The Beatles - Good Day Sunshine
The song, “Good Day Sunshine,” was chosen to open side two of the album undoubtedly to pick up the level of positivity and create an artistic contrast within the framework contained on the LP. While it was true that Paul was the last holdout of the group to experiencing the “higher awareness” of acid at this point, he apparently still chose to get his high from taking an innocent walk in the park with his girl on a “sunny day,” as depicted in this track.
“Wrote that out at John’s one day…the sun was shining,” McCartney remembered in 1984, adding: “influenced by The Lovin’ Spoonful.” He elaborates further in his 1997 book “Many Years From Now”: "It was really very much a nod to The Lovin’ Spoonful’s ‘Daydream,’ the same traditional, almost trad-jazz feel. That was our favorite record of theirs. ‘Good Day Sunshine’ was me trying to write something very similar to ‘Daydream.’ John and I wrote it together at Kenwood, but it was basically mine, and he helped me with it." From: http://www.beatlesebooks.com/good-day-sunshine
Songs like "I Want to Tell You" and the entire "Revolver" album as a whole marked a shift in the Beatles. More of Harrison's contributions made the final cut than in past albums. This trend continued throughout the rest of the band's time together.
Aside from mind-expanding lyrics, George Harrison had to do some musical expanding to complete the song as well. "I realized the chords I knew at the time just didn't capture that feeling. So after I got the guitar riff, I experimented until I came up with this dissonant chord that really echoed that sense of frustration" (per Far Out). Therefore, the lyrics convey a difficulty in communicating one's feelings, as does the melody which accompanies them.
The chord in question is Harrison's own invention. However, not all listeners seemed to notice. In Harrison's 1992 interview with "Guitar World," the interviewer pointed out the chord at the end of the song. "I'm really pleased that you noticed that. That's an E7th with an F on the top, played on the piano," Harrison explained. "I'm really proud of that, because I literally invented that chord." Despite the achievement and the band's fame, few other songs have used the chord. However, fellow Beatle John Lennon used it for the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." From: https://www.grunge.com/1136472/the-story-behind-the-beatles-song-i-want-to-tell-you/
Regarding “She Said She Said,” John remembers: “That was written after an acid trip in L.A. during a break in The Beatles tour where we were having fun with The Byrds and lots of girls. Peter Fonda came in when we were on acid and he kept coming up to me and sitting next to me and whispering, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead.’ He was describing an acid trip he’d been on. We didn’t want to hear about that! We were on an acid trip, and the sun was shining, and the girls were dancing (some from Playboy, I believe) and the whole thing was really beautiful and Sixties. And this guy, who I didn’t really know - he hadn’t made ‘Easy Rider’ (yet) or anything, kept coming over, wearing shades, saying, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead,’ and we kept leaving him, because he was so boring. It was scary, when you’re flying high: ‘Don’t tell me about it. I don’t want to know what it’s like to be dead!’”
Peter Fonda gives a more detailed interpretation of this incident in his book "Don't Tell Dad": “David Crosby came and got me, I don't know why it was me, and said, 'George is in trouble...' So I had to go over there and say, 'Don't worry about it, George, this is what this drug does...It unlocks the doors of perception.'...I remember sitting out on the deck of the house with George, who was telling me that he thought he was dying. I told him that there was nothing to be afraid of and that all he needed to do was to relax. I said that I knew what it was like to be dead because when I was 10 years old I’d accidentally shot myself in the stomach and my heart stopped beating three times while I was on the operating table because I’d lost so much blood. John was passing at the time and heard me saying ‘I know what it’s like to be dead.’ He looked at me and said, ‘you’re making me feel I’ve never been born – Who put all that sh#t in your head?’…When I heard ‘Revolver’ for the first time I knew exactly where the song had come from, although John never acknowledged it to me and I never mentioned it to anyone”. From: http://www.beatlesebooks.com/she-said-she-said
