Here it is: REPOST: RMB Frequently Asked Questions
RasMaster
wouldn't be, so here it goes.
Several people have asked about the FAQ that hasn't appeared in about
nine weeks (6/1, to be exact). There are new people here since then, asking
about it. While I am not up to updating this file, I thought that if no one
else is going to post it, I would just copy that last version of it from time
to time, taken straight out of dejanews. A reminder that the author of
this post is saki. Anyway, here goes:
Archive-name: Beatles Weekly FAQ
Last-modified: 1 June 1998
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The Top Twenty-One Most Frequently Asked Questions in rec.music.beatles
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1. Does George have lung cancer?
No official statements indicate this. Mr. Harrison had some throat nodules
removed in 1997 but there is no official word whether there is any current
medical condition resembling lung cancer.
2. Are "Let It Be" or "Yellow Submarine" available on video?
Not at the moment. Both films are currently out of print. Apple has
announced no set release date, though both films are assumed to be
scheduled for rerelease sometime in 1999 or 2000.
3. Who says "I've got blisters on my fingers!" at the end of "Helter
Skelter"?
Ringo. See Lewisohn's "Recording Sessions" for details, and "Many Years
From Now"; Paul corroborates this.
4. Who plays the classical/flamenco guitar in the intro to "Bungalow
Bill"?
According to researcher Danny Caccavo, it's Eric Cook, an Australian
session guitarist. The excerpt was included as one of the "keys" in the
recorded offerings on the mellotron, an instrument often used by the Fabs.
5. I have a rare copy of the Beatles on Vee-Jay with a misprint on the
label; is it worth anything?
Collecting or trading Beatles memorabilia, rare pressings, autographs and
the like is an art unto itself. For pressings and values, check Cox &
Lindsay's "Official Price Guide to the Beatles Records and Memorabilia".
Pricing and value vary wildly depending upon condition of Beatles-related
items, and some material presented as "rare" and valuable (tour jackets
from 1964, signatures, etc.) are not what they seem. Before you purchase
anything, make sure it's verifiably authenticated and that you buy from a
reliable dealer.
6. Who owns publishing rights to the Beatles' songs?
The Beatles and EMI control their *recordings* (CDs, LPs, singles).
EMI leases the *publishing* rights (words & music) from owner Michael
Jackson, until 1999. Jackson agreed to merge his holdings with Sony after
that date.
Several songs (not originally a part of Northern Songs, such as "Love Me
Do" and "P.S. I Love You", plus many George Harrison songs) remain the
property of their authors, and Polygram (due to a deal with the erstwhile
Dick James Music) owns "Please Please Me".
7. What does "jai guru deva om" mean in "Across the Universe"?
It's Sanskrit for "Glory to the spiritual master"; it was a mantra of
John's that he included as part of the lyric. "Om" is a meditative
syllable finishing the phrase. May also be a reference to the Maharishi's
guru, Guru Dev.
8. What words are spoken at the end of "I Am The Walrus"?
It's an excerpt from a BBC radio broadcast of Shakespeare's "King Lear",
Act IV Scene VI. See Lewisohn's "Recording Sessions", p. 128-129, for
details. The words are spoken by characters in the play via a live radio
feed, spontaneously incorporated into the song by John Lennon.
9. Do the Beatles sing "Smoke pot, smoke pot, everybody smoke pot" at the
end of "I Am The Walrus"?
Nope. The lines are "Everybody's got one" and "Ooompah, oompah, stick it
up your jumper". These nonsense phrases were sung by the Mike Sammes
singers, hired to do backup for the song. See Lewisohn's "Recording
Sessions" (p. 127) for details.
10. Could someone post the Beatles' email addresses
The Beatles do not have Internet accounts (so far as we know) nor email
addresses. Any reference to apparently legitimate routes (such as
ma...@thrillington.com or fabs@apple_corps.edu) are entirely bogus. If
someone claims to know that Ringo, George, Paul or others have "secret"
accounts and check into rmb, be aware that there is no proof for
this...and there's some question whether Ringo or George would care to
learn typing for the purposes of surfing the Internet. :-)
McCartney spokesman Geoff Baker has remarked that the only computer any of
the Beatles has is a set up at McCartney's Sussex home, running musical
notation software. Baker says that neither he nor any of the Beatles could
handle the potential email overload resulting from their cyber-presence.
However, faxes of r.m.b. have been reported to be sent to Macca's MPL
office, for his perusal, and Yoko is said to have someone who regularly
reviews rmb postings.
Macca's company, MPL, has a Web site in New York (http://www.
mplcommunications.com) and an associated email address for the New York
office. This site deals only with McCartney's music publishing concern; he
deos not read email there and that office will not forward email to him.
11. Did the Beatles make up all the Paul Is Dead clues?
No evidence ties the Beatles to a deliberate hoax; fans of the clues
continue to believe otherwise however. See Andru Reeve's "Turn Me On, Dead
Man" (Popular Culture Ink, 1994; available from Beatlefest) for details.
12. Does "Norwegian Wood" have a hidden meaning? John claimed it was
about an affair he was having but wanted to keep secret; Paul added the
final image, which he said is a reference to burning down the woman's flat
(apartment). "Norwegian wood", according to Paul, was a variety of cheap
pine, popular for furnishing one's domicile at the time.
There's no evidence that the song is about a marijuana cigarette or was
ever titled "Knowing She Would". The working title was actually "This Bird
Has Flown".
13. Is it true Ringo didn't perform the drum solo on Abbey Road/was
overdubbed on Beatles records? Ringo did perform the drum solo, at the
urging of his compatriots. There's also no evidence that Ringo was
regularly overdubbed by anybody, including Bernard Purdie, a session
drummer who claimed he'd done session work on Beatles tracks.
14. Does "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" refer to LSD?
The song's title derives from a painting done by John's son Julian. John
claimed the lyrics referred to Lewis Carroll's "Alice" books. The imagery
may be drug- or surrealism-influenced but an exact reference to LSD in
this song is lacking, despite the song's initial letters...which are more
accurately transcribed as "LITSWD".
15. Can you hear "I buried Paul" at the end of "Strawberry Fields
Forever"?
It's actually "cranberry sauce". Listen to the track on Anthology Vol. 2;
John also confirmed in interviews that he said "cranberry sauce" apropos
of nothing.
16. I heard that Paul was right handed except when playing bass!
Paul is left handed for everything. Ringo is also left handed. John and
George are right handed.
17. Was the late Linda Eastman McCartney related to Eastman-Kodak?
No, she was not. Her original family name was Epstein (unrelated to Brian)
and her family was in entertainment law. Her father changed the family
name in the late 1930s from Epstein to Eastman before Linda was born.
18. What was the first chord played in the song "A Hard Day's Night"?
According to New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn, the first chord can
be described as "different voicings of a G suspended fourth chord---G
major with an added C---while McCartney played a D on his bass" (from "The
Beatles", Phaidon Press, 1995, p. 96).
Ocea...@aol.com (Tom Hartman) responds:
There *is* an F in the chord, so it could actually be called either an F
add 9/D Bass, or, a G7sus (the F makes it a 7).
The point for most people who ask this question is this: they want to know
what to play to reproduce the predominant sound of the opening chord. The
problem: if they are looking for one chord they can play that sounds *just
like* the opening, they won't find that, since the opening of the record
is a combination of instruments (guitar and piano), and chord voicings.
19. What's the deal with the "Saturday Night Live" reunion offer?
During the first season of "Saturday Night Live," (April, 1976) producer
Lorne Michaels parodied the multimillion dollar offers for a Beatles
reunion by publicly offering the "generous" sum of $3200 live on the air.
Little did Michaels know that the offer nearly succeeded, with John and
Paul going so far as to call a taxi to take them to the studios from the
nearby Dakota (where the duo were watching the show together). As John
relates in his "Playboy" interview, "We nearly got into a cab, but we were
actually too tired."
20. What happened to Paul's tooth in the "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" promo?
In the film made to promote these two songs, Paul appears to have a
chipped tooth...and it's true. He suffered the injury in December 1965,
riding his moped near his father's house outside Liverpool. The tooth was
still not capped permanently when the film promos were made; and outtakes
of the "butcher cover" photograph show Paul's jagged tooth as well.
21. What's a good book to read about Beatles history/recordings/etc.?
The short version: Any of Mark Lewisohn's books are good ("The Beatles
Recording Sessions", "The Complete Beatles Chronicle"); Allan Kozinn's
"The Beatles" is an excellent musical/historical primer; William
Dowlding's "Beatlesongs" has recording dates, details, and quotes from the
Fabs and others about their works. Many are finding Barry Miles' new
biography of Macca ("Many Years From Now") to be revealing; the best
biography of John is Ray Coleman's "Lennon".
Books with questionable scholarship include those by: Albert Goldman,
Fred Seaman, Geoff Guiliano, Peter Brown-Steven Gaines. Factually these
are not dependable resources; but they may be otherwise entertaining to
certain readers. Bill Harry's books tend to have a large number of
proofreading errors. Use these sourcebooks with caution and crosscheck
with other references.
----
Is your question not answered here?
Maybe it's one of the FAQTCBA...Frequently Asked Questions That Can't Be
Answered. :-) These include:
- Who's more talented, Paul or John?
- Is Ringo really a good drummer?
- Can George play the guitar at all?
- Are the Beatles better than (fill in 90s band of choice here)?
- Who is the fifth Beatle?
- Are bootlegs moral or immoral?
These sorts of questions tend to spark topics that have a periodic
recurrence in r.m.b. If you start one up, please be aware that a) you may
never get a definitive answer, and b) you may get mail from folks telling
you "We just discussed this last month!" Be forewarned.
Happy Beatling!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When You're In the Barn, Stand By the Fan!" - Daif LeGume, 1990
Sarah Jones
their old location ...
If somebody could post the new URL (assuming there is one) I'd be much
obliged.
--Sarah
On 10 Aug 1998 01:53:08 GMT, rasm...@aol.com (RasMaster) wrote:
>I don't know whether this is cool or not, but I can't figure any way that it
>wouldn't be, so here it goes.
>
>Several people have asked about the FAQ that hasn't appeared in about
>nine weeks (6/1, to be exact).
[snip]
RockyRaven
>Several people have asked about the FAQ that hasn't appeared in >about
>nine weeks (6/1, to be exact). There are new people here since >then, asking
>about it. While I am not up to updating this file, I thought that if >no one
>else is going to post it, I would just copy that last version of it >from time
>to time, taken straight out of dejanews. A reminder that the >author of
>this post is saki.
Well, RasMaster...thank you very much for posting the "most recent" FAQ here
for ALL to see. First of all, it allows all of us so-called "newbies" to know
what questions have been asked ad nauseum.
More interestingly (at least to me), is the absence in the FAQ of any question
that deals with the subject of The White Album - single or double album? Hmmmm?
And a "reliable source" told me it was there. Guess the "source" was mistaken.
Ah, the thrill of vindication!
Much obliged, friend.
********
GRANDFATHER: Why do you always use your left hand?
PAUL: Well, don't be daft, I've got to.
GRANDFATHER: And I take a left-handed view of life. I've got to.
Boom yakka
Thank you for doing that - ypu have probably saved me some earache
Lloyd
WClas...@the-beatles.com
saj...@cyberramp.net wrote:
> Has the rmb web site also moved? I noticed that the files aren't at
> their old location ...
>
> If somebody could post the new URL (assuming there is one) I'd be much
> obliged.
>
> --Sarah
The current rmb web address is http://rmb.simplenet.com
Incidentally, my webpage (address in sig) has a link to it........
:)
--
Gordon Hodgson
WClas...@the-beatles.com
http://listen.to/RealLove
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RasMaster
rocky...@aol.com (RockyRaven) writes:
>
>More interestingly (at least to me), is the absence in the FAQ of any
>question
>that deals with the subject of The White Album - single or double album?
>Hmmmm?
>And a "reliable source" told me it was there. Guess the "source" was
>mistaken.
>
>Ah, the thrill of vindication!
>
>Much obliged, friend.
Anytime. Having met saki this weekend, it appears likely I've given
myself the job of continuing to post this.......
Bob Purse