"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"

Song: “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”

Albume: Help! (1965)

Written be Lennon, “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” is an acoustic-driven folkish song by John, heavily influenced by Bob Dylan.  The clip below is from the film Help!, and is yet another example of how the Beatles paved the way for the contemporary music video. The tune has no backing vocals and only light percussion, but musician John Scott recorded tenor and alto flute parts, making it the group’s first song (other than “Love Me Do”) to feature an outside musician.

Look past the silliness of the video and listen to the song with this in mind: Musician and gay activist Tom Robinson has said “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” is likely about Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager, who was gay. It was common to stay in the closet at that time in Great Britain, where homosexuality was then a crime.

Sadly, Epstein died of an overdose (of sleeping pills) 45 years ago this month at the age of 32. There continues to be speculation about whether or not Epstein took his own life, but the official cause of death was ruled as accidental.