Saturday cover

Here's Miles Kane and co. thrashing their way (and how else could they do it?) through "Hey Bulldog."



(If the video is removed, go here.)

Weekend reading #2

"Hard to Imagine: Robert Hart on John Lennon & the Popularity of Jesus"

Excerpt:
The real problem with what John Lennon said in 1966 is not what so many were quick to assume and to decry in a knee-jerk reaction. The real problem is the element of truth in what he said. The Beatles were more popular than the Lord himself among youth in England at the time, as was Frank Sinatra among the older set in America—and as are television, video games, and many other things of this world to very many people today. Lennon, the eccentric artist, poet, and musician, spoke all too accurately.

Another man, also named John, wrote centuries earlier about Jesus Christ: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not” (John 1:10). The apostle’s words explain the almost hidden orthodoxy we can derive from those later words of Lennon, long assumed to have been blasphemous or boastful. In reality, they were diagnostic, and an expression of innocent, childlike honesty.

Weekend reading

From the A.V. Club: "Worst lyrical rhymes in popular music"

Excerpt:
One of my favorite Beatles solo songs is Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy,” probably because it was allegedly written by George Harrison. I love the backup singers and the saxophone, and I can generally get behind the song’s message. (It was my theme song when I was filling out college applications.) However, one verse has such lazy, lame rhymes that it makes me almost embarrassed to like it: “Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues / And you know it don’t come easy / You don’t have to shout or leap about / You can even play them easy.” First, George/Ringo rhymed “easy” with itself, but that line “You don’t have to shout or leap about” is what kills me. I think it’s the mental image of a person “leaping about” that ruins the verse for me. If I think about it, I understand the intention of the lyric, but those childlike rhymes just make it sound like the song was written in about two minutes on the toilet, and it’s what keeps me from considering it a great song, as opposed to pretty good.

What I'm digging right now

"Another Day" by Macca. It's "Eleanor Rigby" in brighter confines. The "do-do-dos" make for a blithe touch.



(If the video is removed, go here.)

Happy belated 71st, Ringo!

I badly dropped the ball yesterday by not acknowledging Ringo's birthday. This is to make amends.

- "Rock & Roll Birthday: Ringo Starr"

- "Ringo Starr’s 71st Birthday: A Life In Videos"

- "Sir Paul McCartney makes video wishing former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr a happy 71st birthday"

- "Ringo Starr, Confident and Sober: Rolling Stone's 1992 Feature Story"

Today in Beatles history

Over the years, July 6th was of great significance to The Beatles:

7/6/1957 - John and Paul are introduced to one another at the Woolton Village Fete.

7/6/1961 - The first issue of Mersey Beat ("The Paper That Made The Beatles") is released.

7/6/1964 - The world premiere of A Hard Day's Night.

A haiku for pretty much every song by The Beatles

At long last, my Beatles haiku project has come to an end; the finished product is below. I began writing these haiku for a simple reason: I wanted to contribute something original to the world of Beatles writing. As far as I can gather from searching the Internet, no comparable undertaking has been completed and published. If this is the case, terrific. If not, I've still had a rich experience becoming intimately familiar with pretty much all of The Beatles' songs. As lightweight as these pseudo-poems may be, a lot of research went into their formation. I'd like to think that, on some level, this project serves as a history of The Beatles. It addresses the band's influences, the development of their sound, their individual personalities, important figures in their lives, significant events, the Lennon-McCartney partnership, and more. But I also realize that, on another level, it's just a curiously packaged collection of trivia.

Either way, I hope that you read it, enjoy it, and maybe even learn from it. If you spy any errors (i.e., misinformation or non-conformities with the 5-7-5 haiku format), please let me know.

Finally, it would be quite an affront to decency if I failed to thank The Beatles for their wonderful songs. They've brought so much joy and inspiration to so many people, including myself. I suppose these haiku could be seen as a show of gratitude (however meager by comparison) for all of that.

Here they are, by album:

- Please Please Me
- With The Beatles
- A Hard Day's Night
- Beatles for Sale
- Help!
- Rubber Soul
- Revolver
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Magical Mystery Tour
- The Beatles
- Yellow Submarine
- Abbey Road
- Let It Be
- Singles and B-sides