10:9 I'm So Tired

It's not surprise that a song called I'm So Tired was written by John Lennon, the Beatle dubbed “probably the laziest person in England” and the composer I'm Only Sleeping and Good Night (Paul's Golden Slumbers being the only non-Lennon sleepy Beatles song).

What is more surprising is that it is such a well crafted, compact (ticket 2) song, worthy of Lennon's '64-'66 golden period, but with grungy production and real sense of humour. A perfectly written song with a woozy melody that is surprisingly 'vertical' for Lennon. John himself held it in high regard -

One of my favourite tracks. I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well

Lennon accompanies his own excellent vocals with some great organ playing, along with electric and acoustic guitar, McCartney doubles on electric piano, and Ringo overdubs a second kit (panned centrally on the choruses with the original kit panned left). Ringo, like the rest of the band, is on form, a subtle swing almost undetectable on the chorus (where everyone is banging out ¼ notes) but coming through on the verse.

More surprises? Though there's a massive contrast with the ragged Bungalow Bill, in terms of writing and performance, both songs were recorded and completed in the same session, the day before Lennon's 28th birthday.

Does the song consist of early period 'verse and bridge' structure (ticket 26) or more modern pop style verse and chorus? On balance the “You say I'm putting you on” feels more like a chorus but if so, it's one of the rare occasions that the title appears in the verse, rather than the chorus.

The spoken outro is gibberish, rather than anything meaningful in french, and certainly not any backwards masked message about Paul being dead.

The most fascinating elements to this song are the way it's built on a 12 bar structure though it isn't a blues, the use of madrigalism to unify the mood of the lyrics and music and as always a judicious helping of crazy out key chords. We'll cover some of those next time!

10:6 Julia (pt. 5) The Last Post - Structure

Having looked at the songwriting magic that Lennon casts over Julia with imagery, weird chord progressions and odd scales lets finish with the big picture.

The coolest thing for me is that the song has two different (though not unrelated) verses. I don't just mean 'verse one' and 'verse two'. I mean verse 1 and 5 are constructed differently to verses 2-4 and 6-7. Different chord pattern, structure, amount of lines and bars. The only similarity is the 8 bar 'intro' verse has same last 4 bars as the 'regular' 12 bar verse (the latter, being a 'non-blues 12 bar pattern', is another example of ticket 35).

The inspiration for this unusual 'intro-verse' is clearly the jazz showtunes of to 20's, 30's and 40's - songs like I Got Rhythm, That Old Black Magic and The Lady Is A Tramp. If the source seems unlikely, remember that the Beatles covered songs such as Falling In Love Again and True Love while serving their apprenticeship in Hamburg.

You could also explain the genesis of the section as either ticket 4 - creating an intro from another section of the song (the 'normal' verse) or ticket 41 - using the same ending for two section (making it a relative of Golden Slumbers).

Either way, this 'introductory verse' idea can be heard on Beatles songs as diverse as Honey Pie, Here There And Everywhere and Do You Want To Know A Secret.

Regardless of versal weirdness (hey, I just invented a word!) the song is a solid member of the ticket 26 club. Julia is essentially an AABA structure with no chorus, just like I Saw Her Standing There or Eleanor Rigby.

We can spot a Lennon edit (ticket 37) on the end of most verses because stretching the title out for 7 beats (Ju-------li-a) means Lennon would have had to tack on an extra bar or two to finish the verse before the next one starts.

The song ends on a single ringing chord (ticket 18 - a favourite ending from the early days) made fresher by the fact that the only time Dmaj7 appears is as the last chord in the song!

Next time, a very different kind of love song - Why Don't We Do It In The Road?

12:24 Golden Slumbers

Golden Slumbers was recorded as one piece with Carry That Weight. Unusually McCartney borrowed lyrics from someone else. Cradle Song is a poem by dramatist Thomas Dekker published in 1603.

Not that one. This one - 

He pretty much lifts the lyrics verbatim except for changing the word 'wantons' to 'darling'.


Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise ;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,
You are care, and care must keep you ;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

Nine And A Half Bars

The melody is a very McCartney disjunct effort – lots of leaping around in 4ths and 5ths rather than gradually climbing up and down the scale a note at a time. The overall melodic shape rises, falls, then makes a final upward leap of a sixth - E to C on the verses (Lulla - BY-EE) and G to E on the choruses (YOUR EYES and YOU RISE)

In the chorus the melody hangs on an E even when we move from a C major chord to an Fadd9 (Ticket 13). And he resolutely ignores the G# in the E chord and sings a G natural which is both bluesifying the melody (Ticket 22) and writing an in-key melody over an out of key harmony (Ticket 14)

Just like You Never Give Me Your Money and Carry That Weight it uses circle of fifths in this instance

Am Dm G C

The verse is 10 ½ bars and the chorus 9 ½. No matter how you carve up the phrases bar wise (and there are a few possibilities) they're odd. McCartney takes the edge off the odd musical activity by ending the verse and the chorus with the same musical and lyrical ideas (sleep pretty darling...) - let's call that Ticket 41.

Songwriting Gold

The strength of the song is down to the powerful mood conveyed by the music and lyrics right from the beginning.

A one bar intro (Ticket 2) with a very open high Am7 chord (ACG – no 5th) melody on a G “once there was a way...” and then the strong A bass note on the second bar. What's happening here?

Well, the lack of a clear bass note, a single fairly unstable chord, and an unfinished sentence all contributes to a sense of lostness. The music brilliantly reflects the lyrical mood. Consider that in the first 8 seconds we've only heard 3 notes. We're not even really sure which key we're in and whether the chord we're hearing is the root chord or something else. The music makes us feel a little lost even as he's singing “once there was a way to get back homeward, once there was a way to get back home.” The implication being, now there is no way to get back home.

Do You Have To Smile So Loudly?

Overall it's a great tune but the setting and performance is inappropriate. Potentially a classic song, it's rendered faintly ridiculous when it turns into a bombastic lullaby. Listen to the way McCartney growls his way through the chorus right after saying “I will sing a lullaby”.

RINGO "if you could sleep through it, it'd be a miracle"

Lyrically I think McCartney should have focused on the lostness and lost the lullaby. Dekker's lyrics sparked some great ideas, but the song would have been stronger if he'd have ditched what didn't suit the music.

"The Medley" from Abbey Road - Live!

Apart from Here Comes The Sun & Because, all of side 2 of Abbey Road is taken up with a medley sometimes refered to as "The Long One."

The Beatles, of course never played it live, which make this performance all the more amazing.

The band is The Fab Faux (That's 'foe' not 'four'). If you think they sound like a cut above your average Beatles tribute band you'd be right. That's Will Lee on bass from the Letterman Show & Jimmy Vivino, guitarist for The Tonight Show just for starters.

Thanks to Mark Altrogge for putting me onto this.



The Fab Faux - Abbey Road Side 2 (mostly) from The Fab Faux on Vimeo.



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