The Beatles Channel

On May 18, 2017, SiriusXM launched a Beatles Channel on channel 18. The channel's webpage says, "John, Paul, George and Ringo changed music forever. The songs, stories, influences and legacy of the Beatles - 24/8!" ("24/8," as in Eight Days A Week.)

http://www.siriusxm.com/thebeatleschannel

In addition to the Beatles songs and all the solo recordings of John, Paul, George & Ringo, the channel plays lots of live versions, demo versions, alternate takes and recordings made for the BBC. They also play other artists' versions of Beatles songs and the original versions of songs later recorded by the Beatles. The playlist makes sense except for the "influences." I have heard My Guy by Mary Wells, Let's Dance by Chris Montez, I'm A Believer by Neil Diamond, Can I Get A Witness by Marvin Gaye, I Get Around by the Beach Boys, Bye Bye Love by the Everly Brothers, and Yakety Yak and Charlie Brown by the Coasters.

Can anyone explain how Neil Diamond, Mary Wells, the Beach Boys and those others "influenced" the Beatles? I'm at a loss.

The Beatles Channel is playing the Beatles' I'll Keep You Satisfied, recorded live at the BBC studios in 1963. Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas also recorded the song. It was the B-side of their first single, Do You Want To Know A Secret (another Beatles song), which was produced by George Martin and reached #2 in the UK but failed to chart in the US. Here is the Beatles' I'll Be On My Way:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq2nN1G-924

The Beatles Channel just played Al Green's version of I Want To Hold Your Hand, which Pulse magazine in 2010 called the all-time best remake of a Beatles song. In 1969, it was released as a single (Hi 45-2159), backed with What Am I Gonna Do With Myself. The latter song appeared on Green's 1970 Green Is Blue album but I Want To Hold Your Hand was omitted. It finally appeared as one of four bonus tracks on a 2003 CD re-release of the album. It's on YouTube. Hurry and listen!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWuCgPu0Njo

The Beatles Channel just played a version of Jet by Paul McCartney & Wings. It was one of several songs performed live at EMI studios in 1974 for the tv documentary One Hand Clapping. The sound track remained unreleased until a two-disc bootleg album came out in 1985 in the Netherlands. It was followed by bootleg releases in several other countries. In 2010, some of the songs from One Hand Clapping -- including Jet -- appeared on a remastered reissue of the Band On The Run album. Here is the song on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPrfGN5oOxo

Tonight the channel played Never Without You, which Ringo Starr co-wrote with Mark Hudson and Gary Nicholson as a tribute to George Harrison, who had died in 2001. Mark and his brothers Brett and Bill recorded as The Hudson Brothers in the 1970s. They had hits with Rendezvous and So You Are A Star and hosted a short-lived CBS variety series in 1974. Mark has produced five studio albums and three live albums for Ringo. Gary has written hits for Vince Gill, Don't Williams, Charley Pride, Reba McEntire and many other country artists. Never Without You was released as a single in 2003 but failed to chart. Here is the song:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PjnOdHq-T8

I don't understand why this channel plays Mary Wells and Neil Diamond and other singers who have no connection with the Beatles. Do you know who the program director is?

It makes sense that the channel would play versions of Beatles songs by other artists. As for the non-Beatles songs by Wells and Diamond, an early press release said The Beatles Channel will feature "musicians who have inspired, and drawn inspiration from, the Beatles." I don't think Wells and Diamond fit either category.

The channel also plays Cream, Donovan, Tom Petty, the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons. The channel's definition of "inspired and drawn inspiration from" is pretty loose!

I always heard that the Beach Boys' "Smile" album was inspired by "Sgt. Pepper" but then I found out that they started recording "Smile" in 1966, a year before "Sgt. Pepper" came out.

The Beatles Channel played the Crosby Stills & Nash version of In My Life. You say you're not familiar with that version? I'm not surprised -- it appeared on their 1994 After The Storm album, which sold only around 170,000 copies and stalled at #98 on Billboard's album chart. Here is the song on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrc-oQshih8

Another surprise: Marshall Crenshaw's version of Love Me Do from All Together Now: Beatles Stuff For Kids Of All Ages, an 11-track CD featuring guest artists and four children performing Beatles songs. (Couldn't the title have said "Songs" instead of "Stuff"?) It came out in 2006 and was available exclusively at Barnes & Noble for a few months before going into wide release. Crenshaw portrayed John Lennon in a touring production of Beatlemania, 1981-83, and Buddy Holly in the 1987 La Bamba movie. The Bangles reunited for the CD, singing Good Day Sunshine with Matthew Sweet -- and it's the only good song on the CD. Check out all the negative reviews on Amazon. Yikes!

https://www.amazon.com/All-Together-.../dp/B000NE6KP2

The Beatles Channel played Cookin' In The Kitchen Of Love from Ringo Starr's 1976 Rotogravure album. The song was written by John Lennon, who plays piano on the track. Yes, it's an awful song with an awful title but don't judge John too harshly. Ringo told Circus magazine, "He's written it for me and he knows me better than anybody else in the world so he really becomes involved, playing, singing, doing everything he can." Ringo is backed by Melissa Manchester. Here is the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EujDVd89YXs

The Beatles Channel just played Paul McCartney's acoustic version of Bill Monroe's 1946 country hit Blue Moon Of Kentucky. (In 1954, a 19-year-old Mississippi boy with the peculiar name Elvis also recorded the song.) Paul's recording is from a 1991 episode of MTV Unplugged. Here it is:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sCgmAvVVr0I

From ABC News:

Updated Beatles exhibit to open at Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame on Friday

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland has updated its exhibit focusing on The Beatles' musical and cultural contributions with a variety of new pieces of memorabilia. The revamped display will open on Friday, December 22.

Among the new items is an upright piano that John Lennon and Paul McCartney used to write a number of classic Fab Four tunes. The piano was located in the home of the parents of McCartney's then-girlfriend Jane Asher, where Paul lived for three years starting in 1963. The instrument was used to write such songs as I Want To Hold Your Hand, And I Love Her, We Can Work It Out, Got To Get You Into My Life and Eleanor Rigby.

Other new collectibles featured in the exhibit include drumsticks used by Ringo Starr at a Beatles show in Cleveland in September 1964, a suit that George Harrison wore during the band's 1966 tour, a handwritten musical score and notes penned by McCartney for the song Birthday, and a Hofner Senator electric guitar that Lennon bought during the Fab Four's time in Germany and that he used in the studio and to write songs.

"Hey, mate, I can't play me drums with this bloomin' armor on."

Ringo Starr to be awarded knighthood in New Year's Honours at Buckingham Palace

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...s-honours.html

The Beatles Channel played Angel from James McCartney's first EP, Available Light (2010). Born in 1977, James is the only son of Paul and Linda McCartney. He plays bass, piano and drums and has played on several tracks on Paul's albums. In turn, Paul has played on several tracks on James' two EPs and two albums. Here is Angel, with James and the band doing their very best impression of the Gin Blossoms:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9fGUFp-L2bA

Sir Paul McCartney congratulates fellow Beatle Ringo Starr on his New Year's knighthood honor
Billboard, Dec 30 2017 9:48 PM

Sir Paul McCartney posted congratulations on social media today following Friday's official announcement that Beatles drummer Ringo Starr would be knighted in the 2018 New Year's Honors: "Huge congrats, Sir Ringo! Sir Richard Starkey has a nice ring to it. Best drummer, best pal! X Paul.”

Starr is being honored for "services to music." Ringo's knighthood comes 20 years after McCartney was knighted, in 1997. Starr, 77, is on this year's list of honorees who are recognized for high achievements in the United Kingdom. In a statement, Starr said, "It's great! It's an honor and a pleasure to be considered and acknowledged for my music and my charity work, both of which I love. Peace and love."

https://www.aol.com/article/entertai...hood/23320370/

The Beatles Channel played Allan Sherman's Pop Hates The Beatles. The song, sung to the tune of Pop Goes The Weasel, is included on Sherman's 1964 album For Swingin' Livers Only. Sherman co-wrote it, as well as his 1963 hit Hello Mudduh Hello Fadduh, with Lou Busch, a songwriter/conductor/producer/pianist who, as Joe "Fingers" Carr, released several albums in the '50s and '60s. Warner Bros. planned to release Pop Hates The Beatles as a single (#5490) in December 1964 but never did so. Perhaps they were afraid of antagonizing millions of teenaged Beatles fans. Here is the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuycmIAGVqg

The Beatles Channel has played True Love by Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly! Yes, really! They introduced the Cole Porter song in the 1956 MGM musical High Society. Of course the channel also plays George Harrison's version of True Love from his 1976 Thirty Three & 1/3 album -- it was released as a single in the UK but not in the US -- as well as Elvis Presley's version from the 1957 Loving You soundtrack album. Somehow I can't picture Elvis ever being "suntanned" and "windblown." Here is George Harrison:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYfNiApxmEA

Today the Beatles Channel played Alice Cooper's version of Hey Bulldog from the 2006 CD Butchering The Beatles, which featured remakes of Beatles songs by Billy Idol, Billy Gibbons, Kip Winger and other 1980s rock singers. The cover was a parody of the original cover of the Beatles' 1966 Yesterday & Today album. The so-called "butcher cover," meant to be a criticism of the Việt Nam war, showed the Beatles wearing butcher smocks and surrounded by slabs of meat and parts of dolls. Around 750,000 copies were printed before the powers that be at Capitol Records decided the picture was in bad taste. Many of the covers were destroyed but several thousand were pasted over with a picture of the Beatles around a steamer trunk. Around 30 copies of the "butcher cover" still exist.

Hey Bulldog, written by John Lennon, was featured in the 1968 animated Yellow Submarine movie, in a scene where the Beatles are battling a four-headed Blue Meanie dog. At least it was featured in the movie in most of the world. Brooklyn-born Al Brodax, who produced Yellow Submarine and the 1965-67 Beatles cartoon series, thought the movie was too long so he cut the Hey Bulldog sequence for the US release of the film. So 90 minutes was too long but 85 minutes was okay? Really? Brodax should have left the film alone. (He died in December 2016 at age 90.) The sequence was restored for the 1999 re-release of the film and of course it is included on the DVD and blu-ray releases.

Here is Alice Cooper's version of the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9XawVhxyqA

The Beatles Channel played a nice version of I Should Have Known Better by She & Him. Shouldn't it be "He & She"? Well, no, they call themselves "She & Him" and we just have to accept that. "She" is pianist/ukulele player Zooey Deschanel and "Him" is producer/guitarist Matthew Ward, who learned guitar as a child. What songs did he like to play? Beatles songs, of course. Matthew and Zooey first teamed up in 2007 to record When I Get To The Border, which was played during the closing credits of the movie The Go-Getter. Their version of I Should Have Known Better is from their 2008 debut album, Volume One:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3oZkTPv550