Salon.com > The Beatles

“No Pakistanis”: The racial satire the Beatles don’t want you to hear

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Imagine that a popular American rock band – say, the Black Keys – wrote a song about immigrants. There are too many of them, the lyrics suggest, and they take jobs away from native-born workers. The chorus recommends that they go back to their countries of origin, where they really belong. Though the song was meant to satirize xenophobia, “No Mexicans” could be easily interpreted as an anthem of racism.

This was the situation that the Beatles faced in 1969, when they first concocted the song that would become “Get Back.” Better known as a playful take on counterculture, starring the gender-bending Sweet Loretta Martin and the grass-smoking Jo-Jo, the song originally dealt with South Asian immigration to the United Kingdom. The strange story of "Get Back," its politics, and its bootlegs tells us much about the limits of what musicians, even hugely popular and politically engaged ones, can say in popular music -- and what's at stake in the battle over file-sharing and free culture today.

Check out these never-before-seen photos of the Beatles

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:18:00 +0000

Photographer Henry Grossman, who has taken classic shots of celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Jimi Hendrix and seven presidents, is releasing a collection of over 1,000 mostly never-before-seen images of the Beatles in his book, "Places I Remember: My Time With the Beatles."

Unprecedented in its scope and intimacy, "this is among the most significant collection of Beatles images in existence, both artistically and historically," said book co-editor Kevin Ryan.

Grossman first got access to the band in 1964, when he first photographed them during their first performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." By 1965, he was traveling with the group as a companion, and continued to capture private moments for the next three years. "From private moments at home with their loved ones, to late-night parties and recording sessions," the press release states, "Grossman took more photos of The Beatles over a longer period of time than any other photographer."

White on white on “White Album”

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:48:00 +0000

Rutherford Chang, “We Buy White Albums” at Recess gallery (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)

The record store experience currently inhabiting Recess gallery’s SoHo space feels like any other vinyl hub: bins of albums to flip through in the center, staff picks on the walls, a turntable rotating with scratchy music. Yet this one has a surreal twist: the only thing in stock here is the Beatles’s White Album, and the store doesn’t sell any of them, it only acquires more.

A project of New York and Shanghai-based Rutherford Chang, We Buy White Albums includes nearly 700 copies of the 1968 double-LP first edition of the White Album, all the personal collection of Chang. Each album is marked with a distinct serial number on the bottom corner of the starkly designed cover by Richard Hamilton, a totally white cover that’s readily attracted the wandering drawings of (possibly stoned) listeners, the visible stains of coffee cups, and some mold.

Must-see morning clip: Terry Jones drowned out by “All You Need Is Love”

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:40:00 +0000

The New York Times posted this video of anti-Islam Pastor Terry Jones being drowned out by people in Times Square singing "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles.

Watch:

Ravi Shankar hated being linked to drugs

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Ravi Shankar, the sitarist and composer known for bringing India’s traditional sitar music to the masses worldwide via The Beatles, died yesterday near his home in Southern California. The 92-year-old father of singer Norah Jones and sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar had suffered from upper respiratory and heart ailments, and underwent heart-valve replacement surgery last week. Shankar is credited with introducing the sitar to rock music, and worked closely with many of its stars, notably George Harrison. Groups like The Rolling Stones, The Animals and The Byrds then began to include the sitar in their own music, and Shankar went on to perform at festivals like the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 and at Woodstock in 1969. But he eventually began to regret these appearances—because his music became associated with drugs. “People would come to my concerts stoned, and they would sit in the audience drinking Coke and making out with their girlfriends,” he said in 1985. “I found it very humiliating, and there were many times I picked up my sitar and walked away. I tried to make the young people sit properly and listen. I assured them that if they wanted to be high, I could make them feel high through the music, without drugs, if they’d only give me a chance. It was a terrible experience at the time.” Still, Shankar gained lifelong fans: “But you know, many of those young people still come to our concerts,” he added. “They have matured, they are free from drugs, and they have a better attitude. And this makes me happy that I went through all that. I have come full circle.”

Nirvana Beatles songs

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Twitter, amused at the prospect of the Beatles' Paul McCartney taking the spot of the late Kurt Cobain at a Nirvana reunion concert tonight, has created #nirvanabeatlessongs. Here are some of the best:

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Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar dies at 92

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 05:06:00 +0000

Ravi Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over an eight-decade career, has died. He was 92.

The prime minister's office confirmed his death and called him a "national treasure."

Labeled "the godfather of world music" by George Harrison, Shankar helped millions of classical, jazz and rock lovers discover the centuries-old traditions of Indian music.

He also pioneered the concept of the rock benefit with the 1971 Concert For Bangladesh. To later generations, he was known as the estranged father of popular American singer Norah Jones.

As early as the 1950s, Shankar began collaborating with and teaching some of the greats of Western music, including violinist Yehudi Menuhin and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He played well-received shows in concert halls in Europe and the United States, but faced a constant struggle to bridge the musical gap between the West and the East.

Describing an early Shankar tour in 1957, Time magazine said "U.S. audiences were receptive but occasionally puzzled."

His close relationship with Harrison, the Beatles lead guitarist, shot Shankar to global stardom in the 1960s.

The Rolling Stones cover the Beatles in never-before-seen video

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 16:55:00 +0000

The only thing better than watching intimate footage of a young Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards performing is watching them perform music by their billboard chart rivals the Beatles. (Though they're rumored to be personal rivals as well, Flavorwire notes that Keith Richards shared a great respect for the Beatles.)

The never-before-seen footage comes from the upcoming expanded release of "Charlie Is My Darling," the "legendary, but never released film" by Peter Whitehead. Whitehead documented the Rolling Stones' tour across Ireland in 1965 weeks after their hit "(I Can t Get No) Satisfaction" topped the charts.

Watch the Stones' laid-back rendition of “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “Eight Days a Week”:

h/t Flavorwire

If only I knew what the lyrics meant

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Everyone has in their head, I’m pretty sure, certain songs that knocked them sideways when they were really young--songs that were beyond them when they first heard them and that always carry the peculiar sensation of knowing and not-knowing that can coincide in the mind of a child. It was the thrill and danger of emotional taboo, the sonic equivalent of sneaking a cigarette butt from an ashtray and taking that first filthy drag. This was music about the messy things that grown-ups got themselves into, and there was the adult world, on garish display for the child to witness.

The arbitrary exposure to certain songs was such a fine way to see the chinks in the adult facade. This is one thing radio has always been so good for. You’re thrust into vicarious experiences by the chance timing of the flick of the dial. I’m not just talking about songs about sex, although those were certainly initially a thrill (“Voulez-vous couchez avec moi ce soir,” “The girl’s a super freak…” etc.). But songs just about sex got boring after a while. It was the dirtylowdown underside of things that made it compelling, the mess and confusion of it all, the lingering effects of bad decisions.

Meeting Elvis

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:00:00 +0000

President Richard M. Nixon awards a bureau of narcotics and dangerous drugs special agent badge to Elvis Presley

The White House, Washington DC

December 20th 1970

As 1970 nears its end, Elvis Presley is riddled with worries about assassinations, anti-war protests, a lack of respect for authority, and the prevalence of drugs. His paranoia about the abuse of drugs by young people is exacerbated by the quantity of drugs he himself consumes.

Shopping proves a reasonably effective method of allaying his fears about everything else. He particularly enjoys buying guns, cars and jewelry, not just for himself, but for friends and employees, and sometimes total strangers. Over the course of three nights he spends $20,000 on guns at Kerr’s Sporting Goods in Memphis; the following week, he buys two Mercedes, one for himself and another for a girlfriend; the week after, he buys a third Mercedes for an aide, plus a new Cadillac as a wedding present for a Palm Springs patrolman with whom he has struck up a friendship.

When his father first warned him that he was spending too much, Elvis tried to calm him down by buying him a Mercedes. But on December 19th, his father and his wife Priscilla confront him: his spending is getting out of hand.