June 1 will mark the 40th anniversary of the release of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. If ever there was a landmark moment in the history of rock music or should I say the history of music as a whole, the release of Sgt. Pepper definitely fits the bill. No album before had contained such radical sounds, exotic arrangements in instrumentation, ground-breaking lyricism, alternative forms of musical production, and new revolutionary concepts in album cover design. Sgt. Pepper did all that and more.
When the album debuted on radio stations throughout the world on June 1 it became a signature moment in the 1960s. I have read several literary and periodical accounts about where people were and what were they were doing when they first heard Sgt. Pepper being played. Although some critics today feel that Sgt. Pepper has become dated and that the Beatles Abbey Road album surpasses Sgt. Pepper I beg to differ. The musical content of Sgt. Pepper has not lost its vitality despite the critics need for revisionism. Even if the album reflected the Beatles interpretation of the psychedelic movement in music it still, unlike other classic psychedelic albums, endures mightily as a paradigm of that hallucinogenic era.
The album was a result of seven hundred hours of recording sessions spanning from late November 1966 to early April 1967. The Beatles, freed from the vicissitudes of live performing; secure in their status as the greatest rock and roll band in the world; and able to demand total control of their musical work and unlimited time in the recording studio, harnessed their collective musical energies and produced this magnum opus. What other rock band at the time would have the courage to hire a 41-piece orchestra to perform in full costume dress without a score, merely asking them to go from their lowest to their highest notes on their respective instruments in only 24 bars as the Beatles did in the song A Day in the Life? What other rock band could write a song based solely on the written content of a 19th-century poster as the Beatles did in Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite? What other rock band could keep studio personnel waiting for interminable hours as they argued and scratched their heads about what exotic instruments to use in each song they recorded for Sgt. Pepper?
Before Sgt. Pepper recording sessions were done discreetly and seldom attracted notice (after all the audience didn’t want to know about the labor pains, all it wanted to see was the baby). The Beatles changed that. Sgt. Pepper was the first rock and roll album where the recording session was the event, drawing celebrity audiences and involving various and sundry personalities to add color, humor, and inspiration to the proceedings. Now such events are commonplace but the Beatles set the precedent. Not only that recording artists were never allowed to record at their leisure. The Beatles altered the equation. They could record whenever they so desired and it was up to the recording company to accommodate their schedule.
Before Sgt. Pepper albums were compendiums of twelve to fourteen songs hastily thrown together and put forth as mere product. The Beatles changed that. Now albums could be coherent, singular statements issued as manifestos to a public dying for The Word.
Before Sgt. Pepper album covers were mundane forms of packaging. The Beatles changed that. Even to this day the Sgt. Pepper album cover remains the most daring and memorable of its kind in musical history, spawning several imitations, parodies, and the like in the forty years since its release. (EMI, the Beatles recording company, was afraid of lawsuits because of the album cover content and briefly considered releasing the album in brown paper bags as if it were pornography).
All four Beatles shined brightly in Sgt. Pepper. John Lennon’s Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is a masterpiece which combines a lush sound with shimmering lyrics and an astonishing economy of instrumentation. Paul McCartney’s bass guitar playing in Lucy, It’s Getting Better, Fixing a Hole, and Lovely Rita is audaciously magnificent and represents some of the greatest bass lines in rock and roll history. George Harrison’s lead guitar solos in Fixing a Hole and Good Morning, Good Morning are tight and expressive and his sole composition, the raga-like Within You, Without You, is one of his finest lyrical efforts. Ringo Starr’s lead vocal in With a Little Help from my Friends is the finest one in all his Beatles work. His drumming in A Day in the Life provides a dark punctuation to John and Paul’s lyrics and his subtle, delicately innovative use of hi-hat kicks in Fixing a Hole reveals Ringo at his very best.
Today, with the advent of compact discs and downloading of music on the internet, albums no longer possess their singular appeal and have lost all meaning as coherent artistic statements. The musical world will never experience a moment like it did when Sgt. Pepper graced the airwaves and filled musical stores worldwide. No other album has sparked such a revolution in how music is recorded, produced, and presented to the public. So let us remember a time when the world was still young (relatively speaking) and there was still hope for the future and there was even a hope that the world could be changed for the better where everyone could live as one under tangerine trees and marmalade skies while riding inside newspaper taxis appearing on the shore waiting to take us away, all the while looking for the girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Like John Lennon wrote forty years ago, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Football Talk
“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”
--Satchel Paige
The “controversy” over the Philadelphia Eagles drafting of quarterback prospect Kevin Kolb and what the move augurs for the future of Eagles starting QB Donovan McNabb is more media-hype than actual fodder for Eagle fans. If Donovan McNabb actually allows the drafting of Kolb to upset him and knock him off his game then it doesn’t speak well of McNabb’s ability to handle pressure situations. As it is, McNabb has been more concerned about completing his rehab from his injuries that prematurely ended his season and prepping himself for training camp in July—a totally proper course for him to take.
Why did Andy Reid draft Kolb? Amidst all the screaming (mostly from the media) there is the realization that twice now Donovan McNabb has been unable to complete a regular season with the Eagles due to serious, major injury. The fact that McNabb is potentially brittle should be a cause for concern amongst the Eagles brain trust. When draft day came and Kevin Kolb was still available on the draft board, the Eagles did the logical thing and drafted him. People forget that NFL football is a charnel house where careers can abruptly end on any given Sunday. During the 1980s the average NFL player’s career was only 3.2 seasons (I’m not sure what the average is now).
We’d like to be sentimental and allow established NFL heroes to feel safe at their positions but if you speak to any established NFL star they will tell you there is no such thing as safe in the NFL. I remember last season seeing a commercial featuring recently retired New York Giants running back Tiki Barber discussing how he became an All-Pro starter. He said, quite matter-of-factly, that he became a starter when someone got hurt and he filled in and showed such great ability that he took the injured man’s job away from him.
NFL history is replete with instances of so-called established players losing their starting positions to bright young back-ups who had the patience and luck to show that they could outperform the starter. In the 1960s Quarterback Craig Morton spent five years as Don Meredith’s back-up for the Dallas Cowboys until Meredith retired in 1969. Morton got the starting job only to find his back-up, Roger Staubach, breathing down his neck and, in 1971, becoming the starting quarterback for the Cowboys and leading them to two Super Bowl titles. During the late 1960s the Oakland Raiders had Daryle Lamonica and George Blanda at quarterback but that didn’t stop the team from drafting a very brash and wild quarterback from Alabama named Kenny Stabler. Stabler waited in obscurity for several seasons until 1973 when Coach John Madden, in an attempt at revitalizing an inconsistent Raider offense, allowed Stabler to start a game to see what Stabler was made of. (John Madden tells the story beautifully in his best-selling book One Knee Equals Two Feet). Stabler got the offense moving and remained the Raider starting quarterback for the rest of the season and eventually led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl title in 1977. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is another prime example. He was able to do what Drew Bledsoe could not do after many years with the Patriots: lead the Patriots to three Super Bowl titles.
Does the drafting of Kevin Kolb mean that Donovan McNabb’s days as an Eagle are numbered? That’s for McNabb and Andy Reid to decide. First, McNabb has to show that he has fully recovered from his serious leg injuries. What happens if his recovery is still not complete? Then Andy Reid needs to use his back-ups (A.J. Feeley and Kevin Kolb) until McNabb can show that he is ready. Second, McNabb still must prove that he can lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory—which he hasn’t done yet. The NFL is filled with good quarterbacks but there are only a tiny few who have led their teams to Super Bowl titles. Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl nor did Jim Kelly. John Elway had to wait a very long time before he won his two Super Bowl titles.
The jury is still out on Donovan McNabb. What happens if Andy Reid decides that McNabb doesn’t have the stuff to be a Joe Montana or a Tom Brady or even a Peyton Manning for that matter? Then Reid must find someone who has the same stuff the above-mentioned quarterbacks possess. It could be A.J. Feeley or it could be Kevin Kolb or it could be someone else? Only time will tell.
How Donovan McNabb deals with this will speak volumes about him as an athlete, team leader, and as a person. The answer lies with him and what he does on the playing field.
It’s going to be a very interesting season.
--Satchel Paige
The “controversy” over the Philadelphia Eagles drafting of quarterback prospect Kevin Kolb and what the move augurs for the future of Eagles starting QB Donovan McNabb is more media-hype than actual fodder for Eagle fans. If Donovan McNabb actually allows the drafting of Kolb to upset him and knock him off his game then it doesn’t speak well of McNabb’s ability to handle pressure situations. As it is, McNabb has been more concerned about completing his rehab from his injuries that prematurely ended his season and prepping himself for training camp in July—a totally proper course for him to take.
Why did Andy Reid draft Kolb? Amidst all the screaming (mostly from the media) there is the realization that twice now Donovan McNabb has been unable to complete a regular season with the Eagles due to serious, major injury. The fact that McNabb is potentially brittle should be a cause for concern amongst the Eagles brain trust. When draft day came and Kevin Kolb was still available on the draft board, the Eagles did the logical thing and drafted him. People forget that NFL football is a charnel house where careers can abruptly end on any given Sunday. During the 1980s the average NFL player’s career was only 3.2 seasons (I’m not sure what the average is now).
We’d like to be sentimental and allow established NFL heroes to feel safe at their positions but if you speak to any established NFL star they will tell you there is no such thing as safe in the NFL. I remember last season seeing a commercial featuring recently retired New York Giants running back Tiki Barber discussing how he became an All-Pro starter. He said, quite matter-of-factly, that he became a starter when someone got hurt and he filled in and showed such great ability that he took the injured man’s job away from him.
NFL history is replete with instances of so-called established players losing their starting positions to bright young back-ups who had the patience and luck to show that they could outperform the starter. In the 1960s Quarterback Craig Morton spent five years as Don Meredith’s back-up for the Dallas Cowboys until Meredith retired in 1969. Morton got the starting job only to find his back-up, Roger Staubach, breathing down his neck and, in 1971, becoming the starting quarterback for the Cowboys and leading them to two Super Bowl titles. During the late 1960s the Oakland Raiders had Daryle Lamonica and George Blanda at quarterback but that didn’t stop the team from drafting a very brash and wild quarterback from Alabama named Kenny Stabler. Stabler waited in obscurity for several seasons until 1973 when Coach John Madden, in an attempt at revitalizing an inconsistent Raider offense, allowed Stabler to start a game to see what Stabler was made of. (John Madden tells the story beautifully in his best-selling book One Knee Equals Two Feet). Stabler got the offense moving and remained the Raider starting quarterback for the rest of the season and eventually led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl title in 1977. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is another prime example. He was able to do what Drew Bledsoe could not do after many years with the Patriots: lead the Patriots to three Super Bowl titles.
Does the drafting of Kevin Kolb mean that Donovan McNabb’s days as an Eagle are numbered? That’s for McNabb and Andy Reid to decide. First, McNabb has to show that he has fully recovered from his serious leg injuries. What happens if his recovery is still not complete? Then Andy Reid needs to use his back-ups (A.J. Feeley and Kevin Kolb) until McNabb can show that he is ready. Second, McNabb still must prove that he can lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory—which he hasn’t done yet. The NFL is filled with good quarterbacks but there are only a tiny few who have led their teams to Super Bowl titles. Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl nor did Jim Kelly. John Elway had to wait a very long time before he won his two Super Bowl titles.
The jury is still out on Donovan McNabb. What happens if Andy Reid decides that McNabb doesn’t have the stuff to be a Joe Montana or a Tom Brady or even a Peyton Manning for that matter? Then Reid must find someone who has the same stuff the above-mentioned quarterbacks possess. It could be A.J. Feeley or it could be Kevin Kolb or it could be someone else? Only time will tell.
How Donovan McNabb deals with this will speak volumes about him as an athlete, team leader, and as a person. The answer lies with him and what he does on the playing field.
It’s going to be a very interesting season.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Song: "My Son"...and the story behind the song
The song you're about to read was written seven years ago. I wrote it as a response to Natalie Merchant's magnificent song Wonder (which is her anthem on the joys of raising a daughter). My playful reasoning was that it wasn't fair that young girls alone should have an anthem like Wonder. Why can't young boys have their anthem too? Out of that playful rationale came My Son.
For those of you who don't know me. I don't have a son; in fact, no children at all (sadly, regrettably, I certainly didn't want it that way). Considering the misfortunes of my life thus far I've given up the idea of ever fathering a child. Still, I have had fleeting moments when I felt the vicarious thrill of parental joy and emotional involvement but those moments were few and far between.
I've always wanted to share this song with people but have never found the right moment or situation to do it until now.
My cousin Mark-Erik and his wife Sue gave birth to a lovely baby boy (Dante) last week. I would like to dedicate the song to him...and his parents...and to all sons everywhere. This song s for you!
My Son
Some sons are born to build bridges
And some are meant to rule kingdoms
Some sons are raised to invade countries
And some are meant to lose their freedoms
But my son will follow his vision and his wisdom
And he will be what he wants
But not what someone else wants him to be
He'll find his niche and store up riches
He'll find his wish and savor them like kisses
Some sons are raised to be broken
And some are meant to be God's chosen
Some sons are taught to commit slaughter
And some are meant to raise daughters
But my son will follow his vision and his wisdom
And he will be what he wants
But not what someone else wants him to be
He'll find his niche and store up riches
He'll find his wish and savor them like kisses
It's patience that heals
It's promise that leads
It's progress that builds
Its portents that predict
With a little faith my son will go a long way
He'll go all the way!
Some sons are born to be beaten
And some are meant to be forgotten
Some sons are taught to be healers
And some are meant to be Steelers
But my son will follow his vision and his wisdom
And he will be what he wants
But not what someone else wants him to be
He'll find his niche and store up riches
Hell find his wish and savor them like kisses
It's patience that heals
It's promise that leads
It's progress that builds
Its portens that predict
With a little faith my son will go a long way
He'll go all the way!
(c) 01/19/2000 by Matthew DiBiase
For those of you who don't know me. I don't have a son; in fact, no children at all (sadly, regrettably, I certainly didn't want it that way). Considering the misfortunes of my life thus far I've given up the idea of ever fathering a child. Still, I have had fleeting moments when I felt the vicarious thrill of parental joy and emotional involvement but those moments were few and far between.
I've always wanted to share this song with people but have never found the right moment or situation to do it until now.
My cousin Mark-Erik and his wife Sue gave birth to a lovely baby boy (Dante) last week. I would like to dedicate the song to him...and his parents...and to all sons everywhere. This song s for you!
My Son
Some sons are born to build bridges
And some are meant to rule kingdoms
Some sons are raised to invade countries
And some are meant to lose their freedoms
But my son will follow his vision and his wisdom
And he will be what he wants
But not what someone else wants him to be
He'll find his niche and store up riches
He'll find his wish and savor them like kisses
Some sons are raised to be broken
And some are meant to be God's chosen
Some sons are taught to commit slaughter
And some are meant to raise daughters
But my son will follow his vision and his wisdom
And he will be what he wants
But not what someone else wants him to be
He'll find his niche and store up riches
He'll find his wish and savor them like kisses
It's patience that heals
It's promise that leads
It's progress that builds
Its portents that predict
With a little faith my son will go a long way
He'll go all the way!
Some sons are born to be beaten
And some are meant to be forgotten
Some sons are taught to be healers
And some are meant to be Steelers
But my son will follow his vision and his wisdom
And he will be what he wants
But not what someone else wants him to be
He'll find his niche and store up riches
Hell find his wish and savor them like kisses
It's patience that heals
It's promise that leads
It's progress that builds
Its portens that predict
With a little faith my son will go a long way
He'll go all the way!
(c) 01/19/2000 by Matthew DiBiase
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