January 3, 2025 • 30 mins
Why Were The Beatles Considered Geniuses?
Discover why The Beatles are celebrated as musical geniuses in this fascinating analysis of their iconic song Love Me Do. By comparing its structure, innovation, and cultural impact with the works of classical legends like Mozart and Beethoven
#beatles #thebeatles #mozart #beethoven #music
To view this on my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnrHJjC3A5g
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:28 Analysis of Love Me Do
4:55 Beatles Audition at Abbey Road
8:23 Mozart & Beethoven
10:33 Definition of Genius
12:30 Love Me Do and Please Please Me
14:15 Beatles Chart Positions 1962-63
16:57 Watering Down The Meaning of the Word Genius
18:21 Mozart and Beethoven Continued
21:27 It’s Hard to Say The Beatles Were Geniuses
25:05 Summary
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there everybody.
Pt Pop here on A MindRevolution where I lead you out
of the rabbit hole, one grain oftruth at a time.
Thanks for tuning in today.
And today I'm going to dissectthe world of art, music and
culture with a hot topic whyWere the Beatles Considered to
be Geniuses?
Stay tuned.
(00:22):
Would you like fries with that?
Would you like fries with that?
Stay tuned, beatle Maniac.
(00:42):
And the topic leads me to askthe question how do we define
genius and how do we get to thepoint where songs like Love Me
Do, one of the Beatles' simplestsongs, is considered genius
alongside Mozart and Beethoven?
Now, I know the two styles ofmusic are completely and
(01:03):
entirely different, but the tiesthat bind those artists is the
word genius.
So let's take a closer look atLove Me Do and ask the crucial
question how did a song sosimple and saccharine, sweet
cast the ear of legendary EMIproducer George Martin?
(01:24):
Simple and saccharine, sweetcast the ear of legendary EMI
producer George Martin.
Now let's start off.
If you're not familiar with thesong, I can't play too much of
it.
I'll play it on my guitar,Otherwise I'll get a.
The song is just a very simplesong.
(01:45):
It's got three chords in it andit goes something like this
Love, love me, do.
Even though I love you, I'llalways be true.
So, please, please, love me do.
(02:05):
All right.
So there you have it.
Well, let's take a closer lookat the song now.
Love Me Do.
This is a simple song.
It started it all for theBeatles.
Structurally it's incrediblybasic Just one verse and a
chorus.
I mean, this is what I loveabout the song Love, love me.
(02:28):
Do you know I love you?
This is the first verse.
Love, love me.
Do you know I love you, I'llalways be true.
So, please, love me, do.
Now the second verse.
The second verse I just love.
This is the best part of thesong, the second verse.
It goes like this love, love me.
(02:50):
Do you know I love you, I'llalways be true.
So, please, love me do.
Whoa, love me do.
Isn't that great.
I love the second verse.
And then it breaks off into abridge Someone to love somebody
(03:10):
new, someone to love someonelike you.
And then the third verse isgenius.
The third verse is pure geniusLove, love me.
Do you know I love you, I'llalways be true.
So, please, love me do.
(03:30):
Whoa, love me do.
And it's just.
Oh, I forgot.
The fourth verse is even betterthan the second and the third
Fourth verse is love, love me.
Do you know I love you?
I'll always be true.
So please, love me do, whoa,love me do.
(03:57):
And structurally this is anincredibly basic song.
Just one verse repeatedthroughout the song and a chorus
or a bridge, whatever you wantto call it.
It's repeated over and over andover and musically it's built
around three simple chords a, g,c and a, d.
The melody catchy butrepetitive in the lyrics love me
(04:17):
, do you know I love you.
It doesn't exactly screenpoetic brilliance.
Now if you go to their days.
Their first time they came intoEMI Studios in London to
audition for EMI.
Their audition took place onWednesday June 6, 1962 in Studio
(04:38):
2 in EMI Studios in Abbey RoadStudios.
Producer George Martin, ronRichards, engineer Norman Smith
and the session.
I'm reading this from BeatlesBible and this is titled
Recording Besame Mucho Love MeDo, ps, I Love you.
(04:58):
Ask Me why the Beatles' firstAbbey Road recording session.
And it says here the sessiontook place in Studio 2 from 7 to
10 pm.
Three hours to record one, two,three, four songs.
Four hours is an hour per songFrom seven well, no, it's from 7
(05:23):
to 10, that's three hours.
So that's four songs, so maybe40 minutes per song.
The Beatles first ran through anumber of songs and then
recorded 4, so I guess they dida brief run through, which is
fairly typical, and then theyrecorded 4, so the precise
number of takes are unknown, butthey were taped in the
(05:43):
following order Besame Mucho,which is not their song, it's
somebody else's song.
Love Me Do, which is their song, ps I Love you.
And Ask Me why.
Now the Beatles didn't make avery good impression.
Now this is a quote from NormanSmith.
Norman Smith was the engineeron hand that day.
He says the Beatles didn't makevery good impression, apart
(06:05):
from visually.
We heard nothing of John andPaul's songwriting ability.
They had tiny little boxamplifiers and speakers which
didn't create much of a sound atsource.
Of course every sound engineerwants some kind of sound at
source that he can thenembellish and improve upon, but
I got nothing out of the Beatlesequipment except for a loud
(06:26):
noise, hum, and goodness knowswhat.
Halls was about the worst Inthose days.
We had echo chambers to add onto reverberation.
I can't say reverberation.
I can't say reverberation.
(06:46):
And I had to raid Studio 2 echochamber in order to fix him up
with a second so that we couldget something done on tape.
So Paul's bass amp was suchgarbage that they couldn't even
use it.
They had to rig somethingtogether from an amp speaker.
So they ripped out of areverberation chamber.
(07:06):
And Norman goes on to say thatPaul's amp wasn't the only
problem during the session.
He says we actually had to tiestring around John Lennon's
guitar amplifier to stop it fromrattling.
There were also problems withPete Best's drums his cymbals, I
believe but we eventually goteverything sorted out and
(07:28):
finally we started to record.
They recorded the onlyrecordings of Bessie Milmucho on
Love Me, do Survive.
Today the other two songs don'texist.
After the session the otherrecordings were destroyed, it
says here, after it was decidedthat nothing from the session
could be commercially released.
(07:49):
I beg to ask you why this dulland mundane song caught the ear
of Mr George Martin.
So Love Me Do becomes theirfirst hit.
It goes to number 17 on thecharts in the United Kingdom and
it really is fascinating tothink such a simplistic song
launched a band that would go toredefine popular music, which
(08:13):
begs me to ask the question whatdo we really consider good
music anymore.
And what is genius?
I mean, if you compare Love MeDo to the genius of Mozart and
Beethoven, the only thing theyhave in comparison is somebody,
somewhere to decide to call thedifferent entities geniuses.
Mozart's music is complex,dynamic.
(08:34):
The opening movement of any ofhis songs features multiple
melodic themes, harmonic layersand a clear sense of development
.
And Beethoven I mean Beethovenis a guy who composed some of
his best work when he waspractically deaf and he built an
entire symphony around so manydifferent themes.
(08:57):
So what I'm getting at is, youknow, there's the watering down
of the word genius, and when wecall love-me-do genius, are we
watering down the meaning of theword?
I mean, mozart and Beethovenweren't just creating songs,
(09:17):
they were transforming music.
Their works are studiedcenturies later because of their
complexity, innovation andemotional depth.
Love-me-do it's a nice pop tune,but it's not revolutionary.
It's the music equivalent of adoodle compared to Michelangelo
fresco.
It's really nothing.
This is a song.
(09:37):
In my opinion, as a one-timerabid Beatles fan, that if this
song was shot up in the outerspace, every copy of it in the
world was destroyed and shot upin a space, I wouldn't miss it
for a second.
The world would be a betterplace without it.
In a space I wouldn't miss itfor a second.
The world would be a betterplace without it.
So the Beatles would go on towrite masterpieces like A Day in
(09:58):
Life, eleanor Rigby, but LoveMe Do isn't one of them.
It's a starting point, aglimpse, I guess, at their
potential, not a showcase ofgenius.
So why do we equate culturalimpact with musical genius?
Have we stretched thedefinition to fit simpler, more
accessible works?
I mean, consider this.
I mean a lot of the Beatlessongs are pretty.
(10:21):
They're junky.
Love Me Do, yellow Submarine.
To this day people will sitthere and say, oh, my God,
that's genius.
I grew up in this song.
Oh, it brings back such goodmemories.
But because it makes you feelgood, does that make a genius?
So let's start and askourselves what is the definition
of a genius?
(10:42):
Now, the standard definition ofa genius varies.
It depends on the context, butthe core idea centers around
extraordinarily highintellectual or creative ability
and the key definition, thebasic dictionary definition
Merriam-Webster dictionary it'sexceptional intellectual or
(11:03):
creative power or naturalability a person who exhibits
extraordinary skill or talent ina particular area.
In the Oxford EnglishDictionary, exceptional
intellectual or creative ability, a person regarded as having
exceptional creative orintellectual power.
They just keep saying the samething over and over again
(11:26):
Exceptional abilities,originality, impact, innate
talent.
They have born into them.
It's in their genetics High IQ,innate talent.
They've born into this in theirgenetics high IQ threshold.
Cultural evolution of the termhas changed over the years, but
the key question is genius aninherent trait or does it depend
(11:47):
on the impact of therecognition of one's work?
This is part of the ongoingdebate around the term.
So I have a very hard time withthis song.
Love me do.
This is a beatles song.
This is one of my leastfavorite beatles song and as
I've gotten older and I've heardall their songs a million times
(12:09):
over, I gotta sit back and saywait a minute.
Some DMI Records, the biggestrecord label in all of England,
said yeah, yeah, boys, boys,bring that song.
Love Me, do it again.
I think I like that one.
Well, make that your first hit.
And it's a dull and insipid song.
And what makes even less senseis how do they go from love love
(12:33):
may do.
You know I love you, so pleaselove to.
Last night I said these wordsto my girl.
You know you never even try,girl.
It's a completely differentstyle of songwriting.
(12:56):
It's completely differentwording.
It's completely differentphrasing.
It's completely differentrhyming.
It's completely different tempo.
It's completely different style.
How'd they go from thisplodding along basic elementary
song to boom?
It just doesn't make any sense.
(13:20):
Now I'm leaving this up in theair here because I just don't
believe the official Beatlesnarrative.
I mean, you can't begin to tellme that they walked into EMI
Studios and wasted George Martintime with Ask Me why Bessie Me
Mucho and Like Dreamers Do andLove Me Do.
Have you ever heard LikeDreamers Do?
It's terrible.
(13:40):
This is a terrible song that isnothing better than some of the
early stuff that I wrote.
I saw a girl in my dreams andso it seems that I will love her
.
This is how bizarre it getswith the Beatles.
Okay, they write this insipidlittle song Love Me Do with one
(14:02):
verse and one chorus or onebridge.
That's all it is, and they justrepeat it over and over and
over again.
And there's a harmonic in it.
All right, okay, it's got acatchy melody and some nice
harmony.
That went to number 17 inOctober of 1962.
(14:22):
And they only allegedly hadonly had written a few songs.
Then, all of a sudden, october,november, december, january, by
January 23rd they had a numberone hit with Please Please Me.
Now I think this might havebeen well.
This has officially peaked atnumber two, but I don't know if
(14:44):
these are US charts.
I think in the UK it peaked atnumber one.
But just think of that.
They went from 17 to 2 or to 1within just a matter of weeks.
And then in the spring of 63,they had their first.
I don't know if this chart isfrom officialchartscom, but
(15:09):
between October 62 and April of1963, october, november,
december, january, february,march, april in just six months
they had two number one songsand one number 17, from Me to
you and Please Please Me.
What did they come up with?
Please Please Me?
(15:29):
This is a complete change, acomplete diversion from anything
that they had done before that,and you know a person that just
doesn't believe the officialstory.
But honestly, within a year,between October and December,
(15:53):
they had one, two, three, four,four number one hits.
It's insane.
All from Love Me Do.
But the basic message here todayis that song indicative of a
genius.
If you walked into a studiowith a song like that today,
(16:17):
let's say there never was aBeatles before that.
You walk into a studio todaywith a song like that, people
would laugh at you.
They would have laughed at youback then If you walked into an
American studio, if you walkedinto Capitol Records with Love
Love Me Do.
You know I love you.
I'll always be true.
So please love me do Cal wouldhave been like security,
(16:39):
security.
Could you get these fine younglads out of here?
Please Love Me Do.
It feels like a sketch.
It feels like a placeholder forsomething greater.
It just feels like a sketch.
It's just like the crap I makehere.
You know one verse and a chorus.
That's a hit.
Here's the thing.
When we call Love Me Do genius,we're watering down the meaning
(17:00):
of the word.
Mozart and Beethoven weren'tjust creating songs, they were
transforming music.
Their works are studiedcenturies later because of their
complexity, innovation andemotional depth.
Love Me Do it's a nice pop tune, but it's not revolutionary.
It's the musical equivalent ofa doodle compared to, you know,
(17:23):
to a Michelangelo fresco.
Let's take a look at Mozartcompared to the Beatles.
Now we know the breadth of theBeatles' work.
I think between LeonardMcCartney, harrison and Starr, I
think they wrote something like.
I think it was like 600 songsin the short seven years they
(17:45):
were together.
Eight years they were together.
But think of you know, thesewere two to three minute ditties
where they had a producertelling them how to do it, how
to put it together, how toarrange it.
They had studio musiciansworking with them.
They had Eric Clapton coming inon the White Album, working
with him.
They had Eric Clapton coming inon the White Album.
(18:06):
They were half-baked on pot andacid, booze uppers, anything
they could get their hands on tonumb themselves to the pain of
fame.
And some of the songs, likeRevolution no 9, oh, it's genius
, I'm sorry, that's a geniusthing.
Now.
Mozart was a prolific composer.
He lived.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart livedfrom 1756 until 1791.
(18:32):
He created over 600 works inhis short lifetime and he
covered nearly every genre inhis time.
His compositions include 41symphonies, 20 operas, 27 piano
concertos, chamber music,including string quartets,
(18:52):
quintets and sonatas, 18 pianosonatas, sacred music, like his
famous Requiem Masse, which isunfinished.
Ludwig von 1770 to 1827.
His output includes 722 works.
This is according to Beethoven,a work Wescheichnis or BWV
(19:19):
catalog.
Forgive me, those of you inGermany that are watching, I
don't speak any German too good.
He penned nine symphonies,including the iconic symphony no
9, ode to Joy not to beconfused with Revolution no 9,
ode to Crapola, five pianoconcertos and a violin concerto,
(19:42):
32 piano sonatas, including thefamous Moonlight Sonata and
Appassionata, 16 string quartets, other chamber works, one opera
, fidelio and sacred works likeMisa Solomenes Again, forgive
(20:04):
the mispronunciations.
Now, while both composers wereincredibly productive, mozart's
sheer output in a shorterlifespan is remarkable, while
Beethoven's work is notable forits depth, innovation and
complexity.
I mean, beethoven and Mozarthaven't walked earth for
hundreds of years and they'restill well known for what they
did, especially Beethoven, whocreated some of his best work
(20:28):
while he was practically deaf.
This man knew music so well hecould hear the music in his head
and he could write it out onthe staff and bars and knew what
it would sound like.
He didn't need to hear itcompletely.
I don't know how deaf he was.
I've heard he was completelydeaf and I've also heard he was
like three-quarters of the waythere.
(20:49):
Now compare that to Lennon andMcCartney, harrison and Starr.
I think they're throwing theword genius around a bit too
much.
Now.
I know it's kind of comparingapples and oranges, or it's at
(21:10):
the very least, comparing redapples to green apples Because
they were musicians.
But I don't even understand andkeep in mind, I'm not a
classically trained musician andI'm not a fan of classical
music music and I'm not a fan ofMozart or Beethoven or any
classical composer.
But I find it hard to reallysay the Beatles were geniuses
(21:41):
now that I'm older and I've beena musician and I've worked in
the business at my own littlemicroscopic end and I know how
hard it is to write a song.
And I know how hard it is towrite a song.
You just don't pick up theguitar after a long day of
gigging and sit down in yourmom's front parlor and knock off
songs like Please, please Me,and I Want to Hold your Hand and
she Loves you.
We just tossed them off.
You know, my father said, well,it should be, she Loves you.
(22:03):
Yes, yes, yes.
And I said, oh, no, mother, nofather.
Well, it should be, she lovesyou.
Yes, yes, yes.
And I said, oh, no, mother, nofather should be.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's cooler.
You know, that's what we saidto my father.
You know whoop-de-doo and theymake us like, well, we were just
sitting back drinking a beer,smoking some ciggies, and we
toss these off out in the garden.
You know, know, we're geniuseshere.
(22:23):
George Harrison he's lauded asbeing this really famous lead
guitar player but he reallydoesn't have any great guitar
licks.
Great guitar licks in some ofthe songs as solos.
The solo in A Hard Day's Night,I think.
It still gives me shivers whenI hear it.
But I found out all these yearslater that he's not playing it.
(22:46):
And if he is, they played itreally slow and then they sped
it up on the tape machinebecause he couldn't play it at
the right tempo, because hewasn't skilled enough to play it
.
So they've also got a pianoplaying the same notes in the
background.
You got a piano playing rightalong with it and they double
track it to give it a thickersound and a heavier sound make
(23:08):
it more exciting.
Well, george isn't even playingthat.
I don't think he's playing it.
I don't even know if he playedit and they sped it up.
But whatever it is, he couldn'tplay it.
He's having a horrible timeplaying it.
But he's a genius.
He's a genius guitarist thatcouldn't play lead guitar and
some of the lead guitar workI've heard him play in some of
the early stuff.
It's like it's like kind ofit's sloppy, it's not tight,
(23:33):
it's kind of like, and peopleare like, oh, that's the beauty
of it, it's so loose and hebends these notes and he's, you
know, it's like, okay, he's agenius, he's a genius, all right
.
I just don't understand.
They get these four guys.
For the first time in thehistory of mankind, in the
history of music, they somehowthe stars and the moon aligned
(23:59):
and the gods brought down fivegeniuses into Abbey Road 2,
number two studio, brought downfive geniuses into Abbey Road 2,
number two studio and had themcreate allegedly the greatest
pop music and love songs in thehistory of music and mankind.
Do you know?
That is just too coincidental,isn't it?
They're all geniuses, we'rejust geniuses.
I'm sorry.
(24:20):
John Lennon runs around beforehe's dying saying I was a
freaking genius.
You know I was a genius andnobody saw it.
I'm like, what do I have to doto seem a genius?
I'm a genius who walks aroundthinking they're a genius.
Well, how do you say it?
I'm a fucking genius.
You know, I was older thanStuart.
(24:40):
I was a genius.
No one could see it.
My teachers couldn't see it.
Old reese stewart, who was agenius?
No one could see it.
My teachers couldn't see it.
The audacity you know, the, theuh.
You have to be so wrapped up inyourself to think you're a
genius just because he coulddraw these crappy little
pictures and write thisjabberwocky gibberish and and
and I, I'm just beyond stunnedand and what I think has
(25:05):
happened.
And what I think happened isthey got these four guys in a
room and he said look, boys,you've got an interesting
charisma here.
And I think what we're going todo is we're going to write some
songs for you and we're goingto toss it off and make it sound
as if you wrote them all.
I don't know what happened.
I really don't know whathappened.
None of us know, but somehowGeorge Martin, george Harrison,
(25:30):
john Lennon, paul McCartney,ringo Starr were lauded as being
four geniuses that could do nowrong and everything they
touched turned to gold.
And even to this day, years andyears after their breakup as a
band, they're lauding this bandas being genius for everything
they do, everything they did.
The two remaining Beatles or itmight be the one remaining,
(25:55):
beatle and Billy.
They release a book.
Ringo releases a book ofphotography that he took back in
the 60s when they were on tour,and it's like oh it's genius.
It's a picture of fansscreaming at the limousine
window.
Oh it's genius, it's Ringo.
It must be genius.
Paul McCartney releases thebook of his paintings.
They're crap, they're completecrap.
(26:19):
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, pete,that's genius.
That's just Paul McCartney workand what he does is genius, you
know, and some of the GeorgeHarrison stuff that came out in
All Things Must Pass.
That album is being lauded asbeing one of the greatest albums
of all time.
And All Things Must Pass, thatsong, just it plods along All
(26:44):
things must pass, and it's justthe same chords up and down the
front E to like F sharp minorseven to something Away.
E to like F sharp minor 7 tosomething.
Oh, it's genius.
Sorry, sorry, pete, stop, thatis genius, I don't care what you
(27:05):
say.
And it goes on and on and on.
They keep repackaging this junk,repackaging it, repackaging it,
remastering it, remixing itover and over and over again.
I mean, how many differentversions do we need to hear?
How many times do we need tohear the mono version of Day
(27:25):
Tripper versus the stereoversion, versus the remastered
mono version, versus theremastered stereo version,
versus the individual tracksthat were released by some
schmuck with the software to doit.
I just don't get it anymore.
(27:45):
Why do we need this constantlybeing shoved on our throat, that
the genius of their bassplaying, the genius of their
drumming, the genius of theirsongwriting.
And I think we throw the wordgenius around like it's going
out of style.
We throw it around like it'syou know, hey, you know.
It's like if a guy takes a crapon a canvas and sticks a
(28:07):
Cheerio in his poop and hangs iton the wall, people are like,
oh my God, why didn't I think ofthat?
That's genius.
Poop on a canvas with Cheerio,right?
Oh my god, I never thought ofthat.
And it is that bad now in theart community.
You should see some of the crapthat's hanging on the gallery
walls around here in Clevelandor in any city.
But the point is, I guess theBeatles were geniuses, I guess
(28:31):
so.
I guess the Beatles weregeniuses, I mean I guess.
So.
I guess they had no help.
Nobody came to the studio andsaid, hey, why don't you try
drumming like this?
Or hey, let's bring thisdrummer in and have Ringo sit in
the corner.
They did it with Alan White anda few other people playing the
drums, allegedly just in thefirst couple recordings, because
Ringo wasn't a very gooddrummer and he's not.
(28:55):
I guess he's steady, I guess Idon't know, but he's not
competent enough to do complexfills.
And he'll say well, you know, Idon't do a lot of fills.
I don't think there's a needfor fills really, I just play
straight on.
That's all I do.
I'm a left handed drummer thatplays in a right-handed kit, so
you know, that's just what I do.
Come on, guys, I've seen guysin bar bands that would blow
(29:22):
Ringo Starr off the stage.
Ringo Starr is a genius becausehe's a Beatle.
John Lennon is a genius becausehe's a Beatle.
Same with Paul McCartney, thesame with George Harrison.
They were lauded as being, andmarketed as being, geniuses
because of who they are, and I'mtired of it.
(29:44):
So it's just.
This song Love Me Do drives mecrazy, and if they took every
copy of it in the world and shotit off into the sun and nobody
could ever hear it again, itwould be a better place as far
as I'm concerned.
All right, I'm PT Pop.
If you like this video, give methe thumbs up, laud me as being
a genius, subscribe, tell yourfriends about it, think about it
(30:07):
.
Are they really geniuses?
Hasta la vista, baby.
Would you like fries with that,would you like?
Hey there everybody.
Pt Pop here on A MindRevolution where I lead you out
of the rabbit hole, one grain oftruth at a time.
Thanks for tuning in today.
And today I'm going to dissectthe world of art, music and
culture with a hot topic whyWere the Beatles Considered to
be Geniuses?
Stay tuned.
(00:22):
Would you like fries with that?
Would you like fries with that?
Stay tuned, beatle Maniac.
(00:42):
And the topic leads me to askthe question how do we define
genius and how do we get to thepoint where songs like Love Me
Do, one of the Beatles' simplestsongs, is considered genius
alongside Mozart and Beethoven?
Now, I know the two styles ofmusic are completely and
(01:03):
entirely different, but the tiesthat bind those artists is the
word genius.
So let's take a closer look atLove Me Do and ask the crucial
question how did a song sosimple and saccharine, sweet
cast the ear of legendary EMIproducer George Martin?
(01:24):
Simple and saccharine, sweetcast the ear of legendary EMI
producer George Martin.
Now let's start off.
If you're not familiar with thesong, I can't play too much of
it.
I'll play it on my guitar,Otherwise I'll get a.
The song is just a very simplesong.
(01:45):
It's got three chords in it andit goes something like this
Love, love me, do.
Even though I love you, I'llalways be true.
So, please, please, love me do.
(02:05):
All right.
So there you have it.
Well, let's take a closer lookat the song now.
Love Me Do.
This is a simple song.
It started it all for theBeatles.
Structurally it's incrediblybasic Just one verse and a
chorus.
I mean, this is what I loveabout the song Love, love me.
(02:28):
Do you know I love you?
This is the first verse.
Love, love me.
Do you know I love you, I'llalways be true.
So, please, love me, do.
Now the second verse.
The second verse I just love.
This is the best part of thesong, the second verse.
It goes like this love, love me.
(02:50):
Do you know I love you, I'llalways be true.
So, please, love me do.
Whoa, love me do.
Isn't that great.
I love the second verse.
And then it breaks off into abridge Someone to love somebody
(03:10):
new, someone to love someonelike you.
And then the third verse isgenius.
The third verse is pure geniusLove, love me.
Do you know I love you, I'llalways be true.
So, please, love me do.
(03:30):
Whoa, love me do.
And it's just.
Oh, I forgot.
The fourth verse is even betterthan the second and the third
Fourth verse is love, love me.
Do you know I love you?
I'll always be true.
So please, love me do, whoa,love me do.
(03:57):
And structurally this is anincredibly basic song.
Just one verse repeatedthroughout the song and a chorus
or a bridge, whatever you wantto call it.
It's repeated over and over andover and musically it's built
around three simple chords a, g,c and a, d.
The melody catchy butrepetitive in the lyrics love me
(04:17):
, do you know I love you.
It doesn't exactly screenpoetic brilliance.
Now if you go to their days.
Their first time they came intoEMI Studios in London to
audition for EMI.
Their audition took place onWednesday June 6, 1962 in Studio
(04:38):
2 in EMI Studios in Abbey RoadStudios.
Producer George Martin, ronRichards, engineer Norman Smith
and the session.
I'm reading this from BeatlesBible and this is titled
Recording Besame Mucho Love MeDo, ps, I Love you.
(04:58):
Ask Me why the Beatles' firstAbbey Road recording session.
And it says here the sessiontook place in Studio 2 from 7 to
10 pm.
Three hours to record one, two,three, four songs.
Four hours is an hour per songFrom seven well, no, it's from 7
(05:23):
to 10, that's three hours.
So that's four songs, so maybe40 minutes per song.
The Beatles first ran through anumber of songs and then
recorded 4, so I guess they dida brief run through, which is
fairly typical, and then theyrecorded 4, so the precise
number of takes are unknown, butthey were taped in the
(05:43):
following order Besame Mucho,which is not their song, it's
somebody else's song.
Love Me Do, which is their song, ps I Love you.
And Ask Me why.
Now the Beatles didn't make avery good impression.
Now this is a quote from NormanSmith.
Norman Smith was the engineeron hand that day.
He says the Beatles didn't makevery good impression, apart
(06:05):
from visually.
We heard nothing of John andPaul's songwriting ability.
They had tiny little boxamplifiers and speakers which
didn't create much of a sound atsource.
Of course every sound engineerwants some kind of sound at
source that he can thenembellish and improve upon, but
I got nothing out of the Beatlesequipment except for a loud
(06:26):
noise, hum, and goodness knowswhat.
Halls was about the worst Inthose days.
We had echo chambers to add onto reverberation.
I can't say reverberation.
I can't say reverberation.
(06:46):
And I had to raid Studio 2 echochamber in order to fix him up
with a second so that we couldget something done on tape.
So Paul's bass amp was suchgarbage that they couldn't even
use it.
They had to rig somethingtogether from an amp speaker.
So they ripped out of areverberation chamber.
(07:06):
And Norman goes on to say thatPaul's amp wasn't the only
problem during the session.
He says we actually had to tiestring around John Lennon's
guitar amplifier to stop it fromrattling.
There were also problems withPete Best's drums his cymbals, I
believe but we eventually goteverything sorted out and
(07:28):
finally we started to record.
They recorded the onlyrecordings of Bessie Milmucho on
Love Me, do Survive.
Today the other two songs don'texist.
After the session the otherrecordings were destroyed, it
says here, after it was decidedthat nothing from the session
could be commercially released.
(07:49):
I beg to ask you why this dulland mundane song caught the ear
of Mr George Martin.
So Love Me Do becomes theirfirst hit.
It goes to number 17 on thecharts in the United Kingdom and
it really is fascinating tothink such a simplistic song
launched a band that would go toredefine popular music, which
(08:13):
begs me to ask the question whatdo we really consider good
music anymore.
And what is genius?
I mean, if you compare Love MeDo to the genius of Mozart and
Beethoven, the only thing theyhave in comparison is somebody,
somewhere to decide to call thedifferent entities geniuses.
Mozart's music is complex,dynamic.
(08:34):
The opening movement of any ofhis songs features multiple
melodic themes, harmonic layersand a clear sense of development
.
And Beethoven I mean Beethovenis a guy who composed some of
his best work when he waspractically deaf and he built an
entire symphony around so manydifferent themes.
(08:57):
So what I'm getting at is, youknow, there's the watering down
of the word genius, and when wecall love-me-do genius, are we
watering down the meaning of theword?
I mean, mozart and Beethovenweren't just creating songs,
(09:17):
they were transforming music.
Their works are studiedcenturies later because of their
complexity, innovation andemotional depth.
Love-me-do it's a nice pop tune,but it's not revolutionary.
It's the music equivalent of adoodle compared to Michelangelo
fresco.
It's really nothing.
This is a song.
(09:37):
In my opinion, as a one-timerabid Beatles fan, that if this
song was shot up in the outerspace, every copy of it in the
world was destroyed and shot upin a space, I wouldn't miss it
for a second.
The world would be a betterplace without it.
In a space I wouldn't miss itfor a second.
The world would be a betterplace without it.
So the Beatles would go on towrite masterpieces like A Day in
(09:58):
Life, eleanor Rigby, but LoveMe Do isn't one of them.
It's a starting point, aglimpse, I guess, at their
potential, not a showcase ofgenius.
So why do we equate culturalimpact with musical genius?
Have we stretched thedefinition to fit simpler, more
accessible works?
I mean, consider this.
I mean a lot of the Beatlessongs are pretty.
(10:21):
They're junky.
Love Me Do, yellow Submarine.
To this day people will sitthere and say, oh, my God,
that's genius.
I grew up in this song.
Oh, it brings back such goodmemories.
But because it makes you feelgood, does that make a genius?
So let's start and askourselves what is the definition
of a genius?
(10:42):
Now, the standard definition ofa genius varies.
It depends on the context, butthe core idea centers around
extraordinarily highintellectual or creative ability
and the key definition, thebasic dictionary definition
Merriam-Webster dictionary it'sexceptional intellectual or
(11:03):
creative power or naturalability a person who exhibits
extraordinary skill or talent ina particular area.
In the Oxford EnglishDictionary, exceptional
intellectual or creative ability, a person regarded as having
exceptional creative orintellectual power.
They just keep saying the samething over and over again
(11:26):
Exceptional abilities,originality, impact, innate
talent.
They have born into them.
It's in their genetics High IQ,innate talent.
They've born into this in theirgenetics high IQ threshold.
Cultural evolution of the termhas changed over the years, but
the key question is genius aninherent trait or does it depend
(11:47):
on the impact of therecognition of one's work?
This is part of the ongoingdebate around the term.
So I have a very hard time withthis song.
Love me do.
This is a beatles song.
This is one of my leastfavorite beatles song and as
I've gotten older and I've heardall their songs a million times
(12:09):
over, I gotta sit back and saywait a minute.
Some DMI Records, the biggestrecord label in all of England,
said yeah, yeah, boys, boys,bring that song.
Love Me, do it again.
I think I like that one.
Well, make that your first hit.
And it's a dull and insipid song.
And what makes even less senseis how do they go from love love
(12:33):
may do.
You know I love you, so pleaselove to.
Last night I said these wordsto my girl.
You know you never even try,girl.
It's a completely differentstyle of songwriting.
(12:56):
It's completely differentwording.
It's completely differentphrasing.
It's completely differentrhyming.
It's completely different tempo.
It's completely different style.
How'd they go from thisplodding along basic elementary
song to boom?
It just doesn't make any sense.
(13:20):
Now I'm leaving this up in theair here because I just don't
believe the official Beatlesnarrative.
I mean, you can't begin to tellme that they walked into EMI
Studios and wasted George Martintime with Ask Me why Bessie Me
Mucho and Like Dreamers Do andLove Me Do.
Have you ever heard LikeDreamers Do?
It's terrible.
(13:40):
This is a terrible song that isnothing better than some of the
early stuff that I wrote.
I saw a girl in my dreams andso it seems that I will love her
.
This is how bizarre it getswith the Beatles.
Okay, they write this insipidlittle song Love Me Do with one
(14:02):
verse and one chorus or onebridge.
That's all it is, and they justrepeat it over and over and
over again.
And there's a harmonic in it.
All right, okay, it's got acatchy melody and some nice
harmony.
That went to number 17 inOctober of 1962.
(14:22):
And they only allegedly hadonly had written a few songs.
Then, all of a sudden, october,november, december, january, by
January 23rd they had a numberone hit with Please Please Me.
Now I think this might havebeen well.
This has officially peaked atnumber two, but I don't know if
(14:44):
these are US charts.
I think in the UK it peaked atnumber one.
But just think of that.
They went from 17 to 2 or to 1within just a matter of weeks.
And then in the spring of 63,they had their first.
I don't know if this chart isfrom officialchartscom, but
(15:09):
between October 62 and April of1963, october, november,
december, january, february,march, april in just six months
they had two number one songsand one number 17, from Me to
you and Please Please Me.
What did they come up with?
Please Please Me?
(15:29):
This is a complete change, acomplete diversion from anything
that they had done before that,and you know a person that just
doesn't believe the officialstory.
But honestly, within a year,between October and December,
(15:53):
they had one, two, three, four,four number one hits.
It's insane.
All from Love Me Do.
But the basic message here todayis that song indicative of a
genius.
If you walked into a studiowith a song like that today,
(16:17):
let's say there never was aBeatles before that.
You walk into a studio todaywith a song like that, people
would laugh at you.
They would have laughed at youback then If you walked into an
American studio, if you walkedinto Capitol Records with Love
Love Me Do.
You know I love you.
I'll always be true.
So please love me do Cal wouldhave been like security,
(16:39):
security.
Could you get these fine younglads out of here?
Please Love Me Do.
It feels like a sketch.
It feels like a placeholder forsomething greater.
It just feels like a sketch.
It's just like the crap I makehere.
You know one verse and a chorus.
That's a hit.
Here's the thing.
When we call Love Me Do genius,we're watering down the meaning
(17:00):
of the word.
Mozart and Beethoven weren'tjust creating songs, they were
transforming music.
Their works are studiedcenturies later because of their
complexity, innovation andemotional depth.
Love Me Do it's a nice pop tune, but it's not revolutionary.
It's the musical equivalent ofa doodle compared to, you know,
(17:23):
to a Michelangelo fresco.
Let's take a look at Mozartcompared to the Beatles.
Now we know the breadth of theBeatles' work.
I think between LeonardMcCartney, harrison and Starr, I
think they wrote something like.
I think it was like 600 songsin the short seven years they
(17:45):
were together.
Eight years they were together.
But think of you know, thesewere two to three minute ditties
where they had a producertelling them how to do it, how
to put it together, how toarrange it.
They had studio musiciansworking with them.
They had Eric Clapton coming inon the White Album, working
with him.
They had Eric Clapton coming inon the White Album.
(18:06):
They were half-baked on pot andacid, booze uppers, anything
they could get their hands on tonumb themselves to the pain of
fame.
And some of the songs, likeRevolution no 9, oh, it's genius
, I'm sorry, that's a geniusthing.
Now.
Mozart was a prolific composer.
He lived.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart livedfrom 1756 until 1791.
(18:32):
He created over 600 works inhis short lifetime and he
covered nearly every genre inhis time.
His compositions include 41symphonies, 20 operas, 27 piano
concertos, chamber music,including string quartets,
(18:52):
quintets and sonatas, 18 pianosonatas, sacred music, like his
famous Requiem Masse, which isunfinished.
Ludwig von 1770 to 1827.
His output includes 722 works.
This is according to Beethoven,a work Wescheichnis or BWV
(19:19):
catalog.
Forgive me, those of you inGermany that are watching, I
don't speak any German too good.
He penned nine symphonies,including the iconic symphony no
9, ode to Joy not to beconfused with Revolution no 9,
ode to Crapola, five pianoconcertos and a violin concerto,
(19:42):
32 piano sonatas, including thefamous Moonlight Sonata and
Appassionata, 16 string quartets, other chamber works, one opera
, fidelio and sacred works likeMisa Solomenes Again, forgive
(20:04):
the mispronunciations.
Now, while both composers wereincredibly productive, mozart's
sheer output in a shorterlifespan is remarkable, while
Beethoven's work is notable forits depth, innovation and
complexity.
I mean, beethoven and Mozarthaven't walked earth for
hundreds of years and they'restill well known for what they
did, especially Beethoven, whocreated some of his best work
(20:28):
while he was practically deaf.
This man knew music so well hecould hear the music in his head
and he could write it out onthe staff and bars and knew what
it would sound like.
He didn't need to hear itcompletely.
I don't know how deaf he was.
I've heard he was completelydeaf and I've also heard he was
like three-quarters of the waythere.
(20:49):
Now compare that to Lennon andMcCartney, harrison and Starr.
I think they're throwing theword genius around a bit too
much.
Now.
I know it's kind of comparingapples and oranges, or it's at
(21:10):
the very least, comparing redapples to green apples Because
they were musicians.
But I don't even understand andkeep in mind, I'm not a
classically trained musician andI'm not a fan of classical
music music and I'm not a fan ofMozart or Beethoven or any
classical composer.
But I find it hard to reallysay the Beatles were geniuses
(21:41):
now that I'm older and I've beena musician and I've worked in
the business at my own littlemicroscopic end and I know how
hard it is to write a song.
And I know how hard it is towrite a song.
You just don't pick up theguitar after a long day of
gigging and sit down in yourmom's front parlor and knock off
songs like Please, please Me,and I Want to Hold your Hand and
she Loves you.
We just tossed them off.
You know, my father said, well,it should be, she Loves you.
(22:03):
Yes, yes, yes.
And I said, oh, no, mother, nofather.
Well, it should be, she lovesyou.
Yes, yes, yes.
And I said, oh, no, mother, nofather should be.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's cooler.
You know, that's what we saidto my father.
You know whoop-de-doo and theymake us like, well, we were just
sitting back drinking a beer,smoking some ciggies, and we
toss these off out in the garden.
You know, know, we're geniuseshere.
(22:23):
George Harrison he's lauded asbeing this really famous lead
guitar player but he reallydoesn't have any great guitar
licks.
Great guitar licks in some ofthe songs as solos.
The solo in A Hard Day's Night,I think.
It still gives me shivers whenI hear it.
But I found out all these yearslater that he's not playing it.
(22:46):
And if he is, they played itreally slow and then they sped
it up on the tape machinebecause he couldn't play it at
the right tempo, because hewasn't skilled enough to play it
.
So they've also got a pianoplaying the same notes in the
background.
You got a piano playing rightalong with it and they double
track it to give it a thickersound and a heavier sound make
(23:08):
it more exciting.
Well, george isn't even playingthat.
I don't think he's playing it.
I don't even know if he playedit and they sped it up.
But whatever it is, he couldn'tplay it.
He's having a horrible timeplaying it.
But he's a genius.
He's a genius guitarist thatcouldn't play lead guitar and
some of the lead guitar workI've heard him play in some of
the early stuff.
It's like it's like kind ofit's sloppy, it's not tight,
(23:33):
it's kind of like, and peopleare like, oh, that's the beauty
of it, it's so loose and hebends these notes and he's, you
know, it's like, okay, he's agenius, he's a genius, all right
.
I just don't understand.
They get these four guys.
For the first time in thehistory of mankind, in the
history of music, they somehowthe stars and the moon aligned
(23:59):
and the gods brought down fivegeniuses into Abbey Road 2,
number two studio, brought downfive geniuses into Abbey Road 2,
number two studio and had themcreate allegedly the greatest
pop music and love songs in thehistory of music and mankind.
Do you know?
That is just too coincidental,isn't it?
They're all geniuses, we'rejust geniuses.
I'm sorry.
(24:20):
John Lennon runs around beforehe's dying saying I was a
freaking genius.
You know I was a genius andnobody saw it.
I'm like, what do I have to doto seem a genius?
I'm a genius who walks aroundthinking they're a genius.
Well, how do you say it?
I'm a fucking genius.
You know, I was older thanStuart.
(24:40):
I was a genius.
No one could see it.
My teachers couldn't see it.
Old reese stewart, who was agenius?
No one could see it.
My teachers couldn't see it.
The audacity you know, the, theuh.
You have to be so wrapped up inyourself to think you're a
genius just because he coulddraw these crappy little
pictures and write thisjabberwocky gibberish and and
and I, I'm just beyond stunnedand and what I think has
(25:05):
happened.
And what I think happened isthey got these four guys in a
room and he said look, boys,you've got an interesting
charisma here.
And I think what we're going todo is we're going to write some
songs for you and we're goingto toss it off and make it sound
as if you wrote them all.
I don't know what happened.
I really don't know whathappened.
None of us know, but somehowGeorge Martin, george Harrison,
(25:30):
john Lennon, paul McCartney,ringo Starr were lauded as being
four geniuses that could do nowrong and everything they
touched turned to gold.
And even to this day, years andyears after their breakup as a
band, they're lauding this bandas being genius for everything
they do, everything they did.
The two remaining Beatles or itmight be the one remaining,
(25:55):
beatle and Billy.
They release a book.
Ringo releases a book ofphotography that he took back in
the 60s when they were on tour,and it's like oh it's genius.
It's a picture of fansscreaming at the limousine
window.
Oh it's genius, it's Ringo.
It must be genius.
Paul McCartney releases thebook of his paintings.
They're crap, they're completecrap.
(26:19):
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, pete,that's genius.
That's just Paul McCartney workand what he does is genius, you
know, and some of the GeorgeHarrison stuff that came out in
All Things Must Pass.
That album is being lauded asbeing one of the greatest albums
of all time.
And All Things Must Pass, thatsong, just it plods along All
(26:44):
things must pass, and it's justthe same chords up and down the
front E to like F sharp minorseven to something Away.
E to like F sharp minor 7 tosomething.
Oh, it's genius.
Sorry, sorry, pete, stop, thatis genius, I don't care what you
(27:05):
say.
And it goes on and on and on.
They keep repackaging this junk,repackaging it, repackaging it,
remastering it, remixing itover and over and over again.
I mean, how many differentversions do we need to hear?
How many times do we need tohear the mono version of Day
(27:25):
Tripper versus the stereoversion, versus the remastered
mono version, versus theremastered stereo version,
versus the individual tracksthat were released by some
schmuck with the software to doit.
I just don't get it anymore.
(27:45):
Why do we need this constantlybeing shoved on our throat, that
the genius of their bassplaying, the genius of their
drumming, the genius of theirsongwriting.
And I think we throw the wordgenius around like it's going
out of style.
We throw it around like it'syou know, hey, you know.
It's like if a guy takes a crapon a canvas and sticks a
(28:07):
Cheerio in his poop and hangs iton the wall, people are like,
oh my God, why didn't I think ofthat?
That's genius.
Poop on a canvas with Cheerio,right?
Oh my god, I never thought ofthat.
And it is that bad now in theart community.
You should see some of the crapthat's hanging on the gallery
walls around here in Clevelandor in any city.
But the point is, I guess theBeatles were geniuses, I guess
(28:31):
so.
I guess the Beatles weregeniuses, I mean I guess.
So.
I guess they had no help.
Nobody came to the studio andsaid, hey, why don't you try
drumming like this?
Or hey, let's bring thisdrummer in and have Ringo sit in
the corner.
They did it with Alan White anda few other people playing the
drums, allegedly just in thefirst couple recordings, because
Ringo wasn't a very gooddrummer and he's not.
(28:55):
I guess he's steady, I guess Idon't know, but he's not
competent enough to do complexfills.
And he'll say well, you know, Idon't do a lot of fills.
I don't think there's a needfor fills really, I just play
straight on.
That's all I do.
I'm a left handed drummer thatplays in a right-handed kit, so
you know, that's just what I do.
Come on, guys, I've seen guysin bar bands that would blow
(29:22):
Ringo Starr off the stage.
Ringo Starr is a genius becausehe's a Beatle.
John Lennon is a genius becausehe's a Beatle.
Same with Paul McCartney, thesame with George Harrison.
They were lauded as being, andmarketed as being, geniuses
because of who they are, and I'mtired of it.
(29:44):
So it's just.
This song Love Me Do drives mecrazy, and if they took every
copy of it in the world and shotit off into the sun and nobody
could ever hear it again, itwould be a better place as far
as I'm concerned.
All right, I'm PT Pop.
If you like this video, give methe thumbs up, laud me as being
a genius, subscribe, tell yourfriends about it, think about it
(30:07):
.
Are they really geniuses?
Hasta la vista, baby.
Would you like fries with that,would you like?
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