(with apologies to Klaus Voormann)

Aw, two of my favorite subjects brought together, The Beatles, and animals (not The Animals, sorry Eric Burdon)! I remember reading a review of The White Album in Rolling Stone Magazine’s 10th anniversary issue opining that not since Aesop’s Fables, or Toba Sojo’s rabbit and frog scrolls of the 11th century, had animals commingled their lives with humans so revealingly. Although that might be a bit of a stretch, it is certainly part of the legendary Liverpudlians’ charm and appeal that they spiced up their repertoire with such whimsical oddities as “Octopus’ Garden” and “Hey, Bulldog!” More so than other bands of the time, and perhaps before or since, they were fabulists at heart, and that is a key part of what has made them so endearing and enduring.

Dylan was cleverer. Hendrix rocked harder. Pink Floyd was weirder. And the Stones were just plain badder! But The Beatles captured the energy of their time better than any of their manifestly talented rivals. With titles such as “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Come Together”, they seem to have clearly, almost mystically, understood and embraced their roles as cultural guides through a period of mystery and excitement and wonder. The times were fraught with peril, but The Beatles, accompanied by their animal familiars, were charging out in front, wanting to hold our hands as they guided us on a journey that included herbs, gurus and revolutions.

So, here then, is my tribute to the Fab Four and their four legged (or eight tentacled, etc.) companions. Fans will have fun picking out the songs the critters are culled from, and will also be aware of what is about to befall poor Edgar Allan Poe!

73
Leave a Comment

Please Login to comment
14 Comment threads
59 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
12 Comment authors
AdLibKalimaSueInCaFrankenPCchoicelady Recent comment authors
  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
Questinia
Member

Across the Unicorn
Horsey, You Can Drive My Cart
From Me to Ewe
Yelp!
I Wanna Be Your Mandrell
I’m a Goose, Sir
Lady Madcow Disease
Obla Deer Obla Dog, Git Along
Humpback Whale Writer
Polythene Hamster

KQµårk 死神
Member

“The Continuing Story of Bungalo Williams” The unfinished sequel to “Remo Williams: the Adventure Begins”.

KQµårk 死神
Member

Another McCain favorite “Back in Czechoslovakia”.

AdLib
Admin

Ticket to Ride a Pony
The Long and Winding Cobra
Stool on The Hill
Fixing a Gopher Hole
Babe You’re a Rich Pig
Why Don’t We Run Over It In The Road

KQµårk 死神
Member

My favorite albums were Westminster Abby Road, Sgt. Slaughter’s Magical Wrestling Tour and Das Gelb Boot.

Questinia
Member

Happy Bees in a Swarm, Hon’
Hyena Pie

Ummmm…

I Should Have Known Better than to start with ewe.

Questinia
Member

“Stool On the Hill”?

Scat Back!

Kalima
Admin

How about “Tool on the Hill” you know that famous hill in DC?

“Baby you can steal my Ma”

“Please freeze me”

“Act unnaturally”

Questinia
Member

🙂 OG’s rule!

Kalima
Admin

I second that commotion! 🙂

KQµårk 死神
Member

WTS I love the Yellow Submarine but I miss the little blue meanies.

For some reason I always thought of little blue meanies when McCain spoke. Maybe it was the varicose veins that gave his face a blue hue and the yellow teeth.

ff

OK that was 😈

Questinia
Member

KQ, do you use <img src="http………jpg blah blah blah to post pics? Like at FRT?

KQµårk 死神
Member

Yup.

AdLib
Admin

Love it, WTS! And think of all the famous animal songs you didn’t include by The Beatles, “I Want to Hold Your Leash”, “Evolution” and “Helter Shelter”.

Questinia
Member

Don’t start up with that again, Adlib. You had me up until 3AM coming up with Beatle’s wordplay in those heady days of yore.

AdLib
Admin

Heh! That was a lot of fun! Seems like just Yesterday.

Questinia
Member

It made me Glad All POVer.

Awful!

Kalima
Admin

This is great wts, I’m sure that Klaus wouldn’t mind, your’s is more colourful and fun.

We have the album/record upstairs, along with about 300 other albums we shipped from London. We also still have two turntables although finding a stylus is becoming harder and harder, Tokyu Hands still stocks a few. There is nothing quite like listening to the original vinyl LP’S, scratches and all.

SueInCa
Member

Gee, WTS, I can remember gathering in front of the TV to watch their debut on Ed Sullivan. I saw them at Candlestick Park and it was the highlight of my jr high school years, unless you count sneaking on the bus over to Telegraph Ave on a saturday afternoon. I still have alot of their vinyls and we bought a “vintage” record player a few years ago so we could pull them out from time to time. They are surprisingly still in pretty good condition despite moving around about 12 times or more.

Chernynkaya
Member

Me too, Sue! I think I told this story before, but while cleaning out the garage, my two step-daughters saw an old turntable and asked what it was. 🙄

Questinia
Member

Still, no Rosie? Hmmm… If the Beatles had known her:

Now somewhere in the metropolitan area of Tokyo
There lived a young girl named Rosie the Ferret
And one day her master ran away with some cheap tawdry nekko…

Chernynkaya
Member

Is the critter near the top of Poe’s head a ferret?

Questinia
Member

Unless it’s white, it ain’t Rosie. I have no clue what that thing is…

FrankenPC
Member

LSD…it’s a magical mystery tour.

choicelady
Member

I am a lifelong radical who absolutely hated the 60s. My only sweet memories are of the Beatles. WTS – you really got to me when you said they were our cultural guides. They wrote music that was joyous and serious, emotional and playful – and they always spoke, I felt, to the best in us. Even the darker things asked us to rise above what we were to what we could be. They made me feel happy.

When was the last time pop music did that?

I recently thought that one of the reasons Susan Boyle was SO popular is that she has some of that in her life and music. She’s not innovative, but the surprise of her voice and the story of her life appeal to what’s better in us – finding beauty in unexpected places. The Beatles gave us that. She reflects some of what they gave us. She makes us smile as they did.

escribacat
Member

Funny, I was just thinking about a story I heard somewhere about the origins of “Lucy in the sky with diamonds.” It was little Julian Lennon showing his dad a picture he had drawn. It was his friend Lucy from school and she was in the sky with diamonds. Of course the other story is the LSD story!

Khirad
Member

Yeah, I can’t help but wonder if they weren’t intentionally doing a double-message on that. “I am the Walrus” backstory is true though, right? -that it was a prophetic vision of John Bolton?

escribacat
Member

😆 Does it say John Bolton if you play it backwards?

Chernynkaya
Member

LOVE THE ART!!!

Sheepdog
Standing in the rain,
Bullfrog
Doing it again
Some think that happinness is measured out in years
You don’t know what it’s like to listen to your fears

Chernynkaya
Member

And of course
Henry the Horse
dances the waltz!

KQµårk 死神
Member

Fab article WTS. The Beatles will always be my “first love” musically speaking. Fitting with the other theme in your article, “Animals” by Pink Floyd is my favorite album of all time with it’s pigs on the wing, dogs, pigs and sheep. 😎

Khirad
Member

‘Tis true, though, that the Beatles best exemplified this time (or so I must be told!).

Pink Floyd was ahead of its time – and beyond it.

KQµårk 死神
Member

I could not agree more. Pink Floyd is a musical genre unto itself.

Kiba
Member
Kiba

Hey you, Whitehouse! Haha, charade you are.

Great rip on the Puritanical social conservatives, personified in Britain by Mary Whitehouse.

KQµårk 死神
Member

I quote “Pigs” often to describe Republicans. I also love quoting Monty Python’s Denis Moore skit, ‘Steal from the poor, give to the rich, stupid bitch’, well something like that.

Kiba
Member
Kiba

Elementary penguins singing Hari Krishna
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe.

Oddly enough I just listened to that song a couple days ago for the first time in ages. A friend had taken a “Which Alice in Wonderland Character Are You” quiz on Facebook, and posted the results. I replied, “I am the Walrus, goo goo g’joob.”

KQµårk 死神
Member

Hey I remember you. 😀

Great to see your moniker don the Planet. I hope you are doing well.

Kiba
Member
Kiba

Hey! Good to see you, KQ!