I think your answer to the Ringo questin is selling him a bit short. Yes, he wasn't a technical virtuoso on his instrument but frankly, neither were any of the rest of them. What he was able to do was create very musical and creative drum parts that perfectly fit the songs he was writing for and, in that, he was easily the musical equal of John, Paul and George.
Yes, Ringo is not a virtuoso but still technical, in the sense that his approach to the instrument makes him very musical. I cannot imagine any other drummer do a better job on Beatles songs. Well, then there's Bernard Purdie who claims it was him and not Ringo.
Ringo was more of a jazz drummer, playing to the band more than just setting the meter. I feel like his playing presaged or maybe influenced John Bonham
Ringo was vital because he always played the most appropriate drum line for each song. He never tried to take over and he never tried to overpower anything. Simple sometimes, but each one fits great.
Ringo was solid with his tempo and had very tasteful short fills that fit perfectly. Also you can’t compare him to modern drummers that have built their complicated techniques on the backs of people like ringo.
I think your statement on Ringo doesn't give him quite enough credit. It wasn't just that he fit with the other Beatles personality-wise. He also fit with them musically! His drumming enhanced the Beatles' songs and gave them a distinctive groove. He wasn’t technically spectacular, as you said, but he didn't need to be. He didn't show off, but he gave the songs exactly what they needed. As John Lennon once said, "Ringo is a damn good drummer. He is not technically good, but I think Ringo's drumming is underrated the same way Paul's bass playing is underrated."
Ringo was a very good drummer. He was as good a drummer as Paul was a BBAss player or John was a guitariust Just as I think Eric Clapton's greatness, isnt his p;aying, its his total package.He was a great songwriter! John and Paul were great harmonizers, songwriters,. Ringo came up with many of the lines that we remember, like "Eight days a week. He had an uncanny mind. I thought Pete got screwed, but I have a feeling that this was Epsteins genius to replace him. Unfair? Yes. Life is unfair Ringo had one of the fastest bass pedals in th business. Ask any drummer.
@@twj2002 That’s a quote from John Lennon. I just kept it in because I didn’t want to cut off the quote mid sentence. Here is the continued quote: “I think Ringo's drumming is underrated the same way Paul's bass playing is underrated. Paul was one of the most innovative bass players ever. And half the stuff that is going on now is directly ripped off from his Beatles period. He is an egomaniac about everything else about himself, but his bass playing he was always a bit coy about. I think Paul and Ringo stand up with any of the rock musicians. Not technically great... none of us are technical musicians. None of us could read music. None of us can write it. But as pure musicians, as inspired humans to make the noise, they are as good as anybody.” I don’t think Paul is really underrated as bassist nowadays (he always makes those top 10 lists, as you said). But I think he is viewed primarily as a songwriter and general musician, which does cause his bass lines to be overlooked sometimes I guess? But again, that’s John talking in the year 1980, not me.
He is funny though. He's just so strange, I can't think of anyone who is so hateable and likable at the same time. More hateable than lovable though i suppose
In terms of Paul McCartney's solo work, I would say it's not quite as much 'cheeseland' as you might think. I never used to know much about his post-Beatles work, and I just assumed it wasn't for me, but when I started to properly delve into it, I discovered that there are many, many gems scattered throughout his career. Aimee Nolte started me on the journey when she made a video about Paul's singing a few years ago, and there's an excellent youtube video by Elliot Roberts where he goes through and ranks all of Paul's post-Beatles work - I recommend this video to anyone curious to learn more about Paul's solo career - I've found it invaluable in helping me navigate my way around Paul's extensive discography. There really are some very good albums in every decade of Paul's career.
Totally agree. I feel like the "cheesland" feeling is really directed towards his 80's output, since 80's pop does tend to sound cheesy to some modern ears. Howver, that shouldn't overshadow Paul's late career creative peak in the 90's and early 00's. "Flaming Pie" and "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" are two of my favorite albums he's ever done, I think they stack up to his other great work from the 70's.
Absolutely agree! There are soooo many great songs he’s put out post 70s and even recently, hate to see people labelling his work without giving it a proper listen first.
Agreed! A lot of my favourite Paul stuff is actually from the last few decades and some of it is really creative and interesting! He could have easily kept making the same old stuff (he's Paul McCartney, so people are still going to buy the albums) but I really like how he's still experimenting and trying out new things after all this time.
@@isaazevedo2506 With all respect to McCartney you really shouldn't be putting his 70s albums on such a high level. McCartney, Ram and all of Wings albums are "Cheeseland" albums, "Bip-Bop", "Teddy Boy", even one of my favourites with "Heart of the Country" are incredibly cheesy but not any less impressive. Late 90s to early 00s is my favourite solo Paul
You're too young to remember, but Ringo came out of the post-Beatles blocks very strongly. His solo stuff was on the radio constantly. "It Don't Come Easy" (1971) was a smash. So was the album "Ringo" (1973), especially its singles "Photograph," "You're Sixteen," and "Oh My My." I can still remember those songs playing on my parents' radio. So good. 😃
Those were indeed popular, but I can't agree they were particularly good. If Ringo had not been in the Beatles, his "You're Sixteen," etc. would never have been on the radio. That's not a hot take on his drumming or value in the Beatles, just on his unoriginal and uninspring work after the Beatles.
I will say, the idea that John Lennon provided the Beatles' brute rawness and that Paul was the sentimental melody-man always seems like an oversimplification to me, one that seems designed to downgrade Paul McCartney. Yes, both elements were necessary, but when you break John and Paul up like this, it makes it seem like Paul was a great musician, whereas John was a true artist. I agree that John's lyrics tended to be emotionally rawer, or at least more personal, but that doesn't make him more of a visionary. Art doesn't have to be confessional to be art. Additionally, Paul McCartney can write extremely emotionally poignant songs. I just always have to voice disagreement when the idea that Paul McCartney is merely a melody-maker arises. He is a visionary, adventurous artist just as much as Lennon was.
thank you! People who think like this simply don’t know the beatles, paul or john… of course you can connect more with one or the other and their work/art but to label paul that way is just plain stupidity to me, same people tend to just label his post 70s music as garbage without even giving it a listen first, obviously not everything is great but there are some true gems hidden!
I think John’s lyrics were more obscure and mysterious (if not plain bizarre). That always makes you equate them to high art. You feel there’s a deeper meaning. But I don’t know that it makes him the better songwriter. Paul is just as poetic, just more accessible. As to their musical talents, I’m so unqualified to judge that it’s not worth an opinion!
Paul had tunes, and some of my favorites of his are actually the bittersweet ballads like For no one, I'm looking through you and yesterday. But I'm #TeamJohn all the way. Lyrics are more important to me, and the rawness of his vocal delivery sometimes reminds me of Kurt Cobain
Reminds me of the best Carpool Karaoke ever, Paul McCartney going back to Liverpool. Crazy that the guy is still going strong in 2022 - he played for nearly three hours at Glastonbury.
I saw him in concert around a month ago. Two days before his 80th birthday and he played for two and a half hours. He played guitar, bass, ukelele, piano, and sang every song in its original key. Unreal.
I think that no other drummer could have done the Beatles justice. In just about every Beatles song, Ringo came up with a totally different & original part. No other drummer in the 60s did this. I like your list of Lennon faves. Mine is almost identical. "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the one i'd leave out.
On the Lennon favs I don't think he gives enough credit to Paul's bass and mellotron playing on Lennon's more out there tunes. Take the mellotron and Base away from Strawberry Field's and it's a sort nice but ok tune. Same for I am the Walrus. Similar for Lucy in the Sky, Tomorrow never knows, Come Together. Paul did his best and most innovative playing on John's songs a lot of the time. There's a reason why many of Lennon's best and most out there tunes don't have to many great covers of them, it's because McCartney was incredible at enhancing them when recording. Likewise Lennon's interventions on Paul's stuff (most famously when he said what was the best line on 'Hey Jude'). David to often over simplified the "It's a John one or a Paul one". Strawberry Fields Forever is "meh" without Paul, Hey Judge goes off in the wrong direction without John and so on. Similar for Ringo's pace, technical timing and compliment playing and energy on drums.
9:58 There are like 100 videos on youtube (by very respected drummers) where drummers not only SAY that Ringo is one of the best, but demonstrate exactly why he is. I understand your answer, Ringo was never considered the most technically adept drummer, but he definitely wasn't only there because of his "calm personality", whatever that means.
I always thought that it was quite foolhardy of Oasis to invite so many comparisons between themselves and The Beatles. It really only served to display how much their reach exceeded their grasp. I play guitar,but I don't endlessly invite comparisons between myself and Jimi Hendrix. It would only highlight how inferior my playing is to his.
Number one priority for a drummer is to keep time, especially in the days before drum machines and quantisation. That is why most drummers were replaced by session men in the studio at that time . Ringo could do this naturally without a click while also providing interesting rhythm patterns and unusual fills that were as much a part of the Beatles sound as any other element. I could go on, but you are seriously underestimating Ringo's contribution to the Beatles.
@@danielebowman Come Together is as much Paul’s as it is John’s. Paul recognized that John’s song was way too similar to Chuck Berry’s and suggested making it swampy. Then Paul added his bass and piano. The whole feel of the song was arranged by Paul
Hi David, love your channel... I do understand you don't Paul's songs after the 70's. Specially the 80's are not good. But did you ever listen to songs like Jenny Wren (Chaos and creation in the backyard)? Or his albums Egypt Station and McCartney III? They have a lot of edgy-ness again. And Mccartney II, being of the first synth pop albums has some great stuff... between all the cheesyness there is still soooo much that is good....
If you seriously think that Paul's contribution was 'sentimentality and cheesiness' then you have a very limited understanding. Illustrating it with Ebony and Ivory is cheap as well.
Just on Ringo’s ability I can’t think of another drummer who plays for the song as well as Ringo did, his drum parts are so creative and just like the other three it was his growth as a musician throughout the Beatles that makes him stand out - it’s also worth noting the reason he joined the band was that he was the best drummer around Liverpool at the time and significantly better than Pete Best. Paul has also said the first time Ringo played with them they sounded much tighter.
I think Ringo's reputation was damaged by John's "He's not event he best drummer int eh Beatles" which is utterly out of context. But for some reason music journalists hung onto John's every word int he 1970s.
Ringo WAS a very good technical drummer when the Beatles first hired him. He was arguably the best musician in the band on their respective instruments the first year or two. I think the toll of Beatlemania & not being able to hear themselves plus then becoming a studio band where he wasn't playing everyday. Those two factors had a negative impact on his technique over the years. But even then, he was still incredibly musical & incredibly inventive. And he always accomplished one of the hardest things for a musician to do: serve the song
David, seriously, you are WAY WAY WAY off track about Paul's solo work and it's because you obviously haven't taken the time to familiarize yourself with his music post 70's. True, a good deal of his 80's material wasn't particularly good, though there were some good songs, but starting with 1989's Flowers In The Dirt, he reconnected with his muse and got back on track. There are PLENTY of terrific songs on that album, as well as Off The Ground, Flaming Pie, Chaos and Creation In The Backyard, NEW and Egypt Station. Ever listened to The Fireman album Electric Arguments? Do you even know what The Fireman are? Of course not. It was a collab with an artist who calls himself Youth and there are lots of great, experimental songs on the album. Your opinion of Paul is cliché and reflective of the early 70's mindset whereby John was considered the cool, hip one and it was cool to dislike Paul because he wrote "sappy, silly love songs." Well, David, time to open your mind and see Paul McCartney in a more objective light and give him the credit he deserves, because unlike your equally cliche notion that "all artists" lose their edge and creative abilities as they get older - I guess you never heard David Bowie's Blackstar album - Paul hasn't lost his edge and creative abilities and has been relatively consistent for the last 30 years. Yes, not all of his songs over the last 30 years are great and yes, he wrote a lot of forgettable music in those 30 years and in the 20 before that, but you're not pretending that Lennon's albums Some Time in New York City or Walls and Bridges - or even Mind Games - are great albums that hit the kind of artistic highs Imagine and especially Plastic Ono Band do, are you? I look up to you and expect you to give me information and opinions that are rooted in objective reality, though like all art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and is a highly subjective experience. But still. Cheeseland? Oh fuck me. Give me a break. I suggest you listen to the Spotify playlist I made recently of Paul McCartney. open.spotify.com/playlist/01kC1FHtNDOwMn5ifu5NeW?si=ccf0c42618754972 I also have playlists of John Lennon, George Harrison, three of The Beatles, three of David Bowie, three of Frank Sinatra, as well as playlists of Tom Petty, The Stones, Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson, R.E.M., The B-52's, The Smiths, Tame Impala and a few others. You can find them all by doing a search on Spotify with my username, DavidStardust. You need to do a video that goes over the many fine songs Paul's created post 1979 and admit you were wrong about what you said in this video. I've been a long time fan of yours but this video disappointed me in a big way. You can do better. And you should. You certainly have the talent to do so. Just don't let your pride get in the way.
About Ringo (at 9:30) -- I would say that he was an astonishingly creative drummer. The Beatles sounded amazing partly because of the interesting choices he was making. What sort of "technical proficiency" do people want in a drummer? He had plenty of that, but he had the good sense and good taste to make the songs great. What would it have been like if Bill Bruford or Neil Peart had been in The Beatles? Would that have made them sound better? I strongly doubt it.
There have been a lot of cheesy Paul McCartney songs, but I don't think it's fair to say that he's got increasingly cheesy since the 70s ended. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard was one of Paul's most introspective and reflective albums ever and that was released in 2005!
If anyone has heard Paul's Fireman song 'Nothing too much just out of sight" that alone proves he hasn't lost any edge and that song was released 2008. I agree with your other comment here as well so kinda replying to both, but yeah, huge over-simplification and an all too common one.
A good chunk of Paul's solo career during his prime consisted of shallow, commercial and cheesy music. His material in the 90s while a lot more mature still remains weak imo. Although, I do agree that "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" is a great album, perhaps his best since "Band on the Run".
@@joshgoldstein3991 Yeah I agree - it’s really inconsistent in terms of quality. I was just saying that it hasn’t been a steady decline since Wings ended. I think Paul’s lowest point was the mid 80s.
Interesting to note that Paul and Ringo’s houses were modest terraced abodes. John grew up in a semi detached house with his Aunt Mimi which the others considered very middle class and posh. So much for his gritty working class image! Paul often comments on it in interviews.
Paul, George and Ringo all lived in what would now be classed as subsidised housing, government built estates (equivalent of the projects in the USA) for the lowest socio economic classes. None of their parents owned their own homes. John on the other hand, although he did not live for the majority of his upbringing with either of his biological parents, was raised by his maternal aunt, Mary Elizabeth Stanley Smith (known as Mimi) and her husband George Smith. John's mother Julia Stanley came from a well to do family that looked down upon the lower classes. Indeed Julia's own family looked down upon her because she became pregnant out of wedlock, gave birth to at least one other child that was given up for adoption before John (a daughter), and to emphasise the point Julia's own older sister Mimi made sure that the state took John's custody out of of Julia's hands by reporting her to Social Services, twice, and then being named as John's legal guardian. The Stanley family had always been Middle Class. John's maternal relatives in Scotland included teachers, doctors and dentists. Mimi's house has in Woolton, a middle class district in Liverpool, and their house was semi- detached and they had their own back yard. John said in interviews that in the social class pecking order, he was about a head above the other 3 Beatles.
His song Working Class Hero is totally ironic. He was saying that he himself the he saw the incongruity of being celebrated at a working class hero. It was an image and stereotypes foisted upon the Beatles by the London press who were trying to show them as Northerners who’d done well. The media loves stereotypes.
@@nickdryad he did mean it ironically but at the same time he was astute enough to know that it would feed into his legend. Mick Jagger is a better example of a very middle class boy which he would hide so he could slum it to feed his heroic rebel status.
@@PianoDanny many thanks. No I haven't written a book on the subject, just read a lot of books on the subject. As any good referencer knows- always cite your sources, which was the only thing I did not do.
McCartney can certainly be sentimental, although personally I think people are allowed to be sentimental about their partners and children: that's sentiment appropriately applied. What I would say is that the author of Good Night and Women, for example, is also soft focus just as often. Is My Love more sentimental than Beautiful Boy? For me the main difference is that John is more likely to write angry, troubled, vaguely dystopian songs while the bleakest songs in the Beatles catalogue are by Paul (For No One, Eleanor Rigby, arguably She's Leaving Home). Of course a lot of it is personal preference. Thanks for the video (and all the others!) - it's fascinating to actually see these places.
All the Beatles had monumental albums post Beatles ie All things Must Pass and Pauls three album set 'Wings Over America' was the ultimate album not cheesy at all. The very first 'kind of' Beatles song I ever heard as a 10 year old and glommed onto was 'Another Day'. Its a really wonderful song and as you say Paul has these cool bases lines.
It's something John Lennon could've said, like he mockingly talked about Paul's "Granny music". It's totally in spirit with their band, and yes the music is cheesy so why hide the fact?
I love Liverpool we went every summer before covid hit but not just for the beatles but because my grandparents and all my family before that come from Liverpool. My grandparents got to go down to the cavern at the same time the beatles would've been playing there. But also I get these amazing history lessons from them and Liverpool is just such a great place to learn about. If anyone wants to go, you should go as soon as you can!! Going at the end of August this year, I'm so excited!!! 🙂🙂
Great video. My first visit to Penny Lane was years ago, when on a business visit I was taken to have a curry there! That curry house is sadly no longer there. The extraordinary thing about Paul's solo career is the sheer quantity of it, and while most doesn't match up to his best Beatle songs, a lot of them are still very good. It's the same work ethic which drove The Beatles on in the late 60s. And definitely the best solo Beatle live performer too, doing 2 1/2 hour sets at Glastonbury at the age of 80 is ridiculous. I would recommend his live concert "Rockshow" from 1976, when Wings were probably the biggest band in the world. Lennon produced 2 great solo albums after the split, but the rest of his output I find patchy. I did the walk from Lennon's house to Strawberry Field last year, it's easy if you stick the main road 😁
For me, the "non-Beatles song that sounds like the Beatles" that I liked was Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman. I can even relate to you in a similar situation. When I was young, my grandpa played that song in a stereo and because of the Beatlesque aspects in the song, I always thought that it is a song by the Beatles. Turns out, I was wrong. However, I do know the fact that Roy is a good friend of George Harrison and they even collaborated together within their one-off supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys.
For me, my fav non-Beatles song that sounds like the Beatles is Bandfingers “No Matter What”. The Beatles singed them to their apple record label and there is no doubt that the Beatles inspired their songwriting--I would not be surprised if Beatles engineers helped with the production or even would lend their instrumentation during the recordings. They have other songs that are outstanding in their own right.
Apart from the excellent and entertaining video, I love that a young person shows (still) so much appreciation for the probably most fabulous band of the last century! Also, the thorough musical education background makes these videos so valuable! I love every second! 😘
The question of "John or Paul and why?" seems a pointless exercise. It's like asking which part of the cheesecake you prefer. Now there's an interesting analogy; The Beatles and cheesecake ... John would be the hard biscuit base, Paul would be the cream topping, George the fruit above that and Ringo would have to be the plate
For a 'best Beatles song that isn't a Beatles song' I strongly, strongly recommend you give Emitt Rhodes a listen. He was known as 'the one man Beatles'. Here's a playlist of my favs: th-cam.com/play/PL7IE3cRfUcBOWZctMoxCS8-DMg_zxuqTP.html
David, when the Magical Mystery Tour album came out, there was a booklet inside the cover with pictures and song lyrics. I Am The Walrus says the lyric is GOO GOO GA JOOB. It is definitely NOT Koo Koo Ka Choo like in Mrs. Robinson. People really get that part wrong, a lot!! That's the real words, according to John and Paul's music publisher in 1967 Northern Songs / MacLen etc etc etc.
Bite your tongue that Paul McCartney only put out cheeseball stuff after the 70s. Paul McCartney put out some great stuff after the 70's. I really liked Flaming Pie and Off the Ground, but the one I really loved was Flowers in the Dirt. That's a great one. If you don't know the Flowers in the Dirt album, go listen to it start to finish. Go now!
Ringo was a very creative/ intuitive drummer, his beats on come together, tomorrow never knows exemplifies this: had he not used a galloping drum beat in get back, the tune would have suffered. Ringo used to invent malapropisms: upon finishing their first movie, they didn't have a title: after a while John suggested Ringo's A hard days night. Another saying of his: tomorrow never knows. FYI
I DO NOT agree that "Paul has lost his edge" McCartney 3 Egypt Sytation, New, Driving Rain Chaos and creation, Memory almost full, Flaming Pie, are as GOOD as anything he has ever written,
I think it's neat you find the Hey Bulldog piano riff your favorite. I prefer Lady Madonna. Though it's insanely cool that they fit so well together on the Love album.
Some suggestions for later Paul songs that might change your mind about his edge: Mr Bellamy, Jenny Wren, Sing The Changes, Winedark Open Sea, Two Magpies
It's disappointing that George would criticise Liam Gallagher as singer of Oasis (and thinks the band would be better off without him), when Liam Gallagher at the start of Oasis played such an important part in the success of the band, for his attitude and his impact on the sound, on the identity of the band. Somehow I'm not surprised that George wouldn't like Liam Gallagher though, for the same reason many Oasis fans only started to like the band when they had big commercial hits and their sound moved away from the punk influence they had at the beginning.
I think your favourite Beatle change as get older. When I was young, naive, and rebellious it was John. As you get older, wiser and calmer, it's Paul and George.
Railway infrastructure that never even got built ??? .... errrr, not quite true. The building that housed The Cavern in its basement was demolished so that the Merseyrail Network could be extended underneath Liverpool city centre. Once that work was finished, with a loop line for the Wirral Line and the Northern Line extended to the south,the land was filled in and left for a few years as a gravel-covered car park. Then, Cavern Walks now in the location was built with the Cavern replica in its basement, which, as you correctly state, is not in alignment with the original. Moreover, the entrance is not in the same place as the original and the stairs down are much wider and safer than those which we descended way back in the sixties. Nevertheless, this was another of your interesting videos.
sorry to disagree on Ringo. A good drummer is not only judged by his technique but also (and I think more importend) about his empathy for what a song needs (soul, heart, groove... you name it) listen to Ringos drumming isolated and you will know what I mean
I'm a bit annoyed that you think Paul is cheesy, he wrote helter skelter wich has been quoted as the start of metal,why dont we do it in the road was said to be the first punk song,back in the USSR,get back. After he wrote monkberry moon delight,live and let die, old siam sir,spin it on,and really a prolific amount of fast material.lennon was never able to keep up. I must state at this point I love both, but I think for the uneducated there is a nonsense of boths characters and thier input. Both are and were genious.
I think we all can agree that The Beatles was just a cheap knock-off of The Rutles. There, I said it, and now that it's said, it is an established fact and you cannot dispute it, so NYAH !!
“It never happened before”, “Here today” and “Waterfall” are wonderful compositions (amazing lyrics and music) by Paul post Beatles. I am sure I am missing many more to mention.
Paul's 70's solo career had some great stuff like RAM, McCartney and Band on the Run but there is junk too. Every decade has some good stuff 80s tug of war, pipes of peace and mccartney2 with some good stuff but he had a massive revival of great music on flaming pie, chaos and creation, electric arguments, memory almost full and some of New. Then he continued with Mccartney III and Egypt station having great songs on them as well. none are as good start to finish as band on the run but I honestly think that some of his 2000 onwards work is as good as he's ever done. If he still had the voice and looks they'd be massive hits.
in terms of musical development john kept himself up even after the band crushed. i guess his performances were even better comparing to 1969 or something. paul has become like a rich guy who has his own big legacy. of cause i like both though.
I like to compare the Lennon or McCartney argument to Waters or Gilmour. They were both two opposing ideas about music that married in a way that kept things from getting too dark or too bright. One challenged the other to get weirder, while conversely, the other kept the former from getting too indigestible for a broad audience. And both worked brilliantly against their counterpart until they both forgot to respect the other side's musical sensibilities and resentment set in.
Flaming Pie is one the most spectacular albums I have ever heard and it was released by Paul in the mid-1990s. Absolutely not cheesy. Lennon's solo albums are rather dull to me whereas McCartney's are fun, full of life, and creative. Ram is literally the greatest album of all time. 😬
Ram is too fucking good. Paul McCartney literally invented indie pop before indie pop was a thing. The fact that critics hated it made me lose all trust in music critics.
Calling Lennon dull is like saying grass is blue, I know it's your opinion if you don't like his music but given that you used the word "dull" tells me you know little to nothing about it
I think Paul put out some strange stuff in the 80s, but he's still writing songs to this day. I saw him in concert a few months ago, and he's still got it! He can put on a show. Ringo was a really good drummer in his day. I wouldn't say he was lucky to be in the Beatles. I think they were lucky to have found him. Their previous drummer apparently wasn't very good. Ringo contributed two songs to the Beatles catalogue, but he sang lead on several.
Best isn't even a good drummer, he's a catastrophically bad drummer. Have you listened to some of the early stuff? The guy can't even keep time, and do you know how crucial timing is when it comes to keep actual rhythm?
Great video! I must make that pilgrimage someday. I definitely agree Beatles' music will live on forever. They have the advantage of just catching that era where video started to capture performances ( something Beethoven or Mozart did not) thus this adds to their mystique. There is something very infectious of watching 50 000 screaming fans e.g. at Shea that somehow attracts one to the music and the spectacle.
Non Beatles song that sounds like the Beatles: "Come and Get It" - Badfinger. If that doesn't count because Paul wrote it, then "Lies" by the Knickerbockers. Favorite Beatles cover is Stevie Wonder's "We Can Work It Out".
Ringo was a GREAT drummer. In many ways the first pure rock drummer. His influence is taken for granted in that regard because it became the standard. On top of that, he had a knack for playing the perfect part, a real songwriter's drummer, drum parts that complimented the song not only perfectly, but in a singular way (like there isn't another drummer in the world that would write the Come Together drum part, which is as memorable as any guitar riff). Great drummer, forever underrated.
As a fan of the Beatles, thank you so much for this cool video. Strawberry Fields Forever is also my favourite song. Best regards from Cologne / Germany
In later Beatle years, Paul's songs are easiest to like at first, while John's might take more effort to like but last longer. "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields" is a perfect example. When Paul worked with Elvis Costello, the resulting songs were his best in years. (Last month I took a UK cruise and Liverpool was one of the stops. My Beatles tour took me to some of the same places you show, including the Ringo mural. And it was a bit rainy).
1:09 Eric’s is also a very important venue in Liverpool. Lots of big Punk and New Wave bands performed there in 70s and 80s. 2:18 Tony Sheridan probably also pushed him to be inventive with basslines 6:26 Any song from the Yes It Is LP by Rockin’ Horse 9:31 Disregarding the musical aspect, yes. Firstly, the Beatles had spent two years working with their ill-fated drummer Pete Best to become Liverpool’s top band and score an EMI recording contract. Without lifting a finger, Ringo joined on the back of Pete’s hard work that had got them to that position. Secondly there were far better drummers in Liverpool at the time the band could have asked. He is incredibly lucky as far as I’m concerned.
Excellent video, two points 1) Ringo was the glue, a modest personality, but an inventive, versatile styled drummer with a rock steady tempo. He played perfectly to "the song". Without him I think the dynamic would not have worked to produce the amazing quality of songs and performances. 2) Oasis missed the point of The Beatles by staying in a derivative rut. The only band I've heard come close to what I love about The Beatles are Jellyfish. Individual songs, eclectic styles, musicianship, strong vocals, harmonies, production and a core songwriting partnership of Andy Sturmer & Roger Manning. Their short two album career is pop perfection. Utter ear candy.
For me the greatest cover of a Beatles song is George Michael's version of The Long and Winding Road from The Concert for Linda, absolutely stunning and gut-wrenching
David, Very informative and entertaining video. The connection you made between Lennon & McCartney and the Great American Songbook writers is interesting. The Songbook writers, Cole Porter, The Gershwins, Rogers and Hart, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin were not recording performers per se (although I encourage you to find some of Cole Porter’s “demos” he recorded for his various musicals, “Anything Goes” being a particular gem). There are many great versions of these writer’s songs by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, etc. But, with the exception of Joe Cocker’s “A Little Help from My Friends” (which I heard him sing at Woodstock ’69... but I digress) I can’t think of a single great cover of a Beatles song (famously, when Frank Sinatra was asked what his favorite Lennon and McCartney song was, he replied: “Something”). In the same way, I think the premise of the otherwise-delightful movie “Yesterday”, is flawed. I don’t think you can erase the knowledge of The Beatles and then have close to their impact by simply pretending to have written their songs. The Beatles’ recordings, their voices, their instrumentation, their arrangements, are inextricably a part of the songs. Many great singers took a song like the Gershwins “Embraceable You” and made classic recordings, partly because there were no original recordings by the composers to compare them with. If I hear a recording of Frank Sinatra singing “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, it gives me an emotional lift. If I hear him singing “Yesterday”, I just think, oh, he's singing a Beatles song. If I hear the Beatles singing, “Baby’s in Black” (perhaps not their best composition), I feel connected to a complete piece of 1960’s Swinging London art, George’s out-of-tune guitar and all. PS. After you mentioned Ella Fitzgerald’s cover of “Can’t Buy Me Love, I listened to if for the first time and you are right: I will now add to my very short list of successful Lennon & McCartney covers. PPS: I was fortunate enough to meet John at the Record Plant in NYC circa 1971 when he was recording “Happy Christmas War is Over.” He was with Phil Spector who kept talking in a Liverpudlian accent. Very strange.
@@DavidBennettPiano Thanks, i always was interested in just how George Martin would orchestrate Eleanor Rigby? Like, Paul Would play it on the piano and then George Martin wrote something similiar for strings? Is Eleanor Rigby's music almost completely made by George Martin?
Happy Together by The Turtles is imo by far the most non Beatles Beatles song. Ms. Robinson is a good choice but Happy Together is just straight up something the Beatles wouldve made. A Paul song with all the quarter notes Paul loves quarter notes.
to me, the best non-beatles song that sound EXACTLY like them is "Sub-Rosa Subway" by Klaatu. They actually have a very similar sound in almost all songs, but this one still confuses me to this day
Lennon's last two albums - "Double Fantasy" and the post-humous "Milk & Honey" - were already showing his decline a la McCartney's late '70s decline. The albums were light weight and Lennon was moving squarely into "granny song" territory (an insult he always levelled at Paul's music) with sentimental and treacle songs like "Grow Old With Me" and "Beautiful Boy." Overall the issue had nothing to do with Lennon or McCartney as songwriters - but as victims of popular culture moving on without them. You'll remember that disco had just died and New Wave/Punk was the order of the day. Only Macca rose to the occasion with the blistering punk track "Spin It On" from Back To The Egg in '79. With Lennon passing in 1980, it left Macca wallowing in his own cheese. He suffered as did most major solo acts from the 1970s who weren't able to navigate the new sounds and synth styles of the 1980s. An era that would probably have benefitted from a forward thinking reunited Beatles. But it would not come to pass until the 1990s (sans Lennon)
That's because George wasn't the best songwriter in the Beatles, he was the third best songwriter in the band. Writing two or three brilliant standout songs was nothing compared to the dozens written by John and Paul, and no amount of revisionism is going to change that fact. If you prefer George that's fine, but your preference doesn't elevate him to the top.
What's your favourite Beatles location? 😊😊
you're alright for toff
I think your answer to the Ringo questin is selling him a bit short. Yes, he wasn't a technical virtuoso on his instrument but frankly, neither were any of the rest of them. What he was able to do was create very musical and creative drum parts that perfectly fit the songs he was writing for and, in that, he was easily the musical equal of John, Paul and George.
Agree. It's always interesting to listen Ringo's drumming. He often does unusual and unexpected stuff.
Yes, Ringo is not a virtuoso but still technical, in the sense that his approach to the instrument makes him very musical. I cannot imagine any other drummer do a better job on Beatles songs.
Well, then there's Bernard Purdie who claims it was him and not Ringo.
Can you really imagine any other drummer in the Beatles? Question answered!
Ringo was more of a jazz drummer, playing to the band more than just setting the meter. I feel like his playing presaged or maybe influenced John Bonham
@@mauricedibert2635 Pete Best? 😊
Ringo was vital because he always played the most appropriate drum line for each song. He never tried to take over and he never tried to overpower anything. Simple sometimes, but each one fits great.
I agree. He was also superb at drumming in a way that added energy to a tune. He literally was amazingly perfect for each song.
Ringo was solid with his tempo and had very tasteful short fills that fit perfectly. Also you can’t compare him to modern drummers that have built their complicated techniques on the backs of people like ringo.
I think your statement on Ringo doesn't give him quite enough credit. It wasn't just that he fit with the other Beatles personality-wise. He also fit with them musically! His drumming enhanced the Beatles' songs and gave them a distinctive groove. He wasn’t technically spectacular, as you said, but he didn't need to be. He didn't show off, but he gave the songs exactly what they needed. As John Lennon once said, "Ringo is a damn good drummer. He is not technically good, but I think Ringo's drumming is underrated the same way Paul's bass playing is underrated."
Ringo was a very good drummer. He was as good a drummer as Paul was a BBAss player or John was a guitariust Just as I think Eric Clapton's greatness, isnt his p;aying, its his total package.He was a great songwriter! John and Paul were great harmonizers, songwriters,. Ringo came up with many of the lines that we remember, like "Eight days a week. He had an uncanny mind. I thought Pete got screwed, but I have a feeling that this was Epsteins genius to replace him. Unfair? Yes. Life is unfair Ringo had one of the fastest bass pedals in th business. Ask any drummer.
How can Paul’s bass playing be underrated when he’s in the top 10 list of all time bass players. You Paul peaple can’t be objective.
@@twj2002 That’s a quote from John Lennon. I just kept it in because I didn’t want to cut off the quote mid sentence. Here is the continued quote: “I think Ringo's drumming is underrated the same way Paul's bass playing is underrated. Paul was one of the most innovative bass players ever. And half the stuff that is going on now is directly ripped off from his Beatles period. He is an egomaniac about everything else about himself, but his bass playing he was always a bit coy about. I think Paul and Ringo stand up with any of the rock musicians. Not technically great... none of us are technical musicians. None of us could read music. None of us can write it. But as pure musicians, as inspired humans to make the noise, they are as good as anybody.” I don’t think Paul is really underrated as bassist nowadays (he always makes those top 10 lists, as you said). But I think he is viewed primarily as a songwriter and general musician, which does cause his bass lines to be overlooked sometimes I guess? But again, that’s John talking in the year 1980, not me.
@@mayag224 wonderful Christmas time iIS McCartney!
@@twj2002 I think you’re responding to the wrong comment. But, regardless, why? Why should Paul McCartney be defined by one of his worst songs?
Wasn’t it very nice of Liam to prove George was 100% correct.
Utter pillock. I've never had time for him.
I do thank Liam for teaching me a new use for the word nipple. As a non native English speaker I appreciate that.
Except the whole band was rubbish.
He is funny though. He's just so strange, I can't think of anyone who is so hateable and likable at the same time. More hateable than lovable though i suppose
I was going to be somewhat more blunt but your subtlety, understatement would outshine anything I could come up with.
In terms of Paul McCartney's solo work, I would say it's not quite as much 'cheeseland' as you might think. I never used to know much about his post-Beatles work, and I just assumed it wasn't for me, but when I started to properly delve into it, I discovered that there are many, many gems scattered throughout his career. Aimee Nolte started me on the journey when she made a video about Paul's singing a few years ago, and there's an excellent youtube video by Elliot Roberts where he goes through and ranks all of Paul's post-Beatles work - I recommend this video to anyone curious to learn more about Paul's solo career - I've found it invaluable in helping me navigate my way around Paul's extensive discography. There really are some very good albums in every decade of Paul's career.
Totally agree. I feel like the "cheesland" feeling is really directed towards his 80's output, since 80's pop does tend to sound cheesy to some modern ears. Howver, that shouldn't overshadow Paul's late career creative peak in the 90's and early 00's. "Flaming Pie" and "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" are two of my favorite albums he's ever done, I think they stack up to his other great work from the 70's.
Absolutely agree! There are soooo many great songs he’s put out post 70s and even recently, hate to see people labelling his work without giving it a proper listen first.
Agreed! A lot of my favourite Paul stuff is actually from the last few decades and some of it is really creative and interesting! He could have easily kept making the same old stuff (he's Paul McCartney, so people are still going to buy the albums) but I really like how he's still experimenting and trying out new things after all this time.
Flaming Pie and Chaos and Creation in the Backyard are both just fantastic.
@@isaazevedo2506 With all respect to McCartney you really shouldn't be putting his 70s albums on such a high level. McCartney, Ram and all of Wings albums are "Cheeseland" albums, "Bip-Bop", "Teddy Boy", even one of my favourites with "Heart of the Country" are incredibly cheesy but not any less impressive. Late 90s to early 00s is my favourite solo Paul
You're too young to remember, but Ringo came out of the post-Beatles blocks very strongly. His solo stuff was on the radio constantly. "It Don't Come Easy" (1971) was a smash. So was the album "Ringo" (1973), especially its singles "Photograph," "You're Sixteen," and "Oh My My." I can still remember those songs playing on my parents' radio. So good. 😃
Those were indeed popular, but I can't agree they were particularly good. If Ringo had not been in the Beatles, his "You're Sixteen," etc. would never have been on the radio. That's not a hot take on his drumming or value in the Beatles, just on his unoriginal and uninspring work after the Beatles.
I will say, the idea that John Lennon provided the Beatles' brute rawness and that Paul was the sentimental melody-man always seems like an oversimplification to me, one that seems designed to downgrade Paul McCartney. Yes, both elements were necessary, but when you break John and Paul up like this, it makes it seem like Paul was a great musician, whereas John was a true artist. I agree that John's lyrics tended to be emotionally rawer, or at least more personal, but that doesn't make him more of a visionary. Art doesn't have to be confessional to be art. Additionally, Paul McCartney can write extremely emotionally poignant songs. I just always have to voice disagreement when the idea that Paul McCartney is merely a melody-maker arises. He is a visionary, adventurous artist just as much as Lennon was.
thank you! People who think like this simply don’t know the beatles, paul or john… of course you can connect more with one or the other and their work/art but to label paul that way is just plain stupidity to me, same people tend to just label his post 70s music as garbage without even giving it a listen first, obviously not everything is great but there are some true gems hidden!
Like didn't Paul write Helter Skelter, probably the most aggressive Beatles song? And John for sure also had his cheesy songs like Happy Xmas.
I think John’s lyrics were more obscure and mysterious (if not plain bizarre). That always makes you equate them to high art. You feel there’s a deeper meaning. But I don’t know that it makes him the better songwriter. Paul is just as poetic, just more accessible.
As to their musical talents, I’m so unqualified to judge that it’s not worth an opinion!
@@niklaslachmann1038 Ebony and Ivory way less "cheesy" than Oh Yoko!
Paul had tunes, and some of my favorites of his are actually the bittersweet ballads like For no one, I'm looking through you and yesterday. But I'm #TeamJohn all the way. Lyrics are more important to me, and the rawness of his vocal delivery sometimes reminds me of Kurt Cobain
Reminds me of the best Carpool Karaoke ever, Paul McCartney going back to Liverpool. Crazy that the guy is still going strong in 2022 - he played for nearly three hours at Glastonbury.
I saw him in concert around a month ago. Two days before his 80th birthday and he played for two and a half hours. He played guitar, bass, ukelele, piano, and sang every song in its original key. Unreal.
I think that no other drummer could have done the Beatles justice. In just about every Beatles song, Ringo came up with a totally different & original part. No other drummer in the 60s did this.
I like your list of Lennon faves. Mine is almost identical. "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the one i'd leave out.
And he pretty much never re used fills.
On the Lennon favs I don't think he gives enough credit to Paul's bass and mellotron playing on Lennon's more out there tunes. Take the mellotron and Base away from Strawberry Field's and it's a sort nice but ok tune. Same for I am the Walrus. Similar for Lucy in the Sky, Tomorrow never knows, Come Together. Paul did his best and most innovative playing on John's songs a lot of the time.
There's a reason why many of Lennon's best and most out there tunes don't have to many great covers of them, it's because McCartney was incredible at enhancing them when recording. Likewise Lennon's interventions on Paul's stuff (most famously when he said what was the best line on 'Hey Jude'). David to often over simplified the "It's a John one or a Paul one". Strawberry Fields Forever is "meh" without Paul, Hey Judge goes off in the wrong direction without John and so on.
Similar for Ringo's pace, technical timing and compliment playing and energy on drums.
9:58 There are like 100 videos on youtube (by very respected drummers) where drummers not only SAY that Ringo is one of the best, but demonstrate exactly why he is. I understand your answer, Ringo was never considered the most technically adept drummer, but he definitely wasn't only there because of his "calm personality", whatever that means.
I always thought that it was quite foolhardy of Oasis to invite so many comparisons between themselves and The Beatles. It really only served to display how much their reach exceeded their grasp. I play guitar,but I don't endlessly invite comparisons between myself and Jimi Hendrix. It would only highlight how inferior my playing is to his.
"...what I call 'Paul McCartney's cheeseland'..."
"Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs...what's wrong with that?"
Number one priority for a drummer is to keep time, especially in the days before drum machines and quantisation. That is why most drummers were replaced by session men in the studio at that time . Ringo could do this naturally without a click while also providing interesting rhythm patterns and unusual fills that were as much a part of the Beatles sound as any other element. I could go on, but you are seriously underestimating Ringo's contribution to the Beatles.
Paul’s bass for Dear Prudence has always been one of my favorites
Ya the Tavistock institute did a good job writing his songs.
Paul's best base lines was often put into John song's during the Beatles. Imagine Come Together without Paul.
@@danielebowman Come Together is as much Paul’s as it is John’s. Paul recognized that John’s song was way too similar to Chuck Berry’s and suggested making it swampy. Then Paul added his bass and piano. The whole feel of the song was arranged by Paul
Thanks so much for the amazing travelogue, David. Now I need to go to Liverpool!
😃😃😃
Hi David, love your channel... I do understand you don't Paul's songs after the 70's. Specially the 80's are not good. But did you ever listen to songs like Jenny Wren (Chaos and creation in the backyard)? Or his albums Egypt Station and McCartney III? They have a lot of edgy-ness again. And Mccartney II, being of the first synth pop albums has some great stuff... between all the cheesyness there is still soooo much that is good....
ELO Mr Blue Sky is my best non-Beatles song that sounds like the Beatles...easy
Why "For no one" is always forgotten? I think it's one of the best songs (Music & Lyrics) Best wishes from Austria
If you seriously think that Paul's contribution was 'sentimentality and cheesiness' then you have a very limited understanding. Illustrating it with Ebony and Ivory is cheap as well.
Just on Ringo’s ability I can’t think of another drummer who plays for the song as well as Ringo did, his drum parts are so creative and just like the other three it was his growth as a musician throughout the Beatles that makes him stand out - it’s also worth noting the reason he joined the band was that he was the best drummer around Liverpool at the time and significantly better than Pete Best. Paul has also said the first time Ringo played with them they sounded much tighter.
I think Ringo's reputation was damaged by John's "He's not event he best drummer int eh Beatles" which is utterly out of context. But for some reason music journalists hung onto John's every word int he 1970s.
Ringo WAS a very good technical drummer when the Beatles first hired him. He was arguably the best musician in the band on their respective instruments the first year or two. I think the toll of Beatlemania & not being able to hear themselves plus then becoming a studio band where he wasn't playing everyday. Those two factors had a negative impact on his technique over the years. But even then, he was still incredibly musical & incredibly inventive. And he always accomplished one of the hardest things for a musician to do: serve the song
David, seriously, you are WAY WAY WAY off track about Paul's solo work and it's because you obviously haven't taken the time to familiarize yourself with his music post 70's. True, a good deal of his 80's material wasn't particularly good, though there were some good songs, but starting with 1989's Flowers In The Dirt, he reconnected with his muse and got back on track. There are PLENTY of terrific songs on that album, as well as Off The Ground, Flaming Pie, Chaos and Creation In The Backyard, NEW and Egypt Station. Ever listened to The Fireman album Electric Arguments? Do you even know what The Fireman are? Of course not. It was a collab with an artist who calls himself Youth and there are lots of great, experimental songs on the album.
Your opinion of Paul is cliché and reflective of the early 70's mindset whereby John was considered the cool, hip one and it was cool to dislike Paul because he wrote "sappy, silly love songs." Well, David, time to open your mind and see Paul McCartney in a more objective light and give him the credit he deserves, because unlike your equally cliche notion that "all artists" lose their edge and creative abilities as they get older - I guess you never heard David Bowie's Blackstar album - Paul hasn't lost his edge and creative abilities and has been relatively consistent for the last 30 years. Yes, not all of his songs over the last 30 years are great and yes, he wrote a lot of forgettable music in those 30 years and in the 20 before that, but you're not pretending that Lennon's albums Some Time in New York City or Walls and Bridges - or even Mind Games - are great albums that hit the kind of artistic highs Imagine and especially Plastic Ono Band do, are you?
I look up to you and expect you to give me information and opinions that are rooted in objective reality, though like all art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and is a highly subjective experience. But still. Cheeseland? Oh fuck me. Give me a break.
I suggest you listen to the Spotify playlist I made recently of Paul McCartney. open.spotify.com/playlist/01kC1FHtNDOwMn5ifu5NeW?si=ccf0c42618754972
I also have playlists of John Lennon, George Harrison, three of The Beatles, three of David Bowie, three of Frank Sinatra, as well as playlists of Tom Petty, The Stones, Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson, R.E.M., The B-52's, The Smiths, Tame Impala and a few others. You can find them all by doing a search on Spotify with my username, DavidStardust.
You need to do a video that goes over the many fine songs Paul's created post 1979 and admit you were wrong about what you said in this video.
I've been a long time fan of yours but this video disappointed me in a big way. You can do better. And you should. You certainly have the talent to do so. Just don't let your pride get in the way.
Coming up: "answering your Radiohead questions around Abingdon"
About Ringo (at 9:30) -- I would say that he was an astonishingly creative drummer. The Beatles sounded amazing partly because of the interesting choices he was making. What sort of "technical proficiency" do people want in a drummer? He had plenty of that, but he had the good sense and good taste to make the songs great. What would it have been like if Bill Bruford or Neil Peart had been in The Beatles? Would that have made them sound better? I strongly doubt it.
There have been a lot of cheesy Paul McCartney songs, but I don't think it's fair to say that he's got increasingly cheesy since the 70s ended. Chaos and Creation in the Backyard was one of Paul's most introspective and reflective albums ever and that was released in 2005!
If anyone has heard Paul's Fireman song 'Nothing too much just out of sight" that alone proves he hasn't lost any edge and that song was released 2008. I agree with your other comment here as well so kinda replying to both, but yeah, huge over-simplification and an all too common one.
100%
@@SatelliteSounds Yeah I should have really consolidated my comments haha. I was just writing as the video went on.
A good chunk of Paul's solo career during his prime consisted of shallow, commercial and cheesy music. His material in the 90s while a lot more mature still remains weak imo. Although, I do agree that "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" is a great album, perhaps his best since "Band on the Run".
@@joshgoldstein3991 Yeah I agree - it’s really inconsistent in terms of quality. I was just saying that it hasn’t been a steady decline since Wings ended. I think Paul’s lowest point was the mid 80s.
I'm glad for Roman Piskun for getting his question answered at 6:28. Don't know who Pomah is, though
Poor Pomah! :/
Feeling like Liam after George's opinion....
@@theblurie1 sadly not everyone knows how to pronounce words which use the Cyrillic alphabet
@@ObjectiveDynamics You don't even have to know how to pronounce it, just knowing what letters are substituted. Even I know P is an R and H is an N.
😂😂
Interesting to note that Paul and Ringo’s houses were modest terraced abodes. John grew up in a semi detached house with his Aunt Mimi which the others considered very middle class and posh. So much for his gritty working class image!
Paul often comments on it in interviews.
Paul, George and Ringo all lived in what would now be classed as subsidised housing, government built estates (equivalent of the projects in the USA) for the lowest socio economic classes. None of their parents owned their own homes.
John on the other hand, although he did not live for the majority of his upbringing with either of his biological parents, was raised by his maternal aunt, Mary Elizabeth Stanley Smith (known as Mimi) and her husband George Smith. John's mother Julia Stanley came from a well to do family that looked down upon the lower classes. Indeed Julia's own family looked down upon her because she became pregnant out of wedlock, gave birth to at least one other child that was given up for adoption before John (a daughter), and to emphasise the point Julia's own older sister Mimi made sure that the state took John's custody out of of Julia's hands by reporting her to Social Services, twice, and then being named as John's legal guardian. The Stanley family had always been Middle Class. John's maternal relatives in Scotland included teachers, doctors and dentists. Mimi's house has in Woolton, a middle class district in Liverpool, and their house was semi- detached and they had their own back yard. John said in interviews that in the social class pecking order, he was about a head above the other 3 Beatles.
His song Working Class Hero is totally ironic. He was saying that he himself the he saw the incongruity of being celebrated at a working class hero. It was an image and stereotypes foisted upon the Beatles by the London press who were trying to show them as Northerners who’d done well. The media loves stereotypes.
@@eldiablo8580 nice comprehensive response. Have you written a book on them?! Impressed.
@@nickdryad he did mean it ironically but at the same time he was astute enough to know that it would feed into his legend.
Mick Jagger is a better example of a very middle class boy which he would hide so he could slum it to feed his heroic rebel status.
@@PianoDanny many thanks. No I haven't written a book on the subject, just read a lot of books on the subject. As any good referencer knows- always cite your sources, which was the only thing I did not do.
McCartney can certainly be sentimental, although personally I think people are allowed to be sentimental about their partners and children: that's sentiment appropriately applied. What I would say is that the author of Good Night and Women, for example, is also soft focus just as often. Is My Love more sentimental than Beautiful Boy? For me the main difference is that John is more likely to write angry, troubled, vaguely dystopian songs while the bleakest songs in the Beatles catalogue are by Paul (For No One, Eleanor Rigby, arguably She's Leaving Home). Of course a lot of it is personal preference. Thanks for the video (and all the others!) - it's fascinating to actually see these places.
All the Beatles had monumental albums post Beatles ie All things Must Pass and Pauls three album set 'Wings Over America' was the ultimate album not cheesy at all. The very first 'kind of' Beatles song I ever heard as a 10 year old and glommed onto was 'Another Day'. Its a really wonderful song and as you say Paul has these cool bases lines.
I love that you called Paul's solo work after the 70s "Paul McCartney's cheese land" because it sounds so funny to me idk why.
It's something John Lennon could've said, like he mockingly talked about Paul's "Granny music". It's totally in spirit with their band, and yes the music is cheesy so why hide the fact?
@@ingvarhallstrom2306 How are albums like McCartney II, Flaming Pie, Chaos and Creation, and Electric Arguments cheesy
@@ewest14 they’re not. He’s just not got there yet. He will.
Who cares if he gets there. I don’t. Ridiculous, cheesy, good grief.@@t3br00k35
I love Liverpool we went every summer before covid hit but not just for the beatles but because my grandparents and all my family before that come from Liverpool. My grandparents got to go down to the cavern at the same time the beatles would've been playing there. But also I get these amazing history lessons from them and Liverpool is just such a great place to learn about. If anyone wants to go, you should go as soon as you can!! Going at the end of August this year, I'm so excited!!! 🙂🙂
I was in Liverpool last week! So much cool Beatles stuff!
Great video. My first visit to Penny Lane was years ago, when on a business visit I was taken to have a curry there! That curry house is sadly no longer there.
The extraordinary thing about Paul's solo career is the sheer quantity of it, and while most doesn't match up to his best Beatle songs, a lot of them are still very good. It's the same work ethic which drove The Beatles on in the late 60s. And definitely the best solo Beatle live performer too, doing 2 1/2 hour sets at Glastonbury at the age of 80 is ridiculous. I would recommend his live concert "Rockshow" from 1976, when Wings were probably the biggest band in the world.
Lennon produced 2 great solo albums after the split, but the rest of his output I find patchy.
I did the walk from Lennon's house to Strawberry Field last year, it's easy if you stick the main road 😁
For me, the "non-Beatles song that sounds like the Beatles" that I liked was Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman. I can even relate to you in a similar situation. When I was young, my grandpa played that song in a stereo and because of the Beatlesque aspects in the song, I always thought that it is a song by the Beatles. Turns out, I was wrong. However, I do know the fact that Roy is a good friend of George Harrison and they even collaborated together within their one-off supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys.
For me, my fav non-Beatles song that sounds like the Beatles is Bandfingers “No Matter What”. The Beatles singed them to their apple record label and there is no doubt that the Beatles inspired their songwriting--I would not be surprised if Beatles engineers helped with the production or even would lend their instrumentation during the recordings. They have other songs that are outstanding in their own right.
For me, its Lies by The Knickerbockers
Emitt Rhodes - Somebody Made For Me
It may as well be the Beatles.
Thank you for such a great video!
Cheers!
Apart from the excellent and entertaining video, I love that a young person shows (still) so much appreciation for the probably most fabulous band of the last century! Also, the thorough musical education background makes these videos so valuable! I love every second! 😘
Thank you!
Might you ever answer Radiohead questions around Abingdon-on-Thames? That might be a good video.@@DavidBennettPiano
The question of "John or Paul and why?" seems a pointless exercise. It's like asking which part of the cheesecake you prefer.
Now there's an interesting analogy; The Beatles and cheesecake ... John would be the hard biscuit base, Paul would be the cream topping, George the fruit above that and Ringo would have to be the plate
Maccas basslines are simply my favorite to play. They're so melodic, playful, and just so poignant.
For a 'best Beatles song that isn't a Beatles song' I strongly, strongly recommend you give Emitt Rhodes a listen.
He was known as 'the one man Beatles'. Here's a playlist of my favs:
th-cam.com/play/PL7IE3cRfUcBOWZctMoxCS8-DMg_zxuqTP.html
David, when the Magical Mystery Tour album came out, there was a booklet inside the cover with pictures and song lyrics. I Am The Walrus says the lyric is GOO GOO GA JOOB. It is definitely NOT Koo Koo Ka Choo like in Mrs. Robinson. People really get that part wrong, a lot!! That's the real words, according to John and Paul's music publisher in 1967 Northern Songs / MacLen etc etc etc.
Bite your tongue that Paul McCartney only put out cheeseball stuff after the 70s. Paul McCartney put out some great stuff after the 70's. I really liked Flaming Pie and Off the Ground, but the one I really loved was Flowers in the Dirt. That's a great one. If you don't know the Flowers in the Dirt album, go listen to it start to finish. Go now!
Ringo was a very creative/ intuitive drummer, his beats on come together, tomorrow never knows exemplifies this: had he not used a galloping drum beat in get back, the tune would have suffered. Ringo used to invent malapropisms: upon finishing their first movie, they didn't have a title: after a while John suggested Ringo's A hard days night.
Another saying of his: tomorrow never knows. FYI
I DO NOT agree that "Paul has lost his edge" McCartney 3 Egypt Sytation, New, Driving Rain Chaos and creation, Memory almost full, Flaming Pie, are as GOOD as anything he has ever written,
I think it's neat you find the Hey Bulldog piano riff your favorite. I prefer Lady Madonna. Though it's insanely cool that they fit so well together on the Love album.
"Lady Madonna" is my favorite Beatles piano riff, too.
Yes. The bass line in "Something" is really something.
Some suggestions for later Paul songs that might change your mind about his edge: Mr Bellamy, Jenny Wren, Sing The Changes, Winedark Open Sea, Two Magpies
It's disappointing that George would criticise Liam Gallagher as singer of Oasis (and thinks the band would be better off without him), when Liam Gallagher at the start of Oasis played such an important part in the success of the band, for his attitude and his impact on the sound, on the identity of the band. Somehow I'm not surprised that George wouldn't like Liam Gallagher though, for the same reason many Oasis fans only started to like the band when they had big commercial hits and their sound moved away from the punk influence they had at the beginning.
I think your favourite Beatle change as get older.
When I was young, naive, and rebellious it was John. As you get older, wiser and calmer, it's Paul and George.
Railway infrastructure that never even got built ??? .... errrr, not quite true. The building that housed The Cavern in its basement was demolished so that the Merseyrail Network could be extended underneath Liverpool city centre. Once that work was finished, with a loop line for the Wirral Line and the Northern Line extended to the south,the land was filled in and left for a few years as a gravel-covered car park. Then, Cavern Walks now in the location was built with the Cavern replica in its basement, which, as you correctly state, is not in alignment with the original. Moreover, the entrance is not in the same place as the original and the stairs down are much wider and safer than those which we descended way back in the sixties.
Nevertheless, this was another of your interesting videos.
Great video... & terrific to see the important 'origin locales'... dunno if I'll get to the UK to see them for myself ('tis a long way from Oz)....
sorry to disagree on Ringo. A good drummer is not only judged by his technique but also (and I think more importend) about his empathy for what a song needs (soul, heart, groove... you name it) listen to Ringos drumming isolated and you will know what I mean
I'm a bit annoyed that you think Paul is cheesy, he wrote helter skelter wich has been quoted as the start of metal,why dont we do it in the road was said to be the first punk song,back in the USSR,get back. After he wrote monkberry moon delight,live and let die, old siam sir,spin it on,and really a prolific amount of fast material.lennon was never able to keep up. I must state at this point I love both, but I think for the uneducated there is a nonsense of boths characters and thier input. Both are and were genious.
I think we all can agree that The Beatles was just a cheap knock-off of The Rutles. There, I said it, and now that it's said, it is an established fact and you cannot dispute it, so NYAH !!
Thank you for this Video and Infos . One ,,In my life,, , I will,,
coming in this town..
Lg from Ellen ,Germany 🌹
“It never happened before”, “Here today” and “Waterfall” are wonderful compositions (amazing lyrics and music) by Paul post Beatles. I am sure I am missing many more to mention.
Paul's 70's solo career had some great stuff like RAM, McCartney and Band on the Run but there is junk too. Every decade has some good stuff 80s tug of war, pipes of peace and mccartney2 with some good stuff but he had a massive revival of great music on flaming pie, chaos and creation, electric arguments, memory almost full and some of New. Then he continued with Mccartney III and Egypt station having great songs on them as well. none are as good start to finish as band on the run but I honestly think that some of his 2000 onwards work is as good as he's ever done. If he still had the voice and looks they'd be massive hits.
Best non-Beatle song that sounds like the Beatles? ANYTHING by Emitt Rhodes.
On the topic of creative bass players, a big shout out for Andy Rourke from The Smiths
NOTE, paul first name [james] \as h is father. mom named paul mid name. she may have been roman religion. if their is a faul at work .
Yes, Macca has cheesiness and sentimentality, but he is also the dude that wrote the heaviest Beatle song: Helter Skelter!
Elton John's "Lucy in the sky with diamonds?"
Best Beatles cover
Just amazing, viva The Beatles!
in terms of musical development john kept himself up even after the band crushed. i guess his performances were even better comparing to 1969 or something. paul has become like a rich guy who has his own big legacy. of cause i like both though.
Ah David, ya mugged 'im off with ebony and ivory! You went right for the jugular XD
'John had the unfair advantage of having died....' - Dying is an advantage? Harsh!
Best Non-Beatles song that sounds like the Beatles: Bus Stop by the Hollies
Best non Beatles song which sounds like the Beatles = Lies by the Knickerbockers
This video is an interesting change of pace of your regular uploads :)
I like to compare the Lennon or McCartney argument to Waters or Gilmour. They were both two opposing ideas about music that married in a way that kept things from getting too dark or too bright. One challenged the other to get weirder, while conversely, the other kept the former from getting too indigestible for a broad audience.
And both worked brilliantly against their counterpart until they both forgot to respect the other side's musical sensibilities and resentment set in.
Drummers are, arguably, the most important member of the band and least appreciated by non-musicians.
Flaming Pie is one the most spectacular albums I have ever heard and it was released by Paul in the mid-1990s. Absolutely not cheesy. Lennon's solo albums are rather dull to me whereas McCartney's are fun, full of life, and creative. Ram is literally the greatest album of all time. 😬
Ram is too fucking good. Paul McCartney literally invented indie pop before indie pop was a thing. The fact that critics hated it made me lose all trust in music critics.
Ram on ! Paul, Paul Ramon
Calling Lennon dull is like saying grass is blue, I know it's your opinion if you don't like his music but given that you used the word "dull" tells me you know little to nothing about it
Ram ain't got shit on literally any Beatles album.
@@hasselett Any? Not a single one? It’s at least better than Please Please Me and Beatles for Sale.
“If you’re watching, NIP-PLE” 🤣
10:00 In fact Ringa was the most know and famous drummer of liverpool when the beatles was an obscure band who just return from Hamburgo.
I think Paul put out some strange stuff in the 80s, but he's still writing songs to this day. I saw him in concert a few months ago, and he's still got it! He can put on a show.
Ringo was a really good drummer in his day. I wouldn't say he was lucky to be in the Beatles. I think they were lucky to have found him. Their previous drummer apparently wasn't very good. Ringo contributed two songs to the Beatles catalogue, but he sang lead on several.
What do you mean? Their previous drummer was best.
"john had the unfair advantage of having died in 1980" lol
john had the unfair advantage of dieing in 1980 lmaoooooooo
I once read that John Lennon said "Pete Best was a good drummer but Ringo was a good Beatle "and I took it to mean he suited the band "best ".
Best isn't even a good drummer, he's a catastrophically bad drummer. Have you listened to some of the early stuff? The guy can't even keep time, and do you know how crucial timing is when it comes to keep actual rhythm?
Great video! I must make that pilgrimage someday. I definitely agree Beatles' music will live on forever. They have the advantage of just catching that era where video started to capture performances ( something Beethoven or Mozart did not) thus this adds to their mystique. There is something very infectious of watching 50 000 screaming fans e.g. at Shea that somehow attracts one to the music and the spectacle.
Non Beatles song that sounds like the Beatles: "Come and Get It" - Badfinger. If that doesn't count because Paul wrote it, then "Lies" by the Knickerbockers. Favorite Beatles cover is Stevie Wonder's "We Can Work It Out".
"Lies" is just a cheap mimicry of a Beatles song. You can tell the Knickerbockers were desperate to make it sound Beatles-y.
@@hasselett and they mostly succeeded!
I need to make the pilgrimage there myself one day
imagine being called "silly" by George Harrison
Ringo was a GREAT drummer. In many ways the first pure rock drummer. His influence is taken for granted in that regard because it became the standard. On top of that, he had a knack for playing the perfect part, a real songwriter's drummer, drum parts that complimented the song not only perfectly, but in a singular way (like there isn't another drummer in the world that would write the Come Together drum part, which is as memorable as any guitar riff). Great drummer, forever underrated.
Damn this video makes me wanna visit Liverpool
Thank you David. A really great video which made my morning 🙂
Thanks 😃
”John has the unfair advantage of having died”🤣
As a fan of the Beatles, thank you so much for this cool video.
Strawberry Fields Forever is also my favourite song.
Best regards from Cologne / Germany
😃😃
In later Beatle years, Paul's songs are easiest to like at first, while John's might take more effort to like but last longer. "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields" is a perfect example. When Paul worked with Elvis Costello, the resulting songs were his best in years. (Last month I took a UK cruise and Liverpool was one of the stops. My Beatles tour took me to some of the same places you show, including the Ringo mural. And it was a bit rainy).
Really agree with your initial point. Loved Paul's songs as an adolescent, but once you learn to appreciate John's material it reaches another level.
1:09 Eric’s is also a very important venue in Liverpool. Lots of big Punk and New Wave bands performed there in 70s and 80s.
2:18 Tony Sheridan probably also pushed him to be inventive with basslines
6:26 Any song from the Yes It Is LP by Rockin’ Horse
9:31 Disregarding the musical aspect, yes. Firstly, the Beatles had spent two years working with their ill-fated drummer Pete Best to become Liverpool’s top band and score an EMI recording contract.
Without lifting a finger, Ringo joined on the back of Pete’s hard work that had got them to that position.
Secondly there were far better drummers in Liverpool at the time the band could have asked.
He is incredibly lucky as far as I’m concerned.
Omg
15:21 Come on, it's got to be Martha My Dear.
Excellent video, two points
1) Ringo was the glue, a modest personality, but an inventive, versatile styled drummer with a rock steady tempo. He played perfectly to "the song". Without him I think the dynamic would not have worked to produce the amazing quality of songs and performances.
2) Oasis missed the point of The Beatles by staying in a derivative rut. The only band I've heard come close to what I love about The Beatles are Jellyfish. Individual songs, eclectic styles, musicianship, strong vocals, harmonies, production and a core songwriting partnership of Andy Sturmer & Roger Manning. Their short two album career is pop perfection. Utter ear candy.
For me the greatest cover of a Beatles song is George Michael's version of The Long and Winding Road from The Concert for Linda, absolutely stunning and gut-wrenching
David, Very informative and entertaining video. The connection you made between Lennon & McCartney and the Great American Songbook writers is interesting. The Songbook writers, Cole Porter, The Gershwins, Rogers and Hart, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin were not recording performers per se (although I encourage you to find some of Cole Porter’s “demos” he recorded for his various musicals, “Anything Goes” being a particular gem). There are many great versions of these writer’s songs by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, etc. But, with the exception of Joe Cocker’s “A Little Help from My Friends” (which I heard him sing at Woodstock ’69... but I digress) I can’t think of a single great cover of a Beatles song (famously, when Frank Sinatra was asked what his favorite Lennon and McCartney song was, he replied: “Something”). In the same way, I think the premise of the otherwise-delightful movie “Yesterday”, is flawed. I don’t think you can erase the knowledge of The Beatles and then have close to their impact by simply pretending to have written their songs. The Beatles’ recordings, their voices, their instrumentation, their arrangements, are inextricably a part of the songs. Many great singers took a song like the Gershwins “Embraceable You” and made classic recordings, partly because there were no original recordings by the composers to compare them with. If I hear a recording of Frank Sinatra singing “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, it gives me an emotional lift. If I hear him singing “Yesterday”, I just think, oh, he's singing a Beatles song. If I hear the Beatles singing, “Baby’s in Black” (perhaps not their best composition), I feel connected to a complete piece of 1960’s Swinging London art, George’s out-of-tune guitar and all. PS. After you mentioned Ella Fitzgerald’s cover of “Can’t Buy Me Love, I listened to if for the first time and you are right: I will now add to my very short list of successful Lennon & McCartney covers. PPS: I was fortunate enough to meet John at the Record Plant in NYC circa 1971 when he was recording “Happy Christmas War is Over.” He was with Phil Spector who kept talking in a Liverpudlian accent. Very strange.
You said George Martin orchestrated most of the beatles songs by a few exceptions. What are the exceptions?
One exception I know of is "She's Leaving Home". George Martin wasn't available so Paul got somebody else to do it, which quite upset George.
I think most, if not all of the let it be album isn't George Martin as it's instead orchestrated by Phil Spector
@@DavidBennettPiano Thanks, i always was interested in just how George Martin would orchestrate Eleanor Rigby? Like, Paul Would play it on the piano and then George Martin wrote something similiar for strings? Is Eleanor Rigby's music almost completely made by George Martin?
Happy Together by The Turtles is imo by far the most non Beatles Beatles song. Ms. Robinson is a good choice but Happy Together is just straight up something the Beatles wouldve made. A Paul song with all the quarter notes Paul loves quarter notes.
to me, the best non-beatles song that sound EXACTLY like them is "Sub-Rosa Subway" by Klaatu. They actually have a very similar sound in almost all songs, but this one still confuses me to this day
There are whole videos about Klaatu and the Beatles.
The best Beatles sounding songs might be elo songs.
@@dentoncrimescene i think Lennon himself said that elo is what the beatles would become if they continued with the psychedelic sound
Lennon's last two albums - "Double Fantasy" and the post-humous "Milk & Honey" - were already showing his decline a la McCartney's late '70s decline. The albums were light weight and Lennon was moving squarely into "granny song" territory (an insult he always levelled at Paul's music) with sentimental and treacle songs like "Grow Old With Me" and "Beautiful Boy." Overall the issue had nothing to do with Lennon or McCartney as songwriters - but as victims of popular culture moving on without them. You'll remember that disco had just died and New Wave/Punk was the order of the day. Only Macca rose to the occasion with the blistering punk track "Spin It On" from Back To The Egg in '79. With Lennon passing in 1980, it left Macca wallowing in his own cheese. He suffered as did most major solo acts from the 1970s who weren't able to navigate the new sounds and synth styles of the 1980s. An era that would probably have benefitted from a forward thinking reunited Beatles. But it would not come to pass until the 1990s (sans Lennon)
It's sad that no one mentions George when discussing who was the best songwriter in the group.
That's because George wasn't the best songwriter in the Beatles, he was the third best songwriter in the band. Writing two or three brilliant standout songs was nothing compared to the dozens written by John and Paul, and no amount of revisionism is going to change that fact. If you prefer George that's fine, but your preference doesn't elevate him to the top.