The Beatles Complete On Ukulele - Beatles Complete On Ukulele For Sale & Magical Mystery Tour (2012/2020)

I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party had been written mainly by John with a few lines from Paul as a country and western song for Ringo but something about the tune resonated deeply with John so he took it for himself. Ringo was left to sing a very half hearted version of Carl Perkins “Honey Don’t” which fortunately we won’t be covering as we only re-record compositions by The Beatles.

John said: “That was a very personal one of mine. In the early days I wrote less material than Paul because he was more competent on the guitar than I. He taught me quite a lot of guitar really.”

Paul sings the high lead during the middle eight, while John does the low harmony. Almost the same thing happened with If I Fell; with John singing the intro all by himself, but for the remainder of the song he’ sings the low harmony. With Beatle songs from this period it is often difficult to distinguish the lead from the harmony. The best example of this is “Baby’s In Black”.

The lyrics revisit Lennon’s familiar themes of alienation and inner pain. In this song, he is at a party, waiting for his girl to show up. When it becomes clear that she has stood him up, he decides to go, rather than spoil the party for everyone else. I sense an anger underneath the lyric. Where is he going? He’s had a drink or two but maybe he needs more. Maybe there is another woman he will be visiting as his first choice is not available.

Both the lyrics and melody share a melancholy sound and theme with previous songs on Beatles for Sale, such as "No Reply" and "I’m a Loser"

The party that should have been a blast but which turned out to be a supremely hurtful confrontation with romantic disappointment or betrayal is one of the archetypal scenarios of the Top-40 pop-song genre. The most famous of which was the teen classic “It’s My Party And I’ll Cry If I Want To”

The Ukulele Version by the Nu-Utopians is a melancholy affair. I should think that this particular party is not wild, maybe a dinner party where the guests all know the history of the sad couple who love each other but simply can not make their relationship work. The empty seat at the table was too much for the protagonist to bear and after an almost silent starter and several glass of wine he can take no more and makes his excuses and leaves to the sad silence of his and his soon to be ex-wife’s friends.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

One of the most unique and compelling interpretations of the late John Lennon’s compositions comes from The Nu-Utopians (formerly The John Lennon Song Project), a 7-piece ensemble created and led by Rex Fowler of Aztec Two-Step and Tom Dean of Devonsquare. Together they have produced a thoughtfully re-imagined tribute that celebrates the genius and artistry of the icon’s music.

his track is a classic cut-and-shut job, gluing together John’s trippy verses and Paul’s happy/nonsense chorus chant. That’s not a criticism at all – this kind of assembly is a practical way of working that many songwriting partnerships use to make a meal out of morsels– “A Day In The Life” is another example from The Beatles’ canon. This is The Beatles so the sum is greater than the parts, the whole is still somewhat ambivalent.

At first hearing, Lennon’s opening “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?” sounds like another challenge to the ‘privileged’ – those financially, spiritually, romantically, politically or otherwise ‘better off’ – from our reliably bitter and twisted working class protagonist. His tirades have certainly been detailed and analyzed before, not least in the essays on this website. By this time, though, the West Coast hippy drop-outs and other ‘beautiful people’ to whom Lennon may have been referring had bought a whole lot of Beatles records – Johnny, You’re A Rich Man, too. Then again, The Beatles started ‘Pop’ and went ‘Weird’ – and took their entranced audience with them – so, unlike many, they could hardly be accused of ‘selling out’: if Baby, You’re A Rich Man is in fact a ‘get over it’ message, as I may be implying, who needs to get over it? Oh, that’ll be bitter and twisted, John, then, after all… the beautiful people’s newest recruit.

The Epstein references? I’m not going there…

Well maybe a bit.

The Epstein thing. As you probably know – Lennon sang (or wanted to) ‘Baby You’re A Rich Fag Jew’ referring to their Semitic Jewish manager Brian Epstein. This I believe to be totally untrue. There’s absolutely no actual recording or other proof of it anywhere. Everywhere I have researched this track, that’s quoted. Slack writing. So tempting and easy to pass the juicy morsel on, untested. Old school journalism – pissed by lunchtime in a pub on Fleet Street, seduced by a tart with a brown envelope full of tenners – but that ain’t how we roll at TBCOU.

Actually, as you may have gathered, especially if you’ve listened to the song, IT’S ALL MADE UP and IT DOESN’T MATTER. Baby, You’re A Rich Man is just a whole bunch of fun. It was recorded and mixed in a single 9 pm to 3 am session at Olympic Studios, engineered by Keith Grant, out of the band’s Abbey Road comfort zone in space and pace. Lennon makes a distinctive mark on the track with the clavioline, an early synthesizer designed to mimic solo string and brass instruments – here it sounds a bit like an oboe or a medieval shawn. Besides the Fab Four, Mick Jagger’s name appears on the tape boxes – usually this is taken to mean he contributed on backing vocals, but to me it sounds more like he played the maracas credited to Ringo. And I can’t pick out Jagger’s singing, in the outros, as often alleged, but I’d know his maracas anywhere!

The ukulele version by songstress, singer and exquisite beauty Emily Zuzik captures all the wide-eyed playful protest of the original with a re-wired clarity, patch-working guitars, electronics, a whole swirl of backing vocals, the occasional drum fill and something that sounds like the clavioline’s bastard grandchild.

Oh, and a ukulele, of course…