Behka’s Breakfast with The Beatles Recap: Week of May 26

Here's a rundown of all the songs I played this week on our opening segment, Breakfast with Behka and The Beatles. On Monday, I played "Act Naturally".

"Act Naturally" is a song written by Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison, originally recorded by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, whose version reached number 1 on the Billboard Country Singles chart in 1963. The Beatles covered the song in 1965 on the United Kingdom version of their album Help!. It was released as the B-side of "Yesterday" in the United States. It was the last cover they recorded until the Get Back/Let It Be sessions in 1969.

On Tuesday, I played "Love You To".

"Love You To" is a song by the Beatles from the album Revolver. It is sung and written by George Harrison and features Indian classical instrumentation: tabla, a pair of hand-drums, sitar and a tambura providing a drone. "Love You To" was the first Beatles song that seriously attempted to incorporate Indian classical music and has even been hailed as the first pop song to emulate a non-western form in structure and instrumentation. As such, it first introduced Western pop music fans to the eastern, Indian music that Harrison would promote for the rest of his career.

On Wednesday, I played "Sexy Sadie".

John Lennon originally wanted to title the song "Maharishi", but changed the title to "Sexy Sadie" at George Harrison's request. Lennon was disillusioned after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had allegedly made a sexual advance towards Mia Farrow attending the course the Maharishi was teaching at his ashram. After returning from India, Lennon scratched the lyrics into a piece of wood, with the original title "Maharishi". The recorded version changed only after Harrison insisted that if the song were used he wanted the name changed and persuaded Lennon to change the title to "Sexy Sadie". This song was one of the selections Charles Manson took to mean The Beatles were speaking to him before the infamous Tate/LaBianca murders. Manson thought the group was referring to a member of their Family, Sadie Mae Glutz, aka Susan Atkins.

On Thursday, I played "Fool On The Hill".

This version is a demo recording that was released on The Beatles Anthology. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and recorded in 1967. It was included on the Magical Mystery Tour EP and album, and presented in the Magical Mystery Tour film, with a promotional sequence shot near Nice, in France from 30–31 October 1967. The song's lyrics describe the titular "fool", a solitary figure who is not understood by others, but is actually wise. McCartney said the song relates to someone like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

On Friday, I played "I've Got A Feeling".

"I've Got a Feeling" is a song by the Beatles, from the 1970 album Let It Be. It is one of the songs on the album from the rooftop concert. It is a combination of three unfinished songs: Paul McCartney's "I've Got a Feeling", John Lennon's "Everybody Had a Hard Year" from the White Album sessions (where it was demoed as "Everyone Had a Hard Year") and "Watching Rainbows." McCartney's song was written for his girlfriend Linda Eastman, whom he soon married, telling her that she was the girl he had always been looking for. Lennon's song was a litany where every line started with the word "everybody". While McCartney's song was very optimistic, Lennon had actually had a hard year—he divorced his wife, Cynthia Lennon, his girlfriend Yoko Ono had a miscarriage, he was arrested for drug possession, and he had grown deeply unhappy in the Beatles.

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

Foolishly yours,
Behka