worship the glitch
This is Eric Mortensen's blog. He works @ Blip and lives in Brooklyn.
The Beatles - Come Together/Something (Norwegian, Italian, Swedish, Dutch & French Cover Art)
The Beatles - Sun King
from Abbey Road (2009 Remaster)
“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 to me but (childish taunting) ‘na-na, na-na-na!”
- John Lennon
At the time, ‘Albatross’ (by Fleetwood Mac) was out, with all the reverb on guitar. So we said, ‘Let’s be Fleetwood Mac doing Albatross, just to get going.’ It never really sounded like Fleetwood Mac… but that was the point of origin.
- George Harrison
I posted this about a year ago, but it seems particularly relevant right now so I’m posting it again.
The Beatles - Commonwealth
from Get Back Sessions - Unreleased
This track, when combined with Get Off White Power, clearly shows that the origins of “Get Back” were much more political than the end result.
From Wikipedia:
Around the time he was developing the lyrics to “Get Back”, McCartney satirised the “Rivers of Blood speech” by former British Cabinet ministerEnoch 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 “Commonwealth Song” had no musical resemblance to “Get Back”, but gives insight into the thinking behind the song’s lyrics. On 9 January Paul introduced “Get Back” to the group, with the “Sweet Loretta” verse very near to its finished version. Improvising various temporary lyrics led to what has become known in Beatles folklore as the “No Pakistanis” version.[7] This version is more racially charged, satirising right wing attitudes toward immigrants in America and the UK: “…don’t need no Puerto Ricans living in the USA” and “don’t dig no Pakistanis taking all the people [sic] jobs”.[8]
I’ve got lots more Behind The Beatles stories here.
The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night (Take 3)
This take includes an alternate, echo-laiden version of the mythical opening chord.
The Beatles - Old Brown Shoe
from Past Masters (originally the B-Side to “The Ballad of John and Yoko”)
“I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don’t really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites… Again, it’s the duality of things – yes no, up down, left right, right wrong, etc.”
- George Harrison
