Here’s a chance to get a complimentary Amazon-provided MP3 of that British dude I’m always on about. The track available is called “I’m Falling” and is one of the most gorgeous songs on Hitchcock’s recent release, Goodnight Oslo.
Upon first listen, it sounds like a straightforward love song but it was actually written for a movie that may never be made. The Fifth Beatle—which has been in various stages of production since 2005—is a biopic of the Fab Four’s late manager Brian Epstein who discovered the band onstage during a sweaty lunchtime show at Liverpool’s subterranean Cavern Club in 1961.
Epstein served as the band’s de facto manager, PR man, confidante and sidekick until his accidental(-ish)1 overdose at the age of 32. “The Fifth Beatle” is a term that was passed around more frequently than a Revolver-era roach clip, but Paul McCartney continues to give the official designation to Epstein.
None of this info is crucial to appreciating Hitchcock’s song, not when the lyrics drop heartbreaking insecurities like “I’m afraid of loving you/But you’re afraid I can’t”. After knowing the bit of Epstein trivia, though, you’ll be completely unsurprised that the song fades out with a bit of Beatlesque harmony that makes it sound like an outtake from the second side of Abbey Road.
Go. Download it. Otherwise, I’ll get even more pretentious.
1 Epstein had attempted suicide once before, going so far as to write a note that claimed he “[couldn’t] take it anymore” but when confronted, he shrugged it off and said it had been an accident.
