Post 22 ... Glass Onion

I was researching some of the stories behind the songs, and I kept stumbling across “Paul is Dead” information.  I knew of the rumor that Paul actually died and then they found a look-alike to replace him, but I had no idea how it all started. So I did some research. 

I knew about the whole Abbey Road cover thing: Paul is dead because he is in a blue suit with no shoes and has his opposite leg foward compared to the rest of The Beatles; John is god or an angel because he is dressed in white; Ringo is the pallbearer because he is in a black suit; and George is a grave digger because he is dressed in blue jeans. 

The things I didn’t know, however, could fill a book.

For example, the Magical Mystery Tour cover has three beetles in white animal costumes and one in black--read three alive, one dead. The black one happens to be a walrus, and according to the John-penned song “Glass Onion,” the walrus was Paul. Also there was a whole back story built around this myth that he died in a car wreck, while staring at Lovely Rita.  It seems like absolute nonsense to me, all of the “proof” that the conspiracy nuts use could be anything; the group couldn’t write a song with death or injury or sleep or cars or teeth or the number three without it being used as a message from The Beatles about Paul’s demise and cover-up. It is an interesting read though, if just to see how crazy some people really are.

Post 21 ... I Wanna Be Your Man

I was watching Anthology 3 today, and although it is hard to feel sorry for multi-millionaires that get to do every fun thing in the world, sometimes I do feel bad for Ringo. You just have to wonder whether The Beatles would have went to the Far East and left one of them behind sick if that one had been Paul or John--I think they might have left George, too--like they did with Ringo. It must be hard at times to be "The Other Beatle" and have everyone know you are "The Other Beatle."

Another note ... when I started this journey I thought I would fail because I would feel the need to listen to some new music, but the hardest part for me has been coming up with things to say on this blog. I just have trouble coming up with topics that I--let alone anyone else--would be interested in reading about. So I am going to keep this one short ... because ... I have ... nothing ...

Post 20 ... Helter Skelter

I was thinking about the "white album" today, and I think one of the most amazing things about it is that there are so many songs on that double album that could be released today and could sound like it belongs coming out today.  Two examples: "Helter Skelter" could be released now by plenty of different groups and still sound hard and noisy, I know thats what Paul was going for- hard and noisy, but there are tons of bands out there that would kill for that sound today.  "Everybody's got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey" could be like electro-pop if you really break it down to its core, the beginning could be from a ton of CD's coming out today.

Maybe this is due to the way the album was recorded, almost completely separated in different studios with the freedom to do whatever they wanted, or maybe it was the long time off before it, where they had time to let their mind wander to do more exceptional things.  Either way the made some great songs and some revolutionary sounds on The Beatles. Not all of them worked --"Wild Honey Pie"-- but sometimes working without fear and trying is the important thing; and without the fear of failure, we are free to do anything.

Post 19 ... She's a Woman

Well my busy week at work continues, and I have been at my desk for two lunches and twenty-five other minutes this week.  Oh well, it makes the days go fast, but really limits my listening time (as well as my Internet surfing about the Beatles, but let's keep that between you and me).

One good thing about all this Beatles listening and researching is that it spreads. I spent an hour talking about all things Beatles the other night with a friend of mine at a crowded bar, and he is not that big of a Beatles fan in the first place. I also got a group of my friends to listen to the "white album" in its entirety at a party the week before. This is a hugely different sort of thing than we usually listen to at these events.  However, it appears that the biggest effect this Beatles phase I am in right now is that my wife too is obsessed; she just asked me for all of the Beatles songs so that she could put them on her iPod. It's not like she wasn't a fan of the Beatles or anything before--in fact, she can sing along with most of their obscure tracks--I just think that sometimes it is easy to forget how good something that you have had seemingly forever is, until someone else points it out to you--like love, luck, or family. This is one of the points that I try to get across [read: hammer home] to people about music: It is not just entertainment, digital information, or a possession; it becomes you as though it is dancing with the fibers of your very being. Music is one of man's primal urges, from banging sticks and bones on stones, to auto-tune and synthesizer--no matter the  implements available to the artist, it becomes part of our collective consciousness, a  constantly changing ether in which we all share real estate. 

Post 18 ... Every Little Thing

I have been exceptionally busy at work this week and not in my office, so my listening has been greatly hindered so far this week. But I have been reading Anthology and it truly is wonderfully put together, there is just so much information in that book that it is hard to absorb at times.  Also I have found a bunch of mp3s of Beatles interviews, which are very interesting.

I am starting to paint a picture, probably a very poor one, of each of the Beatles and a bit of their personalities. It is weird maybe for people who grew up withThe Beatles, but they aren't celebrities to me, they were just amazing musicians and songwriters. So it is very interesting to piece together what they were like years later. For me, it seems as though John could be very generous and nice, but at the same time very demanding and aggressive. Paul seems to have had a bit of the little brother complex when it came to John; he seemed to have great reverence for him, but was also fraught with jealously. George seems like he was a calm person, but also seemed as though he felt like the third wheel of the songwriting duo. And Ringo comes off as a very kind person who was sometimes frustrated by his exclusion from some of the decision-making processes.

But then again, I am no psychologist. I'm just a wicked dentist.

Post 17 ... I'm a Loser

I did a very poor job this weekend of posting. Between football, a new bicycle, The Beatles: Rock Band, band practice, beautiful weather, and catching up on movies before TV comes back, it just slipped my mind. I need to a better job at it this week; I am falling behind on my reading and Beatles movie watching as well. So look forward to some more posts this week.

Post 16 ... You Really Got a Hold on Me

Well a third of the way done, and I can say I am not tired of it yet. I thought this would be one of those things that would wear on me until I was so tired of it that I would want to quit; but actually I am excited every day to learn--and especially to listen to--more.  It truly was a fascinating adventure the four lads had. I am starting to understand why there are so many people completely obsessed with them. 

I am building a list of all of their songs and who wrote which, as I mentioned in earlier posts; in doing so, I am reading some of the back stories behind the songs, and some of them are fascinating.  Take, for example, "Eleanor Rigby." I heard somewhere a long time ago that Paul read an obituary in the paper for an old woman who had no "survived by" people, and he then wrote the song about her late life and death.  But it turns out there is no story like that, and in fact the song was all just made up piecemeal like most songs are: they started with a melody and then figured out some lyrics that filled it. According to Paul, anyway.  But then there are some other weird aspects to the story, such as there are actually old graves found in Liverpool with the names Eleanor Rigby and McKenzie (as in Father McKenzie) on them in a cemetery wear Paul and John used to hang out. Paul maintains he just made the names up, but that is a very interesting coincidence. You can read more about that here.

On another note, we got through all of the songs on The Beatles: Rock Band, and it is a really good game, very well put together and they have added many modes and goals to keep it interesting. I am pumped for when the full albums start coming out on it, they will definitely be purchased.  Very interested to see what they do with some of the songs that are not guitar driven.  

Post 15 … One After 909 [09]

Well, sorry for not posting yesterday. I broke one of my commandments, I know, but there was a lot going on yesterday. As I told you I would, I spent a lot of time last night playing The Beatles: Rock Band with my beautiful wife; the game is fantastic, by the way. I believe we played it in its entirety except for 5 songs. I like how they made it true to The Beatles and not just a fun music game with good songs. Also I spent a lot of time yesterday and today reading a very large quantity of Beatles-related information floating around out there; here are two great links I found: a serious in-depth review of all of The Beatles albums and a not-so-serious one.

I hope to do better in the future about holding to my tenant of at least once daily posts on here, but at the same time I also hope to get through all of the Rock Band songs tonight too. So we'll see!

Post 14 ... The Night Before

Ahhhh... The Beatles: Rock Band comes out tomorrow, as well as the reissues.  The box set of the reissues may be a must-buy for me at some point, but I NEED Rock Band tomorrow, so the box set may have to get relegated to a birthday request--October 12th.  I am very excited about this game for a couple of reasons: 

1. I have been a huge Rock Band fan since it came out, and I have been faithful to it (not buying Guitar Hero World Tour, for example).
2. This is the first Rock Band edition that will be sure to have only fantastic songs on it. 
3. Singing back-ups!!! Heck yea!!! 
4. I have heard that they will be releasing all of the albums as extra packs for download. Starting with Abbey Road!!! 

So if I don't have a post after about 4:30 PM tomorrow you will know why.

On another note I got through all of the extra songs that were not released on proper albums today (Anthology, Past Masters, etc.), for a total of 604 songs; obviously there are duplicates between the US releases and the UK releases, but I can assure you, duplicate or not, over the past 8 days I have listened to each song at least once. This totals 1 day, 2 hours, 13 minutes, and 41 seconds of music (and talking in some cases) according to my iTunes playlist. Since I have evaluated all of the songs in the context of the records they are on, I have decided to make a playlist with no duplicate tracks so that I can evaluate all of the songs independently of the songs they are sandwiched in between--barring the first and last tracks of each album I guess; this will definitely help in building my best of the Beatles list.

I have also decided that while doing this best-of list that I will determine scientifically and once and for all if I am a Paul or a John guy. (I have unscientifically considered myself a Paul guy for a long time... but so far my research may be pointing toward the fact that I may have been living a lie my whole life).  All of this to come ... in the "End."  (Which then leads into "Her Majesty." Oops, that's only in my head--I have been listening to a lot of The Beatles.)

Post 13 ... In Spite of All the Danger

Well, I am back from Cleveland and in my home once again.  I was able to finish all of the Anthology disks on the trip which was nice, and since my lovely wife was willing to drive, I also was able to read a lot of my newly acquired Beatles Anthology book. Once we got home, I also got a chance to watch the first episode of the Anthology documentaries, which pretty much goes right along with the part of the book I have read so far; the video did give some real insight into some of the older songs that I didn't know that the guys considered influential or that they covered at the time.  

The Anthology packages are all great and for someone trying to get some insight and back story into a band, you could not ask for a better package.  It is very interesting to hear how some of the songs evolved into what they are on the final releases.  I sent a message from my phone regarding the version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"; this is a great example of this.  I love the album track, but the version on Anthology is amazing; it sheds a completely different light on the song.  This just goes to show that a song is not just poetry set to music, but a whole package in which the the lyrics are just one element.  This kind of reminds me of the way a filter can change a scene in movies.  For example, a shot of a horse could take place anywhere, but put a sepia tone on it and poof! You're in at the OK Corral at high noon. These packages are giving me plenty of different filters to re-experience these fabulous songs.