The Big Dance

March Madness is just around the corner! Though I derive no joy losing money betting on college basketball teams I know nothing about, I do find it fun to fill out the brackets. So I had the idea to apply the same ridiculous, seemingly random, unpredictable and exciting tournament format to determine the greatest Beatles song!

I used several types of data to determine which songs made it into the top 64:

• Was the song a #1? (two points)
• Did the song chart at all? (one point)
• Was the song released as the A-side or B-side of a single? (A-side=two points, B-side=one point)
• Was it one of the top songs streamed on Spotify? (one point)
• How many times has the song been covered by other artists? (one point per cover)
• Do I think it's one of their best? (one point)

The cover versions really determined who made it to the dance, and that gave songs like "Come Together" and "Yesterday" top ranking. I had to figure some way to determine their "quality" and what better way than by people doing covers? After all, imitation is the highest form of flattery. I mean, look at how many covers the Beatles performed and recorded!

This is all for fun. The idea is that a bunch of you will submit your completed brackets (or lists of each round's winners) and I'll figure who won each "game" based on which song more people chose to win. Simple. I think I need at least 25 submissions to get this thing off right and next year I can use these results to determine rankings. Or next year we can have a "coach's poll" where the only songs used in the tournament are the top 64-68 votes each of you make. More on that later. Also, if one of you wants to suggest a way to bet on this, email me.  I made the cutoff date early as it is because I'll be in Austin for SXSW and sorta spread thin...so I'd like to be able to cull all the data BEFORE I go to Texas.  My plan is to announce the winners of each game as the tournament progresses, round by round, via the twitter account connected to this blog.

Interested? Right-click on the image, save the bracket to your computer and project which of these 64 songs is the best Beatles song EVER! Return completed brackets to hehpodcast@gmail.com by March 10, 2016 and help choose which Beatles song is this year's champion!

Get Back, Part 2

On this day in January 1969, George Harrison rejoined the Beatles with the agreement that they would leave Twickenham Studios and continue rehearsing at Apple Studio on Saville Row. He agreed to let the cameras continue to film the proceedings. His other demand was that any plans for a live concert would be dropped. It is known that by 1966 George hating touring and it seems that the bad taste it left in his mouth was still very much lingering. 

While listening to and reading about the Get Back sessions, it is more and more clear how much of a catastrophe it was. I've always known it was an uneasy period for the band but the same uneasiness hung like a black cloud over the band for most of 1968 as well. If one looked at the paper upon which Paul was sketching this idea for Get Back, it might seem like a good idea. Sitting around rehearsing and recording music just like the four-piece band they were in the early years. I would love it if "going to work" entailed hanging out with my best friends while learning new songs and playing covers. I think most musicians would feel the same way, which helps one understand just how shitty it must have been for them.
   Looking at the lists of songs they played during rehearsals of the first seven days, dozens of covers were touched on amidst multiple run throughs of songs that would appear on Let It Be and Abbey Road, as well as unreleased tidbits and tunes that would appear on later solo albums. The fact of the matter is that many of the covers and unfinished originals were just partial run-throughs, while most of the songs finding repeated run-throughs would be released on the last two Beatles albums. One of the greatest benefits of these rehearsals having been recorded is that we can hear a band learn and arrange new material. What can also be heard on these tapes is disinterest, laziness, and disharmony. It is widely accepted that the Get Back idea was an attempt by Paul to keep the rapidly disintegrating band together. Despite the arguing and aggravation, I guess he didn't want the ultimate rock and roll ride to end.
  I think one telling aspect of everyone's disinterest is that aside from the rooftop performance, they were sitting down the entire time. To me, that screams "lazy" and "disinterested." If you look back at photos from years of Abbey Road sessions, they're standing up in almost all of them. Aside from playing drums and keyboards, they were consistently captured rehearsing, singing, talking, and playing their instruments standing up. It's tough to describe to a non-musician the difference between sitting and standing at rehearsals or performances, but there is most definitely a difference. I actually think it is the most consistent and glaring characteristic of their lackluster attitudes during these sessions.
  I am not sure how I'm going to proceed with my writings about the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. In my first week of research, I have found so much to talk about but I have also found that it has all been talked about already. I have various sources for my research and it is from these that I piece together my own perspective on the sessions. In an attempt to not plagiarize my references, I think I'll have to dive in head first, consume as much data as I can and let it swirl around in my head for awhile. What I'm trying to say is that my goal of writing a bunch about the Get Back sessions in January will have to now include an open ended deadline. Or no deadline at all. Perhaps it's something I ponder every January for the rest of my life. I'd like to listen to the entire progression of certain songs and discuss their evolution from a seed/idea to a finished recorded product. I'd also like to dissect a lot of between song banter to identify how outspoken they were about not wanting to be there.

I just got Sulpy/Schweighardt in the mail so I'm gonna go and start reading their chronicle of the Let It Be disaster. Some of my other sources are/will be:
Mark Lewisohn Beatles Recording Sessions and Beatles Chronicles
beatlesbible.com (www)
The Beatles Archive (www)
Beatlesource.com (www)
and of course, the music!

Get Back, Part 1

January is always one of the bleakest months of the year. The bare trees and lowered temperatures force us inside for warmth, providing opportunity to hole up and consider our lives as we fight through post-holiday depression.  I imagine a similarly desolate vibe existed at Twickenham Studios in January 1969 when The Beatles set up to rehearse songs for their next record while simultaneously being filmed for a corresponding TV or film special. The first couple of weeks were spent going over new material but soon enough the tension and bullshit was too thick and George Harrison walked out, famously saying "See you 'round the clubs." This story is well documented and I wasn't there so I'll spare you a retelling. What I want to do is talk about the rehearsals, performances and recording sessions while considering what the band might have been going though. I also want to sift through many of the recordings made of The Beatles during January 1969 in an attempt to suss out some high and low points that occurred between the pre-Saville Row Nagra tapes and Phil Spector's much maligned production entitled Let It Be. I am no expert on the subject but I love the subject which is more than can be said about how the Beatles felt about the project. Anyway, we'll see if I come up with any epiphanies or gain any real insight at all.

"That was 'Can You Dig It?' by Georgie Wood and now we'd like to do 'Hark, The Angels Come!'"