John Lennon & George Harrison

[westen44]

John Lennon stating years later that this song was really about himself rather than Paul McCartney, is, of course, absurd.  Just as absurd as George Harrison saying "Something" was really a song about God rather than Pattie Boyd. 

Ted Turner was playing acoustic guitar on this song on some of the takes, possibly just on the final version on the "Imagine" album.  He also played on "Crippled Inside," the album's second track. 

https://www.jambase.com/article/the-beatles-john-lennon-george-harrison-in-newly-surfaced-video

[Dave W]

Nice video. Klaus Voorman makes it look easy. 

That song solidified my already negative feelings about John Lennon.

[ilan]

I've always thought that the "Rocky" Strat was Harrison's 1961 Sonic Blue Strat (statistically the most recorded Beatle guitar), painted over at some point in Day-Glo paint. But here's George in 1971 with a nice pre-CBS Sonic Blue Strat. Is that another guitar?

[westen44]

I've always thought that the "Rocky" Strat was Harrison's 1961 Sonic Blue Strat (statistically the most recorded Beatle guitar), painted over at some point in Day-Glo paint. But here's George in 1971 with a nice pre-CBS Sonic Blue Strat. Is that another guitar?

I'm not sure about this at all, but I think I read somewhere that that's actually John's guitar that George is playing. 

[westen44]

Nice video. Klaus Voorman makes it look easy. 

That song solidified my already negative feelings about John Lennon.

The Beatles probably made more life-decision mistakes after the band broke up than when they were together.  In my opinion, Ringo is the only ex-Beatle who came out smelling like a rose.  As for that particular song, he strongly objected to it.   He said something like --"That's enough, John." 

[slinkp]

Some interesting backstory in the Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Do_You_Sleep%3F_(John_Lennon_song)

I hadn't known that McCartney had already fired a shot on record:

https://www.beatlesbible.com/people/paul-mccartney/songs/too-many-people/

Pretty terrible behavior all around.

But I'd sure like to have that backing band.  Nice drumming from Mr. White and it's really fun to see/hear Mr. Hopkins on the electric piano.

[Dave W]

Some interesting backstory in the Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Do_You_Sleep%3F_(John_Lennon_song)

I hadn't known that McCartney had already fired a shot on record:

https://www.beatlesbible.com/people/paul-mccartney/songs/too-many-people/

Pretty terrible behavior all around.

But I'd sure like to have that backing band.  Nice drumming from Mr. White and it's really fun to see/hear Mr. Hopkins on the electric piano.

Before Paul recorded that, John was given free rein by Rolling Stone to dump on Paul, repeatedly. Paul stayed above it all, at least in print. John came across as a petty, jealous little shit.

[westen44]

Before Paul recorded that, John was given free rein by Rolling Stone to dump on Paul, repeatedly. Paul stayed above it all, at least in print. John came across as a petty, jealous little shit.

Too much is known about them for many people to be looking at the Beatles as role models now.  Also, by this time their music is beginning to sound outdated to an extent.  But they were perfect for their time and place in history.  My problem is more with people saying their music is crap and that the people who listened to them in the 60s were deluded by the Beatles being "overhyped" at the time.  People had brains then and were able to know what music they liked or didn't like all on their own.  As for the Beatles being overrated, that may be true.  But it's all a matter of degree and there is always a lot of subjectivity involved in anything like this.

[lowend1]

I've always thought that the "Rocky" Strat was Harrison's 1961 Sonic Blue Strat (statistically the most recorded Beatle guitar), painted over at some point in Day-Glo paint. But here's George in 1971 with a nice pre-CBS Sonic Blue Strat. Is that another guitar?

I thought that the J160E was the most recorded Beatle guitar. I read somewhere that it is on almost everything.

[ilan]

I thought that the J160E was the most recorded Beatle guitar. I read somewhere that it is on almost everything.

So maybe the most recorded electric? Or what I've read was wrong. Anyway I was really surprised because a Strat is not the first model, or even the first Fender model, you associate with the Beatles. They never sounded "Strat-y", like the Shadows for example.

[Dave W]

Too much is known about them for many people to be looking at the Beatles as role models now.  Also, by this time their music is beginning to sound outdated to an extent.  But they were perfect for their time and place in history.  My problem is more with people saying their music is crap and that the people who listened to them in the 60s were deluded by the Beatles being "overhyped" at the time.  People had brains then and were able to know what music they liked or didn't like all on their own.  As for the Beatles being overrated, that may be true.  But it's all a matter of degree and there is always a lot of subjectivity involved in anything like this.

Some of the Beatles music was outdated by the early 70s. OTOH I think their straight ahead rock is still fresh now and I still love it.

The flip side of the people saying people who liked them in the 60s were deluded, are the people claiming that everybody loved them and that you're an asshole who needs to shut up if you don't acknowledge that they were the greatest ever and that all music today comes from them. Again, people know what they liked or didn't like. The Beatles weren't universally loved by people in my generation, much less our parents.

[westen44]

Some of the Beatles music was outdated by the early 70s. OTOH I think their straight ahead rock is still fresh now and I still love it.

The flip side of the people saying people who liked them in the 60s were deluded, are the people claiming that everybody loved them and that you're an asshole who needs to shut up if you don't acknowledge that they were the greatest ever and that all music today comes from them. Again, people know what they liked or didn't like. The Beatles weren't universally loved by people in my generation, much less our parents.

The Beatles weren't popular at all with a great number of people.  Even when they were supposedly reaching their peak.  Also, it is absurd to exaggerate their importance.  However, I think one of my pet peeves is other people trying to tell me what I'm thinking as if somehow they know what is going on in my brain better than I do.  I know what I'm thinking and why I like or dislike certain kinds of music.  So trying to tell people that they liked the Beatles because they were duped into it is taking being presumptuous to quite an extreme.  People may not know precisely why they like a certain kind of music.  But it often has to do with how it makes them feel--how it affects their emotions.  Usually they don't need another person to try to help them understand that.  I think much of the time when we like music it happens spontaneously and isn't even the result of conscious decisions.  Or maybe we are all really being subliminally manipulated and can't decide which bands we like or dislike on our own. 

[patman]

Paul knew and still knows how to write a catchy melody. A useful skill.

[Dave W]

The Beatles weren't popular at all with a great number of people.  Even when they were supposedly reaching their peak.  Also, it is absurd to exaggerate their importance.  However, I think one of my pet peeves is other people trying to tell me what I'm thinking as if somehow they know what is going on in my brain better than I do.  I know what I'm thinking and why I like or dislike certain kinds of music.  So trying to tell people that they liked the Beatles because they were duped into it is taking being presumptuous to quite an extreme.  People may not know precisely why they like a certain kind of music.  But it often has to do with how it makes them feel--how it affects their emotions.  Usually they don't need another person to try to help them understand that.  I think much of the time when we like music it happens spontaneously and isn't even the result of conscious decisions.  Or maybe we are all really being subliminally manipulated and can't decide which bands we like or dislike on our own. 

Well said.

Paul knew and still knows how to write a catchy melody. A useful skill.

He sure does, and he can still rock.

[Pilgrim]

There were some who just plain didn't like the Beatles' music, but I met very few of them. I think more people who expressed dislike for the Beatles were in the mode of "those long-haired dudes don't fit in..."  It was a time when some people hadn't come around to accepting the cultural change of the 60's, and to some degree the Beatles bore that criticism. They also wore Nehru jackets and played sitars, which just didn't compute for middle America.

(That's a bit of a reverse anachronism in expression - NOTHING computed for middle America then, as computers hadn't been made available to them yet.)

However, the Beatles WERE a smash hit, and stayed that way as long as they were together. Their records still sell well.  The "pro" vote was and is clearly massively greater than the "con" vote.