WORDS OF WISDOM

The Beatles have put forth some profoundly wise statements and ideas throughout their music; what are songs, after all, but poetry put to music?  Well, good songs, anyway.  Of course, when it comes to the study of meaning and significance in Beatles songs, John would respond with a tune like "I Am the Walrus." 

Nonetheless, below is a collection of excerpts that I find particularly insightful and inspiring from the Beatles' catalog.  For some songs, I've found it necessary to post almost all the lyrics rather than just a short excerpt, because they're all so bloody brilliant. :)  Feel free to send in more excerpts that inspire you as well!

(All You Need Is Love)

There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy

There's nothing you can make that can't me made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy

(Across the Universe)

Words are flowing out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva m
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe

[...]

Sounds of laughter, shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

(Baby You're A Rich Man)

How does it feel to be
One of the beautiful people?
Tuned to a natural E
happy to be that way
Now that you've found another key
What are you going to play?

 

(Dear Prudence)

Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play

Dear Prudence, open up your eyes
Dear Prudence, see the sunny skies
The wind is low, the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence, won't you open up your eyes

[...]

Dear Prudence, let me see your smile
Dear Prudence, like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see your smile again
Dear Prudence, won't you let me see you smile
 

(Don't Let Me Down)

I'm in love for the first time
Don't you know it's gonna last
It's a love that lasts forever
It's a love that had no past

(Eleanor Rigby)

Eleanor Rigby died in the church
and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt
from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
 

(Fixing A Hole)

I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
and stops my mind from wandering
where it will go
I'm filling the cracks that ran though the door
and kept my mind from wandering
where it will go

And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong
I'm right where I belong...
See the people standing there
who disagree and never win
and wonder why they don't get in my door

(For You Blue)

I loved you from the moment I saw you
You looked at me, that's all you had to do
 

(Good Day Sunshine)

We take a walk, the sun is shining down
Burns my feet as they touch the ground

Good day sunshine...

Then we lie beneath a shady tree
I love her and she's loving me
She feels good, she know she's looking fine
I'm so proud to know that she is mine
 

(Got to Get You Into My Life)

I was alone, I took a ride
I didn't know what I would find there
Another road where maybe I
could see another kind of mind there
 

(Help!)

When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in any way
But now these days are gone
I'm not so self-assured
Now I find I've changed my mind
I've opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me

And now my life hand changed in oh, so many ways
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you like
I've never done before
 

(Here Comes the Sun)

Little darling
It's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling
It feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun

(Here, There, and Everywhere)

Everywhere, knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there
 

(Hey Bulldog)

Some kind of happiness is
measured out in miles
What make you think you're
something special when you smile

[...]
Some kind of innocence is
measured out in years
You don't know what it's like
to listen to you fears

[...]
Some kind of solitude is
measured out in you
You think you know but you haven't got a clue
 

(Hey Jude)

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

Hey Jude, don't be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
The you begin to make it better

And anytime you feel the pain
Hey Jude, refrain
don't carry the world upon your shoulders
For well you know that it's a fool
who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder

Hey Jude, don't let me down
You have found her, now go and get her
Remember to let her into your heart
then you can start to make it better

So let it out and let it in
Hey Jude, begin
You're waiting for someone to perform with
And don't you know that it's just you
Hey Jude, you'll do
The movement you need is on your shoulder

(I Will)

Who knows how long I've loved you
You know I love you still
Will I wait a lonely life time
If you want me to I will

For if I ever saw you
I didn't catch your name
But it never really mattered
I will always feel the same

[...]

And when at last I find you
Your song will fill the air
Sing it loud so I can hear you
 

(I'll Follow the Sun)

One day you'll look to see I've gone
For tomorrow may rain,
so I'll follow the sun

 

(In My Life)

There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends,
I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
there is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
 

(It's All Too Much)

Floating down the stream of time
from life to life with me
Makes no difference where you are
or where you'd like to be
 

(Julia)

Half of what I say is meaningless
But I say it just to reach you
Julia

[...]

When I cannot sing my heart
I can only speak my mind
 

(Lady Madonna)

Lady Madonna lying on the bed
Listen to the music playing in your head
 

(Let It Be)

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right it front of me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be

[...]

And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow
Let It Be
I wake up to the sound of music,
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let It Be

(Long, Long, Long)

It's been long, long, long time
How could I ever have lost you
When I loved you

It look a long, long, long time
Now I'm so happy I found you
How I love you

So many tears I was searching
So many tears I was wasting

Now I can see you be you
How can I ever misplace you

(Nowhere Man)

He's a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

Doesn't have a point of view
knows not where he's going to
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen
You don't know what you're missing
Nowhere man, the world is at your command

He's as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere man, can you see me at all
Nowhere man don't worry
Take your time, don't hurry
Leave it all till somebody else
Lends you a hand
 

(Rain)

If the rain comes
they run and hide their heads
They might as well be dead
If the rain comes...

When the sun shines
they slip into the shade
and sip their lemonade
When the sun shines...

Rain, I don't mind
Shine, the weather's fine

I can show you
that when it starts to rain
everything's the same...

[...]

Can you hear me
that when it rains and shines
it's just a state of mind
 

(Real Love)

All my little plans and schemes,
lost like some forgotten dreams,
seems that all I really was doing
was waiting for you
 

(She Said She Said)

She said I know what it's like to be dead
I know what it is to be sad
And she's making me feel like I've never been born

(Strawberry Fields Forever)

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone
but it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me

(The End)

And in the end, the love you take
is equal to the love you make
 

(The Fool on the Hill)

Well on the way, his head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices
is talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice
 

(The Inner Light)

Without going out of my door
I can know all things of earth
Without looking out of my window
I could know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
 

(The Long and Winding Road)

The long and winding road
that leads to your door
will never disappear
I've seen that road before
It always leads me her
Lead me to you door

The wild and windy night
that the rain washed away
Has left a pool of tears
crying for the day
Why leave me standing here
let me know the way
 

(Tomorrow Never Knows)

But listen to the
color of your dreams
 

(Two of Us)

Two of us sending postcards
writing letters on my wall
You and me burning matches
lifting latches on our way back home...

You and I have memories
longer than the road
that stretches out ahead

Two of us wearing raincoats
standing solo in the sun
You and me chasing paper
getting nowhere on our way back home
 

(We Can Work It Out)

Life is very short and there's no time
for fussing and fighting, my friend
I have always thought that it's a crime
So I will ask you once again

Try to see it my way
Only time will tell of I am right or I am wrong
While you see it your
There's a chance we might fall apart before too long
 

(When I'm 64)

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
stating point of view
indicate precisely what you mean to say
yours sincerely wasting away
 

(While My Guitar Gently Weeps)

I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
 

(With A Little Help From My Friends)

What would you think if I sang out of tune
Would you stand up and walk out on me
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not o sing out of key
 

(Within You Without You)

Try to realize it's all within yourself
no one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
and life flows on within you and without you

We were talking
about the love that's gone so cold
and the people who gain the world
and lose their soul
They don't know, they can't see
Are you one of them
 

(Yesterday)

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it look as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
 

(You Never Give Me Your Money)

One sweet dream
Pick up the bags and get in the limousine
Soon we'll be away from here
Step on the gas and wipe that tear away
One sweet dream
Came true today