Nowhere Man (song)

"Nowhere Man"
US picture sleeve
Single by the Beatles
B-side	"What Goes On"
Released	3 December 1965 (1965-12-03) (UK Rubber Soul album) 21 February 1966 (US single)
Recorded	21–22 October 1965
Studio	EMI, London
Genre	Folk rock[1]
Length	2:44
Label	Capitol
Songwriter(s)	Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)	George Martin
The Beatles US singles chronology
"Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out" (1965) "Nowhere Man" (1966) "Paperback Writer" (1966)

"Nowhere Man" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in December 1965 on their album Rubber Soul,^[2] except in the United States and Canada, where it was first issued as a single A-side in February 1966 before appearing on the album Yesterday and Today. The song was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. In the U.S., the single peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the chart compiled by Record World magazine, as it did the RPM 100 chart in Canada and in Australia. The song was also released as a single in some countries where it had been included on Rubber Soul, including Australia, where it topped the singles chart.

Recorded on 21 and 22 October 1965, "Nowhere Man" describes a man with no direction in his life and with no genuine worldview. It is one of the first Beatles songs to be entirely unrelated to romance or love, and marks a notable example of Lennon's philosophically oriented songwriting.^[3] Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison sing the song in three-part harmony. The lead guitar solo was performed in unison by Harrison and Lennon.^[4][5] The pair played identical "sonic blue"-coloured Fender Stratocasters on the track.^[6] The song appears in the film Yellow Submarine, where the Beatles sing it about the character Jeremy Hillary Boob after meeting him in the "nowhere land". The song was also played throughout the Beatles' 1966 US tour and their 1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines.