TODAY IN HISTORY ― FEBRUARY 28

February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 days remaining until the end of the year (307 in leap years). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56). 

NATIONAL PUBLIC SLEEPING DAY  

1700 – Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar. 

1784 – John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.

1827 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.

1847 – The Battle of the Sacramento River during the Mexican–American War is a decisive victory for the United States leading to the capture of Chihuahua.

1867 – Seventy years of Holy See – United States relations are ended by a Congressional ban on federal funding of diplomatic envoys to the Vatican and are not restored until January 10, 1984.

1885 – The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)

1928 – C. V. Raman discovers Raman scattering or the Raman Effect (a change of wavelength exhibited by some of the radiation scattered in a medium).

1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.

1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).

1953 – James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2).

1954 – The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.

1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched. It failed to achieve orbit.

1972 – Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.

1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents (AND the FBI) raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff. (No mention whatsoever in this Wiki reference about Bill Clinton or Janet Reno. Hmm.)

1997 – GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.

2013 – Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.

BORN TODAY

1712 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general (d. 1759)

1896 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)

1901 – Linus Pauling, American chemist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)

1906 – Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (d. 1947)

1930 – Leon Cooper, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

1945 – Linda Preiss Rothschild, American mathematician and academic

1948 – Steven Chu, American physicist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Energy, Nobel Prize laureate

1953 – Paul Krugman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

From Wikipedia and Google (images), ex as noted.  

TOP 100 SONGS OF THE BEATLES: 41

"Get Back" (McCartney – May 5, 1969)  

Let It Be – Side 1, Track 7

YouTube (McCartney live)

From Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, and About.com, and Google –

"Get Back" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and formally attributed to Lennon/McCartney. The song was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969, and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston." A different mix of the song later became the closing track of Let It Be (1970), which was the Beatles' last album released just after the group split. The single version was later issued on CD on the second disc of the Past Masters compilation.

The single reached number one in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, France, West Germany, and Mexico. It was the Beatles' only single that credited another artist at their request. "Get Back" was the Beatles' first single release in true stereo in the US. In the UK, The Beatles' singles remained monaural until the following release, "The Ballad of John and Yoko"

History –

Created during the rehearsals for the band's film/album Get Back project, which later saw release as Let It Be, this song was crafted from a jam on January 7, 1969 at Twickenham Studios in London. It was subsequently reworked on the 9th, 10th, 13th, and 23rd-25th, and on the 27th was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Although 14 takes were done on this day, Take 11 was judged the best, and is the version heard on both the single and the LIB album. At this time, Paul unwittingly gave the song its title by ad-libbing "Get back to where you once belonged," a reference to a song by Apple label artist Jackie Lomax, "Sour Milk Sea" (written by George Harrison): "Get back to where you should be."

The original take ended abruptly, however, and so the whole band went back into the studio on January 28th to record yet another version, this time with the band kicking back in and completing the song after the breakdown. While the ending on Take worked well, the body of the song was judged inferior to the previous day's Take 11. The finished song, therefore, is actually a mix of two takes: Take 11, which ends with McCartney's falsetto "wooo-ooh!," and the outro from Take from the next day, which fades out after a few seconds. (On the 29th and the 30th, the band also rehearsed "Get Back" for the rooftop concert; see below.)

Adding to the confusion are the five rooftop performances of "Get Back" recorded for the film itself; these took place in one session on the roof of London's Apple headquarters on Savile Row on January 30. None of these takes appear on the original single or Let It Be soundtrack; rather, producer Phil Spector, brought in to salvage the project after the band broke up in 1970, added some dialogue from the rooftop concerts to the Take 11 breakdown. This is why, on the album, you hear Paul saying "Thanks, Mo" (a reference to Maureen Starkey, Ringo's wife, who was cheering the group on very loudly), and John's famous comedic closing remark: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition." (These sound bites actually occurred at the end of the "concert," when the local police were shutting the performance down due to noise complaints.)

The original Get Back project was envisioned as a return to the Beatles as a straight rock'n'roll band: simple songs, spare arrangements, a loose atmosphere, and no excess production. However, tensions were so high in the group at this point that the project dissolved in a now-infamous display of bitter recrimination (captured in the LIB film). Despite the death of the project, the group was so enamored of the song "Get Back" that it decided to release the song as a single a-side anyway, which is why the single precedes the eventual release of the album by a full year. (Capitol resurrected the LIB project against the Beatles' wishes after the bands dissolved, bringing in iconic producer Phil Spector to sweeten the sound; the original bare-bones vision of the album, often bootlegged, can now be heard legally on 2003's Let It Be... Naked.)

The words to "Get Back" reference Tucson, Arizona, where Paul's then-fiancee Linda Eastman was from. The character "Jojo" in the song is thought to have come the name of a popular bar in Tucson, though rumors have persisted for years that it actually referred to Linda's first husband, Joseph Melvin See, who left her (and their daughter, Heather, whom Paul adopted as his own) to move to Los Angeles.

Composition – Musical Development

"Get Back" is unusual in the Beatles' canon in that almost every moment of the song's evolution has been extensively documented, from its beginning as an offhand riff to its final mixing in several versions. Much of this documentation is in the form of illegal (but widely available) bootleg recordings, and is recounted in the book Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of the Beatles' Let It Be Disaster by Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt.

The song's melody grew out of some unstructured jamming on 7 January 1969 during rehearsal sessions on the sound stage at Twickenham Studios. Over the next few minutes McCartney introduced some of the lyrics, reworking "Get back to the place you should be" from fellow Beatle George Harrison's "Sour Milk Sea" into "Get back to where you once belonged". (McCartney had played bass on Jackie Lomax's recording of the song a few months earlier.) On 9 January McCartney brought a more developed version of "Get Back" to the group, with the "Sweet Loretta" verse close to its finished version. For the press release to promote the "Get Back" single McCartney wrote, "We were sitting in the studio and we made it up out of thin air... we started to write words there and then...when we finished it, we recorded it at Apple Studios and made it into a song to roller-coast by."

The released version of the song is composed of two verses, with an intro, outro, and several refrains. The first verse tells the story of a man named Jojo, who leaves his home in Tucson, Arizona, for some 'California grass'. (Paul's soon-to-be wife Linda had attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where the couple later owned a spacious ranch.) The second verse is about a sexually ambiguous character "Loretta Martin" who "thought she was a woman, but she was another man." The single version includes a coda urging Loretta to "get back" where she belongs.

At the beginning of the Let It Be version of the song, Lennon can be heard jokingly singing "Sweet Loretta Fart, she thought she was a cleaner, but she was a frying pan." The album version of the song also ends with John Lennon quipping "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition". (Originally John said that at the end of the rooftop concert, but Phil Spector edited it into the "Get Back" song on the Let It Be album.)

John Lennon in 1980 claimed that "there's some underlying thing about Yoko in there", claiming that McCartney looked at Yoko Ono in the studio every time he sang "Get back to where you once belonged."

Early versions – 

Around the time he was developing the lyrics to "Get Back", McCartney satirised the "Rivers of Blood speech" by former British Cabinet minister Enoch Powell in a brief jam that has become known as the "Commonwealth Song". The lyrics included a line "You'd better get back to your Commonwealth homes". The group improvised various temporary lyrics for "Get Back" leading to what has become known in Beatles' folklore as the "No Pakistanis" version. This version is more racially charged, and addresses attitudes toward immigrants in America and Britain: "...don't need no Puerto Ricans living in the USA"; and "don't dig no Pakistanis taking all the people's jobs". In an interview in Playboy magazine in 1980, Lennon described it as "...a better version of 'Lady Madonna'. You know, a potboiler rewrite."

On 23 January, the group (now in Apple Studios) tried to record the song properly; bootleg recordings preserve a conversation between McCartney and Harrison between takes discussing the song, and McCartney explaining the original "protest song" concept. The recording captures the group deciding to drop the third verse largely because McCartney does not feel the verse is of high enough quality, although he likes the scanning of the word "Pakistani". Here the song solidifies in its two-verse, three-solo format.

Recordings and post-production work

Billy Preston joined the Beatles on keyboards from 22 January, having been recruited by Harrison partly with a view to deter bickering among the Beatles. The group with Preston playing Fender Rhodes electric piano recorded about ten takes on 23 January. On 27 January they made a concerted effort to perfect "Get Back", recording about 14 takes. By this time the song had the addition of a false ending and reprise coda. After numerous takes the band jammed some old numbers and then returned to "Get Back" one last time in an attempt to record the master take.

This performance (Take 11) was considered to be the best yet – it was musically tight and punchy without mistakes, though the song finishes without the restart. On the session tape, George Harrison comments "we missed that end"; this is the version heard on the Let It Be... Naked album. On 28 January the group attempted to recapture the previous day's performance and recorded several new takes each including the coda. Whilst these takes were good, they did not quite achieve the quality of the best take from the previous day. The lineup for the released versions of "Get Back" was Paul McCartney, lead vocal and bass; John Lennon, lead guitar and backing vocal; George Harrison, rhythm guitar; Ringo Starr, drums; and Billy Preston, electric piano. Harrison, the usual lead guitarist, had temporarily quit the group on 10 January, so Lennon worked out the lead guitar.

The Beatles had EMI produce a mono remix of the track on 4 April, completed by Jeff Jarrett. The Beatles were unhappy with the mix and on 7 April McCartney and Glyn Johns worked at Olympic Studios to produce new remixes for the single release. They made an edited version using the best take of the main part of the song (take eleven) from 27 January and the 'best coda' ending from 28 January. The edit is so precise that it appears to be a continuous take, achieving the desired ending the Beatles had wanted all along. This was a divergence from the concept of straight live performance without studio trickery, but a relatively minor one, and avoids the somewhat abrupt ending of the version that is used on the Let It Be... Naked album.

The Beatles performed "Get Back" (along with other songs from the album) as part of "the Beatles Rooftop Performance" which took place on the roof of Apple Studios in Savile Row, London on 30 January 1969. "Get Back" was performed in full three times. During the third, which marked the end of the rooftop performance, the Beatles were interrupted by the police who had received complaints from office workers nearby. After the police spoke to Mal Evans, he turned off Lennon and Harrison's amplifiers only for Harrison to switch them back on, insisting that they finish the song. It was during this period that McCartney ad-libbed, "You've been playing on the roofs again, and that's no good, and you know your Mummy doesn't like that...she gets angry...she's gonna have you arrested! Get back!" None of the rooftop versions appear on record in their entirety although in the Let It Be film an edited version of the rooftop performance was included, and is available on Anthology 3.

At the end of the last rooftop performance of "Get Back", the audience applauds and McCartney says "Thanks, Mo" in reply to Maureen Starkey's cheering. Lennon adds: "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we've passed the audition". Spector used some of the talk preceding the master take of 27 January and edited on these comments to make the album version sound different from the single.

The stereo single version was the first Beatles' recording to feature Starr's drum kit in true stereo, mixed across the left and right channels. This utilized the then-fairly new 8-track recording technology and was a result of the growing popularity of stereo over mono. The only other Beatles' track to employ this recording method was "The End" on Abbey Road.

Releases –

Single version

On 11 April 1969, Apple Records released "Get Back" as a single in the United Kingdom, paired with "Don't Let Me Down" on the B-Side. The single began its seventeen-week stay in the charts on 26 April at number one, a position it held for six weeks. It was the only Beatles single to enter the UK charts at the top. "Get Back/Don't Let Me Down" was released in the United States on 5 May. Five days later, "Get Back" began its first of twelve weeks on the chart. Two weeks after the song's chart debut it hit number one, where it stayed for five weeks.

In both the United Kingdom and the United States, the single was released by Apple, although EMI retained the rights to the song as part of their contract. It was the only Beatles' single to include an accompanying artist's name, crediting "Get Back/Don't Let Me Down" to "the Beatles with Billy Preston". Apple launched a print ad campaign for the song concurrent with its release showing a photo of the band with the slogan The Beatles as Nature Intended, indicating that the sound of "Get Back" harked to the group's earlier days.

The single version of the song contains a tape echo effect throughout and a coda after a false ending, with the lyrics "Get back Loretta / Your mommy's waiting for you / Wearing her high-heel shoes / And her low-neck sweater / Get back home, Loretta." This does not appear on the album version; the single version's first LP appearance would come three years later on the 1967–1970 compilation. This version also appeared in the albums 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters and The Beatles 1. It was also included in the original line-up of the proposed Get Back album that was scheduled to be released during the fall of 1969.

In Britain and Europe "Get Back/Don't Let Me Down" was the Beatles' last single to be released in mono, but in the US the single was released in stereo. It was the Beatles' first single to be released in true stereo instead of mono as part of the "stereo only" movement gaining force in 1969. In both versions the lead guitar played by Lennon is in the left channel and the rhythm guitar played by Harrison is in the right channel. The single was also released in the experimental Pocket Disc format by Americom in conjunction with Apple and Capitol in the late 1960s.

Let It Be version

When Phil Spector came to remix "Get Back" he wanted to make it seem different from the version released as the single, though both versions were the same take. The previous unreleased Get Back albums included elements of studio chatter to add to the live feel of the recordings. In this spirit, Spector included part of the studio chatter recorded immediately before the master take (recorded on 27 January) and added McCartney and Lennon's remarks after the close of the rooftop performance. This created the impression that the single and album versions are different takes. The single's echo effect was also omitted from the remix.

Let It Be... Naked version

In 2003, "Get Back" was re-released on the Let It Be... Naked album, remixed by independent producers with the sanction of the surviving ex-Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, with John Lennon's and George Harrison's widows. The "naked" version of "Get Back" is ostensibly a cleaned up version of the single version albeit much shorter as there is a fade immediately before the final "whoo" and coda. Apple also prepared a specially-created music video of the Let It Be... Naked release of the song to promote that album in 2003. This video is edited together using stock footage of the band, along with Billy Preston, George Martin and others.

Love version

In 2006 a newly mixed version of "Get Back" produced by George Martin and his son Giles was included on the album Love. This version incorporates elements of "A Hard Day's Night" (the intro chord), "A Day in the Life" (the improvised orchestral crescendo), "The End" (Ringo Starr's drum solo, Paul McCartney's second guitar solo, and John Lennon's last guitar solo), and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" (Take 1's drum count-off intro). However, there are several edits in this piece, including an extended intro, and the second verse is removed completely.

Takes: 9

Personnel –

John Lennon – Harmony vocals, rhythm guitar (1965 Epiphone E230TD(V) Casino)
Paul McCartney – Lead vocals, bass guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1)
George Harrison – Lead guitar (1968 Fender Rosewood Telecaster)
Ringo Starr – Drums (1968 Ludwig Hollywood Maple)
Billy Preston – Electric piano (1968 Fender Rhodes)

Trivia –

During the song's evolution, Paul tried several different lyrical approaches to the song, some having to with the debate going on in England at the time over Pakistani immigration. The "Commonwealth version" features lyrics that reference Cabinet minister Enoch Powell's infamous anti-immigrant "River Of Blood" speech; the later "No Pakistani" version features the mocking line "don't dig no Pakistanis taking all the people's jobs," and the "Too Many Pakistanis" version features a third verse which mentions immigrants "living in a council flat," or government housing. Some have heard these versions as racist diatribes, but historians now agree they were tongue-in-cheek pokes at the right-wing Labour party and its stance on this issue.

John Lennon, for his part, was quite fond of this song, calling it a "better version of 'Lady Madonna.'" He does, however, mock the first line during the rooftop versions, a joke Phil Spector added to the beginning of the album version: "Sweet Loretta Fart (or Fat), she thought she was a (vacuum) cleaner / But she was a frying pan."

John later claimed that Paul, during rehearsals, would look at Lennon's new wife, Yoko Ono, every time he sang the words "Get back to where you once belonged," in order to intimidate her.

The last version of "Get Back" heard in the (widely bootlegged) "rooftop sessions" features Paul mocking the police shutdown of his band's jam, replacing the ad-libbed "Your mama's waiting for you" verse with the lines "You been out too long, Loretta! You've been playing on the roofs again! That's no good! You know your mommy doesn't like that! Oh, she's getting angry... she'll have you arrested! Get back!"

This song is the first Beatles release to feature keyboardist Billy Preston, a friend of George Harrison's brought in by him to keep the others at their most civil and professional. Although the group was already disintegrating, they seriously considered having him join the band, the only real "Fifth Beatle" ever so considered. In fact, the "Get Back" single is credited to "The Beatles and Billy Preston." No other Beatles release shares billing in this way.

Today in Beatles History (From The Internet Beatles Album) February 28 –

1962 – A letter is sent by a lawyer on behalf of Brian, to a man of Liverpool who had murmured about Brian's motivations on managing the Beatles, demanding an apologize and warranty not to repeat the comments.
– Performance at the Cavern, with Gerry and the Pacemakers, and the Searchers.

1963 – Paul and John compose 'From Me To You' on the train going from York to Shrewsbury, during the Helen Shapiro tour.

– Concert at the Granada, Shrewsbury (Helen Shapiro tour).
– Brian and Dick James officially found Northern Songs Ltd.

1964 – With The Beatles number 1, 13th week (UK Record Retailer chart).
– "I Want To Hold Your Hand" number 1, 5th week; 7th week in the Top 100 (Billboard).
– "She Loves You", 6th week in the Top 100 (Billboard).
– "Please Please Me", 5th week in the Top 100 (Billboard).
– "I Saw Her Standing There", 4th week in the Top 100 (Billboard).
– Transmision of ABC-TV's show "The Big Out" (recorded 23 February 1964).
– UK Polydor single release: "Why (Can't You Love Me Again)"/"Cry For A Shadow".
– UK single release: "A World Without Love", first by Peter and Gordon.
Number 1 Studio, Piccadilly Theater, London. 6.30-9.00pm. Recording for BBC's "From Us To You" (2nd edition): "From Us To You"; "You Can't Do That"; "Roll Over Beethoven"; 'Till There Was You'; 'I Wanna Be Your Man'; 'Please Mister Postman'; "All My Loving"; – "This Boy"; "Can't Buy Me Love"; "From Us To You".

1967 – Studio 2. 7.00pm-3.00am. Recording: "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (rehearsal only). Producer: George Martin; Engineer: Geoff Emerick; 2nd Engineer: Richard Lush.

1968 – Abbey Road. Cilla Black records "Step Inside Love".– The Cavern closes.
– Yoko, with John on guitar, records "AOS", at the Royal Albert Hall.1969 

– Ringo starts shooting of The Magic Christian.

1970 – Abbey Road, Room 4. Time unknown. Stereo mixing: "For You Blue" (remixes 1-8). Producer: Malcolm Davies; Engineer: Peter Bown; 2nd Engineer: Richard Langham.– Live Peace In Toronto, 8th week in the ranking (Billboard).
– "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On), 2nd week in the ranking (Billboard)1992 

– Moyzes Hall of the Slovak Philharmonic, Bratislavia. Start of recording of "The Beatles Go Baroque", with Peter Breiner and his chamber orchestra. Producer: Leos Komarek; Engineer: Otto Nopp.

1972 – John's US non-immigrant visa expires. John's immigration lawyer asks for an extension of his 6-month non-immigrant visa.

1992 – Moyzes Hall of the Slovak Philharmonic, Bratislavia. Recording of "The Beatles Go Baroque", with Peter Breiner and his chamber orchestra. Producer: Leos Komarek; Engineer: Otto Nopp.

TODAY'S GIFS

From GIPHY

TODAY IN HISTORY ― FEBRUARY 27

February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 307 days remaining until the end of the year (308 in leap years). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).

NATIONAL TORTILLA CHIP DAY  

425 – The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.  

1782 – American Revolutionary War: The House of Commons of Great Britain votes against further war in America. 

1864 – American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia.

1902 – Second Boer War: Australian soldiers Harry 'Breaker' Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria for war crimes. 

1922 – A challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, is rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett. 

1933 – The Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire; Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch Communist claims responsibility. The Nazis used the fire to solidify their power and eliminate the communists as political rivals. 

1939 – United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes violate property owners' rights and are therefore illegal. 

1940 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover Carbon-14, used for dating of materials containing Carbon-14 using is decay half-life of 5730 years.

1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an Allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies. 

1943 – The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men. 

1951 – The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified by the required two-thirds of the states. 

1973 – The American Indian Movement (AIM) occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota. 

1991 – Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".

2010 – An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggered a tsunami which struck Hawaii shortly after.

 

2015 – A gunman kills seven people then himself in a series of shootings in Tyrone, Missouri.

BORN TODAY 

272 – Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (d. 337)

1807 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator (d. 1882)

1869 – Alice Hamilton, American physician and academic (d. 1970)

1899 – Charles Herbert Best, American-Canadian physiologist and biochemist, co-discovered Insulin (d. 1978)

1902 – John Steinbeck, American journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)

1942 – Robert H. Grubbs, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

From Wikipedia and Google (images), ex as noted.  

TOP 100 SONGS OF THE BEATLES: 42

"I Feel Fine" (Lennon – November 23, 1964) 



Single 
YouTube

From Wikipedia, Rolling Stone,  About.com, and Google –

"I Feel Fine" is a riff-driven rock song written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released in 1964 by The Beatles as the A-side of their eighth British single. The song is notable for the use of feedback on a recording for the first time by any musician.

History –

Written by John on October 3, 1964, and worked on by him during the sessions for "Eight Days A Week," this song was based around a distinctive riff and Latin drum pattern very reminiscent of R&B artist Bobby Parker's "Watch Your Step" (which the band was familiar with, having covered it on stage in the Cavern days). Although Paul has claimed some portion of the song's final form, records and hearsay seem to discount any real involvement.

Although many bands have claimed the distinction, "I Feel Fine" was the first recorded song to feature guitar feedback. While recording, Lennon accidentally left his guitar (actually an acoustic Gibson with an electric P-90 pickup) too close to his Vox AC30 amp, producing an interesting whine in tune with the riff's opening note (A). Lennon worked during the ensuing takes to replicate the effect, which in the final version is actually produced by Paul's bass resonating an octave higher in John's pickup.

Although George was the lead guitarist of the group, the main riff is played by John. The famous solo is also played by John, though George joins him when the riff returns.

The "barking dog" noises at the very end of the fade-out are Paul's; several outtakes reveal lots of goofing off during the sessions.

The single reached the top of the UK charts on 12 December of that year, displacing The Rolling Stones' "Little Red Rooster," and remained there for five weeks. It also reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1964. The B-side was "She's a Woman".

"I Feel Fine" was the first of six number one songs in a row on the American charts, a record at the time. The subsequent singles were "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday", and "We Can Work It Out".

It was also the first Beatles single to be released almost concurrently in the US and the UK.

Origin –

Lennon wrote the guitar riff while in the studio recording "Eight Days a Week". "I wrote 'I Feel Fine' around that riff going on in the background," he recalled. "I told them I'd write a song specially for the riff. So they said, 'Yes. You go away and do that,' knowing that we'd almost finished the album Beatles for Sale. Anyway, going into the studio one morning, I said to Ringo, 'I've written this song but it's lousy.' But we tried it, complete with riff, and it sounded like an A side, so we decided to release it just like that." John Lennon said that the riff was influenced by a riff in "Watch Your Step", a 1961 release written and performed by Bobby Parker and covered by the Beatles in concerts during 1961 and 1962.

Paul McCartney said the drums on "I Feel Fine" were inspired by Ray Charles's "What'd I Say".

At the time of the song's recording, the Beatles, having mastered the studio basics, had begun to explore new sources of inspiration in noises previously eliminated as mistakes (such as electronic goofs, twisted tapes, and talkback). "I Feel Fine" marks the earliest example of the use of feedback as a recording effect. Artists such as The Kinks and The Who had already used feedback live, but Lennon remained proud of the fact that the Beatles were the first group to actually put it on vinyl.

Structure –

The intro to "I Feel Fine" starts with a single, percussive (yet pure-sounding) feedback note produced by plucking the A-note on Lennon's guitar. This was the very first use of feedback on a rock record. According to McCartney, "John had a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar. It had a pick-up on it so it could be amplified... We were just about to walk away to listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp. I can still see him doing it... it went, 'Nnnnnnwahhhhh!" And we went, 'What's that? Voodoo!' 'No, it's feedback.' Wow, it's a great sound!' George Martin was there so we said, 'Can we have that on the record?' 'Well, I suppose we could, we could edit it on the front.' It was a found object, an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp."

While sounding very much like an electric guitar, Lennon played it on a semi-acoustic (a Gibson model J-160E), employing the guitar's onboard pickup and 1960s sound effect devices to make the acoustic guitar sound more electronic. The intro riff around a D major chord progresses to a C, then a G, where the G major vocals begin. Just before the coda, Lennon's intro riff (or ostinato), is repeated with a bright sound by George Harrison on electric guitar (a Gretsch Tennessean), followed by the more electric sound of John on amped acoustic.

Takes: 9

Personnel –

John Lennon – Lead vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar (Gibson J160E)

Paul McCartney – Harmony vocals, bass guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1)

George Harrison – Harmony vocals, lead guitar (Gretsch 6119 "Tennessean")
Ringo Starr – Drums (Ludwig)

Trivia –

The urban legend that the feedback was a mistake made during the final take stems from the band themselves, who told their English label, Parlophone, that it was a mistake in order to allow the use of the feedback (normally deemed unacceptable as a sonic standard).


This song appears in mono on both original singles (UK and US) in slightly different mixes, whereas the version found on the US Beatles 65 LP is "mock stereo" made from mono and the current CD releases are in true stereo (except where noted). The original US single mix is drenched in echo compared to its cleaner UK counterpart.

Today in Beatles History (From The Internet Beatles Album) February 27 – 

1963 – Concert at the Rialto, York (Helen Shapiro tour).

1964 – Studio 2. 10.00am-1.00pm. Recording: "And I Love Her" [re-re-make] (takes 20-21); "Tell Me Why" (takes 1-8). Studio 2. 2.30-5.30pm. Recording: "If I Fell" (takes 1-15). Producer: George Martin; Engineer: Norman Smith; 2nd Engineer: Richard Langham.

1965 – 'Beatles For Sale' number 1, 1st and last week, replacing 'Rolling Stones II' (UK Record Retailer chart).

1967 – Brian and Vic Lewis fly to the US, to arrange plans for the Monkees, Cream, the Who, and the Four Tops.

1996 – Recording of 'Flaming Pie' in Sussex, England.

MOVIE DIALOG OF THE DAY ― THE BOURNE LEGACY (2012)

Connection with the previous post (MI: ROUGE NATION): Jeremy Renner co-starred in both films

RATINGS: IMDB ― 6.7/10, Rotten Tomatoes ― 56%, ME ― 80%



Dr. Marta Shearing: Are we lost?
Aaron Cross: No, I was just looking at our options.
Dr. Marta Shearing: Oh, I was kinda hoping we were lost.

Rachael Weisz as Dr. Marta Shearing and Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross 

Trivia (From IMDB):

When asked about his most difficult scene, Jeremy Renner revealed that it was the motorcycle ride with Rachel Weisz behind him in Manila, because he was responsible for the two of them. At the press conference of the film, Weisz was asked about this particular stunt, "How was it to ride on a motorcycle through Manila with Jeremy Renner?" and she said that "It was really terrifying! Jeremy never told me when we were in Manila, but that was the scariest stunt for him because he was responsible for my life. He didn't tell me that in Manila, thank god, because I would have been like, 'Oh, my god!' I just had to surrender and hold on. I didn't have to act. It just was terrifying".

Daniel Craig visited his wife Rachel Weisz during their shoot in Manila. Producer Frank Marshall was glad to see them together, saying: "It was pretty cool to have James Bond on the 'Bourne' set with Aaron Cross. We had a great time. It was really fun."

Matt Damon told The Playlist he could not see his character and the character played by Jeremy Renner being in a movie together.

Jeremy Renner doesn't say a word until 15 minutes and 7 seconds into the film.

Before this movie was seriously considered, director Paul Greengrass (who helmed two earlier installments of this series) jokingly suggested to make a fourth Bourne movie called "The Bourne Redundancy".

The location of Aaron Cross at the wilderness outpost as seen on the display at Drone Command is 61 48 28.54 -142 49 06.17 (or 61.632507,-142.968292). This is in the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park and Preserve in Chitina Alaska, approximately half way between the peaks of Regal Mountain and Presidents Chair at an altitude of 8900 feet.

At 135 minutes, this is the longest of all Bourne films.

Excluding archive footage from previous films, Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, Albert Finney and David Strathairn all appear in only one scene each.

Taylor Kitsch, Shia LaBeouf, Adam Brody, Garrett Hedlund, Luke Evans, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Hartnett, Tobey Maguire, Alex Pettyfer, Dominic Cooper, Michael Fassbender, Kellan Lutz, Benjamin Walker, Erryn Arkin, Paul Dano, Joel Edgerton, Oscar Isaac, Logan Marshall-Green and Michael Pitt were considered for the role of Aaron Cross. Isaac was eventually cast in the different role as Outcome #3.

When leaving the mountain refuge Aaron Cross says that he will head "for the Nest". In the Avenger movies the Nest is the place of choice by Hawkeye, the archer played by Renner.

Originally a fourth installment for Jason Bourne was planned. However, Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass didn't like the script, Paul Greengrass didn't want to return as director and Damon would've returned if only Paul would return as director. After that, Tony Gilroywould re-work the script into a Bourne spin-off, now released as "The Bourne Legacy".

When Aaron and Marta are flying over seas, stock footage of the oceanic plane from Executive Decision (1996) is used.

The character Jason Bourne alias David Webb from three novels by Robert Ludlum was licensed out to Eric Van Lustbader to continue the life and adventures of that character, starting with The Bourne Legacy. However, as with most films in this series, this movie is an original screenplay using only the title of that novel.

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne has a photographic cameo twice in the film in order to help establish this film as part of the series. First in the beginning of the film, when the agency is talking about what they're going to do as Bourne is still at large and a file of Bourne is seen with Damon's picture with it. The last time is just before Cross and Shearing are in an airport and Cross is watching the news and Bourne's picture comes up when the News Anchor mentions his name.

The films' story-line parallels' the events of both The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) as the Blackbriar project instituted at the end of the original film was fully activated even as the CIA was still on the hunt for Jason Bourne.

In the scene where Edward Norton's character learns that the "Outcome" who survived the cabin drone attack was Aaron Cross, Jeremy Renner's character and recognizes the name without surprise. This is because Norton was Renner's Commanding Officer in Iraq in 2003 and was the one who recruited him for the Blackbriar Project which explains the scene of his "death" shown on the Fallen Heroes website he shows to Weisz. The Blu-Ray and DVD feature these scenes that were cut out of the film.

Shipped to theaters under the code name "Marcher". This was also the fake title filming took place under.

(at around 17 mins) The yellow note seen pinned to the shelf in the cabin at the wilderness outpost reads "*NEW* LATRINE Tom (N) leave the shovel there ffs. and the bears use it too, heads up--"

Blake Lively, Milla Jovovich, Kristin Kreuk, Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Beckinsale, Kate Mara, Kate Bosworth, Diane Kruger, Eliza Dushku, Elizabeth Olsen, Michelle Monaghan and Sarah Michelle Gellar were considered for the role of Marta Shearing.

The first Bourne film not shot by cinematographer Oliver Wood.

When Dr. Marta Shearing explains the origins of viral engineering she refers to a 1985 incident at a US Army base named Fort Detrick. Fort Detrick is an actual US Army base and, during the early Cold War, was the home of the US's biological weapons program until then President Nixon closed down the program in 1969.

By the end of the film, at the last shot, Aaron and Marta are on board a small ship, and that scene was shot in Palawan, the Philippines. Local newspaper The Philippine Star reports that Rachel Weisz was so awed by the beauty of the place that she declared that she could live in Palawan forever. The rest of the cast also expressed their amazement at being in such an exotically beautiful spot.

Both Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) and Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) characters share similar traits to one another. Both were recruited to volunteer for Treadstone and Blackbriar projects. Both were military soldiers presumed dead. Both share similar military training and expertise in weapons and martial arts. Both had a love interest (Bourne/Nicky Parsons) and (Cross/Martha Shearing, possibly). Both are being chased and pursed by the CIA by their former mentors/recruiters (Chris Cooper's Alexander Conklin for Jason Bourne and Edward Norton's Eric Byer for Aaron Cross). The major differences is that Aaron Cross knew his real identity as he had revealed it to Rachel Weisz's Shearing character midway through the film. Damon's Bourne doesn't find out who he really is until the end of The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). Cross also remembers his family even-though it's revealed somewhat vaguely during his conversation with Martha Shearing and it is not known who if Bourne has or had a family and that maybe revealed in Jason Bourne. Cross is a genetically enhanced soldier both physically and IQ wise and we do not know if Bourne was also enhanced or just a natural, physical soldier without enhancement.

Composer John Powell composed the music for the first three Bourne films as the regular composer for both Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass. James Newton Howard, Tony Gilroy's regular composer was hired to write the music for this film. Howard's music is almost stylistically and loosely based on Powell's work on the original Bourne films with his own musical voice.

In the begining a pack of wolves are shown attacking an elk, however the only Elk in Alaska are limited to a few Islands, and not near where Cross was supposed to be, i.e. near Wrangell-St. Elias Park.

The only Bourne film in which Marie Kreutz is neither featured nor referenced in any way. Nicky Parsons isn't mentioned either nor she appears in the movie.

Edward Norton, Scott Glenn and Joan Allen have all appeared in films featuring the character Hannibal Lecter. Allen was in Manhunter (1986), as was Brian Cox who appeared in the first two films of this series. Glenn appeared in The Silence of the Lambs(1991), and Norton appeared in Red Dragon (2002).

It was revealed that Aaron Cross is one of nine outcomes (gentitically enhanced) soldiers that participated in Project Blackbriar. The fate of the others is explained somewhat vaguely by Jeremy Renner to Rachel Weisz in the scene where he reveals his real identity as most of them either viraled out of their medication or were killed in the beginning of the film (including Outcome-3 played by Oscar Isaac) at the same time during the events of The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) with Edward Norton's character giving the orders to shut down the project.

Some members of the cast have appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:

- Jeremy Renner played Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016)).

- Scott Glenn played Stick (Daredevil (2015)).

- Edward Norton played Bruce Banner/Hulk (The Incredible Hulk (2008)).

- Corey Stoll played Darren Cross/Yellowjacket (Ant-Man (2015)).

Edward Norton and Jeremy Renner are alumni of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Norton starred in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Renner played Hawkeye in Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Captain America: Civil War.

Stacy Keach & Edward Norton also appeared together in American History X (1998).
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This is the fourth collaboration between Writer/Director Tony Gilroy and Composer James Newton Howard. The other films include Michael Clayton (2007) (which they both received Oscar nominations), Duplicity (2004), The Devil's Advocate (1997) (which he co-wrote the screenplay) and this film. Howard also composed the music for Nightcrawler (2014), which was written and directed by Dan Gilroy, who co-wrote this movie with Tony Gilroyhis brother and was also the producer of the film.

Jonathan Eusebio is the Fight Coordinator and the Fighting Style is FMA Kali Eskrima and Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do.

The items that were used by Aaron Cross to make the passport/ID are: A disposable camera, a large magnifying glass, a soldering iron, bubble gum, a picture of Martha Shearing and of course, an empty or another person's passport.

When Aaron Cross arrives in Chicago, he finds the car containing passports, ID's (both with different names/aliases), money and a gun in the inside panel of the car door. This is almost identical to The Bourne Identity (2002) where Matt Damon goes to the bank to retrieve the safety deposit box that also contains several different passports, ID's (both with different names/aliases), money and a gun as well.

The first three titles in this series - The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy(2004), and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - follow each other in alphabetical order. This title "The Bourne Legacy" spoils that pattern.

When Jeremy Renner tells Rachel Weisz in the car if she knew his name after she sees him while he was apart of the Blackbriar Project, 13 times and doesn't know it. However, when goes to rescue her at her house before they were going to killer, she does recognize him. This is a similar reference to Matt Damon and Julia Stiles characters from the Bourne series in which they really don't connect until The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), where it was revealed that they may have had a relationship together before Damon became Bourne.

Before the CIA's officials arrive at Dr. Marta's house, a page in her drawer is seen as she is packing up with "Michael John" written on it in Arabic/ Urdu transcript.

This was Jeremy Renner's second box office hit film of 2012 which also included The Avengers (2012), released in the same summer.

The main character's code name is "Aaron Cross." Jason Bourne's German girlfriend in The Bourne Identity is Marie Kreutz. Kreutz is the German word for "cross."

Zeljko Ivanek who plays the lab technician who goes berserk in the lab where Rachel Weisz barely escapes, may have been a member of the Blackbriar project as either a sleeper agent or one of the later Outcomes and this is inferred when Renner tells Weisz in the car his own reasons why he went crazy inside the lab to eliminate all traces of the Project after it was ordered to be terminated early in the film by Edward Norton's character.
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Elizabeth Marvel and Corey Stoll have both starred in House of Cards (2013).

The film was edited by John Gilroy, Tony Gilroy's brother who with their other brother, Dan, co-wrote the screenplay to this film and Tony co-produced and directed this film. This is the third film that he has edited for Tony Gilroy with the others being Michael Clayton (2007), Duplicity (2004) and this one. He would also edit, Nightcrawler (2014) which was written and directed by Dan Gilroy and produced by Tony Gilroy.

This is the second film where Rachel Weisz plays a doctor involved in a scientific research project. The other film was Chain Reaction (1996) co-starring Keanu Reeves, where she plays a physicist trying to help Reeves create free energy out of water and in this film, she's a geneticist who doesn't know that she's using germs and chemicals to enhance U.S. soldiers for a top secret project (Project Blackbriar).

Donna Murphy, Dennis Boutsikaris, Zeljko Ivanek, Robert Prescott, Tom Riis Farrell and Corey Stoll all appeared on the show, Law & Order (1990) in various points in both the original series or one of it's spin-offs (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001)). Stoll appeared on the short lived Law & Order: LA (2010) as one of the shows' main leads. Ivanek appeared in a few episodes of the show as part of a crossover episode with the series, Homicide: Life on the Street (1993) as well as a few episodes as another character.

Spoilers ― 

At the climax of this movie, Noah Vosen lies to the U.S. Senate that Operation Blackbriar was activated solely to track down and hunt Jason Bourne. This would be inconsistent with Abbott's statement to the Senate Oversight Committee in The Bourne Identity(2002) that the purpose of Blackbriar was to act as a joint communications program for the Department of Defense. If one looks closely in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), when Bourne goes to steal the classified files from Vosen's office, one of the files reads that Blackbriar was changed from a communications program to a CIA/NSA covert operation to track down Jason Bourne, making the cover up for Blackbriar's true purpose plausible.

The message scrawled on the mirror in the hotel room, 'No More', is an anagram of Marta's traveling name, 'Monroe'.

This is the second time Oscar Isaac has played a character who has something to do with the CIA and gets killed within the first 30 minutes and his death is caused by an explosion. The first time being Body of Lies (2008).

Aaron Cross' real name is Ptv. Kenneth J. Kitsom and stationed in Iraq who presumably died in 2003 during the events of both The Bourne Identity (2002) and The Bourne Supremacy (2004). The letter J. is short for "James".The fake names that Aaron Cross creates for him and Dr. Shearing are Karl Brundage and June Monroe, respectively.