Showing posts with label John Lennon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Lennon. Show all posts

Thursday, November 24, 2011

YOU CAN'T DO THAT ~ THE BEATLES

"You Can't Do That" is a song written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released by The Beatles as the B-side of their sixth British single "Can't Buy Me Love". One of Lennon's semi-autobiographical songs You Can't Do That "contradicted the genial tone with its tense threats, sexual paranoia and nagging, dragging groove" ... so wrote Robert Sandall. The song's jealousy theme was re-visited in other Lennon compositions, such as "Run for Your Life" and "Jealous Guy".It was the first song completed in the week before the Beatles began filming A Hard Day's Night, though "I Should Have Known Better" and "And I Love Her" were also started on the same day. The Beatles were filmed miming to "You Can't Do That" as part of the final concert sequence in the A Hard Day's Night film. The filming took place on 31 March 1964 at the Scala Theatre, London, but was not used. It was, however, broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show on 24 May. The performance is included in the documentary The Making of "A Hard Day's Night". "You Can't Do That" was covered by Harry Nilsson for his debut album Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967). The Supremes covered the song on their 1964 album A Bit of Liverpool.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

THERE'S A PLACE ~ THE BEATLES

"There's a Place" is a song composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and was first released as a track on The Beatles' British debut LP, Please Please Me. Lennon and McCartney share lead vocals with George Harrison providing backing vocals.

The title was inspired by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's "Somewhere" from West Side Story, which contained the line: "somewhere there's a place for us". McCartney owned the album of the soundtrack at the time of writing "There's a Place" and acknowledges its influence. The "place" in question was "the mind", making its subject matter slightly more cerebral than Britain's kissing and cuddling songs and America's surf music from that period. Lennon is quoted as saying: "'There's a Place' was my attempt at a sort of Motown, black thing." It says the usual Lennon things: 'In my mind there's no sorrow...' It's all in your mind."Composed at McCartney's Forthlin Road home, it was part of the group's stage repertoire in 1963. With its major seventh harmonica intro (later reprised) and searing two-part vocal harmonies in fifths (Lennon low, McCartney high), it stands out as an early Beatles milestone track. The song was recorded on 11 February 1963 in ten takes during the first of three sessions for Please Please Me.The song was officially credited to "McCartney/Lennon", as were all other Lennon/McCartney compositions on the original UK release of Please Please Me.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

ALL MY LOVING ~ THE BEATLES

"All My Loving" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), from the 1963 album With The Beatles. Though it was not released as a single in the United Kingdom or the United States, it drew considerable radio airplay, prompting EMI to issue it as the title track of an EP. The song was released as a single in Canada, where it became a number one hit. The Canadian single was imported into the US in enough quantities to peak at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1964. "All My Loving" was the Beatles's opening number on their debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964; the recording was included on Anthology 1. The group also performed "All My Loving" three times for BBC radio, once in 1963 and twice in 1964. The final version, which was recorded on 28 February 1964, was included on Live at the BBC. The song was used twice in films by the group - it plays in the background at the end of the nightclub scene in A Hard Day's Night (though without the drum opening and the coda), while an instrumental version appears in the movie Magical Mystery Tour. "All My Loving" has been praised by multiple critics. Ian MacDonald said, "The innocence of early Sixties British pop is perfectly distilled in the eloquent simplicity of this number" and described the song as helping McCartney be seen as more of an equal to Lennon. Richie Unterberger of Allmusic said it "was arguably the best LP-only track The Beatles did before 1964" and that if it was released as a single in America it would have been a huge hit.

Monday, November 7, 2011

THANK YOU GIRL ~ THE BEATLES

"Thank You Girl" is a song by The Beatles and released as the B-side of "From Me to You", which was recorded on the same day (5 March 1963). While not released on an LP in the United Kingdom until Rarities in 1978, the single was featured as the second track on The Beatles' Second Album in the United States. As the B-side to "Do You Want to Know a Secret?", it hit #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1964. Originally titled "Thank You, Little Girl", John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song as a tribute to the band's many female fans. McCartney said, "We knew that if we wrote a song called, 'Thank You Girl', that a lot of the girls who wrote us fan letters would take it as a genuine 'thank you'. So a lot of our songs were directly addressed to the fans. The stereo mix of the song (included on the Capitol LP The Beatles' Second Album) is noticeably different to the original single mono mix (re-released on CD in 1988 on the compilation Past Masters, Volume One) in the middle 8. In the stereo version, a couple of extra harmonica lines can be heard, as well as at the very end of the song.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

FROM ME TO YOU ~ THE BEATLES

"From Me to You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles as a single in 1963. The single was the Beatles' first number one in some of the United Kingdom charts, second in others, but failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial release. However, a 1963 cover version released by Del Shannon resulted in the song becoming the first Lennon/McCartney tune to enter the American pop chart. It was one of the very last songs to be credited "McCartney/Lennon"; soon afterwards their songs began appearing credited to "Lennon/McCartney". "From Me to You" was the first Beatles song to reach number one in Britain and is widely considered to be their first chart-topping song, for although "Please Please Me" reached the summit on almost every chart, it was only number two on Record Retailer's chart, generally considered to be the most authoritative for the time. "From Me to You" would be the first of eleven consecutive British number one singles by the Beatles. A true indication of how successful the Beatles became thanks to "From Me to You" (though it would soon be overshadowed by "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand") was expressed by McCartney: "The first time I thought we'd really made it, was when I was lying in bed one morning, and I heard a milkman whistling 'From Me to You'. Actually, I'm sure that I once heard a bird whistling it as well. I swear I did!"

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