music Archives - Page 249 of 258 - Ramblin' with Roger

Beatles Island Songs, 153-144

Recommended: DM’s Beatles site.

JEOPARDY Answer of the day – POP MUSIC: Take 2 letters off a Beatles song title & you get this title of Paul McCartney’s 2002 live CD of his American tour. (Question is below.)

The rules of engagement

153 From Me to You. This song wasn’t on any album I owned until the Past Masters Volume 1 CD! Fine song, actually, but I just plain forget about its existence.
152 Within You Without You from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. An interesting, if ultimately slightly pedantic theological treatise from Harrison.
151 Please Mr. Postman from With the Beatles (UK), The Beatles’ Second Album (US). A song orginally by the Motown group the Marvelettes; this is a competent cover from John, but not better than the original.
150 The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill from the white album. A very funny Lennon song, particular the falsetto. Not sure what it means, but that’s all right.
149 Ask Me Why from Please Please Me (UK), Introducing the Beatles/The Early Beatles (US). Like the Latin feel of the Lennon song. Also the double meaning of the word “please”.
148 The Night Before from Help! Just saw the movie last year for the first time in decades, a quadruple feature with A Hard Day’s Night, Yellow Submarine, and Let It Be. Lots of good music in Help!, but this is a lesser tune by McCartney.
147 Matchbox from an EP (UK), Something New (US). Ringo does a credible version of this Carl Perkins song.
146 Another Girl from Help! DITTO the 148 info.
145 Chains from Please Please Me (US), Introducing the Beatles/The Early Beatles (US). A Goffin/King song performed by a girl group called the Cookies. I like this Harrison version.
144 One After 909 from Let It Be. I didn’t realize until the Anthology albums that this was an old Lennon and McCartney song from their early days never released before. A rather jaunty piece, actually.

DM’s Beatles site, with:
– Comprehensive UK and US discographies with album covers, additional information, reviews, and comments.
– Complete song index with the lyrics. Different takes, demo and live versions, unreleased songs, and songs for others.
– Detailed history day by day, with pictures, links to albums, interviews.
– More than a thousand pictures of the Beatles, people close to them, magazine covers.
– Various information on the Beatles, their films, interviews, concerts, bootlegs.
– Popular discussion forum where you can meet Beatles fans from all over the World

JEOPARDY Question – What is ‘Back in the U.S.’?

I’m Walkin’, Renee

Officer Bobby Hill on Hill Street Blues should not to be confused with the kid on the animated program King of the Hill.

Walk Away Renee was clearly the biggest hit for a New York City band called The Left Banke. The lead singer is named Steve Martin, but it’s not the noted comedian. The song reached #5 on the Billboard charts in 1966, made the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame list and is #220 on the Rolling Stone top 500 list. Listen to it HERE.

It was covered by the legendary Motown group The Four Tops, with the great lead singer Levi Stubbs. The recording went to #14 on the pop charts and #15 on the rhythm & blues charts. Listen to it HERE.

When I worked at FantaCo in the 1980s, my boss Tom and I were big fans of the then-current cop drama Hill Street Blues. At one point, Officer Bobby Hill (Michael Warren, pictured) – not to be confused with the kid on the animated program King of the Hill – mentioned liking Walk Away Renee, and said that it came out in 1968. We theorized that this was not an error on the part of the writers, but that Bobby listened to the black radio stations in his youth and was familiar only with the Four Tops version, not the original.
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Love this parody of the New Titan Titans #1 in MAD magazine #507, but I wonder how many of the MAD readers know the 30-year-old comic cover well enough to truly appreciate the takeoff.

Beatles Island Songs, 163-154

Some Beatles fans have fantasized about what the next Beatles album might have sounded like, had the band not broken up in 1970; or if they’d taken a break, then gotten back together.

JEOPARDY! Answer du jour – SPORTS STARS: Born in 1980, this [former] world champion figure skater was named for a Beatles hit. The question is below.

The rules of engagement

163 I’m a Loser from Beatles for Sale (UK), Beatles ’65 (US). Another downer from the Beatlemania period.
162 Something from Abbey Road. A nice, though overplayed song. But I was always a bit peevish about the way Harrison stole the first line from James Taylor when he was signed by Apple.
161 Little Child from With the Beatles (UK), Meet the Beatles (US). Nice little early tune. At some level, the earliest songs, with few exceptions, will fare less well than the middle period work. I didn’t buy Meet the Beatles album until about when Revolver came out, and as I recall, it came from my record club in STEREO when I had a mono player. At the time, these things just did not mix. Eventually, I said, the heck with it and played it anyway, to no discernible harm.
160 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da from the white album. Another Macca dance hall song. Fun enough.
159 Only a Northern Song from Yellow Submarine. My favorite thing about this Harrisong is the title, referring to the company that published Beatles’ songs.
158 Not a Second Time from With the Beatles (UK), Meet the Beatles (US). Really like the bottom of this Lennon song.
157 Honey Don’t from Beatles for Sale (US), Beatles ’65. A nice Ringo vocal on this Carl Perkins song.
156 Cry Baby Cry from the white album. A moody Lennon tune.
155 Anna (Go to Him) from Please Please Me (UK), Introducing the Beatles./The Early Beatles. A nice Lennon cover of the Arthur Alexander song.
154 No Reply from Beatles for Sale (UK), Beatles ’65 (US). Yet another downer. I had a discussion of misheard lyrics re this song with my father at the time.

Some Beatles fans have fantasized about what the next Beatles album might have sounded like, had the band not broken up in 1970; or if they’d taken a break, then gotten back together. I was never one for such idle speculation but here’s one take and here’s another.

Dick Cavett interviews John and Yoko in 1971.
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JEOPARDY Question: Who is Michelle Kwan? (My wife’s all-time favorite skater.)

Sinatra

In honor of what would have been Sinatra’s 95th birthday, I came up with a Top 10.

When I was coming of age, listening to music as a preteen and teenager, it was your basic British invasion and American response, Motown, and the like that I related to. It was NOT those old fogeys such as Dean Martin or Francis Albert Sinatra. In fact, Sinatra had the AUDACITY to actually chart a few times in the 1960s, including a duet with his daughter Nancy called Something Stupid (which I STILL feel is pretty vapid).

But somewhere along the line, I started appreciating his work. First, it was the Capitol albums of the 1950s, and even the Columbia albums of the 1940s, then eventually even the Reprise songs from the 1960s and beyond.

When Albany finally got a decent-sized performance arena in 1991, then called the Knickerbocker Arena (now the Times Union Center), the very first concert was by Sinatra. I didn’t go, but it did cross my mind at the time.

In honor of what would have been his 95th birthday, I came up with a Top 10, but I’ve discovered that he would re-record some songs. He had a hit with That’s Life in 1966, but I owned the song on a 78. And I’m not expert enough with Sinatra to always distinguish them.

10. Young at Heart (1954)
9. Here’s to the Losers – couldn’t find a recording of Frank, but this is a Sinatra Review
8. Learnin’ the Blues
7. I’ve Got the World on a String
6. Hey Jealous Lover
5. Well, Did You Evah. This is a duet with Bing Crosby, from the movie High Society. Very much of its time, to be sure.
4. Night and Day. I like this 1961 Reprise version much better than the more poppy 1957 Capitol version.
3. Chicago
2. Witchcraft
1. That’s Life

Wild Thing by Jimi Hendrix, a live version featuring Strangers in the Night in the solo section.

Happy birthday, GC, who hated Sinatra.

Beatles Island Songs, 173-164

Just watched on PBS How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin, about how Beatles music was smuggled into the Soviet Union and represented freedom.

JEOPARDY Answer of the day: ROCK & ROLL HISTORY: The name “Beatles” was inspired by the backup group of this singer. (The question below.)

The rules of engagement

173 It’s All Too Much from Yellow Submarine. The niftiest part of the Harrison tune is the guitar intro.
172 Yesterday from Help! (UK), Yesterday and Today (US). When my father, sister, and I used to perform together when I was a teenager, it was in my sister’s repertoire. It’s a perfectly nice song, but for the life of me, I don’t know why it’s been covered 2500 or 3500 or however many times it has, especially since most of them sound not dissimilar to the original. I also realize the song made me, and my office mate at the time, peevish when two versions of it showed up on Anthology 2, not that far apart on the album, and I would tend to skip past it. “Scrambled Eggs,” indeed.
171 Baby’s in Black from Beatles for Sale (UK), Beatles ’65 (US). One writer suggested that the songs of this period were rather melancholy because of the stress of Beatlemania – touring, movies, plus recording. Maybe. I like the black/blue imagery, but much of the rest sounds like Lennon/McCartney circa 1962.
170 Why Don’t We Do It in the Road? from the white album. Rather funny, if insignificant song by McCartney.
169 I Me Mine from Let It Be. This is the title of a Harrison autobiography. A slight song, I do like the change of rhythms.
168 I Wanna Be Your Man from With the Beatles (UK), Meet the Beatles (US). A ditty McCartney and Lennon gave to the Rolling Stones but also had Ringo sing.
167 Girl from Rubber Soul. It’s OK, but the album is filled with much greater songs.
166 Old Brown Shoe. B-side of The Ballad of John and Yoko. It’s OK, in that laid-back Harrison style.
165 You Never Give Me Your Money from Abbey Road. This is actually HIGHER than I had planned. I thought the reprise of this song in Golden Slumbers would allow this track to be in the 200s, but the song argued otherwise.
164 P.S. I Love You from Please Please Me (UK), Introducing the Beatles/The Early Beatles. A pleasant enough story song.

Just watched on PBS How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin, about how Beatles music was smuggled into the Soviet Union and represented freedom. It also talks about the myth of a secret Soviet performance by the Beatles, generated by the song Back in the USSR. see it HERE or the first part HERE, with subsequent parts on the sidebar.

JEOPARDY! Question of the day: Who was Buddy Holly? (His backup group was called The Crickets.)