PTPOP - A Mind Revolution

Why Were The Beatles Considered Geniuses?

• PTPOP • Season 7 • Episode 1

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Why Were The Beatles Considered Geniuses?
Discover why The Beatles are celebrated as musical geniuses in this fascinating analysis of their iconic song Love Me Do. By comparing its structure, innovation, and cultural impact with the works of classical legends like Mozart and Beethoven
#beatles #thebeatles #mozart #beethoven #music
To view this on my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnrHJjC3A5g
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:28 Analysis of Love Me Do
4:55 Beatles Audition at Abbey Road
8:23 Mozart & Beethoven
10:33 Definition of Genius
12:30 Love Me Do and Please Please Me
14:15 Beatles Chart Positions 1962-63 
16:57 Watering Down The Meaning of the Word Genius
18:21 Mozart and Beethoven Continued
21:27 It’s Hard to Say The Beatles Were Geniuses
25:05 Summary

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Speaker 1:

Hey there everybody. Pt Pop here on A Mind Revolution where I lead you out of the rabbit hole, one grain of truth at a time. Thanks for tuning in today. And today I'm going to dissect the world of art, music and culture with a hot topic why Were the Beatles Considered to be Geniuses? Stay tuned. Would you like fries with that? Would you like fries with that? Stay tuned, beatle Maniac.

Speaker 1:

And the topic leads me to ask the question how do we define genius and how do we get to the point where songs like Love Me Do, one of the Beatles' simplest songs, is considered genius alongside Mozart and Beethoven? Now, I know the two styles of music are completely and entirely different, but the ties that bind those artists is the word genius. So let's take a closer look at Love Me Do and ask the crucial question how did a song so simple and saccharine, sweet cast the ear of legendary EMI producer George Martin? Simple and saccharine, sweet cast the ear of legendary EMI producer George Martin. Now let's start off. If you're not familiar with the song, I can't play too much of it. I'll play it on my guitar, Otherwise I'll get a.

Speaker 1:

The song is just a very simple song. It's got three chords in it and it goes something like this Love, love me, do. Even though I love you, I'll always be true. So, please, please, love me do. All right. So there you have it. Well, let's take a closer look at the song now.

Speaker 1:

Love Me Do. This is a simple song. It started it all for the Beatles. Structurally it's incredibly basic Just one verse and a chorus. I mean, this is what I love about the song Love, love me. Do you know I love you? This is the first verse. Love, love me. Do you know I love you, I'll always be true. So, please, love me, do. Now the second verse. The second verse I just love. This is the best part of the song, the second verse. It goes like this love, love me. Do you know I love you, I'll always be true. So, please, love me do. Whoa, love me do. Isn't that great. I love the second verse. And then it breaks off into a bridge Someone to love somebody new, someone to love someone like you. And then the third verse is genius. The third verse is pure genius Love, love me. Do you know I love you, I'll always be true. So, please, love me do. Whoa, love me do. And it's just. Oh, I forgot. The fourth verse is even better than the second and the third Fourth verse is love, love me. Do you know I love you? I'll always be true. So please, love me do, whoa, love me do.

Speaker 1:

And structurally this is an incredibly basic song. Just one verse repeated throughout the song and a chorus or a bridge, whatever you want to call it. It's repeated over and over and over and musically it's built around three simple chords a, g, c and a, d. The melody catchy but repetitive in the lyrics love me, do you know I love you. It doesn't exactly screen poetic brilliance. Now if you go to their days.

Speaker 1:

Their first time they came into EMI Studios in London to audition for EMI. Their audition took place on Wednesday June 6, 1962 in Studio 2 in EMI Studios in Abbey Road Studios. Producer George Martin, ron Richards, engineer Norman Smith and the session. I'm reading this from Beatles Bible and this is titled Recording Besame Mucho Love Me Do, ps, I Love you. Ask Me why the Beatles' first Abbey Road recording session. And it says here the session took place in Studio 2 from 7 to 10 pm. Three hours to record one, two, three, four songs. Four hours is an hour per song From seven well, no, it's from 7 to 10, that's three hours. So that's four songs, so maybe 40 minutes per song. The Beatles first ran through a number of songs and then recorded 4, so I guess they did a brief run through, which is fairly typical, and then they recorded 4, so the precise number of takes are unknown, but they were taped in the following order Besame Mucho, which is not their song, it's somebody else's song. Love Me Do, which is their song, ps I Love you. And Ask Me why.

Speaker 1:

Now the Beatles didn't make a very good impression. Now this is a quote from Norman Smith. Norman Smith was the engineer on hand that day. He says the Beatles didn't make very good impression, apart from visually. We heard nothing of John and Paul's songwriting ability. They had tiny little box amplifiers and speakers which didn't create much of a sound at source. Of course every sound engineer wants some kind of sound at source that he can then embellish and improve upon, but I got nothing out of the Beatles equipment except for a loud noise, hum, and goodness knows what. Halls was about the worst In those days.

Speaker 1:

We had echo chambers to add on to reverberation. I can't say reverberation. I can't say reverberation. And I had to raid Studio 2 echo chamber in order to fix him up with a second so that we could get something done on tape. So Paul's bass amp was such garbage that they couldn't even use it. They had to rig something together from an amp speaker. So they ripped out of a reverberation chamber. And Norman goes on to say that Paul's amp wasn't the only problem during the session. He says we actually had to tie string around John Lennon's guitar amplifier to stop it from rattling. There were also problems with Pete Best's drums his cymbals, I believe but we eventually got everything sorted out and finally we started to record. They recorded the only recordings of Bessie Milmucho on Love Me, do Survive. Today the other two songs don't exist. After the session the other recordings were destroyed, it says here, after it was decided that nothing from the session could be commercially released.

Speaker 1:

I beg to ask you why this dull and mundane song caught the ear of Mr George Martin. So Love Me Do becomes their first hit. It goes to number 17 on the charts in the United Kingdom and it really is fascinating to think such a simplistic song launched a band that would go to redefine popular music, which begs me to ask the question what do we really consider good music anymore. And what is genius? I mean, if you compare Love Me Do to the genius of Mozart and Beethoven, the only thing they have in comparison is somebody, somewhere to decide to call the different entities geniuses. Mozart's music is complex, dynamic. The opening movement of any of his songs features multiple melodic themes, harmonic layers and a clear sense of development. And Beethoven I mean Beethoven is a guy who composed some of his best work when he was practically deaf and he built an entire symphony around so many different themes. So what I'm getting at is, you know, there's the watering down of the word genius, and when we call love-me-do genius, are we watering down the meaning of the word? I mean, mozart and Beethoven weren't just creating songs, they were transforming music. Their works are studied centuries later because of their complexity, innovation and emotional depth.

Speaker 1:

Love-me-do it's a nice pop tune, but it's not revolutionary. It's the music equivalent of a doodle compared to Michelangelo fresco. It's really nothing. This is a song. In my opinion, as a one-time rabid Beatles fan, that if this song was shot up in the outer space, every copy of it in the world was destroyed and shot up in a space, I wouldn't miss it for a second. The world would be a better place without it. In a space I wouldn't miss it for a second. The world would be a better place without it. So the Beatles would go on to write masterpieces like A Day in Life, eleanor Rigby, but Love Me Do isn't one of them. It's a starting point, a glimpse, I guess, at their potential, not a showcase of genius.

Speaker 1:

So why do we equate cultural impact with musical genius? Have we stretched the definition to fit simpler, more accessible works? I mean, consider this. I mean a lot of the Beatles songs are pretty. They're junky. Love Me Do, yellow Submarine. To this day people will sit there and say, oh, my God, that's genius. I grew up in this song. Oh, it brings back such good memories. But because it makes you feel good, does that make a genius? So let's start and ask ourselves what is the definition of a genius?

Speaker 1:

Now, the standard definition of a genius varies. It depends on the context, but the core idea centers around extraordinarily high intellectual or creative ability and the key definition, the basic dictionary definition Merriam-Webster dictionary it's exceptional intellectual or creative power or natural ability a person who exhibits extraordinary skill or talent in a particular area. In the Oxford English Dictionary, exceptional intellectual or creative ability, a person regarded as having exceptional creative or intellectual power. They just keep saying the same thing over and over again Exceptional abilities, originality, impact, innate talent. They have born into them. It's in their genetics High IQ, innate talent. They've born into this in their genetics high IQ threshold. Cultural evolution of the term has changed over the years, but the key question is genius an inherent trait or does it depend on the impact of the recognition of one's work? This is part of the ongoing debate around the term.

Speaker 1:

So I have a very hard time with this song. Love me do. This is a beatles song. This is one of my least favorite beatles song and as I've gotten older and I've heard all their songs a million times over, I gotta sit back and say wait a minute. Some DMI Records, the biggest record label in all of England, said yeah, yeah, boys, boys, bring that song. Love Me, do it again. I think I like that one. Well, make that your first hit.

Speaker 1:

And it's a dull and insipid song. And what makes even less sense is how do they go from love love may do. You know I love you, so please love to. Last night I said these words to my girl. You know you never even try, girl.

Speaker 1:

It's a completely different style of songwriting. It's completely different wording. It's completely different phrasing. It's completely different rhyming. It's completely different tempo. It's completely different style. How'd they go from this plodding along basic elementary song to boom? It just doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 1:

Now I'm leaving this up in the air here because I just don't believe the official Beatles narrative. I mean, you can't begin to tell me that they walked into EMI Studios and wasted George Martin time with Ask Me why Bessie Me Mucho and Like Dreamers Do and Love Me Do. Have you ever heard Like Dreamers Do? It's terrible. This is a terrible song that is nothing better than some of the early stuff that I wrote. I saw a girl in my dreams and so it seems that I will love her. This is how bizarre it gets with the Beatles. Okay, they write this insipid little song Love Me Do with one verse and one chorus or one bridge. That's all it is, and they just repeat it over and over and over again. And there's a harmonic in it. All right, okay, it's got a catchy melody and some nice harmony.

Speaker 1:

That went to number 17 in October of 1962. And they only allegedly had only had written a few songs. Then, all of a sudden, october, november, december, january, by January 23rd they had a number one hit with Please Please Me. Now I think this might have been well. This has officially peaked at number two, but I don't know if these are US charts. I think in the UK it peaked at number one. But just think of that. They went from 17 to 2 or to 1 within just a matter of weeks. And then in the spring of 63, they had their first. I don't know if this chart is from officialchartscom, but between October 62 and April of 1963, october, november, december, january, february, march, april in just six months they had two number one songs and one number 17, from Me to you and Please Please Me. What did they come up with? Please Please Me? This is a complete change, a complete diversion from anything that they had done before that, and you know a person that just doesn't believe the official story. But honestly, within a year, between October and December, they had one, two, three, four, four number one hits. It's insane. All from Love Me Do.

Speaker 1:

But the basic message here today is that song indicative of a genius. If you walked into a studio with a song like that today, let's say there never was a Beatles before that. You walk into a studio today with a song like that, people would laugh at you. They would have laughed at you back then If you walked into an American studio, if you walked into Capitol Records with Love Love Me Do. You know I love you. I'll always be true. So please love me do Cal would have been like security, security. Could you get these fine young lads out of here? Please Love Me Do. It feels like a sketch. It feels like a placeholder for something greater. It just feels like a sketch. It's just like the crap I make here. You know one verse and a chorus. That's a hit. Here's the thing. When we call Love Me Do genius, we're watering down the meaning of the word.

Speaker 1:

Mozart and Beethoven weren't just creating songs, they were transforming music. Their works are studied centuries later because of their complexity, innovation and emotional depth. Love Me Do it's a nice pop tune, but it's not revolutionary. It's the musical equivalent of a doodle compared to, you know, to a Michelangelo fresco. Let's take a look at Mozart compared to the Beatles. Now we know the breadth of the Beatles' work.

Speaker 1:

I think between Leonard McCartney, harrison and Starr, I think they wrote something like. I think it was like 600 songs in the short seven years they were together. Eight years they were together. But think of you know, these were two to three minute ditties where they had a producer telling them how to do it, how to put it together, how to arrange it. They had studio musicians working with them. They had Eric Clapton coming in on the White Album, working with him. They had Eric Clapton coming in on the White Album. They were half-baked on pot and acid, booze uppers, anything they could get their hands on to numb themselves to the pain of fame. And some of the songs, like Revolution no 9, oh, it's genius, I'm sorry, that's a genius thing. Now.

Speaker 1:

Mozart was a prolific composer. He lived. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived from 1756 until 1791. He created over 600 works in his short lifetime and he covered nearly every genre in his time. His compositions include 41 symphonies, 20 operas, 27 piano concertos, chamber music, including string quartets, quintets and sonatas, 18 piano sonatas, sacred music, like his famous Requiem Masse, which is unfinished.

Speaker 1:

Ludwig von 1770 to 1827. His output includes 722 works. This is according to Beethoven, a work Wescheichnis or BWV catalog. Forgive me, those of you in Germany that are watching, I don't speak any German too good. He penned nine symphonies, including the iconic symphony no 9, ode to Joy not to be confused with Revolution no 9, ode to Crapola, five piano concertos and a violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, including the famous Moonlight Sonata and Appassionata, 16 string quartets, other chamber works, one opera, fidelio and sacred works like Misa Solomenes Again, forgive the mispronunciations.

Speaker 1:

Now, while both composers were incredibly productive, mozart's sheer output in a shorter lifespan is remarkable, while Beethoven's work is notable for its depth, innovation and complexity. I mean, beethoven and Mozart haven't walked earth for hundreds of years and they're still well known for what they did, especially Beethoven, who created some of his best work while he was practically deaf. This man knew music so well he could hear the music in his head and he could write it out on the staff and bars and knew what it would sound like. He didn't need to hear it completely. I don't know how deaf he was. I've heard he was completely deaf and I've also heard he was like three-quarters of the way there. Now compare that to Lennon and McCartney, harrison and Starr.

Speaker 1:

I think they're throwing the word genius around a bit too much. Now. I know it's kind of comparing apples and oranges, or it's at the very least, comparing red apples to green apples Because they were musicians. But I don't even understand and keep in mind, I'm not a classically trained musician and I'm not a fan of classical music music and I'm not a fan of Mozart or Beethoven or any classical composer. But I find it hard to really say the Beatles were geniuses now that I'm older and I've been a musician and I've worked in the business at my own little microscopic end and I know how hard it is to write a song. And I know how hard it is to write a song.

Speaker 1:

You just don't pick up the guitar after a long day of gigging and sit down in your mom's front parlor and knock off songs like Please, please Me, and I Want to Hold your Hand and she Loves you. We just tossed them off. You know, my father said, well, it should be, she Loves you. Yes, yes, yes. And I said, oh, no, mother, no father. Well, it should be, she loves you. Yes, yes, yes. And I said, oh, no, mother, no father should be. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's cooler. You know, that's what we said to my father. You know whoop-de-doo and they make us like, well, we were just sitting back drinking a beer, smoking some ciggies, and we toss these off out in the garden. You know, know, we're geniuses here.

Speaker 1:

George Harrison he's lauded as being this really famous lead guitar player but he really doesn't have any great guitar licks. Great guitar licks in some of the songs as solos. The solo in A Hard Day's Night, I think. It still gives me shivers when I hear it. But I found out all these years later that he's not playing it.

Speaker 1:

And if he is, they played it really slow and then they sped it up on the tape machine because he couldn't play it at the right tempo, because he wasn't skilled enough to play it. So they've also got a piano playing the same notes in the background. You got a piano playing right along with it and they double track it to give it a thicker sound and a heavier sound make it more exciting. Well, george isn't even playing that. I don't think he's playing it. I don't even know if he played it and they sped it up. But whatever it is, he couldn't play it. He's having a horrible time playing it.

Speaker 1:

But he's a genius. He's a genius guitarist that couldn't play lead guitar and some of the lead guitar work I've heard him play in some of the early stuff. It's like it's like kind of it's sloppy, it's not tight, it's kind of like, and people are like, oh, that's the beauty of it, it's so loose and he bends these notes and he's, you know, it's like, okay, he's a genius, he's a genius, all right. I just don't understand. They get these four guys.

Speaker 1:

For the first time in the history of mankind, in the history of music, they somehow the stars and the moon aligned and the gods brought down five geniuses into Abbey Road 2, number two studio, brought down five geniuses into Abbey Road 2, number two studio and had them create allegedly the greatest pop music and love songs in the history of music and mankind. Do you know? That is just too coincidental, isn't it? They're all geniuses, we're just geniuses. I'm sorry.

Speaker 1:

John Lennon runs around before he's dying saying I was a freaking genius. You know I was a genius and nobody saw it. I'm like, what do I have to do to seem a genius? I'm a genius who walks around thinking they're a genius. Well, how do you say it? I'm a fucking genius. You know, I was older than Stuart. I was a genius. No one could see it. My teachers couldn't see it. Old reese stewart, who was a genius? No one could see it. My teachers couldn't see it.

Speaker 1:

The audacity you know, the, the uh. You have to be so wrapped up in yourself to think you're a genius just because he could draw these crappy little pictures and write this jabberwocky gibberish and and and I, I'm just beyond stunned and and what I think has happened. And what I think happened is they got these four guys in a room and he said look, boys, you've got an interesting charisma here. And I think what we're going to do is we're going to write some songs for you and we're going to toss it off and make it sound as if you wrote them all. I don't know what happened. I really don't know what happened. None of us know, but somehow George Martin, george Harrison, john Lennon, paul McCartney, ringo Starr were lauded as being four geniuses that could do no wrong and everything they touched turned to gold. And even to this day, years and years after their breakup as a band, they're lauding this band as being genius for everything they do, everything they did.

Speaker 1:

The two remaining Beatles or it might be the one remaining, beatle and Billy. They release a book. Ringo releases a book of photography that he took back in the 60s when they were on tour, and it's like oh it's genius. It's a picture of fans screaming at the limousine window. Oh it's genius, it's Ringo. It must be genius. Paul McCartney releases the book of his paintings. They're crap, they're complete crap. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, pete, that's genius. That's just Paul McCartney work and what he does is genius, you know, and some of the George Harrison stuff that came out in All Things Must Pass. That album is being lauded as being one of the greatest albums of all time.

Speaker 1:

And All Things Must Pass, that song, just it plods along All things must pass, and it's just the same chords up and down the front E to like F sharp minor seven to something Away. E to like F sharp minor 7 to something. Oh, it's genius. Sorry, sorry, pete, stop, that is genius, I don't care what you say. And it goes on and on and on.

Speaker 1:

They keep repackaging this junk, repackaging it, repackaging it, remastering it, remixing it over and over and over again. I mean, how many different versions do we need to hear? How many times do we need to hear the mono version of Day Tripper versus the stereo version, versus the remastered mono version, versus the remastered stereo version, versus the individual tracks that were released by some schmuck with the software to do it. I just don't get it anymore. Why do we need this constantly being shoved on our throat, that the genius of their bass playing, the genius of their drumming, the genius of their songwriting.

Speaker 1:

And I think we throw the word genius around like it's going out of style. We throw it around like it's you know, hey, you know. It's like if a guy takes a crap on a canvas and sticks a Cheerio in his poop and hangs it on the wall, people are like, oh my God, why didn't I think of that? That's genius. Poop on a canvas with Cheerio, right? Oh my god, I never thought of that. And it is that bad now in the art community. You should see some of the crap that's hanging on the gallery walls around here in Cleveland or in any city.

Speaker 1:

But the point is, I guess the Beatles were geniuses, I guess so. I guess the Beatles were geniuses, I mean I guess. So. I guess they had no help. Nobody came to the studio and said, hey, why don't you try drumming like this? Or hey, let's bring this drummer in and have Ringo sit in the corner. They did it with Alan White and a few other people playing the drums, allegedly just in the first couple recordings, because Ringo wasn't a very good drummer and he's not. I guess he's steady, I guess I don't know, but he's not competent enough to do complex fills. And he'll say well, you know, I don't do a lot of fills. I don't think there's a need for fills really, I just play straight on. That's all I do. I'm a left handed drummer that plays in a right-handed kit, so you know, that's just what I do. Come on, guys, I've seen guys in bar bands that would blow Ringo Starr off the stage. Ringo Starr is a genius because he's a Beatle. John Lennon is a genius because he's a Beatle. Same with Paul McCartney, the same with George Harrison.

Speaker 1:

They were lauded as being, and marketed as being, geniuses because of who they are, and I'm tired of it. So it's just. This song Love Me Do drives me crazy, and if they took every copy of it in the world and shot it off into the sun and nobody could ever hear it again, it would be a better place as far as I'm concerned. All right, I'm PT Pop. If you like this video, give me the thumbs up, laud me as being a genius, subscribe, tell your friends about it, think about it. Are they really geniuses? Hasta la vista, baby. Would you like fries with that, would you like?

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