9-2-10 
My Sweet Lord (George Harrison) 1970
My Sweet Lord is a song by former Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison from his number one hit triple album All Things Must Pass, recorded at Abbey Road studios using the same equipment The Beatles used. The song is primarily about the Hindu god Krishna.
Ironic that various Christian fundamentalist anti-rock activists have objected to the chanting of 'Hare Krishna' in the song as being anti-Christian or satanic while at the same time some born-again Christians appear to have mistakenly adopted the song as an anthem.
George Harrison said that, in My Sweet Lord he was just pointing out that "Hallelujah and Hare Krishna are quite the same thing."
9-1-10 
WE CAN WORK IT OUT, 1966
In late 1966, The Beatles we're trying to decide which song they should release as their next single. John Lennon argued vociferously for Day Tripper, differing with the majority view that We Can Work It Out was a more commercial song.
As a result, the single was marketed as the first "double A-side," (like they we're expecting two big hits) but ultimately We Can Work It Out proved to be more popular, and it reached No. 1 on the charts on both sides of the Atlantic
8-30-10 
HELLO GOODBYE, 1967
Hello, Goodbye, now a playable song in The Beatles: Rock Band, topped the charts in both the United States and Britain where it spent seven weeks at number one, and was the Christmas number one for 1967.
Alistair Taylor, who worked for the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, once asked McCartney how he wrote his songs, so Paulie took him into his dining room to give him a demonstration on his harmonium, which is a kind of keyboard/organ instrument.
He asked Taylor to shout the opposite of whatever he sang as he played the instrument - black and white, yes and no, stop and go, hello and goodbye.
Taylor later said, "I wonder whether Paul really made up that song as he went along or whether it was running through his head already."
Notwithstanding McCartney's greatness as a songwriter, we're guessing the former.
8-27-10
LONG TALL SALLY, 1964
Long Tall Sally was originally recorded by Little Richard, who was one of The Beatles' inspirations. The Beatles met Little Richard at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany when they were performing there in 1962. He and Paul McCartney were actually quite close, Richard once saying "Paul is like my blood brother."
The Beatles recorded Long Tall Sally in one take. Since they played it live so often, they had it down. Like on that cold and foggy night at Candlestick Park 44 years ago.
We're gonna have some fun tonight.
8-26-10
IT DON'T COME EASY, 1971
Following the breakup of The Beatles, each of the four began working on solo projects.
This was Ringo's first, and featured his friends Stephen Stills from Crosby, Stills & Nash on piano and George Harrison on guitar. Ringo has recently admitted that George actually wrote most of the lyrics.
Ringo even performed It Don't Come Easy at George Harrison's A Concert for Bangladesh, and famously forgot some of the words, WHICH they left in, on the album and concert film. Btw, A Concert for Bangladesh was the first record I ever played on the radio - all six sides - in a row.
It don't come any easier than that.
8-25-10
SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN, 1963
The Beatles loved them some Chuck Berry. Especially John Lennon.
Whenever the Fab Four played a Chuck Berry song at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, John would introduce the number by saying, "This is a record by Chuck Berry, a Liverpool-born white singer with bandy legs and no hair."
Chuck Berry, in reality a St Louis born black man and originator of the often-imitated "duck walk", actually wrote today's song, Sweet Little Sixteen, about a teenage autograph-seeker/groupie who was insistent upon getting the autograph of each headliner on the tour.
8-24-10
HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN, 1968
It would take me at least a half an hour to explain to you exactly what each fragment of John Lennon's Happiness Is A Warm Gun is about. Suffice it to say, the lyrics we're written during a 1968 acid trip - hey, we can all break into small discussion groups afterwards, if you like.
Anyway, to show you how meticulous these guys had gotten, The Beatles recorded 70 takes of Happiness Is A Warm Gun over two days at the Abbey Road studios.
At the end it was decided that the first half of take 53 and the second half of take 65 were the best, and the two were edited together. Then they started recording the overdubs. Two months later The Beatles White Album was on store shelves.
Happiness Is A Warm Gun begins with a Liverpudlian expression of approval.
8-23-10
SHE LOVES YOU, 1963
She Loves You, released as a single on this date in 1963, more than any other song, was the breakthrough that took The Beatles to international success and it remains their best selling single in the UK.
A true Lennon-McCartney collaboration, the writing of She Loves You began in the back of their van, worked on some more that night after a gig in their hotel room, and finally finished the next day at the McCartney family home.
Paul remembered, "We went into the living room - 'Dad, listen to this. What do you think?'' So we played it to my dad and he said, 'That's very nice, son, but there's enough of these Americanisms around. Couldn't you sing, "She loves you. Yes! Yes! Yes!"'
At which point we collapsed in a heap and said, 'No, Dad, you don't quite get it!'
8-20-10
A HARD DAYS NIGHT, 1964
Once the title of the Beatles debut film, A Hard Day's Night, had been decided, John Lennon immediately made up his mind that he would compose the movie's title track.
Lennon whipped out the lyrics in one night, saying, "...the next morning I brought in the song 'cuz there was a little competition between Paul and I as to who got the A-side and who got the hits."
In the early days The Beatles worked quickly. It took them less than three hours in the studio to record A Hard Day's Night, a song that begins with one of the most unmistakable chord's in Rock, as George Harrison's Rickenbacker 12-string guitar blasts out a "mighty opening chord," as producer George Martin called it; "We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning."
8-19-10
I FEEL FINE, 1964
Today on Bone Up On The Beatles!, I Feel Fine.
By the year 1964, The Beatles had started to explore some new musical ideas. Like using noises that were recorded mistakes, (like electronic goofs, twisted tapes, talkback) and putting them on record.
And feedback, too. I Feel Fine was really the first time anybody had used feedback as a recording effect. Of course Jimi Hendrix and all the others perfected it later on, but John Lennon was always proud of the fact that The Beatles were the first group to actually put it on vinyl.
He once said, "I defy anyone to find an earlier record.....with feedback on it."
8-18-10
I'VE JUST SEEN A FACE, 1965
I've Just Seen a Face was written by Paul McCartney. The song is unusual in that it doesn't contain a bass guitar part, and McCartney was the bass player. Paul is on vocals, though, recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London on same day that he recorded the Beatles classic, Yesterday.
Dare we say, but I've Just Seen a Face was almost pure country, and if they threw in a banjo and fiddle, you might think this speedy little acoustic number was (gasp!) bluegrass!
8-17-10
MAYBE I'M AMAZED, 1970 (Paul McCartney)
In May of 1967, the then Linda Eastman met Paul McCartney at a Georgie Fame concert at the Bag O'Nails club in London. She was in England on an assignment to take photographs of "Swinging Sixties" musicians in London.
The two later went to the Speakeasy club to see Procol Harum. They met again four days later at the launch party for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
When her assignment was over, Linda flew back to New York City, where the two would meet up again a year later as Lennon and McCartney were there to announce the formation of Apple Corps.
Four months later, Paul phoned Linda and asked her to fly over to London. They were married six months later.
He wrote this song for her, Maybe I'm Amazed.
8-16-10
SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW, 1969
The Apple Scruffs were a loosely-knit group of hardcore Beatles fans who were known for congregating outside the Apple Corps building and at the gates of Abbey Road Studios and outside the various Beatles' homes.
Most of the Apple Scruffs we're respectful of The Beatles, but a few could be somewhat persistent.
Like the one who took a ladder from McCartney's garden, climbed into his house in London, and stole a precious picture, possibly of his father.
And yes, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.
But, since the song comes at the end of a 4-song medley on the Abbey Road album - the Sun King medley - we begin with John Lennon's Sun King.
8-13-10
NO REPLY, 1964
The song which opened the Beatles For Sale album, No Reply, was written by John Lennon about a girl who gives him the brush-off for another guy.
Guy knocks on his girl's door, knows she's home because he sees her in the window, but she doesn't answer. Lennon was inspired by the 50's song Silhouettes. He said, "I had that image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the phone."
Funny about the phone, because John said that he never even spoke to a girl on the phone while growing up, because British kids just didn't do that. It was an "American" thing.
8-12-10
MOTHER NATURE'S SON, 1968
Written by Paul McCartney, Mother Nature's Son was inspired by a lecture on nature given by the Maharishi in India, although the song was mostly completed at McCartney's parents house in Liverpool.
He said, "Visiting my family I'd feel in a good mood, so it was often a good occasion to write songs….I've always loved the [Nat King Cole] song called Nature Boy and Mother Nature's Son was inspired by that song."
Paul McCartney on vocals, acoustic guitar, drums, timpani and bass along with two mystery trumpeters and two mystery trombonists from The Beatles White Album.
8-11-10
KANSAS CITY/HEY-HEY-HEY HEY!, 1964
The Beatles we're huge fans of Little Richard, especially Paul McCartney. They once saw him perform a medley in concert which contained the song, Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! and they immediately adopted it for their own set.
McCartney said, "I could do Little Richard's voice, which is a wild, hoarse, screaming thing; it's like an out-of-body experience. You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it. You have to actually go outside yourself. It's a funny little trick and when you find it, it's very interesting."
8-10-10
IMAGINE - John Lennon, 1971
Today, a song that has been included in a broad array of most-influential and greatest-songs-of-all-time lists, John Lennon's Imagine.
In one of his last interviews, Lennon commented that Imagine was an "anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic [song], but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted."
"You may say I'm a dreamer," sang the man who had sung "The dream is over" less than a year earlier, "but I'm not the only one."
8-9-10
WHAT YOU'RE DOING, 1964
Paul McCartney wrote What You're Doing about his rocky relationship with actress/girlfriend, Jane Asher.
The final song to be finished on the final day's recording for the Beatles For Sale album, What you're Doing.
8-6-10
TWO OF US, 1970
Two of Us is a 1970 Beatles' song from the Let It Be album written by Paul McCartney, ostensibly about his soon-to-be wife Linda.
However, The Beatles were breaking up at the same time, so Two of Us might have also been Paul reaching out to his long-time bandmate John Lennon.
Their relationship was, shall we say, somewhat tense, at the time.
You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead
8-5-10
THIS BOY, 1963
This Boy was first released as the b-side to I Want To Hold Your Hand, and was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney as an exercise in three-part harmony, the third part being sung by George Harrison.
McCartney said, "We liked harmonies and we were quite good at them….. We weren't all rock 'n' roll, we could change the pace, which was always nice after you'd played for three hours."
This Boy, on Bone Up On The Beatles!
8-4-10
SHE SAID SHE SAID, 1966
During The Beatles' US tour in the summer of 1965, they rented a house on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. They spent one day tripping on LSD with Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of The Byrds, Paul McCartney excepted.
Actor Peter Fonda arrived at the house, also on acid. He tried to comfort George Harrison, who thought he was dying.
Fonda said, "I told him there was nothing to be afraid of and that all he needed to do was relax. I said that I knew what it was like to be dead because when I was 10 years old I'd accidentally shot myself in the stomach and my heart stopped beating three times while I was on the operating table because I'd lost so much blood."
John Lennon was not happy with the situation
He told Peter Fonda, "Don't tell me about it. I don't want to know what it's like to be dead!…..You're making me feel like I've never been born. Who put all that s*** in your head?"
Made for a great song, though, She Said She Said.
8-3-10
HONEY DON'T, 1964
Ringo Starr got to do one vocal spot on pretty much every Beatles record. That song on the Beatles For Sale album, Honey Don't, was written by the "King of Rockabilly" Carl Perkins and had been a part of The Beatles' live set since the early days when John Lennon used to sing it.
Ringo said, "We all knew Honey Don't; it was one of those songs that every band in Liverpool played….I used to love country music and country rock. And I was finally getting one track on a record: my little featured spot."
George Harrison on lead guitar kicks off Honey Don't.
8-2-10
DEAR PRUDENCE, 1968
Dear Prudence is about a woman in The Beatles circle in India who had become infatuated with meditation, locking herself away from the rest of the group and falling into deep states against the advice of the Maharishi.
John Lennon said, "All the people around her were very worried because she was going insane. So we sang to her.
They selected me and George to try and bring her out because she would trust us. She'd been locked in for three weeks and wouldn't come out, trying to reach God quicker than anybody else. That was the competition in Maharishi's camp: who was going to get cosmic first."
7-29-10
ASK ME WHY, 1963
The overnight success of The Beatles came about because of two monstrously hit songs, Love Me Do and Please Please Me.
Today, we're going to play the flipside, the B-side, of Please Please Me, Ask Me Why.
Ask Me Why was mostly John Lennon's song, greatly influenced by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles who were one of the signature Motown acts of the 1960s.
At the time it was unusual for a group to actually write their own material; The Beatles, however, were The Beatles. And that's why we're here to spread the Fab Four love every weekday on Bone Up On The Beatles!
Ask Me Why.
7-28-20
AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING, 1966
While John Lennon never revealed the inspiration behind his song, And Your Bird Can Sing, off The Beatles' Revolver album, it is believed to refer to a rivalry between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the two biggest groups in the world at the time.
Although they were friends, Lennon saw the Stones as Beatles' copycats, and the 'bird' in And Your Bird Can Sing, may have been Mick Jagger's girlfriend at the time, Marianne Faithfull.
Four years before Eric Clapton and Duane Allman busted out their twin lead guitar attack on Layla, Paul McCartney and George Harrison also on twin lead guitars beat them to it on today's Bone Up On The Beatles! classic, And Your Bird Can Sing.
7-27-10
YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY, 1969
You Never Give Me Your Money was written by Paul McCartney about The Beatles' business wranglings in 1969.
The song is made up of four parts, the first part being a thinly-veiled protest at the influence of Beatles' manager Allen Klein, whom McCartney profoundly distrusted.
"You never give me your money. You only give me your funny paper," the song begins.
George Harrison said it best; "'Funny paper' - that's what we get. We get bits of paper saying how much is earned and what this is and that is, but we never actually get it in pounds, shilling and pence. We've all got a big house and a car and an office, but to actually get the money we've earned seems impossible."
7-26-10
RAIN, 1966
Paperback Writer was an A-side single for The Beatles; the A-side being the featured song. Flip it over, and the B-side or "flipside" was called Rain; the B-side being a secondary song that might not be on the album.
The most interesting thing about Rain wasn't the writing, which was mostly John Lennon's, but the recording of it.
The Beatles had discovered that slowing down the speed of their recordings revealed hidden depths. They recorded the rhythm track of Rain at a fast tempo, then slowed the tape down so the song was a tone lower.
That, and John Lennon's vocals were played backwards at the end of the song. Apparently Lennon was so stoned at the time that he threaded the tape of the song into his reel-to-reel player the wrong way.
Welcome to the psychedelic 60's.
7-22-10
OLD BROWN SHOE, 1969
Old Brown Shoe, written and sung by George Harrison was never on an original Beatles album. It came out as a single as the b-side of The Ballad Of John And Yoko.
George explained how Old Brown Shoe came about, "I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don't really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites... Again, it's the duality of things - yes no, up down, left right, right wrong,"
In fact, that is exactly what George Harrison says in Old Brown Shoe - "Right is only half of what's wrong."
7-21-10
I AM THE WALRUS, 1967
Here is how the Beatles' classic song I Am The Walrus came about: One day John Lennon received a letter from one of the kids at Quarry Bank High School, which he had attended, telling him how the teacher was making his class analyze Beatles' lyrics.
Lennon, amused that a teacher was putting so much effort into understanding The Beatles' lyrics, wrote the most confusing lyrics he could, even including a playground nursery rhyme he sang as a youngster - "Yellow matter custard, green slop pie, All mixed together with a dead dog's eye."
Upon completion of the song, John Lennon announced, "Let the eff-ers work that one out."
7-20-10
HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE, 1966
Here, There And Everywhere is Paul McCartney's favorite among his own compositions. And even though John Lennon didn't have much of a hand in writing the song, it was one of his favorite Beatles compositions as well.
Here, There And Everywhere was written alongside John Lennon's swimming pool while McCartney waited for Lennon to wake up.
Paul said, "I think by the time he'd woken up, I had pretty much written the song, so we took it indoors and finished it up."
Song writing. Just that easy.
7-19-10
HELP!, 1965
1965 was the year that The Beatles really dominated the record charts with six number one singles in a row. The fourth of those singles was called Help!, in all spending 14 weeks on the charts.
At the time, John Lennon felt stressed by The Beatles' quick rise to fame. He said later of the song, "I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for 'Help',"
Paul McCartney said that the title was "out of desperation," and, in 2004, Help! was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
7-15-10
IN MY LIFE, 1965
One of the highlights of the Rubber Soul album, In My Life was written mostly by John Lennon, and started out as a nostalgic set of memories of growing up in Liverpool.
Lennon regarded In My Life particularly highly, citing it - along with Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus and Help! - as among his best, calling it his "first real major piece of work."
The year was 1965. In My Life.
7-14-10
YES IT IS, 1965
Yes It Is is a 1965 Beatles single written primarily by John Lennon which was first released as the B-side to Ticket to Ride.
Yes It Is features some of The Beatles' most complex three-part vocal harmonies, a technique they used only three times in their entire career.
It also features some great lyrics: "Please don't wear red tonight. For red is the color that will make me blue. Yes it is, it's true."
Yes, it is John Lennon's softer side.
7-13-10
THINGS WE SAID TODAY, 1964
Paul McCartney wrote Things We Said Today aboard a yacht called "Happy Days," while cruising the Caribbean in 1964.
It was about his relationship with his girlfriend at the time - Jane Asher, and the fact that by the nature of their occupations, they wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time together, and that when they were apart, he would remember the things they had said to each other the last time they were together.
Things We Said Today - a truly great McCartney love song.
7-9-10
REVOLUTION, 1968
The first song recorded for The Beatles White Album, Revolution 1, was written in India and inspired by the 1968 student uprisings in Paris, the Vietnam war and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Revolution signaled a political awakening for John Lennon.
There was a profound shift from the hippy belief in peace and love, towards political turmoil, protest and struggle. Lennon became increasingly energized and decided to put his feelings into song, well aware of the risk of alienating The Beatles' fans.
You say you want a revolution?
7-8-10
THERE’S A PLACE, 1963
In the early 1960's, the musical West Side Story was huge. The film version won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Paul McCartney had a copy of the soundtrack.
The Beatles' There's A Place from their first record, was loosely based on one of its songs, Somewhere, which starts out, "There's a place for us…."
Paul McCartney said, "In our case, the place was in the mind, rather than round the back of the stairs for a kiss and a cuddle."
7-7-10
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS, 1967
The song With A Little Help From My Friends was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney specifically for Ringo Starr to sing.
Paul said "it was probably the best of the songs we wrote for Ringo actually."
Problem was, the song had one line that Ringo wouldn't sing. It was "What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?"
Ringo said, "There's not a chance in hell am I going to sing this line, because we still had lots of really deep memories of the kids throwing jelly beans and toys on stage; and I thought that if we ever did get out there again, I was not going to be bombarded with tomatoes."
7-6-10
BAD BOY, 1965
It was on this date in 1957, 53 years ago today, that John Lennon and Paul McCartney we're introduced to one another at a church dance in Liverpool, England. The two we're immediately impressed with each other.
They chatted for a few minutes, and McCartney showed Lennon how to tune a guitar and he also sang Eddie Cochran's Twenty Flight Rock and Gene Vincent's Be-Bop-A-Lula, along with a medley of songs by Little Richard.
Later on, John Lennon had a dilemma - should he admit the talented young McCartney who might pose a challenge to his own superiority within the group…..or not, retaining his leadership yet likely consigning the group to failure?
We know how that turned out.
So, in celebration of that momentous occasion, here's a Larry Williams song The Beatles recorded early in their career, Bad Boy, about a kid who, "just sits around the house and plays that rock 'n' roll music all night."
7-1-10
DAY TRIPPER, 1965
John Lennon said the song Day Tripper was [written] "under complete pressure, based on an old folk song I wrote about a month previous…..It wasn't a serious message song. It was a drug song...day tripper - I just liked the word."
'Day tripper' was an English slang term for someone who failed to fully embrace the hippie lifestyle or as Paul McCartney said, "you're just a weekend hippie. Get it?"
9-2-10
My Sweet Lord (George Harrison) 1970
My Sweet Lord is a song by former Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison from his number one hit triple album All Things Must Pass, recorded at Abbey Road studios using the same equipment The Beatles used. The song is primarily about the Hindu god Krishna.
Ironic that various Christian fundamentalist anti-rock activists have objected to the chanting of 'Hare Krishna' in the song as being anti-Christian or satanic while at the same time some born-again Christians appear to have mistakenly adopted the song as an anthem.
George Harrison said that, in My Sweet Lord he was just pointing out that "Hallelujah and Hare Krishna are quite the same thing."
9-1-10
WE CAN WORK IT OUT, 1966
In late 1966, The Beatles we're trying to decide which song they should release as their next single. John Lennon argued vociferously for Day Tripper, differing with the majority view that We Can Work It Out was a more commercial song.
As a result, the single was marketed as the first "double A-side," (like they we're expecting two big hits) but ultimately We Can Work It Out proved to be more popular, and it reached No. 1 on the charts on both sides of the Atlantic
8-30-10
HELLO GOODBYE, 1967
Hello, Goodbye, now a playable song in The Beatles: Rock Band, topped the charts in both the United States and Britain where it spent seven weeks at number one, and was the Christmas number one for 1967.
Alistair Taylor, who worked for the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, once asked McCartney how he wrote his songs, so Paulie took him into his dining room to give him a demonstration on his harmonium, which is a kind of keyboard/organ instrument.
He asked Taylor to shout the opposite of whatever he sang as he played the instrument - black and white, yes and no, stop and go, hello and goodbye.
Taylor later said, "I wonder whether Paul really made up that song as he went along or whether it was running through his head already."
Notwithstanding McCartney's greatness as a songwriter, we're guessing the former.
8-27-10
LONG TALL SALLY, 1964
Long Tall Sally was originally recorded by Little Richard, who was one of The Beatles' inspirations. The Beatles met Little Richard at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany when they were performing there in 1962. He and Paul McCartney were actually quite close, Richard once saying "Paul is like my blood brother."
The Beatles recorded Long Tall Sally in one take. Since they played it live so often, they had it down. Like on that cold and foggy night at Candlestick Park 44 years ago.
We're gonna have some fun tonight.
8-26-10
IT DON'T COME EASY, 1971
Following the breakup of The Beatles, each of the four began working on solo projects.
This was Ringo's first, and featured his friends Stephen Stills from Crosby, Stills & Nash on piano and George Harrison on guitar. Ringo has recently admitted that George actually wrote most of the lyrics.
Ringo even performed It Don't Come Easy at George Harrison's A Concert for Bangladesh, and famously forgot some of the words, WHICH they left in, on the album and concert film. Btw, A Concert for Bangladesh was the first record I ever played on the radio - all six sides - in a row.
It don't come any easier than that.
8-25-10
SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN, 1963
The Beatles loved them some Chuck Berry. Especially John Lennon.
Whenever the Fab Four played a Chuck Berry song at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, John would introduce the number by saying, "This is a record by Chuck Berry, a Liverpool-born white singer with bandy legs and no hair."
Chuck Berry, in reality a St Louis born black man and originator of the often-imitated "duck walk", actually wrote today's song, Sweet Little Sixteen, about a teenage autograph-seeker/groupie who was insistent upon getting the autograph of each headliner on the tour.
8-24-10
HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN, 1968
It would take me at least a half an hour to explain to you exactly what each fragment of John Lennon's Happiness Is A Warm Gun is about. Suffice it to say, the lyrics we're written during a 1968 acid trip - hey, we can all break into small discussion groups afterwards, if you like.
Anyway, to show you how meticulous these guys had gotten, The Beatles recorded 70 takes of Happiness Is A Warm Gun over two days at the Abbey Road studios.
At the end it was decided that the first half of take 53 and the second half of take 65 were the best, and the two were edited together. Then they started recording the overdubs. Two months later The Beatles White Album was on store shelves.
Happiness Is A Warm Gun begins with a Liverpudlian expression of approval.
8-23-10
SHE LOVES YOU, 1963
She Loves You, released as a single on this date in 1963, more than any other song, was the breakthrough that took The Beatles to international success and it remains their best selling single in the UK.
A true Lennon-McCartney collaboration, the writing of She Loves You began in the back of their van, worked on some more that night after a gig in their hotel room, and finally finished the next day at the McCartney family home.
Paul remembered, "We went into the living room - 'Dad, listen to this. What do you think?'' So we played it to my dad and he said, 'That's very nice, son, but there's enough of these Americanisms around. Couldn't you sing, "She loves you. Yes! Yes! Yes!"'
At which point we collapsed in a heap and said, 'No, Dad, you don't quite get it!'
8-20-10
A HARD DAYS NIGHT, 1964
Once the title of the Beatles debut film, A Hard Day's Night, had been decided, John Lennon immediately made up his mind that he would compose the movie's title track.
Lennon whipped out the lyrics in one night, saying, "...the next morning I brought in the song 'cuz there was a little competition between Paul and I as to who got the A-side and who got the hits."
In the early days The Beatles worked quickly. It took them less than three hours in the studio to record A Hard Day's Night, a song that begins with one of the most unmistakable chord's in Rock, as George Harrison's Rickenbacker 12-string guitar blasts out a "mighty opening chord," as producer George Martin called it; "We knew it would open both the film and the soundtrack LP, so we wanted a particularly strong and effective beginning."
8-19-10
I FEEL FINE, 1964
Today on Bone Up On The Beatles!, I Feel Fine.
By the year 1964, The Beatles had started to explore some new musical ideas. Like using noises that were recorded mistakes, (like electronic goofs, twisted tapes, talkback) and putting them on record.
And feedback, too. I Feel Fine was really the first time anybody had used feedback as a recording effect. Of course Jimi Hendrix and all the others perfected it later on, but John Lennon was always proud of the fact that The Beatles were the first group to actually put it on vinyl.
He once said, "I defy anyone to find an earlier record.....with feedback on it."
8-18-10
I'VE JUST SEEN A FACE, 1965
I've Just Seen a Face was written by Paul McCartney. The song is unusual in that it doesn't contain a bass guitar part, and McCartney was the bass player. Paul is on vocals, though, recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London on same day that he recorded the Beatles classic, Yesterday.
Dare we say, but I've Just Seen a Face was almost pure country, and if they threw in a banjo and fiddle, you might think this speedy little acoustic number was (gasp!) bluegrass!
8-17-10
MAYBE I'M AMAZED, 1970 (Paul McCartney)
In May of 1967, the then Linda Eastman met Paul McCartney at a Georgie Fame concert at the Bag O'Nails club in London. She was in England on an assignment to take photographs of "Swinging Sixties" musicians in London.
The two later went to the Speakeasy club to see Procol Harum. They met again four days later at the launch party for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
When her assignment was over, Linda flew back to New York City, where the two would meet up again a year later as Lennon and McCartney were there to announce the formation of Apple Corps.
Four months later, Paul phoned Linda and asked her to fly over to London. They were married six months later.
He wrote this song for her, Maybe I'm Amazed.
8-16-10
SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW, 1969
The Apple Scruffs were a loosely-knit group of hardcore Beatles fans who were known for congregating outside the Apple Corps building and at the gates of Abbey Road Studios and outside the various Beatles' homes.
Most of the Apple Scruffs we're respectful of The Beatles, but a few could be somewhat persistent.
Like the one who took a ladder from McCartney's garden, climbed into his house in London, and stole a precious picture, possibly of his father.
And yes, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.
But, since the song comes at the end of a 4-song medley on the Abbey Road album - the Sun King medley - we begin with John Lennon's Sun King.
8-13-10
NO REPLY, 1964
The song which opened the Beatles For Sale album, No Reply, was written by John Lennon about a girl who gives him the brush-off for another guy.
Guy knocks on his girl's door, knows she's home because he sees her in the window, but she doesn't answer. Lennon was inspired by the 50's song Silhouettes. He said, "I had that image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the phone."
Funny about the phone, because John said that he never even spoke to a girl on the phone while growing up, because British kids just didn't do that. It was an "American" thing.
8-12-10
MOTHER NATURE'S SON, 1968
Written by Paul McCartney, Mother Nature's Son was inspired by a lecture on nature given by the Maharishi in India, although the song was mostly completed at McCartney's parents house in Liverpool.
He said, "Visiting my family I'd feel in a good mood, so it was often a good occasion to write songs….I've always loved the [Nat King Cole] song called Nature Boy and Mother Nature's Son was inspired by that song."
Paul McCartney on vocals, acoustic guitar, drums, timpani and bass along with two mystery trumpeters and two mystery trombonists from The Beatles White Album.
8-11-10
KANSAS CITY/HEY-HEY-HEY HEY!, 1964
The Beatles we're huge fans of Little Richard, especially Paul McCartney. They once saw him perform a medley in concert which contained the song, Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! and they immediately adopted it for their own set.
McCartney said, "I could do Little Richard's voice, which is a wild, hoarse, screaming thing; it's like an out-of-body experience. You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it. You have to actually go outside yourself. It's a funny little trick and when you find it, it's very interesting."
8-10-10
IMAGINE - John Lennon, 1971
Today, a song that has been included in a broad array of most-influential and greatest-songs-of-all-time lists, John Lennon's Imagine.
In one of his last interviews, Lennon commented that Imagine was an "anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic [song], but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted."
"You may say I'm a dreamer," sang the man who had sung "The dream is over" less than a year earlier, "but I'm not the only one."
8-9-10
WHAT YOU'RE DOING, 1964
Paul McCartney wrote What You're Doing about his rocky relationship with actress/girlfriend, Jane Asher.
The final song to be finished on the final day's recording for the Beatles For Sale album, What you're Doing.
8-6-10
TWO OF US, 1970
Two of Us is a 1970 Beatles' song from the Let It Be album written by Paul McCartney, ostensibly about his soon-to-be wife Linda.
However, The Beatles were breaking up at the same time, so Two of Us might have also been Paul reaching out to his long-time bandmate John Lennon.
Their relationship was, shall we say, somewhat tense, at the time.
You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead
8-5-10
THIS BOY, 1963
This Boy was first released as the b-side to I Want To Hold Your Hand, and was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney as an exercise in three-part harmony, the third part being sung by George Harrison.
McCartney said, "We liked harmonies and we were quite good at them….. We weren't all rock 'n' roll, we could change the pace, which was always nice after you'd played for three hours."
This Boy, on Bone Up On The Beatles!
8-4-10
SHE SAID SHE SAID, 1966
During The Beatles' US tour in the summer of 1965, they rented a house on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. They spent one day tripping on LSD with Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of The Byrds, Paul McCartney excepted.
Actor Peter Fonda arrived at the house, also on acid. He tried to comfort George Harrison, who thought he was dying.
Fonda said, "I told him there was nothing to be afraid of and that all he needed to do was relax. I said that I knew what it was like to be dead because when I was 10 years old I'd accidentally shot myself in the stomach and my heart stopped beating three times while I was on the operating table because I'd lost so much blood."
John Lennon was not happy with the situation
He told Peter Fonda, "Don't tell me about it. I don't want to know what it's like to be dead!…..You're making me feel like I've never been born. Who put all that s*** in your head?"
Made for a great song, though, She Said She Said.
8-3-10
HONEY DON'T, 1964
Ringo Starr got to do one vocal spot on pretty much every Beatles record. That song on the Beatles For Sale album, Honey Don't, was written by the "King of Rockabilly" Carl Perkins and had been a part of The Beatles' live set since the early days when John Lennon used to sing it.
Ringo said, "We all knew Honey Don't; it was one of those songs that every band in Liverpool played….I used to love country music and country rock. And I was finally getting one track on a record: my little featured spot."
George Harrison on lead guitar kicks off Honey Don't.
8-2-10
DEAR PRUDENCE, 1968
Dear Prudence is about a woman in The Beatles circle in India who had become infatuated with meditation, locking herself away from the rest of the group and falling into deep states against the advice of the Maharishi.
John Lennon said, "All the people around her were very worried because she was going insane. So we sang to her.
They selected me and George to try and bring her out because she would trust us. She'd been locked in for three weeks and wouldn't come out, trying to reach God quicker than anybody else. That was the competition in Maharishi's camp: who was going to get cosmic first."
7-29-10
ASK ME WHY, 1963
The overnight success of The Beatles came about because of two monstrously hit songs, Love Me Do and Please Please Me.
Today, we're going to play the flipside, the B-side, of Please Please Me, Ask Me Why.
Ask Me Why was mostly John Lennon's song, greatly influenced by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles who were one of the signature Motown acts of the 1960s.
At the time it was unusual for a group to actually write their own material; The Beatles, however, were The Beatles. And that's why we're here to spread the Fab Four love every weekday on Bone Up On The Beatles!
Ask Me Why.
7-28-20
AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING, 1966
While John Lennon never revealed the inspiration behind his song, And Your Bird Can Sing, off The Beatles' Revolver album, it is believed to refer to a rivalry between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the two biggest groups in the world at the time.
Although they were friends, Lennon saw the Stones as Beatles' copycats, and the 'bird' in And Your Bird Can Sing, may have been Mick Jagger's girlfriend at the time, Marianne Faithfull.
Four years before Eric Clapton and Duane Allman busted out their twin lead guitar attack on Layla, Paul McCartney and George Harrison also on twin lead guitars beat them to it on today's Bone Up On The Beatles! classic, And Your Bird Can Sing.
7-27-10
YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY, 1969
You Never Give Me Your Money was written by Paul McCartney about The Beatles' business wranglings in 1969.
The song is made up of four parts, the first part being a thinly-veiled protest at the influence of Beatles' manager Allen Klein, whom McCartney profoundly distrusted.
"You never give me your money. You only give me your funny paper," the song begins.
George Harrison said it best; "'Funny paper' - that's what we get. We get bits of paper saying how much is earned and what this is and that is, but we never actually get it in pounds, shilling and pence. We've all got a big house and a car and an office, but to actually get the money we've earned seems impossible."
7-26-10
RAIN, 1966
Paperback Writer was an A-side single for The Beatles; the A-side being the featured song. Flip it over, and the B-side or "flipside" was called Rain; the B-side being a secondary song that might not be on the album.
The most interesting thing about Rain wasn't the writing, which was mostly John Lennon's, but the recording of it.
The Beatles had discovered that slowing down the speed of their recordings revealed hidden depths. They recorded the rhythm track of Rain at a fast tempo, then slowed the tape down so the song was a tone lower.
That, and John Lennon's vocals were played backwards at the end of the song. Apparently Lennon was so stoned at the time that he threaded the tape of the song into his reel-to-reel player the wrong way.
Welcome to the psychedelic 60's.
7-22-10
OLD BROWN SHOE, 1969
Old Brown Shoe, written and sung by George Harrison was never on an original Beatles album. It came out as a single as the b-side of The Ballad Of John And Yoko.
George explained how Old Brown Shoe came about, "I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don't really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites... Again, it's the duality of things - yes no, up down, left right, right wrong,"
In fact, that is exactly what George Harrison says in Old Brown Shoe - "Right is only half of what's wrong."
7-21-10
I AM THE WALRUS, 1967
Here is how the Beatles' classic song I Am The Walrus came about: One day John Lennon received a letter from one of the kids at Quarry Bank High School, which he had attended, telling him how the teacher was making his class analyze Beatles' lyrics.
Lennon, amused that a teacher was putting so much effort into understanding The Beatles' lyrics, wrote the most confusing lyrics he could, even including a playground nursery rhyme he sang as a youngster - "Yellow matter custard, green slop pie, All mixed together with a dead dog's eye."
Upon completion of the song, John Lennon announced, "Let the eff-ers work that one out."
7-20-10
HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE, 1966
Here, There And Everywhere is Paul McCartney's favorite among his own compositions. And even though John Lennon didn't have much of a hand in writing the song, it was one of his favorite Beatles compositions as well.
Here, There And Everywhere was written alongside John Lennon's swimming pool while McCartney waited for Lennon to wake up.
Paul said, "I think by the time he'd woken up, I had pretty much written the song, so we took it indoors and finished it up."
Song writing. Just that easy.
7-19-10
HELP!, 1965
1965 was the year that The Beatles really dominated the record charts with six number one singles in a row. The fourth of those singles was called Help!, in all spending 14 weeks on the charts.
At the time, John Lennon felt stressed by The Beatles' quick rise to fame. He said later of the song, "I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for 'Help',"
Paul McCartney said that the title was "out of desperation," and, in 2004, Help! was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
7-15-10
IN MY LIFE, 1965
One of the highlights of the Rubber Soul album, In My Life was written mostly by John Lennon, and started out as a nostalgic set of memories of growing up in Liverpool.
Lennon regarded In My Life particularly highly, citing it - along with Strawberry Fields Forever, I Am The Walrus and Help! - as among his best, calling it his "first real major piece of work."
The year was 1965. In My Life.
7-14-10
YES IT IS, 1965
Yes It Is is a 1965 Beatles single written primarily by John Lennon which was first released as the B-side to Ticket to Ride.
Yes It Is features some of The Beatles' most complex three-part vocal harmonies, a technique they used only three times in their entire career.
It also features some great lyrics: "Please don't wear red tonight. For red is the color that will make me blue. Yes it is, it's true."
Yes, it is John Lennon's softer side.
7-13-10
THINGS WE SAID TODAY, 1964
Paul McCartney wrote Things We Said Today aboard a yacht called "Happy Days," while cruising the Caribbean in 1964.
It was about his relationship with his girlfriend at the time - Jane Asher, and the fact that by the nature of their occupations, they wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time together, and that when they were apart, he would remember the things they had said to each other the last time they were together.
Things We Said Today - a truly great McCartney love song.
7-9-10
REVOLUTION, 1968
The first song recorded for The Beatles White Album, Revolution 1, was written in India and inspired by the 1968 student uprisings in Paris, the Vietnam war and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Revolution signaled a political awakening for John Lennon.
There was a profound shift from the hippy belief in peace and love, towards political turmoil, protest and struggle. Lennon became increasingly energized and decided to put his feelings into song, well aware of the risk of alienating The Beatles' fans.
You say you want a revolution?
7-8-10
THERE’S A PLACE, 1963
In the early 1960's, the musical West Side Story was huge. The film version won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Paul McCartney had a copy of the soundtrack.
The Beatles' There's A Place from their first record, was loosely based on one of its songs, Somewhere, which starts out, "There's a place for us…."
Paul McCartney said, "In our case, the place was in the mind, rather than round the back of the stairs for a kiss and a cuddle."
7-7-10
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS, 1967
The song With A Little Help From My Friends was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney specifically for Ringo Starr to sing.
Paul said "it was probably the best of the songs we wrote for Ringo actually."
Problem was, the song had one line that Ringo wouldn't sing. It was "What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?"
Ringo said, "There's not a chance in hell am I going to sing this line, because we still had lots of really deep memories of the kids throwing jelly beans and toys on stage; and I thought that if we ever did get out there again, I was not going to be bombarded with tomatoes."
7-6-10
BAD BOY, 1965
It was on this date in 1957, 53 years ago today, that John Lennon and Paul McCartney we're introduced to one another at a church dance in Liverpool, England. The two we're immediately impressed with each other.
They chatted for a few minutes, and McCartney showed Lennon how to tune a guitar and he also sang Eddie Cochran's Twenty Flight Rock and Gene Vincent's Be-Bop-A-Lula, along with a medley of songs by Little Richard.
Later on, John Lennon had a dilemma - should he admit the talented young McCartney who might pose a challenge to his own superiority within the group…..or not, retaining his leadership yet likely consigning the group to failure?
We know how that turned out.
So, in celebration of that momentous occasion, here's a Larry Williams song The Beatles recorded early in their career, Bad Boy, about a kid who, "just sits around the house and plays that rock 'n' roll music all night."
7-1-10
DAY TRIPPER, 1965
John Lennon said the song Day Tripper was [written] "under complete pressure, based on an old folk song I wrote about a month previous…..It wasn't a serious message song. It was a drug song...day tripper - I just liked the word."
'Day tripper' was an English slang term for someone who failed to fully embrace the hippie lifestyle or as Paul McCartney said, "you're just a weekend hippie. Get it?"
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