Saturday, September 26, 2009

Sick of the Beatles


Enough already.

I think it's time for an anti-Beatles backlash. I think I'm going to write a song called "I'm Sick Of The Goddamned Beatles!" As much as I love their songs, I am actually tired of the frickin' Beatles already. It seems like every few years there's some new huge Beatles media push.

One year it's "Oh, here's the Best of the Beatles albums", then it's, "Ooooooh, look! The Beatles Anthology...and a new Beatles song! No wait, there's two!!!!", then it's "Oooh, now they're on CD's!!", then it's like, "Ooooh! Look they're re-releasing their movies!", then it's like, "Ooooh! Now there's a new movie made up of their songs!", then it's "Ooooooh! Cirque du-frickin' Soleil is doing a Beatles show!", then it's "Ooooh! Look! An album of all their number one hits!" and then it's, "Ooooooooooh! Now look! They've done mash-up remixes of a bunch of their songs!", and, "A new version of Let It Be!", and then, "Wow! There's a whole bunch of tribute albums!" and now it's "Ooooooh! Look! Remastered versions of all their albums!" Not to mention, a full scale re-hashing of their entire careers every time one of them dies or turns 64.

Holy Lennon, haven't they made enough money yet? Haven't we heard enough of this music? It's not enough that the rest of us musicians have to compete with these guys who're right next to us in every frickin' iPod in the country, but we have to weather a new media onslaught 5 times a decade.

Look, they were a great band no question. Great hooks, great singing, great songs. But they weren't perfect. The lyrics are nice but mostly weak. Paul does not honestly reveal anything at all about any of his feelings about anything except: I'm in love and happy. John is mostly a testy head-case who's completely full of himself. (OK, maybe he came to his senses later, but that was later!) George is always writing these minor key dirges and when the frickin' SUN returns to frickin' foggy, winter ravaged ENGLAND, all he can muster is "It's All Right..." Ringo, is admittedly a great drummer: Simple, understated, never ever gets in the way of the songs and often (as with Here Comes The Sun, Something, and others) actually makes them much better than they are without him. But can we move on now? There are many great bands and songwriters who deserve more listening. These guys have had more than their share. Let's "Let Them Be" !!!

Don't buy the new box set! Be content with your memories! Go to GeneBurnett.com and buy my CD's instead! Better yet. Download all my albums free! And then leave me a tip!


4 comments:

  1. Yeah, the Beatles are great!

    Didn't take the time to read how much you love them. I'm busy listening to the White Album.

    Number 9.
    Number 9.
    Number 9.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I actually did write a song called "I'm Sick" about being sick of The Beatles. If you're curious, go to www.GeneBurnett.com then to Musical Recordings then scroll down to the album called "Brand New World" and click on "Download or Play Songs". It's the last track and it's a bonus track, available on line only. GB

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok that was a while ago, anyway I want to say I FUCKING LOVE THE BEATLES and no, we can't just move on to other bands. I'm 16 and I love the Beatles for one year now. There are always new young people starting to love the Beatles so we can't just say that we talked enough about them in the sixties because many weren't alive that time and because we love them we aren't tired of them and I suppose their fans from the 60s either. If the world wasn't interested in the Beatles anymore they would stop talking about them. But they don't. I didnt read the full 'article' but you sure will be happy with your self created hate song. Thats what the world needs.
    The Beatles give and keep giving me love and happiness.
    Bye

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear you my friend. I love the Beatles too...the music anyway. I'm just tired of the wave after wave of Beatles marketing that has been going on since I was 7 years old. I'm 56 now. My "I'm Sick (Of The Beatles)" song is more tongue in cheek than serious. I cover many Beatles songs too. Here's me leading a sing-a-long of "Imagine" at an Interfaith Thanksgiving Ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmgeYeG7DRE And here's me singing the song I eventually did write called "I'm Sick": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBAlXveCOYE So I guess I have love/hate relationship with them. Thanks for reading, even if you didn't read the whole thing. The Beatles wrote some great music and are well worth studying. If you really dig them and want some great inside info, I recommend a book called "Revolution In The Head" which tells their story by describing each and every one of their recording sessions, in order.

      Delete