The Beatles song you're thinking about right now thread

[Dr. Medulla]

Best wishes and quick recovery to you both.

There was a story a few weeks ago that only 15% of Canadians have gotten the most recent booster. Gee, I wonder if the uptick in covid cases is related to that at all …

[Marky Dread]

Double post, I got Covid for christmas and can't think straight

Me too! We're Christmas COVID twinsies!

All the best mate. Hope you recover soon.

[coffeepotman]

Double post, I got Covid for christmas and can't think straight

Me too! We're Christmas COVID twinsies!

Hope you're over it soon.

Thank you, I'm finally feeling better but was pretty bad for a couple of days

[Wolter]

I hope you recover soon!

Now I want to read old mad issues. Hope I can find the digital cache of the first like 500 issues I…acquired…some years back. Though I’m worried I lost it in The Great Hard Drive Crash Of 2020.

[Flex]

Anyone seen this documentary on the Beatles in India?: https://english.elpais.com/culture/2024 ... l-one.html

The write-up sounds pretty paint by numbers (although I don't know if that's reflective of the documentary or not), but I thought this last paragraph was insightful:

Experiencing the real India, rather than an imagined version, pushed the Beatles’ music in an unexpected direction. Instead of leading to more lush, exotic sounds, the band leaned toward simplicity. The influence of India became more nuanced, more authentic. But after venturing on this journey of self-discovery, each Beatle ultimately found himself making music alone.

A documentary exploring the frisson between (colonialist) expectations of a culture to artistically inspire and then the lived reality would be pretty interesting.

[Dr. Medulla]

Anyone seen this documentary on the Beatles in India?: https://english.elpais.com/culture/2024 ... l-one.html

The write-up sounds pretty paint by numbers (although I don't know if that's reflective of the documentary or not), but I thought this last paragraph was insightful:

Experiencing the real India, rather than an imagined version, pushed the Beatles’ music in an unexpected direction. Instead of leading to more lush, exotic sounds, the band leaned toward simplicity. The influence of India became more nuanced, more authentic. But after venturing on this journey of self-discovery, each Beatle ultimately found himself making music alone.

A documentary exploring the frisson between (colonialist) expectations of a culture to artistically inspire and then the lived reality would be pretty interesting.

I've heard about the documentary but not seen it. Devin McKinney argues that The White Album was their proper zeitgeist record (not Pepper) in that, like 1968 and the counterculture, it was about being pulled apart in different directions, escapist pastoral songs and songs about violence (and violent-sounding songs). Perhaps, too, there's a bitterness or disillusionment over Eastern spirituality at work. Whatever else The White Album is, it ain't optimistic or evidence of finding a new way forward.

[Flex]

I've heard about the documentary but not seen it. Devin McKinney argues that The White Album was their proper zeitgeist record (not Pepper) in that, like 1968 and the counterculture, it was about being pulled apart in different directions, escapist pastoral songs and songs about violence (and violent-sounding songs). Perhaps, too, there's a bitterness or disillusionment over Eastern spirituality at work. Whatever else The White Album is, it ain't optimistic or evidence of finding a new way forward.

A lot the Big 60s Folks did something like White Album, which is very telling. Dylan had John Wesley Harding, the Grateful Dead put out Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. Hell, the Beach Boys did their typically cracked-Brian version of this with the low-key retreat into mundane simplicity of Friends. Jim Morrison and The Doors, already the dark cosmic band of the hippie age, went back to the blues and traded their faux-poetic strangeness for unadorned grit. The Stones did whatever the fuck the Stones were doing. And so forth.

[Dr. Medulla]

I've heard about the documentary but not seen it. Devin McKinney argues that The White Album was their proper zeitgeist record (not Pepper) in that, like 1968 and the counterculture, it was about being pulled apart in different directions, escapist pastoral songs and songs about violence (and violent-sounding songs). Perhaps, too, there's a bitterness or disillusionment over Eastern spirituality at work. Whatever else The White Album is, it ain't optimistic or evidence of finding a new way forward.

A lot the Big 60s Folks did something like White Album, which is very telling. Dylan had John Wesley Harding, the Grateful Dead put out Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. Hell, the Beach Boys did their typically cracked-Brian version of this with the low-key retreat into mundane simplicity of Friends. Jim Morrison and The Doors, already the dark cosmic band of the hippie age, went back to the blues and traded their faux-poetic strangeness for unadorned grit. The Stones did whatever the fuck the Stones were doing. And so forth.

The cultural theorist Raymond Williams coined the term "structure of feeling" to describe something like that. That is, a group of cultural texts reflecting a mood. It's not a proper ideology at work—otherwise it would be a structure of thought—but a kind of artist-intellectual response (and contribution) to the world around them. In this case, the optimism of counterculture fracturing and turning angry and cynical or withdrawing.

[Dr. Medulla]

Watched that semi-recent documentary series about Lennon's murder over the last couple days. Informative to the degree that I really knew very little about the murder beyond the basics. My Beatles love never took me to that level of inquiry. That said, it was a bit flat in terms of impact. I came away feeling some empathy towards Chapman, a guy with an abusive childhood, and because of his guilty plea he was denied psychiatric treatment in prison. Plus he's spent most of his incarceration in isolation, largely to protect him from other prisoners.

Weird factoid: John Hinckley also had a copy of Catcher in the Rye when he shot Reagan. Huh.

[Dr. Medulla]

Paul knew Wings weren't as good as the Beatles? What a scoop! Stop the presses!
https://exclaim.ca/music/article/even-p ... he-beatles

[Flex]

Paul knew Wings weren't as good as the Beatles? What a scoop! Stop the presses!
https://exclaim.ca/music/article/even-p ... he-beatles

Reminds me of this all time (for me, anyways) onion article: https://www.theonion.com/jakob-dylan-st ... 1819569590

[Dr. Medulla]

Paul knew Wings weren't as good as the Beatles? What a scoop! Stop the presses!
https://exclaim.ca/music/article/even-p ... he-beatles

Reminds me of this all time (for me, anyways) onion article: https://www.theonion.com/jakob-dylan-st ... 1819569590

I fucking love that one, even if it's a little bit dickish.

[tepista]

[Dr. Medulla]

I used this exact image for my rock class' website! Part of the joke, for me, was that I doubted any students would get it.

[Marky Dread]

Watched that semi-recent documentary series about Lennon's murder over the last couple days. Informative to the degree that I really knew very little about the murder beyond the basics. My Beatles love never took me to that level of inquiry. That said, it was a bit flat in terms of impact. I came away feeling some empathy towards Chapman, a guy with an abusive childhood, and because of his guilty plea he was denied psychiatric treatment in prison. Plus he's spent most of his incarceration in isolation, largely to protect him from other prisoners.

Weird factoid: John Hinckley also had a copy of Catcher in the Rye when he shot Reagan. Huh.

I've got a copy. Yet I've only managed to shoot myself in the foot.