Beatle Fact Friday

Although it was not used in the original take, a 41 piece orchestra was eventually asked to play on the song "Day in the Life". The musicians were all asked to dress formally. Upon arrival to the recording session, in true Beatles fashion, each orchestra member was given a novelty costume to wear (false noses, party hats, gorilla-paw gloves). The orchestra was conducted by Paul McCartney, who told them to start with the lowest note of their instruments and gradually play to the highest.

As most know, the beginning half of the song was written by John Lennon and the second half written by Paul McCarty. In the first verse, John was inspired by a story he read in the Daily Mail newspaper. The line "Blew his mind out in the car." was taken from the story of Guinness heir Tara Browne dying when he smashed his lotus into a parked van. John clearly took some creative license in writing this lyric, as Tara Browne's death was in fact accidental.

The last verse is also taken from a newspaper headline. The lyric "4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire" was taken from the UK Daily Express, January 17, 1967 in a column called "Far And Near." John's friend Terry Doran was the one who completed John's line "Now they know how many holes it takes to fill..." Terry told him "fill the Albert Hall, John."

And so an epically beautiful song was written purely off the inspiration of newpaper headlines - it is said that this was something that Paul and John challenged each other to do - always with a competitive spirit those two!

Beatle Fact Friday

Its been a long, long, long week, so this one is going to be short.

At the end of George Harrison's love song "Long long long", a rattling sound can be heard. According to Harrison's autobiography, I Me Mine, this sound was produced by a glass bottle of Blue Nun wine that was sitting on a speaker. Supposedly, when Paul played a certain note on the organ, the bottle rattled making the sound. To compliment the rattling, Ringo played a fast drum roll on the snare. This "mistake" ultimately made it into the final recording.

Sometimes mistakes can be beautiful things.

Beatle Fact Friday

Famous Beatles historian, Mark Lewisohn, has unearthed legal documents that include a clause that states that the Beatles would not play for segregated audiences. According to his findings, there were multiple tours in 1965 and 1966 in which the Far Four refused to play their music to a racially unequal audience.

The Beatles came to America right as the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum. Ahead of a gig they were set to play at the Cow palace in Daly City, California, the band inserted into their rider that they would not play a concert if the audience was segregated. Mark Lewisohn says, "I have contracts for the 1965 and 1966 tours and that rider was always there."

Other stipulations listed in the Beatles rider include at least 150 uniformed officers for protection, a special drumming platform for Ringo, electricity and water, and dressing rooms with "four cots, mirrors, an ice cooler, portable TV set and clean towels."

Beatle Fact Friday!

Gorgey Georgy. Hari Hari.

Seen the George Harrison documentary yet? Scorsese directed it -- so it was really long -- but being a devout Beatles fan, I really didn't mind that at all...granted I did watch it in two parts (thanks megavideo for cutting me off)

Anyway, if you haven't seen it already, you should. George is definitely the most "spiritual" of the Fab Four. I never really knew just how deep his spiritual-ness went, but apparently it went pretty fucking deep.

After "accidentally" taking acid for the first time (the Beatle's dentist dosed their drinks...who woulda thought...so they say...) George discovered his newfound love for hallucinogens. He took acid quite a bit following that incident and, like most acid heads, became thrilled by spiritual tings like hari hari chrishna and meditating and weird instruments and old men who wear white robes and probably smell really bad (can I say that? is that bad?)

One of George's long time friends, Eric Clapton, (who stole his wifey btw), explains in the documentary that his good friend was one of those free spirits who would show up unannounced with his guitar in hand, always strumming away. He describes one fine spring morning when George came over to his house and they walked around the garden surrounding the back of Clapton's compound and he basically watched George write "Here Comes The Sun." Now, if anybody else showed up at my place unannounced, rocking long hair, huge beard, a wide brimmed hat, equipped with a guitar in hand ready to "jam," I would most likely tell them get the fuck out of my house, but this is George Harrison we're talking about -- and this isn't just some "jam" -- this is here comes the fucking sun!

So here's to the sun, and to George, and the documentary, and to his "spiritualness" even though I'm not really spiritual at all...George! I'd be spiritual for you, baby.

Muaw.

Beatle Fact Friday - Three Cool Cats

Both John Lennon and George Harrison were major cat lovers. John had three cats while growing up in Liverpool, Tim, Tich and Sam. Later John's mother had a cat she named Elvis. Elvis turned out to be a female, which they found out when she gave birth to a litter of kittens in the family's kitchen pantry.

When John was married to his wife Cynthia they had a cat named Mimi, after John's beloved aunt. Soon the two had a house full of cats - nearly ten total!


When John was with May Pang they had two cats - one black, the other white, named Major and Minor. After marrying Yoko and moving to New York, there were still many cats in John's life, one whose name was Jesus.


George Harrison was also a cat lover. He had two Siamese cats named Rupert and Jostick. George's wife Dhani tells a story of George mediating daily on a bench at the end of the Japanese garden in Friar Park. Apparently, all of the neighborhood cats would gather at his feet and quietly watch as George meditated.

Beatle Fact Friday -- The Random Edition

John Lennon wrote Strawberry Fields Forever on the set of "How I Won The War."

The inspiration for the song "For The Benefit of Mister Kite" came from a cirus poster John saw. Most of the characters mentioned were real performers.

Paul isn't wearing shoes, and the VW Beetle you see in the shot was supposed to be moved but the owner was on holiday.

At 2:58 in Hey Jude Paul McCartney can be faintly heard saying "Oh, f***ing hell" after he made a mistake during the recording of the song. (The song was originally written for Julian Lennon, the chorus went "Hey Jules").

 

 

On December 30th of 1999, George and his wife Olivia were awoken by a 36 year old man named Michael Abram who broke into the Harrison's Friar Park home calling for him to show his face. Subsequently Abram grabbed a kitchen knife and inflicted seven stab wounds puncturing Harrison's lungs. Olivia incapacitated the culprit by striking him several times with a fireplace poker and lamp. Abram believed he was haunted by the former Beatle, and so God commissioned him to kill George.

In 1964, George Harrison met Pattie Boyd (his first wife) on the set of A Hard Day's Night. Patti's only line in the film was "Prisoners?". She played a schoolgirl in the movie.

Ringo Starr wanted to be a hairdresser when he was younger.

Before Cher became Cher, she was a singer going under the name Bonnie Jo Mason and recorded the novelty song I Love You Ringo about The Beatles’ drummer. (I know, can you believe that's Cher?!?!)

(Extremely late..) Beatle Fact Friday!

I know, it's really not Friday -- though I wish it was....

Across The Universe was written one night by John Lennon after fighting with his then girlfriend, Cynthia. He's commented on the song saying that it just came over him in the middle of the night and couldn't get the tune out of his head. The words followed quickly, and so, the song was born. "Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup" is a metaphor for the way they were fighting that night. There was so much said that night, neither of them could keep up with the amount that was said.

February 1968 Alternate Take

Later released on Anthology 2 in 1996

"Jai Guru Deva Om" is a mantra Lennon used as the refrain which, in Sanskrit, means "Victory to the Guru." John had just taken his trip to India where he met with The Maharishi (who he later attempts to insult in his song Sexy Sadie -- see Diane's post). The mantra intended to sooth the mind in order to reach higher consciousness. I suppose he needed some way to come down after the right. "Om," used in any sort of meditation, was used to relate to the vibrations of the universe ---maaaaaan. far out maaaaaaaan. This was the first version of the song, recorded on February 4th of 1968. The track was simple, and included a rhythm track of acoustic guitar, percussion and the tambura. George overdubbed the beginning with his sitar and two teenage fans (thrilled) were grabbed off the street randomly to do the backup vocals.

Original 1968 recording (w/girls singing)

Wildlife version

There are a few versions of the song. The initial release was done in 1968 for the charity album "No One's Gonna Change Our World" for the World Wildlife Fund. Chirping birds and pond noises were used to reflect the wildlife theme of the album. George Martin finalized this version of the track by making it stereo and speeding up the tempo a bit. John and George hated this version.

After Abbey Road, which was supposed to be their last album, they broke up and subsequently released Let It Be. Early in January of 1970, Glyn Jones remixed the track omitting the girls vocals and the bird sound effects. This version was never made officially public because Jones's "Get Back" albums were never released. Spektor had a go at it in April of 1970, remixing the original track by slowing it down to it's original speed and adding orchestral and choral overdubs (taking out the birds and the girls). This is perhaps the most popular version of the song.

This song was also released by David Bowie on his album Young Americans where he played the guitar on the track and sang. Bowie, undoubtedly, was a huge Lennon fan.

On an lighter note... It's BEATLE FACT FRIDAY

Growing up with the name Sadie, it has been virtually impossible for the song "Sexy Sadie" not to follow me around through the years. It's usually one of the first references people make when meeting me (that or Sadie, Sadie married lady). Not being the type prone to narcissism, I've spent years feeling awkward and embarrassed every time the song comes on.

I always just assumed the song was inspired by some elusive heart breaker of a woman who happened to share the same name as I. Turns out that is not the case at all. Lennon actually wrote the song about the Maharishi with whom the Beatles sought spiritual refuge following the death of their longtime manager Brian Epstein.

During their time in India from 1967-68, rumors began that the legendary Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had been taking advantage of his female followers. In particular, he was accused with the attempted rape of Lennon's close friend and travel companion, Mia Farrow. This didn't strike Lennon as being particularly zen in nature and disheartened and disillusioned, the band returned home where Lennon began work on the song.

The original song was titled "Maharishi" and the lyrics said "Maharishi what have you done, you made a fool of everyone." Fearing legal action, Lennon substituted the word "Maharishi" with "Sexy Sadie", but the bitter sentiment is clear.

Knowing the real meaning behind the song actually makes me feel more comfortable with its message. I no longer hear a song about a woman who is a little too full of herself, who leads men on, and who is deserving of retaliation... "you'll get yours yet, however big you think you are".

With this new knowledge has come personal distance. I now appreciate the song for it's melody, lyrics, and angry message; not against a girl named Sadie, but rather a perverted spiritual leader.

Beatle Fact Friday!

Andele, Andele!

During the recording of "Girl" for the album Rubber Sole, George Martin had the boys stop singing after listening closely to the background vocals that went "dit dit dit dit dit dit dit dit" during the verse "she's the kind of girl who puts you down when friends are there..." He said, "Boys, what are you saying exactly there?" Laughing hysterically, the boys said "oh nothing George, just dit dit dit." Actually, they were singing "tit tit tit" and thought it was quite hilarious that thousands of people would listen to this song, not knowing the background vocals were all about tits. Genius!

Listen carefully...here's a recording of just the vocals. 

"tit tit tit tit tit tit tit tit"

Beatle Fact Friday!

It's Friday and you know what that means -- well, you don't yet but now you will -- It's Beatle Fact Friday!!

Every friday we will be posting a new fact about the Beatles whether it be song meanings or just little known facts about the fab four.

Here it 'tis:

Paul McCartney composed the melody of "Yesterday" one evening in his room around the time when he was with Jane Asher.  During the entire filming of "Help" he worked on fine tuning the song. Initially the lyrics went ""Scrambled Eggs, Oh my baby how I love your legs." Obviously, this was not acceptable to the other band mates. After debating whether or not the melody was already a song published by someone else,  he changed the lyrics to "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away." The song was officially released in the summer of 1965.