MLT Club Member Jürgen
MLT Club MemberForum Replies Created
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Yeah David and Jung, „Love me do“ and „I have should known better“. Two unforgettable songs that only get their special charm from the harmonica. My gateway drug into the colorful, musical world of the Beatles was the Red Album and so “Love me do” and “Please Please me” were some of the first songs that I consciously perceived as Beatles songs.
„The harmonica was formative for the early sound of the Beatles and they made this instrument popular again, because the harmonica had almost fallen into oblivion with the bands of the 1960s. The sound of the harmonica successfully set the Beatles apart from the other bands. Only the Rolling Stones later went one better with their blues-based harp. But who actually played the harmonica in all the hits by the Beatles?
Most of the time, John Lennon plays the harmonica in the Beatles' songs. His uncle George's harmonica was John's first instrument, which he learned to play as a child. John's harmonica playing influenced later British and Irish rock and pop bands such as U2 and Oasis.
George Harrison and Ringo Starr are also said to have played the harmonica from time to time. Unfortunately, that is not so clear. Mal Evans, a Beatles roadie, played the bass harmonica.
The Beatles used different models of harmonica. John Lennon played a chromatic harmonica in the first few songs. With this one, the sound is a bit purer and sweeter. John Lennon used the Larry Adler Professional 16 model. In most of the later songs, a diatonic harmonica is played. It was an "Echo Vamper". This is a Hohner Marine Band 364 specially renamed for England. This harmonica has 12 channels and 4 additional notes compared to the standard diatonic harp.“
(source: HarmonicaRocks)Here are the 13 most famous Beatles songs in which a harmonica plays a role:
- Love me do
- Please Please me
- From me to you
- I should have known better
- Little Child
- I’m aloser
- Fool on the hill
- All together now
- Thank you girl
- I’ll get
- There’s a place
- Chains
- Rocky Racoon
Did I forget any songs? And then there are these two rarely played covers:
„Clarabella“, a song written by the band „Jodimars“
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…but does this also work with jazz music?
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Larry Adler again with a wonderful rendition of Gershwin’s masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue:
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The Harmonica rocks, no question, as this British/French co-production impressively proves…
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Actually, the following song could also be called the Harmonicaman 😃.
What are your favorite pieces with a harmonica, what special memories do you associate with this instrument?
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Hi Daryl,
looks impressive. What is your favorite race track? Have you ever raced on tracks outside of Canada and the US?
It’s amazing how the technology in this area has developed. There is a nice 5 part series on the evolution of motorcycle racing (the first part is shown below). My father and his older brother owned a NSU, respectively Zündapp.
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Fine Jackie, what are your all time favorite titles?
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Thanks again Dave,
this is one musical pearl after the other that you conjure out of the hat. How do you know the many songs? Do you play harmonica yourself?
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Hi Jung,
I also had such a funny colorful banana harmonica. Mine was squeaky green, well. But that didn’t make me play any better. I think it’s interesting how the harmonica has established itself as an instrument in rock and blues music. Originally it was used in folk music in our country. I think you can play just about anything on the harmonica if you have enough imagination and musical talent, like the Harmonicats that you presented or like these Austrian musicians (no, no not our favorite twins 😃 )
Sorry Jung, translation error. Your parents played the album a lot, not the harmonica. I got that wrong now. sorry for that.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Jürgen Bereit.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by
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Wow David, I had no idea that Judith Durham not only had a great voice but was such a gifted pianist. Thanks.
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The Corky Siegels Chamber Blues is awesome. I like the idea of combining these instruments in this way.
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Thanks Dave,
I’ve never heard „Night Owl Blues” before. The album title „Do you believe in magic“ says it all. Great piece.
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Mhm, are you talking about me or the Pink Floyd song? 🤔 The song rocks, great intro. 😀 Thanks, any other recommendations?
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Thank you for your brief recession of „Atomic Heart Mother“, JP. Definitely more advertising than the cow 😃. You got me interested again by mentioning „Meddle“. I’ve researched it by myself now. The A-side is supposed to contain more melodic songs and the B-side more experimental, like e.g. „Echoes“. I enjoyed this song. What do you like about the album?
I didn’t really know much about Pink Floyd for many years. I guess I just heard the wrong songs for a long time. „The Wall“, certainly a masterpiece, was hugely hyped in the 80’s. The song of the same name was played so often in the radio stations that I didn’t want to hear this for a long time (and to rip the song simply out of the album as a single didn’t make any sense). The other albums fell into oblivion. I think Pink Floyd produced a kind of music that you can’t even listen to on the fly, but for which you have to take some time.
I find it interesting how music evolved through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. The songs in the early 60s were wonderful appetizers. Small sweet cookies. A nice melody, a great guitar solo and interesting voices. In the 70s the music got bombastic. Playful, experimental and overflowing. Almost like a big juicy pie plate with no precise beginning and sometimes no discernible end. The music of the 80s then followed the pattern of the 60s: shorter songs, catchy rhythm and vocals, but lots of synth music and drum computer sounds. Colorful space cookies. At least in the mainstream area. Ouroboros bites his own tail again.
PS: Pink Floyd is actually worth its own topic. How about? I’m in.
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Hi JP,
how do you like the music of the album “Atom Hearts Mother“ compared with the other Pink Floyd albums? Is the LP recommended? I don’t know exactly how many times I held this LP in my hands as a teenager and wondered what the music might sound like. A question that remains unanswered for me to this day.
The British graphics agency Hipgnosis, who are responsible for the design of this cover, called this a non-cover: „it’s not a cover, it doesn’t exist as a cover because it doesn’t represent the band, it doesn’t show any record titles or band names, nor has anything to do with the music. It’s just an idea. And when you walked into those huge record stores back then, of course, a picture of a cow across from all the covers with band photos on them caught your eye.“
This non-cover also caught my attention. But I still didn’t buy it. The chains of associations went in the wrong direction for me: the cow always reminded me of my vacations on the farm, which I loved as a child. Cows, farm and Bavarian brass music. No, not a selling point. 😀
