Arrr, matey, September 19 is “International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Now I am not one to jump on a trend, but the holiday gives one a good excuse to watch George Harrison talk like a pirate. And to get a free doughnut at Krispy Kreme stores, which are giving a free doughnut to anyone talking like a pirate on September 19, 2012.
I wish George Harrison were still around to get himself one of those doughnuts. As the former Beatle shows in this 1975 Rutland Weekend Television sketch with Eric Idle, the man knows how to talk pirate.
My favorite part is how Harrison works the famous Monty Python “The Pirate Song” into “My Sweet Lord,” starting at around the 30-second mark. Check it out.
May all you landlubbers and sea dogs have a safe and happy Talk Like a Pirate day. What are you doing for Talk Like a Pirate Day? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On February 7 in 1964, the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy airport, arriving in the United States for the first time and taking the country by storm. Two days later, on February 9, Paul McCartney (21), Ringo Starr (23), John Lennon (23), and George Harrison (20) appeared on The Ed Sullivan Showin front of screaming fans.
The four continued on a short American tour before returning to England on February 22. In the next few months, they had several hits in the U.S. and released their film, A Hard Days Night (1964). And then they returned to the U.S. in August to play sold-out arenas.
On their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, during the first half of the show, the Beatles performed “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You,” and “She Loves You.” They returned later in the program to sing “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”
Before the last two songs, Sullivan announced that Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker had sent the group a congratulations telegram.
The video below features the Beatles performing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” at this appearance. So, remember when rock was young while watching The Beatles play during their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show around a half century ago.
What do you think of the performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.
I recently watched the new two-part Martin Scorsese documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World. Overall, the documentary is interesting and informative, but often it seemed like the film was giving us hints about the man more than a story. But we can never fully understand a person, so really all we have are hints.
The film used a lot of George Harrison’s music. Scorsese seems to have a real fondness for “All Things Must Pass,” which is an excellent title song from what is generally considered Harrison’s best post-Beatles work. But for the last part of Harrison’s career, the film gave us a short glimpse of his Traveling Wilbury’s work while completely overlooking his last solo hit, “Got My Mind Set on You.”
“Got My Mind Set on You,” which appeared on Harrison’s album Cloud Nine (1988) after its release as a single, was Harrison’s last number one single in the U.S. The song, however, was not a Harrison original. It was written by Rudy Clark and was recorded by James Ray twenty-five years earlier in 1962. I love Ray’s version too.
Maybe Living in the Material World did not use “Got My Mind Set on You” because there was a rights issue. Or maybe Scorsese saw the song as one of Harrison’s lesser works and sees it the same way “Weird Al” Yankovic does.
Still, I recall in 1987-1988 that the song was a huge hit constantly playing on the radio. Along with the CD and the Beatle-esque “When We Was Fab,” the radio-friendly song was a nice return from Harrison, who had not released an album for more than a decade. The album also led to Harrison recruiting a few friends to record a B-side to one of the songs on Cloud Nine, “This is Love.” And those friends — Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison — ended up forming The Traveling Wilburys. While Harrison’s recording of “Got My Mind Set On You” may not be Harrison’s best recording, that is no insult considering the quality of his catalog. And it is an excellent catchy pop song.
{Note: Harrison made another video for “Got My Mind Set on You” too, intercutting his performance with scenes from a fair arcade.}
This post continues the Chimesfreedom discussion of Best Gospel Songs by Pop Singers. In this series, we consider some great recording of gospel songs that were made by popular singers. This post includes songs recorded by Patty Griffin, Aretha Franklin, and George Harrison.
House of Gold, Patty Griffin (& Hank Williams)
I finally got around to buying Patty Griffin’s CD of gospel music, Downtown Church. She has one of the best singing voices, and it shows on my favorite song off this CD.
“House of Gold” was originally written and performed by Hank Williams. The song works here because her voice echos above the restrained instrumentation. And the song has some of the best gospel lyrics ever:
I’d rather be in a deep, dark grave And know that my poor soul was saved Than to live in this world in a house of gold And deny my God and doom my soul
Blessed Assurance, Aretha Franklin
Like Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin has many great Gospel recordings, including the album, Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings. She has recorded some excellent versions of “Amazing Grace,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” and “How I Got Over,” but here is a beautifully restrained version of “Blessed Assurance.”
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My Sweet Lord, George Harrison
“My Sweet Lord” may not technically qualify as a gospel song (and some Christians have objected to the “Hare Krishna” chants). But it is a beautiful song about one’s relationship with God, so it qualifies for me.
George Harrison originally wrote the song for Billy Preston but ended up having a big hit with it on his own as part of his first post-Beatles album, All Things Must Pass. Unfortunately, he lost a lawsuit for subconsciously copying the Chiffons’ hit, “He’s So Fine.” Under today’s laws that are more lenient toward sampling, etc., though, he likely would have won.
Arrr, matey, September 19 is “International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Now I am not one to jump on a trend, but the holiday gives one a good excuse to watch George Harrison talk like a pirate. And to get a free doughnut at Krispy Kreme stores, which are giving a free doughnut to anyone talking like a pirate on September 19, 2012.
. She has one of the best singing voices, and it shows on my favorite song off this CD.
. She has recorded some excellent versions of “Amazing Grace,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” and “How I Got Over,” but here is a beautifully restrained version of “Blessed Assurance.”
. Unfortunately, he lost a