via an E major chord, marking the only use of the expected G note in the A major scale. Lyrics Author Jonathan Gould describes "If I Needed Someone" as "a rueful rain check of a love song" and "an exercise in hypothetical romance". He comments that the melody's phrasing on the off-beat and the "drastically arpeggiated" bass line mirror the lyrical theme of "right person at the wrong time". As with much of the Beatles' songwriting on Rubber Soul, the lyrics reflect Dylan's influence, in terms of tone and content. Further to the message of the song title, Harrison offers his love only if he should happen to need "someone", and on the condition that time allows for such a relationship; he conveys his feelings in matter-of-fact terms. In Fontenot's description, the lyrics "are representative of the change in the Beatles' outlook and also of its era: tender but ambivalent". Harrison invites the woman he addresses to "Carve your number on my wall", yet offers only the possibility that he will contact her in the future. Over the two bridges, Harrison presents a more engaged perspective. He states that he's "too much in love", but had he and his lover met "some other day", the outcome might have been different. Fontenot cites these lyrics as the reason why some commentators attach an alternative meaning to the song, whereby the singer is already in a committed relationship and is addressing another woman, with the prospect of continuing a casual encounter. In author Andrew Grant Jackson's reading, "[Harrison] was heading towards marriage with Pattie Boyd, so the lyrics address all the women of the world, saying that had he met them earlier, it might have worked out, but now he was too much in love (but give me your number just in case)." While considering that Harrison appears to be "playing his options, albeit gently", author John Kruth deems the line "Carve your number on my wall" to be "one of Rubber Souls most enigmatic lyrics" and an evocation of the imagery in "Norwegian Wood". Recording George Martin, the band's producer, described Rubber Soul as "the first album to present a new, growing Beatles to the world". Throughout the project, the Beatles increasingly experimented with sound textures. In the case of "If I Needed Someone", as with "Girl", a Lennon composition recorded at the end of the sessions, the use of a