Tag Archives: George Harrison

Music Monday: February 5, 2024

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Blog image for 2024

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

This week marks 60 glorious years of The Beatles taking America by storm. The band from Liverpool released two albums in the UK in 1963-Please Please Me in March and With The Beatles in November. Building on that momentum, the group then released two records in the United States, Introducing… The Beatles and Meet The Beatles, within two weeks of each other in January 1964. That helped add to the excitement and anticipation of the band’s first trip to America which brought them to New York’s JFK Airport on February 7, 1964.

The-Beatles-Feb 7 1964
The Beatles 2

Top: The Beatles at JFK Airport on February 7, 1964. Bottom: Their first press conference later that day. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Two days later, February 9, 1964, The Fab Four appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” for the first time where they performed a total of five songs to 73 million fans and their parents watching at home. About four seconds into the first track, the world changed into a new color known as John, Paul, George and Ringo. It was-and remains-an extraordinarily beautiful hue.

The band made a total of three appearances on Sullivan’s show that month, but that first show 60 years ago signified the pop culture phenomenon known as Beatlemania. They took the country from the darkness of the Kennedy assassination less than three months earlier and catapulted it into a musical and cultural movement known as The British Invasion.  

Beatles Ed Sullivan 1
Beatles Ed Sullivan 2

Top and bottom: The Beatles first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Sunday, February 9, 1964. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The band changed our lives, their lives and history during an incredible ride that ended when they broke up in April 1970. But for 6 magical years, we watched those four men teach us all the power of love, music, life and peace. And their songs continue that legacy today. 

Let’s relive the magic of February 9, 1964 with the five songs the Beatles performed that night:

The Beatles: ”All My Loving” (1963, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney). 

The Beatles: ”Till There Was You” (1963, written by Meredith Wilson).

The Beatles: ”She Loves You” (1963, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

The Beatles: ”I Saw Her Standing There” (1963, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

The Beatles: ”I Want To Hold Your Hand” (Performed live on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Sunday, February 9, 1964. Recorded in 1963, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: November 27, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another triple edition (plus a bonus track) of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Note: This will be the final Music Monday for 2023. Starting December 1st, the Christmas Countdown begins and will end on the last Monday of the year, which is Christmas Day. I would love to hear about some of your favorite holiday songs so please email me or comment below with your top choices. Music Mondays will resume on January 1, 2024. And now to the music.

Happy 60th anniversary to With The Beatles, the band’s second studio album. It was released on November 22, 1963 and included six cover songs. Today’s first feature was The Fab Four’s salute to Motown. I love that one of my favorite bands saluted one of my favorite genres (and theirs, too) with one of my favorite songs. The harmony between the group really shines through on this track.

Exactly five years later came the release of The Beatles, more commonly known by its nickname, The White Album. It was the band’s ninth studio album and the only double record of their career. It was also the first time the band had another famous musician join them in the studio. Eric Clapton played lead guitar on today’s second feature which is one of my all time favorites by George Harrison.

Nearly five years after that, Ringo Starr had the #1 song in the country. The tune hit the top spot on the chart on November 24, 1973 for one week, only two months after it was released. Co-written with his old Beatles chum Harrison, the track was the lead single from Starr’s third solo album-aptly titled Ringo-released the same month. It peaked at the #2 position on the Billboard album chart, but never hit the top spot because another chap from England-Elton John-was in that spot for the last eight weeks of that year with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Starr’s album went on to produce another #1 record two months later when the second single-his cover of “You’re Sixteen”-topped the charts for one week in January 1974. But it was the lead track that took a very sentimental turn for Starr who performed it in tribute to Harrison at “The Concert For George” in 2002. Harrison died 22 years ago on November 29, 2001. But thanks to some recordings he did in the 1990’s with Starr and McCartney together with a pre-recorded assist from Lennon, the world received an early Christmas gift: “the last Beatles song”. The track has a really sweet sentiment and the video takes us on a great walk down memory lane of the four lads from Liverpool we met on a Sunday night one February almost 60 years ago.

With The Beatles
White Album pics
Ringo George 1960 ish
Jeff Kravitz
Ringo

Picture 1: The Beatles’ 1963 album. Picture 2: The four pictures that came inside The White Album (L-R: George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney). Picture 3: Ringo and George in the early days of The Beatles era, circa 1963. Picture 4: George and Ringo circa 1990. Bottom: Ringo’s self-titled 1973 album. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

The Beatles: “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” (1963, written by William Robinson Jr.).

The Beatles: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (1968, written George Harrison).

Ringo Starr: “Photograph” (1973, written by George Harrison and Richard Starkey).

Bonus: The Beatles: “Now And Then” (2023, written by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Richard Starkey).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: September 25, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another triple edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Three big songs (plus a bonus one) are celebrating milestones in 2023.

The first is from my favorite Beatle, George Harrison. It is from his fourth solo album, Living in the Material World, which was released 50 years ago in May 1973. The following month, the first single reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week. Both the song and album feature Gary Wright on organ. He had his own hits in the 1970’s with “Dream Weaver” (used spectacularly in the 1992 movie, “Wayne’s World”) and “Love Is Alive“. Both songs reached the #2 spot in the country in 1976. Wright died earlier this month on September 4, 2023 at the age of 80.

Bonus: 55 years ago on September 28, 1968 The Beatles had the #1 song in the country. The track stayed in that position for nine consecutive weeks. Name that tune!

George circa 1969
Beatles__Hey_Jude__promo_clip

Top: George Harrison circa 1969. Bottom: The Beatles perform on a TV show in 1968. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

In October 1973 Gladys Knight & the Pips released their 11th studio album, Imagination. One of the singles from it reached the #1 spot on 10/27/73 for two consecutive weeks. It was the group’s only top selling song but it quickly became their signature tune. It has stood the test of time, reaching iconic status and forever cemented in pop culture with shows like “Will & Grace (2001)“, “30 Rock (2008)” (which featured her majesty Gladys Knight herself appearing at the end of the song), “House (2010)” and “Modern Family (2013)” having characters perform the exemplary track.

Gladys

Gladys Knight & The Pips in the 1970’s (L-R): Edward Patten, Merald “Bubba” Knight, Gladys Knight and William Guest. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

In August 1978, Boston followed up their massive record breaking debut album (it spent a whopping 138 weeks on Billboard’s 200 chart) with their second studio release. It may not have been as successful as their first but the follow up did go on to sell over seven million copies. The record’s title track peaked at #4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 on October 4, 1978 while the album reached the #1 spot in the country for two weeks a month earlier, a feat the first album did not achieve (it peaked at #4 in December 1976). Back in the day and now 45 years later, it is clear Boston avoided the “sophomore slump”.

Boston_1977

Boston circa 1977 (L-R): Barry Goudreau, Tom Scholz, John Thomas “Sib” Hashian, Brad Delp and Fran Sheehan (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

George Harrison: “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” (1973, written by George Harrison).

Bonus: The Beatles: “Hey Jude” (As performed on David Frost’s “Frost On Sunday” show in September 1968. Released the same year, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

Gladys Knight & The Pips: “Midnight Train To Georgia” (1973, written by Jim Weatherly).

Boston: “Don’t Look Back” (1978, written by Tom Scholz).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: April 10, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Today marks a very dark event in music history. On this day 53 years ago-April 10, 1970-The Beatles broke up. Their popularity detonated like a bomb only six years earlier when they reenvisioned Sunday nights with their first appearance “The Ed Sullivan Show“. The country was still reeling from President John F. Kennedy’s assasination less than three months earlier. The Fab Four propelled not only America but the world forward with their sound, sparking a musical revolution and a British Invasion while redefining music for the rest of our lives.

The turbulence of the 1960’s and the band’s enormous life altering fame turned a group of four young souls into four grown men who got married, became fathers and went searching for more. They experimented with drugs, different cultures and ancient mysticism while longing for peace from the war in Asia and the one in America over civil rights.

Each album by The Beatles was a testament to their experiences, their growth & all that was happening around them. From Rubber Soul to Revolver to Sgt. Peppers to The White Album to Abbey Road to Let It Be, the group was a force that could not be denied. And the most common themes of love and peace in their songs ( “Love Is All You Need“, “Come Together“, “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make“) are even more powerful and sought after now as they were over five decades ago.

Thank you John, Paul, George and Ringo. You gave us so much. But we owe you even more.

“I look at the world
And I notice it’s turning
While my guitar gently weeps

With every mistake
We must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps“.

Beatles 1964

Beatles Hey Jude photo shoot

Top: The Beatles in 1964. Bottom: The Beatles in 1969. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Beatles: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (1968, written by George Harrison).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: February 27, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Saturday marked the 80th birth anniversary for George Harrison. The Quiet Beatle was born born February 25, 1943 in the London city he & his fellow Beatles would make famous, Liverpool. He was the first from the group to have a solo #1 song (“My Sweet Lord” in December 1970-January 1971) and the first artist to host a benefit concert to raise money & bring awareness to a cause he believed in (The Concert For Bangladesh held on August 1, 1971). And as if his years with The Beatles and his solo work were not enough, in 1988 he became a Traveling Wilbury with four other musical superstars: Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.

The year 2001 was already horrible due to 9/11, but unimaginably it became even worse two months later when we lost Harrison to cancer at age 58 on November 29, 2001. It was a terrible blow to music and to me personally as George was always my favorite Beatle. His song, “Something”, is my favorite by the band despite the preponderance of Lennon and McCartney tunes.

Today’s track is the one that started my own music collection. It was released 50 years ago in May 1973 and it was the first single-yes, a 45-I ever bought for myself. It was Harrison’s second #1 single, hitting the top spot for one week on June 30, 1973. It also dethroned Paul McCartney & Wings’s song, “My Love” from the #1 spot after four conseciutive weeks.

Happy birthday, George. You are missed. Every. Single. Day.

“Give me hope
Help me cope with this heavy load
Trying to touch and reach you with
Heart and soul“.

Beatles Mag Mystery Tour era

George 1970

Traveling Wilburys

Top: The Beatles circa 1967 (L-R: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon). Middle: Harrison circa 1970. Bottom: The Traveling Wilburys circa 1988 (L-R: Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Harrison and Tom Petty). (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

George Harrison: “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” (1973, written by George Harrison).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: February 6, 2023

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

February 7, 1964: The Beatles arrive in America for the first time. It changes their world.

February 9, 1964: The group appears on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. It changes our world.

January 30, 1969: The band holds an impromptu concert on the roof of Apple studios.

April 10, 1970: The Fab Four officially break up.

The six years between the first and last date might as well have been 60 years. In basically half a decade, The Beatles changed everything: music, culture, history, their own lives-past, present & future-and the lives of those around them. Thank you John, Paul, George & Ringo, for everything.

Beatles 1964

Beatles Hey Jude photo shoot

Top: The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on February 9, 1964. Bottom: The Beatles in 1969. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Beatles: “I Saw Her Standing There” (1963, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: August 15, 2022

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Music Monday

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.

It was 57 years ago today that The Beatles made history in New York for the second time in two years. On August 15, 1965 the band played their now famous concert at Shea Stadium. It was the first time a musical group held a show in that type of venue in the United States. The Fab Four performed 12 songs-eight originals, four covers-during their 30 minute set in front of a sold out crowd of nearly 56,000 fans. Most of that crowd were young girls screaming so hysterically they drowned out the music, including today’s song.

I cannot even imagine what it must have been like to witness the kind of history The Beatles made on their first trip to America in February 1964, let alone the monumental concert nearly six decades ago. But I relived it vicariously through Sally Draper when she screamed & jumped for joy after her father, Don, told her he was taking her to the concert. That episode of “Mad Men” (S4 E10) aired 45 years after “The First Play At Shea”, but what a way to let those of us who missed Beatlemania experience a piece of that magic.

Thank you John, Paul, George & Ringo for EVERYTHING.

“You tell lies
Thinking I can’t see
You can’t cry
‘Cause you’re laughing at me“.

Beatles Shea

The Fab Four on stage in Shea Stadium in 1965 (L-R): Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Beatles: “I’m Down” (1965, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

Stay safe and well.

Music Monday: April 18, 2022

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

Music Monday

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

On April 18, 1970 today’s song hit the #1 spot in the country for the second week in a row. It is the title song from The Beatles last album which remains my favorite of theirs to this day. I was lucky enough to see the movie by the same name dozens of time one summer when it was on a loop on a movie channel. I was too young to realize The Fab Four were fighting but not to realize I was witnessing the greatest band of all time rehearsing some of their final songs in a studio together. And that rooftop scene needs no further accolades from me. The performance speaks for itself over five decades later.

I still have yet to see Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” documentary released nearly six months ago for a more in-depth take on that movie. That is not because I do not think it will be a great watch. I have no doubt it is stunning. It is about The Beatles, after all. I am procrastinating because I am worried it might take away some of the magic from my first look at that moment in time. It was such a turning point in my life to see the band that changed everything so up close & personal, sharing their process with the world. It left an indelible mark on my life & the direction of my musical choices every day since.

As the band’s final album was growing in popularity in the world, the news that The Beatles broke up the same month also altered the landscape of the universe. The phenomenal ride those four lads from Liverpool took us on had ended. That devastating news in early 1970 changed the world as much as their first appearance did on that glorious Sunday night just six years earlier on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February 1964.

“And when the brokenhearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer
Let it be“.

Beatles

 

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Beatles: “Let It Be” (1970, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: March 7, 2022

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

Music Monday

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Last month singer/songwriter/pianist Gary Brooker died at the age of 76 in England. If you do not know his name, I am quite sure you knew his voice. He was the co-founder & lead singer of Procol Harum, so it is his glorious vocal that is front & center on their iconic 1967 hit. I have adored this song forever and it is featured in three of my favorite movies of all time: “The Big Chill”, “The Commitments” and “Pirate Radio” as the last song on the airwaves of “The Boat That Rocked”.

Brooker was also one of the composers of today’s phenomenal song, but he also played with several other artists, most notably for George Harrison (on 1971’s All Things Must Pass), Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman. Brooker also appeared in the 1996 film adaptation of “Evita”. But for me, nothing else he ever did would compare to his pensive melodic delivery of some of the greatest sing along lyrics ever written or recorded.

“The room was humming harder
As the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
The waiter brought a tray“.

1967 Procol

with Ringo

Top: Gary Brooker (pictured front left) with Procol Harum in 1967. Bottom: (Pictured left) with Ringo Starr circa 1999. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Procol Harum: “A Whiter Shade of Pale“ (1967, written by Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher and Keith Reid).

Stay safe & well.

Music Monday: February 21, 2022

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

Music Monday

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

February 25th will mark the 79th birth anniversary of my favorite Beatle, George Harrison. Born in 1943 in Liverpool, England, he was the youngest of the group and quietly honed his skills as a songwriter and musician. By the time the band broke up in 1970, he was the first member to have a number one single when “My Sweet Lord” hit the top spot on the singles chart at the end of that year.

Harrison followed his spiritual conscience in both his music & his heart. That led to him organizing the first benefit show in 1971, “The Concert For Bangladesh”. After a successful solo career he became one fifth of the supergroup, “The Traveling Wilburys”, in 1988.

I love so much of Harrison’s music, but I have always felt that today’s pick is his most beautiful composition. He was inspired to write it after hearing James Taylor’s song, “Something In The Way She Moves”. Harrison borrowed the first line & the rest is history. Even Frank Sinatra, who supposedly was not a fan of the Beatles, called today’s track “the greatest love song of the past 50 years” when it was released in 1969. He also recorded his own version in 1970. But even The Chairman Of The Board’s rendition comes second to the original for me.

“Something in the way she knows
And all I have to do is think of her
Something in the things she shows me
I don’t want to leave her now
You know I believe and how“.

George

George Harrison circa 1969. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Beatles: “Something” (1969, written by George Harrison).

Stay safe & well.