the beatles essay

The Beatles When people hear the name "The Beatles" most people think of lead singer, John Lennon.. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were in many bands together before the forming of the B

The Beatles

When people hear the name "The Beatles" most people think of lead singer,

John Lennon However, the role of Paul McCartney is often

overlooked It was

McCartney, not Lennon who was the driving force behind the

Beatles

John Lennon and Paul McCartney were in many bands together before the

forming of the Beatles In 1962, along with Ringo Starr1 and George Harrison,

they formed the rock group known as "The Beatles" The group featured a modern

rock that was new and popular during the period with John and Paul composing

and doing the leads on most of the songs They were backed by George on

rhythm and bass guitar and Ringo on drums George and Ringo also assisted on

backing vocals

When they first began playing, the main influence inside the band was John

Lennon, who had an uncanny ability to compose songs at a moments notice with an

inspiration that others missed He pushed the members of the band during their

touring years and was able to achieve the best possible results from the group

The band began playing in a Music Hall style that is very effective for

the audiences but was lacking on their albums Together with Paul, John began

to evolve the band As the years began to pass, the band was obviously

beginning to grow musically They had moved from simple lyrics like "Love me Do"

to harshly aware reflections of life in their home country in

"Eleanor Rigby"2

There were attempts, some more successful than others, to

incorporate the

other Beatles into the idea stage George Harrison made this leap successfully

with such tracks as "I want to tell you", "TAXMAN", and the

psychedelic "Love

you to" Ringo was featured in the humorous "Yellow Submarine

As the group matured, their creativity began to rely more on the effects

and manipulations that they were able to produce in the studio The Beatles

agreed to end their touring career after an American tour of large halls that

they failed to fill

It was around this time, that John Lennon began to search for himself He

began using any means that he thought might help him connect This era was

marked by the Beatles visits to the Maharashi Mahesh Yogi, and the beginning of

heavy drug use3

As Lennon began to use LSD in greater and greater

quanti-ties4, the other

Beatles began to have more and more influence in the production

of the albums

Lennon began to become almost reclusive, and often delayed

recording sessions

By the time that they were recording Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

in 1967, Lennon would simply propose songs and themes, and

McCartney was left

to execute the plans and tie together whims They began to make demands of the

crew:

Beatles songs were quite simple in the early days, you couldn't play around with them too much But by 1967

we were building sound pictures and my [George Martin] role had changed-it was to interpret the pictures and

determine how best to get them down on tape Paul was fine-he could express what he wanted, the sounds he wa nted to have But John would make whooshing sounds

and try to describe what only he could only hear in

his head, saying he wanted a song to 'sound like an

orange'.5

As soon as the Sgt Pepper album was underway, Paul

McCartney came up with

the idea of actually creating a band and preforming the songs as that band

They took the Idea from there and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band came

into existence, never to see the outside of studio 2 at Abbey Road They spent

nearly a year recording various tracks for the album and John's state of mind

was steadily declining

In 1969 when they issued Abbey Road it was no longer

difficult to

distinguish between the writings of Paul and John John was producing works

like "I want you (she's so heavy)" which had the lyrics:

I want you

so bad

it's driving me mad

She's so heavy6

And the more musical and thoughtful work of McCartney, such

as "Golden

Slumbers" which was almost a lullaby:

Once there was a way to get back homeward

Once there was a way to get back home

Sleep pretty darling do not cry

And I will sing a lullaby

Golden slumbers fill your eyes

Smiles awake you when you rise

Sleep pretty darling do not cry

And I will sing a lullaby7

The writing of the material on The Beatles8 seemed more balanced as Lennon

began writing more cogent songs, and collaborating on a

song-by-song basis with

McCartney Their songs varied from a slow ballad in McCartney's

"Blackbird" to

the bizarre and intriguing "Revolution #9) by Lennon Yet

McCartney was needed

to control Lennon when he recorded the original version of "Sexie Sadie" with

the verse:

You little twat

Who the fuck do you think you are

Who the fuck do you think you are

Oh, you cunt.9

Fortunately McCartney prevented the track from proceeding any farther than

rehearsal He ended up suggesting that the song take a more sympathetic note

and, eventually, Lennon agreed

During this time, one almost constant presence in the

recording studio was

Yoko Ono, John's wife This was against an unspoken code amongst the Beatles

not to allow wives and girlfriends into the studio Yoko had a large affect on

John, almost completely altering his style, and inspiring such songs as "I

want her (she's so heavy)" and "Revelation #9" Many of the other songs that

Yoko and John created were rejected by the group, but her

presence changed

John's behavior and performance

The Beatles final album together was Let It Be released in

1970 The

album was not in any way spectacular and exhibited many of the traits that are

associated with the Beatles writing The title track, "Let It Be"

is one of

the most famous tracks recorded by the group The music on the album was a

last chance effort to keep the group together, and although the album was well

received, it was not what the group had in mind The Beatles did not make

another recording after that date, though there were rumors of the group

reforming until the shooting of Lennon in 1980

One of the most obvious indicators of the heavy hand that was often kept

on Lennon is the progress of his band which he formed after the breakup of the

Beatles The Plastic Ono Band was an only moderately successful group that

took the popular psycedalia a few steps to far and lost most of

its popularity.

Lennon attempted to enter theater, but it was quickly obvious that he was no

actor He lived a bizarre and drug ridden life secluded in his apartment with

his wife Yoko Ono and his son Both he and his wife were reported

to have

serious heroin addictions and were often said to be high in the presence of

visitors

After the breakup, McCartney launched a moderately

successful solo career

He has released many recordings both in the United States and abroad His most

recent accomplishment was the "Liverpool Oratorio" which is no small feat

considering that McCartney never learned to read music

The songwriting styles, the studio records, and the

ndividual careers all

show that there was a very large influence in the group, and in the music, by

Paul McCartney Equal to Lennon in the beginning, but surpassing him at the

conclusion of the relationship Two key factors that probably caused this are

his affection and infatuation with Yoko Ono, and the heavy use of hallucinogenic drugs On some occasions, both of those factors may have given

Lennon inspiration for his music, but they greatly reduced his control and

influence in the band