1 PLAYLIST FEB. 17TH 2013 A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT EDITION OF BWTB… The songs you love… just slightly different. 9AM 1 2 The Beatles - I'm So Tired - The Beatles sessions Recorded Oct. 8th 1968 Written in India when John couldn’t sleep, tired from all that meditating during the day. One of John’s personal favorites. Musicians: John Lennon – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, organ; Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass guitar; George Harrison – lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums John wrote this in India. Apparently he’d been meditating too much and was having trouble sleeping at night – hence the title. And there’s a little line for Yoko: My mind is set on you. (They weren’t actually an item at this point, but Yoko had been sending him flirty little letters every day.) There’s also a strange little dig at Walter Raleigh (maybe because he introduced tobacco to England?). Lead Vocal John Lennon 1.00 The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money - Abbey Road sessions (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: Paul The famous “Abbey Road” medley begins with Paul’s “You Never Give Me Your Money,” a song which itself consists of three segments. In Barry Miles’ “Many Years From Now,” McCartney states that the first part of the song was him “directly lambasting Allen Klein’s attitude to us: no money, just funny paper, all promises and it never works out. It’s basically a song about no faith in the person.” The reference to “funny paper” was the numerous bank statements and other official looking documents that claimed they had stocks and bonds or money in various bank accounts, but to the band members it always seemed imaginary; they were rich on paper. The second part is a nostalgic bit about being out of college with money spent, leading to the third section, about an optimistic escape (“Soon we’ll be away from here. Step on the gas and wipe that tear away”) inspired by Paul and Linda hitting the road to get away from it all. Recording began on May 6, 1969, at Trident Studios, with Paul on piano and offering a guide vocal marching the group through 36 takes. John playing a distorted guitar part on his Epiphone Casino, George playing his Telecaster and Ringo on drums. 2 3 The Beatles - Across The Universe (Take 3) - Anthology 2 (Lennon-McCartney) Lead vocal: John Prior to leaving for an extended trip to India to study Transcendental Meditation in early 1968, the Beatles recorded several new songs to fill the sides of their upcoming single, which would be released while they were away. John had originally wanted his new composition, “Across The Universe,” for the A-side of the single but was still not happy with the mix of the song. When the Beatles sat down to decide which two of their new recordings should be used, John preferred “Across the Universe” remain on the shelf for the time being, giving Paul’s more commercial “Lady Madonna” the A-side. “Across The Universe” was written entirely by John and was recorded February 4, 1968, in eight takes. Overdubs were recorded on February 8. Comedian and author Spike Milligan had been at Abbey Road when the group was working on the song and some months later inquired about it. He was surprised to learn that “Across the Universe” was sitting unreleased in EMI’s vault, so Milligan asked Lennon to donate the song to a charity album he was organizing for the World Wildlife Fund. Milligan was a British comedy legend who, along with Peter Sellers, starred in “The Goon Show,” one of John’s all-time favorite programs. Lennon not only gladly contributed the song to be used on the charity album, but arranged to have the songwriting royalties from the recording given to the World Wildlife Fund. This charity album version, known by fans as the “Wildlife” version, was released in December 1969. Although it is popularly believed that the two versions of “Across The Universe” are different recordings, they are not. Both the “Wildlife” version and the Phil Spector re-produced version are derived from the same February 8, 1968, master tape. For the charity album, the sound of birds was added and the tape was sped up to give it a higher pitch. On April 1, 1970, Spector stripped some elements from the original February 8, 1968, master tape, slowed it down and added an orchestra and choir. The instrumental line-up is John on acoustic guitar, Paul on piano, George on tamboura and wah-wah guitar (second and third refrains only) and Ringo on drums. 9.12 BREAK A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT EDITION OF BWTB… The songs you love… just slightly different. 3 4 The Beatles – Lucy In The Sky w/ Diamonds - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band SESSIONS Recorded March 1st 1967 The title taken from a painting from young Julian Lennon of a school friend of his named Lucy and there were some stars painted in the sky and called it Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. Paul wrote the line “newspaper taxis”. Musicians: John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal, lead guitar; Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, Lowry organ, bass guitar; George Harrison – harmony vocal, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, tambura; Ringo Starr – drums, maracas The Beatles – Good Morning Good Morning - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band AT THE FARM SESSIONS Recorded Feb. 8th 1967 Based on a Cornflakes TV commercial John heard while sitting at the piano and feeling a bit “stuck” trying to write something for Sgt. Pepper. Paul plays one of the guitar solos w/ his right-handed Fender Esquire. Musicians: John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal, rhythm guitar; Paul McCartney – backing vocal, lead guitar, bass guitar; George Harrison – backing vocal, lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine; Barrie Cameron, David Glyde and Alan Holmes – saxophones; John Lee and another unknown player – trombones; Unknown player (Tom someone) – French horn The title came from a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes TV commercial, and the lyric contains a reference to the sixties sitcom Meet The Wife, starring Thora Hird and Freddie Frinton. The episode that John watched was on the 12th December ‘66, and was called This Christmas, Shop Early, and was about Thora Hird’s frantic attempts to get some last- minute shopping done, which is where the lines People running round, it’s five o’clock/Everywhere in town is getting dark/Everyone you see is full of life/It’s time for tea and Meet The Wife came from. George Martin said: It was an ironic, not to say 4 5 sarcastic look at the suburban life-style. It’s lyric made sharp little digs at the whole suburban deal: ‘Everybody knows there’s nothing doing/Everything is closed it’s like a ruin/Everyone you see is half asleep/I’ve got nothing to say but it’s okay…’ Lead vocal John Lennon 1.00 The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band EARLY IN SESSIONS Recorded Feb.1st 1967 Mono mix includes the audience sounds beginning more sharply, the drum intro is 4 beats longer, and there are some words spoken by John as well as some audience laughter ALL of which are missing from the stereo mix. Paul sings a verse at the end, but it can barely be heard on the stereo version. Musicians: Paul McCartney – lead vocal, organ, bass guitar; John Lennon – backing vocal, lead guitar; George Harrison – backing vocal, lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums This was the last song to be recorded for the Sgt Pepper LP. They were still trying to figure out how to close it, when Neil Aspinall suggested bringing back ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ as a reprise. Shortly afterwards, he said, Lennon grinned sardonically, saying ‘Nobody likes a smart-ass, Neil’. And that’s when I knew he liked it. The mono and stereo versions are slightly different because Paul’s talking at the end is a little louder, and you can hear the audience and John talking – none of which is on the stereo version Lead Vocal Paul McCartney 1.00 The Beatles – A Day In The Life - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band SESSIONS Recorded Jan & Feb 1967 Quite possibly the finest Lennon/McCartney collaboration of their song-writing career. Musicians: John Lennon – joint lead vocal, acoustic guitar; Paul McCartney – joint lead vocal, piano, bass guitar; George Harrison – maracas; Ringo Starr – drums; 5 6 Erich Gruenberg, Granville Jones, Bill Munro, Jurgen Hess, Hans Geiger, D. Bradley, Lionel Bentley, David McCallum, Donald Weekes, Henry Datyner, Sidney Sax and Ernest Scott – violins; John Underwood, Gwynne Edwards, Bernard Davis and John Meek – violas; Francisco Gabarro, Dennis Vigay, Alan Dalziel and Alex Nifosi – cellos; Cyril MacArthur and Gordon Pearce – double-basses; John Marston – harp; Basil Tschaikov and Jack Brymer – clarinets; Roger Lord – oboe; N. Fawcett and Alfred Waters – bassoons; Clifford Seville and David Sandeman – flutes; Alan Civil and Neil Sanders – French horns; David Mason, Monty Montgomery and Harold Jackson – trumpets; Raymond Brown, Raymond Premru and T. Moore – trombones; Michael Barnes – tuba; Tristan Fry – timpani, percussion The Beatles - Do You Want To Know A Secret – Please Please Me sessions – FINAL CHORD Feb.11th 1963 Written by John Lennon & given away to Billy J. Kramer and to George Harrison who sing lead vocal’s on, and inspired by a line from a Disney song his Mom used sing. Musicians: George Harrison – lead vocal, lead guitar; John Lennon – backing vocal, rhythm guitar; Paul McCartney – backing vocal, bass guitar; Ringo Starr – drums The Beatles – Can’t Buy Me Love – AHDN Take 2 29th January 1964 - Take 2 (with guitar solo from take 1).