The Beatles, album "Amoeba Gig"
stereo: 12.07.2019
Amoeba Gig
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02:41 Drive My Car (John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
GEORGE 1977: 'If Paul had written a song, he'd learn all the parts and then come in the studio and say 'Do this.' He'd never give you the opportunity to come out with something.
But on 'Drive My Car' I just played the line, which is really like a lick off 'Respect,' you know, the Otis Redding version.
And I played the line on the guitar and Paul laid that with me on the bass.
We laid that track down like that.
We played the lead part later on top of it.'JOHN 1980: 'His (Paul's) song, with contributions from me.'PAUL circa-1994: 'This is one of the songs where John and I came nearest to having a dry session.
The lyrics I brought in were something to do with golden rings, which are always fatal (to songwriting).
'Rings' is fatal anyway, 'rings' always rhymes with things and I knew it was a bad idea.
I came in and I said, 'These aren't good lyrics but it's a good tune.' Well, we tried, and John couldn't think of anything, and we tried, and eventually it was, 'Oh let's leave it, let's get off this one.' 'No, no.
We can do it, we can do it.' So we had a break… then we came back to it, and somehow it became 'drive-my-car' instead of 'gol-den-rings,' and then it was wonderful – because this nice tongue-in-cheek idea came.' -
03:47 Only Mama Knows (Paul McCartney)
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03:25 Dance Tonight (Paul McCartney)
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03:13 C Moon (Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney)
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03:34 The Long and Winding Road (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
PAUL 1970: 'The album was finished a year ago, but a few months ago American record producer Phil Spector was called in by John Lennon to tidy up some of the tracks.
But a few weeks ago, I was sent a re-mixed version of my song 'The Long And Winding Road' with harps, horns, an orchestra, and a women's choir added.
No one had asked me what I thought.
I couldn't believe it.
The record came with a note from Allen Klein saying he thought the changes were necessary.
I don't blame Phil Spector for doing it, but it just goes to show that it's no good me sitting here thinking I'm in control because obviously I'm not.
Anyway, I've sent Klein a letter asking for some things to be altered, but I haven't received an answer yet.'JOHN 1980: 'Paul again.
He had a little spurt just before we split.'PAUL circa-1994: 'It's rather a sad song.
I like writing sad songs, it's a good bag to get into because you can actually acknowledge some deeper feelings of your own and put them in it.
It's a good vehicle, it saves having to go to a psychiatrist.
Songwriting often performs that feat – you say it, but you don't embarrass yourself because it's only a song, or is it? You are putting the things that are bothering you on the table and you are reviewing them, but because it's a song, you don't have to argue with anyone… It's a sad song because it's all about the unattainable; the door you never quite reach.
This is the road that you never get to the end of.' -
02:56 I'll Follow the Sun (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1972: 'A nice one.'JOHN 1980: 'That's Paul again.
Can't you tell? I mean – 'Tomorrow may rain so/ I'll follow the sun.' That's another early McCartney, you know… written almost before the Beatles, I think.
He had alot of stuff.'PAUL 1988: 'I wrote that in my front parlour in Forthlin Road.
I was about 16.
There was a few from then – 'Thinking Of Linking,' ever heard of that one? So 'I'll Follow The Sun' was one of those very early ones.
I seem to remember writing it just after I'd had the flu… I remember standing in the parlour looking out through lace curtains of the window and writing that one.
We had this hard R&B; image in Liverpool, so I think songs like 'I'll Follow The Sun,' ballads like that, got pushed back to later.' -
02:57 Calico Skies (Paul McCartney)
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03:03 That Was Me (Paul McCartney)
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03:44 Blackbird (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
PAUL 1968: 'It's simple in concept because you couldn't think of anything else to put on it.
Maybe on 'Pepper' we would have sort of worked on it until we could find some way to put violins or trumpets in there.
But I don't think it needs it, this one.
You know, it's just… There's nothing to the song.
It is just one of those 'pick it and sing it' and that's it.
The only point where we were thinking of putting anything on it is where it comes back in the end… sort of stops and comes back in… but instead of putting any backing on it, we put a blackbird on it.
So there's a blackbird singing at the very end.
And somebody said it was a thrush, but I think it's a blackbird!'JOHN 1980: 'I gave him (Paul) a line on that one.'PAUL circa-1994: 'The original inspiration was from a well-known piece by Bach, which I never know the title of, which George and I had learned to play at an early age – he better than me actually.
Part of its structure is a particular harmonic thing between the melody and the bass line which intrigued me… I developed the melody based on the Bach piece and took it somewhere else, took it to another level, then I just fitted words to it.
I had in my mind a black woman, rather than a bird.
Those were the days of the civil-rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about.
So this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the states… 'Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.' As is often the case with my things, a veiling took place.
So, rather than say 'Black woman living in Little Rock' and be very specific, she became a bird, became symbolic, so you could apply it to your particular problem.' -
03:13 Here Today (Paul McCartney)
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04:08 Back in the U.S.S.R. (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
PAUL 1968: 'Chuck Berry once did a song called 'Back In The USA,' which is very American, very Chuck Berry.
Very sort of, uhh… you know, you're serving in the army, and when I get back home I'm gonna kiss the ground.
And you know – Can't wait to get back to the States.
And it's a very American sort of thing, I've always thought.
So this one is like about… In my mind it's just about a spy who's been in America a long long time, you know, and he's picked up… And he's very American.
But he gets back to the USSR, you know, and he's sort of saying, 'Leave it till tomorrow, honey, to disconnect the phone,' and all that.
And 'Come here honey,' but with Russian women.
It concerns the attributes of Russian women.'JOHN 1980: 'Paul completely.
I play the six-string bass on that.'PAUL 1984: 'I wrote that as a kind of Beach Boys parody.
And 'Back in the USA' was a Chuck Berry song, so it kinda took off from there.
I just liked the idea of Georgia girls and talking about places like the Ukraine as if they were California, you know? It was also hands across the water, which I'm still conscious of.
'Cuz they like us out there, even though the bosses in the Krelmin may not.
The kids do.'PAUL 1986: 'I'm sure it pissed Ringo off when he couldn't quite get the drums to 'Back In The U.S.S.R.' and I sat in.
It's very weird to know that you can do a thing someone else is having trouble with.
If you go down and do it, just bluff right through it, you think, 'What the hell, at least I'm helping.' Then the paranoia comes in – 'But I'm going to show him up!' I was very sensitive to that.' -
02:00 Nod Your Head (Paul McCartney)
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06:02 House of Wax (Paul McCartney)
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05:56 I've Got a Feeling (John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
PAUL 1969: (describing a guitar lick for the middle-eight, during the recording sessions) 'It's coming down too fast – the note.
There shouldn't be any recognizable jumps.
Falling… Falling…' -
03:31 Matchbox (Carl Perkins)
RINGO 1964: 'I'm featured on it.
Actually it was written by Carl Perkins about six years ago.
Carl came to the session.
I felt very embarrassed.
I did it just two days before I went in the hospital (with tonsilitis) so please forgive my throat.' -
04:21 Get Back (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
PAUL 1969: 'We were sitting in the studio and we made it up out of thin air.
We started to write words there and then… When we finished it, we recorded it at Apple Studios and made it into a song to rollercoast by.'JOHN 1980: ''Get Back' is Paul.
That's a better version of 'Lady Madonna.' You know, a potboiler rewrite.' -
00:54 Baby Face (Herry Axt, Benny Davis)
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08:01 Hey Jude (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1968: 'Well, when Paul first sang 'Hey Jude' to me… or played me the little tape he'd made of it… I took it very personally.
'Ah, it's me,' I said, 'It's me.' He says, 'No, it's me.' I said, 'Check.
We're going through the same bit.' So we all are.
Whoever is going through a bit with us is going through it, that's the groove.'JOHN 1972: 'That's his best song.'PAUL 1974: 'I remember I played it to John and Yoko, and I was saying, 'These words won't be on the finished version.' Some of the words were: 'The movement you need is on your shoulder,' and John was saying, 'It's great!' I'm saying, 'It's crazy, it doesn't make any sense at all.' He's saying, 'Sure it does, it's great.''JOHN 1980: 'He said it was written about Julian.
He knew I was splitting with Cyn and leaving Julian then.
He was driving to see Julian to say hello.
He had been like an uncle.
And he came up with 'Hey Jude.' But I always heard it as a song to me.
Now I'm sounding like one of those fans reading things into it… Think about it: Yoko had just come into the picture.
He is saying.
'Hey, Jude' – 'Hey, John.' Subconsciously, he was saying, 'Go ahead, leave me.' On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead.
The angel in him was saying, 'Bless you.' The devil in him didn't like it at all, because he didn't want to lose his partner.'PAUL 1985: 'I remember on 'Hey Jude' telling George not to play guitar.
He wanted to do echo riffs after the vocal phrases, which I didn't think was appropriate.
He didn't see it like that, and it was a bit of a number for me to have to 'dare' to tell George Harrison – who's one of the greats – not to play.
It was like an insult.
But that's how we did alot of our stuff.'PAUL circa-1994: 'There is an amusing story about recording it… Ringo walked out to go to the toilet and I hadn't noticed.
The toilet was only a few yards from his drum booth, but he'd gone past my back and I still thought he was in his drum booth.
I started what was the actual take – and 'Hey Jude' goes on for hours before the drums come in – and while I was doing it I suddenly felt Ringo tiptoeing past my back rather quickly, trying to get to his drums.
And just as he got to his drums, boom boom boom, his timing was absolutely impeccable.' -
03:54 Let It Be (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'That's Paul… I think it was inspired by 'Bridge Over Troubled Water.' That's my feeling, although I have nothing to go on.
I know he wanted to write a 'Bridge Over Troubled Water.''PAUL 1986: 'I had alot of bad times in the '60s.
We used to lie in bed and wonder what was going on and feel quite paranoid.
Probably all the drugs.
I had a dream one night about my mother.
She died when I was fourteen so I hadn't really heard from her in quite a while, and it was very good.
It gave me some strength.'PAUL circa-1994: 'One night during this tense time I had a dream I saw my mum, who'd been dead ten years or so.
And it was great to see her because that's a wonderful thing about dreams, you actually are reunited with that person for a second… In the dream she said, 'It'll be alright.' I'm not sure if she used the words 'Let it be' but that was the gist of her advice, it was 'Don't worry too much, it will turn out okay.' It was such a sweet dream I woke up thinking, 'Oh, it was really great to visit with her again.' I felt very blessed to have that dream.' -
03:34 Lady Madonna (Paul McCartney – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
RINGO 1968: 'It sounds like Elvis, doesn't it? No, it doesn't sound like Elvis… it IS Elvis.
Even those bits where he goes very high.'JOHN 1980: 'Paul.
Good piano lick, but the song never really went anywhere.
Maybe I helped him on some of the lyrics.'PAUL 1986: ''Lady Madonna' is all women.
How do they do it? – bless 'em.
Baby at your breast, how do they get the time to feed them? Where do they get the money? How do you do this thing that women do?'PAUL circa-1994: 'The original concept was the Virgin Mary, but it quickly became symbolic of every woman – the Madonna image but as applied to ordinary working-class women.
'Lady Madonna' was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing.
It reminded me of Fats Domino for some reason, so I started singing a Fats Domino impression.
It took my voice to a very odd place.' -
03:25 I Saw Her Standing There (John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'That's Paul doing his usual job of producing what George Martin used to call a 'potboiler.' I helped with a couple of the lyrics.'PAUL 1988: 'I wrote it with John.
We sagged off school and wrote it on guitars.
I remember I had the lyrics, 'Just seventeen/Never been a beauty queen,' which John… it was one of the first times he ever went, 'What? Must change that!' And it became, 'you know what I mean.''PAUL circa-1994: 'Sometimes we would just start a song from scratch, but one of us would nearly always have a germ of an idea, a title, or a rough little thing they were thinking about and we'd do it.
'I Saw Her Standing There' was my original.
I'd started it and I had the first verse, which therefore gave me the tune, the tempo, and the key.
It gave you the subject matter, alot of information, and then you had to fill in.
So it was co-written… and we finished it that day. -
04:25 Coming Up (Soundcheck) (Paul McCartney)
