KLOS March 23Rd 2014
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1 1 2 PLAYLIST MARCH, 23RD 2014 9AM The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows - Revolver (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: John The first song recorded for what would become the “Revolver” album. John’s composition was unlike anything The Beatles or anyone else had ever recorded. 2 3 Lennon’s vocal is buried under a wall of sound -- an assemblage of repeating tape loops and sound effects – placed on top of a dense one chord song with basic melody driven by Ringo's thunderous drum pattern. The lyrics were largely taken from “The Psychedelic Experience,” a 1964 book written by Harvard psychologists Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, which contained an adaptation of the ancient “Tibetan Book of the Dead.” Each Beatle worked at home on creating strange sounds to add to the mix. Then they were added at different speeds sometime backwards. Paul got “arranging” credit. He had discovered that by removing the erase head on his Grundig reel-to-reel tape machine, he could saturate a recording with sound. Paul McCartney – For No One - Give My Regards to Broad Street ‘84 John – She Said - Home The Beatles - She Said She Said - Revolver (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: John The rhythm track was finished in three takes on June 21, 1966, the final day of recording for “Revolver.” When the recording session started the song was untitled. The key line came from a real-life incident. On August 24, 1965, during a break in Los Angeles from their North American Tour, The Beatles rented a house on Mulholland Drive. They played host to notables such as Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds, actors and actresses, and a bevy of beautiful women, “From Playboy, I believe,” Lennon remembered. John, high on acid, found himself in a strange conversation with actor Peter Fonda, who kept coming up to him and whispering, “I know what it’s like to be dead.” As a child, Fonda had a near-death experience after accidentally shooting himself on the stomach. The song was a last-minute addition to the “Revolver,” rehearsed and recorded on the final day of sessions when the band discovered they were one song short. McCartney recalls getting into an argument with John and leaving the studio. He believes this is one of the only Beatle records he didn’t play on. It is assumed George played the bass in McCartney’s absence. John sings the lead vocal and plays the organ, and John and George double-tracked the backing vocals. On U.S. album: Revolver - Capitol LP 9.10 BREAK 3 4 The Beatles - Wait - Rubber Soul (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocals: John and Paul Recorded June 17, 1965 during the “Help!” sessions, the song was left unfinished when The Beatles had hit the deadline to submit the album. Five months later, as the deadline to submit “Rubber Soul” was upon them, they grabbed the unfinished song, threw on some overdubs and decreed it finished. Specifically, they added a tone pedal guitar, tambourine, maracas, and more vocals on November 11, 1965, the final day of recording for “Rubber Soul.” On U.S. album: Rubber Soul - Capitol LP 4 5 The Beatles - I’m A Loser - Beatles For Sale (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: John Recorded in eight takes on August 14, 1964. Written mostly by John Lennon. The song style, more autobiographical and introspective than the “yeah, yeah, yeah” pop the group had previously recorded, was heavily influenced by the work of Bob Dylan. Paul McCartney called it “a folk song gone pop.” The Beatles debuted “I’m A Loser” on ABC’s “Shindig” program, an appearance taped in London and airing on October 7. The song was performed during the Beatles’ European Tour commencing June 20, 1965, but was not on the set list for the U.S. shows two months later. John’s harmonica solo was a last minute addition to the song, appearing first in Take 6. George Martin and the group considered “I’m A Loser” a potential single and had initially chosen it to be the LP’s opening song. On U.S. album: Beatles ‘65 - Capitol LP The Beatles - If I Fell - A Hard Day’s Night (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: John and Paul John Lennon’s stunning ballad “If I Fell” was by far the most complex song he had written to date. It could be considered a progression from “This Boy” with its similar chord structure and intricate harmonies by John and Paul, recorded – at their request – 5 6 together on one microphone. Performed live on their world tour throughout the summer of 1964. Completed in 15 takes on February 27, 1964. Flip side of “And I Love Her” in the U.S. On U.S. album: A Hard Day’s Night - United Artists LP Something New - Capitol LP The Beatles - I’m Down - Single (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: Paul Recorded in one take on June 14, 1965. Written entirely by Paul McCartney, who showed off his skills at the June 14 recording session by recording “I’ve Just Seen A Face” in six takes, then the scorcher “I’m Down” in one take, and following a dinner break, nailing “Yesterday” in two takes. “I’m Down” was patterned after Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally,” or as George Harrison described it at the time, “It’s pretty wild… because it has Paul’s wild voice.” Paul: “I could do Little Richard's voice, which is a wild, hoarse, screaming thing. It's like an out-of-body experience. You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it. A lot of people were fans of Little Richard so I used to sing his stuff but there came a point when I wanted one of my own, so I wrote ‘I'm Down.’ I ended up doing it at Shea Stadium. It worked very well for those kind of places, it was a good stage song. And in as much as they are hard to write, I'm proud of it. Those kind of songs with hardly any melody, rock 'n' roll songs, are much harder to write than ballads, because there's nothing to them.” John Lennon plays the Hammond organ. The B-side of the “Help!” single, issued July 23, 1965 in the UK and July 19, 1965 in the U.S. On U.S. album: Non-album single (B-side) UK: Non-album single (B-side) 6 7 The Beatles - Can’t Buy Me Love - A Hard Day’s Night (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: Paul The Beatles’ sixth single release for EMI’s Parlophone label. During their 19-day engagement at Paris’s Olympia Theatre The Beatles took time out to record German-language versions for two of their biggest hits. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You” were chosen to get new vocals to increase sales in the German market. This was at the insistence of EMI’s German branch, Odeon, which felt they couldn’t sell large quantities of records unless they were sung in German. With less than an hour left on their booked recording time, The Beatles recorded four takes of a new song by Paul, “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Issued in the U.S. on March 16, 1964, it sold 940,225 copies in the U.S. the day it was released, earning a gold record award that day and shattering all previous sales records. Within two weeks sales had totaled 2 million copies. The single went on to sell over 3 million by the end of the year. The UK single was released four days later, on March 20, 1964. Recorded Jan. 29, 1964 at Pathe’ Marconi Studio in Paris. It’s inclusion in “A Hard Day’s Night” was a decision by director Richard Lester, who opted for Paul’s fast paced million seller over John’s slower new song “I’ll Cry Instead.” The decision to cut “I’ll Cry Instead” from the film was so last minute that the American soundtrack LP, which had been rush-released on United Artists Records, included “I’ll Cry Instead” in its song line-up. On U.S. album: A Hard Day’s Night - United Artists LP Hey Jude - Apple LP (1970) The Beatles - Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby - Beatles For Sale (Perkins) Lead vocal: George The second Carl Perkins cover song used for “Beatles For Sale,” “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby” had been a part of the Beatles’ early stage show. George Harrison provides 7 8 the lead vocal, his only lead vocal contribution on “Beatles For Sale.” Recorded in just one take on October 18, 1964. The song is notable for its heavy use of vocal echo. Harrison performed this song live throughout the 1965 tours. On U.S. album: Beatles ‘65 - Capitol LP The Beatles - No Reply - Beatles For Sale (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: John Recorded in eight takes on September 30, 1964. Written entirely by John Lennon. John and Paul had been giving away a treasure trove of original compositions to other artists to record and release because they felt the songs were too pop for Beatles records. John had planned to give “No Reply” to another Brian Epstein managed artist, Tommy Quickly, to record, but those plans were cancelled in early August 1964 when it was determined the group was going to be short of new material for their upcoming album. The song’s storyline was based somewhat on “Silhouettes,” a number three hit in the U.S.