There’s been a lot of versions recorded of this song since its initial release in 1963, when it was unleashed on America to drive a spasmodic public spasmadic.
Once again in our quest to bring you the best of the best we present the world renown Wing, a fine singer from New Zealand who’s soaring vocals won her international acclaim and a coveted engagement on the show South Park, which can be seen here in its entirety.
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
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:
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
On June 5th, 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono joined Frank Zappa and the Mothers of invention on stage for their first and last collaboration. The result was 40 odd minutes of either brilliant musicianship and improvisation, or a small eternity in hell.
J & O appeared that night during the encore as special guests, much to the delight of the unsuspecting crowd. It started out innocently enough with a rocking version of Well (baby please don’t go). This found Lennon in front of the tightest band he’d ever played with, at his side Yoko was in fine form… doing her thing.
After a lengthy improv it became apparent that John was understandably out of his element. After a few attempts to nudge him back to reality, Zappa narrowly avoided a trainwreck and steered the band into some original material before a blues based form was introduced. The brilliant Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, aka Flo and Eddie, took over on vocals and introduced a new lyrical theme for the silver tongued song smith to expand upon, Scumbag. John happily grabbed onto this new word and sang to save his life, while Flo and Eddie draped a potato sack over Yoko.
The good news was Zappa and the Mothers had booked a recording truck for the weekend as they were in the process of making the legendary Fillmore East ’71
And then they all lived happily ever after.
Until suddenly…
John and Yoko released Some Time in New York City
For the final insult… here’s the story of the from Frank himself:
[audio:Zappa_on_Lennon.mp3]
Its all part of a long line of undocumented theft and disrespect towards the inimitable Zappa who saw through them from the beginning. He released the worlds first concept album and double album in ’66 with his major label debut Freak Out!
McCartney owned a copy, and called Zappa to ask permission to use the idea. Expecting to get a drugged out hippie on the phone drooling over his famous moptop, he was instead met with a fiercely intelligent composer and business man who expected to be compensated for his own ideas. Instead of all that fuss, the beatles just stole the idea and claimed it as their own.
– This statement is incorrect, see comments, das
Zappa retaliated with the famous We’re Only In It For The Money
There’s been countless other violations of trust and utter lack of respect from the FF towards Zappa. We won’t get into everything, but here’s an ironic example:
Zappa recorded a medley of beatles songs, the lyrics were changed to make fun of disgraced TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. The FF had lost control of publishing rights at this time when suddenly, out of nowhere, Michael Jackson jumped out and blocked the songs release! Why? Who knows. Either the idea of adults having sex was too much for him, or the FF mafia had already seized control of his brain.
Here’s a copy of the unreleased, and likely never to be released medley for your listening pleasure. This is Zappa, so be forewarned if you’re the sensitive type:
[audio:FrankZappa_Beatles Medley.mp3]If you happen to be the curious type, here is unedited concert:
I should say, Bollywood Beatles.
Its been said a copy can never be as good as the original. I believe that to be true, and this is the exception that proves the rule.
I’m not sure the subtitles are accurate, if they are this mystery group has vastly improved the original as it makes a lot more sense this way.
I want to hold your hand (sort of):
How many of you were unlucky enough to hear the award winning seven hour radio show, Dreaming of the Past (more aptly named Living in the past) which commemorated the 25th anniversary of Lennon’s assassination when it aired last year? It was pretty hard to avoid at least even hearing about it, unless you completely shut off the radio and stopped reading magazines and papers, which isn’t always a bad thing. Especially in a case like this.
To make sure everyone in the universe was aware of this historic broadcast they bombarded the airwaves for over two months prior to the event with sixty second commercials disguised as programs called, A Minute of Lennon.
I’ll agree, its a nice idea to honor the deceased beatle like this, after all he did have a positive message to send out after he left the FF. Lennon has obviously done more for world peace than Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi, and even Bob Geldof, yet he still gets so little press these days it’s a miracle we haven’t forgotten his name!
You must be wondering what great humanitarian organizations and peace activists pulled together to produce this incredible testament to the memory of the immortal Lennon.
Well, it was those thoughtful folks at…..AN ADVERTISING AGENCY!
You mean…this was about making money, not honoring the deceased and his gifts to the world? Exploiting the dead for profit? Are there no cosmetic creams left to hustle? Rotgut beer to hawk? Cigarettes for children? Pesticides? Erectile dysfunction pills?
Surely there must be more to this than putting gas in their Range Rovers and vacationing in the French West Indies. Right??
Lets hear if from the horses mouth:
“We try to come up with interesting radio programs that advertisers can leverage. Branded entertainment is something I’m not sure is even happening in Canada. So we’ve created a seven-hour radio special around Lennon.”
If you’re not aware of what branded entertainment is, here’s a quick definition:
It’s hiding ads in material written for a target audience, creating an affinity between the brand and the subject matter. Backwards product placement. Coke doesn’t pay Martin Scorsese to film coke bottles in every scene, they hire some schmuck to write Scorsese a movie where it’s integral to the plot.
In other words: they used John Lennon to sell you cars, donuts and tires.
In regards to the two month shock and wealth campaign, also known as A Minute of Lennon, they had this to say:
“We’re building a long-term, loyal audience over two months through 65 one-minute programs called A Minute of Lennon to keep listeners hooked. Within each 60-second spot is a 30-second audio tag for Toshiba, our title sponsor,”
Other sponsors were Goodyear and of course EMI Music.
Step aside tampons, sneakers and laundry detergent, the shysters found a new way to hock the beatles! Geez, I can’t wait to see what they’ll sell when all the FF are dead!
Once again, if you think I’m making this up go read it for yourself:
At least now you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that sleazebag in the power boat tearing through your lake drunk on $300 brandy was funded by you.
What else is there to say?
John Lennon was inspired to write Good Morning, Good Morning by watching a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Commercial. It made its way onto the hugely popular Sgt Peppers album. He found the catchy jingle irritating enough to make a song from to irritate the entire world.
Another Corn Flake inspired masterpiece came in the form of I am The Walrus.
Listen to this rare outtake as an example of how far Lennon would go to push the public in whatever direction he fancied.
This particular version was scrapped for being much too blatant. Besides, they didn’t hold enough shares in Kellogg’s to make this pitch worthwhile. The beatles had more important things to sell, mainly themselves.
But really, advertising is the only reason this band exists today at all.
Does it strike you at all odd that when the Anthology Volumes 1 & 2 were released a few years back it made headlines internationally? Think about it, the same old shit you already own on cd, plus some outtakes and b-sides that have never been good enough to be released or played on the air to this day. That’s news?
How about the fact that to coincide with this release there was a six hour network TV broadcast on several channels?(available for purchase now) You would have to be an idiot to think this is all coincidence, goodwill, good timing, or even public interest.
It was a six hour infomercial!
If they wanted to sell you a beatle juicer and a beatle butt-plug, you would have bought those too.
This was a merciless, overwhelming assault on the general public for the sole purpose of putting more crap by these fake rock icons on the bestseller shelves. It didn’t start there, and it didn’t stop there. The entire reason for beatlemania in the first place was a well executed, well thought out, multi-billion dollar advertising blitz. Actors were paid to faint during their concerts and help incite the young crowds, their posters were hung in every record store and on every corner, their faces on the cover of every magazine, and when they travelled to the US they were already huge stars. In 1964…..WITHOUT EVEN RELEASING ANYTHING!
THEY HADN’T EVEN BEEN PLAYED ON THE RADIO YET!!!!
Once again, if you think I’m making this up, here is a copy of the original December 1963 Capitol Records memo for sales managers and regional managers, outlining the initial “Beatles Campaign”. Click to open and read it for yourself, friends.
I especially like the National Record News section on page two, where they describe how they created a magazine to promote the beatles with a four page spread. Here’s the excerpt:
“NATIONAL RECORD NEWS – BEATLE ISSUE”
Publicity Director Fred Martin has concocted a simply marvelous vehicle for spreading the Beatle story. It’s a four-page tabloid newspaper which looks deceptively legitimate. But of course it’s our doing, and all it contains is picture after picture and story after story on the Beatles.
You’ll be getting huge quantities of this tabloid. How to exploit it? Send bulk copies to major retailers for distribution to consumers. Offer bulks to jocks for give-away. But most important, make arrangements with local high schoolers to distribute them to fellow students after school (check with George Gerken on those arrangements).
The idea is to get as many copies of this tabloid as possible into the hands of potential Beatle buyers. Don’t, under any circumstances, end up with any large quantities of this tabloid sitting in your back room. They won’t help there!
Unless people wake up, the FF marketing campaign will never stop and the beatles will continue to exist as everybody’s favorite commodity. If you have to listen to them, at least know why you bought the albums. Love. Beatles Naked. Beatles One. Think about it, thats all I ask.
In the words of the immortal John Lennon: “The Queen’s intelligent. It won’t spoil her cornflakes.”
The Royal Mail ground to a halt this month when its workers staged the first nationwide walkout since ’96. As the toll from the strikes mounted, small firms struggled to cope and thousands of missed NHS appointments because hospital letters were stuck at sorting offices, mail order business stocks plummeted, consumers who tried to pay off credit cards and bills by posting cheques were hit by late payment penalties, and an estimated backlog of more than 200 million letters now clog the postal outlets.
The reason for these wildcat strikes seems to revolve around the Governments decision to issue 2007 beatle stamps. It may seem like a mindless way to gouge the ever open wallets of the beatle-brained public, in the process generating some much needed funds to fill the void as more people choose paperless communications, but the reality is far more treacherous. The postal workers knew the deeper truth, and damned if they were going to let it happen again!
Crack open your history books, get a newspaper and a globe, and take a look at the repercussions of what happens when you issue a beatle stamp. The list of countries foolhardy enough to have succumbed to this epidemic is mind-boggling.
Somalia. Angola. Nicaragua. Chad. Zaire. Ghana. War. Unrest. Genocide. Corruption. Crisis. Massacre. Dramatic and horrifying turmoil and upheaval follow these little rectangular papers, causing large scale destruction with a tasty adhesive aftertaste.
So far the valiant postal workers in the UK have stuck to their guns, refusing to abandon dreams of safety, happiness and a world free of the FF menace. They’ve even turned down a pay increase of 6.9 per cent over two years, an extra tea, and the offer of not being treated like ‘slaves.’
Unfortunately, these stamps were issued months ago, so even though we might admire their position, the timing leaves a little to be desired.
In 1985 Michael Jackson purchased the rights to over two hundred beatle songs, trumping a joint bid by McCartney and Yoko Ono. Almost instantly the intense evil over-powered his gentle mind.
Instead of destroying these vile tracts by throwing them into a live volcano as was his original intention, he hid them away in the darkness of his Neverland dungeon, and just as suddenly as he had surprised the remaining FF with his coup; it was over for this courageous soul.
Succumbing to the call of a deeper and more sinister style of bubblegum pop than he had ever imagined, these songs began to transform him. He secluded himself in the darkness, and as his will grew weaker their power over him became complete. They warped his body and soul, and in the end ultimately slipped out of his grasp and found a way to get back to their dark masters.
This disastrous event didn’t go unnoticed. Fans grew concerned after his mysterious absence from the music scene. When he finally re-emerged due to public pressure, his supporters were horrified. When Jackson was questioned about his surreal deformities he nervously quipped back, ‘it’s a rare skin disease, you’re ignorant.’
Does this story sound familiar? It should.
This age old fable was recently made into a 37 hour movie by Peter Jackson.
Its the story of Smeagol, an unfortunate hobbit who happened upon the ring of the dark lord Sauron. Its malign influence took control, twisted his body and mind and prolonged his life well beyond its natural limits. He descended into the dark caves beneath the Misty Mountains, when he finally emerged he was almost as bad off as Michael Jackson.
The similarities between these two stories are uncanny. Just as every culture has a fable about a flood, every culture also has a tale such as this pervasive evil. Tolkien may have cleaned up his version because the real truth is far too ugly for most people to confront. Mark our words, there will be many more stories like this until the reign of the FF has ended, only then will these dark days come to pass.
I’m sure you’ve heard about the entire UK cataloge of the beatles being compressed into one hour by Steve McLaughlin.
You’re probably waiting for a derogatory comment about this useless endeavor, but here at SMB, we support it!
If they were to play all their songs on the air compressed at 800%, there would be a fair chance something else might slip into the average classic rock stations playlist, or at the very least the torture would be over quickly.
In all honestly, it would still be filled with ads for the next ridiculous remix, followed by the Led Zeppelin clone of the week.
I don’t know what kind of brain dead sycophant could listen to this for an entire hour, let alone edit it. God help us!
If you do happen to be a brain dead beatle sycophant, listen up. I have a huge treat. No, its not a link to this testament to a wasted life, its 800% better:
The Complete Exotic Beatles
Perfect for trips to the bathroom, the bedroom, getting the laundry. Just pop it in your iPod and its FF time, oh yeah!
Martin Scorsese has been busy shooting some very popular music biographies over the past few years, the likes of which include, Bob Dylan: No Direction Home and The Blues: A musical Journey. He was also in production shooting a documentary on The Rolling Stones, which was mysteriously delayed when it was announced they were making a movie about late beatle George Harrison’s life. It looks like the Stones will have to take a back seat yet again while beatlemart grinds out another gazillion dollar hunk of crap.
Isn’t there another stupid TV show from the 70’s that needs remaking? C’mon Hollywood, think!
The biopic seem to revolve around a recently discovered wealth of vintage footage showing the boring beatle sitting in his garden drinking tea, walking around his estate looking at things, and making pickles. The latter will undoubtedly be the highlight of the film. The official name hasn’t been announced yet but several working titles have been suggested, including; Boring Fellas, Cape Tame and Subdued Bull. The Heinz company is pulling for Subdued Bull, as it will fit in perfectly with the launch for their new campaign, ‘Hey BullDogs.’
No word yet on who is going to play the lead, but unconfirmed sources have pointed to these engaging possibilities:
A slab of wood:
Leonardo DeCaprio:
A favorite of Scorcese’s. It’s is rumored that this famous thespian may be in the running to play Harrison. You may scoff, but don’t forget the incredible job he did of making unkempt old Jim Carroll look like a slight ruffled pretty-boy in The Basketball Diaries.
Can you tell the difference?
Perhaps one day Oliver Stone will make a five hour movie explaining this event, and what ultimately drove Scorsese to these horrible ends.
There are some pretty amazing covers on this album, but in my opinion nothing comes as close to perfection as this incredible cover of Sgt Pepper. There’s not much add here, I think the music speaks for itself.
Bill Cosby Sings Hooray for the Salvation Army Band!
I discovered this album on the great Music For Maniacs Blog.
In the years since George Harrison’s passing, more and more evidence has come to light that points to a growing conspiracy coming from within the FF ! It’s starting to look as if Harrison was not the quiet beatle which you’ve been led to believe, but the subversive beatle who was silenced through threats, humiliation and torture.
In the early days Harrison was told to just shut up and play his guitar, to speak only when spoken to, and forced to memorize stock responses for the press. Although he wrote his own material, songs were given to him with instructions governing what and when to sing.
The first time the FF relented and gave him an opening was in ’63 when they recorded his song Don’t Bother Me. This fluffy little victory gave him the confidence he needed to begin seeding his message to the masses.
At first he was encouraged to write for each album. This came to a head a short time later in ’65 when he wrote Think For Yourself. Not only was this an anti-establishment song which interrupted their plan for pretending to be anti-establishment when their cuteness wore off, it also tried to tell people to think for themselves. This is against everything the FF stood for! If people began to think for themselves, who would buy their albums?
The next album turned out to be Revolver. Harrison somehow managed to sneak Taxman, a blatantly anti-government song, into the sessions. The rest of the group was so threatened they decided it was time to silence this mole. In an effort to make him quit the group, Paul took his guitar and re-recorded the famous intro lick to the song when Harrison was sent out to pick up fish and chips. The ploy didn’t work and Harrison persevered. This is also the point where Lennon refused to contribute to any more of Harrison’s songs.
I Want to Tell You was written shortly after this incident, but what he was trying to tell us was somehow subverted before it left the studio and the message was lost. Sensing the impending danger Harrison began to fear for his life and muted the messages he was trying to send to the world.
The desire to drive him out or shut him up escalated. Harrison (and Starr for that matter) received only 1.6% of all FF royalties; this included his own songs, while John and Paul each got a hefty 30%. This was mentioned in Harrison’s Only A Northern Song, much to the amusement of the other now rich beatles.
There’s a plethora of previously undocumented information now coming to light, and the truth will soon be known. Just what was he trying to tell us? What kinds of hell was he submitted to? Only time will tell, but rest easy knowing the full story will soon be discovered. SMB is on the case.
She’s got a ticket to ride. She’s got some astrogli-hi hide.
What the hell am I talking about?
Ticket to Ride was written by John Lennon and it was inspired by….what else?
German Prostitutes!
In Germany at the time hookers were required to have monthly health checks, after which they received a card to prove they were STD free. As the beats would put it, they needed to check out the octopus’s garden. Oh what joy for every girl and boy, knowing they’re happy and they’re safe. That’s right, wild honey pie inspections. Fixing a hole.
Apparently the beatles were no strangers to hiding their love away, in spite of all the danger. “If you couldn’t get groupies, we had whores.” John Lennon related to
Rolling Stone Magazine’s Jan Wenner in a 1970 interview, “There were photos of me crawling round on my knees coming out of whorehouses in Amsterdam with people saying: ‘Good morning, John.’
Well, what’s a couple of hookers among friends?
The famous ditty Maggie Mae was about a prostitute in Liverpool. In fact, Maggie is slang for prostitute. Lady Madonna was about a single mother trying to make ends meet by walking the street. Mich kaufen kann Liebe, ja ja ja!
We decided to follow up on some of this information and separate fact from fiction, so at great length we tracked down and eventually landed an interview with the now famous Maggie Mae. Her real name is Margaret-Anne Maye, she currently resides just outside of Liverpool in Bootle. Ironically, she’s also twenty minutes from the John Lennon Airport. Here is a brief transcript from the interview:
SMB: Maggie, I’m sorry, Margaret-Anne, is it true that you used to sleep with the bealtes for money?
MM: We were all very poor in those days. I was a dreadfully ugly young girl…
SMB: (interrupting) You’re still quite ugly, I’m afraid.
MM: Ahem…yes, I suppose so. Anyway my specialty was gobbling…
SMB: I’m sorry?
MM: Plate. Gate. Um, oral sex. As I was saying, we were all so poor in those days, the boys rarely had any money and I used to do it just to get something warm in my stomach.
SMB: (vomits)
If thats not enough proof, here it is right from a beatles mandibles:
Continue reading
This is perhaps the most talented group ever to cover a song by the FF.
[audio:BeatleBarkers_Obladioblada.mp3]Not only does the dog capture the subtle nuances of Paul’s vocals, the counterpoint between the chicken and the sheep is breathtaking. Can you imagine how long it took all those animals to sing together like that? The original pales in comparison on so many levels, I just can’t say enough about it.
It doesn’t stop here folks, these inspired animals recorded at least one entire album, the first entitled Woofers and Tweeters.
The beatle Barkers on Amazon
The beatle Barkers on Ebay. Money well spent!
In 1962 Paul wrote ‘I saw her standing there’ about a girl he saw…standing there.
In 1963 the debut album ‘Please Please Me’ was released, the same year John F Kennedy was assassinated.
Coincidence?
Take a closer look:
John Lennon’s middle name was Winston after Winston Churchill, and one brief year later Churchill was also dead.
Then suddenly, 37-year-old Medgar Evers is murdered in Jackson, Mississippi. Pope John XXIII dies, as well as Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis. President Johnson escalates American’s military involvement in the Vietnam War. An earthquake in Libya destroys the village of Barce leaving 500 dead. A hurricane and resulting Tsunami cause Flooding in East Pakistan Bangladesh killing 22,000.A large cloud resembling the face of Jesus is seen on Sunset Mountain, Arizona. A Buddhist monk commits self-immolation. A smallpox outbreak in Stockholm, Sweden. In Japan, a coal mine explosion kills 458 and sends 839 carbon monoxide poisoning victims to the hospital and a triple train disaster kills 161. The cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira, with the loss of 128 lives.
The devestation unleashed by this album was far reaching and incredible.
And then out of nowhere Iron Man, Thor, Ant Man, the Wasp and Hulk assemble for the first time.
Thats some coincidence.
Also on this album was the title track, ‘Please Please Me,’ an overt sexual invitation penned by Lennon which was based on a song his mother used to sing to him as a child.
Recite these lyrics aloud three times while staring into a mirror with the lights out. If you dare.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Please please me.
Oh yeah.
Like I please you.
Oh yeah.
Like I please you.
Oh yeah.
Like I please you.
Now try this simple equation:
Oedipus+complex=?
The horror.
This is a wonderful example of the beatles influence on modern culture, we have artists from different generations and different genres teaming up to pay homage to the FF. In 1977 ABC aired a beatles television special called beatles Forever! The all star cast consists of Tony Randall, Bernadette Peters, Diane Carroll, and Paul Williams. Also involved were Anthony Newley, Mel Tillis, and inscrutably Ray Charles.
This nine minute opus entitled ‘beatles Medley‘ should serve to horrify you even more than actually witnessing the event, the images it puts into your head cannot be unseen.
For anyone unfortunate enough to happen upon this page, I apologize. I’m warning you in advance not to listen. I tried to find the least offensive song, but in the end I closed my eyes and pointed to this.
The entire album can be found on WFMU’s great site, here is a direct link:
http://wfmu.org/onthedownload.php/album/1765
The full track listing is pretty impressive, the Chinese water torture has nothing on the results this could garner.
1. “INTRODUCTION BEATLES MEDLEY” by Tony Randall, Bernadette Peters, Anthony Newley, Dianne Carroll, Mel Tillis, and Paul Williams
2. “BEATLES MEDLEY” by Tony Randall, Bernadette Peters, Dianne Carroll, and Paul Williams
3. “YESTERDAY” by Ray Charles
4. “ELEANOR RIGBY” by Anthony Dowell with The ABC Television Orchestra & Chorus
5. “WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU” by Anthony Newley
6. “IN MY LIFE, HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE” by Dianne Carroll
7. “BEATLES MEDLEY” by Ray Charles, Tony Randall, Bernadette Peters, Anthony Newley, Dianne Carroll, Mel Tillis, and Paul Williams.
8. “CLOSING” by Tony Randall
Harken back to a happier time, a time when cheerful youth clubs like the Edwardians, the Mods and the Rockers played in the carefree streets of the 50’s and 60’s, out for a laugh and a some fun. ‘Golly Gee’ and ‘Jeepers’ they would yell at each other while playing catch with their pocketknives and bike chains.
Suddenly, all that changed. The streets turned ugly and so did the language. One day the knife was no longer a fun toy, but a dangerous weapon. By the early 70’s it was all a distant memory. Children began turning against their parents, chaos ruled the night and golly gee turned in to I’m gonna fucking kill you!
Ever wonder what happened? It can all be traced back to a singular event, in 1968 on August 28 in North America and August 30 in the UK, the beatles released the single Hey Jude. It snaked instantly into the charts and remained there for sixteen weeks, spending two in the number one position (before getting knocked out by Mary Hopkin’s eerily prophetic ditty, Those Were The Days).
This cheerful little six minute dirge contained enough subliminal debauchery to castrate the common decency of every god-fearing human that heard it. The hypnotically boring, mantra-like outro served as the mallet which hammered its spiked message into the consciousness of a generation.
This concealed directive occurs at approximately 2:55 in the song, briefly into the third verse between the lines The minute you let her under your skin and, then you begin. Right as the word begin is sung you’ll hear an Paul say, ‘Fucking Hell.’ Listen closely:
To prove this isn’t a doctored recording go and listen to the album. If you don’t have seventeen copies already go buy another one, drop another donation in the church of beatleology
Further Reading:
For a deeper look into the horrid dungeon of filth, evil and despair that comprised the beatles recording sessions from Revolver in ’66 to the White Album in ’68, take a look at the memoirs of Geoff Emerick, a poor soul unfortunate enough to have suffered through these dark days as a recording engineer. His mind has obviously been bent and warped out of shape from the trauma of these years, in fact I’m surprised he’s not a drooling idiot at this point and is still coherent enough to spit frenzied words at some beatle apologist hungry to make his quota of FF
1. Somebody else would have done it.
2. They might not have been brave or strong enough to stay alive and report the Hey Jude incident.
The wonderful folks at Rolling Stone Magazine have once again brought us a comprehensive, impartial and unbiased list aimed at helping 14 year old girls, university students, and wanna be hipsters sound like they know something about music. If you flip through the full page glossy ads bejeweled with anorexic models long enough, you will eventually find an article. Normally, the purpose of these articles seem to be aimed at pushing to you follow in HST’s
Like this:
The twenty-five most underrated guitarists.
Surprisingly, I agree with a couple of those choices.
Unfortunately, putting George Harrison on a list of underrated guitar players cancels any credibility this list might have contained. How did they leave out those other underrated guitarists Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix!?!
To call one of the most overrated guitarist in history underrated is not just an insult to your intelligence, its a sign that these people don’t even bother trying anymore. I refuse to believe the general public has been conditioned to the point that they need only print the word beatle or mention an FF
If I’m wrong, and we’re too late, click here and subscribe:
Why not? You’ll just buy the next remix (scheduled to be out in about five minutes, after that every five minutes for eternity) of Let It Be with that money anyway.
Your spell checker wants you to capitalize the B in beatles. What the hell is that?!? Are they taking over the English language now? Lower case kids from Liverpool make good in Oxford? I guess Bealtisms will soon be taught in public school. Clever phrases like, ‘It’s Art with a Capital F’ will be scratched on blackboards by bored looking emo children who can’t understand this newspeak, and on the playground cautiously whisper to one another the patua language of proper English.
Merriam Webster my ass!
As previously mentioned, the beatles claimed they invented the concept album with Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Lets try and look at this from a different angle. What exactly is a concept album and did the bealtes even release one? They stuck a bunch of songs together, and two of them were about a fictitious guy named Billy Shears so I guess that is a concept, but it could also be called a record.
There were cutouts to play with and a bunch of people on the cover to look at, but that’s more of what we call an album cover.
The definition of concept is ‘something conceived in the mind…’ So it’s a thought. This was the first thought album?
What the hell does that mean?!?!
Well, as Paul so eleoquently described it:
“a complete thing that you could make what you liked of—just a little magical presentation.”
Thanks a lot, fairy.
Isn’t it amazing how the beatles invented everything and everyone else just copied them?
In 1967 they invented the concept ablum with Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts club band.
In fact, it was such a brilliant idea the Kink’s copied it two years earlier with ‘Face to Face.’
So did the Beach Boys with their ’66 concept album ‘Pet Sounds.’
Even Frank Zappa took their idea, got into his UMRC time machine and made Freak Out! 2 years earlier in ’65.
In fact, the beatles invented the word beetles. Until then any insects with a hard exoskeletons and scaly wings were called Insects with hard exoskeletons and scaly wings waiting to be invented by four moptops from Liverpool!
Some may argue that Paul has a great voice, but nobody can argue that he has a stupid face.
You can follow the stupidification progress chronologically by looking at the album covers and watch the transformation from a mildly normal looking youth, to the surprised Beatle.
By the time of Revolver and later Yellow Submarine the band was drawing or painting him, on Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery costumes and disguises, were used but it was too late.
His famous, “crumpet up the butt” look was seen on the cover of so many magazines, posters and movie screens that when the beatles finally broke up, not even John and Yoko’s hairy bushes could save him from his face.
You’ve gotta Hand it to Paul, some grow old gracefully, some grow old and ugly, but with the Help! of plastic surgeons and hair dye Paul has managed to remain stupid looking for over 40 years.
The Beatles Invented singing harmonies, its true.
If you listen to any recordings before 1964 there were no harmonies! If two or more people did happen to sing together it was either by accident, or they were both calling the same pig.
Its been said by negative naysayers that there does exist pre-beatle harmonies, and examples such as the beach boys or The Everly Brothers are cited. Or to beat a dead horse; Barbershop quartets, Bach’s Cantatas, before he rolled over and took one up the Jolly Roger from a moptop – Beethoven’s Fidelio, a gazillion choral pieces, a beatillion operas……But!
To me and the Beats that’s not really singing, its just a bunch of people making mouth noises at the same time.
To me and the Beats its nothing but a hoshposh of aimless vocal wankery.
Harmonies about surfing? Tell me another one!
