Tag: Beatles

The featured song this week was originally written and performed in 1967 by one of the most successful rock groups of all time.  Even though this week’s selection should sound instantly familiar to most, it never reached the Billboard Top 40 charts. Cover versions of this song rose to #1 three times in the U.K., beginning in the 1960s and resurfacing during alternating decades to follow.  

Despite its lack of success as a single in this country, the album on which it appeared, for my money, is the best of all time, and was #1 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Best Albums of All Time. The song itself was ranked at #304 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

This week’s selection has also surfaced in various films and was used as the opening theme song for a popular television series during the late 1980s and early 1990s.  

I would hope that somehow the Democrats will learn a lesson from knowing they are going to take a serious beating in November, and do something about it.

They have 8 months to get the progressive and independent votes back.

Plenty of time to create and pass some useful legislation, like a universal single payer HCR bill, and plenty of time to charge, try and begin prosecution of Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the war criminals.

Why, I bet they could even get away with not prosecuting Obama as an accessory after the fact, as long as they prosecute the others, and defund the wars and start REALLY getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq.

And plenty of time to charge, try and prosecute Paulsen, Geithner, Bernanke, and Lloyd Blankfein, and the upper management of AIG, and break up Goldman Sachs.

If they do these things in the next few months they can win November with landslides, and Obama might even win a second term two years down the road.

Making Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public utilities would be icing on the cake.

Otherwise they are toast. And apparently republicans are worse. Somehow (scratches head in puzzlement).

Has this already seemed like a long winter, even though the calendar tells us that nearly two months remain until the first day of spring?  Although some areas of the country have escaped the worst ravages of winter, many would welcome relief from heavy snow, icy roads, and freezing temperatures.  The current succession of one stinging disappointment after another, as we learn the news of each new day, seems to have mirrored the weather.  

Surrender to despair, especially when fatigued to the point of sheer exhaustion, can present a tempting option. Upon sober reflection, we quickly realize that quitting is not in our nature. Although the escape route out of the frightening labyrinth in which we find ourselves may seem hopelessly elusive, we must continue to choose survival — not just for our own benefit, but that of our loved ones, as well as those who share our quest.

We must maintain our vitality since once our ability to strive ends, in many respects, so does life.   Like the mammalian sea creatures of the deep, we, too, must occasionally come up for air.  Drugs are the choice of some (alcohol is technically a drug as well), although there are oftentimes matters of illegality, potential addiction and unpleasant sequelae to consider.  

Music presents us with a less dramatic, but far more benign option.  Yes, music can be mood altering.  Depending upon the song we are hearing, and its context, we may become angry, sad, energized, relaxed, exalted, nostalgic or pleasantly uplifted.

Rather than presenting extensive social commentary as a background for a song loaded with political implications, this week’s choice offers a rather pleasant, innocent, and hopeful message.  Hopefully, it may serve as a partial antidote to the seemingly constant barrage of unpleasant news that seems to await us each day.

The featured song this week never did appear on the Billboard Top 100 when first released in 1969, however, the album on which it was included ranks #14 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  This song was recorded from July 7-August 19, 1969, and the album was released on September 26, 1969.  

The title of this week’s song, serving as perhaps the antithesis to Bill Withers’ 1971 song, “Ain’t No Sunshine”, is the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun”, written by George Harrison and featured on the Abbey Road album.  

This Pony Party should be treated as an open thread!  Please do not rec the Pony Party!

The one true and lasting gift that the hippies tried to give the world is precisely that which has been offered by every wise or holy man or woman to ever walk the earth – the gift of love.  Love as a conscious choice, love as an ethic, love as a way of life, love as the antidote to fear, hatred and violence – love as a way to walk lightly on the earth.

Nasa will broadcast the song, Across the Universe, through the transmitters of its deep space communications network on Monday – the 40th anniversary of its recording at London's Abbey Road studios. The music will be converted into digital data and sent on a 431 light year-journey towards Polaris, the North Star, in a stunt that also commemorates the space agency's 50th anniversary. February 4 has also been declared Across the Universe Day by Beatles fans across the world, who are urged to play their own recording of the song at the same time as Nasa begins its own broadcast, 7pm in the US, midnight in the UK and 1am Tuesday in Spain. "I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe," said Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow, who has given her backing to the project. story Here is the original version, with space imagery, one of several Beatles versions. Fiona Apple's version is nice, and Rufus Wainwright has a beautiful version but he has disabled embedding. Then there is the movie version which I wrote about after seeing it in the theater and liked enough to recommend renting. _________________________________________________________________________________________