Song 194 - The White Album - The Beatles

Today is the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles’ - The Beatles album, affectionately known as The White Album, and there is no better other way to regenerate the jukebox than by starting with this album. The trouble is where do you start with this album? It is a feast of musical masterpieces, which starts with Back in the USSR and ends with Number Nine, and shows off the extraordinary talents of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison & Starr. If anything, this for me, this is their sad album because it is the individual talent that shines throughout the tracks and signals that this supergroup is outgrowing each other. 

There is no way I can do this album justice in one blog post so, over the next four weeks, I am going to cover some of the songs on this remarkable album. If I had to pick one song and discard all the others, the one song I would keep is Blackbird. I know it’s the obvious choice, but it is one of the most beautiful songs I think that has ever been written. For years, I’ve listened to this song, without fully appreciating its true meaning. For those, who may not know, Blackbird is not only a reference to the bird but also to the race relations and the plight of African-American Women at that time.  1968 was a poignant year for America as only months earlier  Martin Luther King had been assassinated.

Recorded as a solo performance on the album with McCartney playing a Martin D 28 acoustic guitar, the lyrics brings goosebumps whenever I listen to it. It is a standard out song that captures a moment of history. The tune itself was based on Bach’s Bourée in E Minor, a tune Paul & George tried to teach themselves at school. 

But anyone who listened to the album will know that Blackbird isn’t the only creature to appear on the album, with Rocky Racoon and Piggies both appearing on the album and there’s the reference to the walrus in Glass Onion.  I remember the first few times I heard these songs and how visual the lyrics were in describing these characters.  As I writer and lover of music, I love musicians who can tell a character’s story as strongly as the Beatles.

Listen and enjoy the first four tracks and look out for more over the coming weeks

Blackbird

Piggies

Rocky Racoon

Glass Onion

Tracks from The Beatles

Written by: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starr

Released: 22nd November 1968

Song 181 - Long Tall Sally by Little Richards

Happy Fathers' Day to one of all.  As well as being Fathers' day, it is also Sir Paul McCartney's 75th Birthday today and I thought I would do a song by Little Richards as he is someone who influenced the Beatles in their early days as the Quarry Men. Also Long Tall Sally is reported to be the first song Paul McCartney performed in public. What's the connection to Fathers' day you may ask, well Paul McCartney is the same age as my dad and my dad is one of my greatest sources of inspirationsin my life but he hasn't written a hit single so he doesn't really fit into a music blog! However, he has got a fantastic sense of musicality and has introduced me to many a good tune over the years.

Release in March 1956, Long Tall Sally by Little Richards is a 12 bar rock and roll song. It is also one of his biggest hits. Little Richards himself, is one of the most influential rock/pop stars in the world as his style in the 1950s laid the foundation for Rock and Roll. Born in 1932, he was discovered in 1947 by Sister Tharp. From that moment on, his life would be about performing music and it took him 8 years to secure a recording deal with Specialty Records, who signed him as their version of Ray Charles. Little Richard's first single release would be  Tutti Fruit, which was followed up by Long Tall Sally, which became his first number 1 on the R&B chart in 1956.  At the time when racial tensions were strong due to segregation laws in the USA, it is said that Little Richard's music brought race together and broke through the tensions.   Tutti Fruit & Long Tall Sally were the first two hit singles for Little Richards and in the space of 3 years he had secured 18 hit singles and was a millionaire. His music was being covered by stars like Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran and he was invited to guest star in popular films at the day.

The association between Little Richards and The Beatles came in the early 1960s when Brian Epstein approached him to see whether his band could be one of his supporting acts when he was touring Europe in 1962.  They opened for him in Brighton and Hamburg to name two of his venue. During the time the band spent with Little Richards, he taught them how to sing his songs. This would lead to the Beatles covering the song in 1964, for the Long Tall Sally EP.

When I listen to the track, it makes me want to dance and own a vintage 50s dress so I can dance a Teddy Boy all night long.  Listen to it now but promise me you'll listen to it full blast. If you are able to be with your dad today, have a dance with him!

Listen to Long Tall Sally Here:
Long tall song

Written by: Entrois Johnston, Robert Blackwell and Robert Penniman (Little Richards' real name)
Year released: 1956

Song 178 Celebrating 50th Years of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles

On June 1st, 1967, an album would be released that would change the pop industry forever. I am of course talking about St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. Whether you love or loathe the Beatles the relevance of this record, even in today's music scene, cannot be denied. I haven't hidden the fact that I'm a Beatles geek who believes there is a Beatles' song for every occasion, but forgetting all this, this album should be owned by anyone who loves music.

When the band started writing the album, late 1966,  the press had decided that the Band was in crisis, retiring from touring, not releasing albums every six months, they were obviously heading downwards. Adding to this was the failure for the double A-sided single, Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane to reach number one in February 1967,  this surely meant the end of The Beatles!

What the sceptics didn't understand was the masterpiece being created by the Band and George Martin. Free from the need of having to perform tracks live, the foursome were able to experiment. They created St. Pepper's band as their alter ego, allowing them to push the boundaries like never before. When the Beach Boys had released Pet Sounds, the year before, it had made the Beatles stand up and listen, they wanted to be able to explore their musical creativity, it started with Revolver and exploded with this album.

For me, St. Pepper is the coming of age album of the Beatles and is a crossroad between their early albums and their post pepper material.  It is like growing up with your friends, your boundaries and experiences change, whilst the core remains true; fantastic music.   Also, it is impossible to take away from the cultural significance of the album release at the start of summer 1967, the war babies were turning into adults and pushing the boundaries of society. This rebellious nature would be seen with 3 of their songs being banned from the BBC's playlist due to their references to drugs.  It shows how music listening depends on how old you are, I would have never known that Henry the Horse from The Benefit of Mr Kite, was slang for Heroin when I heard the song at the age of 11. Lucy in the sky with Diamonds is infamous with LSD, even though John Lennon maintained the song was inspired by his son's drawing.  Drug induced or not, the album's 13 songs of colourful characters like Lovely Rita, and heartbreaking ballads, She's leaving home, will have you streaming in tears and laughter in equal measure.

If you're never heard the album, promise me you will enhance your enjoyment of it by listening to in its entirety, the songs were recorded without the natural break between them so it is like a string of music, and if possible, listen to it on a record player. Last year, we invested in a record player and without a doubt, it is the best way to listen to music from the 1960s. Even the cat listens when we have records on.

When you listen to it for the second time, it is the production value that you will start to appreciate; from varispeeding vocals to ADT, dampening to building three-dimensional vocals, it is under surprising that this album took nearly 700 hours to record and cost a reported £25,000 to produce. Their first album Please Please Me cost £400. A little increase in though figures. Rumours had it that some of the band weren't as keen as other with all the fancy production techniques, but hopefully hearing their finished album and knowing that it still tops the top albums ever written, made up for any boredom in the studio.

Then when you listen for the third time sit with the wonderful cover in front of you and try to guess all the famous faces on the album selves. Designed by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth from a stretch drawn by Paul McCartney, there are over 50 famous faces on the front cover. Winning the 1968 Grammy award for Best Album cover, it is instantly recognisable to millions across the world and illustrates the journey of the band, their influences and their heroes to write this album. For me, as I reach my own crossroads to a new decade, the Beatles are part of my cover and their music has shaped who I am.

Thank you, John, Paul, George and Ringo for this album. For giving generations who live after yours, an album that keeps its relevance and music sharpness no matter how old it becomes.

Hear Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club band and enjoy the levels of music.

Released: 1st June 1967,
Written by: Lennon, McCartney & Harrison.
Record label: EMI & Apple

Song 174 - Revolver by The Beatles

   The first Friday album for a while and today's album is celebrating its 50th birthday today. Yes of course, I'm talking about  Revolver, the 7th studio album of the Beatles. It spent 34 weeks in the UK album chart, with 7 of these being at the top of the chart. With a noticable progression in terms of style and experimentation from Rubber Soul, this 50th year old hearded the band as studio innovators and has inspired musicians throughout the world.

The Beatles started recording Revolver in April 1966 and recorded contintually for three months. Paperback Writer and Rain were released as their 12 single in June, a gap of six months from their last release which was their longest gap between releases since the band started. But anyone who knows this album and the quality of music coming from the Beatles at this time knows it was worth the weight. Paperback Writer & Rain never made the album; which contains14 tracks.

Recording started with the song Tomorrow Never Knows, which started the revoluntion in recording techniques as the song introduce many of the new studio technique the band together with George Martin and Geoff Emerick put together. The techniques included the incorporation of tape loops and backwards recordings of guitars, the use of a classical oct, indian-music backing, varispedding, reversed tapes and close music miking. The album is also credited with the invention of automatic double tracking (ADT), a technique  invented by the engineers in Abbey Road and was adopted throughout the record industy. It's not surprising that the album took over 300 hours to record and produced.

The album opens up with Taxman written and performed by George Harrison. Hearlded as the Beatles' first topical issue song and uses the Indian guitar played by Paul McCartney.It is an upbeat tempo that has lyrics normal people can relate to, and as we know from reading the news over the last year, there has been many a celebrity who have found a way to avoid the taxman character that Harrison sings about.

This is followed up by, prehaps, one of the saddest Beatles song written by Lennon and McCartney, Eleanor Rigby. Who was Eleanor Rigby?  A name on a grave that the band didn't now, but the lyrics address the theme of loneliness, which is something every generation can relate to. All four Beatles play a part in the lyrics to the song, but George Martin made the decision to put strings behind the lyrics.  One music journalist at the time said  "the corruption of 'Taxman' and the utter finality of Eleanor's fate makes the world of Revolver more ominous than any other pair of opening songs could."

I'm only sleeping increases the tempo once more and uses the clever technique of Varispeeding and ADT on Lennon's voice. This track was one of three tracks that was cut from the US version of Revolver and has been described as half acid dream half latent Lennon laziness personified by Barry Miles. The songs were cut due to an earlier release of the tracks by Capitol,  It is a perfect song to listen to if you are on holiday or even having a well derserved day off and know that whilst the world spins, you can enjoy life at a more gentle pace. This is followed on nicely by Harrison's first foray into Hindustani classical music with "Love you to". The Beatles had already started using Indian music in their songs as Lennon brought in an Indian sitar for Norwegian Wood. My interest in India and Indian culture has been sparked this week as I've discover that I have ancestors who were born in India.

As we nearly reach the middle of the album, here comes a song that was inspired by the Beach Boys' God Only Knows. McCartney's beauty ballard Here, there and everywhere is a beautiful lyrics journey of a heart in love. Love is very much a theme throughout this album (and every album they wrote) but perhaps these tracks show the maturing style of not just the song writing of the band but the emotional growth. Love and the meaning of love changes with the experience you have. If I was a Rock DJ on air, I would dedicate this track to my in-laws who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this week.  I feel there is something more romantic about old love as the longer two people are together the more entwinded they become. I am a romantic at heart.

Often described as the coffee break from the drama of their song writing, Yellow Submarine was written with Ringo's voice in mind and again the work achieved on this track to create a nautical atmosphere to accompany the lyrics. It would be four years before the film of the same name would be released. Good pub quiz knowledge.

Before you get gidding from the sea, the tone of the album changes again with the song She said She Said. This song only features Harrison and Lennon as there was an argument in the studio and McCartney stormed out. The lyric "I know what it is like to be dead" comes from a conversation with Peter Fonda, who remember nearly dying during an operation as a child.  The track recording went right up to the wire taking nine hours to produce, with just 24 hours before the album had to be finalised. If you were listening to the original recording of this, this is where the record would need to be turned over.

Side 2 for those who know what sides are starts as bright as any album with the track Good Day Sunshine. A song for anyone who can't help but smile about life. Followed up with And your bird can sing there are signs of Dylan's inspired  composition and a nod to Frank Sinatra with this number. This was another track omitted from the US album version.  

Talking about love, I wonder what it is like for Jane Asher who is said to be the inspiration for For No One, to hear this song now and whether she listens with fondness for the memories or regret. No one will probably ever know.  Keeping the theme of being inspired by people the next song, Dr Robert celebrates a New York physician known for dispensing amphetamine injections to his patients. On the recoding, the hard-driving performance is interrupted by two bridge sections where, over harmonium and chiming guitars chords, the group vocals suggest a choir praising the doctor for his services. Dr Robert was the third track not to make the US album. 

Harrison said he wrote I want to tell you about "the avalanche of thoughts" that he found hard to express in words. The song opens with a descending guitar riff as the recording fades in, similar to the start of the Beatles' 1964 track Eight days a week. This song is quickly followed up with Got to Get you into my life and was described by McCartney as a ode to pot.

Perhaps it is the last track which was their first track to start recording for the album which was the band's greatest achievement in studio recording at this time. This song is one of the earliest example of the emerging counterculture genre of psychedlic music. Some of the production on this track along is why this album often top of the best albums of all time.

I think and perhaps it is just me but one of the lovely things about this album is that you can see the development of the Beatles from the early days of Hamburg and Beatlemania to four very talented musicans who built on their roots. Their music evolves from what has gone before and the fact that they commissioned Klaus Voormann to design the (now) iconic album cover shows that they didn't forget their friends. For those who don't know Voormann becames friends with the Beatles when they first did gigs in Hamburg and was involved with the start of their careers

I could talk about this record for hours but perhaps it is better for you to listen it to understand why this album is only 50 years young and will be listen for another 500 years.

Written by Lennon, McCarney & Harrison
Album: Revolver
Released: 5 August 1966.

Song 163 - Birthday by the Beatles

It might be an obvious song for me today but this song is relevant to somebody every day of the year, and if you have ever created a birthday mega mix for a friend, this was a great opening track.
Written, of course, by John Lennon and Paul McCartney it was the first song on the third side of their double album, The Beatles, which is more commonly known as the White Album. The White Album was recorded on the 18 September 1968 during a recording session and sees a return to traditional rock and roll style of the early Beatles' music. An interesting fact about this track was credited equally between John and Paul, at a time when, individually, they were all moving in their own musical direction. There has been some debate on whether this is true.

Birthday was never released as a single for the band; but would eventually be released by Paul McCartney as a live track in 1990 and it reached number 29 in the UK chart. Birthday is probably one of the more minor tracks of the Album, which includes tracks like Back in the USSR, Glass Onion, Julia, Blackbird, Honey Pie, and I will.  The list is endless. The White Album was the 9th studio album released by the Beatles in 1968, which followed Sgt. Pepper's Loney Hearts Club Band. The album shows the development of all four member of the band as individual musicians who were beginning to break away from each other. When you look at the album's credits names like Eric Clapton, Pattie Harrison, Mal Evans, Yoko Uno and Maureen Starky, you can see why sometimes the studio seemed very full when they were they were recording between May and November 1968. Most of the songs were written in India and you can hear its influence especially in George Harrison's music.

I remember, for a very long time, I didn't have this album on CD due to the expense and then I was given it for my birthday by my sister and brother-in-law as I had been apparently dropping hints about owning it, but I wasn't aware that I had been doing this.  Then friends of mine gave me a book all about the the album, which is just a perfect companion to the album. I think I now have three copies of the albums, both in Mono and Stereo. If you have the chance to listen to this album do as this it is a remarkable piece of art; but I will bet that you'll know songs from the album without even listening to it.

Listen to the Birthday track here

Cheers to everyone who has a birthday today.

Song 129 - Celebrating George Martin with some Beatles

Being a huge Beatles fan, it wouldn't have been right to pass over the death of George Martin, one of the most influential record producers of the 20th century, just because he didn't necessary sing on any hits. His death was announced today,  aged 90, and since then there has been an out pouring of tributes to the man, who in Paul McCartney's words was the fifth Beatle.

Picture the scene when in 1962, Brian Epstein told the Beatles that he had secured him a deal with EMI. This statement turned out to be a lie and the Beatles had been invited to audition with record producer, George Martin and to be honest, Martin wasn't that impressed by what he heard to begin with but he recognise something in their music which eventually led to him giving them a record deal on June 6. Although he did suggest that band made some changes and he was often blamed as the person who sacked Pete Best, the original drummer of the group.

When Paul McCartney paid tribute today to Martin, he talked about him as a second father who was able to guide, promote and challenge the fab four. Introducing elements like strings to tracks of a rock and roll band, Martin  had the vision to help them translate their musical ideas and songs into the masterpieces we love today. He wrote the string section part of Eleanor Rigby and the electric backing to I am the Walrus. Perhaps, now-a-day, with the advancement of music equipment and computer, we perhaps take for granted the basic equipment used to create some of the iconic sounds of the Beatles' songs. When it came to recording St. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club, Martin devised a technique whereby a number of tracks were recorded and then mixed down on to one single track, giving the flexibility of a modern multi-tracked studio. At the time EMI had only four- track tape machines. He also made much use of recording different tracks at various speeds to change the texture of the final sound.

In the later stages of the Beatles' career, the band themselves became much more knowledgeable on producing records, however, Martin remained a critical part of the band's makeup and after their break-up  continue to work with the band members independently.

But it is important to recognise that although George Martin was most famous for being the producer of the Beatles, his career far outstretched the fab four and with a career spanning 6 decades, he produced over 700 records, wrote film scores and worked with a variety of artists including Matt Munro, Dire Straits, Elton John, Shirley Bassey, Pete Townsend, Cilla Black to name but a few. His talents will shine throughout the history of pop music for generations to come and his name will never be out of tune with the music world. RIP George Martin and have fun with the musical talent in heaven.

Here are just a number of iconic songs that Martin brought to our ears:

1. Love me do, performed by the Beatles, from Please Please Me, 
Love me do

2. Eleanor Rigby, performed by the Beatles, from Revolver, 
Eleanor Rigby

3. A day in the life, performed by the Beatles, from St. Peppers' Lonely Hearts' Club Band, 
A day in the life

4. Rain, performed by the Beatles
Rain, performed by the Beatles

5. I am the Walrus, performed by the Beatles, from Magical Mystery Tour 

I am the Walrus

6. Strawberry Fields forever, performed by the Beatles, from Magical Mystery Tour
Strawberry fields forever

7. Right said Fred, performed by Bernard Crippins
Right said Fred

8. Diamond Dust, performed  by Jeff Beck
Diamond Dust

9. From Russia with love, performed by Matt Munro
From Russia with love

10. Ticket to heaven, performed by Dire Straits, from On Every Street, 1991
Ticket to heaven

Song 101 - Abbey Road by the Beatles

Never ask me to name my favourite Beatles song, but my favourite Beatles Album is Abbey Road. Released in September 1969, for me, there is not one track on that album which isn't worthy of being part of the jukebox and here's why:

In the autumn of 1990, when I was 13, my family was involved in  putting on the local village pantomime Dick Whittington and it was decided that Octopus Gardens would make a great song for when Dick is traveling to the palace to get rid of the rats. To get the music for the track, we borrowed the album from a family friend and being a Beatles fan back then, I tapped the whole album and from that moment, my appreciation for the Beatles took a whole new level.  I think up to this point, my knowledge of Beatles music was mainly due to a tape of their 1962-1964 music.

Where do I start with what makes it so fantastic? One,  the album contain tracks written and song by all four of them, you have Harrison's Something and Here's comes the sun,  Starky's Octopus gardens; together with Lennon and McCartney's classics as Come together, Because and You never give me your money. Two, the second side is a melting pot of magical melodies that weave into each other, it isn't an album to put onto a random mix as you miss the sheer beauty of the composition. Three are the characters in the songs, you have the series killer in Maxwell's Silver Hammer; Mean Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam; and the man in Come Together who has to be good looking cause he is so hard to see. Then outside the characters there is a mixture of heart warming and heart breaking songs, which perhaps reflect the mind state of four friends who had reached the end of their time together. For a 13 year old girl with an over active imagination, it had everything and it has never failed to inspire me and I am a wee-bit older now. Have I sold it to you yet?

Lets go through the tracks: Side 1.

Come together 
A brilliantly simple track sung by John Lennon, it is its simplicity that makes it perfect. Having listened to this album so many times, this song for me strikes a happy chord. A number of other artists have covered this, and it was on the HELP album for the War Child Charity where Paul McCartney played with Paul Weller and Oasis on the cover. You can't help thinking that John Lennon would have been part of that album too if he had been around. It was released as a double A-side single with Something, which is track two on the album.

Come together, sung live by John Lennon in New York

Something
Possibly the best song George Harrison wrote whilst he was a Beatles, this love song refers to the relationship with his first wife Patti Boyd, who he had met on the film A Hard Day's night. Boyd would go on to be the inspiration for the song Wonderful Tonight, Layla and Bell Bottom Blues written by Eric Clapton, her second husband. Something gave the Beatles their 18th number one in the US surpassing Elvis Presley and won an Ivor Novella award for Best song musically and lyrically in 1969.

Something by the Beatles

Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Sung by McCartney, all you have to do is listen to the lyrics of this song and they tell you the story of Maxwell.  Paul described Maxwell's Silver Hammer as "my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life. I wanted something symbolic of that, so to me it was some fictitious character called Maxwell with a silver hammer."

Maxwell's Silver Hammer

Oh! Darling
Another song sung by McCartney, he worked for a week to make sure his voice wasn't too clear on the track. This track is heavy influenced by the Rhythm and Blues music of New Orleans.

Oh! Darling by the Beatles

Octopus's Garden
Ringo would normally get to be lead vocal on one track of an album, Octopus Gardens was performed and written by him after taking a two week holiday with his family and developing an interest in Octopus. Sometimes the inspiration is easy to see.

Octopus Garden, live version sung by Ringo Starr

I want you (She's so heavy)
For the last track of side one, Lennon takes back the lead vocal role for this gritty number. I actually miss my taped version of this song as you could hear the needle lift of the record right at the end of the music. Lennon wrote this number about his love for Yoko Uno and is one of the longest Beatles tracks ever lasting 8 minutes and containing only 14 words. Touching on the world of heavy metal, it one of the last track the Beatles recorded together as a band in September 1969.

I want you (she's so heavy) The Beatles

Side 2

Here comes the sun
Another perfect number for George Harrison and you can imagine yourself being in the back garden with a drink, which is actually where he wrote it in the back gardens of his friend's, Eric Clapton, house. You can hear Harrison's india influence coming through on the track and McCartney sings backing vocals. By putting this as the opening track of the second side, it shows the diversity between the heavy metal style to folk rock.

Here comes the sun - The Beatles

Because
Keeping it mellow, Lennon's vocal on Because, follows on fantastically. The voices of Lennon, Harrison and McCartney are dubbed trice so it sounds as though there is a nine part harmony on the track.  Cited as the favourite track of Lennon and McCartney on the album, it took them more than 5 hours of recording to get the track to a level they were happy with. Much is said about the unhappiness and the tension of recording this album, but there was still a level of dedication to creating the best material they could. I can't find a link to the Beatles' recording on You Tube.

The Medley: You never give me your money, Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam, She came through the bathroom window, Golden slumbers, Carry that weight and The End.

Staring with You never give me your money, the medley was put together by George Martin and Paul McCartney. It was an attempted by George Martin to get Lennon and McCartney to think about their music seriously. The first track inspired by the Band's disputes with Alan Kein, leads into Lennon's Sun King, which follows the same vein as Because & Here's come the Sun.  Using the nine-part harmonies with their voices, you could put these three tracks as singles on their own album. As you are starting to feel chilled and the heat from an Indian Summer, The Sun King gives way for Mean Mr. Mustard, a character that was inspired by a news article John Lennon read when he was in India and is another great example of characters The Beatles created in their songs, Mean Mr. Mustard gave way to Polythene Pam, another Lennon's character inspired by a real person he met in Jersey. She's came through the bathroom window, written by McCartney, was also inspired by  a fan who gained entry to his flat through the said window.

You never give me your money

Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam, She came in through the bathroom window

The last two tracks, Golden Slummers & The End, for me anyway maybe suggests the end of the band and the fact that these four friends have simply moved in different directions. Although the later years of the band became more difficult with the death of Brian Epstein, the legal fights, I like to think of them as made it very, very big. Perhaps because I have always being able to listen to album in the cultural history surrounding it, has made me think that they they all knew that it was over by the end of the record for the Beatles, and too much is made of the arguments surrounding this album and not enough about the brilliance of it.

Golden Slummers, Carry that weight, The End

Hidden track: Her Majesty
Lovely little track about the Queen.

Her Majesty by The Beatles

I urge you to go out and listen to this album. It maybe three years shy of being 50th year old, but it is fantastic for its age.

Song 100 - Lucy in the sky with diamonds - The Beatles

Song 100 and yes we are back to the Beatles, I wanted to keep along the lines of diamonds and what better song then Lucy in the sky with diamonds, taken from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I mean how can you not feel relaxed with the opening line: Picture yourself in a boat on river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies.

Although credited to both Lennon and McCartney, Lucy in the sky with diamonds, is said to be a Lennon led song. John, himself, said that he had been inspired by a painting that Julian (his son) came back with from nursery with the same title, that he painted with his friend, Lucy.

Although in the years since the song was released, many have said the song is about LCD, Lennon and McCartney has both firmly denied this, saying the song had more to do with their love of Alice in Wonderland. Another myth surrounding this record is that it was banned by the BBC because of the apparent meaning of it. This is not true and it was played on BBC radio in May 1967.

Lucy in the sky with diamonds is the third track on the critically acclaimed album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was the Beatles' 8th studio album. Released in 1967, it stayed at the top of the album chart for 27 weeks in the UK and 10 weeks in the US. The album would win 4 Grammys, including best album, which was the first time a pop album had won this award.

Most of the song is in a simple triple metre (3/4 time), but the chorus is in 4/4 time. The song modulates between musical keys, A major for verses, B Flat major for the pre-chrous and G major for the chorus. Lennon sings it over an increasingly complicated underlying arrangement which feature tamboura played by George Harrison, who also plays the lead electric guitar put through a leslie speaker. Then McCartney is playing a counter melody on a Lowrey organ, taped with a special organ stop sounding, like a celeste.

 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band moved The Beatles into a more experimental period with their  music and it is said that the idea of creating the Edwardian band, was to allow them the freedom to explore new music style and influences. The album itself is in the number 3 in the best selling albums in the UK  ever.

The song itself has been covered by a variety of artists. Perhaps the most famous artist was Elton John in 1974, as Elton worked with John Lennon on his version of the song. Elton John would take the song to No. 1 in the US Chart.

To hear about Lucy in the sky;
Lucy in the sky with diamonds by The Beatles


Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released: 1967.

Song 17 - Live and Let Die by Paul and Linda McCartney, performed by Wings

"When you were young and your heart was an open book, you used to say live and let live (You know you did, you know you did you know you did). But if this ever-changing world in which we're live in, makes you give in and cry. Say Live and Let Die. Yes carrying on our Bond theme, and my love for Beatles, "Live and Let Die" is the next song to go into the jukebox. I love this track, because for me when I hear the opening lyrics, I can imagine a single figure in the darkness singing them and when they reach the "Live and Let Die", where the thumbing chords and percussion comes in, I  see flames appearing as though someone is walking away from the destructions they have caused. It is no wonder that "Live and Let Die" is the theme for the 8th Bond film of the same title and the first film where Roger Moore played Bond.  

Paul McCartney was invited to write the theme before the film script was finished in 1973, by the film producers, Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. But there was some debate from the producers to whether Wings would sing it, until McCartney said that he would only allow them to use the song his band performed it. This was a changed for Bond theme which up to that point had been sung by solo artists. The track was produced by George Martin and went on to be the first Bond theme to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Film Song. The song lost out on the Academy Award to the theme song from film "The Way We Were". Unfortunately since 2001 and the trade centre attacks; the song has been on Clear Cast Channel of inappropriate song titles.

Like the song; the film "Live and Let Die", as well introducing Roger Moore as Bond, moved away from the previous plots of megalomaniac super-villains and move its focus onto drug trafficking. The film is set around areas of Harlem and New Orleans, which are African American culture centres as well as the Caribbean Island. It is also the first Bond film to feature a African American Bond Girl  Rosie Carver, played by Gloria Hendry. Unlike Goldfinger, I am not too familiar with the film but the theme is a tune which makes me play air guitar and makes me imagine fire trailing behind me. It is a show tune and is a fitting way to introduce a Bond film; that you know will be filled with epic stuns, explosions and villains. 

The song would later by covered by Guns N'Roses in 1991, on their Use Your Illusion 1 Album, and released as a single. Their version of "Live and Let Die" lead them to be dominated for a Grammy for their performance of it. 

To live the music again listen here:

Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney

Or to hear Guns N'Roses' version:

 Live and Let Die, performed by Guns N'Roses

Written by: Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, 1973

Performed by: Wings

Album: Live and Let Die Soundtrack.

Song 1 - Paperback Writer by The Beatles

For me I have to start with a completely obvious tune for anyone who knows me for two reasons. First reason; Paperback writer is the career choice I am actively seeking and I love the lyric "It's a thousand pages, give or take a few, I'll be writing more in a week or two; I could make it longer if you like the style.." As it hits the nail on the head that writing  is as much about being able to write for a market than just writing away in your head hoping that someone other than your great Aunty will like it.  

Paperback writer is a magical gem of a track and has a really recognisable guitar rift. There is always a smile on my face when I hear this tune and fond memories of singing it with friends in high school. 

The second obvious choice is starting with a tune from the Beatles as they are one of my favourite bands; I think you can find a Beatles song for any occasion. Now before you think this is going to a list of Beatles songs;trust me it won't be. There will be more Beatles songs but I am saving my Beatlemania for another blog.

Paperback Writer was a standalone single released in 1966. Although credited to Lennon and McCartney, it is largely considered to be a McCartney song. Written over a period of two consecutive days during the Revolver Sessions. The song is said to be the son of Day Tripper, it's release marked the end of the release schedule the Beatles had had of 4 singles and two albums per year.

YouTube link

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=taADLPtyDb0

Written by Lennon/McCartney, 1966.

Album: Past Masters