BWTB Nov. 15Th 2015
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1 Breakfast w/ the Beatles Playlist Nov. 15th 2015 9am/OPEN The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour - Magical Mystery Tour (EP) (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocals: Paul and John When Paul McCartney was in the U.S. in early April 1967 he came up with the idea for a Beatles television film about a mystery tour on a bus. During the April 11 flight back home he began writing lyrics for the title song and sketching out some ideas for the film. Upon his arrival in London, Paul pitched his idea to Brian Epstein who happily approved. Paul then met with John to go over the details and the two began work on 2 the film’s title track. The title track was written primarily by Paul but was not finished when McCartney brought the song in to be recorded on April 25, 1967. John helped with the missing pieces during the session. On U.S. album: Magical Mystery Tour - Capitol LP The Beatles - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: John Recorded March 1, 1967. John Lennon’s classic song of psychedelic imagery was inspired by a drawing brought home by son, Julian, who was four years old at the time. In February 1967, Julian returned home from his nursery school with a painting depicting one of his classmates, Lucy O’Donnell. Young Lucy was pictured with a background of stars in the sky. When asked by his father about his painting, Julian said it was “Lucy, in the sky, with diamonds.” John was so taken with the phrase he combined it with passages similar to two books by Lewis Carroll that he’d loved as a child, “Through The Looking Glass” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Paul added the line about “newspaper taxis” and Lennon’s beloved “Goon Show” got a shout out. Their famed “plasticine ties” merged with “Through the Looking Glass” to become “plasticine porters with looking glass ties.” Work began on “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” with an evening full of rehearsals. The rhythm track was recorded on March 1 with Paul playing the opening riff on a Lowery organ (with a bell stop), George on acoustic guitar, Ringo on drums and John on maracas and offering a guide vocal. John’s 3 lead vocal and other instruments (George’s tamboura, Paul’s melodic bass) were added the next evening. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: Paul Recording began on February 1, 1967 for what would become the title track of the new Beatles album. The song was written entirely by Paul McCartney. It was McCartney’s idea to give the Beatles alter egos -- they would become Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band -- for this album. Nine takes were attempted, two of which were complete run-throughs. For the first time ever an instrument (Paul’s bass guitar) was directly injected into the recording console instead of through an amplifier. Vocals were added the following evening, and the track sat for a month while the band worked on other material. The group returned to the title track on March 3 with the addition of four 4 French horns played by outside musicians. Paul also came up with the idea of simulating a concert performance by the alter-ego band. The sound of the band warming up was taken from the February 10 orchestra session for “A Day In The Life.” Other effects (the crowd settling down, applause, and laughter) were taken from the vast Abbey Road tape archives. The screaming at the end of the song was taken from the Capitol- recorded Beatles concert at the Hollywood Bowl. On the “Sgt. Pepper” album the end of the title track segues into Ringo’s “With A Little help From My Friends.” The Beatles - With A Little Help From My Friends - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: Ringo The first instance on a Beatles album where one song segues into another without the usual few seconds of silence between the tracks. This was to give the listener the feeling of a continuous concert performance. Written on the afternoon of March 29, 1967 by Paul with help from John at Paul’s house on Cavendish Avenue in St. John’s Wood specifically as a song for Ringo Starr to sing on the new album. It was recorded that evening. Although he liked the song, Ringo refused to sing the original lyrics to the opening verse. Ringo: “The original first verse to that was ‘What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you throw a tomato at me?’ And I said, ‘I’m not singing that.’” John and Paul quickly changed the line to “Would you stand up and walk out on me?” The rhythm track was recorded in ten takes the same day Paul and John write the song, with Paul on piano, George on Hammond organ, John on guitar and Ringo on drums. Vocals were added as Take 11. Originally titled “Bad Finger Boogie.” The screaming at the beginning of the song was taken from the Capitol-recorded Beatles concert at the Hollywood Bowl. On the “Sgt. Pepper” album the end of the title track segues into “With A Little help From My Friends.” Holy 1967 Batman….getting psychedelic so early on a Sunday morning…. BREAK HERE 5 The Beatles - Got To Get You Into My Life - Revolver (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: Paul Another Paul McCartney solo composition, Paul called this stand out track “an ode to pot, like someone else might write an ode to chocolate or a good claret (wine).” Work began on the song on April 7, 1966, and this early alternate version can be heard on the “Anthology 2” album. It was the second song recorded for the “Revolver” album. The Beatles returned to the song the next day with an improved arrangement that included John and George on fuzz guitars. On May 18 they revisited the song again, devoting a full 12-hour session to rework and complete the song. To give the song its Motown feel, five outside musicians were brought in to add brass and saxophones. An additional dual guitar overdub was added on June 17. “Got To Get You Into My Life” was the opening song performed on the final Wings tour in 1979. On U.S. album: Revolver - Capitol LP Paul McCartney & Wings – Let Me Roll It – Band on the Run ‘73 A fine piece of McCartney song-writing, critics felt that song was incredibly Lennonesque, with similarities to John’s Plastic Ono phase. This became a staple of Paul’s live shows and is one of his best solo efforts. 6 The Beatles - Don’t Let Me Down LIVE (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: John with Paul The Beatles’ nineteenth single release for EMI, and second on the Apple Records label. The “Get Back” sessions, as the January 1969 recording sessions were now known, produced about 475 hours of film and 141 hours of audio tape that had to be sifted through. But proper multi-track recordings weren’t made until the band was recording in the basement of the Beatles’ Apple headquarters between January 21-31, 1969. Producer/Engineer Glyn Johns attempted to construct an album entitled “Get Back” from the tapes but his versions were rejected. The tapes would be left dormant in the vault for a year, with the exception of a single (“Get Back”/“Don’t Let Me Down”). John Lennon’s “Don’t Let Me Down” was a love song for Yoko Ono and was the first song given a full run-through by the group when sessions for the new album began at Twickenham Studios on January 2, 1969. But proper multi-track recording takes were not done until the band changed location to the basement recording studio at their Apple headquarters. The master take was recorded on January 28, 1969. Like Paul McCartney’s “Get Back,” the song features Billy Preston on keyboards. Rush-released as a single with the hope of being in stores in the UK on April 11, 1969, the single showed up a week later. Although the single did not list a producer credit, it did, for the first time on a Beatles single, list an artist in addition to the Beatles: “THE BEATLES with Billy Preston” graced both sides of the single. “A great honor,” said Preston. The single debuted at number one on the Record Retailer singles chart. In America, the single was issued on May 5, 1969, and it topped the Billboard sales chart for five weeks. It is the first Beatles single released in stereo, but the stereo mixes were for the American market, not the UK. The UK would have to wait until the next single release (“The Ballad Of John And Yoko”) to get its first stereo Beatles 45. Prior to this all previous Beatles singles had been issued in mono. Although the song appears in the “Let It Be” film, it is not included on the soundtrack album. On U.S. album: Hey Jude - Capitol LP (1970) 7 QUIZ #1 HERE As you may have heard the sad news that we lost Andy White who played drums on Love Me Do which can be heard on the Please Please Me LP and the single version. 8 For a copy of Beatles 1 PLUS…name the other Beatles song Andy White played drums on? KOBE QUIZ ONLY 9.26 BREAK The Beatles - Love Me Do – Please Please Me (McCartney-Lennon) Lead vocal: John and Paul The Beatles’ first single release for EMI’s Parlophone label.