2:14 With The Beatles Post Index And Conclusion

This is the summary post for With The Beatles. Here’s all the songs covered in the second chapter of the Beatles career and where to find ‘em. The single tracks (in italics) are on the Past Masters CD.

1 She Loves You (pt.1) - the chorus
2 She Loves You (pt.2) - chord progressions and breaking new ground
3 She Loves You (pt.3) - intro, outro and edits
4 I’ll Get You, You Really Got A Hold On Me, Money (That’s What I Want), Devil In Her Heart, Till There Was You, Please Mr Postman and Roll Over Beethoven
5 I Wanna Be Your Man and Little Child
6 It Won’t Be Long and All My Loving
7 All I've Got To Do (pt.1) - chords
8 All I've Got To Do (pt.2) - melody
9 Not A Second Time
10 Don’t Bother Me
11 Hold Me Tight
12 I Want To Hold Your Hand
13 This Boy

Other related posts

The Band Who...Needed No Introduction (intros on With The Beatles)
Breaking The 12 Bar Blues Rule (Can't Buy Me Love and Roll Over Beethoven)

Conclusions

With The Beatles is an obvious step forwards from Please Please Me. The Beatles clearly didn’t suffer from second album syndrome. Partly because they still had the option of doing covers, something modern bands don’t really do. And whereas modern bands often take years to write their first album and months to write their second, the Beatles didn’t really produced anything significant writing wise till after they were signed.

So based on growth as writers plus a better class of cover songs I’d give this 'chapter' a 7/10.

Chapter 2.11 With The Beatles - Hold Me Tight

Knowing that the Beatles made an abortive attempt at recording this song for Please Please Me, then tried again for With The Beatles, it’s no surprise the results are fairly uninspiring.

Did you catch the title?

The most interesting songwriting aspect is in the lyrics.

We get the title at the beginning and near the end of the verse. The echoing BVs drive it home even more strongly.

Lyrical bookending

We also get the kind of lyrical bookending (Ticket 24) that I’m noticing in more and more Lennon & McCartney songs (From Me To You, All My Loving, I Want To Hold your Hand)

Alone (in the bridge) echoes The lonely one (v1)
And in verse 2 Loving you echoes making love 

Subliminal repeats? Rhyming ideas? Does anyone know what this sort of thing is called?

That chord

The minor 4 chord crops up at the end of the verse in a very doo-wop progression

F F7 Bb Bbm F
(I, I7, IV, iv, I) 

which is exactly the same as the one in Devil In Her Heart. The repeated tune (hold, hold, me tight, me tight, tonight, tonight, tonight etc..) over the changing chords is effective.

Fail

Where the song falls down is on the end of the verse and bridge. It meanders; losing it’s way harmonically, lyrically, and melodically. The ritard ending sums it up - for all the driving rock n roll riffing the song just runs out of steam.

 

Chapter 2.10 With The Beatles - Don’t Bother Me

The 19th song in (Only 192 to go!) is a double landmark.

First song written by George Harrison and first song in a minor key - somehow apt coming from the Beatles’ resident miserablist. It’s different from Lennon & McCartney’s songs so far, it’s competently written, the lyrics make sense but it’s just OK. A workman-like effort.

Your can take the song out of the guitarist, but you can’t…or something…

The melody has a lead guitarist’s fingerprints all over it. It draws almost exclusively from the minor pentatonic scale. The only addition is a 2nd (F#).

Also even though it’s not a 12 bar blues, the verses are in a 12 bar structure. You can pretty much sing the melody over a stock 12 bar pattern in E. Try it. It’s fun!

The verse riff over the chords sounds like a primitive ancestor of Lennon’s I Feel Fine. Or maybe a grouchy old Uncle.

The descending B7 A7 G Em progression underpinning the riff is very dark and the hanging on the G the second time and making you wait for the Em is a nice touch.

Overall a dour and miserable little number that reminds me of the Animals.
Not bad for a first effort, but not in the same league as John & Paul.

Check back on Monday for a brand new Be-atletude.
Blessed are the single-taskers!

Chapter 2.9 With The Beatles - Not A Second Time?

In every great artist's bottom draw there are a million failed experiments and 'nearly great' works of art.

Not A Second Time is one.

Where several songs on this album kick off with a vi I progression they keep shaking things up by trying the chords the other way round (I vi - G Em) instead.

But nevertheless the song plods along aimlessly, stopping by a soporific piano solo before (horror of horrors!) fading out (perhaps through lack of interest).

What’s missing? 

(other than a proper ending)?

Backing vocals. Non diatonic chords.

But I think the song is killed by an overdose of melisma and the fact that nothing happens lyrically.

Lennon’s not doing anything.
Not even crying.
And he’s certainly going to go out with her again.
Meh.

Yes, A Second Time!

Here’s a funny thing. Listen to the vocal phrase at 1:54. (give or take a second if you're watching the video)

 

Now listen to the vocal phrase in All I’ve Got To Do at 0:10.

 

Exactly the same melody and rhythm! How’s that for recycling?

Not a second time my eye!

Today’s lessons?

1. Use melisma sparingly, unless your name is Handel.
2. Try make sure something happens in your lyrics.
3. It’s OK to blatantly steal (as long as you’re stealing from yourself).

Discuss.

Lennon stretches ‘you’ and ‘time’ out here for seven notes. FAIL.
What the longest example that you can think of that actually works?

Chapter 2.8 With The Beatles - All I've Got To Do (again)

Having looked at the chords last time let’s finish up on this With The Beatles classic with a...

Melody masterclass

The notes in the pick up to the verse and the bridge are the same - an E major arpeggio leading to a C#.


Whenever I (E G# B C#)

and the same goes for me (E E G# B B C#)

Same tune leading to a different chord in a different section. They did exactly the same trick on Ask Me Why. 

The verse melody keeps starting on the second of the chord it’s over then resolving to the root. This helps pull you along.

All I gotta do-oo (2^nd to root)

Is call you (2^nd to root) on the phone

And you’ll come (2^nd to root) running home,

Yeah, that’s all I gotta do (2^nd to root).

The last line (Yeah, that’s all I gotta do) sings an F# over the Am (making it a 6^th). This combination is a very warm and comforting sound matching the lyrics perfectly.

Contrasting sections

Notice the contrast in verse and bridge melody wise

Verse - long notes, melisma (syllables stretched over several notes), wide range, little repetition

Bridge – short and repetitive. For example, the same 3 note tunes on

Whenever/you want me/whenever

and

I’ll be there/Yes I will/gotta call


In fact the bridge has little more than three notes in, where the verse roams freely over a full octave.

Go do it!

If you've written one section and are struggling for where to go next, trying to contrast is a great way to start.

Read part one

You might also like All Together Now (book review)

2:7 All I've Got to Do (pt.1)

Another classic song from With The Beatles. There’s lots that bears further study but for now just a few headings.

What about that opening chord?! E11 aug! (Fretted, low to high 076575). I’ve never come across that one in 26 years of playing! For some reason it reminds me of the Nat ‘King’ Cole track ‘When I Fall In Love.’

 

Weird opening chord not withstanding this is another song that doesn’t start on the root chord (Ticket 6). The verse kicks in with a C#m – E (vi I) progression exactly the same as It Won’t Be Long.

But that’s nothing. This song manages to avoid using the second strongest chord - the 5 (V) which in this key is B. It’s very rare for any major key song to do that. Interesting.

They use the minor4 (iv) chord, which we’ve been looking at in detail, but from a m2 (ii) which we’ve not covered yet.

F#m Call you on the phone
& you’ll come running home
Yeah Am that’s all I E gotta do.

 

In the next post we’ll look at the melody.

You might like Dissecting The Beatles

The Band Who...Needed No Introduction

So here I am working my way through With The Beatles and I’m blown away all over again by the Beatles' economy when it comes to intros. Here’s a survey of what happens before the vocals come in.

2 songs have no intro whatsoever

It Won’t Be Long – (song starts with chorus vocals)
All My Loving - (song starts with verse vocals)

6 more tracks have only a single note before the vocals enter

She Loves You – ½ bar drum fill (0.5 sec)
I’ll Get You – one bass note
Please Mr Postman* – single hi-hat
All I’ve Got To Do – single free time guitar chord
Not A Second Time – single piano bass note
I Wanna Be Your Man – single guitar string bend

The rest have intros ranging between 1 and 17 seconds. 

5 of these (including the 3 longest) are cover versions*.

Hold Me Tight – band intro (1 sec)
Don’t Bother Me – guitar solo (4 sec)
Little Child – harmonica solo (6 sec)
I Want To Hold Your Hand – band intro (6 sec)
Devil In Her Heart* – guitar solo (6 sec)
Till There Was You* – guitar solo (7 sec)
This Boy – band intro (9 sec)
You Really Got A Hold On Me* – band intro (14 sec)
Money (That’s What I Want)* – band Intro (15 sec)
Roll Over Beethoven* – guitar solo (17 sec)

Author Jay Frank devotes a whole chapter in his FuturehitDNA book to explaining why intros got progressively longer after the 60s (longer intros suited radio ident jingles) and peaked in the early 90s when the rise of mp3s and the 'skip' function in streaming once again began to reward shorter intros.

2:6 With The Beatles - It Won't Be Long/All My Loving

Next up on our whistle stop journey through the Lennon & McCartney back catalogue two classic songs. It Won’t Be Long & All My Loving.

Things in common.

Neither has an intro of any description! The first sound you hear are the vocals (Chorus on IWBL, verse on AML). That really grabs you by the throat.

They both have a chromatic descending thing happening in the bridge chords. They used this a lot on songs like Michelle, Got To Get You In My Life. (Ticket 32)

Neither song starts on the root chord (Ticket 6). IWBL on the m6 (iv), AML on the m2 (ii). Unusual (except for the Beatles). Try it.

Both songs end simply on the first beat of the bar (IWBL on a ringing Emaj7). Ticket 18 is another way not to outstay your welcome.

It Won’t Be Long

Has the cool echoing in the verse that we first heard in Please Please Me. It propels the song along and emphasises your key words (although in this case it’s only yeah!)

The twangy descending guitar hook in the verse is interesting in that it’s played twice, then once, then twice. It’s very Lennon to just drop a bar, or a beat (see the verse of All You Need Is Love). He’s in too much of a hurry to get back to singing the verse.

The verse is made up solely of the bVI & I (C & E). This same 'out of key' chord change occurs in their cover of Carl Perkins’ Honey Don’t.

All My Loving

Lennon’s rhythm playing really adds to the groove. He contributes a fantastic 12/8 strumming pattern over the verses and a contrasting off part on the choruses.

McCartney’s vocal line is characteristically wide ranging. He really was (is?) a master melodisist (spellcheck is telling me I made that word up). Spending time playing his melodies certainly won’t do you any harm as a songwriter.

I’ll revisit some of these points in the future, but for now just listen to ‘em and play ‘em. They’ll do your songwriting good!

Related Post: With The Beatles (pt1)

 

Chapter 2.5 With The Beatles - I Wanna Be Your Man, Little Child!

Continuing the more streamlined ‘get through all the songs before 2014’ style here’s the next instalment of chapter 2 of the Beatles catalogue. 

Two originals, that are very primitive in a Love Me Do kind of way.

I Wanna Be Your Man was apparently written in a matter of minutes for the Rolling Stones to cover. The Stones did record it, but the writing process had more impact than the song - seeing Lennon & McCartney in action was what inspired Jagger & Richards to give songwriting a shot themselves.
A week after giving the song to the Stones, Lennon & McCartney gave it to Ringo to sing on With The Beatles.

It ‘s an workman-like Bo Diddley style mixolydian blues. The IV/V (D/E) chord on the end of the verse chorus “I wanna be your maaa – aaan” is nice.

Also fresh outta the cave (man) is Little Child. Another harmonica sprinkled beat song with one of the few fade outs on an early Beatles track.

Both tracks are more groove than song, well done but not very substantial.


 

Breaking The 12 Bar Blues Rules

For a band that played such a large amount of 12 bar blues songs in their early days, The Beatles wrote and recorded relatively few of their own. Often when they did they they departed in some small, but significant way from the standard pattern.

Here's a stock 12 Bar Progression

I  I  I  I

IV IV I  I

V IV  I  V

Which, in the key of C, would look like this -

C C C C

F F C C

G F C G

Compare that to the verse of Can't Buy Me Love

C C C C

F F C C

G F F C

Instead of V IV I V in the last four bars we have V IV IV I.

Subtle.

Delaying the root chord (C) keeps you hanging on and creates a bit of extra interest (because you weren't expecting it) and means the chords resolve on the word love rather than money.

Chuck Berry was a massive influence on the group, and Roll Over Beethoven (covered on With The Beatles) also adapts the 12 bar formula.

I     IV  I  I

IV  IV  I  I

IV  V   I  I

As well the IV substitution in bar 2 which is pretty common, he switches IV and V chords around in the 9th and 10th bar.

There's more where that came from, but for now try a 12 bar pattern with one bar altered in some way.

Thanks to 'Old Man' Taylor for corrections

Chapter 2.4 With the Beatles - I'll Get You The Covers

So in the new faster moving more streamlined ‘I want to get through all the songs before 2014’ style here’s the first overview of chapter 2 of the Beatles catalogue.

She Loves You 

is a classic, which I’ve already covered in great detail here.

B-side 

I’ll Get You

is an aimless song with no real spark at all. 

Update 29/06/10 - I do like the minor 5 chord (Ticket 44) on "it's not like me to pre - tend" and some of the melody flows really nicely, but it's all too fragmented... 

It’s also a strong contender for the top 10 worst Beatles lyrics (watch out for that post!).

Onto the 6 cover versions.

The Hot

Motown songs Money (That’s What I Want) and You Really Got A Hold On Me and Broadway show tune Till There Was You are all classics & though the first two may not yield much we can steal, songwriting wise, the latter is fascinating. It sounds like something McCartney could have written himself a few years later, all clever melodic cleverness and twee lyrics. Definitely one to pick over at a later date.

The Not

Chuck Berry’s was the Beatles most covered artist (after Elvis) but Roll Over Beethoven is pretty unremarkable, as is Please Mr Postman. Whereas Harrison’s soloing on Till There Was You sounds effortlessly classy, his cack handed attempt at the Roll Over Beethoven intro makes an average song cringeworthy.

Devil In Her Heart is a totally stock doo wop effort notable mainly for the occurrence of the 4, m4, 1 chord change that the Beatles used so often in their own songs.

Overall the Beatles are covering some better crafted songs than they tackled on Please Please Me.

Next time we’ll look at the original tunes.

Part Two: I Wanna Be Your Man, Little Child

Part Three: All My Loving, It Won't Be Long