Sorry for the rush job...jumping on a plane....
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8AM
The Beatles – You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away - HELP!
Recorded Feb. 18th `65 in a quick afternoon session.
Interesting note: John’s original lyric was “I can’t go on feeling two foot tall “, but when singing it for Paul the first time he accidentally said, two foot “small”…Lennon then laughed and said “lets leave it…all those psudes will really love it.”
The first Beatle track to have an outside musician brought in to play an extra instrument, Johnnie Scott on Flute.
Final mix - take 9.
Musicians:
John Lennon – lead vocal, acoustic guitar; Paul McCartney – acoustic guitar; George Harrison – acoustic guitar; Ringo Starr – tambourine, shaker, maracas; Johnnie Scott – tenor and alto flutes
The Beatles – Nowhere Man - Rubber Soul
Recorded Oct. 1965
Written by John after a long night out on the town. Released as a single in the States getting to #3.
Musicians:
John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal, acoustic guitar; Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass guitar; George Harrison – harmony vocal, lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums
John told Playboy: I’d spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay down. Then Nowhere Man came, words and music, the whole damn thing, as I lay down. Paul said: When I came to write with him the next day, he was kipping on the couch, very bleary-eyed. He told me later, he didn’t tell me then, he said he’d written it about himself, feeling like he wasn’t going anywhere. I think actually it was about the state of his marriage. It was in a period where he was a bit dissatisfied with what was going on; however, it led to a very good song. He treated it as a third-person song, but he was clever enough to say, ‘Isn’t he a bit like you and me?’ ‘Me’ being the word.
When the movie Yellow Submarine came out, Nowhere Man was played by a little blue blob called Hilary Boob.
Lead vocal John
Lennon 1.00
US - Capitol LP Yesterday and Today
George Harrison – The Art Of Dying - ATMP
Break
The Beatles – HELP! – HELP!
Recorded April 1965.
John’s autobiographical tune from what he called his “fat Elvis” period.
#1 in the States for 3 weeks in 1965… and 4 weeks in the UK at #1.
Musicians:
John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal, acoustic guitar; Paul McCartney – backing vocal, bass guitar; George Harrison – backing vocal, lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
John Lennon – Isolation - Plastic Ono Band
The Beatles – Blackbird - The Beatles
Recorded June 11th 1968
Paul’s civil rights song. All Paul and a line from John
Musicians:
Paul McCartney – lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Paul was inspired to write this in India, after a bird woke him up at six in the morning. (I’m not so sure that I’d have been so sweet if he woke me up at six in the morning.) Charles Manson didn’t like it much either, and set his followers killing women after taking it as a metaphor for black/white race relations. Paul said as much in 2002: It was written when there were a lot of troubles in the southern states, over civil rights. I don’t know if any of you know, but in England we sometimes call girls ‘birds’… and I kind of wrote this song with that in mind.
But on a lighter note… Paul played it to the fans camped outside his house the first night Linda Eastman slept over.
Lead Vocal Paul
McCartney 1.00
The Beatles - Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me
and My Monkey - The Beatles
Recorded June 27th 1968
Written about me and Yoko sez John: “ everybody seemed paranoid at the time except us, who were in the glow of love“. John also said “Fat’s Domino did a great version of that one”. Longest title of any Beatle song.
Musicians:
John Lennon – lead vocal, lead guitar, percussion; Paul McCartney – backing vocal, bass guitar, percussion; George Harrison – backing vocal, rhythm guitar, percussion; Ringo Starr – drums
The ‘monkey’ in the title refers to Yoko Ono. John said: ‘Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey’ was just a nice little line that I made into a song. It was about me and Yoko. Everybody seemed to be paranoid except for us two, who were in the glow of love. Everything is clear and open when you’re in love. Everybody was, sort of, tense around us. You know, ‘What is she doing here at the session? Why is she with him?’ All that sort of madness going on around us just because we happened to want to be together all the time. George claimed that the ‘everybody’s got something to hide’ part was taken from one of the Maharishi’s favorite teachings. The whole song took an unbelievable thirty-two hours to make
Lead Vocal John
Lennon 1.00
The Beatles – Doctor Robert – Revolver
Recorded April 17, 1966
John said it was about himself as he quote “carried all the pills on tour in the early days” unquote. Also could be a bit about famous New York doctor to the stars (Charles Roberts)…As Paul said “the man who kept New York high”
Musicians:
John Lennon – lead vocal, harmonium, maracas; Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass guitar; George Harrison – lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums
During their American tour the Beatles heard about a doctor giving out ‘vitamin’ pills to all and sundry. We’d hear people say that he could get you anything you want – any pills you want. It was a big racket, said John. He cured everyone of everything with all these pills and tranquilizers, said Paul. He just kept New York high. That’s what ‘Doctor Robert’ is all about: just a pill doctor who sees you all right. It was a joke between ourselves. Pete Shotton said: John seemed to be beside himself with glee over the prospect of millions of record buyers innocently singing along.
His fella in question was called Dr. Robert Freymann, who had a little office down East 78th Street. Handing out amphetamines at the time wasn’t actually illegal (but you weren’t supposed to hand out packets of the stuff!) and he lost his license in 1968, and was expelled for malpractice in 1975.
Lead vocal John.
Lennon .75 / McCartney .25
US - Capitol LP Yesterday and Today
The Beatles – Free As A Bird – Single
John Lennon – Strangers Room – Demo
8:40 Break
The Beatles – A Day In The Life - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Recorded Jan & Feb 1967
Quite possibly the finest Lennon/McCartney collaboration of their song-writing career.
The Run Out Groove
Recorded 21st April 1967, firstly, the endless nonsense for the run-out groove,
Then BETWEEN the final fade of "A Day In The Life" and "The Nonsense", a high-pitch whistle audible only to dogs was inserted. This was pitched at 15 kilocycles. 2:41
Musicians:
John Lennon – joint lead vocal, acoustic guitar; Paul McCartney – joint lead vocal, piano, bass guitar; George Harrison – maracas; Ringo Starr – drums; 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 – Because - Abbey Road
Recorded August 1st 1969
Written by John after hearing Yoko playing Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano…He then asked her to play the chords backwards and that how “Because“ was written. The 3 part harmony from John, Paul & George was overdubs 3 separate times….it was both Paul’s and George’s favorite track on Abbey Road.
Musicians:
John Lennon – joint lead vocal, lead guitar; Paul McCartney – joint lead vocal, bass guitar; George Harrison – joint lead vocal, Moog synthesizer; George Martin – electric harpsichord
The Beatles – Across The Universe - Let It Be
Recorded 4th February 1968 - 8 takes
Overdubs 8th February 1968 onto take 8
Overdubs 1st April 1970 onto take 8 creating take 9
“Across the Universe" was originally donated to a charity album for the World Wildlife Fund. That original song was a faster, higher version than the Let It Be version, which was the original track slowed down and combined with an orchestra by producer Phil Spector.
Musicians:
[Wildlife version] John Lennon – lead vocal, backing vocal, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, Hammond organ (with George Martin); Paul McCartney – backing vocal, piano; George Harrison – backing vocal, sitar, tambura; Ringo Starr – maracas; George Martin – Hammond organ (with John Lennon); Lizzie Bravo and Gayleen Pease – backing vocals
[Phil Spector version] John Lennon – lead vocal, backing vocal, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, Hammond organ (with George Martin); Paul McCartney – backing vocal, piano; George Harrison – backing vocal, sitar, tambura; Ringo Starr – maracas; George Martin – Hammond organ (with John Lennon); Unknown musicians – strings and choir
NEWS
The Beatles - Only A Northern Song - Yellow Submarine (Harrison) Recorded 13th February 1967
During the Sgt. Pepper sessions but not used.
Musicians:
George Harrison – lead vocal, organ, tape-effects, assorted noises; Paul McCartney – bass guitar, trumpet(?), tape-effects, assorted noises; John Lennon – piano, glockenspiel(?), tape-effects, assorted noises; Ringo Starr – drums
This started out as ‘Not Known’ because George couldn’t think up a decent title. It was originally ear-marked for the Sgt. Peppers LP, but they left it off because a) it was shit, and b) they all recognized that George’s pithy digs were aimed at them. He was trying to make a point about the stingy way the royalties were handed out.
It was a blatant rant on money – a personal attack on the Beatles’ business affairs. In early ‘65 their accountants decided to float Northern Songs on the stock exchange. But in order to make the company more attractive to public investors, they had to agree to sweeping new reforms in their business arrangements. First of all they had to grant Northern Songs full copyright on all of their songs – guaranteeing it a further six new compositions every year, and – and here’s the sticking point – George was also persuaded to sign up as a songwriter, despite having just started up his own publishing company. This accounts for the lines: It doesn’t really matter what chords I play/What words I say, or time of day/As it’s only a Northern Song.
George was also starting to resent the way that he was limited to two songs on every album, whereas John and Paul had six or seven each. After a while I did come to resent this, he said. Especially when I had some good songs. Sometimes I had songs that were better than some of theirs, but we’d still have to record maybe eight of theirs before they’d even listen to one of mine! He later explained: I’m not really the most-interested-in-money Beatle. I’m just the only one interested in what’s happening to it. I like to know where it’s going. I can’t understand why the others aren’t so bothered. We sit at accountants’ meetings and we’re told that we have got two-and-a-half per cent of this and four per cent of that, and it’s confusing and boring and it’s like being back at school. After a year or so of The Beatles making records and doing well, I started trying to find out what was happing and where it was all going. John and Paul were equally interested, but they gave in. I didn’t. It’s easy to get blasé and think we’re making plenty and somebody’s taking care of it. But I like to know how much is coming in; where it’s being put, and how much I spend etc. We all have some private investments. But, believe it or not, we still haven’t got a terrific amount of money in real capital. There are a lot of group investments… and there are lump sums in bank deposit accounts in the names of all four of us, I believe. But there isn’t a million pounds in cash or anything like that. It’s mostly investments. And I wouldn’t like to say that I or Ringo was a millionaire in any way. But I’d say that there’s a fair chance that John and Paul are because of all the money they’ve earned through Northern Songs.
Lead vocal George
9:10 Break
George Harrison – A Horse To The Water – Remix
Billy Preston – All Things Must Pass – Single
The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby – Revolver
Recorded April 1966
Written by Paul though John Lennon claimed in two different interviews (Hit Parader in`71 and again in Playboy in 1980) that he wrote 70 percent of the lyrics! Paul sez: “I saw somewhere that John said he helped on “Eleanor Rigby “. Yeah about half a line”. Well…!
Musicians:
Paul McCartney – lead vocal; John Lennon – harmony vocal; George Harrison – harmony vocal; Tony Gilbert, Sidney Sax, John Sharpe and Jurgen Hess – violins; Stephen Shingles and John Underwood – violas; Derek Simpson and Norman Jones – cellos
The Beatles – Sun King - Abbey Road
Recorded w/ Mean Mr. Mustard as one song on July 24th 1969.
Lennon in Playboy interview of 1980…”That’s a piece of garbage I had around”.
Many parts of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon sound very much inspired by that piece of garbage.
Musicians:
John Lennon – lead vocal, lead guitar, maracas; Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass guitar, harmonium; George Harrison – lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums, bongos, tambourine; George Martin – organ
George Harrison – While My Guitar Gently Weeps – LOVE
QUIZ / Michael Jackson covered what WINGS song on which one of his LP’s?
“Girlfriend"/ Off The Wall - a song written by Paul McCartney. McCartney thought of the song as one that Michael Jackson might like to record, and mentioned this to Jackson at a party in Hollywood. However, McCartney ended up recording it himself with his band Wings, and it was issued in 1978 on the album London Town. Subsequently, it was suggested by Quincy Jones as a possible track for Jackson to record for his 1979 album Off the Wall. Jones was unaware that the song had been written for Jackson in the first place. Jackson's recording omitted the middle eight heard in McCartney's version. It was issued as a single in 1980, in the UK only, as the fifth and final single from the Off the Wall album. It performed rather poorly, just managing to enter the top 50 at #41 and falling out of the top 100 completely after five weeks.
McCartney and Jackson subsequently worked together on "The Girl Is Mine" from Thriller and two tracks from McCartney's Pipes of Peace album, "Say Say Say" and "The Man". The musical partnership would end in the 1980s after Jackson purchased the ATV Music catalog, which held the rights to numerous Beatles tracks, which McCartney contested.
9:40 Break
Next Sunday Beatles American Style!
The Beatles - Cry Baby Cry - The Beatles
Recorded July 15th 1968
Another song John called ‘rubbish” in Playboy in 1980…I hate when he does that..
Musicians:
John Lennon – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, piano, organ; Paul McCartney – bass guitar; George Harrison – lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine; George Martin – harmonium
The Beatles – You Never Give Me Your Money - Abbey Road
Recorded May 6th 1969 at Olympic Studios w/ overdubbing 2 months later at Abbey Road.
Paul weighing in on the sad but true aspects of the Apple business plan circa spring 1969.
Musicians:
Paul McCartney – lead vocal, backing vocal, piano, bass guitar, wind-chimes; John Lennon – backing vocal, lead guitar; George Harrison – rhythm guitar; Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
This was Paul’s diatribe at Allen Klein: It was directly lambasting Allen Klein’s attitude to us, he said. No money, just funny paper, all promises and it never works out. It’s basically a song about no faith in the person. George complained: All we get is bits of paper saying how much we’ve earned and what this and that is but we never actually get it in pounds, shillings and pence. We’ve all got a big house and a car and an office, but to actually get the money we’ve earned seems impossible.
There’s also a little line about buckling up and pissing off to the country: Soon we’ll be away from here/Step on the gas and wipe that tear away – a sentiment that Paul was to repeat many times in the coming months (…have a listen to Two Of Us).
The original take ended at 3:02, but they had to add on some more so they could tie it into the ‘Long Medley’.
Lead Vocal Paul
McCartney 1.00
The Beatles - Yer Blues - The Beatles
Recorded Aug. 13th 1968
Performed by John at Toronto’s Rock’n’ Roll Revival Concert
Musicians:
John Lennon – lead vocal, lead guitar; Paul McCartney – bass guitar; George Harrison – lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums
George Harrison – Awaiting On You All – ATMP
The Beatles – Money (That’s What I Want) (Janie Bradford & Berry Gordy)
With The Beatles
Originally recorded by Barrett Strong and released as a single in dec.1959 peaking at #123. It was a part of the Beatles live repertoire from 1960 to 1964. Recorded by the Beatles July 18th 1963.
Musicians:
John Lennon – lead vocal, rhythm guitar; Paul McCartney – backing vocal, bass guitar; George Harrison – backing vocal, lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums; George Martin – piano
This was a cover version of Barrett Strong’s 1959 flop. [This legendary song was originally released on the Anna label – the early precursor of Motown, and was written by Berry Gordy. It refers to the money worries that he was having setting up Motown.] It became a staple of their Hamburg set, and they performed at their failed Decca audition as well.
The mono and stereo versions are slightly different, because the stereo version has got some extra guitar at the start, and there’s some hand clapping in the intro, which can’t be heard in the mono version.
Lead vocal John
US - Capitol LP The Beatles' Second Album
The Beatles - Bad Boy (Williams) – Beatles VI / Collection of Oldies 1st time in UK Dec. 1966/ Past Masters
Recorded: 10 May 1965
Musicians:
John Lennon – lead vocal, rhythm guitar; Paul McCartney – bass guitar, electric piano; George Harrison – double-tracked lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
QUIZ/ What Beatles songs did MJ perform on his 1995 LP…I need the LP title & Beatles song
A/HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I / Come Together
10:10 Break
Michael Jackson/ The Beatles – Come Together - Abbey Road
Recorded July 21st 1969
Borrowing more that a line from Chuck Berry’s “You Can’t Catch Me”. Agreed to record 3 songs from the publishing Co. BIG SEVEN MUSIC on his R’n’R LP. SHOOT ME….One of John’s favorite Beatle tracks.
Musicians:
John Lennon – lead vocal, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, handclaps; Paul McCartney – bass guitar, electric piano; George Harrison – lead guitar; Ringo Starr – drums, maracas
This started out as a campaign song for Timothy Leary, who was running for governor of California against Ronald Reagan in ‘69. He was the same guy who wrote The Psychedelic Experience – the book that inspired John to write Tomorrow Never Knows. (He’s also Winona Ryder’s godfather.)
John Lennon – Scared – Walls & Bridges
You don't have to worry
In heaven or hell
Just dance to the music
You do it so well, well, well!
Steve Miller – My Dark Hour – w/ Paul 1969
WINGS – Wino Junko Lead vocal by Jimmy McCulloch - Speed Of Sound
QUIZ / Paul & MJ recorded “Say Say Say” together from Paul Pipes Of Peace LP…what was the OTHER song MJ dueted w/ Paul from that same LP…..
? Play now ? A/ The Man / McCartney-Jackson 3:57
10:40 – BREAK
CLOSE w/ >>> Pity/I Want You Back
