fuckyeahbeatlesmusic:

The Beatles - Helter Skelter

“I was in Scotland and I read in Melody Maker that Pete Townshend had said: ‘We’ve just made the raunchiest, loudest, most ridiculous rock ‘n’ roll record you’ve ever heard.’ I never actually found out what track it was that The Who had made, but that got me going; just hearing him talk about it. So I said to the guys, ‘I think we should do a song like that; something really wild.’ And I wrote Helter Skelter. You can hear the voices cracking, and we played it so long and so often that by the end of it you can hear Ringo saying, ‘I’ve got blisters on my fingers’. We just tried to get it louder: ‘Can’t we make the drums sound louder?’ That was really all I wanted to do - to make a very loud, raunchy rock ‘n’ roll record with The Beatles. And I think it’s a pretty good one.” - Paul McCartney

(via chemicalcomfort)

“Two of Us” by Aimee Mann and Michael Penn

(Words/Music: Paul McCartney, Album: I Am Sam Soundtrack, V2 Records 2002)

“Two of Us” is a simple pop song written by Paul McCartney that serves as a counterpoint for much of the experimental and mystical Beatles songs usually proposed by Lennon and Harrison and predicts the direction he would take his solo career. Paul McCartney wrote it for his soon-to-be wife Linda and it works very well as a simple love song and is somewhat reminiscent of early Beatles songs even though it is from their last recording Let It Be. However, the brilliance of The Beatles is that it also works as a song of friendship and is often thought to be as much about John Lennon, who sings it duet-style with McCartney, as the future Linda McCartney. It can also work as a song between a parent and a child, so it only seems natural that it finds a place in the film about a developmentally disabled man (played by Sean Penn) who has an encyclopedic knowledge and love of The Beatles but who is at risk of losing his daughter because he is thought to be unfit to care for her (it’s an incredibly emotional and powerful film - see it if you haven’t). Finally, the indie husband and wife team of Michael Penn (Chris and Sean Penn’s “other” brother) and Aimee Mann (formerly of Til Tuesday and Academy and Grammy nominated singer-songwriter) do a remarkable job of updating the duet and giving it a bit brighter interpretation. This cover goes to show that some songs find their beauty and brilliance in simplicity and the best one can do is to replicate it.

More Aimee Mann: AmazonMP3 - last.fm - AllMusic - eMusic

More Michael Penn: AmazonMP3 - last.fm - AllMusic - eMusic

More Wednesday’s Women posts from shelterfromthenorm

“Ob-La-Di, Ob La Da” by The Beatles

(Words/Music: John Lennon and Paul McCartney, from The Beatles aka The White Album, Apple 1968)

This song never ceases to put a smile on my face. It is bright, upbeat, and tells the story of the life of Desmond and Molly Jones, whose life works out wonderfully. They meet, flirt, fall in love, and raise a family. Nothing else seems present in their lives. Basically, no matter what problems they have they manage to overcome and “life goes on”. Watching The Beatles A-Z perform this song earlier was a delight because Tim Palmieri surprised me once again by putting down his guitar and playing saxophone on this song (Later, he played trumpet on a couple songs, also!). Overall, the series of shows in which they are playing every Beatles song in alphabetical order is going off with phenomenal precision and is simply a joy to watch.

“In My Life” by The Beatles

(Words/Music: John Lennon and Paul McCartney, from Rubber Soul,  Apple 1965)

Although I will be missing the Beatles A-Z show today, I thought I would post a song anyway. I find that this song is one which is most apropos because I am missing the show to attend my 20^th Year High School reunion out of town (in Buffalo). It reminds me of the line from Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman when Linda tells Willie that “Life is a casting off”. I have always felt that way and may explain why I only talk regularly with one person from HS and one person from college. Things naturally come into and out of our lives and trying to keep everything around and the same will only drive you mad. So…if I haven’t talked to you recently, now you know why!

“Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles

(Words/Music: John Lennon/Paul McCartney, from Revolver, Apple 1966)

The Beatles sing this ode to loneliness and begin it with an image which presents one of the loneliest scenes imaginable: A woman picking up rice after her own wedding only to find out it was a dream. Something in that line resonates desperation and loneliness. They parallel her situation on her wedding day with the story of Father McKenzie, a man in a vocation requires a certain level of seclusion. Finally, the two merge as he presides over her funeral and the listener is left with a perfect 20^th century existential moment: nothing in either of their lives has mattered. She lived in a dream and he failed to save anyone.

A most ironic moment occurred while watching a room full of people come together to sing along with this masterful portrayal of loneliness in a remarkable performance by The Beatles A-Z. Their rendition of this song (and the rest of The Beatles catalog) has been kicked up a notch this year, specifically by the number of guest artists appearing on stage to help them out. Most notably for this song was the inclusion of Chris Deangelis on stand up bass which he played with a bow. The sound in the room was nothing short of fantastic and the replication of the song was nearly flawless. Since it came early in the set, I was hesitant to write about it as the daily highlight, but it set the tone for the rest of the day (at least as far as the musicianship is concerned) by promising a willingness to do anything to present the best version of the songs possible, including, during “Hey Jude”, when the Fab Four became the Fab Eight (we joked that by that time they were seeing double anyway). Unfortunately, I will need to miss next week’s show, but will be back for weeks four and five to see what other tricks Beatles A-Z pull out of their bag (especially intrigued by what they might do for “Revolution #9). Until then…

“Don’t Pass Me By” by The Beatles

(Words/Music: Richard Starkey, from The Beatles aka The White Album, Apple 1968)

August to me is quickly becoming the month of The Beatles. Why, you ask? Because last year a local musician/acquaintance of mine put together a tribute band that plays every Beatles song in alphabetical order during five shows on Sundays in August. And they are doing it again. Today was the first show, and I must say, they sound tighter than last year (which is impressive). The show consists of two sets and began with “A Day in the Life” and finished with “Don’t Pass Me By”. This songs is one of those gems in the Beatles canon that wasn’t written by Lennon and/or McCartney and makes people want to scream out the words while it’s playing. Trust me, I just witnessed (and participated in) this phenomena. What is it about this song? Musically, it’s simple. Lyrically, it’s simple. Thematically, it’s simple. Hmmm…maybe people like it because, unlike a lot of other songs on The White Album, it is direct and gets to the point. Don’t get me wrong, I think The White Album may be the greatest recording ever produced in the history of mankind, but it can be a bit self-indulgent (I’m looking at you, “Revolution #9”). Somehow, this song, like all over the other diverse songs on the album, seems to work. It works separately and as a part of the larger whole. Quite an accomplishment for an album that wikipedia categorizes as: rock, hard rock, blues-rock, folk, baroque pop (?), ska (?!), and country. If nothing else, this song is just a rompin’ good time from the first notes of the electric piano through  the spiraling violin ending. So listen and enjoy and check back next week for another Beatles song, because I have declared Sundays in August to be Beatles day! (My blog works by this simple philosophy when it comes to rules: “if you make ‘em, you can break ‘em).