Kendrix Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I happened onto this last night. Man was I glad I did. In very early sixties John had a mechanical jukebox he loaded with his favorite 45's. These were most influential to him as he analysed the keys to effective songwriting. Somehow this device was recently uncovered. It still had John's original handwriting of the song names on the jukebox. The show touched on each of the songs he loaded into the contraption. They interviewed the original artists, songwriters and others e.g. Sting ...). Snippets of audio from John were included. Several folks noted how many of their famous tunes were really flexed off of others previous work. It was made clear how John did the same. If you are into songwriting DONT miss a chance to catch this. It was the best thing Ive seen on TV for quite a while. Inspiring and really informative. Check out some tunes here: http://www.garageband.com/artist/KenFava Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Wow! I hope they repeat it! BTW...congrats on your upcoming "Post Milestone"!!! "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOOKUMDANO Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Yeah, I was on the treadmill surfing the channels and hit that. I must've missed the first ten minutes or so. It was just at the part where they were playing the audio tape interview where Lennon was saying that since he couldn't think up music very well...he completely totally always wrote Beatle songs by initially ripping off an existing record....he'd put on a record he liked and then walk around listening to it, screaming out new words while it played until he found words that rhymed and that he liked...that's how he'd write lyrics. It was amazing to hear him say, "well I was no good at figuring out chord changes to use for my song so I'd just use the exact ones on the record and then when we went into the studio, I'd purposely change them around enough so nobody would sue me". Amazing! That was such a clever show structure! Haul the actual jukebox full of 45 rpm vinyl records, along with Lennon's handwritten labels for each record (some misspelled) to all the original artists to get their take on the whole thing...and intersperse all that with Lennon's actual voice talking about those records and how he used them to write Beatle stuff. I kept thinking I should turn on the dvd recorder. I'll have to check out when this is showing on KCET again. The section about "I Feel Fine" was cool. The guy here in the US who invented the riff in the early 60's and used it on the soul records ..talking about how he invented the riff, ...how closely it was then used on Ray Charles stuff...and then how closely it is used on I Feel Fine, and how flattered he was...while he's standing there next to John's jukebox with the original record in it where the guy first recorded that guitar riff. Cool stuff. And the Cropper interviews were cool. The John Sebastion/Lovin Spoonful segment was interesting. Sebastion's sitting there looking at John's jukebox and John's handwriting where John mis-spelled "Spoonful" on the jukebox label. Then Sebastion talks about how HE ripped off "Do You Believe In Magic" from "Heat Wave" because Heat Wave had been such a big hit. While Sebastion is talking, the show switches between videos of the two songs. Sebastion sits there next to John's jukebox with a guitar and plays between both songs and explains how he played the Heat Wave changes in double time to come up with his own song. THEN, Sebastion talks about an audio tape where Lennon is in the studio, trying to play the Spoonful's "Daydream" on his own guitar between takes for something or other, and starts cursing because he can't figure out the chords to part of it. Sebastion has a laugh about that. I also liked the discussion with D. McClinton and whats-his-name who did the early 60's hit "hey Baby". They're talking about the record, the harmonica part, touring with the Beatles before the Beatles were famous...and then the show switches to that record in the jukebox and a taped interview where Lennon's discussion ripping off the "Hey Baby" harmonica part..not very well in his opinion..to use on "Love Me Do". Such cool ways they tied all these jukebox sections together. Good Show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAblablah Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Wow..sorry I missed that! What's the show's name...is it just "John Lennon's Jukebox", or something else? I really want to Tivo the next showing. Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Knight Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Oh man! This sounds like an incredible show. I've got to find out when it's playing again. If anyone has info on this, please let us know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Wing Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Saw it months ago; excellent show as previously described. There are two theories about arguing with a woman. Neither one works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOOKUMDANO Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 It's part of the pbs series "Great Performances" and the episode is called "John Lennon's Jukebox". Also referred to as John's ipod. You can probably get the repeat schedule from local pbs stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveMusic Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Kendrix, I'm so glad you posted this. I woke up at 4am this morning, which I never do. I finally turned on the t.v. maybe 4:20 to 4:30 and this show was on. And I was going to try to figure out what the heck show was this? Because I missed a lot of it and it was so awesome, I thought 'Man, I've got to see this through.' I had no idea it was JOHN LENNON's jukebox. I just knew it was a jukebox and they were interviewing people. Now that I know what it is, that makes it doubly special. It's a canNOT miss show. STAX records, Steve Cropper, Donovan telling how he taught John Lennon the guitar picking technique, Sting, just awesome stuff. What a treasure. EDIT: BTW, when John Sebastian said that John Lennon said "What A Day For A Daydream" chord progression threw him a curveball, I felt so proud! I grabbed my guitar and played it. The diminished chord, I guess that's what threw him. Anyway, I thought "Hey, cool, John Lennon even stumbled." > > > [ Live! ] < < < Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fulc Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 I Tivo'd this last year on 9/11, then made my wife promise she wouldn't delete it. Fascinating stuff. Required viewing for pop songwriters. The Womb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveMusic Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 There were a couple of other revelations for me. First, it struck me how cool a fingerstyle technique is for solo guitarists. Donovan and John Sebastian, both, did it. It made me again want to pursue getting fake nails. They both dang sure had nails for fingerpicking. I play like that often but I have no nails, just flesh. Second, again, I was impressed with PBS. We should all donate to PBS; they have wonderful programs. Without the blasted commercials every six minutes. Third, I have used the same technique to write some of my songs as Lennon. I will listen to a song and hear something I like and I'll start jamming. The end product is nothing like that original but it was a jump start. Lastly, it made me aware again of how awesome the 60s music was. Man, those were the days. Just an incredible time period of music-making. > > > [ Live! ] < < < Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOOKUMDANO Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Yeah, that great pbs stuff sort of slips in there and if you don't catch it, it disappears forever. I accidently caught and recorded a pbs Beatle thing in the 80's called "It Was 20 years ago today". You all might have heard of it but I had never heard of it till the day I taped it and I've STILL never heard of it. But it's really cool. Almost no narration. Just an hour of clips pulled from film interviews and roving cameras following the Beatles in mid 1967. News guys hounding McCartney about drug use and he's telling them, "hey, it's YOU guys spreading the information about what I do so if there's a concern about kids doing drugs cuz I do drugs, then it's YOUR fault for putting the story out". Film footage of the guys making Sgt Pepper, walking around the set of all that "stuff" used for the cover pictures. Just a lot of strange interesting clips. I have no idea what PBS's purpose was for that show. The Stones and others are also in and out of it, paricularly in one very weird section where Jagger is having some sort of strange debate with priests etc about the effects of mid 60's rock & roll on kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAblablah Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Checked TIVO's schedule...nothing. Checked PBS (said no DVD available) and my local station...not scheduled. Checked Amazon... also no DVD. I would pay dearly for a VHS! Anyone...? Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAblablah Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 fulcrum (OT), your avatar really kills me! Reminds me of some crazy moments I captured on tape of my daughter & Japanese exchange student goofing around back in the 90's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOOKUMDANO Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 ......."Checked TIVO's schedule...nothing. Checked PBS (said no DVD available) and my local station...not scheduled. Checked Amazon... also no DVD. I would pay dearly for a VHS! Anyone...? I don't know your area, but typing in zip 32068 for Middleburg Fl on pbs.org shows that the episode is coming up several times in the next week or so on stations like wfsu, wuft etc. Plus a few other stations that come up with that zip code search. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT40sc Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 this program is not yet out on DVD, but you can get a double-CD set with all 40 tracks... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001IW61C/qid%3D1116518491/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-9288957-6744116 I bought it last year when "John Lennon's Jukebox" first aired, and it's been in my car stereo ever since... SC "If the machine produces tranquillity, it's right." ---Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAblablah Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Originally posted by BOOKUMDANO: ......."Checked TIVO's schedule...nothing. Checked PBS (said no DVD available) and my local station...not scheduled. Checked Amazon... also no DVD. I would pay dearly for a VHS! Anyone...? I don't know your area, but typing in zip 32068 for Middleburg Fl on pbs.org shows that the episode is coming up several times in the next week or so on stations like wfsu, wuft etc. Plus a few other stations that come up with that zip code search. Middleburg is between Jacksonville and Gainesville in North Florida (in the sticks). I only get Jacksonville's local PBS station (wjct) on Direct TV. When you check the future programing A-Z for John Lennon's Jukebox, nothing even comes up. But when I checked the weekly schedule for the local station, it showed the last performance as having been at 5:30 this morning...with nothing else coming up in the following weeks. If you look at it's mention on PBS Great Performances http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/ they only show it airing on the 18th...but my TIVO is armed and ready if I can find out otherwise. Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Buckley Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/lennon/ www.ErnestBuckley.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAblablah Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Finally found it! It's coming on at 2:00 AM on Tuesday the 24th...and I've already set TIVO to record it. Thanks Bookum & Ernest Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Wing Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Originally posted by BLAblablah: Middleburg is between Jacksonville and Gainesville...He said "Gainesville". Heh heh!! Go Gators!!!! http://members.aol.com/gatorwing/gator There are two theories about arguing with a woman. Neither one works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAblablah Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Originally posted by Gator Wing: Originally posted by BLAblablah: Middleburg is between Jacksonville and Gainesville...He said "Gainesville". Heh heh!! Go Gators!!!! http://members.aol.com/gatorwing/gator I had wondered about your name...but noticed you lived in PA. Ironically, my Mother was born near Middleburg, PA. But I digress...GO GATORS!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendrix Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 Originally posted by LiveMusic: Kendrix, I'm so glad you posted this. I woke up at 4am this morning, which I never do. I finally turned on the t.v. maybe 4:20 to 4:30 and this show was on. And I was going to try to figure out what the heck show was this? Because I missed a lot of it and it was so awesome, I thought 'Man, I've got to see this through. EDIT: BTW, when John Sebastian said that John Lennon said "What A Day For A Daydream" chord progression threw him a curveball, I felt so proud! I grabbed my guitar and played it. The diminished chord, I guess that's what threw him. Anyway, I thought "Hey, cool, John Lennon even stumbled." Glad to have completed the picture for you. As I recall Johns frustrated comment about the strange chord changes that pop up in the middle of Sebastians'sDaydream it was " F*&king Tunesmiths" I love it. Check out some tunes here: http://www.garageband.com/artist/KenFava Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOWBOY Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 on the subject of sebastion was that an old parlour guitar with the wolf painted on it or a new one? a very cool show seeing those old beatle clips makes me wanna goes out and getthe beatles anthology dvd set. and the dylan is stuck in my head...guess its time to give him a spin again. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/LOWBOY/goth-T.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooper Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Stumbled upon about the last half of this program on PBS about 6 months ago. What a treat! I see on the PBS website that VHS/DVD's are not available. I wonder if they will eventually become available or maybe having so many (over 40) different copyright protected songs in one program poses some special problems? Hooper music at http://www.abjconstruction.net/hoop.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 I'd say everyone either consciously or subconsciously rips off tunes once in awhile. It's really unavoidable...and it's refreshing to hear your heroes admit to it. But, actually, the Beatles did that for years..."We were trying to sound like Smokey Robinson on this one"...etc... On the "Get Back Sessions"...there's a lot of goofing around with old songs from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Lennon jumps into one, and the band follows. The exact tune, with the same chord changes (but different lyrics) became "Crippled Inside" off the "Imagine" album. I'd say most of the "ripoffs" were less obvious. Everyone really does the same thing when they're listening to music. If writers either consciously or subconsciously steal part of a tune, audiences do the same, in reverse, when listening to it...try and compare it with something familiar. Go ahead, play one of your original tunes for someone. They'll listen and say "Oh...very cool, reminds me of that (insert famous name) tune, "(insert famous name song)"... To take this one further, this concept is taught in colleges to education majors. Children learn by comparing the new to the familiar. So, perhaps it's not so surprising that many songwriters write by trying to emulate what they already like. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Wing Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Blablablah, Long story, but I still consider Florida my home state. The Tedster, most unfortunately, is a FSU alumnus. Go Gators!!!! http://members.aol.com/gatorwing/gator There are two theories about arguing with a woman. Neither one works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Originally posted by Gator Wing: Blablablah, Long story, but I still consider Florida my home state. The Tedster, most unfortunately, is a FSU alumnus. Go Gators!!!! http://members.aol.com/gatorwing/gator Yes, Gators, please go. http://tedster.net/fsu.gif Gasucawa, Tedster "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAblablah Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Originally posted by Tedster: Originally posted by Gator Wing: Blablablah, Long story, but I still consider Florida my home state. The Tedster, most unfortunately, is a FSU alumnus. Go Gators!!!! http://members.aol.com/gatorwing/gator Yes, Gators, please go. http://tedster.net/fsu.gif Gasucawa, Tedster Fortunately I'm much more of a music fan than a sports fan...or things might get ugly now! Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAblablah Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 So you CAN buy the DVD...just found it HERE Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Originally posted by BLAblablah: Fortunately I'm much more of a music fan than a sports fan...or things might get ugly now! Barry I will give Gainesville one thing. I'm a Tom Petty fan. But even HE had the good sense to move to L.A. HAHAHAHAHA...heeeheeehawhaw ... I slay myself sometimes... Hey, all kidding aside, thanks for finding that link, Barry! "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAblablah Posted May 20, 2005 Share Posted May 20, 2005 Welcome Ted...and I think Petty just wanted to get as far from Skynyrd as he could By the way, I can't really take credit for finding the link...another forumite at DA7.com found it. Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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