Music Blog

Feb Fab Faux Four #22

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

WARNING: THIS BLOG WAS NOT CREATED FOR BEATLEMANIACS!
If you’re on the fence about the Beatles or if you just don’t like them,
this blog is for you. My goal is not to convert you; it’s to expose you
to the lesser-known Beatles songs we don’t hear day in and day out.
These great tunes will show you just how amazing the Beatles are.
Of course, if you are a Beatles fan, pull up a chair and enjoy the tunes!

© Misky

Welcome back to F4!

Today I’m featuring a fun song from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a work regarded by musicologists as an early concept album. At the end of August 1966, the Beatles had permanently retired from touring and pursued individual interests. While on a return flight to London in November 1966, Paul came up with an idea that formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept: creating songs for an Edwardian military rock band.

Meanwhile……

John was out one day and he stopped at an antique store where he saw a framed poster on display advertising a circus. As he read the poster, an idea started forming. He bought the poster and hung it in his music room at home. Everything came together, incorporating many of the words from the poster almost exactly as they were written (except Henry the Horse was actually named Zanthus) and the result was a fantastical number unlike anything the Beatles had done before.

Here is “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!” by the Beatles.

🪲

And here is Cheap Trick with their rendition of “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!”.

There was always a method to the Beatles madness. Love it or hate it, this song beautifully displays the brilliant imagination, unparalleled musicality and creative genius of the Beatles. This song helped keep Sgt. Pepper from becoming an overwhelming Paul McCartney project …. and thank goodness for that!

So, what about the Cheap Trick version. It’s very good, the best cover I could find, and why wouldn’t it be good? It sounds like Cheap Trick bought the sheet music for “Mr. Kite”, rehearsed it and did their level best to sound as close to the Beatles as possible. It’s a replica of the original and shows little imagination of its own but it’s done well …. I’ll give Cheap Trick that much.

This one goes to the Beatles, without question. Join me tomorrow for an interesting selection.

See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2024

PS – If any video won’t play for you, I’ve provided the name of the song and who did it so you can find it on YouTube. It’s a pain in the ass but it does happen from time to time. My apologies.

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NAR © 2017-present.

28 thoughts on “Feb Fab Faux Four #22”

  3. Very cool post, Nancy, with the poster the song was based on. Not sure if you’ve seen the movie with the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton in it? Lots of people do not like the movie, but I love it! Here’s the version from the movie.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. There were pix of John gazing at the poster which looked like a photoshop job to me so I opted not to go with any of them.

      I’ve seen this movie and I’m not a fan; it’s a bit too campy for me but I enjoyed listening to the audio. This is such an incredibly brilliant song.

      Thanks for the share!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. I too had to pop over to YouTube to hear their rendition and I really don’t see the point of it! It reminds me of many years ago when Woolworths sold LPs of cover versions which attempted to imitate the originals with varying degrees of success!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Cheap Trick’s version is excellent. Not the original, which is two and a half minutes of utter magic, but still, very good. I love the story of how George Martin took a tape of carousel music and cut it into little tiny bits, then reassembled the pieces in random order to get the effect at the end of the song…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Sorry about that, Clive. That’s the only reason I bother putting the name of the song/group before each video …. so people can find it on YT.

      I really enjoy Cheap Trick’s music but this remake is a straight out copy. You should have heard the other choices!

      Yep, Beatles.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I know, and you say that in your posts. The one I found isn’t an official one, and I can’t find the album on there either, so I hope I was comparing the right one!

        Thank you for sparing us the alternatives 😊

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

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