Beatles Archives - Page 28 of 36 - Ramblin' with Roger

Summer Songs QUESTION

I HATE it when two or even three songs are counted as a song.

Entertainment Weekly did one of those lists of summer songs, again. Some radio station has the full 100 list, with video links to most of them.

The * indicates the ones that came to me on the list.

100. ”STAY (I MISSED YOU)” (1994)
Lisa Loeb
99. ”TENNESSEE” (1992)
Arrested Development
98. ”WE’RE AN AMERICAN BAND” (1973)
Grand Funk Railroad
97. ”RADAR LOVE” (1974)
Golden Earring
96. ”THE LOVE YOU SAVE” (1970)
The Jackson 5
95. ”DANCING IN THE DARK” (1984)
Bruce Springsteen
94. ”FUNKYTOWN” (1980)
Lipps Inc.
93. ”YAKETY YAK” (1958)
The Coasters
92. ”SUMMERTIME, SUMMERTIME” (1958)
The Jamies
91. ”GANGSTER’S PARADISE” (1995)
Coolio
90. ”KISS FROM A ROSE” (1995)
Seal
89. ”MACHO MAN” (1978)
The Village People
88. ”MY CHERIE AMOUR” (1969)
Stevie Wonder
87. ”WATERLOO” (1974)
ABBA
86. ”SUMMERTIME” (1991)
D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
85. ”THE END OF THE INNOCENCE” (1989)
Don Henley
84. ”SAN FRANCISCO (BE SURE TO WEAR FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR)” (1967)
Scott McKenzie
83. ”MY LOVE” (2006)
Justin Timberlake
82. ”UNDER THE BRIDGE” (1992)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
81. ”HOT IN HERRE” (2002)
Nelly
80. ”WILD THING” (1966)
The Troggs
79. ”HOT BLOODED” (1978)
Foreigner
78. ”TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS” (1974)
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
77. ”LIVIN LA VIDA LOCA” (1999)
Ricky Martin
76. ”DON’T YOU WANT ME” (1982)
Human League
75. ”TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD” (1974)
Rufus
74. ”WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT” (1984)
Tina Turner
73. ”THIS LOVE” (2004)
Maroon 5
72. ”(THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU” (1970)
The Carpenters
71. ”A WHITER SHADE OF PALE” (1967)
Procol Harum
70. ”LET’S GET IT ON” (1973)
Marvin Gaye
69. ”VACATION” (1982)
The Go-Go’s
68. ”MO MONEY, MO PROBLEMS” (1997)
Notorious B.I.G. (featuring Mase, Puff Daddy)
67. ”LITTLE RED CORVETTE” (1982)
Prince
66. ”WE ARE FAMILY” (1979)
Sister Sledge
65. ”FOOLED AROUND AND FELL IN LOVE” (1976)
Elvin Bishop
64 ”KODACHROME” (1973)
Paul Simon
63. ”WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO” (1964)
The Supremes
62. ”SEA OF LOVE” (1959)
Phil Phillips with the Twilights
61. ”THE LOCO-MOTION” (1962)
Little Eva
60. ”UMBRELLA” (2007)
Rihanna
59. ”CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU” (1967)
Frankie Valli
58. ”ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE” (1967)
The Beatles
57. ”YOU BELONG WITH ME” (2009)
Taylor Swift
56. ”SMOOTH” (1999)
Santana, featuring Rob Thomas
55. ”SEALED WITH A KISS” (1962)
Brian Hyland
54. ”PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM” (1975)
Elton John
53. ”THE LETTER” (1967)
The Box Tops
52. ”HOLLABACK GIRL” (2005)
Gwen Stefani
51. ”SLEDGEHAMMER” (1986)
Peter Gabriel
50. ”YOU SHOULD BE DANCING” (1976)
Bee Gees
49. ”TAKE IT EASY” (1972)
The Eagles
48. ”(WE’RE GONNA) ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK” (1955)
Bill Haley & His Comets
47. ”CRAZY IN LOVE” (2003)
Beyoncé & Jay-Z
46. ”LIVE AND LET DIE” (1973)
Paul McCartney and Wings
45. ”I GOT YOU BABE” (1965)
Sonny and Cher
44. ”DON’T BE CRUEL”/”HOUND DOG” (1956)
Elvis Presley
43. ”GREEN ONIONS” (1962)
Booker T. & the MG’s
42. ”SUNSHINE SUPERMAN” (1966)
Donovan
41. ”GOOD TIMES” (1979)
Chic
40. ”GRAZING IN THE GRASS” (1968)
Hugh Masakela
39. ”GROOVIN”’ (1967)
The Rascals
38. ”FOREVER” (2008)
Chris Brown
37. ”STAND BY ME” (1961)
Ben E. King
36. ”RAMBLIN’ MAN” (1973)
The Allman Brothers Band
35. ”I DON’T WANT TO MISS A THING” (1998)
Aerosmith
34. ”MY SHARONA” (1979)
The Knack
33. ”MISS YOU” (1978)
Rolling Stones
32. ”WATERFALLS” (1995)
TLC
31. ”CRUEL SUMMER” (1984)
Bananarama
30. ”ALL I WANNA DO” (1994)
Sheryl Crow
29. ”THE TWIST”/”LET’S TWIST AGAIN” (1960/61)
Chubby Checker
28. ”BORN TO BE WILD” (1968)
Steppenwolf
27. ”YOU’RE THE ONE THAT I WANT”/”SUMMER NIGHTS” (1978)
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
”GREASE” (1978)
Frankie Valli
26. ”LIKE A ROLLING STONE” (1965)
Bob Dylan
25. ”DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART” (1976)
Elton John and Kiki Dee
24. ”CALIFORNIA LOVE” (1996)
Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre
23. ”EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE” (1983)
The Police
22. ”WOULDN’T IT BE NICE” (1966)
The Beach Boys
21. ”WIPEOUT” (1963)
The Surfaris
20. ”CRAZY” (2006)
Gnarls Barkley
19. ”A HARD DAY’S NIGHT” (1964)
The Beatles
18. ”MAGGIE MAY” (1971)
Rod Stewart
17. ”IN THE SUMMERTIME” (1970)
Mungo Jerry
16. ”THE MESSAGE” (1982)
Grand Master Flash & the Furious Five
15. ”I GET AROUND” (1964)
The Beach Boys
14. ”HEY YA” (2003)
OutKast
13. ”ROCK THE BOAT” (1974)
The Hues Corporation
12. ”SUMMERTIME BLUES” (1958)
Eddie Cochran
11. ”(I CAN’T GET NO) SATISFACTION” (1965)
The Rolling Stones
10. ”HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME” (1969)
Sly & the Family Stone
9. ”BORDERLINE” (1984)
Madonna
8. ”DANCING IN THE STREET” (1964)
Martha and the Vandellas
7. ”CALIFORNIA GURLS” (2010)
Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
6. ”LIGHT MY FIRE” (1967)
The Doors
5. ”UNDER THE BOARDWALK” (1964)
The Drifters
4. ”HEAT WAVE” (1963)
Martha and the Vandellas
3. ”SCHOOL’S OUT” (1972)
Alice Cooper
2. ”CALIFORNIA GIRLS” (1965)
The Beach Boys
*1. ”SUMMER IN THE CITY” (1966)
The Lovin’ Spoonful

Incidentally, I HATE it when two or even three songs are counted as a song.

Surely, some of the ones I didn’t think of should also be on the list. But there are some that just mystify me, even though they came out in the summer.

BEATLES: A Hard Day’s Night was a hit in the summer of ’64, but so were lots of other songs. All You Need Is Love ditto for ’67. Here Comes the Sun or Good Day Sunshine feels more thematically valid.
BEACH BOYS: I Get Around and California Girls are good choices, but Wouldn’t It Be Nice? All of those surf and cars songs seem more appropriate, such as Surfer Girl, 409, Surfin’ USA, even Good Vibrations.

Then there are the songs that were missed:

Summer Breeze-Seals & Crofts
Palisades Park- Freddie Cannon
Sunny Afternoon-the Kinks
A Summer Song-Chad & Jeremy
Walkin’ on Sunshine-Katrina & the Waves
Up on the Roof-the Drifters

Others made cases for Boys of Summer or All She Wants To Do Is Dance_Don Henley, Summer Fling-k.d. lang, Afternoon Delight-Starlight Vocal Band, Summer of ’69-Bryan Adams, some country and reggae songs, and the entire oeuvre of Jimmy Buffett.

What songs would you add to or delete from the list?

Beatles Island Songs, 3-1

He’s utterly transfixed by the backwards tape, the chanting.

Before discussing my final three picks, I decided to rank the albums by adding up the ordinal values, then dividing by the number of tracks on the album; the lower the number, the better. I know this is particularly unfair to Abbey Road since those brief tracks didn’t make the cut, but the suite would have fared far better, and the album still did quite well. And comparing ordinals, with no other weights, is bad math. Whatever.

These are the British albums, so these are the British release dates:

# Title Release date

1 Please Please Me 1963, March 22 -137/125.86 (14)
2 With the Beatles 1963, November 22 – 126 (14)
3 A Hard Day’s Night 1964, July 10 – 62.54 (13)
4 Beatles for Sale 1964, December 4 – 136.29 (14)
5 Help! 1965, August 6 – 86.64 (14)
6 Rubber Soul 1965, December 3 – 87.64 (14)
7 Revolver 1966, August 5 – 59.57 (14)
9 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967, June 1 – 92.54(13)
17 Magical Mystery Tour 1976, November 18 – 96.91 (11)
10 The Beatles 1968, November 22 – 123.5 (30)
11 Yellow Submarine 1969, January 17 – 141 (4)
12 Abbey Road 1969, September 26 – 118.47 (17)
13 Let It Be 170.33/155 (12)
28 The Beatles Past Masters, Volume One 1988, March 7 – 107.89 (18)
29 The Beatles Past Masters, Volume Two 1988, March 7 – 96.13/88.6 (15)

My affection for Revolver is well known to me, but A Hard Day’s Night did amazingly well. I prefer Rubber Soul to Help! as an album, but I was feeling burned out at the time over some of the better tracks on RS (In My Life, Norwegian Wood, Michelle). And unsurprisingly, Let It Be did poorly.

Notes: Magical Mystery Tour was released in the US in 1967, but it wasn’t considered as part of the canon in the UK until nine years later.
Wow: With the Beatles, the album that spawned many of the songs from the US Meet the Beatles was released on the day of the John F. Kennedy assassination. The sociological implications…
The albums with two numbers involved me substituting a different version of the same song; all the second versions ended up at end of the list.
Album #8 is A Collection of the Beatles Oldies (But Goldies), 1966, December 10, which essentially served the same function as Past Masters 1 did years later.
***

The rules of engagement

213-204
203-194
193-184
183-174
173-164
163-154
153-144
143-134
133-124
123-114
113-104
103-94
93-84
83-74
73-64
63-54
53-44
43-34
33-24
23-14
13-4

***
3 Help! from Help! A little after 09/09/09, my daughter and I watched the movie Help!, her for the first time, me for the first time since watching a quadruple feature of A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Yellow Submarine and the ever depressing Let It Be in the early 1970s. Help!, which I also saw when it first came out in 1965, was less good than I remembered it. But I fell in love with the music all over again. This specific song my daughter knows all the lyrics to, without either encouragement or prompting from me. Moreover, I connect with the notion of Lennon actually making the song a cry for help, overwhelmed by making records and movies, touring, et al. Also, if one were on an island, needing help seems quite appropriate.
2 Got To Get You Into My Life from Revolver. Imagine, if you will, a teenage boy home alone in the late 1960s playing a great album. This McCartney song comes on, and he’s enjoying it well enough. But as it gets to the final chorus, he starts slowly increasing the volume, making the horn so resplendent in his ears and down his spinal column that he practically weeps for joy.
1 Tomorrow Never Knows from Revolver. So the stereo is pretty loud when the last song, by Lennon, comes on, and he’s utterly transfixed by the backward tape, the chanting. Totally mesmerizing. Ultimately, the bass/drum section could be applied to any number of Beatles songs. Try singing A Hard Day’s Night or any number of other songs to it; it works. I realized this when I heard the LOVE album, and the mashup of Within You Without You with Tomorrow Never Knows really elevated my appreciation of the former, and in doing so, stoked my appreciation for the latter. Heck, it even goes with Jingle Bells. Some background on one of the most audacious recordings the Beatles would ever attempt.

Well, that was fun. Or something.

M is for Musical Format

LP sales are only a fraction of CD or download sales.

When I was a teenager buying music, the LP, the long-playing album played at 33 revolutions per minute, was the dominant recording format in the United States and elsewhere. Then the CD, the shiny disc, was introduced in the 1980s, and by the end of that decade, the compact disc had supplanted the LP as the dominant musical form. CD sales peaked in 2000 with 942.5 million units sold in the US but have begun a steady decline in the 21st century, losing out to digital sales.

It has been predicted that digital music sales will surpass CDs in 2012, although even digital sales in the US were flat in 2010, possibly because of economic unease.

But here’s the odd phenomenon: since 2007, vinyl sales have been on the rise. It’s nowhere near the LP’s heyday, but in an era where physical manifestations of music are on the wane, it’s a peculiar trend.

Top Selling Vinyl Albums Of 2008
1 – Radiohead – In Rainbows – 25,800
2 – The Beatles – Abbey Road – 16,500
3 – Guns N Roses – Chinese Democracy – 13,600
4 – B-52s – Funplex – 12,800
5 – Portishead – Third – 12,300
6 – Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane over the Sea – 10,200
7 – Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon – 10,200
8 – Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes – 9,600
9 – Metallica – Death Magnetic – 9,400
10 – Radiohead – OK Computer – 9,300

Top Selling Vinyl Albums Of 2009
1 – The Beatles – Abbey Road – 34,800
2 – Michael Jackson – Thriller – 29,800
3 – Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion – 14,000
4 – Wilco – Wilco – 13,200
5 – Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes – 12,700
6 – Pearl Jam – Backspacer – 12,500
7 – Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest – 11,600
8 – Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction – 11,500
9 – Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey… – 11,500
10 -Radiohead – In Rainbows – 11,400

Top Selling Vinyl Albums Of 2010
1 – The Beatles, Abbey Road -35,000
2 – Arcade Fire, The Suburbs -18,800
3 – The Black Keys, Brothers -18,400
4 – Vampire Weekend, Contra -15,000
5 – Michael Jackson, Thriller -14,200
6 – The National, High Violet -13,600
7 – Beach House, Teen Dream -13,000
8 – Jimi Hendrix Experience, Valleys of Neptune -11,400
9 – Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon -10,600
10 – The xx, The xx -10,200

Again, LP sales are only a fraction of CD or download sales. Still it’s a growing trend when many believe the music industry is experiencing a slow painful death.

ABC Wednesday – Round 8

Beatles Island Songs, 13-4

I’ve long been of the opinion that this song, consciously or otherwise, evokes the Gospel of John 1:1.

JEOPARDY! answers (questions at the end)

BEATLES LYRICS $100: “Na na na na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na…”
BEATLES LYRICS $200: “All the lonely people, where do they all belong?”
BEATLES LYRICS $400: “Children at your feet, wonder how you manage to make ends meet”
BEATLES LYRICS $500: “There beneath the blue suburban skies”
BEATLES LYRICS $1,000 (Daily Double): “Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book”
SONGS BY THE NUMBER $200: This Beatles song begins “When I get older, losing my hair Many years from now…”
BEFORE & AFTER $600: Beatles song about a “Talented Mr. Ripley” co-star
JEOPARDY! BOOBY TRAPS $600: This “Beatles drummer” was born in India in 1941
NEW AGE STUFF $800: In the ’60s your parents might have imitated the Beatles & visited one of these Hindu religious retreats
NO. 3 SONGS $100: The Beatles sang that he “doesn’t have a point of view, knows not where he’s going to”
FOR RICHARD $200: The Beatles we are all familiar with were John, Paul, George & the man born with this name
***
Beatles named #1 top artist of the last fifty years, as though there was a question about it. And in another poll, Paul McCartney is named ‘the best bass guitar player of all time’. What group had the #1, the #2, the #3, the #4 AND the #5 song on the U.S. Billboard chart, this week in 1964?

The Making of the Most Famous Album Cover – take a wild guess.

George Harrison’s Favorite Gibson Guitars
***
The rules of engagement

13 For No One from Revolver. I find this McCartney absolutely beautiful. Simple yet devastating. Vocal, then horn solo, then vocal and horn. Stunningly effective.
12 The Word from Rubber Soul. I’ve long been of the opinion that this song, consciously or otherwise, evokes the Gospel of John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” And in the song, the Word is Love. Ironic since it came out around the point when some people were burning Beatles albums because of a comment by primary composer Lennon about the Beatles being more popular than Jesus. Oh, and I LOVE the three-part harmony.
11 Day Tripper from a Double A-side single (UK), Yesterday and Today (US). You can tell that the intro is a solid hook by the number of times bands playing live will often finish it off with this familiar set of chords. Lennon, with McCartney.
10 Twist and Shout from Please Please Me (K), Introducing the Beatles/the Early Beatles (US). The song is the last song recorded for the album, done in one take, pretty much shredding Lennon’s voice. The harmony intro of ascending thirds is classic. Among the greatest cover songs EVER.
9 Good Morning Good Morning from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The rooster at the beginning was supposed to suggest the Kellogg’s corn flakes cereal rooster. Somehow, I “got” Lennon’s joke. My affection for this song stems from the Britishisms, the changing time signature, and the blistering, yet controlled guitar solos.
8 While My Guitar Gently Weeps from the white album. And speaking of guitars, Harrison and Eric Clapton trade riffs on this cut. Jaquandor describes it, so I don’t have to.
7 A Hard Day’s Night from A Hard Day’s Night (UK). A made-to-order song made for the movie intro, based on a Starr malaprop Lennon overheard. That jangly first chord. The whole soundtrack was quite an achievement.
6 You Won’t See Me from Rubber Soul. I always saw this as paired with I’m Looking Through You. I only recently realized that it is the Mal Evans sustained chord on the Hammond organ throughout the last verse, last chorus, and outro that gives this McCartney song a special buzz. At the same time, I have definitely related to the notion of feeling invisible.
5 Drive My Car from Rubber Soul (UK), Yesterday and Today (US). McCartney played this song first in his NYC concert in 2009. Extraordinary chord structure. I’ve noted before that it was John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful, saying in a magazine that this was on Rubber Soul, which eventually led me to the realization that the UK and US albums were not alike, even when they had the same name.
4 I Want You (She’s So Heavy) from Abbey Road. Lennon seems to steal its first line from the song I Want You, the first Bob Dylan song I ever owned. I’ve probably told this story before, but bears repeating: I was at a very low point in 1975. I was listening to the first side of the album with headphones at the Binghamton Public Library, cranking up the volume over time. Suddenly, the music, as it was designed, stopped. And I thought, for a brief moment, that I had died. But of course, I didn’t. So hearing it makes me remember that I’ve gotten through worse things.

JEOPARDY! questions:
What is “Hey Jude”?
What is “Eleanor Rigby”?
What is “Lady Madonna”?
What is “Penny Lane”?
What is “Paperback Writer”?
What is “When I’m Sixty-Four”?
What is “Hey Jude Law”?
Who was Pete Best?
What is an Ashram?
What is “Nowhere Man”?
Who was Richard Starkey?

Beatles Island Songs, 23-14

“I’ll Be Back” was originally in 3/4, as the Anthology recordings reveal – and I’ve heard cover versions done that way – but was ultimately recorded in 4/4.

(Confidential to Uthaclena: “Macca”!)

JEOPARDY! answers (Questions at the end)

BEATLES LYRICS $100: “He got o-no sideboard, he one spinal cracker”
BEATLES LYRICS $200: “It always leads me here, leads me to your door”
BEATLES LYRICS $300: “Closer, let me whisper in your ear, say the words I love to hear”
BEATLES LYRICS $400: “Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, tomorrow I’ll miss you” BEATLES LYRICS $500: “Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love”
***
Beatles Release Debut Album 48 Years Ago

Macca solo albums expanded editions coming in June

In pictures: Abbey Road Studio Two
***
The rules of engagement

23 Lady Madonna, from A-side of a single (UK), Hey Jude album (US). Initially, I wasn’t positive this last Capitol single even was the Beatles. That McCartney vocal was so affected, in a good way. I liked being surprised.
22 Rain, B-side of Paperback Writer single (UK), Hey Jude album (US). Not sure that I liked this song at all initially – it was kind of out there – but now love it. Backward tape loops make this the progenitor of all that Lennon weirdness. And it lives on the bass line to boot. Another video.
21 Glass Onion from the white album. One could make the case that, for an island selection, it ought to be #1; after all, the Lennon song namechecks several other Beatles songs. I did consider it, actually. I’m also particularly fond of the Anthology version of the song. “It’s a goal!”
20 I’ll Be Back from A Hard Day’s Night (UK), Beatles ’65. In dealing with affairs of the heart, always found this Lennon song very moving. And I love the guitar strumming and the specific harmony. This was originally in 3/4, as the Anthology recordings reveal – and I’ve heard cover versions done that way – but was ultimately recorded in 4/4.
19 Think for Yourself from Rubber Soul. There are probably no three Beatle songs in a row on an album that I love more than You Won’t See Me, Harrison’s Think For Yourself, and The Word. Yeah, I know Nowhere Man’s in there on the UK album, but it’s not what I grew up with. Love the instrumentation – more bottom – and the message.
18 I Want to Hold Your Hand A-side of a single (UK), Meet the Beatles (US). Only the Lennon- McCartney song that first went to #1 in the US, which, as George Martin mentioned, Capitol Records was essentially forced to release, which led directly to their appearance on Ed Sullivan. Oh, and a great song, to boot.
17 Ticket to Ride from Help! This has been described as a perfect single. I agree, and stretching past the three-minute boundary that singles were “supposed” to be Plaintive. The very first line is among my favorites. Lennon, the primary writer, “claimed that it was the first heavy metal song given the droning bassline, repeating drums, and loaded guitar lines.”
16 Eleanor Rigby from Revolver. A moving McCartney story song. But even without the lyrics, it’s a beautiful song, as the Anthology version shows. It was covered way too often, with an annoying sense of the song’s IMPORTANCE, and it’s STILL ranked this high.
15 Golden Slumbers from Abbey Road. At some level, this pick and the next honor the whole second-side suite. But I DO love McCartney’s vocal on this.
14 Carry That Weight from Abbey Road. Whereas the vocal here, by the whole band, sounds a little like drunken sailors. But I love the You Never Give Me your Money reprise.

JEOPARDY! questions
What is Come Together?
What is The Long And Winding Road?
What is Do You Want To Know A Secret?
What is All My Loving?
What is All You Need is Love? (on the show, NO ONE got this correct!)