A personal tribute by Paul Dixon
I eo
What you are about to read has been 44 years in the making.
It's a story of discovery, of loss and of rediscovery.
A tale of how something as simple as a song can help to define a persons life, a persons direction and character, culminating in a personal homage to a group and a group of songs like no other.
I have to emphasise personal at this point, as the following pages are my thoughts and my interpretations and I am sure some will be open to debate, in fact, I hope they are as that means that you would have read the words and I had written something that makes you think.
The song that began this journey isn't even part of this noble group of tunes but it is just as important to me, for without it, I may never have heard the subject matter of this story and I could be sat here now telling you all about my passion for steam powered farm machinery.
Before all of the steam enthusiastic farmers get excited, that was a joke.
The journey that lead to this book starts in Spring 1971 and a birthday. Not my birthday but my elder brothers he was 14 I was 6 and he received his own record player. Up to that point any records played in our house, and there were many, were spun on the family radiogram.
For those of a certain age a radiogram was a piece of furniture with a lid, under that lid lay probably the best radio and record player I have ever heard. The sound was fantastic, rich deep bass which made even the scratchiest single sound like you were in the studio with them and I still remember how good it was because, it is still being used!
As a kid I loved the way you could suspend eight singles in mid air by a metal arm that would release a single in turn once the previous was finished of course though there was the odd time when two singles stuck together and dropped at the same time...a kind of early shuffle! dammed clever these British! Yes!thats right...British!
The music that mostly came out of the British radiogram in the Dixon household was American country and western as this was the favourite of my parents, and still is. I can still recall now Frankie Lane, Jim Reeves, Hank Locklin, Slim Whitman, Rusty Draper...hang on I hear you scream! Rusty Draper? Oh yes Rusty Draper...his song Detroit City begins with an electric guitar rift that first made me want to learn how to play...check it out sometime, you won't be disappointed.
My brothers taste in music was somewhat more modern and amongst his small but growing record collection was the likes of Slade but his opportunity to play them in peace was limited so hence his own record player. Now, that may seem reasonable to most reasonable people but how many reasonable six year olds do you know? Exactly.
My brother now had something that I didn't have and I too liked listening to records and in my own way I must have made a good case because my parents made a decision that even today I can't believe, though I am glad they did, they decided to allow me after much thought and no doubt soul searching, to allow me to play some "old" singles on the radiogram! A radical decision by cool parents and I still thank them.
So...under close supervision I dug excitedly into the pile of loose old 45s and selected one.
The one I chose had a label as black as the disc itself and had what looked like a pound sign on it...something I recognised...I also liked the title as it sounded more grown up than some of the country and western titles ...I'll Get You sounded like it could be fun.
The fact that I remember the next few minutes vividly proves to me that what happened next was a game changer for me.
I placed the single on the spindle and placed the metal arm across, gently as I could as I was being watched, closely. I made sure the switch was on the correct speed, 45, and then clicked the switch all the way back to automatic.
I stared excitedly as the turntable began its 45 revs per minute journey, then there was a click and the chosen piece of vinyl was despatched on its journey from metal arm to turntable and almost as soon as it hit, the final piece of the mechanical jigsaw began to move. The arm which contained the stylus or needle moved silently towards the spinning disc. Somehow it knew when to stop and gently lower itself onto the record.
As much as I love CDs or digital music, and I do, nothing, I repeat, nothing compares to the feeling and noise you hear as the needle makes contact with the vinyl. The hum or occasional click if there is a scratch builds up the anticipation of what is to come.
Hearing this for the first time was magical. However what I heard next was truly amazing to this six year olds ears...a bass guitar single note followed by voices singing Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah but in a way that I had never heard before...they were sang in such a dismissive and knowing way that it was clear that whatever they were going to sing or say they meant. There was a harmony but not a sweet all together now harmony but a slightly threatening low voice and even lower voice...
Also these were not the usual American voices I was used to...these sounded...well...English.
There was also a harmonica, an instrument that my dad played and I recognised instantly.
I was still trying to take all this in when the song began in earnest, the lower voiced singer at the start began to tell his story...definitely English and most certainly different from anything I had ever heard before. The first word sung was imagine...I didn't know it then but I would hear that word sung again by this chap many many times.
The song to my young ears was a a revelation. All of the above preceding a catchy tune, singing styles I had not heard the like of before and all within two minutes. I can actually still remember the final strains of the mouth organ disappearing being replaced by the click of the stylus on the inner groove and then just as you thought the arm would continue its journey right across the label to the centre of the radiogram universe the mechanism kicked in and the arm stopped lifted and made its return journey to its perch in readiness for its next musical adventure.
The turntable stopped and I seem to remember being offered another record to continue my radiogram training with...no way! I wanted to hear that again! So I did. And thankfully what I heard the first time wasn't a fluke or a dream it was real in every sense of the word.
After several more listens I was finally persuaded to either try another or the lesson would endeth, so my training for the day was over, but, I wanted to know more about the people I had just heard.
Bear in mind at this point I had not even really looked at the label in detail apart from the pound sign and I'll Get You...I was always quite advanced with my reading but I did check that I was seeing the name of the group correctly...it did say The Beatles didn't it?
I was told yes that was their name and almost as aside was told they came from near here...now this was really interesting to me...of course being six in 1971 "near"meant two or three blocks away, did these people who had just spun into my life come from Talbot Street???
Not that near I was told but Liverpool, "you have been there haven't you?" my parents reminded me...yes! Yes I had...but that seemed a long way away when I was 6 and the 12 mile train ride was a day out..but even in my young head something was telling me how cool that was, as the nearest any of the other singers I had heard lived to me was probably Kirkland Street or more likely New York.
So... In the space of around half an hour I had learned how to use a radiogram, discovered The Beatles, decided that they sounded normal, British and that they were from a place I had actually been to! That is quite a productive 30 minutes in anyone's book.Something I didn't know at that time was that I had just listened to the biggest selling B Side ever as the song on the flip side, as us groovy ones say, was She Loves You, this would remain the biggest selling until 1977 when this groups bassist released a song about an area of Scotland.
The mention of the word book brings me back, just like the aforementioned radiogram needle arm, to the beginning of the story and the subject of the next 4000 pages...Approximately.
I mentioned at the very beginning, well done if you can remember without glancing back to the first page! That this was a story of discovery, loss and rediscovery. The babble that you have just ploughed through describes the discovery. My almost accidental introduction to The Beatles really did influence a lot of the man you see before you today...well hypothetically see before you, I just wanted to reassure you that I am not suddenly going to appear and be there in front of you when you next lift your head up to yawn or look to the skies for an answer as to why you started this!
When I began to think back and write down what influence these people from Liverpool had on me I was quite shocked.
First and I suppose most obviously they influenced my taste in music and gave me the benchmark of what great popular music was. This has also hindered me to a point as very often I have dismissed, sometimes too early, music that I believe didn't even get close to that mark on the bench. This hindrance is something I quickly identified and I believe my taste in music is as broad as it can be.
The discovery also confirmed a trait in my personality that is definitely still there...I have never really been a person who is as they say "with it" and never really jump on trends and bandwagons. So, when my rediscovery took place, it was ideal that I was getting into something that hadn't existed for almost a decade. How cool is that?
By the way that wasn't a question I wanted you to answer... One look at my wardrobe confirms this.
Many of the "professional" historical books you read about The Beatles describes how they changed attitudes and influenced thinking. I was, sadly, too young to be included in this the first time around. However, they were a factor in the formalisation of my attitude and outlook on things. I am a very open minded person, I believe in freedoms and not having to necessarily follow a government, or institution and believing that anyone can do anything. There is nothing you can do that can't be done...as someone once said.
One of my old managers once said to me that he thought I was born 20 years too late as I would have been the archetypal hippie....I took it as a compliment. When I asked him why he said...laid back...open minded...optimistic...calm, I wonder some days whether he was under the influence of something I may have been smoking had I been around in 1967! As I can be none of those.
Now, the more astute amongst you, and I am sure if you are still awake you must be astute, or, under the said influence, would have noticed that it did say discovery, loss and rediscovery and you would be quite right I pointed out that I have, up to this point, mentioned discovery and rediscovery. What about loss I hear you cry! At least I think it was loss you were crying! Or maybe you were just crying.
To avoid you screaming again...loss. As stated I was around 6 when I discovered the Beatles and though this is, these days, the top end age of the average OD fan, in 1971 6 years old was what it should be...child like. A million and one other things bombarded the lad from Wilson Street, these included the advent of colour TV, Subbuteo, the ever expanding playground that was the demolition sites of our once proud area, moving house, fishing, to name but a few. Music, although it stayed with me in the sense I loved radio, and still do, and still used the radiogram, though not as often, was more in the back of my mind than the front. Although for as long as I remember I always wanted to be a DJ and I always wanted to be Noel Edmonds...though I soon realised I was never hairy enough to have a beard like his.
These lost years lasted until I was around 12 when I started to be interested in records again... And had my own record player...this coincided with the re release of the Beatles singles so the fabs grabbed me again, this time permanently and music began to dominate my spare time.
This was a gradual process and was helped by my parents buying me for Christmas an electronic organ. As this was a whim they, quite rightly, obtained a second hand model for their youngest to bang on the keys until it was out of his system with.
Imagine, there's that word again, their surprise and to a certain extent mine that by the time the now defrosted turkey was worryingly looking at the oven thinking "surely this day can't get any worse" yours truly had already mastered umpteen Christmas carols on the organ and was looking for other stuff to play and learn...Beatle songs seemed natural...and they seemed to flow nicely unlike the home brew!
This passion continued well into the new year and by the following Christmas a new upgraded organ was in our house along with my first electric guitar. So along with hundreds of records and musical instruments the occupation of my spare time was complete.
I have omitted to mention books, only certain books though, yep music books and books about the Beatles, I was determined that as they were back they were here to stay.
At this stage I confess I was what you would call a populist Beatle fan...I listened to the Red/Blue albums and the singles that were now secure in my room and not in the radiogram. I hadn't realised until I started reading the books that I had hardly scratched the surface of the Beatle veneer.
The first Beatle album I bought was a copy of With The Beatles...well actually it was the US version called Beatlemania! This was purchased from a record store in a side street in Blackpool and it was played avidly and repeatedly as it included Beatle songs I hadn't heard before which was another revelation.
Eventually my collection grew as and when I had either saved some pocket money or was fortunate enough to be asked what I wanted for Christmas...this was highlighted one year when my Gran eagerly agreed to buy me the "White Album" one Yuletide. The eagerness soon dissipated though when she saw the album in the shop and without hesitation told my mum that she couldn't buy me that as " there's nothing on it" I am so pleased mum persevered and I still smile when I play that album.
I now go back to those astute people here and answer the question I know you are thinking, what has this got to do with Revolver? Well I feel that without the background given I wouldn't be able to justify sharing my opinions and thoughts with you.
Revolver was actually one of the last Beatle albums I heard and owned. No particular reason for this other than the reasons given above, although there was one final personal irony in my purchasing of the album.
I bought it from Boots...in the days when they had a rather good record department. The sales assistant who took my hard pleaded for money to my surprise knew the album and we had a conversation on the fabs...impressive. A few years later he and my future wife were introduced to me at the voluntary radio station I worked at and we are still great friends...I am still quite friendly with my wife too!
As the title of this rambling style tribute suggests the collection of songs I want to celebrate does, in my view, tend to get somewhat overshadowed by another collection of masterful music.
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is the album most people would immediately associate with The Beatles. First concept album, lyrics on the cover, the cover itself, things to make inside the cover, the first Beatle album not to be disgracefully changed for our American cousins and of course some fine fine songs.
As a Beatle fan it is difficult to compare one album favourably to another. It is like parents choosing between their children, so at this point my favourite and the title of this ramble is in no way a snub to the rest of the glorious catalogue or the album that casts the shadow.
As with so many Beatle related stories "Pepper" has grown as time moved on and is held up quite rightly as an icon of that time. It so encapsulated everything about the era that it has become the focal point when remembering the legendary "summer of love"
However in doing so it has overshadowed, see what I did there?the rest of the catalogue. I hope to put that right in my own small way.
Side 1
Taxman
The opening track of Revolver is not the first Beatle track to have a hearable count in.
In fact the very first Fab Four album track had one, the energetic 1 2 3 4! opens Il Saw Her Standing There and the Please Please Me album and introduced the world to The Beatles on LPs...that's Long Player for the benefit of our younger readers.
The Taxman opening does differ in several ways as I am not aware of another count in to include a cough or someone else completing the count in that is started by John.
Beatle fans will be more than aware that John liked to count songs in using many different styles of voice and tone, this only became more widely known once bootlegs and then official bootlegs began to circulate. There is a good example of this on the album that casts its shadow over this one, as John counts in A Day In The Life by saying "sugar plum fairy,sugar plum fairy"
The count in on Taxman in my view gives us an insight into their personalities and the atmosphere in the studio at that time. They may have produced some of the finest music of the twentieth century but they didn't lose their natural personalities, pressures later on in their career may have limited them showing their natural selves in public or on record but it was always there and tended to come out in their music.
Taxman is an example of both, their relationship and humour in the studio and a sardonic almost satirical lyric that was typical of George's humour.
The so called "quiet Beatle" was an extremely funny guy, dry as a bone and varied in his humour, recognised poignantly by the Monty Python team at his anniversary concert 12 months after his all too soon parting.
Now as I said in the pre amble, or should that be pre ramble? This isn't an in depth highbrow note by note crotchet by crotchet surgical dissection of each song. This is hopefully a reflection of what a fan hears when this amazing album hits their ears.
The opening of any creative work be it, words, music, or oratory is vital as it sets the tone for what is to follow.
The impact of those first notes or words can decide if the piece of work that follows succeeds or fails.
Look at some of the classic opening lines from novels, novels that make you want to carry on reading, 1984 and the thirteenth strike of the clock, the comparison of the past to a foreign country in The Go Between the delicious opposing potential outcomes that only Dickens could create at the beginning of A Tale Of Two Cities.
Musically, The Beatles themselves,with a little help from their friend and mentor George Martin, were just as aware of impact when choosing a running order if we look at the opening tracks of each album,including both "White Album" discs, you will see what I mean.
I Saw Her Standing There (Please Please Me)
It Won't Be Long (With The Beatles)
A Hard Days Night (Soundtrack)
No Reply (Beatles For Sale)
Help!(Soundtrack)
Drive My Car (Rubber Soul)
Taxman (Revolver)
Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (album of same name)
Back In The USSR (The Beatles...disc 1)
Birthday (The Beatles...disc 2)
Yellow Submarine (Soundtrack and Revolver !)
Come Together (Abbey Road)
Two Of Us (Let It Be)
A mighty fine compilation album there I feel, more importantly they set the feel of what is to come and get you gripped.
As you may recall I did mention that Revolver was one of the last Beatle long players I heard and perhaps that is why it immediately struck me as being different from the rest, as I have always felt that the sound of this album was a game changer. Crisper, sharper, bassier, if that's a word? You can hear everything, without having to have headphones on full or bass switch on 10. And you can hear it as soon as the count in to Taxman is complete.
The bass drum bass guitar not drowned out by the entrance of the electrics it's all there for your ears and senses to enjoy, very quickly followed by the voice of George and the satire begins...and not in a subtle way..."Let me tell you how it will be"
The topic is one that still rankles today and George milks every last drop out of it.
The final verse of advice for those who die really is satire at its best.
The only thing that you would need to change in this song if it was recorded now would be the name of the politicians concerned and that says a lot for the quality of the words written nearly 50 years ago.
Going back to the music,which after all is what this is basically about, the bass line drives this song and is brilliant and is one of the catchiest in the whole catalogue and never dated as Mr Weller may testify.
The guitar solo and the sound of the guitar is another striking quality and the song never pauses for breathe on its introductory journey.
A final observation goes back to the subject of it being the opening track. This was a huge boost, I would imagine, for George to be given the opening song of the album and to be given two more songs as well, this to the outsider showed great group unity and recognition from messers Lennon & McCartney that George may not produce quantity but the quality was there.
Eleanor Rigby
Did I mention that this was a fans view perspective? Oh yes I think I did, so when I say what I am about to say remember that. I always look at Revolver as a Strong "Paul" album whereas I look at Rubber Soul as a strong "John" album.
No other reason for this except for the consistent quality of the songs and I just feel that Revolver was a highlight for Paul and this song is the first example of why.
It also, again in my view, smashes another myth, the old "Paul writes the music, John does the words". John wrote some spectacular music and Paul wrote some great lyrics. Paul shows here a great example of how he can tell a story in the confides of a short pop song. He did this many times and is able to paint the whole picture within the song, other examples both loved and not so loved by some are She's Leaving Home, Maxwells Silver Hammer, Rocky Racoon, Ob La DI Ob La Da.
On the music side of things all the group liked to try new things and Revolver gave them their first real crack at innovation in the studio, Eleanor Rigby was no exception though in my view it is a progression from an album track off the Help! album. An album track hidden towards the end of side two and only released by the group on the album. The very fact that Paul and his guitar were accompanied only by a string quartet on Yesterday confirmed that not every Beatle and not every instrument had to appear on every song, the leap forward had taken place.
The second track of Revolver is not known as a rocker but it is as relentless as any rock song. It grabs you from the first second to the last and doesn't pause for breathe as it relates the story of one persons lonely existence through circumstance and one persons lonely existence through choice. It tells of normal life and only too sadly normal death and all this in two minutes seven seconds...in anybody's book...powerful.
Paul's double or even triple tracked vocal with I still say a bit of John in there is perfect for what it needs to do which is allow you to hear the story without losing the haunting melody.
It's at this point I think it's appropriate to talk about another aspect of Beatle music and legacy. Eleanor Rigby like a good many Beatle songs have become such a part of our psyche and have been heard so many times spoke and written about in trillions of words, of which I am adding a few hundred more, they are by many considered twee, ordinary, a sound of their time, not relevant, this could not be further from the truth. Sometimes, as in life, familiarity breeds contempt and I challenge anyone to listen again to songs like Eleanor Rigby and not feel the power, intelligence and genius of those couple of minutes or so, leave the pre conceived ideas to one side, forget the playground comments of soppy and boring and listen to the song for what it is...genius.
For me the power of this song was confirmed over three decades later when it was used in the Love album project and everything an amateur like me or even a professional could wish to say about this song is there for all to hear...check it out.
I'm Only Sleeping
The first John offering of Revolver is I'm Only Sleeping and is, in my view, an underrated offering, though as I have mentioned previously, compared to some of the work John produced on Rubber Soul as good and tongue in cheek as this song is could it be compared to a In My Life?or Norwegian Wood? Perhaps not.
However let's look, or rather listen, to the work in isolation. If we do that this is a great song, typical John like lyrics, a rhythm guitar driving the story, great harmonies, backward guitar solos, even a yawn and a stretch.
It paints the picture of a guy who really just wants his bed and nothing else. Missing out while lying around? No way! He may be resting or sleeping or yawning but he knows what's going on outside, nothing gets past him!
There's a few songs that when I hear them make me want to blow the dust of my guitar and strum along, this is one of them. As mentioned the rhythm guitar carries the song from start to finish giving it the right speed and feel that the story is relating.
The vocal is suitably drowsy in quality and the aforementioned backward guitar solo just makes the dream like quality seem even more real. This was recorded at a time when the group were discovering that the studio was an ally and a tool to be used to channel their ideas, with the help of course of their career long mentor, George Martin.
It's tracks like I'm Only Sleeping that show the immense talent and productivity they had to produce. Revolver was recorded while The Beatles were still an active live band...touring, TV appearances...still the worlds most popular attraction. Time in the studio was limited and songs were still being written "on the hoof".
Compare that to Sgt Pepper.
No touring, fewer appearances, full days, and many of them, just recording and writing in the studio, it makes the pre Pepper catalogue even more remarkable, and this particular group of songs even more extraordinary.In between being mop top Beatles they were still able to come up with the idea of backward guitars, convey their ideas, try out the plan and execute it perfectly before dashing off to a theatre to sing Love Me Do or Twist and Shout...as I said, remarkable.
Love You To
Four tracks in and a surprise.
Normally George would appear once and then we would hear him only on backing vocals or through one his majestic guitar riffs...but hold on! Another George offering is on its way! And the surprise doesn't stop there...
This song isn't your normal run of the mill tune.
To understand the surprise element of this lets go back to the time of release.
In the summer of 1966 the musical revolution began by The Beatles was evolving at a rapid pace, and, as it should be The Beatles themselves were at the forefront.
Put yourself in the shoes for a moment of an average 1960s music loving member of the public.
You have become an avid fan of Radio Luxembourg and possibly pirate radio, you have bought records in possibly copious amounts and you have loved the wonderful output of music from artists that just a few short years earlier you had never heard of.
You placed an album on your record player and heard the kind of music you had grown to love, played on instruments you were familiar with, guitar, piano, bass etc etc...
During 1965 there had been the odd sound or two within songs that you could put down to being a bit of a novelty but you put up with this as it was still within a pop song.
An example of this was the Indian instrument, the sitar.
Prior to 1965 it would be safe to say that this instrument had only been heard by a small minority of people or possibly the odd chord or two in films that had an Indian scene, it was certainly not a common instrument within popular music, until 1965.
The Beatles introduced it to their repertoire of instruments during the film soundtrack of Help! And it can be heard on the American version of the single within the James Bond style introduction. It was also included as the instrument of choice for Norwegian Wood on Rubber Soul.
Others followed including the Rolling Stones.
Though well known by 1967, it was not so well known of George Harrison's growing interest and attraction to Indian music and his professional and personal friendship with the most famous Indian musician of the time Ravi Shankar.
Music lovers of 1966 were made fully aware of this once track four of Revolver commenced, for what they heard was not your normal guitar based tune but a full on Indian arrangement, George was now composing Western songs in an Indian style.
The songs introduction tells you it's going to different from the first chords and then it's off on a very different musical journey and in truth you either went with it or you didn't.
There were many different opinions within my household on first hearing..."that's weird" " that's not a Beatles song" etc etc... But in truth it is very much a Beatle song, it is very much typically Beatles to be at the front of music evolution, of trying new things within popular music, pushing boundaries and also George was only following the lead of John and Paul who said a year or so earlier that The Beatles want to play and create music that they love and George had fallen in love with India and its music.
The other three Beatles positively encouraged this as having a really well written and performed song of this type only enhanced their reputation of being trend setters and leaders in their field.
The song was a perfect fit within an album so varied in style.
This songs style enabled Love You To to contain some typically sharp wry George lyrics, sung with a no nonsense unpretentious tone which perfectly dove tailed the music.
Here There & Everywhere
I mentioned earlier in the book, well done to those of you who retained enough patience to read this line and to those awake enough to remember that I said I felt Revolver was a strong Paul album with Rubber Soul being a strong John album. Track 5 in my view confirms this and also confirms a lot of other things about this great group.
I have to declare a slight bias here as this track is one of my favourite Beatle songs and I believe one of the greatest melodies written, there you go, not biased at all.
My task now is to try and justify that last sentence as it is quite a claim.
Let's look at it first of all from a non Beatle angle.
It became fashionable in the 70s and 80s for orchestras to cover pop songs, in my view it was an attempt to do two things.
Firstly to try and elevate popular music to new audiences, who would not normally give it the time of day and secondly to try and show that the pop songs that had been all the rage in the 60s and 70s were not just a group of people playing guitars loudly and screaming down a microphone.
Now this new trend didn't work on every occasion as some songs were meant to be played in a rock style only.
Where it did work and work incredibly well was when the song being covered had a great melody, Here There And Everywhere is one such song.
It's head on the block time here and I can see Beatle fans everywhere beginning to frown as they look at these words but... To fully appreciate this beautiful piece of music listen to it played by a full orchestra, The Beatles Concerto is, I believe, the finest example of this.
Have I just committed a Beatle blasphemy there? Am I forever to be condemned to the back wall of the Cavern? Will I join Adolf Hitlers mannequin on the periphery of the Sgt Pepper album? Be compared to the police officer who insisted the final live performance of the greatest group ever should end all to prematurely? I hope not.
One of the first quotes I remember hearing about John Lennon and Paul McCartney was that they were considered to be the best song writers since Schubert. I was only quite young when I heard this and had never heard any of Schubert's greatest hits but for these two local lads to be compared to a renowned classical composer made me think and made me listen to their music in a different way.
Yes I still played the records, yes I still lapped up the wonderful recordings but now I was listening for reasons why I liked them and working out why such a bold comparison could be made, Here, There And Everywhere is an,excuse the pun, classic example of what I mean. A truly beautiful melody of which any composer of any age would have been proud to write.
As mentioned John Paul and George were writing these songs whilst globe trotting from hotel room to stadium and they would record their latest masterpieces on a tape recorder and play them back, at one such playback John mentioned to Paul that he thought Paul's best work was the songs that were classical in nature, he said that after he heard the tape of Here, There And Everywhere.
My final point on this masterpiece is to return to my head block as I think they could have been more imaginative with the recording as it is quite basic compared to other tracks on this superb album, again my opinion only, but for me it is one of the two game changers from this collection...a masterpiece.
Yellow Submarine
In the pre amble to this ramble you may remember that I stated that I'll Get You was the first Beatle song I ever heard, Yellow Submarine was, more than likely, the first Beatle song I ever sung.
I do have a vivid memory at my infant school, I think they call it reception class or year one these days, of screeching out with 30 or so other little darlings "We all live in a yellow submarine" or in my case screeching "Lellow submarine" as yellow was a word I had trouble pronouncing.
So like millions and millions of people world wide the Beatles had crept into my sub conscious and worked their way into my psyche, but what of the song itself?
Well first of all it was made for Ringo.
Ringo is often lampooned, often criticised, often overlooked in the Beatle story, but the fact is this, without him there would have been no Beatles as we know them.
The chemistry that was John Paul George and Ringo was pure magic and the early success of the fabs Beatlemania was a result of that package. Take any one of the four elements out and you simply don't have The Beatles.
Each element appealed to a different area of the public, each element brought their own qualities to the table, each element created the whole.
Put simply The Beatles were John, Paul, George and Ringo... No more and certainly no less.
Ringo played his part to perfection with this song. True, he had always been given one song to sing on past albums, well all except A Hard Days Night he was given the best solo bit in the film, but it is this song that he is probably most associated with.
It would set him up for a lifetime of appealing to the younger generations. Unbeknown at the time of its release this song would become a film, an animated film that would appeal to young and old, it would be turned into a football chant, it would become embedded in the sub conscious of millions of kids singing it in school, as previously stated, it would sustain Ringo until his legendary status in this field was enhanced with the advent of a certain little blue engine, again, it could have been written for him.
One thing this song wasn't about though was drugs.
Not helped by themselves at this time, everything they did was scrutinised for references to the new culture of drugs, there are plenty of inferences which were not even remotely hidden on this album but there was certainly none in Yellow Submarine.
People could not really get their heads around the fact that the greatest talent on the planet could write a children's song, but, that's what it was and is and as children's songs go it is up there with the best of them.
Simple, catchy and a subject matter that fires a child like, not drug induced, imagination.
Like all good children's entertainment there is comedy there too with sound effects and different voices galore and the whole song built around a simple chant, simply put a classic.
It was also part of possibly one of the strangest number one records ever, a double A side with Eleanor Rigby, certainly one of the most contrasting singles ever.
As I mentioned earlier Beatle songs are sometimes overlooked as twee, this is one of those songs, don't believe it.
She Said She Said
The final track of what would be side 1 on a record, ahhh those were the days my friend, cue mandolins, is a song with more than a subtle reference to the effects of, shall we say, external influences on body and mind.
No hidden meanings, no trying to hide them, it is a song all about one persons journey through an artificially induced experience and like it or not it is superbly captured by John.
John's contribution to side one was certainly more limited than on previous albums, two songs, background voices and humour but as always with John however limited whatever he did provided talking points and She Said She Said is no exception and was a warm up for his massive impact to side two, but more of that later, no spoilers here!
If I'm Only Sleeping was a wry tongue in cheek story She Said She Said is full on no holds barred tale right from line one, She Said I know what it's like to be dead, not exactly Yellow Submarine is it?
John had witnessed this during a party earlier in the year when one of his co guests had described her trip to the expanded area, and John being John stored it and turned it into a powerful pop song. Catchy guitar rift is hidden by the sheer power of the statement of the first line and it is the subject matter that in my view carries this song through.
It is as dark as it comes and is another great example on this record of a difficult subject matter being told in song Eleanor Rigby being the other classic example, just five tracks previously.
Say what you like about Revolver it takes you on a roller coast mood ride, never dull, never boring.
End Of Side One
Now, as mentioned several times this may be an alien concept for some.
Music with sides? How do you turn a CD over? My iPod plays music any way up! What is he talking about?
In much simpler days gone by, as some young music lovers are discovering now, vinyl was the way we in the vast majority of cases listened to our music, though cassettes were an option, and as those in the know, know, records had two sides.
There was a definite feel of part 1 and 2 and break was like an intermission, gave you time to ponder on what you had just heard and built up the anticipation for the next instalment.
Was it worth the short walk to the player to turn the record over rather than just let the album continuously play digitally? Well yes it probably was.
So, we have made that imaginary walk, we have contemplated side 1, we have lifted the album off the turntable, flipped it over and asked the record player to now transport us to the wonderful world of side 2.
Side 2
Good Day Sunshine
Whether it is as important to have an impactful song on the flip side of an album is open to debate. The feel of the album has been established, the quality has, in most cases, been confirmed and the listener to all intense and purposes has been hooked, they are in, there to the bitter end, unless the album is an absolute disaster whereby it could well be back in its cover never to see the light of day again, or, given as a present if you have managed to avoid finger prints on the vinyl.
As agreed already, well at least by me, there was no such danger of this particular piece of plastic suffering that fate following the joyous ride of side 1.
However to be on the rather unnecessary safe side Revolver has another Beatle gem to help commence the listeners journey through the flip side.
The track doesn't start with a in your face guitar rift, or fierce vocal, or a burst of drums. Instead it has a quiet gradual build up of one piano chord joined eventually with a gentle drum accompaniment just prior to the vocal, not singing the first verse but the chorus and the title of the song.
Again it is a song of its time it leading the way. Around this period groups such as The Kinks, Loving Spoonful, The Turtles were producing piano based catchy "summer tunes"
The kind of songs that immediately take you to an era, a time when you were under the Impression that summers were always long and hot and everything in the garden was rosy. Sunny Afternoon, Daydream et al all take you there but as was generally the case the Fab Four were just that one step ahead.
Good Day Sunshine is a song that a great many people will recognise and sing along to, it is instantly recognisable McCartney, it is one of those songs that surely was a number 1 because everyone knows it and it has been played that often.
Well we were spot on until the final part of that sentence. As with so many Beatle songs, as already alluded to, Good Day Sunshine was played like a single, such was the appetite for Beatle music radio playlists included everything. So, naturally, it was assumed as it was on the radio it was in the charts.
This assumption was one I shared when younger, and when I first received a copy of the red and blue albums, which was actually on cassette from a relative in America, I thought that all the tracks were number ones! Ironic thing is, all of them would have been if released as singles.
However, I digress, which is unlike me, I mean I never go off at a tangent using a hundred words when one would do, do I? Neve mind, as I was saying, back to the song in question. As I said it is typical McCartney, catchy, melodic, memorable.
As with many of the tracks on this wonderful pies of vinyl the production is cleverly simple and I always get the feeling listening to this that it is almost live. This is confirmed with the way John tries to make Paul laugh in one of the verses by inserting a deep voiced "cheeky" in response to the line "she feels good" you can hear the smile in Pauls voice as he sings the next line, wonderful.
And Your Bird Can Sing
Even on the most average artist you find a hidden gem of a song tucked away on an album, a song that the artist wanted to include but the record company thought too in commercial for release so there it sits forever, languishing in the album track desert of obscurity.
With The Beatles it was different, as explained in the previous songs section.
However there are even Beatle songs that slip through the net and are, amazingly, under played and under valued, this is one such song.
A classic piece of John pop.
Great guitar rift, racing pace for foot tapping, great tune, and typically quirky John lyrics, what does all that equate to? A classic. That's what!
And Your Bird Can Sing would be a stand out on most artist albums, certainly a number one and should be up there in the upper echelon of Beatle album tracks. The thing is, it isn't.
For some reason this song isn't played as much as others and is possibly one of the least known, the question is why?
The answer is, I don't know! It has everything as explained, my theory is this.
Revolver is seen as a shift in style, a platonic move towards a different era and sound and I happen to believe that people think of this song as belonging to earlier Beatle times, not out of place on A Hard Days Night or Help!
How wrong they are.
The Beatles really were, intentionally or otherwise, all things to all men, and women. And this song proves it.
Yes, it is different to a lot of the songs on the album, but isn't that the point?
Even if the people who think of it as a throw back got their way and placed this on an earlier album it would have blown the rest of the album away, it's Beatle pop but 1966 style not 64 or even 65
The song has gradually become more popular over recent years, it was included in the Anthology collection as an outtake with John and Paul laughing their way through it and I have noticed on social media music sites more people uploading it as a favourite.
Long may it continue! This is one song that refuses to be just an album track.
For No One
In one of the first paragraphs of this self indulgent wollow through my favourite collection of music, I mentioned that while Rubber Soul was one of John's high points, Revolver was a Paul peak.
It was as if everything he thought of came together and this song is another reason I made that statement.
It's typical McCartney.
You first listen to it and you think, that's nice, a nice simple ditty.
Second listen you think, oh that's clever, love that piece of melody.
By the time of your third, fourth and beyond listens you are in awe.
Great melody, fantastic arrangement which includes a horn again, or rather, not again but for the first time. The 1967 masterpieces they produced seem to be credited with the introduction of different sounds and instruments, including horns and trumpets but it is this album again that leads the way with that.
A glorious horn piece in this song, the sitar, the backward guitar, the brass section in a later song and, well, all kinds, in one another yet to be discussed song. Revolver really was a game changer in sound and studio work.
Another element of this song is the lyric.
Once again Paul manages to encapsulate a situation in one short piece of music. As with Eleanor Rigby there is a tale of loneliness or in this case pending loneliness as the lady of his fictional mans choice clearly isn't a permanent fixture and realisation hits making the song hauntingly atmospheric. Again as mentioned, Paul could write good lyrics.
As with the vast majority of tracks on Revolver, this song is compact, powerful, a condensed dose of genius, yes it is only a couple of minutes or just over long but is there really any need for more? Would an extra verse or extra instrumental piece really add anything? I think not, I'm not sure anything would improve this classic.
Dr Robert
Whilst I was extolling the virtues of the previous track I mentioned on how Paul could, despite, the common belief, write a damn good lyric and Revolver has classic examples of this.
John had this reputation already.
John was the words guy, and to a certain extent this was true. After all John had written two books. He always liked the way words were used and how you could use words in different ways.
An early example of this was Please Please Me. John spoke about how he liked the way the word please was used in the Bing Crosby song. "Please listen to my pleas" and he used this for the first Beatle album title.
His use of words is legendary and you only need to look at some of his Beatle catalogue for the proof. From love songs to more, shall we say, different word use, you will find evidence of Johns love of words everywhere. Girl, In My Life, Strawberry Fields, I am the Walrus, need I go on? Oh I do! Ok, A Day in the Life, Julia, Across the Universe, I'm Only Sleeping, and the final two John tracks on revolver use words in very different ways too.
We will talk about the final John track later but Dr Robert is also a fine example of his way with words. On first listen, quite an ordinary, catchy pop tune. Then listen again, and you here the word play, the comic tale of a medical man who can cure almost anything, non medical.
The word play is there from the first line, "ring my friend I said you'd call " does he mean his friend, or are you his friend? We then find out he is friends with both the good doctor and you, " my friend works for the national health" and the tongue in cheek, " don't pay money just to see yourself" a fine lyric.
And then there is the Christmassy style middle eight. " Well well well your feeling fine" a statement. " well well well he'll make you" same words, different meaning, typical John.
Much perceived as a throw away album filler, it could t be further from the truth.
Listening to this you'll be feeling fine. Guaranteed.
I Want to Tell You
Revolver was big turning point in the Beatle career of George.
It was only natural that John and Paul would take most plaudits, their productivity and quality of songwriting was second to none.
In other groups having such strong up front personalities pushed the other band members to the roll of session musicians. No disrespect here but apart from their biggest fans how many people can name all of the members of say The Kinks? Or Beach Boys? Or even dare I say it the Stones?
The Beatles were as mentioned John Paul George and Ringo and the strength of the latter two must never be underestimated, weaker men would be lost.
This is borne out by George having 3 songs on a 14 track album, not a bad percentage and not bad songs either!
His final contribution his I Want to Tell You.
This, in my view is a typical George early Beatle songwriting song, a little quirky, intentionally off key in places and a great tune. It is also a style George would keep returning to.
He had given us a taster of this with his second contribution to Help!
You Like Me Too Much had a similar feel and the piano sound matching perfectly imperfectly with the rest of the tune. Speed the clock on to the 1980s and that piano can be heard again in Georges brilliant tongue in cheek stroll down Beatle memory lane with When We Was Fab.
I Want To Tell You has many other attributes as well.
It begins with a faded in simple but brilliant guitar rift which obviously influenced many artists. Listen to acts such as the ultimate tribute group, the Monkees et al and that sound and style comes through again and again.
When I listen to this song it sums up a lot of what Revolver is about. Clever clever clever.
It's melody seems basic at first then you listen to different sounds going on in the song, the harmony from mainly Paul, the prominence of Pauls bass, that piano it's all there and all coming together perfectly. Add to this Georges typically rambling the style of lyric and you have yet another masterful album track.
I Want To Tell You George, your contributions to this collection have been invaluable.
Got To Get You Into My Life
I have previously said that many Beatle songs are thought of as singles and chart hits though the vast majority were only released on the original albums.
This is one such song.
It's no secret that John and especially Paul loved The Motown sound and it this evident from their very early days and what was included in their repertoire. Also in their selection of tracks for the early albums, Money, You Really Got A Hold On Me Please Mr Postman etc etc this song was probably the nearest to that style from one of their own contributions.
As with so much of this album this song grabs you from the first second... Brass? On a Beatles song? Yes! and then the killer tune, the many hooks and catches within it and the lyric.
A love song from Paul, isn't that nice? Looking at the girl and saying how empty his life was without her in it, oh did I say girl there? Sorry I should have said LSD because that's who Paul was singing to, as John and George a little sarcastically stated a good few times in later years.
Yes Paul had finally followed his mates into the world of mind expansion and yet through all that wild and whacky experience he summed it up in one of the most catchy love songs he wrote.
The driving rhythm of the song is incessant and your feet tap from start to finish, it's typically Motownesque with excellent bass line and half sung half response from brass section chorus, and what a vocal from Paul, it has everything, even some simple but clever, again, electric guitar from George to remind everyone this was not made in Detroit this was made on the Mersey via Abbey Road.
The song, not surprisingly, was covered many times most famously by Earth Wind & Fire, in truth they didn't need to do a lot with it as the basis was there already for a top soul act to record a top soul song.
This song would have been a marvellous, fitting conclusion to this collection in normal circumstances, but as with everything The Beatles did, this was not a normal circumstance and there would be one more track to close this album.
Tomorrow Never Knows
On the 5th October 1962 The Beatles released their first record.
As George Martin once said it was the best of what they offered him around that time, yet the group had such faith in their own ability they insisted that they only released their own material as the single.
Love Me Do was, actually still is, a simple catchy love song with a harmonica driven rhythm.
Just 200 weeks or 1400 days later, a blink of an eye in music terms, The Beatles released Revolver and this track more than any other epitomised the journey they had taken us on.
Tomorrow Never Knows is, in my opinion, the transition song from the early Beatles to the later Beatles. The point on the timeline that you can plainly see, or rather hear, the change.
Albums up to The Beatles had been money spinners, cashing in on single success, and in truth that was George Martins plan with the Fab Four, Please Please Me would capitalise on Love Me Do and the growing Liverpool fan base.
However everyone would soon realise that these guys were different, just filling albums with any old rubbish was no longer good enough, the bar had been irreversibly raised.
Every single Beatle album has tracks that any other artist would kill for as a single.
That mould that they created would now be broken, by The Beatles themselves!
Revolver was that mould breaker and this song was the hammer that smashed it.
It laid the foundations for their future projects, it showed them what was possible, how they could push the boundaries to the limits, it showed them that Pepper was possible.
If you compare Tomorrow Never Knows to any other Beatle album track that came before it you find that it is incomparable, absolutely nothing sounds like it, absolutely nothing is arranged like it, it is absolutely unique.
I know how I felt when I first heard this track, it was at first disbelief, was that The Beatles? Was that the same album I had been listening too? Did it really sound like that?
To answer those questions I had to keep carefully replacing the stylus onto this track, so much easier now with the push of a button, but the steady hand was worth it to hear it again and again.
The fade in, the fantastic drum and bass of Ringo and Paul, were they seagulls? Actually no they were snippets of Paul laughing cut up reversed and who knows what else and put in a loop.
Johns vocal then hits you.
It's definitely him but in a strange way it's not him, not the same voice as in Love Me Do or A Hard Days Night or any of them. It's mechanised, hypnotic and when he advises us to turn off our minds and relax , you do. Instantly.
And as we float down stream other sounds attack our now weakened defences.
More backward, forward and side ways loops creating an almost eerie atmosphere, we soon realise this is not just a song, it's an experience, a journey, it's Hitchcock in music, your hooked and wondering where we go next.
More seagulls more atmosphere, then a guitar instrumental.
Guitar instrumental? Boring!! Nope, this a backward sliding rolling instrumental not breaking the atmosphere but enhancing it, totally. And all the time the hypnotic drum, bass and vocal carry you through.
The lyric is often overlooked and when it isn't it is usually thought of as slightly morose and depressing. It is in fact the total opposite. It's suggesting a way for optimism, a release.
Step back look and listen to what's around, listen to what your telling yourself, there is a better way, love is all and love is everyone (a full year before the summer of love) reach out to end, but not the end, it's the end of the beginning, of the beginning repeated like a mantra half a dozen times before being taken over by a honky tonk piano as it to confirm the dream like atmosphere. Was it a dream? No it was real.
As the last notes of the piano fade away and silence arrives you realise that there's no more, that's it! The journey is complete and yet, it's not, you find yourself going back to that impromptu count in on track one and start again.
In August 1966 this was the only option as the world only had The Beatles catalogue up to this point, it would be another 10 months before they could continue the album journey.
10 months between albums, an age for The Beatles, they were used to two albums a year, imagine today's guys trying that?!?! But in this 10 months they would use the Revolver experience and go forward, Strawberry Fields Forever Penny Lane would be the best single they released and certainly the best single never to be number one.
The months would go by and still nothing. Had they split? Had they dried up? Surely not?
Would Tomorrow Never Knows be the final Beatle album track, was there a clue in the title? No more Beatles after today?
Well in a way there was a clue in the title except in August 1966 only The Beatles knew the answer for tomorrow would see them reach their peak of popularity as tomorrow they would produce the album that they would best be remembered for, the album that is instantly recognisable, the album that has had more words written about it than possibly anything else in popular music an album that could not have been made or conceived without its predecessor, without the album in its shadow.
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band would not exist without Revolver.
The Cover
Even though this was written as a fans tribute to the wonderful music on this album I feel it would have been a little remiss of me not to share some thoughts about the package that this remarkable piece of plastic was stored in.
Album art before The Beatles was a little, shall I say, predictable. The fabs changed all that from day one.
You need proof? Ok.
Let's take a look one album at a time, Please Please Me, the four young lads peering down from what looks like a block of flats, oozes ordinary, normal and yet announces loudly, here we are!! This picture was replicated during the last throws of the band in 1969 and was used as the cover for the blue part of the red and blue albums in 1973.
Their second album has every right to be classed a iconic.
The half light half shadow faces is as recognisable as any Beatle image.
A Hard Days Night with the film cell effect, Beatles For Sale with the fabs again staring back at you reflecting the mood of the album.
Help! With the semaphore image. Again, instantly recognisable.
All of the above moving cover art forward leaps and bounds, all of the above though had two words that the next two albums didn't contain, The Beatles.
In the space of just a couple of years these four men had become so recognisable that they had no need to say who they were, the world knew it was the Beatles.
Rubber Soul had them in a slightly stretched image cooly dressed and full of confidence.
Revolver took that popularity and fame one step further, a drawing, a cartoon like cover intermingled with pictures and little in jokes. John's hand stroking Ringo's leg, Paul reclining in Ringo's hair, the band leaning on John's head, John seemingly hitting George on his head while he is wearing his safari hat, the Rolling Stones even appear tangled in John's hair.
A collection of mixed up drawings and images with no mention of a name but instantly The Beatles, long time friend Klaus Voorman who created it deserved his awards.
Once again Revolver blazed the trail for what followed.
Sgt Pepper is the album cover that all remember and it quite rightly lorded for its style, imagery and imagination but, again, it couldn't have happened without Revolver.
The remaining albums became minimalist, to the point that their final album not only didn't have their name on it, the album title was also not there.
What was there on that Abbey Road album cover was an image of the four most famous musicians of all time, there are times when words are not necessary.
