Hello, Goodbye singing Eight Days A Week When I’m Sixty Four With A Little Help From My Friends

Last week was such a long work week, even though it was a 4-day week… I still logged a full week’s worth of hours, though, cramming 5 days of work into 4. And here we are, it’s Monday already! I need a vacation…

But since it is Monday, Monday means music! For this new year, the 4M crew is operating a bit differently. If you have a theme idea, submit your request by email. Each person’s suggestion(s) will be credited accordingly – unless someone wants to volunteer for the monthly co-host spot, then we won’t be looking for anyone to fill it in 2023. It’s tough to commit for 4-weeks. The object is to keep things fun!

For this week, our friend and long time MMMM participant Patrick of Adventures in Weseland chose the theme: “Yesterday was Global Beatles Day, let’s share songs about the Beatles, by the Beatles, or and the members of the band.” Let’s get this Beatles party started!

Let’s start with a song written by Paul McCartney. When his friend Alistair Taylor was visiting him, he asked Paul one day how he wrote his many songs, and how he came up with his ideas. Paul took him into his dining room to give him a demonstration of his hand-carved harmonium. As an experiment, Paul asked Taylor to shout out the opposite of whatever he sang, such as black and white, yes and no, hello and goodbye, etc. From this, the song was born.

Rumor has it that John Lennon hated the song. He viewed it as an inconsequential song of McCartney’s, saying it was “three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions.” 

Shortly after this was released, McCartney explained:

“The answer to everything is simple. It’s a song about everything and nothing. If you have black you have to have white. That’s the amazing thing about life.”

Give a listen to The Beatles with “Hello, Goodbye”:

Next up, is a song that was the first pop song to fade up from silence. This was risky because radio stations abhor silence, the The Beatles could get away with it. They wrote this song for the movie Help, which was at one point titled “Eight Arms to Hold You”.

This song was used in the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, and also in an episode of the TV show Scrubs.

Give a listen to The Beatles with “Eight Days A Week”:

Next up, is a song that Paul McCartney wrote the music for when he was about 15, and used to play it when The Beatles were still known as The Quarrymen. He put lyrics to it later in honor of his father’s 64th birthday. George Martin arranged this in the style of a 1920’s big band, which came to be known as “retro-rock”, and was the first song recorded for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

This was a favorite of The Beatles at their early club shows, where they were required to play for hours. When their amps overheated, they would sing this around the piano. This song was also used in the Robin Williams movie, The World According to Garp.

Here’s The Beatles with “When I’m Sixty Four”:

Last, but certainly not least, we’re going to switch things up a bit with a cover on a Beatles Song (especially since this cover is one of my favorites). John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote this song. The Beatles recorded it a year earlier, but never released it as a single.

The Beatles were so impressed with this artist’s version of this that they sent him a telegram of congratulations and placed an ad in the music papers praising it.

Here’s Joe Cocker with “With A Little Help From My Friends”:

That’s a wrap for this week – see you on the dance floor!

Now on to the particulars of Monday’s Music Move’s Me:  

I have the supreme honor and privilege of being a co-host with the inimitable Xmas Dolly and our musical cohort, the awesome Cathy from Curious as a CAThy, and Alana of Ramblin’ with AM!

Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it and link up – don’t forget to grab Xmas Dolly…er, um, I mean her button…over at her place here. Check out Xmas Dolly’s sidebar for the random themes we sport each week – and you can always ask for a specific theme of music you like, too. Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!

Patrick of Adventures in Weseland