Music 351: The Beatles - From the Stage to the Studio
The 1966 summer world tour was disastrous -- for the Beatles, not for their fans -- bringing their all-consuming public personas hard up against their studio creativity. Simply put: their music could not be heard over the sound of screaming ... they did NOT like this, resulting in a new distance between the Beatles and their fans:
fans couldn't understand the odd sounds in "Tomorrow Never Knows" (or other examples of the Beatles' "experimental" works)
John Lennon casually remarked that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus"
the Beatles had disappeared without a word (no BBC Radio performances, with only a single television-studio appearance in 1966 in the United Kingdom and none elsewhere!), releasing no new music after August
In 1966, the Revolver recording sessions occupied March through May. Their first (and most adventurous) session produced "Tomorrow Never Knows," which became the album's finale. On the album, instrumentation of the band was stretched to include sitars, string ensemble, brass, and backward tape loops.
The Beatles successfully argued their way out of a commitment for a third film, spending the autumn months apart pursuing various solo projects. They regrouped in November for more sessions with fresh material that would extend their experimentalism even further.
1966 Original Releases (British):
Single: "Paperback Writer" / "Rain" (rel. June 10)
LP: Revolver (rel. Aug. 5)
Side 1: "Taxman" / "Eleanor Rigby" "I'm Only Sleeping" / "Live You To" / "Here, There and Everywhere" / "Yellow Submarine" / "She Said She Said"
Side 2: "Good Day Sunshine" / "And Your Bird Can Sing" / "For No One" / "Doctor Robert" / "I Want to Tell You" / "Got to Get You Into My Life" / "Tomorrow Never Knows"
The Final Tours
By late 1966, the Beatles were truly no longer a performing group.
at one time, their stage roles (Paul on bass, Ringo on drums, George on lead guitar, and John on rhythm guitar) defined their musical contributions; on Revolver, ...
Paul at times plays piano or clavichord in basic tracks accompanied only by Ringo, composing and recording his bass line at some later point
in "Taxman," Paul continues to explore lead guitar while George introduces a band of Indian musicians to accompany "Love You To" (George's non-syntactical title being a play on "Love Me Do")
in 1966, the Beatles were using some very interesting studio techniques:
backward tape on "Rain" and "I'm Only Sleeping"
rotating Leslie speaker and artificial double-tracking, which are both applied to John's voice in "Tomorrow Never Knows"
numerous effects created for the hit single "Yellow Submarine"
many of the sounds on Beatles recordings of this period could not be reproduced onstage in live performance
The Beatles face challenges
they arrived for their only Japanese appearance ever, greeted by death threats and protesters objecting to the Beatles' 3-night stint at the Nippon Budokan Temple (a judo arena) because of its traditional spiritual associations. Though the concerts came off successfully, the Beatles, experience of Japan was so tightly controlled that they felt straitjacketed by their own entourage.
after Japan, they flew to Manila for a concert for over 24,000 fans. The following morning, they were surprised to see themselves on TV, where a weeping Imelda Marcos (wife of President Ferdinand Marcos) decried the band ignoring her invitation to Malacañang Palace, a simple miscommunication turning into an international incident, insulting the Philippines leader.
The Beatles and their crew struggled to the airport through a dangerous withdrawal of police security, where a frightened Brian Epstein had to turn over all concert receipts as extortion before they could take off!
a scandal in America: on March 25th, in-house photographer shot the cover to Capitol's Yesterday and Todayas a sick joke ... the four Beatles posed in white smocks draped with dismembered dolls and slabs of meat!
the Beatles' cover photo was seen as a multi-layered protest, against the gap between their album layouts and Capitol Records', but also between their public mop-top image and their desire to graduate from the teen market
John Lennon offered up a plumb quote, saying he thought the butcher cover appropriate for a country intent on butchering innocent people in the growing Vietnam conflict (an extremely bold statement for an artist!)
it's a wonder that Capitol printed up any copies of this cover. It was immediately howled down by both DJs and retailers, and Capitol had to recall it hastily and issue a replacement
in March 1966, John Lennon was interviewed for London Evening Standard by his close confidant Mareen Cleave, resulting in the following quote:
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I'll be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first--rock and roll or Christianity."
while John was attempting to thoughtfully answer a question regarding his reading habits and join the ongoing conversation on Britain's declining church attendance, but -- as you can imagine -- his response resulted in an uproar, especially throughout the Bible Belt South of the U.S.
to dispel the backlash, Brian Epstein arranged for Lennon to open the U.S. leg of the tour in Chicago with what amounted to a confused and humiliating apology for statements taken as blasphemous
this press conference remains among the few clips in which Lennon appears anxious and rattled in public, afraid both for his own safety and that of his fellow Beatles. Death threats streamed in, and crowds became perilous surrounding airports and hotels.
radio stations in Birmingham, Alabama, banned airplay and organized record burnings
hooded Ku Klux Klan members openly demonstrated against the Beatles' performances
Lennon's eventual murderer, fourteen years later, acted precisely on delusions based on the "more popular than Jesus" observation
all of these protests conveniently ignored the lengthy interview the Beatles had given to Playboy in its February 1965 issue, where they debated the difference between atheism and agnosticism, declaring they didn't believe in God.
George Harrison joked that Lennon served as the group's "official religious spokesman."
Beatlemania's increasing chaos punctuated a dismal scene overall; the band's under-rehearsed approach to challenging music rendered undersold stadium performances dissatisfying.
as the Beatles left San Francisco on the tour's final night (August 29th), George said, "That's it, I'm not a Beatle anymore."
instead of regrouping in London to record an album for the Christmas market as they had done every year after 1962, the four members dispersed to the world's four corners for three months apart
Revolver
Revolver, the only album the band released in 1966, signaled a leap as great as the one between Help! and Rubber Soul -- perhaps greater! The new album posed serious riddles that challenged every known pop convention:
unprecedented use of backward tape
sped-up and slowed-down playback
tape loops
vocals and guitar lines duplicated slightly out-of-phased with one another (voices seem strangely human and mechanical at once)
voltages distorted by spinning Leslie speakers
a Mellotron (keyboard instrument), made entirely of prerecorded sounds (BEFORE the era of digital sampling!)
outright North Indian instrumentation and compositional structures (Harrison's "Love You To")
dueling tonal centers ("Good Day Sunshine" and "Doctor Robert")
non-rhyming lyrics for "Tomorrow Never Knows" taken directly from The Tibetan Book of the Dead
This music addressed all areas of the mind and body. Its mood, method, and frame all flaunted the layered qualities of poetry and implicitly reflected recreational drug use.
With the world at their feet, the Beatles turned inward, partly out of an interest in spiritual matters.
in early 1966, they traveled to Rishikesh, India to practice transcendental meditation
they gained mystical & creative insights through psychedelic drugs, LSD being their favorite
Lennon & Harrison were given LSD in March 1965, and Starr joined these two in their tripping a second time at a Los Angeles party on August 24, where the actor Peter Fonda told Lennon of his having experienced death (which inspired Lennon to write "She Said She Said"
McCartney would explore LSD a year later than the others, with enthusiasm
The LSD molecule, produced and studied as part of psychiatric and psychological research in the 1950s and 1960s, overstimulates cortical neurotransmitter receptors and processing in the amygdala, intensifying sensory and limbic effects, causing visual distortions such as rippling, vibrant, and training colorizations and similar auditory distortions; strong mood changes; altered perception of time, memory, awareness, and proportion; extreme disorientation; and loss of identity.
the Beatles, especially Lennon, took LSD frequently, and their expanded imaginations showed most vividly in the drones, imitative guitars and vocal parts, and the many types of aural distortions in Revolver
as a result of this experimentation, lyrics unrelated to normal waking consciousness began to appear in Beatles songs: "I'm Only Sleeping," "Tomorrow Never Knows," and "She Said She Said,"making a clean break from lyrics on their earlier albums
At the Indica Gallery, Barry Miles (who sought McCartney's help in founding the International Times, a journal of the artistic vanguard) introduced Lennon to New York artist, musician, and provocateur Yoko Ono at her first London show on November 9th.
"Here, There and Everywhere"
"And Your Bird Can Sing"
Borrowing from early 20th-century blues artist Robert Johnson, in his song "Corrina, Corrina," Bob Dylan sings:
I got a bird that whistles, I got a bird that sings;
but I ain't got Corinna--life don't mean a thing. [The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, 1963]
In "And Your Bird Can Sing," John Lennon tropes this idea for a subtle anti-materialist statement, which would find even more overt statement a year later in songs like "Baby Your a Rich Man" and "Within You Without You"
Lennon's theme is larger in "Bird"
not only does the singer devalue material possessions
he calls the listener to awaken, as if from slumber, and seek clear, important goals, ignoring the distractions of superficial everyday business
the lyrics employ veiled language in post-Dylan metaphors of impressionistic poetry and music
refers to the "tattoo"
Tattoo trio
Tattoo trio Tattoo trio
”Doctor Robert”
The "Dr. Robert" story is legend: during their stay-overs in Manhattan, the Beatles caught wind of a mythical doctor who wrote prescriptions for the stars. This real-life "Dr. Feelgood" made house calls and gave respectable professionals shots of vitamins mixed with amphetamines so they could work through the night to make their impossible deadlines ... all as "legit" prescriptions!
There are those -- like Elvis Presley, for example -- who consider(ed) prescribed medications (even the extreme Dr. Robert examples) as a "respectable" alternative to hallucinogens.
This song has a cleverly shifting subtext: while it laughs at its subject, the harmonic footing of the song swaps out carpets beneath characters for a maze of colors ... each time the verse returns, you never know where it will land.
"Doctor Robert" uses one of the strangest devices for an ending: the fade to proper cadence.
”Paperback Writer”
Because of their skill in so many other areas, the Beatles' intricate line writing and robust vocal-ensemble work often got overshadowed by rivals like the Beach Boys and the Byrds. From it's beginning notes, "Paperback Writer" demonstrates the impeccably harmonic vocal stylings of the Beatles. This opening "motto," as Everette & Riley (2019) call it, recurs throughout the piece and serves similar to the way a guitar tattoo has functioned in other songs ... it's the sound that you keep anticipating, the expectation that seeks new release on each return. This three-part chorale motto occurs three distinct times in the piece (you can hear each of these occurrences by clicking on the buttons labeled "Motto" in the interactive listening guide below).
In each occurrence of the repeated, stop-time vocal breaks (the "motto"), there is a specific pattern: first vocals alone (a capella), then guitar with drums,and, finally, bass, which enters, as if delayed, an instant before the verses. With each bass entrance, McCartney provides increasing suspense. Click on these buttons to hear those bass lines:
countermelody: Can you hear the melody of "Frère Jacques" in the background vocals? "Frère Jacques" is back again (these guys have a sense of humor!)
At the very beginning of Verse 4, in "Paperback Writer," you can hear one of the vocal parts (Harrison's?) make a
into the "Frère Jacques" background vocal parts, joining after the first note and then catching up. There are very few such "uncorrected mistakes" in Beatles recordings!
What the Beatles were doing in Fall 1966:
Paul was on safari in Kenya and composing the soundtrack for The Family Way (the first music to be credited to a solo Beatle)
John had a film role, acting in How I Won the War, shot in Germany and Spain September through November
George studied sitar under Ravi Shankar in Bombay and toured the Indian continent
Ringo caught up with family at home in Surrey
"Strawberry Fields" / "Penny Lane"
Lennon used his art as an emotional release (consider his lyrics for "I'm a Loser" and "Help!"). In the fall of 1966, he picked up a nylon-string classical guitar in Almeria, Spain; churned over his nagging childhood emotional trials; and began composing "Strawberry Fields Forever." According to John himself, "'Strawberry Fields' was psychoanalysis set to music, really."
When Paul heard "Strawberry Fields," he decided to write his own song memorializing childhood memories, all situated in the popular bus roundabout known as Penny Lane.
the Beatles devoted several weeks at the end of 1966 to recording "Strawberry Fields Forever" and followed this by taping "Penny Lane" and a very early McCartney composition, "When I'm Sixty-Four," recently completed in honor of Paul's dad's 64th birthday!
all of these tracks were initially intended for some future album, but EMI and Capitol insisted they put out a single to break up the lull between releases
they chose two tracks to release as singles and designated BOTH as "A-sides" (both directed for radio airplay): "Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever"
the Beatles' once-unified fan base was not sure how to react
slow to accept radical facial hair and unconventional clothing
the polished stylings of these new recordings harbored strange interior fantasies
the films promoting each of the two songs released on the single (full of backward motion, color negatives, odd costumes, surreal behavior, and non-sequiturs of every order) screamed "bizarre" by any measure
the Beatles created the pairing of abstract visual imagery to song that, for the first time, did not represent a stage performance
Listen to Both Tracks Below
These two tracks were so different-sounding they could have come from two completely different bands!!
"Penny Lane"
McCartney's idyllic song has a chipper stride, graced with direct, representational lyrics tracing quaint and quixotic characters who inhabit a clearly drawn musical picture: the barber, the banker, the fireman, the nurse
the narrator keeps labeling everything as "very strange," which causes us to wonder
McCartney's choice of a
(a high-pitched, "toy trumpet" sound) for the solo provides an 18th-century style
Paul had heard this specialized trumpet during a broadcast of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on the BBC and had George Martin notate his hummed melody for the solo
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
In contrast to McCartney's "Penny Lane," Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" swims in indecipherable, impressionistic imagery vaguely evoking misunderstanding, abandonment, and indifference ... all somehow tied to a treasured hallow of trees and fields. Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army home around the corner from his Aunt Mimi's home (known as "Mendips"), where John grew up. Abandoned by both of his parents when very young, John identified with the institution's orphaned children as he attended their annual summer fundraising fair or played in their gardens a short distance away.
Lennon uses an indirect mode to recall his childhood and consider a lifelong otherness to root his fantasy at artistically profound depths ... expressing a fluid identity, an insecurity in his surroundings, an inability of others to understand him, and detachment from the everyday in a loose, anti-poetic, and conversational style; the lyrics speak directly, without artifice, but resists clarity in fated clouds of obscurity.
"Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about"
"It's getting hard to be someone"
"It doesn't matter much to me"
"That is, you can't, you know, tune in but it's all right"
Listening to the song
McCartney's articulates flute samples made alien by trimming away their sonic attacks and decays
Lennon's ambivalent chord choices portray a tonal elusiveness through unprepared pitch alterations and forward-reverse motion in relation to a stable harmonic center
most pop songs seek and find their tonal home through anticipation and arrival; this one avoids any such center of gravity
about 1:00 into the recording, an abrupt transition occurs from guitars and keyboards to cellos and trumpets
this moment in the track famously unites two distinctly different takes of the track, one with guitar band, the other arranged for strings and horns
Lennon had waffled about which version he liked more until he instructed producer George Martin to simply combine the two after the first verse
George Martin's reply: "I said it was impossible," knowing that the two takes were in completely different keys (and at different tempos!) Lennon replied: "You can fix it then." And ... he did!! By slowing down the first recording and speeding the other up just enough to match pitches
Listeners greeted "Strawberry Fields Forever" with waves of misunderstanding and awe. As fans waited an unprecedented eleven months between Beatle albums, their only clues to what lay ahead -- the release of this two-sided single ("Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever") -- seemed both baffling and poetic beyond all previous musical excursions!
