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.
Monday, May 20, 2019
A Hard Day’s Night
A Hard Day’s Night is one of the most recognizable Beatles songs. The track was the title of both the group’s first movie and their third studio album. The name of the song originated from something Ringo Starr said during one of the Fab Four’s tours. Starr described coming up with the title in an interview with a DJ named Dave Hull. "We went to do a job, and we'd worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, 'It's been a hard day …' and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, '… night!' So we came to 'A Hard Day's Night.'" The track is a Lennon-McCartney song, but John did most of the writing. Lennon wrote the first draft in one night because of his friendly competition with Paul to see who could write the band’s A-sides. The rest of the band liked the song, so they soon took to the studio to record. It took them only three and a half hours and nine takes to prepare the song for its final release. The track had commercial success in both the United States and the U.K. In the states, the song held a number one spot for two weeks straight, which had never been done before. In the United Kingdom, it reached number one and lasted a total of nine weeks on the charts.
Paul's Baby
Yesterday is without a doubt one of the most popular Beatles songs, yet is a strong contrast to their usual and recognizable rock and roll style. This song, written by Paul McCartney, is somber, melancholic, and beautiful. The story of this song coming into being is almost comical, as it came to Paul in a dream and was originally named "Scrambled Eggs" as Paul was trying to figure out the lyrics. Somehow by chance, one of Paul's most famous and popular songs of all time came to him in a dream."Yesterday" was a breakthrough for the Beatles, as it was the first song they created that was only sung by one member, Paul. John Lennon was quoted in the Beatles Anthology saying "I have had so much accolade for "Yesterday". That's Paul's song and Paul's baby. And I never wished I'd written it"(175). This quote particularly speaks out to me because I believe it represents the true respect the Beatles shared for each other and the music each one created. However, what's truly special about this song, in my opinion, is its' recognition of the fundamental human desire to express sadness and pain. Yesterday captures a wistful tune, one that has achieved immense success and has stayed with listeners for many years, including myself. To me, it shows that the Beatles were true musicians and artists, not just a popular rock and roll fad. They understood their audience, and especially with their experiences dealing with the unpleasant parts of life, understood the importance of creating a sad song that a multitude of people could identify with.
Jimmie Nicol
When Ringo Starr collapsed with tonsillitis in June 1964 on the eve of their Australian tour, the Beatles were faced with the grim possibility of cancelling their tour. Instead of canceling their tour manager Brian Epstein suggested a fill in for Ringo. After negotiations the group and their manager agreed an understudy drummer was the way to go. Producer George Martin suggested Jimmie Nicol a relatively unknown studio drummer. In the span of a day he auditioned and got on a plane with the Beatles to start their tour. Nicol hoped his time with the Beatles would give him fame and fortune, but in the span of two weeks he went from obscurity to fame and back. Years later he said playing with the Beatles was the worst thing that had ever happened to him because he got a taste of fame that he could never keep long term. For his troubles he was given a £500 gold watch inscribed: “From the Beatles and Brian Epstein to Jimmy – with appreciation and gratitude." The watch is estimated to be worth close to a million dollars in 2019.
There's A Place
Although the Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, released in early 1963, is not known for having been an experimental, groundbreaking masterpiece, such as some of the band's later efforts, it certainly left a mark on popular music. Some of the most enduring tracks off the record are simple, effective pop tunes like "Love Me Do" and "Twist and Shout," but, in my opinion, the most memorable song is "There's A Place." Later released as a B-side to the "Twist and Shout" single, the song occupied the penultimate spot on the album, and is interesting from both a musical and lyrical perspective. In terms of the songwriting and arrangement, the song uses more advanced harmony than their typical compositions: the song opens with a harmonica playing a D# over an E major chord. This major seventh interval is dissonant and almost unsettling, but also simultaneously pretty. The vocal harmonies are also complex, particularly on the lyric "and it's my mind," wherein the band utilizes a mixture of thirds, fourths, and sixths, as opposed to just using thirds, which was commonplace at the time. Lyrically, the song touches on deeper ideas than would have typically been expected of a pop band in the early 60s. Instead of writing the usual love song, Lennon and McCartney decided to shed light on the idea that, when they are sad, the place they go to console themselves and feel better is their mind, not "round the back of the stairs for a kiss and a cuddle," as McCartney later put it. This was a step beyond their normal territory, and foreshadowed further developments in lyrical writing from the band.
Today was day 6 of the Beatles class
Today, (day 6), we listened to songs from "Help", The Beatles' 5th LP. (The U.S. releases didn't correspond with the British ones). The songs we listened to were, "Help!", "Ticket to Ride", "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", and "Yesterday". This was, of course, only a brief taste of the album, but it touches on the most significant tracks of the album. We then saw a few others when we watched some scenes from the film and live performances of "You're Gonna Loose That Girl", and "Act Naturally." (We only included "Act Naturally" so people could see and appreciate Ringo singing and playing drums).
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Recordings of The Beatles in Hamburg Germany.
Planning the class (Entry number 2)
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