There's a time in life for Hoagy Carmichael. There's a time in life for Claude Debussy. There's a time in life for Jerry Lee Lewis. There's a time in life for Destiny's Child. All these things have their moment. ~Elvis Costello
Like many of the biggest groups of the early 1970s, Steely Dan grew up under the shadow of The Beatles. When Donald Fagen and Walter Becker came together in 1971, the pioneering group had already been broken up for more than a year. They may have wondered if they had somehow absorbed the ghost of ‘The Fab Four’ and that it was their responsibility to carry the flame in their absence. Indeed, Fagen and Becker intentionally modelled themselves off The Beatles, choosing to emphasise writing and recording than relentless touring. However, Steely Dan could also be highly critical of The Beatles’ former members at times, as the song ‘Only A Fool Would Say’ makes devastatingly clear…
The real life inspiration for Bungalow Bill was a 27-year-old American man named Richard A. Cooke III (known as “Rik” for short). In 1968, Rik was in Rishikesh visiting his mother, Nancy Cooke de Herrera, a publicist for the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. As the Maharishi’s publicist, Nancy would also serve as a liaison between the Maharishi and the Beatles, while the Beatles were learning Transcendental Meditation.
The actress Mia Farrow described Nancy’s arrival at the Maharishi’s ashram as follows:
A self-important middle-aged American woman arrived, moving a mountain of luggage into the brand-new private bungalow next to Maharishi’s…People fled this newcomer and no one was sorry when she left the ashram after a short time to go tiger hunting.
I can’t quite get a read on what the original motivation was for the tiger hunt. Some depictions I’ve read portray Nancy and Rik as two socialites who blithely jaunted off to go safari while in the middle of a shallow spiritual quest. Other depictions I’ve read say that an Indian guide, Avi Kohli, encouraged Rik to kill the tiger, because the tiger was endangering some elephants and might have even endangered some villagers too…
Hypothetical questions about The Beatles! My favorite. What if John Lennon was not assasinated in 1980.
1: At the time of his death he was in the preliminary stages of planning a tour to support the album Double Fantasy. Lennon hadn’t embarked on a proper tour since 1966. A return to touring would have been interesting.
2: He would have hosted Saturday Night Live. By all accounts John Lennon was a frustrated comedian. He connected with George Martin because of the producer’s association with the British comedy troupe The Goons. He was on the record as saying he would have been happier being a member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus than The Beatles. As a NYC resident Lennon hosting Saturday Night Live would have been a near certainty…
It all started with a cassette version of the song recorded by John Lennon in his apartment in New York in 1977 …
To put a bit of context behind this time in his life, John was a homebody, taking care of Sean and baking bread. He was getting pretty good at the baking and apparently even thought about opening a bakery. Meanwhile, Yoko was investing John’s money in things like cattle ranches. Also, during this time, John and Paul had reconciled and had even considered, as a lark, taking up Lorne Michael’s farcical offer to pay the Beatles $1,000 each to reunite on Saturday Night Live.
So, given this period in his life, it is amazing he was still writing…
With the Beatles’ catalog now available via streaming, it gives fans yet another opportunity to appreciate band’s prodigious output. As with any masterpiece, Beatles’ music opens a new door with each visit. No matter how many times (roughly a billion in this case) you hear the songs, there’s always something fresh to appreciate.
In this round of bingeing, it was John Lennon’s guitar playing that re-introduced itself. Paraphrasing Mr. Lennon himself, if George was The Beatles’ forgotten singer, John was their forgotten guitar player…
The legendary reporter’s classic column on the night John Lennon was shot.
(via The Daily Beast)
by Jimmy Breslin
I was home in bed in Forest Hills, Queens, at 11:20 P.M. when the phone and television at once said Lennon was shot. I was dressed and into Manhattan, to Roosevelt Hospital, the Dakota, up to the precinct, grabbed a cop inside, back to the Dakota, grabbed a cop outside, and to the Daily News. I wrote this column and it made a 1:30 A.M. deadline. I don’t think there is anybody else who can do this kind of work this quickly...
The other day I got into my car and the first thing I did–just like I was taught in Driver’s Ed class–was to check the CD player. As I switched the function from radio to CD and landed on track 3 where I’d left off listening, I heard parts of Ben Harper’s ‘Steal My Kisses’ and Belle & Sebastian’s ‘If She Wants Me’ back to back. It sounded a little like this:
A weird coincidence only, most likely. But It did get me thinking about some of the more heinous song-on-song crimes that have been perpetrated throughout the years. I’m talking about artists lifting musical ideas from other artists without necessarily giving credit where it’s due. I’m talking about the scandal of Pop-lifting…
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‘Ghostbusters’ by Ray Parker Jr. lifted from ‘I Want a New Drug’ by Huey Lewis
The producers of the film Ghostbusters approached Lindsay Buckingham to write a theme song based on his successful contribution of ‘Holiday Road’ to National Lampoon’s Vacation. When Buckingham declined Ray Parker Jr. took the job and wrote the ‘Ghostbusters’ theme. He was promptly sued by Huey Lewis, whose hit ‘I Want a New Drug’ had been a hit earlier that same year and sounded eerily like ‘Ghostbusters’ (ok maybe not ‘eerily’ but still…).
The two settled out of court, with Columbia Pictures paying a settlement to Huey Lewis. The details of this settlement were to remain confidential and were until Lewis made comment about his payment on an episode of VH1’s Behind the Music. Parker then sued Lewis for breach of confidentiality.
What’s really weird is that the bass line the two songs share that made them so similar, is also quite similar to that of M’s ‘Pop Muzik’, a number one hit in late 1979.
Here’s an excellent mashup showing why Ray Parker got Ghostbusted:
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‘Come Together’ by The Beatles lifted from ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ by Chuck Berry
‘Come Together’ is pretty much a slowed down, heavier version of Chuck Berry’s ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ with different lyrics–mostly.
The song got John Lennon sued by Big Seven Music Corp, the publisher of Berry’s song. They settled out of court, but a pissed off Lennon vowed to record three more of Big Seven’s songs. He got around to releasing two. Both appeared on his Rock n Roll album and one of them was ‘You Can’t Catch Me’. (The third, ‘Angel Baby, went unreleased until after his death). Big Seven sued and won another award ($6,795) then released an album of Lennon’s unauthorized outtakes in a move designed to embarrass Lennon. This time Lennon sued and won, to the tune of $84,912.96. I’ll always wonder how it came down to that 96 cents…
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‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’ by the Beach Boys lifted from ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ by Chuck Berry
And speaking of Chuck Berry, rock n roll’s most ripped-off figure was pretty ticked off to hear ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’ on the radio one day. It’s very nearly a note-for-note rip-off of his ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’. He sued and won royalties and a songwriting credit. It gets weirder: The lyrics of ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’ also seems to have been ‘inspired’ by another song, Bobby Rydell’s ‘Kissin’ Time’, which names various American cities. And ‘Kissin’ Time’ borrows melodically from…yup, ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’. It all comes back to Chuck.
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‘Hotel California’ by Eagles lifted from ‘We Used to Know’ by Jethro Tull
When the Eagles toured as opening act for Jethro Tull in their earliest days a song from Tull’s live set and written by Ian Anderson made an impression on songwriter Don Henley. It took a while, but about half a decade later his masterwork, ‘Hotel California’ showed the influence of the earlier song. As far as I know, no one sued anyone. But it is interesting to note how un-original Henley’s magnum opus actually is.
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‘Take it to the Limit’ by Eagles lifted from ‘If You Don’t Know Me by Now’ by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
And while we’re on the subject of the Eagles, let’s take note (why not, everybody else is doing it) of Randy Meisner’s ‘Take it to the Limit’. The opening string arrangement comes across as a homage (to put it politely) to Harold Melvin’s R&B hit of three years earlier, written by Gamble and Huff. It was also, incidentally, the first Eagles single not to feature either Henley or Glenn Frey on lead vocals.
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So, here’s to the Originals–the Chuck Berrys and Ian Andersons and Huey Lewis’ of the world–those who sometimes have to sue to get the recognition (and money) they deserve. It’s high praise when artists of the stature of Don Henley, John Lennon and Brian Wilson tap your musical legacy for ideas.
Every Moment Has A Song 