Michelle is a love ballad by the English rock band the Beatles, from their 1965 album Rubber Soul. It was mainly written by Paul McCartney, with the middle eight co-written by John Lennon, and a portion of the lyrics is sung in French. The song grew from McCartney’s fascination with Parisian Left Bank culture; the line Michelle, ma belle was shaped with help from a French teacher, Jan Vaughan, while Lennon contributed the I love you bridge inspired by Nina Simone. Musically it began as an instrumental in C with a finger-picked style, but Rubber Soul presents it in an F-based arrangement with a capo on the fifth fret and a notable jazz-like chord, a B flat 7 sharp nine. George Martin composed the guitar solo melody and produced the track, while McCartney played most of the instruments and sang the lead. It was released on 3 December 1965 and topped charts in several countries, including Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Norway and New Zealand. Michelle won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1967 and the Ivor Novello Award for Most Performed Work of 1966; BMI later named it the 42nd most performed song of the 20th century. The Beatles did not release Michelle as a North American single, though it inspired numerous covers by other artists in the 1960s. The UK mono version runs 2 minutes 33 seconds, with slightly longer stereo and US variations.
