Beatlesque #4

On Thur Mar 27, I'll be playing the following set of Beatlesque songs on my radio show at KRUU. (The links below are to the songs in iTunes unless notated otherwise.)

1. Love And Kisses - Sam Phillips
2. Mayor Of Simpleton - XTC
3. Put The Message In The Box - World Party
4. Baby I've Changed - Fountains Of Wayne
5. Side We Seldom Show - Emitt Rhodes www.EmittRhodesMusic.net (not available in iTunes)
6. Strawberry Road - Sam Phillips
7. Retrieval Of You - The Minus Five
8. Baby's Coming Back - Jellyfish
9. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend - The Rubinoos
10. In My Own Time - The Bee Gees
11. Here Comes President Kill Again - XTC
12. God On My Side - World Party
13. Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis
14. Seaside Rendezvous - Queen
15. Sometimes - Badfinger Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
16. Something So Strong - Crowded House
17. Suitcase - Badfinger Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
18. Better Side Of Life - Emitt Rhodes Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
19. Take It All - Badfinger Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
20. If You Want My Love - Cheap Trick
21. See You Tonight - Kiss
22. Can't Get It Out Of My Head - Electric Light Orchestra
23. Come And Get It - Badfinger Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
24. Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You - The Bee Gees
25. Cups And Cakes - Spinal Tap

Beatlesque #3 (Overtly, Purposefully Beatlesque)

On Thur Mar 20, I'll be playing the following set of overtly, purposefuly Beatlesque songs on my radio show at KRUU. (The links below are to the songs in iTunes unless notated otherwise.)

Unlike the previously-posted Beatlesque songs (see Beatlesque #1 & Beatlesque #2), the below songs are intended to sound like actual Beatles songs. (The previously-posted Beatlesque songs sound somewhat like the Beatles, but they have enough difference/s--esp in the vocal/s--that a casual listener can easily tell that those songs are not performed by the Beatles.)

Note: The 2 songs below performed by RubberBand, "I'll Keep You Satisfied" and "Bad To Me", were written by Lennon/McCartney, but these songs were never released by The Beatles. They were recorded & released by another artist in the '60s--namely, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, who were also managed by Brian Epstein. The versions recorded by RubberBand were made to sound like The Beatles.

* = Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)

1. Letter B - The Sesame Street Beetles *
2. Major Happy's Up And Coming Once Upon A Good Time Band - The Rutles *
3. Rendezvous - The Rutles *
4. I'll Keep You Satisfied - RubberBand
5. We've Arrived! (And To Prove It We're Here) - The Rutles *
6. I Just Want To Touch You - Utopia
7. Love Life - The Rutles *
8. Easy Listening - The Rutles *
9. Collideascope - The Dukes Of Stratosphear (XTC)
10. Doubleback Alley - The Rutles *
11. Dog Who's Chasing After A Ball - Two Lips (Dan Castellaneta)
12. Piggy In The Middle - The Rutles *
13. Feel Too Good - Utopia
14. The Knicker Elastic King - The Rutles *
15. Ostrich Avenue - Two Lips (Dan Castellaneta)
16. Cheese And Onions - The Rutles *
17. Bad To Me - RubberBand
18. Ouch! - The Rutles *
19. That's Not Right - Utopia
20. Let's Be Natural - The Rutles *
21. The Mole From The Ministry - The Dukes Of Stratosphear (XTC)
22. Another Day - The Rutles *
23. All Smiles - Utopia (iTunes has this song incorrectly labeled as "Always Late"--& they have the song "Always Late" incorrectly labeled as "All Smiles")
24. Get Up And Go - The Rutles *

25. Beatlesque - Richard Orange
26. Back In '64 - The Rutles *

27. Hey Food - The Sesame Street Beetles *

As a bonus, here is a video of the Sesame Street Beetles performing a song not available on CD:

Nerbert Flandsfoot

Ned Flanders is Herbert Birdsfoot!

Beatlesque #2

So what is "Beatlesque"? Of course, it means sounding like The Beatles--but what does THAT really mean?

Speaking as a huge Beatles fan, I'd say that Beatlesque songs have many of the following traits:

• Uptempo
• Very catchy & melodic tune
• Vocals containing "Ooo"s or "Yeah"s or "La-la"s, harmonies (esp 3 part), &/or voices that sound like John, Paul, George or Ringo
• Lyrics containing British words & idioms (like "never wears a mack" in "Penny Lane")
• Length of 3 mins or less (like almost all early & mid-period Beatles songs) or more than 6 mins (like a few late period Beatles songs--"Hey Jude", "I Want You [She's So Heavy], "It's All Too Much", e.g.)
• Clean, minimal production (guitar/s, bass & drums, maybe harmonica--a la early period Beatles) or a great deal of production, incl non-rock instruments (like Indian instruments, or the piccolo trumpet in "Penny Lane”), orchestral arrangement, filtering, backward tracks, sound effects, fade-out & then fade-in (a la "Strawberry Fields Forever"), etc.
• Subject matter such as love--for a girl (or boy) or for humankind--peace & non-violence, ordinary people (a la "Eleanor Rigby"), mysticism, or that which is psychedelic/surrealistic/dadaistic
• Old song styles--a la Paul's "Granny songs" (as John called them), such as "When I'm 64", "Honey Pie", and "Your Mother Should Know"
• Humor & fun--like "You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)", "Yellow Submarine", "All Together Now"
• Structure of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, "middle eight", verse, chorus...
• One song containing 2 or more seemingly disparate songs (a la "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End", "Hello Goodbye" with "Hey La, Hey Hello La" ending, etc.)

On Thur Mar 13, I'll be playing the following set of Beatlesque songs on my radio show at KRUU. (The links below are to the songs in iTunes unless stated otherwise.)

Incidentally, if you don't know the sad story of Emitt Rhodes, you should read about it.

1. Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy Of Arts - The Bee Gees
2. Baby I Can't Please You - Sam Phillips
3. That's Not The Way That It's Done - The Minus 5
4. Baby Blue - Badfinger Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
5. I Know You Well - Fountains Of Wayne
6. Hummingbird - Wilco
7. You Must Have - Emitt Rhodes Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
8. Mean To Me - Crowded House
9. Earn Enough For Us - XTC
10. The Things We Do For Love - 10cc
11. Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel
12. Champagne Supernova - Oasis
13. Good Company - Queen
14. Feelin' - The La's
15. Surrender - Cheap Trick
16. I Don't Know How To Say Goodbye To You - Sam Phillips
17. Name Of The Game - Badfinger Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
18. Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft - Klaatu
19. Valotte - Julian Lennon
20. 10538 Overture - Electric Light Orchestra
21. Lullabye - Emitt Rhodes Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
22. Way Back When - Aimee Mann

This Modern World!

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Beatlesque #1

It's been a long time since I posted anything--I deeply apologize to all my fan out there. (Hi Mom!) (Just kidding--not even my own mom reads my blog.) Anyhoo, my sweet-potato-pie wife Missy has been blogging me to shame, so I'm going to try doing this more often.

As many of you know, I have a radio show on KRUU LP, 100.1 FM in Fairfield, Iowa, on Thur nights, 9 to 11 PM Central. (If you have high-speed internet & live outside of Fairfield, you can listen to the show live online. You need iTunes or a similar program, such as Winamp.)

Often, each of my shows has one or more themes, & for the next few wks' shows, I'll be playing songs that are Beatlesque. (Even though most sites use the word "Beatlesque", it seems that the spelling should be "Beatles-esque", or at least "Beatle-esque", for that is how it's pronounced. Then again, my spelling skills are extra-ordinary.)

On Thur Mar 6, I'll be playing the following set of songs. (The links below are to the songs in iTunes unless stated otherwise. Thanks to my friend Steve Scholz for all his suggestions & his Emitt Rhodes CD, and thanks to my friend Ben DeJean for his Rutles CD.)

Also (as usual) from 10 to 10:30 PM Central, I'll be playing a set of comedy built on one or more themes--& the comedy theme for Thur Mar 6 is (wait for it) The Beatles! Sketch, standup, & songs featuring Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, National Lampoon, The Rutles, Steven Wright, Father Guido Sarducci, and KPUT.

Incidentally, if you don't know the tragic story of Badfinger, you should read about it. Their connection with The Beatles was huge (all 4 Beatles--incl John who suggested "Glass Onion" for their band name--plus Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall, & Geoff Emerick). Badfinger declared bankruptcy, & 2 of the 4 members (arguably the 2 main members--kinda like John & Paul) eventually committed suicide by hanging--almost a decade apart from each other.

Enjoy!

1. No Matter What - Badfinger Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
2. I'd Like That - XTC Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
3. With My Face On The Floor - Emitt Rhodes Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
4. Sowing The Seeds Of Love - Tears For Fears
5. Same Rain - Sam Phillips
6. Wonderwall - Oasis
7. Yolanda Hayes - Fountains Of Wayne
8. Magic - Pilot
9. Now We're Getting Somewhere - Crowded House
10. Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon - Queen
11. Strawberryfire - The Apples In Stereo
12. The Loving - XTC
13. Is That Love - Squeeze
14. Somebody Made For Me - Emitt Rhodes Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
15. Into Your Arms - The Lemonheads
16. Come With Me - Zwan
17. I've Been Waiting - Matthew Sweet
18. Signposts - Sam Phillips
19. Day After Day - Badfinger Amazon.com (not available in iTunes)
20. Saltwater - Julian Lennon
21. Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
22. I'll Be There For You - The Rembrandts