Liam Sullivan is a Dad, archivist, choral singer, and tour guide living his best life in Boston, MA. You can read his thoughts on books, movies, music, and more at Panorama of the Mountains https://othemts.wordpress.com.
“Got to Get You Into My Life” is a song by The Beatles that was a top ten hit when I was a small child. Except that The Beatles broke up more than 3 years before I was even born. How could this be? It was a mystery to me for a long time. I didn’t even know it was a song by The Beatles until I was a teenager in the 1980s. It puzzled me how I could remember “Got to Get You Into My Life” being in heavy rotation with the songs I heard played on the radio in my dad’s Chevy Nova back in the mid-70s.
I won’t keep you in suspense as long as I was. It turns out that Capitol Records, The Beatles label in the United States, released “Got to Get You Into My Life” as a single on May 31, 1976. Despite being a ten-year-old song at that point, it did well on the charts, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week of July 24, 1976. It would be The Beatles last Top Ten hit until “Free As A Bird” in 1995.
The single was released to promote a compilation album that Capitol Records was promoting called Rock ‘n’ Roll Music. The collection of 28 rockers culled from The Beatles’ previous releases was clearly Capitol looking to make some money off of a beloved band that wasn’t making any new music. It sold well, reaching number 2 on the Billboard album charts, ironically held out of the top spot by Paul McCartney’s Wings at the Speed of Sound.
The album cover for Rock ‘n’ Roll Music was designed to tap into the Fifties nostalgia craze of the 1970s with images of a jukebox, cars with big fins, and Marilyn Monroe. The Beatles, notably were a Sixties band, but the title track is a cover of a Chuck Berry song from the Fifties, so there’s a tenuous connection. The Fifties nostalgia probably was kicked off by the doo wop cover act Sha Na Na performing at Woodstock in 1969 (the group would get a TV show that started in 1977. I loved Bowser). The Broadway musical Grease (1972), the movie American Graffiti(1973), and the TV sitcom Happy Days (debuted in 1974), all continued this trend. Even John Lennon got into the act with his 1974 album Rock ‘N’ Roll, a collection of covers of Lennon’s favorite songs from his youth.
But “Got to Get You Into My Life” is not a Fifties song. It’s a Sixties song that became a hit in the Seventies partly because it really sounds like the soul and funk music that was dominating the charts at the time. Does it not sound like it totally fits in with the Number One song of week of July 24, 1976, “Kiss and Say Goodbye” by The Manhattans (who despite their name were a New Jersey band who played Philadelphia soul). Even better evidence that an old Beatles’ album track somehow captured the zeitgeist of Seventies funk and soul is that the Chicago R&B band released a cover of the song in July 1978 (their version peaked at #9 on the Hot 100).
But let’s go back to the Sixties, when the Beatles recorded the song. The lineup for The Beatles recording the song was Paul McCartney on lead vocal and bass, John Lennon on rhythm guitar, George Harrison on lead guitar, and Ringo star on drums and tambourine. Producer George Martin also added organ. But if you’re going to record an homage to Motown and Memphis soul, you’re going to need horns. So a quintet of guest artists were brought in.
Eddie Thornton – trumpet. The Jamaican-born Thornton, known by the nickname Tan Tan, is likely the first Black guest musician on a Beatles recording since The Beatles didn’t have many guest artists prior to recording Revolver.
Ian Hamer – trumpet. Hamer had a jazz artists who had a long career as a Liverpool big band leader.
Les Condon – trumpet. The London-born Condon was a modern jazz pioneer who played with many of the top UK and American jazz acts.
Alan Branscombe – tenor saxophone. Merseyside-born Branscombe was a sideman to numerous jazz band leaders over a four decade career.
Peter Coe – tenor saxophone. Coe was more of a pop musician and had previously played with the British R&B band Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, contributing a sax solo to their UK #1 hit “Yeh Yeh.”
Having discussed many aspects of the song, let us finish with the lyrics. It is a love song, of course. Right? Well, according to McCartney “It’s actually an ode to pot.” Legendarily, the Beatles were introduced to marijuana by Bob Dylan when they met in 1964, and the band grew to incorporate the drug into their creative process leading to this love song to pot. Personally, I’m going to forget that I learned that because while I’ve never used marijuana, I have been in love. The lyrics of this song so perfectly capture that feeling of meeting an intoxicating person (or plant) and connecting with them so fully that you just want to spend every moment you can with them. Surely this is what Paul McCartney would feel when he met Linda Eastman in 1967. In fact, they are famous for spending “every single day” of their lives together until Linda’s death in 1998. You can read the full lyrics and decide for yourself if this is a love song, a drug song, or (most likely) both.
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Boris Sobelman and Gene Roddenberry
At the start of this one, you are in complete confusion. It takes a good while to get a grasp of what is happening and why. Even when the story becomes clearer, there are things that just don’t make sense, such as the 6 o’clock craziness (Red Hour) that grips the people of Beta III, or the robed guards’ electronic-sounding voices.
In the episode, Lieutenant Sulu gets beamed back aboard the Enterprise in a rather dreamy state like he was a member of some cult. When a larger away team led by Kirk, Spock, and Bones goes down they find a society frozen in time and completely submerged in a philosophy of peace and non-violence. Except of course for the ‘festival’ or Red Hour when everyone runs amuck.
The people on Beta III as this planet is known to Star Fleet are held in thrall by the will of an ancient philosopher named Landru. His teachings were carried out. What it involved was nothing less than the stamping out of individuality. It reminded me of some of the cults out there. You were not part of the teachings…you were not welcomed and get punished.
There were a few things that weren’t explained. The “Red Hour” when everyone when bonkers. My thought is…it was a way for society to release its primal urges of sex and violence in a controlled way so that it may function as Landru intends. The hooded guards had hollow tubes for wea
From IMDB:
All the regulars on the show were quitting smoking at the same time, so many chewed gum instead. Director Joseph Pevney was becoming increasingly upset, because he had to cut to remind the cast not to chew gum during the shoots. As a prank for a large scene, William Shatner went around handing out bubble gum to the cast, crew and 60-80 extras, and had everyone blow a bubble right after the director hollered “Action”. Sid Haig reported the director “almost passed out”. (Source: Sid Haig’s phone interview with “The Shlocky Horror Picture Show” for a television airing of Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (1967).)
Contains the first mention of the Prime Directive of noninterference, which the plot brings up only so that Kirk can violate it.
The word Archon was the title of certain Greek heads of state, most famously in the Athenian Republic. It comes from Greek root “arch”, meaning “leader, highest, chief”, which can also be found in the English words monarch, hierarchy, and anarchy; all of these are present in Landru’s society.
The location scenes for this episode were filmed at the 40 Acres backlot in Culver City, the same place where Star Trek: Miri (1966) and Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967) were shot. Best known for their use as Mayberry in The Andy Griffith Show (1960), the sets on this section of the backlot were originally constructed to portray 19th century Atlanta for Gone with the Wind (1939).
In the dungeon, Kirk and Spock subdue Landru’s guards, Spock punches the guard in the face with his fist instead of using the Vulcan neck pinch. Kirk even comments “Isn’t that old-fashioned?” This is the first instance of Spock hitting another character in the face with his fist.
Bobby Clark, who leaps through a window and then cries out “Festival! Festival!” has his only speaking role in the series in this episode. A frequent stunt performer on the series, he can also be seen as one of Chekov’s vaporized henchmen in Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967).
When Kirk tells the Enterprise “Materialization complete” upon beaming down, this, along with the third season episode Star Trek: For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (1968), marks the only time that any landing party informs the ship as a matter of course that transportation has been effected.
Just why Festival takes place, or how frequently it occurs, is never made entirely clear. However, in his novelization in Star Trek 9, James Blish describes Reger telling Tula as he consoles her during the aftermath, “It’s over for another year.”
The computer that ruled Beta III would be seen again (slightly modified) in the first season episode Star Trek: A Taste of Armageddon (1967).
The absorption console that Marplon uses appears later, with modifications, as Norman’s relay station in Star Trek: I, Mudd (1967), a control panel on Memory Alpha in Star Trek: The Lights of Zetar (1969), the housing for the cloaking device in Star Trek: The Enterprise Incident (1968), and the Elba II force field control panel in Star Trek: Whom Gods Destroy (1969).
This episode started out in July 1964, as a story outline by Gene Roddenberry entitled “The Perfect World” (later retitled “Paradise XML”, “Visit to Paradise”, and “Landru’s Paradise”), which was a candidate to be the first pilot, alongside Star Trek: The Cage (1966) and “The Women”. After the former was chosen by NBC, Roddenberry’s story idea rested for more than two years. In August 1966, freelance writer Boris Sobelman picked up Roddenberry’s original story, and developed it further, retitling it “The Return of the Archons”
Summary
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to the planet Beta III when one member of a reconnaissance party disappears and the other, Mr. Sulu is beamed up in a strange state of contentment. The citizenry appears calm and respectful except when the Festival begins – where everyone apparently goes mad and delves into wild abandon and debauchery. By the next morning, all is calm again and the elders tell of Landru, who is in control and is the lawgiver. With McCoy absorbed into the local society, Kirk and Spock set out to find just what or who Landru is.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock Harry Townes … Reger Torin Thatcher … Marplon DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy Brioni Farrell … Tula Sid Haig … First Lawgiver Charles Macaulay … Landru Jon Lormer … Tamar Morgan Farley … Hacom Karl Held … Lindstrom (as Christopher Held) George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Sean Morgan … O’Neil Lev Mailer … Bilar (as Ralph Maurer) David L. Ross … Guard Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Bobby Clark … Betan Townsman (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Brent (uncredited) Lars Hensen … Betan Townsman (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Ron Veto … Harrison (uncredited)
I want to welcome my friend Jim to Beatles week. Jim’s site is https://jimadamsauthordotcom.wordpress.com . I hope you can check it out. He has music and other subjects and…when I have a question about The Grateful Dead…Jim is THE man I go to. He tackles one of the most unorthodox songs of the Beatles today…or anyone for that matter. He also has Song Lyric Sunday that is fun to participate in…and I have on a few occasions. Take it away Jim…
Beatles in Animal Costumes
In their made for 1967 TV movie “Magical Mystery Tour”, The Beatles wore animal costumes for the ‘I Am The Walrus’ segment of the film. John is the walrus, Paul is the hippo, George is the rabbit and Ringo is the chicken. It is the third film that starred the band and depicts a group of people on a coach tour who experience strange happenings caused by magicians. The premise was inspired by Ken Kesey’s Furthur adventures with the Merry Pranksters and the then-popular coach trips from Liverpool to see the Blackpool Lights. ‘I Am the Walrus’ didn’t make much of an impact on the charts in the United States as the single only hit #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 and it stayed on the chart for just four weeks. It didn’t even make the charts in the United Kingdom. This was released as the B-side to Paul McCartney’s song ‘Hello Goodbye’, but John thought his song was better and that it should have been the A side. This song probably can probably only be understood by people that have taken an LSD trip, as it is considered to be the strangest song that the Beatles ever recorded. It is way over-analyzed, but I think it is a fun song, so I am going to write about it today for Max’s Beatles Week.
This song is said to be John’s answer to Bob Dylan being able to get away with murder using absurd, obscure, ambiguous lyrics as his style of songwriting. Previously the Beatles wouldn’t have used words because they didn’t make sense, or what we thought was sense, but Dylan taught them a lot in this respect. Lennon told Playboy years later that “I can write that crap too,” which is a reference to the nonsense lyrics in this song. John said, “The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend. The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko.” I think it is best to discuss this sing one verse at a time, so that is what I will do.
I am he as you are he as you are me
And we are all together
See how they run like pigs from a gun
See how they fly
I’m crying
The first line in this song comes from the song ‘Marching To Pretoria’ which many kids sang in music class and this may be an update of an 1865 American Civil War marching song ‘Marching Through Georgia’ by Henry Clay Work. The Weavers had a hit with this song in the early ‘60s and this song is
about the Boer War in South Africa which occurred during the 1890’s. John Lennon describes policemen as pigs and says that they duck for cover whenever there is a shootout or gun-fight. The Beatles had been doing a lot of crying around this time since their manager Brian Epstein had recently died. ‘l Am The Walrus’ was the first song The Beatles recorded after Epstein’s death which happened four days earlier.
Sitting on a corn flake
Waiting for the van to come
Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
Man you’ve been a naughty boy
You let your face grow long
John Harvey Kellogg invented Cornflakes in 1878 in the hope that plain food which was specifically created to be bland, boring and flavorless would help people to stop masturbating. Kellogg was a Seventh-day Adventist and he was allegedly against every idea of fun and he believed that sex and masturbation were unhealthy for the body and mind. I imaging that John thought it would be fun to view sitting on a cornflake as a sexual act. John never wrote about a van in this song, as he said, “Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the man to come.” This line was miswritten by Hunter Davies (the Beatles’ biographer) who thought John said “van to come”, and John liked that better so he decided to use it. “Bloody” is a mild profanity in British dialect. “Stupid bloody Tuesday” would mean you’re having a bad Tuesday, and complaining about it. Lennon thought it was ironic that people would wear the logos of corporations, because he viewed them as heartless oppressors of the masses. “Bloody Tuesday” may also refer to massacre that occurred in South Africa in 1946 when striking gold mine workers, marching peacefully, were fired on by police. Much of this song is abstracted from Lennon’s childhood memories, and this is something he would have heard about. John made a comment on the norms of “proper” behavior. Growing your face long references growing a beard, an act which was considered by many to be a sign of rebelliousness. Advice books that came out in the 1960s illustrated how men should dress right, explaining that they should conform to the dress code without explaining how or why such a code came into existence. These books explained why men should not wear facial hair of any kind, particularly beards, because men who are clean-shaven have a better chance of getting a job, and being widely and readily accepted in business.
I am the egg man
They are the egg men
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’joob
Lewis Carroll wrote The Walrus and the Carpenter which is recited by those fat twins, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, to Alice in ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ and Humpty Dumpty is also in that novel, so that may be what John Lennon is singing about when he mentions the eggman. In this book Humpty Dumpty appears as an egg, although the original Humpty Dumpty was a cannon. The eggman was a nickname given to Eric Burdon the Animals’ singer by John Lennon, because he had a raw egg paraphilia fetish. Burdon achieved this dubious distinction after he told Lennon about this wild time that he had with his Jamaican girlfriend Sylvia. He said that he was up early one morning cooking breakfast, naked except for his socks, and she slid up beside him and slipped an amyl nitrate popper inhalant drug used to enhance sexual pleasure under his nose. As the fumes produced a sensation of excitement in his brain he slid to the kitchen floor, and she grabbed an egg which she cracked into the pit of his belly. The white and yellow of the egg ran down his naked front and Sylvia showed him one Jamaican trick after another, which I won’t get into any further, although Lennon was thoroughly amused at this story.
The Walrus and the Carpenter poem describes how a carpenter and walrus gain the trust of a group of oysters only to betray the oysters and eat them. Upon hearing the poem Alice attempts to make sense of the characters actions. Alice first says that she likes the Walrus best because he expressed sorry for the poor oysters. Tweedledee says, “He ate more than the Carpenter.” The walrus held his handkerchief in front, so that the Carpenter couldn’t count how many he took. Alice thought that was mean, so she changed her mind and said, “I like the Carpenter best, if he didn’t eat so many as the Walrus.” Lennon like Alice expressed dismay upon belatedly realizing that the walrus was a villain in the poem. John didn’t catch the true meaning that Lewis Carroll was trying to express about the capitalist and social system and later, when he went back and looked at it, he realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. He thought he picked the wrong guy and that he should have said, “I am the carpenter.” But that would never have turned out to be as good. It is written that Lennon got the line “Goo Goo Ga Joob” from the 1939 novel Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. However, the closest approximation in Joyce is “googoo goosth”, which doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. “Goo goo ga job” is supposedly the final words that Humpty Dumpty said before he fell off the wall and died.
Mr. City policeman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row
See how they fly like Lucy in the sky
See how they run
I’m crying
I’m crying, I’m crying, I’m crying
Journalist and writer Hunter Davies, who had recently been commissioned to write The Beatles’ authorized biography was at John’s house in Weybridge, and they were swimming in his pool, when several streets away, they both head this police siren going and this prompted Lennon to write the line, “Sitting pretty, like a policeman”, which later turned into “Mister city police-man sitting” to the insistent rhythm of a police siren. John wrote the lyrics for this song by putting a sheet of paper into his typewriter and adding a line whenever the spirit moved him and when these fragments managed to fit, he had ‘I Am the Walrus’. John makes a reference to his trippy song, ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ after saying see how they fly. It seems like John may be describing an accident that he witnessed where where cops are dispatched, in a 911 context and cars were flying around, while the beat cops are running, and end up standing around, in a row, not needed in the capacity of that they turned out. “See how they run” could be a reference to Three Blind Mice. This also ties into the earlier reference of policemen that were described as pigs. The British saying “keep a stiff upper lip”, means that men should show restraint and avoid expressing their emotions and even when they are sad, they should not cry. Lennon defies this by publicly announcing that he’s crying and this appears at the end of a few verses.
Yellow matter custard
Dripping from a dead dog’s eye
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess
Boy, you’ve been a naughty girl
You let your knickers down
In 1967, a student from Quarry Bank High School (Lennon’s alma mater) sent John Lennon a letter telling him his teacher was conducting a class analyzing the Beatles’ songs. Lennon decided to take out his revenge on this letter and that motivated John to write a song that was beyond analysis for the simple reason that John didn’t want it to make any sense at all. The whole purpose of the song, according to John, was to confuse, befuddle, and mess with the Beatles experts. John asked his old school friend Pete Shotton if he remembered that nursery rhyme that they used to sing. Shotton gave them this rhyme, which Lennon incorporated into the song, “Yellow matter custard, green slop pie, all mixed together with a dead dog’s eye. Slap it on a butty, ten foot thick, then wash it all down with a cup of cold sick.” John incorporated all of this total nonsense into this song and said, “Let the fuckers’ figure that one out.” “Crabalocker” has no meaning, but Fishwives were known to be very tough, as they were the ones who stormed the Bastille on Paris. The BBC banned this for the lines “pornographic priestess” and “let your knickers down.” The naughty girl parallels the naughty boy, and John may have been commenting on the norms of “proper” behavior again here. Proper men were supposed to shave and not supposed to show their feelings, and proper women were not supposed to expose themselves in public.
Sitting in an English garden
Waiting for the sun
If the sun don’t come you get a tan
From standing in the English rain
Lennon is joking about the wet British weather, as people in the UK are often trapped in their homes, because it’s too wet to go anywhere.
I am the egg man (How do you do sir?)
They are the egg men (The man maintains a fortune)
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’joob, goo goo goo g’joob
During mixing, John was fiddling with a radio that happened to be broadcasting a production of Shakespeare’s King Lear. John decided to incorporate it into the song, although it is barely audible on the record. There’s a small sound that appears to be the first indication of the play before the 5th verse but it’s almost undistinguishable, and the production will be picked up again by the end of the song. During this chorus, the portions inside parentheses were added to the lyrics coming from Act 4, scene 6 from a conversation between Gloucester and Edgar
Expert, texpert choking smokers
Don’t you think the joker laughs at you (Ho ho ho, hee hee hee, hah hah hah)
See how they smile like pigs in a sty
See how they snide
I’m crying
Lennon was a chain smoker his entire adult life, in spite of trying to quit. Lennon wanted to discuss the absurdities of society, and people smoking themselves to death. Lennon is talking directly to those people who were over-analyzing the Beatles songs, by calling them texperts, as they though they knew what his lyrics were about. Lennon knew that they would be wasting their time with this song, so he mocked them saying “Don’t you think the joker laughs at you.” George Martin created an arrangement of eight violins and four cellos, three French horns, and a contrabass clarinet for the orchestra. He hired the Mike Sammes singers a 16-voice choir of professional studio vocalists made up of 8 males and 8 females, known for their work on Disney films and TV themes. They sang the “Ho-ho-ho, hee-hee-hee, ha-ha-ha”, “oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper!”, “everybody’s got one”, as well as making laughing sounds, snorts and a series of shrill whooping noises. Nothing like this had ever been heard on a popular music recording. A pig’s home is called a “sty” and people think that John was inspired to add this line from by George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
Semolina Pilchard
Climbing up the Eiffel tower
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe
Semolina is a kind of wheat paste and a pilchard is small fish. Scotland Yard had a famous drug squad detective who built his drug squad career targeting musicians, including Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Eric Clapton and Donovan named Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher, and although it is not exactly the same, it has been speculated that is where “Semolina Pilchard” comes from. He wanted the publicity that came from busting rock stars and I guess John figured that he would go out of his way to do this, even if it meant climbing up the Eiffel tower. The Beat poet Allen Ginsberg started incorporating chanting the Hare Krishna mantra into his religious practice in the mid-1960s. John viewed Ginsberg as being a fake, because he was putting all of his faith in one idol going on about Hare Krishna. The words, “Elementary penguin” meant that it’s naive to just go around chanting Hare Krishna all the time. Ginsberg was influenced by Edgar Allen Poe. As he mentioned him in his poems, and in his writing about poetry. Lennon took a jab at Ginsberg because of the way Ginsberg approached the work of Poe. Lennon saw himself as the real deal, much like Poe was, but he felt that Ginsberg was faking it, and not doing Poe’s work the justice it deserved.
Umpa, umpa, stick it up your jumper (jooba, jooba)
Umpa, umpa, stick it up your jumper
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
This phrase dates back to the Victorian prime of the British music hall tradition. It was used both literally, as a way to hold packages when you walked along, and as a slightly politer version of the American “stick it up your ass”. ‘Umpa Umpa (Stick It Up Your Jumper)’ was first recorded by comedy duo The Two Leslies in 1935, but was made very famous by Jimmy Edwards’ recording in 1950. The chorus has been a popular playground chant ever since. Some people thought they were chanting “Smoke pot, smoke pot, everybody smoke pot.” Lennon, one of rock’s best vocalists, was always frustrated by the sound of his voice, so for this song, he asked engineer Geoff Emerick to make his voice sound like it was coming from the moon. As always, Emerick turned Lennon’s strange request into the perfect effect. Emerick recorded Lennon’s vocals using a low-fidelity talkback microphone which helped create one of rock music’s first distorted lead vocals.
‘l Am The Walrus’ was incredibly complex, ultimately taking 25 takes to complete. On one of the earlier takes, Lennon was playing an electronic keyboard and he was making a lot of mistakes. Ringo was having trouble keeping a steady tempo, as emotions were high due to Epstein’s recent death and George Martin was getting frustrated. McCartney jumped into action and saved the day by playing tambourine next to Ringo, acting as a human click track to keep Ringo in sync with Lennon’s keyboard.
I am he as you are he as you are me
And we are all together
See how they run like pigs from a gun
See how they fly
I’m crying
Sitting on a corn flake
Waiting for the van to come
Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
Man you’ve been a naughty boy
You let your face grow long
I am the egg man
They are the egg men
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’joob
Mr. City policeman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row
See how they fly like Lucy in the sky
See how they run
I’m crying
I’m crying, I’m crying, I’m crying
Yellow matter custard
Dripping from a dead dog’s eye
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess
Boy, you’ve been a naughty girl
You let your knickers down
I am the egg man
They are the egg men
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’joob
Sitting in an English garden
Waiting for the sun
If the sun don’t come you get a tan
From standing in the English rain
I am the egg man (How do you do sir?)
They are the egg men (The man maintains a fortune)
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’joob, goo goo goo g’joob
Expert, texpert choking smokers
Don’t you think the joker laughs at you (Ho ho ho, hee hee hee, hah hah hah)
See how they smile like pigs in a sty
See how they snide
I’m crying
Semolina Pilchard
Climbing up the Eiffel tower
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe
I am the egg man
They are the egg men
I am the walrus
Goo goo g’joob, goo goo goo g’joob
Goo goo g’joob, goo goo goo g’joob, goo goo
Umpa, umpa, stick it up your jumper (jooba, jooba)
Umpa, umpa, stick it up your jumper
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
Everybody’s got one (stick it up your jumper)
Everybody’s got one (umpa, umpa)
I met Deke when I published a Georgia Satellites song and fellow blogger Graham told me about Deke after he posted a Satellites song a little earlier. Since then Deke has me listening to all sorts of things I wouldn’t have dreamed of before. Go visit his WordPress site. He also has a youtube channel to visit. I can tell you from experience…it’s worth subscribing to the youtube channel. Ok Deke…take it away…
Thanks to Max for the invite. My name is Derek but all my pals call me deKe and I have been blogging at WordPress for almost 10 years now. As many know I’m a huge fan of hard rock as my blog tends not to deviate from that style lol. I also have a Youtube page titled The Distortion Den that takes up a fair bit of time (but in a good way mind you) where I have had the fortunate pleasure of talking to friends, musicians and book authors.
Recently along with a pal from Moncton named Jex we have started a show called Retro ThrowDown (on Youtube) where we pit two rock albums against each other and rate each one out of a score of 10. We don’t discuss beforehand with each other what we were thinking on each album. That’s the charm and oh we keep these shows around the 30 minute mark so they are action packed!
I will be the first to admit I’m no way the biggest Beatles fan in the world but I like their music as they were innovators and it really wasn’t into the back half of the 80s when the catalog of Beatles music started coming out on CD that I started picking away at getting their music.
My contribution to Max’s Beatles week is the time Nike ran their TV ad with Revolution being the music to it.
Why well for me, it was the power of that Nike ad that made me want to start getting some more Beatles music.
I didn’t care for the running shoe part, I wanted the song which was, of course, the John Lennon powered Revolution!
So along with my good pal T-Bone, I came across one of those mixed Beatles tapes as there were many on the market and I believe it was called Rock N Roll Volume 1 that had Revolution on it along with a few other Beatles standards.
I purchased it on cassette tape for the sole purpose of cranking Revolution in T-Bones car.
Man I still recall at one point as (now remember we’re talking the summer of 87) we were cruising the streets of Thunder Bay windows down cranking Revolution over and over like no one’s business and I’m sure we lost some hearing along the way as that stereo in T-Bones car could crank out the decibels.
One of the moments that is etched in my brain forever is we were sitting at a red light on that warm summer evening the windows down and the warm summertime air blowing our mullets around and as I looked over to my right was an older dude and his female companion (older by that I mean me and T-bone were 21 years old at the time whereas the fellow and his lady friend were probably our ages now).
I will always remember sitting at that red light and the dude looking over at us and giving us the thumbs up! That for me was like winning Olympic Gold lol. Maybe that guy thought “hey, look at these young punks digging on the Beatles or maybe he thought we were posers because of the commercial)
Whatever way that guy was thinking it was one of those fun moments and the power of a song connected at that red light!
Revolution to this day is still my favourite Lennon song. Love that it’s just the four of them laying it down with basically just drums, bass vocals, and guitar.
At the time when the Nike commercial aired The surviving Beatles sued Nike for 15 million which was crazy considering Michael Jackson owned the Beatles catalog which we all know drove McCartney nuts.
But if anything I have to give Nike credit as they did a really cool commercial for it all in black n white and even had John McEnroe and Micheal Jordan in it as well.
The commercial made me seek out and buy the song, not the running shoe!
Christian and I share a lot of the same musical tastes. It’s odd because neither one of us grew up with The Beatles or that great 60s generation. We both grew up in the 80s but share a lot of the same likes. He has a very informative site that is a must if you are a music fan. Go see him at https://christiansmusicmusings.wordpress.com/
My Favorite Beatles Tune
The Beatles are my all-time favorite band, so rejecting an invitation to write about my most beloved song or something else about the four lads from Liverpool simply wasn’t a possibility. I chose the first option. Thanks for the generous offer, Max!
So, what’s my favorite Beatles tune? That’s easy – all of them, except perhaps for number 9, number 9, number 9…Well, that doesn’t reduce the choices by much. Seriously, with so many great Beatles songs, it’s hard to pick just one!
My first Beatles album was a compilation, Beatles 20 Golden Hits, released by Odeon in 1979. Below is an image of the track list.
While each of the above songs is great and would deserve a dedicated post, the album doesn’t include the tune I decided to highlight. If you follow my blog or know my music taste otherwise, by now, you may be thinking I’m going to pick another song The Beatles recorded after they stopped touring.
Perhaps gems like A Day In the Life, Strawberry Fields Forever or I Am the Walrus come to mind. In fact, I previously said if I could pick only one, it would be A Day In The Life. The truth is with so many great tunes to choose from, it also depends on my mood and the day of the week.
That said, one song I’ve really come to love only within the past five years was recorded by The Beatles while they still were a touring band: If I Needed Someone, one of George Harrison’s earlier tunes that made it on a Beatles album: Rubber Soul, except for North America where it was included on Yesterday and Today, the record that became infamous because of its initial cover showing The Beatles in butcher outfits with mutilated baby dolls.
According to his 1980 autobiography I, Me, Mine, as cited by Wikipedia, Harrison apparently didn’t feel If I Needed Someone was anything special. He compared it to “a million other songs” that are based on a guitarist’s finger movements around the D major chord.
True, it’s a fairly simple song. And yet I totally love it!
Music doesn’t have to be complicated to be great. In this case, a major reason why I dig this tune as much as I do is Harrison’s use of a Rickenbacker 360/12, a 12-string electric guitar that sounds like magic to my ears. Of course, when you hear Rickenbacker, one of the first artists who come to mind is Rickenbacker maestro Roger McGuinn who adopted the Rickenbacker 360/12 to create the Byrds’ signature jingle-jangle guitar sound.
There is an interesting background story. The inspiration to McGuinn to use the Rickenbacker 360/12 came after he had seen Harrison play that guitar in the Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night. Harrison’s If I Needed Someone, in turn, was influenced by the guitar sound McGuinn had perfectionated, especially on the Byrds’ rendition of Pete Seeger’sThe Bells of Rhymney. The rhythm was based on the drum part in She Don’t Care About Time, a tune by Gene Clark, the Byrds’ main early songwriter.
“George Harrison wrote that song after hearing the Byrds’ recording of “Bells of Rhymney”, McGuinn told Christianity Today magazine, as documented by Songfacts. “He gave a copy of his new recording to Derek Taylor, the Beatles’ former press officer, who flew to Los Angeles and brought it to my house. He said George wanted me to know that he had written the song based on the rising and falling notes of my electric Rickenbacker 12-string guitar introduction. It was a great honor to have in some small way influenced our heroes the Beatles.”
Apart from the signature guitar sound of the Byrds, If I Needed Someone also is viewed as reflecting Harrison’s then-developing interest in Indian classical music by the use of drone over the main musical phrase and its partly so-called Mixolydian harmony. I’m basing this on Wikipedia and frankly don’t fully understand it.
Harrison wrote the song for English model Pattie Boyd whom he married in January 1966. There has been some discussion over the ambivalent tone of the lyrics. Does a guy who sings, “If I needed someone to love you’re the one that I’d be thinking of” really sound like he’s madly in love with the girl and wants to marry her? Or how about “Carve your number on my wall and maybe you will get a call from me” – “maybe” neither sounds very committed nor romantic, at least not in my book!
If I Needed Someone has been covered by various other artists. First out of the gate were The Hollies who released the tune as a single on December 3, 1965, the same day Rubber Soul appeared in the UK. Their rendition, which Harrison evidently didn’t like, peaked at no. 20 on the UK Official Singles Chart. Various other versions were recorded in 1966 by American bands Stained Glass, The Kingsmen and The Cryan’ Shames, as well as South African jazz trumpet player Hugh Masekela. Among additional covers that appeared later is a brilliant rendition by Mr. Rickenbacker maestro himself from 2004.
The Beatles – If I Needed Someone
The Byrds – The Bells Of Rhymney
The Byrds – She Don’t Care About Time
Roger McGuinn – If I Needed Someone
If Needed Someone
If I needed someone to love
You’re the one that I’d be thinking of
If I needed someone
If I had some more time to spend
Then I guess I’d be with you, my friend
If I needed someone
Had you come some other day
Then it might not have been like this
But you see now I’m too much in love
Carve your number on my wall
And maybe you will get a call from me
If I needed someone
Ah, ah, ah, ah
If I had some more time to spend
Then I guess I’d be with you, my friend
If I needed someone
Had you come some other day
Then it might not have been like this
But you see now I’m too much in love
Carve your number on my wall
And maybe you will get a call from me
If I needed someone
Ah, ah
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Don Mankiewicz, Steven W. Carabatsos, and Gene Roddenberry
This episode has a low rating at IMDB…I don’t understand that. No, this one does not have much action, but I like courtroom dramas. This is not another 12 Angry Men don’t get me wrong but it’s a smart episode. Captain Kirk is charged with negligence after one of the Enterprise’s officers dies under his command. Kirk pleads not guilty at his trial…his entire career and his command of the Enterprise are in jeopardy. Can Kirk prove that events didn’t go as the computer claims they did?
The computer and video show the Captain is guilty. This episode has some good performances by William Shatner and guest stars Percy Rodriguez and Elisha Cook Jr, good editing and directing.
The court-martial is set up by Starfleet to find out if Kirk behaved improperly during a crisis. He claims he did everything by the book, but the Enterprise’s computer records – unquestionable evidence by everyone’s standards – seem to indicate the death of a crewman (an old friend of Kirk’s, no less) was the result of the captain’s negligence. Lucky for him, his lawyer doesn’t trust computers and sets out to prove something went wrong, while Spock does the same on the ship.
Looking at it almost 60 years later I appreciate the central point it makes now more than ever, considering technology is now programmed to spy on us, collect our personal information, and gather market research based on our lifestyles. The biggest thing though is now you cannot believe everything you hear or see on video. Video and audio can be manipulated to about anything you would want. In this story the video clearly shows Kirk pushing the button prematurely.
It is only when Spock discovers that the Three-Dimensional Chess he had programmed into the Enterprise Computer has been altered, also explains why the ship’s computer would record an event incorrectly. It’s a nice twist at the end.
From IMDB:
Elisha Cook Jr. had great difficulty remembering his lines. The speech of his character, Sam Cogley, was pieced together with editing.
We get a look, for the only time in the series, at a series of registration numbers on the chart in Stone’s office. Gregory Jein associated them with ten names previously used in production memos which will later be assumed to be Constitution-class star ships, despite the numbers ranging lower than the USS Constitution. The wall chart disappears in a later scene in Stone’s office. At the time of Court Martial, the USS Intrepid, the all-Vulcan star ship, is being repaired at Starbase 11. In Star Trek: The Immunity Syndrome (1968), it will be destroyed by the space amoeba.
This is the third and final time Uhura takes over the navigation station. She previously handled navigation in Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966) and Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966). She can also be seen sitting at navigation at the beginning of Star Trek: The Man Trap (1966), via a recycled shot from Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966).
The picture on the wall outside Stone’s office appears to show the launch of an early NASA rocket. Also seen is the two-person transporter alcove. This is later seen on Space Station K-7 in Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles (1967).
Areel Shaw once loved Kirk, but doesn’t let this get in the way of prosecuting him and potentially ending his career in Starfleet. It is not known why this apparent conflict of interest does not prevent her serving as prosecuting attorney. A similar scenario played itself out between Captain Jean-Luc Picard and JAG Captain Phillipa Louvois in Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Measure of a Man (1989).
Chandra would also sit in judgment of James T. Kirk in another timeline, serving on the Starfleet Academy board trying that Kirk for his actions regarding the Kobayashi Maru scenario in Star Trek (2009). That board would also include Lt. Alice Rawlings, named for the actress who played Jame Finney.
The barkeep wears the same costume later worn by the K-7 bartender in Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles (1967). The back of the bar contains recycled pieces from the interior of Balok’s ship.
The plants in Stone’s office contain pieces of those seen in Star Trek: The Conscience of the King (1966) and was later used for the spores in Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967).
When Dr McCoy individually masked the heartbeat of each member sitting on the Bridge of the Enterprise with a handheld, narrow-band device tuned to around 1 Hz (the frequency of heartbeats), the prop is made out of a 1968 microphone with the cable disconnected. Spock could have masked the sounds on the Bridge with the console switch in the same way the crewman in Engineering was remotely masked. Ben Finney would not have been hiding on the Bridge.
Summary
Captain Kirk finds himself facing a court-martial following the death of crewman Lt. Cmdr. Ben Finney. He and Finney had once been good friends since meeting at the academy, even though Kirk later was the man who reported him once while on watch. Kirk also meets a lost love, Lt. Areel Shaw, who, it turns out, will be the prosecuting officer. She recommends he retain the somewhat eccentric Samuel T. Cogley as his attorney, a man who eschews computers in favor of books. The evidence against Kirk is damning and clearly shows his actions caused Finney’s death. It is Mr. Spock’s ability to beat the computer at chess that provides the solution to the mystery.
CAST
William Shatner …Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock Percy Rodrigues … Portmaster Stone (as Percy Rodriguez) Elisha Cook Jr. … Cogley (as Elisha Cook) Joan Marshall … Areel Shaw DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy Nichelle Nichols Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Richard Webb … Finney Hagan Beggs … Helmsman Win De Lugo … Timothy (as Winston DeLugo) Alice Rawlings … Jame Finney Nancy Wong … Personnel Officer Bart Conrad … Krasnovsky William Meader … Board Officer Reginald Lal Singh … Board Officer Majel Barrett … Enterprise Computer (voice) (uncredited) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Tom Curtis … Corrigan (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Lt. Brent (uncredited) Ron Kinwald … Starbase 11 Bar Patron (uncredited)
Colin Jackson and Paul Fitzpatrick who both run Once Upon A Time In The 70’s grew up in Bearsden, a northern suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. They were school friends from the age of five until in 1974, aged sixteen, Paul left school to starta career working with fashion and sportswear brands. Their paths would not cross again for forty-four years, during which time Colin pursued a career in Banking.
First off thank you to Max for inviting us to contribute to his great blog.
His choice of topic – ‘Choose your favourite Beatle song’, sounded like fun until I tried to narrow it down to just one!
You may have noticed that there’s a trend nay a feeding frenzy of corporations acquiring the rights to the song catalogues of heritage artists.
The life’s work of Bruce Springsteen was snapped up recently for $550 million, a record amount, beating the $350 million paid to Dylan for his catalogue in 2020.
In contrast, the estimated worth of the Beatles back catalogue is valued conservatively at $2 billion, although it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon as the ownership is acrimoniously shared between McCartney and Universal Music.
So, while it’s remarkable that a band who were at their peak seven decades ago are still recognised as the most treasured asset in popular music, it’s probably no great surprise, even if you aren’t the worlds biggest Beatles fan.
I guess that’s what happens when you are the most influential band of the 20th (and 21st) century, with an unrivalled catalogue of songs, hailed by critics and peers alike (if you discount Keith Richards!).
Choosing a favourite Beatles song is no easy feat then, firstly, there are so many to choose from, secondly, it depends what kind of Beatles mood you’re in…
A McCartney mood? Maybe a melodic “Hey Jude” or something more poppy like “Penny Lane”?
Or
A Lennon mood? Something psychedelic like a “Day in the Life” or perhaps a bit more soulful like “Don’t Let Me Down”?
To be honest I found it an impossible task, a Sophie’s choice, so I gave up and approached it from a different angle….
What is my favourite Beatles song that they never released (at their peak).
Now that narrowed it down a tad, and for me there was only one winner –
“Come and Get it” by Badfinger.
I was eleven when Badfinger released it as a single on December 5th 1969, so of course I had no idea that there was any sort of Beatles connection – written & produced by McCartney, released on Apple records, etc.
I just thought it was a fantastic pop song, the kind you can’t get out of your head, the kind you hear other people singing or whistling along to, so uncomplicated with the piano intro and the catchy chorus – two and a half minutes of musical joy.
It’s probably no surprise to learn that the prolific Macca completed his Beatles version in under 60 minutes on arriving an hour early for a recording session for Abbey Road. Most people would probably have read the paper or had a cup of tea to kill a bit of time, but Paul thought he’d use the time to knock out a classic pop song.
The Beatles – Come and Get it
McCartney has subsequently said that Lennon who was present, failed to engage or leave the control room to contribute a harmony vocal. Paul took this as a sign of indifference to his song, so instead of featuring on Abbey Road as Paul intended, it was offered to Badfinger, who recorded it nine days later.
In his book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald speculates that McCartney’s decision to gift this obvious hit to someone other than the Beatles may have been a loaded gesture, although he denied that there was any hidden meaning in the songs title…. mmm!
Despite the fact that Badfinger’s interpretation is an exact take of McCartney’s demo (as per Paul’s instructions) it’s still my favourite version, due chiefly to the harmonised vocals – if only Lennon had shifted his arse out of that control room!
Randy has been writing a blog about Cover Songs, music genres and artists since early 2018. He moved to WordPress in February of 2022 and has found a welcome community of music enthusiasts. You can read about the origins of Rock and Roll, Blues, R&B and Country Music. There are Cover Song and Chart statistics as well, all with a focus on the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s at MostlyMusicCovers.com.
The Beatles
When Max asked us to write about our favorite song, I’m sure the other writers have the same dilemma as most fans would, how do I pick just one? As I am a bit flummoxed on a choice, I’m “taking the easy way out”. Instead of a single song, and being a cover song guy, I am seizing this opportunity to speak about songs recorded by The Beatles in those early years that were not original songs. In other words, songs they covered by other Artists.
Before I get to that, I had assumed that all the ‘original’ songs they recorded, were written/credited to John and Paul or George or Ringo. However, the very first song they recorded for their debut single was written by someone else. Mitch Murray, who became a much acclaimed songwriter/performer/producer wrote a great little song that George Martin thought was perfect for The Beatles first single. It was called “How Do You Do It” and they recorded it on September 4, 1962. The Beatles members never really liked the song and made several changes, much to the chagrin of Mitch Murray. After some debate, Martin agreed with the boys who thought that “Love Me Do”, recorded during the same session was a better pick. It really was the boys first choice for the ‘A’ side all along, perhaps leading to what some describe as a “lack luster” effort on the recording.
How different would the story be if they had picked that song? If you recognized the title you may know that “How Do You Do It” was next recorded by Gerry and The Pacemakers. Released in March of 1963 it became a smash #1 hit in the UK and reached #9 on the Hot 100 in the US. Calling the Pacemakers version, a ‘cover’ is more of technical debate as The Beatles recording was never put on an album and, in deference to Gerry and The Pacemakers or as Paul McCartney once said due to “peer pressure” that’s why they never released it as a single. It first appears on The Beatles Anthology 1 in 1995.
The next thing I looked at, again with a focus on the early days, what were the very first cover songs they released? Setting aside things done/credited as The Quarrymen or with Tony Sheridan etc., there are 25 songs that appeared on various albums. Of which some are stand alone singles. Some of these songs I thought (and maybe some of you did as well) were Beatles originals. I was too young to comprehend much when The Beatles first released songs in North America/Canada. I always was a big fan, and I began taking a keen interest in cover songs in my twenties. The best example would be thinking for the longest time that “Twist and Shout” from their first album was an original song. You likely saw that Max just posted about it recently.
We all know that some of the Albums released outside of the UK came out on different labels, dates, with different titles, and often the track listing had changed as well. Also, the 45’s/singles differed in the same way. So, for my point of reference, and the standard usage, for the most part I will use the UK releases. For that I turned to The Beatles Bible website and Secondhandsong.com.
Please, Please Me was released March 22, 1963. It turns out all the covers (6) on that album were recorded on the same day, February 11, 1963. In addition to “Twist and Shout” (1961) by The Top Notes (Russell/Medley), the cover songs were “Anna (Go to Him)” written and first performed by Arthur Alexander (1962), “Chains” written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, first released by The Cookies (October 1962), but it was first recorded by The Everly Brothers on July 11, 1962, but not released until 1984. “Boys” was written by Luther Dixon and Wes Farrell and sung by The Shirelles (1960), also by The Shirelles (1961) was “Baby It’s You” written by Burt Bacharach, Luther Dixon, and Mack David (Hal’s brother if you’re keeping score). Then we have “A Taste of Honey” written by Ric Marlow and Bobby Scott for the play of the same name. The first stage performance was by Billy Dee Williams in 1960, his vocal recording was released in December of 1961. Bobby Scott released the instrumental in October of 1960.
Those above songs are the first covers on their first album, but the first single cover version they released was (sort of) on Sincere Good Wishes for Christmas and the New Year on December 6, 1963. The songs were officially listed as “Good King Wenceslas” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. But they didn’t really sing the songs, however they had to credit the songs they referenced for copyright reasons while kibitzing with their fans. The disc contains spoken word messages of thanks from each of them and some goofing around as well. I think “Ricky, the Red Nosed Reindeer” was the spoof version they sang. It was sent to official Fan Club members as a thank you gift. So technically recorded as ‘cover songs’ but not much of the actual songs.
The first real single cover song that I could find where they credited it to just The Beatles was “Ain’t She Sweet” released on the ‘A’ side of a 45 r.p.m. disc May 19, 1964, on Polydor Records. The label reads The Beatles, Vocals: John Lennon, Recorded in Hamburg 1961. The song was written by Milton Ager, Jack Yellen and first released in 1927 by Lou Gold with The Melody Man – Vocal Chorus by Murray Amster. The song was recorded some 60 times before The Beatles release and twice that since.
Why this song? It was popular at the time and had been recorded by several artists in the late 50’s and early 60’s such as Rockabilly legend Gene Vincent in 1957. Max and any other Beatles experts may correct me on the following… I know Vincent was once on the same bill as The Beatles when he was in Europe, a bit of speculation on my part but perhaps his rendition was the inspiration? I think more likely, there was a popular blues singer at that time in the UK, Duffy Power released the song in 1959 so that may have been it as well. Apparently, it was a regular song from their live sets in Hamburg, Germany. It was recorded there in 1961 when Pete Best was the drummer. So, not the final Fab Four. This version appears on Anthology 1 but is credited as The Beat Brothers. By the time it was put out in 1964 of course Ringo was the drummer, they would re-record the song in 1969 and it appears on Anthology 3.
On the ‘B’ side of the single and listed as “Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby” (1959) written by Charles Singleton and Wally Hall. It was not the only song by Jimmy Reed that The Beatles would sing but I believe the only one recorded. This was also in Hamburg in 1961. The label on the ‘B’ side reads The Beatles with Tony Sheridan.
The first cover version as single released with Ringo on the skins (I believe) was “Dizzy Miss Lizzy”. Originally written and performed by Larry Williams in 1958. This song was released as the ‘A’ side of a 45 r.p.m. disc in 1965 on Parlophone Records. On the ‘B’ side was “Bad Boy” but apparently in some markets the B side was a song you may have heard of called “Yesterday”. The song appears on the 1965 album Help! and Live at the BBC.
I’ve been visiting Stewart at Number1sblog for a few years. His blog never lets me down. Learning about #1 songs in the UK and how different the American charts can be from them. He is currently in the year 1989 but travel back to see the previous years also. He always gives you a quality take on every #1 song.
Stewart writes about every UK number one single at number1sblog.com. He’s 630 singles in, give or take, and about to enter the 1990s…
When Max asked us to write a post on our favourite Beatles song, I instantly thought about choosing one of their seventeen UK number one singles. It would have been ‘on-brand’ for me, at least, at the number 1s blog. But I’ve been there and done those, so I decided to cast my eye one place further down the charts.
The Fab Four have two very famous #2 singles. One is the ‘Penny Lane’ / ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ double-A that became their first single in four years not to make #1, in March 1967 (famously held off by none other than Engelbert Humperdinck). The other is the single that introduced them to the British public in January 1963: ‘Please Please Me’.
‘Love Me Do’ had been the Beatles’ first single to make the charts a few months before. It has huge significance, for obvious reasons, in the history of the band but I’ve never loved it. It’s slow, it’s a bit predictable. Not terrible, not at all, but I can’t imagine many who heard it on the wireless in October 1962 thinking that this new band were going to change the world. ‘Please Please Me’, however…
There are many moments in the Beatles’ discography in which they took a lightyear-sized step towards the future, and this was the first. The tempo has increased a hundred-fold from ‘Love Me Do’, everything – guitars, vocals, drums – is tight, the harmonies inspired by the Everly Brothers, the harmonica in the intro an alarm announcing them to the world. John Lennon was the main player here: he wrote it, and it’s his harmonica that gives the song its distinctive hook. It’s a simple song (a lot of the early, early Merseybeat hits were traditional pop arrangements modernised with guitars and drums) and originally a slow, bluesy number that George Martin thought was dreary. It’s him we have to thank for upping the tempo, and turning this into a rattling, breakneck pop hit, with that wonderful, swinging middle-eight.
The record was released during one of Britain’s worst-ever winters, and legend has it that the audience for their performance of the song on ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ on January 19th would have even larger than usual, with large swathes of the country snowbound. This was the first time most people had seen or heard The Beatles, with their long (by 1963 standards) hair and their natty suits. It created a buzz, and got them booked on tours supporting Tommy Roe, Helen Shapiro, and Roy Orbison. ‘Please Please Me’ began to shoot up the charts, and by the time those tours came around The Beatles had been bumped up the bill to headliners. Martin predicted that it would be the Beatles’ first number one hit, and he was correct.
Well, sort of… The singles charts of the 1950s and ’60s were a tad messy. There wasn’t just one of them, for a start. You had the ‘Melody Maker’ chart, the ‘NME’ chart, and the ‘Record Retailer’ chart. None of which offered a complete overview of a week’s sales – they all conducted ‘surveys’ of select record stores over the phone. ‘Please Please Me’ hit #1 in the NME chart (which had the largest circulation) and ‘Melody Maker’ chart, but it only reached #2 in ‘Record Retailer’, which was the one that the Official Singles Chart chose to follow. So, it may well have been the UK’s biggest selling single at some point; we’ll just never know for sure… The history books record it as having stalled behind Frank Ifield’s dull-as-dishwater country ballad ‘The Wayward Wind’ for two weeks.
It’s far from the only single to have suffered this unfortunate fate – it wasn’t until 1969 that the UK charts were unified into one – but it’s a landmark single from the biggest pop group in history, with one of the very best middle-eights. And it set the tone for the next two years, in which the Fab Four would release single after single of pop perfection. ‘From Me to You’, the record that officially gave them their first #1, was perhaps a step back towards ‘Love Me Do’. But then came ‘She Loves You’, and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, and there was no looking back.
It’s interesting to note that an intervention from George Martin, and a particularly snowy winter, contributed to the official start of Beatlemania. Of course a band as good as the Beatles, with a songwriting partnership as prolific as Lennon-McCartney, would have made it eventually. It’s just fitting that ‘Please Please Me’, their first of many, many great songs, was the record that did it.
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by D.C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry
The Enterprise is thrown back in time while trying to escape the gravitational pull of a black star. They find themselves stuck in the 1960s for a while. A 1960s air force catches something on their radar and a pilot, Major Christopher, flies his plane up toward the Enterprise armed with a nuclear warhead. Kirk and Spock talk about the possibility of the pilot firing that weapon at the ship and it ends up that the pilot is beamed aboard the Enterprise. Major Christopher is quite confused and wants to know what is going on plus he just wants to go back to Earth. Kirk & Spock discusses what to do with Christopher because it’s not just a simple thing to beam him back down to the planet because it could alter the future with Christopher knowing the future… it turns out that Christopher will end up having a son that will launch the first successful probe to Saturn. Spock devises a plan that will put everything back to where is was before this incident occurred.
I love Time Travel…in movies, books, or TV shows. The travel itself was actually just an accident…when a mission goes wrong and hostilities ensue, the Enterprise flies toward the Sun and away from it as quickly as possible. This, the so-called “slingshot effect”, causes the ship to end up orbiting Earth – in the late 1960s! Unfortunately, a pilot working for NASA notices the ship and is taken hostage by Kirk and Spock, who must now come up with a way to get back home without altering the course of history.
Many time travel problems are brought up in this episode. The discovery of a new age, the problems that derive from it, and, of course, the discussions regarding possible paradoxes. What really makes the episode stand out, though, is its sense of fun and foreknowledge… ordinary people’s reaction to the sight of Kirk and Spock is always a joy to behold. It’s funny to hear our heroes mention man’s first landing on the Moon as taking place on a Wednesday at the end of the ’60s…they got it right, weekday and all, a full two years before the whole thing happened.
The interplay between Captain Christopher and the Enterprise crew makes for an interesting look at how representatives from different eras might react to each other. I thought Christopher might have accepted his situation just a bit too readily, but then again, what was he going to do?
The funniest scene is when Air Force MP Sergeant Hal Lynch is also beamed up as he’s cornered Sulu and Kirk stealing the computer tape of the Enterprise. The first person that walks up to him is Spock…his reaction is priceless.
From IMDB:
Captain Kirk says the first moon shot was in the late 1960s. This was the first prediction of the correct decade of this accomplishment in a major science fiction work. Previous motion pictures and television series put the first lunar mission sometime in the 1970s at the earliest.
The Enterprise crew intercepts a radio report that the first manned moon shot will take place on Wednesday. Apollo 11 was launched nearly two years after the filming on 16 July 1969, a Wednesday.
Later in 1967, physicist John Archibald Wheeler would popularize the term “black hole” to refer to the phenomenon Kirk describes as a black star, at the suggestion of a student. While several sources credit Wheeler for coining the phrase, it was used in science journals as early as 1963. The term is now credited to physicist Robert H. Dicke, comparing the phenomenon to a life prison dungeon in Calcutta known as the “Black Hole of Calcutta”.
Premiered on Thursday 26 January 1967, the day before the tragic Apollo 1 fire of 27 January 1967 which killed 3 astronauts.
The star slingshot method of time travel was again used by the crew in Star Trek: Assignment: Earth (1968) and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).
Majel Barrett uses a very sultry voice for the ship’s computer in this episode, similar to how she would later voice M’Ress in Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973).
This episode was originally going to be the second part of a two part story that would have begun in Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966). In an earlier draft of the script, when Kirk ordered a hyperbolic course, he wanted the direction to be “Doesn’t matter… the way we came… toward Earth.” When Enterprise breaks away from the sun to go back in time and later, when it goes forward, the same passage (composed by Alexander Courage) plays that was used in the climactic scene of the aforementioned episode.
This episode is the first of two episodes to have a food synthesizer in the transporter room. According to D.C. Fontana, budgetary restrictions precluded taking the security police sergeant to a dining facility or having another actor in the scene bring him food, so Kyle was employed to provide the sergeant’s chicken soup from the dispenser. Several episodes later, in Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967), Spock smashed his fist through one of the transporter room’s food synthesizers.
Following Christopher’s arrival on board the Enterprise, he is provided with a Starfleet uniform to wear. The uniform shirt is the green-gold command division colour, consistent with his position as a pilot (rate as shown on his flight suit as Senior Pilot), and the rank braid on his sleeve is that of a lieutenant, equivalent to his USAF captain’s rank (although he is credited as Major Christopher, since it is common on real-world ships with officers holding the rank of captain to be referred to as “major”; the only person traditionally referred to as “captain” is the commanding officer of the ship).
When Colonel Fellini is interrogating Capt. Kirk down at the base, he tells him that he will “lock him up for 200 years”, to which Kirk replies “That seems about right”. Since the 23rd Century time line for Star Trek was not yet established at this point (and would not be so until Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)), Kirk’s response could be taken as an implication that the time line for the series was the 2160s instead of the 2260s. Gene Roddenberry himself stated that the series was designed so that it could’ve easily taken place at anytime between the 21st and 22nd centuries.
Summary
When the Enterprise is flung back in time while trying to escape the gravitational pull of a black star, they find themselves in orbit around a 1960’s Earth. When they are seen by a U.S. Air Force pilot, they beam him aboard but then face the dilemma of what to do with him as he learns more and more about the future. They have to review their initial decision to just keep him when historical records show that his yet-to-be-born son will lead Earth’s first successful mission to probe Saturn. Spock devises a plan to do so while also erasing any memory of recent events.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk
Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock
Roger Perry … Major Christopher
DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy
Hal Lynch … Air Police Sergeant
Richard Merrifield Richard Merrifield … Technician
John Winston … Lieutenant Kyle
Ed Peck … Col. Fellini
James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott
George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu
Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
Mark Dempsey … Air Force Captain
Jim Spencer … Air Policeman
Sherri Townsend … Crew Woman
Majel Barrett … Enterprise Computer (voice) (uncredited)
Bill Blackburn … Engineer (uncredited)
Frank da Vinci … Brent (uncredited)
Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
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.
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene L. Coon, Fredric Brown, and Gene Roddenberry
I liked this episode’s plot. The Gorn attack a Federation outpost and kill practically everyone with their weapons. The Enterprise has no idea who these enemies are but Kirk, unlike Spock, felt like they had to kill them or risk further attacks. However, in pursuing them, they enter “Metron” space and these advanced beings are horrified by the brutality of these two races. So, to end the problem, they place the captains of both ships on a barren planet and let them fight to the death and the loser’s crew will then be destroyed.
Star Trek special effects usually are pretty good considering the time. If I get an idea of what’s going on by the special effects…they are fine with me. This one though to me contains a really bad looking alien…the alien Gorn could have been better. It’s the one episode in that I don’t think they did all they could with the alien.
It wasn’t the look of the monster, it looks like a pre-Sleestak from Land of the Lost. It was the mobility or lack of when Gorn was fighting Kirk. it looked like it was fighting in slow motion…so that slowed William Shatner’s movements also. The one bit of dialog that addressed this was Shatner talking about how slow they were in moving.
Kirk’s readiness to follow the Gorn ship with plans to destroy it, placing the Enterprise in jeopardy as he stretches warp capability is huge. He was risking the lives of his crew just so he can catch the enemy and destroy them in retaliation puts him at odds with Spock who questions such rash actions.
In short, Kirk wanted blood in this episode. He didn’t think that the Gorn had reasons at all to attack a Federation outpost. Spock warned him that they need to find out what happened before they just attacked but Kirk would not have any of it. In the end, Kirk gets it and has compassion for his opponent.
The battle gets tense and they stretch it out a little. The first thing I thought of before the episode was finished…wouldn’t it be nice if the leaders of countries had to fight in wars instead of their young?
From IMDB:
William Shatner currently suffers from tinnitus due to an improperly timed special effects explosion on the set of this episode. Both Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley reportedly suffered from tinnitus as well during the remainder of their lives.
The Gorn is not seen until 23 minutes in, almost halfway through the running time. Despite this alien’s impressive debut, and the cultural popularity of the image, no Gorn was ever seen again in a mainstream Star Trek production until Star Trek: Enterprise: In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II (2005) almost 40 years later. (A Gorn did appear in Star Trek: The Animated Series: The Time Trap (1973), which has sometimes been considered non-canonical.)
Ted Cassidy (Lurch of The Addams Family (1964)) has his final Star Trek role as the voice of the Gorn. Cassidy had also voiced the antagonist in Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver (1966) and appeared as Ruk in Star Trek: What Are Little Girls Made Of? (1966), which aired in reverse order as compared to their filming dates.
The Metrons (Carolyne Barry) were named after Metatron, God’s other high-ranking soldier in Michael’s army of angels. Hence, their cherubic, spiritual appearance.
In his final speech, the Metron informs Kirk that, because he demonstrated mercy, he will not be destroyed. Initially, they said they planned to destroy the loser, “in the interests of peace”. In Gene L. Coon’s script, in dialogue not aired, the Metron admits that they had, all along, planned to actually destroy the ship of the winner of the personal combat, because that race would represent the greater danger to them. James Blish preserves this disclosure in his novelization in “Star Trek 2”.
Bobby Clark, one of the performers who played the part of the Gorn Captain, visited a Star Trek sound stage 38 years later for the filming of Captain Archer’s fight with the Gorn Slar in Star Trek: Enterprise: In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II (2005). That episode was the first appearance of the Gorn in live-action Trek since this episode.
Comedian and film director Ben Stiller has the prop Gorn head as he is a very big fan of the Star Trek franchise.
The scenes on the planet surface were filmed at Vasquez Rocks, California, the same location used for Star Trek: Shore Leave (1966), Star Trek: Friday’s Child (1967) and several other Star Trek productions – even as late as Star Trek: Voyager: Initiations (1995). The area of Kirk’s fight with the Gorn, in front of a jagged rock face, is known to fans as “Gorn Rock”.
In the original script, Kirk and the alien captain’s battleground had translucent walls, making it seem as though they were in a giant terrarium.
Sean Kenney, who plays helmsman DePaul, played the disfigured Captain Pike in “The Menagerie” episodes broadcast earlier. His resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter who played the original Captain Pike is plain to see.
Summary
When a reptilian alien race known as the Gorn destroys an Earth colony, the Enterprise comes under attack by the Gorn vessel. Captain Kirk soon gives chase to the Gorn ship, leading them to an unexplored solar system, gradually (and dangerously) increasing speed. Kirk prepares to destroy the Gorn ship until another race of powerful aliens called the Metrons stops them and forces both captains to face off in mortal combat. The main purpose of this one-on-one duel is to solve their dispute, the winner will be released and the loser will be destroyed along with his ship and crew.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk
Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock
DeForest Kelley … Doctor Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy
George Takei … Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu
James Doohan … Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott
Nichelle Nichols … Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
Jerry Ayres … O’Herlihy
Grant Woods … Kelowitz
Tom Troupe … Lt. Harold
James Farley … Lang
Carolyne Barry … Metron (as Carole Shelyne)
Sean Kenney … DePaul
Bill Blackburn … Gorn (uncredited)
Ted Cassidy … Gorn (voice) (uncredited)
Bobby Clark … Gorn (uncredited)
Gary Combs … Gorn (uncredited)
Frank da Vinci … Lt. Brent (uncredited)
Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
Vic Perrin … Metron (voice) (uncredited)
Ron Veto … Crewman (uncredited)
Welcome to Beatles Week and we will kick it off in style with this article covering all of the Beatles. So buckle up… We will have over a week with The Beatles. I probably wouldn’t do this with another band…but hey…It’s The Beatles.
This entry is by Lisa from Tao-Talk. I’ve known Lisa since 2018 and the biggest George Harrison fan I’ve ever met. She is a wonderful writer with a wide knowledge of music. Lisa is a mother, grandmother, gardener, retired government worker, observer, reader, writer, cinema lover, learner, bicyclist, woman who runs with the wolves, and last but not least, a lover of music! Go visit Lisa when you can!
To me, being asked to write about The Beatles is like being asked to write about the air or the sky or water. They are like elements of nature, so immersing and vast it is difficult to grab on to a small enough aspect to be able to articulate it in words.
Ever since Max asked me to be a part of this series it’s been clear I want the topic to be balanced between all four of them because it is all four of them mixed together like essential ingredients in a prize-winning recipe that the magic happens.
Right now I’m thinking of a delicious cake and what ingredient each of the guys would be. Paul would for sure be the sugar. Who else looks as dreamy as he does. As a young girl his puppy dog eyes and chubby cheeks and innocent smile won me over. It is his soulful melodies with Cupid’s lyrics that continue to win me over. “She’s Leaving Home” plucks my heart strings every time.
The flour for the cake would be Ringo. There cannot be cake without flour. It is the foundation. Ringo’s steady drumming gave the other three the freedom to create whatever they wanted. They knew Ringo would have their back with the beats, and he stepped in with grace when it was time to sing, acting naturally.
John would be the salt in the cake. His salty comments to the media come to mind. His bold publicity stunts to call attention to important matters come to mind. The depth of his feelings shines through in his leavening lyrics. For example, “In My Life.” When I think of John I think of The Bible verse Matthew 5:13: You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. I think if any of the other three weren’t there, The Beatles would still have existed and they would have been good, but without John there would not have been the essential savor. Without John there would have been no Beatles.
Most everyone knows that George is my favorite Beatle, so you may be wondering by now what part of the cake he is. Easy answer would be the cherry on top, but I’m not going for the easy answer. George would be the spice in the cake, as you see, this is a spice cake. I think of India when I think spices, and George brought an Indian influence to the group. Also spices are subtle, and with George’s contribution, the flavor of his music and lyrics are both subtle and lasting. One of the last ones he wrote for Patti has got to haunt her just a little.
When you mix their ingredients together with other carefully selected musicians, instruments, and producers in the right proportions and cook for just the right amount of time, you come out with the perfect cake. Add a secret ingredient for the icing and you’ve got a cake whose taste stays fresh in your memory forever.
Just like there is no view without a viewer, there is no taste without the Apple Scruffs. Each fan of The Beatles and Their Music effectively immortalizes them and it. I’m happy to be part of that group of individuals. I also hope that once we’re in the afterlife, the party continues with John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
Thank you, Max, for asking me to be a part of this writing challenge. Can’t wait to hear what others will write.
Don’t forget tomorrow starts Beatles Week and we will have some great guest hosts. The Star Trek posts will continue.
Today I’m guest hosting Dave’s site with Turntable Talk…about the one and only Jimi Hendrix.
I’ve always liked this song with its garage band sound. The Outsiders were a band from Cleveland Ohio that had a hit with this song in 1965. They had 4 top 40 songs. Time Won’t Let Me peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100 and #5 in Canada in 1966. It does get played occasionally on oldie radio stations. Jimmy Fox, who was the drummer on the Outsiders’ first album, later formed The James Gang with Joe Walsh.
The Outsiders formed in Cleveland, Ohio, and were a continuation of the rock band The Starfires. The members of the Outsiders at this time included Tom King (rhythm guitar, vocals), Sonny Geraci (vocals), Mert Madsen (bass, harmonica), Al Austin (lead guitar), Ronnie Harkai (drums), John Madrid (scream trumpet, and Gayle Guhde (keyboards). The lineup has been very fluid over the years.
They were signed by Capitol Records on the strength of Time Won’t Let Me. A&R man Roger Karshner became the group’s manager. Lead sing Sonny Geraci credits Karshner as the key to the band’s breakout success.
The Outsiders recorded three more Top 40 singles but never had another huge hit like Time Won’t Let Me. The band broke up after their fourth album, Happening Live!, was released in 1967.
Mert Madsen (bass player): “It all started in 1958 when I joined Tom in his new band called The Starfires, which started a few months before I joined the band in late 58. It took us seven hard-working years to get to the time in the fall of 1965 where we cut ‘Time Won’t Let Me’ at the “Cleveland Recording” studio.”
“We could sense that this was not just any tune, but a tune with great hit potential,” Mert continues: “So we got hold of the East Coast Manager for Capitol Records, Roger Karhsner, and played the master record for him over the phone. He said right away, ‘Hold on, I do believe you guys got a hit on your hands, but I am coming to Cleveland in a few days, and then we will defiantly talk some more.’ The rest is history – all the guys on the record made up their own parts music ways, and I arranged the background singers. — The horns were added on afterwards.”
Time Won’t Let Me
I can’t wait forever Even though you want me to I can’t wait forever To know if you’ll be true Time won’t let me Time won’t let me Time won’t let me wait too long
Can’t you see I’ve waited too long to love you To hold you in my arms Time won’t let me Time won’t let me Time won’t let me aw Oh
I can’t wait forever Even though you want me to I can’t wait forever To know if you’ll be true Time won’t let me Time won’t let me Time won’t let me wait that long It won’t let me wait that long (Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait that long) (Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait that long) (Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait that long) (Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait that long) (Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait that long) (Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait that long) (Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait that long)
On Friday, March 10, 2023, my blog will be blessed…it will be guest hosted by many of you wonderful bloggers out there. I asked some bloggers to write about their favorite Beatles song or somewhere along those lines. In the next week or so that is what we will have.
I truly appreciate all of them writing on this subject. I admire all of them for their writing abilities and having fantastic sites. I’m calling it Beatles Week but in truth, it WILL go longer than a week. If it does so be it…I’m not going to rename it to Beatles 8 or more days… I think “week” has a certain ring to it.
We will have one post a day BUT…I will still have my Star Trek posts to work in on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Now…if any of you reading this would want to write about a favorite Beatle song…just tell me and I’ll get you in…although I’ll need to know by Friday. I so appreciate all of my readers and it’s been a joy working with all of these different bloggers. We do have a great community here on WordPress.
when I was a small child. Except that The Beatles broke up more than 3 years before I was even born. How could this be? It was a mystery to me for a long time. I didn’t even know it was a song by The Beatles until I was a teenager in the 1980s. It puzzled me how I could remember “Got to Get You Into My Life” being in heavy rotation with the songs I heard played on the radio in my dad’s Chevy Nova back in the mid-70s.
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
You must be logged in to post a comment.