“I think people who create and write, it actually does flow – just flows from into their head, into their hand, and they right it down. It’s simple.”
― Paul McCartney“What I have to say is all in the music. If I want to say anything, I write a song.”
― Paul McCartney
Neil Young inducts Paul McCartney into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999:
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“I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition” – John Lennon |
Continue reading Jan 30: The Beatles played the Rooftop concert Apple building 1969
| Robert Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) – read more
“You think you’re getting a handle on playing the blues, and then you hear Robert Johnson — some of the rhythms he’s doing and playing and singing at the same time, you think, ‘This guy must have three brains!’ ” — |
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| Bob Dylan: Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Savoy Hotel, London England 8 May 1965 (Video) – read more
The Bob Dylan England Tour 1965 (April 30 – May 10) was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan during late April and early May 1965. The tour was widely documented by filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, who used the footage of the tour in his documentary Dont Look Back. |
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| Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945, in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as a group leader and a solo performer. His improvisations draw not only from the traditions of jazz, but from other genres as well, especially Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music. |  |
| Let It Be is the 12th and final studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970 by the band’s Apple Records label shortly after the group announced their break-up. |  |
| Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008), known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more than 85 million records. A member of the Grand Ole Opry (beginning 1943) and the Country Music Hall of Fame (beginning 1966), Arnold ranked 22nd on Country Music Television’s 2003 list of “The 40 Greatest Men of Country Music.” He co-wrote the country and pop standard “You Don’t Know Me”. |  |
| Daniel Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American musician and songwriter best known for his work with Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and for the song “I Don’t Want To Talk About It”, a hit for Rita Coolidge, Rod Stewart and Everything but the Girl. |  |
| Chris Frantz (born Charlton Christopher Frantz, May 8, 1951, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, United States) is an American musician and record producer. He was the drummer for both Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club. |  |
| Gary Glitter (born Paul Francis Gadd on 8 May 1944) is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician. |  |
Spotify Playlist – May 8 |
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“Just look at the picture of him with the acoustic guitar: His fingers are in the weirdest position. If you’re a guitar player looking at that, you know this is a guy who’s not even thinking; he’s just there. … The soul of his creative originality plays a huge part in music making for everyone who’s ever written a song and really known what they’re doing.”
~Neil Young“You think you’re getting a handle on playing the blues, and then you hear Robert Johnson — some of the rhythms he’s doing and playing and singing at the same time, you think, ‘This guy must have three brains!’ ”
~Keith RichardsFavorite album? I think the Robert Johnson album. I listen to that quite a bit still.
~Bob Dylan (Rockline interview – June 1985)
Cross Road Blues:
| Birth name | Robert Leroy Johnson |
|---|---|
| Born | May 8, 1911 Hazlehurst, Mississippi |
| Died | August 16, 1938 (aged 27) Greenwood, Mississippi |
| Genres | Delta blues, Country blues |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals, harmonica |
| Years active | 1929–38 |
Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an American blues singer and musician. His landmark recordings from 1936–37 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced later generations of musicians. Johnson’s shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend, including a Faustian myth. As an itinerant performer who played mostly on street corners, in juke joints, and at Saturday night dances, Johnson enjoyed little commercial success or public recognition in his lifetime.
Johnson’s records sold poorly during his lifetime. It was only after the reissue of his recordings in 1961 on the LP King of the Delta Blues Singers that his work reached a wider audience. Johnson is now recognized as a master of the blues, particularly of the Mississippi Delta blues style. He is credited by many rock musicians as an important influence; Eric Clapton has called Johnson “the most important blues singer that ever lived.” Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an “Early Influence” in their first induction ceremony in 1986. In 2003, David Fricke ranked Johnson fifth in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Me and the Devil Blues:
…Johnson’s major influence has been on genres of music that weren’t recognized as such until long after his death: rock and roll and rock. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included four of his songs in a set of 500 they deemed to have shaped the genre:
Johnson recorded these songs a decade and a half before the recognized advent of rock and roll, dying a year or two later. The Museum inducted him as an “Early Influence” in their first induction ceremony in 1986, almost a half century after his death. Marc Meyers of the Wall Street Journal wrote that, “His ‘Stop Breakin’ Down Blues’ from 1937 is so far ahead of its time that the song could easily have been a rock demo cut in 1954.
Continue reading Today: The late Robert Johnson was born in 1911 – 102 years ago
“I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition” – John Lennon
Trying to come up with a conclusion for the film, Let it be, it was suggested that the band play an unannounced lunchtime concert on the roof of the Apple building. On 30 January, The Beatles with Preston played on the rooftop in the cold wind for 42 minutes, about half of which ended up in the film.
The songs performed in the Rooftop concert, Apple building:
The Concert:
The Beatles started with a rehearsal of “Get Back,” then played the five songs which are shown in the film. After repeating “I’ve Got a Feeling” and “Don’t Let Me Down,” takes which were left out of the film, the Beatles are shown in the film closing with another pass at “Get Back” as the police arrive to shut down the show. (Wikipedia)
The songs were used as a whole or in parts on the album, in the film and later on Anthology 3 and on the re-release/reworking of Let it be, Let it be…naked.
The Apple building concert was the first live gig since The Beatles stopped touring 29. August 1966 (tired of screaming girls and not beeing able to hear themselves through the screams) and it was to be their last. It’s a fantastic show, sweet and short, really makes us long for more. It gives us a glimpse of what could have been, and it shows us what a magnificent live band they were.
“We went on the roof in order to resolve the live concert idea, because it was much simpler than going anywhere else; also nobody had ever done that, so it would be interesting to see what happened when we started playing up there. It was a nice little social study.
We set up a camera in the Apple reception area, behind a window so nobody could see it, and we filmed people coming in. The police and everybody came in saying, ‘You can’t do that! You’ve got to stop.'” – George Harrison (Anthology)
Whatever animosity there was between the four guys it doesn’t show, it looks like they have the time of their life, it is a magnificent live farewell.
It is also one of the most bootlegged shows in rock’n roll history, both on audio and film.
Let’s hope for an official Let it Be Blu-Ray release, maybe with the rooftop concert as a separate extra feature (with all available footage).
Other January 30:
Continue reading Today: The Beatles played the Rooftop concert, Apple building 30 Jan 1969