Thursday, February 13, 2014

Here Comes the Sun: My Beatles' Musical Tribute



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Even my 19 year-old niece loves the Beatles. She must have been influenced by the good taste of her aunt.

On February 7, 1964, from across the pond, the Beatles started the British invasion. Moptops became the rage as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr charmed the women (and men) of America.

My fascination with the Beatles’ songs started much later, during my college years when some of the patients in the military hospital sometimes played songs like “Hey Jude, “Get Back” and “Yesterday”.

Fifty years after the group's first US televised live debut on the Ed Sullivan show, Grammy presented a tribute to the Fabulous Four from Liverpool. Only two of the Beatles, Paul and Ringo, survived, but the sons of John and George joined in the celebration of the musical act that had influenced countless musicians.

Beatlemania is still alive and well.

The producers of “The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute To The Beatles” assembled a diverse group of musical performers who both dazzled and confounded me (hello, Katy Perry). The sight of Yoko Ono with her trademark huge sunglasses as she danced/swayed/flailed was quite entertaining. I was thrilled to see my teen idol Peter Frampton and Joe Walsh from the Eagles with their guitar solos.

And finally, the irrepressible Ringo Starr and the musical genius Paul McCartney brought the house down and proved to one and all why their group the Beatles is considered pop's most influential musical act of all time. They made everyone (even those watching on tv) sing along with "nananana, nanana". Love it, love it, love it!

But if I were to put together another musical tribute, I would have chosen an altogether different group of presenters. Critics may accuse me of being bland or musically-gauche, but I really don’t care. To them, I say: make your own tribute. There.


Here are some of my favorite Beatles songs:


HERE COMES THE SUN - written by George Harrison for 1969 album Abbey Road (1969)



Sheryl Crow- on the “Bee Movie”



Bon Jovi-





COME TOGETHER - written by John Lennon, the opening track on the album Abbey Road, and was released as a double A-sided single with "Something", their 21st single in the United Kingdom and 26th in the United States.



Aerosmith- appeared in the movie and on the soundtrack to the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,





I WILL- written by Paul McCartney



Allison Krauss





"HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney), recorded for the Beatles' 1966 album Revolver.



Clay Aiken





OH, DARLING composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and appearing as the fourth song on the album, Abbey Road.



Arnel Pineda When the band Journey was searching the internet for their lead singer, Neil Schon found this clip of Arnel singing this Beatles' song. And the rest is history.





IN MY LIFE – on the 1965 album Rubber Soul written mainly by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.



Aiza Seguerra-



Charice-



Bette Midler-





LET IT BE - written and sung by Paul McCartney. McCartney said he had the idea of "Let It Be" after he had a dream about his mother during the tense period surrounding the sessions for The Beatles (the "White Album").



Ray Charles



Adam Levin and Tessane Chin on “The Voice”.





References: Wikipedia ( they’re useful)