Awesome White Album Era video of The Beatles's Revolution

It is so amazing to hear this song now with its dense layers of piano, bass, guitar, and top of his game Ringo. This is such a departure from the early music. Its density is an amazing leap from the earlier mono/4 track songs. I think playing music after The Beatles must have sometimes feel like writing a play in the 17th century after Shakespeare's departure...



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The Beatles perform Hello, Goodbye (with lyrics)

The Beatles perform Hello, Goodbye, in full psychedlic regalia. . .




Hello Goodbye
by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go, go, go
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

I say high, you say low
You say why, and I say I don't know
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

Why, why, why, why, why, why
Do you say good bye
Goodbye, bye, bye, bye, bye

Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello
Hello

Hela, heba helloa
Hela, heba helloa
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The Beatles: Ask Me Why (a YouTube "slideo:")

Ask Me Why
Lyrics and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

I love you, 'cause you tell me things I want to know.
And it's true that it really only goes to show,

That I know,
That I, I, I, I should never, never, never be blue.

Now you're mine, my happiness still makes me cry.
And in time, you'll understand the reason why,

If I cry,
It's not because I'm sad, but you're the only love that I've ever had.

I can't believe it's happened to me
I can't conceive of any more misery.

Ask me why, I'll say I love you,
And I'm always thinking of you.

I love you, 'cause you tell me things I want to know.
And it's true that it really only goes to show,

That I know,
That I, I, I, I should never, never, never be blue.

Ask me why, I'll say I love you,
And I'm always thinking of you.

I can't believe it's happened to me.
I can't conceive of any more misery.

Ask me why, I'll say I love you,
And I'm always thinking of you.
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Video: The Beatles play Please Please Me, warts and all

I am always fascinated by The Beatles live performances, using PAs and guitar amplifiers far less powerful than what we see in 100 person clubs now. They couldn't usually overmatch the screaming. When I saw them in '66 in their second to last show, it was a murky jumble of sound, and the girl's screams won. And yet, it is amazing how good they were live, with the deck totally stacked against them...

I Met The Walrus: a film of Jerry Levitan's close encounter with John Lennon

This short animated film was a hit at last year's Brooklyn International Film Festival, and was an Academy Award short film nominee. I Met The Walrus takes a 1969 audio interview with John Lennon animated into a short film. According to the film blurb, 14-year-old Jerry Levitan nabbed this interview by sneaking into Lennon's Toronto hotel room during his "bed-in" phase.



I may be mixing him up with another girl who managed to get into the hotel, but I know many of the visitors actually participated in the taping of "Give Peace A Chance," which John and Yoko Ono recorded in the hotel room.

It's short, it's charming, and it's worth hearing just to hear John Lennon be interviewed by, and very respectfully respond to, a 14 year old fan...
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My last stop in London: Abbey Road

The well-graffiti'd sign for Abbey Road

I'd always wanted to stop by Abbey Road. I even remember the day the album came out. By the time The Beatles The Beatles album came out (a/k/a "The White Album"), I would usually try to go to the record store and buy it the first day.


The studio building today

On Saturday, I had my chance to see the street The Beatles made famous, and the studio where they'd recorded most of their albums.

I'd already bought an all day pass on the underground, and getting to Abbey Road Studios was just a matter of going to the Saint John's Wood subway stop and walking a couple of blocks.

I thought there would be tour buses, and maybe even some ancillary souvenir stands! No. But I wasn't the only one to drop by that famous studion and crosswalk. It wasn't a mob scene, but there was a steady stream of mostly American, French, and German tourists.

Abbey Road then:



Abbey Road now:



To get to Abbey Road, you exit the Underground at St. John's Wood Station (the Jubilee line), walk down to Grove End Road, and follow it for a couple of blocks. You'll come to a monument on a pedestal, and the famous crosswalk. It looks a little different now...the zig-zag lines and the lights on posts you see are to warn drivers there may be some clueless people blundering around the crosswalk.


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Video: The "come and get it" demo by The Beatles

Paul Macca gave this song to Badfinger after The Beatles had signed Badfinger to Apple records. They needed a single--a radio-worthy song. The Beatles did this demo of the tune. You wonder how it would have turned out had they actually gone into full production on the tune. As it is, Badfinger performed a totally respectable version, and most casual fans don't even know it was a song intended for and written by The Beatles.


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She Loves You video by the Beatles in Manchester, England, 1963

From a performance in Manchester in 1963 comes this video clip of The Beatles performing "She Loves You" in 1963. This was one of the early songs that sucked me into the vortex. I got to see them live finally, in 1966 at the ripe old age of 13 (tickets: $4). The first couple of times they came, we couldn't afford a ticket. When I did get to see them, it was their next to last show, ever. Go here to read about that...



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Two Beatles Movies: Video trailers

Two Richard Lester Beatles films. . .one great one: A Hard Day's Night, and a far weaker one, Help:

A Hard Day's Night:



Help:


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The Beatle's Last Waltz

This is a video of the last time The Beatles played together, in 1970, on a London rooftop. I believe this is where John Lennon uttered his wonderful "Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen. On behalf of me and boys I hope we passed the audition!" (which was grafted onto the studio track of the Let It Be LP). On a personal note, I saw them in Seattle in 1966, on their final tour, one day before their final show in San Francisco.

Video: The Beatles perform She Loves You In Manchester in 1963

I will never forget the night when I was ten years old and The Beatles played this song on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was one of those extremely rare times when you think "nothing will be quite the same after this." And, for me at least, things never were. It led to a lifetime addiction, and their music and the people they inspired and competed with, and the next generation (now two generations!) took what they did, honored what they did, rebelled against what they did, and formed a soundtrack for a lifetime. I mean, yeah, I often cut away to other musical pleasures in the jazz, country, blues, bluegrass, classical modes. . . but The Beatles are the absolute Gold Standard. From them I learned about melody, sitars, flutes, strings, harmony, rhythm, ballads, suites, bridges, Aeolian cadences. . .you name it. For me, the music all springs from John Paul George and Ringo; even Beethoven!


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Please Please Me Video: One of the great early Beatles' tunes

And then Paul McCartney repspectably covered the old tune on a recent DVD:


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Wow! The Beatnix video: Stairway To Heaven

This is one reason YouTube is great, despite all the not so great stuff. Here is a video from the early 90's Australian TV show, The Money Or The Gun, by The Beatnix, a Beatles Tribute Band.

Video of the Zombeatles performing "A Hard Day's Night"

The Zombeatles perform A Hard Day's Night, zombie-style. Is this weird, or what?


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The Beatles: Please Mr. Postman video and lyrics

This is a very early Beatles tune...a cover of Please Mr. Postman, written by W. Garrett, B. Holland, F. Gorman, G. Dobbins & R. Bateman. The video is, naturally, an old American Bandstand style lip sync rendition, but still fun to watch nonetheless.





(Stop)
Oh yes, wait a minute Mister Postman
(Wait)
Wait Mister Postman

Please Mister Postman, look and see
(Oh yeah)
If there's a letter in your bag for me
(Please, Please Mister Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time
(Oh yeah)
For me to hear from that boy of mine

There must be some word today
From my boyfriend so far away
Pleas Mister Postman, look and see
If there's a letter, a letter for me

I've been standin' here waitin' Mister Postman
So patiently
For just a card, or just a letter
Sayin' he's returnin' home to me

(Mister Postman)
Mister Postman, look and see
(Oh yeah)
If there's a letter in your bag for me
(Please, Please Mister Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time
(Oh yeah)
For me to hear from that boy of mine

So many days you passed me by
See the tears standin' in my eyes
You didn't stop to make me feel better
By leavin' me a card or a letter

(Mister Postman)
Mister Postman, look and see
(Oh yeah)
If there's a letter in your bag for me
(Please, Please Mister Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time

(Why don't you check it and see one more time for me, you gotta)
Wait a minute
Wait a minute
Wait a minute
Wait a minute
(Mister Postman)
Mister Postman, look and see

(C'mon deliver the letter, the sooner the better)
Mister Postman
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Video/lyrics: The Beatles - I Am The Walrus:::::speculations on Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper, Rubber Soul and The Beatles and Beach Boys mutual influence

And we are all, in fact, The Walrus. At this juncture in rock music history, everyone was influencing everyone. It gets pretty circuitous here. . .not all that long before this, Bob Dylan hooked up with The Beatles in London and introduced them to marijuana. But more importantly, he influenced John Lennon with his new work. He was no longer a folkie, but a singer-songwriter creating imagistic, and often, surrealistic, and even Da-da-istic lyrics, densely packed with images, allusions, humor, and callbacks to other musics, past and present.

I am in the minority, preferring The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour over their 8th album, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I'm not denying the massive critical and popular acclaim the album achieved. It was innovative, from its structure to the recording techniques to the fantastic cover collage covering a broad range of pop culture heroes and villains. Sgt. Pepper's influence was massive and almost monolithic, and it actually changed the way other musicians did business.

One of the inspirations for Sergeant Pepper was The Beach Boys' masterpiece Pet Sounds. Interestingly, Pet Sounds was inspired by an earlier Beatles' album, Rubber Soul. When Wilson heard that album, he launched into making an album that cohered the same way as Rubber Soul.

Brian Wilson said about Rubber Soul: "I really wasn't quite ready for the unity. It felt like it all belonged together. Rubber Soul was a collection of songs ... that somehow went together like no album ever made before, and I was very impressed. I said, "That's it. I really am challenged to do a great album."

When McCartney and Lennon heard Pet Sounds, they were stunned. Paul McCartney said: “ It was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water. I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life ... I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album ... I love the orchestra, the arrangements ... it may be going overboard to say it's the classic of the century ... but to me, it certainly is a total, classic record that is unbeatable in many ways ... I've often played Pet Sounds and cried. I played it to John [Lennon] so much that it would be difficult for him to escape the influence ... it was the record of the time. The thing that really made me sit up and take notice was the bass lines ... and also, putting melodies in the bass line. That I think was probably the big influence that set me thinking when we recorded Pepper, it set me off on a period I had then for a couple of years of nearly always writing quite melodic bass lines. "God Only Knows" is a big favourite of mine ... very emotional, always a bit of a choker for me, that one. On "You Still Believe in Me", I love that melody - that kills me ... that's my favourite, I think ... it's so beautiful right at the end ... comes surging back in these multi-coloured harmonies ... sends shivers up my spine. ”

Eric Clapton said that "I consider Pet Sounds to be one of the greatest pop LPs to ever be released. It encompasses everything that's ever knocked me out and rolled it all into one."

Elton John thinks that "Pet Sounds is a landmark album. For me to say that I was enthralled would be an understatement. I had never heard such magical sounds, so amazingly recorded. It undoubtedly changed the way that I, and countless others, approached recording. It is a timeless and amazing recording of incredible genius and beauty."

Beatles producer George Martin said that that "Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have happened... Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds." After Sgt. Pepper was released, Wilson was so despondent that he went to bed for months. Uh no, he went to bed for years. But that's a story for another day.

Once again, I have taken an ostensibly simple subject--a video of The Beatles I Am The Walrus--and turned it into a bramble of shredded wheat. This is an example of music influencing music influencing more music. Nonetheless, as great as Sgt. Pepper is, I happen to like the follow on album more, while in no way detracting from Sgt. Pepper's monolithic and lasting influence (likewise for Pet Sounds).



The Walrus
by John Lennon and Paul McCartney


I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I'm crying.

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday.
MAN, you been a naughty boy, and let your face grow long.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,
coo coo c'choo

Mister City P'liceman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row.
See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run.
I'm crying. I'm cry------------ing,
I'm crying. I'm cry------------ing.

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye.
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess,
Boy, you been a naughty girl and let your Knickers down.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,
coo coo c'choo

Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.
If the sun don't come, you get a tan
From standing in the English rain.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,
coo coo c'choo coo coo c'choo

Expert texpert choking smokers,
Don't you think the joker laughs at you? (ho ho ho, he, he he, ha, ha, ha)
See how they smile like pigs in a sty, see how they snide.
I'm crying.

Semolina Pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower.
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna.
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus,
coo coo c'choo, coo coo coo c'choo, coo coo c'choo, c'choo coo c'choo c'choo
(rhythmical speaking along with juba's).
Juba juba juba, juba, juba, juba, juba, juba, juba juba. Juba juba.....
(speaking)

--Repeat (eventually juba's will stop) and fade until end.--
during the fade out background vocals:
[Simultaneously:] 'Everybody smokes pot' and 'Oompa, oompa, stick it up your joompa' [jumper]
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Video: Crosby, Stills & Nash cover The Beatles Blackbird

At about 2:24 in this video, Crosby, Stills, and Nash perform a version of the Lennon/McCartney classic Blackbird from The White Album. It is harmonically completely different from the original, and an altogether fascinating cover. Blackbird was never one of my favorite Beatles song, but this cover made me re-think that.



Blackbird
by John Lennon/Paul McCartney

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free.

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
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