"Young Blood"

"Young Blood" is a song written by the songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, together with Doc Pomus, in 1957.

Structure

Musically, the song follows a minor blues structure, built mostly around three chords (im, ivm, V) except for the bridge (IV, VI, III, V). The lyrical theme is one typical of early rock and roll: boy meets girl, then meets girl's father, who does not approve of boy - so the boy departs, but cannot stop thinking about the girl, declaring: "You're the one, You're the one, You're the one".

The Coasters' version

"Young Blood" was originally recorded by The Coasters, and released as a single together with "Searchin'" in March 1957 by Atco Records (#6087). Their version can also be heard on The Very Best of the Coasters album. It topped Billboard's R&B chart, and reached #3 on the Pop chart.

The Coasters' version is ranked #414 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the group's only song on the list. A sound bite, "Look a-there! Look a-there! Look a-there!", from The Coasters' version was used in a Dickie Goodman comedy record, "Flying Saucer the Second."

The Beatles' cover version

The Beatles played "Young Blood" in their Cavern Club repertoire. It is one of twelve songs recorded by them in July 1962 on a tape, which was re-purchased by Paul McCartney at a Sotheby's auction in 1985.

A previously-unreleased version performed by The Beatles (for the BBC radio show Pop Go the Beatles broadcast on June 11, 1963) is included on their album Live at the BBC, released in 1994. It was recorded at the BBC Paris Studio, London on June 1, 1963, and George Harrison is the lead vocalist on this recording; the tempo is moderately fast, considerably faster than in the original.

Other cover versions

The song has been covered by several other artists, including a live version by Leon Russell at the 1971 Concert for Bangla Desh, a 1976 release by Bad Company which charted, although described as a "terrible, hokey sendup ... that makes the band seem so foolish," a 1983 version by Beach Boys guitarist Carl Wilson that served as the title track to Youngblood (his second solo album), and a version by Bruce Willis in The Return of Bruno (1986). The Grateful Dead are known to have soundchecked the song. "Young Blood" was also featured in an episode of Happy Days.

Single by The Coasters
B-side: "Searchin'"
Released: March 1957
Recorded: February 15, 1957
Label: Atco Records 6087
Writer(s): Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus

Wikipedia

"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"

"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is a song by The Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney, and first appeared on the album Help! in August 1965. The song also appeared on side three of the 1973 compilation 1962–1966.

Performance in the film

In the film Help!, at the opening of the song, the head of the cult, Clang (Leo McKern), appears from underneath a manhole cover in the middle of Ailsa Avenue, London, where parts of the film were shot. He stays there for the whole song, which the Beatles play in John Lennon's fourth of the Beatles' shared flat. They are watched by Ahme (Eleanor Bron), and at the end of the song, George passes out after Ahme produces a giant needle for Ringo, who is wearing the ring the cult is seeking.

Influence of Bob Dylan

At the time of the release of Help!, Lennon was infatuated with the American singer Bob Dylan. Dylan's 1964 song "I Don't Believe You [She Acts Like We Have Never Met]" opens in strikingly similar fashion: "I can't understand, she let go of my hand, and left me here facing the wall". Lennon seems to mimic Dylan's gruff vocal style, and uses a Dylanesque, all-acoustic accompaniment with very little percussion. The song "is just basically John doing Dylan", McCartney later said.

Other song information

The song, according to musician/singer Tom Robinson, is a reference to Brian Epstein, the group's manager, who was homosexual (homosexuality was a criminal offense in Britain at the time).

When Lennon made a mistake during the recording (he sang "two foot small" instead of "two foot tall"), he is reported to have said: "Let's leave that in, actually. All those pseuds will really love it."

At the time of recording, "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" was the first Beatles song since "Love Me Do" to feature an outside musician. John Scott recorded a tenor flute as The Beatles taped their parts, before overdubbing an additional alto flute part.

Other studio tracks

There is an alternative take included on Anthology II. Before the song proper begins, a montage of chatter associated with several other takes is presented. In this sequence, Lennon counts off the song, then stops to readjust his guitar pickup. After a glass shatters, Lennon says "Paul's broken a glass, broken a glass. Paul's broken a glass. A glass, a glass he's broke today."

Credits

* John Lennon — lead vocal, Twelve string guitar
* Paul McCartney — Bass guitar
* George Harrison — acoustic guitar
* Ringo Starr — tambourine, maracas
* John Scott — flutes

Cover versions

Artists who have covered this song include the following, listed alphabetically:

* The Beach Boys, on their Beach Boys' Party! album, with the lead vocal by Dennis Wilson
* Joe Cocker
* Chris Cornell
* Elvis Costello
* Government Mule
* Howie Day, with Dispatch
* Daniel Johnston, live shows
* The Kentucky Headhunters
* Oasis, as a B-side
* Perry Rose
* Tim Rose
* The Silkie, produced by The Beatles
* The Subways
* Travis
* U2 has performed a snippet of the song during various tours, usually towards the end of the song, "Bad".
* Eddie Vedder, on the movie soundtrack of I Am Sam, also popular during Pearl Jam concerts
* Pearl Jam
* Julieta Venegas

Album: Help!
Released: 6 August 1965
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 18 February 1965
Genre: Folk rock
Length: 2:11
Label: Parlophone, Capitol, EMI
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia

"If I Fell"

"If I Fell" is a song by The Beatles which first appeared on the 1964 UK album A Hard Day's Night and the US compilation album Something New. It was written primarily by John Lennon, with help from Paul McCartney.

Structure

The song is notable for its unusual structure, which includes an unrepeated introductory section (introduced as an afterthought as of take 11) followed by sequential verse sections, each having a slightly expanded form, but with no obvious chorus or bridge section. The song also features a two-part harmony, sung by Lennon and McCartney together into a single microphone at their suggestion, and intricate chord changes. The key changes from D flat major to D major between the introduction (a series of descending barre chords) and the main song, which uses mainly open chords, including an unusual D ninth.

Recording and performance

Lennon played acoustic guitar and sang, McCartney played bass and sang, George Harrison plucked out single notes on electric guitar, and Ringo Starr played drums.

There is an alternate take of the song in which McCartney's voice strains and cracks at the end of a line, which first appeared on the Love Songs compilation double-LP, by an archivist's error when returning to the master tapes in Capitol's vault. Since then, this version has appeared in many places and is often heard on oldies stations in some markets. This version is the stereo version now found in The Capitol Albums box set. In the mono version, Paul's voice strains, but does not crack.

The stereo mix of the song (found on the Hard Day's Night LP and Something New) features a double-tracked opening by John. This was also Kurt Cobain's favourite Beatles song, and was played by Nirvana whenever there were technical problems at their concerts.

"If I Fell" was a part of The Beatles repertoire during The Beatles' US and Canadian tour in 1964. The group typically performed the song faster than the studio version, and Lennon and McCartney often sang it with barely suppressed laughter. On more than one occasion it was introduced as "If I Fell Over."

Single releases

* UK: In the UK it was released on 4 December 1964 as A-side (b/w "Tell Me Why") on Parlophone DP 562
* USA: It was also the B-side of the US single "And I Love Her" (Capitol 5235)
* Norway: The song was released as a single in Norway, where it hit number one.

Cover versions

Maroon 5 performed an acoustic version of the song on their 1.22.03.Acoustic album. Evan Rachel Wood sang the song in the Across the Universe film. Sammy Kershaw performed a cover on the Come Together Tribute CD. Dominican band Caña Brava performed a merengue version on their 1994 album The Best of the Best. Jason Castro performed an acoustic version of the song on Season 7 of American Idol. The Rutles' song "With A Girl Like You" is based on this song. Reba McEntire has also performed a version of the song.

Wikipedia

"I Will"

"I Will" is a song by The Beatles that was released on The Beatles. It was written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and features him on lead vocal, guitar, and "vocal bass."

Recording

The recording session turned into a jam session, producing the short "Can you take me back" segment that ends "Cry Baby Cry" on most versions of the album, as well as "Los Paranoias" (released on Anthology 3). This quiet song required 67 takes. George Harrison did not play on this. During The Beatles sessions, the Beatles often recorded in separate studios.

Anthology

In the televised documentary The Beatles Anthology, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr are shown relaxing on a blanket outside. Starr asks McCartney what he wrote in India and McCartney answers, "I Will." Then Harrison begins playing this on his ukulele while he and McCartney harmonize with it.

An alternate version of "I Will" was released in October 1996 on the Anthology 3 album. The alternate version was the first take of the song.

Cover versions

* The song has been covered by many notable artists such as Alison Krauss (in Now That I've Found You: A Collection), Maureen McGovern (in her 1992 album Baby I'm Yours) and Ben Taylor.
* The song was sung in the romantic movie starring Annette Bening and Warren Beatty, The Love Affair.
* This song was covered as a reggae-like number by "Rocky Horror" lead Tim Curry on his album Read My Lips.
* A similar version of the guitar riff appears on the song "My Best Friend's Girl" by the group The Cars.
* Sharon, Lois, and Bram, who is a Children's singing group did a version for a children's album.
* Jonathan Coulton did a cover of the song as part of his Thing A Week.
* Hugh Masekela covered "I Will" on his 1994 album Reconstruction.
* Art Garfunkel covered this song on his 1997 album Songs from a Parent to a Child
* Diana Ross' version appears on her 2007 comeback album I Love You.
* Rose Melberg covered this song on her 1998 album Portola.
* Kevin Barnes covered this song live in Dallas, TX.
* John Holt covered this song, and the trumpet intro is the sample used throughout Jay-Z's "Encore" (coincidentally, The Beatles would be mashed up with the album that originally featured "Encore" as The Grey Album, ironically, that album's remix of "Encore" did not sample "I Will").
* Andres Calamaro Covered this song his 2000 album "El Salmón Dedo 3".

Credits

* Paul McCartney — vocal, acoustic guitar, "vocal bass"
* John Lennon — percussion
* Ringo Starr — cymbals, bongos, maracas

Album: The Beatles
Released: 22 November 1968
Recorded: 16 September 1968
Genre: Pop
Length: 1:48
Label: Apple Records
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a song by The Beatles, from their album Abbey Road. It was written by John Lennon, with some creative input from Yoko Ono, although it is credited as a Lennon/McCartney collaboration.

The song is an unusual Beatles composition for a variety of reasons, namely its length (nearly eight minutes), its disproportionately small number of lyrics (only fourteen different words are sung), its three-minute descent through the same repeated guitar chords (a similar arpeggiated figure appears in other Lennon contributions to the album, "Because" as well as McCartney's "Oh! Darling"), its hard rock sound, and for its instantaneous and unanticipated end. It is also one of the last songs that the Beatles mixed as a group, on 20 August 1969.

David Gates writes of the song, "The hypnotically repeated guitar figure in 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' is suddenly, arbitrarily cut off, jolting us into embarrassed awareness that we've let a mere recording carry us away."

Recording

The song was rehearsed several times during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions; the basic track and John's guide vocal (which is used in the master) were recorded at Trident Studios on 22 February 1969, shortly after filming for the film project ended. John and George overdubbed multi-tracked heavy guitar overdubs on 18 April 1969, and Billy Preston overdubbed keyboards, and conga drums were also added on 20 April 1969. "I Want You", then received the "she's so heavy" vocals on 11 August 1969 and thus, the title was changed into "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

Three takes from 22 February were edited into a master (2nd generation), which was overdubbed, mixed down on 18 April (3rd generation), and overdubbed on 18 April, 20 April and 11 August. Different overdubs were made to the 2nd generation tape on 8 August. The mix is the 3rd generation for 4:37 (up to "she's so") and then the 2nd generation tape, which has a white noise and additional drums added on 8 August.

Mark Lewisohn wrote in The Complete Beatles Chronicle that there was a version of the song with Paul McCartney on lead vocals instead of John Lennon. There is a McCartney version circulating around in bootlegs and it is subject to debate whether or not the bootlegged version is authentic. Many writers speculate that Lennon chose to record several takes with McCartney on lead vocals because of the general experimental nature of the song (one of the Beatles' heaviest songs along with "Helter Skelter", abrupt cutoff, limited number of words, etc.)

Personnel

* John Lennon: lead and harmony vocals; multi tracked rhythm guitar; Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer and white noise generator.
* Paul McCartney: bass and harmony vocal.
* George Harrison: multi tracked lead & rhythm guitar and harmony vocal
* Ringo Starr: drums and congas.
* Billy Preston: Hammond organ.

Covers

Numerous bands and solo artists have covered "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" in live performance. The following artists have released recordings of the song:

* Soda Stereo in the 9 de Julio avenue, Argentina, in 1991.
* Motley Crue copy the 6 note riff at the end of their Dr. Feelgood song "Slice Of Your Pie".
* Eddie Hazel on his solo-debut Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs.
* George Benson on his 1969 album The Other Side Of Abbey Road
* Coroner on their 1991 Mental Vortex album.
* Divididos In the Ultra Rare Tracks album (Bootleg)
* Alvin Lee (formerly of Ten Years After) on his album 1994, accompanied by George Harrison on slide guitar.
* Type O Negative on the album World Coming Down as part of a medley with "Day Tripper" and "If I Needed Someone."
* Booker T. and the MGs on their album McLemore Avenue, the cover of which also mimicked the Abbey Road album cover.
* Noir Désir on the live album Dies Irae (Days of Wrath)
* Beatallica merged the song with Metallica's "The Call of Ktulu" to create "Ktulu (He's So Heavy)" on their album Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band.
* Steel Train on the cover album 1969.
* R&B artist John Legend has included the song in his set on his "Show Me" tour.
* British group Kaiser Chiefs used segments of the song on "Born to Be a Dancer" from their album Employment.
* Progressive rock supergroup Transatlantic covers the song in part in the closing number on the live album Live in America.
* A cover of the song performed by cast members Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, and T.V. Carpio is featured in the 2007 Julie Taymor film Across The Universe
* Groove Collective released a cover of the song as a single, which charted in the US in 1996.
* Umphrey's Mcgee have covered the song numerous times, including a performance at the Orpheum Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin, 13 September 2007.
* John Legend released a cover of this song on his "Live in Philadelphia" album (2008)
* During a tribute to 40th Anniversary celebration of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which also included a medley of hits, Cheap Trick was joined by Al Jourgensen and Sin Quirin of Ministry for a cover of the song on 10-11 August 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl.
* The Last Shadow Puppets covered the song in the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall for the BBC1 Electric Prom session held on 25 October 2008 and again at most of their gigs throughout October.
* The Hellacopters used segments of the song, including the guitar riff, as an outro on their farewell tour in 2008, also known as "the tour before the fall".
* George Lynch, recorded on his 2004 cover album Furious George
* Montreal-based Les Boreades recorded an instrumental version on their 2006 album Beatles Baroque III.
* Panic at the Disco played this song as a medely just after But It's Better if you Do during their Rock Band Live Tour.

Album: Abbey Road
Released: 26 September 1969
Recorded: 22 February – 11 August 1969
Genre: Progressive rock, hard rock, blues-rock
Length: 7:47
Label: Apple Records
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia

"I Want to Tell You"

"I Want to Tell You" is a Beatles song on the 1966 album Revolver. It was written by George Harrison and recorded on June 2, 1966 (with the bass overdubbed on June 3). Working titles were "Laxton's Superb" and "I Don't Know."

The song marks the first time the band included three Harrison songs on a Beatles album, reflecting his growing stature as a songwriter.

Guitar Riff

Although a melodic pop song similar to the others on the album, the song hints at Indian influences, although less overtly so than "Love You To", another Harrison composition from the same album. It is largely built around a drone, rarely straying from its home key of A major, not even for the bridge. It features a flat Harrison vocal, supported heavily by Lennon and McCartney on backup vocals, in a fashion similar to Harrison's earlier "If I Needed Someone". It is largely driven by the bass and the persistent, almost hypnotic, piano pounding throughout the song. A distinctive guitar part opens and closes the song and recurs between verses, which lends the song some structure where it might otherwise sound formless (given the subtle variation).

Interestingly, it is one of the few Beatles songs to begin with a fade-in ("Eight Days a Week" being another notable example). The ending — where the group repeats the line "I've got time" over the opening guitar riff — makes notable use of melisma by McCartney (recalling, again, the song's understated Indian influences, as well as adding an increasing sense of disarray as the ensemble falls apart).

In I Want to Tell You, Paul's bass is overdubbed separately which allowed for specific treatment as opposed to being lumped on the rhythm track. This would become more common during the years that followed.

Lyrics

The lyrics are, in Harrison's own words, "about the avalanche of thoughts that are so hard to write down or say or transmit." The frustration in the lyrics is reinforced by the song's dissonant atmosphere — a product of numerous elements, including the continuous piano chord in the background and the contrast between Harrison's modest lead vocal and Lennon and McCartney's descant harmonizing — which creates an air of uneasiness.

The bridge reveals some of Harrison's thinking at the time, reducing his internal difficulties to conflicts within his being:

But if I seem to act unkind
It's only me, it's not my mind
That is confusing things

In his 1980 autobiography I Me Mine, Harrison suggested that the second line be reversed. "The mind is the thing that hops about telling us to do this and do that — when what we need is to lose (forget) the mind."

Personnel

* John Lennon — tambourine, harmony vocal, hand-claps
* Paul McCartney — bass, piano, harmony vocal, hand-claps
* George Harrison — double-tracked lead vocal, lead guitar, hand-claps
* Ringo Starr — drums, maracas

Other versions

An upbeat live version of the song opens Harrison's Live In Japan album, recorded and released in 1992 (see 1992 in music). Harrison and bandmate Eric Clapton extend the song with a few guitar solos. Harrison uses the lyric reversal mentioned in his autobiography, singing the bridge "it isn't me, it's just the mind."

George played this song during his Concert For The Natural Law Party on April 6`th 1992 as the opening song.

Another notable live recording was played by Jeff Lynne at the Concert For George — again opening the main set and again featuring Clapton as a sideman — in 2003 (see 2003 in music) for the then-recently deceased Harrison.

This song was covered by Ted Nugent on State of Shock (1979) and is also on Super Hits (1998).

This song was also covered by The Grateful Dead during their tour in the Summer of 1994 and the Jerry Garcia Band in their 1976 and Winter 1986-7 tours.

This song also was covered by The Smithereens on their 1999 release, "God Save The Smithereens" deluxe edition.

Trivia

On his recent tours, Neil Innes of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (and later The Rutles) said the Bonzos' first studio experience was at Abbey Road Studios while the Beatles were recording "I Want to Tell You". Innes said he took a break in one of the studio's hallways and heard The Beatles playing back the song, blasting it at full volume. Innes recounted that he was in a state of immense awe over the song's beauty, and sheepishly returned to the Bonzo session, where they were recording the 1920s Vaudeville song "My Brother Makes the Noises for the Talkies".

Album: Revolver
Released: 5 August 1966
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 2 June 1966
Genre: Rock
Length: 2:29
Label: Parlophone
Writer: George Harrison
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia

"I Want to Hold Your Hand"

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment. McCartney and Lennon did not have any particular inspiration for the song. Instead, they had received specific instructions from manager Brian Epstein to write a song with the American market in mind.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" was the band's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, starting the British Invasion of the United States music charts. The song entered the chart on January 18 1964 at number 45 before it became the number one single for 7 weeks and went onto last a total of 15 weeks in the chart. It also held the top spot in the United Kingdom charts. A million copies of the single had already been ordered on its release. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became The Beatles' best-selling single worldwide.

Background and composition

Brian Epstein was getting worried about The Beatles' lack of commercial success in America—their earlier singles had flopped there—and so he encouraged Lennon and McCartney to write a song that would appeal to American listeners. McCartney had recently moved into 57 Wimpole Street, London W1, where he was living as a guest of Dr. Richard and Margaret Asher. Their daughter, actress Jane Asher, had become McCartney’s steady girlfriend since first meeting earlier in the year. This location briefly became Lennon and McCartney’s new writing base, taking over from McCartney’s Forthlin Road home in Liverpool. Margaret Asher taught the oboe in a "small, rather stuffy music room" in the basement and it was here that Lennon and McCartney sat at the piano and composed 'I Want to Hold Your Hand.' In September 1980, Lennon told Playboy magazine:
“ We wrote a lot of stuff together, one on one, eyeball to eyeball. Like in 'I Want to Hold Your Hand,' I remember when we got the chord that made the song. We were in Jane Asher's house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had, 'Oh you-u-u/ got that something...' And Paul hits this chord [E minor] and I turn to him and say, 'That's it!' I said, 'Do that again!' In those days, we really used to absolutely write like that—both playing into each other's noses. ”

In 1994, McCartney agreed with Lennon's description of the circumstances surrounding the composition of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" saying:
“ 'Eyeball to eyeball' is a very good description of it. That's exactly how it was. 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' was very co-written. It was our big number one; the one that would eventually break us in America. ”

In the studio

The Beatles started recording "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at Abbey Road Studios in Studio 2 on 17 October 1963.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" was one of two Beatles songs (along with "She Loves You") to be later recorded in German, entitled, "Komm, gib mir deine Hand". Odeon, the German arm of EMI (the parent company of The Beatles' record label, Parlophone Records) was convinced that The Beatles' records would not sell in Germany unless they were sung in German. The Beatles detested the idea, and when they were due to record the German version on 27 January 1964 at EMI's Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris (where The Beatles were performing 18 days of concerts at the Olympia Theatre) they chose to boycott the session. Their record producer, George Martin, having waited some hours for them to show up, was outraged, and insisted that they give it a try. Two days later, The Beatles recorded "Komm, gib mir deine Hand", one of the few times in their career that they recorded outside of London. However, Martin later conceded: "They were right, actually, it wasn’t necessary for them to record in German, but they weren’t graceless, they did a good job."

"Komm, gib mir deine Hand" appeared in full stereo on the US Capitol LP 'Something New' and currently on the new Capitol CD compilation called "The Capitol Albums Vol. I."

The track was a big hit in Germany, but today the English versions are much better known in Germany (The Beatles Red and Blue albums feature the English hits on the German pressings).

Launching the invasion

In the UK, "She Loves You" (released in August) had shot back to the number one position in November following blanket media coverage of The Beatles (described as Beatlemania). Mark Lewisohn later wrote: “'She Loves You' had already sold an industry-boggling three quarters of a million before these fresh converts were pushing it into seven figures. And at this very moment, just four weeks before Christmas, with everyone connected to the music and relevant retail industries already lying prone in paroxysms of unimaginable delight, EMI pulled the trigger and released 'I Want To Hold Your Hand'. And then it was bloody pandemonium."

On 29 November 1963, Parlophone Records released "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in the United Kingdom, with "This Boy" joining it on the single's B-side. Demand had been building for quite a while, as evidenced by the one million advance orders for the single. When it was finally released, the response was phenomenal. A week after it entered the British charts, on 14 December 1963, it knocked "She Loves You", another Beatles song, off the top spot, the first such instance of the same act taking over from itself at number one in British history, clinging to the top spot for five full weeks. It stayed in the charts for another fifteen weeks afterwards, and incredibly made a one-week return to the charts on 16 May 1964. Beatlemania was peaking at that time; during the same period, The Beatles set a record by occupying the top two positions on both the album and single charts in the United Kingdom.

EMI and Brian Epstein finally convinced American label Capitol Records, a subsidiary of EMI, that The Beatles could make an impact in the United States, leading to the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" with "I Saw Her Standing There" on the B-Side as a single on 26 December 1963. Capitol had previously resisted issuing Beatle recordings in the U.S. This resulted in the relatively modest Vee-Jay and Swan labels releasing the group's earlier Parlophone counterparts in the U.S. Seizing the opportunity, Epstein demanded US$40,000 from Capitol to promote the single (the most The Beatles had ever previously spent on an advertising campaign was US$5,000). The single had actually been intended for release in mid-January of 1964, coinciding with the planned appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. However, a 15-year old fan of The Beatles, Marsha Albert, was determined to get hold of the single earlier. Later she said:
“ It wasn't so much what I had seen, it's what I had heard. They had a scene where they played a clip of 'She Loves You' and I thought it was a great song ... I wrote that I thought The Beatles would be really popular here, and if [deejay Carroll James] could get one of their records, that would really be great. ”

James was the deejay for WWDC, a radio station in Washington, D.C. Eventually he decided to pursue Albert's suggestion to him and asked the station's promotion director to get British Overseas Airways Corporation to ship in a copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" from Britain. Albert related what happened next: "Carroll James called me up the day he got the record and said 'If you can get down here by 5 o'clock, we'll let you introduce it.'" Albert managed to get to the station in time, and introduced the record with: "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time on the air in the United States, here are The Beatles singing 'I Want to Hold Your Hand.'"

The song proved to be a huge hit, a surprise for the station, as they catered mainly to a more staid audience, which would normally be expecting songs from singers such as Andy Williams or Bobby Vinton instead of rock and roll. James took to playing the song repeatedly on the station, often turning down the song in the middle to make the declaration, "This is a Carroll James exclusive," to avoid theft of the song by other stations.

Capitol threatened to seek a court order banning airplay of "I Want to Hold Your Hand", which was already being spread by James to a couple of deejays in Chicago and St. Louis. James and WWDC ignored the threat, and Capitol came to the conclusion that they could well take advantage of the publicity, releasing the single two weeks ahead of schedule on 26 December.

The demand was insatiable; in the first three days alone, a quarter million copies had already been sold (10,000 copies In New York City every hour). Capitol was so overloaded by the demand, it contracted part of the job of pressing copies off to Columbia Records and RCA. By January 18, the song had started its fifteen-week chart run, and on 1 February, The Beatles finally achieved their first number-one in America, emulating the success of another British group, the Tornados with "Telstar", which was number one on the Billboard charts for three weeks over Christmas and New Year 1962/63. The Beatles finally relinquished the number one spot after seven weeks, passing the baton to the very song they had knocked off the top in Britain: "She Loves You". Hunter Davies's biography of the band states that "I Want to Hold Your Hand" received certification for sales of 5 million copies in the US alone. The replacement of themselves at the summit of the U.S. charts was the first time since Elvis Presley in 1956, with "Love Me Tender" beating out "Don't Be Cruel", that an act had dropped off the top of the American charts only to be replaced by another of their releases.

With that, the "British Invasion" of America had been launched. Throughout 1964, only British artists flew high at the top of the American charts; including The Dave Clark Five, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Hollies and Herman's Hermits.

The American single's front and back sleeves featured a photograph of The Beatles with Paul McCartney holding a cigarette. In 1984, Capitol Records airbrushed out the cigarette for the re-release of the single.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" was also released in America on Meet The Beatles!, which ground-breakingly altered the American charts by actually outselling the single. Beforehand, the American markets were more in favour of hit singles instead of whole albums; however, two months after the album's release, it had shipped more than three-and-a-half million copies, a little over a hundred thousand ahead of the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" single.

Aftermath

The song was greeted by raving fans on both sides of the Atlantic but was dismissed by some critics as nothing more than another fad song that would not hold up to the test of time. Cynthia Lowery of the Associated Press expressed her exasperation with Beatlemania by saying of The Beatles: "Heaven knows we've heard them enough. It has been impossible to get a radio weather bulletin or time signal without running into 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'."

Bob Dylan was impressed by The Beatles' innovation, saying, "They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid." For a time Dylan thought The Beatles were singing "I get high" instead of "I can't hide". He was surprised when he met them and found out that none of them had actually smoked marijuana.

The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, but the award went to Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz for "The Girl from Ipanema". However, in 1998, the song won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award. It has also made the list in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In addition, the Recording Industry Association of America, the National Endowment for the Arts and Scholastic Press have named "I Want to Hold Your Hand" as one of the Songs of the Century. In 2004, it was ranked number 16 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It was ranked as #2 in Mojo's list on the "100 Records That Changed the World", after Little Richard's Tutti Frutti. The song lists at #39 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" was not subject to numerous cover versions like other Beatles songs such as "Yesterday" or "Something", although Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops Orchestra did attempt an instrumental version in 1964, which rose as high as number 55 in the American charts. In 1965, Indian film music composers Shankar-Jaikishan adapted the track without permission and with only minor alterations (new Hindi lyrics were written) for their song "Dekho Ab To" from the soundtrack to the Bollywood movie Janwar. Another cover was by the Moving Sidewalks, who made a psychedelic version in the late 1960s. French parodic band Odeurs covered the song as a military march sung with a strong German accent. The pre-"Dirty Water" Standells performed the song in a guest appearance as themselves in the sitcom The Munsters, along with another song called "Do the Ringo." Jennifer Cihi, a Canadian singer of Sailor Moon fame, did a cover of the song for the album Sailor Moon & The Scouts: Lunarock. Bop-guitarist Grant Green included a jazz recording of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" as the title track of a 1965 album. The American band Sparks delivered an unusual Philadelphia Sound-style cover of the song in the mid-1970s. It was also covered by R&B band Lakeside.

Neil Innes' the Rutles also pastiched the song as "Hold My Hand" in 1978, while British pop duo Dollar had a UK Top 10 hit with their version in January 1980. On Devo's debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, the song Uncontrollable Urge opens with a distorted version of I Want to Hold Your Hand's opening riff. In the 2007 film Across the Universe, T.V. Carpio sings a slowed-down cover version of the song.

For the 2006 album Love, coinciding with the Cirque Du Soleil production of the same title, George Martin and his son, Giles, melded the original studio recording (truncated) with a live performance at the Hollywood Bowl, complete with screaming hordes of teenage girls and the famous introduction from The Ed Sullivan Show, "Here they are ... The Beatles!!"

The Beatles' recording of this song also appeared as the opening track in the 1997 Time-Life 6-CD boxed set, "Gold And Platinum: The Ultimate Rock Collection."

Melody and lyrics

Reminiscent of Tin Pan Alley and Brill Building techniques and an example of modified thirty-two-bar form, the song is written on a two-bridge model, with only an intervening verse to connect them. The original song has no real "lead" singer or even a clearly defined melody, as Lennon and McCartney sing in harmony with each other. It could be argued that Lennon is leading McCartney, as Lennon's vocals are more prominent on the recording; however, when The Beatles performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, McCartney's vocals could be heard more clearly (although this may have been due to a poor audio mix).

Credits

* John Lennon – vocal, rhythm guitar, handclaps
* Paul McCartney – vocal, bass, handclaps
* George Harrison – lead guitar, handclaps
* Ringo Starr – drums, handclaps

B-side: "This Boy" (UK), "I Saw Her Standing There" (US)
Released: 29 November 1963 (UK), 13 January 1964 (U.S.)
Format: 7"
Recorded: Abbey Road, 17 October 1963
Genre: Rock & roll
Length: 2:24
Label: Parlophone R5084 (UK), Capitol Records 5112 (US)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia

"I Wanna Be Your Man"

"I Wanna Be Your Man" is a rock song written by Paul McCartney with John Lennon, and recorded separately by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones' version was released earlier.

The Rolling Stones' version

The Rolling Stones' version was an early hit single for them; their rendition is a frenetic electric rock/blues song featuring Brian Jones' distinctive slide guitar and Bill Wyman's driving bass playing. It is one of the few Rolling Stones songs featuring backing vocals by Jones. In the USA the song was released later as B-side to "Not Fade Away" on 6 March 1964.

According to various accounts, either the Rolling Stones' manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham or the Rolling Stones themselves ran into Lennon and McCartney on the street as the two were returning from an awards luncheon. Listening to the Rolling Stones' camp plea for a single, the pair travelled back to rehearsal and finished off the song—whose verse they had already been working on—in the corner of the room while the impressed Rolling Stones watched. Lennon later commented, "That shows how much importance we put on it. We weren't going to give them anything great, right?"

In his review, Bruce Eder says, "the Stones went into the studio and cut a slashing, savage rendition that betrayed not a trace of Beatlesque cuteness, Brian Jones', Keith Richard's, and Bill Wyman's amps were seemingly turned up to "11" while Mick Jagger turned the lyrics — which sounded like bold yearnings in Ringo's voice — into what could have been a prelude to sexual assault. That performance, coupled with Jones' distinctive (and equally savage) slide guitar work, said volumes about who the Stones were (versus the Beatles), even as it marked them as British rock & roll's premiere stylists, and put them out there on the cutting edge of what could even get played. And it did get played, and did sell — as a cover of a Lennon-McCartney song (released three weeks before the Beatles' own version), at a moment when anything about rock & roll from Liverpool would get a chance at a hearing, and anything to do with the Beatles demanded extra attention, the song made it to number 12 in the U.K. in the hands of the Rolling Stones."

The Rolling Stones' rendition did not appear on a regular album. (Except the Around and Around compilation album in 1964). It first appeared as a single. In 1989 it was issued on Singles Collection: The London Years.

Personnel

* Mick Jagger – lead vocals
* Brian Jones – slide guitar, backing vocals
* Keith Richards – rhythm guitar
* Bill Wyman – bass
* Charlie Watts – drums

The Beatles' version

The Beatles' version was sung by Ringo Starr and appeared on the album With The Beatles. It was driven by a heavily tremoloed, open E chord on a guitar played through a Vox AC30 amplifier with the "tremolo" setting turned up.

Personnel

* John Lennon – rhythm guitar, harmony vocal
* Paul McCartney – bass, harmony vocal
* George Harrison – lead guitar
* Ringo Starr – drums, maracas, lead vocal
* George Martin – Hammond organ

Single by The Rolling Stones
B-side: "Stoned" (Nanker Phelge)
Released: 1 November 1963
Format: 7" single
Recorded: 7 October 1963
Genre: Beat
Label: Decca Records F.11764
Writer(s): John Lennon/Paul McCartney
Producer: Andrew Loog Oldham

Song by The Beatles
Album: With The Beatles
Released: 22 November 1963
Genre: Beat
Length: 1:58
Label: Parlophone
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia

"I Should Have Known Better"

"I Should Have Known Better" is a song composed by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney), and originally released by The Beatles on the UK version of A Hard Day's Night, their soundtrack for the film of the same name.

The song is performed in the train compartment scene of A Hard Day's Night. It was in fact filmed in a van, with crew members rocking the vehicle to fake the action of a train in motion.

An orchestrated version of the song conducted by George Martin appears on the B-side of the U.S. version of the album.

Origin

In January 1964, during a three-week engagement at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, The Beatles first became aware of American singer and songwriter Bob Dylan and, when having acquired a copy of his album Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, began playing it continuously. American journalist Al Aronowitz introduced them to Dylan when The Beatles visited New York in February 1964, and Dylan subsequently became a big influence on the group, especially Lennon, who even started wearing a copycat Huckleberry Finn cap. One consequence of this “infatuation” (as Ian MacDonald later described it) was the song "I Should Have Known Better". Paul McCartney said Dylan's songs were "great lyrically," and Lennon credited Dylan with inspiring him to write more meaningful lyrics.

Recording

The first recording session for the song was on 25 February 1964 at Abbey Road Studios when three takes were attempted, but only one was complete. Take 2 was aborted when Lennon broke into hysterics over his harmonica playing. The song was re-recorded the next day after making some changes to the arrangement.

Lennon's harmonica playing opens the track, the last occasion The Beatles were to feature this instrument on an intro ("I'm a Loser", recorded 14 August 1964 has a harmonica solo) and thus draws a line under a significant period of their early music. The song's middle sixteen section features George Harrison's brand new Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string guitar.

The mono and stereo versions have slightly different harmonica introductions. In the stereo version, the harmonica drops out briefly. Also, a noticeably clumsy and audible tape edit is heard during the second middle eight between "You're gonna say you love me, too" and "And when I ask you to be mine."

Release

United Kingdom

In the UK, "I Should Have Known Better" appeared on A Hard Day's Night and was released on 10 July 1964. It was not released as a single at that time. In 1976, it was released as a B-side to "Yesterday."

United States

In the U.S., "I Should Have Known Better" was released on 13 July 1964 as the B-side to "A Hard Day's Night." As part of the movie contract, United Artists acquired album rights for the American market. They released a soundtrack album on 26 June 1964 with eight Beatles songs and four instrumentals. "I Should Have Known Better" was performed in the film, and it appears on the soundtrack. Capitol Records released Something New a month later with songs from the UK version of A Hard Day's Night that were not used in the film and other material. "I Should Have Known Better" did not appear on a Capitol album until five years later on the Hey Jude compilation album.

Continental Europe

"I Should Have Known Better" was released as a single in a number of continental European countries, including West Germany, where it reached Number 6, and Norway, where it reached Number 1.

Credits

* John Lennon — vocal, acoustic rhythm guitar, harmonica
* Paul McCartney — bass guitar
* George Harrison — 12-string lead guitar
* Ringo Starr — drums

Cover versions

* The song was played live on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1996 when Ringo Starr was a guest on the show.
* The Beach Boys covered it in 1965.
* The Skatalites recorded an instrumental version under the name "Independence Anniversary Ska".
* She & Him covered the song on their 2008 debut album, Volume One, as a duet with both M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel singing.
* The Punkles did a punk cover of this song on their first album.
* Phil Ochs covered the song with Eric Andersen during a Greenwich Village concert in 1964; the live version can be heard on The Broadside Tapes 1.
* American Idol Season 7 contestant Ramiele Malubay performed this song during the top 11 week when the theme was The Beatles.

A-side: "Yesterday"
Released: 8 March 1976
Format: vinyl record (7", 12")
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 25–26 February 1964
Genre: Pop
Length: 02:44
Label: Capitol Records (US), Parlophone/EMI (UK)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Song by The Beach Boys
Album: Beach Boys' Party!
Released: 8 November 1965
Genre: Pop
Length: 1:40
Label: Capitol
Composer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: Brian Wilson

Wikipedia

"I Saw Her Standing There"

"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and is the opening track on the The Beatles' debut album Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 22 March 1963.

In December 1963, Capitol Records released the song in the United States as the B-side on the label's first single by The Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The single topped the U.S. charts for seven weeks starting 18 January 1964. "I Saw Her Standing There" entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 8 February 1964, remaining there for 11 weeks, peaking at number 14. In 2004, the song was ranked #139 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Composition

The song was a Lennon and McCartney collaboration based on McCartney's original idea. Initially titled "Seventeen", the song was apparently conceived by McCartney whilst driving home from a Beatles concert in Southport, Merseyside and later completed at his Forthlin Road home in September 1962 with Lennon, while the two were playing truant from school. It was typical of how Lennon and McCartney would work in partnership, as McCartney later commented: "I had 'She was just seventeen,' and then 'Beauty queen'. When I showed it to John, he screamed with laughter, and said 'You're joking about that line, aren't you?'" "It was one of the first times he ever went 'What? Must change that...'" The lyrics were written on a Liverpool Institute exercise book. Remember, a book by McCartney's brother Mike McCartney, includes a photograph of Lennon and McCartney writing the song while strumming guitars and reading the exercise book. McCartney admits to lifting his bass line directly from a Chuck Berry song called "I'm Talking About You" (1961).

The songwriting credit on the Please Please Me liner notes is "McCartney/Lennon" which differs from the more familiar "Lennon/McCartney" that appears on subsequent releases.

Recording

The song was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on 11 February 1963, as part of the marathon recording session that produced 10 of the 14 songs on Please Please Me. The Beatles were not present for the mixing session on 25 February 1963, which was not unusual at that time.

On the album, the song starts with a rousing "one, two, three, FOUR!" count-in by McCartney (pronounced "one, two, three, FAH!"). Usually, these count-ins are edited off the final audio mix. However, this was left on by record producer George Martin, as it was considered especially spirited, and began the album in an upbeat vein. Music journalist, Richard Williams, suggested that this dramatic introduction to their debut album was just as stirring as Elvis Presley's "Well, it's one for the money, two for the show…" on his opening track, Blue Suede Shoes, for his debut album seven years earlier. In addition it also made the point that The Beatles were a performing band as, at that time, they opened their live set with this song (however, by listening to outtakes of the song one can hear that the count-in is actually from take 9, while the master take is take 1; the former was not preceded by a loud count-in). Martin had initially contemplated recording the Please Please Me LP live at the Cavern in front of their own audience and visited the Liverpool club to experience The Beatles phenomenon for himself. But when time constraints intervened it was decided to book them into the Abbey Road studios instead.

Release

* British LP: Please Please Me
* British EP: The Beatles (No. 1)
* American LP: Introducing... The Beatles
* American LP: Meet The Beatles!

Personnel

* Paul McCartney – vocal, bass, handclaps
* John Lennon – backing vocal, rhythm guitar, handclaps
* George Harrison – lead guitar, handclaps
* Ringo Starr – drums, handclaps

Critical acclaim

Carr and Tyler, in The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, claimed it was only the third all-British rock classic up to that time, the previous two being Cliff Richard's "Move It" and Johnny Kidd's "Shakin' All Over."

Cover versions

A 1974 live version was released as a duet by Lennon and Elton John as the B-side to the latter's "Philadelphia Freedom" single. The song is available on the Lennon Box Set, and on Elton John's To Be Continued... box set as well as the expanded CD edition of his 1976 live album Here and There. Lennon's introduction:
“ I'd like to thank Elton and the boys for having me on tonight. We tried to think of a number to finish off with so I can get out of here and be sick, and we thought we'd do a number of an old, estranged fiancé of mine, called Paul. This is one I never sang, it's an old Beatle number, and we just about know it. ”

McCartney included "I Saw Her Standing There" on his live albums Tripping the Live Fantastic (1990), Back in the U.S. (2002) and Back in the World (2003). In 1987, he recorded a new version for his album CHOBA B CCCP, but left it to outtakes. The song has become a mainstay of McCartney's live sets, and a special version was played when McCartney and his band returned to Liverpool in June 2008. It featured special guest drummer Dave Grohl, the lead singer of the Foo Fighters.

Other versions include:

* The Supremes recorded a version of the song under the title "I Saw Him Standing There." It was recorded during the sessions for their A Bit of Liverpool album, but remained unreleased until 2008.
* The Who filmed and recorded a version of the song for their film The Kids Are Alright; Keith Moon sang the lead vocal. However, this was not released on the film or soundtrack album, and has only been available on bootleg recordings. The Who also performed the song on their 1982 Farewell Tour, with John Entwistle on lead vocal, including a performance at Shea Stadium.
* Daniel Johnston covered "I Saw Her Standing There" on his album Continued Story/Hi How Are You?
* In 1988, Tiffany released "I Saw Him Standing There" as a single and as a track on her self-titled debut album.
* Santo & Johnny did a version (which features steel guitar) on an LP of Beatle songs.
* In 1977, The Tubes covered "I Saw Her Standing There" on their live CD What Do You Want From Live.
* Carmaig de Forest recorded an acoustic version of "I Saw Her Standing There" in his own kitchen in 1991. Halfway through the song, it turns into his own composition "Julie Among the Redwoods", but reverts back to "I Saw Her Standing There" in the end.
* Peter Grant recorded a Jazz version on his debut album New Vintage released in 2006.
* The Punkles did a Punk cover on their first Album "Beat The Punkles".
* Allister released a cover version on the Japanese-only EP, Guilty Pleasures.
* In 1991, Mexican singer Mimí recorded a Spanish version of this song called "Te Ví Parado Ahí" and included it on her self-titled debut album.
* Serbian doo wop band Vampiri recorded a version with lyrics in Serbian language entitled "Poziv na ples" ("Dance Invitation"), on their 1993 album Bebe.
* N.E.R.D's Pharrell Williams appeared at the 2004 Grammy Awards, performing the song on drums with Sting, Dave Matthews and Vince Gill.
* Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis on Jerry Lee Lewis's 2006 CD Last Man Standing.
* Jerry Garcia recorded the song on his Run For The Roses album, 1982.

In popular culture

In the 1988 Motion Picture Rain Man, the song is sung by the titular character (portrayed by Dustin Hoffman) to his younger brother Charlie.

The CBS sitcom Petticoat Junction featured it as a performance on March 24, 1964 by an all-girl group "The Ladybugs." Two nights earlier the cast members, in Ladybugs character, also performed the song on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.'

Album: Please Please Me
Released: 22 March 1963
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 11 February 1963
Genre: Beat
Length: 2:55
Label: Parlophone
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

B-side to "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
Released: 26 December 1963 (U.S.)
Length: 2:55
Label: Capitol 5112 (U.S.)

Wikipedia

"I Need You"

"I Need You" is a Beatles song on the album Help! It is the second George Harrison song the band recorded (on 15 and 16 February 1965) and released, after a two album–long hiatus. The song was performed in their second movie Help!

Structure

The song is a simple, melancholy number, with a lead guitar sound achieved by Harrison's first recorded use of a volume pedal. The confessional lyrics are commonly thought to be about Harrison's relationship with Pattie Boyd, whom he had met in March 1964 while filming A Hard Day's Night. (They married in January 1966.)

Credits

* John Lennon – harmony vocal, acoustic rhythm guitar
* Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass
* George Harrison – double-tracked lead vocal, lead guitar
* Ringo Starr – drums, cowbell

Other versions

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played the song in tribute to Harrison at 2002's Concert for George.

Les Fradkin has an instrumental version on his 2005 release, While My Guitar Only Plays.

Album: Help!
Released: 6 August 1965
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 15–16 February 1965
Genre: Rock
Length: 2:28
Label: Parlophone, Capitol, EMI
Writer: George Harrison
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia

The Orchids - Gonna Make Him Mine

From a Beatles episode of Ready Steady Go!



The Beatles later criticized an Orchids track ("Love Hit Me") on Juke Box Jury as being too derivative of Motown girl groups.

John: Just a big con - a pinch from The Crystals and Ronettes.

Paul: It's good for a British record.

Ringo: It'll sell a few, but not many.

George: I'd rather have British groups pinch from The Crystals than the other stuff.

Unbeknownst to them at the time, the Orchids were in the audience and were pointed out by the TV host.

"I Me Mine"

"I Me Mine" is a Beatles song, written and sung by George Harrison. The song traces its origins to the January 1969 Get Back/Let It Be sessions, when it was rehearsed by the band at Twickenham Studios. The Let It Be film features a segment in which Harrison plays the song for Ringo Starr, describing it as "a heavy waltz"; the band is then seen performing the tune while John Lennon dances with Yoko Ono.

Origin

Quoted from Harrison: "[I Me Mine is] about the ego, the eternal problem." The set of pronouns which forms the song's title is a conventional way of referring to the ego in a Hindu context. For example, the Bhagavad Gita 2:71-72 can be translated as "They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of "I," "me," and "mine" to be united with the Lord. This is the supreme state. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality." Perhaps unconsciously, the song also reflects Harrison's reaction to the clashes of egos in the Beatles' painful closing days as a group.

George, after receiving his "eternal problem" inspiration, played some chords to the 6/8 time signature, and added a bluesy bridge. The song was inspired by the incidental music for a BBC television program, Europa—The Titled and the Untitled, which aired on January 7, 1969; Harrison wrote the song that night and performed the song for the other Beatles the following morning.

It is also the title of George Harrison's autobiography, published in 1980 as a hand-bound, limited edition book by Genesis Publications. Limited to 2,000 signed copies, I Me Mine also featured a foreword by Derek Taylor. The Genesis limited edition sold out soon after publication, and was subsequently published in hardback and paperback in black ink only by Simon and Schuster in New York and by W H Allen in London. I Me Mine was re-published, with a new Foreword from Olivia Harrison, in 2002.

Recording and Release

The song was released on the Let It Be album; however, the Beatles did not properly record the song during the January 1969 sessions. When director Michael Lindsay-Hogg chose to include the "I Me Mine" segment in the Let It Be film, the Beatles decided to make a proper recording of I Me Mine for inclusion on the accompanying album. Paul McCartney, George and Ringo (with John Lennon, having privately quit the group in September 1969, not present) met in the studio on January 3, 1970 to record a new version of the song. This version of the song begins with George stating, in a joking reference to Lennon's absence and the British pop group Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, "You all will have read that Dave Dee is no longer with us, but Mickey and Tich and I, just like to carry on the good work that's always gone down in number two", (meaning Abbey Road Studio Two). Their final rendition lasted 1:45 (this original version would later be included on The Beatles Anthology Vol. 3 CD); Phil Spector extended it by copying and repeating a section. Spector also overdubbed a string accompaniment. The final version as "re-produced" by Spector was featured on the re-titled Get Back album, Let It Be. A similar edit, without Spector's overdubs of strings, is available on 2003's Let It Be… Naked.

The January 1970 recording session for this song is the last recording session by The Beatles (at least until the Free as a Bird/Real Love reunion sessions), although the sessions for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "The End" in August 1969 were the last recorded collectively by all four Beatles.

Cover Versions

Marc Ford recorded his version of the song for "Songs from the Material World: a Tribute to George Harrison" album

Personnel

* George Harrison - Vocal, Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
* Paul McCartney - Bass, Harmony Vocal, Fender-Rhodes Piano, Hammond Organ
* Ringo Starr - Drums

Orchestra Arranged and Inserted By Phil Spector

Album: Let It Be
Released: 8 May 1970
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 3 January and 1 April 1970
Genre: Folk blues, hard rock, waltz
Length: 2:25
Label: Apple, EMI
Writer: George Harrison
Producer: George Martin, Phil Spector

Wikipedia

"I Lost My Little Girl"

"I Lost My Little Girl" is the first song written by Paul McCartney, when he was 14, in 1956 or 1957. A performance of this song can be heard on McCartney's 1991 album Unplugged (The Official Bootleg).

McCartney wrote "I Lost My Little Girl" using his first guitar, a Framus Zenith (model 17) acoustic guitar, which he still owns.

A version of this song featuring John Lennon on lead vocals was performed by The Beatles during their Get Back sessions.

Song by Paul McCartney
Album: Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)
Released: May 20, 1991
Recorded: January 25, 1991
Genre: Rock
Length: 1:45
Label: Parlophone/EMI
Writer: Paul McCartney
Recorded by: Geoff Emerick

Wikipedia

"I Got a Woman"

"I Got a Woman" is a song co-written and recorded by American Jazz musician Ray Charles and released as a single in December of 1954 on the Atlantic label as Atlantic 45-1050 b/w "Come Back Baby." Both sides later appeared on his 1957 album Ray Charles (or, Hallelujah I Love Her So).

Origin

Built on a gospel hymn, "Jesus Is All the World to Me," Ray was listening to on the radio while on the road with his band, he and his band member, trumpeter Renald Richard penned a song which was built among a gospel frenetic pace with secular lyrics and a jazz-inspired rhythm and blues background, the song would be one of the prototypes for what later became termed as "soul music" after Charles released "What'd I Say" nearly five years later.

Recording

The song was recorded late 1954 in an Atlanta studio and was Charles' first #1 R&B hit in January 1955. The song would lead to more hits for Charles during this period when he was on Atlantic. It was later ranked #235 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, one of Charles' five songs on the list.

Kanye West Version

Fifty years later, rapper Kanye West would sample "I Got a Woman" for his #1 US hit, "Gold Digger," in 2005, bringing Charles back into the charts (with help from Jamie Foxx, who also played Charles in the biopic, Ray, and imitated him in the intro), only this time credited as a songwriter of his own #1 hit posthumously after his death in June 2004. Two years later, reggae legends Toots & the Maytals covered the song on their album "Light Your Light."

Cover versions

The song has been covered by many artists, including:

* Anneke van Giersbergen
* Baby Face Willette
* Bobby Darin
* Elvis Presley
* Jimmy McGriff
* Booker T. & the M.G.'s
* The Beatles
* Roy Orbison
* Al Kooper
* The Honeydrippers
* The Monkees
* Stevie Wonder
* Johnny Cash and June Carter
* Jerry Lee Lewis
* Them
* John Hammond
* Bill Haley & His Comets
* Jamie Cullum
* Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
* Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
* The Gibson Brothers
* Andrew Wild
* Kermit Ruffins & Rebirth Brass Band
* Bryan Adams
* John Mayer Trio
* Ramblin' Jack Elliott
* Sammy Davis Jr.
* Toots & the Maytals
* Jimmy Smith
* Pink Anderson
* Alonzo Pennington
* Freddie Scott 1963 chart single, ballad version

Single by Ray Charles
from the album Ray Charles (or, Hallelujah I Love Her So)
A-side: "I Got a Woman"
B-side: "Come Back Baby"
Released: 1954
Format: 7" single
Recorded: Atlanta, Georgia, 1954
Genre: Rhythm and blues
Length: 2:31
Label: Atlantic 45-1050
Writer(s): Ray Charles
Producer: Jerry Wexler

Wikipedia

"I Forgot to Remember to Forget"

"I Forgot to Remember to Forget" is a country song written by Stan Kesler and Charlie Feathers. It was recorded at Sun Studio July 11, 1955 by Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and Johnny Bernero on drums, and released on August 20, 1955 along with Mystery Train (Sun 223). It was re-released by RCA Victor (#47-6357) in December 1955.

Moore's guitar had a Nashville steel guitar sound, and Black played a clip-clop rhythm. Elvis sang a brooding vocal. This is the closest the trio came to a tradtional country song while at Sun.

The song reached the Billboard national country music chart #1 position by February 1956, and remained there for 5 weeks. It was the first recording to make Elvis Presley a national known country music star. The song remained on the country charts for 39 weeks.

The flip side of this release, Mystery Train, peaked at the #11 position on the national Billboard Country Chart.

Jerry Lee Lewis recorded the song in 1957 and the 1960s. Johnny Cash covered this song in Survivours Live on 1981. Composer Charlie Feathers has also recorded it.

The Beatles covered this song once for a BBC radio show, From Us To You, on 1 May 1964. The recording was included on the Live at the BBC album in 1994.

Single by Elvis Presley
B-side: "Mystery Train"
Released: August 20, 1955
Recorded: Sun Studios
Label: Sun 223
Writer(s): Stan Kesler and Charlie Feathers

Wikipedia

"I Feel Fine"

"I Feel Fine" is a riff-driven rock song mainly written by John Lennon (although credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released in 1964 by The Beatles as the A side of their eighth UK single. The song reached the top of the charts on 12 December of that year, displacing The Rolling Stones' "Little Red Rooster," and remained there for five weeks. The b-side was She's a Woman, mainly written by Paul McCartney. It also reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1964.

Origin

"I Feel Fine" burgeoned from its distinctive guitar riff, written by Lennon while in the studio recording "Eight Days a Week." "I actually wrote 'I Feel Fine' around the riff which is going on in the background," Lennon recalled. "I told them that I'd write a song specially for this riff so they said, 'Yes. You go away and do that,' knowing that we'd almost finished Beatles for Sale. Anyway, going into the studio one morning, I said to Ringo, 'I've written this song but it's lousy,' but we tried it, complete with riff, and it sounded like an A side, so we decided to release it just like that." Lennon's riff was influenced by a riff in "Watch Your Step", a 1961 release written and performed by Bobby Parker and covered by The Beatles in concerts during 1961 and 1962. The two songs also sharing a remarkably similar Latin-style drum pattern, although Paul McCartney has claimed that the drums on I Feel Fine were inspired by Ray Charles's "What'd I Say." The Beatles would continue to feature guitar riffs in their songs, most notably in numbers like "Day Tripper", "Ticket to Ride", "And Your Bird Can Sing", and "Paperback Writer".

At the time of the song's recording, The Beatles, having mastered the studio basics, had begun to explore new sources of inspiration in noises previously eliminated as mistakes (electronic goofs, twisted tapes, talkback). "I Feel Fine" marks the earliest example of the use of feedback as a recording effect—artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, and The Who used feedback, but Lennon remained proud of the fact that The Beatles were the first group to actually put it on vinyl. This subtle shift in their approach to recording became a lasting element of the group's later career, making itself widely apparent on albums like Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Structure

The intro to "I Feel Fine" starts with a single, percussive (yet pure-sounding) note (a high "A" harmonic) played on Paul's Hofner bass guitar that sustains, perhaps beyond any song previously recorded. It is then (famously) transformed and distorted via feedback. According to Paul McCartney, “John had a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar. It had a pick-up on it so it could be amplified… We were just about to walk away to listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp. I can still see him doing it… and it went, ‘Nnnnnnwahhhhh!” And we went, ‘What’s that? Voodoo!’ ‘No, it’s feedback.’ Wow, it’s a great sound!’ George Martin was there so we said, ‘Can we have that on the record?’ ‘Well, I suppose we could, we could edit it on the front.’ It was a found object– an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp.” While sounding very much like an Electric guitar, John played it on an acoustic (a Gibson model J-160E), employing 1960s sound effect devices to make the acoustic guitar sound more electronic. The intro riff around a Dmaj chord progresses to a C, then a G, where the G major vocals begin. Just before the coda, Lennon's intro riff (or ostinato), is repeated with a bright sound by George Harrison on electric guitar (a Gretsch Tennessean), followed by the surprisingly more electric sound of John on amped acoustic.

Other releases

In the US, the song was released on their Capitol album Beatles '65, and is presented in a duophonic mix featuring a layer of reverb added by executive Dave Dexter, Jr..

In the UK, the song was released on the LP format on A Collection of Beatles Oldies. A true stereo version can be found on the Past Masters Vol 1 and Beatles 1 CDs.

Personnel

* John Lennon – double-tracked vocal, lead/rhythm guitar
* Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass
* George Harrison – harmony vocal, lead/rhythm guitar
* Ringo Starr – drums

Cover versions

* Queen - In the Mannheim, Germany leg of the Magic Tour, Brian May played the opening riff of the song.
* The Sweethearts of the Rodeo recorded a country version of "I Feel Fine" in 1988, releasing their version as a single.
* In 1998, The Punkles did a Punk cover of this song on their first album.
* Les Fradkin has an instrumental version on his 2005 release- "While My Guitar Only Plays".
* Take That member Mark Owen performs I Feel Fine in the Beatles Medley

B-side: "She's a Woman"
Released: 23 November 1964 (US), 27 November 1964 (UK)
Format: 7"
Recorded: Abbey Road, 18 October 1964
Genre: Rock and roll
Length: 2:18
Label: Parlophone R5160 (UK), Capitol 5222 (US)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia

"I Don't Want to Spoil the Party"

"I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon but credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was released on the album Beatles for Sale in the United Kingdom in 1964 and on the album Beatles VI in the United States in 1965. It was the B-side of "Eight Days a Week", which went to #1. The B-side song reached #39 in the U.S. It was also released in 1964, on side 2 of the Beatles for Sale (No.2) 45 extended play on Parlophone/EMI in mono.

Lyrics

The lyrics revisit Lennon's familiar themes of alienation and inner pain. In this song, he is at a party, waiting for his girl to show up. When it becomes clear that she has stood him up, he decides to go, rather than spoil the party for everyone else.

Recording

The Beatles recorded the song on 29 September 1964 in 19 takes, the last of which was released.

Personnel

* John Lennon – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
* Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass
* George Harrison – lead guitar
* Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine

Rosanne Cash version

The song was covered by Rosanne Cash for her Hits 1979-1989 compilation. It went to #1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in 1989. It is also Cash's last No. 1 hit to date.

Album: Beatles for Sale
Released: December 4, 1964
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 29 September 1964
Genre: Beat, Country rock
Length: 2:33
Label: Parlophone, PMC 1240 (mono). PCS 3062 (stereo), CDP 7 46438 2
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

B-side to "Eight Days a Week" by The Beatles
Released: 15 February, 1965 (US only)
Label: Capitol 5371 (US)

Wikipedia

"I Call Your Name"

"I Call Your Name" is a song by The Beatles written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Overview

Lennon wrote the song prior to the formation of The Beatles. In 1963, he gave the song to Billy J. Kramer of The Dakotas, another Liverpool band who was signed to Parlophone by George Martin. Kramer released it as the B-side of the single "Bad to Me", another Lennon/McCartney composition.

Lennon was reportedly dissatisfied with the Dakotas' arrangement of his song as well as its position as the single's B-side, so The Beatles recorded and released it on the 1964 Long Tall Sally EP. The song's middle eight is the Beatles' first attempt at ska.

Personnel

* John Lennon – vocal, rhythm guitar
* Paul McCartney – bass
* George Harrison – lead guitar
* Ringo Starr – drums
* George Martin – producer
* Norman Smith – engineer

Covers

* The Mamas & The Papas covered "I Call Your Name" in 1966 on their debut album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears. In their version of the song, which they perform as more of a ballad than a rocker, Mama Cass calls out for John (Lennon) as a way of acknowledging Lennon for writing the song, or it's a reference to group member John Phillips. The group closes the song with, "I call your name... ye-ah!" The Beatles were well-known for the phrase "Yeah, yeah, yeah" from "She Loves You."

* Ringo Starr recorded a version of the song for a television special marking the 10th anniversary of John Lennon's death and the 50th anniversary of his birth. The track, produced by Jeff Lynne, features a supergroup composed of Lynne, Tom Petty, Joe Walsh & Jim Keltner.

Single by Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas
A-side: "Bad to Me" (Lennon/McCartney)
B-side: "I Call Your Name"
Released: 26 July 1963
Recorded: 26 June 1963 (both sides)
Genre: Pop music, Beat music
Label: Parlophone R5049
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Song by The Beatles
Released: 19 June 1964
Recorded: 1 March 1964
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia

"I Am the Walrus"

"I Am the Walrus" is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. Lennon claimed he wrote the first two lines on separate acid trips. The song was in The Beatles' 1967 television film and album Magical Mystery Tour, and was the B-side to the #1 hit "Hello, Goodbye."

Lennon composed the avant-garde song by combining three songs he had been working on. When he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyze Beatles' lyrics, he added a verse of nonsense words.

The walrus is a reference to the walrus in Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter" (from the book Through the Looking-Glass). Lennon expressed dismay upon learning that the walrus was a villain in the poem.

Origins

The genesis of the lyrics is found in three song ideas that Lennon was working on, the first of which was inspired by hearing a police siren at his home in Weybridge; Lennon wrote the lines "Mis-ter cit-y police-man" to the rhythm of the siren. The second idea was a short rhyme about Lennon sitting in his garden, while the third was a nonsense lyric about sitting on a corn flake. Unable to finish the ideas as three different songs, he combined them into one.

Lennon received a letter from a pupil at Quarry Bank Grammar School, which he had attended. The writer mentioned that the English master was making his class analyse Beatles lyrics. (Lennon wrote an answer, dated September 1, 1967, which was auctioned by Christie's of London in 1992.) Lennon, amused that a teacher was putting so much effort into understanding The Beatles' lyrics, wrote the most confusing lyric he could. Lennon's friend and former fellow member of The Quarrymen, Peter Shotton, was visiting, and Lennon asked Shotton about a playground nursery rhyme they sang as children.

Shotton remembered:

"Yellow matter custard, green slop pie,
All mixed together with a dead dog's eye,
Slap it on a butty, ten foot thick,
Then wash it all down with a cup of cold sick."

Lennon borrowed a couple of words, added the three unfinished ideas and the result was "I Am the Walrus". The Beatles' official biographer Hunter Davies was present while the song was being written and wrote an account in his 1968 book on the band. Lennon remarked to Shotton, "Let the fuckers work that one out."

All the chords are major chords or seventh chords, and all the musical letters of the alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F and G) are used. The song ends with a chord progression built on ascending and descending lines in the bass and strings, repeated over and over as the song fades. Musicologist Alan W. Pollack analyses: "The chord progression of the outro itself is a harmonic Moebius strip with scales in bassline and top voice that move in contrary motion." The bassline descends stepwise A, G, F, E, D, C, and B, while the strings' part rises A, B, C, D, E, F#, G: this sequence repeats as the song fades, with the strings rising higher on each iteration. Pollack also notes that the repeated cell is seven bars long, which means that a different chord begins each four-bar phrase.

Lennon explained much of the song to Playboy in 1980:

* "The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend. The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko. Part of it was putting down Hare Krishna. All these people were going on about Hare Krishna, Allen Ginsberg in particular. The reference to "Elementary penguin" is the elementary, naive attitude of going around chanting, "Hare Krishna", or putting all your faith in any one idol. I was writing obscurely, a la Dylan, in those days."
* "It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with The Beatles' work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realised that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, shit, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, 'I am the carpenter.' But that wouldn't have been the same, would it? [Singing] 'I am the carpenter....'"

Some have speculated that the opening line, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together", is a parody of the opening line of "Marching to Pretoria", a folk song: "I'm with you and you're with me and we are all together."

The song also contains the exclamation goo goo g'joob with "koo koo g'joob" heard clearly in the second. Various hypotheses exist regarding the origin and meaning. One is that the phrase was derived from the similar "koo koo ka choo", to which it is often mondegreened, in Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson, written in 1967. However, the film The Graduate, where "Mrs. Robinson" debuted, did not appear until December 1967, a month after "I Am the Walrus", and The Graduate Original Soundtrack (which contained only fragments of the final version of "Mrs Robinson") was not out until January 1968.

James Joyce's Finnegans Wake contains the words googoo goosth at the top of page *557, where it appears:

...like milk-juggles as if it was the wrake of the hapspurus or old Kong Gander O'Toole of the Mountains or his googoo goosth she seein, sliving off over the sawdust lobby out of the backroom, wan ter, that was everywans in turruns, in his honeymoon trim, holding up his fingerhals...

Recording

"I Am the Walrus" was the first studio recording made after the death of The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein in August 1967. The basic backing track featuring The Beatles was released in 1996 on Anthology 2. George Martin arranged and added orchestral accompaniment that included violins, cellos, horns, clarinet and a 16-piece choir. Paul McCartney said that Lennon gave instructions to Martin as to how he wished the orchestration to be scored, including singing most of the parts as a guide. A large group of professional studio vocalists named "The Mike Sammes Singers", took part in the recording as well, variously singing "Ho-ho-ho, hee-hee-hee, ha-ha-ha", "oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper!", "got one, got one, everybody's got one" and making a series of shrill whooping noises.

The dramatic reading in the mix towards the end of the song is a few lines of Shakespeare's King Lear (Act IV, Scene VI), which were added to the song direct from an AM radio receiving the broadcast of the play on the BBC Home Service (or possibly the BBC Third Programme). The bulk of the audible dialogue, heard in the fade, is the death scene of the character Oswald (including the words, "O untimely Death! Death!"); this is just one additional piece of the Paul is Dead urban legend.

The original 1967 stereo mix of the record has an interesting twist: At almost exactly two minutes into the song, the mix changes from regular stereo to "fake stereo", with most of the bass on one channel, and most of the treble on the other. The mix appears to 'wander' sonically in the fadeout, from left to right. The reason for the change in mixes was that the radio broadcast was inserted during the mono mixdown. The U.S. mono single mix also includes an extra bar of music before the words "yellow matter custard" - an early, overdub-free mix of the song released on The Beatles Anthology 2 reveals John singing the lyrics "Yellow mat - " too early; this was edited out. The mono version opens with a four-beat chord while stereo mix features six beats on the initial chord.

In 2003, the first-ever stereo mix of the song (except for the intro) was included as part of the soundtrack for the DVD release of The Beatles Anthology.

In 2006, the first-ever stereo mix of the complete song (from beginning to end, including the formerly "fake stereo" second half) was issued on The Beatles' album Love.

Personnel

* John Lennon: lead vocals, electric piano, mellotron and tambourine.
* Paul McCartney: bass, backing vocals.
* George Harrison: electric guitar, backing vocals.
* Ringo Starr: drums.

* Orchestrated, directed and produced by George Martin.
* Session musicians: strings, brass and woodwinds.
* Mike Sammes singers: background vocals.
* Engineered by Geoff Emerick.
* Mixed by Geoff Emerick and John Lennon.

Reception

Critical reception at the time of the track's release was positive:

* "John growls the nonsense (and sometimes suggestive) lyric, backed by a complex scoring incorporating violins and cellos. You need to hear it a few times before you can absorb it." - Derek Johnson, NME, 18 November 1967.

* "Into the world of Alice in Wonderland now and you can almost visualise John crouching on a deserted shore singing I am the Walrus to some beautiful strings from far away on the horizon and a whole bagful of Beatle sounds, like a ringing doorbell and someone sawing a plank of wood. A fantastic track which you will need to live with for a while to fully appreciate." - Nick Logan, NME, 25 November 1967.

Interpretation

Despite the fact that John Lennon wrote this song as a response to his alma mater interpreting Beatles songs, "I am the Walrus" is often interpreted by the public.

Who was the walrus?

In the booklet that accompanies the Magical Mystery Tour album, "I Am the Walrus" is given the subtitle (in small print) "'No you're not!' said Little Nicola." (Nicola is a little girl in a segment of the Magical Mystery Tour film, who keeps contradicting everything the other characters say.) The 1968 Beatles song "Glass Onion", written by Lennon, and featured on the White Album, refers to earlier Beatles' compositions. Referring to "I Am the Walrus", Lennon sings, "Here's another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul."

In the 1980 Playboy interview, John responded to the confusion:

"I threw the line in — 'the Walrus was Paul' — just to confuse everybody a bit more. And I thought 'Walrus' has now become me, meaning 'I am the one.' Only it didn't mean that in this song."

Lennon also comments in The Beatles Anthology that he wrote the song at a point when the band was beginning to fall apart, and he hoped that by inserting this line in combination with "I told you 'bout the walrus and me man, you know that we're as close as can be man", he could begin to patch things up with the band.

Lennon said that the fact that McCartney was dressed as a walrus on the cover of the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour LP inspired the line. However, Lennon himself was dressed as a walrus in the music video for "I Am the Walrus", instead of Paul who is wearing a hippopotamus costume.

Paul also responded to the lyric in an interview broadcast on a Beatles' documentary on WYNY 1981:

"[John] happened to have a line go 'the walrus was Paul' and we had a great giggle to say 'yeah, let's do that,' because everybody's gonna read into it and go crackers cause they all thought that John was the walrus."

On Lennon's 1970 solo album Plastic Ono Band, the song "God" contains the lines "I was the walrus, but now I'm John."

Who was the Eggman?

Eric Burdon, lead singer of The Animals, is claimed by some to be the 'Eggman'. The reason for this is that Burdon was known as 'Eggs' to his friends, originating from his fondness for breaking eggs over naked girls. Burdon's biography mentions such an affair taking place in the presence of John Lennon, who shouted "Go on, go get it, Eggman..."

Song's role in "Paul is Dead" controversy

At the time the song appeared, and years before Lennon himself explained that the Carroll poem was the genesis of the song, there was speculation on what the walrus symbolized in The Beatles' song. During the "Paul is Dead" imbroglio, journalist John Neary, the author of the cover story "The Magical McCartney Mystery" in the November 7, 1969 issue of LIFE Magazine, incorrectly claimed that the "black walrus was a folk symbol of death." B.J. Phillips, writing in the Washington Post on October 22, 1969 ("McCartney 'Death' Rumors"), made the assertion that, "According to the hypothesis, the walrus is a symbol of death, although its origins have been attributed to such dissimilar sources as the ancient Greeks and modern Eskimos."

According to the Paul is Dead Web Site Turn Me on Dead Man, there actually are no cultural links between the walrus and death. Such "folklore" was generated by the perpetrators of the "Paul is Dead" myth.

Cover versions

* The Rutles' song "Piggy in the Middle" is a tongue-in-cheek parody of this song.
* Spooky Tooth recorded a version for their 1969 album The Last Puff.
* Leo Sayer covered the song for the 1976 ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.
* The German singer Klaus Lage released a closely translated German version of the song on his 1980 debut album Die Musikmaschine.
* The punk band Gray Matter covered the song on their 1985 album Food for Thought
* Frank Zappa performed the song at the Beacon Theater in New York City on Thursday February 4, 1988.
* Men Without Hats recorded a version for their 1991 album Sideways.
* Indie-rock band Arcwelder recorded a version and released it as a 7" single (backed with a cover of the Prince song Sign of the Times) in 1992 on the label Big Money.
* Another indie rock band Hash also recorded a version and released it as a 7" single (B-Side of their hit 'I Forgot My Blanket' which was under the Elektra record label produced by Dogmeat Ltd.(7-64625) in 1993.
* Marc Bonilla recorded an instrumental version on his 1993 album American Matador.
* Les Fradkin has an instrumental version on his 2007 release- "Guitar Revolution".
* Oasis covers the song live frequently, and released one version on the B-side to their 1994 single "Cigarettes & Alcohol". The track can also be found on their compilation album The Masterplan.
* The Punkles did a Punk cover of this song on their third album "Pistol".
* The band Oingo Boingo covered the song on their 1994 album Boingo as well as performing it live at their Farewell Tour.
* Colin's Hermits (Dave Gregory, of XTC) covered this song on the 1996 tribute album Without The Beatles .
* A performance of the song by actor and comedian Jim Carrey appears on George Martin's 1998 album In My Life. At the end of his version, he cries, "There, I did it! I've defiled a timeless piece of art! For my next trick I'll paint a clown face on the Mona Lisa, while using the Shroud of Turin as a drop cloth!"
* The German band Die Toten Hosen covered the song on their 1999 album Crash Landing.
* In 2004, the rock band Styx performed a cover of the song at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, where the song was received so well that it was released as a single. The cover of the song received significant classic rock airplay, reaching #10 on the Mediabase Classic Rock charts. The cover also became the basis for an entire album consisting of covers, 2005's Big Bang Theory.
* Jeff Martin (of Racer X, ex-Badlands) made a heavy metal cover of "I Am The Walrus" on his solo album The Fool (2006) with guitarist Russ Parrish (of Steel Panther and Fight).
* Japanese rock band Boris collaborated with noise legend Merzbow for a cover of "I Am The Walrus". This was released on the Walrus/Groon 12" EP in 2007.
* Australian singer/songwriter Russell Morris included a version on his 2007 album "Fundamentalist".
* Bono of U2 performs a version of the song in the 2007 movie, Across the Universe. It appears on the soundtrack with the American band Secret Machines.
* Southern hard rock band Jackyl released a cover version on their 1997 best-of album Choice Cuts
* Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux performed a note-perfect version on The Late Show With David Letterman as well as The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Satellite Radio.
* Finnish comedian group Kummeli performed a version translated to their mother tongue on TV in the early 1990s. The music video was a parody of several Beatles' videos.

A-side: "Hello Goodbye"
Released: November 24, 1967 (UK), November 27, 1967 (U.S.)
Format: 7"
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 5 September 1967
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Length: 4:34
Label: Parlophone (UK), Capitol Records (U.S.)
Writer(s): Lennon/McCartney
Producer: George Martin

Wikipedia