Tag Archives: the beatles

#1087: The Beatles – Rain

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The story of how I came to know ‘Rain’ by the Beatles is short and very, very simple. Back in 2009, I downloaded the 2006 LOVE remix album – one that introduced me to a lot of Beatles tracks before I went ahead and sought out most of their proper discography. On the version of ‘All You Need Is Love’ that closes that album out, little splices of other Beatles songs come in during the repeated ‘Love is all you need’ mantra. A harmonised ‘Rain, I don’t mind’ came in at about 2:53 seconds in. I liked the little refrain. I typed in ‘rain i don’t mind’ into Google, ‘rain i don’t mind beatles’ came up as the autocomplete option. The music video was the first search result. And that was that. I was already on a Beatles kick as it was, and now another hit was added to the collection.

‘Rain’ was written by John Lennon and recorded by the band during the sessions out of which came Revolver in the summer of 1966. As any Beatles fan will know, the track didn’t appear on that LP. It had already been released as the B-side to ‘Paperback Writer’ months earlier. Now, you hear the term ‘B-side’ and you automatically think, “Well, it’s probably not that good than all the other songs that made the album, or the track on the flip side.” But every Beatles fan will tell you you’re wrong and that ‘Rain’ is actually one of the band’s best and one of their most underappreciated because of the ‘B-side’ status. There’s nothing to deep about it, Lennon sings about how the weather shouldn’t affect the way we think, particularly when it rains, and that it’s our minds that bring us up or down no matter how things are when you look at the sky in the morning. If there is something deep there, I’ve yet to see it. Seems to be a what you see is what you get situation. But Lennon was doing a lot of drugs in that time, so anything’s possible.

Apart from the fact that is just an outright solid tune, melody and the rhythm working together perfectly, there’s a bunch of other aspects about it that separate from those other songs that you’ll hear from day-to-day. Like how the band actually recorded the backing track (guitars and drums) at a much faster speed before it was slowed for the vocals and bass guitar to record over it. Lennon also took great pride in being the first person to incorporate backwards vocals into a song, something he was motivated to do after getting high one night and mistakenly putting a reel of tape on the wrong way round and being astounded by what he heard. Even though Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr didn’t necessarily play together on the song, the former overdubbed his bass guitar later as I said, the two are still locked in unison, providing one of the best rhythm section performances in the Beatles catalogue. Starr was particularly proud of his drumming. When you witness the speed at which he did it, you can see why. I think this song’s great. Gotta say I prefer this version of the video though.

#1036: The Beatles – Piggies

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Here it is. Everybody’s favourite George Harrison song from the White Album. Only kidding. I’m quite sure that ‘Piggies’ brings about some polarizing opinions. Some may think it’s fine. Others will probably turn to you and say they can’t stand the thing. If you were to ask me, I would gladly listen to this track a hell of a lot more than ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, which would be something of sacrilege to many, many people. I’ve just never been able to get into it. I mean, it’s all right. A bit melodramatic for me. The Anthology 3 version’s beautiful though. If Lennon and McCartney got their solo acoustic songs on the double album, then ‘Gently Weeps’ should definitely have been Harrison’s time to shine.

But anyway. ‘Piggies’, yes. The track’s another one of Harrison’s spiteful compositions made in order to make a commentary on an aspect of society. He first did it with ‘Taxman’ in 1966. While that was a satirical comment on, well, how much money was taken from him through taxes, ‘Piggies’ arrives as a biting piece on the rich in general. Harrison paints a picture of a world wherever everyone exists as pigs. The little (poorer) piggies are scrounging around, trying to make ends meet. The bigger (rich) piggies are ignorant to what goes on ‘below’ them as they strut around in their ‘starched white shirts’, and what Harrison suggests is that these bigger piggies need a smack to make them see sense.

Is the imagery a bit too on the nose and obvious? I mean, I guess so. But you couldn’t say that the musical shifts and the melodies aren’t interesting at the very least. The track goes with a great baroque and regal approach, led by a grand string arrangement courtesy of the main man George Martin and a harpsichord – which also has its own little solo – played by engineer Chris Thomas. It’s a track littered with totally unexpected moments. The movement and key change from those opening verses to the “In their sties…” middle part should have no right sounding as good as they do. There’s that little riff that plays after the “They don’t care what goes on around” lyric, which always sounds good to my ears. And for whatever reason, just when you think the song’s finished, Harrison comes in with a monotone ‘One more time’ before the strings blare out this rousing flourish to properly finish it off. I’ve come so used to it I can more or less say the phrase at the exact time Harrison says it. But it would certainly leave some people scratching their heads.

#1024: The Beatles – Penny Lane

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I’m sure I’ve told this anecdote before, but it was seeing the videos for ‘Penny Lane’ along a few Beatle promos (‘Hey Bulldog’, ‘The Night Before’) that fully changed my mind about seeing what all this hype about the Beatles was. In fact, I am certain I have, because I dedicated a whole post to it in about 2014. To summarise that post, I wasn’t really sure about the Beatles before 2009, but then the Rock Band game came out alongside the remasters. VH1 had a timeslot dedicated to Beatles videos. ‘Penny Lane’ was one of them, and upon hearing the music and seeing the jovial chemistry between these four people on-screen – plus, the supposed agreement that this was the best band of all time – I sent myself into the void and ended up researching everything there was to know about the group.

‘Penny Lane’ is one of my favourite Beatles songs. Years after humming the track to myself on the way to school when I was 14, it still brings a happy feeling when those ringing bass notes mark the sudden introduction. But it’s not just for nostalgia’s sake that I appear to be clinging onto this one for some sort of support. Just in general, the track is executed to perfection. Paul McCartney wrote a song about a street in Liverpool he would frequently pass through as a kid, mirroring the same approach John Lennon took on for ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. While that track became the experimental psychedelic exhibition, ‘Penny Lane’ was much straighter in approach whilst still maintaining a regal air about it with all the woodwinds and trumpets and other instrumentation that were more typical of an orchestra than a rock band.

As I said earlier, the music video played a big part in me wanting to find out more Beatles stuff. In the context of their careers, it was made at the point where the Beatles made it clear they weren’t going on tour anymore. The videos for ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘Penny Lane’ were also revealed after an extended break, in which people were wondering if the Beatles bubble had burst and they were heading for a split. They came back with moustaches and promo videos where they weren’t lipsyncing to the words or ‘playing’ their instruments. They make it most clear in this one in a very obvious manner. They ride past their instruments on their horses as if they are above them, to say ‘we’re not doing that stuff anymore’. When John Lennon starts saying “In Penny Lane” at 1:46, the camera switches to another scene as if to say ‘Nope. We don’t do that here.’ And when they are actually handed their instruments at the end, they pretend they have no idea what they are and start fiddling about with them, while Lennon flips a table over because he didn’t get his guitar. It’s a funny, little anti-music video, signifying that these boys were now men. Men with funny looking moustaches.

#1013: The Beatles – Paperback Writer

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Hey, look at that, it’s a Beatles song. So now comes the problem in how I can possibly approach this post without writing something that you can already find online… I think I just have to accept that when it comes to Beatles material, you can’t really write anything without regurgitating something that’s already been said or researched. But that’s why I have to put my own personal angle in there. Thinking about ‘Paperback Writer’, I don’t think it was one by the band where I heard it the first time and was instantly amazed. It’s only just over two minutes in length, but 14-year-old me needed those extra listens for it to all come together. It did. Thirteen years later, it feels just as good when those opening vocal harmonies come in.

Recorded during the sessions for what would become Revolver in 1966, Paul McCartney was inspired to write the track by his aunt, who suggested he write about something other than love for a change, and after he saw Ringo Starr reading in the backstage area of a venue. He and John Lennon got together, wrote the lyrics in the form of a letter from an aspiring writer who wants to get their book published and eventually worked on the track with George Harrison and Ringo Starr in the studio over two days in April ’66. Continuing their quest on experimenting in the studio, which properly started on sessions for the previous album, the group changed the line-up configuration to record the song’s backing track, with McCartney on lead guitar (he plays the riffs and the chugging lines during the verses), Harrison playing the rhythm, Starr on the usual drums and Lennon on tambourine. They did it in two takes, with the second being used for the final cut. That’s all they needed.

Got a lotta love for this power-pop number. With the Revolver Super Deluxe box set that came out a few months ago, some commenters were quick-witted to notice the huge similarity between the main guitar riff here and what would be used for the horns in ‘Got to Get You into My Life‘. Never would have put two and two together. Clearly, this was a melody McCartney had had in his head, so to make two songs out of it is quite something. Yeah, the riff’s cool, but there has to be huge props given to the bass guitar. Using a Rickenbacker bass instead of his signature Hofner and aided with some engineering know-how by Geoff Emerick, the low end has a fatter groove and provides a real drive to everything that’s happening. Plus, do like the Frère Jacques backing vocals by Lennon and Harrison in the final verses. Why they chose to sing that, I don’t know. But it just works. So, there you have it. Another Beatles post done. There’ll be more to come.

#962: The Beatles – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

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Man, I think this song’s great. This is a sentiment that wasn’t shared the three particular members of the Beatles while they were working on it during their sessions for what would become the White Album in 1968. Paul McCartney wrote this song, borrowing the title from a Nigerian friend of his, about fictional couple Desmond and Molly Jones and ran through it so many times that George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon became fed up with the whole thing. A take of the track that was eventually released on Anthology 3 in ’96 showed what the song could have been like had it not been worked on further. Now, I’ve seen people comment how this version is miles better than what ended up on the album. I could never understand that point of view. Just sounds so tame in comparison. At least on the album, the group actually sound like they’re not taking themselves to seriously, which adds a lot to its charm.

It all begins with that striking piano introduction by John Lennon, one that he immediately and angrily demonstrated to the group when he arrived at the studio late, and stoned, and found out what song they were working on. This move apparently redirected the entire direction of the track, and it turned it from that laidback acoustic number to the jumpy, faux-reggae version it was born to be. In the end, it sounds like the band had a fun time recording this new take on the track, especially when it comes to the vocals. With McCartney taking the lead, you can hear Harrison and Lennon jump in with these subtle ad-libs. Maybe to throw McCartney off, I don’t know. For example, when McCartney sings “Desmond lets the children lend a hand,”, Harrison says “arm” and Lennon yelps “leg.” Lennon spells the word “home” at one point. And caught up in all the excitement, McCartney makes a mistake and sings “Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face” in the final verse when it should be Molly. Through all his efforts of trying to make the song perfect, he hilariously slips up. But again, all adds to the charm.

“Ob-La-Di…” has been in a few “Worst Song Ever” lists over the years. I could see why. Guess people just don’t like songs that are too happy and too silly and probably don’t have much substance. But I’m not one of those people. Get those lists out of here. I think in the past there may have been some anti-bias against it due to John Lennon labelling it as the ‘granny shit’ that McCartney had seemed to be churning out in those years. But damn, I’ll sing the damn bassline or those ‘la-la-la’ backing chorus vocals any time of day. Is it my favorite Beatles song? Let’s not go that far. But it makes me feel good when I listen to it, and that’s what all of my favourite songs do. So if you want some fun, take Ob-La-Di-Bla-Da, heeeeeeey.