The Beatles: Rock Band Festivities

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I wouldn't say that buying The Beatles: Rock Band is like buying friends.  Because we already have friends.  I swear.  But it is pretty eerie how all of our friends want to come over at once all of a sudden.

And why shouldn't they?  The video game, in addition to featuring the best music ever made, is incredibly fun to play, especially with a group of people.

On Friday, September 11, we had about a dozen people over to play the game.  I was a little concerned about getting people to play (especially sing), but Kevin, Stacey, Chris, and Kim, four of the first to arrive, picked up instruments and microphones right away.  We went through a lot of the early songs together, and then after the first group left, we had a second band that included Jenny's friend Michael on lead guitar, Keith on drums, and Kelly and Jenny singing back-up. The new group finished out the night with a mix of later songs like Here Comes the Sun and Come Together.  All in all, it was a great evening with some great friends.

Then, a week later, my family came into town for a Beatles: Rock Band weekend.   I had been building this game up for quite a while, but I had no idea how they would actually receive it.  My parents got in on Friday night and my dad and I spent some time listening to a couple of the remastered CDs he had picked up, Rubber Soul and The White Album.  He thought Rubber Soul sounded great but wasn't sold on The White Album (he has always said that it was not a great album fidelity-wise, especially compared to Abbey Road).  I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that he's used to listening to the LPs and not the pretty poor original CDs.

On Saturday morning the seven of us (Brandi, my parents, Alicia, Cristina, Cristina's boyfriend Daniel, and I) went to have a South Austin breakfast at Polvo's, my favorite place for breakfast.  Then we got home and got comfortable with the Story Mode of the game.  We switched around on instruments a little bit, but people pretty much got comfortable with a particular instrument pretty quickly.  My dad liked the bass, Daniel played a lot of guitar, Alicia sat at the drums, and Cristina mostly sang with a little drums.  My mom had declared her intentions to play drums, but she quickly found it to be difficult.

We made it through all of the early live venues as well as most of the Abbey Road studios songs before we stopped for dinner.  I grilled chipotle pork tenderloin on the grill along with corn on the cob and asparagus, and Brandi made a peach salsa, macaroni and cheese, and a great apple caramel cake.  After dinner we tackled a few remaining songs before finishing with the Rooftop Concert.  It ended up being about an eight hour Beatles Rock Band marathon that was a whole, whole lot of fun.

After the family left, I took a little break from The Beatles: Rock Band, to volunteer at church for an evening (with Brandi) and to celebrate a wonderful 2nd anniversary dinner with Brandi at Truluck's.  Before getting out the Hofner bass this evening to play a few songs, I had endured a three-day respite from The Most Important Video Game Ever.  That was my second longest Beatles Rock Band drought ever.  The longest?  June 13, 1978 through September 8, 2009.  Boy, that was a rough one.

My Favorite Beatles Song: A Timeline

Neither of the regular readers of our blog should be surprised to find out which Liverpudlian rock and roll combo is the subject of this post.

1987-1991: Penny Lane
I first became really aware of the Beatles just before the age of 10, primarily through listening to Beatles LPs with my dad and a Beatles segment that played every morning on the local oldies station on my way to school.  I have a distinct memory of showing my aunt all the Paul is Dead clues sometime in the late 80's, I think right before a Thanksgiving dinner.  "Penny Lane" is the one that sticks out in my memory from this time---one of the instantly catchiest songs you'll ever hear.

1992: Nowhere Man/In My Life
My dad's earliest Beatles album is Revolver, so I was thrilled to find out about the existence of an album called Rubber Soul, which contained my then-favorite song, "Nowhere Man," in addition to several other classics.  It was the second Beatles CD I purchased (after Magical Mystery Tour), and I was pleasantly surprised to find "In My Life" on the disc as well, which became a favorite for a short time.

1993: Rain
The early to mid 1990s was the first time I really started buying albums that were newly released.  Previously, I stuck to The Beatles, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and other classic rock acts, as well as picking up some early They Might Be Giants records, but this was a great time to be getting new music.  (Still, I'm somewhat embarrassed that the Cure's Wish album was (I think) my first new CD to purchase.)  The new alternative, or modern, or whatever, artists that were popping up were way more interesting to me than the Guns N' Roseses that came before.  I kind of think that "Rain" would have fit well in this 90's revival, with its sonic experimentation and trippy feel.  Goes to show how timeless the Beatles music is.

1994: Happiness is a Warm Gun
Speaking of timeless, the lyric "well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand like a lizard on a window pane" could easily have followed after "in the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey" (if only it rhymed).  For some reason, in this song, more so than "I am the Walrus," Lennon really impressed me with his ability to string together crazy but incredible lyrics and bridge multiple musical styles.

1995: From Me to You
1996: She Loves You
Several things were happening in '95 and '96.  First off, I carpooled to school with my neighbor Kirk, who had Live at the BBC in his regular rotation (along with Let It Be and Weezer's debut album).  The BBC album had a little 30 second snippet called "From Us to You," which turned me on to "From Me to You."  Also, I wrote my junior year term paper on the Beatles, so I became very acquainted with the quality of their early stuff.  Finally, the Beatles Anthology came out for television and CD, so that also had a broadening effect on the Beatles stuff I was listening to.

1997-1998: The Long and Winding Road
I bought the Anthology 3 CDs when they came out in October of 1996 and played them almost constantly in my dorm room.  This song stood out because I was pretty indifferent about the Let It Be version but couldn't believe how good the Althology version was.

1999-2001: Hey Bulldog
This one was always in the mix, but I definitely played it into the ground after the Yellow Submarine songtrack was released.

2002: Paperback Writer
At some point I determined that "Paperback Writer" was the quintessential Beatles song.  Not even sure what that means.  I guess coming from the middle of their career and having great harmonies and guitar parts figured prominently in that determination.  I suppose I should have picked "Day Tripper" as the prototypical Beatles track because it's from around the same time period and is written about half by John and about half by Paul.  But I still like "Paperback Writer" better.

2003-2004: Here Comes the Sun
I don't think this has ever been outside my top five Beatles songs.  If "Paperback Writer" is the quintessential Beatles song, then "Here Comes the Sun" is the Platonic ideal for a pop/rock song.

2005: The Long and Winding Road
I went back and looked up a Top 75 Beatles Songs list I did in 2005 and was somewhat surprised to find this song back at the top.  I think it has something to do with picking up Let It Be...Naked around this time.

2006-2008: Two of Us
This one has a lot to do with the lovely lady standing above this text and in front of the Roman ruins. "Two of Us" is another song that was always a favorite but got some added attention when I met Brandi.  It became one of our songs, and in addition to playing it and singing it together on numerous car trips, we put it on our wedding CD that I played in my car pretty contstantly for a while.

2009: Hey Bulldog
This song has sort of become my default favorite Beatles song, on account of it being so great.  My anticipation of The Beatles: Rock Band probably has something to do with this one being on my mind of late, as it is, in my opinion, the perfect Beatles song to transfer into the Rock Band format.

From 1991, when I spent hours recording songs off my dad's records to make a mix tape for family car trips, to 1997, when I bought an Abbey Road poster to put up in my dorm room, to 2001, when I made sure the turntable I purchased was capable of playing the White Album backwards, to 2006, when my girlfriend of a few weeks knew enough about my Beatles fanaticism to buy me a bootlegged Let It Be DVD, Beatles memories have definitely been woven throughout my life.  To date, only two of the above twelve songs have been confirmed as being on The Beatles: Rock Band track list.  Oh, how nice it would be to see a "Hey Bulldog" or a "Rain" creep in there!

The Beatles: Rock Band: Thinking about the final twenty songs

As of yesterday,  the list of known tracks on the disc for The Beatles: Rock Band has ballooned to 25, after having been stuck at 10 since June 1.  This means there are only 20 tracks remaining, a very exciting sign of how close the game is to being released but a little sobering for anyone with a laundry list of songs they would like to appear in the game.  While yesterday's announcement brought the extremely welcome news of songs like "Eight Days a Week," "Paperback Writer," "And Your Bird Can Sing," and "I've Got a Feeling," it also created less room for gems like "This Boy," "Hey Bulldog," and "Happiness is a Warm Gun."  To give myself a better idea of what the final 20 might look like, I created a few different scenarios, subject to a few simplifying assumptions.  I created a best case (in my opinion), likely, and worst case scenario, and the good news is that all three options, combined with the songs we already know, look really good.  Even the worst case (which I populated with some well-known songs to keep it somewhat realistic) is looking pretty good.   

Here are my assumptions:

• Each of the five venues will have a total of five songs.  That means that of the final 20, two will be in the Cavern Club, two at Ed Sullivan, three at Shea Stadium, one at Budokan, and two on the rooftop of Apple headquarters. 


• With "Get Back," "Dig a Pony," and "I've Got a Feeling" already announced, it sure looks like they're setting up a historically accurate rooftop concert.  This means that the final two songs for that venue will be "Don't Let Me Down" and "One After 909."


• Songs should feature vocals, guitar, bass, and drums.


• There should be a mix of lead singers and albums, though the lone remaining spot at Budokan made it tough to include Rubber Soul tracks.


• For the worst case scenario, the idea was not to pick my least favorite songs but songs that, by and large, pushed out something I would have wanted more.  Creating a list consisting of "Revolution 9," "Her Majesty," "Wild Honey Pie," "A Taste of Honey," and "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" would have been pretty meaningless. 

Best case:

Please Please Me (Cavern Club)
From Me To You (Cavern Club)

She Loves You (Ed Sullivan)
This Boy (Ed Sullivan)

A Hard Day's Night (Shea Stadium)
Help! (Shea Stadium)
I'm Down (Shea Stadium)

If I Needed Someone (Budokan)

We Can Work It Out (Dreamscape)
Drive My Car (Dreamscape)
Nowhere Man (Dreamscape)
Rain (Dreamscape)
Strawberry Fields Forever (Dreamscape)
Happiness is a Warm Gun (Dreamscape)
Helter Skelter (Dreamscape)
Savoy Truffle (Dreamscape)
Hey Bulldog (Dreamscape)
Come Together (Dreamscape)

One After 909 (Rooftop)
Don't Let Me Down (Rooftop)

Likely:

Please Please Me (Cavern Club)
From Me to You (Cavern Club)

All My Loving (Ed Sullivan)
She Loves You (Ed Sullivan)

A Hard Day's Night (Shea Stadium)
Help! (Shea Stadium)
I'm Down (Shea Stadium)

Nowhere Man (Budokan)

Rain (Dreamscape)
Got to Get You Into My Life (Dreamscape)
Sgt. Pepper's (Reprise)/A Day in the Life (Dreamscape)
Hello Goodbye (Dreamscape)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Dreamscape)
Helter Skelter (Dreamscape)
Hey Bulldog (Dreamscape)
Come Together (Dreamscape)
Let It Be (Dreamscape)

One After 909 (Rooftop)
Don't Let Me Down (Rooftop)

Worst case (really a misnomer; I like so many of these songs):

Love Me Do (Cavern Club)
Money (That's What I Want) (Cavern Club)

All My Loving (Ed Sullivan)
Act Naturally (Ed Sullivan)

Ticket to Ride (Shea Stadium)
Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby (Shea Stadium)
She's a Woman (Shea Stadium)

She Said She Said (Budokan)

Doctor Robert (Dreamscape)
I Want to Tell You (Dreamscape)
When I'm Sixty-Four (Dreamscape)
Blue Jay Way (Dreamscape)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps [I just think this one has to be in the game] (Dreamscape)
Why Don't We Do It In the Road? (Dreamscape)
Yer Blues (Dreamscape)
Helter Skelter [See "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"] (Dreamscape)
Come Together [See "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"] (Dreamscape)
The Ballad of John and Yoko (Dreamscape)

One After 909 (Rooftop)
Don't Let Me Down (Rooftop)

Beatles Rock Band Wish List

Could September 9 seem any farther away?  A hundred sixty-five days is a long time to wait for a lot of things, but it seems especially long to have to wait for the release of the Beatles Rock Band video game.  Personally, I'm waiting to make the Beatles game my first Rock Band purchase so I can have the Beatles peripherals, so the agony is compounded by seeing bunches of tantalizing downloadable content being released for the existing Rock Band games.  The game is rumored to contain 45 Beatles tracks, so I figure that's enough to build a wish list from.  Here we go, from most wanted to least wanted:

1)  Hey Bulldog:  I’m pleased to see this one show up on more than a couple wish lists.  It’s not the most well-known Beatles song, but it was pretty much made for the Rock Band format.  Fun to sing, great guitar parts, perfect.
2)  Please Please Me:  This is maybe the only pre-Rubber Soul track that’s an absolute must for me.  This song should come with lockable content: if you master it, you get to stop hearing about how fascinated the boys were with the double meaning of the word “please.”
3)  Revolution:  I’m looking for the live version where they add in the “shoo be doo wop” from Revolution 1.
4)  Paperback Writer:  The desperate pleadings of a wannabe artist.  Sounds pretty appropriate for the format.
5)  Happiness is a Warm Gun:  I, too, am well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand like a lizard on a window pane.
6)  Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End:  Everybody gets a solo.
7)  Back in the U.S.S.R.:  If you’re playing with anyone under the age of 20 or so, they might ask you what a “U.S.S.R.” is.  And they probably won’t get the whole Beach Boys thing.
8)  Helter Skelter:  There’s definitely a difference between listening to music and playing music.  Nobody has this as his favorite Beatles song, but plenty of people have this as their most wanted Rock Band track.
9)  Don’t Let Me Down:  My roof’s a little steep, but I’ll give it a shot.
10)  Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band:  The only problem with this one is it’s so short.
11)  Help!:  Several of these songs are screaming for backup vocals.  I hope that’s somehow an option.
12)  And Your Bird Can Sing:  This is Brandi’s #1 choice.
13)  Rain:  Playing the last verse backwards is the toughest part.
14)  I Want You (She’s So Heavy):  At over seven and a half minutes, it might require an intermission.
15)  Nowhere Man:  This list is getting very Lennon-centric.
16)  She Loves You:  Other than Revolution, there might not be another song I’d be more surprised to see omitted from the list.
17)  I’ve Got A Feeling:  This is another one that’s not one of my favorites to listen to, but I would love to play it.
18)  A Hard Day’s Night:  From what I’ve read about the Beatles Rock Band game, it sounds like there’s going to be a chronological progression from the early years to Abbey Road.  It makes sense—when you break up the early songs, the guitar/drums/vocal parts don’t seem as complicated.  This one does have a tricky guitar solo, though.
19)  Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came in Through the Bathroom Window:  Hopefully they count this as one track.
20)  Here Comes the Sun:  Even though this is one of my absolute favorite Beatles songs, I may be less enthusiastic about playing this one because I’ve tried it on guitar and failed miserably.
21)  From Me to You: Please be forgiving on the falsetto.
22)  I Feel Fine:  This one has been rumored to be on the real list.  I hope it’s true.
23)  I Am the Walrus:  Enough guitar?
24)  Octopus’s Garden:  This one has two vocal modes: easy and easier.
25)  Savoy Truffle:  Unlockable content: images of crazy sounding British sweets.
26)  Come Together:  This may be the first game that makes you want to play the bass.
27)  Taxman:  Should be a pretty safe bet that this one’s in.
28)  Drive My Car:  This one, too, seems to be a natural fit.  Come to think of it, pretty much all the opening tracks to the various albums would work pretty well.
29)  I’m Down:  Play the drums with your elbows.  There’s rumored to be a Shea Stadium part, so this song would seem to have a place there.
30)  It Won’t Be Long:  A very underrated song.
31)  We Can Work It Out:  Doing a Beatles version of Rock Band brings up so many questions, like, Will the vocal allow (require) you to sing both the Paul part and the John part?
32)  One After 909:  The Let It Be album is going to fare pretty well in this format.
33)  Oh! Darling:  Another piano-centric track I hope they can somehow make work.
34)  It’s All Too Much:  Possible I’m alone on this one.
35)  Sexy Sadie:  One of several that could be an American Idol track.  Forget the instruments, I just wanna sing it.
36)  I Want to Hold Your Hand:  Unlockable content: the digital Ed Sullivan.  Really big shoe.
37)  Strawberry Fields Forever:  Might want to use one of the Anthology versions.
38)  Eight Days a Week:  First song to fade in at the beginning.
39)  If I Needed Someone:  Probably the earliest example of great Harrison songwriting.
40)  Norwegian Wood:  Fans who are asking for a sitar to come included are probably setting themselves for disappointment, but I think they’ve got the right idea.
41)  Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey:  Rock Band might really cause me to re-evaluate side 3 of the White Album.
42)  Birthday:  As hard as it is to rock out to “Happy Birthday to You” (save for Helter Skelter, this is about as edgy as Paul gets), I think this one would be fun.
43)  Old Brown Shoe:  Haven’t heard this one mentioned—I wouldn’t mind seeing it.
44)  Tell Me Why:  Here’s a problem with going chronologically: some of the early Lennon songs wreak the most havoc on the vocal cords.  Anybody without a healthy appetite for yell singing shouldn’t be in the room when I’m attempting this one.
45)  While My Guitar Gently Weeps:  I’m not as crazy about this one as most people, but you can count on it making the cut.

The Top 75 Beatles Songs of All Time

1. The Long and Winding Road
2. Hey Bulldog
3. Two of Us
4. Here Comes the Sun
5. Paperback Writer
6. We Can Work It Out
7. Happiness is a Warm Gun
8. Blackbird
9. Penny Lane
10. She Loves You
11. Nowhere Man
12. Please Please Me
13. Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
14. Rain
15. Lovely Rita
16. For No One
17. Help!
18. Back in the U.S.S.R.
19. From Me To You
20. If I Fell
21. Let It Be
22. A Hard Day’s Night
23. Martha My Dear
24. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End
25. Hey Jude
26. I’ll Follow the Sun
27. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
28. I’ll Be Back
29. This Boy
30. Don’t Let Me Down
31. Magical Mystery Tour
32. Rocky Raccoon
33. Lady Madonna
34. The Ballad of John and Yoko
35. Strawberry Fields Forever
36. Sexy Sadie
37. I Saw Her Standing There
38. Fixing a Hole
39. Get Back
40. I Feel Fine
41. I’ve Just Seen a Face
42. Don’t Pass Me By
43. I Should Have Known Better
44. Your Mother Should Know
45. Good Morning, Good Morning
46. I am the Walrus
47. In My Life
48. Here, There, and Everywhere
49. Little Child
50. Piggies
51. Yesterday
52. Cry Baby Cry
53. All Together Now
54. Hello Goodbye
55. Got to Get You Into My Life
56. Eight Days a Week
57. Savoy Truffle
58. Good Day Sunshine
59. Devil in Her Heart
60. Tell Me Why
61. Something
62. I’m a Loser
63. The Fool on the Hill
64. You Never Give Me Your Money
65. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
66. Birthday
67. And Your Bird Can Sing
68. Octopus’s Garden
69. Day Tripper
70. Glass Onion
71. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
72. If I Needed Someone
73. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
74. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
75. Mother Nature’s Son