Behka’s Breakfast with the Beatles Recap: Week of April 21

Every morning at 6:00 a.m. to begin the morning show, I play a song by my favorite band, the Beatles. I try to give you some trivia about the track and its recording, and then we all learn a little something. On Monday, I played "Rock and Roll Music."

This one is a 1957 hit single written and recorded by rock and roll icon Chuck Berry. The song has been widely covered and is recognized as one of Berry's most popular and enduring compositions. The Beatles performed the song in many of their early Hamburg shows, and also played it on the BBC show 'Pop Go The Beatles.' In late 1964, exhausted from non-stop touring and recording and short of original material, they decided to record several of their old rock and rhythm and blues favorites to fill out their LP release Beatles for Sale. Among these was a version of Berry's tune that eventually became as well known as the original. The lead vocal in The Beatles' version was performed by John Lennon. In contrast to Berry's even-toned rendition, Lennon sang it as loudly and dynamically as his voice would permit.

On Tuesday, I played "Day Tripper."

Under the pressure of needing a new single for the Christmas market, John Lennon wrote much of the music and most of the lyrics, while Paul McCartney worked on the verses. Lennon later cited Bobby Parker's 1961 song 'Watch Your Step' as his inspiration for the famous guitar riff. In his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, however, Lennon used "Day Tripper" as one example of their collaboration where one partner had the main idea but the other took up the cause and completed it. For his part, McCartney claimed it was very much a collaboration based on Lennon's original idea. In "Many Years From Now," McCartney said that "Day Tripper" was about drugs, and "a tongue-in-cheek song about someone who was committed only in part to the idea."

On Wednesday, I played "I'm Down."

The Beatles recorded "I'm Down" on June 14, 1965 in the same session as "Yesterday" and "I've Just Seen a Face." The official release date for the "Help"/"I'm Down" single was July 19, 1965 on Capitol Records in the United States and July 23 on Parlophone in the United Kingdom. "I'm Down" was never released on an official Beatle studio album and was only available in the US in mono as the B-side of the "Help!" single until the summer of 1976. That year, it appeared in stereo on Rock 'n' Roll Music, a compilation LP released in the US by Capitol featuring up tempo Beatles' tracks. The first CD release was in 1988 on the compilation 'Past Masters, Volume One,' where it appeared in true stereo.

On Thursday, I played "I'm Only Sleeping."

The first draft of Lennon's lyrics for "I'm Only Sleeping", written on the back of a letter from 1966, suggests that he was writing about the joys of staying in bed rather than any drug euphoria sometimes read into the lyrics. While not on tour, due to his lack of routine, Lennon would often spend his time sleeping, reading, writing or watching television, often under the influence of drugs, and would often have to be woken by McCartney for songwriting sessions. In a London Evening Standard article published on March 4, 1966, which contained quotes from an interview in which Lennon made his "more popular than Jesus" remark, Maureen Cleave, a friend of Lennon's, wrote, "He can sleep almost indefinitely, is probably the laziest person in England." 'Physically lazy,' he said. 'I don't mind writing or reading or watching or speaking, but sex is the only physical thing I can be bothered with any more.'"

On Friday, I played "Help!"

"Help!" is a song by the Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom. "Help!" was written by John Lennon, and during an interview with Playboy in 1980, Lennon recounted: "The whole Beatles thing was just beyond comprehension. I was subconsciously crying out for help." In the 1970 Rolling Stone "Lennon Remembers" interviews, Lennon said it was one of his favorites among the Beatles songs he wrote, but he wished they had recorded it at a slower tempo. In these interviews, Lennon said he felt that "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were his most honest, genuine Beatles songs and not just songs "written to order."

Let me know if there's something you'd like to hear next week. Let me know here, or give me a call at 826-9210!

Helpfully yours,
Behka