ok in the begininng there was light....
No, seriously ...
I love listening to the Andrews Sisters. No, wait, let me explain, please!
Andrews SistersThey were a girl group from MN that sang in the 30's, 40's, 50's and probably beyond. They were 3 sisters that could harmonize INCREDIBLY. Like our boys, they were singing together since childhood, even earlier than John, Paul and George! Here is a clip to one of their most famous songs,
"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"
and here is another less famous one that shows off how much they can do with their voices - slurs, scat, etc. ... all in
perfect 3-part harmony (
"Hold Tight" )!
I like to imagine that there is a direct line from these queens of 3-part harmony, through the black girl groups and other groups of the 50's that the Beatles cut their teeth on when they were learning to sing, straight through to John, Paul, and George. I remember reading George or Paul said the first song they learned 3-part harmony to was the Teddy Bear's "To Know Him is to Love Him" *. Then there were the great harmonies of the Cookies, who did Chains ** , the Marvelletes who did "Please Mr. Postman", the Shirelles who did " Baby It's You" *** , and lots of others. The Beatles loved all of them, and recorded them almost unchanged from the original versions. Not a bad cover band, those Beatles!
* "To Know Him is to Love Him" - The Teddy Bears : That was a Phil Spector song, title based on his father's tombstone epitaph (cry) . Funny how the music business seems to work, with him almost 2 decades later producing (or overproducing, depending on your taste) their Let it Be album, and later producing one of John's hits, after brandishing a live pistol in the recording studio ("We do it my way, OK John?"). Here's an early version of "To Know Him is to Love Him" for some 50s TV show. Corny as can be, but I think this may be the
very version that the 3 boys sat around and listened to, studied how to sing, and performed on stage, and ultimately at their Decca Audition! Just about note-for-note! You be the judge ... :
Phil Spector's version (is this actually him as one of the Teddy Bears?):
^^ I have tears in my eyes as I watch this. Some young kids, all dressed up in borrowed studio fancy wear, helping set the course for music for decades to come. They don't even know it ... Back home to chores later that night, oh come on Dad, please can I go out tonight...
"To Know Him is to Love Him" - The Beatles And now the Beatles version:
[Edited] And here's
"To Know Him is to Love Him", Amy Winehouse doing the same tune!
** "Chains", The Cookies:http://oldschoolmusiclover.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/chains-as-performed-by-the-cookies-1963/Man, I swear I can hear Paul harmonizing right in there! Again, the Beatles didn't vary too much at all from the vocals. That makes me think they learned this song really early as well, when they were learning to do harmony ("let's learn it just like this, then we'll know how to do stuff like this, so we have a vocal base to explore from later" ... they probably never said).
Interestingly, Chains was written by Carole King (and her husband Gerry Goffin), who was one of John's and Paul's greatest song-writing idols in the late 50's and early '60s! "We want to be like them" they pretty much said in interviews. It was originally performed by The Cookies, who were the back up group to Carole King's babysitter ... otherwise known as Little Eva (of Little Eva and the Imperials). Carole King wrote her first hit, "Locomotion", inspired by Little Eva's singing and dancing, and had her sing the demo track. When it was presented to Don Kirschner, he decided "demo track-schmemo track", and released it as it was ... Carole King's first #1 hit!
http://www.history-of-rock.com/cookies.htmhttp://www.history-of-rock.com/little_eva.htmThe Cookies later on wound up being Ray Charles backup singers, the Ray-lettes. Old joke - you couldn't be a Ray-lette unless you let Ray
*** "Baby It's You", The Shirelles:http://www.last.fm/music/The+Shirelles/+videos/+1-6gK6cHFYf2U (Embedding disabled, limit reached)
Funny how the instrumental break is pretty much just want George played on the guitar (and George Martin doubling on the piano?, I can't remember), and the fade out is exactly what John did on his version. Those boys knew something good when they heard it!
"Baby It's You", A Group Called SmithAnd finally here's a version of the same song, "Baby It's You", by A Group Called Smith, in the late 60's. Turned out to be the highest charting version! ...
http://www.last.fm/music/Smith/+videos/+1-hCD5GpmFHUg (Embedding disabled, limit reached)
Can I say I think I might like it even better than John's vocals?