Portrait of Leo Fender in the Fullerton Museum exhibit
Telecaster guitars. Stratocasters. Fender Bassman amps. All essential equipment for rock and blues players of all stripes- Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, Roy Buchanan, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Otis Rush.
On a recent trip to Southern California, the legacy of Fender- the company founded by Leo Fender in the mid-1940s- was a proud part of the local culture.
In Fullerton, for example, the original shop opened by Fender and his wife in 1938- Fender Radio Repair- has historic plaques out front, placed by the National Register of Historic Places and the Fullerton Heritage organization. In back of the location is a colorful outsized mosaic of an iconic Fender Stratocaster guitar.
Historic plaques by the original location of Fender Radio Repair
The Stratocaster mosaic
At the Fullerton Museum Center, there’s an entire gallery devoted to Fender with an exhibit dubbed “Strumming Through the Decades- 30 Years with Fender.” Guitars, amps, portraits and historic photos of Fender and his collaborators, iconic ads and the stories of musicians who thrived with Fender instruments fill the room that is oddly silent considering the loud and proud music that was made with Fender equipment.
Eric Clapton’s 1958 tweed Twin amp in Fullerton
For example, guitarist Tommy Tedesco’s Telecaster sits quiet in an upright glass case. As part of the famous studio cadre called the Wrecking Crew (a name bassist Carol Kaye, who often played a Fender Precision bass, famously despises), Tedesco was one of the most sought after studio guitarists of his time, playing on recordings for artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, Elvis Presley, and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as tons of famous movie and television soundtracks. And there his Telecaster sits, cigarette burn marks and all.
Tommy Tedesco’s Telecaster
Just down the road in Carlsbad is the Museum of Making Museum, created by NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants.) The museum is a feast of prime and pristine examples of all kinds of instruments and equipment- banjos, mandolins, guitars, pianos, amps, electronic gadgets- and classic Fender gear. That includes a 1965 Jaguar electric guitar, a 1953 Super Amp, a 1994 carved floral Stratocaster as well as a vintage 1955 Stratocaster featuring “tremolo action.”
Floral Stratocaster in the Museum of Making Music
1965 Fender Jaguar
These are some of the most influential instruments in the history of modern music making and it all started from a little radio repair shop that at first provided a valuable source of PA equipment, then developed into a world-wide well-spring of electric guitar design and technology.
A course of music and discussion created for Front Range Forum Fall 2024.
Notes and Play List by Tim Van Schmidt
Session 1: Introduction, The Beatles Before
Introduction
Facilitator Tim Van Schmidt has been a longtime Northern Colorado music journalist and photographer. He wrote a weekly “In Concert” column for The Coloradoan for 13 years and was the co-founder of Scene Magazine. Schmidt wrote for many regional newspapers including Fort Collins’ Forum and various entertainment publications. Most recently he wrote a weekly Recommended column for North Forty News and has been a regular contributor to The Blues Blast, a weekly blues digest published by the High Plains Blues Society. Schmidt also maintains six websites and has a successful YouTube channel. As a photographer, he has photographed hundreds of Colorado bands as well as big stars like Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead and many more. Born in Illinois, Schmidt spent much of his life in the western US, making Fort Collins and Colorado his home in 1980. He is also a fervent Beatles fan.
“The Creative Arc of The Beatles” class is centered around Beatles music from 1963-1970- from the release of their first album (in England), “Please Please Me,” to the final album by the band, “Let It Be.” But as with every story, so much happened before and after those dates that the course focus must be flexible…
The Elephant in the Room
Before getting to The Beatles’ music, let’s address a big subject about the band. That is, the fact that “The Beatles” wasn’t just a music group, but it was also a huge and powerful commercial machine. The commercial aspect of the group goes a long way in explaining their popularity.
Yes, The Beatles- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr- were young, exuberant, talented and attractive but their success was also due to the fact that a number of interests were convinced they could make money off of them.
Investors weren’t wrong- the timing was just perfect for a band of four teen idols- and they did make a lot of money. That kind of money also demanded media attention which helped intensify the whole deal. It all started with those four musicians, but snowballed into an international phenomenon partly thanks to commercial investment.
Sadly, business issues also had a lot to do with the breakup of the group.
And let’s also say that not everyone liked The Beatles. They were the subjects of boycotts, bannings, burnings and protests as their press coverage sometimes went sour and their popularity seemed to uncomfortably supplant established cultural trends.
One musical genre that especially felt the seismic shift The Beatles created was Folk Music. All you have to do is to turn to the venerable folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary to get a bead on what happened.
Folk considered itself a smart and thought provoking music- and had been enjoying some popularity in the years leading up to The Beatles’ explosion. The Beatles were so much more elemental, wildly appealing to a much younger audience, and the snark from folkies- or maybe envy- is unmistakable in PP and M’s 1967 release “I Dig Rock and Roll Music,” making fun of The Beatles and other pop stars of the day including the Mamas and the Papas and Donovan.
Here’s what the lyrics say about The Beatles: “…and when the Beatles tell you, they’ve got a word love to sell you, they mean exactly what they say.”
Play List: Peter, Paul and Mary “I Dig Rock and Roll Music”
It’s ironic that “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” came out the same year The Beatles released their pop album masterpiece “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The Beatles had become groundbreaking songwriters and recording artists and Peter, Paul and Mary were already behind the times.
It’s true- The Beatles was a business and their success spurred cultural blowbacks. Their music also went to places no one had gone to before or even since. That’s the part of The Beatles career that is of concern here from this point on- the “creative arc” of The Beatles. It’s the music that matters.
The Beatles Before
1956
John Lennon started his first band in high school in 1956. Here’s what was going on in 1956:
Skiffle
Lonnie Donegan had a major hit in England in 1956 with his “skiffle” version of the Leadbelly tune “Rock Island Line.” Skiffle music was a mixture of American country, blues and folk influences, played on a mixture of acoustic instruments- whatever was available. This included the guitar and the skiffle craze helped to not only boost the sales of guitars in England but also inspired thousands of skiffle groups- scrounging up whatever instruments they could- like John Lennon’s high school group, The Quarrymen.
The significance of skiffle music cannot be underplayed- the attitude that you could make music with easily acquired instruments was powerful.
To give you the flavor of skiffle music, here’s the 1957 version of “Rock Island Line” by American country artist Johnny Cash- which sounds a lot like Donegan’s hit and includes some extra lyrics as well. It’s recorded from an original Sun Records 45:
Play List: Johnny Cash- “Rock Island Line”
Rock and Roll
A bigger bomb dropped in 1956 than skiffle music- rock and roll. The year began with the January release of Elvis Presley’s debut hit on a major label, “Heartbreak Hotel,” and continued as many of the seminal artists of the rock and roll era broke out into the record charts.
That included the great Little Richard, known as one of the wildest performers of the time, his voice rough and ready and his songs- maybe a little irreverent- revved up and full of energy. Here’s Little Richard doing his 1956 hit “Long Tall Sally,” also recorded from the original 45:
Play List: Little Richard “Long Tall Sally”
Paul McCartney joined John Lennon’s group in 1957 and his friend George Harrison joined in 1958. Other people dropped out. Other people came on including bassist and artist Stu Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best. The group went through various name changes, until finally settling on The Beatles. Sutcliffe, who was the first to suggest a version of The Beatles’ name, dropped out and Ringo Starr joined The Beatles in 1962, replacing Best on drums.
A seminal part of their experience as a young band was to play residencies at night clubs in Hamburg, Germany, thanks to a connection between their native Liverpool and Hamburg promoters. This began in 1960 and at this point, The Beatles was a cover band- playing every song they could learn while doing multiple sets a day in Germany.
Rock and roll was, of course, the order of the day. And naturally, the young musicians played the stuff that turned them on, like Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally.”
Here’s what The Beatles did with Little Richard’s song.
This recording comes from an album I collected when I traveled through Hamburg in the summer of 1977. It’s a collection of 1962 recordings by a rock and roll fan that took his “personal tape recorder” into the Hamburg clubs and recorded several bands including The Beatles. I carried this record in my backpack all across Europe and back to get it home to my collection. While these are very rough recordings, they are an important document of the early Beatles.
Play List: The Beatles “Long Tall Sally” Live in Hamburg
Another 1956 hit The Beatles were playing in Hamburg in 1962 was Gene Vincent’s “Be Bop a Lula.”
Play List: The Beatles “Be Bop a Lula” Live in Hamburg
“Be Bop a Lula” apparently was an important tune to John Lennon. He recorded the song to lead off his 1975 album “Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a tribute collection of rock and roll oldies The Beatles no doubt were playing in Hamburg. This recording is clean and perfect- and it still rocks.
I once interviewed a bass player who recorded with Lennon on these sessions and he told me that Lennon was the ultimate professional- apparently there was no messing around at his sessions.
Play List: John Lennon “Be Bop a Lula”
And you cannot talk about the rock and roll explosion that was 1956 without including the true king of rock and roll- Chuck Berry. Berry had it all covered- writing catchy songs, playing a stinging guitar and working the world as a performer. Here’s Chuck Berry’s seminal 1956 hit “Roll Over Beethoven.”
Play List: Chuck Berry “Roll Over Beethoven”
Here’s how The Beatles played the tune in Hamburg in 1962
Play List: The Beatles “Roll Over Beethoven” Live in Hamburg
1956 was a powerful year for music and the artists that followed in the next few years would figure prominently in the foundation of The Beatles’ music.
Perhaps one of the most influential duos of the time was the Everly Brothers- uniquely suited to give the young Beatles inspiration. One of the signature sounds of the Everly Brothers were their savory, close vocal harmonies. Lennon and McCartney were in the process of developing a similar kind of vocal interplay as they began writing their own songs together.
Here are two examples of music by the Everly Brothers, again recorded from the original 45s, “Bye Bye Love” from 1957 and “Wake Up Little Susie” from 1958. Listen to those great vocal harmonies.
Play List: The Everly Brothers “Bye Bye Love”, “Wake Up Little Susie”
Playing their butts off in Hamburg helped shape The Beatles into a cohesive musical unit. Their first real experience in the recording studio came when the group was hired to back British guitarist Tony Sheridan- also a musician working in the Hamburg scene- both in the studio and on tour. In June 1961, they recorded several tunes with Sheridan, including “My Bonnie,” which became a hit in Germany.
In his auto-biography, “A Cellarful of Noise,” The Beatles’ super manager Brian Epstein credits this record as his introduction to The Beatles. In 1961, he was working in the family record store in Liverpool when a young man came in and asked for “My Bonnie”- a record from Germany by a new group, The Beatles.
Tony Sheridan and The Beatles “My Bonnie”
That’s right, this “My Bonnie” is the old folk song by the same name, but with rock and roll applied. This indicates something about the modus operandi of the young rock and rollers of the early 1960s. They could play any song, really, as long as it was fast and wild.
Here’s another one of those songs- Sheridan’s take on “The Saints.” It’s not hard to tell who Sheridan was trying to sound like in the beginning of the track.
Tony Sheridan and The Beatles “The Saints”
Back in Hamburg, The Beatles were still learning and playing a diversity of music. Here’s McCartney taking the lead on a Ray Charles song.
Play List: The Beatles “Halleluja I Love Her So”
But added to learning every song they could to fill out their sets, The Beatles were also beginning to write their own songs- and daring to perform them on stage right next to the popular songs of the day. Here’s another cut from Hamburg- McCartney again taking lead on their classic, “I Saw Her Standing There,” perhaps one of the best recordings on the album.
Play List: “I Saw Her Standing There”
Finally, in 1962, The Beatles got a recording contract- after first being rejected by Decca Records because “guitar groups were on their way out.” But before getting to The Beatles’ first single, here’s another reminder of the great vocal harmonies of the Everly Brothers.
Play List: Everly Brothers “Til I Kissed You”
From the very start of their studio career, with the recording of “Love Me Do” and two other songs in 1962, The Beatles worked with producer George Martin. Here’s the first single by that team- released originally in the United States on the Tollie Records label. Notice that the harmonica is a prominent sound here- more so than the guitars- simple yet very effective.
Play List: “Love Me Do”
Here’s the flip side to that first single to close out today’s session. It’s a sweet little innocuous tune, employing some group vocal interplay- multiple voices emphasizing certain words as the melody progresses- maybe something learned from doo wop vocal group records?
A course of music and discussion created for Front Range Forum Fall 2024.
Notes and Play List by Tim Van Schmidt
Session 2: 1963-1964
1963
Here are some personal questions to begin this session with:
Where were you in 1963?
Or
What is your first memory of The Beatles?
I was 7 years old in 1963 and living in a small town in northern Illinois. Harvard called itself “The Milk Center of the World,” located some 60 miles to the west of Chicago.
My first memory of The Beatles comes from a little sneaking around late at night. My two brothers and I all shared one bedroom and one night, after they had fallen asleep, I dared to turn on my little transistor radio to listen to music. I had my ear glued to the little radio’s speaker and had the volume turned down to almost nothing in fear of getting caught. The radio was tuned to the big Midwestern radio station in Chicago, WLS. Then “She Loves You” came on and I remember feeling like I was really experiencing something new and lively- while everyone else was sleeping.
The Record Release Mess
The third song that The Beatles recorded with George Martin in 1962 was “Please Please Me,” which became their first hit of 1963.
Now, here is where tracing The Beatles’ song history gets dicey. What was happening in the United Kingdom and Europe in terms of releases by The Beatles in 1963 was not what was going on in the United States. The Beatles just weren’t cooking as fast in America as they were at home.
In England, The Beatles released multiple singles and two albums in 1963. In the United States, there were only singles, released at first by a myriad of record companies. The big fish, Capitol Records, was slow to get on board with The Beatles and the band’s first American releases were not particularly coordinated. That would soon change, though, when the money started rolling in.
This was the first problem I had preparing for this course- unraveling the complex details of Beatles record releases worldwide. Finally, I decided to base “The Creative Arc of The Beatles” on how the records were experienced in the U.S., despite the fact that things started out differently on their home turf.
The Singles
In the 1950s and early 1960s, the predominant music product that was being purchased was the “45”- a 7 inch 45 RPM vinyl record that generally had one song on each side. “Singles” as they were called at the time were also the main form used by radio stations- when radio was still a literally hands-on industry.
Radio and singles were the driving forces of the music industry in 1963, while long playing albums, or LPs- at 33 1/3 RPM- were just starting to be more than just Broadway soundtracks, jazz or collections of pop hit singles.
Television also had a huge impact on the success of commercial music. Then there were concerts and personal appearances that helped attract more media attention besides selling tickets and stoking up the fans.
The pop music cycle then went something like this- acquire a good song (not everybody was a songwriter yet), record a single, get it played on the radio, get television exposure, go out touring, and release an album later on if the artist was lucky enough to have more than one hit.
One admirable part of singles production was that each “A side” of a 45- the piece intended to be the hit- were usually artworks in themselves. With songs clocking in usually at under three minutes, there was no time to waste- and artists really didn’t know if they would ever get to record again. So the songs had to be catchy and the performances had to be convincing.
The Beatles churned out lots of singles with so many of them becoming hits that just about everything they released sold well. The more they sold, the more they got to record and The Beatles became masters of singles production. Interestingly, only a few years later they were also groundbreakers when the emphasis turned to recording full LPs instead of just singles.
Here’s that first single of 1963, “Please Please Me”. Notice the tune features a strong harmonica part as a kind of signature sound, like “Love Me Do.” The perspective in this song is kind of unique for pop music- one of a lover trying to light a fire under his partner, challenging her to equal his “love”- and it’s a little aggressive. This is recorded from the original Vee-Jay single.
Play List: “Please Please Me”
That harmonica sound appears again in the introduction of the next tune- “From Me To You.” Also, listen for the little “oooooo” vocal accents thrown in a couple of times. That’s another signature sound of the early Beatles records.
Play List: “From Me to You”
There are more touches of harmonica in the next song, “Thank You Girl,” a definite “B-side.” It’s really kind of a dumb song, perhaps trying to answer a particularly baffling question: what does a teenage girl want to hear? Notice the little bit of studio trickery at the end of the recording-. There’s some extra reverb, or echo enhancement, on the vocals. Still, the tune didn’t make it into later Beatles collections.
“Thank You Girl”
Next is the tune I stayed up late to hear in 1963. It, of course, features the new Beatles signature sound- the “yeah, yeah, yeah” refrain, echoed by a short guitar strum- as well as that little “oooo.” The song comes from another different perspective- a guy telling his buddy to wake up to what he has. This one originally came out on the Swan label. Notice the message on the label: “Don’t Drop Out.”
By this time, in preparing for “The Creative Arc of The Beatles,” I figured out that making files from the original 45s did not offer the best quality sound, so from here on, whenever I could, I used digital versions of the songs, many of the recordings coming from the great four CD set “The Beatles 1962-1966” and “The Beatles 1967-1970.”
Play List: “She Loves You“
“I’ll Get You” is another Beatles “B side.” There’s some more harmonica in there and the vocal hook, “oh yeah,” is perhaps another version of the “yeah, yeah, yeah” refrain. And it’s another dumb song. This one also did not appear in the greatest hits package. It illustrates that The Beatles didn’t hit home runs all of the time.
“I’ll Get You”
Next is the big hit- next to “She Loves You”- that brought The Beatles international success- “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” Another simple yet effective sound effect here is the use of hand claps to emphasize the rhythm. The picture sleeve for the single has an interesting detail- McCartney is holding a cigarette in his hand (not his girlfriend’s hand.) I’m not sure that photo would be used today.
Play List: “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
Next is what seems to be another nod to primarily vocal music, offset by the electric guitar strumming. “This Boy” is not rock and roll, illustrating The Beatles had it in mind to spread their sound out wider. Besides, every set needs a slow dance tune.
Play List: “This Boy”
Now, in case anyone thought The Beatles were no longer a rock and roll band- here’s that great Chuck Berry tune The Beatles were speeding through during their Hamburg sets. The guitar introduction is a little awkward in the beginning but there’s a pretty good solo by the time this thing gets rolling.
Play List: “Roll Over Beethoven”
While The Beatles were writing some of their own tunes, they were also leaning on cover tunes to help meet the demand for new music. The next recording is a cover of the 1961 Marvelettes hit, “Please Mr. Postman.”
“Please, Mr. Postman”
Next is the single version of “I Saw Her Standing There” and it’s not too far off of the version on the Hamburg record. Once again, here’s a tune that underscores that The Beatles knew how to rock.
As a kid, one of the first 45s I bought was “I Want to Hold Your Hand” with “I Saw Her Standing There” on the flip side. I played that side nonstop- it was just fun. And truthfully, I had no interest in holding any girl’s hand at that point, but dancing was something I could understand.
Here the vocal signature “ooooh” works a lot like the “ooooo” on previous records showcasing that The Beatles had certainly developed themselves a nice little bag of tricks. This tune cooks- it even has a decent guitar solo, a little bit of Little Richard-like vocals, and the squeezed emphasis on the word “mine” just adds to the musical tension.
Play List: “I Saw Her Standing There”
1964
1964 started off in January with the release of the first Beatles album in the United States- “Introducing…The Beatles” on the Vee-Jay Records label. This would pre-date the first Capitol Records album, “Meet The Beatles,” by a little more than a week. From that point onwards, Capitol had the monopoly on US releases.
By this time, everybody wanted a piece of The Beatles. That included copycat bands trying to make a buck off of the band’s intense popularity. Here’s a version of “She Loves You” by “The Bearcuts.” It’s a pretty close reading of the song, but a real fan can hear there’s something not quite right about it. Even if the track was “Recorded in London, England” like the cover advertises, it’s kind of flat and lacks that certain energy The Beatles were so good at providing.
Play List: “She Loves You”- The Bearcuts
Media attention was also at a peak in 1964- everybody wanted to interview The Beatles while they were on tour, including LA DJ Tom Clay.
There’s a story that goes along with this next recording- a 45 release of Clay’s interview. Clay not only covered The Beatles when they were in town, but also promoted his own Beatles fan club called the IBBB- The International Beatle Booster Boobie Club. On-air, he encouraged listeners to send in $1 for which he promised to send club material and “personal items of The Beatles.” Apparently not many received personal items, but some received such items as used tissues and cigarette butts. The money came in and the story goes that Clay skipped town with the cash and took up DJing elsewhere.
Here’s Clay interviewing Starr and Harrison about their fame.
Play List: Selection from Beatles Interview by Tom Clay
In the short time that The Beatles had been on the scene, a Beatles mythology was quickly developing around the four “mop tops,” as they were sometimes called. The Beatles mythology also included two very important figures, the first being the band’s savvy manager Brian Epstein.
Epstein had been compelled to seek out The Beatles after requests for their records started coming in to his family’s record shop in Liverpool. According to the mythology, he saw their potential right away, cleaned them up and started shopping them around.
In 1964, along with all the album releases that were going to inundate the record buying public, Capitol Records also released a double album titled “The Beatles’ Story,” which aimed at defining The Beatles mythology with “a narrative and musical biography of Beatlemania.”
Here’s the “narrative” on Epstein from that two record set:
Play List: Brian Epstein (The Beatles Story)
The other half of The Beatles’ indispensible team, according to “The Beatles’ Story,” is producer George Martin, credited with helping craft the group’s successful recordings. This narrative on Martin also includes the additional idea that Capitol Records, with their “master plan” for marketing The Beatles, were also part of the band’s success story.
Play List: George Martin (The Beatles Story)
Still, despite the creative boon commercial success brought, when The Beatles were on tour- and when they weren’t recording, they were touring- they were still playing cover tunes. Here’s the original recording of a song the group often included in their live show- The Shirelles’ 1960 hit “Boys.”
Play List: “Boys”- The Shirelles 1960
The Beatles took “Boys” and made it a feature moment for Starr in their live shows, with Ringo taking over lead vocals while still handling the drum kit.
The next recording comes from “At the Hollywood Bowl,” released originally in 1977, featuring tracks from shows in 1964 and 1965. The recordings were made initially to be a Beatles live album, but the quality was deemed insufficient at the time and was initially shelved. It later came out more as a document of The Beatles on stage than as an official release. The recordings are certainly better than the ones on the “Live in Hamburg” album. Here’s Ringo performing “Boys.”
“Boys” (At the Hollywood Bowl)
Next is a Beatles original from that “At the Hollywood Bowl” album. “Things We Said Today” is an interesting recording in that it is not one of their top hits and is even a little sedate in comparison to something like “I Saw Her Standing There.” There are times as the song progresses on the recording that the screaming dies down and you can actually hear the performers. But then every time McCartney interjects an energetic “hey” into the mix, the girls burst out screaming anyway. Still, this tune is a signal that The Beatles were turning to a more complicated and richer type of songwriting.
“Things We Said Today” (At the Hollywood Bowl)
Finally, Capitol Records’ “master plan” kicked off in 1964 with “Meet The Beatles,” the record most people in America knew as their first album. The cover features that iconic black and white photo of the four, their faces popping out of the dark background, their left side still in the shadows.
There’re a lot “yeahs” in this next tune from “Meet The Beatles.” The chorus in “It Won’t Be Long” works a classic call and response conceit. There’s even a little trademark “oooo” at the end of the track.
“It Won’t Be Long” (Meet the Beatles)
The next track from “Meet The Beatles” showcases The Beatles’ ability to craft an ear-worm worthy melody- it just sticks with you. “All My Loving” also features a funky, country-style guitar break and some strong Everly Brothers style vocal harmonies come on strong for the song’s finale.
Play List: “All My Loving” (Meet the Beatles)
Next is another cover song, this one included on “The Beatles’ Second Album.” “Money (That’s What I Want)” was the first hit single released by Tamla Records in 1959, originally performed by Barrett Strong.
This Beatles track is included here because it is an aggressive piece of work and has an attitude that could certainly be described as cynical. And this particular cut may very well play into Peter, Paul and Mary’s take on the commercial avariciousness of The Beatles. Somehow it stands out as not really being in line with the relatively clean, romantic and fun image The Beatles mythology was promoting. If you want to hear a really harrowing version of this tune, listen to Lennon perform the song again on his “Live Peace in Toronto” album from 1969.
“Money (That’s What I Want)” (Second Album)
So, what else can you do with wildly popular musicians like The Beatles? Why, put them on the silver screen, of course. This is what happened with Elvis Presley in the 1950s- as soon as his records broke nationally, he started making movies. Although The Beatles seemed to be breaking that mold- they didn’t really need to make movies to enhance their popularity- but then again, why not?
It stands to reason that entertainers would consider the jump to movies as the ultimate step- movie stars had been the most popular celebrities in the world for decades. Musicians, while popular, had not yet achieved celebrity status of that magnitude yet- that is until Elvis came along, then The Beatles.
Musicians had an extra added allure, especially once rock and roll was established. That is, that fans could actually go to a concert and see and hear their favorites play live. This was something new and beyond the Mount Olympus type standing movie stars enjoyed.
1964 saw the release of not only a mountain of records but also The Beatles’ first feature film, “A Hard Day’s Night.” It was a mock-documentary about the way The Beatles handled their intense popularity. It was a comedy, in keeping with the goofy and flippant image The Beatles fostered, especially during press conferences.
Here’s the title song- a rocker that starts out with a strong guitar chord, then steamrolls along mightily. Listen to that fine receding guitar part at the end, adding a touch of class.
And ooops- the soundtrack album for “A Hard Day’s Night” was released on the United Artists label, who had been savvy enough to sign The Beatles to a movie/soundtrack contract while Capitol was still asleep at the switch. This was certainly a glitch in Capitol’s “master plan.”
Play List: “A Hard Day’s Night” (A Hard Day’s Night)
Next from the “A Hard Day’s Night” soundtrack album is another anomaly in The Beatles’ songbook in 1964. “And I Love Her” has a nice, easy tempo, a rising and falling melody, an acoustic guitar solo and a melancholy feel- resolving in the last moment with a major chord.
Play List: “And I Love Her” (A Hard Day’s Night)
Now, perhaps the next “Hard Day’s” tune is an antidote to the cynicism of “Money (That’s What I Want).” “Can’t Buy Me Love” is a rock romp based on a simple lyrical conceit. But where the lyrics do not surprise, the music is upbeat and bright, and includes some rock out vocal and guitar work.
Play List: “Can’t Buy Me Love” (A Hard Day’s Night)
Here’s what was happening with Capitol Records’ master plan for marketing The Beatles- they were leaving tunes off of American releases from the British and European album collections, then turning around and making new albums from the leftovers.
That’s what the 1964 “Something New” album collection was- a concoction of the most commercial kind. To fill it up, Capitol even resurrected The Beatles’ German version of “I Want To Hold Your Hand”- a true oddity for English speaking fans. It’s so familiar yet so strange. Here it is to conclude this session of “The Creative Arc of The Beatles,” “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand.” At the end of the video, watch for scenes from The Beatles’ 1964 visit to Red Rocks, collected this year from venue historical displays.
A course of music and discussion created for Front Range Forum Fall 2024.
Notes and Play List by Tim Van Schmidt
Session 3- 1965
1965
England knew they had something good going with the success of The Beatles. They were, along with many of the other “British Invasion” groups that also found success, England’s biggest cultural export of the 20th Century. Queen Elizabeth II recognized that when she awarded all four Beatles membership to the Order of the British Empire (MBE), an honor usually reserved for military and civic leaders. Of course, this created a controversy.
And it was from one extreme to another for the group in 1965. On the one hand, they were being honored by the British monarchy and on the other they were being “honored” as characters in the first Saturday morning cartoon show to be based on real people.
Meanwhile, the rip-offs of The Beatles’ music- like The Bearcuts’ version of “She Loves You”- continued in 1965. Were they rip offs, or were they inspired music?
The versatility of The Beatles music- especially their gift for distinctive melodies- leant itself to reinterpretation in a number of ways.
The first tune of this session is one of those reinterpretations- a combination of The Beatles songs “Hide Your Love Away” and “Ticket to Ride,” recorded in a Baroque classical music style from “The Baroque Beatles Book” album. It’s not too bad- it maintains a peppy tempo and they handle the basic repetition of the verse-chorus-verse-chorus format with some inventive arranging.
Play List: “Hide Your Love Away-Ticket to Ride”- Baroque Beatles Book
There are some more savory Everly Brothers style vocal harmonies in this next tune, and more than a little country flavor. “Baby’s in Black” comes from “Beatles ’65,” which was actually released in December 1964 just in time for holiday gift-giving.
“Baby’s in Black”- (Beatles ‘65)
“I Feel Fine” is next and it begins with a little bit of guitar feedback, but my money is on Ringo Starr’s flavorful drumming for what makes this tune cook.
Play List: “I Feel Fine”- (Beatles ’65)
“I’m a Loser” is a new sign that The Beatles were maturing as songwriters. This song creates a character who tells his story. He’s down-and-out and not exactly someone you would expect to hear about from worldwide superstars. This recalls the poor fellow who lost his love in the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love.” Add in some nice thick harmonica and some country flavored guitar work for musical spice.
“I’m a Loser”- (Beatles ’65)
Just as the “rip offs” of Beatles music continued, so did the commercial squeeze for extra album releases. Enter the next 1965 album release, “The Early Beatles,” a Capitol Records release that caught them up to date on the tunes originally released on the Vee-Jay Records album, “Introducing…The Beatles.”
One fairly tuneful gem on “The Early Beatles” is “Do You Want to Know a Secret” that plays with some light Latin rhythms and some doo wop style vocal accents. A couple of questions come up: Does the romantic intent of this song sound sincere? Were Peter, Paul and Mary right about The Beatles shoveling out love songs to keep selling?
“Do You Want to Know a Secret”- (The Early Beatles)
This next song comes from “Beatles VI,” the next 1965 Beatles album released in America- and it surprised me. “Bad Boy” is a Larry Williams song that talks up the rock and roll bad boy image and I realized that I had never listened to it before. I thought I had heard everything by The Beatles but apparently not. Even I, a self-taught Beatles expert, have more to learn. While “Bad Boy” is also not the most convincing song, I think it appeals to The Beatles’ sense that they were, at the core, rock and rollers.
“Bad Boy”- (Beatles VI)
Here’s the other Larry Williams song The Beatles recorded- “Dizzy Miss Lizzie”- that was also released on “Beatles VI.” It gives Lennon license to torch his voice at key times. It sounds just like something they would play to whip up the crowd when they were on stage in Hamburg. It was also the last cover song The Beatles included on an album.
“Dizzy Miss Lizzie”- (Beatles VI)
Meanwhile, “Beatles VI” also featured “Eight Days a Week,” a shiny pop single masterpiece with an easy tempo and some key close harmonies. The title is clever. It calls to mind one of the endearing parts of country music- that extra turn of a phrase that sticks in the memory.
Play List: “Eight Days a Week”- (Beatles VI)
Then there was touring. The Beatles were back on tour in 1965 and they were including more of their own tunes in the set list. Their biggest show would be the famous Shea Stadium concert in New York. Back at the Hollywood Bowl, The Beatles played a pretty great version of “A Hard Day’s Night”- not necessarily an easy one to pull off on stage. The performance is right on and they make some good synched in vocal harmonies.
“A Hard Day’s Night”- (At the Hollywood Bowl)
The Beatles movies were working their magic. Their new movie in 1965 was “Help”- a comedy spy spoof. Here’s an exciting version of the title song from the Hollywood Bowl recordings. Listen to Lennon kind of crack up towards the end of the track, I would guess at all the screaming.
“Help”- (At the Hollywood Bowl)
In preparing for “The Creative Arc of The Beatles” I encountered some difficulty in recording Beatles tracks directly from the vinyl. Vinyl is supposed to be better, but maybe not with my recording gear.
I’m going to play my “first take” of the next track, “Ticket to Ride,” which inadvertently mutes a part of the music, especially the rhythm guitar parts. However, I thought I would include it because it offers the opportunity to hear just how close and synched in the harmony vocals are, especially when not overshadowed by the guitar.
Play List: “Ticket to Ride”- (Help) Vinyl
Here’s the digital version which features all of the tracks. It sounds that much fuller and more balanced in general.
Play List: “Ticket to Ride”- (Help) Digital
Like “I’m a Loser”, the next song reveals more insecurity and introspection by the narrator. Musically, one of the strongest elements on “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” is the addition of a tambourine as the main time keeper- it’s simple and very effective, especially given the more acoustic nature of the song. The lead vocals sound a lot like Bob Dylan- after all, they did meet the previous year and The Beatles were musical sponges. There’s an inventive woodwinds finale on this tune, no doubt thanks to George Martin.
Play List: “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”- (Help)
“Help” is another interesting song, like “I’m a Loser” and “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” in that the “protagonist” admits some kind of personal weakness. However, the music is anything but weak. Here the jangle of the acoustic guitar helps propel things while electric guitar lines come in and out. This is an excellent example of expert “mixing.”
In big time recording, music is usually made in pieces- the guitar part is recorded separately from the vocal part which is recorded separately from the drums and so on. “Mixing” is the part of the project that brings those “tracks” into a finely balanced total sound- and offers the opportunity to make sounds come in and out of the “mix.” While the music may sound seamless, it is actually made up of lots of pieces, manipulated by the engineers and producers.
In the old days, like when The Beatles were recording their stuff, they used big thick magnetic tape on which they could record over and over again, multiple times. Now mixing is a lot about putting together layers of digital files.
FYI- The word “tracks” is used here to identify the various elements of recording that are mixed together, but it is also used elsewhere to talk about the bands of music on a vinyl album, each song being a “track” on the album.
Play List: “Help”- (Help)
Almost universally, The Beatles’ next album from 1965, “Rubber Soul,” is acknowledged as a breakthrough for the group. The songwriting makes a leap of quality and the recording project starts approaching art. But then again, there are lyrics like “Beep Beep, Beep Beep, Yeah”- at this point who else could get away with that? Listen for a nice slide guitar solo by Harrison on “Drive My Car.”
Play List: “Drive My Car”- (Rubber Soul)
So let’s talk about drugs. According to legend, The Beatles experienced LSD for the first time in 1965- allegedly slipped into their coffee at a dinner party. Marijuana also became a regular thing for The Beatles during their creative process. This might partially explain the sudden leap of artistic intent in their music. While drugs were an artificial means, they nonetheless were a source of inspiration, allowing a more intense focus inwards- a good place to go for artists of any kind.
Still, the drug use was not a widely accepted practice yet. The Beatles met one of their main influences- Elvis Presley- while on tour in 1965 and later he would call out the band for drug use and “anti-Americanism.”
The next track is another mini movie song- the “narrator” weaves a story about a relationship by revealing his girlfriend’s character. It can be a subject for conversation about how this ends up- it’s none too kind in a way.
The instrumental break here highlights the fact that the recording studio was becoming The Beatles’ main aesthetic palette. George Martin certainly had a lot to do with that. These would have been exciting times in the recording studio, the ideas flying.
Play List: “Girl”- (Rubber Soul)
Next is an often-covered song, a lot because its heartfelt lyrics are seriously truthful, melancholy and sentimental. “In My Life” erases a lot of the question of just how sincere The Beatles were as artists. This was not teeny-bopper stuff, but a serious introspection that can only come from living and learning. This was not aimed at teenage girls, but was something that could touch a much broader range of ages and musical tastes. It’s a song meant to stick around.
Listen for the harpsichord-sounding break, definitely another Martin touch. Only three years earlier, The Beatles certainly weren’t making music with a harpsichord.
Play List: “In My Life”- (Rubber Soul)
It’s back to romance with the next track. “Michelle” has a nice easy tempo, it’s melodic, the use of French lyrics makes it a little more exotic, and there are gorgeous layers of backing vocals. Let’s also say that McCartney’s lead vocal track is a showcase of pop singing- he’s got a beautiful voice. It’s not so much about lyrics here, it’s about the performance.
Play List: “Michelle”- (Rubber Soul)
There’s more cinematic-like storyline in the next piece- apparently about a one night hook up. It’s not entirely explicit, but believable enough.
The big groundbreaking element in the “Norwegian Wood” recording is the use of the sitar, chiming in the background and featured in the instrumental response to the vocals. It’s also another great spread of the tracks. Perhaps it’s no longer necessary to point that out. The Beatles’ music from here on out would continue to use top-notch technology to enhance their songs.
Play List: “Norwegian Wood”- (Rubber Soul)
The final track for this session is perhaps the first Beatles tune that could be tagged for social consciousness. “Nowhere Man” is aimed at social conditions, how people run their lives and how they see others. The song reflects some youth culture wisdom- challenging perhaps older and less active people to wake up and live a little. “Nowhere Man” goes beyond introspection, turning the lens around to analyze others. Again, there are nice chunks of backup vocals here, heavily layered.
