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Beatles Timeline: 50 years on

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    Sorry, not much to do with an actual timeline but simply something which puzzles me about Oh Darling. The story goes (I think Macca himself told it) that he chainsmoked for a week to achieve the gruff quality needed to sing the song in character, or something like that. But what real difference would a week's solid smoking make to your voice beyond making it worse (and not worse in the way intended, if you see what I mean)? Also, going on what I know and on photos and film around the time, all of the members of The Beatles used to smoke their lungs away. So I'm not sure that if McCartney wouldn't have managed Oh Darling just as successfully if he had actually given up for a week before the recordings. Basically, what I'm postulating is that the smoking aspect of the vocals of this song have been overstated, not least by the singer himself.

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      I've often wondered whether Macca's anecdotes are heavily embroidered. Unless they involve Ringo it's not as if anyone's going to refute them.

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        Don't most people subtly alter their anecdotes, basically to omit annoying details which would otherwise lessen their impact?

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          Yeah I know. I just find it annoying when Macca does it.

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            Originally posted by G-Man View Post
            I'm sure there are. I'd be interested in your nominations.

            Some tracks were used on previous Beatles covers mixes, so I didn't want to repeat them. Lady Madonna has previously featured in superior versions by Fats Domino (twice), Booker T. & The MG’s, and Cal Tjader. Hey Jude has featured in superior versions by Wilson Pickett and by The Temptations.

            I challenge you to find a better version of The Inner Light than Jimmy McGriff and Junior Parker's.

            I must confess to disliking Bowie’s version of Across The Universe, and I've yet to hear a version I like.

            I cannot conceive of the possibility of any good version of Yellow Submarine, so having a funk band do it is as good as it gets. And Journey covering a fairly obscure Beatles song has novelty value.
            Apologies if I was abrupt. Wilson Pickett's 'Hey Jude' was my immediate thought but I hadn't realized it had already been picked in a previous mix. For 'It's All Too Much' I would select Steve Hillage (see above) or Chandrama's Hindi version

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cROZo-AxDg8

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              Originally posted by Sits View Post
              I've often wondered whether Macca's anecdotes are heavily embroidered. Unless they involve Ringo it's not as if anyone's going to refute them.
              Lewisohn has said that he probably wouldn't get much from a Macca interview now. Not just the embroidery but the faulty memory after 50+ years (60+ if talking about the 50s).

              I don't think he consciously lies though. He genuinely believes he wrote the whole of Eleanor Rigby without any help even though all the witnesses disagree.

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                Eleanor Rigby may be the first Beatles release on which none of them played an instrument...or was there an earlier example?

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                  I think you are correct. Yesterday has Paul's guitar.

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                    The rooftop concert was 50 years ago today! Around lunchtime!

                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Be...ooftop_concert

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                      Wow, good pickup Serge.

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                        And appropriately enough, this news regarding a new film based on the Let it Be footage has been announced: https://www.thebeatles.com/news/new-...laimed-academy
                        I'm not sure how appealing watching extra footage of the Beatles bickering would be though.

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                          Ooh Peter Jackson. Maybe he'll spread it across nine movies.

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                            If it's not called Lord of the Ringos I'm not in.

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                              Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
                              If it's not called Lord of the Ringos I'm not in.
                              [applause]

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                                1) Belatedly, I found this news on David Hepworth's blog (31 Jan):

                                Mark Lewisohn...told me that he’s currently listening to all 97 hours of the original tape which was running as the Beatles recorded what would be the “Let It Be” film and album. Furthermore he was making sure he did it on the day and at the time that they did it fifty years earlier. That’s a similar kind of dedication.
                                2) Amazingly, despite the Get Back chaos, by March 1969 some of Abbey Road was already in the can.

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                                  Not strictly Beatles but solo Macca; while listening to Maybe I'm Amazed (great song) the other day I was struck by these lines (which I'd never really taken in before):

                                  Maybe I'm amazed at the the way you pulled me out of time
                                  And hung me on a line


                                  Bit weird, no? Hung me on a line has one thinking of hanging someone out to dry...which isn't very romantic, to say the least.

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                                    Today it's 50 years since Abbey Road was released. Their finest album, I think; certainly that Side 2 with that medley of tracks that might have been classics were they proper songs.

                                    Starting with A Hard Day's Night, I've made track-by-track mixes of covers of the songs on each album, to coincide with their respective 50th anniversaries. I thought that with Side 2's truncated songs that would be a difficult job; turns out that it's probably the best of the mixes. Even leaving aside the Abbey Road version by Booker T & the MG's, quite a few soul and jazz singers covered tracks from Abbey Road. The covers mix is here.

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                                      Thanks for that! I'll check it out.

                                      I watched Yesterday last night and liked it a lot more than I expected to.

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                                        Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
                                        If it's not called Lord of the Ringos I'm not in.
                                        Does anyone know what happened to the Joe Orton script (Up Against It, I think). Did anyone ever stage it?

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                                          Yes, on the radio:

                                          https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/12d735d9...bbfb7f6edbe020

                                          Part 1

                                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9QGhkMONvI

                                          Todd Rungren wrote songs for a stage version:

                                          https://www.amazon.com/Up-Against-To.../dp/B000005JYO
                                          Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 26-09-2019, 15:31.

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                                            Thanks G-man, and glad someone made sure the date was noted.

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                                              My favourite second side of a Beatles album are the six songs on A Hard Day's Night.

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                                                Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                                                Not strictly Beatles but solo Macca; while listening to Maybe I'm Amazed (great song) the other day I was struck by these lines (which I'd never really taken in before):

                                                Maybe I'm amazed at the the way you pulled me out of time
                                                And hung me on a line


                                                Bit weird, no? Hung me on a line has one thinking of hanging someone out to dry...which isn't very romantic, to say the least.
                                                It makes sense when you consider McCartney’s mood through late ‘69/early ‘70. By his own admission, he took the fracturing of the Beatles very hard. He described it as a period of heavy drinking and an unwillingness to get out of bed. Linda McCartney helped him out of his funk by persuading him that he was good enough to make a go of it on his own as well as providing the love and stability of a family relationship. In effect, she pulled him out of a desperate, depressed “time” and repaired him (“hung me on the line”). In a sense, this period of renewal went on long after the song was released given that McCartney continued to lie low through 1970, before unleashing Another Day and Ram on the world.

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                                                  We missed to note the 50th anniversary of Paul announcing that the Beatles had split, on April 10. But today is the 50th anniversary of Let It Be, the LP, coming out.

                                                  And if anyone is interested in the album by covers...

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                                                    Good pick up G-Man, and nice covers. Interesting that Billy Preston did his cover pretty much straight after appearing on the original.

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