A fascinating aspect of “There’s a Place” lies in its gorgeous harmonies. Listen carefully for how Lennon and McCartney let their voices flutter on ending words like “place” and “go,” and the intricate harmonies during the bridge. Their close singing on “don’t you know that it’s so” remain some of the underrated pleasures of this…
Ringo on piano in Don’t Pass Me By, White Album, 1968.Ringo’s piano, according to Bruce Spizer’s book “The Beatles On Apple Records,” was “miked through a guitar amplifier and Leslie speaker,” thus creating the odd swirling effect heard on the finished recording. Upon listening to the finished recording, it appears that the drums were also…
Lullabies were popular in sheet music in the early 20th century, inspired by the success of Johannes Brahms’ Wiegenliedand Chopin’s Opus 57. For “Golden Slumbers”, Paul came across a tune called “Cradle Song”. “I can’t read music and I couldn’t remember the old tune,” McCartney recalled in The Beatles’ 1995 Anthology film. “So I started…
Two lyrics in “Only a Northern Song written by George.That song was released in Yellow Submarine album, January 1969. The original February 13, 1967 take resurfaced on the Anthology 2 compilation; it featured the basic track with organ, bass, drums and the vocals Harrison originally recorded. The bass and guitar from April 20 were used…
Almost unanimity among the authors who write about the Beatles songs, that one of the biggest difficulties of George Harrison with his compositions, was when giving a title to them. Choosing a title for “Love You To” had already been a problem and the song was recorded with the working title of “Granny Smith”, a…
In a June 19, 1999 Billboard interview, George Harrison explained that he wrote “It’s All Too Much” on the organ, and played it on the recording. During that discussion, he added that he wrote the songs for reasons other than those he gave in I, Me, Mine: “I just wanted to write a rock ’n’…
On February 7 1964, the Beatles arrived at John F Kennedy airport in New York for their first US visit and were greeted by thousands of screaming fans. They were led to the airport lounge where they faced the biggest press conference they’d ever had! John shouted at them all to “shurrup” and everyone applauded…
There are so many beautiful songs from The Beatles, in early times and “It’s Only Love,” is one of them. It does feel, however, like a transition point, even a bidding good-bye, given that it comes from the album Help! , near the tail end of their 1963-1965 run with the early Beatles style. That…
The structure of “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” is unique for The Beatles. “These were all different segments of songs that I wrote altogether and stuck them all in one piece,” Lennon told Rolling Stone. “Just like a collage, instead of an album like Pepper. This was all done in one song and it went…
In Please Mister Postman, With The Beatles album, 1963 The Beatles pay tribute to the original through the tight harmonies and virtual call-and-response sections. As John cries “wait a minute” and “oh yeah,” George and Paul either repeat his phrases or underscore on key lyrics such as “since I’ve heard from that girl of mine.”…