lost weekend Archives - Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

“Nobody Loves You When You’re Down and Out” acoustic demo

By Michael Gerber|2019-05-10T11:20:06-07:00May 10, 2019|1974|

With a few exceptions, demos are genial curiosities, adding context but little else to the standard version. You don't hear the song any different after. This one is an exception. Like a lot of folks, I've always found this song from Walls and Bridges particularly haunting, given where John Lennon was in his life (and vis a vis the music business); but this version really got me—the break at 3:36 is just amazing. Go listen. (h/t to Stephen Kroninger) (Stray thought: it might be fun to compile a list of truly essential demos, ones like “I'm Looking Through You." Put 'em in [...]

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The Beatles cocktail?

By Michael Gerber|2022-04-08T10:10:10-07:00December 31, 2014|Beatle-inspired|

When you're a Beatle, every day is New Year's Eve. It's New Year's Eve, that most unabashedly alcoholic of holidays, and so my mind turned to an obvious question: if you were making a drink called "The Beatle," what would it be? Drinkify.org (.org? is it educational?) offers this opinion: "6 oz. of Mezcal, garnish with an olive." Mezcal? Why mezcal? That has as much to do with John, Paul, George and Ringo as rice wine with baby mice. What springs to my mind immediately -- as it does yours, too -- is Scotch and Coke. Was it in "Cellarful [...]

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Whatever Gets You thru the Night…

By Michael Gerber|2014-12-07T23:00:07-08:00December 7, 2014|1974, John Lennon|

Recently we've been discussing the gargantuan "Time Lapse Photography" comment thread, which discusses Beatle sexuality, and specifically the erotic tension between John and Paul. It's clear that some existed; whether or not it was acted upon is a matter of endless fan speculation (hello Johnheartpaul! Thanks for the traffic!) but ultimately between those two men alone. This morning, while listening to Chris Carter's wonderful radio show "Breakfast With the Beatles," I had an interesting thought: perhaps the 1974 hit "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" is Lennon talking to himself about his (possible) bisexuality? Now obviously: this is total speculation, and shouldn't [...]

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Harry Nilsson: The Shadow Beatle

By Michael Gerber|2013-08-06T18:05:38-07:00August 5, 2013|Beatle-inspired, biography|

Harry Nilsson in the studio, right around the time John and Paul made him famous. Can I just assume that everybody reading this knows Harry Nilsson? If not, scroll down to the bottom of this post, and listen—I'll wait until you get back. (You can also go to the great Nilsson site "For The Love of Harry," but it's recently changed to invite-only.) Harry was one of the biggest Beatles fans around, and one of the few who could compose and sing almost as well as the Fabs themselves. He's also a really interesting window into our favorite foursome. “Harry [...]

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