Behka’s Breakfast with the Beatles Recap: Week of November 18

Here on the morning show, I decided not too long ago to start a new segment.  I'm a huge fan of The Beatles, and I've found out that a lot of you guys are, too.  So I thought, why not start our day off right at the beginning of the show with a different Beatle song every day?  That's exactly what I did! However, I know some of you out there aren't exactly early birds - 6:00 a.m. is pretty dang early, after all.  And some of you might have caught the end of a song or just missed it, and so I thought I'd post some audio and videos of the songs I used each day, and I'll tell you what I know about em here, too.

On Monday we played an alternate version of the Revolver song "And Your Bird Can Sing".

This is an earlier version of the song - the jangly guitars sounded a little too much like The Byrds, so they ended up going in a different direction. But before they did, they got pretty far in the mix and overdub process.  And this take was John and Paul attempting to do some double tracking and harmonies, but they keep cracking up.  About what, we may never know.  But it's a charming little look into the not always serious recording process, and I thought, why not have a giggle on a Monday.

On Tuesday, I chose a song from The Beatles (The White Album) called "Savoy Truffle".

This song was written and sung by George Harrison. It's a bit of a humorous take on his best friend, Eric Clapton.  Eric was well known at the time to have a huge sweet tooth.  He loved the brand of chocolate called Good News the most, and he ate so much that George teased him about losing all his teeth.

On Wednesday, I chose "I Wanna Be Your Man".

This song is an early one, that was originally put on the record With The Beatles. It has Ringo taking the lead vocal, and was written originally for recording by The Rolling Stones.  The Stones did in fact record it, but really mostly because their record label, Decca, wanted to market a single associated with The Beatles (who were more popular at the time).  The story behind this one says that John and Paul wrote it in about ten minutes in a rehearsal room in front of the Stones, mostly to show off.

On Thursday, we played  "I'll Cry Instead".

This song was written by  John Lennon to be in their movie, "A Hard Day's Night".  It was written specifically for their "getting out" montage, if you've ever seen the movie.  However, at the last minute the director decided to use "Can't Buy Me Love", and as a result the song wasn't in the movie.  In re-release, the song was used over a photo montage at the start of the film, before the opening sequence.  It was spliced together from two different takes, and actually in the USA version, there's an extra verse.

On Friday, I put on "Across the Universe".

This is another debated track.  This song was originally caught up in the fitful sessions for the album Let it Be.  The Beatles were fighting a lot at the time, and ended up abandoning the album and the film attached.  Everyone but Paul decided to give it to one of the most prominent producers at the time, Phil Spector, and tell him to "fix it".   So, Spector did what he does: he added his famous "Wall of Sound", meaning  he put tons of overdubs of singers, brass, and orchestras on it.  But, he also slowed down the actual vocal track itself, causing it to sound (in my mind) a little off and whiny.  

Have a great week, and if you're a Beatle fan, tune in Monday at 6:00 a.m. to hear what I'll put on next.  If you have a request or a special Beatle tune you want to hear, let me know!

Beatlerifficly yours,

Behka