All Things Must Beat. Share Anything Beatles!!

[beans-on-toast]

 

[G-Dog]

At a gig last weekend, where I sang lead on a few songs, someone came up to me during the break and said, "You play bass AND sing, too?!?" After I said, yes, of course, he said he'd never seen that before!! I mentioned Paul McCartney, you know, of The Beatles?, was famously doing it 60 years ago! He says, "Yeah, but that was a long time ago!" I told him McCartney was still recording and touring huge concerts at 82-years-old, but he just looked puzzled. I mentioned Sting, of The Police? He says, "Oh, yeah. Hmmm..." Then just wandered off in a daze! I couldn't think of anyone in their 20s that he mighta heard of.

 

[Jeff K]

At a gig last weekend, where I sang lead on a few songs, someone came up to me during the break and said, "You play bass AND sing, too?!?" After I said, yes, of course, he said he'd never seen that before!! I mentioned Paul McCartney, you know, of The Beatles?, was famously doing it 60 years ago! He says, "Yeah, but that was a long time ago!" I told him McCartney was still recording and touring huge concerts at 82-years-old, but he just looked puzzled. I mentioned Sting, of The Police? He says, "Oh, yeah. Hmmm..." Then just wandered off in a daze! I couldn't think of anyone in their 20s that he mighta heard of.

Well, he was giving you a nice compliment! I'd have probably said something like, "Yeah, it takes some work and practice to be able to sing while playing bass. We're often playing counter to the melody, and we tend to want to sing what we're playing. That's why it's much less common than singing guitar players."

 

[DrSteve]

It's not the sequence of notes or counterpoint that gets me, it's the rhythm or syncopation that throws me off. And I only sing backup. So yeah, very difficult at times.

 

[G-Dog]

Well, he was giving you a nice compliment! I'd have probably said something like, "Yeah, it takes some work and practice to be able to sing while playing bass. We're often playing counter to the melody, and we tend to want to sing what we're playing. That's why it's much less common than singing guitar players."

Yes, I also thanked him for noticing and admitted it takes some work and concentration. I started my music career in junior high as rhythm guitar and lead singer, which is still much easier for me. But, these days, bass is in more demand 'cause everybody else thinks they can play rhythm.

 

[nixdad]

Flea speaks about his admiration for Paul McCartney’s bass chops and why he considers the Beatle the “greatest rock bass player”.

McCartney discussion begins at 44:30:

 

[beans-on-toast]

The origins of This Boy are particularly interesting.

 

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[Guitalia]

I was just leafing through an old Guitar Player magazine issue with George Harrison on the cover, published shortly after his death.

The issue included many tributes to Harrison's influence from a wide range of guitarists. A bunch of classic rock guys extolled his lead playing, but many of the solos that they singled out were, we now know, played by McCartney (or, occasionally, by Lennon) and not by Harrison.

I wonder how many people here don't realize how many Beatles songs had Lennon or McCartney playing lead.

Started a list, then did a search, and found this post in a thread on another music-related forum (post #24) (the same post goes on to list who played bass on what song, too):

Paul: "Ticket To Ride", "Another Girl", "Taxman", "And Your Bird Can Sing" (with George), "Strawberry Fields Forever" (the two quick little solos before the fade), "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite", "Good Morning Good Morning", "It's All Too Much", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (I think), "You Never Give Me Your Money" (1st solo after the "Oh that magic feeling" section), "Carry That Weight" (I think), "The End" (1st solo)

John: "You Can't Do That", "When I'm 64", "Yer Blues" (1st solo), "Honey Pie", "Get Back", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "You Never Give Me Your Money" (2nd solo- "1,2,3,4,5,6,7..." section), "The End" (2nd solo)

[Note: the guy who wrote up this list missed a few John leads, including but not necessarily limited to Every Little Thing, the first solo on Long Tall Sally, and You Can't Do That.]

George: every other guitar solo except "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (Clapton)

 

[nixdad]

"Chains" is often our soundcheck song!

 

[Giffro]

 

[G-Dog]

View attachment 7015393

GIFFY! My main man!! How you doing, you old guy you?

 

[MAJOR METAL]

 

[G-Dog]

That face you make when someone else tries to sing the song you wrote?

 

[G-Dog]

I just read this article and it didn't have a section for comments at the end, so I gotta unload here.

The 1965 Beatles song John Lennon wanted to delete from history

The Beatles song John Lennon wishes he'd never written is 1965's 'It's Only Love'. Lennon especially hated the lyrics in the song, which featured on 'Help!'.

faroutmagazine.co.uk

Ok. John, like everyone, is certainly entitled to his opinions, wrong tho they may be! Especially about songs that he, himself, wrote! But he's still wrong, IMNSHO!!

I believe "It's Only Love" is a wonderful song and could easily have beat out more than one of their chosen B-sides, if not been a decent A-side!! But, of course, John never wanted to fill the world with silly love songs, like another ex-Beatle (wink, wink). Heck, even Gary U.S. Bonds took it to number 43 as a UK single!!

Musically, it's a standout jewel in their catalog. That melodic reverb/vibrato/Leslie&12-string-enriched guitar intro,fills & outro are quite psychedelically dream-like on top of a very complimentary rhythmically strummed acoustic guitar with biting intermittent electric chords. Obviously the beginnings of their studio experimentations. And the crescendo, then decrescendo, chorus is simply perfect.

Lyrically, it's a magical mythical unicorn, as well. It's not any more sappy, or "disgusting" than lots of other love songs. Almost every other word of the first verse rhymes (what's wrong with that?)!! Who else could do that? And the second verse has many frequent rhymes, as well! And the chorus lyrics fit the musical crescendo, then decrescendo, just perfectly, of course! But the closing, soaring falsetto "you-oooo-ooo" really puts the cherry on top!

And I think it fits quite well, and holds up very nicely, between "Michelle" and "Girl",
to the other songs on the U.S. Rubber Soul album.

TLDR: I disagree vehemently with that article and John's opinion of this song.

How about you?

 

[Jeff K]

While the lyrics themselves might not have been Dylanesque, I think John's vocals on that track were excellent. He was in fine voice on that. And a LOT of their early songs could be considered somewhat sappy love songs. But at the time, that was just fine. The fans certainly liked them.

I was 13 when they burst onto the American scene. I loved a lot of those early songs (even the covers like "Anna"; "Chains"; "Please Mr. Postman"; "Twist And Shout"; etc.), though certainly not all of them. I can think of a number of their more popular tunes that I disliked a lot more than "It's Only Love".

 

[Thumper]

I'm a big fan of It's Only Love, I still remember the first time I listened to it all these years later.

 

[MrB64]

I've heard John talk dismissively about several of his songs, like "Good Morning Good Morning" and "Hey Bulldog", both of which I love.