Sellmansberger Orchestra Grand Ultimate is here - later on: Beatles chat

[tadawson]

(What have I started? :-) :-) )

[MiBrassFS]

Actually, I was answering Wade’s walrus declaration.

I am the eggman, they are the eggmen
I am the walrus, goo-goo g'joob, g'goo goo g'joob
Goo goo g'joob, g'goo goo g'joob, g'goo...

Side note: Not a Beatles fan. Technically, they’re slightly before my time. When I became aware of them, I had no patience for their accompanying BS.

[arpthark]

I discovered them when I was a lad, and having grown up on my parents’ country music and 70s/80s classic rock, I thought that their weird poppish sensibilities were really cool. Sgt. Pepper, The White Album and Abbey Road, I had never heard anything like that before. I began devouring as much of their music as I could, saving up my allowance to buy all their albums (which I managed by 9th grade), and I actually taught myself how to use Finale notation software by copying down Hal Leonard Beatles scores into the program when I was in 7th grade. That’s also how I learned that the Hal Leonard stuff could be wildly inaccurate!

[MiBrassFS]

I didn’t mind their early stuff. The psychedelic, go to India, etc. turned me off, even as a kid.

The only rock related records I bought were stuff by Rush and music along those lines (and very little of that). I did buy quite a bit of jazz and classical. There was a used record store relatively close buy that was a gold mine.

[bloke]

As response to Mr Dawson, I've said about all I can say about these mouthpieces, their delivery and all that stuff. It's perfectly fine for the thread to evolve, at least as far as I'm concerned.

The Beatles reportedly wrote their music before they wrote their lyrics, but they used nonsense lyrics as a way to verbalize the melodies while they were composing. Some of John's songs seem to feature nonsense lyrics in their final forms, but most of them refer to very specific things, and - once those things are discovered - they are often pretty intriguing.

I'm a pretty big fan of their music, but I'm not much of a fan of brass quintet versions of their music or community band medleys of their music, etc. I enjoyed working behind a really talented cover band playing in a symphony orchestra. As you might guess, I used the F cimbasso for most every tune in the book... I would have used tuba some tunes (it was a "tuba" book), but they didn't play anything like "Maxwell Silver Hammer" or "When I'm 64" or anything like that, so no.

[the elephant]

I am the eggman. They are the eggmen.

[sdloveless]

Side note: Not a Beatles fan.

I'm not, either. Rather, I like their songs, but don't like their recordings. Cover versions from their contemporaries were almost universally better.

Now, this next bit draws some heat from time to time. And as a bassist, I don't think I'm technically even allowed to have this opinion. Sir Paul wasn't a particularly good bassist. His lines weren't "melodic" or "revolutionary" or however else the bass community describes them. I really think he was simply the worst guitarist in the band and so they stuck him on 4-string duty when their other bassist bailed out in Germany. If you listen to the masses over on Talkbass, anyone who even questions his greatness is canceled until they repent. I'm probably doomed to an eternity in the bad place for even thinking this.

[arpthark]

Would Ringo have been covering his ears had John been using a Sellmansberger Orchestra Grand Ultimate (British euph version)?

[bloke]

Paul's bass lines were adequate. It was the drumming that was interesting. Paul became a much better pianist then bassist and - just so you know - in that first LP they did with Capitol Records - and somehow decided to record a song from The Music Man, "til There Was You", that iconic guitar solo is his. He didn't like what George had put down, so he went back after the session and played that solo. In live performances later, George played something nearly the same as what Paul played on the recording.
When they were first putting the band together and picked up George, Paul realized that someone needed to play bass and he realized that it needed to be him - if anyone.
George Harrison definitely came into his own, but it took a bit.

re: "not a Beatles fan"
I remember about a 100% of the parents ( c. 1964...) saying they didn't like their music, because of their long hair and "all that screaming"...

...ie. the screaming from the girls in the balcony on The Ed Sullivan shows.

[arpthark]

somehow decided to record a song from The Music Man, "til There Was You

I love the Beatles version of that tune solely for the Britishness of Paul's delivery with the added rhotic "r":

There were birds in the sky
But I never sawr them winging
No, I never sawr them at all
'Til there was you

[bloke]

I'm pretty sure I read that he was making fun of someone when he did that in that recording. I don't remember exactly, but I do remember reading something specific about that.

Trying to find what I've read about that again to refer to it here, all I'm coming across is a bunch of AI garbage.

[tadawson]

As response to Mr Dawson, I've said about all I can say about these mouthpieces, their delivery and all that stuff. It's perfectly fine for the thread to evolve, at least as far as I'm concerned.

The Beatles reportedly wrote their music before they wrote their lyrics, but they used nonsense lyrics as a way to verbalize the melodies while they were composing. Some of John's songs seem to feature nonsense lyrics in their final forms, but most of them refer to very specific things, and - once those things are discovered - they are often pretty intriguing.

I'm a pretty big fan of their music, but I'm not much of a fan of brass quintet versions of their music or community band medleys of their music, etc. I enjoyed working behind a really talented cover band playing in a symphony orchestra. As you might guess, I used the F cimbasso for most every tune in the book... I would have used tuba some tunes (it was a "tuba" book), but they didn't play anything like "Maxwell Silver Hammer" or "When I'm 64" or anything like that, so no.

NP, I was just amazed how far down the mountain (and via such a bizarre path) that my "flip the book over and play it backwards" comment has evolved, that's all . . . :-) :-)

[Heavy_Metal]

And then the passphrase to get into Valhalla (to get your new mouthpiece…) will have to be:

“Goo goo g'joob, g'goo goo g'joob, g'goo...”

Actually, John wrote that song, not Paul.

duh...
It requires way more chemicals than Paul ever thought about ingesting to write the types of lyrics that John wrote.
I REALLY hope to see some good news in the mailbox (or on the doorstep) tomorrow.

If you get a chance, read "The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon & Yoko Ono" which came out not long after he was murdered. There is a section where they ask John about the songs he wrote, both with and without Paul. After reading that I'll never hear them the same again.

[MiBrassFS]

Well, truth be told, I played with the Beatles early on. They actually kicked me out just like Pete Best. This is why I’m not a fan. John was in his “music history” phase and insisted that I use an ophicleide. I felt it wouldn’t go over. It didn’t. He was angry that I was right and I got booted. Ringo was actually on my side, but didn’t speak up because he didn’t want to get “Pete Bested” at he put it. They even removed me from the press photos. John was a terrible euphoniumist, btw. Here’s the original:

Clipboard Feb 25, 2025 at 5.46 PM.jpeg (13.65 KiB) Viewed 1837 times

[bloke]

Well, truth be told, I played with the Beatles early on. They actually kicked me out just like Pete Best. This is why I’m not a fan. John was in his “music history” phase and insisted that I use an ophicleide. I felt it wouldn’t go over. It didn’t. He was angry that I was right and I got booted. Ringo was actually on my side, but didn’t speak up because he didn’t want to get “Pete Bested” at he put it. They even removed me from the press photos. John was a terrible euphoniumist, btw. Here’s the original:


Clipboard Feb 25, 2025 at 5.46 PM.jpeg

Your attitudes towards them then, are obviously understandable.

[the elephant]

Back when I was negative three years old I was Pete Best's roadie.

True story.

[bloke]

"Oh yeah he told you something. I think you'll understand..."

[MiBrassFS]

Wade was the best roadie we ever had. Everyone said so.

[the elephant]

Everyone said so.

Especially Wade…

[arpthark]

I did a transcription and analysis of "Revolution 9" for a post-tonal music theory class once. I think I did the same for Pink Floyd's "Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast."

I love Paul McCartney, his songwriting chops, his (IMO: unparalleled) penchant for melody, his delicate fingerpicking acoustic guitar work, and his melodic basslines (ref. the George Harrison tune "Something," "Rain," and basically all the tracks from the second half of Abbey Road) but I'm just some guy who don't know no better.

I especially like the whimsy of the tunes that John Lennon later derided as "Paul's granny sh!t" -- think "When I'm Sixty-Four," "Your Mother Should Know," "Honey Pie," "Maxwell's Silver Hammer." I guess I'm just a hokey guy.

Paul as a singer: when he really lays into the lower baritone range on later tunes like "Golden Slumbers" and "Lady Madonna," he sounds like a different person.