The Beatles
Chpt. 7
History of Rock & Roll
The Beatles 1965–70
• The Beatles are often referred to as one of the
most successful and influential groups in the
history of American popular music
• They continue to sell a tremendous amount of
recordings and merchandise every year
• They stand as an example of a highly successful
commercial rock group with musical integrity
and a willingness to experiment
• They are from England, but their impact on
American music is tremendous
The Beatles
• John Lennon
• Paul McCartney
• George Harrison
• Ringo Starr
The Beatles – 1965
• The Beatles’s early recordings synthesize several styles of
American popular music
• By 1965 the group begins to expand the possibilities for
popular music
• George Martin, their producer with experience in the world
of orchestral music, played an important role in their
development
• “Yesterday,” a song with no electric guitars, bass, or drums,
was a major hit
– McCartney plays acoustic guitar and is accompanied by a string
quartet
The Beatles – 1965 (cont.)
• The release of the album Rubber Soul demonstrated a
further willingness to experiment, albeit in a much
more conservative fashion than subsequent albums
– “Norwegian Wood” (This Bird Has Flown) is the first
(released) commercial American recording to make use of
the sitar
– “Nowhere Man” shows Lennon moving in a socially
conscious direction inspired by Bob Dylan and folk music
– “In My Life” contains a harpsichord-sounding piano solo
The Beatles – 1966
• Revolver is considered to be one of the greatest
albums in rock history; VH1’s poll found it to be
the greatest and critics consistently include it in
their top ten lists
– “Eleanor Rigby” – utilizes a string octet and contains
socially conscious lyrics
– “Tomorrow Never Knows” – use of tambura,
backwards guitar solo, vocal is run through a Leslie
cabinet, use of tape loops and found sounds,
psychedelic lyrics
– “Got to Get You into My Life” – use of horns, inspired
by American soul music.
The Beatles – 1967
• “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” are
released as a double A-side single
• “Strawberry Fields Forever” is a particularly innovative
song
– Lennon’s vocals are slowed down and there are no vocal
harmonies in order to create a somewhat lonely
atmosphere
– Use of brass and cello
The Beatles – 1967 (cont.)
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released
on June 1 at the beginning of the so-called
“Summer of Love”
– Based loosely around a concept, which, in turn,
ushered in the era of the concept album
– The Beatles had stopped performing live and they
decided to take on another identity for this album
– The first twelve songs can be heard as a collage of
fantasy-world soundscapes full of interesting sounds
– The closing track, “A Day in the Life,” is a return to
reality
Songs from Pepper
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“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”
“She’s Leaving Home”
“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”
“Within You Without You”
“When I’m Sixty-Four”
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
(Reprise)”
“A Day in the Life”
• Demonstrates disenchantment with the real world
• Contains a once controversial line: “I’d love to turn
you on” was banned because the BBC thought it was a
drug reference
• Makes use of two orchestral build-ups provided by an
orchestra of over forty members
• Lennon sings the rather somber verses while
McCartney provides the hurried sounding bridge
• Ends with a major chord played by all four Beatles on
three pianos
The Beatles – 1967 (cont.)
• Magical Mystery Tour
– Includes Lennon’s surrealistic epic “I Am the
Walrus,” along with other psychedelic pop songs
– The latter portion of the album contains the
“Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever” single
– “All You Need is Love” makes use of an odd time
signature
The Beatles – 1968
• The Beatles (The White Album)
– Wildly eclectic 30-song album which draws on a wide array
of musical styles
– Lennon was in a relationship with avant-garde artist Yoko
Ono by this time
– Nevertheless, the group drew less from psychedelic
imagery and unusual sounds, and the experimental
approach is more related to shear musical diversity on this
album
– Contains the sound collage “Revolution No. 9”
The Beatles – 1969
• Let It Be is recorded but the release of the album is
delayed until 1970 after the breakup of the band
• Tensions grew between band members during the
recording sessions, as Ono’s presence brought about
some frustration (Paul and George also feuded)
• The album shows the group moving back toward
their rock and roll roots, and McCartney’s ballads
(“Let It Be,” “The Long and Winding Road) were
major hit singles
The Beatles – 1969 (cont.)
• Abbey Road is the last album recorded by the group
• The group members decided to put aside their
differences in order to create a final artistic
statement; the result was one of their most upbeat,
accessible later works
• “Come Together” shows Lennon mixing his
surrealistic wordplay with his roots in the music of
Chuck Berry, while side two contains several short,
interconnected songs
• Early use of the Moog synthesizer
Yoko Ono broke up the band?
• Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band album is released
in December of 1970, and is a sparse, stark
collection of songs recanting his childhood
and his time with the Beatles
The Beatles – 1970
• The breakup of the group is announced by the
press on April 10, 1970
• Let It Be is released in May