Not a Coincidence: 50 Years since The White Album Came Out

[David Andrews]

   "you were diverted"  from common decency; "perverted too"  'nuff said, what a shame; "inverted" i. e., reversed from our original goal of freedom and justice; "no one alerted you"

The man needed a rhyme, was still developing as a lyricist. and had something of a moralistic streak that came and went and came again - y'see what I'm sayin' here?

The song definitely moves from a particular address to a holistic message - "I then look at you all"; "I look at the world and notice it's turning," etc.  But it's hoping too much to see The Beatles as in cahoots over this message, when George felt slighted by John and Paul, John himself was growing disaffected with Paul and the group, and Ringo quit briefly.  Meanwhile, producer George Martin sat sidelined in the control room, scribbling crosswords and feeling neglected while the group members independently communicated their sonic desires to the recording engineer. 

This was hardly an atmosphere of coherence.  It was more like the contractual obligation to make another record being blown out to its artistic and personal limits by talented, chafing, uncertain ace musicians.  McCartney may have wanted to be a cheerleader and came off like a gang boss, but even he couldn't corral Lennon, and he had a diminished regard for Harrison's talents.  (If you want to hear genius-level Harrison, pick up All Things Must Pass, which is how Beatle music should have sounded after 1970, and is, without exaggeration, every bit as good as the White Album.)

I think the key to the White Album is seeing it as variations on Beatle themes that had developed since the Rubber Soul and Revolver periods.  What coalesced in the past was pushed beyond restraint here, yet retained its character and redefined the status quo.  Other acts had these ambitions by 1968, though, as here, character was telling of success.

Edited December 3, 2018 by David Andrews

[Ron Bulman]

I saw Billy Preston do Will It Go Round in Circles with the Stones in the Cotton Bowl in 75, with Bobby Keys on the sax.  Dynamite.  A little more dynamic than this version.  But groove on the picture of him in full fro with George Harrison and President Gerald Ford at about 2:08 in the video.  

https://www.bing.com/search?q=will+it+go+round+in+circles&form=PRUSEN&mkt=en-us&httpsmsn=1&refig=43545fe6952f45fea1f7442c61a946ef&sp=1&qs=LS&pq=will+it+go+round&sc=8-16&cvid=43545fe6952f45fea1f7442c61a946ef

I once thought maybe "I look, at the floor, and I see it need's sweeping" might refer to the floor of the house of representatives or senate.  But that's a little deep even with a little Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (I know, wrong album).

[Kirk Gallaway]

16 hours ago, Martin Blank said:

Apple re-released Spector’s album in 1972.

              

DYLAN: I do know what my songs are about.

 

PLAYBOY: And what’s that?

 

PLAYBOY: Oh and, some are about four minutes, some are about five, and some, believe it or not, are about twelve.

 

Sorry, but I just don’t see any template for a coup d’etat in the album. Neither do I see where it’s about “the murder of our leaders who are for the people and general decency.” The same goes of for it being “about the murder of decency itself.” Ditto for it being about a Theory of Generations and a cycle of 72 or 80 years, and trying to break that cycle.”

 

The only person I know of who “studied” the album to that depth was Charles Manson, and I didn't see any race war in the album either.

The following is only sort of partly accurate: “Supposedly, Harrison randomly opened a book and put his finger on the words "gently weeps", then used the I Ching from there.”

George Harrison wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" after his return from India, where the Beatles had been studying Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi during the spring of 1968. Inspiration for the song came to him when he was visiting his parents in Warrington, Cheshire, and he began reading the I Ching, or "The Book of Changes".  As Harrison put it, "[the book] seemed to me to be based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else, as opposed to the Western view that things are merely coincidental." Embracing this idea of relativism, he committed to writing a song based on the first words he saw upon opening a book, which happened to be "gently weeps.” (Said book was not the I Ching.) Harrison continued to work on the lyrics after this initial writing session.

 

In the following examples, I think you try too hard to mine meaning from the songs on the album and, as a result, your arguments do not hold water because they really aren’t in the song but are merely constructs of your own mind. In addition, the lyrics are stretched constructs that exist only in your own mind and not in the work itself

·      “love there that's sleeping" dormant, gone, for all purposes dead.

·      "floor...needs sweeping" lazy slackers can't take care of even the simplest tasks

·      "how someone controlled you"  land of the greed, home of the slave, and we think we're so independent.

·      "they bought and sold you"  America is a bunch of whores of the Military Complex

·      "you were diverted"  from common decency; "perverted too"  'nuff said, what a shame; "inverted" i. e., reversed from our original goal of freedom and justice; "no one alerted you" = we're such dumb sob's that we have to be warned about the most simple, obvious things like a retarded child.  "America, don't stick your hand in the fire."  (wage an unnecessary war that will bankrupt us)

You are trying too hard in a way that will never allow you to succeed in understanding poetry.

 

To see an excellent example of what I am talking about see William Dowling’s brilliant essay "Ripple": A Minor Excursus” at http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/dowling.html BTW all those musicians came close to equaling one Jerry Garcia.  Just my opinion. Dark Star on Live Dead says it all.

Peace and Happy Trails.

Remember, poetry is not a puzzle to bone solved like some parlor trick

 

I would go with Martin on his message,and Martin I've seen the live performances of "Dark Star",  I was going to say a dozen times but I may have hallucinated 5 times too many. I also like Dave A.'s overview.

I know of Paul getting Mark Lanes advanced copy of Rush to Judgment, but I really don't see any conscious connection to the JFKA. They weren't American and were soon to be part of such a "don't look back" time warp anyway. Nor do I see any reference to the American War Machine. I think the messages intended in "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" are not at all political but in a moralistic tone, that refers to an internal process of searching within, separating yourself from mass perception and expectation, owning your own sh-t,  freeing one's mind, from clutter, noise, or ultimately illusion, maya, ego, etc.

But that's the fun of Beatle speculation, backward tape snippets and hidden messages and all. It was also happening a lot at the time, and people were hearing a lot of extra things on drugs. It was light and amusing then, as it is now for me.

I know and can play all the the Beatle songs, (though sitting down and working out some of George's say, licks wold be time consuming) as well as most of R&R, though I'm not versatile in all the genres, I can fake them. I feel I can usually manage to add something, but if you take a more essential, minimalist view. I think you can say the Beatles didn't need much more on their recordings. But being a bit of a harmony buff,  I would probably add a few as certain of their songs progressed.

As Dave pointed out, The well was running dry and they had a lot of small ideas combined with some full ideas that they needed to put down. Personally, at the time I was getting tired of the introspection of Sgt. Peppers and particularly Magical Mystery Tour, and I welcomed a return to more minimally produced R&R , but now with increased instrumentation and use of the modern day studio techniques of the time, than the  say the pre- Rubber Soul era.

One question i would pose here. If there are any takers, keeping in mind, this is largely opinion,there are no completely right answers.

What are the 4 weakest Beatle Albums? We'll eliminate "Help" and "Yellow Submarine" as they are half albums. And I'm talking of the American versions, though I can certainly see where people would think that the English versions of "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" might be the best. But in the less competitive American market, we would then include "Yesterday and Today".

[Roy Wieselquist]

On 11/27/2018 at 12:03 AM, Martin Blank said:

Not since Aesop's Fables and Reynard the Fox have beasts, birds, and pets shared and commingled their selves with ours so completely and revealingly.

 

 

Martin B.,

Very true, TWA is very Aesopian, even Krilovian, chock full of animals.  A partial list: walrus, tiger, elephant, sheepdog, blackbird, pig, raccoon, eagle, worm, monkey.  Plants as well.  And a vast assortment of bipeds.

Fables are meant to teach a lesson.  We are less angered by criticism when our foibles are illustrated by critters.

McCartney's "Mother Nature's Son" is a key to that AND it says that the real author/boss of the album is PM.

[David Andrews]

At the time of the White Album, there was also a reaction among the Beatles against the psychedelic pilings-on of the Sgt. Pepper-Magical Mystery Tour period, and a desire to make a more "raw" and unpolished record.  This is why George Martin was unfairly sidelined though present: there was little regard spared for yesterday's successes.  It was a movement that persisted through the Get Back/Let It Be period, where Martin was eliminated entirely, but brought back when The Beatles wanted an elaborate closing statement on Abbey Road.

[Roy Wieselquist]

On 12/1/2018 at 6:52 PM, Martin Blank said:

 Martin Blank:

The only person I know of who “studied” the album to that depth was Charles Manson, and I didn't see any race war in the album either.

Roy W: I know dozens of Beatle fans who have studied TWA way beyond the Charles Manson depth, which is to say no depth or crazy depth.  To find a race war in "Helter Skelter" is par for the course for someone who took as his Bible "How to Win (Grift) Friends and Influence (Manipulate/Bamboozle) People."  Old Charlie should have been put to death for that alone.  The song is obviously about heroin abuse.  Macca saw Lennon going down due to Yoko's influence.  The song is a slam on her: "You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer."

Funny story: only cat I ever owned I named Helter for obvious reasons.  One day he brought home a wife and I named her Skelter.  (It was either that or Heckle and Jeckle, but since I'm a Fabs fanatic...)  When I moved they refused to be transported, preferred to stay in the old neighborhood.

(Martin Blank): The following is only sort of partly accurate: “Supposedly, Harrison randomly opened a book and put his finger on the words "gently weeps", then used the I Ching from there.”

George Harrison wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" after his return from India, where the Beatles had been studying Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi during the spring of 1968. Inspiration for the song came to him when he was visiting his parents in Warrington, Cheshire, and he began reading the I Ching, or "The Book of Changes".  As Harrison put it, "[the book] seemed to me to be based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else, as opposed to the Western view that things are merely coincidental." Embracing this idea of relativism, he committed to writing a song based on the first words he saw upon opening a book, which happened to be "gently weeps.” (Said book was not the I Ching.) Harrison continued to work on the lyrics after this initial writing session.

 (Roy W.): I never said that said book WAS the I Ching???!!!  I said he used the I Ching after finding his starting point.  BTW Philip Kindred Dick used the I Ching in the same way when he came to an impasse while writing The Man in the High Castle.

 

(MB): BTW all those musicians came close to equaling one Jerry Garcia.  Just my opinion. Dark Star on Live Dead says it all.

(RW): I much appreciate the "Dark Star" reminder, maybe some of Garcia's best, most jazzy improvisation.  Love it though I'm much more of a Phil Lesh guy.  "Pride of Cucamonga," "Friend of the Devil," "Box of Rain," "Scarlet Begonias," and maybe the greatest composition of all time "Unbroken Chain."  Are you kidding me?  It's kind of karmic you brought up The Grateful Dead.  Just recently "Unbroken Chain" has been my solace and inspiration.  Do you know they could never play it live to Lesh's satisfaction until about 20 years later?  Even then Perfectionist Phil was not happy with their performance.

I saw The Dead three times in the seventies.  Most memorable was early December 1973 at Duke University's Cameron Indoor Stadium.  It was then I became a Phil Lesh acolyte.  Long story.

"They say love your brother,

But you will catch it when you try."

And

"Lilac rain, unbroken chain,

Song of the saw-whet owl,

Out on the mountain, it'll drive you insane,

Listening to the winds how-ow-ow-owl."

(MB): Peace and Happy Trails.

Remember, poetry is not a puzzle to bone solved like some parlor trick

 (RW): Who said it was?

I'm about to type up a little synopsis of Side One of TWA as a "treatise of America's slide into fascism."  If it is not your cuppa, don't read it.  Your referring me to the Zen of D T Suzuki is somewhat nettling.  You don't know he was an anti-Semitic, fascist freak wrapped in Zen clothing?  BTW I brought the Tao of Lao Tzu to Piedmont North Carolina in 1972, for which me former high school mates are still grateful.

PS to Martin: maybe you are one of those American chauvinists who cannot bear to see British music getting any kind of spotlight or consideration because you feel it takes something away from our home growns?

Edited December 3, 2018 by Roy Wieselquist
attempt at clarity

[Martin Blank]

On 12/3/2018 at 5:25 PM, Roy Wieselquist said:

I'm about to type up a little synopsis of Side One of TWA as a "treatise of America's slide into fascism."  If it is not your cuppa, don't read it.  Your referring me to the Zen of D T Suzuki is somewhat nettling.  You don't know he was an anti-Semitic, fascist freak wrapped in Zen clothing?  BTW I brought the Tao of Lao Tzu to Piedmont North Carolina in 1972, for which me former high school mates are still grateful.

PS to Martin: maybe you are one of those American chauvinists who cannot bear to see British music getting any kind of spotlight or consideration because you feel it takes something away from our home growns?

Roy W: I know dozens of Beatle fans who have studied TWA way beyond the Charles Manson depth, which is to say no depth or crazy depth. 

 

Boy am I glad I don’t know those Beatle fans. I don’t suffer insufferability well.

 

 

You don't know he was an anti-Semitic, fascist freak wrapped in Zen clothing?

 

That may be true of Suzuki, I don’t know; his words do make sense, however.

 

But did you know John Lennon beat his wife and child, emotionally abused his first son, was a political poseur, a  supporter of violence through donations to groups such as the Black Panthers. Imagine that.

 

PS to Martin: maybe you are one of those American chauvinists who cannot bear to see British music getting any kind of spotlight or consideration because you feel it takes something away from our home growns?

 

Well, there were three good  British groups and they are The Beatles (before Sgt. Pepper’s when they were trying to be American), the Searchers, and Fairport Convention (before Full House with Sandy Denny leaving the band; Liege and Lief was British music.) You can pretty much have the rest.

Remember, poetry is not a puzzle to be solved like some parlor trick

 (RW): Who said it was?

You do by your methodology and results. It shows up in statements such as this:

The song is obviously about heroin abuse. Macca saw Lennon going down due to Yoko's influence.  The song is a slam on her: "You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer."

 

Anyway,  I might see methadone but heroin? Now that’s a stretcher as Huck Finn would say.

 

I'm about to type up a little synopsis of Side One of TWA as a "treatise of America's slide into fascism." 

 

I await it with braided breath though there are much better books on the subject.

 

As Ethel Rosenberg said: “We are the first victims of American fascism.”

Now cue Bob Dylan’s Julius and Ethel:

 

People look upon this couple with contempt and doubt, 
But they loved each other right up to the time they checked out --
Julius and Ethel, Julius and Ethel.

I leave you with this. Is the last verse of Piggies about cannibalism?

 

Everywhere there's lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner 
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon.

 

 

 

 

 

[Roy Wieselquist]

On 12/2/2018 at 11:58 AM, Kirk Gallaway said:

I think the messages intended in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" are not at all political but in a moralistic tone...
 

Aristotle said, "Politics and ethics are opposite sides of the same coin."  Macro and micro.  State and individual.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Roy Wieselquist

[Roy Wieselquist]

On 12/5/2018 at 2:45 AM, Martin Blank said:

"...Lennon beat his wife and child...Political poseur, a supporter of violence, through donations to groups such as the Black Panthers."

There are beatings and there are BEATINGS.  He didn't beat his child,and any violence to Cynthia was very minor, if any.  She stuck up for him his whole life, felt that Yoko made him look the fool many times.  Sound like a woman who was physically wounded?  Anyway, Lennon was his own biggest accuser on that score with "Jealous Guy."  You bringing up "beatings" reminds me of Oswald being accused of being a wife-beater.  Sure he had his moments and I believe he did take Marina's ciggie out her mouth ONCE and touch it to her forearm to show her what she was doing to the baby's lungs.  He had begged her repeatedly not to smoke around the baby.  He was ahead of his time on that score, as he was on so much else.  Americans' inability to make fine distinctions, or any distinctions, may be the worst effect of JFKA.  A man grabbing a woman's arm to stop her from hurting the children, and leaving a bruise; compared to a man repeatedly punching a woman in the head, disabling her for the rest of her shortened life, all because she put the fork on the wrong side of the plate IS THE SAME, right?  Because they're both violence against women, right?  Jaywalking is as bad as murder, right?  They're both against the law, so they're the same.

"Political poseur" OUCH.  Hoover and Nixon put Lennon through the wringer because of his opposition to the utterly fascist Vietnam War.  Anyone who knows anything about it knows Lennon was a major influence in stopping that rolling atrocity.

"a supporter of violence, through donations to groups such as the Black Panthers."  You mean like the Panthers' Breakfast Program for impoverished children?  What is it you hate, Martin?  Breakfast, children, poor children, black children?  I await your answer with "braided breath."  Is your last name really Boorman or Bormann?  Do you feel, as does our Fearful Leader Herr Drumpf, that there were fine people on both sides at Charlottesville?

JL also gave to NYPD for body armor.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Roy Wieselquist

[Kirk Gallaway]

I follow how----you were inserted

You were com-forted too

I follow how----you can't defer it

You simply blurted through

 

Excerpt from the poem---"The Youthful Beatles in Hamburg"

Best recited in a British accent.

[Roy Wieselquist]

On 12/1/2018 at 10:42 PM, Ron Bulman said:

I saw Billy Preston do Will It Go Round in Circles with the Stones in the Cotton Bowl in 75, with Bobby Keys on the sax.

I once thought maybe "I look, at the floor, and I see it need's sweeping" might refer to the floor of the house of representatives or senate.  But that's a little deep even with a little Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (I know, wrong album).

Ron,

I re-listened to "Will It Go Round in Circles."  Good song.  The opening keyboard to the verses is practically identical to "Song for Frisco" put out a year earlier by Quicksilver M. S.  The rest is different, I'm sure someone in the music biz knew how much could be borrowed before it became copyright infringement.  Funny thing.  And it's some tough ivory-tickling to play.

[Roy Wieselquist]

The White Album: A Treatise on America's Slide into Fascism

                                                                            Side One

1.  "Back in the USSR" -- A poke in the eye to America's wasteful Cold War competition with the Soviet Union.  The jet sound at the beginning is used many times later in other rock songs, most notably in Lesh/Petersen's "Unbroken Chain."  "USSR" is a fitting start for the album; George Martin and the Boys liked to start an album and a side with a real upbeat attention-getter.  Also, this song's production was pretty much like how they did most of the album: "The individual songwriter took control of the process."  (p. 343 in the new Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, the Later Years, 1966-2016 by Kenneth Womack.  "If Paul had to come in to put a bass track on one of George's songs, Paul would come in that day, do his thing and then leave.  Every song was very much like that."

This was a pure McCartney number.  He played all the instruments, even the drums because this was during Ringo's extended absence when he felt left out of the group.  PM got John and George to double track all the parts, and with good headphones you can hear how sloppy some of that background is, esp. bass and drums.

"Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC."  JFK flew in (back to D. C.) from Miami and Tampa a mere two days before the Texas trip.  If only he had been flying to the USSR like, say a Kruschev, he would have been just fine.  Ol' Nikita was eased out quietly by his hawks within two years of the U. S. hawks blowing their commander-in-chief's brains out in a most public fashion.  "You don't know how lucky you are, boy" to be going back to a much safer place than America, the murderer's paradise.  "Come and keep your comrade warm" made J Edna Hoover squirm in his lace silk panties.

The "guitar solo" is ONE NOTE played blistering fast, like a machine gun.  Many other artists used this when it fit with the song, most notably Neil Young in "Cinnamon Girl."

Paul finished this very quickly. He was on a mission, working on a deadline -- have it all ready to go to pressing by late October for the targeted release date, 11/22/1968.

 

Small Aside: the Characteristics of a Fascist State in Order of Importance for the Am. Brand of Fascism

* hatred/despising of labor, both the performance of it and the performer, the worker.  Labor unions are especially hated, have died out in Am. since the 1950's.  Hatred of fundamental labor (farming, construction, mining, etc. -- outside, dirty work) is now in our blood.  For decades, we have been touting "college" as a way "to get a good Job", meaning inside office work.  Manual labor is to be shunned at all costs, and ignored -- media reporting on labor acts as if basic production does not exist; it's all about working in an office.  This is why housing is so astronomically expensive now (Remember the "Rent is Too Damn High Party"?), because we don't have Americans willing and able to do that labor.

*hatred/despising of the other; i. e., non-white, non-Judaeo Christian.  But they are welcome to grow our food and build our homes.

* marriage of big business and government

* overlarge military, our most thriving business (ordnance to Saud to drop on Yemen and kill those unarmed peasants so Saud can have another oil port).  Am. spends as much or more as the rest of the world on "defense," but we are only 4.5% of world population.  That means we spend 22 times as much per capita as the rest of the world.

* empire, perpetual war.  The recent death of GHW Bush reminds us of our nearly constant massacring of decent, defenseless "other" people worldwide.

* ridiculous, belligerent nationalism.  "We're #1."  (Old joke: "But you smell like #2.")  Our working citizens are worse off than many, if not most, third world nations for health and safety.  USA! USA!  Isn't it a human embarassment to hear fans at the Olympics screaming this?  At a place and time that's neutral good sportsmanship to everyone else.

*oligarchy gets richer and more powerful

* far-right authoritarian dictatorship.  We don't realize it because we're like the frogs boiled slowly.  The last election: Oh my who will win?  The Republican or the other Republican.  The better choice, warmonger Hillary, destroyed the perfectly stable, advancing nation of Libya.  Among other warmonger atrocities.

America is the old Roman style of fascism, nothing like the German Third Reich brand.  The Roman-American brand is a sloppy, greedy way that eventually comes home to roost.  Our urban water systems are a study in incompetent, lazy neglect of infrastructure just like the Romans between short-lived golden ages.

(Side One continued next.  Sorry about all the preamble, just getting terms straight.)

Edited December 9, 2018 by Roy Wieselquist

[Roy Wieselquist]

At the top of the list of Characteristics of American (and Roman) Fascism in the previous post should be:

* fear and loathing, Hunter Thompson had it right.  How many witnesses in the events of 11/22 in Dallas were intimidated, threatened, beaten, murdered?  Had their testimony changed or ignored.  Everything in a fascist state is calculated to keep us scared, afraid of everything from crime to impoverishment to illness. 

 

                                                                        TWA Side One cont.

"Dear Prudence" is another song banged out quickly at the end of August.  Ringo still gone.  Featuring the gentle giant, Mal Evans, on tambourine.  A simple, pretty song, the backbone of which is a fairly simple, pretty acoustic guitar tablature (orderly picking of the strings in a chord).  A rare John and Paul collaboration for the time.  Everyone knows the story of Prudence the sister of Mia Farrow, and that she wouldn't come out of her hut in Rishakesh, yada yada.

As in most Beatle songs, there are puns, double entendres, poetic ambiguity. She's a young beautiful woman, a part of the beauty of nature.  But an American woman, and since she's prudent (as in "discretion is the better part of valor"), she's trained to stay in her shell.  Look what happened to JFK, MLK, RFK when they went outside.  Nowadays most Americans scurry from one metal box to another: home to car to office to store.  We mix up the order and think we're free.  We're talking about arming teachers, having SWAT at our schools.  Before it's over, we won't be able to go out the house without being covered in body armor.

And that's only the human health hazards. In the Am. West this summer, large areas' populations were told to stay inside because of tens of millions of acres ON FIRE and belching smoke like Vesuvius.  The earth is burning in America.  The water is poisoned and "the air's not good to breathe."  But still, Prudence (America), come out your shell.  Enjoy God's creation, Mother Nature.

A maddening coda to Dear Prudence: Mal Evans, the star of the song and a prudent sort himself, was gunned down by trigger-happy LA cops who were probably ex-military.  They didn't know that the shaggy Brit was a guy who wouldn't hurt a fly, but oh well.  The cops are scared, everyone's scared in the land of fear and loathing.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Roy Wieselquist

[Martin Blank]

13 hours ago, Roy Wieselquist said:

The White Album: A Treatise on America's Slide into Fascism

                                                                            Side One

1.  "Back in the USSR" -- A poke in the eye to America's wasteful Cold War competition with the Soviet Union.  The jet sound at the beginning is used many times later in other rock songs, most notably in Lesh/Petersen's "Unbroken Chain."  "USSR" is a fitting start for the album; George Martin and the Boys liked to start an album and a side with a real upbeat attention-getter.  Also, this song's production was pretty much like how they did most of the album: "The individual songwriter took control of the process."  (p. 343 in the new Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, the Later Years, 1966-2016 by Kenneth Womack.  "If Paul had to come in to put a bass track on one of George's songs, Paul would come in that day, do his thing and then leave.  Every song was very much like that."

This was a pure McCartney number.  He played all the instruments, even the drums because this was during Ringo's extended absence when he felt left out of the group.  PM got John and George to double track all the parts, and with good headphones you can hear how sloppy some of that background is, esp. bass and drums.

"Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC."  JFK flew in (back to D. C.) from Miami and Tampa a mere two days before the Texas trip.  If only he had been flying to the USSR like, say a Kruschev, he would have been just fine.  Ol' Nikita was eased out quietly by his hawks within two years of the U. S. hawks blowing their commander-in-chief's brains out in a most public fashion.  "You don't know how lucky you are, boy" to be going back to a much safer place than America, the murderer's paradise.  "Come and keep your comrade warm" made J Edna Hoover squirm in his lace silk panties.

The "guitar solo" is ONE NOTE played blistering fast, like a machine gun.  Many other artists used this when it fit with the song, most notably Neil Young in "Cinnamon Girl."

Paul finished this very quickly. He was on a mission, working on a deadline -- have it all ready to go to pressing by late October for the targeted release date, 11/22/1968.

 

Small Aside: the Characteristics of a Fascist State in Order of Importance for the Am. Brand of Fascism

* hatred/despising of labor, both the performance of it and the performer, the worker.  Labor unions are especially hated, have died out in Am. since the 1950's.  Hatred of fundamental labor (farming, construction, mining, etc. -- outside, dirty work) is now in our blood.  For decades, we have been touting "college" as a way "to get a good Job", meaning inside office work.  Manual labor is to be shunned at all costs, and ignored -- media reporting on labor acts as if basic production does not exist; it's all about working in an office.  This is why housing is so astronomically expensive now (Remember the "Rent is Too Damn High Party"?), because we don't have Americans willing and able to do that labor.

*hatred/despising of the other; i. e., non-white, non-Judaeo Christian.  But they are welcome to grow our food and build our homes.

* marriage of big business and government

* overlarge military, our most thriving business (ordnance to Saud to drop on Yemen and kill those unarmed peasants so Saud can have another oil port).  Am. spends as much or more as the rest of the world on "defense," but we are only 4.5% of world population.  That means we spend 22 times as much per capita as the rest of the world.

* empire, perpetual war.  The recent death of GHW Bush reminds us of our nearly constant massacring of decent, defenseless "other" people worldwide.

* ridiculous, belligerent nationalism.  "We're #1."  (Old joke: "But you smell like #2.")  Our working citizens are worse off than many, if not most, third world nations for health and safety.  USA! USA!  Isn't it a human embarassment to hear fans at the Olympics screaming this?  At a place and time that's neutral good sportsmanship to everyone else.

*oligarchy gets richer and more powerful

* far-right authoritarian dictatorship.  We don't realize it because we're like the frogs boiled slowly.  The last election: Oh my who will win?  The Republican or the other Republican.  The better choice, warmonger Hillary, destroyed the perfectly stable, advancing nation of Libya.  Among other warmonger atrocities.

America is the old Roman style of fascism, nothing like the German Third Reich brand.  The Roman-American brand is a sloppy, greedy way that eventually comes home to roost.  Our urban water systems are a study in incompetent, lazy neglect of infrastructure just like the Romans between short-lived golden ages.

(Side One continued next.  Sorry about all the preamble, just getting terms straight.)

Freud said: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

[Ray Mitcham]

On 12/9/2018 at 5:32 PM, Martin Blank said:

Freud said: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

Didn't Monica Lewinski say something similar?.