📅 ON THIS DAY: Recording: In Spite Of All The Danger, That’ll Be The Day (1958)
The Quarrymen recorded two songs at Phillips Sound Recording Services, a home studio in Liverpool, on 12 July 1958. It was the first recording session featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
The studio was owned and run by Percy F Phillips, and was based in the living room of his home at 38 Kensington, a Victorian terraced house.
The Quarrymen recorded ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’ and a version of Buddy Holly’s ‘That’ll Be The Day’. The former was credited to McCartney-Harrison, with Lennon on lead vocals.
"It says on the label that it was me and George but I think it was actually written by me, and George played the guitar solo! We were mates and nobody was into copyrights and publishing, nobody understood – we actually used to think when we came down to London that songs belonged to everyone. I’ve said this a few times but it’s true, we really thought they just were in the air, and that you couldn’t actually own one. So you can imagine the publishers saw us coming! ‘Welcome boys, sit down. That’s what you think, is it?’ So that’s what we used to do in those days – and because George did the solo we figured that he ‘wrote’ the solo." – Paul McCartney
📅 ON THIS DAY: Ringo Starr is born (1940) Happy birthday, Ringo!
Ringo Starr was born Richard Starkey on 7 July 1940, at 9 Madryn Street in the Dingle area of Liverpool.
The boy’s parents split up when he was three years old. His mother Elsie married a man called Harry Graves, whom encouraged the young Ritchie’s passion for music.
Starkey was a sickly child, and suffered at different times pleurisy and a coma caused by appendicitis. As a result he did not perform well at school, and fell behind his peers. He eventually left school at the age of 13.
📅 ON THIS DAY: John Lennon meets Paul McCartney (1957)
6 July 1957 was a pivotal day for the history of modern music: it was the day that John Lennon met Paul McCartney for the first time.
In the afternoon the Quarrymen skiffle group played at the garden fete of St Peter’s Church, Woolton, Liverpool. The performance took place on a stage in a field behind the church. In the band were Lennon (vocals, guitar), Eric Griffiths (guitar), Colin Hanton (drums), Rod Davies (banjo), Pete Shotton (washboard) and Len Garry (tea chest bass).
The group arrived on the back of a lorry. As well as music, there were craft and cake stalls, games of hoop-la, police dog demonstrations and the traditional crowning of the Rose Queen. The fete was a highlight of the year for the residents of the sleepy Liverpool district.
"The entertainment began at two p.m. with the opening procession, which entailed one or two wonderfully festooned lorries crawling at a snail’s pace through the village on their ceremonious way to the Church field. The first lorry carried the Rose Queen, seated on her throne, surrounded by her retinue, all dressed in pink and white satin, sporting long ribbons and hand-made roses in their hair. These girls had been chosen from the Sunday school groups, on the basis of age and good behaviour. The following lorry carried various entertainers, including the Quarry Men. The boys were up there on the back of the moving lorry trying to stay upright and play their instruments at the same time. John gave up battling with balance and sat with his legs hanging over the edge, playing his guitar and singing. He continued all through the slow, slow journey as the lorry puttered its way along. Jackie and I leaped alongside the lorry, with our mother laughing and waving at John, making him laugh. He seemed to be the only one who was really trying to play and we were really trying to put him off!" – Julia Baird
That evening the group were due to play again, minus Colin Hanton, this time at the Grand Dance in the church hall on the other side of the road. They were due on stage at 8pm, and admission to the show, in which the Quarrymen alternated on stage with the George Edwards Band, was two shillings.
📅 ON THIS DAY: Recording: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (1968)
Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road Producer: George Martin Engineer: Geoff Emerick
This session, which took place from 5pm-1.30am, was an eventful one which saw numerous overdubs added to ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’.
Between 6pm and 10.30pm three saxophones and a set of bongos were added to the song. The saxophonists were James Gray, Rex Morris and Cyril Reuben, while the percussionist was Jimmy Scott – whose pet phrase Paul McCartney had used for the song’s title.
Scott’s full name was Jimmy Anonmuogharan Scott Emuakpor. The phrase ‘Ob-la-di, ob-la-da’ was said to be a Urhobo colloquialism meaning ‘Life goes on’, but was actually just a family phrase.
Additional percussion – maracas, marimba and claves – were also added, from the second chorus onwards. These were recorded onto track three along with the saxophone and bongos.
Between 10.30pm and 11.45pm a piccolo was overdubbed onto track two, although this was subsequently wiped and replaced by a guitar part played by McCartney. The guitar was added towards the end of the session, and was distorted to make it sound like a bass guitar.
"There were a lot of primitive things that we used to use in the Beatles — prehistoric machines. One of my theories about sound nowadays is that the machines back then were more f**k-upable. I’m not sure if that’s in the dictionary. But they were more destructible. You could actually make a desk [recording console] overload, whereas now they’re all made so that no matter what idiot gets on them, they won’t overload. Most of the old equipment we used, you could get to really surprise you. Now a brand-new desk is built for idiots like us to trample on. We used to do a great trick with acoustic guitars, like on ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’. I played acoustic on that, an octave above the bass line. It gave a great sound — like when you have two singers singing in octaves, it really reinforces the bass line. We got them to record the acoustic guitars in the red. The recording engineers said, ‘Oh my God! This is going to be terrible!’ We said, ‘Well, just try it.’ We had heard mistakes that happened before that and said, ‘We love that sound. What’s happening?’ And they said, ‘That’s because it’s in the red.’ So we recorded slammin’ it in the red. And these old boards would distort just enough, and compress and suck. So instead of going [imitates staccato ‘Ob La Di’ riff] dink dink dink dink, it just flowed. So, a new fuzz box just won’t go as crazy as an old one would. And it does make it all a little bit cleaner, which I’m not wild on, actually. I’m a big fan of blues records and stuff, where there’s never a clean moment. Nothing was ever clean. It was always one old, ropey mike stuck somewhere near the guitar player, and you could hear his foot more than some things." – Paul McCartney
McCartney took away a rough mono mix of Ob-La-Di at the end of the session. After reviewing it over the weekend, he decided the song required a remake, which was begun on Monday 8 July 1968. It was, however, released on 1996’s Anthology 3.
📅 ON THIS DAY: UK single release: Give Peace A Chance by Plastic Ono Band (1969)
John’s first non-Beatles single, the anthemic ‘Give Peace A Chance’, was released on this day in the United Kingdom.
It was recorded on the penultimate day of his and Yoko Ono’s second bed-in for peace, in room 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada.
Give Peace A Chance was co-credited to Paul McCartney, although he played no part in its creation. It was partly by way of thanks for his help in recording ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’ in April 1969. In later years, however, Lennon alone received a compositional credit.
"I didn’t write it with Paul; but again, out of guilt, we always had that thing that our names would go on songs even if we didn’t write them. It was never a legal deal between Paul and me, just an agreement when we were fifteen or sixteen to put both our names on our songs. I’d put his name on Give Peace A Chance though he had nothing to do with it. It was a silly thing to do, actually. It should have been Lennon-Ono." – John Lennon, 1980
The single was released as Apple 13. It peaked at number two on the singles chart, being held off the top by The Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Women.
Give Peace A Chance was released in the US on 7 July 1969 as Apple 1809. Its highest chart placing on the Billboard Hot 100 was number 14.
Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Ken Scott
The Beatles began work on ‘Good Night’, the White Album’s final track, on this day.
The session began at 7pm and finished at 4.30am the following morning. It began with a number of rehearsals which were committed to tape.
One of the rehearsals was included on 1996’s Anthology 3. It features Ringo Starr on vocals, John Lennon playing piano, and George Harrison keeping time on a shaker.
The Beatles recorded five proper takes of ‘Good Night’ during this session, featuring just Starr’s vocals and Lennon’s acoustic guitar. Lead and backing vocals were added onto the last of these on 2 July 1968.
Beatles Bible
📅 ON THIS DAY: Recording: In Spite Of All The Danger, That’ll Be The Day (1958)
The Quarrymen recorded two songs at Phillips Sound Recording Services, a home studio in Liverpool, on 12 July 1958. It was the first recording session featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
The studio was owned and run by Percy F Phillips, and was based in the living room of his home at 38 Kensington, a Victorian terraced house.
The Quarrymen recorded ‘In Spite Of All The Danger’ and a version of Buddy Holly’s ‘That’ll Be The Day’. The former was credited to McCartney-Harrison, with Lennon on lead vocals.
"It says on the label that it was me and George but I think it was actually written by me, and George played the guitar solo! We were mates and nobody was into copyrights and publishing, nobody understood – we actually used to think when we came down to London that songs belonged to everyone. I’ve said this a few times but it’s true, we really thought they just were in the air, and that you couldn’t actually own one. So you can imagine the publishers saw us coming! ‘Welcome boys, sit down. That’s what you think, is it?’ So that’s what we used to do in those days – and because George did the solo we figured that he ‘wrote’ the solo." – Paul McCartney
Read the full article here: www.beatlesbible.com/1958/07/12/recording-in-spite…
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📅 ON THIS DAY: Ringo Starr is born (1940)
Happy birthday, Ringo!
Ringo Starr was born Richard Starkey on 7 July 1940, at 9 Madryn Street in the Dingle area of Liverpool.
The boy’s parents split up when he was three years old. His mother Elsie married a man called Harry Graves, whom encouraged the young Ritchie’s passion for music.
Starkey was a sickly child, and suffered at different times pleurisy and a coma caused by appendicitis. As a result he did not perform well at school, and fell behind his peers. He eventually left school at the age of 13.
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📅 ON THIS DAY: John Lennon meets Paul McCartney (1957)
6 July 1957 was a pivotal day for the history of modern music: it was the day that John Lennon met Paul McCartney for the first time.
In the afternoon the Quarrymen skiffle group played at the garden fete of St Peter’s Church, Woolton, Liverpool. The performance took place on a stage in a field behind the church. In the band were Lennon (vocals, guitar), Eric Griffiths (guitar), Colin Hanton (drums), Rod Davies (banjo), Pete Shotton (washboard) and Len Garry (tea chest bass).
The group arrived on the back of a lorry. As well as music, there were craft and cake stalls, games of hoop-la, police dog demonstrations and the traditional crowning of the Rose Queen. The fete was a highlight of the year for the residents of the sleepy Liverpool district.
"The entertainment began at two p.m. with the opening procession, which entailed one or two wonderfully festooned lorries crawling at a snail’s pace through the village on their ceremonious way to the Church field. The first lorry carried the Rose Queen, seated on her throne, surrounded by her retinue, all dressed in pink and white satin, sporting long ribbons and hand-made roses in their hair. These girls had been chosen from the Sunday school groups, on the basis of age and good behaviour. The following lorry carried various entertainers, including the Quarry Men. The boys were up there on the back of the moving lorry trying to stay upright and play their instruments at the same time. John gave up battling with balance and sat with his legs hanging over the edge, playing his guitar and singing. He continued all through the slow, slow journey as the lorry puttered its way along. Jackie and I leaped alongside the lorry, with our mother laughing and waving at John, making him laugh. He seemed to be the only one who was really trying to play and we were really trying to put him off!" – Julia Baird
That evening the group were due to play again, minus Colin Hanton, this time at the Grand Dance in the church hall on the other side of the road. They were due on stage at 8pm, and admission to the show, in which the Quarrymen alternated on stage with the George Edwards Band, was two shillings.
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📅 ON THIS DAY: Recording: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (1968)
Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
This session, which took place from 5pm-1.30am, was an eventful one which saw numerous overdubs added to ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’.
Between 6pm and 10.30pm three saxophones and a set of bongos were added to the song. The saxophonists were James Gray, Rex Morris and Cyril Reuben, while the percussionist was Jimmy Scott – whose pet phrase Paul McCartney had used for the song’s title.
Scott’s full name was Jimmy Anonmuogharan Scott Emuakpor. The phrase ‘Ob-la-di, ob-la-da’ was said to be a Urhobo colloquialism meaning ‘Life goes on’, but was actually just a family phrase.
Additional percussion – maracas, marimba and claves – were also added, from the second chorus onwards. These were recorded onto track three along with the saxophone and bongos.
Between 10.30pm and 11.45pm a piccolo was overdubbed onto track two, although this was subsequently wiped and replaced by a guitar part played by McCartney. The guitar was added towards the end of the session, and was distorted to make it sound like a bass guitar.
"There were a lot of primitive things that we used to use in the Beatles — prehistoric machines. One of my theories about sound nowadays is that the machines back then were more f**k-upable. I’m not sure if that’s in the dictionary. But they were more destructible. You could actually make a desk [recording console] overload, whereas now they’re all made so that no matter what idiot gets on them, they won’t overload. Most of the old equipment we used, you could get to really surprise you. Now a brand-new desk is built for idiots like us to trample on. We used to do a great trick with acoustic guitars, like on ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’. I played acoustic on that, an octave above the bass line. It gave a great sound — like when you have two singers singing in octaves, it really reinforces the bass line. We got them to record the acoustic guitars in the red. The recording engineers said, ‘Oh my God! This is going to be terrible!’ We said, ‘Well, just try it.’ We had heard mistakes that happened before that and said, ‘We love that sound. What’s happening?’ And they said, ‘That’s because it’s in the red.’ So we recorded slammin’ it in the red. And these old boards would distort just enough, and compress and suck. So instead of going [imitates staccato ‘Ob La Di’ riff] dink dink dink dink, it just flowed. So, a new fuzz box just won’t go as crazy as an old one would. And it does make it all a little bit cleaner, which I’m not wild on, actually. I’m a big fan of blues records and stuff, where there’s never a clean moment. Nothing was ever clean. It was always one old, ropey mike stuck somewhere near the guitar player, and you could hear his foot more than some things." – Paul McCartney
McCartney took away a rough mono mix of Ob-La-Di at the end of the session. After reviewing it over the weekend, he decided the song required a remake, which was begun on Monday 8 July 1968. It was, however, released on 1996’s Anthology 3.
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📅 ON THIS DAY: UK single release: Give Peace A Chance by Plastic Ono Band (1969)
John’s first non-Beatles single, the anthemic ‘Give Peace A Chance’, was released on this day in the United Kingdom.
It was recorded on the penultimate day of his and Yoko Ono’s second bed-in for peace, in room 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada.
Give Peace A Chance was co-credited to Paul McCartney, although he played no part in its creation. It was partly by way of thanks for his help in recording ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’ in April 1969. In later years, however, Lennon alone received a compositional credit.
"I didn’t write it with Paul; but again, out of guilt, we always had that thing that our names would go on songs even if we didn’t write them. It was never a legal deal between Paul and me, just an agreement when we were fifteen or sixteen to put both our names on our songs. I’d put his name on Give Peace A Chance though he had nothing to do with it. It was a silly thing to do, actually. It should have been Lennon-Ono." – John Lennon, 1980
The single was released as Apple 13. It peaked at number two on the singles chart, being held off the top by The Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Women.
Give Peace A Chance was released in the US on 7 July 1969 as Apple 1809. Its highest chart placing on the Billboard Hot 100 was number 14.
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📅 ON THIS DAY: Recording: Good Night (1968)
Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Ken Scott
The Beatles began work on ‘Good Night’, the White Album’s final track, on this day.
The session began at 7pm and finished at 4.30am the following morning. It began with a number of rehearsals which were committed to tape.
One of the rehearsals was included on 1996’s Anthology 3. It features Ringo Starr on vocals, John Lennon playing piano, and George Harrison keeping time on a shaker.
The Beatles recorded five proper takes of ‘Good Night’ during this session, featuring just Starr’s vocals and Lennon’s acoustic guitar. Lead and backing vocals were added onto the last of these on 2 July 1968.
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