Discuss the similarities and differences between the albums Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Compare the music, lyrics, instrumentation, album covers, and the songw

A Magical HISTORY Tour

A Magical HISTORY Tour

5th Edition

ARMANDO TRANQUILINO

Florida International University

All rights reserved. No part of this book may

be reproduced in any form or by any electronic

or mechanical means, including information

storage and retrieval systems, without permission

in writing from the publisher, except where

permitted by law.

Copyright © 2014, 2010 by Armando Tranquilino

Cover design by Olga Santiago

Cover Photographs: Beatles at JFK airport February 7, 1964/ Public Domain

Published by

Four Notes Publishing, Inc.

New York, NY 10004

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

He who sings scares away his woes.

– Cervantes

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Prologue 3

Chapter 1: This Style We Call Rock & Roll 6

Chapter 2: Rock & Roll Pioneers 21

Chapter 3: John, Paul, George, and Ringo 41

Chapter 4: Please Please Me, With The Beatles 55

Chapter 5: A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles For Sale 73

Chapter 6: Help!, Rubber Soul 91

Chapter 7 Revolver 114

Chapter 8: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 131

Chapter 9: Magical Mystery Tour 151

Chapter 10: The Beatles “White Album,” Yellow Submarine 165

Chapter 11: Let It Be 199

Chapter 12: Abbey Road 210

Post-Beatle Years 237

Appendix List of Complete Albums and Songs 240

Bibliography “With A Little Help From My Friends” 245

The Beatles: A Magical History Tour

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Introduction

The Beatles are arguably the most influential musical group in the history of popular music. They outgrew the boundaries of rock & roll by incorporating a great variety of musical styles, harmonies, song forms, and “new” tone colors, with practically each one of their records breaking new ground. From their pioneering music, studio techniques, videos, to their album covers, they were at the forefront of innovations that permanently changed the music industry, setting new standards of both commercial and artistic success in popular music to such a phenomenal degree that most pop/rock music trends and experiments, from the mid-sixties to the present, have some precedent on a Beatles album. They were also one of the first rock groups to write most of their own music, initiating the era of self-contained bands. From their early songs to their revolutionary studio masterpieces, the magic they cast touched listeners and musicians from essentially every genre of music, and as a result we can find covers of Beatles' songs in practically every musical style; a feat which is perhaps the greatest testament to their distinction, genuineness, and esteemed place in the history of popular music. Style, Creativity, Originality, and the Past

“It’s not where you take things from, It’s where you take them to.”

– Jean-Luc Godard

Although there are periods in the history of music dominated by a particular style, in fact stylistic development never ceases to be in flux, as musicians continually search and explore new means of expression. This stylistic evolution is often so gradual that it becomes practically impossible to chronologically determine at what point the “new” kind of music truly began. Thus, history is more accurately represented as a continuum of overlapping waves rather than as clear-cut divisions of time periods. And what constitutes a “new” style? What criteria do we use to describe something as “original?” Are purely original ideas or creations possible? Some will argue that there is no such thing as an original style, song, work of art, scientific idea, mathematical formula, etc., while others simply define originality as something that did not exist before, regardless of how many associations it shares with the past. Many highly innovative artists, whose legacy lasted the test of time, shared one characteristic: they were passionate students of the past who created their own original forms of expression after absorbing history (after all, one cannot learn from the future!).

To what extent the past serves as a springboard for future conceptions varies from artist to artist, but it’s worth noting that some of the greatest creative minds of all time, known for their blazing originality, such as Da Vinci, Cervantes, Einstein, Picasso, and Stravinsky, were self-proclaimed “thieves” who liberally borrowed and used ideas from others, and transformed them into their own new visions. The Beatles were no exception; in fact, they were master “thieves” and consummate originals. Compared to other rock

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bands of the early sixties, they “robbed” from multiple (and distinctly different) sources more than any other group. This characteristic was by no means due to lack of direction or creative laziness; on the contrary, it was a testament to their hunger for musical cultivation, multifaceted performance talent, and powerful imagination as songwriters. In truth, the degree to which an artist steals or uses the past as a model for their original works is ultimately insignificant since it is all part of the assimilation and immersion period which constitutes the input of the creative process. What matters is the output; what the artist produces. Another trait the Beatles shared with revolutionary artists like Picasso and Stravinsky was a pattern of continuous self-reinvention, as if exploration and discovery were the motivating factors behind their creative drive. They never rested their laurels on yesterday’s success, and when asked what their favorite project, album or song was, they would say, ‘the one we are working on right now.’

All artist’s roots and influences are most evident during the early years of his/her career before the individual voice has fully matured. In the early music of the Beatles, one hears a melting pot of styles and techniques: the Everly Brothers interlocked two-part harmonies, Little Richard's screams and wails, Chuck Berry's guitar licks, the late1950s- early1960s 'girl groups' vocal harmonies and call-and-response style, Buddy Holly's and Roy Orbison's song writing and singing approach, and Elvis' vocal nuances, to name a few. This propensity for wide-ranging eclecticism did not fade away after their early records; it essentially became a prominent stylistic trait, an attribute that set them apart from their contemporaries. Their middle period welcomes the influence of Bob Dylan, country and folk music, classical music instrumentation and arrangements, Indian Music, and the recording studio sound manipulations of their psychedelic period. The albums of their final period include full orchestral accompaniments, music concrete, and symphonic musical forms and medleys. Nonetheless, despite their stylistically broad palette, and even from their first recordings, we witness the imprint of personality; they always sounded like the Beatles.

Renowned American composer Aaron Copland said: “If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of the Beatles.” Indeed, the Beatles and their music often played a catalytic role in the social and cultural transformations of that decade, at the forefront of which were issues of Racism and Civil Rights, Counterculture, Women’s Rights and Feminism, Sexual Liberation, Drugs, Family Structure, Fashion, and War and Peace, to name a few. This book traces their development, from their beginnings to their last recorded album, and offers a historical and critical analysis of their monumental contribution, not only in music but in Western culture as well. The first two chapters offer a general summary of the popular music and musicians that preceded the Beatles, namely the Blues, Country-Western, Rockabilly and the birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the 1950s. Beginning with chapter three, the paramount role of the Beatles in the revolutionary decade of the 1960s is thoroughly explored. While it is beyond the scope of this book to discuss every Beatles’ song thoroughly, specific songs have been selected and discussed in detail. The appendix includes a complete list of their albums and songs, including the Past Masters albums.

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Prologue

The ‘best’ decision…

At 10:00PM on Saturday, August 18, 1962, a live audience witnessed the Beatles perform, officially for the first time, as John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The event took place at Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight, a village on England’s Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight lies along the west bank of the River Mersey, across from Liverpool, a mere three miles away. The occasion was the Horticultural Society’s 17th annual show, an all- afternoon event that closed with an evening dance, of which the Beatles were the headliners, with the Fours Jays as the supporting act.

Brian Epstein, manager of both the Beatles and the Four Jays, had secured the gig: The Beatles would play between 60-80 minutes for £30 (approximately $50 by 1962 rates, and roughly equivalent to $400 by 2014 standards). Even though the Beatles had amassed a substantial amount of popularity by this time, the majority of the audience was unaware that just three days prior, on August 16th, the Beatles had fired their drummer of the last two years, Pete Best, and that this night was Ringo’s debut as his replacement and permanent member of the band. And surely no one could have imagined that this lineup, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, would become worldwide household names and the most influential popular rock music band of the twentieth century.

So, why was Pete Best, after playing with them for two years, sacked and replaced by Ringo? After all, along with Pete as their drummer, the band had attained a significant following and even secured an audition for a recording contract with EMI (Electric and Musical Industries), one of England’s major music companies. For years, the reason remained unclear as the Beatles and their personnel would either evade the question or offer vague responses. No explanations were publicly given, leaving a void that was soon filled with semi-truths, rumors and conspiracy theories, some of which included: “The other three Beatles, and specially Paul, was jealous of Pete’s good looks and the adulation he got from the audience,” “Pete refused to comb his hair forward into a Beatle fringe like the others,” “Brian Epstein didn’t like Pete,” “Pete was brooding and never

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smiled on stage, didn’t fit in with the others.” Pete Best himself added to the speculations by frequently stating, “They said my drumming wasn’t good enough, but the real reason is a mystery.”

Perhaps there was more than one factor for Pete Best’s dismissal from the band, but the predominant reason was his ability as a drummer. There is no denying that Pete had been a good enough drummer for the previous two years, as the band solidified their live performances in nightclubs and bars. But, as the band advanced, audiences grew, and recording contract auditions increased, so did their standards as musicians. For a while, the other three Beatles had felt that Pete’s drumming was somewhat lagging behind their playing, a fact that became more evident when another drummer filled in for him whenever he called in sick or could not make the gig, and especially when this other drummer was Ringo; by the time Pete Best was fired, Ringo had sat in for him a few times. Ringo met the Beatles in Hamburg in 1960, (almost two years before the August 18th performance at Hulme Hall) when Ringo’s current band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, played alternating sets with the Beatles at The Kaiserkeller club. Not only did John, Paul and George take an immediate liking to Ringo as a person, they also felt the band sounded tighter with him, and according to George Harrison, when Ringo sat in with them, it felt complete.

As time went on, John, Paul and George became more and more dissatisfied with Pete as drummer and team member, but kept him in, hoping things would improve. The convincing push to fire him happened soon after their first recording session with EMI on June 6, 1962. A few days prior, George Martin, EMI recording engineer and producer, had signed the Beatles to a one-year recording contract, with a three-year extension option, which would start the day of their first recording session. That evening they recorded four songs, “Besame Mucho,” “Love Me Do,” “PS I Love You” and “Ask Me Why,” from which two would be chosen for their first single release. After the session, George Martin told John, Paul, and George that he didn’t think Pete was a good enough drummer and told Brian Epstein that if the Beatles decided to keep Pete for live performances it was up to them, but as far as recordings were concerned, he would have to hire a session drummer. While Martin’s opinion proved to be the confirmation the Beatles needed about Pete’s replacement, they still didn’t mention a word to Pete, and kept him on board for the next couple of months, fulfilling gigs while Brian worked out the details of how not to violate the managerial contract, he had signed with all four Beatles, which secured them paid employment under his management.

By early August, Brian had the solution: he would offer Pete another position in a separate band, also managed by him. If Pete declined the offer, he would be in violation of the contract instead of Brian. John, Paul and George asked Brian to give Pete the bad news, and after their performance at The Cavern club on August 15, (what would be his last as a Beatle) Pete was told that Brian wanted to see him in his office the following morning. And so, it was on that Thursday morning, August 16, that Brian, embarrassed and nervous, delivered the news: “The boys and myself have decided that we don’t want you in the group any more, and Ringo is replacing you.” Pete was floored, and when he asked for a reason Brian explained that both, the boys, and George Martin, didn’t think he

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was a good enough drummer. Terribly shocked and upset, Pete declined Brian’s offer to join another group. He was especially hurt that John, Paul, and George never warned him or faced him about the entire situation. In retrospect, it makes sense why Pete’s shortcoming as a drummer was not initially disclosed by the Beatles or their personnel as the reason for his dismissal; it undoubtedly could have damaged his future career, of which Brian had an interest in, and they also had no need or desire to offend him publicly.

With all said and done, history has shown that the decision to bring Ringo in was indeed the ‘best’ one for the group, as he proved to be the final piece of the puzzle that led to the phenomenon known as The Beatles. George Harrison reminisced the pivotal choice in one of the verses of his post-Beatles song from 1973, “Living in the Material World,” making a clever use of a pun on the word “Richie,” which both indicates the arrival of Ringo (born Richard Starkey), and the financial rewards the band experienced from that point onward.

Met them all here in the material world John and Paul here in the material world

Though we started out quite poor We got Richie on a tour

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This style we call Rock & Roll

They [the Beatles] were doing things nobody was doing. I knew they were pointing the direction of where music had to go.

-Bob Dylan

Before the Beatles…

Rock & roll is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as: “A form of popular music arising from and incorporating a variety of musical styles, especially the blues, country music / rockabilly, and gospel. Originating in the United States in the 1950’s, it is characterized by electronically amplified instrumentation, a heavy accented beat, and a relatively simple phrase structure”. The term “popular music” in this case signifies music that is mass-produced and distributed via the mass media. Some dictionaries define rock and roll as synonymous with rock music; however, and more commonly, the term rock and roll is exclusively used to define the music of the 1950s and early 1960’s (Bill Haley, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, etc.). Starting in the early-to-mid 1960s Rock & Roll evolved into the various sub-genres of what is now simply called rock music. While aspects of what we now know as rock & roll can be found in blues and country music recordings of the 1920s and 1930s, the name “rock & roll,” as referring to a musical style, was coined in the early 1950s. In addition, the song which many credit as the first actual rock and roll record, (keep in mind that there is no absolute consensus on this), was recorded on March 5, 1951, in Memphis, Tennessee by Jackie Brenston and the Ike Turner band.

Titled “Rocket 88,” it is an up-tempo song featuring an aggressive saxophone solo coupled with a boogie-woogie pattern and a distorted, over-amplified electric guitar. These characteristics along with the song’s lyrics, which commemorate the automobile, have led many people to claim "Rocket 88” as the first true rock and roll song. Perhaps, anticipating the revolutionary and intuitive spirit the rock and roll, the distorted guitar sound was not premeditated, but the result of an accident. There are two differing stories regarding the guitar sound. One account states that the amplifier fell off the top of Turner’s car on the way to the recording studio in Memphis and to get some sound out of the speaker to get on with the recording session, producer Sam Phillips stuffed paper in

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the burst speaker cone, giving the sound a fuzz-like effect. However, in an interview given by Ike Turner years later he said that the amplifier was in his trunk and that rain may have caused the damage. "Rocket 88” became a number one hit on the R&B charts, generating enough profits to allow Sam Phillips to start his Sun Records studio and record label in 1952 which, a couple of years later, would launch Elvis Presley to fame.

INSTRUMENTATION Rock & Roll bands from the 1950s typically consisted of between 4-6 players incorporating instruments from the list below. – Saxophone (alto or tenor) – Electric Guitars (lead and rhythm) – Bass (acoustic or electric) – Piano (acoustic) – Drums

The specific instrumentation varied between bands. For example, Little Richard incorporated multiple saxophones, while Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis did not include any, and Bill Haley and the Comets added a steel guitar and a fiddle (from their Country & Western roots) to their lineup.

The Guitar takes the lead

The saxophone and/or the piano were typically the lead instrument in early rock &

roll bands, but during the mid to late 1950s the guitar took over. While the presence of a piano/keyboard player remained in some rock bands of the 1960s, the saxophone practically disappeared from the scene.

Origins of the term “Rock & Roll”

The expression “to rock” is often used as a figure of speech meaning “to shake, to shock, or to stimulate,” and Black gospel singers in the American South often used the expression “rocking” to signify something equivalent to spiritual ecstasy. The word “roll” has been used as slang for sexual intercourse, as in “A roll in the hay.”

There are many references to “rockin” and “rollin” in the rhythm & blues songs and

“race records” (the name used for records made by and for African Americans during the 1920s and 1930s, primarily consisting of blues, gospel music, and jazz). Subsequently, the term was used as a double entendre, presumably referring to dancing but with the veiled meaning of sex. Two popular examples from the late 1940s and early 1950s are the rhythm and blues songs “Good Rockin’ Tonight” by Roy Brown (a song which was

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subsequently covered by various artists, including Elvis Presley) and the big hit by the Dominoes, “Sixty Minute Man.”

Excerpt from “Good Rockin’ Tonight”

I’m gonna hold my baby as tight as I can. Tonight she’ll know I’m a mighty, mighty man. I heard the news, there’s good rockin’ tonight.

I say, well, meet me in a hurry behind the barn, Don’t be afraid darling, I’ll do you no harm. Excerpt from “Sixty Minute Man” If your man ain’t treating your right, come up and see ol’ Dan, I rock ‘em, roll ‘em all night long, I’m a sixty-minute man.

Alan Freed, a disc jockey from Cleveland, Ohio, who was undoubtedly familiar with the songs mentioned above, is credited with coining the phrase "rock and roll" as descri

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