10:28 Top 10 'Birthday' Thoughts

A Christmas confession. After a number of stone cold classics packed with great writing tips (Piggies, Warm Gun, I'm So Tired and Martha) it's a relief to have a song that's so lousy you can easily sum it up in one post and still get two new songwriting tickets from!

So let's wheel out Birthday. An oddly structured 'two bridge' (Ticket 62) novelty song that was written from scratch during the recording session.

Structure

A A B C D A E D A

A - 12 bar blues verse (Ticket 34)
B - 8 bar drum build up
C - Bridge 1 'Party'
D - Bridge 2 'I would like you to dance'. This section is in a different key (C maj) to the rest of the track (A maj) - Ticket 45.
E - Guitar/bass break.

As it's the time of lists here's 10 thoughts

I Like

1) Section E. For me, the hooky (Ticket 3) four bar guitar/bass break (1:48) is the high point of the track. For a few seconds the boys sound like Cream. If only Cream were any good. (I'm just kidding! They WERE good. For about four seconds).

2) The piano effect. I don't know what Ken Scott did but it was more Leslied than a room full of Leslie speakers and on the final single ringing chord (Ticket 18) it sounds like he's switching through different settings. Weird. Anyone know what it is?

3) Build up on the V chord. Section C may use the same trick as the opening of Back In The USSR but with stacked vocals harmonies we're giving the nod to Twist & Shout. A build up on the V is a songwriting trick that many writers have used and SO CAN YOU! (Ticket 65).

4) Lennon squared. One of the most beautiful sounds on God's green earth is John Lennon's double tracked vocals. Listen to the 'party' section (1:01).

I Don't Like

5) BVs from hell. The BeatleWAGs contribution to the first bridge has to rival Macca's prepared piano on For You Blue for 'worse sound on a Beatles record'. Their impersonation of mentally-challenged martian-children should be the one that McCartney can't forgive, screwing up 50% of the two syllables they're required to sing -  the second is neither straight or pushed.

6) Utterly stock cliched blues riffs. See section A.

7) Empty drum beat transition. Macca counting off bars in section B, 'A Day In The Life'-stylee, suggests they were going to fill in the gaps later, but the fact that it remained 'blank' (like Two Of Us) says maybe the 'think tank' was empty.

8) McCartney's inappropriate screaming. Last heard on Golden Slumbers Paul's Little Richard withdrawal symptoms manifest here like a kind of Rhythm & Blues Tourette's.

9) Lyrics. They make no sense, follow no rhyme scheme and the few rhymes there are irredeemably dumb - “like you to dance/take a chance”

10) The 'melody'. Melody only in the most general sense. Almost monotonal.

Why is such a banal song so popular? I've shared it numerous times myself and I think the track sucks. The answer's obvious! It's an 'occasional' novelty song (Ticket 66) - meaning 'written to commemorate an occasion'. Christmas is the mother of all occasions but if you wrote a song for a public holiday or special occasion that everyone shares you could be celebrating your birthday 365 days a year.

And on that note Happy New Year from Beatles Songwriting Academy!

 

Under The Influence: Duff McKagan (Guns N' Roses And Velvet Revolver)

I remember being captivated by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The picture on the cover is what got my attention – the marching-band uniforms, all the faces. But then I started listening to the music. I listened to Lovely Rita over and over, fascinated with the way the words sounded, the exotic cadence. I was amazed how the lyrics managed to paint a picture in my mind. I listened to that song so many times that I even convinced myself that I had written it – for a girl I had a crush on in my kindergarten class. The music had the ability to conjure images in my head and help me drown out the tension and noise I was trying to avoid at my house.


The first song I learned how to play was the Beatles' Birthday. Your first song always remains a musical touchstone and this one not only taught me finger dexterity, but also included the rudiments of the whole blues major scale, a scale that I would use and use again in my later career in Guns N' Roses.

Duff McKagan: It's So Easy And Other Lies p.33-34

During his career Duff has covered Hey Bulldog, Across The Universe and of course Paul McCartney's Live And Let Die. Velvet Revolver was in part named after a Beatles album and Duff is currently working on a 'Hard Day's Night' -style film.

She Said She Said (10 Beatles Songs Featuring Female Vocalists)

(this post has been updated Nov 15, 2011)

I would never have female voices on a Beatles record 

– Paul McCartney (Many Years From Now p.575)

...apart from Marianne Faithful, all our wives, 2 fans, 1 girlfriend, 2 choirs and an orchestra...

More than any other song The Long And Winding Road epitomises the whole clash of vision, and lack of reality that killed the Let It Be album. Before we take a closer look, let's dispel one of the arguments Paul had for why he hated the recording. He claimed that female vocals were somehow anathema to the Beatles sound. However there are nine other songs where he was quite happy to include the ladies...

1) 14 voice female choir - The Long And Winding Road

This is the one that provoked Paul's odd comment, glacial operatic oohs and ahhs. lady style mushiness to the power of 14.

2) Linda McCartney - Let It Be

The lovely Linda join Paul and George for overdubbed oohs on a song inspired by a dream about Paul's mother.

3) 14 voice female choir (Spector version) Lizzie Bravo & Gayleen Pease (Wildlife version)  - Across The Universe 

The same set up as The Long And Winding Road didn't annoy Paul as much, presumably because Across The Universe was an old Lennon 'b side' rather than a new McCartney ballad. On the original version Lizzie & Gayleen became probably the most famous Beatles fans (after Charles Manson) after they were plucked from their vigil at the Abbey Road gates to contribute some childishly squeaky vocals to the chorus (which Spector wisely deleted). 

4) Yoko Ono & Maureen Starkey - The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill

Not only do a wife and future wife contribute BVs, but Yoko sings one line of lead vocals “Not when he looks so fierce”. Lennon follows this with “...his Mummy butted in”. Feel free to discuss any irony in the statement “his Mummy butted in” in the comments section.

5) Pattie Harrison & Yoko Ono - Birthday

Another wife duet on McCartney's written in the studio rocker.

6) Members of Session Orchestra - Hey Jude

The 36 classical musicians booked for this session famously became the knights who sing “Na” after the Beatles doubled their rates in exchange for backing vocals on the longest fade out in history.

7) The Mike Sammes Singers – Goodnight

The middle of the road vocal group add some gooey love mush to Lennon's song for Julian. This time Phil Spector has an alibi, being 3000 miles away from Abbey Road at the time. I accuse George Martin in the studio with the lead piping.

8) The Mike Sammes Singers - I Am The Walrus

George Martin employs one of the UK top vocal groups. Lennon gets them to sing “Everybody's got one” and “Umpah Umpah, stick it up your jumper”

9) Marianne Faithful, Pattie Harrison & Jane Asher - All You Need Is Love

Joining everyone and his brother in the studio for the live TV broadcast before 400 million viewers. Keith Moon played hi hat.

10) Marianne Faithful & Pattie Harrison - Yellow Submarine

The first sighting of women in the Beatles Boys club. This means that the most recorded woman on the Beatles songs is – Pattie Harrison!

Next time I'll try to unpack why everyone hates The Long And Winding Road.