Yes It Is

"Yes It Is" is a song by the Beatles, released in 1965. Written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney) it was first released as the B-side to "Ticket to Ride". It features some of the Beatles' most complex and dissonant three-part vocal harmonies and showcases George Harrison's early use of volume pedal guitar.

Composition

In his 1980 interview with Playboy, John Lennon described it as an attempt to rewrite "This Boy" (the style of the song) that "didn't quite work".Paul McCartney on the other hand described it as "a very fine song of John's", and said he was present when Lennon finished writing it.

Musical structure

The song is in the 12/8 time signature, in the key of E and begins (on "If you wear red tonight ...") with a I–IV-ii7-V7 chord progression (E-A-F#m7-B7) in which the word "tonight" (B melody note) appears as a "delicately haunting" 4th above the F#m7. The melodic pitches of this first two bar phrase are repeated (with initial repetition of the G# melody note) on "remember what I said tonight," except that the B melody note on the second "tonight" is now backed by a ♭VII (D) chord that shapes the B melody note into a more "luscious" 6th. The chorus ("Yes it is, it's true. Yes it is, it's true") involves a I (E chord)- III (G# chord)- IV (A chord)- I (E chord) progression in which the major III (G#) chord appears for the first time in the Song to propel the Plagal drop from IV (A) to the tonic I (E) chord.