Early Lennon Lyrics for "New York City"

As most of you know, there's a John Lennon "New York City" exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame annex in Soho. You can read about the exhibit at Steve Marinucci's Beatles Examiner site. See a slide show here .


The first image on the slide show is early hand written lyrics for the rocker "New York City", eventually released on 1972's "Some Time In New York City", and performed live at Madison Square Garden later that year. If you look closely, you can see how much the lyrics were reworked by Lennon over time. Here's what I think Lennon originally wrote, with much more disturbing, as well as humorous, lyrics :

1. Well i was standing on the corner
just me and doing water
she was wearing love letters in her hand
along came a man, with her bristols in the trash can
shaving off her armpits like a man.
Well she was trying to do her duty
just eating tutti frutti singing long tall sallys (sic) her man
When up came the preacher men, trying to be a preacher
Singing 'Gods a red herring' in drag.

2. Well i was watching johnny carson
just thinking what a farce (?)
and she was waving rent-a-pig in my ear.
along came police stuck a night stick in the TV.
shouting 'hey the revolution's starting here
she held a pistol at my head man
til i thought that i was dead, singing Short Fat Fannies on dope
When down came a swinger, who (?) thought she was a singer
singing 'dog is god backwards' on toast.

When He's 64

Today, May 19, Pete Townshend of The Who turns 64. For a mini-tribute, here's Keith Moon singing "When I'm 64" from the film "All This And World War II" :
click here Clip from the film
and here
The complete audio

and - for more Beatles related WHO :
from the same 1977 rehearsal session that brought you "Barbara Ann" from "The Kids Are Alright" film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYVCKJ05lsw

Happy Birthday, Pete !

A Fab Mother's Day

I just finished listening to Chris Carter's "Breakfast With The Beatles" on Sirius XM. ( http://www.breakfastwiththebeatles.com/ )I love this show - Carter is a very enthusiastic host, and plays a great mix of material. Of particular interest to me are his "themes", where segments - and sometimes entire programs - are linked through some common subject thread. However, this week, besides the opening song (an obvious choice from "Magical Mystery Tour"), there were no real references to any "Mothers" on this holiday. Even Andrew Loog Oldham just started his show with The Stones' version of "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby".

In honor of all you mothers out there, here's a list of songs to help you celebrate (except most of John's songs about his mother, which are kind of depressing.) Of course, all of the Beatles got married, and had children - so their wives became mothers as well. Therefore this list includes songs not only to Beatle mothers, but to Beatle wives . . Actually, some of these tracks are a bit of a stretch, but what the hey . . And there were a couple of songs I left out- even if they were about mothers - since they wouldn't really fit here at all

Sentimental Journey - Sentimental Journey
In My Life - Rubber Soul
Your Mother Should Know- Magical Mystery Tour
Mother - John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
Let It Be - Beatles 1
Julia - White Album
The Lovely Linda - McCartney
Cook Of The House - Wings At The Speed Of Sound
Dark Sweet Lady - George Harrison
Momma Miss America - McCartney
Dear Yoko- Double Fantasy
We Got Married - Flowers In The Dirt
Bungalow Bill - White Album
Teddy Boy - McCartney
Oh Yoko - Imagine
Mother Nature's Son - White Album
Well (Baby Please Don't Go) - Live Jam (with the Mothers (!) Of Invention)
Yesterday - Beatles 1

P.S. Oldham is now playing "Julia" !

George Harrison's "Let It Roll": I Don't Believe In Beatles

There's finally going to be a (solo) career spanning collection of George Harrison's music. Many people have already commented on how Beatlesque "Let It Roll : The Songs of George Harrison" is. From the "White Album" - era artwork, to the inclusion of three live Beatles covers, it is a disservice to the legacy of Harrison's post-Beatles career to focus so much on the days when he was "Fab". George, possibly more than any of the other Fabs, wanted to escape the shadow of his former band. So why all the references to The Beatles ? It's not as insulting as the Capitol Records 1976 "Best Of" album, which featured only original Beatles versions of George's songs on side one. However, ten of the 19 tracks on the new CD are songs were originally written by 1970 (albeit one was a rare Bob Dylan cover recorded for 1985's "Porky's Revenge" soundtrack, and another was a 1987 cover of a 1962 song), plus two of his later hit songs are about his Beatles days. To add insult to injury, only two songs appear from George's six albums from 1974 to 1982 - and he didn't even release another album until 1987's "Cloud Nine".

The collection concentrates on his early solo triumphs - "All Things Must Pass" and "The Concert For Bangla Desh", then skips over popular hits like "Bangla Desh", "Dark Horse", "Ding Dong", "You", "This Song", "Crackerbox Palace", and "Love Comes To Everyone", only to focus on his last two studio albums "Cloud Nine" and the posthumous "Brainwashed". Just five tracks are not from the four "big" albums. There are so many problems with the choices that I don't know where to begin.

I'm trying to be realistic here. By concentrating on his most popular albums, plus including a few Beatles songs and a couple of pseudo-rarities ("Cheer Down" and "I Don't Want To Do It"), technically it's an appealing collection. But this is very shortsighted. By cannibalizing his four most popular albums, it could very well cut down on sales of George's hit albums (including money that I assume still goes to the people of Bangla Desh), while ignoring some half-forgotten solo material that could increase sales of the rest of his catalogue. The CD is subtitled "The Songs Of George Harrison", yet the first song is George's hit cover of Rudy Clark's "Got My Mind Set On You", one of two songs Harrison did not have a hand in writing. George's rare live Prince's Trust versions of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes The Sun" from the deleted "Superstars In Concert" CD, while inferior to the "Bangla Desh" versions, would have added value to this collection. The choice of the mid-tempo "Let It Roll" as a new "single" (again, an assumption) gives more focus to "All Things Must Pass", while a better choice could have been the more lively "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" from 1973's "Living In The Material World", which I believe was considered as a single while that album was new, and would shine a light on a wonderful album that could use some attention.

My first reaction was that the bigwigs at Capitol Records- a label probably hurting more than most of the other majors - wanted to exploit Harrison's Beatles connection. But Harrison's family have the final word. Why would they agree to this ? Are they being bamboozled? Do Olivia and Dhani think this is the best way to sell George to the public ? Maybe they, too, are Beatles fans? Was it another rush job to get an album ready for George's new star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame? You'd think his family, of all people, would be champions of George's complete solo catalogue, not succumbing to the dictates of the material world.

There is a bright side, however. This is one George Harrison album I do not need to purchase.

Official track list:
1. Got My Mind Set On You
2. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
3. The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
4. My Sweet Lord
5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Live-Concert For Bangla Desh)
6. All Things Must Pass
7. Any Road
8. This Is Love
9. All Those Years Ago
10. Marwa Blues
11. What Is Life
12. Rising Sun
13. When We Was Fab
14. Something (Live-Concert For Bangla Desh)
15. Blow Away
16. Cheer Down
17. Here Comes The Sun (Live-Concert For Bangla Desh)
18. I Don't Want To Do It
19. Isn't It A Pity

To see my original idea of a George Harrison collection, please go here: http://fab4yerblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/harrisongs-best-of-ohnothimagain.html

Top Ten Most Disappointing Things About The Beatles Remasters

10 Does not include the Tony Sheridan sessions
9 Not available on cassette
8 No box set of "Backwards" versions to hear "Paul Is Dead" clues.
7 Only available on antiquated compact disc technology
6 Does not include remixes by Dangermouse
5 Only sold with limited edition Beatles compact disc player
4 Not included: Neil Young's "Time Fades Away"
3 This is being issued before the Badfinger box set.
2 9-9-09 is not the release date - it's the list price
1 It was too much of a rush job

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About George Harrison's CD Re-issue Program (and much, much more)

Part One : The Story So Far

In honor of George's recent birthday, I thought we'd take a look back at the solo material of Spike Wilbury, including how it's been handled, and what the future might bring. While the reissue campaign has been managed with class and dignity, there have also been many missed opportunities. In this two-part blog entry, I will explore the history of Hari's CD discography, what has been accomplished, what could have been done instead, and my thoughts on future releases.

Since 2001, George Harrison's CD catalogue has gradually been upgraded. All of George's major releases, which had been originally released on either the Apple or Dark Horse labels, are now being reissued under the Capitol umbrella. It was long overdue. George's albums originally released on his own Dark Horse label - from 1976's "Thirty Three and a Third" through 1992's "Live In Japan" -- were originally distributed by Warner Bros. records, and have been deleted since that deal expired. The earlier Apple (Capitol) albums, while still available, had not been improved in any significant way since their original CD releases in the 1980's.

All that changed at the beginning of this decade, while George was still with us. During some of his last interviews, he spoke not only of a new album he was working on ("Portrait Of A Leg-End", which was posthumously released as "Brainwashed"), and a box set of out-takes ("Portrait Of A Boot-Leg", which remains unreleased), but of work on re-issues of his solo catalogue. The 30th anniversary re-issue of his most successful solo effort, 1970's "All Things Must Pass", was a great way to start off the campaign, and a big improvement over the original, poorly handled, initial CD version of this masterpiece.

When "All Things Must Pass" was first issued on compact disc, it was sequenced by someone who, to be polite, did not have much imagination. In most cases, it would make sense to divide a triple album into two halves between sides three and four (like with The Clash's "Sandinista!", the original "Woodstock" album, and George's "Concert For Bangla Desh"). However, with this particular set, it's not "really" a triple album - the first 18 tracks, the two records with the orange-colored apples, are the heart of the collection. The short third album, a bonus disc called "Apple Jam", featured mostly instrumental improvisations featuring Eric Clapton's new group, Derek and the Dominoes, who were the house band for this collection, as well as some more of George's famous friends. The end result was a classic missed opportunity. While CDs were not able to hold more than about 75 minutes of content at the time, it would have made more sense to have disc one include sides one and two, and disc two sides three and four, plus the "Apple Jam". When the original “ATMP” CD was released, the first three LP sides - tracks one to 14 -were on the first CD. That meant just side four, with only the last four conventional songs, was on the second disc, followed by "Apple Jam", which gave the whole package a lop-sided feel. This made some sense when the album was divided this way on the reel-to-reel version, since the tape had the identical order as the actual vinyl set and kept the program flowing in the same aesthetic running order. However, with the new compact disc technology, the good folks at Capitol (and most other labels) were slow to recognize the advantages of the new format. To add insult to injury, this original CD release, as well as John and Yoko's "Some Time In New York City" (another two-disc set, again co-produced by Phil Spector, also with a black-and-white cover) was recalled because the initial pressings sounded horrible.

When the re-issue of "All Things Must Pass" was finally released in 2001, it was again heralded as a masterpiece, and Harrison was once again in the spotlight. It was especially touching, considering the rough decade that George suffered through - recovering from cancer, as well being stabbed by an intruder in December, 1999.

There were many improvements this time around, besides the obviously superior sound. The logical track order - with the discs divided after side two instead of side three - was implemented this time, but, with the improvements in the technology, there could have an even better choice. Since the 80 minute format was an option for this re-issue, a more satisfactory presentation would have been if the 18 studio tracks - sides one through four - were included as a single listening experience. (In fact, I keep my own, homemade CDR version in my car at all times). Then the "Apple Jam" (finally restored to it's original running order) and the five additional bonus tracks could be relegated to the second CD, as they are, by design, additional and separate content, and thus should be presented as it’s own entity. If they HAD done this, there would have been another obvious discovery - there was about 40 minutes left that could have been used to fill the discs up with even MORE great material. Besides George's reworking of his hit single "My Sweet Lord" (performed with melody changes that had nothing "Bright" about them), there were four tracks from 1970 that nicely compliment the original album (even if George somewhat unnecessarily did additional overdubbing.) Collectors, however, have at least three hours of treasured unreleased material that could have been used as a basis for additional content to be included. George was being, using his own phrase, a bit "chincy".

Then there's the artwork. George had a humorous idea to update the graphics by color-izing the cover, and showed the increased industrialization and pollution that had occurred over the previous three decades. However, the original triple vinyl set, packaged like a classical opera, was so iconic, that the original black and white cover, along with the colorful album sleeves (which included the lyrics), and those orange “apples” on the label, should have been preserved somewhere within the new package.(The same should have been done with the re-issues of John Lennon's "Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine").

In 2004, George was inducted, posthumously, into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame as a solo artist. We were unexpectedly rewarded with a box set of George's Dark Horse catalogue. It included five studio albums, and one double live CD. While it was nicely packaged, with a lot more attention paid to this reissue series -- bonus tracks, improved graphics, and, of course, great sound-- it did seem like a bit of a rush job, another missed opportunity to reward fans who were (in many cases) re-purchasing these albums for the second or third time. A DVD was also included.

The first four albums included only an extra track each, and one wasn't even from the appropriate sessions. Fortunately, 1981's “Somewhere In England” was repackaged with George’s original rejected artwork, but it did not include the four songs rejected by Warner Brothers in 1980. It would also have been nice to have the artwork from the first release along with the alternative photographs included in the booklet.

1987's hit album "Cloud Nine" featured two bonus tracks, but excluded the silly (but still desirable) "extended" version of "When We Was Fab". The 1991 tour document "Live In Japan" was released as a dual-disc, where those with a SACD player could enjoy the music with improved sound, but neither version included any bonus material. This release also repeated a minor annoyance from the original running order. During the actual concert performances, after "Piggies", Eric Clapton would play a four song segment, then George would start his second set with "Got My Mind Set On You". However, the new version of "Live In Japan" repeats the mistake of ending disc one with "Got My Mind", and starting the second disc with the song "Cloud Nine". While this would have made sense in the days of vinyl, the capacity of CDs can easily accommodate the integrity of the original concert performance. The three unique tracks only available on the out-of-print collection “Best Of Dark Horse 1976-1989” - “Poor Little Girl”, “Cockamamie Business”, and the single “Cheer Down” - could have been included here.

The accompanying DVD also had some treats: interviews, videos, previously unseen live performances from the 1991 tour of Japan, and his three songs from “Shanghai Surprise”, the Madonna/Sean Penn bomb of a movie financed by Harrison’s production company, Handmade Films. Again, one wondered - why not more footage ? I can understand not getting the rights to all of the clips used in “All Those Years Ago”, Harrison’s tribute song to John Lennon. But what about “Blow Away” ? Unless they couldn’t get the permission to use that giant rubber ducky . . . Plus there was obviously more footage from the tour of Japan, as well as interviews, and who-knows-what-else ? Again, another missed opportunity.

More recently, we’ve been lucky to have a few more refurbished Harrison albums to enjoy --1973’s “Living In The Material World”, plus the star (Starr ?) studded “Concert For Bangla Desh”, and “The Traveling Wilburys Collection”. I’ve always been a big fan of “Material World” - it’s like a more stripped down version of “All Things Must Pass”. There is a warm, comforting, spiritual feel to this album. It may not have been fashionable, but it was a continuation of Harrison’s work which was praised on “All Things Must Pass”. The regular CD included two great b-sides from that era (but not the single version of “Bangla Desh”). The deluxe version included a DVD with two wonderful unreleased audio tracks: a demo of “Sue Me, Sue You Blues”, and a non-laughing take of “Miss O’Dell”. It’s unfortunate these tracks were not made more easily available by adding then to the CD. The DVD also included footage of the hit single “Give Me Love”, from the 1991 tour of Japan, and a short documentary about the album. Again, cool stuff. But why so chincy ? The list price of the “deluxe” version makes one think they are getting a lot more that they end up receiving. Material World indeed. At least the packaging included a booklet, and the artwork replicated the original album cover and labels.

“The Concert For Bangla Desh” was finally re-released as a DVD (again with the option of a “deluxe” version) and on compact disc. These versions both include the one song Bob Dylan (with Harrison, Starr, and Leon Russell), performed only at the afternoon show (“Love Minus Zero”), while the DVD added a rehearsal of Dylan’s “If Not For You”, as well as additional footage. Still, the only place to get “Mr. Tambourine Man” was still the audio compact disc. Since there were two shows, it would have been nice to experience some of the alternate versions, but, all-in-all, it was a nice, classy package, appropriate for the mother of all benefit concerts.

“The Traveling Wilburys Collection” was re-released as a box set in June of 2007. The deluxe edition, especially, was a nice package, with two remastered CD’s, bonus tracks, a DVD, a book, photographs, “announcement” postcards, a sticker, and an individually numbered certificate of authenticity. However, there were still questionable decisions made. The four bonus tracks included were all from the “Volume 3” era, but were split evenly between the two CD's. There were also some alternate mixes and edits, as well as one unreleased alternate take, that were saved for the vinyl release. These could have easily fit as bonus tracks on the collection. (I’ve somehow managed to survive without owning these rarities) Collectors have also had alternate versions of many of these songs for years that could have been included. Curiously, there was also a different edit for the video of “Inside Out”, which was included on the DVD. Another video was not included here --the title track from the out-of-print benefit album “Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal “, which only featured footage of Romanian orphans. It was also interesting to note that the publishing credits changed for “Volume 1”, where the communal songwriting agreement on the original release was replaced by publishing credited to the principle songwriter. For more specific information about the Wilburys releases, please go here: http://www.searchingforagem.com/Wilburys/Wilburys2007.htm

Well, this summarizes George’s mainstream catalogue so far. These re-issues have both looked and sounded great, but could have been improved with a bit more content and attention to detail. Both “Wonderwall Music” and “Electronic Sounds” were also released on CD at one time, with identical track listings to the original albums (although I believe the US release of “Electronic Sounds” mistakenly had each long instrumental on the incorrect side with the original vinyl release.) In an upcoming blog, I plan to address the rest of George Harrison’s catalogue, and what could be done to make it a truly superior project.

Paul McCartney's Been Reading My Blog !

Well, it's obvious. Macca has been reading this very blog (Confidential to a certain "Firefighter": Hello Percy!). As readers of this blog know, last November I started a seven part series discussing a fantasy Paul McCartney solo concert experience. In the introduction, I suggested that Paul could do a tour where he played smaller venues like Radio City Music Hall, and celebrate his nearly four decade solo career. Paul seems to have taken my advice, and, while not following my exact plan, has indeed agreed to perform at Radio City, and has begun a celebration of his post-Beatles career by launching a month-long "Fireman Radio" channel on Sirius XM satellite radio.

The April 4 Radio City performance, which will also feature Ringo Starr in the role of David Grohl, is part of an all-star(r) benefit, organized by film maker David Lynch. The Beatlesque goal is to teach one million children the Transcendental Meditation technique - and change the world overnight (I couldn't make stuff like this up ). Other performers scheduled include Eddie Vedder, Sheryl Crow, Paul Horn, Donovan, and others.

[Side note: How can Paul, Ringo and Donovan all appear at this gig and not perform together? Back in the day, Donovan and Macca collaborated on "Yellow Submarine", "Atlantis", and Mary Hopkin's Apple LP "Post Card", among other projects and events (including going to India in 1968 to study TM with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ). Donovan also taught the Fabs his finger-picking technique, which influenced a handful of songs that appeared on 1968's "White Album". When I saw Paul at The Bridge Benefit in 2004, he generously sang duets with Tony Bennett as well as Neil Young. ]

Paul's "Fireman Radio" channel has been a lot of fun so far.The idea seems to be to create another way to build on the great press Paul has received for his new "The Fireman" project, "Electric Arguments". While "EA" was a more "high profile" release than the previous two Fireman albums (not to mention more commercial), it was still sent out into the marketplace without the fanfare usually associated with a traditional McCartney release. When the album started to create a buzz, Paul appeared on programs such as "The View" and "The Howard Stern Show", which pushed the album further up the charts.

"Fireman Radio" is like the ultimate Macca iPod (or maybe an Apple iPaul ?). It's a random sample of McCartney's solo work since 1970, including hits, deep album cuts, obscure singles, and, of course, a healthy dose of "Fireman" material - not just the new album, but the previous two "ambient" collections as well. There is also a heavy mix of live material, which is how he gets to sneak his 1960's classics into a "solo" selection of material. There was even some care taken to make sure that, for instance, the original album medley of "Venus and Mars / Rock Show" were played together as one (which has not always been the case with some of the other vanity channels).

The programming seems to be designed for short bursts of listening in the car as opposed to a serious (Sirius) marathon session while at home. While there seems to be large chunks of music that are part of a heavy rotation, there is enough variety to keep you tuned in waiting for different tracks. Some of the great finds, for me, include "Mumbo", followed a little while later by "Bip Bop" There was also an hour of programming where three tracks from "Ram" were randomly played ("Long Haired Lady", "Uncle Albert", "Dear Boy"). While you'd expect to hear "Band On The Run" and "Maybe I'm Amazed", what's interesting is to experience multiple versions of "No More Lonely Nights" (including the legendary "Mole Mix") and "Silly Love Songs" (including the "Noir & Kruse" edit ), not to mention obscure stuff like "Back On My Feet", "Zoo Gang", "Momma's Little Girl", and "We All Stand Together" (with the Frog Chorus ! ) Of course you could hear most of this stuff anytime you like - if you have the official releases - but when's the last time you've had a chance to do that ? Plus, when you hear an overlooked gem like "Somedays" (from "Flaming Pie"), out of context, you can really appreciate it for the beautiful song it is. It's also fun to spot the occasional error, like 1973's "Single Pigeon" showing up as "Single Person" on my Sirius screen (Freudian slip, Paul ?). It's also interesting to note that some tracks feature other band members (so far, I've heard Jimmy McCulloch, Hamish Stuart, and Denny Laine), but not any of his classical pieces, or Linda's "Cook Of The House" (yet). It's doubtful that "Heather" will make an appearance, I'd gather.

I just finished listening to a 30 minute exclusive interview with Paul, broadcast on the channel. While not really shedding any new light on his Fireman project that has not been discussed elsewhere, it's always nice to hear Paul talk about the joy of creating music. Which is really the best part of listening to this Maccathon.

John Lennon once famously said, "Fans tried to beat me into being a…Beatle or an Engelbert Humperdinck, and the critics tried to beat me into being Paul McCartney”. By the same token, Macca has always been compared to Lennon, and, by extension, Bob Dylan, and other rock "heavyweights'". If you put McCartney in the company of more melodic composers like, say, Brian Wilson, Elton John, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and Phil Collins, it's easy to see Paul's strengths, and why he's still a vital, relevant artist.

While McCartney has certainly dabbled in every genre of music that tickled his fancy, there has always been a sense that he just enjoyed creating music, as well as other art forms (like painting), for it's own sake. His first solo album, 1970's "McCartney", is one of my all-time favorites, and has always given me a warm, comforting feeling. This, in retrospect, is all the more surprising considering it was recorded when the Beatles were disintegrating around him. It sounds like it may have been very therapeutic for him as well.

Paul's political/topical songs, like "Simple As That" and "Freedom", while not particularly insightful, work well in the context of this channel. With his talent for singing and songwriting, as well as mastering almost any instrument he felt like learning how to play, it's just a joy just to hear the decades of music that he has created since he became an Ex-Fab. While listening to "Fireman Radio", that seems to be a recurring theme - Paul enjoys making music, and that, in itself, is a reason to enjoy the solo work of James Paul McCartney. As a matter of fact, "Ballroom Dancing" was in my head all day yesterday !

And Paul, if you want to thank me, I'd sure like to go see you at Radio City . . . sounds like a great idea !
:-D

PS Happy birthday wishes to George Harrison . .I'm currently working on a blog about his music as well . . .

UPDATE : Starting Tuesday at 10 a.m eastern, guests DJs will be playing their fave Macca tunes, including Barbara Walters, Cousin Brucie, and a real NYC Fireman (no, not Paul . .)