Tag Archives: roadrunner

Reason # 392 – The long and winding Roadrunner

The Long and Winding Road was the last number one hit for the beatles in the US, it came from their final album Let It Be. Well, lets just say we wish it was their final album.
This was recorded during the beatles short-lived, lets go back to our roots and stop all this silly studio production phase. The album was originally going to be called Get Back, and they were going to play everything as a stripped down combo like in the olden days.

As you can probably guess, without the studio production the beatles would have been the laughing stocks of the music industry. It took Phil Spector and an arsenal of eighteen violins, four violas, four cellos, three trumpets, three trombones, two guitars, a choir of 14 women, a team of engineers, even special conductors and arrangers to make A long and Winding Road listenable. And thats only one song!

If you think I’m exaggerating, take a quick listen to some live off the floor recordings for yourself.
Make it brief if you value your sanity, and try not to think about the claims that this is the greatest band of all time.

Get back:
[audio:Get Back.mp3]
The Long and Winding Road
[audio:TheLongAndWindingRoad.mp3]

Aside from the idiotic nature of this idea from the onset, they also decided to film themselves in the studio and make a documentary out of it, the cleverly named Let It Be. Not to be confused with Let it Be (the album), Let It Be Video Multimedia Collection, Let It Be…Naked, Let It Be Backpack, Let it be book, Let It Be tablature, Let It Be keys, Let It Be tees, and of course who could forget Let It Be cheese .

Some of the highlights include George Harrison storming out of a recording session in disgust and John Lennon constantly mocking McCartney. Harrison felt such pain knowing this film even existed he successfully had it taken out of print in ’81, stipulating it was not be released again until after his death. Thats a good way to deal with your issues, we can all take something from this example. If you ever find yourself at gunpoint in a dark alley, just close your eyes and it will all disappear.

On the positive side, The Long and winding Road is my favorite beatles song. Not because its good, or because I like it, but because when the FF finally broke up one of the six reasons Paul gave for wanting to dissolve the band was what Phil Spector did to try and rescue this song.

Although its been covered by hundreds of artists over the years, the definitive version was recorded by The Roadrunner, with some help from his friend Wile E Coyote (uncredited due to contract negotiations).
Just listen to the passion and urgency brought to this groundbreaking work:

[audio:Bugsandfriends-TheLongandWindingRoad.mp3]

bugs-and-friends.jpg

Quick, grab your copy before they’re all gone! Don’t miss a golden opportunity to throw more of your money onto this steaming pile of brilliance.
Bugs and Friends Sing the Beatles