add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Dance Dance Revolution-Dance revolution pads fitnessandkids.com | Dr. Rodger Song - Rodger Song, D.D.S. - Flower Mound, TX 75028 - Dr. drsongfm.com |
For other songs by this name, see Revolution (music).
"Revolution" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and attributed to Lennon/McCartney. The song appeared in two distinctly different incarnations, a raucous electric "Revolution", and a slowed "Revolution 1". A third connected piece written by Lennon, the heavily experimental "Revolution 9", appeared on the same album side as "Revolution 1" on The Beatles, also known as the White Album. Both were on the second side of the second disc. A third unconfirmed version, "Revolution 1, Take 20" has surfaced on the internet.[1]
[edit] Versions[edit] RevolutionThe first version of "Revolution" to be released (though the last to be recorded) was the B-side of the "Hey Jude" single, released in late August 1968. The single, as a stand-alone, reached #12 in the U.S. A product of the recording sessions for The Beatles (aka The White Album), "Revolution" featured distorted guitars and an electric piano solo by session musician Nicky Hopkins. The single version of Revolution has a very distorted guitar sound to it which was achieved by putting the guitars through the recording console which causes the channel to overload and create a fuzz sound.[2] This track is said to be one of the loudest and most aggressive Beatles songs; it begins abruptly with a loud, overdriven electric guitar played by John Lennon, a thundering, compressed drum beat from Ringo Starr and a ferocious scream from Lennon (the scream was an overdub added when Lennon double tracked his vocal. Paul McCartney performed the scream on the semi-live performance for the promotional film because Lennon could not deliver the scream and catch his breath again in time to launch into the first verse). The musical form is a simple rock and roll chord progression, but the highly processed elements and hyperbolic approach distinguished the track from nearly anything that had come before; the sound of "Revolution" is often cited as presaging heavy metal. "Revolution" later appeared on the 1970 Hey Jude compilation album created for the U.S. market and other compilations. The Beatles performed the song semi-live (with live vocals performed over a pre-recorded instrumental track) in a specially produced promotional film shot by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg at the same time as the Hey Jude promotional film. The film received its world premiere in Britain on David Frost's ITV television programme, 4 September 1968. As the Beatles were singing the vocals live on the film, they elected to incorporate part of the vocal arrangement from the slower Revolution 1 version of the track. McCartney and George Harrison added the "shoo-bee-doo-wah" backing vocals unique to that version behind Lennon's lead vocal - thus making the vocals on the film performance a hybrid of the two versions of the song. [edit] Revolution 1"Revolution 1" was recorded between 30 May and 4 June 1968, about 6 weeks before "Revolution", but released nearly three months later than the single. Lennon wanted the initial version to be released as a single but the other band members said it was too slow for a single.[3] Lennon, slightly irritated, resolved to remake the song in a version as loud and raucous as anything the Beatles had released, and he led the band through the faster recording which ended up backing "Hey Jude". Searching for a highly distorted and 'dirty'-sounding guitar sound, they plugged the guitars directly into the recording console, overloading the channel, and the resulting highly distorted tone satisfied Lennon and became the distinctive sound of the released version.[4] The original version, re-titled "Revolution 1" to distinguish it from the single version, was released on The Beatles in late November 1968. "Revolution 1" contains a notable lyrical difference from the final "Revolution": Lennon's vocal for the track adds the word "in" following the line "When you talk about destruction/don't you know that you can count me out". Lennon said in interviews that he was undecided in his sentiments toward the song's theme so he included both options.[5] [edit] Revolution 9Main article: Revolution 9 "Revolution 9" is a sound collage piece which appeared along with "Revolution 1" on The White Album. It shared no music or lyrics with the released versions of "Revolution" or "Revolution 1." The collage began as a coda for "Revolution 1" but ended up as a separate track. Some elements of the original coda are clearly audible in "Revolution 9", such as Lennon's drawn-out "all right" and repeated screams of "right". [edit] Revolution 1, Take 20The bootlegged "Revolution 1, Take 20" acts as the missing link between "Revolution 1" and "Revolution 9." Low-quality monitor mixes of the full-length Take 20 had appeared on such bootlegs as From Kinfauns to Chaos, featuring studio chatter from Yoko talking about a number of subjects. Then in February 2009, a high-fidelity mono version surfaced on the bootleg Revolution: Take... Your Knickers Off! This release received great media fanfare, and this version is considered significant by many Beatles fans. Take 20 is the same take that appeared on the album, but the bootlegged "Revolution 1, Take 20" runs a full 10:46, featuring an extended coda (of which only about 40 seconds appeared on the album version) much in the style of "Hey Jude." This version, RM1 (Remix in Mono #1) of Take 20, is one of Lennon's many attempts to augment his long version of "Revolution" in a way that satisfied him before he finally decided to create the short "Revolution 1" and the musique concrete "Revolution 9" instead. It lacks the electric guitar and horn overdubs of the album version, instead featuring twin tape loops and some different electric guitar parts toward the end. The coda features a histrionic and frequently tape-distorted vocal from Lennon, many snatches of which appear in "Revolution 9," along with occasional snips of the tape loops. And after the band stops playing, the ghostly radio sounds and Yoko's prose, which are heard in the next-to-last section of "Revolution 9," appear. [edit] OriginThis was the second overtly political song the Beatles recorded, the first being being Taxman, written by George Harrison in 1966. The song reflecting the shift in Lennon's 1967 creative focus on psychedelia, LSD, and Transcendental Meditation, which had collapsed in the wake of the Beatles' February-April 1968 trip to India, Lennon's involvement with politically-oriented artist Yoko Ono, and the growing social upheavals of 1968. McCartney was initially uneasy about the political nature of the song, which he felt was at odds with the Beatles' style[citation needed]. [edit] Credits
[edit] Use in Nike ad
"Revolution" was the first Beatles recording to be licensed for use in a television commercial.[6] Nike used the recording for a commercial in 1987, paying $250,000 for the rights to Capitol Records and a similar amount to ATV Music Publishing (company owned by Michael Jackson, who owned the publishing rights). This caused a huge backlash among Beatles fans, who felt Lennon would have objected to this usage, especially in the face of controversy over Nike's use of sweatshops. George Harrison said of the Nike deal in November 1987 that "every Beatles song ever recorded is going to be advertising women's underwear and sausages. We've got to put a stop to it in order to set a precedent. Otherwise it's going to be a free-for-all. It's one thing when you're dead, but we're still around! They don't have any respect for the fact that we wrote and recorded those songs, and it was our lives."[7] In the summer of 1987, the three surviving Beatles along with their record label, Apple, filed a lawsuit objecting to Nike's use of the song. The suit was aimed at Nike, its ad agency, Wieden & Kennedy, and Capitol-EMI Records.[7] Capitol-EMI countered by saying the lawsuit was "groundless" because Capitol had licensed the use of "Revolution" with the "active support and encouragement of Yoko Ono Lennon, a shareholder and director of Apple." Yoko Ono, John Lennon's widow, expressed approval when the commercial was released; she was quoted in Time magazine as saying the commercial "is making John's music accessible to a new generation." [6] In November 1989 the Los Angeles Daily News reported that the lawsuit had been settled out-of-court, with the terms of the agreement kept secret. The settlement was reached among the three groups of interests involved: the former surviving Beatles – George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr; John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and Apple, EMI, and Capitol Records.[7] Some years later, TheStreet.com, a business-oriented web site, ran a piece commemorating the top 100 business events that shaped the 20th century. Nike's Revolution ad made the cut at No. 97. TheStreet.com claimed the ad worthy of joining the 100 key events since it helped "commodify dissent".[7] [edit] Covers
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
