174 – Another Girl – Andrew Lubman

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174 – Another Girl – Andrew Lubman

(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)

Original recording: 15–16 February 1965

Ukulele Version #174:  April 2012

 

Andrew Lubman – Ukulele, vocals, percussion

David Barratt – Ukulele, bass, guitar, percussion, fake brass

Gary Schreiner – Extremely large bass harmonica

 

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

 

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

 

ABOUT THE SONG

 

One of the major misnomers about The Beatles is that Paul was the nice one and John was the mean one.

 

No one gets to be a billionaire by playing nice all the time and Paul could be as ruthless as a Rockefeller. 

Another Girl is an unconscious example of his ruthlessness.

 

Have you ever dumped anyone like this?

 

You’re makin’ me say that I’ve got..nobody but you.

And as from today, well, I’ve got, somebody that’s new.

I ain’t no fool and I don’t take what I don’t want.

For I have got, another girl.

 

And he does not stop there. To totally humiliate his soon to be ex he adds - 

 

She’s sweeter than all the girls and I’ve met quite a few.

Nobody in all the world can do what she can do.

And so I’m telling you, this time you’d better stop,

For I have got, another girl.

 

Now I’m not saying Paul isn’t a lovely bloke but he does have a tough side.

 

The scene in Help! is one of the great inspirations for “The Monkeys” . Introduced by the great Victor Spinetti sees Paul playing a girl as though she was a bass guitar. It is a particularly bonkers section of the movie that even has Ringo playing guitar.

 

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

 

Andrew Lubman was born on the day that John Lennon took delivery of his psychedelic Rolls Royce. A Beatle fan from day one (his day one, not theirs), Andrew’s interest in their music intensified around the same time he started teaching himself piano and guitar (age 12).

 

In addition to having worked as a sound designer for a major synthesizer manufacturer, Andrew has composed music for broadcast and broadband. Some of his original songs can be heard on his web site (www.AndrewLubman.com), and are available on iTunes.

 

Lately, he has been putting many hours (and loving every second of it) into crafting ridiculously detail-oriented re-creations of classic Beatles songs with videos to go with them. His work can be seen on YouTube under the name AllYouNeedIsLub.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/AllYouNeedIsLub

 

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173 – Birthday – Elissa Schreiner

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(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)
 
Original recording: September18 1968
Ukulele Version #173:  March 13 2012 (Elissa’s birthday)
 
Elissa Schreiner: Vocals and Piano
Mike Leslie: Bass
Leslie Michaels: Ukulele 
 
Recorded live at The Schreiner Mansion by David Barratt on The Abattoir Mobile.
 
Written and credited to by Lennon & McCartney
 
ABOUT THE SONG
 
In tribal pre-Roman Europe it was feared that evil spirits were particularly attracted to people on the day of their birth and to protect them, they would be visited by friends and family, who would bring good thoughts and wishes.
 
The Romans enthusiastically celebrated birthdays with hedonistic parties and generous presents. That’s why I love the Romans, they celebrated everything with hedonism and generosity. 
 
Naturally the early Christians rejected the practice as inherently pagan and did not even celebrate Christ’s birth until it became marketable. Jehovah’s Witnesses still don’t as they believe the celebration of a birthdate has connections with magic, superstitions, and Paganism.
 
The most performed song on the planet is NOT a Beatles song but “Happy Birthday” by Patty and Mildred J. Hill written in 1893. It is not surprising that someone as well attuned as Paul McCartney honed in on this and in the middle of a jam 
 
The song was written recorded at Abbey Road Studios on 18 September 1968. It was the only song on “The White Album” that was co-written by John and Paul. Inspired after watching the 1956 rock’n’roll movie “The Girl Can’t Help It” the lads piled in to Studio 2 and knocked it out with gay abandon. A lot of time was spent during “The White Album” arguing and moping but this is the sound of The Beatles having fun. Patti Harrison and Yoko can be heard on the bridge singing the high “Birthday” (where was Linda?) and there is lots of clattering and bashing and riffing screaming.
 
The ukulele version is a much more sedate affair.
 
Recorded on her birthday at her delightful home just outside of New York Elissa Schreiner brings a sophistication that is not present on the original recording. Whereas The Beatles version is beer and ripped jeans her birthday is all Martini’s and elegant dresses.
 
Happy Birthday everyone.
 
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
 
A Composer, Jazz Pianist, Teacher, a dynamic force in music education, composing, performing, accompanying, supervising recording sessions and surrounding herself with children and their music for many years.
She has accompanied such notables as (Diahann Carrol) and often performs with a local group called, Three for the Show.
 
As a composer she’s written musical scores for “Sneaker’s” and “Once Upon a Vine”, two musicals currently being performed in regional theaters throughout the USA (Dramatic Publishing). 
 
Elissa created the concept and music for the Grandma Rocks Holiday series, (Astor Pub.), Wrote two Jazz duet Books for young Pianists plus sheet music and a third piano book entitled. “Playland,” (Carl Fischer Publishing).
 
Her Children’s Pop Album entitled, “Grandma Rocks”, features thirteen original songs performed by top instrumentalists and vocalists, and produced by her son Gary Schreiner. She just completed a fun activity book as a companion and is working on a children’s book using the lyrics of the song “Grandma and Me” to illustrate the important roll that a Grandma plays in the family. 
 
You might have seen her on A&E Biography, or read an article about her in a magazine or Newspaper.  Perhaps you spotted her on Channel 12’s Daytime addition or CBS being interviewed by Toni Aiello.
 
Emmy Award winning, Elissa Oppenheim Schreiner
 a k a Grandma Rocks, is an ageless, fun loving “kid at heart” who is definitely in tune 
(oops sorry about that) with the 21st Century.

 

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172 – Wait – Kaz Silver

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172 – Wait – Kaz Silver

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Original Version recorded June 17 , and 11 November 11 1965

Ukulele version recorded March/ April 2012

 

Kaz Silver – Vocals

Phil McArthur – Guitar

Mike Leslie – Bass

Billy Ward – Drums

Gary Schreiner – Harmonica

John Benthal – Ukulele


Produced by David Barratt in The Abattoir Time & Space Machine – Florida, Nashville, New Jersey, Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights and The East Village.


Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney


Essay Alex Johnstone



ABOUT THE SONG


This song was originally recorded for the album “Help” but did not make the final cut. With the Christmas release of “Rubber Soul” looming and the album in need of another track The Beatles chose to release “Wait” instead of recording a new composition – something which makes me think that the band did not particularly like this song. 


The track is another where Lennon and McCartney share the vocal and it was always thought to be a collaborative writing effort between the two, although in the 1997 book, “Many Years from Now”, McCartney recalls it as entirely his – I’m not sure l take his word for it. It is common amongst songwriters to suffer from “Compositional – Alzheimer’s”, whereby each co-writer forgets what the other contributed to a song. This common and as yet untreatable disease is related to “Producer Ego Syndrome”, “Delusional Record Executive Ear Decay” and “Coldplay-Bedwetting-Disorder”


The lyric describe the lies that musicians tell their partners whilst away on tour. This is a common feature of  Lennon-McCartney songs of the period. “When I Get Home” , “The Things We Said Today” and “Wait” all sound like letters from the road to a very naive lover. 


My favorite half truth in the lyric of “Wait” is:


“I’ve been good,

errr… as good as I can be”


Which sounds to me like he hasn’t been very good at all.


The Ukulele version stays true to the soul in “Rubber Soul” and it is of little surprise given that Kaz Silver was brought up on a healthy diet of Northern Soul from an early age.  


The track was recorded at various stages and in many places. Kaz recorded the vocals in Florida with , she then sent the track back to Abattoir Headquarters. It was then sent to John Benthal in New Jersey who added the ukulele part. He then passed it on to Upper Manhattan where Mike Leslie added the bass and promptly sent it on to Billy Ward in Nashville who played the drums. The track then travelled back east to Washington Heights where Gary Schreiner swooped in with the delicious harmonica solo. It was then sent back to Abattoir HQ shoved into a laptop and that is what you hear. 


Enjoy



ABOUT THE ARTIST


Kaz silver was born in Manchester U.K into a musical family and has been singing since before she could walk. At 18 she left England for the big apple to join her brother Tony, recording with Mercury and Polygram records.


Kaz’s vocal flexibility has enabled her to flourish in a very full and diverse studio career, whilst also singing on copious T.V and radio commercials. 


Singing a Beatles track for Mr Barratt and the Beatles Complete felt like ‘coming home’ to Kaz and I believe if you listen carefully enough at 2:31”  you can hear the Northern dialect in all it’s glory. 


 

 

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171 – When I Get Home – Tony Visconti with Alejandro Escovedo

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(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)
 
Original Version recorded June 2 1964
Ukulele version recorded February 2012
 
Tony Visconti: Vocals percussion, bass, recorder, and loads of ukuleles
Alejandro Escovedo : Vocals
Lara Visconti : Vocals
 
Written by John Lennon
Credited to Lennon & McCartney
 
Essay – Tony Visconti
 
 
ABOUT THE SONG
 
I wrote David Barratt a letter asking him to let me record a song.  My love for The Beatles is unabashed.  I was the right age at the right time when "I Want To Hold Your Hand" came blaring out of my transistor radio.  I saw A Hard Day’s Night about 20 times in New York, before I ever set foot in London, and memorized the dialogue. I could play and sing every song in the film; I even had a guy-crush on every Beatle (and I’m man enough to admit it).  
 
"When I Get Home" (not in the film, but on the soundtrack album) is one of my favorite Beatles songs because it is both sophisticated and wild.  They have written better lyrics but, "I’ve got no time for trivialities," is a pretty cool line for a Pop love song.  I cracked up when I heard, "I’m going to love you till the cows come home," because the Beatles revived a phrase my grandparents would use, but not so much in my generation.  Still, the gravelly Lennon vocal made every word sound hip.  The chord changes are many and deceptive, everything I love about a Beatles’ song. 
 
The Beatles are deeply intertwined with my life. I arrived in London in April 1967.  As Denny Cordell’s assistant many doors were instantly opened to me.  Within weeks I was taking a bow on the stage of the old Shaftsbury Theatre for writing string quartet arrangements for Denny Laine, former Moody Blues singer.  The Beatles were in that audience.  Later in the show on the same stage Jimi Hendrix set fire to his Strat.  
 
A few years later I was working with Paul McCartney as the orchestrator for Band On The Run.  After that I worked with Ringo Starr, who directed the T. Rex film Born To Boogie.  I wrote arrangements for the Tea Party scene, I was also in that scene as the conductor, and I mixed the music for the soundtrack.  I hung out with John Lennon and David Bowie one very long evening in Manhattan.  George Harrison was my neighbor.  I should stop, as I am starting to rewrite my book here, Tony Visconti — Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy (Harpers).  (I know, that was a shameless plug.)
 
 
My son Morgan made his ukulele collection available to me to record this song.  Four different ones were used, including an electric,which I put through several FX pedals.  To keep the character of the nylon strings I played the bass part on a classical guitar.  Some loops from Logic were used and altered for simple percussion backing.  I didn’t want to go for a slick sound, I wanted it to sound very relaxed like a singalong at a campfire.  I also played four recorders emulating an R&B sax section part.  Forgive me, but I added a chord in the chorus that The Beatles hadn’t intended.  It felt good and gave the chorus a slightly Arabic/Andalusian flavor.  Some finger cymbals laying around the studio enhanced the new chord.  
 
A ‘go with the flow’ incident happened when Alejandro Escovedo came to my studio to record some vocals for his new album I produced (Big Station, on Concord Records).  When we were finished I asked, "Hey, do you like The Beatles?"  Minutes later Alejandro and I were singing the duet together.  About a week later my young daughter Lara was visiting on a break from college and I got her to sing backing vocals.  She is an art major at SVA but the little darling has perfect pitch and a sweet voice. 
 
 
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
 
Christmas morning, I was five years old, a ukulele was waiting for me under the tree in our one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn, New York.  It was made of plastic and had decals of Popeye, Olive Oil and Wimpy stuck on the body.  Each string had a different color and it came with a book that had chord symbols indicating which finger I should put on each string.   I worked it out in a few minutes and learned every song in the book by bedtime.   
 
From the humble ukulele I graduated to semi-pro guitarist at 13 and played my first gig, an Italian wedding.  However, I didn’t see much of a future in this pursuit, but rock and roll as a-calling and I heard the twang.  I learned string bass in High School, got a musician’s union card at 16 and went on to work in nightclubs (with borrowed ID) as well as some weddings and bar mitzvahs, and the odd recording session.  But after hearing The Beatles I phased out old music and rapidly grew my hair.  Beatles chords borrowed heavily from older music, I observed. I even detected  a touch of Elizabethan modalities.  
 
I came to one conclusion and one only:  I have to get out of Brooklyn and go to England, to learn, to see, to hear, to feel how the British do it in the studio.  That ultimately came in the form of Denny Cordell, a successful British record producer.  We had a casual introduction at a water cooler in my publisher’s office and a couple of hours later I was helping him record a track for Georgie Fame in a New York recording studio.  I went well, he offered me a job, an offer I couldn’t refuse.
 
I’ve produced over 200 albums in my 22 years in the UK and later in the USA, Canada, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Japan.  My two wonderful children with Mary Hopkin, Jessica Morgan and Morgan Visconti, have also recorded songs for the Beatles  Complete On Ukulele project. 
 

 

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170 – Only A Northern Song – The Bar Ratts

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(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)
 
Vocals: Da Bar Ratt
Ukulele: Da Bar Ratt Snr
Guitar: El Bar Ratto
Bass: Ttar Rab
Drums: Ratt Bar
 
Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Mobile near Abbey Road
 
Original recording: 13–14 February, 20 April 1967
Ukulele Version: April 9 2012 
 
Written and credited to George Harrison
 
 
ABOUT THE SONG
 
This is the sound of George throwing his toys out of the pram. He felt ripped off by The Beatles publishing structure and in the middle of the Sgt. Pepper sessions wrote a very sour denunciation of The Beatles publisher – Northern Songs
 
Northern Songs was a music publishing company formed in 1963 primarily to exploit Lennon–McCartney compositions. The company had subsequently been publicly floated on The London Stock Exchange in 1965, but while Lennon and McCartney each owned 15% of the public company’s shares, Harrison owned just 0.8%.Harrison was contracted by Northern Songs as a songwriter only, and because Northern Songs retained the copyright of its published songs, this meant that John and Paul  would earn more from George’s songs than him.
 
Hence the song’s dissonance and key-changes that complement the barely suppressed bitterness of Harrison’s lyric,which features such self-referential lines as: 
"It doesn’t really matter what chords I play
What words I say or time of day it is
As it’s only a Northern Song."
 
The Ukulele version is performed by the mysterious Bar Ratts. Their dissonant and violent version was recorded near Abbey Road Studios. Not much is known about them apart from the fact that if you laid the  DNA in their cells end to end, it would go from the earth to the moon more than one million times.
 
 
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
 
The Bar Ratts want you be be cognizant of these facts.
 
The first two female FBI agents were hired in 1972. One was a former nun, the other a former U.S. marine.
Every month that begins on a Sunday will have a Friday the 13th.
The word avocado comes from the Aztec word “ahuacate”, meaning testicle.
A U.S. spinning penny is actually slightly more likely to end up tails because slightly more material is used to make the heads side.
When two hippos are about to fight, they point their anuses at each other, wag their stubby little tails vigorously, and flick feces at each other.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliaphobia is the fear of long words.
 
 

 

 

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169 – P.S. I Love You – Sherwin Sleeves

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(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)
 
Vocals: Sherwin Sleeves
Drums: Sean Barry
Ukulele and everything else: Mr. Roy Harter
Produced sadistically by Mr. Roy Harter at SkinnyMan
 
Watching over the proceedings: David Barratt
 
Original recording: September 4th and 11th 1962
Ukulele Version: March 13th 2012 
 
ABOUT THE SONG
 
Due to George Martin having to sneak away to consummate his affair with Lady Regina Kray at The Dorchester Hotel on a beautiful late summer afternoon in 1962, the job of producing “P.S. I Love” You” was given to another, less talented, less well endowed, staff producer at EMI.
 
Ron Richards was a jobs-worth at EMI. He had worked unsuccessfully as a plugger and publisher, yet still somehow still found himself with a job as a staff producer at EMI. 
 
He was way out of his depth.
 
Ron told the naive man/boys from Liverpool that “P.S. I Love You” could never be an ‘A Side’ of a Beatles record because someone had already recorded a song with the same title and it would leave EMI open to litigation. 
 
He was referring to a 1934 song by Gordon Jenkins and Johnny Mercer, originally recorded by Rudy Vallée. 
 
Mr Richards was of course wrong. Other titles having been used for multiple hit songs without legal difficulties.
 
More confusion reigned because George Martin had booked session drummer Andy White as a replacement for Pete Best, whom he considered not technically good enough for recording purposes. Due to a lack of communication between Brian Epstien and Martin, the producer was not aware that Best had been let go and replaced by Ringo Starr. 
 
Needless to say there was an air of embarrassment in the air of Studio2 as Ringo played percussion on the track while Mr. White clattered away with professional incompetence on the hired Abbey Road kit.
 
But let us go back a couple of years earlier.
 
This is another song written by Paul at his father’s house on Forthlin Road. 
 
Paul was a huge fan of Buddy Holly — such a fan that he bought Buddy’s publishing catalog a couple of years later — and this song is his love letter to Buddy’s skill. The tight melodic construction is pure Holly. It could even be argued that the “PS” stands for Buddy Holly’s most iconic tune “Peggy Sue”.
 
The writing is perfect – the recording and mastering is well…
 
Should you listen to the super-dooper porno-quality high-unfidelity Beatles Box set version of “P.S. I Love You”, do not think for a minute you are listening to the original master tape.
 
The original master Of PSILU was destroyed due to Abbey Road Studios policy of erasing the original two-track session tape for singles once they had been "mixed down" to the monaural master tape used to press records.
 
The Ukulele version of “P.S. I Love You” is performed by “The Orson Welles Of Steampunk” – the 79 year old recluse: Mr Sherwin Sleeves.
 
Sherwin’s vocals are tracked at his cabin in rural New Hampshire. 
The music recorded by the masterful and vicious Roy Harter in his Penthouse Studio overlooking Times Square in New York City. 
 
Harter has been known to brutally beat musicians with severed microphone cables fashioned into whips to get a performance that meets his incredible and random  high standards. 
 
During this session (which I watched via Roy’s live Cruel Cam ™, I saw Mr Harter  flay the back of legendary master-pianist (MP) Phillip Johnstone until it resembled three day old rotting carcass of beef left in the desert. 
 
When Harter was done with Johnstone, squealing with pain and pleasure on the floor, he took to the piano and humiliated Johnstone further by playing the part flawlessly in one take with a smirk on his face. 
 
Some may say that Harter’s methods are overly severe.
 
Roy says: 
“Listen to the recording and stop your whining you pathetic little bitch.”
 
 
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
 
At the age of 4, Sherwin Sleeves found a piano abandoned in the woods behind his family’s house.   For the first 30 years of his life, he played on such instruments, removed a step or two from clear ownership. Some abandoned in the woods, some in schools, clubs, hotels.  Wherever he could find them. 
 
Now 79 and dubbed the “Orson Welles of the Steampunk movement” Sherwin lives with a spoon, a chair, a bowl, a pot, and a hand towel in a crooked cabin on top of Marked Mountain in Lemon, New Hampshire.  
 
As he remembers, his primary reason for moving in, was that the cabin had a spoon, a chair, a bowl, a pot, a hand towel…and a dusty, but still quite winning, upright piano.
 
These days Sherwin writes stories chronicling his small adventures in Lemon with accompanying songs that complement his stories.  Together, music and narrative combine to form his award-winning podcast “Atoms, Motion & the Void”, which has been heard nationally on Public and Satellite Radio.  Sherwin has also turned his stories into highly successful one-man musical plays. 
 
Together, with the equally enigmatic, New York City music producer Roy Harter, he is one half of the band “Sadtapes”.  
 
Though the best of friends after six months of hard work together, Roy and Sherwin have never met.  
 
Nor have they ever spoken.  
 
Neither will they ever. 
 
This is what makes “Sadtapes” so sad. 
 
 
Links:
 
Sherwin Sleeves
www.atomsmotion.com
www.twitter.com/sherwinsleeves
 
Roy Harter
www.skinnyman.com
www.twitter.com/royharter

 

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168 – There’s A Place – Little Fish

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168 – Theres A Place – Little Fish

(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)

Original Version recorded February 11 1963

Ukulele version recorded January 2012

 

Juju Sophie: Vocal and claps

Ben Walker: Drum, harmonium, guitar, ukulele, backing vocals and claps

David Barratt: Glockenspiel and ukulele

 

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, NY 

from an original production made by Little Fish at The Garage

 

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

 

ABOUT THE SONG

 

A true Lennon and McCartney hidden classic. 

 

The original recording, all boom and bluster, hides the romanticism of McCartney dancing with the mysticism of Lennon. 

 

The production of this song on the “Please Please Me” album is a poor man’s version of a Phil Spector session. The dramatic dotted figure of the drum and bass (Boom-b’-Boom, Splat) which reiterates in the background overpowers the subtle nature of the song.

 

“There’s A Place”, like many of early Beatles songs started life at McCartney’s childhood home on Forthlin Road. Paul had picked up a copy of West Side Story, perhaps after seeing the movie at his local cinema, and was determined to rip off Leonard Bernstein for all he was worth. 

Remember immature artists plagiarize, mature artists steal*. 

 

“The opening lines of the Broardway showstopper “Somewhere” are

There’s a place for us, 

Somewhere a place for us. 

Peace and quiet and open air 

Wait for us 

Somewhere.” 

 

I’m sure Paul intended to write a song with a similar romantic sentiment. Lennon turned that sentiment on its head making the song about what goes on inside his head.

 

“There is a place, Where I can go,

When I feel low, When I feel blue.

And it’s my mind,

And there’s no time when I’m alone.”

 

How Lennon is that? 

Standing outside of time and space while literally only existing in his own imagination. 

Self centered and selfless at the same time.

 

“In my mind there’s no sorrow,

Don’t you know that it’s so.

There’ll be no sad tomorrow,

Don’t you know that it’s so.”

 

The Ukulele version, by “Little Fish” is closer to the Lennonesque vision.

 

It captures the internal world perfectly. The minimal arrangement sounds like thoughts echoing around an almost silent mind. The Phil Spector beat is now a heartbeat. The harmonies are stripped away to leave a solitary voice talking to itself. 

 

Juju Sophie is a natural rock star. The first time I saw her and her band “Little Fish” perform was at Terminal 5 in New York supporting Courtney Love’s “Hole” in font of 3,000 people. 

 

Support acts of major stars in large venues are often derided or worse ignored by the audience. What I witnessed was nothing less than remarkable. Within 5 minutes of being on stage Courtney’s faithful were won over. In that same audience Debbie Harry was equally impressed and invited the band to support Blondie on a UK Tour. 

 

Little Fish are currently taking a break from recording their latest album to tour France, Turkey and China. Why would they do a thing like that? 

 

Let them explain. 

http://littlefishmusic.com/new-line-up

 

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

 

Little Fish is a band from Oxford fronted by Juju, a singer with the passion of Patti Smith and the versatility of PJ Harvey. Their debut album, Baffled and Beat, was released on Custard/Universal in 2010; last year they left their label to make more interesting records in a bungalow garage in Oxford, and publish a crowd-funded book about rock’n’roll.

 

They have toured with Supergrass, Spinerette, Juliette Lewis, Alice in Chains, Placebo; Debbie Harry saw them supporting Courtney Love and asked them to join Blondie for a UK tour. 

 

“Little Fish had the raw rock spark that doesn’t depend on fame,” claimed one New York Times review. 

 

Right now they are gearing up to support Roger Daltrey in Paris and Gaz Coombes in Oxford before headlining a show in Istanbul and heading out on a 3-week DIY tour of China.

 

You can find their stuff at http://littlefishmusic.com

 

 

 

*Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.” Jim Jarmusch’s Golden Rules

 

 

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167 – Dear Prudence – Cecily Pearce

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(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)
 
Original Version recorded August 28-30 1968
Ukulele version recorded March 1 2012
 
Cecily Pearce: Vocals, guitar, ukulele, zither, arrangements
Ben Pollock: Double bass, backing vocals, percussion, arrangements, production
Brian Hargreaves: Percussion, production
Tom Grundman: Zither
 
Written by John Lennon
Credited to Lennon & McCartney
 
ABOUT THE SONG
 
It is a little know fact that during the John Lennon’s hiatus from making music (1975-79) he not only cared for his son full time but took up an activity that he had secretly longed to do during his career as a Beatle. 
 
Unlike dreams or star signs, other people’s problems are endlessly fascinating. When John was on the road with The Beatles he became obsessed with reading The Marjorie Proops Agony Aunt column in “The Daily Mirror”.
 
John was touched by these simple stories and was often moved to tears by the simple common sense espoused by Proops and others who could use the media in such a personal and useful way. 
 
Ringo recalls John telling him about a touching and personal piece about a girl who felt unbearably self-conscious because she had unequal labia. Proops advised the girl this was perfectly normal and nothing to worry about at all. 
 
While recording “The White Album” John said to Ringo:
 
“All this Beatle shit is useless – look at this. Proops has truly changed this girls life for the better with this one sentence. All we do is take drugs and make up ditties for people to sing along with. This is truly personal and political art.”
 
It was not surprising that when John had more time on his hands that he took up his new art form full time. Secretly From 1974 until his tragic death John wrote the  “Dear Prudence” column for “The Dagenham Post”. 
 
Below is one of his final and most touching pieces.
 
 
Dear Prudence,
I’ve been happily married for more than 10 years to a great woman, and we have two amazing kids. I still find my wife very attractive, and I enjoy our intimate sessions. There’s one thing that I don’t know how to address. My wife works out frequently and has a great body for a mom of two. However, she has a significant amount of cellulite in her thighs, mostly in the back and some on her buttocks. I know she’s got an issue with it. If she’s undressing in front of me or is in the bathroom naked, she always turns to make sure I’m not seeing her thighs. We have never discussed this in all our years together. Her thighs are a bit of a turnoff, but not a deal killer. We can afford treatment to remove the cellulite, but I’m unsure how to best approach this option or create a space for her to come to the conclusion on her own. Or should I just ignore it?
—Unsure Husband

Dear Unsure,
You have come to the right place, because I have solved the problem of cellulite-ridden thighs and buttocks! My solution has been not to look at myself in a three-way mirror from behind for the past 10 years. I have no idea what’s going on back there. I’ll share another secret with you: Almost every woman has cellulite, the degree to which is partially genetic. It would be a relief for both of you if instead of covering herself in shame your wife could joke, “Do my thighs make you think of Pebble Beach?” But since she is uncomfortable about this, I think you should gently bring it up.Say something like: “Sweetheart, I get the feeling you’re self-conscious about your thighs. You shouldn’t be. I hope you know you look incredible.” You’ll notice I skipped over your suggestion for getting her treatment for this totally normal condition. That’s because while there are plenty of treatments available, there is no guaranteed safe and effective one. In the years you and your wife have been together, perhaps your own hairline and waistline have shifted. But she’s probably done you the favor of accepting that while you’ve inevitably changed, you still look good to her. Instead of trying to fix her, embracing her, thighs and all, might make her feel more comfortable about her body, and that should turn both of you on.
 
Such was the simple wisdom of John Lennon who found peace in his final years by helping others.
 
The ukulele version of Dear Prudence is directly connected to Lennon’s secret art form.
 
Ben Pollock is a masterful visual artist, bass player, singer and percussionist who arranged this version of “Dear Prudence”. Ben also writes an advice column for a newspaper.
 
Ben requested that I do not reveal his pseudonym for obvious reasons.
 
There is no art form more universal and personal. We salute Marjorie, John and Ben for making the world a better place.
 
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
 
Cecily’s songwriting and vocal style comes from a nostalgia for foreign lands and by gone eras of smokey jazz bars and traveling vaudeville shows. The result: A cocktail of folk, cabaret chanteuse, jazzy chords, gypsy missives, and Flamenco flourishes supplied by fellow guitarist Tom Grundman. This January she teamed up with double bass player, visual artist and secret agony aunt, Ben Pollock to work on rearranging and deranging ‘Dear Prudence’ for The Beatles Complete On Ukulele, with further collaboration from saxophonist, producer Brian Hargreaves. 
 
For an extended version and other treats please visit: www.misscecily.co.uk 

 

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166 – All My Loving – Janice Pendarvis

click here to play
(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)
 
Original Version recorded July 30 1963
Ukulele version recorded March 1 2012
 
Janice Pendarvis : Vocals
Nathan MacCormack : Cello
David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else
 
Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste
Mixed and additional production by
Tommie Cruse at The Bedroom Lounge, Bronx, NY
 
Written by Paul McCartney
Credited to Lennon & McCartney
 
Essay – Jack Hues
 
ABOUT THE SONG
 
I remember acquiring the sheet music to “All My Loving” when I was a year or so into guitar lessons. There was a picture of the Beatles in their collar-less jackets on the front cover posing around a wooden chair and grinning hard. I would have been about 10, 11 years old and I loved this song, hearing it as something quite complex with it’s confidant walking bass and chords in a constant state of moving, searching. The sheet music chords began with A minor – I clearly remember that – and the chords were within my range. The constant triplets in the rhythm guitar part were a bit of a challenge though and I spent a lot of time – a LOT of time – practicing the changes and the rhythm until I felt the time was right to put on the record and play along. I got everything set in the living room where the radiogram lived – a large piece of furniture with a record player located deep inside it. I lined the stylus up, got my guitar ready, dropped the stylus onto the rotating vinyl and… the record was in a completely different key! This was one of my first experiences where hard work, effort, attention to detail were as so much confetti in a howling gale of reality. The record is in E major. Maybe the guy who made the transcription at the publishing company thought that would be too hard for his target market, so he transposed it in order that budding guitar players who knew Am and D and G, not to mention horn players, who would otherwise have to transpose into a key with 6 sharps, wouldn’t be traumatized. But I vowed not to bother with sheet music ever again and would henceforth figure things out by ear – a decision which has panned out well over the years.
 
The Beatles recorded “All My Loving” in thirteen takes on the evening of 30th July 1963. It was never released as a single despite huge amounts of radio play, although it did appear on an EP of the same name and was one of the songs played on their first Ed Sullivan Show appearance on the 9th February 1964. As Ian McDonald in his essential book “Revolution in The Head” says, “ Meanwhile, The Beatles rivals looked on in amazement as songs of this commercial appeal were casually thrown away on LPs.” 
 
It first appeared on the “LP” With The Beatles in the UK. With The Beatles, with its iconic cover art of deep shadows, black and white, looked so much better than its predecessor Please Please Me and it sounded so much better too. As everybody knows, Please Please Me was recorded in a day, and perhaps the public school boys who ran EMI thought George Martin was making another one of his comedy records with these funny kids from Liverpool playing ridiculous pop music and singing it with a ridiculous accent – how wrong could you be?? 
 
With The Beatles sounded like no expense had been spared to capture the energy of its performances. Tracks like “It Won’t Be Long”, “All I’ve Gotta Do” and “Please Mister Postman” sounded raw and sophisticated at the same time; Lennon’s vocal, urgent, commanding, unapproachable. McCartney on “All My Loving” is, by contrast, warm, urbane and playful. As in so many of his subsequent songs he seems to be “in character”, sophisticated enough to be dabbling in Tin-Pan-Alley clichés one minute  - the descending 5ths in the harmony, the promises of eternal love in the lyrics – then being classic Beatles the next, rubbing D major and B major together at the end of the 8 bar phrases. The appearance of the chord of D major (on the word “True”) in an otherwise pristine key of E major is considered by some to be revolutionary, creating a change in “Pop” harmonic consciousness without which there would be no “Rock” – discuss… Interestingly the jazzy version recorded here avoids that steely “Rock” change and substitutes something warmer and less controversial.
 
The other part of the song that flirts with musical vocabulary way beyond the average hit tune of the day is the chorus. Or is that a sort of middle 8? As so often in a Beatles tune, the hooks are there from the beginning – you never have to “wait” for a chorus to “get” the song. This section is the bit where the title of the song is sung twice – a normal chorus feature, but the harmony is in the minor key and then falls away producing a chord in the second bar that is quite dark – is Paul already having doubts about just how true he is going to be while he’s away? Ringo’s contribution here is fantastic with his snare hitting all four beats in the bar. The Uke version, recorded here by Janice Pendarvis, explores the harmonic potential of this section in a way that finds more pathos. The words are affirmative, but the music is telling us something else.
 
As I listen to the Beatles version again, aside from the irresistible positive energy of the song itself, captured in a great performance, it is the contrary motion in the bass and vocal parts that still sends a thrill down the spine – those two melodic lines, high and low, fully independent, heading off in different directions then coming together again, like watching railway tracks rushing past from a moving train window. Those curving lines are contrasted by John’s straight lines of guitar triplets and Ringo’s high energy splash. And then of course there is George’s carefully thought through guitar solo that would still take a while to figure out – by ear of course…

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Janice Pendarvis is an eclectic, elegant, enthusiastic and world-class performer who loves to sing R&B, pop, jazz, reggae, rock and avant-garde music. She has worked with a diverse roster of artists including Philip Glass, Peter Tosh, Sting, The O’Jay’s, Laurie Anderson, Roberta Flack, The Rolling Stones, Najee, Ben E. King, Aaron Neville, Barry White, and Jimmy Cliff. She has made cameo appearances on SNL and often sings with music guests/skits on The Late Show with David Letterman. 

Janice is featured in the documentary film Bring on the Night, the concert film Home of the Brave and other DVD’s and videos. Janice also has a distinguished career in voiceovers and is featured in the book, Secrets of Voiceover Success. Her speaking voice has been heard in countless commercials, TV promos and films. She is equally at home in her roles as a lead singer, support vocalist, announcer, voice actor and on-camera personality. 

 

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165 – She Came In Through The Bathroom Window – Sherry Vine

click here to play
(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)
 
Original Version recorded July 25-30 1969
Ukulele version recorded January 17 2012
 
Sherry Vine : Vocals
David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else
 
Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste
Mixed at The Abattoir Mobile, Courtyard Hotel, Kathmandu, Nepal
 
Written by Paul McCartney
Credited to Lennon & McCartney
 
Essay Geoff Micks 
http://faceintheblue.wordpress.com
 
ABOUT THE SONG
 
Speaking in broad terms, each of the Fab Four composed their contributions to the discography from very different mindsets: Ringo sang the songs he wanted to hear that no one else wanted to sing; George wrote what he wanted to say while circumventing the way normal people speak; John wrote about his own personal experiences such that truth was stranger than fiction, and Paul wrote about fictional people acting out universal truths. 
 
There are exceptions, of course: Ringo’s Octopus’s Garden was ‘out there’ enough to prompt George Harrison to enthuse, "I suppose Ringo is writing cosmic songs these days without even realizing it." For his part, philosophical George wrote Something as a straightforward ballad that became his first A-side single; John’s Mr. Kite wasn’t really his own story so much as an interesting piece of wall art that inspired him to a flight of imaginative fancy, and one of Paul’s best wanderings from the rule of his fictional storytelling is She Came In Through the Bathroom Window. Regardless of the McCartney/Lennon credit, this is definitely Paul’s song, but there’s very much something of Ringo and George and John in the way he wrote it. 
 
She Came In Through the Bathroom Window appears smack dab in the middle of that wonderful medley on the B-side of Abbey Road where The Beatles threw half a dozen partially finished songs together in a muddled heap of genius and despair. The torturous experience recording The White Album and Let It Be left them with no illusions that their collaborations were at an end, and the resulting medley –You Never GIve Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry the Weight, and The End– is where they agreed to pool the left-overs and make them work as best they could. It is a tribute to all of their talents that it fits together as well as it does. If Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach ever collaborated, one can only imagine it would echo through the ages the way Abbey Road’s melody will.
 
Other essays have and will walk through the stories and motivations of the rest of the medley, but She Came In Through the Bathroom Window should take pride of place in that esteemed collection: This is Paul singing something Ringo wanted to hear in the way George might say it, and it really happened just as John preferred, even though Paul takes two steps back to make it someone else’s story. 
 
The most likely background for the song is based on an incident where a group of dedicated fans known as the Apple Scruffs took things a little too far, and a woman –either Jessica Samuels or Diane Ashley– leaned a ladder up against the side of Paul’s house when he wasn’t home and crawled inside through an open upstairs bathroom window. She stole a pair of trousers (which her friends took turns wearing) and a number of photos, one of which was eventually returned upon Paul’s request.
 
To muddy the waters a little bit, a similar incident happened to Ray Thomas of The Moody Blues, and there is a strong possibility that Paul merged the two stories together when composing the song. John Lennon cast even further doubt on the true story in his 1980 Playboy interview by claiming Paul wrote the song when he first met Linda Eastman, suggesting that she must have come in through a window at some point in their courtship. Paul added at least some credence to that possibility by admitting the line about quitting the police department was inspired by a New York cabbie who took him to JFK to catch a flight home to see Linda.
 
Whatever the true source material, Paul’s gift for storytelling took over, and so we have the following lyrics –with my hypothetical Paul thought process in italicized parentheses:
 
She came in through the bathroom window     
(The Apple Scruffs broke into my house?!)
Protected by a silver spoon             
(They aren’t criminals, per se,,.)
But now she sucks her thumb and wanders    
(She’s just a mixed up kid, I guess.)
By the banks of her own lagoon            
(Wait! I can tie this into Ringo’s Octopus’s Garden with an odd word that rhymes with spoon!)
 
Didn’t anybody tell her?                
(Did she really think she’d get away with it?)
Didn’t anybody see?                
(No one was going to notice a groupie breaking into my house?)
Sunday’s on the phone to Monday,        
(How would George express the fact that I have neighbours?)
Tuesday’s on the phone to me            
(Surely this is how George would point out I’d hear about it eventually…)
 
She said she’d always been a dancer        
(How would John say the crazy ones always have a story?)
She worked at fifteen clubs a day        
(I don’t believe a word of it, myself.)
And though she thought I knew the answer    
(She thinks I’m going to offer meaning to her life?)
Well I knew but I could not say.            
(I’m not going to tell her she’s wrong, but she’s wrong. No sense upsetting crazy.)
 
And so I quit the police department        
(How do I finish this song? Hey, my cabbie is ex-NYPD. I can work with that…)
And got myself a steady job            
(The common man will forgive me for having groupies if I’m a working stiff in the last verse.)
And though she tried her best to help me        
(She didn’t really mean me any harm. She loves me, in her way.)
She could steal but she could not rob.        
(Yes, she broke into my house, but there wasn’t any malice to it.)
 
Didn’t anybody tell her?                
(She really doesn’t understand she crossed a line.)
Didn’t anybody see?                
(Somebody should have talked her out of it.)
Sunday’s on the phone to Monday,        
(We live in very different worlds.)
Tuesday’s on the phone to me            
(But I do hear about her transgressions eventually.)
Oh yeah.                    
(Time for the next song in the Medley!)
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
 
Sherry Vine was born in The Amish country.  On her 16th birthday she discovered she was adopted and actually Jewish.  Running away from home and she became a "show girl" in Las Vegas before relocating to NYC where she has established herself as one of the leading ladies performing her all live singing and comedy show internationally on stage, TV and film. Miss Vine lived in Berlin from 2001 till 2005 and is now happy to be back home in Manhattan.
 
Sherry has starred in the smash theatrical productions of The Bad Weed ’73 (in NYC, LA and Provincetown),e.s.p. – Eyes of a Supermodel Psychic (" the underground hit of the season" – NY Times), The Final Feast of Lucrezia Borgia ("Move over gals, NYC has a serious stage diva in Sherry Vine" – Paper Magazine), her one-woman/ten character hit Kitty Killer,  the completely sold out mega-hit Charlie!, the off-Broadway transfer of Tell-Tale at the Cherry Lane Theatre ("Almost impossible not to have a good time" – NY Times), Doll ("One of downtown’s most innovative and eye-popping Theatre Companies!" – Encore) and most recently in the wildly successful sold out adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie. All shows were produced by Theatre Couture, of which Sherry is co-Artistic Director with Joshua Rosenzweig and Erik Jackson.
 
Sherry can be seen in the films Charlie, Francesca Page, Wigstock, Stonewall, Scream,Teen,Scream ("the best comedic performance of the year" – LA Weekly),The RuPaul Christmas Special, Mutti The Movie, Raspberry Reich, The Charmed Life, Squeezebox The Movie and Mr. & Mrs. Porebski (co written with Marec Porebski).
 
In 1999, Sherry teamed up with the legendary Joey Arias to create StarLust, a spectacular cabaret that premiered in Berlin and then played in Manchester, Sydney, LA, NYC, Las Vegas, Budapest, Vienna and all over Germany.
In 2002, they were invited to premiere their new extravaganza, SINsation, in Sydney for The Mardi Gras Festival and then took the show to Berlin. Since then SINsation has been seen in Helsinki, Estonia, LA, Boston, San Francisco, Miami, Alaska, Seattle and Montreal. They ended their trilogy with The Greatest Hits in Berlin. Sherry premiered her first solo-cabaret show, The Way of Love, at B.K.A. Theatre in Berlin in 2003 and followed this with Funkalicious Fantasy at Big Eden.
 
Sherry was voted Entertainer of the Year by her peers and honored with the first Glammy Award. She was also HX Drag Queen of the Year, 2007.

 

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