From’The Cavern’, Liverpool to’The Candlestick Park’, San Fransisco, Beatles’ fascinating and enigmatic journey through the 60’s made them the most successful group in the history of music. Beatle-lovers see them as a phenomenon, responsible for providing a tantalizing bang to the entire American nation who were then saddened by the death of John F Kennedy. While, cynics and cultural observers blame them for the downfall of the American music legend, Elvis. Though, masterly in their own sorts, The Beatles were more talented as a group who wrote their own songs and arranged their own music, while, Elvis had the magnificent gift of an unmatched vocal chords.
My Favourites
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - White Album
First featured in the’White Album’, written in between their meditation sessions with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the foothills of Himalayas. Written by Harrison and the lead guitar played by’Eric Clapton’, ’While My Guitar’ was inspired by I Ching’s concept of relativity which asserts, ’every event is related to another’. The opening lyrics came from the first words that Harrison read upon opening an arbitrary book. The words he read were’Gently Weeps’. The later version of’While My Guitar.’ was released on’Anthology 3’, is cogitatively slower in tempo and the arrangement is relatively simpler. Though, Harrison generates a schmaltzy feel to the song, the Beatle signature was missing in the initial version due to its lament and heavy arrangement, but, Clapton’s ingenious grease lifts the song quality by three folds.
Day Tripper - We Can Work It Out
Written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, DayTripper’s’Ostinato’ is the most captivating of the entire Beatles’ register. An’Ostinato’ is an isochronal musical pattern that appears several times in succession in a song or a musical piece. Generally, an ostinato forms the baseline of a song but in’Day Tripper’ it recurs at the upper melodic line. The lyric were partly a result of Paul’s unwillingness to use LSD which, Harrison and Lennon did. Though, superficially, ’Day Tripper’ is about a damsel trying to seduce the singer.
Come Together - Abbey Road
John’s’Come Together’ was a slur at Paul and Harrison. John and Yoko’s Bagism movement provoked Paul and Harrison to leak out infused private tales to the media. Though, John’s original version was written for Timothy Leary’s gubernatorial campaign against Reagan he rewrote the final version much later. A modish, neo-classical number, ’Come Together’ has the temperance which was one of John’s archetypal songwriting attribute.
And Your Bird Can Sing - Revolver
The song’s feature is the outstanding dual guitar intro by Paul and Harrison. Opulently set on a classical keynote, ’And your bird.’ was written by Lennon. He exhibits hallucinatory visions of substantiality with references to words like, ’green birds’ and’seven wonders’. John’s lead voice is sythentically double tracked at two different scales producing a harmonic effect(double tracking voice was a novelty in those times) and substance to the words’don’t get me’.
Let It Be - Let It Be
Paul penned this song as a tribute to his mother, Mary, who died when Paul was 14. Though openly chastised by John due its christian undertones(John was a known freethinker and an idealist), ’Let It Be’ overflows with a facile melodious passion. Billy Preston on the organ, Paul played the piano while John took the base line, but, the focal point of the song was Harrison’s lead guitar. The album, ’Let It Be’, by many, is considered Beatles’ biggest disasters but the title song is unmistakably, Paul’s best ever.