Daily Archives: February 9, 2015

My iPod #432: The Beatles – Glass Onion

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My introduction to “Glass Onion” wasn’t via listening to The Beatles self-titled album (or The White Album) from 1968, but through The Beatles’ official mash-up album “LOVE“. Mind you the version on that album only contains John Lennon singing “Oh yeah”, “Nothing is real”, and the last verse before the creepy string outro mixed with a lot of elements from other Beatles songs. But I still thought it was alright. It made me want to listen to the whole track. So I did.

“Glass Onion” is a track written by John Lennon in which he makes several references to other Beatles songs in order to freak out the conspiracists and general strange people who thought there was more to The Beatles than the four members were actually letting on. The song references range from “There’s a Place” from their 1963 debut to “https://www.youtube.com/embed/v2i1WhHXyBY“>The Fool on the Hill” from 1967’s “Magical Mystery Tour” – the latter getting its own musical nod when Paul plays the recorder near the end of the song. Ringo Starr actually plays on this track too; he does not appear on “Back in the U.S.S.R.” or “Dear Prudence” has he had temporarily left the band when times were rough. So whether the track starting off with the jarring drum fill was meant to signal his entrance or just a coincidence is up for questioning. The vocals and rhythm section come to an abrupt end and give way to the aforementioned scaling strings section that brings the song to an ominous end, fading out (and sounds like it begins to slow down weirdly in the last few seconds) before the clanging pianos of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” begin.

And so there you have it. Probably the most meta track The Beatles ever made. And one of their most darker sounding ones too.

My iPod #431: The Darkness – Givin’ Up

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“Givin’ Up” is the sixth track from The Darkness’ first album “Permission to Land“. Despite its cheery, upbeat, 70s karaoke night feel to it, the song is about lead singer/guitarist Justin Hawkins’ (former?) heroin addiction. The drug abuse continued until he was forced to quit the band years later in 2006. He makes the effects of the drug clear in the pre-chorus: “Well, I’ve ruined nearly all of my veins/Sticking that fucking shit into my arms” and there is definitely something tragic about the whole thing. Hawkins wants to stop the addiction but when it comes to the stuff entering his stuff he gives up giving a fuck about it and carries on doing it anyway. Quite sad. But you can’t tell just because of how damn happy the track sounds.

When I was sitting on my mum’s bed listening to “Permission to Land” on my Playstation 2 at the young age of eight, none of this came to mind when I was singing along to it. Did I know what ‘shit’ he was referring to when looking through the liner notes? Of course not. All I knew was that the song sounded good. Still does today. Even if age as made me realise how very serious the song actually is.

Another notable thing that I didn’t really realise until listening to the album years later, this track flows perfectly into “Stuck in a Rut”. Both have the same tempo, and the snare drum which starts that song seems the two tracks together very well. Production at its finest right there.