Listen to Paul's forceful and, at times, deliriously unhinged rendition of "It's So Easy" by Buddy Holly. It's part of the Holly tribute album, Rave On, that is set for release on June 28.
And for good measure, here's the original:
(If the video is removed, go here.)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
"Forever Young? In Some Ways, Yes"
An op-ed on Dylan, his fellow pop-music septuagenarians, and the developmental importance of age 14, from today's New York Times.
Excerpt:
“Fourteen is a sort of magic age for the development of musical tastes,” says Daniel J. Levitin, a professor of psychology and the director of the Laboratory for Music Perception, Cognition and Expertise at McGill University. “Pubertal growth hormones make everything we’re experiencing, including music, seem very important. We’re just reaching a point in our cognitive development when we’re developing our own tastes. And musical tastes become a badge of identity.”
Biography seems to bear this out. When Robert Zimmerman (the future Bob Dylan) turned 14 as a freshman at Hibbing High School in Minnesota, Elvis Presley was releasing his early records, including “Mystery Train,” and Mr. Dylan discovered a way to channel his gestating creativity and ambition. “When I first heard Elvis’s voice I just knew that I wasn’t going to work for anybody, and nobody was going to be my boss,” Mr. Dylan once said. “Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail.”
Mr. McCartney, the son of a big-band musician, abandoned his first instrument, the trumpet, after hearing Presley. “It was Elvis who really got me hooked on beat music,” Mr. McCartney has been quoted as saying. “When I heard ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ ” — which was released in 1956, when Mr. McCartney turned 14 — “I thought, this is it.”
Excerpt:
“Fourteen is a sort of magic age for the development of musical tastes,” says Daniel J. Levitin, a professor of psychology and the director of the Laboratory for Music Perception, Cognition and Expertise at McGill University. “Pubertal growth hormones make everything we’re experiencing, including music, seem very important. We’re just reaching a point in our cognitive development when we’re developing our own tastes. And musical tastes become a badge of identity.”
Biography seems to bear this out. When Robert Zimmerman (the future Bob Dylan) turned 14 as a freshman at Hibbing High School in Minnesota, Elvis Presley was releasing his early records, including “Mystery Train,” and Mr. Dylan discovered a way to channel his gestating creativity and ambition. “When I first heard Elvis’s voice I just knew that I wasn’t going to work for anybody, and nobody was going to be my boss,” Mr. Dylan once said. “Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail.”
Mr. McCartney, the son of a big-band musician, abandoned his first instrument, the trumpet, after hearing Presley. “It was Elvis who really got me hooked on beat music,” Mr. McCartney has been quoted as saying. “When I heard ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ ” — which was released in 1956, when Mr. McCartney turned 14 — “I thought, this is it.”
Happy 70th, Bob Dylan
The hour is late, but May 24th, 2011 isn't in the books yet. This means it's still Robert Zimmerman's 70th birthday, and there's still time to honor him.
Here's Paul toasting Dylan in an interview with The Onion's A.V. Club:
Because I'm in awe of Bob. Y'know, people say, "Who's your hero?" And he's always been… In The Beatles, he was our hero. I think he's great. He hit a period where people went, "Oh, I don't like him now." And I said, "No. It's Bob Dylan." To me, it's like Picasso, where people discuss his various periods, "This was better than this, was better than this." But I go, "No. It's Picasso. It's all good." Whether it's bad or good, it's all Picasso.
Here's John discussing the influence Dylan had on his songwriting, specifically "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away":
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away is my Dylan period. It's one of those that you sing a bit sadly to yourself, 'Here I stand, head in hand...' I'd started thinking about my own emotions. I don't know when exactly it started, like I'm A Loser or Hide Your Love Away, those kind of things. Instead of projecting myself into a situation, I would try to express what I felt about myself, which I'd done in my books. I think it was Dylan who helped me realise that - not by any discussion or anything, but by hearing his work.
And here's my favorite Dylan song - the musically zesty and narratively compelling penultimate track on Desire, "Black Diamond Bay."
(If the video is removed, go here.)
Here's Paul toasting Dylan in an interview with The Onion's A.V. Club:
Because I'm in awe of Bob. Y'know, people say, "Who's your hero?" And he's always been… In The Beatles, he was our hero. I think he's great. He hit a period where people went, "Oh, I don't like him now." And I said, "No. It's Bob Dylan." To me, it's like Picasso, where people discuss his various periods, "This was better than this, was better than this." But I go, "No. It's Picasso. It's all good." Whether it's bad or good, it's all Picasso.
Here's John discussing the influence Dylan had on his songwriting, specifically "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away":
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away is my Dylan period. It's one of those that you sing a bit sadly to yourself, 'Here I stand, head in hand...' I'd started thinking about my own emotions. I don't know when exactly it started, like I'm A Loser or Hide Your Love Away, those kind of things. Instead of projecting myself into a situation, I would try to express what I felt about myself, which I'd done in my books. I think it was Dylan who helped me realise that - not by any discussion or anything, but by hearing his work.
And here's my favorite Dylan song - the musically zesty and narratively compelling penultimate track on Desire, "Black Diamond Bay."
(If the video is removed, go here.)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Saturday cover
It's John's dazzling rendition of the Phil Spector classic, "Be My Baby."
(If the video is removed, go here.)
(If the video is removed, go here.)
Weekend reading
In anticipation of Bob Dylan's 70th birthday (which is on Tuesday), The Independent has come up with a list of 70 reasons why Robert Allen Zimmerman is "the most important figure in pop-culture history."
Excerpt:
23. Because The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was such a huge influence on The Beatles. "We just played it, just wore it out," said George Harrison. "The content of the song lyrics and just the attitude – it was incredibly original and wonderful." John Lennon said: "For three weeks... we didn't stop playing it. We went potty about Dylan."
24. Because he introduced The Beatles to pot, without which there may have been no Rubber Soul, Revolver or Sgt Pepper.
Wait - no mention of the Traveling Wilburys? Weak sauce.
Excerpt:
23. Because The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was such a huge influence on The Beatles. "We just played it, just wore it out," said George Harrison. "The content of the song lyrics and just the attitude – it was incredibly original and wonderful." John Lennon said: "For three weeks... we didn't stop playing it. We went potty about Dylan."
24. Because he introduced The Beatles to pot, without which there may have been no Rubber Soul, Revolver or Sgt Pepper.
Wait - no mention of the Traveling Wilburys? Weak sauce.
Paul to release pop standards album
Tentatively set for release in early 2012, the album will consist of "covers of pop standards from the pre-rock years."
Read more here.
Excerpt from the Rolling Stone article:
Working with an orchestra in Capitol Studios, McCartney quickly knocked out nearly a dozen tracks, including a handful with Diana Krall and her band. But he's keeping the titles under wraps for now: "They're just songs I admire," he says. "I'm trying to steer away from the obvious ones." McCartney also cut several of his own new songs in a similar vein — even singing into a microphone used by Nat "King" Cole. "It's get-home-from-work music," he says of the LP, tentatively scheduled for release early next year, following additional sessions in London. "You put it on and get a glass of wine."
Read more here.
Excerpt from the Rolling Stone article:
Working with an orchestra in Capitol Studios, McCartney quickly knocked out nearly a dozen tracks, including a handful with Diana Krall and her band. But he's keeping the titles under wraps for now: "They're just songs I admire," he says. "I'm trying to steer away from the obvious ones." McCartney also cut several of his own new songs in a similar vein — even singing into a microphone used by Nat "King" Cole. "It's get-home-from-work music," he says of the LP, tentatively scheduled for release early next year, following additional sessions in London. "You put it on and get a glass of wine."
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