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Post by Perplexed on Nov 22, 2003 20:12:37 GMT
And, as regarding "Paperback Writer", (I love that song) please notice that the words, the entire lyric, makes sense. James Paul wrote narrative songs, like Billy Joel did 10 and 20 years later). Their is a very clear story. You understand the charactor and point of view. The way he tells it is clever, and still makes it rhyme, and still MAKES IT POETIC!!!!!! He was a poetically gifted Irishman.
Some later Beatle songs, and yes, I know that was a stylistic movement that plagued the late sixties,( make it vague, cloak the drug and sex allusions, etc, yes I know) but James Paul wrote clever lyrics that also made plain sense .For Gods' sake, even "Her Majesty", short and sweet as it is, does it in a perfect poetic-musical meter, and hits the nail on the head in the final line. "think one day I'm gonna make her mine.."
His lyrics werre always aiming at a POINT! They were going somewhere. They had purpose. They had design. They didn't ramble. (as opposed to what I am doing right now!)
The harmonies in Paperback Writer were cool, too, because the meldy is written in the mixolydian mode, which for those who care, has the dominant seventh instead of the leading tone 7th.
And he said everything he needed to say succinctly, usually in 2 to 2.5 minute!!!!! How perfect for radio!
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Post by MrKite on Nov 22, 2003 22:20:46 GMT
Shelley and Keats were Englishmen. Did you mean Shaw and Yeats? Sorry, I'm basically a nerd!...
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Post by Perplexed on Nov 23, 2003 6:19:01 GMT
1) I am an idiot. 2) I need to review high school literature class. 3) Thank you. I shall bone up, and rewrite that sloppy post.
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Post by MotherNaureSon on Nov 24, 2003 8:45:49 GMT
ABEY ROAD, some thoughts. 17) Her Majesty. James Paul. What more can be said. The final note is missing. I guess he never had a chance to plat it. Probably you know that the original place for "Her Majesty" was between "Mr Mustard" and "Polythene Pam". They finally didn't like it, and took it away. That's wahy the final chord is missing, in fact it's into the original chord of "Polythene Pam".
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Post by Chris on Nov 24, 2003 14:24:48 GMT
Curious - I'm sorry that you're not feeling well. I hope that you feel better soon... As far as the harmonies go, I'm not qualified to compare & analyze them. However, they did change significantly in style. I don't think it was gradual either. It's like they changed their style when Bill took over for Paul. He's a different person, he has a different style... Chris
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Post by Curious on Nov 24, 2003 14:38:57 GMT
Thanks for your wishes, Chris - this flu is a doozy, and is going to take a lot of hitting over the head with a large stick before it goes away!
And I do agree about the sudden stylistic change - there was no prior experientation - it was all or nothing.
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Post by Chris on Nov 24, 2003 15:05:37 GMT
You're not the only one who's sick. I just got a sore throat this morning. Shoot, I hope I don't get the flu. EEK !!!! Hope you feel better soon, hon... Chris ;D
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Post by IanSingleton777 on Nov 24, 2003 15:33:32 GMT
And their last album, "Abbey Road", is the richest in three voices harmonies of their entire career. Point well taken. I think on Lucy in the Sky, though, John sang all his own harmonies. It was one of his signature songs. The rumor was, he inhaled some helium in the studio to do the extremely high-octave harmony part...a rumor he has denied. If ya listen super critically, you can pick out that ultra-high octave chorus vocal, and marvel at how high on the scale it really is...and sounding pristine and clear! As if floating with no visible means of support...like some of us do on the weekends...lol
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Post by Curious on Nov 24, 2003 16:34:24 GMT
LOL! Come to think of it, some of those harmonies WERE rather high! However, I think I can hear George in there, but no Paul.
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Post by Perplexed on Nov 24, 2003 17:55:17 GMT
I hear George in that mix.
The high harmony, on the word Lucy, starts on high "B". This is very high for Lennon to push his full voice. But, wasn't that hik on "I wanna hold you HAND!" (the highest note?)Same note, high "B".
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Post by Darkhorse on Nov 24, 2003 18:07:10 GMT
The harmonies were definitely better in the early years. No question.
Some of you brought up the fact that there were good harmonies on Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road and that is true. But you must admit it is nowhere near what it was before. That is because of two factors. One, there was no more James Paul and two, they were already moving in that direction as a band. Just listen to Revolver and see. It sounds like many of the songs could have been recorded alone. Where are the three part harmonies in this ablum? Music and their individuals styles was causing them to grow beyond the 'Yeah Yeah Yeah' stage.
But who knows if James Paul had lived. They might have come out with an album with more harmonies on it than Revolver. As good as the harmonies were in the later albums, I have to say they would have been much better had Paul lived. There was simply something missing in that departement in the Beatles later material despite great songs like 'Because' which, like someone said, used technology to make that song and it wasn't as authentic as something like 'This Boy' or 'Yes It Is'.
As for Harrison, I think he did write his own songs, like Something and Here Comes the Sun. He wouldn't have the nerve to take one of the late JP's songs and call it his own. He hated fakeness. Remember, a lot of those really good songs on All Things Must Pass(which outsold the other 3 Beatles solo albums at the time) were intended to be Beatles songs but George always had trouble getting his songs on albums. George also introduced the moog synthesizer(and therefore became a pioneer for electronic music) on Abbey Road and many people have that album as their favorite and George's influence was a big reason for that.
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Post by Perplexed on Nov 25, 2003 6:25:48 GMT
Thanks for the info, Darkhorse. Nice post. Yes, I feel that your right, then. Harrison would not claim another person's song.
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Post by IanSingleton777 on Nov 25, 2003 16:52:19 GMT
I can recall the "Sgt. Pepper 25th Anniversary" special on PBS. George Martin with the MASTER TAPES sitting at the control board! He would talk and make a point, then runthe tape and was able to bring up just the vocal fader, and 'turn off' the instrumentals...the sound of the harmonies standing on their own is something I'll never forget. AMAZING AND MOVING. He did the same with 'A Day in the Life' and even Martin just marveled at the pristine quality and essence of John's lead vocal... I doubt that this important program ever made it to DVD...
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