The Beatles Complete On Ukulele

174 – Another Girl – Andrew Lubman

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:36:59 +0000

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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

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:13:25 +0000

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173 – Birthday – Elissa Schreiner

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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

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 04:01:39 +0000

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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

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:01:37 +0000

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171 – When I Get Home – Tony Visconti

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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

admin — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:11:41 +0000

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170 – Only A Northern Song – The Bar Ratts

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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

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:30:37 +0000

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169 Sherwin Sleeves – PS I Love You

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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

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:01:35 +0000

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168 – Theres A Place – Little Fish

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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

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:01:46 +0000

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167 – Dear Prudence – Cecily Pearce

(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

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:01:31 +0000

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166 – All My Loving – Janice Pendarvis

(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

admin — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:01:23 +0000

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

(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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164 – Wild Honey Pie – Tae and Pat

admin — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:01:34 +0000

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164 – Wild Honey Pie – Tae and Pat

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

Original Version recorded August 20 1968

Ukulele version recorded February 22 2012

Suphajon ‘Tae’ Klinsuwan: Vocals

Warin ‘Pat’ McBlain: Vocals

David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Mobile, Bang Na, Thailand

Executive Producer: Wor Nor Bor

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

A solo recording by Paul McCartney, Wild Honey Pie was a singalong written in Rishikesh, India, and recorded at the end of the session for Mother Nature’s Son.

McCartney also recorded another demo, Etcetera, during the same session. I’ve never heard it so if you have a copy please send it to me.

Paul likes to use ‘we’ to indicate a group process that really didn’t exist on this track. It is jarring and ultimately more of an amateurish noise than anything else. But Patty Harrison liked it so somehow her vote ruled the day!? I guess John says he was okay with it, too, but I can’t help but wonder about the combined forces of Martin-McCartney trying to keep ‘Revolution 9′ off but allowing this.

Sometimes it helps to understand works of art (paintings, music, whatever) if you consider the moment when they were created.

In 1968, when the Beatles were recording songs like Wild Honey Pie and Revolution 9 and You Know My Name, Look up the Number, there was a social revolution going on around the western world. People were sort of waking up to realize that they could do whatever they felt like and no one could force stupid old rules on them.

The Beatles were the worldwide role models for this revolution. When you listened to a new Beatle album in 1968, you sat back and thought, "Gee–they’re doing anything they feel like and it sounds kind of cool. I want to do that too."

“Wild Honey Pie” is just musical sound crafted on tape. But it’s breaking the rules of what a "properly recorded song" is supposed to sound like. Lennon did the same with Revolution #9. If you were born after 1970, it’s very hard to understand the kind of suffocating rules and regulations that people used to live under….

Maybe today we’re actually creeping back to the way it used to be!

But what “Wild Honey Pie” is all about is FUN, which is why we asked Thai comedy duo and presenters of the Thai PBS show “Full English Breakfast” “Tae & Pat” to perform it. Sung/ranted in both Thai and English

Fun is the cornerstone of Thai culture – they call it ‘sanook’.

It is, therefore, no surprise the ukulele – itself synonymous with fun – has gripped this musical nation by the G-string. In the sunshine state the beat on the street is ‘Sanookulele!’

‘Uke Fever’ is sweeping Thailand, which is more than can be said for the local municipal workers. The name ‘Jason Mraz’ is on the lips of the MTV generation, which is no mean feat considering the twist-factor for Thai tongues. As TV educators, it is Tae and Pat’s mission to help the locals say ‘Jason Mraz’ and, as confirmed strummers themselves, they are also committed to spreading the charm of this ‘little guitar’ to an even wider audience via their weekly TV show, ‘English Breakfast’.

The guys jumped at the opportunity to join TBCOU project, especially when offered the track ‘Wild Honey Pie’. As neither is known for learning their lines for the TV show, this ‘lyric-lite’ number proved the ideal vehicle these lazy ukulele lovers.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Suphajon ‘Tae’ Klinsuwan: 28-year-old Tae spent his early years in the US. He thinks ‘pants’ are what you wear on your legs.

Warin ‘Pat’ McBlain: 14-year-old Pat is a confirmed anglophile and gets embarrassed by the word ‘pants’ because he thinks you’re talking about underwear.

www.thaipbs.or.th/englishbreakfast

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163 – Rocky Raccoon – James Armata

admin — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:04:48 +0000

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163 – Rocky Raccoon – James Armata

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

Original Version recorded August 15 1968

Ukulele version recorded January 12 2012

James Armata: Vocals and guitar

David Barratt Ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir of Good Taste

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

“Rocky Raccoon is quirky, very me. I like talking blues so I started off like that, then I did my tongue-in-cheek parody of a western and threw in some amusing lines. I just tried to keep it amusing, really; it’s me writing a play, a little one-act play giving them most of the dialogue. Rocky Raccoon is the main character, then there’s the girl whose real name was Magill, who called herself Lil, but she was known as Nancy.

There are some names I use to amuse, Vera, Chuck and Dave or Nancy and Lil, and there are some I mean to be serious, like Eleanor Rigby, which are a little harder because they have to not be joke names. In this case Rocky Raccoon is some bloke in a raccoon hat, like Davy Crockett. The bit I liked about it was him finding Gideon’s Bible and thinking, Some guy called Gideon must have left it for the next guy. I like the idea of Gideon being a character. You get the meaning and at the same time get in a poke at it. All in good fun. And then of course the doctor is drunk.”

Paul McCartney

ABOUT THE ARTIST

How to be precious without being precious?

What’s the point of strict stylist, pop, rock, jazz, verse chorus, verse chorus end song, how many hooks, if it doesn’t enable the singer to sing the song? It’s not the song, it’s how you sing the song.

Your talents, your song writing and most importantly your voice must not be limited, stuffed, crammed and ill-fitted into traditional rock-pop structures. Some do it fantastically, others succumb to it.

http://www.jamesarmata.com/

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162 – Octopus’s Garden – Joseph CR Vourteque IV & The White City Rippers

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:01:33 +0000

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162 – Octopus’s Garden – Joseph CR Vourteque IV & The White City Rippers

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

Original Version recorded April 26/27 and July 17/18 1969

Ukulele version recorded January 11 1898

Paul "Mr. W" Wiemerslage: vox and accordion

Joe "Mr. M" Mason: theremin

Joseph CR Vourteque IV: vox and production

Gabriel Gordon – Ukulele

additional text by H.P. Lovecraft

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Mobile from original recordings made by Joseph CR Vourteque IV.

Octopi Translation Christopher Rutledge and Nathinee Chen

Written and credited to Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr)

ABOUT THE SONG

To: Mr. Ringo Starr, Land

From: Cecily Cephalopod, Octopus Gardener, Under The Sea

Dear Mr. Starr,

First, I would like to thank you for your song, ‘Octopus’ Garden.’ It is really quite a lovely melody and has served as a nice little pick-me-up to many of my fellow octopi who sometimes feel our gardening may not be fully appreciated by the surface dwelling world. To have our modest hobby singled out for a song by your rock and roll band has been quite a treat.

However, in the interest of safety and correctness we do believe we must correct some misconceptions that have arisen from your song.

First, while many refer to them as ‘gardens’, that name may be misleading to non-water-breathers. It is my understanding, from the scraps of faded books that sometimes descend to this level of the deep, that a ‘garden’ to you implies an grassy area filled with flowering plants and vegetables. I assure you our gardens are not at all so dreadful. What we octopi consider our gardens are lovely piles of the chitinous husks of the creatures we have devoured. They are arranged in a delightfully haphazard way around the entrances of our caves or holes.

The second inaccuracy I’d like to point out is that your lyrics state the garden is ‘in the shade’, which technically is true, but a more accurate description would be that it is a lightless, heat-sucking abyss – just the way we like it.

I must also warn you, we octopi are generally quite a timid lot. We rarely welcome guests, and if visited unannounced we have a (admittedly quite embarrassing) habit of squirting them with ink and running away. So I must ask, if it would not be too much trouble, if you might change your song ever so slightly to make visiting one of our gardens a little less attractive. Might I suggest the following change; the lyric "We would be so happy you and me, no one there to tell us what to do" might instead read "We might be, so happy you and me, unless we’re dowsed with viscous, inky goo."

But please excuse me, it is incredibly presumptuous of me to try to tell you, one of the most famous musicians in the world, how to write a song. I’ll make you a deal, I will leave all of the song-writing to you, and if you ever find yourself in need of advice on how to tastefully arrange the corpses of molluscs, I sincerely hope you would come to me.

Sincerely,

Cecily Cephalopod

Octopus Gardener

ABOUT THE ARTIST

From the case-books of the Chicago Police Department:

Officers Amble and Bilge apprehended the White City Rippers, the devilish duo who have held the World’s fair in the icy grip of terror with a chaotic combination of cacophonous musical performances, bizarre electronic devices, and a string of grisly murders. Paul "Mr. W" Wiemerslage, a thoroughly rum-soaked rogue, was quoted as saying,

"A sharp blade is a safe blade," before collapsing in a paroxysm of laughter.

Joe "Mr. M" Mason, who has the unhinged, psychotic temperament of an Irish-man, responded, "My razor goes ‘likkey-likkey-likkey’ then it goes ‘shhhhh’!" The two escaped custody, leaving pools of blood and slices of fingers and toes strewn about their holding cell. Amble and Bilge have gone missing and it is surmised that the Rippers flayed them and used the skins to disguise themselves. The Rippers may be identified by an accordion, a theremin

and a machine used to reproduce the sound of drums. If you have more information on their whereabouts, please report them here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/White-City-Rippers/134468189935120

Joseph CR Vourteque IV

The Lord Baron Joseph C.R. Vourteque (IV) is a Chicago based DJ, producer, remix artist, promoter and maker. He’s one of the principal founders of Steampunk Chicago and the main producer and director of many of their events. He’s also a member of The Lords & Ladies Djs, Steampunk Chicago’s resident DJ group. Vourteque has been remixing, producing and DJ since 1998, having worked in virtually every style of popular music and dance music out there. As of late he’s become known as a sought after producer and remix artist for the steampunk movement. He’s done remix work for Lady Gaga, The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, DeVotchKa, The Clockwork Dolls, Houston Bernard, Yellow Note amongst others. As a DJ he’s played throughout the east coast and midwest of the United States and is in the planning stages of a month long tour for the middle part of 2012. For more information check out www.Soundcloud.com/Steampunk-Chicago-Djs or www.SteampunkChicago.com.

"There was a mighty eddying and foaming in the noisome brine, and as the steam mounted higher and higher the vessel drove on against the pursuing jelly which rose above the unclean froth like the stern of a daemon galleon. The awful squid-head with writhing feelers came nearly up to the bowsprit of the sturdy yacht. There was a bursting as of an exploding bladder, a slushy nastiness as of a cloven sunfish, a stench as of a thousand opened graves, and a sound that the chronicler could not put on paper. For an instant the ship was befouled by an acrid and blinding green cloud, and then there was only a venomous seething astern; where the scattered plasticity of that nameless sky-spawn was nebulously recombining in its hateful original form, whilst its distance widened every second as the Alert gained impetus from its mounting steam…"

H.P. Lovecraft – The Call of Cthulu, 1928.

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161 – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds – Dan Scanlan

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:01:55 +0000

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161 – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds – Dan Scanlan

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

Original Version recorded February March 1967

Ukulele version recorded January 2012

Dan Scanlan – Vocals – ukulele

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, mixed at the Abattoir Mobile, Atlanta Hotel Bangkok, Dan Scanlan vocal recorded at his home studio

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

It’s about drugs… are you kidding me with all that stuff about cute kiddies paintings.

Now go and take some and listen to Dan and his magic ukulele.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Dan Scanlan has been playing ukulele since 1961. His college roommate gave him the moniker "Cool Hand Uke." He leads the 30-member Strum Bums ukulele orchestra in Grass Valley CA and The Enablers swing trio. In 1998 he returned the ukulele to its ancestral home of Madeira Island, Portugal, in a project that reunited the ukulele with the rajão and braguinha that included a performance at the Lisbon World’s Fair. He is an ardent workshop presenter, has taught thousands, and lectures on the history and lore of the ukulele.

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160 – Good Morning Good Morning – Neothaon3

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:01:50 +0000

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160 Good Morning Good Morning – Neothaon3

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

Original Version recorded February March 1967

Ukulele version recorded January 2012

Neothaon3 – Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste,

Neothaon3 vocal recorded at his home studio

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

In late 1966 exhausted from too much touring, too much promoting and too much Beatling in general John Lennon was stoned, depressed and stuck to his sofa in his Weybridge Mansion. In front of him was a black and white TV that only had three channels. John had the choice of watching BBC1, BBC2 or the newly conceived commercial channel ITV. Colour was not to come to England until 1967.

But when you’re trailing and peaking too heavily to leave the couch, you take your inspiration where you can get it, and surprisingly British TV in the sixties was a pretty good place to catch inspiration.

John was watching news and current event shows like “The Frost Report”, “What the Papers Say” and “Panorama”. He caught police procedurals such as “Dixon of Dock Green”, “Softly, Softly” and of course “Z-Cars” (which was the first TV serial to be set in Johns home town of Liverpool).

And if he was ever feeling a bit grumpy – which he often was – there were comedies like “The Likely Lads” and “Not Only… But Also” starring the twin geniuses, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, to get a quick laugh from.

Many of the shows that John was nodding out to still survive. “Match of the Day”, “Doctor Who”, “Songs of Praise”, “Coronation Street”, “Blue Peter”, “The Sky at Night” and “The Money Program” were on the air in 1966 and can still be seen in the UK now.

Surprisingly there was an awful lot of quality programming to watch in 1966 but it wasn’t a TV show that inspired “Good Morning Good Morning” it was a commercial.

It is almost unbelievable now that there wasn’t really any daytime television in The UK in 1966. At 10am on a Monday morning ITV used to play all the commercials that they were going to air that week. It was at this time that a stoned John Lennon was confronted by a blaring “Good Morning” in the form of a Kelloggs Corn Flakes jingle.

John jumped on it and “Good Morning Good Morning” was born.

Like the other song, so good he named it twice, (“She Said She Said”) “Good Morning Good Morning” jumps around in all sorts of crazy time signatures.

The track was recorded on 8 February 1967, with overdubs on 16 February (bass and vocals), 13 March (brass section), 28 March (backing vocals and guitar solo), and 29 March (animal noises). The guitar solo – which i think is my favorite of all the Beatle solos – was played by Paul McCartney.

Oh and more Brit TV trivia – the line "It’s time for tea and Meet the Wife" refers to a BBC sitcom, “Meet the Wife”.

“Good Morning Good Morning” is a less sanctimonious version of "Nowhere Man" and the perfect way to set up "A Day In The Life". A classic song showing the art of offering commentary without making direct comment.

The Ukulele version features Hip-Hop engineer, producer, MC and Artist “Neothaon3″.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

His Executive Production/Engineering work on #THE516tape (available on DatPiff.com), Nassau County’s first and only artist compilation mixtape in the Hip-Hop genre has earned him the respect of much of the Hip-Hop Community.

Music by neo has been featured on websites, radio, and recently network television, and he continues to collaborate with the television and radio industries.

Neo’s production talent has earned him many accolades including 1st place prizes in Manhattan’s Muzik Matrix and Elegant Hoodness showcases.

Neothaon3 currently owns and operates a private recording studio at his home in Baldwin, NY. Songs from this studio can be heard all across Long Island. The quality of neo’s mixes have won over the ears of many artists and fans on Long Island. Besides Forward Thinking ENT, he currently works with G-Unit Label Affiliate Calio, Above Average recording artist Courtney Anthony, All Rise Entertainment, Commercial and Pop/Rock/Hip-Hop Mega-Producer JJ Appleton, Noisy Tenants, GSQUAD, Kik Krack, DC of Central Station, A-Lex of So Swaggy Entertainment, Pop Sensation Erin Bowman, LD and the Kartel.

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159 – Ask Me Why – Francis Hatch

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:01:56 +0000

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159 – Ask Me Why – Francis Hatch

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

Original Version recorded November 26th 1962

Ukulele version recorded January 2nd 2012

Francis Hatch – Vocals and Piano

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, mixed at The Abattoir Mobile, Atlanta Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

John loved Motown.

What’s not to love?

“Ask Me Why” is John re-writing Smokey Robinson’s 1961 almost hit "What’s So Good About Goodbye”. It is often said that had they been forced to make a living as songwriters outside of The Beatles Paul would have been rolling in cash while John would have ended up on a building site. I think this song shows that John could also be a pretty good hack writer given the incentive, and the incentive at this point was to escape Liverpool.

The Beatles recorded an unknown number of takes of “Ask Me Why” and the unreleased “Tip Of My Tongue” during their 6 June 1962 audition session at Abbey Road. “Tip of My Tongue” was later recorded by the magnificently named but soon to be obscure Tommy Quickly.

Sadly EMI didn’t think much of the original Beatle recordings and later destroyed the master tapes. OUCH!

George Martin re-recorded the song in November 1962. Much of the day was spent perfecting Please Please Me; Ask Me Why took comparatively little time to record. I love John’s vocal on this. The first time he sings “Cry” you can hear his voice break beautifully.

I also love Francis Hatch’s vocal on the Ukulele version. He sounds like a fallen choirboy caught between ecstasy and guilt. He can’t believe what is happening to him but can not resist it’s pull.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Francis Hatch is a Brooklyn-based musician and founding member of The Muscular Christians. Music writer Robert Christgau described his two albums, Dan Marino: Important Message and Let’s Get a Tan, as "folk songs for an age of computer media and confusion-is-sex" and "embarrassing truths beneath America’s mild surface". He currently composes music for film and television and contributes regularly to the New York Observer. For more information and to hear samples from the upcoming album release, Sweatpants Monster please visit:

www.francishatch.com.

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158 – Not A Second Time – Steve “Boltz” Bolton

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:01:25 +0000

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158 – Not A Second Time – Steve "Boltz" Bolton

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

Original version – September 11 1963

Ukulele version – December 2011

Steve Bolton: Vocals, guitar, dobro

Bryn Burrows: Drums

John Benthal: Ukuleles

David Barratt: Bass

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Manhattan from recordings made by Bryn Burrows at SAG Studios, Whitstable, Kent.

Photo by Conway & Hagell

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon and McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Written and sung by John Lennon, Not A Second Time featured on the group’s second album With The Beatles.

The song was reviewed “The Times’” music critic William Mann, who wrote a musicological treatise on Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting, published on 27 December 1963.

“Harmonic interest is typical of their quicker songs, too, and one gets the impression that they think simultaneously of harmony and melody, so firmly are the major tonic sevenths and ninths built into their tunes, and the flat submediant key switches, so natural is the Aeolian cadence at the end of Not A Second Time (the chord progression which ends Mahler’s Song of the Earth).”

William Mann – The Times

Lennon was dismissive of the critique. In the Anthology book, Lennon is quoted as saying:

“I still don’t know what it means at the end, but it made us acceptable to the intellectuals. It worked and we were flattered. I wrote Not A Second Time and, really, it was just chords like any other chords. To me, I was writing a Smokey Robinson or something at the time.”

In 1980 he returned to the phrase Aeolian cadences, saying:

“To this day I don’t have any idea what they are. They sound like exotic birds.”

John Lennon

Despite Lennon’s flippancy, the musical structure of Not A Second Time is noteworthy. In Revolution In The Head, Ian MacDonald described it as "a rambling affair composed of an irregular fourteen-bar verse joined to a ten-bar chorus which sounds like a middle eight."

Lennon tended to write his lyrics first, then fitted chords and melody around the words. While the results here are certainly interesting, the out-of-time introduction, barely audible bass and George Martin’s rudimentary grand piano solo suggest it was regarded as little more than a filler track to complete the album.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Steve Bolton has worked with Keith Richards, David Bowie, Paul Young, David Gilmour, Belinda Carlisle, Carl Palmer, Dominic Miller, Manu Katché, John Otway and The Who.

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157 – With A Little Help From My Friends – Gary Marcus

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:01:38 +0000

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157 – With A Little Help From My Friends – Gary Marcus

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

Original version recorded March 29-30, 1967

Ukulele version recorded July 23, 2009

Gary Marcus, vocals, and guitar

Kathena Bryant, counterpoint vocals

Mary Farbood: harpsichord and backing vocals

Tobias Hurwitz: bass and backing vocals

David Poeppel, additional guitar

Terry Gourley, additional vocals

Doug Bemis – Backing vocals

Andrew Poeppel – Backing vocals

Luke Poeppel – Backing vocals

Athena Vouloumanos – Backing vocals

Dave Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

Essay : Gary Marcus

ABOUT THE SONG

What would you think if I sang out of tune? I, your guest blogger, Gary Marcus, author of Guitar Zero: The New Musician and The Science of Learning, and musical novice, have wondered this many times over the last three years.

Like Ringo, I am not known for my singing abilities. Unlike Ringo, I am not a professional musician, or even close; for most of my life, in fact, I thought that the act of creating music was entirely out of my grasp. I had no sense of rhythm, and little sense of pitch. In 4th grade; I got kicked out of recorder class because I couldn’t play "Mary Had a Little Lamb". It was only my very late 30′s that I got up the nerve to try again.

For Ringo, "With a Little Help from My Friends", was a song written for him, not by him, by two of his friends, the little-known John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

In exchange for his tireless stream of tasteful yet rarely showy drumming, the boys agreed to let him have an occasional, once-an-album, go at singing.

For John and Paul, Friends was little more than work for hire; I"m not sure they expected it to become the enduring classic that it has become (#304 on The Rolling Stone all-time list). More likely, they saw it as just a little side project between more serious compositions, written and recorded in a day or two, in March 1967, just before they posed for the album cover of Sergeant Pepper.

Ringo, though, was worried, from the very start. Especially because in the original version, the lyric that followed "What would you think if I sang of tune?" was not "Would you walk out on me?", but something more Vaudevillian, sure to bring a laugh, but at Ringo’s expense: "Would you throw tomatoes at me?"

Fearing that Beatles fans might do just that, every time he sang the song, Ringo wisely insisted on a line change. Even so, he barely got through the song; the song’s last note was a bit too high for him, higher than he had ever recorded before. Ringo needed considerable coaching, and help from his friends, to make it through.

Luckily for Ringo, The Beatles never actually played this song live.

Unluckily for the world, I did. Tone deaf and clueless, and accompanied by 5 of my best musical friends, Jessie Murphy, Amy Schildige, Marcia Webb, Kat Bryant, and Roger Greenawalt "With A Little Help From My Friends" became my first — and thus far only — singing performance before a live, paying audience.

That live performance appears, sadly, to have been lost in the mists of time, but Kat and another terrific set of friends and colleagues, listed above, joined me in the studio.

To say I couldn’t have done it without them is a giant understatement.

Joe Cocker I ain’t, but this cover comes from the heart, and I hope you enjoy it.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Gary Marcus is an award-winning professor of psychology and director of the NYU Center for Language And Music (CLAM), where he studies evolution, language, and cognitive development. He has written four books about the origins and development of mind and brain, is the editor of the The Norton Psychology Reader and is the author of numerous science publications in leading journals, such as Science, and Nature. Kluge: The Haphazard Evolution of The Human Mind was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. His new book, Guitar Zero: The New Musician and The Science of Learning, one of 20 non-fiction books to watch for in 2012, will be published by The Penguin Press on January 23.

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156 – Little Child – Faiyaz Jafri

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:01:08 +0000

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156 – Little Child – Faiyaz Jafri

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

Original version recorded 11–12 September and 3 October 1963

Ukulele version recorded January 6 2012

Faiyaz Jafri: Vocal

David Barratt Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Video Directed by Faiyaz Jafri

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Little Child is the 5th song from side one of "With The Beatles”.

Little Child is also the 5th song on side one of that album that happens to be in the key of “E”.

I may be wrong but I can’t think of any album that opens with five songs in the same key.

Odd.

The recording of “Little Child” is odd also. Is there an earlier recording that has a solo panning from right to left and back again. I believe EMI/Abbey Road engineer Norman Smith was responsible for this as none of The Beatles were allowed to touch the hallowed mixing desk at this point in their career. Even on one of the most trite of their recordings The Beatles made a breakthrough.

McCartney himself is quoted as calling it filler, but from an anthropological standpoint “Little Child” is an interesting lens to view mid-20th Century popular culture though. It has often been criticized for being sexist or even pedophiliac because of lyrics like:

Little child, won’t you dance with me?

I’m so sad and lonely

Baby take a chance with me

If you want someone

To make you feel so fine

Then we’ll have some fun

When you’re mine, all mine

So come, come on, come on

In my opinion “Little Child” is not really about sex per-se but more about unconscious European attitudes to race.

John and Paul were aping a tradition in blues music of using names like – “baby”, “honey pie”, “daddy”, “mama” and “child” as a reference for a lover.

These were terms that came into use during “The Jazz Age”. No one in Britain would have used such terms before World War 2.

John and Paul were copying songs by Big Joe Turner, Big Mama Thornton, Little Richard.and dozens of others. It wasn’t consciously racist but it was appropriating another culture and putting into a completely different context.

The Beatles came from one corner of The Golden Triangle of 16th, 17th and 18th century slavery. Slaves were taken from the west coast of Africa to The Americas where they were forced to pick cotton in the southern states. That cotton was then then shipped back to the birthplace of The Beatles – Liverpool – where it was sold to mills in greater Lancashire to make clothing for the rest of Europe. The money from those sales was used in part to buy more slaves from Africa to pick more cotton… and so it goes.

But cotton and slaves and money were not the only things exchanged. Pretty soon European concepts of Christianity were taken up by the slaves, and in their churches by mixing European and African harmonies The Blues was born. Long after slavery was abolished the trade routes were still being used for consumer goods. Liverpool was still the major port for goods that came from The Americas and one of those goods were American “Race Records” – other wise known as The Blues. Those records featured artists like Screaming Jay Hawkins who John and Paul were deeply influenced by.

“Little Child” is part of that complicated conversation created by slavery.

This conversation continues today when white British “Yoof” talk in Yardy accents. When I listen to Dub-step artists like Stenchman sing/toast in faux Jamaican patois I am reminded of this record. There is a romanticism of racial oppression that European youth often embrace. I’m not sure why they do it but they do.

Faiyaz Jafri’s ukulele mixes the darker side of the lyric with his trademark vision of neo-archetypes. Obviously Kubrick’s “The Shining”, De Palma’s “Carrie” and “Sisters”, sex and violence and emotionally immature adolescents as well as the ambiguity of eroticism voiced by a patriarch, played a part in the creation of this film.

His film creates more questions than answers.

Why is the little girl in a padded cell?

Why is she so angry?

Are the events solely existing in her head?

Who’s blood is this?

Politically correct?

Probably not.

Enjoy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Faiyaz Jafri is a New York based artist and award winning filmmaker born and raised in rural Holland of Dutch and Pakistani decent. Jafri explores Jungian archetypes in the modern world. In addition he searches for neo-archetypes in mass media and global popular culture.

His work has an almost clinically engineered feel to it without becoming cold or soulless. It is this contrast between unnatural perfection and the fact that his work conveys a strong emotion that makes his work at times haunting but always strangely human.

His work has been exhibited in the form of film, print, video installations and life size sculptures in New York, Berlin, Taipei, Songzhuang, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, and Turin. More on Jafri and his work can be found on his site bam-b.com and his blog.

Filmography

2012 Little Child

2011 Professional driver on a closed circuit.

2011 NDS

2011 Hello Bambi

2010 Casulaties of Love

2010 Natural Plastic

2005 POPone

2003 MusicBox

2002 Helen of Troy

2002 Déjeuner

2001 Violence a Surrogate for Sex

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155 – I Feel Fine – Casey MacGill

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:01:07 +0000

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155 – I Feel Fine – Casey MacGill

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

Original version recorded October 18 1964

Ukulele version recorded December 13 2011

Casey MacGill- lead and backing vocals, ukulele, cornet

Orville Johnson – dobro, mandolin, washboard, sound effects, backing vocals

Matt Weiner- acoustic bass

Recorded and mixed at The SunRoom by Orville Johnson

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

Essay Bill Clift

ABOUT THE SONG

It was always about that intro. Yes, there’s been claims and counter claims over the years regarding who was and wasn’t the first to use feedback live or on record but, to my green ears, it was the weirdest, most wonderful thing I’d ever heard. I suppose it seems pretty tame nowadays. That type of sound is a familiar one in the landscape of modern music used, passionately, angrily, joyously and ever more loudly by Townsend, Hendrix et al. I still remember hearing though, as a nine year old Beatles fan, one cold floodlit* night on the terraces of Priestfield Stadium (home to the mighty Gillingham Football Club) through proper speakers, loud enough to shake the stands, to spill over and echo around surrounding streets and houses, that strange and eeriest of sounds- feedback from a guitar! Such a feeling of exhilaration. I remember wanting to run up and down the steps of the half deserted Rainham End, which I did, in a state of real excitement, buoyed up by the sound of that intro, much more interested in the music than I had been in the drab footballing display of the previous forty-five long minutes. Two or three seconds of utter joy followed by as perfect a pop-song you’re ever likely to hear, I (really did) Feel Fine.

That intro, in case you didn’t already know, was a happy accident of the Lennon variety when he leaned his guitar against his amp speaker without turning the volume down. With the guitar pickups facing the amp it created this ‘Nnnnnwaaahhh’ noise. They combined it with an A from McCartney’s bass and, voila, that famous catchy sounding intro.

What I like about the rest of the song is its sparse simplicity. What we’re listening to is a classic four-piece pop group, two guitars, bass and drums, given even more space because, instead of a more usual strumming rhythm guitar, John plays the main riff throughout the song which George basically doubles**. Paul’s bass line is simplicity itself and this allows Ringo’s latin laced rhythm and blues drumming to give the song its main drive***. The verse and tag-line is a pretty standard 12 bar blues format but they manage to Beatle it up with a lovely middle-eight, full of unexpected chord changes and rich backing vocals from Paul and George. I love Lennon’s vocal on this one. Effortless, almost lazy, never mind the dozy ‘things’, ‘diamond rings’ lyric, he manages to sell this simplest of packages with a relaxed yet boastful passion.

Years after that gleeful listen at the Gill’s game I used the song’s title in a song of my own, ‘Sake of a Dream’:

“ And a drunk takes her time over each glass of wine

She plays ‘I Feel Fine’ on the jukebox.

But one look in her eyes and you know she’s telling lies

For the sake of a dream she no longer believes.”

See what I did there? Clever old stick, eh? Apart from its very convenient rhyme it seemed a fantastic choice with which to expose the woman’s loneliness and sadness because the song really is the opposite of that, such a happy, vibrant piece of music. Still makes me want to tear around the Rainham end to this day.

*Floodlights erected in 1963 at a cost of £40,000.

**The riff was influenced by a record called ‘Watch You Step’ by Bobby Parker.

***The drum part was what the Beatles used to refer to as a ‘What’d I Say rhythm’, a groove used on that Ray Charles song by his drummer, Milt Turner.

The Ukulele version performed by Casey MacGill is unreservedly tied to the spirit of the original. Notice how Casey and producer Orville Johnson recreate the feedback of the original with acoustic instrumentation. Casey’s music is deeply rooted in a mythical-America where joy can be found no matter what the circumstances of one’s life.

Although the groove is totally different, this one swinging like a mother, its jaunty naughtiness completely gets the well-being and happiness we’re meant to feel.

I defy you not to grin and bop listening to this red-hot thang.

Nice one Casey.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Casey has played the ukulele since receiving one as a Christmas gift in 1957. He also plays piano and cornet, performing with Orville and with his band the Blue4Trio. The ukulele has accompanied him on the street in the late 1960s, the Gong Show, the movie Frances, and the Broadway show Swing. Next up, a collection of hapa-haole tunes from the 1930s with Orville on Hawaiian steel guitar! Find more details at http://www.caseymacgill.com and http://www.blue4trio.com

Orville is a Seattle based musician, writer, recordist, and bon vivant. His seminal Beatles experience was standing in front of a mirror strumming a broom like a guitar and trying to bounce at the knees like John Lennon after witnessing the Fab Four on the Ed Sullivan show. Follow his adventures and find more info about his own CDs and instructional DVDs at http://www.orvillejohnson.com

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154 – The Long And Winding Road – Jessica Lee Morgan

admin — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:05:52 +0000

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154 – Long And Winding Road – Jessica Lee Morgan

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

Original version – January 26 1969

Ukulele version – December 1 – 23, 2011

Jessica Lee Morgan – Vocals and ukulele

Nathan MacCormack – Cello

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by: David Barratt, Jessica Lee Morgan and Christian Thomas at The Abattoir of Good Taste, Manhattan and Space Studios, Cardiff, UK

Vocals recorded by Christian Thomas

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Paul knew the game was up with The Beatles during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, he probably realized it when Yoko became an ever present addition to their recording sessions during The White Album. It was then that Paul came up with the germ of the idea that became The Long and Winding Road. It is a complicated love song that was at the source of as much pain as it describes in it’s heart rendering lyric.

The opening melody repeats throughout the piece but there is no real chorus. The genius of this song is its ambiguity. You can never tell if the song is at the beginning, middle or end. The lyric describes a thwarted love that the protagonist will not give up upon. The outcome of this relationship is still in the balance but it is not looking good.

It is a love song from Paul to John.

Paul knew that he would never give up on John but he also knew that their relationship, both as musicians and as friends, was disintegrating. There is a profound sense of loss and faith invoked by the way the music and lyric combine. This is masterful songwriting that it literally timeless.

If you listen to “The Long And Winding Road” while reading the lyric I am sure that someone close to you will come to mind. It could be a parent, a sibling, a lover or a friend. A slightly flawed relationship that you can not escape. Again and again we find in a Beatles song how the deeply personal becomes the universal and this song is one of the best.

Paul knew that he would never escape John. There is a powerful mix of pain, joy, frustration, hope and acceptance in this piece that still moves me in a profound way. John has now been dead for 30 years but still the long and winding road that Paul treads still leads to John’s door. In nearly every interview that Paul does today the shadow of John is not far away but I feel that there is little resentment from Paul about that.

Such is the price of love.

So.. to the recording…

Several questions arise from the recording and re-recording of this song.

1. Did John play bass badly on the song deliberately to screw up the song?

2. Did the rest of the Beatles employ Phil Spector to to piss off Paul?

3. Is the Spector version superior or inferior to the original or the “Let It Be Naked” version?

The answers are:

1. Probably not – John was so fucked up at this point he made the mistakes unconsciously.

2. Probably but Mr Spector was, and maybe still is, a genius so the jury is still out on that one.

3. More difficult to answer…

The Phil Spector version was the 20th and last number-one song in the United States on 23 May 1970, and was the last single released by the quartet. While that version of the song was very successful, the new arrangement by producer Spector angered McCartney to the point that when he made his case in court for breaking up The Beatles as a legal entity, McCartney cited the treatment of "The Long and Winding Road" as one of the reasons for doing so.

Spector may be a murderer but he did not murder this song.

His overblown approach (18 violins, four violas, four cellos, three trumpets, three trombones, two guitars, and a choir of 14 women) may seem excessive but the effect is grand and sentimental. Two things that Paul has been very comfortable in many of his works. That is not to say that the McCartney arrangement on the “Let It Be Naked” is not great. They both work and I’m glad we have them both to enjoy.

One thing I do like is like Spector’s attitude to Paul’s criticism of his production:

"Paul had no problem picking up the Academy Award for the Let It Be movie soundtrack, nor did he have any problem in using my arrangement of the string and horn and choir parts when he performed it during 25 years of touring on his own. If Paul wants to get into a pissing contest about it, he’s got me mixed up with someone who gives a shit."

I agree with Ringo’s take on the two versions, when Let It Be Naked came out in 2008 he was quoted as saying:

"There’s nothing wrong with Phil’s strings, this is just a different attitude to listening. But it’s been 30-odd years since I’ve heard it without all that and it just blew me away."

The Ukulele version recorded by Jessica Lee Morgan is a haunting affair. The strings and ukulele parts echo Phillip Glass. The sentimentality of the original Spector and McCartney versions are left behind and we are left with the bare bones of the song. This long and winding road is a lonely one.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jessica Lee Morgan is a singer and songwriter with Welsh/Italian blood and music in her genes. She has followed a long and winding road through life and only recently released her first album “I Am Not”. She thinks in harmony, writes from the heart and lets the songs find their own sound, with often unexpected results. Never averse to reinterpreting a cover, she also loves singing songs by Queen, Bowie and of course the Fab Four.

Jessica upholds two family traditions of The Beatles and Ukulele: mother Mary Hopkin was the first signing to Apple Records, father Tony Visconti cites his sole musical influences as The Beatles and Beethoven and gave Jessica her first uke, and brother Morgan Visconti contributed his cover of “Think For Yourself” to this very project. After rebelling by working the nine to five, she now works closely with her family in various guises including label head, session singer and archivist.

When not singing and writing, she runs a recording company, Space Studios, in the UK with her partner Christian Thomas, and would like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.

www.jessicaleemorgan.com

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153 – One After 909 – Cav Manning

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:30:00 +0000

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153 – One After 909 – Cav Manning

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

Original Version recorded January 30th 1969

Ukulele version recorded December 2nd 2011

Cav Manning – Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

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

Written by John Lennon and or Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon and McCartney

Essay – Sgt. Hank Semoiina

ABOUT THE SONG

"One After 909" was either written by John Lennon with a little help from Paul McCartney (according to John), or, half and half by the two (according to Paul). Either way, it isn’t surprising that memories have blurred because the song is the product of John and Paul at the start of their songwriting career, say 1957 or so, when their lyrics were still derivative and their finished songs were, well, er, derivative too.

And so a 15 year-ish old Paul McCartney sat down with a 16 year-ish old John Lennon, and according to Paul, they decided to try their hand at a traditional blues-train song like "Rock Island Line" (which had just been recorded by Lonnie Donnegan), "Freight Train," or "Midnight Special." The song they came up with is, to be blunt, pretty rudimentary, the lyrics repetitive and formulaic, and the theme hackneyed — but why shouldn’t they be?

This was not yet Great Beatles Art, this was a couple of teenage boys cutting up in a living room while cutting school for the day. It was just good boy-fun, a neat writing exercise for two young kids that would later shake the world, but at present hadn’t done much except smoke a lot of ciggies and nicked coins from their parent’s dressers. "Hey, let’s write a freight song!" "OK, is your Aunt home? Let’s go to yours!"" Even Paul, in his most self-important later moments, never tried to turn the result — "909" — into Beatles Great Art. He just shrugs and says: "It’s not a great song but it’s a great favorite of mine because it has great memories for me of John and I trying to write a bluesy freight song."

Everything about the song is simple. The lyrics include moon/June pairings that would make Irving Berlin blush: "Move over once, move over twice/come on baby, don’t be cold as ice." Even the parallel third harmony that Paul came up with is straight Everly Brothers (similar to their equally early effort "In Spite of All The Danger."). And yet, this dumb little song — this songwriting exercise by two wet-behind-the-ears kids — wouldn’t die. It kept coming back, over and over.

First, one can find on the Internet (and Anthology) a 1960 recording of the song by the Quarrymen, i.e., Paul, John and George on unplugged guitars, in someone’s living room, probably John’s. It sounds amazingly like the version The Beatles released 10 years later, but there are some fascinating glimpses into the evolution of the band in this version. Paul and John are already locking in vocally better than most humans could ever hope to, but unlike their later work, sometimes they fail to match each other exactly. It’s a tribute to their vocal blending that you listen to this version and the most you can say is "Wait — that harmony line wasn’t perfect! Gotcha, Beatles!" But it isn’t a fair comparison — they weren’t Beatles yet.

The next recording of this song is from March 5, 1963, when they were firmly Beatles. The soon-to-explode group, which had not yet conquered America (was there ever such a time?) had just finished the historic 585 minute-recording of their seminal "Please Please Me" album, and now, a few weeks later, they were in the studio looking to record a single. They recorded "From Me To You," "Thank You Girl" and, to kill left over time, "One After 909." This version of "909" was completely revamped — it was slowed down from the frenetic "Ooom-PAH Ooom-PAH" rhythm of the 1960 version, and sung with a swagger and confidence (and flawless vocal blending) that let you know that this was indeed the Beatles, and not Your Father’s Quarrymen. But poor George, the late bloomer, played the stinkiest solo on this version. In the beginning, before he grew up, George could come out with charmingly awkward, jerky leads ("I Saw Her Standing There" being a prime example) but also, pure teenage finger-fumbling as well. The version from this day is an exercise in the latter. It’s so bad, the solo, that it’s laughable, prompting John to ask George incredulously after the take: "What kind of solo was THAT?"

Fast forward six years: The Beatles, exhausted, have blown the world’s mind with Sergeant Pepper and each other’s patience with The White Album. Paul is chirping away to a completely disinterested John and company, saying "come on, let’s put on a show!" Nobody cares. Paul says "let’s make a movie!" Nobody cares, even more. To quiet Paul down, they all shuffle, desultorily, to Twickenham Studios, where George gets shocked by microphones, John stares into space and chews gum (and Yoko), and Paul gesticulates wildly with his beard and upper body, trying to get someone — anyone — to do something rocking.

Somehow, in the middle of this disaster, someone starts playing "One After 909." It makes sense, because to the extent anyone is paying attention, the theme of the day is "Get Back" to "The Beatles As Nature Intended." "909" is that. It is not fancy, it is not clever, it is just a dumb little rocker.

Soon, because after all, we are talking about The Beatles, the song is in good — no, excellent — shape. And it isn’t the 1963 version, it is the Quarrymen one from the way back machine, from John’s living room, all those years ago. AND IT ROCKS! Billy Preston adds funky keyboards all over the place. John and Paul are inseparably in each other’s vocal pockets, as they have been for years by this time. And George? Well, George plays a solo and guitar licks that blow the roof off — literally. They are all on the roof, in fact, wearing their wives’ coats (Ringo looks gloriously incongruous in red vinyl), and they are rocking out. It is pure joy to watch. Nobody is sniping at anyone; the lawsuits have not begun; Yoko hasn’t yet invaded Mars. And when you look carefully, at least at Paul, you see that he means it — he is playing and singing with the joy and energy of the same 15 year old that either wrote this song, or helped write this song, or whatever it is…..

But what is it now?

Can the ukulele transcend time & space?

Today’s 15 year olds, the great grandchildren of the fathers of 909, now make Dubstep. The Great Cav reinterprets the song in a style that alludes to 1950’s America, 1960’s England 1970’s Jamaica and 21st Century Planet Earth.

It rocks and rolls and skanks and shanks. It is timely and timeless and still the singer can’t find that train.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ok heres info.

Key stuff.

Cav from the roots rebel rousers DOUBLE-05. Dubversive. Nattytude. Superphonic.

Bass desires.

Born Norf Londinium.

A Tottenham man to the core.

Child of Jamaicans. Adopted by Brooklyn. Resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Quotes " I’m glad my Roots are showing !"

" Give skanks and praise"

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152 – Happiness Is A Warm Gun – Dave Foster

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:22:16 +0000

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152 – Happiness Is A Warm Gun – Dave Foster

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

Original Version recorded September 24-25 1969

Ukulele version recorded November 19 2011

Dave Foster – Vocals, ukulele

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, NYC from original recording by Dave Foster

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon and McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

One of the things I love about this and many other John Lennon lyrics, is that the more obscure Lennon tries to be the more transparent he becomes. On first listening this sounds like totally random sets of words and sounds that have little relation to one another. What he gives us is list of his obsessions one after another.

Verse 1: Yoko

Verse 2: British sexual repression – ironically the song was banned by the BBC for sexual symbolism. They thought the gun was a phallic symbol.

“I need a fix” section – Heroin (which he was using regally at this point)

“Mother Superior jumped the gun” – violence and religion which both played a large part of his youth and fascinated him his whole life.

“When I hold you in my arms, And when I feel my finger on your trigger, I know nobody can do me no harm

Happiness is a warm gun” – This is the mantra of anyone who has taken heroin. The illusion is that nothing can ever do you any harm. The irony is the drug that is making you feel that way is the the very thing that is doing you harm.

According to Lennon, the title came from the cover of a gun magazine that producer George Martin showed him:

Lennon: I think he showed me a cover of a magazine that said ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun. It was a gun magazine. I just thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you just shot something."

The reference, whether or not intermediately from the magazine, was one of many 1960s riffs on Charles M. Schulz’s culturally popular saying, Happiness is a Warm Puppy, which began in the Peanuts comic strip and became a widely sold book.

The song is intensely fragmented due to John’s technique of sticking the part of one song into another. This is it’s structure:

 She’s not a girl who misses much…

(0:00-0:14): 4 bars of 4/4.

She’s well acquainted with the velvet touch…

(0:14-0:45): 1 bar of 4/4 1 bar of 2/4 5 bars of 4/4 1 bar of 5/4 1 bar of 4/4. 

I need a fix cos I’m goin’ down…

(0:45-1:13): twice through a 3 bars/4 bars/4 bars series of 3/8 (i.e. 22 bars of 3/8). 

Mother superior, jump the gun… (1:13-1:35):

thrice through a bar each of 9/8 and 10/8. 

Happiness is a warm gun… (1:35-2:43): 4 bars of 4/4 3 bars of 12/8 (with the drums doing 4 bars of 4/4 and 1 bar of 2/4!) 5 bars of 4/4 (the final bar entering free time) 1 bar of 2/4 (in free time) 5 bars of 4/4

The final Doo-Wop chorus of this song has the exact same chord progression as "This Boy," just in a different key.

This was Paul’s favorite John song on the White Album. The multiple tunes, themes, textures I think influenced Paul’s later pieces ‘Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey’, ‘Band On The Run’ and ‘Venus And Mars’.

The version brought to us by Dave Foster’s proves that if you mix sexual repression, violence, heroin but add a ukulele you get HAPPINESS!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Dave Foster should not be confused with David Foster (producer of Michael Bublé and Celine Dion).

Dave Foster was born the same year “Revolver” came out and has been a lifelong Beatle-fan as long as he can remember. He taught himself to play guitar on a broken nylon string guitar (he played el kabong on one too many times) one Beatle song at a time from The Beatles Complete Songbook. He formed the original band Bubble in 1994. They put out an EP with a Lennon-esque version of “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka in 1996 and followed that in 2000 with a critically lauded full-length CD produced by Fred Smith (of Television).

In 2005 Bubble were asked to perform a classic album at Arlene Grocery and they chose ”Revolver” (of course). After that they went on to cover many other Beatle albums faithfully including “Sgt Pepper” and “Abbey Road” to family audiences at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, BAM and other venues.

This year Bubble plan on recording a new original album as well as re-release their 2009 album “Seconds”.

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151 – It’s All Too Much – Laura Dayan

admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 05:01:05 +0000

151 – It’s All Too Much – Laura Dayan

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

Original Version recorded May/June1967

Ukulele version recorded November 18 2011

Laura Dayan – Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written by and credited to George Harrison

Essay Dave Foster

ABOUT THE SONG

“It’s All Too Much” was George Harrison’s full out psychedelic jam, featuring the best feedback intros of the entire Fab Four catalog (played by Lennon…who also provided the excellent feedback intro to “I Feel Fine”) and clocking in at just under 7 minutes…just behind “Hey Jude” as their longest pop tune.

LSD and psychedelia were in full swing in 1967 in the world of the Fab Four. Paul McCartney and John Lennon both chose to look back on the innocence of their childhoods through the lens of lysergic and paint sonic pictures of Technicolor landscapes (blue suburban skies and kaleidoscope eyes), but continuing on his spiritual journey George Harrison looked within. Having abandoned the guitar and immersed himself in Indian music, Harrison pulls the single chord drone of the Eastern world into the psychedelic rock world with loud guitars. George is actually playing the Hammond…John and Paul are the ones rocking out.

Lyrically, the tune shows off George’s spiritual realizations under the influence of LSD while also being a little critical that culture, much like “Day Tripper”.

“Sail me on a silver sun for I know that I’m free.

Show me that I’m everywhere and get me home for tea”

George said “I just wanted to write a rock ‘n’ roll song about the whole psychedelic thing of the time. Because you’d trip out, you see, on all this stuff, and then whoops! you’d just be back having your evening cup of tea!”

The lyrics showcase both sides of the Quiet Beatle…the soul-searching mystic and the wisecracking cynic, each side balancing the other out, typified in lines like:

“It’s all too much for me to take

The love that’s shining all around here

All the world’s a birthday cake,

So take a piece but not too much”

The song, like many Fab tunes from this era, contains a snippet of another tune within it, in this case the line “with your long blond hair and your eyes of blue” from the Merseybeats’ 1966 single “Sorrow” as well as all the other trappings of Beatle psychedelic arrangements – random percussion, backwards sounds, extended outro with horn section riffing.

Though not considered a masterwork in the Beatles cannon (or even Harrison’s), the tune is a major part of the “Yellow Submarine” soundtrack, and figures prominently in the film’s climax as one of it’s most trippy visual set pieces and for a film that pretty much consists exclusively of them, that’s saying something.

Taken in the context of the movie, the song is very powerful, providing audience with a real jump out of the seats and dance moment. This essayist personally witnessed both audience and theater usher do just that at a 1999 screening.

Of course by 1968 when the movie and song were actually released, George had abandoned acid in favor of meditation and he was making his guitar gently weep once more.

While the original version of the song may have been "too much", the ukulele version is "just right".

It sounds like the version Harrison himself may have recorded had he been under the influence of meditation and not drugs. With a backing evoking the simple shimmer of Harrison acoustic work, Argentine songstress Laura Dayan helps keep the song from floating into the sky like the acid drenched original.

Like the demo for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", it’s very easy to hear the beauty of Harrison’s lyrics and melodies in the more acoustic setting of this great version of this psychedelic gem.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Laura Dayan is an Argentinian artist based in Brooklyn for the past two years.

She has performed in great venues in Argentina, Uruguay, Panama, Spain, France, New York, London, to name a few.

In 2004 Dayan won a huge competition in Buenos Aires and she and her band at the time were taken to play at The Cavern, the mythical pub in Liverpool where The Beatles started.

With the same band, Inclan Funk, she toured for more than 8 years, performing at the most exclusive places in Argentina and the countries mentioned before. They also played at important festivals like Pepsi Music Festival and the Sumar Music Festival (the biggest music festival in Argentina).

She also had the opportunity to share the stage with amazing internacional talent musicions like Jojo Mayer, Clark Gayton, Gabriel Gordon, Jonhatan Levy, the guys of "Brazilian girls" band, Avishai Cohen, Ilhan Erzahin, Oscar Giunta, etc…

In 2011 she recorded her first solo album, N.E.N.A, and it is now promoting it all around EEUU.

Laura Dayan is delighted to be part of this project and to be able to perform this beautiful song of one of her favorite bands.

Her gratitude is endless, after all "is all too much".

For more information about Laura Dayan:

www.soundcloud/lauradayan

www.myspace.com/Lauradayan

www.youtube.com/lauradayan

www.facebook.com/lauradayan

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150 – I Need You – Ukulele Ray

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:01:58 +0000

150 – I Need You – Ukulele Ray

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

Original version – February 15 – 16 1965

Ukulele version – November 15, 2011

Ukulele Ray – Ukulele & Lead Vocal:

Joe Rosignolo – Lead Ukulele, Bass & Back-up Vocals

Jack Nathan – Congas & Percussion

Bob Harkleroad – Lap Steel Slide Guitar

Rockn’ Rolivia – Tambourine

Ross Margolin – Additional Percussion

Produced by: Ukulele Ray & Joe Rosignolo at 2656 State Street Studios, Carlsbad, CA – November 15, 2011

Written and credited to George Harrison

ABOUT THE SONG

Need is such a strange thing.

Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency in “need” would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death. My old mate Abraham Maslow came up with his own hierarchy of needs in 1943 which has become the standard way to describe human need over the last 50 years or so. I’m very fond of Abraham. He stressed the importance of focusing on the positive qualities in people, as opposed to treating them as a ‘bag of symptoms”, which was common practice in psychology during the 40’s – 60’s.

George Harrison wrote “I Need You” for a very young and impressionable Pattie Boyd with whom he was smitten. I’m sure neither George or Patti believed that George needed Pattie in a Maslowian sense. He could have just about all his needs filled from other sources but he took a shine to Pattie and so the song was born.

George took this song and rewrote it in a much more realistic way a couple of years later as “If I Needed Someone” which took the simplistic idea of need to a higher level.

“Carve your number on my wall

And maybe you will get a call from me

If I needed someone”

The ukulele version features the unique talent that is Ukulele Ray. Ray builds ukuleles out of soup cans and lunch boxes. He sings, he plays, he writes books, he tells jokes.

Check him out…

enjoy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ukulele Ray is a San Francisco-born native, going from street musician/vendor to worldwide prominence by creating a ukulele out of a Campbell’s Soup can (The Warhol Soup-A-Lele) and inventing the "Lunchbox-A-Lele," (a ukulele/lunchbox… suitable for playing and carrying your sandwich and music book) followed by appearances on numerous International, national and local TV, radio, Internet news programs and talkshows. His eclectic pieces have been featured and displayed the world-over in numerous art gallery and museum exhibits.

Of Portuguese decent and family originating from Hawaii, Ray began playing uke at the age of four and became a musicical innovator by integrating ukulele as a lead instrument into mainstream music in a variety of genres. His discography includes hundreds of singles and 13 albums. Making music and ukulele history, Ray became Fender Musical Instruments’ first ukulele artist in 2009 and is author of the Hal Leonard book, "Ukulele for Guitar Players."

Touring with his band since 2006, with concerts, shows and appearances, Ray starred in his own Las Vegas musical-comedy revue, "UKAPALOOZA," at the Las Vegas Rocks Café and is now in production with his original children’s cooking TV show, "Kids ‘R Cookin," featuring his music, comedy, cooking and Lunchbox-A-Leles.

You can see the making of “I Need You” at http://youtu.be/UFYt4sSC9cI

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149 – Her Majesty – Jon Albrink

admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:02:01 +0000

149 – Her Majesty – Jon Albrink

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

Original version – July 2 1969

Ukulele version – November 12 2011

Jon Albrink: Vocals, guitar

John Benthal : Ukulele

Recorded at Live at Rockwood Music Hall NYC on The Abattoir iPhone.

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Photo Judy Schiller

ABOUT THE SONG

There is nothing wrong with “Her Majesty” per se. Lovely melody, witty lyrics, interesting chord structure that references the past while being firmly in the present. Admittedly it does bear a strong resemblance to the Robert Johnson song “They’re Red Hot” – they are similar, but I doubt McCartney consciously stole from the great bluesman.

The Beatles simply should not have had this song at the end. It just doesn’t fit. They should have put "The End" at the end of Abbey Road. It just embodies all The Beatles stand for, especially the last line "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"

To have McCartney take over after the end does him, or the record no favors.

The song was originally placed between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam"; McCartney decided that the sequence did not work and the song was edited out of the medley by Abbey Road Studios tape operator John Kurlander. He was instructed by McCartney to destroy the tape, but EMI policy stated that no Beatles recording was ever to be destroyed. The fourteen seconds of silence between "The End" and "Her Majesty" are the result of Kurlander’s lead out tape added to separate the song from the rest of the recording.

The loud chord that occurs at the beginning of the song is the ending, as recorded, of "Mean Mr. Mustard". "Her Majesty" ends abruptly because its own final note was left at the beginning of "Polythene Pam". Paul applauded Kurlander’s "surprise effect" and the track became the unintended closer to the LP.

The ukulele version features an extended lyric by balladeer Jon Albrink. His version was recorded live at Rockwood Music Hall with John Benthal on ukulele

Her Majesty

Her majesty’s pretty and all

but she hasn’t got a lick of sense

Her majesty’s pretty and all

but she’s actually kind of dense

I tried to take her for a walk in the woods

but we couldn’t see the forest for the trees

Her majesty’s pretty and all

That’s why I’m begging on my knees, oh yeah

that’s why I’m begging on my knees

Her majesty’s got a nice shape

But her sweater’s getting in the way

Her majesty’s got a nice shape

That’s why a guy’s gotta pray

I tried to get her in the back of my car

but my buddy wouldn’t give me back the keys

Her majesty’s got a good shape

Some day I’ll see her in the breeze, oh yeah

some day I’ll see her in the breeze

Oh your majesty, oh your majesty, oh your majesty, oh

Oh your majesty, oh your majesty, vo de oh de oh doh

I tried to get in line for a ticket to ride

But it rained so I went and hid my head

Your majesty, oh your majesty

Guess we’ll have to stay in bed, oh yeah

Guess we’ll have to stay in bed

Her majesty’s a pretty nice girl

but she hasn’t got a lot to say

her majesty’s a pretty nice girl

but she changes from day to day

I want to tell her that I love her a lot

But I gotta get a belly full of wine

her majesty’s a pretty nice girl

some day I’m gonna make her mine, oh yeah

Some day I’m gonna make her mine

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jon Albrink is a New York City based singer/songwriter. His two CDs of original songs, “Shimmer and Thrum” and “Private Moon,” have garnered praise for their “haunting melodies and arrangements”… “beautiful, soulful, intelligent music”…”perfect lyrics.” Jon has collaborated on songs withPeter Valentine, Jeff Franzel, Nikki Gregoroff, Amanda Homi, Phil Galdston and Danielia Cotton, among others. He performs regularly as a solo artist and with Amanda Homi’s “Drumgirl” band.

Jon’s vocal performance is also featured on the recently released “Rosler’s Recording Booth” on the Don Rosler song “Pretty as Ever.”

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148 – Blue Jay Way – Still Above Ground

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:01:23 +0000

148 – Blue Jay Way – Still Above Ground

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

Original version – September 6 1967

Ukulele version – November 2011

Ron Chadwick- Lead vocals, backing vocals, ukulele and bass.

Bryn Burrows- Drums, organ, backing vocals.

Recorded at SAG Studios, Whitstable, Kent, UK. November 2011.

Written and credited to George Harrison

ABOUT THE SONG

Los Angeles is exactly the same as Whitstable.

Or at least it was for George Harrison in the summer of 1967.

George was living at a rented house at 1567 Blue Jay Way during August 1967. The home affords panoramic views of Hollywood and much of the Los Angeles Basin. It is reached from downtown Los Angeles via a complicated route, difficult to navigate on a foggy night — thus creating the backdrop for the opening lines of the song:

"There’s a fog upon LA, and my friends have lost their way."

The foggy atmosphere and texture created by the special recording effects define the song, for some; they certainly represent the most fully developed aspect of it.

Harrison’s stay in the house was arranged by Brian Epstein, who called The Beatles’ attorney Robert Fitzpatrick to enquire whether a house could be leased. Fitzpatrick persuaded the owner of the house, another entertainment attorney named Ludwig Gerber, to lend Harrison his LA residence.

Ludwig Gerber was a former US Army colonel who had managed Peggy Lee for many years. He was also a film producer and lawyer. In his house there was a Hammond S-6 organ. His grandfather George Gerber was Mayor of Whitstable in 1868.

Co-incidence?

The Ukulele version was created by revolutionary performance artists “Still Above Ground” (Bryn Burrows and Ron Chadwick). In a very complex and time consuming piece they rebuilt an exact replica of George Harrison’s LA house (1567 Blue Jay Way) on The Thames Estuary (see pic) and made a recording using instruments stolen from Abbey Road Studio.

Dressed as repair men they entered the studio claiming they had been employed to “polish the organ”.

They removed a drum kit, some microphones and a Hammond Organ. The stolen equipment was then transported to their Whitstable mansion where they recorded the song.

The next morning exact replicas of the stolen items were delivered to Abbey Road Studios. Should you go there, look on the underside of The Leslie Cabinet and you will find the names “Bryn & Ron” inscribed in 7mm letters, embossed in gold.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Still Above Ground are Whitstable duo Bryn Burrows and Ron Chadwick. Ron’s alter ego is iconartman(www.iconartman.com), famous for his paintings of film and music icons. Bryn is a regular on the Whitstable (and beyond) music scene as drummer for The New White Trash (with Steve ‘Boltz’ Bolton).

Ron and Bryn have a musical history which goes back 30 years (to The Watusi Brothers) and has been resurrected early this year when Bryn made the move to Whitstable from Los Angeles.

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147 – I’ll Follow The Sun – Armada of Roma!

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:02:07 +0000

147 – I’ll Follow The Sun – Armada of Roma!

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

Original version – October 4th 1964

Ukulele version – November 2011

Armada – Vocal

Ashlynn Manning – Backing vocal

David Barratt – Ukulele & everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Manhattan.

Photo Nadia Itani

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

I’ll Follow The Sun was written by a 16 year old Paul McCartney in the front room of 20 Forthlin Rd, Garston, Liverpool way before anyone outside of Allerton had heard of Paul or any of the others.

Forthin Road was where Jim and Mary McCartney moved in 1955 with their 12 year old son Paul and his 11 year old brother Michael. A year later (mother) Mary died of an embolism after a mastectomy operation to stop the spread of her breast cancer.

This was the house that The Beatles made their first music. Jim had bought a piano from NEMS, Brian Epstein music shop, long before Brian became the Beatles manager. It was on that piano and with his dad’s guitar that Paul would write songs with John. About twenty songs were written in the house, including “I Saw Her Standing There” and “When I’m 64”.

Brutally suburban, with a simple design with garden front and back, 20 Forthlin Road lay in the aspirational working class bracket, people looking to build a better life after the war.

Paul had visited Forthlin Road, which had been taken over by The National Trust and turned into a museum a few years ago. He sat outside in his car but never went inside.

When asked about the experience he joked:

“Think how many psychiatric sessions I’d have to go through to prepare for that…and recover from it.”

The version of “I’ll Follow The Sun” that made it to “Beatles For Sale” is a delightful affair. It was not part of The Beatles early repertoire due to the fact that John thought it was too sappy, but when material was getting short it was dug out and polished off. For once there is no clattering tambourine messing up the upper register. Instead Ringo slaps his knees throughout.

The lyric is a cold one and, unusually for Paul, there is little tenderness:

"And now the time has come, and so, my love, I must go. And though I lose a friend, in the end you will know…"

The Ukulele Version is performed by the drummer of New York’s hottest new band ROMA!.

She too lacks tenderness. Nothing means more to Armada than the pushing rhythms of the night. She discards her lover by the side of the campfire, stealing his ukulele to perform at the rave over the hill.

Roma! will be performing their punk rock opera “The Wild Party” at The Cutting Room on December 8th, which happens to be the 31st anniversary of John Lennon’s assassination. As a tribute the band will be re-working a version of “Polythene Pam”.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Raised in the Alaskan wilderness by her father — a circus dwarf-turned-CIA agent-turned international drag sensation-turned IT director-turned canine masseur — Armada was trained to hunt and fashion her own clothes from elk hides at the tender age of five. Shortly after her eighth birthday, the prodigious Armada entered – and won – an interpretive dance contest held by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. Her prize: a full-ride scholarship to the prestigious Apex Technical School in Manhattan.

While en route to the Big Apple, Armada’s Greyhound bus was highjacked by a rogue group of Branch Davidians who felt that David Koresh had been "a messenger, not the messenger." Upon the bus’s arrival in Lubbock, Texas, the fundamentalists disposed of all hostages save Armada – whom they raised as their own.

In the eleventh month of her seventeenth year, Armada was liberated by a government raid on the Branch Davidian compound, which enabled her to pursue her original dream of claiming her first-place prize. Upon arrival in New York, Armada was greeted with the crushing news that her scholarship to the Apex Technical School had long expired. Undaunted, she took to performing her interpretive dances for change in subway stations and public parks throughout the five boroughs.

A particularly riveting number entitled "The Birthing of the Calves" caught the eye of Roma! band leader Stiletto one fateful rush hour deep within the bowels of the West Fourth Street stop. Stiletto recruited Armada on the spot to play drums in Roma!, and the two have remained blissfully on the lam ever since.

www.romalabanda.com

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146 – I Want To Tell You – Lloyd Landesman

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:01:06 +0000

146 – I Want To Tell You – Lloyd Landesman

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

Original version – June 2nd and 3rd 1966

Ukulele version – October 2011

Lloyd Landesman - Ukulele & everything else

Produced by Lloyd Landesman at Blue Steel Music

Written & Credited to George Harrison

ABOUT THE SONG

George had never been given so much freedom. And what does freedom bring? Well for George it brought a mild irritation.

There he was the runt of the litter with less obvious skills than the rest of the gang trying to find a place for himself and then all of a sudden there were some spaces on a Beatles album for not one, not two, but three of George’s own compositions.

John and Paul could see the potential of the lad, they could see how he could take up the slack, they could see that more albums could be produced in a shorter time if George was involved. Even so they could not be bothered to put much effort into his recordings. The backing vocals for this song are viciously out of tune. Ironically this contributes to the general sense of confusion that the lyric conveys.

He originally titled this song "Laxton’s Superb" and "I Don’t Know."

Here is the transcript from the studio on the day of recording.

George Martin: What are you going to call it, George?

George Harrison: I Don’t Know.

John Lennon: Granny Smith Part Friggin’ Two! You’ve never had a title for any of your songs!

“Love You To” was originally titled Granny Smith

This is one of three George "I" songs. It was almost as if he were trying to interject. Given the power of Lennon-McCartney, I suppose that’s exactly what he was doing.

Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick summed it up when he said:

"One really got the impression that George was being given a certain amount of time to do his tracks whereas the others could spend as long as they wanted. One felt under more pressure when doing one of George’s songs."

The ukulele version is a darker affair than the original. Lloyd Landesman distorts and attacks the song in a brutal manner. The arrangement reminds one of early King Crimson but the tone switches on the coda emulating the original arrangement.

Enjoy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Lloyd Landesman is a Composer/Producer/Musician whose successful career spans more than 4 decades. Throughout his career, he has worked with some of music’s most renowned artists and musicians, and has written music for commercials, TV shows, records and film.

His current project of interest is a Jazz/Fusion group called Meridian Voice.

http://meridianvoicenyc.com

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145 – All Together Now – Bill’n'Dave’n'Carl

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:01:47 +0000

145 – All Together Now – Bill’n'Dave’n'Carl

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

Original Version recorded May 12 1967
Ukulele version recorded Last Saturday night: Closing Time.

Bill: Meat Raffle Announcer

Carl : The Landlord
Dave: Pub Organ and ukulele
with
Mrs Carl: Grandma, Great Grandma,
Lissetta Stubbs: Racist granddaughter with Jamaican boyfriend
Adele : Unwanted Stripping and tuneless ranting

Harry Feeney Barratt, Gabriel Marsh, Casper Marsh & Gus Clift: Sulky teens sitting at the back of the pub texting while sending of aggressive vibes

Produced by David Barratt at The Worst Pub in Woolwich, closing time last Saturday night

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

All Together Now is a classic example of The Paul McCartney Paradox.

1. It is an inane lyrical car crash that fills out "The Yellow Submarine" sound track.

2. A hook so perfect that If you are not singing along by the 2nd chorus you probably don’t have a pulse.

Both are true. Such is the genius of Paul.

It first appeared in Yellow Submarine in 1969, as both an animated sequence and as a performance by The Beatles themselves at the end of the film. In this context it sounds very much a last-minute contribution to the soundtrack, with nursery-rhyme lyrics such as

“A, B, C, D / Can I bring my friend to tea?” … being as profound as it gets.

It was actually recorded a couple of years before, during the Magical Mystery Tour period, and may have originally been composed by McCartney for the 1967 Our World TV special that featured the band’s performance of All You Need Is Love – the international flavour of that show may be behind the use of multi-language captions in the second of the Yellow Submarine segments.

Recently it has been used not only for child-friendly covers by The Muppets but also in high-profile Ad campaigns – Andre 3000’s version for Nike in 2010 and this year’s Sprint wireless campaign.

At the other end of the cultural spectrum, 1970′s football hooligans across Europe would bounce on the terraces singing the chorus again and again until delirium ensued, then pumped up with adrenaline they beat each other to a bloody pulp.

The Ukulele Version, recorded by Bill’n'Dave’n'Carl at the worst pub in Woolwich just before closing time last Saturday Night captures a similar spirit.

You can hear the sheer joy of shouting and dancing on a pub table as it is about collapse.

The beer is flowing. Grandma, fuelled by Port & Lemon, has her teeth out and is improvising a melody based on Native American Tribal chants. Adele is getting her knickers off again. The sulky teens are at the back of the pub, heads bowed, texting their mates.

It a lovely night out.

This is an apocalyptic knees up at The End Of The World featuring some distinctly unsavoury lyrical re-writes and an invitation to a meat raffle…

Fist Of Pork, anyone?

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bill’n'Dave’n'Carl previously recorded String ‘Em Up, an aggressive and potentially libellous rant described as:

“the first electro-pub classic, a soundtrack for irrationally irritating times”.

When not at the betting shop or down the pub they translate 13th Century Italian poetry into rhyming slang.

They know you love it.

http://billanddaveandcarl.bandcamp.com/

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144 – I’m Down – Southside Johnny and The Poor Fools

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 04:01:34 +0000

144 – I’m Down – Southside Johnny and The Poor Fools

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

Original Version recorded June 14, 1965

Ukulele version recorded September 2011

Southside Johnny: Vocals & Harmonica

John Conte: Bass

Tommy Byrnes: Guitar

Jeff Kazee: Organ & Percussion

with

Ira Siegel: Ukulele

Produced by Jeff Kazee

Recorded at PlasticCountyKitchen Studio and The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Mixed in Room 16, The Old Bridge Hotel, Holmfirth, England

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

"I’m Down" was recorded at the same session as "I’ve Just Seen A Face" and "Yesterday". Three completely different genres. Three examples of the genius of Paul.

This was a day on which Paul’s versatility was displayed with astonishing prowess. Given that “I’m Down was the second song recorded that day, maybe I’m still amazed that, with only a 90 minute break for scrambled eggs and a cigarette, he was ready to tackle something as subtle and beautiful as Yesterday.

I’m Down is frantic and violent and the perfect Bside to John’s Help. Unlike Help!, however, I’m Down was clearly more joking than earnest, with lines such as "Man buys ring, woman throws it away/Same old thing happens everyday", and "We’re all alone and there’s nobody else/You still moan, ‘Keep your hands to yourself!’"

Paul described it thus:

“I could do Little Richard’s voice, which is a wild, hoarse, screaming thing, it’s like an out-of-body experience. You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it. You have to actually go outside yourself… A lot of people were fans of Little Richard so I used to sing his stuff but there came a point when I wanted one of my own, so I wrote I’m Down.”

On the bootlegs of the entire June 14th session McCartney can be heard repeating the phrase "Plastic soul, man, plastic soul". He later revealed that the phrase, which the Beatles later adapted for the title of their album Rubber Soul, was used by black musicians to describe Mick Jagger.

The backing vocals sound more like the Stones (circa "Between The Buttons" or earlier) than the Beatles. Every time Paul sings the title phrase, someone (John?) doubles him on the second word in a sustained mock baritone voice, while two other singers (one of which is definitely George and the other might even be Paul overdubbed) provide a mockingbird like commentary in response ("I’m really down" / "down on the ground").

The brutal blues ukulele version is performed by Southside Johnny and The Poor Fools. The tempo is slowed way down. The guitar and uke sound like they are rising from some polluted Jersey swamp. But it is the voice that is coming from the deepest place of all. He’s Down – really down, but I get the feeling he’s been there before and somewhere he knows this will pass into the night.

You have to have lived several lives to get to sing like that.

“Rock ‘n’ roll should be made by truck drivers from Tupelo, Mississippi, not studio musicians with an album commitment to fulfill.” – Southside Johnny

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Southside Johnny Lyon is the founder and lead singer of the legendary New Jersey band "Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes". While the Asbury Jukes are known for their powerful and often epic stage shows, Lyon has recorded over fifteen studio albums–with material written by Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, Tom Waites, Issac Hayes, himself and others–each delivered in his own inimitable style. Southside’s latest album is "Pills & Ammo" (Leroy Records).

Often found fronting a band with a full rhythm section, background singers and five horns, Southside has appropriately chosen an "I’m Down-sized" offering from his side-project band "The Poor Fools" for The Beatles Complete On Ukulele.

southsidejohnny.com

facebook.com/asburyjukes

facebook.com/southsidejohnnyandthepoorfools

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143 – Good Day Sunshine – Tyrrell

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:22:32 +0000

143 – Good Day Sunshine – Tyrrell

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

Original Version recorded June 8 1964

Ukulele version recorded October 11 2011

Tyrrell – Vocals, Guitars, Wurlitzer Piano, String Synth

David Barratt – Bass, Handclaps and Ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Mobile from original recordings made by Tyrrell in London.

Written by Paul McCartney – with maybe just a bit of help from John

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Effortlessly beautiful. This is one of the most perfect expressions of happiness ever recorded by The Beatles. McCartney at his very best. The song was played as the morning alarm on multiple Space Shuttle missions. Those lads at NASA knew what they were doing. I can see astronauts bouncing, if one can bounce in a no gravity area, on their way to their tasks in deep space, singing along with Paul.

It is very difficult to not like this song. Even professional curmudgeon, Leonard Bernstein said he liked it, and he hated everything.

Those of you who know me personally know that this has been a less than stellar week for my family, but arranging and playing this song changed my mood from a shaky D minus to a solid B plus, which is an amazing feat for a heavily researched and tested chemical compound let alone a simple pop song.

The Beatles, like everyone else in Britain were obsessed with the weather. The Beatles came from “The North”.

Anyone who watches “Game Of Thrones” knows “The North” does not do sunshine. When sunshine comes the inhabitants strip naked, sacrifice virgins, eat raw liver straight from the cow and weep until they laugh. It is no surprise that some of the best Beatles are about the weather.

“The North” is not a good place to worship the sun. It was a good place to be a heathen atheist, which of course John was.

I know it’s juvenile but I laugh when Ringo says “She fuckin’ does" during the last verse at about 1:25.

The Ukulele Version, performed by studio wiz, Tyrrell is transposed to a minor key. Everyone knows that to play in minor makes things sad but by some bazaar feat of McCartneyesque white magic “Good Day Sunshine” feels even happier when played in minor.

Tyrrell is supremely talented, good looking & charming. I hate him for being all of these things but I love him because he has magnificent dress sense and is able to kill a heron dead with a stone from 30 meters.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tyrrell has been a guitarist all his life but discovered a love for studio production by the end of the eighties.

He’s been lucky enough to work with many great artists including Blue Pearl, The Orb, Stereo MCs, PM Dawn, Urban Species, Khaled, Lily Allen, Rui da Silva, Tara McDonald, Supafly Inc. and AVICII.

Since 1998, Tyrrell has released his own productions with collaborations Interfearence and Hooked as well as under his own name.

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142 – I’m A Loser – Tommy Anonymous

admin — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:25:51 +0000

142 – I’m A Loser – Tommy Anonymous

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

Original Version recorded December 4 1964

Ukulele version recorded August 2011

Tommy Anonymous: Ukulele, Vocals, Guitar, Trilian Bass,

French Horn & Electric Sitar samples

Donny Anonymous: Drums

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

"Part of me suspects I’m a loser and part of me thinks I’m God Almighty”.

John Lennon

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tommy Anonymous has preformed and recorded with greats, near-greats, not-so-greats and ingrates.

He is incredibly grateful.

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141 – Savoy Truffle – Jenna Robinson

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:56:56 +0000

141 – Savoy Truffle – Jenna Robinson

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

Original Version recorded May 11 1967

Ukulele version recorded August 11 2011

Jenna Robinson – Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written by, and credited to George Harrison

ABOUT THE SONG

George wrote this for his pal Eric Clapton. Eric had a sweet tooth and most of the lyrics came from the back of a box of Mackintosh Good News chocolates.

But what did Eric really have a sweet tooth for?

Eric and George had a natural affinity for each other. They recorded and wrote together extensively. They shared the same taste in guitars, humor and women.

George had met and fell in love with Patti Boyd – a Savoy Truffle if ever there was one – on the set of “Hard Days Night” and were married about 18 months later.

When Eric and George became close Eric found himself deeply attracted to his new buddy’s wife. This was a terrible dilemma for Eric. He solved it by moving in with Patti’s 17 year old sister – Paula.

This all went very well for everyone concerned until Eric wrote “Layla” that referenced his obsession with Patti. Not surprisingly Paula kicked him out. Eric then had a M2M discussion with George in a most Victorian manner, the conclusion of which was that it would be better for everyone that Eric and Patti should be as one.

Happy ending?

Not exactly.

Their marriage coincided with Eric increasing his heroin and alcohol intake tenfold. Not only that he fathered several children outside of his marriage. This is rarely a recipe for happiness and several years later the marriage ended in divorce.

…and as the song goes.

“You’ll have to have them all pulled out after The Savoy Truffle”

The Ukulele version of “Savoy Truffle” features the current Ringmaster of The Big Apple Circus.

Jenna sings the song from the perspective of a very sadistic dental nurse. You can hear her smile as the drills start. are you regretting taking that last chocolate from the box?

You will now.

Enjoy..

ABPUT THE ARTIST

It’s never too late to join the circus! Jenna Robinson was born and raised in Miami Beach and has called New York, Los Angeles, London and Maui home.

She is a singer, actress, sommelier, baker and healer who infuses her passion for the harmonics of creativity into everything she does. A true “Renaissance woman,” she is as comfortable on the stage as she is in a kitchen or on a mountaintop.

Memorable onstage roles include Titus Andronicus, Dorothy Parker, Mrs. Malaprop, Miss Adelaide, the Leading Player in Pippin, Helga in Cabaret, Joanne in Company, Joann in Godspell, and both Masha and Natasha in The Three Sisters.

In addition to her theatrical credits, Jenna also sings on original cast and soundtrack recordings, performs in music videos and has been seen on the big and small screens.

http://www.bigapplecircus.org/tickets/about/team-member.aspx?id=2226

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140 – Baby You’re A Rich Man – Emily Zuzik

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 04:01:39 +0000

140 – Baby You’re A Rich Man – Emily Zuzik

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

Original Version recorded May 11 1967

Ukulele version recorded August 10 2011

Emily Zuzik – Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written by, and credited to Lennon & McCartney

Essay by Kylie Brush

ABOUT THE SONG

This track is a classic cut-and-shut job, gluing together John’s trippy verses and Paul’s happy/nonsense chorus chant. That’s not a criticism at all – this kind of assembly is a practical way of working that many songwriting partnerships use to make a meal out of morsels– “A Day In The Life” is another example from The Beatles’ canon. This is The Beatles so the sum is greater than the parts, the whole is still somewhat ambivalent.

At first hearing, Lennon’s opening “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?” sounds like another challenge to the ‘privileged’ – those financially, spiritually, romantically, politically or otherwise ‘better off’ – from our reliably bitter and twisted working class protagonist. His tirades have certainly been detailed and analyzed before, not least in the essays on this website. By this time, though, the West Coast hippy drop-outs and other ‘beautiful people’ to whom Lennon may have been referring had bought a whole lot of Beatles records – Johnny, You’re A Rich Man, too. Then again, The Beatles started ‘Pop’ and went ‘Weird’ – and took their entranced audience with them – so, unlike many, they could hardly be accused of ‘selling out’: if Baby, You’re A Rich Man is in fact a ‘get over it’ message, as I may be implying, who needs to get over it? Oh, that’ll be bitter and twisted, John, then, after all… the beautiful people’s newest recruit.

The Epstein references? I’m not going there…

Well maybe a bit.

The Epstein thing. As you probably know - Lennon sang (or wanted to) ‘Baby You’re A Rich Fag Jew’ referring to their Semitic Jewish manager Brian Epstein. This I believe to be totally untrue. There’s absolutely no actual recording or other proof of it anywhere. Everywhere I have researched this track, that’s quoted. Slack writing. So tempting and easy to pass the juicy morsel on, untested. Old school journalism – pissed by lunchtime in a pub on Fleet Street, seduced by a tart with a brown envelope full of tenners – but that ain’t how we roll at TBCOU.

Actually, as you may have gathered, especially if you’ve listened to the song, IT’S ALL MADE UP and IT DOESN’T MATTER. Baby, You’re A Rich Man is just a whole bunch of fun. It was recorded and mixed in a single 9 pm to 3 am session at Olympic Studios, engineered by Keith Grant, out of the band’s Abbey Road comfort zone in space and pace. Lennon makes a distinctive mark on the track with the clavioline, an early synthesizer designed to mimic solo string and brass instruments – here it sounds a bit like an oboe or a medieval shawn. Besides the Fab Four, Mick Jagger’s name appears on the tape boxes – usually this is taken to mean he contributed on backing vocals, but to me it sounds more like he played the maracas credited to Ringo. And I can’t pick out Jagger’s singing, in the outros, as often alleged, but I’d know his maracas anywhere!

The ukulele version by songstress, singer and exquisite beauty Emily Zuzik captures all the wide-eyed playful protest of the original with a re-wired clarity, patch-working guitars, electronics, a whole swirl of backing vocals, the occasional drum fill and something that sounds like the clavioline’s bastard grandchild.

Oh, and a ukulele, of course…

More about the clavioline:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar07/articles/clavioline.htm

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Emily Zuzik sings, sometimes with a raspy whisper, other times with a loud belt, and always in the shower. She also writes lots of music, some you may hear on TV, or the internet, or a Moby record. She’s also a Pisces, a Bond Girl book cover model and Epiphone calendar girl. And soon she’ll be an Angeleno!

www.emilyzuzik.com

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139 – Yes It Is – Happyhead

admin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 05:36:30 +0000

139 – Yes It Is – Happyhead

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

Original Version recorded 16 February 1965

Ukulele version recorded September 6 2011

Carl Marsh – Vocals, bass & guitars (lot’s of ‘em)

Martyn Barker – Drums

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

from original recordings made at Delafield Road

Photo Liza Stubbs

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

“Yes It Is” is a gem of a song originally hidden away on the B-side of “Ticket To Ride”.

John originally thought he was re-writing “This Boy”, and some ways he was.

12/8 time signature – Check,

Irish melancholia – Check

Three-part harmony – Check,

Jangley acoustic guitar – Check.

Forcing The Beach Boys and Bob Dylan into one song – check

It really is a lovely tune, and one of the more underrated songs in the canon. The production hides the lyric in sugarcoated three-part harmony throughout. I prefer the approach of Lennon’s original demo. The solo voice seems to express the psychotic nature of the lyric much more effectively than the sweet harmonies.

Let’s face it. John was not a happy camper in 1965. “I’m Down”, “Help” and “Baby’s In Black” all drip with melancholy, maybe even depression, but “Yes It Is” is a much more vicious animal.

The singer is telling his date that if she wears red he is going to be pissed off because his former girlfriend wore red all the time. There is a menace about this character.

“If you wear red tonight, Remember what I said tonight.

For red is the colour that my baby wore,

And what’s more, it’s true,

Yes it is, it’s true”

Something tells me this is not going to be very successful date.

Nerdy mistake spotting alert!

On the stereo version at the 1st "I could be Happy With You By My Side", there’s a swell at"I", then "Happy", the 3rd one at the word "You" an the next one is at "Side". Listen to that swell chord, at the word "Side". He knew he did it too. There’s a certain character about the next chord after that tells me he was recovering from the "glitch", and he did it to complete perfection too.

The ukulele version features Shriekback and Happyhead vocalist Carl Marsh. The full violence of the song is unleashed via a wall of extremely angry guitars and a brutal performance by drummer Martyn Barker (also a long term Shriekback member).

Carl is not partially psychotic but he sure knows how to sing like one. To prepare for this vocal he lived on a diet of Glutamates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamate), Carlsberg Special Brew and no sleep, for a 72 hour period.

One has to admire such professionalism.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Carl Marsh achieved fame and everlasting glory as a founder-member of the legendary and influential Shriekback, along with the Gang Of Four’s bassist Dave Allen and XTC’s keyboard player Barry Andrews. He contributed to the band’s incredible first four albums before leaving to pursue a solo career after completing their masterpiece, Oil & Gold.

His long-term partnership with David Barratt began with his alarmingly diverse solo album Too Much Fun but found its true voice when the pair moved from London to New York and, as Happyhead, created the punchy, witty, hybrid pop noise of Give Happyhead.

Marsh then swam back upstream to breed, also giving birth to many and various writing/production projects and the media production team Big & Clever, with keyboardist/producer Geoff Woolley and Barratt/Happyhead co-writer Bill Clift.

Marsh recently rejoined Andrews to add two tracks to the acclaimed new Shriekback album Life In The Loading Bay and is now working on the next one.

Other projects will materialize this year…

discretion imposed.

Stay tuned.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Happyhead

http://www.shriekback.com/

http://billanddaveandcarl.bandcamp.com

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138 – I Call Your Name / Je Vous Appelle – Les Chauds Lapins

admin — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:01:36 +0000

138 – I Call Your Name – Je Vous Appele – Les Chauds Lapins

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

Original Version recorded 1 March 1964

Ukulele version recorded August 2011

Meg Reichardt voice & ukulele

Kurt Hoffman banjo ukulele

Jessica Pavone viola

Garo Yellin cello

Andy Cotton bass & brushes

French lyrics by Meg Reichardt & Marion Pensole

Arrangement by Kurt Hoffman

Produced by Les Chauds Lapins

Recorded and Mixed by Meg Reichardt at Soapbox Studio, Brooklyn, NY, August

2011.

Written by John Lennon, with maybe a bit of McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

This weeks song is an French re-imagining of I Call Your Name (Je Vous Appelle). The Beatles (Les Beatles) connection to France goes back a long way.

In September 1963, two weeks before his 21st birthday, John’s Aunt Elizabeth, who lived in Sutherland, Scotland, sent John £100 as a coming of age present. Together with Paul, he decided to go on a trip to Spain, although they only got as far as Paris.

After the Beatles evening gig at Knotty Ash Village Hall on Friday 29 September 1961, the group took a break while the duo left for a fifteen-day trip abroad.

Some reports have suggested that the two of them left without informing George or Pete, who were so angry that they almost left the group.

Stuart Sutcliffe had informed John by post that Jurgen Vollmer, their friend from Hamburg, had moved to Paris, and he provided them with his address. During the trip they visited Jurgen who was to write about the visit and said that they wanted to have their hair cut in the same style as his. So he gave them both their first ‘Beatles’ haircut in his hotel room on the Left Bank.

Jurgen wrote:

“At that time, the rage in Paris was bell bottoms. The Beatles always wore very tightly cuffed, or ‘pegged’ pants with pointed shoes or very pointed boots. They were ‘Teddy boys’ in the English-fashion and dressed in black leather and black jeans…John and Paul wanted to dress more in the Paris fashion, but they were afraid to look queer in their home town of Liverpool.”

John and Paul stayed in Montmartre for a week and planned to travel on to Spain, but their money ran out. On their return to Liverpool they stopped off in London where they bought some Chelsea boots, which were later to become fashionable as ‘Beatle boots.’

It was around this time that John wrote “I Call Your Name”. In 1963, he gave the song to Billy J. Kramer of The Dakotas, another Liverpool band who managed by Brian Epstein and signed to Parlophone by George Martin. Lennon hated the Dakotas’ arrangement of his song as well as it being relegated to a B-side.

When The Beatles needed more material than they could write in 1964 Lennon re-arranged the song. It first appeared in the US on the Capitol Records release The Beatles’ Second Album, appearing later in the UK on the EP Long Tall Sally.

No horrible loud tambourine on this version but there is a cowbell so loud that it made my eyeballs hurt.

There is a little controversy about who wrote this one

John:

That was my song. When there was no Beatles and no group. I just had it around. It was my effort as a kind of blues originally, and then I wrote the middle eight just to stick it in the album when it came out years later. The first part had been written before Hamburg even. It was one of my first attempts at a song.”

Paul:

“I Call Your Name was written in Lennon’s aunt Mimi’s house in Menlove Avenue, Liverpool. We worked on it together, but it was John’s idea. When I look back at some of these lyrics, I think, Wait a minute. What did he mean? ‘I call your name but you’re not there.’ Is it his mother? His father? I must admit I didn’t really see that as we wrote it because we were just a couple of young guys writing. You didn’t look behind it at the time, it was only later you started analyzing things.”

My take on it is John probably had the whole thing done and Paul tweaked a few parts of the melody.

Je Vous Appelle

Je vous appelle

Vous n’êtes pas là

A qui la faute?

D’être déloyal

Je n’en dors plus la nuit

Depuis qu’vous êtes parti

Je retiens mes larmes

Même si rien ne me calme!

Non! Je n’le supporte pas

Qui donc le pourrait?

J’ne réussirai jamais

Je n’suis pas une femme comme ça!

Je n’en dors plus la nuit

Mais tout de même

Je retiens mes larmes

Je vous appelle

Non! Je n’le supporte pas

Qui donc le pourrait?

J’n’y arriverai jamais

Je n’suis pas une femme comme ça!

Je n’en dors plus la nuit

Mais tout de même

Je retiens mes larmes

Je vous appelle

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Les Chauds Lapins (“the hot rabbits”), lead by New York’s Kurt Hoffman and Meg Reichardt, specialize in a repertoire of French swing from the 1920’s through the 40’s. The group has re-arranged long-forgotten French classics for banjo-ukes, string trio, guitar and winds, mixing the rootsiness of early American jazz with the lushness of a Bernard Hermann film soundtrack.

Les Chauds Lapins is French for "hot rabbits": lust-filled animals intent on seeking — and finding — pleasure. "Amourettes," Les Chauds Lapins’ second album, is the result of that quest for pleasure.

www.leschaudslapins.com

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137 – Dr Robert – Joshua Gabriel

admin — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 04:01:07 +0000

137 – Dr. Robert – Joshua Gabriel

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

Original Version recorded 17, 19 April 17, 19 1966

Ukulele version recorded August 9 2011

Joshua Gabriel – Vocal – ukulele

David Barratt – Everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste using a selection of serotonin reuptake inhibitors

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

DRUGS ARE BAD!! DRUGS ARE GOOD!! DRUGS ARE BAD!! DRUGS ARE GOOD!! DRUGS ARE BAD!! DRUGS ARE GOOD!! DRUGS ARE BAD!! DRUGS ARE GOOD!!

The inspiration for “Doctor Robert” was Dr. Charles Roberts whose unorthodox prescriptions had made him a great favorite of Andy Warhol’s entourage, and, indeed, of the Beatles themselves, whenever they passed through town.

The inspiration for “Doctor Robert” was almost German-born Dr. Robert Freeman, a elderly German born physician with a practice on East 78th Street This was an alias used by Jean Stein to conceal the identity of another speed doctor.) "I can tell you in ten minutes", he said "probably 100 famous names who come here." John Lennon, the author of this song, was one of these famous names. He died in 1987. Robert Freymann that is, not Lennon.

The inspiration for “Dr Robert” was Doctor Riley, he was a dentist, and during a dinner in his home he tricked John and George and their wives into trying LSD for the first time in 1965. Doctor Riley died in 1986. In The Gospel According To The Beatles (published 2006), author Steve Turner interviews two of the late Dr. John Riley’s wives and shed new light on the Beatles’ early 1965 psychedelic experience.

The Inspiration for “Dr Robert” is Dr. Robert of Pala, in Aldous Huxley’s book "Island". Huxley is on Sgt. Pepper album, so it must be him. Also, in the Huxley’s book, Dr. Robert is the administer and main supporter of "moksha medicine" (which is I believe psilocybin synthesized into a pill for The National Health.

The Inspiration for “Dr Robert” is John Lennon. “Doctor Robert was another of mine. Mainly about drugs and pills. It was about myself: I was the one that carried all the pills on tour and always have done. Well, in the early days. Later on the roadies did it, and we just kept them in our pockets loose, in case of trouble.”

I think they must have been on drugs.

The Ukulele Version of Dr. Robert is performed by a man with a unique combination of talents who goes by the most saintly of names – Joshua Gabriel.

I first encountered JG in an East Village bar sometime between the first and second Iraq wars. Since that time he has stunned me with his DJing skills (flawless), his songwriting (brutal, disturbing and tender) and his art (brash, incisive and elegant).

Joshua had never played ukulele before this session and approached the instrument in a unique and intuitive manner that left me breathless.

He is of course the real Dr. Robert, and I have been addicted to his work for over a decade.

Enjoy!

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136 – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Erik Liberman

admin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:12:39 +0000

136 Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) Erik Liberman

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

Original Version recorded April 1 1967

Ukulele version recorded August 5 2011

Erik Liberman – Vocal

David Barratt – Ukulele & everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste using TBCOU Perceived Reality Machine TM

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

The entire recording of the Sgt.Pepper album took 129 days of block-booked studio time at Abbey Road at a cost of $25,000 making it the most expensive album recorded to that date. In 2011, 129 days of block-booked time at that same studio would set you back around $450,000.

One of the last songs recorded was “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)”. The idea for a reprise of Sgt. Pepper’s title track was suggested by The Beatles’ assistant Neil Aspinall, who thought the album should be bookended with words from the imaginary compère.

Neil was quoted’ ‘Why don’t you have Sgt. Pepper as the compère of the album? He comes on at the beginning of the show and introduces the band, and at the end he closes it. A bit later, Paul told John about it in the studio, and John came up to me and said, ‘Nobody likes a smart-arse, Neil’… That was when I knew that John liked it and that it would happen.”

Sgt. Pepper (Reprise) was the final backing track recorded for the album. All of Sgt. Pepper’s songs were recorded with Abbey Road’s four-track recording technology, the reprise was the only one not to be bounced down to free up extra tracks. It was the only time on the whole album where you can hear The Beatles performing as a band and the energy is high. Ringo’s drum break at the beginning has been sampled a million time and quite rightly. Great sound great groove. And surprise surprise there is a loud tambourine and maracas clattering around. I really wish the beatles had employed a pro-percussion player at some point.

The ukulele version of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” performed by actor/time traveller Erik Liberman and was recorded using our advanced “TBCOU Perceived Reality Machine TM" which is built from quantum mechanic theories and fueled with just a little vodka.

The date is July 7th 1990 – Ringo’s 50th birthday party.

After George Martin rejected The Beatles in 1962 and Brian Epstein gave up music management to concentrate on his record shops, Ringo stopped drumming and got a job as a Master Of Ceremonies at a popular English holiday resort. Someone from The BBC saw him and gave him a job presenting a comedy show on local radio. By the late 60′s Ringo had appeared on several sit-coms and was a minor star in several movies produced in Britain.

Blake Edwards (director of The Pink Panther movies) cast him in his movie "10" with Bo Derek. Ringo’s easy going nature shone through on the screen and he instantly became a massive Hollywood star with several multi-million dollar success to his name. His career catapulted and he soon found himself producing movies. He partnered with a budding new director called Steven Spielberg for whom he produced several films.

His wise investment in real-estate in California in the 80′s soon meant that Ringo was now a member of the super-rich and he invested with his friend Warren Buffet in his firm Berkshire Hathaway.

In early 1990, while in England to receive his knighthood from the Queen, Ringo bumped into his old friend Paul from the beat group he used play with in Liverpool. Paul had carried on with music and had written a few songs that were minor hits in England in the 60′s. Paul eventually got a record contract in the 70′s and had spent many months recording his concept album "Sgt. Pepper". Unfortunately when it was released it was not acclaimed by either critics or the public. Ringo was always fond of Paul, and thought he was very talented, although chronically unlucky. Out of a sense of pity and in the hope that Paul might catch a break he gave him a First Class Ticket to fly from Liverpool to Los Angeles and asked him to perform at Ringo’s birthday party.

This is a recording of Paul’s final song that evening.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Erik Liberman is an award-winning actor and environmentalist living in New York.

He dedicates this song to his father who, at 17, snuck into the audience of The Ed Sullivan Show to catch the Beatles’ first US appearance.

www.erikliberman.org

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135 – I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party – The Nu-Utopians

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:20:46 +0000

135 – I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party – The Nu-Utopians

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

Original Version recorded September 29 1964

Ukulele version recorded July 24 2011

Tom Dean: lead vocal and guitar

 Rex Fowler: vocals 

Michael Visceglia: bass  

Gary Schreiner: accordion 

Robbie Coffin: tremolo guitar 

Alana MacDonald: vocals

with

David Barratt – Ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste from an original production by The Nu-Utopians

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party had been written mainly by John with a few lines from Paul as a country and western song for Ringo but something about the tune resonated deeply with John so he took it for himself. Ringo was left to sing a very half hearted version of Carl Perkins “Honey Don’t” which fortunately we won’t be covering as we only re-record compositions by The Beatles.

John said: “That was a very personal one of mine. In the early days I wrote less material than Paul because he was more competent on the guitar than I. He taught me quite a lot of guitar really.”

Paul sings the high lead during the middle eight, while John does the low harmony. Almost the same thing happened with If I Fell; with John singing the intro all by himself, but for the remainder of the song he’ sings the low harmony. With Beatle songs from this period it is often difficult to distinguish the lead from the harmony. The best example of this is “Baby’s In Black”.

The lyrics revisit Lennon’s familiar themes of alienation and inner pain. In this song, he is at a party, waiting for his girl to show up. When it becomes clear that she has stood him up, he decides to go, rather than spoil the party for everyone else. I sense an anger underneath the lyric. Where is he going? He’s had a drink or two but maybe he needs more. Maybe there is another woman he will be visiting as his first choice is not available.

Both the lyrics and melody share a melancholy sound and theme with previous songs on Beatles for Sale, such as "No Reply" and "I’m a Loser"

The party that should have been a blast but which turned out to be a supremely hurtful confrontation with romantic disappointment or betrayal is one of the archetypal scenarios of the Top-40 pop-song genre. The most famous of which was the teen classic “It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To”

The Ukulele Version by the Nu-Utopians is a melancholy affair. I should think that this particular party is not wild, maybe a dinner party where the guests all know the history of the sad couple who love each other but simply can not make their relationship work. The empty seat at the table was too much for the protagonist to bear and after an almost silent starter and several glass of wine he can take no more and makes his excuses and leaves to the sad silence of his and his soon to be ex-wife’s friends.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

One of the most unique and compelling interpretations of the late John Lennon’s compositions comes from The Nu-Utopians (formerly The John Lennon Song Project), a 7-piece ensemble created and led by Rex Fowler of Aztec Two-Step and Tom Dean of Devonsquare. Together they have produced a thoughtfully re-imagined tribute that celebrates the genius and artistry of the icon’s music.

http://nu-utopians.com

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134 – Glass Onion – Sandel

admin — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:01:18 +0000

134 Glass Onion – Sandel

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

Original Version recorded September 11 1968

Ukulele version recorded – July 26 2011

Sandel – Vocal

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Paul McCartney had the original idea for writing a song that made fun of Beatles obsessives that over analyzed their lyrics but it was John who made that idea a reality.

This song was written after the Beatles got word that people were having parties listening to their records and trying to figure out the meaning of every lyric. On hearing this Lennon went about the business of re-assembling lyrics from previous Beatles songs to make a nonsense/total sense meal for Beatle fans to devour and obsess about.

The lyrics are hilarious and strangely beautiful andI bet John is still having a good laugh about them.

I love it when artists refer to some of their former songs in newer songs, so this song automatically is awesome in my book and this song has loads.

"Strawberry Fields Forever," "I Am the Walrus," "Lady Madonna," "The Fool on the Hill," and "Fixing a Hole." are referenced directly. There are also subtle, passing references to "There’s a Place," "I’m Looking Through You," and "Within You Without You."

The song’s "The Walrus was Paul" lyric is both a reference to "I Am the Walrus" and Lennon saying "something nice to Paul" in response to changes in their relationship at that time. Ironically the line was interpreted as a clue in the "Paul is dead" urban legend that alleged McCartney died in 1966 during the recording of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and was replaced by a look-alike and sound-alike.

Lennon himself dismissed any deep meaning to the lyrics:

“I threw the line in—’the Walrus was Paul’—just to confuse everybody a bit more. It could have been ‘The fox terrier is Paul.’ I mean, it’s just a bit of poetry. I was having a laugh because there’d been so much gobbledygook about Pepper—play it backwards and you stand on your head and all that.”

It is our job here at The Beatles Complete On Ukulele to analyze Beatles songs, so to analyze a song that makes fun of Beatle analysis is particularly fun.

Here are some of the references.

Cast Iron Shore:

is an area of beach near Liverpool called Otterspool that is now partly built over which is known locally as “The Cazzy”

A Dovetail Joint:

Despite sounding like a hippieish way of smoking weed a dovetail joint is a technique most commonly used in woodworking joinery. Noted for its resistance to being pulled apart (tensile strength), the dovetail joint is commonly used to join the sides of a drawer to the front.

Glass Onion: three meanings

1. A Victorian phrase for a monocle or a magnifying glass.

2. A bong

3. A hypodermic needle

The Ukulele Version begins with Paul introducing John on a radio show. In a truly surreal stream of consciousness he describes John as a sheep farmer, colour consultant, chain gang farmer, fighter pilot and table tennis wicket-keeper, which of course he was. It ends with John avoiding answering a question about the meaning of “Hey Jude”. In between comes a new voice from Australia. Sandel sings like an angel who had some work experience with The Devil.

She lives and performs in New York.

Check her out. She is very good.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sandel is a 23 year old folk pop artist, born and raised in the rural bush-lands of Australia.

She launched onto the Australian music scene in 2008, with her debut Story Of My Life- a collection of catchy melodies and thoughtful lyrics.

In 2011 Sandel upped sticks and moved to New York. Soon after she recorded her follow up EP Lines– a five track ‘journey through the soul’ filled with atmospheric guitar lines, colorful rhythms and rousing harmonies. But through it all lies Sandel’s real calling card- her “delicate… enticing voice” – enticing enough to make music blog Stalkerzine demand that their readers “buy this ep….give your heart a break and let your soul free.”

Get a free download from Lines, plus find out all the latest news and gig info at:

www.sandelmusic.com

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133 – She’s A Woman – Jamie Clayton

admin — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:01:58 +0000

133 – She’s A Woman – Jamie Clayton

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

Original Version recorded October 8 1964

Ukulele version recorded – July 22 2011

Jamie Clayton – Vocal

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Women.

Most of us from the lesser sex find women totally baffling. Acres of poetry, song and prose by great writers of both sexes throughout the ages all come to the conclusion that men are incapable of understanding them.

Paul McCartney is smarter than that.

In “She’s A Woman” he never asks why a woman does or does not do anything. He does not try to get into her head or understand her. He simply describes what she does without judgement and loves her without question.

She does not give him presents – Fine!

She turns him on when he gets lonely – Great!

People tell him that she may be unfaithful but he knows better – Brilliant!

She is created by what he believes her to be, which is loving, sexy and faithful. Who cares what is actually true? This is a man who is able to invent his universe simply by the power of his own thoughts.

A simple route to happiness.

All this BEFORE he went to India.

The ukulele version of “She’s A Woman” is sung by someone who has also consciously created her own universe. Jamie Clayton’s haunting Nicoesque vocal matches Paul’s confidence blow for blow. Who better to sing this particular song than someone who has crossed the great divide between the sexes.

She’s A Woman

Enjoy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jamie Clayton is an actress and model living in New York. This fall she can be seen playing "Kyla" on season 3 of the hit HBO series Hung. As a model she has been photographed by some of the worlds leading lensmen including Patrick DeMarchelier, Alexei Hay & Terry Tsolis. This year Jamie has been featured in Interview Magazine, LOVE Magazine and in ads for Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics and Jeremy Scott.

Jamie is thrilled to be a part of The Beatles Complete On Ukulele.

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132 – Sun King – Sonya Hensley

admin — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:25:40 +0000

132 Sun King – Sony Hensley

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

Original Version recorded 24–25 July 1969

Ukulele version recorded – July 14 2011

Sonya Hensley – All Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

By 1969 the wild musical experimentation that the Beatles has started several years earlier had taken root and every guy with a guitar and a set of beads felt as though it was his profound and sacred duty to make ever more complex music to astound and astonish the world.

King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull all took up the baton. Young men with half formed beards that would not be out of place in a graphic design agency in Williamsburg 2011, played with form, structure, and bad hygiene.

While The Beatles were recording Abbey Road at the studio of the same name – new kids on the block – Pink Floyd were recording Atom Heart Mother with former Beatles engineer Norman Smith.

The Beatles were not natural Prog-Rockers but they were willing to give it a go. “Sun King” is a direct descendant of “Albatross” by “Fleetwood Mac”. The guitar sound – the rhythm and tempo all have Pete Green’s fingerprints all over them. What stops “Sun King” being “Albatross” are the exquisite harmonies by J,P and G.

The real Sun King was that well know tormentor of Protestants Louis XIV of France, but the song was probably written about the gentleman who brought the Beatles their LSD, otherwise known as liquid sunshine.

LSD was a great comfort to the Fab Four during the tribulations they faced. When the Sun King delivered the acid to the Beatles it was always a joyous occasion with “everybody laughing, everybody happy”.

I love the that at the end of the song the band break into faux-Romance language. When Lennon was asked about these lyrics and said:

"We just started joking, you know, singing ‘cuando para mucho.’ So we just made up… Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, you know. So we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got ‘chicka ferdy’ in. That’s a Liverpool expression. Just like sort – it doesn’t mean anything but ‘na-na, na-na-na!’"

The direct translation would be:

quando para mucho mi amore tress felice corazon

“When by a lot my love gives happiness to my heart”

Mundo paparazzi mi amore chica verdi parasol

“World reporters my love girl is green for all”

Questo abrigado tantamucho que canite coracao

“Thanks for this very much what big hearts”

The ukulele version of Sun King features the elegant silky voice of Sonya Hensley.

Sonya has sung with some of the coolest people on the planet who no longer live here including – Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt & Les Paul.

Her voice is sunshine – enjoy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Les Paul called her “Great, just great”.

Steve Miller said “She’s the best voice I have heard in the last twenty years”.

See her perform this Thursday (July 28 – 2011) at:

The Underground Lounge, 955 West End Ave, NYC

http://www.facebook.com/sonyahensleysinger

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131 – Tell Me What You See – Thaumatrope

admin — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:01:08 +0000

131 Tell Me What You See – Thaumatrope

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

Original version recorded February 1965

Ukulele Version recorded – July 14 2011

William Thaumatrope – Vocal and guitar

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

Essay – William Thaumatrope

ABOUT THE SONG

My first memories of listening to pop music was not actually the Beatles. It was the Beatles look-a-like band, The Dave Clark Five’s, “Bits and Pieces”. Age 5, I was staying with my parents at someone else’s house, which was a rare occurrence. I came down in the morning to the kitchen bleary-eyed and heard this loud rhythmic noise emanating from above the kitchen counter: “I’m pieces, bits and pieces.” The lyrics were as shattering as the sound: I was rooted to the spot, stunned. The Beatles followed on the Sunday radio show family favorites: “She Loves You”, All My Loving, and the intoxicating “Michelle” which magically wrapped love’s mysteries in the exotic allure of French. I awaited Sunday not for compulsory Sunday Service but for the Church of the Beatles.

It is hard to recapture what a shocking band The Beatles were, because they now, retrospectively, have assumed establishment proportions. The Stones, it is thought and said, were the rebels and they were certainly out there. But what was shocking to the establishment about The Beatles was the way in which they permeated every aspect of everyday life and the minds of the young: they were in the very air we breathed. And when John Lennon said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ or whatever exactly he said, I remember it made my father catatonic. In one stroke, it changed my perception of religion, as well as my relationship to him, when I replied to his outburst, not without a certain fear: “Well it’s actually true isn’t it if you consider the numbers!”

My third fateful encounter with the Beatles was in a class one day at school. Thinking back, I was in 4th and 5th grade in the heyday of the 60’s. One hot summer’s day, one of my teachers trundled in an old 33rpm record player and asked us to close our eyes and listen to some music. I can’t recall her ever doing this before, but perhaps she did. Anyway, I dutifully closed my eyes and out came the mesmeric sounds of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Having taken the extraordinary journey once, she asked us whether we would like to hear it again, so we listened again. It was certainly an experience equal in significance to “I’m Pieces Bits and Pieces” and the early Beatles.

Why I didn’t play Beatles music as a kid is a long story; suffice it to say that I am finally making up for it years later with this song: Tell Me What You See. This is taken from Help! at a moment when you are just beginning to hear greater complexity in the Beatles music.

This is a very simple song in the key of G. It contains only three chords and is rendered with the typical Lennon-McCartney harmonies that remind us that the Beatles were a vocal band. “Tell Me What You See” is not considered a major Beatles song.

Some complexity is added to the song by the unusual percussion instruments, the guiro, a tambourine, and a pair of claves, and through the prominent use of the electric piano, a Hohner Pianet, in the short bridge section.These textures give the song a Faux-Latin flavor.

We have gone for a darker edge than the original. The decorative Latin flavor is stripped away, along with the bridge. The tempo is slower and we have eliminated the wonderful yet, from the distance of age, all–too–sunny Beatles harmonization, in favor of a straight almost dead pan delivery. So a tune that was already simple has been simplified still more. At the same time we have added a fairly dense orchestration featuring David Barratt that adds a veneer of sophistication to the song.

This is no longer the song of an exuberant youth who never takes no far an answer and goes to some rhetorical lengths to achieve his goal: “we will never be apart if I am part of you.” With age, the singer has lost that invincibility. Now the fact that the singer repeatedly answers his own insistent demand “open up your eyes now, tell me what you see,” with “what you see is me,” is less a sign of confidence, than of a belief that perhaps the scales will not fall from her eyes, nor even perhaps should they. But still, he has not given up hope altogether.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

William Thuamatrope is the pseudonym of an aging NYU Professor who would have liked to have been a folk-rock star but can still indulge his passion for writing songs and performing them at williamthaumatrope.com.

A Thaumatrope is a pre-cinematic device. A round disk is attached to a string with a picture on either side. Make the disk spin and the images are superimposed. It is a form of montage, a magic trick, an illusion.

You can hear Thaumatrope at

http://williiamthaumatrope.com

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130 – Any Time At All – Delexilio

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 04:01:50 +0000

130 – Anytime At All – Delexilio

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

Original version recorded June 2 1964

Ukulele Version recorded – June./July 2011

David Sandoval – guitar, vocals, electronic beats/programming, bass

Justin Goldner – ukulele

Alex Fox – Cuban tres guitar

Sarah Talbot – vocals

With David Barratt – Ukulele, bass and shaker

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Brooklyn from original recording made by David Sandoval

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

“Anytime At All” was recorded at a time when The Beatles had practically no time to do do anything apart from fulfill contractual agreements.

It was all very bonkers in June 1964. The mayhem of Beatlemania was in full flow in every corner of the globe. Only a few weeks earlier Brian Epstein realized that this Beatles thing was probably the future and sold his interest the NEMS music shops to concentrate full time on managing the band.

Around this time during a photo shoot Ringo collapsed with a temperature of 103 and was taken to hospital suffering from tonsillitis and pharyngitis. There was no way he could play. Jimmy Nicol was immediately drafted in and forced into Ringo’s suit as there was not time to make him a new one.

At first, George didn’t want Ringo to be replaced and refused to go on the tour without him, but Brian Epstein and George Martin convinced him. Paul McCartney thought he was okay for the tour, but that the fans would definitely know the difference if he recorded with them. And Brian thought it was a good choice because he thought he "looked like a Beatle and not an outcast".

During the tour, every time one of the Beatles asked Jimmy how he was getting on all he ever replied was "It’s Getting Better". Paul made a note of this and used it as a title of a song on on Sgt. Pepper.

In between gigging relentlessly in Europe they had a couple of dates booked in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. As they flew flew to Hong Kong George recalled:

“We can’t be there already, surely?’ But we’d been sitting on the floor taking Preludins (Phenmetrazine) for about 30 hours, so it seemed like a ten-minute flight!”

Time was also short during recording sessions. John had a half written song that would have normally been saved for their next album but the “Hard Days Night” soundtrack needed a couple more tunes so “Anytime At All” was slapped together as a rush job.

In typical self depreciating style John described it as:

“a rewrite of It Won’t Be Long C to A minor, C to A minor—with me shouting."

Paul came up with the chords for middle eight but time pressure meant that it never got finished hence the instrumental in the middle.

A Hard Day’s Night is the first Beatles album to be written entirely by John and Paul. Normally they would contribute a roughly equal number of songs to each album, but A Hard Day’s Night is the one Beatles album on which Lennon’s dominance as songwriter is by far the greater, being the primary writer of 9 of the 13 tracks on the album.

Ironically John writes from the perspective of someone who has time to be there for a partner “Anytime At All” when in-fact he barely had time to tie his own shoes let alone care for anyone, even himself. Maybe it was some kind of fantasy that he had to wait another 15 years to fulfill with Yoko and Sean in the Dakota.

The Ukulele version features anglo-cuban a. This is our second Cuban version of a Beatles song in two weeks. Why did we do this – well expect some very interesting news to come out of Havana in the next week or so – remember – you read it here first.

Lead vocalist David Sandoval slips between English and Spanish wooing his lover with promises of fidelity and reliability.

Is he telling the truth?

I think so but you can never be sure with musicians can you?

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Although their name means "from exile" in Spanish, four-piece band DelExilio have created a musical home for themselves within their unique hybrid of American rock and lithe Cuban soul. The band is the brainchild of singer-guitarist David Sandoval, a New Yorker of Cuban descent, whose vigorous acoustic guitar playing is both the band’s main engine and the bridge joining its disparate styles. Atop that foundation, expect spidery lines on the Cuban tres (guitar) winding through bongos and bass patterns, claves giving way to backbeats, and a general funk “a lo Cubano” that ultimately does justice to all of its influences. Featuring Cuban tres guitar by Delexiliio’s Alex Fernandez Fox, whose solo album "Uno" features more of this fusion between the Cuban tres guitar and American rock.

If you liked this song, please "Like" Delexilio on Facebook:

www.Facebook.com/Delexilio

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129- Drive My Car – Carmen Peláez & Joel Someillan

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:01:42 +0000

129 Drive My Car – Carmen Pelaez & Joel Someillan

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

Original version recorded October 13 1965

Ukulele Version recorded – June 2011

Carmen Pelaez: Vocals

Joel Someillan: Vocals, piano and bass

Richard Bravo: Percussion

George Noriega: Background vocal

Jim Hacker: Trumpet

Mike Leslie: Ukulele

Produced by: Joel Someillan at Someillan Productions, Miami, FL

and David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Brooklyn

Written & credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

“Drive My Car” really shows why Lennon and McCartney were so good together. Paul came up with the original idea for the song. Most of the hooks were there and most of a lyric was written when McCartney arrived at Lennon’s Weybridge home for a writing session. The original chorus lyric went:

"I can give you golden rings, I can give you anything, baby, I love you."

The diamond ring image had been used twice before in "Can’t Buy Me Love" and "I Feel Fine" and Lennon was having none of it. He dismissed the lyrics as "crap" and "too soft". They decided to rewrite the lyrics and after some difficulty—McCartney said it was "one of the stickiest" writing sessions ever with Lennon – they settled on the "Drive My Car" theme and the rest of the lyrics flowed from that.

The poppiest hook of the whole song "beep-beep–beep-beep- yeah!" was Lennon’s.

In some ways “Drive My Car” is a novelty number not unlike “Beep Beep (Little Nash Rambler)” by The Playmates or “Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat” – Paul Evans & The Curls but where it differers is The Beatles ability to lampoon the desire for fame without talent.

You can see exactly what the girl in the first verse is like four lines in.

Asked a girl what she wanted to be.

She said “Baby, can’t you see,

I wanna be famous, a star on the screen

But you can do something in between”

Each of The Beatles embraced and used fame in their own ways but I think they could see the Fame Monster creeping around the corner. In the mid-sixties a new type of animal was appearing on the scene. The person who was famous for being famous. We all know how this played out. Today celebrity is the most valuable commodity in the open market.

The Ukulele version of the song by Carmen Pelaez and Joel Someillan updates the theme and transfers it to modern day Miami – one of the main breeding grounds for the almost famous. Both are eager to impress and neither is listening to the other.

A perfect modern relationship.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Carmen Peláez

Carmen Peláez has performed her solo play RUM & COKE to raves in LA, Chicago and Miami Off-Broadway at Abingdon Theater. RUM & COKE has also been chosen for the 2010-2011 BEST AMERICAN SHORT PLAYS edition. Most recently she launched SKYTHEATRE.ORG and is working on her running memoir TALES FROM THE BACK OF THE PACK. She has written essays for Marie Claire and the New York Times and is currently developing a series of one-act plays LOTERIA, a full-length play FAKE and a television pilot JULIA, THINK…

For more links and info please go to www.carmenpelaez.com

Joel Someillan

Joel Someillan studied music and production at the Berklee College of Music in Boston graduating in 1994. In 1998 he joined forces with world-renowned producer Emilio Estefan and earned numerous Gold and Platinum albums writing and producing for Latin artists such as Gloria Estefan, Shakira, Chayanne and many others. He’s won two Latin Grammys with album productions for Thalia and Obie Bermudez. He also earned a Grammy nomination for Album Of The Year for Chayanne’s Cautivo. Aside from songwriting, engineering, and album production, Joel is also very involved in children’s music. Together with musical partner George Noriega, he currently writes music for children’s TV shows such as Dora The Explorer and Go Diego Go! and has written theater shows for Nickelodeon and Dreamworks. They have numerous projects currently in development including the guidance and production of young, promising artists through their company, Jollipop Entertainment.

Joel runs Someillan Productions and lives in the Doral area of Miami with his wife Elizabeth, daughter Victoria, and son AJ.

For contact and info, please visit: http://www.someillan.com

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128 – The Night Before – AJR

admin — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:01:39 +0000

128 The Night Before – AJR

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

Original version recorded August 6 1965

Ukulele Version recorded – January/May 2011

Adam: Vocals, Bass

Jack: Vocals

Ryan: Vocals, keyboards, ukulele

with

David Barratt Ukulele and everything else.

Produced by: David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Brooklyn from original recordings made by Ryan.

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

Essay by Natalie Clark-Barratt

ABOUT THE SONG

“The Night Before” was recorded at the time when The Beatles were at the height of their boy band phase but were beginning to tire of it.

In the movie “Help!” the song is performed on Salisbury Plain. As it finishes, a mine explodes, leading the audience to believe that The Beatles had been destroyed. Within a year of the release of “Help!” the mop-top/boy-band version of The Beatles had been.

Ah, the Boy Band. That sweaty mess of teenage testosterone, bound and shackled in the unthreatening ropes of Romance. Repressed. Sanitized sexuality. Made shiny and sparkly, the subject of nameless desire for countless little girls.

What would we do without you?

If you are repelled by the careful brand positioning of Justin Bieber, you can blame The Beatles. Arguably, they were the first real Boy Band. Carefully managed and groomed by that figurehead of repressed desire, Brian Epstein, they caused mass hysteria. Airports full of swooning teenage girls. Musical appearances drowned out by screaming. Disapproving pundits. All laid at the door of the phenomenon of The Beatles.

And the world took notice. Where there was one, suddenly there were scores. The Monkees jumped on the bandwagon not long after Berry Gordy got the scent and unleashed The Jackson 5 on the world and a whole industry was born. The Osmonds and Bay City Rollers in the 70’s, Wham and New Edition in the 80’s, New Kids Of The Block and Backstreet Boys in the 90’s, through to The Jonas Brothers (remember them?) and ultimately Beiber.

Each and every one of them of them coining it in for a legion of managers, singing coaches, stylists, lawyers, accountants, make-up artists, PR gurus and occasionally drug dealers and male prostitutes.

There are many things we can thank The Beatles for, but the whole Boy Band thing is not one of them.

Brian Epstein’s role in all this is quite fascinating. He was gay at a time where to admit so meant jail time in Britain. He was the master of repression, and used the rigid codes of behavior he had been forced to adopt to shape The Beatles’ non-threatening romantic appeal. They would compel adoration and remain innocent. He was absolutely in charge of the mop-tops imagery, (matching skinny suits, haircuts etc.), using homosexual symbology to convey beauty without threat.

Pre-Army Elvis, of course, was not neutered for teen girl consumption. He had dangerously snaky hips and was not afraid to use them. He oozed sex, even while singing the most frothy of pop songs. Let’s not forget one of his first releases was ‘Hound Dog’, while The Beatles led with numbers like ‘Love Me Do’.

The 50s and 60s were obviously a time of great social change in the United States. The transition from the dangerous sexuality of Elvis to the sweet harmonies of The Beatles highlights the nervousness society felt at its own changes. The US created the suburbs as a place to stash this new thing called ‘the teenager’, and the music industry obliging created the Boy Band to entertain it. High school was a morass of unspoken desire as young adults delayed growing up, and the lyrics of the BBs gave them a safe romantic script to sing from.

Let’s look at the rules for Boy Band songwriting:

1. Always talk about LOVE. Preferably unrequited.

2. Mention hands. Holding of hands. No other body parts.

3. Have one bad boy, one sulky boy, one approachable boy, one sweet and confused boy.

4. Creative use of euphemism encouraged to expunge the faintest hint of sex for parents.

5. In the real world, never admit to having a girlfriend. It will ruin your merchandizing sales.

6. If you do have a girlfriend, make sure she is also a pop star. That way you both make more sales.

It is a wonder that the cynical Lennon managed to hold this line for as long as he did.

McCartney’s “The Night Before” is a classic boy band song, one of the last that they recorded before jumping headlong into drugs, mysticism, politics, unbelievably great music and tons of other stuff that we write about here every week.

There is little doubt that Paul McCartney was a genius but he was also a hack. He instinctively knew what the teenage girls who adored The Beatles were afraid of, and in this song he plays right into those fears.

The singer of the song has been cruelly rejected. This is not the sort of thing that would have happened to Paul much in 1965, and if it did I’m not sure it would have bothered him too much.

Paul knew however that rejection was a major preoccupation of his female audience and he instinctively writes from their perspective.

“Were you telling lies the night before?

Was I so unwise the night before?

When I held you near, you were so sincere,

Treat me like you did the night before.

Last night is the night I will remember you by,

When I think of things we did it makes me wanna cry.”

The lyrics are all very nicely open-ended, allowing the girls the chance to create their own personal narrative to the song. And of course, the boys sing the mildly dangerous bits in their own perfect choir-boy harmony. No growl. No husk. Simple, sweet and absolutely safe. Love may have been in his eyes, but what does it all means the following morning? Has he changed his mind? Did she go too far? Was he playing with her?

Even today these ideas resonates with teens and tweens.

Here is a quote about the song from one of the many bulletin boards discussing Beatles lyrics

Brianna: “It (The Night Before) reminds me of my ex because me and him were having hard times and then we spent a night together and everything was like it used to be, and he was very sincere. Then the next day it was back to being really bad, not like the night before, and then 3 days later we broke up, it was horrible.”

Personally, I find the ukulele version by AJR more charming than The Beatles’. The harmony isn’t sickening, it is truly lovely. There is a Michael Jackson quality to the youngest member of this band of real-life brothers. The older ones support and reinforce him, and the whole is very pleasing. They are a gorgeous addition to the pantheon of Boy Banddom.

Good luck boys.

‘

ABOUT THE ARTIST

AJR, the 3-bro-band born and raised in Manhattan, is moving into the world music scene with a fusion of hardedge hip-hop and soulful pop.

Adam – 20, Jack – 13 and Ryan -17, write and perform original music while self-producing and recording tracks in their living room studio.

From street performing in parks around Manhattan, to opening at world-renown theaters like Lincoln Center, AJR has stepped out of the living room, and into the world music scene. The 3 brothers—Adam, Jack, and Ryan—are on their way to making an impact on the world. “We have been working hard for a bunch of years now,” Jack says. “And now that we have something to say for it, we hope the world will listen.”

www.ajrbrothers.com

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127 – You’re Gonna Lose That Girl – Russ Velazquez

admin — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 04:01:02 +0000

127 Lose That Girl – Russ Velazquez

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

Original version recorded August 6 1965

Ukulele Version recorded – May 24 2011

Russ Velazquez : Vocals, Guitar

David Barratt Ukulele and everything else.

Produced by: David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Brooklyn

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney (but mainly by John)

Essay by Stiletto Of Roma

ABOUT THE SONG

Hailed by the hardcore as one of the most underrated jewels in the Fab Four’s crown, “You’re Going To Lose That Girl” was the last song to be recorded for the Help! album in 1965. The song features prominently in a Monty Python-esque scene from Richard Lester’s film of the same name, in which the mop tops perform the song in a recording studio whilst a chainsaw-wielding thug cuts a hole in the floor around Ringo’s kit. After the take, the producer tells the boys that they’ll have to re-record the song due to a “buzzing” noise on the recording – at which point Starr and his drums fall through the floor.

Like “She Loves You” and “Hey Jude” this song describes a conversation between two men about a woman. But “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl” contains little of the camaraderie of those two McCartney songs. John was an interesting guy but probably not the most supportive friend. He does not abide by “The Male Code.”

Thematically, the lyrics can be interpreted as a Darwinian warning from one alpha male to another: If you don’t show your squaw more attention, “you’re going to lose that girl” – to me!

Far from feigning altruism, the narrator makes no bones about telling his “friend” that he’ll be picking up the slack, so to speak: “I’ll make a point of taking her away from you / The way you treat her, what else can I do?” An interesting notion, that. One of the ten commandments of The Male Code is that friends aren’t supposed to date – let alone steal – each other’s girlfriends.

But as was so often the case, The Beatles made an excellent point: If your friend’s being a dick to his girlfriend who’s hot and deserves better, well…why not?

I’ll give you an example, drawn from life. I introduced a friend of mine to a gorgeous blonde who happened to be, among other things, an exotic dancer. Everything was great at first, but in less than three months he was taking her for granted: breaking dates to play video games with his buddies, gaining weight, and running around on her with his ex. And who do you think she came crying to when she’d had enough of my friend’s shitty behavior? ME! You should have seen her: this perfect ten clinging to me, sobbing, asking the usual questions posed by women who find themselves in this position with every man they date:

“Am I not pretty enough?” Answer: Yes you are

“Aren’t I sexy enough?” Answer: Absolutely

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?!” Umm… NOTHING!

Did I notice how her tears made those big blue eyes sparkle and shine?

Did I notice the alluring way that her perfectly shaped breasts heaved with every sob?

Did I notice the black thong peeking above the waistband of her low-cut jeans?

Oh no, I didn’t notice that at all.

So did I “make a point of taking her away” from my friend?

I did not.

Sadly, The Code was too deeply ingrained in me. I say “sadly” because, well, I never really spoke to that friend again. And the blonde? She’s now dating a guy who might as well be my twin.

Did I do the right thing?

You tell me.

The sultry serenade in the ukulele version of “You’re Going To Lose That Girl” is provided by Russ Velazquez, one of the premier vocal talents behind the animated phenomenon that is Pokémon. The heavy drip of sexual tension in Velazquez’s delivery seems eerily apropos to me, as it smacks of the blue balls I experienced on that fateful night when my ex-friend’s gorgeous girlfriend was in my arms – and I let her go.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Russ Velazquez: Born & raised in the Bronx.

Award winning & Emmy Nominated Singer/ Composer/ Arranger & Producer for TV, Radio & Film.

Russ is one of the most sought after & in demand singer/performers and has worked with …Sting, Carole King, the Ramones, LL Cool J, Luther Vandross, Patti Austin, Korn, Paula Abdul, Patty Smyth, Michael Bolton, Marc Cohn, Jimmy Webb… errr.. everyone really

Russ is a 3 time Emmy nominated Composer/Arranger for his work on Sesame St…. Composed, arranged, produced & performed several popular TV Themes (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 & 2008 has written & scored music for Pokemo, Yu-Gi-Oh! - I think you get the picture right?

Russ has appeared on Broadway as one of the lead singers & guitarists in “Rock & Roll the First 5000 Years” and was one of the original lead singers and producer, arranger of the popular childrens’ groups The Sugarbeats and is currently singing & playing with The HitMen & The Top Shelf

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126 – She Loves You – Lauren Molina

admin — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 04:01:22 +0000

126 – She Loves You – Lauren Molina

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

Original version recorded July 1 1963

Ukulele Version recorded – February – April 2011

Lauren Molina – Vocals, cello, drum, ukulele

Produced by: NY Noise, Lauren Molina, David Barratt

Recorded in Lauren’s apartment and NY Noise

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Walter Ulbricht – overly-enthusiastic Stalinist and founding father of German Democratic Republic was never that big a fan of The Beatles. In a speech denouncing the influence of corrupt western culture on the Communist world he said:

"the monotony of the yeah yeah yeah and whatever it is called".

In 1963 the British Prime Minister was Alec Douglas-Home. He liked The Beatles a bit more but misquoted the lyrics to “She Loves You” in speech when he said -

"I’m too modest to claim the country loves us, but you know, err, that can’t be too bad.”

“She Loves You” is still the best-selling Beatles single. It was the best-selling single by anyone in Britain until it was surpassed by Paul’s horrendous dirge "Mull of Kintyre".

But "She Loves You" is more than a pop record for the same reason that The Beatles are more than a pop group.

“She Loves You” marks the point where The Beatles transcended their pop group roots and morphed into the cultural icons. The “Yeah Yeah Yeah!” and the “Ooh” along with the haircuts and suits was what caught the attention of a world beyond a pop music, but those images and sounds were a signifier for something much more profound.

For anyone over 30 in 1963 there was something unnerving going on that could not be immediately understood or controlled. The Don Drapers of the world could sense it and they didn’t like it.

This was not just entertainment. The post-war youth were speaking in a new language and their elders simply did not comprehend it.

This is Paul on his dad’s reaction to “She Loves You”

"We went into the living room [and said] ‘Dad, listen to this. What do you think? And he said ‘That’s very nice son, but there’s enough of these Americanisms around. Couldn’t you sing ‘She loves you, yes, yes, yes!’. At which point we collapsed in a heap and said ‘No, Dad, you don’t quite get it!’"

He didn’t. He couldn’t. He was from a pre-war mentality that was soon to be made irrelevant.

The world was ready for something new.

Yeah yeah yeah… OOOHH!!

A generation that had grown up in the rubble of World War 2 were looking for a different way to run the world. It may seem ridiculous that something as ephemeral as pop music would be a catalyst but it was. Here was something that could be universally understood by the post-war generation and impenetrable to those born before.

Of course in the summer on 1963 no one could predict this change. When “She Loves You” was first released in America in August 63’ it was promptly ignored by radio stations and the public alike.

New York City deejay Murray the K later recounted:

"In late ’63 they brought a record to me and mentioned the possibility that The Beatles might be coming to America, so I said, ‘Okay,’ and I put it on air. I ran The Beatles in a contest with their record ‘She Loves You’, it came third out of five. But I still continued to play it for two or three weeks. But nothing happened. I mean, really no reaction. Absolutely nothing!”

It wasn’t until after the assassination of JFK in November of that year that the floodgates opened and the sixties began. After The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show “She Loves You” was re-released and all of a sudden the top five best selling records in America were all by The Beatles.

Ooh!

The “Ooh” that is so often thought of as a Beatles trademark was not a Beatles idea. Listen to the 1962 recording of “Twist And Shout” by Isley Brothers. There it is. John and Paul heard it, loved it and stole it. Ooh!

The “Yeah Yeah Yeah” has been appropriated by artists as diverse as U2, The Residents and Cher. Paul added it to the end of his duet with Stevie Wonder during "What’s That You’re Doing?" from "Tug of War”, but the most famous reference to the song was by The Beatles themselves. During the coda of “All You Need Is Love” Paul sings it. Instant nostalgia for those innocent days of 1963 from 1967.

Very Warhol. Very post-modern.

The song was parodied by two comedy records by Peter Sellers and Ted Chippington. Neither are very funny but it is telling that two very different but smart comedians spotted what was going on and exploited it.

For my sins I have written countless jingles for Corporate America and if the client wanted to reference The Beatles without getting sued all I had to do was sing “Ohh!” in a falsetto just like the lads did before the second chorus of “She Loves You” and everyone gets very happy very quickly.

As a song “She Loves You” is unusual as it is sung by a man to a man about a girl. You could almost think of it a precursor to “Hey Jude”.

When John wrote from this m2m perspective in “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl” he was all threat and bluster, warning off a potential rival but Paul is much more sensitive, more subtle, more female.

He really wants his mate to get back with the girl and he gives him great advice.

You know it’s up to you,

I think it’s only fair,

Pride can hurt you, too,

Apologize to her

I recently walked passed a church in Manhattan and and saw this sign out side.

“If you want the last word, apologize.”

Paul had the same idea in 1963.

Not bad for a kid of twenty-one.

The Ukulele Version features multi-talented actress/singer/musician Lauren Molina. All of the teen adrenaline has been removed from the song and what is left is a tender conversation.

The lyric is so much more kindhearted and believable coming from a female voice. Men tend not to give too much advice to one another on how to get women back. We acknowledge that we have no idea how or why women do things and feel it would be very presumptuous to give advice on how to get back with a woman.

But Lauren sounds so much more believable than any man when she sings:

She said you hurt her so

She almost lost her mind.

But now she said she knows

You’re not the hurting kind.

But there is a twist. Lauren created this arrangement from a very specific female perspective.

It is heartbreaking to envision a girl with unrequited love, singing "She Loves You" to the guy she wants to be with.

All the while talking about another girl who’s in love with him, knowing he’ll never choose her.

The recording reflects this double perspective. Parts of the song were recorded by Lauren herself late at night in an elegantly elevated haze alone in her apartment on her laptop while others were meticulously crafted and assembled by veteran studio guru Craig Bishop.

The internal and external. The raw and the cooked. The art and artifice.

Try and spot where the joins are.

Enjoy!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Lauren Molina is a Broadway actress, musician, singer-songwriter, and artist. She made her mark on Broadway starring as the cello-playing Johanna in the critically acclaimed revival of John Doyle’s "Sweeney Todd", and has since starred in "Rock of Ages", and "Candide" for which she won a Helen Hayes awards for Best Actress in a Resident Musical.

In 2007, she released her debut album "Doo-Be-Doo", a quirky, playful indie pop record. In 2010, she released her second album, entitled "Sea For Two". Lauren combines clever lyrics, peppered with lush harmonies, and delicious instrumentations including cello, ukulele, guitar, piano (all of which she plays), in addition to accordion, and Wurlitzer, to guarantee a delightful tickling of the senses.

www.laurenmolina.com

Craig Bishop, having finally snagged a BA from San Francisco State University, wasted his remaining youth at a wildly successful music house before jumping into the international freelance music production scene where he recorded and mixed Commercial, Film, TV and Album projects ranging from punk rock pioneers “Television” to full symphony orchestras.

When not sailing, playing tennis or dicking around the kitchen trying to improve his not inconsiderable culinary skills, Craig handles Client Relations / Business Management / Production Coordinating / Mixing / Engineering at the music production company NY Noise, where he is VP / Exec Producer / Partner.

www.nynoise.com

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125 – What Goes On – Frankie Moran

admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 04:01:32 +0000

125 What Goes On – Frankie Moran

Original version recorded November 4th 1965

Ukulele Version recorded February – April, 2011

Frankie Moran – Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Ukulele

Produced by Moran Hill Hurwitz

Engineer: Kevin Hill

Assistant Engineer: Seth Hurwitz

Recorded at Studio Unknown/Popmark Media

Baltimore, Maryland, Feb-April, 2011

Written and credited to Lennon/McCartney/Starkey

ABOUT THE SONG

The Beatles are not thought of as a country band but there are a couple of examples where they wandered musically below the Mason-Dixon Line. “Matchbox”, “Honey Don’t”, “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby” and “Act Naturally” were all covered by the lads and mostly sung by Ringo.

Ringo was a big fan of all things Nashville. In 1970 about a month after the announcement of the band breaking up he recorded an entire country album with pedal steel player Pete Drake producing. Back in 1965 the closest he could get to recording country tunes was with his pals and one of those was “What Goes On”.

John wrote it in 1960 for for his first band “The Quarrymen” and buried it away until pressure for new material during the “Rubber Soul” sessions inspired John to dig it out. Paul added a bridge section and Ringo aquirred his first writing credit by adding some of the lyrics.

Carl Perkins was a massive influence on George’s guitar playing. The sound of his guitar on this recording is super-clean and very loud. Unfortunately George’s chops are not really 100% and although he does his best, this performance would not have got him a job as a picker in Nashville.

Where I live in New York City there is a great loathing for the southern states in general and country music in particular. Several of my southern friends tone down their delightful accents when they come north as they are treated as though they are idiots should they talk in in a Southern Drawl . There is no country radio in NYC since WYNY closed down years ago. When I drove through the south last September several New Yorkers told me to be careful as the south is a “dark place”

I’ve never understood this northern bigotry. The Civil War ended almost 150 years ago.

Get over it New York.

Country music is the only place where stories are told about working people and the quality of narrative lyric writing in present day country music better than it has ever been.

As I write the #1 Country Album is “This Is Country Music” by Brad Paisley. The subject matter covered in the title song include – cancer, Jesus Christ, tractors, trucks, small town life, alcohol, love, forgiveness, a boring job, a cruel boss, love of one’s brother, the wars in the Middle East and loss of a family member. That is a lot of information for a pop song to convey, and it does it with a beautiful melody and a killer guitar solo.

The Ukulele version of “What Goes On” is not as multi-layered piece as that but it does rock. It is probably what Ringo would like to have sung over in 1965. The harmonies are altered slightly and there is a more manic bar-room feel to the whole affair.

Enjoy!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Frankie Moran is an award winning songwriter who has logged many hours on the road performing up and down the East Coast.

While recording music for The A&E Network series “Random1” , Frankie met the owner and lead engineer of Studio Unknown and PopMark Media, Kevin Hill. He was then introduced to Seth Hurwitz, producer of "Swarm of the Snakehead" and the three created the songwriting team, Moran/Hill/Hurwitz.

Moran/Hill/Hurwitz have been writing contemporary country songs together since 2007. Since Frankie sang on all the demos it has culminated into the self-titled release CD, "Frankie Moran". This album will be available for purchase June 7th, 2011.   Ask any of Frankie’s childhood friends about his collection of music and they will tell you it was the Beatles all the way. "I would buy their tapes even though CDs were the new thing, I could get two for price of one CD… it took me a long time to understand what it was I was hearing but I just loved it. I am amazed to this day at how they went about it when you think of what we are able to do in studios now… just amazing.

It was an honor and a real pleasure to get to re-do a Beatles song. I researched their actual studio session with the banter and all the different things that happened during their recording session of that one take; very interesting; then I learned all the guitar parts and bass and really tried to stay true to the original while giving it even more of a country sound and a little of my own flavor. I hope Paul and Ringo someday hear this version and know that because of the Beatles I wanted to learn an E chord, and have never looked back".

Look for Frankie’s CD and upcoming show dates at

www.frankiemoranmusic.com 

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124 – Think For Yourself – Morgan Visconti

admin — Tue, 31 May 2011 04:01:28 +0000

124 Think For Yourself – Morgan Visconti

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

Original version recorded December 3rd 1965

Ukulele Version – May 2011

Morgan Visconti – Ukulele, vocals & everything else

Produced by Morgan Visconti in a room 200-ft from Abbey Road, London

Mixed at Human, London

Written and credited to George Harrison

ABOUT THE SONG

“Think For Yourself” from 1965’s Rubber Soul is a song by George Harrison telling people to think like him. It’s all very preachy, borderline angry in a sulky, grumpy kind of way. It could make great theme for the The Tea Party and their cocky – attitudinal individualism.

“Do what you want to do

And go where your going to

Think for yourself

’cause I won’t be there with you”

It is also reminiscent of cuddly satanist and Led Zeppelin inspirator Alistair Crowley, whose philosophy was "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

It is very fashionable nowadays to be a cynical non-conformist. There is something truly paradoxical about the herd mentality of so called "freethinkers."

How many adverts have you seen where you are encouraged to be an individual by consuming whatever product is on show? Whether it is a soda (Mountain Dew) or a diamond ring (Tiffany’s) your identity is transmitted to others by the choice of your purchases.

This type of idea of the individual is one of the great cons of consumer capitalism.

But who is George singing to in this song? In his autobiography he claimed it was about “The Government”, which at the time was Harold Wilson’s semi-socialist Labour Party, but the lyrics sound way to personal for that to be true.

“I left you far behind,

The ruins of the life that you had in mind.

And though you still can’t see,

I know your minds made up,

You’re gonna cause more misery.”

An old friend in Liverpool? A family member? Or maybe a version of himself that had never gone on the great adventure that was his career with The Beatles?

This marks a half way point between George being angry and infuriated at his girlfriend (Don’t Bother Me) and angry and infuriated at just about everything (Taxman/Only A Northern Song). You can hear him gradually breaking away from The Beatles persona and acquiring his own voice which would come to full fruition in 1968

The arrangement is a little chaotic. The backing track could definitely been tighter. Yet another percussion car-crash. Shakers and tambourines rattle away way too loud yet again. I love the fuzzy bass coming out of the right speaker despite a mistake at the top of the 2nd chorus.

Morgan Visconti’s ukulele version is a slightly schizophrenic animal. A homage to music production styles of the 60’s and 70’s

The verse is a pastiche of classic Phil Spector all shiny echo and sparkly pianos. A widescreen epic which brings to mind girl groups with big hair, tight skits and too much make-up. The chorus cuts to a dry 70’s sound. All tight close mic-ed and hyper-intimate – not unlike some his father’s productions. The insane solo saxophone could easily have been a young David Bowie in full flow.

……

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Morgan was born in St John’s Wood, London to singer, Mary Hopkin and record producer, Tony Visconti.

Ever since nappies, he has been tinkering with multiple instruments, singing, producing and composing.

He wrote scores for many TV commercials while living in New York and now resides back in London, 200 ft from Abbey Road (where his mum recorded "Those Were The Days" in 1968). He currently runs the London arm of Human Music And Sound Design.

Morgan continues to work with his family of musicians having recently collaborated with his mum, dad and sister, Jessica Lee Morgan on their respective album projects.

http://www.humanworldwide.com

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123 – Long Long Long – Neon Cough

admin — Tue, 24 May 2011 04:01:27 +0000

123 Long Long Long – Neon Cough

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

Original version recorded October 7 1968

Ukulele version recorded March 2011

Dan – vocals, guitar, ukulele

Mike – bass

Joel – drums

With David Barratt – Orchestrations

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste from Original recordings made by Neon Couch in San Diego

Written and credited to George Harrison

ABOUT THE SONG

Long Long Long was recorded on the same day that professional miserablist and singer with Radiohead, Thom York was born. It must have been a grey dull day. This recording is particularly English, Autumnal, colourless and fuzzy.

I recently have stayed in St. Johns Wood – where Abbey Road Studios is located. For somewhere so close to the centre of the city it feels strangely suburban, quiet and well, grey.

The deliberately “weird” production of “Long Long Long” gets in the way of what is a beautifully written song. It is a precursor to many dodgy records made in the 70’s where experimentation in the studio was allowed to ruin many careers.

George Martin and the rest of the band still didn’t really give George’s songs much respect at this point. It wasn’t until the “Abbey Road” album did he get the full wide screen treatment.

Paul’s Hammond Organ part is dreary and meandering. Strangely Ringo gets low marks for pulling out Phil Collins uber-fills 12 years before Phil Collins did. They seem out of context with this gentle ballad, clattering away like someone having an epileptic seizure in a percussion box. John didn’t even bother playing on it. In fact John’s only contribution to any of George’s songs on “The White Album” was a few oinks on “Piggies”.

"Long, Long, Long" is simultaneously a love song and a song of praise. George was to make a speciality of this ambiguity again and again during his solo career.

In his autobiography, George spoke briefly about the song, describing how its music had been inspired by the final track on Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde album.

“The ‘you’ in Long, Long, Long is God. I can’t recall much about it except the chords, which I think were coming from Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands – D to E minor, A, and D – those three chords and the way they moved.”

The ending of the recording is particularly messy. An unnecessary distraction from a lovely song.

Chris Thomas who engineered the session and played piano said “There’s a sound near the end of the song which is a bottle of Blue Nun wine rattling away on top of a Leslie speaker cabinet. It just happened. Paul hit a certain note and the bottle started vibrating. We thought it was so good that we set the mikes up and did it again. The Beatles always took advantage of accidents.”

I love the fact that even though the boys were richer than god, they were still drinking £1 a bottle Liebfraumilch in the studio.

The version by San Diego’s Neon Cough is much more minimalist and focused. Dan’s voice is whispering in your ear. There is a true regret coupled with the possibility of redemption in his voice.

It has taken him a while to realize the error of his ways.

He won’t let you down again.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Neon Cough is simultaneously a bedroom recording project and a lively rock n’ roll trio.

They can currently be seen playing shows in their hometown of San Diego, California and are recording a follow-up to their debut album for release later this year.

Also, our websites are:

facebook.com/neoncough

neoncough.bandcamp.com

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122 – Can’t Buy Me Love – Curtis King

admin — Tue, 17 May 2011 04:24:30 +0000

122 – Can’t Buy Me Love – Curtis King

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

Original version – January 29 1964

Ukulele version – April 2011

Curtis King – Vocals and vocal treatments

David Barratt – Ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn. Mixed at the Abattoir Mobile between Puerto Rico and New York

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Essay: Natalie Barratt

ABOUT THE SONG

Money can’t buy me love.

Hmm. Really?

Ask that man that married Anna Nicole Smith. Or Elizabeth Taylor’s last husband. Or that back-up dancer that married J. Lo or Britney. Whichever name it was, each one is testament to the fact that “Money Can’t Buy Me Love”. Or that it can.

Depends which tabloid day it is.

Fact is, human beings are obsessed with the idea that money can or can’t buy you love. It is no surprise that The Beatles addressed this meme – even though they were baby-faced simpletons who didn’t know their arse from their elbow.

Well, we could look at the four of the most successful, most monied men in the pop universe to consider this question.

Paul, how did you do on this? You were rich, and you married a rich chick. Apparently you went on to be stupendously happy with the sweet and committed lady that was Linda McCartney. We can gloss over the awful Mills woman and now wish you well with the newest lady love. Good luck with that.

You seem to be embracing the ‘Money can’t buy me love, but it does help’ philosophy.

John. George. Ringo. Frankly, money and fame are so part of your profile that is it hard to even consider its relevance. So lets move on on to the average American/Westerner/ How do we feel about your sweet, 21 year old song?

Turns out, we know that sweet song was bullshit. I can direct you to this amazing link to NPR’s brilliant show, Planet Money:

http://tiny.cc/MoneyLove

They have proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that Money DOES buy you love: Hell yeah. We knew that was the case. Just about every religion have told us that it should not be the case. But it is, and this link proves it. Listen, enjoy and relax. Your intuition was correct. I found it curiously peaceful.

Let’s have a chat about the way the song was recorded. This was Paul’s song. Recorded in four takes, it challenged John in the boring ‘Who is the leader of The Beatles anyway?” question that countless books have documented before. As ever, we can only rely on the music to tell the story.

I want to give a shout out to the brilliant blog The Beatles Bible, for their excellent documentary of the recording mechanics of the song. TBB is a very well researched record of ‘what happened’ during recording of any Beatles song. This is their full story: http://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/cant-buy-me-love/. Let me tell you what stands out.

First of all, this was a Blues track. The idea of four skinny Liverpudlian teenagers falling in love with The Blues makes my heart twist. Thank god for the transforming power of music.

Secondly, the limitations of recording in those days makes me smile. Do you know that you can still hear the rejected Harrison guitar line on the original track? They re-recorded, but the over-dub still reveals the original as a ghostly souvenir of another day in 1964. Love that. Something modern perfection of digital recording would never show up.

Curtis does an older, sweeter, more romantic and yet sadder version of this song. Every sound (apart from the ubiquitous ukulele) comes from his own mouth.

How can a man as interesting and deep as Curtis not bring his life to this song? That is the genius of The Beatles.

Curtis is a tall drink of water, with a life that clearly has been lived, and his voice resonates that in this delicious rendition. I heard him sing the first time with Mr. Barratt, then saw them mix the track on a plane back from Puerto Rico.

He is the real deal. Treasure the darkness he brings to this.

Now we are older, He knows that money can buy us love, but it ain’t the kind of love one would want…

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Originally from Philadelphia,Pa.,raised in Tallahassee,Florida,Curtis was a classically trained french horn player through out high school and college earning top honors.

After college, he moved to New York to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter. He’s had the opportunity of recording or sharing the stage with,Povorotti ,Sting ,James Taylor,Meatloaf, Carly Simon,Mick Jagger, Bonnie Raitt,Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band and many more. He’s appeared on David Letterman,Jimmy Fallon,Conan O’Brian and Saturday Night Live, and Jingles a plenty.

Still a country boy at heart,he continues to pinch himself each time he thinks about the incredible journey he’s been blessed with.

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121 Yer Blues – L.U.V.

admin — Tue, 10 May 2011 04:01:29 +0000

121 Yer Blues – L.U.V.

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

Original version – November 22 1968

Ukulele version – May 2011

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Jimmy Sweet – Vocals

Holly – Drums

Kasia – Keyboards

Claire – Bass

Chloe – Guitar

with David Barratt – Ukulele

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

Vocals recorded by Matt Gallagher in San Francisco

Video directed by David Barratt from original footage from www.BeautifulAgony.com

Essay Bill Clift

ABOUT THE SONG

My summer of ’69 was a little different to the one had by Bryan Adams.

I am fourteen. My friend Steve and I are in his house playing table-tennis, not on a proper surface but with one of those cheap nets with frail plastic clamps precariously stretched over the dining table. A gramophone is playing an already slightly worn mono vinyl disc of The Beatles (White Album). Also present are Steve’s older brother David and one of his university chums whose name and face I can’t recall. I would like to say that the two older boys are smoking pipes and, even though it’s very hot, wearing duffel coats with college scarves wrapped round their pompous little throats but this, I know, is my imagination.

I am enjoying the music just as I’ve enjoyed The Fab’s musical output since day one. I am also safe in the warm and certain knowledge that I’m not alone in my appreciation and adoration of The Beatles as they are, indeed, universally revered as the best thing ever…and now they’re playing Yer Blues, joyfully heavier than a lot of their earlier material and maybe we’ll be hearing a lot more of this type of stuff in the future, what with the monster that is Helter Skelter from the same album and, and…

Imagine my surprise when David emits a loud guttural, I’m not sure of the spelling but I’ll approximate it as “Hhugghh!!”, a sound which I’ve heard before but never made by someone of my generation who is listening concurrently to the magical sounds of The Greatest Band Ever. I send the small plastic ball shooting dangerously close to Steve’s right ear and stare disbelieving at David’s lingering superior and dismissive sneer.

“What’s up?” I ask, because I recognise the sound he’s just blurted as one of derision and I’m interested to learn the reason for such a bile-ridden outburst. Although not top-notch, I can’t imagine the quality of my table-tennis skills deserve such a severe pooh-poohing.

“This music”, he responds, “is not ‘blues’. The Beatles are a trivial pop band who could never hope to fathom the deep, complexity of The Blues!”

And there it was. The first real declaration I’d heard of one musical style being more valid, more worthwhile than another and the assertion that some musicians are and always will be incapable of reaching the nirvana of suffering and sheer soul-searching musicality that is required for its authorship and reproduction. The Blues!

Oh, and that goes for Jazz too, of course.

There followed a long and sustained argument, during which I seem to remember coming off second best (well, I didn’t have a university education behind me then) about the importance and purity of particular musical forms but I will never forget this, my first introduction to the wide and wonderful world of musical snobbery.

Don’t get me wrong, although The Beatles were, and still are, my favourite outfit I’d always enjoyed the music of The Stones, for instance. Cream were fast becoming a regular and very welcome visitor to my turntable, I knew Hendrix was a genius as soon as I heard the first frightening wail from his guitar, The Yardbirds had recently spawned Led Zeppelin, who I went on to love unconditionally so I was no stranger to blues influenced music and, according to David, these people, along with John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac et al, ‘got’ The Blues and made a good fist of approximating it.

But The Beatles just never would.

Hmmm…I know there’s little evidence of a Beatle’s track sounding like a direct descendant of a blues song per se but there’s a wealth of the band’s material which owes its identity to Rhythm and Blues and Rock and Roll, two musical forms unequivocally related to the blues genre, Don’t Let Me Down, Can’t Buy Me Love, I’m Down, She’s a Woman to name but a few. Their love of Tamla Motown’s black pop and Stax’s soul is also clear (listen to No Reply, Daytripper and You’re Gonna Lose That Girl for example) and I think it’s fair to say that both these record labels have been filtered through a really strong blues tradition. Also, although not quite up to his later primal-screaming vocal technique, I think John’s voice on Yer Blues is authentic in blues terms, full of the pain and the passion its form apparently requires.

But, thank you, David, for giving me a heads-up. Your attitude warned me that most radio stations in America, and then a growing number of other territories, would dedicate themselves to a single genre of music, never allowing any other style to confuse their precious broadcasts. It prepared me for the legions of A&R men, music publishers etc who “love this song but have no idea what to do with it” because it doesn’t adhere to a recognisable format or type. It made me aware of how promoters of live music venues often laud blues and jazz as the only musical style allowed to be played within their hallowed walls even though it’s usually some insipid lounge style version, palatable enough for their limp-minded, anaemic clientele. It made me saddened but not surprised when I heard a teenaged African-American girl, as she was propelled ceiling-ward on an escalator in Virgin Records, Broadway, NYC, upon being exposed to a live performance on the ground floor by a young punk/pop outfit testify, “I don’t wanna hear no white boy’s music!”

What’s with the reluctance to accept that music can transcend a pigeon-holed status, can absorb and utilise a great many musical forms and influences and come up with a new and wonderful thing all its own, especially in this globally aware day and age? Add to that the continuing insistence by many (yes, it wasn’t just you and your poncy friend that sunny afternoon in Gillingham, David. I’m still hearing it right here, right now) that a dusty old blues song is the only music still worthy of serious consideration and I think you’ll understand my frustration at the petty, narrow-mindedness of some so called ‘music fans’. So there, blah, bleedin’ blah!

Come on Britney, Kylie…give us a song.

Our lovely fresh new version is performed by L.U.V. which is such an ace name I’m surprised it hasn’t been requisitioned before (has it?). Of course, I don’t wish to condemn their version to a particular genre but if you were twisting my arm (ouch, go on then) I’d go for a badly behaved version of electronic/glam-rock. Having said that, I can definitely hear the song’s intended blues roots shining through but then again I’m not that big a git.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

L.U.V. is a London-based sleazy female Rock ‘N’ Roll band with a charismatic front man from Hollywood, California. They released their self titled EP on East Coast label Realize Records in January 2011.

If Iggy Pop, Goldfrapp, The Cramps and Peaches spawned a love child, you would have L.U.V. Along with singer Jimmy Sweet comes a quartet of gorgeous girls – Claire, Holly, Kasia and new addition, Chloe. The blonde, brunettes and redhead make up the rest of L.U.V.

For the past few months, L.U.V. has been working to create what has become the self-titled CD “L.U.V.” The E.P. was produced by Dan Horne (formerly with Wolfmother) and highlights old – American Rock ‘N’ Roll infused with British electro pop that creates a sound of its own.

L.U.V.’s debut gig was at the November launch of the latest book by the legendary Mick Rock where they were chosen by the sponsors, Zippo, to perform and have a photoshoot with the man himself. This was followed by a series of shows titled the "Dirty, Sexy, Rock ‘N’ Roll" tour throughout the UK. The EP launch gig was a sell out show at Proud Gallery, Camden, London in January. The lead track from the EP ‘She’s My Fix’ has already been played numerous times by John Kennedy at Xfm in London and by the legendary Rodney Bingenheimer in LA.

To find out more about L.U.V., their upcoming release, you can visit www.luvtheband.com or www.myspace.com/luvlondon or www.youtube.com/user/LUV1TV

She’s My Fix Video Here: http://www.youtube.com/user/LUV1TV#p/a/u/0/7PN_gkHbuoA

Californ-I-A Video here: http://www.youtube.com/user/LUV1TV#p/a/u/1/0lmgQTFiedU

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120 – I’m Looking Through You – Dandelion Wine

admin — Tue, 03 May 2011 04:01:53 +0000

120 – I’m Looking Through You – Dandelion Wine

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

Original recording – December 3 1965
Ukulele recording – March 2011

Written by Paul McCartney
Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Danny Musengo – Vocals guitar

Tom Hopke – Guitar

Nathan MacCormack – Cello

with

David Barratt – Ukulele, bass, guitar

Lightning – Percussion (0:43)

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

Essay – Sean Redmond

ABOUT THE SONG

“I’m Looking Through You” is a fairly angry song, mostly from Paul’s pen, that Dandelion Wine certainly stamps with a rough-edged beauty in this wonderful cover. The unusual trio (voice/guitar/cello) slows it down a bit, and when you hear Danny Musengo’s voice—which channels the absolute best of Rod Stewart’s gravelly charm—your first thought is probably going to be “Maggie May.” That was my first thought for sure. The next: “Two amazing songs. So many miles apart.”

Try to imagine any other band from the 60′s recording “I’m Looking Through You.” Would you buy it? I don’t think so. Let’s limit it to bands made up of white kids, but consider that the Beatles own songwriting was strong enough that they didn’t have to keep imitating rhythm and blues to sound emotional and authentic. The sentiment of the song is simple—people change, things change, how do we deal with it? How do they? Does it matter? But when we scratch our heads and wonder why The Beatles mattered so much, maybe we need to remember that those four kids didn’t have anything to fall back on or any surplus on which they could afford to maintain many illusions.

Even their involvement in Eastern religions seems as practical as it was indulgent.

The line from Maggie May that kept coming back to me was “It’s late September and I really should be back at school.” Paul and John weren’t college kids (like me, say, when I was in a band) and though they helped launch the baby-boomers into permanent adolescence, in some important ways they really look back to a generation that grew up faster—I mean, Paul wrote “When I’m Sixty-Four” when he was just sixteen.

The singer in “Maggie May,” feels used, made a fool of, mistreated. He wishes he’d never seen Maggie, and he even sees her in a different light now: “The morning sun when it’s in your eyes really shows your age.” But he’s still “as blind as a fool can be” and couldn’t leave her if he tried. The thing is, he could collect his books and “go on back to school” or even find “a rock and roll band, that needs a helping hand.” “Maggie May” has a handful of alternative fantasies and maybe it’s the selfish luxury of the poet to choose none and have them all.

No such wiggle room for “I’m Looking Through You.” There is the cliché in songs, or maybe more in movies, that love was in front of me all the time, I just had to open my eyes and see “the real you.” “I’m Looking Through You” is the anti-fantasy of this—like “Hello, Goodbye” Paul juggles a paradox, “I’m looking through you / And you’re nowhere”. He’s trying to find the difficult line between “the real you” and the “you” I was in love with.

A big part of love is the agreement not to change too much or so fast that it strains the pleasant illusion of coupledom. A song like “Wait” explains the rules:

It’s been a long time

Now I’m

coming back home…

Wait

’til I come back to your side

We’ll forget the tears we’ve cried”

We’re driven to look for some redemption, some hint of a way out, a turning point that let the beloved materialize again in the eyes of her lover—“I believe / in Yesterday”—or else what are songs for? When I saw the “real you” and fell in love, I saw something I wanted to lift up to the heavens. To keep love alive, I have to hold you aloft until we can get back home, where we can forget the tears. By the rules of love songs this has to happen, but the agreement is prone to one side changing the rules without really letting on. That leaves the lover holding his beloved aloft, then feeling that all he did was give her a height advantage. But that was Yesterday, today is something else:

You’re thinking of me, the same old way

You were above me, but not today
The only difference is you’re down there
I’m looking through you, and you’re nowhere

What is there when you have to open your eyes? Nothing good for sure, and you can’t just lay back down and think, maybe you’ll join a rock band one day. It’s angering and bewildering and you have to pick a spot to stand firm or else get dragged under. What makes “I’m Looking Through You” so grown up and part of The Beatles evolution of pop music is that it’s sung from a place beyond that turning point, that can no longer afford to believe in Yesterday.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Dandelion Wine, like most religions, began with a mushroom trip in the desert and will end in eternal life.

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119 – Penny Lane – Gerald Ross

admin — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:01:58 +0000

119 Penny Lane – Gerald Ross

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

Original recording – December 1966 January 1967
Ukulele recording – August 15 2007

Written by Paul McCartney
Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Gerald Ross – Ukulele

Produced by Gerald Ross and David Barratt The Abattoir Of Good Taste.
Essay – Tres Crow

ABOUT THE SONG

After the wild success of the LP’s Rubber Soul and Revolver, and the paranoid nightmare of their final tours, The Beatles settled down in early 1966 to record what would become arguably their most influential and ground-breaking record, Sgt. Pepper.

By all accounts Sgt. Pepper’s took a long time to record, at least compared to the standards of the day. For a band that had released six to seven records (singles, EP’s, and LP’s) a year for the last three years, taking six months to record a single album was practically unheard of. The record company got restless, so The Beatles obliged one final time, made the final payment on their three-year installment plan on mega-stardom. They released a double A-side single that just about blew the lid off the underground psychedelic scene, and sonically heralded the wild U-turn the rest of the decade would take.

And to think, John and Paul were just writing about their childhoods.

In classic Paul mode “Penny Lane” doesn’t have a single drop of Paul in it. He wrote about what it felt like to be in that bustling commercial hub through a series of subtly bizarre images and set pieces that add up to a chiming display of youthful exuberance. Only in the chorus does he say anything like “me” or “my,” and that is only to place himself at the scene. He is the watcher, not the subject itself. Compared to John’s musically ambitious, but cold and cynical, “Strawberry Fields,” which uses an arcane childhood reference to otherwise complain about his boredom and confusion, “Penny Lane” is actually about youthfulness itself, the magic, the excitement, the potential.

For all the complaints of shallowness leveled at Paul, it is these complaints themselves that lack depth. Subtlety was never John’s strong suit. He was brilliant, and dangerous, and caustic, and extraordinarily witty, but he was rarely refined. John could never have written anything as perfect as “Yesterday.” He would have second-guessed himself, and ultimately blasted the song in the media as his self-consciousness got the better of him. But Paul, on the other hand, had no problem writing such a long-legged pop gem. It was in his blood, the showmanship, the bravado, the professionalism.

Paul was probably too refined. He was so sleek and skillful that it is easy to miss how clever his compositions are. And “Penny Lane” is a master class.

Musically “Penny” is no more ambitious than tracks like “Eleanor Rigby” or “Got To Get You Into My Life.” Other than the first ever use of the piccolo trumpet in a pop recording, “Penny Lane” is pretty standard Paul McCartney-penned pop magic. It’s so standard, in fact, that it has become the practical template for the oft-cited short-hand Beatlesque (e.g., “Let’s make this track Beatlesque. You know, like “Penny Lane.”). No track quite sounds so Beatle-y as this one, and that is no small feat, to create the definitive track for a band as expansive and impossibly complex as The Beatles.

It is the lyrics, though, that are most interesting part of this song. Sure it’s catchy and the piano and vocal arrangement are pitch-perfect, but the juxtaposition of this most distinctive of Beatles-sounding songs with the bizarre dream-world created in the lyrics is what makes the song so compelling. If you’re only listening to the melody you’ll completely miss the depth.

It is in the dichotomy of lyrics and music that “Strawberry Fields” and “Penny Lane” are the most easily compared. “Strawberry Fields” has a quintessential psychedelic sound, while the lyrics are astoundingly postmodern. Essentially the lyrics are John talking to himself about his confusion and pain, with all the attendant “errs” and “umms” included. It’s all very meta:

“No one I think is in my tree/I mean, it must be high or low/That is, you can’t, you know, tune in/but it’s all right/That is, I think it’s not too bad.”

“Penny Lane,” on the other hand, is superficially postmodern (ie, the music is a self-conscious pastiche of big band), while the lyrics themselves are psychedelic. Each stanza is effectively a portrait of a character Paul sees in Penny Lane (the barber, the fireman, the banker, the pretty nurse) yet nearly every description is filled with slang or hidden meanings. It starts off simply enough with a barber who keeps pictures “of every head he’s had the pleasure to know,“ but eventually we meet a banker that never wears a mac in the pouring rain, a fireman who keeps a picture of the Queen in his pocket and spends all day cleaning his “machine,” and then of course you have the nurse who both feels as if she’s in a play, but also is in one, whatever that means. The song increases its surrealism throughout, and ends with the one-two punch of “Four of fish and finger pies” and “Then the fireman rushes in/from the pouring rain/very strange.” “Four of fish” is slang for a cheap form of fish and chips, while “finger pies” can both alternately mean a small meat pie, and a certain sexual activity favored by teenage boys the world over. The inclusion of such a blatant and well-used slang term certainly casts the earlier lyrics in a new light. This fireman, who is his queen, after-all, and is his machine truly his fire engine, or is it another “machine”?

None of these questions are answered. The song ends with the fireman rushing into the barber shop from the pouring rain. To say what, we’re never told. Very strange, indeed.

The ukulele version of Penny Lane is just that – Ukulele on it’s own. We have been criticized, often correctly, for obscuring our featured instrument. Today we put this right with a true master of the ukulele Mr Gerald Ross.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

One of Gerald Ross’ early claims to fame was a commercial he made with a friend in high school for Kazoozie Kazoos that ran everyday for 2 months on the Captain Kangaroo Show. And while it may have been his talent on a kazoo that kick-started his musical career, Gerald also played bass in a rock band during high school, and electric guitar with a Western swing band and acoustic guitar with a bluegrass band while in college, finally graduating to ‘The Lost World String Band” playing guitar, bottleneck National guitar, and Cajun accordion, appearing several times on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.

Today, however, Gerald Ross is known more for his work with the ukulele and Hawaiian lap steel guitar and has recorded five solo CD’s. In addition to being an extremely polished performer, Gerald is a prepared, organized, and thoughtful teacher, and such a nice guy! Whew!

He has performed in concert with Bonnie Raitt, Arlo Guthrie, Doc Watson, Johnny Gimble, Riders In The Sky, Earl Scruggs, Brownie McGhee and other nationally known artists. He was the winner of the 1993 WEMU Jazz Competition (solo artist). He’s been a featured performer at The New York Uke Fest, The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, The Wine Country Uke Fest, The Lone Star Uke Fest, The Portland Ukefest, The Sevilla (Spain) Uke Fest, Augusta Heritage Swing Week, The Ashokan Western Swing Week and many other prominent Roots music festivals.

It’s no wonder Gerald Ross has been called an entire music camp and festival in one.

www.geraldross.com

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118 – I’m Happy Just To Dance With You – John Conte

admin — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 04:01:39 +0000

118 I’m Happy Just To Dance With You – John Conte

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

Original version recorded March 1 1964

Ukulele version recorded January 2011

John Conte – Vocals & multi-tracked bass guitar

Mike Leslie – Ukulele

David Barratt: Ukulele

Mary Stuart – Vibes

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn from original recordings made by John Conte on a digital 4 track device w/ built in mic in The Talbot Hotel, Oundle, England.

Written and Credited to Lennon McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

“I’m Happy Just To Dance With You” is a knocked off made to measure hand-me-down by John and Paul for George to sing during the filming of “A Hard Days Night”.

In the film the song is introduced by Lionel Blair dancing in an art gallery with pictures of beetles on the wall. Blair’s camp image came to the fore in the 1960s, when, with his dance troupe, he appeared on many British television variety programmes. Lennon parodies Blair’s moves just before the band sets up and paraphrases Mickey Rooney in “Strike Up The Band” (1940) when he says – “Why don’t we do the show right here?”

At the end of the sequence in the film John says in the most patronising manner – “That’s very good that George”.

McCartney called it a "formula song", and Lennon said, "I would never have sung it myself."

It was to be a while before George came into his own as a writer, but it was around this time that he was to meet the inspiration for one of his greatest compositions. Patti Boyd played the part of one of the schoolgirls chasing The Beatles. Ironically it was George that chased Patti. His initial overtures to her were spurned because she had a boyfriend at the time but he persisted.Within 18 months they were married and a couple of years after that he wrote what is arguably one of the greatest love songs ever – “Something”

The ukulele version of “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You” is a much darker affair. All of the innocence has been drained from the song. The protagonist doesn’t need much from his love object. Just a dance. Just someone to hold on to. The night is cold and long and a little company goes a long way.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

John Conte has been living in NYC for 23 years and has forged his existence as a touring musician & bassist on vast numbers of recording sessions , major & indie label records , commercials , film music , as well as mall openings , dentist office xmas parties, bowling banquets, and work as a part time carnival barker.

John is also known for his work and co-writing with his brother Steve. Together they have released 3 albums including “The Contes” & “Crown Jewels” – the latter voted one the best unsigned bands in America by musician magazine in 1998. Most recently he’s formed a rock n’ roll band for with his wife Lisa called ‘Leo’s Mom”.

Recently, John & his wife Lisa formed a rock n’ roll band for kids called "Leo’s Mom". Last year they released their 1st cd – "My Imagination" (availablle at itunes & cdbaby.com)

www.johncontebass.com

www.thecontes.com

www.leosmom.com

NOTE FROM THE ARTIST

The wacky thing is about this is that 6 months prior to hearing about The Beatles Complete On Ukulele project I had recorded this rough idea in a hotel room for no reason.

I was on tour in the u.k. and had come down with the flu.

Luckily we had a couple of days off in the same hotel. I spent 2 days drinking herbal tea ,then water ,passing out ,waking to go to the loo then repeat….

But somewhere in between all that I would pick up my bass and play a bit to see if signs of life were returning. I was just noodling around in the key D -fretting notes on the G string with the open D droning beneath it. My fingerings stumbled across the melody of the song that John & Paul had written for George to sing in “Hard Days Night”.

I was then reminded of this idea I had to deconstruct happy sounding songs and see what happens to the meaning of the lyric when for example the tempo is slowed down. I decided to give it a go at singing it this way.

Hearing the lyrics slowed down the song really hits me as a desperate plea for the slightest chance to initiate a connection with a would be lover. For me , this meaning has always been masked by the peppy version we all know by the fab four and the emphasis of the word ”happy” in the title.

I recorded this on a boss micro BR which I carry with me on the road. it’s a tiny digital 4 track recorder – the size of a cassette tape jewel box with a built in mic of marginal quality.

The hotel I was staying in was actually an historic old inn that dated back to the 1600’s – it was where mary queen of scotts was held prisoner and later murdered.

The kind of place where the floor boards creaked with ones every movement and the walls seemed rather thin as I could hear a lot going on in the room next to me .

So as I recorded the vocals late at night I was trying to sing in a hushed voice while still projecting some kind of pitch & feeling.

After some consideration from David – we decided not to re-record this in a more “proper”manor and instead keep this original “scratch pad” version in all it’ it’s random splendor….. recorded basically as it came to me.

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117 – Taxman – Matt Gibson

admin — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 04:01:36 +0000

Click here to play

117 Taxman Matt Gibson

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

Written by George Harrison and John Lennon
Credited to George Harrison

Original version recorded August 5 1965
Ukulele version recorded February 2011

Fiddles and Lead Vocal – Matt Gibson
Pedal Steel – Stump Pickens
Bass, slide guitar, harmonica, mandolin, backing vocals – Michael Golub
Drums, Ukulele – David Barratt
Additional Vocals – Kirsten Gronberg and Brian August

Produced by David Barratt & Michael Golub at The Abattoir Of Good Taste from original recordings by Matt Gibson at his shack in Allardt, Tennessee.

Essay Jessie Murphy

ABOUT THE SONG

By George!

1 2 3 4 Boom Splat. Who’d a thunk it. Even though John helped on a few lines this was George set free.

For the first time a George Harrison song opened a Beatles album, and not just any old Beatles album. This was Revolver – the new hip post-mop-top Beatles album. And what subject did he choose to share his opinions about at this auspicious time.

The funding of British social services

George Harrison wrote this ditty of rage for a government that was taking what he considered his to be his money to build hospitals and schools for post-war Britain instead of letting George purchase an infinite number of sexy Nehru suits and rare sitars for his collection.

Taxman is possibly the most unintentionally ironic song in the whole Beatles catalog when one considers George’s usual mantra of love, sharing, selflessness and spirituality.

In 1965 The Beatles’ large earnings placed them in the top tax bracket in the UK and made them liable to the 95% supertax introduced by the Labour Government of Harold Wilson. In the context of the supertax, lyrics like,

“Let me tell you how it will be;
There’s one for you, nineteen for me”

are not petulant exaggerations so much as a pretty decent crack at sixth grade math.

Napoleon Bonaparte believed that man’s only liberties, civic or otherwise, could only be protected and preserved by his own conscience and in his own heart. By Napoleon’s lights,liberty was a highly personal matter and no force external to man could either ignite or suppress his essential freedoms. If Napoleon were alive today and he were to look straight up in to the eyes of Ron Paul and whisper those words full of meaning and intensity, within a matter of biscuits we would have a full blown American in Paris style bromance on our hands, that would burn fast and hot until a fevered discussion of taxation brought all that beautiful man love to a grinding halt.

Why?

Because Napoleon taxed the pomme frites out of the French with the implementation of a series of national laws collectively known as the Code Napoleon. Those civil codes were the foundation for many legal systems and tax codes established throughout Europe. Napoleon (or Nappy B as we like to call him) was nothing if not king of the one-liners. He said,

“Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.”

Can’t you just hear a line like that echoing off the halls of the US Congress today in the midst of a heated debate about our federal budget? Each party could effectively level the charge at the other and feel entirely justified in the surety of their accusation.

What is the point of all this talking about a Napoleon in an essay about a Beatles song? It’s completely out of context.

That’s the point.

Layers of misappropriated content to serve an incongruous context make up the bulk of our political dialogues today. Ron Paul is as off the mark quoting Thomas Jefferson on the issues of tax reform, as he would be in quoting Napoleon on the topic of civil liberties.

Jefferson is famously quoted by the extremely tax averse members of the Ron Paul camp as saying,

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government."

There are many quotes like these which show our favorite ginger topped founding father in all of his anti federalist, anti big government glory. The same quote simultaneously reveals Jefferson’s profound commitment to the rights and wages of the working class. Our boy TJ is also quoted on the walls of his own monument as saying:

“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

This quote contextualizes every other Jefferson quote regarding the constitution and the shape he believed American government should take. It reveals his profound understanding that all

“laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind”

and are therefore subject to, you guessed it – the context of a nation’s expansion and development.

The context of taxes in 1966 in UK under the British Labor government of Harold Wilson was radically different than the context of taxes in the United States in 2011. Britain were re-building their infrastructure after several years of bombardment from Adolf Hitler. They were building schools, hospitals, roads and even new cities.

Included in The 2011 Republican House Budget Chairman, Paul Ryan’s, budget plan are about $4.2 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade for corporations and the wealthy.

In 2002, H&R Block used “Taxman” in commercials for their tax preparation service. In an act of bad taste, even for a hack accountancy firm, the ads aired shortly after Harrison died. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point the Republicans will use this song in an attack ad on a Democrat.

As an aside, Hitler of course took Tax Law enforcement to another level when he had three Germans hanged for evading taxes by opening Swiss bank accounts in 1934. I don’t normally have much common ground with the man with a small mustache but wouldn’t it be entertaining to have public executions of corporate criminals who avoid tax in The USA?

The Ukulele version of “Taxman” is performed by the legendary country singer Matt Gibson. Gibson once punched out Newt Gingrich because of his weak stance on capital punishment for flag burning.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Being the son of Nashville legend, Cletus Gibson, it is no accident that Matt Gibson found himself in the family business.

Because of rare genetic disease called photo-optical dyscordtopia, Cletus never played on any commercially released recordings. In its most pure form, this condition makes one unable to breath in windowless rooms, usually preceded by paranoid fantasies involving satanic possession.

Possibly due to his condition Cletus believed that any music made in a recording studio was the work of The Devil and none of his 613 songs (the same number as laws in the Torah) were ever recorded.

It broke Cletus’s heart that his son Matt does not share his beliefs and recorded this song you are listening to now.

He believed that because his son Matt felt comfortable in the recording studio and has made several popular recordings he was controlled by Satan.

They have not spoken since Matt first entered the recording studio.

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116 – It’s Only Love – Erin Bowman

admin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 04:00:34 +0000

116 – It’s Only Love – Erin Bowman

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

Original version recorded June 15 1965
Ukulele version recorded February 2011

Erin Bowman – Vocal
David Barratt – Ukulele Orchestra
JJ Appleton – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by JJ Appleton at Gigantic Plug-In Recording, Manhattan
Intro produced by David Barratt The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn

Written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Essay – Sean Redmond

ABOUT THE SONG

The other night I was trying to watch American Idol, thinking that Idol without Simon Cowell was a bit like the Nuremberg Rallies without Hitler. The over-enthusiastic worship of youth was there with calisthenic displays of nubility. An audience was there, lifted on the wings of second-hand operatics (the Nazis got their Wagner first hand, but…). There was quick elimination in the flash of long knives. But without the cruel gaze of an insane leader it was empty. What would the acres of blond heads in that Nuremberg stadium been if they weren’t showing off for someone who held their fates in his hands? Even Jesse Owens’ triumphs at the Berlin Olympics wouldn’t be as sweet without the thought of Hitler up in his box, steaming in defeat. King of the Sleestaks Steven Tyler doesn’t do it for me.

You’ve seen footage of the giant swastika at Nuremberg being blown up by the allies after Germany’s surrender? I once dated a woman who was bothered that they had destroyed it instead of preserved as an artifact, but this was hardly the only thing wrong with that relationship. As this was on my mind when I was sent the ukulele version of “It’s Only Love,” Lennon’s little ditty about the confusing depths of love. Thank God he did, because I needed to get my brain off Theodor Adorno’s wavelength and Erin Bowman’s singing on this version did just that.

“It’s only love, and that is all / Why should I feel the way I do? / It’s only love and that is all / But it’s so hard loving you”

If her voice sounds familiar then, congratulations, you know your Pokémon! Erin sings the songs that opens every Pokémon movie you’ve recently seen. This makes her, if you didn’t know, one of the biggest recording stars on the globe. Forget American Idol huge. We are talking Squirtle huge.

I must admit that I have a thing for Jesse, Team Rocket’s bad girl and Ash and Pikachu’s nemesis. I admit this because I know I am not the only one. But still, why should I feel the way I do? It does go way back—watching H. R. Pufnstuf as a boy I had a crush on Witchiepoo. I know she was evil and was always trying to rob Jimmy of his magic flute (and I know how that must sound), but I felt that underneath the makeup the actress was probably the coolest hippie chick in the world. Maybe she wore the vintage-y shoes and striped stockings with cuter outfits? Anyway, Witchiepoo… Jesse… is it a pattern? It’s so hard loving you. If you know me, you know it was just downhill from there.

Give the song a listen. If your brain, like mine, is still on Adorno, “Just the sight of you makes nighttime bright” might still bring up the vision of the torchlit party rallies. Maybe Pokémon is Japan’s attempt to miniaturize Godzilla and tame the monsters released by their wartime nightmare, but isn’t music here to help us feel we can do these things? Just be careful who you love. Like Erin sings in “I Believe in You” from Zoroark: Master of Illusions: “Where do I hide when its dark and stormy? / Where do I run when its all too much? / Who gives me hope when I wake each morning, it’s you. / Yeah, it’s you.”

Above all we should love our creations whether they’re our songs or our children. Lennon, however, had no love for this “It’s Only Love.” “The lyrics were abysmal,” he said, “I always hated that song.” He could be very hard on himself because he took himself so seriously. Producer JJ Appleton doesn’t have that problem. He doesn’t mind heaping on the tricks, from making a ukelele sound like a choir of angelic harps to throwing in a break from “Start Me Up” to bring a smile to your face.

In the end, it’s only love.

And that is all.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Discovered at the US auditions for a top 10 UK girl band, Erin Bowman, made quite an impression and took over the room! After hearing her sing one verse, Producer / Songwriter JJ Appleton pulled her aside, and shortly after signed her to his production company; within weeks the two were hard at work in the studio. In between stints as the lead in teen productions of High School Musical, and her vocal studies, Erin made the dedicated daily trek from Princeton, New Jersey to Appleton’s NYC studio where they found, formulated and perfected her sound…true Pop crossover with Hip Hop, R&B and Dance influences. Bringing in Songwriting ringers such as Stephen Lironi [Hanson, Bon Jovi] and Nikki Gregoroff [Lady Gaga, Britney Spears] enabled Erin to work with some amazing hit makers; and helped score an amazing opportunity – Ke$ha wrote a smash hit specifically for Erin. This array of talent has been a great influence and has allowed her to blossom and find her voice as a writer.

The hard work in the studio has begun to bear fruit. Within the last year, Erin’s songs have been placed on various TV projects including The Khardashians, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, Bad Girls Club, MTV’s Styl’d and Project Runway. Erin continues to build up her song catalog, writing constantly, knowing that it takes only one song to push her to hottest part of the HOT 100. With a voice filled with power and soul, a knack for writing a hook, traffic stopping looks and a fierce work ethic, 19 year old Erin Bowman is a force to be reckoned with.

contact:

JJ Appleton
jj@jjappleton.com

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115 – Misery – The Big V

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 04:01:06 +0000

115 – Misery – The Big V

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

Original version recorded February 11 1963

Ukulele version recorded January 2011

The Big V are:

Emily J – Vocals

Alee J – piano, guitar

Beth Foat – Bass

Joe Breban – Drums

Tom Billington – Guitar

Guests

Vocals – Kev Day

Mel Orriss – Strawberry Fields flutes

Ira Seigel - Ukulele

Ann Klein – Ukulele

Produced by Phil Johnstone and David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn and Velvet Studios, Exeter

Written by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Alan Clarke, Graham Nash 

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

It is rumoured that that this song started life as a poem that John wrote around the time of his mother’s death. I have no definitive proof that it is or is not true but I lean towards the idea that it is. There is something embarrassingly self pitying and yet tender about the lyric that only a 17 year old could write about mortality.

“I’m the kind of guy,

Who never used to cry,

The world is treatin’ me bad… Misery”

It’s all about John, as was just about every lyric he wrote. The next lyric is in historical terms extraordinarily poignant.

“I’ve lost her now for sure,

I won’t see her no more,

It’s gonna be a drag… Misery”

When John was shot in December 1980 inevitably a TV reporter shoved a microphone into Paul’s face and asked him what all useless reporters ask anyone who is going through a personal tragedy.

“How do you FEEL?”

There is no reasonable answer to this question at a time of tragedy.

To expect someone to be articulate at a time like that is an extremely cruel request.

Paul answered: “err… well … err… It’s a drag really..”

Paul was attacked in the press for his callousness but in my opinion it was the nameless reporter that was callous in asking such a ridiculous question.

About a year after Johns death Paul expressed what he was feeling in the form that he was most comfortable with, a song. He recorded “Here Today” in 1982 and it says more about how Paul felt about John than any sound-bite ever could.

The bridge and last verse of “Misery” are the most tender of all-

I’ll remember all the little things we’ve done

Can’t she see she’ll always be the only one, only one.

Send her back to me,

‘Cause everyone can see

Without her I will be in misery

and in many ways from the time of his mother’s death until his own John was very much in misery.

The song would have stayed a poem at the back of a draw had it not been for The Beatles punishing work schedule.

The version of “Misery” that was recorded by The Beatles can be dated January 1963, when Paul and John were backstage at a concert at Stoke-on-trent, where they were playing a concert.

In February 1963, Helen Shapiro was Britain’s most successful female singer (having first achieved chart success two years earlier at the age of 14) and The Beatles were fifth on the bill as part of her nationwide tour of the UK. Her artist and repertoire manager, Norrie Paramor, was looking for new material for a country and western album she planned to record in Nashville, Tennessee and suggested that The Beatles compose a song especially for her.

John, as well as being an artist, was a pro and a hack and had no problem reusing his mothers requiem to try and get a hit.

"Allan Clarke and Graham Nash helped on that song", remembers Tony Bramwell, then an employee of Brian Epstein. "Clarke and Nash began throwing in suggestions for lines, while the boys were trying to get it ready for Helen Shapiro."

Shapiro’s manager didn’t like it and so British singer and entertainer Kenny Lynch, who was on the same tour, recorded it instead, thus becoming the first artist to cover a Lennon/McCartney composition. Surprisingly it did not make the charts. Kenny Lynch remained friends with McCartney and in 1973, Lynch appeared in the cover photograph for McCartney’s album, Band on the Run. You can see Kenny directly behind Paul on the cover.

When The Beatles needed original material for their Please Please Me LP they dug out “Misery” and polished it up. There is a definite mood dissonance between the dark lyric and the jolly backing track. It sounds a lot like “Gerry & The Pacemakers”, another Liverpool group who were also managed by Brian Epstein and were very popular at the time.

It all feels painted by numbers but there is one bit of studio trickery. Normal studio multi-track tape speed at the time was 15 ips (inches per second), but “Misery” was recorded at 30 ips so George Martin could record a piano at half-tempo an octave below. I think Elvis Costello stole this piano part for “Oliver’s Army” in 1979.

The ukulele version of Misery is performed by “The Big V”. The Big V are the result of a 25 year genetic experiment by Dr Phillip Johnstone and his wife Frances at their laboratory in Exeter, Devon. They have created a band almost entirely from their own D&A. The purpose of this experiment is yet unknown.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Manifesto of The Big V:

If your brother, the son of your father or of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the spouse whom you embrace, or your most intimate friend, tries to secretly seduce you saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” unknown to you or your ancestors before you, gods of the peoples surrounding you, whether near you or far away, anywhere throughout the world, you must not consent, you must not listen to him; you must show him no pity, you must not spare him or conceal his guilt.

No, you must kill him, your hand must strike the first blow in putting him to death and the hands of the rest of the people following.

You must stone him to death, since he has tried to divert you from Yahweh your god….

(Deuteronomy 13:7 – 11)

http://www.facebook.com/TheBiggerV?ref=ts

http://www.myspace.com/thethevelvetstar

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114 – A Hard Days Night – Kathryn Raio

admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 04:20:56 +0000

114 Hard Days Night – Kathryn Raio

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

Original version recorded April 16 1964
Ukulele version recorded January 24th 2011

Kathryn Raio – Vocals
David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn
Written by John Lennon and Ringo Starr
Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Essay by Kenyon Phillips of Unisex Salon

ABOUT THE SONG

The facts are simple. Ringo came up with the title of the song. And in this case the title of the song WAS the song. He didn’t get credited as a writer, but being an easy going kind of guy he let it go.

Being a child of the 80s, my earliest memory of that song is probably the scene in the Zucker Bros. dumber-than-thou comedy “Top Secret”! where the carriage horse transporting Val Kilmer and Lucy Gutteridge is singing “A Hard Day’s Night” in a thick German accent. When said horse starts to cough, the driver explains to Gutteridge that he’s “just a little hoarse.”

I don’t think I gained a real appreciation for the number, however, until suffering through my first all-nighter during my junior year in high school – the result of major procrastination on some term paper or another. Being bulimic at the time, I remember eating an entire package of “Double Stuf” Oreos, puking them up, and watching the sunrise. A hard day’s night, indeed. As I stumbled into class to turn in my paper, those fateful words got stuck on repeat in my hazy brain: “It’s been a hard day’s night / And I’ve been working like a dog / It’s been a hard day’s night / I should be sleeping like a log.”

Since then, there have been a number of hard day’s nights for me – some ecstatic, many miserable. In the ecstatic corner, we have my senior prom – which I spent on the beach in Santa Barbara with a beautiful girl named Elizabeth who killed herself a year or two later – and countless nights of lovemaking throughout my teens and early twenties. In the miserable corner, we have all-nighters for work – many of which have been spent in beige cubicles beneath the unforgiving flicker of fluorescent lights– as well as all-nighters spent fighting with significant others. And then there are the worst all-nighters of all – the ones where you’re holed up in an emergency room somewhere, waiting on pins and needles to find out if the person you’re in there with is going to make it or not.

I must admit, I’ve never given much thought to the rest of the song – all that stuff about coming home to your better half and feeling alright. It’s all about the hard day’s night for me – that’s the spark that continues to capture my imagination, the extent of the loop in my head. It’s funny, but it’s also kind of sad – somewhere between a kvetch and a boast.

This version of “A Hard Day’s Night” comes to you courtesy of another child of the 80s, session singer extraordinaire Kathryn Raio. To my ear at least, Kathryn’s interpretation falls closer to the ecstatic than the miserable end of the all-nighter spectrum. Her sexy, lilting tone drips with delight, and her weariness is the husky kind earned from a hard day’s night of getting it on.

Oh, and that last whispered line about how she feels alright? I totally believe her.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

! So here I am, a 5 foot 3 singer and songwriter whose Napoleon Complex lies somewhere in her throat. Singing dynamically seems to give catharsis.. but also revs me up when I’m tired… Music gives and gives until every time you hear a song you take something else from it, whether intellectual or emotional.

http://www.myspace.com/kathrynraio

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113 – If I Fell – Durga McBroom

admin — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 04:01:37 +0000

113 – If I Fell – Durga McBroom
(To download on a mac, Option Click on the Download link)

Original version recorded February 1964
Ukulele version recorded May 2010

Durga McBroom: Vocals
Nathan MacCormack : Cello
Gary Schreiner: Chromatic Harmonica
David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Mobile in Los Angeles

Written by John Lennon
Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Essay by Dr Joseph Olejak

ABOUT THE SONG

At the same time the Beatles were playing to packed stadiums of screaming fans, I was 3 months old screaming from my crib. It wasn’t until the hot summer days of the mid 70’s listening to the radio that I discovered the Beatles nearly a decade later. My screaming now was from the inside and silent to the outside world but this song echoed what I was feeling in a profound way.

“If I Fell” is as personal as it gets. When you crash and burn in love it leaves a mark.

This is clearly John Lennon at his most vulnerable. Since the death of his mother in 1958 he was caught between having an enormous reservoir of emotion that he wanted to share with a partner, and a crippling fear of repeating the hurt he had felt at the hands of his parents. He struggled for his entire life to reconcile these two sides and it was only in the last couple of years before his untimely death that he was able find real emotional peace.

This was one of Paul’s favorite Lennon songs. He as quoted as saying:

“People tend to forget that John wrote some pretty nice ballads. People tend to think of him as an acerbic wit and aggressive and abrasive, but he did have a very warm side to him really which he didn’t like to show too much in case he got rejected. We wrote If I Fell together but with the emphasis on John because he sang it. It was a nice harmony number, very much a ballad”

I find this an interesting observation as I believe “If I Fell” was in part written as a partner piece to “And I Love Her”. John, always trying to one-up Paul, wrote a slow love song to better his partner. Both songs are feminine in their perspective and ironically a testament to the power of their testosterone fueled competitive drive.

The song does not strictly follow the lyrical ballad structure of 4 stanzas with the second and fourth lines of the quatrain rhymed. In fact, Lennon does a curious little intro that lyrically and musically is quite different from the rest of the song. It includes an chromatic introductory section sung by Lennon, followed by sequential verse sections, each having a slightly expanded form, but with no obvious chorus or bridge section.

“If I fell in love with you Would you promise to be true And help me understand ’cause I’ve been in love before And I found that love was more Than just holding hands”

My first recollection of this song was the summer of 1975. The Beatles had broken up in 1970 and were pursuing their solo careers by the time I’d discovered them. But this was the perfect song for young kid discovering the opposite sex. The song has all the elements of love’s expectation and risk right there in the second stanza.

“If I give my heart to you I must be sure From the very start That you would love me more than her”

And yes, I made my move with Holly and did it all wrong at 12. The embarrassment of rejection and failure in love are never more acutely felt than in the heart of a pre-teen.

Older now, looking back, nothing has changed. And that is what keeps this song so prescient today. It speaks to the danger of opening up to love. A danger that age, wealth, position and time never erase.

Thirty years later I may be older, more confident, and a bit more nuanced in my approach to love, but honestly very little has changed. Circumstances are different and while I’m not making out in the hayloft as the Beatles waft through the barn carried by my crappy little radio with the bad speakers — the stakes are just as high.

If I trust in you oh please Don’t run and hide If I love you too oh please Don’t hurt my pride like her ’cause I couldn’t stand the pain And I would be sad if our new love was in vain

If you love you risk; that’s the naked truth.

In order to love and be loved we open ourselves to being hoisted on our own petard if love blows up in our face. “Don’t run and hide” Lennon begs and we never learn if the quarry of his affection returns his plea.

We write letters, send gifts, and plan our visits carefully remaining hopeful that the one we wish to love is paying attention. All the while suffering under the push / pull of love as it tugs at the very sinews of our life.

Being on the receiving end of unrequited love, one realizes how piercing silence can be to the heart. Love is elusive. We are not in the habit of being vulnerable to it. For the most part, we’d rather remain aloof than come face to face with the intense friction love can generate. It is a disruptive force that remakes us in the end.

Lennon says “love is more than just holding hands.” It’s the challenge of fitting two separate lives into one relationship.

If you’ve been in love, you’ve come up short. If you’re lucky “new love” has turned into “two” and with time become a unity of love “not in vain.”

I’ve descended the hayloft stairs, but am still waiting for the perfect condiment to spice up my life. “If I fell in love with you?”

The Ukulele Version features Durga McBroom. Durga’s version is a study in power and restraint. I get the feeling that this protagonist is challenging her partner to rise to be her better self. There is none of the fear of loss that permiates Lennon’s version. This is a request to step forward into love. To trust that someone will be there should you fall.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Durga McBroom was born in Los Angeles, CA. She hit the big time musically working with Pink Floyd as a background vocalist. She joined the Momentary Lapse Of Reason Tour in 1987 and provided vocals for the albums "Delicate Sound Of Thunder", "The Division Bell", and "P•U•L•S•E", as well as David Gilmour’s 2001 solo tour.

Durga has worked with artists as distinguished and varied as George Clinton/P-Funk, Michael Bolton, Carole King, Brian Wilson (Beach Boys), Bryan Ferry, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Albert Collins, Joey Lawrence and many, many others.

She sang backing vocals on the song "Don’t Wait That Long" featured on the James album Seven released in 1992. She also did a duet of a song she co-wrote ("Mother Dawn"), performing with Billy Idol on his "Cyberpunk". She can also be heard on another co-authored track, "Karma Tsunami", on Fishbone’s 2000 release, "Fishbone and the Familyhood Nextperience Present: The Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx".

In 1989 she formed the band Blue Pearl with former Killing Joke bassist Youth, singing, playing keyboards and writing most of their material; she had several hit songs in the early 1990s on the pop charts, including "Naked in the Rain" (UK #4 in July 1990), "Little Brother" (UK #30 in October 1990), "Alive" (with guest appearances by David Gilmour and Richard Wright), as well as a cover version of Kate Bush’s "Running Up That Hill". All taken from the album "Naked". In 1992, Blue Pearl released "(Can You) Feel The Passion", which reached #1 on both UK and US Billboard dance charts.

Recently she had a 20th anniversary re-release of "Naked In The Rain".

In addition to her singing, she has performed as an actress in the movies "Flashdance" with Jennifer Beals, "In The Eye Of The Snake" with Malcolm McDowell and Lois Chiles, and "The Rosebud Beach Hotel" with Peter Scolari, Fran Drescher and Christopher Lee.

You can also spot her in the live concert films "Delicate Sound Of Thunder", "Pink Floyd Live In Venice", and "P.U.L.S.E".

"Hurricane Heart", Durga’s first single released under her own name, is currently available on iTunes. Co-written by Eric Silver (Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain), it is a song of love, loss and longing.

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112 – Hello, Goodbye – Sharlotte Gibson

admin — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:01:02 +0000

112 Hello, Goodbye – Sharlotte Gibson

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

Original version recorded: October/November 1967
Ukulele version recorded: January 2011

Sharlotte Gibosn: Vocals
Nathan MacCormack: Celllo

Gregory Clark: Vocal Guru
David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Written by Paul McCartney
Credited to Lennon McCartney

Essay: Sean Redmond

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

ABOUT THE SONG

You Say Yes, I Say No. Zen koan? Child’s play? Some say one, some say the other. “Hello, Goodbye” is a lot like a child playing opposites day:

“You’re hungry?”
“Nope, I’m full.”
“Then why are you eating my banana?”
“I’m not eating your banana.”
“Stop eating my banana!”
“What, banana?”

And it’s true. There is no banana. Not any more. Frustrating? Yes. Insightful? Yes. I was going to eat it the banana. But now the banana is gone. The child was eating it but was not. Did I ever have the banana? We played a game of contradiction until there was no contradiction.

A koan from The Gateless Gate. A monk asked Zhaozhou, “Does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?”
Zhoazhou barked, “Yup!”

You say high, I say low.

A friend asked Paul how he wrote his songs. “Sit down with me at the harmonium,” Paul said and they sat down, the friend at one end and Paul at the other. “Play a note,” Paul said, the friend played a note at his end and Paul played a note at the other. “I’ll sing a word,” Paul said, “You sign the opposite.” The friend agreed.

“White!” Paul sang. “Black!” his friend answered.
Paul, “Yes!” His friend, “No!”
“Goodbye!” “Hello!”

Child’s play? A musing on duality? Paul’s role was to be something of the blessed simpleton, mother nature’s son, compared to John. “Hello, Goodbye” is Paul’s “Imagine” but he doesn’t have to run down the list of what needs changing–no countries, brotherhood of man, etc.–maybe it’s enough, when you say “stop,” to keep believing like a child in the optimism of “go.” Even when someone says goodbye, it pays to say hello. John hated “Hello, Goodbye,” but it ran out 1967 as the #1 single, proving that being simple but exuberant about it is often the road to success.

That’s just the route Sharlotte Gibson takes in this beautiful version. You know her without knowing her as one of backup singers on American Idol where she has to make her job look easy while helping talented but maybe struggling amateurs look good every time. Sometimes diving in, sometimes flying above an orchestration at once luscious and spare, she lays on just enough vocal soul to bring out the heart in a nonsense song. When do you say “yes” when I say “no?” “Hello, Goodbye” is a one-sided version of a two-sided conversation and that only happens in love. No opposition is simpler or plays a bigger role in our lives than that opposition between me and you. Gibson’s singing brings us someone turning over the big problem in a little way. I don’t know why you say goodbye, but there’s no need to overthink it. I say hello.

What banana? Yup!

And one last thing — listen to this with your headphones on.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

ok so i grew up watching and listening to my mom sing in lounges, my brothers singing in children’s theatre, and my dad singing in the car…

i heard everything from grace slick, stevie nicks, stevie wonder and the beatles to aretha franklin, gladys knight and earthwind and fire, to bill cosby, steve martin and robin williams, to the allman bros, to kiss to peter frampton and the bee gees to neil diamond and the monkeys- my mom played everything!!! she sang everything!!! She particularly loved the diana ross and the jacksons, the beatles, paul mc cartney & wings, the doors, david bowie and led zeppelin.

i tried following the steps of my mother and brothers by getting into children’s theatre and school choirs and musicals in town. i remember being fascinated with the music of the beatles, and even more excited when i was introduced to the movie SGT PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND!!!!!! That movie and TOMMY made such a HUGE IMPRESSION ON ME musically, i was changed for life!!!!

i have written songs of hate, love songs and wedding songs and owe a lot of my vocal ear and arranging to all of the Beatles, some of the Jacksons, Stevie Wonder and Babyface. I have had many pleasures, but some include having backed up on stage and or record Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Peter Frampton, Gladys Knight, Earth Wind and Fire, Patti LaBelle, Lou Rawls, Al Jurreau, Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton, Reba MacEntire, Barry Gibb, Rod Stewart, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Travis Tritt, Queen Latifah, Jay Z, Usher, Mariah Carey, Barry White, Toni Braxton, Steven Tyler, Dee Snider, Sebastian Bach, Dave Mason, Eagles Of Death Metal, Joan Osbourne, Berlin, Lynard Skynard, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Moore, Beyonce’, Christina Aguilera, Natalie Cole, Zucchero, Carlos Santana, Rob Thomas, Ru Paul, Cee Lo Green, Leona Lewis and at least half of the American Idols in the world… truly, the list goes on. I finally had the pleasure to have met Chuck Berry, Nancy Wilson, Robin Williams, Jermaine Jackson, Mickey Dolenz, Mohammed Ali and some other of my childhood entertaiment heroes… and i ALMOST met Paul McCartney in Koln,Germany back in 1999 when he and Whitney Houston were touring at the same time, but so was Iggy Pop and he very cordially invited me to hang out with him in our hotel lobby, something nice on the river… it was 12 years ago, but i remember Iggy’s son, Eric was a superhottie!!!!

ok Sharlotte’s Web has been made up of literally whoever gets dragged in.. the latest constant is the drummer mike baker, who has played with colbie caillat, and john mayer, and is now with Orianthe. he’s fabulous and i love him!!! all the other players come in and out

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111 – I’ll Cry Instead – Shane Attwooll

admin — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:01:18 +0000

111 – I’ll Cry Instead – Shane Attwooll

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

Original version recorded October 17 1963

Ukulele version recorded November 2010

Shane Atwooll – Vocal

Bill Clift – Guitar

Gerard D’Schreiner – Accordion

Professor Schmaltz – Piano

Ira Siegel – Ukulele

David Barratt – Rhythm and Brass

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

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

Essay: Tres Crow

ABOUT THE SONG

John Lennon was in a strange mood in the first part of 1964.

He was 23 years old and had already achieved success beyond his wildest imaginings; Beatlemania had reached critical mass in the UK and was turning into a Cat 5 hurricane in the US, and he‘d just finished principal photography for the first feature-length film featuring him and his band – movie stardom had been a secret dream of Lennon’s from his school boy days). It was clear by July, 1964, that as successful as these four boys from Liverpool had been so far they were about to shoot straight into the stratosphere, worldwide.

And yet, John doesn’t seem too happy about it. In fact his mood in 1964 is downright melancholy. The Beatles released two albums in 1964, A Hard Day’s Night, and Beatles For Sale, both of which feature some of Lennon’s most dour work. “I’m A Loser,” “You Can’t Do That,” “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” all came from this period. Heck, even his love songs are overly tender and uncertain, pitting the protagonist against a distant lover, either physically or emotionally. These songs sound like a man on the edge of the abyss, his feet slipping and kicking little bits of gravel into the depths below, trying with everything he has to stem the flood pushing him in.

John was always a perceptive man, attuned to the cultural mood like some sort of social weathervane. It was clear to him that The Beatles were close to something unprecedented, massive, earth-shattering. He was on the edge of a cliff. For five years he’d been pushing and singing and writing and struggling and screwing and punching and taking pills and drinking and laughing, all for this moment. And now that it was here, he wasn’t all that certain he wanted it, he wasn’t certain he was cut out for this uber-celebrity bag.

A Hard Day’s Night (the movie and album) was about to be released and it would prove the critical point in The Beatles’ career. No Hard Day’s and The Beatles probably fade quietly away, become one of those great bands from the early-sixties that get put on compilation albums sold in Walgreens for $7.99. But it is going to be released and it’s going to do what everyone knows it can do. It’s going to blow the doors off of the recording industry and give The Beatles enough momentum to carry them through the curves and dips of one of the most volatile decades in musical history. John couldn’t do a damn thing to stop this. He knew this, so he did what John did best, he rebelled.

Arguably no song from this period more perfectly encapsulates the dichotomy that was John Lennon in 1964, lyrically, musically, and inter-textually than “I’ll Cry Instead.” A throw-away track from Hard Day’s, the kind of pop industrial product the Lennon-McCartney factory was churning out daily by this time, “I’ll Cry Instead” features a nearly forgettable blues-rock arrangement and clocks in at a curt 1:46, the shortest track on the record. It ostensibly tells the story of a jilted lover who‘d get revenge by becoming a ladies‘ man if only he could stop feeling sorry for himself. It sounds simple, but there‘s a lot going on here. “I’ll Cry Instead” is a tiny truffle, sweet on the outside, but filled with surprising stuff on the inside.

Two things were true about John in 1964: he was capable of incredible bouts of self-pity, and he also had a famously short-fuse. Both of these qualities are on display in “I’ll Cry Instead.” It starts with one of the most bizarrely ill-timed lead lines ever:

“I’ve get every reason on earth/to be sad.”

Yet in early 1964 John didn’t have any reason to be sad. His band was hugely popular and about to get bigger, he had money coming out the yin-yang, and he had a beautiful and doting wife and child waiting in the wings for him whenever he felt like being a husband and father. In classic Lennon fashion, though, he viewed all of these things with a wary, even hostile eye, always certain the other shoe was about to drop (it would, of course, in properly disastrous style in December of 1980), and therefore unable to fully appreciate the magnificence of what was happening to him.

The song then goes on to waffle psychotically from bravado to depression to barely concealed violence. Take the third and fourth lines for instance:

“If I could get my way/I’d get myself locked up today/But I can’t so I’ll cry instead.”

This lyric is coming from a man who hit his girlfriend so hard he knocked her out. This lyric is coming from a guy who would, just a few years later, publicly walk away from his wife and son and seemingly never look back. These lyrics should not be taken lightly. John Lennon, if nothing else, always told the truth, and these lyrics are razor-sharp.

Later in the song he says he’s going to break all the

“hearts all around the world,”

which of course is absolutely true. He would break millions of hearts over his twenty year stint as an entertainer and public figure, but probably only two really matter, the two he was writing about in this song, even if it was a veiled attempt.

Cynthia and Julian, the two millstones around John’s neck.

He’d hooked up with Cynthia when he was a nobody because she was a decent girl and he didn’t want to be alone, but now he was never alone and they had a baby together, and his inability to fulfill his roles as husband and father were constant sources of embarrassment, anger, frustration, and sadness.

I don’t believe for a second that John didn’t love Julian no matter how callously he hooked up with Yoko, but for most of his life John ran away when his emotions became too complicated, and his relationship with Julian and Cindy were always too complicated for him to sort out, never more so than in early 1964, on the edge of the biggest thing to ever happen to pop music.

So, maybe John did have every reason on Earth to be sad. He was, after-all, losing the only family he’d ever had…unless, of course, you don’t count The Beatles.

The ukulele version of “I’ll Cry Instead” doesn’t sound sad at all. The venerable Mr. Atwooll crafts a snappy, zydeco-blues combo that’s more like a celebration of the ended relationship than a dirge.

This is a guy who’s finally free and about to hit every club in town, his boys in tow, for a long weekend of breakin’ hearts. This is the sound of relief. This is the sound of a new beginning. It’s the sound John might have made if he went back to early ’64, put aside the anger and the Elvis, and allowed himself to be Daddy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Shane Attwooll was born in South Wales. He is half man half goat. As a man he has performed almost continually over the last decade in Londons West End playing in such diverse plays as Glenngarry Glen Ross with Jonathan Pryce, Cyrano d’ Bergerac opposite Joseph Fiennes, The Shawshank Redemption with Kevin Anderson, Olivier Award winning plays Death of a Salesman, Piaf and most recently ENRON. As a goat he mostly drinks fine French wines with musicians and occassionally Nicole Kidman. He sings with the not even close to legendary Big Orange Head. He has a wife Rachel and three daughters and lives by the sea in Whitstable, England. Guitarist in the band Bill (do you fancy an early one) Clift reckons Shane is as camp as a row of tents and as butch as a boxers nuts.

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110 – You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away – Conrad Korsch

admin — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 05:02:33 +0000

110 – You've Got To Hide Your Love Away – Conrad Korsch

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded February 18 1965

Ukulele version recorded December 2010

Conrad Korsch: vocals, ukulele, rhodes piano, upright basses, fretless electric bass, percussion, acoustic guitar

David Palmer: drumset

Engineered and Mixed by Conrad Korsch at Scrumptious Music Studio, NYC

Drumset recording engineered by Eric Isaacson at Kronos Recording Studio, Los Angeles

Mastered by Rick DePofi @ at NYNoise

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

“Hide Your Love Away is basically John doing Dylan” – Paul McCartney 1973

Well yeah, but no but, yeah, but… NO!

One month previous to when “Hide Your Love Away” was being recorded in London, Bob Dylan was in CBS Studios in New York recording “Bringing It All Back Home”. This was his “Going Electric” album.

As Dylan was going electric The Beatles decided to go acoustic. Dylan wanted to sound more like The Beatles and The Beatles wanted to sound more like Bob.

And why not.

Bob is, was and always will be cool – with the exception of that terrible period from about 1984-88 when the whole world stopped being cool – Bob was and is as cool as it gets. John was definitely a big Dylan fan but when I listen to “Hide” my ears hear yet another Beatles/Irish ballad.

The song is in a folkish strophic form and uses a brushed snare and tambourine part over a 6/8 rhythm takes me back to the old country.

Dylan would never have written the lyric to “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”.

The words of “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” is explicitly about the legal ramifications of being homosexual in Britain in 1965.

At the time of it’s release of the movie “Help!” homosexuality was illegal.

The Buggery Act of 1533 identified anal intercourse and bestiality as offences punishable by hanging as a result. In 1861 section 61 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 removed the death penalty for homosexuality. This legislation stayed on the books till 1967 and many, many men were convicted and imprisoned.

To come out of the cupboard could literally have you put in jail.

What does this have to do with any of The Beatles? Their manager, Brian Epstein was gay.

Epstein's homosexuality was not publicly known until years after his death, although it had been an open secret among The Beatles since they had known him.

In October 1964, Epstein's autobiography, A “Cellarful of Noise”, was published. Lennon reportedly once quipped that the memoir should have been titled “A Cellarful of Boys”. Although Lennon often made sarcastic comments about Epstein's homosexuality to friends and to Epstein personally, nobody outside their closed circle was allowed to mention it.

Ian Sharp, one of Lennon's art school friends, once made a sarcastic remark about Epstein, saying : "Which one of you [The Beatles] does he fancy?"

Sharp was sent a letter by Epstein's office within 48 hours that demanded a complete apology. Sharp apologized but was then ostracized by The Beatles, and was told by McCartney in a letter to have no contact at all with any of them in the future.

Lennon was fiercely loyal to Brian and “Hide Your Love Away” is written from Epstein’s perspective.

How can I even try

I can never win

Hearing them, seeing them

In the state I'm in

Everywhere people stare

Each and every day

I can see them laugh at me

And I hear them say

Hey you've got to hide your love away

Brian Epstein had to hide his love fear of criminal prosecution. He died on August 27th 1967 after overdosing on Carbitral.

One month after he died The Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalized homosexuality was passed.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Conrad Korsch is a New York City-based multi-instrumentalist / singer / producer / composer widely known for playing upright and electric bass with many iconic singers and songwriters, including an 8 year (and counting) stint with Rod Stewart's band. Through his "Scrumptious Music" production company, he released his own critically acclaimed singer-songwriter CD "Live Love Leave" at a sold-out CD Release Party concert in NYC in 2010, followed by tour dates throughout England, Germany and Norway. Other highlights since the CD's release include:

* "I'M LEAVING" was featured in an episode of the TV show "ROYAL PAINS"

* "FIREFLY" live performance on the Jerry Lewis Telethon (featuring a duet with KRISTINA TRAIN)

* "FIREFLY" (featuring a duet with ROSANNE CASH) was set to original choreography by Andrea Kramer and premiered at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center as part of "The Butterfly Project", a children's cancer charity

* "LOVE STORY OF A BLADE OF GRASS AND A PINE TREE" animated video as part of "Project 30 in 30" (can be seen on www.youtube.com)

* "WEEPING WILLOW" was chosen as the opening track for the Cape May Singer-Songwriter Festival's 2010 Compilation

For more information, please visit www.conradkorsch.com.

——————————————————————————

"Hide Your Love Away" recording notes

When I was experimenting with ideas for the arrangement, I noticed that I could sing the verses over the riff to "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", and decided to feature the ukulele on that riff (doubled with Rhodes), then have it strumming behind the half-time 6/8 feel in the Choruses. I was able to make the melodic riff in the vamp/fade at the end of the song fit over the re-harmonized Chorus chord changes by simply displacing it by one bar!

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109 – You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) – Dubchek

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:02:55 +0000

109 – You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) – Dubchek

To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded 17 May, 7 and 8 June 1967 and 30 April 1969
Ukulele version recorded January 11 2011

Papa Dee – Vocal
David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by Dubchek at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Mobile, Kingston Jamaica

Written by Lennon/McCartney
Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

“You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)” is the silliest recording The Beatles ever made. It is absurd, surreal and owes a huge debt to a comedy team known as The Goons.

To any one born in Britain between 1935 and 1960, The Goons, (Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe), were the defining comic influence for a generation.

They burst onto the radio in 1951 with surreal story-lines, absurd logic, puns, catchphrases and groundbreaking sound effects. To a drab, black and white Britain that was still in shell-shock after World War II, this bizarre world created a new dimension full of childlike joy and color.

All four Beatles grew up with The Goons. The silly voices on “You Know My Name” could have come straight from Milligan or Sellers. The faux jazz section could have been background music to a scene where Eccles or Neddie Seagoon found themselves in “Monte Cassino”.

One of the more interesting things about this song is that it is a testament to Paul and John's essential 'mateyness'. So much is made of the endless McCartney/Lennon rivalry that it is easy to forget that John and Paul were close friends for a very long time.

Yes, the competitive nature of that friendship contributed to their perfection of the songwriting art, but their collaboration was frequently joyous and light-hearted. YKMN originally started as a piece by John. He turned up at Paul’s house for a writing session with nothing prepared. He saw a phone book with the tag line “You know the name – now look up the number.”

John took the one line and repeated it, almost like a mantra, over a wildly changing backing track. John liked this technique. “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” are two examples of that particular approach to song writing. He and Paul swapped with melodies, beats and styles until they had the version that we know today. It is an example of our two heroes playing in the purest sense.

The opening of the song is very of the present moment. It sound not unlike modern day rockers “Spoon” with the pounding drum and piano. The song originally had a Ska segment with Paul singing with the worst Jamaican accent imaginable, which John wisely edited out. The track then lurches into a Latin section followed by a particularly Goonish interlude with silly voices morphing into a Jazz section. Adding another layer of absurdity, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones plays Saxophone.

YKMN was the B-side of the last real time Beatles release “Let It Be”. There is a nice duality to the juxtaposition of these two songs. “Let It Be”, sounds like the end of something and “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)” sounds like the beginning of something.

Everyone knew their names but by the time the record was released.

The Beatles number was up.

The Ukulele version features underground sonic pioneers Dubchek.

Dub is the darkest of all musics, the birthmother of dancehall, electro, house, hip-hop, drum & bass and dub-step. Dub is a masterpiece of engineering, true loudspeaker painting, using recording equipment to bring about musical changes. It is the music that gave birth to the idea of the remix.

“You Know My Name” is re-imagined as if it was conceived in Kingston, Jamaica in 1974. The Ukulele rules the sound system as Dubchek pays tribute to King Tubby, Prince Jammy and Lee Perry.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Dubchek have released two albums. The first, “Walking Down Memory Gap Lane” was recorded at the legendary Record Factory Recording Studio in Kingston Jamaica

Their second, “The Far East End” was recorded in the no-man's land between The Thai and Burmese border near Laos. Mixing Luk Thung, Thai folk music and dub they created a new genre called "Dub Thung".

During the recording of the album David Barratt wrote an epic poem in the style of an Icelandic Saga about the glories of "Vietnamese Herbal-Medicinal Rice Wine" while Papa Dee taught Jamaican patois to The Karen National Liberation Army as they continued their struggle against the oppressive Burmese Junta.

They are currently planning their next project “Nashville In-Dub” which they will be recording dub versions of songs by Toby Keith, Brad Paisley and other modern country classics in their mobile studio in Tennessee.

Dubchek featured in The Robert Downey Jr / Heather Graham movie "Two Girls and a Guy".

You can listen to the first two albums at:
http://dubchek.bandcamp.com/

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108 – Jenny Dee & The Dreams – Ticket To Ride

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:02:54 +0000

108 – Ticket To Ride – Jenny Dee & The Dreams

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version: February 15, 1965

Ukulele version recorded: December 13, 2010

Jenny Dee & The Dreams – Vocals

Greg Clark – Vocal Arrangement

Little Gary Schreiner – Vibraphone & Chromatic Harmonica

Ira Siegel – Ukulele

Brian August – Tambourine

David Barratt – Everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn

Written by Lennon/McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

It is commonly thought that The Rolling Stones were The Beatles main rivals but there was a much more worthy adversary that threatened, and often eclipsed, the Lennon/McCartney stranglehold on the charts between 1963 and 1967.

Paul McCartney has been credited as being the most successful songwriter of the modern pop era. Behind him at #4 was John Lennon. Who was at #2, 3 & 5?

Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland respectively.

Holland/Dozier/Holland (HDH) were the leading producer/writer team at Motown during the golden period of 1963/7. They composed over 200 songs, 130 of which charted. They had over 70 Top Ten Hits, with more than 20 reaching Number One.

The core of their successful output was written in 1964, 1965 and 1966 – years which produced a body of work that is one of the greatest in popular music.

Below is a list of HDH and Beatles #1 songs in 1965. It’s almost as if they were handing the baton back and forth to one another. Half of that year, either HDH or Lennon and McCartney held the top spot.

January 2 "I Feel Fine" – The Beatles

January 16 "Come See About Me" – The Supremes

March 6 "My Girl" – The Temptations

March 13 "Eight Days a Week" – The Beatles

March 27 "Stop! In the Name of Love" – The Supremes

May 22 "Ticket to Ride" – The Beatles

June 12 "Back in My Arms Again" – The Supremes

June 19 "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) – " The Four Tops

September 4 "Help!" – The Beatles

October 9 "Yesterday" – The Beatles

November 20 "I Hear a Symphony" – The Supremes

The links between HDH and The Beatles are many and varied and not limited to chart positions. It starts with a song tucked away at the end of side one of The Beatles second album “With The Beatles”.

As they were rushing to complete the album, The Beatles raided their personal record collections for material. One of the songs picked was also the first #1 Motown ever had. The Beatles’ version of “Please Mr. Postman” was a hurried recording and not one of their finer moments but one of the co-writers of that song was Brian Holland.

Brian Holland and his brother Eddie were raised in the extended family of The Davison Avenue Baptist Church, Detroit, nurtured by a caring family and neighborhood. Music was at the center of their everyday life. Before kindergarten, Brian would accompany his grandmother to church and rehearse with the choir.

Eddie was the more charismatic brother and a natural front man, while Brian tended towards directing the music and assumed responsibilities for the harmonies.

Eddie was the first to turn professional and was managed by ex-boxer, ex-soldier, ex-record-shack owner and recent employee of the Lincoln-Mercury Plant, Berry Gordy.

Gordy was soon to form his own record company which he called Tamla Records and signed Eddie as an artist.

Eddie had minor successes as singer but was not troubling the bank with overly large deposits.

Two years after Eddie began his career, he introduced his teenage brother Brian to Berry and the embryonic Tamla Records. Brian was a quick study and as a result signed a songwriter’s deal with Jobete Publishing. He served as an apprentice, and then became a full-fledged recording engineer. Brian met Lamont Dozier at Motown’s studio while the latter was playing piano. Brian suggested that they might write together. And so one of the great writer/producer partnerships was born.

What HDH created was a synthesis of sophisticated pop songwriting and raw gospel, written and produced for car radios which, like all Motown songs, were built in Detroit on a production line.

Paul often brought in Motown records to Abbey Road Studios to play for their engineer Norman Smith, demanding that he recreate the bass sound they heard on their productions.

Motown’s Bassist, the magnificent James Jamerson was a master of the instrument and re-imagined what the bass guitar could be. Check out Stevie Wonder’s – I Was Made to Love Her. There is not a single measure that repeats throughout the tune and yet the groove is utterly compelling from start to finish.

Brian Holland found new ways to record the bass including recording the acoustic bass on the backing track and then dubbing the same part on electric bass afterward to give the part both air and power.

It wasn’t until Geoff Emerick took over the engineer’s seat for The Beatles in 1966 that Paul was able to get a bass sound that he felt was even close to what Jamerson was doing.

Often we have complained about the overly loud and inept tambourine parts on many of The Beatles recordings. It is possibly the most irritating and lazy part of many of their productions.

The tambourine parts on Motown records are just as loud, but you will hear few complaints from us about that. Percussionist Jack Ashford could take the tambourine and make the backbeat explode (Nowhere To Run – Martha And The Vandellas), shimmy (Heard It Through The Grapevine – Marvin Gaye), skip (You Can’t Hurry Love – The Supremes) or simply make you move.

Listen to the tambourine part on “War” by Edwin Starr (absolutely no relation to Ringo) to hear the possibilities of the instrument.

When asked why the tambourine was so loud on Motown records Berry Gordy was quoted as saying: “So white folks can figure out where the beat is.”

The traffic was not all one way. Two weeks after Holland/Dozier/Holland heard “Strawberry Fields Forever” they returned to the studio in a much more experimental frame of mind. The chaotic tape rewind sounds – a precursor to vinyl scratching – and oscillator effects can be traced back directly to what the Beatles were doing almost 4,000 miles away.

“Ticket To Ride” was recorded in February 1965. At the same time Holland, Dozier, Holland were writing and producing what was to become the 5th straight #1 single for The Supremes – “Back In My Arms”.

I get the feeling that the protagonist in “Ticket” isn’t too bothered by the fact that his love object is leaving him.

"I think I’m gonna be sad, I think it’s today, yeah".

These are crocodile tears. Let’s see what else he has to say about her:

“The girl that’s driving me mad is going away”

and

“She said that living with me was bringing her down yeah.

She would never be free when I was around”

Obviously this was a doomed relationship from the beginning and Lennon is glad to be shot of her.

The Supremes version of “Back In My Arms” deals with another type of denial. The Diana Ross character has broken up with her boyfriend. All of her friends know this guy is no good for her but she is insistent that this is the man for her.

My favorite lyric comes in the third verse when Diana refers to her fellow singers by name.

“How can Mary tell me what to do, When she lost her love so true?

And Flo, she don't know, 'Cause the boy she loves is a Romeo"

This is a genius bit of branding before the concept of branding even existed. Using the real names of the singers in the lyric made the song more real for the listener. On the album in which this single appeared, More Hits by the Supremes, and on the cover of the official single, each member is pictured separately on the front, with her signature above it.

Advertising themselves as they sell the song. Very 21st Century. Very Warhol.

Lennon claimed that “Ticket” was the first Heavy Metal song. I can see his point but when I hear McCartney’s dreamy arpeggiated guitars I think of San Francisco and Psychedelia, not head-banging. Ringo’s anticipated snare/tom part in the second part of the bar accents the dreamy feel. For some reason he changes the part in the last verse making the song much more ordinary.

I love both these recordings. They show both production teams at the top of their game. The Beatles, trying to break new ground, bringing new sounds to the masses. HDH referring to their gospel roots as they transcend them.

The Ukulele version re-imagines “Ticket To Ride” as a Holland Dozier Holland production.

The song opens with Ira Seigel’s ukulele channeling the spirit of Robert White, Eddie Willis and Joe Messina from The Funk Brothers. Jenny Dee and her Dreams shimmer over top of a pulsing backing track. Our own Brian Holland – Greg Clark arranges the vocal group.

And as a finale, Gary Schreiner blasts out on the chromatic harmonica on the coda in the style of his hero “Little” Stevie Wonder.

Two for the price of one.

The best of both worlds.

Enjoy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jenny Douglas was born in Chicago, IL. and was raised in Lexington, KY. Lexington was a city with limited places to hear live music with the exception of Church and Television. Her mother Ella Louise Douglas was the fire that sparked a plethora of music genres to Jenny and her three younger brothers. All siblings are music appreciators. However, Jenny would be the only one to explore music. It was the love of her mother’s voice that would inspire and terrify her as a child. Jenny suffered from extreme stage fright around her mother. So, she began to sing in her church choir at seven. Her father was a child prodigy with his own big band at age fourteen. However, this fact would remain a secret until her early twenties. Jenny studied music from elementary through college playing the clarinet. She also studied and majored in musical theater.

While in college she was asked to audition for a band signed to a major records label. She completed two albums and then moved to New York to pursue her theater career. In less than a week Jenny was working in the city as a session singer, lead and backing vocals. Then musical theater came calling. It was then that she got here first world tour offer as a backing vocalist. The rest as they say is history. The list of artists are as diverse as the genres they represent. They include: Pink, Cher, Mick Jagger, Rob Thomas, Tina Turner, John Mellencamp, Toto, Janet Jackson, Patti Labelle, Patty Austin, Taylor Dayne, Hugh Masekela, Donny Osmand, Dr. John, Luther Vandross, Chaka Khan, and Joe Cocker.

It is most fitting that Jenny jumped to the idea to cover a Beatles tune with David. "When I was six or seven I got sick with pneumonia in one lung. I begged my mother and grandmother to let me see the news that night featuring The Beatles before going to the hospital. They obliged and I was transformed".

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107 – Dig It – Sophia Ramos

admin — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:01:21 +0000

107 – Dig It – Sophia Ramos

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version: 26 January 1969
Ukulele version recorded: MLK Day, January 17 2011

Sophia Ramos: Vocal (and scream solo)
David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn

Written by Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr/Preston
Credited to Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr

ABOUT THE SONG

Many have claimed to be the fifth Beatle. Most of them are wannabes, hangers on, or quite frankly, mildly deranged. There is one man however who was employed by The Beatles during the Get Back/Let It Be to be, in effect, The Fifth Beatle.

That man was Billy Preston. He did an excellent job and was hugely underpaid.

Born a full 18 years before the repeal of The Jim Crow Laws in Texas, with one of the finest Afro’s in the Western Hemisphere, Billy Preston was not the most likely Mop Top.

In 1962 Preston was touring Britain in Little Richard’s band. In Liverpool they found themselves on the same bill as a local group managed by the owner of the local music shop. The manager was Brian Epstein and I think you know who his band were.

All of the lads were in awe of Little Richard but George Harrison gravitated to Billy. George had a million questions about American music and Billy was happy to answer them. They bumped into each other occasionally when touring but it wasn’t until 1969 that anything serious came of their relationship.

George had stormed out of Abbey Road frustrated and ready to leave the band. He found himself at a Ray Charles concert where Preston was playing organ. They chatted again. George was taken with Billy easy-going style and invited him over to Abbey Road.

Billy fitted in just fine with the band and played on most of Let It Be. His personality calmed what was turning into a war-zone in the studio.

It was no small thing that was a masterful player steeped in the blues and gospel either. He put out his first album when he was sixteen and was not put off by playing with big personalities.

Before the Let It Be Sessions he had played with Mahalia Jackson, Ray Charles, Little Richard, James Cleveland and Sam Cooke.

John and Yoko were not going to let him get in the way of him doing his work. On the contrary, John suggested that Billy become a full-time member of the band. It was Paul, ever the astute businessman, that vetoed the idea. But on the single release "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston”

It’s no coincidence that McCartney wrote two of his most gospel influenced songs during those sessions (“Long And Winding Road” and “Let It Be”)

Preston also worked on the Abbey Road album, contributing to the tracks "I Want You (She’s So Heavy)" and "Something." Sadly on that album he received no credit.

“Dig it” is a free form jam session with Lennon making lyrics up on the spot. There are four versions of the song that are easily available to anyone with access to a torrent site:

Let It Be Version – 0:51 (The Official Release)
Get Back Mix – 4:24
Full Version – 8:20
Jam -15:05

The participants in that session are Lennon on vocals and 6-string bass, Harrison on guitar, McCartney on piano, Ringo on drums, and Billy Preston at the organ. In the background of the longer versions you can hear Linda McCartney and her six-year-old daughter Heather adding to the chaos.

The tune is a talking blues based around the classic chord structure I, IV, and V.

The production is a bit of a mess with organ, piano, and drums playing prominent roles, often at the same time. This was one of many jams from the start of The GetBack/Let It Be sessions, and I wish they had turned it into a proper song.

At the begining of the jam Lennon repeats the phrase “Like A Rolling Stone” referencing the competition and Bob Dylan simultaneously.

On all of the versions except the one released Lennon added a really great verse that could have made it into a song.

You can give it if you got it,
If you got it you can give it.
Dig it!

You can get it if you want it,
If you want it you can get it,
Dig it!

Paul replies with an infectious blues-influenced “Come On Come On Come On Come On” that sounds like it came straight from one of their Hamburg gigs 10 years earlier.

Lennon begins to repeat "Like a rolling stone", then goes into the "famous people" part.

Lennon’s obsession with popular culture is in full flow here. It’s almost as if he blurting out what is on the TV as he is channel surfing.

“Rolling Stone, FBI, CIA, BBC, BB King, and Doris Day…. Matt Busby”

The most interesting of these is Matt Busby – We have claimed before that The Beatles were from Liverpool but not OF Liverpool, and this is further proof. For our American readers let us explain who Matt Busby was.

The Liverpool and Manchester United football rivalry is a long and deep one based on all the tribal hatred that prevails in that sport. In May 1968 Manchester United became the first English team to win The European Cup, thanks in no small part to their manager Matt Busby. It is no surprise that he caught Lennon’s attention. But a true Scouse would have choked before mentioning Busby in a song. The even more charismatic Liverpool manager Bill Shankly would have been a more likely candidate. A man so devoted to football he was famously quoted as saying.

“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.”

Shankly and Lennon were cut from the same cloth. Both angry obsessive men determined to succeed at any cost. Busby was more like McCartney. Affable, good at business and meticulous to detail. Go figure.

The Ukulele Version of “Dig It” expands on the original including parts from the 15 minute jam-session and adding a new verse based on current day channel surfing. The ukulele is based around Billy Preston’s organ part and our version is dedicated to him.

Nobody sings like Sophia Ramos. The feedback guitar solos at 1.28 and 2.06 are not a guitar at all. That’s Sophia screaming. She says “I’m screaming for Lennon, screaming for peace, love, justice, and musical equality.” DIG IT!

“Dig It” of the few songs credited to all four Beatles. It is obvious that everyone in the room created the backing track. But there is someone missing from the writing credits – Billy Preston.

I have no idea why that should be. He was part of the jam session from which the song came and he should have got a credit – and a royalty.

So how much does 1/5th of one song on a Beatles album pay? There are no exact sales figures for total sales of the Let It Be album available but a conservative figure would be around 20 million. The current Statutory Rate that writers receive for record sales is $0.91 per sale.

Billy Preston’s royalties for a one fifth share of one song on a 20 million selling album at current day rates would be calculated at:
$0.91 x 1/5 x 20M = $3,640,000

But hey… It’s only money right?

It can’t buy you love… Apparently.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

“Sophia Ramos is one of the greatest Rock singers of the last 20 years” :Joey Ramone.

Sophia makes her money singing for the devil. She’ll even do a jig if the price is right.

Myspace.com/sophiaramos

A WORD FROM THE ARTIST

I think it’s safe to say that most aspiring Rock musicians go through a Beatle phase, usually early on in their evolution.

My obsession started at age 11. That very year my class took a trip to the Museum of Natural History, which ended with a stroll through Central Park. We ended up on 72nd and Columbus where our teachers allowed us to purchase beverages in a local bodega, which is no longer there.

As we wrecked havoc, behaving as obnoxious adolescents will, there in the store were John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I froze where I stood, which was about 4 feet away from John and stared. I was the only one in my class besides my teacher who knew who he was!

A Puerto Rican kid from the Sout h Bronx wasn’t supposed to know or even like John Lennon. Rap was taking off around my neck of the woods and while everyone was hipping and a hopping to the boogiddy beat, I was banging my head to Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” and believing I was the Walrus who wanted to start a Revolution.

I couldn’t move I just stared and finally, I guess because I was burning a hole into the side of his head, Lennon turned and smiled and said, ”Hello Love”.

I can’t quite remember what happened next. I think some inaudible scream shriek thing came out of my throat. I felt like an ass but honestly I didn’t care, John Lennon had spoken to me, me, little ol’ Boricua rocker me.

One year later he was dead.

I cut school the morning of his death and went down to the historic Dakota building where he lived to mourn with all the other Beatle fans. I called the only person I knew would understand why I was there, my sister Diana. I explained how I just couldn’t leave yet and asked if she would come down and meet me here. She did. We, along with thousands of others stood across the street from his home and sang and cried together, our coats covered in wax from the hundreds of vigil candles.

It was 1980. The year that felt like the end of an era I had become enamored with. An era I was too young to have been a part of, but wished so much it would come back. Any last remnants of the 60′s idealism had been completely annihilated with Lennon’s assassination. John Bonham was dead too and to top it off Reagan had been elected president.

I wish someone would have talked me out of a career in the Rock n Roll business but meeting Lennon felt like a good omen I thought, so I forged ahead.

I am thrilled that David asked me to contribute to this wonderfully creative project.

And, as if a higher power were involved, he picked the perfect song for me. A Lennon tune that I get to scream on. I’m screaming, screaming for Lennon, screaming for peace, love, justice, and musical equality.

Screaming for that space in time when Rock was pure and simple.

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106 – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – DFW Crew

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 05:01:04 +0000

106 – Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – DFW Crew

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded February 1st 1967

Ukulele version recorded November 2010

The DFW Crew

Tavi Fields – Vocals and additional lyric

Brian McKenna – Vocals, Keyboards, Drum Kit

Neil Jason – Bass

Alan Wilkis – Guitar

Mike Kurtz, Johnny Chavarria – Group Vocals

with

David Barratt – Ukulele

Produced by David Barratt and Brian McKenna at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn and Btoven Studios Manhattan.

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Essay by Sgt. Mono Wholegrain

ABOUT THE SONG

For many, merely uttering, reading or hearing the phrase “Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” instantly conjures up the other Beatles, that is, the Beatles who were not gray-suited collarless love objects, but rather, sophisticated artists with colorful moustaches. The new Beatles heralded a new era. As Sgt Pepper took hold and took over popular culture from the top down, mono became stereo and black and white gave way to riotous splashes of color. It was the new line between "then" and "now."

This was no coincidence. When Paul came up with the title for the game (if not world) changing song in late 1966, as he has said,

“We were fed up with being the Beatles. We really hated that fucking four little mop-top boys approach. We were not boys, we were men. It was all gone, all that boy shit, all that screaming, we didn't want any more, plus, we'd now got turned on to pot and thought of ourselves as artists rather than just performers.”

So, on a trip back home from a week in Kenya on November 19, 1966 (a year to the date after the invention of another 60’s game-changer, the Pop Tart), Paul, Jane Asher and Mal Evans were stuck in the airplane cabin, playing with words. Mal asked about the “s” and “p” labels on the packets in front of him and then mentioned that, of course, they stood for “salt and pepper.” Paul, picking up the sound of the phrase, transformed it into “Sergeant Pepper.”

And so on.

As Paul later said, “It was at the start of the hippy times, and there was a jingly-jangly hippy aura all around in America. I started thinking what would be a really mad name to call a band? At the time there were lots of groups with names like ‘Laughing Joe and His Medicine Band’ or ‘Col Tucker’s Medicinal Brew and Compound,’ all that Western going-round-on-wagons stuff, with long rambling names.”

John later said (almost – but not quite — getting the facts right, in typical John fashion):

“’Sgt Pepper’ is Paul, after a trip to America. The whole West Coast long-named group thing was coming in, when people were no longer The Beatles or The Crickets – they were suddenly Fred and His Incredible Shrinking Grateful Airplanes. I think he got influenced by that. He was trying to put some distance between The Beatles and the public – and so there was this identity of Sgt. Pepper.”

Ironically, the song that was supposed to "put distance between The Beatles and the public" is the only song in the entire canon where the band refers to themselves as “us” while singing to the listener. Think about it. Paul, no matter how much the feigned gruffness and psychedelic remoteness, simply cannot help but smarmy up to the Beatles' fans. He was, and remains, the consummate “let’s be friends” songwriter.

The track itself is also, ironically, a direct look back to the heyday of the four “mop-tops” it was supposed to bury for good and all. Although the track opens with the sounds of the orchestra tuning up before recording A Day In The Life a few weeks before (the pinnacle of the new Beatles “artistic” canon), that screaming sound at the end of the track, in anticipation of the appearance of Billy Shears is (just as you suspected), the sound of tens of thousands of prepubescent hearts breaking at a mop-top Beatles concert – from the Hollywood Bowl in August, 1965, to be exact. Less than two years later, the Sgt Pepper’s album had been conceived, recorded and released.

The idea, of course, was that “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was meant as a vehicle to allow the Beatles to play-act at being someone else, and to send that someone else out on the road instead of themselves – inspired by Elvis sending his vehicle (a Cadillac of course) on tour in 1960.

And it worked.

The album of the song’s name went on a tour that continues to this day. You don’t need me to tell you about that. Except for one embarrassing run-in with the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton about ten years later, it has been a glorious ride.

As we also know, the Sgt Pepper song was, when coupled with the song that followed, supposed to lay the foundation for a concept album about this mythical new/old band. In typical Beatles fashion, however, the strain of keeping a concept together past the two inspired opening tracks proved all too much. It became just another album. George grumpily recalled that he just went to work on the next collection of songs, despite the fact that Paul kept “going on about this other band. . . . ”

John was even more blunt. He said that his songs had nothing to do with this so-called concept, but because the Beatles said there was concept behind the album, there . . . was.

Listeners the world over donned their new headphones and filled in the blanks. They created the concept behind the collection of songs. And again, black and white became color. Mono became stereo. Sgt Pepper worked because people wanted it to work.

Paul, or whoever he was now pretending to be, also conceived the album cover. Many Beatles historians (i.e. me) believe that Paul consciously or unconsciously “nicked” the idea from a source no less direct than his own father, who had staged this shot of “Jim Mac’s Band” decades before:

That’s Paul’s Dad in the red circle, and a drum that says “Jim Mac’s Band” in the center. Look familiar?

Paul McCartney could take inspiration anywhere, from anything, and turn it into pure pop gold. And that’s what he did with an old family photo (and some salt and pepper packets). Once can almost see the reclining girl in the bottom of the picture wearing a shirt that says “Welcome the Rolling Stones – Good Guys.”

On June 4, 1967, three days after the release of the Sgt. Pepper album Jimi Hendrix opened a show at the Saville Theatre (owned by Brian Epstein) with the Sgt. Pepper title track, thus blowing away the audience – including Paul and George. Also featured on the bill that evening was another band for whom Paul could have drawn inspiration in naming the Beatles' new alter ego “Denny Lane and his Electric String Band.” Not quite Fred and His Incredible Shrinking Grateful Airplanes, but also very much of the time.

Forty four years after it changed the world, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band continues to spark shockwaves in those who hear it for the first time.

And really, isn’t that what the Beatles – whatever they decided to call themselves, whatever they wore, whatever time of day it was – were always about?

The ukulele version expresses itself using the medium of Hip-Hop. This party is not of the mind but out of it.

The rarely seen male/female rap duo DFW (Tavi & Phes) fuze together pop and hip hop poetry to bring you the most double-rainbow Sergeant Pepper of all time. What's "Goin' in and out of style?"

Imagine Sly Stone, Run DMC and Funkadelic flying The Mothership to Abbey Road, picking up The Beatles’ instruments, rolling one and kicking it in and out of style.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Their music addresses topics such as love, life, and politics, and brings an undeniable raw and honest energy to the surface. Disco Dog has been on the roster of DFW record label producers since 2004; Tavi & Phes met in college in 2000, where they formed a live hip-hop band, Illegalize, consisting of three emcees, a singer, and four instrumentalists. Post-college, Tavi & Phes continued to collaborate on various music projects, naturally co-founding the DFW record label to host their productions. The two are currently working on both independent and joint music projects, including the resumption of a band with members of Illegalize. Upcoming DFW releases include a collective Tavi & Phes EP, “The Summer EP”, and Phes’ solo album “Escape From New York."

Check them out at rawrhymes.wordpress.com.

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105 – I Want To Hold Your Hand – Violet Ryder

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:14:54 +0000

105 – I Want To Hold Your Hand – Violet Ryder

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded October 17 1963

Ukulele version recorded November 2010

Violet Ryder : Vocal

Jack Hues: Ukulele, Keyboards

Nathan MacCormack: Cello

David Barratt: Rhythm Section

Written by Lennon & McCartney

Produced by David Barratt, Jack Hues and Violet Ryder at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn from an original recording made at Canterbury Sound.

Essay by Natalie Clark

ABOUT THE SONG

I don’t like The Beatles. I realize that is heresy to most music lovers – a bit like saying “I don’t like Citizen Kane” to a film buff, or “I don’t like Champagne” to just about anyone, but there it is.

I don’t like The Beatles very much.

By the time I started listening to music, The Beatles belonged to my Dad’s generation. I didn’t really understand why they were that different from The Monkees, and The Monkees had a cool TV show that we watched on Saturday mornings. They also had four boys, four matching haircuts and a specialty in harmony. What was the big deal? I knew all the words to Daydream Believer and that was good enough for me.

When I hit that strange period of band and music obsession known as Teenagehood, the UK was full of Duran Duran and The Beatles didn’t stand a chance. John Lennon had just been shot, and I knew from the reaction that this was probably a Very Bad Thing. Paul McCartney was married to that nice vegetarian lady who made sausages, George Harrison was in the Traveling Wilburys and Ringo, poor sad Ringo, was the alcoholic who voiced Thomas the Tank Engine for The BBC.

The Beatles were part of British History, something to be proud of, something we conquered America with, something people from other countries asked us about. But I never owned a Beatles album, and I never voluntarily listened to a Beatles record.

The Beatles did not change my life.

And there was one song, one particular Beatles track, which used to really irritate me. It was the epitome of the frothy, poppy, teenage girl hysteria, harmonizing Beatles sound – full of inane lyrics, the 60s at their most annoying. That song was “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” Good God, even the title was trivial.

Dear Reader, in the light of the above, you can imagine how I felt in 2008 when my husband began work on The Beatles Complete on Ukulele. Suddenly, The Beatles were everywhere, ALL the time for the next four long years. I heard every single song played live in one marathon session of 13 hours. I got The Beatles from breakfast to late night drinks, and I had an epiphany.

The Beatles were really quite good.

What range. What depth. What humor. What darkness. What incredible musicianship. What an incredible story. What a body of work. I thank all the artists of The Beatles Complete On Ukulele for opening my ears and my mind.

However, there still remained one song that I could not bring myself to love. In fact, I couldn’t conquer the visceral annoyance the opening bars gave me. That song was “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” That chorus, the long and annoying ‘Haaaaaaaand’, repeated over and over. The rhymes are so perfect, the meter so exact, the music so punctuated, absolute bubble gum pop. The finely tuned machine of Lennon/McCartney banging out the perfect three minute pop songs, keeping the checks rolling, and the girls adoring and screaming. It was so crafted. It had no soul.

I take it all back. The stunning version presented to you today by the aching, soaring voice of Violet Ryder will make even the most hardened cynic reconsider. Violet holds your hand and leads you through a love story in six acts. Her vocals are punctuated by the ukulele, masterfully handled by Jack Hues, Mr Wang Chung himself. Jack was last seen on TBCOU in his re-imagining of ‘Rain’.

The ukulele is a separate narrative voice in this story, filling in the off-camera action. Lie back and let yourself be led.

Act One: 0:00 – 0:55

Our lady is more than a little sexy as she opens up the song. It’s a late night scene, as she starts to tell that cute stranger over the bar something she wants understood. She wants to hold his hand, and she is quite direct about it. Over a bluesy, sexy uke, her voice is full of promise. This is all about wanting, the word is deliberate.

Act Two: 0:55 – 1:20

Something shifts in the voice of the uke, it becomes slower and more lyrical. What has happened? As a sweeping cello joins the production, it becomes clear. She has fallen for her hero.

But she is not yet certain that he loves her back. Was it more than an encounter? Does it mean anything to him? She asks with a little break in her voice, “Please say to me you’ll let me hold your hand”. A second cello part enters confirming what she already knows. She has fallen in love.

Act Three: 1:20 – 1:33

This verse is joyous, miraculous, marveling. Our singer’s voice lifts and take us with her while the uke plays silver and fairy dust. The production brings out both the joy and the fragility of a love affair. One can’t help but be moved.

Act Four: 1:34 – 2:09

She has reached a higher plane. The production changes and the music pans from speaker to speaker leaving the listener dizzy. She is transformed and sees love in everything around her. She is not just in love with the boy, but with life itself.

“When I touch you I feel happy inside…”

“It’s such a feeling that my love, I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide…’

But tragedy awaits her. She cannot separate the boy from transcendence. She thinks she needs him to get to it.

At 2:05 a dissonance breaks the spell. What did he mean by that casual remark?

Act Five: 2:10 – 2:54

Trouble fills the air. The beat gets much stronger and cellos raise the emotional tempo up and up, while the ukulele creates anticipation. Something bad has happened, or she believes that something bad has happened, and our heroine is now angry. Accusation, not love, is in the air. That bluesy, sexy beat is back but it is no longer light and playful.

“You have got that something, I think you’ll understand”.

That something now strikes her as dangerous. Who else noticed, and what did he do about it? She wants to hold his hand this time, there is no ‘please’, no ‘let me’, no request.

Act Six: 2:55 – 3:44

Discordance heralds the beginning of the end. Our singer wails that she wants to hold your hand, over and over again to increasingly frantic ukulele chords.

Calls are not answered. She still wants to hold his hand but he is leaving. Madness beckons.

The ukulele drifts towards the left speaker and she to the right, never to be close again. As her voice fades away, and the song finishes, we are left with a last, trailing note of the ukulele.

Alone.

Thank you, John and Paul, Violet and Jack, for proving that the simplest of words and melodies can hold great emotional complexities.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Violet is both an actress and a singer. Her first contact with the ukulele was for the national tour of Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter adapted for stage by Knee High Theatre. In the audition for the play Violet was asked what instruments she played. At this point she could only truthfully say piano but knowing that she had two months before the tour started, Violet added uke and recorder to her repertoire. Luckily it swayed them and Violet played the ukulele every night for the next six months in the show!

In the summer of last year Violet organized a charity gig raising funds for leukemia in which her father, Jack Hues, headlined with his 80’s pop band Wang Chung and Violet supported playing a number of her own compositions on both keyboard and uke.

Violet will be releasing her debut album later this year.

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104 – Let It Be – Barack Obama with The Beatles Complete On Ukulele Community Choir

admin — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 06:11:40 +0000

104 Let It Be – The Beatles Complete On Ukulele Choir Featuring Barack Obama

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded January 31 1969

Ukulele version recorded September 8 2010

President Barack Obama – Lead Vocal

TBCOU Community Choir – Neal Coomer, Aisha De Haas, Margaret Dorn, Jenny Douglas, Tabitha Fair, Keith A. Fluitt, Michael Inge, John James, Janice Pendarvis, Sophia Ramos, Nicki Richards, Giovanni Stella, Victoria Villalobos.

Gregory Russell Clark – Choirmaster

Ira Siegel – Ukulele

Brian August – Wurlitzer Piano

David Barratt – Track

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn.

Choir recorded at Btoven Studios, Manhattan by Brian Mckenna.

Video directed by David Barratt

Edited by John Philp and David Barratt at Bad Dog Tales, Inc.

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon and McCartney

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be” – Lao Tzu

“When you let it be, without naming it, enormous power is suddenly available to you." - Eckhart Tolle

“The problem is, when you let it be, nothing ever gets done” – Sgt Hank Semolina

ABOUT THE SONG

The great Aretha Franklin was the first artist to release “Let It Be” on her album “This Girl’s in Love with You” in January 1970, a full two months before The Beatles version came out.

Our version is dedicated to her. Our hearts are with you, Aretha.

In 1969 the dream was breaking. The Beatles were squabbling over music, money and pretty much everything else. Even Paul was feeling down, drinking and smoking more that he usually did.

John was spending all of his time with Yoko and her constant presence in the studio made Paul confused, angry and hurt. George was sullen because he had most of his songs rejected by John and Paul. Even Ringo was bored and ready for something new.

Paul knew what he had to do. He had skill as an organizer. He could encourage the troops – maybe George had few decent songs. He had the energy. He had the vision. He was the most accomplished musician in the band. It was his time to become The Leader.

It was Paul’s destiny to ‘save’ The Fab Four with the his most powerful weapon.

His songwriting.

The other three would thank him for his belief and leadership. Even John, when he was done with that crazy conceptual artist phase, would hug him and thank him, and maybe even write a song with him again.

Unfortunately the other three did not see him like that. George, Ringo and especially John, did not see a savior. They saw Das Fuhrer.

As the pressure mounted on Paul, his sleep suffered. One sleepless night he rolled up some Hippie Lettuce and smoked it. This certainly sent him off to a deep slumber but it also induced a very vivid dream where his mother appeared before him telling him to, yeah, you guessed it “LET IT BE”.

Paul immediately ignored his mother’s request. Paul could not let it be, he was on a mission. He got out of bed and wrote THE SONG THAT WOULD SAVE THE BEATLES.

This was not the first time that Paul had written a classic in his sleep. Six years previously he awoke with the melody and chords to “Yesterday” fully formed.

I’d like a mattress like that.

“Let It Be” is the simplest of songs. The most beautiful of songs. Certainly one of the best Paul, or anyone else, has ever written. Paul has tried to re-write it more than a couple of times but has never bettered it. Just four chords: C, F, G, Am and it never leaves the home key.

It is perfect, like a newborn child.

It drips with quasi-religious overtones that would make Christopher Hitchens reach for an Uzi. But there is something in the song that transcends mere religion. It pulses with a spiritual honesty rarely found in pop music. Every melodic line seems carved in stone.

The arrangement has been written about on a million different websites and I can’t see the point of doing that here. There is something so human about “Let It Be” that words break down when I try to describe it. It is the very thing that makes music… well.. music.

“Let It Be” was the final single released by The Beatles before McCartney announced his departure from the band. It sounds as if it was written as a goodbye to their partnership but it was recorded a full 14 months before its release.

By the time that “Let It Be” was to be released George had released two instrumental albums. John had released three experimental LPs (Two Virgins, Life With The Lions and The Wedding Album) that make “Revolution#9" sound like “Ob-LaDi Ob-La-Da". More importantly John had released three period defining singles - “Give Peace A Chance”, “Cold Turkey” and “Instant Karma”.

These were game changing records. John was obviously living in a post-Beatles world but the world was soon be forced to catch up.

Paul’s first solo album was due for release April 17th and “Let It Be” was due for release May 8th. Ringo Starr was sent by George and John to ask Paul to delay his solo debut.

Paul was not amused. In a later interview he said.

"They eventually sent Ringo round to my house with a message: ‘We want you to put your release date back, it’s for the good of the group’, and all of this sort of shit. He was giving me the party line; they just made him come round, so I did something I’d never done before or since: I told him to get out. I had to do something like that in order to assert myself because I was just sinking. I was getting pummeled about the head, in my mind anyway."

A short while after the single of “Let It Be” came out Paul publicly announced that he would be leaving the Beatles because of "personal, business and musical differences" and that the band would never work together again. This of course did no harm to sales of his solo record.

Paul was breaking an agreement by the band not to say anything to the public about the break up of the group until after the “Let It Be” album was released.

All hell broke loose. Headlines in every paper in the world. Denials from Apple. Angry phone calls and lots and lots of swearing.

This period of chaos is beautifully described in Richard DiLello’s book, “The Longest Cocktail Party”. DiLello was working in the press office at Apple at the time and the insanity that permeated the office is captured in that book. I understand that Liam Gallagher has bought the rights and will be making it into a movie soon. I look forward to that one.

With the break up of The Beatles the world heard “Let It Be” in a new light and took it to its heart. No1 everywhere. Even now in 2011 as I look on the iTunes chart, it is the most popular Beatles song.

The album version was remixed by the quixotic and ultimately tragic Phil Spector. Alan Klein hired Spector to remix and rearrange the album without telling McCartney or asking for his permission, because McCartney had not signed Klein’s management contract.

Spector not surprisingly went for the wide-screen approach. He added tons of brass bathed in reverb. He also re-created Ringo’s part using tape delay. He got George to re-record his solo using a much more distorted sound, but you can just about hear the old one in the background.

There is much argument about what Phil Spector added or took away from the song but I’m quite glad to have both the Spector and McCartney versions.

This is what John had to say about “Let It Be”.

“That’s Paul. What can you say? Nothing to do with the Beatles. It could’ve been Wings. I don’t know what he’s thinking when he writes "Let It Be". I think it was inspired by "Bridge Over Troubled Waters". I know that he wanted to write a "Bridge Over Troubled Waters".

John here is proving what we have suspected all along. That is, McCartney has the ability to time-travel. Paul wrote and recorded the song in January 1969. Bridge Over Troubled Waters was written by Paul Simon in July 1969.

Obviously what McCartney did was to program his Yellow Magic Tardis to jump forward in time and space to Paul Simon’s writing room at 1619 Broadway, at 49th St. NYC. At that point he hid behind Art Garfunkel’s discarded platform boots, figured out what the diminutive genius was doing, got back into his time machine, went back to St Johns Wood in London, sat down at the piano and stole the Simon and Garfunkel hit before it had been written.

Such is the cunning and relentless professionalism of Paul McCartney.

Either that or John may have been a Jealous Guy.

Paul plays the song at nearly all of his concerts and it is clearly one of his favorites. In 1998 he sang the song for his wife Linda at her memorial at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square.

In a less spiritual context, McCartney performed a private rendition for Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. We have made no secret that we would like to have Vladimir sing a song for TBCOU. So Mr. Putin, if you are reading this, drop us a line at thebeatlescompleteonukulele@gmail.com and we will find you a tune to perform.

The Ukulele Version is performed by “The Beatles Complete On Ukulele Community Choir”. They are some of the best singers on the planet, brought together by vocal arranger Gregory Clark for this project.

If there was a backing vocal session in New York City at any time, in the last 20 years there is a very good chance that one of these singers was on it.

It is always an honor to work with a great musician. To work with a studio full is truly humbling. The session where we recorded the choir is one of my most treasured studio memories. You can see photos of the session HERE.

The President’s voice is sampled from speeches he has made from The White House, although I’d be happy to arrange a re-recording session should he wish to improve on the performance.

The video is cut from various concerts held in The White House over the last couple of years. Big thanks to John Philp at Bad Dog Tales who’s digital razor blade helped made the video possible.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th President of the United States. He shares his birthplace with the spiritual home of the ukulele.

www.barackobama.com

www.whitehouse.gov

ABOUT THE CHOIR

The Beatles Complete On Ukulele Community Choir are a collective of some of the best singers on the planet.

If there has been a major vocal session in New York City in the last 20 years, there is a very good chance that one of these singers was part of it.

Choirmaster Gregory Clark had a daunting task.

David Barratt assigned him to assemble an international dream team choir to accompany the President. How do you get the best of the best together in one room for two hours on one night in New York?

Not such a problem to Clark. He dialed, Facebooked, Twittered and emailed and the choir gods smiled down upon him.

With the gathering of such an eclectic group, the session was magical and intimate. Many of the singers have contributed to The Beatles Complete on Ukulele project already, or will in time to come.

The choir is: Neal Coomer, Aisha De Haas, Margaret Dorn, Jenny Douglas, Tabitha Fair, Keith A. Fluitt, Michael Inge, John James, Janice Pendarvis, Sophia Ramos, Nicki Richards, Giovanni Stella and Victoria Villalobos.

Choirmaster: Gregory Clark

(Appearing in video in order of appearance)

Barack Obama, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, The Howard University Choir, Mike Huckabee, Michael Steele, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, Elvis Costello, Corrine Bailey Rae, The Congress of The United States, Blind Boys Of Alabama, Brad Paisley, Abe Laboriel Jnr., Nicki Richards, The Jonas Brothers, Faith Hill, Dave Grohl, Lang Lang, Jerry Seinfeld, Herbie Hancock, Emmylou Harris, Jack White.

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103 – Every Little Thing – Matt Backer

admin — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:01:16 +0000

103 Every Little Thing – Matt Backer

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded September 29/30 1964

Ukulele version recorded May 18 2010

Matt Backer – Guitar, Bass Vocals

JFK – Drums

David Barratt – Ukulele, Glockenspiel

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Produced by David Barratt The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn from recordings made by Matt Backer in London.

Mixed at The Abattoir Mobile on the beach in San Diego.

Essay Bill Clift

ABOUT THE SONG

Supposedly written as a contender for the follow up single to “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Every Little Thing” was never going to make it. Far too mature and serious a piece of writing, it eventually found itself buried slap bang in the middle of the already muddled Beatle’s For Sale’s B side, banished into the wilderness like some unfortunate freak of nature, too clever by half and given no succour or support from the superstitious folk who’d spawned it.

Which song became the next single?

“I Feel Fine”, of course. Absolute poptastic brilliance b/w the raw and rockin’crowd pleasin’ “She’s a Woman”. The one after that? “Ticket to Ride”. Proper gilt-edged commercial excellence, ticking all the boxes and ensuring our boy’s continuing reign as popular music’s first family.

But “Every Little Thing”?

This is one of McCartney’s earliest coming of age pieces and one of the many songs he wrote about or for Jane Asher. Taking its enigmatic tone from his previous songs “And I Love Her” and “Things We Said Today”, Paul is striving to write from the deepest recesses of his heart and mind. It’s full of emotional complexity and wonderment, certainly not a complacent, misanthropic ode to woman as slave, more a how lucky am I, what did I do to deserve this (?!) celebration of love.

Yes, every little thing she does she does for me but, equally, every little thing I do I do for her.

One of its most notable features is McCartney’s attempt to ignore rhyme. The first verse is devoid of rhyme until its last two lines where Paul seems unable to resist his natural urges and gives us the internal ‘I was lonely without her / Can’t stop thinking about her’ but even then tries to re-establish his discipline by ending the line with ‘now’ instead of employing another word to rhyme with ‘guy’, the last word of line three.

Drifting back into his comfort zone at the start of verse two he finds it necessary to rhyme ‘happy’ with ‘love me’, a half rhyme, I know, but disappointing nonetheless as it would have been easier to have remained true to the structure with a non-rhyme. His decision to loosely rhyme throughout is one of the reasons for the odd tension this song manages to achieve.

Of course, there are all sorts of musical reasons. The melody begins on the third and returns there at the end of each verse, rarely giving us the comfort of home. For all its soaring triumph, the chorus melody is simply stated twice contained over just two chords, holding the A major chord before dropping, warmly but still enigmatically to the G major.

Paul was really taking this song seriously.

Listen to the descending left hand piano in the fifth/ sixth (and eleventh/twelfth) bar of each verse: dramatic stuff indeed. The drama is completed with the introduction of a simple but effective timpani part doubling the low piano as a motif in the chorus. Never heard before on a Beatle’s track, this orchestral percussion, with all its sonic associations, really nails Paul’s serious intent.

I reckon it’s because of Paul’s striving for gravitas that John ends up singing lead on this song. Where does Paul feel vocally most comfortable on this album? The cutesy of cutesiest I’ll Follow the Sun.

What’s John up to on the same record? Well, “I’m a Loser” and “Mr Moonlight” for two. Real grown up passion. I know Paul belts out “Kansas City” at the close of side one but that’s always felt like a ‘we did this one in Hamburg and we need a quick filler for the new L.P.’ sort of track to me.

No, Paul wanted this one to be special so he decided to go against accepted practice and gave a song he’d written himself to the man he knew would do it most justice. How painful must that have been for dear old Macca?

“Every Little Thing” gave birth to one of the worst Beatles covers ever. Prog Rock dinosaurs “Yes” recorded the song on their self-titled album in 1969. They must have considered it substantial or weighty enough for their proggy appetites. Couldn't really have seen them choose “She Loves You” or “From Me to You”

It is only 6 1/2 minutes long but it feels like it takes up 5 sides of a double album.

A horrible guitar solo opens the version, keyboard solos and chords that should never be aloud to to be heard outside of Berkley College of Music litter this outrageous abuse of the sonic spectrum.

This really is a "It's so bad it's good" record.

When Dave was a wee boy working at the legendary Trident Studios He had the pleasure to work with Yes as they attempted to mix a live album.

It was his gig to operate the Tape Machine. It is sad to report that this is a job that no longer exists.

In great rock'n'roll style "Yes" booked the studio from 11pm till 11am.

The sessions soon took on a regular routine.

11pm -1am: wait for the band to show up

1am – 3am: Mild bickering and bitching as each band member attempts to get his part to be the loudest instrument in the mix.

3am-5am: Intense arguing as each band member attempts to get his part to be the loudest instrument in the mix.

5.02am: A band member falls unconscious on sofa.

5:07am: Arguments intensify. Money and old girlfriends mentioned. Mild sexual tension in a pre "Don't Ask Don't Tell" kinda way fills the room.

5:47: A member of band storms out in a huff.

6am: Breakfast is ordered. That is to say that Dave was sent to Chinatown to find after hour booze. What the band did not know was that Dave had kept several bottles of nasty cheap Romanian vodka downstairs in the tape-store for this very purpose.

He 'returned' an hour later with tales of Chinese gangsters, knives and games of Goh, then took a handsome 3,000% profit.

6:18am: The member who was asleep on the sofa picks up a glass of vodka, mistaking it for water, chugs it down and vomits on his rather nice 1970's designer suit and then falls unconscious again.

7:45 Breakfast is ordered. The remainder of the band devour their fried breakfasts as they talk about how their macrobiotic advisors were overcharging them.

9am-10:30am. Members either pass out or stagger off home.

10:30am-11am The engineer mixes the songs.

Not surprisingly this "live" album never came out.

The ukulele version is a much more pleasant affair. We present a cracking new version by the mysterious Matt Backer. Matt, a fully qualified and accredited sorcerer, is also known by his Wiccan name Back Matta.

As a boy he would be sent into a trance whenever he heard Jeepster by T Rex.

Prior to recording his version of “Every Little Thing”, Matt melted down a Veleno guitar previously owned by Marc Bolan and refashioned it into 389 tiny statues of his hero. This was exactly the number of Lunar Months that Marc spent in this realm. Marc’s spirit was then summoned to the studio to bless the recording and enter Matt’s body as he played guitar.

The results speak for themselves.

And let us not forget the great JFK on drums.

Jim Kimberly, when he first arrived in New York was surprised to find that they had named an airport after him.

JFK: Jim Fucking Kimberly

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Matt Backer is half Human, half Vulcan, and vows to use his powers for good.

www.mattbacker.com

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102 Paperback Writer – The Noble Three

admin — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:01:04 +0000

102 Paperback Writer – The Noble Three

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded May 30 1966

Ukulele version recorded July 2010

The Noble Three are

Patrick Rickelton: Vocal, Guitar, Piano

Tres Crow: Vocal

with

Gerald Ross: Ukulele

Nathan Macormack: Cello

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

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

from original recordings made by The Noble Three.

Gerald’s ukulele was added in his own studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

ABOUT THE SONG

"Paperback Writer" was the last new song that The Beatles played on their last tour. The lads were sick of touring at this point and they knew “The Big Change” was coming.

Out went:

Goofy smiles, endless touring, hotels, screaming fans, matching suits, harmonicas and writing catchy songs about teenage love.

In came:

Taking themselves seriously, getting a studio tan, sleeping in their own beds, wives, facial hair, orchestras and writing catchy songs about submarines, doctors, rain, universal love and BOOKS!

Every single that The Beatles had released up to this point had been about “Young Love”. Lots of it. Hand-holding love, wondering about love, asking for love, begging for it, rejecting it, regretting it.

Love, love, love.

One of Paul’s aunts asked him if he ever wrote songs that were not about love. Paul walked around the room, picked up a book and announced that he would write a song about that.

Clever Paul. Bit smug but clever.

The lyric tells the story of a writer who writes a 1000 page novel about a man who is writing a novel based on a novel written about someone writing a novel.

But the lyric is really all about young, male, testosterone-fueled hunger for success.

Dear Sir or Madam will you read my book?

It took me years to write, will you take a look?

It’s a thousand pages give or take a few

I’ll be writing more in a week or two

I can make it longer if you like the style

I can change it round and I want to be a paperback writer

The song’s protagonist will do anything for that big break. Do you want more? Do you want less? I can do it. Sure I’ll do anything, just give me that big break. I want it now. NOW! NOW NOW!

From the beginning of their career The Beatles had this raw drive, determination and ambition in spades.

When they started out they wanted to be the best band in Liverpool. When that was achieved they beat off The Rolling Stones to be “The Biggest Band In Britain”. Then they looked west to conquer the Americas. Next on their list: Elvis. By 1966 they had all but eclipsed The King.

This relentless ambition only waned after the collapse of Apple Corp in 1970, which coincided with most of the band turning or approaching 30. But that was all in an unwritten future. In Britain in 1966 for The Beatles, everything was possible.

The boring old avuncular characters that had led The Conservative Party to defeat had gone to their country houses to lick their wounds. The new Prime Minister (working class, socialist, Yorkshire-man) Harold Wilson had recently made his speech about "the white heat of the technological revolution" that would lead Britain to a bright new future, the austerity of the post-war years was disappearing and Bobby Moore had just led England to win The World Cup.

You can feel that confident energy pulsing thought the backing track. Super tight bass/drum/guitar. Effortless creation of energy. Just like the nuclear fuel that was going to make our future bright, clean and efficient.

The song opens acappella, like “Nowhere Man”. The difference being that in this instance it is an intrinsic part of the arrangement. I hate how on “Nowhere Man” you can hear the backing track being punched in on the mix.

George and John's backing vocals play off of Paul's double-tracked lead, sometimes anticipating, sometimes in accompaniment, (on the second verse you can hear George and John sing a nonsensical “Frère Jacques”), and at other times in chorus (Paaapeeerr Baaaack Wriiiiterrrrr)

The vocal parts are not as tight as the track.The phrasing is raggedly but the tuning is not. Personally I like this roughness. It has a “live” feel about it that suits the song.

"Paperback Writer" was recorded on the same session as “Rain”. Both songs featured a new bass sound.

Teenage engineer Geoff Emerick came up with a new way to record the bass by using a loudspeaker as a microphone. The loudspeaker/microphone positioned directly in front of the bass amp and the moving diaphragm of the second speaker made the electric current. No one had ever done this before. Emerick was 19 and he was able to think about the studio in a very different way to any of the older engineers at Abbey Road. Nowadays Someone like Emerick would have to do three or four years in college and another two being an intern before he got a shot at the studio. By the time he would have made it to be an engineer all of the originality would have been taught out of him. He would have been not much more than a piece of machinery himself.

In Britain the single had the infamous "butcher art” cover, showing the Beatles with raw meat and decapitated baby dolls tossed about. (Move over Lady Gaga).

A couple of years later the very great but very bonkers composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein was trying to figure out the meanings of some of the lyrics to the Beatles. One of songs he examined was Paperback Writer. He claimed that Lennon and McCartney wrote it as a metaphor for prostitution, literally and figuratively.

Bit mad that Leonard.

The Ukulele version of “Paperback Writer” radiates a very different type of energy to the original. Our version skips along not caring where it finally ends up. This paperback writer probably won’t ever finish his book, but he doesn’t care. He’s too busy enjoying the moment.

The Beatles propelled by Paul’s almost violent bass-line tears along like a stolen car. On our version there is no bass to hold down the song. It shimmers, it floats.

The recording was completed in an unusual way. Patrick Rickleton and Tres Crow sent their version of the song from Tennessee which sounded pretty great to me. I asked for the individual parts of the song so I could add ukulele and mix. I sat ukulele in hand for a bit and was stumped. I put it on the back burner for a while then I remembered ukulele maestro Gerald Ross.

Gerald is a master of the instrument. I sent him the track in Ann Arbor and he came up with a perfect delicate accompaniment, for which I am very grateful.

I was about to mix it all together when my friend and cellist Nathan Macormack dropped by and added the sweetest cello part to finish off the arrangement.

As far as I know Gerald, Nathan and The Noble Three have never met so I am glad to introduce them to each other here.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Noble Three is the brain child of Patrick Rickelton (Neulore and prattle on, rick.) and Tres Crow who use the ironically titled musical front as an excuse to get together every 27th fortnight and rattle a tambourine or strum a fiddle. As of late they’ve been more like Nessie than a sea turtle, but like that famous crypto-zootic Scottish tourist they are apt to pop up in the strangest places…this blog for one.

There’s nothing all that special about it really. They like each other and they like making music together so that’s, like, what they do when they get the chance. Also, occasionally they drink tea in Patrick’s backyard and talk about stuff. Tres likes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

For more information about either of these dudes go to:

www.prattleonrick.com

www.dogeatcrow.blogspot.com

http://www.myspace.com/noblethree

ABOUT THE UKEIST

Today, however, Gerald Ross is known more for his work with the ukulele and Hawaiian lap steel guitar and has recorded five solo CD’s. In addition to being an extremely polished performer, Gerald is a prepared, organized, and thoughtful teacher, and such a nice guy! Whew!

It’s no wonder Gerald Ross has been called an entire music camp and festival in one.

http://www.geraldross.com/

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101 – She’s Leaving Home – The Goff Sisters (with their Mum & Dad)

admin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:01:00 +0000

101 Shes Leaving Home – The Goff Sisters (with their Mum & Dad)

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded March 17 1967

Ukulele version recorded August 2010

Amy and Elaine Goff: Vocals (narrator)

Peg and Cy Goff: Vocals (parents)

Ira Siegel : Ukulele

Gary Schreiner : Acoustic and Wurlitzer Piano

David Barratt: Everything else

Written by Lennon & McCartney

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

Essay by Ben Walker

ABOUT THE SONG

The first time I heard this song I was fifteen, and it blew my mind. I knew a fair bit about music, even back then, but my ear wasn’t yet quick enough to follow the neat counterpoint of the cello and voice, to hear the chord changes. I was used to listening to Cream and Deep Purple, whose harmony was relatively easy to follow if you listened hard to the bass lines and recognised the familiar rock patterns of flattened sevenths, blues scales and power chords. But this song threw me. It sounded so simple, but the musical language was classical, and it was as if I’d landed in Spain with a tourist phrasebook and a stern-looking lady was telling me a story in words I couldn’t understand.

I was listening to Sergeant Pepper for the first time on one of those portable CD players that you had to hold really carefully as you walked around to stop them skipping. It was early afternoon and I was walking around North Oxford in the half hour break after lunch before I had to be back at school for lessons. I was at boarding school, where I made the most of the rare moments when I could be alone and walk around with an occasionally skippy soundtrack, pretending it was 1967 and I had just got back from the local record shop with the first pressing of the latest Beatles record.

Half way through She’s Leaving Home I turned on my heel and started jogging back to school, trying to maintain the ideal horizontal gliding motion that would keep the CD player from skipping and using my half-relaxed arm as rudimentary suspension. I made it back to my room and grabbed my guitar. With one headphone on and one off so I could hear the guitar I picked my way through the song, following the cello (and was that a double bass?!) and using the harp notes to work out the chords. It was clever – there were all sorts of moves that I hadn’t come across before – and the strings added these strange melodies that highlighted the movement of the chords and carefully reflected the tensions and emotions of the drama.

I only had time for a few listens before I had to go to double physics. I remember vividly spending the entire lesson writing out pages and pages of chord symbols, half-remembered melodies, lyrics and patterns, trying to reconstruct, decipher and understand my new favourite song.

Listening back to it now, having spent years studying the nuts and bolts of classical composition, I realise that it’s not actually that complicated. To a classical music nerd the string writing is a pretty basic pastiche, but then pop music has never aspired to be as technically complex as classical music. That’s not the point. To the untrained ear of a teenager in 1967 it sounded classical enough to be Parent Music.

There are no drums, no guitars, and the vocals are anything but rock’n’roll. It’s important that the arrangement sounds like “Parent Music”, because the song is all about parents. It’s a clever little satire of middle class parents.

Sergeant Pepper is an album of pastiches, an album that delivered a perfect example of every pop style of the day (Ballad, Vaudeville, Psychedelic, Indian-Mystic, Novelty, Faux-Classical) bookended by the nostalgic introduction of “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and its “Reprise”, and with the circus-crazy intermission of “For The Benefit Of Mr Kite”. "She’s Leaving Home" is the Faux-Classical number, and its influence is huge.

Every band reaches the point when someone suggests using only strings on a song.

“You know, like She’s Leaving Home.”

It’s a reference point for great Faux-Classical arrangement, like Wichita Lineman for country ballads and Bohemian Rhapsody for pomp-rock.

George Martin created the model for good pop strings (and some timeless harp). The string parts are written around the vocals, adding punctuation, humour, pathos and support. Most string parts on pop songs these days are block chords and soaring melodies, following the Hollywood film score example of string writing, but the part writing on “She’s Leaving Home” is careful, understated and clever.

She’s Leaving Home is sung like a Radio 4 play, and the casting is perfect. Paul plays the narrator, calmly telling a story of loss and tragedy. After the first line, you can clearly hear him taking a slow, steady breath. There are no blue notes, no screams, no “wooooo”s. John gets to be the parents, delivering his lines in a listless and world-weary drawl.

That’s what parents sound like when you’re a teenager.

“What did we do that was wrong? We didn’t know it was wrong.”

We never hear the daughter. This story isn’t really about her anyway.

McCartney’s lyrics paint an instantly recognisable picture of a two up, two down house and a aspirational middle class couple who have unknowingly alienated their teenage daughter. He cleverly uses some subtle class indicators to give depth to his characters: while the narrator uses the classless term “Father”, the mother calls him “Daddy” (aspirational middle-middle to upper-middle).

The choruses show the confused desperation of a couple who didn’t have much money growing up but have worked hard to provide every chance they could for their daughter:

“We gave her everything money could buy…”, “Sacrificed all of our lives…”

There’s a tendency for everything of interest in the world to end up on the internet, if you know where to look. And while WikiLeaks has hit the news for exposing political secrets, there are all sorts of other loose, subversive groups who make it their mission to “free” information that’s being held prisoner by copyright laws and other nuisances.

Everyone knows that albums are shared over peer-to-peer networks, but did you know you can also find “multitracks”?

Multitrack tapes are usually kept very secret, and occasionally dug out for digital remastering. But sometimes they sneak out. I found tracks by The Beatles, The Stones, Queen, Marvin Gaye, Blondie, and plenty more. You have to endure a few graphic advertisements for “Russian girls who really want to chat with you now!”, but with Google and a Bittorrent client you have access to an astoundingly large chunk of our cultural history.

I got hold of the multitrack tapes for “She’s Leaving Home”, and travelled deep into the innards of the song.

I heard the string parts on their own (two tracks, presumably recorded with two microphones – one over near the violins and one near the cello and double bass, with the harp in the middle).

I heard Paul’s vocal track with no music behind it – every breath, every careful inflection, the slight strain as he holds the high notes, the concentration and control.

I heard John’s backing vocals, drenched in reverb, joined for the choruses by Paul double-tracking the high melody.

I felt the same excitement that I had when I first heard the track, the same desire to understand everything about this recording – the song, the people, the man or woman who played the cello part, the decisions that were made at every step that led to the track sounding the way it does.

If you ever feel that music isn’t magic any more, that you’ve listened to everything you have and you’re bored of it, or if you want to learn about how songs are put together and records are made, or if you just want to experience the thrill of sitting right in front of someone as they record a legendary vocal part, I recommend getting hold of the original tracks of a song you think you know well. It may well blow your mind.

The Ukulele version is sang by The Goff Sisters accompanied by their mom and dad singing the part of the parents.

Give a thought for poor Cy and Peg Goff.

Every parent knows the sweet sorrow of watching their children step into the world without their protective arm. Wondering what challenges they will have to face, knowing that Mom and Dad won’t be there to pick up the pieces.

Cy and Peg had the unique experience of seeing their lovely, fresh-faced, young daughters make their first steps outside the family home to… go on tour with Meat Loaf.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Amy and Elaine Goff have enjoyed a long and successful career as a vocal duo.

As featured vocalists, they toured nationally and internationally with several groups, including three albums and four world tours with Meat Loaf.

They have sung backgrounds on dozens of albums for well-known artists, including four gold and one platinum, and have written and/or sung on hundreds of national and international radio and television commercials.

The Goffs have produced and released three classical choral albums. Their mother Peg Goff lends her voice and her beautiful vocal arrangements to:

The Christmas Angels, (distributed by Time-Life Music)

Angel’s Sing Praises, (a collection of popular sacred hymns)

Angels Of Slumber, (a collection of lullabies from around the world).

Most recently, the Goff Sisters have joined forces with former Joe Cocker band mates, to form Cocker tribute band, Sheffield Steel.

As per David Barratt’s suggestion, She’s Leaving Home, was the first opportunity for the Goff Women to Record with their father/husband, Sy.

He was magnificent and has been an insufferable Diva ever since!

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100 – Baby’s In Black – Jenny Baldwin

admin — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:20:21 +0000

100 Baby's In Black – Jenny Baldwin

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded December 4 1964

Ukulele version recorded October 2010

Jenny Baldwin – All vocals

Jack Hues – Ukulele

Paddy O’Schreiner – Accordion

David Barratt – Everything else

Written by Lennon & McCartney

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

from an original recording by Lee Danziger

Essay Brian August

ABOUT THE SONG

When someone says:

“I don’t believe in racial stereotypes but…”

they are generally about to make a racial stereotype.

I don’t believe in racial stereotypes but… The Celtic People are pretty good at music and ponder about death…. a lot.

The Irish touch is all over “Baby’s In Black” and all over the Beatles. They are pretty much an Irish band. 15 of their 16 grandparents are Irish. Liverpool is, well, basically as far from Ireland as Exit 16 on the Jersey Turnpike is from Manhattan. Hell, Liverpool IS Ireland. McCartney? Harrison? Starkey? Lennon? Irish, all.

And the smell of death lingers over the song as well. The beautiful and enigmatic Stu is dead from a brain hemorrhage and his equally beautiful and enigmatic girlfriend Astrid is grieving.

Stu was John’s 2nd in command in the Hamburg version of the Beatles. He wasn’t the greatest musician but he was certainly the most charismatic, which is often more important.

Paul has made no secret of the fact that he was a little jealous of Stu, and quite rightly so. Stu had “Star” written large above his head wherever he went. He looked like electric Bob Dylan before Bob Dylan was acoustic. He painted abstract paintings, he had the hottest girlfriend.

He was cool incarnate.

His tragedy was that after a gig in a small Lancashire town Sutcliffe got himself into a fight outside the hall and took quite a beating. John and Pete Best dragged him out of it but Stu had suffered a fractured skull. He was supposed to go to Sefton General Hospital for an X-ray but never went.

Within 15 months he was dead.

Indeed, she has seen the mistake. And John, in as morose a mood as you'll find, is lamenting his inability to do a damned thing about any of it.

“Baby’s In Black” is one of many Beatle songs derived from Irish melodies, carved from "What Can the Matter Be?", also known as "Johnny's So Long at the Fair", a traditional nursery rhyme traceable as far back as far as the 1780s.

John and Paul had already been known to have thrown a two part harmony together now and then, but rarely have they belted a better two minutes of mano a mano vocalization than you'll find here.

And that, they literally did, shunning convention to record the song side by side, in front of a single mike, figure-8, Irish Old School.

There's not a single note in this song where John and Paul are not harmonizing, and never once do they sing the same note together. Its a rare, if not totally unique Beatles composition in that respect (though at the 1:59 mark, I hear the hint of a third voice, Paul perhaps, singing a lovely 7th.)

When I attempt to sing this song I get a mini head rush from lack of air by the time I finish singing. Really. I'm feeling blue. From asphyxsia.

The harmonization is beautiful, and heartbreaking, filled with perfectly lilting phraseology, lifting to a first crescendo ("She thinks only of him") and then to that blissful, impossibly perfect duet ("Oh how long will it take") with Paul soaring to the high parts, beautifully, defiantly fighting to hang on to the end of the phrase, gasping for air at the start of the next line. Oh Dear.

The two mesh seamlessly, in that way that only they can. Voices so pure you can actually hear them phasing at times.

The publisher was equally dazzled, apparently having to ask which line was the melody and which the harmony.

Paul's response was droll and accurate — they are both the melody.

The final verse has Paul's plucking giant fifths on the bass, evoking sonic images of a lone bagpiper emerging from the fog.

Payne Stewart, where are you? Alas, somewhere with Stu.

Its 4 track recording at its best, with George's oddly twangy solo double tracked for good measure.

Baby's in Black was one of the songs performed during the 28 minutes or so they actually sang at Shea Stadium.

I think he was Irish too, that Mr. Shea.

Our version features Texas belle Jenny Baldwin who brings a touch of the south to our version. She sings both Paul and Johns parts dancing between the notes beautifully.

The recording’s Irishness is assured however due to the presence legendary Celtic accordionist Paddy O’Schreiner.

Producer David Barratt has a difficult working relationship with Paddy, as the accordionist only speaks Gaelic when he is in the presence an Englishman.

The former IRA Commander has recently been granted amnesty by the British Government for his part in the attempted kidnap of Prince Phillip in 1987. It is rumored that Paddy has refused the pardon on moral grounds.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

A native of Dallas, Texas, I grew up singing in the Baptist Church Choir since the age of five. I hear all of the harmonies of a church choir whenever I sing.

Fast forward… a New York City television executive by day and a chanteuse by night. What a great town to live a double life!

Whether on a side porch, back porch, CBGB’s, The Bubble Lounge, a studio, gospel choir, Sylvette’s, a friend’s couch, my couch – I’ve never NOT sung. I am privileged to be part of this project and to celebrate The Beatle’s harmonies with my vocals.

I’m a Beatle’s fan! Who isn’t! I am now a country girl living in Hudson, New York, working on a children’s music education and entertainment project for pre-school children.

Check it out at www.mandysmenagerie.com.

Thank you, David Barratt, for producing and uking a fine rendition and to Lee Danziger for being my engineer.

Lee Danziger is an artist, designer and musician. He’s the residing music maestro at Chirp Studio in Woodstock, NY.

In addition to engineering the recordings of Jenny Baldwin’s vocal tracks for her contribution to Beatles Complete, he is currently co-producing a concept project with singer/songwriter, Pal Shazar– a thirteen song musical companion, an audiostration, for her soon to be released novel, Janitor.

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099 – From Me To You – Sophie Madeleine

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 05:01:25 +0000

99 – From Me To You – Sophie Madeleine

(To download on Mac, option-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded March 5, 1963

Ukulele version recorded September 26, 2010

Sophie Madeleine – Ukuleles, Vocals

David Barratt – Bass

Written by Lennon and McCartney

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste,

Brooklyn.

Essay: Sean Redmond

ABOUT THE SONG

When I listen to a Beatles song, whatever the image in my mind’s eye is it always involves me playing and singing. I’m a musician so that might seem natural but I think this is pretty common—it’s what drives us to karaoke and air guitar, right? With the Beatles it’s always been particularly easy. When I was a boy, they were boyish. Now that I’m man, their music has long been a big part of the emotional language of love or loneliness. It sounds like every girl has a favorite Beatle, and I’m sure every guy has the Beatle that he knows deep down he is, like a secret Native American name.

I used to have long hair and round glasses, and because of the shape of my face and my nose, people would always say how much I looked like John Lennon. I wouldn’t have let on then, but that was just fine. “If I fell,” “Girl,” “In My Life”? “It’s Only Love,” “Ticket to Ride,” “Julia”? I can see myself singing those.

“From Me To You” was the A side of the early Beatles’ 4th single in 1963, and their first #1 single in the UK and they were still unknown in the US. Lennon and McCartney were boys when they wrote it in the back of a bus on their way between shows.

This was one of the first times that George Martin made his present felt in the studio. It was his idea to have the lads sing the “"da da da da da dum dum da" bit on the intro. John, true to form, was not into it at first but Paul convinced him to try and George gained another layer of trust from the boys. The High pitched “Ooh” which was to become a trademark sound of The BeatlesV1.2 was in fact whole-heartedly stolen from the Isley Brothers. Check out the 1962 version of Twist and Shout by The The Brothers “I” and you’ll see what I mean.

These early songs have so much boyish charm, but I don’t know that I’d ever really heard before now how much bluster there was from these boys who weren’t quite grown up yet. There’s a lot of schoolyard left in them and the declarations of love and the complaints are belted out for their mates as much as their girls—a boy who’s really just singing to a girl doesn’t play at the tempo of even their slowest songs from ‘62 and ‘63.

They’re showing off, and all us boys get it. That’s why we so easily imagine ourselves right into their shoes. When one of our mates is showing of we just naturally want to show them up.

Sophie Madeleine’s beautiful rendition of “From Me To You,” though, is like being with a girl when you first realize she’s more important than your boys. The beauty of a cover song is that another artist can take something familiar, something loaded with memories and things you’ve felt before, and turn it all inside out in a few short notes.

Listening to Sophie Madeleine I don’t want to be the “me.” Who wouldn’t want to be the “you” when you hear that one little word sung by a voice like hers. In her recordings the lovely Miss Madeleine has devoted herself to this little guitar, and the way she plays tells you that the ukelele is just the thing when you want to pull a chair up close, right to knees of the one you love, and sing.

The soundtrack changes as we grow up and new sounds come into our lives. When we hear that song from a long time ago maybe we get to dwell in our youth again for two or three minutes, or maybe we feel the everything that’s changes since we last heard it, like a swollen river rushing on us all at once. I hear them both in this version of “From Me To You.”

The dreamy, layered ukuleles weave a cradle between sophistication and simplicity while, knee-to-knee with Sophie Madeleine, I’m glad to lean into the joys of being a grown-up. There are places more fun than the schoolyard or the back of a bus. But if you can be there and still strum your ukulele like child… well, we all hope for the best of both worlds.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Armed with nothing but a smile, a ukulele, and a collection of beautifully crafted songs, Sophie Madeleine is fast conquering the musical world. With her debut independent release "Love.Life.Ukulele" exploding across the internet, she has gained fans on six out of seven continents (just missing Antarctica) and her videos have amassed over half a million hits on Youtube.

Unlike so many fast burning viral sensations, Sophie Madeleine has also turned

internet buzz into live success. With widely praised performances in the UK,

Germany, Italy and New York all in the last six months, Sophie has shown

she’s not only an elite songwriter, but a seasoned live act as well.

Steeped in an inherited classicism (she had a music-lover for a father,) she absorbed the greats of the last century – from Cole Porter to Gershwin, Bacharach, Beatles and beyond.

A real-life genuine master of song, Sophie has spent years honing her writing skills, eventually achieving a Masters degree in Songwriting in 2009.

Her distinctive voice and style have drawn comparisons to Feist and

Francoise Hardy, while her ever-growing fan-base has labelled her

somewhere between Lily Allen and Laura Marling.

Whatever the association, there's one thing everyone who's encountered Sophie's music can agree on – it's something special. With her music now appearing as part of several national ad campaigns in the UK, Sophie’s star has only begun to rise.

She is now touring to promote her eagerly awaited forthcoming album “The Rhythm You Started”.

www.sophiemadeleine.bandcamp.com

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098 – Two Of Us – Alessi Brothers

admin — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 05:01:50 +0000

98 Two Of Us – Alessi Brothers

(To download on Mac,

Option-Click

on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded January 31st 1969

Ukulele version recorded August 2010

Bobby Alessi – Ukulele and guitar

Billy Alessi – Keyboards

Lead Vocal: Alternates between Billy and Bobby

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon and McCartney

Arranged, Produced and Programmed by the Alessi Brothers at Eden Roc Studio

Inspired by David Barratt

ABOUT THE SONG

In May 1969, an obscure New York based folk trio signed to Apple Records called “Mortimer” recorded a Paul McCartney song called "On Our Way Home" with Paul producing. I have never heard the band or the recording but, according to those that have, they both sucked. Not surprisingly the song was never released.

Paul reworked the song for the Get Back/Let It Be sessions with more success renaming it “Two Of Us”.

“Two Of Us” opens the “Let It Be” album. Just before the first chords Lennon declaims:

"'I Dig a Pygmy', by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids… Phase One, in which Doris gets her oats!"

"The Deaf Aids" was the nickname given to their Beatles' Vox amplifiers.

“Two Of Us” is clearly a Paul song but John falsely claimed credit for it in his 1980 interview with Playboy Magazine. He may have been having a "bad memory day" as the recorded evidence completely contradicts his statement.

On a bootleg recording made on January 2nd 1969 there is a 12 minute segment where Paul brings the song to George and Ringo. John is not in attendance. Paul takes them through each section. Not surprisingly they have problems with the part where the meter changes in the verse but the song is pretty much finished.

There is another set of recordings where Paul is trying to teach John to sing a complicated harmony part but John just keeps getting it wrong. Paul, for the sake of his sanity, writes John the simpler part that made it to the final recording.

At this point Paul is clearly the leader and John seems past caring.

For the first time in ages Paul and John sang together. It all would be too cute for it’s own good were it not for the fact that what we hear almost sounds as if Paul is pleading with John to return to “The good old days”. There is a desperate innocence in the air. The scene seems idyllic but it was anything but. The band were in free-fall and arguing all the time about the most trifling things but Paul being Paul tries to create the fantasy of he and John being in perfect harmony.

It is a little like a “Perfect Family Christmas Dinner” where the drunken uncle in the corner letting everyone know how much he hates his brother while the mother smiles though gritted teeth everything. It could only be topped by hearing Louis Farrakahn and Glenn Beck sing “Ebony And Ivory”.

The song, however, was not written for or about John. Paul had fallen deeply in love with Linda Eastman and this was one of the first of many songs he would write for her including “Maybe I’m Amazed”, “Lovely Linda” and “My Love”.

This is really a love song about that first moment of an affair when everything is possible.

My favorite lyric is:

“You and I have memories, Longer than the road that stretches out ahead”

This captures the moment in an early love where the present and the future collide. The irony being that as one love was ending (John/Paul) another was beginning (Paul/Linda).

Linda gave Paul a sense of freedom that he could not get within The Beatles. The postcards mentioned are those written by her from America to England.After she moved to England to be near him, they would drive out into the country with no destination in mind. She was easy going, laid back and loved to simply drive out with the sole purpose of being miles from anywhere. Paul found this liberating because as a Beatle he was always being told when and where he needed to be.

That simple pure love is also evident in the ukulele version of the song. The emotional bond between siblings is often complicated affair but the simple connection is not. Billy and Bobby Alessi have been singing together since they can remember and have been recording together for over 35 years. That bond is reinforced in their Beach Boysesque version of “Two Of Us”.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

The Alessi Brothers are an American pop singer-songwriter duo, best known for their 1984 hit "Savin' the Day" and also their 1978 hit "Oh Lori". The duo are identical twin brothers, Billy and Bobby Alessi – born 12 July 1953, Long Island, New York.

In 1978, they climbed to number eight in the UK Singles Chart with "Oh Lori", followed by “All For A Reason” and in 1982 they reached number 71 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with "Put Away Your Love". This made them one-hit wonders on both sides of the Atlantic.

"Oh Lori" became a Top Ten hit in seventeen more countries. The Alessi Brothers recorded five albums on major record labels, the 5th. With Quincy Jones and Christopher Cross. They sold over eight million records worldwide, and toured with Andy Gibb on his Shadow Dancing tour.

They collaborated with Art Garfunkel on his 1979 album Fate for Breakfast, mainly providing the background vocals. They wrote and produced the title track for Deborah Gibson on her 2001 album M.Y.O.B.

They’ve also sung/wrote or collaborated with many other artists including, Jonh Lennon, Paul McCartney, Sting, Peter Frampton, Barbara Striesand, Elton John, Whitney Houston and Olivia Newton John.

In 1984, the brothers released a song, "Savin' the Day", for the soundtrack to the film, Ghostbusters. The song was used in the 1986 cartoon based on the movie.

The Brothers have enjoyed success working on jingles and advertisements for many mainstream consumer products in the U.S.

In the 2000s they resumed their touring and album recording career as a duo, with the release of two new albums as Alessi, and also one as part of the group Barnaby Bye.

In 2010 they released “All Our Life/Pure Alessi” on the Home Of Jazz Label, a DVD/CD collection of a beautifully captured performance in Holland.

Billy and Bobby's latest release, "All I Want For Christmas Is A Job" can be found at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw_8_uTrqS0

http://www.alessibros.com/

A personal note from Billy and Bobby:

When we were six or seven we found out that we liked to harmonize and sing songs in two-part harmony. We would perform for the Aunts, Uncles and cousins at family gatherings; we’d stand on the steps so we felt like we were on stage. Our first record was made with a budget of 35 cents, recorded in the recording booth at the Penny Arcade on 116th street in Rockaway, New York. Growing up we realized that while most of our friends and schoolmates we’re fascinated by sports, we were passionate about music. One of our favorite things to do was to ride our bikes to Sam Ash music store in Hempstead just to look at the guitars and keyboards that to us were the coolest toys. As time went on we picked up instruments and recruited neighborhood friends into bands. We were 14 years old when we signed our first record deal. We’ve toured the world, collaborated with amazing talent; All Our Life is our eleventh Alessi album. How fortunate were we to have found our passion early in life and to be able to spend our lives doing what we love, making music.

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097 – And Your Bird Can Sing – The Mild Thankful Hogs

admin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 05:01:23 +0000

97 And Your Bird Can Sing – The Mild Thankful Hogs

(To download on Mac,

Option-Click

on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded April 26 1966

Ukulele version recorded January 28th 2010

P.Wiggly – Vocals

E.B. Burnished Bratten-Smythe – Guitar

Hamm Strinng – Bass

Pig “Skins” McGraw Drums

with

Ira Seigel – Ukulele

David Barratt – Other stuff

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon and McCartney

Produced and arranged by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn and 45th floor Hogg Heaven Studios, Manhattan.

Essay – Sean Redmond

ABOUT THE SONG

I’m typing this with aching fingertips. The opening riffs of “And Your Bird Can Sing” just make you want to grab your guitar and play, even if you should really be writing. The melody is tossed out so exuberantly over a bare handful of chords that you can keep trying to catch the feeling of these notes without wearing out the fun of playing them.

Joe Walsh supposedly worked at getting it perfect for years before finding out that it’s played by George and Paul together. By the time you’ve put the Telecaster down because, no, really, you’ve got to write that thing… well, you can feel the cut of the strings into your fingers with every letter you type.

While the Beatles were pushing into the terra incognita of pop songs that lasted 3 minutes and more here is this quirky little tune that barely makes it past the two minute mark. It isn’t the two minutes of “Tell Me Why” or “All My Loving,” though. “And Your Bird Can Sing” bursts out with a guitar line that goes too fast and ends too soon; the choruses don’t quite line up with the bridge; the whole song is kind of lopsided and when it’s done—if it’s the first time you’ve ever heard it—I’m not sure if you know what just happened.

Of course what had happened was that The Beatles were refining a formula. Both “Bird” and “Nowhere Man” were written in the key of D and played in E. The bass line is pretty much the same in both. I can see Paul now figuring out his part on John’s “Nowhere Man” and thinking “Hey THIS is just too good to waste”. Try playing the lead from “Man” over “Bird” or vice-versa and you’ll find that the work perfectly.

It is often said that Lennon wrote the song in response to Mick Jagger boasting about his pop-star girlfriend or "bird” Marianne Faithful. I like this idea but really I think this song is all about the noise it makes.

I like to think that “And Your Bird Can Sing” is the track “You Won’t See Me” wanted to be when it grew up. “You Won’t See Me” is a classic beneath-the-balcony serenade you’d sing if you could drag a few friends, a drum kit, and a piano out into the lane. It’s all about how we lost the time that was so hard to find, how I can’t go on if you won’t see me, and even a little bit bitter—“I’ve had enough / now act your age”—but with John’s beautifully pop bouquet of ooooooh-la-la-la’s and Paul’s upbeat bass line you still want to shout up to the girl “Look at the poor guy Pick up the phone!”

In “And Your Bird Can Sing” the girl, maybe the same one, is up there again on her balcony with her pet parrot (or budgie, there are only so many species that fit the lyric “And your bird is green”), and she’s not listening still.

I know you’re thinking, “Isn’t this just like Catullus, with Lesbia and her sparrow?”

Sort of, but no. Lesbia’s “Sparrow, my girl’s delight” was a distraction to her and a rival to the poet. This green bird isn’t like Catullus’s, you wouldn’t enjoy being in its place in her lap. This green bird sums up the short-sightedness of someone who thinks she’s got what she wants, she’s heard every sound there is, she’s seen the seven wonders and her bird can sing. It’s not that she won’t see him.

She can’t.

She can’t see the forest for the birds.

The up-tempo joy of this song might seem out of place. Lesbia’s sparrow was playing in one poem and dead in the next and “And Your Bird Can Sing” also looks to the time “when your bird is broken.” The Beatles were taking their first steps with Buddhism, though, so the broken bird is the just the falling away of what’s been overvalued. This song isn’t trying to get this message through to her—that’s her journey. Without that burden of ego you can play guitar all night. If you can keep our eyes and ears open, you may still be standing when it all falls away and sight returns. “Will it get you down? / You may be awoken. I’ll be ‘round, I’ll be round.”

Some purists will say that since Paul admitted the guitar part was inspired by Vivaldi’s Mandolin Concerto, (you know the one, it’s always on the CD with The Four Seasons) it’s an abomination to adapt it for a different kind of tiny guitar.

They should be slapped that’s so ridiculous. The tiny guitar simply rocks on this track.

They’ve let themselves go and taken a lilting delight in this song that begs us not to let the birds get us down.

The Ukulele Version is performed by the matured and deep fried “The Mild Thankful Hogs”.

For many years they were a staple part of the musical diet of America, but fashions change, and for many years have been performing on the Chitlin’ Circuit despite their Rabbi’s pleadings.

Their revolutionary stage clothing inspired Lady Gaga’s dress at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. P.Wiggly, singer and leader of the band, was quoted as saying.

“I’m a bit fed up about the meat dress, I have to say.”

“When I was playing Berlin clubs late fifties I stole a butcher’s van with all the meat hanging up. I stuck it on some cloth and had a shirt made, which was basically a flesh shirt. I must admit though,’ he concedes graciously, 'her garment was a bloody sight better tailored than the one I made, but at least my one was washable.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST

The Mild Thankful Hogs have always played it very close to the vest (when they've played it at all), enabling them to end up roughly where they are today.

Or maybe over a smidge, but not too much — people are watching.

What counts is that the M.T.H. as an ensemble, have always been able to harmonize and play guitar until the cows come home — at which point the cows themselves often join in. It's that simple really. A barnyard of blues. And none too soon.

Born out of a swollen gland suffered long ago, the "Polite Grateful Porcines" exploded on the scene in 1964 with the seminal "Meet The Hogs" — and it took forever to fully clean up the scene afterwards. In fact to this day, the sonic stains remain and remind us of that mess so long ago.

Soon enough was "A Hog's Day, Right?" and the slew of M.T.H. gems that followed. Who can forget "With A Sow Like You" and the other "Pigmania" hits of the day? Soon, spray painted across London, right next to the "Clapton is God" phrase, we began to see "Some Pig! Terrific!" hastily scrawled in almost spiderweb-like precision. And then, we knew. We still couldn't find our car keys, sure, but let's face it – we all knew.

In 1967, the Hogs teamed up with the ebullient but vaguely paranoid Frank Slappa and Mothers of Pretension, to record the classic cult album "Pig Out!" They also scored a minor late 60's hit with their trucculent version of "(Sniffing For The) Savoy Truffle" before their career was thought to have ended, quite justifiably I'd say, with 1970's self-titled mope "Let It Slop."

The decades that followed – filled as they were with the advent of lesser lights such as turkey bacon and polymer footballs – were the nadir for the members of the M.T.H. However, the advent of the "other white meat" campaign a few years ago brought new life to the Porkers.

They picked up their guitars, and, after four painful years of practicing, put strings on them again.

The result is what you hear today. Enjoy, but please don't pour the grease down the drain when you're done.

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096 – Got To Get You Into My Life – Tabitha Fair

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 05:01:45 +0000

96 Got To Get You Into My Life – Tabitha Fair

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded: April 17 – June 17, 1966

Ukulele version recorded October 1, 2010

Tabitha Fair – Vocals

Ira Siegel – The Funkiest Ukuleles ever recorded

David Barratt – Backing track

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon McCartney

Produced and mixed by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn

Essay by Rev. Smoothest Dealings

ABOUT THE SONG

“Got To Get You Into My Life” is, besides having served as catnip for parodyists that latched onto it when Paul split from Heather (“Got To Get You Out Of My Life” or “Got To Get Rid Of My Wife” being two prime examples – “What do I owe, what should I pay. . .”) is one of the great ones. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney have separately agreed on this in separate interviews, and as we all know, they rarely agreed on anything at all, towards the end.

The song itself is deceptive on more levels than you would dare think.

First, “Got To Get You Into My Life” – a song among the most “white” sounding of the very “white” sounding 1966 McCartney pop tunes — was in fact Paul’s most direct attempt to go straight Motown. That’s right, Motown. The Motown song that GTGYIML came from is traceable: On the 1965 Beatles Christmas record, released just a few months before the Beatles recorded GTGYIML, John starts drunkenly singing a snippet of the Four Tops’ 1965 hit “It’s The Same Old Song” before George Harrison (of all people) hastily cuts him off for fear of copyright infringement!

But the Beatles – and Paul particularly – were not done playing with the Four Tops classic. Go listen to it and GTGYIML and you will be gobstruck by the undeniable identical rhythmic DNA that defines both tunes. It is like the bizarre one-white one-black twins you sometimes hear about being born in places that very few of us visit. No less an authority than John Lennon himself confirmed this genetic sharing between the two, when he muttered in a 1968 interview, after being asked about GTGYIML, “we were doing our Tamla Motown bit. . . ”

It gets even better. That’s only the start.

The year after John made this admission, the Four Tops closed the karmic wheel, releasing their version of GTGYIML on their 1969 Motown Album “Soul Spin.” And of course, less than a decade after that, we all got turned onto Earth Wind and Fire’s killing version of GTGYIML.

Cool, huh? Tricky, Paul. Ebony and Ivory, indeed.

Musically, the song is deceptive on another level – it sounds instantly familiar, but it is in fact one of a kind. Is there another Beatles song that sounds like it? Sure, we’ve heard the patented close-miked horns elsewhere ( “Good Morning Good Morning,” recorded a year later) and of course you can’t throw a stone through the McCartney canon without finding similar octave-jumping melody lines ( “Good Day Sunshine” also on Revolver) and even the idea of having met someone that you need to get to know, soon and better, is familiar Paul songwriting ground ( “I’ve Just Seen A Face,” recorded almost a year to the day before GTGYIML). But well, this one is different. It really is a unique one-of-a-kind song, like hearing an example of a well known genre that exists, but only in some other pop universe. That lead guitar break is, well, instantly accessible but never replicated in any pop song again, anywhere.

If the song’s musical deceptiveness isn’t enough (and it is), lyrically, it is even more deceptive.

That sneaky good boy Paul McCartney, caught up in the mid-1960’s bandwagon along with everyone else, was actually taking his turn at writing an unrecognizable drug song. It wasn’t the acid-drenched “A Day In The Life” or heroin-jerky “Cold Turkey” or even the good natured smorgasbord of Ringo’s “No No Song,” but GTGYIML is, a song about one of Paul’s reported great loves besides Linda — ganja. Paul later admitted that the song wasn’t about a girl at all – it was not “I’ve Just Seen A Face,” but “I’ve Just Lit A Blunt.” Paul himself said it in an interview that came out in 1990 (when he was already close to being a grandfather, if he wasn’t already): “‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ was one I wrote when I had been first introduced to pot. . . . So [it’s] really a song about that, it’s not to a person. It’s about pot – although everyone missed it at the time”.

Well of course they did, Paul. But now we know – the song is about pot, sung by a giggly, newly munched-out, 24 year old. Who was listening to a lot of Motown.

The song is also a sleeper. Did you remember that it was a Beatles single in 1976, ten years after it was recorded, backed with “Helter Skelter” (what???) to promote the Beatles Rock and Roll Album? And of course, it charted. In fact, it was the last Beatles single until 1995’s “Free As A Bird” – if that was a Beatles single at all.

GTGYIML began its existence on April 7, 1996 when work on the recording of the tune began (it was also Ravi Shankar’s 46^th birthday, if anyone was watching). Ironically, given what the song is really about, it’s a striking coincidence that work on the song began exactly 33 years to the day that beer was re-legalized in the United States, after the fall of Prohibition. There were many folks, of course, that were as thrilled to get beer back into their life in 1933 as Paul was thrilled to, er, well, you know, in 1966.

What can we do, what can we say . . . when we’re with this one, we want to stay there. . . In the end, this song is anything but the same old song. Like many of the Beatles’ finest work, it may be unrecognizable at first in its origin or meaning, but it is instantly recognizable in the end as pure and timeless pop genius.

Our version features the funkiest ukulele part ever recorded. Ira Siegel scratches and chops his way through the song.

Tabitha Fair’s super-funktastic rendition of “Got To Get You Into My Life” features the funkiest ukulele part ever recorded. Ira Siegel scratches and chops his way through three and a half minutes of funk frenzy. Tabitha summons the ghosts of a thousand old soul greats. Try and keep still if you can.

Should you be in New York City and want to take a tour of the Southern States check out where Tabitha Fair is playing. She will hold your hand and guide you from from gin joint to church. One moment you will be in Memphis, the next Nashville.

You may never want to go home again.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tabitha Anoatubby Fair

Tabitha Fair is the product of a family with a rich musical heritage."Chickasaw"native american by descent, she was raised in Oklahoma, the daughter of a preacher and songstress preachers wife. Tabitha grew up singing in her father's church and was heavily influenced by her Gospel roots.

By the age of 15, she made her own Gospel album, touring it around the country while taping her own TV show in Tulsa, Ok, soon after, her ambitions took her to Nashville, TN, where she quickly became one of Nashville’s top vocalists, touring and/or recording with the likes of Amy Grant, Wynonna Judd, Faith Hill, Lee Ann Womack, and Trisha Yearwood to name a few. She continued to explore her Gospel roots as both a writer and performer, co-founding Avalon, the highest-selling Contemporary Christian group of all time, and working with many legendary Christian artists, Cece Winans, Third Day, Clay Cross, Twyla Paris, and Mark Shultz, among others.

In 1998, Tabitha received the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s prestigious Abe Ohlman Award, which recognizes writers of great promise. Tabitha has written and recorded with Carol King, co-writing a song that was featured in the movie "Sum of All Fears" featuring Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman. Smitten by New York, she moved north to put more focus on her solo career.

She has been featured in concert duets with such musical greats as Sting (The Rainforest Benefit-Carnegie Hall), Travis Tritt, Michael McDonald, and with the legendary Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), with whom she toured the world. Tabitha performed at President Clinton's and President Obama's inauguration in Washington DC, performing with artists such as Mary J. Blige, Beyonce and James Taylor among others. She has also been a featured, lead or backyground artist on many award winning record albums, including Victor Wooten's "Ying and Yang", the movie "Nine", Amy Grant, Celine Dion, Vanessa Williams, Travis Tritt and and lately withHoe trohan and Andy Hurley's new solo project from Fall Out Boy. Tabitha also recently performed with Jennifer Hudson and Shakira for the televised Hope For Haiti Now Benefit Concert, and also recently performed at The 2010 Rainforest Benefit, Carnegie Hall, with Sting, Elton John, Lady GaGa and Debra Harry.

Tabitha's other live credits as of late consist of singing background vocal's with M.I.A, OK GO, The Roots for artists John Legend, Josh Stone and Sting. Tabitha has been singing on many different festivals and private shows and has been a regular on "The Fallon Show" singing backgrounds with "The Roots"

She is now focusing on finishing her own solo project that she is working on with Grammy nominated songwriter Phil Galdston. Tabitha is looking forward to the next chapter in her career as a solo artist.

t-fair@earthlink.net

646-797-9659

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxc_EKDMAWk

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095 – Flying – Tim Ouimette Big Band

admin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:01:47 +0000

95 – Flying – Tim Ouimette Big Band

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded: 8 September 1967

Ukulele version recorded April 2010

Tim Ouimette – Trumpet, Trombone,

Jon Cobert – Keyboards, guitar, ukulele

Kati Mac – Vocal group

Written by and credited to Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starr

Arranged by Tim Ouimette

Produced and mixed by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn from original recordings made by Tim Ouimette

ABOUT THE SONG

“Flying” is the only instrumental written, recorded and released by The Beatles. It was part of the original score for the film “Magical Mystery Tour”.

It is filler. Good filler, useful filler but filler none the less. I don't believe that the Fab Four for one moment took this track terribly seriously. To me it sounds like a loose twelve bar construction with a cute melody that has been tarted up.

The sounds are pretty interesting though. Ringo plays a proto-hip hop beat that would not have been out of place on an early De La Soul record. I’m a little surprised that “Flying” has not been sampled for a track or two.

And then there is tons and tons of mellotron. I’m always a sucker for the mellotron. This magnificent machine is an early version of a sampler using tapes of instruments triggered from a piano keyboard. It reminds me of the movie “Brazil” by Terry Gilliam in a retro-future way.

All four Beatles added the chanting, and the track fades in an assortment of tape effects created by Lennon and Starr.

The original version of Flying was much longer, 9 minutes or so. John and Ringo built up a rather lovely sound piece using The Mellotron, tape loops and sound effects. It sounds like a kinder, gentler uncle of the brutal “Revolution 9” that John recorded about a year later.

The longer “Flying” is more ambient, more Enoesque. It reminds me of "Moonchild" from “In The Court Of The Crimson King” by King Crimson.

You can find the long version of Flying at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yTY__PKLDQ

The short version “Flying”, despite serving a purpose in the film, is about as interesting as taking a very long cross continental flight. That is to say “not very”. Sometimes, it has to be said, the Fab 4 made some stuff that was just OK.

Because they were and arguably the biggest thing since shoelaces it is often argued that everything The Beatles did was genius.

They sneezed genius sneezes.

They farted genius farts.

People have claimed that they have secretly smuggled tapes of them beating their heads with empty cigarette packets and it is pure genius.

If a normal mortal were to beat their head with a cigarette packet it simply would not sound as good. People have claimed that they have secretly smuggled tapes of them beating there heads with empty cigarette packets and it is pure genius.

If a normal mortal were to beat their head with a cigarette packet it simply would not sound as good.

I believe it is more interesting to discuss what works and what doesn`t, rather than making excuses for duds, and why songs like "Flying" are really interesting masterpieces. Each of The Beatles have admitted that some of the tunes were simply not that good.

"Flying" was originally titled "Aerial Tour Instrumental" which is exactly what is was in the soundtrack of the film “Magical Mystery Tour”.

The music is accompanied in the film by colour-altered images of landscape in Iceland taken from an airplane. I believe that The Beatles used Stanley Kubrick's unused footage from 1964 film Dr. Strangelove for this video. It all looks rather dated now but I am sure it had a certain “Je ne sais quoi” but I have no idea what that might be.

The ukulele version of “Flying” is performed by Tim Ouimette and his band. Tim is unashamedly a working Jazz musician. It is often thought that The Beatles were the enemy of jazz.

Until the pop revolution ushered in by the Beatles, jazz really was the respectable alternative to classical music. Most students and hipsters had records by Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck in their collection. Then along came the Beatles and everyone suddenly saw that pop could be quite good and jazz went into the doldrums. They didn't buy it any more, and thousands of jazz musicians starved to death in the wonderful Sixties.

John Lennon helped this ethic-cleansing along when said that:

"Jazz is just a lot of old blokes drinking beer at the bar, smoking pipes and not listening to the music."

This was dreadfully unfair. Not only was it dreadfully unfair, it was dreadfully true.

But John Lennon was also an aficionado of jazz. One of his favorite performance pieces in Hamburg, recorded by the band in June, 1961 under Bert Kampfaert's direction, was the 1920s jazz hit "Ain't She Sweet".

There is even a version sung by the three surviving Beatles in the '90s, at the time of the release of their Anthology series.

Lennon's first group, the famous Quarrymen was a skiffle group. Skiffle was homemade music fashioned with guitars, broomstick basses and washboards, and is really just another name for 1920s jug band jazz.

Paul’s love of 1920’s jazz is well documented and his recordings of “Honey Pie”, “Martha My Dear” and “Your Mother Should Know” reflect that love.

Jazz always was nonconformist music. I think it still is.

There is nothing more boringly mainstream than rock music, these days.

Perhaps there never was.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tim Ouimette's experience as composer and musician for Ray Charles, Count Basie, Ray Baretto, Machito, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Shaw, James Moody, The Jaco Tribute Band and recording dates from the soundtrack to "Ray" to Grammy winners with Keith Richard and even Celia Cruz inform his eclectic arranging, composing and playing skills. A lifelong New York musician, Tim has been building an online music licensing company – Sound Q's – with wife singer-songwriter Kati Mac. As a composer and trumpet player for TV, his music can be heard on everything from Dateline NBC and Monday Night Football to As the World Turns, The Guiding Light and Kathy Griffin among many others. Recently he has recorded with Delbert McClinton, and has contributed to Lenny White's CD Anomaly, and Mike Clark's Blueprints of Jazz. Tim has produced two CDs for Ben E King and headlined with him at the Blue Note in New York. He has been leading the Big Band since 1997 including a 4 year stint at Yee Olde Tripple Inn in midtown, a hangout for hipsters and denizens of the near dawn.

Jon Cobert is a New York-based composer/arranger/pianist/session keyboardist/vocalist. He got his Music Theory and Composition degree from N.Y.U., and began his career with a bang, recording and playing live with John Lennon (you can see him in the movie "Imagine"). Other recording and touring credits include John Denver, Klaus Nomi, Laura Branigan, Phyllis Hyman, Al Green, Henry Gross, Linder Eder, Leslie Uggams, Harry Chapin, and Dion, among others. He has played with Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Richie Havens, Taj Mahal, John Mellencamp, and many more. He recently appeared at Madison Square Garden in the tribute to Pete Seeger's 90th birthday concert. Since 1988, Jon has been working with Tom Chapin, recording, touring, writing and arranging, and producing. He has earned 5 Grammy nominations for his work as producer on Tom's recordings. Jon is an arranger, producer, pianist, and engineer on the recently-released CD "Just You, Just Me", by Regis and Joy Philbin. He owns and operates a Protools HD recording studio.

In addition to being a sought-after studio keyboard-player, Jon has written many songs, and he has released a solo album titled "Here's Your Canoe", available from CDBaby.com. Jon has also been writing and arranging music for TV and radio, and some of his work includes: ESPN Baseball Tonight Theme, ESPN College Football Gameday Theme, Dr. Pepper, Pepperidge Farm, Rolling Rock, Budweiser, Arm and Hammer, Juicy Juice, Canon, Burger King, Wendy's, Capital One, DanActive, and many others.

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094 – Things We Said Today – Joy Askew

admin — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 04:01:46 +0000

94 Things We Said Today – Joy Askew

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded: 29 September, 30 September, and 26 October 1964

Ukulele version recorded August 2010

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Joy Askew – Vocals

Ira Siegel – Ukulele

David Barratt – Organ, rhythm section

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn from an original recording by Joy Askew

Recorded on 2nd June, 1964 in 3 takes at Abbey Road, this Paul McCartney song was written while on holiday in the Bahamas with his then girlfriend Jane Asher. “The sombre lyric – provoked by the frustrating interruptions of a relationship between two career people – matches the lowering gloom of the music”, (Ian MacDonald – Revolution in the Head) music which contains a number of prescient features.

I was listening to the mono version of the album, “A Hard Day’s Night” recently and was struck by the high number of John songs and relative lack of Paul compositions. At this time they would be working together on certain songs, but Paul’s only complete contributions around this time are “Can’t Buy Me Love” which is simply a 12-bar blues, albeit with a great melody, and “And I Love Her” which is beautiful in its way but a little mannered in its adoption of “classic” melodic shapes and “ I will love you forever darling” lyrics. With “A Hard Day’s Night” you feel this is John’s band – robust, masculine, beer-swilling, pill-popping ready to take on anybody. John was pulling out all the stops with a range of songs – “I Should Have Known Better”, “You Can’t Do That”, “I’ll Cry Instead” and the hauntingly beautiful songs “I’ll Be Back” and “If I Fell”. Then the single, ” A Hard Day’s Night” – a great song with its own set of pointers to the future and unquenchable positive energy. But for me there is an element of tin-pan alley in some of the writing – “When I Get Home” and “Tell Me Why” sound particularly contrived and John’s misogyny underwrites a lot of the ideas in the lyrics, even in the great songs.

Amongst all of this bluster, tucked away on side 2 is “Things We Said Today”. It is one of the first Beatles songs to dispense with any need for a chord “trick” of some kind to sustain momentum. Here we have an A minor chord, a proto-Pete Townshend che-ka-ching into the down-beat and a straight road rhythm above which weaves a minimal melody, repeating the same small cell of notes and rhythm to the unfolding lyrics. The words – in cold, analytical language – reflect upon the promises of faithfulness and the certainty of some kind of psychic connection during the long separations. These ideas are expressed in a very strict rhythm and narrow repeating melody so that they seem somehow distant, yet nagging – and that straight road of A minor is almost the cosmic drone, the infinite ground of Indian music and yet also the back of a Bedford Van on the endless journeys to and from London… well ok, cosmic drone is pushing it a bit – we’re rocking back and forth on Am and Em7 so it is definitely more Bedford Van. But it does convey a sense of endless traveling, a long, straight (not winding) road.

After 8 bars the harmony brightens to C major then, like a sigh, shades into C7, pulling the music back down to F then, through its own fatal logic, to B-flat. In three short moves the song is suddenly untethered from what seemed like the certainty of A minor – relentless, painful, but at least you knew where you were. Now we’re in B-flat for God’s sake – what the hell happened?? But the harmony sinks back a semitone onto A and all is back to how it was a moment ago.

This move to Bb, a semitone above A, physically close yet harmonically very distant – the flat supertonic as it is known in the trade – was revolutionary at the time – although we perhaps didn’t realize it. And you’d be hard pressed to find modern examples, although Radiohead in “Everything In It’s Right Place” and “Nude” explore that territory with consummate mastery.

A bar is knocked out of the final 4-bar phrase to emphasize the end of this section, a characteristic McCartney device to enhance this mini-verse:bridge:chorus construction that then repeats to different lyrics, but the same strict melodies.

The form of the song now requires contrast and we adjust to A major. The mood brightens, becomes a little bluesy, boozy, bragging – “Me I’m just the lucky kind” – the harmony develops a trick and strides out to B major. But the second time it tries that, some kind of gravitational pull drags it down to Bb and thence to A minor and back to the mood of doubt and pain and the long, straight road of touring, recording and separation. The dissolving of the resilient mood of this Middle 8 section, both musically through the flat supertonic and lyrically by being still mid-sentence at this crucial structural point, creates a magical moment in the song where two opposing states of mind seem to co-exist. This is songwriting craft of the highest order, the art that conceals art.

The songs allows its classic AAbAbA form to play out so we get to re-experience that amazing transition before fading out on the A minor che-ke-ching, the long, straight (not winding) road stretching off into infinity.

“Things We Said Today” is a turning point in the Beatles development, a musical and lyrical gem of authentic self expression. There is no attempt to be life-and-soul-of-the- party, no tin-pan-alley harmonic structure to underpin it, no pills, no booze. It points the way to the “realism” of “Paperback Writer”, sets the tone in its seriousness for a “Yesterday”, in its open-endedness for a “Tomorrow Never Knows”… there is no precedent for it, it just arrives.

I was watching the rockumentary about The Beatles first American Tour. There is no narrator telling you what to think, just the lads being The Fabs. Ringo laps up the attention, dresses up as a conductor on the train, even George gets involved in that. John gurns at the camera occasionally and wittily diffuses any question fired at him by members of the press. Paul looks distinctly uncomfortable most of time seemingly not quite knowing how to behave in front of the ruthlessly revealing eye of the movie camera. I think he’s trying to look arty and interesting but he’s with a traveling circus and you can only be a fool, otherwise you look like a fool. It’s his realization in amongst all that madness that they have to find an authentic mode of expression, that they have to season the clowning with irony, otherwise it will all be over, that generates “Things We Said Today”.

Jack Hues, Canterbury: October 2010.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Hailing from England, Joy Askew has played and sung with such luminary artists as Joe Jackson, Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson and Jack Bruce. She has appeared wtth David Bowie and David Byrne while promoting 2 of her own 7 CD releases as well as appearing in Laurie Andersons quintessential movie “Home Of The Brave” and for President Barack Obama. Joy is currently recording a new CD to be released next year and will be performing a concert for Art For Animals on Nov 19^th with Laurie Anderson.

Joy is a keen animal activist.

http://www.joyaskew.com/

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093 – What You’re Doing – Carolee Goodgold

admin — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:02:59 +0000

93 What Youre Doing – Carolee Goodgold

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded: 29 September, 30 September, and 26 October 1964

Ukulele version recorded June 2010

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Carolee Goodgold – Vocal

Stephen Schneider - hyper-vibrato guitar

Kenny Hassler Percussion

Jack Hues – Ukulele

David Barratt – Bass, organ, guitar

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn from original recordings made by Stephen Schneider

ABOUT THE SONG

Some days you go into work simply to get through the day. Your time is spent playing with the computer, making excuses, drinking bad coffee, chatting, lunching, spacing out, drinking more bad coffee and generally not working.

I’ve done it, you’ve done it , we’ve all done it, so why shouldn’t The Beatles?

“What You’re Doing” feels a little like a band hanging around the water cooler gossiping about last night’s episode of “Glee” telling a few uninspired jokes about The Tea Party and then knocking out a few invoices before it’s time to go home.

The Beatles were going through the motions, and not surprisingly so. They were knackered.

At the time of recording “Beatles For Sale” there was intense pressure to get a album out before Christmas 1964. Beatlemania was thought to be on the wane, and everyone outside the band wanted a quick final payday.

Only six days separated the last full band session for “Hard Day’s Night” and “Beatles For Sale” which was their fourth album in 21 months. This means they were working at almost the same speed as we do at “The Beatles Complete On Ukulele”, which, of course, no one should be asked to do.

Even high-skill hit-machines like John and Paul could not write songs at that pace so they ended up recording six cover songs for the album. The writing process was dull and workmanlike with Paul being driven from his apartment on Wimpole Street to John in the suburbs every day to get the work done.

Paul: “We would normally be rung a couple of weeks before the recording session and they'd say, 'We're recording in a month's time and you've got a week off before the recordings to write some stuff.' …so I'd go out to John's every day for the week. We always wrote a song a day, whatever happened we always wrote a song a day…. So John and I would sit down, and by then it might be one or two o'clock, and by four or five o'clock we'd be done.”

It is my guess that “What You’re Doing” was completed around 2.07pm.

I can’t think of another Beatles song that starts with that laziest of intro’s, a four bar drum pattern. This kind of behavior one expects from Gary Glitter, Phil Collins or Twisted Sister but not The Fabs. I think there is only one man that can pull this off and he is sadly no longer with us. John Bonham’s intro’s to “When The Levee Breaks”, “D’yer Mak’er” and of course “Rock’nRoll” are the exceptions to this rule.

My favorite part of the recording is George’s shimmering 12 string guitar that I suspect may have inspired The Byrds version of “Mr Tamborine Man” which was recorded few months later.

“What You’re Doing” was of the earliest songs about Paul’s tempestuous relationship with Jane Asher.

It’s not one of his best lyrics.

Please stop your lying, you've got me crying, girl,

Why should it be so much to ask of you,

What you're doing to me?

It’s all a bit Moon/June.

C+ at best.

Of Lennon and McCartney, Paul is thought to be the one who has the brighter disposition, but that is not always the case when he writes about Jane. “I’m Looking Through You”, “You Won’t See Me” and “For No One” are songs that show Paul’s darker side. In those songs Paul expresses a genuine sense of mystery about his muse. The bafflement is much deeper than the simple “WTF” of “Doing”

Jane and Paul were often struggling for power within the relationship, which must have been particularly familiar for Paul as he was going through exactly the same battle with John.

The ukulele version of “What You’re Doing” by actress and singer Carolee Goodgold is from the unrecorded soundtrack of an unreleased gangster movie by David Lynch called “Happy Town”.

In the scene where our version is featured Little Danny (played by Harry Dean Stanton) is seen alternating between flash back and present, similtainiously beheading a neighbors dachshund puppy when he was 11 years of age, and a gangland rival many years later.

Though out the movie Little Danny is seen to play out his childhood fantasies as a gangland boss in modern day Los Angeles. However as the movie progresses the timeline becomes blurred and we see Little Danny confusing his childhood more and more with his adult life. The movie climaxes with a fully grown Stanton feeding at the breast of his young mother played by Naomi Watts.

Lynch shot the film without a complete screenplay. Instead, he handed each actor several pages of freshly written dialogue each day. The few critics who have seen the film are severely divided some saying that it is Lynch’s best work, redefining what cinema can be and others who preferred “Avatar”.

The movie was due to be released by Unversal in Spring 2009 but after a series of angry and sometimes violent meetings between the director and producer Ronnie Fayre the film, soundtrack and this performance was shelved indefinitely.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Carolee considers herself very lucky because there are actually a few Beatles songs she doesn't know. Something to live for!!

She started singing and dancing at 2 1/2, a little peanut with a huge voice performing "I'm a Little Hula Hula Baby" at Brooklyn College.

Her first album was "The Lord's Prayer" as performed by the Brothers and Sisters for Peter Pan Records. She was the Singing Nun.

She starred in many theatrical productions until she fell in with a bad crowd…musicians. Followed by another nefarious group…voiceover talent!

You are subliminally controlled by her voice to buy many products. She sings, she acts, she sews, she talks…it's a beautiful thing!

www.CaroleeGoodgold.com

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092 – I’ll Be Back Nicki Richards

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 04:01:02 +0000

92 I'll Be Back – Nicki Richards

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded June 1 1964

Ukulele version recorded August 2010

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Nicki Richards: vocals, synthesizer and drum programming

Hasan Bakr: kalimba

Ayodele Maakheru: tenor ukulele

Produced and arranged by Nicki Richards for Hydrus Music

Mixed by Nicki Richards for Hydrus Music and Pablo Arraya for Audio Piranha Group, New York, NY

ABOUT THE SONG

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, trees, clouds, light and shadows.

But select only things 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.”

I didn’t write that of course, Jim Jarmusch did. I just stole it from him. It’s mine now Jim.

Ha!

So what does Jim Jarmusch’s rant have to do with the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger quote “I’ll Be Back” that The Beatles ripped off 20 years before he said it?

Well quite a bit actually. Originality is nothing authenticity is everything right?

John in his early years was a big fan of Del Shannon. If you are under the age of 45, you probably won’t know who Del Shannon is so I will tell you.

Born in 1943 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Charles Weedon Westover was an accomplished ukulele player who was a skilled in the deep arts of country music. Around 1954 he was drafted into the US Army, was sent to West Germany and started a band called “The Cool Flames”. “The Cool Flames” burnt out quickly, (sorry I couldn’t resist that one) but his desire to create music smoldered within. (err… that’s enough of that)

After leaving The US Army he formed a couple of more bands and finally met Max Crook. Max was a pretty interesting guy. He was a pioneer of electronic music who built his own version of what was to later become the synthesizer. He named this instrument The Musitron. Max and Charles ended up getting signed to a label in Detroit but they knew that names like Charles Weedon Westover and Max Crook were not those of which dreams are made. After an evening of discussion mixed with more than a little Jack Daniels they re-named Charles Weedon, “Del Shannon”.

Using that name they recorded “Little Runaway” which is a pretty cool little tune. The solo has what sounds like a simple one oscillator synth in it which was in fact Max’s Musitron.

The hook of the song is “Run run run runaway…” Hear it more than once and you will be addicted.

John was 20 when “Runaway” was a big hit in England and it cut deep. He loved it. The radio blasted it from every corner-shop and cafe. It was an ear-worm that burrowed deep into his consciousness. There is only one thing to do when a truly great writer hears something that great.

RIP IT OFF!!!

Songwriters are whores. They do this sort of thing all the time. Especially the ones that deny it the loudest.

John’s love for the song was so deep he totally copied the chords to “Runaway” and wrote “I’ll Be Back”.

Unusually for a pop song it oscillates between major and minor keys, appears to have two different bridges and completely lacks a chorus. Not surprisingly “I’ll Be Back” was never a single for The Beatles.

The acoustic guitars are the rhythm section with poor old Ringo barely heard. Neither is Paul’s bass for that matter. The song was recorded by Norman Smith i.e. this was a pre-Geoff Emerick session so the bass is less of an instrument and more of a rumor.

The lyric, despite being childish is powerful in a schoolyard romance kind of way.

“If you break my heart I'll go but I'll be back again

Because I told you once before goodbye but I came back again”

Ah yes, the complexities and insecurities of love. Leaving so the other person will want you back.

But they never will want you back. So you’ll have to leave again and again.

This is not a rational or productive way to conduct a relationship.

But what book says that relationships have to be rational or productive?

I suspect that this is yet another song about his mother Julia.

I can’t have you so you can’t have me. If I pull away you will want me more then I will come back and you and have more power.

He obviously loves her more than she loves him – that's why he keeps "coming back". Its like an invisible rope that ties him to her and there is no escape.

Run run run runaway…

When a very good friend of mine first heard The Ukulele Version of “I’ll Be Back” he said.

“I didn’t know that Lennon could write like Stevie Wonder.”

He couldn’t of course. Nicki Richards is both a master and mistress of harmony and rhythm and is also expert at hearing what can not be heard by the untrained ear. She has taken the song to Africa and back with Hasan Bakr stroking and Ayodele Maakheru plucking the kalimba and tenor ukulele respectively.

It all sounds like an opium dream. The pain and pleasure of the push and pull of love all merge into one bittersweet howl of agony and delight. Not here not there just floating. Not one place or the other. The song drifts from Africa to Europe to Arabia to America, never settling for long, never home for long, always searching.

Run run run runaway…

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Originally a Navy Brat, Nicki Richards was always the new straight-A "Cosby Kid" coming into every new school. "It was tough", she says. "Every two years or so I'd walk into a new environment having been exposed to so many different kinds of music, thanks to my parents and to the world. The tough part was trying to fit in with kids who, while very kind and cool, only wanted me to listen to their Who records…. Needless to say most of the time I was not understood, nor was my love for, say, the Isley Brothers or John Coltrane. I quietly developed great respect for the origins of things."

She knew the clear-red-acetate Japanese import of "A Hard Day's Night" she permanently borrowed (and scratched from playing constantly) from her father would come in handy as a link between her many worlds one day; she just didn't know how…. She transitioned from music college to an education in the New York City music scene, where she was embraced and mentored by an amazing cast of world class musicians who inspired her to hone her skills as a performer and artist.

These days, when she's not touring as a vocalist for the likes of Madonna and Whitney Houston, Nicki is exploring her passion for bass guitar, falling in love with the sound of the kalimba and producing albums on her own. Nicki is proud of her nerdy beginnings and is quick to encourage others to learn more about different styles of music, to be curious about what has influenced the music they listen to, where it comes from and, most of all, to respect excellence in all genres of music.

"For this project, I thought I'd bring a little Africa to the Beatles, just because…. And so what if I'm a Huxtable."

Nicki Richards has recorded and performed over the years with Madonna, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder, Linda Ronstadt, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Lenny Kravitz, Anastacia, Bette Midler, Maxi Priest, the Rev. Al Green, and that's just scratching the surface….

She's had two of her own albums out ("Naked to the World" and "Nicki") which she wrote and produced. She was a Grand Prize Winner on Star Search. She performs on the children's television show "Between The Lions" on PBS.

She currently lives in New York and continues to relentlessly sing, write, produce, arrange, play and perform music.

http://www.nickirichards.com

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091 – Help! – The Drastic Mono Band

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 04:25:13 +0000

91 Help! – The Drastic Mono Band

Original version recorded – July 19 1965

Ukulele version recorded – June 27 1971

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

The Drastic Mono Band are:

Robére Lump – Piano

Proboscis - Eternal nasal screaming

The Ghost of St. Thomas Aquinas – Drums

Raoul The Goat – Bass

with special guests

R. Brandow – Vocal

I.Siegel – Ukulele

Winston O’Bastard – Orchestral dismemberment

Recorded at The Berkshire Mansion 1971 – Reconstructed at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Oct 2010 by David Barratt

ABOUT THE SONG

Help!

Don’t ya just love that exclamation mark?

So cute! So cuddly! So Fab!

The jangling guitars, the descending bass riff, those harmonies, the picking guitar line at the end of the chorus.

So up! So happy!

Not really.

Exhausted by too much touring and recording, realizing that he was in a marriage he wanted out of, John was over-eating and gaining weight at an alarming rate for a member of what was considered by many as, “a boy band”.

John wanted HELP! and didn’t know how to get it.

What he needed was a holiday. What he got was to make a movie about how crazy it was to be in The Beatles. “Help!” – the movie – was a rush job made between touring and recording. This was Director Richard Lester’s baby. United Artists were very happy with how the micro-budget “Hard Days Night” had done at the box office and handed Lester a much bigger budget which he spent on flying the lads off to exotic locations in Austria, The Bahamas and err… Twickernam where they blew up a tank.

This was the last hurrah of the Mop-tops before they became “serious artists”. The jolly japes were soon to end and none knew it more clearly than John.

During the filming of “Help!” John considered himself an extra in his own movie. He had had enough of BeatlesMk1 and sleepwalked he way though the process. He often forgot his lines because he was so out of it. The saving grace of the whole thing was that he got to hang with Victor Spinetti, Eleanor Bron and comedian Roy Kinnear and laugh a lot.

He may not have known how to get what he needed but he did know how to get what he wanted, and what he wanted was lots of Amphetamine (to help him work and keep his weight down) and marijuana (to help him escape the work and relax). This inevitably was bound to bring about bouts of depression and anger.

“Help!” is the sound of two drugs crashing against one another. You can hear the frantic pulse of amphetamine in the rhythm of the song. The jittery acoustic guitars. The twang. The high pitched enthusiasm of well… everything really.

The weed brings out the self pity:

“When I was younger, so much younger than today

I never needed anybody’s help in any way”

John was 25 years old and felt as world weary as only a stoned young man can.

“But every now and then I feel so insecure”

The only time that "independence" "self-assured" and "insecure" are used in a Beatles songs is in “Help!”. This type of psycho-babble is in common useage when someone is stoned.

The George and Paul’s vocal part is one of my favorites in the the whole canon. The backing vocals precede the lead vocal in the verses. Not so much a call and response, more like a thought being formed before being expressed.

Help! was not the first miserable song that John Lennon had written. That honor belongs to “Misery” on The Beatles debut album. What makes “Help!” so interesting is that at the very moment that it was being written John Lennon was on top of the world.

The thing that he had wanted since he started the group as a teenager was happening big time. The total love and acceptance of millions upon millions of people world-wide. More girls than he could have ever have wanted him and even more young (and not so young) men wanted to BE him. The Beatles were on the edge of surpassing their greatest hero, Elvis.

But Lennon was able to see this acceptance that he wanted for so long for what is was – an illusion. He wanted to go deeper. He wanted more. He had Bob Dylan’s number in more ways than one and was ready to use it. He was getting ready to build Beatles MK2.

And for that he really would a little help from his friends.

In a 1971 interview John said he would like to re-record the entire Beatles catalog. At that moment The Drastic Mono Band were formed and decided to put his words into action.

They bought a mansion not unlike the one that John had in Ascot. They built an exact replica of John’s white piano with the same detuned F# note in the third octave. Each of them had to wait three months before recording to have the exact length of hair that John had during the Imagine sessions. In an attempt to re-create the chemical balance achieved by Lennon when he wrote “Help!” they calculated the exact quantities of marijuana and amphetamine that John was taking in 1965 and doubled it.

These guys are professionals. Don’t mess with them.

We were fortunate to come by some of their original multi-track recordings to which we have added vocal and of course ukulele.

Imagine, if you will, John at the piano reworking "Help!" before he imagined imagining "Imagine" and this is what you might hear.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

In the beginning was the word. And the word was "angst."

The Drastic Mono Band was the result of a head-cold suffered by the former child star, Robére Lump, while doling out Goobers and Raisinettes to rickety, trembling sacred cows in old Calcutta. There, Robére met a four-foot tall statue of the ancient greek goddess Proboscis, and it was love at first sight.

Well for at least one of them, anyway.

Robére and Proboscis were soon wed in the Bering Straits. The seeds of the Drastic Mono Band were already in place – but still easily removed with a Swiffer.

Joined thereafter by several clumsy others, including The Ghost Of St. Thomas Aquinas and a boisterous goat named Raoul, Robére and Proboscis rounded out the Drastic Mono Band – both in an effort to flee their pasts, and to wake up and get out of bed. They succeeded brilliantly. Raoul grinned and everyone felt slightly uneasy.

Robére soon found that his work with the Drastic Mono Band had exorcised the demons he had taken on as rhythm guitarist and resident iconoclast for the iconic Stubbles – and none too soon really.

Accompanied by Proboscis’s accomplished scale work, they soon found gigs as far as the basement of some local leather makers. And so a new force was born.

Originally, Raoul was keen to have the Drastic Mono Band do the cover song you hear today, thinking it was about a young daschund, and had been named "Whelp!" When the "W" was hastily erased by The Ghost Of St. Thomas Aquinas (while looking the other way), this cover version of the Beatles classic took shape.

Soon enough, the shape will be given back.

Soon enough my dear.

But first this.

Robére Lump turned 70 this week

But he didn’t really.

He’s dead.

There is no Lump.

All there is, is what he made.

That is immortality.

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090 – You Won’t See Me – Victoria Villalobos

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:59:21 +0000

90 You Wont See Me – Victoria Villalobos

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded – November 11, 1965

Ukulele version recorded – July 27 2010

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Victoria Villalobos: Vocals

Paul McCartney: Answering machine

David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at the Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn

ABOUT THE SONG

Pity the poor stalker.

November 11 1965 was a good days business for the lads. “You Won’t See Me” was recorded that day as was “Girl” and “I’m Looking Through You”.

They were determined to break new ground nearly every session. The recording is three minutes twenty-two seconds long which makes it the longest song they had recorded up to that point. Unusually McCartney sings lower harmony while Lennon and Harrison take the higher parts. I may be mistaken but I believe this is the first time they had done this as well.

Each verse starts on the 4th beat of the preceding bar but the title hits the 1st beat hard making it sound like a grim pronouncement, which is exactly what it is.

Because “You Won’t See Me” is a song about stalking.

From the time he was 20 years of age Paul McCartney has been in the public eye in a way that very few of us could imagine. When John said that The Beatles were bigger than Jesus he was not bragging, he was reporting.

That kind of fame comes at a cost. It had become virtually impossible for Paul or the others to venture onto the streets of any major city. His garbage was regularly sifted though by fans and journalists for a clue about his private life. Ha, there was no private life, just studio followed by touring followed by promotion followed by studio followed by touring and on, and on, and on.

Not only that but the PR training that any public figure takes for granted today was simply not available to him. Remarkably he handled the whole PR circus around The Beatles with an enormous amount to grace and style, very rarely putting a foot wrong thing in public.

By the time he wrote “You Won’t See Me” at the age of 23, he was familiar with having his every move monitored, judged and assessed.

You could stay Paul McCartney was the most stalked man of his generation.

McCartney was and still is also a profoundly empathic human being. It is one of the reasons he has been so successful at almost everything he has done. So empathic in fact that he managed to write this song from the perspective of the stalker.

Lennon on the other-hand could be said to be empathalogical or psycho-empathic, that is he knew exactly how to piss people off and was compelled to do it almost every chance he got.

McCartney treats the stalker tenderly, as we all should. He knows these are very sad, powerless people who believe their own salvation can only come via attaching themselves in any way to the powerful amongst us.

When we look at the song line by line it becomes very clear that this piece is as sad as Eleanor Rigby, if not sadder.

Please listen to our recording and follow this annotated lyric sheet.

“When I call you up your line's engaged”

Of course the line is engaged. The door will be forever locked and you will be on the outside.

“I have had enough so act your age”

And just a little bit of petulant rage is concealed here. You can almost smell the teenage poutyness.

“We have lost the time that was so hard to find”

The person being stalked has no time course. He has a very full and productive life but the stalker has lots of time to ponder, plot and worry about his/her muse. Time moves very slowly when you have nothing to do but think about what you want.

“And I will lose my mind if you won't see me”

And there it is – the madness begins.

“I don't know why you should want to hide, but I can't get through my hands are tied”

Of course the stalker does not understand why the stalkee does not want to be seen. The stalker has no empathy whatsoever. If he had any idea how futile it is to follow someone so obsessively he would stop. It is because he believes that there is hope of catching his prey that he continues. Has any famous person ever taken up with a stalker, of course not. But somehow the stalker believes there is hope.

“I won't want to stay, I don't have much to say but I can't turn away and you won't see me”

He does not have much to say simply because he is not interesting. All he would be able to talk about is his perception of the stalkee. More compulsion. He really can not stop himself.

“Time after time you refuse to even listen, I wouldn't mind if I knew what I was missing”

A hectoring tone re-appears. Of course the stalker will never know what he is missing because the object of his desire will never give him the time of day.

“Though the days are few they're filled with tears and since I lost you it feels like years.”

Time is beginning to have no meaning, every second stretches out. There is no escape from this obsession.

Yes, it seems so long since you've been gone and I just can't go on if you won't see me.

The collapse is now in full effect and we hear the implied threat of self-murder. It is like one of those often written but rarely read suicide-notes that say “You’ll miss me when I’m gone”. (Public Health Warning – if you write something like that in your suicide note you won’t be missed)

But the real threat is in the title.

You Won’t See Me when I call you at 3 am.

You Won’t See Me while you get undressed and I have my telescope trained on your window.

You Won’t See Me as I wait outside the Dakota Building.

Our version, sung by Victoria Villalobos, takes this theme even further. She is singing to Paul directly and has even found out his unlisted phone number. Just before the last verse she calls him only to find that she has reached his voicemail.

She sings to him, sweetly and tenderly.

She knows that he will call back.

He will, won’t he?

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Victoria Villalobos – yes that’s her real name – was born in San Salvador and travelled with her family throughout Central and South America during out her youth.

She started sing at age 7 and has never stopped She attended Junior High in Peru and graduated High in Bogota, Colombia.

After moving to the United States she sang in bands around Washington DC and signed to MCA Universal with the band Big Bang Theory.

Victoria moved to New York in 1996 with hopes of being a super star of stage and screen but wound up being a super star in the business of music for advertising.

She enjoys her career in production, collaborating with a myriad of even more famous superstars.

You can see a selection of her work at www.vmusicsource.com.

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089 – Strawberry Fields Forever – Patsy Monteleone

admin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:43:08 +0000

Strawberry Fields Forever – Patsy Monteleone

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded November/December 1966

Ukulele version recorded Sept 14 2010

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Patsy Monteleone – Vocal and Ukulele

Produced by one microphone, one ukulele, one man.

ABOUT THE SONG

By Bill Clift

Strawberry Fields Forever is my absolute, number one favourite record of all time, bar none, and will most likely remain so until the day I finally bid farewell to my long established habit of breathing. Prior to that happening, Strawberry Fields is the last thing I desire to hear before my auditory faculties fade to nothing, or failing that, I hereby request a posthumous broadcasting of it at my funeral so that friends and family have at least one good reason to turn up. It was the piece of music I played to my son Gus when we brought his newborn self home from hospital for the first time. It has encouraged me through times of doubt and adversity, love-tangles and shambles, disappointments and celebrations. It somehow manages to cheer or level me, depending on what’s required, and I still can’t really tell you exactly why.

The technical shenanigans surrounding the recording of Strawberry Fields is well documented. Its various takes went through all manner of massage and manipulation. They were diced and spliced, vari-sped, overdubbed, reversed and key changed. The instruments chosen for its peculiar texture, cellos, drums, guitar, trumpets, svarmandal etc, leave a hotchpotch of sounds from pop/rock, classical and world music. The recording has a suspiciously thrown together, more luck than judgement feel which is probably one reason I find it so appealing. Compare it to the flip-side, Penny Lane, with its carefully studied and slickly arranged pop perfection that never appears in danger of losing its chipper, self assured way and you’ll find something much more hesitant and uncertain in its journey (trip?)

I was an acne daubed, too tall and bulky for my age twelve year old Beatle nut when I first heard this heady concoction creep, like strange smelling smoke from the transistor radio in our kitchen. I had never heard the like. I suppose I’d been prepared for its mad palette of sounds, noise and freakiness by the final track of Revolver, Tomorrow Never Knows, but even that, because of its relentless drive and energy maybe, never quite anticipates the sheer complexity and disorienting vibe of Strawberry Fields Forever. It perfectly encapsulated my budding adolescent state, confused, belonging, not belonging, tentative and naively bold, and I think that goes someway towards explaining my immediate then growing fascination.

I’m not claiming it’s merely a song about adolescence. If that was the case I would have outgrown it years ago but its lyrics suggest the feelings that accompany our teenage years much more than the nostalgia for childhood which some commentators invest in them.

“No one I think is in my tree”- nobody knows what I’m going through. I’m so interesting and alone.

“It’s getting hard to be someone, but it all works out” – I’m struggling at the moment, what with all these hormones crashing about, but I feel I’m becoming mature enough to start some philosophical musings.

“It doesn’t matter much to me”- Whatever!

“I think I know, I mean, ah yes, but it’s all wrong. That is I think I disagree”- I’m very, very confused at the moment and find it difficult and incredibly tedious trying to express myself. Anyway, I’m bored…

The vocal melody is a very strange kettle of fish. In keeping with the meandering tone of the piece it feels constantly unsettled and eel like. From the extended monotonic line at the start of each verse to the octave jump half way through the chorus, “ and noth(ing to get hung about)”. The melody is forever slipping out of our hands and swimming away from us, sometimes stepping in a comfortable way before leaping tones apart, it swoops and slides and seemingly only arrives safely home on the very last note of both verse and chorus.

There are too many pieces of the production puzzle that is Strawberry Fields to ponder over so here are but two.

Firstly, Ringo! Gawd bless you sir, a proper giant of the sticks and no mistake. The drums and percussion, toms especially, thunder, rumble, hammer and gallop. But not relentlessly. There are swathes of the song where there’s no percussion at all, Paul’s gentle mellotron opening and George’s descending, raga-like svarmandal for example, never letting the texture anticipate or settle . However, whenever the percussion is introduced, it’s done so with an inventiveness and spirit unusual to pop music thus far. Backward high-hats? Where the hell did that come from? Ringo’s gobsmacking fills are playful, daring and perfect. They are often imitated but never surpassed. His contribution is invaluable to the record’s beguiling strangeness.

Secondly, George Martin’s cellos. Up until that point in my life I’d only been aware of the things being tucked between the legs of spinsterly women who stroked them, awkward and listless, to produce maudlin, romantic sounding dross ( I’ve since become aware of Jacqueline Dupree , thank you very much) but never imagined they could produce such power and soul stirring emotion. As well as using traditional western classical effects to produce this result, Martin displays a sensitive awareness of the piece’s Indian influences and reflects them in a lovely, brutal, heavenly/hellish barrage of sound that completely entrances.

It never fails to amaze me how Strawberry Fields Forever seems to be able to change its mood to suit mine. If I’m happy it can enhance my joy or send me off on some sad sentimental reverie; if I’m angry it can harness that energy or soothe and calm; if I’m down it can make me cry buckets or wrap me in its familiar warm duvets of sonic loveliness until I’m comforted and cheered.

What more could you want from a song?

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Patsy Monteleone has been singing all his life and playing ukulele half that long. He began his career in music at age 3 when he stood up on the bar at a tavern in New York’s Little Italy and sang Neapolitan love songs for his paisans. Patrons would throw him nickels and dimes. Once, a miserly elder tossed Patsy a quarter (a lot of money for the old cheapskate), which prompted gasps of amazement among the bar crowd.

More information about Patsy at:

http://patsymonteleone.wordpress.com

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088 – Rain – Wang Chung

admin — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 04:03:58 +0000

click here to play

088 Rain – Wang Chung

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded: April 14 1966

Ukulele version recorded: August 2010

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Jack Hues: vocals, ukulele, backwards guitar

Nick Feldman: synth bass

David Barratt: Bass, drums, percussion

Produced by Wang Chung at Canterbury Sound Recorders, Kent, England

Remix and additional production by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Mobile, on Route 40 just outside of Oklahoma City, OK.

Essay: W. Twist-Eldorado

ABOUT THE SONG

It was the 1960s, all right. On April 14, 1966, the American Armed Forces publication “Stars And Stripes” reported “VC Hit Saigon AB, 7 killed,155 hurt” and the UK singles charts reported that the number two song in Britain was called “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.”

There was a lot of doom, a reasonable amount of gloom but there was also The Beatles.

On that same date the chemically enhanced Beatles began recording their soporific, transcendent masterpiece “Rain.” This was one of John Lennon’s early mega-triumphs, in a time when the group could seemingly do nothing but triumph.

It is amazing to think that in April, 1964, just two years prior, the group was still a lovable eight-armed critter, frolicking hairfully about on the set of “A Hard Day’s Night.”

At that time, growth was measured in minutes for the band. A year later, in April, 1965, the group had made another breakthrough, with John’s “Help.” It was obvious these were not your older sister’s mop-tops any more.

1965’s “Help” was a purposeful attempt by John to “grow” his writing. But by 1966, John’s (and Paul’s, and George’s) writing was soaring of its own accord. They could apparently write about anything, and it was profound and laden with meaning – at least to the kids.

Although it may seem today that “Rain” is filled with psychedelic aphorisms – a warning shot across the bow of the mid-60’s generation gap, if you will – John no longer needed to set his sights so high. He no longer needed to set his sights on anything, in fact. He could write about crappy weather and create art.

If the truth be told, the wonderful, heady song “Rain” is actually about – well, it’s actually about errr… rain.

The inspiration for “Rain” was no more than a bad hair day in Melbourne, Australia, when the Beatles arrived for a concert amidst a tropical storm in June, 1964. John looked at the sky, listened to his entourage griping and bellyaching about all the bad weather on the tour, and then in 1966 revisited the tableau in his mind, to write a song about “people moaning about the weather all the time.”

Deep.

Sort of.

Did you know that obsessive Beatle-followers Oasis were originally called “The Rain?”

This is yet another example of the otherworldly genius of The Beatles. They were so far ahead of their time that they were able to rip off the entire catalog of Oasis, have the same haircuts and wear the same suits on one B-Side decades before the Brothers Gallagher had thought to pick up a guitar.

“Rain” was in every way the flip side to Paul’s “Paperback Writer,” in the finest tradition of the Beatles’ “double A side” releases, not unlike “Strawberry Fields” and “Penny Lane” a year later.

The recording itself was a breakthrough. We hear one of the earliest examples of proto-metal guitar while John’s slightly distant sounding voice just makes this trip all too real sounding. It was one of the first times Vari-Speed was used as an effect; the track was recorded fast and then slowed down to create a submerged tension awash with twisted and laborious guitar lines and open bass notes that rumbled your rib cage and rattled the brain case;

It was, along with Paperback Writer, the first time Paul played his new Rickenbacker bass on a release, using new miking techniques for the low end, and so the bass simply BOOMS out of both songs. This is mainly due to Geoff Emerick, their 19 year old engineer, reverse wiring a loudspeaker so it could be used as a microphone.

Ringo’s drumming is a tour de force that conjures up a drunk stumbling energetically down a street in a rainstorm, off-balanced and about to teeter – but always righting himself right before the collapse into chaos. Ringo knew he had done something amazing, later claiming that “My favorite piece of me is what I did on ‘Rain’”.

Then there is the iconic backwards vocal miasma at the end – the glorious, Indian sounding backwards vocal snake that John unleashed over the outro of the song. John later claimed he came home from the April 14 session and, exhausted and having had a vegetarian cigarette or three, accidentally put the day’s work on his reel-to-reel and listened for a full minute before he realized that it was the tape that was playing backwards, not his head. He claimed he wanted to play the whole song backwards and George Martin convinced him only to tack on some backwards vocals at the end. George Martin claims that he came up with the whole idea.

Does it matter? There it is.

In May, 1966, the Beatles recorded a promo clip for “Rain” in the blazingly beautiful sunshine at Chiswick House, in London.

As George modestly (and accurately) put it thirty years later, “In a way, you could say . . . we invented MTV.”

It hardly mattered that a song about rain was being presented in the sun; the Beatles were never constrained with such niceties as consistency – in “Penny Lane,” for example, the fireman rushes in from the “pouring rain” at the same time that the pretty nurse is selling poppies “beneath the blue suburban skies.” Consistency is for the rest of us. Simply because The Beatles wrote it, it made sense. Or not. But it always did.

It either made sense to us, or it changed our sensibilities, until it did. But either way — the weather’s fine.

The ukulele version came to us via 80s pop icons Wang Chung.

Singer and guitarist Jack Hues claims that the first time he played ukulele was on this recording. This is either a monstrous lie or he really is very good at doing music. The ukulele is a very easy instrument to get a tune out of but it is fiendishly difficult to play well. Check out how his ukulele lines mirror falling intertwined rain drops. It really is an amazing performance. The transposition from an electric slurry of sonic nuggets to a simple folk song about the rain reveals the song’s pure pop song nature.

You may note at the end of the ukulele version that the backwards vocal is exactly the same as Lennon’s original. Jack took the original recording turned it backwards, learned the part and re-sang it perfectly.

Sdaeh rieht edih dna nur yeht semoc niar eht fI. Niar, Enihsnus.

You can’t say fairer than that.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Wang Chung came out of the post-punk, New Wave scene in the UK going on to achieve global success selling millions of records. Throughout their 30 year career they have released 5 albums and 2 Greatest Hits compilations. They have had 6 US Top 40 hits including a number 1.

In the process of all of this (and somewhat unintentionally), Wang Chung became part of the contemporary culture of North America.

Their huge smash ‘Everybody Have Fun Tonight’, with its now famous line ‘Everybody Wang Chung Tonight’ saw the invention of a new US verb; ‘to Wang Chung’. Icons such as Homer Simpson and Frasier Crane name-checked the band on TV and ‘Wang Chung’ even achieved punch-line status in the ‘The Spy Who Shagged Me’.

Check out their video montage available at

http://wangchung.com

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087 – Martha My Dear – Chris Palmaro

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 14:56:30 +0000

87 Martha My Dear – Chris Palmaro

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded – November 22 1968

Ukulele version recorded – January 2010

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Chris Palmaro – Vocals, piano, drums

Conrad Korsch – Bass

Alan Schwartz – Ukulele

Produced by Chris Palmaro

Essay Jack Hues

ABOUT THE SONG

I was fortunate enough to be in that select band of people who bought The White Album soon after it came out, never mind that I was only 14 at the time. I had grown with them through all the albums and singles up to that time. I had started to learn guitar and to read and write music, had thrilled to everything from Please Please Me to Paperback Writer, Revolver to Hey Jude, to Strawberry Fields and Pepper; had watched Magical Mystery Tour that Boxing Day, had felt the gradual isolating of them from the national consciousness and experienced The White Album as another two fingers up to everyone who wanted The Beatles to be fab and four again. So when I’m asked, what is the greatest Beatles album? I know the answer is The White Album. Of course, all those publications with their lists of the greatest albums of all time select Revolver, but that is missing something fundamental about the development of the band. If you were there, the answer is The White Album.

So, if The White Album is the greatest Beatles album and Martha My Dear is one of the great songs on that album, then we are high up the list of great Beatles songs.

I learnt how to play the opening section on piano from my best friend’s older sister. We went to an all-boys school so this was a rare, unforgettable opportunity to spend time with a girl – a girl who was older and sophisticated and otherwise unapproachable. And it is still the only piece of piano music I can really play! I learnt it by ear and by following the shapes her fingers made, but these days I love looking at what is actually going on in the music itself.

“Martha My Dear” is musically like “Yesterday” in that it begins on a chord – E-flat major, then slips down a semi-tone to D and heads off on its harmonic journey. With “Yesterday” the moves are logical, one might say classical. But with “Martha” the semitone slip initiates a journey into a realm such that by the end of the song the opening chord feels ambiguous, perhaps not the tonal centre at all.

But more than all the harmonic twists and turns, not to mention the unusual structure with its double bridge, it is that opening phrase that fascinates me. How do you count it? It’s 13 beats long, so a bar of 4 beats, then 2, then 3, then 4? Or 4/4, 5/4 and 4/4? Yet it sounds completely natural. Why does he put the word “Please”, which begins the second line of lyrics as the last word of that first phrase?

“Martha my dear, though I spend my days in conversation, Please

remember me

Martha my love etc.”

Did the tune come first, then the lyrics, not quite “right”, yet completely natural?

“Hold your head up you silly girl” – the 1st bridge journeys through piles of major ninth chords in D minor (the side slip chord has usurped the opening E-flat tonality) and fabulous melodic curves for 8 bars though you would swear it was an odd number of bars because of the vocal phrases. Then on to another new section, “Take a good look around you”, the drums kick in, the orchestra switches up a gear, vocal phrases building on each other – this is musical extravagance that you rarely find in a pop song. Then there is the instrumental repeat of the opening section led by the solo trumpet. The handclap lets you realize that you are a beat out by the end of the first phrase – if it carried on, the second phrase would be clapping on 1 and 3 like they do in Europe. So it patiently waits to align itself.

Then it’s a repeat of the first bridge with even lovelier orchestration on oboe and french horn leading via the syncopated G minor seventh arpeggio to the slightly ungainly crunch back into E-flat and a final outing for that sublime opening tune.

Listening to it again recently I was surprised to notice that McCartney sings the opening section in his corny 1920’s manner, a persona that surfaces in “When I’m Sixty-Four” and re-appears appropriately for “Honey Pie”. He seems to dip in and out of character as the song progresses. Did he imagine this too as a period piece? Some commentators see “Martha” as proof that The Beatles could “do jazz” but I disagree. This is McCartney adopting a Burt Bacharach style sophistication, yet not ever letting it sound “jazz”. Remember Lennon’s early rant that, “Jazz music is shit music and represents everything that the Beatles are against”!

“Martha My Dear” is a short movie, two characters only one of whom speaks, a roller-coaster of unspoken passion, of selfless love, a sort of “Brief Encounter” for the Sixties generation.

The “corny” voice got me thinking about Authenticity. “Martha” is a Paul McCartney and George Martin creation – the other Beatles were not involved and I imagine they were not fans of this tune. With George doing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and John doing “Yer Blues” they were engaged in their own search for Authenticity and would have not approved of this kind of pastiche. Yet Authenticity in rock music can be a cover for conservatism, even for a lack of ideas.

Then I tried to think of another Lennon & McCartney tune in E-flat. There are none as far as I can remember. It is not a guitarist’s key – all your open strings are of no use to you – it’s all bar-chords and stretches. E-flat is a great key for horns though. It’s a jazz key, even a Classical key, and woodwind and brass players love it. However, D minor – the side-slip key – is very guitar friendly.

Is E-flat McCartney’s way of saying – yes this section is deliberately un-Authentic to express the formal, uptight, British way of relating to people that the Beatles were trying to throw out. The lyrics express that “Brief Encounter”-style, clipped manner and E-flat is not a Beatles key. When we hit D minor, the song comes out of pastiche and becomes real, Authentic – The Beatles. The music flies, the words say get real, embrace life and “take a little bit of what is all around you”.

So the message of the song is powerfully in the Music, in its opposition of 2 keys a semitone apart – always a very dissonant relationship. In “Yesterday” the semitone side-slip is like his world falling away from him – nothing will ever be the same and the music tries to make it whole again. All is nostalgia for a lost world. In “Martha”, the side slip is the chance to explore something new, to forget the old world – he grasps it and it takes over the song and leaves the old formal world behind. The words play with the surface of these ideas but the music expresses it in a profound way so that you feel it. With the Beatles it is always the music that holds the transformative power.

I once had dinner with Lloyd Cole and we inevitably started talking about The Beatles. We are both obsessive fans endlessly picking over the stories and searching out rare stuff. I asked him what his favourite Beatles song was.

He thought for a while and said, “Martha My Dear”.

I can understand why he would say that.

Jack Hues: Los Angeles, September 2010.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

We don’t give over the productions duties lightly here at The Beatles Complete On Ukulele. Normally we create the entire track or rework an original production in our own style. When Chris Palmaro emailed a rough version of “Martha My Dear” to us we were pleasantly humbled. There was nothing to add. Chris had said it all so very eloquently.

Chris says "My first "BIG" session was probably playing on a jingle. I was a young kid from way out on long island who up to that point was playing in bars for $50 bucks a night and all of a sudden I found myself in a room surrounded by New York's Finest. It's where i met people like Steve Gadd, Will Lee, David Spinozza and a host of others. It was all so exciting and humbling at the same time.

An early memory of that time was playing behind Areatha Franklin on Saturday Night Live. That night I had a major Epiphany into what it really means to be a singer. I can’t cant tell you too much about it because it's too much to type and it's deep.

While doing that I was working as a studio musician recording with Michael Jackson, Joan Osbourn, Marc Cohn, Yoko Ono and some others."

Despite his incredible career as a musician Palmaro's main source of income is derived via his innate skill at Baccarat.

Since 2004 he only plays in the casinos of Macau as he is often recognized in Las Vegas by security camera and threatened by rather unpleasant types who do not like him taking an average of $500,000 a night from their tables.

It is rumored that Steve Wynn pays Palmaro $425,000 per year NOT to play in any of his casinos.

Using the mathematical skills he has learnt as a musician he has created the “Mazterx Method” of gaming that is based on algorithms he discovered while studying the intonation of Lenny Bruce’s Carnegie Hall Concert of 1960 from an original vinyl recording given to him from myself.

He has never cut me in on his winnings.

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086 – I’ve Got A Feeling (Live At Smooch) – Jon Worley

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:43:21 +0000

86 Ive Got A Feeling (Live At Smooch) – Jon Worley

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded – May 8 1970

Ukulele version recorded – April 2010

Jon Worley – Vocal, Wurlitzer Piano, Harmonica

David Barratt – Ukulele, Bass and Drum

Written by Lennon/McCartney

Produced by David Barratt at the Abattoir Of Good Taste from live recordings at Smooch Cafe Fort Greene Brooklyn

ABOUT THE SONG

What we have here is another recording from the rooftop sessions so it is not too surprising that it is a bit of a mess. There is energy around the track, but it is a speedy frustrated energy that signifies the oncoming breakup of the band.

February is not a great time to be playing outside in London. Not so good for the fingers, but Billy Preston earns his Employee Of The Month award with some solid ivory work. Phil Spector did a pretty good job mixing what he had to work with, but he was fighting against the elements. The vocals, electric piano, and guitars sound ok because they are close miked and therefore able to be treated separately. However Ringo’s sound suffers because he is not recorded in the studio.

I always wince when I hear George playing the micro-tonal riff at the end of the second section of the song, which, in the Twickenham scene from the "Let It Be" film becomes of the focal point of an acutely painful instance of Paul grinding George down. George eventually retaliates in a passive-aggressive manner. It all feels really sad and unnecessary .

‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ was a combination of two half finished Beatle songs. The first half was written by Paul as a love song for Linda. The pair met in May 1967. They married two months after ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ was recorded.

The second part of the song, ‘Everybody’s Had a Hard Year’, was John’s composition. The main guitar riff of this track came from a January 14th, 1969 demo entitled “Watching Rainbows”.

It could not be denied that everybody had been through a hard year: the Apple Boutique had closed down, Paul broke up with Jane Asher, the Maharishi had been accused of sexual indecency (which was the inspiration behind the song Sexy Sadie), and John was divorcing Cynthia and had been separated from his son, Julian. If that wasn’t enough Yoko had suffered a miscarriage, John and George had been arrested on charges of drug possession, and John had been forced to sell his Weybridge home. Added to that the pressure of the Twickenham sessions and the inspiration behind the song becomes clear.

At the end of the song they try a very simple quodlibet. That is playing both songs against one another. This was a big broadway favorite in the late 1950’s. My favorite quodlibet comes at the end of "West Side Story” where, I think, four different songs are combined building up tension before the final fight scene. "Feeling” is not quite in the same class as that and there is a tired, “That’ll do” attitude about the whole affair.

The ukulele version takes us below The Manson-Nixon Line to Tennessee. I first saw Jon Worley in American Crossroads, a documentary by first time filmmakers Paul Blackthorne and Basquali. Following the economic collapse of 2008 and the election of Barack Obama, they drove coast to coast interviewing people about their expectations for their new President and the continuing viability of the American Dream. Jon stood out in the movie and was obviously an interesting guy. I tracked him down when he played at Smooch Cafe in Fort Greene and we recorded soon afterwards.

Jon is a rhythm and blues Dr Parnassus, traveling around the country in his outrageous mobile home which is held together with duct tape and love.

He writes about what he knows and that’s people.

Jon Worley would like to make some serious barbecue — without hating the pig.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jon Worley's music is steeped in a deep rooted southern mysticism, a true southern Appalachian gumbo.

Within a 50 mile radius of Worley’s birthplace (Morristown Tn), the first abolitionist papers were written, bluegrass, rockabilly, country and eventually rock and roll were born.

Somewhere in the murky past of a 1930's Snake Oil Medicine Show, a miracle occurred, a black artist looked at a white artist and said, "we're playin the same 3 chords, and talikin bout the same truth.". We don't know who those 2 artists were, but we can feel the reverberations throughout the collected music of the last 80 years, and can feel the concentration of its accumulated synthesis in the music of Jon Worley.

Born the son of a quarter Black Cherokee air-force staff sergeant and a preachers Daughter, whose family started running from religious prosecution before the silk road was finished across the Eurasian continent, Jon grew up knowing he was "different" and that feeling was constantly reinforced throughout his early educational experiences.

When you grow up in a place where having and IQ over 120 means that you are deemed "functionally disabled" and separated from the general population (a little tidbit of the Tennessee Valley Authority's campaign to "socially engineer" the poor hillbilly population and remove the future managers from the working classes), it doesn't take long to figure out your not like everybody else. Jon received a G.E.D. when he was only 16, and started the local community collage as a Philosophy Major the following week.

The next two years of his life were spent navigating his way through the worlds academia and local and regional grass roots social organizing. That all changed in the spring of 1996 when the late great Timothy Leary did his last speaking tour before his death and he strangely chose Knoxville Tn as one of his stops. After meeting with Leary, Jon sat in front of a baby grand piano and began playing the moonlit sonata by Beethoven and didn't stop for 9 hours.

At those crossroads of rural Hillbilly culture, Philosophy, social justice awareness, Psychedelia, and the pressing need to preserve what little is left of the indigenous southern Appalachian culture, Jon Worley has weathered the storms of the great modern dumbing down of American culture to create a sound that calls back to what is good about the culture and the people that helped spawn it.

He is currently in the studio working on several projects including a new project called Black Jesus and the Holy Rollin Road Show, and is working on an album of social justice music with the help of the likes of the great Guy Carawan (We Shall Overcome), in an attempt to bring the music that got America through the great depression and the civil rights movement back into the modern ear.

He currently calls a 24 foot 1977 Apache Rv home and has been known to show up in a city near you with his beautiful fiance Tiffany Cox and a giant melon headed dog named Roxxy.

http://www.myspace.com/cornbredbluesband

http://www.aidabet.com/

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085 – Girl – Snax

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:25:35 +0000

85 Girl – Snax

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded – November 11, 1965

Ukulele version recorded – April 2010

Snax – Vocal

Patsy Monteleone – Ukulele

Radigan – Backing vocal

David Barratt – Everything else

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Produced by David Barratt at the Abattoir Of Good Taste from original recordings made by Snax in Berlin.

Lucas Heinz – Photo

Sheri Holman – Essay

ABOUT THE SONG

I'm in the car on an eight hour drive to Virginia. My three kids are with me and while we're gone, their dad back home is packing up and moving out. They know, we've talked about it. It's been a long time coming.

My daughter is eight, she's just discovered The Beatles and since I'm driving, she gets to work the ipod. She hits “Run For Your Life.”

“I'd rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man.”

She hits it over and over. This is the kind of love she understands.

In the back, the boys, who are six, are playing with cheap, plastic superheroes they got in their Happy Meals on the Jersey Turnpike. Who is Captain America? They ask over the music. What are his powers? I didn't know when I was a kid and I still don't know. "He wears a mask and loves his country, I say. That's what makes him super."

“Enough with that song”, I tell my daughter after the fiftieth time through.

“Who sings this one?” Her love is new and she can't tell their voices apart yet.

“John”, I say.

“Where is he now?” She asks.

She's too young to know the word assassinated. It's a long drive and we have a lot of time. For the next thirty miles, I tell her how this fat white boy from a nice family was so obsessed with an actress named Jodie Foster that he shot John Lennon to impress her. He'd watched a movie so many times he started to feel he was living it, that he could actually be the hero of his own story. Jodie was in his head, she wouldn't leave and he needed to do something big to make himself as important as she was.

As I'm telling her all this, I'm thinking something doesn't sound right. But I'm a parent, so I keep talking and she takes it, like everything else out of my mouth, as the truth.

When we stop to pee again, I pull out my phone and look up John Hinckley, Jr. only to understand he had shot at Ronald Reagan a year after Mark David Chapman, another fat white boy, had shot John Lennon. Hinckley was obsessed with a movie and a girl; Chapman was obsessed with a book and the story of a boy who wants to protect children just as the Taxi Driver wanted to protect Jodie Foster, the child prostitute. Both of them were obsessed with fame.

I go to my daughter and tell her I made a mistake. I mixed up my sociopaths. There are so many – how is one to keep track?

Back in the car, we've moved on from “Run For Your Life.” Now it's “Girl.” Over and over she plays it.

“Is there anybody going to listen to my story

All about the girl who came to stay…”

My daughter sings the refrain. John sucks in his breath. I read somewhere that was supposed to simulate toking a joint, but it sounds to me like the breath I take when I'm trying not to hit someone and want them to know it. My daughter sings

“Oh girl”.

Don't let him call you that, I want to tell her, no matter how fucking good it makes you feel. It's his way of shrinking you, even as he makes it all your fault. He doesn't call you Bitch or Whore or any of the things he really thinks, he calls you Girl.

Snax and David Barratt have re-recorded “Girl” replacing the Eastern European steel guitar riff at the end with woodwinds and brass. In John's version, I was walking through a gleaned field behind the shtetl, in David's I'm in Weimar Germany, because on some level he knows you can't have one without conjuring the other.

I think of my friend of mine who was fucking a boy whose mother died when he was very young. “I finally got him to cry”, she told me triumphantly.

Was she told when she was young that pain would lead to pleasure?

He kept coming back for more.

“Who sings this one?” My daughter asks.

“John, again.”

In the backseat, one of the superheroes has been dropped and lost, now the boys are fighting over the one remaining. They were crowded together in my belly, when they wrestled inside, their sharp elbows and knees distended my skin like dinosaur wings. Now they hit and tear at each other over something neither knew existed before today. Tomorrow it will be in the landfill, but right now, it is the most important thing in the world.

It's not about Captain America any more than it was about Lennon or Reagan. It's about the unbearableness of not being able to possess what will erase the pain of being small. And needing someone to blame.

My daughter is still singing. “Oh, girl”.

To shut them up, I ask ” Boys, what does this song make you think of?”

They stop fighting, happy the conversation has swung around to them.

They don't hesitate, eyes wide with the obviousness of it all.

“You”, answers one.

“You”, says the other.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

At age 5, Snax, aka Paul Bonomo, formed an imaginary band with his older brother in the suburbs of Maryland, USA. From these humble beginnings, Snax embarked on a musical journey that would take him from Washington DC to San Francisco to New York and now his current home in Berlin, Germany.

Snax looks forward to bringing his attitude, energy and sensation to your town soon…

His latest album is called Special Guest Star. That and other sounds are available at his website.

Contact -

www.snaxonline.org

Bookings:

oliver@support-agency.com

snax-booking@snaxonline.org

ABOUT THE ESSAYIST

Sheri Holman is the author of four novels including the best-selling Dress Lodger, and The Mammoth Cheese, short-listed for the UK's Orange Prize. Her fifth novel, Witches on the Road Tonight, hits the pavement next March.

Check out her books at www.sheriholman.com

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084 – When I Was 64 – Dr Harry Steinberg

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:26:00 +0000

84 When I Was 64 – Dr. Harry Steinberg

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original recording – December 6–21 1966

Ukulele recording – May 17 2010

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Dr. Harry Steinberg – Vocal

Pete Steinberg – Baritone Ukulele

Gary Schreiner – Accordion

Nathan Macormack – Cello

Radigan – Backing Vocal

David Barratt – Toy Organ, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Pretend Brass

Claire is played by Claire

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Moblie in Los Angeles.

ABOUT THE SONG

Paul McCartney wrote “When I’m 64” when he was 16, recorded it in 1967 when he was 25 on a concept album that was based on a fictitious musical act that was performing sometime around 1910.

1910 was the year that Dr Harry Steinberg was born so it seemed only natural for us to invite him to sing the song.

“When I’m 64” is from the concept album Sgt. Pepper. I never really understood the concept fully but I think it was something about a guy named Billy Shears who fancies a girl called Lucy. They repair a house together but their daughter runs away from home. To distract himself Billy goes to the circus and ends up finding spiritual peace in India. This however makes him feel insecure about growing old so he has an affair with a traffic cop. Eventually he wakes up, smokes some weed, crashes his car and dies…. The End.

Right?

“When I Am 64” reminds me of the Daimien Hirst piece “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’’.

To be 64 in 1967 seemed very old indeed, and not surprisingly so. Someone born in 1902 would have had their teenage years interrupted by the most horrific of wars in 1914. Just as they were recovering from that, the Great Depression hit and continued until World War 2 which carried on until they had reached middle age. By the time that the 60’s were beginning to swing they were exhausted and grumpy.

When Sgt. Pepper came out the world looked like it belonged to the young. Paul was full of the arrogance of youth and anyone over thirty were considered past their sell-by date. Life expectancy in the UK at time of the the release of Sgt. Pepper was around 67 years. In 2010 it is 78.

in 1967 low cholesterol diets, cosmetic surgery, HGH, Viagra and Provigil were unheard of.

Could the 25 year old version of Paul imagine a 68 year old man having just completed a sell out stadium tour where he played to almost 800,000 paying customers. I think not. But that is what Paul just did, playing the final show of the “Up And Coming Tour” on August 19th.

“When I Am 64” is a piece of vaudeville placed in the middle of psychedelia. Paul’s father passed on his love of Music Hall and Paul returned to this style of writing again and again. This was his first attempt at the genre. The vaudevillian atmosphere was enhanced by Robert Burns, Henry MacKenzie, and Frank Reidy who’s clarinets gave the song it’s antiquated sound.

The song was originally performed in the key of C but Paul wanted his voice to sound younger so the tape was sped up half a step to D-flat. You can hear the tape speed effect clearly on Paul’s voice on bridge.

“Within You Without You” which precedes “64” is in C#. The effect of the songs effectively being in the same key makes a tricky transition between opposing styles much smoother.

There is a different melody on the two bridges which gives a space for some excellent backing vocal parts. I find the peculiar chamber reverb on the lead vocal distracting, especially on the stereo mix, it would have been better left dry.

Ringo being Ringo plays an understated part. He leaves all the right spaces. So many drummers over-play but he uses silence in the same way others use fills. He does an excellent job especially on the second half of the bridge where he plays a busy but perfect rhythm on the ride cymbal.

Paul’s bass which perfectly mimics a tuba, was the final overdub as usual.

Not surprisingly John was dismissive of the song:

"Paul wrote it in the Cavern days. We just stuck a few more words on it like ‘grandchildren on your knee’ and ‘Vera, Chuck and Dave’ … I would never even dream of writing a song like that."

Of course not John, you would never do a pastiche number with a catchy tune that refers to turn of the 20th century. Oh… with the possible exception of “Benefit Of Mr Kite” maybe?

An interesting aside, due to the Six Day War between Egypt and Israel The Suez Canal was closed which meant that the specially printed covers of The Sgt. Pepper album due to arrive in Australia were delayed. This provided an Australian band (The Twilights) with an opportunity to perform the entire album night after night to sold out audiences.

The ukulele version of the now re-titled “When I Was 64” is sung by Dr. Harry Steinberg. Harry turned 64 was a long time ago and he is wondering why his lover does not treat him with the same care and attention that he received back then.

The song was recorded a couple of days after his 100th birthday party in Los Angeles which I was honored to attend. I’ve know Harry almost 30 years and in that time I have come to know him and his family as true friends.

The baritone ukulele part is played by his son Pete who also wrote a beautiful biography of his father which can be found HERE.

The song ends with Claire, letting him know he is, was and always will be loved.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

For a full biography of Harry Steinberg by his son

CLICK HERE

In 1910 the year of Harry Steinberg’s birth many Jews had left Russia to escape the Pogroms. Harry’s family were part of that exodus. He was raised in a tiny basement apartment in Pittsburgh with his five siblings.

His brother Sam would die from a heart condition at fifteen when Harry was only five. Sam was born in Russia as was another child who died in infancy.

He attended the University of Michigan, graduated near the top of his class and entered Medical School at the age of twenty two. He had to wait a year because the Jewish “quota” was filled.

During his summers he worked as an orderly at the Monte Fiore Hospital in Pittsburgh. There he saw death on a daily basis. Fleming had yet to invent antibiotics and people died from dental infection and pneumonia on a daily basis.

While working as an orderly Harry met Isabelle Patricia Mauchline. She was the head nurse at Monte Fiore Hospital – Harry’s boss and soon to be wife.

Upon completing his residency he became a Country Circuit rider in Virginia. Here he did everything. Setting broken bones, appendectomies, assisted in births and closed wounds with sterile suture.

He also served as a doctor to the local prison chain gangs and witnessed the horror of the conscripted labor system first hand.

He loved being a country doctor, loved his patients and felt that he could ultimately be a force for good, but, the political body in the south was corrupt, evil and could be very dangerous. It was no place to raise kids.

Pearl Harbor came and he served throughout the duration of the war in the European theater.

He received a bronze star on Omaha Beach for getting over 800 men off the beach into the landing craft that still worked in order to get them back to a ship’s hospital and back to England. He was at the Battle of the Bulge and crossed the Rhine into Germany. He stayed in the Army until 1963 and retired a full colonel.

Harry became an Ear Nose and Throat doctor schooled in reconstructive surgery. There was plenty of it after the war.

In the early fifties doctors still made house calls. Of that time he says:

“There’s nothing like being alone at night far from a hospital or phone with a patient who just won’t stop bleeding no matter what you try. It gets prayers out of atheists” (which he is). “It gives you a lot of humility.”

His wife contracted viral encephalitis and was very ill for about twelve years and passed away in 1978. Shortly after he remarried. He claims that one of the factors contributing to his old age is his marriage to Claire.

Harry Steinberg has spent the remainder of his years living what his life is really about. He has involved himself in his two great passions: medicine and art. He is a good painter and a very fine sculptor and became a prodigious collector of Pre Columbian and African Art.

In recent years he has constructed art from found objects.

He loves creating art.

He loves new people and situations.

He loves a good party.

He loves a good joke.

He loves his children

He loves Claire.

He is physically and emotionally engaged with life.

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083 – Julia – Don Rosler with Emily O’Reilly

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:53:00 +0000

83 – Julia – Don Rosler with Emily O’Reilly

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded October 13 1968

Ukulele version recorded April 2010

Written By John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Emily O'Reilly – Vocals

Don Rosler – Vocals, keyboards and percussion

David Barratt – Ukulele

Recorded at Donnyboy Studio, Rich Man's Den and The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Special thanks to Gary Schreiner

Arranged by Don Rosler

Produced and mixed by David Barratt

ABOUT THE SONG

Julia is the only song in The Beatles catalog that John performed unaccompanied – without any help from his friends. The minimal arrangement is comprised of a simple mildly-flanged, finger-picked solo acoustic guitar and voice. There is some double tracking, but essentially what we have here is John naked.

The title suggests the song was about his mother but most of the imagery of the lyric references his soon to be wife. In Japanese, the name Yoko literally means "ocean child." The words in the song lead us towards meaning without ever fully explaining themselves. The mother and wife image merge in a way that is touching and not as unpleasant as it could be in less skilled hands.

The vagueness of the lyric is its strength. Concepts of mother and lover were always very confused for John so there is a touching honesty here. In the last verse he runs out of words completely and he hums where the lyric should be but the sense of beauty, regret and wonder remain.

The previous song on “The White Album” is Paul’s “I Will”. It is fascinating to compare these two recordings. It is almost as if John and Paul had a songwriting competition to determine who could write the more moving love song.

Listening to them sequentially the two songs tells you much about the two men. The differences of their world views, strengths and vulnerabilities are clearly stated.

Paul’s melody and arrangement is sophisticated. He knows exactly how to make you feel what he wants you to feel at any given moment. The vocal is g entle and heartwarming. The innocence of love is celebrated with every phrase. We are in the hands of a professional.

John is more in tune with the mystical. “Julia” is a funereal dirge which is appropriate considering the tragic circumstances of his mother’s death. The singer knows about the pain of loving something so thoroughly that it will empty him. There is beauty in such pain and John expresses it exquisitely.

As usual with any competition between John and Paul, I pronounce it an honorable tie and am glad to possess both songs.

This is the strength of The Beatles. To reflect similar emotions in two entirely different ways. Two sides of two quite different currencies.

“Julia” was yet another song that was written at Rishikesh in northern India. I’m not sure exactly how much it cost to stay with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, but there is no doubt they got their money’s worth.

The premise of the ukulele version is that Don is teaching Emily how to sing the song. Don reminds Emily of what lyrics to sing but it is quite clear that Emily possesses a talent that can not be taught. By the end of the piece she is singing solo and Don has tears in his eyes as do I.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Emily O’Reilly

Hello my name is Emily O’Reilly and I am 10 years old. I am a fourth grader in the school PS24. I am a singer and a songwriter and I love to act. I was asked to record the song “Julia” by John Lennon with Don Rosner and I had a lot of fun recording it. The people were very nice. I like to play the guitar, play softball, play basket ball and I like American Girl Dolls. I love The Beatles. My favorite Beatle is Paul McCartney. I saw him in concert at Citified last summer and my two favorite songs by the Beatles are “All my Lovin” and “Yesterday”. I hope I get to record more and I will never forget my first recording. Thank you for giving me the opportunity of a life time. Sincerely Emily Grace O’Reilly

Don Rosler

Don Rosler was born in a blackout, for real, but everyone he knows is tired of hearing that story. What some don’t know is the reason he stopped playing sax in his mid-twenties: he suddenly developed a neurotic aversion to the texture of a reed in his mouth. In the spirit of “one door closes, another opens” he then shifted over to writing lyrics and songs (which spared him having to fumble through “Caravan” and “Giant Steps” at breakneck tempos).

Currently, he is finishing up "Rosler's Recording Booth," a concept CD he wrote, produced, and sings on. This CD uses the once-popular recordio and voice-o-graph booths as a springboard for new songs, and features 9 guest artists, some of which are also featured vocalists on the “Beatles Complete on Ukulele Project” (Kathena Bryant, Tamara Hey, Spottiswoode, and Terry Radigan). You can hear a sneak preview of "Rosler's Recording Booth" at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJtkAtcr6PU.

Don wrote lyrics for three compositions with Roger Treece and ten-time-Grammy-award-winning Bobby McFerrin for the new critically acclaimed Bobby McFerrin CD, "VOCAbuLarieS" (Decca/Universal), which also features over 50 singers. (The BBC called it “an instant classic…a kaleidoscopic celebration of the human voice.”). Roger and Don were also commissioned to write for the Chicago Children's Choir, the Grammy-nominated L.A. Master Chorale, and the Grammy-award winning U.K.-based King's Singers' latest CD (released in June 2010).

Don was also, to quote Hubert Humphrey, “pleased as punch” to have

co-written and co-produced the "John Margolis: Christine's Refrigerator" CD, which was described by Singer Magazine as a "must add to any music connoisseur's collection.”

For more information about Don's songs & lyrics, please go to:

http://donrosler.com/Home.html

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082 – I Should Have Known Better – Samantha Fox

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:15:00 +0000

82 I Should Have Known Better – Samantha Fox

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded – February 25 – 26, 1964

Ukulele version recorded – July 6, 2010

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Samantha Fox – Vocal

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Mobile Studio on location in England

Production Co-ordination – Howard Marshall

Essay – Richard Grayson, David Barratt

ABOUT THE SONG

As a young man John Lennon did not hold women in great regard. That is to say he adored, worshipped and feared them as distant goddesses who could harm, destroy or bestow great bounty on him at any moment.

To John The Younger women were not quite human, and many times in his early songs they appear as fuzzy caricatures that he is trying to control. He orders them about.

Is this a Beatles lyric or is it lifted from one of Kim Il Jong’s speeches to the terrified masses?

“When I tell you that I love you, You're gonna say you love me too,

And when I ask you to be mine, You're gonna say you love me too”.

You will do as you are told.

But times change.

The breathy husky spoken question of ‘Do you love me?’ kicks off a magical mystery tour of identity and desire that is the Samantha Fox/Ukulele version of the song. A perky bass figure kicks in behind a gleeful girly "sharing secrets after school" voice singing “I should have known better with a girl like you.”

If the harmonica driven original version recorded for the soundtrack of a Hard Days Night marks a point where the pop culture of the sixties starts to change ways that people think, rather than how music sounds, Sam Fox’s version takes us along some of the complex paths that love and sex have taken since then.

The cheerful ‘boys next door’ and ‘isn’t Paul the one you’d like to bring home to dear old mum’ construction of The Beatles Brand, and the simple joy of the original song, give little hint of how complex things would get to be. But this complexity is a mark of the seismic shifts the Beatles helped trigger.

In 1964 John was married to Cynthia Lennon (nee Powell), a classic girl next door. Had John’s life not taken such an unexpected turn it is not unimaginable that they would, in the summer of 2010, be sharing a retirement home in a picturesque part of Lancashire reminiscing about the good old days and laughing about John’s ridiculous old teddy boy haircut.

Cynthia’s place in John’s life was defined by the sexual politics of her time. She was skilled and educated at Liverpool College of Art in graphic design and calligraphy. Nowadays she could expect a career in one of the many forms of med

ia that feed from such skills but in the early part of the 1960’s marriage and motherhood was all that was expected of and by her.

The early part of their marriage was not publicly acknowledged due to the fact that it might upset the pubescent fans of The Beatles. She was an unperson surrounded by uproar that came in her husband’s wake.

She said that she loved him too.

Skip forward to 1984 and it is doubtful that you would have thought that Samantha Fox’s voice could talk about the complex dance that is man/woman relations in quite so many different ways.

She came to public view as a topless model in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspaper, and something about her confident innocence and happy smile along with the fullness of her figure quickly propelled her image onto hundreds of boy’s bedroom garage and army barrack walls.

The sort of girl, similar in many ways to Cynthia, who lived in the terrace house next door. She and young John (maybe) used to walk to school together when they were kids, then perhaps to the corner shop where she got her first Saturday job. When he started messing round with the guitar she’d come and see him and his mates play during the intermission at the Gaumont cinema. But she is no longer a little girl and there’s a charge in their relationship. It's dawning on John that he ‘should have realized a lot of things before’, so now he is going to ask Sam ‘to be mine’. So he writes a song for her.

Samantha Fox became short-hand for a ‘normal’, everyday, bouncy heterosexuality that fitted perfectly between the sheets of the Margaret Thatcher-loving Sun newspaper, with its conservative horror of difference, weirdness or anything out of the ordinary. For three years running she won the Page Three Girl Of The Year A

ward.

Given her embrace by the Murdoch press and all the pinup malarky it was easy to see her as a passive player in other peoples constructions, but she moved confidently from image to sound to record.

She scored a series of substantial hits. All were pin-up pop. She was a voice of temptation and titillation telling a seemingly simple story about women and male desire: which could be read (in an entry-level cultural studies sort of way) as constructions of her own objectification and alienation. This was not a revolutionary call to arms certainly, but it was an in your face declamation of her sexual power over her spotty yearning (male) audience.

ss="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">She cut ribbons, opened shopping centers, appeared on TV, moved from two dimensions into three and established herself as a rounded personality and became the focus of the amnesiac undifferentiated public affection that permeates Media World UK.

It all became far more complex and intriguing when in 1999 it was announced that she was to be a judge at a lesbian beauty pageant. Sam Fox was coming out. Later she issued press statements and even participated in the TV show Celebrity Wife Swap with the charming and hilarious Myra Stratton, her manager and partner.

The cheeky lusty sighs punctuating this bubbling disco arrangement signal a sort of excitement, a surge, a triumph, an exhalation in recognition of the distance traveled by an army of Cynthias and Sams over the years. The song is transformed into a celebration of a desire that has found its true object.

And now ‘she knows better’, she really does. It’s a love that previously, on a profound level had ‘never realized what a kiss could be’ but which is now expressing its true essence in the singing of this song and reveling in the certainty that,

When I tell you that I love you

You're gonna say you love me too.

and we do.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Music was Sam’s first love and secured her first record deal aged 15, however she was whisked into the glamorous modelling world and her music career was put on hold. During the four year tenure of her extremely

lucrative modelling contract, Samantha Fox became a household name in

the UK overnight and became the nation’s darling.

She gave up modelling aged 20 to concentrate on her music and released her first single in 1986, ‘Touch Me’ reached No 3 in the UK and No 4 in the USA. The single went on to amass a formidable array of Platinum, Gold and Silver awards and 24 discs honour these sales.

She has sold over 30 million records worldwide.

As someone with humanitarian interests she chose to visit and perform in many countries including Bosnia, Russia, the Ukraine and Siberia. In India Sam performed to 70,000 people three nights in a row, breaking the record previously held by Bruce Springsteen. It is her global approach that accounts for the international composition of Sam’s fan base.

Sam has also had parts in three films ‘It’s Been Real’ starring John Altman, The Match starring Piers Brosnan, Ian Holm (Alien), Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan), Neil Morrissey (Men Behaving Badly), David Hayman and Ilar Blair and Bollywood classic ‘Rock Dancer’ written and directed by V Menon, starring Kamal Sadanah, Ronit Roy, Sharon Prabhakar, Javid Jafri, Anood Kumar and Johnny Lever. In recent years she has appeared in several TV shows including ‘Celebrity Wife Swap’ with her partner Myra – swapping places with Freddie Starr and his wife Donna.

Her duet with Sabrina Salerno (a cover of ‘Call Me’) is getting a worldwide release and she has another movie role lined up in Brit Flick ‘The Beautiful Outsiders’ for which she is writing and performing the theme song.

More about Sam at: www.samfox.com

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081 – All You Need Is Love – Nikki Gregoroff

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:10:00 +0000

81 All You Need Is Love – Nikki Gregoroff

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Original version recorded July 7 1967

Ukulele version recorded June 8 2010

Nikki Gregoroff – Vocals

Ira Siegal – Ukulele, 12 String Guitar

David Barratt – Ukulele, Bass and Bells

Produced by David Barratt The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn from recordings made at Nikki and Ira’s home studios

Essay by Dr L.P.Nicolas

ABOUT THE SONG

My cantankerous half-brother E.P. Nicolas went on record on this site two weeks ago disapproving of what he sees as the grandiose inflating of trivial personal events by Lennon in his song “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” so I am pleased to be able to redress the balance—and continue a lifelong competition with that pedantic windbag with whom I regrettably share a quarter of my genes– to discuss the irreproachably great piece by Lennon presented on this site this week.

One of my earliest memories is watching John singing “All You Need Is Love” while chewing gum and singing at the same time. I have not undertaken detailed research but believe the vocal on “All You Need Is Love” is the greatest to have been performed while chewing gum.

The song stands in a tradition of works intended explicitly as propaganda but which, due to the irrepressibly creative mental habits of the artist, wind up as bona fide works of art despite arguably shallow intentions.

My favorite example is “The Possessed” (sometimes rendered as “The Devils” in English), undertaken by Dostoevsky as a piece of Slavophile propaganda warning Russian readers of the dangers of the proto-Bolshevik movement developing amongst some members of the urban intelligentsia in the 1860s and ‘70’s.

Being Dostoevsky, he couldn’t help himself… before long, purely good and purely evil symbolic characters got complicated, psychologically plausible human ambiguities came increasingly into play, and a magnificent and complicated work of art emerged instead.

I’d nominate “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Leni Riefenstahl’s “Olympia,” and W.H. Auden’s “September 1, 1939” in this tradition as well.

The American national anthem places the listener on the deck of a warship amid frightening naval battle imagery and begins and ends intriguingly with questions—‘can you see it?’ and ‘does it yet wave’? Are we vanquished or triumphant? (And can we possibly sing those absurdly high “red glare” notes in the bridge?)

The notorious German filmmaker Riefenstahl had a brief, and a budget, explicitly for promoting the National Socialist agenda, and wound up changing the language of cinema forever, in a work as beautiful as it is appalling and contemptible.

And the Auden poem, which sets out to call European civilization on the carpet for producing Nazism, ends up so ambiguous in its preachiness that Auden himself sought to prevent it from being anthologized in its original version.

Lennon called himself “a revolutionary artist,” maintaining that his songs “Power To the People,” “Give Peace a Chance” and “All You Need Is Love” were intended as propaganda—‘message’ tunes.

And all right, he scored high on the propaganda meter with “Power” and “Peace,” but with “Love” his artistic nature triumphed in spite of himself.

Lennonesque wit begins before the lyric does, with an impudent quote from “La Marseillaise,” perhaps the bloodiest of all national anthems. The verse, mainly in 7/4 time, presents a series of propositions that get odder the more you try to think them through. Lennon’s debt here is more to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear than to Maxim Gorky and Abbie Hoffman.

It does sort of make sense, there are plenty of things that I can do (that I am logistically able to do) which can't be done (are not permitted)

The structure of the song is complex. The main body (the verse) is in a 7/4 time signature with two measures of 7/4, one of 8/4, then back to 7/4 with the intro background vocals repeatedly singing "Love, love, love", over the top of which enter Lennon's lyrics:

By contrast, the chorus is simple: "All you need is love", in 4/4 time repeated against the horn response but, each chorus has only seven measures as opposed to the usual eight, and the seventh is 6/4, then back to the verse in 7/4.

When a hit song is in 7/4 you know something special is going on: “Money” by Pink Floyd, “Solsbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel, and “2+2=5” by Radiohead are on this very short list.

“All You Need Is Love” could not possibly have flowed from McCartney’s pen. Paul told his friend and biographer Barry Miles that because of the relative security and warmth of his upbringing, he did not feel the need explicitly to shout slogans nor to air personal matters in his songs, preferring to disguise the original emotions with the sorts of artifice he prized in predecessors like Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart.

Whereas, Macca observed, John tended to treat his experiences of love and sadness as world-altering discoveries that needed to be broadcast in unalloyed advertisements: “Love is touch! Touch is love!” “I can’t explain/ so much pain/ I could never show it/ My mummy’s dead”- and so on.

And so when given the chance to perform a song on the first live global television link (“Our World,” broadcast via satellite in June 1967), Lennon chose a sentiment as moving and universal as it is untrue: “All You Need Is Love.” This is a sentiment fully dependent on an advanced civilization that enables its members to take basic needs of food and shelter for granted in order to be other than grimly, hilariously incorrect.

But then the magical power of art kicks in.

Because this song exists, even a hardened cynic like myself has a mental companion for life, melodiously reminding him – say, at the sight of his lovely child playing in a fountain, or at the deathbed of his father – that not only can you "learn to be you in time,” but that “it’s easy”—which is what that wonderful saxophone line seems to affirm, every time they sing the hook, and these old eyes well up once again.

As they do when I listen to the understated version by Nikki Gregoroff. The simple but moving ukulele part played by the legendary Ira Siegal begins with a quote from the anthem of Nikki’s birthplace. The sloganeering melts away as she repeats the sentiment that we all wish to be true.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Canadian by birth internationalist by spirit, Nikki Gregoroff currently lives in New York and has worked with a diverse set of artists including Jewel, Joe Jackson, Britney Spears, Roseanne Cash, Ennio Morricone & Patti Austin.

Her songs have bee

n recorded by more artists than this blog allows space for. You have probably heard one of her songs as you watch television or go to the cinema.

But that has nothing to do with her version of “All You Need Is Love”.

As a young girl in a little cottage in Canada her two sisters and slightly eccentric Scouse mum created a fictional world that lay on the banks of The Mersey

There was always music in that cottage. Pub songs, folk songs, Scouse songs and lots of stories about her mum's childhood in Liverpool during World War II. Street stalls, music halls and bomb shelters. Ration cards, nylons and dock yards all distilled though harmony and rhythm.

Hitler may have redefined the architecture in Liverpool for 60 years but neither his philosophy or his weaponry ever scratched the skin of the Liverpudlian spirit.

In that cottage her mum would transport her back with a piano, a set of spoons and singing… and of course love.

Apparently it’s all you need

Listen to more of Nikki’s work at

www.myspace.com/NikkiGregoroff

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080 – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da – Victor Spinetti

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0000

80 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da – Victor Spinetti

(To download on Mac, Option-Click on the "Download" link)

Original Recording – July 3rd 1968

Ukulele Recording – July 15th 2010

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Victor Spinetti – Vocal

David Barratt – Ukulele and Bass

Recorded at The Festival Theatre, Malvern, England

Mixed at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn

Produced by David Barratt

ABOUT THE SONG

There is a very good reason why we have placed this song immediately after “Ballad Of John And Yoko”. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is “The Ballad Of Paul and Linda”.

The spring of 1968 was a busy time on that filthy ball of dirt we like to call Earth.

American and Vietnamese youth were ripping each other apart with napalm and homemade weaponry. China was continuing to consume itself in a frenzy of Revolting Culture. Nigerian forces were performing genocide in Biafra. Paris was burning and considering handing itself over to 23 year old Daniel Cohn-Bendit. Richard Nixon was in the process of getting elected as President. Valerie Solanas and Sirhan Sirhan were planning to shoot Andy Warhol and Robert F. Kennedy respectively. Enoch Powell was making his incendiary class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Rivers of Blood speech to proto-fascists in Birmingham, England. Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Doctor Harry Steinberg turned 58 (see TBCOU #84) and Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot dead.

Naturally, Paul McCartney thought that what the world needed at that moment in history, was a casually racist, hyper-catchy, faux-reggae, singalong about family life and cross dressing. It was a profoundly personal and intimate song.

You know the reference points. I wonder which Beatle was the closet cross-dresser? My guess is George.

Many of the songs on The White Album written and recorded quickly but “Ob-La-Di” was so important to Paul that it took over sixty takes to get to the version we all know and love/hate today. John helped write an early version of the song when they were working in India, but it was not long before John turned on his original creation, calling it, "Paul's granny shit".

After leaving the studio during the 45th recording of the song, Lennon returned elegantly elevated, stumbled to the piano and played the opening chords considerably louder and faster than before. He forcefully claimed that was how the number should be performed.

This, of course, was the version they ended up using.

Paul wanted to get this song right but the many re-recordings drove the remaining three Beatles to distraction. Harrison hinted at his frustration on "Savoy Truffle," which was recorded three months later. In the song he wrote;

"But what is sweet now, turns so sour/ We all know Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/ But can you show me, where you are?"

McCartney genuinely loved this song, and I think I know why. What he was yearning for, in the middle of his world-famous, jet-setting Beatleworld, was a good, old-fashioned family life, with music and maybe just a little perviness on the side. Which is what he pretty much ended up with in the end.

John thoroughly loathed this song. It represented everything he despised about Paul. Lennon had recently fallen in love with the future Mrs Lennon and he wanted to avoid all the cliches of romance and family life that Paul represented. To have such a happy, simple ballad shoved in his face must have been very confronting. John was later to call the song nonsensical. Maybe Paul should have added lyrics about "yellow matter custard" or "semolina pilchards" or maybe "eggmen" Maybe it would have more sense then.

Ultimately it became The Ballad Of Paul And Linda. Paul stays at home and does his pretty face – What else does a musician do without a day job? – and in the evening Linda became a singer with the band.

McCartney wanted to release Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da >as a single, but the band rebelled and refused, which gave a small unknown band an opportunity. Marmalade became the first Scottish group to top the UK charts, leaving little doubt about their birthplace when they performed the song on Top Of The Pops wearing kilts.

Marmalade's bassist Graham Knight recalls, "The Beatles' music publisher, Dick James, played us the acetate of The Beatles' Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da and we thought it was great. He said, 'You can have it, I won't give it to anyone else,' but of course he passed it to another 27 acts. We rush-recorded it in the middle of the night during a week of cabaret in the north-east. Our manager, who was in America at the time, kept sending us telegrams not to do it. He didn't think we should record a Beatles song. We expected it to do well, but we didn't think it would go to #1. We got no feedback from The Beatles at all. There had been so many covers by that time that I shouldn't think they'd have been very interested." (1000 UK #1 Hits)

There is a little controversy about the authorship of the song.

McCartney was quoted, "A fella (Jimmy Anonmuogharan Scott Emuakpor) who used to hang around the clubs used to say in a Jamaican accent, "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on," and he got annoyed when I did a song of it, 'cause he wanted a cut. I said, 'Come on, Jimmy, it's just an expression."

Jimmy Scott, who was Nigerian, not Jamaican, did try to claim a writer's credit for the use of his catch phrase in the song. Scott argued it was not a general expression, but a phrase that was exclusively used in the Scott-Emuakpor family. However, he agreed to drop the case when McCartney agreed to pay Scott's legal expenses for bail for missing alimony payments. McCartney had his friend Alistair Taylor put up the money in exchange for Scott dropping rights to the name. Taylor had to get the money from a friend, since no one in the Beatles camp carried much cash.

A melody strikingly similar to Ob-La-Di was used by The Offspring in their song "Why Don't You Get A Job?".

I wonder if the lawyers chased that one?

The ukulele version of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da rejects all the jolliness of the original recording and confronts death face on.

We decided to record in the style of Samuel Beckett’s play “Krapp’s Last Tape” featuring the actor/director Victor Spinetti.

The phrase “Life goes on” is not necessarily a happy one.

Victor’s connection with The Beatles is a deep one. He appeared in all of their movies: A Hard Day’s Night, Help and Magical Mystery Tour. He also directed and co-wrote with John Lennon “In His Own Write” which was performed at The National Theatre in London in 1968.

Dave will be directing an audio version of “Krapp’s Last Tape” with Spinetti in 2011.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Spinetti sprang to international prominence in three Beatles' films in the 1960s, A Hard Day's Night, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour. He also appeared on one of The Beatles' Christmas recordings.

The best explanation for this long-running collaboration and friendship might have been provided by George Harrison, who said, "You've got to be in all our films … if you're not in them me Mum won't come and see them—because she fancies you."

Paul McCartney described Spinetti as "the man who makes clouds disappear".

Spinetti has appeared in more than 30 films, including Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew, Under Milk Wood with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Becket, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Krays.

Spinetti's work in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop produced many memorable performances including Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be (1959, by Frank Norman, with music by Lionel Bart), and Oh! What a Lovely War (1963), which transferred to New York City and for which he won a Tony Award for his main role as an obnoxious Drill Sergeant. He has appeared in the West End in The Odd Couple (as Felix); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the West End; as Albert Einstein in a critically lauded performance in 2005 in a new play, Albert's Boy at the Finborough Theatre in 2005 and in his own one-man show, A Very Private Diary.

He directed The Biograph Girl, a musical about the silent film era, at the Phoenix Theatre. He has also appeared on Broadway in The Hostage and The Philanthropist. He has also acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in such roles as Lord Foppington in The Relapse and the Archbishop in Richard III.

Spinetti co-authored In His Own Write, the play with John Lennon which he also directed at the National Theatre, premiering on 18 June 1968, at the Old Vic.

In September 2008 Spinetti reprised his one-man show, A Very Private Diary, touring the UK, telling his life story.

He is currently on tour throughout Britain in Peter Gordon’s play Murdered To Death.

ADDITIONAL NOTE

Dr. L.P.Nicolas adds

I am only too happy to interject on behalf of this oft-maligned ditty. Though my curmudgeonly half-brother Edward P. will no doubt demur, I myself cannot help but admire the bounce and pizzazz, the "naïf et primitif" charm that to this day causes audiences–when the song is performed faithfully to the original–reliably to smile, sing along to the admittedly inane chorus, and repeatedly flex and relax the muscles of their hindquarters and lower groin areas in time to the "beat," as the periodicity of emphasis in this style of music is commonly.

Furthermore, my ne'er-do-well layabout 'musician' nephew Eric reports that as recently as last night (Sunday July 25) a crowd of Russian and Israeli Jews at a house party on the Long Island Sound were roused to a merry frenzy by his band's rendition of this same tune, bringing the dance floor to furious life as "September" and "Let's Groove Tonight" had failed by comparison to do. McCartney elsewhere has opined that "Moscow girls make [him] sing and shout," and his music reliably returns the favor.

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079 – The Ballad Of John And Yoko – Tred

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:54:00 +0000

79 Ballad Of John And Yoko – Tred

(to download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Original Recording – May 30 1969

Ukulele Recording – May 23 2010

Tred – vocals and some instruments

David Barratt – Ukulele and some other instruments

Produced By David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste from original recordings made by Tred.

Essay – Dr. E.P.Nicolas

ABOUT THE TWEET

I’m not going to lie to you: I never cared for the glorified Tweet that was “The Ballad of John and Yoko.” It was Dave’s idea that I write about it.

Reluctantly I revisited this distastefully self-regarding diary-entry of a studio quickie, a tedious travelogue of the famous first-person narrator’s real-life efforts to marry his current ladyfriend and then to pretend to find himself accidentally at the center of the resulting media event — and to be suffering—suffering!– in anticipation of being ‘crucified’ by all that publicity.

(So concerned with the threat of crucifixion was Lennon that he rushed Paul forthwith into the studio, Ringo and George being for the moment unavailable, to immortalize recent events in a 3-chord ditty apparently based on the riff from The Coasters’ “Poison Ivy.” And released it as a single.)

I endured once more the repetition of its insufficiently ironic chorus, which gives a shout-out to fellow-celebrity “Christ” not once but twice in the space of four lines.

Why does it merit discussion at all?

Because of the precedent it sets: the lyric sounds like a trivial blog entry—an over-sharing Tweet whose only claim to interestingness lies in the fame of its author.

The first ‘did-you-mean-to-press-“reply all”?’ in history.

Montaigne, grand patriarch of the essay form, tried to be interesting; posterity does not preserve his account of his honeymoon.

And Van Gogh, in his often soaringly illuminating letters to his brother, included a lot of prosaic detail (‘running low on titanium white again’), but he wasn’t writing that stuff to us.

Lennon himself–and this of course is why the “Ballad” is so disheartening–had already set the bar of pop-lyric interestingness quite high in scads of earlier songs that were framed as first-person accounts, but which quickly rise to the level of the well-worth-saying.

For instance, “Girl” (1966) which, beginning with “Is there anybody going to listen to my story, all about the girl who came to stay” rapidly becomes trenchant and universal.

“The smart one” seemed able to do that sort of thing as readily as rolling out of bed. More readily, in fact, in Lennon’s case, as he was well known to roll only with great difficulty out of bed.

Why then was he, a plainly extraordinary artist, choosing to subject the world to this ballad? A ‘ballad’ in the early sense of the word: straight, allegedly factual narration of events. Most famous surviving ballads are accounts of dramatic, usually lethal, events in the lives of aristocrats, sung for the entertainment of commoners. And so “The B of J & Y” is firmly in that tradition, except that nothing dramatic happens.

What had happened to John’s imagination, and to his wickedly canny sense of what was and was not interesting?

Well, some figures in history appear to be born bellwethers. Who, at the time of John and Yoko’s media-event nuptials, could have predicted that the society of the future might come to suffer from mass confusion about the distinction between individual private lives and the realm of culture, news and art?

By the time of “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (1969), Lennon appears to have come to believe that it mattered to the world what he had had for lunch. And from the point of view of the gutter press, it did.

The lyric faithfully reports this: “the men from the press,” earning their bread by pretending to be fascinated by the quotidiana of Beatledom so as to feed the new mass audience for celebrity gossip, dance a lopsided decathlon pas-de-deux with the coy, shrewd, and protesting-too-much rock star, who has become a master of getting himself photographed and scribbled about while complaining about it.

This is now an essential trait of the modern celebrity.

Lennon’s actual celebrity made his every movement seem newsworthy, and today, vicarious and imaginary celebrity can make what YOU do seem worth telling the planet about.

You don’t have to be a professional historian to know that hindsight is 20/20. With the help of hindsight’s enhancing optical power I am routinely able to understand events–say,

a) an oil spill.

b) a church scandal.

c) The falling-out between Roger and Dave.

as having been, in effect, inevitable given preceding circumstances and conditions –

a) lax regulation, Dick Cheney, a petroleum-based society.

b) a history of papal secrecy, the doctrine of celibacy for clergy, the inherent mendacity of large religious institutions.

c) the combustible nature of affinities of genius.

Yet of course this is a notorious fallacy: in every case things could have turned out otherwise.

Still, some instances make you wonder.

The Beatles have often had ascribed to them various special anointings from Destiny. But of course this again is retroactive, ‘20/20,’ faux wisdom. More ridiculous claims have been made for the Beatles than for the waters of Lourdes. But while a McCartney would in any age have been a reliable font of innovation, synthesis and delightfulness, Lennon is hard to resist as a figure of Fortune’s favorite for his historical moment.

His “Beatles are more popular than Jesus” remark, to which the Christ business in “Ballad” elliptically refers, reported right round a quaintly scandalized world, seemed to have raced right out front of the Sixties’ parade of cascading secularism and irreverence; similarly, the progression of his drug use seems now a microcosm of the adventurous-to-decadent trajectory of the whole Western history of “partying” from the Sixties to the Eighties.

Not for nothing did the original fame monster David Bowie exploit the totemic power of the sound of Lennon’s voice in his hit song “Fame.”

Pop music, like fascism (only nicer), couldn’t have existed without technologies of mass communication, and it was through this newly near-global matrix of media that the Beatles’ charming artistry propelled pop music from pastime to Culture. Unfortunately this left John, still after all a young man, with the mistaken impression that since he could say it and the world would listen, it followed that it was worth saying.

And so let it be a caution to all of us postmodern-day microcelebrities, each of us blasting and Tweeting and blogging away at the helms of our own little PR juggernaut machines, that the experience of actual celebrity ultimately persuaded Lennon – you can see it in his increasingly solipsistic work from “The Ballad of John and Yoko” onward –that innovation and imagination just weren’t as important as what he called (in “God,” from ‘Plastic Ono Band’) “reality,” as in:

“I don’t believe in Beatles / I just believe in me / Yoko and me / and that’s reality.”

I don’t care who you are, that sort of reality just isn’t as interesting as art.

Now will you all please go write a nice poem?

ABOUT THE ARTIST

In 1983 there was a talent contest at the Chuck E. Cheese in Mattydale, NY.

Their stunning live show at the time consisted of 1TRED on the drums and TRED2 on the Farfisa.

Despite their stellar performance of "Billie Jean", they were robbed of first place by a 7 year-old MJ impersonator.

And so would begin a disastrous career in music for the young TRED boys.

Sure, they played to packed rooms in New York City in 1984. But those rooms were rather small.

In 1985 they won a spot on the Live Aid stage when they beat The Hooters tour manager in a vodka and Clamato fueled late night game of snooker.

As you are well aware, TRED never ended up playing Live Aid and neither did Rod Stewart.

This major career setback created a gaping hole in TRED's relationship with themselves, their music, and their shared love for the word "portmanteau".

1989's "The Chickpea" would become the last time the boys would ever work together.

In 2007 1TRED (aka Juan TRED) started work on what would become 2009's Crappy Hits of the 80's: vol II.

He released the music under the TRED moniker just piss off his former collaborator.

15 years on, TRED still does not understand how rain on one's wedding day is ironic.

Find TRED past, present and future on the internet.

http://www.juantred.com

http://hidemylightunderabushel.tumblr.com/

http://www.facebook.com/1TRED

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078 – I Me Mine – Stacie Rose

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:09:00 +0000

78 I Me Mine – Stacie Rose

(to download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Written by George Harrison

Original version recorded – January 3rd 1970

Ukulele version recorded – March 26th 2010

Stacie Rose – Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

photo by angelshots.com

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

"I looked around and everything I could see was relative to my ego. You know, like 'that's my piece of paper,' and 'that's my flannel,' or 'give it to me,' or 'I am.' It drove me crackers– I hated everything about my ego

George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001)

"The greatness of a man's power is the measure of his surrender."

William Booth (10 April 1829 – 20 August 1912)

ABOUT THE SONG

"I Me Mine" from the “Let It Be” album is written and sung by George. He liked the title so much that he used it again for his scrapbook/autobiography in 1980.

The Beatles recording is a mix of two of my least favorite genres. “Maudlin Irish Wake Music” and “White Man Pub Rock Blues”.

Recorded at Twickenham Film Studios it was never intended to be released due to quality control reasons. The song was saved because director Michael Lindsay-Hogg included it on a rough edit of The Saddest Rock’n'Roll Documentary Of All Time.

I Me Mine is very close to being a post-Beatles recording. John had privately quit the group in September 1969 and was practicing “Not Being A Beatle” in Denmark.

Paul, George and Ringo (It doesn’t have the same ring to it does it?) entered Abbey Road on January 3rd 1970 to record a new version of the song. 16 takes later a one minute, thirty-four second version was deemed acceptable.

Harrison referenced Lennon’s absence at the beginning of take 15.

"You all will have read that Dave Dee is no longer with us. But Mickey and Tich and I would just like to carry on the good work that's always gone down in number two.”

When Phil Spector was brought in to save the car crash that was the “Get Back” album he got out his usual bag of tricks i.e. oodles of orchestral overdubs, and re-edited it to squeeze out an extra 45 seconds or so.

The final "re-produced" version by Spector, was featured on the re-titled Let It Be album. A similar edit, without Spector's overdubs, is available on Let It Be… Naked.

The music of I Me Mine is a little dull but the idea behind the song is not.

The Beatles Machine was collapsing under the weight of it’s own collective ego. The individuals in the band felt they were more important than the collective. That included George as well. Let us not forget that his first album after The Beatles break up was a triple album.

But despite his own war with his ego George tells us there is no “ME” only “WE”.

He may be right.

As I write this I am eating breakfast in a cafe in Barking, East London.

The whole experience was created by many people: farmers, butchers, cooks, drivers and many others collaborating with many materials, markets and systems. I, as the end user of the breakfast, am in direct contact with them. My experience is the result of their efforts and aspirations. At the same time I am integral to the fact that the breakfast is created. All the links in the chain that made this breakfast possible are inseparable.

Obviously it is not my breakfast.

In fact everything in society is a collaboration. Not only the physical things, but also the very thoughts within are based on the ideas, myths, experience, language and cultural habits of our ancestors, figures of history and contemporaries.

As stated by Musho in a previous post (link here),"ME" is a delusion in action. Protecting "ME" is a huge industry that controls us personally and politically. "ME" is a field fortified with selfishness and fear, and as it is cultivated we become addicted to anyone who can satisfy and glorify the delusion of "ME".

The idea of “WE” gets a bit of a bad rap in my home town of New York. “ME” or “control of self” is valued above everything. “WE” or “surrender of self” is looked down upon.

In the last few thousand years, we've become incredibly adept technically. We've over-valued the controlling part of ourselves and neglected the surrendering part.

There are however four areas, religion, art, sex, drugs, in which this kind of surrender believed to have value. These are areas where you stop being manipulators of your surroundings and become recipients.

- In religion, you stop being you and you start to become us.

- In art, the work you are creating is not by you put passes through you.

- With drugs, you go from being you to being part of everything.

- In sex, when it’s done right, the distinction of self and other disappear.

In lots of South American cultures, religion and drugs are very close.

In Hinduism, sex and religion are very close.

For a lucky few of us all four can be combined at will.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Genre-jumping pop genius Stacie Rose with David Barratt merged the various sections of I Me Mine into one rhythmic melange with her voice swooping and swirling like an osprey in flight across the track.

Stacie Rose is thrilled to have recorded one of her all-time favorite Beatle songs for this amazing project. The notion that this song illuminates and exposes our human lust/obsession with ego and in a sense renounces that, which can only bog us down seems particularly fitting, since she’s about to release her Alter-Ego Ep’s. (ENCHANTED RECORDS) The idea of life being more about “WE” than “ME” is appealing as Stacie continues an ongoing love affair with collaboration in music making.

With all Ego aside…here are the facts..

Rose has been hailed for her super-hooky, confessional songs that effortlessly, fuse pop, soul, country, & rock and stay in your head. Critics have compared her song-writing to the likes of Rosanne Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Suzanne Vega, and Aimee Mann and her pop sensibility to artists like, Sheryl Crow, Nelly Furtado, Dido and Avril Lavigne; but have praised her for a vocal & visceral sound all her own. Consistently noted as an “artist you should know about.”

Stacie knows that you are not alone.

You are not even you.

www.stacierose.com

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077 – I Wanna Be Your Man – We’re Late For Class

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 07:11:00 +0000

77 I Wanna Be Your Man – We're Late For Class

(to download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded September 12 1963

Ukulele version recorded February 29 2010

We’re Late For Class – Music, Vocals

Blind Lemon Siegel – Ukulele

Scribbling – Kylie Brush

Produced by Dave at The Abattoir Of Good Taste from original recordings made by WLFC.

ABOUT THE SONG

Stones, Beatles; Beatles, Stones. Back and forth, cut and thrust, lob and volley, the simple stand-and-deliver question “The Beatles or The Stones?” still rattles cages after a half-century of exposition.

Back in November 1963, the near-simultaneous release of versions of Lennon and McCartney’s “I Wanna Be Your Man” by both groups provided a neat snapshot comparison of where they were at and where they were going.

The Stones “may” be better than The Beatles, just as Dave "may" spend this summer reclining at his exclusive 97-room palace on his own private island in the company of Kate Winslet, Gisele Bundchen and Vladimir Putin occasionally dive bombing the beaches of the Cote d'Azur in his fur-lined executive gunship, and dining every evening on vintage moose-milk cheese and life-sized replicas of himself sculpted entirely from foie gras.

But what can not be denied that is The Stones version of I Wanna Be Your Man IS better than The Beatles version.

There is a very simple reason for this

The Beatles were not very good at doing sex.

They fumbled and apologized their way through inept bra unfastening while The Stones were practically born with beautiful models dripping off of their androgynous but perfectly formed bodies.

Sex is good and nice and very important and The Beatles were rubbish at it.

Would you shag John?

I don’t think so. What we all want to get close to is confidence and the Stones despite their lack to technique in writing, playing and singing, had in spades. Little Johnny was way too paranoid.

Paranoia is simply not sexy.

Now don’t get me wrong, paranoia has it’s uses. It is an excellent tactic for the powerless. The expression of those conspiracy theories, if you shout them loud enough, puts you at the centre of events and attention thereby giving the paranoiac a type of power and status that can be got by no other means.

Lennon and other bullied boys at the back of the class lived for that shit. But would you want to fuck that shitty self image?

Of course some of you would, but millions more would shag The Stones. Any of them. Even Charlie.

The Beatles want you to like them, The Stones don’t care (it’s not accidental that we automatically call Ringo by his first name and Jagger by his second).

The Beatles would soon reveal extraordinary melodic flair, surreal humour and boundary-changing sonic inventiveness, but The Stones would always have elemental dirty elegance on their side. So you’ve got two bands. Two food groups. You can of course create a nutritionally balanced menu from both. Or you can binge on either like a deranged animal until you’re sick. All I’m saying is, this is not a health and safety issue, it’s a quality of life issue. And I’m not a doctor.

Our version is performed by the enigmatic genius that is “We’re Late For Class” on Feb. 29, 2010, except this wasn't a leap year, so we're not sure what the deal is. They would not let us see their faces while we worked which made the recording a unique and rewarding process which we wish other artists would consider.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

"Live, all improvisational college collective, with about a dozen rotating members.

Anti-contract, pro-herb and some cut & paste."

46 posts of original, all improv, space racket (and one Beatles Mash Up, #47).

It's all free. …

About all you really need is our blog address

http://werelateforclass.blogspot.com/

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076 – Please Please Me – The Rest Is History

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:35:00 +0000

click here to play

076 – Please Please Me – The Rest Is History

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

Original Version recorded Sept 11, Nov 26 1962 and Feb 11, 20 1963

Ukulele version recorded March 1985 – remixed February 16 2012

Phil Johnstone – Lead vocal, keyboards

David Barratt – Drum programming, keyboards, glockenspiel and ukulele

with

Alex Johnstone – Vocals

Joe Breban – Drums

Produced by Phil Johnstone and David Barratt, Mixed at the Abattoir Mobile,

Courtyard Hotel, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Seminal 80′s pomp-pop band "The Rest Is History" managed to bankrupt several record labels and management companies with their outlandish lifestyles and recording techniques. Never releasing any finished recordings the band broke up in 1986. Led Zeppelin hair-artist and vocalist, Robert Plant, recorded two of their songs (Heaven Knows and Upside Down).

Currently Phillip Johnstone resides in his country manor and often patronizes the arts.

The whereabouts of David Barratt is unknown.

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075 – Michelle – Floanne

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:12:20 +0000

75 Michelle – Floanne

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded November 3rd 1965

Ukulele version recorded January 21 2010

Written By Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Floanne Ankah – Vocals

Gary Schreiner – Accordion

David Barratt – Ukulele and Everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir of Good Taste, Brooklyn

Photo Ludovic Nicolas

SUR LA CHANSON

The Beatles were from Liverpool but they were never of Liverpool.

In a biological sense they were Irish, much more than, U2 for example. 15 of their 16 grandparents hailed from Ireland and Celtic self pity drips from almost every Lennon lyric. Many of their melodies are direct descendants of Irish tunes.

As a business or cultural entity it could be argued that they were a German band. They came to Hamburg as boys with little musical experience and as men ready to invade the world with a totalitarian vision that would appeal to the masses and frighten the establishment.

What The Beatles were not was English, and certainly not Scouse. As soon as they could they ran like a drug-crazed Ben Johnson away from Liverpool never to return.

At this point we would like to apologize to our British readers. We know that you know what Scouse means but our international cousins…. well y’know…

The origin of the name “Scouse” comes from the name of a very a basic stew of meat, potato and vegetables not unlike a goulash or Irish stew. The people who ate Scouse were nearly all sailors. Eventually all sailors within Liverpool were referred to as Scousers. As time passed everyone from the region of Liverpool is known as a Scouser.

So what defines a Scouser?

1. Place of birth – Liverpool or within shouting distance of The River Mersey. Yep all four Beatles were born in this area

2. Accent – Scouse is a fast, highly accented manner of speech, with a range of rising and falling tones unlike any other English accent. Irish influences include the pronunciation of and the 2nd Person plural (you) as 'youse/yous’

The scouse accent sounds like this

http://thebeatlescompleteonukulele.bandcamp.com/album/miscellaneous-audio

The Beatles do not.

3. Football – Ask any Scouser “Red or Blue?” and they will immediately answer Liverpool or Everton. Identification with these two teams is a vital part of Scouse life. The only time any of The Beatles were spotted at a football match was Paul at the 1966 FA Cup Final between Everton and Sheffield Wednesday and whenever he is asked if he is Red (Liverpool) or Blue (Everton) he always answers in a typically diplomatic fashion “Well… both really”.

Diplomacy is not a Scouse trait.

4. Loyalty to the City. As soon as they could all four left the city never to live anywhere near the area again. Ringo in Los Angeles, John in New York, George in Henley and Paul walking distance from Abbey Road and summers in Long Island. But never Liverpool or any of the countryside around it. Paul and Ringo have done concerts for the city but when interviewed by Jonathan Ross Ringo was asked if there was anything he missed about his birthplace Starr replied:

"Er, no… I was a child in Liverpool. I grew up in Liverpool. My family members are in Liverpool. But you know…”

On some level The Beatles knew they had to kill the father that sired them to fulfill their destiny. One of the ways that The Beatles escaped Liverpool was via fantasy. The writing of Michelle was an example of this.

The outline to what would become the Michelle was written by on Paul McCartney’s $15 Zenith guitar in 1959 at the age of seventeen. It was originally written as a joke song. Paul would sit in a corner at parties with a black beret making up nonsense lyrics with a fake french accent. It got some cute laughs and the song was promptly forgotten by everyone except John.

Fast forward six years. The pressure to create new material was great. John mentioned that the “joke song” had a pretty good tune and could be reworked into a track for the Rubber Soul album.

Paul did not speak French so he visited French teacher Jan Vaughan, the wife of former Quarryman Ivan Vaughan. He had the title, Michelle and the rhyme “Ma Belle” he asked her what it meant. She told him Ma Belle meant “My Beautiful” to which he replied “Those are words that go together well”. She then translated what he said back to him “Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble” and the song was all but written.

John had been listening to a lot of Nina Simone at the time and the proof of this comes in the bridge. Check out her version of “Put A Spell On You”. At about 1min 59sec a melody and lyric not unlike the John contribution to Michelle appears.

So out of a Childish joke, a rudimentary French lesson, a $15 guitar and a second hand Nina Simone riff they managed to create massive worldwide hit and their only “Song Of The Year” Grammy.

In that same year Record Of The Year was won by one of the other giants of 20th Century popular culture, Frank Sinatra for “Strangers In The Night”. On the surface these two songs have little in common but in fact one is about two lovers who cannot communicate because they cannot speak the same language while the other is about two lovers who cannot see one another because it is so dark.

A passing of the flame indeed. Sinatra hated The Beatles. His favorite Lennon and McCartney song was “Something” (sic). Dispite being a musical genius he simply didn’t get it. 65/6 saw a changing of the guard culturally and musically from the big band, solo singer with outside writer model to self contained musical entities that is to say, bands.

So to have two excellent songs about miscommunication being so popular at that very moment was perfect.

McCartney, being the forever, eager to please puppy dog that he is performed the song to Mrs Obama a couple of weeks ago. This time the guitar cost more that $15.

Our version is sang by Floanne, the most Gallic woman in Manhattan. We have reversed the lyric so the English is in French and the French is in English. We have also reversed the roles telling the story from the female perspective. Her “Michelle” is a sweet boy who she has feelings for but she just can’t make herself understood. She is frustrated because their love lives outside of language.

But of course love always lives outside of language.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Floanne grew up on a French farm and moved to New York in 2000 to hone her work on stage and with the camera. She is a singer, actor and filmmaker, who started her training in operatic voice with Patricia Scimeca. Under the mentorship of Jean Brassard, she developed a cabaret show of romantic French songs called "J'avoue" (English: I admit) exploring classics from the sixties. She collaborates with musicians in New York and Paris to create her own songs, and performing at cabaret and in the underground scene. She is the current voice of Kate Moss for the Yves Saint Laurent commercial “Parisienne" and has been featured in music videos including with Coco Rocha. More information at www.floanne.com

Floanne has performed as an actor at the Public Theater and the Guggenheim Museum. Her experimental dance films have received awards across the country. Her documentary on a French farm was shown at this year’s Cannes Film Market. She is an avid comedy improviser and collaborates on numerous film and stage projects with her company, SIMPLE production (www.simpleproduction.com)

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074 – Sexy Sadie – Emily Johnstone

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:12:20 +0000

click here to play

74 – Sexy Sadie – Emily Johnstone

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

Original Version recorded 19 and 24 July, 13 and 21 August 1968

Ukulele version recorded April 5 2012

Emily Johnstone: Lead vocal

Alex Johnstone: Backing vocal, vocal drum kit and tambourine

Harriet Johnstone: Vocal piano

Paddy O’Doors: Ukulele and Glockenspiel

Produced by The Rest Is History

Form original recordings made by Phil Johnstone at Velvet Studios

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

"Maharishi, you little twat

Who the fuck do you think you are?

Oh, you cunt."

John Lennon

The ukulele version is a family affair. MDMA, cocaine, Black Afghani hashish and raw grain alcohol all came together to unite the double-vision of this recording.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born 7/9/1988: during a wild electric storm

Aged 3: Should have been charged with attempted murder having pushed her delightful brother out of a first floor window in a fit of peak.

Aged 8: Discovered trying to insert a glowworm into an orifice of rock guitarist Kurt Schefter.

Aged 9: Joined the fluffy head choir of Exeter cathedral.

Aged 13: Attempts to set fire to the cathedral school and close while partying on the roof

Aged 14: Dyes hair black…this didn’t last long

Aged 18: Spends a year in Valencia for tax reasons

Aged 19: Embarks on a series of unsuitable boyfriends

Aged 22: Goes to Barcelona to improve the midfield

Aged 24: Has worldwide hit record with her band The Big V

Aged 26: In the priory

Aged 27: Still in the priory

Last known whereabouts: Jail, rehab…

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073 – I’ve Just Seen A Face – Mumtaz Jafri

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:12:20 +0000

073 I’ve Just Seen A Face – Mumtaz Jafri

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon McCartney

Original version recorded June 14th 1965

Ukulele version recorded January 2nd 2010

Mumtaz Jafri – Vocals and guitar

Terry Radigan – Vocals

Gary Schreiner Piano, accordion

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Essay: Sgt. Hank Semolina

For best results play I’ve Just Seen A Face on repeat.

ABOUT THE SONG

"I’ve Just Seen A Face" is the first of three Beatles masterpieces recorded on June 14, 1965, four days before Paul McCartney’s 23rd birthday.

This was a big day in Beatleworld. In America the unimaginatively named “Beatles VI” was released while in England John Lennon’s book of nonsense stories, "A Spaniard In The Works", was published.

But the real magic that day was happening, as it usually did, in Abbey Road Studio 2.

In six short hours, The Beatles, led a baby-faced Paul McCartney, recorded not one, not two, but three pop classics.

They started after a light lunch (cheese sandwich, Branston pickle) with "I’ve Just Seen A Face." They then had a nice cup of tea and digestive biscuits, picked up their guitars and rocked out "I’m Down". Then after a rather unpleasant evening meal, (steak and kidney pie, mashed potato and overcooked English greens, with a dessert of Spotted Dick), McCartney laid down the guitar and vocal to "Yesterday".

Any other band would have sold their souls to have written, recorded and released any one of these songs. Entire careers rose and fell on less than any one of them. The Beatles did them all in a single day.

It was nothing for them.

It was just what they did.

On first listening it could be said that the three songs have nothing in common – but that would be wrong. Paul had the band record these songs in sequence, which when listened to in order tell a complete and exquisite tale of love found, fought, and ultimately lost.

All this, conceived by a 22 year old boy and executed by him and his mates as effortlessly as BP pumps oil into the ocean.

"I’ve Just Seen A Face" was the first recording that day, the quintessential song of love’s first flush. Paul gushes a stream of charmingly unexpected rhymes in a tribute to the "face" that he has "just seen" (he doesn’t know her name but he knows she is beautiful) of which he will "dream . . . tonight."

The possibilities are still endless.

By the afternoon, however, things have started to turn a little sour. The owner of the morning "face" has now become a mid-afternoon drag, who "tells lies" and "can’t cry" because she’s laughing at the man who fell in love with her that morning.

By nightfall, the arc is complete. The jilted lover thinks back to yesterday (in reality it was that morning), when his troubles seemed so far away. But now night has fallen, and the girl of which he sang he had never known the likes of, just that morning, has left. Why? She didn’t say. But something went wrong and she’s gone.

This complete, perfect opera of love’s intoxicating beginnings, laborious middle, and heartbreaking ending was written by a boy.

There ought to be a word bigger than "genius" for things like this. It is our own shortcoming that we didn’t come up with one then, and still haven’t now.

On first listen "I’ve Just Seen A Face" is a song about infatuation but it is in fact a song about geometry.

Everyone knows the moment that breath is taken away by the sheer beauty of a perfect face. S/he fills you with wonder. Your heart sings. You are simultaneously helpless and powerful in its wake. Quite possibly you create a future that involves a beach, a sunset and a fire.

The more cynical amongst us may think that this is something to do with skin care, working out at the gym, tanning salons or surgical enhancement , but really it is about math. The length and angle of the bones. The light refracting on the skin’s surface. The breadth of the hips.

We are suckers for it every time. And let us thank Darwin that we are.

Neurons and hormones work together and whisper words like “Love”, “Destiny” or “Magic” to us, but really it’s just a bunch of unpronounceable chemicals doing their best to ensure reproduction of the next generation.

What great songwriters do is take that confluence of chemicals and make it poetic. McCartney is a master of the art.

No anchors weigh down the soaring spirit of this song, in fact, there isn’t even a bass guitar on the track. John, Paul and George play their acoustic guitars together, with teenage jumbled-up coordination – a perfect match to the breathless lyrics that are sputtered over them. The words come in a rush of disjointed phrases ("been aware . . . dream of her/girl for me . . . world to see/known the like of this . . . been alone and I have missed") that never quite settle down but skip like stones thrown by a hopeful lover’s hand across a still pond. Its the frantic rhythm of teenage love.

The song captures the boundless uncertainty of love’s undefinable first stirrings in many other odd ways as well; for example, although it was recorded in the key of "A" it feels like it was written in "G" (as many of us guitarists have concluded over the years) and Paul himself, in later years, switched to playing it in G. The song thus "exists" in two keys. It also "exists" on two albums; the British "Help!" (where it was intended, at least chronologically) and the American "Rubber Soul" (where arguably it is more at home with its acoustic siblings and feels more naturally in its place). For all these reasons it is a song that you can’t quite put your finger on, you can’t tie down — and maybe that’s the whole point. It remains full of things to discover, like the budding love affair of which it sings.

Our version features the world-weary, disenchanted but sexually magnetic Mumtaz Jafri.

Mumtaz has seen love sneak through the back door too many times. He knows that this chance meeting can only end in one of two ways.

Separation or death.

There is no escape.

He has done his best to avoid that disgusting and distrusting emotion that some call love, but there it is again in the corner of the bar, the one they should have closed several hours ago, ready to tease and torture him once more.

That perfectly sculpted face. That cruel Adonis will lead him against, what could be laughingly described as his will, towards the pain and sorrow that only love can bring.

He’s falling.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

In 1970, Mumtaz Jafri was born of Pakistani and Dutch parents in The Netherlands.

Mumtaz studied theater at the Academy of Performing Arts in Amsterdam, and graduated with his one man show, "NUL" ( ZERO ), in 1995. The show won several prizes and he toured the Netherlands with it for 3 years.

He was presented with the opportunity to live out his childhood dream of living on a farm with a chubby bearded farmer in the middle of nowhere (Wales) and live off the land.

For the next seven years he bred Golden Guernsey goats, rare breed poultry, broke in horses, raised, killed and ate his own pork, kept bees and grew his own vegetables and fruit.

In 2005 Jafri moved back to the Netherlands for a brief period to record his first CD, and after that moved to New york to spend some time with his brother and his family.

He currently lives in Cardiff.

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072 – This Boy – Mark Avis

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:12:20 +0000

072 – This Boy – Mark Avis

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

Original version recorded October 17 1963

Ukulele Version recorded – June 2011

Mark Avis : Vocal

David Barratt: Ukulele & everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste from an original recording by Mark.

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

In October 1963 legendary baseball pitcher Sandy Koufax became even more legendary when set a World Series record by striking out 15 New York Yankees in a 5-2 victory in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium.

A couple of weeks later The Beatles had an equally productive day at the office when they recorded "This Boy", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", the group’s first fan club Christmas single, and a version of "You Really Got A Hold On Me".

This makes me feel very lazy indeed.

“This Boy” was an attempt by John at writing a song in the style of Smokey Robinson,specifically "I’ve Been Good To You", which has similar circular doo-wop chord changes, melody and arrangement. Paul cites The Teddy Bears 1959 hit "To Know Him Is To Love Him" as also being influential. Lennon, McCartney, and George Harrison join together to sing an intricate three-part harmony in the verses and refrain (originally the middle eight was conceived as a guitar solo, but altered during the recording process) and a similar song writing technique is exercised in later Beatles songs, such as "Yes It Is" and "Because".

An instrumental version of “This Boy” was used in A Hard Day’s Night. The piece, under the title, "Ringo’s Theme (This Boy).

This Boy never refers to a she, although it’s clearly implied. The "(Ringo’s Theme)" part of the title is a clue. I think the song is a disguised adolescent dig at Pete Best. The lyrics are directed from Pete Best’s point of view begging the Beatles to give him a second chance, that Ringo was bad for them. So Pete is actually "This Boy", Ringo is "That Boy", and the implied girl in the song is "The Beatles". But the song lyrics are written in enough of a general way to also pass as a love song, and that’s the clever part of it.

The ukulele version is performed by a singer who was the leader of the first musical project I was ever involved with.

It was in around 1974. We were attending the now closed Mayesbrook Comprehensive. Mark could play guitar and sing which made him the de-facto leader of the band. One of the first songs he brought to us was “This Boy.” I’m not sure if I would have ended up having what could be loosely described as a career in music had I not caught the bug during those early rehearsals.

Thank you Mark… I think.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

I was born in East London and moved to Dagenham during Primary School. At Mayesbrook Comprehensive school, I got together with a group of like minded individuals, including one David Barratt and the long lost Billy Osborne to play music, usually in someone’s living room or in the school “music room” where we were supported by the music teacher who came up with the name Tonic (it was the 70s after all) for the short lived “group”.

I remember sitting working out the chords to “This Boy” in about 1974 on the steps of that music room.

Into the diaspora to which all right thinking Dagenites eventually go, I worked at various jobs – Tesco, a left wing organisation and a paint factory most notably, until settling on being a Primary teacher.

Having held various posts in teaching, including Headteacher, I am now the Deputy Head of the fantastic Ash Grove Primary School in Macclesfield.

I sing and play guitar at home to my wife Dwynwen and my kids, Alis and Tomos (Alis is becoming an efficient uke player) and for the kids in my school. I was honoured to be asked to contribute to TBCOU

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071 – Nowhere Man – Emily Bindiger

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:28:00 +0000

71 Nowhere Man – Emily Bingdiger

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Written by Lennon/McCartney

Emily Bindiger – Vocals

Eric Nicolas – Guitar

Tim Ouimette – Trumpet

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Original version recorded October 21-22 1965

New version recorded Jan 26 2010

Produced by David Barratt The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn

ABOUT THE SONG

Nowhere Man from Rubber Soul is an early example of The Beatles taking themselves seriously.

John Lennon: "We were just getting better, technically, and musically, that's all. Finally we took over the studio. In the early days, we had to take what we were given, we didn't know how you can get more bass. We were learning the technique on Rubber Soul. We were more precise about making an album”.

Years later, John, after much therapy, Yokoism and weed claimed that Nowhere Man was about himself, which unconsciously it possibly was, but at the time of recording there is very little doubt that he was making a pretty limp wristed attack on what he considered to be The Establishment.

Trapped in the suburbs, trapped in his marriage and trapped in his own head John was lashing out at the Grey Men he thought ran the world.

Ironically The Beatles at that very moment were being courted by the powers that be.

Prince Charles wrote asking for the Beatles autographs – and received them. Unfortunately, like most Beatles autographs, they were forged by road manager Neil Aspinall.

Harold Wilson, The British Prime Minister was a fan.

On October 16th 1965 The Beatles received their MBE’s (Member of the Order of British Empire) at Buckingham Palace.

John, was not entirely happy with receiving the award. When he'd originally seen the brown envelope with 'On Her Majesty's Service' written on it he thought he was being called up for the armed services. When Brian Epstein phoned him to discuss it and he told him that he wanted to turn it down, Brian, forever the politician, said that he had to accept the honor. Later, John said: "Taking the MBE was a sell-out to me."

Just a week after receiving their medals “Nowhere Man” was recorded at Abbey Road.

Nowhere Man is first Beatles song not to be about romantic love. The lyrics are Dylanesque but not in the same league as Dylan. There is a preachiness about these lyrics that is more early George than John.

So why is it so bloody good?

Well… The acapella opening is stunning and unique on a Beatles recording. The band kicks in on the end of the 4th bar with a simple but effective folk rock arrangement.

George’s guitar riff played on a Rickenbacker cuts like glass. Obviously this was deeply influenced by The Byrds who had a hit at the beginning of 1965 with their cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man” but the Beatles arrangement is much more restrained and thought out. More English. This is California seen from a misted up window in Dorking. You can hear grey clouds on this recording.

Paul’s arpeggiated bass-line is insistent but never interferes with the melody contrasting with the simplicity of Ringo’s rhythm.

George’s solo, played on a sonic blue Strat, is one of my favorites. Playing a simple melody The Rickenbacker shimmers and shines. The low E followed by the harmonic at the end is a hook in itself.

But it is the vocal arrangement that takes this song from a B- to a solid A. The group vocal on the verses changes to a lead and two harmony vocals reflecting the change of speaking in the third person to a direct address on the bridge.

“Making all his nowhere plans for nobody” was Paul’s lyrical contribution to the song which he uses to upstage John in the coda by singing it loudly as the high harmony at the end.

Nowhere Man is a direct ancestor of “And Your Bird Can Sing” even down to John’s use of a capo on the second fret, write it in D and have to come out in E.

Our version features one of New York’s top session singers Emily Bindiger. I had been listening to a lot of Dusty Springfield at the time of this recording and it shows. I made Emily wear a beehive wig during the recording to which, being the professional she is, complied without hesitation. Special mention should be made of Tim Ouimette’s subtle and tender trumpet on the bridge.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Emily Bindiger hears voices. The kind that make her harmonize with everything, anything and anyone, including herself.

Emily is a NY singer, producer, and vocal arranger who has recorded and/or performed with such diverse artists as Leonard Cohen, George Benson, Buster Poindexter (David Johansen), Joan Osborne, Lou Reed, Steve Van Zandt, Lesley Gore, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Neil Sedaka, with whom she toured for several years.

Movie soundtracks include Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway" and "Everyone Says I Love You", "Donnie Brasco", "The Hudsucker Proxy", "Michael Collins", “Mission to Mars”, “The Stepford Wives”, "Shining Through", "Joe's Apartment" (she played a singing bug!), "A Chorus Line", "Mr. Nanny", the animated feature "The Tune", "Hot Rod", and "Nine".

She is also a member of the multi-award-winning a cappella group, The Accidentals.

Yes, she hears voices…

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070 – She Said She Said – Ann Klein

admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:12:20 +0000

070 – She Said She Said – Ann Klein

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

Original version recorded June 21 1966

Ukulele Version recorded – May 27 2011

Ann Klein: Vocal, guitar, mandolin, ukulele

Terry Radigan: Backing vocal

David Barratt: Bass, piano, ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn

Written Lennon & Harrison

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABPOUT THE SONG

“She Said She Said” (so good they named it twice) has been the source of a misunderstanding. The misunderstanding is that this song is about drugs or came about because of the taking of drugs in the 60’s.

Nothing could be further fromthe truth.

“She Said” is a simple reporting of a discussion between Lennon and his Aunt Mimi probably around 1958/9. Typical of circular conversations between parents/guardians and their children.

John did not want to be living with his elder, stricter aunt and wanted to be back with his mother. They Had many many arguments that took the same form.

It could be written out as short play.

SHE SAID…

Place: Kitchen of 251 Menlove Avenue, the home of George and Mimi Smith, where Lennon lived for most of his childhood and adolescence.

Mimi (in frustration): "I know what it’s like to be dead. I know what it is to be sad. You’re making me feel like I’ve never been born

Lennon (to himself): “She’s making ME feel like I’ve never been born.”

Lennon "Who put all those things in your head? Things that make me feel that I’m mad. You’re making ME feel like I’ve never been born."

Mimi: "You don’t understand what I said"

Lennon: "No, no, no, you’re wrong"

(Looks at a picture of his mother) “When I was a boy everything was right”

(Mimi looks away)

Lennon: "Even though you know what you know, I know that I’m ready to leave ’cause you’re making me feel like I’ve never been born."

Young Lennon slams door and leave house.

Curtain closes…

This was the final track recorded during the Revolver sessions, and was hastily added when the album line-up was found to be a song short. It took nine hours to rehearse and record the entire song, complete with overdubs. After the recording of the song The Beatles’ producer George Martin is reported to have said: "All right, boys, I’m just going for a lie-down."

Harrison said he helped Lennon construct the song from two separate "bits".

McCartney does not appear on the track; the bass is played by Harrison.

McCartney said, "I’m not sure but I think it was one of the only Beatle records I never played on. I think we had a barney or something and I said, ‘Oh, fuck you!,’ and they said, ‘Well, we’ll do it.’”

The song is often noted for Ringo Starr’s "circular" patterns and other contributions: Starr himself has expressed particular pride in his performances during this era.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Guitarist, Mandolinist Ann Klein has established herself as one of downtown NYC’s most diverse musicians/composers. Her credits include: Natalie Imbruglia, Joan Osborne, PM Dawn, Toshi Reagon, Kate Pierson of the B-52s, Ani DiFranco and she has played on Broadway in the shows Grease, 9 to 5, Everyday Rapture and Baby It’s You. As an artist, Ann was featured on the cover of Billboard in an article on NYC’s best unsigned bands, received support from hundreds of college radio stations and local press. She has been invited to return to Europe every year for the past 10 years, primarily in Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany as a solo artist.

She is most happy wah-wah ing her way out of any solo, any time…

"…. a dynamo guitarist .." (Billboard)

"Somebody call the Bonnaroo bookers: This gal’s as steamy as a hot July afternoon."

· Fred Mills, HARP

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069 – Here Comes The Sun – Holly Palmer

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Sun, 09 May 2010 22:17:00 +0000

69 Here Comes The Sun – Holly Palmer

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded July /August 1969

Ukulele version recorded February 26th 2010

Written by George Harrison

Holly Palmer – Vocals

Kenny White – Ukulele

Tim Ouimette – Trumpet

David Barratt – Wall of ukuleles and everything else

Produced by David Barratt The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn

ABOUT THE SONG

Winters in England, though not severe, seem to drag on for an eternity. One of the main reasons about 400,000 Brittons emigrate from the UK every year is the endless drag of the cold grey season that can stretch well into May.

If the Eskimos have 400 words for snow, the English have 700 words for “it’s dark and cold.”

1968/9 was an especially painful winter of discontent for George Harrison. He knew that the Beatles were done. Apple records had become a catastrophic black hole that threatened to suck George, and everything else in sight, into its death spiral. The reason George was in a band in the first place was to escape the drudgery of a real job in a real corporation, and the business of trying to keep Apple afloat among the all but dead relationship of its founders was a particularly grueling job for anyone, including Beatle George.

The business of being a Beatle was no fun at all in 1969. It was cold, dreary, and dark. It was a winter in and of itself.

George just wanted these simultaneous winters, both within him and without him, to end. He wanted his moment to shine, without having to worry about two of the greatest songwriters of all time checking over his homework.

Like most musicians I know, all George really wanted to do was play music. One afternoon he escaped from his duties at Apple and took a drive to his best friend's house in Ewhurst, Surrey. Fortunately his best friend at the time was Eric Clapton, so there was no shortage of guitars to mess about with. In the garden, reflecting on the misery that had been and the thaw he was feeling, Harrison constructed a simple but gorgeous melody. The song is quintessentially Beatlesque without referring directly to any previous Beatle song.

Spring is coming. It will all be OK. I will be OK. This misery is going to end and something new and wonderful will begin.

All four Beatles had agreed that Abbey Road was to be their last project as a group. It’s not really a band album but the best bits from four solo albums glued together with the three spare Beatles supporting the writer of any paticular song. The album does not suffer because of this. The vision of each songwriter is intact and it is a credit to all of them that they did not sabotage the project for the sake of their own vanity.

George Martin, very comfortable in his role as headmaster, made sure there was to be none of the fighting that accompanied the painful “White Album” or “Let It Be” sessions.

The recording began on July 7, 1969, two years to the day after the release of John’s own version of his “It will all be ok” song, “All You Need Is Love.” The production of “Sun,” like “Love,” is happy and relaxed.

Unlike “Love,” though, “Sun” shines with a crystalline clarity that cuts through the performance with waves of joy – musical sunshine. The use of the Moog synth parts are especially tasteful considering what other people were doing with (or to) the instrument at the time.

Paul’s backing vocals on the track, directed by George, sounds like errr… George. Ringo smoothes out all the signature changes making 11/8 time sound like 4/4, which is no mean feat. John is nowhere to be found on the recording — which is no bad thing.

A little more than two weeks later, though, John directed the recording of his own song, which pointedly began with the lyrics “Here comes the sun . . . . KING.” Was John Lennon, of all people, tipping his hat to the now nearly-finished Harrison masterpiece of which he had no part? The songs, after all don’t begin with a similar lyric; they begin with the exact same lyric. John Lennon had started borrowing songwriting tips from George Harrison.

The message in “Here Comes The Sun” is clear, and it was apparently heard by its intended recipients.

Dear John and Paul,

I have had enough of your constant power struggles. I am old enough now to take care of myself. Thanks for everything. Bye.

George

George had finally – if only for a few years – blossomed as a songwriter par excellence, the two best compositions on Abbey Road were his — and they all knew it.

The ice had melted. Winter was over.

Our version features Holly Palmer. For her the song has a very special resonance. When Holly was about seven years of age her Uncle gave her a copy of Sgt. Pepper. Not the 1967 Beatles album but the soundtrack to the much maligned Robert Stigwood/Bee Gees film which was released in 1978.

No matter to Holly.

She immediately became enraptured with the Sandy Farina version of Here Comes The Sun. For the little girl there was no snobbiness surrounding the fact that it was not the original recording. Holly heard beauty and responded to it. The song has stayed with her throughout her life but the meaning of the lyric has changed.

Her vocal that you are listening to now reflects that change. There is a sadness in Holly’s voice that captures the pain of the winter just passed as well as celebrating the spring to come.

Her son Maceo was born on March 13, 2009. After an ideal pregnancy, and a short labor, he was born with no breath in his body.

He was limp, grey and silent.

She was told that at some point in the few days prior to delivery, something happened in-utero depriving her baby of oxygen for an undeterminable amount of time. Evidently he recovered enough to be born, but the lack of oxygen left him with a brain injury.

No one knew exactly why or how this came about but Holly and her husband Joe figured that it didn’t matter. What mattered was that life was going to be totally different than it was before and they had better be up to the task ahead.

The next couple of months Maceo, Holly and Joe struggled in the hospital. Most parents come home with their baby a day or so after birth. It took two months of constant care in NICU – Bay 4, Bed 3 for Maceo to be ready to leave.

The recording on this site is released May 11th 2010 — exactly one year to the day that Maceo was released from hospital.

Our version is for him and anyone else who is struggling to come home.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Holly Palmer is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. She has released four albums as a solo artist, and has toured and recorded extensively as a vocalist with acts including David Bowie and Gnarls Barkley.

Other musicians with whom she has collaborated include Dr. Dre, Billy Preston, Mark Isham, Dave Navarro and Michael Bublé.

Albums

Holly Palmer (1996, Warner Bros. Records)

Tender Hooks (2004, Bombshell Records)

I Confess (2004, Bombshell Records)

Songs for Tuesday (2007, Bombshell Records)

www.hollypalmer.com

To lean more about Maceo’s story go to

www.MaceoMckay.com

Post Script

In 1977 NASA tried to license “Here Comes The Sun” so it could be included in a set of recordings to be sent into space on a Voyager mission.

George and the rest of The Beatles were totally into it.

EMI in an act of greed and stupidity refused the license. In the same year EMI let the Sex Pistols leave the label for nothing.

Both signs of EMI's business acumen and a harbinger of their future success.

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068 – Piggies – Immigrant’s Daughter

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:12:20 +0000

68 Piggies – Immigrant’s Daughter

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

Original version recorded September 19 1968

Ukulele version recorded April 19th 2011

Written by George Harrison, John Lennon, Louise Harrison

Credited to George Harrison

Sharon Fogarty – recorder and whistle

Nora Garver – fiddle

Ann Borden – harp

with

Adair Mallory-vocals

Andy "Freakin" Mabe – the madman voice

Robert Kirk percussion and sound design

David Barratt Ukulele and bass

The Children of Winston Salem Choir : Meghan Phillips, Quinn Stallings, Peyton Smitherman, Connor Smitherman

Recorded by Robert Kirk at Treehouse Mobile Studio, Winston Salem, NC

Additional production and mix by David Barratt at The Abattoir Mobile outside Abbey Road Studios in London

ABOUT THE SONG

Charles Manson derived personal meaning from many songs of The White Album. "Piggies" was used in particular to justify attacks on the White establishment, with the lyrics "what they need’s a damn good whacking" reflecting the attacks on Blacks in what Manson envisioned would be an apocalyptic race war. During the murders of Sharon Tate, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, Gary Hinman and others, the words ‘political piggy’, ‘pig’ and ‘death to pigs’ were written with the victims’ blood on the walls. In the case of the LaBianca murders, knives and forks were actually inserted into the victims in reference to the lyric "Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon"

Our version includes additional verse written for the song in 1968 but omitted during the actual recording. It involved the "piggies" playing "piggy pranks" in order to achieve its rhyming couplet of "piggy banks." Harrison reinstated this verse in all live performances of the song in the 1990s. A version can be heard on his double album Live in Japan.

Yeah, everywhere there’s lots of piggies

Playing piggy pranks

And you can see them on their trotters

Down at the piggy banks

Paying piggy thanks

To thee pig brother

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Immigrant’s Daughter

Sharon Fogarty, Nora Garver and Ann Borden were brought together on a whim by an Irish whistle and pipe player from Dublin to get together to play traditional Irish music. Nora had been playing traditional fiddle for many years starting with American Old Time and progressing to Irish, then Scottish. Sharon and Ann both had extensive classical training and performance degrees from the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts. Sharon, a flute and whistle player, wanted to learn traditional music since her mother and husband are Irish and she has many close family ties with Ireland. Ann, a harper, had always had a passion for Celtic harp and she had even studied the Clasarch in Scotland, but it had been years since she had played Celtic music with other musicians . All three eagerly seized the opportunity to play traditional Irish music together. For a year Sharon, Nora and Ann met with the Irish traditional musician and are very grateful for what they learned from him, but circumstances were such that he had to leave the group. Sharon, Nora and Ann decided that they loved the music and playing together too much to let it go, so they continued meeting and playing traditional Celtic music, just the three of them. Three years and two albums later they are honing their sound and working on their own original music for the next album, experimenting with the fusion of Celtic, classical and world music. Most importantly, they have fun making great music together!

Based in the Triad of North Carolina, you can find out more about the Daughters and listen to or buy their albums ("The Winter Moon" and "Over the Whistle and Through the Strings") on their website which we welcome you to visit at www.immigrants-daughter.com.

Adair

Adair has a Beatles ticket from when her mom saw them at age ten, and is excited to have worked on this project! She is a trained classical singer, and is now studying for her MFA in sound design at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

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067 – Magical Mystery Tour – The Historians

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:12:20 +0000

067 – Magical Mystery Tour – The Historians

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Song – Magical Mystery Tour

Artist – The Historians

Written by Paul McCartney with help from John Lennon

Credited Lennon/McCartney

Original version recorded April 25th 1967

Ukulele version recorded Sept 14 2009

The Historians are:

Aylam Orian – guitar, vocals

Noam Knoller – guitar, vocals

With

Ann Klein – Ukulele

David Barratt – Everything else

Produced by David Barratt The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn

Essay by Sgt. Hank Semolina

ABOUT THE SONG

It is generally agreed that, in London, the swinging 60s began with a series of posh dinner parties attended by eleven people, nine of whom had wealthy parents. Paul McCartney was one of the two working class oiks allowed in and no one can quite remember who the other one was.

There is however, an ongoing debate on when “the dream of the 60s” died.

For some it is the killing of Meredith Hunter by The Hells Angels during The Rolling Stones Concert at Altamont.

For others it is the slaughter of students at Kent State.

There is a case to be made that the murders of Robert Kennedy and MLK are both moments when “the dream” died.

But maybe the 60s ended in a much less dramatic manner. Could it be that “the dream of the 60s” was killed by the Magical Mystery Tour?

Paul McCartney found his calling for a few heady months in 1967, as a rocking psychedelic compere. On the first track of Sgt. Pepper, Paul energetically screamed that we should listen to the band, which brought the volume down a notch and winkingly suggested that we “sit back and let the evening go.”

Go where?

On a mystery trip, of course.

The song was an overture for the first “concept” album and everyone bought it.

The idea Paul came up with for Sgt. Pepper was a neat one – the Beatles opened the album with a hard hitting song that grabbed the listener and told them they were going to go places with the band that they have never been before and have a great time for the next half hour or so.

It wasn’t a particularly big idea, but it was kind of fun and new.

Well, what does this have to do with the Magical Mystery Tour?

Everything.

The month after the Beatles finished the iconic and eponymous Sgt. Pepper (March 6th, 1967), and well before the album even came out (June 1st, 1967), Paul was already onto the next album opener, which, like Sgt. Pepper, would provide the title for the album it introduced.

So, only five days after The Beatles mixed the Sgt. Pepper Reprise they began recording Magical Mystery Tour.

Magical Mystery Tour thus was really "Sgt. Pepper II”.

Paul obviously loved the idea of opening an album with a three or four chord rocker where he could play the carnival barker and commandeer the title for the album.

So Paul put his new song on the table, Magical Mystery Tour, and it is essentially the same song as “Sgt. Pepper.”

Think about it.

First Paul is yelling in February and March, 1967 that we should “hear the show”, here it comes, “let the evening go”, and then he is yelling (in an even higher pitch) in April, 1967 that we should “roll up” and be taken away by the “mystery trip,”.

In Sgt. Pepper we hear the crowds; in Magical Mystery Tour we can’t hear them, but that’s only because they are now in the bus – but we can hear the bus just fine as it pans from one ear to the other. Headphones, anyone?

It was already a formula in 1967, John must have noticed but at that point he was entirely occupied with other matters, probably smiled vaguely and concentrated on growing his moustache, completely engrossed in his own inner space.

The song itself, sharing as it does genetic material with Sgt. Pepper, is also a hard rocker, well, as hard rocking as the Beatles could be 1967, and it mixes strummed chords, horns, and a beautiful three part block harmony just like – well, you know.

Paul had reverted to hackery instead of invention. There was no need for The Monkees to copy The Beatles because The Beatles had already ripped themselves off. Pop was beginning to eat itself

The promise of being taken on another trip was, quite frankly, dull. The movie was awful and the reaction negative.

It is possible that the reason Sgt. Pepper was such a massive commercial success was that the masses wanted a leader and the unconscious message heard by The Great Unwashed was “The Beatles will lead you”.

But no one in The Beatles wanted to lead anyone. They were about to enter a stage of following and exploring in a messy, beautiful, idiosyncratic way. And thank Krishna they did.

So instead of revolution we got entertainment. Instead of the Khmer Rouge we got the iPad. And instead of a call to arms to overthrow “The Man” we got a re-working of a previous hit. Which is probably no bad thing.

But hey, it was the Beatles, it was Magical Mystery Tour, and it’s great.

Time to roll up, indeed.

Our version of Magical Mystery Tour is recorded in the 35-year-old tradition of Punk Rock. Aylam and Noam of The Historians added layer after layer of cruelly tortured, loud, ill-mannered guitars. The lyric, translated into Hebrew by Aylam loses its gentle English whimsy and is replaced by a casual brutality that one can only bow down before.

Where is their mystery tour going? We have no idea but it is probably wise to keep out of its way.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

The Historians were formed in 1993 in Tel Aviv, Israel, by Aylam Orian and Noam Knoller who met at Tel Aviv University Film School (or rather did Aylam put an ad in the local newspaper? Not sure…). In between making their student films, they played with a changing cast of musicians, managed to record some songs for a demo tape (An audiocassette! Ahhh… those were the days!), and then disbanded. In 2007, they decided to reunite. Why not? Aylam, now sporting an acting career in New York, and Noam, sporting an academic career in Amsterdam (plus a wife and 3 kids – who would have thunk??) have come back together to remaster some of the old recordings, and record the fresh Amsterdam Demos (this time not on a cassette tape!). The result: juicy punk rock… in Hebrew!

http://www.myspace.com/thehistorians

www.the-historians.com

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066 – Lovely Rita

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:12:20 +0000

COMMING SOON

THIS IS BEING RECORDED RIGHT NOW

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065 – Do You Want To Know A Secret – Stiletto

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:15:00 +0000

65 Do You Want To Know A Secret – Stiletto

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version Recorded February 1963

Ukulele Version Recorded February 25, 2010

Stiletto: Vocal

Autumn Ready Potter: Vocals

Eric Nicolas: Backing Vocals

David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Fort Greene Brooklyn

ABOUT THE SONG

Do you want to know a secret? The thing is, secrets are hard to come by these days. Thanks to the ubiquity of narcissistic social networking apps like Twitter and Facebook, secrets have joined the ranks of endangered species like the panda and the polar bear. Intimate details once deemed sacred, horrific or at the very least “TMI” are now disseminated by the nanosecond under the euphemistic guise of “status updates.”

Here is a quote from my old friend and golf buddy Bob Dylan

“Behind the counter taped to the mirror was a wide, framed photograph showing the Great Wall Of China. On the other brick wall was a jumbo sized American flag. The radio was on from beyond a wall and the sound was coming through the static. The Beatles were singing “Do You Want To Know A Secret.” They were so easy to accept, so solid. I remembered when they first came out. They offered intimacy and companionship like no other group. Their songs would create an empire. It seemed like a long time ago. “Do You Want To Know A Secret.” A perfect 50’s sappy love ballad and nobody but them could do it. Somehow there was nothing wussy about it. The Beatles blasted away.”

From Chronicles Vol 1 by Bob Dylan

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Singer, founder, and principal victim of the band Roma!, Stiletto hails from Pozzuoli – the same shabby seaside town outside of Naples that spawned Sophia Loren. Raised by a she-wolf who trained him in the fine art of petty theft, Stiletto enjoyed a delinquent childhood that prepared him well for a life in the entertainment industry. After being smuggled into the United States by a wealthy Philadelphian cougar who ordered him out of a catalog entitled Male-Order: Italian Stallions Desire Love And/Or Companionship, Stiletto "accidentally" murdered his patron during a particularly boisterous episode of erotic asphyxiation and fled to New York City in the trunk of a rented Hyundai. Emburdened by a thick Italian accent that only disappears when he sings, Stiletto now spends the bulk of his time performing concerts (and occasional heists) around the city that never sleeps. When times are tight, he can also be found moonlighting at a nude Tuscan catering service out of Massapequa, Long Island called "Now THAT’S Italian!"

Mystery over logic.
Decadence over austerity.
Indulgence over efficiency.
Sensuality over practicality.
Life = Death.

www.romalabanda.com

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064 – A Day In The Life – Eric Nicolas

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:22:00 +0000

Click here to listen

64 Day In The Life – Eric Nicolas

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version Recorded January 19, 20, February 3, 10 1967

Ukulele Version Recorded January 30 February 23, 2010

Written by Lennon/McCartney

Eric Nicholas: Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Piano

David Barratt: Ukulele & everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Fort Greene Brooklyn

The ukulele version of A Day In The Life is performed by Eric Nicholas. Mr. Nicholas has re-imagined the song fantasizing that Paul had written the John part and John had composed the Paul section.

The orchestra on The Beatles recording session was completed at a total cost of £367 for the players. That’s about $17 per player. Our orchestra was created by putting broken mono-synths thru fuzz boxes.

He has included sections culled from “Her Majesty”, “Lovely Rita”, “Paperback Writer”, “I Will”, “I Am The Walrus”, “I’m So Tired”, “Honey Pie”, “When I’m 64” and “Revolution#9. Have fun spotting them.

The final ukulele chord is played by a ukulele.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Eric Nicolas, stolen as a toddler from his parents by a feminist-psychoanalytic splinter cadre of the paramilitary leftist extremist group The Whither Underground in a daring and bloody kidnapping in the late Sixties, was raised to manhood in a communal therapy cult by his captors in “the Stockholm of the Bible Belt,” Topeka, Kansas, an ethnic melting-pot of many fine shades of white on the banks of the mighty Kaw River. Research into his true origins established that his biological mother, a British-born tailor specializing in the sewing of new blue jeans, had given birth to him and a twin sister in the back of a Greyhound bus, rolling down Highway 41. The father of the twins, a gambler down in Georgia, was descended from a clan of Ukrainian Jewish shoemakers who had settled among the diamond merchants of Recife and joined them in their great northward migration fleeing Brazilian anti-Semitism, finding safety and tolerance among the Dutch a stone’s throw from the East Village, to the leather-clad bosom of which Eric, in his early twenties, impelled by—what? Destiny? a highly-developed olfactory apparatus?–would one day find his way.

Despite poverty, his story seldom told, the peripatetic Nicolas found his way across 110th St., sidestepped a recumbent ovine juvenile on Broadway, and wandered, early and late, from New York City (CBGB, the Chelsea Hotel, Montague Street, etc), to the Golden Gate; and thence to Mozambique, the Champs Elysées, the UK (Solsbury Hill, Dublin, the North Country, and the West End of London, where he still keeps an imperial bedroom), Amsterdam & Rome (where he once rented a grand piano), and the Italian alps, where he sired the fair Penelope; to El Paso, Memphis, Norfolk (VA), the green rolling hills of East Virginia, mountains both Smoky and Blue, Baton Rouge and the City of New Orleans, Highway 61 (which he has since revisited) and of course Kansas City, Chicago, the redwood forests and the Gulf Stream waters.

He took time out to study literature and history at Brown University, from which he graduated with honors, and you can check. He moonlighted as a sideman with a hundred bands and artists including Phoebe Snow and Taylor Dayne.

He has since relocated with his extended family of circus performers and street prophets to Bahia, Brazil, and returns frequently to New York City where he can be heard playing gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig after gig.

You can contact him at

ericn411@aol.com

for a personal response and complete performance schedule.

His two CDs of original songs, Amnesty and The Water Wheel, can be found on iTunes and at CDBaby.com

itunes.apple.com/us/artist/eric-nicolas/id5074600

itunes.apple.com/us/album/amnesty/id5074621

www.cdbaby.com/cd/ericnicolas2

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063 – Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey – Insidia Of Roma!

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:56:00 +0000

Click here to play song

063 – Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey – Insidia of Roma!

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version recorded 27th June 1968

Ukulele version recorded January 2012

Insidia Of Roma!: Vocals

David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste.

Photo: Nadia Itani

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

"That was just a sort of nice line that I made into a song. It was about me and Yoko. Everybody seemed to be paranoid except for us two, who were in the glow of love. Everything is clear and open when you’re in love. Everybody was sort of tense around us: You know, ‘What is she doing here at the session? Why is she with him?’ All this sort of madness is going on around us because we just happened to want to be together all the time." John Lennon

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Insidia was born into Romany royalty on the east coast of the Ionian Sea, but kidnapped within hours of her birth by a corrupt palace servant who sold her on the black market to the highest bidder – an evil, toothless hag whose trade was selling overly ripe pomegranates from a wheelbarrow.

The hag bought Insidia for food, but decided to enslave her instead after biting off her left pinky and finding the meat not quite to her liking. At the age of seven, Insidia managed to escape her captor amongst the tumult of a crowded marketplace in an obscure village on the Oranthian River. She was quickly adopted by a Romany family of 14, whose love for the newfound urchin made up for the fact that they often didn’t have enough food to go around. Her adoptive mother and grandmother taught her to tell fortunes through reading people’s palms and Tarot cards, and by her early teens, Insidia was renowned throughout the Oranthian River Valley for her fortunetelling skills. But it was her adoptive father, a talented accordion player, who made the greatest impression on the young Insidia. Every night, he would play lullabies on his ornate squeezebox to get Insidia to sleep. And every night, she would become mesmerized by the keys on his accordion, and have recurring dreams of playing a similar instrument before a huge crowd in an amphitheatre.

These dreams gave way to daydreams of a new and very different course – one charted by music, pleasure and freedom. One fateful day while administering a palm reading to a diabolical stranger in a white suit, Insidia encountered a most remarkable phenomenon – she saw her own future written in the stranger’s palm, and realized that she was destined to join him and his band of beautiful female musicians for a life of music and crime. And from the day she left with Stiletto to join the ranks of Roma!, Insidia never looked back.

http://romalabanda.com/

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062 – Eleanor Rigby – Rhe De Ville

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:24:00 +0000

62 Eleanor Rigby – Rhe De Ville

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version Recorded 28–29 April; 6 June 1966

Ukulele Version Recorded July 29 2009

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Rhe De Ville: Vocals

Roger Greenawalt: Ukulele

David Barratt: Everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Fort Greene Brooklyn

To see video CLICK HERE

The ukulele version of Eleanor Rigby features the exquisite 72 year old Rhe De Ville who, unlike Eleanor Rigby or you, has never been, and never will be, lonely.

Through a series of unfortunate accidents she now is in control of approximately 650 billion Dollars worth of international banking assets including the threadbare apartment that you now inhabit.

She is surrounded by beautiful accountants and and cunning courtesans who cater to her every need.

In an attempt to currie favour with the less fortunate she has taken to create a video series depicting the struggles of an artist in the modern world. CLICK HERE

Do not be fooled.

She cares nothing for you.

Her third husband died 45 minutes ago in a delightful baccarat accident which left her in control of his "International Infinite Cancer Care (TM) Centres” which, if you are wealthy enough, your grandmother is now quietly leaving this world in a moment of John Holmes-like ecstasy

Love her.

You have no choice.

A WORD FROM THE ARTIST

The video was inspired by many close to me who deal with isolation and depression. Both take on many colors, levels, and play no favourites. I dedicate this piece to those who feel very much alone in their loneliness and realize, even if in some small way, that they, in fact, have company.

I filmed all the interior and church shots and asked my friend, filmmaker (and neighbor) Patrick Kendall, to walk with me on a very gray Monday afternoon in Central Park.

And a small note of trivia, I was blessed to have the role of Father MacKenzie, or rather 'MacLeod' (as in my pal Kevin) write the words of a sermon that no one will hear.

http://www.rhedeville.com

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061 – I’m Only Sleeping – Kati Mac

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:09:00 +0000

61 Im Only Sleeping – Kati Mac

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded April 27/29, May 5/6, 1966

Ukulele version recorded January 18th 2010

Kati Mac: Vocals

Gary Schreiner – Bass Harmonica

David Barratt: Ukulele & everything else

Produced using the db Method Production Technique (TM) by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Fort Greene Brooklyn

The ukulele version of I’m Only Sleeping is the second song in this series to use the db Method Production Technique (TM). Obviously the vocal for this song needed a deeply sleepy sound. Dave’s first idea was to keep Kati Mac awake for 72 hours before recording but scheduling commitments made that impossible. Instead Dave gave Kati 20mg of Triptanol (Amitriptyline), then waited for 45 minutes before recording her vocal. As you can hear the results were drowsily impressive.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

New York City session singer and former Warner/Chappell writer, Kati Mac, has a varied career performing and/or recording with artists such as Sting, Meat Loaf, Michael Bolton, Dr John and Nona Hendryx, as well as singing on commercials and records.

Kati has released four CDs as an artist, 18 Forever, Time, Anicca and Poseidon’s Son. Her song “Only Love” was the theme for daytime tv’s Guiding Light. She has also had 5 songs nominated for best song of the year in the daytime Emmy Awards.

http://www.katimac.com

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060 – Love You To – The Specimen

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:48:00 +0000

60 Love You To – The Speciemen

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version Recorded – April 11, 1966
Ukulele version recorded December 2009

Matt Gorny – Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards
Aaron Gilmartin – Ukulele
David Barratt – Rhythm

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Brooklyn from original recordings by The Specimen

Guest Essayist – Sgt. Hank Semolina

For best results play Love You To on repeat while reading this essay.

ABOUT THE SONG

Love You To (suspiciously similar in title to Love Me Do ) represented the start of George Harrison’s triumphant transformation from the self-important cranky young English lad who sang Don’t Bother Me to, well, the same self-important cranky young English boy meditating with a sitar and nifty Nehru collar.

During the early days of the Lennon-McCartney stranglehold, George – who had written the band’s first recorded studio song (Cry For A Shadow) managed to squeeze out only the dour Don’t Bother Me. As punishment, he was hastily and unceremoniously stripped of songwriting privileges and forced to grin like a loon while singing the John and Paul left over I’m Happy Just To Dance With You.

So, do you really want to know a secret? It must have been frustrating to be George Harrison, aspiring songwriter, during 1964-1965.

Second Album? Nothing.

Hard Day’s Night? Nothing.

Beatles For Sale? More Nothing.

Finally, like the WWII Japanese soldier crawling hesitantly out of the cave in Gilligan’s Island, a traumatized Harrison peered into the sunlight again on the soundtrack Help. By now George knew that his only hope was to pretend to be a “Beatle” type writer, penning I Need You, which almost qualifies as a love song.

The next Harrison composition, the preachy Think For Yourself, shows that George simply could not stay in his happy place. You can’t blame him, for every time he went there, he met Paul, sniffing flowers.

Then we get to Revolver. All of a sudden, not one, not two, but Three Harrisongs. This is no coincidence; at this particular time John was retreating into drugs, so George really could have filled up practically the whole album and Lennon would have missed it. But not Paul. He was on fire. Again.

Just think about it: Love You To was recorded on April 11 and 13, 1966, when the boys also did some tracks for Got To Get You Into My Life and Paperback Writer. "Oh, guys, I have one too. Guys? Guys?" Poor George. But he soldiered on. He decided to take something so left field and new that it was not competing with Paul, or John, or anyone, and was so shocking and different that it would have to be considered cool by the proto hippies starting to gather at the Haight. Love You To was not your father’s Beatles song. It was really unlike anything the kids in America had ever heard before.

Everyone rushed out to buy beads. Joss sticks started rolling under carpets, and it became hip to listen to Indian music. And George was there. Hell, it was about George, all of a sudden he was in front. However briefly, he was the real pioneer. Everything was coming up Harrison.

The song contains a subtle, and long overdue, assertion of self by Harrison. The only other Beatle on this track is Ringo, playing tambourine. Paul apparently recorded a backing vocal, but it was wiped from the final mix. We can only imagine a grinning Harrison gleefully muttering “Oh, I wasn’t supposed to push that button, was I?”

The song itself, on examination, is classic complaining Harrison. But now instead of hanging around with the boys, he is sitting lotus-like with Anil Bhagwat (tabla) and and unnamed sitarist and bemoaning the people who “screw you in the ground” and “fill you in with all their sin.” But it is the same angry George. You don't even want to know what he thinks about taxes.

There is one lyrical trainwreck – George first observes that each “day just goes so fast,” he “turns around it’s past.” But then he wants to “make love all day long.” Hmmmm. So is the day long or fast?

By now, the George of 1966-67 was emerging as a major cultural force, with songs like “Taxman” and “I Want To Tell You” claiming their rightful place in the Beatles pantheon, and clearing the way for the even better tunes that followed.

But for now, this was serious business and East was finally meeting West — and the kids dug it.

The Ukulele version of Love You To is a raucous affair. Drums explode, guitars dive bomb and floating over it all is Matt Gorny otherwise know as The Specimen.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

The Specimen is the brainchild of songwriter/singer/and multi-instrumentalist Matt Gorny, who spent his childhood in Poland, before being transplanted to his new home town of New York.

He has worked with Grammy Award winning producers GoodandEvil as well as Whatever Whatever; the new darlings of DFA Records. He has collaborated as songwriter and vocalist with the French band Risqué, who released the recordings on Some Bizarre in the UK. He also worked with Ultra Naté and Jill Jones for as yet unreleased projects.

The Specimen has won multiple songwriting awards including The John Lennon Songwriting Competition and Billboard World Song Contest and the group has performed the winning track at the Billboard Song Awards Show. Mark Furnas of Billboard says: “Gorny exudes star power to match any major act.”

The video for Do U Damage has been screened at the SXSW Film Festival and has won the top prize in the New Music Video Awards. Songs have been featured in two films at the Tribeca Film Festival, and in a reality TV show on the Bravo Channel. A remix done with GoodandEvil won 1st place in a competition and released on SLSK Records. Songs have charted on college radio stations all over the country in the summer of 2008.

Currently Matt is working on a full length album. Hoping to combine several different producers’ techniques as well as his own indelible style into a cohesive package. You can look forward to a Summer 2010 album with videos and more extras to come.

http://www.myspace.com/thespecimen

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059 – Golden Slumbers – Mike Harvey

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:37:00 +0000

59 Golden Slumbers – Mike Harvey

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version Recorded – July 2, August 15, 1969

Ukulele version recorded January 2, 2010

New uke added June 2011

Mike Harvey – All Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele & Everything Else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Brooklyn

ABOUT THE SONG

Golden Slumbers is yet another Beatles song about death, a very special death.

Golden Slumbers is a song about the death of The Beatles

Paui is sitting at the bedside of the thing he loves most, the thing that gave him everything, the thing he gave everything to. This is his chance to say goodbye.

Of course he was emotional but unfortunately he thought that gave him the right to over sing the chorus. There is a widely available studio outtake of this song featuring the basic backing track and guide vocal that, if you have not yet ever heard it, I caution you to seek out at your own peril.

As the Abbey Road album was being recorded all four Beatles knew that this would be their last album together. At this point they loved and loathed each other in equal measure. John had not written the unessasarly vitriolic “How Do You Sleep” about Paul but he had collected enough pecieved evidence to write the song and poison their 15 year friendship.

He finally did get to add backing vocals in an overdub session on 30 July 1969, On 15 August, orchestral overdubs were made to "Golden Slumbers" and five other songs on Abbey Road

The ukulele version features master vocalist Mike Harvey.

Check out the second verse where all of the instrumentation drops out leaving Mike to re-create the piano, strings and bass with his only his voice.

Where McCartney blasts the chorus like a love-sick hyena on the edge of sanity Mike invites us into an hallucinatory paradise where all is well, which is of course the function of a lullaby.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Originally from Indiana, Mike did a lot of session work singing on jingles and doing background vocals on gospel records in Chicago

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058 – The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill – Gannon

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:26:00 +0000

58 The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bil – Gannon

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded October 8 1968

Ukulele version recorded November 2009

New uke added May 2011

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Gannon: Vocal, Homemade Circuit Bent Synthesizers and Drum Machines

David Barratt: Ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Brooklyn from original recordings by Gannon in The Toy Volaco California

For best results play The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill on repeat while reading this essay.

ABOUT THE SONG

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, like many songs on The White Album, was written by John Lennon while The Beatles were studying with Maharishi at the foothills of The Himalayas.

The Beatles wrote 48 songs in fewer than eight weeks in India. While this is not one of the best it certainly is an interesting example of Lennon’s work.

The song ridicules the bravado and unenlightened attitude of a young American named Richard A. Cooke III. (shown below)

In an interview in Playboy Lennon described the song thusly. "‘Bungalow Bill’ was written about “A guy in Maharishi’s meditation camp who took a short break to go shoot a few poor tigers, and then came back to commune with God.”

The real Richard Cooke III is a little more interesting than the fictional one created by John.

The incident that inspired the song occurred when Indian tour guide Avi Kohli invited Cooke and his mother to hunt a tiger that had been killing elephants and was a worry to local villagers.

Cooke, and several others, including native guides were in the jungle when the pack of elephants they were riding was attacked by the tiger. Cooke acted calmly and decisively by shooting it.

Cook’s reaction to the slaying was mixed. He has not hunted since. All present recognized the necessity of his action.

For the last forty years he has been a professional photographer often for The National Geographic Society. His work focuses on the beauty of nature. He remained friends with Avi Kohli until his death in April 2009

But Richard Cooke III is just a cover story for what the song is really about. Bungalow Bill decribes John’s burgeon ing romance with Yoko. John often referred to Yoko as “Mother” and as John’s mother she beat the original hands down.

1. She was alive.

2. She was older and had a more cultured upbringing and was a tender and understanding teacher.

3. She would defend him fiercely no matter how badly he behaved.

4. Due to the fact that she wasn’t actually his mother there was nothing icky or embarrassing about wanting to sleep with her.

5. She would give John permission to do whatever he wanted.

On the recording Yoko even plays the part of "The Mother".

She sings the solo line: "Not when he looked so fierce"

The only lead vocal by a non-Beatle in the entire catalog.

The mother in the song follows him everywhere, even on a hunting trip. She will never abandon him and is devoted to the point of delusion. Even when the son kills in cold blood she still supports him.

What more could a little boy want?

Bungalow Bill is for and about little boys. Lennon would have hated the sugar coated, super catchy chorus if Paul had written it but as he was being, ironic, witty and giving it to “The Man" he thought he was pretty cool.

Just like Bungalow Bill.

Our version features inventor, musician and painter Gannon.

Gannon wrote to us several months ago requesting to perform for the project. Unfortunately we could not understand what he wanted due to the fact he had written the letter in an invented language. After sending us a translation we were delighted to let him run riot with what he calls Circuit Bent Synthesizers.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Gannon is Aj Pyatak. Aj is just another person on this earth writing music. He has a true love of creating things… anythings. In February 2009 Aj discovered circuit bending, and has since welcomed its wealth of creation into his heart.

Since 1999 Gannon has released a new album every year. This year brings Toy Volcano. The album is a combination of handcrafted electronic instruments, ukulele, and pop music magique. All of Aj’s work pours directly out of his heart and he appreciates all the support he’s received over the years. He believes in creativity, and the idea that all it takes is a little hard work. Visit the Gannon website for fun, adventure, and music!

http://www.mygannon.com

AND See Gannon LIVE at Bent Festival 2010 NY

http://www.bentfestival.org/

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057 – Yesterday – Colton Ford

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:42:00 +0000

057 Yesterday – Colton Ford

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded June 14 1965

Ukulele version recorded November 17, 2009

Remixed with new ukulele – April 2011

Colton Ford: Vocal

David Barratt – Ukulele and Everything Else

Recorded and mixed at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Brooklyn

ABOUT THE SONG

In January 1964 Paul woke up with the chords and rough melody of the tune in his head, which he immediately worked out on piano. It sounded good right away. What was unusual was that after this initial burst of inspiration, he continued to tinker with the song for over 18 months. This is a phenomenal amount of time to spend on a song during a period when it was not uncommon to write something on a Tuesday, record it on Wednesday, and have it off to the pressing plant by the weekend.

Just about everyone around Paul became sick and tired of Yesterday before it was finished. While he was finessing it on the set of “Hard Days Night”, director Richard Lester got so bored of McCartney’s endless fussing that he lost his temper and told Paul to “finish the bloody thing or I’ll have the piano removed from the set.”

Around that time George Harrison was heard to say "Blimey, he’s always talking about that song you’d think he was Beethoven or somebody!"

Yesterday is not really a Beatles song. It is a Paul McCartney solo record. He’s the only Beatle who appears on it, accompanied by a string quartet of anonymous non-Beatles. During the recording George Matin almost finished The Beatles five years early when he suggested to Brian Epstien the possibility of releasing “Yesterday” as Paul’s solo single. The ever astute Epstien emphatically and intelligently said No.

“Whatever we do we are not splitting up The Beatles.”

Yesterday is literally a power ballad. It is Vladimir Putin’s favorite Beatles song. No surprise there. Yesterday has a power to captivate and enslave all who hear it. Just like Vlad.

Yesterday was also the point at which The Beatles stopped being just a four-piece Rock And Roll Band and became sculptors of audio landscapes. They had begun to compose Loudspeaker Paintings, using the recording studio itself as a musical instrument.

The string quartet was recorded in less than 2 hours. Guess what they were paid?

Five Guinnies each. ($7.50).

The Ukuele version features the singular talent of Colton Ford. R&D were a little nervous about tackling this song but Colton held our hands and guided us through with grace and elegance. It takes a big soul to attempt this piece. Colton is more than up to the task.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

“When you are covering a hit track, if you can retain the integrity of the original and bring your own style to it in the process, you can reveal something to the listener about you as an artist that perhaps they haven’t heard before. Adding my interpretation hopefully gives a new perspective to this Beatles’ classic, enabling me to show a different side of my vocal ability” explains Colton Ford of his choice to interpret "Yesterday."

For those who remain unable to get beyond Ford’s porn star past to focus on his singing present Ford has a few words: “I can’t control how people feel about me, my past and my music. I have always sung and created music, so I just continue to do what I’ve always done. My main concern is to make music that I feel and that I’m proud of. The rest is out of my control. I know that there are some people who aren’t going to be able to see beyond my porn persona, and that’s ok.”

Pausing for a moment, he adds, “I feel, however, that there are far more people out there who are interested in hearing what I can do musically, and are able to look beyond that part of my past. Those are the people I’m looking to reach. I’m doing what I love to do, so at the end of the day, I can say that I’m following my heart and living my dream. Isn’t that what we all want for ourselves?”

www.coltonfordmusic.com

www.myspace.com/coltonfordmusic

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056 – Fool On The Hill – Gabriel Gordon

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:20:00 +0000

Click here to play

056 Fool On The Hill – Gabriel Gordon

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

Original version – September 25 1967

Ukulele version – January 2012

Gabriel Gordon: Vocals & Ukulele

David Barratt: Everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Manhattan and mixed at The Abattoir Mobile at The Atlanta Hotel Bangkok

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon and McCartney

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Gabriel Gordon is a recording artist, session and touring guitarist and vocalist and also writes songs.

He has worked with artists, producers and musicians including: Ron Saint Germain, Natalie Merchant, Andrew Roachford, Heather Christian, Lady Rizo, Leona Naess, Idina Menzel, Nena, Lokua Kanza, Laurie Anderson, Mick Grondahl & Michael Tighe (Jeff Buckley), Brazilian Girls, T Bone Burnett, Jim Scott, Soup Dragons, Sly Dunbar, Omar, James Kakande, Wax Poetic, Lamont Dozier, Garland Jeffreys, Heather Christian & David Barratt.

Gordon has recorded on more than 40 albums including 5 of his own.

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055 – Fixing A Hole – The Repairmen

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:33:00 +0000

55 Fixing A Hole – The Repairmen

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded February 9 and 21, 1967

Ukulele version recorded December 2009

New uke added May 2011

Written by Lennon/McCartney

Chris Palmaro – Piano

Kevin Halpin Sound Design, smoking gun

Charles Wilson – Ukulele

Special Guest - Kirkland Roberts – Vodka, Grappa, Turpentine Vocals

Recorded at The Repairmen’s Workshop

Mixed By David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Brooklyn

The Ukulele version of Fixing A Hole features the enigmatic and eccentric Repairmen. The Repairmen are two retired Maytag engineers living twenty miles outside of Tucson Arizona.

Each day they choose an item to repair. It may be a 1946 Plymouth Convertible similar to the one that William Holden drove down Sunset Boulevard or it may be as simple as rewriting the script of Avatar.

Once, several years ago during a vacation in Paris, The Repairmen broke into The Louve and reattached arms to The Venus De Milo.

They understand that there is a hole at the centre of every soul on earth that can never be fixed. Some try to replenish with drink, drugs or sex. For others it is work or music. This fact saddens them but their commitment is to do what they can while they can still do it.

We salute them.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

“We kinda like Paul’s song but we felt that it could really use a tune up to make it run right. We met Kirkland Roberts as he was declaiming poetry on the floor of our local bar. Kirkland is really sweet but he is the kind of guy for whom one drink is too much and nine is not enough. We fueled him up and let him run until empty on the tune till he was all used up. It was unfortunate that Kirkland is no longer with us but there is only one way to get a realistic sound effect of a body hitting the floor.”

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054 – Old Brown Shoe – Macah Coates

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:05:00 +0000

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54 Old Brown Shoe – Macah Coates

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

Original Version recorded February March 1967

Ukulele version recorded January 2012

Macha Coates – Vocals

Eric Nicolas – Ukulele – Guitar and Bass

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, mixed at the Abattoir Mobile: Koh Kood Thailand

Written and credited to George Harrison

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Macah Coates was born in Laytan, Utah, but moved around most of her life.

Her family home on her mother’s side is in the mountains of West Virginia. Her grandfather was a worker in the coal mines from the time of his childhood until he retired years later.

Her grandmother was the first-generation American from Czechoslovakia. Macah and her two sisters were raised in a single-mothered household most of their lives. They would road-trip back to Utah to visit their father’s side of the family every other summer from where they ended up living, which was just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

She grew up listening to her grandfather and other family members picking guitar, singing blue grass and country music.

Her mother raised her on Linda Ronstadt, Juice Newton, Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood, Johnny Cash, Alan Jackson, Dwight Yokam, Bonnie Rait, Elvis Prestley, Emma Lou Harris and other artists which have yet to leave her brain and ear.

She has spent her education focused primarily on acting in the theater, but has always had a hook in music and voice. After graduating from the University of Washington in Seattle, she ventured back east to New York City.

There she resides: singing, acting, painting and writing…

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053 – You Can’t Do That – Nadia Ackerman

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:24:00 +0000

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053 – You Can’t Do That – Nadia Ackerman

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

Nadia Ackerman: Vocals

David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Original recording: February 25 1964

Ukulele Version: April 18 2012

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

One of Lennon’s semi-autobiographical songs, “You Can’t Do That” had a disturbing lyric contradicted the genial tone with its tense threats, sexual paranoia and nagging, dragging groove. The song’s jealousy theme was re-visited in other Lennon compositions, such as "Run for Your Life”, When I Get Home, and "Jealous Guy".

The brutal sexism of mid 60’s Britain is very easy to understand.

Working class men had it almost as bad as working class women in Northern England. Low educational opportunities, high unemployment, bad diet and poor health prospects.

Who was going to pay for all this?

The woman of course.

In Lennon’s day unreported violence against women was certainly higher than it is now. The black eye covered with makeup. The make-up sex after the black eye were both common in 1960’s Liverpool and beyond.

This song reflects that attitude.

Lennon’s favorite singer Harry Nilsson covered the tune on his first album, Pandemonium Shadow Show as a tribute to The Beatles’ music in general. It is performed at a slower tempo, and throughout the song lines from other Beatles songs are sung in counterpoint, ending with the line "Strawberry Beatles Forever."

The Ukulele version features multi-media artist Nadia Ackerman. I will be heading down to her exhibition at The Cell on April 26th where some of her drawings will be on show. Soon after she will be touring Australia promoting her album “The Ocean Master” while making a documentary about her relationship with Australia and the past.

Lazy she is not.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

http://www.nadiaackerman.com

‘I know that one day I’ll see the shimmering of your full sails blowing like a symphony carried by the wind’ – My Ship, The Ocean Master

Nadia Ackerman doesn’t just write songs, she channels them. ‘They just happen to me,’ says the Australian-born, New York-based singer, songwriter and artist. ‘I can be doing anything and I’ll be hit with one. They stick to me until I can sit down at the piano and download them. And when the songs come out, they’re fully formed – words, tunes, arrangements, everything.’

Nadia’s music, however, doesn’t manifest itself out of thin air. Almost all of her songs are an emotionally resonate retelling of her past. This fact is no more apparent than on her soon to be released second album The Ocean Master. Following on from the success of her debut record The Circus is Back in Town, this next installment evokes memories of a childhood spent by the sea on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Her experiences during this time – the trials and tribulations of com- ing of age compounded by a plethora of personal tragedies and triumphs – continue to inform her music.

Born to Africaans parents, Nadia began singing from her crib at the age of three, serenading her parents with ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ and ‘The Mull of Kintyre’ with perfect pitch and a lisp. This wasn’t surprising given her pedigree – her mother, Tess, was a lead soprano opera singer in Cape Town, while her late father Peter had an extraordinary ear for harmony and could play any instrument he turned his hand to. It was her father who first recognized and nurtured Nadia’s exceptional talent.

Since leaving high school, Nadia has worked her way around the world with performances on morn- ing broadcasts in Australia and hotel contracts in Asia to singing backing vocals at Carnegie Hall with likes of Sting, Billy Joel, Shirley Bassey, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga and James Taylor (just to name a few). Although she spent years studying and performing jazz, in mid-2006 her own songs started to pop into her head. Since then, Nadia hasn’t looked back. Today she has a catalogue of over 300 compositions ready and waiting, while more are being jotted down almost daily.

Her projects, however, do not end here. Nadia is the current voice for the UPS ‘That’s logis- tics’ campaign, Iams Dog Food, JCPenney Angel Christmas and she can also be heard on The Barnes And Noble Nook Commercial with Jane Lynch. She remains an in-demand backing vocalist. She’s also recently produced and released Up Up Up – Songs for Felicity Vol 1– an outstanding compilation album featuring Donna Lewis and Robbie Dupree and many more, which she pioneered to help raise awareness for Autism and the Son Rise program.

And if this isn’t enough, Nadia is a talented artist too – her artwork appears on her album covers and gift cards, and she’s currently in the process of publishing a series of gift books that marry her musical talents with her gift for illustration. Called ‘A Sung Story’, the first release is due early this year. Fresh of the press…Nadia just signed with Major Independent Label, Spectra Records. Her sophomore album "The Ocean Master" will be released in stores throughout the USA and Canada March 6, 2012.

April 3rd 2012 Nadia once again joined Sting, James Taylor, Meryl Streep, Elton John and many more at Carnegie Hall for the Bi Annual Rainforest Concert hosted by Sting and Trudie Styler.

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052 – If I Needed Someone/Wenn Ich Jemanden Brauche

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:25:00 +0000

52 – If I Needed Someone – Christian Jahl

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded 16 October 1965

Ukulele version recorded September 9th, 11th 2009 and Jan 3rd 2010

Written by George Harrison

Christian Jahl – Guitars, Wurlitzer, Vocals, German lyrics

Martin Schmidt – Percussion

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt from original recordings made at

JahlKlang Studio, Duesseldorf

Mixed at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn

The ukulele version of If I Needed Someone features our third foreign language interpretation by the multi-talented Christian Jahl. Some of our public have stated that they do not consider it worthy to use languages other than English to sing Beatles songs.

To them we say.

Alles, was Sie brauchen, ist Liebe

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Picture yourself on a train to the sixties with mesmeric music and sonic seduction. Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile a white and posh rabbit with a sitar. I felt a little bit like this when I heard of The Beatles Complete on Ukulele Project on a german radio show. Phantasy meets madness in a time machine where reality only remains a word was my first thought. ALL Beatles songs, new and with Ukulele? It was no surprise that Lucy’s famous lines came to my mind, just in a new setting, like all the Beatles tunes will appear in a new wardrobe after this project.

But I only could do it on condition that I sing it in German. In German??? What the hell…?

Then I remebered my father who told me about the Star Club in St.Pauli, a district of Hamburg where he, aged 15, sneaked in night just to see The Beatles. So it seems there is a connection between The Beatles and Germany. And last but not least they did some versions in German. I also remembered Paul Mc Cartney saying in an interview how the owner of the Star Club always said to him “mak schau“ (this is unique Paul Mc Cartney German-pronounciation) which means “entertain the audience“.

Considering that, I agreed to Dave‘s demand and here it is, the German version of If I Needed Someone, now entitled Wenn Ich Jemanden Brauche.

Christian Jahl

Christian Jahl is a guitarist, singer and songwriter from Germany. Based in Duesseldorf in the Rheinland he plays modern Pop/ Rock influenced by funk and jazz. As a solo artist he just had his first single Sie ist weg and the follow up album Café Deutschland that will be released by end of the year. With his four piece band he plays live on many occasions with a vivacious show. Aside this he published up to now poems in anthologies and wrote a musical biography about Sting and his songs that was published in Germany. He also gives lessons for guitar and music theory.

The Beatles were the reason why he started playing and writing music.

www.christianjahl.de

www.myspace.com/christianjahl

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051 – Back In The USSR – The Polka Brothers

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:38:00 +0000

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051 Back In The USSR – The Polka Brothers

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

Original version recorded August 22-23 1968

Ukulele version recorded December 21 2011

Brother Matt – Accordion

Brother Bones – Bass

Brother Brian – Drums

Brother Geoff – Golden Clarinet

With

Gabriel Gordon – Ukulele

Recorded by Frank Simms and David Barratt Live at Bierhaus NYC

Produced by David Barratt

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE ARTIST

A party may start with the location, but it ends with the experience. The Polka Brothers are able to take the rich European tradition of beer hall singing, and connect it to the 21st century. It’s as if guests are actually part of that party they remember they’re grandparents telling them about from the old country; those legendary evenings where soon to be immigrants danced on the tables while singing their homeland melodies. With "The Polka Brothers" guests are singing today’s homeland melodies; Aerosmith, Weezer, Lady Gaga, The Rolling Stones etc. Your party will BECOME the actual parties of legend, the ones that one day you may be tell your grandchildren about. So grab a beer, sing along and experience the meaning of the old adage "No one ever leaves a polka party without a smile on their face."

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050 – We Can Work It Out – Victoria Vox

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:16:00 +0000

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050 We Can Work It Out – Victoria Vox

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

Original Version recorded October 20 1965

Ukulele version recorded January 18 2012

Victoria Vox – Vocals, ukulele, Voice trumpet,

David Barratt – Everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, mixed at the Abattoir Mobile, Coutyard Hotel, Kathmandu

Written and credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Eclectic, upbeat and clever, Victoria Vox, has been warming the hearts of her audience across the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Her songs are honest, moving, but also light-hearted. Vox earned a degree in songwriting from the Berklee College of Music and has become known among the ukulele community for her refreshingly modern and rhythmic ukulele technique. Since 2006, Vox has been a highlight at ukulele festivals around the world, where she both performs and gives workshops to the budding ukulele player. Her songs have been featured on NPR, television and in independent films. In 2009, Vox auditioned and was invited to be an Artist in Residence (AIR) at the Strathmore Performing Arts Center in Bethesda, MD, where she performed, gave a songwriting workshop, and was able to attend career meeting with other AIRs. Vox is also multi-award winning songwriter. She received First Place for her french tune, “C’est Noyé” and Runner up for the 40′s-esque "My Darlin’ Beau" in the International Acoustic Music Awards. Vox has won several WAMA awards (Washington Area Music Awards): Contemporary Folk Vocalist, Album of the Year, and Fan Favorite, as well as the "Vox Pop" (people’s choice) Award for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year with her album, Exact Change, in the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards. She has been included in Relix Magazine and Washington D.C.’s City’s Best lists of artists to watch. Also, Vox appeared on the Jay Leno Show to demonstrate her perfected mouth trumpet!

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049 – Honey Pie – Sarah Mitchell

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:16:00 +0000

49 Honey Pie – Sarah Mitchell

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded October 1968

Ukulele version recorded October 12, 2009

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Sarah Mitchell: Vocals

David Barratt: Ukulele & Everything else

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

The ukulele version of Honey Pie features the mysterious Sarah Mitchell.

Sarah secretly spreads love and light wherever she goes. Flowers are placed in letterboxes. Affirmations are penned, perfumed, and posted anonymously. She has perfected the skill of sneaking $20 bills into stranger’s pockets without them ever knowing. She is a woman with a past who has a thoughtful present for you in the very bright future.

Enjoy!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sarah Peck Mitchell, known endearingly as Smitch, grew up in New Hampshire surrounded by her music-loving family. Throughout her childhood, she flirted with piano, trumpet, oboe and guitar before finding the instrument that stuck: voice. Smitch arranged and sang duets and performed in various choirs and groups in New Hampshire before moving on to sing at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Along the way, she has performed musical genres from classical to folk and pop. After taking a hiatus from performing to live in Argentina and Spain, Smitch is loving her new home in Brooklyn, where she's having a great time meeting and performing with new groups, such as the ultra-fun Potbelly Gumbo.

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048 – Get Back – aka tinley

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:59:00 +0000

48 Get Back – aka tinley

Original version recorded May 8 1970

Ukulele version recorded March 2011

Mark Ty-Wharton – Vocals and programming
David Barratt – Ukulele, treated ukulele and programming

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn from original recordings made by Tinley The Sampling Champion Of The Universe

Written by Paul McCartney
Credited to Lennon/McCartney

"Get Back" is unusual in the Beatles’ canon in that almost every moment of the song’s evolution has been extensively documented, from its beginning as an offhand riff to its final mixing in several versions. Much of this documentation is in the form of illegal (but widely available) bootleg recordings, and is recounted in the book Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of the Beatles’ Let It Be Disaster by Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt.

The song’s melody grew out of some unstructured jamming on 7 January 1969 during rehearsal sessions on the sound stage at Twickenham Studios. Over the next few minutes McCartney introduced some of the lyrics, reworking "Get back to the place you should be" from fellow Beatle George Harrison’s "Sour Milk Sea" into "Get back to where you once belonged". (McCartney had played bass on Jackie Lomax’s recording of the song a few months earlier.) On 9 January McCartney brought a more developed version of "Get Back" to the group, with the "Sweet Loretta" verse close to its finished version. For the press release to promote the "Get Back" single McCartney wrote, "We were sitting in the studio and we made it up out of thin air… we started to write words there and then…when we finished it, we recorded it at Apple Studios and made it into a song to roller-coast by."

The released version of the song is composed of two verses, with an intro, outro, and several refrains. The first verse tells the story of a man named Jojo, who leaves his home in Tucson, Arizona, for some ‘California grass’. (Paul’s soon-to-be wife Linda had attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where the couple later owned a spacious ranch.) The second verse is about a sexually ambiguous character "Loretta Martin" who "thought she was a woman, but she was another man." The single version includes a coda urging Loretta to "get back" where she belongs.

At the beginning of the Let It Be version of the song, Lennon can be heard jokingly singing "Sweet Loretta Fart, she thought she was a cleaner, but she was a frying pan." The album version of the song also ends with John Lennon quipping "I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition". (Originally John said that at the end of the rooftop concert, but Phil Spector edited it into the "Get Back" song on the Let It Be album.)

John Lennon in 1980 claimed that "there’s some underlying thing about Yoko in there", claiming that McCartney looked at Yoko Ono in the studio every time he sang "Get back to where you once belonged."

Around the time he was developing the lyrics to "Get Back", McCartney satirised the "Rivers of Blood speech" by former British Cabinet minister Enoch Powell in a brief jam that has become known as the "Commonwealth Song". The lyrics included a line "You’d better get back to your Commonwealth homes". The group improvised various temporary lyrics for "Get Back" leading to what has become known in Beatles’ folklore as the "No Pakistanis" version. This version is more racially charged, and addresses attitudes toward immigrants in America and Britain: "…don’t need no Puerto Ricans living in the USA"; and "don’t dig no Pakistanis taking all the people’s jobs". In an interview in Playboy magazine in 1980, Lennon described it as "…a better version of ‘Lady Madonna’. You know, a potboiler rewrite."

On 23 January, the group (now in Apple Studios] tried to record the song properly; bootleg recordings preserve a conversation between McCartney and Harrison between takes discussing the song, and McCartney explaining the original "protest song" concept. The recording captures the group deciding to drop the third verse largely because McCartney does not feel the verse is of high enough quality, although he likes the scanning of the word "Pakistani". Here the song solidifies in its two-verse, three-solo format.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Mark Ty-Wharton aka tinley, AKA The Sampling Champion Of The Universe.

Mark was in Britain’s first acid house band the Garden Of Eden and programmed drums and sounds for brother Adamski before becoming Duran Duran’s resident engineer for over fifteen years.

One of the first midi programmers to make the jump to recording engineer, Mark was instrumental in pioneering the use of digital audio workstations as a replacement for two inch tape.

Mark also appears on several Adamski, Duran Duran and Dandy Warhols albums as a guitarist, has collaborted with everyone from Gary Numan to the Beatles Complete and has various solo albums available in the iTunes music store.

To find out more about Mark http://funnymachine.com

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047 – Norwegian Wood – Declan Zimmerman

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:23:00 +0000

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047 Norwegian Wood – Declan Zimmerman

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

Original recording: October 12 and 21 1965

Ukulele Version: March 2012

Vocals: Declan Zimmerman

Ukulele and everything else: David Barratt

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

ABOUT THE SONG

I’m aged 73; I worked alongside Lennon & McCartney in the Liverpool music business see, google Dr James McGrath, Leeds metropolitan University, interview with, ‘Soundscapes’ and or “george roberts managing the bands”;

 Lennon & McCartney were, ‘in touch’ with pot sellers in and around Liverpool 8 long before they ever were famous and certainly were not aware of, Bob Dylan.

 The premise is shaky, at least, about Bob Dylan introducing these guys to, “pot”. Also, by sheer co-incidence, I can tell you that the Man I would closely associate John Lennon with during 1959 onwards was a Man named Harold Phillips, aka, ‘Lord Woodbine’ business partner to Alan Williams, first Liverpool 8 booking manager to Lennon & McCartney.

He died in a house fire during the 1990ts. Now aint that a weird coincidence! G

Declan Zimmerman performs the ukulele version. Declan has recently returned to his ancestral village near the arctic circle to study the Ancient Norwegian dialect of Philecia, as part of an unprecedented, wildly ambitious and some claim totally unnecessary project to translate the entire oeuvre of Lennon & McCartney into the nearly extinct language.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Take the wit of The Magnetic Fields and the heart of The Mountain Goats, blend, filter the result through some vintage Kinks and you’ve begun to describe the music of Declan Zimmerman.

Perhaps someday someone will finish the description.

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046 – Hey Jude – Muammar Gaddafi

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:40:00 +0000

046 – Hey Jude – Muammar Gaddafi

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

Original version recorded August 26 1968

Ukulele version recorded April 1 2011

Lead Vocal : Muammar Gaddafi

Choir: Mike Harvey

Ukulele and everything else: David Barratt

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

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE ARTIST

1942: Muammar Gaddafi born near Sirte, Libya

1969: Seizes power from King Idris in bloodless coup

1973: Declares "cultural revolution", with formation of "people’s committees"

1977: Declares "people’s revolution", creating the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah

1986: US soldiers targeted in Berlin disco attack, three killed; US bombs Tripoli and Benghazi, killing dozens

1988: 270 people killed in bombing of Pan Am jet over Lockerbie

1992: UN imposes sanctions to pressure Libya into handing over Lockerbie bombing suspects

1999: Lockerbie suspects handed over; UN sanctions suspended

2003: Libya takes responsibility for Lockerbie, renounces weapons of mass destruction

2008: Libya and US sign compensation deal for bombings by both sides

2009: Lockerbie bomber freed

2011: Records for The Beatles Complete On Ukulele at his country revolts

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045 – I’m So Tired – Scott Alexander

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:43:00 +0000

45 I’m So Tired – Scott Alexander

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

Original recording – October 8 1968

Ukulele recording – May 2011

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Scott Alexander – Vocals, guitar, bassoon

David Barratt - Ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste from original recordings made by Scott Alexander

Mixed at The Abattoir Laptop outside Abbey Road Studios , London

ABOUT THE ARTIST

“What kind of music do you play?” is probably the most awkward thing you can ask a musician. Lately, I’ve felt most comfortable calling it “nonrepetitive pop.” What I mean is, most of what I write has a nonrepetitive structure, but I still prefer to make music that is catchy and not difficult to understand.

Some people tell me that the music is weird (meaning they probably don’t like it) but funny, and I should be a comedian instead. Being funny on purpose is not really my thing. I prefer when thoughts just happen to be funny. I find myself inclined to write about things that are difficult to talk about or embarrassing, so funny happens rather frequently, but I am rarely, if ever, joking.

I live in Oakland, but grew up in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. I went to college: first to study bassoon at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. It wasn’t for me, so I transferred to the ethnomusicology department at UCLA. Academia wasn’t for me either. My education gave me an appreciation for contrast in dynamics, structure, and aesthetics as a whole. I came to look at music as a vital dialogue within a society and I arrived at a belief that music is the art of putting sound into context: It’s more than just the notes and lyrics one hears. It’s the way in which one comes across them, the people they are with when they hear them, what’s going on in the world and our lives when a song is played. It matters how well an audience knows a musician and how well a musician knows their audience.

So I try to approach “promotion” as part of the music. I’m still figuring this out. But one thing I do is give out free cookies at all of my performances, and on an inflatable couch at random times and locations.

Oh, and I also try to talk to as many people as much as I can. So please, contact me.

I’m not famous. I think that would be annoying, but less so than working a day job all my life. I’m still searching for those special thousands of people that will support my career, because a strong cult following would be nice. So I hope that you, your friends, and I will be a good fit for each other.

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044 – Love Me Do – The Raul Capablanca Orchestra

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:31:00 +0000

44 – Love Me Do – The Raul Capablanca Orchestra

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

Original version recorded June 6, September 4&11 1962

Ukulele version recorded July 23 1942

Elana Hayden – Vocals

Mike Leslie – Bass, guitar, ukulele, orchestration

Jose Raul Capablanca – Vibes

Neil Tufano – Drums

Phillip Marlowe was channeled by Mr. Frank Simms

Produced and arranged by Elana Hayden, Mike Leslie & David Barratt at Room 615, The Cahuenga Building, Hollywood, California.

Written and credited to Lennon and McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

The opening salvo by Lennon and McCartney had a difficult birth. After several rejections by many record companies Brian Epstein secured a trial for the lads with EMI at Abbey Road Studios with George Martin.

Martin at that time was known for making middle of the road comedy records (“My Boomerang Won’t Come Back,” Charlie Drake, “Sun Arise,” Rolf Harris, Peter Sellars). If he had rejected the band it is very possible that Epstein would have found another group to work with and J,P,G&R may have been looking at another career.

Martin felt that the lads had something but was not impressed by their current drummer – Pete Best.

Hence the song was recorded on three different occasions with three different drummers.

June 6 1962: Pete Best on drums, as part of their audition.

September 4: Best had been replaced with Ringo Starr

September 11, the Beatles returned to the same studio with session drummer Andy White on drums, as Martin was unhappy with Starr’s performance who was relegated to playing tambourine.

Pete Best had to go for two reasons. Firstly he was not a great drummer, but secondly and most importantly he used to score more girls that John – which was totally unacceptable to John.

The song was not enthusiastically received. It only reached #17 in The UK singles chart behind artist like Russ Conway and The Vernon Girls but it got their foot in the door and they were off to the races.

One of the great functions of music is its ability to create time travel.

Many times I have casually heard a song playing on a nearby radio and been transported 5, 10 20 years back into the past. The ukulele version of “Love Me Do” goes several steps further.

The Raul Capablanca Orchestra recorded their magnificent version featuring the sublime voice of Elana Hayden a full two decades before The Beatles version, in their own private studio in The Cahuenga Building, Hollywood, California.

In that same building worked a down at heel private detective who allowed Raul to use some of his case notes for this recording.

Enjoy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

To book The Jose Raul Capablanca Orchestra Call Mr R Chandler at GLenview7537

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043 – Day Tripper – Elaine Caswell

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:46:00 +0000

43 Day Tripper – Elaine Caswell

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version Recorded October 16, 1965

Ukulele version Recorded: September 4, 2009

Remixed with new ukulele April 2011

Elaine Caswell – Vocals

Nathan Macormack – Cello

David Barratt Ukulele and everything else

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

ABOUT THE SONG

Arthur Schopenhauer said that every action in the universe was driven by The Will; broadly speaking, the ceaseless desire to live. But this, he argued, left us swinging pointlessly between suffering and boredom. The only escape from the tyranny of The Will was to be found in art, and particularly in music.

Arthur was, of course, wrong.

Music, more than anything else is an act of The Will.

The writing of Day Tripper is an example of this. After an exhausting touring schedule from 1962 – 1965, The Beatles needed a hit for the Christmas market. They were tired and irritable. But you would never know it from listening to their recording of Day Tripper.

This is the sound of a confident band. Like At the top of their game as much as Lionel Messi or Alex Rodriguez are now.

The song begins with a simple yet deadly riff. The form is a modified 12 bar blues. The harmony singing is celestial and effortless. The drumming is adequate. The tambourine is, as usual, obscenely loud.

Day Tripper is a true Lennon & McCartney song with the chorus and the riff by John and the verses by Paul. No time for them to argue about which is the best part. They had to go for it quickly and they did and it was brilliant.

The phrase "day tripper" was a typical play on words by Lennon: "Day trippers are people who go on a day trip, right? Usually on a ferryboat or something. But it was kind of . . . you’re just a weekend hippie.”

This was of course a snipe at Paul who was the only Beatle not to have done LSD at that point. Typically though, McCartney was the first to publicly announce that he had tripped. That was a rare Paul PR disaster. The same thing happened when the band broke up. Paul was the last one to quit and the first one to alert the media. That was a PR coup coinciding with his first solo release.

One way you can tell a good tune is by how it’s been covered. Special mention should be made for Otis Redding’s Stax version where he sweats, screams, and cries his way through the song with little respect for the original melody or lyrics. Very proto-TBCOU. We also enjoy Jimi Hendrix’s speed crazed guitar abuse version.

The Ukulele version features the sultry Elaine Caswell. It is slow, slippery, and illicit. Elaine’s love object has disappointed her. She wanted more, but her partner was not able to deliver.

Bad girl but not bad enough. Bridge and Tunnel indeed.

Nathan MacCormack’s cello is a monstrous sex-toy of vibrating bends, pulsating where you least expect it and want it most.

Strings playing the blues are like a posh girl talking dirty.

Perfection.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Elaine Caswell has made a lot of people look good including Joe Jackson. Cher, Celine Dion, Billy Joel, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Cyndi Lauper, Little Richard and Bonnie Raitt.

In addition she has sold a lot of products including Sears, Dr. Pepper, Chrysler-Plymouth, Pontiac, Pepsi, Hasbro, Burger King, Kellogg’s and Folgers,

You may have seen her on your television set on The Late Show With David Letterman, Saturday Night Live or Late Night With Conan O’Brien.

She sang the National Anthem at Shea Stadium, before a Major League Baseball game between the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates.

But her crowning glory was circumnavigating the globe in her hand made catamaran while wearing only leopard-skin 6” heels.

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042 – And I Love Her – Shake Anderson

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:28:00 +0000

42 And I Love Her – Shake Anderson

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded July 10, 1964

Ukulele version recorded: August, 2009

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Vocals – Shake Anderson

Ukulele – Mike Leslie

Everything Else – David Barratt

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn from an original recording by Shake Anderson

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sam “Shake” Anderson, started recording and touring at age nine. A bassist/guitarist/singer/songwriter/producer. Shake has worked with artists as varied as Bruce Hornsby, Static Major, Steve Cropper, currently nominated for a grammy with Felix Cavalieri, Earth,Wind & Fire, Aretha Franklin, The Indigo Girls, The Spice Girls, Curtis Mayfield, Aliyah, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. He spent six years as musical director for soul music legends "The Impressions".

Shake has also worked with a great variety of Christian artists such as Crystal Lewis, Annointed, Bryan Duncan, Israel Houghton and New Breed and Avalon.

Anderson, learned the most about life when an illness stopped him in his tracks. He was told he would never perform again and had several months to live. Life as he had known it was over. While spending more than nine months in the hospital and being told he was dying he learned who he really was—not Shake as the world called him—but Sammy Louis as his doctor’s referred to him.

This crisis in his life taught him what was really important. Shake overcame all the odds and rebuilt his life. These songs—chapters—are stories about making mistakes, learning lessons and rebirth. Shake says about Stories from Sammy Louis—“once you’ve been to the edge the middle don’t matter.”

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041 – Dig A Pony – Keith Fluitt

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:21:00 +0000

041 – Dig A Pony – Keith Fluitt

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

Original Version recorded January 30 1969

Ukulele version recorded August 15 2011

Keith Fluitt – Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele & everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Originally called "All I Want Is You”, “Dig A Pony” Lennon would later comment that he thought the song was "a piece of garbage," though he has shown similar scorn for many of his songs.

Dig A Pony contained mostly nonsense lyrics, which Lennon dismissed in 1980 as "Another piece of garbage". However, some references can be found, including to The Beatles’ one-time name Johnny and the Moondogs ("I pick a moondog") and Mick Jagger (I roll a stoney/Well you can imitate everyone you know").

However, like so many of Lennon’s songs of the period, the dominant influence is Yoko Ono. Dig A Pony was originally titled All I Want Is You, words which appear in the chorus and which constitute the song’s only direct, meaningful sentiment.

Due to his increased heroin intake and general hatred of be a Beatle this was Lennon’s only significant new contribution to the Let It Be album (his Across The Universe had been recorded nearly a year previously).

The Let It Be album and film contained a version of the song recorded during the group’s rooftop performance at Apple on 30 January. The recording began with a false start; in the film Ringo Starr can be seen putting his cigarette down and crying out ‘Hold it!’

On the rooftop an assistant held a clipboard before Lennon with the lyrics on it. The performance ended with Lennon saying "Thank you brothers. Hands getting too cold to play the chords"

The Ukulele Version features a stone cold piece of soul. When Keith Fluit sings people smile. He has a direct connection to something so profoundly human that we know what it is even though we may not to find a name to describe it.

When we were recording this version I kept having flashbacks to when I was a child listening to the radio in a very dull and grey London. I remember being captivated and confused by what I perceived to to be musical sounds that came from another planet. Smokey Robinson, Sam & Dave, Tammi Terrell and many other transported me away from a boring, predictable, regimented existence into.. what? I did’t know then and I still don’t know now. However with every piece of music I create I get closer.

Thank you Keith.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Keith’s a well-sought-after vocalist that has performed locally and globally. He has recored and performed as Ashford & Simpson, Will Downing, Diana Ross, Phil Perry, Roberta Flack, Th e Pet Shop Boys, Olivia Newton-John and a host of others. In 2006 he was the voice of Philip Bailey in the hit Broadway show "HOT FEET" as well as headlining his own show for the past 10yrs in Oslo Norway. As a songwriter he co-wrote and sang on "I Met an Angel on Christmas Day for Celine Dion and in 2012 will release two hot dance tracks one which is written & produced by Colonel Abrams.

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040 – Mother Nature’s Son – Matt Alber

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:49:00 +0000

040 Mother Nature’s Son – Matt Alber

Original version recorded August 9 1968
Ukulele version recorded March 14th 2011

Matt Alber : Vocals, Keyboards
Ann Klein: Ukulele
David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written by Paul McCartney
Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

As our version starts a small-town boy finds himself in the The Big City some time around 1972.

He wanders around around and can not comprehend what he sees.

He sings to himself (with a ukulele of course) and enters his own world.

Around 1.37 things get out of hand.

Broken windows, gunshots followed a reasonable amount of police brutality, which in turn sparks a riot, machine guns and generally impolite behavior.

Our hero is oblivious to all this still singing to himself and anyone that will listen.
At 1.58 a stray bullet catches him and he falls to the floor.

2.03, in a semi conscious state, he is transported to his country home.

2.27, He is carried off to meet his maker by heavenly choir.

2.48 Nirvana… and I don’t mean the band that, in my opinion, could have used a little more personal hygiene.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Seattle-based singer/songwriter, Matt Alber grew up singing in the St. Louis Children’s Choirs and lived for the summers. His first tour was to Japan where he hiked Mt. Fuji, ate his first rice noodles and taught the kids from Tokyo how to break-dance. Matt stuck with singing and went on to train classically in voice & composition with professors who still invite him to dinner when he’s in town.

In the late 90′s Matt bought a one-way ticket for San Francisco to join the classical men’s acapella ensemble Chanticleer with whom he would record two Grammy Award-winning albums. He fell in love twice and stumbled onto his first songs while hanging around before and after rehearsals at St. Matthew’s Church in The Mission.

In 2003 he met writer/producer/rocket-scientist Jeff Crerie of Utmosis Studios and began work on his first full-length, Nonchalant. The album was released with utmost care in 2005 and caught the quick attention of Tommy Boy/Silver Label. Matt signed with Silver Label and released a rigorous reworking of the album in 2008 entitled Hide Nothing.
He relocated to Los Angeles and teamed with director Robin Scovill and editor Rob Lawe to make a 1960′s-inspired music video for the single, End Of The World. The video caught a strong tail-wind after airing on MTv’s Logo Channel and HBO and sparked Matt’s first tour in the summer of 2009 where he fell in love a third time.

Matt is currently at work on a home-made acoustic album on Vashon Island in Puget Sound where the water is clear and the sky hides a mountain.

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039 – The Word – Radigan

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:08:00 +0000

39 The Word – Radigan

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded November 10, 1965

Ukulele Version recorded April 14 2011

Radigan, Vocals, Guitar, Percission

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt and Radigan at The Abattoir of Good Taste Brooklyn.

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon and McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

The Word is pivotal song for The Beatles and John Lennon in particular. It marks the transition of the word love being used as a weapon to posses an individual, (Run For Your Life, I’ll Get You) to a more universal all encompassing love of all existence.

How did John Lennon make this transformation?

Was it through hours of study of ancient texts?

Did he have access to a wise guru who imparted the knowledge of the ages upon him?

Was he visited by a Flaming Pie?

No.

All he did was drugs.

Users of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide otherwise known as LSD or acid often experience a dissolution between themselves and the "outside world". See

http://www.maps.org/w3pb/new/1962/1962_linton_2052_1.pdf

There is little doubt that Lennon experienced something like this before writing The Word.

President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs in 1969. Unfortunately the war had been lost several years earlier. Surrender was finally acknowledged by Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy on May 13, 2009, when he announced that The Administration would not use the term "War on Drugs," in future as it was thought to be counter-productive. Many believe that this will lead to the full legalization of narcotics in the 3rd or 4th Obama administration.

We firmly believe that drugs should not be legalized as it will lead to decreased quality and a substantial rise in price.

Enough politics, back to the music

The song itself is a re-worked 12 bar blues not unlike Dr Robert or Little Child. Musically they could write this kind of song in their sleep, which they often had to do due to the touring, recording, promotional schedule of 1964/7 .

Ringo is is extremely tasteful and the usual horribly loud tambourine is nowhere to be heard. We may be mistaken but it sounds like there are two bass parts on this recording. On the left Channel a simple part follows the bass drum while on the right a more McCartneyeque riff twists and turns it’s way through the song.

The most druggy element of the recording is performed by the least druggy of humans. George Martin plays a distorted harmonium that references the indian influences that were to become standard during the next few years of Beatle recordings.

The Word was, of course, love.

The Beatles used the word Love 613 times in the lyrics of their songs. Strangely this is the same number of commandments in the Old Testament.

Coincidence? We think so.

The word “Beatles” was used only once in all of their songs but as you can see by the graphic insert that they used one word more often than any other by a very wide margin.

Sing the word – the word is YOU. Used a massive 2,262 times in Beatles songs.

Don’t believe us? Count them yourselves at

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfc8fkhx_6dwph4nc6

When J&P finished the song they wrote out the lyrics and decorated them with psychedelic imagery and gave them to John Cage for his 50th birthday. JC liked this gift so much that he threw it in a waste basket.

Sorry… That was a lie.

That should have read John Cage liked this gift so much that he reprinted it in his book “Notations.”

Our recording features the stylish Terry Radigan. Terry wore a very tasteful Stella McCartney jacket at the 1st Beatles Complete On Ukulele Festival last year and expect her to blind us with her fashion sense again when we repeat the performance on Dec 5/6 at n8 in Williamsburg.

This is the second version of The Word that we recorded. To try and catch the atmosphere of the original Beatles recording we added weapons grade LSD to her camomile tea. This was an error. Terry mistook my dog for The Angel Gabriel then knelt down and started worshiping it on the studio floor. She kept repeating that she knew the secret of the Magic Potato and demanded that we see the wisdom of the Eternal Bass Firestorm.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Some would say that Radigan sings like a bird, which is true because she is one. Not some delicate, fragile thin boned lark or hummingbird, more like a Sulawesi Goshawk or Nankeen Kestrel.

Focused, graceful, deadly.

She sings of love from the cradle, to the altar, from the divorce courts, to the grave, referencing the Great American Songbook, Nashville and Detroit.

Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill and others have covered her songs but none sing them with emotional precision of the author

hear more of her work at: www.terryradigan.com

Inquires: unmanageable@mac.com

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038 – I Am The Walrus – The Newspaper Taxis

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:15:00 +0000

38 I Am The Walrus – Newspaper Taxis

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded September 5, 1967

Ukulele version recorded – July 25, 2009

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Vocal – Tyler Land

Drums – Robert Brandow

Bass – Sgt. Hank Semolina

Keyboards – Brian August

Ukulele – Roger Greenawalt

Piano Solo – Chatterbox The Cat

Produced by Roger And Dave at Shabby Road Studio and The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn

The Ukulele version of I Am The Walrus which begins at the end features the mysterious and enigmatic Newspaper Taxis.

Some say they are renegade corporate-robber barons, some say they are degenerate night club impresarios.

All we know is they occasionally show up at The Abattoir Of Good Taste plug in their instruments and channel a sound from a far off time and place.

The piano solo is by the world famous Chatterbox The Cat. Chatterbox is an accomplished pianist, she swoons and rubs her face against cellos and she stands on her back legs and prays for greenies. She also likes to kill things.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

One day the crowd being one Robert, one Hank, several Brians and a Tyler, too, were sitting around the haüsfrau when an unruly man came down on a smoldering muffin — which didn't help at all. But they painlessly dusted themselves awful and then, looking east (there was such a thing back then) the muffin shouted: "Henceforth you shall be the Newspaper Taxis, with an X and two P's, I think."

Of course, this caused great excrement amongst the four, who hastily ordered a fifth — and almost missed it all.

Insipid, they said "bestbuy" to the charred muffin, picked up their instruments and struck a mighty "E" chord . . . until it struck back.

So they tried "Walrus" instead, until it was Finnish. And now they all have lucky faces, even today they do, and we hope you will, too, at

www.newspapertaxis.com.

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037 – Within You And Without You – Spottiswoode

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:53:00 +0000

037 Within You Without You – Spottiswoode

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded January 28, 1967

Ukulele Version recorded June 16, 2009

Written by George Harrison

Spottiswoode – Vocal

David Barratt – Ukulele Wall of Noise

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Fort Greene, Brooklyn

ABOUT THE SONG

Does a human being contain a unique soul that is controlled by an external creator, or is all matter expressions of one consciousness?

We don’t bother themselves with such trivial questions, but in 1967 George Harrison did.

While Paul, and to a lesser extent John, were busting bullets and sweating balls constructing what many consider to be The Greatest Pop Album Ever Made (TM), George was “chilling out” and “getting his head together” and “figuring shit out” etc.

And who could blame him?

George Harrison was born into a stuffy dull-thinking, Irish Catholic family in boring black and white post-war Liverpool. He had, with very modest talent, stumbled into the middle of the world’s biggest cultural phenomenon since Hitler.

By age 21 he was more famous than the Pope but less famous than Ringo.

That kind of experience can drive you mad. It drove Harrison to a shop called “India Craft” in London where he bought an inexpensive sitar. His interest in Indian culture and Hinduism grew quickly. Hanging out with Norah Jones’s dad and other assorted gurus followed, mixed in with a lot of weed and psychedelics and before you know it there are Indian influences all over The Beatles recordings. This culminated with GH dragging the band to India, which is where they really started hating one another.

According to Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick there was lots of eye rolling when George played the song on guitar. As was often the case John and Paul were too busy to contribute to the track but George Martin put in a lot of extra effort and studio time to make it work. Maybe he pitied Harrison or maybe he was getting back some of the control he had lost to J&P on their recordings.

The backing track was recorded at Abbey Road by Indian musicians who where respected so much by The Beatles that they were not credited. We have hunted through the inter-web to find and acknowledge these players with little luck. Please forward their names to us should you know them.

To deaden the sound and make everyone more comfortable, throw rugs were placed all over Studio 2. One would expect that since the Beatles were the biggest selling act in the world they would want to make the guest musicians comfortable, but this was still Austerity Britain, so moth-eaten crappy carpets were the order of the day.

Five stars to George Martin and the London based string section on this recording. They had very little, if any, training in eastern music but do an excellent job picking the swoops and swirls. Also to Geoff Emerick, who’s close mic techniques made sure one could hear the bowing of each instrument clearly.

We approve of the chord structure in Within You Without You. There are no chords in Within You Without You.

George’s oddessy gained more strength within the group and soon he was dragging them all of to India which was were the band began to break up.

In our ukulele version we have slowed down the tempo and added the violence of twenty seven guitars distorting and resonating over one chord. The Explorers, SG’s , and Les Pauls falling over one another droning and aching while The Legendary Spottiswoode finds himself floating in nothingness.

He is tuning himself into the light of God, which he is anyway. He was distracted by material things for a moment but now he is part of one big ukulele consciousness. Everything is going to be just fine.

Sorted!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Spottiswoode, described as a “genius” and a “downtown ringleader” by The New Yorker, is an Englishman who has been on the New York scene for just over a decade. His songs have been covered and recorded by numerous East Village and Williamsburg musicians, and featured in a variety of mainstream and independent films.

However, Mr. Spottiswoode’s proudest accomplishment is the more than decade-long personality cult known as Spottiswoode & His Enemies. Since their January 1998 New York debut at the Mercury Lounge, Spottiswoode has somehow been able to hold together seven of New York’s finest musicians, put out a string of acclaimed records, perform residencies at New York’s best clubs, play Lincoln Center, tour the country, cross the ocean… all with a band that doesn’t even like him.

www.spottiswoode.com

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036 – Don’t Let Me Down – Adam Elk

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:22:00 +0000

Click here to listen

036 – Don’t Let Me Down – Adam Elk

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded January 28, 1969

Ukulele version recorded March 29, 2012

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Adam Elk – Vocal

David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

ABOUT THE SONG

How does it feel to be let down?

That moment when the person who is the centre of your life says “Honey there is something we have to talk about”.

When you find your business partner has bought a condo in Florida on expenses without telling you.

When your spouse turns up at your parents 40th wedding anniversary wasted, telling your sister for the twenty-first time what a slut she is.

John Lennon’s early life had a few moments like that.

He was let down by his mother Julia. She gave up the position of mother in everything but name to leave him with her sister Mimi. Later she moved in with her lover without inviting John to live with them. He really got the message then. And finally, in the summer of 1958, she had the temerity to walk in front of a drunken driver without saying goodbye to John.

Alf, his father who chose the dancehalls and vaudeville palaces of Liverpool over his family. The man who asked five-year-old John to choose between Julia or him. John chose Alf Lennon twice but as his mother walked away kinder-john began to cry and chased her.

It didn’t matter anyway, John ended up with his Aunt Mimi who hated John’s music almost as much as she hated his mother.

He was let down by the fame and power he so desperately craved as a young man. He thought the Holy Grail of celebrity would protect him from his childhood pain. He was wrong. It was even more empty than his parental relationships.

It was no wonder that when he met the woman he believed could protect him from whatever he thought the world could throw he was panicked. This love was more dangerous than than any drug he was taking. He could not afford to lose this savior.

Lennon sounds like a desperate child on this song. The voice raw even by Lennon standards. I can’t think of him sounding more vulnerable and desperate. Here was a man stripped bare, begging.

Not unlike his stalker songs (Run For Your Life, It Won’t Be Long, I’ll Get You) there is a tremendous will at work here. He will not be let down again.

Many people, including have had less than complimentary things to say about Yoko Ono but it can not be denied that she has always fiercely protected what she sees as The John Lennon legacy. It is very easy to ridicule her pretentious art, tuneless caterwauling and hyper-naive politics but she has never let him down.

Phil Spector decided that Don’t Let Me Down was not good enough to be on the Let It Be album. Spector was of course insane. This is one of Lennon’s best performances.

Special mention for Billy Preston who plays piano like both Paul and John do in their dreams.George’s lead fills are perfect compliment to Preston’s piano, Ringo hits his mark but this song is all about the vocal delivery.

Don’t Let Me Down should win an award for excessively cruel lyric writing

“I’m in love for the first time”

How do you think Cynthia Lennon felt when she heard that? Julian ?

Let down?

Our minimal solo ukulele version features Craig Greenberg.

Who is Adam singing to?

He never told us and we are far to polite to ask, but whoever it is in for a torrid time. That amount of desire and need is a lot to handle.

An old ukulele will never let you down.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

10 years of touring North America in the 90′s , 11 years of writing commercial music at the legendary JSM music in NYC, meanwhile, recording and producing records for his band "The Mommyheads" and many others;

Adam Elk understands the music industry like a seasoned veteran, but with the same enthusiasm and purpose he had the moment he picked up his first guitar.

While teaching a "music for picture" clinic in Scandinavia in 2011, Adam had his "Ah ha" moment: start a new music venture!

Strip away the glossy sheen, take from all the lessons, mistakes, desires and accomplishments from years of creating music professionally and boil it down to its essence.

The idea is simple…

Work with the best people,

create the best music you possibly can,

treat everyone with the respect they deserve,

and enjoy every moment of it.

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035 – Ill Get You

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:18:00 +0000

COMMING SOON

IT’S BEING RECORDED RIGHT NOW

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034 – Revolution#9 – Dave

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:01:00 +0000

34 Revolution #9 – Dave

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original versions recorded May-June 1968

Ukulele version recorded January 15 2009

Dave – Vocals, Guitars, Drums and Ukuleles

Mrs. Barratt – Vocals

Harry Feeney Barratt – Bass

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Fort Greene Brooklyn.

For best results put Revolution #9 on repeat while reading this essay.

ABOUT THE SONG

Is Revolution #9 a song?

Debatable.

But even in this most experimental of tracks there is a chorus. Who can forget it . “Number 9, Number 9, Number 9”. Try not remembering that voice repeating if you can. It’s an excellent ear-worm that burrows deep in the mind.

R#9 opens with the chorus, just like “Help”.

Several artists had worked in this area before (Stockhausen/Cage/Varese/Nono etc) but Revolution #9’s real power came not from what is was but where it was placed. It was at the end of the most anticipated album of the year by the most important of artists.

Simply by putting something as brutal and uncompromising as R#9 at the end of a pop album changed pop and changed the cultural positioning of experimental music.

Lots of kids were turned onto the avant garde by R#9 including me. You can see influences of the layering technique in his works Karito at the UN and Medicino.

As a piece it is interesting but not brilliant, but as for it’s historical juxtaposition it is a work of vision. Naturally Paul hated it. A few years earlier he experimented with tape loops. It was his idea to use them on “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Paul was also the main instigator of “Caravan Of Light” another experimental piece that has yet to see the light of day.

There has been a lot talked about Charles Manson and The Beatles. It has been said that Manson and several of his followers saw R#9 as a direct reference to Revelations 9, one of the more bloodthirsty sections of the Good Book. Mr Manson has always insisted he was more into Hank Williams than The Beatles. We believe Crazy Charlie as Hank was much more in tune with the Dark Side than John, Paul, George or Ringo.

There are tons of jokes and faux nursery rhymes in Revolution #9. A lot of it reminds me of the British comedian Spike Milligan. “…Then there’s this Welsh Rarebit wearing some brown underpants”, could have come straight from the Goons Radio show.

A lot of people have asked us in a semi mocking, sneery voice “What are you going to do with Revolution 9 then?” Well now you can hear for yourself. I took the chorus and turned it into a heavy metal singalong taking some of the finer lyrics and chanting them in his best Stadium Rock Voice. Mrs. Lennon’s part is performed by Mrs. Barratt, the bass by Barratt The Younger. The whole thing is a family affair starring the ukulele.

Enjoy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Dave

1960 – 1969 Learns to walk, read and chew gum at the same time

1970 – 1979 Plays a lot of cricket, grasps a vague understanding of math, buys a guitar.

1980 – 1989 Enters a recording studio, writes hits for Robert Plant, Jeffery Osbourne and mixes tons of dance music including David Bowie’s Fame.

1990 – 1999 Pimps himself to a series of corporations to write jingles and creates the bass player on this track from his own DNA.

2000 – 2007 – Releases several records under the names Yellow Note and Dubchek, retires to Asia for a bit then un-retires.

2008 – Has his work Karito exhibited at the UN General Assembly New York.

2009 – 2012 The Beatles Complete On Ukulele.

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033 – Revolution – Gerry Colvin

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:55:00 +0000

click here to play

33 – Revolution – Gerry Colvin

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

Original Version recorded 19 and 24 July, 13 and 21 August 1968

Ukulele version recorded April 5 2012

Gerry Colvin: The Vocalist

Terry Radigan: Backing vocals

David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Mobile, Stratford Upon Avon, Warwickshire England

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Class War is big business. It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine a world without capitalism. Lennon knew this.

John lennon had given support to the Trotskyist Workers Revolutionary Party/Socialist Labor League and felt betrayed by their desire to change the world though violence.

Lennon was staunchly anti-violence for a very good reason. When he was young he was not adverse to punching the odd guy or gal who got in his way. He understood the seduction and buzz that violence could give and had decided personally to repudiate that part of himself. “Revolution” is the personal made political.

The Ukulele version was recorded on Gerry Colvin’s estate in Warwickshire. Gerry is not bothered by Revolution, he embraces it.

Gerry’s company “Revoulution Inc.” (registered in The Cayman Islands for tax purposes) is the exclusive supplier of leisure wear to The Occupy Movement in The United States. His factory in Wuhan, China, churns out hundreds of thousands anti-capitalism paraphernalia items.

Gerry knows the revolution will be televised and has made a very decent bid on the rights.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Gerry was born in Barrow-in-Furness abducted and was raised in Orpington, Kent.

In the early 1980′s he co-founded the legendary John Peel favourite skiffle-cowpunk indie outfit ’Terry & Gerry’. This seminal band toured Europe and the US and appeared on countless TV shows including "The Tube" and "The Old Grey Whistle Test". Their five singles and album all reached No.1 on the indie charts.

In the nineties Gerry spent time in Nashville – working as a professional songwriter and later collaborated with Alison Moyet, co-writing on an album project. He also wrote TV themes, musicals and film scores.  

In addition to forming ‘The Atlantics’ in the early nineties, Gerry has also compered at Glastonbury Festival, appeared as a corpse in the BBC’s medical drama ‘Casualty’, sung Big Band swing with the National Screen Orchestra and performed as a comedy double act with Mackenzie Crook.

Since 1995 Gerry has worked with Nick Quarmby in the five piece folk band Colvinquarmby. They have released six acclaimed album and were voted best band at the prestigious Fairport Convention Cropredy Festival in 2009.

In 2010 they won the Hancock Award for best folk act. Their latest album ‘CQ5’ is released March 2012.

Gerry has also completed a solo jazz album and written a collection of short stories and poems.

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032 – Across The Universe – Krista Crommett

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:20:00 +0000

32 Across The Universe – Krista Crommett

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded February 4, 1968

Ukulele version recorded February 15 2009

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon McCartney

Krista Crommett – Vocals

David Barratt – Ukulele & everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Fort Greene Brooklyn.

The ukulele version of Across The Universe features the angelic Krista Crommett. She rose from the waters, made her way to Brooklyn and transformed herself into a swirling gothic choir for this recording. The song culminates with the Kristachoir repeatedly singing the name of Dave’s favorite deity.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Krista Crommett spent her formative years as a mermaid swimming and singing in Maine ponds and lakes. She sometimes even braved the frigid sea. A strong sense of wanderlust, boredom, and curiosity led her further south to New York City. Due to lack of peaceful (and sanitary) waterways in which to frolic, she left the water to forge her way on land. Krista has lived in Seattle, Ireland, Long Island, New York City, and Maine. Her recently completed debut solo EP is titled “Private Parade”. It is her siren song.

www.KristaCrommett.Com

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031 – Why Don’t We Do It In The Road – Viva

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:53:00 +0000

Click here to play

031 – Why Don’t We Do It In The Road – Viva

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded October 9-10, 1968

Ukulele Version recorded May 14 2009

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

Viva - Vocal & Ukulele

Kenny White – Keyboards & Guitar

David Barratt – Everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

ABOUT THE SONG

Why Don’t We Do It In The Road is a song about sex but Paul despite being cute, and by any traditional standards, good looking, is not sexy.

Viva is.

She will make you do things that you don’t want to do and then make you realize that you really, really wanted to.

She will leave you in a pool of shame and sweat.

You will feel bad about yourself, with no regrets.

Enjoy if you dare.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Color: Midnight blue

Food: Dark Chocolate Strawberries

Book: Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking

Wake Up Song: Bjork’s Pagan Poetry

Album Of The Moment: Elomar, Cantoria

Coffee: Macchiato

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030 -Don’t Bother Me – Delaverde

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:21:00 +0000

30 – Don’t Bother Me – Delaverde

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded September 11-12, 1963

Ukulele Version recorded May 2009

Written by George Harrison

Vocals – Marlon and Luis

Drums – Anthony Rondon

Guitar – Karen Gonzales

Bass – Durban Laverde

Ukulele – John Benthal

Fiddling while Caracas burns – David Barratt

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, from original recordings made Delaverde in Caracas, Venezuela.

We recently devoured recording engineer Geoff Emerick’s memoir, Here, There, and Everywhere. He describes Harrison as unfriendly, and their weakest musician, then goes on to generously praise George’s growth as an artist and producer.

We believe that George flowered more than any other Beatle between 1962-70. Listen to masterpieces like Something or Here Comes The Sun. Compare George’s sublime playing on the later Beatles recordings to the childish noises he was responsible for when the band began. Even more impressive is his journey from selfish boy to spiritual man while under the toxic spotlight of fame. Had you given us that sort of attention we would have turned out more Kim Jong Il than Hare Krishna.

The ukulele version of Don’t Bother Me is our first foreign language escapade. The lyrics to DBM are much better in Spanish than English. It is an honor to have the multi-talented Derban Beatencourt involved with The Beatles Complete On Ukulele.

We would love to have more foreign language renditions to include in our epic quest. We already have French and German versions on the way, but we invite Icelandic, Burmese, and especially Ethiopian artists to contribute their oral talents to our endeavor.

Tigrinya caressed by the ukulele is very heaven.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Delaverde are from faraway Venezuela, and have been together for several years. Stylistically diverse, Delaverde respects no known musical boundaries. Their founder, bassist Durban Laverde, has played with many unknown British artists, like Jimmy Page, Manfred Mann, Joan Armatrading, and Mick Jagger, as well as the world famous David Barratt. Anthony Rondon plays drums and percussion, Karen Gonzales is on guitar, and Marlon and Luis, from Los Elfos, supply guest vocals. Delverde is putting the finishing touches on their new album, Delavede Y La Iguana Brass, which features Vicente Frejeiro (Venezuelan Symphonic Orchestra) on trumpet.

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029 – Getting Better – Superconductor Music

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:22:00 +0000

Click here to play

29 Getting Better – Superconductor Music

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded March 1, 1967

Ukulele version recorded May/June 2009

Written by Lennon/McCartney

Super Conductor Music : Guitar, Bass, Vocals

Isabella Serrano : Extreme Method Acting

David Barratt : Ukulele & Wall Of Electronica

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Fort Greene, Brooklyn from original recordings made by Superconductor Music, Chico, California.

The ukulele version of Getting Better features the mysterious and talented Superconductor Music. We have never met Superconductor Music and have only corresponded with him electronically. A couple of months ago he sent us his version of Getting Better to which we added slide guitar and ukulele and the magnificent performance of Isabella.

Isabella is tired, sleepy and irritable as only a 7 year old can be when she has found a pint of iced coffee in the fridge mixed it with 8 ounces of sugar and downed the lot an hour before bedtime. She does not want to go to bed. She is more than insistent that she does not want to go to bed. Meltdown and hysteria occur as she curses the very nature of being a powerless child who has to obey the mindless rules of these ridiculous giants who claim to know better for her than she does for herself.

It can’t get no worse!!!

As the effects of the coffee and sugar subside the sweeter side of Isabella returns as her mother serenades her to sleep with…. you guessed it….

A ukulele!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Superconductor Music started appreciating The Beatles when he was no taller than the Hi-Fi speaker, and didn’t start depreciating them until reading Roger and David’s highly cynical blog. But probably because The White Album was his first love, all things bitter and complex appeal more immediately to his character than the sunny side of pop.

Superconductor Music wrote Hollywood Outsider, a rock opera first staged in 2002. These days he plays wounded alt.rock with Mike Comfort and records twisted holiday bluegrass and Persian disco at his home studio in Chico, California. More information can be found at -

www.superconductormusic.com.

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028 – Don’t Pass Me By – Kenny White

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:53:00 +0000

28 Don’t Pass Me By – Kenny White

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version Recorded November 22,1968

Ukulele Version Recorded May 14, 2009

Written by Richard Starkey

Kenny White – Guitar, Bass, Harmonica, Ukulele, Vocals

Angela Reed – Vocals

David Barratt – Pretend Drums

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste – Fort Greene Brooklyn

Only Country Music discusses the everyday troubles of the working class. It is true heart music.

Enter Ringo, a gentle man and a gentleman, who wrote and sang this humble country ditty.

He has much to be humble about.

“You were in a car crash and you lost your hair.”

WTF Ring? John, couldn’t you have given him a little help?

Our version is by Kenny White.

Kenny redeems this atrocity by stripping away the song to its bare bones and rebuilding it from scratch. Every tiny thing is in it’s right place. Angela Reed’s harmonies bring sweetness where there had been fright. The bass swoops and swoons. The ukulele glistens as always. Country as it was meant to be.

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027 – Your Mother Should Know – The Adidas Kebabs

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:35:00 +0000

Video can bee seen by clicking here

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026 – For No One – The Jingle Punks Orchestra

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:10:00 +0000

HOLD ON!

IT’S BEING RECORDED RIGHT NOW

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025 – No Reply – Mike Borgia

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:57:00 +0000

025 – No Reply – Mike Borgia

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

Original Version recorded – December 30 1964

Ukulele version recorded – July 3 2011

Mike Borgia Vocals, Guitar, slide guitar

Nathan MacCormack – Cellos and Bass

David Barratt – Ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

The song is sung by a deranged stalker who is unable to contact his apparently unfaithful girlfriend, although he knows she is home

"They said it wasn’t you, but I saw you peek through your window".

According to Lennon in a 1972 interview, The Beatles’ music publisher Dick James was quite pleased with "No Reply":

“I remember Dick James coming up to me after we did this one and saying, ‘You’re getting better now — that was a complete story.’ Apparently, before that, he thought my songs wandered off.”

In his last major interview, Lennon said that lyrically, the song was inspired by "Silhouettes", a 1957 song first recorded and released by doo-wop group the Rays.

The ukulele version is performed and perfumed by Mike Borgia who has never stalked anyone.. So he says.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

20 years of writing and performing rock & roll music with a clear conscience, delivering to fans nothing but pure and true musical creations.

mikeborgia.gigs@gmail.com

http://mikeborgia.com

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024 – It Won’t Be Long – Ben Walker

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:15:00 +0000

024 It Wont Be Long – Ben Walker

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version: Recorded July 30, 1963

Ukulele Version: Recorded June 28th, 2009

New Uke added May 2011

Written by John Lennon with some help from Paul McCartney

Credited to Paul McCartney

Ben Walker: Vocals, Piano, Guitar

Mike Leslie: Ukulele

Natalie Barratt: Ben’s Long Suffering Mother

Ben’s Dog: Lightning

David Barratt: Everything Else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abbatoir Of Good Taste and Ben’s Bedroom.

Our version of “It Won’t Be Long” features the multi-talented and charming Ben Walker. We love Ben despite the fact that he is, at this moment, sitting in his bedroom playing “World Of Warcraft,” while he fantasizes about wooing the girl who has rejected him.

Of course she has not rejected him at all. Ben is invisible to her because he is always in his bedroom fiddling on his computer. As he progresses to each higher level, Ben leaves her, and reality, further and further behind.

His mum has made him a very nice sandwich and wants Ben to re-enter the family. But our hero continues to dive deeper and deeper into a Neverland of his own making. Ben claims “It Won’t Be Long,” but we believe it will be a very longtime indeed…

We are worried.

Ben.

Ben?

Ben???

BEN!!!

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023 – I Saw Here Standing There – Natasha Romanova

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:49:00 +0000

023 – I Saw Her Standing There – Natasha

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version: Recorded February 11, 1963

Ukulele Version: Recorded December 1 2011

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Natasha: Vocals

Mike Leslie : Ukulele

David Barratt: Marching Robot Army

Produced by David Barratt Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Natasha is a classically trained singer-songwriter born in Ukraine. Her first recording, "This Is Autumn" was released on tape when she was 15 years old, followed by the appearance on "The Morning Star" in Moscow – Russian answer to "Star Search". In 1996, her family moved to New York where she joined the rock band, Waterwalls. In the year 2000, she formed the electronic rock band, Discrete Encounter, and together with Russian composer Taras Mashtalir, recorded three albums. She also collaborated and released two singles with veteran DJ Reade Truth. Besides, she is a poet, a model, and, occasionally, a news anchor for the Russian television network NTV America. She is also the cover model for the new Devo album "Something For Everybody", and she studies acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute.

This is one of her poems

Написан последний абзац,

Глаза уже больше не видят

Безобразия. Без – компромисс.

Здесь то любят, то ненавидят,

То смеются над нашим "дай",

То уродуют наши снимки.

Не обманывай. Не болтай.

Мы – не люди. Мы – невидимки.

Всё стремимся найти покой

Там, где дьявол котёл готовит.

Когда снег превратится в соль,

Когда грязь повернётся в поле,

Когда луч обезвожит свет,

А вода обласкает тело

Мы вернёмся сюда на нет.

И закажем святое дело.

(Декабрь ’08, Питтсбург)

When the last door is shot
In the desert the last stream of rain
Is stopped I’ll be quiet
For only those who say they know
Can compete with the dead
When the last snow turns black
The sidewalk will stay wet for a while
I’ll be kind to all who sleep
My apartment is always empty
No one comes and no one goes
When the last window is closed
Underwater the last fish completes
Its swimming pattern you will give me both
Of your hands and one of your smiles
Who is that behind my back?
He always talks and talks and talks
I can’t distinguish the words
But I can arrange the sounds
Into equal portions of good and bad
When the last dinner is served
The old version of me will disappear
The last version of myself

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022 – Maxwell’s Silver Hammer – Emilie Cardinaux

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:03:00 +0000

Click Here To Download

022 Maxwell’s Silver Hammer – Emilie Cardinaux

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

Original Version recorded September 26 1969

Ukulele version recorded January 23 2012

Emilie Cardinaux – Vocals, baritone ukulele, dobro ukulele, bass, mouth trumpet, whistleing, glockenspiel

Produced by David Barratt and Emilie Cardinaux at The Abattoir Of Good Taste.

Mixed at the Abattoir Mobile, Seven Hotel, Bangkok.

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Growing up in Dayton, Ohio and Geneva, Switzerland, Emilie Cardinaux studied classical piano, played the cello in string quartets and orchestras, sang in choirs, gigged in jazz bands, and composed music for each of those scenarios. After high school she chose a liberal arts education rather than conservatory training, attending Bowdoin College and later Amherst College. In 2002, she moved to New York and completed a two year Master’s program in jazz performance at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Garry Dial, Peter Eldridge, and Dave Liebman.

Now, after nearly a decade in New York, Cardinaux’s musical pursuits remain varied. Her decision not to specialize in one musical skill opened the door for opportunities requiring a broad musical scope, particularly as a songwriter and producer. Since 2010, she has worked as a music producer on the popular children’s television series, Bubble Guppies (Nick, Jr.). Recently, she has signed on as a composer for the show, which is entering its third season. In 2011, Cardinaux appeared on-screen as the keyboard player in a band backing Jon Bon Jovi and Lea Michelle (of Glee) in the movie New Year’s Eve, directed by Gary Marshall.

Also in 2011, Cardinaux released her debut, Slow Down, establishing herself as an insightful, savvy songwriter with a voice decidedly her own. Drawing from the rich traditions of blues, folk, rock, and country music, she crafts compelling songs with thoughtful, intelligent lyrics. Cardinaux plays keyboards, guitars, banjo, bass, melodica, and cello on the album, sculpting sophisticated arrangements that showcase her smoky, soulful vocals. Slow Down features standout performances by several noteworthy New York-based musicians, including bassist/guitarist Tony Scherr (Bill Frisell, Willie Nelson, Norah Jones) and drummer Shawn Pelton (SNL, Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan).

http://emiliecardinaux.com

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021 – Blackbird – Papa Dee

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:35:00 +0000

021- Blackbird – Papa Dee

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded June 11, 1968.

Ukulele version recorded June 2nd 2009

Papa Dee : Vocals

Mike Leslie : Ukulele

David Barratt : Another Ukulele & everything else

Produced by Davis Barratt at The Abbatoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn

Papa Dee has released albums for over twenty years. His brand new album "A Little Way Different" is recorded in Jamaica and is out in stores now.

Wahlgren debuted in 1988 with the single "Funky Raggamuffin/Let the Music Play", a mixture of dancehall and hip hop. He then joined the Stonefunkers and became the group’s rapper. This was followed by a few years of cooperation with Rob’n'Raz. Wahlgren then went solo, and had his breakthrough in 1990 with the album Lettin’ Off Steam, which was predominantly hip hop and dancehall. His next album, One Step Ahead, had elements of soul and reggae, mixing song and rap. His 1994 release, Original Master, produced by Denniz Pop at Cheiron Studio, incorporated eurodisco into his music.

During the 1990s and 2000s he released several albums, often in cooperation with Desmond Foster and a couple with Soundism. 2001, Soundism also produced the Papa Dee song "Hottie Hottie Girls" featuring Lady Saw,[1] Jamaica’s prime female dancehall star . He is also a member of The Brooklyn Funk Essentials and recorded Walking Down Memory Gap Lane with David Barratt as Dubchek.

www.papadee.com

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020 – Polythene Pam – Roma!

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:01:00 +0000

20 Polythene Pam – Roma!

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

Original version recorded July 25-30, 1969.

Ukulele version recorded June 18, 2011

Stiletto : Vocals

Katana: Guitar

Armada: Drums

Beretta: Bass

Calavera: Keys

with

David Barratt: Ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste , Brooklyn.

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

The Beatles didn’t really do sex. Out of the 185 songs they wrote between 1962 and 1970, only a handful refer to the nitty gritty of copulation. "Polythene Pam" is one of the few exceptions. The most Punk Rock song of the entire Beatles catalog. I love the way Lennon attacks the guitar. All six strings sound as though they are about to break. The song is only one minute and twelve seconds long, and about 30 seconds of that is taken up with a guitar solo. It has a rushed, quickie against the wall feel to it which is exactly what Lennon wanted.

In 1980, John Lennon said about "Polythene Pam":

"That was me, remembering a little event with a woman in Jersey, and a man who was England’s answer to Allen Ginsberg…I met him when we were on tour and he took me back to his apartment and I had a girl and he had one he wanted me to meet. He said she dressed up in polythene, which she did. She didn’t wear jack boots and kilts, I just sort of elaborated. Perverted sex in a polythene bag."

The song is sung in a very strong Liverpudlian "Scouse" accent, which Lennon did not naturally have. John was always pretending he wasn’t middle class. I particularly like the way he sings “Guyurl".

The name "Polythene Pam" came from the nickname of an early Beatles fan from the Cavern Club days named Pat Hodgett (now Dawson), who would often eat polythene. She became known as "Polythene Pat". She said in an interview, "I used to eat polythene all the time. I’d tie it in knots and then eat it. Sometimes I even used to burn it and then eat it when it got cold."

On the album Abbey Road, the song is linked with the previous song "Mean Mr. Mustard" musically, as the two run together without pause. The two songs are also linked narratively, since "Mean Mr. Mustard" mentions that the title character Mustard has a sister named Pam. The song "Her Majesty" was originally set between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam", which would have worked so much better than the post script it became.

The Ukulele version is performed by the decadent and beautiful Roma. They will be playing at the Highline Ballroom this Friday, July 1 at 10:30 pm. Be there.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Roma! Roma! Roma! Ma che cos’é? One guy who sings. Four girls who play.

Muses. Furies. Lovers. Assassins. Fallen angels holding up a mirror to mankind, reminding us of all that has been forgotten – especially The Velvet Underground, Joseph Moncure March, Federico Fellini, Lauren Bacall, and Marcello Mastroianni.

Roma is love! Roma is sex! Roma is life! Roma is death!

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019 – Hold Me Tight – Jeff Meechai

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:45:00 +0000

019 – Hold Me Tight – Jeff Meechai

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

Original version – September 12 1963

Ukulele version – November 2011

Jeff Meechai – Vocals, ukulele

David Barratt – ukulele and everything else

Recorded at Jeff’s house in Surat Thani, Thailand

and The Abattoir of Goof Taste Manhattan.

Produced by David Barratt

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Although released on their second album With The Beatles, Hold Me Tight was originally attempted by The Beatles during the mammoth 11 February 1963 session that yielded the bulk of songs for Please Please Me.

“That was Paul’s. Maybe I stuck some bits in there – I don’t remember. It was a pretty poor song and I was never really interested in it either way.”

John Lennon, 1980

Hold Me Tight was an early Lennon-McCartney original, written at the latter’s home in Forthlin Road, Liverpool, and featured in The Beatles’ live set from 1961 to 1963.

“When we first started it was all singles and we were always trying to write singles, That’s why you get lots of these two minute 30 second songs; they all came out the same length. Hold Me Tight was a failed attempt at a single which then became an acceptable album filler.”

Paul McCartney

The Beatles evidently didn’t rate the song too highly, and the fluffed lyrics, lack of bass in the mix and McCartney’s often out-of-tune vocals suggest they didn’t take the recording too seriously either.

That was unfortunate, because the song – speeded up from the key of E to F to add drive and energy – is generally held to be a solid example of an early ’60s Beatles rocker, with some clever songwriting features thrown in.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jeff Meechai is a not famous independent Singer/Songwriter from
Suratthani, Thailand.
He always perform the cover of thai/english song through his channel on youtube.
And He also publish his original music on soundcloud.

http://www.youtube.com/zegarim
http://soundcloud.com/Jeffmeechai
http://www.facebook.com/JeffMirageZ

I have nothing but dream.
All the things i see are not the things they seem.
My imagination and real world are completely united.
But all these hallucinations made me alive …

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018- Lady Madonna – Amanda Homi

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:02:00 +0000

18 Lady Madonna – Amanda Homi

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded February 3-6, 1968

Ukulele version recorded April 15, 1938

Amanda Homi – Vocal

Mike Leslie – Ukulele & Bass

David Barratt – Guitar

Produced by David Barratt in The Abattior Of Good Taste Time Machine, Brooklyn

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Lady Madonna is a Paul McCartney song written with a little help from his friend, John Lennon. Lennon came up with the “See how they run” line, which is a reference to an I Am The Walrus lyric from the previous year. This is the only spot in the song where John sings along. It was released in March ’68 while The Beatles were in India.

Our version, sung by the lovely and talented Amanda Homi was recorded using the Abattoir Of Good Taste Time MachineTM. Amanda, Mike Leslie and myself crowded into the very same recording booth where Robert Johnson once stood only minutes before he was due to record. We met Mr Johnson and found him to be a perfectly delightful fellow. In fact Mike played him a couple own Led Zep riffs which he seemed to like and I believe incorporated into his own work.

Such is the fun to be had with time travel.

It’s a hot and sticky southern night. Pour yourself a stiff mint julep and ENJOY!

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Amanda Homi 1910- 1938

A Gypsy blues singer from West Virginia.

The Illegitimate daughter of a medicine man and traveling actress, she was born in a trunk at the local theatre where she was left to be raised by her Grandma, a fortune teller and washboard tie virtuoso.

She was only 16 years old when she ran off with a visiting marching band from Macedonia.

Her Grandma was not at all distraught at her disappearance and was heard to say "good riddance to the little ho"

Sporadic recordings have mysteriously appeared in various regions of the globe ever since.

She is known to have led a life of flagrant dissipation.

Her death is estimated at 1938 although it still remains a mystery.

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017 – Because – Ydob Rodo

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:21:00 +0000

17 Because – Ydob Rodo

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded August 1-5, 1969

Ukulele version recorded May 6 2009

Remixed with new ukulele April 2011

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Frank Simms – Vocal

Amanda Homi – About to be bereaved friend

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abbatoir Of Good Taste

We love Because so much and have imagined that, in a perfect world, this is the song that one will eventually hear as you float up to heaven and into the light.

Hence our version of Because begins, many years hence, on the death bed of Super-Singer Frank Simms, as the legendary Ydob Rodo, surrounded by his loved ones. They want him to stay, but he cannot.

Frank is late.

For a very important date.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

One of classical music’s black sheep characters and an extraordinary troublemaker. Ydob enjoys causing mischief and smoking cigars (much to the distress of the others), and travels on a giant horse named Smegma. He suffers from constant nightmares.

While he is generally a sweet and innocent type, he has been known to lose his head now and then.

According to Flip, he was the only person wanted in Oregon, Canada, and Nova Scotia "for having fun."

He even has a wanted poster hidden under his bed which reads that he has a $1,000,000,000 reward for his capture. Even though people usually enjoy his antics, most of the others are angered by him, some even hitting him on the head on more than one occasion with fish scraps.

He learned to sing at a Moravian Church, a musical discipline characterized by a specific melodic and harmonic texture related to the Eastern European musical world. His recordings represent the oldest documentation of Moravian folk music. The music is mainly written in major keys, and its rhythm and structure are regular and firm. "Hollering songs," his most well-know form, are used for communication by children and women while herding cattle and horses.

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016 – Good Night – Jamie Rae

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:19:00 +0000

16 Goodnight – Jamie Rae

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded June 28,1968

Ukulele version recorded June 28th 2011

Jamie Rae Branthoover – Vocal

Mike Leslie – Ukulele

David Barratt – Ukulele, guitar, bass organ keyboards

Produced by David Barratt The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Brooklyn

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Ringo sings this with out the help of any of his friends. Infact he is the only Beatle on the recording.

Ringo became the third member of the group (after Paul and George) to record a song credited to the group without the other members performing – ironically John was the last with Julia.

John wrote the song as a lullaby for his son Julian. George Martin’s arrangement is excessively lush, and intentionally so. Lennon is said to have wanted the song to sound "real cheesy". The Mike Sammes Singers (the kings of cheeze) provided backing vocals.

On the backing track George Martin used a small string section, plus a sparse complement of woodwinds and brass; ditto for the small choir. And yet, the arrangement and recording come out sounding like a "cast of hundreds". A trick he learnt from film scoring where the composer wants maximum clout for his dollar.

The score, itself, is replete with little clichés of the Muzak genre: string tremolos and rapid upward scales, harp glissandos, chirpy flutes, and French horn inner voices. The choir alternately doubles and dogs Ringo’s lead vocal, obviating the need for any double tracking. The stage whispered lines over the outro qualifies as a cliché all on its own.

In order to fully appreciate the uncanny aptness of ending the "White Album" with "Good Night" you need to first back up and consider why the penultimate album slot is such a logical place for "Revolution #9".

Where else could you put "Revolution #9"? Too early in the running order would make the rest of the album seem a bit anti-climactic at best. At worst, you could lose your audience well before you’ve trotted out your rest of your best stuff. Putting it at the very end lends it too much emphasis. Maybe put it on the end of one of the other sides, but maybe no one will be sufficiently motivated to turn the record over. Next to last fells just right.

Now then, what kind of act, indeed, could possibly follow "Revolution #9"? You clearly need a sharp contrast, but exactly what kind? Virtually any other song from the album would sound a combination of anticlimactic, stylistically repetitive, underwhelming, or too weird.

"Good Night" has the simultaneous virtues of providing musically arch-conservative ballast, a change of style as refreshingly surprising as anything else on the album, and a clever, self-referential way of telling you the music’s over; turn out the lights.

The Ukulele version features the delicate tones of Jamie Rea Branthoover. Jamie has sung to troops about to be deployed to war when she was employed by The USO. We can imagine the memories of her performance echoing in the memory of a soldier in the battlefield. Her gentle voice takes away any worries of pain, sorrow or death. She is a true heroin(e).

It is no coincidence that she also sings in the band “The Little Death”

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015 – The Inner Light – Bryn

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:17:00 +0000

15 The Inner Light – Bryn

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version: Recorded January 12 – February 8, 1968

Ukulele version: Recorded April 2009

Remixed with new Ukulele April 2011

Written by George Harrison

Bryn – Vocal, Bass

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste, Fort Greene Brooklyn

Our version is as musically schizophrenic as the original. Incorporating Blues, Classical, Metal, Electro, Dance & African sections. It’s is as mad as the maddest madman in Madtown on Mad-Day. Electronics, gourds, marimbas, guitars, string sections, horns, flutes all fight for your attention but one instrument stands above them all.

Ukulele!

Enjoy!

ABOUT BRYN

John Lennon and his gang have a lot to answer for……

Howard Werth And The Moonbeams initiated me into the wondrous world of rockdom back in 1970-something after a 3 month stint in the Royal Engineers. They outgrew me fairly quickly and I moved on to become a Fabulous Poodle. Came up against Chucky Berry, Spizz, Freur, Underworld, Watusi Bros., Electric Bluebirds, Pump, Pink Flamingos, Snowy White, Worldwide Electric, Alexi Sayle, Mook, Rhatigan, Ronnie & The Rex, (to name but loads) along the way. Eventually settled down with wife and cat in sedate Surrey with a room full of musical gear, computers and various annoying bits of software. This is what happened. Listener beware.

http://www.myspace.com/instrumendus

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014 – Eight Days A Week – Joe Hurley

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:34:00 +0000

COMMING SOON

IT’S BEING RECORDED RIGHT NOW

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013 – Yellow Submarine – The Fort Greene Childrens Choir (Age 7 and Under Section)

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:02:00 +0000

13 Yellow Submarine – The Fort Greene Childrens Choir

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version, recorded May 26-June 1, 1966.

Ukulele version recorded February 2009

Written by Paul McCartney with help from Donovan and John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Vocals – The Fort Greene Children’s Choir

Yummy Mummy – Ms. Natalie

Ukulele and everything else – David Barratt

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

Our version, performed by the Children’s Choir of Fort Greene, is a song by kids, for kids. Any resemblance to “Lord Of The Flies” is just a manifestation of your imagination.

Enjoy!

Precocious. Angelic. Possessed. Beautiful. Talented. Enthusiastic.

These are just some of the adjectives thrown at the nine youngsters of the Fort Greene Children’s Choir.

Lead vocals are tackled by the killer combination of Miss Isabella Serrano (7) and Master Julius Philp (7). Isabella has been singing in commercials since she was four, and her gap-toothed smile make her a favorite with the judges. Julius has a serious stage presence, and a stunning similarity to a young John Lennon. He sleeps under a Beatles poster.

They are ably supported in a fortissimo chorus by Master Luke Serrano (5), Master Vincent Philp (4), Miss Asara Milton (7), Master Citizen Milton (4), Miss Delia Costello (5), Miss Alina Bennet-Dubin (7), Miss Maya McGuire (6) & Miss Lola McGuire (4)

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012 – In My Life – Cynthia Lennon

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:01:00 +0000

Click to play

012 – In My Life – Cynthia Lennon

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

Original version recorded October 18 1965

Ukulele version recorded September 10 2011

Cynthia Lennon – Vocal

Martyn Swain – Piano, bass, celeste

Nathan MacCormack – Cello

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by Martyn Swain and David Barratt at MOCo and The Abattoir Of Good Taste, NYC.

Written by Lennon and McCartney

Essay Sgt. Hank Semolina

ABOUT THE SONG

On October 18, 1965, the day the Beatles recorded “In My Life,” Henry Travers – the man who played the angel in the classic film “It’s A Wonderful Life” was leaving this mortal coil. And perhaps in the exact same moment that the old gentleman was passing quietly away, a young man was singing what could have been the old man’s memoirs.

That is the magic of this song. It’s John Lennon writing about John Lennon – but we all know that it’s about all of us.

After all, we all have lives. Henry Travers, James Stewart, and John Lennon. And we all celebrate our people, places and moments in them, in all their kaleidoscopic diversity. John had connections to so many people in his life, ones he had known, ones he knew, and ones he was yet to meet. There was more happening in the lives of others all over the world, but John was writing about himself, and thinking about his own experiences.

Back in the mop-top days, Kenneth Allsop, a British journalist, suggested to John (who was already smashing the “Moon/June” idiom) that he write about his past. It seemed like a good enough idea, according to John, who closed his eyes and put himself in a bus, riding through the streets of Liverpool as a young boy: “’In My Life’ started out as a bus journey from my house on Menlove Avenue to town, mentioning all the places I could recall. . . . It was the first song I wrote that was consciously about my life. It was my first major piece of work.”

The original lyrics were a literal travelogue:

“Some have gone and some remain;

Penny Lane is one I’m missing, up Church and to the Clock Tower

In the circle of the Abbey, I have seen some happy hours. . . .

Past the tramsheds with no trams on the 5 Bus into town,

Past the Dutch and St. Columbus

To the dockers umbrella that they pulled down . . .”

These images must have been strong for John — and the “people and things” he had grown up with — but John apparently wasn’t ready for these kinds of detailed historical references. He declared the lyrics “ridiculous,” and the work “the most boring sort of ‘What I Did On My Holidays Bus Trip’ song.” John trashed the lyrics and made the song a very personal love song. In so doing, he sang to his lover – this wasn’t about holding hands any more – and told her that the pull of the past was colliding with the present within him, and they all had their places.

Paul, of course, was watching as always and he was happy to take John’s discarded idea and run with it. John tossed out the references to Penny Lane in 1965, Paul made sure they found a home in his own “bus trip in Liverpool” song in 1967, which he even named “Penny Lane.” And while John made fun of his “Holiday Bus Trip” idea, Paul worked it up into a movie in 1967, “Magical Mystery Tour.” Such was the explosive creativity of these two young men during this time that they could turn each others’ throwaways into enduring art.

Of course one could debate, as John described it, whether “In My Life” was John’s “first major piece of work” – almost everything the Beatles had been doing by then has proven to be a major piece of work by anyone’s standards. But the song really showed John was now digging deep into himself and his past consistently, and showing us more and more of what came out. During the same month that the Beatles recorded “In My Life” they also recorded (among others), “Norwegian Wood” and “Nowhere Man,” two songs that John wrote about John. In this post-Dylan period he was going to places that the Beatles had not gone before (and was apparently writing these 3 more personal songs with a capo on the second fret, freeing himself even more to go to new places musically, maybe it felt like he was working with a different instrument).

This song is one of the giants. Through the passage of years, Paul and John have different memories of who did what. John thought he wrote the tune and words (except for the middle 8). Paul says John only wrote the words, and that Paul wrote the melody. One could argue that the melody itself suggest Paul’s style – the notes span an octave and jump around, as opposed to John’s more linear and “squashed” melody lines a la “Walrus” – but in the end, does it matter?

The words are about John, but the song is about everyone.

The Ukulele version was recorded by John’s first wife, Cynthia on her 72nd birthday.

This is music as time travel.

It’s her life now and it’s your life and it’s wonderful.

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011 – Cry Baby Cry – Vaughn Trapp

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:34:00 +0000

011 – Cry Baby Cry – Vaughn Trapp

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Beatles version recorded – July 16 1968

Ukulele version recorded – Feb 09

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Vaughn Trapp – Guitar, Piano, Vocal

Mike Leslie: Ukulele

David Barratt – Everything else

Produced by David Barratt

Recorded in Long Beach CA and at The Abbatoir of Good Taste, Brooklyn

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Cry Baby Cry is a John Lennon song from the White Album. It immediately precedes Revolution No. 9 (check the ukulele version of that!!) which fades out to the Ringo sung narcotic children’s ballad Good Night.

Demos of the song indicate that Lennon wrote the song in late 1967. The original lyrics were "Cry baby cry, make your mother buy." Lennon described to biographer Hunter Davies how he got the words from an advertisement.

George Martin plays a harmonium on this track (introduced after the first statement of "make your mother sigh"), the same one that had been played by Lennon on "We Can Work It Out" and by Martin on "The Word".

This was the song the Beatles were working on when engineer Geoff Emerick quit, though his departure was precipitated by Lennon and McCartney’s obsessions over the recordings of "Revolution" and "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da", respectively, and the overall tensions of the White Album sessions. Emerick would not work with the Beatles again until the session for The Ballad of John and Yoko nine months later.

The ukulele version, by Vaugnn Trapp, sounds nothing like Julie Andrews. We keep the same funereal tempo and try to make the track even scarier and disjointed. If possible we’d like to get tim Burton to do the video.

Enjoy.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with being stuck in the past. Vaughn Trapp is a solo artist based out of Long Beach, California, with an undying love for the sound of The Beatles, The Zombies, and various other staples of British Invasion during the 1960s. The modern touch that Vaughn Trapp adds is a lyrical political mindset, with one of the aspects being the title of his debut solo album, Amerika. (2005)

There is a clear lineage to The Beatles in particular — both middle year Lennon McCartney tunes and latter day George Harrison arrangements are a major influence on many of the cuts here. These beautifully written and arranged songs stand on their own, apart from their lineage and influences. It’s high praise indeed to say that some of these songs could have been penned by The Beatles themselves in some alternative universe.

For those who think that Vaughn’s vocals sound somewhat familiar, you may have known him as the frontman for the alternative trio Suncatcher (pka Doug Hammond), who found local Californian success in the mid-1990s. They released two albums to critical success but found little commercial revenue and disbanded sometime after 1998. Currently, Vaughn is a contributing artist at MusicSupervisor.com.

http://www.myspace.com/vaughntrapp

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010 – I Want You (She’s So Heavy) – Katana of Roma!

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:34:00 +0000

Click here to play

010 I Want You – Katana of Roma!

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

Original version – February-August 1969

Ukulele version – January 23rd 2012

Katana: Vocal and guitar

David Barratt Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste,

Mixed at The Abattoir Mobile, Narita Airport, Tokyo

Photo by Nadia Itani

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon and McCartney

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Known in certain circles as the guitarist and backup singer for Roma!, Katana was kidnapped in her infancy by a nomadic order of renegade Shinto monks and sold to an alcoholic Japanese sword maker, who reared her in the shackles of servitude in a mirthless Okinawan suburb. Forced to spend the days and nights of her youth toiling away in her master’s workshop, Katana was programmed to believe that she had sprung from the head of a Tamahagane blade during the ancient quenching process whereby the gentle curvature of a katana is attained.

On the day that she forged her first sword entirely on her own, she took the name of Katana. It was then that she knew the gentle curve would be her only escape. After sustaining a particularly rigorous beating at the hands of her drunken master, Katana slayed him in his sleep with a swift, single cut that nearly left him decapitated.

She then embarked on a career as an assassin that took her to Guam, then San Francisco, and finally New York, where she was hired by the owner of a Murray Hill laundromat to perform a hit on Roma!’s lead singer, Stiletto. While begging for his life, Stiletto offered Katana a spot in the band. It was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

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009 I Will – Alexander Fox

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Click here to play

009 – I Will – Alexander Fox

Original Version recorded May/June1967

Ukulele version recorded August 2011

Alexander Fox – Vocal – Guitar, tres, bass ukulele, percusion

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste from original recording made by Alexander Fox

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Alex Fernandez Fox is a Cuban American tres player, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from New York City. He has loved the Beatles ever since age 7, when his first guitar teacher taught him chords by writing out quick charts of Beatles songs for him to play. Long a sideman for many NYC-based traditional Cuban music groups, in late 2010 he released “Uno,” his first CD of original songs as a solo artist. His sound has been described as “The Beatles meets Buena Vista Social Club.” He plays regularly in the greater NYC area with his group, del Zorro.

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008 Hey Bulldog – Not Quite Dead Yet

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:08:00 +0000

08 Hey Bulldog – Not Quite Dead Yet

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded February 11 1968

Ukulele version recorded January 26 2009

Remixed with New Uke April 2011

Harry Bar-Ratt – Vocal, bass, ukulele

Ben Shizzle – Drums

Paul J. Techno – Silent Guitar

with

Lightning – Dog Sounds

Produced by David Barratt at the Abattoir of Good Taste

ABOUT THE ARTIST

The youngest band so far on The Beatles Complete on Ukulele three Fifteen year olds, Paul J. Techno – Guitar/vox, Ben Shizzle – Drums/vox and Harry Bar Ratt- Vox/bass are Not Quite Dead Yet.

“We have been together in one form or another for about 3 years. Paul and Harry have known each other since they were five years old so there is quite a bond there.”

Paul says “Our sound changes amost every week depending on what we are listening to.”

“Sometime we are more awesome than others…. but we are always awesome” concludes Ben

They have played many club gigs around New York City including Don Hills and The Knitting Factory sometimes creating chaos when they bring a leafblower filled with money to blow at the audience from stage.

www.myspace.com/notquitedeadyet11

www.reverbnation.com/notquitedeadyet

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007 Come Together – Kirsty Rock

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:34:00 +0000

07 Come Together – Kirsty Rock

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original version recorded July 21 1969

Ukulele version recorded January 26 2009

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon McCartney

Kirsty Rock – Vocal

David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at the Abattoir of Good Taste, Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Kirsty Rock, nicknamed the “Queen of Dub”, has roots in the NYC dub reggae movement and currently hails from the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Known for her vocal prowess as the lead singer for Trumystic, the premier live dub alliance and her recordings and international performances with Easy Star All Stars, Kirsty is always on the move. You can catch up with her on the latest Easy Star Records release Lonely Hearts Dub Band and their highly acclaimed “reggae reimaginings” Dub Side of the Moon and Radio Dread. Another side of Kirsty can be heard on TMG Ent. releases by Trumystic including Current Master, Dub Power and the forth coming record, Paradise. In addition she in the process of completing her first solo record Vacancy. In addition She has had the honor of performing live and recording with some of the greatest acts you could ever imagine…. Including one wicked Brit and a ukulele.

http://www.myspace.com/kirstyrock

http://www.myspace.com/trumystic

http://www.trumystic.net

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006 Tomorrow Never Knows – Lee Wells

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:27:00 +0000

06 Tomorrow Never Knows – Lee Wells

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

Original version recorded April 6,7 & 22 1966
Ukulele version recorded May 8 2011

Lee Wells – Vocal
David Barratt – 18 Ukuleles, bass, rhythm, backing vocal drone

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste.

Mixed outside Abbey Road Studios London on The Abattoir Laptop

Written by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

John Lennon wrote the song in January 1966, with lyrics adapted from the book The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner, which in turn was adapted from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Although Peter Brown believed that Lennon’s source for the lyric was the Tibetan Book of the Dead itself, which, he said, Lennon read whilst consuming LSD, George Harrison later stated that the idea for the lyrics came from Leary’s, Alpert’s and Metzner’s book and McCartney confirmed this, stating that he and Lennon had visited the newly opened Indica bookshop — Lennon was looking for a copy of The Portable Nietzsche— and Lennon had found a copy of The Psychedelic Experience that contained the lines: "When in doubt, relax, turn off your mind, float downstream".

Lennon bought the book, went home, took LSD, and followed the instructions exactly as stated in the book. The book held that the "ego death" experienced under the influence of LSD and other psychedelic drugs is essentially similar to the dying process and requires similar guidance.

"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the final track of The Beatles’ 1966 studio album Revolver but the first to be recorded. Credited as a Lennon/McCartney song, it was written primarily by John Lennon.

The song has a vocal put through a Leslie speaker cabinet (which was normally used as a loudspeaker for a Hammond organ) and uses automatic double tracking (ADT) to double the vocal image. Tape loops prepared by Paul McCartney were mixed in and out of the Indian-inspired modal backing underpinned by Ringo Starr’s constant but non-standard drum pattern. The song is also one of the first uses of a flanger effect on any instrument.

The title never actually appears in the song’s lyrics. In an interview McCartney revealed that, like "A Hard Day’s Night", it was taken from one of Ringo Starr’s malapropisms.The piece was originally titled "Mark I"."The Void" is cited as another working title.

When The Beatles returned to London after their first visit to America in early 1964 they were interviewed by David Coleman of BBC Television. The interview included the following:

• Interviewer: "Now, Ringo, I hear you were manhandled at the Embassy Ball. Is this right?"

• Ringo: "Not really. Someone just cut a bit of my hair, you see."

• Interviewer: "Let’s have a look. You seem to have got plenty left."

• Ringo: (turns head) "Can you see the difference? It’s longer, this side."

• Interviewer: "What happened exactly?"

• Ringo: "I don’t know. I was just talking, having an interview (exaggerated voice). Just like I am NOW!"

• (John and Paul begin lifting locks of his hair, pretending to cut it)

• Ringo: "I was talking away and I looked ’round, and there was about 400 people just smiling. So, you know — what can you say?"

• John: "What can you say?"

• Ringo: "Tomorrow never knows."

(John laughs)

Lennon first played the song to Brian Epstein, George Martin and the other Beatles at Epstein’s house at 24 Chapel Street, Belgravia.McCartney remembered that, even though the song’s harmony was mainly restricted to the chord of C, Martin accepted it as it was and said it was "rather interesting". The song’s harmonic structure is derived from Indian music and is based upon a C drone. The "chord" over the drone is generally C major, with some changes to B flat major.

The 19-year-old Geoff Emerick was promoted to replace Norman Smith as engineer on the first session for the Revolver album. This started at 8 p.m. on 6 April 1966, in Studio Three at Abbey Road.[6] Lennon told producer Martin that he wanted to sound like a hundred chanting Tibetan monks, which left Martin the difficult task of trying to find the effect by using the basic equipment they had. Lennon’s suggestion was that he be suspended from a rope and—after being given a good push—he would sing as he spun around the microphone. This idea was rejected by Martin, but when asked by Lennon about it, he would only reply with, "We’re looking into it."Emerick finally came up with the idea of wiring Lennon’s vocal through a Leslie rotating speaker, thus obtaining the desired effect without the need of a rope. Emerick made a connector to break into the electronic circuitry of the cabinet and then re-recorded the vocal as it came out of the revolving speaker.

As Lennon hated doing a second take to double his vocals, Ken Townsend, the studio technical manager, created the first ADT system, taking the signal from the playback and recording heads and delaying them slightly. By altering the speed and frequencies he could create various effects, which The Beatles used throughout the recording of Revolver. Lennon’s vocal was clearly double-tracked on the first three verses of the song: the effect of the Leslie cabinet can be heard after the (backwards) guitar solo.

The track included the highly compressed drums that The Beatles currently favoured, with reverse cymbals, reverse guitar, processed vocals, looped tape effects, a sitar and a tambura drone.McCartney supplied a bag of ¼ inch audio tape loops he had made at home after listening to Stockhausen’s Gesang der Jünglinge. By disabling the erase head of a tape recorder and then spooling a continuous loop of tape through the machine while recording, the tape would constantly overdub itself, creating a saturation effect, a technique also used in musique concrète. The tape could also be induced to go faster and slower. McCartney encouraged the other Beatles to use the same effects and create their own loops.

The numerous tapes McCartney supplied were played on five individual BTR3 tape machines, and controlled by EMI technicians in studio two at Abbey Road on 7 April.The four Beatles controlled the faders of each machine while Martin varied the stereo panning. The tapes were made (like most of the other loops) by superimposition and acceleration (0:07) Martin explained that the finished mix of the tape loops could never be repeated because of the complex and random way in which they were laid over the music.

The opening chord fades in gradually on the stereo version while the mono version features a more sudden fade-in.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Lee Wells is an artist, independent curator and consultant currently living and working New York. His projects primarily question systems of power and control and have been exhibited internationally for over 15 years, including the 51 st La Biennale Di Venezia, National Center for Contemporary Art Moscow, Kimpo/Seoul International Airport, WRO07 XII Media Biennial, PS1/MoMA, and The State Hermitage Museum, in addition to numerous art fairs, festivals and galleries. He is a co-founder and director of IFAC-arts, an alternative nomadic curitorial program and a co-founder of [PAM] the Perpetual Art Machine. His projects and exhibitions have been written about by various national and international art and news publications to include: The New York Times, Art Newspaper, Art in America, Artchronika, and Art Net. Most recently, Wells was commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum to write on video art and the 21st century avant-garde. Wells most recently has a solo exhibitions at Rooster Gallery in New York and PAIDA in Bremen, Germany. Please see: www.leewells.org and www.perpetualartmachine.com

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005 Here There And Everywhere – Bill Clift

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:26:00 +0000

005 Here There And Everywhere – Bill Clift

(To download on Mac, ctrl-click on the "Download" link)

Original Version recorded June 14, 1966

Ukulele version recorded January 12 2009 Remixed with new uke April 2011

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon/McCartney

Bill Clift: Vocals and guitar

David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at the Abattoir Of Good Taste London & Brooklyn

Our version features master vocalist Bill Clift recorded in one take in a freezing warehouse during the coldest night of a rather brutal January in South East London. The mood, not surprisingly, is ominous. We are far too old and bitter to believe in something as naive as the purity of love. Satisfaction is a good tune and the simplicity of everyday survival, followed by a lonely, meaningless death.

Happy Valentine’s Day!"

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bill has been influenced by The Beatles even more than the 90 units of alcohol his doctor pleaded that he stop consuming every week.

30 years of continual work in the music business has seen Bill write, sing and perform with more than 300 acts - The Late Show Happyhead, Robert Plant, Wang Chung, Jeffery Osbourne, Kylie Minogue, Mick Ronson and World Party being just a handful of them.

Bill has also released two classic albums “Bill Clift” on Proper Records and the self released “Smokescreen”.

He lives in Whitsable, England with his wife and son

www.myspace.com/billclift

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004 Run For Your Life – Claire

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Click here to play

04 Run For Your Life – Claire

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

Original version recorded December 3, 1965

Ukulele version recorded April 3, 2012

Claire: Vocal

David Barratt: Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at Death By Sexy HQ, Camden on The Abattoir Mobile

Written by John Lennon

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

Beating women up and killing them has been a popular subject in popular music. “Run For Your Life” is The Beatles contribution to this dubious genre.

In The Blues a common scenario is that a man catches "his" woman with another man and kills them both in a jealous rage.

In the 1920s, Lonnie Johnson sang a song called "Careless Love," in which he promises to shoot his lover numerous times and then stand over her until she is finished dying.

"Murderin’ Blues" by Robert Nighthawk, Little Walter’s "Boom, Boom, Out Go the Lights" and Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix fit in to this category. Another variation is a glorification of psychotic behavior – Used To Love Her by Guns And Roses, Delia by Johnny Cash and Smack My Bitch Up by Progidy are further examples.

Even Mr Sexy himself did one – Everyone sang along as Tom Jones murdered "Delilah".

Hip-Hop continues the tradition with Biggie Smalls performing “Gimme tha loot” where he raps about robbing and beating a girl up. One Less Bitch by N.W.A. and a whole bunch of songs by Emienem are a few of many that echo the

Possibly the most complex song in this genre is "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)" written by Goffin and King and recorded by The Crystals under the production of Phil Spector in 1962.

Goffin and King wrote the song after discovering that singer Little Eva was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend. When they inquired why she tolerated such treatment, Eva replied, with complete sincerity, that her boyfriend’s actions were motivated by his love for her.

In more ironic hands, ‘He Hit Me’ might have passed at least as satire. But Spector showed no sign of appreciating that. He was not preaching, he was merely documenting.

The Beatles addition to this genre is the last song on Rubber Soul. John tips his hat to the king by stealing part of the lyric of “Let’s Play House” and, like most fights, was over in less than 2 and a 1/4 minutes.

The Ukulele version recorded by Claire at “Death By Sexy HQ” in Camden after a particularly heavey evenings entertainment.

Claire, like Beyonce, Pele or Augustus only needs one name.

Her version reverses the roles.

Claire is beating her man for the fun of it. She calls him a little girl. She humiliates and dominates with words and machines until the distinction between pain and pleasure no longer exists.

No mercy is given, expected or paid for.

Such are the wonders of Craigslist.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bass, keyboard player and sometime DJ, Claire plays bass for London/LA based band Death By Sexy. Described as "A dirty hum with a taste of bubblegum. The sound of rat pedals with the smell of rose petals. The feel of white heat and a little bit of sweet." Death By Sexy are an all girl band from London with a frontman hailing from Los Angeles – two of the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll cities. Claire has worked with Keith Flint from The Prodigy, and indie-electro band TV-OD where she’s been produced by Markus Dravs (David Lynch, Brian Eno, Bjork, Depeche Mode) and Eli Janney (Girls Against Boys, The Rapture, Melissa Auf Der Maur), as well as composing film scores for independent films. As a solo composer she’s written tracks for Hammer Horror, and has just completed a score for upcoming feature ‘Dig Your Own Grave’.

‘Run For Your Life’ was recorded the morning after the night before at Death By Sexy HQ in Camden – and what a night it was for the band.

They rocked, they rolled, then they all passed out.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Death-By-Sexy-Official/260666010669605

https://twitter.com/#!/DxSMusic

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003 You Never Give Me Your Money – Darryl and Jason Berk

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:57:00 +0000

03 You Never Give Me Your Money – Darryl and Jason Berk

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

Original version recorded May 6 1969

Ukulele Version recorded – May 2011

Jason Berk Vocals, guitar, bass, drum programming

Darryl Berk – Ukulele

David Barratt – Keyboards – ukulele

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste from original recordings made by Darryl and Jason Berk

Written by Paul McCartney

Credited to Lennon & McCartney

ABOUT THE SONG

The song begins with two verses sung by McCartney in a large-sound, almost classical style. This is followed by a section played in a double time swing feel with McCartney switching to a more nasal vocal style, using a mock-baritone voice which contrasts the song’s somewhat poignant lyrics. Next comes an instrumental interlude with George Harrison’s aggressive blues rock-style and a concluding unison line between guitar and bass. The song fades out with a chant of a nursery rhyme, set to a Harrison guitar riff similar to a previous album track, "Here Comes the Sun". The riff will return later in the medley’s track "Carry That Weight". The song’s production is notable for prominent use of leslie-amplified, arpeggiated guitar parts, which would become synonymous with the late-era Beatles sound.

The Beatles recorded 26 takes of "You Never Give Me Your Money" on 6 May 1969, with McCartney on piano and vocals, Lennon and Harrison on guitar and Starr on drums. At this early stage the song ended abruptly prior to the "One two three four five six seven" refrain.

On 1 July McCartney overdubbed lead vocals onto take 30, and added more vocals and chimes on 15 July.

"You Never Give Me Your Money" was originally to segue into "Sun King" with a long organ note. This was recorded along with more vocals on 30 July. They were scrapped the following day, when McCartney completed the song by adding bass guitar and piano. The "Sun King" crossfade was completed on 5 August with a series of tape loops containing the sounds of bells, birds, bubbles, and bugs.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Darryl Berk has been playing guitar, ukulele and singing for more years than he cares to remember, A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Darryl made his way to Boston and then to New York City, Park Slope to be exact. His New York experiences range from performances at Madison Square Garden to the Levine Bar Mitzvah on Long Island. Having made a wrong turn in New Jersey, Darryl found himself in the San Francisco Bay area, residing in Alameda, a small island off the coast of Oakland. He continues to perform at many Bay area venues as well as teach and facilitate music programs. In his spare time he can often be found pondering existence of nature as well as the nature of existence while riding his bicycle along the San Francisco bay. He is currently working on CD which he hopes to release within the current millennium. He would also like to take credit for his parental and musical influence on his son, Jason.

www.darrylberk.com

Jason Berk is a award-winning singer/songwriter multi-instrumentalist whose love for the music of the Beatles was solidified by hearing the Sgt. Pepper album for the first time at five days old. Since then The Beatles have occupied a major portion of his life (as well as the space on his walls). While in high school Jason spent two years as lead guitarist in his school’s jazz band, composed original music for productions of Twelfth Night and Dark Of The Moon, was elected Vice-President of his school’s Songwriting Club and had his music featured on San Francisco’s legendary KFOG radio station. Now 18, Jason will be heading off to California State University Northridge to hone his songwriting skills while learning how to score films.

Jason has released two albums, The Next Meal and Afternoon Snacks, both of which can be downloaded through his website (see below). Jason recently garnered a bit of media attention when his band The Goners performed the entire Let It Be album, the recording of which can also be found on his website. Jason would like to thank John, Paul, George & Ringo for providing him with a constant source of inspiration and comfort wherever he goes.

http://jasonberk.bandcamp.com/

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002 Oh Darling – Kathena Bryant

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:10:00 +0000

COMMING SOON

ITS BEING RE- RECORDED RIGHT NOW!!

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001 While My Guitar Gently Weeps – John James

thebeatlescompleteonukulele — Thu, 20 Jan 2000 13:08:00 +0000

01 While My Guitar Gently Weeps – John James

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

The Beatles version recorded – 25 July 1968
Ukulele version recorded – April 15 2011

John James – Vocals
David Barratt – Ukulele and everything else

Produced by David Barratt at The Abattoir Of Good Taste Brooklyn

Written and credited to George Harrison

ABOUT THE ARTIST

John James is an indelible voice on the soundtrack of history. After Michelle Obama made her historic speech in Denver, John was there singing the Stevie Wonder classic “Isn’t She Lovely”.

John performed the first dance “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” for
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife at the historic Neighborhood Inaugural Ball.

He has toured and recorded with TOTO, Ashford & Simpson
The Pet Shop Boys, Taylor Dayne and others.

Credits include Jingles, Broadway and Television and has worked with a long list of artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sting, Lionel Richie, Olivia Newton John, Maurice White,
Anita Baker, James Taylor, Melissa Etheridge, Donald Fagan, Carly Simon,
Michael McDonald, Mariah Carey, Patti Labelle, John Legend, Mary J Blige,
Justin Bieber, Alicia Keys, Will Downing, India Arie, Anthony Hamilton,
Lalah Hathaway and many more.

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