On The Records

This used to be the question that was asked….”Who do you like better, Lennon or McCartney?”  I think it was meant to determine how cool you were.  Since Paul was considered the cute/commercial one, and John was thought of as the poet/cerebral one, the “John” answer was supposed to be cooler.  You might get even more points for answering “George” or “Ringo”.

That assessment has changed over the years.  We know they were both excellent musicians and vocalists, so let’s compare Lennon & McCartney as songwriters for The Beatles.

From the beginning of their fame (1963 in England, and 1964 in America), John and Paul were quickly recognized as a great songwriting team.  Often, they would sit across from each other with acoustic guitars and work out songs together.  McCartney said they never had a writing session that wasn’t successful.

As early as 1964, fans began to see that there were “Paul songs” and “John songs”.  Normally, the main songwriter would also sing the lead vocal.

So, which one…Lennon or McCartney…wrote the biggest hits and best known songs for The Beatles?  Here’s a list of their #1 hits in the U.S., showing the main songwriter(s).

1. I Want To Hold Your Hand…both
2. She Loves You…both
3. Can’t Buy Me Love…Paul
4. Love Me Do…both
5. A Hard Day’s Night…John
6. I Feel Fine…John
7. Eight Days A Week…both
8. Ticket To Ride…John
9. Help…John
10. Yesterday…Paul
11. We Can Work It Out…both
12. Paperback Writer…Paul
13. Penny Lane…Paul
14. All You Need Is Love…John
15. Hello Goodbye…Paul
16. Hey Jude…Paul
17. Get Back…Paul
18. Come Together…John
19. Let It Be…Paul
20. The Long And Winding Road…Paul

For those keeping score, that’s 9 for Paul, 6 for John, and 5 together.

It also shows the progression.  John was stronger in the early years.  John had 4 of the first ten #1’s, Paul had 2 and together they wrote 4.   By 1966, things changed.   Paul had 7 of the last ten #1’s, John had 2, and they had 1 together.

(Writing together in 1968.  Photo by Linda McCartney)

Of course, even though John & Paul admitted they were competitive, such as trying to get the A-sides of singles, they also readily helped each other with lyrics and song structures in order to make each recording the best possible version.

To compare their output, here are two lists of songs that can mostly be attributed to the individual Beatles as the main songwriter.

Beatles songs by John:

1. You Can’t Do That
2. This Boy
3. A Hard Day’s Night
4. If I Fell
5. I Feel Fine
6. Yes It Is
7. Help!
8. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
9. Ticket To Ride
10. Day Tripper
11. Norwegian Wood
12. Nowhere Man
13. In My Life
14. Rain
15. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
16. Strawberry Fields Forever
17. A Day In The Life (John’s song, Paul’s “bridge”)
18. I Am The Walrus
19. All You Need Is Love
20. Revolution
21. Julia
22. Don’t Let Me Down
23. Across The Universe
24. Come Together
25. Because

Beatles songs by Paul:

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. All My Loving
3. Can’t Buy Me Love
4. And I Love Her
5. I’ll Follow The Sun
6. Yesterday
7. We Can Work It Out (Paul’s song, John’s “bridge”)
8. Michelle
9. Paperback Writer
10. Eleanor Rigby
11. For No One
12. Here There And Everywhere
13. Penny Lane
14. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
15. When I’m Sixty-Four
16. The Fool On The Hill
17. Lady Madonna
18. Hey Jude
19. Back In The U.S.S.R.
20. Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
21. Blackbird
22. I Will
23. Get Back
24. The Long And Winding Road
25. Let It Be

If you spend a little time with the lists, you can determine which group of songs is stronger to you.  Of course Beatles fans like most of the songs from both lists.  I wouldn’t want to be without any of them.

It’s generally believed that John was the better lyricist, and Paul the better melody writer.  The above examples show just how strong they each were at both words & music.

Music critics tend to look to the lyrics of songs as they search for meanings upon which to write reviews.  John’s songs often had thought provoking lyrics and clever word play.  He was generally more popular with critics.

For the public, melodies come first, and the meanings of songs come later as the lyrics become familiar.   Paul was generally more popular with the public, because of his memorable melodies.  Even John joked about that.  He said he never expected to be walking down the street and hear someone whistling “I Am The Walrus”.

(During 1969 Abbey Road cover shoot.  Photo by Linda McCartney)

As for their solo success from 1970 through 1980, Paul was the best-selling singles artist of the 1970’s.  He edged out Elton John.  He also had five #1 albums (7 platinum) during those years.  John Lennon wasn’t nearly as active (he took about 4 years off when his son, Sean, was born), but had three #1 (platinum) albums, and what may be his best song did come from his solo career…”Imagine”.  Of course some might prefer “A Day In The Life”, “Strawberry Fields Forever” or “In My Life”.  Paul’s best song came from his time with The Beatles, but is it “Yesterday”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Hey Jude”, “Blackbird” or “Let It Be”?  Recently, he’s mentioned “Here There And Everywhere” as his personal favorite.

The most important reason The Beatles were far and away the most popular group ever, is because John Lennon and Paul McCartney were in it together.

Lennon or McCartney?  The coolest answer is…both.

Update:  Here’s a quote about Paul McCartney made by John Lennon on the day he died.  John’s comment reflects well on both Paul & John.  When asked about his relationship with Paul, John said the rift had been “overblown” and that Paul was “like a brother.  I love him.  Families – we certainly have our ups and downs and our quarrels.  But at the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, I would do anything for him, and I think he would do anything for me.”  (This is from Kenneth Womack’s book John Lennon, 1980: The Last Days in the Life.)

Update 2:  I only recently became aware of very interesting comments Bob Dylan made about both Paul & John (in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2007).  Dylan said:  “I’m in awe of McCartney.  He’s about the only one I am in awe of.  He can do it all, and he’s never let up.  He’s just so damn effortless.  He’s got the gift for melody, he’s got the rhythm.  He can play any instrument.  He can scream and shout as good as anybody, and he can sing the ballad as good as anybody.  His melodies are, you know, effortless.  I mean I just wish he’d quit, you know. (laughs) Everything and anything that comes out of his mouth is just framed in a melody.”  In conclusion Dylan said:  “They were fantastic singers.  To this day, it’s hard to find a better singer than Lennon was, or that McCartney was and still is.”

 

Sunshine Rock isn’t real.  No artists were making “Sunshine Rock”.  It’s not like Folk Rock, Country Rock, or Psychedelic Rock…which artists were consciously developing.  No one called any music Sunshine Rock in the ‘60’s.

This CD was released in 1988.  The name was invented as a way of looking back at the 1960’s and grouping various artists into a “Greatest Hits” album.  The artists and songs selected only loosely fit together.  I bought this disc, because back then it was the first time most of these songs were available digitally.

You can see the songs kind of go together, and kind of don’t.  “Bus Stop” is one of the best songs by The Hollies, but whose brilliant idea was it to start out a collection called “Sunshine Rock” with a song about meeting in a rainstorm?

The Hollies, The Monkees, The 5th Dimension, The Lovin’ Spoonful and Spanky & Our Gang could put out Greatest Hits albums themselves, but most of the other artists were limited to one or two hits.  This was a way for music companies to make money from those old hits.  They weren’t going to sell any more singles or albums by themselves.

Some of the cuts that fit the theme are “Happy” by The Sunshine Company, “Come On Down To My Boat” by Every Mother’s Son, “Hello Hello” by Sopwith Camel”, “More Today Than Yesterday” by Spiral Starecase, and “Red Rubber Ball” (a Paul Simon song) by The Cyrkle.  Of course mixing in some bigger hits provides value, and helps sell the lesser songs.

Spanky & Our Gang (shown above with lead singer Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane) might be the group most associated with Sunshine Rock, or as it has morphed into today, Sunshine Pop.  Their hits “Sunday Will Never Be The Same”, “Lazy Day”, “Sunday Mornin'”, and “Like To Get To Know You” fit perfectly on such lists, even though their intricate arrangements sometimes have elements of Psychedelic Rock and Jazz.

They also could do serious songs rooted in folk lyrics, such as “Give A Damn”, which is about visiting a ghetto.  They sing:  “And it might begin to teach you, how to give a damn about your fellow man”.  It’s a really good song, but might have been a bit harsh for Top 40 radio.

Spanky & Our Gang were only popular from 1966 to 1969.  Their crowning achievement is the album Anything You Choose/Without Rhyme Or Reason.

It’s brilliant.  Possibly the only reason I know the album, is because it was a commercial failure.  I spotted it in a dollar bin in the late ’60’s, and bought it.  When I looked at the two sides of the album they were labeled Side 1 and Side A.  Which one to play first?  Anyway, each side is complexly and cleverly arranged so the songs flow into one another.  This was not some simple cross-fading or other studio trick, but well thought-out musical transitions.  The songs are good too.  Besides “Give A Damn” (which just missed the Top 40), there are minor hits like “Yesterday’s Rain”, “And She’s Mine”, and “Anything You Choose”.  The album is available to stream.  It takes some time to get to know the songs, and they might not fit everyone’s taste in pop; however, we have the whole album as part of our Spanky & Our Gang playlist.  Spanky & Our Gang was really a Jazz Vocal Group disguised as a Pop Group.

There are a lot of 1960’s Pop Rock songs that fit the Sunshine Pop theme.  Those include:  “Every Day With You Girl” by The Classics IV, “I Will Always Think About You” by The New Colony Six, “59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy”) by Harper’s Bizarre, “Groovin'” by The Rascals, “Daydream” by The Lovin Spoonful, “Sunshine Superman” by Donovan, “Happy Together” by The Turtles, “Windy” by The Association…and even songs by The Beach Boys and The Mamas & The Papas are sometimes placed in that category.

A lot of Soft Rock music from the 1970’s could also be called Sunshine Rock or Sunshine Pop.   In fact, there are so many songs, Rhino Records has released 25 volumes of it.  But, they came up with a uniquely 70’s way to describe the music…Have A Nice Day.

A few examples of the songs include…”It Never Rains In Southern California” by Albert Hammond, “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash, “Hitchin’ A Ride” by Vanity Fare, “Brandy, You’re A Fine Girl” by Looking Glass, and “Nice To Be With You” by Gallery.

When you listen to this stuff, you know you’re going to be feelin’ groovy and have a nice day.

 (Haley Reinhart…performing in Portland, Oregon.  Photos can be clicked to enlarge.)

Haley Reinhart owns the stage.  She’s a theatrical type of performer who dresses in costumes rather than the cool fashions of the day.  She writes or co-writes most of her songs, which are a mix of pop, rock, soul, and jazz.  We experienced all of those styles when we saw Haley in Portland on April 23rd, 2019.

When we bought the tickets, we didn’t know it was a standing only show.  We got there early, standing in line for an hour, and then standing more than two hours for the show.  But, at least we were right by the stage.  That also gave us a chance to talk with a young man who had been the producer/engineer on one of Haley’s new songs, and with a guy who regularly video’s shows for Haley.  Both expressed belief in her singing talent, and expect the 28-year-old to break through to larger audiences at some point…versus the 500 capacity of the Hawthorne Theatre where this event was held.

Haley Reinhart was introduced to the nation through American Idol in 2011, when the TV show was still extremely popular.  Even though she finished third to a couple of likable country singers, Haley was obviously the best vocalist on the show.  Her three octave range and ability to tackle any style of music was reminiscent of Kelly Clarkson’s Idol run.

Musicians took note.  American Idol had requested the use of songs by Led Zeppelin for performers on the show, but had been turned down.  When Robert Plant and Jimmy Page saw Haley Reinhart perform, they called American Idol and said she could perform one of their songs.  In the above photo she’s singing Zeppelin’s “What Is, And What Should Never Be”.  Likewise, Lady Gaga was a fan and gave permission for Haley to sing one of her brand new songs at the time, “You And I”.

Three of Haley Reinhart’s videos are the most viewed in the show’s history, and for years after her time on Idol, her studio recordings from the show held 8 of the top 10 most-purchased American Idol tracks on iTunes.

So, has she gone on to conquer the music world?  No…but there have been some impressive successes.

Haley performed with Jazz groups in high school, college, and before-and-after American Idol.  Her videos with the group Postmodern Jukebox have topped the Jazz charts and have garnered hundreds-of-millions of views.

Haley Rinehart’s first album Listen Up made it to #17 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart, and included her singles “Free” & “Oh My!”, as well as popular cuts “Wasted Time” and “Hit The Ground Running”.

Her most successful single is “Can’t Help Falling In Love” (the old Elvis hit).  Her recording has over 250-million streams, and has been certified as “Gold” by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Haley Reinhart has toured the U.S. coast to coast, and has toured in Asia.  She also toured Europe with Postmodern Jukebox.

Her two most recent albums are What’s That Sound?, featuring many 1960’s hits, plus some original songs, and Lo-Fi Soul, which is her newest album of all-original songs.

The album has received excellent reviews, and has a 5-star rating on iTunes.  It features a mix of pop and soul, with elements of rock and jazz.  Haley sang most of the album’s songs during the Portland concert.

She certainly showed us her full vocal range and power.

Here, the two guitarists had just finished a major battle of dueling rock guitars, and dropped to their knees as if they were exhausted.  The uptempo songs and dramatic vocals gave way at times to ballads and intricate jazz vocals.

The enthusiastic fans at the concert certainly think Haley Reinhart’s career is on the way up.

Rubber Soul is a great album, but it might actually be a little under-appreciated.  These days, Sgt. Pepper and Revolver (and more recently Abbey Road) get most of the praise, and a lot of fans think Rubber Soul should be right there with them.

One reason it might not be, is because of the differences between the British and American versions.  They’re somewhat like two separate albums, with a six song variance.  Capitol left off 4 songs and added 2. That’s half-an-album’s worth of songs!

The American version starts off with a song that had been on Help in England…”I’ve Just Seen A Face”…a country-tinged acoustic song.    The first track on side two was also from Help, “It’s Only Love”, another acoustic song.  Capitol Records apparently wanted Rubber Soul (released December 3rd, 1965) to fit in with the Folk Rock trend of that year.  Besides adding the two acoustic songs, they took away 4 songs…”Drive My Car”, “Nowhere Man” (released as a single in February, 1966), “What Goes On”, and “If I Needed Someone”.

The British version of Rubber Soul started with a rocker, “Drive My Car”.  Paul McCartney said “Drive My Car” and some of the other songs were influenced by American soul music.  The name Rubber Soul came about after McCartney heard an American musician use the term “plastic soul” when referring to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.  McCartney said he thought of Rubber Soul as an English version of soul music.  Meanwhile, American fans mostly thought of Rubber Soul as a Folk Rock album, because of the song choices.

Here are the album track lists.  The U.S. version has 12 songs, and the U.K. version 14.  The original vinyl  albums divided the songs equally between the two sides.

Here’s a confession.  Although my Beatles playlists basically follow the British album versions, I placed “I’ve Just Seen A Face” at the beginning and moved “Drive My Car” to the middle, because (to me) that’s how Rubber Soul starts!

Capitol Records succeeded in having Rubber Soul be mostly an acoustic album to fit the trend, but in doing so, they left off three really strong songs…”Nowhere Man”, “Drive My Car”, and “If I Needed Someone”, which hurts the overall impression of the quality of the album with Americans (even though it was extremely popular as it was).  Surprisingly, the American version of Rubber Soul included no singles at all.  That did have the positive effect of the album being thought of as an artistic statement, rather than just a collection of songs.

(Here’s the original pose before it was fashioned into the cover.)

Let’s look at how the full version of Rubber Soul came to be.

Already in 1965, The Beatles had been touring, wrote and recorded the songs for the album Help, filmed the movie of the same name, and then toured America (including the Shea Stadium concert).  So of course their record company wanted them to do another album before Christmas.

The Beatles with four of their albums before Rubber Soul.

It was already mid October, 1965.  The Beatles needed to write, record, and mix 16 new songs (14 for the album, and 2 for a single) in about a month and a half!  As crazy as that sounds now, it was actually more uninterrupted time than their hectic schedule had allowed for previous albums.

While on tour, The Beatles had interacted with Bob Dylan, The Byrds, and other American artists.  Dylan introduced them to marijuana and his lyrics.  Both would expand The Beatles thinking and affect Rubber Soul.

The Beatles’ songwriters came through.

John Lennon was the most prolific.  He was the lead writer on 9 songs…including “Norwegian Wood”, “In My Life”, “Day Tripper”, “Girl”, and “Nowhere Man”…which John said just came to him all at once.

Paul McCartney was the main writer on 5 songs…“Drive My Car”, “You Won’t See Me”, “We Can Work It Out”, “I’m Looking Through You”, and “Michelle”…one of the most recorded songs of all time.

George Harrison provided 2 songs…”Think For Yourself” and “If I Needed Someone”…which was a salute to the style of their new friends, The Byrds.

“We Can Work It Out” and “Day Tripper” were selected as a double A-sided single to be released the same day as the album, but were not actually on the album.

Rubber Soul accented three-part vocal harmonies to go with the more sophisticated lyrics.

Even though The Beatles were on a deadline, they were innovative.  This was the first rock/pop album with a sitar.  They also incorporated other unusual instruments, including a harmonium (a type of pump organ).  George Martin was able to produce a Baroque harpsichord sound by playing a piano part along with a slowed down tape of “In My Life”, and then having the effect sound perfect at regular speed.  Rubber Soul was the transitional step The Beatles needed to get to the full studio experimentation of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper.

We all know there is no definitive answer as to what Beatles album is best.  Our own opinions can change.  But, how does Rubber Soul stack up?  When The Beatles’ 4-record “best of” collection (the red and blue albums) was assembled, the selections included more songs from Rubber Soul than any other album…8 of the 16 songs recorded during those sessions.  In a 1995 interview, George Harrison said it was his favorite Beatles album.

Update:  Remix producer Giles Martin says there are enough alternate takes to justify a box set for Rubber Soul.  That remix was expected to follow the Revolver box set that came out Oct. 28, 2022.   However, with the November 2023 release of the new expanded and remixed Red & Blue albums, the Rubber Soul box set should have been released in 2024, but it wasn’t, so 2025?  Half of the album’s 14 songs are remixed on the new Red Album, and there are a total of 9 from the Rubber Soul recording sessions (the most of any Beatles album).   The original photo for the cover would look good on the front of the Rubber Soul box set.

Revolver was a revolution for Rock & Roll.

It’s hard to believe this 1966 album was made just two years after The Beatles broke in America with songs like  “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “Can’t buy Me Love”.  They’re excellent songs, but nothing like the style of recordings The Beatles created for Revolver.

The very first song of the Revolver sessions was “Tomorrow Never Knows” in April of 1966.  This is the one where John Lennon sings:  “Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.”  The recording has backwards guitars, ADT (automatic double-tracked) vocal, experimental tape loops that sound a bit like seagulls, variable-speed recording, psychedelic lyrics, and half of Lennon’s vocals were through the spinning horns of a Leslie Hammond organ speaker.   A far cry from “I Want To Hold Your Hand”.  I admit it took me awhile to get into “Tomorrow Never Knows” when I first got the album in 1966.  The song was startlingly different from anything I’d ever heard.

The Beatles had obviously embraced the recording studio as an art form, and didn’t care if they could play these songs on their final concert tour that year.

Before “Eleanor Rigby”, no one would have imagined an uptempo Beatles song with none of them playing on it.  The instrumentation is only an octet of strings impressively arranged by George Martin.  Like most of the songs on Revolver, the lyrics had evolved far beyond The Beatles’ early work.  Paul McCartney did the lead vocal, and George & John provided background vocals.

This album was a high point for Paul McCartney.  Besides “Eleanor Rigby”, his songs include two of his most beautiful…”Here There and Everywhere” and “For No One”.  Plus, “Good Day Sunshine”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, and he was the main writer of “Yellow Submarine”.  He also wrote “Paperback Writer” which was a #1 single from the Revolver sessions.

Besides “Tomorrow Never Knows”, John Lennon contributed “She Said She Said”, “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “Doctor Robert”, and “I’m Only Sleeping”.  Almost unbelievably, those last three songs were taken from the album and released about a month and a half earlier on the American album “Yesterday”…and Today.  Sure that meant Americans got an early sample of the new album (although we didn’t know it at the time), but it left Lennon with only two songs on the U.S. version of Revolver.  After that, all Beatles albums were the same in England and America (except albums that collected old singles).

(Photo from video shoot for “Paperback Writer” & “Rain”.)

Lennon also wrote “Rain”, which was the flip side of “Paperback Writer”, the single released prior to the album.  Rain was the first rock/pop song to have a backward vocal.  Stories vary on how this came about, but John Lennon says he played a reel tape at home that was “tails out”, and playing that without rewinding it first results in backwards audio.  Lennon liked the sound, so George Martin reversed the tape for the last line of the song.  Backward recordings were used throughout the album to give the instruments new and unusual sounds.  That included George Harrison carefully constructing guitar solos so the melodies worked when the tapes were played backwards.

If you’ve never listened closely to “Rain”, check out the extremely effective and unusual drumming by Ringo Starr.  It’s doubtful any other drummer could have come up with anything so perfect for the song.

For the first time, a George Harrison song, “Taxman”, was the lead track on a Beatles album.  The song lyrics are in response to the English government taking over 90% of their money when they entered the highest tax bracket.  “Taxman” is a rocking song, with excellent guitar solos by Harrison and McCartney.  George also wrote “Love You To”, which featured extensive use of Indian instruments, and “I Want To Tell You”.  The latter is a good song, but the prominent dissonant piano notes usually caused me to move the turntable needle to the next song.  For me, that arrangement choice is the only flaw of the entire album.

(My Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby sleeve & Corgi metal sub.)

“Yellow Submarine” and “Eleanor Rigby” were the only singles released from the album, and they were on the same 45.  Paul McCartney says “Yellow Submarine” was always meant as a children’s sing-a-long song, and doesn’t have any unusual meanings as sometimes speculated.  When McCartney played his unfinished song for Donovan, the singer/songwriter gave McCartney the line “Sky of blue, sea of green”.

“Eleanor Rigby” is a masterpiece.  It was mostly by Paul McCartney, but he did get some lyric input from the other Beatles, plus that brilliant string arrangement from producer George Martin.  Martin said he based the attack-style violin playing on the music used in Alfred Hitchcock’ movie Psycho.  If someone pushed me to name my favorite Beatles song, I’d say “Eleanor Rigby”.  I later found out it’s the only song The Beatles ever recorded on my birth date…April 28th.  Coincidence?

There were engineering and production techniques that assisted The Beatles in realizing their vision for the album.  Geoff Emerick, then just 20 years old, became the engineer for producer George Martin.  Emerick was the one who suggested putting Lennon’s voice through a Leslie speaker when the singer asked to have his voice sound like “The Dalai Lama singing from a mountain top.”  Emerick also used new techniques for improving the recording of Paul’s bass guitar and Ringo’s bass drum.

His innovation with placing microphones close to instruments missed when he put them inside the bells of the horns on “Got To Get You Into My Life”.  Yeah, it was different, but the tone came out sounding thin and pinched.  The technique never became a popular way to record horns.  But, that’s just one small misstep among the otherwise innovative engineering, and it didn’t ruin the song.  Emerick went on to win Grammy Awards for engineering Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road.

The appreciation for Revolver has grown over time.  For decades, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has topped most lists that attempt to rank the best albums of all time.  In recent years, Revolver has sometimes taken over that spot, or has been very close to the top.  Some of that may be to simply provide a change from the usual choice, but it may also be because people came to realize how Revolver was truly a breakthrough.

Update:  The remixed box set for Revolver was released October 28th, 2022.  Here’s the link to my review:

https://ontherecords.net/2022/10/beatlesrevolver-remix-box-set-review/

It was 1962.  The initial surge of ‘50s Rock & Roll had given way to lighter pop music and teen idols.  There was an opening for a revival of folk music.  Leading the way was a group with three singers…Peter, Paul and Mary.

(Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey & Mary Travers)

Music manager Albert Grossman (who also represented Bob Dylan) had put the trio together from artists who played in Greenwich Village in New York City.  Their first album, Peter, Paul and Mary, was released in May of 1962.  It was filled with acoustic guitars, beautiful harmonies, and poignant lyrics.

The album went to #1 on the Billboard Top 200 for seven weeks, and stayed in the Top 10 for ten months.  That was a breakthrough for folk music.  Although Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey (whose first name is Noel) are both accomplished songwriters who would later write hits, this album mostly brought some classic folk songs to the masses.  It included “Lemon Tree” (#35) and “If I Had A Hammer” (#10) both appearing in the Top 40 for the first time, even though the songs had been around for over a decade.  Plus, the album included “500 Miles”, “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”, and more traditional folk songs.

Peter Paul and Mary were building upon the success of other folk groups, like the Kingston Trio which had the hits “Tom Dooley” and “M.T.A. in the late ’50s, and continued into the early ’60s.

In 1963, Peter Paul and Mary had two hit albums, and three major singles.  “Puff The Magic Dragon” is a song by Peter Yarrow that was based on a poem of a little boy growing up.  It was not about smoking weed, which was a silly rumor, probably started by someone smoking weed.  The second big hit was the Bob Dylan song “Blowin’ In The Wind”.   Both of those songs went to #2 on the Billboard Top 40.  The third 1963 hit was “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (#9), another Bob Dylan penned song.  They also recorded Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing” as an album track.  Dylan was not very well known, but the Peter Paul and Mary recordings brought his songwriting to the forefront.

Folk music regularly dealt with serious topics, and Peter Paul and Mary were active in the social movements of the 1960s.  For example, they performed at a march for racial equality in Selma, Alabama, and at the March On Washington (as pictured above).  This is the 1963 event that included Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.  Prior to that speech, Peter Paul & Mary sang “If I Had A Hammer” and “Blowin’ In The Wind” to the large crowd.

The Folk Revival, as it was now called, was monetized by ABC Television.  They developed a show called Hootenanny, which was a term used for a gathering where folk artists performed.  The show was on from 1963 to 1964, and featured folk groups like The Limeliters, The Chad Mitchell Trio, and The New Christy Minstrels.  Hootenanny was about to be renewed in April of 1964, but there was a monumental shift in the music scene.  That month, The Beatles held the top five positions on the Billboard Top 40.  The British Invasion had wiped out the Folk Revival.  Hootenanny was soon replaced by Hullabaloo and Shindig.

Peter Paul and Mary’s popularity on the charts took a hit.  They wouldn’t have another Top 10 song until 1967.  In the meantime, Folk Music became Folk Rock.  Artists who had come from the same Greenwich Village scene, Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful, and Bob Dylan were now electrified and having hits.  Dylan’s first major singles success came with “Like A Rolling Stone” (#2) and “Positively 4th Street” (#7) in 1965.

It wasn’t until 1967 that Peter Paul and Mary once again hit the Top 10.  A song written by Noel Paul Stookey, James Mason, and Dave Dixon had some fun with the more current musical styles of The Mamas & The Papas, Donovan, and The Beatles.  “I Dig Rock And Roll Music” was filled with good humor and impressive vocal work, and was rewarded with a #7 in the Top 10.  The 1967 album it came from was Album 1700, which referred to the Warner Brother’s catalog number for the disc.

Peter Paul and Mary’s biggest hit was also their last.  The song came from the same album, and was written by a friend and unknown songwriter, John Denver.  His first popular song was “Leaving On A Jet Plane” performed by Peter Paul and Mary.  It hit #1 in 1969.  Although there were solo albums and many “reunion” performances over the following decades, that was the last real chart success for the group.

Fast forward to March 20th, 2019.

Noel Paul Stookey came to Corvallis, Oregon for an interview (by Bob Santelli) and a performance at The Majestic Theater.  It was part of Oregon State’s cool American Strings series.

Paul Stookey told us he started as an “M.C.”, as well as a singer, at folk performances in Greenwich Village.  Then he took us all the way through his career, including the protests in the ’60s, and his solo work that followed.  In 1971, he wrote and performed “The Wedding Song (There Is Love)”.  It was written for Peter Yarrow’s wedding, and has been performed at thousands of weddings since.  We bought his solo album, Paul and, in 1971 and have songs from it on our Peter Paul and Mary playlist.

Mary Travers passed away in 2009 while being treated for leukemia.   Update:  Peter Yarrow passed away from cancer 1/7/25 at the age of 86.

Paul Stookey’s baritone voice was still strong, despite his age of 81.  His humor is also intact, and he had us all laughing.

Noel Paul Stookey still writes songs…he played some new ones…and he also had the sold-out audience of about 300 singing along emotionally with “If I Had A Hammer” and “Blowin’ In The Wind”.

Besides the importance that folk music has played in America’s history, maybe the most interesting comment was one about how Peter Yarrow, Mary Travers and he sang.  Stookey asked us to think about listening to vocal groups today and how the singers often seem to be competing with each other by using “an edge” to their voices.  He said Peter Paul and Mary always “pulled back” their voices a little…so they would “blend together”.

We could use more blending together these days.

Since 2021, streaming music has accounted for about 85% of how we spend our money to hear our favorite artists and songs.

Subscribing to streaming services appears to be the present and future of music listening, but let’s look at the past and how we got to this point.

Recorded music for the public started in the late 18-hundreds with Edison-style phonographs using playable cylinders.  Above is a single-play coin-operated Columbia Gramophone owned by friend and collector David O’Hanlon.

Next came the 10-inch 78 rpm (revolutions-per-minute) discs played on phonographs.  Each record held only one song per side due to time constraints of the large groove.

     (My 1947 Remler radio/phonograph with 78 rpm picture disc.)

The above Vogue picture record from 1946 is one of the first 78 rpm records available to the public that was actually made from vinyl.  Vinyl was a great improvement in sound over the old shellac 78’s.

It was two years later, 1948, when vinyl 33 & 1/3 rpm music albums were introduced by Columbia Records.  Similar technology had been tried for years, but it was Columbia that made it successful.  The trick was to make smaller grooves and a more sophisticated needle & cartridge.  This allowed 22-and-a-half minutes per side, so longer classical pieces or multiple popular songs could be put on one disc. They called it a Long Playing Microgroove, and it became LP for short.

            (My family’s 1956 RCA single of “Love Me Tender”)

A year later, 1949, RCA Victor introduced 45 rpm singles.  Stereo followed in the ’50’s, and became popular in the ’60’s.

(A stereo console I designed and built in 1973 with the help of my friend Danny Hryhorcoff.  Those speaker-looking sides of the console are doors to storage areas.  Click to enlarge.)

Stereo components like those shown above were standard in the ’70’s & ’80’s, when album sales peaked.  Cassettes were very popular for awhile (for their portability), but both records and cassettes lost the battle to digital Compact Discs in 1986.  (Update:  Vinyl retook the lead from CD’s in 2020 album sales.)

One of the first all-digital recordings and most popular CD’s was this 1985 album by Dire Straits…Brothers In Arms.  It was also released on vinyl, but the time limitations forced the band to edit some of the songs into shorter versions.  CD’s can hold 80 minutes of music, compared with about 45 minutes on record albums.

Compact Discs dominated over the next two decades, but then on April 28th, 2003 Apple opened its iTunes store.  You could now buy songs for 99-cents each, and also load-in your own CD’s.  The songs would be on your computer, or a little portable player called an iPod.

                                                         (Two of our iPods)

Although a Classic iPod is about the size of one cassette, it can hold over 20,000 songs at the highest digital quality.  For nearly 15 years there were huge digital sales of albums and singles.  Now, digital sales have plunged to where they’re less than 5% of music purchases, and the total combined physical sales of CD’s and Vinyl records is at about 10%.

Our old friend the vinyl album started it’s resurgence in about 2009.  It makes me think I shouldn’t have sold my thousands of vinyl albums and CD’s (most anyway).  But, then I remember how much space they took up, and how hard it was to move all of them.

It’s cool to have some vinyl albums to enjoy, and a decent stereo isn’t real expensive.  However, each new album of about 12 songs costs $25.  To duplicate the nearly 20,000 digital songs I own with a vinyl collection (and not garage-sale worn-out records) would cost more than $40,000!  The reality is it would be impossible to duplicate a serious digital collection on vinyl, because not all songs are available in that form.  Digital downloads brought back a lot of songs and albums that are otherwise discontinued.

It makes a lot more sense to pay around $10 a month for streaming and instantly choose from over 80-million tracks.

Like my friend Jodi Gehr told me…she found a new female artist she likes, and already “owns” everything she’s recorded.  Too bad streaming wasn’t available in the 1960’s!

(Our stereo system today…two HomePods & our music in iTunes.)

Vinyl, CD’s, streaming…enjoy music in whatever way makes you happy.  Life is better with music.

“Busted flat in Baton Rouge, headin’ for the trains, feelin’ nearly faded as my jeans.”

”Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”

Those lines were sung early in a concert this weekend in Salem, Oregon as Kris Kristofferson sang “Me and Bobby McGee”.   What a great experience to see and hear the man who wrote so many classic songs perform them live.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Kris Kristofferson is now 82 years old.  His gravelly voice always added character to his recordings.  He still has that same basic tone to his voice, but it’s lost some of it’s highs and lows.  Despite those vocal limitations, it was very special to hear this poetic composer treat us to so many great songs.

“Take the ribbon from your hair, shake it loose and let if fall.  Lay it soft against my skin, like the shadows on a wall.  Come and lay down by my side, till the early morning light.  All I’m takin’ is your time, help me make it through the night.”

”Help Me Make It Through The Night” was considered a scandalous affair when Sammi Smith sang it in the early ‘70’s, but is certainly mild by today’s standards as Kristofferson sang it Saturday night.

Supporting Kristofferson was the band The Strangers, which was the backup group for Merle Haggard.

The band was absolutely first rate.  They were also very good singers who took over some of the lead vocals as Merle Haggard hits were sprinkled in.  Most of those songs were uptempo, and added a nice change of pace, because many of Kristofferson’s songs are ballads or mid-tempo.

“Well I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt.”  As Kristofferson sang “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, he reached the line about finding his “cleanest dirty shirt” and cracked “this one” as he touched the shirt he had on.  “Sunday Morning Coming Down” was a real highlight of the concert, not only because it’s a great song, but because it mostly fell in the still strong midrange of his voice.

A lot of songs were played during the two-hour concert, including…”Loving Her Was Easier”, “Just The Other Side Of Nowhere”, “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33”, “Nobody Wins”, “For The Good Times”, and “Why Me”.

Because my wife, Jeannette, is such a Kris Kristofferson fan, we bought tickets right away and were in the sixth row.  All of the photos were taken from our seats to the left side of the stage in the beautiful Elsinore Theatre in Salem.

Kristofferson still draws crowds.  He had a show in Spokane on Thursday, in Seattle on Friday, and because his Saturday show sold out in Salem, another show was added for Sunday in Portland.

”He’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction.” (From “The Pilgrim”)

Kris Kristofferson wrote lyrics for country songs that were like no others.  We were fortunate to see the legend himself singing the lyrics to songs we love.

Update:  It was announced in January of 2021 that 84-year-old Kris Kristofferson retired.  His final performance was in January of 2020, 11 months after we saw him.

Update 9/28/204:  Kris Kristofferson passed away today at the age of 88.  He died peacefully, surrounded by his family, at his home in Maui.

(Also, please check out the more historical article:  Kris Kristofferson…Country’s Bob Dylan)

In 1998 I started collecting old radios from the 1930’s and 1940’s.  It was about that same time when my aunt, Margaret Hall, gave me the below picture disc from her record collection.  It was a nice visual to show the kind of music that would have been played on the radios of the 1940’s.

It’s a 78 RPM Vogue Picture Record with the colorful artwork right under the grooves. The 10-inch record was put together with an aluminum core, paper artwork, and clear vinyl holding it all together.  When picture records came out in May of 1946, they were popular for the novelty, and for the improved sound of the vinyl compared with the older shellac records.  However, Vogue records were only manufactured until April of 1947, because the company, Sav-Way Industries in Detroit, had financial problems.  In total, there were about 74 different records released during that one year.

I collected a few Vogue records over the years.  The 1940’s artwork was done by multiple artists, so the styles varied.  I really like the dance orchestra theme of the record my aunt gave me, and the cool jazz look of the instruments on the above record.  By the way, “Musicomania” preceded Beatlemania by almost two decades.

Although the songs were usually well known, like George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue”, the artists were not necessarily well known, nor well named, like…The Hour Of Charm All Girl Orchestra.

“Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” was a big hit for Scotty Wiseman (who wrote it) and his wife Lulu Belle.  It was also a hit for Gene Autry.  The 1946 Vogue picture record has the look of post-war America.  Van Morrison must have liked the title, because he used the same line for his song, “Have I Told You Lately”, that was made popular by Rod Stewart.  They’re both good songs.

“Stardust” is one of the most-recorded songs of all time.  You can see that instead of being recorded by a Big Band, it was done by a Large Chorus.

And this one was by a small band…The Charlie Shavers Quintet…although from the artwork you might think it’s a trio.

One of the nice things about Vogue records is that you get completely different artwork on the flip sides.  Below are the same six records shown above, but with the artwork from the other sides.  You can click on the images to enlarge.

Vogue picture records are collectible, but generally not extremely rare, because who would throw them away?  Values vary greatly, ranging from about $25 to over $100 for titles that are available; however, a couple of extra-rare ones could cost into the thousands.

The picture record process was also used for some children’s recordings and sporadically for novelty collectibles, but picture discs (as they are now called) have never been consistently produced.

In 1978, I picked up this 33 1/3 RPM album of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band:

The famous album cover was on one side, and the drum head on the other, although the record was produced later with the cover photo on both sides.  In 2017, Apple Records recreated the picture disc for the Sgt. Pepper remix.

Linda Ronstadt’s Living In The USA album was also available as a picture disc in 1978.  There was a wide variety of artists and music styles that got the picture disc treatment in the late 70’s and early 80’s, then sporadically in the following decades.  They were usually limited novelty items rather than primary releases, plus Compact Discs mostly replaced records in the late ‘80’s.

Our picture discs are currently being displayed on this bookcase.  I’ve sold most of my old radios, but you can still see a couple dozen of them in the photo (click to enlarge).  You can view the full radio collection at my other site, Radios Past.  Just click here  https://radiospast.com

With vinyl albums making a comeback, maybe picture discs will make a comeback too.

Bonus Disc:  Almost forgot…I have this 45-RPM single.

This is a 20th Anniversary 7-inch picture Disc of “I Feel Fine”, which came out in England in 1984.  More of The Beatles’ singles got this same treatment at that time.

Update 2021:  Just when you think picture discs are a thing of the past, Apple releases this one on October 15th, 2021.

They priced it at $35.98…$10 more than the standard vinyl.

What an idea!

What if no one in the world had ever heard of The Beatles or any of their songs…except for you.  That’s the premise of the new movie Yesterday.

Now suppose you were a pretty good guitar player & singer and had the entire Beatles Songbook to use as if you’d written those songs.  How popular could you become?  That’s what we’re going to find out in the movie.  Here’s the trailer:

Update: The movie is reviewed on this site (it’s really good) with no spoilers.

Yesterday is a romantic comedy.  It appears to be in good hands, including British screenwriter Richard Curtis who is known for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, and About Time.  Plus, it’s directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle.

The stars of the film are Himesh Patel (from the British TV series EastEnders), Lily James (from Cinderella, many other movies & Downton Abbey), Kate McKinnon (from Saturday Night Live), and Ed Sheeran (from many hit songs).

It’s interesting what Beatles songs they put in the trailer.  Featured are “Yesterday”, “Let It Be”, “Hey Jude”, “Something”,  and “I Want To Hold Your Hand”.  That’s a good start on the best known song catalog in history.  Imagine how much the music rights cost!

Since this is a romantic comedy, we don’t want to take the premise too seriously, but it does make you think about why The Beatles remain so popular.  It’s the quality of their songs.  The Beatles’ haircuts, British accents, and Rock & Roll energy may have helped create Beatlemania, but it was their amazing songwriting that kept them popular, and keeps them musically relevant.

Yesterday is set to open June 28th.  The trailer certainly makes it look like fun.  We don’t know whether the main character, Jack, is in a coma dreaming, is in an alternate universe, or whatever else it might be, but the movie should provide some needed escapism from the real world.

There was no legal reason for The Beatles to approve the movie (except for song rights), but Ringo Starr has already seen “Yesterday”…according to the L.A. Times.