I was pregnant with my second child when John Lennon was killed. My daughter Julia was born a few months later. She loves the song as it fits her so well. My little ocean child now lives in Hawaii to be near the ocean. ✌️❤️🎶
The melody kinda reminds me of “Stairway to Heaven”, it gets me every time he does the slow guitar bit. It’s so beautiful. But I think it gets overlooked because it’s right before or after Helther skelter, but I also love the contrast.
That’s fair. To each their own, I find it very touching and moving, and George’s vocals and delivery send chills down my spine every time, but I think it ultimately really comes down to one’s state of mind and of course taste. For instance, I find “I will” boring.
Julia is about his mom who died when he was a teen she was hit by a drunk driver crossing street. John was just getting to know her again as he was raised by his aunt
On 15 July 1958, when John was 17, Julia died on Menlove Avenue shortly after leaving Mimi’s house, while crossing the road to get to a bus stop. She was struck by a Standard Vanguard car driven by an off-duty policeman, 24-year-old Eric Clague. Contrary to some reports, Clague was not drunk at the time, and he was driving under the 30mph speed limit. He was, however, a learner driver who was unaccompanied. Mrs Lennon just ran straight out in front of me. I just couldn’t avoid her. I was not speeding, I swear it. It was just one of those terrible things that happen. Eric Clague, 1998 John’s childhood friend Nigel Walley later recounted what happened: I went to call for John that evening but his Aunt Mimi told me he was out. Mimi was at the gate with John’s mum, who was about to leave. We stood chatting and John’s mum said ‘Well, you have the privilege of escorting me to the bus stop!’ I said ‘That will do me fine. I’ll be happy to do that.’ We walked down Menlove Avenue and I turned off to go up Vale Road, where I lived. I must have been about 15 yards up the road when I heard a car skidding. I turned round to see John’s mum going through the air. I rushed over but she had been killed instantly. Nigel Walley
It goes deeper than that, in John's mind, if he hadn't re-established contact with his Mum, she would never have been in Menlove Avenue that day and she wouldn't have died. He blamed himself for his Mother's death! Remember this was the 1950's and people didn't talk about their problems back then.
He's actually tapping both his feet, alternating between the left and the right one - check out the Blackbird rehearsal footage available here on youtube. :)
This album came with a huge foldout of photos. Also 8x10 glossies of each Beatles. I once owned this on white vinyl. And my mother had it on 8-track tape.
I love that Sun Tzu is holding your head phones. Been following your Beatles journey from the beginning. I appreciate your respect for the music and your obvious reverence for the music and lyrics. As a 72 yr old Beatles freak, I am making you an honorary 70 year old. You're welcome
"Blackbird" is a showcase of how subtle McCartney was as an acoustic guitarist. He does a lot of muting with his fretting hand, essentially playing only three notes of each chord at a time, picking with his thumb and picking/ strumming with his index finger. The resulting sound is almost Baroque, McCartney has stated that the guitar was, in part influenced by Bach’s Bouree in E minor, a tune he and George had tried to learn when they were younger.
he based Blackbird on the first three chord of his and Georges Party Piece which was an incorrect version of Bach, but showed they weren't as thick as a brick
From what I’ve been told, “Blackbird” is about the American civil rights movement. “Julia” was Lennon’s mother, who hid him from his dad when he was little, left him with her sister for several years, and then returned, finally attempted a mother/son relationship with him, taught him banjo chords, and then was killed in front of him by a drunk off-duty cop. Ocean Child is Yoko. Two beautiful songs, “Julia”, especially, to me. I’m in my fifties, but I lost my mom two weeks ago, and it’s tough. Really tough. Your children are a joy, but remember, you will get the same back that you gave as a child, but maybe in a milder form. It’s not a curse. It just always happens, so when it does, recognize it, laugh about it, and say “Fair enough!”
John did not witness his mother being run over. It did happen in front of his Aunt Mimi's house where John lived, after Julia visited and was crossing Menlove Ave (where John's Aunt Mimi's home is located, it's now open to the public on appointment, owned by the city) in order to wait for the bus.
I have no doubt "The Beatles" were manufactured in heaven to spread peace, love and joy. To have such Geniuses all in one group, it can only be by design, rather than a coincidence. I personally don't believe in coincidence. I believe that everything in our lives are ment to be, as we (hopefully) learn from every situation that we are given. Which can be extremely hard to accept because life can (seem) very cruel at times. I always love hearing your thoughts Lee!
She hid him from his dad and then left him with her sister Mimi. The 2nd abandonment was when she was killed in front of him, which is a pretty rough accusation. He felt abandoned, and emotions aren’t logical, I guess.
Some time ago (I have no idea when) I realized the ending chord of Julia is the same as on "Ask Me Why," and it evokes the same melancholic feel, even more actually knowing he's singing about his Mom. P.S. Macca lost his Mom to breast cancer when he was 14 not long before John's Mom was killed.
damn that hit me kind of hard when you started talking about children. My daughter just moved out a couple of weeks ago to start college. Everything you said rang true with me. I am just so happy for her but sad that she is no longer my little girl. I know it is cliché but it just went by so quickly. Funny you say that about "Blackbird", but for me it was "Julia" that makes me feel this way since her name is Juliana and I named her after the song. Slightly related to this when we were driving her to her apartment to start moving her in we listened to "She's Leaving Home" and it made us both tear up
Lee, you should watch "Nowhere Boy", which is a film about John in his pre-Beatles years. The film does include him meeting Paul and the start of all of his obsession with playing guitar and building his career. That said, there is a lot of the film which focuses on his family situation, which was difficult. You should see it, along with "Backbeat", another great Beatles biopic.
The Little Rock Nine was a group of 9 black students who faced racial discrimination and terrible hatred after enrolling in previously all-white Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957 following the Supreme Court’s historic Brown vs. the Board of Education decision. Arkansas governor Orval Faubus protested their entrance into the school, which led to the Little Rock Crisis. These events inspired McCartney to write “Blackbird.” He met two of the members of the Little Rock Nine at a concert in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 2016.
My father, Carl Eardley, was the Justice Department lawyer who forced the Little Rock desegregation, and was then on hand to manage the actual process. It was very traumatic for him. He took a sabbatical afterwards, and took us all to live with my mother's family in Italy for a year. He was very committed to civil rights, and our family went to all the marches in Washington. My parents had a picture of the Kennedy brothers on their bedroom dresser.
Si eso es verdad, y no tiene por que mentir, su padre deberia estar reflejado en los libros de historia estadounidenses sobre la epoca de las luchas por los derechos civiles y en alguna película que trate sobre ese tema. Le doy mi gracias y admiracion por ayudar a tantas personas que con su trabajo salieron de la oscura situación de la discriminación. Debe sentirse orgulloso. Gracias.@@steveneardley7541
My older brother and I would always get the latest Beatles album for Christmas and I so remember this one. We had like a 2 week Christmas break from school so we could just immerse ourselves in the album, and boy did we. Such a part of those Christmas memories. These two songs are great and some of my favorites are Me and My Monkey, Long Long Time (a a nice Harrison piece) along with Savoy Truffle. Of course Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Happiness is a Warm Gun, well pretty much the whole album.
For two of the lines in Julia, Lennon was inspired by Lebanese-American poet, Kahlil Gibran, in his book, Sand & Foam. "Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you." and "When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart, she produces a philosopher to speak her mind."
Another beautiful song, that closes the White Album is the lullaby, Good Night, sung surprisingly beautifully by Ringo. There is also a beautiful version by Linda Ronstadt. That album shows the Beatles going from 0 to 60 (Helter Skelter) and back again with every speed in between.
A little more background on Blackbird. Of note, in the 60’s and 70’’s in England girls were called “Birds”, maybe still are IDK. In America we called them “Chicks”. Thus the tie in to segregation. So, may have begun at seeing that bird in India but the metaphor is an inspiration supporting the fight black women were going through. The Beatles famously refused to play concerts in the US south to segregated audiences. I believe they were the 1st. You’ve entered a huge rabbit hole my friend! Great reaction!
Hi Lee. If you ever want to hear a brilliant cover of Blackbird then you really can't ignore Jaco Pastorius. His version, on bass guitar accompanied by Toots Thielemans on harmonica, blew my mind. On the drums is Peter Erskine, inimitable for me.
If I do, just know it’s for a good reason. Just doubts and worries that don’t need to be expressed out loud at the moment because their is a lot going on behind the scenes.
@@L33Reacts I m kinda pick n em up regardless if you re o k with it . People and music will start the mending process if you let it , and thanks for returning my text
Check out an outtake of "Julia" on the Anthology discs. Paul is in the recording room on a take where John flubs the guitar picking. Paul gives him some gentle ribbing.
Lennon's voice!!! I used to like McCartney's voice over Lennon's, but that changed throughout the years. JL pulls the strings of your heart with that voice of his (and the content)
You had me at The Beatles. Even tho both songs are acoustic ballads, IMO in a way these are both representative of their authors. McCartney was definitely more of an optimist, writing mostly for the listeners' ears, and his songs often reflected that. Lennon was definitely more of a pessimist, often writing from his soul, and his songs often reflected that. Apart, they were both incredible songwriters. But as good as they were when writing as individuals - as they tended to do the last few years The Beatles were together - when they wrote together they were, quite simply, the best. Thanks, Lee.
You always have me at the Beatles, too. Im hooked like it’s audio crack it feels like 😂 and yes I agree with everything you said. That’s a great way to put it. Thank you for watching! 😁
I was in studio 2 about a month ago listening to Kevin Ryan & Brian Kehew and they recreated the setup for Blackbird with an acoustic guitarist sitting in the same place - a chair at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the control room - tapping his foot on the floor.
Those two tracks are masterpieces - of which there are quite a few on the White Album. Also I must compliment you for your thoughts you shared after listening to the songs, they made a lot of sense to me - Thanks.
My momma( Who knew every saying in Spanish there ever could have been) said What you learn after you think you know it all is what counts or something to that effect. We can put ego aside and learn more if we can recognize it. I think when you become a parent your philosophy absolutely changes. And like one of our other favorite lyrics "there's still time to change the road you're on".
“McCartney has said that the lyrics were inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird in Rishikesh, India, and by the civil rights movement in the Southern United States.” -wiki
Blackbird is a reference to a black woman. “Bird” is a slang in the U.K. the same as “Chick” is a slang here in the states. He goes into detail before he plays it in a live performance.
Julia was Julia Lennon, John's mom. She was killed by an off duty cop while he was drunk driving. Blackbird was about the Alabama footage that Paul saw where the black kids from Montgomery were being led to class by the national guard for protection.
"Blackbird" came from Paul tooling around as a teenager. He'd bring his guitar to parties and came up with chords and melodies that sounded like Bach because, as he said, the boys didn't want to appear "thick", knowing only modern day pop music. Earlier, on Rubber Soul, Paul drew from a Chet Atkins-like improv he developed as a teenager to play at parties. When the Beatles were struggling for material and John said to Paul, "Remember that Chet Atkins thing you used to do? You should try that."
That’s a great bit of info thank you. Old party tricks are always worth bringing back. I used to sink beer pong cups blind folded, that was my shtick. 😂
@@L33ReactsExcept it's wrong! It wasn't Chet Atkins style, it was a French song Michelle which he revived for Rubber Soul at John's suggestion. And he never played Bach at parties. He's invented that. But he and George used to play a Bach piece which turned into Blackbird. According to Ruth, Paul's step-sister - Paul's Dad married twice - Blackbird was not about civil rights at all. It seems Paul ran with that story later. Ruth said it was actually about a singing blackbird which frequented Paul's Dad's house in the Wirral, near Liverpool.
I'm going to be performing a cover of "Blackbird" for Talk Like A Pirate Day. Only now it will be "Blackbeard." Let's see if the Beatles fans chase me out of the bar.
john honored julia, paul honored his mother mary in let it be. they both lost their mothers in their teens. i can understand their pain, lost my mother at age 4. my mother had 3 other children. life is hard without a mother. i get how lee feels losing his father. when you are young, it's rough
@@gettinhungrig8806 your right, silly me. hey jude was for julian, john's son. i fixed that big mistake. thank you. i could see why paul would say that. i always thought he wrote that song for jane asher
But, also, Paul refers to the condition of these blackbirds being freed - take your sunken eyes and learn to see - take these broken wings and learn to fly
Dude, The Beatles are the greatest band of all time, and i can tell you a lot about them, but you have GOTTA listen to Magical Misery Tour ! It's a hilarious parody of John's own interviews and autobiography.
Speaking of onion layers, have you listened to the Beatles' "Glass Onion," sung by John? It's a great song. Also, have you watched Sina's video titled "What Makes Ringo a Great Drummer?" Here's a link to her video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0NCczct2ZIM.html
