You're so right -- much of today's pop is so bland musically. And when you see young people reacting to older music on TH-cam, they are STUNNED by how great and complex it is! I love watching people who have never heard Prince, the Beatles, Queen, etc. just discovering them. There is great new music being made, but you have to really seek it out and it's not the mega-popular radio stuff.
I have been seeking the great new music by younger artist out though alternative resources and I have made many wonderful discoveries. While such artist have been successful by going the indie route in releasing their music and developing a fan base by playing smaller venues, they have not received the attention they deserve in mainstream music. Have you ever heard of Michael Kiwanuka? His third album release in fall of 2019 is a masterpiece.
Among all of the fab parts of this song, the bass line by Paul is simply fantastic. The basic line is quite simple (mainly 1-5's, arpeggios and walkdowns) but he adds fast ornaments and lines -- particularly at the end -- he's moving around on the bass a lot more now.
Having taught 8th grade English in the public school system in Pennsylvania for almost 30 years, I can attest that there are always Beatles fans. Just a handful every year, but typically the smart, cool kids. ;) Interest in full albums of music has died off. In the 90s, kids would lend me CDs of what to listen to: Radiohead, Beck, Weezer, Cardigans, etc. No Doubt...and there was a heavy ska revival. Alanis Morissette was the Taylor Swift to the girls, but they OWNED the CD. And the hip hop scene crossed over, causing the "Alternative" fans to also listen to Dr. Dre's "The Chronic." It died out. Who knows why: Napster, iTunes, lack of attention span, death of Kurt Cobain. But there STILL are pockets of Beatles fans who will listen to recommended playlists (can't bother selecting music on their own): Hey Jude, Yellow Submarine, Lucy in the Sky, etc. And Beatles T-shirts are still considered cool, just like the Rolling Stone tongue or the Dead's Dancing Bears were in 1981.
One TH-camr slows down the video to half speed and he instructs you to change the speed to double in the settings to be able to watch it normally. He seems to get his Beatles' videos up that way while still being able to play the entire song
As an old person (69) just learning about music for, it seems, the first time, I could not have noticed on my own that the pattern on which this piece is based is your classic 12 bar blues I-IV-V progression. Thank you, Mrs. Shafer, for the reveal! As for kids these days knowing The Beatles, I know that mine did. I have also noticed that many of their cohort peers who are musicians (e.g., Reina Del Cid, Josh Turner, Mary Spender) play or talk about Beatles songs on their TH-cam channels. Their choices often are interesting. Josh Turner and Allison Young, for example, make a wonderful duet of Honey Pie, which sounds more like a Broadway, Tin Pan Alley show tune than a rock song. My guess is that the musical toys today's children grew up with represent a different baseline than the one Beatles-generation youth knew. The older toys tended to be real musical instruments -- cast offs, usually -- whereas electronic gadgets and recording media tend to proliferate today.
John's last song found on a casset tape was "grow old with me" best sung by Glen Cambel. It shows a great maturation around traditional themes of matrimonial Love. In it John pivots off of a Robert Browning verse that my mother always used to try and recite whenever there was company. i cant help but wonder if they are now fast friends.
LSD tended to allow people to experience epiphanies and insights with a strong desire to actualize these things, the cultural movement in the sixties was based on this kind of desire. Great analysis Amy. It’s an interesting song.
The universal "Love, Love, Love" theme was percolating among the jazzniks even before the Beatles in the early '60s -- that doesn't mean drugs weren't involved by any means. The 1963 Nutty Professor, Jerry Lewis movie has this scene where the Buddy Love character invents his last name just after hearing some a capella jazz singers singing, "Love, Love, LOVE!!" So, you can see that hippie, "Love is Everything" pop culture vibe is already there.
John sings a chorus of She Loves You at the end of All You Need is Love as a way of emphasizing Love as a motif throughout their work since the early recordings.
Actually, it's sung by both John and Paul according to most reliable sources, but John's vocal contribution is more relevant, in that he explained in an interview why She Loves You was there: to emphasize the ubiquity of love in all its varieties as a theme in the Beatles oeuvre as his larger explanation of the purpose of the song All You Need is Love.
One of the 5 audio channels for AYNIL has the vocals way up front, and it becomes very clear who's singing what. Paul starts the "She Loves You" line and sings the first two words alone ("She Loves.."). John jumps in on the third word "You" and continues on with Paul. Once John starts singing, his voice dominates slightly in volume (I'm assuming being the lead singer of the song, his mic was louder than Paul's). If you listen carefully to the end of the first line, as they both sing the third "yeah," You'll hear Paul's "yeah" hangs on a little longer than John's (or, maybe John sang the third "yeah" a little too quickly). There is absolutely no question in my mind, now, that this is both of them. Both are seen singing it in the video as well. (taken from What Goes On - The Beatles Anomalies List »)
There is an author named Joseph Pearce who has a youtube series on English writers called the Authority. It gave me a greater appreciation of how steeped in Litterature the British people are. Quite delightful.
I hate to say that there any favorite Beatles songs. But I do love this one. It is strangely appealing but then again I just love the Beatles. Was so lucky that my mom was a singer and loved music and had albums. Buddy Holly The Beatles anything Motown. Hank Williams Patsy Cline Jimi Hendrix CCR Janis Joplin. Love of music should know no genre. Thank you for trying to open your own mind as well as other peoples.
I'm very happy that you chose this song and didn't skip it. Although it is not my favourite on this album it is special to me. It's like a precursor to All You Need is Love. And I like how different its structure is compared to other songs on this album. It's certainly not a filler. I loved to hear your explanations and I'm looking forward to your next reaction to a Beatles song 👍🏻😃❤️
During the parts of the song that say "Say the word and be like me, etc.," one of the voice/harmony parts is just the tonic note "D" repeated. Or, you could think of this repeated D as being the actual melody (with all of the accompanying notes being the harmonies) in which case the melody would just be the note D over and over again. This is the one note that Paul was talking about. (and the harmonium drones the D as well).
I wish more young people would listen and appreciate The Beatles. However, I don't think that the music of The Beatles will not be forgotten as long as there Is music. I know many young children who love The Beatles who have discovered their music through the internet. Mother's and Father's are playing their music to their children. Also people like You who are discovering their brilliance for the first time. I believe The Beatles are for Everyone! Music is: Rich, poor, black, white, old or young. Music is freedom, joy, pain, sadness, insightful, uncertainty, confusion, enlightenment, analytical, romantic, controlling, blissful, terrifying, calm, puzzling, exciting, motivational and all about LOVE. Great music Has lasted for centuries. The Beatles will last as long as there Is music. ...and they made Great Music.
Each of the Beatles talked about the fact that they believed that they should use their power and influence for good. It was expressed in interviews of the day and subsequently. I've seen clips of Paul and John talking about their purpose. Also, I've even heard Ringo talk about it many years later "Peace and Love" The Beatles knew very well the extent and reach of their influence and so were cautious about how they used it. In the context of the rise of 60's counterculture, it make perfect sense to write such as song as "The Word" with its evangelical "preaching" kind of manner. The way John expresses his discovery that love is the answer is similar to what others were experiencing at the time in the 60's It was a pretty radical statement in its day, I think. We take it for granted now and it seems like an idea which is rather tame. P.S. about why this simple song is better than today's pop like Taylor Swift - I happened to see a video on YT about this. It is a very interesting musicians take on it, and somewhat technical so, it may help to give you some insight as to why the Beatles songwriting is better : "THE BEATLES' Songwriting Secret Lost To Popular Music Today."
Interesting how the vocal gets higher and more strident at the end, as if the singer(s) really feel the need to get the point across. This was also done later in a Lennon song (and also on a high D) in Dear Prudence.
I think the “one note” they are talking about is the “word” note. It isn’t literally the only note in the melody (acknowledged in the comment that they “came close” to achieving a one note melody here), but they really hammer it in the verses. It’s the minor third over the tonic major chord, and the minor seventh over the dominant chord. You could view the other notes as mere ornamentations around that central note
Amy... you're brilliant and have brought us many insights into song composition, etc. I've listened to a few of your analyses of Beatles songs, but it came to a point (a couple of songs back) where your analysis was more like an autopsy, where you were going perhaps too deep in an attempt to find sense and logic where there was really just magic. I think one incident was when you were comparing an aspect of Nowhere Man with what you saw as a similarity in You Won't See Me, and it didn't ring true to me. Now I remember... it was the "oooolalalal". Perhaps this was inevitably going to happen when you're doing 150 Beatles songs. I could be overreacting and maybe I was just not in a receptive frame of mind that day, and you will, of course, continue to do your thing (your The Word analysis seems great!). Bottom line... you're looking at one of the great albums... and we want to hold onto the magic.
Wow, the first three chords of the song that you played on the piano are identical to the opening of The Alan Parson's Project's "The Turn of A Friendly Card". (1980 album)
Sometimes we overthink things and mistake complexity for wisdom when in fact the truth is often simple and staring us in the face.The Beatles were simply on it
Please don't ever use drugs my friend! You are a brilliant woman in my book. You are also extremely articulate and smart and may I say beautiful! Awesome job!😊
I have never done drugs either (other than alcohol when I was young, and coffee today), but I would say as a layperson, psychedelic drugs most likely lowered people's self-imposed barriers and removed limits on their thought and imagination. As John Lennon expressed in "Tomorrow Never Knows" (which is the type of song that you were expecting to hear in "The Word")… "Turn off your mind, Relax and float downstream…".
You can tell even from this song that the vocal arrangements on Rubber Soul are more consistently interesting than the previous albums, where they might have had a couple unique songs (If I Fell, e.g.), but the others were just standard rock n' roll. The instrumentation as well. I think especially McCartney took it upon himself, being influenced by the Beach Boys, the Everly Brothers, and others, to start delivering more complex harmonic material for their songs by singing it. What is yet to come from this album is where for me it starts to get really good.
Taylor Swift herself would have listened to The Beatles, even though she is too young to have been around in their heyday. Has anyone on the planet not heard of The Beatles? Must be a minority. I'm sure most Swifties would have heard of them, but only a few of their best known singles. Thanks for the review as always.
The move from Eros to Agape was a major movement in their maturation. It freed them artistically from the constraints and limitations of always writing about teenager romance, a worn- out theme which had dominated pop music until Dylan disrupted that convention.
And don’t forget Brian Wilson had already made the same leap, instantiating a new form. The Beach Boys transformation was much more dramatic, changing from music about the joy of youth to music about the sadness of youth!
But Wilson only really got there circa 1966. Teenage angst and depression were already present in rock music. The "blues" was fundamental to rock, and that theme was already present in the Beatles work in I'm Down, Help, Baby's in Black, Nowhere Man, etc.
@@josephmilitello647 check out Beach Boys Today from early 65 you will hear Brian’s struggle to shed formula while Mike fights to maintain it. “When I grow up” was Brian’s first move once they fired Murray and he got the keys to the studio. The track is a literal announcement of his artistic intentions. Brian was already “ there “ but delayed by resistance. It wasn’t until he tricked the others into going away to the other side of the world without him that he was able to create without pressure from the Boys. This situation of course yielded Pet Sounds…
Essentially you can't play a Beatles song all the way through. Most other reactors stop and make comments at least twice during the song. Please don't pass by Girl and In My Life. Two stand out tracks by John on Rubber Soul.
Shortly after this LP was released, Lennon, in interview, said that writing the last few songs for an LP "is pure slog". I would put "Run for Your Life" and "The Word" in that category.
the beatles most drug-inspired song is 'tomorrow never knows'. if you listen to it, you'll be aware of that before the singing starts. it just sounds psychedelic.
Message to Vlad, I think this is might be a great opportunity to introduce her further into the world of Flowerpower and Psychedelic Rock. Flowerpower hasn't been done much yet by her at all and it's a logical side step from that album with bands like the Birds, Scott McKenzie, Mamas&Papas etc. But on the other hand, from there it might also go to bands like Cream, Kinks, Moody Blues and the early Pink Floyd with songs like Astronomy Domine or Saucerful of Secrets.
One way around the copyright crap, i seen on other channels.... is they do all kinds of cuts every 5 seconds or so. So eventho it's chopped up, you get a feel for the song , without hearing all of it. Much much more music, than the way you Do it Now!
There probably is not a lot of overlap between Beatle fans, and Taylor Swift fans. There is a sub-genre of pop music called Bubblegum Pop, or, simply Bubblegum. It has the same structure and musical sensibilities as contemporary pop music, but it is aimed at children, the lyrics are written at the emotional level of a ten year old, and the melodies tend to have a sing-songy quality that kids love, but annoys the hell out of most adults. As you are discovering in your exploration of the Beatles' catalog, the Beatles never stopped growing stylistically, musically, emotionally, or intellectually. Their fan base was, and is very wide and diverse because of this, and the more they listen, the more they find to enjoy in the music. Taylor Swift, on the other hand, falls definitively in the Bubblegum category, and her fans tend to be either pre-adolescent, drama tweens, or adults who still live in that mindset. And Swift knows this about her fanbase, and plays to that longing to indulge in such pathos, and she seems to do so in a way that respects her fans, which is why she is so successful at what she does.
I always to "good" and "bad" books not as morally good or bad, but as qualitative. No matter if it's a classic or pulp fiction, love is always a key theme.
Being candidates to be my fav albums (rubber soul and even more revolver) I find the sound in some songs from RS (this and drive my car, and almost all songs from Revolver) not to my liking. Strange, since the sound of Help! and SPLHCB, and subsequent LPs sound really nice.
I tend to experience new ideas like a lightning flash across a landscape, with multiple implications and possible connections lit up simultaneously. The creative process then involves exploring those paths bit by bit, which may not always appear to be straight lines to someone else but make sense to me like pieces of a jigsaw. I've never taken any recreational drugs in my life as I suspect my brain already works as you describe, which can sometimes be overwhelming, and I've always had an instinct that extra artificial stimulants (beyond caffeine and occasional alchohol) would be very destructive to me. I don't need them to be creative. Perhaps my artistic brain never really grew up! Others might agree 😄.
In HAMBURG they were a rhythm-and-booze band -- and there discovered AMPHETAMINE. And they all along smoked tobacco. They were more and more themselves in their writing and the studio. Those who know nothing about drugs tend to have the most to say about them. Lennon was writing like "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," "I Am the Walrus," and "Strawberry Fields Forever," as examples, AS A CHILD -- before ANY drugs.
To me this sounded stereotypically sixties when I was younger, but I've come to appreciate it more. Am recognizing, as you said, the blues elements in it. The lyrics seem cliched now, but when written they were more fresh and original. It's interesting hearing your take on the song. I like your thoughts on the religious echoes. They're definitely there. Yes, John can be preachy. A number of times in his songs he says "follow me" and "be like me." As for the age of music, when I was a kid my parents were big band era. (I was born in 1966.) Dad also liked old country music. And yes I kept that music all at arm's length until well into my adulthood. The Beatles' music is now older than a lot of my parents' music was in my childhood. It's painful when 20-somethings have absolutely no knowledge of them, but it's the same way I was at their age.
I would imagine that with release schedules and potential blocks, it’s probably safer for her not to put the actual video number in the videos just in case something comes up to mess up the count including a double count. I would imagine she’s already banked several of these videos so it may be awhile to reflect a miscount if there is one.
Since Mrs. Shafer talks about how to influence the way the brain thinks, this might be good to know: Any discussion about hypnosis and hypnotherapy must also discuss critical factors. Critical factors are an integral part of hypnosis. This is very clearly seen in the definition of hypnosis according to the U.S. Dept. of Education, Human Services Division which states that hypnosis is the by-pass of the critical factor of the conscious mind followed by the establishment of acceptable selective thinking or hypnosis is the penetration of the critical factor of the conscious mind followed by the acceptance of a selective thought (suggestion). Based on this definition, it appears that hypnosis can only occur if two conditions are met. First, there is a penetration of critical factors from the conscious mind and second, the acceptance of a selective thought or suggestion. Sorry, if not relevant. Thank's.
Make sure to put an asterisk or Stars near the disclaimer or describe where it is during the video located in the description area make the first portion of it or the disclaimer title in bold print and the rest of of the written portion doesn't have to be in bold obviously. Also make sure to underline the title of the disclosure Once you have the disclosure go ahead and ask for permission to edit every video that has been blocked and put that disclaimer in their have one video that explains this to the viewers Remind you you are actually teaching in these videos they cannot deny that and so the disclaimer would be the only key factor that you're missing
A couple of factors related to the decline in the quality of popular music may be: 1) the decline in average intelligence of western populations, as reflected in standardized tests of IQ and achievement, and 2) the decline in the quality and variety of music that radio stations and music video companies choose to broadcast. It used to be that radio DJ's were usually music fans who had freedom to play music that they liked; I believe this is no longer the case. [In Taylor Swift's case, it helps that she looks like a supermodel!]
Multiple psychedelics - primarily psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and MDMA (not a serotonin 5HT2 agonist psychedelic like LSD and psilocybin, but has some similar effects) - have been and continue to be studied in many large clinical trials for severe depression and PTSD. The "re-setting the brain" along with the feelings of acceptance and love, has been described as a main mechanism for their utility, and the reason they are being designed to work in combination with intensive Psychotherapy to help guide better non-depressed/non-dysfunctional thought processes and more positive/functional neural connections. We should be seeing clinical non-trial use of these within the next few years!
There is a general movement towards the medically sanctioned and therapeutic use of psychedelic chemicals to combat drug resistant depression and near death anxiety. I believe that it will be as big for mental health as penicillin was for infection. One recurring theme is the ‘reset’ and ‘elasticity’ that these experiences allow, just as you touched on.
Young folks listen to and like classic old music when it shows up in a Netflix series or marvel film, or covered by Beyonce. But talking to swifties, for them bands like the Beatles are old white guy music from a less progressive era. A few younger folks on here have clued on that reacting to them gets them views and comments, and some genuinely seem to like and appreciate the talent and diversity in Beatles songs.
I listened to "i dream of Geenie with the light brown hair" and "beautiful dreamer" by Steven Foster I understood why lightfoot titled his song "A song for Steven Foster" Also called "Your love's return" I couldnt help but marvel at the beauty of such ritching poetry wed to a song of contrition. Please just sample it. Im sure you will be astounded also. I read that Steven foster lost Geenie but we got such lovely song from his loss.
Let's be accurate when we talk about the influence of drugs on creativity: some drugs like heroin were disastrous for productivity- the Rolling Stones suffered hugely when Keith Richards got hooked and John Lennon wasn't exactly prolific around the Let it Be sessions. There's an argument that mind-altering drugs can open the writer up to mystical experience- I doubt John Lennon would have written Tomorrow Never Knows or much of his 1967 output though, again, that was when John started to become less prolific relative to before so it had its downsides. In summary, there's plenty of bad with most drugs but some benefit with psychedelic drugs.
The word, 'Word' of the scriptures was translated from the word, 'Logos', meaning a holy vibration. This same vibration is referred to by all spiritual teachers as the voice of God. It is the active creating, sustaining vibration which is used as a vehicle in Sant Mat meditation. The attention is drawn up through the various planes to its source. When we are ready, the 'Word made flesh', the current living Master, will find us and open our inner eye and ear, so that we may begin the inner journey back to Love.
An interesting compassion with Taylor Swift. After sixty years most people still know of The Beatles and the vast majority of them know their songs. In sixty years from now will people know of TS in the same way? I doubt it, she will have slipped into obsurity long before then.
This is the song on the album that most clearly reflects the American soul music they were listening to at the time, but not replicating (hence the jokey album title). For me this is crying out for horns, and maybe if they'd had enough time to make this album properly it would have had them. I always assumed George Martin was playing the piano but it's supposedly McCartney. The bass and piano are really tight if he overdubbed one (presumably the bass). I think John may have been joking with the line about the good and the bad books, with the Good Book being concerned with loftier ideas about love, and the "bad" books being concerned with the more earthy aspects.
This is the first Beatle song that was moving away from romantic love in a relationship to love in a more universal sense. It was the precursor to songs like All You Need Is Love. Also as is often the case with Beatles music, if another artist had wrote and recorded The Word, it would have been a big hit song for them if promoted properly. For The Beatles The Word was filler and boy what wonderful filler it is.
I think this song is one of the first to do so but I make an argument for the song "There's a Place " as the start of the band moving away from boy meets girl material and becoming true legends that changed music forever.
¿En qué forma puede ser esta canción tan especial un relleno? Más bien yo la designaría como un hito del pop, en lo musical y en su tema. Una preciosidad de este album precioso, Rubber Soul.
@@bobair2 I totally agree with you. Also I would point out that Thanks We Said Today and I'll Be Back in a lyrical content were more deep than the other songs they were writing at that time. Those two songs would have been good ones to record during the Rubber Soul sessions. They would have fit right into that album.
"The good and the bad books that I have read" obviously alludes to the Good Book, more of the religiosity, along with the harmonium. BTW, this song was John's idea but written by both.
@@TheNordicharps You can doubt what and whom you like, including John and Paul. According to Paul in MYFN they "wrote it together at Kenwood". John agreed. In 1972 John opted *not* to to put The Word in a list of songs written by himself (Hit Parader) and instead put it in a list "attributed jointly to McCartney and himself with no further comment". In 1980 he confirmed to Sheff that it was "written together", but added "it was mainly mine." These are reasons why i described it as "John's idea, but written by both. If you still doubt Paul was involved you might want to take a look at the psychedelic lyric sheet that he recalls they wrote out after "smoking some pot" and which all sources known to me affirm to be in Paul's handwriting.
I think you're right that Taylor Swift's musical fandom is centered much less on *music* per se. Her fans are generally more drawn to her storytelling and emotional content than her melodic, harmonic, or sonic approaches. It's a different way of consuming music, though not one I enjoy much. One thing that your Beatles 150 series has reaffirmed is that even as the Beatles begin to slowly fade from living memory, they will have a lasting fanbase among musicians.
While this is one of my least favorites musically on this album, it is interesting in being one of the first of theirs to express the idea of universal love. The hippie ideal of peace and love started to be a big part of the Beatles messaging going forward. Ringo to this day still holds up the two finger peace sign, and usually ends up saying the words peace and love at some point in the conversation or concert. Good comparison to the Taylor Swift album, showing that the Beatles could do a simple song harmonically and structurally, while still making it musically interesting. As always, great reaction and insights, such as how it following the basic 12 bar blues structure.
@@splitimage137. Well Elvis (Costello, not Presley), nothing funny about it. Although I do hope those interested in Peace, Love, and Understanding, also have a good sense of humor.😉 Okay, to be fair it was Nick Lowe who wrote it. Elvis just gets all the credit.
They were sophisticated from the very beginning. Suggesting that they were a product of mind altering drugs is shortsighted. As a musician, not recognizing this is perplexing. Pot and LSD may have shown them a different direction. But a whole lot of people were indulging back then, including the best artists around at that time. There will only ever be four like them in the history of music. The burst of creativity was there right from the get-go. You've taken the journey fromthe start and still don't see that. Odd.
As a kid I never cared for this song because the hippy sentiments sounded old hat. Plus the composition seemed relatively static and retrograde when compared to songs like "Nowhere Man" or even "Day Tripper". They really just seemed to be ripping off Ray Charles. But I guess a song about universal love WAS pretty new for 1965, and giving the arrangement a repetitive groove and narrow melodic scheme focused the lyrics into the listener's brain. It's still not anywhere close to my favorite Beatles songs, but I get its importance in the grand scheme.
Espero que no, sinceramente (solo es mi opinión personal; Aborrezco la obra de Waits). Y deseo añadir que esta canción de los Beatles, "the Word", es maravillosa, ¡escúchala bien! Un saludo.
To me, this is one of the three weaker tracks on Rubber Soul. And I agree, there´s still more in it than in any current pop song. Weak it is in comparison to Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, Michelle, In My life, and Girl, all of which I melodically consider on par with Mozart. The Beatles didn´t produce music as background sound for videos. Theirs is music for people who actually use their ears. Staring on a screen replaced the experience of life in general, not just the part of listening.
The piano was keeping the whole piece together? What about the maracas player? Why do I always end up being the guy who stands up for the maracas player?
Okay, Amy, now you've gone and done it! You're talking about psychedelic drug use! Actually, psychedelics didn't enter into Beatles consciousness until late 1965, when this album was released. You can read the whole story about how John, George and their wives were dosed (innocently) by George's dentist when they dined with him at his house in the official 1968 biography of the band, THE BEATLES by Hunter Davies. Re: LSD and childhood - it's a DIRECT link, Amy. It's the same principle that is now allowing psychedelic drugs (like ayahuasca, from vines found in the forests of S. America, for example) to tread PTSD... how? Imagine that your thoughts can flow across a desert landscape like water... through trauma, a deep groove can be cut through the land... and when the water (your thoughts) returns, they can end up in that groove, making it even deeper, even canyon-like... it's a very difficult place to be, when you can't direct your thoughts away from that trauma... ...so, we find through functional MRI (fMRI) brain scans, that the neural pathways PROLIFERATE under the psychedelic... so, in our analogy, it's the equivalent of filling in (at least temporarily, I believe) those grooves in the land where the water (your thoughts) go... allowing your thoughts to form NEW, healthier - particularly if you are under the care of a psychotherapist, who can guide you when you are most susceptible/suggestible (which can be a problem, in certain circumstances) into a more salutary way of thinking. ...and it is this very SAME EFFECT that allows the psychedelic tripper to re-experience childhood... the water can go anywhere on a flat desert plain... and everything is NEW again... it's very much like J.R.R. Tolkien describes the hobbits arriving in the land of Lothlorien, Galadriel's realm, where the time seems to have stopped, and even the colors on the leaves seemed as if they were created anew... Amy... this is the Siren's Lure of the psychedelic experience... and John, of ALL the Beatles, was the most drawn to it. By his own admission, he took THOUSANDS of trips... and lived to tell/write/sing about it... And one thing John NEVER wavered on, in all the years of his interviews... that LOVE is the very basis of everything. And this song is just a prelude this expression of theirs that begins with their next album, REVOLVER. That came out in 1966, and, I will argue until the day that I die... that is the year the ROCK MUSIC, as opposed to ROCK-AND-ROLL music began...
Taylor Swift must be the most overrated recording artist in many years. I find her music generally to be generic and forgettable. Of the current popular female solo artists, I believe Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Lana Del Ray, and Miley Cyrus have much greater artistc depth.
You are conservative in your nature. So am I. But the 60s were my formative years. Psychedelics clearly didn't begin then. Mind-altering drugs have been in human culture forever, mostly in indigenous cultures prior to the 60s. But I imagine even your most beloved classical composers were not unfamiliar with them! Grace Slick noted, in talking about "White Rabbit" that we all grew up with "chidren's classics" such as Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland being shared us by parents who later chided us against drug use! lol
As someone with an Amercian surname, but never having lived in the US, it often astonishes me when Americans somehow find religion EVERYWHERE. The closest any of the Beatles came to religion, as far as I know, was Paul going to a primary school run by nuns and George really getting into a diverse Indian mythology for a while. John was not only "not religious", he was staunchly anti-religious most of his life! He was also constantly yearning for deeper intellectual conversations, as opposed to the extremely basic lyrics of this song. I bet if you asked one of the remaining members aboout your interpretation, he would react with a "Huh? Why would that be on our minds?".
Paul's baseline also really grooves in this song. Ringo's drumming and Paul's base are so in sync too. Thanks for the great song reaction as always.
You're so right -- much of today's pop is so bland musically. And when you see young people reacting to older music on TH-cam, they are STUNNED by how great and complex it is! I love watching people who have never heard Prince, the Beatles, Queen, etc. just discovering them. There is great new music being made, but you have to really seek it out and it's not the mega-popular radio stuff.
I have been seeking the great new music by younger artist out though alternative resources and I have made many wonderful discoveries. While such artist have been successful by going the indie route in releasing their music and developing a fan base by playing smaller venues, they have not received the attention they deserve in mainstream music. Have you ever heard of Michael Kiwanuka? His third album release in fall of 2019 is a masterpiece.
One of my favourite songs.
Among all of the fab parts of this song, the bass line by Paul is simply fantastic. The basic line is quite simple (mainly 1-5's, arpeggios and walkdowns) but he adds fast ornaments and lines -- particularly at the end -- he's moving around on the bass a lot more now.
They play to absolute perfection.
Having taught 8th grade English in the public school system in Pennsylvania for almost 30 years, I can attest that there are always Beatles fans. Just a handful every year, but typically the smart, cool kids. ;)
Interest in full albums of music has died off. In the 90s, kids would lend me CDs of what to listen to: Radiohead, Beck, Weezer, Cardigans, etc. No Doubt...and there was a heavy ska revival. Alanis Morissette was the Taylor Swift to the girls, but they OWNED the CD. And the hip hop scene crossed over, causing the "Alternative" fans to also listen to Dr. Dre's "The Chronic."
It died out. Who knows why: Napster, iTunes, lack of attention span, death of Kurt Cobain. But there STILL are pockets of Beatles fans who will listen to recommended playlists (can't bother selecting music on their own): Hey Jude, Yellow Submarine, Lucy in the Sky, etc. And Beatles T-shirts are still considered cool, just like the Rolling Stone tongue or the Dead's Dancing Bears were in 1981.
One TH-camr slows down the video to half speed and he instructs you to change the speed to double in the settings to be able to watch it normally. He seems to get his Beatles' videos up that way while still being able to play the entire song
My Favorite Group and My Favorite Channel! Peace
As an old person (69) just learning about music for, it seems, the first time, I could not have noticed on my own that the pattern on which this piece is based is your classic 12 bar blues I-IV-V progression. Thank you, Mrs. Shafer, for the reveal!
As for kids these days knowing The Beatles, I know that mine did. I have also noticed that many of their cohort peers who are musicians (e.g., Reina Del Cid, Josh Turner, Mary Spender) play or talk about Beatles songs on their TH-cam channels. Their choices often are interesting. Josh Turner and Allison Young, for example, make a wonderful duet of Honey Pie, which sounds more like a Broadway, Tin Pan Alley show tune than a rock song.
My guess is that the musical toys today's children grew up with represent a different baseline than the one Beatles-generation youth knew. The older toys tended to be real musical instruments -- cast offs, usually -- whereas electronic gadgets and recording media tend to proliferate today.
Doesn't sound like a typical 12 bar blues song at all like a BB King or Albert King or SRV OR JOHNNY WINTERS
John's last song found on a casset tape was "grow old with me" best sung by Glen Cambel. It shows a great maturation around traditional themes of matrimonial Love.
In it John pivots off of a Robert Browning verse that my mother always used to try and recite whenever there was company. i cant help but wonder if they are now fast friends.
The melody also resembles the second movement of Beethoven's Pathetique sonata. I wonder if that's just coincidence.
thank you Amy
LSD tended to allow people to experience epiphanies and insights with a strong desire to actualize these things, the cultural movement in the sixties was based on this kind of desire. Great analysis Amy. It’s an interesting song.
I love "the good and the bad books" line. Brilliant and profund.
The universal "Love, Love, Love" theme was percolating among the jazzniks even before the Beatles in the early '60s -- that doesn't mean drugs weren't involved by any means. The 1963 Nutty Professor, Jerry Lewis movie has this scene where the Buddy Love character invents his last name just after hearing some a capella jazz singers singing, "Love, Love, LOVE!!" So, you can see that hippie, "Love is Everything" pop culture vibe is already there.
John sings a chorus of She Loves You at the end of All You Need is Love as a way of emphasizing Love as a motif throughout their work since the early recordings.
Actually, that line is sung by Paul.
Actually, it's sung by both John and Paul according to most reliable sources, but John's vocal contribution is more relevant, in that he explained in an interview why She Loves You was there: to emphasize the ubiquity of love in all its varieties as a theme in the Beatles oeuvre as his larger explanation of the purpose of the song All You Need is Love.
Excellent commentary and great thoughts, door sure. But watch the actual video, and then listen with headphones: it’s only Paul singing that line.
Sorry for the typo - that should be “for sure.”
One of the 5 audio channels for AYNIL has the vocals way up front, and it becomes very clear who's singing what. Paul starts the "She Loves You" line and sings the first two words alone ("She Loves.."). John jumps in on the third word "You" and continues on with Paul. Once John starts singing, his voice dominates slightly in volume (I'm assuming being the lead singer of the song, his mic was louder than Paul's).
If you listen carefully to the end of the first line, as they both sing the third "yeah," You'll hear Paul's "yeah" hangs on a little longer than John's (or, maybe John sang the third "yeah" a little too quickly). There is absolutely no question in my mind, now, that this is both of them. Both are seen singing it in the video as well.
(taken from What Goes On - The Beatles Anomalies List »)
"The Beatles" MATURED the music.
There is an author named Joseph Pearce who has a youtube series on English writers called the Authority. It gave me a greater appreciation of how steeped in Litterature the British people are. Quite delightful.
I hate to say that there any favorite Beatles songs. But I do love this one. It is strangely appealing but then again I just love the Beatles.
Was so lucky that my mom was a singer and loved music and had albums. Buddy Holly The Beatles anything Motown. Hank Williams Patsy Cline Jimi Hendrix CCR Janis Joplin. Love of music should know no genre.
Thank you for trying to open your own mind as well as other peoples.
I'm very happy that you chose this song and didn't skip it. Although it is not my favourite on this album it is special to me. It's like a precursor to All You Need is Love. And I like how different its structure is compared to other songs on this album. It's certainly not a filler. I loved to hear your explanations and I'm looking forward to your next reaction to a Beatles song 👍🏻😃❤️
During the parts of the song that say "Say the word and be like me, etc.," one of the voice/harmony parts is just the tonic note "D" repeated. Or, you could think of this repeated D as being the actual melody (with all of the accompanying notes being the harmonies) in which case the melody would just be the note D over and over again. This is the one note that Paul was talking about. (and the harmonium drones the D as well).
That Tailor Swift comment: clearly that album is not focused on music. Hilarious and so correct.
I wish more young people would listen and appreciate The Beatles.
However, I don't think that the music of The Beatles will not be forgotten as long as there Is music.
I know many young children who love The Beatles who have discovered their music through the internet.
Mother's and Father's are playing their music to their children.
Also people like You who are discovering their brilliance for the first time.
I believe The Beatles are for Everyone!
Music is:
Rich, poor, black, white, old or young.
Music is freedom, joy, pain, sadness, insightful, uncertainty, confusion, enlightenment, analytical, romantic, controlling, blissful, terrifying, calm, puzzling, exciting, motivational and all about LOVE.
Great music Has lasted for centuries.
The Beatles will last as long as there Is music.
...and they made Great Music.
Music! We are made of it!
Each of the Beatles talked about the fact that they believed that they should use their power and influence for good. It was expressed in interviews of the day and subsequently. I've seen clips of Paul and John talking about their purpose. Also, I've even heard Ringo talk about it many years later "Peace and Love" The Beatles knew very well the extent and reach of their influence and so were cautious about how they used it. In the context of the rise of 60's counterculture, it make perfect sense to write such as song as "The Word" with its evangelical "preaching" kind of manner. The way John expresses his discovery that love is the answer is similar to what others were experiencing at the time in the 60's It was a pretty radical statement in its day, I think. We take it for granted now and it seems like an idea which is rather tame.
P.S. about why this simple song is better than today's pop like Taylor Swift - I happened to see a video on YT about this. It is a very interesting musicians take on it, and somewhat technical so, it may help to give you some insight as to why the Beatles songwriting is better : "THE BEATLES' Songwriting Secret Lost To Popular Music Today."
Interesting how the vocal gets higher and more strident at the end, as if the singer(s) really feel the need to get the point across. This was also done later in a Lennon song (and also on a high D) in Dear Prudence.
Paul said it in an interview he and John were trying to write a song with a one note melody. This was one of those attempts.
I think the “one note” they are talking about is the “word” note. It isn’t literally the only note in the melody (acknowledged in the comment that they “came close” to achieving a one note melody here), but they really hammer it in the verses. It’s the minor third over the tonic major chord, and the minor seventh over the dominant chord. You could view the other notes as mere ornamentations around that central note
John talking about the concept of love and people needing love I’m pretty sure is from the interview in 1980, on the day he died.
next is michelle? It's one of my favourite songs on the album, looking forward to it
Speaking of paperbacks as a Beatles theme...
the "somebody to love" comes from a beatles song actually, I remember it maybe anytime at all?(forget the name)
A Little Help From My Friends
@@gettinhungrig8806 yeah
You are correct ‘If you need somebody to love just look into my eyes’ Any Time At All’.
Amy... you're brilliant and have brought us many insights into song composition, etc.
I've listened to a few of your analyses of Beatles songs, but it came to a point (a couple of songs back) where your analysis was more like an autopsy, where you were going perhaps too deep in an attempt to find sense and logic where there was really just magic.
I think one incident was when you were comparing an aspect of Nowhere Man with what you saw as a similarity in You Won't See Me, and it didn't ring true to me. Now I remember... it was the "oooolalalal".
Perhaps this was inevitably going to happen when you're doing 150 Beatles songs.
I could be overreacting and maybe I was just not in a receptive frame of mind that day, and you will, of course, continue to do your thing (your The Word analysis seems great!).
Bottom line... you're looking at one of the great albums... and we want to hold onto the magic.
Wow, the first three chords of the song that you played on the piano are identical to the opening of The Alan Parson's Project's "The Turn of A Friendly Card". (1980 album)
Amy have you listened to somebody To Love by the Jefferson Airplane?
Sometimes we overthink things and mistake complexity for wisdom when in fact the truth is often simple and staring us in the face.The Beatles were simply on it
Please don't ever use drugs my friend! You are a brilliant woman in my book. You are also extremely articulate and smart and may I say beautiful! Awesome job!😊
I have never done drugs either (other than alcohol when I was young, and coffee today), but I would say as a layperson, psychedelic drugs most likely lowered people's self-imposed barriers and removed limits on their thought and imagination. As John Lennon expressed in "Tomorrow Never Knows" (which is the type of song that you were expecting to hear in "The Word")… "Turn off your mind, Relax and float downstream…".
“Float upstream…”
You can tell even from this song that the vocal arrangements on Rubber Soul are more consistently interesting than the previous albums, where they might have had a couple unique songs (If I Fell, e.g.), but the others were just standard rock n' roll. The instrumentation as well. I think especially McCartney took it upon himself, being influenced by the Beach Boys, the Everly Brothers, and others, to start delivering more complex harmonic material for their songs by singing it.
What is yet to come from this album is where for me it starts to get really good.
'All you need is love' came a bit later...by satellite to 400 Million people worldwide.
Taylor Swift herself would have listened to The Beatles, even though she is too young to have been around in their heyday. Has anyone on the planet not heard of The Beatles? Must be a minority. I'm sure most Swifties would have heard of them, but only a few of their best known singles. Thanks for the review as always.
Flat 7 sharp 9 (b7#9) shows up a lot in this era. James Brown based his career around this sound, Hendrix as well.
The move from Eros to Agape was a major movement in their maturation. It freed them artistically from the constraints and limitations of always writing about teenager romance, a worn- out theme which had dominated pop music until Dylan disrupted that convention.
And don’t forget Brian Wilson had already made the same leap, instantiating a new form. The Beach Boys transformation was much more dramatic, changing from music about the joy of youth to music about the sadness of youth!
But Wilson only really got there circa 1966. Teenage angst and depression were already present in rock music. The "blues" was fundamental to rock, and that theme was already present in the Beatles work in I'm Down, Help, Baby's in Black, Nowhere Man, etc.
@@josephmilitello647 check out Beach Boys Today from early 65 you will hear Brian’s struggle to shed formula while Mike fights to maintain it. “When I grow up” was Brian’s first move once they fired Murray and he got the keys to the studio. The track is a literal announcement of his artistic intentions. Brian was already “ there “ but delayed by resistance. It wasn’t until he tricked the others into going away to the other side of the world without him that he was able to create without pressure from the Boys. This situation of course yielded Pet Sounds…
Is this the first Beatles' "Anthem" song? Could be.
Essentially you can't play a Beatles song all the way through. Most other reactors stop and make comments at least twice during the song. Please don't pass by Girl and In My Life. Two stand out tracks by John on Rubber Soul.
Leonard Bernstein said " It is now the four Bs. Beethoven, Brahms Bach and the Beatles."
Paul has stated `Rubber Soul` was their `Pot` album and `Revolver` the `Acid` album.
Shortly after this LP was released, Lennon, in interview, said that writing the last few songs for an LP "is pure slog". I would put "Run for Your Life" and "The Word" in that category.
I follow another music channel. When they post a reaction video that's blocked by TH-cam, they repost it in their free area on Patreon.
Have you listened to the "official" medley (on the Love album) of Drive My Car / The Word / What You're Doing? I find it amusing.
the beatles most drug-inspired song is 'tomorrow never knows'. if you listen to it, you'll be aware of that before the singing starts. it just sounds psychedelic.
Message to Vlad, I think this is might be a great opportunity to introduce her further into the world of Flowerpower and Psychedelic Rock. Flowerpower hasn't been done much yet by her at all and it's a logical side step from that album with bands like the Birds, Scott McKenzie, Mamas&Papas etc. But on the other hand, from there it might also go to bands like Cream, Kinks, Moody Blues and the early Pink Floyd with songs like Astronomy Domine or Saucerful of Secrets.
What's interesting about this song is McCartney says it's probably the only one they wrote while stoned.
There's a little bit of Soul music in it as well. Funky Beatles track!
One way around the copyright crap, i seen on other channels.... is they do all kinds of cuts every 5 seconds or so. So eventho it's chopped up, you get a feel for the song , without hearing all of it. Much much more music, than the way you Do it Now!
I can't imagine Taylor Swift fans are that interested into music to delve any deeper.
There probably is not a lot of overlap between Beatle fans, and Taylor Swift fans. There is a sub-genre of pop music called Bubblegum Pop, or, simply Bubblegum. It has the same structure and musical sensibilities as contemporary pop music, but it is aimed at children, the lyrics are written at the emotional level of a ten year old, and the melodies tend to have a sing-songy quality that kids love, but annoys the hell out of most adults. As you are discovering in your exploration of the Beatles' catalog, the Beatles never stopped growing stylistically, musically, emotionally, or intellectually. Their fan base was, and is very wide and diverse because of this, and the more they listen, the more they find to enjoy in the music. Taylor Swift, on the other hand, falls definitively in the Bubblegum category, and her fans tend to be either pre-adolescent, drama tweens, or adults who still live in that mindset. And Swift knows this about her fanbase, and plays to that longing to indulge in such pathos, and she seems to do so in a way that respects her fans, which is why she is so successful at what she does.
I always to "good" and "bad" books not as morally good or bad, but as qualitative. No matter if it's a classic or pulp fiction, love is always a key theme.
Being candidates to be my fav albums (rubber soul and even more revolver) I find the sound in some songs from RS (this and drive my car, and almost all songs from Revolver) not to my liking. Strange, since the sound of Help! and SPLHCB, and subsequent LPs sound really nice.
I tend to experience new ideas like a lightning flash across a landscape, with multiple implications and possible connections lit up simultaneously. The creative process then involves exploring those paths bit by bit, which may not always appear to be straight lines to someone else but make sense to me like pieces of a jigsaw. I've never taken any recreational drugs in my life as I suspect my brain already works as you describe, which can sometimes be overwhelming, and I've always had an instinct that extra artificial stimulants (beyond caffeine and occasional alchohol) would be very destructive to me. I don't need them to be creative. Perhaps my artistic brain never really grew up! Others might agree 😄.
In HAMBURG they were a rhythm-and-booze band -- and there discovered AMPHETAMINE.
And they all along smoked tobacco.
They were more and more themselves in their writing and the studio.
Those who know nothing about drugs tend to have the most to say about them. Lennon was writing like "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," "I Am the Walrus," and "Strawberry Fields Forever," as examples, AS A CHILD -- before ANY drugs.
Most people would disagree, but I prefer ‘Wait’ to this one. I usually skip over it and the last song.
The Word is way better than Wait...
@@nasserhafes3021 I believe I did say that most people would disagree with my opinion…
@@katznkittens ok you're right!
I'm with you! I much prefer Wait to The Word, not that I dislike the latter.
To me this sounded stereotypically sixties when I was younger, but I've come to appreciate it more. Am recognizing, as you said, the blues elements in it. The lyrics seem cliched now, but when written they were more fresh and original.
It's interesting hearing your take on the song. I like your thoughts on the religious echoes. They're definitely there. Yes, John can be preachy. A number of times in his songs he says "follow me" and "be like me."
As for the age of music, when I was a kid my parents were big band era. (I was born in 1966.) Dad also liked old country music. And yes I kept that music all at arm's length until well into my adulthood. The Beatles' music is now older than a lot of my parents' music was in my childhood. It's painful when 20-somethings have absolutely no knowledge of them, but it's the same way I was at their age.
Hi Amy, this is actually Beatles reaction number 52. I've commented on a couple of recent videos that you double-counted number 45.
I would imagine that with release schedules and potential blocks, it’s probably safer for her not to put the actual video number in the videos just in case something comes up to mess up the count including a double count. I would imagine she’s already banked several of these videos so it may be awhile to reflect a miscount if there is one.
Since Mrs. Shafer talks about how to influence the way the brain thinks, this might be good to know:
Any discussion about hypnosis and hypnotherapy must also discuss critical factors. Critical factors are an integral part of hypnosis. This is very clearly seen in the definition of hypnosis according to the U.S. Dept. of Education, Human Services Division which states that hypnosis is the by-pass of the critical factor of the conscious mind followed by the establishment of acceptable selective thinking or hypnosis is the penetration of the critical factor of the conscious mind followed by the acceptance of a selective thought (suggestion).
Based on this definition, it appears that hypnosis can only occur if two conditions are met. First, there is a penetration of critical factors from the conscious mind and second, the acceptance of a selective thought or suggestion.
Sorry, if not relevant. Thank's.
Make sure to put an asterisk or Stars near the disclaimer or describe where it is during the video located in the description area make the first portion of it or the disclaimer title in bold print and the rest of of the written portion doesn't have to be in bold obviously.
Also make sure to underline the title of the disclosure Once you have the disclosure go ahead and ask for permission to edit every video that has been blocked and put that disclaimer in their have one video that explains this to the viewers
Remind you you are actually teaching in these videos they cannot deny that and so the disclaimer would be the only key factor that you're missing
A couple of factors related to the decline in the quality of popular music may be: 1) the decline in average intelligence of western populations, as reflected in standardized tests of IQ and achievement, and 2) the decline in the quality and variety of music that radio stations and music video companies choose to broadcast. It used to be that radio DJ's were usually music fans who had freedom to play music that they liked; I believe this is no longer the case. [In Taylor Swift's case, it helps that she looks like a supermodel!]
Vlad, did you skip the fuzz bass of Think For Yourself?
Multiple psychedelics - primarily psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and MDMA (not a serotonin 5HT2 agonist psychedelic like LSD and psilocybin, but has some similar effects) - have been and continue to be studied in many large clinical trials for severe depression and PTSD. The "re-setting the brain" along with the feelings of acceptance and love, has been described as a main mechanism for their utility, and the reason they are being designed to work in combination with intensive Psychotherapy to help guide better non-depressed/non-dysfunctional thought processes and more positive/functional neural connections. We should be seeing clinical non-trial use of these within the next few years!
Call Hondo in Louisville .
What I hear underlining this song is a steady, spiritual chant. It's not obvious, but there is the sound of the Hindu "Om" about it.
Do I hear John’s sung slow triplets in most of the ‘in the beginning…’ etc ‘verses’? Quite unlike Amy to miss this! 😉
Please don't skip think for yourself
apoyo la moción. Estoy sorprendido. Espero que sí pasen por alto sin embargo "what goes on"...supongo que esto será evidente para Vlad.
There is a general movement towards the medically sanctioned and therapeutic use of psychedelic chemicals to combat drug resistant depression and near death anxiety. I believe that it will be as big for mental health as penicillin was for infection. One recurring theme is the ‘reset’ and ‘elasticity’ that these experiences allow, just as you touched on.
Young folks listen to and like classic old music when it shows up in a Netflix series or marvel film, or covered by Beyonce. But talking to swifties, for them bands like the Beatles are old white guy music from a less progressive era.
A few younger folks on here have clued on that reacting to them gets them views and comments, and some genuinely seem to like and appreciate the talent and diversity in Beatles songs.
I listened to "i dream of Geenie with the light brown hair" and "beautiful dreamer" by Steven Foster
I understood why lightfoot titled his song
"A song for Steven Foster"
Also called "Your love's return" I couldnt help but marvel at the beauty of such ritching poetry wed to a song of contrition. Please just sample it. Im sure you will be astounded also.
I read that Steven foster lost Geenie but we got such lovely song from his loss.
Let's be accurate when we talk about the influence of drugs on creativity: some drugs like heroin were disastrous for productivity- the Rolling Stones suffered hugely when Keith Richards got hooked and John Lennon wasn't exactly prolific around the Let it Be sessions. There's an argument that mind-altering drugs can open the writer up to mystical experience- I doubt John Lennon would have written Tomorrow Never Knows or much of his 1967 output though, again, that was when John started to become less prolific relative to before so it had its downsides. In summary, there's plenty of bad with most drugs but some benefit with psychedelic drugs.
The word, 'Word' of the scriptures was translated from the word, 'Logos', meaning a holy vibration. This same vibration is referred to by all spiritual teachers as the voice of God. It is the active creating, sustaining vibration which is used as a vehicle in Sant Mat meditation. The attention is drawn up through the various planes to its source. When we are ready, the 'Word made flesh', the current living Master, will find us and open our inner eye and ear, so that we may begin the inner journey back to Love.
An interesting compassion with Taylor Swift. After sixty years most people still know of The Beatles and the vast majority of them know their songs. In sixty years from now will people know of TS in the same way? I doubt it, she will have slipped into obsurity long before then.
This is the song on the album that most clearly reflects the American soul music they were listening to at the time, but not replicating (hence the jokey album title). For me this is crying out for horns, and maybe if they'd had enough time to make this album properly it would have had them. I always assumed George Martin was playing the piano but it's supposedly McCartney. The bass and piano are really tight if he overdubbed one (presumably the bass). I think John may have been joking with the line about the good and the bad books, with the Good Book being concerned with loftier ideas about love, and the "bad" books being concerned with the more earthy aspects.
This is the first Beatle song that was moving away from romantic love in a relationship to love in a more universal sense. It was the precursor to songs like All You Need Is Love. Also as is often the case with Beatles music, if another artist had wrote and recorded The Word, it would have been a big hit song for them if promoted properly. For The Beatles The Word was filler and boy what wonderful filler it is.
I think this song is one of the first to do so but I make an argument for the song "There's a Place " as the start of the band moving away from boy meets girl material and becoming true legends that changed music forever.
¿En qué forma puede ser esta canción tan especial un relleno? Más bien yo la designaría como un hito del pop, en lo musical y en su tema. Una preciosidad de este album precioso, Rubber Soul.
@@bobair2 I totally agree with you. Also I would point out that Thanks We Said Today and I'll Be Back in a lyrical content were more deep than the other songs they were writing at that time. Those two songs would have been good ones to record during the Rubber Soul sessions. They would have fit right into that album.
"The good and the bad books that I have read" obviously alludes to the Good Book, more of the religiosity, along with the harmonium. BTW, this song was John's idea but written by both.
I very much doubt it...
@@TheNordicharps You can doubt what and whom you like, including John and Paul. According to Paul in MYFN they "wrote it together at Kenwood". John agreed. In 1972 John opted *not* to to put The Word in a list of songs written by himself (Hit Parader) and instead put it in a list "attributed jointly to McCartney and himself with no further comment". In 1980 he confirmed to Sheff that it was "written together", but added "it was mainly mine." These are reasons why i described it as "John's idea, but written by both. If you still doubt Paul was involved you might want to take a look at the psychedelic lyric sheet that he recalls they wrote out after "smoking some pot" and which all sources known to me affirm to be in Paul's handwriting.
@@strathman7501 Strath, I wasn't doubting anything about the composer, but rather the allusion to the Good Book 😊
@@TheNordicharps Oh, I see... May i ask why?
@@strathman7501 It just seems completely out of character both regarding the Beatles and our culture at the time.
I think you're right that Taylor Swift's musical fandom is centered much less on *music* per se. Her fans are generally more drawn to her storytelling and emotional content than her melodic, harmonic, or sonic approaches. It's a different way of consuming music, though not one I enjoy much.
One thing that your Beatles 150 series has reaffirmed is that even as the Beatles begin to slowly fade from living memory, they will have a lasting fanbase among musicians.
While this is one of my least favorites musically on this album, it is interesting in being one of the first of theirs to express the idea of universal love. The hippie ideal of peace and love started to be a big part of the Beatles messaging going forward. Ringo to this day still holds up the two finger peace sign, and usually ends up saying the words peace and love at some point in the conversation or concert. Good comparison to the Taylor Swift album, showing that the Beatles could do a simple song harmonically and structurally, while still making it musically interesting. As always, great reaction and insights, such as how it following the basic 12 bar blues structure.
I wouldn't mind a new hippie era, we could use some more love & peace on the planet at the moment... ✌️
What's so funny about PEACE, LOVE and UNDERSTANDING???
@@stefanmartelius9552 I wouldn't mind either. I agree completely!
@@splitimage137. Well Elvis (Costello, not Presley), nothing funny about it. Although I do hope those interested in Peace, Love, and Understanding, also have a good sense of humor.😉 Okay, to be fair it was Nick Lowe who wrote it. Elvis just gets all the credit.
They were sophisticated from the very beginning. Suggesting that they were a product of mind altering drugs is shortsighted. As a musician, not recognizing this is perplexing. Pot and LSD may have shown them a different direction. But a whole lot of people were indulging back then, including the best artists around at that time. There will only ever be four like them in the history of music. The burst of creativity was there right from the get-go. You've taken the journey fromthe start and still don't see that. Odd.
You could do what a lot of other TH-camrs do and make your blocked videos or videos that you think will be blocked free to watch on Patreon.
hey there, your videos are really interesting. I'd like to suggest a song by an Argentinian band from the 70s: Cinema Verite
They do it under Fair usage,
As a kid I never cared for this song because the hippy sentiments sounded old hat. Plus the composition seemed relatively static and retrograde when compared to songs like "Nowhere Man" or even "Day Tripper". They really just seemed to be ripping off Ray Charles. But I guess a song about universal love WAS pretty new for 1965, and giving the arrangement a repetitive groove and narrow melodic scheme focused the lyrics into the listener's brain. It's still not anywhere close to my favorite Beatles songs, but I get its importance in the grand scheme.
Amor vincit omnia.
Is Tom Waits coming back?
🤔🤔🤔🤔
Second
Espero que no, sinceramente (solo es mi opinión personal; Aborrezco la obra de Waits). Y deseo añadir que esta canción de los Beatles, "the Word", es maravillosa, ¡escúchala bien! Un saludo.
To me, this is one of the three weaker tracks on Rubber Soul. And I agree, there´s still more in it than in any current pop song. Weak it is in comparison to Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, Michelle, In My life, and Girl, all of which I melodically consider on par with Mozart. The Beatles didn´t produce music as background sound for videos. Theirs is music for people who actually use their ears. Staring on a screen replaced the experience of life in general, not just the part of listening.
The piano was keeping the whole piece together? What about the maracas player? Why do I always end up being the guy who stands up for the maracas player?
Okay, Amy, now you've gone and done it! You're talking about psychedelic drug use! Actually, psychedelics didn't enter into Beatles consciousness until late 1965, when this album was released. You can read the whole story about how John, George and their wives were dosed (innocently) by George's dentist when they dined with him at his house in the official 1968 biography of the band, THE BEATLES by Hunter Davies.
Re: LSD and childhood - it's a DIRECT link, Amy.
It's the same principle that is now allowing psychedelic drugs (like ayahuasca, from vines found in the forests of S. America, for example) to tread PTSD... how?
Imagine that your thoughts can flow across a desert landscape like water... through trauma, a deep groove can be cut through the land... and when the water (your thoughts) returns, they can end up in that groove, making it even deeper, even canyon-like... it's a very difficult place to be, when you can't direct your thoughts away from that trauma...
...so, we find through functional MRI (fMRI) brain scans, that the neural pathways PROLIFERATE under the psychedelic... so, in our analogy, it's the equivalent of filling in (at least temporarily, I believe) those grooves in the land where the water (your thoughts) go... allowing your thoughts to form NEW, healthier - particularly if you are under the care of a psychotherapist, who can guide you when you are most susceptible/suggestible (which can be a problem, in certain circumstances) into a more salutary way of thinking.
...and it is this very SAME EFFECT that allows the psychedelic tripper to re-experience childhood... the water can go anywhere on a flat desert plain... and everything is NEW again... it's very much like J.R.R. Tolkien describes the hobbits arriving in the land of Lothlorien, Galadriel's realm, where the time seems to have stopped, and even the colors on the leaves seemed as if they were created anew...
Amy... this is the Siren's Lure of the psychedelic experience... and John, of ALL the Beatles, was the most drawn to it. By his own admission, he took THOUSANDS of trips... and lived to tell/write/sing about it...
And one thing John NEVER wavered on, in all the years of his interviews... that LOVE is the very basis of everything. And this song is just a prelude this expression of theirs that begins with their next album, REVOLVER. That came out in 1966, and, I will argue until the day that I die... that is the year the ROCK MUSIC, as opposed to ROCK-AND-ROLL music began...
18:46 Britain may count as a traditionally Christian culture, but not (on average) not nearly as religious as the USA.
The piano was most likely played by George Martin himself.
AFAIK Martin played the harmonium. It's Paul McCartney on piano.
Michelle, Girl, In my Life, are the remaining master pieces. The rest of rubber soul, not yet analysed including this one, by comparison are filler.
Añade the Word a esa lista, listo. jajaj. Un saludo.
Taylor Swift must be the most overrated recording artist in many years. I find her music generally to be generic and forgettable. Of the current popular female solo artists, I believe Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Lana Del Ray, and Miley Cyrus have much greater artistc depth.
I’m not much of a Swift fan,but she must be doing something right.
You are conservative in your nature. So am I. But the 60s were my formative years. Psychedelics clearly didn't begin then. Mind-altering drugs have been in human culture forever, mostly in indigenous cultures prior to the 60s. But I imagine even your most beloved classical composers were not unfamiliar with them! Grace Slick noted, in talking about "White Rabbit" that we all grew up with "chidren's classics" such as Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland being shared us by parents who later chided us against drug use! lol
"Brain plasticity" is what you're referring to, regarding learning.
As someone with an Amercian surname, but never having lived in the US, it often astonishes me when Americans somehow find religion EVERYWHERE. The closest any of the Beatles came to religion, as far as I know, was Paul going to a primary school run by nuns and George really getting into a diverse Indian mythology for a while. John was not only "not religious", he was staunchly anti-religious most of his life! He was also constantly yearning for deeper intellectual conversations, as opposed to the extremely basic lyrics of this song. I bet if you asked one of the remaining members aboout your interpretation, he would react with a "Huh? Why would that be on our minds?".
I think the word you are searching for is..biblical. :-)) It definitely is.