At first glance, “I Should Have Known Better” seems like a standard early Beatles love song. But in this lecture, we uncover a deeper emotional arc beneath its simple title. Is John Lennon reflecting on love, or quietly regretting it? We analyze the song’s evolving lyrical perspective—from naive infatuation to possible disillusionment—and trace how Lennon builds that narrative through harmonic pacing, key modulation, and melodic delay. Musically, we examine the folk-inflected harmonica, the pivot from G to E minor, and John’s signature use of the fifth degree in melody. You'll learn about his “boomerang gesture,” an expressive melodic trick that adds depth to the song’s phrasing, and explore one of Lennon’s most emotionally compelling middle eights. With its delicate outro and shifting tonal center, this song proves more complex than it seems—and a revealing case study in how John stretched the Beatles' pop vocabulary into something more introspective.

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