1 Playlist April 17th 2016 9AM The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night - A Hard Day’s Night (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: John with Paul The Beatles’ seventh single release for EMI’s Parlophone label. The title is a Ringoism, coined by the drummer sometime in 1963 and used by John in his book “In His Own Write.” With the film nearly completed the last bit of business was to give the film a name. The project was being filmed with the working title “Beatlemania.” On April 13, 1964 The Beatles met with key personnel from the studio and bounced title ideas. It was felt they’d find no better suggestion than Ringo’s off- hand remark “it’s been a hard day’s night” and John volunteered to write the title song that evening. The next morning he brought the song in and taught it to Paul. Paul cleaned up the middle section and the two played it for producer Walter Shenson. Two days later The Beatles would formally record the song. It was a rarity for an outsider to be allowed in the studio or control booth while The Beatles rehearsed and recorded. An exception was made for the director of the “A Hard Day’s Night” film, Richard Lester. Lester was in the control booth and offered many suggestions during the morning while this key song was worked out, much to the dismay of producer George Martin. It was Lester’s suggestion that the song open dramatically (as it would open the film), and fade out at the end in a cinematic way. He got his wish. George’s striking a G suspended 4th 2 chord on his 12-string Rickenbacker make this record instantly recognizable in its opening two seconds. Released as a single in the UK on July 10, 1964, it went straight to #1. On U.S. album: A Hard Day’s Night - United Artists LP The Beatles - Ticket To Ride - Help! (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocals: John and Paul The Beatles’ ninth single release for EMI’s Parlophone label. Issued nearly four months prior to the “Help!” album’s release on July 19, 1965 in the U.S. and four days later in the UK. Recorded on February 15, 1965 and featuring a blistering lead guitar performance by Paul McCartney. John and Paul composed the song together based primarily on John’s idea. The song’s distinctive drum pattern was conceived by Paul. The complex song arrangement was highly innovative for the time, and certainly unlike anything being played on top 40 radio. John Lennon in 1970: “ ‘Ticket To Ride was slightly a new sound at the time. It was pretty heavy for then, if you go and look in the charts for what other music people were making. It's a heavy record and the drums are heavy too. That's why I like it.” McCartney said, “It was quite radical at the time.” Capitol Records printed “From the United Artists release ‘Eight Arms To Hold You’ ” on both sides of the single. On U.S. album: Help! - Capitol LP The Beatles - I Will - The Beatles (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: Paul One of Paul McCartney’s most cherished ballads, “I Will” was recorded in 67 takes on September 16, 1968, with Paul on acoustic guitar, Ringo playing maracas and cymbals, and John on temple blocks, tapping out a beat with wood on metal. George Harrison was not at this session. Not all 67 takes were complete run-throughs, and as Paul was still putting the finishing touches on the song, he would drift into other songs during the numerous takes. Of particular note was take 19, which included a 2:21 untitled song with lyrics along the lines of “Can you take me back where I came from, can you take me back?” Twenty-eight seconds of this song were used as a link between “Cry Baby Cry” and “Good Night” on Side 4 of the “White Album.” The song fragment is unlisted and uncredited. It was determined that take 65 was the best version of “I Will,” and overdubbing began. Paul added additional vocals, hummed his bass guitar part and played a 12-string guitar. Paul has said he had the tune before he traveled to India and there he recruited folk singer Donovan to help him with the lyrics, but was not satisfied with what they came up with. Paul McCartney – The Lovely Linda – McCartney ‘70 The recording Paul first used to test his new home recording set-up. It is the shortest song in McCartney's catalogue at 42 seconds long BREAK 3 From our Featured LP of the morning McCartney…Paul 1st solo LP released TODAY in 1970…so that means all of today’s quiz questions will be related to this album….wanna do one right now for a KOBE GIFT CARD? QUIZ TONES OK…what pseudonym (fake name) did Paul use when booking studio time at EMI and Morgan studios while he secretly made the McCartney LP in late `60 early 1970? …he recorded a bunch at his home…but when he did venture out to record he used a fake name when booking studio time….anybody? Paul McCartney – That Would Be Something – McCartney ‘70 Written in Scotland, Paul sings and plays acoustic guitar, bass, tom toms and cymbal on this song. Shortly after the McCartney album's release, George 4 Harrison described the album versions of this song and "Maybe I'm Amazed" as "great". The Beatles – Mean Mr. Mustard - Abbey Road Recorded July 24th. Written in India as we heard on the White LP demos from Esher. When the band is playing it during the Let It Be sessions Pam was then a Shirley. Lennon 1.00 The Beatles - Her Majesty – Abbey Road Recorded July 2, 1969. Originally fit between” Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam” McCartney 1.00 The Beatles – Polythene Pam - Abbey Road Recorded July 25th w/ “She Came in Through The Bathroom Window “. The only Beatles song inspired by a woman in New Jersey who dressed in polythene (but not jack boots or kilts). Written in India, demoed for the White LP. Lennon 1.00 The Beatles – She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - Abbey Road Recorded July 25th 1969. Written while in NYC to announce Apple. Based on a true story about some Scruffs breaking into Paul house at St. John’s Wood. Paul wrote w/ Joe Cocker in mind…who later coved it as he did with most Beatle songs. McCartney 1.00 5 John Lennon – Isolation - Plastic Ono Band ‘70 A fabulous closer to side one of the Plastic Ono Band album, it shuts down cold one of the most emotionally draining sides ever created on an album. The track is nearly in mono, but the bass drum is in the left channel. The voice does go to a wide stereo picture in the middle-eight due to the panning of John’s double- tracked vocal. This particular track is considered to be Julian Lennon’s favorite of all his father’s songs. The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles (Harrison) Lead vocal: George In his book, “I Me Mine,” George explains that while visiting his parents he decided to create a song from the first thing he saw upon opening a book. George randomly opened a book and saw the phrase “gently weeps.” He put the book down and started writing lyrics. 6 The first proper recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” took place on July 25, 1968. Nearly two months into recording the Beatles’ new album, this was George’s first chance to record some of his new material. George: “I always had to do about ten of Paul and John’s songs before they’d give me the break.” On this first day George recorded several rehearsals and one proper take. At this stage, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was an acoustic song, with George’s solo vocal and some organ overdubbed near the end that ran 3:13 and had a final verse not found in the final version. This exquisite “take 1,” which was a demo for the other Beatles, is one of the highlights of the “Anthology 3” album. George would continue working on the song at home, and eventually re-imagined the song as a rocker. On August 16, the full band revisited the song, making 14 takes of a rhythm track. 9.26 BREAK Take a request? The Beatles - Ask Me Why – Please Please Me (McCartney-Lennon) Lead vocal: John Recorded November 26, 1962. First heard by the public on the BBC radio program “Teenagers Turn” on June 11, 1962. It is the b-side of The Beatles’ second single, “Please Please Me,” released January 11, 1963. Written in early 1962, "Ask Me Why" is principally a John Lennon composition. The song was one of three original songs performed during the Beatles’ EMI audition at Abbey Road Studios on June 6, 1962. On U.S. albums: Introducing… The Beatles (Version 2) - Vee-Jay LP The Early Beatles - Capitol LP 7 The Beatles - Devil In Her Heart – With The Beatles (Drapkin) Lead vocal: George Brian Epstein had a policy at his NEMS record store of buying at least one copy of every record that was released. George Harrison: “Consequently he had records that weren’t hits in Britain, or even hits in America. Before we were going to a gig we’d meet in the record store, after it had shut, and we’d search the racks like ferrets to see what new ones were there … ‘Devil In Her Heart’ and Barrett Strong’s ‘Money’ were records that we’d picked up and played in the shop and thought were interesting.” Recorded July 18, 1963.