10. DON'T BOTHER ME
From "Meet the Beatles" or "With the Beatles" depending upon which side of the pond you were on. Yes, after "Meet the Beatles!" broke we got the rerelease of VeeJay's "Introducing the Beatles" and not long thereafter Capitol's "The Beatles' Second Album" as well as the double-sided single "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" on Tollie and let's not forget the Swan single with "She Loves You" and "I'll Get You" back at the beginning. This was all evidence of Beatlemania. The band was an English hitmaker and unknown in the U.S. and suddenly...they were everywhere. It doesn't happen this way anymore because no one can be as big as the Beatles, no one can have that mindshare (and please let's not compare chart numbers, they're apples and oranges) and no one can rehearse/play and record in excess of half a decade before the mainstream public becomes aware of them. Today you make it and immediately distribute it, it's one of the 60,000 tracks added to Spotify each week. You believe if you make it they will come but music is no longer a field of dreams.
There were Beatle wigs, boots and buttons. And my father bought us 4 buttons... "I Love Paul!," "I Love Ringo!," "I Love George!" and "I Love the Beatles!" These weren't the tiny buttons of the English new wave, these were four or five inches in diameter and even though they might be perceived as girlish I wore my "I Love George!" button to school and no one ranked me out. Everything was rare back in the sixties, today things are artificially rare, like at Supreme, but back then they couldn't judge the market accurately and then they couldn't produce fast enough and you might own something completely different from your friend.
George was my favorite... Because of his hair, guitar-playing and sneer/attitude. He was the "Quiet Beatle," but that's been disproven, it turns out George was quite a big talker.
Anyway, you bought "Meet the Beatles!" and I don't know anyone who didn't own it, ANYONE, and you played it over and over again until the grooves got gray. And I liked "Don't Bother Me" but it was never my favorite until a few years back. I was playing the CD and it stuck out. George hated the song, thought it was amateurish, but maybe that's why I like it so much, it resonates...and the fact that he didn't want to be bothered, I understood that, but actually I wanted to be bothered, just by the right people.
9. ANOTHER GIRL
"For I have got
Another girl"
As big as the mania was for the Ed Sullivan shows and "Meet the Beatles!," it was eclipsed by "A Hard Day's Night." It got great reviews, the UA soundtrack was released a month in advance and seeing it was a requirement, a ritual. "Help" not so much. Because although it was in color, reviews were not quite as spectacular, but really because in the wake of the Beatles came the British Invasion and the U.S. started to heat up too and if you wanted to know which way the wind blew you turned on the radio. At first it was just the Beatles, they wiped everything before them off the map, from Perry Como to Fabian, it was kind of like AOL in the nineties, then again, Gen-Z has grown up with the internet all their lives.
The American Capitol release of "Help!" was essentially the first side of the English LP. And if you look at the track listing on the English album, you'll be astounded. Seven incredible songs in a row. At first I loved the title cut, "Help!" As for "Ticket to Ride," that was a single, months before the movie, when it was still titled "Eight Arms to Hold You."
For a long time my second favorite cut was "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," we all learned to play it on the guitar and we'd get together and sing...HEY!
Then my second favorite on the American LP was track 2, "The Night Before," it sounded like the night before, looking back, reminiscent.
And "I Need You" was intimate, there was someone, a specific person singing the song, George.
As I've gotten older, I've cottoned to "You're Gonna Lose That Girl," with its intense, meaningful Lennon vocal, because after the first run of weddings you find out some people ignore their spouses and...
So, I was having a hard time deciding amongst all these "Help!" cuts, I didn't expect to see so many contenders but ultimately I decided the opener on the second side of the American "Help!" for the song, vocal and attitude. That's why the Beatles were so great, they fired on ALL cylinders. Today few can write a song, and those who can feel that they're entitled to sing it when they've got an inferior voice and...
On one hand you could bop your head to "Another Girl," but on another like with "I Need You" you could visualize a specific situation, and the Beatles could be on the losing end, unlike today's "singers."
8. I'VE GOT A FEELING
There was a boxed version of "Let It Be" with a book that was hard to get in the U.S. But the press preceded "Let It Be"'s release, word was not kind. And sure, if you wanted to compare it to what came before, but...
Phil Spector made "Long and Winding Road" an unlistenable to fans hit, but the opener "Two of Us" was simple and magical and easy to learn how to play on the guitar. And I liked "I Me Mine" and "For You Blue" even better but nothing on the LP compares to my love for the opening cut on the second side that I never hear anybody talk about, "I've Got a Feeling."
It's the guitar lick, but even more it's the vocals, by both McCartney and Lennon. This was before McCartney became too cutesy, when he was just a member of a group, not everything, and you get the Lennon that doubled-down in the seventies, a deep thinking individual bristling with an edge.
"Everybody had a hard year
Everybody had a good time
Everybody had a wet dream
Everybody saw the sunshine
Oh yeah, oh yeah"
A wet dream? You couldn't even talk about it, never mind sing about it!
"Everybody had a good year
Everybody let their hair down
Everybody pulled their socks up
Everybody put their foot down
Oh yeah, oh yeah"
When you're at the top you can play it safe, give people what they want or take a risk. Lennon could display humor at a time when people were taking the music and music business so seriously.
The worst thing is you can't copyright a title so when you talk about "I've Got a Feeling" people think you're talking about a Black Eyed Peas song.
7. I WANT TO TELL YOU
The origin of riff rock. Yes, credit George Harrison because no one ever does. He was the progenitor, with "I Want to Tell You" he demonstrated a riff could make a track.
6. TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
"Revolver" had a huge double-sided single, "Eleanor Rigby"/"Yellow Submarine," one heavy and one light and both dominant, heart everywhere throughout the summer of 1966.
The album started with "Taxman," George Harrison complaining when most of us had no idea of taxes. And "Here, There and Everywhere" was gorgeous and "Good Day Sunshine" really opened the second side of the American album with a bang, you woke right up and paid attention.
As for "Got to Get You into My Life"...it was okay, but when they released it as a single long after the band's demise, I thought that was heinous, no dollar can be left on the table.
For a long time I would have told you I preferred "She Said She Said," then again both it and "Tomorrow Never Knows" are really John Lennon compositions. And back then we had no idea that Peter Fonda was the one who said he knew what it was like to be dead, thank you internet, but the sound of the guitar and the changes...magic.
But "Tomorrow Never Knows"...
"Turn off your mind relax and float downstream"
This is the difference between then and now. Today the more success you have the more you're tuned in, everybody's goal is to be tuned in to what's going on, to not be left behind. But back then life was so in-your-face and traditional values were being questioned and the goal was to relax, disengage and find yourself. I'll argue so many of the younger generations have no idea who they are, they go to college to learn a trade, they don't go to Europe after graduating, it's their loss.
I could cite the innovations of "Tomorrow Never Knows," like it being all one chord, but you probably know all of them. The point is once you've digested everything else on "Revolver" you're left with "Tomorrow Never Knows" and you can play it again and again both then and now, preferably on headphones, disengaged from the world.
5. DEAR PRUDENCE
"Revolution" had already been a hit, but in a much faster version. Other than that, the White Album was a deep dive into the unknown, which wasn't always sunny, you were picking up rocks and finding such weird stuff beneath them.
My original favorite was the opener "Back in the U.S.S.R." because it was an homage to my favorites, the Beach Boys, and it had the Russian references when the U.S.S.R. was still the enemy.
Now everybody talks about "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" whereas back then "Why Don't We Do It in the Road" got more press. I liked "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," but there were other numbers which penetrated my soul more.
Like "Rocky Raccoon."
And "Blackbird."
And "Mother Nature's Son."
And "Martha My Dear."
What got a lot of talk in the winter of '68-'69 was "Piggies," but today everybody either is or is hustling to be a piggie, boy how generations change.
But one lonely night back in the early nineties I was playing "Dear Prudence" and it suddenly resonated. Oh, I knew it by heart, but I finally got it. Of course today we know the importance of Donovan's influence and who it's about but really the song stands on its own.
"The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you"
We don't have this kind of optimism today. The song was dark and meaningful but really it was a journey to self-realization and happiness, it's not in-your-face, you can never burn out on it.
4. YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY
Tenacious D just did a cover, ignore it, they mess with the song's essence, which is ethereal, it's from another world, not Earth. It's so pretty, so right, and then it changes and becomes a brisk walk down the high street that starts out as a lament...
"Out of college, money spent
See no future, pay no rent
All the money's gone, nowhere to go
Any jobber got the sack
Monday morning, turning back
Yellow lorry slow, nowhere to go"
College graduation is a wake-up call, which was depicted well in "The Graduate" but nobody I knew was looking to get married right after graduation, the last thing we wanted was commitment, to truly start our lives. And the work world is hard, very different from school, and oftentimes even less fulfilling.
"But oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go
Oh, that magic feeling
Nowhere to go, nowhere to go"
These are the lines that resonated back in the nineties and have stayed with me. That magic feeling is music. A record sets you free and nothing else matters, our whole lives are a search for that magic feeling.
3. IN MY LIFE
The American version of "Rubber Soul" had no singles...NONE! Can you imagine that today when the label forces you to go back to the studio to cut a hit or they won't release your project? And honestly, with only so much money at my disposal I didn't buy "Rubber Soul" when it came out because of its lack of hits, but I'd play it at my friend Marc's house, he had the English version, which opened with "Drive My Car," which was exotic in those days, you rarely heard it.
There are so many great cuts on the American "Rubber Soul," especially the opener, "I've Just Seen a Face" and George Harrison's "Think for Yourself" and honestly, it took me eons to understand the wisdom of "In My Life." I was too young to get it. And at this late date I marvel at the fact that Lennon could write lyrics with such wisdom at such a young age.
"There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain"
Sometimes all you've got is the memories. The places no longer exist, the people are dead or you've fallen out or lost touch with them. But the visuals are still crystal clear in your mind. As for change, we can only go forward and I don't want to go back to the past but I must say important stuff has been lost in the march forward.
"All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all"
I think I got into "In My Life" when "Rubber Soul" finally came out on CD, and then it was used in "thirtysomething"...
2. SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (REPRISE)
Ultimately "She's Leaving Home" is the most meaningful song on "Sgt. Pepper." No one runs away anymore, as a matter of fact they FaceTime with their parents multiple times a day, not that the parents truly understand today's kids who are too often brainwashed to become automatons. Hell, we had endless lockdown and what got us through? ART! But every bloviator on the flat screen denigrates art history majors, no one wants their kid to be an artist, there's no music and art in schools and...
We all want to be understood, and don't believe you are if you aren't.
Sure, "With a Little Help from My Friends" had an immediate impact, but then it grew to unparalleled prominence, its lyrics entered everyday culture, never underestimate the power of Ringo.
And the controversy was all about "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" being about LSD but truly the younger generation didn't care if it was or not, only the oldsters, the news magazines did.
My initial two favorites were "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" and "Lovely Rita," which few talked about back then. As for "Good Morning Good Morning"...this was back when you wanted to sleep in, not brag about how early you got up. And I'm not sure anything more needs to be said about "A Day in the Life" other than we still don't know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall, but...
No one ever talks about the theme song. The opener, with the orchestra tuning up, the story of the band being told. But in truth, as much as I loved that I always preferred the reprise on the second side whose only flaw was it was too short and back in the vinyl era there was no way to put it on endless repeat. The reprise starts off with pedal to the metal, the faders up full, but what truly puts it over the top is the lyric "It's Sgt. Pepper's ONE AND ONLY lonely hearts club band." I love the way that is sung.
1. EVERY LITTLE THING
At this point my favorite album, the one I play most, is "Beatles for Sale," which didn't exist in America, instead it was broken up into two albums, the great "Beatles '65" and the somewhat lame pastiche "Beatles VI," with one of the worst covers of all time.
So I always loved "No Reply" and "I'm a Loser," but "Beatles for Sale" includes "Eight Days a Week," one of the band's truly great singles.
"Hold me
Love me"
And the handclaps in-between. Seems simple these days, but you've got to put yourself back in '65 when the U.K. was still operating in black and white and music was the elixir of the youth, our joy and our Bible.
But I did not know "Every Little Thing."
But I had this songbook, "The Golden Beatles," with all of the band's songs up to that point that you could play on the piano or the guitar, and songs I'd never heard I learned how to play, like "What You're Doing" and "Every Little Thing," and ultimately it turned out I got them pretty right. I learned that when I finally bought "Beatles VI" years later, needing to complete my collection.
"When I'm walking beside her
People tell me I'm lucky
Yes, I know I'm a lucky guy"
The older you get the more you realize this doesn't apply. I remember remarking to a lawyer at my sister's wedding that his wife was hot, and she was, and the truth was he was stepping out on her and on his way to divorcing her. You never know what goes on behind closed doors, you never know the truth of another couple's relationship.
As for looks...
You can get a trophy wife to impress the others who believe in trophy wives and live in an endless loop of materialistic phoniness. I'm not saying looks are unimportant they're just not that important, they don't supersede everything. If you're involved with someone to impress others...better take a long hard look at your values, maybe it's time to go to the shrink.
"I remember the first time
I was lonely without her
Can't stop thinking about her now"
Oh the pain of distance. Where are they, are they thinking about you? There's no worse pain than heartache, there's no pill that will make it go away. As for loneliness...it can kill, that's the truth.
"There is one thing I'm sure of
I will love her forever
For I know love will never die"
Too often it does. The number one criterion of a successful relationship is commitment, without it you're doomed. Choose appropriately, not the person who will give you a good time so much as the one who will stand by you, be there for you.
As for the sound of the track...
The timpani...
The double-tracked guitar...
The changes...
The vocals...
"Every little thing
Every little thing
Every little thing"
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