Within You Without You vs. Norwegian Wood

Norwegian Wood - 1965, Rubber Soul ~ Written and sung by John Lennon

Within You Without You - 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ~ Written and sung by George Harrison 

Remember, THESE are my own opinions and they may be totally, 100% different than yours so no hate please!

Compare: This week is going to be sitar week! I picked 2 of the songs that I felt like really has a sitar presence (definitely Within You Without You). Norwegian Wood is significant to this as well because it was the first Beatles song to include the sitar with it - HOW COOL IS THAT?! Even though John wrote it, I feel like he left George shine on it with the sitar since this is around the time that he first started learning how to play it. Within You Without You has a sitar/violin battle in it and it a large part to the song in general. 

Contrast: Even though both of these songs have sitar in them, they are very different sounding.  Norwegian Wood was still a rock sounding song, just with the hit of the stringy sitar while Within You Without You is a song revolved around it, showcasing it's Indian type of sound with violins adding along to it. 

Likes: Both of these songs are 2 of my favorite Beatles songs. Sitar being one of the coolest instruments I have ever heard, I'm always fascinated by how The Beatles were able to integrate that specific sound into their music (from the skillful help of George Harrison)

Dislikes: It's really hard for me to find any kind of dislike on either of these songs - the only kind I can think of (not personally from my taste but I know people have other likes) is that some people do not enjoy the sound of sitar - which is totally up to them and everyone has their own kind of music style and sound that they like 

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George Martin

There are many things about George Martin that makes him high up on my heroes list. He's done so many things in my lifetime that I look up to now and even into my future. If you don't think of George Martin when you listen to The Beatles, then you must know nothing about The Beatles history. 

The topic is always known of a "Fifth Beatle" and people always have their own opinion on who exactly it was. Some people say it was their first manager, Brian Epstein, others say it was their loyal roadie Mal Evans, who stuck around with them through the highs and lows. But for me (and mostly everyone), we believe that George Martin is the "Fifth Beatle". He was there for album recordings, gave them advice on their songs and was there until the very end of The Beatles. 

You'd be surprised how much he actually did help with The Beatles. All of the lyrical music found on the 'Yellow Submarine' album and was also in the movie, was music he made and conducted himself. How cool is that?! That music is some of the most beautiful things I have ever heard (and what would be the coolest thing ever is a marching band show playing that music). 

You know how last week I was talking about the weird little "feud" match between the sitar and violins in 'Within You Without You', well, that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for George Martin. He took classically trained violin and tought them about western culture-type of music like what people would use when playing a sitar. I always think about it whenever I listen to the song and it makes me think about how special it is. If you listen to it soon, just think about how cool it is and how it turned out! 

Recently with the help of his son Giles, created the put together the music used for the Cirque Du Soleli Beatles show "Love" (the "Love" soundtrack CD was also the first Beatles CD I had ever gotten fun fact from me). Also some help in production with The Beatles Rockband video game (made by Beatles child Dhani Harrison). 

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My First Favorite Band - WASN'T THE BEATLES

I can tell what you're thinking from the title of this post - it's hard to believe that my first favorite band WASN'T The Beatles, I know, my friends react the same way whenever I tell them. Surprisingly, because of my first favorite band was one of the ways that I first got even introduced to The Beatles. My best friend gave me a CD package for my birthday that had greatest hits from the 1970's and there was one band on there that I just kept going to and kept listening to and will forever be a big part of my life - Badfinger. 

Yes I know that the name of the band is a little "risqué" but blame John Lennon for that. A unknown band from Wales called "The Iveys" caught the eye of The Beatles for one of their first recording acts on Apple Corps label. Really, John thought they should have more of a "edgier" sound to it, and as time would come to show, they did end up changing it. 

The relationship between The Beatles and Badfinger was one that was made to stand the test of time. They were there at the beginning of Apple Corps and stayed until close to the end, they were there from the very end days of The Beatles and yet Paul McCartney and George Harrison helped them keep their hopes up. Paul writing 2 of Badfinger songs and helping record them - sitting in on the album recording. Even though this wasn't particularly "Beatles" associated, but they did provide the sound track to "Magic Christian" - a movie Ringo Starr was in.

George Harrison loved Badfinger. He had them record on one of his albums after The Beatles broke up and even played on some of Badfinger songs on their album. Pete Ham loved playing slide guitar and George was never a big fan of it until they played a duet on one of Badfinger most famous songs, "Day After Day". From that time on, George showcased it in his music, and now that will be one of the things he will forever be famous for. He even invited Badfinger to play at "The Concert for Bangladesh" - in which Pete and George did a rendition of a Beatles song - Here Comes The Sun (every time I watch it, I just sit there and ball my eyes out. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen/heard in my life).

I am a very big suicide awareness advocate and Badfinger is one of the reasons why I am. In 1975, one of my heroes Pete Ham committed suicide in his home, taking his life just a month before his daughter, Petra was born. But it doesn't stop there, less than 10 years later, Tom Evans - the basest for Badfinger and Pete Ham's best friend committed suicide. In his sucide note, he said that he "wanted to be where Pete was" that it "was a better place". 

Even though Badfinger never became as famous as The Beatles did, they will forever be my first favorite in my mind and will forever be a major part of my life. 

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Ravi Shankar

There was always something that drew my close to George's songs that sounded different than most of the other Beatles styles. It took me a few months to learn what this fabulous instrument was - called a sitar. Since then, it was one of the instruments that I want to play someday. There is one man who helped George learn about his love and interest for this instrument just like mine, and this man was named Ravi Shankar. 

Ravi Shankar was famous for being one of the best sitar players in the world, but he will forever be remembered in my mind as one of George Harrison's best friends. It seemed like after 1965, they were always around each other and never lost contact with each other until George's death in 2001. Since we lost Ravi in 2012, I always like to think that him and George are together playing the sitar and laughing about old memories. 

The first time I think I ever saw or really got to know Ravi was when I bought a copy of "The Concert of Bangladesh". He was the one who really urge the fact to George on what was going on in Bangladesh during that time and he had the brilliant idea to make a concert in 1971 to raise money for the cause. From that time on, he was one of my favorite people in history. I'll never forget watching him with his daughter during "The Concert of George", all of them getting together to remember the great man that they were all friends with and will always morn his loss.

On April 29, Ravi's 95th birthday, he will have his own exhibition in the US at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles which will have a collection of sitars, artifacts and photographs of his throught out all of his years active in music. I think this is a great honor and I'm very proud that Ravi will be able to receive this to have some of his stuff on show. 

I feel like our generation won't be keen on the idea of traditional Indian sitar music, I know that Anoushka Shankar is still making music like her father did. With having his memory still live on in the Grammy Museum, someone in the future visiting there could have their interest sparked from his memory and keep this style of music alive. 

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