'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.

 The posts below were all from a class in 2019.  Those that are coming next will be from 2021, and will feature two groups of students of The Beatles.  Many bands are worth studying, but The Beatles are more than any other.  Please enjoy reading the posts and learning with us. 

The Beatles and their influence on Queen

The Beatles were one of the largest influences on not only rock and roll, but music as a whole. The Beatles pioneered several of the most important recording techniques ever, and in that is looping. In their song, "Tomorrow Never Knows" they record one phrase of Ringo's playing and loop it throughout their entire song. One band who uses this technique is the 1970's band Queen. Queen, led by Freddie Mercury, uses looping in many of their works, almost to a point of excess. One really good example of this is "The Prophet's Song" from the album, A Night at the Opera. In this, Freddie goes a cappella for the middle portion of the song, in which he loops his on vocals over and over again, singing in descending cadences with himself. This produces a very interesting effect on the overall tone of the song, as it comes back with guitar, drums and backing vocals. This song, and many of Queen's other songs would be very different (or just not exist) had The Beatles never used this technique of recording.

Above Us Only Sky: Movie Review

I started watching this documentary late on Saturday night, and I was quickly taken from my bedroom into Tittenhurst Park in the late 1960s. The movie depicted John and Yoko's estate, their insanely large English mansion with a garden big enough to explore for a whole lifetime. To me, it seemed odd to see John outside of the studio without the other Beatles at first, but after a couple minutes it became clear that his life now was more peaceful and relaxed, which was probably how he wanted it. The footage, of him in his own studio or rowing through his own pond on the grounds, was like watching John transform from John Lennon of the Beatles into just John. It was magical, in a sense, to watch John and Yoko as they interacted and sort of became one with each other. The main focus of the movie, I would say, was the creation of the song imagine. From the moment John played the song, everyone knew it was, and would be for a long time, a huge hit. Yoko said in the movie she felt as though she met John so that Imagine could come into existence. Although I have always personally loved the song, this movie made me realize the total impact of it considering the huge cultural movement for peace. The song itself became almost a manifesto or symbol of the movement. It was beautiful watching John and Yoko come together to create this piece, one that has remained relevant and timeless ever since its creation, and this movie did a great job of explaining just a small portion of their story.