John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Martha My Dear

For obvious reasons, this has long been a much-liked song in our house ... even though the Martha that Paul McCartney was talking about was his sheepdog.

Nonetheless, I can sing it straight through, which I believe my Martha quite likes. 

A Beatle exchange in the car

My son has really been getting into the Beatles lately, which made this exchange in the car timely. 

We were listening to Seventies on 7 on Sirius XM's satellite radio feed, and on came Got To Get You Into My Life. 

Me: Ack - that's not the Seventies! It came out in '66! 

Nick: (Calmly) Dad ... let it be. Just let it be. 

Me: Good joke, Nick! 

Nick: (Slight pause) Um ...

Me: That was deliberate, right? 

Nick: (Another slight pause) Nooo. 

But then he chuckled, and I found myself no longer in times of trouble. 

Crackerbox Palace

I was so young, when I was born .. 

The opening words to one of George Harrison's mid-career songs, and an ode to Friar Park, the somewhat bonkers estate he bought with his Beatles riches and notably mortgaged to finance Monty Python's Life of Brian. 

The Python spirit is quite evident in the film made to promote Crackerbox Palace in 1976. 

 

Jude plays with type and colour

I spotted this here while browsing through, of all things, miscellaneous bits and pieces about typography. Fun with pantone, once again. 

 

Here Comes The Sun (a la Nina Simone)

Yes, winter is still a long, long way from being over, but the sun is shining brilliantly in St. John's this morning and Nina Simone's cover of George Harrison's Here Comes the Sun played through on a random set from my laptop. There's randomness telling me something. 

Baby, you can drive my car

I got a kick out of this: a cartoony take on the Beatles, combining another emblem of the Sixties. (Although I always think of my grandfather, who drove a deep-blue one, when I think of the VW Bug, and he was well into his own sixties when the Fab Four got going.) 

As seen here. 

 

Drive My Car

Which Beatles song did I like best when I was very young? Not sure. This one, though, would definitely be on the list. DIdn't have a clue what the song was about at age 5 or so, but I'm sure I could sing it!

Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

Sgt. Pepper has been shuffled back into circulation lately, including this gem.

By the way, have you ever seen the 19th-century     poster that inspired John Lennon to write the tune? Here it is:

You can read more at the Wikipedia page, which has a decent roundup of trivia on one of the more unusual tunes in the Beatles canon.

 

The James Last Beatles medley

Remember James Last? At some point in the era of velour and suede and shag carpets, James Last was a bit of a deal. He sold a bazillion records, perhaps because he made a baziliion records, half-a-bazillion of which seemed to have Non-Stop Dancing in the title.

A bit schlocky, but I also find the German bandleader a bit nostalgic. He still seems to be on the go, too. Here's a medley of Beatles classics. 

Star Wars, Sugarland and the Abbey Road intersection

Two Abbey Road things crossed my path over the last few days.

First, here's today's TeeFury design, the latest to brilliantly riff on Star Wars:

Second, I recorded the Live From Abbey Road episode which included a tribute of sorts to the album Abbey Road. I wouldn't necessarily want to watch it again, but it had a few nice bits, and one of them was watching Sugarland build up their arrangement of Come Together.