1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,440 Speaker 1: Too Much Information is a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to Too Much Information, the show 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: that brings you the secret history and little alone facts 4 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,439 Speaker 1: behind your favorite music, movies, TV shows and more. We 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: are your bastions of beatle Ology, your philosophers of fab 6 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:24,600 Speaker 1: your John and Paul of the trivia world. But I'll 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: let you work out who's who. My name is Jordan 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: runt Dog, and I'm Alex Hegel. I've always thought of 9 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: myself as more of the magic. Alex is he Greek, 10 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: the scammer. Yeah, the Greek scam artists who builked them 11 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: out of god knows how much money. Wow, that that's 12 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: some impressive beetle nerd ary early on, I'm the thirty 13 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: seconds in all right, folks, Yeah, just buckle up the 14 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: yes Today we are looking at my favorite album of 15 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: all time. That's all I can say. By my favorite 16 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: group of human beings, not even my favorite band, my 17 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: favorite group of human beings ever. Sorry, future children. Uh, 18 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: it's the Beatles. They are responsible for every creative impulse 19 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: I've ever had. And I know I'm not alone in 20 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: that sentiment. When I was a little boy, I saved 21 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:10,759 Speaker 1: up for a whole summer to get a cheap knockoff 22 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:14,040 Speaker 1: of Paul McCartney's Hoffner violin basse, which I then attempted 23 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: to learn how to play left handed, even though I'm 24 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,119 Speaker 1: right handed, just because I wanted to be more like him. 25 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: And uh, you know, in a way I never grew 26 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 1: out of that. I'd say at very least eight percent 27 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: of my reasons for getting into music journalism stemmed from 28 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: my deep seated desire to meet these guys in some 29 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: feudal attempt to figure out why their music moved me 30 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: and millions in such a profound way. And you know, 31 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: I'm immensely grateful to have had this sweet dream come 32 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: true and speak to both surviving members of the Beatles, 33 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 1: but you know, I'm no closer to knowing what it 34 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: is about their music that makes it sub precious to me. 35 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: It's the most definitive proof we have that magic is real. 36 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: We're discussing their seventh studio album, Revolver from nineteen sixty six, 37 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 1: which has just been the subject of a massive reissue 38 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: overseen by the great Giles Martin, son of the Beatles 39 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: producer George Martin, and I actually had the privilege of 40 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: speaking to him for an article I wrote for People 41 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: dot Com, which I'll be quoting on occasion. Hi, I go, 42 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: I usually welcome our friendly differences of opinion, but go 43 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:15,359 Speaker 1: gentle with me on this one. I can't handle the 44 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: Knox against my beloved Beatles. What are your thoughts on 45 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: Revolver or the Beatles in general? Well, the big cliche 46 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: about the Beatles is you hear him grown up and 47 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: then or like you hear him out all over. You're 48 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 1: just exposed to them, and then you like get into 49 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: them freshman year of college. Like that's like kind of 50 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,240 Speaker 1: a logical path, right, Am I making that up? I 51 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: I was a little different, As with most things, I 52 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 1: knew that. But yeah, I've heard that. I've heard it's 53 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: something that you kind of take for granted and then 54 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,359 Speaker 1: all of a sudden you factly that about Bob Dylan wants. 55 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: Remember said, when you're ready to receive Dylan, he will 56 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,079 Speaker 1: make himself, he will reveal himself to you. And I 57 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: feel like maybe that's the same with the Beatles. From 58 00:02:52,919 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: the People and Ponderous, which boomerass music journalists said that 59 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 1: to you? Uh, yeah, I went to college with a 60 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 1: buddy who Dave Long, who you met at my wedding 61 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: um who friend and friend of the pot David Long, 62 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: huge Beatles dork. But I will say more than like 63 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: the actual records, he and I would play like duo 64 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: sets at like restaurants for pocket money, and he had 65 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: the Beatles chord book, and honestly going through that and 66 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: trying to arrive at like different arrangements of all the 67 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: songs and singing them and just kind of getting into 68 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: the writing was what brought that band to me more 69 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: than anything. Was just being like, oh, yeah, these are 70 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: like water and airtight, like perfect songs for the most part. 71 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: There's some shaggy stuff in there later, but for the 72 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: most part, Yeah, I mean it's like what I think, 73 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: it's a cluster article where he's like, the Beatles are 74 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: often considered the best pop band of all time because 75 00:03:55,920 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: they wrote all the best songs. It's like, yeah, that's ed, 76 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: you know, hard hard pressed. I mean even even uh 77 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: grading on the curve of there was less music back then, 78 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: they're still just perfect. They're like perfect buildings, you know 79 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: that that have not eroded or faded at all, and 80 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 1: they were built with apparently lucking into like seamless construction, 81 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: and you know, the thrust of that piece that I 82 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: read of yours was that was so beautiful. Is that 83 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: revolver is one of the last times when all of 84 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,480 Speaker 1: those elves we're working directly in concert with each other, 85 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: rather than as becoming these splintered factions that would then 86 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 1: occasionally congeal into those bits of old magic, real high 87 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 1: water mark for collaboration. Yeah, well, thank you, thank you 88 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: for taking the time to read it. I mean, I 89 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: love that you sort of discovered them through actually looking 90 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:56,280 Speaker 1: at the construction of their music, and I kind of 91 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 1: from the inside out. And I think I was the opposite. 92 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 1: I think I first started to really listen to them 93 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: when I was a little kid and the Beatles Anthology 94 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: was on TV and I saw I experienced them first 95 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: as a phenomenon, I guess, and the story I think 96 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: it was their publicist Derek Taylor, who was a real 97 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: way with words. He's a real, real interesting guy. I 98 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: think he called them the twentieth centuries greatest romance and 99 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: that line always stuck with me. And I know it 100 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: maybe sounds a little corny, but I think that was 101 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: what hit me first, was that it was just this 102 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: thing that was so exciting and made people so happy. 103 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: And you know, I I couldn't articulate when I was seven, 104 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: eight ever old. I was here in twist and shout 105 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: and just how exciting that was. Oh my god. Yeah, 106 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: I mean just like yeah, I do think. I mean, 107 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: there's that, there's that like clickbait thing that goes viral 108 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: every few years. That's just like people like stopping kids 109 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:49,840 Speaker 1: on the street and being like, do you know what 110 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: the Beatles are? And it's like, ah, yeah, But there 111 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: was even if that is waning, like I don't know, man. 112 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: I worked for a very brief time and like a 113 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: rock camp for kids when I was in college, and like, 114 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: first of all, you could just pick a Beatles song 115 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,359 Speaker 1: and all these kids would already know it, not musically 116 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: like not being able to play it. You would have 117 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: to teach them on their instruments, but they will be like, 118 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: oh yeah, that song. And then there was a guy 119 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: there who's he had immigrated to the States from Senegal, 120 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: and he was like we were talking about just like 121 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: different rock bands, and he was like because the Beatles 122 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 1: and Michael Jackson. He was like, you can go in 123 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,679 Speaker 1: places where I'm from, where people don't even speak English 124 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: and they know a dozen to two dozen Beatles songs, 125 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: you know, and they know Michael Jackson. They and like, 126 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: that's just like the level of cultural It's like coke. 127 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: It's like bottles of coke. It's like the number of 128 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: people I've heard that said they learned to speak English 129 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 1: from Beatles songs. And I love Lucy episodes. I mean, 130 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: it's just that I love Lucy. Okay, all right, Well, 131 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: onto the an album. Yeah, Revolver. I just I love 132 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: it because every song on this album is its own 133 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: distinct offering. I mean, they worked for eleven weeks tackling 134 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: songs in really every style. You got funk grooves, you 135 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: got chamber music, you got sea shanties, he got psych rock, 136 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:07,559 Speaker 1: Indian ragas, and music called piano ditties. And these weren't 137 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: Moon in June love songs, but mature meditations on loneliness, laziness, insanity, grief, hope, 138 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: death and taxes. Lots of death on this album. I 139 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: think I read that half the songs on the track 140 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: list have lyrics that referenced death. Are dying, which is interesting. 141 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: The writer Dorian Lynsky wrote in The l A Times, 142 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: instead of settling on one new direction. On Revolver, the 143 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: Beatles proposed fourteen possibilities. I thought it was a really 144 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: beautiful way to phrase that. Um, I think it was 145 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: really This is the first time that they'd come to 146 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: regard em I Studios later known as Abbey Road as 147 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: more than just a workspace. But I haven because the 148 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: world outside was getting so crazy. Nineteen sixty six was 149 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: the year of the you know, the famous Bigger than 150 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: Jesus controversy when they went on tour in the States. 151 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: This was after they recorded Revolver, but you know, there 152 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: were riots and the clan were picketing their shows and 153 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: there was very serious concerns for their safe d This was, 154 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: as I said, after they recorded Revolver, but even before 155 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,679 Speaker 1: that things were getting so tumultuous. This is the period 156 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 1: of them just beginning to feel safer in their little 157 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: bubble um. A lot of people think that they're following 158 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: up nine seven Sergeant Pepper's The Only Hearts Club Band 159 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: is their definitive work of studio construction. But I really 160 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: think it's Revolver. It was the last album released when 161 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: they was still a road band, and none of the 162 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 1: songs were ever performed live. But I think that because 163 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: there were these time constraints imposed by tours and other 164 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: sort of business of Beatlemania, it makes the album a 165 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: bit more focused and a bit tighter. There was more 166 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: precision to their experiments. Yeah, they still had that road chemistry. Yeah, 167 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:44,959 Speaker 1: that is just and I mean it's a muscle. It's 168 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,960 Speaker 1: any band as any band what tour tight means. Yeah, 169 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 1: that's a thing, you know, And like when you stopped 170 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: playing live, you lose that. It's facts, you know. It's 171 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: it's like you stop jogging at the gym and and 172 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: then you can't jog is fast or whatever anymore. It's 173 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,920 Speaker 1: like and and you can obviously be creative in all 174 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 1: kinds of other ways, and Sergeant Pepper's has all kinds 175 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,439 Speaker 1: of interesting sound experiments and everything, but it's not it's 176 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 1: not the Cavern club chemistry, you know. That's what George 177 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: would say during the Beatles anthology. He said he didn't 178 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: really like that album too much because they weren't playing 179 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 1: as a band that much. It would just be you know, 180 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: Paul doing an overdub and then Ringo keeping time, and 181 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: it just was a lot more biddy. And it was 182 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:30,439 Speaker 1: the word he used, and that was part of The 183 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: reason why this box set took forever to come about 184 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: was that they did all the backing tracks live to tape, 185 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: and so you couldn't remix that because it was all 186 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: basically baked into one track. UM Paul had this great 187 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: quote right before Revolver came out. He said, I, for one, 188 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 1: I'm sick of doing sounds that other people can claim 189 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:50,440 Speaker 1: to have heard before. And I just think that's wonderful 190 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 1: because until Revolver arrived on August six, a few people 191 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: have ever heard anything like it. I really think that 192 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: it's an album that legitimate eyes left turns in popular music. 193 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: I mean, because you had Bob Dylan the year before, 194 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:09,680 Speaker 1: going electric at Newport Folk, which probably the first serious 195 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,079 Speaker 1: turning point for a major popular figure embracing a new 196 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: style in a very public way. But the style that 197 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: he embraced actually brought him more towards the commercial center. 198 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,839 Speaker 1: You know. It's ninetive is the era of folk rock. 199 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: It's almost like he's imitating his imitators, like the Birds 200 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:28,280 Speaker 1: by picking up an electric guitar. So that doesn't really 201 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 1: work for me. Is legitimizing the left turn? You got 202 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,720 Speaker 1: Brian Wilson getting a little closer in earlier nineteen sixty 203 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: six when he released pet Sounds Beautiful baroque pop master work, 204 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 1: but didn't really sell all that well and was seen 205 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:44,839 Speaker 1: as kind of a disappointment. So really the first album 206 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:46,600 Speaker 1: that I can think of that sold in a major 207 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:48,720 Speaker 1: way that proved you could take a risk and your 208 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: fans would follow you. I mean, is that your quality? 209 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: Is that your qualification is is it had to have sold? Yeah? 210 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, if Paul McCartney were here, and 211 00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,679 Speaker 1: god I wish he was, he would say one of 212 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: the no against me is that I'm called commercial, as 213 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,079 Speaker 1: if that's a bad thing. But like that's how I 214 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: know that what I'm doing is any good is if 215 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: it connects with people. I don't say anything, you know, 216 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: I'm just maybe disagreeing that this was There's other things 217 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: that were interesting in music, but you're right they were 218 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 1: not popular on this, but just just to show that 219 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 1: you could be a major successful artist and make a 220 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: serious change to your sound and your style and it 221 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:35,959 Speaker 1: wasn't career suicide, I think. Davis Okay, alright, alright, I 222 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: was gonna say, I can always you can always pull 223 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: out Miles Davis as a rejoinder to literally anything. No, 224 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 1: but I mean, yeah, you're right. The argument there is 225 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:47,679 Speaker 1: just that nobody had achieved this level of visibility taking 226 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:50,720 Speaker 1: this kind of left hand turn in terms of willful 227 00:11:51,559 --> 00:11:55,599 Speaker 1: perversion of what made them you know. Yeah, but in 228 00:11:55,720 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: this case it was successful on every metric you could imagine, critically, 229 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:05,199 Speaker 1: commercially anyway, Yeah, maybe we should. We should. Probably is 230 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 1: the longest preamble we've ever had to an already very long, 231 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: uh episode, or should I say two episodes. We're not 232 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:13,679 Speaker 1: gonna go chronologically on this episode. Instead, we're gonna go 233 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,199 Speaker 1: track by track, and if you like, I encourage you 234 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: to throw on the record and listen to each track 235 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,239 Speaker 1: as we go. Hopefully you'll find some new things to appreciate. 236 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,040 Speaker 1: Any excuse to listen Revolver, I think is a good thing. 237 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 1: So we're gonna make this a two parter. In fact, 238 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 1: I'm not even gonna give any teasers for this episode. 239 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: We're just gonna dive in. Listen on for everything you 240 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 1: didn't know about Side one of the Beatles Revolver. At 241 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,440 Speaker 1: the dawn of nineteen sixty six, the Beatles were at 242 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: a cross roads. We can busted that out. They were 243 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 1: without question the biggest band in the world popularity wise, 244 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,800 Speaker 1: you couldn't get any bigger, and their latest album, Rubber Soul, 245 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: released in December of sixty five, caught the attention of 246 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: the most progressive minds in mu Zick, most notably Brian Wilson, 247 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: who would make pet sounds and an attempt to equal it. 248 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:07,120 Speaker 1: As I said, there were a success on essentially every level, 249 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: and that success brought limitations as a result of their 250 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,200 Speaker 1: men's fame, but also freedom and in short, you could 251 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: start to see the Beatles begin to say no. For 252 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,600 Speaker 1: Christmas nineteen sixty five, they backed out of doing their 253 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,800 Speaker 1: annual Christmas pantomime show, which we don't really have an 254 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,319 Speaker 1: equivalent in the United States. It's this hokey, old fashioned 255 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,319 Speaker 1: British show biz tradition thing. We get dressed up in 256 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: ridiculous costumes and basically put on an elementary school quality 257 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 1: review with skits and songs, almost like a Nativity play. Yeah, 258 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: it's it's strange um and they've done it the previous 259 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: two years, but no more. And they also backed out 260 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: of a proposed feature film that they were slated to 261 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,079 Speaker 1: make at the start of nineteen sixty six, call a 262 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: talent for loving, which was this Western parody It kind 263 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,200 Speaker 1: Of looks Awful, based on a novel by Richard Condon, 264 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: and this was to be the third movie they were 265 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: contracted to do for United Artists Following a Hard Day's 266 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: Night and Help, but they were unable to find a 267 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 1: suitable script and the idea scrapped. The Beatles have been 268 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: scheduled to film this movie and record the soundtrack for 269 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: the first few months of nineteen sixty six, and then 270 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:08,960 Speaker 1: when that went away, it left them with their biggest 271 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: break really since Beadledom began. After averaging two albums and 272 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:17,840 Speaker 1: three singles annually, plus two movies and multiple global tours 273 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: for the last three years and then before that all 274 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: the years that they were workhorsing it in Hamburg, they 275 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: appreciated the rest and for the first time they were 276 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: free to pursue their own interests as adults, and they flourished. 277 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: John Lennon spent his time probing the outer limits of 278 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,520 Speaker 1: his own consciousness with a mix of literature and drugs. 279 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: Paul McCartney dove head first in the London's vibrant underground 280 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: art scene. Ringo spent time with his wife and newborn 281 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: son and transformed his basement into a bar called the 282 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: Flying Cow. Sorry that foregrounding Ringo's later troubles with alcoholism, 283 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 1: maybe not maybe not the best. And George meanwhile had 284 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 1: begun his intense study of in in music, which we'll 285 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: get into. We'll get into all of these things in 286 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: much greater details shortly. And when they reconvened in the 287 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 1: studio in April nineteen sixty six for sessions for Revolver, 288 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: they basically had the energy of students coming back from 289 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: summer vacation. John said right before sessions began on April six, 290 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:17,280 Speaker 1: nine sixty six, the next LP is going to be 291 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: very different, And he wasn't usually one for understatement, but 292 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: that's putting it mildly. That spring, the Beatles worked for 293 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 1: three hundred hours, practically an eternity considering their debut. LP 294 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: was mostly recorded in a single day, and the tone 295 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: was set on day one with Tomorrow Never Knows, which 296 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:36,640 Speaker 1: we'll talk about in the second part of this episode. 297 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: The stunning avant garde soundscape that recreated a psychedelic experience 298 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: through electric tape loops, Indian modalities, and two s impressionistic 299 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: lyrics that were cribbed from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. 300 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 1: Any one of those elements that I just mentioned, unheard 301 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: of in mainstream pop at the time. Blended all of 302 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: those elements together. It's one of the beatles boldest musical statements, 303 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 1: and in my opinion, if it were somehow possible to 304 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: objectively measure and graph the beatles creative progress. The gap 305 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,520 Speaker 1: between the session for Tomorrow Never Knows and their previous 306 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: recording date November five, finishing off the Reever Soul cuts 307 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: you Won't See Me Girl Wait and I'm Looking Through You. 308 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: That is probably their single greatest creative leap of their career. 309 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: I would second that. Yeah right, I mean yeah, think 310 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 1: about all those songs I just mentioned off Rubber Soul 311 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:29,880 Speaker 1: and put them up against Tomorrow Never Knows, Like you 312 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:32,120 Speaker 1: can't compare. I mean, that's a I can't believe they 313 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 1: tried to start this with Tomorrow Never Knows. Well they 314 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 1: succeeded in starting Tomorrow Never Knows. What an odd choice. Yeah, well, 315 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: we will get to that. But yeah, that's uh, that's 316 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 1: a hell of a five month creative jump right there. Anyway, 317 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: let's start talking about the album. The album starts off 318 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: with tax Man, which opens with a woozy let's say 319 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: it's stones one to three, four counts in from I 320 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 1: think McCartney, who last performed the Honors all kicking off 321 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:03,480 Speaker 1: their debut LP please please me. But I saw her 322 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:07,800 Speaker 1: standing there three years earlier. You know it starts off standing. 323 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 1: I want to three. Yeah, one of the great I 324 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: think I did a listical at VH one, the best 325 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:14,640 Speaker 1: count ins in rock history. That's got to be up there. 326 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:21,439 Speaker 1: Every Ramote song exactly, not even not even fully pronouncing 327 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: the words at some point. Uh, this is their most 328 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: stone phase, right, like this is this is like they'd 329 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:35,680 Speaker 1: finally gotten ahold of of the Devil marijuana. Yeah, there's 330 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: an outtake. It was on the Anthology set too, but 331 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 1: it's on the New Revolver set where John and Paul 332 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: are are on a mike together trying to do backing 333 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:46,760 Speaker 1: vocals for and Your Bird Can Sing, And they just 334 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 1: are howling with laughter for just two minutes straight, Like 335 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:53,919 Speaker 1: you can hear the spit coming out of their mouths 336 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: into the bike because they're laughing so hard, they're snorting. 337 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,680 Speaker 1: Just it's so funny, it's so like it's the most 338 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 1: pure display of Friendship. I think I've ever heard on 339 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:07,720 Speaker 1: record of those two. It's actually pretty adorable. They're just 340 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: the whole thing. You can't listen to it and not 341 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:14,880 Speaker 1: that are the habledog backing vocals, so that's go. Also 342 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:16,480 Speaker 1: a bit of a deep cut. That's on of my 343 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: favorite songs. There's yeah hable dog Whips, but yeah, this 344 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:24,159 Speaker 1: this intro for tax Man. I was never sure, but 345 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: I always got the sense that they were intentionally parodying 346 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:29,399 Speaker 1: the opening of Please Please Me with I saw our 347 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,159 Speaker 1: standing there with that one to three four um, And 348 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:36,840 Speaker 1: they were fond of doing like self referential parodies. On 349 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:39,119 Speaker 1: the video for Hello Goodbye, they wave at the camera 350 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: with their coll o lists She Loves You era suits, 351 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 1: even though it was just four years earlier, it's like 352 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: several lifetimes ago. And then when they're recording All You 353 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 1: Need Is Love, John breaks in this She Loves You 354 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:50,480 Speaker 1: at the end of the song when they're doing the 355 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 1: fade out. And then also the original get Back cover 356 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 1: showed the Beatles revisiting the staircase shot on their debut album, 357 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: Please Please Me. It's a nice little throwback there there. 358 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:02,320 Speaker 1: You know, on the original one, there have short hair 359 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,159 Speaker 1: and matching suits and now they're you know, the sixty 360 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 1: nine Arab Beatles with long hair and beards, so they're 361 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:12,200 Speaker 1: not above self referential parody, but intentional or not, this 362 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: four count on tax Man signaled a new era. And 363 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:18,880 Speaker 1: this is actually the first topical song that the Beatles 364 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,119 Speaker 1: ever made, following in the footsteps of people like Bob Dylan, 365 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,160 Speaker 1: Curtis Mayfield, Barry McGuire with Eve of Destruction, Buffy sat 366 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:29,479 Speaker 1: Marie Universal Soldier. It also kicks off that kicks off 367 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,800 Speaker 1: the rich tradition in uh British music and elsewhere of 368 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: the fabulously wealthy complaining about the trivials of being fabulously wealthy. 369 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:39,680 Speaker 1: Although it is up. I mean, you know, the tax 370 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: rate was like what something. It was like they the 371 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,240 Speaker 1: British labor government had instituted what they called a super tax, 372 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,639 Speaker 1: which that sounds bad like that. They definitely they needed 373 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,040 Speaker 1: a new pr rep. So for every million pounds that 374 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: the Beatles earned in nineteen sixty six, they were allowed 375 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,320 Speaker 1: to keep less than fift can you imagine, like that's 376 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 1: that's insane. I have to say I am on George's 377 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 1: side for this one. Um and in his mind, the 378 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: vast majority of his money was being stolen by the 379 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 1: British government to finance bombers and bombs, so there was 380 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: an element of righteous indignation there too, I mean as 381 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 1: Vietnam era. But also he was just pissed. As he 382 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,359 Speaker 1: said during the Beatles anthology, you're so happy that you 383 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,919 Speaker 1: finally started earning money, and then you find out about tax, 384 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,960 Speaker 1: with super tax and cur tax and tax tax. It 385 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: was just ridiculous, heavy penalty to pay for making money. 386 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 1: Anybody who ever made any money moved to America or 387 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:35,359 Speaker 1: somewhere else, and yeah, you have the Stones moving to France, 388 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,159 Speaker 1: Keith Moon, John Lennon, Rod Stewart and all sorts of 389 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,399 Speaker 1: British rockers became tax exiles and settled in l A 390 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:44,679 Speaker 1: and the seventies when they basically all realized that they 391 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:48,640 Speaker 1: had no money left over from their sixties success. Um, yeah, 392 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,400 Speaker 1: the Beatles got pretty terrible tax advice. Ringo once told 393 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:53,879 Speaker 1: the story where they got a guy to go live 394 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,480 Speaker 1: in the Bahamas and try to hold onto their money 395 00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:58,200 Speaker 1: there so they wouldn't have to pay tax on it. 396 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:00,200 Speaker 1: And he said, yeah, and then in the and we 397 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: got found out we had to bring all the money back, 398 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:04,879 Speaker 1: pay taxes on it, and then pay this guy. So 399 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:06,680 Speaker 1: we might as well have just left it where it was. 400 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: The common log line about George Harrison's time and the 401 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 1: Beatles is that he was consistently given short shrift. There's 402 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: that We're talking about this earlier on Twitter, the part 403 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:22,399 Speaker 1: in Walk Hard when it's Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin 404 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:26,120 Speaker 1: Long and Jason Schwartzman is the Beatles and they cut 405 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: over to to Justin Long is George Harrison. He's like, 406 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 1: I'm just trying to think about getting a few more 407 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: songs on the MS. But Revolver has three of his 408 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: solo tracks on it, the most he would ever get 409 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,639 Speaker 1: on a single disc Beatles album, so not the white album, 410 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 1: and the fact that he got the coveted side one 411 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: track one position. He's a testament to the quality of 412 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: his songwriting in this era. Lennon also quietly pitched in 413 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,639 Speaker 1: the lyrics attacks Man, although it took him over a 414 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,840 Speaker 1: decade to actually admit to it. He said, I remember 415 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,480 Speaker 1: the day he George called to add for help on 416 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 1: tax Man, one of his first songs. I threw in 417 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 1: a few one liners to help the song along, because 418 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:07,359 Speaker 1: that's what he asked for. He came to me because 419 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: he couldn't go to Paul. Paul wouldn't have helped him 420 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 1: in that period. I didn't want to do it. I 421 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,359 Speaker 1: just sort of bit my tongue and said, okay. It 422 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 1: had been John and Paul for so long. George had 423 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 1: been left out because he hadn't been a songwriter up 424 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,280 Speaker 1: until then. And there is an early handwritten draft of 425 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: the song in George's book, I'm Me Mine, and it 426 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,080 Speaker 1: lacks something of the sarcasm and biting wit of the 427 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,639 Speaker 1: final version. The line in George's book include you may 428 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,239 Speaker 1: work hard trying to get some bread, you won't make 429 00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: out before you're dead, and so give into conformity. Now 430 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: what I let you keep for free? Conkers. John was 431 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 1: apparently always hurt that George never gave him props for 432 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: helping him out with this, saying he was slightly resentful 433 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 1: of George's book and apparently they were just not on 434 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: great terms when John died, which is a real bummer. 435 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 1: George would later say in the eighties, I didn't say 436 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,119 Speaker 1: he'd written one line of the song tax Man, but 437 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: I also didn't say wait. But I also didn't say 438 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,359 Speaker 1: how i'd written two lines have come together three lines 439 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: of yeah. Yeah, Well it's like the band. You know, 440 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:15,920 Speaker 1: we always go back to the thing about the band 441 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 1: where it's like, you know, you fit one or two 442 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: names in the songwriting credits, but when you're hanging out 443 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: in a studio with people and you're bouncing ideas around, like, 444 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:28,200 Speaker 1: that's not the way songs get written, you know. Yeah, 445 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,879 Speaker 1: we'll talk more about this on a bunch of songs, 446 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: just on Revolver. But yeah, there are a lot of 447 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:35,880 Speaker 1: people that just happened to be in the band's orbit 448 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,159 Speaker 1: who said that they later pitched in a line or so, 449 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,680 Speaker 1: and I didn't really think about asking for credit because 450 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 1: it was just not you know, Donovan, the singer. Donovan said, 451 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 1: he added the line the sky of blue and sea 452 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,000 Speaker 1: of green on Yellow Submarine, and it was just like, yeah, 453 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't expecting to get you know, percentage 454 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,200 Speaker 1: of that song because I contributed that. It's just like 455 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,120 Speaker 1: what happens when you're a bunch of creative people. So yeah, 456 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: he taught him the Todt Lennon the fingerpicking patterns. Yeah, 457 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: and dear Prudence, uh, speaking of guitars, despite George Harrison's 458 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 1: status as the official lead guitarist of the Beatles. That 459 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:18,359 Speaker 1: solo in tax Man, which does rip ass rules, was 460 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,439 Speaker 1: played by Paul McCartney on his epiphone Casino, a guitar 461 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,040 Speaker 1: he loved because it fed back really well and he 462 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,959 Speaker 1: still owns it to this day. Didn't the those uh 463 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 1: potatoes and Oasis casinos? Uh Sheridan's I think Sheridan's like 464 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:36,920 Speaker 1: they had shared it as with the Union. Jack. Yeah, 465 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,200 Speaker 1: that guitar, I mean paperback writer, the the intro to 466 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,600 Speaker 1: that's played on it, Like, yeah, that guitar has that's 467 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,680 Speaker 1: that's seen some battles. I think the opening of Sergeant Pepper, 468 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: so I think he's playing that on it um and 469 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:52,320 Speaker 1: the you know, this could have maybe rubbed George the 470 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:54,639 Speaker 1: wrong way, but he took it very well in at 471 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,560 Speaker 1: least in public. I always remember this, uh, this quote 472 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 1: that he said, I was pleased to have Paul play 473 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: that bit on tax Man. If you notice he did 474 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,879 Speaker 1: a little Indian bit on it for me, which is 475 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,960 Speaker 1: either super passive aggress lats just actually kind of nice 476 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: that like, hey, you took the guitar solo on my song, 477 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 1: but you made a half hearted attempt to make it 478 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,400 Speaker 1: sound like it was me. Jeff Emrick's memoir Here There 479 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 1: and Everywhere makes it sound as the engineer Jeff Emerck 480 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 1: is the engineer on I forget what company we're in, 481 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,320 Speaker 1: and that we're gonna have to start introducing the characters 482 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 1: supposed to just a bunch of Beatles. Fans were like, 483 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:34,919 Speaker 1: oh yeah, Jeff Emerk, Um, yeah, engineer Jeff Emrek, who 484 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 1: is I don't know how many. There's been like five 485 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:43,120 Speaker 1: Fifth Beatles. There's there's Billy Preston, George, George Martin. Yeah, 486 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:47,400 Speaker 1: um um yeah. Jeff emerk is high on the list 487 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,240 Speaker 1: of Fifth Beatle candidates, deservedly placed up there. Um, he 488 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,400 Speaker 1: wrote in his memoir, which is called Here, There and Everywhere, Right, Yeah. 489 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 1: He says that he makes it sound as if Paul 490 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,360 Speaker 1: got tired of watching George not be able to play 491 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: that solo and just grabbed the guitar from him and 492 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:05,560 Speaker 1: cracked off that solo. Ah. He said. They even tried 493 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:08,120 Speaker 1: to slow the tape down so that he could play 494 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,920 Speaker 1: it slower. He wrote, after a couple of hours of 495 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: watching him struggle, both Paul and George Martin started becoming 496 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: quite frustrated. This was, after all, a Harrison song and 497 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:21,159 Speaker 1: not therefore not something anyone was prepared to spend a 498 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,959 Speaker 1: whole lot of time on ouch. So George Martin went 499 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: into the studio and as diplomatically as possible, announced that 500 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:29,800 Speaker 1: he wanted Paul to have a go with the solo instead. 501 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:31,960 Speaker 1: I could see from the look on Harrison's face that 502 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,480 Speaker 1: he didn't like the idea one bit, but he reluctantly 503 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: agreed and then proceeded to disappear for a couple of hours. 504 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:40,639 Speaker 1: He's he sometimes did that, had a bit of a 505 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:45,400 Speaker 1: sulk on his own, and then eventually came back Wolf. Yeah, 506 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,600 Speaker 1: that book is George really doesn't come across well in 507 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:50,719 Speaker 1: the first half of that book. He really comes across 508 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,679 Speaker 1: as kind of a screw up. And then his growth 509 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,440 Speaker 1: as a player and as a songwriter is a huge 510 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: part of the narrative arc of Ems memoir. I mean 511 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:02,160 Speaker 1: it just esting when you think about his actual guitar playing, 512 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 1: just as a lead guitarist, I mean one of those 513 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,400 Speaker 1: on all that early stuff, it's like kind of chet actings, 514 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: like twangy rockabilly stuff, and then you know, the mood 515 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: of the time was going towards like the cream blues rock, 516 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: like really amplified like this kind of guitar sound, and 517 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,800 Speaker 1: I can imagine him not really being able to summon 518 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,120 Speaker 1: that up, you know. I think it really came into 519 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: his own around like the Delandium Baing era on like 520 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:30,959 Speaker 1: sixty nine seventy, when he was with all the slide 521 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: stuff on all things past that. My favorite George the 522 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 1: solos on the later stuff have He wrote a really 523 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,760 Speaker 1: great his solos in um in the end when they're 524 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,640 Speaker 1: trading guitar solos back and forth. He had really strong hands. Man. 525 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 1: Some of those bends that he does are really hefty. Um, 526 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,359 Speaker 1: this is your favorite guitar solo in Beatles history. I 527 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: I think my second places the electric solo that he 528 00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:57,960 Speaker 1: does for Until There Was You at the Royal Variety 529 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:01,440 Speaker 1: performance in sixty three, but number one for me tax 530 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: Man solo so good. UM. I don't really do know 531 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:06,440 Speaker 1: want to put this, but there's a bit of the 532 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:08,800 Speaker 1: song where they sneak in a bit of the Batman 533 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: theme by the Markettes, which rules instead of saying, you know, 534 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:17,160 Speaker 1: the backing vocals tax made, they go Batman. Oh interesting, yeah, 535 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,119 Speaker 1: yeah yeah yeah. Um. I was trying to figure out 536 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,879 Speaker 1: what basse Paul played on this because I thought it 537 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,600 Speaker 1: might be the rick. I'm not sure it sounds like 538 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,720 Speaker 1: this is this is when people talk about his his 539 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: um James Jamerson era. Yeah, which is a bit fatuous 540 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,920 Speaker 1: for me to me. This sounds more like Stacks Like 541 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 1: this sounds something that would have been on like um, 542 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,959 Speaker 1: like Duck Dune might have played for the Stacks band. Um. 543 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 1: If you're talking about the sixties animals of great R 544 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: and B soul Motown session basis, James Jamerson is the 545 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: top of the mountain basis from Motown. Donald Duck Done 546 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 1: probably comes in number two for recording for Stacks. But 547 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,120 Speaker 1: the Stacks sound was always a little bit more are 548 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 1: rough edged and a little bit more simplistic than than Motown. 549 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:07,400 Speaker 1: Not as a knock um, but this vamp in particular 550 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 1: Gang and dan It Gang that that always smacked a 551 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: little bit more of Stacks than Motown. To make Well, 552 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,080 Speaker 1: you know, they were going to record this, yeah, and 553 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:19,640 Speaker 1: then we'll talk more about that a little later, but yeah, 554 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: it fell through. Uh. I guess they wanted too much 555 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,680 Speaker 1: money and also I think they somebody associated with the 556 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: Stacks studio let the word get out and they were 557 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: security concerns, but there were even rumors that Elvis was 558 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: gonna let them stay grace Land. It's hilarious to be 559 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:37,600 Speaker 1: a fly on that one. Oh my god. Yeah, you know. 560 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: But just like watching Peter Sellers movies and stuff all 561 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:43,959 Speaker 1: the time, I'd say tax Man and Got to Get 562 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:45,640 Speaker 1: into My Life. I really the only two songs that 563 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: I could see being like possibly benefited by being recorded 564 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: at stacks. Everything else, and we'll talk more about this later. 565 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: I think it would have been a disservice to the album. Yeah, 566 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: trying to watch them, trying to all the like Southern 567 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,400 Speaker 1: fried crackers at stacks, watching the slog through take after 568 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 1: take of Semi Competence, Semi competencyitar playing. George was not 569 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: especially known for his love of touring, but he did 570 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 1: embark on a brief tour of Japan for a few 571 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: weeks in December of ninety one with his friend Eric 572 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:17,960 Speaker 1: Clapton Want Want. For these shows, they stretched tax Man 573 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: into a slightly longer version, during which Clapton took two 574 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: solos as was his wont and George saying a new 575 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 1: and updated verse. If I reduce it again, you'll see 576 00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: uh boris yeltson, get back more at the v A 577 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:42,360 Speaker 1: t U Mr Bush so biting political yeah, biting stuff. Uh, 578 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,080 Speaker 1: but the new bridges. If you get ahead, I'll tax 579 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,520 Speaker 1: your hat. If you get a pet, I'll tax your cat. 580 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:51,400 Speaker 1: If you wipe your feet, I'll tax the mat. If 581 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:55,760 Speaker 1: you're overweight, I'll tax your fat. Uh. My favorite George 582 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: Eric moment is in concert from Bangladesh when coke blind 583 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: and drunk Air Clapton grabbed the wrong guitar uh and 584 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: is playing that gretch country gentleman and Uh. George rolls 585 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:12,200 Speaker 1: over and just spanks him in their little in their 586 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: little guitar duel that they would that they would do. 587 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:16,840 Speaker 1: I had always heard that he was two gagged up 588 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:20,640 Speaker 1: and literally grabbed the wrong the big orange it's either 589 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:24,240 Speaker 1: chet Atkins or I think it is. And his tone 590 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,280 Speaker 1: is all it's not the Clapton tone, and he's not 591 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,680 Speaker 1: playing the strat and he's just kind of fumbling. And 592 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:32,760 Speaker 1: George comes over and he's like, I can actually play 593 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: right now, Why don't you, why don't you sit down? 594 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:40,840 Speaker 1: I always loved that moment for George Clapton, A grave 595 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 1: digger of a guitarist, ditch digger of a guitarist. Oh 596 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 1: you can, you could quote me on that one. Who 597 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 1: was the actual ditch digger and classic ro was that 598 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,160 Speaker 1: Robert Plant didn't he ells or no Rod Stewart but 599 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,720 Speaker 1: didn't He was a grave digger, was grave digger probably? 600 00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 1: Oh grave singing this brings us to eleanor Rigby. That, Uh, 601 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: it's interesting that eleanor Rigby is actually one of the 602 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:12,720 Speaker 1: most contested songs in the Lennon McCartney cannon. In terms 603 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: of lyrics, John always claimed that he added a significant 604 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,640 Speaker 1: portion of the lyrics. He said up to sevent and 605 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 1: his quote was a great quote. It was Paul's baby, 606 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: but I assisted with the education of the child. John 607 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: said that Paul had written the first verse and the 608 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: general theme of the song, but the rest of the 609 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,560 Speaker 1: lyrics was John's. Uh. He remembers that they had a 610 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:34,400 Speaker 1: group writing session at his house after a Beatle dinner 611 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 1: party and they all kind of convened in the living 612 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: room and try to finish it off. And also the 613 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:44,080 Speaker 1: Beatles historian Robert Rodriguez, who wrote an amazing book about Revolver, 614 00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:47,520 Speaker 1: has claimed the original lyrics sheet for eleanor Rigby features 615 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,360 Speaker 1: the song's key lyric look at all the Lonely People, 616 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,840 Speaker 1: written in Harrison's hand, so it's a possibility that George 617 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,000 Speaker 1: kicked in a few lines too. And John remembers getting 618 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,200 Speaker 1: up and going to the bathroom during this group writing 619 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: session at the house. He said, I left to go 620 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:03,280 Speaker 1: to the toilet. I heard someone say that line, I'll 621 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:05,240 Speaker 1: look at all the Lonely People, and I turned around 622 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:11,800 Speaker 1: and said that's it. This is his cigar chopping executive momentum. However, 623 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: John's old school friend Pete Shotton, who was like basically 624 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: his best friend before Paul came into the picture, he 625 00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:20,440 Speaker 1: happened to be visiting John's house that night, the night 626 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:23,040 Speaker 1: of this eleanor Rigby writing session, and he claims that 627 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,760 Speaker 1: John's contribution was virtually nothing. In fact, this guy, Pete 628 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:28,640 Speaker 1: Shotton says that he was the one who came up 629 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: with the idea to end the song with eleanor Rigby's death, 630 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,320 Speaker 1: and John said, you know, I don't think you get 631 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: what we're trying to do here, Pete, and basically slagged 632 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,000 Speaker 1: him off. Both George Martin and John Lennon have said 633 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,320 Speaker 1: that the lyrics were unfinished when it came time to 634 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,640 Speaker 1: record the song in the studio, and that both George Martin, 635 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 1: Rhodis mal Evans, and Neil aspinall and possibly John helped 636 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 1: finish it off while Paul worked out in arrangement somewhere else. 637 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,800 Speaker 1: So now we have Paul John, George John's friend Pete Shotton, 638 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,720 Speaker 1: George Martin, and Rhodes mal and Neo all up for 639 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: potential credit on eleanor Rigby. Make of that what you will. 640 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:05,720 Speaker 1: It's like we were talking about earlier, a bunch of 641 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,920 Speaker 1: creative people in the room. Ideas get exchanged. It's hard 642 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: to really assign a credit. We're going to take a 643 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:15,480 Speaker 1: quick break, but we'll be right back with more too 644 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:29,520 Speaker 1: much information in just a moment. Paul McCartney famously can't 645 00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,440 Speaker 1: read music and is not a trained musician by any 646 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:34,680 Speaker 1: stretch of the imagination, but for a brief time in 647 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 1: the mid sixties he took a handful of composition lessons 648 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: from a teacher at the Guildhall School of Music, and 649 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,160 Speaker 1: this was probably on the advice of his girlfriend, Jane 650 00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:46,640 Speaker 1: Asher's mother, who once taught Obo at this music school. 651 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:49,759 Speaker 1: In fact, George Martin was one of her students. Isn't 652 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:53,120 Speaker 1: that weird? Paul's almost mother in law taught George Martin 653 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:55,400 Speaker 1: when he was a student. I think that's crazy. I 654 00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:58,439 Speaker 1: just do some something so humanizing about hearing the little 655 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:02,959 Speaker 1: parts where Paul's gene is bumps up against his actual limitations, 656 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 1: you know, like, didn't you. I think it was in 657 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,879 Speaker 1: your piece where where George Martin was trying to tell 658 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:12,400 Speaker 1: him what string vibrato was and he couldn't tell the difference. 659 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:14,080 Speaker 1: So you can hear it on the box set. They 660 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: have these great session rehearsals and George gets the string 661 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: players to play a bit with vibrato and a bit without, 662 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:21,960 Speaker 1: and you hear Paul come over the talk back. George 663 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:23,839 Speaker 1: is like, Paul, can you tell the difference? And Paul 664 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: comes to the talk back and goes, oh, not really, no, sorry, 665 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:30,360 Speaker 1: it's just great. Um, but yeah, I mean, speaking of 666 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,520 Speaker 1: Paul's limitations. He had this composition teacher and he played 667 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,800 Speaker 1: him eleanor Rigby an early version of it. The composition 668 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:40,960 Speaker 1: teacher didn't think much of it, basically said, I don't know, 669 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:43,319 Speaker 1: it's not sure if it's any good and nuh. Paul 670 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 1: stopped his lessons soon after he said, I went I 671 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:50,040 Speaker 1: went off. And when I showed him eleanor Rigby because 672 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:52,239 Speaker 1: I thought he'd be interested, and he wasn't. I thought 673 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:55,000 Speaker 1: he might be intrigued by the little time skips. He 674 00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,359 Speaker 1: was not. I mean, if you think about it, it's 675 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:00,759 Speaker 1: really just it's an exercise in van upping. I mean, 676 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:04,719 Speaker 1: it's really it's like two chords basically, which is what 677 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:06,640 Speaker 1: he uh, you know, he said it was almost more 678 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:09,320 Speaker 1: of an Indian song before it was arranged by George 679 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,960 Speaker 1: Martin for a string quartet. Uh. Indian music is mostly 680 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:21,320 Speaker 1: static harmony. Yeah, tremendously virtuosity scale or playing, but not 681 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:25,719 Speaker 1: really known for its wide array of chords. UM McCartney 682 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:28,719 Speaker 1: apparently made a demo tape of this and Ringo's old 683 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:32,040 Speaker 1: apartment in Montaguese Square in the presence of William Burrows 684 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:38,160 Speaker 1: hopefully had been disarmed. Um. The apartment had been turned 685 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,400 Speaker 1: into an ad hoc spoken words studio for Paul's avant 686 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,960 Speaker 1: garde Buddies, hence the reason Burrows was there. Uh. Donovan 687 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:47,560 Speaker 1: making his second appearance in this episode so that he 688 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:50,319 Speaker 1: also heard it around this time and echoed the fact 689 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,279 Speaker 1: that when he originally heard it it sounded like an 690 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 1: Indian track. He says that the words at the time 691 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:58,640 Speaker 1: were olan a tungi blowing his mind in the dark 692 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 1: with a pipe full of clay a no one can say, 693 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:04,520 Speaker 1: which is in keeping with Paul's habit of putting in 694 00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:08,480 Speaker 1: placeholder nonsense syllables until he finds the final lyrics. The 695 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:11,800 Speaker 1: most famous example of this is, of course, in Yesterday, 696 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:17,480 Speaker 1: the main lyric was originally scrambled eggs scrambled eggs uh. 697 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:20,880 Speaker 1: Funnily enough, this dummy lyric may have come from a 698 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:26,240 Speaker 1: rather popular album of drumming music, Drums of Passion sixty, 699 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:32,520 Speaker 1: by a Nigerian musician and activist named Michael bobba Uh. 700 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,439 Speaker 1: The album is called Drums of Passion from I Feel 701 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:37,920 Speaker 1: Like Ginger Baker has also talked about this record that 702 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:39,800 Speaker 1: would make sense. Yeah, it was. I think it was 703 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,440 Speaker 1: kind of big on like the hip London Circles. Because 704 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:46,400 Speaker 1: Brian Epstein went on this show in England called Desert 705 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:49,320 Speaker 1: Island Discs, this radio show where you give your favorite songs, 706 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:51,239 Speaker 1: and that was one of the songs he chose. Yeah, 707 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:53,200 Speaker 1: so that may have been where that name came from. 708 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:55,680 Speaker 1: Plus use name checked by Bob Dylan on I Shall 709 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:59,440 Speaker 1: Be Free. I don't know that that's wild h Anyway, 710 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,560 Speaker 1: Originally father Mackenzie was father McCartney, but Paul changed it 711 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 1: so people didn't think he was singing about his dad. Uh, 712 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:08,360 Speaker 1: And they ultimately just consulted a phone book looking for 713 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:11,640 Speaker 1: names that would fit. Uh. Darning his socks in the 714 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:14,719 Speaker 1: night when there's nobody there was reportedly a line contributed 715 00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:17,040 Speaker 1: by Ringo. Well that was a real concern about not 716 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:19,120 Speaker 1: wanting people to think he was singing about his own dad, 717 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:22,040 Speaker 1: because like that line, darning his socks by himself and 718 00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:24,640 Speaker 1: the night when there's nobody there like a a sad 719 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:28,960 Speaker 1: fate for this character. And John's father, who abandoned him 720 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:32,640 Speaker 1: as a child, had recently been discovered by the tabloids 721 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:35,520 Speaker 1: working as a dishwasher, and all the headlines were like, 722 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:37,719 Speaker 1: why isn't John looking after his dad? Why is he 723 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:40,760 Speaker 1: like working as a dishwasher and all these pubs and stuff. 724 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:43,080 Speaker 1: And John was furious because this guy just like walked 725 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:44,759 Speaker 1: out of his life when he was a kid, and 726 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:47,960 Speaker 1: like suddenly now he's being made to look bad for 727 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:51,040 Speaker 1: I think his quote was something like, I'm you know, 728 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:53,120 Speaker 1: why am I not taking care of him? Why didn't 729 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:55,680 Speaker 1: he take care of me? Like and so it kind 730 00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:59,879 Speaker 1: of led to this really kind of awkward reunion where 731 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,560 Speaker 1: I think John took care of him quietly, but it 732 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:04,759 Speaker 1: didn't really want him in his life. So I think 733 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:06,840 Speaker 1: Paul probably felt the same way. It was like, no, 734 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:08,680 Speaker 1: I don't want to have a song where it sounds 735 00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:12,120 Speaker 1: like my dad is this like, you know, living in poverty. 736 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:16,879 Speaker 1: It was a rather clean old man. That was his grandpa, Yeah, 737 00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:22,960 Speaker 1: not actually his actual grandfather. The most serious line in 738 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:26,040 Speaker 1: the song that was definitively a contribution from Paul wearing 739 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:28,160 Speaker 1: a face that she keeps in a jar by the door. 740 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:32,560 Speaker 1: I never thought that was particularly confusing. I thought it 741 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,040 Speaker 1: was very obviously about someone putting on makeup. He said 742 00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:39,920 Speaker 1: this confusingly. It was very like, um, I just always 743 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 1: thought that it was a very obsterious turn of phrase. 744 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:46,080 Speaker 1: Is one of those phrases that's like it's almost like ringoes, 745 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 1: phrases like a hard day's night or tomorrow I never know. 746 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:50,560 Speaker 1: Its like those phrases that you don't think about it 747 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:52,160 Speaker 1: too hard. It kind of makes sense, but as soon 748 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: as you stop and actually look at the construction of me, 749 00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:55,759 Speaker 1: like wait, what is that? What does that mean? Like 750 00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:02,960 Speaker 1: like yogi berra deja vu all over again. But Paul McCartney, 751 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:04,759 Speaker 1: you know, put a put a hard stop on it. 752 00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:07,399 Speaker 1: On his book of lyrics that came out, he said, 753 00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:10,040 Speaker 1: my mom's favorite cold cream was Nivia, and I love 754 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:12,239 Speaker 1: it to this day. That's the cold cream I was 755 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:14,600 Speaker 1: thinking of in the description of the face Eleanor keeps 756 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,120 Speaker 1: in a jar by the door. I was always a 757 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:20,040 Speaker 1: little scared by how often women used to cold cream, 758 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:24,440 Speaker 1: influencer Paul shouting that via cold cream. But I love 759 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:26,680 Speaker 1: I loved Niva my whole life and I love it 760 00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:31,800 Speaker 1: to this day. Paul McCartney for Nivia always focused on 761 00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:36,240 Speaker 1: the bag Paul um, but where did the name actually 762 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:38,840 Speaker 1: come from? The character was based on an elderly woman 763 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:40,920 Speaker 1: that Paul used to go around and do errands for 764 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:44,200 Speaker 1: as a boy scout in Liverpool. He later wrote in 765 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:46,960 Speaker 1: his lyric book, I found out she lived on her own, 766 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:49,759 Speaker 1: so I would go around there and just chat. Later 767 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,279 Speaker 1: I would offer to go and get her shopping. We'd 768 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:54,480 Speaker 1: sit in her kitchen, so I would visit and just 769 00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:58,000 Speaker 1: hearing her stories enriched my soul and influenced the songs 770 00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:01,560 Speaker 1: I would later write. Paul loved old people. I love 771 00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:06,800 Speaker 1: people My favorite Paul old person's story was when he 772 00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:09,880 Speaker 1: lived with his girlfriend Jane Asher and their townhouse in 773 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:13,120 Speaker 1: the middle of London. You know it's middle of London. 774 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:14,759 Speaker 1: You can't just walk out the front door. Because he's 775 00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:17,360 Speaker 1: Paul McCartney, all the fans know where he lives. He 776 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:21,080 Speaker 1: had to devise this goofy escape route where he lived 777 00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: at the top. It was little like artist Garrett at 778 00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: the top of this townhouse, and so he talked to 779 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:28,920 Speaker 1: his neighbors and they devised this escape route where he 780 00:41:28,960 --> 00:41:31,960 Speaker 1: would like walk along the roof to like the building 781 00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:35,320 Speaker 1: next door, go down the Florida like a fire escape, 782 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,719 Speaker 1: and in through this like old Major's window that he 783 00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:40,879 Speaker 1: would just like keep open for him and the Major. 784 00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:43,120 Speaker 1: He just be like coming through Major and the Major 785 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,400 Speaker 1: but like Shah and all that, and even he's like 786 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:48,400 Speaker 1: he got to know all these neighbors by just kind 787 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:50,520 Speaker 1: of like popping through the house and out the back 788 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:54,040 Speaker 1: alleyway to like a little muse behind the townhouse where 789 00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:56,360 Speaker 1: they lived and could sneak out that way. I just 790 00:41:56,440 --> 00:42:01,360 Speaker 1: love that um. Originally the name that Paul used in 791 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,200 Speaker 1: the song was Daisy Hawkins. I didn't even understand how 792 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:07,239 Speaker 1: that would fit in the lyrics. Nope, doesn't, doesn't scan. 793 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:09,520 Speaker 1: But he ditched it because he said it didn't sound 794 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:12,360 Speaker 1: real enough, it seemed too phony. He landed on Eleanor 795 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:15,239 Speaker 1: Rigby through a means that is somewhat contested. He says 796 00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:19,279 Speaker 1: he borrowed Eleanor from the actress comedian Eleanor Braun, who 797 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:21,480 Speaker 1: co starred with the Beatles in the movie Help and 798 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:24,080 Speaker 1: was a fixture on the London comedy scene. She appeared 799 00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:27,359 Speaker 1: in reviews with people like Peter Cook and Dugley Moore. Uh. 800 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:29,759 Speaker 1: Paul also claims that John had an affair with her, 801 00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:32,719 Speaker 1: so make of that what you will. And then he 802 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:34,920 Speaker 1: says that Rigby came from the name of a liquor 803 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:37,319 Speaker 1: store that he saw in Bristol where his girlfriend Jane 804 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,719 Speaker 1: Asher was performing a play. I thought, oh, it's a 805 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:43,279 Speaker 1: very ordinary name, and yet it's a special name. It 806 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:46,799 Speaker 1: was exactly what I wanted, so Eleanor Rigby. I felt great, 807 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:52,080 Speaker 1: I'd got it. Paul McCarty just gassing himself off the song, 808 00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:57,080 Speaker 1: which sold millions of millions copies. I did a great job. However, 809 00:42:57,239 --> 00:42:59,759 Speaker 1: his friend, the playwright Lionel Bart, claims that they were 810 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,879 Speaker 1: walking together past a graveyard in London and he saw 811 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,080 Speaker 1: the name eleanor By graves and that inspired the name. 812 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:10,200 Speaker 1: But it gets weirder. In the Liverpool suburb of Woolton, 813 00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:12,960 Speaker 1: in the very churchyard that John and Paul had their 814 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:16,959 Speaker 1: famous meeting, is a gravestone for an eleanor Rigby mirror 815 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:20,480 Speaker 1: feet from the spot where the two Beatles met. He 816 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,400 Speaker 1: later said it was either complete coincidence or in my 817 00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:26,520 Speaker 1: subconscious I suppose it was more likely in my subconscious 818 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:30,239 Speaker 1: because I have been amongst those graves knocking around with John. 819 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,320 Speaker 1: It was the sort of place we used to sunbathe. 820 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,160 Speaker 1: But there could have been three thousand gravestones in Britain 821 00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:38,200 Speaker 1: with eleanor Rigby on. It is possible I saw it 822 00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:41,920 Speaker 1: and subconsciously remembered it, so subconscious it maybe, But this 823 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,680 Speaker 1: is just bigger than me. I don't know the answer 824 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:47,080 Speaker 1: to that one. I just want to talk about the 825 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,440 Speaker 1: fact that there was sunbathing in a graveyard. I mean, 826 00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:53,680 Speaker 1: that's very goth of them. Is. The fact is the 827 00:43:53,719 --> 00:43:56,400 Speaker 1: fact they're getting a tan at all. But that does uh? 828 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:00,200 Speaker 1: That does that sounds like something Morrissey would have done. One. 829 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:04,160 Speaker 1: So the song I Wanta Rigby became the first one. 830 00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:06,640 Speaker 1: I believe that none of the Beatles actually play on 831 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,520 Speaker 1: although they did arrange a three part harmony on the chorus. 832 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,040 Speaker 1: Although it sounds like John sang all the lovely People 833 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:16,160 Speaker 1: at points. So he although he did have a hard 834 00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:19,000 Speaker 1: time with lyrics, so maybe he just got it wrong. 835 00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:22,279 Speaker 1: He had a learning disability. I don't think he did 836 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:30,880 Speaker 1: all right. I don't think so he was stoned. Okay. Uh. 837 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 1: George Martin's string artete arrangements borrow the spiky staccato string 838 00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:39,600 Speaker 1: punctuations from Bernard Hermann's soundtrack The Psycho. If you think 839 00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:41,879 Speaker 1: about it, it sounds a lot like the psycho theme 840 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:44,600 Speaker 1: in the Shower. Fun fact, two of these string players 841 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:48,279 Speaker 1: in the oleanor Rigby session also played strings on Yesterday. 842 00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:51,800 Speaker 1: George Barton claimed that it was his idea to the 843 00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:55,240 Speaker 1: string arrangement, but said that Paul initially resisted the idea 844 00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:57,440 Speaker 1: because he was worried that it would come across as 845 00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:01,640 Speaker 1: quote two man cny, which is obviously not the case 846 00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:05,080 Speaker 1: with these harsh, biting sounds. I mean, you could you know, 847 00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:09,360 Speaker 1: you know, lesser producer's hands. It could have easily descended 848 00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:12,400 Speaker 1: into like you know, saddled woman with you know, bringing 849 00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:16,160 Speaker 1: the strings, like bringing the world's smallest violin kind of 850 00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:18,880 Speaker 1: thing right there. Yeah, now that's a great arrangement. Oh, 851 00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:22,160 Speaker 1: it's an incredible arrangement. Yeah. Both John and Paul claimed 852 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:24,160 Speaker 1: that it was at Paul's original idea to have these 853 00:45:24,200 --> 00:45:29,280 Speaker 1: strings because I guess Jane Asher, Paul's girlfriend, extremely cultured woman, 854 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:33,600 Speaker 1: had turned Paul onto Vivaldi's Four Seasons concertose and that 855 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,719 Speaker 1: was another inspiration for how he wanted the strings to sound. 856 00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:40,719 Speaker 1: In any event, I love those close mike strings, and 857 00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:43,759 Speaker 1: I guess at the time it was customary to mike 858 00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:46,880 Speaker 1: string groups with one or two mics from a distance 859 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:50,640 Speaker 1: of several feet, but engineer Jeff Emrick moved the mics 860 00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:53,480 Speaker 1: to just like an inch or two away from the players, 861 00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:55,840 Speaker 1: and you could just really hear the scrape of the 862 00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,719 Speaker 1: horse hair bow on the strings. Well, correct me if 863 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:00,600 Speaker 1: I'm wrong, But it wasn't just that. It wasn't not 864 00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:02,640 Speaker 1: only that they were super close, it was that he 865 00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:05,759 Speaker 1: was making them down by the bridge, right. I think 866 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:08,080 Speaker 1: I think that might also be an element, which is 867 00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:11,399 Speaker 1: where you get the harshest bow tone. Yeah, I mean, 868 00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:15,840 Speaker 1: if you're yeah, and on any string instrument, the closer 869 00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:18,200 Speaker 1: that you played it where it's anchored, the tighter the 870 00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:19,680 Speaker 1: tension on the string is going to be. And when 871 00:46:19,680 --> 00:46:21,920 Speaker 1: you do that with a boat instrument, that's when it 872 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:26,280 Speaker 1: can get really spike said percussive and shrill and gritty. 873 00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:30,000 Speaker 1: And I think it's actually used as like an avant garde, 874 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:33,040 Speaker 1: like extended technique and string playing. You're generally supposed to 875 00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:34,960 Speaker 1: play it closer to a midpoint between the end of 876 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:38,160 Speaker 1: the fingerboard and the in the bridge. And the players 877 00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:41,080 Speaker 1: were not happy about this. Whenever Jeff Emmick would try 878 00:46:41,080 --> 00:46:43,919 Speaker 1: to move the mics closer, they kept scooching their chairs back, 879 00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:46,359 Speaker 1: and eventually George Martin had to come on, we'll talk 880 00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:49,000 Speaker 1: back in the studio and just tell them to stop moving. 881 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,160 Speaker 1: And I guess the players were still not very happy 882 00:46:52,239 --> 00:46:55,400 Speaker 1: with it, because reportedly they declined to listen to the 883 00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:58,960 Speaker 1: playback um. In addition to Paul's composition teacher not thinking 884 00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,680 Speaker 1: much of eleanor Rigby, another person who wasn't that impressed 885 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:07,440 Speaker 1: was Kinks composer Ray Davies. He we reviewed Revolver as 886 00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:09,880 Speaker 1: part of a feature for the disc and Music Echo 887 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:14,120 Speaker 1: magazine in nineteen sixty six, and he was not especially 888 00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:18,520 Speaker 1: uh kind of eleanor Rigby. He said, quote, it sounds 889 00:47:18,600 --> 00:47:21,560 Speaker 1: like they're out to please music teachers in primary schools. 890 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:24,120 Speaker 1: I can imagine John saying, I'm going to write this 891 00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:28,560 Speaker 1: from my old school mistress. Still, it's very commercial. And 892 00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:32,320 Speaker 1: he also declared Yellow Submarine quote a load of rubbish. Really, 893 00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:36,400 Speaker 1: I think they know it's not that good. And finally, 894 00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:40,640 Speaker 1: for Tomorrow never knows Uh, a song that revolutionized twentieth 895 00:47:40,680 --> 00:47:43,719 Speaker 1: century music. He wrote this is I think he's best 896 00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:47,680 Speaker 1: capsule review. Quote. Listen to all those crazy sounds. It'll 897 00:47:47,719 --> 00:47:51,080 Speaker 1: be popular in discothex. I can imagine they had George 898 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:55,440 Speaker 1: Martin tied to a totem pole when they did this. Yeah, 899 00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:59,279 Speaker 1: I mean Ray Davies is a prick. Also, that's rather ritchie. 900 00:47:59,400 --> 00:48:02,080 Speaker 1: We're talking I who stabbed his guitarist brother in the 901 00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:04,719 Speaker 1: hand of a fork over French fry. But that's rich 902 00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:07,960 Speaker 1: of him, coming from Village Green Preservation Society, which is 903 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:12,000 Speaker 1: all about the most like whimsical, let's preserve the vanishing 904 00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:15,960 Speaker 1: traditions of England. You can imagine, And I think he's 905 00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:18,879 Speaker 1: conflating the wrong kind of Indian there so it's also 906 00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:23,800 Speaker 1: super racist, totem pole, he's confusing different kinds of Indians. 907 00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:26,279 Speaker 1: I didn't think about that, is that it was a 908 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:30,520 Speaker 1: weird thing to tie someone to come on ray speaking 909 00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:35,560 Speaker 1: of Indian Indian, speaking of the correct kind of Indian music. 910 00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:38,640 Speaker 1: George had used his beetle break for the first couple 911 00:48:38,640 --> 00:48:40,839 Speaker 1: of months of nine sixty six to dive deeper into 912 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:44,560 Speaker 1: his studies of Indian music, which, hilariously he's been first 913 00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:47,200 Speaker 1: exposed to in the set of Help was during the 914 00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:50,040 Speaker 1: scene when they were shooting in an Indian restaurant and 915 00:48:50,120 --> 00:48:52,759 Speaker 1: there was a group of Indian musicians playing. It was 916 00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:55,799 Speaker 1: essentially an Indian parody, and he picked up a cheap 917 00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:58,600 Speaker 1: satar not long after screwing around with one on the 918 00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:01,719 Speaker 1: set in and he used it on no region would 919 00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:03,400 Speaker 1: to add a little color to the track at the 920 00:49:03,520 --> 00:49:06,040 Speaker 1: very last minute, and that really could have been the 921 00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:09,280 Speaker 1: end of it, but George broke a string on the saitar, 922 00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:12,120 Speaker 1: and to rescue him, George Barton called a member of 923 00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:15,239 Speaker 1: the Asian Music Circle in London to help repair it. 924 00:49:15,719 --> 00:49:19,520 Speaker 1: Just this organization of Indian musicians and George got close 925 00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:21,359 Speaker 1: to these people and through them he began to learn 926 00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:25,239 Speaker 1: the intricacies of Indian music, and also around the same time, 927 00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:28,279 Speaker 1: George was turned onto the music of Raby Shankar by 928 00:49:28,760 --> 00:49:33,200 Speaker 1: reportedly David Crosby and Roger McGuinn of The Birds, whose 929 00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:36,040 Speaker 1: love of Indian modalities is clear on stuff like eight 930 00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:39,400 Speaker 1: Miles High and the song Why. I guess the Birds 931 00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:41,920 Speaker 1: learned about him because the owner of a studio where 932 00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:45,160 Speaker 1: the Birds made their demos had produced Ravi Shankar. This 933 00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:48,839 Speaker 1: guy Dick Bach at World Pacific. I think his name 934 00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:52,760 Speaker 1: is very famous. UM kind of hit label. I always 935 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,160 Speaker 1: thought they might have gotten through it through Coltrane because 936 00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:58,000 Speaker 1: Coltrane Jan Coltrane is a big Ravi Shankar fan, and 937 00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:02,280 Speaker 1: eight Miles High as a from it was built around 938 00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:06,280 Speaker 1: a quote from a Cold Trane tune called I Believe India. 939 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:09,720 Speaker 1: I think so. Yeah, it's funny. This song is probably 940 00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:11,600 Speaker 1: my least favorite on this record to be, to be 941 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:16,520 Speaker 1: perfectly honest, Yeah, it's great, but it's like, I don't 942 00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:18,279 Speaker 1: know my whole thing about George and the citar is. 943 00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:21,960 Speaker 1: I think it's deployed well on like Norwegian would That's 944 00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:23,840 Speaker 1: my favorite use of it. But he really should have 945 00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:27,600 Speaker 1: just waited a year for the Dan electro electric citar 946 00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:31,799 Speaker 1: to come out, because that instrument is so so much 947 00:50:32,080 --> 00:50:35,520 Speaker 1: better deployed in everything that would come after it. Like 948 00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:39,160 Speaker 1: I think of you know, sein Sel delivered I'm yours 949 00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:42,120 Speaker 1: is the perfect use of the electric citar. And then 950 00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:47,239 Speaker 1: on this you've got that player don't bla bla, don't play. Yeah, 951 00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:50,239 Speaker 1: that's the I had no idea that was what that was. 952 00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:55,399 Speaker 1: And uh and I don't think I don't think called 953 00:50:55,480 --> 00:50:59,359 Speaker 1: George pulled it off super well on this one. Well 954 00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:04,640 Speaker 1: he'd only been playing for and it's and it's you 955 00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:08,720 Speaker 1: supposedly require several lifetimes the masters. So yeah, it's crazy. 956 00:51:08,719 --> 00:51:10,480 Speaker 1: They don't even let you. Indian music is not. They 957 00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:12,239 Speaker 1: don't even let you pick up an instrument until you 958 00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:16,200 Speaker 1: learn all the clapping patterns with the syllables like scatting 959 00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:19,680 Speaker 1: like it's it's no, it's it's admirable. He tried, and 960 00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:23,560 Speaker 1: it's a testament to the juice that they had that 961 00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:29,640 Speaker 1: this made it onto a record. No, they're like, okay, George, 962 00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:33,560 Speaker 1: do your thing. So George went to a Rabbi Shankar 963 00:51:33,680 --> 00:51:37,080 Speaker 1: concert in early nineteen sixty six and it just blew 964 00:51:37,160 --> 00:51:40,000 Speaker 1: his mind. It totally turned him onto the possibilities of 965 00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:42,959 Speaker 1: this exotic instrument, and he told the journalist Marine Cleave 966 00:51:43,040 --> 00:51:45,320 Speaker 1: in early nineteen sixty six, I couldn't believe it. It 967 00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:47,680 Speaker 1: was just like everything you've ever thought of as great, 968 00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:50,600 Speaker 1: all coming out at once, all excited. George is my 969 00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:55,640 Speaker 1: favorite George, and he began practicing the suitar apparently every day, 970 00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,680 Speaker 1: and reportedly Love You Too was one of the first songs, 971 00:51:58,760 --> 00:52:01,480 Speaker 1: I thought, the first song that he specifically wrote on 972 00:52:01,560 --> 00:52:04,000 Speaker 1: the instrument. To me, it's the most interesting of George's 973 00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:07,919 Speaker 1: three diversions into Indian music because unlike something like Within 974 00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:11,160 Speaker 1: You Without You, it does have some traditional rock sounds, 975 00:52:11,239 --> 00:52:14,240 Speaker 1: like the fuzzed out strat and Paul's based on the background, 976 00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:16,640 Speaker 1: so that makes it an interesting blend to me. Yeah, 977 00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:19,080 Speaker 1: I mean you mentioned earlier. George is excited about it, 978 00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:21,239 Speaker 1: and it is really adorable, he said at the time. 979 00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:24,239 Speaker 1: To me, Indian music is the only really great music now, 980 00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:27,320 Speaker 1: and it makes Western three or four beat type stuff 981 00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:29,960 Speaker 1: seems somehow dead. You can get so much more out 982 00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:32,320 Speaker 1: of it if you're really prepared to concentrate and listen. 983 00:52:32,719 --> 00:52:34,839 Speaker 1: I hope more people will try to dig it. Um. 984 00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:37,480 Speaker 1: It's interesting though that George's love for the music was 985 00:52:37,640 --> 00:52:39,840 Speaker 1: shared by the rest of the Beatles, including John Lennon. 986 00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:44,239 Speaker 1: He said, it's amazing, this so cool, um, although he 987 00:52:44,320 --> 00:52:47,120 Speaker 1: not long for idle praise. Yeah, he did not contribute 988 00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:50,759 Speaker 1: to this in the studio. There's outtakes and rehearsal tapes 989 00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:53,319 Speaker 1: that you can actually hear the rest of the band 990 00:52:53,360 --> 00:52:56,440 Speaker 1: being as excited about this stuff as George was. Um 991 00:52:56,719 --> 00:52:59,840 Speaker 1: with McCartney working out this alternate harmony that is ultimately 992 00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:04,400 Speaker 1: left off funnily enough. Uh. George did not have a 993 00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:08,440 Speaker 1: title for this song always Yeah, he was terrible titled 994 00:53:08,480 --> 00:53:11,319 Speaker 1: Stephen King is bad at endings. George Harrison is bad 995 00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:15,440 Speaker 1: at titles. Jeff Emrick called it Granny Smith for a 996 00:53:15,480 --> 00:53:20,560 Speaker 1: while after his favorite type of Apple um, which yeah, 997 00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:22,960 Speaker 1: I didn't, I didn't, I didn't put that together. They 998 00:53:23,160 --> 00:53:26,680 Speaker 1: that's the logo for Apple Records. Uh. And then we're 999 00:53:26,719 --> 00:53:29,320 Speaker 1: recording another George song, which would become I want to 1000 00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:31,880 Speaker 1: tell you he didn't have a title for that, and 1001 00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:33,760 Speaker 1: you can hear John in the background of the session 1002 00:53:33,840 --> 00:53:38,400 Speaker 1: tape saying, let's call it Granny Smith Part freaking two. Uh. 1003 00:53:38,719 --> 00:53:41,960 Speaker 1: But they ultimately went with another kind of apple Laxton's 1004 00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:46,520 Speaker 1: superb which is a British ass way to name an apple. 1005 00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:51,080 Speaker 1: If I've ever heard one, your your brief beatles apple 1006 00:53:51,239 --> 00:53:55,480 Speaker 1: sidebar the fruit, not the record label. This brings us 1007 00:53:55,520 --> 00:54:01,200 Speaker 1: to I'm only sleeping. Uh So John Lennon uh might 1008 00:54:01,239 --> 00:54:03,320 Speaker 1: have been one of the best songwriters of the twentieth 1009 00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:06,560 Speaker 1: century and a genius of the human spirit, but the 1010 00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:10,320 Speaker 1: dude was lazy. In a ninety six profile on the 1011 00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:13,120 Speaker 1: London Evening Standard, written by the brilliant Marine Cleave, who 1012 00:54:13,239 --> 00:54:16,920 Speaker 1: was his friend, she described him as quote possibly the 1013 00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:20,880 Speaker 1: laziest person in England. John's also quoted in the article 1014 00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:24,840 Speaker 1: describing himself as quote physically lazy. I don't mind writing 1015 00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:27,400 Speaker 1: or reading, or watching or speaking, but sex is the 1016 00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:30,360 Speaker 1: only physical thing I can be bothered with anymore. He 1017 00:54:30,520 --> 00:54:34,640 Speaker 1: spent his days mostly horizontal at Kenwood, the twenty seven 1018 00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:37,400 Speaker 1: room luxurious state that he shared with his wife Cynthia 1019 00:54:37,760 --> 00:54:41,480 Speaker 1: and three year old son Julian in the stayed upper 1020 00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:45,040 Speaker 1: class London suburb of Weybridge, and he'd never been happy 1021 00:54:45,120 --> 00:54:47,000 Speaker 1: in the area. He just basically moved there at his 1022 00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:51,000 Speaker 1: accountenance suggestion, and Canwood was the third house they viewed 1023 00:54:51,080 --> 00:54:54,600 Speaker 1: that day, and he was like, I'll take it just fine, uh, 1024 00:54:54,719 --> 00:54:58,319 Speaker 1: and spent his days basically watching TV and dropping out. 1025 00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:01,000 Speaker 1: And this was around the same period when he kept 1026 00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:04,080 Speaker 1: the Mortal and Pestle close at hand to mash together 1027 00:55:04,960 --> 00:55:09,520 Speaker 1: whatever pharmaceuticals the hand into one giant, unpredictable mega pill. 1028 00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:13,200 Speaker 1: That is, people's cavalier attitudes towards pharmacology back in this 1029 00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:15,879 Speaker 1: era continue to astound me. I just finished this Charles 1030 00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:19,160 Speaker 1: Mingus biography and there's an anecdote in there where Mingus 1031 00:55:19,200 --> 00:55:22,480 Speaker 1: went to go see Monk play and he goes backstage 1032 00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:25,440 Speaker 1: and there was just a shoebox full of pill loose pills. 1033 00:55:26,280 --> 00:55:27,520 Speaker 1: One of them says, the other one, do you want 1034 00:55:27,520 --> 00:55:30,080 Speaker 1: to get high? One goes yeah. So they just reach 1035 00:55:30,160 --> 00:55:32,920 Speaker 1: in and grabbed a handful of whatever and just tossed 1036 00:55:33,160 --> 00:55:38,640 Speaker 1: back like good lord. Almost to say. John is usually 1037 00:55:38,719 --> 00:55:41,600 Speaker 1: asleep when Paul arrived from London in the morning to 1038 00:55:41,680 --> 00:55:45,160 Speaker 1: start their songwriting sessions. How annoying must a chipper, Paul 1039 00:55:45,239 --> 00:55:52,040 Speaker 1: McCarty be moments after you woke up, guy, but Jesus Christ, wakey, 1040 00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:57,520 Speaker 1: wakey John. So that's where he comes into the room 1041 00:55:57,600 --> 00:56:09,880 Speaker 1: playing the base song, John playing Yellow Submarine. So this 1042 00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:14,360 Speaker 1: is the genesis of I'm Only Sleeping. And it's interesting 1043 00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:16,960 Speaker 1: to me that three out of John's four songs on 1044 00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:20,719 Speaker 1: Revolver are directly about or inspired by drugs and or 1045 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:24,160 Speaker 1: altered consciousness. You've got Tomorrow never knows, she said, she said, 1046 00:56:24,280 --> 00:56:26,920 Speaker 1: we'll talk about a little bit. And this one he 1047 00:56:27,040 --> 00:56:29,400 Speaker 1: was really moving past the old style of, you know, 1048 00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:32,200 Speaker 1: writing about relationships and love songs. And in a way, 1049 00:56:32,239 --> 00:56:34,719 Speaker 1: I'm Only Sleeping. I always kind of thought of it 1050 00:56:34,800 --> 00:56:37,399 Speaker 1: as the sequel to nowhere Man on Rubber Soul. It's 1051 00:56:37,400 --> 00:56:41,239 Speaker 1: a commentary on his own laziness. Um depending on how 1052 00:56:41,280 --> 00:56:43,000 Speaker 1: you look at it, it could also be the prequel 1053 00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:45,640 Speaker 1: to his double fantasy hit Watching the Wheels, in which 1054 00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:48,200 Speaker 1: he sings people say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing, 1055 00:56:48,760 --> 00:56:51,080 Speaker 1: and I'm only sleeping. He thinks everyone else is crazy 1056 00:56:51,239 --> 00:56:55,279 Speaker 1: running everywhere at such a speed as the song goes now. 1057 00:56:55,400 --> 00:56:58,680 Speaker 1: The song's languid, dreamlike quality is due in part to 1058 00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:00,640 Speaker 1: the fact that the tape speed needs on the song 1059 00:57:00,760 --> 00:57:04,680 Speaker 1: were manipulated through a process called very speed, and the 1060 00:57:04,800 --> 00:57:07,600 Speaker 1: short untechnical version of this is that the rhythm track 1061 00:57:07,760 --> 00:57:11,520 Speaker 1: was actually recorded faster and then slowed down to give 1062 00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:15,480 Speaker 1: it that plodding, lethargic tone, and weirdly, I don't really 1063 00:57:15,520 --> 00:57:18,000 Speaker 1: know why this is John's own voice was sped up 1064 00:57:18,080 --> 00:57:21,000 Speaker 1: slightly by a semitone, which is what they did for 1065 00:57:21,080 --> 00:57:23,600 Speaker 1: when I'm sixty four on Sergeant Pepper to make Paul 1066 00:57:23,720 --> 00:57:26,920 Speaker 1: sound younger, and I think that was actually inspired by 1067 00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:29,560 Speaker 1: Brian Wilson doing the same thing on Caroline No on 1068 00:57:29,680 --> 00:57:32,000 Speaker 1: pet Sounds. They spent that up a semitone to all 1069 00:57:32,040 --> 00:57:34,959 Speaker 1: that stuff. Is really interesting to me that the whole 1070 00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:40,560 Speaker 1: the San Francisco Tape Center, which actually started in the 1071 00:57:41,160 --> 00:57:44,760 Speaker 1: attic of the first building of my current employer, the 1072 00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:49,840 Speaker 1: San Francisco Conservatory Music. Paul's experimentations with music concrete and 1073 00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:52,880 Speaker 1: tape speed and stuff are often choked up to guys 1074 00:57:52,920 --> 00:57:56,760 Speaker 1: like Carline Stockhausing and stuff. But you know, you have 1075 00:57:56,880 --> 00:58:01,760 Speaker 1: to remember that the early minimalist guys were super into 1076 00:58:01,800 --> 00:58:08,240 Speaker 1: tape stuff, Steve Wright particularly calling Olivero's um Terry Riley. 1077 00:58:08,560 --> 00:58:11,120 Speaker 1: And this was all an early part of the sixties, 1078 00:58:11,240 --> 00:58:14,920 Speaker 1: like the Tape Center, San Francisco Music Tape Center was 1079 00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:18,360 Speaker 1: only only lasted until sixty six. So yeah, the whole 1080 00:58:18,400 --> 00:58:21,000 Speaker 1: thing about tape speed, this it's it's all really really 1081 00:58:21,040 --> 00:58:23,760 Speaker 1: interesting to me, and people were doing really cool stuff 1082 00:58:23,800 --> 00:58:30,840 Speaker 1: with it. Um, like the guitar solo for this song, 1083 00:58:31,040 --> 00:58:38,400 Speaker 1: which is in fact played forwards and run backwards, right, Yes, 1084 00:58:38,640 --> 00:58:41,240 Speaker 1: they but played forwards in such a way that it 1085 00:58:41,280 --> 00:58:44,440 Speaker 1: would sound good backwards, which today you can probably do 1086 00:58:44,560 --> 00:58:47,560 Speaker 1: with a single pedal. Yeah, I didn't think about that. 1087 00:58:47,560 --> 00:58:50,120 Speaker 1: This was like a whole day. Jeff Emerk would talk 1088 00:58:50,120 --> 00:58:53,120 Speaker 1: about how, you know, we talked about how George had 1089 00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:55,400 Speaker 1: a tough time with the solo for tax Man. They 1090 00:58:55,520 --> 00:58:58,120 Speaker 1: tried even recording it at a slower speed so that 1091 00:58:58,240 --> 00:58:59,880 Speaker 1: maybe he could nail it, but in the end they 1092 00:59:00,200 --> 00:59:03,400 Speaker 1: let Paul do it because he was a better lead guitarist. Uh. 1093 00:59:03,880 --> 00:59:08,080 Speaker 1: I'm sure Jeff Emrick was not thrilled at watching George 1094 00:59:08,680 --> 00:59:11,880 Speaker 1: trying to work out a solo all day and then 1095 00:59:11,920 --> 00:59:15,040 Speaker 1: try to figure out how to play it backwards. Yeah. 1096 00:59:15,120 --> 00:59:18,360 Speaker 1: And these backwards experiments began earlier in the sessions for 1097 00:59:18,480 --> 00:59:21,000 Speaker 1: Revolver when they were recording the B side of Paperback 1098 00:59:21,040 --> 00:59:23,960 Speaker 1: Writer Rain, but the results didn't make it under the record. 1099 00:59:24,160 --> 00:59:26,640 Speaker 1: Although the vocals at the end of the songs are 1100 00:59:26,720 --> 00:59:31,000 Speaker 1: reversed um and every single beatle has told a different 1101 00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:33,800 Speaker 1: story as to how that happened. Letting claims that during 1102 00:59:33,800 --> 00:59:36,400 Speaker 1: the sessions for Rains, he took a work tape home 1103 00:59:36,520 --> 00:59:39,120 Speaker 1: from the studio and got so high that he put 1104 00:59:39,200 --> 00:59:42,160 Speaker 1: the tape on backwards and decided that he preferred it 1105 00:59:42,240 --> 00:59:45,320 Speaker 1: that way. Paul meanwhile claims that one of the tape 1106 00:59:46,360 --> 00:59:49,320 Speaker 1: men put a tape on backwards during a playback, and 1107 00:59:49,360 --> 00:59:51,800 Speaker 1: they decided to go with it. Um kind of like 1108 00:59:51,920 --> 00:59:56,040 Speaker 1: the accidental feedback that introduces I feel fine. George Martin 1109 00:59:56,120 --> 00:59:58,800 Speaker 1: says that he intentionally reversed John's vocals because that was 1110 00:59:58,880 --> 01:00:00,320 Speaker 1: the kind of stuff that he did, and he was 1111 01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:02,640 Speaker 1: making comedy records for the likes of Peter Sellers and 1112 01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:04,920 Speaker 1: the goons, and just assumed the John would like it. 1113 01:00:05,560 --> 01:00:08,600 Speaker 1: But in any event, after this incident, on Rain, engineer 1114 01:00:08,680 --> 01:00:11,800 Speaker 1: Jeff Emrick wrote that almost every overdub we didn't revolver 1115 01:00:11,960 --> 01:00:15,280 Speaker 1: had to be tried backwards as well as forwards, which 1116 01:00:15,360 --> 01:00:18,840 Speaker 1: sounds like here, Yeah, he wrote the session to track 1117 01:00:18,920 --> 01:00:23,240 Speaker 1: the backwards guitar solo took something like five hours, writing 1118 01:00:23,320 --> 01:00:25,840 Speaker 1: somewhat cruelly of George. At the best of times, he 1119 01:00:25,920 --> 01:00:28,960 Speaker 1: had trouble playing solos all the way through forwards. So 1120 01:00:29,040 --> 01:00:31,480 Speaker 1: it was with great trepidation that we all settled in 1121 01:00:31,640 --> 01:00:33,640 Speaker 1: for what turned out to be a determinable day of 1122 01:00:33,800 --> 01:00:36,760 Speaker 1: listening to the same eight bars played backwards over and 1123 01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:40,040 Speaker 1: over and over again. I'm just from now remembering how 1124 01:00:40,840 --> 01:00:45,080 Speaker 1: much on Paul's dick Jeff Emrick is in that book. Yeah, 1125 01:00:46,040 --> 01:00:49,880 Speaker 1: We're together forever extensive, like to like Tug of War, 1126 01:00:50,080 --> 01:00:54,280 Speaker 1: and maybe so perhaps perhaps it's something of an unreliable narrator. 1127 01:00:54,520 --> 01:00:57,360 Speaker 1: Well though it ends nicer like towards the end of 1128 01:00:57,400 --> 01:00:59,920 Speaker 1: the book he starts talking about, you know, George Bloss, 1129 01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:01,960 Speaker 1: I'm going to an incredible writer and the player. So 1130 01:01:03,360 --> 01:01:05,200 Speaker 1: but there's that great part in this song though, and 1131 01:01:05,320 --> 01:01:08,200 Speaker 1: he says, uh, towards the end of the song, right 1132 01:01:08,240 --> 01:01:11,560 Speaker 1: before one of those boon, one of those great basic Yeah, 1133 01:01:12,360 --> 01:01:16,400 Speaker 1: you can hear John go yawn, Paul, which he does 1134 01:01:17,640 --> 01:01:20,440 Speaker 1: because the backward solo sounds like somebody yawning, which I 1135 01:01:20,480 --> 01:01:23,440 Speaker 1: think is why it's so perfect for this song. Uh. 1136 01:01:23,920 --> 01:01:26,600 Speaker 1: There's a short surviving fragment of a rehearsal take of 1137 01:01:26,680 --> 01:01:30,000 Speaker 1: this song that came out on Anthology two, where they 1138 01:01:30,080 --> 01:01:33,919 Speaker 1: have a version of this song based around a vibraphone part, 1139 01:01:34,360 --> 01:01:37,800 Speaker 1: which is sounds amazing to me. It's pretty cool. We 1140 01:01:37,880 --> 01:01:41,880 Speaker 1: heard who played it? No, who played it? I think Paul. Okay, 1141 01:01:42,120 --> 01:01:46,160 Speaker 1: if if it's an unusual instrument that's not Indian, that 1142 01:01:46,440 --> 01:01:49,000 Speaker 1: is actually being played with any degree of skill, it's 1143 01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:54,720 Speaker 1: more often than not it's Paul. As you meditate on that, 1144 01:01:55,120 --> 01:01:57,840 Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more too much information after 1145 01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:11,520 Speaker 1: these messages and next up. The next track on Revolver 1146 01:02:11,920 --> 01:02:15,000 Speaker 1: is Here, There and Everywhere, which is fitting after I'm 1147 01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:17,640 Speaker 1: only sleeping because Paul apparently wrote the majority of it 1148 01:02:17,720 --> 01:02:20,760 Speaker 1: while at John's house for a songwriting section, waiting for 1149 01:02:20,880 --> 01:02:24,440 Speaker 1: him to wake up and come downstairs. And this is 1150 01:02:24,480 --> 01:02:27,400 Speaker 1: a song that Paul has cited as one of his 1151 01:02:27,480 --> 01:02:30,160 Speaker 1: all time favorites of anything he's ever done, as has 1152 01:02:30,200 --> 01:02:33,400 Speaker 1: George Martin, and so did John, which is great because 1153 01:02:33,400 --> 01:02:35,600 Speaker 1: I feel like so many people would assume that John 1154 01:02:35,640 --> 01:02:38,960 Speaker 1: would think this is, you know, so he loved song, 1155 01:02:39,160 --> 01:02:42,360 Speaker 1: But yeah, it's a it's a gorgeous song. Paul tells 1156 01:02:42,400 --> 01:02:44,560 Speaker 1: the story of listening to a work tape with John 1157 01:02:44,640 --> 01:02:46,320 Speaker 1: of all the songs that they've done so far for 1158 01:02:46,320 --> 01:02:48,320 Speaker 1: a Revolver and when Here, There and Everywhere came on, 1159 01:02:48,800 --> 01:02:50,520 Speaker 1: John turned to him and said, you know, I like 1160 01:02:50,680 --> 01:02:52,520 Speaker 1: that one more than any of mine on this tape. 1161 01:02:53,280 --> 01:02:55,760 Speaker 1: And as Paul himself would later say, John was not 1162 01:02:55,920 --> 01:02:58,560 Speaker 1: one to praise. He wouldn't praise anything unless he really 1163 01:02:58,640 --> 01:03:00,960 Speaker 1: liked it. We were playing the album and I remember 1164 01:03:01,040 --> 01:03:03,440 Speaker 1: him saying, I liked this one. That was high praise 1165 01:03:03,520 --> 01:03:05,800 Speaker 1: coming from John. I just thought that was really sweet. 1166 01:03:06,160 --> 01:03:09,240 Speaker 1: Shortly before John's death, he would credit the song entirely 1167 01:03:09,280 --> 01:03:11,720 Speaker 1: to McCartney before saying it was one of my favorite 1168 01:03:11,760 --> 01:03:15,560 Speaker 1: songs of the Beatles. So I just think that's very sweet. Um, 1169 01:03:16,000 --> 01:03:18,680 Speaker 1: it's really sad, I guess. After Michael Jackson bought the 1170 01:03:18,760 --> 01:03:22,960 Speaker 1: Lennon McCartney catalog in Paul said in an interview that 1171 01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:25,240 Speaker 1: he wished to the option of buying back at least 1172 01:03:25,240 --> 01:03:27,600 Speaker 1: a few of the songs that he especially loved, and 1173 01:03:28,160 --> 01:03:32,760 Speaker 1: he specifically mentioned here, There and Everywhere in that kicking 1174 01:03:32,800 --> 01:03:37,320 Speaker 1: the dick. I know I'm gonna buy your songs, Paul, Uh. Here, 1175 01:03:37,360 --> 01:03:39,640 Speaker 1: There and Everywhere was famously written after John and Paul 1176 01:03:39,760 --> 01:03:42,560 Speaker 1: retreated to an early listen of the Beach Boys pet 1177 01:03:42,680 --> 01:03:45,880 Speaker 1: sounds for the first time that spring, when Pseudo beach 1178 01:03:45,960 --> 01:03:48,800 Speaker 1: Boy Bruce Johnston had made a pilgrimage to the UK 1179 01:03:49,680 --> 01:03:54,040 Speaker 1: where he fell in with Keith Moon and Chaos Suit. Yeah. 1180 01:03:54,280 --> 01:03:56,360 Speaker 1: I think there's some story about Keith Moon starting a 1181 01:03:56,440 --> 01:03:58,919 Speaker 1: fight with him there and Bruce being like, I gotta 1182 01:03:58,960 --> 01:04:01,479 Speaker 1: get that out of here. This is all very fitting because, 1183 01:04:01,520 --> 01:04:04,080 Speaker 1: as we mentioned earlier, Brian Wilson had written pet Sounds 1184 01:04:04,120 --> 01:04:07,919 Speaker 1: as a direct, uh friendly challenge to the Beatles after 1185 01:04:07,960 --> 01:04:10,600 Speaker 1: we'd heard their previous album Rubber Soul in December of 1186 01:04:10,680 --> 01:04:14,320 Speaker 1: sixty and you can hear the Beach Boys influence on 1187 01:04:14,360 --> 01:04:16,840 Speaker 1: the harmonies for Here, There and Everywhere, and also in 1188 01:04:16,920 --> 01:04:20,840 Speaker 1: the comparatively complex chord structures. And Paul was always proud 1189 01:04:20,880 --> 01:04:23,680 Speaker 1: of having the introduction of this song, which had a 1190 01:04:23,800 --> 01:04:27,560 Speaker 1: very kind of old fashioned Irving Berlin Cole Porter style. 1191 01:04:27,720 --> 01:04:29,880 Speaker 1: You know, a piece of the song that doesn't really 1192 01:04:29,880 --> 01:04:31,760 Speaker 1: go anywhere. It's not a verse, it's not a chorus, 1193 01:04:31,840 --> 01:04:34,200 Speaker 1: it's just his own unique little tag on the beginning, 1194 01:04:35,200 --> 01:04:36,680 Speaker 1: kind of like do you want to know a secret? 1195 01:04:36,760 --> 01:04:38,960 Speaker 1: You know? Do you know no? How much I really 1196 01:04:39,200 --> 01:04:42,520 Speaker 1: love you? I love those little like pre song intros. 1197 01:04:42,960 --> 01:04:46,320 Speaker 1: I hate that song really do you want know a secret? Listen? 1198 01:04:48,520 --> 01:04:52,360 Speaker 1: That's when my Stewie beatles impression. Do you learn to 1199 01:04:52,600 --> 01:04:59,400 Speaker 1: my secret? It's just so grating. Uh sorry, no, no, no. 1200 01:05:00,760 --> 01:05:05,400 Speaker 1: The lyrical framework to hear, They're and Everywhere is sophisticated. 1201 01:05:08,160 --> 01:05:12,240 Speaker 1: But I just contribute unprompted backing vocals as you're trying 1202 01:05:12,320 --> 01:05:23,120 Speaker 1: to do this favor Frier. Yeah. Uh. The lyrical structure 1203 01:05:23,240 --> 01:05:26,800 Speaker 1: for here, They're and everywhere is really pretty sophisticated, because 1204 01:05:27,360 --> 01:05:30,960 Speaker 1: you'll notice that the first verse opens with here, the 1205 01:05:31,040 --> 01:05:34,120 Speaker 1: second verse with their, and the third verse with everywhere. 1206 01:05:34,160 --> 01:05:37,600 Speaker 1: It's very clever, little circular rhyme scheme. The work in 1207 01:05:37,640 --> 01:05:40,600 Speaker 1: the whole title of the song. I think that's cool. Interestingly, 1208 01:05:41,000 --> 01:05:44,400 Speaker 1: ROADI mal Evans, who we heard from while talking about 1209 01:05:44,400 --> 01:05:48,720 Speaker 1: Elmo Rigby, and he's also a a major breakout star 1210 01:05:48,840 --> 01:05:51,840 Speaker 1: of the Get Back documentary. Doesn't he also play the 1211 01:05:51,920 --> 01:05:54,520 Speaker 1: bass drum on the Whole Submarine? Yes he does, and 1212 01:05:54,600 --> 01:05:57,520 Speaker 1: he played the anvil on Maxwell silver Hammer and uh 1213 01:05:57,720 --> 01:06:01,800 Speaker 1: and Get Back presumably Abby Road too. He's claimed that 1214 01:06:01,880 --> 01:06:05,240 Speaker 1: he wrote the line watching her eyes and hoping I'm 1215 01:06:05,280 --> 01:06:10,040 Speaker 1: always there. He said, I'm very eye conscious and not 1216 01:06:10,200 --> 01:06:13,160 Speaker 1: to start a smear campaign against Paul McCartney. My favorite 1217 01:06:13,200 --> 01:06:16,680 Speaker 1: human being. But there's a theory that Mal helped out 1218 01:06:16,880 --> 01:06:19,960 Speaker 1: on a lot of song lyrics, including some stuff on 1219 01:06:20,000 --> 01:06:23,360 Speaker 1: Sergeant Pepper. But Paul basically paid him outright because the 1220 01:06:23,440 --> 01:06:26,880 Speaker 1: Lennon McCartney brand was such a thing. Uh. This is 1221 01:06:26,920 --> 01:06:31,960 Speaker 1: according to Evans's diaries. He wrote on January seven, Sergeant 1222 01:06:31,960 --> 01:06:34,840 Speaker 1: Pepper started writing a song with Paul upstairs in his room. 1223 01:06:34,960 --> 01:06:37,440 Speaker 1: He on piano did a lot more of when the 1224 01:06:37,600 --> 01:06:41,440 Speaker 1: Rain Comes in fixing a Hole. I hope people like it. 1225 01:06:41,680 --> 01:06:44,720 Speaker 1: And then on February one, he wrote, Sergeant Pepper sounds good. 1226 01:06:45,080 --> 01:06:47,520 Speaker 1: Paul tells me that I will get royalties on the song. 1227 01:06:47,880 --> 01:06:52,680 Speaker 1: Great news. Perhaps now a new home. On February two, 1228 01:06:53,000 --> 01:06:56,640 Speaker 1: recording vocals on Captain Pepper, as he mistakenly called it, 1229 01:06:57,040 --> 01:06:59,200 Speaker 1: all six of us doing the chorus in the middle 1230 01:06:59,480 --> 01:07:02,160 Speaker 1: worked into all about Midnight. And I guess there are 1231 01:07:02,240 --> 01:07:05,200 Speaker 1: tapes of him repeating these claims that were made before 1232 01:07:05,240 --> 01:07:09,840 Speaker 1: he died in ninety six. Really tragic story. He was 1233 01:07:10,840 --> 01:07:12,840 Speaker 1: shot by an l A policeman when he waved the 1234 01:07:12,920 --> 01:07:16,640 Speaker 1: gun around when he was in this really drugged up state. Um. 1235 01:07:17,680 --> 01:07:20,240 Speaker 1: His diaries I think are due to be published in 1236 01:07:20,760 --> 01:07:24,200 Speaker 1: the next year. Or so, and the great Beatles scholar 1237 01:07:24,360 --> 01:07:27,240 Speaker 1: Ken Wollmack is doing a biography of him, due out 1238 01:07:27,320 --> 01:07:30,400 Speaker 1: next year. So yeah, I'm interested to hear more from mal. 1239 01:07:30,600 --> 01:07:35,560 Speaker 1: He really um had a front row seat to all 1240 01:07:36,000 --> 01:07:38,360 Speaker 1: the Beatle adventures. He knew them back in their cavern 1241 01:07:38,520 --> 01:07:42,960 Speaker 1: days when he was working for the British Telephone Service 1242 01:07:43,080 --> 01:07:46,000 Speaker 1: or something, and he was just a large man who 1243 01:07:46,160 --> 01:07:49,600 Speaker 1: could lift a big bass amp and uh, right when 1244 01:07:49,600 --> 01:07:52,640 Speaker 1: they started needing muscle and security, he kind of fit 1245 01:07:52,720 --> 01:07:54,160 Speaker 1: the bill and he was a sweet guy, and they 1246 01:07:54,240 --> 01:07:59,120 Speaker 1: hired him and he was along for the ride. Anyway, here, 1247 01:07:59,160 --> 01:08:01,400 Speaker 1: there and everywhere was next. The last song recorded for 1248 01:08:01,480 --> 01:08:04,880 Speaker 1: Revolver and has a somewhat simple arrangement, and there are 1249 01:08:05,000 --> 01:08:07,240 Speaker 1: some we've wondered that if it had been brought in 1250 01:08:07,360 --> 01:08:09,680 Speaker 1: earlier in the sessions, George Martin might have done a 1251 01:08:09,720 --> 01:08:12,360 Speaker 1: bigger arrangement for it, something more along the lines of 1252 01:08:12,520 --> 01:08:17,599 Speaker 1: Yesterday or ellenor Rugby. Uh. Noticed that even the harmonies 1253 01:08:17,640 --> 01:08:20,840 Speaker 1: are pretty simple, and George later admitted just basic triads, 1254 01:08:20,880 --> 01:08:23,800 Speaker 1: which the boys hummed behind and found very easy to do. 1255 01:08:24,240 --> 01:08:27,640 Speaker 1: There's nothing very clever, no counterpoint, just moving block harmonies, 1256 01:08:28,040 --> 01:08:32,040 Speaker 1: very simple to do, but very effective, and as it was, 1257 01:08:32,160 --> 01:08:34,479 Speaker 1: the Beatles had a very hard out leaving for their 1258 01:08:34,560 --> 01:08:36,960 Speaker 1: tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines just a few 1259 01:08:37,040 --> 01:08:39,840 Speaker 1: days after the sessions were due to rap. So maybe 1260 01:08:39,920 --> 01:08:41,639 Speaker 1: that's why this song is a little bit more stripped 1261 01:08:41,680 --> 01:08:45,360 Speaker 1: down because they had to go. But I personally love it. 1262 01:08:45,400 --> 01:08:48,280 Speaker 1: I love that it's this really small intimate arrangement. But 1263 01:08:48,960 --> 01:08:51,960 Speaker 1: Paul rerecorded here, there and everywhere for the soundtrack to 1264 01:08:52,200 --> 01:08:58,280 Speaker 1: his uh misbegotten film Give My Regard to broad Street, 1265 01:08:58,360 --> 01:09:00,640 Speaker 1: and he added a brass sectional were a session in 1266 01:09:00,720 --> 01:09:02,920 Speaker 1: place of the harmonies, So maybe that would have been 1267 01:09:02,960 --> 01:09:04,920 Speaker 1: the plan during Revolver, if there was more time to 1268 01:09:05,000 --> 01:09:07,759 Speaker 1: make it more of like an old um old brass 1269 01:09:07,800 --> 01:09:11,120 Speaker 1: band number. And then there's this detail that I think 1270 01:09:11,120 --> 01:09:12,920 Speaker 1: a lot of people know but I love. Paul says 1271 01:09:12,960 --> 01:09:15,960 Speaker 1: that he based his vocal performance on Marry Anne Faithful 1272 01:09:17,040 --> 01:09:20,439 Speaker 1: singing in an almost falsetto voice speaking of Yellow Submarine 1273 01:09:20,439 --> 01:09:24,120 Speaker 1: and mal Evans. Perhaps the biggest revelation on the Revolver 1274 01:09:24,240 --> 01:09:28,799 Speaker 1: box set is an early demo of Yellow Submarine. For decades, 1275 01:09:29,120 --> 01:09:31,920 Speaker 1: the received wisdom among Beatles fans was that this was 1276 01:09:32,000 --> 01:09:34,760 Speaker 1: a chipper sing along. I almost said sing song. It 1277 01:09:34,880 --> 01:09:38,040 Speaker 1: is sing song that McCartney had literally dreamed up for 1278 01:09:38,120 --> 01:09:41,200 Speaker 1: the ovuncular ringo to sing in that little twilight moment 1279 01:09:41,280 --> 01:09:44,200 Speaker 1: when silly ideas popped into your head. In other words, 1280 01:09:44,280 --> 01:09:46,800 Speaker 1: the kind of tuneful, happy go lucky track that John 1281 01:09:46,880 --> 01:09:52,120 Speaker 1: Lennon would later dismiss as Paul's Granny Music. One of 1282 01:09:52,160 --> 01:09:56,000 Speaker 1: the all time this is in rock music. But a 1283 01:09:56,120 --> 01:09:58,800 Speaker 1: newly unearthed work tape reveals that the seeds of this 1284 01:09:58,960 --> 01:10:03,439 Speaker 1: song actually came from John Lennon, who strums an acoustic 1285 01:10:03,479 --> 01:10:06,920 Speaker 1: guitar while singing the mournful opening couplet in the place 1286 01:10:07,120 --> 01:10:11,000 Speaker 1: where I was born, No one cared. No one cared. 1287 01:10:11,600 --> 01:10:13,960 Speaker 1: Considering that Lennon's own father was a man who sailed 1288 01:10:14,040 --> 01:10:16,880 Speaker 1: to see and all but abandoned him, it's tempting to 1289 01:10:16,960 --> 01:10:18,880 Speaker 1: read into this musical fragment as a part of the 1290 01:10:18,960 --> 01:10:21,960 Speaker 1: processing he did of his difficult childhood, placing it on 1291 01:10:22,040 --> 01:10:24,400 Speaker 1: a continuum of songs of his ranging from the then 1292 01:10:24,520 --> 01:10:28,120 Speaker 1: recent in My Life to Strawberry Fields Forever, to his 1293 01:10:28,240 --> 01:10:32,439 Speaker 1: white album Owed to his late mother Julia, and then 1294 01:10:32,520 --> 01:10:36,240 Speaker 1: subsequently the even more on the nose and harrowing confessionals 1295 01:10:36,439 --> 01:10:42,880 Speaker 1: of Plasticona band in when he's literally just screaming songs 1296 01:10:43,640 --> 01:10:47,040 Speaker 1: and my Mommy's dead. Yeah, yeah, tough, Jordan. When you 1297 01:10:47,160 --> 01:10:49,120 Speaker 1: were talking to Giles Martin, he made a point of 1298 01:10:49,200 --> 01:10:51,400 Speaker 1: mentioning how telling it was that John would let this 1299 01:10:51,560 --> 01:10:56,519 Speaker 1: song get glamed into Paul's chorus. Is that correct? Yeah, 1300 01:10:56,560 --> 01:10:58,439 Speaker 1: he just said it was very telling that, like, it 1301 01:10:58,560 --> 01:11:01,120 Speaker 1: just was indicative of how close a working relationship was, 1302 01:11:01,280 --> 01:11:02,840 Speaker 1: how they just kind of it was. I think the 1303 01:11:02,840 --> 01:11:05,800 Speaker 1: word he used was empathy for each other's direction that 1304 01:11:05,880 --> 01:11:07,679 Speaker 1: they wanted to go. I mean, John had this piece 1305 01:11:07,720 --> 01:11:12,960 Speaker 1: of music that was clearly very from a already hurt place. 1306 01:11:14,040 --> 01:11:16,840 Speaker 1: But yeah, he allowed Paul to come in and you know, 1307 01:11:17,000 --> 01:11:19,320 Speaker 1: to borrow a phrase, take a sad song and make 1308 01:11:19,400 --> 01:11:22,400 Speaker 1: it better. Um, Giles said to me, you know, originally 1309 01:11:22,439 --> 01:11:24,719 Speaker 1: the song was more like a Woody Guthrie things sad 1310 01:11:25,080 --> 01:11:27,760 Speaker 1: sensitive song. But the interesting thing about it is how 1311 01:11:27,880 --> 01:11:29,840 Speaker 1: Paul takes it. You can see him go that's a 1312 01:11:29,920 --> 01:11:32,479 Speaker 1: nice melody. Why don't we try this with it? And 1313 01:11:32,760 --> 01:11:35,000 Speaker 1: this is Giles still talking, he said, and John hadn't 1314 01:11:35,000 --> 01:11:37,240 Speaker 1: gotten to that stage where he'd say, I don't want 1315 01:11:37,240 --> 01:11:39,840 Speaker 1: to go with your happy clappy stuff. On this, but 1316 01:11:39,960 --> 01:11:43,360 Speaker 1: by get back that had changed. And that's that's the difference. 1317 01:11:43,439 --> 01:11:46,040 Speaker 1: That's the difference in the Beatles working relationship. John was, 1318 01:11:46,920 --> 01:11:50,200 Speaker 1: you know, kind of saying, oh, well, it's a great melody, 1319 01:11:50,520 --> 01:11:53,439 Speaker 1: Paul has a great chorus. We can make a really 1320 01:11:53,640 --> 01:11:56,160 Speaker 1: good hit song out of us. I think that, uh 1321 01:11:56,240 --> 01:11:58,680 Speaker 1: and not too distant future. John had something that was 1322 01:11:58,720 --> 01:12:00,560 Speaker 1: this personal to him. We probably have kept it for 1323 01:12:00,640 --> 01:12:02,280 Speaker 1: himself and don't what he wanted to do with it. 1324 01:12:02,520 --> 01:12:05,320 Speaker 1: Making his fourth appearance on the I'm Already Lost, Count 1325 01:12:05,400 --> 01:12:13,920 Speaker 1: Donovan Ladies and Gentlemen, Sunshine Superman singer Mellow Yellow friend 1326 01:12:14,000 --> 01:12:17,639 Speaker 1: of the bo Donovan claims that he contributed the line 1327 01:12:17,840 --> 01:12:21,040 Speaker 1: sky of blue and sea of green, surely a description 1328 01:12:21,160 --> 01:12:24,000 Speaker 1: never appeared anywhere in the annals of the human language. 1329 01:12:25,680 --> 01:12:28,599 Speaker 1: The technical staff were called upon to bring this nautical 1330 01:12:28,720 --> 01:12:31,360 Speaker 1: theme to life, and George Martin was actually out with 1331 01:12:31,520 --> 01:12:34,240 Speaker 1: food poisoning the day they recorded the basic rhythm tracks. 1332 01:12:34,320 --> 01:12:36,639 Speaker 1: But when he came back he was in his element 1333 01:12:36,720 --> 01:12:39,000 Speaker 1: because he had a background working on all these comedy 1334 01:12:39,040 --> 01:12:41,800 Speaker 1: albums with the Coons, with you know, big comedy stars 1335 01:12:41,840 --> 01:12:44,640 Speaker 1: in the UK, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, and they 1336 01:12:44,800 --> 01:12:48,800 Speaker 1: frequently employed his skills using sound effects and spent up 1337 01:12:48,880 --> 01:12:52,000 Speaker 1: tape stuff and anything that just makes them sound goofy. 1338 01:12:52,520 --> 01:12:54,800 Speaker 1: So this song was, you know, not that far removed 1339 01:12:54,800 --> 01:12:57,640 Speaker 1: from those kind of comedy records. And one of the 1340 01:12:57,720 --> 01:13:00,280 Speaker 1: effects was for the and the band begins to play 1341 01:13:00,439 --> 01:13:03,519 Speaker 1: part where there's a brass band that's dropped in and 1342 01:13:04,520 --> 01:13:07,920 Speaker 1: I love this. They did this very early in the morning, 1343 01:13:08,000 --> 01:13:11,000 Speaker 1: after a long session, and everyone was too tired to 1344 01:13:11,080 --> 01:13:13,320 Speaker 1: make George strap on a guitar and come up with 1345 01:13:13,360 --> 01:13:16,599 Speaker 1: a two bar solo because, as we heard several times 1346 01:13:16,640 --> 01:13:18,960 Speaker 1: in this episode already, sometimes it was hard for George 1347 01:13:19,000 --> 01:13:21,320 Speaker 1: to do. So they decided to fill this space with 1348 01:13:21,439 --> 01:13:24,760 Speaker 1: a brass band instead. And for years there was this 1349 01:13:24,960 --> 01:13:27,600 Speaker 1: mystery as to whether or not they actually hired a 1350 01:13:27,640 --> 01:13:30,760 Speaker 1: bunch of session players to play that little horn break 1351 01:13:30,800 --> 01:13:32,800 Speaker 1: in the middle of the song. Uh. It turns out 1352 01:13:32,840 --> 01:13:36,240 Speaker 1: it was a dubbed recording. George Martin would have never 1353 01:13:36,280 --> 01:13:38,120 Speaker 1: been able to get the budget to hire an entire 1354 01:13:38,240 --> 01:13:40,960 Speaker 1: band to play like three seconds of music. Um, So 1355 01:13:41,080 --> 01:13:43,759 Speaker 1: they got a tape of the French march lariv Passe 1356 01:13:44,520 --> 01:13:47,719 Speaker 1: from the Abbey Roads sound Effects Tape Volume forty six 1357 01:13:48,200 --> 01:13:50,759 Speaker 1: and to get around any copyright issues, They just chopped 1358 01:13:50,840 --> 01:13:53,400 Speaker 1: up the tape and reassembled the pieces and random order 1359 01:13:53,439 --> 01:13:55,760 Speaker 1: to obscure the melody, and then they faded it out 1360 01:13:55,800 --> 01:13:59,240 Speaker 1: really fast. Um. Another sound effect that was used was 1361 01:13:59,320 --> 01:14:02,080 Speaker 1: the cash Register from the E m I Sound Library. 1362 01:14:02,560 --> 01:14:05,200 Speaker 1: That exact sound effect would eventually wind up on the 1363 01:14:05,240 --> 01:14:08,240 Speaker 1: Pink Floyd song Money seven years later, since it was 1364 01:14:08,280 --> 01:14:11,160 Speaker 1: also recorded at E m I. The cash Register would 1365 01:14:11,200 --> 01:14:15,599 Speaker 1: later sue them. The cash register would later be found 1366 01:14:15,600 --> 01:14:19,479 Speaker 1: deav and Nope we always overdos and Beverly Hills. I 1367 01:14:19,600 --> 01:14:22,719 Speaker 1: was actually having a hard time actually placing that sound 1368 01:14:23,040 --> 01:14:25,599 Speaker 1: on Yellow Submarine. I think they used it to sound 1369 01:14:25,680 --> 01:14:28,280 Speaker 1: like some kind of like machine mechanism when they were 1370 01:14:28,320 --> 01:14:32,160 Speaker 1: doing like the down periscope section of the song. But 1371 01:14:32,320 --> 01:14:35,240 Speaker 1: since Paul had conceived Yellow Submarine as a sing along, 1372 01:14:35,560 --> 01:14:37,880 Speaker 1: they decided to invite some friends into the studio to 1373 01:14:38,000 --> 01:14:41,000 Speaker 1: join in on the chorus. And the party atmosphere is 1374 01:14:41,040 --> 01:14:43,599 Speaker 1: not unlike the chorus to Bob Dylan's Rainy Day Women 1375 01:14:43,720 --> 01:14:46,400 Speaker 1: number twelve and thirty five. You know, everybody must get 1376 01:14:46,439 --> 01:14:48,880 Speaker 1: stone that song, which was in the charts at the time. 1377 01:14:49,600 --> 01:14:52,360 Speaker 1: Cory to Jeff Emrick Mick Jagger was at the party, 1378 01:14:52,479 --> 01:14:55,160 Speaker 1: but I've had trouble confirming this. It's not all the 1379 01:14:55,280 --> 01:14:58,080 Speaker 1: liner notes to the box set, but mixed girlfriend Mary 1380 01:14:58,120 --> 01:15:01,040 Speaker 1: Ann Faithful appeared to be there, as was fellow Rolling 1381 01:15:01,120 --> 01:15:05,200 Speaker 1: Stone Brian Jones, George's wife Pattie Boyd, the Beatles driver 1382 01:15:05,320 --> 01:15:08,439 Speaker 1: Alf Bicknell, and the two roadies Neo Aspital and moult 1383 01:15:08,479 --> 01:15:12,160 Speaker 1: Evans we mentioned earlier. And everyone was predictably stoned, and 1384 01:15:12,200 --> 01:15:15,519 Speaker 1: the engineers gave everyone handheld microphones on long chords so 1385 01:15:15,640 --> 01:15:17,920 Speaker 1: they could just march around the studio as they liked, 1386 01:15:18,000 --> 01:15:21,000 Speaker 1: which I really love. Emrick wrote in his memoir The 1387 01:15:21,040 --> 01:15:24,719 Speaker 1: Whole Marijuana Influence Scene that evening was completely zany, straight 1388 01:15:24,760 --> 01:15:27,040 Speaker 1: out of a Marx Brothers movie. They rated the sound 1389 01:15:27,080 --> 01:15:30,040 Speaker 1: effects covered and pulled out everything they had. People grabbed 1390 01:15:30,160 --> 01:15:32,240 Speaker 1: gongs and bells and whatever they could take and just 1391 01:15:32,320 --> 01:15:35,240 Speaker 1: went nuts. George Martin directed the band through all these 1392 01:15:35,320 --> 01:15:38,560 Speaker 1: old radio drama style tricks to create c sounds. He 1393 01:15:38,640 --> 01:15:42,160 Speaker 1: had John blowing bubbles into water using a straw, and 1394 01:15:42,280 --> 01:15:45,599 Speaker 1: George Harrison's swirled water in a metal bathtub, and Brian 1395 01:15:45,720 --> 01:15:50,439 Speaker 1: Jones clinked glasses and just played an acarina water in 1396 01:15:50,520 --> 01:15:53,080 Speaker 1: a straw friend of the pod, making its second appearance 1397 01:15:53,120 --> 01:15:58,160 Speaker 1: of the podcast after starring in the Monster Match. God 1398 01:15:58,240 --> 01:16:02,240 Speaker 1: that's right, yeah, I guess John and Paul shouted into 1399 01:16:02,320 --> 01:16:08,040 Speaker 1: tin cans. They get that muffled, you know, talking to uh. 1400 01:16:08,120 --> 01:16:11,160 Speaker 1: You could hear Patty Boyd shrieking during the and our 1401 01:16:11,280 --> 01:16:15,000 Speaker 1: friends were all aboard part. There are coins scattered, there's 1402 01:16:15,000 --> 01:16:18,120 Speaker 1: the sound of a propeller in the water, Chains rattled around, 1403 01:16:18,439 --> 01:16:22,280 Speaker 1: glasses clinked, and I'm marching drum banged and John ran 1404 01:16:22,360 --> 01:16:24,519 Speaker 1: into the echo chamber of a studio too and ad 1405 01:16:24,600 --> 01:16:27,840 Speaker 1: lib the whole full speed ahead, Mr boatswin bit Um. 1406 01:16:28,720 --> 01:16:31,800 Speaker 1: John had this dream of singing underwater. He really thought 1407 01:16:31,840 --> 01:16:33,800 Speaker 1: that would be a great effect for the song, and 1408 01:16:33,920 --> 01:16:37,000 Speaker 1: he tried to gargle, but this caused him to choke, 1409 01:16:37,800 --> 01:16:40,360 Speaker 1: and George Martin talked about of diving into a water 1410 01:16:40,520 --> 01:16:44,559 Speaker 1: tank singing back. He really even was not very technical. 1411 01:16:45,200 --> 01:16:48,920 Speaker 1: Um engineer Jeff Emerk, who was barely twenty and just 1412 01:16:49,040 --> 01:16:52,360 Speaker 1: weeks into this job, attempted to fulfill John's dream of 1413 01:16:52,400 --> 01:16:55,600 Speaker 1: singing underwater by wrapping a microphone in a condom and 1414 01:16:55,760 --> 01:16:59,400 Speaker 1: dropping it in a court milk jug. Nearly electrocuting John 1415 01:16:59,479 --> 01:17:03,360 Speaker 1: and the assess the microphone was phantom powered, which means 1416 01:17:03,400 --> 01:17:06,519 Speaker 1: that it had electricity going through it and uh, if 1417 01:17:06,560 --> 01:17:11,519 Speaker 1: it had gotten wet, it would have been really bad. Sadly, well, 1418 01:17:11,600 --> 01:17:13,720 Speaker 1: I guess not. Sadly he didn't get electrocuted that day, 1419 01:17:13,760 --> 01:17:16,519 Speaker 1: but the experiment failed. But all's well that ends well. 1420 01:17:17,040 --> 01:17:19,680 Speaker 1: No one was electrocuted, and the evening ended with mal 1421 01:17:19,840 --> 01:17:23,040 Speaker 1: Evans banging a marching band based drums trapped to his 1422 01:17:23,240 --> 01:17:26,599 Speaker 1: chest and leading the Beatles entourage and a congo line 1423 01:17:26,640 --> 01:17:29,640 Speaker 1: all through the studio until they wandered out high as 1424 01:17:29,720 --> 01:17:31,760 Speaker 1: kites at two thirty in the morning. How fun do 1425 01:17:31,840 --> 01:17:34,000 Speaker 1: you think that was? I think about that next time 1426 01:17:34,040 --> 01:17:36,439 Speaker 1: you listen to Yellow Submarine. Yeah, that's really the high 1427 01:17:36,479 --> 01:17:38,720 Speaker 1: point of Western civilization is all of them just being 1428 01:17:38,920 --> 01:17:43,479 Speaker 1: baked out of their gourds, staggering out of Abbey Road 1429 01:17:43,520 --> 01:17:46,240 Speaker 1: in a conga line led by a roadie with a 1430 01:17:46,320 --> 01:17:49,320 Speaker 1: bass drum on his chest. The best part of all 1431 01:17:49,439 --> 01:17:52,759 Speaker 1: this is that it was noted by musicologist Walter Everett 1432 01:17:52,800 --> 01:17:56,400 Speaker 1: that Yellow Submarine was recorded in twice the length that 1433 01:17:56,479 --> 01:18:05,320 Speaker 1: it took the Beatles to record their debut album, Tremendous Uh. 1434 01:18:05,400 --> 01:18:08,200 Speaker 1: The original version of Yellow Submarine originally had a thirty 1435 01:18:08,280 --> 01:18:11,639 Speaker 1: seconds spoken word intro at the beginning that John had 1436 01:18:11,680 --> 01:18:17,439 Speaker 1: written in his idiosyncratic Lewis Carroll like poetic style, and 1437 01:18:17,600 --> 01:18:19,719 Speaker 1: it had nothing to do with with the Yellow Submarine plot, 1438 01:18:19,840 --> 01:18:23,200 Speaker 1: but it sounded almost like a medieval prologue and it 1439 01:18:23,320 --> 01:18:26,040 Speaker 1: was loosely based on a charity walk that someone had 1440 01:18:26,120 --> 01:18:29,639 Speaker 1: taken between the two furthest points in England. We were 1441 01:18:29,720 --> 01:18:32,720 Speaker 1: marked till three the day to see them gathered there 1442 01:18:33,560 --> 01:18:36,600 Speaker 1: from Land the Groats to Johnna Green with steadily do 1443 01:18:36,800 --> 01:18:43,800 Speaker 1: we trade? Yeah? Doesn't it doesn't. It doesn't make any sense. Uh. 1444 01:18:43,960 --> 01:18:46,960 Speaker 1: And to complete maybe kept that one on the kept 1445 01:18:47,040 --> 01:18:52,280 Speaker 1: that send that back for another re or another rewrite there, John, Yeah, 1446 01:18:52,320 --> 01:18:55,080 Speaker 1: I mean they cut it. But yeah, this intro was funny. 1447 01:18:55,120 --> 01:18:57,400 Speaker 1: They did the old radio trick of putting pieces of 1448 01:18:57,520 --> 01:18:59,640 Speaker 1: coal on a box and shaking it to sound like 1449 01:18:59,680 --> 01:19:03,400 Speaker 1: a bunch footsteps marching um. But yeah, I'm ultimately cut 1450 01:19:03,520 --> 01:19:05,920 Speaker 1: and it didn't service until it was the B side 1451 01:19:05,960 --> 01:19:09,200 Speaker 1: of the CD single for Real Love during the anthology project. 1452 01:19:10,960 --> 01:19:13,719 Speaker 1: But I don't think it was really widely available until 1453 01:19:13,840 --> 01:19:17,519 Speaker 1: this new Revolver box set. Uh. The song Yellow Submarine 1454 01:19:17,560 --> 01:19:22,839 Speaker 1: itself drew some unsavory rumors. As author Steve Turner explains 1455 01:19:22,880 --> 01:19:25,679 Speaker 1: in his book A Hard Day's Right, the rumor quickly 1456 01:19:25,720 --> 01:19:28,679 Speaker 1: spread that Yellow Submarine was a veiled reference to drugs. 1457 01:19:29,120 --> 01:19:32,080 Speaker 1: In New York, Nenbutall Capsules started to be known as 1458 01:19:32,200 --> 01:19:37,280 Speaker 1: yellow Submarines but Paul's and IP allocations. The song was 1459 01:19:37,360 --> 01:19:40,400 Speaker 1: also adopted by radical groups in the sixties for various 1460 01:19:40,479 --> 01:19:45,000 Speaker 1: protest chants, striking workers in the UK with March two, 1461 01:19:45,600 --> 01:19:50,280 Speaker 1: we all live on bread and margarine. That's that's pretty funny, 1462 01:19:50,800 --> 01:19:54,120 Speaker 1: and anti Vietnam War protesters are chanted we're all dropping 1463 01:19:54,360 --> 01:19:58,920 Speaker 1: jellied gasoline. That's that's good. Good of napalm reference in there. 1464 01:19:59,520 --> 01:20:02,200 Speaker 1: Uh TI magazine referred to the song Yellow Submarine at 1465 01:20:02,200 --> 01:20:05,160 Speaker 1: the time as quote a symbol of the psychedelic sets, 1466 01:20:05,240 --> 01:20:08,840 Speaker 1: desire for escape and friend of the Beatles and also 1467 01:20:08,920 --> 01:20:12,360 Speaker 1: friend of the pod. Donovan suggested that Yellow Submarine represented 1468 01:20:12,439 --> 01:20:18,519 Speaker 1: the Beatles state as prisoners of their fame. Well with 1469 01:20:18,640 --> 01:20:22,240 Speaker 1: all that, now we arrived too, she said, she said, 1470 01:20:23,560 --> 01:20:25,920 Speaker 1: a song, the genesis of which can be traced to 1471 01:20:26,160 --> 01:20:30,360 Speaker 1: August nine. The Beatles were in the midst of their 1472 01:20:30,439 --> 01:20:32,800 Speaker 1: second US tour and had a few days off, so 1473 01:20:32,880 --> 01:20:34,960 Speaker 1: they hold up in their rented home in l A 1474 01:20:35,920 --> 01:20:40,880 Speaker 1: from which they had gotten from Ja Ja Gabor. Enemy 1475 01:20:40,960 --> 01:20:43,360 Speaker 1: of the Pod Ja Jakobar. Oh, she's a friend of 1476 01:20:43,400 --> 01:20:47,160 Speaker 1: the pod. Friend of the Pod Ja Jacobar. Unfortunately this 1477 01:20:47,320 --> 01:20:51,000 Speaker 1: address had been announced on l A area radio stations. 1478 01:20:51,160 --> 01:20:56,200 Speaker 1: That's a major screw up. Yeah, and some especially enterprising 1479 01:20:56,280 --> 01:20:59,120 Speaker 1: girls hired a helicopter for fifty an hour to fly 1480 01:20:59,439 --> 01:21:03,080 Speaker 1: over the home, which was itself built into the side 1481 01:21:03,080 --> 01:21:06,439 Speaker 1: of a hill and surrounded by a moat, with only 1482 01:21:07,040 --> 01:21:10,479 Speaker 1: a drawbridge to grant access to it. Supposedly why it 1483 01:21:10,600 --> 01:21:15,799 Speaker 1: was chosen for its security fortifications. Um This was caper 1484 01:21:15,920 --> 01:21:19,280 Speaker 1: was all apparently inspired by an I Love Lucy episode 1485 01:21:19,560 --> 01:21:25,439 Speaker 1: um Lucy. According to a version of this story told 1486 01:21:25,479 --> 01:21:28,160 Speaker 1: by the band's driver, one of these girls leapt from 1487 01:21:28,240 --> 01:21:32,479 Speaker 1: the chopper into the swimming pool, which this seems smacks 1488 01:21:32,520 --> 01:21:35,720 Speaker 1: of exaggeration, although one of them did attempt to do 1489 01:21:35,880 --> 01:21:38,799 Speaker 1: this and had to be pulled back inside by the pilot, 1490 01:21:39,320 --> 01:21:43,920 Speaker 1: who presumably saw his like flash before his eyes watching 1491 01:21:44,000 --> 01:21:49,800 Speaker 1: it teeny Bopper die as he was buzzing the most 1492 01:21:49,920 --> 01:21:55,519 Speaker 1: famous band in the world's house. His helicopter. Uh, they 1493 01:21:55,640 --> 01:21:59,800 Speaker 1: just yelled from the helicopter things at the Beatles. Nice thing. 1494 01:22:01,360 --> 01:22:04,679 Speaker 1: The Beetles were, however, reportedly more impressed than they were annoyed, 1495 01:22:04,800 --> 01:22:07,760 Speaker 1: but manager Brian Epstein complaint to the l a p 1496 01:22:07,960 --> 01:22:11,000 Speaker 1: D and a no fly zone was ordered around the area. 1497 01:22:12,520 --> 01:22:15,919 Speaker 1: But these girls became semi celebrities thanks to their antics 1498 01:22:16,000 --> 01:22:18,320 Speaker 1: and were invited to meet the Beatles a few days later. 1499 01:22:19,160 --> 01:22:22,040 Speaker 1: George Harrison greeted them by saying something to the effect 1500 01:22:22,080 --> 01:22:25,760 Speaker 1: of is your father rich or something? I mean a 1501 01:22:25,920 --> 01:22:28,519 Speaker 1: legitimate question for some teen girls who just hired a 1502 01:22:28,640 --> 01:22:33,200 Speaker 1: helicopt ser Yes. But a more fun leisure time for 1503 01:22:33,240 --> 01:22:35,800 Speaker 1: the group had been to take LSD together as a band. 1504 01:22:35,960 --> 01:22:38,360 Speaker 1: John and George had famously been dosed by their dentist 1505 01:22:38,479 --> 01:22:40,599 Speaker 1: at a dinner party a few months earlier in March, 1506 01:22:41,000 --> 01:22:43,880 Speaker 1: which was must have been a horrifying experience considered, and 1507 01:22:43,920 --> 01:22:46,799 Speaker 1: they hadn't expected it whatsoever. This was a favorite pastime 1508 01:22:46,880 --> 01:22:50,400 Speaker 1: of the Grateful Dead, was dosing the out of people 1509 01:22:50,479 --> 01:22:54,560 Speaker 1: with ungodly pure acid when they were obviously now the 1510 01:22:54,840 --> 01:22:59,280 Speaker 1: the the naplew ultra of acid. Uh, you'd just be 1511 01:22:59,479 --> 01:23:01,280 Speaker 1: hanging out with the Grateful Dead and all of a 1512 01:23:01,320 --> 01:23:04,880 Speaker 1: sudden the walls would start to melt. So they decided 1513 01:23:04,920 --> 01:23:06,719 Speaker 1: to do it as a band. In the Beatles Anthology, 1514 01:23:06,800 --> 01:23:09,400 Speaker 1: George says, John and I decided that Paul and Ringo 1515 01:23:09,600 --> 01:23:12,679 Speaker 1: had to have acid because we couldn't relate to them anymore. 1516 01:23:13,800 --> 01:23:17,000 Speaker 1: Uh not just on the one level, we couldn't relate 1517 01:23:17,040 --> 01:23:19,640 Speaker 1: to them on any level because acid had changed us 1518 01:23:19,680 --> 01:23:22,120 Speaker 1: so much. It was such a mammoth experience that it 1519 01:23:22,200 --> 01:23:25,200 Speaker 1: was unexplainable. It was something that had to be experienced 1520 01:23:25,400 --> 01:23:27,200 Speaker 1: because you could spend the rest of your life trying 1521 01:23:27,240 --> 01:23:30,040 Speaker 1: to explain what it made you feel and think. It 1522 01:23:30,200 --> 01:23:32,920 Speaker 1: was all too important to John Amy. So the plan 1523 01:23:33,080 --> 01:23:35,120 Speaker 1: was that when we got to Hollywood on our day off, 1524 01:23:35,240 --> 01:23:37,479 Speaker 1: we were going to get them and take acid. We 1525 01:23:37,600 --> 01:23:40,200 Speaker 1: got some in New York. It was on sugarcubes wrapped 1526 01:23:40,200 --> 01:23:42,840 Speaker 1: in tinfoil, and we've been carrying these around all through 1527 01:23:42,920 --> 01:23:45,600 Speaker 1: the tour until we got to l A. Ringo was 1528 01:23:45,760 --> 01:23:53,519 Speaker 1: down for famously saying I'll take anything. I was swimming 1529 01:23:53,640 --> 01:23:56,599 Speaker 1: in jelly in the pool. It was a fabulous day. 1530 01:23:57,320 --> 01:23:59,439 Speaker 1: The night wasn't so great because it felt like it 1531 01:23:59,560 --> 01:24:03,040 Speaker 1: was never going to wear off. Ringo with his characteristic 1532 01:24:03,680 --> 01:24:09,800 Speaker 1: ability to describe anything hilariously. Uh, Paul was less down 1533 01:24:09,960 --> 01:24:14,000 Speaker 1: and they were slightly cruel to him about it. Good 1534 01:24:15,120 --> 01:24:17,960 Speaker 1: to which I say good. They should have bullied him 1535 01:24:18,000 --> 01:24:20,479 Speaker 1: for that. Uh. They were visited on this day by 1536 01:24:20,600 --> 01:24:23,559 Speaker 1: Roger mcgwin and David Crosby of the Birds, who joined 1537 01:24:23,600 --> 01:24:25,960 Speaker 1: them on this trip. And this is apparently when they 1538 01:24:26,080 --> 01:24:29,560 Speaker 1: turned George onto Robbie Shankar for the first time, or 1539 01:24:29,640 --> 01:24:32,720 Speaker 1: so they would say. Uh. So this trip turned out 1540 01:24:32,800 --> 01:24:36,120 Speaker 1: well for George, but things got bad when he started 1541 01:24:36,160 --> 01:24:39,439 Speaker 1: to go off on what the heads would call a 1542 01:24:39,600 --> 01:24:44,760 Speaker 1: bummer trip. And for some reason, Peter Fonda, enemy of 1543 01:24:44,800 --> 01:24:49,480 Speaker 1: the pod, Peter Fonda, was there to visit an experienced 1544 01:24:49,560 --> 01:24:53,160 Speaker 1: day tripper, if there ever was one. Uh. Presumably it 1545 01:24:53,240 --> 01:24:55,200 Speaker 1: made a sort of sense to have Peter Fonda there, 1546 01:24:55,880 --> 01:24:59,439 Speaker 1: but he quickly harshed the vibes in the parlance of 1547 01:24:59,479 --> 01:25:03,519 Speaker 1: our time. Uh. George became convinced that he was dying, 1548 01:25:03,600 --> 01:25:05,760 Speaker 1: which is one of those common things that can happen 1549 01:25:05,840 --> 01:25:08,480 Speaker 1: to you when you're on any high degree of psychedelics. 1550 01:25:09,040 --> 01:25:12,559 Speaker 1: And Uh, Peter Fonda attempted to comfort him by saying, 1551 01:25:13,120 --> 01:25:19,720 Speaker 1: dying wasn't that bad? Quote? I said, I knew what 1552 01:25:19,840 --> 01:25:21,600 Speaker 1: it was like to be dead because when I was 1553 01:25:21,680 --> 01:25:24,280 Speaker 1: ten years old, I had accidentally shot myself in my 1554 01:25:24,439 --> 01:25:27,240 Speaker 1: stomach and my heart stopped beating three times while I 1555 01:25:27,320 --> 01:25:29,720 Speaker 1: was on the operating table because I had lost so 1556 01:25:29,840 --> 01:25:32,880 Speaker 1: much blood. John was passing at the time and heard 1557 01:25:32,960 --> 01:25:34,960 Speaker 1: me saying I know what it's like to be dead. 1558 01:25:35,600 --> 01:25:37,800 Speaker 1: He looked at me and said, you're making me feel 1559 01:25:37,840 --> 01:25:40,479 Speaker 1: like I've never been born. Who put all that in 1560 01:25:40,640 --> 01:25:44,639 Speaker 1: your head? Sure, John tells a different version. Peter Fonda 1561 01:25:44,840 --> 01:25:46,439 Speaker 1: came in when we were on acid, and he kept 1562 01:25:46,479 --> 01:25:48,880 Speaker 1: coming up to me and sitting next to me and whispering, 1563 01:25:49,400 --> 01:25:52,040 Speaker 1: I know what it's like to be dead. That sounds 1564 01:25:52,120 --> 01:25:55,120 Speaker 1: more accurate. That's the kind of bummers Peter Fonder would 1565 01:25:55,120 --> 01:25:58,840 Speaker 1: pull at a party. Um quote he was describing an 1566 01:25:58,840 --> 01:26:01,160 Speaker 1: acid trip he'd been on. We didn't want to hear 1567 01:26:01,200 --> 01:26:03,200 Speaker 1: about that. We were on an acid trip and the 1568 01:26:03,280 --> 01:26:06,200 Speaker 1: sun was shining and the girls were dancing. You think 1569 01:26:06,240 --> 01:26:11,120 Speaker 1: he was playboy models and that they were Okay, Well, 1570 01:26:11,160 --> 01:26:13,200 Speaker 1: that does sound like great acid trip. And the whole 1571 01:26:13,240 --> 01:26:16,240 Speaker 1: thing was really beautiful in sixties and this guy who 1572 01:26:16,320 --> 01:26:18,840 Speaker 1: I didn't really know because he hadn't made easy ride 1573 01:26:18,880 --> 01:26:22,320 Speaker 1: or anything. Kept coming over wearing shades and saying, I 1574 01:26:22,479 --> 01:26:24,840 Speaker 1: know when it's like to be dead, And we kept 1575 01:26:24,960 --> 01:26:28,559 Speaker 1: leaving him because he was so boring. It was scary 1576 01:26:28,680 --> 01:26:31,240 Speaker 1: when you're flying high. Don't tell me about it. I 1577 01:26:31,320 --> 01:26:33,000 Speaker 1: don't want to know what it's like to be dead. 1578 01:26:33,640 --> 01:26:37,040 Speaker 1: George later said that Fonda was showing off his bullet 1579 01:26:37,080 --> 01:26:44,920 Speaker 1: hole and saying he was very uncool, called uncooled by 1580 01:26:45,160 --> 01:26:50,840 Speaker 1: by two of the the right two beatles, oh Man, 1581 01:26:51,120 --> 01:26:58,360 Speaker 1: Peter Fronda, the ultimate bummer, world class. Honestly, out of 1582 01:26:58,400 --> 01:27:00,240 Speaker 1: anyone from that whole scene, I don't think I would 1583 01:27:00,240 --> 01:27:02,160 Speaker 1: have wanted to drop acid with any of those people. 1584 01:27:02,240 --> 01:27:07,439 Speaker 1: Dennis Hopper would have made it weird. No, Jack Nicholson 1585 01:27:07,479 --> 01:27:11,160 Speaker 1: would have made it extremely weird. Who have anyone in 1586 01:27:11,240 --> 01:27:13,479 Speaker 1: that scene? Who would you like to have? Probably Mama Cass, 1587 01:27:14,040 --> 01:27:18,080 Speaker 1: Paul Newman, Oh did he? Who am I thinking of? Oh? 1588 01:27:18,200 --> 01:27:20,920 Speaker 1: Robert Mitchum. I think Paul Newman probably just would have 1589 01:27:20,960 --> 01:27:23,240 Speaker 1: been drunk through the whole thing. Uh. He would have 1590 01:27:23,280 --> 01:27:25,720 Speaker 1: just been cracking beers and making salads. That would have 1591 01:27:25,800 --> 01:27:28,720 Speaker 1: been a hell of a time. Yeah, dude, give me 1592 01:27:28,920 --> 01:27:34,280 Speaker 1: dropping acid with Paul Newman in like sunny California nine seven. 1593 01:27:34,360 --> 01:27:40,840 Speaker 1: You're eating salad, drinking Budweiser's. Maybe you ride motorcycles? Take 1594 01:27:40,920 --> 01:27:43,200 Speaker 1: me back put that. If I'm ever in the matrix, 1595 01:27:44,040 --> 01:27:47,479 Speaker 1: put me into that, I'm making a deal with Agent Smith. 1596 01:27:47,760 --> 01:27:50,760 Speaker 1: Could me just a sunny afternoon in northern California with 1597 01:27:50,800 --> 01:27:55,200 Speaker 1: Paul Newman on acid? Ah, I have a new I 1598 01:27:55,320 --> 01:27:58,120 Speaker 1: have a new happy place to go to. It's me 1599 01:27:58,280 --> 01:28:01,519 Speaker 1: and Paul Newman crush and buds and drinking and eating 1600 01:28:01,600 --> 01:28:05,439 Speaker 1: salads and driving around his car. Salads loom large in this. 1601 01:28:05,680 --> 01:28:08,439 Speaker 1: Is it because of his salad dressing or he was 1602 01:28:08,479 --> 01:28:12,560 Speaker 1: a notorious salad enthusiast. One of the only interviews that 1603 01:28:12,680 --> 01:28:16,760 Speaker 1: he gave in like his self imposed blackout was to 1604 01:28:16,880 --> 01:28:18,960 Speaker 1: this food writer in the nineties, and he gives her 1605 01:28:19,040 --> 01:28:22,880 Speaker 1: his hamburger recipe. He gives her his he gave I 1606 01:28:22,920 --> 01:28:26,200 Speaker 1: guess in a in a Playboy interview from that I've 1607 01:28:26,600 --> 01:28:30,920 Speaker 1: been able to bring the bring the text to four. 1608 01:28:31,000 --> 01:28:36,000 Speaker 1: But he gave them his recipe for salad, his favorite salad. Um. Yeah, 1609 01:28:36,080 --> 01:28:39,160 Speaker 1: he actually did love salads. And he loved beer too. 1610 01:28:39,240 --> 01:28:42,360 Speaker 1: I mean, I guess, yeah. His drinking habit got so bad, 1611 01:28:42,479 --> 01:28:46,120 Speaker 1: Paul that John Woodward Rooms kicked him out, and his 1612 01:28:46,320 --> 01:28:48,800 Speaker 1: compromise was said he would no longer drink liquor, but 1613 01:28:49,120 --> 01:28:51,040 Speaker 1: I think Ethan Hawks said he would still drink a 1614 01:28:51,120 --> 01:28:55,640 Speaker 1: case of beer through dinner through dinner. I didn't know 1615 01:28:55,880 --> 01:29:00,599 Speaker 1: he was in the like Richard Harris, Richard Burton level 1616 01:29:01,400 --> 01:29:04,800 Speaker 1: budd and salads and race cars, well, race cars, yeah, 1617 01:29:04,920 --> 01:29:10,559 Speaker 1: the greatest American man and Paul Newman, Peter Peter Fondo 1618 01:29:10,800 --> 01:29:17,000 Speaker 1: wishes we're getting off track a hundred hours more from 1619 01:29:17,400 --> 01:29:20,240 Speaker 1: to get through. So anyway, the Peter Fond the incident 1620 01:29:20,479 --> 01:29:23,719 Speaker 1: all year and after be known as the Peter Fonda Incident. 1621 01:29:24,360 --> 01:29:28,280 Speaker 1: Is where the opening lines too, she said, she said 1622 01:29:28,360 --> 01:29:30,920 Speaker 1: came from originally was he said, He said, I know 1623 01:29:31,000 --> 01:29:32,960 Speaker 1: what it's like to be dead, for obvious reasons, but 1624 01:29:33,040 --> 01:29:36,200 Speaker 1: it was ultimately changed. In an early home demo version, 1625 01:29:36,280 --> 01:29:38,680 Speaker 1: John can be heard singing, it's making me feel like 1626 01:29:38,840 --> 01:29:41,640 Speaker 1: my trousers are torn instead of making me feel like 1627 01:29:41,720 --> 01:29:44,920 Speaker 1: I've never been born. Uh. There are tons of home 1628 01:29:45,120 --> 01:29:47,960 Speaker 1: versions of the song, and it's clear that he was 1629 01:29:48,080 --> 01:29:51,000 Speaker 1: stuck on it for a long time because he always 1630 01:29:51,000 --> 01:29:53,200 Speaker 1: gets to the same point in all these demos and 1631 01:29:53,320 --> 01:29:56,120 Speaker 1: then kind of stops, hence why I didn't make it 1632 01:29:56,200 --> 01:29:58,200 Speaker 1: on the Rubber Soul, which was the next album that 1633 01:29:58,280 --> 01:30:02,599 Speaker 1: recorded after the Aforemention and Peter Fonda incident. Um George 1634 01:30:02,600 --> 01:30:05,240 Speaker 1: Harrison claimed that he actually helped John finish she said, 1635 01:30:05,360 --> 01:30:08,439 Speaker 1: she said, by basically acting as an editor. He said, 1636 01:30:08,479 --> 01:30:10,000 Speaker 1: I was at his house one day. This was in 1637 01:30:10,080 --> 01:30:12,240 Speaker 1: the mid sixties, and he was struggling with some tunes. 1638 01:30:12,360 --> 01:30:15,360 Speaker 1: He had loads of bits, maybe three songs that were unfinished, 1639 01:30:15,439 --> 01:30:17,800 Speaker 1: and I made suggestions and helped him work them together, 1640 01:30:17,920 --> 01:30:20,599 Speaker 1: so they became one finished song, she said. She said. 1641 01:30:21,040 --> 01:30:23,000 Speaker 1: The middle part of that record is a different song. 1642 01:30:23,360 --> 01:30:25,120 Speaker 1: She said, I know what it's like to be dead, 1643 01:30:25,200 --> 01:30:27,800 Speaker 1: and I said, no, no, no, you're wrong. Then it 1644 01:30:27,880 --> 01:30:30,400 Speaker 1: goes into another one. When I was a boy, that 1645 01:30:30,600 --> 01:30:32,720 Speaker 1: was a real world, so I did things like that. 1646 01:30:33,840 --> 01:30:36,120 Speaker 1: And there's a chance that it was finished up on 1647 01:30:36,200 --> 01:30:39,479 Speaker 1: the fly, because, according to Jeff Emrick, occurred to everyone 1648 01:30:39,560 --> 01:30:41,960 Speaker 1: basically at the eleventh hour that they were short a 1649 01:30:42,040 --> 01:30:44,680 Speaker 1: song for the album. Emrick wrote in his memoir, it 1650 01:30:44,800 --> 01:30:46,960 Speaker 1: wasn't until the very end, with most of the Revolver 1651 01:30:47,160 --> 01:30:49,679 Speaker 1: was mixed and ready to be mastered, that someone realized 1652 01:30:49,720 --> 01:30:52,400 Speaker 1: that the album was a song short. I guess Traditionally 1653 01:30:52,400 --> 01:30:54,439 Speaker 1: they were supposed to have fourteen tracks and if they 1654 01:30:54,479 --> 01:30:57,080 Speaker 1: were too short, there would be complaints or worse yet, 1655 01:30:57,240 --> 01:31:01,280 Speaker 1: returns from consumers. Not only their release dates set and 1656 01:31:01,320 --> 01:31:04,080 Speaker 1: a hungry public clamoring to hear the finished album. But 1657 01:31:04,200 --> 01:31:06,920 Speaker 1: the Beatles were booked to beginning European tour just days 1658 01:31:07,000 --> 01:31:10,000 Speaker 1: after the sessions ended, so there was no time to spare. 1659 01:31:10,400 --> 01:31:13,160 Speaker 1: It's hilarious to me that even the biggest band in 1660 01:31:13,200 --> 01:31:16,400 Speaker 1: the world would saying, oh, no, thirteen songs not enough, 1661 01:31:16,439 --> 01:31:18,920 Speaker 1: we gotta give them before they really cared about value 1662 01:31:19,000 --> 01:31:22,160 Speaker 1: for money. There's the famous sort of Beatle edict where 1663 01:31:22,640 --> 01:31:26,120 Speaker 1: they never wanted to release songs that were off their 1664 01:31:26,600 --> 01:31:29,880 Speaker 1: album as singles. They always want to have specific, dedicated 1665 01:31:29,960 --> 01:31:33,439 Speaker 1: singles and a specific album because they wanted to, I 1666 01:31:33,479 --> 01:31:35,799 Speaker 1: mean the stated reasons they wanted to give the public 1667 01:31:35,880 --> 01:31:38,519 Speaker 1: value for money. Anyway, So on the next to last 1668 01:31:38,640 --> 01:31:41,360 Speaker 1: day of the sessions, on June twenty one, two days 1669 01:31:41,400 --> 01:31:43,320 Speaker 1: before they were due to relieve on their tour. I 1670 01:31:43,400 --> 01:31:46,840 Speaker 1: meant two days before they banged out she said. She said, 1671 01:31:46,880 --> 01:31:49,320 Speaker 1: in a single day. The only song on Revolver to 1672 01:31:49,400 --> 01:31:52,080 Speaker 1: be done that quick however, and I mean, this is 1673 01:31:52,160 --> 01:31:55,439 Speaker 1: the nicest way, she said. She said, kind of sounds 1674 01:31:55,479 --> 01:31:57,240 Speaker 1: like it was bashed out in a hurry, kind of 1675 01:31:57,320 --> 01:32:00,640 Speaker 1: in a good way. It's yeah, yeah, Um. At the 1676 01:32:00,680 --> 01:32:03,280 Speaker 1: start of the recording sessions, it was still untitled, so 1677 01:32:03,400 --> 01:32:06,519 Speaker 1: it was very much a rushed job. The session went 1678 01:32:06,560 --> 01:32:08,840 Speaker 1: from seven o'clock at night to three forty five the 1679 01:32:08,880 --> 01:32:12,479 Speaker 1: following morning, and this is kind of Beatle time by 1680 01:32:12,560 --> 01:32:15,080 Speaker 1: this point. The sessions would start later later in the day, 1681 01:32:15,400 --> 01:32:16,760 Speaker 1: and this is kind of in the area when they 1682 01:32:16,800 --> 01:32:19,559 Speaker 1: would just start to work all night. Um. They spent 1683 01:32:19,640 --> 01:32:21,840 Speaker 1: much of the session rehearsing the song, with at least 1684 01:32:21,880 --> 01:32:26,040 Speaker 1: twenty five attempts before finally making their first proper attempt 1685 01:32:26,040 --> 01:32:29,080 Speaker 1: at recording it, and they taped the rhythm track and 1686 01:32:29,240 --> 01:32:32,840 Speaker 1: three takes. But nerves are apparently a little frayed after 1687 01:32:32,920 --> 01:32:35,639 Speaker 1: all these rehearsals, because at one point Paul McCartney says 1688 01:32:35,680 --> 01:32:38,360 Speaker 1: that he walked out of the studio following an argument, 1689 01:32:39,040 --> 01:32:41,760 Speaker 1: and he told his friend and biographer Barry Miles, I'm 1690 01:32:41,800 --> 01:32:43,439 Speaker 1: not sure, but I think this was one of the 1691 01:32:43,520 --> 01:32:46,120 Speaker 1: only Beatle records I never played on. I think we 1692 01:32:46,240 --> 01:32:48,880 Speaker 1: had a barty and I said, oh, f you and 1693 01:32:49,000 --> 01:32:51,280 Speaker 1: they said, well, we'll do it. And I think George 1694 01:32:51,360 --> 01:32:54,400 Speaker 1: played bass. And this is interesting to me because it's 1695 01:32:54,439 --> 01:32:56,960 Speaker 1: something of a mystery. There's nothing noted in the E. M. 1696 01:32:57,000 --> 01:33:00,360 Speaker 1: I Studios records, but listeners have observed that the bass 1697 01:33:00,439 --> 01:33:02,680 Speaker 1: playing on, she said. She said, it's a little more 1698 01:33:02,760 --> 01:33:04,680 Speaker 1: simple than the type of stuff Paul was doing in 1699 01:33:04,760 --> 01:33:09,040 Speaker 1: this era. However, Mark Lewis and the Beatles historian Supremo, 1700 01:33:09,160 --> 01:33:11,640 Speaker 1: who heard all of the session tapes, wrote in his 1701 01:33:11,720 --> 01:33:14,879 Speaker 1: book The Beatles Recording Sessions that he heard bass, drums 1702 01:33:15,000 --> 01:33:18,880 Speaker 1: and two guitars on the live rhythm tracks. So maybe 1703 01:33:18,920 --> 01:33:21,759 Speaker 1: Paul's misremembering it, or maybe he left after the rhythm 1704 01:33:21,800 --> 01:33:25,320 Speaker 1: track was recorded but before the vocals were added. It's unclear. 1705 01:33:25,479 --> 01:33:29,599 Speaker 1: But interestingly, during the Get Back documentary and the scene 1706 01:33:29,600 --> 01:33:32,240 Speaker 1: after George has left and John and Paul kind of 1707 01:33:32,360 --> 01:33:35,439 Speaker 1: have a tete a tete in the cafeteria for a 1708 01:33:35,560 --> 01:33:39,080 Speaker 1: private conversation and Michael Lindsay hug bugs the flower pot. 1709 01:33:39,640 --> 01:33:41,360 Speaker 1: So that you can pick up on what they're saying. 1710 01:33:42,320 --> 01:33:47,400 Speaker 1: It's is definitely a violation of journalist something. Yeah, John 1711 01:33:47,479 --> 01:33:50,800 Speaker 1: and Paul mentioned, she said. She said, as a point 1712 01:33:50,800 --> 01:33:53,760 Speaker 1: of contention in the past, so clearly something went down 1713 01:33:53,880 --> 01:33:56,880 Speaker 1: during the recording of this song. Uh but who knows? 1714 01:33:57,760 --> 01:33:59,519 Speaker 1: And now Hi go, I'm about the storm out of 1715 01:33:59,560 --> 01:34:02,320 Speaker 1: this episod. We have reached the end of side one, 1716 01:34:02,479 --> 01:34:04,800 Speaker 1: so please excuse us while we take a very short 1717 01:34:04,840 --> 01:34:09,040 Speaker 1: break to get up and flip the record. Unfortunately, it's 1718 01:34:09,040 --> 01:34:11,559 Speaker 1: an exceptionally heavy record and it will take us several 1719 01:34:11,640 --> 01:34:13,960 Speaker 1: days to turn it. We'll be back in two days 1720 01:34:14,040 --> 01:34:16,280 Speaker 1: for the second installment of our tribute to Revolver that 1721 01:34:16,400 --> 01:34:19,320 Speaker 1: examined side too, as well as the title and artwork 1722 01:34:19,400 --> 01:34:22,280 Speaker 1: for this truly amazing album. In the meantime, we urge 1723 01:34:22,280 --> 01:34:24,519 Speaker 1: you to check out the new deluxe reissue wherever you 1724 01:34:24,600 --> 01:34:27,320 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite music, and hey, why not check 1725 01:34:27,320 --> 01:34:30,120 Speaker 1: out my piece on people dot com, The Magic Circle 1726 01:34:30,320 --> 01:34:33,639 Speaker 1: Why the Beatles Revolver is a monument to the collaborative spirit. 1727 01:34:34,280 --> 01:34:36,880 Speaker 1: Just google Revolver and people dot com you'll find it's 1728 01:34:36,880 --> 01:34:43,760 Speaker 1: a great peace alright, thank you, I got you edited it. Yeah, well, 1729 01:34:43,840 --> 01:34:46,519 Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening. Everybody. Everyone get home safe, 1730 01:34:46,600 --> 01:34:50,799 Speaker 1: don't let Peter Fonda bum you out, and thanks for listening. 1731 01:34:50,920 --> 01:34:53,479 Speaker 1: We'll see you next time. I'm Alex Tagel and I'm 1732 01:34:53,560 --> 01:34:56,400 Speaker 1: Jordan run Tog. We'll catch you literally on the flip 1733 01:34:56,520 --> 01:35:05,080 Speaker 1: side end of one intermission. Too Much Information was a 1734 01:35:05,120 --> 01:35:08,240 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. The show's executive producers are 1735 01:35:08,320 --> 01:35:11,320 Speaker 1: Noel Brown and Jordan run Talk. The supervising producer is 1736 01:35:11,400 --> 01:35:14,439 Speaker 1: Mike John's. The show was researched, written and hosted by 1737 01:35:14,520 --> 01:35:17,479 Speaker 1: Jordan run Talk and Alex Heigel, with original music by 1738 01:35:17,520 --> 01:35:20,400 Speaker 1: Seth Applebaum and the Ghost Funk Orchestra. If you like 1739 01:35:20,520 --> 01:35:22,639 Speaker 1: what you heard, please subscribe and leave us a review. 1740 01:35:22,920 --> 01:35:25,200 Speaker 1: For more podcasts and I heart Radio, visit the I 1741 01:35:25,320 --> 01:35:28,280 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to 1742 01:35:28,320 --> 01:35:29,160 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.