Tag Archives: The Beatles

Musical Appreciation ► Paul McCartney

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There is no denying that Paul McCartney has written a wealth of music that will stand the test of time. As we listen to Beethoven and Bach long after their lifetimes, we will be listening to the music of Paul McCartney.

Here’s a small Paul McCartney Jukebox:

As always: CRANK IT UP!!!

Uncle Russ Gibb

And, just because it pisses Mark Koldys-Johnny Dollar off, I am going to link to other versions of this story again.

Uncle Russ Gibb

Here’s what I find funny: I have made no claims, yet Johnny Dollar has gone out of his way to refute them.

J$ asked one person one question (or had a confederate ask one
question) and then spun out an entire new conspiracy theory. While, that’s
hardly journalism, it’s par for the course for Markie K and the Sycophant Five.

I only ever told this to ONE journalist. The resultant article that came
out was so garbled, I never told it again “on the record.” Therefore, every other
version I have read is second hand, or a re-writing of the
original post. Each has managed to garble the story further.
However, and I stress, only one person ever bothered to ask me any questions and I answered them all honestly.

However, I am most grateful that Markie K and the Sycophant Five, along with their patron Mark Koldys-Johnny Dollar are such loyal followers of my Aunty Em Ericann Blog.

What’s left of The Grande Ballroom; Picture by author 2010
The Grande Ballroom on opening night of a whole new era.

Musical Interlude ► Happy Birthday Harry Nilsson

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Dateline June 15, 1941 – A happy father had a son*, Harry Edward Nilsson III.

There was a time I listed my Top Three artists as Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, and Harry Nilsson. Who knew that Sinatra would outlive the other two?

I first learned of Harry Nilsson the same way much of ‘Merka did, when The Beatles name-checked him twice during their ’68 press conference to announce the formation of Apple. Wait! What? Who? The Harry Nilsson Web Pages picks up the story: 

The album came to the attention of the Beatles (through Derek Taylor their press agent). At the press conference to announce the formation of Apple, the Beatles were asked “Who is your favorite American artist?” to which John Lennon replied, “Harry Nilsson.” When asked “What is your favorite American group?” Paul McCartney replied, “Harry Nilsson.”

Harry’s arrangement of “You Can’t Do That” weaves some 20-something other Beatles’ songs in and around the Lennon-McCartney melody.It needs to be heard to know why The Beatles were so knocked out by it.

The great irony of Harry Nilsson’s all-too-short artistic career is that while he is an amazing songwriter, the two songs he is best known for were not written by him: “Without You” was written by two of the members of Badfinger and was originally recorded by that group, while “Everybody’s Talkin'” was written by Fred Neil.

That’s why we’ll start with songs Harry wrote. Here’s a rare version of “Coconut” created for one of his his BBC shows. All vocals are Harry re-recorded specifically for this ‘video’ and the instrumentation is minimalist. to say the least:

Many people have covered Nilsson’s “One.” His version followed by the obscure Chris Clark on the even more obscure Motown subsidiary label Weed, because that’s what this LP was apparently fueled by.

Here is a rare tee vee appearance of Harry’s on The Smother’s Brothers Comedy Hour. Harry was a good friend of The Smothers Bothers, which is why he thought he and John Lennon could heckle them at The Troubadour, but we won’t rehash THAT story. “Think About Your Troubles,” the second song here, is personally one of my favourite Harry Nilsson songs. I like the circular story. I like how it sums up this larger dynamic than the listener and then says, “You  think you’re the center of the universe? Well, I got news for you.” The third song is from the upcoming “The Point” cartoon, which is remembered fondly by many big kids.

Another rarity from his BBC tee vee special is this medley of three covers intertwined, Walk Right Walk, Cathy’s Clown, Let The Good Times Roll all recorded with 3-part harmony done by Harry himself.

Here’s the very obscure Miss Butter’s Lament, written by fellow Canadian Bob Segarini.

When Harry Met John resulted in Pussy Cats, an album that marked the nadir of Harry’s career. Yet there are still some true gems on this LP. Harry makes his ravaged voice work for this incredibly emotional cover of Jimmy Cliff’s Many Rivers To Cross.

I could go on and on, but this makes a good starting point for Harry Nilsson if you are just getting to know him.

*1941, by Harry Nilsson

Musical Interlude ► Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band

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The greatest LP of the entire Rock era was released 45 years ago today. The Beatles masterpiece was a revelation, a concept album with a gatefold cover (already done by Frank Zappa, tho’), cool cut-outs, and the lyrics printed right on the back cover!!!

I listened to it over and over again when it was brand new, just like all my friends. Every listen seemed to bring something new to the ears.

There have been many interpretations over the years, including a recent Cheap Trick Sgt. Pepper performed completely live. However, the best interpretation is one I have already spoken about in these pages. Here’s Easy Star All-Stars performing the entire LP as “Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band” with many special guest stars.

As always…CRANK IT UP!!!

Day In History ► John and Yoko Bed-In in Montreal ► May 26

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Dateline: 1969 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their second Bed-In, this time in Montreal, Quebec. They had wanted to do it in New York City, but Lennon was still barred from entering ‘Merka. The Bahamas, which Lennon had visited during the making of “Help,” was considered too far away to bring the press. Finally they settled on Montreal. Here’s how the Canadian Broadcasting Company covered some of it:


However, not everyone was enthralled. Al Capp, the cartoonist best known for L’il Abner — Yeah, THAT AL Capp — was invited to the hotel suite for what turned out to be a very contentious debate:


On June 1st a gathering recorded Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance” in the same hotel room. Included were with Dick Gregory, Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, Toronto Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, musician Petula Clark, and members of the Canadian Radha Krishna Temple. It’s a sing-a-long:

Here are John & Yoko talking to some of those people:

On the 30th Apple Records released “The Ballad of John and Yoko” in the U.K. and 5 days later in ‘Merka, on June 4th. The only Beatles on this recording are John Lennon, and Paul McCartney, who recorded in a hurry one evening while Ringo was filming “The Magic Christian” and George was on holiday. Christ, you know it ain’t easy:

This was The Beatles last #1 U.K. single.

Day In History ► May 7 ► The Beatles’ Last U.S. Single

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Dateline 1970 – The Beatles released “The Long and Winding Road” on
this day. It would turn out to be the last single The Beatles ever released in ‘Merka.
A month earlier, on April 10th, Paul McCartney, citing “personal,
business and musical differences” announced he was leaving The Beatles. Ten
days later he released his first solo LP “McCartney” (recently re-released with
bonus tracks) and four days after that Ringo Starr released his first solo LP, “Sentimental
Journey.” Therefore, “The Long and Winding
Road” had to compete with other Beatles on the ‘Merkin
charts.

The backstory to “The Long and Winding Road” is worth repeating. When
The Beatles set out to record “Let It Be,” Paul’s big idea was to do a Back to
Basics album and “Making of…” documentary, without all the lush orchestrations
and overdubs used on their previous LPs. It was also a way, McCartney hoped, to
bring the band back together. It was clear during the recording of “The Beatles”
(aka The White Album) that tempers were flaring. Maybe a return to the basics,
the way they did it in the old day, would prevent the band from fragmenting.
It didn’t work. The fights that occurred during the making
of “Let It Be” are legendary. George Harrison even quit the band at one point.
Later, when he agreed to come back he brought in friend Billy Preston,
hoping that might calm the waters. By the time the project was finished, no one
had the patience to deal with the hundreds of hours of tapes resultant. A
couple of test pressings and mixes were prepared by Glyn Johns, but no one was
ever happy with them. Eventually, after sitting around for a year, all the
tapes were turned over to Phil “Wall of Sound” Spector to do something with them
for release.
Meanwhile, The Beatles went into the studio one last time
and recorded “Abbey Road,”
a fitting swansong to the extraordinary—but short—recording career of The
Beatles. “Abbey Road”
was released before “Let It Be,” which became the final Beatles LP. It was
released in conjunction with the making of documentary of the same name.
When “Let It Be” was finally released it was as far from
Paul’s original concept as possible. Instead of a stripped-down, back to basics
record, Spector had smothered the tracks under strings and other overdubs. Paul
was especially derisive of his composition “The Long and Winding Road.” He was, rightfully, proud
of the song and felt Spector’s treatment ruined it.  Paul eventually had the last laugh, 33 years
later, when Let It Be…Naked, a stripped-down version like Paul had always
intended, was released. According to the WickiWackyWoo:
For “The Long
and Winding Road”, the Naked producers used the final take, recorded five
days after the rough run-through Phil Spector had selected for the original
album.[1] As per all songs on Let It Be… Naked, this version is devoid of any
orchestral or choral overdubs. (The unadorned take from Let It Be is featured
on Anthology 3.) Finally, there is a slight lyrical difference: whereas the
original album version’s lyric reads, “anyway, you’ll never know the many
ways I’ve tried,” on this version it reads, “anyway, you’ve always
known the many ways I’ve tried.” Electric guitar and electric piano are
also present in this version, played respectively by Harrison and Billy
Preston.
Here’s the original version as released by Phil Spector,
followed by the way it was always meant to be.


Sadly Let It Be has not been available for home video since
forever. Are you listening, Paul? Imagine the bonus features with all that film
and audio. I already own all of it on bootleg audio, but I’d pay for an
official release.
Bonus Beatles – “The Long And Winding Road” from the movie “Let
It Be.”

Today In History – April 28 – Muhammad Ali

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DATELINE 1967 – Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the U.S. Army as a Conscientious Objector. The former-Cassius Clay, Ali converted to Islam in 1964.  When Uncle Sam called him up he’s quoted to have said, “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong” and to prove it he refused to serve. He was stripped of his title, convicted of draft evasion, and sentenced to five years in prison.  Ali stayed out of jail on appeal and eventually the Supreme Court overturned his conviction and he went on to win more fights by hitting people he had a quarrel with.