You Say It 39;s Your Birthday By The Beatles

[Kipa Crawn]

The girl who is quite possibly the world's biggest Beatles fan just celebrated her eleventh birthday in a very Fab Four sort of way. This party has been a long time in the making. About six months ago, the idea of a Beatles birthday party popped into my head, and Hannah's reaction to my idea was a big smile, big eyes, and a big YES! Since then, she and I have been churning out ideas and writing them down on our master "BEATLES PARTY IDEAS" list. The goal was to make it fun and Beatles-ish without breaking the bank, and I think it was a success!

First, I incorporated as many Beatles songs as I could into the invitation, and printed them out myself. Brightly colored decorations were inspired by the Sgt. Pepper album, and I cut black cardstock records to hang from the ceiling, complete with the Apple Records label. We put up Hannah's Beatles posters, pulled out her postcards and vinyl albums, and printed and framed lesser known Beatles photos we found online. Hannah has the framed photos on her dresser now, so she can swoon over them whenever she pleases.

I made the big menu poster so the girls would see the connection between the Beatles songs and the food. Everything was relatively simple...just pizza and soda, chocolate dipped strawberries, a bowl of green apples to represent the Apple record label, Fudge Stripe cookies turned on their backs to resemble vinyl records, and Twinkie* yellow submarines decorated with Skittles and straws, and Swedish fish swimming about on the platter. The trickiest part was decorating these cupcakes with the Beatles' faces, but they turned out okay...? And of course we were blasting Beatles music all through dinner!

On to the activities! Hannah and I came up with a Beatles playlist and corresponding prizes for a game of "Name That Tune." We gave the girls a split second to hear each song and whoever named it first won the prize (although after two prizes they had to let the others have a go at winning). I was amazed at how quickly some of the girls named the songs...Hannah has trained her friends well! Here is our playlist and what we did for little prizes:

We had a few extra prizes left, so the girls played Hot Potato with Beatles music until all the prizes were gone. Other activities we considered doing was making cardboard guitars like these, or painting yellow submarines, however, we just didn't have time. Instead, the girls drummed, strummed and sang their little hearts out to Beatles Rock Band, and finished off the night by watching one of the funniest movies ever made, HELP. If you have never seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it.

For the party favors, I printed paper sacks with an image from HELP, and filled them with Beatles buttons, stickers, Penny Lane penny rolls (see below for free printable!), and "RINGo" Pops. Some other possible prizes and/or party favors would be these adorable music boxes. They really do make a great little gift for any Beatles fan.My girls are working on collecting all of the Beatles songs available. You could also do Beatles posters, magnets, or tote bags (all very inexpensive on Amazon.com). The list is endless, and it really just depends on your party budget. Another fun shopping site is fabfourstore.com.

For you! pennylanelabel (simply cut and tape around penny rolls) and beatlesjournalcover*Beatles pictogram can be found here.*Although Hostess Twinkies are no longer available, most grocery stores offer similar store brand versions.

This is how good the Beatles were: They took the words "You say it's your birthday. It's my birthday, too." and turned it into one of the most famous classic rock songs in history!! If any other band ever tried that, they'd be looking for a new record company...

My friends played this to me when I turned 18 a couple of months ago. I will never forget it.I'm having trouble discribing how much I like this song. I've sitten here at the keyboard for about ten minutes and the song is on it's fourth repeat. But I can't put my affection in words. It's a strange song, I mean. It's something about it that just makes me smile. I always get very happy when I listen to it.

Looking for screaming girls and editors for a dub of Keed Kat's Comic They Say it's Your Birthday. This comic, taking place in 1960s London, centers around John Lennon forgetting his best mate's, Paul McCartney, birthday and the repercussions that follow it. He is fearful for his life upon realizing that Paul found out and is looming it over his head.

You can find the original comic here -kat/gallery/47906435/the-beatles-comic?page=4

Audition Requirements
No peaking, please. Very low gain for the screams.

Your typical screaming banshee fans. They probably traveled far and wide to see the four lovable mop-tops and probably have an idea of who they want to marry and how they will do it.

Voice type: Mid-high teenage girl. London accent preferred.

References:

Your responsibility will be to add sfx from either an external library or your own to the comic. You are the last stop in production before it goes to having music added and is submitted for a final review. Please submit a sample of your work.

Hello all! Tomorrow, February 7, is the 50th anniversary of the Beatles arriving in the US for the first time (and it also happens to be Penny Lane Bloom's birthday). I wanted to do something special to commemorate this huge date in Beatles history, so I decided to do a giveaway. A massive giveaway! How does this look?

Winner must provide a US address. Yes, it's US only. Sorry about that, but it would take too much time and money to try to ship such a large package abroad. I need to finish The Lonely Hearts Club sequel instead of spending hours at the post office! (And I did just do an international giveaway on Facebook, so...)

Last night I watched Martin Scorsese's documentary "George Harrison: Living in a Material World." It was a three-and-a-half hour long intimate look at George's public and private life. It was personal, it was touching, and to put it simply, it was amazing. I highly recommend it to anybody who loves The Beatles (it's currently playing in repeats on HBO in the US).I mentioned briefly in my blog about seeing Sir Paul McCartney this summer that I have a very special place in my heart for George. I always hate when I'm asked who my favorite Beatles is because it really is a hard question to answer. I absolutely love Sir Paul, he can do no wrong in my eyes. His post-Beatles career has been filled with so many wonderful songs. I have nothing but the utmost respect for John Lennon, it is such a tragedy that he was taken away from us so early. And of course, Ringo has this charm and humor about him that he just makes you smile. And then there's George. Sweet, sweet, underrated George.

What it must've been like to be surrounded by the songwriting genius of Lennon/McCartney. How could you even compete? But then quiet George comes in and gives us such brilliant songs as "Taxman," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Here Comes the Sun," and, of course, "Something." As Sir Paul has recalled on more than one occasion, Frank Sinatra once said to him, "'Something' is my favorite Lennon/McCartney song." To which Sir Paul cheekily responded, "Mine too."

I burst into tears last night when "Something" came on. Every time I hear the song, I have (and I mean HAVE) to sing aloud loudly to my favorite part: "You're asking me will my love grow, I don't know... I don't know." This just gets me every time. Such passion, such honesty, such beauty... It is not only one of my favorite Beatles songs, it is one of my favorite songs, period.

When I was in grade school, George Harrison came out with a new album. I didn't know a lot about The Beatles back then, but I did like it when their music came on the oldies station my mom listened to. "I've Got My Mind Set On You" was the big hit from that album, but I remember loving the second single, "When We Was Fab," more. I guess it was the soon-to-be-realized Beatles fangirl inside of me getting ready to come out. Click here to see the video, which I love because it has Ringo, an homage to Sgt. Pepper's, a walrus, an apple, lots of Beatles references that I didn't "get" when I was little.

George was also extremely spiritual. He's responsible for bringing in the sitar and other eastern influences on the Beatles later albums. This also influenced his solo work. Probably George's best known solo song is the one that I'll leave you with, "My Sweet Lord." I'm happy that George is getting the recognition he deserves through this documentary. And hopefully, it'll make it harder in the future for a lot of people to answer the question, "Who's your favorite Beatle?"

Three years ago, I saw the greatest concert of my life: Sir Paul McCartney (read about that here). About two seconds after the concert ended, I thought, I must see him again. Then a couple months ago, I found out that not only was Sir Paul returning to NYC, he was going to be playing Yankee Stadium, on my birthday. I mean, can it get better than that? I think not.Tickets were secured, as was my partner-in-crime for the evening: fellow Beatles fan, YA author superstar, and fab friend Susane Colasanti. [Read Susane's blog about the concert here.]

ARUN RATH, HOST: Rolling Stone called it the greatest album of all time. And for some that's an understatement. The Beatles released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in 1967, raising the standard of rock 'n' roll and challenging their peers to catch up. For just about anyone who cares about rock music, this album is unassailable. You cannot top the Beatles' versions of these songs. And yet.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND")THE FLAMING LIPS: We're Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. We hope you will enjoy the show.RATH: The Flaming Lips are about to release a song-by-song re-recording of the entire album. The Lips have developed their own proud tradition of layered psychedelic sounds and studio wizardry. But obviously they recognize they're treading on hallowed ground here. I asked band leader Wayne Coyne why?WAYNE COYNE: I mean, there's lots and lots and lots of music out there that is in that realm of, like, it's, you know, it's masterpiece and it's, you know, it's in the realm of the gods. But for people that, you know, that make music and record music, you almost have to get in there and go, how did they do this? And so that thing of it being this untouchable thing - you know, it - to us, it's just the opposite. It's like the better it is, the more you want to touch it.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS")THE FLAMING LIPS: (Singing) What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song. And I'll try not to sing out of tune.RATH: Leaving aside the sacred cow status of "Sgt. Pepper," I think one of the challenges would be - it's a very idiosyncratic album. How do you approach something like "Within You Without You" or "For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" and something that's kind of weird to begin with?COYNE: Well, see, I think this album probably more than the others, there's, you know, there's very much some songs that are Paul McCartney songs, and there's very much some songs that are John Lennon songs. You sort of stand away from a Paul McCartney song because you know he's such a great songwriter. These little emotional nuances in his chord changes and even the range of his singing is - it's - well, he's Paul McCartney. I mean, so it's intimidating. But what happens with John Lennon, he makes it sort of seem like oh, this is no big deal. Anybody can do this. You know, it's rock 'n' roll, just do it, you know. So you always approach his songs like yeah, he's the dude. He's just going to be doing this off-the-cuff, and his are even more complicated and he does all these just weird little time changes that you can't even explain.RATH: Where's an example of that on this album?COYNE: Well, I would say the "Good Morning" song. That one is, I mean, when you're driving around in your car listening to it, you can easily skip over what's, like, a little quarter note. It doesn't matter because The Beatles are playing and you're not, you know? But when you go to play it, these little things are like oh my God, what are they doing there?(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOOD MORNING, GOOD MORNING")THE FLAMING LIPS: (Singing) After a while you start to smile, now you feel cool.COYNE: It seems so effortless, it seems so simple and it ain't.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOOD MORNING, GOOD MORNING")THE FLAMING LIPS: (Singing) Nothing has changed, it's still the same. I've got nothing to say but it's OK. Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning.RATH: You've got a bunch of guests on this album. I think you're probably getting the most attention, obviously, for working with Miley Cyrus. And she's on this track.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS")MILEY CYRUS: (Singing) Picture yourself in a boat on the river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies.RATH: Now, before you were working together, I don't think there'd probably be a very large number of people who have been to both a Flaming Lips show and a Miley Cyrus show. How did you meet?COYNE: Well, we had known for a little while that she was a fan of The Flaming Lips. And we probably still called her Hannah Montana back then, you know. Last January 13, which is my birthday, she did a tweet that said happy birthday, Wayne. You're one of my favorite artists of all time. And when someone of the status of a Miley Cyrus on Twitter says that, about 100 people will text me and say Wayne, did you know that Miley Cyrus is wishing you a happy birthday? And I had started to get to know Miley Cyrus. She came to Oklahoma. And...RATH: You live in Oklahoma.COYNE: I live in Oklahoma - Oklahoma City, yeah. And we sort of organized that we would all - we would go to a studio there. It's actually a studio by the group Hanson, whose kind of - you know, it's funny that Miley Cyrus and The Flaming Lips are recording in Hanson's studio, for people who know that group. And we didn't have an idea of doing Sgt. Pepper's, but we had the "Lucy In The Sky" track.So we asked her hey, let's try this. And her take on it, you know, her vibe or whatever, you know, want to say - whatever she brought to it - it was just a great, simple surprise.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS")CYRUS: (Singing) Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile - the girl with kaleidoscope eyes. Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Lucy in the sky with diamonds.COYNE: So I think after that we thought let's just put this out. And then I think it was an element of just more logical, reasonable people around us suggested well, why don't you just try to do the whole record? Wouldn't that be great?(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A DAY IN THE LIFE")THE FLAMING LIPS: (Singing) I read the news today, oh boy.RATH: That's Wayne Coyne. He's the singer and founding member of The Flaming Lips. Their song-for-song cover of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" comes out on Tuesday. It's called "With A Little Help From My Fwends." Until then, you can check out every track at our exclusive First Listen. That's at nprmusic.org. Wayne, it's been really fun speaking with you. Thank you.COYNE: Thanks a bunch for having me. You guys are great.(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A DAY IN THE LIFE")THE FLAMING LIPS: (Singing) I saw the photograph. He blew his mind out in a car.

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