Wednesday, 5 March 2014

A Hard Day's Night (song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"A Hard Day's Night" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon,[2] and credited toLennon–McCartney, it was released on the movie soundtrack of the same name in 1964. It was later released as a single, with "Things We Said Today" as its B-side.
The song featured prominently on the soundtrack to the Beatles' first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, and was on their album of the same name. The song topped the charts in both the United Kingdom and United States when it was released as a single. The American and British singles of "A Hard Day's Night" as well as both the American and British albums of the same title all held the top position in their respective charts for a couple of weeks in August 1964, the first time any artist had accomplished this feat.[3]


Posted by at No comments:

P.S. I Love You (Beatles song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"P.S. I Love You" is a song composed principally by Paul McCartney[1] (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and recorded by the Beatles. It was released on 5 October 1962 as the B-side of their debut single "Love Me Do" and is also included on their 1963 album Please Please Me. It was later included on the Beatles compilation Love Songs.

Posted by at No comments:

SWEET APPLE TRAX VOL.II The Beatles


track list
C1 Let It Be
C2 Penina
C3 Shakin' In The Sixties
C4 Move It
C5 Good Rockin' Tonight
C6 Across The Universe
C7 Two Of Us
C8 Momma, You've Been On My Mind

D1 Tennessee
D2 The House Of The Rising Sun
D3 Back To Commonwealth
D4 White Power/Promenade
D5 Yackety-Yack / Hi Ho Silver
D6 For You Blue
D7 Let It Be



Posted by at No comments:

The Beatles' rooftop concert

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Beatles' rooftop concert was the final public performance of the English rock group the Beatles. On 30 January 1969, the band, with keyboardist Billy Preston, surprised a central London business district with an impromptu concert from the roof of Apple headquarters at 3 Savile Row. In a 42-minute set, the Beatles played nine takes of five songs before the Metropolitan Police Service forced them to stop. Footage from the performance was later used in the 1970 documentary film Let It Be.




History[edit]


Although the concert was unannounced, the Beatles had planned on performing live during their Get Back sessions earlier in January.[1] It is uncertain who had the idea for a rooftop concert, but the suggestion was conceived just days before the actual event.[2] George Harrison brought in Preston as an additional musician, in the hope that a talented outside observer would encourage the band to be tight and focused.[2] Ringo Starr remembered:
"There was a plan to play live somewhere. We were wondering where we could go—'Oh, the Palladium or the Sahara.' But we would have had to take all the stuff, so we decided, 'Let's get up on the roof'".[3]
The audio was recorded onto two eight-track machines in the basement of Apple[4] by engineer Alan Parsons,[5] and film director Michael Lindsay-Hogg[6] brought in a camera crew to capture several angles of the performance—including reactions from people on the street.[5]
When the Beatles first started playing, there was some confusion from spectators watching five stories below, many of whom were on their lunch break. As the news of the event spread, crowds of onlookers began to congregate in the streets and on the roofs of local buildings. While most responded positively to the concert, the Metropolitan Police Service grew concerned about noise and traffic issues.[7] Apple employees initially refused to let police inside, ultimately reconsidering when threatened with arrest.[7]
As police ascended to the roof, the Beatles realized that the concert would eventually be shut down, but continued to play for several more minutes.[8] Paul McCartneyimprovised the lyrics of his song "Get Back" to reflect the situation, "You've been playing on the roofs again, and you know your Momma doesn't like it, she's gonna have you arrested!"[9] The concert came to an end with the conclusion of "Get Back," and John Lennon's famous statement, "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we've passed the audition."[10]




Set list[edit]

The rooftop concert consisted of nine takes of five songs, including:
One of the performances of "I've Got a Feeling", and the recordings of "One After 909", and "Dig a Pony" were later used for the vinyl release of Let It Be.[11] In 1996, a "rooftop" version of "Get Back", which was the last song of the Beatles' final live performance, was included in Anthology 3.[12]




The Beatles' rooftop concert marked the end of an era for many fans. The group would go on to record one more album,Abbey Road, but by November 1969 the Beatles had unofficially disbanded.[13] Several of the rooftop performances, particularly that of "Dig a Pony", showed the Beatles once again in top form, if only temporarily.[14] Fans believed the rooftop concert might have been a try-out for a return to live performances and touring.[15]
The Rutles' "Get Up and Go" sequence in the film All You Need Is Cash mimics the footage of the rooftop concert, and uses similar camera angles.[16] In January 2009, tribute band the Bootleg Beatles attempted to stage a 40th anniversary concert in the same location, but were refused permission by Westminster City Council due to licensing problems.[17]
In The Simpsons Fifth Season episode, Homer's Barbershop Quartet The Be Sharps (Homer, Apu, Barney and Principal Skinner) perform a rendition of one of their previous hits on a rooftop. George Harrison who guest-starred in the episode is shown saying dismissively "It's been done!". As the song ends and the credits begin, Homer repeats John Lennon's phrase about passing the audition.[18]
In the 2007 film Across The Universe, a musical made up entirely of Beatles' music, Sadie's band performs a rooftop concert in New York City which mimics the original. It is interrupted and closed down by the New York Police Department.[19]




Personnel[edit]

  • George Harrison – backing vocals, lead guitar
  • John Lennon – lead/backing vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar
  • Paul McCartney – lead/backing vocals, bass guitar
  • Billy Preston – electric piano
  • Ringo Starr – drums





Sources[edit]

Posted by at No comments:

The Beatles - Dig A Pony (The Twickenham Sessions, Disc 1, Track 1 Part 2)



Posted by at No comments:

Beatles Around The World











Posted by at No comments:

I Saw Her Standing There

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and is the opening track on the Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 22 March 1963.
In December 1963, Capitol Records released the song in the United States as the B-side on the label's first single by the Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". While the A-side topped the US Billboard charts for seven weeks starting 18 January 1964, "I Saw Her Standing There" entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 8 February 1964, remaining there for 11 weeks, peaking at #14. The song placed on the Cashbox charts for only one week at #100 on the same day of itsBillboard debut. In 2004, "I Saw Her Standing There" was ranked #139 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Composition[edit]

The song was a Lennon and McCartney collaboration based on McCartney's initial idea.[1] Originally titled "Seventeen", the song was apparently conceived by McCartney while driving home from a Beatles' concert in Southport, Lancashire[2] as a modern take on the traditional song As I Roved Out, a version of Seventeen Come Sunday that he had heard in Liverpool in 1960.[3] The song was later completed at his Forthlin Road home with Lennon.[1] McCartney later described in Beat Instrumental how he went about the song's composition: "Here’s one example of a bit I pinched from someone: I used the bass riff from 'Talkin’ About You' by Chuck Berry in 'I Saw Her Standing There'. I played exactly the same notes as he did and it fitted our number perfectly. Even now, when I tell people, I find few of them believe me; therefore, I maintain that a bass riff hasn’t got to be original".[4] The lyrics were written on a Liverpool Institute exercise book. Remember, a book by McCartney's brother Mike McCartney, includes a photograph of Lennon and McCartney writing the song while strumming guitars and reading the exercise book. It was typical of how Lennon and McCartney would work in partnership, as McCartney later commented: "I had 'She was just seventeen,' and then 'never been a beauty queen'. When I showed it to John, he screamed with laughter, and said 'You're joking about that line, aren't you?'"[2] "We came up with, 'You know what I mean.' Which was good, because you don't know what I mean" (Barry Miles. Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now),[5] "It was one of the first times he ever went 'What? Must change that...'"[6] Lennon said: "That's Paul doing his usual good job of producing what George Martin used to call a 'potboiler'. I helped with a couple of the lyrics." (David Sheff. John Lennon: All We Are Saying).[5] The songwriting credit on the Please Please Me liner notes is "McCartney–Lennon" which differs from the more familiar "Lennon–McCartney" that appears on subsequent releases.[7]

Recording[edit]

The first live recording (a slow version of the song) was made at the Cavern Club at the end of 1962. Lennon didn't play rhythm guitar; he played harmonica in the introduction and during the verses. Lennon and McCartney laughed when they sing "Well we danced all night/ And I held her tight/ And I held her hand in mine" second time.[5]
The song was recorded at EMI Studios on 11 February 1963 and engineered by Norman Smith, as part of the marathon recording session that produced 10 of the 14 songs on Please Please Me.[8] The Beatles were not present for the mixing session on 25 February 1963.[9] It was not common practice for bands to be present at such sessions at that time.
On the album, the song starts with a rousing "One, two, three, four!" count-in by McCartney. Usually, these count-ins are edited off the final audio mix. However, record producer George Martin wanted to create the effect that the album was a live performance: "I had been up to the Cavern and I’d seen what they could do, I knew their repertoire, and I said 'Lets record every song you’ve got, come down to the studios and we’ll just whistle through them in a day'".[10] Martin took the count-in from take 9, which was considered 'especially spirited'[6] and spliced it onto take 1.[11] Music journalist Richard Williams suggested that this dramatic introduction to their debut album was just as stirring as Elvis Presley's "Well, it's one for the money, two for the show…" on his opening track, "Blue Suede Shoes", for his debut album seven years earlier.[12] In addition it also made the point that the Beatles were a performing band as, at that time, they opened their live set with this song.[13] On the first American release of the song, issued on Vee Jay Records, the count was edited out—but the "Four!" is still audible.
The full take 9 version of the song appears on the Free as a Bird CD single as a B side, released for the first time.
Take 2 of the song was released on "The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963" which was an album released exclusively to iTunes in 2013.

Release[edit]

Personnel[edit]

Personnel per Ian MacDonald[14][5]

Critical acclaim[edit]

Carr and Tyler, in The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, claimed it was only the third all-British rock classic up to that time, the previous two being Cliff Richard's "Move It" and Johnny Kidd's "Shakin' All Over".



Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)