Rubber Soul

The next album, Rubber Soul, came out in December 1965. It was another big step for the band. They were exploring different kinds of music and different subjects. 'In My Life' was a beautiful song about places and people in the past. Even the album's love songs weren't the simple love songs of the band's early days. One of the most interesting songs on the album was John's 'Norwegian Wood'. Many people wanted to know what the song meant. It was about a girl, but he didn't want his wife Cynthia to know this. George played the Indian musical instrument the sitar on 'Norwegian Wood'. He first noticed the instrument in an Indian restaurant in the film Help! This was the start of George's long interest in Indian music and ideas. STORY BEHIND THE SONG

Around the time of Rubber Soul, the single 'Day Tripper' 'We Can Work It Out' reached number one. Paul wrote most of 'We Can Work It Out' and John wrote the middle part. This song showed the differences between the two men clearly. The main part was more hopeful, as Paul sang, 'Try to see it my way...' John's part of the song was less hopeful: 'Life is very short and there's no time...' The band's success continued with Paul's 'Paperback Writer' in 1966. It was their first single that wasn't about love. The music was becoming less and less simple, too. But now the Beatles faced a new problem - how could they play the songs in concert?