The Beatles Thread

I have to admit, @Starman inspired me. The Foo Fighters thread got me thinking we could have pages and pages of Beatles discussion. I've been listening to the Beatles channel on SiriusXM lately and it has a lot of great stuff.

To get it started, I read that Get Back was originally written about the anti-immigration sentiment in the U.K. at the time. Paul wrote it in character and originally included a line disparaging Pakistanis, but they changed the lyrics because they weren't sure people would get it.

Still, they were breaking up at the time and John thought the line Get Back To Where You Once Belonged was directed at Yoko. So he was pissed.

That's one thing I find particularly fascinating, learning about the group dynamics at the time of different recordings.

 

"Get Back" is the best Beatles song. That is all.

 

Everyone was losing their minds over Sgt Pepper because it turned 50 this year. Don't get me wrong, Pepper is a great album, but I feel Magical Mystery Tour might have been better. Heard someone on one of the two documentaries I watched this last month suggest if they had included Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane on Pepper it would have been a perfect album. I think I might agree except they seem to just fit with Walrus and others.

 

Very wisely, they quickly realized if they released it in this form, a bunch of cement heads would take it literally, and instantly the Beatles would become the theme song for the racist right, and their sunshiny peace-and-love image would go down the shitter forever.

 

We've been listening to the Beatles channel a lot and the song that I can't get enough of is "She's Leaving Home". Just a beautiful song, great harmonies and vocals and I always get a little heart twinge at the line "She's leaving home after living alone for so many years".

As someone who could never really connect with her parents (and whose parents were equally bewildered by me) it just resonates deeply.

 

Saw this a few days ago ...

Ian Hart, of course, nailed the 21-year-old Lennon in "Backbeat."

I suppose maybe he's got one more take on the character left, if somebody writes a good script about a 75-year-old Lennon rocking social media in current day -- that doesn't draw lawsuits from Paul and Yoko.

 

Love Pepper, of course. All their albums are Hall of Fame. They're the fucking Beatles.

But one album, desert island scenario? Give me Rubber Soul.

 

White.

 

I like them, but I'm not obsessed about them as many fans are.

What I do find intriguing is all the backstory behind how they dumped Pete Best. Apparently, they left it to Brian Epstein to tell him he was out, and they still wanted him to continue performing for another couple of shows until Ringo was available. He ended up no-showing, which I can't really blame him.

Talk about a painful story.

 

Billy Preston is my favorite fifth Beatle.

I should add that the "Get Back" post inspired my comment more than the Pete Best reference.

 

I feel kind of guilty that I don't love the Beatles. I know how important they are but they mostly do nothing for me, which is my failing I suppose.

 

I'm actually tired of the Beatles, and I have been for 20 years.
They were the best. But I've heard everything they ever did 80 hundred million times.

George Harrison is still a god, though.