tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post113261203789462391..comments2024-03-28T14:13:23.835-04:00Comments on By Neddie Jingo!: Grilled BananaNeddiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17079885040758748553noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1133668856496407262005-12-03T23:00:00.000-05:002005-12-03T23:00:00.000-05:00Ben, interesting catch about the G# major. I origi...Ben, interesting catch about the G# major. I originally thought it was G# major, but a very very ambiguously voiced one, such that the third that would determine major or minor was nearly inaudible. I'm apparently not the only one this has confused, because two books of sheet music (including the Complete Scores) disagreed. Tim Riley thought it was major, but I listened pretty intently and heard minor. Went with it, because it's the "correct" chord for the key.<BR/><BR/>Two books are indispensible if you want to seriously study Beatle songcraft: Tim Riley's <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0306811200/qid=1133668035/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-9770710-4474331?s=books&v=glance&n=283155" REL="nofollow"> Tell Me Why,</A> and Ian MacDonald's <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1844138283/qid=1133668456/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-9770710-4474331?s=books&v=glance&n=283155" REL="nofollow">Revolution in the Head.</A> Both are song-by-song breakdowns & analyses of the Beatle Canon.<BR/><BR/>Riley's more technical; MacDonald's more interested in placing the Fabs in their historical context but is also not afraid to roll up his sleeves and talk chord changes.<BR/><BR/>Check 'em out, Gracehoper.<BR/><BR/>cppqpd, which is how you say "Oom-mow-mow-papa-oom-mow-m'-mow" in Welsh.Neddiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17079885040758748553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1133635165300907362005-12-03T13:39:00.000-05:002005-12-03T13:39:00.000-05:00Wow - I've been looking for years for a formal dis...Wow - I've been looking for years for a formal discussion of Beatles chord changes - thank you internet, and thank you Neddie!<BR/><BR/>Your analysis is exactly on target, but you get a key chord slightly wrong. The progression during the verse is I-III-ii-V, with a G# Major. This, in fact, strengthens your analysis, in that it makes the F#minor even more interesting. Why? Well, where might one expect to go after I-III? Maybe VI or vi. Or maybe IV. And that's why the F# Minor is brilliant - it plays off our expectation of A (IV), of which it is the relative minor. Thus the Beatlesque trick of favoring ii over IV (which you rightly highlight as key to this song) is established right at the beginning of the verse. Anyways, I've thought about Beatles chord changes for most of my life, but until I read your post I didn't have the technical jargon to express my thoughts (I hope I'm using it right; it's about relationships and intervals, right?) So thanks for teaching me that as well! I look forward to going through your archives and learning more.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733601180382760718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132802172317447552005-11-23T22:16:00.000-05:002005-11-23T22:16:00.000-05:00To Simon and Gavin ... two words: Abbey Road. 'nuf...To Simon and Gavin ... two words: <BR/><I>Abbey Road</I>. 'nuff said, IMO.<BR/><BR/>To Ned: What was I thinking? Happy welcome-to-the-garden day. I'll give you your spanks when next we meet.<BR/><BR/>At which you might say derphs!XTCfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12361374492348913096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132757428591529392005-11-23T09:50:00.000-05:002005-11-23T09:50:00.000-05:00When I was a young sprat, my newly-divorced parent...When I was a young sprat, my newly-divorced parents got their wires crossed, and I got TWO copies of Help for my 6th birthday. This was the music that set me on the path to who I am. I can only imagine that otherwise, life would have been quite different. Thanks, guys.<BR/><BR/>This particular song is also a text book example of WHY the girls went nuts over the Beatles. The woman-as-possession side of the equation is tempered by the sensitive, kind side of the Beatles here-- he promises to treat her RIGHT and KIND. The Beatles approached women with a kind of vulnerability and sensitivity that hadn't been seen before in male-vocal pop music, and all the girls fell in love with them as a result.<BR/><BR/>Also, gotta love the bongos.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132741158336253142005-11-23T05:19:00.000-05:002005-11-23T05:19:00.000-05:00...Actually, come to think of it, the Beatles song......Actually, come to think of it, the Beatles song with the most ska is 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da.' <BR/><BR/>That's practically a Prince Buster song -- although, again, no one seems ever to have noticed this in print.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132740496080405732005-11-23T05:08:00.000-05:002005-11-23T05:08:00.000-05:00In dummy terms, for me, "Help!" is where i start g...<I>In dummy terms, for me, "Help!" is where i start going "ooooh, now these songs are *really* starting to get interesting", which lasts up until "Magical Mystery Tour".</I><BR/><BR/>That was the point at which George Martin started to take over the arrangements, adding instrumental parts in the interstices and breaks instead of composing mostly horizontally, as the band had been doing.<BR/><BR/>I really stop listening closely at around Sgt. Pepper. The band's mid-late style was pretty much a winking pastiche of WWII-era music-hall stuff, and people say it's brilliant and singular, but I just hear Noel Coward and Benny Hill all throughout the whole thing. <BR/><BR/>"When I'm 64" is the broadest sketch, but it really shows up everywhere. "Lady Madonna" is even an early-'60s dancehall number -- a sort of Kigston Sound tribute (although I'm not sure that anyone has ever formally noticed that it's a ska song).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132718804970983432005-11-22T23:06:00.000-05:002005-11-22T23:06:00.000-05:00And what about "Hey, You've Got to Hide Your Love ...And what about "Hey, You've Got to Hide Your Love Away."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132707980574937612005-11-22T20:06:00.000-05:002005-11-22T20:06:00.000-05:00Hi Ned,Do a similar parse on "No Reply"? How bout...Hi Ned,<BR/><BR/>Do a similar parse on "No Reply"? How bout it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132697798527902492005-11-22T17:16:00.000-05:002005-11-22T17:16:00.000-05:00Yes. Desperately exciting shit. My experience of...Yes. Desperately exciting shit. My experience of this song is permanently colored by the footage of it in the film. Turtlenecks, corduroy and bitchin', bitchin' hair. Desperately exciting and modern and utterly commercial before that was completely putrid. 1965 is probably the closest thing we have to a 1979. <BR/><BR/>I wonder if this song was sort of the "Every Breath You Take" of '65, with its streamlining of the old I-vii-IV-V thing. <BR/><BR/>I mean, if you knew what the old I-vii-IV-V thing is.<BR/><BR/>I think you should do this with one of my toonies one of these days. I mean, I'm pretty huge in Japan. Think how fun that would be. For me.<BR/><BR/>tripvfcg- what you say when you're on acid and someone asks what you're doing.<BR/><BR/>Oh, and happy birthday, cocko.Bobby Lightfoothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00671706326620424357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132679960926309292005-11-22T12:19:00.000-05:002005-11-22T12:19:00.000-05:00Forgot to mention how this song is an example as t...Forgot to mention how this song is an example as to why I still count John as the best rock singer ever.<BR/><BR/><EM>"jaishixu"</EM> said Yoko...The Viscount LaCartehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12206171681005442662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132679697386169522005-11-22T12:14:00.000-05:002005-11-22T12:14:00.000-05:00Cos even the throwaway tunes, what they called the...<EM>Cos even the throwaway tunes, what they called the "work songs," the written-to-order knockoffs, had these amazing little bits and pieces that still even now sound perfectly artificed, brilliantly contrived, conjured out of gossamer by some musical god made flesh, daring, challenging, perfectly strange and strangely perfect.</EM><BR/><BR/>You couldn't have picked a better example. I absolutely <EM>love</EM> that record. <EM>They</EM> might call it a <EM>work-song</EM> but I don't. It is a classic example of exactly what was <STRONG><EM>so_great</STRONG></EM> about them. Had anyone else released that as an "A Side" it would have been a hit, but on the same collection was "Help," "Ticket to Ride," (and on the UK version) "Yesterday!" Back in those days they were releasing pop masterpieces faster than Dick Cheney can make a hundred bucks. Well, maybe not <EM>that</EM> fast.<BR/><BR/>The segement from the movie is the four of them playing the song in the studio in cloud of cigaratte smoke, and for me it is a textbook defintion of the word "cool."<BR/><BR/><EM>hezus</EM> That is one great record!The Viscount LaCartehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12206171681005442662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132673012027888912005-11-22T10:23:00.000-05:002005-11-22T10:23:00.000-05:00Say, Kev (and everybody else): The song title in t...Say, Kev (and everybody else): The song title in the text of my post is links to a stream of the song... The idea is you can listen to the tune while reading the commentary. I'm going to edit the post so that's clearer.<BR/><BR/>yebmdj, a town in Minnesota with a huge statue of Paul Bunyan's kid brother Larry, who was three inches tall, and his paisley ant Brutus.Neddiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17079885040758748553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132669605164564612005-11-22T09:26:00.000-05:002005-11-22T09:26:00.000-05:00Nice. Always enjoy (and learn something from) your...Nice. Always enjoy (and learn something from) your musical dissertations, and this is no exception.<BR/><BR/>I will add that I do like the Latinate percussion the Boys play with on this song, and that John's intention to "take her out tonight and ... treat her fine" <I>is</I> expressed in the verse, though not as forcefully as in the bridge.<BR/><BR/>And Kevin, not to worry ... one the Beauty of the Beatles is that, as technical as anyone can get in their analysis of the Fabs' craft, they still <I>sound good</I>.<BR/><BR/><BR/>jusdvttt (what happens to me when I attempt to golf)XTCfanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12361374492348913096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10261187.post-1132668813418626282005-11-22T09:13:00.000-05:002005-11-22T09:13:00.000-05:00Aw, Neddie, sometimes you drive me crazy. I'm not ...Aw, Neddie, sometimes you drive me crazy. I'm not a musician so I have almost no idea what the hell you're talking about. I have to go by my memory of the song (which, of course, I do know, as any thinking person would).<BR/><BR/>I'm a little afraid a technical take like this might dilute the fun for those still feeling their way around the Beatles. There's surely some novices - some listeners 5 and under.<BR/><BR/>Still, you make me want to pull this one out for a fresh listen as soon as I get home. (Sadly, it's not amongst the Beatles tracks on my iPod.)<BR/><BR/>Speaking of <I>Help!</I>'s reputation: I really like this period though my favorites all seem to be clustered on the US <I>Beatles '65</I> LP.<BR/><BR/>akhtoo - Gesundheit!Kevin Wolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17490345765638949916noreply@blogger.com