This is the last song The Beatles recorded. John Lennon wrote it around the chord sequence from the slow movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata played backwards, originally by Yoko at John’s inspiration. This song belies practically everything Lennon said publicly about his partnership with Paul McCartney, up until just before he died, by which time Lennon finally had the rudiments of a working method that did not highlight McCartney’s absence from the room. That is not to say that “Because” is not Lennon’s sole composition, but it is also neither the “rock & roll” that supposedly distinguished him, nor would it have been one of the late Beatles singles that were usually McCartney songs (irrelevant now; but not then, even to the Beatles). “Because” is, however, perfect: 2:45 of reverse Beethoven sung in triple-tracked three part harmony by John and George with Paul’s upper partials. This is what we have. As Linda McCartney said in 1984 (when Paul was out of the room): “I know that Paul was desperate to write with John again. … People thought, Well, [John's] … a househusband and all that, but he wasn't happy. He couldn't write and it drove him crazy.” We will never know.
Note: For Advent, 25 secular essays about 25 songs, one per day from Dec. 1 through Dec. 25. Each essay is exactly 200 words long.
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