This blog represents the study of The Beatles as done by a high school class devoted to this topic. All posts here are made by the students or the teacher of the class. They represent the views of a great array of people and will hopefully provide insight on how The Beatles continue to inspire and influence our culture today.
Saturday, June 5, 2021
Friday, June 4, 2021
Strawberry Fields Forever Song Review
(1967) and is one of my personal favorites.
The song was written by John Lennon and is credited to Lennon-
McCartney. Lennon took inspiration from his childhood to write this song. He lived
near a salvation army orphanage named Strawberry Fields. The music video for the
song contains many childish elements, including a piano whose strings are
connected to a tree that Paul climbs. The video gives us a lot of closeups of the
band's face, letting you stare into their eyes and possibly into their soul.
It's not the traditional rock sound: the song's opening sound is one played off of the
Mellotron, a relatively new instrument at the time. The Mellotron was originally
supposed to be used for sound effects, but the Beatles used the flute loop. Certain
lyrics of the song could be interpreted as references to LSD, and some elements of
the music video gives off that feeling.
The link below is to a video of voice artist, Thunderstorm Artis, singing Blackbird by The Beatles. Blackbird is one of my favorite Beatles songs. I just love the guitar because of the calming sound to it. Thunderstorm created a different version of Blackbird; a more acoustic sound to it. Thunderstorm’s version is also a bit slower which adds to this solemn feel when listening to it. Thunderstorm also has to impress the coaches with this song, so he adds runs and holds notes longer which makes the song even better.
In the original song, The Beatles have a less acoustic version because there are drums for a beat. The Beatles play at a fast tempo; faster than Thunderstorm’s version. The Beatles also did not need to impress anyone because they already had so many fans that love The Beatles, so there is no need for runs or long notes
Overall, both versions of “Blackbird” are great songs and worth listening to. Each version has its uniqueness to it but sticks to the lyrics and the overall message. Both versions are very loveable, and I will always think of “Blackbird” as a favorite.
Thursday, June 3, 2021
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds Art Piece
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, a song by The Beatles, has very odd imagery and lyrics. John Lennon, the Beatle who wrote the song, said that his inspiration for the song came from a picture his son drew. I decided to create an art piece with my interpretation of the imagery in the song. I used a combination of watercolor, drawing, collage, and 3d objects to create a multimedia piece that I feel represents the different elements of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. When listening to the song, the lyrics and melody create a world of fantasy, so I used an imaginative and child-like artistic approach to try and portray that world. Some of the imagery in the song, for example, "newspaper taxis" and "a girl with kaleidoscope eyes" I created using collage. The "tangerine trees" and "cellophane flowers of yellow and green" I drew, and the river and "marmalade skies" I painted. Even though the song only mentions "a boat on a river", I decided to put The Beatles in the boat because I felt like they should be represented in the piece.
'The Ballad of John and Yoko' Analysis/Background
The linked slideshow gives the background of the story told by 'The Ballad of John and Yoko.'
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FiffxgAIaRuRmxiS89DJ6Q79KERtXznS8-pP53zA11k/edit?usp=sharing
Here Comes the Sun Song Review
I found the Album Abbey Road very upbeat. My favorite song, Here Comes the Sun, is what this blog post is about.
Here Comes the Sun was written by George Harrison in Eric Clapton’s garden, and you can hear the acoustic guitar very clearly throughout the song, which is played by George using Clapton’s guitar! “It was just sunny and it was all just the release of that tension that had been building up on me” said Harrison. The tension he was referring to was their manager, Brian Epstein’s death. The Beatles workload suddenly doubled in size, and George used this song to relax. I find it comforting as well, and Geroge’s points resound in my mind. This song just went on my “Calm” playlist.
Here Comes the Sun was done in 9 takes, and is the first song on Side 2 of the album. While the album Abbey Road had many standout songs such as Come Together, Octopus’s Garden and Golden Slumbers, Here Comes the Sun is by far the most popular song on the album. It is also my favorite song on the album. My favorite lyrics of the song are “Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting. Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear.” It has a more literal sense in terms of “Melting” and “Clear”, and I think while most of the song is metaphoric, some of it has a literal meaning, and I like that a lot.
—Daniel Sommerfeld
Beatles Portrait
I drew this portrait of the four Beatles members using only a pencil and paper. From left to right, the order is George, Paul, John, Ringo. I was going for an early-career look (like maybe around the release of “Beatles For Sale”, or “Rubber Soul”). Rather than using one photograph of the whole group for reference, I used individual reference photos for each Beatle but drew them all together so my final product was a totally unique image. After I had finished, I took a photo of the art and decided to play with the lighting/contrast to make it look cleaner.
This blog shows the 3 album covers I have designed. Each cover is based around one song written by The Beatles and is accompanied by a brief description of the cover and its connection to the song or its message.
This album cover, my attempt to represent that story behind the song While My Guitar Gently Weeps into a photo, uses individual images of each band member cut out and photoshopped together to appear somewhat like a photo of the band. Each member is purposefully looking away from the camera, and each other, to represent the tension and separation going on between the band members that this song sings about and that was happening when this song was released. I have also included the three members who ever played guitar in the band holding guitars to represent the words and title of the song as well as including an image of studio 2 in the background (the studio room in Abbey Road Studios often used to record The Beatles music), to try and create an image taken of the band that does not truly exist.
This album cover, my attempt to represent that story behind the song While My Guitar Gently Weeps into a photo, uses individual images of each band member cut out and photoshopped together to appear somewhat like a photo of the band. Each member is purposefully looking away from the camera, and each other, to represent the tension and separation going on between the band members that this song sings about and that was happening when this song was released. I have also included the three members who ever played guitar in the band holding guitars to represent the words and title of the song as well as including an image of studio 2 in the background (the studio room in Abbey Road Studios often used to record The Beatles music), to try and create an image taken of the band that does not truly exist.
Though Yellow Submarine is not my favorite song written by The Beatles, it is a very nostalgic song for me as it was one of the first songs I heard written by The Beatles while in Jose and Tisha’s Kindergarten class ten years ago. This album cover compiles all the characters and many events and scenes from the Yellow Submarine Movie released by The Beatles as well as the four Beatles themselves, seen in the front (from left to right: John, Paul, George and Ringo). This album cover also includes several smaller details such as the original font used for the Yellow Submarine movie title used on The Beatles band name and The Beatles ties each featuring their favorite color.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)