Jen Turner in the the Tigerlilly concert tour.

 

Live in Orlando, Florida, September 24, 1995...  This is a complete concert by Natalie Merchant. Her band at the time featured Jen Turner on guitar.   They did a duet here on the song, "Baby, I Love You".  Below Natalie Merchant discusses working with Jen Turner on the Tigerlilly album.

The Death of a Friend. TaB Soda (1963-2020)

 “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?” - Steve Jobs talking to Pepsi executive, John Scully.

Soda doesn't get much respect.  Imagine being a soda, that has been on life support for over thirty years. That is been the fragile life of TaB Soda. For decades it has been awaiting the ax.  It finally happened on October 16, 2020. The Coca Cola company axed it along with some other underperforming brands, Although it was not a customer-friendly move, it was understandable, if only because the company would have been justified in killing it long ago, but didn't because they knew there were many devoted fans of the pink can.

 

What made TaB Special was that it was not too sweet.  Many sodas are almost unnaturally sweet,  but TaB wasn't. When it started in 1963, they used sodium cyclamate to sweeten it, which was later changed to saccharine, and finally, the sweetener was changed to a  saccharine/aspartame mixture in 1984.  I was actually a fan of the third formula.    It was for me an improvement over just using saccharine. But many people especially women,  were fans of the less sweet original version as well, after having drunk it for decades. Some folks just didn't like the artificial taste of Diet Coke, which tasted like an aspartame bomb had blown up inside a can.  

However, by 1984 the end was already preordained, TaB had begun its slow market decline. It's had been superseded in the marketplace by  Diet Coke which when introduced in 1982 in the most successful soda product launch of all time. Diet Coke quickly became the third most successful soda brand in the USA, and it competes with regular Pepsi for the second spot.  Tab's market share took a quick plunge in the 1980s, but it remained enough of a seller to avoid cancellation for decades. But it always faced dwindling market places.  TaB was removed from soda fountains,  stopped being sold in international markets, and eventually, 2-liter bottle versions and 16-ounce versions were discontinued leaving only the pink can.   TaB sales were down to 3 million cases by 2010, and a million cases or less by the time it was killed. Towards the end,  it was removed from entire United States bottling regions. It was finally killed when a  can shortage caused by the Covid19 pandemic made lesser soda brands problematic. Soda companies sometimes keep brands in their portfolio in dormancy to be brought back later, but any future plans for a return of Tab are not clear.

For me, it was a friend, something to look forward to every week, to see if it was on sale, or if it could be found.  Others as well were similarly devoted, by increasingly smaller numbers.

 

Goodbye, Dear friend!

1979 TaB TV commericial. 

Famous actresses and singers with Dark hair, light complexion

Katy Perry

Jeanne Garafolo   

Haley Lou Richardson  

Dayle Haddon

A model, turned actress, and then model again.  

  

Andie McDowell

Zoey Deschanel

maura tierney

more of a brunette, she was at the peak of her visual appeal while filming the NewsRadio sitcom. 

jennifer connelly

andie mcdowell

Famous songs that were not big hits.

 

Sometimes songs are not big hits at first.  There are four reasons for this. 1. The group is not yet well known  and the song does make it the initial impact it deserves. 2.  The song was not released as a single purposely in attempt  to  increase album sales. 3. The song was not a chart hit because the chart rules of the time.  4. The song simply finds it´s audience over time and becomes a radio favorite.  

The most famous song to not be released as  a single, is ¨Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin.  The group preferred album sales, and a seven minute song by a hard rock group was not likely to played on top 40 radio in any case.   Only six  Led Zeppelin´s  classics were  hit singles, in the USA  and they never had a UK  hit  single during the 1970´s because they did not release singles in the UK. 

¨Freebird¨ - Lynyrd Skynyrd´s 1974  rock anthem, was only a #19 hit at the time- probably due to it´s length,. 

It is a little more inexplicable that the  shorter Aerosmith anthem,  ¨Dream On¨ was not a major hit when it was initially released in 1973.  Aerosmith did not end up hitting  the top 40 till  the song ¨Sweet Emotion came out in 1975.  However, that exposure enabled  ¨Dream On¨  to be reissued and it finally  become a big hit single in early 1976. 

Another album orientated artist not to have a top 15  hit, in the USA  was Jimi Hendrix, though his songs  did become top hits in England.   Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath have never had a top 40 hit.  Metallica had only two top twenty hits in the USA, though did have more then a dozen songs reach the top 100, and about twenty songs that were major hits on various international charts.

Sometimes  though, Album Orientated Rock  songs do actually become major  hits. The Deep Purple classic, ¨Smoke On the Water ¨ actually hit #4 in the USA, but it was not a top ten hit in the UK.   

Highly successful country artists sometimes do not get played as much on top 40 radio. Garth Brooks never has had a pop radio hit under his own name. Hank Williams only had two minor hits,  Keith Urban has never had top ten pop hit. 

  The Beatles  achieved airplay for numerous songs that were not released as singles in either the UK and or the USA.   The  Beatles usually never released  more then one album track as a single in the United Kingdom, and in the cases, of the Sgt.Pepper and  the White albums no singles were released at all.  Among the Beatles songs that were not released initially as singles in either the United Kingdom or the USA are ¨Michelle¨, ¨In My Life ¨, ¨Norwegian Wood¨, ¨Here There and Everywhere¨ ¨With a Little Help From My Friends.¨ ¨Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds¨, ¨A Day in the Life¨  ¨Fool On the Hill¨, ¨Back In The USSR¨, ¨While My Guitar Gently Weeps¨,  and  ¨Here Comes The Sun".  In addition, ¨Yesterday¨, ¨Twist and Shout¨ and ¨Long and Winding Road¨were only released in the United States as singles during their initial release periods.  

In 1996, physical singles sales were slowing down , while full length album sales were at their peak, this resulted in some songs not being released as physical singles but still getting a lot of airplay.  ¨Don´t Speak¨ by No Doubt was one of those songs. 

Who were the signers of the Declaration of Independence and who were the signers of the U.S. Constitution?

Which of the key founding fathers signed or worked on the Declaration of Independence and which worked on the Constitution?



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock were signers of the Declaration of Independence . George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin were signers for the Constitution.

Washington was serving as the Commander of the Continental Army in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was being prepared, and was not present at the creation. The more youthful, Madison and Hamilton were not members of the Continental Congress at the time. The Declaration of Independence was prepared by the 2nd continental congress working in Philadelphia. John Hancock was the president of the body-which partly explains why he signed his name much larger then the others. The document itself  was drafted by a committee made up of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. 

Thomas Jefferson,  wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence and is often given credit for writing the document, but it was    edited by the the committee , and then edited again by the whole Congress. Fifty-six members of Congress signed it.


THE CONSTITUTION and THE BILL OF RIGHTS 
The United States Constitution, a longer document, was written in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787, by the Philadelphia Convention , a body appointed for that purpose, to replace the Articles of Confederation -which were the United States' original ,unworkable founding documents. George Washington, presided over the body.

The original hand written Constitution.

The writing of the actual text of the Constitution was a group effort with much of the work done by two committees. One committee, the Committee of Detail did much of the initial writing. The members of that committee were Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts, Edmund Randolph of Virginia, John Rutledge of South Carolina and James Wilson of Pennsylvania.

 A second committee, the Committee of Style Arrangement  was responsible for the final draft.  That committee included Alexander Hamilton of New York, William Samuel Johnson  of Connecticut, Rufus King of Massachusetts, James Madison of Virginia, and Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania   It is said that Gouvenour Morris is responsible for the phrase "we the people" .   Hamilton, Madison and John Jay were responsible for the Federalist Papers a series of essays , that explained and defended the constitution.   Madison later was the primary writer of the  Bill of Rights,  which were the first ten amendments to the constitution which were written in 1789.  Because of Madison's key role -he is typically labeled as the father of constitution. 

The original Bill of Rights

Why were  Jefferson and Adams not involved in drafting the constitution? They were overseas serving as an ambassadors in 1787 during the Constitutional convention. Only six founders signed both documents:George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, James Wilson, and Roger Sherman. Thus Benjamin Franklin, was the the only well known founder found on US currency who was involved in both documents.

Stevie Nicks-Songs that were held back and used on later albums

One of the drawbacks of being a member of a group with multiple songwriters  is that sometimes there is not room on albums  for all the songs you write.  However, that means that  is always going to be  material   to bring out of the drawer, when you are  looking for material for  a new project. Few artists have gone to that mythical song  drawer as much as Stevie Nicks has.  She has released over 40  of these drawer songs that she  finished  years after she wrote them. She even released a whole  album of new versions  of mostly old unreleased songs called 24 Karat Gold in 2014.  The advantage of the  later versions is that they are often more polished, the earlier demo versions benefit from having Stevie's younger, richer voice. 

 This list does not include Stevie Nicks songs recorded during album sessions  (such as "Violet and Blue") that were released unaltered soon afterwards on soundtrack albums or B-sides, nor does it  include unreleased songs that she has not gotten around to releasing or recording yet. (Note: As I am not a Stevie Nicks expert, this list may be incomplete)

BUCKINGHAM NICKS ERA (1969-1974)

• "Cathouse Blues" was written in 1969 not recorded til 2014's 24 Karat Gold.
• "Candlebright"  (also known as "Nomad" ) The song was recorded by Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham in demo form, and was almost used on  the 1975 Fleetwood Mac album  Instead it was not used till 2001's Trouble in Shangri-La.
• "I Don't Want to Know".  Written during the Buckingham Nicks era, and performed live during that time. It was dragged up for Fleetwood Mac's 1977  Rumours album as a replacement for "Silver Springs", a  better  song which unfortunately was too long to fit on the album. 
• "Lady"  (Also known as  "Knocking On Doors") was written in the early 1970's and finally recorded on 24 Karat Gold.
• "Without You' -a Buckingham Nicks song that did not see release til it was recorded in a new version for the 2013 Fleetwood Mac digital EP, Extended Play.  This record was the last recordings made by Stevie Nicks with Lindsey Buckingham.
• "That's All Right " used on 1982's Fleetwood Mac album,  Mirage. It was written in 1974 during the Buckingham-Nicks era, and intended for their never made second album.
• "Crystal" Released on Buckingham Nicks but recorded again for the 1975 Fleetwood Mac album, and recorded yet again by Stevie Nicks for the 1998 Practical Magic soundtrack album.
• "Sorcerer" also dates back to the "Buckingham-Nicks" era and was recorded by them  as a demo, as well as being performed on the subsequent tour. It was also considered for some Fleetwood Mac projects, in particular 1979's Tusk,  it was given to Marilyn Martin  to record in 1984 for the Streets of Fire soundtrack. It was also recorded for album "The Wild Heart"- and released as a bonus track for  a 2016 reissue of that  album.   "Sorcerer" was  finally was recorded and released by Stevie Nicks in an excellent version produced by Sheryl Crow for the 2001  Trouble in Shangri-La album.

 The original  working tapes for  "If You ever did Believe" and  for "The Dealer" . Both of these not used and left off the Tusk album.  Great stuff ....

EARLY FLEETWOOD MAC STINT (1974-1981)

• "Think About It' written around 1974, considered for Rumours, but recorded for Bella Donna
• "The Highwayman" written around 1975, but recorded for Bella Donna.
• "Kind of Woman" written around 1975, recorded for Bella Donna.
•  "Leather and Lace" written in 1975  for (but not used by) Jessi Colter and Waylon Jennings, it of course, ended up on Bella Donna.

Leather and Lace (original demo)

• "After the Glitter Fades"  Said to be written in 1975, but finally used on 1981's Bella Donna.
• "Planets of the Universe" was written during the Rumours period while Nicks and Buckingham were separating, which was Nicks' inspiration for the song. A rough demo (performed by Fleetwood Mac) ended up on the remastered and expanded release of Rumours in 2004. Nicks chose to include a edited version of the song on Trouble in Shangri-La, omitting a verse . The full-length 2001 version of this song, with the extra verse (as originally demo-ed on the expanded release of Rumours), did appear on a 6 track single release in late 2001.
• "If You Ever Did You Believe"  started  as in 1976 as a coda to "The Chain" , it was first released as independent song given to Louise Goffin in 1981. It was finally used by Stevie Nicks in a version recorded with Sheryl Crow for the 1998 Practical Magic soundtrack album.
• "Secret Love" wrote the song in 1976 and recorded a demo for Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album, Rumours, but was not  finished and released until the In Your Dreams album in 2011.
• "Silver Springs" was recorded for Rumours in 1977 and released as a B-side, but found commercial success in a new live  version recorded for 1996 Fleetwood Mac album The Dance.
• "Dealer" written for Tusk, tried for  Bella Donna  but not used until a new version on 24 Karat Gold.
• "Blue Water" written in 1978 but finally recorded for 24 Karat Gold.
• "How Still My Love" written in 1979 but recorded for Bella Donna.
• "Belle Fleur" written in 1979, considered for Bella Donna but not used till 24 Karat Gold
• "Smile at You" was written for Tusk but not finished  until 2003's  Say You Will.
•  "Fireflies" recorded during the Tusk sessions, but not used and released instead in live version on the Fleetwood Mac Live album in 1980.

Without You- a old Buckingham Nicks song, which was recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 2013.

SOLO CAREER and FLEETWOOD MAC  (1980 to the Present)

•  "If You Were My Love",   considered for Bella Donna and recorded for  Mirage but not used until 2014's 24 Karat Gold.
• "Starshine" written and demoed  in 1980 but not released til the 24 Karat Gold version.
• "24 Karat Gold" was recorded in 1980 as demo for Bella Donna but not used till 24 Karat Gold 
•  "I  Don't Care"  written in 1981, finally recorded for 24 Karat Gold.
• "Watch Chain" written in 1981, finally recorded for 24 Karat Gold. 
•  "Wild Heart' was written in  a early version in 1981 but  finished for  the 1983 album The Wild Heart.
• "Gypsy "  written for the her own Bella Donna album but held back  and used on 1982's Fleetwood Mac album,  Mirage. 
• "All The Beautiful Worlds" written in 1982, finally recorded for 24 Karat Gold.
• "She Still Loves Him" written  with Mark Knopfler in 1984,finally recorded for 24 Karat Gold.
• "Destiny" was demoed in 1983 for The  Wild Heart but not used until the Street Angel album
• "Mabel  Normand" was written in 1984, but not recorded til 24 Karat Gold.
•  "Running Through the Garden" written but not used  for "1985's  Rock A Little  would resurface in completed form in 2003 on the Fleetwood Mac album Say You Will.
• "Reconsider Me" is a song by Warren Zevon  that was recorded originally for 1995's Rock a Little but not used and rerecorded for the Enchanted box set. 
• "Thousand Days" recorded for  Rock A Little , not used then recorded  again for Street Angel, but only released as a B-side. It appears on the Enchanted box set.
• "Greta" considered for Rock a Little were recorded for her 1994 album, Street Angel.
• "Love Is Like A River" considered for Rock A Little , was used for, Street Angel.
•  The 1987 Fleetwood Mac B-side "Book of Miracles" is an earlier, instrumental version of the song "Juliet"  from 1989's Other Side of the Mirror .
•  “Ooh My Love” had been demo-ed for 1987 Tango in the Night but was ultimately shelved and rerecorded for 1989's  Other Side of the Mirror.
• "Hard Advice" was written in 1995 but not used until 24 Karat Gold
• 
  

The official video for "Lady" from 24 Karat Gold. 

• THESE ARE THE ALBUMS THESE SONGS APPEAR 
• Buckingham Nicks (1973)
  FM-Fleetwood Mac (1975)
  FM-Rumours (1977)
  FM-Tusk (1979)
  FM-Live (1980
  Bella Donna (1981)
  FM-Mirage (1982)
  Wild Heart (1984)
  Rock a Little (1985)
  FM-Tango In the Night (1987)
  FM-Greatest Hits (1988)
  Other side of the Mirror (1989)
  FM-Behind the Mask (1990)
  Time Space (1991)
  FM-The Chain (1992)
  Street Angel (1994)
  FM-The Dance (1996)
  Enchanted (1998)
  Say You Will (2003)
  Trouble in Shangri-La (2001)
  Say You Will (2003)
  Soundstage Sessions (2009)
  In Your Dreams (2011)
  FM-Extended Play (2013)
  24 Karat Gold (2014)
  Stand Back (1981-2017) (2019)

Also at Felpin's Pond

Stevie Nicks-Twisted

Written by J.C.Bernhardt, August 2020

The Seekers -Australia's first internationally successful musical group...

The Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop quartet, originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States.    The group featured lead singer, Judith Durham, and singers/instrumentalists  Athol Guy on double bass and impossibly cool thick black rimmed glasses, Keith Potger on twelve-string guitar and Bruce Woodley on guitar and occasional songwriting.   

Clockwise: Judith Durham, Keith Potger, and Bruce Woodley, and Athol Guy (in glasses).


Their sound was folk pop in the vein of the Weavers and Peter, Paul, Mary, though Durham had a one of kind voice, that didn't easily fit into one genre.  What made them stand out was the amazing blend of three guy voices with the one girl voice, providing a powerful vocal sound that could not achieved by the girl alone, or by the guys without Judith.

The Springfields with Dusty Springfield

The Seekers  came to Britain by boat in 1964, and they eventually met up with Tom Springfield (the brother of the legendary Dusty Springfield) who wrote their first hit, "I'll Never Find Another You" as well as most of the Seekers' other hits.  "I'll Never Find Another You" was a surprise hit in  all the English speaking record markets.  It went to number 1 in the United Kingdom in February 1965.

At the peak of the career they were highly successful on TV, where they provided a safe family friendly alternative to the rock acts of the time.    Here are they are doing a original Paul Simon song.  (Bruce Woodley wrote two songs with Paul Simon, "Cloudy" and "Red Rubber Ball" which was a hit by the Cyrkle).

In 1965-1967 the  group continued to be surprisingly successful. Most notably  on the British , and the Australian charts. The last of their big hits was the theme to the movie, "Georgy Girl", a song co-written by Tom Springfield and actor Jim Dale, later known for the musical, Barnum, and as a pop singer.

  Despite, this success lead singer, Judith Durham was not a happy in the group, and shocked the group with her decision to leave in 1968.  The group disbanded at this point, in a move that made little commercial sense.  Judith pursued a solo career, Athol Guy, a TV career, Bruce Woodley continued to work in music, and Keith Potger founded but was not a member of the highly successful British singing group, The New Seekers (who had no other connection with  original  Seekers.)  Their biggest hit was "I Like to Teach the World to Sing".

The almost totally unrelated New Seekers 

  Eventually in 1975, the three guys (Keith, Bruce, and Athol) reformed the original Seekers with new female singers, ultimately four women different women would fulfill this role, as well three other males members who came into to the groups as various members left, this incarnation  of the band worked on and off until  finally they managed to get Judith Durham to rejoin  in 1992, after 24 years in the wilderness.  Since  1992,  the group has reunited on occasion for concert tours, and recorded a few albums. Judith Durham died in August 22.

The Seekers in  later  years.

Although the group was a little too reliant on the quality of their material for their commercial success, they remain one of the most respected of the  commercial folk groups of the 1960's.

The Beatles-the Rubber Soul sessions

Rubber Soul was the turning point album in the Beatles catalog. Released in America and the UK on December 3, 1965 it brought them to  the point, where  it stood on it's own as a work of art, something that at this point had happened rarely in popular music. Almost all of the Beatles  previous albums were quite good, but now feeling threatened  by  Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones  and the Beach Boys,  the Beatles  started to up their game considerably.   The album  is notable for  featuring  the most accomplished set of John Lennon  songs in his recording career. It was also the first Beatles album NOT  have the group's name  on the front cover, something that also occurred on Abbey Road and the Hey Jude compilation album.

Magically, most of the songs were written and recorded in a short period of time, because the Beatles had been  too busy   to build a backlog of  songs.  The album was also  recorded over a short period of time in comparison to most of their albums, most of which took considerable studio time  over many    months (the later albums) or were recorded in quick sessions but over a few months ( their early albums). All but one of the  songs for Rubber Soul was recorded between October 12 and November 17, 1965   But  unlike other previous Beatles album the recording sessions were not  interrupted by tours, film and TV work. and the group was now allowed to stay late in the studio, a practice not allowed at Abbey Road studios before the Beatles. The album was rushed  along so as  to be in time for the critical Christmas selling period.

The group had slowly been working away from recording  covers of other artists songs  on their albums to fill up albums and had been evolving musically quickly both lyrically and musically.  Bob Dylan influenced the lyric improvement, and George Martin encouraged their musical eclecticism.

 One of the things that hadn't quite changed at this point was the brevity of their songs,   The Beatles, like all acts in the early sixties typically made of point of keeping the running time of all singles under three minutes. For some reason, American radio DJ's balked at playing songs over three minutes. It seems silly now, but this restriction on song length forced songwriters and producers to leave out extraneous stuff, and avoid too much repetition . Thus all but one song on the Beatles hits collection The Beatles 1962 -1966 is under three minutes.  With Lennon and sometimes, McCartney now trying to write intelligent lyrics this put a  premium on economical lyrics that somehow told a story quickly and succinctly.

On Rubber Soul, The group continued it's experimentation. Up to this point, Multiple lead singers, ballads alternating with  rockers; covers of old show tunes and  Motown songs had all made Beatles albums a varied experience.  George Martin, had a  classical background giving him a wide musical vocabulary and skills to draw on , and yet had recorded comedy records, and so was not a snob.  Martin was uniquely placed to take advantage of the group's willingness to experiment.  On Hard Day's Night it was the use of a classical guitar on "And I Love Her", on ?"I Feel Fine" John Lennon used  guitar feedback, on Help, they  incorporated strings and flutes.  But on Rubber Soul, multiple songs had little sound experiments.   The most notable new sound  was the sitar in "Norwegian Wood" by George Harrison.  The instrument had actually been used in  George Martin's instrumental  music for parts the Help soundtrack.  But on Rubber Soul, Harrison used the  sitar as an exotic guitar like instrument.  This was partly because Harrison  hadn't quite mastered it the sitar-but partly simply to serve the song. The Beatles generally used to exotic instruments to provide color, not to be a gimmick.  Similarly, Greek style music styles were used  in "Girl", the French language in "Michelle" and a harpsichord like sounding keyboard on "In My Life". 


As stated before, this in some ways was the zenith of Lennon' career as a Beatle.  Perhaps, on no other album, are their so many classic  Lennon compositions.  Lennon's work on  the Sgt. Pepper sessions  comes closet-on Sgt. Pepper he was responsible three great album tracks  and one classic  non-album single, but two of these four songs were co-written with McCartney.   Up through this album, Lennon had been dominant songwriter in the  Beatles.  In  all of the  five Beatles British studio albums before this , Lennon had more lead vocals, and more compositions that were predominantly written by him.  He also was the primary  lead vocalist on more Beatles singles up to this point.  This was to change- from 1966 onward, McCartney would never have fewer of his own compositions  then Lennon on  a Beatles album-and the majority  of the remaining  Beatles  A-Sides would be McCartney vehicles. 

 What happened after this point, for Lennon was three things- LSD, Yoko Ono, and McCartney finally growing and exceeding Lennon as a commercial songwriter. The group dynamic in the early part of the career was that Lennon was the leader of the group-but a leader who listened a lot to Paul McCartney. However, by late 1967, McCartney had edged ahead of Lennon to be the driving force in the group partly because Lennon could not bothered to lead  and some of the time didn't even care.

It should be explained that while "Lennon-McCartney" were a songwriting team, but a team that wrote BOTH apart and together.  Many of their early singles were written together with them sitting  eyeball to eyeball, both contributing -which is reflected in the unison vocals. Typically the primary writer of a Lennon-McCartney song sang the lead vocals.   Most of Lennon-McCartney  later songs were written  separately, but  right up to the end of the group they would    bring their  songs  to  the other partner to see how he could improve it, by adding a bridge, changing or approving of a word, and helping with a intros and structure.     Both Lennon and McCartney were good lyricists and melody writers, though Lennon was a better lyricist, and McCartney a better musician.  Working together improved their songs dramatically, because  each often writer  erased the weaknesses of the other.

LSD and other later drug use slowed Lennon's productivity, and now having conquered the world,  Lennon  no longer felt driven by commercial success  as much-it was only the competition with McCartney that kept him  on his toes.  Lennon met Yoko in 1966 and eventually saw a life outside of being a Beatle.  McCartney, of course was always doing great work-but it wasn't till 1966's Revolver album that McCartney composed  a group of songs that would be  more successful then the songs that  Lennon took the lead on. 

For Rubber Soul , John Lennon was the primary writer of  "Norwegian Wood", "Nowhere Man", "Girl" and "Run For Your Life"    Lennon got help from McCartney on "In My Life".   A non-album single- Day Tripper/We Can Work It  Out was also recorded during the Rubber Soul sessions to be a stand alone single.  "Day Tripper" was mostly written by John" and "We Can Work It Out:  was written by Paul with a bridge by John.  Finally,  there was  "What Goes On" a song written for Ringo to sing  the album that was  the work of Lennon, McCartney and Starr.  So Six of the songs Lennon worked on for these sessions are well known Beatles classics. 

For many folks, "In My Life" is the most exquisite non single in the Beatles oeuvre. Lennon  clearly wrote the direct but  meaningful lyric. It is still disputed how much McCartney helped with melody. It is understandable that each might want to claim the melody.

McCartney also did some good work on the sessions.  His "Michelle" is smarmy, but is one of the most performed and played  of the Beatles songs despite having only been released as a single outside the US and the UK.  McCartney was the primary writer  of "Drive My Car" the latest in a serious of fast, upbeat "beat music" songs that would dominate the Beatles songs up to this point, til the final one-"Paperback Writer" in 1966.  McCartney's other songs were the acoustic number -"I'm Looking Through You" the beat number "Wait" and "You Won't See Me' which later became an American hit in a what  was actually a better version by Ann Murray.

George Harrison was given space for two of his songs-the mediocre but lyrical "Think for Yourself" and the Byrd's inspired "If I Needed Someone".

In total 16 songs were finished in Rubber Soul sessions.  The song "Wait" had been started during the Help sessions, but finished during the Rubber Soul sessions.  Further more , a unfinished song called "12 bar Blues" was recorded, as well as alternative different versions of "Norwegian Wood" and "I'm Looking through You". These three rarities showed up on the second Anthology collection in 1996.

A different version of "Rubber Soul" album was released in the USA market, due to their American's label habit of having ten to twelve tracks  on a  album instead of the British standard of  fourteen songs.  Thus, between 1964 and 1966 the  US label released 12 Beatles albums instead of the 8 released by the Beatles British label.

 The US  version of Rubber Soul featured "I've Just Seen A Face" and "It's Only Love" which had been on the British version of Help. The Americans removed four songs from British version of Rubber Soul  – "Drive My Car", "Nowhere Man", "What Goes On" and "If I Needed Someone" – all of which were instead issued on the Beatles' next North American album, Yesterday and Today, in June 1966.  Still stylistically both versions are similar enough but the American version sounds   a little more  acoustic then the previous Beatles albums.

The First set of Rubber Soul sessions 

Wait                               June 17,1965,   November 11, 1965
Run For Your Life        October 12, 1965 Drive My Car                October 13, 1965
Day Tripper                 October 16, 1965
In My Life                      October 18, October 22, 1965
If I Needed Someone  October 16,  October 18, 1965

We Can Work It Out     October 20, 1965 October 29 1965
Norwegian Wood         October 21, 1965

Nowhere Man               October 21-22, 1965
The second set of Rubber Soul sessions Michelle                                                   November 3, 1965
12 Bar Original                                         November 4, 1965
What Goes On                                         November 4, 1965 The Beatles Third Christmas Record  November 8, 1965
Think For Yourself                                 November 8, 1965
The Word                                                November 10, 1965
I'm Looking Through You                     November 10-11, 1965
You Won't See Me                                November 11,1965
Girl                                                           November 11, 1965
UK EMI Parlophone LP Back Cover USA Capitol LP Back Cover with altered track listing

   Also at  Felpin´s Pond
Songs Beatles changed instruments on

Rolling Stones -Aftermath sessions

Written by J.C.Bernhardt, July 2019

The origins of Trio (Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris) The Dolly Parton Show, 1977

 

The Sweetest Gift

In this post  we feature three songs Trio performed for a Dolly Parton special aired in April 1977. Oddly, these three songs were never released on a  record  by  Trio.

The Origins of Trio

This ad hoc trio of female singers emerged out of the friendship between country/rock singers Linda Ronstadt (born in Arizona) and Emmylou Harris (who was a military brat from Alabama).  They both agreed that Dolly Parton was their favorite female singer.  Dolly was in their mind the real thing.  Dolly is an  actual Tennessee mountain girl whose voice still carries those roots, despite her glitzy showbiz ways.

 The first time they sang together privately was  the early 1970s when the three ladies got together one night at Harris’s  residence in Los Angeles. That evening, they found their sound instantly by singing classic country songs by the acts like Carter Family.

“I called Linda and said, ‘Dolly’s coming over to my house,’” Harris says. “So she got in her little sports car and zipped over. We were delighted to meet each other. It was great. But of course, we were going to sing.”

“I didn’t really know all they knew because I was just getting to know them,” Parton says. “It was just one of those things where you’re like, ‘Oh! What is that sound?’ Even though you know it’s coming out of you, it was just such an amazing thing.”

“It’s a wonderful feeling to just jump into these other voices that you love so much,” Harris says. “The three voices create a fourth voice in a way. … That was another part of the joy. It wasn’t work. You just opened your mouth and sang. After we figured out what songs we wanted to sing, who was going to sing which part, it was just a matter of getting the best version of it in the studio.” (Quotations from ´Trio Brings out the Best in Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt by Lauren Tingle.)

Although it was clear there was something special in the combination, the trio had trouble making it work professionally. Mainly, their busy solo schedules made it hard for them to devote the six months or more that it would take to make and promote an album or do a tour. However, they did manage to get together for a few songs on various solo albums by each of the ladies. 

The ladies  managed to  get together publicly for the first time with an amazing appearance on Dolly Parton´s TV show in 1977. The three videos presented here come from that TV show. They perfectly capture the Trio doing the old time country songs that they do best. 

  When they did together to finally make an album they found it hard to reproduce the simple spontaneity that one gets singing old country songs in a living room. The first attempt at recording a whole album was aborted, and they did not try again til the 1986, when they finally made a full album and brought it successfully to market in 1987. That album was a major commercial success selling four million copies. Their second album came years later in 1999 and actually sat in the can for four years, waiting for a time that they could all promote it, it was a little less successful.  Their final album is  a 2016 box set which collects rarities, and the contents of the two studio albums. The group can not sing anymore because Linda Ronstadt lost most of her singing voice due to Parkinson´s disease.

I was surprised that these three songs were not included on their box set. ¨The Sweetest Gift¨ is a special favorite of mine.  Emmylou Harris also sang backing vocals on a solo version of this by Linda Ronstadt and on a version of the same song recorded by the Judds.  

Applejacks

Bury Me Beneath The Willow Tree

Trio Brings out the Best in Dolly Parton by Lauren Tingle.
Written by J.C.Bernhardt, June 2020.