Sixty Years of Music • The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show • February 9, 16, and 23, 1964

In past blog posts I have written about my personal experience of February 9, 1964 viewing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time. Here, I thought I'd put together a series of quotes and videos that amplify an astonishing moment in American cultural history that changed our lives forever. For the generation who knew where they were on the sorrow of November, 22 1963, and then the pure joy of February, 1964, we never seem to tire of these images and sounds, placed at the beginning of the mix tape of our lives.

Ed with the lads February 8, 1964
Note- George would be confined to his hotel room most of that day with a sore throat.

The February 9th Performances in New York
Sullivan began the show by telling the audience that Elvis Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, had sent the Beatles a telegram wishing them success in America (though it was reported later that Parker sent the telegram without Presley's knowledge). Sullivan then introduced the Beatles, who opened by performing "All My Loving"; "Till There Was You", which featured the names of the group members superimposed on closeup shots, including the famous "SORRY GIRLS, HE'S MARRIED" caption on John Lennon; and "She Loves You" The act that followed the Beatles in the broadcast, magician Fred Kaps, was pre-recorded in order to allow time for an elaborate set change. The group returned later in the program to perform "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand". Wikipedia 

 

"The minute I saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show -- and it's true of thousands of guys -- there was the way out. There was the way to do it. You get your friends and you're a self-contained unit. And you make the music. And it looked like so much fun. It was something I identified with. I had never been hugely into sports. ... I had been a big fan of Elvis. But I really saw in The Beatles that here's something I could do. I knew I could do it. It wasn't long before there were groups springing up in garages all over the place. "
–Tom Petty

"This was different, shifted the lay of the land. Four guys, playing and singing, writing their own material ... Rock 'n' roll came to my house where there seemed to be no way out ... and opened up a whole world of possibilities."
–Bruce Springsteen

"I remember exactly where I was sitting. It was amazing. It was like the axis shifted ... It was kind of like an alien invasion."
–Chrissie Hynde

"That one performance changed my life ... Up to that moment I'd never considered playing rock as a career. And when I saw four guys who didn't look like they'd come out of the Hollywood star mill, who played their own songs and instruments, and especially because you could see this look in John Lennon's face -- and he looked like he was always saying: 'F--- you!' -- I said: 'I know these guys, I can relate to these guys, I am these guys.' This is what I'm going to do -- play in a rock band'."
–Billy Joel

"The lightning bolt came out of the heavens and struck Ann and me the first time we saw the Beatles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' ... There'd been so much anticipation and hype about the Beatles that it was a huge event, like the lunar landing: that was the moment Ann and I heard the call to become rock musicians. I was seven or eight at the time. ... Right away, we started doing air guitar shows in the living room, faking English accents, and studying all the fanzines."
–Nancy Wilson

The February 16th Performances in Miami Beach

After a February 11 concert in Washington, D.C.'s Washington Coliseum and two February 12 shows in New York's Carnegie Hall, the Beatles flew to Miami Beach on February 13, where Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) was in training for his first title bout with Sonny Liston (on February 18, the Beatles would eventually pose for publicity photographs with Clay in a boxing gym). The Beatles held rehearsals on February 14 and 15. The band stayed in the Hotel Deauville, which was also the broadcast location for the show. The Beatles rehearsed in the hotel's basement.

On the evening of the television show, a crush of people nearly prevented the band from making it onstage. A wedge of policemen were needed and the band began playing "She Loves You" only seconds after reaching their instruments. They continued with "This Boy" and "All My Loving", then returned later to close the show with "I Saw Her Standing There", "From Me to You", and "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The audience for this show was about 70 million, nearly equaling the prior week's performance. Wikipedia

The February 23rd Performances Taped in New York

The Beatles' third appearance aired on February 23, though it had actually been taped on February 9, before their first live performance. They followed Ed's intro with "Twist and Shout" and "Please Please Me" and closed the show once again with "I Want to Hold Your Hand". Wikipedia

60 Years of Music • January, 1964 • How Many Album Versions?

Meet The Beatles

Meet The Beatles was released on January 20, 1964. It was actually their second album released in the United States and their first album on Capitol Records. From there, it gets a bit more complicated as Capitol Records (originally an American company) was sold to British owned EMI in 1955. Capitol as a subsidiary to the very powerful EMI, would often not follow the parent company as American copyright laws and procedures would allow Capitol's leadership to often deviate from EMI's rule. 

For example, why does With The Beatles (the original second release in England) have 14 songs and the American Meet The Beatles only have 12? Why does the American Meet The Beatles have their smash single hits, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and I Saw Her Standing There while England's With The Beatles does not? 

If you were ever confused why Meet The Beatles says right on the front cover, "The First Album by England's Phenomenal Pop Combo" you are in a very large worldwide group of fans who often received different album covers, titles and song selections from the early releases of Beatle albums, compared to the original Beatle releases from England. Maybe, all these different versions of songs on essentially the same albums are the genesis of "The Mix Tape."  

I recently found a great YouTube video from "Adam from Parlogram" who does a 15:40 deep dive that explains all these little mysteries, and highly recommend you circle back here to this video if you're doing a quick skim and scan of this post now. 

The Rolling Stones (EP)

The Rolling Stones (EP) was released January 10, 1964. Decca Records was not quite ready to fully commit a full album by The Rolling Stones and this four song EP was a testing of the waters to see if the band was going to be worth the risk.

The EP follows their first hit, I Wanna Be Your Man a song written by Lennon and McCartney and given to The Rolling Stones by the eager song writing duo. I Wanna Be Your Man is also a track sung by Ringo on both With The Beatles and Meet The Beatles. Both Beatle and Stones live versions are included here in the playlist, and exhibit A to all the stupid naysayers doing The Beatles vs The Rolling Stones nonsense. 

Muddy Waters folk singer

Muddy Waters folk singer was released January 30, 1964. Chess Records wanted to bring in new fans to Muddy following the early 60's Folk Music movement, and convinced him to do an all acoustic guitar album with his protege Buddy Guy, and Willie Dixon on string bass and producing the album. This album would not generate any hits but later would be critically acclaimed and voted in 2003 as the 280th of Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

This album is indicative of Muddy's influence on the impending British Invasion of artists who revered Waters and would shortly pass him in fame and fortune. The Rolling Stones name actually comes from the 1950 Muddy Waters song, Rollin' Stone. The man is simply the OG of rock 'n' roll.

Stay With The Hollies

Stay with The Hollies was released January, 1964 in England, and in the United States with the title, Here I Go Again. This debut album was released under The Beatles label, Parlophone as EMI was quick to jump on new groups that could replicate The Beatles harmony magic. 

The Hollies are also named after rock 'n' roll treasure Buddy Holly as the influence of American artists propel post World War II babies like Allan Clarke, Graham Nash, and Tony Hicks. (I mention Tony Hicks here because I really liked his guitar playing in The Hollies, and he rarely gets a shout-out). 

1964 is really the year that rock 'n' roll changes the world and I hope you can make the time to listen to some of these songs from these four albums. It's a fascinating time to see the upstarts take over from their heroes- Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly who collectively made 1964 happen in the first place.

Enjoy the playlist my friends.

With the Beatles and JFK • November 22, 1963

Friday, November 22, 1963. I was an 8 year-old in third grade at Robert Bruce Elementary when our teacher told the class that our President, John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed. 

My searing memory of that day is that I had not cried like our teacher and many of my classmates. I remember getting home and immediately heading towards the bathroom. I closed and locked the door, put the toilet seat lid down and sat on it, bent over and put my hands to my face, and cried. 

I'm shedding a tear now as I write this, 60 years later as if it were yesterday. It is my first historical day as an American citizen and the anguish never goes away. Anyone who was old enough knows this day, in their heart and soul. We all share a similar story of where we were on the day Camelot died.

This past week, I watched National Geographic's three-part documentary,  JFK: One Day in America. It's also streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, so you can plan for this sobering sit down. I highly recommend this documentary on the 60th anniversary of that day that has been a yearly reminder to me since it happens to always be just before Thanksgiving. I don't remember Thanksgiving in 1963, but it was just six days later after the President had been killed. I'm sure the Thanksgiving prayer around the dinner table that year was a tearful hand-holding extended affair for most families.

Now as an 8 year-old I had no idea that another event happened on that same day, the release of The Beatles second album, With the Beatles. That in itself is not significant compared to the assassination of JFK, but just three months later, The Beatles would come to America on February 7, 1964. On February 9th, The Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time and gave a reeling nation a release of pure joy, and a spark to the healing process. 

The timing of these two juxtaposed events kicks off my experience of the 1960's. It makes me think of Pete Seeger's song taken from the Book of Ecclesiastes and made famous by The Byrds in 1965, Turn, Turn, Turn.

A time to be born, a time to die

A time to plant, a time to reap

A time to kill, a time to heal

A time to laugh, a time to weep

A time to kill, a time to heal. Assassination and Vietnam, baseball and rock 'n' roll. The Beatles had come to America and love was going to win over hate.

Enjoy the lad's second album, and their hit single, I Want to Hold Your Hand, released November 29, 1963, with the B-Side, I Saw Her Standing There.

Happy Thanksgiving my friends.

The Beatles • Now And Then • The Last Beatles Song

I watched the short film about the making of Now and Then when it came out last Wednesday, and I began to cry. Sad and happy tears all at once. Then, I cried when the song was released on Amazon Music this past Thursday, and then Friday morning at the Peter Jackson premier of his music video of the song.

"I realised we needed the imagination of every viewer to create their own personal moment of farewell to The Beatles." –Peter Jackson

If you're a Beatle fan, my God all the emotions, still now and all those years ago. 

If you haven't watched the short film yet, watch it first, then the video song. On Saturday, I created a playlist that you might like. 

Also, avoid reading any reviews of the song. This song was re-constructed from a homemade cassette tape recording of John's while living at the Dakota in New York City. Nobody's pretending it's Strawberry Fields Forever. It's the last little scrap of Beatles music with all four of the lads on a track together. Give it a little quiet respect.

What an unbelievable gift. 

Enjoy the playlist my friends.

• The Beatles - Now And Then - The Last Beatles Song (Short Film) - Released on YouTube, 11/01/23

• The Beatles - Now And Then (Music Video) - Released on YouTube, 11/03/23 that includes a B-Side with the 2023 remix of The Beatles 1962 first single, Love Me Do (but...with a music video substitution).

Not to mention a couple of other Johnny come lately tracks...

Thank you forever John, Paul, George, and Ringo!

#BestSongIHeardToday • Volume 25 • Here, There And Everywhere

On The Ed Sullivan Show there was this guy named Eric Brenn who had a fabulous act of "plate spinning." Everybody loved him and Ed had him on many times. This act became so popular that you've probably used a variation of this line- "Well, this week's really got me spinning the plates." I know I've said it over the years, so here I just put up a video clip of Mr. Brenn on Ed Sullivan. I guess it's been that kind of week, and managing my own balancing act...

Well nothing like a song to right the world. For me it's been The Beatles' Here, There And Everywhere, one of Paul's best. I first heard it on a run several weeks ago, then it started playing in my head, I then found three different versions of it on YouTube. Nothing unusual about that, as I often will fish up several versions of a song, keep one for the playlist and throw the other ones back into the sea of songs. This week in the playlist, I've kept all three. 

Here, There And Everywhere serves as a meditation, a musical potion to calm the mind, therapy for my soul. Thank you Mr. McCartney.

Then, I couldn't leave John out, so I paired him next to Paul, and there, everything is balanced here, there...

Enjoy the playlist my friends.

Fifty Years of Music • The Beatles Compilation Albums, 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 • Released April, 1973

By Paul Hobbs

The Beatles ended, embroiled in a fierce battle regarding who should take over the management of their affairs. They were bleeding money. They were growing apart. But, they convened once again at EMI studios, later to be officially renamed Abbey Road Studios, to record the album, named for the road on which the studio is located.

John Lennon would later speak, dismissively, about Abbey Road, but was enthusiastic when interviewed by Alan Smith for New Musical Express in 1969. He talked about how much he and Paul were writing individually and that he was going to Paul’s to write with him at the conclusion of the interview — they were working on Abbey Road.

The narrative we got, on the other hand, was immediately redirected by the release of Let It Be, the album and accompanying film. They had been shelved indefinitely, due to the extensive editing needed on the film, and subsequent production of the album being handed over to Phil Spector as the Beatles washed their hands of it. They were released, respectively, as the last Beatle album, and a film of a band in the process of writing and recording that album. It also showed them in the process of falling apart.

The album is considered by many Beatle fans to be the weakest in their canon, and the film shows them to be, constantly, at odds with one another. It’s presented as the Beatles at the end of the line. Very depressing! And then they were gone.

I and my fellow Beatle fans were shocked and saddened. We carried on loyally following the solo careers of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, but it would never be the same. Three years crept by. It seemed like 30. And then…

The Beatles Red (1962-1966) and Blue (1967-1970) albums were released simultaneously — on April 2nd, here, and April 19th in England — in 1973. All the fanfare of this new collection of old Beatle songs, and not-as-old Beatle songs, reawakened the passion of Beatle fans everywhere. It had been three years, man! They were thirsting for more Beatles. It didn’t matter that true Beatle fans had most of this stuff in their record collections already. The two albums sold like hotcakes.

This release heralded the new trend of repackaging songs in various forms. They had the quintessential Red and Blue, Rock and Roll, Love Songs, Past Masters (Volumes 1 and 2). The album featuring all their singles that reached number one, 1, not only sold well, but catapulted the band back to the top of the charts when it was released in November of 2000.

The Beatles Discography

They even repackaged the first eight Beatle albums released by Capitol in the 60s as two, separate boxed sets that also sold astoundingly well. These were the albums that Dave Dexter, the A&R man for Capitol Records, whose job it was to facilitate the integration of British acts on American radio, had assembled. EMI, who owned a 97% share of Capitol, sent all The Beatles’ singles to him, all of which he passed on before, according to some sources, he was directed to accept I Want To Hold Your Hand. He was responsible for borrowing tracks from one album to add to another, and for brazenly adding reverb to tracks that George Martin and The Beatles had painstakingly mixed to perfection before Dave got his hands on them. Sorry, I digress.

The Beatles were further reimagined, if you will, with the highly anticipated film Get Back. Here they were shown to ultimately love each other, some of the time, and on one occasion, George and John, are seen expressing an openness to work on side projects and reconvene for Beatle albums. Oh, what could have been!

At any rate, the record companies, and The Beatles are still raking it in. Those Beatles: the gift that keeps on giving.

The Beatles/1962-1966

 

The Beatles/1967-1970

60 Years of Music • Please Please Me • The Beatles • March 22, 1963

 

By Paul Hobbs

Editor's note - 

If you are a regular reader of the Monday Monday Music™ blog, you will be familiar with Paul Hobbs being a guest contributor and writer. I asked Paul if he would be interested in writing a little piece about The Beatles first album as he is the biggest Beatle fan I know. Any musician who grew up with The Beatles in the sixties knows their impact on the millions of lives they touched so deeply. Paul was 9 years old when Please Please Me was released. Check out Paul's music at Paul Hobbs Music on YouTube.

As I read about the 60th anniversary of The Beatles release of Please Please Me in March of 1963, I get a little wistful, like I wasn’t invited to the party. The Beatles released their first album in 1963? How could I have missed it? I’ve been a diehard Beatle fan for most of my life, for crying out loud! But, I guess it only proves what great strides we’ve made in media and communications. Or, could it be that we didn’t really have an overwhelming interest in England until The Beatles pulled the curtain back and revealed just how cool it was over there?

All I know is that when Capitol Records released Meet The Beatles in the U.S. in January of 1964, and then they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for three consecutive weeks, all hell broke loose. Beatlemania was here! But first it was there. Word has it that Ed had run into a mob scene when he’d flown out of Heathrow Airport in London. The Beatles were returning from some dates in France and Spain, and the sight of their throngs of screaming fans prompted him to book them on his show.

At any rate, this is a commemoration of a Beatles release that illustrates the separate worlds we Beatle fans once lived in. We got our Beatle albums, up to Sergeant Pepper, from America’s Capitol Records, who borrowed tracks from one album and added them to another to create bastardized versions of what The Beatles released in England. We didn’t realize the Please Please Me album existed, let alone that it was The Beatles maiden release from almost a year before we knew anything about them.

Oh well. I’ve gone back and filled in the blanks from The Beatles beginnings and I’m a better man for it. I don’t love them any less for being left out of their initial, remarkable achievement. And it’s a great album. I still love the excitement and energy that comes across when the needle hits the vinyl. In fact, I think I’ll put it on and dance around the living room, as long as nobody’s watching.

60 Years of Music • January, 1963

The Beatles are coming...

January 2 – Mary Kit Smith celebrates her seventh birthday.

January 3 – The Beatles begin their first tour of 1963 with a five-day tour in Scotland to support the release of their new single, "Love Me Do", beginning with a performance in Elgin.
January 7 – Gary U.S. Bonds files a $100,000 lawsuit against Chubby Checker, claiming that Checker stole "Quarter to Three" and turned it into "Dancin' Party." The lawsuit is later settled out of court.
January 11 – "Please Please Me" is released in the United Kingdom by the Beatles, with "Ask Me Why" as the B-side.
January 12 – Bob Dylan portrays a folk singer in The Madhouse of Castle Street, a radio play for the BBC in London.
February 16 - The Beatles achieve their first No. 1 hit single, when "Please Please Me" tops the charts in the UK.
February 22 – The Beatles form Northern Songs Publishing Company.
March 5 – 1963 Camden PA-24 crash: Patsy Cline is killed in small plane crash near Camden, Tennessee, while on her way to Nashville, Tennessee, from Kansas City, Missouri, at the height of her career, together with Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins.
March 22 – The Beatles release their first album, Please Please Me, in the UK.

from Wikipedia, 1963 in Music

In 1963, music singles are king. In looking at the singles recorded in 1963 it was amazing to see that many were released just a month later. The mentality was, get it out there, and then, get another one out there. Kids were buying 45's with the marketed 'hit' on the A side, and then typically a deeper cut on the B side that would eventually be part of a released album coming soon. (The Beatles would later buck that trend, but that's a story for another day.)

In January 1963, I'm seven years old and mostly unaware of the pop music around me other than hearing songs on the radio. My parents were not listening or buying any kind of records and the only music I heard live was the singing of 1850's white hymns in church. I loved that part of the service because you got to get up and stretch your legs, fidget about and do something besides sit and listen to some old man talking. My mom said to me when I was in my 30's, "Why didn't any of you kids continue to go to church?" Yeah mom, I wonder why? Now maybe if I'd gone to a black church where they were singing and moving to gospel music...

Another memory.  Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass were big on the radio in the early and mid-sixties. Hearing The Lonely Bull this past week hit me like a lightning bolt where I'm in a downtown shop with my mom probably W. A. Haslam's and that song is playing through their sound system.

This past week, I watched on Hulu,  If These Walls Could Sing - Mary McCartney's 2022 documentary on Abbey Road Studios' 90 year history with a big chunk involving her father. I highly recommend it as it will get you thinking about the Brian Epstein and George Martin connection, and the rest as they say is history.

Enjoy my friends, the British are coming.

P. S. I Love You Mary Kit Smith!

Under The Influence • Songs of 1960-1962

Songs of 1949-1951 • 1952-1955 • 1956-1959 • 1960-1962

The Beatles at the Indra Club, Hamburg,  August 17, 1960. L-R: John Lennon, George Harrison, Pete Best, Paul McCartney, and Stuart Sutcliffe.

Songs of 1960-1962  concludes my mini-series Under The Influence. This series is based on my primary source, Wikipedia and their organization of music through the years. What I found interesting about Wikipedia's (Year) In Music entries is their succinct 'Events' highlights. Then, new albums released are listed alphabetically for the entire year, until 1963.

In 1963, Wikipedia entries go from a yearly album overview, to a month to month breakdown of mostly all popular albums from that month in time. As it turns out, rock 'n' roll is a lot bigger deal than the short-lived fad that many in the short-minded establishment predicted would quickly fade away.

In 1964, popular music just explodes with The Beatles coming to America and the The British Invasion.

On January 28th, 2019, I started my Fifty Years in Music • (Month and Year) Series starting with January, 1969. I noticed in going back to find that first post of the series, that I actually had skipped several months along the way. I will correct that, and at some point will have a Monday Monday Music™ historical record of the music that has influenced my life, and probably yours, since 1949.

My long-term game plan will be to have two concurrent 'Way Back' series– my current Fifty Years in Music that will cover the 1970's, and starting in 2023– Sixty Years of Music to cover every month and year of the 1960's, starting in 1963. 

••••••••••

No regrets.

Now one of the things I have mentally done over the years in the reflection of my life, is that I play the game, What If...

I've gone back to the fall of 1973 when I started college and started planning my life as a future teacher. My plan at the time was to become a special education teacher. I did that, and then I went on to become a general education elementary teacher, I did that, and so forth...

But, I did have an alternate plan of becoming a History major and teaching History at high school as it was my favorite subject in all of school. In my recent shoulda coulda reflections, that would have included a minor in English, but at 18 years of age, writing something more than a school assignment was something that I was never going to do. Later at San Diego State, I had to pay other students to type my assignments that required a typed finished product. 

So as a pretext here, I'm writing (typing on my laptop from the home row) about music every week that often goes back in history to the second half of the 20th century. 

Never say never.

••••••••••

1960 through 1962  is still about Elvis, but the King is already transitioning to ballads as many rock 'n' roll bands are forming in England and America and preparing for their own ascent to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, if not the rock 'n' roll throne.

In putting the playlist together, I was amazed at how many electric guitar instrumentals were huge Billboard 100 hits creating the whole surf music craze of the early 1960's. I think the public had just fallen in love with the electric guitar and you could see how every kid interested in playing music, simply had to have one.

Note- All dates and timeline descriptions below in italic are from Wikipedia. What I have done in this cut and copy exercise is to only include the interesting and influential stuff (from my perspective) from 1960-62. I have also interjected some (mostly sarcastic) commentary of my own in regular text.

1960 in Music

• January – Stuart Sutcliffe joins the Liverpool band Johnny and the Moondogs and suggests they change their name to the Beatals; after several variations this settles on The Beatles in August. Stu was quite the looker, no doubt the best looking and coolest BEATAL starting out.
• January 14 – Elvis Presley is promoted to Sergeant in the United States Army. Really.
• January 25 – The National Association of Broadcasters in the United States reacts to the payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys accepting money for playing particular records. The music business has always been such a slimy business.
• March 5 – Elvis Presley returns home from serving in the U.S. Army in Germany, having stopped off on March 2 at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, his only time in the U.K. Really, with all those #1's in the U.K. I would have thought he played there.
• April 4 – RCA Victor Records announces that it will release all pop singles in mono and stereo simultaneously, the first record company to do so. Elvis Presley's single "Stuck on You" is RCA's first mono/stereo release.
• April 17 – Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and Cochran's girlfriend Sharon Sheeley are injured in a car accident near Chippenham in England. Cochran dies in a hospital in Bath, Somerset, from severe brain injuries. Police officer David Harman, who attends the incident, starts learning to play the guitar using Cochran's impounded Gretsch, later becoming professional musician Dave Dee. I've never heard the last part of that story.
• April 20 – Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood for the first time since coming home from Germany to film G.I. Blues. Bring on those "B" slock movies.
• May 2 – The Drifters' Ben E. King leaves the group and signs a solo record contract with ATCO Records.
• May 20–28 – The Beatles, as the Silver Beetles (uncredited), play their first ever tour, as a backing group for Johnny Gentle on a tour of Scotland. The lineup comprises John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Tommy Moore.
• July – The Shadows' instrumental 'Apache' is released in the U.K. I Love that song!
• August 17 – The Beatles make their debut under this name in Hamburg, Germany, beginning a 48-night residency at the Indra club. The band at the time comprises John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums. (see photo above, credit to The Beatles Bible.)
• The last 78 rpm records are released in the U.S. and the U.K.
• English rock musician Ritchie Blackmore's musical career begins.
• 14-year-old Neil Young founds The Jades with Ken Koblun. Neil loved The Shadows and playing Apache, not to mention his affinity for surf-style guitar.

1961 in Music

• January 15 – Motown Records signs The Supremes. Have you ever heard of anyone not liking the Supremes? It's like someone saying, "I don't like pizza."
• February 9 – The Beatles at The Cavern Club: The Beatles, at this juncture John, Paul, George and Pete, perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their December return to Liverpool from Hamburg. Beginning with this lunchtime session, the group would go on to make almost 300 appearances here in total. Practice, practice, practice.
• February 12 – The Miracles' "Shop Around" becomes Motown's first million-selling single. Smokey Robinson's influence is off the charts.
• February 13 – Frank Sinatra forms his own record label, Reprise Records, which will later release recordings by The Beach Boys, Ella Fitzgerald, The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix. Frank knew his way around a recording studio. Frank was very business savvy, like reading the script and not making "B" movies.
• The 3rd Annual Grammy Awards are held in Los Angeles, hosted by actor Lloyd Bridges. Lloyd must have had a great agent! Ray Charles wins the most awards with four. Ray's on fire! Bob Newhart's The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart wins Album of the Year, Percy Faith's version of the "theme from A Summer Place" wins Record of the Year and Ernest Gold's "Theme from Exodus" wins Song of the Year. Newhart also wins Best New Artist. Really, Percy Faith? Love Bob Newhart who was the young part of that older generation tradition of being a lifetime comic and actor on TV.
• June 14 – Patsy Cline is hospitalized as a result of a head-on car collision. While she is in hospital, the song "I Fall to Pieces" becomes a big Country/Pop crossover hit for her. Bigger news coming...
• June–July – Stu Sutcliffe leaves The Beatles to resume his art studies in Hamburg. Man, who's gonna play bass now?
• July 17 – Billboard magazine first publishes an "Easy Listening" chart, listing songs that the magazine determines are not rock & roll records. The first #1 song on this chart is "The Boll Weevil Song" by Brook Benton. This chart will be renamed a number of times, becoming the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. The kids are driving the bus now.
• October 17 – Former schoolfriends Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, later of The Rolling Stones, meet each other again by chance on Dartford railway station in Kent, England, on the way to their respective colleges and discover their mutual taste for rock and roll. Turns out, the whole universe is a series of random events.
• November 9 – The Beatles at The Cavern Club: Future manager Brian Epstein first sees The Beatles. A huge part of The Beatles early success.
• December 8 – The Beach Boys release their debut 45rpm single: "Surfin'"/"Luau" on the small California label Candix Records. If you love The Beach Boys, you have to read David Marks' book, 'The Lost Beach Boy.'
• December 9 – The Beatles play their first gig in the south of England, at Aldershot. Due to an advertising failure, only 18 people turn up. In the early hours of the following morning they play an impromptu set at a London club. You mean Facebook screwed up back then too.
• The Country Music Association (CMA) creates the Country Music Hall of Fame and inducts, Jimmie Rodgers, Fred Rose and Hank Williams as the first three members.

1962 in Music

• January 1 – The Beatles and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes both audition at Decca Records in London which has the option of signing one group only. The Beatles are rejected, mainly as they come from Liverpool and the others are Dagenham-based, nearer London. Decca will come to regret that decision.
• January 5 – The first album on which The Beatles play, My Bonnie, credited to "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers" (recorded last June in Hamburg and produced by Bert Kaempfert), is released by Polydor.
• January 24 – Brian Epstein signs on to manage The Beatles. Good move lads.
• March 19 – Bob Dylan releases his debut album, Bob Dylan, in the United States, featuring mostly folk standards. The New Folk Movement gets their superstar.
• April 7 – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards meet Brian Jones at The Ealing Club, a blues club in London. What if Brian Jones had lived past 1969? It sure would have made things even more interesting with their very interesting band.
• April 10 – Former Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe dies from cerebral paralysis caused by a brain hemorrhage in Hamburg, Germany. The good die young.
• April 12 – A recording is made of Bob Dylan's concert at the Town Hall, in New York City by Columbia Records. (Columbia eventually release the recording of "Tomorrow is a Long Time" from this concert.)
• April 24 – Bob Dylan begins recording The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in New York. Look out world.
• May 29 – The 4th Annual Grammy Awards are held in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Henry Mancini wins the most awards with five, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for his song "Moon River". Judy Garland's Judy at Carnegie Hall wins Album of the Year, while Peter Nero wins Best New Artist. The old guard will run the Grammy's for years to come and mostly be out of touch with the changing culture.
• June 6 – The Beatles play their first session at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London.
• June 19 – The film version of the musical The Music Man is released to theaters by Warner Bros. "Ya got trouble, my friend, right here, I say, trouble right here in River City."
• August 2 – Robert Allen Zimmerman legally changes his name to Bob Dylan in the New York Supreme Court. Bob has repeatedly said that he did not take his name from Dylan Thomas. His quote, " I have done more for Dylan Thomas than he's ever has done for me."
• August 16 – The Beatles fire drummer Pete Best and replace him with Ringo Starr. Single best decision the lads ever make as a band.
• August 17 – 'Instrumental Telstar,' written and produced by Joe Meek for English band The Tornados, is released in the UK. The song will eventually be the first song by a British group ever to reach the top spot on the Billboard Top 100 in the United States, proving to be a precursor to the British Invasion.
• August 18 – The Beatles play their first live engagement with the line-up of John, Paul, George and Ringo, at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight on the Wirral Peninsula.
• August 20 – Albert Grossman becomes Bob Dylan's manager. Colonel Tom Parker with a beard?
• August 23 – John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell in an unpublicized register office ceremony at Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. She would not be treated well by John.
• September 21 – New Musical Express, the British music magazine, publishes a story about two 13-year-old schoolgirls, Sue and Mary, releasing a disc on Decca and adds "A Liverpool group, The Beatles, have recorded 'Love Me Do' for Parlophone Records, set for October 5 release."
• September 22 – Bob Dylan appears for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of a hootenanny including the first public performance of "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". I've heard live 1963 and 64 recordings of Hard Rain and they are extremely powerful, I got chills the first time I heard these live recordings just a few years ago.
• September 23 – Opening concert at the New York Philharmonic's new home, Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, conducted by Leonard Bernstein and broadcast live on television across the United States by NBC. The opening work, Aaron Copland's specially commissioned Connotations, sends "shock waves through the world of music".
• October 5 – The Beatles' first single in their own right, "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You", is released in the UK on EMI's Parlophone label. Look out world!
• October 17 – The Beatles make their first televised appearance, on Granada television's local news programme People and Places.
• October 20 – Peter, Paul and Mary's self-titled debut album reaches No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Like a Hard Day's Night, I found this album in my grandfather's 'Columbia House Record Club' collection in his stereo console after he died and snatched it to be part of my new record collection in 1967.
• Joan Baez has all of her first three albums on the Billboard charts, on their way to Gold status. I was not a fan of Joan Baez as a young person, but have grown to admire her life-long activism and singing. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Baez is a great example to anyone in how to take care of yourself over the years.
• Two Pete Seeger classic songs reach the Billboard pop charts:"Where Have All the Flowers Gone" recorded by The Kingston Trio reaches No. 21. "If I Had a Hammer", recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary, reaches No. 10. Pete is such an influence to kick-starting the new folk movement and bringing folk music into U.S. classrooms across America. 
• The first American Folk Blues Festival, initiated by German promoters, tours Europe; artists include Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and T-Bone Walker. Its only UK date, 21 October at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, is influential on the British R&B scene, with the audience including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones with Jimmy Page, Paul Jones, John Mayall and other musicians, and with a second show filmed and shown on Independent Television. Sad to learn years later that American Blues and Jazz treasures had to go to Europe to get the recognition they deserved. In a large sense Europe is like a boomerang for American music, where we put it out there, it's appreciated and absorbed by European fans who in turn bring it back around to American audiences. 

List Your FAV FIVE: Beatles Songs

FAV FIVE Series

Songs • Albums • Singer-songwriters • Rock 'n' Roll Bands • Guitar Players 
Beatles Songs • Bob Dylan Songs • Rolling Stones Songs • Neil Young Songs

Over the last couple of years, I've got my readership to participate in LIST Your FAV FIVE: (whatever). This year, I'm going to continue the series starting off 2022 with you simply listing your favorite five Beatle songs in the Comments section at the end of the blog post below. 

Why only five? Because my wife gave me a great tip to start this series when she said, "If you want reader participation on anything, limit the lists to five." Sounded like a plan to me.

So to begin, let's start at the end. The big idea is for all of us to create a Monday Monday Music™ Readers: Beatles Songs Playlist.

I'll start the playlist with my favorite five Beatles songs (at the moment) and then, as readers leave me their five in the Comments section below, we will grow the playlist, as a Come Together of Beatles fans. 

I was going to explain why I picked each song, then thought well I don't want somebody writing a lengthy comment about how they had their first kiss listening to, Helter Skelter. So here's my FAV FIVE Beatles songs without a back story. 

1. Penny Lane
2. I Should Have Know Better
3. Revolution (the single version)
4. Back in The U.S.S.R.
5. All You Need Is Love

Now if you want a little help in making your list, here are several list resources.

• Complete Beatles Songs List And Albums Discography
• Beatles Song List A-Z
• The Complete Beatles Playlist (Every Album Track and Single) - YouTube

 Here's a little instructional aid for doing the Comments section below.

1. Number and name you Beatles songs 1-5.
2. Comment as: If you're logged into your computer, tablet or smartphone with a Gmail (Google) account, pick the first selection. I would recommend using the Chrome browser.
   Or, pick Name/URL, write your name and leave URL blank,
   Or, if you pick Anonymous, just write your first and last name in the Comments box itself.
   
3. Hit the Publish button, and I'll list your five songs in the post here (if you provided your first and last name), and then I will mix your list in the Youtube playlist.
4. One last thing, if someone else has picked one of your favorite 5 already, still include it in your list. It may reveal a clear winner that in the end needs to sit at the top of the playlist.

Thanks in advance for playing along and come back later in the week to listen to OUR growing playlist!

The Beatles: Get Back

'The Beatles: Get Back' is an upcoming three-part documentary series directed and produced by Peter Jackson. It covers the making of The Beatles' 1970 album 'Let It Be', which had the working title of 'Get Back', and draws from material originally captured for Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 documentary of the album. Conceived originally as a feature film, each episode of 'The Beatles: Get Back' is about two hours in length, making up a total of six hours.

Jackson characterized 'The Beatles: Get Back' as "a documentary about a documentary". Commentators have described it as challenging longtime beliefs that the making of 'Let It Be' was marked entirely by tensions between the Beatles, showing a more upbeat side of the production. It will premiere on Disney+ consecutively on 25, 26 and 27 November 2021. (Wikipedia)

Photo Source - 60 Minutes
Peter Jackson down in the Apple Corp film vault

Sometime in 2018, Peter Jackson met with The Beatles company, Apple Corp in London. They just said, "we've got it all. We've got-- 57 hours of footage. We've got 130 hours of audio." And then they said that they were thinking about making a documentary using the footage. I just put up my hand and said, "Well, if-- if you are looking for somebody to make it-- don't-- please just-- think-- think of me." (60 Minutes)

In the last four years, Peter Jackson and his team went to work using his cutting edge film and audio restoration techniques, not to mention his general magic as a gifted film maker to craft this new documentary. 

Cover of the aborted Get Back album,

mirroring the cover of the band's first album,

Please Please Me

As a huge Beatle fan, Peter Jackson has tapped into every Beatles' fan dream to see their favorite band writing, rehearsing, performing, and most importantly, having fun. The documentary essentially explores the creative process within a collaborative group. It's a bit of the good times and raw emotions all mixed together. Did The Beatles fulfill their vision to create a "live performance" that took them back to their days playing in clubs? As a fan, I'm more grateful for the treasure of songs that came from the Get Back project. Humans are complicated and when combined with art... creativity is messy.

I believe the upcoming movie will capture the true spirit of the band creating a new adventure. Here's the film trailer that came out last month to represent the six hours that awaits us on Disney+.

 

 Okay, You might be saying, "I don't have Disney+." Is Disney+ going to have a free 3 or 5 day trail offer? The answer is no, but here's what you can do. Like most subscription services Disney+ is month to month for $7.99. Think of it as a good ticket price if you were going to a movie theater. You can unsubscribe after 30 days. In any event, Disney+ might be a good solution for some holiday shows with family and friends in the weeks ahead.

Imagine, many of us old Beatle fans actually have some new Beatle material to experience for the first time! And that my friends is truly something to be thankful for.

Now the playlist for this week is my own hodgepodge YouTube Playlist from the new Let It Be: 50th Anniversary (Super-Deluxe Edition (2021) and Let It Be... Naked (2003).  

The Super Deluxe Edition is 57 tracks representing three versions of the Let It Be album from: hired gun-toting Producer Phil Spector, the 1969 Get Back Mix by Glyn Johns, and the 2021 remix by Giles Martin. It includes tracks featuring Beatle banter which I can't get enough of, and rehearsals of several songs that will later appear on Abbey Road. 

The 2003 version of 'Let It Be... Naked' is presented in a form which Paul McCartney considered closer to its original artistic vision: to "get back" to the rock and roll sound of their early years rather than the orchestral overdubs and embellishments which were added by Phil Spector to three of the songs in the production of the final 'Let It Be' album. McCartney in particular was always dissatisfied with the "Wall of Sound" production style of the Phil Spector mixes of these three tracks, especially for his song "The Long and Winding Road", which he believed was ruined by the process. (Wikipedia)

I do want to explain that my playlist is squarely in the Paul McCartney camp of rejecting Phil Spector's extensive remix that completely got away from the live album concept that Paul originally brought to John, George and Ringo for the January, 1969 recordings. For example, The Long and Winding Road has both the Spector and Glyn Johns production versions in the Super Deluxe Edition, and Naked has the final take recorded on January 31, 1969, instead of the original album take from January, 26, 1969. I personally like the Naked final take, and maybe you can get a feel for how I put together the playlist here. 

Although as I write this, I've been listening to all these versions for a couple weeks now and I'm pulled towards the Glyn Johns 1969 mixes that The Beatles ultimately rejected. Glyn Johns' use of vocal echo I thought was brilliant in that he captures a live feel as if the listener were sitting in an auditorium or concert hall, and lends itself to the live performance part of Paul's original vision for the project. In any event, here is what I eventually came to with the goal of not having multiple versions of any of the songs mixed with a selection of banter tracks and jams to capture a bit of that Beatle spirit and joy in their creative process.

The Beatles: Get Back Playlist

1. The Beatles: Get Back - A Sneak Peek from Peter Jackson (12/20/20- Montage featuring the song, Get Back)
2. Two of Us (2021 Super Deluxe Mix from 1970 album)
3. I Don't Know Why I'm Moaning Discussion (2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
4. I've Got A Feeling (Naked Version / Remastered 2013)
5. Dig A Pony (1969 Glyn Johns Mix)
6. Something (Rehearsal) (2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
7. For You Blue (1969 Glyn Johns Mix)
8. Can You Dig It (2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
9. Let It Be (1969 Glyn Johns Mix)
10. Medley: I’m Ready (aka Rocker) / Save The Last Dance For Me / Don’t Let Me Down (2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
11. Don't Let Me Down (This is not the version of Don’t Let Me Down heard on the single but the version from the Let It Be… Naked album – a composite of both versions that were performed on the roof of Apple in Savile Row)
12. Maggie Mae / Fancy My Chances With You (2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
13. I Me Mine (Naked Version / Remastered 2013)
14. Polythene Pam (Rehearsal) (2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
15. Across The Universe (Naked Version / Remastered 2013)
16. Octopus’s Garden (Rehearsal 2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
17. Without A Song feat. Billy Preston on vocal (2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
18. One After 909 (Take 3) (2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
19. The Walk Jam (2021 Super Deluxe Mix)
20. The Long And Winding Road (Naked Version / Remastered 2013)
21. Get Back (Reprise / 1969 Glyn Johns Mix)
22. Inside the story of the Beatles documentary “Get Back”
    (60 Minutes Overtime 11/14/21)

Happy Thanksgiving... and Happy Beatles weekend my friends! 

References / Resources

• Let It Be (1970 Album), Wikipedia
• Let It Be (1970 film), Wikipedia
• Let It Be... Naked (2003 Album), Wikipedia
• The Beatles: Get Back, (film) Wikipedia
• Ringo Starr: Peter Jackson's Documentary Captures The Fun Of Being In The Beatles (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 7/16/21)
• Half-Century Old, Unseen Footage Shows Beatles Writing and Recording In New Documentary "Get Back", 60 Minutes
• Paul McCartney says ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ documentary changed his perception of their split, NME
• The Beatles - Get Back- The Glyn Johns Mixes - 1969, BB Chronicles (April 30, 2013)

My Favorite Songs of 1970

1970 was an incredible year in rock 'n' roll history. Some of my favorite songs of all-time are contained in the albums above. The playlist this week is a treasure of jewels for me, some discovered in 1970, and some discovered much later.

The year was full of great music and news.

The biggest news of 1970 was the biggest band break-up that ever was as The Beatles go their separate ways and start making their own albums. Their fans never stop hoping that they will get back together.

The Beatles also released their last album, Let It Be recorded before Abbey Road and released after. 

Simon and Garfunkel also made their last album together, Bridge Over Trouble Water. The album wins 6 Grammy's and wins The Song, Record, and Album of the Year. Their fans never stop hoping that they get back together.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young make a masterpiece, Déjà Vu  and then promptly break-up for the first time, as their fans never stop hoping that they will get back together again, and again, and again...

Drugs and death also intersect in 1970, as both Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin both die of overdoses just three weeks apart at the tender age of 27. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones had died the year prior in 1969 at 27, and in the following year of 1971, Jim Morrison would also die of an overdose at 27 and fuel the rock culture phenomenon of Club 27.  

Speaking of phenomenon, the singer-songwriters to emerge as stars in 1970 is literally on the charts. James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Carole King, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Stills, Leon Russell, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, and Elton John all breakout with solo albums that will put them on the map and on the road for years to come. In 1970, Stevens, Morrison, John, and Badfinger each release two albums during the same year as fans cannot get enough. 

I was hooked by all these talented people and I start buying their albums whenever I could scrap up the money. My friends are doing the same, and we are all listening to each other's albums. Getting into rock concerts was going to be the next big step.

At fifteen, I'm becoming aware that two of my new heroes- James Taylor and Neil Young, are a bit like me, painfully shy to the point that it wasn't helping me move forward in life. By listening to their songs by myself in my bedroom, I began to get a sensibility for their music and what they were communicating to the world. I began to internalize their music, like millions of other kids. I start to examine who I am- my self-worth, what will I do? James and Neil didn't magically answer these questions, but they did give me a feeling, a new sense that I wasn't alone. James has this beautiful voice and yet he's always hunched over (like me), walking and talking without a lot of confidence. Neil's as quirky as hell and has this unique shaky voice and distant stare. But yet, both are opening up on a big stage in the spotlight, and becoming massively successful, folk-rock stars no less. Could I actually make something of myself? 

1970 was a new decade but still part of the 1960's, and I wanted in, to be a long-hair. Music was becoming a part of my identity and it was a cornerstone of the counter-culture. I wanted to be part of something bigger, something completely different from my parents and my conservative upbringing.

This year in the blog, I started the reoccurring monthly post of 50 Years of Music. As I reflect back over the entirety of 1970, the blog often serves as a retro-journal to myself. This year, I also caught myself playing an old game, the 'shoulda-woulda-coulda' mind game. I wished I had joined the cross-country team, I wished I had started playing tennis with my dear friend Bill DeVoe as he would eventually go on to become the number one player on the high school varsity team. I wished I hadn't quit piano lessons, and I wished that I had starting writing a journal when I was young. In retrospect, all these wishes where not a lack of opportunities presented to me, but a basic lack of self-confidence on my part. 

I would go through most of the 1970's with that general lack of confidence that slowly melted away as I began my professional career as a K-12 teacher with a variety of job assignments and experiences. Over the years, I discovered that confidence is often revealed in a couple basic ways. One, you see the overt confidence, often coupled with words over action. Second, and the confidence I tried to model from the good people around me was the purposeful actions that followed their words.

On this day, I'm thankful for my core group of friends who helped me believe in myself, and I'm thankful for the music we shared together as kids and continue to share today with old and new songs.

The playlist(s) this week are 220 songs as it is contains some of the best music I ever heard when first released 50 years ago that has endured the test of time. To quote John Lennon on the roof of Abbey Road Studios in the Let It Be film, "I would like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we've passed the audition." Yes John, your band certainly passed the audition- giving all the people you inspired to pick up musical instruments and make rock 'n' roll. Those musicians and the listening fans from all over the world are forever indebted and eternally grateful for the music of 

(Note- I just discovered this morning in publishing the blog that an embedded YouTube playlist will only display 200 videos, damnit-all. So, I have taken the last 20 videos and created a Part II Playlist and embedded below the first playlist. There's some great songs in the last group of 20, including the last song which has a lot of meaning to me.)

Merry Everything! Stay well my friends and mask-up. 

So let's now get back to where we once belonged.

 

 Reference:

• 1970 in music. Wikipedia