“… it wasn’t a happy time. It said(on the back of the sleeve) it was a ‘new-phase Beatles album’ and there was nothing further from the truth. That was the last Beatles album and everybody knew it.” Paul McCartney, November 1971 I thought it would be good to go out, the shitty version, because it…
Tag: John Lennon
The Phenomenon of Donovan: Part 1 – Introduction and Acoustic Troubadour.
“Bob Dylan is the poor man’s Donovan.” John Peel. “I’ll never forget hearing Donovan say “wanker” backstage at the Albert Hall about somebody. I mean, I was absolutely…I almost dropped to my knees…it was like being punched in the face. A terrible, upsetting shock.” John Peel. “If I can wend my way through the flowers…
Fear And Loathing Is Contagious. Or, I Was A Teenage Beowulf (n.b: I wasn’t).
“Can I see anothers woe, And not be in sorrow too. Can I see anothers grief, And not seek for kind relief.” – On Anothers Sorrow” William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience “Are you, uh, experienced?” Jimi Hendrix, Are You Experienced? “We are facing an existential crisis… and we should also…
Oh Jackie, I Want You Backie. Or, Farewell Scott Walker, The Captain Of The Love Boat.
My earliest memory of celebrity death is Elvis’. I was six and it was the summer holidays. My Dad was usually the one who was at home with me and, while I’d be bodding off and about with the kids who lived near me, I always came home for dinner. His culinary expertise was limited…
Finger Pointing Songs: part 4. Indie Sulkers. Or, The Ballad Of The Binned: The Razorcuts, Felt & The Stone Roses.
“I never took much, I never asked for your crutch, Now don’t ask for mine.” Bob Dylan, 4th Time Around lyric. “Know thyself,” Luke 4:23. The Bible, innit? It’s good advice, know thyself. I suppose it’s a bit bleak in a way and I’ve already talked about Goethe’s glib response to it but I suppose…
Finger Pointing Songs: part 3. The Rolling Stones. Or, Wife Beating Man.
The shadow that Bob Dylan cast over the sixties wasn’t only long and broad, it was dark and cold. Once he’d broken through, any number of scruffy young ‘poets’ came out of the woodwork and started telling it like it was. Social justice songs were back on the agenda but that was before his performance…
Finger Pointing Songs: part 2. The Kinks. Or, A Respecter Calls. Or, It’s A Shame About Ray.
“Pity is easy, but it’s difficult to care,” Ray Davies. I like things to make sense and generally, to me at least, they don’t. I look for logic and I look for rationality in everyday life and, when I can’t find much, I can get a bit maudlin. So, what I’m doing here – realistically…
The Gift Of The Fab(s). Or, Here Comes The Son(s Of God, allegedly): Why The Beatles Are Underrated.
When I wrote the last post, about The Stone Roses’ Second Coming debacle, I mentioned that I felt I might have been a bit hard on them and possibly I might do well to redress the balance of having a big old moan by being enthusiastic about something for a change. As it is, I’m…