The "meaningless" song by The Beatles that upset John Lennon

[SandyPGravel]

I love Nehru jackets! I wish they would come back into style.

Gonna have to Google this... I have no idea

 

[CanuckTravlr]

Gonna have to Google this... I have no idea

Ahhhh, so young....you've missed so much!! LOL!!

 

[SandyPGravel]

Ahhhh, so young....you've missed so much!! LOL!!

Trust me I'm not that young, just unevolved I guess!!

 

[pedro47]

By the time Nehru jackets became popular I was living in Hawaii. It was much too hot to wear one there, so I was a fashion failure from way back. I lived in flip flops and surf shorts. I wore shorts to school. If I had to put on long pants and shoes, it was some sort of a major deal.

Dave

In high school in the sixties the only shorts pants you could wear in school; were called gyms shorts; you could only wear flip flops when you were taken a shower after a gym class. LOL.
Now kids can wear anything to high school short pants, flip flops and short skirts. LOL

 

[Quiet Pine]

I was sitting in my boyfriend's car outside a New York City dry cleaner when I heard "I Want to Hold Your Hand." My boyfriend got back in the car, and I told him I'd just heard the stupidest, most inane song by that English group that was so popular, I couldn't understand the frenzy. It was a few years before their later songs made me a big fan. BTW, the boyfriend and I will celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary on Friday.

 

[DaveNV]

BTW, the boyfriend and I will celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary on Friday.

And does he? Hold your hand? Congratulations on 54 years!

Dave

 

[easyrider]

Occasionally when we have a party here at the house I will play some Beatles , Wings , Ringo, George or John. The younger kids reaction is good. I hear its your birthday get played alot at our place.

Ringo turned 80 this year and Frampton sent him a birthday song. I really like this version.

Bill

 

[CanuckTravlr]

Ringo turned 80 this year and Frampton sent him a birthday song. I really like this version.

Bill

I like that version by Frampton, but it initially shocked me, since it immediately reminded me of Gordon Lightfoot's true-story ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The opening chords on both are almost identical. I had to go back and listen to Ringo's original version of "It Don't Come Easy", since I had never noticed the similarity of the two. Ringo's version is not quite so obvious, but Frampton's voice and phrasing remind me so much of Lightfoot, other than the different lyrics!! Weird!!

 

[sun starved Gayle]

Too little? Have you forgiven your parents yet?

I guess I have to since they are no longer living !

 

[bbodb1]

I was sitting in my boyfriend's car outside a New York City dry cleaner when I heard "I Want to Hold Your Hand." My boyfriend got back in the car, and I told him I'd just heard the stupidest, most inane song by that English group that was so popular, I couldn't understand the frenzy. It was a few years before their later songs made me a big fan. BTW, the boyfriend and I will celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary on Friday.

Okay, so waaaay back when, there used to be a UHF station in Detroit (channel 50 - WKBD?) that had a Friday night scary movie theater. IIRC, I believe the intro show to the weekly movie was something called The Ghoul. One of The Ghoul's bits was a 'weird faced' character singing along to 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'. But wait, this gets better.

The 'weird faced' character was (in fact) a person's hand - complete with face, lipstick, wig, hat (something a bit different each time it was used as I vaguely recall).....aaaaaaannnd....the camera image was flipped....

It was the 70's after all.....

 

[Rolltydr]

I like that version by Frampton, but it initially shocked me, since it immediately reminded me of Gordon Lightfoot's true-story ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The opening chords on both are almost identical. I had to go back and listen to Ringo's original version of "It Don't Come Easy", since I had never noticed the similarity of the two. Ringo's version is not quite so obvious, but Frampton's voice and phrasing remind me so much of Lightfoot, other than the different lyrics!! Weird!!

Wow, I never noticed that either! I never would have thought of those songs being that similar. Good stuff.

 

[Rolltydr]

I guess I have to since they are no longer living !

I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up sad memories.

 

[easyrider]

I like that version by Frampton, but it initially shocked me, since it immediately reminded me of Gordon Lightfoot's true-story ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The opening chords on both are almost identical. I had to go back and listen to Ringo's original version of "It Don't Come Easy", since I had never noticed the similarity of the two. Ringo's version is not quite so obvious, but Frampton's voice and phrasing remind me so much of Lightfoot, other than the different lyrics!! Weird!!

Wow, never noticed this. I didn't think the guitar riffs were the same but the melody seems similar.

Bill

 

[wackymother]

Pictures of Nehru jackets, and a description, here: https://sirplus.co.uk/blogs/news/77638785-the-nehru-collar-in-popular-culture

The weird thing here is that the first picture, of the Beatles in their little choirboy-type outfits--those are NOT Nehru jackets. Nehru jackets have a little stand-up collar.

 

[nerodog]

Love the Beatles !!! Grew up with them and have all the old albums and collected the CDs. I had the wonderful experience of meeting Paul when I was an exchange student in England back in 78. We were exploring Abbey Road, St John's Wood area and the zebra crosswalk. We just asked if he was recording..and yes he was. We had dinner ,went back and there he was. Very kind....and handsome too!!! A big highlight my year in England for sure.
They were all great personalities...my fave is John. Always loved his voice.

 

[DaveNV]

In high school in the sixties the only shorts pants you could wear in school; were called gyms shorts; you could only wear flip flops when you were taken a shower after a gym class. LOL.
Now kids can wear anything to high school short pants, flip flops and short skirts. LOL

In Hawaii, our school had no dress code. We could (and did) wear what we wanted. Nobody got crazy - we just wore what we did every day after school. But since everyone went barefoot back then, wearing flip flops was smart. And that way, if we went to the beach after school, we didn't need to change to go surfing.

We wore gym shorts in gym class, but gym class was optional. It was a strange kind of school curriculum.

Dave

 

[MULTIZ321]

I like that version by Frampton, but it initially shocked me, since it immediately reminded me of Gordon Lightfoot's true-story ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The opening chords on both are almost identical. I had to go back and listen to Ringo's original version of "It Don't Come Easy", since I had never noticed the similarity of the two. Ringo's version is not quite so obvious, but Frampton's voice and phrasing remind me so much of Lightfoot, other than the different lyrics!! Weird!!

Edmund Fitzgerald History, The Fateful
Journey - Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum

The Fateful Journey - Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

The Fateful Journey by Sean Ley, Development Officer The final voyage of the Edmund Fitzgerald began November 9, 1975 at the Burlington Northern Railroad Dock No.1, Superior, Wisconsin. Captain Ernest M. McSorley had loaded her with 26,116 long tons of taconite pellets, made of processed iron...

www.shipwreckmuseum.com

Richard

 

[MrockStar]

I can recall picking up a New Orleans AM station around that time as well (long after dark, of course). Also, a St. Louis station (was it KMOX way back then), and WJR from Detroit.

The days of AM radio........

WJR is still a powerhouses AM radio station here in Detroit.

 

[Ty1on]

John took royalties for that song to the bank just like he did every other song.

 

[Rolltydr]

John took royalties for that song to the bank just like he did every other song.

In my worklife, I got paid to do a lot of things I didn’t like.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

WJR is still a powerhouses AM radio station here in Detroit.

My wife grew up across the river in Amherstburg, so she was very familiar with WJR as well as CKLW (800 AM) in Windsor, where host Pat St. John of SiriusXM Sixties on Six fame, got his start.

I spent my high school years in Toronto, so of course I listened to the Canadian powerhouse, 24-hour rock station, CHUM-AM, 1050 on the dial. We also would go down and pick up the weekly Chum Chart hits ranking at the now long-closed, iconic Sam the Record Man store on Yonge Street. How much simpler things were then!

 

[MrockStar]

Okay, so waaaay back when, there used to be a UHF station in Detroit (channel 50 - WKBD?) that had a Friday night scary movie theater. IIRC, I believe the intro show to the weekly movie was something called The Ghoul. One of The Ghoul's bits was a 'weird faced' character singing along to 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'. But wait, this gets better.

The 'weird faced' character was (in fact) a person's hand - complete with face, lipstick, wig, hat (something a bit different each time it was used as I vaguely recall).....aaaaaaannnd....the camera image was flipped....

It was the 70's after all.....

I loved that show, lived about a half mile from the wkbd channel 50 tower. Watched it every Friday night. Remember Parma spelled backwards is Amrap!

 

[plpgma]

One of the last 45's I ever bought... Probably about equal with Steely Dan, my other most favorite group.

Dave

Ahh yes, Steely Dan -- One of my absolute favorite groups, too!

 

[DaveNV]

Ahh yes, Steely Dan -- One of my absolute favorite groups, too!

We had the outstanding privilege of seeing Steely Dan at the Paramount Theater in Seattle about 2009. They were doing two nights of shows, set up as one entire album per night. They played "Aja" the first night, and "The Royal Scam" the second night. We had tickets for the second of the two nights.

We had great seats, and their performance was spot on - note perfect to the album. Absolutely fantastic show. The audience loved it, and Steely Dan responded in kind. When they got done playing every note of The Royal Scam, they turned right around, said, "What the heck?" and played every note of Aja. What??? And then, as an encore, they threw in a number of their other hits, just for fun. The show ran for about three hours, and they rocked every minute of it. Simply fantastic! Probably the best concert I'd attended, up to that point.

Dave

 

[plpgma]

We had the outstanding privilege of seeing Steely Dan at the Paramount Theater in Seattle about 2009...and played every note of Aja. What??? And then, as an encore, they threw in a number of their other hits, just for fun. The show ran for about three hours, and they rocked every minute of it.

Dave

I envy you -- all I can do is content myself with watching Steely Dan on YouTube.