To me that is what is so amazing about Lennon. He wasn't technical like McCartney yet he still came up with these amazing modulations in his songs. It was all intuitive with him.
Well said, @Fred Muggs - no disagreement but they also had, by pure chance, the classical training of George Martin to enthusiastically develop their ideas.
@Fred Muggs - The Beatles also continued to soak up new influences e.g. Dylan, Motown, Ska, Indian, Donovan's finger-picking (for the White album) [great Donovan interviews on YT] etc. reworked old influences e.g. McCartney's "granny songs" + Ringo's "can't sing" songs and tempered all of that with the drugs of the moment - pills, pot, LSD, meditation & heroin (Lennon). All in (mostly) 6 years - amazing!
I dont believe that one bit to be honest. May be he didnt know how to read sheet music, but he sure studied music in some way. It was his job to write hit music, and he understood the amount of responsibility he shared with the rest of the beatles, so its natural that he studied how the chords,melodies,rhythm,words work. I know the world wants to believe that Lennon Mccartney were some gods who just came up with good music, thats not true. Like all great artists , Beatles studied their craft meticulously. That means Lennon probably knew what aeolian cadences, and modes in music were ,even though he said otherwise.
@Who's That Tripping Over My Bridge? mm..punk was a reaction against the bloated super groups of the seventies ..with very minimal musical understanding..the Beatles had at least one art school dropout mccartney himself was schooled early know by his father..who played in a band ..Ringo was the best drummer in Liverpool..ancient George practiced till his fingers bled..inside sell of that was an experimental alchemy and intuitive musical awareness that drove then to heights hitherto unseen within popular music..I hardly think Punk which was a rudimentary primitive reaction to Thatchers Britain in The UK could lay claim to all that..although t their early sound in Hamburg pretty much invented it..although part from their disdain for cliff Richard and Bobby bland ect..they pretty much plundered the back catalogue of every one going ..punk bgilliland@carnival.com comparison was a year zero mindset..that tore up the past ..The Beatles being one of their main targets..
@Who's That Tripping Over My Bridge? yeah but I addressed that in the response they were punk in as much that they did it themselves ..they certainly sounded punk in Hamburg maybe invented it..but as far as sound goes ..what are we going to do start saying beethoven is punk because he defied convention..and the consensus?..I don't think so..punk can fuck off as far as I'm concerned if it wants to lay claim to all of that..especially given that it was a huge publicity stint..it had no redeeming features other than producing John lydon..all the punk bands were shite..the Clash were fuckin abysmal..and the Jam turned out to be better at doing the Beatles and The Who..Punk has nothing to do with the Beatles..The Beatles were in another dimension
As a little child I was obsessed with The Beatles and instead of a bedtime story I would ask my mom questions about John Lennon. That was what got me to sleep!
wtf how was that a whole video I was ready for so much more than that. I recently got into the musicology of the song and there is so much to speak about. I demand a sequel!
Thanks Scott. As often as I've melted away listening to the ending harmonies of John & Paul (my favorite part), you nailed it when you mentioned its church-like "Amen" ...WOW !
Thanks for explaining the complexities of the song. Now please explain this: How did someone who doesn’t read music, take any music theory or musical training classical or otherwise, come up with these complicated chord changes? Neither Lennon nor McCartney or Harrison read music or had any formal training and yet they composed brilliant melodies and had complex song structures and chords. Explain this to me please! Because it seems impossible.
Thanks, Dyn. Scott has often said that a key to The Beatles' songwriting was their "big ears." They grew up with many influences: from traditional folk to Music Hall to church music to skiffle. They digested, and incorporated, it all. Their time in Hamburg also forced them to play lots of different styles, in part to fill hours-long gigs. Collectively, it was a great education, which they reflected in their original music. What they may have lacked in formal training they more than offset with their experience, and talent.
God I could listen to your playing all day long. Somehow listening to the melodies played as you do really brings out the sheer beauty of these melodies.
Geniuses . I had 2 band members that composed like that. just a 5 note piece then the other may just add one note, and when we came back theyd be "what do you think" POOOOFFFFFF head blown
Great! Brilliant! BUT... this video is too short. I would have loved to see you really break this masterpiece down further, as you clearly know your stuff!!
When it changes key the first time it goes to F not Bb. Bb is the IV chord in the key of F. C is the V in they key of F and it it's also the IV in the key of G. When it goes to C it's starting the modulation to the key of G for the chorus. All that being said, in the words of John Lennon himself "Really it was just chords like any other chords."
Yep. A lot of over-analysis by music theorists around today. 90% of contemporary pop and rock songwriters DO NOT KNOW music theory and just compose what feels good on a piano or a guitar ... and then other players add their bit to make a full song ... and then the music theorists come along and go apeshit about "how genius their songwriting was" and what it all means.
You're right. It was just a cosmic coincidence that Lennon wrote a song while taking massive amounts of LSD that both sonically and lyrically evoked an LSD experience
@@davidread7492 Harsh words! If you really think this song is not inspired by LSD, I can't help you. Yes, I know the official narrative and it may have certainly been the trigger for this song, but what other words would you use to describe an LSD trip? ;-)
can you yesterday quertet ealanor rigby quertet sgt pepper penny lane strawbarry fields hello goodbye in my life solo yellow submarine a day in the life and she’s leaving home play please
Brilliant song, but I've always thought the rather bland chorus let it down. With a chorus as inventive and beautiful as the verses, it would have been a true masterpiece.
I love John's music! But this song is very annoying and square, imho. So I replaced it with Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever in my own version of Sgt Pepper's...=)
Here's another brain dead McCartney fan. Are you seriously comparing John (A Day In The Life, Strawberry Fields, In My Life, Norwegian Wood, I Am The Walrus, Nowhere Man, Tomorrow Never Knows, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Come Together, Across The Universe, She Said She Said etc etc etc) to McCartney (Obla-di Obla-da, Rocky Racoon, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, When I'm Sixty-Four, Martha My Deart, Michelle, Yesterday etc etc)? Macca wrote all of the Beatles turds. Paul was a good (not great) bass player and a decent songwriter (if you like silly love songs). John was (with Bob Dylan) the greatest songwriter of all time.
Blake Wallace False. Your post shows how much you know about the Beatles. First of all, Chuck Berry has nothing to do with the song, besides the fact that John used the same 3 words (Here comes ol flattop) as a Chuck song (You can't catch me). This was an homage to Chuck Berry, one of Lennon favorite arrists (in fact just a couple years later they played live together, search Lennon Chuck Berry). And second, McCartney didn't produce jackshit. He was the bass and occasionally keyboard player back then. He knew nothing about producing nor he would have had any technical input beside "let's do another take of that" or "make that louder" "let's try using the Lowrey organ instead of the piano" and any other basic input that ALL four member (well maybe not Ringo) had on the creative process. Again, this was a band, everybody added something of their own to the song. To say that McCartney produced the song is, first of all, wrong because producing means taking care of the recording process (tape or digital recording, adding compression, reverb, etc) and McCartney, like the other Beatles at the time, wouldn't know the difference between echo and reverb or what a compressor was. George Martin was the producer. What you're talking about is the SONGWRITING and COMPOSING of a song, and, again, as a songwriter John shat on Paul. If you want a guy to write you a catchy middle eight and brainless lyrics about how much you love your dog (Martha My Dear) then yeah, Paul's good. But if you want someone to write you poetical masterpieces of imagery and sound that are still listened to 60 years later then John is your man. Besides, ALL the recording tricks that the Beatles invented and made famous were first done by John. Guitar feedback (in I Feel Fine), backwards guitar/recordings (I'm Only Sleeping), Leslie speaker used on voice (Tomorrow Never Knows) and later guitar, etc etc. Sorry dude but I'm actually an artist, songwriter and producer and I can list you a hundred reason why Lennon is way better than McCartney. Paul is the most overrated artist ever. If you exclude Band on The Run his solo career is garbage.
LOL by the time Come Together was made, Paul had #1 songs on the charts for other artists that PAUL produced. you are clueless. Chuck Berry sued and won for John lifting the entire melody of Come Together
Blake Wallace I think you have serious reading problem. I never said that Paul is not a good composer. He is. But that's it. He can compose a good melody but he will never make masterpieces like Strawberry Fields or A Day In The Life. He just doesn't have the poetic sensibility and artistry to make such timeless masterpieces. Please check any list of top Beatles song and see how many are John songs and how many are Paul's :) And seriously stop talking about Come Together. At least go check Wikipedia before you start spreading this BS. The melody of Come Together has nothing to do with You Can't Catch Me. They are in different keys (Come Together in D minor, You Can't Catch Me in A flat), the chords are different, the melody itself is different, the only similar thing is the THREE words I mentioned and the way they are sung. And it wasn't Chuck Berry who sued the Beatles but Morris Levy who owned the publishing rights and wanted to make a quick buck. Now I'll stop here because you don't know what you're even talking about and your making me losing precious time teaching you basic facts that any Beatles fan should already know.
To me that is what is so amazing about Lennon. He wasn't technical like McCartney yet he still came up with these amazing modulations in his songs. It was all intuitive with him.
Well said, @Fred Muggs - no disagreement but they also had, by pure chance, the classical training of George Martin to enthusiastically develop their ideas.
@Fred Muggs - The Beatles also continued to soak up new influences e.g. Dylan, Motown, Ska, Indian, Donovan's finger-picking (for the White album) [great Donovan interviews on YT] etc. reworked old influences e.g. McCartney's "granny songs" + Ringo's "can't sing" songs and tempered all of that with the drugs of the moment - pills, pot, LSD, meditation & heroin (Lennon).
All in (mostly) 6 years - amazing!
I dont believe that one bit to be honest. May be he didnt know how to read sheet music, but he sure studied music in some way. It was his job to write hit music, and he understood the amount of responsibility he shared with the rest of the beatles, so its natural that he studied how the chords,melodies,rhythm,words work. I know the world wants to believe that Lennon Mccartney were some gods who just came up with good music, thats not true. Like all great artists , Beatles studied their craft meticulously. That means Lennon probably knew what aeolian cadences, and modes in music were ,even though he said otherwise.
@Who's That Tripping Over My Bridge? mm..punk was a reaction against the bloated super groups of the seventies ..with very minimal musical understanding..the Beatles had at least one art school dropout mccartney himself was schooled early know by his father..who played in a band ..Ringo was the best drummer in Liverpool..ancient George practiced till his fingers bled..inside sell of that was an experimental alchemy and intuitive musical awareness that drove then to heights hitherto unseen within popular music..I hardly think Punk which was a rudimentary primitive reaction to Thatchers Britain in The UK could lay claim to all that..although t their early sound in Hamburg pretty much invented it..although part from their disdain for cliff Richard and Bobby bland ect..they pretty much plundered the back catalogue of every one going ..punk bgilliland@carnival.com comparison was a year zero mindset..that tore up the past ..The Beatles being one of their main targets..
@Who's That Tripping Over My Bridge? yeah but I addressed that in the response they were punk in as much that they did it themselves ..they certainly sounded punk in Hamburg maybe invented it..but as far as sound goes ..what are we going to do start saying beethoven is punk because he defied convention..and the consensus?..I don't think so..punk can fuck off as far as I'm concerned if it wants to lay claim to all of that..especially given that it was a huge publicity stint..it had no redeeming features other than producing John lydon..all the punk bands were shite..the Clash were fuckin abysmal..and the Jam turned out to be better at doing the Beatles and The Who..Punk has nothing to do with the Beatles..The Beatles were in another dimension
As a little child I was obsessed with The Beatles and instead of a bedtime story I would ask my mom questions about John Lennon. That was what got me to sleep!
You would have a mini Bed-in for Peace every night?
sweeet
You are spot on. The entire song is magic, but I love hearing the bass in the chorus, pure baroque.
I always said that the bass line in the chorus is a tuba line.
These analysis videos are great! I'd love to learn more about "She's leaving home"
Such a beautiful song!!
that one is interesting and so is Eleanor Rigby
How come this man can explain all in 2 minutes. Others take way longer. Great channel. Thanks.
He didn't explain all of it. There's WAYYYYYY more going on.
A brilliant video! Only the interesting facts, no hype. Loved it.
I love the fact that you get straight to the point.
This is an excellent video. Thank you and the algorithm for this.
Bravo!
wtf how was that a whole video I was ready for so much more than that. I recently got into the musicology of the song and there is so much to speak about. I demand a sequel!
Loving this, can see the song in its various elements. Bravo, bravo...
Thanks Scott. As often as I've melted away listening to the ending harmonies of John & Paul (my favorite part), you nailed it when you mentioned its church-like "Amen" ...WOW !
Awesome break down of this song, always been one of my favorite Beatles tunes.
What a wonderful series of videos this is.......................................
Very interesting and entertaining!
This shit makes me cry. The Beatles were aliens. Fucking amazing
An amazing intuition for writing songs!
That is a really good, succinct, commentary. Thank you.
nicely done, thank you
More Please - that was amazing!!!
These are so good. So succinct
Sad fact is, we will never hear such amazing music recorded.
Excellent -- thank you!
Thanks for explaining the complexities of the song.
Now please explain this: How did someone who doesn’t read music, take any music theory or musical training classical or otherwise, come up with these complicated chord changes? Neither Lennon nor McCartney or Harrison read music or had any formal training and yet they composed brilliant melodies and had complex song structures and chords. Explain this to me please!
Because it seems impossible.
Thanks, Dyn. Scott has often said that a key to The Beatles' songwriting was their "big ears." They grew up with many influences: from traditional folk to Music Hall to church music to skiffle. They digested, and incorporated, it all. Their time in Hamburg also forced them to play lots of different styles, in part to fill hours-long gigs. Collectively, it was a great education, which they reflected in their original music. What they may have lacked in formal training they more than offset with their experience, and talent.
I wonder if a segment of this series exists for "Within You Without You" and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"?
We'll be releasing the full-length films on DVD/streaming later this year. The Sgt Pepper film covers both of those songs. Stay tuned!
Very well explained, nice one thanks!
nicely explained and the chords are supercool the progressions
Well played
Wow! It’s almost like the Beatles could have done anything they felt like and it would be amazing
Amazing breakdown! Where did that Lowery Organ sound come from? Is it a specific vst?
God I could listen to your playing all day long. Somehow listening to the melodies played as you do really brings out the sheer beauty of these melodies.
I have three letters to say W.O.W. how did you get the lowrey organ sound?
Thanks so much. It's one of the samples on Scott's keyboard. A very good simulation...
Geniuses . I had 2 band members that composed like that. just a 5 note piece then the other may just add one note, and when we came back theyd be "what do you think"
POOOOFFFFFF head blown
great stuff!! :)
I wish I could give this video two thumbs. Thank you!
Me ha encantado /Very good, thanks.
‘’You almost hear the flowers grow’’
Looking forward to analysis of obladi oblada
The Beatles put in their hard work and hours.By learning their favourite songs
love this video!
Can you do one for 'Tomorrow Never Knows' if you haven't already?
Thanks! Try this: th-cam.com/video/DbiIlfpjmUk/w-d-xo.html
I never loved this song. Now I do.
How do you spell brilliant ? Easy The BEATLES .
Great! Brilliant! BUT... this video is too short. I would have loved to see you really break this masterpiece down further, as you clearly know your stuff!!
wait wait wait paul made the main piano riff for lucy???
Lennon and McCartney for a reason.
George Martin said he unveiled the newly delivered organ in the studio and Paul immediately sat down and came up with the intro to Lucy.
Great!
These videos can give the impression the Beatles did this easily. Like every genius thing you have to put in the work.
What plugin for the keyboard are you using. It sounds spot on!
When it changes key the first time it goes to F not Bb. Bb is the IV chord in the key of F. C is the V in they key of F and it it's also the IV in the key of G. When it goes to C it's starting the modulation to the key of G for the chorus. All that being said, in the words of John Lennon himself "Really it was just chords like any other chords."
Yep. A lot of over-analysis by music theorists around today. 90% of contemporary pop and rock songwriters DO NOT KNOW music theory and just compose what feels good on a piano or a guitar ... and then other players add their bit to make a full song ... and then the music theorists come along and go apeshit about "how genius their songwriting was" and what it all means.
Exactly!
I FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THE BEATLES DIDN'T READ MUSIC. THEY ARE THAT GOOD.
How can i like this video again?
Does anyone know the tempo the chorus is?
what piano are you using i know its korg but what model the korg ?? :)
It's a Korg SP-250 (no longer produced)
@@scottfreiman7369 oh ok thank you so much sad to hear they don't make the anymore but thanks😁
Did George Martin play the piano on the original recording? Just curious.
Nope, it was Paul. And it wasn't a piano, it was a Lowry organ
This is exactly why it appeals to me.
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Tutorial please
Paul claims that he and John wrote Lucy together. I can dig it
Paul has claimed lots of things over the years. Doesn't make it true. Though he did make up the keyboard riff here.
Paul says it’s mostly John’s song but he was there during the writing process and contributed some chords & lyrics.
I thought this was about LSD
It is
@@robertlukacs4954 not
You're right. It was just a cosmic coincidence that Lennon wrote a song while taking massive amounts of LSD that both sonically and lyrically evoked an LSD experience
@@subg8858 learn your Beatles history before spouting crap.
@@davidread7492 Harsh words! If you really think this song is not inspired by LSD, I can't help you. Yes, I know the official narrative and it may have certainly been the trigger for this song, but what other words would you use to describe an LSD trip? ;-)
Lennonj wrote the arpeggio riff
No, it was Paul.Though John later ( unsurprisingly) claimed to hate it.
this guy says more in 2 minutes than others do in 1o.
Be great if these videos would end with just a minute of the actual song. Copyright I guess.
Wath is efect?
Jhonatan M.tarqui wath
And of course it had nothing whatever to do with LSD.
So basically - there ARE no rules.
can you yesterday quertet ealanor rigby quertet sgt pepper penny lane strawbarry fields hello goodbye in my life solo yellow submarine a day in the life and she’s leaving home play please
Brilliant song, but I've always thought the rather bland chorus let it down. With a chorus as inventive and beautiful as the verses, it would have been a true masterpiece.
Billy composed some good songs back then
Lennon wrote it though
OH SHUT UP ABOUT BILLY SHEARS PAUL US STILL ALIVE
LIsten to this
She's not a girl who misses much,, toodoodoodoo oh yeah.
the too doo doo was just a placeholder
I love John's music! But this song is very annoying and square, imho. So I replaced it with Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever in my own version of Sgt Pepper's...=)
L...S...D...(?)
what is this oxymoron you speak of
John always came in with simplistic melody and gibberish lyrics, then Paul and George Martin would turn them into genius technical mastery
Here's another brain dead McCartney fan.
Are you seriously comparing John (A Day In The Life, Strawberry Fields, In My Life, Norwegian Wood, I Am The Walrus, Nowhere Man, Tomorrow Never Knows, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Come Together, Across The Universe, She Said She Said etc etc etc) to McCartney (Obla-di Obla-da, Rocky Racoon, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, When I'm Sixty-Four, Martha My Deart, Michelle, Yesterday etc etc)? Macca wrote all of the Beatles turds.
Paul was a good (not great) bass player and a decent songwriter (if you like silly love songs). John was (with Bob Dylan) the greatest songwriter of all time.
chuck berry wrote Come together, Paul McCartney produced it into a unique musical performance
Blake Wallace False. Your post shows how much you know about the Beatles. First of all, Chuck Berry has nothing to do with the song, besides the fact that John used the same 3 words (Here comes ol flattop) as a Chuck song (You can't catch me). This was an homage to Chuck Berry, one of Lennon favorite arrists (in fact just a couple years later they played live together, search Lennon Chuck Berry).
And second, McCartney didn't produce jackshit. He was the bass and occasionally keyboard player back then. He knew nothing about producing nor he would have had any technical input beside "let's do another take of that" or "make that louder" "let's try using the Lowrey organ instead of the piano" and any other basic input that ALL four member (well maybe not Ringo) had on the creative process. Again, this was a band, everybody added something of their own to the song.
To say that McCartney produced the song is, first of all, wrong because producing means taking care of the recording process (tape or digital recording, adding compression, reverb, etc) and McCartney, like the other Beatles at the time, wouldn't know the difference between echo and reverb or what a compressor was. George Martin was the producer. What you're talking about is the SONGWRITING and COMPOSING of a song, and, again, as a songwriter John shat on Paul. If you want a guy to write you a catchy middle eight and brainless lyrics about how much you love your dog (Martha My Dear) then yeah, Paul's good. But if you want someone to write you poetical masterpieces of imagery and sound that are still listened to 60 years later then John is your man.
Besides, ALL the recording tricks that the Beatles invented and made famous were first done by John. Guitar feedback (in I Feel Fine), backwards guitar/recordings (I'm Only Sleeping), Leslie speaker used on voice (Tomorrow Never Knows) and later guitar, etc etc. Sorry dude but I'm actually an artist, songwriter and producer and I can list you a hundred reason why Lennon is way better than McCartney. Paul is the most overrated artist ever. If you exclude Band on The Run his solo career is garbage.
LOL by the time Come Together was made, Paul had #1 songs on the charts for other artists that PAUL produced. you are clueless. Chuck Berry sued and won for John lifting the entire melody of Come Together
Blake Wallace I think you have serious reading problem. I never said that Paul is not a good composer. He is. But that's it. He can compose a good melody but he will never make masterpieces like Strawberry Fields or A Day In The Life. He just doesn't have the poetic sensibility and artistry to make such timeless masterpieces. Please check any list of top Beatles song and see how many are John songs and how many are Paul's :)
And seriously stop talking about Come Together. At least go check Wikipedia before you start spreading this BS.
The melody of Come Together has nothing to do with You Can't Catch Me. They are in different keys (Come Together in D minor, You Can't Catch Me in A flat), the chords are different, the melody itself is different, the only similar thing is the THREE words I mentioned and the way they are sung. And it wasn't Chuck Berry who sued the Beatles but Morris Levy who owned the publishing rights and wanted to make a quick buck. Now I'll stop here because you don't know what you're even talking about and your making me losing precious time teaching you basic facts that any Beatles fan should already know.
if lennon hadn't come up with his contributions the album would've been just a mediocre mccartney mishmash...
Totally agree
Another wings album with granny songs.
Abso-fuckin-lutely.