48 Years ago today - The Beatles
- Thread starter Kreskin
- Start date
I think Ringo is one of the most underrated drummers of all time. He wasn't flashy but he was like a human metronome. Most live bands play songs too fast. The songs lose their original feel. The Beatles live were for the most part the Beatles on record. I give him a lot of credit for that.
don't you think the same could be said for many many music groups/singles, and I would imagine many
were/are much more into the drug scene than the beatles were.
even hank williams was an alchoholic, died at 29, the beatles didn't start bad habits, and I see they
are, (without george), still alive and well.
I would never begrudge how much money any of them made, good for them, but the choices so many of
the music scene entertainers made were so wasteful, and shallow.
did I just hear today that whitney huston is dead? it wasn't from eating salads.
The Beatles came in to popularity just when the world was going into Helter Skelter yeah yeah yeah
Talloola, I think we are talking about different subjects. The Beatles did more than their share at
popularizing the drug scene. They went from one legal battle to another. The Fab Four earned
hundreds of millions. While I liked Hank Williams, The international music scene hardly knew he
existed and what Hank earned from music was a pittance compared with the Beatles.
I think George Harrison died of cancer but I'm not sure. John Lennon was shot by some jerk
in New York.
You can't compare Hank Williams and the Beatles. The Beatles arrived on the scene well after colour T.V., Hank Williams caught the advent of B & W T.V. MInd you I much prefer Hank's music. Nothing the Beatles did would hold a candle to "Cold, Cold Heart" and "Take these Chains from my Heart".
The Beatles - Happiness Is A Warm Gun (2009 Stereo Remaster) - YouTube
Writing and inspiration
According to Lennon, the title came from the cover of a gun magazine that producer George Martin showed him: "I think he showed me a cover of a magazine that said 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun.' It was a gun magazine. I just thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you just shot something."[1] The reference, whether or not intermediately from the magazine, was one of many 1960s riffs on Charles M. Schulz's culturally popular saying, Happiness is a Warm Puppy, which began in the Peanuts comic strip and became a widely sold book.
Composition
Lennon said he "put together three sections of different songs...it seemed to run through all the different kinds of rock music."[1] The song is thus by the composer's own admission a pastiche. The song begins with a brief lilting section ("She's not a girl who misses much..."). Drums, bass and distorted guitar enter as this portion of the song proceeds. The surreal imagery from this section is allegedly taken from an acid trip that Lennon and Derek Taylor experienced, with Taylor contributing the opening lines.[2] After this, the song transitions into a song fragment called "I Need a Fix," built around an ominous-sounding guitar riff. This section drifts into the next section, a chorus of "Mother Superior jumped the gun." The final section is a doo-wop send up, with the back-up of vocals of "bang, bang, shoot shoot."
One of the most salient musical features of the song is its frequent shifts in time signature, some tempo changes, and some unusual phrasing. The song begins in standard 4/4 time but quickly deviates from the norm. There is a 5-bar phrase rather than the usual 4, beginning with the line "She's well acquainted...". The last line of that verse ("A soap impression of his wife...") has a 6/4 bar (the second measure of the phrase) before going back to 4/4 for the last two bars of the phrase, and Ringo Starr plays the downbeat on "1" in the fourth bar, giving a more unusual feel. The subsequent guitar lead and bridge can be analysed as a 3-bar pattern of 9/8, 12/8, 12/8 (or 5 bars—one of 9/8, four of 6/8, etc.), with Ringo retaining an implied 6/8 throughout, so that the snare drum downbeats are on "1" as often as not. This gives way to a faster (almost double-time) 4-bar pattern of 3/8, 6/8, 3/8, 7/8 for the "Mother Superior..." section before returning to a slower 4/4 for the doo-wop ending. During the "When I hold you..." section, the rest of the band returns to 6/8, but Ringo stays in 4/4. This is a rare example of polyrhythm in The Beatles' catalogue.
Writing and inspiration
According to Lennon, the title came from the cover of a gun magazine that producer George Martin showed him: "I think he showed me a cover of a magazine that said 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun.' It was a gun magazine. I just thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you just shot something."[1] The reference, whether or not intermediately from the magazine, was one of many 1960s riffs on Charles M. Schulz's culturally popular saying, Happiness is a Warm Puppy, which began in the Peanuts comic strip and became a widely sold book.
Composition
Lennon said he "put together three sections of different songs...it seemed to run through all the different kinds of rock music."[1] The song is thus by the composer's own admission a pastiche. The song begins with a brief lilting section ("She's not a girl who misses much..."). Drums, bass and distorted guitar enter as this portion of the song proceeds. The surreal imagery from this section is allegedly taken from an acid trip that Lennon and Derek Taylor experienced, with Taylor contributing the opening lines.[2] After this, the song transitions into a song fragment called "I Need a Fix," built around an ominous-sounding guitar riff. This section drifts into the next section, a chorus of "Mother Superior jumped the gun." The final section is a doo-wop send up, with the back-up of vocals of "bang, bang, shoot shoot."
One of the most salient musical features of the song is its frequent shifts in time signature, some tempo changes, and some unusual phrasing. The song begins in standard 4/4 time but quickly deviates from the norm. There is a 5-bar phrase rather than the usual 4, beginning with the line "She's well acquainted...". The last line of that verse ("A soap impression of his wife...") has a 6/4 bar (the second measure of the phrase) before going back to 4/4 for the last two bars of the phrase, and Ringo Starr plays the downbeat on "1" in the fourth bar, giving a more unusual feel. The subsequent guitar lead and bridge can be analysed as a 3-bar pattern of 9/8, 12/8, 12/8 (or 5 bars—one of 9/8, four of 6/8, etc.), with Ringo retaining an implied 6/8 throughout, so that the snare drum downbeats are on "1" as often as not. This gives way to a faster (almost double-time) 4-bar pattern of 3/8, 6/8, 3/8, 7/8 for the "Mother Superior..." section before returning to a slower 4/4 for the doo-wop ending. During the "When I hold you..." section, the rest of the band returns to 6/8, but Ringo stays in 4/4. This is a rare example of polyrhythm in The Beatles' catalogue.
yes, I suppose thats true, just making the point that the alchohol and drug scene is all over the
entertainment world, the beatles didn't invent it.
And, I was a young mother when they came on the scene in north america, no time to sit around and
pay attention to their lives, not really interested anyway, have never followed actors/singers/ etc.
So, whatever drug scene they were in went right over my head, I just liked their music, and their
hair. lol
hank williams could have taught the beetles everything they want to know about alchohol and drugs, 'he
was no angel',he made a fool out of himself on many occasions, missed concerts he was suppose to be
a part of, and let down his family and son, and very addicted to booze and pain killers, died a sad death in the back of a car,
and never did figure life out.
I liked their music a lot, and by then I was very tired of hank williams, and any other singer of that
cowboy singing era.
He was an excellent writer of music, and his music lived on for many years after he was gone, and was sung
by the pop singers as well.
John Lennan was an excellent writer of music as well, many of which are still being
played, and will never be forgotton.
Yeah, for all Hank's talent there was definitely something lacking, which seems to run rampant in the entertainment industry.
An American friend was talking today about how she remembered the day Kennedy was shot and how it made her feel and how it affected her life. I remember that too but when I heard John Lennon was shot I felt like a horse kicked me in the chest.
yes, I know exactly what you mean, I felt the same, such a helpless feeling, and such a waste,
as he gave all of us so much to enjoy with his songs, and that creep took away his life, for
what .........no reason at all, lennon didn't hurt anyone.
As it was learned on Monday Night Football.
John Lennon shot 12-8-80 Howard Cosell tells the world twice John Lennon was dead. - YouTube
John Lennon shot 12-8-80 Howard Cosell tells the world twice John Lennon was dead. - YouTube