Because is a song written by John Lennon that was recorded for the famous Abbey Road album in 1969. According to Lennon he was inspired by Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Read on to find out how!
Just as Beethoven was revolutionary in his time, bravely pursuing his own new path and changing classical music for ever, so did – in a way – Beatles open a door to a new era in songwriting and music. Beethoven was born in the classical music era, where music was balanced, clean and elegant. He transformed it into the romantic era, where music is full of energy and passion. Beetles, similarly took the simple and bare rock-n-roll music of the ‘50s and transformed it into the so-called popular music. They influenced the songwriters to be more creative, more sophisticated and have more freedom.
|Related: Was Beethoven Classical or Romantic era composer?
It was Beatles producer George Martin who time-to-time influenced their music with some classical touch. He was the man behind Yesterday’s string quartets arrangement or the heavy presence of brass, strings and woodwinds in Abbey Road. Because was different, it came from an inspiring moment and completely from Yoko Ono and Lennon.
Yoko Ono was trained in classical music and piano play. One day she played on her piano Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata with John Lennon listening in the background. At the end of the play Lennon asked if she could play it backwards. Not meaning each note – of course! Rather talking about the arpeggios instead of going up, go down or the other way around. Inserted some base notes and played along. He also follows the key and key changes Beethoven did in the Moonlight.
Now, all he needed is some lyrics. Most probably he was inspired by the roundness of the music, how it goes and turns in circles. From this, probably he remembered the Earth and how it turns and it lead to Because the world is round, it turns me on…
