One of the most exciting elements of the latest season of Mad Men was how the series creator, Matthew Weiner, somehow scored the rights to broadcast an actual Beatles song on his show.  The Beatles had never allowed their actual recordings to be directly featured in a television show, and have rarely allowed the privilege in movies.  It was interesting to read of how Weiner managed to pull off the feat.  It wasn’t an issue of money, though the price of airing the culturally priceless cut from Revolver, “Tomorrow Never Knows,” wasn’t cheap, but rather, he needed to get approval from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison.  Weiner took a big risk because securing the rights for the song meant having the Beatle people approving the script for a television show with a limited window for production time.  If his plan failed, he’d have to drastically alter the episode on short notice.  Luckily, his ploy worked, and us die hard Mad Men fans finally got to hear the musical group that dominated the decade in which the fictional show takes place.  In the original scene, Don Draper, feeling out of touch with the musical trends of 1966, asks his wife to bring him up to date on what the Beatles were up.  She gives him Revolver, and tells him to play “Tomorrow Never Knows,” the last, and most avant-garde far out psychedelic track on the legendary LP.  Don Draper dutifully plays the track, pours a drink, and tries to get into it.  As John Lennon drones on, we are treated to a montage of various characters that gets abruptly shut off when Don angrily stops the song midway through.  This scene annoyed me for a few critical reasons.  First of all, his wife, Megan, should have just told him to play the album from the start.  Don would have appreciated the conservative wit and word games of George Harrison’s “Taxman.”  Then, I have no doubt, that when “Eleanor Rigby’s” gorgeous harmonies and fast paced string quartet struck, that would have hooked him.  It’s the sort of song that speaks to Don’s character, a tale of anonymous lonely people living futile lives.  The pure black and white beauty of the song, combined with the commercial accessibility that only Paul McCartney can manufacture, might have stunned him emotionally and kept him listening.  Playing “Tomorrow Never Knows,” to someone who hasn’t heard too many Beatles songs,out of the blue, even in the year 2012, is just not the best way to indoctrinate a potential Beatle enthusiast.  I think Weiner chose the song because he wanted to contrast the insanely advanced sonic world the Beatles were operating in, with the old fashioned world that Don and many of his contemporaries were still living in, in 1966.  That in itself is cool, but to me, Don needed to hear a few other songs first before diving off the Tibetan Book of the Dead deep end.  So, I have rectified the situation.  The video I present below substitutes “Tomorrow Never Knows,” with “Eleanor Rigby.”  The montage of shots that follow are also of my choosing.  I tried to match the song to what I considered some of the most striking scenes and images from Season 5.  I also tried matching the images to the song in a loose abstract way.  All in all, I think it came out very well, and am very excited to share it.  Mad Men is currently my favorite TV show, and it goes without saying that the Beatles are my favorite band ever, so getting to mess around with two things I love so much was just a lot of fun.  So, enjoy it, and feel free to share it around town.

Mad Men, The Eleanor Rigby Experiment from Willie Simpson on Vimeo.

This is my all time favorite solo Paul McCartney music video.  It would have been on the site years ago, but I could never find a version of it on youtube that I was able to embed on my website.  Those days are over, so, at long last, I can proudly paste “Coming Up,” on williesimpson.com.  The song, which kicked off the otherwise disappointing McCartney II, is one of solo Paul’s best ever.  Its a bubbling psychedelic techno folk anthem of positivity.  The song, and its genius accompanying video which debuted on Saturday Night Live, was so good, that it kicked a then retired John Lennon in the balls to start making pop music again.  John famously claimed that he couldn’t get the song out of his head, and also thought that he could do exactly what Paul was doing, saturating the pop music scene with delicious little throwaway pop numbers.  Personally, I believe it was the first ember that would spark the eventual reunion that never happened in the late 80s/early 90s.  I’ve posted about it before, but what people don’t really understand about the Beatles Anthology, was that it was decades in the making, with John having a firm hand in its creation, all with the idea that some sort of reunion would happen one day on an important anniversary.  Despite John’s needing to distance himself from the whole Beatle circus, he knew deep down that it was a special achievement in his life, and that one day, he’d have to take the effort to put the Beatle thing its place and history, from his, and the other Beatles’ perspectives.  Anyway, that is stuff that has little to do with “Coming Up,” and its hilarious music video that you should watch right now.  “Feel it in my bones!”

“Tug of War” is one of the best solo Paul McCartney albums, and probably the best one from the 80s.  The record was produced by famed Beatle producer George Martin, sometimes referred to as the fifth Beatle, and this music video, which I’ve never seen before all of ten minutes ago, Martin lives out that fantasy by rocking the piano with Paul, Ringo, Linda, and actor John Hurt.  I never took it upon myself to exhaustively plow through all the ex-Beatle catalogs in the way I carved the original Beatle records on stone tablets, which is great because it allows me to discover songs and video clips that I never knew existed.  “Take it Away,” is one such example, and the song and video is just a delightful treat for all Beatle fans, and all fans of charming good fun…oh, and happy belated 70th birthday Paul!

“If I Needed Someone” written by George Harrison in 1965, is one of my all time favorite songs.  George was listening to the Byrds, especially Roger McGuinn’s “The Bells of Rhymeny,” which George based his guitar riff on.  Like all great artists, the Beatles stole from other great artists, but what was special about them was how honest and appreciative they were of the source inspirations.  Before the song was released, George sent Roger a recording of the song and a note extolling the influence McGuinn had on George in that era.  The Beatles made few, if any, enemies of their contemporaries in their era.  The song is a gorgeous effort by George, fully fitting in the Rubber Soul vibe of heavy harmony and folk rock psychedelia.  I also like the bizarre message that the lyrics paint.  George is saying to a potential girlfriend that he would date her in a minute if he wasn’t already in love, but please, leave your phone number in case something happens.  Its kind of a dicey, yet honest admission from an international rock star who happened to be married.  For me though, the song’s greatest attribute is the full throated three part harmony courtesy of John, Paul, and George.  It’s powerful and wistful at the same time, and there is something tragically nostalgic in the sound of it, much like John and Paul’s “In My Life.”  The video below was made by the fantastic youtube uploader named Beatles Mirko, who finds and assembles some of the best Beatles clips on the internet, so thanks to him for cobbling together this nice video featuring performances of the song from their legendary Tokyo concert.

Its the conclusion of Ram week, a jolly excursion if there ever was one, and I’m drawing the final curtain with “Heart of the Country.”  This song is one of those perfect folk/blues/country acoustic ballads that Paul McCartney had no trouble pulling out of his pants.  It sounds like an outtake from the “White Album,” which is to say that its so good that it could have easily fit on that classic Beatles record.  The song is about the search for happiness by way of pastoral living coming from one of the most well traveled superstars in the world.  This sort of song is the reason that Paul McCartney is really beloved.  He gets a lot of crap for being the commercial Beatle, but in reality, he was just as down to earth as any of the Beatles, which of course is true because the Beatles would have been nowhere near as successful if they hadn’t possessed that quality in spades.  They are authentic people, and this is an authentic song.  Much like John Lennon proclaimed that George Harrison’s “Within You, Without You,” was George at his “most clear and direct,” I feel that this song falls in the same category.  Paul was finding genuine joy getting out of London, buying a farmhouse, getting some animals, and having to just tell everybody about this simple pleasure.  Its a great tune from a great album, and I hope you enjoy it as much as me.  Ram on….

“Dear Boy,” is one of my favorite cuts off Ram.  Its a delicious piece of angry piano pop that has the added benefit of messing with John Lennon’s head.  When Paul wrote this song, he wrote it as an autobiographical message to himself, commenting on how lucky he was to meet and fall in love with Linda.  John Lennon heard something different.  John interpreted the lyrics as being a direct attack on John’s decision to kill the Beatles, claiming that his love for Yoko, while wonderful and special, was not the be all and all, and that he’ll end up regretting giving up Beatle magic for a love affair.  Personally, that’s the way I always heard it too.  The song makes less sense when Paul McCartney himself is the subject of his razor sharp lyricism, but makes perfect sense if he is singing to John.  Paul, ever affable and diplomatic, of course would never admit that this song is about John, and it probably wasn’t, but his relationship with John was such that he was almost certainly writing about him subconsciously, a fact Paul would probably cop to.   The point is, whether intentional or not, this is essential post-Beatle breakup listening, and one of Paul’s most clever pop songs.  RAM!…WEEK!….continues!

If you glance over the music trade papers (or internets) as I do on occasion, you might have noticed on the periphery that Paul McCartney is planning a re-release of his incredibly great solo album Ram.  Now Ram is quite simply one of my favorite albums of all time.  It’s easily my favorite solo McCartney album by a mile, and rotates in and out of the #1 spot for my own personal best solo Beatle album list.  At the time of its release,  Ram was unjustly criticized by rock critics for a bunch of complicated reasons.  One of them was that many of the tunes are credited to both Paul and Linda McCartney, a fact many cynical rock people had trouble swallowing.  John Lennon himself took offense to the album as two songs on there, “Too Many People,” and “Dear Boy,” had biting little obscure inside jokes, or digs at John and Yoko.  I’ll cover those songs and their natures later this week though.  Anyway, the point is, everybody was caught up in the bullshit of Ram, and not the music.  Now, objectively, the music on Ram is basically as good as anything you’d find on the “White Album.”  If you loved what McCartney was doing in 1968, you’ll love what he was doing in 1971.  It’s the only way I can describe it, Ram is Paul McCartney’s “White Album” songwriting stylizations part II.  Its Paul at his psychedelic best.  Just take a listen to “Monkberry Moon Delight,” in many ways Paul’s response to “I am the Walrus.”  It’s a frenzied piano stomping masterpiece of jibberish.  You can almost see Paul frothing at the mouth, mashing the keys the so hard that it detunes the piano.  It’s a cult classic, and if you never heard it, you’re in for quite the treat, so check out the song below, and watch the fantastic assortment of Paul and Linda home movies that go along with it.  Ram on….

Well, its been a few weeks since I’ve updated the website.  Mainly I’ve been busy working on my next creative endeavor, covering the song I’m posting today.  Its the dream of many a Beatle fan/musician to do their own version of a famed Beatle or solo Beatle song.  I’ve toyed with this dream for years, wondering which of the endless stream of hits to put my own humble little stamp on.  No matter what song you pick though, always has the caveat of never living up to the Beatle recording.  Even the greatest Beatle covers by the world’s biggest acts simply do not live up to the perfection the Beatles achieved in the studio.  When I discovered, “I’m in Love,” a lost ballad written by John Lennon in 1963, I knew I struck gold.  Not only is the song mostly incomplete, leaving open some room for interpretation, it is hardly known save for a subset of hardcore Beatle audiophiles who have combed over every inch of cruddy bootleg tape.  The version below is a minute and thirty seconds of John and a piano, singing the song in 1963.  What’s remarkable about this demo is that it sounds like it could easily be John in 1971 working on a new track for a solo record.  The lyrics, the emotion, the spirit of genuineness, and universalism, are all present in this wonderful and fragile piece of pop songwriting.  My cover is coming along nicely, and I hope to have it done in a few weeks.  Until then, here is the preview, a priceless artifact of sonic soul.

I don’t know too much about James Taylor, but perhaps its time I start.  I’m just gonna rattle off what I know off the top of my head.  He was a recovering heroin addict, suffering from severe depression, when at some point he finally put his life together and allowed his incredible talent to flourish.  He was one of the early super star signings for the fledgling “Apple Records,” the Beatles hot new label, cutting his first record with the help of Paul McCartney and George Harrison among others.  Ever since the phenomenal success of his debut, he has sort of coasted along in the first class world of pop’s elder statesmen, performing his trusty hits, and melting hearts everywhere he goes with his perfect fragile style.  This video of “Something in the Way She Moves,” a clip I first saw in the Beatles Anthology documentary, has always stuck with me.  It’s just one of the purest examples of a man, his guitar, and a song.  Even with his acne, it is perfection with no adornment, one of the ultimate expressions of the folk pop format executed with heart breaking beauty.  James just has a way of drawing you into his intimate world, to a place we’ve all been to.  It’s just spellbinding.  Please watch this and appreciate the artistry and genius going on here.

You’d think by reading this website, that I’ve probably heard everything the Beatles have ever done.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The Beatles left a treasure trove of outtakes, missing songs, and precious studio banter; all serving as glorious honey for Beatle fans starving for fresh material.  Last night, I stumbled upon the studio session for Rubber Soul’s “Think For Yourself.”  The person responsible for this bootleg, cleverly edited out the tedious audio takes, and left in all the truly hilarious Beatle conversations.  The record here is fascinating.  This being a George song, you can see him trying to carefully coral a stoned John and Paul into recording the proper backing vocals.  Its also funny to hear a snippy George Martin trying to manage the madness from the safety of his glass booth.  There isn’t really much I can add, other than if you want an insight into the Beatle creative process, and love to laugh, its worth the 15 minutes of your time to have this thing playing in the background as you work or relax.  Its gold.