BEATLES LISTENING Today you are going to be listening to some music by the Beatles. These are songs that we haven t listened to already in music class. Maybe you ve heard them before, maybe you haven t. These are some of my favorite Beatles songs and I hope you like them too! Please follow along with this packet as you listen. Sometimes, the words to songs can be kind of hard to understand the first time that you are hearing a song, so I ve included the lyrics to the songs in this packet. When the Beatles first became popular as a band, they had relatively short hair and were very popular with teenaged girls. They looked like this: Most of their songs in their early years were about love. One of their most popular early songs was called I Want To Hold Your Hand. When you re listening to this song, think about some of the musical words we ve learned about: verse, chorus, and bridge. Which parts of this song are verses? Which parts are choruses? Which parts are bridges? 1
Song: I Want To Hold Your Hand I Want To Hold Your Hand John Lennon/Paul McCartney Oh yeah, I'll tell you something, I think you'll understand. When I say that something I want to hold your hand I want to hold your hand, I want to hold your hand. Oh please, say to me You'll let me be your man And please, say to me You'll let me hold your hand = verse = chorus = bridge = coda Now let me hold your hand, I want to hold your hand. And when I touch you I feel happy inside. It's such a feeling that my love I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide. Yeah, you've got that something, I think you'll understand. When I'll say that something I want to hold your hand I want to hold your hand, I want to hold your hand And when I touch you I feel happy inside. It's such a feeling that my love I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide. Yeah, you've got that something, I think you'll understand. When I feel that something I want to hold your hand I want to hold your hand, I want to hold your hand. I want to hold your ha-a-a-a-a-a-and. 2
Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote most of the Beatles music. Many people think of them as one of the greatest songwriting teams of all time. Often, Paul and John wouldn t sit down and write a song together, however. Instead, Paul might write the verses and chorus of a song, and John might come up with the bridge section to give the song variety. On a different song, it might be John writing the verses and chorus and Paul would write the bridge. This system must have really worked well, because the songs that John and Paul later wrote on their own never sounded as good as the songs that they wrote together. Two years after the Beatles had first become popular in England and America, they were starting to write songs that weren t about love. The next song you will hear is from the middle part of the Beatles career as a band, from an album called Rubber Soul. This is what the Beatles looked like during this time period: 3
This is another song that John and Paul wrote together called Nowhere Man. Notice how the words aren t about love and instead are starting to comment on the world around them. In this song, they are critical of people who don t want to get involved in changing the world for the better. Song: Nowhere Man Nowhere Man John Lennon/Paul McCartney He's a real nowhere man, Sitting in his nowhere land, Making all his nowhere plans For nobody. Doesn't have a point of view, Knows not where he's going to, Isn't he a bit like you and me? Nowhere man, please listen, You don't know what you're missing, Nowhere man, the world is at your command. He's as blind as he can be, Just sees what he wants to see, Nowhere man can you see me at all? Nowhere man, don't worry, Take your time, don't hurry, Leave it all till somebody else Lends you a hand. Doesn't have a point of view, Knows not where he's going to, Isn't he a bit like you and me? Nowhere man, please listen, You don't know what you're missing, Nowhere man, the world is at your command. He's a real nowhere man, Sitting in his nowhere land, Making all his nowhere plans For nobody. Making all his nowhere plans For nobody. Making all his nowhere plans For nobody. 4
John and Paul didn t write all of the Beatles music. George Harrison and Ringo Starr also contributed with their own songwriting efforts. George had traveled to India and had fallen in love with Indian customs and Indian music. There is an Indian musical instrument called the sitar that George particularly liked. He took lessons and learned how to play the sitar. This is a picture of a sitar: Here is what a sitar sounds like: Listening: Sound of the Sitar See if you can hear the sound of George playing the sitar in this song that he wrote for the album Sgt. Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band called Within You, Without You. Song: Within You, Without You 5
Within You, Without You George Harrison We were talking About the space between us all And people who hide themselves Behind a wall of illusion Never glimpse the truth Then it's far too late When they pass away We were talking About the love we all could share When we find it To try our best to hold it there With our love, with our love We could save the world If they only knew Try to realize it's all within yourself No one else can make you change And to see you're really only very small And life flows on within you and without you We were talking About the love that's gone so cold And the people who gain the world And lose their soul They don't know, they can't see Are you one of them When you've seen beyond yourself Then you may find Peace of mind is waiting there And the time will come When you see we're all one And life flows on within you and without you 6
Ringo Starr wrote the fewest songs that the Beatles sang. Usually, most of the songs on a Beatles album would be co-written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. George Harrison would add 2 or 3 of his own songs, and Ringo would maybe be allowed one song. Many of the songs Ringo wrote had more of a country western feeling than most of the other Beatles songs did. One of the best and most popular songs that Ringo wrote and sang was called Octopus Garden on the album Abbey Road. Song: Octopus Garden Octopus Garden Ringo Starr I'd like to be under the sea In an octopus' garden in the shade He'd let us in, knows where we've been In his octopus' garden in the shade I'd ask my friends to come and see An octopus' garden with me I'd like to be under the sea In an octopus' garden in the shade. We would be warm below the storm In our little hideaway beneath the waves Resting our head on the sea bed In an octopus' garden near a cave We would sing and dance around Because we know we can't be found I'd like to be under the sea In an octopus' garden in the shade We would shout and swim about The coral that lies beneath the waves Oh what joy for every girl and boy Knowing they're happy and they're safe We would be so happy you and me No one there to tell us what to do I'd like to be under the sea In an octopus' garden with you. In an octopus' garden with you. In an octopus' garden with you. 7
The Beatles were known for being the first to experiment with adding new sounds to popular music. For example, no one had ever played a sitar in popular rock music before the Beatles did it. No one had put sound effects in their music until the Beatles put sound effects in Yellow Submarine. The Beatles were one of the first groups to try using a guitar effect called distortion on their electric guitars. When people heard this next song, they were so surprised by how different it sounded that they thought their record albums must be defective and they returned their records to the stores. No one had ever recorded a song with such heavy distortion on the electric guitar. Listen to the sound of the distortion on the electric guitars in the song, Revolution. Would you have taken your record back to the store? Listen to the way John Lennon is almost screaming the lyrics at the end of the song. It s hard to believe that this is the same group that recorded I Want To Hold Your Hand only 4 years earlier! Song: Revolution 8
Revolution John Lennon/Paul McCartney You say you want a revolution We all want to change the world You tell me that it's evolution We all want to change the world But when you talk about destruction Don't you know that you can count me out Don't you know it's gonna be all right all right, all right You say you got a real solution We'd all love to see the plan You ask me for a contribution We're doing what we can But when you want money for people with minds that hate All I can tell is brother you have to wait Don't you know it's gonna be all right all right, all right ah, ah, ah, ah, ah... You say you'll change the constitution We all want to change your head You tell me it's the institution You better free you mind instead But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow Don't you know it's gonna be all right all right, all right all right, all right, all right all right, all right, all right The Beatles had formed as a group in 1963. They recorded their last music as The Beatles six years later in 1969. During their last recording sessions, the four members of the group were at odds about the direction that the group should take. They disagreed about what type of music the group should record, and also about whether wives and girlfriends should be allowed to come to the recording sessions. Often, some of the members were in the recording studio recording their part of the song 9
and then other members would come and record their part at a different time. The Beatles eventually broke up and the different members all had successful musical careers on their own. As individuals, however, they were never quite able to create the same musical magic that they were able to create as part of one of the greatest rock bands of all time, The Beatles. Here is one of the last songs The Beatles recorded together. It is one of their best. Paul s voice never sounded more beautiful than it did on this song, and George s understated guitar solo is a true classic. This song is called Let It Be. Song: Let It Be Let It Be John Lennon/Paul McCartney When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And in my hour of darkness She is standing right in front of me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. And when the broken hearted people Living in the world agree, There will be an answer, let it be. For though they may be parted there is Still a chance that they will see There will be an answer, let it be. Let it be, let it be. Yeah There will be an answer, let it be. And when the night is cloudy, There is still a light that shines on me, Shine on until tomorrow, let it be. I wake up to the sound of music Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be, let it be. There will be an answer, let it be. Let it be, let it be, Whisper words of wisdom, let it be 10