Tag Archives: Paul McCartney

♫ A World Without Love ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

I last played this one in 2020 and for some reason, tonight it popped into my head and refused to leave!  

I’m taking you way back tonight … 1964.  I was thirteen years old and had just gotten my first full-time job … making $100 per week!  I thought I was rolling in dough!  That was also the year I became a serious smoker, learned to drive a stick shift, and learned to kiss with my eyes closed!  It was, obviously, a memorable year.  Among the memories from that year is this song by British duo Peter and Gordon.

I did not know that John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote this song. It is the biggest hit they wrote that was not released by The Beatles. It became the first and biggest hit for Peter & Gordon.  The song was originally meant to be recorded by The Beatles, but that plan was vetoed by John Lennon. Peter Asher explained: “John thought the first line ‘Please lock me away’ was laughable.”

Peter Asher and Gordon Waller, then (1965) and 40 years later (2005)

Peter & Gordon were Peter Asher and Gordon Waller. Paul McCartney went out with Asher’s sister, the actress Jane Asher, which is how he met Peter. This song found its way to Peter Asher when Paul McCartney was living in the Asher household at 57 Wimpole Street in London during his time dating Jane Asher. He played the song for Peter while in his bedroom.  According to Asher …

“Paul had played Gordon and me that song at some point, just in passing. It was really just half a song. It didn’t yet have a bridge. Gordon and I were working at clubs in London at that time, and we got offered a record deal by EMI, who saw us as an English version of The Kingston Trio, or a Peter, Paul and Mary type of thing. We did the American folk song ‘500 Miles,’ and that was the song they were thinking would be our first single. Anyway, we signed the record deal with EMI, and set the date for our first recording session. At that point I went to Paul and asked him if that orphaned song was still up for grabs, since we needed three or four songs to record on that first day in the studio. Paul said we could have it, so I asked him to finish the bridge. And he did. As I recall, the bridge came in the nick of time for us to record; World Without Love’ at that first session.”

An interesting side note:  Peter Asher would go on to become the manager of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.  Asher is still alive and at age 79 is still active in the music business today, but Gordon Waller died in 2009.

A World Without Love
Peter and Gordon

Please lock me away
And don’t allow the day
Here inside where I hide
With my loneliness

I don’t care what they say I won’t stay
In a world without love

Birds sing out of tune
And rain clouds hide the moon
I’m OK, here I’ll stay
With my loneliness

I don’t care what they say I won’t stay
In a world without love

So I wait and in a while
I will see my true love’s smile
She may come, I know not when
When she does I lose
So baby until then

Lock me away
And don’t allow the day
Here inside where I hide
With my loneliness

I don’t care what they say I won’t stay
In a world without love

So I wait and in a while
I will see my true love’s smile
She may come, I know not when
When she does I lose
So baby until then

Lock me away
And don’t allow the day
Here inside where I hide
With my loneliness

I don’t care what they say I won’t stay
In a world without love

I don’t care what they say I won’t stay
In a world without love

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul Mccartney
A World Without Love lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ I Want To Hold Your Hand ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history, Social commentary

When I last played this one on February 9, 2019, it was 55 years ago that day that a young British rock group made their U.S. debut on the Ed Sullivan Show.  The name of the group, of course, was The Beatles.  This song is not, never has been, one of my favourites of theirs, but it was much loved at the time by most every other girl my age (13 back then) in the U.S.  I was, obviously, an anomaly!  Still, it’s rather a fun video and I figured it was about time I played some Beatles … it’s been a while!

From History.com …

Although it was difficult to hear the performance over the screams of teenage girls in the studio audience, an estimated 73 million U.S. television viewers, or about 40 percent of the U.S. population, tuned in to watch. Sullivan immediately booked the Beatles for two more appearances that month.

The group made their first public concert appearance in the United States on February 11 at the Coliseum in Washington, D.C., and 20,000 fans attended. The next day, they gave two back-to-back performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and police were forced to close off the streets around the venerable music hall because of fan hysteria. On February 22, the Beatles returned to England.

Now, I must confess to being a bit strange when I was young … shut up Joe, don’t even say it … and I was not all that impressed with The Beatles that first time I saw them on Ed Sullivan.  Nor was I impressed by the girls ripping off their clothes, screaming and fainting.  Eventually I came to appreciate The Beatles and their music, but unlike some others, it was definitely not love at first sight.

I am including two clips tonight.  The first is a clip from the November 18, 1963 edition of the Huntley-Brinkley Report by Edwin Newman.  The video no longer exists, but this audio-only copy was discovered in 2013, and I think you’ll enjoy it … I did!  The second is a video of one of the songs they performed on 09 February 1964.

I Want to Hold Your Hand
The Beatles

Oh yeah I tell you somethin’
I think you’ll understand
When I say that somethin’
I want to hold your hand
I want to hold your hand
I want to hold your hand

Oh please say to me
You’ll let me be your man
And please say to me
You’ll let me hold your hand
Now, let me hold your hand
I want to hold your hand

And when I touch you
I feel happy inside
It’s such a feelin’ that my love
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
I can’t hide

Yeah, you got that somethin’
I think you’ll understand
When I say that somethin’
I want to hold your hand
I want to hold your hand
I want to hold your hand

And when I touch you
I feel happy inside
It’s such a feelin’ that my love
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
I can’t hide

Yeah, you got that somethin’
I think you’ll understand
When I feel that somethin’
I want to hold your hand
I want to hold your hand
I want to hold your hand
I want to hold your hand

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul Mccartney
I Want to Hold Your Hand lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ Let It Be ♫ (Something VERY Different)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I’d like to start out by thanking our friend Ali R. for thinking of me when she first heard this and sending me a link to the song.  Thank you, dear Ali!

There’s an expression that “politics makes strange bedfellows”, but I think that the same can be said sometimes for music!  Tonight’s song is definitely a mix I never would have dreamed of in a million years – Dolly Parton and the two remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr!

From an August 19th article in The Guardian …

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have reunited to team up with Dolly Parton for her cover of Let It Be.

The country music star’s piano-led version of the 1970 single features the two surviving Beatles as well as Peter Frampton and Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood.

“Well, does it get any better than singing Let It Be with Paul McCartney who wrote the song? Not only that, he played piano,” Parton said in a tweet.

“Well, it did get even better when Ringo Starr joined in on drums, Peter Frampton on guitar and Mick Fleetwood playing percussion. I mean, seriously, how much better does it get?”

McCartney tweeted back: “Thanks Dolly for doing my song. I love your version and am very pleased to be by your side on this one. Rock on!”

The two former Beatles have collaborated in recent years. They worked together on Starr’s songs Here’s to the Nights and We’re on the Road Again, but the two surviving members have seldom performed together on covers of Beatles tracks.

The cover of Let It Be is the latest single from Parton’s forthcoming album, Rockstar.

The album – Parton’s 49th – will feature 21 covers of classic songs, along with nine of her own originals, and will include more than 40 guest artists across its 30 tracks.

The album, which comes out on 17 November, features collaborations with Miley Cyrus, Sheryl Crow, Lizzo, Elton John, Chris Stapleton, Stevie Nicks and Sting, as well as the former Beatles.

And now … let’s listen and you can tell me what you think.

Let It Be
The Beatles

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Let It Be lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ All You Need Is Love ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music, Social commentary

Okay, okay … so another redux, and one I played just over a year ago (July 2022) but I was thinking of playing Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” and then thought maybe it would be better to play something with a more upbeat message … we have enough negativity just reading the daily news!  This, then, from the first time I posted this song in 2019 …

Yesterday, I re-blogged David Prosser’s post about a philosophy of humanity called Ubuntu.  A short time later, a fellow-blogger asked me to look at her post, and this video was on it.  The connection between this song and David’s post struck me almost like a lightening bolt, and I knew I had my music post for tonight.

The original goal of this song was to combine the love of all nations displaying the possibility of hope and peace as a common denominator in the world.  This was played at Party at the Palace, a British music concert and celebration held in London in 2002.  Artists, including Paul McCartney, Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett, Ozzy Osbourne, Queen, and many more contributed to this extravaganza.  The song is originally a Beatles’ classic that in and of itself is quite meaningful …

The Beatles played this for the first time on the “Our World” project, the first worldwide TV special. Broadcast in 24 countries on June 25, 1967, the show was six hours long and featured music from 6 continents, with The Beatles representing Britain.

The concept of the song was born out of a request to bring a song that was going to be understood by people of all nations. The writing began in late May of 1967, with John and Paul working on separate songs. It was decided that John’s “All You Need Is Love” was the better choice because of its easy to understand message of love and peace. The song was easy to play, the words easy to remember and it encompassed the feeling of the world’s youth during that period.

Joining in 2002 at the Buckingham Palace Garden, the stars of the generation gather to spread the message of hope, peace and unity to London, England.

Ubuntu … the philosophy that we are all connected, the idea of humanity, and this song about love … put it together, and then ask yourself what is keeping us from living in this world?

Last time I played this (last year) Clive added the following clip on the making of this video that I thought well worth including here tonight …

And now, on to the song …

All You Need Is Love
The Beatles, et al

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done
Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung
Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game
It’s easy
Nothing you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown
There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be
It’s easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love (all together now)
All you need is love (everybody)
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
Love is all you need
(Love is all you need)
(Love is all you need)
(Love is all you need)
(Love is all you need)
Yesterday
(Love is all you need)
Oh
Love is all you need
Love is all you need
Oh yeah
Love is all you need
(She love you, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(She love you, yeah, yeah, yeah)
(Love is all you need)
(Love is all you need)

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul Mccartney
All You Need Is Love lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ Blackbird ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under History, music, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I seem to post this one about once a year, probably because I love the song, and because of the deeper meaning of the song.  But this year, my friend Ali sent me a link to another version that I just had to share!  It is a young woman, Emma Stevens, who …

To raise awareness of her native language, 16-year-old Emma Stevens sang a version of The Beatles’ 1968 classic “Blackbird” in the Mi’kmaq language, an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 11,000 in Canada and the United States. A member of the Eskasoni First Nation, the Nova Scotia student sang lyrics that were painstakingly translated by Katani Julian, a teacher who works in language revitalization. Julian told WBUR. “My language is very different from other ones.” “There’s a lot of syllables in ours. And there’s a lot of long words that translate into something really easy in English.”

Her version is leading the way (for the lyrics in her native tongue, check this link), followed by the two from Paul McCartney.  I hope you find one … or perhaps all three … to your liking!

Paul McCartney wrote this about the civil rights struggle for African-Americans after reading about race riots in the US. He penned it in his kitchen in Scotland not long after Little Rock Nine, when the federal courts forced the racial desegregation of the Arkansas capital’s school system.Little Rock Nine“I was sitting around with my acoustic guitar and I’d heard about the civil rights troubles that were happening in the ’60s in Alabama, Mississippi, Little Rock in particular,” he told GQ. “I just thought it would be really good if I could write something that if it ever reached any of the people going through those problems, it might give them a little bit of hope. So, I wrote ‘Blackbird.'”

McCartney-meets-little-rock-nine-2

McCartney with two of the Little Rock Nine

Blackbird
Paul McCartney

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free

Black-bird fly
Black-bird fly, into the light of a dark black night

Black-bird fly
Black-bird fly, into the light of a dark black night

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise
you were only waiting for this moment to arise
you were only waiting for this moment to arise

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Blackbird lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ Help! ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

Tonight I wanted to play something by the Beatles, but I wanted one I had never played here before.  You wouldn’t believe how hard that was to find!  I had no idea how many Beatles’ songs I’ve played here over the years!  I was actually amazed … had to double and triple check my archives … to find that I hadn’t played this one yet!  It would be easier to tell you the countries where this did NOT hit #1 than the countries where it did, for nearly every nation for which rankings are kept ranked it #1 with the exceptions of Belgium and Austria, where it only went to #5.

Some interesting trivia about this song from SongFacts …

This was used as the title song to Beatles’ second movie. The original title to the song and the movie was “Eight Arms To Hold You,” and the first copies of the single said it was from the movie “Eight Arms to Hold You.”

John Lennon has described this time of his life as his “fat Elvis period.” In a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone, Lennon said this is one of his favorite Beatles records, because, “I meant it – it’s real.” He added: “The lyric is as good now as it was then. It is no different, and it makes me feel secure to know that I was that aware of myself then. It was just me singing ‘Help’ and I meant it.”

Paul McCartney helped Lennon write the song, but did not realize it was actually Lennon calling for help until years later.

In 1985, this became the first Beatles song ever used in a commercial when it was used in an ad for Ford cars. Ford paid $100,000 for it, but they didn’t get the rights to the original recording – the version in the commercial was performed by a soundalike group.

Artists who covered this song include Bananarama, Count Basie, Tommy Castro, The Charles River Valley Boys, The Crusaders, The Damned, Howie Day, DC Talk, Deep Purple, Extreme, Jad Fair, John Farnham, Jose Feliciano, The Four Tops, Henry Gross, John’s Children, R. Stevie Moore, The Newbeats, Dolly Parton, David Porter, Isaac Scott, Peter Sellers, Michael Stanley, The Tremeloes, Tina Turner, U2 and Caetano Veloso.

The Carpenters, who named their first album Ticket To Ride and issued “that song” as their first single, included “Help!” on their second album, Close to You.

Count Basie???  Dolly Parton???  The Carpenters???  Seriously?  Somehow I just can’t … no … I just can’t picture that!

As I mentioned, this song hit #1 nearly everywhere … quite an achievement!

Help!

The Beatles

I need somebody
(Help) not just anybody
(Help) you know I need someone, help

So much younger than today
(I never need) I never needed anybody’s help in any way
(Now) but now these days are gone (these days are gone)
I’m not so self assured
(And now I find) now I find I’ve changed my mind
And opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being ’round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me

In oh so many ways
(My independ-) my independence seems to vanish in the haze
(But) but every now and then (now and then)
I feel so insecure
(I know that I) I know that I just need you like
I’ve never done before

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being ’round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me

When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
(Now) but now these days are gone (these days are gone)
I’m not so self assured
(And now I find) now I find I’ve changed my mind
And opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being ’round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me, help me, help me, ooh

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney

Help! lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Tratore

♫ Hey Jude ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I have been meaning to redux this one since sometime in March, and hadn’t gotten around to it yet.  Last time I played it a couple of years ago, I included a new version comprised of not only the Beatles, but including Eric Clapton, Elton John, Sting, Phil Collins and more.  After I posted it, Clive did some research and found that this was part of a larger project, a benefit concert called Music for Montserrat.  According to Wikipedia …

Music For Montserrat was a benefit concert held on 15 September 1997 at the Royal Albert Hall. The event was organised by Sir George Martin, former producer for The Beatles and founder of Associated Independent Recording, to raise funds for the Caribbean island of Montserrat after a major volcanic eruption by the Soufrière Hills volcano earlier that year.

The concert was arranged and produced by Martin, and starred many iconic British and American rock musicians such as Phil Collins, Ray Cooper, Carl Perkins, Jimmy Buffett, Mark Knopfler, Sting, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Midge Ure, Arrow and many more, all of whom had once recorded or produced on the island. A DVD was released with the most famous songs from the concert, such as “Your Song”, “Layla”, “Brothers in Arms”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Money for Nothing”, “Yesterday”, “Hey Jude”, and “Message in a Bottle”.

Proceeds from ticket sales and DVD copies went towards restoration and support of the island. The concert raised £1.5 million.  Proceeds from the show and DVD were used for immediate relief and also helped fund the building of a new cultural centre in Montserrat. On its completion in 2006, George Martin gifted the centre to the local community, which is still in operation today.

Somehow, knowing that makes the video even more meaningful.  But about the song …

Released in 1968, Paul McCartney wrote this as “Hey Jules,” a song meant to comfort John Lennon’s 5-year-old son Julian as his parents were getting a divorce. The change to “Jude” was inspired by the character “Jud” in the musical Oklahoma!

Says Paul McCartney …

“John and his wife Cynthia had divorced, and I felt a bit sorry for their son, who was now a child of a divorce. I was driving out to see the son and Cynthia one day and I was thinking about the boy whose name was Julian – Julian Lennon, and I started this idea, ‘Hey Jules, don’t make it bad, it’s gonna be OK.’ It was like a reassurance song.

So that was the idea that I got driving out to see them. I saw them and then I came back and worked on the song some more. But I like that name, Jude.”

And according to the all-grown-up Julian Lennon …

“Paul told me he’d been thinking about my circumstances, about what I was going through and what I’d have to go through. Paul and I used to hang out quite a bit – more than Dad and I did… There seem to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing at that age than me and Dad. I’ve never really wanted to know the truth of how Dad was and how he was with me. There was some very negative stuff – like when he said that I’d come out of a whisky bottle on a Saturday night. That’s tough to deal with. You think, where’s the love in that? It surprises me whenever I hear the song. It’s strange to think someone has written a song about you. It still touches me.”

At the time of its release, it was the longest song ever released as a single.  Hey Jude was a number-one hit in many countries around the world and became the top-selling single of 1968 in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada.

Hey Jude
The Beatles

Hey Jude, don’t make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

Hey Jude, don’t be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better

And anytime you feel the pain
Hey Jude, refrain
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders
For well you know that it’s a fool
Who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder
Na-na-na, na, na
Na-na-na, na

Hey Jude, don’t let me down
You have found her, now go and get her (let it out and let it in)
Remember to let her into your heart (hey Jude)
Then you can start to make it better

So let it out and let it in
Hey Jude, begin
You’re waiting for someone to perform with
And don’t you know that it’s just you
Hey Jude, you’ll do
The movement you need is on your shoulder
Na-na-na, na, na
Na-na-na, na, yeah

Hey Jude, don’t make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her under your skin
Then you’ll begin to make it better
Better better better better better, ah!

Na, na, na, na-na-na na (yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Na-na-na na, hey Jude
Na, na, na, na-na-na na
Na-na-na na, hey Jude
Na, na, na, na-na-na na
Na-na-na na, hey Jude
Na, na, na, na-na-na na
Na-na-na na, hey Jude (Jude Jude, Judy Judy Judy Judy, ow wow!)
Na, na, na, na-na-na na (my, my, my)
Na-na-na na, hey Jude (Jude, Jude, Jude, Jude, Jude)
Na, na, na, na-na-na na (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Na-na-na na, hey Jude (yeah, you know you can make it, Jude, Jude, you’re not gonna break it)
Na, na, na, na-na-na na (don’t make it bad, Jude, take a sad song and make it better)
Na-na-na na, hey Jude (oh Jude, Jude, hey Jude, wa!)
Na, na, na, na-na-na na (oh Jude)
Na-na-na na, hey Jude (hey, hey, hey, hey)
Na, na, na, na-na-na na (hey, hey)
Na-na-na na, hey Jude (now, Jude, Jude, Jude, Jude, Jude)
Na, na, na, na-na-na na (Jude, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Na-na-na na, hey Jude
Na, na, na, na-na-na na
Na-na-na na, hey Jude (na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na)
Na, na, na, na-na-na na
Na-na-na na, hey Jude
Na, na, na, na-na-na na
Na-na-na na, hey Jude
Na, na, na, na-na-na na (yeah, make it, Jude)
Na-na-na na, hey Jude (yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!)
Na, na, na, na-na-na na (yeah, yeah yeah, yeah! Yeah! Yeah!)
Na-na-na na, hey Jude
Na, na, na, na-na-na na
Na-na-na na, hey Jude
Na, na, na, na-na-na na
Na-na-na na, hey Jude
Na, na, na, na-na-na na
Na-na-na na, hey Jude

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Hey Jude lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ Ebony and Ivory ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under music, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Tonight is one of those nights when the only thing that’s going to do for me is some Stevie Wonder.  Yes, I know I just played this one last June, but folks … I want you to listen, really listen to the words and tell me we couldn’t use a whole lot more of this today!  Now, I just love seeing Stevie, and throwing in Paul McCartney is an added bonus, but when I listened to this one tonight, it brought me to tears — literally.  We have lawmakers being threatened with violence, a 12-year-old child shot and killed a man with an AR-15, an 18-year-old went on a neighborhood shooting rampage and killed three, injured nine more, members of Congress are playing Russian roulette with our lives, and states are robbing women of their rights while robbing children of an education.  And that’s only some of what weighs heavily on my mind tonight.  Listen to Stevie and Paul, listen to the words … this song should be our national anthem!!!  We could be so much better than we are, if only we all listened to Stevie and Paul sing this song …

piano-keysPaul McCartney wrote this song, saying that the message was “that people of all types could live together.”  He liked the piano analogy, since you can play using just the white keys or just the black keys, but to make great music, you have to combine them.  So true.

McCartney started recording this as a solo effort, but then got the idea to do it as a duet with Stevie Wonder. A demo made its way to Wonder, and he agreed to record it, standing wholeheartedly behind the message in the song. It was issued as a single and appeared on McCartney’s 1982 album Tug Of War.

This was Stevie Wonder’s first #1 single in the UK. His only other was I Just Called To Say I Love You in 1984.

Listen to the words, feel the camaraderie between these two men, feel the love … share the love, spread the love.  Love knows no colour boundaries, and neither should we.

Ebony & Ivory
Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder

Ebony and ivory
Live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don’t we?

We all know
That people are the same wherever you go
There is good and bad in everyone
When we learn to live, we learn to give each other
What we need to survive
Together alive

Ebony and ivory
Live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don’t we?

We all know
That people are the same wherever you go
There is good and bad, mmm, in everyone
We learn to live when we learn to give each other
What we need to survive
Together alive

Ebony and ivory
Live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don’t we?

Side by side on my piano keyboard
Oh Lord, why don’t we?

Songwriters: Mccartney Paul James
Ebony & Ivory lyrics © MPL COMMUNICATIONS INC

♫ Strawberry Fields Forever ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

While I have played many of The Beatles best songs (‘best’ being a subjective term), there are many more I haven’t played, and tonight’s is one of them.  You know how sometimes I can barely find any trivia about a song?  Well, this one is the complete antithesis of that, with more trivia than this single little music post can handle, so if you’re interested and want more, I suggest you visit both SongFacts and Wikipedia!

According to SongFacts …

Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army home in Liverpool where John Lennon used to go. He had fond memories of the place that inspired this.

John’s aunt Mimi did not like John going to Strawberry Fields, as it was basically an orphanage and she thought they would lead John astray. John liked going there because having lost his father and later his mother he felt a kinship to the lads. When John and his aunt would argue about his going he would often reply, “What are they going to do, hang me?” Thus the line “Nothing to get hung about.” In America, to be “hung up” is to worry about something, so many US listeners thought the line meant that it was nothing to get “hung up about.”

Lennon (from his 1980 interview with Playboy magazine): “Strawberry Fields is a real place. After I stopped living at Penny Lane, I moved in with my auntie who lived in the suburbs in a nice semidetached place with a small garden and doctors and lawyers and that ilk living around… not the poor slummy kind of image that was projected in all the Beatles stories. In the class system, it was about half a class higher than Paul, George and Ringo, who lived in government-subsidized housing. We owned our house and had a garden. They didn’t have anything like that. Near that home was Strawberry Fields, a house near a boys’ reformatory where I used to go to garden parties as a kid with my friends Nigel and Pete we would go there and hang out and sell lemonade bottles for a penny. We always had fun at Strawberry Fields. So that’s where I got the name. But I used it as an image. Strawberry Fields forever.”

This was released as the flip side of “Penny Lane.” The Beatles often released singles that contained a song written by Lennon on one side, and a song written by McCartney on the other. Which single was considered the A-side was sometimes a point of contention.

This was the first Beatles single to break their long-running streak of #1 hits in the UK. If they had not released it with “Penny Lane,” they would have beaten the existing #1 by a large margin, but stores recorded sales for one side of the single or the other, which hurt the chart position for this song.

This was the first pop song that faded to silence and then came back. The fake ending drove DJs nuts because it created the dreaded “dead air.”

On January 30, 1967, The Beatles shot a promotional film for this song, which was one of the first and most successful music videos, featuring stop motion animation and other special effects. It was filmed in and around Knole Park, an estate owned by the National Trust, near Sevenoaks in Kent. The tree that features prominently in the video is behind the park’s birdhouse.

The director of these videos was Peter Goldmann, a Swedish friend of Klaus Voormann, who was associated with the Beatles in their early days in Hamburg and later designed the Revolver album cover. The following day the Beatles filmed a promo film for “Penny Lane” also at Knole Park. These films hold up very well because, like movies, they were shot on high quality film.

It turns out Strawberry Fields is not forever. In 2005, Britain’s Salvation Army closed the Strawberry Field children’s home in Liverpool, stating that it’s preferable for children to be raised in a foster or small group home instead of a large orphanage. The home opened in 1936, and Lennon left money to Strawberry Field in his will. His widow, Yoko Ono, donated the equivalent of $70,000 in 1984 to keep the home open. Only 3 children remained in the home in January 2005, when the Salvation Army announced it would close.

The song charted at #2 in the UK and #8 in the U.S.  As far as I can tell, it did not chart at all in Canada.

Strawberry Fields Forever

The Beatles

One, two, three, four

No one I think is in my tree
I mean, it must be high or low
That is, you can’t, you know, tune in but it’s all right
That is, I think it’s not too bad

Let me take you down
‘Cause I’m going to strawberry fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry fields forever

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It’s getting hard to be someone but it all works out
It doesn’t matter much to me

Let me take you down
‘Cause I’m going to strawberry fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry fields forever

Always, no sometimes, think it’s me
But you know I know when it’s a dream
I think I know, I mean a… yes
But it’s all wrong
That is, I think I disagree

Let me take you down
‘Cause I’m going to strawberry fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry fields forever

Strawberry fields forever
Strawberry fields forever

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: פורר טל / Lennon,john Winston / Mccartney,paul James

Strawberry Fields Forever lyrics © Sony/atv Tunes Llc, Harrisongs Ltd

♫ Here, There And Everywhere ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

Tonight, I went in search of a Beatles tune I hadn’t played for a few years anyway, and this is the ONLY one on my list that met the criteria!  Gonna have to go in search of some that I haven’t played, but for tonight I am tired, frustrated, and ready to go meet my pillow, so …

Written by Paul McCartney while he was lounging at John Lennon’s pool, it was at least partly inspired by The Beach Boys’ song God Only Knows. McCartney was asked in 1990 about the influence of The Beach Boys on this song by Brian Wilson biographer David Leaf.

“It’s actually just the introduction that’s influenced. John and I used to be interested in what the old fashioned writers used to call the verse, which we nowadays would call the intro – this whole preamble to a song, and I wanted to have one of those on the front of ‘Here, There and Everywhere.’ John and I were quite into those from the old-fashioned songs that used to have them, and in putting that [sings “To lead a better life”] on the front of ‘Here, There and Everywhere,’ we were doing harmonies, and the inspiration for that was the Beach Boys. We had that in our minds during the introduction to ‘Here, There and Everywhere.’I don’t think anyone, unless I told them, would even notice, but we’d often do that, get something off an artist or artists that you really liked and have them in your mind while you were recording things, to give you the inspiration and give you the direction – nearly always, it ended up sounding more like us than them anyway.”

John Lennon and Paul McCartney both mentioned this as one of the most underrated Beatles songs. In 2005 interviews, McCartney said that of all the songs he has written, this is his favorite. He likes it best because of the way that it flows together, comparing it to the style of the Fred Astaire hit Cheek To Cheek, one of his favorite songs.

Here, There And Everywhere
The Beatles

To lead a better life
I need my love to be here

Here, making each day of the year
Changing my life with a wave of her hand
Nobody can deny that there’s something there
There, running my hands through her hair
Both of us thinking how good it can be
Someone is speaking, but she doesn’t know he’s there

I want her everywhere
And if she’s beside me I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I’m always there

I want her everywhere
And if she’s beside me I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I’m always there

I will be there
And everywhere
Here, there and everywhere

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Here, There And Everywhere lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC