*Versão em português – em breve no Facebook!*
Love is, with very little doubt, my favorite album ever. Not only my favorite The Beatles album, but even above some other favorites of mine like Queen’s A Night at the Opera and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. However, Love is a compilation album, so it normally wouldn’t be classified in the same category as the two regular albums mentioned above. So what makes Love different from The Beatles’ 1, or the 4-disc 1962/1966|1967/1970? What makes it different is the production.
Love is actually the soundtrack of a whole Cirque du Soleil show of the same name. It was mainly created by George Martin, who was The Beatles’ producer back in the days, and his son Giles Martin. The original Beatles members, Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney, as well as Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison (representing their deceased husbands), gave their blessing to the production, which was released in 2006.
Enough with the story: let’s talk about the 26 tracks, plus the 2 bonus ones, that comprise this fantastic piece of music. The interesting part is how it mixes the songs with other Beatles tracks, making some truly unique sounds. This article will be divided in seven parts, each containing the lyrics (from the Love version, not the original one) and details about four tracks from the album. While I write, I’ll count the real number of songs built into the album.
Because
Because the world is round, it turns me on
Because the world is round…
Because the wind is high, it blows my mind
Because the wind is high…
Love is all, love is new
Love is all, love is you
Because the sky is blue, it makes me cry
Because the sky is blue…
The first thing you’ll notice on Love‘s version of Because (1) is that the simple, but majestic, guitar is gone. That riff was created when John asked Yoko to play Beethoven’s Sonata backwards. In this version, we pay full attention to the finely-tuned chorus.
When you listen closely, you’ll also notice that there are birds chirping in the background. A deep Beatles fan will quickly notice those are the same birds from the Past Masters release of Across The Universe (2) (the Let it Be version does not have those chirps). A few extra chirps are also in the track.
The song ends with droning strings. I believe they’re from the last note of A Day in the Life (3), but backwards. It’s difficult to confirm this, however.
Get Back
Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner
But he knew it wouldn’t last
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass
Get back, get back,
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back,
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back,
Back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back,
Back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back,
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back,
Get back to where you once belonged
This is probably my favorite track in the album. Right off the bat, you’re greeted with the strong guitar intro from A Hard Day’s Life (4). Suddenly, Ringo’s drum solo from The End (5) kicks off, bringing the main riff of Get Back (6) soon afterwards. A piece of The End‘s guitar solo concludes the intro, with the two most famous notes of Get Back mixing with it. During that same solo, you can hear the orchestra from A Day in the Life (this is head several times during the song’s duration).
The song continues normally for a few moments, distinguishing from the original song only through the crowd noises (7) in the background. Naturally, it’s impossible to pinpoint which live recording originated those sounds.
Finally, during Billy Preston’s keyboard solo (between the second and third choruses), the percussion changes from Get Back‘s to the one from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (8). Shortly after, A Day in the Life sends us off to the next track.
Glass Onion
(Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah!)
(Hello, hello!)
(Nothing is real)
Fixing a hole in the ocean
Trying to make a dove-tail joint
Looking through a glass onion
Glass Onion (9) is, perhaps, the biggest mish-mash in Love. It starts with the same drums as its White Album counterpart, but with them comes the acoustic guitar from the intro of Things We Said Today (10). I’m pretty sure the drums from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) are blended in with the original ones, and A Day in the Life makes yet another appearance with it’s orchestrated background, also blending with Glass Onion‘s original orchestra.
The quick “hello, hello” is, obviously, from Hello Goodbye (11). Right after it, we hear the brass instruments from Penny Lane (12), but the mixing makes it very different from the version we’re used to. At first glance, you may think that “nothing is real” is from Strawberry Fields Forever. However, upon closer inspection, it’s noticeable that the verse is actually from Glass Onion itself (“I told you about strawberry fields, the place where nothing is real”).
The track ends with yet another instrumental piece and some distorted vocals, which I have not yet distinguished.
Eleanor Rigby
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window,
Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie
Writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working,
Darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby
Died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie
Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
This is a relatively simple track. It starts off mixing both the original Eleanor Rigby‘s (13) instrumental tracks and the instrumental Eleanor Rigby (14) from Anthology 2. It also uses the same distorted vocals as the ending of Glass Onion several moments.
It ends with a bit of the acoustic guitar from Julia (15), which then turns into what appears to be an ambulance (which is probably not from a previous Beatles track), as well as some crazy sounds which are probably from a song… I’ll have to check more on that.
Well, that’s it for today. Stay tuned next time, when I’ll explain I Am the Walrus, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Drive My Car and Gnik Nus.