“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.
One of Kristofer Maddigan’s compositions for Cuphead, the stunning to behold video game inspired by 1930’s cartoons. This one has a James Bond feel to it.
Here’s a dose of Cuphead caffeine, as recorded live in a studio.
A late Christmas offering. A favorite piece of Christmas music, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in D. This particular recording was taken from a copy of the same LP I bought during my very religious freshman year of college, and that I still play during the Christmas season. It features the masterful trumpet playing of the late Maurice André.
Shortly after buying this record, I invited a girl to listen to it with me in my dorm room, and I was delighted when she agreed. We were in Campus Crusade for Christ together, and I had fallen totally in love with her the moment we met. The influence of this complex and strong-willed girl was profound and lasting, despite her never allowing the relationship to become romantic. She could wiggle her pinky finger in my direction and I’d come running.
Then, incredibly, as we were about to graduate, she proposed marriage! (The first of two women who did that, actually.) By then her faith was stronger than ever, but I was in the process of giving up my own faith, so it was not to be. Life is crazy, huh? Through most of our time at college we attended church together, including one summer, and something about that eventually led to Bill Clinton. Yep, life is crazy. I’ll explain later.
