Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A Hard Day's Night

I remember a weekend afternoon about 3 years ago, my father bringing home a movie he had randomly bought at Barnes & Noble. The movie was A Hard Day's Night. He had seen it before but the rest of us had never heard of it. We all sat down to watch it.
Our lives were never the same again.




A Hard Day's Night, made in 1964, was the first film to star The Beatles. The plot is basically "a day in the life of The Beatles". Following their madcap lives: running from fans, performing on telivision programmes, doing interviews, From the first scene I was hooked. Their cheeky, hilarious and almost random dialogue was right up my alley. I loved their Liverpudlian accents and just plain adorableness. After we watched the film, Beatlemania hit our household 40 years late.





Of course, I had known who The Beatles were. I had even listened to them. We had a tape of their love songs and my mom and I would listen to it. Until we lost the tape, that is. And of course, my father was a fan of theirs. Still, my siblings and I had not been fully converted.
But after A Hard Day's Night, I became like a sponge whose main purpose in life was to soak up as much information about The Beatles as she could. And I did. I still retain most of that knowledge though I am not as obsessive as I once was. I still think they are the greatest band ever.

I love the early Beatles with their clean-cut image....


and I love the later Beatles who were bickering more often than not.


Give me the name of one of their songs and I can sing it for you, tell you which Beatle sang it and spout trivia about the story behind the song or interesting recording details. {Just think, the first time I watched the movie I couldn't even tell them apart!}

And of course, the inevitable question, do I have a favourite Beatle?
Why, yes, I admit, I do have a favourite. Though I love them all, I have a thing for Paul McCartney!


{You cannot deny the cuteness!}

Anyhow, I polled my siblings, asking them what song in A Hard Day's Night was their favourite. 2 out of 3 voted for the song 'I'm Happy Just to Dance With You'. {The third couldn't make up his mind. *makes a disapproving face*}

So, here's the video clip from the movie where they sing it. {The actual song starts about 35 seconds in.}





{As usual, watch it here if the chopped off side gets on your nerves.}


Since, 'I'm Happy Just Do Dance With You' is not very long, I figured I'd post another song. Which is a bit problematic since I love all the songs in A Hard Day's Night. I finally decided, when in doubt, post the title track! ;)
So, here it is, the song 'A Hard Day's Night'! {The video is the opening credits and most of the first scene, so you can watch some of it if you so desire.}






6 comments:

  1. Yeah, the Beatles are awesome, though my favorite Beatle is John. Paul had the looks; John had the brains (to simplify it).

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  2. In a nutshell, yes that is true. But, of course, Paul's looks aren't the reason I like him best. John had a scathing wit to be sure. But he could be cruel at times. I like Paul's personality much better. {even if he does err on the bossy-side.} =D

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  3. Man, I feel so strange...

    This is the same EXACT story of my intro to the Beatles.

    When I was was about to turn 16, in 2006, I was compelled to buy the Abbey Road album. I heard of 'The Beatles', but never consciously listened to them. What compelled me isn't significant, so I won't get into boring details. But upon listening to Abbey Road (I was fairly new to rock music, mind you. I only started in 2004, and only listened to rap before), I felt like I already heard these songs for all my life, and like I knew who these people were. I was amazed, but my life didn't change. I played that album daily nonetheless. After some time, I still couldn't put my finger on what was my first Beatle tune was (this was after listening to all their music, though). I thought really hard about my past, and I remembered that I was a huge fan of The Wonder Years growing up as a little kid. I think it's safe to assume that "With a Little Help From My Friends" was my first Beatles song, but I was too young to know it was the Beatles, of course. What's funny, when I experienced Pepper, that song gave me that 'I feel like I've listened to this all my life' effect, but I couldn't figure out how or why.

    Anyways, sometime around 2009, I noticed I never listened to anymore of the Beatles pre-Abbey Road. Since I was fairly new to rock, I got back-logged by a mass of other contemporary and past artists that interested me. To be honest, I was experiencing as much as I could, and rediscovering history in the process. I had no idea why I didn't spend time in the 60's though. Since the remasters came out, I decided to start working on the Beatles' catalog (2009). I bought all the albums, movies, and documentaries, that went along through their initial career (I picked up the Anthologies shortly after, but that's another story), so that I can experience everything chronologically. I started with their first two albums. I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't wow'd. I'm not sure why, though. After that, I put them off for a month. In that time off, I started digging deeper in the past, and got into ragtime music. I noticed that ragtime was very similar to blues and rock. This reminded me of the Beatles, and I restarted my Beatles adventure. I watched A Hard Day's Night first instead of listening to it, because I wanted my impressions of the song to go along the movie, instead of listening and wondering how it matched. Boy, my life changed! Every time I tell the story, I say that I was in Beatlemania. Everything clicked! I couldn't explain it. After watching it, I went back to the first two albums, and I absolutely loved it. I think you need to go through Beatlemania, and not just 'listen' to the music, to get the full effect. It was more than just music. Well, after experiencing A Hard Day's Night, my life was never the same. I'm not saying I became obsessive, but I realized how MASSIVELY vital they were to music, and respected them.

    My initial favourite off A Hard Day's Night was If I Fell. I really love what was going on harmonically. But I'm Happy Just to Dance With You is also a high favourite of mine, maybe second, however, I love all the songs just about equally (haha).

    I don't really have a 'favourite' Beatle, but I like to pay more attention to Ringo. I dunno, I just feel he'll be my best friend (haha). Paul, John, and George don't fall behind at all, though. In fact, I liked George for the longest time because he reminds me a lot of myself.

    Sorry for making you read all of this (haha). I just had the strangest feeling, and felt like sharing.

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  4. Don't apologize, thanks for sharing! I love to learn how others came to love the Beatles. Your story was very interesting and I enjoyed reading it.
    I like how you felt you knew the songs already when listening to "Pepper". That's really cool. :)

    'If I Fell' is great! I dig those harmonies. But 'And I Love Her' makes me the most nostalgic when I hear it, for some reason that's the songs that makes me think of first watching "A Hard Day's Night". But I love all the songs pretty equally too, so choosing is hard. :)

    I bet if more people watched A Hard Day's Night there would be a lot more hardcore Beatles' fans!

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  5. Tell me about it. I was so impacted by A Hard Day's Night, that I showed it to my younger sister the next day. I'm pretty sure you know how that story goes haha

    Also, here and I had that same problem when we first watched the movie. We couldn't tell who from who, in the movie, or listening to the album. But, by the time we got to Help! it was not a problem. It's actually a little funny looking back at it. They barely look and sound alike.

    I really dig your blog, by the way. I hope all is blessed with you!

    See you around :)

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  6. It's funny, isn't it? I too wonder how I ever mixed up their faces or their voices - they're all so, so different now.

    Thanks so much! I hope all is blessed with you too. :)

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