| "Think for Yourself" | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the Northern Songs sheet music | |
| Song by the Beatles | |
| from the album Rubber Soul | |
| Published | Northern Songs |
| Released | 3 December 1965 |
| Recorded | 8 November 1965 |
| Studio | EMI, London |
| Genre | |
| Length | 2:18 |
| Label | Parlophone |
| Songwriter(s) | George Harrison |
| Producer(s) | George Martin |
"Think for Yourself" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 album Rubber Soul. It was written by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist, and, together with "If I Needed Someone", marked the start of his emergence as a songwriter beside John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song's lyrics advocate independent thinking and reflect the Beatles' move towards more sophisticated concepts in their writing at this stage of their career. The song has invited interpretation as both a political statement and a love song, as Harrison dismisses a lover or friend in a tone that some commentators liken to Bob Dylan's 1965 single "Positively 4th Street". Among musicologists, the composition has been recognised as adventurous in the degree of tonal ambiguity it employs across parallel major and minor keys and through its suggestion of multiple musical modes.
The Beatles recorded "Think for Yourself" in November 1965, towards the end of the sessions for Rubber Soul. In a departure from convention, the track includes two bass guitar parts – one standard and one played through a fuzzbox. Performed by McCartney, this fuzz bass serves as a lead guitar line throughout the song and marked the first time that a bass guitar had been recorded using a fuzzbox device, as opposed to manipulating equipment to achieve a distorted sound. The group overdubbed their harmony vocals during a lighthearted session that was also intended to provide material for their 1965 fan-club Christmas disc. A snippet from this session was used in the Beatles' 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine. The song has also appeared on the 1976 compilation The Best of George Harrison and on the 1999 Yellow Submarine Songtrack album.
- ^ Evans, Mike (2014). The Beatles: Paperback Writer – 40 Years of Classic Writing. Plexus Publishing Limited. ISBN 9780859658966.
- ^ Greene, Doyle (2016). Rock, Counterculture and the Avant-Garde, 1966-1970 - How the Beatles, Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground Defined an Era. McFarland. p. 20. ISBN 9781476624037.