Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tick two, it's Kendash's Beetle Revolution.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Won't to faith all.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
On the radio, it's ken Dash has Beatles Revolution. But
this is a different kettle of fish. Producer Andrew, why
don't you explain what we're doing?
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Yeah, I'm back.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Hi been a while.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
So you know me from the Beatles Revolution podcast and
producing on this show. But I have my own podcast
that I launched last spring with my friend Diamond. It's
called at First Listen. It is basically a music show
and tell podcast, so it's Diamond and I sharing music
with each other that one or both of us hasn't heard.
(00:44):
We listened to a Stevie Wonder album for example, that
neither of us had heard. She had me listen to
an Usher album. I had her listen to an album
by Metallica. And sometimes we have guests on and the
guests bring in an album and if one or both
of us isn't familiar with it, we talked to them
about why this music is important to them and its
(01:07):
impact on their life. And I figured, at some point
we have to do a Beatles album. And if we're
going to do a Beatles album, we have to have
can Dash out do it with us, and as long
as ken Dasho is recording a podcast with us, let's
put it in the Beatles' Revolution feed as well.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Right, So, if you're listening to Kendashow's Beatles' Revolution, obviously
I assume you're a fan and that otherwise it really
would make sense for you to listen to it. So
to hear about the Beatles to a nube of what
somebody who I'm sure is aware of the word and
it's something you said to me, it'd be interesting to
see how many songs that she knows that she didn't
(01:45):
know she knew.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
How you pick with the show has been a lot
of that for both of us at this point. The
first record we did was Purple Rain by Prince. Neither
of us had heard the whole thing, but we're like,
what kind of diamond in the rough is on Purple
and we realized that, oh, it's the whole album. We
know all of these songs basically because we're just out
(02:07):
in the world and we hear this music. And I'm
sure that is true of the Beatles. But sort of
the fun of this episode for Beatles Revolution listeners is
putting you in the room with someone who is going
down this road for the first time, which is Diamond
our co host, And how old is Diamond? Diamond is thirty, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
So one of the things that Andrews said to me
is what album should we pick? You get to pick
one album and really racking our brains going back and forth.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Took us maybe two months to finally come to this isation.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
And he's not kidding because the the energy of the
early days of I Want to hold your hand. But
would that translate with that energy because we, most of
us have a history of knowing the impact of it,
would that be the same for a thirty year old.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
From a thirty year old who's a fan of modern
contemporary pop music?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Right, I'm thinking would sound ancient to her? So then
you go mid period, do we do Rubber Soul or
Revolver Transformative where they go out on the limb and
Tomorrow Never Knows a song that if you listen to
pop music, you know that song is from Mars Tomorrow
never Knows. Do youre's something that psychedelic? Or then do
you do the biggest pop psychedelic album ever made, Sergeant Pepper's.
(03:20):
So we've really been going through this, but I thought,
and we came to a meeting of the minds that
the most accessible album for somebody who really doesn't know it,
I think is the last one that was released Abby Road, and.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
It's the last one where they were friendly.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Well you know, they were unfriendly and then decided and
this it's the only group I ever know of in
history that did this, that said we can't end on this.
Fuck you note, We're not going to end this group
that did so much like this. We'll come back together
and let's come together, which is where the line came of,
(04:00):
and make a real Beatle album to say goodbye. And
they went to George Martin and he said, only if
you agree to put your backs into it. If you
and John are going to work together, he said, And
Paul said, John Will, Are you saying John Will? Where
is John going to say, John Will? And he said,
I'll have John call you and John, you know, as again,
Paul would probably try to browbeat everybody to make an album.
(04:23):
But that's where the problem started to be.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So it's a Beatles album where they knew who they were,
they knew what they were. There's experimenting on it, but
I think the goal, the goals of the experimenting on
Abbey Road are more clear, at least in the final product.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
So and what everybody tells me? Who is at those sessions?
Were they really? Were they still friends? Were they close? No,
there wasn't any closeness. But as opposed to firing sort
of shotguns at each other, there was politeness. There was
let's not step on each other's toes. Paul really wanted
to sing, oh darling, so he would come into the
studio before the sessions to take one shot at a
(05:08):
day because he knew with Tara's thrown out.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And well, we can't get into too much. Okay, we
can't get into too much now because especially the more
dramatic aspects of the story behind Abbey Road, Diamond will
very much appreciate. So we need to save some of
this for her.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Okay, I'm ready. I can't wait to hear what you all.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Right, So after the break, we're coming back with at
First Listen. We're introducing Abbey Road to Diamond. All three
of us will have listened to it, we'll have taken
it in, we'll get the thoughts of a first listen
to the Beatles. All right, welcome back to at First Listen.
(05:54):
Ken Dash has Beatles Revolution Crossover episode. I'm Andrew, I'm
Diamond Kid.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
So today crossover sound's dirty.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
It's not it's crossover sounds dirty.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
I don't know if you will to crossover.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
So this is a very special episode where we're introducing
our friend Diamond to the Beatles by way of the
Abbey Road album. Can you and I did an intro
for your Beatles Revolution listeners, Diamond and I did an
intro for our at first listen listeners. That sounds more
repetitive than I thought listeners.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, okay, So if I can't for my for our
Beatles Revolution podcast, Diamond, tell folks who you are and
why you're here.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Oh, so I'm Diamond. I work for Elvis Rand in
the morning show. I'm his phone producer. I've been working
for the show for about five years. Huh. After starting
this podcast, I realized that, like, I can't really say
I'm a music fan anymore. I could just say that
I'm a popy or music fan, if that makes sense.
Like I'm not. I just like a dop pop, a
(07:05):
nice little beat Ken, that's it. I'm not really Yeah,
Andrew has taught me that I am not a music historian.
I'm not. I don't really care about the way that
a song is composed. Like, these are all things that
I feel post listening to the episodes, and how Andrew
comes super prepared with, like, you know, notes about the
(07:26):
way that songs were made, and I'm like, yeah, that's cool,
but what about to be like, you know, it's not
given what I needed to give, So yeah, what else?
Speaker 3 (07:35):
What else did you have? The objects of the show
is not to tear you down, no, your enjoyment of music.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
But most a lot of people think of music as
just they like to. Music is something to dance to,
is something to move to, and I grew up in
a world where that existed. But music was also something
to listen to, to nourish you, to feel, to get
your political ideas out, to explain life. And then as
(08:03):
I got to jazz and classical, to really learn about
music and see the depth and the beauty of it.
So music was more of a listening experience to me
than going out with friends and dancing. Yeah see, and
that's not your world.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
No, I just like, I just like a nice beat
can and if the if the lyrics resonate, then I'm like, okay,
then say whatever, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, we're
gonna meet anyway. But yeah, it's just, you know, I
don't know where I am on the classical tip yet.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I think in a way, can you sort of described
the arc of the Beatles' career coming from a band
that was basically out to make music for dance halls
and pop music for pop fans of the day in
the early sixties, and then sort of developed into a
(08:56):
band that wanted to write about deeper themes, that wanted
to be more intentional with their compositions, and wanted to
to make music that would be nourishing.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
One hundred percent right, So Diamond, there was a band
Buddy Holly in the Crickets, and off of that they
decided to call themselves the Beatles b E E T
L E S. And the big change in their world
came when they changed the second e to an A,
the Beatles And just what you said, I liked music
with a beat. Could you think of a better name
(09:29):
to dance to than at it has a great beat
than the Beatles? And that became the club I thing.
Everybody had to go and dance to it.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Wow and coming out of an era where dance music
was basically either big band or rock and roll. The
probably the majority of the music that you would hear
if you were growing up in the forties or fifties
would have been classical music or church music. So having
a beat at all was kind of a novel concept.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Do you think that this is why the Beatles were
so big?
Speaker 1 (10:01):
They were the biggest pop group in the world named
Taylor Swift. They were menudo they're any band that you
know that's the biggest band in the world. The one
thing they did that nobody else has ever did before
them or ever did since, is after two years of
being the biggest group in the world, they stopped. They said,
we're not touring anymore. We're not going to play and
(10:22):
get people up and jumping and dancing. We've done that.
Let's see what else we can do.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And that's what nobody think of a record company today.
If Taylor Swift said I'm done with touring, I'm done
with those songs, I'm going to write classical music on
the piano, they do all have heart attacks, the company
would pass out.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Huh. Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
It could also bring about the great classical Music Revival
of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Which was their ideas that it was a different era
where the coolest thing was not making money. The coolest
thing was exploring, and that was the doubts what the
sixties were versus seventies, eighties, nineties to where we are today.
Find something that makes money. You know how many follows
the f in social They didn't care. After they hit it,
(11:06):
it would have.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Been a lot. Part of the reason they stopped performing
live was because they didn't have fun doing it. They
couldn't hear themselves. They couldn't hear themselves. The audience in
most venues couldn't hear them because the technology for like
PA equipment was not as advanced to cover shows that
(11:28):
were as big as their show. So like when they
played Chase Stadium in sixty.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Four, yeah, sixty five, sixty.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Five, the sound was coming through those like.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
The announcement it was and gentlemen, now bad a number
three because that's all they was.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
They were that And they played for what thirty minutes?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
They played third twenty eight minutes, But again nobody had
ever played, no musician had ever played in the stadium,
so nobody knew what to do. They made them fifty
watt apps and the Vox company said that should break
through anything. That's the biggest stamp we've ever made. We've
never made.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Get at least twenty rows back, right, and.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Not thinking a stadium because up until that world, you know, well,
you know games, you know, athletic games were played in
the stadiums and even in England that was football, that
was soccer, and music was in a theater or a club.
You didn't bring up four musicians in a stadium and
put them in the middle and say sing that's cool. Yeah,
(12:31):
So there wasn't until really the first group they ever
figured that out was the Grateful Dad from San Francisco.
This crazy guy had built them the Wall of Sound
and they put up more speakers than anybody had ever seen,
use more amplification, and it was kind of herky jerky,
but it was the first time, like in a giant
arena or stadium you could hear the music.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Wow, I love that.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
And the Grateful Dead had such a following they were
playing a lot of big outdoor shows. So that's that's
kind of where what sparked the innovation to bring about,
like the the idea of a stadium show as we
know it today, and then this album Abbey Road is
really the result of a few years of this band
(13:16):
working in the studio and they did a few movies
in the interim. So there's there's little tastes that you
get on this album of what they were as like
a pure pop group in the early sixties, and then
the drugs era of the band, Yes, and then they
(13:40):
just progressive sort of leanings of their music.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
It's a little bit of everything. Did you Diamond? Did
you hear about? There's a documentary that came out a
get back that Peter Green did a movie about them
making an album called Let It Be Peter Jackson.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Peter Jackson, did we talk about We talked about this
a little bit in our intro.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
So the reason this is another big right point to
set up Abbey.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Road God Yes, because that was the last album they released,
and that was going to be their final And in
the movie, one of George Harrison quits Ringo quit for
a while, came back, you know, it was they were
just coming apart. John was fighting heroin addiction and he
and Yoko were you know, he'd basically checked out of
the band and was doing it out of obligation, but
(14:28):
he hated it. He wanted to be off and McCartney's
trying to hold the band together and he looks like
the bad guy in the movie because he's driving them
to make this album. And when all that was finished,
and this is another thing that never happens, they stopped
the way. You know what, this was so special. We
can't end like that. Let's not end with Sumi su
Yu blues and I Hate your Face. Let's come back
(14:49):
together and make one real album where we're together and
make some great songs and finishing on a high note.
And that's part of why Andrew and I picked this
album is how many after all the animosity, can actually
get back together and make one of the greatest albums ever.
Because usually it's it's simmering underneath.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Was the do you know ken because it's it's so
confusing with the last two Beatles albums, the timeline. Do
you know why they chose to release Abby Road first?
Speaker 1 (15:20):
They hadn't finished it. George quits, they hated John doesn't
want to come back in the studio. Paul did his
best and they had done a recording of it with
a producer and they didn't like it, and they said no.
It's like, well, do you want to go back and
do it? No? No, you know what, Screw that, Screw
all that. Let's just start fresh, clean page. Let's make
(15:41):
a new album back where we always worked in Abbey Road.
Just throw it away and let's.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I really love that. I was thinking about this. This
is such like the British way that we're making a film,
so we must do this in a film studio. We
can't possibly have musicians make their music in a music
studio because we are doing a film.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Well that that also came around because of contractual obligation.
They had signed up. They'd gotten paid in advance for
three films and they had done two and they were
just sick of doing it. They'd done Hard Day's Night
and Help. They were sick of doing it. So they
made The Yellow Submarine, which was animated, and they weren't
even the voices on it.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
And the studeo said, so, the four Beatles are in
the movie.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
The drawings of them, but they got a John, Paul, jug.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
And Ringo their characters in the movie, and they don't
even do their own works.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I didn't know that, Yeah, I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
That, and so the studio said, uh, that's not a
Beatles movie. So they filmed themselves playing a song that
they attacked at the end for three minutes. Okay, the
Beatles are in the movie. Yeah, no, we're not buying that.
We want another movie, and they're like, crap, Okay, well,
you know what, We'll get someone to film us making
the next album, and the documentary will be a movie
(16:57):
and we'll get an album. We'll get a movie, which
kind of makes sense, but not when you realize that
we're at Logger House and you hate the guy making it,
you hate everything about it, which just you know, if
you're not if the three of us were a band
who we're not getting along, adding a film crew will
not make it easy. I can't imagine anything more stressful
(17:17):
than adding visuals to it, where, you know, because we
could yell at each other and then hit the red
button and sing in harmony. But if they're filming us
when we're not, when we're arguing, terrified. So that's why
they dropped it. And then they finished this and they said,
you know, you should finish this, so they got Phil
crazy Phil Specter to produce it and finish it. Because
(17:39):
they had loved his work. And he said, and this
man was crazy nuts but had really good ears and
had a certain sent.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Me.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, but that's another podcast and he but he's the
one who said and this is to me personally. I
asked Paul, come back and re sing this. We need
more harmony, John, you're playing the wrong notes. Let's redo
the bass. I'm not redoing. They didn't want to touch
it because it was so toxic to them. All you
remember is the bad times, like a divorce. I don't
want to go back and go through my stuff. So
(18:10):
he brought in all this harps and a choir and things,
and he finished it with production in an orchestra, and
it was a huge hit, and they got giant hits
and the Beatles said, oh, we hate what he did
to that. That's crap. And the only thing on the
phenomenon is I couldn't get them back in this and
it's unfinished. And this is the he's playing the wrong notes.
(18:33):
What am I supposed to do? Like? You know what?
He may be crazy and violent, but he's right.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
So let it be.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Was never going to come out at nineteen sixty nine, but.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
By the time they started making abbey Road, let it
be was not going.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
To go right, that'll be demos or something for later on.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
All right, so I think that's a good intro to
set up the background of this album. Let's take a
break and we'll come back on at first listen and
Beatles Revolution and talk about it. And we're back on
(19:13):
at first listen.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I'm Andrew, I'm Diamond.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Love Ken Dasha, and today we're talking about Abbey Road
with Diamond, who's never heard a Beatles album before. So Diamond,
let's just start. Will you ever hear a Beatles album again?
Do you think?
Speaker 2 (19:30):
No? The only thing that's making me think that I
may give them another chance or try is number one,
you can't go anywhere without hearing a Beatles song, right, so, like, yeah,
that you can't escape them. But number two is the
fact that you all said that this was toward like
this was after the the dance music essentially, So maybe
(19:53):
I'll give the dance music a try. Maybe we'll do
another album later on, I can hopefully you'll come back
if you don't hate me after my.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Take, No, No, I never I never hate anybody you know
for their likes or dislikes or anything. Like that and
in any form of life unless unless you're committed to hate,
unless you know if somebody, if somebody hates someone else
because of just who they are, I have there's no
patience in me. There's not an ounce of understanding to
(20:20):
me in that. If you have a style that you
like this or like that, there's stuff I don't like. Listen,
rap music doesn't resonate with me. I have older respect
in the world and appreciate it, and have some friends
who are rappers. DMC is what a dear friend. Darryl
McDaniels started it with friends and he's the biggest classic
rock fan in the world and he built this offense.
(20:42):
But the thing, the reason we were talking about this
album is they have the most perfect, easily accessible songs,
the cleanest songs, the biggest hits that came through that.
These songs are as big, if not bigger in a
lot of ways the ones we played most on rock
radio for the last thirty years have come from this album.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Okay, So can I start by asking from the track list? Yeah,
what songs are the biggest songs? Because I need to
mark this down. Of course, we know here comes the sun.
I know that for you.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
You do know that.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
So Diamond looked at the track listing before and that
was the one where she was like, Okay, I know
that song.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
That is one of the biggest not just of the album,
but of their entire career, right.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Okay, so I'm putting a star there. I know, come together.
As soon as I heard it and I'm like, I
know this. I couldn't think of, like what commercials. There
has to be a brand that uses it all, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I think you probably hear it at games because that
first four to eight bars. Yeah, it's just the bass
riff and the percussion. Yeah, that's like a little like
stab that you definitely will hear at like the Barclay
Center of the Garden Meca Stadium. I think they'll just
throw that in when there's like a lull in the action.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah, you told me that Octopus's Garden. I don't know
if you said that that was a big song or
if I would like it. I mean, we'll get back
to that. If it's not a big song, I just
want to know which song I think it.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Is a big song.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
The other biggest song on the album is something by
George Harrison.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I said that and my notes are on my phone
and I'm using it to record. But I'm I wrote
like sounds very familiar.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Button.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I don't remember what else that I put, but like, okay,
I'll put a star X to that one.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Yea something was a big moment. I think Octopus's Garden,
for that's a song that Ringo sings. He would sing
like one song an album, and he tended to have
like what I guess you would call a hit rate
with kids, oh, because his the songs that he got
to sing tended to be more like cartoonish in their imagery. Okay,
(22:50):
So like Yellow Submarine was another song that Ringo performs
on that album, And I think you could walk into
a kindergarten and maybe hear some of these songs.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
The song Yellow Submarine is the song that every child requests,
is the song that every email I get my child's favorite.
So that's the introduction to the Beatles for children. Wow,
Octopus in his very and there's a song called Altogether Now,
which is also sing songy and very simple, and John
(23:26):
sort of ridiculed that stuff, but he knew in his heart,
like this is the entree for every generation to find
their music. Okay, so, but the funny thing is John
and Paul the giant Redwood sequoias of writing, who could
write five songs a day and each one's better than
the next. And George Harrison, the third Wheel, became a
pretty good songwriter, but he had had a fight to
(23:49):
get a song or something on a thing because not
that they didn't like him, just well, yeah, that's good,
but we've got twenty songs and we can only use twelve.
So on this album for George to have the two
biggest songs, it's kind of.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Like, huh, this album is really like a triumph of
George Harrison. Because the band began with John and Paul.
They're older than George. You're just kind of like a
perpetual like younger brother for them, and John and Paul
bonded as like a couple of teenagers who had this weird,
(24:22):
uncommon interest in songwriting. Okay, so they started their career
wanting to write songs, and then George came in the
band as a guitar player, but then he wanted to
write songs too, So he was, always, like Ken said,
the third wheel and a big contributing factor and why
the beaals. Eventually broke up was George's like, I have
(24:44):
a double album.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I've got thirty songs I'm waiting to record. You can't
use any of these, And they just weren't listening to
them because the two of them were trying to sort
out their relationship, you know. And it was especially so
think about the age. How well do you mind me
asking how old I'm thirty?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Great?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Congratulations. So when this band started John Lennon, when he joined,
he had a band called the quarry Men. That was
the name of John's teenage band. Yeah. See, he's sixteen
and he invites fifteen year old Paul McCartney to join
the band. So they're sixteen and fifteen, and as they
start playing, Paul meets this other kid on the bus
(25:24):
who's fourteen named George, who they start talking about music,
and he says to John, George would be great to
play guitars. So, but the thing is as you get older,
now you're in your late twenties, they've got all these
monster hits. But he still they both still thought him
as the fourteen year old kid get it. So it
was hard for him to get respect because they would,
(25:45):
you know, John would say even in interviews later he said, George, No,
I love George, but you know I wanted to go
on a date when you know, with my girl who
became my wife, and he would say, can I tag along?
You know, he was always tagging along, so they he
always thought of this, this bandmate who had these great songs,
is the kid who wants to tag along when I
want to make off, I want to make out with
(26:06):
my girl, and he's going to be sitting there. So
you know, when you start that way, it's hard to shake.
But all that said, this first song come Together, which
it took me a while. I didn't understand it. But
then in the context of what we're talking about, Look,
I started this band this it was a quarrymn. You came,
(26:27):
you came, we changed it. But if we're going to
do a last album, okay, we're going to come together.
But over me, Okay, we're coming to my band, over me.
I'm taking control again. And that's the first song. And
I never I was years before I went, hey, wait
a minute, that's why that's the first song.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
So that that's the meaning of the song. In the chorus,
as I was re listening to this, I the lyrics
and the verses make less sense than ever, but I
know that there is a reason for that.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Well, No, in the song lyrics, he takes apart every
member of the band. He starts out with, you know,
there's one lyric that's a chuck Berry first light, here
come Old Flat Top, which is an old chuck Berry song.
But then he goes into it. Ringo is this guy,
you know, and he's a goofball. He doesn't have any
you know, seriousness. And George Harrison, you know, with his
(27:20):
Hari Krishna and his long hair, you know, and all this,
and Paul McCartney, you know, he's so good looking that
he's so hard to see. And then when he gets
to himself, he said, you know about him, he's got
ono sideboard meaning Yoko Ono holds you in his armchair
as opposed to arms here you could feel his disease,
(27:42):
which is what he says about himself, his ego, his heroine.
He's saying, still his anger like he hates himself. He
hates himself, but then says, but let's come together over me,
and he you know, he shot at his bandmates, but
save the worst of the lyrics for him, and then
now let's do this and I thought that that kind
(28:04):
of sets up the rest of these songs of people
doing it, Like, imagine the just the nakedness of writing
that song. Yeah, you're an idiot, You're so handsome and
pretend to be nice. You're a bastard, You're nobody, You're
just smoking pot, and I'm the worst guy I've ever met.
Hu Still we're a band, Like who writes that? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Did anybody try to get him help? Was that like
a thing?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
You know? He probably had the most difficult upbringing of
any of the four Beatles, tortured, and I think it
probably didn't help to become super famous by the time
he was like twenty two. Yeah, but then after the
Beatles broke up, John Lennon only performed a handful of times.
(28:51):
He would still make albums, but he really was just like,
I want to be like a father to my kid
and focus on just like living my life. So he
was definitely working on, you know, things he wasn't He
was not like a total drugged out man.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
It was a window of time. But it's interesting and
I think it's wonderful that you've grown up in an
era where if you need help, there are a thousand
places you can turn in an instant on your phone
to get help. That did not exist in the sixties.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
When your dad, like fought in World War Two and
you're like, Dad, I feel sad. He's not going to
be like, oh well, maybe we'll get you a doctor.
He'll be like, why don't you go for a walk.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I thought that this happened like all within a certain
amount of time, like a small window.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Okay, they only recorded for seven years from sixty I
mean they did other recordings, but of the things we
heard seven years and in that period it's over two
hundred songs, of which one hundreds charted. Amazing, that's right.
It's just the volume of that and over such a
compressed length of time. And that brings us back to
(29:58):
this album. September twent six, nineteen sixty nine. We get
this album and it's so funny. If you saw the
album cover, so it doesn't say the Beatles on it,
it doesn't say it. It's just a picture of the
four of them.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Oh, I didn't think about that.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
And as always, the president of the record company, emi
Joseph Lockwood, they showed it to him and he said,
are you crazy. It doesn't say the Beatles on it.
How's anybody gonna know this is a Beatles album? Like really?
But like really they've sold They've sold one hundred million
albums worldwide. You really are that thick, you know, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
So Diamond, you you mentioned that you heard Come Together. Yeah,
did you like it at all?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah? It was second my head all weekend?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
So you didn't the album overall? I yes, let's talk
about if there was anything on it that you like?
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Okay, so yeah, that list is way shorter than okay. Anyway, Yes,
I did like the song, but I felt like it
was something that I was familiar with, like you know,
and I told my dad that I was listening to
the album and that's the first thing that he sang too.
He's like, come to get I'm like, down, that's awesome,
Calm down. But yeah, I enjoyed that something I enjoyed
(31:14):
as well.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Oh that's good. You're not only a ballad person.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I'm not, but it was something about it. And then
I also, I told you guys earlier, I wrote in
the notes that this sounded very familiar to So it
could just be that I was familiar with the song.
You know, you're familiar with it, you like it, you know,
you forced yourself.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Frank Sinatra called it the greatest love song ever written. Really,
it's Frank Sinatra who sang every song of the American
Songbook forever forties, fifties. He recorded that, and he he
would sing that at every show.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Really, and this was after he what did he say
about the Beatles, that they were some sort of a
fad or something.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Yeah, yeah, well all of them, you know, they just guys. Yeah,
they glue, you know, they pushed, well, they just pushed
everybody to the sideline. Frank Sinatra try to stay relevant
in the seventies and wearing like leisure suits and Puka
beads and singing with the fifth dimension, and it just
was so I was embarrassed for him. And I'm a
teenager and I'm embarrassed watching this elegant guy, tuxedo glasses,
(32:13):
scotch sing and fly me to the Moon. That's do that,
That's what you do. Just be great at that. And
after that it was wonderful to see him and Tony
Bennett and everybody just come back to being themselves. Put
on your tucks, sing the songs you sing. The Madison
Square garden and the audience will be there. Don't try
to be the Beatles, You'll fail miserably, which we say
(32:36):
to anybody in the entertainment world. I couldn't pretend to
be a shock jock. I would suck at it. It's
just not who I am.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
But it is funny about like it's really the first
generation of pop stars we're talking about when we mentioned
like Elvis and Sinatra and the Beatles and Tony Benn
and whoever else, like they didn't have anything to come
hair their own success too, because the idea of like
(33:06):
buying records and going to concerts was only so old,
so you know, for for all Frank Sinatra knew in
the seventies was that like flower power was was here
to stay, and that's that's the track the world was
on for forever. He didn't know that it was going
to come back, or that people would just appreciate him
for being him, for doing his thing.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, I mean, you're trying to make money, you know,
and even though you've got all this money when you're
when you're that big, there's an ego thing about staying
in the spotlight, like I can't I can't be a
hasbande that.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Were rappers now I know who just won't let it
go like it's okay, it.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Passes you on the charts and like it take they
take it personally sometimes.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Yeah, which is I mean, I guess it's always happened
through in every era, because like in the twenties, there
was a guy named Rudy Valley who was an actor,
and he he would wear a letther sweater and had
a megaphone and it's saying.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Hi, how everybody it hurt to be you?
Speaker 1 (34:02):
And the girls would swoon. And then Being Crosby came
along with a pipe and a hat and this like
sort of baritone cooner ba ba. And then Sinatra comes
and he's gorgeous and he's stand with blue eyes and
he owns and he owns movies and everything. Then Elvis
comes along and shoves him aside. And then Elvis Elvis
does movies. There's crappy movies and making all this, and
(34:25):
then here come the Beatles and pushes him to Vegas, you.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Know, and there's four of them, four of these guys.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
You guys, and and suddenly everybody's following the Beatles, and
just like you said, like what do you mean, I'm
yesterday's news what huh? Wait what No, i'man huh.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
People's egos and you don't know if it's ever coming
back too. Like there's also the fear of like, am
I like, is my career literally over?
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Right? Right?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Well that's sad because again, like now we have legacy artists,
but that wasn't a thing.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
Back then, right right, Well, yeah, I guess you.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Like now because of the Rolling Stones playing when they're eighty,
bands coming up now are like, hey, if people are
still going to come to the shows and I'm healthy
enough to do it. You had that conversation with Randy Backman, Yeah,
we just where He's like, I saw the Rolling Stones
and I'm eighty now, but I'm I'm gonna reunite the
guests who next year.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
I mean we had a long talk about this. He's
still playing and at eighty just turned eighty one the
other day.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
So the song American Woman.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Yes, taking care of business. And he got the rights
to their his name back of the first band that
guests who, He got his magic guitar back that he
wrote all the hits on. There's a documentary coming out,
and he said to me, can you believe at this
point in my life this is happening. I said, you
know it, it goes away. And then the tied sometimes
(35:48):
comes into nice people. And he said, what do you think?
So many band said, know who are in now in
their seventies eighties, what do you think? And I said,
look my own barometer. I'm not saying right or wrong,
but it's for myself as well. As long as we
can perform at a level we're proud of and people
want to hear it, and you love doing it, why
would you stop? Yeah, the day you walk on stage
(36:11):
and say that was shit, I can't even play anymore,
that's the day you stop, or the day you want
to play but nobody wants to come. That's a good
day to stop. But why the Stone's doing it? They
killed it? They filled MetLife Stadium two nights. They could
have played two weeks, they could have played a month.
Insane killed it, played great, sounded great, They loved doing it.
(36:33):
Why would you stop? Somebody asked, Keith Richards from the
Stones is like the Oscar wild a quote machine, and
they said, you really don't need the money. And he's
schlepping all over the world and the Travelers even with
your own plane, it's still a hassle. Why do you
do it? And he took a drag on the cigarette
and said because now and applauds baby when you take
out the trash at home and there you go. And
(36:56):
he's absolutely right. Do you how many one percent of
one percent set of the population gets to walk on
his stage ever in their lifetime and get cheers and screens?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yeah? Oh right, Stop you're making me think of Beyonce.
I'm still going to be going to her shows when
I'm eighty here.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
I want her to you know, and like it's not
like well, I want her to be I want Taylor
Swift to play her whole life. I want you know,
any that people love, I want them to enjoy it
and give the love back to the audience, whether you're
playing new music or you're just playing your hits. If
Ed Sheeron's playing his hits forty years from now and
people love it, God bless keep it going.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Have you ever been to a Ed Sheeron show?
Speaker 1 (37:33):
No, I haven't you need to.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
He like does everything on a dubbing track. That is
the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. In
my little machine and He just runs around the stage
and taps his foot and another element starts. Is really cool.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
I've quoted Andrew a million times on the air about
Ed Sheeron whatever and said, you know these people with
smoke and lasers and dancing girls and things. Ed Sheeron
is doing the same show. This is your words, Andrew
mcnowh words. He's doing the same show he did in
the tube stations in England, busking with the guitar case open.
But instead of the guitar case, all he needs is
(38:08):
he needs a stool, he needs a guitar, and he
needs to brings trucks to carry the money.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
No, but it's the truth. He literally is just him.
That is the coolest thing on the planet, It really is.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
I loved it amazing. So back to Abby.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
Road Maxwell's sober Ham. Did you have any impressions?
Speaker 2 (38:39):
No, I literally wrote no because I didn't resonate with
it right.
Speaker 3 (38:46):
But you know, kind is strange that you're doing that.
I know this is a type of song, Kim that
this is a quintessential Paul McCartney. A Grandma song was
was that how John.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
His Brandy music? But the thing is a music about
about Paul. Everything about it is dun d Dad, but
the lyrics are Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and they even threw
in the psycho sound of the Psycho soundtrack. It's about
a murderer.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Such a jaunty beat.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Which is why, which is what Paul loves to do.
Bang bang Maxwell silver hammer comes down on her head
and like what because you say, oh, it's as simple, No,
listen to what he's saying. And he got away with
a lot of stuff. Yeah, and people didn't give like
lovely rita Nita maid, you know, sitting sitting on the
(39:42):
couch with a sister or two, you know, got got
her home, nearly made it, sitting on the sofa with
a sister or two, and like nobody went, wait, what
did he just say? And because it's such a happy
little song, nobody stops to go did he just talk
about a threesome with it? Okay, now, I that couldn't be.
It's Paul's too nice.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Paul is gonna pop him.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
Oh darling. This is maybe a bit of a callback
to the earlier Beatles where he wanted to do blues.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Yeah, okay, I in my notes, I wrote that I
liked the song, but that it like when you close
your eyes and you're listening to it, I could see
like a high school dance of like an old like
an old school movie or something like that. It made
me feel good.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
I'm like, oh yeah, I think upon re listening to
this album, this is the one that sort of rose
up in my power rankings of this record, you know
the most right.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
It's a great blue saw going back to like the
like a sort of motown or Memphis blues. To me,
I thought of it more the person I heard singing this,
if it wasn't Paul McCartney, would have been Wilson Pickett,
would have been Otis Redding of a real soul singer.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Oh darl uh huh, okay, please believe.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
You know with it, with it that swampy Memphis beat
behind it, at least that you know. And again, there's
no right or wrong, but that's what I heard he
was going for now.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
I'll like, if I ever listened to the song again,
I will never hear it without hearing you do that.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
Well, there's so in the early days, John was the
main lead singer of the band.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
He would that's well in the very early days, but
very soon he.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
And then he and Paul were kept sharing it, but
John would generally take the more rock and roll, bluesier
songs because he had that he was willing to go
there with his voice. So here I think it was
Paul trying to give that a shot him.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Well, they were very competitive with each other in a
positive way. If one came in with a great song
like that, the other one would go, crap, I gotta
write one of those, all right. And if you, if
you were the one, the way it usually went is
if you came in with the song, the other person
helped you and change things whatever, But if you came
in with the song, you were probably gonna be the
(42:07):
one to sing it. If you walked in the door,
you sang it. They very rarely did I write a
song where partners say, Andrew, you sing the lead. So
Paul wrote, oh, darling, And really he knew John would
love to scream it like you said. So Paul would
get there before this session started and do one take
a day because he knew it'd blow out his voice
(42:28):
and do the screaming. And so John never heard it
till it was pretty much finished.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
It.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Oh, I've been working on a track. If you want
to help out on this, I could use your help,
and he'd heard it, and John said, yeah, Paul saved
that for himself. I would have liked him to take
a chance at that one. Okay, but I can't.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
I can't emphasize enough how smart John and Paul were
as young men to share the writing credit on everything,
because even songs that the other had nothing to do
with are all credited to Lennon McCartney. And they shared
the proceeds because they figured out at an early age
(43:07):
that that would potentially drive them apart if they were
literally competing with each other. So this kind of incentivized
them to work together.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
One hundred percent. And for a teenager, for a sixteen
year old seventeen year to see that, and they did.
Every lawyer, Diamond, every music lawyer, every manager said the
same thing. The greatest deal that any group ever came
up with were these two kids in Liverpool on the
back you know of a of a beer box writing, Hey,
whatever we write is fifty to fifty. It doesn't matter
(43:37):
if you write the whole thing or I write the
whole thing, and exactly for that reason. So if I say, hey,
what about this for the chorus, we don't have to
sit down and go, hey, listen, man, I really you know,
I came up with at least forty percent of that.
Speaker 3 (43:49):
I'm trying to get to fifty five percent of this record.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
And that goes on with the Eagles. That happens with
every band. When you see now when a pop song
wins like best Record and thirty five people get up
from the audience to take credit for it. Yeah, and
just half the room gets up like that's ridiculous. It
was just these two and that way, like Andrew said,
if you weren't there, it's okay, it's still our song.
(44:13):
If I wrote the whole thing, start to finish and
you don't need any and I say not, I doesn't
need anything. Just do it. That's my input, Just do
it fifty to fifty.
Speaker 2 (44:22):
What about the other the other group members.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
So that if George wrote a song, they helped him
and they let it just beat George.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
And that I think is the case also with Octopus's Guarden.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
With Ringo, it was Ringo's like, that's really nice, but
they wouldn't give him a lot of real estate. But
if you know, George got two songs on an album,
and if you had more songs. George got two songs,
you know, and he will save those for another time.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Oh, that's why he ended up with like thirty songs. Yeah,
on the side that he wanted.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
You had your two songs, George, but he had the
episode these two songs something and you know, and here
comes the Sun. George just gets of the credit.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
He wrote here comes the Sun.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yes, that's why.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (45:08):
That's also one of the revelations of this documentary that
that can refer to. In the first segment was John
was kind of talking to Paul that this Lenna McCartney
arrangement is maybe not working out anymore, and that if
we do another Beatles album, I'll get three songs. You
(45:30):
get three songs, George gets three songs, and if Ringo
wants three songs, Ringo gets three songs. Otherwise we'll each
take one more.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
After this album, they actually had a meeting and Ringo
wasn't there, so they recorded it and the recording came
out and John said on the next album, which was amazing,
that he said on the like that he intended at
that moment.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
Because everyone thought that he broke up the band.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
And he did. But he said on the next album,
George gets four. He told he just said to Paul,
George gets four songs because these two was so good
and said, yeah, okay, And of course there wasn't another album.
But it's interesting that it.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
Took me right after that.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
It took to the last the last day for them
to realize, you know, George is a real contributor.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
It's kind of sad. Yeah, yeah, wow, I need to
talk to Paul.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
Yeah. You know when when George Harrison's album came out
a double you know, triple album, yeah, with all his songs. Yes,
And they asked the day came out, Young Winner from
Rolling Stone asked, was interviewing John Lennon, said, did you
hear George's new album? And they said, yeah, yeah, I
sent it to me. What did you think? He said,
It's good? Does go on a bit though, doesn't yeh?
(46:42):
Did you really have to add that? Did you have
to say, you know, what do you think about diamonds
and the thing? No, it's good. She's got that same
haircut for forty years. But you know it's like, did
I have to throw one dig in? Yeah? Like you didn't.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
So now I feel like I'm more intrigued in the gossip.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
Andrew knows me, but I had a feeling that maybe
we should have recorded some of this and then had
you listen to the album.
Speaker 1 (47:07):
Interesting. Hey, I hate to say this, but I need
to stop because I have to grab something and go
on the air. Can we do a part two or
do you want to finish this? I would love to.
We could do it.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
Tomorrow and doing a part two. That's a pretty good idea.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Actually, can we do that?
Speaker 2 (47:19):
Perfect?
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Could do that?
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Yeah, okay, awesome, amazing.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
All right? Part two coming up. Ken Dash has Beatles
Revolution with me producer Andrew and Diamond who works with
Elvis Duran in the morning, and she doesn't know classic
(47:47):
rock at all. She's heard of the Beatles, but it's
interesting to hear someone who has never heard it, who
is not used to just listening to music, but music
is something to dance to, to move to. But getting
someone's take on Beatles music who's not only never heard
it before, but it's not accustomed to listening to music
for what the words mean, for what they say, for
(48:08):
what the story is, having no sense of musicality or
playing an instrument. She grew up in a world where
nobody plays an instrument, it's just all sampled and produced,
so I love hearing her take of what she likes
what she doesn't like. It's like eating food that you
have never ever tasted or seen before. It's fascinating having
(48:28):
her explain it to me from her experience, because there's
no right or wrong. You know you love music or
you don't. But just as I learn more about classical
music and jazz and made me appreciate even more as
I learned more about the form, I hope that journey
continues for her to the world of classic rock. And
we didn't even finish going through the whole Abbey Road
(48:48):
album with her, so I'm really looking forward to doing
part two with Diamond and Andrew and me Ken Dashall's
Beatles Revolution, introducing a new to the world of the
Beatles peace and love
Speaker 3 (49:03):
Methods