Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Beatles - The Complete BBC Sessions Disc 2

Label: Great Dane Records, GDR 9326/2

Disc 2 (77:55)
Show Trk Song Qlty

18 Pop Go The 1 Pop Go The Beatles
Beatles NA From Me To You
r 5/25/63 a 6/4/63 2 Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby G
3 Do You Want To Know A Secret? G
4 You Really Got A Hold On Me G
5 Misery P
6 The Hippy Hippy Shake P
7 Pop Go The Beatles G

19 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+
Beatles 8 Too Much Monkey Business VG
r 6/1 a 6/11 9 I Got To Find My Baby VG
10 Young Blood VG
11 Baby It's You VG
12 Till There Was You VG
13 Love Me Do P
Pop Go The Beatles+

20 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+
Beatles 14 A Shot Of Rythm And Blues G
r 6/1 a 6/18 15 Memphis P
16 A Taste Of Honey VG
17 Sure To Fall VG
18 Money VG
19 From Me To You P
Pop Go The Beatles+

21 Easy Beat 20 Some Other Guy G
r 6/19 a 6/23 21 A Taste Of Honey VG
22 Thank You Girl G
23 From Me To You G

22 Side By Side Side By Side Theme+
r 4/4 a 6/24 24 Too Much Monkey Business VG
NA Love Me Do
25 Boys G
26 I'll Be On Way VG
27 From Me To You G

23 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+
Beatles 28 Anna G
r 6/17 a 6/25 29 I Saw Her Standing There G
30 Boys G
31 Chains G
32 P.S. I Love You G
33 Twist And Shout G
Pop Go The Beatles+
NA A Taste Of Honey (not broadcast)

"I Should Have Known Better" Lyrics

by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

As Released by the Beatles (1964)

I should have known better with a girl like you
That I would love everything that you do
And I do, hey hey hey, and I do.

Whoa, whoa, I never realised what a kiss could be
This could only happen to me
Can't you see, can't you see?
That when I tell you that I love you, oh
You're gonna say you love me too, oh.

And when I ask you to be mine
You're gonna say you love me too.

So - oh, I should have realised a lot of things before
If this is love you've got to give me more
Give me more, hey hey hey, give me more.

Whoa, whoa, I never realised what a kiss could be
This could only happen to me
Can't you see, can't you see?
That when I tell you that I love you, oh
You're gonna say you love me too, oh.

And when I ask you to be mine
You're gonna say you love me too.

You love me too
You love me too
You love me too.

Friday, August 21, 2009

"I Me Mine" Lyrics

by George Harrison

Original Manuscript (1969)

All thru' the day, I Me Mine
All thru' the night, I Me Mine
Now they're frightened of leaving it
Everyone's weaving it, coming on strong
all the time . .
All through the day I ME MINE.

BOP.

All I can hear, I Me Mine
Even your tear, I ME MINE
No one's frightened of playing it
Everyone's saying it, flowing more
freely than wine
All through your Life - I Me Mine.

As Released by the Beatles (1970)

All through the day
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
All through the night
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.

Now they're frightened of leaving it
Everyone's weaving it
Coming on strong all the time
All through the day
I me mine.

I me me mine
I me me mine
I me me mine
I me me mine.

All I can hear
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Even those tears
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.

No-one's frightened of playing it
Everyone's saying it
Flowing more freely than wine
All through the day
I me mine.

I me me mine
I me me mine
I me me mine
I me me mine.

All I can hear
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
Even those tears
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.

No-one's frightened of playing it
Everyone's saying it
Flowing more freely than wine
All through your life
I me mine.

All Together on the Wireless Machine: McCartney or Not?

On November 25, 1967, BBC Radio 1's programme Where It's At broadcast a special on the Beatles' new Magical Mystery Tour double-EP set, and along with the program came the first broadcast of a piano/vocal jingle for the show's hosts Kenny Everett and Chris Denning, performed and composed by Paul McCartney - or so reports Mark Lewisohn in his book Complete Beatles Chronicle.

There are many who disagree with this fact: Allen J. Wiener in The Ultimate Beatles Recording Guide calls 'All Together On The Wireless' an Everett composition with "Paul on piano and doing some minimal vocals behind Everett."

And Doug Sulpy reported in an issue in The 910 newsletter: "...'All Together On The Wireless Machine,' which I don't believe has Paul McCartney (or any other Beatle) on it." (Vol. 8 No. 1, June 2000)

THE LYRICS
"The lyric 'Kenny Everett and Chris Denning all together on the wireless machine' should give you a clue who's performing it" -Doug Sulpy

Does it? Here are the lyrics:

"While sitting at my piano one day,
A magical thought came my way,
To write a number for the BBC
Kenny Everett and Chris Denning
All together on the wireless machine
Kenny Everett and Chris Denning
All together on the wireless machine..."

These lyrics reveal quite a few things about its composer...

"While sitting at my piano one day"
This could be interpreted as Paul describing himself sitting at his psychedelically-painted upright Knight piano, on which McCartney composed many of his songs, located in his music room inside his home on Cavendish Avenue.
"It had a lovely tone, that piano, you'd just open the lid and there was such a magic tone, almost out of tune, and of course the way it was painted added to the fun of it all." -McCartney

"A magical thought came my way, to write a number for the BBC"
Paul was not adverse to writing songs for others, or writing them from titles ("One And One Is Two", "Sgt. Pepper", "Magical Mystery Tour" being some examples, and later "Live And Let Die" and "Spies Like Us" from his solo career). In this case, Paul, being a composer, is describing his decision to write a number for the British Broadcasting Corporation and more specifically, DJs Denning and Everett's radio show Where It's At. Everett would often ask, half-jokingly, for songs written by the Beatles especially for him (like the "Goodbye Kenny Everett" jingle from 1968, or Lennon's "Monte Carlo" in 1971).

"Kenny Everett and Chris Denning"
In this line Paul mentions the two radio DJs of Where It's At. McCartney does not mention himself in this line because he probably intended it to be used in future broadcasts, and not just the November 25th edition. The various edits appearing on bootlegs in decades that followed proved that indeed it was used on multiple occasions.

"All together on the wireless machine"
Paul probably had this line in his mind and then wrote the rest of the song around it. The two people "together" on the "wireless machine" (radio) programme were Everett and Denning, which again explains why Paul does not mention himself in the song (but he does so in another way...). The title also bears a slight resemblance to "All Together Now", a song which he would release on Yellow Submarine a year later.

THE VOICE
Though the vocal on the recording is somewhat uncharacteristic of McCartney, he had used this type of voice before. Two examples of it include the BBC "posh voice" from the Top Gear promo spot recorded in July 1964, and on the Beatles' 1966 Christmas record entitled Pantomime: Everywhere It's Christmas. McCartney often would usually alter his voice in some way when playing material jokingly or on recordings that were not serious (with great evidence of this in his piano rehearsals during the Get Back sessions). With this song, Paul jokingly changes his voice to sing this off-the-cuff composition for the BBC. There are some minimal backing vocals, provided by none other than the zany Kenny Everett.

THE MELODY
The melody of this song provides the greatest evidence that McCartney is present on the recording. Starting off with the beginning, the opening piano melody up until "Kenny Everett and Chris Denning" is the exact piano part to "Hello, Goodbye", complete with its descending riff. This piano part was played by Paul on the final recording of "Hello, Goodbye" and his piano playing can be heard quite clearly on take 1 of the song (at the time title "Hello Hello"). Not only is the playing authentic, but "All Together On The Wireless Machine" was broadcast on November 25, and the "Hello, Goodbye" single was first released November 24. This means that "Hello, Goodbye" was an unreleased song at the time of "ATOTWM"'s recording, because Where It's At was pre-taped. Paul's jingle in all likelihood was the first item for the show to be recorded. The second section to the song, with a bouncy melody, bears a great resemblance to Paul's piano song "Please don't bring your banjo back..." from the Beatles' 1966 Christmas Record. Everett and Denning were DJs, not musicians, and there is no evidence that suggests they could even play the piano. And even if they could, what would have been the chances of them accurately reproducing the piano part for "Hello, Goodbye" (an unreleased song), and McCartney's disctinctive piano playing? The explanation for the use of the "Hello, Goodbye" in "All Together On The Wireless Machine" is simple enough: Paul was never afraid to plug one of his own compositions whenever the occasion arrived, and in this case it was the Beatles' newest single, so McCartney craftily put it in.

THE CREDITS
"All Together On The Wireless Machine"
Recorded: 7 Cavendish Avenue, St. John's Wood, London - November, 1967
Broadcast: November 25, 1967, on BBC Radio 1's Where It's At programme
Paul McCartney: piano, vocal
Kenny Everett: backing vocal, "crashing" sound effects

AND IN ADDITION...
John C. Winn pointed out this after this article was first published:
"I have a recording of the 11/25/67 broadcast which provides further evidence.
It ends thusly:


CD: Listen, you!
KE: What?
CD: When we did that interview with John Lennon, I was there too. Why have I
not just been on the wireless with you two talking?
KE: You, Chris, are lying on the editing-room floor.
CD: Oh. In that case, a quick whistle from Paul McCartney.
(ATOTWL starts up, from the whistling part)
CD: Lovely. Come on, sing, Paul!
(Paul sings the chorus: "Kenny Everett and Chris Denning..." etc.)

It definitely sounds like Paul to me."

Me too.

The Beatles - The Complete BBC Sessions Disc 1

Label: Great Dane Records, 9326/1

Disc 1 (71:58)
Show Trk Song Qlty

1 Teenager's Turn NA Hello Little Girl (not broadcast)
(Here We Go) 1 Dream Baby P
r 3/7/62 a 3/8/62 2 Memphis P
3 Please Mr. Postman P

2 Here We Go 4 Ask Me Why P
r 6/11 a 6/15 5 Besame Mucho P
6 A Picture Of You P

3 Here We Go NA Sheila (not broadcast)
r 10/25 a 10/26 NA Love Me Do
NA A Taste Of Honey
NA P.S. I Love You

4 Talent Spot NA Love Me Do
r 11/27 a 12/4 NA P.S. I Love You
NA Twist And Shout

5 Here We Go NA Chains
r 1/16/63 a 1/25/63 NA Please Please Me
NA Ask Me Why
NA Three Cool Cats (not broadcast)

6 Saturday Club 7 Some Other Guy P
r 1/22 a 1/26 8 Keep Your Hands Off My Baby P
9 Beautiful Dreamer P
NA Love Me Do
NA Please Please Me

7 Talent Spot NA Please Please Me
r 1/22 a 1/29 NA Ask Me Why
NA Some Other Guy

8 Parade Of Pops NA Love Me Do
r 2/20 a 2/20 NA Please Please Me

9 Here We Go NA Misery
r 3/6 a 3/12 NA Do You Want To Know A Secret?
NA Please Please Me
NA I Saw Her Standing There
(not broadcast)

10 Saturday Club 10 I Saw Her Standing There P
r 3/16 a 3/16 11 Misery P
12 Too Much Monkey Business P
13 I'm Talking About You P
14 Please Please Me P

15 The Hippy Hippy Shake P

11 On The Scene NA Misery
r 3/21 a 3/28 NA Do You Want To Know A Secret?
NA Please Please Me

12 Easy Beat NA Please Please Me
r 4/3 a 4/7 NA Misery
16 From Me To You P

13 Swingin' Sound 17 Twist And Shout P
r 4/18 a 4/18 18 From Me To You P

14 Side By Side NA Side By Side Theme
r 4/1 a 4/22 NA I Saw Her Standing There
NA Do You Want To Know A Secret?
NA Baby It's You
NA Please Please Me
NA From Me To You
NA Misery

15 Side By Side 19 Side By Side Theme VG
r 4/1 a 5/13 20 Long Tall Sally VG
21 A Taste Of Honey VG
22 Chains VG
23 Thank You Girl VG
24 Boys VG
NA From Me To You

16 Saturday Club 25 I Saw Her Standing There G
r 5/21 a 5/25 26 Do You Want To Know A Secret? G
27 Boys G
28 Long Tall Sally G
29 From Me To You G
30 Money G

17 Steppin' Out 31 Please Please Me P
r 5/21 a 6/3 32 I Saw Her Standing There P
NA Roll Over Beethoven
NA Thank You Girl
NA From Me To You
NA Twist And Shout (not broadcast)

Thursday, August 20, 2009

John Lennon's Record Collection: The Animals - Bring It On Home to Me

Beatle People: Jim and Mary McCartney

James "Jim" McCartney (7 July 1902 – 18 March 1976) and Mary Patricia McCartney (née Mohan) (29 September 1909 – 31 October 1956) were the parents of musician, author and artist Paul McCartney, best known for his work in The Beatles and Wings, and photographer and musician Mike McCartney, who worked with The Scaffold.

Like many families in Liverpool, the McCartney and Mohan families are from Irish descent. Jim worked for most of his life in the cotton trade, as well as playing in ragtime and jazz bands in Liverpool, while Mary was a trained nurse and midwife.

The McCartney family lived in council houses during Mary's life, but Paul later bought his father a house called Rembrandt, in Heswall, Cheshire. Jim encouraged his two sons to take up music by buying instruments for them to learn, as well as improving their status in life through education. Mary was Paul's inspiration for the song, "Let It Be." After Mary’s death, Jim married Angela Williams and adopted her daughter from a previous marriage, Ruth McCartney.

McCartney & Mohan

The McCartneys have Irish roots, as Jim's great-grandfather, James McCartney (an upholsterer) was born in Ireland, but it was previously unknown where Jim's grandfather, James McCartney II, was born. New evidence found in Scottish archives suggests that James McCartney moved with his family (including James McCartney II) from Ireland to Galloway, Scotland, around 1859, before moving south and settling in Liverpool.

James II (a plumber and painter) married Elizabeth Williams in 1864, in Liverpool. The pair were both under-age when they were wed, but found a place to live together in Scotland Road. Jim's father, Joseph "Joe" McCartney (born 23 November 1866) was a tobacco-cutter by trade when he married Florence "Florrie" Clegg (born 2 June 1874) in the Christ Church, Kensington, Liverpool, on 17 May 1896. Joe never drank alcohol, went to bed at 10 o’clock every night, and the only swear word he used was ‘Jaysus’. Florrie was known as "Granny Mac" in the neighborhood and was often consulted when families had problems.

Mary's father was born in Tullynamalrow, County Monaghan, Ireland, in 1880, as Owen Mohin, but permanently changed his name to Mohan when he was at school to avoid confusion with many other pupils with the same surname. After moving to Liverpool, he worked as a coalman, and married Mary Theresa Danher from Toxteth Park, at St. Charles Roman Catholic Church, on 24 April 1905.

Jim

Jim was born at 8 Fishguard Road, Everton, Liverpool and was the third eldest of seven children. The McCartney children were John (Jack), Edith, James (Jim), Ann, Millie, Jane (Jin) and Joe (who was named after a brother who died in infancy). Joe and Florrie McCartney moved shortly after Jim's birth to 3 Solva Street in Everton, which was a run-down terraced house about three-quarters of a mile from the Liverpool city centre, where Jim attended the Steers Street Primary School off Everton Road. After leaving school at 14, Jim found work for six shillings a week as a cotton "sample boy," at A. Hanney & Co.; a cotton broker in Chapel Street, Liverpool. Jim's job entailed running up and down Old Hall Street with large bundles of cotton that had to be delivered to cotton brokers or merchants in various salesrooms. He worked ten-hour days, five days a week, although he received a bonus at Christmas that was almost double his annual salary.

When World War II started Jim was too old to be called up for active service, as well as having previously been disqualified on medical grounds after falling from a wall and smashing his left eardrum when 10-years-old. After the cotton exchange closed for the duration of the war, Jim worked as an inspector at Napier's engineering works, which made shell cases that were later filled with explosives. He volunteered to be a fireman at night and often watched Liverpool burning from his rooftop observer's position. Between 1940 and 1942, Liverpool endured 68 air-raids, which killed or injured more than 4,500 of the population and destroyed more than 10,000 homes. After the war he worked as an inspector for Liverpool Corporation's Cleansing Department before returning to the cotton trade in 1946.

Jim avidly read the Liverpool Echo or Express, liked solving crosswords and instigated discussions about varied subjects. His attitude to life was based upon self-respect, perseverance, fairness and a strong work ethic. His political views were far from left-wing, as he insisted that there was nothing anyone could do about the situation the working classes were in at the time, and nothing would ever change.

62-year-old Jim was earning £10 a week in 1964, but Paul suggested that his father should retire, and bought "Rembrandt"; a detached mock-Tudor house in Baskervyle Road, Heswall, Cheshire, for £8,750. Paul bought Jim a horse called "Drake’s Drum," and a couple of years later, the horse won the race immediately preceding the Grand National.

Jim died of bronchial pneumonia on 18 March 1976. His second wife, Angela McCartney (née Williams) said that his last words were "I’ll be with Mary soon." Jim died two days before a Wings European tour, and Paul was unable to attend the funeral. Jim was cremated at Landican Cemetery, near Heswall, on 22 March 1976.

Mary

Mary Patricia Mohan was born at 2 Third Avenue, Fazakerley, Liverpool. When she was 11 years old, her mother, Mary Theresa Mohan, died giving birth to a fourth child, a daughter, who also died. After two years Mary's father met and married his second wife, Rose, while on a trip to Monaghan, in Ireland. Rose arrived in Liverpool with two children from a previous marriage, but Mary, who had until then been looking after the Mohan family, realized that Rose did not care much for domesticity or her new husband's children. After a year she chose to live with her aunts. In 1923, at 14 years old, Mary started her training to become a nurse at the Alder Hey Hospital. She later transferred to Walton Road Hospital in Rice Lane, Liverpool, and after ten years reached the position of Sister (responsible for the management of the ward/clinic/unit).

Mary became a domiciliary health visitor and midwife, and was on-call day or night, riding a bicycle to houses where she was needed as a midwife. Her eldest son, Paul, said his first memory was watching her cycling away when it was snowing heavily. After she had been diagnosed with cancer, Mary (who was a heavy smoker) still carried on cycling to work, but often doubled up in pain and had trouble breathing. The day Mary was due to have a mastectomy operation, she cleaned the McCartney house and laid Paul and Michael's school clothes out ready for the next day. She said to Dill Mohan, her sister-in-law, "Now everything's ready for them in case I don't come back." Mary died of an embolism on 31 October 1956, after an operation to stop the spread of breast cancer. Her last words to Dill Mohan were "I would love to have seen the boys growing up." Mary was buried on 3 November 1956 at Yew Tree Cemetery, Finch Lane, Liverpool. Paul later named his daughter Mary after his mother, and Michael released an album entitled Woman in 1972, including the song, "Woman," with a photo of Mary on the front cover.

Marriage

Mary met her future husband during an air raid on Liverpool in 1940, when Jim was 38 years old, and had settled into what his friends thought was, "a confirmed bachelorhood." Mary had been too career-conscious to think of marriage and, at 31-years-old, was thought of as a spinster. They met in June 1940, at 11 Scargreen Avenue, West Derby, the McCartney family home. Mary was staying with Jim's sister, Jin, because of the lack of accommodation in Liverpool at the time. As Mary sat quietly in an armchair, the air-raid sirens sounded at 9:30. At that time, the group moved to the Anderson shelter in the back garden to wait for the all-clear, but as there was an intensive bombing raid, the signal did not come and everyone was thus forced to sit in the cellar until dawn. Mary talked long enough with Jim to become romantically interested in him, and thought that he was "utterly charming and uncomplicated," as well as being entertained by his "considerable good humour." They took out a marriage licence at Liverpool Town Hall on 8 April 1941, and were married a week later at St. Swithin’s Roman Catholic chapel in Gillmoss, West Derby, on 15 April 1941. They first lived at 10 Sunbury Road, Liverpool, and then resided for a short time at 92 Broadway, Wallasey, during November 1942. Jim's job at Napiers was classified as war work, so the McCartneys were given a small, but temporary, prefab house at 3 Roach Avenue, Knowsley.

Mary's job enabled the McCartneys to move to a ground-floor flat at 75 Sir Thomas White Gardens, off St. Domingo Road in Everton, to live in a rent-free flat that was supplied by her employers. They moved shortly after, in February 1946, to 72 Western Avenue in Speke. In 1948, the family moved again to 12 Ardwick Road (also in Speke) which was part of a new estate in the suburbs of Liverpool. The frequent moves to better areas was Mary's idea, as she wanted to raise her children in the best neighborhood possible.

In 1955, the McCartney family moved for the last time to a small three-bedroomed brick-built terrace house at 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, which is now owned by The National Trust. It only cost £1/6s per week, which was due to Mary's seniority at the hospital. Before moving to Forthlin Road, Jim had been secretary of the Speke Horticultural Society, and had often sent Paul and Michael out to canvass for new members. Jim planted dahlias and snapdragons in the front garden of Forthlin Road and regularly trimmed the lavender hedge, although it was Paul's job to collect horse manure from the local streets in a bucket to be dug into the flowerbeds. As both Jim and Mary were heavy smokers, Jim would first dry and then crush sprigs of Lavender and then burn them (like incense) in the ashtrays to kill the smell of cigarette smoke.

Money was a problem in the McCartney house, as Jim only earned up to £6.00 a week, which was less than his wife. Because of their financial situation, the McCartney family could not afford to buy a television set until Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953, and never owned a car. Paul and Michael were the first in the McCartney family to buy cars.

When The Beatles became successful Jim had to leave Forthlin Road because fans used to stand outside and stare through the windows, which made him feel uncomfortable and nervous. Eight years after Mary's death, Jim married Angela Williams, on 24 November 1964. Williams had a daughter from a previous marriage, Ruth, who Jim legally adopted.

Children

James Paul McCartney (b. 18 June 1942) and Peter Michael McCartney (b. 7 January 1944) were both delivered in the Walton General Hospital in Rice Lane, Liverpool, where Mary had previously worked as a nursing sister in charge of the maternity ward. Mary was welcomed back shortly before she gave birth to Paul by being given a bed in a private ward. Jim was not present at the birth as he was fighting a warehouse fire, but arrived at the hospital two hours later.

As Mary was a Roman Catholic and Jim a Church of England Protestant—who later turned agnostic—their children were baptized Roman Catholic but raised non-denominationally, although Mary had married Jim on the promise that any children would be baptised in the Catholic faith. Although registered on his birth certificate as James Paul McCartney, their first son was known as Paul thereafter. Paul and Michael were not enrolled in Catholic schools, as Jim believed that they leaned too much towards religion instead of education. Paul remembers his mother encouraging her children to use the Queen's English and not the Liverpudlian dialect, which was unusual for the area they lived in. Michael remembered that Jim had a temper when he was provoked, and that both Paul and he were hit when they were young, but this is refuted by other members of the family.

Jim and Mary would often take Paul and Michael for a walk to the local rustic village of Hale (home of the giant Childe of Hale's gravesite). According to Paul, these frequent trips out of Liverpool to the countryside inspired his love of nature. The McCartneys had a full set of George Newnes encyclopedias which Jim encouraged Paul and Michael to use, and told his sons to look up any word they did not understand. After Paul had passed the Eleven-plus Exam—meaning he would automatically gain a place at the Liverpool Institute—it was hoped that Paul would become a doctor or a teacher. Michael would also attend the Liverpool Institute two years later. After Mary's death, Paul and Michael were sent to live with Jim's brother Joe, and his wife Joan, for a short time, so as to let their father grieve in private. Jim depended heavily on his sisters, Jin and Millie, to help around the house, as he was so depressed he once threatened suicide. Jim later took part in the running of the household, as Cynthia Lennon remembered that when she and John Lennon used to visit Forthlin Road, Jim would often answer the door with his sleeves rolled up, a tea towel in his hand and an apron tied around his waist. When Paul later played at The Cavern during lunchtimes, Jim would drop off food there that Paul would later put in the oven at Forthlin Road. Ruth remembered that Jim was funny and musical with her, but also strict when she was young, and was insistent that she learned good table manners and etiquette when speaking to people.

Music

Joe McCartney, Jim's father, was a traditionalist who liked opera and played an E-flat tuba in the local Territorial Army band that played in Stanley Park, and the Copes' Tobacco factory Brass Band where he worked. He also played the double bass at home, sang, and hoped to interest his children in music. Jim learned how to play the trumpet and piano by ear, and at the age of 17 started playing ragtime music. Joe McCartney thought that ragtime—the most popular music of the period—was "tin-can music". Jim's first public appearance was at St Catherine’s Hall, Vine Street, Liverpool, with a band that wore black masks as a gimmick, calling themselves the Masked Melody Makers. He later led Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s, with his brother Jack on trombone, and composed his first tune, "Eloise." Paul would later put lyrics to Jim's tune and record it as, "Walking in The Park With Eloise." Jim had an upright piano in the Forthlin Road front room that he had bought from Harry Epstein's North End Music Store (NEMS) and Brian Epstein, Harry's son, later became The Beatles' manager.

Jim had a collection of old, 78 rpm records that he would often play, or perform his musical "party-pieces"—the hits of the time—on the piano. He used to point out the different instruments in songs on the radio to his sons, and took them to local brass band concerts. Jim also taught them a basic idea of harmony between instruments, and Paul credits Jim's tuition as being helpful when later singing harmonies with Lennon. After Mary's death, Jim bought Paul a nickel-plated trumpet as a birthday present. When skiffle music became popular, Paul swapped the trumpet for a £15 Framus Zenith (model 17) acoustic guitar. Paul also played his father's Framus Spanish guitar when writing early songs with Lennon.

With encouragement from Jim, Paul started playing the family piano and wrote "When I'm Sixty-Four" on it. Jim advised Paul to take some music lessons, which he did, but soon realized that he preferred to learn 'by ear' (as his father had done) and because he never paid attention in music classes. After Paul and Michael became interested in music, Jim connected the radio in the living room to extension cords connected to two pairs of Bakelite headphones so that they could listen to Radio Luxembourg at night when they were in bed.

After first meeting Lennon, Jim warned Paul that he would get him "into trouble," although he later allowed The Quarrymen to rehearse in the dining room at Forthlin Road in the evenings. Jim was reluctant to let the teenage Paul go to Hamburg with The Beatles until Paul lied by saying that the group would earn £15 per week each. As this was more than he earned himself, Jim finally agreed, but only after a visit from the group's then-manager, Allan Williams, who said that Jim shouldn't worry. Jim was later present at a Beatles' concert in Manchester when fans surrounded drummer Pete Best, and ignored the rest of The Beatles. Jim criticized Best by saying, "Why did you have to attract all the attention? Why didn't you call the other lads back? I think that was very selfish of you." Bill Harry recalled that Jim was probably "The Beatles' biggest fan" and was extremely proud of Paul's success. Shelagh Johnson—later to become director of The Beatles' Museum in Liverpool—said that Jim's outward show of pride embarrassed his son. Jim enlisted Michael's help when sorting through the ever-increasing sacks of fan letters that were delivered to Forthlin Road, with both composing "personal" responses that were supposedly from Paul. Michael would later have success on his own with the group The Scaffold.

Songs

Paul wrote "I Lost My Little Girl" just after Mary had died, and explained that it was a subconscious reference to his late mother. He also wrote "Golden Slumbers" at his father's house in Heswall, and said the lyrics were taken from Ruth McCartney's sheet-music copy of Thomas Dekker's lullaby—also called "Golden Slumbers"—that Ruth had left on the piano at Rembrandt. Hunter Davies, who was at Jim's house at the time doing an interview for his Beatles' biography, remembered Jim listening to an acetate disc of "When I'm Sixty-Four." Davies wrote that Paul had recorded it especially, as Jim was then 64-years-old and had married Angela two years previously. Paul said that in "Let It Be" the "Mother Mary" lyric was about his mother, the inspiration coming from a dream. He later said, "It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing 'Let It Be'."

In 1974, Paul collaborated with father Jim to create a song entitled "Walking in the Park with Eloise," a very upbeat tune, and was released by Paul McCartney & Wings under the pseudonym "The Country Hams." The Country Hams' single was backed with a tune entitled "Bridge on the River Suite." Both songs can be found on the CD Wings at the Speed of Sound from The Paul McCartney Collection.

Wikipedia

John Lennon Talks with Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhanBy Ritchie Yorke/June 28, 1970

John and Yoko spent the next couple of days meeting press for personal interviews and occasionally frolicking in the snow on the Hawkin's farm.

On the Saturday afternoon before Christmas, John met Marshall McLuhan, Toronto's silver-haired communications prophet. The meeting was arranged by CBS television.

McLuhan: Can you recall the occasion or the immediate reasons for your getting involved in music?

John: I heard Elvis Presley.

McLuhan: Ah.

John: And that was it. There were lots of other things going on but that was the conversion. I kind of dropped everything.

McLuhan: You felt you could do it at least as well as he could?

John: Yeah. But I thought we better get a few people together, because maybe we wouldn't make it alone. So we did a team job.

McLuhan: The British are still more team-oriented than the Americans. In terms of performance. The star system doesn't play quite as well in England. The private star.

John: They have a reaction to that in England - treating their stars and entertainers like animals. We're not like the Americans, to be hyped by Hollywood. The attitude is be quiet, do a dance at the London Palladium, and stop talking about peace. That's what we get in London.

Professor McLuhan then outlined this theories about why rock festivals are becoming larger and larger. "Frustration creates bigness. And when people are frustrated, they feel the need to expand, to get more room and length. The man who gives up smoking gets so frustrated that he puts on huge amounts of weight, even when he doesn't eat anything.

"Frustration in organizations results in huge growth of cities, businesses, countries, territorial imperatives and so on.

"Frustration releases adrenaline in the system. Adrenaline creates much bigger muscles and bigger arms and legs and has tremendous weight on the political body.

"This is why dinosaurs ended in sudden death, because as the environment became more and more hostile, more and more adrenaline was released into their bodies and they got bigger and bigger and then they collapsed.

"It could happen to America; it already happened to the British Empire. Adrenaline just gave out. In fact, your songs represented the end of that big adrenaline flow. As far as the U.K. was concerned, Beatles music was the end of the adrenaline. And the beginning of peace and contentment."

McLuhan then switched to a more familiar topic: the medium as message.

McLuhan: Language is a form of organized stutter. Literally, you chop your sounds up into bits in order to talk. Now, when you sing, you don't stutter, so singing is a way of stretching language into long, harmonious patterns and cycles. How do you think about language in songs?

John: Language and song is to me, apart from being pure vibrations, just like trying to describe a dream. And because we don't have telepathy or whatever it is, we try and describe the dream to each other, to verify to each other what we know, what we believe is inside each other. And the stuttering is right - because we can't say it. No matter how you say it, it's never how you want to say it.

McLuhan: The moment you sing, you feel you are communicating much more.

John: Yes, because words are irrelevant.

McLuhan: Rowan and Martin say "We don't tell jokes; we just project a mood." You're concerned with projecting a mood and defining it. Putting down some pattern so that other people can find the pattern, participate, and . . .

John: As soon as you find the pattern, you break it. Otherwise it gets boring. The Beatles' pattern is one that has to be scrapped. If it remains the same, it's a monument, or a museum, and one thing this age is about is no museums. The Beatles turned into a museum, so they have to be scrapped or deformed or changed.

McLuhan: They're in danger of becoming good taste?

John: They passed through that. They have to be thoroughly horsewhipped.

McLuhan: What do you think we're moving into in the way of new rhythms, new patterns?

John: Just complete freedom and nonexpectation from audience or musician or performer. And then, when we've had that for a few hundred years, then we can talk about playing around with patterns and bars and music again. We must get away from the patterns we've had for these thousands of years.

McLuhan: Well, this means very much in the way of decentralizing our world, doesn't it?

John: Yes. We must be one country and stick together. You don't have to have badges to say we're together. We're together if we're together, and no stamps or flags are going to make anybody together . . . folks.

The snow was falling in great white sheets as John and Yoko left McLuhan's office and climbed into the Rolls for the drive back to the farm.

It was still snowing the next morning when they met Dick Gregory at the airport. Gregory entered the Peace Festival discussions with vigor, pulling out ideas about festival spinoffs and entertaining the household.

On Monday morning, everyone was up early and rushed to Union Station for the trip to Montreal. First came a press conference and then twenty-four hours of meetings with politicians and representatives of the commission investigating the legalization of marijuana in Canada.

Tuesday morning at 10:30, the press in Ottawa was stunned to learn of an impending meeting between Lennon and the prime minister. One of the conditions which the prime minister's office had imposed on Lennon if there were a meeting between the two, was that there would be no advance publicity of any kind. At precisely 10:55, John and Yoko were rushed by limousine to the Parliament building.

The Lennon's fifty-one-minute meeting with the PM was private and, afterward, they were besieged by the press.

"If there were more leaders like Mr. Trudeau," John said into a field of microphones and cameras, "the world would have peace." Later John told me Trudeau had talked about how important it was for him to keep in close contact with youth, and how he would like to meet the Lennons on less formal ground for further discussions.

From the PM's office, the Lennons were escorted to the ministry of health for a lengthy meeting with Health Minister John Munro and senior members of his department.

When the generation-gap subject hit the table, Munro seized the opportunity to get some Lennon advice. "Often when I talk with young people," he said, "I can't even get my mouth open before I'm battered with placards and posters and catch phrases. Quipped Lennon: "Get your own posters together and fire them back."

Back in London, Lennon said: "It was the best trip we've ever had. We got more done for peace this week than in our whole lives."

"I Saw Her Standing There" Lyrics

by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

As Released by the Beatles (1963)

One, two, three four.
Well, she was just seventeen
You know what I mean
And the way she looked was way beyond compare.

So how could I dance with another
Ooh when I saw her standing there.

Well she looked at me, and I, I could see
That before too long I'd fall in love with her.

She wouldn't dance with another
Whoa when I saw her standing there.

Well my heart went boom when I crossed that room
And I held her hand in mine.

Well we danced through the night
And we held each other tight
And before too long I fell in love with her

Now I'll never dance with another
Whoa since/when I saw her standing there. (hey! aah!)

Well my heart went boom when I crossed that room
And I held her hand in mine.

Oh (wuh!) we danced through the night
And we held each other tight
And before too long I fell in love with her.

Now I'll never dance with another
Oh since I saw her standing there.
Whoa since I saw her standing there
Yeah, well since I saw her standing there.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Beatles Covers: Elliott Smith - Because

"Imagine" Lyrics

by John Lennon

Original Manuscript on New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center Stationery (1971)

imagine there's no heaven
it's easy if you try
no hell below us
above us only sky
imagine all the people
living for today

imagine there's no countries
it isn't hard to do
nothing to kill or die for
and no religion too
imagine all the people
living life in peace

8

imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
no need for greed or hunger
a brotherhood of man
imagine all the people
sharing all the world
____
8

As Released by John Lennon (1971)

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

The Beatles - The Decca Tapes

Label: Circuit Records, LK 4438-1
Year: 1979
Country: United Kingdom

Side 1:
1. Hello Little Girl
2. Three Cool Cats
3. Crying, Waiting, Hoping
4. Love Of The Loved
5. September In The Rain
6. Besame Mucho
7. Searchin'

Side 2:
1. Like Dreamers Do
2. Money
3. Till There Was You
4. Sheik Of Araby
5. To Know Him Is To Love Him
6. Take Good Care Of My Baby
7. Memphis
8. Sure To Fall

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Real Early Beatles

Label: Starlight Records, SL-87050

Side 1:
Recorded as The Quarrymen, London 1958:
1. That'll Be The Day
Liverpool, England, May 1960:
2. I'll Always Be In Love With You
3. You'll Be Mine
4. Matchbox
5. You Just Don't Understand
6. Some Days
7. I'll Follow The Sun
8. Hey Darling
9. You Must Lie Every Day
10. When Your Heartaches Begin
11. One After 909
12. Thinking Of Linking
13. Hello Little Girl

Side 2:
Rehearsal at the Cavern Club, 1962:
1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. One After 909 #1
3. One After 909 # 2
4. Catswalk
Decca Audition, Decca Studios, London, January 1, 1962:
5. Love Of The Loved
6. Like Dreamers Do
7. Hello Little Girl
Cavern Club, August 22, 1962:
8. Some Other Guy

"I Need You" Lyrics

by George Harrison

As Released by the Beatles (1965)

You don't realise how much I need you
Love you all the time and never leave you
Please come on back to me
I'm lonely as can be
I need you.

Said you had a thing or two to tell me
How was I to know you would upset me?
I didn't realise
As I looked in your eyes
You told me
Oh yes, you told me
You don't want my loving any more
That's when it hurt me
And feeling like this
I just can't go on any more.

Please remember how I feel about you
I could never really live without you
So come on back and see
Just what you mean to me
I need you.

But when you told me
You don't want my loving any more
That's when it hurt me
And feeling like this
I just can't go on any more.

Please remember how I feel about you
I could never really live without you
So come on back and see
Just what you mean to me
I need you
I need you
I need you.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Photos of Jane Asher - Part 7

"If I Needed Someone" Lyrics

by George Harrison

Original Manuscript (1965)

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:

middle
Had it been some other day
It might now have been like this
But you see now I'm too much in love

Carve your number on the my wall
Maybe you will get a call from me
If I needed someone

Instrumental

middle
Last Verse.

As Released by the Beatles (1965)

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.

Aah, aah, aah, aah.

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.

Aah, aah.

The Beatles - The Deccagone Sessions

Label: Smilin' Ears, SE 7701
Country: Venezuela

Side 1:
1. Searchin'
2. Like Dreamers Do
3. Three Cool Cats
4. Hello Little Girl
5. How Do You Do It ('62 outtake)
6. Dig It (from 'Sweet Apple Trax')
7. Crying, Waiting, Hoping
8. Bound By Love ("The Honeymoon Song")
9. There's Nothing Shaking

Side 2:
1. Love Of The Loved
2. Memphis
3. September In The Rain
4. Sheik Of Araby
5. Revolution (original soundtrack '68)
6. Some Other Guy (Cavern Club '62)
7. Everyone Wants Someone ("So How Come (No One Loves Me)")
8. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)
9. A Shot Of Rhythm & Blues

Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Beatles - Youngblood

Label: The Master Works, PCS-1960

Lost BBC tapes, lost Star Club tapes and more

1. One After 909
2. Waiting For The Sunrise
3. What'd I Say
4. Some Other Guy
5. Some Other Guy
6. Twist And Shout
7. Please Mr. Postman
8. P.S. I Love You
9. Besame Mucho
10. Picture Of You
11. From Me To You
12. Ticket To Ride
13. All My Loving
14. Seventeen
15. Kansas City, Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
16. Shimmy Shimmy
17. Unknown Song
18. Roll Over Beethoven

"I Feel Fine" Lyrics

by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

As Released by the Beatles (1964)

Baby's good to me, you know
She's happy as can be, you know, she said so
I'm in love with her and I feel fine.

Baby says she's mine, you know
She tells me all the time, you know, she said so
I'm in love with her and I feel fine.

I'm so glad that she's my little girl
She's so glad she's telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know
He buys her diamond rings, you know, she said so
She's in love with me and I feel fine (ooo).

Baby said she's mine, you know
She tells me all the time, you know, she said so
I'm in love with her and I feel fine.

I'm so glad that she's my little girl
She's so glad she's telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know
He buys her diamond rings, you know, she said so
She's in love with me and I feel fine
She's in love wtih me and I feel fine.

Ooo
Ooo (wuh - wuh, wuh - wuh, wuh).