All You Need is Love: the Beatles Discussion Thread

I checked out the index of Amphitheatre threads and was surprised to find there was not one dedicated to the Fab Four. I thought I should correct that mistake.

Discuss anything Beatles; the four guys, the songs, the movies, the albums, their influence, how you got into the Beatles, anything. I'd love to get a salient Beatles discussion going.

I've been a Beatles fan since '95, when the Anthology was on TV. I was awestruck by their music and quickly started listening to my parents' old Beatles records. My favorite Beatles record is Rubber Soul, my favorite song "In My Life" or "When I'm 64," and my favorite movie is A Hard Day's Night, for it's unique insight into the band.

I'd love to met other Beatles fans and talk about the greatest band of all time!

 

I too am a huge fan of the Beatles, Adi_Gallia_9. My favourite album would have to be Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, while my favourite song is "All You Need Is Love."

 

Sgt. Pepper is probably my third favorite, after Rubber Soul and Abbey Road. The cover of that album is the best though. And "A Day in the Life" is such an amazing song.

"All you Need is Love" just reminded me of that movie, I Am Sam. Has anyone seen it? I've been meaning to, but I keep forgetting to rent it. I've heard all the covers of Beatles songs are very well down though, and that it's a sad movie.

 

Who are the Beatles?!

 

I hope you aren't serious, SaberGiett...

 

Adi_Gallia_9, what's your favourite Beatles' movie? For me, I really loved "It's a Hard Day's Night." It is truly a classic.

 

Beyond the travesity that is Magical Mystery Tour, I love the other three. Help! is hilarious; all four can be such comedians. Yellow Submarine is quite revolutionary and thought provoking. But like you, Master_Obi_Dan, my favorite is A Hard Day's Night. I think it perfectly captures what Beatlemania was and the craziness that came with.

But it also shows the Fab Four's personalities through clever, sharp dialouge. I love the four scenes that focus on just one of the guys. And Paul's grandfather is such a cute old guy.

 

Excellent thread. Favourite beatles song is
"A Day In The Life" favourite beatles movie
"Let It Be". Does anyone know where I can get a copy of it?

 

Why the heck didn't I think of starting a Beatle thread sooner?? Anyway, The Beatles are my favorite band and they're there to stay forever.

Beyond the travesity that is Magical Mystery Tour

Yes, the movie itself was The Beatles' only critical failure, but it contains great music.

Also, I wrote up a thing on The Beatles' most innovative songs. I posted it in a Census thread and in my Fans of British Music Unite! thread. I'll see if I can dig it up...

 

Nice to see you both, Dr. Acula and Radiohead.

I've never seen all of the Let it Be movie, nor do I know where one can get a copy. I'm sure you could probably download it somewhere; maybe Kazaa? It'd definately be interesting to watch considering it was probably the Beatles at their lowest, morale-wise.

The Magical Mystery Tour movie is bad, but you're right in pointing out that the music is great, Radiohead. I honestly don't think there's one Beatles song I don't like.

 

Nice edit of the thread title, Adi_Gallia_9. I like it!

 

I suppose that's why I like Let It Be so much
because you are actually seeing the bare bones of the band, no fancy image manufactured by the record company just a great band warts and all.
It always amazes me what a short time they were actually together, I think they barely made 10 yrs as a band and there body of work is phonomenal.
Anybody here like the I Am Sam soundtrack?

 

Here it is...

Here are, in my opinion, the most innovative songs The Beatles ever produced. They were certainly the most influential band of the 20th-century and these songs prove why.

She Loves You
By: Lennon-McCartney
Normally, love songs are written in either first person ("I love you" or "She loves me") or in the third person ("He loves her" or "She loves him"). "She Loves You," however, was one of the first rock songs to use the second person as the main speaker in the song. Many other song writers have used the method since.

I Feel Fine
By: Lennon-McCartney
This is one of the first songs to purposely use feedback in the composition. This innvoation has since been used by musicians like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and many many others.

Yesterday
By: McCartney-Lennon
The song uses NO drums, bass, or lead guitar. It's only Paul, his acoustic guitar, and a backing string arrangement. The string arrangement for this song gave The Beatles confidence to use more string arrangements in their later songs (like "She's Leaving Home" or Eleanor Rigby").

Norwegian Wood
By: Lennon-McCartney
This one is the first rock song to introduce the Sitar, an Indian intrument, to Western music (rock and roll in particular). John Lennon asked George Harrison, who was currently being influenced by Ravi Shankar, to play the lead melody on the instrument. "Norwegian Wood" also allowed Harrison to heavily incorporate Indian musical styles into his song writing (see "Within You Without You" or "The Inner Light").

Tomorrow Never Knows
By: Lennon-McCartney
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is really the first time we notice The Beatles' psychadelic and more experimental sound. The production of the song used exploited the freedoms of a studio quite heavily. So experimental was the song, in fact, that some of the sounds they made were simply tape (on which they had recorded something) that was cut in pieces, thrown on the floor, and then randomly strung together.

Yellow Submarine
By: McCartney-Lennon
After years of steadily developing a more refined, mature, and adult sound, Paul McCartney decided to go simple. "Yellow Submarine" is simply a children's song. This showed other performers that, indeed, rock stars could write less serious songs, but can still have it turn out well.

Strawberry Fields Forever
By: Lennon-McCartney
This song is the demarcation line that divides the "old" Beatles sound and the "new" Beatles sound. Lennon was taking more risks in song-writing (here, the lyrics seem to indicate that the singer/writer is talking to himself) and all the members were experimenting more in the studio. The evolution from "Love Me Do" to "Strawberry Fields Forever" is profoundly stark.

A Day in the Life
By: Lennon-McCartney
The song that ends the classic Sgt. Pepper's album is also its best and most innovative. The song is divided into three parts: Lennon's vocals, McCartney's vocals, and the ending. Risky song-writing, but certainly epic and grand.

Happiness is a Warm Gun
By: Lennon-McCartney
Like "A Day in the Life," this song attempts to break new ground in song composition. Lennon had 3 different songs lying around and really had no way to finish them. So, he decided to combine the three into one song. The result is brilliant and highly innovative. It directly influenced Radiohead's "Paranoid Android," a six-minute epic song that is really 3 songs in 1.

Hey Jude
By: McCartney-Lennon
The Beatles were originally reluctant to release "Hey Jude" as a single; the song was almost 3 times as long as a normal single usually was. The 7-minute song, written by McCartney about Lennon's son Julian, spends half the song with a normal Beatlesque piano composition. Then, it bursts into a sing along (the "na na na's"). It was one of the first popular singles that was over 4+ minutes and influenced many other bands to take risks and do longer songs (see "Stairway to Heaven" for instance

 

Did you just write that post now, Radiohead? That's quite an extensive analysis. Well done!

 

The theme song for Live and let die wuz cool

 

Very hard making a most inovative Beatle song list when practically nearly all their music was innovative. Sgt. Pepper whole album revolutionised Rock music and influenced so many musicians.

 

Did you just write that post now, Radiohead? That's quite an extensive analysis. Well done!

Thanks! I wrote it up a while ago actually and spent about half an hour or so thinking it up and typing it.

The theme song for Live and let die wuz cool

I don't think that "Live and Let Die" was a Beatle song. Paul McCartney did that one with his post-Beatle band, Wings, I believe.

 

Actually, to add another song to your list.
Rain- First use of backwood masking.

 

Great list, Radiohead! I'd also inclue I Am the Walrus, though, for the false ending, which was another Beatles innovention. And perhaps Don't Pass Me By for it's use of country sounds and instruments in a pop song.

"Live and Let Die" was a Wings song, but it's still a great song. Even as solo artists, all four Beatles (Ringo maybe not so much... ) wrote amaazing songs. George's My Sweet Lord and All Things Must Pass are great songs. And of course, John has imagine along with many other notable songs.

And I'm glad you like the new thread title, M_O_D!

EDIT: I can't remember exactly which song it was that used the false ending. It might have Strawberry Fields...

 

I can't remember exactly which song it was that used the false ending.

What do you mean by "false ending"? Could you describe it? I could probably identify the song with a good description.

 

I've seen LET IT BE, and all you have to do is watch the movie to see why the group broke up.

 

Radiohead, the false ending is where the song seems to end, there's silence, but then it starts up again. I can't remember if it occurs during the end of I am the Walrus with the siren or Strawberry Fields, but I want to say I am the Walrus. Either way, it was another Beatles' first.

As for Let it Be, I checked out Amazon and Barnes and Noble online and neither had it. I then looked at Kazaa and while they had the Let it Be video (just the song) they didn't have the whole movie. I would think that the best place to get a copy would be a Beatles convention where one could find a bootleg.

I was just wondering, has anyone seen any of the Beatles in concert or the actual Beatles (which would be amazing)? I saw Ringo a few years back and am trying desperately to get tickets for Paul's tour this year.

 

Here's a question for you all: how did you first get introduced to the Beatles and their music?

For me, I was first introduced to them when I was five or six by my sister (she was a big Beatles fan in the 1980s). Come to think of it, she also introduced me to SW, by taking me to ROTJ in the theaters when I was just three (its on eof the earliest recollections that I can still remember).

 

Radiohead, the false ending is where the song seems to end, there's silence, but then it starts up again.

Yeah, I'm almost sure that you're reffering to "Strawberry Fields Forever". Actually, the Beatles thought of using a Ringo drum solo instead of the odd sound scapes that characterize the "false ending". They decided against it, however.

Here's a question for you all: how did you first get introduced to the Beatles and their music?

My parents had a bunch of Beatles CDs and I decided to listen to it. I liked them a lot and, after seeing the Beatles Anothology, they became my favorite band.

 

I have listened Beatles all my life. My parents had nearly all of their albums as vinyls and I grew up listening those. Couple of years back my parents gave me all their old vinyls (about 150) as a birthday present. That's perhaps best present I've ever got. Anyway I have listened same Beatles albums as CD versions too and IMHO they have been remastered very poorly. My vinyls sound much better. I have probably mentioned this in some earlier Beatles discussion but if anybody else has noticed this I would like to know.

As to my favourite Beatles album I'm proud to be different from most others: my favourite album is Beatles For Sale and my least favourite Beatles album (meaning I still like it very much) is Revolver.