PLAYLIST MAY 5 th 2013

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2 PLAYLIST MAY 5 th 2013 9AM The Beatles - If I Needed Someone - Rubber Soul (Harrison) Lead vocal: George The fourth original composition by George Harrison to be recorded by The Beatles was heavily inspired by the 12-string guitar sound of The Byrds. The introduction of George Harrison s If I Needed Someone is strikingly similar to the introduction of The Byrds The Bells Of Rhymney. Harrison commented that the song was like a million other songs written around the D chord. The backing track was recorded in one take on October 16, 1965. George s double-tracked lead vocal and John and Paul s backing vocals were added two days later. The song was performed live by The Beatles in late 1965 and was a staple of their 1966 world tour. Yesterday and Today - Capitol LP The Beatles - Ticket To Ride - Help! Lead vocals: John and Paul The Beatles ninth single release for EMI s Parlophone label. Issued nearly four months prior to the Help! album s release on July 19, 1965 in the U.S. and four days later in the UK. Recorded on February 15, 1965 and featuring a blistering lead guitar performance by Paul McCartney. John and Paul composed the song together based primarily on John s idea. The song s distinctive drum pattern was conceived by Paul. The complex song arrangement was highly innovative for the time, and certainly unlike anything being played on top 40 radio. John Lennon in 1970: Ticket To Ride was slightly a new sound at the time. It was pretty heavy for then, if you go and look in the charts for what other music people were making. It's a heavy record and the drums are heavy too. That's why I like it. McCartney said, It was quite radical at the time. Capitol Records printed From the United Artists release Eight Arms To Hold You on both sides of the single. Help! - Capitol LP 2

3 The Beatles - I ve Just Seen A Face - Help! Lead vocal: Paul Written by Paul at the Asher family home on Wimpole Street. Paul had the tune prior to coming up with the lyrics and originally named the song Auntie Gin s Theme because his aunt liked it. George Martin s instrumental Help! album includes an orchestrated version of I ve Just Seen A Face using the title Auntie Gin s Theme. Recorded in six takes at the same June 14, 1965 McCartney-dominated session that produced Yesterday and I m Down. One of only five Beatles songs Paul chose to perform live on his Wings Over America tour in 1976. Rubber Soul - Capitol LP 3

4 Wings Lady Madonna (McCartney-Lennon) - Wings Over America 76 Recorded in Detroit, MI May 7 th. This finally offered the audience a little bit of Beatles love, this was the first McCartney-Lennon tune offered during the concert. McCartney changed the songwriting position from Lennon-McCartney to further indicate the lead writer on the tune. This has been a point of contention many years later, as Paul continues to employ this on various live albums. BRAND forthcoming Wings Over America you heard it here first 2 weeks ago more to come this morning! 9.12 BREAK.what do ya say we kick off every set w/ a George song this morning.then we ll follow with Wings over America and that ll be the whole show! Just kidding here s George & his first recorded Beatles songs. The Beatles - Don t Bother Me With The Beatles (Harrison) Lead vocal: George George Harrison s first recorded original song. While some may see it as a misfortune that Harrison was surrounded by two of the most gifted songwriters in history, this proximity gave him great insight into the mechanics of writing a song from scratch. His first attempt was more than a throwaway composition. He called Don t Bother Me an exercise to see if he could write a song, and it was written while George was sick in a bed at the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth where The Beatles were playing six nights 4

5 at Gaumont Cinema in mid-august of 1963. It was during this engagement (on August 22) that photographer Robert Freeman took the iconic artsy cover photograph of the band in half lighting that would grace the cover of both the British With The Beatles album and the American Meet The Beatles! album. Using the basic Lennon-McCartney song structure George crafted a Beatles song that was on par with the material the band was currently working up for their second album. Getting the other Beatles and producer George Martin to take his work seriously was another matter, and it would take years for Harrison to finally be given his due. Normally he was relegated to one or two songs per album. Meet The Beatles! - Capitol LP The Beatles - Tell Me Why - A Hard Day s Night Lead vocal: John Completed in eight takes on February 27, 1964 in between And I Love Her and If I Fell. Tell Me Why was written primarily by John and was his attempt to mimic the New York girl group sound The Beatles were so fond of. A Hard Day s Night - United Artists LP Something New - Capitol LP 5

6 The Beatles - The Night Before - Help! Lead vocal: Paul Recorded in two takes on February 17, 1965. Paul double-tracked his vocal and overdubbed a lead guitar solo, which is heard at the very end and during the instrumental break. Lennon: George and Paul are playing the same break exactly, both playing but in different octaves. John Lennon plays the Hammond organ. Help! - Capitol LP 6

7 The Beatles - She Said She Said - Revolver Lead vocal: John The rhythm track was finished in three takes on June 21, 1966, the final day of recording for Revolver. When the recording session started the song was untitled. The key line came from a real-life incident. On August 24, 1965, during a break in Los Angeles from their North American Tour, The Beatles rented a house on Mulholland Drive. They played host to notables such as Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds, actors and actresses, and a bevy of beautiful women, From Playboy, I believe, Lennon remembered. John, high on acid, found himself in a strange conversation with actor Peter Fonda, who kept coming up to him and whispering, I know what it s like to be dead. As a child, Fonda had a near-death experience after accidentally shooting himself on the stomach. The song was a last-minute addition to the Revolver, rehearsed and recorded on the final day of sessions when the band discovered they were one song short. McCartney recalls getting into an argument with John and leaving the studio. He believes this is one of the only Beatle records he didn t play on. It is assumed George played the bass in McCartney s absence. John sings the lead vocal and plays the organ, and John and George double-tracked the backing vocals. 7

8 Revolver - Capitol LP Wings Hi, Hi, Hi - Wings Over America 76 Recorded in Denver, CO June 7 th. This was song number one of the two song Encore. Wings Live and Let Die - Wings Over America 76 Recording in Boston, MA May 22 nd this was the showstopper complete with lasers and pyrotechnics. This was the beginning of another staple of McCartney live shows that continues to present day (2013). The Beatles - Because - Abbey Road Lead vocal: John, Paul and George 8

9 The group recorded 23 takes on August 1, 1969, with George Martin on a Baldwin spinet electric harpsichord matching note with John on his Epiphone Casino electric guitar and Paul on his Rickenbacker bass guitar. For the backing track Ringo kept the beat gently tapping out a beat on the hi-hat. This was for the musician s headphones and was not recorded on the tape. Take 16 was deemed the best backing track and John, Paul, and George added their lush harmonies to it. On August 4, the three recorded their vocals two more times, adding to the already thick layers of harmony. Lennon was inspired the write the song when he hear Yoko playing Beethoven s piano sonata in C Sharp minor, opus 27 number two (aka The Moonlight Sonata ). He asked her to play the chords backwards and wrote Because around that reversed chord sequence. The gorgeous three-part harmonies of Because are showcased on an a cappella mix of the song on the Anthology 3 album. The Beatles - Happiness Is A Warm Gun - The Beatles Lead vocal: John John Lennon s Happiness Is A Warm Gun was actually three different, and unfinished, song segments he had strung together to form one finished song. Recording started on September 23, 1968, and the takes numbered into the dozens, an unusual practice for the Beatles. But the three song sections were not alike and had different tempos so it made for difficult transitions. On the first day, 45 takes were attempted. The next day, 25 more attempts to perfect the rhythm track were made. The three distinct parts of the finished song are I Need A Fix, Mother Superior Jumped The Gun, and Happiness Is A Warm Gun. The instrumental line-up was the same both days, with John on Epiphone Casino electric guitar, George on Fender Telecaster, Paul on Rickenbacker bass and Ringo on drums. Ultimately, it was decided that take 53 up to 1:34 was the best of the first two parts of the song and take 65 was the best version of the third part, so those two best takes were edited together to create the best overall take of the complete song and overdubbing began. Specifically, John s lead vocal (triple-tracked in some places), the happiness, bang bang, shoot shoot backing vocals from John, Paul and George, organ, piano, snare drum beat, additional bass, and tambourine. That phrase was a take-off of the then-hugely popular Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz, who used the line Happiness is a warm puppy. John considered Happiness Is A Warm Gun one of his best songs. Paul and George reportedly said the track was their favorite on the new album. What a wonderful, well selected assortment of breathtaking music from JPGR & Wings! 9.43 BREAK George Harrison Don t Let Me Wait Too Long - Living In The Material World 73 This track was the single that should have been, almost was, but never appeared. This is a prime piece of pop songwriting, and was scheduled as the second single from the LP for release on September 24 th, 1973. It was assigned 9

10 an Apple catalog number (Apple 1866), but was mysteriously cancelled at the last minute. The Beatles - I ll Follow The Sun - Beatles For Sale Lead vocal: Paul One of the earliest Beatle originals, I ll Follow The Sun was composed entirely in 1959 by Paul McCartney in the front room of his family home on Forthlin Road in Liverpool. Recorded in eight takes on October 18, 1964. Beatles 65 - Capitol LP The Beatles - Two Of Us - Let It Be Lead vocals: Paul and John A Paul McCartney solo composition originally entitled On Our Way Home. Thought by many to be a song about John and Paul, "Two of Us" is actually a song written by Paul about himself and his soon-to-be wife, Linda Eastman. The lyrics are derived from various experiences where the two would get in the car with Paul's dog, Martha, and just drive in the countryside until they were lost. One particular day, Linda parked the car and went for a walk with her camera and Paul sat in the car and wrote the basic tune for the song. Paul introduced the song to the other Beatles during the January 1969 sessions in which the group was working up seven or eight new songs to include in a one-hour concert television special. At this time, On Our Way Home was not the Everly Brothers-styled acoustic version heard on the released album. Both John and producer Glyn Johns suggested to Paul that an acoustic arrangement might suit the song better, but McCartney was thinking in terms of how it might play in the concert TV special, so he wanted a fast song. On January 24, after numerous run-throughs that seemed to go nowhere, John again suggested they try it with acoustic guitars, and Paul agreed. The line-up was Paul on his Martin D-28 acoustic guitar, John on acoustic guitar, George on his Fender Telecaster (playing a bass part on the top strings) and Ringo on drums. The first performance with acoustic guitar featured a solo John vocal on the first verse. For the mixes submitted to Apple, Glyn Johns selected a January 24 take of the song (one without Lennon s whistling at the end of the song). Soundcheck Paul I Wanna Be Your Man 1993 10

11 Ringo - After All These Years Time Takes Time Those Beatles - I Call Your Name - Long Tall Sally EP Lead vocal: John Composed by John Lennon and originally given to Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas to use as the b-side of another Lennon song (credited to Lennon-McCartney), Bad to Me. Both songs had been recorded at Abbey Road by Kramer and band on June 27, 1963, with Paul McCartney in attendance. The Beatles version was recorded in seven takes on March 1, 1964. The Beatles Second Album - Capitol LP Julian Lennon Saltwater Help Yourself Asked George 11

12 Like yer ipod on shuffle is that outdated now?..ipod? I don t even have a cell phone LATE NEWS!!! QUIZ some kinda GET BACK QUIZ MAY 5 th 10.12 BREAK The Beatles - Get Back - single version (Non-LP track) Lead vocal: Paul The Beatles nineteenth single release for EMI, and second on the Apple Records label. The Get Back sessions, as the January 1969 recording sessions were now known, produced about 475 hours of film and 141 hours of audio tape that had to be sifted through. But proper multi-track recordings weren t made until the band was recording in the basement of the Beatles Apple headquarters between January 21-31, 1969. Producer/Engineer Glyn Johns attempted to construct an album entitled Get Back from the tapes but his versions were rejected. The tapes were left dormant in the vault for a year, with the exception of a single ( Get Back / Don t Let Me Down ). Get Back had been rehearsed and reworked throughout the January sessions, including over 30 takes of the song on January 27, 1969. Among those over 30 takes was the master take of the song, but it did not include the familiar coda at the end. That would be recorded the following day and edited on to the January 27 master. Like John Lennon s Don t Let Me Down, Get Back features Billy Preston on keyboards. The song is also notable as one of John s best guitar solos. Rush-released as a single with the hope of being in stores in the UK on April 11, 1969, the single showed up a week later. Although the single did not list a producer credit, it did, for the first time on a Beatles single, list an artist in addition to the Beatles: THE BEATLES with Billy Preston graced both sides of the single. A great honor, said Preston. The single debuted at number one on the Record Retailer singles chart, holding another Apple single out of the top spot (Mary Hopkin s Goodbye, written and produced by Paul McCartney). In America, the single was issued by Capitol on May 5, 1969, and it topped the Billboard sales chart for five weeks. It is the first Beatles single released in stereo, but the stereo mixes were for the American market, not the UK. The UK would have to wait until the next single release ( The Ballad Of John And Yoko ) to get its first stereo Beatles 45. Prior to this all previous Beatles singles had been issued in mono. The Beatles - Don t Let Me Down - Non-LP B-Side Lead vocal: John with Paul 12

13 The Beatles nineteenth single release for EMI, and second on the Apple Records label. The Get Back sessions, as the January 1969 recording sessions were now known, produced about 475 hours of film and 141 hours of audio tape that had to be sifted through. But proper multi-track recordings weren t made until the band was recording in the basement of the Beatles Apple headquarters between January 21-31, 1969. Producer/Engineer Glyn Johns attempted to construct an album entitled Get Back from the tapes but his versions were rejected. The tapes would be left dormant in the vault for a year, with the exception of a single ( Get Back / Don t Let Me Down ). John Lennon s Don t Let Me Down was a love song for Yoko Ono and was the first song given a full run-through by the group when sessions for the new album began at Twickenham Studios on January 2, 1969. But proper multi-track recording takes were not done until the band changed location to the basement recording studio at their Apple headquarters. The master take was recorded on January 28, 1969. Like Paul McCartney s Get Back, the song features Billy Preston on keyboards. Rush-released as a single with the hope of being in stores in the UK on April 11, 1969, the single showed up a week later. Although the single did not list a producer credit, it did, for the first time on a Beatles single, list an artist in addition to the Beatles: THE BEATLES with Billy Preston graced both sides of the single. A great honor, said Preston. The single debuted at number one on the Record Retailer singles chart. In America, the single was issued on May 5, 1969, and it topped the Billboard sales chart for five weeks. It is the first Beatles single released in stereo, but the stereo mixes were for the American market, not the UK. The UK would have to wait until the next single release ( The Ballad Of John And Yoko ) to get its first stereo Beatles 45. Prior to this all-previous Beatles singles had been issued in mono. Although the song appears in the Let It Be film, it is not included on the soundtrack album. Hey Jude - Capitol LP (1970) QUICK BREAK HERE 13

14 The Beatles - I Want To Tell You - Revolver (Harrison) Lead vocal: George The backing track was recorded in five takes on June 2, 1966. George Harrison's third song on Revolver, was, he later said, "about the avalanche of thoughts that are so hard to write down or say or transmit." Once again Harrison had no idea what to call his composition. The band briefly kicked around random ideas, and the song was recorded under the working title Laxton's Superb, a type of apple. It later became known as I Don't Know, which was George s answer when producer George Martin asked whether Harrison had come up with a title. By the day of the final mix (June 6, 1966), Harrison had settled on the title I Want To Tell You. Contains the first bass overdub on a Beatles record. Paul had his bass recorded on a different track really allowed for more options when it came time to mix the song. Revolver - Capitol LP 14

15 The Beatles - You Won t See Me - Rubber Soul Lead vocal: Paul Written entirely by Paul. Recorded in two takes on November 11, 1965, at the final recording session for the Rubber Soul album. The song is notable for Paul s melodic bass line, something new to rock and roll. Paul: It was very Motown-flavored. It's got a James Jamerson feel. He was the Motown bass player, he was fabulous, the guy who did all those great melodic bass lines. It was him, me and Brian Wilson who were doing melodic bass lines at that time. Beatles roadie Mal Evans is credited on the album s back cover with playing Hammond organ on this track, but it is inaudible in the final mix. 15

16 Rubber Soul - Capitol LP Wings Letting Go - Wings Over America 76 Recorded in Kansas City, MO May 29 th. QUIZ #2 (tones included) 16

17 Who s singing that Sgt. Pepper song? 10.42 BREAK The North American dates: May 20: Los Angeles, Stapl May 3: Los Angeles, Staples Center May 5: Oakland, Oracle Arena May 8: San Jose, HP Pavilion May 11: Las Vegas, MGM Grand Garden Arena May 15 and 18: Anaheim, Honda Cen es Center ter 17

18 Beatles V.S. Rolling Stones 1962 - Love Me Do 1963 - I Wanna Be Yer Man 1964 - I Feel Fine 1965 - Get Off My Cloud 1966 Paperback Writer 1967 We Love You 1968 Yer Blues (Dirty Mac) 11.12 BREAK 18

19 Britain s Finest There s A Place in studio PICK SONGS PLAY MUSIC LIVE TALK ETC. The Beatles - Rain - Non-LP B-side Lead vocal: John Recorded on April 14 and 16, 1966. The track is notable for the backwards vocal from John Lennon at the end of the song. The section is John singing part of the first verse but the tape is superimposed backwards in the mix. The song contains slowed down instruments, guitar distortion, and vocals recorded and played back at variable speed. Aside from Paul McCartney s dominant bass part, the song features a striking drum performance from Ringo, who has called Rain his favorite Beatles song. The B-side of Paperback Writer. Issued in America on May 23, 1966 and the UK on June 10, 1966, several months in advance of the Revolver album. Hey Jude - Capitol LP (1970) 19

20 The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun - Abbey Road (Harrison) Lead vocal: George The second of two CLASSIC songs George Harrison delivered for the Abbey Road album. Here Comes The Sun and Something was a phenomenal one-two punch that had to have Lennon and McCartney wondering what else Harrison had up his sleeve. George wrote the song while walking around the sunny back garden of Eric Clapton s home, strumming o0ne of Eric s acoustic guitars. Harrison had skipped out of one of the many Apple business meetings that day. Recording in 13 takes on July 7, 1969, Ringo s 29 th birthday, with George on his Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar, Paul on his Rickenbacker bass guitar and Ringo on drums. John was sidelined for the week due to be hospitalized following a car accident in Scotland. The next day George overdubbed his lead vocal, and Paul and George recorded their backing vocals twice, rather than simply doubletracking. Additions continued on July 16 (handclaps and harmonium), and August 6 and 11 (George s acoustic guitar). George Martin s orchestral score was recorded on August 15. Britain s Finest If I Fell - In studio Britain s Finest No Reply In studio 20

21 11.42 BREAK John Lennon Working Class Hero Rehearsal 1972 21

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