"From a Window" (Lennon-McCartney) [1:55] Originally released as Parlophone R 5156. Charts 23 July 1964; UK #10; US #23 Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas: Billy J. Kramer (vocals), Ray Jones (bass guitar), Tony Mansfield (drums), Mike Maxfield (guitar), and Robin MacDonald (guitar). Produced by George Martin. The British Invasion: The History of British Rock [3:3]. [Rhino R2 70321] The song, the performance, and the production all combine in a classic British recording. Lennon's song follows the standard "song form": AABA with an addended ABA. The harmonic structure follows the I-vi-IV-V-I pattern (in the guitar-friendly key of G) of a mid-fifties doo-wop tune, with a II preparation for V (also a standard pop-song progression).

And the text has a voyeuristic and possessive tone: the observer spies someone through the window and has to possess them. The performance is similarly predictable and almost passionless. The one surprise is the coda (possibly the work of George Martin) which has a false cadence to bVI and resolves with a plagal (IV-I) cadence.

Martin double-tracks Kramer's voice with just enough reverberation to cover the voice's thinness (and doubles the top notes at the end when Kramer cannot hit the high note). The bass and the bass drum link in the standard 1 - &3 - groove of British beat music. And the guitar-piano combination echoes the arrangements that Martin did with the Beatles in the same time period.

That the recording is so similar to "Bad to Me" reveals that Kramer and the Dakotas were stuck in a rut that would condemn them when musical styles changed.

	Section	Time	Meas.	Description	Text
	intro	0:00	2	instrumental vamp (establish key and meter)	—
A	verse	0:	8	double-tracked vocal; hook imbedded in the middle of every verse	a
A	verse	:	8	as above	b
B	chorus	:	8	as above	c
A	verse	:	8	as above	d
A	verse	:	8	guitar-piano solo	—
B	chorus	:	8	as in bridge above	c
A	verse	:	8	as in verses above with harmony at very end of line	d
	coda	:	3	extend

Text
Late yesterday night I saw the light shine from a window. And as I looked again your face came into sight.	a
I couldn't walk on until you'd gone from your window. I had to make you mine, I knew you were the one.	b
Oh, I would be glad just to have a love like that. Oh, I would be true, and I'd give my love to you.	c
So meet me tonight, just where the light shines from a window, And as I take your hand, say that you'll be mine tonight.	d

Northerners	Outline	Billy J. Kramer
	5-feb-10