Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
They were obviously there to take notes so that they could more easily copy what the Beatles were doing. Sneaky bastards.
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
2022 FBG, 172 to 1 Beatles Countdown 1-25 lists... And 173 to 1 Countdown from 1-64 lists! (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Zegras11
- Start date
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
Oh and bastards doesn't get filtered apparently. Bastards.
Zegras11
Footballguy
For No One
2022 Ranking: 53
2022 Lists: 14
2022 Points: 145
Ranked Highest by: Shaft41(Son1) (3) @Shaft41 (6) @landrys hat (11) @neal cassady (11) @Ilov80s (12) @krista4 (12) @simey (16) @Binky The Doormat (17) @pecorino (18) @Alex P Keaton (20) @turnjose7 (23) @jamny (25)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 32/10/121
Getz: Another song today taking a sharp downturn from 2019. Down 21 spots. And Krista4 has her first song appear!
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 8
2019 write-up:
For No One (Revolver, 1966)
For all my inconsistency, there's one thing I believe I've been consistent on, which is that I much prefer Paul's more personal songs to those about fictitious worlds. It's fitting that the two purely Paul songs in my top 10 (I'll give him 85% of the Abbey Road medley) fit this category, and in fact that are opposite ends of the same spectrum, from first moments of love in "I've Just Seen A Face" to the end of love in this song. When he's not just spitting out perfect pop songs - when he stops being polite and starts getting real (hey, I love terrible reality TV) - he writes lyrics that are as deeply affecting as John's or anyone else's.
While there's much to love about this song, I have to start there, with the lyrics, because those are the main reason this song is propelled into my top 10. I think "You Won't See Me" and "I'm Looking Through You" have some devastating lyrics, but they fall more into bitterness than deep sorrow, and none of them compare to the misery of these:
And yet you don't believe her when she says her love is dead
You think she needs you
Or:
You stay home, she goes out
She says that long ago she knew someone but now he's gone
She doesn't need him
Or, the most devastating part:
And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
To repeat: "cried for no one." She has erased you completely. I love how Paul wrote this in the second person, to pull us even more strongly into the story and make us relate to what is occurring. It feels as if it's just happened to me. Good god, it practically brings me to tears simply reading the lyrics.
This song is so despondent that it could have slipped into maudlin in the hands of someone not named Paul, John, or George. Paul is clearly too brilliant to let that happen, so instead of cheesing it up with a bunch of orchestration or backing vocals, he kept it very simple with single-tracked vocals with no harmonies, little reverb, subtle hi-hats, and piano and clavichord on the verses, then bringing in light bass and tambourine beginning with the chorus. Neither John nor George played on this song, though John frequently referred to this as one of Paul's best works, "superb" even. Just Paul, Ringo, and Alan Civil, the French horn player.
I adore the piano parts on the choruses, and as a piano player I always air play them when they come on, which can be a problem since I'm usually driving when I hear this. Love the use of the clavichord, too, and Paul's vocal is gorgeous, with a cold affect that works to cast him as the narrator of someone else's pathos. The change from major to minor keys from the verse to the chorus accentuates the most despairing lyrics, and the transition back into major through the addition measure at the end of the choruses is a lovely, unexpected touch.
What's special about the instrumentation of this song, though, is obviously that French horn. Paul had loved the French horn as a child and wanted to use it here, so George Martin arranged for Alan Civil, formerly of the London Philharmonic and at that time the principal horn player for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, to join the session. When Martin asked Paul what he wanted Civil to play, Paul tried to sketch it out as a vocal. As Martin wrote it out, he came to the end and explained to Paul that the high E was the furthest the French horn could go, not the F that Paul wanted. Paul was not dissuaded: "We came to the session and Alan looked up from his bit of paper: 'Eh, George? I think there's a mistake here – you've got a high F written down. Then George and I said, 'Yeah,' and smiled back at him, and he knew what we were up to and played it. These great players will do it. Even though it's officially off the end of their instrument, they can do it, and they're quite into it occasionally." Geoff Emerick describes Martin as having played a bit of a middleman between the two generations - the "kids" like Paul who didn't understand any limitations, and the more staid generation of Civil and Martin who weren't quite sure how to relate to this new type of musician, but appreciated being included in it.
The solo that Civil laid down was extraordinary, including that high F, somehow expressing a loss even deeper than that suggested by the lyrics. Sometimes music can suggest what mere words are insufficient to express. As much as I love the solo, I'm even more entranced by the way the horn reappears in the last verse, softly repeating a portion of its solo on top of Paul's vocal, as if one last memory of this love affair appears and then fades away. It's magical. I also love the ending of this song...if you hadn't heard it before, you might expect a resolution, an additional note to get you back down into the home key, but instead the last note floats out there and it just...ends. That's it, life sucks, sorry, g'bless.
Mr. krista: "Was that a real song? I mean, was it when he broke up with Jane Asher or something? It’s really cold, and the ending is cold. What’s the JD Salinger short story? Seymour Glass is the protagonist. It’s a couple at a resort, and then the guy walks off the elevator and kills himself. It seemed like that. Where it only hinted at loneliness and despair, then it makes it explicit. Ended just like that song ended."
Suggested covers: Much like Otis Redding, if there's an Emmylou Harris cover you can be guaranteed I'm going to post it. Good chance I'll always post a Diana Krall cover (this one with James Taylor), too.
2022 Supplement: If you think I’m reading all those paragraphs to see what I already said, you’re sorely mistaken. This song slipped out of my top 10 this year, but today I might put it right back up there. It’s simply brilliant and simply brilliant.
In The Lyrics, Paul described the breakdown of his relationship with Jane Asher as having “little bits of the jigsaw [that] weren’t quite fitting.” He couldn’t put his finger on it, as he’d been with her for several years and expected to marry her, but little things didn’t match up. It was only when he met Linda, after he and Jane split, that he thought, “This is more me. And I’m more her.” He describes this song as one that came to him a bit out of the blue, where certain words just presented themselves and then he told the story around it. As with many of his lyrics, certain phrases had a double meaning, such as “your day breaks” meaning both that the day has begun and that it is broken, or “she makes up” referring both to cosmetics and reconciliation. He described this composition as a magical place of just grabbing the bits that the cosmos gave him because there is a need to explain something to someone, beginning with yourself.
Guido Merkins
Paul was peaking in 1966. Here, There and Everywhere was one of his best ballads. One ballad like that on an album is plenty, but to then write For No One on the same album is just unreal.
For No One is one of the rare McCartney songs that Lennon praised liking the music and the lyrics. It’s not a typical Paul ballad in that it’s about the breakup of a relationship so it has a melancholy to it not typical of McCartney.
Paul and Ringo are the only Beatles that play on the song, but it’s most distinguishing characteristic is a French horn part played by Alan Civil, who received the rare credit on a Beatles album. Civil recalled that, at first, he thought the song was called For No. 1. He also remembered that the song was written between B and B flat, so it made tuning difficult. He turned in a great performance. George Martin recalled that Paul was initially unimpressed with the take that Civil turned in and asked him to do it again. Civil said something like “I’m sorry, I can’t do it any better than that” with Martin admonishing Paul (Good God man, you can’t ask him to play that again.” They kept the take. There is also a note that is technically outside the range of the French horn. Of course, Civil could play the note….and he did.
Apparently the song was initially even darker than the finished version and was called Why Did it Die?
2022 Ranking: 53
2022 Lists: 14
2022 Points: 145
Ranked Highest by: Shaft41(Son1) (3) @Shaft41 (6) @landrys hat (11) @neal cassady (11) @Ilov80s (12) @krista4 (12) @simey (16) @Binky The Doormat (17) @pecorino (18) @Alex P Keaton (20) @turnjose7 (23) @jamny (25)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 32/10/121
Getz: Another song today taking a sharp downturn from 2019. Down 21 spots. And Krista4 has her first song appear!
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 8
2019 write-up:
For No One (Revolver, 1966)
For all my inconsistency, there's one thing I believe I've been consistent on, which is that I much prefer Paul's more personal songs to those about fictitious worlds. It's fitting that the two purely Paul songs in my top 10 (I'll give him 85% of the Abbey Road medley) fit this category, and in fact that are opposite ends of the same spectrum, from first moments of love in "I've Just Seen A Face" to the end of love in this song. When he's not just spitting out perfect pop songs - when he stops being polite and starts getting real (hey, I love terrible reality TV) - he writes lyrics that are as deeply affecting as John's or anyone else's.
While there's much to love about this song, I have to start there, with the lyrics, because those are the main reason this song is propelled into my top 10. I think "You Won't See Me" and "I'm Looking Through You" have some devastating lyrics, but they fall more into bitterness than deep sorrow, and none of them compare to the misery of these:
And yet you don't believe her when she says her love is dead
You think she needs you
Or:
You stay home, she goes out
She says that long ago she knew someone but now he's gone
She doesn't need him
Or, the most devastating part:
And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
To repeat: "cried for no one." She has erased you completely. I love how Paul wrote this in the second person, to pull us even more strongly into the story and make us relate to what is occurring. It feels as if it's just happened to me. Good god, it practically brings me to tears simply reading the lyrics.
This song is so despondent that it could have slipped into maudlin in the hands of someone not named Paul, John, or George. Paul is clearly too brilliant to let that happen, so instead of cheesing it up with a bunch of orchestration or backing vocals, he kept it very simple with single-tracked vocals with no harmonies, little reverb, subtle hi-hats, and piano and clavichord on the verses, then bringing in light bass and tambourine beginning with the chorus. Neither John nor George played on this song, though John frequently referred to this as one of Paul's best works, "superb" even. Just Paul, Ringo, and Alan Civil, the French horn player.
I adore the piano parts on the choruses, and as a piano player I always air play them when they come on, which can be a problem since I'm usually driving when I hear this. Love the use of the clavichord, too, and Paul's vocal is gorgeous, with a cold affect that works to cast him as the narrator of someone else's pathos. The change from major to minor keys from the verse to the chorus accentuates the most despairing lyrics, and the transition back into major through the addition measure at the end of the choruses is a lovely, unexpected touch.
What's special about the instrumentation of this song, though, is obviously that French horn. Paul had loved the French horn as a child and wanted to use it here, so George Martin arranged for Alan Civil, formerly of the London Philharmonic and at that time the principal horn player for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, to join the session. When Martin asked Paul what he wanted Civil to play, Paul tried to sketch it out as a vocal. As Martin wrote it out, he came to the end and explained to Paul that the high E was the furthest the French horn could go, not the F that Paul wanted. Paul was not dissuaded: "We came to the session and Alan looked up from his bit of paper: 'Eh, George? I think there's a mistake here – you've got a high F written down. Then George and I said, 'Yeah,' and smiled back at him, and he knew what we were up to and played it. These great players will do it. Even though it's officially off the end of their instrument, they can do it, and they're quite into it occasionally." Geoff Emerick describes Martin as having played a bit of a middleman between the two generations - the "kids" like Paul who didn't understand any limitations, and the more staid generation of Civil and Martin who weren't quite sure how to relate to this new type of musician, but appreciated being included in it.
The solo that Civil laid down was extraordinary, including that high F, somehow expressing a loss even deeper than that suggested by the lyrics. Sometimes music can suggest what mere words are insufficient to express. As much as I love the solo, I'm even more entranced by the way the horn reappears in the last verse, softly repeating a portion of its solo on top of Paul's vocal, as if one last memory of this love affair appears and then fades away. It's magical. I also love the ending of this song...if you hadn't heard it before, you might expect a resolution, an additional note to get you back down into the home key, but instead the last note floats out there and it just...ends. That's it, life sucks, sorry, g'bless.
Mr. krista: "Was that a real song? I mean, was it when he broke up with Jane Asher or something? It’s really cold, and the ending is cold. What’s the JD Salinger short story? Seymour Glass is the protagonist. It’s a couple at a resort, and then the guy walks off the elevator and kills himself. It seemed like that. Where it only hinted at loneliness and despair, then it makes it explicit. Ended just like that song ended."
Suggested covers: Much like Otis Redding, if there's an Emmylou Harris cover you can be guaranteed I'm going to post it. Good chance I'll always post a Diana Krall cover (this one with James Taylor), too.
2022 Supplement: If you think I’m reading all those paragraphs to see what I already said, you’re sorely mistaken. This song slipped out of my top 10 this year, but today I might put it right back up there. It’s simply brilliant and simply brilliant.
In The Lyrics, Paul described the breakdown of his relationship with Jane Asher as having “little bits of the jigsaw [that] weren’t quite fitting.” He couldn’t put his finger on it, as he’d been with her for several years and expected to marry her, but little things didn’t match up. It was only when he met Linda, after he and Jane split, that he thought, “This is more me. And I’m more her.” He describes this song as one that came to him a bit out of the blue, where certain words just presented themselves and then he told the story around it. As with many of his lyrics, certain phrases had a double meaning, such as “your day breaks” meaning both that the day has begun and that it is broken, or “she makes up” referring both to cosmetics and reconciliation. He described this composition as a magical place of just grabbing the bits that the cosmos gave him because there is a need to explain something to someone, beginning with yourself.
Guido Merkins
Paul was peaking in 1966. Here, There and Everywhere was one of his best ballads. One ballad like that on an album is plenty, but to then write For No One on the same album is just unreal.
For No One is one of the rare McCartney songs that Lennon praised liking the music and the lyrics. It’s not a typical Paul ballad in that it’s about the breakup of a relationship so it has a melancholy to it not typical of McCartney.
Paul and Ringo are the only Beatles that play on the song, but it’s most distinguishing characteristic is a French horn part played by Alan Civil, who received the rare credit on a Beatles album. Civil recalled that, at first, he thought the song was called For No. 1. He also remembered that the song was written between B and B flat, so it made tuning difficult. He turned in a great performance. George Martin recalled that Paul was initially unimpressed with the take that Civil turned in and asked him to do it again. Civil said something like “I’m sorry, I can’t do it any better than that” with Martin admonishing Paul (Good God man, you can’t ask him to play that again.” They kept the take. There is also a note that is technically outside the range of the French horn. Of course, Civil could play the note….and he did.
Apparently the song was initially even darker than the finished version and was called Why Did it Die?
John Maddens Lunchbox
Footballguy
JFC, was not expecting this one so soon.
I expect my #6 to be had soon. Or should I say it should have me
My #3, 7 and 8 not for awhile, but what do i know?
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
John Maddens Lunchbox
Footballguy
If you had paid attention, i already said it was my #19ConstruxBoy said:
Zegras11
Footballguy
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
John Maddens Lunchbox
Footballguy
Update?
I cannot recommend this show enough. The new Monty Python got thrown around far too much, but the surreal british silliness was on another level here. The Train sketch, office masturbation, world staring championship, do you speak english? etc.BobbyLayne said:
Last edited by a moderator:
Shaft41
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
MAC_32
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
Hmmm, assuming your second sentence was a hint, I'd be surprised if that one came up soon. But who knows with this group.
krista4
Footballguy
Last edited by a moderator:
krista4
Footballguy
Shaft41
Footballguy
Yeah, this buncha knuckleheads are why I'm waiting until the last minute to submit my top 15 picks. Who knows what's safe at this point.
krista4
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
I had to send back the first two lists that came in.
More on that later.....In other news: You are also a knucklehead.
Zegras11
Footballguy
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
lardonastick
Footballguy
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
My friend who couldn’t find time to submit a list because he just opened a record store got his store featured on WXPN’s website today. So that’s a nice consolation prize.
https://thekey.xpn.org/2022/03/10/forever-changes-shawn-cephas/
https://thekey.xpn.org/2022/03/10/forever-changes-shawn-cephas/
simey
Footballguy
The thing I've always loved most about this song is the lyrics. I think Paul's singing and the pace go well with the melancholy of the song. The french horn making an appearance is nice too.
Last edited by a moderator:
simey
Footballguy
simey
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
Hope you're out to have some fun!
I'm going to post two more songs today and then not post another until Sat 11am ET. So that people have sometime to get their Contest lists in.
Zegras11
Footballguy
Blackbird
2022 Ranking: 52
2022 Lists: 16
2022 Points: 150
Ranked Highest by: @Oliver Humanzee(dad)(4) @wikkidpissah (9) @Wrighteous Ray (10) @Eephus (12) @Gr00vus (16) @fatguyinalittlecoat (17) @zamboni (18) @lardonastick (20) @prosopis (21) @ManOfSteelhead (22) @BobbyLayne (22) @Pip's Invitation (23) @Ted Lange as your Bartender (23)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 17/19/178
Getz: Dropped 35 slots!! To get three less votes and 28 less points with 36 more voters in 2022, to me, is quite stunning. And only five of the 16 votes this time ranked it lower than #16. What the hell happened here? During the entire vote counting process, it was only under #50 after the first vote cast and then dropped all the way to #82 at one point. 6-7 of the voters in 2022 didn't vote in 2019.
After digging a little further, I think a good portion of the fall is due to the Get back influence on the list.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 39
2019 write-up:
Blackbird (White Album, 1968)
I always intended to rank these two together [EDITOR’S NOTE – I grouped this with “Mother Nature’s Son” in 2019] and do the write-ups together, because I think they're the same song. Ok, one has tweety-bird sounds and the other doesn't, but otherwise they're similar. They're both Paul songs on which no other Beatles perform. They're both acoustic guitar driven with Paul's finger-picking style. They both feature pure, peaceful Paul vocals. They were both composed just after the India trip and included on the White Album. They both have simple but stunningly beautiful melodies and redolent lyrics. They both have "nature" overtones, though Paul years later asserted that "Blackbird" was about the US civil rights movement. In both you can hear Paul's feet tapping. The chord progressions even sound the same to me, though I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Some differences exist, though, such as the small tempo changes in "Blackbird" that aren't in the comparatively simple "Mother Nature's Son," and the absence of stupid bird noises in "Mother Nature's Son." Also, not every human with a guitar plays "Mother Nature's Son."
I love both of these songs as gorgeous, near-perfect creations, the only downside of them being that they seem like Paul solo works instead of Beatles songs, primarily because they were. Actually I enjoy "Mother Nature's Son" even more than "Blackbird," finding its melody and lyrics slightly more enchanting, and that four-note guitar run at the end of the second line of the second and third verses does it for me. I prefer it, that is, until we get to the end. That last line, where Paul sings, "Mother Nature's soooon" as if he were ending a Broadway show, jazz hands and all, drives me batty and makes me rank it just behind "Blackbird."
Fun fact: the recording engineer accidentally used the sound of a thrush instead of a blackbird in the initial mix of "Blackbird." Luckily someone else caught it and corrected the error. How embarrassing would it have been to have a thrush when everyone knows that's not a blackbird? Whew!
Mr. krista (Blackbird): "The chords are so pleasing; no wonder everyone with an acoustic guitar learns this song. It’s perfect the way it is. That line - into the light of the dark black night - is so evocative. Those are some of Paul McCartney’s best lyrics and writing and it bothers me that Paul McCartney, who is clearly a fantastic writer, feels that Western trap that everything has to be symbolic, that everything has to represent some larger concept. That a thing can’t just be what it is and beautiful on its own account. But this is some of his best songwriting. The Tweety Bird noises don’t help it, though."
Suggested cover (Blackbird): Well, duh......It's FatGuy!!.
2022 Supplement: I think my 2019 incorrectly implied that Paul’s assertion that this song was about the Civil Rights Movement was a later-added retelling of the impetus for it. I believe Paul, especially given how assertive the Beatles were in insisting that their shows be open to all in places like Florida where they were going to be segregated. The band was extremely cognizant of what was going on in the US at the time. They were also well aware of the history of their own town of Liverpool, which had been a slave port and later had the first Caribbean community in England, which meant that they, according to Paul, “met a lot of Black guys, particularly in the music world.” And of course they also admired, covered, and patterned original songs after much of what they heard from Black musicians in the US. This song was written not only for the little girls in Little Rock who were integrating schools there, but it came about shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King. Jr. Paul has tied the imagery of “sunken eyes” and “broken wings” specifically to that event.
I probably should have made room for this in my top 25, in 2019 and now.
I recently came across this rehearsal footage for the first time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1LletEaBD0
Guido Merkins
1968 was a rough year in the United States. Forced integration in Little Rock reached the ears of Paul McCartney and he decided to write a song giving encouragement to those little girls walking into school in Little Rock. So he wrote a song called Blackbird, which was a message for the civil rights struggle.
Paul claimed that he modeled Blackbird from a piece by Bach called Bouree in E minor that he and George had learned on guitar years before. I’ve listened to the piece, but it doesn’t sound that much like Blackbird. I think it’s more likely he was influenced by the method of playing the guitar than the melody itself. The Donovan picking style is in full display for this song. This is a solo performance by Paul McCartney with only his acoustic guitar and his foot tapping being heard on the final recording. EMI engineers found the sound of birds chirping and put them on the final mix which, apparently, are actual blackbirds. Not sure how true this is, but I read it from Mark Lewison in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions.
Love the song. My favorite part is the descending “blackbird cry….” part. Just sends chills up my spine. This is one of the songs that Paul played even into his Wings years as it’s part of the acoustic set on Wings Over America, which is funny since Bluebird from Band on the Run, I’ve always thought was an inferior(but still excellent) Blackbird, but he features both on that tour.
2022 Ranking: 52
2022 Lists: 16
2022 Points: 150
Ranked Highest by: @Oliver Humanzee(dad)(4) @wikkidpissah (9) @Wrighteous Ray (10) @Eephus (12) @Gr00vus (16) @fatguyinalittlecoat (17) @zamboni (18) @lardonastick (20) @prosopis (21) @ManOfSteelhead (22) @BobbyLayne (22) @Pip's Invitation (23) @Ted Lange as your Bartender (23)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 17/19/178
Getz: Dropped 35 slots!! To get three less votes and 28 less points with 36 more voters in 2022, to me, is quite stunning. And only five of the 16 votes this time ranked it lower than #16. What the hell happened here? During the entire vote counting process, it was only under #50 after the first vote cast and then dropped all the way to #82 at one point. 6-7 of the voters in 2022 didn't vote in 2019.
After digging a little further, I think a good portion of the fall is due to the Get back influence on the list.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 39
2019 write-up:
Blackbird (White Album, 1968)
I always intended to rank these two together [EDITOR’S NOTE – I grouped this with “Mother Nature’s Son” in 2019] and do the write-ups together, because I think they're the same song. Ok, one has tweety-bird sounds and the other doesn't, but otherwise they're similar. They're both Paul songs on which no other Beatles perform. They're both acoustic guitar driven with Paul's finger-picking style. They both feature pure, peaceful Paul vocals. They were both composed just after the India trip and included on the White Album. They both have simple but stunningly beautiful melodies and redolent lyrics. They both have "nature" overtones, though Paul years later asserted that "Blackbird" was about the US civil rights movement. In both you can hear Paul's feet tapping. The chord progressions even sound the same to me, though I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Some differences exist, though, such as the small tempo changes in "Blackbird" that aren't in the comparatively simple "Mother Nature's Son," and the absence of stupid bird noises in "Mother Nature's Son." Also, not every human with a guitar plays "Mother Nature's Son."
I love both of these songs as gorgeous, near-perfect creations, the only downside of them being that they seem like Paul solo works instead of Beatles songs, primarily because they were. Actually I enjoy "Mother Nature's Son" even more than "Blackbird," finding its melody and lyrics slightly more enchanting, and that four-note guitar run at the end of the second line of the second and third verses does it for me. I prefer it, that is, until we get to the end. That last line, where Paul sings, "Mother Nature's soooon" as if he were ending a Broadway show, jazz hands and all, drives me batty and makes me rank it just behind "Blackbird."
Fun fact: the recording engineer accidentally used the sound of a thrush instead of a blackbird in the initial mix of "Blackbird." Luckily someone else caught it and corrected the error. How embarrassing would it have been to have a thrush when everyone knows that's not a blackbird? Whew!
Mr. krista (Blackbird): "The chords are so pleasing; no wonder everyone with an acoustic guitar learns this song. It’s perfect the way it is. That line - into the light of the dark black night - is so evocative. Those are some of Paul McCartney’s best lyrics and writing and it bothers me that Paul McCartney, who is clearly a fantastic writer, feels that Western trap that everything has to be symbolic, that everything has to represent some larger concept. That a thing can’t just be what it is and beautiful on its own account. But this is some of his best songwriting. The Tweety Bird noises don’t help it, though."
Suggested cover (Blackbird): Well, duh......It's FatGuy!!.
2022 Supplement: I think my 2019 incorrectly implied that Paul’s assertion that this song was about the Civil Rights Movement was a later-added retelling of the impetus for it. I believe Paul, especially given how assertive the Beatles were in insisting that their shows be open to all in places like Florida where they were going to be segregated. The band was extremely cognizant of what was going on in the US at the time. They were also well aware of the history of their own town of Liverpool, which had been a slave port and later had the first Caribbean community in England, which meant that they, according to Paul, “met a lot of Black guys, particularly in the music world.” And of course they also admired, covered, and patterned original songs after much of what they heard from Black musicians in the US. This song was written not only for the little girls in Little Rock who were integrating schools there, but it came about shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King. Jr. Paul has tied the imagery of “sunken eyes” and “broken wings” specifically to that event.
I probably should have made room for this in my top 25, in 2019 and now.
I recently came across this rehearsal footage for the first time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1LletEaBD0
Guido Merkins
1968 was a rough year in the United States. Forced integration in Little Rock reached the ears of Paul McCartney and he decided to write a song giving encouragement to those little girls walking into school in Little Rock. So he wrote a song called Blackbird, which was a message for the civil rights struggle.
Paul claimed that he modeled Blackbird from a piece by Bach called Bouree in E minor that he and George had learned on guitar years before. I’ve listened to the piece, but it doesn’t sound that much like Blackbird. I think it’s more likely he was influenced by the method of playing the guitar than the melody itself. The Donovan picking style is in full display for this song. This is a solo performance by Paul McCartney with only his acoustic guitar and his foot tapping being heard on the final recording. EMI engineers found the sound of birds chirping and put them on the final mix which, apparently, are actual blackbirds. Not sure how true this is, but I read it from Mark Lewison in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions.
Love the song. My favorite part is the descending “blackbird cry….” part. Just sends chills up my spine. This is one of the songs that Paul played even into his Wings years as it’s part of the acoustic set on Wings Over America, which is funny since Bluebird from Band on the Run, I’ve always thought was an inferior(but still excellent) Blackbird, but he features both on that tour.
Last edited by a moderator:
landrys hat
Footballguy
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
simey
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
simey
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Believe it or not, John liked quite a few of Paul's songs. I remember Blackbird quoted as being his favorite.
Last edited by a moderator:
krista4
Footballguy
I thought it was "Here, There and Everywhere" that was John's favorite, but he might have named different ones at different times.
Zegras11
Footballguy
There were many, many songs that swung up and down 20-40 spots while compiling the votes. Even a few that did it multiple times. But this one never got a good push to the upside once.
DocHolliday
Footballguy
For No One is a beautiful and outstanding song. It would make my top 50.
Blackbird would not. It’s a good song but too many other better songs push it down the list for me. That is the life of a Beatle song.
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
The Beatles catalogue is just so deep (over a short period of time). Every fourth song or so I find myself embarrassed that it wasn’t in my Top 25.
simey
Footballguy
Me too. I'm going to see a longtime college friend that I haven't seen in almost three years, and that has been by choice, and the pandemic some too. I have been in contact with her some during that time. She turned into a political fanatic a few years ago. The last time I saw her, she was drunk and called me a snowflake, and told me that being an Independent was worst than anything, because that means I'm nothing but a fence sitter that can't make a decision. That was just a part of her many rants that weekend. What can go wrong this weekend?
She and one of our friends from college (who
krista4
Footballguy
Me too. I'm going to see a longtime college friend that I haven't seen in almost three years, and that has been by choice, and the pandemic some too. I have been in contact with her some during that time. She turned into a political fanatic a few years ago. The last time I saw her, she was drunk and called me a snowflake, and told me that being an Independent was worst than anything, because that means I'm nothing but a fence sitter that can't make a decision. That was just a part of her many rants that weekend. What can go wrong this weekend?iswas her best friend) have not spoken in over a year 1/2 due to political junk. :( I'm hoping for the best this weekend. I want to shake the egg and have fun!
I hope you're taking your space-cat leggings. No one can be angry at someone wearing those.
I have my space-cat shark taco leggings on today, and I decided to chance walking up the street to get my mail. Of course, I ran into my next door neighbor, who talked my ear off while probably wondering WTF I was wearing. She's the self-proclaimed neighborhood gossip, so now everyone will know.
Last edited by a moderator:
Zegras11
Footballguy
That's it!!! :SlamsDownCalculator: I'm going to not fix all the bad YT links you given me any longer.
(like a dozen so far)Also, for those have not heard this before, my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Brakesman, was in Playboy the year before, and my college freshman English teacher passed away about six weeks into the class. We were given the choice of taking a "C" right there and leaving the class or staying with the sub. Guess what I chose?
So sue me.At least I know how to use a paragraph and I don't spell loser as "looser." WTF do so many people do that?
Last edited by a moderator:
Similar threads
- Locked
