While Mary Gaitskill's character Alison Owen does not refer to the Beatles in the above epigraph, the musical and lyrical range of what she deems the “new songs” owes a tremendous debt to the group from Liverpool. While some early pop artists, such as Chuck Berry, had occasionally explored topics other than puppy love, teen angst, and the exuberance of youth, serious considerations of subjects beyond this terrain fell mainly to performers in the traditional and folk genres, and few ever reached the level of “visions and adventures.” Indeed, had a few brave souls forayed into this uncharted territory, the audience might have taunted them off the stage. Starting with A Hard Day's Night, however, and reaching fruition in Rubber Soul and Revolver, the Beatles crossed a the matic threshold that would both inspire their pop contemporaries and develop an audience ready for songs about more than hand-holding and whispered secrets. It is no coincidence that Rubber Soul took its narrative cues more from folk crossovers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds than from the Beatles' pop cohorts. Sonically the influences were numerous, from the soul alluded to in the album's title to country and western and Indian sitar music.

Remarkably, while critics inevitably cite Rubber Soul as the Beatles' “transitional” album, the shift from successful pop act to unparalleled masters of the studio took but three years. Ultimately, the demarcation between Beatlemania and the studio years proves an arbitrary one, for from the beginning the Beatles, especially John Lennon, showed a lyrical uneasiness with their expected subject matter.