No, not with the actual lyrics, melodies, and arrangements, but with pop song structure. I mean learning how to write verse/chorus verse/chorus/bridge verse/chorus/fade (I Want to Hold Your Hand) as opposed to hook/hook/bridge/hook/bridge (Yesterday), or verse/verse/chorus/bridge, (You're Gonna Lose That Girl). Those things go beyond talent and song ideas. However, I will say this, the Beatles spent so much time as a cover band that you know they spent countless hours breaking down other people's songs, so it's possible they could have picked up the techniques organically. In all the things I'v read about the band over the years, I'v never heard this discussed. Yeah I would agree, "Patty Lane" definitely deserves a spot on the early 60's manic pixie heap.
That would be more my take on it. They soaked up the basics of the rock & roll that they loved like sponges.
IMO, back in the 60"s, there were two types of male vocalists produced by Motown; the David Ruffin type, earthy, gospely, raw, sexy, or the Smokey Robinson type, soft, sensitive, emotional. The Tops' Levi Stubbs was a type onto himself. His powerful, emotional, voice was perfect for expressing the longing in songs like Baby I Need Your Loving, while also seeming perfect for declarations of love like Can't Help Myself. Because of Levi's unique voice, the Tops were able to hold their own with the Temps and Miracles. One of the weirdest falsettos of all time. This guy's voice has always reminded me of a really tiny black woman who has the word "Little" as part of her nickname.
I guess I can't really say until I do see it. Now I'm picturing a French guy in a beaver hat. Well, those were the kind of stories that I liked. Pleasant enough. Classic. A unique classic. Uh... a unique classic of an entirely different sort.
Far and away, their best song. Although for some reason, it never carried a "summer" vibe to me--not on the instrument side, in any case. Listenable, but not the first of their many hits I revisit. It may sound strange, but he was such an underrated singer, usually tossed in the backseat behind Sinatra. I found his vocal ability more pleasing than Sinatra. Humbling experiences? Try relentlessly abusive and disheartening. Oh, yay! He makes it Florida...with his friend dying along the way. Cue the theme to Laverne and Shirley, because they were "gonna make our dreams come true! Doin' it our way!"
You were warned. While you're at it, dig up The Folks at Red Wolf Inn. Note: watch during dinner...or not....
_______ 50 Years Ago This Week Used to eat there in Florida...this immersive retro post is making me hungry! And The Old Mixer is the size of a large eggplant. I have reached the third trimester...egg-cellent. Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week, with a Bubbling Under Bonus: Leaving the chart: "The Ballad of John and Yoko," The Beatles (9 weeks) "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet," Henry Mancini & His Orchestra (14 weeks) "Tell All the People," The Doors (9 weeks) New on the chart: "What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am," Bill Deal & The Rhondels (#23 US) "Going in Circles," The Friends of Distinction (#15 US; #3 R&B) "Oh, What a Night," The Dells (#10 US; #1 R&B; #260 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time) "Everybody's Talkin'," Nilsson (#6 US; #2 AC; #23 UK) "Jean," Oliver (#2 US; #1 AC) "I Can't Get Next to You," The Temptations (#1 US the weeks of Oct. 18 and 25, 1969; #1 R&B; #13 UK) Bubbling Under: "Space Oddity," David Bowie (#124 US; #5 UK; re-released in 1973, reaching #15 US) _______ A very pleasant song, and I've got it in my Summer! playlist regardless. And I just caught in the background on this morning's Me airing of My Three Sons a late 1967 episode named "Liverpool Saga" that solo-guested Jeremy Clyde as a cousin of a friend who helps Chip's band win a competition because he's an up-and-coming English folk singer. I'm not sure how old his character was supposed to be, but he seemed a bit old to be hanging out with Chip and his friends. There was a cute moment I caught when Jeremy's character was helping Chip fix his scooter, and Ernie was the only one who knew that spanner = wrench. "What, so I read a lot." Peak era (1964-67) Four Tops is good, good stuff. "Powerful" is exactly how I'd describe their sound in that era...they weren't big on subtlety, they drove the sucker home. "Baby I Need Your Loving" is the type of song that, no matter what I've got my listening device already set on, instinctively makes me want to notch it up a bit. Pretty goofy, definitely a classic in its own right...it's a bit of a crime that it did substantially better than "Baby I Need Your Loving," but it's all history now. There's a story behind my saving this one until it hit #1. Initially I hadn't included it, but I do have a not-much-listened-to Dino hits CD in my collection, and when I saw that it was coming up as a number one, I decided what the heck, and quietly slipped it in the week after its chart debut. Anyway, I find it a lot more listenable than "People" (and thank god that's gone). And while Dino's pop hits aren't generally my cup of tea, I love his Christmas stuff. There are mediums to be found between "everything's coming up sunshine and roses" and "unbearably dark and depressing".
Blue eyed soul at it's finest. Loved this song. My ex~wife did costumes for the Friends' early 80's iteration. Got to know and really care for a few of them, including Floyd who sang lead on "Circles". Nice guy. Passed away in the mid-90's RIP. I really liked Harry Nillson back in the day. He was a wild man though it rarely showed up in his music, "Fuck You" notwithstanding. And speaking of the former love of my life, we played selections from "A Little Touch of Schmillson In the Night" at our wedding reception.
...and you just know The Who were one of the standouts of the event. They were more than ready to make bigger marks in the decade to come. Eh..a so-so track. I prefer the act's no-holds barred, high-strung "I've Been Hurt" to this. I mean, they were REALLY expressing his pain in that song!" Beautiful, instant classic. Now that's a song. My favorite Bowie song. Nothing like a song that immediately makes the listener form visuals about its story. Nothing was stranger than the My Three Sons kids trying to be "with it" in those late 60s episodes. Yeah...a movie that's not Midnight Cowboy!
So yesterday morning I was in the middle of listening to "Jean" when there were two explosions down the street and the neighborhood went dark. When I left for breakfast at Mom's, it was still dark (aside from the sun having come up) and a long stretch of Hancock Street was cordoned off by the cops. Guess we lost a couple of transformers. In case you were wondering where I was. Now, that film looks like it's more my speed, although I generally prefer supernatural horror. Watch out for Kid Icarus. A catchy rhetorical question. Eh. Meh. Now we're talkin.' This is really nice. Classic. Tragedy is inevitable. How people deal with it isn't. Not bad.
Any idea how much of them is in the director's cut of the film? It's been a long time since I saw most of the film on TV, and don't know what version it was. I read about how they had to kick Abbie Hoffman off stage...hope that's in there! Anybody here seen my old friend RJ? Can you tell me where he's gone? Had to look that one up. This is alright but not great to my ear. That is a good one, and I'm sure I've heard it before, possibly on Sirius and/or Music Choice. It slipped under the radar here (charted Apr. 19, 1969) because it fell short of the Top 30 (#35 US). This one has a nice sound but I wasn't that familiar with it and it hasn't had a chance to really catch on with me yet. Interesting. Anybody here heard my old friend RJ? Can you tell me what he said? For a guy who's so into words and phrases... I've had this one in my collection for a while now because it was on the RS list. It's a remake of a song they first did in 1956. Another example of '50s retro coming early, which isn't generally what I'm looking for when immersed in late '60s retro. A good, classic, sign-o-the-timesish number, and another good thing about Midnight Cowboy. Had to look that one up, too. Would that be "You're Breakin' My Heart" (with George Harrison on slide guitar)? Eh...it's no "Good Morning Starshine". Groovy, and a definite improvement over the mediocre "Don't Let the Joneses Get You Down". Speaking of visuals, and of general 50th anniversary interest, Bowie's Vevo has this 1969 promotional video, which I didn't post because it's for an earlier version of the song: Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this. If I had to put my finger on why I didn't find the poverty, terminal illness, and other hard circumstances depressing, I'd say that it's because the characters elevated the film above all of that.
No, I do not know about the details of the director's cut, but I would assume the headliners all had something extra put into it, since I've long known that a lot of alternate angles and backstage interaction existed from over 300 hours of footage shot. There's enough for a separate "extras" blu ray alone. That has to be some exciting and insightful material. Surprised it did not reach a higher chart position. Then again, it was released in a year overflowing with great songs every week, so something was not going rise above all of that. It might grow on you, or, you might prefer their next hit, "Love or Let Me Be Lonely" in the year to come. Interesting. That's an interesting take, but its lacking that "out there" feeling of the standard version.
My Brother was very young and into video games at that time, and that's the game he'd drag me into the most. We used to call it "Kitty Dukakis." Heh. I don't know, it's just not grabbing me. Well, that's from Hair. Yeah, from the description, they just don't give in to it.
_______ 55th Anniversary Cinematic Special A Hard Day's Night Directed by Richard Lester Starring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, and Victor Spinetti Premiered July 6, 1964 (UK); August 11, 1964 (US) 1965 Academy Awards nominee for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen (Alun Owen) and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment (George Martin) A Hard Day's Night is my favorite film, period. When I was first getting into the Beatles way back in nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, I had it and Help! in constant rotation on my bedroom VCR before school, between school and work, and after school / doing homework. As with audiences in 1964, it played a huge role in shaping my early perception of The Beatles. I hadn't had occasion to put it on since 2014, when I gave it a 50th anniversary rewatch...yes, the stirrings of the immersive retro thing were in play back then. Revisiting it as full-on 55th anniversary immersive retro business proved to be a delight. Following the title sequence, the opening train scene introduces Paul's grandfather, John McCartney (credited simply as Grandfather, played by Wilfrid Brambell), and the scripted versions of the Beatles, as well as manager and roadie Norm and Shake (Norman Rossington and John Junkin). Grandfather being referred to as a "clean old man" is a gag that runs throughout the film. Fun fact: British audiences would have gotten this reference, as Brambell was best known to them as the lead in Steptoe and Son, the British show that Sanford and Son would be based on; his character, the basis of Fred Sanford, was commonly referred to as a dirty old man. It's also in this scene that Grandfather is first referred to as a "mixer". When Grandfather leaves for the dining car with Norm and Shake, the lads get a new compartment mate, a stuffy old man (Richard Vernon, who'll be briefing Sean Connery in Goldfinger later the same year) with whom they verbally spar, putting the generation gap center stage. The subsequent dining car scene starts the gag of Norm feeling self-conscious of Shake being taller than him, thanks to Grandfather, who's now referred to as "a king mixer". Here the Beatles meet a group of schoolgirls, the most prominently featured of whom is Pattie Boyd, who'll soon be George's wife, and later Eric Clapton's. Grandfather soon slips away from Norm and Shake, and the search for him sets up Ringo's inferiority complex. I like when George winks at the woman who tries to lure Ringo into her compartment....and I love John's hijinks when he and Paul go into the schoolgirls' car. "I'll bet you can't guess what I was in for! [Cackles maniacally.]" Following that incident, Grandfather is kept in the baggage car with Paul watching over him. It's here that our next musical sequence takes place, a spontaneous performance of "I Should Have Known Better" as the schoolgirls watch. After the song, the train gets to its destination, and the boys enjoy the usual reception... Norm: Hey, Don't move any of ya! They've gone potty out there--the place is surging with girls! John: Please, sir, sir, can I have one to surge me, sir, please, sir? The bit with the Beatles bottlenecking the girls by entering one limo, going out the other end, and into another limo Is one that I've seen imitated elsewhere. At the lads' hotel room we get some more beats of Ringo's inferiority complex, which are offset by him receiving a load of fan mail that easily outweighs the other three's combined. John: Must have cost you a fortune in stamps, Ringo! George: He comes from a large family. Ordered by Norm to answer the mail, the lads quickly slip out to go to a nightclub, where a sequence ensues that seems like it was designed to emulate the Peppermint Lounge footage from the night of the famous first appearance on Sullivan. The music consists of With the Beatles / Meet the Beatles! numbers "I Wanna Be Your Man," "Don't Bother Me," and "All My Loving", alternating with scenes of Grandfather taking advantage of Ringo's invitation to Le Cercle Club...before Norm and the boys learn where he is and go there to drag him out. The next morning opens with John in the hotel bathtub playing with a toy submarine while George shows Shake how to shave with a safety razor. Proceeding to the TV studio where they're to perform that night, the lads employ another gimmick to evade the ever-present mob of girls, a drum-shaped tent in which they bolt from the car to the door. The first item on the itinerary is a press reception, one of the film's more distinctive scenes: Reporter: Tell me, how did you find America? John: Turn left at Greenland. Reporter: What would you call that hairstyle you're wearing? George: Arthur. The lads proceed to their set, where our next, in-story musical number commences, "If I Fell," which serves to buoy Ringo's spirits after he gets in a spat with a studio technician who taps on his drum set. Technician: Aren't you being rather arbitrary? Ringo: There you go, hiding behind a smokescreen of bourgeois cliches. I don't go messin' about with your earphones, do I? George: He's very fussy about his drums, y'know. They loom large in his legend. At the beginning of the performance, John gets in a little bit of lip-sync mocking, as he was wont to do in promotional films. After the song, Paul does a flourish on his bass that always sounded to me like a cameo of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," which isn't otherwise featured in the film. Following the performance we meet the fussy, overly worrisome TV director, brilliantly portrayed by Victor Spinetti, who has prominent roles here and in Help!, and in both films steals every scene that he's in. It turns out that the director has been set off by something that Paul's grandfather said. As Norm tries to escort the Beatles back to their dressing room, they opportunistically burst out a fire escape door and burst into the film's most iconic music sequence...the first of two for "Can't Buy Me Love". This iconic proto-music video, which features the Beatles frolicking around on a field accompanied by the song, is the sequence in the film most reminiscent of The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film, a short on Richard Lester's resume that was the reason the Beatles chose him to direct the movie. If I could only post one clip to represent the film, it would be this sequence, so it's a pity that there's no good version of it currently available. John is missing from some shots as he was absent when they were filmed. Man: I suppose you realize this is private property! George: Sorry we hurt your field, mister. Back at the studio, we find Norm fretting over the boys' absence, and his ongoing battle of nerves with John in particular... As the Beatles return to the studio building, John gets his "solo" scene, an odd, brief conversation with a woman credited as Millie (Annie Quayle) in a corridor. This is immediately followed by one of the best scenes in the film, which has George accidentally wandering into the office of the producer of a teen-oriented pop program (a surprisingly uncredited Kenneth Haigh): The term "grotty" was reportedly made up for the film. After a brief scene of amusing bits in the dressing room, the lads return to the TV set, redressed for a rehearsal of "And I Love Her," the film's most visually striking music sequence. Following this is another brief dressing room scene with a series of random gags, which includes a line from Grandfather that pretty much sums up the film's depiction of the Beatles' lives at this point... The lads proceed to another rehearsal performance, this time of "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You," which is preceded by a brief bit of tap-dancers performing to an instrumental version of the song. After the number, three of the boys make excuses to get out of whatever Norm wants them to do next... John [grabbing a show girl and walking off with her]: She's gonna show me her stamp collection. Paul [following suit]: So's mine. Showgirl [internally]: Oh, but I haven't got any stamps... When George just plugs his ears, it falls to Ringo to watch Paul's grandfather...which prompts him to do Dr. McCoy two years before Star Trek...! In the commissary, Grandfather takes the opportunity to stir up Ringo by convincing him that he's both underappreciated in the band and missing out on life. After a cute corridor run-in with George, who's coming out of a room wearing a showgirl's hat... George: Hey Ringo, you know what's just happened to me? Ringo: No, I don't. ...Ringo proceeds to go out "parading". When George fills the others in on why Ringo's walked out (which he must have learned off-camera from Paul's grandfather)… George: Hey, you know what happened? Paul [thinking he's talking about the other thing]: We know! When Paul finds out what really happened, he gives us the first of two utterances of that now-immortalized phrase... The previously posted "This Boy" sequence commences, with Ringo donning his "disguise". If you watch, Ringo's mouthing the boy's lines. Back at the studio, Norm and the director fret over how all of the Beatles have disappeared with only twenty minutes to go until the final run-through before the performance. Grandfather: I'm sorry, boys, I didn't mean it, honest! Director: If he says that again, I'll...strike him. Norm: God knows what you've unleashed on the unsuspecting South. It'll be wine, women, and song all the way with Ringo once he gets the taste for it. [Cut to Ringo at a pub, trying to get a misshapen, stale sandwich into his mouth.] Pub lady: That was fresh this morning. The other three return to the studio (singing a bit of "A Hard Day's Night" as they enter) to the wrath of the director. Director: Well you realize that we're on the air live, in front of an audience, in forty-five minutes and you're one short! John: Control yourself, he'll spurt! It took me a long time to realize that when Paul tells the director "we realized he must have come back here," he's imitating the director. As the three proceed to the final run-through, we find Paul's grandfather getting into trouble outside trying to pass out (forged) autographed pictures of the Beatles to the girls waiting outside. The police take him into custody for his own safety. At about the same time, Ringo's taken in by a bobby who's had an eye on him while he's been paradin'. Ringo: I'm Ringo Starr, I've got a show to do, I'm on in a few minutes, you've gotta let me go...I'm Ringo! Constable: Yeah, that's what they all say these days. I always particularly loved the dry-witted desk sergeant played by Deryck Guyler. Constable: Yeah, I've got a little list here: wandering abroad, malicious intent, acting in a suspicious manner, conduct liable to cause a breach of the peace...you name it, he's done it. Sergeant: Oh, a little savage, is he? Grandfather's dragged in just after Ringo, overreacting to what he thinks is an actual arrest, and tries to convince Ringo of the policemen's true motives and brutal interrogation methods... Ringo: They seem alright to me. Grandfather: Ah, that's just want they want you to think. All coppers are villains! Sergeant: Would you two like a cup of tea? Grandfather: You see? Sly villains... Grandfather makes a run for it, with the police only concerned that he forgot to take his photographs with him, and heads back to the studio, where he informs the others of Ringo's whereabouts. They rush to the police station and spring Ringo in a keystone cops-style chase sequence that reprises "Can't Buy Me Love," which includes an interlude in which the Beatles return to the police station to catch their breath, then run out again (with John running around the back of the set and through it again). When the reunited Beatles return to the studio, we get a brief sequence of happy, story-concluding beats, including Paul's second utterance... ...and John having a brief heart-to-heart with the mixer in question... John: You see, you know your trouble, you should have gone west to America. You would have been a senior citizen of Boston. But you took a wrong turn and what happened? You're a lonely old man from Liverpool. Grandfather: Well I'm clean. John: Are ya? ...all of which is followed by the climax of the film, the television performance, which has the Beatles playing a series of songs to a crowd of ecstatic teens...mostly screaming girls, but also including, I eventually learned, a young Phil Collins, who's briefly visible as an audience member. (In You Can't Do That! The Making of "A Hard Day's Night", hosted by Collins [full documentary here], he points out where he is at 5:49+.) The set consists of "Tell Me Why," "If I Fell," "I Should Have Known Better," and the Beatles' biggest hit ever in the UK, "She Loves You": An additional performance of "You Can't Do That" was shot for this sequence, but not used in the final film (featured in the above-linked documentary at 59:06+). The Beatles rush out of the studio and onto a helicopter to make a gig in Northhampton, and we cut to the closing credits, which reprise the title song while also inventing the closing credits of The Monkees. Also, Roger Ebert sings its praises in the documentary. _______
Really? In the whole wide world? Movies. Elvis did them wrong, The Beatles did them right. They're rather provoking him, though, aren't they? An appropriate antonym for "groovy." "We'll have to put him right" should be your custom title. "I'm Ringo!" "I'm Ringo!" "I'm Ringo!" "I'm Ringo!" It's like an episode of The Avengers. Let that be a lesson! The Colonies are where it's at. As told in the sequel, A Hard Tomorrow Night.
I skipped around at roughly 5-minute intervals last night to just get an idea of what's in it. I caught one of the Tommy songs with the "see me, feel me" refrain and "Summertime Blues". Ah yes...I have that. Had to put it on to refresh myself, but it's one of those "Oh, that!" songs from oldies radio days. Definitely catchier and more familiar. Yep. Say, who's side are you on here, anyway...? I'm not sure to what extent that term was in use in youth culture in 1964...I'd tend to associate it with a slightly later phase. I think they were trying to come up with something along the lines of "gear" and "fab".
I always found their stage performance of the Eddie Cochran song mixed into their vey different, ever-changing music a bit odd, but it was a band favorite that they always found a place for at least into the mid 1970s.
55th Anniversary Fly-on-the-Wall Listening On August 14, 1964, while material from A Hard Day's Night is all over the American chart, the Beatles are in the studio working on songs for their next British album...in this case two covers, one of which will make it onto Beatles for Sale. _______ Something else to factor into this that I just thought of...Paul's father was a former musician in a jazz band, and Paul grew up with a piano in the house learning standards.
This is why we fought for independence, because young punks wouldn't leave us alone on trains and airplanes.
50th Anniversary Album Spotlight Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse Released May 14, 1969 Chart debut: June 21, 1969 Chart peak: #34, August 29, 1970 #208 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time The album opens powerfully with the hard, fuzzy rockin' "Cinnamon Girl" (charts June 20, 1970; #55 US), a song that I already had in my collection before buying the album: Young reportedly wrote this song, "Down by the River," and "Cowgirl in the Sand" while suffering from a high flu fever. Next up is the album's title track, the more laid-back "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," a good country rocker: This is followed by the strikingly gentle, mesmerizing waltz "Round & Round (It Won't Be Long)": Side one closes with "Down by the River," another one that I had in my collection, probably because it has a spot on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. At 9:13, it's only the second-longest song on the album. I can't say I'm crazy about there being so many rock/pop songs of the era about guys shooting their girlfriends, but musically this one makes for a good, deep, meaty listen that you can get lost in. The second side commences with "The Losing End (When You're On)," another country rocker. I like this style of country rock better than what The Flying Burrito Brothers were doing, which was a little too on-the-nose country to my ear. Side two's middle track is "Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)," which seems to refer to a previous incarnation of the band Crazy Horse, The Rockets, which Wiki describes as "a psychedelic pop/folk rock ensemble". I wonder if this one was based on an existing melody from a work in the public domain...it seems vaguely familiar. Sorta "Greensleeves"-ish. The remainder of the album is filled by "Cowgirl in the Sand," a 10:06 acid rock mini-epic: Overall, this album makes for a pretty good listen, and I can definitely see why something like this rates a spot on the list. It grows on me with each play. Next up: Crosby, Stills & Nash _______ This brings to mind a quote from the film that I didn't use, referring to the mixer...