Tag Archives: i’ve

#607: The Beatles – I’ve Just Seen a Face

Leave a reply

‘I’ve Just Seen a Face’ is the twelfth track on The Beatles’ fifth album Help!. When nearing the end of the album, the listener is provided with two mainly acoustic numbers sung by Paul McCartney. ‘Yesterday’ is the second of them. But while that song mourns the loss of a relationship, ‘I’ve Just Seen a Face’ captures the promising outlook of one that has a great chance of being successful.

It starts off with an intricate oscillating 6/8 timed intro of guitars that rise and fall before changing into the driving standard time verse where McCartney starts his vocal. His vocal take consists of very wordy lyrics, phrases that fall into the next with some internal rhyming and syncopation that help the track maintain its propelling momentum throughout. Chorus is good too. The “Falling, yes I am falling” line is one that is delivered with so much joy – it’s hard to not to feel just a bit happier from listening to it.

It’s quick and really easy listening to the ear. That seems to be a bit of motif throughout Help!. It’s an album that’s made of a lot of songs where the structure and instrumentation are very simple and straight to the point. ‘I’ve Just Seen a Face’ isn’t necessarily a major favourite of mine on there but when it starts playing it’s hard to skip.

#606: They Might Be Giants – I’ve Got a Match

Leave a reply

Lincoln is the second album by They Might Be Giants, released in 1988 – two years following their debut. Comparing the two, I’ve always felt that Lincoln is a lot warmer in tone than its predecessor. The band’s first album contains a majority of tracks with massive drums slathered in reverb and, I guess some would say, dated production in general. It’s my personal favourite of theirs. But there’s none of that on Lincoln. Instrumentals are virtually stripped back allowing to really let the band’s lyricism and melodies shine through. There are also a lot of sincere songs concerning romantic relationships on Lincoln which tend to detail the downfalls and break-ups that can occur. ‘I’ve Got a Match’ is one of them.

Whenever They Might Be Giants write about relationships they tend to skip the melodrama that comes with a lot of standard love songs. No over-exaggerated lyrical clichés or musical elements. Sung by John Linnell, ‘I’ve Got a Match’ details a relationship that begs to wonder how it even started – one that totally lacks in sympathy, trust and commitment. Its verses consist of overbearing demands and backhanded insults before building into a chorus that denounces love as ‘smelly’ and states the futility of the couple’s romance.

Musically, the song is characterised by a quiet verse/loud chorus dynamic. The first verse its just Linnell’s lone vocal, John Flansburgh’s soft guitar chords on the right, a synth-harp (I’ll guess) on the left and the rhythm section. Then just as Linnell finishes the last line, the track suddenly bursts into a soaring chorus with the introduction of an accordion, vocal harmonies and a pulsating drum rhythm. Linnell also belts out the highest note of the whole track during this time too. It’s a very cathartic release that comes after the agitated vibe of the verses.

It’s a real gem. I almost feel like it could have a been a single in its day. The group have rarely ever played it live because the two Johns supposedly got too burned out on it. Perhaps they spent a lot of time trying to perfect it in the studio? It came out rather well if that’s the case.

#605: The Beatles – I’ve Got a Feeling

Leave a reply

‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ is the eighth song on The Beatles’ final album Let It Be, opening the second half of the record if you own it on vinyl. I think everyone knows the story behind the making of it. If not, I’ll try and lay down some knowledge for you.

The Beatles spent five months working on what became their self-titled double album in 1968. It was released in November of that year. They took a short break and the four members did whatever they wanted in that time. As soon as January 1969 arrived they were back in the studio, mostly because of Paul McCartney’s eagerness to start work again. John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr didn’t particularly want to be there and the group had a miserable time in the first few days. The month went on, internal relationships sort of got better (thanks to the inclusion of keyboardist Billy Preston in their sessions and a change in studio), just enough that they were able to record an album’s worth of songs and play what was to be their final live performance on the roof of their Apple Corps headquarters. During that concert, ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ was played twice and the first take of it is the version you hear on the album.

The rooftop concert is the obvious highlight of the Let It Be film; it’s practically the only time that you see the four members really enjoying themselves when playing together. There are a ton of recordings you can find on YouTube of the band going through ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ in the studio and the magic just isn’t there. But it’s on the roof where the song comes alive. Paul McCartney melodically roars throughout the entire track and George Harrison’s spiking lead guitar on the right hand side helps to really move the track along. It’s also the last track in which McCartney and Lennon equally share their lead vocal. Lennon had worked on his own song called ‘Everybody Had a Hard Year’ in the latter stages of 1968 and through some wise decision-making it was incorporated into McCartney’s song.

To whoever may be reading this you should definitely try and watch the Let It Be documentary. Not particularly for any action that happens because there’s not a lot of it, but it hits when the concert segment gets going and the group start performing. These were four people who weren’t genuinely happy throughout most of the film for the past hour. But for the 20 minutes that portion of the film lasts for, they put their all into their performance. It’s a real joy to see.

By the end of January, they didn’t have much faith in what they had recorded and decided to start work on what would become Abbey Road instead. Let It Be could have been a lost album. It’s good that it wasn’t. We wouldn’t have this great song otherwise.

#604: Jakobínarína – I’ve Got a Date with My Television

Leave a reply

The song next up on my phone is ‘I’ve Got a Date with My Television’ by Jakobínarína, the eighth track on the band’s only album The First Crusade. They were an Icelandic group who split up just as things were on the rise for them; that was eleven years ago. They’ve been lost in time as a result. They made good stuff though in the short time the band members were together. Some of which I’ve written about in the past.

‘My Television’ is somewhat of a commentary on the fixation on celebrity culture and the tendency to put too much trust into what famous people are doing with their lives instead of thinking about ourselves. The way this commentary is done is very simple. I may have even put too much thought into it. References to Oprah Winfrey advice on ideal body weight and David Beckham’s looks are made. The song’s chorus lyric ‘TV friends don’t stab you in the back/Keeping me on the right track’ sum up the song’s message. There is a strong sarcastic sense that is meant to be provided by the lyrics but you wouldn’t be able to tell with the almost glitzy sheen of the instrumental. Especially that (keyboard?) jingle in the introduction and the strings that arrive during the coda.

I own The First Crusade in CD format and unfortunately the lyrics for the tracks weren’t included in the liner notes. A bit of a shame really, seeing as the song’s lyrics in the bridge are in a completely different language. Or a mix of a various languages. All I can make out is ‘Guten abend’ and ‘Guten tag’, the rest I can make the sounds of… but I don’t know what he’s saying. Generally I think it’s just to show that television fascination is a something that happens all around the world. At least in the countries that speak the languages vocalist Gunnar Bergmann Ragnarsson sings during that part.

My iPod #21: The Used – All That I’ve Got

1 Reply
Hi everybody. I’m a bit late, I’m sorry. I’m on my iPod right now, my mum wouldn’t get off the computer, but it’s fine. I may have to make this quick, the battery’s running out.
‘In Love and Death’ is some album. It’s not regularly considered to be something of a concept album, but it could easily, seeing as it is about those two themes. Written during a particularly miserable period for Bert McCracken, it can sound really happy in some parts and downright pissed off and depressing in others.
‘All That I’ve Got’ first came into my life through a friend of my sister. Her friends must have sent her the song through MSN or something, but I can’t remember if sis liked it or not. I used to watch Kerrang! too, and it showed ten seconds of their new single at the time ‘I Caught Fire’ when it advertised the new videos that were the ‘ones to watch’. However, I wasn’t really interested, I don’t think I liked the look of make up on lead singers so I didn’t really bother listening to the song.
Coming after ‘Let It Bleed’ on the album, ‘All That I’ve Got’ is quite a sad song 😦 You wouldn’t think it listening to the lyrics or the actual music. According to Wikipedia, it was written after the lead singer’s pet died, and it’s never great when that happens.
I think the song describes any person in a situation when a loved one has died. It’s shown on soap operas all the time. There’s a character whose dad or brother has passed away. A friend asks “Are you ok?”, and the person answers, “Yeah, sure, why wouldn’t I be? Haha.” Then you see them crying in their pillow when they go to bed.
The narrator of the song does the same thing, and putting on the strong, ‘I don’t give a shit’ facade is the only thing he has from making himself look like a pussy in front of other people.
To anyone who has had that experience, it’s alright to feel sad. It’s never happened to me before so I don’t want to sound patronising. Whoever has left will always be with you, in your head and in your heart.
Until next time.
Jamie.