Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / The Beatles' Metamorphosis From Pop Stars To Cultural Icons [Episode 317]

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The Beatles' Metamorphosis From Pop Stars To Cultural Icons [Episode 317] · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

0:00
Speaker 1: On this episode of Book Don Rock. The end of
0:02
Speaker 1: summer nineteen sixty six, it marked the end of the
0:05
Speaker 1: road for the Beatles, but the beginning of something brand
0:08
Speaker 1: new and revolutionary. A look back at the Fab four's
0:11
Speaker 1: most creative period with author Gene Polpa. We're totally booked
0:16
Speaker 1: rock and roll.
0:18
Speaker 2: I mean, I'll leave you. You're reading. Little Hands says
0:21
Speaker 2: it's time to rock and roll.
0:22
Speaker 1: Rock band rout I totally booked. Welcome back to Book
0:32
Speaker 1: Don Rock. It's the podcast for those about to read
0:35
Speaker 1: and rock. I'm Eric Senach author Jene Pope, but he's
0:38
Speaker 1: back on the podcast. He was last on the show
0:40
Speaker 1: back in May to talk about his book British Invasion
0:43
Speaker 1: sixty four. Today we talk about not just one of
0:46
Speaker 1: those British Invasion bands, this is the British invasion band,
0:51
Speaker 1: the Beatles. The book is titled The Color of Your Dreams,
0:54
Speaker 1: Some Days in the Lives of the Beatles, which examines
0:57
Speaker 1: a time in the history of the Beatles that has
0:59
Speaker 1: often not been fully surveyed. And we're gonna do that today.
1:03
Speaker 1: It's good to see again, Jane. How you doing great?
1:04
Speaker 2: Sing you Eric, I'm doing good. How about yourself?
1:06
Speaker 1: I am doing great. This is an interesting story. There's
1:09
Speaker 1: so many things I want to ask you about, and
1:11
Speaker 1: we were just chatting a little bit about this before
1:13
Speaker 1: we started recording. So let's get to this. This story
1:16
Speaker 1: begins around this time in nineteen sixty six. We're recording
1:20
Speaker 1: this September the third, It was late August of sixty six,
1:24
Speaker 1: to be exact. And the words from George Harrison to
1:27
Speaker 1: his bandmates are that's it. I'm not a Beatle anymore.
1:32
Speaker 1: Is he kidding? Is he serious? Take us back to
1:34
Speaker 1: that moment and where the Beatles are at, the rumors
1:38
Speaker 1: that are swirling the band's demise. A lot is going on,
1:41
Speaker 1: So take us back to where they're at at that point.
1:43
Speaker 1: And if George was just saying this and jest, he was.
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Speaker 2: Almost certainly saying it as a joke. But like a
1:51
Speaker 2: lot of jokes, there's a kernel of truth to it.
1:54
Speaker 2: And even though it was probably unspoken by the Beatles,
1:56
Speaker 2: I think they probably all felt deep down since they
1:59
Speaker 2: made the decision then for the foreseable future and perhaps forever,
2:03
Speaker 2: they weren't going to tour anymore. And we've got to
2:06
Speaker 2: remember now that at that time, major bands had to
2:10
Speaker 2: tour the only major artist who wasn't touring was Elvis President,
2:14
Speaker 2: but he was making movies. If you weren't touring, what
2:17
Speaker 2: were you doing? You're making records? But records were designed
2:21
Speaker 2: to get people to buy tickets for your live shows.
2:24
Speaker 2: And since the Beatles were going to tour, even they
2:25
Speaker 2: had to ask themselves, well, are we still going to
2:27
Speaker 2: be the band we once were? And they were going
2:31
Speaker 2: into the great unknown, and a lot of people thought, well,
2:34
Speaker 2: this is it. You can't possibly last if you're not
2:36
Speaker 2: going to have that minding unity of being on the road,
2:40
Speaker 2: And there could be some truth to that as well.
2:42
Speaker 2: It took a couple of years, but we definitely saw
2:45
Speaker 2: a shift the dynamics of the Beatles from when they
2:48
Speaker 2: finished that last tour in August of sixty six and
2:51
Speaker 2: what came afterwards. They were four different men and they
2:54
Speaker 2: were a very different band.
2:55
Speaker 1: Money to be made from albums didn't happen until maybe
2:58
Speaker 1: late sixties early seventies. Them rock radio started to take off.
3:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, and certainly big artists like the Beatles made some money,
3:05
Speaker 2: but let's remember they were making pennies, maybe less than
3:10
Speaker 2: ten cents on every record being sold. The record companies
3:13
Speaker 2: were making millions, but it was in live shows that
3:15
Speaker 2: they made their real money, and John and Paul were
3:18
Speaker 2: making good money from their songwriting royalties. But as far
3:21
Speaker 2: as record sales go, nobody was going to be living
3:24
Speaker 2: the life of a multimillionaire unless they were selling an
3:28
Speaker 2: awful lot of records.
3:30
Speaker 1: Boy sounds a lot like today with streaming services.
3:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, sadly come right back.
3:34
Speaker 1: Around full circle. The Beatles weren't happy with Brian Epstein,
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Speaker 1: their manager at this point. They felt there was no
3:39
Speaker 1: need for him anymore and they were ready to confront
3:42
Speaker 1: him with this, but he's ailing physically and mentally. To
3:45
Speaker 1: talk about that, and where they're at with Brian Epstein, well, I.
3:49
Speaker 2: Don't believe the Beatles are ready to sack Brian. They
3:52
Speaker 2: trusted him, they loved him, he was one of them.
3:55
Speaker 2: But they were definitely frustrated, and not just with him,
3:59
Speaker 2: with a lot of others ccumstances. And they were so
4:01
Speaker 2: used to Brian taking care of things for them that
4:04
Speaker 2: when something would happen, they'd be angry that Brian hadn't
4:07
Speaker 2: taken care of it. But he couldn't possibly protect them
4:09
Speaker 2: from everything happening in the world. But yes, he believed
4:14
Speaker 2: that he was very much hanging by a very slender
4:16
Speaker 2: thread with them, and it caused him incredible anguish, not
4:21
Speaker 2: helped by the fact that he was getting deeper involved
4:23
Speaker 2: into drugs at that time. So it was a sad
4:26
Speaker 2: time for Brian and he put himself through a lot
4:30
Speaker 2: of emotional torment that probably could have been relieved if
4:34
Speaker 2: the Beatles simply told him, Brian, we love you and
4:36
Speaker 2: we're not going to let you go. But it didn't
4:38
Speaker 2: occur to any of them to say that, so Brian
4:41
Speaker 2: was left to tell a story in his own head
4:43
Speaker 2: about what was happening, and it wasn't a very happy story.
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Speaker 1: This is fascinating to me in terms of the influence
4:51
Speaker 1: on Sergeant Pepper's because it's not talked about a lot.
4:55
Speaker 1: I've heard it before, I've read about it before. But
4:58
Speaker 1: the influence that Wilson had with that album Pet Sounds
5:03
Speaker 1: by the Beach Boys that lit a fire under John
5:06
Speaker 1: and Paul. That's one of those what if if that
5:09
Speaker 1: album doesn't come out, what becomes of the next Beatles
5:13
Speaker 1: album after Revolver because they heard Pet Sounds while they're
5:16
Speaker 1: recording Revolver?
5:17
Speaker 2: Correct, Yes, yeah, they were in the tail end of
5:21
Speaker 2: recording Revolver, and what's interesting is Paul's reaction to it.
5:25
Speaker 2: In particular, it remains his favorite album of all time.
5:29
Speaker 2: But it so stunned him that even after the Beatles
5:32
Speaker 2: finished Revolver, and it was at the printing plant and
5:34
Speaker 2: they were printing out millions of copies of it the
5:36
Speaker 2: ship around the world, he told the other Beatles, we
5:39
Speaker 2: have to recall that album. We can't put it out.
5:41
Speaker 2: It is not good enough. It is not as good
5:43
Speaker 2: as pet sounds. And John George Ringo had to talk
5:46
Speaker 2: him down. They said, trust us, it's a great album.
5:48
Speaker 2: It's going to be fine. And when Paul first heard
5:52
Speaker 2: god only knows, that is what really fired him up
5:56
Speaker 2: to make Sergeant Pepper the greatest thing the Beatles had
5:59
Speaker 2: ever done. He said, that song reveals what rock and
6:04
Speaker 2: roll can be, and I want to be a part
6:06
Speaker 2: of that.
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Speaker 1: And on November twenty fourth of nineteen sixty six, Paul
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Speaker 1: and John met with producer George Martin and a song
6:13
Speaker 1: that John brought to George's attention was titled It's Not
6:16
Speaker 1: Too Bad. It was still a work in progress, but
6:19
Speaker 1: eventually became Strawberry Fields Forever. Talk about the intense recording
6:23
Speaker 1: process they went through to get this song just right
6:26
Speaker 1: and how it would embody the Beatles and what they
6:29
Speaker 1: had hoped to accomplish what was now their post live
6:33
Speaker 1: touring period.
6:34
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting, ordinarily, because the Beatles were under such
6:37
Speaker 2: a time crunch to get their albums done because they
6:40
Speaker 2: were constantly touring, and they would literally have days to
6:43
Speaker 2: work in the studio and then get back on the road.
6:45
Speaker 2: So the four of them would essentially come together in
6:47
Speaker 2: the studio, John or Paul would introduce a new song
6:50
Speaker 2: to them, the four of them would hash it out,
6:52
Speaker 2: and usually by day's end they pretty much have the
6:54
Speaker 2: song the basics worked out. But now that they had
6:57
Speaker 2: unlimited time indulging in trying different ideas for the song,
7:02
Speaker 2: he can never quite figure out exactly how he wanted
7:04
Speaker 2: it to sound. George Martin, in his own mind, heard
7:07
Speaker 2: it as a sequel of sorts to In My Life,
7:09
Speaker 2: so he wanted to go in that softer direction, but
7:13
Speaker 2: the other band members kind of worked up a more
7:15
Speaker 2: rocking tune for it, and they recorded a couple versions
7:19
Speaker 2: of that, and they went through take after take, and
7:24
Speaker 2: eventually John came to George Martin and He said, I
7:28
Speaker 2: really liked the first half of this one take we did.
7:31
Speaker 2: I love the second half of this other take, so
7:33
Speaker 2: I would like you to put them together and make
7:35
Speaker 2: that the song. And Martin said, well, that's great, except
7:38
Speaker 2: they're different tempos and different keys. And John never had
7:44
Speaker 2: a good technical sense of the studio. He believed if
7:47
Speaker 2: he can imagine it, it could be done. And he
7:49
Speaker 2: just kind of smiled at George Martin and said, yeah,
7:52
Speaker 2: but you could do it, George, can't you? And George said,
7:55
Speaker 2: you know, I think I can. And the result is
7:58
Speaker 2: an incredible piece of artistry, not just musically but just technically.
8:03
Speaker 2: I mean, they that song, I think really introduces the
8:06
Speaker 2: recording studio as an instrument in and of itself.
8:09
Speaker 1: Now let's get into the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club album.
8:12
Speaker 1: So the first song you cover in the book is
8:14
Speaker 1: and You Go in order, I think as they're recorded.
8:17
Speaker 2: An order of recording is not an order of songs
8:19
Speaker 2: as they appear on the album. Yep.
8:21
Speaker 1: So the first song you cover is one that Paul
8:23
Speaker 1: McCartney had started writing as a teenager, and that was
8:26
Speaker 1: when I'm sixty four.
8:28
Speaker 2: Even before Paul met John he was interested in a
8:30
Speaker 2: career in music, and he thought, well, maybe I could sing,
8:35
Speaker 2: but I could also maybe write songs for people. And
8:38
Speaker 2: he liked all sorts of music and one of the
8:40
Speaker 2: things he liked was the old English music hall and
8:43
Speaker 2: he started playing around with these lyrics. And this is
8:46
Speaker 2: at the time his mother was diagnosed with cancer, which
8:49
Speaker 2: sadly took her life. And he kind of poured his
8:52
Speaker 2: emotions into writing this song, not so much in terms
8:55
Speaker 2: of the lyrics, but in this incredible desire to create
8:59
Speaker 2: this enty of music for himself and you know what
9:02
Speaker 2: he's going to do with it. And as you mentioned,
9:04
Speaker 2: they would play it on stage in their early career
9:07
Speaker 2: when they play some of the dingy halls in Liverpool,
9:09
Speaker 2: and they'd blow the fuse and the power would go out.
9:12
Speaker 2: While they're changing fuses, Paul would go to the piano
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Speaker 2: and just start banging this out just to kill time.
9:17
Speaker 2: And when they met to do Sergeant Pepper, George Martin
9:20
Speaker 2: was concerned because ordinarily John and Paul would come in
9:23
Speaker 2: with six, seven eight new songs and say here's what
9:27
Speaker 2: we're working on. They both came in and you know,
9:30
Speaker 2: John's like, well, I'm kind of working on this one song,
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Speaker 2: which turned out to be Starvey Fields Forever, but it's
9:35
Speaker 2: not anywhere near done yet, and Paul's like, yeah, I
9:39
Speaker 2: haven't written anything, but you know what, I got my
9:41
Speaker 2: old school notebook from when I was in grade school,
9:45
Speaker 2: and I'll see what I've got in there, and he
9:46
Speaker 2: found this song and he said, yeah, let's do this.
9:50
Speaker 2: And it's important to point out that later on in
9:55
Speaker 2: his career, John would kind of slam Paul for what
9:58
Speaker 2: he called his granny music, and he would kind of
10:00
Speaker 2: slag off on songs like when I'm sixty four, but
10:04
Speaker 2: John was perfectly fine with it. When they started the
10:06
Speaker 2: Sergeant Pepper sessions. In fact, John helped contribute lyrics to it.
10:09
Speaker 2: He came up with the names of Vera, Chuck, and
10:11
Speaker 2: Dave for the grandkids. Oh okay, so he has fingerprints
10:14
Speaker 2: on that song well.
10:16
Speaker 1: With the rumors of the Beatles breakup, EMI wanted to
10:19
Speaker 1: release a single to ease fans worries, and the decision
10:22
Speaker 1: was to release a double A side with Strawberry Fields
10:25
Speaker 1: on one side and When I'm sixty four on the other.
10:27
Speaker 1: The group didn't want that. Why was that? And what
10:30
Speaker 1: ends up in its place?
10:31
Speaker 2: Well, the group saw these tunes as being part of
10:34
Speaker 2: the whole of the new album they were making, and
10:36
Speaker 2: they weren't really interested in doing singles at that point
10:38
Speaker 2: in time. They felt albums would elevate them as artists
10:41
Speaker 2: and show that they were more mature now. But EMI
10:45
Speaker 2: was and Capitol in the US were very adamant, and
10:49
Speaker 2: if the Beatles hadn't have agreed to something, chances are
10:51
Speaker 2: the labels would have gone back and pulled something off
10:53
Speaker 2: a revolver, which the Beatles didn't want them to do,
10:57
Speaker 2: because as far as they were concerned, that was the
10:59
Speaker 2: past already, you know, it was like six months earlier.
11:01
Speaker 2: But they were like, that's not us anymore. And they said, well, obviously,
11:07
Speaker 2: when I'm sixty four isn't any side material. But Strawberry
11:12
Speaker 2: Fields is maybe a little too bizarre to go out
11:16
Speaker 2: on its own as an A side, And Paul said, well,
11:20
Speaker 2: I'm working on something. Maybe we could put something together
11:24
Speaker 2: with that and see if that works, and that ultimately
11:26
Speaker 2: was Penny Lane and Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields both
11:30
Speaker 2: came out as a double A side, the first time
11:31
Speaker 2: that I'd ever been done in rock and roll, and.
11:33
Speaker 1: They both have similarities in terms of the song theme.
11:39
Speaker 1: It's going back to childhood days, right, Strawberry Fields Forever,
11:43
Speaker 1: Penny Lane. Penny Lane is an actual name of a
11:46
Speaker 1: street where Paul grew up.
11:47
Speaker 2: Well, it goes back to the Liverpool days. It wasn't
11:49
Speaker 2: the street where Paul grew up on. When Paul would
11:52
Speaker 2: take the bus to John's house or vice versa, they'd
11:54
Speaker 2: have to do a transfer on Penny Lane. So they
11:58
Speaker 2: were all familiar with that inner in Liverpool. And as
12:01
Speaker 2: a matter of fact, the barber shop that's there was
12:04
Speaker 2: where John, Paul and George all got their haircut as children.
12:08
Speaker 2: There is a firehouse there, there's a bank, so it's
12:12
Speaker 2: really slice of life. When John originally wrote his original
12:16
Speaker 2: lyrics with Strawberry Fields Forever was more of a travelog.
12:19
Speaker 2: He's like, here's Strawberry Fields, here's the street I walk
12:22
Speaker 2: on to get there. Here's the park across the street
12:24
Speaker 2: from Strawberry Fields. And then he later went back and
12:27
Speaker 2: made a little more Alice in Wonderland psychedelic. Paul was
12:34
Speaker 2: initially thinking about, well, I'm going to write a song
12:36
Speaker 2: about how I felt at that age, and he didn't
12:39
Speaker 2: really care for how the lyrics were turning out, so
12:41
Speaker 2: then he got a little more surreal as well. The
12:43
Speaker 2: song diverts. It seems like a very straightforward song, but
12:47
Speaker 2: it isn't. If you listen to the lyrics, you know
12:50
Speaker 2: it's summer here, but then suddenly it's winter. You know,
12:54
Speaker 2: there's all kinds of dichotomy going on in there. It's
12:56
Speaker 2: a very interesting song.
12:57
Speaker 1: The next song from Sergeant Pepper's that you cover in
13:00
Speaker 1: the book is one of the most iconic of all
13:02
Speaker 1: Beatles songs. A Day in the Life, initially titled in
13:05
Speaker 1: the Life of the Inspiration begins when John is reading
13:08
Speaker 1: London's Daily Mail. This stood up some emotions within him.
13:12
Speaker 1: What was the story he was reading and what were
13:14
Speaker 1: the other things that he drew on to help complete
13:16
Speaker 1: the song's lyrics.
13:17
Speaker 2: Tarah Brown was the heir to the Guinness fortune, and
13:19
Speaker 2: he was a very good friend of the Beatles and
13:22
Speaker 2: the Rolling Stones and moved in their circles. In fact,
13:26
Speaker 2: the first time Paul McCartney took LSD, he took it
13:28
Speaker 2: with Tara Brown and Tara unfortunately only sixty six, was
13:32
Speaker 2: killed in an auto accident. He swove to avoid a
13:34
Speaker 2: truck that had gotten into his lane, he was killed.
13:39
Speaker 2: His passenger, his girlfriend survived, and John was ready distraught
13:43
Speaker 2: over his death. You know, John was still a young
13:45
Speaker 2: man and he hadn't seen that much death other than
13:48
Speaker 2: his mother and a few other people, as is not uncommon.
13:51
Speaker 2: But they have a close friend like that dies, so
13:53
Speaker 2: tragically it stayed with him, and the papers were full
13:57
Speaker 2: of ongoing stories about the inquest and the autopsy and
14:01
Speaker 2: the funeral. The Beatles want to go to the funeral, but
14:03
Speaker 2: they knew it would turn it into a media circus if
14:05
Speaker 2: they did, so they stayed home and John was reading
14:10
Speaker 2: this article about the latest developments and what was happening
14:13
Speaker 2: with his estate, and it just inspired him to do
14:19
Speaker 2: a song that was more slice of life, not just
14:22
Speaker 2: the story of his dead friend. But he wanted to
14:25
Speaker 2: make it sort of a recorded version of a newspaper,
14:27
Speaker 2: to have various different stories pop up in the narrative
14:31
Speaker 2: of the song. So he just literally started flipping through
14:33
Speaker 2: the newspaper and picking random stories and said, Okay, I'm
14:37
Speaker 2: going to write about this now.
14:39
Speaker 1: And when they recorded the basic track, they left a
14:41
Speaker 1: twenty four bar break between the end of John's first
14:44
Speaker 1: segment and the start of Paul's interlude, and they didn't
14:48
Speaker 1: know right away what they wanted to do there and
14:50
Speaker 1: what they wanted to put in there. Several weeks go by,
14:54
Speaker 1: then the idea comes up for an orchestra interlude, but
14:57
Speaker 1: it wasn't an actual orchestra.
14:58
Speaker 2: Well, it wasn't a full orchestra. The Beatles originally wanted
15:01
Speaker 2: a full ninety piece orchestra, and George Martin, who was
15:04
Speaker 2: always keeping an eye on the budget, said you know,
15:07
Speaker 2: how about we just get forty pieces and I record
15:09
Speaker 2: them twice. And they thought, well, that'll work, that'll be fine.
15:13
Speaker 2: And it was Paul who came out the idea of
15:16
Speaker 2: let's have each instrument go from its lowest to highest notes,
15:20
Speaker 2: but get there in their own time, in their own pace,
15:23
Speaker 2: however the musician wants to do it to create this
15:26
Speaker 2: cacophony that is technically music obviously, but it's also apocalyptic.
15:34
Speaker 2: It's like something deep within the recesses of your mind.
15:38
Speaker 2: And when the Beatles originally created that empty space in
15:40
Speaker 2: the song, they had no idea what they were going
15:42
Speaker 2: to put in there. They figured at some point they'll
15:44
Speaker 2: think of something. And whoever had the original idea of
15:47
Speaker 2: having an orchestra. Kudos to them, because that was it.
15:53
Speaker 1: Podcasts will be back after this. Geen Pope is the
16:01
Speaker 1: author of The Color of Your Dreams. Some Days in
16:04
Speaker 1: the Lives of the Beatles and You're write in the
16:07
Speaker 1: book quote. The question of how to conclude a day
16:09
Speaker 1: in the life had been a nagging one, but at
16:11
Speaker 1: last the Beatles believed they had come up with an
16:13
Speaker 1: acceptable solution. They would spend much of the session on
16:17
Speaker 1: February the twenty second recording a single solitary note. So
16:21
Speaker 1: let's talk about that ending to the song.
16:24
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, when they recorded that orchestral piece
16:27
Speaker 2: and the ending, they did something very unique. The Beatles
16:30
Speaker 2: tended to work in privacy in the studio. They didn't
16:32
Speaker 2: like to be bothered. But on the night they did
16:35
Speaker 2: this recording, they had a party in the studio. They
16:37
Speaker 2: invite a lot of their friends like Mick Jagger and
16:40
Speaker 2: Brian Jones and Mike Nesmith of the Monkeys was there,
16:44
Speaker 2: and they had the orchestra members all wear their formal wear,
16:48
Speaker 2: but then they also had to wear party hats and
16:51
Speaker 2: rubber noses and animal pod gloves because they wanted a
16:55
Speaker 2: festive atmosphere. The entire room was bathed and multicolors, and
17:00
Speaker 2: they recorded the instrumentation, and then somebody said, well, how
17:05
Speaker 2: do we end this? And the suggestion the first on
17:07
Speaker 2: was let's get everybody who was in here around a
17:09
Speaker 2: microphone and we'll all hum at the same time. And
17:12
Speaker 2: they tried that, and I wish that still existed. I
17:14
Speaker 2: don't think it does because I've not come across it anywhere,
17:18
Speaker 2: but they scrapped that idea immediately after.
17:21
Speaker 1: That would have been cool.
17:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, But then somebody decided, let's get some pianos and
17:26
Speaker 2: let's all hit the same note at the same time,
17:29
Speaker 2: and as it's playing out, crank up all the microphones
17:34
Speaker 2: to pick up every sound, and then carry that all
17:37
Speaker 2: the way through to the point where at the very
17:41
Speaker 2: end you could hear the ductwork system in the MII studio.
17:46
Speaker 2: You got really good headphones and you crank it up
17:49
Speaker 2: you could hear it rumbling in the background. And at
17:51
Speaker 2: the very end of that, John asked to insert a
17:55
Speaker 2: single note that's audible only to dogs.
17:58
Speaker 1: Wow. Alright, putting you to the test, how long is
18:01
Speaker 1: that ending? Is there an exact.
18:03
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I think it's in the range of twenty
18:07
Speaker 2: odd seconds.
18:08
Speaker 1: Wow? See. I wonder how many radio stations actually let
18:12
Speaker 1: that play out at the end, you know, because I
18:15
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's a very long ending, and
18:18
Speaker 1: it's like, what are we going to do here? And
18:20
Speaker 1: I know, once becomes dead air, it becomes dead air.
18:22
Speaker 1: And in my radio days, that was the thing they
18:25
Speaker 1: and this is the songs that they would upload into
18:28
Speaker 1: the system and so they would just queue up the
18:30
Speaker 1: next song automatically on the computer and they could not
18:33
Speaker 1: let it go that long because it was just this
18:36
Speaker 1: feeling of like, what are is the listener just going
18:39
Speaker 1: to go nuts? Here?
18:39
Speaker 2: Listens? You know. I want to mention Sergeant Pepper was
18:44
Speaker 2: almost a very different album. The initial plan was A,
18:49
Speaker 2: it was going to be the soundtrack for their third movie,
18:51
Speaker 2: whatever that movie was going to be, and B they
18:54
Speaker 2: were going to record it at Stack Studios in Memphis, Tennessee,
18:58
Speaker 2: and they wanted a grittier soul sound. So if you
19:01
Speaker 2: can imagine, wow, that album sixty seven, you know, being
19:05
Speaker 2: like a good, gut wrenching rock and roll album with
19:10
Speaker 2: the Memphis horns in the background and right, and ultimately
19:14
Speaker 2: you know, they went a different direction, but it could
19:16
Speaker 2: have been a very different thing.
19:18
Speaker 1: Do we know why they went into a different direction
19:20
Speaker 1: and didn't go to Memphis.
19:22
Speaker 2: I think the spile the talk about going to Memphis.
19:24
Speaker 2: They liked the familiarity of VMI was it was easy
19:27
Speaker 2: for them. They had almost gone to Memphis to record Revolver.
19:32
Speaker 2: They had actually booked Stax Studios, but then there was
19:35
Speaker 2: a bit of a kerfuffle with Stacks and the Beatles
19:38
Speaker 2: already started recording at EMI, so they're like, well, we'll
19:41
Speaker 2: save it for the next album, which again was supposed
19:44
Speaker 2: to be the soundtrack.
19:45
Speaker 1: The Fascinating History of the Beatles, the story behind the
19:48
Speaker 1: album and the song title Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
19:52
Speaker 1: This involves the band's Roady mal Evins and an offhanded
19:56
Speaker 1: remark about Salt and Pepper.
20:00
Speaker 2: Yeah. In the break between the end of touring and
20:03
Speaker 2: the start of the recording, the four Beatles went off
20:06
Speaker 2: and actually lived separate lives for a month or two,
20:09
Speaker 2: something they hadn't done in their adult lives. And one
20:14
Speaker 2: of the things Paul did was he went to Kenya
20:15
Speaker 2: and he had Mel joined him and on the flight
20:18
Speaker 2: back to Britain they were being served their meal and
20:22
Speaker 2: previous to that when you would get your tray back
20:24
Speaker 2: in the gloriades of airline travel, you know, you get
20:27
Speaker 2: the salt and pepper shakers and you know linnen napkins
20:30
Speaker 2: and cutlery, except now they didn't have the salt and
20:34
Speaker 2: pepper shakers. They just had these little packets and there
20:36
Speaker 2: was an S and P on them. And mel openly said, well,
20:41
Speaker 2: what does this mean? And then he thought of I said, oh,
20:43
Speaker 2: salt and pepper, And he and Paul like to do
20:46
Speaker 2: word games with each other, so it's they kind of
20:48
Speaker 2: turned salt and pepper and calling it well past the
20:50
Speaker 2: sogeant Pepper and Paul was already kicking around the idea
20:55
Speaker 2: of doing their next album. They would be the Beatles,
20:59
Speaker 2: but they wouldn't be the Beatles. They would advertise as
21:01
Speaker 2: a Beatles album, but they would go into the studio
21:03
Speaker 2: thinking stop thinking like Beatles, We're going to be somebody
21:06
Speaker 2: different now. And his idea was we're going to be
21:08
Speaker 2: searching Pepper's band, and the Beatles thought, well, that's a
21:13
Speaker 2: good idea, is.
21:13
Speaker 1: Any did you read the book on Mel Evin's by
21:16
Speaker 1: Kenneth Womeck.
21:17
Speaker 2: I've got it. I'm about to start it. I have
21:19
Speaker 2: not read it. But everything I've heard about it is
21:20
Speaker 2: it's phenomenal.
21:21
Speaker 1: It's a phenomenal book. And he was on this show
21:24
Speaker 1: to talk about that book. I can't remember which episode
21:27
Speaker 1: it is, but if people want to listen to it,
21:29
Speaker 1: you can go to bookd on rock dot com and
21:31
Speaker 1: and search for it there. But yeah, what a story.
21:34
Speaker 1: The Roady guy was just working at a regular nine
21:36
Speaker 1: to five job. He was a bodyguard, or he worked
21:39
Speaker 1: a door at the at the Cavern Club and they
21:43
Speaker 1: needed a ride to a gig and the person that
21:48
Speaker 1: normally gave him a ride was six, So they said, hey, Mal,
21:51
Speaker 1: do you want to drive us? And that was it
21:53
Speaker 1: became the Roady and contributed to the songs over time
21:56
Speaker 1: and the whole thing.
21:59
Speaker 2: Now he should get a movie.
22:00
Speaker 1: Oh, he should get a movie. You could base it
22:02
Speaker 1: on that book. The tragic ending, very sad, but what
22:07
Speaker 1: a fascinating story. Fixing a hole. Critics and fans would
22:10
Speaker 1: say it was about heroin addiction. What is Paul writing about?
22:14
Speaker 2: Well, at the time Paul insisted it was he was
22:17
Speaker 2: literally fixing a hole in the new farm he had
22:19
Speaker 2: bought in Scotland. He had a that roof and he
22:21
Speaker 2: said there was a hole and I had to fix it.
22:23
Speaker 2: Paul later admitted he said, well, actually it was a
22:25
Speaker 2: result of my use of LSD. He said, I was
22:28
Speaker 2: having a trip and I saw a tiny hole form
22:31
Speaker 2: in the air that was a glimpse to a different reality,
22:35
Speaker 2: and only I could see it, and I realized, you know,
22:39
Speaker 2: I've got to repair this. I can't have this just
22:41
Speaker 2: hanging in the air. I have to fix this hole.
22:45
Speaker 2: And Paul can take anything and make a song off
22:47
Speaker 2: of it, and.
22:49
Speaker 1: So there is some deep meaning to it. But it
22:51
Speaker 1: started out as just something simple, but then he saw
22:55
Speaker 1: it as something deeper.
22:56
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think there are some deep moments in the lyrics,
22:59
Speaker 2: but they're also just sort of like, don't read too
23:01
Speaker 2: much into what I'm writing in this part. It's just words.
23:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, and good luck with that. Fans right into everything
23:07
Speaker 1: they did. George's contribution to the album is within You
23:11
Speaker 1: Without You, and there was another song that he brought
23:14
Speaker 1: to the table, but it wasn't using. It was called
23:16
Speaker 1: only a Northern song within You Without You. Inspired by
23:21
Speaker 1: an evening George spent with German artist, musician and record
23:24
Speaker 1: producer Klaus Vorman. What were they discussing?
23:28
Speaker 2: They were discussing life literally, and they were both very
23:32
Speaker 2: interested in Eastern philosophy. George and to a degree Ringo
23:38
Speaker 2: afterwards felt that they weren't really a part of the
23:40
Speaker 2: Sergeant Pepper sessions. They felt that there were more like
23:45
Speaker 2: session men. To John and Paul, that was really their album,
23:48
Speaker 2: and George admitted he said part of that problem was
23:51
Speaker 2: he had just come back from India. He had gone
23:52
Speaker 2: there for the first time and it had transformed him
23:55
Speaker 2: and he was no longer really interested in being a
23:57
Speaker 2: pop star. He didn't pick up his guitar for weeks
24:01
Speaker 2: and weeks before the session started, he was just practicing
24:04
Speaker 2: the guitar and being a beatle really did interesting shades
24:10
Speaker 2: of his remark after the tour, I'm not a beatle anymore.
24:12
Speaker 2: He kind of was disengaging, and John and Paul were
24:16
Speaker 2: concerned about this because, you know, George had just had
24:18
Speaker 2: three great songs on Revolver, and they thought the very
24:21
Speaker 2: least he was going to bring in a couple more
24:23
Speaker 2: for this album. But week after week went by and
24:26
Speaker 2: George wasn't contributing anything, and he played the guitar parts
24:31
Speaker 2: they asked for, he wasn't really getting deeply involved in
24:34
Speaker 2: the nuts and bolts of arranging the music as he
24:36
Speaker 2: had in the past, and finally John and Paul said,
24:40
Speaker 2: bring us something. We want to record one of your songs.
24:43
Speaker 2: So George brought in a song called only a Northern Song,
24:47
Speaker 2: which not a bad song later shows up in the
24:50
Speaker 2: Yellow Submarine soundtrack, but he recorded He wrote it on
24:55
Speaker 2: an organ, so it has a very Dirge like sound,
24:59
Speaker 2: and the Beatles went through their paces and recorded, you know,
25:02
Speaker 2: multiple takes of it, but they weren't really satisfied with it,
25:06
Speaker 2: and John and Paul asked George Martin to tell George
25:09
Speaker 2: you can do better, and George agreed. He said, you
25:12
Speaker 2: know what, You're right, let's shelve Only a Northern Song
25:15
Speaker 2: for now. And a few weeks later he came in
25:17
Speaker 2: Within You, Without You, and it was very philosophical. Of course,
25:24
Speaker 2: is full of Indian instrumentation. It really stands out from
25:27
Speaker 2: the rest of the album, but it's very much of
25:30
Speaker 2: the feeling of that album, that universal feeling. It's a
25:34
Speaker 2: divisive song for some people. Some people are like, it's
25:37
Speaker 2: not one of my favorite George songs and it's not
25:39
Speaker 2: my favorite song on the album. On the other hand,
25:41
Speaker 2: not only was it John's favorite song on the album?
25:43
Speaker 2: He said it was his favorite George song period. He
25:46
Speaker 2: loved it, and he said he regretted that he didn't
25:49
Speaker 2: get to play on it because it was all indiding musicians.
25:51
Speaker 2: George said, well, you know, I'm going to bring one
25:53
Speaker 2: song in and I'm going to make it a good one.
25:55
Speaker 1: Was John the biggest supporter of George in terms of songwriting?
25:59
Speaker 2: I would say John and Paul were both strongly encouraging George.
26:03
Speaker 2: George Martin had said later on he said he felt
26:06
Speaker 2: sorry that he wasn't more supportive of George. John and
26:11
Speaker 2: Paul tended to treat George as their kid brother because
26:13
Speaker 2: he was younger, and it was very much John and
26:16
Speaker 2: Paul making a lot of the decisions for the band,
26:20
Speaker 2: and so they didn't always pay that much attention to
26:21
Speaker 2: George or give his music that much attention. But he'd
26:25
Speaker 2: certainly impressed them with the tracks he brought to Revolver,
26:28
Speaker 2: and they realized he was really blossoming as a songwriter,
26:31
Speaker 2: and yeah, John and Paul would encourage him, but also
26:34
Speaker 2: John and Paul would be more interested in recording their
26:35
Speaker 2: own music than George's sometimes, so it was back and forth, and.
26:41
Speaker 1: Isn't it true? The interesting piece of Beatles trivia isn't
26:44
Speaker 1: George the first to have a number one album after
26:48
Speaker 1: the Beatles broke up as a solo artist if you don't.
26:51
Speaker 2: Count Paul's first album McCartney as having come out before
26:54
Speaker 2: they broke up, because that did go to number one,
26:58
Speaker 2: but as soon as the band was officially public split, Yes,
27:01
Speaker 2: George went to number one. First number one single, first
27:03
Speaker 2: number one album, All.
27:05
Speaker 1: Things Must Pass. Yes, Booked on Rock Podcasts. We'll be
27:09
Speaker 1: back after this.
27:10
Speaker 2: I've seen the fits.
27:11
Speaker 1: You know what it is.
27:12
Speaker 2: It's a forty seven year old version sitting and run
27:13
Speaker 2: of his base. But Joma is preaking a banana Brocolu
27:15
Speaker 2: shakes thing, and I'm an Oscar Mayer Weiner.
27:19
Speaker 1: Find the Bookdon Rock website at booked on rock dot com.
27:22
Speaker 1: There you can find all the back episodes of the show,
27:25
Speaker 1: the latest episode in video and audio, links to all
27:27
Speaker 1: of the platforms where you can listen to the podcast,
27:30
Speaker 1: plus all the social media platforms were on Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,
27:35
Speaker 1: and x. Also check out the Booked on Rock blog.
27:38
Speaker 1: Find your local independent bookstore. Find out all the latest
27:42
Speaker 1: hot rockbook releases, and before you go, check out the
27:44
Speaker 1: booked on Rock online store, pick up some booked on
27:47
Speaker 1: Rock merch. It's all at booked on rock dot com.
27:52
Speaker 1: Mister kite. John was inspired to write this after a
27:55
Speaker 1: visit to an antique shop.
27:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, he loved buying little antique do dads anything that
28:01
Speaker 2: was really strange. And this was a poster from a
28:06
Speaker 2: trained horse performance from the eighteen thirties.
28:08
Speaker 1: I believe I think you have in the book a
28:10
Speaker 1: circus poster from eighteen forty.
28:12
Speaker 2: Three eighteen forty eight. And literally, John said, all the
28:16
Speaker 2: lyrics are on the poster. I just had to assemble
28:19
Speaker 2: him in the proper order. The only thing that really
28:21
Speaker 2: changed was the name of the horse. He said, whatever.
28:24
Speaker 2: I forget what their name was, but it was a
28:26
Speaker 2: little strange, he said, I couldn't make it fit, so
28:28
Speaker 2: it became Henry the Horse.
28:30
Speaker 1: Yeah. This is while they're filming the promo for Strawberry
28:32
Speaker 1: Fields Forever that he in between takes.
28:34
Speaker 2: John wandered off and walked into this antique store.
28:37
Speaker 1: Now here's an example of the new studio only beatles, right,
28:41
Speaker 1: I mean, this is where they get creative. John had
28:44
Speaker 1: wanted an old fashioned steam organ to be played during
28:47
Speaker 1: a break in the song, but there weren't any available
28:49
Speaker 1: on short notice.
28:50
Speaker 2: What was done instead, George Martin got very creative. He
28:54
Speaker 2: took a bunch of John Phillips Suza recordings on tape
28:59
Speaker 2: and he them up into tiny pieces and threw them
29:01
Speaker 2: up in the air wherever they landed. You pick them
29:04
Speaker 2: up one a time and glue them all together, and
29:08
Speaker 2: that became the caliope break in the song. As Martin
29:12
Speaker 2: said at the time, said it can never be recreated.
29:14
Speaker 2: Of course, these days with computers you could do anything.
29:18
Speaker 2: But it's just showing how the Beatles would take take risks.
29:24
Speaker 2: This wasn't the sort of thing that was really approved
29:26
Speaker 2: of by em I, but they could take something as
29:30
Speaker 2: simple as just an old John and Phillips SUSA March
29:33
Speaker 2: and say let's let's reinvent this for our own use
29:37
Speaker 2: and it created, you know, just an incredible soundcollage.
29:41
Speaker 1: How long did it take the normal Beatles album to
29:44
Speaker 1: record prior to them coming off of the road.
29:48
Speaker 2: Well, they're very first album, please please me. They did
29:50
Speaker 2: in nine hours.
29:51
Speaker 1: Wow, that's right.
29:52
Speaker 2: Uh. They they had one day off between concerts and
29:58
Speaker 2: John had a very sore Threa wrote, and he powered
30:01
Speaker 2: through and they went back on the road. From that
30:05
Speaker 2: point on, they tended to work in blocks of time
30:08
Speaker 2: in between concert dates. They might get three, four or
30:10
Speaker 2: five days in the studio, then they're gone for two
30:12
Speaker 2: weeks and they come back with Revolver. They had a
30:17
Speaker 2: largely uninterrupted span of time, but it was still fairly
30:19
Speaker 2: short because they had to kick off their world tour
30:21
Speaker 2: in the summer of sixty six, so they basically had
30:25
Speaker 2: about two months time, which these days is nothing. Right
30:29
Speaker 2: back then, that was almost luxurious.
30:31
Speaker 1: Plus they're well rested, you know, they're not when they're
30:34
Speaker 1: when they're recording it between gigs. I would think they're
30:36
Speaker 1: burned out, tired. And yet, as we know, it didn't
30:40
Speaker 1: affect the music. I mean, those albums are all brilliant too,
30:42
Speaker 1: But just the fact that they had this time to
30:45
Speaker 1: create these songs like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
30:49
Speaker 1: and here we go, going back to reading into lyrics again, right,
30:51
Speaker 1: so you write quote. A great debate began raging from
30:54
Speaker 1: the moment of the song's release in nineteen sixty seven
30:57
Speaker 1: about whether the lyrics that John wrote inspired by his
31:01
Speaker 1: son's art were a drug song or not. So who
31:05
Speaker 1: or what is this song about?
31:07
Speaker 2: There's no reason it can't be both. John had been
31:09
Speaker 2: looking to write a song about his LSD experience and
31:13
Speaker 2: Julian came in with a drawing of his schoolmate Lucy
31:17
Speaker 2: in the sky with diamonds, and John liked the sound
31:20
Speaker 2: of that and realized, oh, that's LSD. Well, let's go
31:23
Speaker 2: ahead and write that song I wanted to do. So
31:25
Speaker 2: it's very much a drug song, but it is also
31:28
Speaker 2: inspired by Julian's art.
31:30
Speaker 1: With Little Help from my Friends is one that came
31:32
Speaker 1: out of the intent to get a song for Ringo
31:35
Speaker 1: to sing on the On the album, Ringo liked what
31:38
Speaker 1: John and Paul had written, but there was one line
31:40
Speaker 1: he refused to sing. What was the line and what
31:43
Speaker 1: was it changed to?
31:44
Speaker 2: Well, the original line was will you stand up and
31:47
Speaker 2: throw tomatoes at me? And tomato is the English pronunciation,
31:52
Speaker 2: and Ringo remembered how several years earlier they had mentioned
31:56
Speaker 2: in an interview that oh, we love jelly babies, which
31:59
Speaker 2: in England are very soft jelly beans. In the US
32:02
Speaker 2: they're harder, and unfortunately, when they would tour in the US,
32:06
Speaker 2: American fans would throw hard jelly beans at them on stage.
32:10
Speaker 2: Ringo said they would hit like hail. So he said,
32:13
Speaker 2: I'm not giving you any ideas should we ever go
32:16
Speaker 2: back on the road to throw tomatoes at me? So
32:18
Speaker 2: we're taking that line out of the song. So it
32:21
Speaker 2: became will you stand up and walk out on me?
32:24
Speaker 1: That's a much better choice, don't you think us? Yes,
32:27
Speaker 1: so many stories regarding the album cover. Emi was worried
32:31
Speaker 1: about potential lawsuits and refused to print the covers unless
32:36
Speaker 1: the Beatles got written permission from every single celebrity on it,
32:40
Speaker 1: which I believe is fifty nine total, Yes, fifty nine.
32:45
Speaker 1: So Brian Epstein went right to work on that first.
32:48
Speaker 1: Who came up with the concept, what was their vision
32:51
Speaker 1: for it? And I'm just curious, what's the most interesting
32:54
Speaker 1: story or piece of trivia about that cover for you personally,
32:57
Speaker 1: because there are so many Well.
32:59
Speaker 2: Originally Paul's idea, and this is very much Paul's album
33:02
Speaker 2: in this regard. He had a vision of the packaging
33:05
Speaker 2: and he said, well, we're going to have these customized uniforms,
33:08
Speaker 2: so we look like we're a nineteenth century military band,
33:11
Speaker 2: and we'll pose in the front and like this Deraga
33:14
Speaker 2: type cip A tone picture where we're standing there and
33:18
Speaker 2: there's a loving cup that we've just received and we're
33:20
Speaker 2: holding our brass instruments. And a friend of theirs said,
33:27
Speaker 2: you know what this album is like a celebration. The
33:30
Speaker 2: cover should be the same. You should show the world
33:33
Speaker 2: celebrating your accomplishment. So then they became the Beatles would
33:38
Speaker 2: turn and face the cameras that they've just finished their
33:40
Speaker 2: performance and the audience is standing behind them, and the
33:44
Speaker 2: audience is just completely populated with well known people from
33:48
Speaker 2: past and present, and you know, the Beatles were invited
33:52
Speaker 2: to submit names. Ringo said, whatever the other three come
33:57
Speaker 2: up with, it's fine with me. George submitted the names
34:01
Speaker 2: of a couple of Indian mystics because you're getting interested
34:04
Speaker 2: in Eastern philosophy. So John and Paul basically selected the rest.
34:09
Speaker 2: One of the most interesting would be We'rechi. Gandhi was
34:13
Speaker 2: on the list, but e am I nixt to that
34:16
Speaker 2: because they said we don't want any trouble in India.
34:19
Speaker 2: He said that that will offend a number of people there,
34:22
Speaker 2: so that he was removed. Also, Jesus Christ was to
34:26
Speaker 2: be on there and for the same reasons and capital said, oh, no,
34:31
Speaker 2: you would not put him on.
34:32
Speaker 1: The especially there more popular than Jesus Kind.
34:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, they just come through that they needed to repeat
34:38
Speaker 2: that experience. And John really wanted Hitler, not because he
34:42
Speaker 2: admired that one, but he's like, it's audacious and I
34:48
Speaker 2: want to do it. And I believe Hitler's there, but
34:51
Speaker 2: he's been hidden behind the Beatles. You can't see him really. Yeah,
34:56
Speaker 2: and no, they did not bother to get permission from
34:59
Speaker 2: his estates since he was not visible, right, you know,
35:03
Speaker 2: they had to rush out these letters to everybody either
35:06
Speaker 2: who was still living or their estates and said will
35:09
Speaker 2: you please let us use their picture? And the only
35:14
Speaker 2: one who said no initially was Maywest because she said, well,
35:19
Speaker 2: what are you doing in a lonely hearts club? And
35:23
Speaker 2: the all four Beatles wrote her a personal letter and
35:26
Speaker 2: said please, we love you, we love your films, Please
35:29
Speaker 2: be on our cover and she said, well, how can
35:31
Speaker 2: I say no to that? Yeah, And the only one
35:35
Speaker 2: who was featured on the cover who was airbrushed out
35:37
Speaker 2: was Leo Gorci or the Bowery Boys, because when he
35:40
Speaker 2: was contacted he said, sure he could use my picture,
35:42
Speaker 2: but you have to pay me, and he was the
35:45
Speaker 2: only one who asked for money, so they said, well,
35:47
Speaker 2: we're not paying anybody for this, see you later. Yeah.
35:51
Speaker 2: So there's a next to his cohort hunts Hall. There's
35:54
Speaker 2: a blank space in the back row, and that was
35:56
Speaker 2: leol Gorsey.
35:57
Speaker 1: I love the May West one because that's old school Hollywood,
36:00
Speaker 1: always thinking about your image. Right, Yeah, that's the actress
36:05
Speaker 1: famous for come up and see me sometimes. You know,
36:07
Speaker 1: she was always you know, she got all the guys.
36:09
Speaker 2: She was never lonely.
36:10
Speaker 1: That's a great story. So following the albums, May of
36:13
Speaker 1: sixty seven, released the Beatles record and release All You
36:16
Speaker 1: Need Is Love in July of sixty seven. Clear message
36:19
Speaker 1: to the world that love is everything. And you're right
36:22
Speaker 1: about how By the summer of nineteen sixty seven, the
36:24
Speaker 1: Beatles were at the apex of the mountaintop, a mountain
36:28
Speaker 1: so towering no one had ever glimpsed this summit before.
36:33
Speaker 1: But we know they still had some more creative energy
36:36
Speaker 1: to release. And this is the most important era of
36:39
Speaker 1: Beatles history, between the end of touring nineteen sixty six
36:42
Speaker 1: and the summer of nineteen sixty seven. Right, I mean,
36:44
Speaker 1: do you agree, I.
36:45
Speaker 2: Think absolutely so, And there's a hard dividing line between
36:49
Speaker 2: the Beatles as they initially were the mop tops, and
36:54
Speaker 2: then they give up touring and they move away from
36:57
Speaker 2: what they had been. You know, they all change their hairstyles,
36:59
Speaker 2: they grow mustache, they become very different looking men. And
37:03
Speaker 2: John actually he told me points is that I don't
37:05
Speaker 2: want to be a mop top anymore. I'm done with it.
37:07
Speaker 2: As far as he was concerning that with childhood, he
37:09
Speaker 2: was an adult now. And it's important to remember we
37:14
Speaker 2: tend to think of rock and roll now as a
37:16
Speaker 2: lofty artistic endeavor. There's classic albums and people who even
37:21
Speaker 2: aren't necessarily fans of rock will say, oh, yes, I
37:24
Speaker 2: mean that album is just everyone knows that album. It's
37:26
Speaker 2: a fantastic record. Rock and roll was garbage music up
37:30
Speaker 2: to that point, Serious reminded people didn't pay it any attention.
37:35
Speaker 2: Pepper changed that. The New York Times, the Times of London,
37:40
Speaker 2: classical music critics were falling over themselves praising this record.
37:45
Speaker 2: They're like, whatever you thought rock and roll was, forget
37:48
Speaker 2: it and listen to this album because it's going to
37:51
Speaker 2: change how you think things.
37:53
Speaker 1: The rapid change creatively for the Beatles, it's still mind blowing,
37:59
Speaker 1: and it.
37:59
Speaker 2: Makes you want wonder if that change would have been
38:01
Speaker 2: accelerated if they hadn't had to focus so much of
38:04
Speaker 2: their attention on touring for so long, if that was
38:07
Speaker 2: building up inside of them and it had no outlet
38:09
Speaker 2: until finally they were like, we could pursue our dreams
38:12
Speaker 2: in the studio. Now we don't have to rush out
38:14
Speaker 2: an album because we got to hit the road.
38:16
Speaker 1: Kept the band together, I think for a little bit more,
38:18
Speaker 1: because maybe they would have called the quits if they
38:20
Speaker 1: didn't have that inspiration to create something together the way
38:24
Speaker 1: they did.
38:25
Speaker 2: You know, writing this, I've kind of come around to
38:27
Speaker 2: the idea that, you know, if you ask somebody, well,
38:29
Speaker 2: when did the Beatles break up, you'd say, well, April
38:31
Speaker 2: of nineteen seventy when Paul quit, although he didn't really quit.
38:34
Speaker 2: That's just how it was interpreted. People who know a
38:37
Speaker 2: little bit more will say, well, September sixty nine when
38:39
Speaker 2: John secretly quit the band and it was done with them.
38:42
Speaker 2: I would kind of argue that after the end of
38:45
Speaker 2: touring in sixty six, if not a complete breakup, it
38:50
Speaker 2: was a transformation and they became, as George would later complain,
38:55
Speaker 2: you know, John and Paul and then he and Ringo
38:57
Speaker 2: would just kind of be the guys they would call
38:59
Speaker 2: in to play parts. He felt they had lost a
39:02
Speaker 2: sense of camaraderie, that they weren't the unit they had
39:05
Speaker 2: been before, and it allowed them to create some critical music,
39:09
Speaker 2: but it also kind of set them on their four
39:11
Speaker 2: different ways. So I think even without some of the
39:15
Speaker 2: things that had happened, that had I think really made
39:18
Speaker 2: the breakup more painful for them. I think by nineteen
39:22
Speaker 2: seventy or so, the four Beatles who have been like,
39:24
Speaker 2: it's time to not be a unit anymore. We need
39:27
Speaker 2: to be our own men.
39:29
Speaker 1: Booked on Rock podcasts, We'll be back after this.
39:32
Speaker 2: Can we go now? Please people, A good plan today
39:35
Speaker 2: is better than perfect plan tomorrow.
39:39
Speaker 1: Hey guys, thanks so much for checking out the Booked
39:41
Speaker 1: on Rock podcast. If you've just found the podcast, welcome.
39:45
Speaker 1: If you've been listening, thank you so much for your support,
39:48
Speaker 1: and make sure you tell a friend, a family member,
39:50
Speaker 1: share on social media and let people know about Booked
39:53
Speaker 1: on Rock. And if you do like the podcast, make
39:56
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39:59
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40:04
Speaker 1: tune in in on YouTube music. You can check out
40:07
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40:10
Speaker 1: episodes on the Booked on Rock YouTube channel. Find it
40:13
Speaker 1: at Booked on Rock. Thanks again for listening. Now back
40:16
Speaker 1: to the show before I let you go, Gene, what
40:20
Speaker 1: is the latest on these films? There's supposed to be
40:23
Speaker 1: four separate films on each of the members. What do
40:27
Speaker 1: you know about this? What's the latest?
40:29
Speaker 2: Well, it's an interesting idea. They're doing four different films
40:31
Speaker 2: focusing on each of the four Beatles. They haven't really
40:35
Speaker 2: announced the subject matter. There's lots of rumors. Certainly it'll
40:40
Speaker 2: cover their very earliest years. As to whether it'll move
40:44
Speaker 2: beyond that and go deeper into their careers, we're not
40:47
Speaker 2: really sure yet. They have unveiled the four actors playing
40:51
Speaker 2: the Beatles, and there's been a lot of complaints on people.
40:53
Speaker 2: They're saying, well, they don't really look like the Beatles,
40:56
Speaker 2: but I don't know that's necessarily a bad thing. It's
40:58
Speaker 2: not so much being a dead ringer for each of
41:01
Speaker 2: the Beatles as it is capturing what we know to
41:05
Speaker 2: be the Beatles. If they could get that persona and
41:09
Speaker 2: really bring us in that way. Then I won't mind
41:11
Speaker 2: if you know, the screen Ringo doesn't look like the
41:14
Speaker 2: real Ringo.
41:15
Speaker 1: So are they unknowns?
41:16
Speaker 2: These actors unknown to me at least. They all seem
41:20
Speaker 2: to be fairly young actors and not well known.
41:24
Speaker 1: What's do is it Disney?
41:26
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I'm not sure, but I wouldn't
41:29
Speaker 2: be surprised if this Disney, because they're getting very deep into.
41:31
Speaker 1: The Beatle things these days, right, yeah, exactly, So we
41:35
Speaker 1: don't know when they're coming out.
41:37
Speaker 2: They they haven't even be done filming yet. They're still
41:39
Speaker 2: working on scripts, and like anything once, you know, until
41:45
Speaker 2: it's finally finished, you can't say for certain it's going
41:48
Speaker 2: to happen.
41:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, if it does, they'll get ready for yet another
41:52
Speaker 1: wave of Beatlemania, the other generation of fans that start listening,
41:58
Speaker 1: you know, to their music. And I'll tell you that
42:01
Speaker 1: reminds me. I went to the movies recently. This is
42:04
Speaker 1: three four weeks ago, and I'm buying some popcord and
42:07
Speaker 1: soda and there's this young girl behind the counter working there.
42:09
Speaker 1: She must have been eighteen, nineteen twenty, and I was
42:12
Speaker 1: wearing my yellow submarine shirt and she goes, oh, I
42:16
Speaker 1: like that shirt. I said, oh, cool, you like the Beatles.
42:20
Speaker 1: She goes yeah, yeah, and she goes and I just
42:22
Speaker 1: saw that movie recently. Now I'm thinking, young person, probably
42:26
Speaker 1: we got to be talking about the Disney Let it
42:28
Speaker 1: be documentary. So you're talking about the one on Disney.
42:32
Speaker 1: She goes, no, no, yellow subm read I saw the movie
42:35
Speaker 1: from the sixties. I was like, right on, man, you know.
42:38
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, cool. So their music does transcend generations,
42:42
Speaker 1: It's not I'm their music will will go on forever.
42:45
Speaker 1: I think that's pretty safe to us.
42:47
Speaker 2: I like the joke that we're all born in our
42:49
Speaker 2: DNA knowing all the Beatles'.
42:50
Speaker 1: Music exactly the color of your dreams some days in
42:53
Speaker 1: the lives of the Beatles. If you want to read
42:55
Speaker 1: a great story about an amazing time in Beatles' history,
42:58
Speaker 1: this is the book. It's out now, it's been out
43:00
Speaker 1: for a little while. You can find it wherever books
43:02
Speaker 1: are sold Amazon, all the usable places. Your nearest bookstore.
43:05
Speaker 1: You can find your nearest independent bookstore at bookdown rock
43:08
Speaker 1: dot com and gene People can find you online where.
43:12
Speaker 2: You can look for me at gene Ploba. Author on Facebook.
43:15
Speaker 2: That's usually the best way to find me, and you know,
43:19
Speaker 2: discover me through my words. I have several books out.
43:21
Speaker 1: There, so yeah, you got any projects you're working on
43:26
Speaker 1: right now? Beatles related.
43:27
Speaker 2: I'm in the process of writing the last third of
43:30
Speaker 2: a new book about entertainment in World War Two designed
43:34
Speaker 2: to boost American morale. Wow.
43:37
Speaker 1: Interesting, okay, because you've.
43:38
Speaker 2: Written before the US could really get heavily involved in combat,
43:42
Speaker 2: so in order to keep the American public motivated, you
43:46
Speaker 2: had movies and songs and comic books, all of which
43:49
Speaker 2: were designed to get people's patriotic spirit fired up.
43:53
Speaker 1: Interesting because you've written other books outside of the music arena.
43:58
Speaker 2: My first book was about Kerry Grant.
44:00
Speaker 1: Yes, that's right. Another fascinating guy. Geane Popa. Thanks so much.
44:05
Speaker 1: It's great to have you on. Hey, maybe we'll have
44:07
Speaker 1: you back on someday. You got other music books you
44:09
Speaker 1: want to talk about? You know, you have an open invite.
44:12
Speaker 2: I would love to be back. Thanks, Eric. That's it,
44:22
Speaker 2: It's in the books.