2017 - September 24 - Heart Of The Country

In 1970, the music world shook. The Beatles disbanded. Luckily the individual members embarked on highly successful solo careers (and then there was Ringo...), and Paul McCartney was no exception. In 1971, he released the album Ram, and it has the very charming little ditty Heart Of The Country. I first heard it by a Norwegian folk quartet called Ballade, featuring some of Norway's finest singer/songwriters of the 70s: Lillebjørn Nilsen (one of the best singer/songwriters Norway ever produced), Lars Klevstrand, Åse Kleveland (later Culture Minister of Norway), and Birgitte Grimstad (originally from Denmark)ø however, that was more of a novelty version called Katt og Kaniner (Cat and Rabbits) - and I have come to really appreciate Paul McCartney's original...

2017 - July 24 - She's Leaving Home

So yes, it's been 50 years since Sgt. Pepper shook the world, so I played the original stereo mix in my car on the way home from work again on Friday. I was singing along, probably pretty loudly, to the title track, With A Little Help From My Friends, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Getting Better, Fixing A Hole, and then... She's Leaving Home. My heart still drops when She's Leaving Home plays. The lyrics are pitch perfect - in many ways a companion piece to Revolver's Eleanor Rigby - and the line that always gets me is "She breaks down and cries to her husband, 'daddy, our baby's gone.'" It is a devastating line. The alternating points of view creates an emotional tension that really counteracts the sweet melody - and I love it. I couldn't find the original online, but I did find one from Paul McCartney's Back In The World album - with his great band that he still is touring with!

December 24 - Ballroom Dancing

So the band was, of course, The Beatles - still the greatest band of all time - and I was looking for Paul McCartney's Ballroom Dancing from Give My Regards To Broad Street (1984). I actually really like this song - it is very catchy in an unmistakable Paul McCartney way. It was originally on Tug of War, which was the first album he released after Wings disbanded and John Lennon was shot. In a world where so many singers deteriorate over time, it is very refreshing to see how Paul McCartney is able to perform so many of his classic song with a very youthful fervor even at 74 years old. My biggest disappointment of 2016 is still in many ways that I was unable to get tickets to see him when he played in Grand Rapids - although I did try.

As for tomorrow - or rather todays window of the musical advent calendar - I am looking for a song where Paul McCartney didn't participate, as one of very few in Britain at the time. However, I remember buying the single and listen to the phone message from him on the b-side. This single launched an avalanche of collaborations in a model that is still used today. It is a very appropriate song for Christmas day. I think that's all the help I will give you. I want to know who started the collaborative project (and was knighted because of it, I believe), what was the name of the project, what was the song, what year, and, since it wasn't on an album, who wrote the song along with the person who started the project?

November 25 - Paperback Writer

I am very excited today. I decided to forego the Thanksgiving Day shopping last night and instead focused on writing some more. And I am proud to say that I, in my pursuit of writing a novel, actually reached 50,000 words. The total word count is in the right hand margin. Reaching 50,000 words by the end of November seemed like a very lofty goal on November 1, but looking back at it, it is really all about sticking to it. Now, my novel isn't done yet, but I still thought I'd celebrate the milestone of actually winning National Novel Writing Month (everybody who reaches 50,000 words by November 30 is a winner) by playing an old Beatles song. However, I could not find the original version on YouTube, so I have to do two songs from Paul McCartney's 2009 tour, with the same stellar touring band he still has backing him. They start with I've Got A Feeling and then the final song is Paperback Writer. Although I have to say that I'd like mine in hardcover...

October 10 - Why Don't We Do It In The Road

In 1968, The Beatles released the sprawling epic simply named The Beatles, but better known as the white album, as that was the entirety of the double album design. It is more a collection of solo material, with the full band recording some of the songs, but the majority being recorded using various constellations of the band. One of my favorite songs is a raunchy little rocker of Paul McCartney's called Why Don't We Do It In The Road.

This weekend, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, and Sir Paul McCartney were the big draws to the music festival Desert Trip - and what a trip it appears to have been - including what appears to have been the first ever appearance of Why Don't We Do It In The Road - with Neil Young helping out with both vocals and a guitar solo...

February 27 - Abbey Road Medley

"And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make." 15 perfect words, finishing the proper part of Abbey Road - however, they were followed by Her Majesty, a funny little novelty song that on the surface seems completely misplaced, yet it really exemplifies everything The Beatles was all about - always a balance between the playful and the heavier material. Abbey Road was the last album The Beatles recorded, but it was released 1969, the year before Let It Be. The year before the best band ever officially called it quits.

The Beatles was a huge part of the soundtrack of my childhood. How could they not be? I was born in 1972, and my parents were both pretty interested in music (although not obsessed, like me). Their teenage years had been shaped by The Beatles, and from I became aware that there was a band called The Beatles, I was always hoping they would get together again. Of course, that all changed in 1980, when John Lennon was shot dead outside the Dakota Building in New York City. I still remember that day.

In my earlier years, I was obsessed with the singles of the first half of their career, when they were "just" a spectacular rock and roll band, playing cover songs as well as really raucous self-penned songs, such as She Loves You, Please Please Me, and Help! My aunt Anicken had a box set of all the albums they released, and even though I borrowed it and listened to it in my early teenage years, I still focused on their earlier work. When I approached my 20s, my good friends Svein and Vegard played Two Of Us from Let It Be for me without telling me who I was listening to, and I guessed Simon and Garfunkel - all while knowing and acknowledging The Beatles as possibly the best band ever.

As I have grown older and hopefully matured a little, I have a very different view of The Beatles and their music. When they released a box set of all the remastered albums in 2009, I was pretty quick to make sure I had a copy, and the music has been played through and through many a time. One part that gets to me every time I play it is the end of Abbey Road. The whole of side 2 is really a medley, but it is the last trio of songs in that medley - the three immediately preceding Her Majesty - that really brings out tears of joy and goosebumps every time. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End is a perfect trio of songs in my mind. It even includes a drum solo by Ringo and dueling guitar solos between John, Paul, and George. It doesn't get much better than that.

In my eyes, there never has been a better band than The Beatles. Yes, my favorite band is still Motorpsycho, but they pale next to the four young men from Liverpool. Unfortunately there is no good version of this medley on YouTube, so I am cheating and showing Paul McCartney's touring band, led by Sir Paul, in a very inspired performance. I have seen several recordings of this band, and I am convinced this is the best band he has had since The Beatles - and you can often see how they inspire him. This recording is from 2013, when Sir Paul was 71 years old - and he plays the ass off of most younger performers these days. Hats off to him and his touring band for this fantastic version of Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.