"John rightly gets most of the credit for 'A Day in the Life,' which many point to as the artistic high point of the Beatles’ oeuvre — but it wouldn’t have achieved those heights if it had been all John. Music is all about context, and the dissonant orchestral frenzy wouldn’t have been as interesting if it had gone from John back to John again. It needs to give way to Paul waking up and reeling off the details of his ordinary life, before drifting off into a dream."
Writes my son John, in "Paul McCartney turns 80" (posted yesterday, Paul's birthday), in the first post of a new blog. The blog is titled "Music Is Happiness," and we'll see where that goes.
John gives high marks to Paul's 2021 recording, "Deep Deep Feeling":
The girls thought Paul was the "dreamy" one, so the boys naturally hated him.
The blog is titled "Music Is Happiness," and we'll see where that goes.
No indications of tone of voice on the internet, so we'll assume that "and we'll see where that goes" was a proud Mom's hope for her son's success and not anything darker.
Well, Paul's 79y/o voice is, naturally of course, crappy (it was getting bad at 60) so he is wise to have most of the singing in this thing done by others and to sort of "talk" his parts. But that makes the song kind of annoying and certainly not attractive. Especially when you "have to" listen eight and a half minutes of it.
When I was growing up, my grandmother was just slightly batty.
She would tell us that she was George Harrison's aunt and that George was my cousin.
"Ok, sure, Nanny," my brother and I would say. And we'd get back to watching Dodger baseball. She had a big crush on Tommy Lasorda.
Forgot about it for years, though I was and still am a massive Beatles fan.
Then "Get Back" comes out, and I'm watching it with my wife. And getting a little tired of Paul's control freak behavior and pushing George Harrison around.
So George finally sticks up for himself, and quits the band and walks out, and my wife and I are cheering him.
Then I told my wife what my grandmother said, and she said "well, I have an Ancestry.com membership. Let's look it up.
Sure enough, Nanny was right. She was the oldest sister to George's father, Harold Hargreaves Harrison, albeit by a different marriage. George was, indeed, my cousin. I even drove by his house on Maui a couple of times.
Sorry I doubted you, Nanny! Give our best to Mr. Lasorda up there!
Paul created the Beatles as we know them, teaching his friend John how to play chords, recruiting their friend George to compliment the lineup, insisting they fire Stu Sutcliffe as well Pete Best and coaxing Ringo to join them. I love John George and Ringo but might have never heard of them if not for young headstrong Sir Paul. He gave one of the best concert performances my wife and I have ever experienced.
I've been a Paul fan all of my middle-aged life. There was a long period after the Tug of War/Pipes of Peace era in the early 80s where he released a lot of stuff that just didn't hit the mark. But then came Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard in, what, 2004? and he has delivered a great deal of excellent songwriting ever since. It might just be the longest successful creative streak of his life.
We saw Paul a couple of weeks ago in Syracuse. He played for 3 hours! It was one of the best concerts we have ever attended, complete with pyrotechnics (in the Carrier Dome) and a duet with John (on screen from the Rooftop concert) for an encore!
Kudos to JAC for "extravert." The overwhelming preference now (at least in this country) is for "extrovert," which is silly. "Ex-" is considered parallel to "in-." and both are attacked to "-trovert." Whereas it's actually "extra-" corresponding to "intro-" and both attached to "-vert," meaning "turning." Basically, "outward-looking" vs. "inward-looking."
I have always considered Paul to be the most creative Beatle. I know this flows against the view that John was, but I stand on my view. Look at their comparative post-Beatles productions. Not that anything either of them did after the break-up ever rose to the same level as that wonderful partnership of Lennon/McCartney.
Something I learned today. When she was pregnant with him, George Harrison's mother used to listen to Indian music. She found the sitar soothing and thought it would do the same for her baby. No joke (if you believe Wikipedia)!
Since I watched that and enjoyed it, I guess I should say so. Thanks for the clue--I've barely noticed any of the Beatles' music since the Beatles and a few years after.
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22 comments:
The girls thought Paul was the "dreamy" one, so the boys naturally hated him.
The blog is titled "Music Is Happiness," and we'll see where that goes.
No indications of tone of voice on the internet, so we'll assume that "and we'll see where that goes" was a proud Mom's hope for her son's success and not anything darker.
The title is a little too Charles Schulz, though.
JAC: "It’s hard to believe he was only 27 when the Beatles broke up."
Yes, that is hard to believe, isn't it?
Not too crazy about deep deep feeling, though. Too much poetry for people who don't like poetry. Heart is gonna burst! Devotion . . . emotion!
Well, Paul's 79y/o voice is, naturally of course, crappy (it was getting bad at 60) so he is wise to have most of the singing in this thing done by others and to sort of "talk" his parts. But that makes the song kind of annoying and certainly not attractive. Especially when you "have to" listen eight and a half minutes of it.
When I was growing up, my grandmother was just slightly batty.
She would tell us that she was George Harrison's aunt and that George was my cousin.
"Ok, sure, Nanny," my brother and I would say. And we'd get back to watching Dodger baseball. She had a big crush on Tommy Lasorda.
Forgot about it for years, though I was and still am a massive Beatles fan.
Then "Get Back" comes out, and I'm watching it with my wife. And getting a little tired of Paul's control freak behavior and pushing George Harrison around.
So George finally sticks up for himself, and quits the band and walks out, and my wife and I are cheering him.
Then I told my wife what my grandmother said, and she said "well, I have an Ancestry.com membership. Let's look it up.
Sure enough, Nanny was right. She was the oldest sister to George's father, Harold Hargreaves Harrison, albeit by a different marriage. George was, indeed, my cousin. I even drove by his house on Maui a couple of times.
Sorry I doubted you, Nanny! Give our best to Mr. Lasorda up there!
A belated Happy 80th Birthday to Sir Paul!!
Solid post by John. I suppose I should state that on his blog. I'll change the wording so he doesn't know it's me.
Paul created the Beatles as we know them, teaching his friend John how to play chords, recruiting their friend George to compliment the lineup, insisting they fire Stu Sutcliffe as well Pete Best and coaxing Ringo to join them. I love John George and Ringo but might have never heard of them if not for young headstrong Sir Paul. He gave one of the best concert performances my wife and I have ever experienced.
An extravert is one too many.
Yep. Paul was taking the other three guys for a drag for a while!
I've been a Paul fan all of my middle-aged life. There was a long period after the Tug of War/Pipes of Peace era in the early 80s where he released a lot of stuff that just didn't hit the mark. But then came Chaos and Creation in the Back Yard in, what, 2004? and he has delivered a great deal of excellent songwriting ever since. It might just be the longest successful creative streak of his life.
We saw Paul a couple of weeks ago in Syracuse. He played for 3 hours! It was one of the best concerts we have ever attended, complete with pyrotechnics (in the Carrier Dome) and a duet with John (on screen from the Rooftop concert) for an encore!
I love the Beatles and McCartney. But let's be real here. That song sucked.
"Emotional damage!" (Conduct an internet search of that phrase to understand the reference. (I refuse to say the G word.))
The cute one was also the tough one.
No one was saved
The title is a little too Charles Schulz, though.
It's harder to get away with "Happiness is a Warm Gun" now.
I still play "For No One" around the campfire on guitar - first song I ever learned to play. Kazoos work great for the french horns in that setting...
Brylinski said...
We saw Paul a couple of weeks ago in Syracuse
He played in Greenville SC just before the pandemic hit. Likewise, one of the best concerts I ever saw.
Kudos to JAC for "extravert." The overwhelming preference now (at least in this country) is for "extrovert," which is silly. "Ex-" is considered parallel to "in-." and both are attacked to "-trovert." Whereas it's actually "extra-" corresponding to "intro-" and both attached to "-vert," meaning "turning." Basically, "outward-looking" vs. "inward-looking."
Fun comment, Jason. You told it well.
I have always considered Paul to be the most creative Beatle. I know this flows against the view that John was, but I stand on my view. Look at their comparative post-Beatles productions. Not that anything either of them did after the break-up ever rose to the same level as that wonderful partnership of Lennon/McCartney.
Something I learned today. When she was pregnant with him, George Harrison's mother used to listen to Indian music. She found the sitar soothing and thought it would do the same for her baby. No joke (if you believe Wikipedia)!
Since I watched that and enjoyed it, I guess I should say so. Thanks for the clue--I've barely noticed any of the Beatles' music since the Beatles and a few years after.
For Beatles fans: This is mesmerizing. :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA1mSTa5xIA
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