Anyone here obsessed with writing Beatles-quality songs?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ricklh
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Returning for a moment to the OP's question, I'm not obsessed with writing Beatles quality songs because I don't really know what that means or how to quantify it.
Among a number of things I really like about them was their sense of melody and the way they combined melody and music in such a way that even their one and two note melodies ('Help!', 'Walrus') are fantastic and framed in great songs. Even Ringo's two songs are melodically pleasing to the ear.
But that was a feature of popular music up to that point. It wasn't somehow unusual. Free jazz by angry black guys (for the most part, then in the 60s) jogged alot of people coz it seemed disordered/chaotic, dissonant and above all, unmelodic. The effort to create memorable melodies was seen back in the day as probably the primary task in getting hits coz that's what people remembered. Whatever you want to say about the Stones and the Who and the heavy rock groups and psychedelia etc, primarilly, the songs had good strong memorable melodies. So I guess I strive for good melodies even in all the odd music. But most of them are just weird ! :D
 
NewAgeMuttLange said:
I'm not saying that the Who didn't have their moments..

ie: Won't Get Fooled Again, Who Are You, (MAAAAAYBE) My Generation.. but for the most part.. I can't get into them..l
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So, pretty much, you've only listened to their hits.

Katy Perry looks pretty good. Her music is vapid ass, but she has nice jugs.
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Here here
 
i love you
do you love me too
be with me
we can be happy...


totly as good as the beatles...I win :)
 
btw do i detect some fool dissing the Who!!!!!!!!


take it to the Cave!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:


Who's next - best live album
Quadrophenia - best concept album
A Quick One - best EP...

none of this is my opinion...this is fact!!!!!


lol
 
also the WHO ranks the Beatles as 37th worst performing healthcare system :laughings:
 
Best Live Album is Live at Leeds, you mean ;)

Who's Next is a studio album.

But yeah, Live at Leeds is the best live album, no argument here :)

Who's Next, IMO, was probably the first great studio album The Who made. Everything that came before just....doesn't cut it. Even Tommy, which I love, doesn't have that quality that Who's Next, Quadrophenia, Who By Numbers, etc. have. Those 60's Who albums were just lacking in not only production, but musicianship as well. The music is just weak, which is a shame because on stage they brutally murdered everybody.

I mean, have you ever compared Leeds' Heaven and Hell with the studio b-side version? (which is a rare cut, so many may not have heard it) There's just no comparison. The only good thing is that Entiwistle was a much better studio singer than on stage, but everything else is soooo mild and tame.
 
Seafroggys said:
Best Live Album is Live at Leeds, you mean ;)

Who's Next is a studio album.

But yeah, Live at Leeds is the best live album, no argument here :)

Who's Next, IMO, was probably the first great studio album The Who made. Everything that came before just....doesn't cut it. Even Tommy, which I love, doesn't have that quality that Who's Next, Quadrophenia, Who By Numbers, etc. have. Those 60's Who albums were just lacking in not only production, but musicianship as well. The music is just weak, which is a shame because on stage they brutally murdered everybody.

I mean, have you ever compared Leeds' Heaven and Hell with the studio b-side version? (which is a rare cut, so many may not have heard it) There's just no comparison. The only good thing is that Entiwistle was a much better studio singer than on stage, but everything else is soooo mild and tame.
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yeah i was drunk :drunk::D
 
Hi,
I also like the Beatles songs, they are my favourite band. I'm not trying to copy their songs while I'm composing mine, but people tell me that they see some similarity with Beatles songs. I wouldn't go so far and be that confident, but check them out if You wish: http://www.myspace.com/minkcro

Igor
 
Ricklh said:
I am! Though I've never written anything that was remotely as good as Lennon & McCartney (duh!), I find myself thinking about it much of the time. Just wondering if anyone else here dreams of writing a tune that would have impressed the Beatles themselves?
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I listen to The Beatles sometimes and even though I am one of their biggest ever fans, I still take my headphones off, shake my head and say "Fucking Hell!"
Any musician who says they don't like The Beatles is a fake, in my opinion.
 
grimtraveller said:
I must admit, in 34 years I've never met anyone that 'liked the Beatles coz they were supposed to'. Quite the opposite, in fact.
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Same here. I like the Beatles because I like their music (most of it, anyway). I suggest reading the book "Revolution In The Head" to read the stories behind how the songs were written, pitched to the rest of the band, recorded/changed/recorded/changed etc etc until the final versions were released. They would rehearse a single song for days or weeks on end, often going through 30-40 takes of a single part. Wow, quite a process, nobody can deny that these were hard-working musicians.

I know I am 'supposed' to like The Who, because I am in the minority of people that don't understand what all the fuss is about. Though I like some of their songs.

For years, I was 'supposed' to worship Springsteen, because of all of the media and critics' hype about him being the next Bob Dylan or whatever. He's OK but once again, I wouldn't buy his records or see him in concert, though I like a few of his songs.

I like Beatles music because it has catchy melodies, covers a huge spectrum of genres, and at the time, pushed the envelope of what bands were 'supposed' to be doing. Their fame and popularity allowed them to do this.

George Martin told the band that they had to cut the time on Hey Jude because the radio would never play a 7.5 minute song. Lennon said "yes they will, because it's us".

-Mike
 
Strat1958 said:
Same here. I like the Beatles because I like their music (most of it, anyway). I suggest reading the book "Revolution In The Head" to read the stories behind how the songs were written, pitched to the rest of the band, recorded/changed/recorded/changed etc etc until the final versions were released. They would rehearse a single song for days or weeks on end, often going through 30-40 takes of a single part. Wow, quite a process, nobody can deny that these were hard-working musicians.

I know I am 'supposed' to like The Who, because I am in the minority of people that don't understand what all the fuss is about. Though I like some of their songs.

For years, I was 'supposed' to worship Springsteen, because of all of the media and critics' hype about him being the next Bob Dylan or whatever. He's OK but once again, I wouldn't buy his records or see him in concert, though I like a few of his songs.

I like Beatles music because it has catchy melodies, covers a huge spectrum of genres, and at the time, pushed the envelope of what bands were 'supposed' to be doing. Their fame and popularity allowed them to do this.

George Martin told the band that they had to cut the time on Hey Jude because the radio would never play a 7.5 minute song. Lennon said "yes they will, because it's us".

-Mike
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I would recommend "Revolution in the head" to anyone. It's a knockout of a book, along with two other books that, interestingly, were written at exactly the same time (though one didn't come out for another 8 years) and follow the same song by song format ~ "A hard days write" by Steve Turner and "Beatles for sale" by David Rowley. All three books were done in '94 but Rowley's one came out in 2002, he says, because of the other two being published first and he didn't feel people would buy all three. He obviously didn't know Beatle appreciators ! The interesting thing about Rowley's book is that he puts the Beatles' songs in context very much of the times and shows how they utilized common ideas and methods and then refined them in such a way as to appear as innovators working in a vaccuum. It's a great read.
As for digging the Beatles coz you're meant to, when punk came on the scene, it was fashionable for a while to actually hate the Beatles because they were the Beatles. Many punks in the subsequent years admitted they didn't really dislike them, more the gushing that surrounded them.
 
I saw the Beatles the first time they performed on TV in the US. In my generation, I don't believe that I have ever met anyone who didn't love the Beatles.

With that said-

Four thousand holes in Blackbird Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
 
misterbill said:
I saw the Beatles the first time they performed on TV in the US. In my generation, I don't believe that I have ever met anyone who didn't love the Beatles.

With that said-

Four thousand holes in Blackbird Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
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It's actually Blackburn, which is about 30 miles outside Liverpool.
John Lennon had read a newspaper article in the Daily Mail stating that Blackburn council had estimated that there were 4000 pot holes in the roads of that town.
 
Keyster said:
misterbill said:
Four thousand holes in Blackbird Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
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It's actually Blackburn, which is about 30 miles outside Liverpool.
John Lennon had read a newspaper article in the Daily Mail stating that Blackburn council had estimated that there were 4000 pot holes in the roads of that town.
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Sorry! I’m missing page 67 of my Beatles Complete, I wanted to check on that.
One might ask what that has to do with Albert Hall.
 
misterbill said:
Sorry! I’m missing page 67 of my Beatles Complete, I wanted to check on that.
One might ask what that has to do with Albert Hall.
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i think the implication is that's where the funeral would be held for the subject in the song.

I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords.

I saw a film today oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
but I just had to look
Having read the book
I'd love to turn you on

Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
and Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
I'd love to turn you on
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