Paul McCartney has cited The Beach Boys' bass lines as an influence in his own bass playing. They freed him up to play more melodic patterns. "[I]t was good not always to have to play the root notes" he said in the Beatles' Anthology (p. 80).
Though in different keys, "Good Vibrations" (in E-flat) and "I'll Be Back" (in A) feature the same chord progression: i - bVII - bVI - V. They therefore serve as the perfect comparison, showing what Paul played and what the Beach Boys played given the exact same chord progression. In "I'll Be Back", Paul plays the root (scale degree 1) of each chord almost exclusively (occasionally he'll play the fifth instead). The Beach Boys play a more melodic pattern using scale degrees 1, 2, 3, and 5. McCartney also plays in very bottom of the bass's range, whereas the Beach Boys played in the upper register, giving it a very different timbre. Now here are a few MIDI excerpts, both transposed to the same key (C), for side-by-side comparison: first is the opening phrase of "Good Vibrations"; next the opening phrase of "I'll Be Back". And since the tunes use identical chord progressions, we can substitute one bass line for the other to further compare them: here is "Good Vibrations" with Paul's bass line from "I'll Be Back"; and here is "I'll Be Back" with the Beach Boys' bass line from "Good Vibrations". By comparing these 4 excerpts side by side, we can easily hear how much more melodic and sophisticated the Beach Boys' bass line is than the Beatles'. Paul, of course, could hear it, too - and he responded by making his own bass playing more melodic.
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Continuing my index of formal structural analyses begun in my Dec 5 post, this one will continue the series by looking at the album With the Beatles. For my loose definitions of structural terms, please review my post from Dec. 5.
FORMAL STRUCTURE OF SONGS ON WITH THE BEATLES Song Title Section Timing "It Won't Be Long" Chorus 0:00-0:15 Verse 1 0:15-0:28 Chorus 0:28-0:42 Middle 8 0:42-0:56 Verse 2 0:56-1:09 Chorus 1:09-1:23 Middle 8 1:23-1:38 Verse 3 1:38-1:51 Chorus 1:51-2:00 Coda (independent) 2:00-2:11 Comments: On Please Please Me, every single song had an introduction. The very first track on With the Beatles breaks the pattern: instead of an intro, the song launches straight into the chorus. The coda uses material entirely independent from the rest of the song. "All I've Got To Do" Intro (independent) 0:00-0:03* Verse 1 0:03-0:15 Chorus 0:15-0:25 Verse 2 0:25-0:38 Chorus 0:38-0:48 Middle 8 0:48-1:05 Verse 3 1:05-1:18 Chorus 1:18-1:28 Middle 8 1:28-1:49 Coda (verse) 1:49-2:00 Comments: Intro is a single guitar chord (E aug 9,11) that has no relation to anything that comes after it. Chorus uses different lyrics. Second Middle 8 features an extension (it's longer the second time than it was the first), which I've not noticed in a Beatles tune up until this point. Verses 2 and 3 share identical lyrics. "All My Loving" Verse 1 0:00-0:25 Verse 2 0:25-0:50 Middle 8 0:50-1:02 Solo 1:02-1:15 Verse 3 1:15-1:40 Middle 8 1:40-1:52 Coda (m8) 1:52-2:06 Comments: No introduction, just starts right in with Verse 1. Verses 1 and 3 share identical lyrics. Just like "Not a Second Time", "All My Loving" blurs the line between middle 8 and chorus. "Don't Bother Me" Intro (verse/independent) 0:00-0:05 Verse 1 0:05-0:17 Chorus 0:17-0:22 Verse 2 0:22-0:34 Chorus 0:34-0:40 Middle 8 0:40-1:02 Verse 3 1:02-1:13 Chorus 1:13-1:19 Solo 1:19-1:30 Chorus 1:30-1:36 Middle 8 1:36-1:58 Verse 4 1:58-2:09 Chorus/Coda 2:09-2:26 Comments: The introduction is similar to the verses, but the motive played by the bass and guitar never appears again, nor does the chord progression. This is probably the shortest chorus so far in a Beatles song. It is also probably the longest Middle 8 of any Beatles song so far. It's also interesting to note that the lyrics in the choruses, while very similar, are not identical. Verses 3 and 4 share identical lyrics. "Little Child" Intro (verse) 0:00-0:06* Verse/Chorus 0:06-0:19 Verse/Chorus 0:19-0:31 Middle 8 0:31-0:41 Verse/Chorus 0:41-0:54 Solo 0:54-1:12 Middle 8 1:12-1:23 Verse/Chorus 1:23-1:34 Coda (chorus?) 1:34-1:44* Comments: Two-part introduction: first the harmonica riff, second the backing. Both stem from the verses. A la "Love Me Do", the utter simplicity of "Little Child" actually makes its structure somewhat ambiguous. Every verse features identical lyrics, which blurs the boundaries delineating where the verse ends and the chorus starts. For that reason, I've labeled these sections verse/chorus. If the song does feature a chorus, the coda makes use of it. Since song titles often come from the lyrics of the chorus, this tune might have easily been called "Baby take a Chance With Me". "Till There Was You" Intro (verse) 0:00-0:08 Verse 1 0:08-0:23 Verse 2 0:23-0:39 Middle 8 0:39-0:54 Verse 3 0:54-1:10 Solo 1:10-1:26 Middle 8 1:26-1:42 Verse 4 1:42-1:58 Coda 1:58-2:12* Comments: No chorus, although the line "Till there was you" could be interpreted as such since those are the only lyrics that remain the same from verse to verse. The lack of increased energy, however, prompts me to instead categorize it as part of the verse. The coda draws out the same words, so it could be interpreted as being based on the chorus (if there is one). Otherwise it could be based on the verse. On the other hand, despite the lyrical similarities, the music is largely unrelated to the rest of the song, so it could also been interpreted as independent. "Please Mister Postman" Intro (bridge) 0:00-0:08 Chorus 0:08-0:23 Verse 1 0:23-0:39 Bridge 0:39-0:54 Chorus 0:54-1:10 Verse 2 1:10-1:26 Chorus 1:26-1:42 Coda 1:42-2:31* Comments: Intro based on bridge, which naturally leads to chorus. Bridge sounds very similar to verse. Part of the reason why is that the same chord progression (A, F-sharp minor, D, E) permeates the entire song (whereas bridges will often change the chords slightly to propel the music towards the chorus). Lastly, this song has the longest, most developed coda (three sections, which share the same chord progression as the rest of the song but is otherwise independent) in Beatles recordings to date - even bigger than "Twist and Shout" from earlier that same year, though certainly nowhere near the size and substance of "Hey Jude" five years later. "Roll Over Beethoven" Intro 0:00-0:17 Verse 1 0:17-0:29 Chorus 0:29-0:35 Verse 2 0:35-0:47 Chorus 0:47-0:54 Verse 3 0:54-1:05 Chorus 1:05-1:11 Middle 8 1:11-1:23 Chorus 1:23-1:29 Solo 1:29-1:47 Verse 4 1:47-1:58 Chorus 1:58-2:04 Verse 5 2:04-2:22 (Chorus 2:16-2:22)* Chorus/Coda 2:22-2:43 Comments: Another "split intro" (where the introduction can be divided into two distinct parts): first the guitar lick, then the backing is added. The former will reappear in the solo, the latter is used in the verses. Three verses before middle 8 (usually it's two). More verses (five) than any other Beatles recording to date (several on Please Please Me use four). The chorus always use similar lyrics ("Roll over Beethoven...") each time except for the chorus following Verse 5, which instead substitutes "Long as she's got a dime the music will never stop". (This might is likely because the coda, which immediately follows, is based on the chorus.) Since the energy levels of the verse and chorus are equal, I would have considered them part of the same section (rather than splitting them into two distinct sections) had the lyrics of the chorus different each time. That is what happens in Verse 5, so to indicate that in the above chart, I've included 2:16-2:22 twice: as part of Verse 5, and also as part of the subsequent chorus. "Hold Me Tight" Intro (verse) 0:00-0:03 Verse 1 0:03-0:17 Bridge 0:17-0:24 Chorus 0:24-0:31 Verse 2 0:31-0:45 Bridge 0:45-0:52 Chorus 0:52-1:00 Middle 8 1:00-1:12 Verse 3 1:12-1:26 Bridge 1:26-1:33 Chorus 1:33-1:40 Middle 8 1:40-1:52 Verse 4 1:52-2:07 Bridge 2:07-2:14 Chorus 2:14-2:21 Coda (chorus) 2:21-2:30 Comments: Structurally speaking the busiest Beatles recording so far. Verse 1 and 3 share lyrics, as do verses 2 and 4. "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" Intro (chorus) 0:00-0:13 Verse 1 0:13-0:35 Chorus 0:35-0:47 Verse 2 0:47-1:09 Chorus 1:09-1:22 Middle 8 1:22-1:37 Transition 1:37-1:49 Verse 3 1:49-2:11 Chorus 2:11-2:24 Middle 8 2:24-2:39 Coda (chorus) 2:39-3:00 Comments: Intro and Coda based on chorus. "I Wanna Be Your Man" Intro (verse) 0:00-0:01 Verse 1 0:01-0:21 Chorus 0:21-0:31 Verse 2 0:310:51 Chorus 0:51-1:01 Solo 1:01-1:16 Verse 3 1:16-1:35 Chorus 1:35-1:46 Coda (chorus) 1:46-1:58 Comments: very straight forward. The shortest introduction (guitar lick reappears in second verse, right after the line "Love you like no other, baby, like no other can") of any Beatles song to date (of those that use an intro, of course - not all do). "Devil In Her Heart" Intro (verse) 0:00-0:08 Verse 1 0:08-0:24 Middle 8 0:24-0:42 Verse 2 0:42-0:58 Middle 8 0:58-1:16 Verse 3 1:16-1:32 Middle 8 1:32-1:50 Verse 4 1:50-2:05 Coda (verse) 2:05-2:25 Comments: One of the most structurally primitive Beatles recording so far - a verse, and something to contrast that verse (middle 8 - although in this song it's actually nine measures long, not eight), with a beginning and ending (both using the backing from the verses with an overlaid guitar riff) tacked on. No solo, no chorus. "Not A Second Time" Verse 1 0:00-0:13 Verse 2 0:13-0:26 Chorus 0:26-0:45* Solo 0:451:05 Verse 3 1:05-1:18 Verse 4 1:18-1:32 Chorus 1:32-1:51* Coda (chorus) 1:51-2:04* Comments: Verses 1 and 3 same; as are 2 and 4. This one blurs the line between chorus and middle 8: the tonal shifts suggest a middle 8, but the energy is not much different from the verse (middle 8s are often less energetic than the verses - as in "It Won't Be Long" - while choruses are often more energetic - as in "Please Please Me"). Then again the Beatles early recordings have shown quite clearly that their choruses rarely do feature that characteristic increase in energy, which would lend support to calling these sections choruses instead of a middle 8s. Additionally, the title comes from the end of the section in question, which would be unusual for a middle 8, but extremely common for a chorus. For all of those reasons and more, I've opted to label these sections as a chorus. "Money (That's What I Want)" Intro (chorus) 0:00-0:15 Verse 1 0:15-0:22 Chorus 0:22-0:37 Verse2 0:37-0:44 Chorus 0:44-0:59 Verse 3 0:59-1:06 Chorus 1:06-1:21 Solo 1:21-1:36 Verse 4 1:36-1:44 Chorus 1:44-1:59 Coda (chorus) 1:59-2:47 Comments: Very short verses, but one of the longer codas (two sections, based on the chorus) in Beatles recordings so far. Verses 3 and 4 share identical lyrics. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS All 14 tracks of Please Please Me employed both introductions and codas. On With the Beatles, not every song does: "It Won't Be Long" begins with a chorus, and "All My Loving" and "Not a Second Time" begin with a verse. Every song on With the Beatles does, however, use a coda. Two of these codas ("Money (That's What I Want)", and "Please Mr. Postman") are substantial in size. Unlike Please Please Me (in which 6 of the 14 tracks did not use a chorus), all but two on With the Beatles ("All My Loving" and "Devil in her Heart") does use a chorus, though two of them ("Little Child" and "Not a Second Time") blur the distinction between middle 8 and chorus. My posting from 12/1 on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" piqued my interest a little bit in regards to the part where I wrote, "Structurally speaking, 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite' is unusual in that it has no chorus. This is strange because it is often the chorus that is the most catchy and easily recognizable part of a song". That got me wondering what other Beatles songs lack a chorus. So this posting will be the first in a series analyzing the formal structure of Beatles songs. Before digging too deeply into this idea, however, I first need to define a few terms. (How can I know if a song has a chorus or not if I'm not even sure what a chorus is?) So here are my definitions of the following structural terms in rough order of frequency of use in Beatles music:
Verse - the main part or "body" of the song. The energy of verses tends to be low, and the music is almost always repeated, but the lyrics usually change with each subsequent verse. Middle 8 - a section (almost always) in the middle of a song, and typically (but not always) 8 measures in duration. The primary structural function of the middle 8 is to contrast with the verses. Chorus - the catchy and high energy part of the song that features both the same music and lyrics on each iteration. As the name implies, this section usually features a thicker texture than in any other section. (Often several singers are heard on the chorus, whereas other sections tend to feature a single lead vocalist.) Refrain - when used (and not all songs do), it is found at the end of the verse. Due to its location, it could well be interpreted as part of the verse (depending on the level of structural analysis). Consequently, I will often use the single label “verse + refrain” rather than separating them into two independent sections. Where the verses use different lyrics set to the same music in each iteration, the refrain always uses the same (or at least very similar) lyrics set to the same music. Introduction - the beginning of a song, as distinct from other structural sections (although it is often but not always based on one of those other sections) Coda - The ending of a song, as distinct from other structural sections (although it is often but not always based on one of those other sections) Break/Solo - an instrumental section (a "break" for the singer), usually in the middle of a song (and sometimes reprised in the coda) Transition - reserved for passages that segue from one section to another that do not fit better into another category Tag - a brief but distinctive melodic snippet that appears periodically throughout the song. Often also called a riff, or a motive. Also, these diagrams will illustrate two levels of analysis (macro and micro), because within each macro section there is often a phrase pattern that is just as structured on a smaller scale as the whole song itself if on a larger scale. This micro structure analysis will use Walter Everett’s “SRDC” form, as described in The Beatles as Musicians. Statement: an expository phrase. Restatement: a repetition of S Departure: a contrast with S Conclusion: a closing gesture, often based on S FORMAL STRUCTURE OF SONGS ON PLEASE PLEASE ME [6] "I Saw Her Standing There": AABA with solo and partial reprise Introduction 0:00-0:07 based on verse (4 m) (A) Verse 1 0:07-0:32 statement (8 m) departure (4 m) conclusion (4 m) (A) Verse 2 0:32-0:56 (B) Middle 8 0:56-1:10 statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) restatement (2 m) departure (4 m) (A) Verse 3 1:10-1:35 (C) Solo (ind.) 1:35-1:59 (B) Middle 8 1:59-2:14 (A) Verse 4 2:14-2:37 Coda (verse) 2:37-2:51 conclusion (4 m) conclusion (4 m) [8] "Misery": AABA with partial reprise Introduction 0:00-0:10 based on verse (4 m) (A) Verse 1 0:10-0:25 statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) departure (2 m) conclusion (2 m) (A) Verse 2 0:25-0:39 (B) Middle 8 0:39-0:53 statement (4 m) restatement (2 m) departure (2 m) (A) Verse 3 0:53-1:08 (B) Middle 8 1:08-1:22 (A) Verse 4 1:22-1:37 Coda 1:37-1:45 based on verse (6 m) conclusion (2 m) conclusion (2 m) conclusion (2 m) [9b] "Anna (Go To Him)": AABA with partial reprise Introduction 0:00-0:09 based on verse (4 m) (A) Verse 1 0:09-0:37 introduction (2 m) statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) departure (2 m) conclusion (4 m) (A’) Verse 2 0:37-0:57 introduction (2 m) statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) departure (2 m) conclusion (2 m) (B) Middle 8 0:57-1:31 statement (8 m) retransition (8 m) (A) Verse 3 1:31-1:49 (B) Middle 8 1:49-2:24 (A) Verse 4 2:24-2:53 introduction (2 m) statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) departure (2 m) conclusion (8 m) [9d] "Chains": AABA with partial reprise Introduction 0:00-0:07 based on verse (4 m) (A) Verse 1 0:07-0:29 12 bar blues (A) Verse 2 0:29-0:51 (B) Middle 8 0:51-1:06 statement (4 m) partial restatement (2 m) retransition (2 m) (A) Verse 3 1:06-1:28 (B) Middle 8 1:28-1:43 (A) Verse 4 1:43-2:06 Coda (verse) 2:06-2:23 [9c] "Boys": Simple Verse-Chorus Introduction 0:00-0:07 based on verse (4 m) Verse 1 + Refrain 0:07-0:27 12 bar blues Verse 2 + Refrain 0:27-0:47 Chorus 0:47-1:06 12 bar blues Solo 1:06-1:27 12 bar blues Verse 3 + Refrain 1:27-1:47 Chorus 1:47-2:08 Chorus 2:08-2:23 [4] "Ask Me Why": AABA with full reprise Intro (verse, 2 m) 0:00-0:03 (A) Verse A1 0:03-0:26 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) inconclusive departure (5 m) (A) Verse A2 0:26-0:50 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) conclusive departure (4 m) (B) Middle 8 0:50-1:04 statement (4 m) conclusive restatement (4 m) (A’) Verse B1 1:04-1:15 conclusive statement (6 m) (A) Verse A3 1:15-1:38 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) inconclusive departure (5 m) (A’) Verse B2 1:38-1:49 (B) Middle 8 1:49-2:03 (A’) Verse B3 2:03-2:24 conclusive statement (5 m) inconclusive S fragment (2 m) conclusive S fragment (2 m) [3] "Please Please Me": AABA Introduction 0:00-0:07 based on verse (4 m) tag (2 m) tag (2 m) (A) Verse 1 + Refrain 0:07-0:35 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) departure (4 m) conclusion (4 m) (A) Verse 2 + Refrain 0:35-1:02 (B) Middle 8 1:02-1:19 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) tag (2 m) (A) Verse 3 + Refrain 1:19-1:50 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) departure (4 m) conclusion (2 m) conclusion + tag (2 m) conclusion + tag (2 m) Coda (independent) 1:50-1:57 [1] "Love Me Do": AABA with partial reprise Introduction 0:00-0:13 based on refrain (8 m) (A) Verse + Refrain 0:13-0:34 statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) restatement (2 m) departure (3 m) conclusion (4 m) (A) Verse + Refrain 0:34-0:55 (B) Middle 8 0:55-1:09 statement (4 m) conclusive restatement (4 m) (A) Verse + Refrain 1:09-1:30 (B) Solo (middle 8) 1:30-1:49 statement (4 m) conclusive restatement (4 m) extension (4 m) (A) Verse + Refrain 1:49-2:19 statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) restatement (2 m) departure (3 m) conclusion (9 m) [2] "P. S. I Love You": AABA with partial reprise and an extra B at the start (B) Middle 8 0:00-0:14 statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) restatement (2 m) conclusion (2 m) (A) Verse 1 + Refrain (10 m) 0:14-0:32 (A) Verse 2 + Refrain 0:32-0:50 (B) Middle 8 0:50-1:04 (A) Verse 3 + Refrain 1:04-1:22 (B) Middle 8 1:22-1:37 (A) Verse 4 + Refrain (14 m) 1:37-2:01 [9e] "Baby It's You": Simple Verse Introduction 0:00-0:13 based on refrain (6 m) (A) Verse 1 + Refrain 0:13-0:58 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) departure (9 m) conclusion (4 m) (A) Verse 2 + Refrain 0:58-1:43 (A) Solo/Verse 3 + Refrain 1:43-2:35 NOTE: The statement and restatement phrases of Verse 3 are the solo, while the departure and conclusion of Verse 3 are sung. [7] "Do You Want To Know A Secret": AABA Introduction 0:00-0:14 musically independent (5? m) (A) Verse 1 0:14-0:41 statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) departure (2 m) restatement (2 m) restatement (2 m) inconclusive conclusion (4 m) (A) Verse 2 0:41-1:08 (B) Middle 8 1:08-1:20 statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) transition (2 m) (A) Verse 3 1:20-1:55 [6b] "A Taste Of Honey": ABAB Introduction 0:00-0:15 based on refrain (8 m) (A) Verse 1 + Refrain 0:15-0:43 statement (4 m) restatement (4 m) conclusion (4 m) extension (4 m) (B) Middle 8 0:43-1:03 statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) conclusion (2 m) extension (4 m) (A) Verse 2 + Refrain 1:03-1:32 (B) Middle 8 1:32-2:00 statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) conclusion (4 m) extension (4 m) [5] "There's A Place": AABA Introduction 0:00-0:06 based on verse (4 m) (A) Verse 1 + Refrain 0:06-0:31 introduction (1 m) statement A (2 m) restatement A (2 m) restatement A (2 m) departure (2 m) statement B (2 m) restatement B (2 m) inconclusive departure (2 m) (A’) Verse 2 (no Refrain) 0:31-0:54 introduction (1 m) statement (2 m) restatement (2 m) restatement (2 m) departure (2 m) transition (4 m) (B) Middle 8 0:54-1:09 statement (4 m) restatement (5 m) (A) Verse 3 + Refrain 1:09-1:35 Coda (verse) 1:35-1:48 based on verse (7 m) [9f] “Twist And Shout": Simple Verse Introduction 0:00-0:08 based on same chords found throughout (4 m) (A) Verse 1 0:08-0:38 statement (8 m) restatement (8 m) (A) Verse 2 0:38-1:09 (A’) Break 1:09-1:36 guitar solo (8 m) retransition (6 m) (A’’) Verse 3 1:36-2:32 statement (8 m) restatement (8 m) extension (6 m) retransition (4 m) conclusion (2 m) Natalia and I received out wedding photos about a week ago and have been sorting through them since. In doing so, I found a couple of amusing shots... ... that I didn't realize until just recently display a similarity to a series of shots of John Lennon watering Cynthia Lennon's hat. An intriguing and totally inadvertent parallel! Especially given that we also did a more conscious Beatles reference photograph.
Despite being rock 'n' rollers, The Beatles were very polite in their lyrics. Of the 213 songs recorded by the Beatles and released on their albums, 25 (12%) use the word "please":
Love Me Do (1962): "Love, love me do. You know I love you. I'll always be true, so please love me do." Chains (1963): "Please believe me when I tell you your lips are sweet" Please Please Me (1963): "Please please me like I please you" I Want to Hold Your Hand (1963): "Oh please say to me you'll let me be your man, and please say to me you'll let me hold your hand." Don't Bother Me (1963): "But till she's here please don't come near, just stay away" Please Mr. Postman (1963): "Please Mr. Postman look and see if there's a letter, a letter for me" You Really Got a Hold on Me (1963): "I love you and all that I want you to do is just hold me please, hold me squeeze, hold me" Mr. Moonlight (1963): "Mr. Moonlight, come again please. Here I am on my knees begging if you please." If I Fell (1964): "If I trust in you, oh please, don't run and hide. If I love you too, oh please, don't hurt my pride like her." When I Get Home (1964): "Come on, if you please, I got no time for trivialities." You Can't Do That (1964): "So please listen to me if you wanna stay mine" I Don't Want to Spoil the Party (1964): "If she turns up while I'm gone please let me know." What You're Doing (1964): "Please stop your lying, you got me crying girl" Yes it Is (1965): "Please don't wear red tonight" Day Tripper (1965): "Tried to please her, but she only played one night stand." Help! (1965): "Won't you please, please help me?" I Need You (1965): "Please come on back to me. I'm lonely as can be. I need you." "Please remember how I feel about you. I could never really live without you." Nowhere Man (1965): "Nowhere man please listen, you don't know what you're missing." I'm Only Sleeping (1966): "Please don't wake me, no don't shake me, leave me where I am I'm only sleeping." "Please don't spoil my day, I'm miles away, and after all I'm only sleeping." Blue Jay Way (1967): "Please don't be long, please don't you be very long, please don't be long or I may be asleep." Martha My Dear (1968): "Martha my dear, though I spend my days in conversation, please be good to me." Honey Pie (1968): "Honey Pie, you are making me crazy, I'm in love but I'm lazy, so won't you please come home." Come Together (1969): "He got hair down below his knee, Got to be a joker he just do what he please." Oh! Darling (1969): "Oh, darling, please believe me. I'll never do you no harm." I've Got a Feeling (1969): "Oh please believe me, I'd hate to miss the train." P.S.: For those who are wondering, only 2 Beatles songs use "thank you": Thank You Girl (1963): "And all I gotta do is thank you girl, thank you girl." Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967): "We'd like to thank you once again." There is a very small but interesting parallel between "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds": Both songs feature three hard percussion hits that bridge the verse and chorus. Rather than attempting to write out and describe this comparison, it is probably easiest to simply listen for yourself: A similar effect is used in "Glass Onion", except with only two percussion hits instead of three. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is one of several Beatles songs in which the recording is better than the song. In my 11/29 post I demonstrated how similar "Mr. Kite" is melodically to "It's Only Love", and regarding the latter, "It was one of the few Beatles' songs that John really hated. 'I was always ashamed of that because of the abominable lyrics,' he admitted in 1969" (Turner 82). (Though he disliked the lyrics, apparently he liked the melody well enough because he reused it in "Mr. Kite".) Regarding the former, however, Lennon's opinions changed with time. In 1967 (the year it was released on Sgt. Pepper) he admitted to Hunter Davies "I wasn't proud of that. There was no real work. I was just going though the motions because we needed a new song for Sgt Pepper at that moment" (Davies 275). This seems to be quite accurate, indeed, given not only the melodic similarities to "It's Only Love", but also the inspiration in the first place: During filming of the video to "Strawberry Fields Forever", John visited an antique store and purchased a poster advertising a circus. (A copy of the poster may be found at the end of this blog.) The lyrics of "Mr. Kite" were "a stright lift. I had all the words staring me in the face one day when I was looking for a song" (Davies 275). (Lennon pulled a very similar stunt in "A Day in the Life", using newspaper articles as inspiration for his lyrics.) But in an interview with David Sheff of Playboy in 1980, Lennon reversed his opinions, saying, "It's so cosmically beautiful ... The song is pure, like a painting, a pure watercolor" (Turner 128). How could the same man, who wrote the song in the first place, offer so completely opposite perspectives on the same music? It's because in the earlier quote, Lennon was critiquing the song, while in the later quote he was critiquing the recording. For while the song itself is rather bland, how it was recorded and developed in the studio - how a mediocre song turned in to an exceptional one - is the real story behind "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite". Text painting refers to how the music and text relate. The line "And of course Henry the Horse dances the waltz" features text painting in two ways: First, a waltz is in 3/4 time (one-two-three, one-two-three, oom-pah-pah, oom-pah-pah) and although the rest of the song is in 4/4, the music transforms into a waltz exactly when Lennon sings the word "waltz". Second, the organ, which comes to the fore at that precise moment, musically simulates the sound of a horse's whinny through rapidly descending chromatic scales. Furthermore, this neighing showcases the technical studio sophistication so characteristic of the Beatles' experimental years. George Martin played the part one octave lower and half as fast as heard on the album. He then ran the tape back at twice the original speed, producing a result that sounded exactly one octave higher and two times quicker than originally recorded. This allowed him to easily play what would have otherwise been extraordinarily difficult to perform. Structurally speaking, "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" is unusual in that it has no chorus. This is strange because it is often the chorus that is the most catchy and easily recognizable part of a song, and is often where the title lyrics are sung ("She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah . . .", "Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends . . .", "It won't be long, yeah . . .", "Hey, you've got to hide your love away . . .", "Come together right now over me . . .", "Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo . . .", "Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer came down upon her head . . .", et cetera) But "Mr. Kite" does not have a chorus, and the title lyrics are thus found in the opening verse. "Mr. Kite" also features a brilliant three-part tonal scheme, in which C minor, D minor and E minor all jostle for supremacy. This is illustrated by the chart below: Track Timing Tonality Cumulative Seconds in this Tonality 0:00-0:06 D minor 6 0:06-0:21 C minor 15 0:21-0:36 D minor 6+15=21 0:36-0:51 C minor 15+15=30 0:51-1:15 D minor 21+24=45 1:15-1:28 E minor 13 1:28-1:44 C minor 30+16=46 1:44-2:12 D minor 45+28=73 2:12-2:34 E minor 13+22=35 Thus, the 154 total seconds of the song are divided among the three tonalities relatively equally: D minor (73/154=47%), C minor (46/154=30%), E minor (35/154=23%). And thus, "Neither C, D, nor E can claim traditional authority as a single tonal center, especially with the same melodic/harmonic material appear in each key. Rather, the three centers can be heard as the rings of a circus, with action taking place in all arenas and no particular object of attention the 'correct' one" (Everett p. 110-11). This type of macro-scale tonal planning would culminate in songs on the Beatles' last albums - those found on "The White Album", "Let it Be", and especially "Abbey Road". But the crowning jewel of "Mr. Kite" - the cherry on top - is the coda (ending). Lennon, notoriously technically inept, said "I’d love to be able to get across all the effects of a really colourful circus. The acrobats in their tights, the smell of the animals, the merry-go-rounds. I want to smell the sawdust" (Martin p. 89). Martin got the idea to use recordings of old steam organs and calliopes that so acutely musically capture the ambiance of a circus. "I went back to all the recordings of marches and what-not I’d collected ... Then I got hold of Geoff, who by this stage was more than my engineer on our extraordinary album, he was my co-conspirator. ‘Geoff,’ I said, ‘we’re going to try something here; I want you to cut that tape there up into sections that are roughly fifteen inches long.’ Geoff reached for his scissors and began snipping. In no time at all we had a small pyramid of worm-like tape fragments piled on the floor at our feet. ‘Now,’ I said, ‘pick them all up and fling them into the air!’ He looked at me. Naturally, he thought I’d gone mad. It was a wonderful moment - it snowed pieces of tape all over the control room. ‘Now, pick ‘em up and put them together again, and don’t look at what you’re doing,’ I told Geoff. ... In this peculiar way we made up a patchwork quilt of different parts of steam organ recordings, all in roughly one-second segments: lots of different pieces whirling around. When I listened to them, they formed a chaotic mass of sound: it was impossible to identify the tunes they had come from; but it was unmistakably a steam organ. Perfect! There was the fairground atmosphere we had been looking for. John was thrilled to bits with it (Martin p. 91-92). But of course, this collage is not the only one on Sgt. Pepper - this collage may be seen as the sonic equivalent the album's famous cover. To hear just the concluding sound collage, click here. To hear the final product full song, click here. Citations Davies, Hunter. The Beatles. W W Norton & Company, New York, NY, 1996. Everett, Walter. The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through Anthology. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 1999. Martin, George. With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper. Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY, 1994. Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song. itbooks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 2005. Barry Miles is the author of "The Beatles Diary, volumes 1 and 2", "Zappa: A Briography", "London Calling: A Countercultural History of London since 1945", "Hippie", "Jack Kerouac: King of Beats", "William Burroughs: El Hombre Invisible", and many other books. He co-founded the Indica Bookshop and Gallery, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono would meet for the first time; and was instrumental in the founding of International Times, a fortnightly periodical dedicated to the underground and avant-garde London art scene. He has maintained a lifelong friendship with Paul McCartney, and in 1994 published a biography of Paul titled "Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now". Once in an email to me, John Blaney, author of "John Lennon: Listen to This Book" and several other Beatles-related books, referred to Miles as "Mr. Avant-Garde", and indeed much of my Beatles and the avant-garde research is based on Miles' writing.
I am currently reading through his book "In the Sixties", which details his dealings with not only the Beatles, but also other bands/artists/musicians of the decade, in addition to providing details about his business endeavors like the International Times and Indica Bookshop & Gallery, and his troubles with the authorities regarding drug posession and obscentiy laws. This post, then, is a summary of this book, particularly as it relates to the Beatles, and particularly particularly how it relates to the Beatles and the avant-garde. All references and quotes refer to "In the Sixties" unless otherwise indicated. Full citations may be found at the end of this blog. Miles teamed up with John Dunbar in August 1965 with the intent of opening a bookshop/art gallery "to introduce people to new ideas and the latest developments in art" (p. 70, 116). Dunbar asked his best mate, Peter Asher (who achieved a substantial deal of fame and wealth through his music duo Peter & Gordon in 1964 with their number one hit ‘World Without Love’). to help fund the project. "Peter agreed to put up the £2,100 we thought we needed to start the bookshop and gallery by loaning John and me £700 each, and putting in the same amount himself. After many thoughtful pot-filled evenings, we decided to call the bookshop-gallery venture Indica, after Cannabis indica" (p. 68). Peter Asher lived in a house with his father Richard ("the first neurophysician to identify Munchausen’s syndrome, a condition in which people invent medical problems in order to draw attention to themselves"), mother Margaret (who "taught oboe at the Guildhall School of Music, and often had her students over for lessons in the basement music room. George Martin, the Beatles’ producer, had been one of her students, as was Paul McCartney"), and two sisters Clare and Jane, the latter of whom just so happened to be dating Paul McCartney (p. 72-73) Paul and Jane met on 18 April 1963, at a social gathering following a performance at London's Royal Albert Hall. All of the Beatles knew Jane Asher - she was at the time just as famous as they were for her performances as an actress - but this was the first time they had met in person. Lennon took an immediate interest in her, and (presumably under the influence of alcohol) made crude sexual references towards her. Paul, no doubt sensing his own opportunity, rose to Jane's defense, and the two left the party arm in arm. They started dating shortly thereafter. (Carlin p. 87-88). When McCartney wasn't busy, he offered to help prepare the Indica for its opening, "hammering and sawing, filling in the holes in the plaster and helping to erect bookshelves. ... [R]umors spread and soon everyone in the nearby shops and galleries knew all about the Beatles’ new art gallery" (p. 81). The Indica opened its doors in September 1965 - it's first customer being Paul McCartney, who purchased "And It’s a Song, poems by Anselm Hollo; Drugs and the Mind by DeRopp; Peace Eye Poems by Ed Sanders; and Gandhi on Non Violence. This showed both his range of interest and the type of stock I was buying" (p. 74). The following March, McCartney brought John Lennon to the Indica. "He scanned the shelves and soon came upon The Psychedelic Experience, Timothy Leary’s psychedelic version of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. ... On page fourteen of Leary’s introduction he came upon the line ‘Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream’. With only slight modification, this became the first line of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, the Beatles’ first truly psychedelic song" (p. 113). In September 1966, London hosted a "Destruction in Art Symposium", inviting Yoko Ono (among many others) to participate. Impressed with her work, John Dunbar offered her an exhibition at the Indica Gallery, and scheduled it to open on 9 November 1966. John Dunbar, now friends with John Lennon from his visits to the Indica, invited the Beatle to visit the exhibition the night before it opened to the public, and it was there that John Lennon and Yoko Ono met for the first time. The avant-garde scene of the time was notoriously negative and pessimistic - and John despised it intensely. Indeed, the very engagement that brought Ono to London in the first place was the "Destruction in Art Symposium", in which "Otto Muhl skinned a lamb and covered everyone with blood, and Ralph Ortiz, a tall Puerto Rican artist, chopped Jay Landesman’s piano to pieces" (p. 144). Anticipating similarly negative art, Lennon admitted how close he was to walking out of the gallery when one of the first artworks he observed was a step ladder leading to an unintelligibly tiny word written on the ceiling. Hanging down from the ceiling was a magnifying glass to be used to read the infinitesimal text. Lennon held up the magnifier and read the word, “yes”. Quoting Lennon: “If it had said ‘No’, or something nasty like ‘rip off’ or whatever, I would have left the gallery then. Because it said ‘Yes’, I thought, Okay, this is the first show I’ve been to that said something warm to me" (Solt p. 120). Though it would take two years before John and Yoko established their romantic relationship, the moment when he decided to stay at her exhibition would prove to be the most pivotal point in Beatles history. Once John found Yoko, she completely eclipsed Paul as John’s primary artistic collaborator. With John now more interested in Yoko than the Beatles, Paul was able to replace him as leader of the group; and with the introduction of a full-fledged avant-garde artist, Paul’s involvement and enthusiasm for the movement abated, freeing John to adopt the role. Citations: Carlin, Peter Ames. Paul McCartney: A Life. Touchstone Book, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 2009. Miles, Barry. In the Sixties. Jonathan Cape, London, UK, 2002. Solt, Andrew and Sam Egan. Imagine John Lennon. Penguin Studio, Sarah Lazin Books, New York, NY, 1988. "It's Only Love" (from the album Help!) and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" (from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) feature striking melodic similarities. Both tunes land on the note c, then gradually step down by half-step to b-natural, then b-flat. In between, both share the note g in the first measure, and d in the second. And the final melodic notes in both songs is g. The underlying chords are also very similar. Both start on C (though the former C major while the latter C minor), then on next measure on B-flat major, and on the third measure G major. In between, the chords are related, but not identical. The chord Em/B uses the notes b-e-g, while G+ uses g-b-d#. Both of these chords share the notes b and g, so they are quite similar. The chord F uses the notes f-a-c, while Dm uses d-f-a. Here, again, these chords share two notes - in this case f and a - so they, too, are quite similar. Here are both melodies and chords written in lead-sheet notation, "It's Only Love" on top, "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" on the bottom: For an audio example, click here. First the melody from "It's Only Love" is heard, then the melody from "Mr. Kite", and finally the two layered on top of each other.
Paul McCartney's inventive and melodic playing elevated the lowly bass to iconic levels, but some of his basslines are inspired/borrowed/stolen from others' work.
The bassline in "Drive My Car" is taken from Otis Redding's "Respect". The chord progressions are different, but the melodic patternand rhythm within each measure are the same. The bassline in "I Saw Her Standing There" is taken from Chuck Berry's "I'm Talking About You", which the Beatles covered during their long Hamburg stints. Here is a live recording from 1962 of the Beatles performing "I'm Talking About You" at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg - with Paul playing the exact same bassline he would borrow two years later. I have often been harshly critical of such blatant theft (I have often called John Williams a "musical kleptomaniac"), but I've been much more understanding of "borrowing" in the past few years as I've realized that all composers take what others have done and add to it/edit it to "make it their own". As Igor Stravinsky famously said, "Good composers borrow, great composers steal." |
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