Beatles Archives - Page 26 of 34 - Ramblin' with Roger

B is for Big Daddy

I found a link that goes to some Big Daddy songs, including all of Sgt. Pepper.

There was a music group called Big Daddy. Perhaps more than one group. The one I’m talking about had this particular shtick, which you can read about here and here, which was that, basically, the group allegedly toured Southeast Asia in 1959, got stuck there, and were finally rescued in 1983. They heard the modern music and hated it, and so decided to “fix” it by recording the newer songs in the ways familiar to them.

Charles Hill put together a nice discography. Pop culture writer Mark Evanier has been a booster of the group.

The first album, which I own on vinyl, was BIG DADDY, aka What Really Happened To The Band Of ’59 (1983), which featured:

I Write The Songs, the Barry Manilow song actually written by Bruce Johnston, “Evoking Danny and the Juniors”
Star Wars. “Duane Eddy sits in with the Ventures”
Whip It. The Devo song is “Truly a standing-on-the-corner song for once”
Hotel California. “The stranger in town [in this Eagles’ tune] seems to be Del Shannon.”
Eye Of The Tiger

Album #2 was MEANWHILE…BACK IN THE STATES (1985) and featured:

Dancing In The Dark (Springsteen).
I Just Called To Say I Love You (Wonder)
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – “The Duchess of Earl gets her say”

CUTTING THEIR OWN GROOVE (1991 CD), which is actually available for MP3 download on Amazon for $10; preview the 15 songs.

But my favorite is SGT. PEPPER’S, a 1992 CD that I own:

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Chaz thinks it’s rooted in the Coasters’ Poison Ivy. It’s DEFINITELY the Coasters.
With A Little Help From My Friends – “Billy Shears unmasked as Johnny Mathis,” specifically Chances Are.
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds – “Goodness, gracious, great tangerine dreams;” Jerry Lee Lewis’ Great Balls of Fire.
Getting Better – “At least as good as cherry pie”.
Fixing A Hole – Dion’s “The Wanderer, updated”.
She’s Leaving Home – “She’s so young, and we’re so old”.
Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite – “Last seen stopped at the top of a Ferris wheel” at Palisades Park.
Within You Without You – “On the whole, word jazz is preferable to sitars”; I can practically see the beatnik with his goatee and shades
When I’m Sixty-Four – “And playing dominoes for sixty minutes at a stretch”
Lovely Rita – “The name of his latest flame” (Elvis)
Good Morning, Good Morning – “Instruments? What instruments?”
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
A Day In The Life – “That’ll be the day” – or more specifically the Buddy Holly songs Rave On and, on the bridge, Every Day.

Big Daddy – With A Little Help From My Friends

Found at abmp3 search engine

I found the link HERE that goes to some Big Daddy songs, including all of Sgt. Pepper. It’s from that source I was able to create the doohickey above.

ABC Wednesday – Round 9

Ringo Starr is 71

What do I do for Ringo’s birthday? I play Beatles cover albums.

I decided, for reasons not entirely known even to me, to mark the birthdays of both of the surviving Beatles each year.

In the case of Ringo Starr, he took a bit of heat for apparently dissing his hometown of Liverpool, England, a comment he said was just a joke. “I love Liverpool,” said the drummer on a recent UK TV interview. He and Liverpool have kissed and made up.

Ringo, who Paul McCartney believes should be knighted, is my daughter’s favorite Beatle, and the one Beatle she constantly identifies correctly in photos.

Did I ever mention how I play my Beatles music through the year?

In October, around John Lennon’s birthday, I play the canon, the British albums, as the group intended them, plus the Past Masters (mostly singles). For George’s birthday in February, I listen to my American albums; George was the first Beatle to come to the US, visiting his sister. June is Paul McCartney’s birthday, and I play that post-canon stuff, such as the BBC, the Anthologies, LOVE, and the like.

So what do I do for Ringo’s birthday? I play Beatles cover albums. There are a lot of them, and I have more than my share. Some are your standard compilations, but some have a single artist doing all Beatles tunes. Several take a particular album and recreate it, using several artists; usually put together by a magazine such as MOJO.

But sometimes, it’s just one artist covering an album. I have both Big Daddy and Cheap Trick doing Sgt. Pepper, and The Smithereens doing the first Capitol album, Meet the Beatles. I also have George Benson doing songs from Abbey Road, but he doesn’t cover the whole album.
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Listen to some Beatles covers.

One of my favorite Beatles covers, ever: You’ve got to hide your love away – Joe Cocker

Macca is 69, and soon Brian will be

“Dennis is clapping like his life depended on it.”

Paul McCartney formerly of the Beatles turns 69 today. Brian Wilson, formerly of the Beach Boys, will be 69 on June 20. The southpaws, labelmates in the US on Capitol Records, inspired each other musically.

NEXT year, I’ll post my favorite songs by McCartney (solo/with Wings) and the Beach Boys. But these are the songs that have caught my attention recently:

Heather from McCartney’s Driving Rain album; I hadn’t listened to it very much, and the song is a new discovery. It’s about Paul’s daughter, BTW, not his now ex-wife.
You Won’t See Me, one of my favorite Macca Beatles songs.

And a couple of versions of the Beach Boys I Get Around. In the first one, as a commenter noted, “Dennis is clapping like his life depended on it.” It has some brief ads at the end. Here’s a clean version

What McCartney and Wilson songs, solo or in their groups, have struck your fancy lately?

The McCartney and McCartney II albums have been re-released, as a pair of double albums.

Paul McCartney Joined By Family, Celebrities At Linda McCartney Photo Launch this month.
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Since it’s also Roger Ebert’s 69th birthday, here is his TED Talk: Remaking My Voice.

Summer Songs QUESTION

I HATE it when two or even three songs are counted as a song.

Entertainment Weekly did one of those lists of summer songs, again. Some radio station has the full 100 list, with video links to most of them.

The * indicates the ones that came to me on the list.

100. ”STAY (I MISSED YOU)” (1994)
Lisa Loeb
99. ”TENNESSEE” (1992)
Arrested Development
98. ”WE’RE AN AMERICAN BAND” (1973)
Grand Funk Railroad
97. ”RADAR LOVE” (1974)
Golden Earring
96. ”THE LOVE YOU SAVE” (1970)
The Jackson 5
95. ”DANCING IN THE DARK” (1984)
Bruce Springsteen
94. ”FUNKYTOWN” (1980)
Lipps Inc.
93. ”YAKETY YAK” (1958)
The Coasters
92. ”SUMMERTIME, SUMMERTIME” (1958)
The Jamies
91. ”GANGSTER’S PARADISE” (1995)
Coolio
90. ”KISS FROM A ROSE” (1995)
Seal
89. ”MACHO MAN” (1978)
The Village People
88. ”MY CHERIE AMOUR” (1969)
Stevie Wonder
87. ”WATERLOO” (1974)
ABBA
86. ”SUMMERTIME” (1991)
D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
85. ”THE END OF THE INNOCENCE” (1989)
Don Henley
84. ”SAN FRANCISCO (BE SURE TO WEAR FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR)” (1967)
Scott McKenzie
83. ”MY LOVE” (2006)
Justin Timberlake
82. ”UNDER THE BRIDGE” (1992)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
81. ”HOT IN HERRE” (2002)
Nelly
80. ”WILD THING” (1966)
The Troggs
79. ”HOT BLOODED” (1978)
Foreigner
78. ”TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS” (1974)
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
77. ”LIVIN LA VIDA LOCA” (1999)
Ricky Martin
76. ”DON’T YOU WANT ME” (1982)
Human League
75. ”TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD” (1974)
Rufus
74. ”WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT” (1984)
Tina Turner
73. ”THIS LOVE” (2004)
Maroon 5
72. ”(THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU” (1970)
The Carpenters
71. ”A WHITER SHADE OF PALE” (1967)
Procol Harum
70. ”LET’S GET IT ON” (1973)
Marvin Gaye
69. ”VACATION” (1982)
The Go-Go’s
68. ”MO MONEY, MO PROBLEMS” (1997)
Notorious B.I.G. (featuring Mase, Puff Daddy)
67. ”LITTLE RED CORVETTE” (1982)
Prince
66. ”WE ARE FAMILY” (1979)
Sister Sledge
65. ”FOOLED AROUND AND FELL IN LOVE” (1976)
Elvin Bishop
64 ”KODACHROME” (1973)
Paul Simon
63. ”WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO” (1964)
The Supremes
62. ”SEA OF LOVE” (1959)
Phil Phillips with the Twilights
61. ”THE LOCO-MOTION” (1962)
Little Eva
60. ”UMBRELLA” (2007)
Rihanna
59. ”CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU” (1967)
Frankie Valli
58. ”ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE” (1967)
The Beatles
57. ”YOU BELONG WITH ME” (2009)
Taylor Swift
56. ”SMOOTH” (1999)
Santana, featuring Rob Thomas
55. ”SEALED WITH A KISS” (1962)
Brian Hyland
54. ”PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM” (1975)
Elton John
53. ”THE LETTER” (1967)
The Box Tops
52. ”HOLLABACK GIRL” (2005)
Gwen Stefani
51. ”SLEDGEHAMMER” (1986)
Peter Gabriel
50. ”YOU SHOULD BE DANCING” (1976)
Bee Gees
49. ”TAKE IT EASY” (1972)
The Eagles
48. ”(WE’RE GONNA) ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK” (1955)
Bill Haley & His Comets
47. ”CRAZY IN LOVE” (2003)
Beyoncé & Jay-Z
46. ”LIVE AND LET DIE” (1973)
Paul McCartney and Wings
45. ”I GOT YOU BABE” (1965)
Sonny and Cher
44. ”DON’T BE CRUEL”/”HOUND DOG” (1956)
Elvis Presley
43. ”GREEN ONIONS” (1962)
Booker T. & the MG’s
42. ”SUNSHINE SUPERMAN” (1966)
Donovan
41. ”GOOD TIMES” (1979)
Chic
40. ”GRAZING IN THE GRASS” (1968)
Hugh Masakela
39. ”GROOVIN”’ (1967)
The Rascals
38. ”FOREVER” (2008)
Chris Brown
37. ”STAND BY ME” (1961)
Ben E. King
36. ”RAMBLIN’ MAN” (1973)
The Allman Brothers Band
35. ”I DON’T WANT TO MISS A THING” (1998)
Aerosmith
34. ”MY SHARONA” (1979)
The Knack
33. ”MISS YOU” (1978)
Rolling Stones
32. ”WATERFALLS” (1995)
TLC
31. ”CRUEL SUMMER” (1984)
Bananarama
30. ”ALL I WANNA DO” (1994)
Sheryl Crow
29. ”THE TWIST”/”LET’S TWIST AGAIN” (1960/61)
Chubby Checker
28. ”BORN TO BE WILD” (1968)
Steppenwolf
27. ”YOU’RE THE ONE THAT I WANT”/”SUMMER NIGHTS” (1978)
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
”GREASE” (1978)
Frankie Valli
26. ”LIKE A ROLLING STONE” (1965)
Bob Dylan
25. ”DON’T GO BREAKING MY HEART” (1976)
Elton John and Kiki Dee
24. ”CALIFORNIA LOVE” (1996)
Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre
23. ”EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE” (1983)
The Police
22. ”WOULDN’T IT BE NICE” (1966)
The Beach Boys
21. ”WIPEOUT” (1963)
The Surfaris
20. ”CRAZY” (2006)
Gnarls Barkley
19. ”A HARD DAY’S NIGHT” (1964)
The Beatles
18. ”MAGGIE MAY” (1971)
Rod Stewart
17. ”IN THE SUMMERTIME” (1970)
Mungo Jerry
16. ”THE MESSAGE” (1982)
Grand Master Flash & the Furious Five
15. ”I GET AROUND” (1964)
The Beach Boys
14. ”HEY YA” (2003)
OutKast
13. ”ROCK THE BOAT” (1974)
The Hues Corporation
12. ”SUMMERTIME BLUES” (1958)
Eddie Cochran
11. ”(I CAN’T GET NO) SATISFACTION” (1965)
The Rolling Stones
10. ”HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME” (1969)
Sly & the Family Stone
9. ”BORDERLINE” (1984)
Madonna
8. ”DANCING IN THE STREET” (1964)
Martha and the Vandellas
7. ”CALIFORNIA GURLS” (2010)
Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
6. ”LIGHT MY FIRE” (1967)
The Doors
5. ”UNDER THE BOARDWALK” (1964)
The Drifters
4. ”HEAT WAVE” (1963)
Martha and the Vandellas
3. ”SCHOOL’S OUT” (1972)
Alice Cooper
2. ”CALIFORNIA GIRLS” (1965)
The Beach Boys
*1. ”SUMMER IN THE CITY” (1966)
The Lovin’ Spoonful

Incidentally, I HATE it when two or even three songs are counted as a song.

Surely, some of the ones I didn’t think of should also be on the list. But there are some that just mystify me, even though they came out in the summer.

BEATLES: A Hard Day’s Night was a hit in the summer of ’64, but so were lots of other songs. All You Need Is Love ditto for ’67. Here Comes the Sun or Good Day Sunshine feels more thematically valid.
BEACH BOYS: I Get Around and California Girls are good choices, but Wouldn’t It Be Nice? All of those surf and cars songs seem more appropriate, such as Surfer Girl, 409, Surfin’ USA, even Good Vibrations.

Then there are the songs that were missed:

Summer Breeze-Seals & Crofts
Palisades Park- Freddie Cannon
Sunny Afternoon-the Kinks
A Summer Song-Chad & Jeremy
Walkin’ on Sunshine-Katrina & the Waves
Up on the Roof-the Drifters

Others made cases for Boys of Summer or All She Wants To Do Is Dance_Don Henley, Summer Fling-k.d. lang, Afternoon Delight-Starlight Vocal Band, Summer of ’69-Bryan Adams, some country and reggae songs, and the entire oeuvre of Jimmy Buffett.

What songs would you add to or delete from the list?

Beatles Island Songs, 3-1

He’s utterly transfixed by the backwards tape, the chanting.

Before discussing my final three picks, I decided to rank the albums by adding up the ordinal values, then dividing by the number of tracks on the album; the lower the number, the better. I know this is particularly unfair to Abbey Road since those brief tracks didn’t make the cut, but the suite would have fared far better, and the album still did quite well. And comparing ordinals, with no other weights, is bad math. Whatever.

These are the British albums, so these are the British release dates:

# Title Release date

1 Please Please Me 1963, March 22 -137/125.86 (14)
2 With the Beatles 1963, November 22 – 126 (14)
3 A Hard Day’s Night 1964, July 10 – 62.54 (13)
4 Beatles for Sale 1964, December 4 – 136.29 (14)
5 Help! 1965, August 6 – 86.64 (14)
6 Rubber Soul 1965, December 3 – 87.64 (14)
7 Revolver 1966, August 5 – 59.57 (14)
9 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967, June 1 – 92.54(13)
17 Magical Mystery Tour 1976, November 18 – 96.91 (11)
10 The Beatles 1968, November 22 – 123.5 (30)
11 Yellow Submarine 1969, January 17 – 141 (4)
12 Abbey Road 1969, September 26 – 118.47 (17)
13 Let It Be 170.33/155 (12)
28 The Beatles Past Masters, Volume One 1988, March 7 – 107.89 (18)
29 The Beatles Past Masters, Volume Two 1988, March 7 – 96.13/88.6 (15)

My affection for Revolver is well known to me, but A Hard Day’s Night did amazingly well. I prefer Rubber Soul to Help! as an album, but I was feeling burned out at the time over some of the better tracks on RS (In My Life, Norwegian Wood, Michelle). And unsurprisingly, Let It Be did poorly.

Notes: Magical Mystery Tour was released in the US in 1967, but it wasn’t considered as part of the canon in the UK until nine years later.
Wow: With the Beatles, the album that spawned many of the songs from the US Meet the Beatles was released on the day of the John F. Kennedy assassination. The sociological implications…
The albums with two numbers involved me substituting a different version of the same song; all the second versions ended up at end of the list.
Album #8 is A Collection of the Beatles Oldies (But Goldies), 1966, December 10, which essentially served the same function as Past Masters 1 did years later.
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The rules of engagement

213-204
203-194
193-184
183-174
173-164
163-154
153-144
143-134
133-124
123-114
113-104
103-94
93-84
83-74
73-64
63-54
53-44
43-34
33-24
23-14
13-4

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3 Help! from Help! A little after 09/09/09, my daughter and I watched the movie Help!, her for the first time, me for the first time since watching a quadruple feature of A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Yellow Submarine and the ever depressing Let It Be in the early 1970s. Help!, which I also saw when it first came out in 1965, was less good than I remembered it. But I fell in love with the music all over again. This specific song my daughter knows all the lyrics to, without either encouragement or prompting from me. Moreover, I connect with the notion of Lennon actually making the song a cry for help, overwhelmed by making records and movies, touring, et al. Also, if one were on an island, needing help seems quite appropriate.
2 Got To Get You Into My Life from Revolver. Imagine, if you will, a teenage boy home alone in the late 1960s playing a great album. This McCartney song comes on, and he’s enjoying it well enough. But as it gets to the final chorus, he starts slowly increasing the volume, making the horn so resplendent in his ears and down his spinal column that he practically weeps for joy.
1 Tomorrow Never Knows from Revolver. So the stereo is pretty loud when the last song, by Lennon, comes on, and he’s utterly transfixed by the backward tape, the chanting. Totally mesmerizing. Ultimately, the bass/drum section could be applied to any number of Beatles songs. Try singing A Hard Day’s Night or any number of other songs to it; it works. I realized this when I heard the LOVE album, and the mashup of Within You Without You with Tomorrow Never Knows really elevated my appreciation of the former, and in doing so, stoked my appreciation for the latter. Heck, it even goes with Jingle Bells. Some background on one of the most audacious recordings the Beatles would ever attempt.

Well, that was fun. Or something.