The Beatles - A Guide for a Twit.

[Dayna]

I've been hearing Beatles songs since I was a little kid, because it's what my uncle & my Mom played a lot. I've never owned any albums myself, though.
Sometime,s I hear some music on TV commercials that I'm sure must be Beatles songs, and they sound good but I have no idea what they are.

[Dayna]

I was kind of suprised when I heard Act Naturally, & that it was a Beatle's song.

[Hugh Weldon]

Not surprised you were surprised, because it wasn't. It was a cover of a Buck Owens original.

There was a tradition of giving Ringo a vocal number on the early Beatles LPs, usually covers such as 'Boys' and 'Honey Don't'. By the time of the Let it Be LP he'd gotten as far as helping to write a song with 'Octupus's Garden' - you can see them working on it in the film.

[Dayna]

Who exactly was Billy preston? I have heard him called a 5th Beatle.

[Adam Blake]

Billy Preston was (is?) a pianist and organist who was a buddy of the Beatles dating back to their days playing the Hamburg clubs in the early 1960s and who contributed to the recordings of several Beatles songs in the early part of 1969. Invited to do so by George Harrison who felt that Lennon and McCartney would behave themselves better in front of a guest who they all respected. He was right!

[Rob Hall]

Billy Preston was (is?)

"was", sadly; he died in June 2006.

Dayna: you must remember his solo hits - "Will It Go Round In Circles" and "That's The Way (God Planned It)"?

[Dayna]

Thanks for this. I am familiar with a couple of his songs like Nothin' From Nothin' & Will It Go Round In Circles.
It is just nice to ask about him, since I've been hearing him referred to as the 5th Beatle.

[uiwangmike]

I was kind of suprised when I heard Act Naturally, & that it was a Beatle's song.

Buck Owens and Ringo recorded a duet of it in 1989.

[Dayna]

I like It Don't Come Easy, by Ringo Starr a lot.

[Dayna]

When I've heard Alone Again, Naturally, it doesn't seem like a depressing song at all, like the ones that go in that other list. It genuinely just sounds like a sad, lonely person. I feel sympathy for the guy. Does that sound corny?

With all those "depressing songs,", maybe they just seem shallow.

[Adam Blake]

This doesn't belong in this thread, Dayna!

It's about a guy who's about to commit suicide following the death of his mother and having been stood up at the altar on his wedding day. It's a depressing song, OK? :)

[Dayna]

OK see what you mean. :)


I can see something different in it & can't explain why.

[Dayna]

I've just now been able to hear I'm In Love (Demo), by The Beatles. It sounded very good- live

[Dayna]

Our radio station does a thing called Fab Four at Four on weekday,s where they play 4 Beatles songs in a row. Today, one I heard was Penny Lane.

Back when The Beatles were appearing on Ed Sullivan Show, my Mother & uncle had an argument about what to watch that night. My unlce won by getting to see The Beatles & my Mom says she was glad to get to see it.

My uncle was about 9 years old, then.

[Dominic]

In this week's Time Out, novelist, biographer and bibliophile Joseph Connolly chooses Sir Paul McCartney as his favourite Londoner.

Connolly goes on at length about how "normal" McCartney is, citing as proof encounters at two different private members' clubs and the fact that McCartney has lived in the same St Johns Wood house and driven the same Aston Martin since the 60s. Now I've nothing against Sir Paul, but this (and the inevitable side-swipe at Heather Mills) does nothing to help his cause.