McCartney double-tracked vocal, acoustic rhythm guitar, bass, lead guitar; Lennon harmony vocal,
acoustic rhythm guitar; Harrison guitar(?);
Starr drums, tambourine, organ
Recorded: 24th October, 6th, 10th, 11th November 1965, Abbey Road 2.
Producer: George Martin. Engineer: Norman Smith.
UK release: 3rd December 1965 (LP: RUBBER SOUL). US release: 6TH December 1965 (LP: RUBBER SOUL).
Uit Ian MacDonald's Revolution in the Head:
Like WE CAN WORK IT OUT, I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU records a hiatus in McCartney's affair with Jane Asher - this time
serious enough to have made him insist on three separate attempts at getting the recording right [1]. A neat construction
in the rare key of A flat major [2], the song, which shows signs of having started as an exercise in the manner of Dylan,
uses its changes to underline ambiguities and questions in the lyric. Even the introductory acoustic guitar, probably
played by McCartney, enters in waltz-time before slipping, deceptively, into 4/4. To judge by the style of the lead
guitar, McCartney may also have played this, making it possible that Harrison doesn't appear on the track at all
(as may also be the case on WE CAN WORK IT OUT) [3]. With Starr stabbing at a Vox Continental organ, McCartney yells
the choruses indignantly at the top of his chest register, imparting a recurring kick to a thoughtful minor recording.
Uit Andy Babiuk's Beatles Gear:
"We usually talked more about music and records [than instruments]. But I did ask Ringo about I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU
and that tapping percussion sound on it. He told me that I was privy to a great secret, that he just tapped a pack of
matches with his finger." (Is dit een misverstand met BLACKBIRD, waar dit verhaal ook boven komt drijven voor de percussie?)
Notes:
[1] The first version in G major (nine hours on 24th October) was slower and tougher, using a rhythm track of claves,
maracas, and drums. Instead of the middle eight, which did not then exist, the group used two instrumental passages in
blues form, with lead guitar in blues style (Anthology 2). The second version (six hours on the evening of 6th November)
adopted an up-tempo country-and-western approach. The third attempt (eight hours on 11th November) was the version
selected for the album.
[2] Since the song was originally in G major, the final key must have come about either by the use of a capo or
(more probably in this instance) by varispeeding.
[3] According to engineer Norman Smith, the perfectionist McCartney had begun to insist on Harrison playing predetermined
solos. If the latter failed to get them precisely right, he would play them himself, a luxury afforded by four-track
recording procedures in which solos and other overdubs could be added on spare tracks. Though infuriated by this,
Harrison kept quiet about it during these sessions (which were also, observes Smith, characterised by tension between
Lennon and McCartney).