Album: Beatles VI (1965)

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• If you wear red tonight
  Remember what I said tonight
  For red is the color that my baby wore
  And what is more, it's true
  Yes it is
  
  Scarlet were the clothes she wore
  Everybody knows I'm sure
  I would remember all the things we planned
  Understand, it's true
  Yes it is, it's true
  Yes it is
  
  I could be happy with you by my side
  If I could forget her, but it's my pride
  Yes it is, yes it is
  Oh, yes it is, yeah
  
  Please don't wear red tonight
  This is what I said tonight
  For red is the color that will make me blue
  In spite of you, it's true
  Yes it is, it's true
  Yes it is
  
  I could be happy with you by my side
  If I could forget her, but it's my pride
  Yes it is, yes it is
  Oh, yes it is, yeah
  
  Please don't wear red tonight
  This is what I said tonight
  For red is the color that will make me blue
  In spite of you, it's true
  Yes it is, it's true
  Yes it is, it's true Writer/s: John Lennon, Paul Mccartney
  Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 17

• Luna Loud from Royal Woods, MichiganKyes, I think the TRUE genius of Lennon's ability was that he was able to take such a traumatizing event and not only write an excellent song about it but to make the lyrics palatable enough to relate to anyone who has lost a girlfriend/boyfriend/love of some sort. And I like the way the songs key/melody changes so drastically in the bridge/middle eight section, I think that's one of the many things that made The Beatles stand out among their contemporaries and even many bands that came later. That's just my 2 cents, though, I'm not chewin' you out or anything, just thought I'd add my take on it. Peace and Love, bruh!
• Kyes from Corvallis, Or...soon To Get My Ass Back In The Bluegrass Of Louisville, KyI fully-realize LOVE this tune. I listen to it all the time & it creates a mood--small stage, velvet curtains, pre-be-bop actually. So haunting, especially those harmonies & harmonics (George Harrison? They sound like overtones on a plucked electric guitar but could be an electric organ I guess). The lyrics are brilliant...they resonate with Daphne du Maurie's "Rebecca" in a different palette. Especially effective is the shifting from "red" to "scarlet". (I've seen people speculating about the color of his mother's dress on the day of her fatal car wreck, but, not to be gruesome, *any* color she wore would be red after that sort of tragedy.)
  The only weakness I experience is in the middle eight...the melody doesn't quite satisfy or blend with the rest of the tune, and John's voice sounds somewhat strained. And the lyrics essentially come right out and declare that love between the singer & the unknown woman is forever impossible:
  "I could be happy with you by my side
  If I could forget her, but it's my pride
  Yes it is, yes it is
  Oh, yes it is, yeah."
  
  Well, for a genius songwriter, "weakness" is unacceptable. Many of their fans loved the tune & requested it in live shows, though, and I too still dig the hell out of this wistful, starry tune.
• Arn from TorontoHe write this song for his mother Julia who was killed when she was hit by a drunk driver when John was 15 or 16. Very sad.
• Dell from Phoenix, AzI've always dreamed of hearing an a cappella choir sing this song in French; I think it would be stunningly beautiful.
• Martin from Ringmer, East Sussex, England, United KingdomJune 2012: This song is not often covered by other artists but I stumbled across an interesting version of it on youtube by Chris Singleton. Wonderful, weird and whacky video too!
• Johan from Stockholm, SwedenLennon composed A-side Please Please Me and it´s B-side Ask Me Why. Lennon composed Ticket to Ride and it´s B-side Yes it is. He even composed half of the melody to We Can Work it Out and did it´s B-side Day Tripper. With other words, Lennon dominated almost three singles. McCartney never did that.
  In spite of that, McCartney said 1971, after the split, that "Lennon-McCartney
  is only a myth, it´s all mine" (!!) (Tom Hanley in "Mojo" "Winter" 2000).
• Colin from Glen Rock, NjOk, so I came across this really randomly. A writer named Amy Bloom wrote a collection of short stories called Come to Me: Stories in 1993. In one of the short stories called "Silver Water", there is a statement said that is very eerily similar to the "Yes It Is" lyrics. Here's what it says:
  
  “I want to go to bed, I want to go to bed and be in my head. I want to go to bed and be in my bed and in my head and just wear red, for red is the color that my baby wore arid once more, it’s true, yes, it is, it’s true, Please don’t wear red tonight, oh, oh, please don’t wear red tonight, for red is the color—”.
  
  Here's the link to the short story also: http://www.beyondthecouch.org/0307/silver_water_0307.htm (Just control-F or command-F and type in "please don't" to get to the specific passage).
  
  I have no idea what the words mean in the story or the story itself, but either Bloom was referencing the Beatles song or this was just a very very odd coincidence.
  
  P.S. I think the anthology version of "Yes It Is" is far better than the official version. Lennon sounds much more emotional and the 3 part harmony coming in only in the final verse of the song is so much more of a climax.
• Colin from Boston, LuxembourgIs there only one anthology book?
• Max from Millburn, Njevery time i hear the build up "its my pride, yes it is, yes it is" i get chills... i love it. absolutely. john's standards were way too high
• Catresse from Lawrenceville, GaJohn did'nt like many songs. maybe he thought they could be better ya know? I write songs and some i dont like..
  but this song is great.
• Emily from Oklahoma City, OkEvery Beatles song has a deeper meaning.. It's just up to you to figure out what it is..
• M from Smithtown, NyHow sad... =*(
  I wonder why John considered this one of his least favorites?
• Lennix from Hamburg, GermanyOMFG GUYS!!!!!
  
  if u were true beatles fans, u would have read the Anthology book and discovered that this is about Julia, John's mother, who died wearing a red dress. she was run over at a busstop by a drunk off-duty police officer.
  
  so Bianca, by saying "knowing its about nothing..." is a severely incorrect statement!
• Forrest from Rochester, MnOkay so not only could he not handle women wearing black (Baby's In Black) but now she can't wear red either?
• Jorge from Mexico, MexicoI think Beatles three-part lead harmonies appeared short after this song in Rubber Soul's "Nowhere Man", so we have "This Boy", "Yes, It Is", "Nowhere Man" and "Because" around this singing style. Curiously all of them written by John although Paul was always the melodic one.
• Charles from Charlotte, NcLennon had some kind of creepy obsession with a lady in red on this one.
• Bianca Sanchez from Alburquerque, NmNo ones heard this song? Im listening to it right now. This song makes me sad, but now knowing it's about nothing.....It still makes me sad. *WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH*

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