10:50 Hey Jude (pt.4) More Melody

Last time we looked at how Paul constructed wonderful wandering melodies but there's more than one source of melodic stickiness.

Fragments

Paul uses a fragment of the verse to craft the melodies in the bridge and coda (Ticket 9).

The opening motif ('Hey Jude') reappears in the bridge over a Bb chord. In the verse it's C - A (the 5th to 3rd of the F chord) in the bridge F - D (the 5th to 3rd of the Bb chord). Similar two note descending motifs appear all through the bridge

Hey Jude (F - D) refrain (F - Bb) don't car- (F - D) - ry the world upon (D - C) your should- (Bb - A) - ders

This “Hey Jude” motif occurs in all three sections of the song, moving in the same direction and by the same amount - dropping down a minor 3rd (or one and a half tones). The only variation is the coda slurs the 'He-ey' over two notes.

Verse – C A
Bridge – F D
Coda - Eb D C

The childlike simplicity of the chord progression

F C C F Bb F C F

and the melody's 'conversational' rhythm perfectly represent the subject matter and intention of the song. Note also Paul's gift for placing words - the way he goes down on the words 'bad' and 'sad' but then lifts up on 'song'. It really makes the melody 'sing' (pardon the pun).

How much of this is conscious or premeditated? Probably very little. We're witnessing a genius at work. But, for lesser mortals like us, the more we consciously emulate great techniques the more likely we are to become instinctual artists. (hey, I can live in hope!)

The verse is notable for it's use of anacrusis. Look at the number of syllables that precede the first beat of each bar.

Hey 1
don't make it 3
Take a 2
and make it 3
Re 1
to let her into your 6
Then you can sta 4
to make i-t be 5

Constrasts

Another point is the contrast between the three sections (Ticket 5). There's is no repetition in the 8 bar verse melody, but the bridge is a 4 bar melody which is repeated and the coda melody, short and simple though it is, consists of 3 one bar phrases with only the 'middle' bar repeated

FAC – Nah nah nah
GFGF – na na nah nah
GFGF – na na nah nah
EbDC - He-ey Jude

This contrast between verse and bridge (unrepeating melody vs. tune played twice) is exactly the same as Mother Natures Son and the coda's melodic structure (ABBC) is the same as the chorus of Carry That Weight.

Boy you're gonna
Carry that weight
Carry that weight
A long time

The verse has a solid root inversion chord progression that is almost hymn-like compared to the bridge's elegant descending bassline that moves at twice the speed.

Bb Bb/A Bb/G Bb/F C/E C F

The symmetrical verse contrasts with the bridge's odd shape - an extra bar of F7 serves as a transition between the two sections (0:52) but then reoccurs in the middle of the bridge (a Lennon Extension - Ticket 52).

Lastly there's a key change (of sorts). The verse is solidly in F major but the transitional F7 seems to imply we've transposed to Bb major (Ticket 45) or at least to F mixolydian (Ticket 51). My money's on the latter, as the coda is clearly mixolydian.

Ambiguity

The bridge sections ends with F7 to C7 which implies McCartney loves tonal ambiguity. He continually messes with our heads by switching between E natural and Eb throughout the song. The aforementioned F7 (containing Eb) fools us we're heading into a Bb major bridge. But a few bars later we get a C/E (E natural) which remains in effect for a 2 bars till we get the F7 (again) followed by the C/E (again). This F7 segues awkwardly into C7 which gets us safely back to the verse.

The Eb to E natural clash is highlighted in the ascending melody at end of the bridge (nah nah – I know, quoting the lyrics is not that helpful... [1:23] and by the descending chromatic piano lick going into the bridge (Ticket 3).


Another cool hook involving chromatic movement is the transition into the coda

(better, better, better...) E - F, G# - A, B - C, E - F, G# A, B - C, F.

Paul is simply singing the intervals of the F major chord (F A C) but approaching each one from a semitone below. Again this hook is an extension of a smaller melodic motif. In just the same way Paul used the opening 'Hey Jude' tune to create more ideas, here he takes the closing note of the verse (better E - F). John Barry (or Monty Norman) used the same thing to create the ending of the James Bond Theme (Ticket 4).

Just like The Long And Winding Road all the out of key chord (Ticket 28) action is due to one note. Eb is the common denominator in the melodic weirdness, the F7, and the coda's Eb major chord, where it is part of a trip backwards through the circle of fifths (Ticket 43) or if you want to get grandiose 'double plagal' cadence (Eb Bb F).

The modest attempts at a descant at 1:42 and the way Lennon switches from low to high harmony (just like the old days) show flashes of brilliance and togetherness (Ticket 58).

That wraps up Hey Jude. I'm working on the second episode of the podcast (get on the mailing list now if you want to receive it) and next up on the blog will be Sexy Sadie!

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Hey Jude Bonus Post (What Does The Vox Say?)

Here's the internet's best guess at the Hey Jude fade out lyrics. You're welcome.

Ju-Judy Judy Judy Judy Judy
OW, WAHOW! 

Ow hoo, na na na 

JUDE Jude JUDE Jude Joooo... 

Na na na na na, yeah yeah yeah 

Yeah you know you can make it, yeah
Jude, you not gotta break it 

Don't make it bad Jude 

Take a sad song and make it better 

Oh Jude, Jude
Hey Jude
WHAAAAOOOOW 

Ooo, Juuuude 

Yeah 

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey-ee-yay-yay-yay 

Hey, hey, hey 

Now Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude
Yeah yeah yeah yeah 

Woh yeah yeah 

Ah nanananananana cause I wanna 

Nanananana ... nanalala ow ow ow 

Oh God 

The pain won't come back Jude 

Yeah, eh hehe heh 

Make it Jude 

YEAHYEAHYEAH YEAH! 
YEAH! YEAH! HA HA HA HA HA.... 
 
Goodeveningladiesandgentlemen
Mymymymy my my mahhhh 
 oooo 

Woooh 

A-well a naaaa-nanan (fade)

More useful posts on the Hey Jude lyrics here and here.

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10:49 Hey Jude (pt.3) Rhyme Scheme Slight Return - Nicholas Tozier Guest Post

There are many excellent websites and books around but I'm fortunate to have a few real live people I can call on for advice when I hit a bump in the road as well. I'm honoured to have Nicholas Tozier from Song Written as a blogging buddy and one of my 'Beatles Brain Trust'. He's made stellar contributions to BSA in the past (here and here) and his reply to my questions about Hey Jude's rhyme scheme was so interesting I got his permission to post it here.

Hey Matt

I’d never looked at Hey Jude on the page, but you’re right; looking down the line ends is less than half the story with this rhyme scheme. There are lots of surprises in this one.

I think the simplest way to explain it is:

End-rhyme is the default in most lyrics, but verse one of Hey Jude uses chain rhyme and internal rhyme – meaning the rhymes resolve and turn around more quickly. It’s analogous to when a melody touches on the tonic for a sense of resolution, then immediately moves off the tonic.

What’s actually happening is a little more nuanced than that, but that’s most of the story.

I don’t think a linear list of rhymes does justice to this verse.

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember, to let her under your skin
Then you'll begin to make it better

Let’s reduce it to a wireframe of syllables (x), with rhyme and refrain positions labeled:

x x x x x A
x x A x x x x BR
x B x x B x x x x C
x x x x C x x BR

Whatever’s going on here, we sure can’t call it end rhyme. The rhymes tend to open at the end of one line, then resolve at the beginning of the next line. Lines one, two, and the beginning of three are straight-up chain rhyme.

Then, in the middle of line three Paul adds a plot twist with another internal “B” rhyme, surprising our ears. This sets the new rhyme-point as the middle of the line. “C” sets up as expected at the end of line three, and then “C” resolves toward the middle of the verse’s last line, like line three did.

Still, I think the best way to get a feel for the truth of Verse One’s sonic mysteries is just staring at the diagram.

Thanks again for sharing this. I had a blast trying to deconstruct it.

—Tozier

P.S. Kinda intriguing that the refrain “make it better” has a different melody each time, so we actually don’t hear it as an obvious refrain so much. Its repetition is downplayed by the melody. That might be significant to the verse’s overall lyrical feel, because the refrain is the only end rhyme, and since the melody changes, the end of the quatrain sounds less resolved, more unsettled, building our anticipation for the next section.

Song Written is one of the best songwriting sites out there. Check it out.

Related Posts

• Nick Tozier on How To Notate A Rhyme Scheme
• Matt and Nick discuss I Want You (She's So Heavy) – one of BSA's most popular posts
• What I Learned About Songwriting From A Crazy Guy In Liverpool (a guest post I did on Nick's site)
• Tozier Reviews 'Two Virgins'

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10:48 Hey Jude (pt.2) Lyrics - How Do You Solve A Problem Like McCartney?

I'll be honest folks. When I started work on Hey Jude I was tempted to induct it into the Lyrical Hall Of Shame. The combination of dummy lyrics that never got replaced, words chosen for the way they sound, and 'it-means-whatever-you-want-it-to-mean-man' attitude adds up to a lame lyric riding the coattails of a world class melody. And that's before you realise that half the song consists of the word 'nah' sung 209 times.

But digging deeper I've realised the lyrics display such structural genius that I'm more than willing to give Paul a pass on this one. But let's look at the negatives first.

Star Wars For Dummies

As was often the case, McCartney had the music locked by the time the recording started but the lyrics were still in flux (like Rocky Racoon and I Will). If you listen to the Anthology 3 rehearsal Paul doesn't have them all (or he doesn't know them). He indulged in a Yodaism in the phrase “for well you know that it's a fool” and the song contains placeholders lines, as Paul admitted

I remember I played it to John and Yoko, and I was saying, 'These words ['The movement you need is on your shoulder,'] won't be on the finished version'... and John was saying, 'It's great!' I'm saying, 'It's crazy, it doesn't make any sense at all.' He's saying, 'Sure it does, it's great.'" *

Creepy Words Of Wisdom

Secondly, the song had an odd genesis, which goes some way to explaining the bizarre interpretations that have followed.

It was optimistic, a hopeful message for Julian: 'Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you're not happy, but you'll be OK.' I eventually changed 'Jools' to 'Jude'**

Changing Jools to Jude cos it 'sings' better is all well and good. But this is a song written to comfort a 5 year old boy about his parents divorce, yet it seems to consist of philosophical advice on getting a girlfriend - a flower-powered take on the 'love life advice' sub-genre that dates back to She Loves You.

There were clearly other biographical currents bubbling up into the song. Paul was in the no(wo)mansland between Jane Asher and Linda Eastman. John heard it as an endorsement for his relationship with Yoko, a thumbs up from Macca's subconscious. Both Beatles were caught between their commitment to making art with multiple (even unintended) meanings and their contempt for the public reading their own meanings into Beatles lyrics. John in particular felt embarrassed at doing exactly what he condemned in others

He said it was written about Julian … But I always heard it as a song to me. Now I'm sounding like one of those fans reading things into it... Think about it: Yoko had just come into the picture. He is saying. 'Hey, Jude'-- 'Hey, John.' Subconsciously, he was saying, 'Go ahead, leave me.' On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead. The angel in him was saying, 'Bless you.' The devil in him didn't like it at all, because he didn't want to lose his partner***

The debate over open interpretation was thrown into sharp focus once Charles Manson got his hands on a copy of the White Album, read murderous things into the lyrics of Helter Skelter and Piggies, and put his crazy interpretations into action.

Advice on preschool love and loss? The Pre-Ballad Of John And Yoko? Or a Dear Jane letter, containing a deep and meaningless line about a parrot?**** No wonder Manson et al had a field day.

Lennon for what it's worth never changed his assessment, calling Hey Jude

“[Paul's] best song" and “a damn good set of lyrics” *****

So what do I know? Let's look at the good stuff.

A fine line between stupid and clever

For starters verse 4 is a mutated hybrid of verse 1 and 2. This makes it feel familiar but not totally predictable. As usual the song is full of parallel words and phrases (Ticket 24)

make it bad/better/you were made

let her into your heart/under your skin

let it out/in

don't make it bad/be afraid/let me down

remember to/the minute you let her into your heart

plays it cool/a little colder

carry the world upon your shoulders/movement you need is on your shoulder


Also McCartney manages to 'break' the rhyme scheme in the second bridge without making it feel wrong or awkward.

In the first bridge the rhyme scheme is

AAB - CCB (pain/refrain/shoulders – fool/cool/colder)

but the second bridge is

AAB – CCD (in/begin/perform with – you/do/shoulder).

Feels really jarring when you focus solely on the last words doesn't it? (Another case for not keeping a meaningless dummy lyric) but in the song it sounds fine. (Be honest. Have you ever noticed it before?). McCartney's masterstroke is that he breaks the rhyme using a word that rhymes with the first bridge, so it feels right even though it's totally 'wrong'.

We've encountered this technique before in The Long And Winding Road (and Ringo break a rhyme for a different reason in Octopus's Garden) so it's high time it got it's own ticket. Welcome Ticket 73.

But the crowning achievement is the way Paul uses internal rhymes to create a kind of odd-meter, seven line stanza that transforms the verse from this

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember, to let her under your skin
Then you'll begin to make it better

into this

A7 - Hey Jude, don't make it bad
A3 - Take a sad

B6 - song and make it better
B6 - Remember to let her

C4 - into your heart
C4 - Then you can start

B5 - to make it better

More amazingly he maintains this punishing rhyme scheme perfectly through the three remaining verses

Hey Jude, don't be afraid
You were made
to go out and get her
The minute you let her
under your skin
Then you begin
to make it better

Hey Jude, don't let me down
You have found
her, now go and get her
Remember to let her
into your heart
Then you can start
to make it better

And there's a few other internal rhymes scattered around. The first verse contains a bonus rhyme

Hey Jude, don't make
it bad, Take
a sad song...

Beautiful. And we're not done yet. There's a few more things to say about lyrics...

Footnotes

* Paul 1974  Beatles Songwriting And Recording Database

** Paul Anthology (p.297)

*** John in David Sheff: All We Are Saying

**** Paul called the line “a stupid expression; it sounds like a parrot" Anthology (p.297)
***** John 1972 interview and All We Are Saying Beatles Songwriting And Recording Database 



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10:47 Hey Jude (pt.1) – Mistakes And Myths In A Song Of Two Halves

Hey Jude was written by McCartney on the way to visit Lennon's newly-estranged family. He crooned his way though rehearsals at Abbey Road (as heard on Anthology 3) but recorded at Trident Studios in Soho, lured no doubt by the relative ease of doing orchestral overdubs on 8 track tape.

The recording itself was a comedy of errors - some cool, some not.

Ringo walked out to go to the toilet … but … I still thought he was in his drum booth. I started what was the actual take … and while I was doing it I suddenly felt Ringo tiptoeing past my back rather quickly, trying to get to his drums. And just as he got to his drums, 'boom boom boom', his timing was absolutely impeccable. So I think when those things happen, you have a little laugh and a light bulb goes off in your head and you think ... “this has got to be the take, what just happened was so magic!”

Paul McCartney in Many Years From Now (p.466)

At some point during the tracking someone shouted an expletive which remained undetected (or at least 'uncorrected') in the finished mix [at 2:58]. The usual suspects are

Paul McCartney hitting a wrong chord on the piano track and shouting “Wrong chord! F***in hell!”

John Lennon hitting a wrong chord on the acoustic guitar track and shouting “Wrong chord! F***in hell!”

John Lennon recording backing vocals finding the volume levels in his headphones way too loud shouting “Oh! F***in hell!”

According to John (via Geoff Emerick/John Smith) it was Paul* (in which case it was allowed to stand with their full knowledge like many other Beatles 'mistakes'). Personally I'd accuse Lennon in the studio with the guitar, though I can't hear anyone play a wrong chord and the mystery voice seems to have a yorkshire rather than scouse accent.

Problems with the equipment at Trident meant that once the tapes got back to Abbey Road for mixing they had to be heavily re-EQ'd by Geoff Emerick (the cymbals still sound particularly horrible at 0:52).

There's an urban myth that Paul used the same piano as Freddie Mercury used on Bohemian Rhapsody – he didn't**. And Walter Everett*** say the bass guitar was muted in the coda to make room for the 'bottom heavy orchestra', but Paul's bass track is clearly audible until 6:54, where it stops for 6 seconds and then comes back in.

Let's talk about that coda.

The song is a standard AABA structure (Ticket 26) with a huge C section on the end that doubles the running time. While it may sound like a remnant glued on from another song it was always part of Hey Jude and shares a number of musical elements with the A and B sections.

Imagine the song without the coda (and the 'better, better...' link). Perhaps the final verse winds down with Paul delivering the final line solo. What's left is a sweet little ballad. A great example, but one of many piano ballads by Paul McCartney, one of many gifted piano balladeers. But with the C section the song is lifted into a different league. The coda is literally a 'release', a huge, joyful, inarticulate yet cathartic, 'musical group hug'.

Repeated chord cycles of any length are rare throughout the entire Beatles catalogue****. and very long ones even rarer***** (as are fade outs) yet this slow moving four bar melody cycles round NINETEEN TIMES(!) which does become tiresome when the only real variations are George Martin's uncharacteristically bland orchestration and Paul's impression of Little Richard with Tourette's.

So why is it so long?

McCartney says they were having so much fun jamming they decided to keep going******. Others think that Paul had a point to prove, wanting to outdo other artists. Richard Harris had recently scored a hit with MacArthur Park which ran for 7:21. Composer Jimmy Webb (who visited Abbey Road around this time) said “George Martin once told me the Beatles let Hey Jude run to over seven minutes because of MacArthur Park”. Webb's story is believable (the band were in the process of recording a really long album) but, if length was Paul's goal he would never have settled for Hey Jude falling 14 seconds short of the record. Whatever the motive was for the coda's length it probably wasn't an artistic consideration. How long it should be is up for grabs but the coda is 'too' long.

In future posts we'll look at one way to write meandering McCartney melodies and why the lyrics look terrible but are actually brilliant.

Footnotes

*Here There And Everywhere p. 262-3
**Queen did use this studio (and piano) but not for Bohemian Rhapsody. See the long thread here if you have time to kill. 
***The Beatles As Musicians Vol 2
**** See The Band Who Kept Expanding
***** I Want You (She's So Heavy) is a similar length and similarly structured
******But I can't for the life of me find the source. I am a bad researcher. BAD RESEARCHER!




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11:16 Don't Let Me Down

Don't Let Me Down, another addition to the collection of Lennon monosyllabic cries for help directed at Yoko Ono (see also I Want You, She's So Heavy) is curiously effective. It boasts a melody almost exclusively major pentatonic, a grand total of 40 words and 4 chords. The verse and the chorus share a two-chord progression (F#m – E, or ii – I) which is essentially the same as Lennon's Sun King. The ii - I progression is just about the smallest harmonic distance you can move, oddly appropriate for the man once dubbed “probably the laziest person in England”. It's a wonder that Lennon managed to shape anything compelling from this. But he does.

Some of it is superficial (from a songwriting perspective). Harrison's lead guitar is exemplary, mixing in Hendrix/Mayfield style fills, using the chinese-sounding pentatonic and use of fourths. On the bridge he doubles McCartney's bassline in a long syncopated riff that sounds too painstaking to be part of Lennon's original blueprint for the song. Billy Preston also shines, matching George fill for fill.

Lennon's lyrics are slightly dumb, indulging, as he does, in wilfully bad English “She done me, she done me good”, but the passion of the chorus carries the song. That emotion plays out over a wide vocal range from a low C# in the verse, right up to a high A in the bridge (it's LOVE THAT lasts), though revisiting the heights he scaled in Twist And Shout is slightly too much for the Lennon larynx here.

So what, compositionally, is to account for the freshness on display here?

Firstly, the melody is almost entirely pentatonic (except for the previously mentioned high A). The non western vibe is enhanced by the simple ascending (nobody ev...) then descending (...er loved me like she...) walk through the scale at the beginning of the verse. The lack of syncopation adds to the feel making it sound all the more appropriate for a love letter to an Asian woman. But lest we get overwhelmed exotic sounds, landing on the warm, familiar ii (F#m) makes the song instantly sound sultry and soulful.

Secondly, every section begins with an anacrusis - a vocal pick up before the first beat of the section (see Ticket 39). This songwriting tool is most often used by singers who are confident vocally so it's no surprise that the Beatles used it often, from the sublime “hey JUDE” to the ridiculous, “let me take you down cos I'm going TO”. Here we have 'Don't let me DOWN' on the chorus, 'nobody ever loved me like she DOES' on the verse and 'I'm in love for the FIRST' on the bridge. As if to emphasis this phrasing even further the band drops out completely before every single section (Ticket 30).

The most original trick though is the 5/4 bar at the beginning of every verse. We've noted time and again Lennon's habit of cutting out any beat surplus to requirements (Ticket 37). Here we have just the opposite. It seems John has too many words and notes to fit in, so he simply makes the band wait till he's finished. A more conventional mind would have edited the verse to

Nobody loved me like she does...
And from the first time that she done me...

But Lennon was never conventional, and why should he be? In this he's a successor to John Lee Hooker, Bob Dylan and hundreds of other early 20th century blues and folk singers, for whom meter was far more fluid affair. I used the same technique, for the same reason, in my song The Soundcheck Song). Maybe you should too.

We'll call this 'ticket' The Lennon Extension (Ticket 52).

Next time we'll tackle I've Got A Feeling...

   

Get Back To The Drawing Board

Boring And Unimportant

Disclaimer: This may interest you if your an uberFABnerd otherwise feel free to give this post a miss. Even I find it boring!

It takes a brave man or a fool to say Mark Lewisohn has got his facts wrong, especially when he's backed up by producer Paul Hicks, but I am that man. And though I hate myself for descending to this level of geekiness I have to include this footnote. While The Beatles Chronicle, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions and Mix Online's interview with the Let It Be … Naked production team all state that the album and the single versions of Get Back use different takes...

THEY DON'T.

How do I know? I used my ears. While there are numerous edits and mixes involved the body of the track is exactly the same. And while the Beatles even at this late stage could be very consistent there are too many little details that no one could reproduce.

Here are three examples from McCartney vocal track and the places they occur.

Laugh 1:03 LIBN - 1:03 PM - 1:23 LIB
Weird vocal noise 1:09 - LIBN 1:09 PM - 1:29 LIB
Two woops 1:59 PM - 2:19 LIB - 1:59 LIBN

I don't know for certain whether the session is 27th or 28th of Jan, but I'll go for the former as The Beatles Bible says so, and it's the only source I've read that agrees with me.

Just be glad I haven't got into the “who is really blowing his nose on Dig A Pony?” controversy...

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.4) - Let It Be

Just like I Me Mine, Let It Be contains extensive overdubbing done by George Martin rather than Phil Spector.

Past Masters

This is the single version recorded and mixed by George Martin. The master take (take 27-A) was recorded on 31 January 1969 at Apple Studios. McCartney played grand piano, Billy Preston played organ (switching between organ and electric piano sound – compare 1:45 with 1:52), Lennon on six-string electric bass, and Harrison on electric guitar. On 30 April, Harrison overdubbed a new guitar solo using a leslie effect. On 4 January 1970 He overdubbed another more distorted solo and Martin added brass and nearly inaudible cellos (last verse, panned right). Ringo and Paul added extra drums and maracas to verse 3 and Harrison, Paul AND Linda McCartney added BVs. This version uses the first solo (panned right) though the second faintly audible (centre). There is almost no trace of the original guitar track. Just after Paul sings Though they may be parted (1:06) you can hear someone (George Martin?) saying “stop it!” in the right speaker.

This was the version used on the 1967–1970 'Blue' album, 20 Greatest Hits and the 1 album.

Let It Be

Phil Spector's remix. He used the second more distorted and aggressive solo (with the first overdubbed solo still faintly audible – both are panned centre), cut the BVs except for the first verse, added delay to the hi-hat in the second verse and brought the bass and brass up in the mix. Just as in I Me Mine Spector 'copied and pasted' to increase length, this time extending the final chorus from twice to three times.

Let It Be Naked

Spector's reverb and extra chorus, and Martin's overdubs are all removed (except the backing vocals?). This is the same basic track as LIB/PM but with numerous edits flown in from other takes, most obviously notably the guitar solo, and there is even evidence of auto tune (listen to the first WORDS of wisdom – 0:21). The solo (from take 27-B) appears to have been lifted with the entire section not just the lead guitar track (compare the piano and drums). The guitar tone is similar to the PM version but the track is much cleaner as there is no 'shadowing' from other takes. Because much of the 'original' guitar tracks are removed there is no real 'build' in the last verse or penultimate chorus.

The whole track is much clearer sonically and seems tighter rhythmically (listen to the cool way Ringo swings the rhythm in the second chorus).

Anthology 3

A completely different version. Take 1 of the song (recorded 25 Jan) is bookended by studio chatter from Jan 31st (take 23) -

John: Are we supposed to giggle in the solo?
Paul: Yeah.
John: OK.
Paul: This'll...this is gonna knock you out, boy.

followed by more chatter from take 25 -

John: I think that was rather grand. I'd take one home with me. OK let's track it. (Gasps) You bounder, you cheat! (a reference to abandoning the no-overdubs/double tracking position that Lennon himself had advocated for Let It Be).

This is simpler and rougher version. No organ at all, and a repeat of verse one replaces the (as yet unwritten) final verse. Harrison is strumming chords on the last verse with a fairly clean leslie'd guitar tone and the drums drop out completely in the last verse. Lennon/Harrison contribute BVs.

The opening is hesitant, the tempo wobbles and there are mic pops throughout. Lennon phones it in on an out of tune bass, playing his trademark bored staccato bass parts. John may have joked about Ringo not being the best drummer in the Beatles, but Lennon's performances on Let It Be and Long & Winding Road definitely earn him 'worst bass player in the Beatles' award.

Film Version

Take 27-B, like 27-A, was recorded at Apple Studios the day after the roof top concert, along with Two Of Us and The Long and Winding Road. Though the audio to this version has never been officially released (apart from the guitar solo), this is the version used in the Let It Be film. The chorus lyrics end “there will be no sorrow, let it be” instead of “there will be an answer, let it be”.

Though there's nothing wrong with the overdubs they're not up to Martin's usual standard and LIBN really benefits from their removal and all the other cleaning up. LIB's solo gives the latter half of the track energy that the LIBN lacks, the brass sounds like a collection of individual instruments rather than single entity and the organ and BVs blend angelically (all of which I like). Anthology is yet another horrible rehearsal tape of historic, rather than artistic, value. And every version has that horrible bass slide at the end!

Verdict

There's really not much to chose between PM, LIB and LIBN but because of the sonic fixing I'd go for LIBN.


abbreviations

LIB - Let It Be
LIBN - Let It Be Naked
A3 - Anthology 3
PM - Past Masters

You have no idea how long this post took to research. I think I would have gone mad without What Goes On - The Beatles Anomalies List and Mix Online. I also would have gone mad without Wikipedia, but Wikipedia was also part of the reason I was going mad in the first place!

Still not got your head around the many solos? There's a special treat for you tomorrow - for a limited time only!!!!!

  

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.1) - I Me Mine and Across The Universe

Though there are officially released alternative versions of every Beatles album floating about (mono vs stereo, UK vs US, remastered vs erm … mastered) Let It Be is in a class of it's own. Versions of these songs crop up on Let It Be, Let It Be Naked, Anthology 1, 2 & 3, Past Masters and '1'. As well as the obvious 'Spectorizing' (massive overdubbing by session musicians) some versions of the same songs are built on completely different takes. Though I'm going to be analysing the songs in true Beatles Songwriting Academy fashion, I thought it might be helpful to give you a rough guide to the various versions.

As I've already analysed I Me Mine and won't get to Across The Universe till 'Magical Mystery Submarine' (which is where it belongs chronologically) let's get those two over with now.

I Me Mine

LIB – Spector's version is a little dull sonically, especially the bass. The wall of sound is pretty low in the mix so it doesn't add much, good or bad. Spector lengthened the track by 50 seconds by literally copying a section and repeating it.

LIBN – Sharper sonically. All the Spector overdubs are removed. However, the Beatles had already added their own multiple overdubs (McCartney's organ & electric piano, Harrison's twin acoustic/electric lead fills) and these are retained as are the extra 50 seconds.

A3 – As LIBN but without the extra 50 seconds (so the structure is literally intro-verse-chorus-verse). It also adds George's humorous spoken intro, referring to Lennon as 'Dave Dee'.

If 'Naked' is a euphemism for 'deSpectorized', then Anthology is the true version. But it's so short!

Best Version: Let It Be Naked

Working with the Beatles took it's toll on George Martin...

Across The Universe

PM – The first released version appeared on a WWF fundraising album (to benefit animals, not wrestlers - hence the added animal sound FX) and is often referred to as the 'wildlife version'. It features a couple of female fans (who had been dragged in from their studio gate vigil) doubling Lennon's vocals on the chorus, BVs by the Beatles (answering ahhs on the chorus) some quite loud maracas and wah wah chords. The fastest version (sped up almost a semitone to D#) but also the longest, due to 20 seconds of FX on intro. Effects on vocals, guitar and tambura.

LIB – Spector slowed the track down, lowering the pitch a semitone to C#, added strings (18 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos), 14 voice choir, (“Disney strings & lullaby voices” McDonald p.227) harp, brass & drum overdubs. There were also 2 guitarists booked for this session! Glyn Johns had already removed all the original sound FX and BVs (both the fans and The Beatles). Heavy phasing on Lennon's vocals and a noticeable edit just before the outro.

LIBN – Much clearer sonically and in the original key of D. No Spector overdubs, BVs, or maracas and the tambura comes in later. There is no noticeable phasing on the track itself till much later. Fades out without the little piano riff.

A2 – Much faster but still in original key (no varispeed). A completely different take. With the possible exception of bass, this sound like an entirely unplugged version. Phasing on the rhythm guitar from halfway through the first verse. Weird chiming instrument, Indian sounding slide guitar. No BV's.

The guest vocals on PM aren't great and it's just sounds too fast. The tempo particularly gives a manic edge to the wah wah and tambura. And on LIBN the track becomes a tambura solo with a Beatles accompaniment. The unplugged version on A2 is a really cool bonus track, but the Richard Hewson arrangement on LIB actually lifts quite a plodding dronefest and Johns/Spector rein in the worst parts of the PM version – frantic tempo, bad BVs, and that darn tambura!

Best Version: Let It Be

...but he got off lightly compared to Phil Spector !

abbreviations

LIB - Let It Be
LIBN - Let It Be Naked
A1 - Anthology 1
A2 - Anthology 2
A3 - Anthology 3
PM - Past Masters
B1 '1' aka Beatles Number Ones

  

12:43 John And Yoko Blues (The Ballad Of pt.2)

As I mentioned when I was trashing the Ballad of John and Yoko last time Lennon uses a variation on the 12 bar blues form (though he doesn't do anything interesting songwriting-wise with it)

a normal 12 bar would go

E E E E7
A A E E
B7 B7 E E

whereas Lennon's 16 bar pattern stretches the first four bars

E E E E
E7 E7 E7 E7
A A E E
B7 B7 E E

This is Ticket 19 – write a (non 12) bar blues

A traditional blues has three lines of lyrics, the first line, which is repeated, then followed by an answering line. The Ballad of... has four lines followed by another answering four line refrain.

This is Ticket 34 – write a blues but avoid the AAB lyric structure.

Check out how they messed around with the blues more effectively on Can't Buy Me Love

12:42 The Ballad Of John And Yoko

Oscar Wilde said "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go”

That's how I feel about Beatles songs and here's one I'll be glad to show the door. Every so often you come across a song that offends you in some way that being objective about it's merits feels an impossible task. Sometimes it's issues of racism, sexism, blasphemy, profanity or crass commercialism. I find The Ballad Of John & Yoko so annoying that I'd rather have Two Virgins stuck on an endless loop through a sub woofer on the back of an Afro-Carribean carnival lorry driving over a million piglets than have to listen to it one more time.

Here's why I struggle with it.

Never has an artist gone from a healthy cynicism about the whole business to an unshakeable belief in his own self importance as completely as John Lennon. We have five verses (FIVE!) telling all about his woes with the press. Poor dear.

The reality is that Lennon, after leaving his wife and young child, had begun to indulge in a number pointless publicity stunts with then girlfriend Yoko Ono that were supposed to advance the cause of world peace and/or express some deep meaningful concept. These included making a 15 minute film of his penis (thankfully not featured on the Anthology DVD) giving interviews from inside a giant bag and, as the song relates, sending a pair of acorns to 50 world leaders. Because it was Spring the acorns had to be specially purchased. A pair of 'Acorns for peace' were also symbolically buried near Coventry Cathedral. A week later they were symbolically stolen by fans. Peace did not break out.

So Lennon was behaving in a ridiculous and pretentious manner and was reviled by the press. And he wrote this song to express his ire, with a persecution complex that took on messianic dimensions. The irony was that few years earlier, thanks to some ill advised remarks about being more popular than Jesus, Lennon was the target of death threats and record burnings from American fundamental Christians and the Klu Klux Klan. Now that would have been the ideal time to write an 'everybody's out to get me' song. It could have benefitted from the unique perspective of having self appointed defenders of the Prince of Peace baying for your blood.

The song is also rendered ridiculous in the same way as Imagine by John's altruistic claims. “Giving all [his] clothes to charity”, was a concept he never put into practice, in the same way he “imagined no possessions” from the comfort of his 71 room mansion.

Even if all this were not true the song still sucks for being a prime example of the “Millionaire Rock Star Blues.” If you are one of the very small minority to make yourself independently wealthy through a music career please don't write a song telling us how hard your life is. Even if we could understand, we probably wouldn't sympathise. I remember reading Def Leppard complaining in an interview about the 2 hours excitement/22 hours boredom of touring and thought “I know just how you feel” as I feasted on the finest cold meat pie the petrol station could provide and bedded down for the night on the floor of my band's beat up van.

In conclusion I'd rather see a infinite number of Bonos lecturing about waste management and listen all night to Jon Bon Jovi, sitting astride his steel horse banging on about the million faces that he's rocked than have to endure this self righteous tripe.

However

I'm here to blog about songwriting. I must put aside my personal feelings and prejudices long enough to analyse the song. Well, lucky for me – it's a load of rubbish. The music is a totally unoriginal 16 bar blues with an 8 bar bridge that is almost the same as I Saw Her Standing There. The lead guitar consists almost entirely of cheesy mariachi-style fills that are totally out of place,

the playing is unimaginative and the shakers are too louder. The reference to “Gibraltar near Spain” is a particularly awful result of rhyme fever (and it reminds me of the Indiana Jones film, where highly educated people keep reminding each other that Venice is in Italy).

But there are a few good things.

I like the 2 beat snare fill that comes after the bridge and ending on a 6th chord is a fun little self referential nod back to She Loves You (where the 6th is sung rather than played).

So I guess I'm saying there are about 4 seconds that are worth emulating.

If you disagree let me know!

Next time I'll take a quick look at the 16 bar blues structure and then move on to the final song from Abbey Road!!!!!

12:37 Old Brown Shoe

I SAID SHOE!...oh, never mind...

I'm going to deviate from my normal M.O. and post on a couple of songs at the same time. I'll continue with Something soon but let's pause to examine George Harrison's curious footwear.

It's interesting that Old Brown Shoe was recorded directly before Something as they're kind of peas in a pod. Both songs break all kinds of rules but one pulls it off in breathtaking fashion. And the other one is Old Brown Shoe.

It's too much of a good thing. There are numerous tickets to write on display here but they combine to make a really bad song. All the right ingredients but instead of a cake you get an inedible frisbee of death.

It's not difficult to say why this song is so bad. It's just difficult to say why Harrison does a lot of the same things wrong in Something and gets such great results.

But here's a couple of examples.

Putting a foot wrong

Staying off the root (Ticket 6) is a great way to increase some freshness and movement into tired chord progressions. But here we only get the root chord (C) for the first 4 bars of a 16 bar verse. We end on the Am (The Aeolian cadence - Ticket 10). The chord he uses as a root is itself an unsettled 7th chord. The root doesn't appear at all in the bridge (the only other section of the song). We also (as always) have multiple out of key chords (Ticket 28) but hanging on them for several bars at a time increases the tonal uncertainty. The melody makes things even worse by being based largely on the minor pentatonic instead of following the chords (Ticket 22).

So instead of starting somewhere unfamiliar and then heading for home She Loves You (intro) or heading out the front door then taking a quick detour Here Comes The Sun (bridge) we just wander around lost with a sharp stone in our old brown shoe for the full 3 minutes.

The most glaring weirdness in this song is the loping off beat drum part. Ringo was a genius (yes I did call Ringo a genius – deal with it) at coming up with fresh and inventive parts, with or without Paul's input. But Ringo was away filming The Magic Christian. So Paul stepped up. But messing around with the beat as he does means we have lost not only the root, we've lost the 'one' too (no pun intended).

Contrast this track with weird metre/syncopated songs by Led Zeppelin. The weirder the riff, the more likely you are to find John Bonham playing a solid AC/DC approved 4 to the bar (e.g. The Ocean, Kashmir, Black Dog). Paul's not entirely to blame though. No drum beat could have saved this song.

Lastly the lyrics are really poor. Harrison sometimes displayed a really cynical shoddiness when it came to lyrics and that's what we have here.

There are some interesting lines - right is only half of what's wrong, but I'm stepping out this old brown shoe? What does that mean? 'Out OF'? Has he moved in with the old woman who lived in a shoe? Or 'out IN'? What happened to his other shoe? And don't get me started on being in the queue for her sweet top lip. What's wrong with her bottom lip? Does she even have one?

The song is crammed full of lines that are not only vague, stupid or nonsensical but also really clunky and awkward sounding. The former is a minor infraction in pop music. The latter is unforgivable.

won't be the same now, when I'm with you
Not worry what they or you say
pick me up from where some try to drag me down
To miss that love is something I'd hate

This song hurts my feet.

The guitar solo is brilliant though...

Chapter 2.13 With The Beatles - This Boy

I guess one of the advantages of having your own blog is that you can be totally biased, irrational and just plain opinionated and you can get away with it. So I think This Boy is a great song, but I understand if you disagree!

It is a totally stock doo-wop song that ticks all the boxes of a very simple genre. So why do I like it?

Logic, harmony & a strong bridge

Lyrically the ‘This Boy/That Boy’ device is nice and (unusually for the Beatles) the internal logic of the lyrics actually holds up all the way through the song.

The three-part vocal harmony makes the chord progressions sound far clever than they really are. Often someone is singing a major 7th over a straight major or minor chord. Nice.

The bridge. For once rather than being the weak link in an otherwise good song (e.g. Do You Want To Know A Secret, P.S. I Love You) it’s absolutely the high point. The tune rises with each new chord creating a feeling of rising tension which finds it’s release with the band stopping and Lennon’s impassioned “cry – i – i – i” leading perfectly back into a subdued verse (a dynamic shift which they achieved via editing).

So that’s it. It’s a dumb little song but it moves me. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

And that wraps up chapter 2. Next we’re going to shake things up a little bit. Stay tuned.

Chapter 2.12 With The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand

The Beatles US breakthrough single, is a good, rather than a great, song. It feels too much like conscious attempt at a greatest hits of tricks and techniques.

Intro - culled from another part of the song (the guitar chords from the end of the bridge). Just like She Loves You , Please Please Me & From Me To You .

End – triplets from Twist & Shout.

Bridge – a key change (from G to C) into a stock jazz chord progression uses exactly the same jump (up a fourth) and exactly the same first 3 chords (ii, V, I) as From Me To You .

Words  - are kept to a minimum (only 36 words in the whole song) and we get the title once in every verse, twice in the choruses and 3 times in the last chorus.

We get the lyrical echos


I’ll tell you something/When I say that something/you got that something/ When I feel that something
I feel happy/ It’s such a feeling

Three Cheers For B7

When they’re not going over old ground, it’s pretty uninspiring.

The chorus is an unimaginative straight doo wop progression

IV, V, I, vi.
IV, V, I

C D G Em
C D G

The vocal melody is pretty stepwise and not very compelling apart from the nice touch in the verse of moving from a B down to a low F# on the 2nd line (I think you'll underSTAND) and from B up to a high F# on the 4th (I want to hold your HAND).

The most interesting thing is the B7 in the verse

I, V, vi, III7

G D Em B7

Other than that there isn’t anything here that the Beatles haven’t used to better effect in other songs.

But maybe what they needed to break America (other than some illegal bootlegging) was a kind of sample platter of the Mersey sound. In which case this song is a work of genius.

  

2:3 She Loves You (pt.3)

Read part one – the chorus

Part two – chord progressions and breaking new ground.

‘That’ Chord

The last chord is legendary. It’s a G major but George Harrison is singing an E turning it into G6. George Martin didn’t like it at first saying it sounded like the Andrews Sisters. But they tried it with and without and all agreed it sounded better in.

But the 6th doesn’t just make an appearance on the final chord but also in the line “with a love like that you really” which is an A sung over Cm. No one plays a 6th chord anywhere in the song but the intervals are so strongly placed that they affect the whole tonality of the song.

This is part of Lennon’s spicy vocal melody bag of tricks and his way of making simple chord progressions sound more complicated than they are.

Intros, Outro & Edits

Check out the false ending that slows down and sounds like it’s coming into a gentle landing before the final round of “yeah, yeah, yeahs.” Wouldn’t that sound good in one of your songs?

How long do your songs take to get to the hook? The instrumental intro here is a drum fill lasting 0.5 of a second! Beat that!

Finally the more I listen, the more I can spot the edits. At this stage rather than punching in overdubs complete takes were glued together. I’m sure I can hear one at 1:22.

OK. We’re done with this bad boy. Our next ‘music’ posts will be more of an overview of With The Beatles and related singles.

2.2 She Loves You pt 2

We covered the chorus of this song in a previous post.

Break New Ground With Every Song

Very early in their careers the Beatles are consciously avoiding repeating themselves. The Verse/Chorus format is a new one for them and, after a run of ‘first person songs’ addressed to their fans they write one about the ‘third person’. So it’s important to keep looking at your recent songs and trying something different. You don’t arrive at Sgt Pepper levels of innovation unless you make it a habit to constantly break new ground in small ways.

Here’s another small example. Trying to play the chorus’s “yeah, yeah, yeah” vocal hook on guitar pushes Harrison into new chord shapes.

They’re played (from D to top E) 5003, 4002, 2000.

The last one is a straight Em, but have you ever played a pattern like that in any other song? Me neither.

Original. But Not Too Original

The chord structure in the verse & pre chorus is simple but effective. They almost go for the traditional doo-wop chord sequence of

G Em C D (I vi IV V)

But they change it just enough to keep it interesting

In the verse it's

G Em Bm D (I vi iii V)

And the pre chorus is

G Em Cm D (I vi iv V)

This is a pretty simple ‘trick’ – anyone can throw in a different chord or two but the Beatles are great at doing as much as possible with very simple patterns. I’m sure it’s part of their memorability – giving you something you’ve heard a hundred times before with a one little twist.

But using the same pattern twice and only changing one chord? Isn’t that too boring? Here’s another trick. Each chord in the verse lasts for one bar. Each chord in the pre chorus lasts for two.

Same yet different. Haven’t I heard that before? No, not quite.

More from this classic song next time.