Kiss the Beatles

While listening to Chris Jericho's podcast interview with Gene Simmons, something came up that I never realized before.

Gene was discussing songwriting, and the Beatles easily became the topic (the way they always do).

Gene shined a light on how the Beatles, in a very classy way, often used the first line of the song as a title, and sometimes didn't even repeat the title in the same way throughout the song.

Examples:

Hey Jude

Eleanor Rigby

Blackbird 

The Long and Winding Road

Something

Dear Prudence

Help

I've just seen a Face

Lady Madonna

And the list goes on!

Why, as big as a fan as I am, did I never realize this? It's crazy that I didn't notice the pattern.

Let me explain why I love the Beatles. They wrote amazing songs first, they had image second, and they were innovators. They set the trends, transcended their roots, and were amazingly prolific over such a short period of time. Starting with the Rubber Soul era, the best band of the day became the greatest R&R band of all time. How they could reinvent themselves every 6 months or so and put out epics like Revolver, Sgt Pepper, The Beatles, Abby Road and Let it Be in such a short period still blows my old mind.

John appeals to me spiritually, Paul as the best songwriter of all time, George as the underdog who achieved perfect moments despite his peers, and Ringo, well, cause he's Ringo.

I've been writing and playing music for 25 years, and I have always tried to do my own thing. I've ripped off artists inadvertently, but never even remotely tried to sound or write like the Beatles. Iadmire  them as a fan.

But, with this new revelation (#9), I'm looking at my own songwriting differently.

I grew up in an era of: Intro, Verse, Chorus, 2nd Verse, Chorus, Solo, Bridge, Chorus, end. The chorus typically contained the repetitive title.

I'm guilty of writing that way. I've always been guilty of it and I will probably always lean that way. It will be hard to erase 25 years of that thought process. 

The Beatles wrote this way also, but to start off a song with the the climax as the first line is a different thought process for me.

And now, I have to start to challenge myself and look at songwriting in another light. That's pretty flipping awesome if you ask me. I'm never going to have a #1 single, so why should I write like I will? Besides that, as far as #1 singles go, the Beatles set that bar pretty high, so maybe I've just had it wrong all these years.

I should have been eating lunch, but instead I'm writing about the stupid Beatles.

Nago.