Posted on 08/26/2003 4:06:30 AM PDT by ejdrapes
August 23 saw the 40th anniversary of the Beatles song She Loves You. Composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in a hotel room in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on June 26, 1963, and recorded a few days later on July 1 in London, She Loves You ignited Beatlemania and propelled the Beatles into stardom and history. With its infectious "Yeah ! Yeah ! Yeah !" hook line, She Loves You was the first Beatles single to sell a million copies in Britain and achieved the rare feat of having two separate spells at number one in the British charts. Music critic Tim Riley, in his commentary on the Beatles' recordings entitled Tell me Why (1988), wrote of She Loves You: "The original version is such a riveting performance that succeeding generations of rockers pay it the highest praise by simply leaving it alone. She Loves You is among the least-covered Beatles songs as much out of respect as awe." She Loves You entered Britain's consciousness that summer of 1963 as no other pop song ever had, and transformed a generation. From Ringo's tumbling tom-tom fill that sets the song off to the shimmering guitar sixth chord on which it ends, She Loves You is a breathtaking two- minute and 18-second ride of energy, exuberance and euphoria. It fuelled and amplified what the London press called "Beatlemania" - the frenzy of screaming teenage girls who beset the Fab Four wherever they went. This had started in October, 1963, when John, Paul, George and Ringo made a brief tour of Sweden. Teenage mayhem erupted at each of their performances. On their return, the screaming of hundreds of fans rivalled the sound of the jet engines at London's Heathrow Airport. From then on, the Beatles' sound and persona captivated audiences worldwide as they charted their way into the psyche of millions, and into the pages of history. On January 29, 1964, while they were performing in Paris, they re-recorded She Loves You in German at the request of EMI's Odeon records. It duly appeared on vinyl as Sie Liebt Dich for the West German market. It was not until a month later, after their brief visit to the US during which they twice appeared on the popular Ed Sullivan Show, that America succumbed to the spell of the Fab Four. An estimated 73 million viewers watched their first Ed Sullivan appearance, an audience representing 60% of American television viewers, the world's largest TV viewership in 1964. When he first heard their music on the radio in 1964, Bob Dylan, a recording star in his own right, was overawed by the fact that eight out of the Top Ten songs were Beatles' recordings. "I knew they were pointing in the direction where music had to go . . . in my head, the Beatles were it." Having conquered America, the Beatles conquered the world and inspired more than just the 1960s. In 1988 Tim Riley concluded his study of their music by remarking that "pop is still is catching up with the Beatles". Thirty years after their break-up, the release of their hits collection in 2000 entitled 1 notched up another record when it topped the charts in 34 countries, selling 10 million copies worldwide. As Time magazine remarked following the death of George Harrison in November, 2001, the Beatles' musical legacy remains "as irresistible as ever". And as Paul McCartney's US tour last November demonstrated, the popularity of the Beatles' music not only remains undiminished but has now accumulated three generations of fans. Sustaining one's position in the face of evolving perspectives on the past is the acid test of historical greatness. The fact that the Beatles legend remains intact 40 years on speaks volumes - yeah, yeah, yeah!Forty Years Later And Still Fabulous
This Tribute to the Fab 4 was written in 1973......I am very sad to be posting today, in memory of a fallen Beatle, and a piece of our youth and invincibility ...Rest In Peace, good friend....the band is halfway home...
Talk about the English Channel, and limousines.
Talk about the Liverpool shuffle, well I tell you what it means:
It means over, and over, and over, and over, everywhere I go.
Under ground, over ground, deep inside all the people I know,
(don't you know that it's so)....
They're everywhere I go.
Talk about a teenage idol, holding the world.
Talk about the liberation, of all the boys and girls
Well over, and over, and over, and over, everywhere I go.
Under ground, over ground, deep inside all the people I know,
(don't you know that it's so)....
They're everywhere you go.
Hearing stories 'bout how it's gonna be in the big time.....
Runnin' 'round with all those pretty women,
and playin' Shea will be fine,
making money all the time....
Playin' here, playin' there even Ed has brought them here for the tube
Everyday every way on the radio the hits comin' through
Talk about the many things, that you think you have planned
Talk about your flowing hair, to the rings on your hand
Well over, and over, and over, and over, everywhere I go.
Under ground, over ground, deep inside all the places I know,
(don't you know that it's so)....
They're everywhere you go.
Well over, and over, and over, and yes, everywhere you go.
Under ground, over ground deep inside all the people you know,
(don't you know that it's so)....
They're everywhere you go.
They're everywhere I go.......
Words and Music by Gandalf T. Grey, Copyright 1973 Grey Wizard Music, ASCAP
From here
I agree there's not many bad ones, but I've got a couple for you: 'Don't Bother Me' & 'Another Girl'. 'Another Girl' has to be the worst Beatles song ever!
And I love "Revolution #9". The way it's bookended by "Cry Baby Cry" (and that haunting snippet of "Can you take me back where I've been from...") and the absolutely beautiful "Goodnight"... I can't imagine the LP without it.
Listening to the White Album is like going through a beautiful art gallery... one picture is a small pastoral landscape, then an huge abstract expressionist piece, then a lush Pre-Raphaelite work, etc.
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