Before they were four, they were five — John, Paul, George, Pete and Stu. This week’s New Yorker has a remembrance of Stu Sutcliffe.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/essay/the-beatle-who-got-away
Category: Beatles
The Music… and the Voices… in his Head
I watched the new Brian Wilson documentary, Long Promised Road.
Brian certainly deserves all of the credit and good will he receives, but it’s doubtful that he has ever truly been back — and that’s assuming he was ever completely okay.
The two bad guys in Brian’s life story — his father Murry and his longtime therapist Eugene Landy — are given the right amount of attention. There isn’t a lot of new information in the movie, but I didn’t know that Brian’s 34th birthday, in 1976, was celebrated with Paul McCartney, who was born two days before Brian. Which means they will both turn 80 in June.
Later on that year, John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd set up this SNL skit, featuring the first appearance of the car that I assume inspired the duo to come up with the Bluesmobile. The generic use of “Highway Patrol” was probably a nod to the 1950’s TV series with Broderick Crawford.
When they were at the beach, Annie Leibovitz took this photo of Brian for a Rolling Stone cover.
The record Linda McCartney showed to the camera was 15 Big Ones. In the documentary Brian asks a couple of times to hear this song from the album.
What Putin Wants
Get back, get back, get back to the U.S.S.R. Those Ukraine girls really knock him out.
Scratching Post
John Lennon could really scratch an itch when he cut loose.
Here’s the original.
What’s So Funny ‘Bout Declan and Stephen’s Understanding?
Colbert and his buddy Elvis Costello, older and heavier than in his angry young man days, share memories of losing their mothers.
Then they chat about the Beatles.
HELP, I’m Down!
“Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane” is a 2-sided Beatles hit with both songs based upon childhood memories. But I think “Help!” and “I’m Down” can also been thought of as a single with both sides having related ideas.
Both songs are about feeling bad, but I think John’s is more heartfelt. It’s almost a follow-up to “I’m a Loser,” while Paul’s song seems more like the flip-side it is.
John’s sons were born to two different, and very different, mothers. They had different relationships with their father, and they have different memories of him, but with similar feelings.
https://youtu.be/Bh87SeH1y8g