She Said She Said

Peter Fonda was recently interviewed on "Here & Now" with Robin Young(produced by WBUR, here-now.org). He was being interviewed because of the movie "3:10 to Yuma". Peter stated that George Harrison was having a bad trip & he was trying to calm George down by telling George that he knew what it was like to be dead. So at least I believe the song is in part due to Peter Fonda.

Wikipedia states that there are early demos with the lyrics stating "He said", instead of "She said". Also it states that John Lennon was upset with what Peter was saying and stated "You're making me feel like I've never been born". Eventually John had Peter kicked out.

This song was supposedly written about an arguement John had with a journalast during an interview.

I heard this song was written after an acid trip at a party with Peter Fonda. Apparently PF kept telling JL that he knew what it was like to be dead.

Yeah, they were tripping and Peter Fonda was all hopped up and told John he knew what it was like to be dead, and The Beatles all thought he was a total wank and wanted him to get lost.

quote from peter fonda: "I said to George Harrison, 'I know what it's like to be dead' And John Lennon said to me, 'who put all that sh** in your head-- You know you're making me feel like I've never been born.' I said when I was a boy, I shot myself. It was an accident, and I died on the operating table and I suffered from a massive loss of blood, and I my heart stopped. So I died three times on the operating table."

Lennon's acid-mind at the time most likely associated that with the Tibetan book of the dead stuff that he was reading/putting into lyrics like Tomorrow Never Knows. Interesting stuff.

I love the timing of this song and the deliberate choice of the not obvious words.. it makes it really interesting and trippy.

Are these really the right lyrics?

"Who put all those things in your hair Things that make me feel like I'm sad"

Shouldn't "hair" be "head" and "sad" be "dead" Maybe somebody already asked this question. I'm pretty sure at least about the hair/head thing, but I could be wrong.

Largely thanks to George Harrison's fascination with Indian culture, the latter Beatles ventured into traditional Eastern themes. Tomorrow Never Knows, one of their trippier tracks, features monastic, humming lyrics while describing the art of meditation. Yet despite their wandering style, The Beatles were a Western band through and through, greatly shaping a whole era's culture on their native side of the meridian.

She Said She Said sketches a story about a melancholic girl who expresses her feelings with the darkest aspect of Eastern enlightenment - knowing the afterlife. This girl isn't happy, though, so I suppose she's just posturing with her jabber about being dead inside. She comes off as a little melodramatic.

Prince charming of this song, the narrator and John Lennon, is probably an equally Bohemian friend of the melancholic girl. He must be buying into some Eastern philosophy if the girl is making him feel like he had never been born - I don't think that means anything, really.

The two lean on each other: the girl confides her sadness, the man is given a chance to rescue her. Since the man knew happiness as a boy, and in all likelihood both probably know some happiness in their present life, there is a glimmer of hope in a future together, although nothing is guaranteed. Isn't tentative hope at the heart of music?

sounds like one hell of a party they were at...

This song is about a conversation with Peter Fonda tripping on acid at a party.

John was rather depressed about what he was hearing and probably said so.

"He Said" became "She Said" because it sounds more compelling when sung by a man, suggesting a conversation between possible lovers.

"She Said" became "She Said She Said" most likely because of the arrangement of the ending.