You Can't Do That

Far more unfortunate than the Beatles songs laced with drug references and incomprehensible lyrics are the tunes that are mainlined with early Lennon misogyny, of which this song is a prime example. The lyrics indicate that the singer's girl is to talk to no other male except him--perhaps not the most enlightened message to be sending to your screaming female fans. Stranger still is the way these lyrics are delivered with a cheery, smiling face (as seen in the Hard Day's Night outtake shown in the "making of" documentary of this movie), as though nothing untoward was being sung. It's a chilling precursor to The Police's Every Breath You Take two decades later.

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