Showing posts with label the Beatles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Beatles. Show all posts

Sunday, 16 March 2014

McCartney’s Songs


He writes enduring songs that capture with their simplicity.
I am not sure why I’ve not done a blog on Paul when he wrote some of my top ever songs
My small cassette playlists back in the days used to start with his piano songs - The Long and Winding Road and Let It Be.

More than any other songwriter his songs speak of the heart. He has written some of the most loved and best ever real and poignant melodies. I’m a big fan anyway of piano singer songwriters as I play myself and McCartney comes top of my list. I feel quite emotional even thinking about what Paul’s songs mean for me. His writing with John Lennon became a dynamic partnership and their rivalry spurred them on to greater heights.

McCartney’s notable songs with the Beatles are Yesterday (most covered sons ever),  Another Day, Blackbird, Eleanor Rigby (mostly written by Paul) and Hey Jude. As well as other songs I love - plus his co-writes with John Lennon when they played together with the Beatles.  


McCartney's Songs
Blackbird (1968) - McCartney explained,  Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road, 2005, that the guitar accompaniment for "Blackbird" was inspired by J.S.Bach’s Bouree in E minor, a well known lute piece, often played on the classical guitar.
Long and Winding Road (1969 ) – Some claim was written about his drive to Mull,  Paul said was about the dissolution of The Beatles. .
Let It Be (1969)  - In a dream Paul’s mother spoke to him. 'Mother Mary come to me, singing words of wisdom let it be.
Hey Jude (1968) – Paul wrote about Lennon’s song Julian.
Yesterday – Most covered song ever. Paul woke with the simple melody in his head - at first the lyrics were Scrambled eggs! 
Live at Hampden!. I saw McCartney live in Glasgow at Hampden in June 2010 and it was a truly wonderful concert and memory....  his coming on stage and thinking what his songs mean for me.  All those memories of those unforgettable songs that meant so much in my youth. When you’ve been a fan of someone since your teens it’s not easy to describe the thrill to see him live. My Review here -   http://www.musicfootnotes.com/paul-mccartney-hampden-glasgow

His collaborations include most famously the Lennon/ McCartney songs written during The Beatles few years of fame. 

"He provided a lightness, an optimism, while I would always go for the sadness, the dischords, the bluesy notes", John Lennon explained in his 1980 Playboy interviews.


Lennon and McCartney agreed together in their teens that all their songs would have co-written credits. Clearly early on they realized the sparks they both brought to each others writing. It is slightly hard therefore to distinguish who had the strongest song writing credit on the Beatles songs. It's a strange thing too, because I'm afraid that since the Beatles break up I'm not as keen on Paul's output and his songs with his band Wings - so what happened? Did Paul need Lennon's input and drive? While I am more impressed with his latest 2013 album titled New.
Lennon also wrote some of The Beatles top songs – Strawberry Fields, A Day in the life, Lucy in the Sky, Day Tripper, more…
The mod suits, the mop top hair, the fun energy, The Beatles Help movie, all those age defining and so unforgettable number one songs, and of course those album covers. 
It is hard for me to write on McCartney without getting over sentimental and it is hard if not impossible to describe what the Beatles meant back then - and especially Paul. Of course it was the combination of the Beatles special magic – but then McCartney wrote those piano melodies…... 

Quote John Lennon' in "How Do You Sleep" - "The only thing you done was Yesterday, and since you've gone you're just Another Day"

Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

*The Early Beatles


There’s a fascination about the early Beatles Photos and Music. What gave them that ‘magic’ – was it how they bounced off each other – how much did George Harrison (the quiet one) add. In the early days all three were front men and Lennon wanted the best in the band. 

At sixteen Lennon started his skiffle band The Quarrymen in 1957. They changed their name to The Beatles and played over in Hamburg Germany in 1960. It wasn't until 1962 that the band picked up attention for their gigs at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. After Decca Records rejected the band in early February 1962 with the comment "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein", George Martin signed the group to EMI's Parlophone label in May.  

I’ve been having fun looking through early Beatles images.

At a time when mods and rockers walked the streets of London, and when British youth was fascinated by the American blues records sold in back street shops and when pop music really took off here. It was fresh and exciting times for pop art culture, Mary Quant fashion, Twiggy, mini skirts and young music. 
Then it was all about the song and the instruments before the advent of the music video. (and oddly the Beatles were the first ones to make music videos, as they were so long at the number one spot they simply couldn't be on Top of the Pops every week!) 

Recommmend Life Magazine 'George Harrison Remembered'. Here's a link you might enjoy.  http://thehamburgbeatles.blogspot.com/

Todays generation is the 'fast' generation they want everything yesterday. They want to be The Beatles 1966 right away... rather than the Beatles 1957.  It took the Beatles 5 years of graft to get anywhere....

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Saturday, 11 June 2011

*The Beatles

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My best friends brother had all the Beatles vinyl albums and they used to come in those lovely sleeves when we could enjoy the art work as we listened to the latest one.  I also remember those times singing intimate harmonies to their songs back in my twenties..... it always worked perfectly. 

There was some magic thing going on there between them all. Some special 'synergy.' 

McCartney's 'Let It Be' is a totally life-affirming love song. Paul's piano melodies are the heart of his work, even without the words - but then the words sit on top as if they arrived at the same time. He clearly 'feels' in music. My piano lifts us up..

Lennon on the other hand had more energy and thought outward. 'Imagine' about our shared humanity is perhaps the best song ever written about love. Lennon's words ring very true.  
My words might heal...

Harrison, the often overlooked Beatle, wrote some of the most loved Beatles songs - 'Something' and 'Here Comes the Sun'. His guitar playing was highly expressive and admired by other guitarists. He added more to the Beatles sound than many realized.
And my guitar gently weeps.....

My Favourite Beatles songs in no particular order -  Let It Be, Strawberry Fields, Another Day, A Day in the Life, If I Fell, The long and Winding Road, If I Needed Someone, Things We Said,  You Wont' See Me, Because, Two of Us, Carry That Weight, Penny Lane, Eleanor Rigby, News Today, Day Tripper, Lucy in the Sky, Here Comes The Sun, Something,
... The Beatles prove that genius can come from anywhere, perhaps that is the key thing. And it doesn't have to be complicated.     

Ok have to admit to loving McCartney's' songs -  The Long and Winding Road (except for Phil Spector's dreadful plonking OTT production) and Let It Be. Here's the real natural version of The Long and Winding Road. 

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Monday, 2 May 2011

**Producer George Martin: Known as 'The Fifth Beatle'



**'Arena: Produced by George Martin'  BBC 2 Monday25th - Awesome. A Legend.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/arena
I highly recommend watching this program on BBC iPlayer.
Martin had  36 no 1's with the Beatles in the 60s..

(In my other life I am a record producer!)  He says that The Beatles didn't sound so great at first either... :
A very well made docmentary and such an interesting character!  I especially liked his comment that when the Beatles first arrived in the studio! 'Their music was rubbish - but importantly they made you feel good and they had charisma.' 

Also his reference to Degas' quote about his art  "It's not what you see, it's about what we make others see", in comparing this with what he hoped to achieve in sound. He hoped to 'paint' in the studio rather than to simply make a copy.
The program was followed by The Beatles  'A Hard Days Night', so many memories......!  P Keightley

George Martin is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as producer of all but one of 'The Beatles' original albums. He is considered one of the greatest record producers of all time, with 23 number one hits, an unmatched achievement.  George Martin, recognised as one of music's most versatile and imaginative talents, entered the music industry in 1950 after studying at the Guildhall School of Music and playing the oboe professionally in London. He began recording classical music specialising in the Baroque period. His later experience with jazz and pop led to his appointment as Head of the Parlophone in the EMI Group in 1955.
As a producer he has been responsible for bringing a host of artists into recording studios particularly in the humorous field with brilliant performers such as Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Flanders and Swann and the 'Beyond the Fringe' team - Jonathan Miller, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett. He has also worked with jazz artists Cleo Laine, John Dankworth, Humphrey Lyttelton and Stan Getz.