a bonus track on Scott McCarl's 1998 album Play On.
  • This song plays in the 2020 Epix series Helter Skelter: An American Myth. It also appears in the 2020 episode "You Don't Have To" of the Netflix series Dead To Me.

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