Cheers to John Lennon

One of my many favorites of the Beatles, written mainly by Lennon, is the catchy, upbeat, stinging musicality of the superb number 'Hey Bulldog'. It was spring of 1968, and despite cooling relationships among the group, their creativity just kept on growing. In the video below, they were in studio to make a promotional film for 'Lady Madonna', but they were recorded while performing an equally brilliant piece of music. It's been said by their engineer Geoff Emerick, that this was the last time that "featured a team dynamic with enthusiasm from every member". He went on to say in his book Here, There, and Everywhere, "Paul's bass line was probably the most inventive of any he'd done since Pepper, and it was really well played. Harrison's solo was sparkling, too--one of the few times that he nailed it right away."

Lennon's voice and humour are also evident, not to mention his buddy Paul's as well. They both harmonize naturally, and engage the listener. McCartney remembers it this way:

"I remember (it) as being one of John's songs and I helped him finish it off in the studio, but it's mainly his vibe. There's a little rap at the end between John and I, we went into a crazy little thing at the end. We always tried to make every song different because we figured, 'Why write something like the last one? We've done that.' We were on a ladder so there was never any sense of stepping down a rung, or even staying on the same rung, it was better to move one rung ahead".

Here it is as this tribute to John Lennon, and the Fab Four.

Happy 70th John Lennon

How many of us know exactly where we were, and what we were doing when we "heard the news today, (sigh) oh boy," about a musical man who made the grade. To say the least, the news was rather sad. It was incomprehensible! The dream was over, no more Lennon, and no more Lennon-McCartney, which was more likely to happen in future years, than in the '70s.

In 1980, Lennon was following up on songs he had been working at from at least 1979, and went to Bermuda to record the album Double Fantasy. He had really liked McCartney's song, "Coming Up", and commented that "I just can't get it out of my head." later in Dec. the world would hear Lennon and Ono's new collection and their double offering of some beautiful new music.

Today, John Lennon would have turned 70, and we can only imagine what could have been in the last 30 years. Thankfully, he left a musical legacy, creative brilliance, a voice that could send a shiver up your spine, catchy classic melodies, originality, memorable riffs, thoughtful, haunting, poetic, and sometimes just perplexing words, but always inventiveness and with feeling.

At the height of Beatlemania, the group could hardly hear themselves play and sing, over the cacophony of teenage screams. This is one fine recording where Lennon's amazing vocal stretch was so strong, and emotive, and it seemed to make the girls just scream more. Still, he comes through loud and clear. This is a version of Dizzy Miss Lizzy recorded at the Hollywood Bowl in either 1964 or '65. The group was energetic, tight and driven to play well and entertain. It's a great example of Lennon's distinctive and astounding voice. Harrison's lead riff playing just ignites the frenzy, and the bass and drums are in perfect sync. The pace is frenetic and this audio cleanly captures what all the excitement was about.