Happy 74th Birthday John Lennon!

Today, 74 years ago, one of my heroes were born. John Winston Lennon was born to Alfred and Julia Lennon. He was their only child and they separated when John was really little. John's childhood definitely shaped his teenage and adult life, sometimes good and sometimes bad. With the loss of his mom when he was a teenager to when he married Yoko Ono, all of these moments shaped the way he made music and the way we saw his career be able to shape many other musicians careers.

John changed my styles of music I liked and pretty sure most of the people's during the 60s. My grandma always likes to tell me about how she could have taken 2 sides of music taste when she was in the 60s; Elvis or The Beatles. We kinda butt heads because she chose Elvis and I chose The Beatles. 

Everyone I feel like knows to John Lennon. Even if you haven't heard a single Beatles song, possibly not even heard his music whatsoever, but you still know the face and still know the name. He's been gone for over 30 years now, and we will never forget him. 

John will forever be in his hearts and I wish that he could still be here today. Every year during John's birthday week, I write, "Give Peace A Chance" and "Imagine" on my hand, so whenever I look down at my hand I feel like a piece of John is with me. 

John's memorial in Central Park, 'Strawberry Fields' is one of the places I would love to visit before you I die, maybe even get the chance to go on John's birthday, that would be amazing! WE MISS YOU JOHNNY! 

I also want to wish a VERY happy birthday to Sean Lennon (it is so sweet that he shares the same birthday with his father) and John Entwistle from The Who (The Who is also one of my favorite bands and John is one of my favorite bassists of all time, may he rest in peace). 

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Beatles for Sale

December of 1964 was the final big of the year. Beatles for Sale was the group's third album in a year, not to mention all the singles and EPs, and the strain began to show. They even looked a little wear on the cover.

Many of the eight new Lennon and McCartney songs were downbeat in tone including the opening 'No Reply', 'I'm A Loser' and 'Baby's in Black', although they roused themselves on 'Eight Days A Week' and the chirpy ballad 'I'll Follow The Sun'. And the six covers harked back to their Cavern Club days rather than following up their interest in the Tamla Motown sound. John also wanted this album to have almost a 'Bob Dylan' sound to it, having met Dylan in New York of that year. So the almost folkmusic was featured in some of the new songs on the album.

Goodbye covers, hello Beatles orginal songs! This was it, the last album with covers. It was a milestone in itself. They started with covers, and I bet they didn't feel comfortable with their music to let them go. That was it. They finally reached the last album with them on there! The cover of  'Words of Love' by Buddy Holly is what makes the album for me. My grandmother in 1956 actually got to meet Buddy Holly at a bowling alley (HOW COOL IT THAT!?). John Lennon loved Buddy Holly, he was one of his favorite singers, The Beatles name is even a play off of Buddy Holly and The Crickets. So knowing that my grandma got to meet one of John's heroes and inspired him, inspires me everyday with my own music.

"Hold me close and tell me how you feel

Tell me love is real

Words of love you whisper soft and true

Darling I love you"

I’ll be posting a link with each song so you can go and listen to them!

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No Reply -written by John Lennon with Paul McCartney, sung by Lennon and McCartney

I'm A Loser  - written by John Lennon, sung by Lennon and McCartney

Baby's in Black - written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, sung by McCartney and Lennon

Rock and Roll Music - written by Chuck Berry, sung by John Lennon

I'll Follow the Sun - written by Paul McCartney, sung by McCartney

Mr. Moonlight - written by Roy Lee Johnson, sung by John Lennon

Kansas City/Hey-Hey/Hey-Hey! - written by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller and Richard Penniman, sung by Paul McCartney 

Eight Days a Week - written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, sung by John Lennon

Words of Love - written by Buddy Holly, sung by John Lennon

Honey Don't - written by Carl Perkins, sung by Ringo Starr

Every Little Thing - written by Paul McCartney, sung by John Lennon and McCartney

I Don't Want to Spoil the Party - written by John Lennon, sung by Lennon and Paul McCartney

What You're Doing - written by Paul McCartney, sung by McCartney

Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby - written by Carl Perkins, sung by George Harrison

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1964 ~ Part 3

August and September brought madness with The Beatles first American Tour. The itinerary alone of the first Beatles tour of America was complete madness: 32 shows in 24 cities in 34 days. The mayhem that surrounded their everyone from plane to hotel to gig and back again was constant. It started when they arrived in San Francisco for the first concert and were driven 50 yards to a fences enclosure where photographers were waiting inside and 9,000 fans outside. They escaped seconds before the fences collapsed. In Kansas City their bed linen was cut into three-inch squares and sold for $10 apiece. It was the same with their towels at the Hollywood Bowl. Much of the time they were playing with shoddy equipment, although the no one could hear. They baulked only when disabled people were brought into their dressing room to be 'cured '. The only moment of light relief came when Bob Dylan came to visit them in New York and turned them on to marijuana.


Once fans find out about something that the band members or the band itself like, they take it out of proportion. This is what happened to George and the lads during September of 1964. Early on in The Beatles career, in one of the thousands of articles that were being written about them, George Harrison happened to mention that jelly babies were his favorite sweet. As a result at many Beatles concerts were generally performed in a hail of jelly babies hurled by hysterical fans. This was unpleasant but at least the jelly babies were soft and squashy. In America, jelly babies didn't exist so fans switched to jelly beans that were sugar coated and harder. And they hurt. 


Soon after the end of the American Tour, The Beatles were back at it again for their UK Tour. The schedule for The Beatles only British Tour of 1964 was almost as manic as the American Tour: 54 shows in 25 cites in 33 days. And if the concerts were smaller, the same cinemas and theaters they'd been playing a year earlier, and the crowd numbers proportionally less, the strain of constant isolation was the same. And at every opportunity they'd have to dash back to London for recoding sessions for their next album.

Like 'A Hard Day's Night', 'I Feel Find was instantly recognizable from the first note, in this case an acoustic guitar string distorted by feedback. George Martin: "People thought the feedback was an accident. It wasn't. John and Paul spent a lot of time trying to get that sound". It was John Lennon's song but George Harrison carried if with a fiendishly difficult riff and a guitar solo that was ahead of its time. Paul McCartney supplied the rhythmic rocker 'She's A Woman' on the B-side.

On December 1st, Ringo checked into London's University College Hospital to have his tonsils removed. The press reported that he brought red pajamas, a pink toothbrush and an unnamed science fiction thriller. He also had a record player delivered in his room. A dedicated phone line was set up with a recorded message on his progress. 2 fans who had hoped to buy tonsils were left disappointed however. Ringo: "Nobody is getting my tonsils as a souvenir. Believe me, I will burn them". 

At the end of the tumultuous year The Beatles came down to earth and returned to earth with their second season of 20 Christmas Shows, this time at London's Hammersmith Odeon. The scripts were marginally better: one sketch had the Fab Four dressed as Arctic explorers looking for the Abominable Snowman. The support acts included Elkie Brooks, Freddie & The Dreamers and The Yardbirds. John Lennon supplied the drawing for the front and back cover of the program, thus making it an instant collectors item. 

A Hard Days Night ~ The Album

 

The Beatles third album saw them on the upswing, with 13 Lennon and McCartney songs written under pressure, all of them were good, some great, along with the title track, 'A Hard Day's Night'. As George Martin said, "You only have to hear one chord to recognize it'. There's a more overly romantic, almost sentimental time to many of the songs and the sound is subtly enhanced by George Harrison's newly acquired 12 string Rickenbacker. In America, as with all of their new releases,  Capital Records made 2 albums out of it by repackaging, renaming and adding singles - B-sides left off the UK releases. In 2000, Q placed A Hard Day's Night at number five in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2012, A Hard Day's Night was voted 307th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Every single song on this album was made by The Beatles and that made me feel so proud for them. During this time, they were still doing covers from other bands, and with this album, they were soon moving away from this. Plus, George is writing more songs and creating his sound to the band, that will soon become famous.

My favorite song on this album is called "Things We Said Today". For me, I believe this is one of my favorite Beatles songs that was written by Paul. It brings in an amount of emotion of a couple that has been apart for a long amount of time, and neither of the duo will forget the words they had spoken to each other before their departure. It's quite sweet (plus Paul wrote it when he was crushing on actress Jane Asher, in which years later they will become engaged).

"Me, I'm just the lucky kind
Love to hear you say that love is luck
And though we may be blind
Love is here to stay and that's enough"

I’ll be posting a link with each song so you can go and listen to them!

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A Hard Day's Night - written by John Lennon with Paul McCartney, sung by Lennon and McCartney 

I Should Have Known Better - written by John Lennon, sung by Lennon

If I Fell - written by John Lennon with Paul McCartney, sung by Lennon and McCartney

I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - written by John Lennon, sung by George Harrison

And I Love Her - written by Paul McCartney, sung by McCartney

Tell Me Why - written by John Lennon, sung by Lennon, with Paul McCartney and George Harrison

Can't Buy Me Love - written by Paul McCartney, sung by McCartney

Any Time At All - written by John Lennon with Paul McCartney, sung by Lennon 

I'll Cry Instead - written by John Lennon, sung by Lennon

Things We Said Today - written by Paul McCartney, sung by McCartney

When I Get Home - written by John Lennon, sung by Lennon

You Can't Do That - written by John Lennon, sung by Lennon

I'll Be Back - written by John Lennon, sung by Lennon with Paul McCartney, and George Harrison

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