The Beatles: Note By Note

✓

ပြောနေပါတယ်။

In this Beatles lecture series, we are looking at Yesterday, a song built around the longing to return to a past that can’t be recovered. We examine how the lyrics move from a changed world, to a changed self, to a broken relationship, and how the music supports this emotional weight. We also explo…

Yesterday may be the most popular song The Beatles ever recorded, but it's surprising just how unusual its story really is. On this episode of our Beatles podcast, we are joined by Kenyon’s longtime friend and former songwriting partner Kyle Hopson. We look at the song as a piece of Beatles history…

In this Beatles lecture series, we are looking at I’ve Just Seen a Face, a song that captures the head-spinning rush of love at first sight. We examine how Paul combines deceptively simple musical and lyrical materials to create the song’s breathless and frenetic energy. Beneath the surface, its ov…

Have you ever realized that another person will change your life forever? Author Ian Leslie joins us to talk about I’ve Just Seen a Face and his book, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs. Together, we use Paul’s breathless love song to explore chance, recognition, conflict and the mixture happin…

In this Beatles lecture series, we analyze Tell Me What You See. We look at the way the lyrics gradually reveal that this promise is actually an attempt of persuasion. Musically, we explore Paul’s melodic contours, the song’s recurring question-and-answer phrases, and how its simple harmony takes o…

On this episode of our Beatles podcast, musician, singer, songwriter and obsessive album listener Caro Kelley joins us for Tell Me What You See. Caro has spent a lot of time not just listening to music, but rating and ranking it and she brings that perspective to a song that Paul McCartney himself …

In this Beatles lecture series, we look at the music and lyrics of George Harrison’s You Like Me Too Much. The uneasy relationship at the center of the song seems caught in a cycle: one person threatens to leave, but neither quite manages to end things. Musically, George builds that uneasy feeling …

On this episode of our Beatles podcast, Peter and Kenyon look at George Harrison’s You Like Me Too Much, an overlooked Help! track that turns out to have more going for it than its reputation suggests. It is an entry point into the bigger story of how the Beatles worked. How arrangements took shape…

In this Beatles lecture series, we dive into the music and lyrics of It's Only Love. Lennon begins with a unique rhyming scheme, but somehow manages to build a story within this constraint. Musically, John develops a number of melodic and rhythmic ideas that he reuses throughout the song in differe…