Where Were You on Dec.8, 1980?

[Deb]

The other thing that was amazing....was it wasn't just the music.... They influenced an entire culture in terms of fashion...speech....guys grew their hair longer...I dont know many bands where people rushed out to wear what they wore...copied the haircuts.....it was almost a musical renaissance period.

 

[jem88]

The details are hazy, but I remember sitting at the table as my parents heard it on the news. My parents grew up just outside Liverpool, so they were pretty shaken by it. I was only six at the time, but I still feel that I miss him. Top five Lennon songs off the top of my head:

5. Dear Prudence

4. Strawberry Fields Forever

3. Imagine

2. I Am The Walrus

and the best one, and perhaps the greatest song ever.........



A Day In The Life (I'm going to listen to it now and feel the melancholy.)

 

[Juke99]

The details are hazy, but I remember sitting at the table as my parents heard it on the news. My parents grew up just outside Liverpool, so they were pretty shaken by it. I was only six at the time, but I still feel that I miss him. Top five Lennon songs off the top of my head:

5. Dear Prudence

4. Strawberry Fields Forever

3. Imagine

2. I Am The Walrus

and the best one, and perhaps the greatest song ever.........



A Day In The Life (I'm going to listen to it now and feel the melancholy.)

Great top five list.

I'd probably toss in one from the early days...

But you put together a great list.

I Am the Walrus was partially motivated by the sound of ambulance..that's the up and down notes of the melody. Lennon also added a verse of nonsense lyrics just to play with those who were trying to interpret his lyrics.
The Walrus was originally from Lewis Carrols book "The Walrus and the Carpenter"

Dear Prudence was written about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, who was along with the group when the went to visit the Maharishi (who was the inspiration for the song "Sexy Sadie). Prudence sat in her room, day in, day out, practicing her mediation and was the inspiration for the song.

I wrote some stuff about Strawberry Fields earlier in this thread.

A Day In the Life was inspired by two news stories that John had read.
The recording session included 40 classical musicians who were told to dress formally...and their part was to play their instruments from their lowest note to the highest at any rate they wanted to just so long as the did the entire thing within the allotted time in the middle of the song...you can hear Mal Evans counting outloud.

That middle section was a separate song McCartney was working on...and Lennon's "ah" vocals that come in after it are almost surreal sounding.

The song was banned because of the line "I'd love to turn you on"

 

[Deb]

Juke~What about that whole McCartney being dead...all the clues.....the lyrics backwards...do you remember the story behind that? Silly question LOL

 

[Juke99]

Juke~What about that whole McCartney being dead...all the clues.....the lyrics backwards...do you remember the story behind that? Silly question LOL

It started out as a rumor and then the group decided to have some fun with it.

I think the original rumor was about how he had picked up a hitchhiker and was decapitated in a car crash.

The story was that the record company, fearing sales would plummet, decided to surpress the story...and so the other Beatles started leaving clues.

If I remember correctly the stand in was a guy who won a Paul McCartney look alike contest...His last name was Campbell...I don't remember his first name.

All hell broke loose with obsessive fans looking for clues...Paul being out of step with the others crossing Abbey Road...a car can be seen, parked, with the license plate 28IF...because Paul would have been 28...Lennon actually sings "and here's another clue for you all...the walrus was Paul" in the song Glass Onion.

The backwards stuff is actually true...there is a snippet before, I believe Blackbird..."Paul is a dead man, miss him." and if you play Revolution Number 9 backwards, uh, some of us did that...you will clearly hear, "Turn me on deadman"

Strawberry fields is supposed to have Lennon saying "I buried Paul"..

And on and on and on..

 

[Juke99]

He blew his mind out in a car. Lyrics from A Day In The Life.

"You were in a car crash, and you lost your hair" Lyrics from "Don't Pass Me By"

Them walking across abbey road...Geoge in denim, the grave digger...Paul is barefoot, the way the bury people, somewhere I forget...Ringo the priest..etc etc.

Paul is also out of step with the rest of the guys as they cross.

George pointing to some lyrics on the back of Sgt Pepper.

A hand appearing over McCartney's head on Sgt Pepper's cover..a sign of death.

OY.

Just silllly stuff.

 

[Deb]

I'll think of some more questions......you're bringing back a lot of things I had forgotten...and its been really nice remembering it all again

 

[Juke99]

Here ya go....I just found this page...

http://www.beatlesagain.com/bpidnew.html

 

[Deb]

THere's just so much I've forgotten. The split from Epstein. And George Martin.

 

[Juke99]

'Night John.



You're not forgotten.

 

[jem88]

Great top five list.

I'd probably toss in one from the early days...

But you put together a great list.

I Am the Walrus was partially motivated by the sound of ambulance..that's the up and down notes of the melody. Lennon also added a verse of nonsense lyrics just to play with those who were trying to interpret his lyrics.
The Walrus was originally from Lewis Carrols book "The Walrus and the Carpenter"

Dear Prudence was written about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, who was along with the group when the went to visit the Maharishi (who was the inspiration for the song "Sexy Sadie). Prudence sat in her room, day in, day out, practicing her mediation and was the inspiration for the song.

I wrote some stuff about Strawberry Fields earlier in this thread.

A Day In the Life was inspired by two news stories that John had read.
The recording session included 40 classical musicians who were told to dress formally...and their part was to play their instruments from their lowest note to the highest at any rate they wanted to just so long as the did the entire thing within the allotted time in the middle of the song...you can hear Mal Evans counting outloud.

That middle section was a separate song McCartney was working on...and Lennon's "ah" vocals that come in after it are almost surreal sounding.

The song was banned because of the line "I'd love to turn you on"

Hey, have you read Revolution in The Head by Ian MacDonald? If not, I think you'd like it. It gives the inside story on every song The Beatles recorded.

 

[jem88]

Further to "I Am The Walrus," that's one song that really benefitted from the brilliance of George Martin. There's something so muscular and angular about his string arrangements.

You can really hear the difference on the Phil Spector produced "The Long And Winding Road", in which the string arrangement sounds so drippy and shallow, almost like aural cotton candy. Martin's arrangements were robust and cutting. A true genius (hope that didn't hijack the Lennon appreciation thread.)

 

[Deb]

Juke..don't expect you to know all of this stuff......though you probably would.....LOL But here's some Beatle Trivia I found...

What song features a Paul McCartney "vocal bass"?

What song features a Paul McCartney "fuzz bass"?

On what song do you hear a quick one-line lead vocal from Yoko Ono?

What song features a rare keyboard called a clavioline?

What non-Sgt. Pepper song's promotional video featured the Beatles performing in their Sgt. Pepper outfits?

According to John Lennon, "Any Time At All" was a re-writing of which song?

hich two Sgt. Pepper songs were incorrectly accused of having drug associations?

Who plays lead guitar on "Back In The USSR" and "Taxman

What is the only song that has the writing credit of Harrison-Lennon?

What Beatles single was recorded by just John and Paul?

Who played the rambunctious piano on "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"?

Which two songs contain the lyric: "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah"?

What song does John Lennon play bass guitar on?


I didn't put them all..but here's the link if anyone wants it....
http://www.oleswanson.com/beatles_trivia_songs.htm

 

[jem88]

I'll give it a try

Juke..don't expect you to know all of this stuff......though you probably would.....LOL But here's some Beatle Trivia I found...

What song features a Paul McCartney "vocal bass"? - I Will

What song features a Paul McCartney "fuzz bass"? - Not sure about this one

On what song do you hear a quick one-line lead vocal from Yoko Ono? - Bungalow Bill

What song features a rare keyboard called a clavioline? - No idea

What non-Sgt. Pepper song's promotional video featured the Beatles performing in their Sgt. Pepper outfits? - Strawberry Fields Forever?

According to John Lennon, "Any Time At All" was a re-writing of which song? - No idea

hich two Sgt. Pepper songs were incorrectly accused of having drug associations? - Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds, A Day in The Life

Who plays lead guitar on "Back In The USSR" and "Taxman - Paul McCartney (incidently, the Taxman solo is played backwards in Tomorrow Never Knows)

What is the only song that has the writing credit of Harrison-Lennon? - Don't know

What Beatles single was recorded by just John and Paul? - Ballad of John and Yoko

Who played the rambunctious piano on "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"? Don't know (hate that song)

Which two songs contain the lyric: "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah"? - She Loves You, All You Need is Love

What song does John Lennon play bass guitar on? - I think there are a number of them, but off the top of my head- The Long and Winding Road (he butchers it, a truly awful performance.)


I didn't put them all..but here's the link if anyone wants it....
http://www.oleswanson.com/beatles_trivia_songs.htm

How did I do?

 

[Cbz40]

To me this is one of those events you will never forget where you were and what you were doing when it transpired.

I was conducting a rehearsal for our annual Christmas Concert when my wife sent me a note telling me of the tragedy. After reading the message to the group of young musicians the rehersal hall was filled with disbelief, shock, and sorrow.


I remember leaving the podium going into my office and retrieving a piece of music, which I had recently purchased, from my desk called "A Lennon-McCartney Portrait".


Needless to say the arrangement was program ready after the first reading. When it was performed at the concert a tearful audience gave it's performance a lengthy standing ovation.


It can be said the true test of ones greatness can only be determined by time.

One would have to admit the music of Lennon, Mc Cartney, and The Beatles has certainly passed the test of time and will continue to do so.

 

[calico]

I was just over a year old so...I was crapping and crying.