Monday, February 28, 2011

The Beatles "This Boy", 1963



This is an amazing clip of George Harrison watching The Beatles perform "This Boy" 1in 1963.
"This Boy" was the B side to "I Want to Hold Your Hand".
Lennon said he was trying to capture the Smokey Robinson sound at Motown.
The chords are straight out of doo wop ( as were "Yes It Is")
The song is most associated with the one member of the band that did not contribute harmonies to the track: Ringo Starr.
George Martin cut an instrumental version of the tune for Ringo's silly solo scenes in "Hard Day's Night".
Nowhere near one of the great Beatle cuts but this moment is too good to pass up.
Especially as George talks about John's poor eyesight.

2 comments:

  1. You're right - that is an amazing clip. It's kind of touching to watch George viewing his younger, more innocent self. Nice blog by the way, your broad music taste is very similar to mine.

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  2. This may not be one of the greatest Beatles songs, but it includes one of my all-time favorite Lennon vocal turns, specifically the moment he leaps out of the mix and into a place of pure passion and longing to sing: "till he's seen you cry-y-y-y." Rapturous.

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