Quora: Why do people criticize Paul McCartney for writing the lyric “the movement you need is on your shoulder”?

21 Dec 2019 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: ,

(via Quora) Answered by Alex Johnston, Guitar & bass, BA Hons in music theory, tech and musicology

I’ll tell you why I do. And it’s a symptom of something which, for me, blemishes a good deal of the Beatles’ later work.

In general, I am very fond of ‘Hey Jude’ and consider it one of the best songs that McCartney ever wrote. I think that the cunning rhyme scheme really works, and the pleasingly laconic but warm-hearted lyric is one of the best the band ever had. And don’t even get me started on the music. It’s a lovely song.

However, when McCartney first played the song to Lennon, he hadn’t yet finished it.

The song has two bridge/middle eight sections, whatever you want to call them, which serve as a kind of alternative verse. The first one goes like this:

And anytime you feel the pain
Hey Jude, refrain
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders
For well you know that it’s a fool
Who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder…

Read more: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-criticize-Paul-McCartney-for-writing-the-lyric-the-movement-you-need-is-on-your-shoulder

On Music…

21 Dec 2019 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

The Coming Death of Just About Every Rock Legend

15 Sep 2019 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

(via The Week) by Damon Linker August 31, 2019

Rock music isn’t dead, but it’s barely hanging on.

This is true in at least two senses.

Though popular music sales in general have plummeted since their peak around the turn of the millennium, certain genres continue to generate commercial excitement: pop, rap, hip-hop, country. But rock — amplified and often distorted electric guitars, bass, drums, melodic if frequently abrasive lead vocals, with songs usually penned exclusively by the members of the band — barely registers on the charts. There are still important rock musicians making music in a range of styles — Canada’s Big Wreck excels at sophisticated progressive hard rock, for example, while the more subdued American band Dawes artfully expands on the soulful songwriting that thrived in California during the 1970s. But these groups often toil in relative obscurity, selling a few thousand records at a time, performing to modest-sized crowds in clubs and theaters…

Read more: https://theweek.com/articles/861750/coming-death-just-about-every-rock-legend

Baby Hold On: Why Eddie Money Was the Patron Saint of Rock Uncool

15 Sep 2019 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

CIRCA 1985: Eddie Money poses for a portrait circa 1985. (Photo by Richard McCaffrey/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images)

(via Rolling Stone) by David Browne

As he himself would have admitted, Eddie Money was no one’s idea of a conventional rock star. His stage moves were always a little gawky and spasmodic, his borderline hoarse voice in need of a lozenge or two. Emerging during the punk era though never part of it, he preferred the stadium-friendly shout-along choruses of mainstream rock and adopted the suit-and-tie New Wave look while keeping his hair unfashionably long. He was even an NYPD cop — a career move that, while utterly honorable, didn’t jibe with the traditional, anti-establishment rock & roll handbook...

Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/eddie-money-appreciation-884179/

 

The Muse Behind the Music: Meet the People Who Inspired Some of the Best Songs in History

02 Aug 2019 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

Sometimes we are so moved by our favorite songs that we feel as though the lyrics were written especially for us. Unfortunately, in reality, you are one of a million that feels that way. But that is what makes a good song; when audiences across the world deeply identify with its message. This notion raises the question; how were some of the most successful musicians able to write songs so relatable and meaningful? What happened in their own lives that pulled on their heartstrings and inspired them to write those poetic lyrics that so deeply speak to the masses.

As you may have guessed, most of these songs do actually have real life backstories, and many times the inspiration behind the lyrics are people that have somehow influenced the artist’s lives. These people might be old girlfriends, personal heroes, or random chance encounters. Here are the inspirations behind some of the most beautiful songs today. You might just recognize some of these names…

Read more: https://populareverything.com/the-muse-behind-the-music-meet-the-people-who-inspired-the-best-songs-in-history/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=pix&utm_campaign=songinspration_A2_ZS&fbclid=IwAR2JllsPgn8I9uD2PFFhUeaCY29x2XD9xm4E2bi2f5JLJfN6dNIeOdU0tX4

 

Quora: What Beatles song do you think was the pinnacle of their career and why?

31 Jul 2019 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

(via Quora) Written by Mark Anater

For most bands this is an easy question. It’s their first hit, or their biggest hit, the one that gets the most airplay on radio or the most downloads. If you know that song, you pretty well know the band. For the Rolling Stones it’s Satisfaction. For the Who it’s My Generation. For Led Zeppelin it’s Stairway to Heaven.

But for the Beatles it’s not so easy. Maybe it’s I Want to Hold Your Hand, which started Beatlemania in the US and most of the rest of the world. Maybe it’s Yesterday, the first indication that they had larger artistic ambitions. Maybe it’s Strawberry Fields Forever, startlingly innovative and a huge departure from their previous sound…

Read more: https://www.quora.com/What-Beatles-song-do-you-think-was-the-pinnacle-of-their-career-and-why

 

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