Michelle - Remastered 2009

The Beatles didn't speak French, but that didn't stop them from putting a few lines of it into "Michelle," a song that finds Paul McCartney trying to overcome a language barrier to express his love. "Ma belle" means "my beautiful," and the other line gets translated right in the lyric: Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble These are words that go together well

"Michelle" dates back to 1958, soon after The Beatles, known at the time as The Quarrymen, formed. John Lennon was a student at the Liverpool College of Art while Paul McCartney, 18 months younger, attended high school nearby. John would take him to art college parties, and at the time, French culture was a trend. Paul would try to fit in by sitting in a corner and pretending to be French. He would play little tunes on his guitar, but he only knew a few French words, so he would groan or make words up. At one of these parties, he played a tune John remembered years later when they were working on their 1965 Rubber Soul album. As Paul explained in Observer Music Monthly, John told him, "You remember that thing you wrote about the French? That wasn't a bad song, that. You should do that." McCartney took the advice and completed the song with Lennon's help.

There was no Google Translate in 1965, so Paul McCartney had to find a French speaker to help him with the French lines and also come up with a French girl's name for the title. Fortunately, his good friend Ivan Vaughan, the man who introduced him to John Lennon in 1957, was married to a woman named Jan who spoke fluent French. Ivan and Jan were with Paul and his girlfriend, Jane Asher, at Jane's house when Paul worked out the lyric with Jan, who suggested "Michelle" for the name and "ma belle" to rhyme with it. Paul came up with the line "These are words that go together well," and she gave him the translation. When he played the song for Lennon, John suggested the "I love you" part in the middle.