Behka’s Breakfast with The Beatles Recap: Week of March 31

I play something from The Beatles every day to kick off the morning show at 6:00 a.m. They’re my favorite band, it’s my show, and I get to indulge a little. Here’s a look at all the songs I’ve played this week if you missed em.

On Monday, I played "Got to Get You into My Life".

"Got to Get You into My Life" is a song first released in 1966 on the album Revolver. It was written by Paul McCartney. The song is a soulful Motown homage with colorful brass instrumentation, and lyrics that suggest a psychedelic experience. The Beatles' version was released in the United States as a single from the Rock 'n' Roll Music compilation album in 1976, a decade after its initial release and six years after the Beatles split up. It reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the Beatles' last top ten U.S. hit until their 1995 release "Free as a Bird". McCartney disclosed that the song was about marijuana. "'Got to Get You into My Life' was one I wrote when I had first been introduced to pot ... So [it's] really a song about that, it's not to a person."

On Tuesday, I played "Do You Want to Know a Secret".

"Do You Want to Know a Secret" is a song by from the 1963 album Please Please Me, sung by George Harrison. In the United States, it was the first top ten song to feature Harrison as a lead singer, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard chart in 1964 as a single released by Vee-Jay, VJ 587. The song reached the No. 1 position on Billboard in 1981 and No. 2 in the United Kingdom in a cover version by Stars on 45 as part of a medley. The song was inspired by "I'm Wishing", a tune from Walt Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which Lennon's mother, Julia Lennon, would sing to him as a child. The first two lines of the song in Disney's movie ("Want to know a secret? Promise not to tell?") come right after the opening lyrics ("You'll never know how much I really love you... You'll never know how much I really care..."). McCartney said it was a "50–50 collaboration written to order", i.e., for Harrison to sing.

On Wednesday, I played "In My Life".

"In My Life" is a song on the 1965 album Rubber Soul written mainly by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song originated with Lennon, and while Paul McCartney contributed to the final version, he and Lennon later disagreed over the extent of his contributions (specifically the melody). George Martin contributed the instrumental bridge. Lennon wrote a song in the form of a long poem reminiscing on his childhood years. The original version of the lyrics was based on a bus route he used to take in Liverpool, naming various sites seen along the way, including Penny Lane and Strawberry Field. Those original lyrics are on display at The British Museum. However, Lennon found it to be "ridiculous", calling it "the most boring sort of 'What I Did On My Holidays Bus Trip' song"; he reworked the words, replacing the specific memories with a generalised meditation on his past.

On Thursday, I played "Rain".

"Rain" is a song released in June 1966 as the B-side of the "Paperback Writer" single. Both songs were recorded during the sessions for the album Revolver though neither appears on that album. Written by John Lennon, "Rain" has been called the Beatles' finest B-side, noted for its slowed-down rhythm track and backwards vocals, both of which were a hint of things to come on Revolver, released two months later. The inspiration for "Rain" a moment in the band's arrival in Melbourne, Australia, marked by rain and poor weather. Lennon said, "I've never seen rain as hard as that, except in Tahiti", and later explained that "Rain" was "about people moaning about the weather all the time". I figured it was appropriate with all our watery weather this week to play something suited for it.

On Friday, I played "Yellow Submarine".

"Yellow Submarine" is a 1966 song included on the Revolver album and issued as a single, coupled with "Eleanor Rigby". The single went to number 1 on every major British chart, remained at number 1 for four weeks and charted for 13 weeks. It became the title song of the 1968 animated United Artists film, also called Yellow Submarine, and the soundtrack album to the film, released as part of the Beatles' music catalog. Although intended as a nonsense song for children, "Yellow Submarine" received various social and political interpretations at the time. George Martin drew on his experience as a producer of comedy records for Beyond the Fringe and The Goon Show, providing an array of zany sound effects to create the nautical atmosphere.

Let me know if there's a song you want to hear next week!

Submarinely yours,
Behka