Beatles’ Worst Moment?

Overall, I wouldn’t rate this as their worst track.  I don’t much like the song, but it goes well enough until that cheesy organ break comes along.  That break might be their worst moment.  I went back to All The Songs to refresh myself on just what they were thinking.  Turns out George played a fast-vibrato guitar part that John liked but George Martin rejected as too edgy.  So Paul recorded an organ solo worthy of a déclassé 60’s supper club.  Was he being funny on purpose?  Were they just ready to be done with it so thought, “fuck it, it’s filler anyway,  leave it there and let’s move on?”  

Of course everyone, no matter how great, steps in it every now and then.  Beethoven wrote Wellington’s Victory, an embarrassing piece of garbage celebrating, as the name suggests, Napoleon’s defeat. He’d once been a fan of Napoleon, dedicating his explosively innovative 3rd symphony to him.  He later removed the dedication in disgust after Napoleon crowned himself emperor, and subsequently wanted to rub Napoleon’s nose in it after Waterloo.  Defensive and touchy about the work, Beethoven probably knew it was trash. It seems to me that such music (i.e. written for overtly political or moralistic  purposes) is usually garbage.  John Lennon’s preachy songs  come to mind.  But I’d love to hear what pops into your bastardly heads in the Great Artist/Shitty Work category.

Found!

Wonder if this will be covered in the new biopics?

How Paul McCartney’s bass was found: the history of his Hofner Bass 500/1. For years we thought his first Hofner bass was stolen in 1969 but only recently we learned the truth and in this video we’ll cover how Paul got the bass, what it was stolen, and how it was found.

Sigh

The Beatles juggernaut rolls on with four biopics in the works, one for each Beatle.  What could possibly go wrong?

Shit

Ewen Macintosh, who played Big Keith on The Office, has hopped the twig, aged 50.

Lordy This Song Rips

David Letterman and his longtime cohort Paul Shaffer discussed a great many things about their lengthy stint as the host and bandleader of Late Show with David Letterman. At one point during the interview, Letterman reflected fondly on the show’s various musical guests, singling out, in particular, last year’s star-making performance by The Orwells.

The young Elmhurst natives appeared on the program in early 2014, busting through a chaotic rendition of “Who Needs You” that is still memorable to Letterman more than 12 months later. “After all these years, something like that really tickles me,” Letterman said of the performance.

Break out the headphones.

And watch for the reaction of Letterman and Shaffer at the end.