The Beatles – Across the universe – 8th March 2011 – AW

This is easily one of my most favourite Beatles songs of all time, well it’s more John’s which makes it that much better. Obviously I can’t talk about how I felt when it came out, and what was happening at the time because I obviously wasn’t there, but I can’t write about how good the song is and what I think about it. The song appears on the album ‘Let it be’, which  was the last album The Beatles ever did together, and was probably I believe the worst album and ‘Abbey Road’ really should be considered as their final album. ‘Let it be’ came out it 1970 but was recorded before ‘Abbey Road’, and the band were unhappy with it, so they decided against releasing it, however after ‘Abbey Road’ in 1970 Phil Spector (who’s in jail at the moment, only for shooting someone the bastard) had a look at it, and tinkered with it, then they brought it out.

Before I talk about it, I just want to state that they’re a number of versions out there, personally the best version for me is the  ‘World Wildlife Fund’ version, I don’t really know why, I mean they’re all good versions but this to me just stands out. The lyrics to the song are probably the main factor that makes this song what it is, you just hear it, and it really just hit me,  (nearly said a terrible cliché), don’t know if anyone who has heard it before felt that. John said that the song was one of his favourites that he’d ever wrote, and that he particularly liked the lyrics.

The Legend.

Legend has it that John wrote the song after he kept hearing the words “flowing like a endless stream”, and after he kept hearing those words he got up, wrote the complete song on a bit of paper, then went back to bed and when he woke back up he went back downstairs, picked up the bit of paper and started playing it on to piano. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know because I obviously wasn’t there, If I was I imagine the conversation would of went something like this:-

“Alright John!”

“What the fuck you doing here”

“Watching you”

However, I’d like to believe that it was true, and that this really happened.

The lyrics contain the words “Jai guru deva om”, which I believe means “All glory to Guru Deva”, I might be wrong, I’m trusting some other fuckin’ guy on the internet, who might not have a clue (more than likely).

Overall I love the song, it really is a beautiful piece to listen to if you just wanna chill out, not really a song to listen to if you’re trying to get a load of people ‘Jumpin’. It’s also a great one to play on guitar not to hard, well I found it really easy and I’m not the best in the world. Can’t believe it took me this long for my first Beatles post…..dissapointed.

The Courteeners – That Kiss

This was the first song I heard by The Courteeners, and after I heard it, I just had to hear more of them, they’re were that addictive. It was just Liam Fray’s voice, soft and delicate but at the same time able to turn it into something aggressive.

This song is quite an old one, like one of the first ones they brought, and they didn’t put it on album they just released it as a single, which makes it that bit more special.

When you start listening to it you start to think that this is just going to be a soppy love song, with him moaning (bit like Luke Pritchard) and it is a bit, but a bit more beautiful and with a nice hook line. Then the drums kick in! BANG! Then the chorus comes in, and when you listen to that, that’s when you should understand what I said about his soft voice. The lyrics to the song are is where I think it sort of detaches itself from a cheesy pop song, because if the lyrics contained a few more cliche love song lines, then it could of easily become a cheesy pop song, but it didn’t, so it isn’t. When you look at the lyrics on a bit of paper, they don’t look like something you’d sing, a bit like the Arctic Monkeys, when you read their lyrics, they don’t look like lyrics.

I think The Courteeners as a band are quite underrated and don’t really get enough credit for what they’ve done. The first album is brilliant, once it’s in my car it’s there for a good 2-3 weeks before I take it out, also their second album is good as well, very different to their first album, but still very strong. Anyway listen to the song, comment, sorry it’s a very short post, but I’m tired.