Tag: music

Beatles Island Songs, 73-64

JEOPARDY! answers (questions at the end)

9-LETTER WORDS $400: A collection of stories, or a collection of Beatles songs
NUN SENSE $500: A convent’s top nun, she’s told to “Jump the Gun” on the Beatles’ “White Album”
___ AND ___ $400: The Isley Brothers & the Beatles sang, “Shake it up, baby”, do this
POP MUSIC $200: In 1985 this performer bought ATV, owner of much of the Beatles’ catalogue, for over $40 million

The ‘Top 10 Best Rock Bands Ever’ Are…

The rules of engagement

73 Things We Said Today from A Hard Day’s Night (UK), The Beatles’ Second Album. Love this from the intro to what I think is double-tracked McCartney hatrmony vocals.
72 Every Little Thing from Beatles for Sale (UK), Beatles VI (US). Always thought this was a cover of the Everly Brothers or Buddy Holly, but it’s McCartney in that mode.
71 Come Together from Abbey Road. The hook on this Lennon song is the instrumental that comes up even before the vocal. Strange lyrics, some apparently stolen from Chuck Berry.
70 Birthday from the white album. I had the peculiar notion at the time that this Macca/Lennon song would replace Happy Birthday as THE celebratory tune.
69 And Your Bird Can Sing from Revolver (UK), Yesterday and Today (US). Another of the Lennon songs stolen from UK Revolver.
68 I Should Have Known Better from A Hard Day’s Night. From the Lennon harmonica, a winner.
67 The End from Abbey Road. If this McCartney song were together with Golden Slumbers and Carry That Weight, it’d be about #4 on this list. As it is, a Ringo drum solo and trading off guitar solos are great.
66 All My Loving from With the Beatles (UK), Meet the Beatles (US). Among the charms of this McCartney song is the jaunty, almost country, bridge.
65 I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party from Beatles for Sale (UK), Beatles VI (US). Told you I was a sucker for Beatles VI.
64 A Taste of Honey from Please Please Me (UK), Introducing The Beatles/The Early Beatles (US). The great thing about this cover is how goes from 3/4 to 4/4 and back.

JEOPARDY! questions-
What is Anthology?
Who is Mother Superior?
What is twist and shout?
Who was Michael Jackson?

Beatles Island Songs, 83-74

When I was in high school and attempted to write songs, I essentially ended up rewriting Fixing A Hole.


JEOPARDY! answers (questions at the end)-
SONGS $500: This Beatles song begins, “Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, tomorrow I’ll miss you”
RECORD LABELS $100: On Jan. 30, 1969, the Beatles gave their last public performance on the roof of this record company’s London offices
BANDS OF THE ’80S $100: Icicle Works formed in this city more than 20 years after the Beatles

This month is the anniversary of the Beatles’ “invasion of America.”

Meet the Beatles — For Two College Credits

The top 5 Beatles highlights of 2010

Hembeck’s Beatles page

Rain visits Good Morning America and I just happened to catch it. A review of their show in Chicago.

When The Washington Post panned the Beatles

Beatles voted best overall by Goldmine readers.

Beatles remastered stereo box wins Grammy AND Paul McCartney wins first solo Grammy award in 39 years.

The rules of engagement

83 I’m Happy Just to Dance with You from A Hard Day’s Night (UK, US), Something New (US). A Lennon/McCartney song for Harrison, and I totally believe that he is.
82 Eight Days a Week from Beatles for Sale (UK), Beatles VI. Another of the lipsynch favorites, with Lennon, assisted by McCartney and Harrison.
81 Doctor Robert from Revolver (UK), Yesterday and Today (US). When I got the American version of Revolver, which I thought was the only version at the time, only had two Lennon songs, I wondered what was wrong with John. Turns out that three songs were purloined by Capitol Records for the previously released Yesterday and Today. I never remember what UK album this song belongs on. Annoys me.
80 Blackbird from the white album. Lovely McCartney song, even if Charles Manson thought it was somehow calling to him.
79 Any Time at All from A Hard Day’s Night (UK), Something New (US). Like it from the first note. Lennon, with McCartney.
78 With a Little Help from My Friends from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. That this Lennon/McCartney song was given to Starkey is unsurprising; that it appears in the second slot was astonishing; Ringo’s contribution is usually buried.
77 Money (That’s What I Want) from With the Beatles (US), The Beatles Second Album (US). This early Motown song, co-written by Berry Gordy, was originally performed by Barrett Strong. This Lennon cover is stronger.
76 You Can’t Do That from A Hard Day’s Night (UK), The Beatles’ Second Album (US). Among other attributes, it has the line, “everybody’s green”.
75 Fixing a Hole from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. When I was in high school and attempted to write songs, I essentially ended up rewriting this song; guess this McCartney tune got stuck deep in the brain.
74 Two of Us from Let It Be. As I’ve noted, I find the album a bit depressing. So McCartney and Lennon singing this made me feel that the two of THEM were getting along better than they actually were.

JEOPARDY! questions-
What is All My Loving?
What is Apple Records?
What is Liverpool?

Valentine’s Day

Both songs speak of yearning. I know, from vast past experience, that Valentine’s Day is not hearts and flowers for everyone.

At my core, Valentine’s Day is one of those mixed blessings days. Why, for instance, do I so connect with a song written by lyricist Hal David and composer Burt Bacharach, Anyone Who Had A Heart? It was performed originally by Dionne Warwick and covered by several others (Cilla Black, Luther Vandross, Wynonna Judd, Dusty Springfield, Shelby Lynne, among others).
Anyone who had a heart
Would take me in his arms and love me, too
You couldn’t really have a heart and hurt me,
Like you hurt me and be so untrue
What am I to do

Here’s Dionne’s version of Anyone Who Had a Heart.

I also relate to Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder). It’s a song from the legendary Beach Boys album Pet Sounds, written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher
Being here with you feels so right
We could live forever tonight
Let’s not think about tomorrow
And don’t talk put your head on my shoulder
Come close, close your eyes and be still
Don’t talk, take my hand and listen to my heart beat
Listen, listen, listen.

Here’s a couple of Beach Boys versions:
a capella and traditional.

Both songs speak of yearning. I know, from vast past experience, that Valentine’s Day is not hearts and flowers for everyone. I guess that’s why I relate to the melancholy songs so much.

Not incidentally, these two songs are performed back to back on Linda Ronstadt’s Winter Light album, which appears to be out of print, AND I can’t find either track on the Intersnet. One can find them on her box set.
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I should say that Scott, who noted my mom’s passing in his blog, and Jaquandor, who had mentioned it previously, are each requesting that you Ask Them Anything. Here’s Scott’s link, and Jaquandor’s.

How Do You Sleep QUESTIONS

I might sleep for four hours, then stay in bed, feeling that I had not slept at all the latter part of the time. But I know I have.


Looking at all the Beatles and John Lennon songs, I’m reminded of the fact that Lennon mentioned the topic of sleep a few times. I’m Only Sleeping was on the Beatles’ Revolver album, though I first heard it on the US LP called Yesterday and Today. It starts off:
When I wake up early in the morning,
Lift my head, I’m still yawning
When I’m in the middle of a dream
Stay in bed, float upstream

Then, for the Beatles white album, Lennon writes:
I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink
I’m so tired, my mind is on the blink

The tone of the vicious Lennon attack on Paul McCartney, How Do You Sleep is contrasted with #9 Dream in my mind.
So long ago
Was it in a dream, was it just a dream?
I had known, yes I know
Seemed so very real, it seemed so real to me

1. How do YOU sleep at night?
2. Do you remember your dreams?

On those nights I sleep for six or seven hours straight, I tend not to remember my dreams. But on the nights I have a lot on my mind, I might sleep for four hours, then stay in bed, feeling that I had not slept at all the latter part of the time. But I know I have because the dreams are so vivid, it’s as though they were real.

Beatles Island Songs, 93-84

“Our listening experience…is now threatened by the digital cherry picking and the rise of the iPod shuffle.”

The JEOPARDY! answers (questions at the end)
THE BEATLES $200: “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”, this song was the Beatles’ 2nd No. 1 hit in the U.S. after “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
THE BEATLES $300: This 1964 hit begins “Well she was just seventeen – you know what I mean?”
THE BEATLES $400: This 1964 film, the Beatles’ first, received an Oscar nomination for its musical score.

Klaus Voormann Nominated for Grammy® Award for VOORMANN & FRIENDS – A SIDEMAN’S JOURNEY DELUXE PACKAGE. The Album and DVD include his longtime friends Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. “Double Grammy® winner Klaus Voormann not only left his mark on musical history as a bass player (winning the Grammy® performing on the 1972 album The Concert for Bangladesh) but has also set some milestones as a graphic designer with his Grammy® award for designing the Beatles’ Revolver cover in 1966. That was the first time anyone had won for a graphic album cover.”

BEATLES CARTOON “The Fabtastic Four”
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The rules of engagement

93 Yer Blues from the white album. A pretty straight Lennon blues, made interesting by the middle section’s rocking feel.
92 You’re Going to Lose That Girl from Help! My – that album contains a lot of a sense of loss. A Lennon tune.
91 Hey Jude, A-side of single (UK), Hey Jude album (US). OK, I have tired of those singalong tunes where the audience carries the weight of the vocal, and McCartney, in concert, milks this a lot. Still, it’s a great song that Paul wrote for Julian Lennon when Julian’s dad left his mom. And it was damn gusty to release, as the first Beatles Apple single, a seven-minute song.
90 Piggies from the white album. Yeah, it’s snarky and overbearing Harrison, yet it seems oddly still relevant.
89 She Came in Through the Bathroom Window from Abbey Road. A McCartney contribution to the medley. Not incidentally, there was an article from the Telegraph called Take a good album apart? Don’t be ridiculous – Our listening experience is dictated by technology, which is bad news for the album.Basically, it says: “Our listening experience…is now threatened by the digital cherry-picking and the rise of the iPod shuffle.” I totally agree. Still, making this list, it was the iTunes model that in part drove my selections.
88 Act Naturally from Help! (US), Yesterday and Today (US). Ringo was considered the breakout star of the movie A Hard Day’s Night, which made him the center of the second film, Help! So it seems appropriate that Ringo perform this song made famous by Buck Owens; the two even performed it together years later.
87 Sexy Sadie from the white album. Lennon’s disillusionment with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi during the Beatles’ trip to India.
86 You Really Got a Hold on Me from With the Beatles (US), The Beatles’ Second Album (US). Lennon does his best Smokey Robinson; if not up to the Miracles original, still solid.
85 I’m So Tired from the white album. A Lennon song I can relate to.
84 Because from Abbey Road. Lennon’s backward Moonlight Sonata, with great vocals by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison.
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JEOPARDY! questions:
What was “She Loves You”?
What is “I Just Saw Her Standing There”?
What was A Hard Day’s Night?

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