Behka's Breakfast with The Beatles Recap

I host the morning show now here on Bob, and every morning I start my show by playing some Beatles. Here's a look at all the songs I played this week.
On Monday, I played "You Really Got a Hold On Me".

"You've Really Got a Hold on Me" is a song written by Smokey Robinson which became a 1962 Top 10 hit single for the Miracles on the Motown label. It has also been selected as one of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was covered by The Beatles on their second album, With The Beatles. I think this one in particular is a great example of how the group made these cover songs distinct, and gave it their own feel. John Lennon's vocals in particular are very evocative here.

On Tuesday, I played "I Feel Fine".

"I Feel Fine" is a riff-driven rock song written by John Lennon, it came out 1964 as the A-side of their eighth British single. The song is notable for being one of the first uses of guitar feedback in popular music. Lennon loved technology, and when the feedback was coincidentally recorded during the I Feel Fine session, liked the sound of it and placed it at the beginning of the song. Both John Lennon and George Harrison said that the riff was influenced by a riff in "Watch Your Step", a 1961 release written and performed by Bobby Parker and covered by the Beatles in concerts during 1961 and 1962.

On Wednesday, I played "All You Need is Love".

It was first performed by the Beatles on Our World, the first live global television link. Watched by over 150 million in 26 countries, the program was broadcast via satellite on 25 June 1967. The BBC had commissioned the Beatles to write a song for the United Kingdom's contribution. The Beatles were asked to come up with a song with a message understood by everyone.

On Thursday, I played "I Need You".

This one is probably my top two favorite George Harrison songs. It is the second George Harrison song the band released after two albums without any songwriting contribution from Harrison. The song was performed in their second film, Help! and is the second video produced showing George Harrison singing lead vocal on a song (after "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" from A Hard Day's Night). The recording's distinctive lead guitar is achieved by Harrison's first recorded use of a wah-wah pedal.

On Friday, I played "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da".

This one was written by Paul McCartney and released on their 1968 album The Beatles (commonly called The White Album). It was released as a single that same year in many countries, but not in the United Kingdom, nor in the United States until 1976. Paul McCartney wrote the song around the time that highlife and reggae were beginning to become popular in Britain. The starting lyric: – "Desmond has a barrow in the market-place" was a reference to the first internationally-renowned Jamaican ska and reggae performer Desmond Dekker who had just had a successful tour of the UK. The tag line "ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, bra" was an expression used by Nigerian conga player Jimmy Scott-Emuakpor, an acquaintance of McCartney. John Lennon "openly and vocally detested" the song, calling it Paul's "granny music s**t". Lennon left the studio during a recording of the song (after several days and literally dozens of takes of the song, trying different tempos and styles), then returned while under the influence of marijuana, went immediately to the piano and played the opening chords much louder and faster than before. He claimed that was how the song should be played, and that is the version they ended up using. You can hear him at the end of the recording saying "Thank You", being happy that the recording was finally over.

Let me know if there's something you want to hear next week. We'll start up on Monday at 6:00 a.m.!

Beat-lessly yours,
Behka