I’ve been visiting Cork’s site for years and it’s one of my favorite blogs to go to. I’ve read posts about The Beatles, Sasquatch, Frozen Pizza, Iron Maiden, movies, blues songs, and many more. Take a visit to his site at https://mojohorizon.home.blog/
Beatles Donut Holes
I was born in 1970 so I don’t know if Beatles Donut Holes were ever a real thing during the Sixties, but they sure sound tasty. “I’ll have a John Lennon Long John and a large Blacca Macca Coffee to go please. Yeah, and let me get an order of Cinnamon Starr Sticks with a Savoy Truffle.”
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s this….even RAGING, RABID Beatles fans can miss some things…myself included. It’s like, “Oops, how did I miss it?” I’ve experienced this on more than one occasion in my own personal B.L.Q. (Beatles Listening Quest). The American and British album releases are the easiest example of this.
For example, I checked out the vinyl “Revolver” album from my local library branch and recorded it onto a cassette. A few weeks later I was standing in the Beatles’ section of my local record store scratching my head wondering why “Doctor Robert” and “I’m Only Sleeping” aren’t on my newly dubbed version of the album. Thanks, Capitol!
The first Beatles collection I remember owning was the “red” Greatest Hits 1962-1966. Here are two donut holes you might have missed. First is the James Bond-ish intro to the song “Help.”
I always enjoy listening to the 25 second mashup of twangy guitars, sitar, and orchestra instruments. At some point I bought the Help! soundtrack years later. Don’t ask which version because I have no idea. I always associate this song with this greatest hits collection. It would be a shame to like The Beatles and not have heard this one.
Another example is the song “I Feel Fine”, which is also part of that red 62-66 collection. It’s probably best known for the whole feedback intro on the song, but you might have missed something towards the very end of the recording. It helps if you crank the volume and/or wear headphones for this. Towards the very end of the song, around 2:15, I swear I hear the sound of a dog barking.
I Googled this prior to its inclusion in this blog and I’m not the only one who hears this. One person seemed to think it was Paul McCartney barking or whooping, but you tell me what you think. I always thought “Hey Bulldog” was their finest barking, but I could be wrong.
One of my earliest Beatles Donut Hole experiences came from recording “The Compleat Beatles” documentary off USA cable network back in the day. I had the first few lines of this thing memorized from watching it so much. “Liverpool: 200 miles northwest of London.” I went to visit an out of state friend and he brought up some scenes in the film that I had never seen — then I found out the network had cut some parts of the film for time so I had the “InCompleat Compleat Beatles.” I guess American film distributors would call it the “Incomplete Complete Beatles.”
Hopefully, you got a laugh reading this. Not everything associated with The Fab Four is necessarily a rarity or demo version of your favorite song. (I also checked out The Beatles Rarities from the same library branch by the way. ) I think the beauty of enjoying an established band like The Beatles allows fans to make their own discoveries. Here’s hoping no Donut Holes befall you anytime soon.
Till next time, keep your Mojo on the Horizon!
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I’m afraid I didn’t hear the dog but an interesting story going down The Beatles donut hole. It was the Red and then the Blue Albums for me, they really are great compilations.
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“Woof, woof, woof”. People do miss things about them. While Quicksilver raised feedback to an art form, here were the Beatles employing it in 1964. “Helter Skelter” was one of the first metal songs. How many other trends did they start by touching on something and then moving on while other stayed behind to explore?
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Good call. Helter Skelter came up recently for me. I think the original version out-rocks or out-metals all of the ones after it.
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Thanks, Randy! I got the blue 67-70 collection on cassette when I was about 16. I used to listen to it with the music turned down low before I went to sleep.
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I have always felt that the Paul is Dead rumor was the biggest donut hole or rabbit hole in rock and roll.
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Interesting bits! Can’t say I hear the dog BUT that is without listening through headphones. You could well be right, and I bet there’d be quite a few surprises like that buried in the mix if you listened to their whole catalog on a good system via headphones. Anyone else hear any?
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YES…I just listened to it again and at the very end it does sound like a dog barking.
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Thanks!!!!
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Well, just listened to the vid & ‘James Bind’, yes. but start to ‘Help’, no. Gotta give it to Capitol EMI for a good edit on that
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I forgot…I can comment on my own blog now! Great post man… It’s hard for me to hear Help! without that intro…I’m so used to it beginning the song…I feel like I’m missing part of it without it.
Before the Anthology The Compleat Beatles was it…I still have a copy of it and love it. The only thing I didn’t like was the timing of the voiceovers. A live shot of The Beatles doing Hey Jude and then all of a sudden…George Martin starts talking and we can’t hear the song.
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Capitol rearranged all of the albums up through Revolver. As I understand it, the Fab Four knew about it and approved it; they apparently liked the idea of the singles being released on the albums.
I have all the British versions of the albums in Apple Music (née iTunes) as well as the “Past Masters” albums, and built playlists for all the Capitol versions of the catalog. The Capitol releases were more familiar…
Nicely done!
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I remember the first time I heard that Help intro. I thought it was so cool.
Nice piece!! I need to go check out the blog.
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I love that intro and I wish it would play with Help everytime I hear it.
I think you will like his site Keith
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This brings back memories of discovering music by The Beatles and so many other acts on old LPs from my library as a kid.
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And how often did the LP emerge with more dust on it than an Arizonan hitch-hiker? (I worked a boring chicken-in-a-coop tedious job at the Post Office and I listened to so many taped-onto-a cassette treasures trawled from the bowels of the library. Music, talking books, whatever gets you through the shift thanks to my precious beloved well hammered Walkman.)
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The dust was manageable. The scratches were maddening! I got so used to the skips in some songs that I’m surprised when they’re not there when I stream them today.
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Wow. I need to listen to this to hear the dog barking as I feel Fine is one of my fav tunes from the fab 4. Great writeup and killer start to Beatles week!
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Capital crimes strikes again. And the Compleat Compilation was a snip, but not a complete bargain.
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At the time it was important but later it lost some
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I love this post! I had never heard that intro to “Help” and as a huge fan of early James Bond pictures have to agree it sounds like Monty Norman and John Barry could have been involved in the writing process.
Perhaps an even bigger revelation is the barking dog at the end of “I Feel Fine”. It’s a song I always thought has such a cool guitar riff. I’ve listened to it countless times, in part because I wanted to learn that bloody riff. And, yet, I had never realized the barking dog!
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Oh you never heard that before? I LOVE that intro and now I miss it if I hear Help without it.
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First cake, now donuts, what will tomorrow bring! Not sure I’ve heard that intro before. Definitely hear the dog barking on the other song. Always good to be surprised by a group I’ve had over 50 years to get acquainted with. Nice write up and thanks for sharing the donuts.
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Thanks for all of the kind words and responses. I love donuts.
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Thanks for doing this…I really appreciate it.
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A little birdie told me it was Beatles week over here so here I be. Sounds like on at least one album you ran into the Capitol desecration of the UK releases. I recall borrowing The Compleat Beatles from the library back in the day.
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Hey Jim thanks for dropping by! I sent out invitations and no one said no…so I have 13 straight guest Beatles posts which…with any other band I probably wouldn’t do but The Beatles yes.
Back in the day…I wore The Compleat Beatles out…until Anthology it was probably the best thing to get. I still like it.
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When I first started blogging 7+ years ago, I somewhat assumed I’d be doing a lot of Beatles posts. Out of hundreds of posts, I counted, and 13 are about the Beatles or Beatles-related. Other things came up, and frankly, most of my readers aren’t huge Beatles fans FWIW.
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Now I’m hungry for donuts, which I haven’t eaten in years. I pulled out my original copy of Rubber Soul and found a large glob of something on side two. Couldn’t get it off with soap or cleaner, so I tried Goo Gone and it got the spot off, and also ruined side two. But luckily I have it on CD. I’ll listen for the dog bark. Dr. Robert is one of my favorites. Some of these re-issue albums are poor quality. I purchased a re-issue of Bob Dylans “Nashville Skyline” which is pressed on vinyl as thin as paper and is tinny sounding. I took my original VeeJay “Meet The Beatles” to a record collector and he says I can now take a nice vacation if I decide to sell, which I wont. Good read.
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I found out something the other day that surprised me Phil in a good way. For the first time since 1987…vinyl outsold CD’s last year… over 1.2 billion in revenue.
I love Doctor Robert…yea I look for 2nd hand vinyl in good shape now. Sorry about the Rubber Soul record!
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