Today is the final day of my exploration of “middle” Beatles as I have been calling it. I have chosen songs from all 4 of my original “middle” Beatles Albums, “Help”, “Rubber Soul”, “Revolver” and “Sgt. Peppers”. My original plan was to add one more song from that last album. But after a discussion the other day, I have added “Magical Mystery Tour” to this list.
So………….
I will present both songs.
First from “Magical Mystery Tour” I am choosing (of course) “Strawberry Fields Forever“. For a long time if I had to pick a favorite Beatles tune, this one is it. There is so much to say, that I will just leave you to the wikipedia article that the title points to.
And for the 2nd song for today, I pick “A Day in The Life“. This is the final song on the “Sgt. Pepper” album and is just an amazing piece of work. The music is beautiful including strings, brass, and woodwinds. It is noteable for a few reasons. First it is a perfect example of a song written by both John and Paul. John wrote the bulk of the song and Paul contributed with the center piece (“woke up, fell out of bed…”). It also features two amazing cacophonous, part-improvised, orchestral crescendos. The second of which ends in what I like to think of as the most famous chord ever played in modern music.
Enjoy!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4kgh1-NVxQ&hl=en]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgQrI-crnUk&hl=en]