Cheer Down | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

I’d not noticed that before! Listening now and I see what you mean– it’s not Let It Roll because I’ve got it on the Best Of Dark Horse compilation. 

Fab song it is anyway, despite the barmy mixing. Little Girl and I have a running joke about the lines you mentioned: she doesn’t like that word ‘dead’ so I always make sure to sing along with it nice and loud.  I always feel cheered up– I mean, down– when I hear it. As the phrase was coined by Olivia (so I hear), I like to think of it as sort of her attitude toward George, as if she’s telling him, ‘Don’t worry, because if things go wrong, I’ll still be here for you.’ Of course I’m just making stuff up, but that’s how I like to see it. 

I like Olivia.  

I also like the guitar solo. And that ridiculous one-minute-forty-second-long coda, which is like George saying, ‘Okay, I’ve got the song lyrics and structure out of the way; let’s jam!’ And the way he draws out the word ‘crasssssshhhhhh’. And Jeff Lynne forgetting himself and contributing a ‘Cheer down!’ And the very ending.

It’s a great song, a droll lyric, and it’s got that sort of ‘I demand your full attention’ vibe, with that beat and George’s loud and determined slide, and his excellent, also loud and determined vocal. I like it.