Nancy Carr • Hey Dullblog, the Beatles fan blog

The Beatles, Sean Spicer, and the Chicago Women’s March

By Nancy Carr|2017-01-23T17:29:00-08:00January 23, 2017|Beatle-inspired, concert, Covers, Politics|

Saturday was a tale of two crowds: the kerfuffle over the inauguration audience and the turnout for the women's marches around the country and around the world. Given that the facts / "alternative facts" in question concerned crowd size, it's fitting that the ever-popular Beatles featured in a couple of the memes generated in the wake of Sean Spicer's statements to the press about the audience for the inauguration. The Women's March in Chicago this past Saturday, which I participated in, did have one actual link to the Beatles: members of the local cast of "Hamilton" performed "Let It Be" at the rally. I didn't [...]

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Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles”

By Nancy Carr|2017-01-06T05:50:32-08:00January 6, 2017|21st century references, Beatle-inspired, John Lennon, Other bands, Paul McCartney|

Please welcome back guest Dullblogger J.R. Clark, who sent in these thoughts on the hit song and video "Black Beatles." If you're not a fan of contemporary hip-hop music or the Mannequin Challenge, you may be unaware of “Black Beatles,” the recent Billboard Hot 100 number-one single by brothers Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi, the duo known collectively as Rae Sremmurd (Ear Drummers spelled backward). The song name checks John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and although it does not musically resemble a Beatles song, there are sly lyrical references to the song “Day Tripper.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8m9zhNAgKs In October 2016, “Black Beatles” became the [...]

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The Beatles in musical context, 1963-1965

By Nancy Carr|2019-07-18T00:29:10-07:00December 1, 2016|1963, 1964, 1965, Beach Boys, Beatles vs. Stones, Bob Dylan, Guest blogger, Other bands, The Rolling Stones|

Guest Dullblogger Justin McCann, a freelance writer, musician, and self-described “inveterate lurker” on Hey Dullblog, offers these observations on the Beatles’ musical context in 1963-65. Please give him a warm welcome. As innovative as the Beatles were, their rivals — the Stones, The Who, the Kinks, Bob Dylan et. al. — were often just as inventive and you can read about them on this website if you want to know about the greatest legends of the music industry. If other musicians hadn’t been so good, the Beatles wouldn’t have felt the need to compete with them. And if the Beatles — particularly Paul [...]

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Election reflections, Beatle-inflected

By Nancy Carr|2016-11-14T09:46:56-08:00November 14, 2016|Beatle-inspired, Eastern religions, Politics|

Like many Americans, I’ve found this week emotionally exhausting. In the aftermath of this election, blogging about the Beatles seems ridiculous, so I offer these reflections with the hope that they may be helpful. However angry we may be, may we return no one evil for evil. May these times make us stronger and more determined to oppose injustice with love, and not hate, in our hearts. ___ Because my mind remains an ill-disciplined jukebox apparently no matter what is happening in the world, I had lots of bits of songs in my head all this week. Music, like literature, is one [...]

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McCartney Opens Sacramento Stadium with a Bang

By Nancy Carr|2016-10-11T17:31:36-07:00October 11, 2016|"New" album, concert, Live, McCartney: Man of the People, Paul McCartney, Uncategorized|

My view from the cheap(ish) seats. Paul McCartney opened Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center on October 4 the same way he closed down Candlestick Park two years ago – with a nonstop volley of songs. The opening chord of “A Hard Day’s Night” sounded, and tens of thousands of fans started screaming. The overall mood, though decidedly more decorous than the heyday of Beatlemania, was reminiscent of it. And as has become usual during the past few years, McCartney basked in it, drew energy from it, and played a nearly 3-hour set that included 38 songs. Most of the songs and anecdotes [...]

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Eight Days A Week: 5 Great Things About Ron Howard’s Documentary

By Nancy Carr|2016-09-26T16:05:36-07:00September 26, 2016|1963, 1964, 1965, Beatle History, Beatlemania, concert, Live, Movies, Uncategorized|

Getting ready to perform, during the suit-and-tie era. Ron Howard's Eight Days A Week documentary of the Beatles' touring years is excellent. Not perfect, not a definitive look at the totality of the Beatles' career, but very good at doing what it sets out to do. Howard does shy away from the unseemly elements of the Beatles' life on the road, most obviously the rampant sex. And he doesn't delve into the disenchantment that Lennon and Harrison later expressed about the experience of being Beatles. But Howard is aiming to show us what being on public display felt like for the band, and [...]

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Beatles mystery: “She’s Leaving Home”

By Nancy Carr|2016-09-22T07:33:20-07:00September 20, 2016|1968, Beatle-inspired, Beatles fiction, books, fans, Uncategorized|

William Shaw's She's Leaving Home is a Beatles-linked police procedural mystery. It's also a deep dive into the turmoil of late-60's London. And an examination of two detectives struggling with their identities and social roles. If that makes the book sound overstuffed, it's because it is. But overall it's an enjoyable read for Beatles or mystery fans who are prepared to skim a bit. Beatles novels are as various as the songs on the White Album, ranging from the simply parodic (Alan Goldsher's Paul is Undead) to the thriller (Phil Rickman's December) to the realistic slice-of-life (Philip Gillam's Here Comes the Sun). But alternative history leads the field, with [...]

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McCartney shakes it in St Louis

By Nancy Carr|2016-08-16T12:02:38-07:00August 16, 2016|concert, Live, Paul McCartney, solo, Wings|

Waiting to sit in the stands of the sports arena. Paul McCartney proved he could still play, sing, and shake it at his show in St Louis last Saturday night. Looking loose and sounding in fine voice, McCartney was clearly having a capital time with the capacity crowd at Busch Stadium. And–almost unbelievably, given the high winds, lightning, and sheets of rain of the preceding night–it didn't even sprinkle. In most respects the 38-song setlist reflected the kind of Beatles-heavy mix McCartney has favored in recent years. It included 23 Beatles songs, 5 Wings songs, and 6 solo songs. But [...]

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Starostin on the White Album

By Nancy Carr|2016-06-20T07:18:13-07:00June 20, 2016|1968, Beatles Criticism, George Starostin, The White Album|

The tireless George Starostin, still working his way through Rate Your Music's list of "Top Albums of All Time," has just published a new review of the White Album (currently #25 on the list). As usual, there's plenty of substance in Starostin's review, and I highly recommend it. These lines particularly stood out to me (ellipses mine): "A typical 'complaint' against The Beatles is that this is the first album where the band, much too often, reads like the sum of its parts rather than a collective whole: The Lennon songs are Lennon, the McCartney songs are McCartney, the Harrison songs mark [...]

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McCartney and Starr on Orlando attack

By Nancy Carr|2016-06-16T07:33:19-07:00June 16, 2016|concert, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Uncategorized|

McCartney on stage in Berlin After the June 11 mass shooting attack at Orlando's Pulse nightclub, both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have publicly expressed their solidarity with the victims. This isn't a surprise, but it's a welcome reminder that in this time when so many seem driven by fear and hatred of those who are different, there are still prominent voices speaking of the power of love and connection. At his June 14 show in Berlin, McCartney emerged for an encore wearing a large rainbow flag and declared "We stand together with Orlando." And in an interview on June [...]

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