Strawberry Fields Forever

[famethrowa]

It's funny that a home recording of a man bumbling about on an acoustic guitar and saying " I cannae do it" can become one of my favourite pieces of audio.

[SteveDave]

It's my favourite song ever and here's why:

http://magnetmagazine.com/2018/08/24/desk-simon-love-young-boys-musical-awakening/

[nedthemumbler]

And Fabcast - they're annoyingly American, but very knowledgable about the post-Beatles seventies, especially the Capitol settlement in which McCartney got a little bit more royalties than the others and they didn't find out until the eighties. I think one was a Capitol employee during the period so there's interesting info about Capitol/EMI's perceptions of their solo careers at the time.

Ah cool, cheers.  Will give that a go.

SATB has gone downhill a bit in the last year or so.  It used to be hosted by two journos/authors, one US one Brit, but the British guy has ducked out for reasons unknown, so similarly it can get very 'American' these days.  Still scratches that itch though, and the back catalogue is still freely available.

[SteveDave]

Ah cool, cheers.  Will give that a go.

SATB has gone downhill a bit in the last year or so.  It used to be hosted by two journos/authors, one US one Brit, but the British guy has ducked out for reasons unknown, so similarly it can get very 'American' these days.  Still scratches that itch though, and the back catalogue is still freely available.

Richard Buskin was complaining that they never made any money from the podcast and his anti-McCartney rants were getting on Robert Rodriguez and the producer's nerves (as they did all the research and editing of clips and things) There was a biiiiiiig bit of sniping business back and forth on Facebook when it happened that was very entertaining.

Apparently both Robert and Richard signed a contract with the producer saying if one or other quit they couldn't do another music based podcast for 12 months afterwards.

Now Busking has the Swinging Through The Sixties podcast with Allan Kozinn, a musician who is (I think) in Heart (but he's not a woman...he's called Craig or Cregg as those crazy Yanks say) and an annoyingly voiced man. It's not great and the sound quality is abysmal. The musician is barely audible as he mumbles like a male friend.

[nedthemumbler]

Oh wow!  Completely missed all that, a real shame.  You spend so many hours in such intimate company with these people, through your headphones, you can't help but be invested in their friendship and lives/careers.  Does it still exist anywhere on FB?  Not to be ghoulish or anything

Also, you seem to be the poster to ask : how on Earth do they get away with including so much actual music?  Is it just that nobody has noticed?  Quite a few songs I have only been able to obtain via the pod.

[SteveDave]

It's probably still on Richard Buskin's page. I think Robert took it all down though.

I have no idea how they get away with all the songs. Could it be because there's no sponsor or adverts so they're not making money from it (the very reason that Buskin left...although his new podcast plays music too so who knows?) and it's "educational"?

I can recommend the Fab 4 Free 4 All as a Beatle podcast too. It's a lot gentler than the others.

[Satchmo Distel]

Rodriguez was good on the Esher demos (#50) and how John and Paul still helped each other on songs (great clip from the Mother Nature's Son session) but I caught another episode on Stones v Beatles that was totally pointless; I'd have learned more by just playing the White Album and Beggar's Banquet back to back.

Can anyone recommend an episode from when it was still at its peak?

[mojo filters]

[Snip]

Also, you seem to be the poster to ask : how on Earth do they get away with including so much actual music?  Is it just that nobody has noticed?  Quite a few songs I have only been able to obtain via the pod.

That is a good question!

Maybe the context exempts copyright via the allowances for parody? It sounds like a stretch here, but it might also make sense.

If my notion is correct, I doubt commercial considerations have any bearing - I hear a lot of music on podcasts, which I'd expect to encounter legal ramifications. I could be wrong...maybe those lawyers who didn't drop out of the profession for more rewarding work, simply don't see the cost/benefit in chasing niche media enterprises?

[MiddleRabbit]

It's my favourite song of theirs and I'm obsessed by The Fabs.  I don't reckon that film of Lennon going from a major chord to the maj7 can realistically be held up as him writing it.  Unless we're prepared to suggest he was simultaneously writing Something as well.  And Slight Return by the Bluetones.  Or any of the other millions of songs that start with that most basic of chord changes.

[SteveDave]

It's my favourite song of theirs and I'm obsessed by The Fabs.  I don't reckon that film of Lennon going from a major chord to the maj7 can realistically be held up as him writing it.  Unless we're prepared to suggest he was simultaneously writing Something as well.  And Slight Return by the Bluetones.  Or any of the other millions of songs that start with that most basic of chord changes.

And didn't Paul come up with the intro on the Mellotron?

[Satchmo Distel]

Good discussion on SFF is this episode:

https://soundcloud.com/fabcast-870039074

[nedthemumbler]

Can anyone recommend an episode from when it was still at its peak?

From (addled) memory, Blueprinting the White Album, 80, about the Esher Tapes, both Desert Island Beatles and Desert Island Solo episodes, 29 and 109, Beatles and Drugs, 55 (remarkably mature and non sensationalist), Beatles Humour, 100, and Lennon as Vocalist, 34, spring to mind. Oh Beatles on the Telly

But really any of the first hundred odd are good stuff.  Perhaps less vital now that a lot of the more obscure bits of audio are now available officially ( the Esher tapes for example) but I generally respect their takes on things or at least enjoy them bickering amicably.  The comments below the episodes on their page are of unusually high standard n all.

Nb any listeners of Brian Gittins podcast may, like I recently have, start to hear Robert Buskin as David Edwards.

[Satchmo Distel]

Paul McCartney's sheepdog Martha appears in the Strawberry Fields Forever video. McCartney is so stoned that he tries to do a kick but stumbles. From 4:00:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUH9z_Oey8&list=OLAK5uy_kXTCtXTKA6DMJOSGKweNRGC0aoPn1iBF8&index=29

[nedthemumbler]

Good discussion on SFF is this episode:

https://soundcloud.com/fabcast-870039074

No 21 - Older?  That the one you mean?  Will give it a go on the way to and from work

[studpuppet]

Paul McCartney's sheepdog Martha appears in the Strawberry Fields Forever video. McCartney is so stoned that he tries to do a kick but stumbles. From 4:00:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUH9z_Oey8&list=OLAK5uy_kXTCtXTKA6DMJOSGKweNRGC0aoPn1iBF8&index=29

Unfortunately the tree has gone but you can visit the video site.

[daf]

Rodriguez was good on the Esher demos (#50)

Did you mean #150? I must admit I stopped listening a few shows after Buskin went (121) - just wasn't the same.

Can anyone recommend an episode from when it was still at its peak?

These are the two that got me hooked :

40: "Winter of Our Discontent" Part One – Twickenham
46: "Winter of Our Discontent" Part Two – Savile Row

In this special extended episode, Richard and Robert provide a thorough day-by-day overview of the first two weeks of the "Get Back" / Let It Be sessions,

And my pick of the rest :

99: Autumn '74 – Walls and Bridges and Dark Horse
96: Ex-Beatles Helping Ex-Beatles (in the studio)
93: Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane At 50
87: The Beatles' Decca Audition
85: Magical Mystery Tour – The Film
80: Blueprinting The Beatles' White Album
70: Late 1970 (parallels between the concurrent releases, George's All Things Must Pass and John's Plastic Ono Band)
56: Beatles '74 (overview of their greatest post-break-up year: the music – the collaborations – the possibilities.)
51: A "Cardboard Tombstone"? – The Beatles' Epitaph (the various iterations of the album produced from the fractious "Get Back/Let It Be sessions)
28: Early 1970 (the events leading up to Paul's April 1970 bombshell, reported as the Beatles' breaking up.)
19: Ramagine – A Musical Dialogue (the musical interactions between Paul and John as heard on the Ram and Imagine albums of 1971)
16: "Dutch Imports" (the seventies-era underground Beatle releases, ranging from live recordings to Twickenham Nagra reels.)
13: The Beatles and Pete Best
08: The Songs Lennon & McCartney (and Harrison) Gave Away
05: Fifty Years of US Releases (some of the Beatle novelty recordings, plus the new box set of their American albums.)
04: And When I Touch You: some mono/stereo variations

[Satchmo Distel]

No 21 - Older?  That the one you mean?  Will give it a go on the way to and from work

Sorry, my error. Should be No. 14 - Blue

"Did you mean #150?" Yes, sorry again.

[biggytitbo]

It's certainly in the top ten:


- strawberry fields
- come together
- a day in the life
- hey jude
- something
- here comes the sun
- let it be
- tomorrow never knows
- eleanor rigby
- happiness is a warm gun


Beat that, anyone else ever.

[non capisco]

I've become Beatles mad again since the White Album reissue. I started on that Mark Lewisohn "The Beatles Tune In" book this evening. The sort of book that could break your foot if you dropped it and it stops just before they're about to release 'Love Me Do'. It's about a 90 minute bus ride from work to mine and at the end of the journey I'd just got to the bit where Ringo is born. It might be February before I even get to anyone even saying "Why don't we call ourselves.....The Quarrymen?" Not complaining, I absolutely love wading through an absurdly minutiae-rich pop culture doorstop.

[kalowski]

It's certainly in the top ten:


- strawberry fields
- come together
- a day in the life
- hey jude
- something
- here comes the sun
- let it be
- tomorrow never knows
- eleanor rigby
- happiness is a warm gun


Beat that, anyone else ever.

Yep. And that's not even the correct top ten.

[Satchmo Distel]

Totally subjective but I would go for:

Strawberry Fields Forever
If I Fell
Rain
For No One
She's Leaving Home
Dear Prudence
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight
It's All Too Much
Long Long Long
Things We Said Today

[Satchmo Distel]

Good interview with Lewisohn at this link:

https://www.zfstockill.com/part-one-mark-lewisohn/?fbclid=IwAR1HCDw3ZXH7IvCeUXWCDGI0iTz4tIquCzs2R6XhGx3RWfidK7ZWGxWehHc

And an excellent podcast here:

https://iamtheeggpod.com/

Lewisohn and Buskin discussing the White Album

http://swingingthroughthesixties.com/2018/11/episode-21-lennon-mccartney-white-albums-live-monmouth-university/

[Satchmo Distel]

Richard Buskin seems to have switched straight to swingingthroughthesixties.com from somethingaboutthebeatles and plays the same excellent role as facilitator and questioner.

[SteveDave]

Off the T of my H:

Strawberry Fields Forever
Within You Without You
Long, Long, Long
Old Brown Shoe
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
Sexy Sadie
Baby You're A Rich Man
You Won't See Me
Tomorrow Never Knows