PLAYLIST FEB. 2ND AM

Transcription

1 1 PLAYLIST FEB. 2 ND AM 1

2 2 The Beatles - Do You Want To Know A Secret Please Please Me (McCartney-Lennon) Lead vocal: George Recorded February 11, Written primarily by John Lennon for George Harrison to sing. The song was given to another Brian Epstein-managed act, Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, to cover. Their version topped the British charts in late spring Inspired by "I'm Wishing," a song from Walt Disney s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs that Lennon s mother used to sing to him when he was a child. On U.S. albums: Introducing The Beatles - Vee-Jay LP The Early Beatles - Capitol LP The Beatles - A Taste of Honey Please Please Me (Scott-Marlow) Lead vocal: Paul The Beatles knew that adding a variety of music styles to their stage act would garner them more bookings. They loved ballads and were always on the hunt for songs that would add a touch of sophistication to their live show. Among the songs they found to fit this need was the ballad A Taste Of Honey. A popular instrumental of the day, the band came across a version with lyrics and added it to their repertoire in Bobby Scott s original version won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Theme of The title was sometimes sung as A waste of money by Beatle John at 1962 and

3 3 shows. Paul s vocal was double-tracked here, the only time this was done on the debut LP. On U.S. albums: Introducing The Beatles - Vee-Jay LP The Early Beatles - Capitol LP The Beatles - If I Fell - A Hard Day s Night Lead vocal: John and Paul John Lennon s stunning ballad If I Fell was by far the most complex song he had written to date. It could be considered a progression from This Boy with its similar chord structure and intricate harmonies by John and Paul, recorded at their request together on one microphone. Performed live on their world tour throughout the summer of Completed in 15 takes on February 27, Flip side of And I Love Her in the U.S. On U.S. album: A Hard Day s Night - United Artists LP Something New - Capitol LP The Beatles - And I Love Her - A Hard Day s Night Lead vocal: Paul Written mainly by Paul with the middle eight by John it was released as a single in the U.S. reaching #12. Recorded initially as a heavier, up-tempo number on February 25, 1964, The Beatles attempted two takes and moved on to something else. On February 26 they struggled with the simpler, now acoustic arrangement through 12 more takes and Ringo swapping his drums for congas, ultimately leaving it to be re-made the next day. Finally, on February 27, they had the arrangement to their liking and perfected the song in two completed takes (takes 20 and 21). On U.S. album: A Hard Day s Night - United Artists LP Something New - Capitol LP 9.12 BREAK 3

4 4 Randy Lewis music editor of the LA Times is gonna fill in for Jackie on this week Randy has some behind the scenes stories for us from this weeks Beatles 50 Anniversary LA action with Paul & Ringo and that will be on in less than an hour. And since Paul & Ringo have been getting so much attention this week.here s a set featuring John Lennon & George Harrison lets start with George George Harrison Devil s Radio - Cloud Nine 87 This track was inspired by a saying on a placard at a little church near where George s son Dhani went to school. The placard stated Gossip the Devil s radio don t be a broadcaster. Musically, the track was inspired by the Eurythmics, a rare example of George bowing to a current musical trend. Elton John makes an appearance, as does Eric Clapton. The Beatles - Sexy Sadie - The Beatles Lead vocal: John On February 19, 1968, the Beatles left the comforts of the UK for an oft-postponed extended trip to Rishikesh, India. Arriving the next day, they had come to learn the powers of mediation under the direction of Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the Academy of Transcendental Meditation. The compound was located 150 feet above the Ganges surrounded on three sides by jungle-covered mountains. Students would live in stone cottages. Each cottage had twin beds and modern bathroom facilities. George Harrison had been enlightened by the Indian culture and the Maharishi s teachings and invited his band mates to immerse themselves in it as well. But instead of rejuvenating 4

5 5 the other Beatles, the trip became tedious. Ringo and wife Maureen left Rishikesh after 10 days, complaining of missing their children and not liking the food. John and Paul turned it into a songwriting vacation, much to Harrison s irritation. Paul and girlfriend Jane Asher returned to England on March 26. In April, things came to a head when a rumor circulated that the Maharishi had made sexual advances toward at least one of the women at the compound. The Beatles - The Inner Light (Harrison) Past Masters Recorded: 12 January, 6/8 February 1968 flip of Lady Madonna George s first appearance as a songwriter on a Beatles single. No Beatles play on this track. The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows - Revolver Lead vocal: John The first song recorded for what would become the Revolver album. John s composition was unlike anything The Beatles or anyone else had ever recorded. Lennon s vocal is buried under a wall of sound -- an assemblage of repeating tape loops and sound effects placed on top of a dense one chord song with basic melody driven by Ringo's thunderous drum pattern. The lyrics were largely taken from The Psychedelic Experience, a 1964 book written by Harvard psychologists Timothy Leary 5

6 6 and Richard Alpert, which contained an adaptation of the ancient Tibetan Book of the Dead. Each Beatle worked at home on creating strange sounds to add to the mix. Then they were added at different speeds sometime backwards. Paul got arranging credit. He had discovered that by removing the erase head on his Grundig reel-to-reel tape machine, he could saturate a recording with sound. On U.S. album: Revolver - Capitol LP George Harrison Awaiting On You All - All Things Must Pass 70 A track with some tart lyrical phrasing, an offending verse was omitted from the printed lyrics included on the inner sleeve. John Lennon God - Plastic Ono Band 70 This was the definitive track on the LP. This song was stuck together from three different, unfinished compositions. This included a laundry list of John s opinions on his lost beliefs (namely people and philosophies). This was the song that confirmed the Beatles were over John revealed he didn t believe in the band, nor was Paul the walrus. John finally reveals that he was indeed the walrus BREAK 6

7 7 It s Super Bowl Sunday unfortunately the Beatles have no songs about Football, Seahawks or Bronco s that I m aware of Birds and horses we can do for maybe 15 minutes The Beatles - Blackbird - The Beatles Lead vocal: Paul Another Paul McCartney solo performance for the White Album. Paul wrote Blackbird at his Scottish farm house and the song was started and finished in 32 takes, 11 being complete run-throughs of the song, on June 10, Paul has said the music was inspired by Bach s Bourree in E Minor, which he learned to play at a young age. The tapping sound on the recording is not a metronome. The percussion-like sound keeping the beat is actually Paul tapping his foot on the studio floor, which was separately miked onto one of the tracks. Paul has since revealed that the song was a message of solidarity to black people living in the U.S. Blackbird is one of only five Beatles songs Paul chose to perform live during his Wings Over America concert tour in

8 8 The Beatles - Dig A Pony - Let It Be Lead vocal: John Recorded live on the rooftop of the Apple headquarters building, 3 Savile Row, on January 30, In re-producing the tapes for the Let It Be album, Phil Spector edited out the opening and closing line of the song ( All I want is ) which can be heard on the Anthology 3 album and in the film Let It Be. The idea to go on the rooftop and play live in front of a few people was conceived by Paul on January 26. From a technical standpoint, this simple request to perform on the rooftop was a gigantic headache for the film crew and the Apple/EMI sound engineers. In addition to accommodating the space required for five film cameras, and various sound equipment which needed electricity to run, there was also the issue of the cold temperature the temperature would be in the mid-40s and windy when the Beatles performed. In a few cases, sound engineers wrapped ladies stockings around microphones to camouflage the sound of the wind blowing against them. John and George wore heavy coats and Ringo wore his wife s raincoat in a futile attempt to stay warm. Throughout the 42- minute rooftop set John can be seen rubbing his hands together in between songs to keep warm. At the conclusion of the released version of Dig A Pony, John says, Thank you brothers, me hand s gettin too cold to play the chords. 8

9 9 Recorded 45 years ago on the roof of Apple headquarters Paul & Linda McCartney Heart Of The Country Ram 71 The song has simple acoustic tune with a heavy bass chorus, and an unusually mellow sound to the acoustic guitar that was achieved by tuning all of the strings a full step lower than standard pitch. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic described the song as "an effortless folk-pop tune that ranks among [McCartney's] very best songs. 9

10 10 John Free As A Bird 1977 John piano demo recorded New York circa Paul, George and Ringo took enhanced the song starting on February 11th 1994 to the end of the month. These sessions take place at Paul's Mill studios in Sussex George Dark Horse Dark Horse `74 Birds and horses Bronco s Sea Hawks that s the best I can give ya!! 10

11 11 NEWS w/ Randy Lewis HERE A couple of years ago Julian wrote Wow... Snubbed at Maccas Wedding, Snubbed at the Anniversary of 'LOVE' in Vegas! Snubbed at Macca's Wedding reception in NYC, last night Snubbed at George's Film Premier... What Have I done to be ignored in such a way? I was not invited to ANY of these events... I thought WE had a relationship... Obviously not... Gimme some truth... Maybe now it's time to tell the Truth... I & My Mother will NOT be eradicated from History... How dare they... Julian Lennon Follow with Paul & Ringo - Queenie Eye - Live Staple Center ` BREAK The Beatles - When I Get Home - A Hard Day s Night Lead vocal: John 11

12 12 Recorded in 11 takes on June 2, It was the next to last song completed for the A Hard Day s Night album. In his 1980 interview with Playboy magazine John Lennon said: That s me trying to get that Wilson Pickett type sound, a four-in-the bar cowbell song. On U.S. album: Something New - Capitol LP The Beatles - I ll Cry Instead - A Hard Day s Night Lead vocal: John A country-influenced Lennon-McCartney rocker recorded on June 1, John Lennon says that he wrote it for A Hard Day s Night, but the film s director, Richard Lester, didn t like it and replaced it at the last minute with Can t Buy Me Love. The decision to cut I ll Cry Instead from the film was so last minute that the American soundtrack LP, which had been rush-released by United Artists Records, included I ll Cry Instead in its song line-up. Released as a single in the U.S. on July 20, On U.S. album: A Hard Day s Night - United Artists LP Something New - Capitol LP The Beatles - I Need You - Help! (Harrison) Lead vocal: George Recorded in five takes on February 15, 1965, the first day of recording for what was to become the Help! album, with overdubs completed the next day. It is the second original George Harrison song to be recorded by the Beatles. Harrison wrote I Need You for his future wife, Pattie Boyd. The track is notable for the first use on a Beatles record of what is now known as a wah-wah pedal. George achieved this by playing his 12

13 13 12-string Rickenbacker through a foot-controlled volume pedal. Ringo provides cowbell percussion. On U.S. album: Help! - Capitol LP The Beatles - Nowhere Man - Rubber Soul Lead vocal: John Under pressure to deliver new material while the Rubber Soul album was being recorded, John Lennon spent five hours one morning at home trying to come up with a new song. John: I'd actually stopped trying to think of something. Nothing would come. I was cheesed off and went for a lie down, having given up. Then I thought of myself as Nowhere Man - sitting in his nowhere land. Paul: We were always forcing [the Abbey Road staff] into things they didn't want to do. Nowhere Man was one. I remember we wanted very treble-y guitars, which they are, they're among the most treble-y guitars I've ever heard on record. Nowhere Man was performed throughout The Beatles 1966 world tour. Issued as a single (b/w What Goes On ) by Capitol Records in America. Recorded on October 22, On U.S. album: Yesterday and Today - Capitol LP And Julian was Nowhere Man Julian Lennon I Don t Wanna Know Photograph Smile The Beatles - Revolution LOVE/Non-LP Track Lead vocal: John The Beatles eighteenth single release for EMI, their first on the Apple Records label. John Lennon lobbied hard to get his magnificent rocker on the A-side of the band s summer 1968 single, but by any standard, Paul s Hey Jude was an unbeatable choice for the A-side. There are three versions of John s Revolution. The first one recorded was the slower version which opens the fourth side of The Beatles and was released under the title Revolution 1. That track was the first song to be recorded for what would be known as the White Album. Ultimately, the song ran over 10 minutes. Much of it was cut out and used to create the sound collage entitled Revolution 9, which would also appear on side four of the new album. Shortly before his death in 1980, John explained the reason for the song s remake into a fast rocker: Paul and George refused to allow the original slower recording to be released as the next Beatles single, fearing it was not upbeat enough. So Lennon decided they would record the song fast and loud. 13

14 14 Recording began on the fast and loud single version of Revolution on July 10, Additional overdubs were added on July 11 and 12, and the final mix was completed on July 15. The single was issued on August 30, 1968, in the UK, and on August 26 in the U.S. The Hey Jude / Revolution single would go on to sell nearly five million copies in the U.S. and eight million copies worldwide. On U.S. album: Hey Jude - Capitol LP The Beatles - Back In The U.S.S.R. LOVE/The Beatles Lead vocal: Paul Written while in India, Paul s Back In The U.S.S.R. is based on Chuck Berry s 1959 hit Back In The U.S.A., but was written to mimic the classic sound of the Beach Boys. Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love was on the Transcendental Meditation sojourn in India with the Beatles in the spring of 1968 and as McCartney was working on his new song, Love suggested the lyrics about Ukraine and Moscow girls, similar to his lyrics in California Girls. Recording began on August 22, 1968, and it was during this session that Ringo Starr officially quit the band. His departure was blamed on a disagreement with Paul over his drumming. Ringo flew to the Mediterranean to spend time on actor Peter Sellers yacht. It was there that he wrote Octopus s Garden. On September 3, Ringo returned to the studio to find his drum kit smothered in flowers. Ringo: I felt tired and discouraged took a week s holiday, and when I came back to work everything was all right again. But Ringo added, Paul is the greatest bass guitar player in the world. But he is also very determined; he goes on and on to see if he can get his own way. While that may be a virtue, it did mean that musical disagreements inevitably arose from time to time. Quiz - Who is singing that Beatles song? The first, all-girl rock band to be signed to and release an album on a major record label. Before the Runaways, the Bangles, the Go-Gos, Donna s etc., there was FANNY. This track, Hey Bulldog is from the third album by Fanny, Fanny Hill. Fanny June Millington acoustic and slide guitars, vocals Jean Millington bass, guitars, vocals Nickey Barclay keyboards, guitars, vocals Alice de Buhr drums, percussion 14

15 15 Tix for Wild Honey Presents Revolver & Abbey Road at The Wilshire Ebell Theater A Benefit for The Autism Think Tank BREAK 15

16 16 The Beatles - It s All Too Much - Yellow Submarine (Harrison) Lead vocal: George Recording began with the working title Too Much at De Lane Lea Music Recording Studios, the basement studio of an office building directly opposite the Holborn Underground station in London. On May 25, 1967, one week before the release of the Sgt. Pepper album, the band ran through numerous rehearsals and recorded four proper takes of the backing track. The instruments were George on Hammond organ, Paul on bass guitar, John on lead guitar (including the soaring feedback at the beginning of the song) and Ringo on drums. Overdubs were added the next day at De Lane Lea: George s lead vocal, John and Paul s backing vocal, handclaps and percussion, including cowbell, woodblock and tambourine. Brass and woodwinds were overdubbed on June 2. Originally running over eight minutes, it was edited down to 6:25 for the soundtrack album. The version used in the Yellow Submarine film runs just 2:30 and features a verse cut out of the album version of the song: Nice to have the time to take this opportunity/time for me to look at you and you to look at me. The lyrics (repeated twice starting at 4:13), With your long blonde hair and your eyes of blue, are taken from The Mercys 1966 hit Sorrow. The Beatles - Baby, You re A Rich Man - Non-LP track Lead vocal: John The Beatles fifteenth single release for EMI s Parlophone label. The Beatles were contractually obligated to deliver four new songs for inclusion in the Yellow Submarine animated film project. Baby, You re A Rich Man was the first song recorded especially for that project. Earlier in the year, George Harrison s initial offering for the Sgt. Pepper album, Only A Northern Song, had been rejected for that album and was now being earmarked for use in the Yellow Submarine animated film. But with the rush-release of All You Need Is Love as a single following the Our World world television transmission on June 25, 1967, a B-side was needed. George Martin chose Baby, You re A Rich Man, effectively removing it from consideration for the Yellow Submarine feature film. Baby, You re A Rich Man was, in fact, two separate songs (John s One Of The Beautiful People and Paul s Baby, You re A Rich Man ) that the composers combined to make into one song. Recording took place at Olympic Studios on May 11, 1967, and the song was completed in 12 takes. It is the first Beatles song to be recorded and mixed for record outside of Abbey Road. Surprisingly, the All You Need is Love / Baby, You re A Rich Man single is the first instance of George Martin being given credit on the record label as producer on a Parlophone Beatles single. Mick Jagger attended the session and may have participated in the backing vocals at the end of the song. Issued July 7, 1967 in the UK and July 17, 1967 in the U.S. On U.S. album: Magical Mystery Tour - Capitol LP 16

17 17 The Beatles - Come Together - Abbey Road Lead vocal: John The Beatles twenty-first single release for EMI, and fourth on the Apple Records label. When John and Yoko were in Montreal staging their second and last Bed-In For Peace they were visited by Timothy Leary, an outspoken proponent of LSD. During their visit, Leary and his wife participated in John and Yoko s hotel room recording of Give Peace A Chance, singing on the chorus. Timothy is even name-checked in the lyrics. He asked John to write a song titled Come Together Join The Party for his bid to become governor of California. Lennon obliged and responded with lyrics such as: Come together right now/don t come tomorrow, don t come alone/come together right now over me. Lennon recorded a demo for Leary, who started using it as his campaign song. After being imprisoned for possession of marijuana in late 1969, Leary dropped out of the gubernatorial race, which was won by Ronald Reagan. Lennon reworked and expanded the song for the Beatles. 3 songs 17 minutes! That s because we played an 8.1/2 minute version of George s Its All Too Much YEAH! Another QUIZ HERE 17

18 18 Name The Beatles song that contains the word Jobber FOR A PAIR OF TIX to See The Fab Canyon Club Ticket To Ride/ You have three minutes Any jobber got the sack Monday morning, turning back Play a song while they think. (Ticket To Ride for James? ) The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money - Abbey Road Lead vocal: Paul 18

19 19 The famous Abbey Road medley begins with Paul s You Never Give Me Your Money, a song which itself consists of three segments. In Barry Miles Many Years From Now, McCartney states that the first part of the song was him directly lambasting Allen Klein s attitude to us: no money, just funny paper, all promises and it never works out. It s basically a song about no faith in the person. The reference to funny paper was the numerous bank statements and other official looking documents that claimed they had stocks and bonds or money in various bank accounts, but to the band members it always seemed imaginary; they were rich on paper. The second part is a nostalgic bit about being out of college with money spent, leading to the third section, about an optimistic escape ( Soon we ll be away from here. Step on the gas and wipe that tear away ) inspired by Paul and Linda hitting the road to get away from it all. Recording began on May 6, 1969, at Trident Studios, with Paul on piano and offering a guide vocal marching the group through 36 takes. John playing a distorted guitar part on his Epiphone Casino, George playing his Telecaster and Ringo on drums. At Abbey Road Studios, Paul recorded his lead vocal on July 1 and added bass guitar on July 11. On July 15, Paul, John and George recorded backing vocals. It was during this session that the nursery rhyme ending ( One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, all good children go to heaven ) was recorded. The finishing touch, added August 5, was the crossfade (tubular bells, birds, chirping crickets and bubbles) which takes the song into Sun King BREAK 19

20 20 The Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand - A Collection Of Beatles Oldies Lead vocal: John with Paul The Beatles fifth single release for EMI s Parlophone label. I Want to Hold Your Hand was the Beatles first single issued by Capitol Records. It is the song that launched Beatlemania in the United States. It was written equally by John and Paul in the basement music room in Richard and Margaret Asher s house at 57 Wimpole Street in the west end of London in September Paul had been dating the couple s daughter, actress Jane Asher, and was spending a lot of time at the Asher home whenever he was in London. Paul would eventually accept an invitation to move in, taking up residence in their attic. 20

21 21 The Beatles - From Me To You - A Collection of Beatles Oldies `66 (McCartney-Lennon) Lead vocal: John and Paul The Beatles third single release for EMI s Parlophone label. The Beatles debut album was set to hit stores in the UK on March 22, On March 5 the band members returned to Abbey Road Studios to record two songs for a single that would be released a few weeks after the album. Three Lennon-McCartney originals were recorded this day: From Me To You, Thank You Girl, and One After 909. A fourth song, What Goes On, was rehearsed but not recorded. This record would top the charts not long after it was issued on April 11. It is considered by many to be The Beatles first true number one single, as their previous single had reached number one on two of the three charts at the time, but peaked at number two on Record Retailer's chart, generally considered to be the most authoritative for the time. "From Me to You" would be the first of eleven consecutive British number one singles by The Beatles. 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. On U.S. album: A Hard Day s Night - United Artists LP Something New - Capitol LP QUIZ FOR CAPITOL US ALBUMS BOX SET HERE Ok we just heard The Beatles singing Tell Me Why. 21

22 22 For the box set Name the US album(s) Tell Me Why can found on in the new box set yes more than one! So Eng. Mark yer a big football fan who s gonna win today? Also do you why Footballs have been called PIG SKINS over the years? These early round balls were made of inflated pig bladders. This is why footballs got the nickname pigskins. The oldest football ever found was made in the 1540s. It consists of a pig bladder covered with pieces of leather, possibly from a deer. It was found in 1981 at Stirling Castle in Scotland. Of course, it wasn t always the most pleasant task to blow up a pig bladder to use as a football. So when rubber was invented in the mid-1800s, pig bladders took a back seat to inflated rubber balls. Eventually, leather coverings were added to strengthen the balls and make them easier to handle. 22

23 23 The Beatles - Piggies - The Beatles (Harrison) Lead vocal: George The basic rhythm track for Piggies was recorded on September 19, 1968, with Chris Thomas sitting in the producer s chair, subbing for George Martin. It was completed in 11 takes and overdubs were finished the following day. Although pig was a derogatory term that young people in America in the sixties called police, George Harrison s social commentary made light of the upper class, not authority figures. The first utterance of a curse word ( damn ) by a Beatle in a Beatles song came at the suggestion of Harrisons mother, who offered her son the line: What they need s a damn good whacking to rhyme with backing and lacking. Although he did not attend any of the sessions for the song, John Lennon improved on one of George s lines, suggesting the line Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon instead of George s line Clutching forks and knives to eat their pork chops. Chris Thomas supplies the harpsichord part on the song. In fact, the harpsichord had been set up overnight in Studio One for a classical recording the next day. Rather than move it to Studio Two, the Beatles went to the harpsichord in Studio One and recorded Piggies there. The rhythm track featured George played his Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar, Paul on his Rickenbacker bass and Ringo on drums. It is presumed he was elsewhere in the building compiling tapes for the still-evolving Revolution 9. For the next night s overdubbing session Lennon put together a tape loop of pig sounds taken from the EMI sounds effects library. Prior to the big finish of the song, George can be heard saying one more time. In his book, I Me Mine, George provides lyrics to a verse that was not recorded. Everywhere there s lots of piggies Playing piggy pranks You can see them on their trotters At the piggy banks Paying piggy thanks To thee pig brother! The Beatles - All Together Now - Yellow Submarine Lead vocal: Paul In May 1967, with the Sgt. Pepper album in the can and awaiting release, the Beatles went to work on two projects at the same time. They began recording the title track for Magical Mystery Tour and also starting to record the new songs they had promised for the Yellow Submarine film. The first song specifically recorded for the Yellow Submarine film was Baby, You re A Rich Man (on May 11, 1967), but that song was pulled several months later to fill the B-side of the All You Need Is Love single. George Harrison s Sgt. Pepper reject Only A Northern Song was added to the stack of film songs. Paul s sing-along All Together Now was started and finished on May 12, Nine takes were recorded. Instruments included two acoustic guitars (probably Paul and George), bass guitar (Paul), bass drum (Ringo), harmonica and banjo (John). 23

24 24 Wings The Mess Studio `72 Quick Break BREAK The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) - Sgt. Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band Lead vocals: John, Paul, George, Ringo The Beatles had promised EMI that they have the master tape of the Sgt. Pepper album delivered no later than April 12, Paul McCartney had made arrangements to travel to America between April 3 and April 12, so this session on April 1 would be his last chance to add vocals or instruments to the project. Only George Harrison s contribution to the album ( Within You, Without You ) remained to be recorded, and that was being performed without John, Paul or Ringo. George Martin credits Neil Aspinall with the idea of reprising the title track on the second side of the record. For the reprise of the title song the Beatles convened in Abbey Road s studio one, a cavernous space usually reserved for orchestral recordings. George Martin felt this room enhanced the live feeling of the song, giving it an electrifying, football stadium atmosphere. According to author Mark Lewisohn, all four Beatles chanted out the quickpaced vocals. Mono mix includes the audience sounds beginning more sharply, the drum 24

25 25 intro is four beats longer, and there are some words spoken by John as well as some audience laughter, all of which are missing from the stereo mix. Paul ad-libs some lyrics at the end, but it can barely be heard on the stereo version. The Beatles - A Day In The Life - Sgt. Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band Lead vocals: John and Paul Work began on January 19, 1967, for what is quite possibly the finest Lennon- McCartney collaboration of their songwriting career. On this evening, following some rehearsal, Lennon rolled tentatively through four takes, drawing a road map for the other Beatles and George Martin to follow. Lennon on vocals and Jumbo acoustic guitar, McCartney on piano, Harrison on maracas and Starr on congas. Sections were incomplete and to hold their space Mal Evans stood by a microphone and counted from one to 24, marking the time. To cue the end of the middle eight overdub section an alarm clock was sounded. There was no Paul McCartney vocal yet, merely instruments at this point where his contribution would be placed. On January 20, Paul added his section, which he would re-recorded on February 3. Lennon told Beatles biographer Hunter Davies that the first verse was inspired by a story in the January 17, 1967, edition of the Daily Mail about the car accident that killed Guinness heir Tara Browne. John: I didn t copy the accident. Tara didn t blow his mind out, but it was in my mind when I was writing that verse. The second verse was inspired by Lennon s work on Richard Lester s film How I Won The War. According to Paul, the third verse came from a Daily Mail article published on January 7, 1967, about 4,000 potholes in the streets of Blackburn, Lancashire. Paul s tune ( Woke up, fell out of bed ) was an entirely separate song fragment that he and John wanted to link to John s verses. Coincidently, Paul s bit was dropped in after the temporary alarm clock sound, so the alarm clock sound stayed in the final mix. George Martin said it was Paul s idea to create a spiraling ascent of sound for the two 24-bar segments that followed the lyric I d love to turn you on. Paul had wanted a full symphony orchestra, but Martin balked at what it would cost to bring in 90 musicians. He compromised with Paul and brought in half a symphony orchestra. The final chord was originally to be a chord of people singing. But after four takes and several overdubs the idea was scrapped in favor of playing a single piano note (E major, to be precise). The task went to John, Paul & Ringo, and Mal Evans spread across three pianos. Tim Piper The Shot Heard Round The World NEW! 25