THE BEATLES NEVER REALLY

BROKE UP

By Steve Ludwig

In my last few blogs I commemorated the lives and words of John Lennon and George Harrison, on the anniversaries of their sad passings.

And as I sit down to write my newest blog, I once again find myself in a Fab Four frame of mind.

In 1970, when the movie Let It Be came out, I vividly remember the marquee of the Fairview Cinema here in New Jersey asking the question, under the movie's title, "Their last together??" (with TWO question marks.) It was a big question for us Beatles fans, although I never thought my four friends would ever split.

Oh sure, they were arguing more (at least that's what I would read), but they'd find a way to still make albums. The brilliant Abbey Road was released before Let It Be, but recorded after it, as Let It Be's songs were held back and released after Abbey Road. So I figured if the Fabs were in such a contentious mood during Let It Be, yet were able to work through that and, afterwards, produce as magnificent an achievement as Abbey Road, there's no way they couldn't continue on forever.

But Let It Be was it... 

As each of the Beatles released solo LP's, and in the process pretty much denying any chance of a reunion, I thought, They MUST still be thinking of each other. They can't hate each other THAT much!

And sure enough, in their solo work, John Paul, George, and Ringo made references to each other throughout. OK, so early on, there weren't many friendly references, but I used to feel that, regardless of the negativity, at least they didn't forget about each other completely!

In his first solo album, McCartney, released in April 1970, Paul included a question-and-answer sheet in which he asked and answered all his own questions. He said he didn't foresee the Beatles ever working together again, and he certainly didn't see a Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership in the future. Wow, this was getting serious. The album cover showed how much distance there was among the Beatles. Near the end of the group's existence, life was definitely not a bowl of cherries.

            

November 27 of the same year saw the release of George's three-album masterpiece, All Things Must Pass. Comprised of many Harrisongs that George had been stockpiling during his time with the Beatles (he had no choice!), All Things Must Pass offered George's take on the last months of un-Fabness. "Wah-Wah" was not only the type of guitar pedal sometimes used by the Beatles' lead guitarist, it's also slang for headaches...and George didn't need anymore of those. While acknowledging his affection for his years with his bandmates, George realized enough was enough:

                                               You've given me a wah-wah
                                               And I'm thinking of you
                                               And all the things that we used to do...

                                               You made me such a big star
                                               Being there at the right time
                                               Cheaper than a dime

                                               I don't need no wah-wahs...
                                                                               -"Wah-Wah"


                                                Isn't it a pity, now isn't it a shame
                                                How we break each other's hearts
                                               And cause each other pain
                                                                               -"Isn't It a Pity"

In this corner at a combined weight of 450 pounds, John, George, and Ringo (carry that weight, boy). 
Their opponent, weighing in at approximately 165 pounds, the Big Mac.
 Paul wanted his in-law, John Eastman, to be the group's business manager, while JG&R opted for Allen Klein. "Run of the Mill" seemed directed only at Paul:

                                               As the days stand up on end
                                               You've got me wondering 
                                               How I lost your friendship
                                               But I see it in your eyes

                                            
Two weeks after All Things Must Pass, John released his brilliant Plastic Ono Band album. Two songs on the LP made reference to the Beatles; "I Found Out" targeted George and Paul:

                                              Old Hare Krishna got nothing on you
                                              Just keep you crazy with nothing to do
                                              Keep you occupied with pie in the sky
                                                                            
                                              I seen religion from Jesus to Paul...
                                              Don't let them fool you...

And in "God," John makes it clear that...

                                              I don't believe in Beatles...

                                             The dream is over, what can I say?

                                             I was the Walrus, but now I'm John...

                                            

It took the Everyman of the group, the one with the least musical talent but surely the most sense, to rise above all the squabbles. Ringo released his single, "It Don't Come Easy," in April 1971. It went to Number One, so obviously, plenty of people bought the record. I wonder how many bothered to turn it over and listen to the flipside, "Early 1970."

 Because it's this song (whose title refers to when the Beatles officially announced their breakup) which shows that at least one of the Fab Four still felt love for the other three. Ringo sings a verse to each Beatle, offering his opinion about which will still come out and play with him. First, Paul:

                                               Lives on a farm, got plenty of charm, beep beep
                                               Got no cows but he sure got a whole lotta sheep
                                               A brand new wife and a family
                                               And when he comes to town 
                                               I wonder if he'll play with me

Ringo had drummed on John's Plastic Ono Band album, so he knew John would come out to play:

                                              Laying in bed watching TV, Cookie!
                                             With his mama by his side, she's Japanese
                                             They screamed and they cried, now they're free
                                             And when he comes to town
                                             I know he's gonna play with me

As would George:

                                             He's a long-haired cross-legged guitar-picker, um hmm
                                             With his long-legged lady in the garden picking daisies
                                             For his soup
                                             A forty-acre house he doesn't see
                                            'Cause he's always in town playing for you with me

So Ringo's sure about John and George, but Paul remains a mystery. Not to worry, because as far as Ringo's concerned,
                                          When I go to town I wanna see all three.

I suppose the closer you are, the more a breakup hurts. I'm not going out on a limb here when I say that John and Paul were extremely close; they were extremely hurt, as well.
They each released albums in 1971, and Paul took the first swing in May with his Ram album.
The cover showed Paul's now-bucolic life, posing with one of those "whole lotta sheep" that Ringo sang about (OK, in this case, a ram):

But it was the back cover that featured a picture which pretty much revealed Paul's feeling about  what Beatle John (and maybe Beatles George and Ringo as well?) was doing to him:

 Yup, it's one beetle "beetling" another... 
And, hey, you kids, if that's not proof enough why downloading songs ain't as good as buying an actual album with the cover art and all, well then I don't what is!

 I hadn't even taken the record out of the sleeve and popped it on the turntable, and already there's trouble!
So let me put the album on my record player. Maybe Paul will make nice in the grooves...                          Side One, Song One: "Too Many People":

                                               Too many people preaching practices
                                               Don't let them tell you what you wanna do...
                                              This is crazy and, baby, it's not like me

Uh oh...Mom, Paul's starting in with John again...

                                               That was your first mistake
                                               You took your lucky break 
                                               And broke it in two
                                               Now what can be done for you?

It took John less than four months to put up his Fab dukes and swing back. The Imagine album contained a postcard with Brother John also posing with a farm animal:

Mom, John just called Paulie a swine!

Here we go again, didn't even get to put the album on yet. Let's see, here, Side One, Song One.
"Imagine." Wow, a beautiful song; destined to be a classic! John's singing about world peace, Utopia, loving one another. Finally, some peace between the boys.
Side One, Song Two..."Crippled Inside." Ha ha, funny title, that one. Let's give it a listen:

                                           You can shine your shoes and wear a suit
                                           You can comb your hair and look quite cute

Hmmm...Now which Beatle was the "cute one?"...  Oh no! 

                                           You can hide your face behind a smile
                                           One thing you can't hide 
                                           Is when you're crippled inside

Should I dare listen to "How Do You Sleep?"

                                           So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise
                                           You better see right through that mother's eyes
                                           Those freaks was right when they said you was dead
                                           The one mistake you made was in your head

                                            How do you sleep?
                                            How do you sleep at night?

                                            The only thing you done was Yesterday
                                            And since you're gone you're just Another Day

                                            How do you sleep?
                                            How do you sleep at night?

To add insult to injury, George played slide guitar on the track.
It's been documented that Ringo was in the studio while the song was being recorded, but refused to play on it because it was mean-spirited. At one point when John was singing some especially hurtful lyrics, an upset Ringo said in a loud voice, "All right, that's enough, John!"

[By the way, am I the only one freaked out by the fact that Jesse McCartney (no relation to Paul) recorded a completely different song titled, "How Do You Sleep"? Instant karma's gonna get somebody!]

So will these solo Beatles ever say something nice about each other in song?

You betcha they will! And in my next blog, we'll read some of the most beautiful, and at times, most heart-wrenching lyrics ever written to each other by John, Paul, George, and Ringo.


FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: www.Twitter.com/LudGuy

Like pop culture? Then you might enjoy listening to my radio show! It's called STEVE LUDWIG'S CLASSIC POP CULTURE at www.PlanetLudwig.com. 

IF YOU ENJOYED READING MY BLOG, WOULD YOU CONSIDER BUYING MY BOOK? IT'S CALLED See You In CCU - A Lighthearted Tale of My Open-Heart Surgery. IT TELLS WHAT AN OPEN-HEART PATIENT CAN EXPECT BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE PROCEDURE. I BET IT MIGHT MAKE YOU SMILE!
YOU CAN BUY IT AT MY WEBSITE:
            www.PlanetLudwig.com

MY BROTHER TOM'S LATEST BLOG HAS JUST BEEN POSTED. ON THIS ONE, HE AND HIS BUDDY SINCE SECOND GRADE OPINE ON GUN CONTROL.
CHECK IT OUT AT www.SecondGradeMinds.Wordpress.com.


Thanks to those of you who've contributed to the 10,000+ page views of my blogs.
Good health to you all!  Steve Ludwig




                                           

                                               
                                               

                                                     

  

GEORGE HARRISON - The Art Of Dying

Goodbye, George

By Steve Ludwig

"Let death come at any time. I am ready. My only request is that you sing the glories of God and never stop singing..."

                                                                                   -George on his deathbed

The headline in the New York Daily News after George Harrison died said so much more in one word - George - than it could have in an entire paragraph. It didn't read George Harrison or Harrison or Musician or even Beatle. Nothing else was necessary because George said it all. 

We were all on a first-name basis with each of the Beatles (we still are), because they were our friends; for most of the world, the friends we never met (although I personally was lucky enough to be in a group that was shushed by George. See my April 1, 2012 blog).

Brian Wilson wasn't a personal friend of George's, but he pretty much expressed all our feelings: "I am horribly saddened by the death of George Harrison. Just like everybody else in the world, I have always considered all the Beatles to be my friends."

Say John, Paul, George, and Ringo and nothing else is necessary. More than a few of my eighth-grade students of today know their names, and those that don't WILL know them by year's end, I promise.

It's really one word: JOHNPAULGEORGEANDRINGO. And on November 29, 2001, another syllable of that word was taken from us. We lost the first on December 8 in 1980.

And so many nice things were said by so many people after George's death. He must have been a great friend to have had. 

Ringo said, "We will miss George for his sense of love, his sense of music, and his sense of laughter... George loved me and I loved him."

A short time later, Ringo expressed his feelings for his buddy the best way he knew how -- through his music. On his Ringo Rama album, Ringo recorded a song for George called "Never Without You." In it, he references George's songs:

Every part of you was in your song

Now we will carry on...Never without you

Within you, without you

Here comes the sun is about you. 

[Search YouTube for"Never Without You Ringo Starr" to watch the video.]

But what really tugs at the heartstrings is this one minute snippet of an interview with Ringo about visiting George in Switzerland while George received cancer treatment:

[YouTube search: "Ringo Cries for George Harrison."]

"I'm devastated and very, very sad," was Paul's reaction. "We knew he'd been ill for a long time. He was a lovely guy and a very brave man and he had a wonderful sense of humor. He is really just my baby brother."

Here's a four-minute YouTube video of Paul outside his home talking to reporters about George's death:

[Search "Paul McCartney's Reaction to George Harrison's Death."]

Paul has also made George's "Something" a part of his concert set list. For the first part of the song, he accompanies himself on a ukulele that George had given to him. Here's a super YouTube video of Paul in concert singing "Something" in a concert in Liverpool, with Olivia Harrison and Yoko in attendance:

[Search: "Paul McCartney Something Live at Anfield, Liverpool"]

Speaking of Yoko (a person with whom George had a few differences of opinion), here's her kind tribute to George: 

"George has given so much to us in his lifetime and continues to do so even after his passing, with his music, his wit, and his wisdom. Thank you, George, it was grand knowing you."

A universal opinion of those who knew George is that he had a tremendous sense of humor. He loved to laugh, his humor could be subtle, and at other times, George could be downright silly.

He was a big fan of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and he had so loved the controversial Monty Python and the Holy Grail, that when the Pythons were having trouble financing their follow-up movie, Life of Brian, George started a company called Handmade Films for the sole purpose of financing Life of Brian. He figured it was the only way for him to get to see the movie. Python's Eric Idle later said it was "the most expensive movie ticket in cinema history."

 And what about that famous Harrison wit? Well, in doing some research for this blog, I came across a quote of George's that gives us a pretty good taste:

"I'm a tidy sort of bloke. I don't like chaos. I keep records in the record rack, tea in the tea caddy,and pot in the pot box."

George's first wife, Patti Boyd, and George's friend Eric Clapton had an unconventional relationship with George. Patti left George for Eric and later regretted it. (She and Clapton later divorced.) In 1976, two years after he and Patti had split, George sent Eric and Patti a note letting them know all was forgiven. George and Eric remained close friends, in spite of the circumstances, to the end.

Said Patti, "I burst into tears when I heard he had died. I couldn't bear the thought of a world without George."

Keith Richards has said in more than one interview that he always felt a special closeness to George because his role in the Rolling Stones was similar to that of George's in the Fabs. On his website, Keith said, "George was a great mate of mine. He was a gentle soul. Another one sorely missed. I guess the good die young."

Bob Dylan, a  major influence of George's and a fellow Traveling Wilbury: "George was a giant, a great, great soul, with all of the humanity, all of the wit and humor, the wisdom, the spirituality, the common sense of a man, and compassion for people. The world is a profoundly emptier place without him."

The two other surviving Wilburys, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty (the late, great Roy Orbison passed away in 1988), had these thoughts after George's passing:

   Jeff Lynne: "You always knew where you stood with George, he was totally honest. I feel blessed to have been so close to him. Some of the happiest days of my life were spent in the studio with George."

I was lucky enough to come across this three-minute YouTube video of Jeff and George playing banjos together. In the opening part, Jeff tells about the first time he met George; the real payoff is the George and Jeff banjo section.

[YouTube: "Jeff Lynne & George Harrison Play Banjos" (A must-see!)]

In 2005, four years after George's death, Tom Petty still grieved. "George devastated me. I didn't want George to die. It so ripped my heart out that I still can't think about it."

You must watch the Concert for George. It was staged one year to the day after George's passing.

Sharing the stage were Paul, Ringo, Eric, Jeff, Tom, Billy Preston, Dhani Harrison, Anoushka Shankar, and others. 

Anoushka's father, Ravi Shaknar, was George's sitar mentor and very close friend. Last year, Ravi reminisced about his final times with George: "We always had a very cheerful time, in the sense that we generally didn't want to talk. He was very ill at that time. He used to come often, very privately - no one knew at the time - and stay for a week to ten days at my home."

As most music fans of a particular era know, Ravi asked for George's help in raising global awareness to the devastation in Bangla Desh. The Bangla Desh concerts took place in 1971. 

Ravi: "Thanks to George it was such a wonderful event, first of its kind."

And the people of Bangla Desh revered George for the rest of his life.

Bangla Desh President Budruddoza Chowdhury spoke for his fellow countrymen after George died: "The people of Bangla Desh consider George Harrison their beloved man, who felt for them in 1971 during their days of agony and distress."

Added Bangla Desh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, "George Harrison will be remembered forever by the people of Bangla Desh."

Years later, Bob Geldof organized the first Live Aid concerts. He asked George for advice. Geldof's remembrance of George: "George did it very well and with great grace and dignity. George never let anyone down. He was never disappointing. That's pretty amazing."

Prime Minister Tony Blair: "He wasn't just a great musician, an artist, but did a lot of work for charity as well. He'll be greatly missed around the world." 

Beatles producer George Martin: "He cared deeply for those he loved. Now I believe, as he did, that he has entered a higher state. God give him peace."

As George Martin alluded to, George was a man of extreme faith. His album Living in the Material World explored the duplicity he often wrestled with in living a holy life within a material world.

His wife, Olivia, and son, Dhani, put it best when they released this statement about their beloved George:

"He gave his life to God a long time ago. He wasn't trying to hang on to anything. He was fine with it. He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, and at peace, surrounded by family and friends. He often said, 'Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait...and love one another.'"

**********************************************************

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER:  @ludguy.

Hey, guys and girls, check out my radio show, STEVE LUDWIG'S CLASSIC POP CULTURE at www.PlanetLudwig.com. 

IF YOU ENJOYED READING MY BLOG, PERHAPS YOU'D ALSO ENJOY MY FIRST BOOK, SEE YOU IN CCU: A LIGHTHEARTED TALE OF MY OPEN-HEART SURGERY.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IT, READ SOME REVIEWS, AND PURCHASE IT FOR HALF-PRICE, VISIT MY WEBSITE: CCUBOOK.COM.

AND, HEY, MY BROTHER TOM AND HIS FRIEND SINCE SECOND GRADE HAVE RECENTLY POSTED THEIR NEW BLOG AT SecondGradeMinds.wordpress.com. IT'S ALWAYS A COOL READ!

Thanks for the nearly 10,000 page views of my blogs...

Steve