Under The Influence: Daniel Johnson

When I learned how to play I was always trying to write with Queen … but I could never quite get a song. And then I started listening to the Beatles and got more into the knack of songwriting. And then, finally, my dad bought me a book called Complete Beatles, and ... I played every song in that book again and again, and I did develop a rapport with the Beatles songs. I began to re-work because of what Ringo said in an interview. He said, "We took other people's songs and rearranged their chord structures to write songs," and I go, "Wow!" and I started doing that with their songs. And it was like magic, rearranging the chords. It was like a mathematical situation.

It was just a phenomenal theory for me. Of course, if the Beatles heard about this today they'd roll over in their graves, but you know, that's what I did and it was revolutionary to me and that went on forever. This book was like a bible to me and I knew all their songs and I played them, and then I kept … writing with the Beatles theory over and over again. Millions of songs.

Pitchfork: Do you have a favourite Beatles song?

Well, I wouldn't know what to say. From Yesterday to I Am the Walrus to... Yer Blues ... so many. I wouldn't do without any of them. I love the Beatles, they are my favourite band.

Pitchfork: The first time I heard a tape of yours it reminded me of Rocky Raccoon.

Well, when John Lennon wrote [Rocky Raccoon]*, he had a book called Enter in the Words**, where he would play around with words and everything was hilarious, and that really was a big influence on me. I had a song called Never Relax, and I was playing around a lot with words that way. And it took a long while for John. I mean, in the early days, he was writing songs-- love songs-- and those were great songs, and at the same time he was writing really hilarious poetry. But it took him until Revolver to take that hilarious poetry and work it into his songs.

But that was an influence on me, in writing lyrics. You know because John was hilarious with his lyrics, and you know, we miss him. But I believe the Beatles are still alive, and with me, because I can put on any record at any time and there they are. And so the Beatles mean a lot to me, and I listen to them a lot. They're my main influence. And I just acquire anything I can get a hold of, from bootlegs to solo albums to whatever.

Pitchfork magazine

The Beatles – Daniel Johnson (from the album Yip)

When I was born in '61***
They already had a hit
They worked so hard and they made it too
They really were very good
They deserved all their success
They earned it, yes they did, they didn't buy their respect
And everybody wanted to be like them
Everybody wanted to be the Beatles
And I really wanted to be like him but he died
A legendary rock group
Like history now to read
Like a magical fairy tale that's hard to believe
But it really did happen
Four lads who shook the world
God bless them for what they done
God bless them for what they done

*Paul McCartney wrote Rocky Racoon
**There's no book with this title. Perhaps Daniel means In His Own Write, or Spaniard In The Works.
***Their first hit was in 1962

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Under The Influence

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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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10:42 Rocky Raccoon

Though not a kid's song, McCartney's child-friendly story (Ticket 64) captivated me as a kid listening to my sister's C120 cassette and I've never outgrown it. He was writing about “some bloke in a raccoon hat, like Davy Crockett”* but to 10 year old me it was a real gun-toting Racoon.

Writing And Recording

Rocky Sassoon was 'jammed' into life by Paul on a Rishikesh roof (with John Lennon and Donovan throwing in ideas) and recorded in a single session. Somewhere on the way to Abbey Road Rocky changed his name (thankfully!).

The White Album version is built on take 9 featuring McCartney (vocals and acoustic guitar), Starr (drums) and Lennon or possibly Harrison (bass). But Anthology has the unadorned take 8 and reveals the Beatles 'at play' in the most healthy way.

Though he later dismissed Rocky and his own part in it**, Lennon seems into it on take 8; maybe it was the Lennon-approved repetition, working quickly enough not to get bored or just being in a good mood that day.

It's amazing how much the two takes differ. There's a straighter strumming pattern, Lennon keeps switching between bass and harmonica, and the lyrics are all over the map (literally – Rocky is from Minnesota, not Dakota) revealing the semi-improvised nature of the song

Rocky Raccoon, he was a fool unto himself and he would not swallow his foolish pride

Earlier takes*** include

Roll up his sleeves on the sideboard/ roll over, Rock/ it's just a scratch/ I'll be OK when I get home and most memorably Move over doc, let's have none of your c**k

Once they nailed take 9 they added BVs, harmonica and harmonium**** (Lennon) and more drums and bass (Ringo and Paul). George Martin's patent sped-up Honky Tonk piano is a great touch, lending a bar room vibe which, like the snare drum 'gunshot' at 1:47-49, is an example of Madrigalism (Ticket 49).

Why Does It Work?

For me Rocky Raccoon is a great little song that shouldn't work. Five verses and two instrumental verses, all based on the same musical material, should be teeth-grindingly monotonous … but it's not (at least for me!). Verse 1 is a 'jazz-style intro verse' (Ticket 53). Opening bleakly on an A melody note (sung 22 times!) over an Am chord it sounds almost like an operatic recitative. In Paul's mind it's “talking-blues”. *****

A big part of the song's staying power the strength of the chord progression.

Am7      Am7
D7sus4  D7
G7         G7
C           C/B

In this simple 8 bar pattern we have a wealth of interesting things.

• The D7 is an OOKC (Out Of Key Chord – Ticket 28)
• We never get a IV chord (F) – one of the three most common chords (Ticket 7)
• Within the chords we have a 'voice' descending chromatically from the b7th to the 5th - g - f# - f - e (Ticket 31).

g  (in Am7 and D7sus4)
f# (in D7)
f natural (in G7)
e  (in C major)

• The basic progression itself is a 'circle of fourths' (Ticket 43) – A to D to G to C. The vi – ii – V – I is a very strong movement towards 'home', but the progression never rest. After one bar on the tonic (I), C major we immediately descend via the C/B to the vi (Am) and start all over again. This avoidance of the root chord (Ticket 6) gives tremendous forward momentum (you can hear McCartney doing the same thing in The Long And Winding Road).

A single chord pattern song is rare for the Beatles but such a multifaceted progression really keeps things interesting. There are other points too

Other Things

Though we have a fairly repetitive melody over changing chords (Ticket 48) it doesn't grate because the melody, like the chords, stays unresolved by avoiding the root (Ticket 50). The melody is mainly pentatonic (C D E G A) with the odd Eb bluesifying the melody (Ticket 22), especially on “broken his dreams” and in the hooky piano/scat singing instrumental (Ticket 3).

Well-drawn characters (Ticket 70), and some 'bookending': melodically, lyrically and dynamically, between verse 2 (checked into his room) and verse 5 (fell back in his room) really tie things together and avoid the song becoming a never-ending shaggy-dog story.

Yes! Apparently Rocket Racoon was based on the Beatles song! More background here

Footnotes

*Many Years From Now (p. 423)
**Paul [wrote it]. Couldn't you guess? Would I go to all that trouble about Gideon's Bible and all that stuff? John Lennon: All We Are Saying
***Abandoned lyrics are from The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions
**** The 'harmonium' (from 2:22) sounds much more like an accordion to me. You can hear Abbey Road's Mannborg Harmonium here
***** Beatles Interviews

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Under The Influence: Trey Anastasio (Phish)

My parents had a pretty good record collection, and they used to give me albums to listen to on my little record player. I got [The White Album] from them in about fourth grade, and I played it until I wore through the grooves. It's so universal, and as I get older and come back to it, it's better than ever. Over the years my favourite song changes, however. In those days I liked Rocky Raccoon and Ob La Di, Ob La Da. Now I really like Long, Long, Long,...Who knows what my favourite will be next year? 

 Guitar World Dec 1996