Final post of the school year! I'm not sure whether I will be continuing to blog, but this post will be spectacular! I'm going to switch it up, this post will be about a band! Now, what band deserves to be the only band that I give a separate post for... Hard decision, I'd like to do The Scorpions, but Mr. Elkin would hate me. There's always KISS, my favourite glam metal/rock band, but I blogged about them all last year. I could go with The Beatles, the first band I actively listened to. So much pressure! Plot twist, I've decided to just post on the genre of early rock and roll instead.
Rock and roll was the product of a few main genres of the 1940's and 50's, these being gospel, blues, and jazz. The birth of rock and roll was strongly assisted by the latest inventions like the electric guitar, amplifier, microphone, and 45 rpm record, which served to promote smaller and more upbeat bands, rather than huge jazz bands of 20 or 30 pieces.
Now rock and roll is a very broad genre, and it's hard to tell what song is the first rock and roll song recorded, but the best definition I've found is from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who stated in 1964:
"Rock and Roll? I know it when I hear it."
Very simple, very precise. Some say it's the beat, some say it's the instruments, nah, I'd prefer to go with his definition.
Ah, doo wop... Now I'm a huge fan of this brand of rock and roll because it's vocally dominated, and I just love a good harmony. Doo wop originated as choir in churches, but later evolved into a prominent form of rock and roll.
Ah, the Beatles. When rock and roll hit Britain, the first response was to replicate the songs with teen idols, not the Beatles, no, The Beatles came a little later. Rock and roll was dying down from the initial rush at this time, but the British took it and ran! Many rock and roll bands flourished in cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London.
Wow, I just absolutely love this song! The sheer number of covers speaks for itself, being six or seven complete ones, and a few samplings here and there. Well this song was written by Who lead and rhythm guitarist, and played a 12-string on this song, Pete Townshed. It was released as a single in December of 1964 for the US, and January of 1965 in the UK, which I though weird because they're a British band, you'd think that it'd come out first in the originating country, apparently not. Pete stated that the thoughts process behind the song came from the Kink's, All Day and All of The Night, and he wrote it when he was eighteen, very cool. The lyrical work is pure genius! Very simple, yet very catchy and meaningful, this song's about the feeling that you get when you see the perfect girl and your heart jumps a little, when you get goosebumps from hearing her speak, the lustful first kiss that pulls out your stomach and tosses it on the ground a little. This song's about new romance and how it encompasses your life. See Mr.Elkin? Not a Scorpions song, oh, wait...
I can't help but have an immense amount of affection for this song! For the nasty and unwelcome English weather that they're singing about, this song has an embellishing upbeat feel to it, it reminds me more of surf rock than British rock, especially the bridge("This is my street, and I'm never going to leave it..."). Well this fascinating and clever little piece was written by Ray Davies, The Kink's vocalist and main songwriter, and was released as a single in 1967. This song is a complete classic and carefree song that is pleasant on the ears, and seems to put me in a sort of nostalgic trance. Now my second-most favourite thing about this song is the little lyrical changes they put in the song to add a little meaning, while keeping the basic lyrical work in the chorus almost untouched, such as the switch from "Autumn almanac" to "poor rheumatic back" for a line, as well as "almanac" to "Armagnac", which is a French brandy, very clever. What I find to be the most passionate thing in this song, for me, at least, is the wonderful rhyming at the beginning of this song, very smooth. Now they speak of trying to get away and avoid the Autumn weather, but I've mostly lived in pleasant weather places, and find myself attracted to Autumn, what with the bountiful beauty and temperate temperature.
So I've been watching YouTube clips of old Beatles videos, and I saw a recent one that showed Paul McCartney watching the footage of The Beatles playing on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time. His expression was just great, full of reminiscence and nostalgia. Now if you haven't seen the footage, watch it. Their performance just sums up the early Beatles experience, the happy-go-lucky and affectionate songs, the girls, the fame. Just watch it, I promise you won't regret it. Well this song was released on With The Beatles, in 1963, but never got an abundance of popularity, until the song was released as a single in Canada, where it was a number one hit (thank you Canada, for recognizing a classic song). Paul also thought of this song as personal accomplishment, as this was the first song that he'd written the music after the lyrics, which he came up with while shaving. It's obvious what the song is about, and that's what's so wonderful about it, the song is so blatant in its meaning, it's about love! The thing that drives us all! Well I hope you enjoy this song as much as I, so take a listen, to a beautiful song.
I consider this my favourite Beatles Ballad of all time. Why? Simply because of the placement of the minor chords, and the use of two languages to convey meaning, it's a simply satisfying song that suggests the spiritual sundering of their sizzling, sensational, sentimental passion due to a language barrier. You thought he only spoke English? Listen closer, the words you may be unable to make out are actually French; it was quite the revelation when I first learned of this. This song was originally written as just a party song by Paul McCartney, with just some French sounding mumblings, for an artsy party, but later, John suggested that he write words to it, and so the song was born. The line "Michelle, ma belle", was actually rhymed by Paul's French teacher,as well as the other main French line, "Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble", which is a translation of "These are words that go together well". The song was released on the Beatles' sixth studio album, Rubber Soul, in 1965, and only hit the top charts in Austria and Norway, reaching three and one, respectively. In my opinion, this song is about a couple who can't verbally communicate due to the lack of a common language, and Paul is pining to tell her how he feels. What's your favourite Beatles Ballad?
I just had to blog about this song, the classic hedonistic anthem, right? Now in case you've never been in a car with a classic anthem playing, it's epic! I actually have an entire playlist composed of these anthem songs, such as: You Give Love a Bad Name, Highway to Hell, I Wanna Rock, Rock And Roll All Nite, Pour Some Sugar on Me, Rock You Like a Hurricane, Paradise City, Nuthin' But a Good Time 867-5309/Jenny, etc, and I forgot, a few dozen Queen songs. Well anyways, this song was released by the British Heavy Metal band, Judas Priest, and was released on their 1980 album, British Steel. This was their first album that was certified gold in the US and sold 500,000 copies in the US alone. Take a listen, this song is the perfect example of eighties rebellion and rejection of the classic take on life. Now Judas Priest is know for their hedonistic and epicurean lifestyle, but this song is the pinnacle of that, blatantly bursting the boggled brains of the bodily bylaws in which we live by. What's your favourite anthem song? I'm always curious to know.
So today I performed this song for my school, so I figured, "hey, that's a good song, why not write a post about it?" So here I am. Your Love was written by John Spinks, the guitarist and vocalist for The Outfield. Your Love was released in their debut album, Play Deep, which was released in 1986. The song made it to number six on the Billboard Top 100 Tracks, and is their most popular. Something interesting I came across was that the members of the band are opposed to drug use, which I thought stood out, because, well it was the eighties, and they were an English pop rock band. I can see how these lyrics can be interpreted many different ways by the people who listen to them, but this is my interpretation. I believe this is about a guy who's woman is out of town, and he needs someone, so he calls upon someone from his past, maybe someone he's "been" with before. Clearly he still has feelings for her, and he tries to voice his feelings for what he needs. Hearing this song after playing it makes me feel like our band is inadequate, and does them no justice to perform their music.
Alas! More Beatles! This song has much more depth than I though, and has hidden things that most cannot say they knew about, but to start, lets begin with the release information. I'm Only Sleeping was written by John Lennon, but is credited to Lennon-McCartney, as is all songs written by either John Lennon or Paul McCartney during their time with The Beatles. This song was released on The Beatles' seventh album, Revolver, on August 5 of 1966. However, this did not feature on the US Revolver release, as it was released in the US two months earlier in Yesterday and Today. This song has no intro, and begins immediately with the lyrics, which are actually about sleeping, and not about any drug induced euphoria, though some of the lyrics point to otherwise. My two favorite songs are George's electric guitar riff, and quiet lyrics that you can only hear if you pay close attention. George's riff was actually recorded backwards, so when it was reversed, it would give the sleepy sound that he wanted to accomplish. At 1:57, you can hear Lennon saying "Yawn, Paul.", and three seconds later, at 2:00, you can hear Paul yawning. I'm not positive if the times are correct in this video, but you will hear it somewhere around there. I hope you enjoyed more Beatles, long live Rock And Roll!
