Ringo and George on Aspel & Co.,--YouTube and History

Photo by Elijah O'Donnell on Unsplash

YouTube is definitely one of the phenomenon of our time. Currently 1.3 billion people use YouTube and it hasn't even reached its 15th birthday. The infrastructure that is in place must be powerfully advanced since 300 hours of video are being uploaded every minute.  Yes, minute! And 5 billion hours of video watched every day. Yes, billion. Every day.

You might say that the Google has a vested interest in keeping it all going and now currently supports a 2000 man army of Minutemen on two artillery bases to protect the YouTube Complex.  (Please: THIS is Fake News. I made that up.)

YouTube was started in 2005 by three former PayPal employees who became quite rich when thy sold the video-sharing service to Google a year later.

According to surveys, 6 out of 10 people prefer Online Video to television, which is why we're seeing such a massive amount of content being created for online distribution. In part, this is one of the drivers behind the Catalyst Content Festival which will be held in Duluth next month. The demand for quality content is exceeding the supply.

Exceeding supply? 300 hours being uploaded a minute and the thirst is greater?

Re-read the sentence: The demand for quality content...  is insatiable.

Catalyst exists to help more content creators become more professional, to be suitably prepared for working in this expanding industry.

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This past month I read Paul McCartney: The Life and found it to be an exciting, insightful read with many lessons about many aspects of life, business and the challenges of success. One of those challenges has to do with managing money, and managing relationships.

As a Beatles fan, it was (for me) all about the music. I didn't read the mags and the rags or the books till much, much later. Through Philip Norman's book I gained a much deeper understanding of the legal crap these four boys never imagined they'd have to deal with one day. When they were starting out, rock stars last a year or two at most. Their unfathomable wealth was not part of the dream they dreamed.

So, when I came across this video of George and Ringo on the Aspel & Co. show, a British talk show featuring high profile celebrities, I tuned in. If you watch, you'll find a brief segment in which their lawsuits are brought up. They seem surprisingly good-natured about it, which just shows how classy these two guys were.

Here's the URL if the embed fails at some point down the road.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQaqcLPAI_s

It won't be long before we'll find the entire history of media on YouTube. And maybe, just maybe, at some point in the future--when time travel has been worked out--we'll get ALL of history on YouTube. Whatcha think about that?

Related Links
My Dinner With George (scene from a dream)
Have You Ever Wanted to Work in Media?
Was Ringo A Starr? Oh Yeah

John Lennon Notes and Quotes to Start Your Week

Illustration by the author.

"I've always considered my work one piece and I consider that my work won't be finished until I am dead and buried and I hope that's a long, long time."
John Lennon Interview with RKO Radio on the day of his murder (8 December 1980)

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This past couple weeks I've been reading Philip Norman's Paul McCartney: The Life. Although some of the reviewers give it rather harsh scores on Amazon, I've personally found it a rewarding read because I've not read many books about The Beatles and thus there are more new insights and anecdotes than I was familiar with.

I still listen to The Beatles after more than half a century, and also internalized some of their individual post-breakup albums by repeated listenings.

There's no question that Lennon & McCartney were one of the greatest songwriting teams of all time. There's also little doubt that extreme fame has to do a number on your head. Finding personal equilibrium after the flume ride of Beatlemania took years and was real work.

One of the things that surprised me was how much abuse Linda Eastman received in marrying Paul. I was aware that Yoko was despised for extricating John from the Fab Four, and blamed for the breakup of The Beatles. I was pretty much unaware that Linda was often physically assaulted by Paul's female fans for making him "unavailable" and dashing their own hopes.

Fab 4 arrive in NYC, Feb 7, 1964.
Photo: Library of Congress. Public domain.

The book goes into detail about the context of their emergence as superstars. A good comparison might be the forest fires that raged in California last year. Conditions were right for an exceptional year for destructive blazes. Similarly, with Elvis in the army, Buddy Holly dead, and Jerry Lee Lewis out of favor for marrying his 13-year-old cousin, conditions were ripe for a super talented, outgoing supergroup to set hearts ablaze across the universe... or at least, across the seas.

When their solo careers began, after the breakup, it surprised me how harsh the critics were on Paul's first two albums. I had all those early solo efforts and enjoyed them all, including All Things Must Pass (Harrison) and especially Lennon's Mind Games.

John Lennon features prominently in the book, as it would be near impossible to tell any of their stories without their symbiotic others. The quotes that follow are Lennon's. When I read the quote at the top of this page it set me on a search for other Lennon remarks and observations.

John Lennon Quotes

"The thing the Sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn't the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility."--John Lennon

"It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out."--John Lennon

"Nor do I think we came from monkeys, by the way...That's another piece of garbage. What the hell's it based on? We couldn't've come from anything--fish, maybe, but not monkeys. I don't believe in the evolution of fish to monkeys to men. Why aren't monkeys changing into men now? It's absolute garbage. It's absolutely irrational garbage, as mad as the ones who believe the world was made only four thousand years ago, the fundamentalists.
"That and the monkey thing are both as insane as the other. I’ve nothing to base it on; it’s only a gut feeling."--John Lennon

Photo: Jack Mitchell. Free public use via Creative Commons.

"These critics with the illusions they've created about artists — it's like idol worship. They only like people when they're on their way up … I cannot be on the way up again. … What they want is dead heroes, like Sid Vicious and James Dean. I'm not interested in being a dead (expletive) hero. … So forget 'em, forget 'em."--John Lennon

"Everything is as important as everything else."--John Lennon

"I don't mind people putting us down, because if everybody really liked us, it would be a bore."--John Lennon

"Above all else never let people know how physically unattractive they actually are. Everyone deserves to believe they are beautiful."--John Lennon

"We're trying to sell peace, like a product, you know, and sell it like people sell soap or soft drinks. And it's the only way to get people aware that peace is possible, and it isn't just inevitable to have violence. Not just war — all forms of violence."--John Lennon

"It's just natural, it's not a great disaster. People keep talking about it like it's The End of The Earth. It's only a rock group that split up, it's nothing important. You know, you have all the old records there if you want to reminisce."--John Lennon

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. … I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it."--John Lennon

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."--John Lennon


Related Links
Dylan's Tribute to Lennon Keeps Rolling On
A Leadership Lesson from John Lennon
Tomorrow Never Knows: The Beatles' Turning Point?
Mind Games

Beatles Discography: What Are Your Favorite Songs and Albums?

Earlier this week a memory was triggered about the song There's A Place, an Isley Brothers cover by the Beatles, and how special it was to me when I was young. It was the B-side of Twist and Shout, which was just one of countless top hits for this foursome who spearheaded the British Invasion. The week Twist and Shout was released in March 1963 it instantly became one of five Beatles songs that filled the Top Five slots on the chart. It's hard to be a #1 hit when you are already #1 with something else, eh?

As I thought about these things it crossed my mind that it might be an interesting exercise to determine what my favorite songs were on each of the albums produced by The Beatles during their somewhat amazing, but short, lifespan. To accomplish this I visited a Beatles Discography website to make the selections.

What I found was that in the beginning there were British releases which I didn't have, though most of the songs were similar. All that being said, here were my selections, based on these criteria: how I felt when I played them in my youth, and how they make me feel when I think back on them today.

1963

Notice anything special about this photo?

Please Please Me
There's A Place
Wonderful, simple, melodic... and heartfelt.
Harmonica intro and outro with nice harmonies. The song indeed would bring me to a place in my mind when I was a little older.
Amazing what they accomplish in less than two minutes.

1963
With The Beatles
Hold Me Tight
Released on Nov 22, 1963, the day of JFK's assassination. (C.S. Lewis and Aldous HUxley both died that day as well, fwiw)
This was their first album released in U.S.
Loved this song. A classic riff with innocent intimate lyrics. I especially love those chord transitions in the bridge.

Many of these early Beatles albums were mirrors with minor changes, released in Britain and U.S. separately.

1964
Introducing... The Beatles
Do You Want to Know a Secret
Again, only two minutes long. George has a nice voice and it's sweet.
At this time in my life I identified with George, who seemed the quiet Beatle, self-conscious or self-effacing, the one in the shadows.

1964

This was my first Beatles album.

Meet The Beatles
I Saw Her Standing There
Who doesn't like this one? Put on your dancing shoes.

1964
The Beatles Second Album
You Really Got A Hold On Me
This is a painfully beautiful song about a boy who is oh so hooked.
Smokey Robinson wrote the song and turned it into a Top 10 hit in 1962. The Beatles covered it on this album, as did many other groups afterwards.
I enjoy the way they harmonize, especially on "hold me," delivering restrained emotion throughout. It's what they did so well, sensual without being lascivious.
Was that Paul going for that high note at the end?

1964
A Hard Day's Night
If I Fell
Another simple, sweet, lyrical tune from their first film. Watching the video, looking back on these boys, it has to have been a heady experience, the sudden fame, in the center of that fierce spotlight.

1964
Something New
"Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand"
I took German in 7th and 8th grade, so I will select this song only because it reminds me of that time in my life and a good friendship that began then.

1964

Beatles For Sale
Fourth Studio Album?
I'm A Loser .
John's got the lead vocal here and you can already hear the development in his delivery. This melancholy would become a theme that would thread through much of what he later created.

1965
Beatles '65
This is practically the same album as Beatles For Sale, so I will pick the song that precedes the above favorite, No Reply. Some heartbreak creeping in on these later albums. I love the middle section, the chord and tempo change with the vocals crushing it.

1965
Beatles VI
I Don't Want To Spoil the Party
Lennon, revealing more alienation and inner pain... and who of us has never felt this way? Come on, be honest.
Of note: Buddy Holly's "Words of Love" on Beatles VI may be the last cover the Fab Four recorded for their albums.

1965

Help!
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
This album was the official soundtrack for the movie Help!  I went to see the movie with the girl across the street. Probably my first date. A couple days later the boy across the street asked her to go steady. She said yes. I cried on my pillow, my 13th birthday, and said to myself, "So this is what it's like to be a teenager." (Yes, a bit melodramatic.)

While Dylan was writing and recording songs that were eight, ten and twelve minutes long, and even longer, The Beatles were still writing songs for the pop charts, which meant for radio, and three minutes was max. Hence the quantity of two minute songs on these albums.

December 1965
Rubber Soul
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
This is an album that many say presaged the future development of the Beatles. Others point to Revolver. It's been frequently cited that Dylan's influence is distinctly present in this song. George plays a sitar part here, the first time the instrument from India had been incorporated into Western rock.
What I liked about the Norwegian Wood, though, was the storytelling. What happened and what didn't and why? Several years passed before I would learn about these kinds of things from experience.

August 1966
Revolver
Good Day Sunshine
After singing about love and relationships for a half dozen albums they had now turned the corner. The first song, George Harrison's Taxman is not about boys and girls. A majority of the songs avoid the subject of love.
Cheery harmonies, sunny uplifting mood music., Good Day Sunshine is one of my three fave wake-up songs.

May 1967

An album cover as ground-breaking as the album.

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
A Day in the Life
Nothing like it... Every song a gem. As far as I'm concerned this album is seamless perfection. From start to finish you are in a flow. I would select the whole thing here as a favorite but choose A Day in the Life as a microcosm of the whole.

November 1967
Magical Mystery Tour
Strawberry Fields Forever
The day Magical Mystery Tour came out I went to Frank Capelli's house after school. We ripped the cellophane off the album and played side one, then side two. We already had the 45 with Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane. And by the time the album came out we were quite familiar with that strange ending with what sounds like a railroad approaching and receding and what sounded like John saying, "I buried Paul."

November 22 1968

Yes, it was a white album.

The White Album
I like the sequence from Yer Blues to Helter Skelter on side three.
So many great songs... If the measure of "what is your favorite album" would be re-phrased to, "What Beatles album have you played the most since the 60s?" I would have to say The White Album. Let It Be would probably be tied with Beatles For Sale in second place, not distant but not close either. Probably has to do with associations.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps stands the test of time as a truly great song from this album, too. George Harrison purportedly wrote it as an exercise in randomness inspired by the I Ching, but it seems too premeditated to me. A poignant message.

January 1969
Yellow Submarine
All You Need Is Love
This was a single and was also the final track on Magical Mystery Tour. It begins with the French National Anthem, invests the lyrics with the history of philosophy, and by the time we reach the end, with past, present and future all converging, the song trails off, marching into the infinite. John Lennon here celebrating with a message that will evolve from the personal to the global when later he and Yoko ask us to "Give Peace A Chance."
George Harrison's It's All Too Much may be a little dated today but it was another song from the album and film that gave me goosebumps. (Maybe you had to be there.)

September 1969

Abbey Road
Side 2 Medley Sun King to The End
Like Sgt. Pepper, they reprised the seamless medley motif, and though Come Together and some of the other songs are great, this medley on side B was especially rich. They had become distinctly The Beatles, true creators, one-upping themselves yet again.

May 1970
Let It Be
Across the Universe
John Lennon yielding to a different flow here. Seems like I found comfort in this song while dealing with my own painful moments. The irony is that my world was indeed changing, even as I sang a contrary note. Perhaps this is what John was doing as well, for it was the end of the Beatles and the birth of four solo careers. By the time the album was released John and Yoko had sailed off to a new shore.

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Related Links
My Dinner with George (All in a Dream)
Interview with Dutch Beatles Authority Chantal de Paus
Was Peter Best the Best?

Back In The U.S.S.R. -- Beatles Just Having Fun Causes a Stir

One of the things I've always enjoyed is looking at the titles of books on peoples' bookshelves. Many years ago I came across a book on someone's shelf that proposed the notion that the Beatles were agents of the KGB, or something to that effect. I forget the title, but it made me pull the book from the shelf and page through it. In retrospect it may have been something from the John Birch Society, but wherever it came from the author was in a very paranoid place.

I only skimmed the contents, but still recall three of the authors arguments. The first, of course, was this song relishing a return to the U.S.S.R. The second was the ridiculous assertion that the song Revolution was actually calling for revolution. Lennon-McCartney lay it out fairly plain when they say, "But when you talk about destruction, well you know that you can count me out." And "If you want money for people with minds that hate, well all I can tell you brother you have to wait."

But the part of the book that intrigued me most was this third argument. The author asserted that by studying the music of the Beatles it was self-evident that the KGB was behind it because look how sophisticated their sounds became in such a very short time.

Yes, this maturing of the Beatles and sophistication of their sound in such a short time was astonishing. But so was the entire Sixties. Look at the technological advances that occurred in that decade. It blows your mind. The early Beatles had guitars, amplifiers and microphones. It wasn't until after their first album that they had access to four-track recording, which enabled them to add virtually limitless numbers of tracks, though this too had limitations. Multi-track recording, synthesizers, backward masking and all manner of audio pyrotechnics soon came along. Songs were no longer created by having the group sing into a microphone. Add to this the genius of George Martin behind the scenes, who was himself brilliant at enabling their creativity to flourish, and it's no wonder their music was magical.

The book's premise was laughably absurd.

So why did the Beatles write a song like Back in the U.S.S.R.? Here's the backstory. The song was written while the Beatles were doing their India thing with the Maharishi. Mike Love of the Beach Boys was visiting at the same time, so the story can be told from Paul's viewpoint and Mike Love's recollections.

"It's tongue in cheek. This is a travelling Russkie who has just flown in from Miami Beach; he's come the other way. He can't wait to get back to the Georgian mountains: 'Georgia's always on my mind'; there's all sorts of little jokes in it... I remember trying to sing it in my Jerry Lee Lewis voice, to get my mind set on a particular feeling. We added Beach Boys style harmonies." ~Paul McCartney

"I was sitting at the breakfast table and McCartney came down with his acoustic guitar and he was playing Back In The USSR, and I told him that what you ought to do is talk about the girls all around Russia, the Ukraine and Georgia. He was plenty creative not to need any lyrical help from me but I gave him the idea for that little section... I think it was light-hearted and humorous of them to do a take on the Beach Boys." ~Mike Love

Well, the paranoid Birchers evidently didn't think it very funny. You can read a more detailed account here.

The song is purportedly a cross between Chuck Berry's Back in the USA and the Beach Boys' California Girls. You can compare them here.

BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.

Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC
Didn't get to bed last night
On the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man, I had a dreadful flight
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR, yeah

Been away so long I early knew the place
Gee, it's good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey disconnect the phone
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the US
Back in the US
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the west behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind
Oh, come on
Hu hey hu, hey, ah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the USSR

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the west behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind

Oh, show me round your snow peaked
Mountain way down south
Take me to your daddy's farm
Let me hear your balalaika's ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm
I'm back in the USSR
Hey, you don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR
Oh, let me tell you honey

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Never been to the U.S.S.R., Russia, Ukraine, Georgia or the Urals, but we did entertain some guests from Duluth's Sister City in the Soviet Union way back in time, and I still have an unopened bottle of the vodka they brought to us as a gift. I wrote this blog post in part because a growing number of readers of this blog are from that part of the world. If you're one of them, do you remember this song? Is it still popular? Thanks for checking in. You may also follow on Twitter @ennyman3.

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Meantime, life goes on... Enjoy the weekend.