Ringo’s favorite Beatle song.

Well, as I mentioned in last week’s post, Ringo holds a great deal of fondness toward Revolver, their 7^th album––a great number for the famous drummer in that Ringo was born on 7/7/40. Another great thing about the number 7 is, it’s also the love of my life’s favorite figure, but that’s sidestepping the topic. I just get giddy to the extreme inside my heart when the number 7 comes up, on account of how much I cherish my best friend and boldly confess her curvature figure is by far my favorite figure. . . She is a true Goddess.

Okay, enough of my passionate daydreaming. Let’s Get Back to Revolver, shall we? August 6, 1966, the boys entered Abby Road Studio and from 8 pm until 1:30 am the next morning, recorded three takes of a song written by John titled, Mark 1. Soon afterward, Lennon replaced that titled with something Ringo said in typical casual conversation as he blurted, Tomorrow Never Knows. John seized the name and although the heading never appears in the lyrics, it certainly set the mood for a quantum leap of composing style our Beatles used to provide sensational music enamored by the fans. For the first time, George Martin’s assistant Geoff Emerick moved the bass drum microphone much closer to the huge round instrument and sought material to be inserted inside the drum to deaden the sound. Of all things, he found an old woolen jumper sweater stitched with four necks the Beatles wore years ago in a publicity shoot. Ringo went nuts over the new sound, and the alteration inspired him to come up with the hypnotic beat patterns played throughout the tune. The next day, the lads brought into the studio another new song, Got To get You into My Life. However, the five takes they recorded sound nothing like the final track issued at release time. George Martin borrowed Lennon’s one single chord idea used yesterday on Tomorrow Never Knows and played a single note on the organ during the new song intro. You can hear the results on the Anthology album.

A few days later work began on a Harrison tune called Granny Smith, yes the same apple that became the logo for Apple Corp. Ltd. This turned out to only be a working title for the track called, Love You To, and George also borrowed a tiny sliver from John by never signing its title within the lyrics. All this occurred on August 11^th and finalized on August 13^th. Time on the clock permitted two takes of a brand new McCartney song he wanted to teach the band about a novelist needing a job. Martin could sense the chart topper dynamics ability to grab any listener’s attention as the song developed and roared through the sound system.

Come August 14^th, E.M.I’s top record producer wanted a Lennon/McCartney hit single to spark a teasing interest in the upcoming album. He knew competition would be fierce, especially toying with all the new technics (Artificial Double Tracking, Leslie Speakers, compressors, jangle boxes and limiters) his sound engineers kept perfecting with amazing results, so fighting for the A-side would benefit all concerned. First came, Paperback Writer, and Paul charged onto the battlefield branding a new bass guitar, a Rickenbacker, played through a second loudspeaker as a microphone positioned right next to the bass speaker boosting the sound to intense levels, an early victory of hope winning the coveted position on the 45. Not willing to surrender, John also brought enough ammunition compiled inside his contribution for an A-side. His selection actually wins the answer to today’s post label––yep, Rain, the very tune that started a brand new trend of recording backward tapes into the mix, triumphs as the top-spot on Ringo’s favorite gem performed by the Beatles. His reason? The drum fills he had invented while in the zone of the rhythm blew him away; he felt as if some other amazing drummer had done all the best bits, and what’s more; he really enjoyed using a trick of playing the high-hat first starting a break rather than pounding a drum-skin on the downbeat. Another factor that propelled this song deep into Ringo’s heart points to slowing down the playback. In other words, the lads played the song much faster live, and after the tape had recorded it all, engineers slowed down the capstan spool causing the sound texture to fatten rather nicely. This process changed Ringo’s instruments into a giant drum kit, where you could swim, bath, and submerge oneself in the luxury barrel shaped percussion utensil’s tone that his sticks rolled over with fine finesse. If drum fills designed by Mr. Starkey equaled the key component to a favorite song, I believe A Day In The Life should immediately ascend to the Supreme landmark. Another John song which the lyrics never refer to the title.

 Although the Lonely Hearts Club Band contents as a whole still reign as the greatest Rock & Roll album ever, poor Ringo has ugly memories about the Pepper assemblies, such as he couldn’t shake the feeling he had simply become an insignificant session musician on call. Out of boredom waiting for something to do during months and months of overdubbing by the other three, Richie learned how to play chess. The early 1967 project that sailed right into summer was almost hell to endure for Mr. Starr. But listen to his ever changing drum pattern fills on A Day In The Life every couple measures, genius, remarkable, and the impeccable driving force that totally carries the song into listening bliss. Just click on this link below to catch Paul and Ringo isolated from all the other channels during the recording mix of this powerful number.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DSkmTAt9wvw    Ringo nails it!

If the above link fails, copy and paste this new link here: https://binged.it/2SvxpBO

And in closing, it should be stated the oldest Beatle digs to the max their entire undertaking substance found on Side 2 of the Abbey Road album, especially the progressive flow entering a new song, “brilliant,” he says. Quite an iconic performance to end a musical phenomenon. Hey, speaking of the word, “dig”, My least favorite song featuring Ringo’s drum fills, hands down is, I Dig Love, found on Harrison’s solo album, All Things Must Pass. To this day I think our beloved Mr. Starr is off beat every time he pounds the floor toms, but who knows, maybe George directed his mate to play those very strokes. To me, it’s awful . . . I’m reminded of Harrison’s song-lyrics that says, “When you’re listening late at night, you may think the band are not quite right, but they are, they just play it like that.” (Only A Northern Song) The first time I heard, I Dig Love, the drums sickened me and caused my mind much wonder as to what happened to Ringo’s talent. He had done such a great job on John’s Instant Karma single for producer Phil Spector, and since George also used Phil Spector to produce his solo album, All Things Must Pass, how did Ringo slip by the trained ears of Spector, a mystery. Yet, much later, I learned Ringo didn’t play drums on Instant Karma, John hired Alan White, famous drummer for the classical rock group, Yes. But George Harrison contributed his guitar talent to the Instant Karma single. Maybe that’s how Phil produced both artists. 

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Harrison’s favorite Beatle song.

George and Ringo both long expressed their highest preference at creating music leaned toward Revolver as most favorite album, much more than Pepper. For George, Revolver sounded even better than Rubber Soul, where George praised Run For Your Life and Norwegian Wood, the very same release that blew away Brian Wilson on its merits and influenced the Beach Boy genius to create Pet Sounds. Before that, good old George mentioned how much he loved Yes It Is, better than Ticket To Ride, the current single. And in 1964, His favorite song hands down was, You Can't Do That. Much later, we can hear George say he liked Every Little Thing, in the movie, Let It Be.  He also admits to a very early song calling it great, seen on the documentary 'Living In A Material World...where Harrison praises 'This Boy', my favorite Beatles Song,

After the release of the White Album, demand for a soundtrack album ordered by United Artist per the Yellow Submarine film that premiered six months earlier, produced an LP flop, duped with sub-par substance driven by a rushed deadline.  Haste pretty much caused the lads to pick from the bottom of the barrel’s throw away tunes––tunes even they termed as lousy.

Beatle George didn’t care for the Yellow Submarine album at all, and I agree somewhat. For example, during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, Only A Northern Song found some potential but Producer Martin refused to add it to the new line up and told George to come back with something better. Hence, Within You Without You made the grade. Truth be told, my favorite song on the Y. S. LP shared with George Martin’s background soundtrack heard throughout the animated film happens to be, It’s All Too much, composed by the quiet Beatle.

I guess titles like, Something, Here Comes The Sun, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps probably rank high at reaching Harrison’s favorite Beatles Song, however, we would all be wrong. You see, back in 1997, George stated while interviewed that he considered each of his original compositions as a George Harrison song, not a Beatle Song. It didn’t matter if other Beatles joined in on the track or if Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Billy Preston joined in on his recordings beyond 1970. But getting back to their final days as a band with the Abbey Road LP, George thought Octopuses’ Garden was lovely, (He helped compose this with Ringo but took zero credit) and preferred the song Because, written by Lennon, as the best track from the current album.

Many do know his favorite color, purple, his favorite guitar, Gretsch G6128T, his favorite guitarist, Jimmy Hendrix, his favorite sport, motor racing, his favorite comics, the Monty Python gang, and his favorite movie, The Producers by Mel Brooks––it’s Springtime for Hitler. Speaking of movies, did you know that Richard Lester, who directed Hard Day’s Night and Help named George as the best Beatle actor, saying, “George nails every line.”

If I had to nail his favorite Beatles song, I’d point my finger to, Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby, by Carl Perkins. . . Why? George idolized Carl Perkins and even changed his name to Carl during the band’s brief Scotland tour backing Johnny Gentle in May 1960. Years later, when he recorded the song for their fourth album titled, Beatles For Sale, released December 4, 1964, he then added it to the playlist for the world excursion and sang it live on the lad’s 1965 concert journey. By coincidence, in 1970, following the publicized departure Beatles break-up, my favorite song on the All Things Must Pass LP turned out to also be Harrison’s favorite song––I’d Have You Anytime, found on Side 1, Track 1. Great minds think alike.

If you know more Beatles song titles most enjoyed by George, please share them right away, I’d love to hear all about each one.   

Lennon’s favorite Beatle song.

Readers who have purchased my novel, Beatlemaniac, can tell you before they reach chapter four, which Beatle song held the honor as McCartney’s all-time favorite among the more than 200 selections. But not so for John or the other remaining two members chosen gem gain mentioned in this book. So, without further ado, I’m happy to give the answer now.

Subsequent to the accidental overdose fatality of manager Brian Epstein on August 27, 1967, the lads were at a complete loss how they should move their careers’ forward. Eager to work, Paul pushed his bossy dominance onto his mates’ shoulders, and from a recent mini hobby filming home movies, the famous bass player indulged himself in, Magical Mystery Tour, the film, proceeded as the predominate project. Written by Paul, produced by Paul, and of course, directed by Paul since the others shared little interest on the concept and simply arrived on set.  Actually, there was no script, storyboard, or planner. Just an urgency to fulfill the United Artist contractual agreement. Every scene unraveled by following a jumbled collection of handwritten ideas, sketches, and spur of the moment influences. Filming commenced on September 11 – September 25. The disastrous result captured ten hours of video, then snipped, scraped and edited down to 52 minutes. . . supposedly the good stuff used in the final cut. Critics overwhelming hated it, audiences, including Beatles Fans, watched sadly disappointed. To this day, I myself find it God awful boring and hard to sit through. I’d much rather listen to the American release album than agonize over the rubbish that spills total wasted effort and time over the TV screen, except for the golden touch footage of, I Am The Walrus, which loomed as John’ favorite tune––the first song laid down on the recording studio equipment at Abbey Road after the passing of Brian. Come Sept 5, 7 pm with instruments in hand, 16 takes marked the lads first challenge to continue making money without proven leadership. This peculiar composition conceived birth from a letter delivered by the postman for John, hand-written by a young student from Quarry Bank High School that indicated his English master trained the entire class how to evaluate Beatles lyrics as part of the course curriculum. Amused, that an English Professor had placed so much determination toward understanding his songs’ analogy, John mailed a reply to the student dated Sept 1 and decided his next song would contain the most confused set of lyrics ever, just to topsy-turvy the heck out of the intellectual brilliant minds of the gifted high I Q. By the way, John didn’t quit the confusion with just his lyrics. . . He baffled the ordeal by using all seven of the major chords found in typical music theory structure, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, but was kind enough not to mold the song’s chord pattern in that order. Other known songs most dear to Lennon based on his proud affection of the lyrics, are In My Life, Help, Girl, Strawberry Fields Forever, and especially, Across The Universe.

Next week, I’ll share what I know about Harrison’s favorite Beatle song.

My first Review

Whoop, whoop. This week a review was posted about my novel on IBook’s and another on Amazon.com, each received 5 stars. I’m thrilled and very grateful to both readers sharing their thoughts.

I hope these reviews will perk up interest in the minds of many to give my eBook a try.  Baby boomers will enjoy the musical nostalgia, mystery fans will enjoy the perfect crime gateway, and romance fans will enjoy the spark that sets off the burning blazes inside true love passion.

Remember, the title––Beatlemaniac. The cost is less than the price of a White Elephant Gift, only $4.99 at all your favorite eBook websites. Please consider giving this book as a gift to your favorite family and friends who idolize the Beatles. Just search for the Give as a Gift link on any online Book Store page featuring Beatlemaniac by Don Maeder.

Happy reading, my friends.