by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
As Released by the Beatles (1968)
Sexy Sadie what have you done?
You made a fool of everyone
You made a fool of everyone
Sexy Sadie - oh what have you done?
Sexy Sadie you broke the rules
You laid it down for all to see
You laid it down for all to see
Sexy Sadie - oh you broke the rules
One sunny day the world was waiting for a lover ((sexy Sadie))
She came along to turn on everyone
Sexy Sadie (sexy Sadie) the greatest of them all ((she's the greatest))
Sexy Sadie how did you know
The world was waiting just for you?
The world was waiting just for you?
Sexy Sadie - oh how did you know?
Sexy Sadie you'll get yours yet
However big you think you are
However big you think you are
Sexy Sadie - oh you'll get yours yet
We gave her everything we owned just to sit at her table ((sexy Sadie))
Just a smile would lighten everything
Sexy Sadie ((sexy Sadie))
She's the latest and the greatest (she's the greatest) of them all
(Sexy Sadie she's the latest and the greatest of them all)
Ooo
She made a fool of everyone
(Sexy Sadie)
... However big you think you are.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Beatles News
- Beatles fans just as devoted as ever (Danbury News Times)
- Morning Roundup: Susan Boyle Sets Records; Two Beatles Unite (Wall Street Journal)
- VH1 to Air Beatles "Rock Band" Doc (TV Fodder)
- Beatles documentary on History channel (Macomb Daily)
- Cirque du Soleil, now showing in Las Vegas (Chicago Tribune)
Paul McCartney's Thoughts on LSD
"I don't recommend it. It can open a few doors but it's not any answer. You get the answers yourself."
Friday, November 20, 2009
"Run For Your Life" Lyrics
by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man.
You better keep your head, little girl
Or I won't know where I am.
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl.
Well you know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind
And I can't spend my whole life trying
Just to make you toe the line.
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl.
Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said.
Baby, I'm determined
That I'd rather see you dead.
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl.
I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man.
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know where I am.
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl.
Nah, nah, nah.
Nah, nah, nah.
Nah, nah, nah.
Nah, nah, nah.
Nah, nah, nah.
Well I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man.
You better keep your head, little girl
Or I won't know where I am.
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl.
Well you know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind
And I can't spend my whole life trying
Just to make you toe the line.
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl.
Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said.
Baby, I'm determined
That I'd rather see you dead.
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl.
I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man.
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know where I am.
You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl.
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl.
Nah, nah, nah.
Nah, nah, nah.
Nah, nah, nah.
Nah, nah, nah.
Nah, nah, nah.
"Carnival of Light"
"Carnival of Light" is an unreleased experimental piece by The Beatles. It was recorded on 5 January 1967, after the vocal overdubbing sessions for the song "Penny Lane". The track was created for The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, an event held at the Roundhouse Theatre on 28 January and 4 February 1967.
History
The genesis of the track came in December 1966 from designer David Vaughan (part of the designer trio Binder, Edwards & Vaughan), who had recently painted a psychedelic design on a piano owned by Paul McCartney. About the same time as he delivered the piano to McCartney's Cavendish Avenue address, he asked if McCartney would contribute a musical piece for the upcoming The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave. To Vaughan’s surprise McCartney agreed to make a contribution.
The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave (sometimes referred to as The Carnival of Light Rave) was an art festival organised by Binder, Edwards & Vaughan as a showcase for electronic music and light shows. It was held at the Chalk Farm Road Roundhouse Theatre and featured on the bill not only a public playing of 'Carnival of Light' but performances by Unit Delta Plus, whose members included early electronic music pioneers Delia Derbyshire, Brian Hodgson from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and fellow electronic artist Peter Zinovieff. "Carnival of Light" was created for this event.
Recording and mix
Beatles expert Mark Lewisohn, who listened to the song in 1987 while compiling his book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, says the song included "distorted, hypnotic drum and organ sounds, a distorted lead guitar, the sound of a church organ, various effects (water gargling was one) and, perhaps most strange of all, John Lennon and McCartney screaming dementedly and bawling aloud random phrases like 'Are you alright?' and 'Barcelona!'"
Barry Miles, the official McCartney biographer, wrote in Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now that the song had "no rhythm, although a beat is sometimes established for a few bars by the percussion or a rhythmic pounding piano. There is no melody, although snatches of a tune sometimes threaten to break through."
"I said all I want you to do is just wander around all the stuff, bang it, shout, play it, it doesn't need to make any sense. Hit a drum, then wander onto the piano, hit a few notes and just wander around," said McCartney in November 2008.
The basic bed track of an organ playing bass notes and drums was recorded at a slow speed, giving them a deeper sound. There is also a huge amount of reverb used on the instruments and on Lennon's and McCartney's vocals (the only two voices on the track); Lennon and McCartney also recorded Native American war cries, whistling, close-miked gasping, genuine coughing and fragments of studio conversation. Other overdubs to the song include bursts of guitar feedback, schmaltzy cinema organ, snatches of jangling pub piano and electronic feedback with Lennon shouting 'Electricity!'. The track concludes with McCartney asking the studio engineer in an echo-soaked voice, "Can we hear it back now?"
Also, according to Barry Miles, musically it "resembles "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" from Frank Zappa 's Freak Out! album, except there is no rhythm and the music ... is more fragmented, abstract and serious."
Dudley Edwards (one of the organizers of The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave and friend of McCartney's) said that an early take of "Fixing a Hole" (from Sgt. Pepper's) with a piano appeared during the song. It is unlikely that a sample of an early take was heard since the recording of "Fixing a Hole" did not commence until five days after the last The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, but it is not impossible that McCartney played a few bars of the song on the track.
Some reports indicate that it is around fourteen minutes long and Paul McCartney has said it was around fifteen minutes. In The Complete Beatles Chronicle it is listed as lasting 13 minutes and 48 seconds.
Although Lewisohn's book says that a rough mono mix was given to Vaughan, Miles claims that the mix down “was made with full stereo separation, and is an exercise in musical layers and textures”. Whether a second mix was made after the event or Vaughan was in fact given a stereo mix which was not logged in Abbey Road’s records is unspecified. Edwards has said the tape was taken to America by one Ray Anderson (who was brought over from the U.S. to assist with the light show). The master session tapes of Carnival of Light are still at Abbey Road Studios.
Unreleased status
"Carnival of Light" has not yet appeared on any release, either official or a bootleg recording. In 1996 McCartney tried to release the track on the compilation album The Beatles Anthology 2, but George Harrison voted to reject it. According to McCartney, the reason was that "he didn't like avant garde music" and referred to avant garde as 'avant garde a clue' ("I haven't got a clue"). George Harrison had also created avant-garde music as a solo composer (in 1969 he released an experimental album using the then new Moog synthesizer called Electronic Sound), and dabbled in the avant-garde with a couple of his Beatles compositions.
In August 1996, McCartney claimed (in an interview for Mojo) that he was working on a photo collage film of the Beatles that was similar to a film made about the Grateful Dead in 1995 called Grateful Dead -- A Photo Film. He was planning to use "Carnival of Light" in the soundtrack, but this project has yet to be seen and McCartney has not commented on the film's status since 2002.
In November 2008, Paul McCartney confirmed he still owned the master tapes, adding that he suspected "the time has come for it to get its moment. I like it because it's the Beatles free, going off piste." McCartney would need the consent of Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, as well as Ringo Starr to release the track.
Fake releases
A minute-long mp3 file of backwards, sped up electric guitar noises showed up on file-sharing networks under the title of "Carnival of Light." However, this track was a misnamed partial track (originally 1 minute 9 seconds long) by the Lord of Boothferry, a very keen Beatles-related music collector. It was recorded mid-2000, using a damaged Hondo guitar, on a digital eight-track machine, and was released under a pseudonym on Napster. The track was a response to misnamed files on file-sharing networks that made outrageous claims. Although not released as "Carnival of Light," once circulating the name of the file was changed by various fans to fit descriptions of this unreleased composition. A follow-up track named "Joker's Relief" did not gain such a "following" or misnaming.
Since then, particularly in the wake of McCartney's announcement that he would release the track, multiple other faked constructions of the song have surfaced on YouTube and other such sites; some use samples from The Beatles recordings to create a more realistic interpretation of the track.
Recorded: 5 January 1967
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Length: 13:48 (approximately)
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin
Wikipedia
History
The genesis of the track came in December 1966 from designer David Vaughan (part of the designer trio Binder, Edwards & Vaughan), who had recently painted a psychedelic design on a piano owned by Paul McCartney. About the same time as he delivered the piano to McCartney's Cavendish Avenue address, he asked if McCartney would contribute a musical piece for the upcoming The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave. To Vaughan’s surprise McCartney agreed to make a contribution.
The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave (sometimes referred to as The Carnival of Light Rave) was an art festival organised by Binder, Edwards & Vaughan as a showcase for electronic music and light shows. It was held at the Chalk Farm Road Roundhouse Theatre and featured on the bill not only a public playing of 'Carnival of Light' but performances by Unit Delta Plus, whose members included early electronic music pioneers Delia Derbyshire, Brian Hodgson from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and fellow electronic artist Peter Zinovieff. "Carnival of Light" was created for this event.
Recording and mix
Beatles expert Mark Lewisohn, who listened to the song in 1987 while compiling his book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, says the song included "distorted, hypnotic drum and organ sounds, a distorted lead guitar, the sound of a church organ, various effects (water gargling was one) and, perhaps most strange of all, John Lennon and McCartney screaming dementedly and bawling aloud random phrases like 'Are you alright?' and 'Barcelona!'"
Barry Miles, the official McCartney biographer, wrote in Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now that the song had "no rhythm, although a beat is sometimes established for a few bars by the percussion or a rhythmic pounding piano. There is no melody, although snatches of a tune sometimes threaten to break through."
"I said all I want you to do is just wander around all the stuff, bang it, shout, play it, it doesn't need to make any sense. Hit a drum, then wander onto the piano, hit a few notes and just wander around," said McCartney in November 2008.
The basic bed track of an organ playing bass notes and drums was recorded at a slow speed, giving them a deeper sound. There is also a huge amount of reverb used on the instruments and on Lennon's and McCartney's vocals (the only two voices on the track); Lennon and McCartney also recorded Native American war cries, whistling, close-miked gasping, genuine coughing and fragments of studio conversation. Other overdubs to the song include bursts of guitar feedback, schmaltzy cinema organ, snatches of jangling pub piano and electronic feedback with Lennon shouting 'Electricity!'. The track concludes with McCartney asking the studio engineer in an echo-soaked voice, "Can we hear it back now?"
Also, according to Barry Miles, musically it "resembles "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" from Frank Zappa 's Freak Out! album, except there is no rhythm and the music ... is more fragmented, abstract and serious."
Dudley Edwards (one of the organizers of The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave and friend of McCartney's) said that an early take of "Fixing a Hole" (from Sgt. Pepper's) with a piano appeared during the song. It is unlikely that a sample of an early take was heard since the recording of "Fixing a Hole" did not commence until five days after the last The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, but it is not impossible that McCartney played a few bars of the song on the track.
Some reports indicate that it is around fourteen minutes long and Paul McCartney has said it was around fifteen minutes. In The Complete Beatles Chronicle it is listed as lasting 13 minutes and 48 seconds.
Although Lewisohn's book says that a rough mono mix was given to Vaughan, Miles claims that the mix down “was made with full stereo separation, and is an exercise in musical layers and textures”. Whether a second mix was made after the event or Vaughan was in fact given a stereo mix which was not logged in Abbey Road’s records is unspecified. Edwards has said the tape was taken to America by one Ray Anderson (who was brought over from the U.S. to assist with the light show). The master session tapes of Carnival of Light are still at Abbey Road Studios.
Unreleased status
"Carnival of Light" has not yet appeared on any release, either official or a bootleg recording. In 1996 McCartney tried to release the track on the compilation album The Beatles Anthology 2, but George Harrison voted to reject it. According to McCartney, the reason was that "he didn't like avant garde music" and referred to avant garde as 'avant garde a clue' ("I haven't got a clue"). George Harrison had also created avant-garde music as a solo composer (in 1969 he released an experimental album using the then new Moog synthesizer called Electronic Sound), and dabbled in the avant-garde with a couple of his Beatles compositions.
In August 1996, McCartney claimed (in an interview for Mojo) that he was working on a photo collage film of the Beatles that was similar to a film made about the Grateful Dead in 1995 called Grateful Dead -- A Photo Film. He was planning to use "Carnival of Light" in the soundtrack, but this project has yet to be seen and McCartney has not commented on the film's status since 2002.
In November 2008, Paul McCartney confirmed he still owned the master tapes, adding that he suspected "the time has come for it to get its moment. I like it because it's the Beatles free, going off piste." McCartney would need the consent of Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, as well as Ringo Starr to release the track.
Fake releases
A minute-long mp3 file of backwards, sped up electric guitar noises showed up on file-sharing networks under the title of "Carnival of Light." However, this track was a misnamed partial track (originally 1 minute 9 seconds long) by the Lord of Boothferry, a very keen Beatles-related music collector. It was recorded mid-2000, using a damaged Hondo guitar, on a digital eight-track machine, and was released under a pseudonym on Napster. The track was a response to misnamed files on file-sharing networks that made outrageous claims. Although not released as "Carnival of Light," once circulating the name of the file was changed by various fans to fit descriptions of this unreleased composition. A follow-up track named "Joker's Relief" did not gain such a "following" or misnaming.
Since then, particularly in the wake of McCartney's announcement that he would release the track, multiple other faked constructions of the song have surfaced on YouTube and other such sites; some use samples from The Beatles recordings to create a more realistic interpretation of the track.
Recorded: 5 January 1967
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Length: 13:48 (approximately)
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin
Wikipedia
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an American girl group in the early 1960s, and the first to have a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The members of the quartet were Shirley Owens (the main lead singer; later known as Shirley Alston, then Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later known as Doris Coley Kenner, then Doris Kenner Jackson; she sang lead on "Dedicated to the One I Love", "Welcome Home Baby," "Blue Holiday" and a number of 'B' sides and album cuts), Beverly Lee, and Addie 'Micki' Harris. The quartet formed in New Jersey in 1958, and went on to release a string of hits including "Baby It's You" (written by Burt Bacharach/Hal David/Barney Williams), "Mama Said," "Foolish Little Girl," and the #1 Pop hits "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (Gerry Goffin/Carole King) and "Soldier Boy" (Florence Greenburg/Luther Dixon). Their "Sha La La" became an international hit when covered by the UK/British group Manfred Mann, giving them a Top 5 hit in 1965, and the song "Boys" was covered by The Beatles. The Beatles also covered "Baby It's You" on their album "Please, Please Me" in 1963. A year later, this same Burt Bacharach/ Hal David song was also a Top 30 hit in the UK for Sheffield-born singer Dave Berry.The Shirelles were the first major female vocal group of the rock and roll era, defining the so-called girl group sound with their soft, sweet harmonies and yearning innocence. Their music was a blend of pop and R&B, especially Doo-wop and smooth uptown soul that appealed to listeners across the board, before Motown became a crossover phenomenon with white audiences. Though The Chantels preceded them by several years, their international success was unprecedented, as they hit in England, too; their inviting musical blueprint had an enduring influence not just on their immediate followers, but on future generations of female pop singers, who often updated their songs without losing their initial appeal. In addition, they provided some of the earliest hits for important Brill Building songwriters like Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Burt Bacharach & Hal David, and Van McCoy.
History
The Shirelles were originally formed in 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey by four friends: Shirley Owens Alston Reeves, Doris Coley Kenner Jackson, Addie "Micki" Harris McPherson, and Beverly Lee. Students at Passaic High School, they christened themselves 'the Poquellos', wrote a song called "I Met Him on a Sunday," and entered their school talent show with it, singing it a cappella. A school friend had them audition for her mother, Florence Greenberg, who ran a small record label; she was impressed enough to become the group's manager, and changed their name to The Shirelles by combining frequent lead singer Shirley's first name with doo-woppers the Chantels. The Shirelles' recording of "I Met Him on a Sunday" was licensed by Decca and climbed into the national Top 50 in 1958. Two more singles flopped, however, and Decca passed on further releases. Greenberg instead signed them to her new label, Scepter Records, and brought in producer Luther Dixon, whose imaginative, sometimes string heavy arrangements would help shape the group's signature sound.
"Dedicated to the One I Love" (1959), a song they learned by heart after seeing The Five Royales perform in a show they did together and "Tonight's the Night" (1960) both failed to make much of an impact on the pop charts, although the latter was a Top 20 R&B hit and Top 40 Pop hit. However, they broke big time with the Goffin-King composition "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"; released in late 1960, it went all the way to number one pop, making them the first all-female group of the rock era to accomplish this feat; it also peaked at number two R&B. In the UK, this same song reached the Top 5 pop chart in 1961. Its success helped send a re-release of "Dedicated to the One I Love" into the Top 5 on both the pop and R&B charts in 1961 (US), and "Mama Said" did the same. A more R&B flavored outing, "Big John," also went to #2 that year. 1962 continued their run of success, most notably with "Soldier Boy," a Luther Dixon/Florence Greenberg tune that became their second pop #1; they also had a Top 10 pop and R&B hit with "Baby It's You". Dixon subsequently left the label; The Shirelles managed to score one more pop/R&B Top Ten with 1963's "Foolish Little Girl", which reached #4 on the pop chart and #9 R&B, but found it difficult to maintain their previous level of success. "Soldier Boy" also reached the Top 30 in the UK in 1962.
The group went on to record material for the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, headlined the first integrated concert show in Alabama, and helped a young Dionne Warwick get some of her first exposure (subbing for Reeves and Jackson when each took a leave of absence to get married). A money dispute with Scepter tied up their recording schedule for a while in 1964, and although it was eventually settled, The Shirelles were still bound to a label where their run was essentially over. This was also due in part to the British Invasion, whose bands were among the first to cover their songs; not only their hits, but lesser-known items like "Boys" (the Beatles) and "Sha La La" (a hit for Manfred Mann). Some of the classic covers of The Shirelles tunes, besides the ones mentioned above include: "Dedicated to the One I Love" by The Temprees, and later the Mamas & the Papas, "Baby It's You" by The Masqueraders, and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" by Roberta Flack. Shortly after its release, Bertell Dache did a very interesting answer song to "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" entitled, "Not Just Tomorrow, But Always".
The Shirelles scraped the lower reaches of the charts a few more times, making their last appearance, ironically, with 1967's "Last Minute Miracle". Jackson left the group the following year to remarry and raise her family, and the remaining Shirelles continued as a trio, cutting singles for Bell Records as "Shirley and the Shirelles", United Artists, and RCA through 1971. The group continued to tour the oldies circuit, however, and appeared in the 1973 documentary "Let the Good Times Roll". Shirley Alston Reeves left for a solo career in 1975, upon which point Doris Jackson returned. Reeves recorded both as 'Lady Rose' (on the Scepter Strawberry subsidiary) and Shirley Alston for moonlighting Motown executive Barney Ales' Prodigal label until the label was purchased by Motown. That year, she recorded the album "With A Little Help From My Friends", in which such rock-and-roll luminaries as Shep and the Limelites, The Five Satins, Lala Brooks of The Crystals, Danny and the Juniors, The Flamingos, and The Drifters sang along with Reeves.
Doris took a leave of absence from 1979 to 1982 and was replaced by Louise Bethune. Shortly after Doris returned, Micki Harris died of a heart attack during a performance in Atlanta on June 10 1982. She was replaced by a returning Louie Bethune. By 1986, the group split, and the two originals formed their own groups: Coley fronting one group along with Fanita James and Gloria Jones of The Blossoms and occasionally, Carolyn Willis formerly of The Honey Cone; and Beverly Lee fronting the other (which featured Eloise Whittiker). Various groups claiming to be the Shirelles had been touring the oldies circuit in the '90s, so one group agreed to tour the West Coast while the other toured the East Coast. This meant that promoters would look for an authentic Shirelle to be featured in the group. They reunited briefly for a program honoring them at the high school they attended in Passaic, New Jersey and sang background on Dionne Warwick's 1983 recording of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", found on her "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye?" album. They had previously sung background for her on the song "Get Rid Of Him", an answer to their own "Foolish Little Girl", on Warwick's 'Make Way For Dionne Warwick' album.
The Shirelles made a special guest appearance on Bo Diddley's 1996 album A Man Amongst Men, singing background vocals on the tracks "Bo Diddley Is Crazy," "Hey Baby" and "Oops! Bo Diddley."
Beverly Lee eventually secured the official trademark for the group's name. The members of the group have also been lifelong activists in the fight for royalty reform, medical coverage, and fair treatment of and recognition for pioneering artists. They were officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked them #76 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" (#125) and "Tonight's the Night" (401) both made Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Doris Jackson died at the age of 58 from breast cancer in Sacramento, California, on February 4, 2000. Following her death, James and Jones reformed the Blossoms.
The Shirelles' hometown of Passaic recently (September 2008) honored the group by renaming a section of Paulison Avenue between Passaic and Pennington Avenues (the section where Passaic High School is located) "Shirelles Boulevard."
Discography
Studio albums
* 1961: Tonight's the Night
* 1961: The Shirelles Sing to Trumpets and Strings
* 1962: Baby It's You (US #59)
* 1962: The Shirelles and King Curtis Give a Twist Party (duets album with King Curtis)
* 1963: Foolish Little Girl (US #68)
* 1963: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
* 1967: Spontaneous Combustion (Live album)
* 1968: Eternally, Soul (duets album with King Curtis)
* 1972: Happy and in Love (RCA)
* 1973: The Shirelles (RCA)
* 1975: Shirley Alston: With a Little Help From My Friends (Prodigal)
* 1976: The Shirelles: Let's Give Each Other Love (RCA)
* 1977; Lady Rose (Shirley Alston) (Strawberry)
* 1977; Lady Rose Sings the Shirelles' Greatest Hits (Shirley Alston) (Strawberry)
Compilations
* 1963: Greatest Hits (US #19)
* 1964: The Shirelles Sing the Golden Oldies
* 1967: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
* 1972: Remember When
Singles
* 1958: "I Met Him on a Sunday (Ronde-Ronde)" (US #49)
* 1959: "Dedicated to the One I Love" (US #83)
* 1960: "Tonight's the Night" (US #39)
* 1961: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (Gerry Goffin/Carole King) (US #1, UK #3)
* 1961: "Dedicated to the One I Love" (US #3; rerelease of 1959 hit)
* 1961: "Mama Said" (US #4)
* 1961: "What a Sweet Thing That Was" (US #54)
* 1961: "A Thing of the Past" (US #41)
* 1961: "Big John" (US #21)
* 1962: "Baby It's You" (Burt Bacharach/Mack David/Barney Williams) (US #8)
* 1962: "The Things I Want to Hear (Pretty Words)" (US #107)
* 1962: "Soldier Boy" (Luther Dixon/Florence Greenberg) (US #1, UK #23)
* 1962: "Welcome Home, Baby" (US #22)
* 1962: "Stop The Music" (US #36)
* 1962: "It's Love That Really Counts" (US #102)
* 1963: "Everybody Loves a Lover" (US #19)
* 1963: "Foolish Little Girl" (US #4, UK #38)
* 1963: "Don't Say Goodnight and Mean Goodbye" (US #26)
* 1963: "Not for All the Money in the World" (US #100)
* 1963: "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (US #92)
* 1963: "31 Flavors" (US #97)
* 1963: "What Does a Girl Do?" (US #53)
* 1964: "Tonight You're Gonna Fall in Love With Me" (US #57)
* 1964: "Sha-La-La" (US #69)
* 1964: "Thank You, Baby" (US #63)
* 1964: "Maybe Tonight" (US #88)
* 1965: "Are You Still My Baby" (US #91)
* 1967: "Last Minute Miracle" (US #99)
* 1969: "Go Away, Find Yourself" (Bell)
* 1970: "Strange, I Still Love You" (UA)
* 1970: "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" (UA)
* 1972: "No Sugar Tonight" (RCA)
* 1972: "Let's Give Each Other Love" (RCA)
* 1974: "I Hear Those Church Bells Ringing"/"Chapel of Love" (Shirley Alston) (Prodigal)
Wikipedia
Beatles News
- BlueBeat Beatles tracks gone for good after judge's beatdown (Ars Technica)
- Ringo, McCartney duet on Starr's latest solo album (Reuters)
- Paul McCartney To Receive Gershwin Prize (CDInsight)
- David Lynch Making Documentary About Beatles Guru (ChartAttack)
- Stella McCartney to play it again for GapKids (Los Angeles Times)
- New rules could put Beatles, Michael Jackson in Billboard 200 (Independent)
- Beatles fans twist and shout over tribute performance (Bethany Beach Wave)
- Website Selling Beatles Catalog Shut Down After Court Ruling (Rolling Stone)
- Beatles reunion on Ringo Starr's new album (NME.com)
- The Beatles Stick It to Us (New York Times)
John Lennon: 1980
By Jonathan Cott / December 5, 1980
"Welcome to the inner sanctum!" says John Lennon, greeting me with high-spirited, mock ceremoniousness in Yoko Ono's beautiful cloud-ceilinged office in their Dakota apartment. It's Friday evening, December 5, and Yoko has been telling me how their collaborative new album, Double Fantasy, came about: Last spring, John and their son, Sean, were vacationing in Bermuda while Yoko stayed home "sorting out business," as she puts it. She and John spoke on the phone every day and sang each other the songs they had composed in between calls.
"I was at a dance club one night in Bermuda," John interrupts as he sits down on a couch and Yoko gets up to bring coffee. "Upstairs, they were playing disco, and downstairs, I suddenly heard 'Rock Lobster' by the B-52's for the first time. Do you know it? It sounds just like Yoko's music, so I said to meself, 'It's time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up!' We wrote about twenty-five songs during those three weeks, and we've recorded enough for another album."
"I've been playing side two of Double Fantasy over and over," I say, getting ready to ply him with a question. John looks at me with a time and interview-stopping smile. "How are you?" he asks. "It's been like a reunion for us these last few weeks. We've seen Ethan Russell, who's doing a videotape of a couple of the new songs, and Annie Leibovitz was here. She took my first Rolling Stone cover photo. It's been fun seeing everyone we used to know and doing it all again - we've all survived. When did we first meet?"
"I met you and Yoko on September 17, 1968," I say, remembering the first of our several meetings. I was just a lucky guy, at the right place at the right time. John had decided to become more "public" and to demystify his Beatles persona. He and Yoko, whom he'd met in November 1966, were preparing for the Amsterdam and Montreal bed-ins for peace and were soon to release Two Virgins, the first of their experimental record collaborations. The album cover - the infamous frontal nude portrait of them - was to grace the pages of Rolling Stone's first anniversary issue. John had just discovered the then-impoverished, San Francisco-based magazine, and he'd agreed to give Rolling Stone the first of his "coming-out" interviews. As "European editor," I was asked to visit John and Yoko and to take along a photographer (Ethan Russell, who later took the photos for the Let It Be book that accompanied the album). So, nervous and excited, we met John and Yoko at their temporary basement flat in London.
First impressions are usually the most accurate, and John was graceful, gracious, charming, exuberant, direct, witty and playful; I remember noticing how he wrote little reminders to himself in the wonderfully absorbed way that a child paints the sun. He was due at a recording session in a half-hour to work on the White Album, so we agreed to meet the next day to do the interview, after which John and Yoko invited Ethan and me to attend the session for "Back in the U.S.S.R." at Abbey Road Studios. Only a performance of Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre might have made me feel as ecstatic and fortunate as I did at that moment.
Every new encounter with John brought a new perspective. Once, I ran into John and Yoko in 1971. A friend and I had gone to see Carnal Knowledge, and afterward we bumped into the Lennons in the lobby. Accompanied by Jerry Rubin and a friend of his, they invited us to drive down with them to Ratner's delicatessen in the East Village for blintzes, whereupon a beatific, long-haired young man approached our table and wordlessly handed John a card inscribed with a pithy saying of the inscrutable Meher Baba. Rubin drew a swastika on the back of the card, got up and gave it back to the man. When he returned, John admonished him gently, saying that that wasn't the way to change someone's consciousness. Acerbic and skeptical as he could often be, John Lennon never lost his sense of compassion.
"Welcome to the inner sanctum!" says John Lennon, greeting me with high-spirited, mock ceremoniousness in Yoko Ono's beautiful cloud-ceilinged office in their Dakota apartment. It's Friday evening, December 5, and Yoko has been telling me how their collaborative new album, Double Fantasy, came about: Last spring, John and their son, Sean, were vacationing in Bermuda while Yoko stayed home "sorting out business," as she puts it. She and John spoke on the phone every day and sang each other the songs they had composed in between calls.
"I was at a dance club one night in Bermuda," John interrupts as he sits down on a couch and Yoko gets up to bring coffee. "Upstairs, they were playing disco, and downstairs, I suddenly heard 'Rock Lobster' by the B-52's for the first time. Do you know it? It sounds just like Yoko's music, so I said to meself, 'It's time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up!' We wrote about twenty-five songs during those three weeks, and we've recorded enough for another album."
"I've been playing side two of Double Fantasy over and over," I say, getting ready to ply him with a question. John looks at me with a time and interview-stopping smile. "How are you?" he asks. "It's been like a reunion for us these last few weeks. We've seen Ethan Russell, who's doing a videotape of a couple of the new songs, and Annie Leibovitz was here. She took my first Rolling Stone cover photo. It's been fun seeing everyone we used to know and doing it all again - we've all survived. When did we first meet?"
"I met you and Yoko on September 17, 1968," I say, remembering the first of our several meetings. I was just a lucky guy, at the right place at the right time. John had decided to become more "public" and to demystify his Beatles persona. He and Yoko, whom he'd met in November 1966, were preparing for the Amsterdam and Montreal bed-ins for peace and were soon to release Two Virgins, the first of their experimental record collaborations. The album cover - the infamous frontal nude portrait of them - was to grace the pages of Rolling Stone's first anniversary issue. John had just discovered the then-impoverished, San Francisco-based magazine, and he'd agreed to give Rolling Stone the first of his "coming-out" interviews. As "European editor," I was asked to visit John and Yoko and to take along a photographer (Ethan Russell, who later took the photos for the Let It Be book that accompanied the album). So, nervous and excited, we met John and Yoko at their temporary basement flat in London.
First impressions are usually the most accurate, and John was graceful, gracious, charming, exuberant, direct, witty and playful; I remember noticing how he wrote little reminders to himself in the wonderfully absorbed way that a child paints the sun. He was due at a recording session in a half-hour to work on the White Album, so we agreed to meet the next day to do the interview, after which John and Yoko invited Ethan and me to attend the session for "Back in the U.S.S.R." at Abbey Road Studios. Only a performance of Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre might have made me feel as ecstatic and fortunate as I did at that moment.
Every new encounter with John brought a new perspective. Once, I ran into John and Yoko in 1971. A friend and I had gone to see Carnal Knowledge, and afterward we bumped into the Lennons in the lobby. Accompanied by Jerry Rubin and a friend of his, they invited us to drive down with them to Ratner's delicatessen in the East Village for blintzes, whereupon a beatific, long-haired young man approached our table and wordlessly handed John a card inscribed with a pithy saying of the inscrutable Meher Baba. Rubin drew a swastika on the back of the card, got up and gave it back to the man. When he returned, John admonished him gently, saying that that wasn't the way to change someone's consciousness. Acerbic and skeptical as he could often be, John Lennon never lost his sense of compassion.
John Lennon on "Not a Second Time"
"I wrote this for the second album and it was the one that William Mann wrote about in The Times. He went on about the flat sub-mediant key switches and the Aeolian cadence at the end being like Mahler's 'Song of the Earth.' Really it was just chords like any other chords. That was the first time anyone had written anything like that about us."
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Beatles News
- David Lynch Takes On The Beatles' Guru (BeatCrave.com)
- Paul McCartney biography is a 'Life' less special (USA Today)
- Jason Lee to Direct Beatles Love Triangle Comedy With Time-Travel Twist (Moviefone)
- Judge Calls Bull on 'Psycho-Acoustic' Beatles Covers (Wired News)
- Sir Paul McCartney To Receive Gershwin Prize (AHN)
- The Beatles reunite… sort of (Consequence of Sound)
- Rock on the Block | The Phillips de Pury Music Sale (New York Times)
- Beatles tribute band, writer David Sedaris slated for Palace Theatre in 2010 (WRGB)
"Yes It Is" Lyrics
by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
As Released by the Beatles (1965)
If you wear red tonight
Remember what I said tonight
For red is the colour that my baby wore
And what's more, it's true, yes it is.
Scarlet were the clothes she wore
Everybody knows I'm sure
I would remember all the things we planned
Understand it's true
Yes it is, it's true, yes it is.
I could be happy with you by my side
If I could forget her
But it's my pride
Yes it is, yes it is, oh yes it is, yeah.
Please don't wear red tonight
This is what I said tonight
For red is the colour that will make me blue
In spite of you it's true
Yes it is, it's true, yes it is.
I could be happy with you by my side
If I could forget her
But it's my pride
Yes it is, yes it is, oh yes it is, yeah.
Please don't wear red tonight
This is what I said tonight
For red is the colour that will make me blue
In spite of you it's true
Yes it is, it's true
Yes it is, it's true.
As Released by the Beatles (1965)
If you wear red tonight
Remember what I said tonight
For red is the colour that my baby wore
And what's more, it's true, yes it is.
Scarlet were the clothes she wore
Everybody knows I'm sure
I would remember all the things we planned
Understand it's true
Yes it is, it's true, yes it is.
I could be happy with you by my side
If I could forget her
But it's my pride
Yes it is, yes it is, oh yes it is, yeah.
Please don't wear red tonight
This is what I said tonight
For red is the colour that will make me blue
In spite of you it's true
Yes it is, it's true, yes it is.
I could be happy with you by my side
If I could forget her
But it's my pride
Yes it is, yes it is, oh yes it is, yeah.
Please don't wear red tonight
This is what I said tonight
For red is the colour that will make me blue
In spite of you it's true
Yes it is, it's true
Yes it is, it's true.
Pete Best on the Polydor Recording Sessions
"The Polydor recording session was weird, to be quite honest. You have to imagine that we hadn't recorded before, and when Bert Kaempfert signed us up to back Tony Sheridan--and also to record in our own right--we were expecting to go into a recording studio. You know, this was Bert Kaempfert--"Wonderland by Night" and "That Happy Feeling"--the big A&R manager in Germany. We actually ended up in a school hall in Hamburg. This absolutely amazed us. It wasn't even a proper studio. So we set up on the stage in the school hall. All the sound equipment was backstage and we took sound levels, then Kaempfert came along and did the sound checks. He turned around and said, 'Okay, play the number through.' So we ran through 'My Bonnie,' the levels were taken, and we played another piece through. Basically, it was like two or three takes, and booomp, it was in the can."We were excited. Don't get me wrong. Some people said, 'Here you are, the lads from Liverpool, recording with Polydor Records. You've made it!' We had gotten a contract and all the rest of it, but it was a case of the surroundings being different from what we had anticipated. It worked out great, though. The sound was good, even on those early recordings. There were two sessions that actually took place. One was in the school hall. Then we went back later and did one in the studio--"Sweet Georgia Brown"--with Tony. Most of the material that was done on those sessions has come out on Polydor and all the American affiliates. And, of course, we don't get any of the royalties. All we did was sign a contract and got sessionman fees, which were about 200 marks in those days. That was it! Royalties might have gone to Tony, but not to us."
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
"Rocky Raccoon" Lyrics
by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
As Released by the Beatles (1968)
Now somewhere in the black mining hills of Dakota
There lived a young boy name of Rocky Raccoon
And one day his woman ran off with another guy
Hit young Rocky in the eye.
Rocky didn't like that
He said, I'm gonna get that boy
So one day he walked into town
Booked himself a room in the local saloon.
Rocky Raccoon checked into his room
Only to find Gideon's Bible
Rocky had come equipped with a gun
To shoot off the legs of his rival.
His rival it seems had broken his dreams
By stealing the girl of his fancy
Her name was Magill and she called herself Lil
But everyone knew her as Nancy.
Now she and her man who called himself Dan
Were in the next room at the hoe-down
A - Rocky burst in and grinning a grin
He said, Danny - Boy this is a showdown.
But Daniel was hot, he drew first and shot
And Rocky collapsed in the corner - ah.
Da da da da da da
Da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da da da
Do do do do
Do - do do do do
Do - do do do do do
Do - do do do do do do do
Da da da da do do do do do.
Now the doctor came in stinking of gin
And proceeded to lie on the table
He said, Rocky you met your match
And Rocky said, Doc it's only a scratch
And I'll be better, I'll be better Doc as soon as I am able.
A - now Rocky Raccoon, he fell back in his room
Only to find Gideon's Bible
Gideon checked out and he left it no doubt ((oh - Rocky - oh))
To help with good Rocky's revival - ah.
Oh yeah yeah
Do do do do do
Do - do do do do do
Do - do do do do do do do do do
Do do do do do
Do do do do - come on Rocky - boy
Do do do do do - come on Rocky - boy
Do do do do do do do do
The story of Rocky.
As Released by the Beatles (1968)
Now somewhere in the black mining hills of Dakota
There lived a young boy name of Rocky Raccoon
And one day his woman ran off with another guy
Hit young Rocky in the eye.
Rocky didn't like that
He said, I'm gonna get that boy
So one day he walked into town
Booked himself a room in the local saloon.
Rocky Raccoon checked into his room
Only to find Gideon's Bible
Rocky had come equipped with a gun
To shoot off the legs of his rival.
His rival it seems had broken his dreams
By stealing the girl of his fancy
Her name was Magill and she called herself Lil
But everyone knew her as Nancy.
Now she and her man who called himself Dan
Were in the next room at the hoe-down
A - Rocky burst in and grinning a grin
He said, Danny - Boy this is a showdown.
But Daniel was hot, he drew first and shot
And Rocky collapsed in the corner - ah.
Da da da da da da
Da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da da da
Do do do do
Do - do do do do
Do - do do do do do
Do - do do do do do do do
Da da da da do do do do do.
Now the doctor came in stinking of gin
And proceeded to lie on the table
He said, Rocky you met your match
And Rocky said, Doc it's only a scratch
And I'll be better, I'll be better Doc as soon as I am able.
A - now Rocky Raccoon, he fell back in his room
Only to find Gideon's Bible
Gideon checked out and he left it no doubt ((oh - Rocky - oh))
To help with good Rocky's revival - ah.
Oh yeah yeah
Do do do do do
Do - do do do do do
Do - do do do do do do do do do
Do do do do do
Do do do do - come on Rocky - boy
Do do do do do - come on Rocky - boy
Do do do do do do do do
The story of Rocky.
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"Can't Buy Me Love" is the title of a song composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released by The Beatles on the A side of their sixth British single, "Can't Buy Me Love/You Can't Do That."
Interpretation
When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song's "true" meaning, McCartney denied that "Can't Buy Me Love" was about prostitution, stating that, although it was open to interpretation, that suggestion was going too far, saying: "The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won't buy me what I really want." Although he was to later comment: "It should have been 'Can Buy Me Love' " when reflecting on the perks that money and fame had brought him.
The line "I don't care too much for money / Money can't buy me love" expresses the opposite sentiment from their earlier cover, "Money (That's What I Want)."
Composition
While in Paris, The Beatles stayed at the five star George V hotel and had an upright piano moved into one of their suites so that song writing could continue. It was here that McCartney wrote "Can't Buy Me Love." The song was written under the pressure of the success achieved by "I Want to Hold Your Hand" which had just reached number one in America. When producer George Martin first heard "Can't Buy Me Love" he felt the song needed changing: “I thought that we really needed a tag for the song’s ending, and a tag for the beginning; a kind of intro. So I took the first two lines of the chorus and changed the ending, and said “Let’s just have these lines, and by altering the second phrase we can get back into the verse pretty quickly”. And they said, “That’s not a bad idea, we’ll do it that way.” The song's verse is a twelve bar blues in structure, a formula that The Beatles would actually seldom apply to their own material. It was also one of the first Beatles songs not to include any other singers other than the lead vocalist (in this case, McCartney).
Recording
"Can't Buy Me Love" was recorded on 29 January 1964 at EMI's Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, where The Beatles were performing 18 days of concerts at the Olympia Theatre. At this time, EMI's West Germany branch, Odeon, insisted that The Beatles would not sell records in any significant numbers in Germany unless they were actually sung in the German language and The Beatles reluctantly agreed to re-record the vocals to "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" prior to them being released in Germany. George Martin traveled to Paris with a newly mastered rhythm track for what was to be “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand”. “Sie Liebt Dich” (She Loves You) required The Beatles to record a new rhythm track as the original two track recording had been scrapped. EMI sent a translator to be present for this recording session which had been hurriedly arranged to tie in with The Beatles Paris commitments. This was accomplished well within the allotted studio time allowing The Beatles an opportunity to record the backing track (with just an English guide vocal) to the recently composed "Can't Buy Me Love." McCartney's final vocal was overdubbed at Abbey Road Studios, London, on 25 February.
Also re-recorded on this day at Abbey Road was George Harrison's modified guitar solo, although his original solo can still just be heard in the background. George said, "What happened was, we recorded first in Paris and re-recorded in England. Obviously they'd tried to overdub it, but in those days they only had two tracks, so you can hear the version we put on in London, and in the background you can hear a quieter one." Helen Shapiro, a friend of The Beatles and present at this overdub session, says that Ringo Starr also added extra cymbals “over the top” and that “apparently this was something he did quite often on their records.” "Can't Buy Me Love" is also the only English-language Beatles track that The Beatles themselves recorded in a studio outside the UK, although the instrumental portion of The Beatles' B-side "The Inner Light" was recorded in India by Indian session musicians.
Credits
* John Lennon – acoustic rhythm guitar
* Paul McCartney – double tracked vocal, bass
* George Harrison – double tracked lead guitar
* Ringo Starr – drums
U.S. music charts
The Beatles established four records on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Can't Buy Me Love" at number one:
1. Until Billboard began using SoundScan for their charts, it had the biggest jump to number one: (number twenty-seven to number one; no other single ever did this).
2. It gave The Beatles three consecutive number-one songs ("I Want to Hold Your Hand" was replaced at number one by "She Loves You" which was in turn replaced by "Can't Buy Me Love").
3. When "Can't Buy Me Love" went to number one (4 April 1964), the entire top five of the Hot 100 was by The Beatles, the next positions being filled by "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me," respectively. No other act has held the top five spots simultaneously.
4. During its second week at number one (11 April 1964), The Beatles had fourteen songs on the Hot 100 at the same time.
Rolling Stone ranked "Can't Buy Me Love" at #289 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
U.K. music charts
Can't Buy Me Love became The Beatles fourth UK number-one single and their third single to sell over a million copies in the UK.
The song was also released in the following albums: "A Hard Day's Night" (both the American United Artists and British Parlophone versions), "Big Hits From England And The U.S.A.", a various artists compilation album from Capitol issued in 1964; the British-only LP release "A Collection Of Beatles Oldies", the 1970 compilation "Hey Jude (also known as "The Beatles Again"), the 1973 double disc collection "The Beatles/1962-1966" (The Red Album), the 1982 release "Reel Music" which features songs from Beatles films, the 1982 compilation "20 Greatest Hits" (both in England and America), and "The Beatles 1", released in November 2000.
Cover versions
* Paul McCartney (2003)
* The Chipmunks (1964)
* The Eliminators (1964)
* Ella Fitzgerald (1964)
* Johnny Rivers (1964)
* George Martin (1964)
* The Supremes (1964)
* Dave "Baby" Cortez (1965)
* Henry Mancini (1965)
* Peter Sellers (1965)
* Chet Atkins (1966)
* Count Basie and his Orchestra (1966)
* Cathy Berberian (1967)
* Phil Seaman (1968)
* David Clayton-Thomas (1973)
* Shirley Scott & Stanley Turrentine (1978)
* Stanley Turrentine (1981)
* The King's Singers (1988)
* The Allen Toussaint Orchestra (1989)
* Elena Duran, Stephane Grappelli & Laurie Holloway (1991)
* Giovanni (1993)
* Shenandoah (1995)
* Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck (Joe Alaskey) (1995)
* Blackstreet (1996)
* John Pizzarelli (1998)
* The Punkles (1998)
* Laurence Juber (2000)
* Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers (2001)
* Michael Bublé (2005)
* Wayne Brady (2008)
* House of Heroes (2009)
B-side: "You Can't Do That"
Released: 20 March 1964 (UK), 16 March 1964 (US)
Format: 7"
Recorded: Pathé Marconi Studios, 29 January 1964
Genre: Rock
Length: 2:11
Label: Parlophone R5114 (UK), Capitol 5150 (US)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin
Wikipedia
Interpretation
When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song's "true" meaning, McCartney denied that "Can't Buy Me Love" was about prostitution, stating that, although it was open to interpretation, that suggestion was going too far, saying: "The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won't buy me what I really want." Although he was to later comment: "It should have been 'Can Buy Me Love' " when reflecting on the perks that money and fame had brought him.
The line "I don't care too much for money / Money can't buy me love" expresses the opposite sentiment from their earlier cover, "Money (That's What I Want)."
Composition
While in Paris, The Beatles stayed at the five star George V hotel and had an upright piano moved into one of their suites so that song writing could continue. It was here that McCartney wrote "Can't Buy Me Love." The song was written under the pressure of the success achieved by "I Want to Hold Your Hand" which had just reached number one in America. When producer George Martin first heard "Can't Buy Me Love" he felt the song needed changing: “I thought that we really needed a tag for the song’s ending, and a tag for the beginning; a kind of intro. So I took the first two lines of the chorus and changed the ending, and said “Let’s just have these lines, and by altering the second phrase we can get back into the verse pretty quickly”. And they said, “That’s not a bad idea, we’ll do it that way.” The song's verse is a twelve bar blues in structure, a formula that The Beatles would actually seldom apply to their own material. It was also one of the first Beatles songs not to include any other singers other than the lead vocalist (in this case, McCartney).
Recording
"Can't Buy Me Love" was recorded on 29 January 1964 at EMI's Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, where The Beatles were performing 18 days of concerts at the Olympia Theatre. At this time, EMI's West Germany branch, Odeon, insisted that The Beatles would not sell records in any significant numbers in Germany unless they were actually sung in the German language and The Beatles reluctantly agreed to re-record the vocals to "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" prior to them being released in Germany. George Martin traveled to Paris with a newly mastered rhythm track for what was to be “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand”. “Sie Liebt Dich” (She Loves You) required The Beatles to record a new rhythm track as the original two track recording had been scrapped. EMI sent a translator to be present for this recording session which had been hurriedly arranged to tie in with The Beatles Paris commitments. This was accomplished well within the allotted studio time allowing The Beatles an opportunity to record the backing track (with just an English guide vocal) to the recently composed "Can't Buy Me Love." McCartney's final vocal was overdubbed at Abbey Road Studios, London, on 25 February.
Also re-recorded on this day at Abbey Road was George Harrison's modified guitar solo, although his original solo can still just be heard in the background. George said, "What happened was, we recorded first in Paris and re-recorded in England. Obviously they'd tried to overdub it, but in those days they only had two tracks, so you can hear the version we put on in London, and in the background you can hear a quieter one." Helen Shapiro, a friend of The Beatles and present at this overdub session, says that Ringo Starr also added extra cymbals “over the top” and that “apparently this was something he did quite often on their records.” "Can't Buy Me Love" is also the only English-language Beatles track that The Beatles themselves recorded in a studio outside the UK, although the instrumental portion of The Beatles' B-side "The Inner Light" was recorded in India by Indian session musicians.
Credits
* John Lennon – acoustic rhythm guitar
* Paul McCartney – double tracked vocal, bass
* George Harrison – double tracked lead guitar
* Ringo Starr – drums
U.S. music charts
The Beatles established four records on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Can't Buy Me Love" at number one:
1. Until Billboard began using SoundScan for their charts, it had the biggest jump to number one: (number twenty-seven to number one; no other single ever did this).
2. It gave The Beatles three consecutive number-one songs ("I Want to Hold Your Hand" was replaced at number one by "She Loves You" which was in turn replaced by "Can't Buy Me Love").
3. When "Can't Buy Me Love" went to number one (4 April 1964), the entire top five of the Hot 100 was by The Beatles, the next positions being filled by "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me," respectively. No other act has held the top five spots simultaneously.
4. During its second week at number one (11 April 1964), The Beatles had fourteen songs on the Hot 100 at the same time.
Rolling Stone ranked "Can't Buy Me Love" at #289 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
U.K. music charts
Can't Buy Me Love became The Beatles fourth UK number-one single and their third single to sell over a million copies in the UK.
The song was also released in the following albums: "A Hard Day's Night" (both the American United Artists and British Parlophone versions), "Big Hits From England And The U.S.A.", a various artists compilation album from Capitol issued in 1964; the British-only LP release "A Collection Of Beatles Oldies", the 1970 compilation "Hey Jude (also known as "The Beatles Again"), the 1973 double disc collection "The Beatles/1962-1966" (The Red Album), the 1982 release "Reel Music" which features songs from Beatles films, the 1982 compilation "20 Greatest Hits" (both in England and America), and "The Beatles 1", released in November 2000.
Cover versions
* Paul McCartney (2003)
* The Chipmunks (1964)
* The Eliminators (1964)
* Ella Fitzgerald (1964)
* Johnny Rivers (1964)
* George Martin (1964)
* The Supremes (1964)
* Dave "Baby" Cortez (1965)
* Henry Mancini (1965)
* Peter Sellers (1965)
* Chet Atkins (1966)
* Count Basie and his Orchestra (1966)
* Cathy Berberian (1967)
* Phil Seaman (1968)
* David Clayton-Thomas (1973)
* Shirley Scott & Stanley Turrentine (1978)
* Stanley Turrentine (1981)
* The King's Singers (1988)
* The Allen Toussaint Orchestra (1989)
* Elena Duran, Stephane Grappelli & Laurie Holloway (1991)
* Giovanni (1993)
* Shenandoah (1995)
* Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck (Joe Alaskey) (1995)
* Blackstreet (1996)
* John Pizzarelli (1998)
* The Punkles (1998)
* Laurence Juber (2000)
* Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers (2001)
* Michael Bublé (2005)
* Wayne Brady (2008)
* House of Heroes (2009)
B-side: "You Can't Do That"
Released: 20 March 1964 (UK), 16 March 1964 (US)
Format: 7"
Recorded: Pathé Marconi Studios, 29 January 1964
Genre: Rock
Length: 2:11
Label: Parlophone R5114 (UK), Capitol 5150 (US)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin
Wikipedia
Beatles News
- Paul McCartney to receive Gershwin Award (Independent)
- The Beatles Team Up With Fashion Line A Bathing Ape (MTV.com)
- McCartney Receives Gershwin Prize for Popular Music (TheCelebrityCafe.com)
- David Lynch to make movie about Beatles guru (CDInsight)
- Terra Firma expects Citigroup to share EMI "pain" (Reuters)
- Unused Beatles artwork sells for over $50000 at auction (Examiner.com)
- Full Sgt. Pepper's album now available to download on The Beatles Rock Band (Unthinkable)
Paul McCartney on "Please Please Me"
"George Martin's contribution was quite a big one, actually. The first time he really ever showed that he could see beyond what we were offering him was 'Please Please Me.' It was originally conceived as a Roy Orbison-type thing, you know. George Martin said, 'Well, we'll put the tempo up.' He lifted the tempo and we all thought that was much better and that was a big hit."
Here, There and Everywhere: The 100 Best Beatles Songs
by Stephen J. Spignesi and Michael Lewis
The Beatles recorded 206 original songs over the course of the band's existence, most of them enormous hits, all of them memorable, many of them ascending, overtime, to the level of enduring classic. "Blackbird" ... "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" ... "Let It Be" ... "Revolution" ... "Eleanor Rigby" ... "Hey Jude" ... "Help!" ... Just repeating the names of the Beatles' great songs is enough to set the tunes and lyrics spinning through our minds and send us wandering down Penny Lane, along Abbey Road, through Strawberry Fields, or into Norwegian Wood. The best of them are great works of popular art by what many consider to be the best band that ever was. As a body of work, they form a kind of soundtrack to our lives, whether we grew up right along with them or weren't even born yet when they broke up.
Stephen J. Spignesi and Michael Lewis have been listening to, studying, and writing about the Beatles for years. They decided to set themselves a task that they now admit was even harder than they had anticipated: They decided to select the top 100 Beatles songs and rank them in order, from 1 to 100. They culled. They wrangled. They argued. They compromised. They cut-and-pasted. (You might even say they obsessed.) And ultimately, they came up with a ranking of the Beatles' 100 best tunes, based on merit, songwriting, musicianship, fun, and a host of other ineffable factors that only they understand. Then they went to work describing, discussing, and defending their choices, along the way providing an unparalleled reference for Beatles fans at every level.
Here, There and Everywhere is full of fresh information, research, facts and figures, historical context, quotes from the band members and others, blow-by-blow descriptions of the writing and recording processes, backstage gossip, song explications, and more. Generously illustrated throughout with photos of the band at work and play, posing and in unguarded moments, in character and taking a break, this book is a definitive guide to the best of the best, and a boon to Beatles-lovers everywhere. It is sure to provoke lively conversation about the songs' relative merits--but, as the authors point out in their introduction, "Ask a Beatles fan which of the Beatles' 206 songs are his or her favorites and the answer will probably be, 'all of them!'"
The Beatles recorded 206 original songs over the course of the band's existence, most of them enormous hits, all of them memorable, many of them ascending, overtime, to the level of enduring classic. "Blackbird" ... "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" ... "Let It Be" ... "Revolution" ... "Eleanor Rigby" ... "Hey Jude" ... "Help!" ... Just repeating the names of the Beatles' great songs is enough to set the tunes and lyrics spinning through our minds and send us wandering down Penny Lane, along Abbey Road, through Strawberry Fields, or into Norwegian Wood. The best of them are great works of popular art by what many consider to be the best band that ever was. As a body of work, they form a kind of soundtrack to our lives, whether we grew up right along with them or weren't even born yet when they broke up.
Stephen J. Spignesi and Michael Lewis have been listening to, studying, and writing about the Beatles for years. They decided to set themselves a task that they now admit was even harder than they had anticipated: They decided to select the top 100 Beatles songs and rank them in order, from 1 to 100. They culled. They wrangled. They argued. They compromised. They cut-and-pasted. (You might even say they obsessed.) And ultimately, they came up with a ranking of the Beatles' 100 best tunes, based on merit, songwriting, musicianship, fun, and a host of other ineffable factors that only they understand. Then they went to work describing, discussing, and defending their choices, along the way providing an unparalleled reference for Beatles fans at every level.
Here, There and Everywhere is full of fresh information, research, facts and figures, historical context, quotes from the band members and others, blow-by-blow descriptions of the writing and recording processes, backstage gossip, song explications, and more. Generously illustrated throughout with photos of the band at work and play, posing and in unguarded moments, in character and taking a break, this book is a definitive guide to the best of the best, and a boon to Beatles-lovers everywhere. It is sure to provoke lively conversation about the songs' relative merits--but, as the authors point out in their introduction, "Ask a Beatles fan which of the Beatles' 206 songs are his or her favorites and the answer will probably be, 'all of them!'"
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Beatles News
- What Sgt. Pepper's looks like in The Beatles: Rock Band (Destructoid)
- Music Games Aren't Dead, Just Waiting to Be Reborn (Wired Games)
- Beatles Sgt. Pepper DLC trailer confirms new stages (GamePro.com)
- Robert Pattinson thinks 'Twilight' mania is 'perhaps close' to what the Beatles went through (Entertainment Weekly)
- Twins 'more popular than The Beatles' (Digital Spy)
- New This Week: Paul McCartney - 'Good Evening New York City' (PopMatters)
- 'Pirate' cast bonded in a water-world (Chicago Tribune)
- Beatles Rock Band: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club DLC out today (Mirror.co.uk)
"Yer Blues" Lyrics
by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
As Released by the Beatles (1968)
Two, three.
Yes I'm lonely - wanna die
Yes I'm lonely - wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Ooo - girl you know the reason why.
In the morning - wanna die
In the evening - wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Wuh - girl you know the reason why.
My mother was of the sky
My father was of the earth
But I am of the universe
And you know what it's worth.
I'm lonely - wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Wuh - girl you know the reason why.
The eagle picks my eye
The worm he licks my bone,
Feel so suicidal
Just like Dylan's Mr. Jones.
Lonely - wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Wuh - girl you know the reason why.
Black cloud crossed my mind
Blue mist round my soul
Feels so suicidal
Even hate my rock 'n' roll.
Wanna die, yeah wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Wuh girl - you know the reason why.
Yes I'm lonely - wanna die
Yes I'm lonely - wanna die
... Girl you know the reason why.
... Wanna die
In the evening ...
As Released by the Beatles (1968)Two, three.
Yes I'm lonely - wanna die
Yes I'm lonely - wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Ooo - girl you know the reason why.
In the morning - wanna die
In the evening - wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Wuh - girl you know the reason why.
My mother was of the sky
My father was of the earth
But I am of the universe
And you know what it's worth.
I'm lonely - wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Wuh - girl you know the reason why.
The eagle picks my eye
The worm he licks my bone,
Feel so suicidal
Just like Dylan's Mr. Jones.
Lonely - wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Wuh - girl you know the reason why.
Black cloud crossed my mind
Blue mist round my soul
Feels so suicidal
Even hate my rock 'n' roll.
Wanna die, yeah wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Wuh girl - you know the reason why.
Yes I'm lonely - wanna die
Yes I'm lonely - wanna die
... Girl you know the reason why.
... Wanna die
In the evening ...
John Lennon on "It Won't Be Long"
"Another early one. When I was in therapy in California they made me go through every lyric of every song I'd ever written. I couldn't believe I'd written so many songs."
Monday, November 16, 2009
"Revolution 9" Lyrics
by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC
(Tape loops spliced at random)
EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC
(Tape loops spliced at random)
"Boys"
"Boys" is a song by Luther Dixon and Wes Farrell, originally performed by the Shirelles and released as the B-side of their "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" single in November 1960.
The Beatles version
The Beatles covered "Boys" on their first album released in the UK, Please Please Me. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on February 11, 1963 in a single take, and is Ringo Starr's first recorded lead vocal with the Beatles. February 11 was a marathon day for the Beatles; they recorded 10 of the 14 tracks they needed for Please Please Me. The Beatles included two songs by the Shirelles on their first album, "Boys" and "Baby It's You."
In the early 1960s, the Beatles didn't concern themselves about the possible homosexual connotations in singing a song about boys, although the Beatles altered the gender pronouns employed on the Shirelles' version (i.e. "My girl says when I kiss her lips..."). In an October 2005 Rolling Stone interview, Paul McCartney stated: "Any one of us could hold the audience. Ringo would do 'Boys', which was a fan favourite with the crowd. And it was great - though if you think about it, here's us doing a song and it was really a girls' song. 'I talk about boys now!' Or it was a gay song. But we never even listened. It's just a great song. I think that's one of the things about youth - you just don't give a shit. I love the innocence of those days."
"Boys" had always been the Beatles' 'drummer' song during their Cavern days, the drummer then being Pete Best. Coincidentally, Starr also sang this for his solo spot with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes; Cilla Black would sometimes join him on stage, sharing the same microphone.
Credits
* Ringo Starr – drums, lead vocal
* John Lennon – rhythm guitar, backing vocal
* Paul McCartney – bass guitar, backing vocal
* George Harrison – lead guitar, backing vocal
Album: Please Please Me
Released: March 22, 1963 (mono), April 26, 1963 (stereo)
Recorded: February 11, 1963
Genre: Rock
Length: 2:24
Label: Parlophone
Writer: Luther Dixon/Wes Farrell
Producer: George Martin
Wikipedia
The Beatles version
The Beatles covered "Boys" on their first album released in the UK, Please Please Me. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on February 11, 1963 in a single take, and is Ringo Starr's first recorded lead vocal with the Beatles. February 11 was a marathon day for the Beatles; they recorded 10 of the 14 tracks they needed for Please Please Me. The Beatles included two songs by the Shirelles on their first album, "Boys" and "Baby It's You."
In the early 1960s, the Beatles didn't concern themselves about the possible homosexual connotations in singing a song about boys, although the Beatles altered the gender pronouns employed on the Shirelles' version (i.e. "My girl says when I kiss her lips..."). In an October 2005 Rolling Stone interview, Paul McCartney stated: "Any one of us could hold the audience. Ringo would do 'Boys', which was a fan favourite with the crowd. And it was great - though if you think about it, here's us doing a song and it was really a girls' song. 'I talk about boys now!' Or it was a gay song. But we never even listened. It's just a great song. I think that's one of the things about youth - you just don't give a shit. I love the innocence of those days."
"Boys" had always been the Beatles' 'drummer' song during their Cavern days, the drummer then being Pete Best. Coincidentally, Starr also sang this for his solo spot with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes; Cilla Black would sometimes join him on stage, sharing the same microphone.
Credits
* Ringo Starr – drums, lead vocal
* John Lennon – rhythm guitar, backing vocal
* Paul McCartney – bass guitar, backing vocal
* George Harrison – lead guitar, backing vocal
Album: Please Please Me
Released: March 22, 1963 (mono), April 26, 1963 (stereo)
Recorded: February 11, 1963
Genre: Rock
Length: 2:24
Label: Parlophone
Writer: Luther Dixon/Wes Farrell
Producer: George Martin
Wikipedia
Beatles News
- All Sgt. Pepper Tunes To Hit The Beatles: Rock Band (RTT News)
- History brings The Beatles On Record, Nov. 25 (Monsters and Critics.com)
- Library of Congress to honor Paul McCartney with the Gershwin Prize (Washington Post)
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Coming To The Beatles: Rock Band (I4U)
- Worthington to host Beatles tribute (Worthington Daily Globe)
- The Beatles or The Stones? with The Cribs (MusicRadar.com)
- Huffpost Reviews: Paul McCartney, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, and Norah Jones (Huffington Post)
- 'The Beatles on Record' Premieres in US (trailer) (PopMatters)
Beatles Deeper Undercover
by Kristofer Engelhardt
Focusing exclusively on more than 1,000 musical endeavors shared between more than 300 artists, this updated continuation of the critically acclaimed Beatles Undercover contains new chapters, previously unpublished interviews, and exclusive firsthand information on the Fab Four from the artists who knew them best. An exhaustively researched, highly detailed discography of the Beatles’ musical contributions is also included, giving a clear look into their songwriting and recording processes. Many of the Beatles' contributions to other artists' recordings were done anonymously and are documented here for the first time, making this an extremely valuable book for any Beatles fan.
Focusing exclusively on more than 1,000 musical endeavors shared between more than 300 artists, this updated continuation of the critically acclaimed Beatles Undercover contains new chapters, previously unpublished interviews, and exclusive firsthand information on the Fab Four from the artists who knew them best. An exhaustively researched, highly detailed discography of the Beatles’ musical contributions is also included, giving a clear look into their songwriting and recording processes. Many of the Beatles' contributions to other artists' recordings were done anonymously and are documented here for the first time, making this an extremely valuable book for any Beatles fan.
John Lennon on Drugs in the Early Days of the Beatles
"In Hard Day's Night, I was on pills. That's drugs, you know, that's bigger drugs than pot. I've been on pills since I was fifteen--no, since I was seventeen. Since I became a musician. The only way to survive in Hamburg, to play eight hours a night, was to take pills. The waiters gave you the pills and drink. I was fuckin' drop-down drunk in art school. I was a pill addict until Help!, just before Help! where we were turned onto pot and we dropped drink. Simple as that. I've always needed a drug to survive. The others too, but I always had more, I always took more pills and more of everything, 'cause I'm more crazy."
Sunday, November 15, 2009
"Working Class Hero" Lyrics
by John Lennon
Original Manuscript (1970)
(1) as soon as your [sic] born they make you feel small
by giving you no time instead of it all
till the pain so big you feel nothing at all
working class etc.
(2) they hurt you at home and they hit you at school
they hate you if your [sic] clever and they despise a fool
til your [sic] so fuckin' crazy you can't follow their rules
working class etc.
(3) Keep you doped with religion and sex and t.v.
and you think your [sic] all clever and classless and free
but your [sic] still fucking peasants as far as I can see
working class etc.
(4) When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
then they expect you to pick a career
when you can't really function your [sic] so full of fear
(5) there's room at the top they are telling you still
but first you must lean how to smile as you kill
if you want to be like the folks on the hill
a working class hero is something to be
yes " " " " " " " "
if you want to be a hero well just follow me
" " " " " " " " " " "
As Released by John Lennon (1970)
As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
Original Manuscript (1970)(1) as soon as your [sic] born they make you feel small
by giving you no time instead of it all
till the pain so big you feel nothing at all
working class etc.
(2) they hurt you at home and they hit you at school
they hate you if your [sic] clever and they despise a fool
til your [sic] so fuckin' crazy you can't follow their rules
working class etc.
(3) Keep you doped with religion and sex and t.v.
and you think your [sic] all clever and classless and free
but your [sic] still fucking peasants as far as I can see
working class etc.
(4) When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
then they expect you to pick a career
when you can't really function your [sic] so full of fear
(5) there's room at the top they are telling you still
but first you must lean how to smile as you kill
if you want to be like the folks on the hill
a working class hero is something to be
yes " " " " " " " "
if you want to be a hero well just follow me
" " " " " " " " " " "
As Released by John Lennon (1970)
As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me
Beatle People: Sounds Incorporated
Sounds Incorporated, later known as Sounds Inc., were a British instrumental pop group who recorded extensively in the 1960s.Career
The group formed in 1961, in Dartford, Kent, and gained a local reputation in nearby South London for the fullness of their saxophone-led instrumental sound. In 1961, after Gene Vincent's band, The Blue Caps, had been denied permission to work in the UK, they won the opportunity to back Vincent on his British tour and on recordings in London. This led to further opportunities to back other visiting American artists, including Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Brenda Lee and Sam Cooke. The energy put into their stage performances combined with Major West's humorous song introductions set them apart from other instrumental combos' regulation guitars, bass and drums.
Their only record with Parlophone, "Mogambo", failed to achieve significant sales, and they moved to Decca where they released a trio of singles, the last of which was recorded with producer Joe Meek, again with little success. However, while performing in Hamburg they met and befriended The Beatles and in 1963 signed to Brian Epstein's management company, NEMS. In the same year they appeared as musical guests in the film, Live It Up!.
Their first two singles on new label Columbia, "The Spartans" and "Spanish Harlem" made the UK Charts in 1964 but these were the only successes in their home country. That year also saw their becoming Cilla Black's backing band and the release of their first vinyl album called "Sounds Incorporated" containing many stage favourites, although not their chart sucesses. Their third Columbia single WAS included and turned out to be their greatest success in Australia, their version of the "William Tell Overture" reached #2.
The group toured the world as the Beatles' opening act, including the concert at New York's Shea Stadium. Their continuing popularity ensured a stream of work including backing duties at the televised "New Musical Express" awards, which still survives in the archives (as does the following years'). Unusual instruments were a feature. The battery-operated Clavioline keyboard (as used by the Tornados) is heard on "Keep Movin" but is also heard prominently on their previous disc before Meek, "Sounds Like Locomotion". Al Holmes played the lead melody on flute through "The Spartans".
1966 was the first year the group released no singles in their home country but recorded a second album, again simply titled "Sounds Incorporated". This was released on EMI's fledgling "Studio 2" label, primarily to show off EMI's mid-60's advances and developments in stereo recording techniques. Any singles taken off the LP for foreign markets were in that format's usual mono however, making these unusal items for UK collectors of the group.
The year of "flower power" saw the groups name truncated to "Sounds Inc." The Beatles, still friends from the Hamburg days invited Cameron, Holmes, and West to be the saxophone section on their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album track, "Good Morning Good Morning." After this guest appearance Sounds Inc left EMI and released a solitary single on the Polydor label "How Do You Feel," their first 45 to feature vocals.
The group began to disintegrate in the late 1960s, Newman having already left to work as a session musician and at one stage joining the Jeff Beck Group. Barrie Cameron's leaving for a career in A&R left a gap in the group, filled by Trevor White, the groups first true vocalist. The group soldiered on, moving to and mainly playing in Australia for their final years together. Their act become more middle-of-the-road, exemplified in their final LP which was released in many territories but not the UK, containing more vocals than instrumentals. In 1971 they finally broke up.
Recorded Legacy
Their recorded career is currently well covered on various CD sets, indicative of the high regard the group is held in amongst collectors. Virtually all of their recorded output is covered incluing rare and unreleased items. All tracks released as singles make up one compilation ("The Singles") and is probably the best introduction to the group. Both UK-released albums are contained on another collection in stereo, and their third LP is contained in a specialist UK compilation of rarer tracks. Many individual cuts spanning the first half of their career appear on various specialist instrumental compilations.
Their third Decca single "Keep Movin'"/"Order Of The Keys" is probably most sought-out by collectors, mainly due to being produced by Joe Meek, despite the famous producer recording methods imposing his studio sounds and managing to eradicate much of the band's own identity in the process. The first "Sounds Incorporated" was issued in both mono and stereo; the mono mixes are perhaps more representative of their poweful sound.
Television recordings still exist featuring the group in action although, perhaps unsurprisingly, little if anything exists from the UK achives. They also appeared in "Pop Gear," a compilation film made in colour which has been released on Video in recent years.
Band members
* Alan "Boots" Holmes (baritone saxophone) - (born 25 April 1940, Bermondsey, South East London)
* "Major" Griff West (saxophone) - (born David Glyde, 19 December 1940, Barnehurst, Kent)
* Barrie Cameron (keyboards, baritone saxophone) - (born Barrie Elmes, 25 October 1939, Erith, Kent)
* John St. John (guitar) - (born John Gillard, 1 April 1940, Dartford, Kent)
* Wes Hunter (bass) - (born Richard Thomas, 1941, Barnehurst, Kent)
* Tony Newman (drums) - (born Richard Anthony Newman, 17 March 1943, Southampton, Hampshire)
Wikipedia
Beatles News
- The Beatle who bust the Berlin Wall (Times Online)
- A Rock Royal Finds Himself In The Digital Age (NPR)
- In his life, the ultimate fan met the Beatles, except for one (New Haven Register)
- Win Tickets To See Paul McCartney in Hamburg (NME.com)
- Product Review: The Beatles Box of Vision (Blogcritics.org)
John Lennon: 1980
By David Sheff / September 8-28, 1980
PLAYBOY: Yoko, the single you and John released from your album seems to be looking toward the future.
ONO: Yes, "Starting Over" is a song that makes me feel like crying. John has talked about the Sixties and how it gave us a taste for freedom -- sexual and otherwise. It was like an orgy. Then, after that big come that we had together, men and women somehow lost track of each other and a lot of families and relationships split apart. I really think that what happened in the Seventies can be compared to what happened under Nazism with Jewish families. Only the force that split them came from the inside, not from the outside. We tried to rationalize it as the price we were paying for our freedom. And John is saying in his song, OK, we had the energy in the Sixties, in the Seventies we separated, but let's start over in the Eighties. He's reaching out to me, the woman. Reaching out after all that's happened, over the battlefield of dead families, is more difficult this time around. On the other side of the record is my song, "Kiss Kiss Kiss," which is the other side of the same question. There is the sound of a woman coming to a climax on it, and she is crying out to be held, to be touched. It will be controversial, because people still feel it's less natural to hear the sounds of a woman's lovemaking than, say, the sound of a Concorde, killing the atmosphere and polluting nature. Altogether, both sides are a prayer to change the Eighties.
PLAYBOY: What is the Eighties' dream to you, John?
LENNON: Well, you make your own dream. That's the Beatles' story, isn't it? That's Yoko's story . That's what I'm saying now. Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It's quite possible to do anything, but not to put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don't expect Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself. That's what the great masters and mistresses have been saying ever since time began. They can point the way, leave signposts and little instructions in various books that are now called holy and worshiped for the cover of the book and not for what it says, but the instructions are all there for all to see, have always been and always will be. There's nothing new under the sun. All the roads lead to Rome. And people cannot provide it for you. I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you.
PLAYBOY: What is it that keeps people from accepting that message?
LENNON: It's fear of the unknown. The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that -- it's all illusion. Unknown is what what it is. Accept that it's unknown and it's plain sailing. Everything is unknown -- then you're ahead of the game. That's what it is. Right?
PLAYBOY: Yoko, the single you and John released from your album seems to be looking toward the future.
ONO: Yes, "Starting Over" is a song that makes me feel like crying. John has talked about the Sixties and how it gave us a taste for freedom -- sexual and otherwise. It was like an orgy. Then, after that big come that we had together, men and women somehow lost track of each other and a lot of families and relationships split apart. I really think that what happened in the Seventies can be compared to what happened under Nazism with Jewish families. Only the force that split them came from the inside, not from the outside. We tried to rationalize it as the price we were paying for our freedom. And John is saying in his song, OK, we had the energy in the Sixties, in the Seventies we separated, but let's start over in the Eighties. He's reaching out to me, the woman. Reaching out after all that's happened, over the battlefield of dead families, is more difficult this time around. On the other side of the record is my song, "Kiss Kiss Kiss," which is the other side of the same question. There is the sound of a woman coming to a climax on it, and she is crying out to be held, to be touched. It will be controversial, because people still feel it's less natural to hear the sounds of a woman's lovemaking than, say, the sound of a Concorde, killing the atmosphere and polluting nature. Altogether, both sides are a prayer to change the Eighties.
PLAYBOY: What is the Eighties' dream to you, John?
LENNON: Well, you make your own dream. That's the Beatles' story, isn't it? That's Yoko's story . That's what I'm saying now. Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It's quite possible to do anything, but not to put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don't expect Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself. That's what the great masters and mistresses have been saying ever since time began. They can point the way, leave signposts and little instructions in various books that are now called holy and worshiped for the cover of the book and not for what it says, but the instructions are all there for all to see, have always been and always will be. There's nothing new under the sun. All the roads lead to Rome. And people cannot provide it for you. I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you.
PLAYBOY: What is it that keeps people from accepting that message?
LENNON: It's fear of the unknown. The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that -- it's all illusion. Unknown is what what it is. Accept that it's unknown and it's plain sailing. Everything is unknown -- then you're ahead of the game. That's what it is. Right?
Paul McCartney on "Love Me Do"
"You get to the bit where you think, if we're going to write great philosophy it isn't worth it. 'Love Me Do' was our greatest philosophical song: 'Love me do/you know I love you/I'll always be true/So love me do/Please love me do.' For it to be simple, and true, means that it's incredibly simple."
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