Beatles Songwriting Academy

Golden Ticket: Madrigalism

2012-02-13T15:25:00.000Z

In my post about The Long And Winding Road I introduced a rather abstract songwriting tip (Ticket 49) which was to have the music reflect the theme of the lyrics in some overarching, profound or hidden way. At the simplest level this is called word (or text) painting or, in broader terms, madrigalism.

Here's a few exploratory thoughts on this with examples from other artists.

Word Painting

The simplest way to make your music reflect your lyrics is word painting - including a few notes or a sound effect that illustrates your lyrics at that point. Think of the keyboard part that follows "visible shivers running down my spine" (1:16) in Watching the Detectives (Elvis Costello) or the cymbal/bell/chime after “sends shivers down my spine” (2:05) in Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen). Pink Floyd have a little bell sound after "Just a little pin-prick" (2:49) in Comfortably Numb and A Day In The Life's “woke up, got out of bed” is preceded by the sound of an alarm clock.

All of these could be classed as icing on the cake and are usually little 'post production touches' (with the exception of Paul's alarm call which was on the original track).

Groove, Timbre, Range

More fundamental to the start of the songwriting process is the letting the lyrics dictate the whole groove of the song.

Iron Maiden give two good examples with the galloping rhythm of Run To The Hills (0:48 onwards) and The Trooper (strangley enough also 0:48 onwards) accompanying tales of Crimean calvary battles and Native American warriors.

Trains also suggest a particular groove as Elvis Presley (Mystery Train) and Johnny Cash (Folsom Prison Blues) can testify. And lyrics can even suggest the timbre and range. Spinal Tap found the perfect way to accompany Big Bottom – play it on THREE bass guitars!

Mood

Next, what about ways to embody the mood? Eminem's Lose Yourself captures the claustrophobic battle against obscurity by a constantly pushing rhythm that never escapes the driving D bass note.

Private Investigations (Dire Straits) on the other hand is about a world weary private detective. The track is painfully slow and the always descending, always modulating chord progression (0:53) is like puzzle to be solved.

One Season by The Roches is a tale of love gone sour. Though the tune starts rationally enough but, as the relationship becomes more dysfunctional, so do the backing vocal harmonies (starting around 2:23).

In my own song [Everything Is] Broken I tried to reflect brokenness not only in the lyrics (which are full of broken things from coffee cups and plumbing, to peace treaties and marriages) but in broken vocal phrases and odd time signatures with missing beats. Even the very last word of the song is missing.

Melody Shape

More fundamental than mood or groove, the lyrics can shape the very melody that supports them. The ever rising "Love lift us up where we belong" in the Nitzsche/Sainte-Marie/Jennings hit is one technique that's been around at least since Handel wrote “Every valley shall be exalted...”, but one of the smartest examples must be Roger's and Hammerstein's Do-Re-Mi from The Sound Of Music.

Everyone knows the chorus

Doe- a deer, a female deer
Ray- a drop of golden sun
Me- a name I call myself
Far- a long long way to run
Sew- a needle pulling thread
La- a note to follow so
Tea- a drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to do oh oh oh

but not everyone knows the context. The song is about musicians practicing their scales. So we have a song about scales using the solfège words for the intervals (Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do) where you sing the very intervals you are singing about. Genius.

Chord Progression, Structure

That same kind of literalism can shape the chord progression or even the overall structure. Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) describes the chord progression he is playing in the lyrics - “It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift” just as Cole Porter had done 40 years earlier in Every Time We Say Goodbye, "How strange the change from major to minor". Natasha Beddingfield went for a similar, though less accurate, effect in These Words “Threw some chords together, the combination D-E-F”. (The chords are actually Bb/D, C/E and F but that doesn't quite sing as well!). At the subtle end of the spectrum you have The Long And Winding Road's weary trek to the 'home' chord. At the other end the song becomes a musical in-joke as in 10CC's, I Bought a Flat.

I bought a flat
Diminished responsibility
You're de ninth person to see
To be suspended in a seventh
Major catastrophe
It's a minor point but gee
Augmented by the sharpness of your
See what I'm going through
Ay to be with you
In a flat by the sea

and Matching Mole's (Robert Wyatt) Signed Curtains doesn't so much break the fourth wall, as demolish the whole house.

Opposites

Lastly, you can deliberately do the opposite of what your lyrics say. This works best in humour songs or when it serves to reveal something about the subject. Gilbert and Sullivan's pirates bellowing about how quiet and sneaky they are in With Cat-Like Tread (The Pirates of Penzance) only confirms how useless they are. And Mary Poppins, who sings lullabies entitled “Stay Awake” and slides up bannisters, natural goes UP when singing “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go DOWN”.

Conclusion and application

The great thing about this approach is can work in several ways and be employed at different stages of writing and recording.

First it can function as a way to beat the blank page. Rather than just strumming aimlessly with a set of lyrics or a title, ask yourself what kind of groove would suit the concept, what instrumentation, what tempo? Or what melodic shape would the key individual lines naturally take?

The method can also serve to function as what some authors call a 'spine' for your story (or song). Some key idea that give your song a sense of internal logic or identity. Whether it's plain to the listener or not isn't so important. Some things are obvious, some things only reveal themselves on the 10th (or 100th listen) but they do give a unity to the song.

Finally you can just use it as inspiration to add little finishing touches to a mix with sound effects or momentary overdubs.

So to recap, cheat sheet style, consider working on

Word Painting/sound effects – 'shivers', alarm clocks
Groove/Timbre/Range – Horses, Trains
Mood – Lose Yourself, Private Investigations
Melody Shape – Do Re Mi
Chord Progression/Structure – Hallelujah, Every Time We Say Goodbye
Opposites – A Spoonful Of Sugar

Know any other examples of these techniques?
Have you used them successfully in your own songwriting?
Leave me a comment!

Thanks to everyone on FAWM, MattBlick.com and Twitter who suggested ideas and songs for this post, especially Ashley Chittock, Cheekmeat, Rod Johnson, Nancy Rost , David Hendricks, Thomas Spademan of Cookiefinger and, of course Wikipedia.

Under The Influence: Sex Pistols

2012-02-10T13:01:00.000Z

In the Under The Influence series we usually feature a famous musician speaking in glowing terms of how the Beatles inspired them. Today, something totally different. Not only did Paul McCartney inspire legions of people to join a band, but he also got one musician fired and inadvertently kick started the career of one of the most notorious people ever to pick up a bass.

[Bassist] Glen Matlock was thrown out of the Sex Pistols so I'm told because he went on too long about Paul McCartney. E.M.I. was enough. The Beatles was too much. Sid Vicious, their best friend and always a member of the group, but unheard as yet, was enlisted. His best credential was he gave [critic and musician Nick] Kent what he deserved* many months ago at the Hundred Club

Sex Pistols manager, Malcolm McLaren in a telegram to the NME 28 Feb 77

* Sid badly assaulted Nick with a bicycle chain

Under The Influence: Joni Mitchell

2012-02-03T06:30:00.000Z

Rubber Soul was the Beatle album I played over and over. I think they were discovering Dylan, and the songs often had an acoustic feel, I used to sing [Norwegian Wood] in my coffeehouse days in Detroit before I started writing for myself. The whole scenario has this whimsical, charmingly wry quality with a bit of a dark undertone. I’d sing it to put some levity in my set. I got a kick out of throwing it in there amongst all these tragic English folk ballads. Besides, I have Norwegian blood!

Joni Mitchell Lava Magazine

Here Comes The Son (With A Lost Solo)

2012-01-28T21:20:00.001Z

Here's a treat for you - Dhani, George and Giles finding a unused solo in the Here Comes The Sun master tapes

Thanks to And Pop

Under The Influence: David Bazan

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000Z

I feel a little slow on the draw on the things I’m particularly interested in doing. I feel like they’re slightly out of my skill set, but that generates this very powerful hunger to overcome that and I think I’m turned on by seeing the hunger—that’s what makes other people’s art compelling to me. The ease with which Paul McCartney did everything that he did is fantastic and I’m inspired by it to a certain degree, but I’m much more compelled by John Lennon, who was just darker and hungrier. Things were less easy for him and you can feel that pulling, that tension in his music. So, I’m frustrated creatively, but I think that’s how it works.

The Beatles were certainly an influence. I listen to Revolver and The White Album often.

David Bazan interviewed on The Great Discontent

11:11 Dig It and Maggie Mae

2012-01-23T06:00:00.000Z

I made the point that many of the songs in Abbey Road's Long One medley aren't songs at all but song fragments but Dig It takes that to the extreme. A 12 minute semi improvised jam over the most unoriginal chord sequence known to man, only 50 seconds was worth salvaging.

It's not a song, it's a mildly amusing outtake that belongs on something like Anthology.

The Beatles hadn't released a cover since Act Naturally in 1965 and Maggie Mae was to be the last. A traditional folk song about a Liverpool prostitute sung in exaggerated scouse accents (Mary McCartney had always taught Paul to 'talk posh' and Lennon was brought up in a fiercely middle class household) it had enough charm to be a great track – if only the band could have made it through an entire take.

11:10 For You Blue

2012-01-20T05:30:00.000Z

It's great to analyse classic songs and find out what makes them tick. But it's also good to analyse songs you hate and find out what makes them so disagreeable so you can avoid similar mistakes at all cost. At least that's what I keep telling myself. Let's not beat around the bush here – this is an awful song.

The chord progression is a stock 12 bar blues - nothing of interest there. The lyrics are totally banal – in effect “I love you because you're lovely”. Deep man. The rhyme scheme was obviously slaved over for minutes -

I love you/it's true/I do
I love you/I feel blue/girl for you

But the melody is where George really brings the pain. We have an ugly combination of jumps from chord tone to chord tone followed by a chromatic descent 8 - 7 – b7 (sweet and love-ly and more than ev - er) that ensures the 7th in the melody clashes with the b7 in the chord and makes the whole thing sound like a twee 1920's ballad. It's almost George emulating Paul's 'grannie music'.

Sometimes a bad song is saved by a stellar performance. Not here. Harrison's acoustic guitar is good and Ringo's fine, but the engineer who allowed Paul to mute the piano strings with paper (or whatever it was) should have just slammed the lid down on his fingers instead. It sounds for all the world like a Ukelele that's been rescued from a woodchipper. And John's lap steel guitar is the worst playing on a Beatles track since ~~John's bass playing~~ George Harrison picked up a violin.

From a compositional point of view this song has no redeeming features that I can see.

The only lesson I take away is

“Don't be afraid to try something different”

closely followed by

“and don't be afraid to throw a lot of that 'different' in the bin”.

Get Back To Making Mashups

2012-01-17T05:30:00.000Z

Hot on the heels of the new that McCartney is calling his new album "Kisses On The Bottom" here's an interesting mashup for you.

And if you want to hear The Beastie Boys go head to head with Black Sabbath here's one I prepared earlier...

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.5) - Dig It For You, Blue Maggie Mae!

2012-01-16T06:30:00.000Z

For You Blue

LIB - Recorded on 25 January 1969 (except for Lennon's “Queen says 'no' to pot smoking FBI movement” comment). The lap steel is panned hard left and the 'prepared' piano hard right. Harrison's acoustic guitar is almost non existent except for the intro.

LIBN - A remix of the original version – piano and steel panning is reversed - lap steel right, piano on left with the piano a lot louder and the lap steel quieter. The Lennon quote is removed. According to engineer Hicks a lead vocal which was overdubbed in the original session was used and an incomplete guide vocal was removed, but it isn't clear whether the guide was used alongside the overdub on LIB on instead of it. I can't hear any difference. I almost wonder if he meant guitar track, as the acoustic guitar is much louder and clearer especially during the solos.

A3 - A different take recorded same day as LIB. Harrison's meandering (but cool) acoustic intro is replaced with a piano intro. The piano (right) is not 'prepared', the acoustic guitar is left and the steel centre. The song a much more laid-back feel overall and Lennon's vibrato is much more restrained. The piano solo and Harrison's humorous asides (“Elmore James got nothing on this baby”) are missing. Oh, and the drumming on the intro sounds like a typewriter.

Dig It and Maggie Mae

These songs only appear on the original Let It Be as does Lennon's “and now we'd like to do 'Ark The Angels Come” comment which was perceived as a sly dig at the hymn-like Let It Be which followed Dig It on the original album.

The mix of For You Blue on LIBN is far superior to LIB. However since both mixes feature the worst sounding instrument the Beatles ever committed to tape (McCartney's prepared piano) and one of the worst played (Lennon's lap steel) I'd take the less energetic but far more listenable Anthology version. I would have loved a complete take of Maggie Mae but there isn't one and I'd happily lose Dig It completely.

Best Versions

For You Blue – Anthology 3
Dig It – LIB
Maggie Mae – LIB

Under The Influence: Brian May

2012-01-13T18:57:00.000Z

The Beatles were our Bible it has to be said in a lot of ways although we were able to take some things further than the Beatles because we had better technology and we had the benefit of their experience. But the Beatles just did so many things right.

Brian May - Greatest video hits 1

The Good, The Bad And The Educational Let It Be

2012-01-10T17:33:00.000Z

The Good - I said Let It Be was basically a gospel hymn - back me up Carol Woods and Timothy Mitchum (from the Across the Universe film)

The Bad - if Mother Mary looked like this, you'd never get back to sleep...

And uber-parody pioneers Sesame Street

11:9 Let It Be

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000Z

Let It Be is a great song, even though it is remarkably straight forward musically. Usually there's a clever concept lurking under the simplest Beatles track (see The Long And Winding Road) but if there's one here I can't find it!

Stylistically Let It Be is a gospel hymn, from the chord changes and the standard piano/electric organ paring,to the elastic timing in the lead vocals and the the celestial BVs. Inspired by a dream of Paul's deceased mum Mary ("Mother Mary" geddit?). It holds out a vague non-denominational hope's which means anyone can claim it as their own - essentially "there is a reason for the suffering you're going through, you will understand one day, so don't worry now"

The reason why the song works so well is that it's a song of comfort that communicates a FEELING of comfort. There's more than the usual amount of repetition of musical themes and lyrics, which is comforting in itself, as is the predictable cadence from the IV (F major) down to the I (C Major) which ends EVERY SINGLE LINE in the verse and chorus and is the basic theme that's extended in the link section (see below).

Here's a couple of cool tricks to try and work into your own writing

First, the way McCartney develops the main lyrical theme. The 3rd and 6th lines in the verse repeat the same two phrases then the chorus reverses them

eg

Verse -
I would like to eat some - Sausage rolls
Chorus -
Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls
I would like to eat some - Sausage rolls

The next verse is slightly different, giving us a slightly different chorus but we can predict what it will be which gives us a comforting sense of predictability without the drudge of complete repetition

Verse -
Would you please go buy some - Sausage rolls
Chorus -
Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls, Sausage rolls
Would you please go buy some - Sausage rolls

This makes the chorus almost like folk style refrain.

Secondly, the way Paul creates a link (twice before the solo and once at the end) out of the little descending chord pattern that ends the verse. This is a masterclass in Ticket 4. Check out the way he

develops the theme doubling it's length
takes it out of key briefly simply by continuing the line downwards in the same way (F E D C repeated down a fourth Bb A G F )
takes something that was in the background in the verse and puts it front and centre in the link
adds lead guitar and organ to change the timbre

So, thumbs up, moving on...

10 Preconceptions About The Beatles (pt 3)

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000Z

Let's wrap up the last 6 illusions I was labouring under (or was I?) when I started this blog.
Read the previous parts here and here.

5) None of the Beatles were very good players. Especially Ringo

WRONG - Forget 'Bigger Than Jesus', no Beatles quote has been more misunderstood and misused than Lennon's “Ringo isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles” wisecrack. And it was just that - a wisecrack. So for the record here's three reasons why Ringo was an amazing drummer

1) The sheer number of beats and styles he navigated with ever really repeating himself over 211 songs
2) The fact that in 7 years of recording that only a handful of takes broke down due to an error on Ringo's part
3) The incredible feel he displayed in combining swing time and straight time in the same song. Straight fills in a swingtime song, changing from section to section, it's subtle and very, very hard to pull off. Jim Keltner is the only other drummer I've heard manage it.

(There's more Ringo love here and here)

It's true that none of the band were virtuosos. They never left the stage for 20 minutes while Ringo got his groove on and set his gong on fire (oooh missus) or George whipped out the violin bow. They all played for the song. Always and forever. But the band boasted 3 solid competent guitarists, McCartney was a genius multi-instrumentalist and Lennon and McCartney were world class vocalists.

6) Sergeant Pepper may be a classic album but I don't really like it, and the individual songs aren't that great

RIGHT. And WRONG. And HALF RIGHT. - Yes it is a classic album. Just so you know. But here's the surprise. I really like it! I heard Pepper a lot growing up, and didn't rate it. I think the reason was aged 15 I was looking for songs that would work in a heavy metal context. While The Who and even Abba (don't ask) had tracks that would translate, Pepper was a dud. But that's no way to judge an album! It's true it has less 'stand alone' songs than any other album (bar Abbey Road) and it would have been stronger with Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. But c'mon - A Day In The Life? And I personally love Within You Without You, When I'm Sixty Four and Getting Better.

7) The Beatles are overrated

WRONG - Ridiculous as it may sound the Beatles are underrated purely because they so lauded for unimportant superficial reasons that it cause people to miss the most crucial thing. They were the greatest songwriters since the Broadway showtune writers like Gershwin, Kern and Porter

8) The Beatles are the greatest band in history

RIGHT - The combination of great songs plus innovation in business, technology, marketing, breaking box office, viewing and chart records and other 'firsts' mean no one act will ever be able to touch the fab four

9) The Beatles were a great live band

Pretty much WRONG - The Beatles were a great live band long before they were recording artists but by the time they finished in 69-70 they were abysmal and you could argue that they began to go downhill as soon as Brian Epstein began limited them to playing less than an hour per live gig.

Think about this. Next time you listen to a classic Beatles song reflect on the fact that you're almost certainly hearing the very last time that the Beatles EVER played that song.

10) I want to be Woody Guthrie when I grow up

WRONG - Two years ago my ambition was to have the breadth of songwriting ability of Woody Guthrie – a man that could tackle the political This Land Is Your Land and then turn round and knock out a kids classic like Going To The Zoo.

Glossing over the fact the Guthrie didn't write the latter song (Tom Paxton did) I've found a new role model. Who else could kick off an album with a snide political R&B song, followed by a Puff The Magic Dragon wannabe then a Raga meet Classical song about isolation and make it all sound unified? Revolver-era Beatles, that who.

So now I want to be the Beatles (if and) when I grow up.

I know a lot of my readers grew up on Abbey Road and cut their teeth on Rubber Souls, but can you remember any preconceptions you had before listening to the Beatles? Were you right?

10 Preconceptions About The Beatles (pt 2)

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000Z

In my last post I listed a few preconceptions I had when I started this blog two years ago. Let's see if I was right...

1) The Arctic Monkeys are better songwriters than the Beatles

WRONG – Arctic Monkeys were another young British band with regional accents and cheeky sense of humour whose sudden rise to fame looked like something akin to Beatlemania. The big difference was that, in Alex Turner, they had a lyricist with the wit and sharp eye of a young Dylan and they burst onto the scene with a fully realised sound/style. When they survived the hypestorm almost completely unscathed and delivered an assured and mature second album without pausing for breath (along with another albums worth of quality B sides and EPs) it looked like they were unstoppable.

But 2009 changed all that. Album number 3 was largely dour, turgid and overly influenced by producer Josh Homme and I had started listening to the Beatles. Arctic Monkeys are a great band, far better lyrically than The Beatles and quicker to mature in the studio, but they need to turn in another 8 or 9 incredible albums that continue to develop and stretch to claim the crown, and sadly that doesn't seem likely to happen.

2) Judging the Beatles for trite lyrics is merely a result of unfairly comparing song lyrics to printed poetry

WRONG - Compare any song lyrics to poetry by putting them side by side on a page or even read them aloud and the lyrics are guaranteed to come of worse. BUT. Many of the Beatles lyrics are undoubtedly poor, even when compared to other pop song lyrics. The truly awful outnumber the excellent, and the average and mediocre outnumber both. There's hundreds of better lyricists out there - Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Nik Kershaw, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen – the list goes on and on and on...

3) George Harrison could have been as good a songwriter as Lennon and McCartney (and was later) but wasn't given a fair chance

WRONG - This assumption came from two things, Harrison knocking the ball out of the park on Abbey Road with Here Comes The Sun and Something and the fact that his first post Beatles album was a critically acclaimed TRIPLE album! While Harrison compared his time in the Beatles to a 7 year bout of constipation (which I guess would make All Things Must Pass a giant diarrhoeic bowel movement) the general perception is that ATMP was a mix of classics and filler (think Use Your Illusion). I don't have an opinion as the album is still on my 'to do' list, but even if it was a 24 carat disc, the next album of originals didn't arrive till 3 years later and Harrison only managed 7 more solo albums in the next 27 years.

We could indulge in 'What If' scenarios (that's what comments sections are made for!),

Lennon/McCartney/Harrison? – too many chiefs in the kitchen
Lennon/Harrison? – too similar, an overdose of dark cynicism that would make Roger Waters sound like The Wiggles
McCartney/Harrison? – might have worked. But would we have lost out on Lennon/McCartney songs? And surely Paul would have driven George crazy? (see Let It Be for further details)

but whatever may have been, George was never in John and Paul's league. Harrison's songwriting career didn't start till Dec 63 with Don't Bother Me and then nothing happened for another 18 months. Lennon and McCartney just had too big a head start. I think it's comparable to Dylan, Springsteen and Bon Jovi. Each are good writers in their own right and genre, but if Bon Jovi had been in Springsteen's band or Springsteen in Dylan's they would never have been able to compete and would never have developed. (OK, maybe that's a poor example!)

4) John Lennon gave up songwriting to be a house husband and was just coming into his prime when he was killed

WRONG - I'm not even going to get the whole 'was Lennon really baking bread and reading bedtime stories or just having a Brian Wilson-style drug-fuelled hibernation?' debate. It's sufficient to say Lennon's solo career was hampered by the same laziness and apathy that plagued his work with the Beatles and his resurgence, while very welcome, produced yet another mix of promising songs and Yoko's experimental crap swimming in bland, middle of the road production. The posthumous leftovers Milk And Honey only promised more of the same.

What do you think? Am I right now?
I'll look at the remaining 6 assumptions next time.

New Year Jam

2012-01-03T08:39:00.000Z

What do Steven Tyler, Alice Cooper & Weird Al Yankovic have in common? The Beatles of course!

10 Preconceptions About The Beatles

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000Z

When I started Beatles Songwriting Academy I had a few goals and a whole load of preconceptions. I thought it would be cool to revisit them once I'd finished all 211 songs and see if they held up. But I'm two years in and still only a quarter of the way through so I've decided to look at them now.

Here were my assumptions I carried when I began

1) The Arctic Monkeys are better songwriters than the Beatles
2) Judging the Beatles for trite lyrics is merely a result of unfairly comparing song lyrics to printed poetry
3) George Harrison could have been as good a songwriter as Lennon and McCartney (and was later) but wasn't given a fair chance
4) John Lennon gave up songwriting to be a house husband and was just coming into his prime when he was killed
5) None of the Beatles were very good players. Especially Ringo
6) Sergeant Pepper may be a classic album but I don't really like it, and the individual songs aren't that great
7) The Beatles are overrated
8) The Beatles are the greatest band in history
9) The Beatles were a great live band
10) I want to be Woody Guthrie when I grow up

What do you think gentle readers? Do you agree with these convictions? Two years on do I?

I'll let you know in a day or two!

Christmas Time Is Here Again...

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000Z

...And much as I'd love to crack on with Let It Be, revist the Long And Winding Road for one more post or just see what's down the back of the Academy's sofas and put new batteries in the cliche alarms it's time to shut up shop for the holidays.

I'll be back in January with some fresh ideas and more songs - Happy Christmas

And if you miss me too much, you can always check out my friendly argument with Tom Slatter about whether the Beatles are the best band for a songwriter to study (and part two here)

Under The Influence: Lemmy (Motorhead)

2011-12-16T22:55:00.000Z

[I Saw Her Standing There] was the first track on their first album. Paul counted them in with 1,2,3,4, - a great introduction to the greatest rock band of all time. Nobody even comes into the same planetary system in terms of songwriting and presentation, They never repeated themselves, they kept going from strength to strength.

Liverpool was only 60 miles from where I grew up in Wales, and lots of girls would come down from there for holidays … this one girl wrote ‘Beatles’ all over my wall, and I asked who they were. She said they were this incredible new band in Liverpool. So I hitch-hiked up there - this was late 1961- and saw them play a number of times at the Cavern. And I can tell you the intensity and excitement everybody felt a couple of years later was already happening ... A magic time.

Lemmy - Lava Magazine

Under The Influence: Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac)

2011-12-09T06:30:00.000Z

When you think about the Beatles, it’s usually about the sophisticated way they used pop elements and whatever they were being turned on to by George Martin to do things that hadn’t been done before. [I Saw Her Standing There] is just a standard three chord song, but it’s a rock and roll classic. It still explodes at you when you hear it today. There’s even a terrific live version on [Anthology 1] that made me go, “My God, these guys could really play." It represents in its earliest and most naïve incarnation all the buoyancy the Beatles had to offer.

Lindsey Buckingham Lava Magazine

The Many Guitar Solos Of Let It Be

2011-12-06T05:00:00.000Z

Still confused about the four different guitar solos in Let It Be? So was I. So in the name of musical science I edited them all together. Then I thought I'd do a little video and share it with you. But hurry. I'm sure people who have no respect for fair use in musical education will want to spoil the party.. Which solo is YOUR favourite...

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.4) - Let It Be

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000Z

Just like I Me Mine, Let It Be contains extensive overdubbing done by George Martin rather than Phil Spector.

Past Masters

This is the single version recorded and mixed by George Martin. The master take (take 27-A) was recorded on 31 January 1969 at Apple Studios. McCartney played grand piano, Billy Preston played organ (switching between organ and electric piano sound – compare 1:45 with 1:52), Lennon on six-string electric bass, and Harrison on electric guitar. On 30 April, Harrison overdubbed a new guitar solo using a leslie effect. On 4 January 1970 He overdubbed another more distorted solo and Martin added brass and nearly inaudible cellos (last verse, panned right). Ringo and Paul added extra drums and maracas to verse 3 and Harrison, Paul AND Linda McCartney added BVs. This version uses the first solo (panned right) though the second faintly audible (centre). There is almost no trace of the original guitar track. Just after Paul sings Though they may be parted (1:06) you can hear someone (George Martin?) saying “stop it!” in the right speaker.

This was the version used on the 1967–1970 'Blue' album, 20 Greatest Hits and the 1 album.

Let It Be

Phil Spector's remix. He used the second more distorted and aggressive solo (with the first overdubbed solo still faintly audible – both are panned centre), cut the BVs except for the first verse, added delay to the hi-hat in the second verse and brought the bass and brass up in the mix. Just as in I Me Mine Spector 'copied and pasted' to increase length, this time extending the final chorus from twice to three times.

Let It Be Naked

Spector's reverb and extra chorus, and Martin's overdubs are all removed (except the backing vocals?). This is the same basic track as LIB/PM but with numerous edits flown in from other takes, most obviously notably the guitar solo, and there is even evidence of auto tune (listen to the first WORDS of wisdom – 0:21). The solo (from take 27-B) appears to have been lifted with the entire section not just the lead guitar track (compare the piano and drums). The guitar tone is similar to the PM version but the track is much cleaner as there is no 'shadowing' from other takes. Because much of the 'original' guitar tracks are removed there is no real 'build' in the last verse or penultimate chorus.

The whole track is much clearer sonically and seems tighter rhythmically (listen to the cool way Ringo swings the rhythm in the second chorus).

Anthology 3

A completely different version. Take 1 of the song (recorded 25 Jan) is bookended by studio chatter from Jan 31st (take 23) -

John: Are we supposed to giggle in the solo?
Paul: Yeah.
John: OK.
Paul: This'll...this is gonna knock you out, boy.

followed by more chatter from take 25 -

John: I think that was rather grand. I'd take one home with me. OK let's track it. (Gasps) You bounder, you cheat! (a reference to abandoning the no-overdubs/double tracking position that Lennon himself had advocated for Let It Be).

This is simpler and rougher version. No organ at all, and a repeat of verse one replaces the (as yet unwritten) final verse. Harrison is strumming chords on the last verse with a fairly clean leslie'd guitar tone and the drums drop out completely in the last verse. Lennon/Harrison contribute BVs.

The opening is hesitant, the tempo wobbles and there are mic pops throughout. Lennon phones it in on an out of tune bass, playing his trademark bored staccato bass parts. John may have joked about Ringo not being the best drummer in the Beatles, but Lennon's performances on Let It Be and Long & Winding Road definitely earn him 'worst bass player in the Beatles' award.

Film Version

Take 27-B, like 27-A, was recorded at Apple Studios the day after the roof top concert, along with Two Of Us and The Long and Winding Road. Though the audio to this version has never been officially released (apart from the guitar solo), this is the version used in the Let It Be film. The chorus lyrics end “there will be no sorrow, let it be” instead of “there will be an answer, let it be”.

Though there's nothing wrong with the overdubs they're not up to Martin's usual standard and LIBN really benefits from their removal and all the other cleaning up. LIB's solo gives the latter half of the track energy that the LIBN lacks, the brass sounds like a collection of individual instruments rather than single entity and the organ and BVs blend angelically (all of which I like). Anthology is yet another horrible rehearsal tape of historic, rather than artistic, value. And every version has that horrible bass slide at the end!

Verdict

There's really not much to chose between PM, LIB and LIBN but because of the sonic fixing I'd go for LIBN.

abbreviations

LIB - Let It Be
LIBN - Let It Be Naked
A3 - Anthology 3
PM - Past Masters

You have no idea how long this post took to research. I think I would have gone mad without What Goes On - The Beatles Anomalies List and Mix Online. I also would have gone mad without Wikipedia, but Wikipedia was also part of the reason I was going mad in the first place!

Still not got your head around the many solos? There's a special treat for you tomorrow - for a limited time only!!!!!

Fight! Fight! Fight!

2011-12-04T21:13:00.001Z

If you're reading this sometime after 1pm on monday you can head over to steampunk visionary Tom Slatter's Indiesongwriter.net blog and witness me and Tom duking it out over whether The Beatles are the best band for songwriters to study.

And here's one of Tom's cool futuretro videos The Beast of the Air to keep you going till then

Under The Influence: Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day)

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000Z

A lot of punk rock bands are always trying to be so hard all of the time, macho brutality doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a good songwriter. I think that some of the Beatles’ songs are way more punk rock than most punk songs written today. Like the song Yesterday. It’s such a bittersweet song. It’s very important for me to have a message that goes along with the writing. So...what comes to mind for me is a song like The Ballad of John & Yoko, where [Lennon] had this really nice sounding song. But the lyrics penetrate like a knife. “They’re gonna crucify me…” That’s kind of nice way — nice, I mean, in an oxymoronic sense – to put forward something you want to attack.

Interview with Paul Zollo

There are Beatles songs that are way more punk rock than anything the Circle Jerks or Bad Religion ever put out. That guitar figure at the beginning [of In My Life] introduces the song perfectly. Plus the harmonies and backup playing are terrific. John Lennon is analysing his past, all the people that came in and out of his life. He’s sort of bitter, but he’s trying to be levelheaded about it. I can imagine him singing it and having a very sly smile on his face. It’s almost like he’s sincerely bidding someone farewell - but telling them to f*** off at the same time.

Lava Magazine

11:8 The Long And Winding Road (pt.4)

2011-11-28T07:30:00.000Z

In this final post on The Long And Winding Road we get to the heart of why this song is such a success. The song is about being on a never ending journey home to a loved one. Every element - chords, melody and lyrics - work together perfectly to that end.

Chords

More than anything else the chord progression is the key to the mood. As soon as we hear a root chord (in this case Eb major) we have a sense of arriving 'home' (in fact it is often called the home chord). So if you were writing a song about trying to get home but never really arriving what would you do with the 'home' chord? Well Paul McCartney doesn't really arrive at the home chord till the last word of the verse. And he never gets to it in the bridge.

But he's even smarter than that. Here's the verse chord progression

Cm, Ab/Bb , Eb Eb7, Ab
Ab Gm, Cm, Fm Bb7, Db/Eb
Ab Gm, Cm, Fm Bb7, Eb

as you can see we have a root chord in the 3rd bar. Isn't that home? Not when all we get is a lousy two beats we're interrupted by Eb7, which leads us strongly to the key of Ab major.

So now we're a little disorientated. Are we in Eb major or Ab major?

The Gm to Cm change quickly make us suspect we are in Eb major. Everything points to Eb and when we get Bb7 it seems beyond doubt. There is no other chord that leads to Eb as strongly. Let's go home!

Hey! Wait a minute! Db/Eb? That's not even in the same key! In fact it leads us strongly back again to, you guessed it, Ab major.

So are we in Eb major or Ab major? (and haven't we been here before?).

And now we have exactly the same chords cycling by again, like familiar landmarks turning up just when we thought we had taken a different path.

Yep! There's the Bb7 again!

Ah, you can't fool us so easily. Sure, it looks like you're going to lead us to Eb, but you tricked us and lead me back here once before.

Eb major! We're home.

Home Sweet Home

So chord-wise we thought we were heading home, but we took a few detours, which led us back to the long and winding chord sequence that eventually led us to (the) home (chord).

And it's more than a single V chord like Bb7 that tricked us into thinking we re going home.

Consider the progression that occurs twice in the verse

Gm, Cm, Fm Bb7, Eb

we are cycling through the circle of 5ths G - C – F – Bb – Eb (ticket 43) the long and winding road through the keys!

Let's look at the bridge chord progression -

Eb/Bb Ab, Eb/G Fm Bb7
Eb/Bb Ab, Eb/G Fm Bb7
Cm (verse)

This ends with a shorter version of the circle (F – Bb – Eb), the first time heading to Eb/Bb (a brief root chord unsettled by a different bass note) and the second time landing on the vi chord (Cm) instead of the root when it heads back to the verse. Another false ending!

If you listen to the LIB Naked album you can even hear McCartney deprive us of the last Eb chord in the final verse (lead me to your door) while he restates the main theme instrumentally, before finally finishing on one glorious full root chord.

Home Sweet Home.

Melody & Lyrics

The verse melody, like the chords is long and winding. It keeps returning to themes, without ever repeating the entire melody, it hits the root note but never rests there till the final note of the section.

Though the lyrics don't make complete sense they really capture a feeling of being on an epic journey, in one way in particular. Whenever we do land on the root note and the home chord together we get a phrase that speak of being home. As Paul sings lead me to your door and let me know the way the melody is literally leading him home to the root note.

Beautiful stuff. Let's call that Ticket 49.

Next Let It Be.

11:7 The Long And Winding Road (pt.3)

2011-11-21T06:30:00.000Z

So we've looked at the lyrics and whole sackful of songwriting tricks. Today let's look at the cool way McCartney develops the main theme in the first, third and fifth lines of the verse.

Here's the opening phrase – chords above, melody notes below

   Cm Ab/Bb
The long and win - ding road
D Eb D Bb G C

The Beatles repeatedly emphasis this as a hook by doubling the vocal melody on the piano and dropping out as a band (ticket 30). The melody is basically a descending Gm arpeggio (D Bb G ). But superimposing this over the top of the Cm chord transforms it into a Cm9 arpeggio – C Eb G Bb D.

Ab Gm Cm
   Will ne - ver dis – ap - pear
   C D Eb Bb G C

the third phrase is very similar the same five notes end the phrase, but the order of the D and Eb are reversed. This gives a real sense of familiarity, but now the D Bb and G appear over the Gm chord and the Eb becomes a dissonant passing note, so it sounds different at the same time.

Ab Gm Cm
   it al - ways leads me back
   C D Eb Bb G C

The fifth phrase is a carbon copy of the second, chords and all.

So could we formulate what Paul is doing into a songwriting ticket? How about this?

Ticket 48 repeat the same melodic idea over a changing chord progression.

Can you think of any other Beatles songs that do this?

Loving The Beatles Is A Shared Experience

2011-11-19T18:55:00.001Z

Here's a truly beautiful video from Why Music Matters. Be sure to check out their other videos on You Tube. The Phil Lynott one brought tears to my eyes...

Under The Influence: Bob Dylan

2011-11-18T08:00:00.000Z

To this day, it's hard to find a singer better than Lennon was, or than McCartney was and still is. I'm in awe of McCartney. He's about the only one that I'm in awe of. He can do it all. And he's never let up. He's got the gift for melody, he's got the gift for rhythm, he can play any instrument. He can scream and shout as good as anyone, and he can sing a ballad as good as anyone. And his melodies are effortless, that's what you have to be in awe of.... he's just so damn effortless. I just wish he'd quit [laughs]. Everything that comes out of his mouth is just framed in melody.

Bob Dylan interviewed in Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary edition

Songwriting Wars!

2011-11-15T16:46:00.001Z

Dan Bruno asked a really thought provoking question on Twitter today -

So: If you assume every Beatles album is a songwriting contest between John and Paul, on which album does John win by the largest margin?

I'd love to hear you answers.

My gut feeling is A Hard Day's Night - Lennon's stronger on Help! But so is McCartney. I'd say he beats McCartney on Abbey Road, but then both are pounded into submission by Harrison there.

And who's the winner on Beatles For Sale - Carl Perkins?!

C'mon - leave an argument and start a fight! (this is the internet after all!)

11:6 The Long And Winding Road (pt.2)

2011-11-14T06:00:00.000Z

Last time we picked around the musical buffet of this song. Today let's have big slice of lyrics.

Firstly we have a parallel lyrics masterclass (ticket 22).

Long and winding road/long winding road
leads to your door/lead me to your door/lead me here/lead me back
many times I've been alone/many times I've cried
anyway/many ways
I've cried/crying for the day
Why leave me standing here/you left me standing here
Don't leave me waiting here/don't keep me waiting here
Long winding road/I've seen that road
Long and winding road/a long long time ago

We talked about the musical contrast between the verse and bridge last time, but that extends into the rhyme scheme too. The bridge is a plain old vanilla ABAB but the verses are ABCBCB or ABCBCD.

V1 ABCBCB - line 2 and 6 end on the same word
V2 ABCBCB - line 2 and 6 rhyme
V3 ABCBCD - the D line doesn't sound wrong though (be honest, did you even notice before I mentioned it?). Why? Even though lead me to your door doesn't even half-rhyme it is lifted directly from V1. In fact verse 1, 3 & 4 end with leave me to your door.

Next time – All Your Thematic Development Are Belong To Us!

Special Guests

2011-11-13T06:00:00.000Z

File this under complete trivia but did you know that The Rolling Stones appear (after a fashion) on the Sgt Pepper cover, and the Beatles appeared on The Stones' Their Satanic Majesties cover? Check it out

And in other news, one of my favourite songwriters was spotted checking out The Beatles Story in Liverpool recently. Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys obviously thought you have to sport a late 50's Lennon hairstyle to get in....

Finally, is Paul McCartney the Charles Dickens of rock? You decide...

Under The Influence: Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000Z

We looked deep down inside the very core of our souls and there was a little Ringo sitting there. Sure, we like telling people it's John Lennon or George Harrison, but when you really look deep inside of Soundgarden, there's a little Ringo wanting to get out.

Kim Thayil quoted on Spinner.com

11:5 The Long And Winding Road (pt.1)

2011-11-09T11:30:00.000Z

Let's dig into the song that is arguably McCartney's last great Beatles song (feel free to disagree that's what the comments section is for!) with some background and a roundup of cool songwriting points. Future posts will look at how McCartney develops the central melodic theme and how he evoked such a strong sense of being on a restless journey.

If you want any evidence of what a songwriting monster Paul McCartney was (is? Discuss!) how about this – He wrote The Long And Winding Road and Let It Be on the same day!!! (sorry I don't think that as enough exclamation marks. !!!!). Feeling inadequate yet?

Both this song and Harrison's Something were written with Ray Charles in mind. You can hear this on the way Paul sings a b3 over a Db/Eb chord (seen that road before). Very jazzy, very Ray. Bluesifying the melody (ticket 22) also happens on the second line of the verse (leads to your door)but this time using a b7. The sparse and tasteful use of this 'trick' really rescues the song from just being a straight melodic ballad and gives it a slight cool edge.

It's no coincidence that the only two 'out of key' chords in the song (ticket 28) occur in the same place as the 'blue notes' in the melody. There's a lot of subtlety and restraint here, Paul is not bashing you over the head with wrong chords 'Walrus' style (though there's nothing wrong with that!). The chord progression in general is quite creative, avoiding the V chord (Bb major) till the end of bar 7 (ticket 7) and not really coming to rest on the root chord (Eb major) till the end of the verse (ticket 6).

The AABA structure (ticket 26) harks back to the earliest songs like Love Me Do – verses and a bridge, but no chorus. The strong contrast between the two sections (ticket 5) helps keep the song interesting - the bridge is short, regular and repetitive but the verse is long, meandering and only cycles through the melody once. The 12 bar long verse - a 'non 12 bar blues' (ticket 35) also hints at the Beatles influences. It's almost as if 12 bar blues were so ingrained in Paul that he slipped into writing sections 12 bars long even when he wasn't using blues progressions. He did this a few times, most notably on the verse of Fool On The Hill. The old Beatles economy comes back too – there's no intro (ticket 2) and the ending is an instrumental restatement of the vocal hook (ticket 4).

Speaking of the ending, McCartney uses an Aeolian cadence (ticket 10) at the end, using the vi chord, Cm, instead of the I, Eb major (listen to 'Naked'). But unfortunately Lennon (and Harrison?) miss the substitution and play Eb anyway (listen closely to Anthology 3) which caused Richard Hewson to orchestrate it as a Eb (I) on the original album. Shame.

Next time we'll take a quick look at the lyrics.

Under The Influence: Chris Ballew (The Presidents Of The United States Of America)

2011-11-04T06:00:00.000Z

[My biggest songwriting influence is] The Beatles. Totally. I grew up with the Beatles. From the time I was two until I was about 14 or 15, I didn't even know there was another band in the world besides the Beatles. I'd save up my allowance every month and go get another record for $4.97 at Budget Tapes and Records. I got them all and cycled around in them for about 10 years. Nothing [else]. Until I got into Nazareth and Blue Oyster Cult. I went right from the Beatles to schlock rock.

The Presidents are noted for including mashed up Beatles quotes and parodies into their live sets

Originally [Feather Pluckin'] was just an excuse to play with a phase shifter. Then it became kind of a Beatles thing as it progressed. Actually, we were playing around with that in our practice space, and somebody started singing “I've Got A Feeling” over it.

The quote from I've Got A Feeling appeared on the original Pop Llama version of the first album but was edited out of the Columbia rerelease. In live performances the quote has mutated into

All the froggies had a good time
All the chickies got their toes wet
All the monkeys got a drumset to share

Quotes: Guitar World May 1996

Under The Influence: Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)

2011-10-28T07:30:00.000+01:00

Before I got into songwriting, the Beatles had the biggest impact on me musically. That had to do with how young I was, and getting into their whole catalog at the same time. I had stolen a stack of Beatles vinyl that covered their whole career. Two of the records were those ‘best of’ era compilations — those double record sets where one was red and one was blue.

I listened to it all but I gravitated toward the later stuff. Even though I was 9 years old, and had no way of knowing, it was influential in every way as a songwriter and as a singer. Essentially everyone in that band sang at some point. I didn’t know who was who, or if there even was a primary singer, and that had an impact on me. I’ve always approached singing songs in the studio in terms of what is going to sound the best texturally. I’ve never been too worried about having my own specific style as I have in singing a style that’s appropriate to the song. That’s where my range comes from. I really wanted it to sound a certain way, but wanted it to sound, in a certain sense, like a fictional character who is the narrator singing this song.

And in terms of production, those albums influenced me hugely and it took me years to understand that I was doing things a certain way because I loved the way they sound on Beatles records. Sounds and textures and panning and funny, dramatic mixes — what would normally be an inconsequential part where someone sang, or a triangle or something that would come from nowhere, and be the loudest part and then kind of disappear awkwardly. Because it was the Beatles, you didn’t question it. All of that had a huge effect on me.

It wasn’t like the story that I hear a lot of times, where some kid is sitting in his bedroom and he hears KISS for the first time, picks up a guitar and becomes Slash. I didn’t have that moment. I never thought that I would be capable of doing something like that. I was discovering that music would be important in my life as a listener and as a fan.

Chris Cornell (Soundgarden/Audioslave) interviewed on CLATL.com (via The Grunge Report)

Happy Little Songwriters

2011-10-25T07:30:00.000+01:00

Paul McCartney on the BBC in 1968

In this one from 1967 he's talking a right load of old rubbish but it's worth watching just for the 'tache

Under The Influence: Trey Anastasio (Phish)

2011-10-21T06:30:00.000+01:00

My parents had a pretty good record collection, and they used to give me albums to listen to on my little record player. I got [The White Album] from them in about fourth grade, and I played it until I wore through the grooves. It's so universal, and as I get older and come back to it, it's better than ever. Over the years my favourite song changes, however. In those days I liked Rocky Raccoon and Ob La Di, Ob La Da. Now I really like Long, Long, Long,...Who knows what my favourite will be next year?

Guitar World Dec 1996

Catch 22 Love Songs From Grant Woolard

2011-10-18T06:30:00.000+01:00

This is really clever and it makes my head ache. You may like it.

Apparently the 22 songs Grant Woolard is singing all together are

In order of first appearance: 1) All You Need Is Love 2) Love Me Do 3) She Loves You 4) I Feel Fine 5) I Want To Hold Your Hand 6) Can't Buy Me Love 7) While My Guitar Gently Weeps 8) I Should Have Known Better 9) With a Little Help From My Friends 10) Lovely Rita 11) Eight Days a Week 12) Here, There and Everywhere 13) Yesterday 14) And I Love Her 15) For No One 16) All My Loving 17) From Me To You 18) I Will 19) This Boy 20) Across the Universe 21) P.S. I Love You 22) Girl

Beatles Novelty Fan Records

2011-10-16T06:00:00.000+01:00

If you want any idea of how much of a media phenomenon the Beatles were, you could just look at the number of tribute records that appeared at the time. Here's two, All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle by English actress Dora Bryan and the second is the Phil Spector produced debut single Ringo I love You by Bonnie Jo Mason, better known as Cher.

Under The Influence: Ozzy Osbourne

2011-10-14T06:30:00.000+01:00

John Lennon was my God ... Lennon knew how to be aggressive with a great melody, and I find that's something that's lacking in a lot of current music: it's just aggression; where's the f***** melody? Lennon could deliver the heaviest message with a terrific melody. And at the same time he'd paint this abstract, Salvador Dali picture in your head.

They did every form of music and made it their own. I owe my career to the Beatles. I wanted that excitement – they gave me a reason to carry on with my life...They had as much impact as World War II, but in a positive way. I remember feeling so good about buying [Strawberry Fields Forever]. It somehow made me feel good about myself. My confidence went up. The Beatles gave me hope.

Everybody knows what an incredible Beatles fan I am by now! But they influenced everybody, one way or another... If I ever get some terminal disease, just give me my medication, put on any Beatles album and just let me die like a f***** Viking. That's my last request.

Ozzy Osbourne selected I Am The Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever & The Long And Winding Road for his ultimate mix tape in Guitar World, Dec 1998.

Everyone Hates The Long And Winding Road

2011-10-12T06:00:00.000+01:00

If there's one Beatles song that is truly buried under controversy it's this one. It's hard to 'hear' the song for what it is because of all the broohaha surrounding it. Let's try to look at what the beef different people have with it.

Paul McCartney

hates this because he claims Spector ruined it by putting a female choir all over it.

The reality is he took a really lousy demo without McCartney's permission or input and released it. Thus ruining Paul's chances of ever releasing a decent definitive version.

John Lennon

dismissed the song as Paul's attempt to write 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'.

The reality. McCartney wrote his ballad before Paul Simon.

Syrup haters

generally those who detest McCartney for his saccharine streak point to this song as exhibit A in the court of cheesy winsomeness.

The reality. Though it's certainly a mushy ballad, it's not worse than Let It Be, Yesterday or even the first half of Hey Jude. I suspect that the poor performance makes it an easy target.

What do YOU think of this song? Leave me a comment.

Next time – we'll get to the song itself

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.3) - The Long And Winding Road

2011-10-11T06:30:00.000+01:00

LIB - built on a demo recorded on Jan 26 there's a nice ascending string 'solo' brass, female choir ahhing and oohing. Harrison plays acoustic and Lennon plays some awful bass and McCartney's vocal are a little out of tune in places. This may have been covered by vocal double tracking but we'll never know. Spector wiped one of McCartney's vocal tracks to have room for orchestral overdubs.

A3 - The same take as LIB minus all the overdubs. We find that the strings solo was covering a short spoken interlude and we can clearly hear how out of tune some of the vocals are (eg 1:20 - 24 and 1:34). There's a little piano reprise that fades out.

LIBN - A different take recorded on 31 January 69, with Harrison on electric guitar and Billy Preston on electric piano. There are no orchestral or choir overdubs. The line "anyway you'll never know the many ways I've tried," is "anyway you've always known the many ways I've tried" on this version. The solo is now a tasteful organ like one from Preston. There is more straight playing on the hi hat rather than swing on the ride cymbal and a lot less drums overall. The sound is generally much bigger and less compressed.

We have to bear in mind the the LIB track was built on a demo that was never intended for release (as far as McCartney was concerned). The vocals are some of McCartney's worst and Spector did a good job of covering them. He replaced the terrible spoken section with a beautiful string section. Anthology reveals how bad the original track was. Everyone's performance on the LIBN version is far superior, so much so that it's hard to understand why Spector did not use this track. I suspect that in the remixing that every modern digital fix available was used to make this track sound as good as it does.

Verdict: LIBN by a million miles.

LIB - Let It Be
LIBN - Let It Be Naked
A3 - Anthology 3

She Said She Said (10 Beatles Songs Featuring Female Vocalists)

2011-10-10T06:00:00.000+01:00

(this post has been updated Nov 15, 2011)

I would never have female voices on a Beatles record

– Paul McCartney (Many Years From Now p.575)

...apart from Marianne Faithful, all our wives, 2 fans, 1 girlfriend, 2 choirs and an orchestra...

More than any other song The Long And Winding Road epitomises the whole clash of vision, and lack of reality that killed the Let It Be album. Before we take a closer look, let's dispel one of the arguments Paul had for why he hated the recording. He claimed that female vocals were somehow anathema to the Beatles sound. However there are nine other songs where he was quite happy to include the ladies...

1) 14 voice female choir - The Long And Winding Road

This is the one that provoked Paul's odd comment, glacial operatic oohs and ahhs. lady style mushiness to the power of 14.

2) Linda McCartney - Let It Be

The lovely Linda join Paul and George for overdubbed oohs on a song inspired by a dream about Paul's mother.

3) 14 voice female choir (Spector version)Lizzie Bravo & Gayleen Pease(Wildlife version) - Across The Universe

The same set up as The Long And Winding Road didn't annoy Paul as much, presumably because Across The Universe was an old Lennon 'b side' rather than a new McCartney ballad. On the original version Lizzie & Gayleen became probably the most famous Beatles fans (after Charles Manson) after they were plucked from their vigil at the Abbey Road gates to contribute some childishly squeaky vocals to the chorus (which Spector wisely deleted).

4) Yoko Ono & Maureen Starkey - The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill

Not only do a wife and future wife contribute BVs, but Yoko sings one line of lead vocals “Not when he looks so fierce”. Lennon follows this with “...his Mummy butted in”. Feel free to discuss any irony in the statement “his Mummy butted in” in the comments section.

5) Patti Harrison & Yoko Ono - Birthday

Another wife duet on McCartney's written in the studio rocker.

6) Members of Session Orchestra - Hey Jude

The 36 classical musicians booked for this session famously became the knights who sing “Na” after the Beatles doubled their rates in exchange for backing vocals on the longest fade out in history.

7) The Mike Sammes Singers – Goodnight

The middle of the road vocal group add some gooey love mush to Lennon's song for Julian. This time Phil Spector has an alibi, being 3000 miles away from Abbey Road at the time. I accuse George Martin in the studio with the lead piping.

8) The Mike Sammes Singers - I Am The Walrus

George Martin employs one of the UK top vocal groups. Lennon gets them to sing “Everybody's got one” and “Umpah Umpah, stick it up your jumper”

9) Marianne Faithful, Patti Harrison & Jane Asher - All You Need Is Love

Joining everyone and his brother in the studio for the live TV broadcast before 400 million viewers. Keith Moon played hi hat.

10) Marianne Faithful & Patti Harrison - Yellow Submarine

The first sighting of women in the Beatles Boys club. This means that the most recorded woman on the Beatles songs is – Patti Harrison!

Next time I'll try to unpack why everyone hates The Long And Winding Road.

Under The Influence: Steve Jobs

2011-10-07T06:30:00.001+01:00

My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each others negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum parts. And that's how I see business. Great things in business are never done by one person, they are done by a team of people.

Steve Jobs (1955 -2011) Quoted on Gaiam Life

Film Review: Living In The Material World

2011-10-05T23:22:00.001+01:00

Still A Dark Horse

A documentary on a music celebrity can be measured by content and insight - what footage did they access and who was willing to contribute and what new light did it shed on the subject? On the first point Martin Scorsese knocks the ball out of the park. Though I didn't feel I knew George any better than before by the end, I was treated to nearly four hours of dazzling and emotionally moving entertainment.

I watched both parts of the film at UK preview and at no point did my attention or enthusiasm flag. In fact I would have happily sat through any outtakes! This beautifully crafted film is packed with concert footage, home movies, press conferences, interviews, photos and documents that I've never seen before, even though I've been researching the Beatles quite heavily for several years here at Beatles Songwriting Academy. There are interviews with (or at least footage of) everyone you would hope to see. Beatles, wives, brothers, son, Pythons and peers. Everyone from Eric Clapton to Eric Idle.

The documentary is constructed entirely from interviews and clips without explanation or analysis. The closest we get to a voiceover is Dhani Harrison reading excerpts from his father's diary and letters to his mum. Though the film is visually stunning it's strange watching the practically square picture forced upon us by the source material. Equally quirky is the sound editing. Scorsese doesn't know the meaning of 'fade'. All the music cuts brutally, sometimes after a few seconds. Sometimes this is cool. Mostly it's odd. The film is largely chronological and there are some great juxtapositions of sound and visuals like All Things Must Pass accompanies footage of the WW2 bombers that plagued Liverpool during Harrison's birth. The first part covers George's life up to the White Album.

It's hard to pick out favourite parts. But Harrison's obvious delight watching archive footage of the Beatles miming This Boy, laughing and singing along, is one. The Beatles performing If I Needed Someone, Harrison playing What Is Love? with Billy Preston, and seeing the Travelling Wilburys in the studio would be others.

There are moments of laugh out loud humour, especially TV footage of crusty professors discuss the significance of Pop music while Beatles and Mick Jagger seeth like captive wild animal in the background and Tom Petty recounting Harrison arriving at his house with a trunk full of ukeleles. But Harrison's story of how Lennon and McCartney inspired him to start composing is the best -

"If John and Paul can write [songs] everybody must be able to".

The Maharishi (a spiritual Joe Pasquale) and Phil Spector (a croaking, unblinking vision of craziness with a permanently twitching thumb) also provide some unintentional humour.

Scorsese deserves praise for not going down the revisionist myth making route trodden by the Anthology series, especially as Olivia Harrison was one of his producers. Olivia is honest, though vague, about George's infidelity as is Klaus Voorman is about his drug problems. But the lack of a narrator almost makes George a mirror in which we see his world. We know he was loved, deeply, by friends - racing drivers, comedians and film makers, musicians, but we don't whether he was truly loveable. Terry Gilliam describes George as a mix of "grace, humour and a weird kind of angry bitterness" but what made him that way? Did he ever find a release from that bitterness? Was he a good father? Nearing death Harrison asked Olivia if he had been a good husband. She never tells us what her answer was."What's the secret of a long marriage?" She asks herself. "Don't get divorced".

It may sound strange but the highest point for me was simply hearing the music. Listening to Here Comes The Sun and While My Guitar Gently Weeps I was almost moved to tears at the transcendent beauty of those recordings.

Perhaps the fact that the film cause me to fall in love with the music all over again is it's greatest recommendation.

Something In The Way He Makes Movies

2011-10-05T00:12:00.000+01:00

Just got back from a UK cinema preview of Martin Scorsese's mammoth (almost four hours) documentary George Harrison: Living In The Material World. Really enjoyed it. Stay tuned for a review....

Under The Influence: Sting

2011-10-03T05:30:00.000+01:00

I recently sent Paul McCartney a letter thanking him for making it possible for us to have careers as musicians. Especially those of us who have to write and sing in counterpoint to our bass lines! [Love Me Do] was the first Beatles song we heard in England. It was 1962, I was about 10, and I was at the swimming baths with my mates. Suddenly this came over the sound system, and we all just stopped, mesmerised. It was a simple tune, two chords, harmonica, but there was this incredible feeling and energy. Nothing was ever the same.

Sting interviewed in the Nov 1996 issue of Guitar World

Related Post: Oh! Darling/Every Breath You Take

11:4 Let It Be - One After 909

2011-09-30T06:00:00.000+01:00

OK I'm finally ready to roll up my sleeves and get into Let It Be's oldest tune One After 909.

It's a very unassuming blues tune. Is there anything of interest lurking underneath?

The melody is very conjunct, based almost entirely on 4 notes (A B C# D). As the key is B major that means we're hearing the b3 (D) and b7 (A) clash with various chord tones in blues approved fashion (check out the b7 on travelling on that LINE ). That's bluesifying your melody (ticket 22)

Lyrically it's an intriguing blend of clever and stupid. We've got an original title, we have to wait until the bridge to find out the 909 is a train, but we never find out what number of his baby's train IS! Other parts are nonsensical - is he travelling on that line or waiting at the station? And what does she need to move over for? (is he a train?).

As always Lennon & McCartney increase the stickiness by seeding the song with repeated phrases and words in different parts of the song (ticket 24)

move over once/twice/honey
I begged her
Only fooling round
Pick up my bags

Musically, my favourite part of the arrangement are the stops which accent the vocals (ticket 30) on the “move over once/twice” section

The verse structure is an extended and mutated 12 bar blues (tickets 19 and 33) with a bridge (creating a long AABA structure – ticket 26)

B7 B7 B7 B7
B7 B7 B7 B7
B7 B7 E7 E7
B7 F#7 B7 B7

It's a pretty courageous choice staying on the I chord for so long, but the stops help avoid monotony.

The bridge's chord progression is unusual - a more standard bridge would use the v of V movement which crops up in many jazz classics like I Got Rhythm.

D#7 D#7 G#7 G#7 C#7 C#7 F#7 F#7 - B7

D#7 is the 5th of G#7, is the 5th of C#7, is the 5th of F#7, is the 5th of B7 (which would be the first chord of the verse)

What we get instead is

E7 E7 B7 B7 C#7 C#7 F#7 F#7

repeated, giving us a 16 bar 'middle eight' (?!). I suspect they get away with this because they had underused E7 in the verse so it still felt fresh as an option going into the bridge.

How thought out was this on Lennon's part? As it was one of his earliest songs I think he was working on pure instinct.

Verdict. It's a fun little blues song with no great lessons to impart. Lennon and McCartney didn't hold it in high regard. The lyrics are just as dumb and illogical as She Came In Through The Bathroom but my tolerance for that kind of thing is inversely proportionate to how serious the song takes itself. It's hard to hate this little guy - he means well.

Under The Influence: Les Claypool (Primus)

2011-09-23T06:00:00.000+01:00

My mom … bought Abbey Road, and I wore that sucker out on my little phonograph as a kid. I used to put it on before I went to bed and would fall asleep listening to it. [I Want You (She's So Heavy) is] the last song on the first side, and it's very moody, with amazing guitar tones and a nice little bass groove. One night, I'm drifting off and the song keeps going on and on at the end, making storm noises and things. It freaked me out! I was a little kid and I got scared. I actually had to jump up and turn it off because I thought the devil had possessed my turntable.

Primus' Les Claypool (compiling his ideal mixtape in the Oct 96 Guitar World)

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.2) - One After 909

2011-09-20T07:00:00.000+01:00

One After 909 occupies a pretty unique place in rock history.

It was a song that was recorded just after their first album (during the From Me To You sessions) but appeared on their final release (Let It Be) instead – a full 7 years later. The first version was released (on Anthology 1) about 20 years after the second, meaning in almost everyone's perception the 'cover version' is the original. I can't think of another song by any band that has the same convoluted history.

LIB – A raucous version from the famous rooftop concert featuring Billy Preston. The band swing the rhythm, McCartney plays a root/fifth bass line pretty much throughout. The lead guitar (Harrison) is panned right. The track ends with applause from the handful of people on the roof and Lennon sings a line of Danny Boy. There are no Spector overdubs.

LIBN – A light remix of the LIB version. Very slightly louder overall, drums louder but Harrison's guitar is panned more center making it harder to distinguish between the guitars. The track fades quickly in order to cut the applause and Lennon's comment. McCartney's BVs are lower but Lennon's off mic “ad libs” are much louder.

A1 - A composite of takes 4 and 5 recorded on 5 March 1963. The song is played in straight time, the intro is F# E B instead of B, Lennon is playing acoustic. McCartney plays constant 8th notes on bass (or tries to! - see below). Ringo adds 8th notes on the bass drum in the 'move over once' breaks.

A1 - A composite of outtakes. Take 3 breaks down when McCartney is unable to keep up playing fingerstyle. An argument ensues about suitcase between John, Ringo & Neil Aspinall. Take 4 breaks down when Lennon comes back in 4 bars early after the solo. More arguing. Take 5 is the solo till the end (but fades out early).

There's hardly anything to pick between LIB & LIBN but LIB just edges it because the lead guitar is clearer and it doesn't have that awkward fade on the end. The outtakes on A1 are hilarious and well worth a listen. The complete version on A1 is the best in my opinion, even though it clearly has more in common with I Saw Her Standing There than Get Back. The take has an energy that LIB never achieves and though the playing is equally as ropey, it's because they're inexperienced youths rather than jaded rock stars playing in sub zero winds.

Best version: Anthology 1

abbreviations

LIB - Let It Be
LIBN - Let It Be Naked
A1 - Anthology 1

Thanks to The Beatles Bible for background info

What's Your Basis Beat?

2011-09-16T06:00:00.000+01:00

This line-up may at first seem dull but it must be appreciated that as the boys have above average instrumental ability they achieve surprisingly varied effects. Their basis beat is off-beat, but this has recently tended to be accompanied by a faint on-beat; thus the overall sound is rather reminiscent of the four in the bar of traditional jazz. This could possibly be put down to the influence of Mr McCartney [Senior], who led one of the top local jazz bands (Jim Mac’s Jazz Band) in the 1920s.

A very young Paul McCartney struggling to describe the Beatles style circa 1960

Taken from the very intriguing Early Beatles Songs website. Check it out.

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.1) - I Me Mine and Across The Universe

2011-09-14T06:30:00.000+01:00

Though there are officially released alternative versions of every Beatles album floating about (mono vs stereo, UK vs US, remastered vs erm … mastered) Let It Be is in a class of it's own. Versions of these songs crop up on Let It Be, Let It Be Naked, Anthology 1, 2 & 3, Past Masters and '1'. As well as the obvious 'Spectorizing' (massive overdubbing by session musicians) some versions of the same songs are built on completely different takes. Though I'm going to be analysing the songs in true Beatles Songwriting Academy fashion, I thought it might be helpful to give you a rough guide to the various versions.

As I've already analysed I Me Mine and won't get to Across The Universe till 'Magical Mystery Submarine' (which is where it belongs chronologically) let's get those two over with now.

I Me Mine

LIB – Spector's version is a little dull sonically, especially the bass. The wall of sound is pretty low in the mix so it doesn't add much, good or bad. Spector lengthened the track by 50 seconds by literally copying a section and repeating it.

LIBN – Sharper sonically. All the Spector overdubs are removed. However, the Beatles had already added their own multiple overdubs (McCartney's organ & electric piano, Harrison's twin acoustic/electric lead fills) and these are retained as are the extra 50 seconds.

A3 – As LIBN but without the extra 50 seconds (so the structure is literally intro-verse-chorus-verse). It also adds George's humorous spoken intro, referring to Lennon as 'Dave Dee'.

If 'Naked' is a euphemism for 'deSpectorized', then Anthology is the true version. But it's so short!

Best Version: Let It Be Naked

Working with the Beatles took it's toll on George Martin...

Across The Universe

PM – The first released version appeared on a WWF fundraising album (to benefit animals, not wrestlers - hence the added animal sound FX) and is often referred to as the 'wildlife version'. It features a couple of female fans (who had been dragged in from their studio gate vigil) doubling Lennon's vocals on the chorus, BVs by the Beatles (answering ahhs on the chorus) some quite loud maracas and wah wah chords. The fastest version (sped up almost a semitone to D#) but also the longest, due to 20 seconds of FX on intro. Effects on vocals, guitar and tambura.

LIB – Spector slowed the track down, lowering the pitch a semitone to C#, added strings (18 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos), 14 voice choir, (“Disney strings & lullaby voices” McDonald p.227) harp, brass & drum overdubs. There were also 2 guitarists booked for this session! Glyn Johns had already removed all the original sound FX and BVs (both the fans and The Beatles). Heavy phasing on Lennon's vocals and a noticeable edit just before the outro.

LIBN – Much clearer sonically and in the original key of D. No Spector overdubs, BVs, or maracas and the tambura comes in later. There is no noticeable phasing on the track itself till much later. Fades out without the little piano riff.

A2 – Much faster but still in original key (no varispeed). A completely different take. With the possible exception of bass, this sound like an entirely unplugged version. Phasing on the rhythm guitar from halfway through the first verse. Weird chiming instrument, Indian sounding slide guitar. No BV's.

The guest vocals on PM aren't great and it's just sounds too fast. The tempo particularly gives a manic edge to the wah wah and tambura. And on LIBN the track becomes a tambura solo with a Beatles accompaniment. The unplugged version on A2 is a really cool bonus track, but the Richard Hewson arrangement on LIB actually lifts quite a plodding dronefest and Johns/Spector rein in the worst parts of the PM version – frantic tempo, bad BVs, and that darn tambura!

Best Version: Let It Be

...but he got off lightly compared to Phil Spector !

abbreviations

LIB - Let It Be
LIBN - Let It Be Naked
A1 - Anthology 1
A2 - Anthology 2
A3 - Anthology 3
PM - Past Masters
B1 '1' aka Beatles Number Ones

Blessed Are The Mundane

2011-09-06T18:08:00.000+01:00

Be regular and orderly in your life ... so that you may be violent and original in your work.

- Gustave Flaubert

As well as being singletasking, prolific, co-writers, with a fine crop of facial hair, the Beatles were such successful songwriters because they were creatures of habit.

Consider how consistent, even boring, they were in their careers as recording artists. They maintained not only the same line up, but had one manager, one record label and the same two roadies for the entire seven years.

The vast majority of their 211 songs were rehearsed, cut and mixed at EMI studios, Abbey Road under the watchful eye of one producer, George Martin.

And tools of the trade? It's only a slight generalisation* to say Lennon & McCartney recorded most of the songs with 2 basses, 3 electrics and 2 acoustics. Harrison, the biggest gearhead, seemed to average one new guitar per album which still adds up to less instruments than many pros take on tour today. The band shared, swopped and repainted guitars throughout their career. Ringo had five successive kits that were all essentially the same, until he went crazy and added an extra tom tom for Let It Be.

This frugality is mind boggling when compared with Slash's collection of 100 guitars (and rising) and Mike Portnoy's purple, siamese and albino monster kits.

Even the number of wives and houses was far less than the average rock star quota!

It's A Drag Man
All this resulted in a minimum of creative drag when it came to making music. Every new band member takes time to settle in. New producers and studios need time to get comfortable with. Even a new instrument takes time to get used to. And all that time could be better spent writing and recording.

Consider Abbey Road studios. In many ways it was a inhospitable grey place, characterised by harsh lighting, locked fridges and rough toilet paper. But whether George Martin and the team needed a harpsichord or a recording of a blackbird they knew where to find it. They didn't need to stop to figure out how to patch the reverb through the desk. In fact because everyone knew exactly how it all worked they had the ability to devise ways to make things not work properly, inventing ADT, flanging, close miking and the like.

The Beatles were products of their time and that means they had less choices available to them than we do today (as I've written about before). But that just means we need to pay more attention to this.

Don't Let It Be

Let's look at Let It Be as a case study. It's universally believed to be The Beatles lowest ebb. What was going on? Lennon was going through a divorce. The band were deadlocked over whether Lee Eastman or Allen Klein should represent them. So how did they approach recording a new album?

They decide to film a 'making of' documentary. This involved them rehearsing on a film studio soundstage. Union rules meant they had work normal 'office hours' rather than the night shift they'd become used to, surrounded by a strange film crew rather than the normal handful of insiders. Glyn Johns was giving the job of capturing the album on tape at Apple's 'state of the art' 72 track studio which hadn't even been finished (and proved unusable when it was).

The result was a disaster. The follow up, Abbey Road was a return to form, because in part, it was a return to the usual people, place and methods too.

Balance

It's so tempting to start moving the furniture when you want to create something fresh and it feels like the more change the better. But the Beatles were able to evolve musically at such a phenomenal rate because they left so many other things untouched.

Think about like this. Your kitchen is a workspace. You like to know where everything is and have everything you use regularly to hand. That's why it drives you (and me) nuts when they keep rearranging the shelves at the supermarket. There are times when we need to rearrange or decorate the kitchen. But they are the days when you order take out Pizza.

The point is not that you should never sack the drummer, buy a new guitar or move house. But every change is a withdrawal from the bank of creative headspace and it makes good sense to keep a healthy balance. So if you just fired half the band maybe you shouldn't record your next album in another country on that brand new digital format this time around.

In general aim for as little excitement as possible in your working methods. Your creative process should appear utterly boring to anyone else (unless they are interested in 'creative processes'). If you're doing anything sexier than drinking lots of coffee while you play the same 3 notes over and over again, I'd say you're doing it wrong.

Blessed are they who can change what they do, because they rarely change how they do it.

*If you'd like my research to be a little more accurate you could always buy me a copy of Beatles Gear by Andy Babiuk or any other book on my Amazon wish list!

A Short Diversion On The Dubious Origins...

2011-08-31T23:21:00.000+01:00

Being A Short Diversion On The Dubious Origins Of Beatles
(Translated From The John Lennon)

[John Lennon explains the origins of the Beatles in 1961]

Once upon a time there were three little boys called John, George and Paul, by name christened. They decided to get together because they were the getting together type. When they were together they wondered what for after all, what for? So all of a sudden they grew guitars and fashioned a noise. Funnily enough, no one was interested, least of all the three little men. So-o-o-o on discovering a fourth little even littler man called Stuart Sutcliffe running about them they said, quite 'Sonny get a bass guitar and you will be alright' and he did - but he wasn't alright because he couldn't play it. So they sat on him with comfort 'til he could play. Still there was no beat, and a kindly old man said, quote 'Thou hast not drums!' We had no drums! they coffed. So a series of drums came and went and came.

Suddenly, in Scotland, touring with Johnny Gentle, the group (called the Beatles called) discovered they had not a very nice sound - because they had no amplifiers. They got some.  

Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles, how did the name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision - a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them 'From this day on you are Beatles with an 'A'. Thank you, mister man, they said, thanking him. 

And then a man with a beard cut off said - will you go to Germany (Hamburg) and play mighty rock for the peasants for money? And we said we would play mighty anything for money. 

But before we could go we had to grow a drummer, so we grew one in West Derby in a club called Some Casbah and his trouble was Pete Best. we called 'Hello Pete, come off to Germany!' 'Yes!' Zooooom. After a few months, Peter and Paul (who is called McArtrey, son of Jim McArtrey, his father) lit a Kino (cinema) and the German police said 'Bad Beatles, you must go home and light your English cinemas'. Zooooom, half a group. But before even this, the Gestapo had taken my friend little George Harrison (of speke) away because he was only twelve and too young to vote in Germany; but after two months in England he grew eighteen and the Gestapoes said 'you can come'. So suddenly all back in Liverpool Village were many groups playing in grey suits and Jim said 'Why have you no grey suits?' 'We don't like them, Jim' we said, speaking to Jim. 

After playing in the clubs a bit, everyone said 'Go to Germany!' So we are. Zooooom Stuart gone. Zoom zoom John (of Woolton) George (of Speke) Peter and Paul zoom zoom. All of them gone. Thank you club members, from John and George(what are friends).
First published in Merseybeat magazine page 2, issue No. 1 (July 6 1961)

You can read more background about this piece at here

Book Review: Love Me Do (Braun) and The Beatles (Davies)

2011-08-29T16:03:00.000+01:00

Here's my review of two very important early Beatles biographies, both with unique insights into Lennon and McCartney's songwriting process.

UPDATE - Rob Stevens (From Amersfoort) has left a comment below describing the 'missing pictures' from Love Me Do)

Get these books from Amazon UK

Love Me Do: The Beatles' Progress
The Beatles: The Authorised Biography

Get these books from Amazon US

Love Me Do: The Beatles' Progress
The Beatles: The Authorised Biography

Light Relief

2011-08-25T12:16:00.000+01:00

Why did Noel Gallagher cross the road?

Because the Beatles did.

Know any other Beatles themed jokes? Leave me a comment!

Sorry for the lack of action recently. I've been working on a hip hop themed songwriting project with 20 young people.

I am working on a new Beatletude post and a double book review though

The Academy will reopen soon

Abbey Road Post Index

2011-08-18T17:41:00.002+01:00

Here's a complete list of all the posts on Abbey Road

0 Abbey Road introduction – Let It Be vs Abbey Road
1 Because 1 – background, Beethoven and chords
2 Because 2 – vocal harmonies
3 Because 3 - bridge
4 Because 4 – music/lyric disconnect
5 Because 5 – lyrics
6 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 1 – lyrics (hall of shame)
7 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 2 - questions about keys, sections and starting points
8 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 3 – answers about keys, sections and starting points
9 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 4 – that D minor chord
10 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 5 – contrasting sections
11 Polythene Pam
12 Mean Mr Mustard
13 Sun King
14 The End
15 Come Together 1 – nonsense songs
16 Come Together 2 – parallel lyrics
17 Come Together 3 - melody
18 Come Together 4 – structure, missing notes, misc ideas
19 Maxwell's Silver Hammer 1 – why is it so bad?
20 Maxwell's Silver Hammer 2 – lyrics (hall of shame)
21 Here Comes The Sun 1 – contrasts and parallels
22 Here Comes The Sun 2 – intro and hooks
23 Carry That Weight
24 Golden Slumbers
25 Her Majesty
26 You Never Give Me Your Money 1 - structure
27 You Never Give Me Your Money 2 – six good points
28 The Long One (Medley) - overview
29 Octopus's Garden 1 – how to write a bad song
30 Octopus's Garden 2 – good points
31 Oh! Darling 1 - strengths
32 Oh! Darling 2 – weak points
33 Something 1 – story, influences and cover versions
34 Something 2 – unusual elements
35 Something 3 – melody
36 Something 4 – descending melodies, harmonies and bass line
37 Old Brown Shoe (hall of shame)
38 Something 5 – lyrics
39 Something 6 – contrasting sections
40 Something 7 – misc ideas
41 Something 8 - bridge
42 The Ballad Of John And Yoko 1 - overview
43 The Ballad Of John And Yoko 2 – blues structure
44 I Want You (She's So Heavy)
45 Abbey Road Concluding thoughts

Other related posts

The Fab Faux play The Long One (Medley)
Separated At Birth? Something/For No One – how two completely different songs use the same chord sequence
Three Hammer Prevention Questions – how to avoid writing a song like Maxwell's Silver Hammer

Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles (pt.3)

2011-08-17T06:05:00.000+01:00

Chapter Two: The Three-Chord Trick and the Blues

Welcome back to my mini blog within a blog on Dominic Pedler's Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles – read the previous parts here

Once again we see Pedler's ability to create songwriting gold from very base materials. He demonstrates how these 3 basic chords are the foundation for all the other clever stuff that goes on around them in even the most non blues influenced materials. After going into great deal about the V to I progression he examine the 'plagal cadence' going from IV to I which is a big part of songs like Let It Be (p.32). He then hits the minor 4 progression (p. 33ff) (known as the infamous Ticket 8 here at Beatles Songwriting Academy) which may possibly the only thing I've covered in more depth than this book (see the posts here).

Another interesting thing that Pedler points out is how often the Beatles would use the minor three chord trick to create contrasting bridges for major key 12 bar blues (p.39). I'd noticed this in Can't Buy Me Love but you can also hear it in She's A Woman, You Can't Do That, I Feel Fine, A Hard Day's Night.

The chapter finishes off with a crazy table (p. 41) that matches key words in Hey Jude to the function of the chords that support them. So “you can START" is about action which is matched by the dominant chord that is raring to go somewhere, and lands on the tonic (I) for “to make it BETTER” which is 'grounded'. I'm not sure I buy into it but it sure is interesting.

These first two chapters have really laid the ground work excellently for what's to come and I've learned a whole lot of stuff.

Other versions - UK The Songwriting Secrets ... (Kindle)
USA The Songwriting Secrets ... (Hardback)
USA The Songwriting Secrets... (Kindle)

12:45 Abbey Road Conclusions

2011-08-16T07:32:00.001+01:00

Time to wrap up Abbey Road with some concluding thoughts.

First of all I still stand by all the observations I made in the introductory post Let It Be vs Abbey Road namely,

Though Abbey Road is far better than Let It Be both albums reflect a songwriting partnership that could no longer work together and a dysfunctional band running out of ideas.

The reason Abbey Road is such a good album is that in a sense it is George Martin's concept album where the 'concept' was simply to work in a businesslike fashion and make a well recorded, well constructed album.

Whatever the intentions may have been, the medley isn’t really a unified piece of music at all. Judging each part in it’s own right most of the songs don’t really hold up.

Having analysed every song in detail, here's what I've learned

Here Comes The Sun, Something, Come Together are classic songs. Others like You Never Give Me Your Money and I Want You have elements of greatness that they don't quite fulfil.

Abbey Road represents Ringo and George's greatest moments as Beatles composers. John Lennon has one classic on here. Surprisingly McCartney is the only one not on top form. What sapped his creative energy? Let It Be, the lawsuits or the Long One? I think the positive critical response to the Medley (and to a lesser extent A Day In The Life ) harmed Paul's songwriting in that it encouraged McCartney to release many more 'patchwork songs' from Jet to much of the Memory Almost Full album. But apart from Live And Let Die I'm struggling to name any that have really worked. (Can YOU think of any?).

Two songs start with lines blatantly ripped off other artists. Come Together nicks lyrics (and the vocal rhythm) from Chuck Berry's You Can't Catch Me and Something from James Taylor's Something In The Way She Moves. (Berry's publisher sued and won).

In The Ballad Of John And Yoko/Old Brown Shoe I think we have the only example in the Beatles career of a single being far worse than anything on the album.

There are moments on Abbey Road where you can hear the seeds of where the music scene would head in the next decade. There are hints of Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, The Who, Fleetwood Mac and Santana here. I'm sure that, had they continued, The Beatles would have survived and thrived in the stadium rock era.

But that was not to be. Lennon was fading away. He was completely absent on Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Here Comes The Sun and Her Majesty and contributed only backing vocals to Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and Old Brown Shoe.

Next time I'll put up an index of all the Abbey Road posts. Then we're movin' on people, movin' on.

Alt Hitman's Got A Ticket To Write

2011-08-15T06:20:00.001+01:00

Welcome to another post where I ask 'real-life' songwriters just like you to spill the beans on how Beatles inspired songwriting ideas like the Tickets To Write have helped them create new songs. Say hola! to alt hitman...

First, I'm honored to be invited to post. Thank you, Matt, and thanks for trashing Maxwell's Silver Hammer!

I write demo songs in the wee hours of the east village night, after the sirens go to sleep and before the birds start wailing. I've always written from the hip and just misunderstand music theory. One reason I love the Tickets To Write is that they break it down in a slew of dares. I started with piano in my tweens, and picked up the guitar when I left for university. I think I'm on a futile mission to write the best White Album rejects I can.

You And You

For my song You and You I availed myself of the major to minor (Ticket 8). I isolated this switch by dropping the lyrics here, and gave it time to happen over two measures (G to Gm7). I've used this ticket before, occasionally changing the root of the chord. Lyrically, I used parallel lyrics (ticket 24). I aim for that moment when the chord structure and the lyrics begin to intertwine. The middle change in this song is not a real chorus, more of a burning bridge (ticket 26). Finally of course I always make use of ticket 21. It keeps me honest.

Inspiration

I was thinking of George Harrison circa 1970 when I wrote this one. I'd like to add some Harrisonesque guitar phrasing when I get the courage. The lyrics are circular but paradoxically open-ended. Recently I worked the D aug into several songs (eg What Is Up Girl?)...and I don't mind borrowing the augmented feel from Oh Darling! for the open!

alt hitman is pronounced like Walt Whitman, minus the W's. He grew up in El Salvador and New Orleans which is where he gained the ability to deep fry 7th and 9ths. By day he's a freelance artist or Sunday painter in the East Village and you can find his music at http://alt-hitman.bandcamp.com.

Read about another ticket holder: Joel D Canfield

Have you used the Tickets to write in any of your songs? - Drop me a line and let me know!

More Tea Vicar?

2011-08-11T06:03:00.000+01:00

Sexually addicted to [Yoko Ono], he was helplessly dependant, a predicament grindingly obvious in his chord sequence: the sickening plunge from E7 to Bb7; the augmented A that drags his head up to make him go through it all again; the hammering flat ninth that collapses, spent, on the song's insatiable D minor arpeggio. Nightmarishly tormented, this is a musical tryst with a succubus. No wonder the lyric consists of the same phrase over and over again. Lennon is literally obsessed.

Ian MacDonald gets himself all worked up about the bridge to I Want You (She's So Heavy) in Revolution In The Head (pp. 343-4)

All Riot Now

2011-08-10T22:10:00.003+01:00

This is me

Hey Folksfor those of you wondering about the riots in the UK at the moment and if it's affecting Beatles Songwriting Academy in anyway, there's a bit of an update over on MattBlick.com but short story is I'm fine - thanks for your messages and prayers.

I've got two more posts to finish off Abbey Road then I'm going to take a little break before I hit Let It Be. Expect some tidying up around the site, a few posts on another 'golden ticket', another Be-Atletude, a guest post and a few other goodies I've been saving up as motivation to get me through Abbey Road.

Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles (pt.2)

2011-08-09T16:54:00.002+01:00

Welcome once again to my mini blogwithin a blog of Dominic Pedler's Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles– read the previous parts here

Chapter One: Tension, Resolution AndThe Power of V

Being honest, starting with a chapteron the role of the five chord felt like opening a book on Dickens with hisuse of full stops or capital letters. Surely this is too basic?

But I learned some stuff. Pedlar openedmy eye to how many times the big climax occurred on a V or V7 chord.Most of the places where they sang “WOOOOOOOOO” for a start (SheLoves You, From Me To You) and many of the big bridge build ups(Twist And Shout, Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night) (p.2). AndDay Tripper's bridge must hold some kind of record for sustaining thebuild up over 12 bars!

Part of the reason the V7 to I is sucha powerful chord change is the unstable tritone core of the chord.For instance in A7 the notes are A C# E G. C# and G are a tritone (aflattened fifth apart whichever way round you play them). But if theC# could pull up one note to a D and the G one note down to an F# andyou have a D major chord – just add the A you already have (p.4,6).What do you do with the E? I don't know. Make soup?

I also learned that the tritone is themost dissonant because the vibration ratio is the most complex –32:45. By comparison an octave is 2:1, a fifth 2:3 and a major third4:5. (p.5) How useful is that? Pass. I'm sure knowing vibrationratios is a great help in picking up girls.

Pedler likes his tables and onefeaturing a 'dramatic dominant' moment from each album (p.9) is myfave so far. Many feature either stops or walk downs back to the rootchord (eg You've Got To Hide Your Love Away – 0:35).

Pedler is also good at spotting lyricsthat coincidentally comment on what's happening in the harmony. Theselyrics accompany a dominant (V) chord heading to the 'home' tonic(I).

“And meanwhile back …” (PennyLane)
“Lead me to your door” (The LongAnd Winding Road)
“You're coming home” (It Won't BeLong Now)

Too early to say if this will getannoying.

I wrote "genius" next to the musicalexample of If I Fell

Don't hurt my pride like her.

The vocals at this point are briefly inunison but as they head for the D9 chord everything points to themelody hitting a D (b d c# b c# -). But they split up on the word'her', Lennon dropping to a C natural (the b7 of the chord) andMcCartney jumping to E (the 9^th). Sheer Genius.Beautiful. Can't wait to get to that song.

The publishers did a great job securingthe permission to print musical examples. There's probably one perpage on average and they're very well laid out.

Pedler mops up by looking at altered Vchords like the Augmented (Oh Darling, One After 909).

A great first chapter.

PS a couple of people have commentedor asked about Walter Everett's two volume The Beatles as Musicians. In 'further reading' Pedler says these books are“unquestionably the ultimate source for the advanced reader” andon “a level far beyond this modest introduction” (p.768). So nowyou know!

Other versions -
UK The Songwriting Secrets ... (Kindle)
USA The Songwriting Secrets ... (Hardback)
USA The Songwriting Secrets... (Kindle)

12:44 I Want You (She's So Heavy) - with Nicholas Tozier

2011-08-08T07:10:00.001+01:00

At this time of year the mullioned halls of Beatles Songwriting Academy become deserted as the students all go home for the summer, the professors head off to the nearest pub for research and the rest of the support staff put on the Stones and kick back. Even the school nurse is doing a European tour with Rammstein. So as soon as I heard that songwriting blogger Nicholas Tozier was in town I grabbed my Rickenbacker frying pan and invited him over for a traditional English meal and a chat about I Want You (She's So Heavy).

Matt: You want that last onion bhaji, Tozier?

Tozier: No, thanks man. I'm full!

One of the first times I talked to you, you said I Want You (She's So Heavy) was one of your favourite Beatles tunes. But what does a poetic, literary guy like you see in a song with just 13 words and hardly any description?

I’d call it more dramatic than literary. Just a few words sung like they’re meant. And to be honest, I think I enjoy the oppressive, ominous atmosphere more than anything else about this song.

That ominous atmosphere is really coming from the bridge section right?

Yeahhh. ROOOOOAARRRRRRR. Sounds like some kind of vortex opened up in the studio and started sucking all the Beatles and their instruments into it. It’s fantastic.

Did you know the album sides were originally reversed? Meaning this song (and that ending) would have been their final statement as a band.

I had no idea. That’s spooky.

It leaves you with a whole different parting message than

And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make

Mm, tell me about it. Ending with “I Want You” would make it more of a “Don’t get sucked into Cthulhu’s gaping maw” kind of moral I guess.

So beginning with the ending - I can see where you’re coming from, but for me that section is too long for anyone who isn’t stoned -

Ha! I have no idea why (I’m not stoned, I swear) but I like that portion a lot, actually. Maybe it’s the metalhead in me coming out after all these years. I’d argue that the song’s structure does drag, but for me I’d say the drag’s more in the middle.

Yeah. We have the verse section repeated in two keys (Am and Dm) and they do the whole thing four times. They could have cut the Dm section in a verse or two (definitely in the instrumental verse). After all the Am and Dm verse sections both end on the same chord progression [G to Am].

Totally agreed there. At that point the repetition isn’t really necessary. The statement’s already been made. Kind of like when somebody makes a really wonderful point orally, but then drags the speech out for five more minutes just rehashing that in less interesting ways.

Have you seen the Across The Universe film - it’s like Mamma Mia but with Beatles songs?

No I haven’t! Is this song in it?

Yeah it’s the best video I've seen where the visuals mean something completely different to the original meaning of the song. Let me show you.

[We head for the matron's room and find her PS3 console next to the statue of the Virgin Mary, underneath the framed Ringo Starr 8x10. Matt cues up the video on Youtube while Tozier admires the religious iconography].

Tozier: I think this Ringo signature is fake...

Matt: Here we go...

Tozier: Hmm, that was interesting.

Matt: Interesting in a bad way?

No, not at all. The social context of the song is interesting and I can see why they choose this very moody, grinding song to accompany that scene. Out of the whole film’s context it’s hard for me to pass any judgment on, but the visuals were very interesting and surreal and terrifying, which is entirely appropriate given that they’re talking about a sucking wound that the U.S. tried to stop by shovelling bodies into it.

The film is worth checking out. I wondered how they did such a good job of making a logical sensible piece out of such disparate songs when other shows (We Will Rock You) are embarrassing and tacky. I think it’s 'cos A, there are a lot of characters in the Beatles songs and B, the lyrical meanings are deliberately vague.

Yeah, I can see why you’d say that. An ambiguous refrain is useful for more than just verse development, I guess.

[We head to the drawing room for brandy, cigars and a game of billiards. Tozier pots the final ball off two cushions in spectacular fashion]

Matt: Darn you and all your fancy Down Easter ways!! Anyway, getting back to I Want You. I can hear the seeds of where the music scene was heading in this song. There are hints of Alice Cooper, early Led Zeppelin - the rock dinosaurs were coming!

Tozier: Totally agree with you there. This is blues, getting more and more nasty, more distorted.

I think Jimmy Page, would have done a better job as a producer/arranger on this song than the Beatles did. As you said, once the Beatles have stated their themes they just repeat - he would have built and added more parts...

I would hope so. Is it true that the Beatles mixed this as a group?! That seems insane.

Well by this time Lennon, McCartney and Harrison were involved in mixing, but not all at once. Have you seen those old consoles? There weren't enough controls to have one each!

[Chokes back his brandy] Oh to be a fly on the wall... No, I hadn’t seen those. I think your comment on being stoned earlier hit the nail. This song sounds stoned.

If you want to get a feel for what equipment the Beatles had at their disposal just watch any old Frankenstein film.

The creature walks!!!

Yeah but just REAAAAAAALLLLLLLYYY SLLLLOOOOWWWWLY!

[Laughs] Indeed! More of a shuffle.

Speaking of which - did you notice Ringo goes into swingtime on the final bridge fade out. The man was a genius. Sorry. Is.

I hadn’t noticed that! But now that I think back, you’re right. I was just thinking before we started talking that rhythms are really responsible for what momentum this song has.

Does the fact that the tempo fluctuates bother you? The song is a composite of 3 different takes.

It does sound a bit patchwork, but I hadn’t ascribed it to the tempo. Some of the transitions are certainly awkward, but I think the tempo’s only an accomplice in that. Not so sure about the heavily swinging bridge section that always makes me think of elevator music.

Are you calling the Dm ascending thing the bridge or the stop start E7b9 thing? Oh! The solo!

The solo.

Yeah, right. It’s Santana or Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac at their snooziest.

That’s a good way of putting it. It’s like Santana’s still a little sedated from his flight in or something.

[Laughs]. Put me in George Martin's seat and the solo (or at least half of it) would be my first edit for sure. Can I not persuade you to trim the ‘fade out' a little though? I mean the song is 7:47 - guess how much of that is the final section.

Probably about half an hour of that is the end, yeah.

Close. 3:10. On one riff! I mean the famous Hey Jude fade is only slightly longer [3:59]. The only fills are Ringo (very good) and Paul (very bad). I’d use the word dribbly to describe his fills.

That’s probably what the lead sheet said: “Slowly; with dribbles” The more I examine the song, the more its holes are apparent, for sure. Don’t ask me why, but I stand by the outro riff. There’s something about a sinister groove that I like.

I can get on board with that – it IS a brilliant riff. And if you were going to play one riff over and over again I’d want it to be that. Why is it so great?

For one thing, as you said, Ringo is doing his best to keep it all rhythmically exciting. And really if this wasn’t done at high volume with distortion, it’d lose a lot of its power. And if they’d played that riff in a higher register, it’d be a disaster.

For me the power comes from having a chord progression [Dm, Dm/F, E7b9, Bb7, A aug] that's basically minor, but nearly every chord has an F at the top - giving you a b9 on the E7 and a #5 on A which turns it into A aug.

Yeah, there are a lot of different dissonant relationships to that note keeping everything tense. It all “resolves,” but uneasily. Which makes us want to hear another repetition. Or in my case, 4,000 repetitions please.

[Laughs] Listen, I'm gonna have to feed the guard dogs in the theology department in a minute. Thanks so much for dropping by. I'm gonna turn our chat into a blog post. What's one thing (a concept, progression or arrangement idea) you'd say songwriters could take away from this song for themselves?

I think a good general concept is to just go ahead and be downright freakish rather than be boring. This song has weak moments, but something still comes across for me. Sometimes when you go into relatively uncharted territory like this song did, you’ll have a certain risk of failure--but if they’d tried to reign this in and keep it safe, it wouldn’t be the fascinating flawed lumbering monster that it is, and nobody would remember it.

What about you?

I think the big lesson is to keep pushing yourself to try new things. Lennon kept attempting mantra type songs with few words or one chord songs and they usually failed. You Know My Name Look Up The Number degenerated into a comedy number. But this was a success (up to a point) and I think when they went back to more familiar territory they were better writers for having done it. No experiment is a failure if it makes you a better writer.

That’s a great way of putting it.

[A series of blood chilling howls pierce the stillness] That's Luther and Calvin. Gotta go!

OK. I'll pull the gate shut on my way out!

Yeah, but walk, don't run!

Nicholas Tozier is an independent singer/songwriter from Maine, US. He's the author of the highly recommended eBook 31 Days To Better Songwriting and blogs about songwriting (The Halted Clock), supplies creative writing prompts (Bottled Ink), and appreciates good music (Good Aural).

Matt Blick is a songwriter/singer from Nottingham, UK. He's the Ringo Starr professor of applied chronology at Beatles Songwriting Academy and blogs about his own songwriting journey at www.MattBlick.com.

The Songwriting Secrets Of The Beatles: Introduction

2011-08-03T14:13:00.006+01:00

In Dec 09 I decided that deconstructing all the Beatles songs would be a great way to learn the craft of songwriting. Starting Beatles Songwriting Academy was secondary to that goal. This blog has been helpful to a few others and it's certainly helped me, providing motivation to keep going and the increased understanding that comes from forcing myself to put into words and examples what it is that makes the songs work (or not).

For those exact same reasons I've decided to do a 'blog within a blog' and note my journey through the encyclopedic The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles by Dominic Pedler. (Don't worry! I'll still be making my own way through the songs too!) I've probably read around 20 books on the Beatles so far but I think this one possible comes closest to the heart of what I'm trying to do here.

A few things put me off buying this book. It was based on articles that first appeared in a UK guitar magazine (which made me think 'superficial and thrown together'), it was really expensive which seemed to be down to it's unavailability and lastly the title 'Songwriting Secrets...' has just a hint of 'snake oil' about it. I don't think there are many secrets that are beyond anyone with an instrument 15 CDs and about 3 or 4 years of free time!

Most of the reasons against were blown away when I learned that the book is 791 pages long! But I was still wary. This book looked such a perfect fit for my blog that I was afraid that on reading it I would come to the conclusion I should have just bought this book and never bother starting Beatles Songwriting Academy.

The sentence that saved BSA

This book is intended as … a companion guide … with appreciation the main goal and any tips that future songwriters might glean just a bonus (p.xx)

Here at Beatles Songwriting Academy we're reversing those goals exactly. Phew!

So diving in, here's random notes, quotes and thoughts from the introduction

No stone is left unturned in Beatles culture except, too often, the only thing that really matters. The music itself. (p. xvii)

Couldn't agree more. That's what put me off studying them initially and what I occasionally trash what I consider to be a bad song. Because you can't venerate and evaluate at the same time.

Pedler talks about a goldmine of musical nuggets lurking in every corner of the catalogue (p.xx) and he does a great job of pulling illustrations from Anthology, early covers and even songs that the Beatles knew and loved. He also goes out of his way to demonstrate where Lennon & McCartney used exactly the same ideas.

The book is very guitar-centric which is more of a strength than a weakness as it keeps in focus that Lennon, McCartney and Harrison were guitarists first. That said, it's surprising that 13 out of 17 chapters are concerned entirely with chord progressions and melody and lyrical discussions receive relatively little space. However it seems churlish to complain a book of nearly 800 pages doesn't go into enough depth! I think if you're trying to get into the mind of Lennon & McCartney chord progressions are probably a good starting place.

Apart from Beatles fans this book would serve as an excellent way to learn musical theory for anyone who has at least passing knowledge or tolerance for the Beatles. After all if you buy any book on musical theory the examples are probably going to be from a million different classical pieces. Here the examples are draw from a pretty limited number of CDs/songs and are more easily applicable to modern music than something Verdi did.

Other versions -
UK The Songwriting Secrets ... (Kindle)
USA The Songwriting Secrets ... (Hardback)
USA The Songwriting Secrets... (Kindle)

12:43 John And Yoko Blues (The Ballad Of pt.2)

2011-07-26T11:29:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned when I was trashing the Ballad of John and Yoko last time Lennon uses a variation on the 12 bar blues form (though he doesn't do anything interesting songwriting-wise with it)

a normal 12 bar would go

E E E E7
A A E E
B7 B7 E E

whereas Lennon's 16 bar pattern stretches the first four bars

E E E E
E7 E7 E7 E7
A A E E
B7 B7 E E

This is Ticket 19 – write a (non 12) bar blues

A traditional blues has three lines of lyrics, the first line, which is repeated, then followed by an answering line. The Ballad of... has four lines followed by another answering four line refrain.

This is Ticket 34 – write a blues but avoid the AAB lyric structure.

Check out how they messed around with the blues more effectively on Can't Buy Me Love

12:42 The Ballad Of John And Yoko

2011-07-22T08:02:00.002+01:00

Oscar Wilde said "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go”

That's how I feel about Beatles songs and here's one I'll be glad to show the door. Every so often you come across a song that offends you in some way that being objective about it's merits feels an impossible task. Sometimes it's issues of racism, sexism, blasphemy, profanity or crass commercialism. I find The Ballad Of John & Yoko so annoying that I'd rather have Two Virgins stuck on an endless loop through a sub woofer on the back of an Afro-Carribean carnival lorry driving over a million piglets than have to listen to it one more time.

Here's why I struggle with it.

Never has an artist gone from a healthy cynicism about the whole business to a complete belief in his own self importance as John Lennon. We have five verses (FIVE!) telling all about his woes with the press. Poor dear.

The reality is that Lennon, after leaving his wife and young child, had begun to indulge in a number pointless publicity stunts with then girlfriend Yoko Ono that were supposed to advance the cause of world peace and/or express some deep meaningful concept. These included making a 15 minute film of his penis (thankfully not featured on the Anthology DVD) giving interviews from inside a giant bag and, as the song relates, sending a pair of acorns to 50 world leaders. Because it was Spring the acorns had to be specially purchased. A pair of 'Acorns for peace' were also symbolically buried near Coventry Cathedral. A week later they were symbolically stolen by fans. Peace did not break out.

So Lennon was behaving in a ridiculous and pretentious manner and was reviled by the press. And he wrote this song to express his ire, with a persecution complex that took on messianic dimensions. The irony was that few years earlier, thanks to some ill advised remarks about being more popular than Jesus, Lennon was the target of death threats and record burnings from American fundamental Christians and the Klu Klux Klan. Now that would have been the ideal time to write an 'everybody's out to get me' song. It could have benefitted from the unique perspective of having self appointed defenders of the Prince of Peace baying for your blood.

The song is also rendered ridiculous in the same way as Imagine by John's altruistic claims. “Giving all [his] clothes to charity”, was a concept he never put into practice, in the same way he “imagined no possessions” from the comfort of his 71 room mansion.

Even if all this were not true the song still sucks for being a prime example of the “Millionaire Rock Star Blues.” If you are one of the very small minority to make yourself independently wealthy through a music career please don't write a song telling us how hard your life is. Even if we could understand, we probably wouldn't sympathise. I remember reading Def Leppard complaining in an interview about the 2 hours excitement/22 hours boredom of touring and thought “I know just how you feel” as I feasted on the finest cold meat pie the petrol station could provide and bedded down for the night on the floor of my band's beat up van.

In conclusion I'd rather see a infinite number of Bonos lecturing about waste management and listen all night to Jon Bon Jovi, sitting astride his steel horse banging on about the million faces that he's rocked than have to endure this self righteous tripe.

However

I'm here to blog about songwriting. I must put aside my personal feelings and prejudices long enough to analyse the song. Well, lucky for me – it's a load of rubbish. The music is a totally unoriginal 16 bar blues with an 8 bar bridge that is almost the same as I Saw Her Standing There. The lead guitar consists almost entirely of cheesy mariachi-style fills that are totally out of place,

the playing is unimaginative and the shakers are too louder. The reference to “Gibraltar near Spain” is a particularly awful result of rhyme fever (and it reminds me of the Indiana Jones film, where highly educated people keep reminding each other that Venice is in Italy).

But there are a few good things.

I like the 2 beat snare fill that comes after the bridge and ending on a 6th chord is a fun little self referential nod back to She Loves You (where the 6th is sung rather than played).

So I guess I'm saying there are about 4 seconds that are worth emulating.

If you disagree let me know!

Next time I'll take a quick look at the 16 bar blues structure and then move on to the final song from Abbey Road!!!!!

Run For Your Life (To Buy This Book)

2011-07-22T00:19:00.001+01:00

I was just meandering around the web and followed my own link to Amazon.com (or Amazon U.S. as it really is) to find this!

You can get this book for a little over $10!!!!! What are you waiting for American Beatlefans?????

In the UK this book is going for between £50 and £80 IF YOU CAN FIND IT!

Click on the link RIGHT NOW and make me very slightly richer (financially) and yourself a lot richer (in knowledge)

You know it makes sense

More recommended books
Book reviews

No Quarter?

2011-07-20T07:43:00.001+01:00

A small but significant milestone at Beatles Songwriting Academy went by unnoticed last week. Not only did I finish the Herculean task of blogging through Something, but that was the 53rd song that I've covered, which means

I'm a quarter of the way through!!!

Yes, only another 159 songs to go! And only 2 more tracks and we finish Abbey Road.

Thanks to everyone who's commented, emailed, argued, agreed, guest posted, and generally made me feel like I'm not wasting my time.

Next - The Ballad Of John & Yoko...

Highly recommended -

Separated At Birth? - Something For No One

2011-07-18T06:24:00.001+01:00

It's amazing the little things you discover when you're playing through Beatles songs. Like the fact that great musical ideas from one song reoccur in another completely different song. Here's just one example...

Just in case you missed them here are the chords

Something (bridge) A C#m/G# F#m F#m/E D G A
For No One (verse) A A/G# F#m F#m/E D G A

Notes in C#m/G# = G# G# C# E
Notes in A/G# = G# A C# E

Related Post: Separated at birth? - Not A Second Time And All I've Got To Do



I Want To Be Your (Cave) Man

2011-07-16T08:51:00.000+01:00

I'm a big fan of the Film Sack podcasts where Scott Johnson and co watch a (usually) bad (usually) 80's movie and then (usually) make fun of it in a very entertaining way.

This week they watched Ringo Starr starr in Caveman. It wasn't pretty.

If you like it be sure to check out the archives.

Have a great weekend.

Joel D Canfield's Got A Ticket To Write

2011-07-14T17:20:00.001+01:00

Welcome to the first post in a occasional series where I ask 'real-life' songwriters just like you to spill the beans on how Beatles inspired songwriting ideas like the Tickets To Write have helped them create new songs. First up to bat is nomadic songwriter Joel D Canfield

I've been writing about music for nearly a decade and a music lover for half a century. I started writing music seriously about seven years ago and this year (2011) I realized it was time to push myself out of the comfort zone of my favorite chord progressions.

Ever since I heard The Mamas and The Papas cover I Call Your Name back in the seventies (when it was already ten years old) I've always loved the vocal slide from the major 4th to the minor 4th ("I never weep at (A) ni - (Am) ight, I call your name".) Ticket 8 Part 2 felt familiar when I started reading the description and when I saw I Call Your Name in the examples I knew I wanted to give it a try.

It turns out I tried it twice. Both The Map and This Path use the 4 to 4m change in the verse. For some reason, though they're both songs about the nomadic life I share with my Best Beloved, This Path works better melodically over the change. It may be that I immersed myself in David Gray's melodic structures before I wrote these songs and This Path captured more of that feeling.

Other songwriters have commented on the challenge of sliding from the 4 to the minor 4 in This Path but I was surprised how simple and natural it felt. Wasting my youth with my ear glued to the radio came in handy after all.

Though he pays his bills as a business author, writing and business coach, and web developer, Joel D Canfield is first and foremost a philosopher who believes that finding why makes what and how become clear. Get to know him at FindingWhy.com or read more of his musical background at his musiblog KnowYourMusic.com

Have you used the Tickets to write in any of your songs? - Then drop me a line!

12:41 The Bridge of Something - Slight Return (Something pt.8)

2011-07-11T06:45:00.001+01:00

Phew! Eight posts on one song! That's gotta be some kind of Beatles Songwriting Academy record. But this is the last post that I'm going to do on Something in it's own right. I promise. I mentioned way back when that the bridge might have originally been in the same key as the verse.

Wonder what that sounded like?

Roll the film!

Next up: A guest post - I know how you love those!

Lots of other posts on Something



12:40 The End Of Something (Something pt.7)

2011-07-07T06:52:00.001+01:00

Pop quiz – what the first instrument* you hear on Something? OK. Carry on ...

We're on the home straight with this motherlode of Beatles songwriting – two more posts to go. We'll also take a closer look at a chord progression which crop up in at least four other Beatles songs, but for now lets clear up all the other cool little songwriting odds and ends.

The End

We've already come across a ticket called the picardy third. That's where you have a song in the minor key but you finish on the major instead. This was widely used in Baroque music. But here we keep resolving to A major instead of the expected C major. That's major 6 (VI). It's worth filing away for future reference, because though Something doesn't end on the VI, And I Love Her does, and so does Lately by Stevie Wonder (Ticket 46).

Speaking of the ending – there's another cool idea here - using a false ending (Ticket 47). At the end of the 3rd verse it looks like Harrison is coming in to land, but tricks us by going to A instead of C (2:46), before he immediately loops around and comes in to land.

We have a minor example of an intro made out of another part of the song (see Ticket 4), in this case the end of the verse. I call this the school hymn intro as this is generally cranked out by elderly pianists during dreary school assemblies. The outro is cut from the same cloth.

Micro Recycling

As we said in the last post the fact that Harrison used (at least initially) the same two chords at the beginning of the verse and the bridge constitutes a micro recycling of themes (Ticket 9)

The wide vibrato used at 2:03 – 2:06 of the song mimics the crazy vibrato on George's voice on the line She woos me, aka She woo-ooo-ooo-ooos me (0:22). (BTW that solo was cut live with the string section. No pressure. Well done George).

Ringo's opening sextuplet tom fill* (did you get the right answer?) alludes to the hi hat part in the bridge (starting 1:17). These are the only places sextuplets are used. They really shouldn't fit. And yet they do.

Busy but beautiful

Does McCartney overplay on the track? Probably. But the fills in verse 3 (2:18, 2:37) are beautiful. And his BVs, though plain old ordinary 3rds, contribute to the wonderful lush sound.

Remember the 3 over 4 hemiola from Here Comes The Sun, The End etc? (Ticket 29) here it is again – in the bridge's descending bass line at 1:24 and 1:38.

Lastly, why are we so strongly drawn to the final verse C chord that we never really get? Not only do we have the descending line that leads down to a C but the last three notes of the lead guitar are an ascending line A A# B, It's a beautiful example of contrary motion (Ticket 12) - all roads lead to C major.

Next time I'm hoping to dust off the video camera...



Book Review: Wonderful Today - Patti Boyd

2011-07-04T06:13:00.000+01:00

Hope you all enjoy my latest video review. There'll be more about Something on Thurs (hopefully).

Check out the Beatles Complete Chord Songbook video review

More book reviews
Recommended resourses

12:39 Something Different (Something pt.6)

2011-06-30T07:30:00.001+01:00

One effective songwriting tool is to have the different sections of a song contrasting with each other (Ticket 5). We've already seen the Beatles use this in She Came In Through The Bathroom Window and Here Comes The Sun but in Something Harrison takes things to extremes and manages to pull it off yet again.

VERSE

Key of C
Tempo - Slow
Melody - mostly around root and lower
long, languorous melody with no real repeats
Lyrics - odd rhyme structure (only internal rhymes) no repeats
Descending motif in melody and harmony

BRIDGE

Key of A
Tempo - Double time feel
Melody - all around 3rd (and 5th) and higher
short, strong melody with a exact repeat
Lyrics - obvious ABAB rhyme structure
Descending motif in bass line

A different key, tempo and structure. With such extreme contrast between the two sections how does Harrison achieve any cohesiveness? Both sections start with the same chord change. root chord going to the root major 7th chord.

Verse - C Cmaj7
Bridge - A Amaj7

This is obscured by the bass line on the Abbey Road version which makes the Amaj7 sound like a C#m/G#. But listen to Harrison's demo on Anthology 3. Whether it made it into the final version or not he clearly envisaged both sections starting with the same chord sequence.



12:38 Something pt. 5 - Lyrics

2011-06-27T06:51:00.001+01:00

Something is one of the most unusual classic songs around. We've already documented some of the musical curiosities, but lyrically the song tells you nothing about the beloved other than she moves him, woos him and shows him things. Oh, and she smiles.

Though details are sparse one thing that holds together is the amount of repetition in the lyrics.

First there is some direct repetition –

I don't want to leave her now, you know I believe and how

ends every verse and

I don't know

appears four times in the bridge

There's also some clever internal rhymes

Somewhere in her smile she knows
Something in her style that shows me

with similar instances in the other two verse

But Harrison's use of ticket 24 (parallel lyrics) is the glue that holds the whole thing together, most notably in

something in the way she moves/woos me/knows

something in the way/things

something in the things

some where/thing in her smile/style

attracts me like/that I don't need no other lover

not to mention the various

she knows/you know/I don't know

Next time we turn up the contrast.

12:37 Old Brown Shoe

2011-06-23T08:20:00.002+01:00

I SAID SHOE!...oh, never mind...

I'm going to deviate from my normal M.O. and post on a couple of songs at the same time. I'll continue with Something soon but let's pause to examine George Harrison's curious footwear.

It's interesting that Old Brown Shoe was recorded directly before Something as they're kind of peas in a pod. Both songs break all kinds of rules but one pulls it off in breathtaking fashion. And the other one is Old Brown Shoe.

It's too much of a good thing. There are numerous tickets to write on display here but they combine to make a really bad song. All the right ingredients but instead of a cake you get an inedible frisbee of death.

It's not difficult to say why this song is so bad. It's just difficult to say why Harrison does a lot of the same things wrong in Something and gets away with it.

But here's a couple of examples.

Putting a foot wrong

Staying off the root (Ticket 6) is a great way to increase some freshness and movement into tired chord progressions. But here we only get the root chord (C) for the first 4 bars of a 16 bar verse. We end on the Am (The Aeolian cadence - Ticket 10). The chord he uses as a root is itself an unsettled 7th chord. The root doesn't appear at all in the bridge (the only other section of the song). We also (as always) have multiple out of key chords (Ticket 28) but hanging on them for several bars at a time increases the tonal uncertainty. The melody makes things even worse by being based largely on the minor pentatonic instead of following the chords (Ticket 22).

So instead of starting somewhere unfamiliar and then heading for home She Loves You (intro) or heading out the front door then taking a quick detour Here Comes The Sun (bridge) we just wander around lost with a sharp stone in our old brown shoe for the full 3 minutes.

The most glaring weirdness in this song is the loping off beat drum part. Ringo was a genius (yes I did call Ringo a genius – deal with it) at coming up with fresh and inventive parts (even without McCartney's help). But messing with the beat means not only have we lost the root, we've lost the 'one' too (no pun intended).

Contrast this track with weird metre/syncopated songs by Led Zeppelin. The weirder the riff, the more likely you are to find John Bonham playing a solid AC/DC approved 4 to the bar (The Ocean, Kashmir, Black Dog). I don't blame Ringo though. No drum beat could have saved this song.

Lastly the lyrics are really poor. Harrison sometimes displayed a really cynical shoddiness when it came to lyrics and that's what we have here.

There are some interesting lines - right is only half of what's wrong, but I'm stepping out this old brown shoe? What does that mean? 'Out OF'? Has he moved in with the old woman who lived in a shoe? Or 'out IN'? What happened to his other shoe? And don't get me started on being in the queue for her sweet top lip. What's wrong with her bottom lip? Does she even have one?

The song is crammed full of lines that are not only vague, stupid or nonsensical but also really clunky and awkward sounding. The former is a minor infraction in pop music. The latter is unforgivable.

won't be the same now, when I'm with you
Not worry what they or you say
pick me up from where some try to drag me down
To miss that love is something I'd hate

This song hurts my feet.

The guitar solo is brilliant though...

12:36 Something's Always Going Down (Something pt.4)

2011-06-20T07:16:00.004+01:00

Last time we began digging into the melody of Something to see what makes this very beautiful odd song work.

Even though the song is all over the map melodically and structurally there is one unifying theme I've found. Let me state it up front. There's a whole lot of going down...erm...going down.

Let Me Take You Down

First the main verse melody steadily descends in the first two bars (0:05 - 0:17)

C B Bb c d c A

The next two lines broadly descend (0:19 - 0:24)

D C d B A G

This brings us to bar 7 of the verse. There's no descending melody but there's a counter melody running through the chord progression (0:27 - 0:38) which goes

A G# G F# F Eb D C

Here's that line with the chords that contain it

A (Am) G# (AmM7) G (Am7) F# (D9) F (F) Eb (Eb) D (G) C (C)

Couldn't you construct any line, heading in any direction, from any set of chords? Possibly. But the fact that the A G# G is the only movement over a static Am chord really makes it stand out and draws your ear to the line. (By the way the top three note of the D9 chord are A C E = Am again!)

There's a nice contrast too because the first occurrence (in bars 1-4) is over a 'major' chord progression, whereas the second (bars 5-6) happens within a 'minor' chord. The second progression also moves twice as fast as the first.

So having seen this descending idea move from the melody to the harmony now we arrive at the bridge. And descending figure moves into the bass 1:16 - 1:22).

A G# F# E D appears underneath the following chords

A (A) G#(C#m) F# (F#m) E (A) D (D)

After a couple of bars rest we get the distinctive chromatic run (1:24 - 1:28),

A G# G F# F E

Descending of course. After a repeat of the descending chords we get another run (1:38 - 1:42). The notes are different but the direction is the same -

C B G E D C

There's one final downward chromatic line. Check out the cheeky little guitar fill Harrison adds at 2:48.

Next time we'll take a closer look at what ties the lyrics together so effectively. But first we might see if George has Something on his Old Brown Shoe.

12:35: Something Melodic (Something pt.3)

2011-06-17T07:08:00.002+01:00

Last time we began asking how Something managed to become a songwriting classic when it's so odd structurally.

Taking a look at the melody only seems to deepen the mystery. Out of 45 notes in the verse, 38 are chord tones*. Normally having a melody consisting largely of chord tones is a recipe for boredom. Where's the tension and resolution? It's like watching the 24 hour paint dry channel.

Harrison gets away with it because the chord progression is filled with interesting extended (7ths and 9ths) chords as well as the usual out of key chords that we've come to expect in a Beatles song.

The extended chords are Cmaj7, C7, D7, Am maj7, Am7 and D9 and C7, D, D7, Am maj7, D9 and Eb are out of key. When the key changes to A major for the bridge G major becomes 'out' and if that wasn't enough atonal action the first descending run in the bridge is a chromatic figure (A, Ab, G, Gb, F, E).

So George gives us is a very odd, almost atonal melody, wrapped up in lush close fitting chords, which take the edge off any dissonance.

To finish with one very small example the melody starts on the root (C) then goes down to the maj 7th (B) and leaves us hanging on this unstable note for a whole bar. Then it drops to the b7 (Bb) which is both dissonant and out of key before resolving to the A which is the third of the F chord is lands on.

It's hard to get away with this kind of death defying melodic high wire act but Harrison pulls it off with style.

Next time we'll look at one element of the melody that ties together practically the whole song.

*Here's where the seven non-chord tones crop up.

The 'uh' of other lover
One note in the middle of the long 'woos me'
'I' and 'leave' in 'I don't want to leave'
'I' and 'leave' in 'you know I believe'
And the B natural release bend passing note in the mini solo.

12:34 Say Something Odd (Something pt.2)

2011-06-13T07:17:00.002+01:00

After setting the context last time, we're ready to start dismantling Something to see what makes it tick. But before we can understand why it works so well we need to grasp why it shouldn't work at all.

The verse (which makes up the bulk of the song) is bizarre. Structurally, lyrically, harmonically, melodically it seems to have no recognisable shape.

The lyrical structure is ABACCd.

A Something in the way she moves
B Attracts me like no other lover
A Something in the way she woos me
C I don't want to leave her now
C You know I believe and how 
d - - - - - -

The two C's are a neat rhyming pair with the same syllable count. But the two A's only match because of the beginning, (Something in the...) not the end (she moves/ she woos me). The tune of the second A bears a slight resemblance to the first but moved up a tone. B and d don't seem to have any relation to each other or anything else. 'd' doesn't even have lyrics – it's played on electric and organ.

This final melody (d) seems to inhabit the middle ground between being an extremely short counter melody and an extension of the vocal line (much like Harrison's “do do do do” in Here Comes The Sun). It's too short to really be though of a part in it's own right like the guitar 'solo' in Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight.

Whichever way you slice it the phrase is not answered or concluded musically or lyrically. The first verse is nine bars long. After the ninth bar it immediately loops back to the beginning, so the resolution we're expecting from hearing a C major chord (the I) in the 10th bar happens in bar one instead so that we've started another verse almost before we realise it (this 'missing' 10th bar is another example of what I call the Lennon Edit). When we get to the end of verse 2 Harrison gives us a 10th bar but denies us the resolution altogether by jumping to a C# melody note on top of an A major chord.

The next 'verse' section is the guitar solo, where we loop back after 9 bars to a final 10 bar verse. Surely now we'll come into land on C?! No. We get the rug pulled out once more with the C# and A chord combination. But wait! It was a false ending and two bars later we finally get the single sustained C major chord pay off. In essence Harrison has made us wait the entire 3:03 for a proper resolution.

Lyrically we fare no better. How does George sum up his attraction to this person? “You know I believe and how....na na na naaa naaa naaaaaaaa”.

Thanks for clarifying that then.

Knowing Harrison struggled to come up with the lyrics I'm intrigued to know if he tried to, or intended to, put any here? Frank Sinatra, for one, seems to think it needs some, as he 'sings' this part, but as George plays the lick within the rhythm guitar part on the Anthology demo, I suspect he always thought of it as distinct from the vocal melody.

So to sum up, There's very little structure or repetition in the melody, harmony or lyrics, all the phrases are odd lengths, the verses are 5 lines long (instead of the usual 4, 6 or 8) and 9 or 10 bars long (instead of 8, 12 or 16). And, of course, there are lots of chords that don't belong in this key.

It should be a terrible random mess of a song. But it's a classic. Why? Next time we'll dig a little deeper and find some answers.



12:33 Something: Origins And Descendants (pt.1)

2011-06-06T18:00:00.003+01:00

What can you say about the best song that George Harrison ever wrote and arguably the best track on Abbey Road? The answer is a lot. But let's start by looking at the history and story behind Something.

Though very much a band piece it was written on the piano, Harrison carving it out during The White Album sessions. The song is in C but the demo (on Anthology 3) is in A (and possibly capoed). Joe Cocker was supposed to record it (but Abbey Road hit the stores first) and perhaps the demo (and lower key) were aimed at him or was that the key it was written in?

It's also said that Harrison struggled with the bridge until he hit on the idea of a key change. Does that mean he had the bridge already but was playing it in the same key as the verse? We may never know, but it's an interesting experiment to try.

A popular fact was that Harrison wrote it for/about his wife Patti. She certainly says so. But he says it was written with Ray Charles in mind (though presumably not in the same way as Patti!)

...she moves!...get it?...oh, never mind...

Harrison struggled with lyrics and blatantly stole the first line from Apple recording artist James Taylor's breakthrough song Something In The Way She Moves

Though using other peoples lyrics as a kick start to create is a totally legitimate songwriting tool taking such a recognisable bit and leaving it in is a bit naughty to say the least. Factor in that it was the biggest band in the world 'borrowing' from a little known singer/songwriter on their label and it seems a bit of a shoddy way to conduct yourself.

If Harrison struggled with the first line the next one was even more painful. He had “attracts me like...” and then nothing. John Lennon, who added the final brilliant piece in more than one McCartney jigsaw suggested

Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like a cauliflower

Top marks for scanning Lennon, but if you wanted evidence that John was going downhill rapidly, there it is. Harrison rejected the very British working class vegetable for the more exotic pomegranate, but thankfully that soon went the way of Paul's scrambled eggs.

It's rumoured that Harrison hated McCartney's bass playing on the track, having gone on record as saying he'd rather have Willie Weeks play bass for him than Paul McCartney (Revolution In The Head p.349). Engineer Geoff Emerick says

Paul started playing a bass line that was a little elaborate, and George told him, 'No, I want it simple.' Paul complied. There wasn't any disagreement about it

Though there may not have been any Let It Be style hissy fits it's hard to believe that the bass line we have on Abbey Road was a satisfactory response to “I want it simple”. What was he doing before – playing 64th note polyrhythms above the 12th fret?

Lennon & McCartney always wanted to write a song for Frank Sinatra. Paul even submitted one called Suicide which Frank dismissed as some kind of sick joke. But George succeeded where they had failed (even though Sinatra initially credited Lennon & McCartney as composers) and Sinatra proclaimed Something “the greatest love song of past 50 years” (Revolution p.348) and proceeded to murder it in concerts for the next 30 years.

"Stick around Jack???" Harrison's favourite cover was by the equally understated James Brown.

Something was the last Beatles single and they were soon to shuffle off the world stage and make was for the new breed of stadium rock dinosaurs. There's definitely a passing of the torch to Led Zeppelin on this song – as well as the mellotron part recalling Abbey Road's lush strings like a lofi bootleg listen to the first 3 chords of Rain Song...

Something – C Cmaj7 C7
Rain Song – G Gmaj7 G7*

(*The first two chords have no third but it's implied by the overall major tonality of the song).

Next time we'll start chipping off little bits of songwriting awesomeness. Stay tuned!

Sources: Paul Du Noyer's excellent article at PaulDuNoyer.com, the fabulous Beatles Bible and of course the highly recommended Revolution In The Head