The Beatles Thread

In Anthology, McCartney said something to the effect that if he was guilty of talking down to Harrison, it was because of the age difference - sort of a big brother/little brother dynamic. This was immediately followed by Harrison deadpanning "Paul was always nine months older than I. Even now, he's nine months older than I." Just from being a Beatles junkie, I think the age gap thing was a rationalization on the part of Lennon and McCartney to maintain creative control of the band. That said, as much as I love Harrison's music, including solo material, I wouldn't put him in the league of Lennon or McCartney. I also wonder how much working alongside two of the greatest songwriters ever helped advance his writing skills.

I'm amazed at the brilliance of their standalone singles, but, in my eyes, the sheer volume of brilliant music in about 7 years as a recording band is the most impressive aspect of their output. I hear so many Beatles songs that would likely be a top-five or top-ten song in the catalogue of other artists, but it in the avalanche of their material they are often overlooked. A song like "I've Just Seen a Face" immediately comes to mind. I'm not arguing that its totally obscure, but it probably doesn't get its due.

I used to be relatively ambivalent to the earlier stuff too. For the longest time, I was all about their Rubber Soul-on output and just skimmed their most popular material from their early period. I still prefer their latter half, but it's so much closer than I have given it credit. Songs like "Baby's in Black" and "It Won't Be Long" used to be skippable tracks for me, now I actively look forward to hearing them whether I'm shuffling songs on my phone or listening to the Beatles channel.

 

The release of the box sets in 2009 I think led a lot of people to dig back into the Beatles back catalog, for the first time in a long time, or ever.

There are really not too many bigger Beatles freaks than me, but there were probably a dozen songs I had maybe only heard once or twice in my life until the box set.

When the Beatles first came out, I was a little kid. I heard the singles on the radio (and of course Sgt. Pepper when it came out). When I was 10-11 I started buying singles and saving up for albums once or twice a year.

By the time I got my big-bucks paper route and could buy a couple albums a month, the pre-Pepper stuff was considered corny and square. Album-oriented rock radio pretty much flat-out would never play anything prior to Pepper -- end of story.

So when I started piling up albums, some of the early Beatles albums just got lost in the shuffle. I figured I'd fill in the gaps someday, but I never did until 2009. So there were a few songs on those albums I had never heard (maybe once or twice back in the days when radio stations used to do "Beatles A-Z weekends.").

I think a fair number of people were in similar situations -- never bothered to buy all the early albums, but when they finally got them together in one box set, remastered and all cleaned up, $100 bucks or so didn't seem like that much.

 

The Stones and Who were in similar situations: AOR radio rarely if ever would play anything dating from earlier than 1968-69.

Once in a while they'd play "Satisfaction" or "My Generation" and act like tbey were doing something really radical.

 

Which makes me ask, what song has the best reference to the Beatles?

Personal favorite is "Don't Swallow the Cap."

I'm not alone
I'll never be
And to the bone
I'm evergreen
And if you want (dead seriously)
To see me cry (don't swallow the cap)
Play "Let It Be" (pat yourself on the back)
Or "Nevermind" (dead seriously)

 

Surprised American Pie hasn't been mentioned yet. There's a couple of references to the Beatles

And while Lennon read a book on Marx
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died
...
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance

'Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?

 

I have a foggy recollection of a Houston radio station going all-Beatles a couple of decades ago. I wonder how long that lasted. I don't remember.

 

Was thinking about alternate realities:

John survives gettting shot, but has a long recovery period and several years out of the public eye. He and Paul play together again for the first time in a surprise appearance at Nirvana's MTV Unplugged recording.

That bumps the Meat Puppets off the show, so we don't get Lake of Fire, but we hear Lennon and Cobain duet on an acoustic I Am the Walrus and an amazing version of Helter Skelter.

 

Alternate reality:

George Martin and all four Beatles are each born 20 years earlier than in our reality.
Know one ever knows who any of them are.

 

I haven't read every Beatle book out there but I have read most of the major ones regarding the band and its members. Here are Huggy's top Beatles books:

Tune In: The Beatles All These Years, Mark Lewisohn: first of a three-volume set this is the gold standard; it is a load to read and took me two tries to get through it; only goes up to Dec. 31, 1962 but it is tremendous

The Beatles: The Biography, Bob Spitz: terrific read for those who don't want to immerse themselves in Lewisohn's book

Can't Buy Me Love, Jonathan Gould: as good an examination of their music as I have come across

You Never Give Me Your Money, The Beatles after the breakup, Peter Doggett: great book about the financial mess that was left after the end of the band

John Lennon: The Life, Paul McCartney: The Life by Philip Norman and George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door, Graeme Thomson ; easily the best books I have read about three of the four Beatles, I have never read a Ringo bio

 

That's a pretty mesmerizing video.

 

June 1981: Completing a six-month recovery following an abortive shooting attempt by a crazed fan, John Lennon welcomes three overnight guests to the Dakota.

On a late Heineken-fueled Saturday night, a local Upper East Side dive bar gets a call offering a one-off show by "Sir Winston and the Knackerbockers." They open their 2-hour show to a bemused crowd of 150 with....

..and then lead into ....

 

Don't know how long these will stay up before the Apple copyright cops jump on the case, but a shiiittload of awesome HQ Beatles videos have popped up on YouTube the last couple weeks.

And I see, they're going down. God damn it.