Ray Davies Reviews Revolver

Paul McCartney was one of the most competitive people I've ever met. Lennon wasn't. He just thought everyone else was sh*t 

Ray Davies (The Kinks) in Revolver: How the Beatles Reimagined Rock 'n' Roll by Robert Rodriguez

As well as that gem, here's another I found via Rodriguez's book - Ray's review of Revolver for Disc and Music Echo Magazine in Aug '66

'Really, it's a load of RUBBISH'

Taxman - It sounds like a cross between the Who and Batman. It's a bit limited, but the Beatles get over this by the sexy double-tracking. It's surprising how sexy double-tracking makes a voice sound.

Eleanor Rigby - I bought a Haydn LP the other day and this sounds just like it. It's all sort of quartet stuff and it sounds like they're out to please music teachers in primary schools. I can imagine John saying: 'I'm going to write this for my old schoolmistress'.

I'm Only Sleeping - It's a most beautiful song, much prettier than 'Eleanor Rigby'. A jolly old thing, really, and definitely the best track on the album.

Love You Too - This sort of song I was doing two years ago--now I'm doing what the Beatles were doing two years ago. It's not a bad song--it's well performed which is always true of a Beatles track.

Yellow Submarine - This is a load of rubbish, really. I take the mickey out of myself on the piano and play stuff like this.

Good Day Sunshine - This'll be a giant. It doesn't force itself on you, but it stands out like I'm Only Sleeping. This is back to the real old Beatles. I just don't think the fans like the newer electronic stuff. The Beatles are supposed to be like the boy next door only better.

Got To Get You Into My Life - It just goes to prove that Britain's jazz musicians can't swing.

Tomorrow Never Knows - Listen to all those crazy sounds! It'll be popular in discotheques. I can imagine they had George Martin tied to a totem pole when they did this!

So, after listening to each track three or four times, the Ray Davies verdict: This is the first Beatles LP I've really listened to in it's entirety but I must say there are better songs on 'Rubber Soul'.

Go to KindaKinks.Net to read the whole review

10:20 Honey Pie (pt.1)

My dad's always played fruity old songs like that...I like the melody of old songs, and the lyrics actually as well...I would quite like to have been a 1920's writer, 'cause I like that thing...up in top hat and tails...So this is just me...pretending I'm living in 1925.

'Honey Pie' was me writing ... to an imaginary woman, across the ocean, on the silver screen...it's another of my fantasy songs...it's not a parody, it's a nod to the vaudeville tradition that I was raised on.

Paul McCartney: Beatles Interview.org 

Style And Structure

The Beatles frequently dabbled in what Paul called 'fruity songs' and John Lennon dismissed as 'granny music' - deliberately and derivatively old fashioned songs. Love em or loath em, this breadth of styles is another mark of the Beatles songwriting greatness. Can you imagine Zeppelin/Gaga/Bieber/Springsteen revisiting long discarded unfashionable genres? Discuss...

Of all the Beatles time travelling Honey Pie is probably the most assured 1920's jazz pastiche and would sit happily in a 'Jim Mac's Jazz Band' set list.

Paul's Dad and friends...

First of all we have a 12 bar long jazz style verse (tickets 35 and 53). In modern pop songs the verse appears two or three times with different lyrics, but in jazz songs the verse, is usually sung once at the beginning, often in free time, to set the scene - lyrically, the content of all verses like this can be boiled down to “And that is why I say...”. Then we have a 32 bar 'chorus' or refrain in an AABA structure (Ticket 26).

In contrast Yellow Submarine (which Lennon didn't hate, by the way) was more of a folk song, though it did originally have an intro verse. When I'm Sixty Four and Maxwell had no intro verse,  Sixty Four has two very non-jazz bridges (both subtly different) and musically Maxwell is straight forward verse/chorus 60's style cheesy pop.

Within the structure, we have a very consistent attention to detail in the period vocabulary and whimsical tone of the lyrics

I'm in in love but I'm lazy
Honey Pie
silver screen
weak in the knees
you are driving me frantic
my position is tragic
will the wind...kindly send her sailing back to me

And while, Paul is no match for any of the great showtune lyricists of the early 20th century he displays true wordsmithery here, in his command of assonance and alliteration -

assonance – silver screen and now the thought of meeting you makes me weak in the knee

alliteration – will the wind, blew her boat, across the sea, send her sailing, silver screen

Arrangement

The arrangement keeps up the 20's conceit in obvious (scratchy old record effect - 0:10) and subtle (distorted, over-compressed sax/clarinet) ways. There is no double tracking, Ringo uses brushes on the kit, and George's bass on the 1st and 3rd beats contrasts with Paul's 4 to the bar piano chords (which is usually the role of rhythm guitar). But John's chord stabs really add to the groove and the whole track swings.

You can't say the same for Lennon's solo though. When George Harrison said "John played a brilliant solo on 'Honey Pie' - sounded like Django Reinhardt or something" he was right up to a point. The point being 1:40 onwards. Because, after a few bars of genius (1:33 – 1:39), he hilariously bails out, realising he can't navigate the changes and quits while he's ahead.

"Sounds like John Lennon or something..."

The arrangement show glimpses of madrigalism (ticket 49) with the 'seasick' chromatic rising (Eb7 E7 - 0:44) and falling chords (G F# F Em - 1:04) and clarinet fills (1:56).

Next time we'll finish up with a look at the heart of this great song – the melody and chord progressions.

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.

Three Hammer Prevention Questions

The tragedy is not that Maxwell is a poor song but that McCartney “flogged it to death in the studio in a pedantic effort to perfect it [and] ended up driving his colleagues mad” acting like an “immature egotist who frittered away the group's patience and solidarity on sniggering nonsense” (MacDonald p.357) just like he did to an even greater extent with Ob La Di, Ob La Da

The funny thing is that everything McCartney did wrong on this song he's done with wonderful success on other songs.

Written at the tail end of the White Album, rehearsed during the Let It Be sessions, recorded over 3 days in July 69 with more overdubs and tweaking in Aug this was a major piece of work (the band even rented an anvil for Ringo to play) that totally failed to live up to (Paul's) expectations. Here are three questions that you can ask to stop yourself making the same mistakes.

1) Are my fellow musicians up for this song?
2) Is there a legitimate technical reason why this song is taking so long?
3) Does this song warrant the amount of polish I'm lavishing on it?

A splendid time is guaranteed for all

Q: Are my fellow musicians up for this song? If not keep it short or save it for the solo album.

Yellow Submarine was just as silly as Maxwell, if not more so. It took two days to record. But by all accounts the band had a whale of a time (you see what I did there?). Playing bathtubs, blowing bubbles shouting nonsense through echo chambers, marching round with a bass drum in a conga line with Brian Jones & Marianne Faithful. What's not to like? Lennon & Harrison despised Maxwell and Lennon took no real part in the recording.

Long Long Long

Q: Is there a legitimate technical reason why this song is taking so long? If not get the best version you can quickly and then call it a day. You can always revisit it some time in (distant) the future.

A Day In The Life took 5 days to record over a period of 2 months. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) took 4 days over 3 years. Some thing take longer because they're complex and you're breaking new ground, and some take longer because you're desperately trying to make something brown and smelly look bright and shiny. Ob La Di, Ob La Da and Strawberry Fields Forever were both recorded, scrapped and rerecorded. Guess which one the whole band were most enthusiastic about...

Hey! You've got to throw that song a-way

Q: Does this song warrant the amount of polish I'm lavishing on it? If not recorded it roughly and move on.

Throw away songs are great and you don't have to throw them in the bin. Just throw them on the table like the musical junk food they are. You don't need to get the silverware out. What if Maxwell had been a solo acoustic number played in the same loose style as Her Majesty? Or a raucous jam like Maggie Mae? Wouldn't that have been better? It certainly would have engendered more goodwill with it's take it or leave it attitude than the version we have.

This is something I find myself facing when recording joke songs like The Soundcheck Song so I hope it's helpful to you. Do you have any other suggestions for knowing when you're giving too much time to an inferior song?