JEOPARDY! answers (questions at the end)
TV HISTORY $600: The British invaded this show in 1964 as the Beatles appeared on Feb. 9 & the Rolling Stones on Oct. 25
DON’T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB $400: He quit as the Beatles’ bass player to become a painter in 1961
POP MUSIC $200: Feedback was first used in pop music in this Beatles song.
20th CENTURY HISTORY $200: A book by Jim O’Donnell chronicles July 6, 1957, the day these 2 Beatles first met
’60s ROCK $100: Bob Dylan & Dion were the only 2 other rock singers on the cover of this 1967 Beatles album
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John Lennon and Jesus, 4 March 1966
Beatles Sons: Their musical histories and careers(Can you name the five Beatles sons?)
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The rules of engagement
53 It’s Only Love from Help! (UK), Rubber Soul (US). This Lennon piece is the first song on the second side of the US Rubber Soul album, and I always hear it as such. The repackaging by the American producers caused so much confusion among US listeners that, years later, there were two box sets of four CDs each of the Capitol Records the way we Americans first heard them; Rubber Soul was the last disc on the latter collection.
52 Magical Mystery Tour from Magical Mystery Tour. The McCartney song serves the same function as the title song to Sgt. Pepper; it’s ranked higher because it’s more realized as a song, rather than a snippet. Also appreciate the changing beat.
51 We Can Work It Out from A-side of single (UK), Yesterday and Today (US). The optimistic McCartney juxtaposed with the more plaintive Lennon middle 8 (“life is very short”). Great Stevie Wonder cover of this, BTW.
50 I’m Looking Through You from Rubber Soul. I always liked Ringo on the organ of this McCartney song.
49 I Saw Her Standing There from Please Please Me (UK), Introducing the Beatles/Meet the Beatles. The count in, the handclaps. McCartney, with Lennon.
48 Can’t Buy Me Love from A Hard Day’s Night (UK, US), Hey Jude album (US). When the Beatles held the top five songs on the Billboard charts on April 4, 1964, this McCartney classic was #1, the third Beatles #1 in a row, after I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You.
47 Penny Lane from Magical Mystery Tour. I remember watching the videos for this McCartney song and Strawberry Fields Forever on a show called Where The Action Is, one of those Dick Clark shows on ABC. When it was rebroadcast, inexplicably at 8 a.m., I (cough) realized that (cough) I just wasn’t (cough, cough) feeling well enough to go to school that day.
46 Strawberry Fields Forever from Magical Mystery Tour. This Lennon song and Penny Lane were among the first prepared for the Sgt. Pepper album, but it was nowhere near ready, so the recordings became a Double A-side single. This was one of the songs that fueled the Paul is dead craze, when John says, “cranberry sauce,” but was heard as “I buried Paul.”
45 Nowhere Man from Rubber Soul (UK), Yesterday and Today (US). A most personally relatable Lennon song at the time.
44 When I’m Sixty-Four from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Yet another McCartney saloon tune, perhaps his earliest one, written when he was a teen, but the best realized. When Macca actually turned 64 in June of 2006, it was fodder in all the papers.
JEOPARDY! questions:
What was The Ed Sullivan Show?
Who was Stuart Sutcliffe?
What was “I Feel Fine”?
Who were John Lennon & Paul McCartney?
What was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band?