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[nimrod]

On arrival in Los Angeles on August 1st 1967, they (George & Pattie) were driven to a small rented cottage with a pool on Blue Jay Way, a street high in the Hollywood Hills above Sunset Boulevard.  It belonged to Robert Fitzpatrick, a music business lawyer who was on vacation in Hawaii.  Derek Taylor, formerly the Beatles’ press officer and now a publicist working in Los Angeles, was due to visit them on their first night in town.”

Derek Taylor explains the events of that day.  “They’d ring and say; ‘We’re here.’  So I asked them, ‘Where are you?’  ‘In Blue Jay Way,’ he replied.  ‘Where’s that?’ I asked.  ‘I don’t know,’ he replied, ‘somewhere up in the hills.’  So I said to him, ‘Never mind.  I’ll ask a policeman.  There are plenty of them around.’  So I set out to find them, and while he was waiting, with jet lag and Pattie, he sat down at an organ in the hall and started, ‘Please don’t be long…My friends have lost their way…There’s a fog upon LA…They’ll ask a policeman on the beat…There’s so many there to meet.’”

George himself explained in 1968:  “Derek Taylor got held up.  He rang to say he'd be late. I told him on the phone that the house was in Blue Jay Way.  And he said he could find it okay...he could always ask a cop.  So I waited and waited.  I felt really knackered with the flight, but I didn't want to go to sleep until he came.  There was a fog and it got later and later.  To keep myself awake, just as a joke to pass the time while I waited, I wrote a song about waiting for him in Blue Jay Way.  There was a little Hammond organ in the corner of this house which I hadn't noticed until then...so I messed around on it and the song came."

No Indian instrumentation on this Harrison song but the Indian drone throughout is unmistakable.


https://youtu.be/Coz0TmK2ZIg


George Harrison -  Lead and Background Vocals, Organ (Hammond RT-3)
Paul McCartney -  Bass Guitar (1964 Rickenbacker 4001 S), background vocals
Ringo Starr -  Drums (1964 Ludwig Super Classic Black Oyster Pearl), tambourine
John Lennon -  backround vocals
Unknown -  cello

[Moogmodule]

George wanted to convey the boredom of waiting for someone to arrive. He succeeded.

[nimrod]

George wanted to convey the boredom of waiting for someone to arrive. He succeeded.

[Hello Goodbye]

Unknown -  cello

From The Beatles Bible:

The cello part was played by Peter Willison. He was booked at short notice by Sidney Sax, who helped enlist a number of session musicians for Beatles recordings. Willison recorded the part and was paid in cash – the standard date was £27. He later performed on Paul McCartney's solo album Tug Of War.

[Hello Goodbye]

If you listen carefully to the backing vocals, recorded backwards phonetically by John, Paul, and George in hamony, you can hear them sing the word “Paul,” after the line "There's a fog upon LA." After “and my friends have lost their way,” they appear to sing the word “died.” Following "We'll be over soon they said” allegedly sounds like they are singing "Paul is bloody."

    The Beatles: Blue Jay Way Is a Hidden Masterpiece   Tony Sokol




https://youtu.be/dwUMh6Ie4zc


Another clue!   

[zipp]

This song comes in for a lot of unwarranted criticism.

It has great atmosphere, conjuring up uncertainty and anxiety with those eerie backing vocals. Lovely swirling music in empathy with the elements being described. And it adds to the Beatles place names mythology but it's less parochial than usual.

[nimrod]

When George sings "Or I may be asleep"
Is that sleep meaning death 'The long sleep' ? is he referring to joining Paul on the other side, lots of clues around this time 

[nimrod]

Theres a comment under the BJW video I posted.

"How the freak did they go from Please Please Me to this in 4 years?"

Quite

 

[Normandie]

I've never cared for this one; to me it seems a bit funereal and dirgelike. The word "dislike" is a bit too strong, but I do usually skip it.

[Moogmodule]

There’s no doubt some interesting stuff in the arrangement and mood setting. But I do find it one of the least appealing Beatle songs.

After being on the up swing as a writer with a Revolver and Rubber Soul, George seemed to get sidetracked by not only the Indian stuff but also writing his songs on keyboard. BJW, Circles, Only a Northern Song etc were apparently all keyboard-based.  He was no great shakes as a keyboardist so the songs become a bit droney and static, even if there are some interesting melodic or chord ideas in them.

[nimrod]

There’s no doubt some interesting stuff in the arrangement and mood setting. But I do find it one of the least appealing Beatle songs.

After being on the up swing as a writer with a Revolver and Rubber Soul, George seemed to get sidetracked by not only the Indian stuff but also writing his songs on keyboard. BJW, Circles, Only a Northern Song etc were apparently all keyboard-based.  He was no great shakes as a keyboardist so the songs become a bit droney and static, even if there are some interesting melodic or chord ideas in them.

I never play it, melodically its a worse song than Dont Bother Me.
I quite like the psych rock sounds and feel but its a terrible song imo.

George was an anomaly in my book, he wrote some great songs, but he wrote some stinkers, like this, Old Brown Shoe, Northern Song etc

[Hello Goodbye]

...lots of clues around this time 

[Moogmodule]

I never play it, melodically its a worse song than Dont Bother Me.
I quite like the psych rock sounds and feel but its a terrible song imo.

George was an anomaly in my book, he wrote some great songs, but he wrote some stinkers, like this, Old Brown Shoe, Northern Song etc

I think OBS is a light throwaway that would be at least fun to play even if it’s not a brilliant peace of song writing. BJW and OaNS rely too much on their psych trappings.  Even then I like OaNS better than BJW

[nimrod]

I think OBS is a light throwaway that would be at least fun to play even if it’s not a brilliant peace of song writing. BJW and OaNS rely too much on their psych trappings.  Even then I like OaNS better than BJW

The Cello is slurpy and quite good 

[Hello Goodbye]

I never play it, melodically its a worse song than Dont Bother Me.
I quite like the psych rock sounds and feel but its a terrible song imo.

George was an anomaly in my book, he wrote some great songs, but he wrote some stinkers, like this, Old Brown Shoe, Northern Song etc

Hmmm.  I like all of those songs.

And Mr. Moonlight too!   

[nimrod]

Hmmm.  I like all of those songs.

And Mr. Moonlight too!   

I wish I did   

[Moogmodule]

The Cello is slurpy and quite good 

A slurpy cello? Now that’s a musical descriptor I haven’t heard before. 

[Hello Goodbye]

Blue Jay Way - Viola and Piano...


https://youtu.be/OgbE47u6wNA





The Analogues...


https://youtu.be/NJ_TC-IU5d4


 

[nimrod]

As to the actual house on “Blue Jay Way,” George’s song was not the only famous composition written there.  Paul Simon also reportedly wrote “Bridge Over Troubled Water” in the same Hollywood Hills home, he even recording some of the percussion of Simon And Garfunkel’s hit “Cecelia” there as well.

[nimrod]

The Analogues...


https://youtu.be/NJ_TC-IU5d4


 

I enjoyed that Baz, Im beginning to quite like the song 
Who needs the Beatles ? 

Sometimes a tribute band can turn you onto things, I once saw an excellent Eagles tribute band, (really professional) and they stopped me not liking the real Eagles.