The Beatles
Brian Epstein
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Bob Wooler and My Bonnie by the Beatles
Pride in his ability
Decca, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes
Stu Sutcliffe dies
George Martin and the
Parlophone
• June 1962, Beatles audition
• Pete Best
• Richard Starkey and Ringo
The Heroes of Liverpool
• Radio, television and tour appearances
Beatlemania—American Style
• Real Rock ‘n’ Roll was not exclusively
American music
• Ed Sullivan
I Want to Hold Your Hand
• Recorded in October 1963
• Opening a compendium of 50s Rock and
Roll
• First two musical phrases demonstrate this
Beatlemania—American Style
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Mass popularity in America
Top 5 April 4, 1964
International popularity
Lifestyle
Drugs
Third tour to the United States
The Middle Period:
Experimentation
Yesterday
• Written January 1964 but recorded June
1965
• Pre-rock pop song
• Melody develops from a short, simple riff
• Six sections in AABABA pattern
• 32-measure AABA form
Yesterday
• McCartney’s singing
• Simple acoustic guitar accompaniment
outlines a delicate eight-beat rhythm
• String accompaniment updated
• Gone is the nuclear rock band of 2 guitars,
bass and drums
• Stronger connection between words and
music
Rubber Soul Drive My Car
Rubber Soul Drive My Car
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Cinematic
Sexual tension
Humorous possibility
Accompaniment shows collaboration
McCartney, all the details in place
Rubber Soul Drive My Car
• Otis Redding’s Respect
• No rhythm guitar
• Only chorus has solid chords (heard on
piano)
• Sounds like soul music
Yesterday and Today
Revolver Eleanor Rigby
Revolver Eleanor Rigby
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Unprecedented topic
Broke sharply with pop song conventions
Detached delivery
Time passes, without apparent purpose
Revolver Eleanor Rigby
• Musical setting as bleak as the words
• String octet (four violins, two violas, two
cellos)
• String sound is sparse
Revolver Eleanor Rigby
• Chord progressions emulate rock
accompaniment
• Static melody and harmony
• Repetitive rhythm of accompaniment
Revolver Eleanor Rigby
• Pop becoming Art?
• Classical-style string accompaniment
• Comparable to Schubert’s art songs
Penny Lane and Strawberry
Fields
The Later Beatles: Revolution
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
Band
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
• Verse creates dreamy state
• Lyrics contain numerous psychedelic
images (marmalade skies)
• Music floats in waltz time
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
• Impression of a person in the middle of an
acid trip
• Chorus is straight-ahead Rock and Roll
• Conveys normalcy
A Day in the Life
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Mundane vs. elevated consciousness
Music with words vs. instrumental
A Day in the Life
Four Scenes
1. Lennon’s response to a man who dies in his car
while, Lennon suspects, he was tripping
2. Lennon attending a film
3. Lennon in modern life—work is mundane and
competitive
4. Lennon’s commentary on counting potholes
A Day in the Life
• Starts with soloist and guitar
• Other instruments layer
• Juxtaposed to massive orchestral block of
sound
• Echoes of Pendercki’s Threnody for Victims
of Hiroshima (1960)
A Day in the Life
• Well-known vs. obscure music
• Tasteful drumming: inventive bass lines
• Doubling of the tempo in the “Woke up”
section
• Trills on “Laugh” and “photograph”
• Transition to the acid trip
A Day in the Life
• Melodic leap followed by trill blends
seamlessly into orchestral texture
• Final chord
• An “OM”
• Striking ending
The White Album
Abbey Road
The “Death” of Paul and the
Beatles Break-Up
• Back masking
• The Paul-is-Dead hoax
• By 1970, it was clear that the Beatles were
each going separate ways
Summary
• Their influence on the music is undeniable
• Other influences
• Hard mainstream rock, avant-garde rock,
psychedelic rock, symphonic rock, and
light-hearted rock
Summary
• No longer was Rock simply fun music; it
was serious
• Four directions
• John Lennon in the 1970s
• Superstitions
• Beatlemania end?