George Harrison's Jukebox

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Not sure if anyone has talked about this before, but in 1966, George Harrison's jukebox was featured in the Record Mirror. His collection of the 40 discs he was listening to at the moment included two Beach Boys discs (#8 and #39). Curious on your thoughts about his choices:

http://www.45cat.com/45_list_view_record.php?li=368

[Bicyclerider]

What does "For Let Him Run Wild" mean?  How do we know that's why he had that single in there, if that's what that indicates?

I'm impressed with the amount of soul/R & B, not just Motown but lots of Atlantic and Stax artists.  I'm surprised there aren't more girl group records since the Beatles were fond of them and recorded several girl group songs.  Maybe that was John and Paul's thing.

[rab2591]

What does "For Let Him Run Wild" mean?  How do we know that's why he had that single in there, if that's what that indicates?

I was wondering this too. If they do know that 'Let Him Run Wild' was the preferred side I'm kinda surprised Harrison preferred that more. But on second thought 'California Girls' production is far from what the Beatles were remotely into so I can kinda see why LHRW was preferred.

[guitarfool2002]

The number of American soul and R&B records he had, specifically Stax, ties in to this time in Beatles history when they were looking to record somewhere other than Abbey Road, and went to Steve Cropper at Stax with the notion of him producing them at Stax studio. The story is that Cropper and Stax made them an offer that was so high it was almost insulting to the Beatles who felt they were either being taken to the cleaners or hustled, so that deal fell through. There was some turmoil within Abbey Road and EMI at that time too, Norman Smith had left to pursue producing within EMI just after Rubber Soul, and George Martin was one of a group who was going independent as AIR rather than being beholden to the EMI staff. So the Beatles tried going to the source of those records that were in George's jukebox, Steve Cropper and Stax for one.

Enter Geoff Emerick who was able to bend and break the Abbey Road rules enough to give the band the sounds they were hearing on those 45's from America, specifically Motown and southern soul with the bass sounds, and work began on Revolver in March '66.

But Harrison's list full of those American soul records is right in line with where the Beatles were at in terms of recording and wanting those American sounds especially just after Rubber Soul. I'm sure several of those 45's were the ones played for George Martin and Emerick with the question "why can't our records have that bass sound too?".

[Chocolate Shake Man]

What does "For Let Him Run Wild" mean?  How do we know that's why he had that single in there, if that's what that indicates?

I'm guessing it's because that's what he told the journalist at the time. You see the same thing with one of the Booker T. records.

If they do know that 'Let Him Run Wild' was the preferred side I'm kinda surprised Harrison preferred that more. But on second thought 'California Girls' production is far from what the Beatles were remotely into so I can kinda see why LHRW was preferred.

Perhaps but The Little Girl I Once Knew has a pretty similar sound and he has included that. My guess - and it's only a guess - is that Harrison felt disconnected from the lyrics.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

The number of American soul and R&B records he had, specifically Stax, ties in to this time in Beatles history when they were looking to record somewhere other than Abbey Road, and went to Steve Cropper at Stax with the notion of him producing them at Stax studio. The story is that Cropper and Stax made them an offer that was so high it was almost insulting to the Beatles who felt they were either being taken to the cleaners or hustled, so that deal fell through. There was some turmoil within Abbey Road and EMI at that time too, Norman Smith had left to pursue producing within EMI just after Rubber Soul, and George Martin was one of a group who was going independent as AIR rather than being beholden to the EMI staff. So the Beatles tried going to the source of those records that were in George's jukebox, Steve Cropper and Stax for one.

Enter Geoff Emerick who was able to bend and break the Abbey Road rules enough to give the band the sounds they were hearing on those 45's from America, specifically Motown and southern soul with the bass sounds, and work began on Revolver in March '66.

But Harrison's list full of those American soul records is right in line with where the Beatles were at in terms of recording and wanting those American sounds especially just after Rubber Soul. I'm sure several of those 45's were the ones played for George Martin and Emerick with the question "why can't our records have that bass sound too?".

Absolutely.

Motown was definitely dominant in 1963/64, and plainly still a favourite throughout 1965 and 1966. However, in 1965, they also turned toward the more grittier sounds of Stax, James Brown, Nina Simone, and even straight blues (there is a picture from the RS sessions where they have a copy of a BB King album out) and a lot of those interests are on display here.

[bossaroo]

very cool. we all know of Paul's affection for Brian and the BBs, and there are some quotes from John as well, but I've never heard any praise from George that I can recall. 

there's a documentary about John's portable jukebox, which was made into a compilation album:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon's_jukebox


interesting that George and John had some of the same titles, but no Beach Boys on John's... at least not at that time.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

very cool. we all know of Paul's affection for Brian and the BBs, and there are some quotes from John as well, but I've never heard any praise from George that I can recall. 

there's a documentary about John's portable jukebox, which was made into a compilation album:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon's_jukebox


interesting that George and John had some of the same titles, but no Beach Boys on John's... at least not at that time.

Yeah, the Lennon jukebox list is from roughly the same time period, though probably a bit earlier in 1965, which is why his list has so many records from '65. Both lists combined work to show what the band was listening to in the Rubber Soul/Revolver era.

I have read somewhere that Lennon was a big fan of Little Girl I Once Knew as well but now I can't remember where I saw that.

[Adult Child]

I always had the impression (for some reason I don't know) that only Paul really listened to the Beach Boys, or on his own anyway. John has that one quote about 'The Little Girl I Once Knew' but that's the only time I recall him mentioning The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson (besides that telephone call in 1966, and that one night in the 1970s when John met Brian dozens of times). This is just my opinion but I think John, while recognizing to an extent Brian's talent, was sort of turned off by their image ("very clean" in the words of Paul). John's second son Sean is a huge Beach Boys fan and I've always wondered if Sean could've really gotten John to see their greatness, because Sean's really smart and woulda coulda been able to say it in a way John would've understood I think, woulda really got it. At least enough to get past the image.

I was watching The Beatles Anthology movie the other day (the extras disc) and Paul, George and Ringo were sitting around in a table in 1994 talking about their (Beatles collectively) influences in 66/67 and George brought up Pet Sounds which sort of surprised me. He said it in a way that made it sound like he was very fond of it. Maybe I just heard it that way.

I wish Paul would talk more about Pet Sounds and the effect it had on him. Every time he's talked about it he's had the greatest things to say but he rarely talks about it ever. His speech inducting Brian into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame is moving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYR327oEdY8

[Lonely Summer]

I always had the impression (for some reason I don't know) that only Paul really listened to the Beach Boys, or on his own anyway. John has that one quote about 'The Little Girl I Once Knew' but that's the only time I recall him mentioning The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson (besides that telephone call in 1966, and that one night in the 1970s when John met Brian dozens of times). This is just my opinion but I think John, while recognizing to an extent Brian's talent, was sort of turned off by their image ("very clean" in the words of Paul). John's second son Sean is a huge Beach Boys fan and I've always wondered if Sean could've really gotten John to see their greatness, because Sean's really smart and woulda coulda been able to say it in a way John would've understood I think, woulda really got it. At least enough to get past the image.

I was watching The Beatles Anthology movie the other day (the extras disc) and Paul, George and Ringo were sitting around in a table in 1994 talking about their (Beatles collectively) influences in 66/67 and George brought up Pet Sounds which sort of surprised me. He said it in a way that made it sound like he was very fond of it. Maybe I just heard it that way.

I wish Paul would talk more about Pet Sounds and the effect it had on him. Every time he's talked about it he's had the greatest things to say but he rarely talks about it ever. His speech inducting Brian into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame is moving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYR327oEdY8

I think Paul sort of idolized Brian the way George idolized Bob Dylan. Paul was always primarily a melody man (although he did write some good lyrics back in the day - Hey Jude, Let It Be, Fool on the Hill), so he admired Brian's gift of melody, and his ear for production. George, especially after he discovered meditation and Indian religion, valued lyrics as much as melody, and he looked up to Bob as the guy to tell him "where it's at". He quoted Dylan lyrics all the time.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I always had the impression (for some reason I don't know) that only Paul really listened to the Beach Boys, or on his own anyway. John has that one quote about 'The Little Girl I Once Knew' but that's the only time I recall him mentioning The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson (besides that telephone call in 1966, and that one night in the 1970s when John met Brian dozens of times). This is just my opinion but I think John, while recognizing to an extent Brian's talent, was sort of turned off by their image ("very clean" in the words of Paul). John's second son Sean is a huge Beach Boys fan and I've always wondered if Sean could've really gotten John to see their greatness, because Sean's really smart and woulda coulda been able to say it in a way John would've understood I think, woulda really got it. At least enough to get past the image.

I was watching The Beatles Anthology movie the other day (the extras disc) and Paul, George and Ringo were sitting around in a table in 1994 talking about their (Beatles collectively) influences in 66/67 and George brought up Pet Sounds which sort of surprised me. He said it in a way that made it sound like he was very fond of it. Maybe I just heard it that way.

I wish Paul would talk more about Pet Sounds and the effect it had on him. Every time he's talked about it he's had the greatest things to say but he rarely talks about it ever. His speech inducting Brian into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame is moving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYR327oEdY8

While The Beatles continued to be voracious listeners of contemporary music throughout the 60s and had big personal favourites, they all seemed to return to the 50s as their obsession (except for the possibility of Harrison who, as Adult Child mentions below) appeared to equally be as obsessed with Bob Dylan and I would also say Indian classical music. John had lots of contemporary interests throughout the 60s: soul, Dylan, Lovin' Spoonful, Byrds, Nilsson, experimental but I'm sure if you asked him at any given point to name his top 10 songs, they would have been either exclusively or almost exclusively 1956-62 rock and roll/r&b tracks. The same seems to be true of McCartney - while he undoubtedly loves Pet Sounds, and while I think he would list God Only Knows as a favourite (probably not THE favourite as Brian insists), his list would most likely be dominated by those old records.

[Lonely Summer]

I always had the impression (for some reason I don't know) that only Paul really listened to the Beach Boys, or on his own anyway. John has that one quote about 'The Little Girl I Once Knew' but that's the only time I recall him mentioning The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson (besides that telephone call in 1966, and that one night in the 1970s when John met Brian dozens of times). This is just my opinion but I think John, while recognizing to an extent Brian's talent, was sort of turned off by their image ("very clean" in the words of Paul). John's second son Sean is a huge Beach Boys fan and I've always wondered if Sean could've really gotten John to see their greatness, because Sean's really smart and woulda coulda been able to say it in a way John would've understood I think, woulda really got it. At least enough to get past the image.

I was watching The Beatles Anthology movie the other day (the extras disc) and Paul, George and Ringo were sitting around in a table in 1994 talking about their (Beatles collectively) influences in 66/67 and George brought up Pet Sounds which sort of surprised me. He said it in a way that made it sound like he was very fond of it. Maybe I just heard it that way.

I wish Paul would talk more about Pet Sounds and the effect it had on him. Every time he's talked about it he's had the greatest things to say but he rarely talks about it ever. His speech inducting Brian into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame is moving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYR327oEdY8

While The Beatles continued to be voracious listeners of contemporary music throughout the 60s and had big personal favourites, they all seemed to return to the 50s as their obsession (except for the possibility of Harrison who, as Adult Child mentions below) appeared to equally be as obsessed with Bob Dylan and I would also say Indian classical music. John had lots of contemporary interests throughout the 60s: soul, Dylan, Lovin' Spoonful, Byrds, Nilsson, experimental but I'm sure if you asked him at any given point to name his top 10 songs, they would have been either exclusively or almost exclusively 1956-62 rock and roll/r&b tracks. The same seems to be true of McCartney - while he undoubtedly loves Pet Sounds, and while I think he would list God Only Knows as a favourite (probably not THE favourite as Brian insists), his list would most likely be dominated by those old records.

For George, it can be narrowed down to Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan and Carl Perkins. For John and Paul, it would probably always come back to Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and early Elvis. I'm thankful they always talked about these guys, it got me interested enough to check them out.