For the Beatles, Across the Universe was rather an odissey than a song. More than two years passed from the very first recording to the release of the most famous remix. In the meantime, there were six takes, a lot of rehearsals and at least three mixings. All of it with without making its author satisfied.
Paul McCartney’s passion for jazz and swing music is well known. It was a family heritage, his father having been a pianist in a little band back in the 40s. Paul himself had began playing the trumpet.
So it’s no surprise some of his songs recall that style: the famous “When I’m 64” from Sgt. Pepper, “Honey Pie” from the White Album, not to forget “You Gave Me the Answer” from his solo album Venus and Mars.
Of all these, “When I’m 64” was written during Beatles’ very early years. Some remember them playing it in Hamburg, as a quite break of their show.
But there was another Paul’s song the Beatles used to play in those years: it was called “Cat Walk”.
This is always been one of my favourite ones.
“You Really Got a Hold on Me” was originally a hit by american black singer William “Smokey” Robinson, with his band called The Miracles one of the very first Tamla Motown artists.
This song was released as a single in 1962, and immediately entered in Beatles’ repertoire. They were always been great fans, indeed, of Motown and black music in general, as proved by the many covers on their early records and by some of their own songs (like “When I get Home”) written in a similar style.
The legend of Strawberry Fields starts in Spain. John Lennon wrote it in 1966, while he was abroad playing in Richard Lester’s movie “How I Won the War”.
It’s not coincidental that such an important chapter of Beatles’ story was written in those days. The year 1966 is a main one in their career. In few mounths two important things happened: first, they decided to stop playing live, after one of their unluckiest tournée ever; second, they released “Revolver”, an album that showed the Beatles definitely on the way to avant-gard.
Although the success of the latter, it was all but sure that the Beatles would have a future together, the press often suggesting they were about to split.
