Beatle references
A little game the Beatles liked to play, was to name titles or characters from older songs in new songs. After the split up, they also wrote solo songs about each other, cleverly disguised or clearly audible.
Probably the most obvious reference from one Beatles song to another, Lennon and McCartney sing She Loves You (and Yesterday) over the fade out of All You Need Is Love, the Lennon song for the international television broadcast Our World. It was Lennon who sang the songs as an ironic commentary of sorts on the montage. It was then done the same during the broadcast and left into the final version.
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The next recording to be referenced by the group themselves, was Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, from 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Below is the third verse from I Am The Walrus, released on the Magical Mystery Tour album later that same year.
Mister city policeman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row
See how they fly like Lucy in the sky, see how they run
I’m crying, I’m crying, I’m crying, I’m crying
Lucy, the song’s title being inspired by a school drawing of Lennon’s son Julian, depicting his classmate Lucy O’Donnell, was also namechecked by Pink Floyd on Let There Be More Light, the opening track on 1968’s A Saucerful Of Secrets, and by Dream Theater on Octavarium, the title track of the 2005 record.
I Am The Walrus was one of five songs being namechecked in Glass Onion, from 1968’s white double album The Beatles. It is likely that John Lennon got tired of people overanalyzing his lyrics so he wrote down some meaningless nonsense, referencing other songs and even telling people “Here’s another clue for you all: the walrus was Paul”.
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I told you ‘bout Strawberry Fields
You know, the place where nothing is real
Well, here’s another place you can go
Where everything flows
Looking through the bent-backed tulips
To see how the other half live
Looking through a glass onion
I told you ‘bout the walrus and me, man
You know that we’re as close as can be, man
Well, here’s another clue for you all
The walrus was Paul
Standing on the cast iron shore, yeah
Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet, yeah
Looking through a glass onion
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah
Looking through a glass onion
I told you ‘bout the fool on the hill
I tell you, man, he living there still
Well, here’s another place you can be
Listen to me
Fixin’ the hole in the ocean
Tryin’ to make a dovetail joint, yeah
Looking through a glass onion
It will probably be obvious which songs Lennon is quoting. Strawberry Fields Forever was released as a double sided nostalgic single with McCartney’s Penny Lane and also appeared on the Magical Mystery Tour album. According to Wikipedia, “it was inspired by Lennon’s memories of playing in the garden of a Salvation Army (the world famous charity organisation) house named Strawberry Field near his childhood home.”
As in the Beatles’ single chronology, I Am The Walrus is followed by McCartney’s Lady Madonna in the second verse. Macca’s Fats Domino impersonation about an overworked, exhausted mother was released in March 1968.
The final verse references The Fool On The Hill, a Paul McCartney song from the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour EP and album about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the ‘giggling guru’, and Fixing A Hole, another McCartney song about… well, about mending a hole in the roof of your home or about “the hole in the road where the rain gets in”. One verse is about the fans which would hang around Paul’s house day and night.
As in the Beatles’ single chronology, I Am The Walrus is followed by McCartney’s Lady Madonna in the second verse. Macca’s Fats Domino impersonation about an overworked, exhausted mother was released in March 1968.
The final verse references The Fool On The Hill, a Paul McCartney song from the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour EP and album about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the ‘giggling guru’, and Fixing A Hole, another McCartney song about… well, about mending a hole in the roof of your home or about “the hole in the road where the rain gets in”. One verse is about the fans which would hang around Paul’s house day and night.
See the people standing there who disagree and never win
And wonder why they don’t get in my door
On the same white album, George Harrison’s Savoy Truffle, about Eric Clapton’s chocolate addiction, quotes McCartney’s Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, which appeared earlier on the same record.
You know that what you eat you are
But what is sweet now, turns so sour
We all know Ob-la-di-bla-da
But can you show me where you are?
The B-side to Ringo Starr’s April 1971 hitsingle It Don’t Come Easy was Early 1970. Written with the working title When Four Knights Come To Town, it was first played in a studio during sessions for John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band album in October 1970. It was then recorded and produced by Starr (acoustic guitar, piano, drums and vocals) and George Harrison (guitar, bass and backing vocals).
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Lives on a farm, got plenty of charm, beep, beep
He’s got no cows but he’s sure got a whole lotta sheep
And brand new wife and a family
And when he comes to town
I wonder if he’ll play with me
Laying in bed, watching tv, cookie!
With his mama by his side, she’s Japanese
They scream and they cried, now they’re free
And when he comes to town
I know he’s gonna play with me
He’s a long-haired, cross-legged guitar picker, um-um
With his long-legged lady in the garden picking daisies for his soup
A forty acre house he doesn’t see
‘Cause he’s always in town
Playing for you with me
I play guitar, A D E
I don’t play bass ‘cause that’s too hard for me
I play the piano if it’s in C
And when I go to town I wanna see all three
And when I go to town I wanna see all three
And when I go to town I wanna see all three
Each of the four verses refer to a Beatle: the first is about Paul McCartney, who was then trying to leave the band (hence the “I wonder if he’ll play with me” line), the second about John Lennon (watching TV with his Japanese mama after screaming himself to freedom), the third about George Harrison (the guitar picker who rarely sees his huge house ‘cause he’s playing with Ringo) and the final verse makes fun of Ringo’s musical shortcomings.
After the Beatles did split up, John Lennon released the succesfull Plastic Ono Band record in December 1970. One of the songs, God, sparked some controversy as it dealt with religious themes. Lennon made a list with things and people he didn’t believe in, including the Bible, Hitler, Jesus, Kennedy, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan (aka Zimmerman) and then proceeded with:
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I don’t believe in Beatles
I just believe in me, Yoko and me, and that’s reality
The dream is over, what can I say?
The dream is over yesterday
I was the dreamweaver but now I’m reborn
I was the walrus but now I’m John
One guy who didn’t agree with Lennon was David Bowie, who in his 2002 song Afraid did sing “I believe in Beatles”.
The next year, Paul McCartney released his second solo elpee, Ram. After the hitsingle Another Day, the next single was Too Many People.
The next year, Paul McCartney released his second solo elpee, Ram. After the hitsingle Another Day, the next single was Too Many People.
That was your first mistake
You took your lucky break and broke it in two
Now what can be done for you
You broke it in two
Too many people preaching practices
Don’t let them tell you what you wanna be
Too many people holding back
This is crazy and maybe it’s not like me
In a 1984 interview with Playboy, McCartney admitted these lines were written with Lennon in mind: “There was one tiny little reference to John in Ram. He’d been doing a lot of preaching, and it got up my nose a little bit. In one song, I wrote ‘Too many people preaching practices’, I think is the line. I mean, that was a little dig at John and Yoko. There wasn’t anything else on it that was about them. Oh, there was ‘You took your lucky break and broke it in two’... They thought the whole album was about them. And then they got very upset... That was the kind of thing that would happen. They’d take one small dig out of proportion and then come back at us in their next album.” Which is exactly what John Lennon, in his own unique way, did.
So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise
You better see right through that mother’s eyes
Those freaks was right when they said you was dead
The one mistake you made was in your head
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?
You live with straights who tell you you was king
Jump when your momma tell you anything
The only thing you done was yesterday
And since you’re gone you’re just another day
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?
A pretty face may last a year or two
But pretty soon they’ll see what you can do
The sound you make is muzak to my ears
You must have learned something in all those years
Ah, how do you sleep?
Ah, how do you sleep at night?
A clear attack on McCartney’s songwriting capabilities, How Do You Sleep? appeared on 1971’s Imagine. Preceding the first line, about the landmark Sgt. Pepper’s album, are ambient sounds which resemble those heard at the beginning of Sgt. Pepper’s. The lines “The only thing you done was yesterday / and since you’ve gone you’re just another day” reference McCartney’s 1965 Beatles song Yesterday and his 1971 solo single Another Day. Lennon even scratched the line “You probably pinched that bitch anyway”, referring to the many times McCartney asked people if they had already heard Yesterday as he wasn’t sure if he nicked it.
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In the famous 1980 Playboy interview, Lennon said: “You know, I wasn’t really feeling that vicious at the time. I don’t really go ‘round with those thoughts in my head all the time. But I was using my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and the Beatles, and the relationship with Paul, to create a song, let’s put it that way. He saw that it pointedly refers to him, and people kept hounding him about it. But, you know, there were a few digs on his album before mine. He’s so obscure other people didn't notice them, but I heard them. I thought 'Well, I’m not obscure, I just get right down to the nitty-gritty.' So he’d done it his way and I did it mine. But as to the line you quoted, yeah, I think Paul died creatively, in a way.”
The song features Lennon on vocals and piano and a slide guitar part by George Harrison. Ringo Starr was there when the album was recorded and was reportedly upset when he heard Lennon singing How Do You Sleep?, saying “That’s enough, John”.
The same summer Imagine was recorded, George Harrison wrote the title track for what would become the follow up to his succesfull solo debut All Things Must Pass, 1973’s Living In The Material World.
Met them all there in the material world
John and Paul here in the material world
Though we started out quite poor we got ‘Richie’ on a tour
Got caught up in the material world
It will be obvious who John and Paul are. ‘Richie’ is both a reference to getting wealthy on tour and to sacking Beatles drummer Pete Best and replacing him with Richard ‘Ritchie’ Starkey. The former then became Ringo Starr, who is one of the two drummers on the track and provides a fill after the ‘Richie’ line.
The opening track on the 1973 Ringo album was one of those rare instances when three Beatles were recording a track together after the split up. I’m The Greatest was written by John Lennon, who plays piano and sings backing vocals, for Ringo Starr, who sings and plays drums. George Harrison added electric guitar, while Billy Preston on organ and Klaus Voormann on bass complemented the line up for the track. It is the only song which matches the line up of the Ladders, the band Harrison wanted to form after the Beatles.
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When I was a little boy
Way back home in Liverpool
My mama told me, I was great
Then when I was a teenager
I knew that I had got something going
All my friends told me I was great
And now I’m a man
A woman took me by the hand
And you know what she told me, I was great
I was in the greatest show on earth
For what it was worth
Now I’m only thirty-two
And all I wanna do, is boogaloo
I looked in the mirror
I saw my wife and kids
And you know what they told me I was great
Yes, my name is Billy Shears
You know it has been for so many years
Now I’m only thirty-two
And all I wanna do, is boogaloo
I’m the greatest and you better believe it, baby
I’m gonna be the greatest in this world (ho!)
In the next world and in any world (hey!)
The song sounds a lot like an outtake from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: Billy Shears was Ringo’s alias and public noises were added to recreate the vibe of the landmark album.
The first time Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr recorded a track together since Harrison’s I Me Mine for the Beatles album Let It Be was for a tribute to their former band member, the then recently murdered John Lennon. The track was first recorded by Harrison and Starr, with vocals by Starr, in November 1980. After Lennon’s death the next month, Harrison recorded his own vocals with new lyrics. Paul McCartney, his wife Linda Eastman and their Wings bandmate Denny Laine then added backing vocals. All Those Years Ago was released as a single in May 1981.
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I’m talking all about how to give
They don’t act with much honesty
But you point the way to the truth when you say
All you need is love
We’re living in a bad dream
They’ve forgotten all about mankind
And you were the one they backed up to the wall
All those years ago
You were the one who imagined it all
All those years ago
When We Was Fab is the second single from George Harrison’s final solo album, 1987’s Cloud Nine. The song’s subject is sixties Beatlemania and references at least three songs from the decade: Bob Dylan’s It’s All Over Now Baby Blue, the Miracles’ You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me (covered on 1963’s With The Beatles) and - although indirectly - the Beatles’ Taxman, a Harrison track about the ridiculous amounts of taxes they had to pay.
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Back then long time ago when grass was green
Woke up in a daze
Arrived like stangers in the night
Fab - long time ago when we was fab
Fab - back when income tax was all we had
Caresses fleeced you in the morning light
Casualties at dawn
And we did it all
Fab - long time ago when we was fab
Fab - in my world you are my only love
And while you’re in this world
The fuzz gonna come and claim you
But you mo better wise
When the buzz gonna come and take you away
Take you away, take you away
The microscopes that magnified the tears
Studied warts and all
Still the life flows on and on
Fab - long time ago when we was fab
Fab - but it’s all over now baby
Fab - long time ago when we was fab
Fab - like this pullover you sent to me
Fab - and you’ve really got a hold on me
Fab - long time ago when we was fab
Not only the song’s lyrics refer to the Fab Four, the videoclip is also worth a closer look. For example, the busking George Harrison is playing in his Sgt. Pepper’s costume for a short while. After the “The microscopes that magnified the tears” line, the violins play a melody that seems to come straight from I Am The Walrus. In the videoclip, a walrus with a lefthanded bass guitar and Ringo Starr on drums appear besides Harrison, while Phil Collins, holding an example of Lennon’s Imagine album, walks by. Other celebrities to feature in the clip are Elton John, Jeff Lynne and Paul Simon. During the third chorus, a green apple interrupts Harrison from playing the guitar - a clear reference to the Apple Records label.
Of course, when George Harrison died on November 29, 2001, his close friend Ringo Starr recorded a tribute song as well. Never Without You was released on the 2003 album Ringo Rama as well as on single. Ringo: “I called Eric Clapton up and it was great to have him. I really wanted him on this song because George loved Eric and Eric loved George.” The Harrison penned songs that Ringo mentions are Within You Without You (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band), Here Comes The Sun (Abbey Road) and I Dig Love and All Things Must Pass (All Things Must Pass).
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Every part of you was in your song, now we will carry on
Never without you, within you without you
Here Comes The Sun is about you / I Dig Love is about you
I know all things must pass and only love will last
I’ll always love the memory of you and me