Balarama Music

Beatles Countdown #85 – Dig A Pony

{Mar 16}

Doug1970s john lennon, the beatles No Comments

Sorry for the break, but let’s keep the countdown rolling with #85 as John Lennon tells us all he wants in a selection from the Let It Be album: “Dig A Pony!”

Later dismissed as “another piece of garbage” by John in 1980 before his death, the song was lyrical nonsense with Lennon himself addressing by saying “I just make it up as I go along.” Like “I Am The Walrus,” the song features a bunch of randomly-linked nonsensical phrases with no real set meaning. The chorus was the exception here as Lennon screams “All I want is you” aimed directly at Yoko Ono who dominated the subject matter of most of his songs at the time. With that said, perhaps the song represents Lennon’s mind at the time: a crazy mess where random thoughts pop up here & there, but his desire for Yoko always comes to the forefront. Or maybe I’m reading too into it. Who knows? The lyrics of the song do contain a bunch of funny & obscure references though. The Beatles’ one-time name Johnny And The Moondogs pops up in the line “I pick a moondog.” Mick Jagger also gets mentioned in the line “I roll a stoney, well you can imitate everyone you know” though that does seem to be a sharp take on their competition at the time, but also one that’s been repeated a lot. In the abundance of Dylan-esque phrases in the song, I’m sure you can pinpoint out more obscure references too.

More

Beatles Countdown #89 – Yer Blues

{Mar 02}

Doug1960s john lennon, the beatles No Comments

As we start with the 80s in the countdown, John Lennon makes his first appearance at #89 with a depressing track from the self-tilted album known as The White Album: “Yer Blues!”

An obvious cry for help now, Lennon at the time painstakingly tried to cover it up as a parody, refusing to own up to the blunt lyrics and his blues singing out of fear, shame, or both. According to Anthology, Lennon was extremely depressed in India (despite meditating eight hours a day) and when he wrote the line “I’m so lonely I want to die,” he was actually serious. At the end of his marriage with Cynthia, wanting desperately to be with Yoko Ono, having lost one of his best friends in Brian Epstein, drifting away from his close friends, finding out the Maharishi was not exactly who The Beatles thought he was; man, it’s no surprise to see why John was depressed here. Really, I don’t know how Lennon expected this song to fly over anyone’s head. I guess in their catalogue of deep metaphors shrouding obvious feelings like “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey”, he expected this kind of blunt, emotional plea to be written off as the parody he hoped it to be by naming it “Yer Blues” instead of “Your Blues.” It really wouldn’t be until his solo career with songs like “Cold Turkey” and “Mother” that he would bare his soul so openly to the world so this was still fairly new. Trying to patronize the song to avoid critical backlash, it’s really unsure what exactly Lennon was afraid of. He had opened up before in songs like “I’m A Loser” and he had sung the blues in the past, but also not to this degree for either. He would later tell interviewers about his love for blues singer when he was younger, but he was quoted by Rolling Stone as saying: “…To sing it was something else. I’m self conscious about doing it.” He also wouldn’t start putting his heart out for the world until after The Beatles. All of these things probably heightened his fear of releasing the song as the truth. Paul tried to console John over the song telling him to “say it straight,” but ultimately Lennon’s fear won and he got his easy defense for the song.

More

Beatles Countdown #93 – This Boy

{Mar 01}

Doug1960s john lennon, paul mccartney, the beatles No Comments

Continuing on with the most famous songwriting partnership in history, the B-Side of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” clocks in at #93: “This Boy!”

Though always held up that it was a joint song, the song was more primarily written by John Lennon in one of Paul & John’s many hotel sessions though naturally Paul had a lot of influence. On tour in 1963 with a couple of hours to kill, the two got together to write a song based in harmony. Written around doo-wop chord progressions, John Lennon drew inspiration from Smokey Robinson’s “I’ve Been Good To You,” a favorite artist of The Beatles at the time. They would later cover “You Really Got A Hold On Me” by Smokey Robinson’s Miracles in the same recording session. Paul would later add in The Teddy Bear’s “To Know Him Is To Love Him” to the list of inspirations to this song. John & Paul wrote the song in three-part harmonies for themselves & Harrison in a move that Paul said he liked to do from time to time to expand the versatility of the band. They would later master multi-layered harmonies in “Because” at the end of their career. Originally, the band had a guitar solo in the middle eight of the song, but it was dropped during the recording process for a blistering vocal performance by John Lennon that stood out with the otherwise timid nature of the song. Just another last minute addition that makes the song.

More

Beatles Countdown #94 – The Word

{Mar 01}

Doug1960s john lennon, paul mccartney, the beatles No Comments

Introducing the partnership of John Lennon & Paul McCartney for the first time in this countdown is #94: “The Word!”

Appearing on their famed folk-rock album Rubber Soul, the song, like most on the album, was a noteworthy one in the evolution of The Beatles’ lyrics. Having always sung about love in terms of “boy/girl” such as “She Loves You,” this song marks the first time the band talks about love more abstractly such as a concept, not an emotion. In the song, the titular word is love and as the singer commands the listener to say it so they’ll be free, you get the idea that it’s a subtle hint of just being more open to love of all kinds. It wouldn’t be long before they would use love as an anthem for “All You Need Is Love,” but “The Word” marks The Beatles as much more aware of their lyrics and their ideals.

More

The Fab Four Discussed

{Aug 26}

Doug1960s george harrison, john lennon, paul mccartney, the beatles No Comments

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days, but I’ve been busy listening to some of the albums released last week and this week. In the review section of the site, there are two new album reviews up: Athlete’s Black Swan and Jet’s Shaka Rock. You should check out both, of course

Plug aside, we’re still talking about my favorite bands here. Little Richard, The Clash, The Who, Red Hot Chili Peppers & John Frusciante; they’ve all been covered, but my musical tastes run deep so I’ve still got a bit more to cover. Today we will be talking about probably the most influential band of all time and definitely one of the best ever. The Fab Four have been touched upon here before, but now, we’re finally going to cover: The Beatles!

As much as I would love to make a long post about The Beatles, I don’t think I can. There’s really not much that can be said about them. So musically diverse, their catalogue covers so many genres and so well that it’s eerie. Hard rock, pop rock, folk rock, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, MoTown, boogie-woogie, bubblegum pop, Indian, doo-wop; I can go on and on just as they did in tackling so many genres. Just listen to one album and you’ll be taken through an introductory class of music of the 20th Century with every piece being covered save for the genres that arose after 1970 (heavy metal, rap, punk, et cetera). They covered so much ground with each release and did them all with their trademark Beatles sound.

More