On A Day in the Life and Bo Rhap, Part II

And, Part II of the Beatles discussion. Again, my friend's comments are italicized and my responses follow.

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What I find interesting - and Bo Rhap does this as well... is that song itself - the music, the melody, the feel - is so calm and soothing (at the beginning of Bo Rhap, lol... I'm not talking about the choral parts or the rock part)... and the lyrics don't seem to fit. They're taling about death and violence in a rather serene way... it's interesting...

In fact, they [the lyrics] were so extreme when they first came out that people were freaking out about them. They kept looking for a hidden message. In fact, that might have been the time when the Paul is dead theory started.

Yes, I read about this... this was a little before my time, lol... but I've read a few books about the Beatles and the surrounding conspiracies. I love a good conspiracy, especially when it comes to music, subliminal messages, and going against the grain... there is a little of that in A Day in the Life... in the middle of the song, it goes through a mechanical sounding chaotic stage...

... here's a bit of music trivia... did you know that it was actually a German musician who influenced this music? Stockhausen was one of the first people to popularize the electronic sounding music... he influenced the Beatles as well as artists like Pink Floyd and Bjork... great music for the conspiracy theororist, lol. :)

And regarding the later blur and confusion of the music, that was so in tune with the times back then. The whole period was confusing. Whenever I hear that song, I get the eiriest feeling.

Yeah... the transition in the style of the Beatles music is interesting to watch... they began so innocently... all the songs were upbeat, pop-ish, and about love... but there's an obvious turn somewhere in the timeline... you can tell that they started smoking stuff, were influenced by eastern thought, and really wanted to break away from their original sound.

But yes... some of their sounds are too much for even me, as an avid Beatles fan, to take in... it's too creepy. I feel like there are evil spirits coming out of my CD player.

On A Day in the Life and Bo Rhap, Part I

It's official: Constantine's favourite Beatles song is A Day in the Life. Interestingly, it's similar in many respects to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which has become his trademark song. Some friends and I were analyzing this phenomena, and I've decided to save my thoughts here because (1) posts have a way of disappearing on message boards, (2) these posts took some time to write, and (3) I love anything having to do with both the Beatles and Constantine... so put the two together, and the conversation will never go dry. :)

The italicized parts are questions/comments from a friend... my response follows.

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Yes, A Day in the Life is a great song... I was thinking about it, and there are actually some parallels between this song and Bo Rhap, with regards to the transitions and general flow...

Both begin rather mellow and calm, although the words are intense ("he blew his mind out in a car"... sounds strangely like "put a gun against his head... pulled the trigger, now he's dead").

It's also a little "schizophrenic", in a way (I hate to use that word, but it best describes the phenomena here)... there's the mellow beginning, then the blur and confusion of the music... the later works of by the Beatles are notorious for having strange sound mixtures that don't really make sense...

Here's another interesting comparison... both songs have a transition/bridge, and then break into the drumming piano parts (think: the piano part just before "I see a little silhouette of a man").

Regarding the general flow and path of the song... it seems that Con likes the songs that are a little "out there" in the sense that there's so much to them... many different types of music, all rolled into one. Bo Rhap is out of control here... it starts off sounding pretty tame, then moves to a choir-ish part, then rock... then back to the mellow ballad-sounding music. It's great... A Day in the Life is similar... starts of pretty controlled, with the occasional peak, then goes into an instrumental/mechanical chaos... breaks into a simple piano part and turns to pop
music, and then is back to the original sound... :)

Also, what other Beatle songs do you think he might do great justice to if he sang them?

Hmm... good question... a favorite of mine is I've Just Seen a Face... I'd love to hear him do that... it's an upbeat song, and the guitar parts are great - I think it's a guitar duo... whatever it is, I love it. I could see him handling this song like he did with ITILY (I Think I Love You by David Cassidy). Across the Universe is another favorite... so of course I'd love to see him cover that...

I love Day in the Life. The final chord is one of the legends in rock.

Absolutely... it's so forceful... and final... :)

Oh, and following his liking of violence references in songs (j/k, kind of!), maybe he should sing Happiness is a Warm Gun? :)