Guest Michael
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The John Lennon Ultimate Mixes is turning out to be like hearing new songs with familiar voices.
I decided to get the bundled version of Ultimate Mixes after hearing Eric Clapton’s original lead guitar work on Cold Turkey. It’s almost like a totally different song in its first take. They are all studio takes, some studios are better than others and some studios are probably mobile setups. To date, no one has been able to pin down the exact date of when John wrote that song, but I think I’ve pegged it as the evening of August 11, 1969 right after he moved in to Tittenhurst Park.
What interests me most is how and why, exactly, it was not a Beatles song. I suspect that it really is, and deliberately mis-credited per agreement among band members.
There are some commentaries that probe various bits of information but never enough to pinpoint the date on a timeline or what drove the decision making process for release as a new band. The Beatles were still mixing down the Abbey Road recordings when Lennon superimposes Cold Turkey. A dedicated assembly of research and artifacts should be able to turn up more certainty on what is going on with that song. You have to discount Lennon as untruthful. In one interview he says it’s about the pain of heroin withdrawal. In another interview, John says he was recalling the extreme illness caused by eating a leftover turkey dinner. So, which one is it? I don’t see how both accounts could be right.
Take 1 of the Cold Turkey song and many others appearing on Ultimate Mixes in their raw state will have me studying the construction of various Lennon tunes during and after The Beatles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0447WSUg7U0
Maybe we can get Mona to sing the ending of Cold Turkey in solo vocal.
Mike
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Jung, you’re an awesome MLT fan.
Here’s a candy cane for you!
The Beatles did a Christmas Album every year. Looking back, I suppose they were trying to bottle lightning, as the saying goes. I do like research-minded persons and presentations because I’m ever learning. I don’t know all there is to know about the candles and the wreath. In a manner of speaking I couldn’t fully comprehend the reason for the season. Yet The Little Drummer Boy video is precisely why I’ll always be a MLT fan myself. For reasons like this, MLT is a remarkable group and in the best sorts of ways like The Beatles were. The MLT is/are a positive force in our world.
We all want love to win.
I’m forever dazzled by something as simple as an Advent wreath. I ask myself why that is, but to actually own and operate (for lack of better description) is noticeably uplifting. You are participating by doing, and the order matters, and that has an effect. In my mind, the candles are like a winding staircase in two opposite directions because you lit the 1st Week, so by the 3rd Week you can’t help but notice unevenness in candle heights.
It’s neat how the wreath melts away, but the song remains the same.
Another observation I keep coming back to is there’s a great deal of meaning assigned to every facet of an Advent wreath — regardless of what part of the world a given tradition coalesces around. Each tradition has an operational variation to it that’s not intended to disunify, but the exact opposite. Recognition of a tradition gives Advent wreaths a unifying power when everything on an Advent wreath serves an understood purpose. It seems once you learn it in one of the few traditions out there, that pattern sort of stays with you. That’s a powerful influence. I don’t see how anyone can improve upon the handful of centuries old traditions out there. They’re that good. I love learning about Mona and Lisa’s candle lighting sequence. They don’t forget. Something inside them tells them it’s time to light the candle. I take delight in those differences. We’re all saying the same thing with it but we’re different people at the same time.
To me, it’s sort of like the Jägermeister formula. That’s a bad comparison, but the thought behind it is, who can improve upon it? I don’t see what could better it.
In addition, I try to imagine I’m living in the formation period when Advent wreaths emerged, and my homework assignment is to design a Christmastime accoutrement that communicates the Incarnation… How would anyone even begin to try to do something like that? That’s a mind-bender. Well, these medieval guys are going to try. It’s quite an achievement.
I like it.
I haven’t tested the bees wax candle yet because of the pull of the tradition on me not to light it until Christmas Day. That’s different from very similar traditions. Some research I’ve turned up keep it a technically accurate “Advent Wreath” by lighting the center candle on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day, but Christmas Eve ends at midnight… That’s an interesting question of itself. How does that work? It takes a while to burn the center candle. I’ll record the results here starting in about 10 days. I suspect beforehand that the center candle will need to go to 6″ x 10″ pure bees wax to get the 288 hour (12-day) continuous burn. To accomplish that effect, I anticipate going from a 12″ inner diameter wreath this year to a 15″ wreath next year. I attached a photograph for you to take a look.
Mike
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The real bees wax center white candle arrived and is ready, but it’s more like cream-colored than white. It is scentless, and hasn’t been lighted yet, so that may change. The only candle available close to the dimensions that would permit a 12-day continuous burn rate was a 3” x 9” version. There is a 5” x 10” real bees wax candle that will come close to 12 days continuous burn time of 288 hours but looking at this closely, I don’t think a 12” diameter Advent wreath has enough inner diameter to handle a 6” width center candle. These candles get pricey real fast because it takes 8 pounds of honey to yield 1 pound of bees wax.
