Beatles: She's Leaving Home Meaning

Song Released: 1967

She's Leaving Home Lyrics

Wednesday morning at five o'clock as
the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would
say more
She goes downstairs to the kitchen
clutching her hankerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Mar 21st 2011 !⃝

   The song is definitely not about an abortion. It received a lot of scrutiny because Sgt Pepper was the first album with lyrics on the back so it was highly censored.
   
   Do some research: This was based on a newspaper story Paul McCartney read about a runaway girl. On February 27th, 1967 the London Daily Mail's headline read: "A-level girl dumps car and vanishes." That girl was 17-year-old Melanie Coe, who had ran away from home leaving everything behind. Her father was quoted as saying, "I cannot imagine why she should run away, she has everything here." McCartney said in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, "We'd seen that story and it was my inspiration. There was a lot of these at the time and that was enough to give us the storyline. So I started to get the lyrics: she slips out and leaves a note and the parents wake up, it was rather poignant. I like it as a song and when I showed it to John, he added the Greek chorus and long sustained notes. One of the nice things about the structure of the song is that it stays on those chords endlessly."

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   Lilly

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   Jun 19th 2010 !⃝

   the verse "leaving a note that she hoped would say more" is a note explaining to her parents that she is leaving home and the note would mean more than talking to them. The unamed girl's parents give her anything money could buy but not LOVE, this shows us that all the girl needs is for them to show her some love. In the verse "the apoointment she made meeting a man from a motor trade" is her boyfriend and she has an appointment with the doctor and she finds out that she is pregnant. the verse "fun Fun is one thing that money cant buy" means that she may have anything and everything money could buy but money cannot buy happiness.. "for so many years. bye bye" tells us that she has finally come of her shell after soo many years.
3. anonymous

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   Mar 24th 2013 !⃝

   Well, twice they say "she's leaving home after living alone for so many years", so I think that clearly speaks to the fact that her parents "gave her everything money could buy" but they didn't give her any love or attention, thus "living alone". There is nothing in there that makes me think she's having an abortion.. The man in the motor trade is her bf and she's having fun now because she is loved.
4. anonymous

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   Aug 6th 2011 !⃝

   I think its about a girl (in her 20's) and her parents wont let her leave home. then when she leaves she goes out and finally has fun.
5. freakdungeon

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   Mar 25th 2011 !⃝

   It's about the spirit of the age, the whole Sgt. Peppers album was. They lived in a very conservative and Christian time of British history. They were at the tail end of an empire that had stolen countries, destroyed lands, stolen resources, enslaved blacks, divided other cultures and had abused its own poor people treating them as little more than slightly paid slaves. The good Christian soldiers were saying Jesus was the salt of the earth and they were the assuming the opposing symbol of pepper to identify themselves as opposed to blind faith in religion and authority.
   
   IT IS AN AWAKENING. She is waking up to life for the first time. She is leaving her dutiful life and looking for her SELF, her modern IDENTITY and her INDEPENDENCE. There are also overtones of leaving her trust in religion and state behind (was a huge issue of the day).
   
   She didn’t want the burdens of the world and her sense of duty to clone her into another Christian soldier and state tool. She looked at her parent generation and realised that she didn’t want to give most of her life, she didn’t believe that a spirit of total sacrifice to god and country was necessary.
   
   She doesn’t want to feel alone, she’s felt alone for so many years and needs CHANGE, GROWTH, she sensed it in the age (60’s). FATHER SNORES AS HIS WIFE GETS INTO HER DRESSING GOWN is an interesting picture of the Father God that doesn’t reply and the Wife Church that dresses us on the inside with the same ideas.
   
   Then the parents ask why she would treat them so thoughtlessly, but they answer their own question – because they never thought of themselves and they struggled hard all their lives to get by. She wanted something better for herself and for her children when she had them. The spirit of the 60’s was to not follow religion and state religiously but to ask questions, become involved and to find an easier way with more happiness and friendship.
   
   She then meets a man in the motor trade and trades her ‘machine of the empire’ attitude for something else (whatever is needed to be happy, loving and ethical– free spirit).
   
   She stops trying and working and just lets herself be free, a slight attitude shift, a shift so subtle people don’t recognize it for what it is (her parents generation don't understand). Then she has fun, something inside that was always denied because of the well structured beliefs and duties that shaped her incorrectly for so many years.
6. anonymous

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   Jul 28th 2009 !⃝

   It's obviously about a girl who never had fun in her life and ran away from home to have fun!
7. anonymous

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   Feb 2nd 2009 !⃝

   actually your both wrong.
   
   it is actually a true story.
   she left home because she fell pregnant and she was afraid her parents would abuse her. and they always denied her of having fun. it was in the newspaper and they decided to write about it. she is still alive.
   
   there is more to the song then what it seems maybe do some research before you spread stuff that isnt true.
8. anonymous

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   Jan 9th 2009 !⃝

   Actually its about a true story of a girl running away from home unsure but i think it was to join a cult,
   Mccartney tried to not make it clear by adding 'meeting the the man from the motor trade.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
9. anonymous

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   Nov 12th 2008 !⃝

   She left home to have an abortion.
   
   The appointment with the man in the motor trade
   is an appointment with an abortionist. The Beatles
   had referenced the car as a euphemism for sex and
   sexuality in song before writing this one.
   
   The man in the motor trade is like
   a mechanic for the uterus - a gynecologist.
   
   In the song she dies because of the abortion, which is why the cynical verse "she is having fun" is used. Of course, she isn't, the reality is far more tragic.
   
   She wanted to tell her parents what was happening to her, thus the words "leaving the note that she hoped would say more". She could not communicate this to her oblivious parents, who seem to be sleepwalking through life, working for the money, and neglecting to connect with their child on an emotional level.
   
   The angelic harp music intro is a major clue as to what this song is about.
   
   One of McCartney/Lennon's best.
10. qris24

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    May 1st 2008 !⃝

    First let me say that the only way to truly appreciate The Beatles (in my opinion) you have to understand the music in light of the spirit of the times it was recorded in and with Sgt.Pepper and beyond the spirit of the times was altered consciousness- that's is to say "trippin' on LSD." Now that I've said that let me say that I am in no way advocating the use of LSD. Now having said that let me explain that under the influence of LSD the music takes on a whole new level of meaning because not only do you have access to the deeper level of your mind, which is the level this music comes from, but LSD also let's you appreciate the music PHYSICALLY. What does all this have to do with this song? Well in my own personal experience (tripping) the deep cello bass has the effect of making you feel as if you are about to lift out of your body, or about to have an out of body experience so your body is the 'Home' and your soul is the 'she' that's fixing to leave it. A pretty profound experience and one that let's you know that there is a whole lot more to the Beatles than meets the eye.
    
    And as an aside the song "A Day In The Life" will change your FREAKIN' life when heard in this state of mind. I could probably write a whole book on this album but it would be discredited because of the admission of using LSD.
    Oh well most people are scared of the truth...

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. anonymous

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    Feb 11th 2008 !⃝

    It's about the counterculture and kids leaving.
12. anonymous

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    Oct 26th 2007 !⃝

    It's about a girl having an abortion. I can't quite recall the publication, but it was said to be that in a Beatles insider magazine when this song was released. Listen to it with this in mind and it actually does make quite a bit of sense... remember to always look past the veil of what you initially sense and look deeper!
13. anonymous

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    Mar 4th 2007 !⃝

    It's not about kids becoming independent. It's about a young girl who is running away from home because she never felt love, nor had any fun, at home. Her parents were preoccupied and threw money at her, but did not give her time or attention.
14. anonymous

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    Nov 18th 2006 !⃝

    This song is pretty simply about a runaway...but it also a social commentary. About that time in the 60's, kids were becoming more independent, breaking away from their parents. This is a true to life story of how kids are leaving their homes and how the times are changing.

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