Yes, ladies and gentlemen, an earworm is when a song gets “stuck” in your head and parts of said song repeat over and over and over and over again until you’re ready to pull a drill out of your toolbox and…
…ahem…
I’ve had earworms before. I’m sure most everyone has.
In my case, the latest earworm I’ve struggled with was The Beatles’ Martha My Dear, from their White Album.
Here’s a very early demo of the song…
What’s weird about this is that, frankly, of all the Beatles songs out there, its one that I’ve never really given all that much thought to. It’s a nice song, mind you, a cheerful Paul McCartney tune dedicated (yep) to his dog Martha and its a nice piece but hardly one of the most memorable of songs.
And yet the other day, when I was tuning in to the various Sirius stations I stopped at their Beatles one and the host talked about this song and how he knew Martha (the dog) and here’s the song…
…and it played and stuck in my head ever since.
Best way to combat an earworm is to try to overlap/drown it out with another song. In my case, I chose something far more bombastic…
With my luck, I’ll have this song be my latest earworm…
Over at vulture.com, Bill Wyman offers his review of every single one of The Beatles songs. Given that I love reading lists and I love the music of The Beatles, this was an intriguing list to go over.
If you’re interested in reading this as well, here’s the link to the article…
While I’m absolutely certain almost everyone who stumbles upon and reads this list will have issues with it (I certainly did), one must of course realize a) opinions are just that and are unique to almost everyone and b) this is obviously Mr. Wyman’s opinion of the worst to best songs.
Reading the list, its clear Mr. Wyman subscribes to the notion some have that Paul McCartney’s songs tend to be “fluffier” and more “pop” and “lighter” in message than John Lennon’s more “serious” and “artsy” works.
Nonetheless, he does offer plenty of negatives toward John Lennon, in particular noting that the quality of his songs tended to slide as he did into a haze of drugs.
Having read the list, I can’t help but think of what my top ten favorite Beatles songs are. I’ll give it a shot here, but please note these songs are not listed in any particular order:
A Day In The Life – Presented at the tail end of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, this sober, at times eerie song nonetheless features a trippy middle. Fascinating, fascinating song.
Hey Jude – While some may argue the song is overlong, I feel it merits its length. A great piece of work.
Rain – Wonderful John Lennon song that reportedly was the first, in its tail end, to use backward masking. Love the song and its message.
She Said, She Said – Another wonderful John Lennon song, its title inspired by a conversation John Lennon had with Peter Fonda at a party. Love the guitar and drum work.
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End medley – I suppose this is something of a cheat as these are fragments of songs put together to make a larger song at the end of the album Abbey Road yet when the Golden Slumbers part starts to the end of The End you’re into a great work.
In My Life – Another great John Lennon work, this one features great lyrics and is just a terrific song.
Helter Skelter – Perhaps one of the earliest examples of heavy metal music! Paul McCartney goes crazy in a crazy, crazy song. Love it!
Yesterday – Those who know Beatles lore know that Paul McCartney did this song pretty much single-handedly. According to Mr. McCartney, he awoke one morning with this song in his head. He figured it was an already published work yet went ahead and, with breakfast on his mind, created nonsense lyrics around the song (“Scrambled eggs” versus Yesterday!). When he brought it to the other Beatles he realized it was a new song and, voila, a classic was created.
Here Comes The Sun – George Harrison, especially toward the end of The Beatles’ run, created some terrific songs. This is probably his best.
While My Guitar Gently Sleeps – And this would be, IMHO, George Harrison’s second best, but not by much! Terrific Eric Clapton guitar work on this song.
This list of 10 comprises songs which are currently on my mind and ignores SO MANY great songs –Get Back, Strawberry Fields Forever, Revolution, Let It Be, The Long And Winding Road, Back in the U.S.S.R., Nowhere Man, Lady Madonna, Help!, Tomorrow Never Knows, Eleanor Rigby, etc. etc. etc. that it seems almost silly to list just these. (Note I just listed 11 songs that could just as easily be in The Beatles’ top ten!)
Now, on the opposite end of the spectrum…Which song would I consider The Beatles’ worst?
There are plenty of songs, especially in the early albums, which don’t turn me on. Some are covers (though they did some absolutely smashing covers as well!) and some are original songs.
I don’t like Run For Your Life, though this is mostly because of the misogynistic message it offers. I’m not particularly enamored of Only A Northern Song. There are others here and there I could mention but if there’s one song I really don’t like its:
Revolution #9
An experiment in sonic…something or another… Revolution #9 is presented on the tail end of the otherwise damn fine “White Album” and I’ll listen to maybe a minute or so of it before tiring and hitting the “next” button.
Just released today to coincide with the (gulp) 50th year anniversary release of what is likely the most famous of The Beatles’ albums (though, as I mentioned previously, many feel it isn’t necessarily their best album), you can now pick up various editions of the new, 2017 remix of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
There are inevitably going to be those who wonder if its worth buying this edition of the album. If you’re like me, you’ve picked up many different editions of the album and, going in, wonder if this one will be all that much different.
It is.
Oh man, is it.
But don’t take my word for it. Over on rollingstone.com, Mikal Gilmour offers a review of the album. You can check the review out here:
One of the more fascinating things Mr. Gilmour points out is the following, found in the liner notes of this new edition of the album:
Giles Martin (son of the famous George Martin, the original producer of these albums who passed away in 2016 and the man who did the remix for this new 2017 version of Sgt. Pepper’s) observes in his liner notes: “The original Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was primarily mixed as a mono album. All care and attention were applied to the mono LP, with the Beatles present for all the mixes. … Almost as an afterthought, the stereo album was mixed very quickly without the Beatles at the sessions. Yet it is the stereo album that most people listen to today.” In other words, popular music’s most elaborate and intricate creation – and one that helped end the mono era – wasn’t made to be heard in stereo.
Though they didn’t know it at the time, mono was on its way out and would be replaced by stereo music shortly after the release of this album. But because of the time it was created, all the care was made toward the mono mix of this album and the stereo mix, the mix most of us have heard/listened to all this time, was a version The Beatles didn’t really bother with. The mono version was what The Beatles intended us to hear yet what we heard was… something else.
The 2017 remix of this album intends to correct this error and, trust me, they’ve done it.
Listening to the 2017 remix of Sgt. Pepper’s is -and I know this is going to sound like a cliched bit of selling- nothing short of a revelation. The music feels far more lush than it ever did before. There is a multi-level to it that makes you feel like you’re right in the middle of the band as they present their songs.
One of the biggest surprises, at least to me, turned out to be the song Good Morning, Good Morning. Here’s a demo version of it…
I must admit, I never thought all that much of the song. Of all John Lennon’s works, I always felt this one was slight, perhaps no better than “ok”.
But in this 2017 version?
…Oh… my.
The song engulfs you with a frantic, crazed energy. The almost circus like music swirls and surrounds you, hitting your ears as if taking several gunshot blasts.
And that’s just one song!
If you’re a fan of The Beatles and/or Sgt. Pepper’s, do yourself a favor: Toss all the other copies of the album you have and get yourself the 2017 version, then give it a listen and see if I’m wrong.
I don’t think I am and, yes, this new mix of the album is that good.
While there are those who would argue which of The Beatles’ albums was their very best (I’ve heard more than a few state it was Revolver), I suspect few will argue Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is their most famous/well known album.
Personally, I love almost everything about the album, though there are a few songs on it that… well, they may not be quite as good as some of the others.
This year, Sgt. Pepper’s reaches a milestone, having been released an incredible 50 years ago. To celebrate the occasion, new releases of the album are being unveiled, many offering a very intimate look at the creative process by giving us early “takes” of the many songs. These collections, it should be noted, will be going for some mighty big bucks, should you want them.
As I was perusing the internet, I stumbled upon this fascinating article by Annie Zaleski for Salon.com which posits the following question:
Many view Sgt. Pepper’s as a concept album -one of the first ever made- but the reality is that apart from the opening chorus, the follow up song A Little Help From My Friends, and the closing chorus, there is little that makes this a concept album, at least when compared to works such as Pink Floyds’ The Wall or The Who’s Tommy or David Bowie’s 1. Outside, each of which tell a story through their songs.
The author of the article points out that John Lennon noted as much, stating his contributions/songs on the album could have easily been in any of the other Beatles albums.
And yet…
Far be it for me to argue with one of the people/musical geniuses behind the album, but I feel Sgt. Pepper’sis a concept album.
A very loose one, I grant you, but a concept album nonetheless.
It starts as a concert, then we have each of the fictional members of the band give us their song, culminating in the concluding Sgt. Pepper’s reprise and, because we’re getting a concert, of course it’s followed by an encore (A Day In The Life).
Unlike other concept albums, there is no “big” overarching story here, except for the ones within each of the individual songs themselves, yet to me Sgt. Pepper’s is ultimately a role-playing concert performed by The Beatles, who by that point could no longer tour. They couldn’t do so because audiences simply drowned out their music/singing and things were too dangerous.
So with Sgt. Pepper’s, The Beatles offer a simple, elegant concept, that of them doing a concert and giving fans their latest songs.
A simple idea, but a concept nonetheless.
The album, in my opinion, deserves very much being considered one of The Beatles’ greatest albums, even if one may like Revolver a little bit more… 😉
I’m deeply invested in politics as the people who will run our government represent the future of this country. Yet I also feel political opinions are too easily spread out there and it is best sometimes to listen rather than “talk”.
This is why I’m always hesitant to get into political topics here. Considering all the things I’ve expressed opinions on these last few years, I shouldn’t be, but political options, and politics in general, have a different impact than my opinion on, say, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Which isn’t to say I don’t dip my toe into this topic from time to time, which is what I intend to do now. So, if you’re not interested in “talking” politics, turn away. There’s plenty of other good stuff to read around these parts…
Anyway, yesterday the Vice Presidential candidates took to the stage to have a debate and, from what I’ve heard (you couldn’t pay me to watch this one), Republican VP candidate Mike Pence acquitted himself far better than Donald Trump did in his disastrous debate against Hillary Clinton.
And the Donald, from reports out there, wasn’t all that happy:
While I suppose it should surprise me, it doesn’t. Mr. Trump has always struck me as a classic narcissist and woe be to anyone/anything that takes away from his limelight.
Yet on the other hand, and again based on what I heard, it appeared Mr. Pence didn’t exactly go to bat for his candidate, so there could be more complex emotions going on here.
What I find the most fascinating so far with this race is that apart from being a narcissist, Mr. Trump constantly engages in what psychologists have called “projection”, which is defined as:
The unconscious transfer of one’s own desires or emotions to another person.
Many years ago and shortly after the disbanding of The Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney (and George Harrison to a lesser degree) took shots at each other via their songs. Paul McCartney’s “Too Many People”, for example, is widely considered a song which takes aim at Mr. Lennon:
Included in the song are these lines:
You took your lucky break and broke it in two. Now what can be done for you? You broke it in two.
John Lennon shot right back with “How Do You Sleep”…
What was most fascinating to me was that in the Imagine film, Mr. Lennon talks about that song and says this about it:
(How Do You Sleep) is not about Paul, it’s about me. I’m really attacking myself. But I regret the association, well, what’s to regret? He lived through it. The only thing that matters is how he and I feel about these things and not what the writer or commentator thinks about it. Him and me are okay.
By the point of this quote many years had passed and the raw/negative feelings the two had for each other subsided but I nonetheless find Mr. Lennon’s statement incredibly interesting.
Sure, on the surface of the song he was going after Paul McCartney and now regretted it. However, I suspect Mr. Lennon was very much on to something with that quote and had realized the song, while appearing to be a full on attack on Mr. McCartney, was also more than a little self-loathing as well.
Check this song lyric from “How Do You Sleep”:
The only thing you done was yesterday And since you’ve gone it’s just another day
Once again and on the surface it is clear Mr. Lennon is referring to the famous Beatles song “Yesterday”, which everyone who knows their Beatles trivia knows Paul McCartney composed and recorded pretty much completely on his own, and comparing it -unfavorably- to Paul McCartney’s post Beatles solo song “Another Day”…
Now, in light of John Lennon’s statement, one can (ahem) imagine he realizes much of his criticism is indeed projection and that the negative statements he makes against McCartney are about him.
John Lennon was known to be very self-critical and at times displayed levels of self-loathing. I recall reading one interview where he dismissed the entire Beatles catalogue and said if he had to do it again, he would do every song completely differently, implying all those songs they released were not all that good.
There were also interviews where Mr. Lennon expressed equal parts admiration for and jealousy of the song “Yesterday.” It is arguably the single best known Beatles song yet, as noted above, it is entirely Paul McCartney’s work and John Lennon had nothing at all to do with it.
The success of “Yesterday” made Mr. Lennon (and the other Beatles, of course) a ton of money yet it irritated Mr. Lennon. A confidant of his stated:
“Yesterday drove him crazy,” veteran New York journo/broadcaster Howard Smith told MOJO. “People would say, ‘Thank you for writing Yesterday, I got married to it, what a beautiful song…’ He was always civil. But it drove him nuts.” (The full article can be found here: John Lennon was Haunted by Yesterday)
So if we are to believe Mr. Lennon in that later interview and consider the song “How Do You Sleep” as being a projection of and ultimately about Mr. Lennon, the line “The only thing you done was yesterday” takes on a completely different meaning.
Mr. Lennon is making what amounts to an incredible self-loathing statement: “The only thing I -John Lennon- am known for is the song “Yesterday”, and I didn’t even have anything to do with it!”
Perhaps this is indeed the case and Mr. Lennon had an uncanny insight into his own psyche.
Something, sadly, I don’t think Mr. Trump is capable of.
During their ultimately very short career as a band (hard to believe between the release of their first album, Please Please Me in 1963 and their last official release, Let it Be in 1970), The Beatles revolutionized Rock ‘n Roll.
Seven years. An astonishing twelve albums (Including 1969’s Yellow Submarine, which was more like 1/2 Beatles and 1/2 producer George Martin album). Add to that a very large number of mind-bogglingly good singles, now collected in Past Masters Volume 1 and 2. And they also found time to write songs for other bands/artists.
Truly an incredible burst of creativity, given how many of the songs produced during that short time were absolute classics.
Another fascinating thing about The Beatles was their evolution. The early Beatles music owed a clear debt to the 1950’s rock scene but in and around the time of the release of Help! (1965) it was clear things within the band were changing and their musical direction, in my opinion, soared.
I happen to be a fan of the second half of The Beatles’ career more than the first, though there are some great songs to be found in the early going. With Help!, The Beatles displayed some early examples of that second stage brilliance. Within that album, which was actually a soundtrack plus for the film of the same name, you find such tracks as You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, Ticket to Ride, and Yesterday, among others.
Their follow up album, 1965’s Rubber Soul, is considered a stone cold classic and the one that follows it, 1966’s Revolver, is considered by many the all-time best Beatles album ever. (Incredibly, they would follow that album in 1967 with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band).
There are those that consider Rubber Soul and Revolver a “double album” that just happened to be released as two separate albums and I can’t argue the point.
Focusing on Revolver, that album featured some very strong works by the band, including such classic songs as Taxman, Tomorrow Never Knows, Yellow Submarine, and She Said She Said (one of my all time favorite Beatles songs).
There is another song on this album, Eleanor Rigby, which many consider one of the more unique -though still incredible- Beatles songs.
Hunter Davies wrote this article and presents a piece of an interview he conducted with Paul McCartney (the song’s primary writer) soon after the song was released about what went into the making of it and its possible meanings:
For those unfamiliar with the song (shame on you!):
A very fascinating article which, in a way, shows just how quickly things came together for The Beatles and how they -there was more of a sense of collaboration then- would knock off a song together.
I’m loath to post the chart here as I want people to go to Mr. McCann’s website but I will say this: He breaks down the songs in a very interesting way, giving us an idea of how prolific each Beatles was, how many hit songs each (and in collaboration) had, and even which songs featured the most/least words in them!
Again, I don’t want to steal Mr. McCann’s thunder (and work) by simply cut and pasting his chart here.
If you’re a Beatles fan like I am, you’ll find the work fascinating.
Author Stephen Deusner for Salon.com on why the 50th Anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ I Want To Hold Your Hand is one of the more overrated musical anniversaries out there (and, no, I don’t believe his article is a Beatles-bash):
Mr. Deusner presents compelling information regarding other songs released in and around that same time that are arguably better than The Beatles’ hit, which effectively signaled the “British Invasion” into the United States. Of those mentioned, I have to admit this one is a far more mature, elaborate, and overall better song (IMHO!) than I Want To Hold Your Hand:
Let me add very quickly the following, though: The Beatles, unlike many of the bands/artists represented in the article who one could argue made better music (actually a better song) than their I Want To Hold Your Hand, went on to produce a virtual library of music and redefined pop-music and art music and, for that matter, all music.
Thing is, their early releases -again, to me- are at times dated pop songs or pretty good cover songs that often followed regular 50’s rock conventions. That’s not to say I fell the songs were all bad. Quite the contrary, there were many, many gems to be found in the initial four albums but it wasn’t until the release of their fifth album, the soundtrack of Help!, that I felt they began the journey to making truly memorable -and outstanding- music. Others site the two albums that immediately followed it, Rubber Soul and Revolver, as the point where The Beatles really “found” themselves.
Regardless, the point Mr. Deusner makes is probably true. While The Beatles certainly found considerable success and I Want To Hold Your Hand was the first of their songs to become a big hit in the U.S., it was only a hint as to the better things that were to come as the band gained experience and matured.
Is it an overrated musical anniversary? I suppose it might well be, though in no way does saying so diminish the incredible output of what is arguably the best band that ever was.
Just wanted to point out a pair of fascinating articles on Slate magazine for your reading (and listening) pleasure.
The first article, by Dave Mandl, explains why certain popular songs are re-recorded by the original artists and subsequently (and at times murkily/stealthily) released as if these are the original versions:
I suppose it doesn’t spoil the article too much by stating it all has to do with money. The original artists while working on the original recordings usually signed terrible contracts that resulted in the artists losing royalties they might gain with said music. Years later, the artists would re-record the songs and sometimes try to hit the material note-for-note so these new recordings may earn them the royalties they cannot gain from the originals.
The big issue is that often the song you as a consumer want is the original version and when you hear the re-recording you almost instantly realize this isn’t the version you want. Thus the reason some artists may purposely blur the “original” song from the “remake” version.
But not all of them.
I recall a few years ago while listening to (I believe) First Wave on XM radio they had an interview with the two principal members of the band Squeeze. The band members were promoting a “best of” collection that was about to be released…only every single song on this collection featured new recordings of their most famous works. The band members were very upfront in explaining the album was a “re-recording”, even naming the album “Spot the Difference” to make it clear what it was audiences were buying. The band members, in that interview, explained their reasons for re-recording the material, noting that one day they heard one of their songs on a TV commercial and realized they would not make a single penny out of the use of that song on that commercial. The re-recording, thus, was a way to gain control of their music, albeit in a (obviously) re-recorded format.
Moving on, Andrew Grant Jackson offers a fascinating look (and listen) to a series of songs written by John Lennon and/or Paul McCartney between 1963 and 1964 and “given away” to other artists:
While I tend to favor Beatles music from 1965’s Help! on (and, don’t get me wrong, I consider many of their early works pretty damn good as well, I just happen to like their works from Help! on a little more), this article points out some very interesting songs that the Beatles wound up giving away. Perhaps the most famous of the lot is “I Wanna Be Your Man”, which they gave to The Rollings Stones. Of course, the Beatles would wind up recording their own really good version of the song as well!
A fascinating article. I know there were more songs the Beatles gave away after this particular time period and would love to see (and hear!) more.
