Song Of The Week - Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey

[zipp]

... and bid the girl left behind bye-bye in the closing hey-hey-hey verses.

It seems strange to me that they call their girl a 'pal'. Paul's the only one who sings this. Why?

As for it being two songs, well at first it wasn't. This is just Little Richard trying to make some money on the royalties.

[Normandie]

Wasn't this just one of the half dozen covers they knocked off in a day to get Beatles for Sale finished?

Yes, I believe that's right, Moog. Sounds like most of the forum members don't care for the Beatles' version very much, but I've always liked it.

Kansas City was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952 and was first recorded by Little Willie Littlefield that same year...

A quick bit of ocean liner geekiness here: Jerry Lieber was on the Andrea Doria when it was broadsided by the Stockholm.

[Hello Goodbye]

It seems strange to me that they call their girl a 'pal'. Paul's the only one who sings this. Why?

As for it being two songs, well at first it wasn't. This is just Little Richard trying to make some money on the royalties.

I guess they felt like singing the word "pal," zipp.  But that's the blues where lyrics are often extemporaneous.

And sometimes lyrics are borrowed from another song...

Little Richard:

Goin' to, Kansas City
Gonna get my baby one time, hey, hey
Yes, Kansas City
Gonna get my baby one time, hey, hey
It's just a one-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine


Goin' So Far (Traditional):


https://youtu.be/o7awhix4VJw
1:53

Well I'm goin' to Chicago
Get my women in line
I got one-two-three
I got five-six-seven-eight-nine


The only formal music training I ever had was blues guitar with Ian Buchanan. He was taught blues guitar by Reverend Gary Davis and Brownie McGee and in turn taught John Hammond, Jr. and Jorma Kaukonen this style of Delta Blues.  I studied with Ian Buchanan from 1972 to 1974.

[Hello Goodbye]

Wasn't this just one of the half dozen covers they knocked off in a day to get Beatles for Sale finished?

They performed this song so many times in clubs that they were able to knock it off quickly in the studio.  They did two takes on 18 October 1964 with all four singing and playing their instruments.  Take 1 was deemed the better take and George Martin added piano overdubs.  The Beatles overdubbed handclaps to the closing measures.

[Hello Goodbye]

Yes, I believe that's right, Moog. Sounds like most of the forum members don't care for the Beatles' version very much, but I've always liked it.

Me too!

A quick bit of ocean liner geekiness here: Jerry Lieber was on the Andrea Doria when it was broadsided by the Stockholm.

It's fortunate he wasn't a casualty.  Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller had more songwriting to do...


Love Potion No. 9


https://youtu.be/qTjs7a9l0hM
The Clovers   1959



https://youtu.be/7rXhXLsNJL8
The Searchers   1964


icon_good

[zipp]

I guess they felt like singing the word "pal," zipp.  But that's the blues where lyrics are often extemporaneous.

The only formal music training I ever had was blues guitar with Ian Buchanan. He was taught blues guitar by Reverend Gary Davis and Brownie McGee and in turn taught John Hammond, Jr. and Jorma Kaukonen this style of Delta Blues.  I studied with Ian Buchanan from 1972 to 1974.

Thanks for the Ian Buchanan song. Was he Canadian, American or British? I can't find much info about him on the net.

As for the Beatles and Kansas City, as I've already said, they were following Little Richard's second arrangement. They replaced the sax solo with George's guitar solo and followed through with the lead singer and the answering chorus. This was in no way extemporaneous. In fact they had a very tight routine that runs all the way from the Cavern to the McCartney clip from 2014 with very little variation.

Did Paul misunderstand Little Richard's 'chile' ? Did he think 'pal' and 'gal' were more fun or more American-sounding?

For whatever reason Paul and the chorus always sing more or less the following :

Hey Hey Hey Hey

Hey Hey Hey Hey

Hey Baby

Hey Baby

Wooh, now gal / girl

Now gal

I say now pal

Oh pal,

Now now now tell me baby, what's been wrong with you ...

[Hello Goodbye]

Thanks for the Ian Buchanan song. Was he Canadian, American or British? I can't find much info about him on the net.

You won't find much about him on the net.  He was American and lived in Forest Hills (Queens, New York).  I'll let Jorma Kaukonen explain who Ian Buchanan was in his own words...


https://youtu.be/mZOI2he4p5k

Ian played club dates with his band in the NYC area.  He and Jorma Kaukonen were classmates at Antioch College in the early 1960s and it was there that Ian taught him fingerpicking Delta Blues.  Ian appeared on the 1964 Elektra LP called The Blues Project and sang Winding Boy Blues...


https://youtu.be/UNfywuCuUmg

All the artists on that album knew each other and were good friends.  One of Ian's friends was Al Kooper (Blonde On Blonde organist and The Blues Project keyboardist) who one day paid a visit to Ian during one of my lessons.  He sat quietly in the room during my lesson and I didn't know who he was.  I was starstruck when Ian introduced me to him afterward.

Ian and his band, The Pigmeat Blues Band, put out a promotion album in the late 1960s when he went electric...


https://youtu.be/LtbGI_yIdr0

Goin' So Far wasn't written by Ian.  It's an old traditional blues song which just happens to have some lyrics similar to Little Richard's Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey.  Maybe Goin' So Far is where Little Richard copped those lyrics.

[Hello Goodbye]

Hesitation Blues


https://youtu.be/Rw5u6xQQ0Lc
Ian Buchanan   From my lesson tapes



https://youtu.be/syboL0dv5Eg
Hot Tuna  1970


Funny story about Jorma Kaukonen in Hesitation Blues singing the lyrics

If the river was whiskey
Say and I was a duck
You know I'd swim to the bottom
Might never come up.


When I started taking lessons, Ian asked me to play blues songs I knew so he'd know where to start.  I played Canned Heat's Rollin' And Tumblin' which had similar lyrics in it...


https://youtu.be/HIbvtdK02AA

Well if the river was whiskey
I was a divin' duck
Well if the river was whiskey
I was a divin' duck
Well I would swim to the bottom
And then I wouldn't come up

[Hello Goodbye]

I told him I thought it was such a cool line.  Ian said he liked it too and that I could stick it into many of the blues songs he would teach me.  I asked him if he ever heard Cream do Rollin' And Tumblin.'


https://youtu.be/1PLLjfSnTV0

He said yeah and pulled down an old 78 record.  He said that the song was older than you think...


https://youtu.be/OlARZkfGDOE
Roll And Tumble Blues   Hambone Willie Newbern   1929

[Hello Goodbye]

As for the Beatles and Kansas City, as I've already said, they were following Little Richard's second arrangement. They replaced the sax solo with George's guitar solo and followed through with the lead singer and the answering chorus. This was in no way extemporaneous. In fact they had a very tight routine that runs all the way from the Cavern to the McCartney clip from 2014 with very little variation.

Did Paul misunderstand Little Richard's 'chile' ? Did he think 'pal' and 'gal' were more fun or more American-sounding?

For whatever reason Paul and the chorus always sing more or less the following :

Hey Hey Hey Hey

Hey Hey Hey Hey

Hey Baby

Hey Baby

Wooh, now gal / girl

Now gal

I say now pal

Oh pal,

Now now now tell me baby, what's been wrong with you ...

So zipp, I didn't say The Beatles were extemporaneous with their lyrics.  Blues artists often are.  Indeed, The Beatles kept to their recorded lyrics in all their performances we have access to today.

Yep, that's what Paul sings in Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey in all the recordings we have.  I'm not sure why he stuck the word pal in there, he just did. 

I've always wondered if they ever got raunchy with their lyrics in club dates in Germany.  This would have been a good song to do so.  Ian taught me a few verses to Hesitation Blues that I can't post here.   

[Hello Goodbye]

(Non-extemporaneous) Hesitation Blues


https://youtu.be/t1fIv88rBlw
Reverend Gary Davis



(Extemporaneous) Hesitation Blues


https://youtu.be/q_AJifsE2eQ
Reverend Gary Davis



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[Hello Goodbye]

Some more about the "divin' duck..."


https://youtu.be/mJK0MRF3Ghk
Divin' Duck Blues   Sleepy John Estes   26 September 1929


Now if the river was whiskey
And I was a divin' duck
Now if the river was whiskey
I was a divin' duck
I would dive on the bottom
Never would come up


Obviously a very popular thought in blues songs.   

[zipp]

So zipp, I didn't say The Beatles were extemporaneous with their lyrics.  Blues artists often are.  Indeed, The Beatles kept to their recorded lyrics in all their performances we have access to today.

Yep, that's what Paul sings in Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey in all the recordings we have.  I'm not sure why he stuck the word pal in there, he just did. 

I've always wondered if they ever got raunchy with their lyrics in club dates in Germany.  This would have been a good song to do so. 

Well, no, even in Hamburg they kept to their routine.

Actually it took me a long time to see that Paul was singing 'pal' in this song. I always felt this was something of a let-down. But their version of the song is nevertheless great :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGwzOvykUeE#

[Hello Goodbye]

Well, no, even in Hamburg they kept to their routine.

I just figured that there was a chance that these guys raunched up their lyrics a bit in Hamburg...

[Hello Goodbye]

Actually it took me a long time to see that Paul was singing 'pal' in this song. I always felt this was something of a let-down. But their version of the song is nevertheless great :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGwzOvykUeE#

It shouldn't be a let-down.  If you're bidding your baby "bye-bye" and asking "what's been wrong with you", then changing the way you address her from "gal" to "pal" makes a lot of sense if you're using the word pal as a derogatory term.  I think that's what Paul did here.