There are no creative differences on a Cecil B. Demented film!
5 Replies to “Nobody Appreciates My Artistic Vision”
One of several McCartney songs Lennon considered “granny music.” According to that linked article, here’s a definitive list from Dr. Winston O’Boogie himself.
Honey Pie
When I’m Sixty Four
Your Mother Should Know
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Hello, Goodbye
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
Martha My Dear
Good Day Sunshine
Lovely Rita
You Gave Me The Answer
The last one is a Wings tune, and thank god Lennon didn’t live long enough to hear “Waterfalls.”
I wouldn’t really count “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” as a granny song. Musically it might be, but songs about hammer murders wouldn’t have appealed much to 1970 grannies. I think George was more correct: it’s for fourteen-year-olds. I liked it when I was young, and my sons both like(d) it as well. At some point it started annoying me, so I’m no longer a fan, although Paul’s guitar overdubs are pretty brilliant. He did wring about as much goodness as possible from that song. I’d agree with John that it wasn’t good enough to be a single by their standards. But it would have been commercially successful because it was the Beatles, and enough people found it pretty catchy. If I had to play it as many times as they did, I’d hate it too. But then I hate every song I’ve had to play more than ten times.
Of the real granny songs, I’ve always liked “Your Mother Should Know.” Musically it’s all good, but the piano/organ instrumental bridge is to die for. “Lovely Rita,” “Hello Goodbye,” “Martha My Dear,” and “Good Day Sunshine” are fine with me, although they’re nothing I’d ever want to hear in a sour mood or before noon. Their cheerfulness can grate.
I can’t stand the others.
John had his annoying tendencies too. To me he’s unbearable in his earnest and preachy mode: “Imagine,” “All You Need Is Love” and the like. “All You Need Is Love” to me is as vapid as anything McCartney ever wrote. And George’s spititualist dirges…dull music aside, is anything more ridiculous than a sports car collector preaching immaterialism?
I think I’ve had occasion to mention before that although my parents quit liking the Beatles after they “got weird,” they still liked Paul’s granny songs. Which kinda proves John’s point.
I just realized that “nothing twee before noon” is very much how I roll.
My approved granny songs are Hello Goodbye, Your Mother Should Know, and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.
I liked how they riffed on Ob-La-Di during Get Back; as a kid, I somehow heard “Bunny” instead of “Molly” and still sing it that way; and in context (coming after Dear Prudence and Glass Onion) it is a nice fit.
As played by the Old Guy Dutch Beatle Album Band, of course.
All You Need Is Love isn’t my favorite either, but when I discovered the time signature switches, it blew my (tiny) musical brain.
“John has an amazing thing with his timing – he always comes across with very different time signatures, you know. For example, on ‘All You Need is Love’ it just sort of skips a beat here and there and changes time. But when you question him as to what it is he’s actually doing, he really doesn’t know. He just does it naturally.”
True. If you like John’s time-signature shenanigans, “She Said She Said” is more impressive. And it’s better song too. Once, in a band desperate for more cover songs, I had the misfortune of trying to teach it to a bassist and drummer. I gave up after a while. That particular rhythm section was a blunt instrument
Anyway, it’s not like “All You Need Is Love” is a terrible song; I just think it’s as trite in its way as something like “Hello Goodbye”. With the added annoyance of being preachy. But I love the B-Side, “Baby You’re A Rich Man.”
One of several McCartney songs Lennon considered “granny music.” According to that linked article, here’s a definitive list from Dr. Winston O’Boogie himself.
Honey Pie
When I’m Sixty Four
Your Mother Should Know
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Hello, Goodbye
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
Martha My Dear
Good Day Sunshine
Lovely Rita
You Gave Me The Answer
The last one is a Wings tune, and thank god Lennon didn’t live long enough to hear “Waterfalls.”
I wouldn’t really count “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” as a granny song. Musically it might be, but songs about hammer murders wouldn’t have appealed much to 1970 grannies. I think George was more correct: it’s for fourteen-year-olds. I liked it when I was young, and my sons both like(d) it as well. At some point it started annoying me, so I’m no longer a fan, although Paul’s guitar overdubs are pretty brilliant. He did wring about as much goodness as possible from that song. I’d agree with John that it wasn’t good enough to be a single by their standards. But it would have been commercially successful because it was the Beatles, and enough people found it pretty catchy. If I had to play it as many times as they did, I’d hate it too. But then I hate every song I’ve had to play more than ten times.
Of the real granny songs, I’ve always liked “Your Mother Should Know.” Musically it’s all good, but the piano/organ instrumental bridge is to die for. “Lovely Rita,” “Hello Goodbye,” “Martha My Dear,” and “Good Day Sunshine” are fine with me, although they’re nothing I’d ever want to hear in a sour mood or before noon. Their cheerfulness can grate.
I can’t stand the others.
John had his annoying tendencies too. To me he’s unbearable in his earnest and preachy mode: “Imagine,” “All You Need Is Love” and the like. “All You Need Is Love” to me is as vapid as anything McCartney ever wrote. And George’s spititualist dirges…dull music aside, is anything more ridiculous than a sports car collector preaching immaterialism?
I think I’ve had occasion to mention before that although my parents quit liking the Beatles after they “got weird,” they still liked Paul’s granny songs. Which kinda proves John’s point.
I just realized that “nothing twee before noon” is very much how I roll.
My approved granny songs are Hello Goodbye, Your Mother Should Know, and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.
I liked how they riffed on Ob-La-Di during Get Back; as a kid, I somehow heard “Bunny” instead of “Molly” and still sing it that way; and in context (coming after Dear Prudence and Glass Onion) it is a nice fit.
As played by the Old Guy Dutch Beatle Album Band, of course.
All You Need Is Love isn’t my favorite either, but when I discovered the time signature switches, it blew my (tiny) musical brain.
“John has an amazing thing with his timing – he always comes across with very different time signatures, you know. For example, on ‘All You Need is Love’ it just sort of skips a beat here and there and changes time. But when you question him as to what it is he’s actually doing, he really doesn’t know. He just does it naturally.”
– George Harrison
True. If you like John’s time-signature shenanigans, “She Said She Said” is more impressive. And it’s better song too. Once, in a band desperate for more cover songs, I had the misfortune of trying to teach it to a bassist and drummer. I gave up after a while. That particular rhythm section was a blunt instrument
Anyway, it’s not like “All You Need Is Love” is a terrible song; I just think it’s as trite in its way as something like “Hello Goodbye”. With the added annoyance of being preachy. But I love the B-Side, “Baby You’re A Rich Man.”