"And I Love Her" by Lennon/McCartney
The doorway to an infinite world
“I give her all my love / That's all I do / And if you saw my love / You'd love her too / I love her”
As a six year old, I heard this song for the first time. On a cassette. The cassette was called “Love Songs”, one of a few Beatles compilation sets that came out in the 70’s.
The tape was kicking around our house, and for some reason “And I Love Her” is the only song I remember from it. The tracklist is full of great songs, but the meaning of those other songs wouldn’t have been understandable to a six year old.
“And I Love Her” is crystal clear in what it’s saying. Clear enough for a child to understand.
“She gives me everything / And tenderly / The kiss my lover brings / She brings to me / And I love her”
The real hook for me was not lyrical: it was the melodic jump of a tritone in the initial phrase. As a grownup I hear the line “She gives me everything” in a much more grownup way, but it was really the Aeolian richness of the melody which turned me on at six.
My inner music nerd was born.
“A love like ours could never die / As long as I have you near me”
Not that I had any idea what was happening to me at the time. This might seem like it’s a love song for a person, but to this day I hear Paul singing it to the muse who brings him all of his incredible melodies. She’s the one who truly gives him everything.
“Bright are the stars that shine / Dark is the sky / I know this love of mine will never die / And I love her”
Out of all the songs I ended up loving, this is one that still stops me in my tracks. This song came to me like an oracle. She took me by the hand and said, Trev, here is the doorway to an infinite world. You can walk through this door and never come out the other side. This world will give you everything. It will also take everything, but this is why we are here.
My melodic ability as a guitarist is no match for this tune, yet. But I love the song too much not to sing it anyway:
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