I just finished reading Mark Hertsgaard’s excellent book, A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles and I loved it. My father-in-law — who, in 1974, was actually kicked out of the Troubadour with John for heckling the Smothers Brothers — gave it to me a few weeks ago after he’d read it. It’s an awesome read for any Beatles fan. Instead of the typical biography drudgery, Hertsgaard writes the story of the music that was created. So although there’s a little bit of the same old “Lennon was born in Liverpool … They played at the Cavern Club a zillion times …” it is mostly an analysis of how the songs themselves came to be created. Hertsgaard managed to gain access to the archived Abbey Road recording studio tapes and gives blow-by-blow accounts of which of the artists added this line or that chord to each song. He also chronicles the often hysterical banter between the lads from Liverpool as they worked.
Posts tagged as:
Beatles
A Day in the Life
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I Once Had a Girl
She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh. Funny. Very funny. Keep laughing, sweetheart. You just go to sleep giggling your pretty little head off while I am stuck in the freaking bathtub. How is that fair?
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Imagine
I don’t think I’ll ever tire of reading the headline “John Lennon’s killer denied parole again“. With luck I will continue to see it posted somewhere regularly every two years or so. I figure he’s got about the same chance of getting paroled as Sirhan Sirhan does. It’s nice to see that the hearing only lasted sixteen minutes. “The decision came one day after what would have been Lennon’s 66th birthday.”
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Friday Night
Went to see the Fab Four at the Canyon Club tonight. They were pretty awesome (as far as cover bands go). They changed costumes a few times and played probably two dozen Beatles songs. They weren’t the Red Elvises or anything, but it was a good show and a lot of fun.
The place was packed, but I got the feeling that there wasn’t much else to do in Agoura Hills on a Friday night. If you go to a show at the Canyon Club, eat first. The very few items on the menu all started over $20. I went for the rib-eye and was severely disappointed. I don’t cry about spending $30+ for a good steak, and the one I got was huge, but it was mostly gristle and fat.
I should add something about the fact that Budweiser Select is actually a very good beer and not a new-fangled low-carb diet beer, but since I didn’t try it for two months because that’s what I assumed it was, I’ll keep my mouth shut until their marketing department gets a clue.
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Norwegian Wood
She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh
I told her I didn’t and crawled off to sleep in the bath.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
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Looking Through You
I’m Looking through You - The Wallflowers
from the I Am Sam soundtrack
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Keats - This Living Hand
You can’t eye can’t I can’t they can’t she can’t he can’t it can’t why can’t why can’t eye don’t no. Y’no? It’s im-poss-ib-al. If there’s one overwhelming iota that I’ve been shown by some auricle at some distant point in my youth, it’s that things that are written are written and things that aren’t aren’t. It’s not fair to me or anyone else (altho to b honest eye don ot really care about anybody else] to say that one thing in the world of written langu-age means anything. These words : certainly don’t mean anything.
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Happy New Year!
I still have no idea what this is. I don’t know what it means. I don’t know if it’s an advertisement, or a video, or a cartoon, or a warning. I just know that it is the one item I’ve found on the ‘net this year that I absolutely cannot comprehend in any way, shape, or form.
Not that I condone fascism. Or any “isms”. “isms“, in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an “ism”. He should believe in himself. John Lennon said it on his first solo album. “I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.” A good point there. After all, he was the Walrus.
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God
God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain
I’ll say it again
God is a concept
By which we measure
Our painI don’t believe in magic
I don’t believe in I-Ching
I don’t believe in Bible
I don’t believe in Tarot
I don’t believe in Hitler
I don’t believe in Jesus
I don’t believe in Kennedy
I don’t believe in Buddha
I don’t believe in Mantra
I don’t believe in Gita
I don’t believe in Yoga
I don’t believe in Kings
I don’t believe in Elvis
I don’t believe in Zimmerman
I don’t believe in Beatles
I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that’s realityThe dream is over
What can I say?
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the dreamweaver
But now I’m reborn
I was the walrus
But now I’m John
And so dear friends
You just have to carry on
The dream is over
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Year End Search Stats
With more than 150 million queries per day, Google offers a unique window into what is happening in the world on any given day, as well as a fascinating retrospective on the peaks and valleys of popular culture.
It was cool to see that the Beatles ranked #1 in the Most Searched Music Groups this year.
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George Harrison
In Memory of George Harrison
Two of my all-time favorites:
Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles
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