I can't believe how many people consider this to be the weakest track on the album. It's so much fun. I can't imagine Sgt. Pepper without it. I can almost smell the saw dust on the floor, which is what John told George Martin during the recording process. Thanks again Amy for your analysis.
The people criticizing John's song are probably the same people poo-pooing Paul's "granny music." They look down on anything that sounds playful, doesn't rock, or is "over-produced."
I feel the use of the minor chords here to reference "nostalgia" more than "melancholy." It's as if John has found a way of conveying the "sepia" tone of the poster musically. Nice analysis!
Great background info on the context of this song, with almost all the lyrics coming from this 1800s circus poster. It really does show their talents as songwriters (Lennon in this case) to come up with such great songs from such a wide variety of their daily life and experiences. Really glad you actually got some glimpses of this poster when you watched the Sgt. Pepper's documentary, which was excellent by the way and well worth watching on your movie channel. The song itself really does reflect that circus quality. Great Reaction, commentary and piano illustrations/music lessons. I really enjoyed this one.
I forgot to mention how much I enjoy Ringo's drumming on this and how important it is. From the crashing cymbals, thumbing bass drum, and the snare work.
Brilliant. I loved how Amy's understanding of the song evolved and she allowed it to. It's a good lesson which is fun to apply to songs I love which I haven't listened very closely to in the past
@@johnsilva9139 I had a chance to sit at one in London, and our band's keyboard player had a bit o' experience from years past and was able to show off a bit. We have lived during incredible times.
I think the Old circus instrument you’re referring to is a CALLIOPE. It’s a keyboard driven steam powered whistle organ. It used to be in all the old movies about the circuses of the late 1800 hundreds and 1900 hundreds.
The Beatles had access to an extensive library of sounds at Abbey Road studios. They ended up using a variety of circus clips for the Henry the Horse waltz section, played mostly by Calliope (and possibly Wurlitzer?), stitching them all together and slowing or speeding up each clip to match the key of Mr. Kite. I believe they used two 4-track machines on Pepper. I'm pretty sure they had to be bouncing tracks to achieve the end result. It's not just a album full of great songs but also a feat of recording engineering wizardry by George Martin.
There is a fascinating little book, "Revolt Into Style," by George Melly. It was published in the early 1970s, and I don't know whether it's now available in any form. The book is about the coming of rock and roll to England in the mid - fifties, and consists of Melly's reflections on it. I remember the main part of his take on the Sgt Pepper album, which was that it showed how English The Beatles were. He could certainly have said the same thing about The Kinks album, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, which unfortunately for The Kinks, was released on November 22, 1968, the same day The White Album was released. I think Amy would be taken with much of the work of The Kinks between 1964 - 9.
This is one of my favorite Beatle songs. Watching you analyze this song it seems that you really got off on this song too. The imagery of this song really grabs me.
This is how Alan Pollack analyzed the key of the song too. Key: e minor (by way of d and c minor) is how he described it. Here’s the rest: You might say that different parts of this song are respectively in the keys of d, c, and e minor, but I think it's a cop out to describe the song as simply spanning three different keys and leave it like that. Next note The notion of a single home key is the central doctrine of tonal music theory. And, to the extent that you're challenged, in a case like this, to contemplate the manner in which your mind perceives one of the keys as "home" and the others as being away from it is part of the game. Furthermore, to the extent that goal-orientedness is an equally central doctrine of tonal chord or key progressions, you'll tend to award the strongest home-steading claim to the key in which you arrive at the end; not the in the middle or at the beginning. Next note All this is to say that I believe the home key of this song is e minor, and that the opening in d minor, and the starting of the verses in c minor is a clever ruse perpetrated intentionally to throw you off balance. It's sort of the harmonic equivalent of one of those multi-planed Escher engravings where your sense of the direction pointed to by gravity's rainbow depends on where on the page you focus your gaze. Next note This explanation may sound far fetched, but you know we've often seen examples in this series of songs which begin with chords that are out in left field with respect to the ultimate home key; look at "Help!" and "Dr. Robert" just to pick two Lennon' songs off the top of the head. At any rate, the idea of starting within a key (not just a single chord) that is remote from the ultimate home key is a logical extension of the same trick.
Later Paul McCartney also takes you through different keys (Penny Lane) but gets really sophisticated in Maybe I'm Amazed. Intro in ambiguous key maybe D. Verse in C, Bridge in D. But nobody is really sure if the verse is in D. Very ambiguous.
I'm really glad that you are delving in to the Sgt. Pepper's album, because IMO, listening to Beatles' music deeply---including the more upbeat early Beatles music---rewards the attentive listener with a deeper level of appreciation and gratification. I can tell, Amy, that your musical journey on this forum has given you a much deeper understanding and appreciation of a musical genre (along with numerous Sub-Genres) PRECISELY because of your attentiveness, coupled with musical knowledge and sophistication that will always be far beyond my scope of understanding. Although I wish that I could attach an exact image of the poster that inspired John Lennon to write "Mr. Kite", this message format doesn't appear to have that capability. But it can be easily found on Google, for example. Thanks once again, Amy, for treating me music with the attention and respect that it deserves.
VLAD [Happy New Year to you, Amy & nipper!], is there any chance that you can dig up the Howard Goodall documentaries (they are on YT) where he, as an eminent classical composer, breaks down many Beatles tracks, such as Penny Lane, She's Leaving Home, Eleanor Rigby, LSD etc. etc.. I think Amy would be fascinated by not only the musical context, but how he portrays what the Beatles were really doing to change music forever. Amy may even be surprised to see how much she missed when breaking down the same songs herself.
Hi Amy,having been a Beatles fan for 60 years and likes every song they did,hearing your thoughts and insight to the making of the songs ,gives me more appreciation of what they did.thank you
Thank you for this truly wonderful analysis Amy. Boy ... doesn't John Lennon like key changes AND isn't he good at them? *Mr Kite* is musically complex, for sure, but John does something very similar in the first few bars of "If I Fell" (A Hard Day's Night), a much simpler structure. My poor brain can barely cope with a simple transformation. The man was a bona fide genius IMHO.
Love your analysis ... I even learnt a little, especially the up/down pattern and it switches to down/up. It's a very innovative song even more than I thought first listening to it as a kid when it first came out.
I think a lot of the credit for the overall interpretation of John's idea should go to George Martin on this one, but at least John was clear in his requirement: 'a fairground production'. John does rephrase words of the poster, for example from 'Messrs. Kite & Henderson, in announcing the following Entertainment, assure the Public that this Night's Production will be one of the most Splendid ever produced in this Town' [sic, their caps] to 'Their production will be second to none', etc. The poster, incidentally, was dated February 14th, 1843 so very early Victorian style language. Sparkling exploration, Amy.
As always, Amy, your observations are always interesting. I love how immerse yourself in the song. One thing that you failed to mention is the importance of George Martin, in helping to create the text and sounds that brought this song to life. When they were recording this song, John told George Martin what he was hoping to achieve and convey. As he told George Martin, he “ wanted to smell the sawdust.”
For me, the calliope and the minor key evokes creepy images of a run-down fairground that may looks haunted and has evil clowns. I once read a short to my daughter about a carousel horse that came to life. It also reminds me of that.
MR. KITE is a wonderful acoustic-guitar song but the calliope parts are, yes, missing. sigh This is a wonderful demonstration of John's lyrical abilities - I can't imagine taking a circus poster and SEEING there is a song IN it. John did. THANK GOODNESS.
Great stuff. I wsa a 10-year-old kid when I first heard it, and it has always fascinated me. It seemed like a portal back in time to me, with John Lennon's detached voice, the oompah rhythms and steam organs, very much like some childrens' book where the protagonist finds themselves time travelling to a slightly disturbing and mysterious world. Who were the Hendersons I always wondered? It's still one of my favourites to this day. Thank you for pointing out the key modulations. I'm sure that adds to the general off-balance, deamlike ambiance.
This to me is one of those songs that John probably banged out pretty quickly (the lyrics certainly suggest it.) I'm guessing that he came up with the main vocal melody and then found chords to support it, not really caring about key centers or any of that. As Amy explains, the entire song is essentially a single chord sequence that supports the vocal melody, which then gets re-purposed by either modulating the changes or by turning it into backing for the wild tape collage. But as a piece of songwriting it's pretty simple at its core, which just goes to show how brilliantly the team at Abbey Road were as an extension of the band for this album. BTW, I recommend Matt Williamson's (Pop Goes the 60s) review of 'Beatles 64'. He makes a convincing argument that much of what the film conveys is pretty questionable, including the myth about how The Beatles single-handedly pulled America out of mourning following the death of JFK. Anyways, just remember that nowadays The Beatles are a money-making enterprise for their heirs and music biz benefactors, and there's always pressure to release new content around the holidays, even if there's not much left in the vaults. A lot of what's in the film has already appeared over the years, with just a few new interviews (many of which are bizarrely not related to The Beatles in 1964!)
I don't know how you'll do the Let It Be and Abbey Road albums, order of recording or order of release? If you do the order of recording, I'd suggest you listen to the album and watch the Get Back series... It adds so much context and understanding to how that album was done and why it is what it is... Also to realise they initially just canned the project and went straight into recording Abbey Road after.... Just amazing!!!
I also wondered the same. I can't remember her name, but there's a young female Australian musician who assessed the full Beatles catalogue . All the songs were played in their entirety.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds wasn't 'about' LSD, but while the central image does come from Julian's drawing, a lot of the hallucinogenic imagery seems LSD-influenced.
Relating to your comments about the minor being related to childhood, I remember my school music teacher, when I was about 15 or 16, wondering if there was something fundamental about the minor 3rd - his example was a football crowd shouting "Chel - sea" which drops a minor third to the second syllable - at least I assume it still does as this was 50 years ago and not long before I bought Sergeant Pepper from my first saturday job wages.
John deliberately wrote nonsense lyrics in some of his songs because 1) he was admirer of some great "nonsense verse" writers like Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Spike Milligan and Ivor Cutler and 2) to confound the earnest dissectors and (mis)interpreters of his lyrics. He was taking the piss in an artfully witty style.
The band Mr. Bungle has a song, "Carousel". I see it as their manifestation of this Beatles song. Mr. Bungle does more of a psychedelic horror circus, with themes of the two different worlds. That which is up front, and what's behind the curtain or clown paint/mask.
John might be subconsciously referring to the life of celebrity, of being a Beatle, portraying show business as a circus. Which also ties in nicely with the theme of Sgt. Pepper and Billy Shears. Also, were the Rolling Stones borrowing this idea a few years later when they put on a concert called "Rock and Roll Circus," which included, guess who, John Lennon?
If the bass sounds different as we go through their career it is because they were able to buy better instruments, especially the bass guitar. There was also a substantial increase in the quality of the recording equipment.
@@stevengifford7457 good point, all recording was done analog, way before the digital era. Paul was also becoming more creative and adventurous in his playing, citing Motown bass player James Jamerson as an inspiration.
The bass sounds deeper in the mid 60s beatles stuff - because they liked the heavier bass sound of motown and soul music. To achieve this - the sound engineer reverse wired a speaker driver to use as a microphone - the larger diameter of the speaker acting as a microphone captured more air movement from the bass amp cabinet
Recently discovered your channel and enjoy your reactions I have a few band and song recommendations if you haven't listened to any of them already 1: band: Motionless in white. Song: eternally yours or porcelain 2: band: Breaking benjamin. Song: ashes of eden or diary of jane
Please do a reaction to the pentangle- hunting song or "The trees they do grow high" I think you'll enjoy dissecting their music. They were masters at their craft
Amy you should do "the fairy feller's masterstroke", a queen song. It's a great Freddie composition and it was based on a oil painting in a British museum of the same name. I've heard Brian May say the beattle's were they're bible in interviews
Exceptional commentaries but the extracts are way to short. A 30 seconds extract in the context of your presentation is totally legal. A fair use for analysis.
The entire song "Glass Onion", which you'll get to later, is John poking fun at or sarcastically commenting on people who look for clues and hidden messages in Beatles songs.
Yes i understand what you're saying about people attributing drug references to evrything although i've always felt that they had learned that admitting something like drug references could hurt them. The Beatles had a wake ip call when John said the Beatles meant more to young people than Christ. That got them a taste of 1960s cancel culture. I never believed the horse reference referring to drugs but the Lucy in the Sky qith Diamonds is either a massive coincidence which they capitali,ed on, or its a drug refernce they refuse to admit for fear of marring their reputación. Horse at that time was considered a dark back alley drug while the other, Lucy, was the enlightenment, cool generation drug. They were shaking off their 4 boysnfrom liverpool rep and jumping on the cool hippy bus. My 2 cents.
I think Mr Kite is wonderful, and Amy has already done a fantastic job on that. I hope some curious people will find my observation interesting. It wasn’t in any way an attack on the artists, or anybody else.
@@bobtaylor170 You seem to be just an insulted fan boy. We're talking about compositions here, not about our private idols. Go watch your Beatles posters, Bobby!
True. "...so I just knocked off A Day In The Life," quoted here from his 1980 interview, whereas he had years previously given the detailed story of how he and Paul built it "definitely working together," "a good piece of work between the two of us."
Lets get real. The songs of this era of a fantastic garage band. That wrorte some of the greatest songs ever. But what you hear is George Martin. Taking what they may have envisioned. But for sure George Martin did. Without George Martin you would have just had a 4 piece wonderful early rock band.
Please stop using a hard noise gate on her voice. When she's not speaking and the audio goes digital black, it's very disconcerting. Disconcerting not to hear any room tone or anything.
Hardly "stolen". Who from? The poster wasn't written as song lyrics and wasn't copyright. They're 'found' lyrics, brilliantly set to appropriate music. It takes artistic insight to read an old poster and see it as a poem evoking a bygone era of entertainment and make it into a song for a new era of entertainment. I love the slightly off-kilter feel to the arrangement. It all fits perfectly into the period fantasy premise of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Its incredible how I can watch 'reaction' Beatles videos all over youtube by kids that play the whole song but you risk losing the channel by playing more than a few seconds at a time. What gives?
Yes, it is too bad. The rights holders are cracking down on a lot of “reactors” for playing the entire song. I suppose they want a royalty payment. You would think the would appreciate the “free” coverage and conversation about their artists’ work!
It's weird when some reactors will play the whole thing and barely say a word; while Amy's detailed analysis, while fascinating is just about the worst possible way to just listen to the song. Virtually all the value in these videos is what she adds, it's the very definition of fair use.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
I can't believe how many people consider this to be the weakest track on the album. It's so much fun. I can't imagine Sgt. Pepper without it. I can almost smell the saw dust on the floor, which is what John told George Martin during the recording process. Thanks again Amy for your analysis.
It's one of my favourite of all Beatles songs.
The people criticizing John's song are probably the same people poo-pooing Paul's "granny music." They look down on anything that sounds playful, doesn't rock, or is "over-produced."
one of the best tracks on the album!
'it's pitched lower, but the key center is higher' Thanks, I've been looking for a way of phrasing this scenario for a long time.
I feel the use of the minor chords here to reference "nostalgia" more than "melancholy." It's as if John has found a way of conveying the "sepia" tone of the poster musically. Nice analysis!
Great background info on the context of this song, with almost all the lyrics coming from this 1800s circus poster. It really does show their talents as songwriters (Lennon in this case) to come up with such great songs from such a wide variety of their daily life and experiences. Really glad you actually got some glimpses of this poster when you watched the Sgt. Pepper's documentary, which was excellent by the way and well worth watching on your movie channel. The song itself really does reflect that circus quality. Great Reaction, commentary and piano illustrations/music lessons. I really enjoyed this one.
I forgot to mention how much I enjoy Ringo's drumming on this and how important it is. From the crashing cymbals, thumbing bass drum, and the snare work.
This song is magical. Wonderful sound stratification. Nothing like the fab four.
One of me favorites.
A headphone masterpiece!
Brilliant. I loved how Amy's understanding of the song evolved and she allowed it to. It's a good lesson which is fun to apply to songs I love which I haven't listened very closely to in the past
Just wanted to take a moment to thank you and V for excavating the Beatles Cannon. Happy New Year and good tidings!
The organ associated with circuses is the calliope.
I'm scratching my head over her questioning.
Yes, circuses and carousels. A steam calliope. I kept saying it out loud as she was speaking as if she could hear me.
@@johnsilva9139 I had a chance to sit at one in London, and our band's keyboard player had a bit o' experience from years past and was able to show off a bit. We have lived during incredible times.
That calliope sound is also prominent in the Manfred Mann version of "Blinded by the Light". It's nostalgic.
This was my favourite song off this album when I was a child, and I still adore it.
I think the Old circus instrument you’re referring to is a CALLIOPE. It’s a keyboard driven steam powered whistle organ. It used to be in all the old movies about the circuses of the late 1800 hundreds and 1900 hundreds.
The Beatles had access to an extensive library of sounds at Abbey Road studios. They ended up using a variety of circus clips for the Henry the Horse waltz section, played mostly by Calliope (and possibly Wurlitzer?), stitching them all together and slowing or speeding up each clip to match the key of Mr. Kite. I believe they used two 4-track machines on Pepper. I'm pretty sure they had to be bouncing tracks to achieve the end result. It's not just a album full of great songs but also a feat of recording engineering wizardry by George Martin.
There is a fascinating little book, "Revolt Into Style," by George Melly. It was published in the early 1970s, and I don't know whether it's now available in any form. The book is about the coming of rock and roll to England in the mid - fifties, and consists of Melly's reflections on it. I remember the main part of his take on the Sgt Pepper album, which was that it showed how English The Beatles were.
He could certainly have said the same thing about The Kinks album, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, which unfortunately for The Kinks, was released on November 22, 1968, the same day The White Album was released.
I think Amy would be taken with much of the work of The Kinks between 1964 - 9.
As a shout-out and acknowledgement to Call Me Caroline... Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kitel ... :)
I get that reference!
This is one of my favorite Beatle songs. Watching you analyze this song it seems that you really got off on this song too. The imagery of this song really grabs me.
This is how Alan Pollack analyzed the key of the song too. Key: e minor (by way of d and c minor) is how he described it. Here’s the rest: You might say that different parts of this song are respectively in the keys of d, c, and e minor, but I think it's a cop out to describe the song as simply spanning three different keys and leave it like that.
Next note The notion of a single home key is the central doctrine of tonal music theory. And, to the extent that you're challenged, in a case like this, to contemplate the manner in which your mind perceives one of the keys as "home" and the others as being away from it is part of the game. Furthermore, to the extent that goal-orientedness is an equally central doctrine of tonal chord or key progressions, you'll tend to award the strongest home-steading claim to the key in which you arrive at the end; not the in the middle or at the beginning.
Next note All this is to say that I believe the home key of this song is e minor, and that the opening in d minor, and the starting of the verses in c minor is a clever ruse perpetrated intentionally to throw you off balance. It's sort of the harmonic equivalent of one of those multi-planed Escher engravings where your sense of the direction pointed to by gravity's rainbow depends on where on the page you focus your gaze.
Next note This explanation may sound far fetched, but you know we've often seen examples in this series of songs which begin with chords that are out in left field with respect to the ultimate home key; look at "Help!" and "Dr. Robert" just to pick two Lennon' songs off the top of the head. At any rate, the idea of starting within a key (not just a single chord) that is remote from the ultimate home key is a logical extension of the same trick.
There must be a lot of classical pieces that end in a different key from the one they started in. I'm pretty sure some of Mahler's symphonies do.
Later Paul McCartney also takes you through different keys (Penny Lane) but gets really sophisticated in Maybe I'm Amazed. Intro in ambiguous key maybe D. Verse in C, Bridge in D. But nobody is really sure if the verse is in D. Very ambiguous.
I'm really glad that you are delving in to the Sgt. Pepper's album, because IMO, listening to Beatles' music deeply---including the more upbeat early Beatles music---rewards the attentive listener with a deeper level of appreciation and gratification.
I can tell, Amy, that your musical journey on this forum has given you a much deeper understanding and appreciation of a musical genre (along with numerous Sub-Genres) PRECISELY because of your attentiveness, coupled with musical knowledge and sophistication that will always be far beyond my scope of understanding.
Although I wish that I could attach an exact image of the poster that inspired John Lennon to write "Mr. Kite", this message format doesn't appear to have that capability. But it can be easily found on Google, for example. Thanks once again, Amy, for treating me music with the attention and respect that it deserves.
VLAD [Happy New Year to you, Amy & nipper!], is there any chance that you can dig up the Howard Goodall documentaries (they are on YT) where he, as an eminent classical composer, breaks down many Beatles tracks, such as Penny Lane, She's Leaving Home, Eleanor Rigby, LSD etc. etc.. I think Amy would be fascinated by not only the musical context, but how he portrays what the Beatles were really doing to change music forever. Amy may even be surprised to see how much she missed when breaking down the same songs herself.
There is a picture of Lennon pointing to the poster on the wall in his house. Just look it up on the internet.
Thanks!
Thank you!
Hi Amy,having been a Beatles fan for 60 years and likes every song they did,hearing your thoughts and insight to the making of the songs ,gives me more appreciation of what they did.thank you
Thank you for this truly wonderful analysis Amy. Boy ... doesn't John Lennon like key changes AND isn't he good at them? *Mr Kite* is musically complex, for sure, but John does something very similar in the first few bars of "If I Fell" (A Hard Day's Night), a much simpler structure. My poor brain can barely cope with a simple transformation. The man was a bona fide genius IMHO.
Love your analysis ... I even learnt a little, especially the up/down pattern and it switches to down/up. It's a very innovative song even more than I thought first listening to it as a kid when it first came out.
Great reaction. What an amazing sound space they created with that earie fairground vibes. One of my favourites.
I think a lot of the credit for the overall interpretation of John's idea should go to George Martin on this one, but at least John was clear in his requirement: 'a fairground production'. John does rephrase words of the poster, for example from 'Messrs. Kite & Henderson, in announcing the following Entertainment, assure the Public that this Night's Production will be one of the most Splendid ever produced in this Town' [sic, their caps] to 'Their production will be second to none', etc. The poster, incidentally, was dated February 14th, 1843 so very early Victorian style language.
Sparkling exploration, Amy.
As always, Amy, your observations are always interesting. I love how immerse yourself in the song.
One thing that you failed to mention is the importance of George Martin, in helping to create the text and sounds that brought this song to life. When they were recording this song, John told George Martin what he was hoping to achieve and convey. As he told George Martin, he “ wanted to smell the sawdust.”
I used to listen to the calliope on the merry go round as a kid. The faster the carousel spun the faster the music played.
For me, the calliope and the minor key evokes creepy images of a run-down fairground that may looks haunted and has evil clowns. I once read a short to my daughter about a carousel horse that came to life. It also reminds me of that.
MR. KITE is a wonderful acoustic-guitar song but the calliope parts are, yes, missing. sigh This is a wonderful demonstration of John's lyrical abilities - I can't imagine taking a circus poster and SEEING there is a song IN it. John did. THANK GOODNESS.
Great stuff. I wsa a 10-year-old kid when I first heard it, and it has always fascinated me. It seemed like a portal back in time to me, with John Lennon's detached voice, the oompah rhythms and steam organs, very much like some childrens' book where the protagonist finds themselves time travelling to a slightly disturbing and mysterious world. Who were the Hendersons I always wondered? It's still one of my favourites to this day. Thank you for pointing out the key modulations. I'm sure that adds to the general off-balance, deamlike ambiance.
Very well said.
This to me is one of those songs that John probably banged out pretty quickly (the lyrics certainly suggest it.) I'm guessing that he came up with the main vocal melody and then found chords to support it, not really caring about key centers or any of that. As Amy explains, the entire song is essentially a single chord sequence that supports the vocal melody, which then gets re-purposed by either modulating the changes or by turning it into backing for the wild tape collage. But as a piece of songwriting it's pretty simple at its core, which just goes to show how brilliantly the team at Abbey Road were as an extension of the band for this album.
BTW, I recommend Matt Williamson's (Pop Goes the 60s) review of 'Beatles 64'. He makes a convincing argument that much of what the film conveys is pretty questionable, including the myth about how The Beatles single-handedly pulled America out of mourning following the death of JFK. Anyways, just remember that nowadays The Beatles are a money-making enterprise for their heirs and music biz benefactors, and there's always pressure to release new content around the holidays, even if there's not much left in the vaults. A lot of what's in the film has already appeared over the years, with just a few new interviews (many of which are bizarrely not related to The Beatles in 1964!)
I don't know how you'll do the Let It Be and Abbey Road albums, order of recording or order of release? If you do the order of recording, I'd suggest you listen to the album and watch the Get Back series... It adds so much context and understanding to how that album was done and why it is what it is... Also to realise they initially just canned the project and went straight into recording Abbey Road after.... Just amazing!!!
I strongly advocate for order of recording. That way, The Beatles journey more or less ends, as it should, with “The End.”
@@patricknelson5151 agree 1000%!!!
Why are other RUclips channels allowed to play full Beatles songs and Amy’s channel is restricted?
I also wondered the same. I can't remember her name, but there's a young female Australian musician who assessed the full Beatles catalogue . All the songs were played in their entirety.
Rocky Raccoon by the Beatles fits.perfectly to how you described the Beatles.
Nice observation on the Melody inversion
I love this song
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds wasn't 'about' LSD, but while the central image does come from Julian's drawing, a lot of the hallucinogenic imagery seems LSD-influenced.
The up and down "zig,ag" sounds like a trapeze 🎉
Relating to your comments about the minor being related to childhood, I remember my school music teacher, when I was about 15 or 16, wondering if there was something fundamental about the minor 3rd - his example was a football crowd shouting "Chel - sea" which drops a minor third to the second syllable - at least I assume it still does as this was 50 years ago and not long before I bought Sergeant Pepper from my first saturday job wages.
John deliberately wrote nonsense lyrics in some of his songs because 1) he was admirer of some great "nonsense verse" writers like Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Spike Milligan and Ivor Cutler and 2) to confound the earnest dissectors and (mis)interpreters of his lyrics. He was taking the piss in an artfully witty style.
The band Mr. Bungle has a song, "Carousel". I see it as their manifestation of this Beatles song. Mr. Bungle does more of a psychedelic horror circus, with themes of the two different worlds. That which is up front, and what's behind the curtain or clown paint/mask.
My Favorite Group and My Favorite Channel! Peace
Wonderful 👌😊 I'm looking very much forward to this reaction 👍🏻😀 I love this song so much 😅🤞🐴
A Caliope is an old type of organ used in circuses and on riverboats, and I think that is the sound they were trying to reproduce in this song.
I think the fair-ground organ you're trying to remember is called a calliope.
For some reason This era, re the lyrics, remind me of Gilbert and Sullivan.
"I want to smell the sawdust" said John per the arrangement to George Martin.
John might be subconsciously referring to the life of celebrity, of being a Beatle, portraying show business as a circus. Which also ties in nicely with the theme of Sgt. Pepper and Billy Shears. Also, were the Rolling Stones borrowing this idea a few years later when they put on a concert called "Rock and Roll Circus," which included, guess who, John Lennon?
If the bass sounds different as we go through their career it is because they were able to buy better instruments, especially the bass guitar. There was also a substantial increase in the quality of the recording equipment.
@@stevengifford7457 good point, all recording was done analog, way before the digital era. Paul was also becoming more creative and adventurous in his playing, citing Motown bass player James Jamerson as an inspiration.
The bass sounds deeper in the mid 60s beatles stuff - because they liked the heavier bass sound of motown and soul music. To achieve this - the sound engineer reverse wired a speaker driver to use as a microphone - the larger diameter of the speaker acting as a microphone captured more air movement from the bass amp cabinet
Recently discovered your channel and enjoy your reactions I have a few band and song recommendations if you haven't listened to any of them already
1: band: Motionless in white. Song: eternally yours or porcelain
2: band: Breaking benjamin. Song: ashes of eden or diary of jane
Please do a reaction to the pentangle- hunting song or "The trees they do grow high" I think you'll enjoy dissecting their music. They were masters at their craft
Your right. The Beatles freely admitted which lyrics and songs were drug references. There is no need to guess.
Well, I suppose people who ran away from home traditionally joined the circus.
Good morning!
Amy you should do "the fairy feller's masterstroke", a queen song. It's a great Freddie composition and it was based on a oil painting in a British museum of the same name. I've heard Brian May say the beattle's were they're bible in interviews
Amy, don´t panik. As a father of 4 children, I can tell you, everything works out well and gets easier in the future. A little personal comment......
Please do an album (Sgt Pepper's) overall review video please
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Amy, I love your videos, but I've a question. I absolutely cannot place your native accent? Happy New year!
She's californian. Ikr!
She was brought up in the United States. I was also, and of course I have the same "accent".
@@jabberbone1 And a lovely accent it is too
I'll wait for her to reply. It sounds almost Afrikaans or Dutch.
I also wonder about this.
They really were an amazing group, not really matched 50+ later.
Exceptional commentaries but the extracts are way to short. A 30 seconds extract in the context of your presentation is totally legal. A fair use for analysis.
Could it be that the fairground organ you're thinking of is a calliope?
john told george martin that he wanted to smell the sawdust....
This doesn't happen without George Martin's participation
The entire song "Glass Onion", which you'll get to later, is John poking fun at or sarcastically commenting on people who look for clues and hidden messages in Beatles songs.
Yes i understand what you're saying about people attributing drug references to evrything although i've always felt that they had learned that admitting something like drug references could hurt them. The Beatles had a wake ip call when John said the Beatles meant more to young people than Christ. That got them a taste of 1960s cancel culture. I never believed the horse reference referring to drugs but the Lucy in the Sky qith Diamonds is either a massive coincidence which they capitali,ed on, or its a drug refernce they refuse to admit for fear of marring their reputación. Horse at that time was considered a dark back alley drug while the other, Lucy, was the enlightenment, cool generation drug. They were shaking off their 4 boysnfrom liverpool rep and jumping on the cool hippy bus. My 2 cents.
This song’s verse is basically a rehash of It’s Only Love
Great observation!
I think Mr Kite is wonderful, and Amy has already done a fantastic job on that. I hope some curious people will find my observation interesting. It wasn’t in any way an attack on the artists, or anybody else.
@ thanks man, I appreciate it!
@@bobtaylor170 You seem to be just an insulted fan boy. We're talking about compositions here, not about our private idols. Go watch your Beatles posters, Bobby!
@@davegrant7819 Of course it wasn't. Don't be upset by these RUclips types. You pointed out something valid.
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PAVLOS SIDIROPOULOS IS GREEK ROCK
Where can I see the reaction free? :'v
Have you ever been able to afford a computer? Or a phone? Or a pair of underwear? ...I thought so...
@jabberbone1 pay to see reactions? Ha
What John sometimes said and reality were not always the same thing
True. "...so I just knocked off A Day In The Life," quoted here from his 1980 interview, whereas he had years previously given the detailed story of how he and Paul built it "definitely working together," "a good piece of work between the two of us."
@@strathman7501 exactly - he changed his stories regularly
😅20:14 hollies
The instrument is a Calliope
Would love to watch you react to some songs from the movie Wicked with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana grande!
Wink wink say no more.
Globus Mannuela
You should definetly do a reaction and analysis of Rutles "All you need is cash" , or maybe Vlad will! The movie that is....
Ah, the Rutles! A brilliant spoof. That was Neil Innes, a comic genius. I saw him once. Had us in stitches.
I don't know. I didn't get to Hear the song.
Lets get real. The songs of this era of a fantastic garage band. That wrorte some of the greatest songs ever. But what you hear is George Martin. Taking what they may have envisioned. But for sure George Martin did. Without George Martin you would have just had a 4 piece wonderful early rock band.
And your Bird 🐦 can sing?
Please stop using a hard noise gate on her voice. When she's not speaking and the audio goes digital black, it's very disconcerting. Disconcerting not to hear any room tone or anything.
Vaudeville
So cut up,too confused. What does the the song even sound like?
Calliope?
A major reason that Pepper's is one of the most overrated albums in rock history.
One of the Beatles worst songs, and with stolen lyrics.
Hardly "stolen". Who from? The poster wasn't written as song lyrics and wasn't copyright. They're 'found' lyrics, brilliantly set to appropriate music. It takes artistic insight to read an old poster and see it as a poem evoking a bygone era of entertainment and make it into a song for a new era of entertainment. I love the slightly off-kilter feel to the arrangement. It all fits perfectly into the period fantasy premise of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Its incredible how I can watch 'reaction' Beatles videos all over youtube by kids that play the whole song but you risk losing the channel by playing more than a few seconds at a time. What gives?
Yes, it is too bad. The rights holders are cracking down on a lot of “reactors” for playing the entire song. I suppose they want a royalty payment. You would think the would appreciate the “free” coverage and conversation about their artists’ work!
@@briankaufman7293precisely. The stupidity of making it harder, not easier, for newcomers to become acquainted with something is staggering.
@@briankaufman7293 There is no 'cracking down' Beatles songs everywhere...
It's weird when some reactors will play the whole thing and barely say a word; while Amy's detailed analysis, while fascinating is just about the worst possible way to just listen to the song. Virtually all the value in these videos is what she adds, it's the very definition of fair use.