The Beatles, Goofin’ Around

Going through some old stuff the other day I came across a book The Rolling Stone Book of Rock Lists, published in 1981.  It is long out of print, but it has some pretty good and pretty amusing stuff, as well as full chapters on Elvis, Dylan and the Beatles.  In the Fab Four’s chapter is this entry, “Games Beatles Play,” and today’s post uses that information as background.

1. “Baby You’re A Rich Man” (1967) – Quoted from the book: “Rumor has it that at the end of this song, the Beatles sing “Baby, you’re a rich fag Jew,” perhaps a slur on their manager Brian Epstein, who was certainly Jewish, definitely wealthy, and probably gay.”

2. “Girl” (1965) – On this Lennon song, the background vocalists are singing the syllable “tit.”

3. “I Am The Walrus” (1967) – Lennon’s chanting at the end of the song includes a snippet of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.”

New “Orange Is In” drummer

There have been great drummers throughout history; Buddy Rich, Hal Blaine, John Bonham, Neil Peart, Max Weinberg, Liberty DeVitto, Ringo Starr, just to name a few. But now it’s time to introduce you to my favorite drummer, seven-year old Andrew Kovacik. The young man rocked the second grade talent show at Greentree Elementary yesterday and he is line to be the next drummer in my band, Orange Is In. Sign him up, I think the kid has a future.

Rock Moment: Magical Mystery Beatles

You could be anywhere: in a store, at the ballpark, in the car, and a Beatles song comes on.  You sing along – of course you know all the words – and you realize this song is more than 40 years old.  Say what you want about the people who populated the 1960s, and the people who still get nostalgic for that time, but there is something powerful about the music from that era.  The Beatles were merely the best practitioners of that music.  To this day, that stuff still sounds like magic.

So let’s share some Beatles rarities today.  Most of these came from a promotional CD that came out around the time of the Anthology series, in 1996.  And here’s Take 20 of “Revolution 1,” recorded in May 1968.  This is the overdubbed take that eventually was edited into the “Revolution 1” that appeared on the Beatles’ white album.  The track goes on for more than 10 minutes and deteriorates into a sort of sonic chaos, but if you listen closely you can hear some of the antics that John Lennon later spliced into his avant-garde sound experiment, “Revolution No. 9.”

MP3: “Help” (live)

MP3: “Yesterday” (alternate take)

MP3: “Taxman” (alternate take)

MP3: “Eleanor Rigby” (strings only)

MP3: “I’m Only Sleeping” (rehearsal/Take 1)

MP3: “Revolution 1” (Take 20)

MP3: “Across The Universe” (alternate take)

Lost Classics! Hoyt Axton

Many people may remember Hoyt Axton better as an actor, than as a singer and songwriter.  After all, he made notable appearances in such films as Gremlins and The Black Stallion.  But Axton is most memorable as a musician with successes dating back into the mid-1960s.  He made his biggest noise writing hits for other artists: “Greenback Dollar” for the Kingston Trio (1963); “The Pusher” by Steppenwolf (1968); “The No No Song” for Ringo Starr (1975); and of course, “Joy To The World,” which was a monster hit for Three Dog Night in 1971.

Paul McCartney’s Top 10 Guest Shots

During and after his stint in the Beatles, Paul McCartney was one of the most important rock musicians in the world.  Songs written by McCartney alone were hits for other artists (see our post from May 26, “With A Little Help For Their Friends”) and any time he showed up at someone else’s recording session it was an event.

But those Beatle boys were rascals and more often than not they would get into some tomfoolery; McCartney was no exception.  Some of his cameos could be called bizarre at best.  Nevertheless, today we’ll count down his top 10 guest appearances on record (and video).