I've been in a very BEatles mood. Last year, I read a great Paul McCartney bio, and this year, Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year. That gave me a strong urge to ask for a copy of Revolver for my birthday- which I got, after a massive Chef Chen Buffet dinner! We had so many good laughs- but then, Mama will laugh at a fried shrimp falling off a plate onto the floor, much less across the table, so that part was pretty easy. We played Sorry! afterwards, too.
Oh, right, the BEatles: I enjoyed reading how the songs were written and recorded, most of anything in the book, as well as the influences they were taking in ;-D When I finished, I found myself feeling more in common with Beatle John- my favorite since I was 14, when I really turned on to them-warts and all. We really could do with a Paul. I try, but my drive works differently.
I was asked to think about writing and performing children's songs by our friends the Coopers. Now, kids have almost always been an enthusiastic audience for our songs anyway. It's a super time to be part of someone's memories- it's a time of lasting remembrance. It's a time you always return to as you find yourself in different places in life. (Along those lines, thanks to everyone who clicke on "A'Thawin Me Song"- it's been one of the blog's most popular posts in months!)
And what is "Yellow Submarine," if not a classic kids song? I really got into them at an age where I didn't single the songs out in any way, categorically: it's just all fun music, sometimes introspective, sometimes sing-a-long silly, sometimes rocking, sometimes disconcerting and introspective.
I suspect it's one of my Mom's favorite BEatles songs. She enjoyed Revolver enough to ask us to bring it out again after I played it three times the night I got it, during our first game time in ages. It's possible to see it as a song about being surrounded by the peculiar pressures of Fame, too, but this song marks the highwater mark of Beatle comraderie, to me.
There's an official site, too. http://yellowsubmarine.com/
For our version: we spent a little time practicing it, maybe half an hour or so at most before we had our take. I got the idea to play the 'band' interlude on electric guitar and then play with reverb and pitch. I still don't think the tempos quite match but it kinda works. I had a ball overdubbing the sea (my breath!) and the bird (more reverb on me mimicing the original), and the dinner bell ended up sounding a bit like sonar. My crazy Cockney was screwing Anj up so I over dubbed him, too. I guess I put about four hours into it at most, some during the first quarter of the championship college game.
I hope you enjoy. We'll be doing the soul rocket thing out somewhere soon, but over Christmas I played for children at Stepping Stones the last Friday before Christmas, and we played for friends a bit and recorded that; I'm sending around CDs and dropboxes to a few people. You can have one too. Our cover of John Prine/ Iris DeMint's "In Spite of Ourselves" nearly made one of Anj's co-workers pee herself on the ride home, she laughed so hard. Things like that make me happy to play and sing and share it with people. We could all do with a good laugh.
Here's to a good 2018. Keep Calm and Remember We All Live In A Yellow Submarine!
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