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Saturday, March 12, 2011

Friday Evening Prayer Meeting

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A rarely heard Beatles slow-dancer; one of my favorites of the era. I don't really remember it charting, possibly because there was too much competition from other Fab Four hits at the same time.



My clearest memory of it is from a 6th grade party in Nicky Bajovich's basement, spring 1965, dimly illuminated and with a certain amount of Crazy Foam being sprayed about for poorly understood psychosexual stimulative reasons. (It was a sweetly innocent era, and rapidly drawing to a close.)

The song was mainly composed by Lennon, and it was one of his least favorites. I disagree.

Yes It Is, The Beatles (1965, B-side of 45 rpm single Ticket To Ride, reissued 2009 in "The Beatles In Mono" box set, Mono Masters disc 1, track 17, EMI LC 0299), via YouTube, embedded for noncommercial critical discussion and educational purposes.

Editor's note: the YouTube version posted here is from the "Past Masters" compilations, but I cite the mono digital remaster that I have in my library. Six/half-dozen, etc....

3 comments:

  1. Your memories of those previous lives wrapped around a song are always the best.

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  2. God, I almost looked forward to being dumped by my girlfriends (I never had the chance to dump them) so I could mope around all day listening to songs like this and imagining what true love was like.

    Innocent! we didn't know we were born.

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  3. 59er: thanks, as always. I'm glad you enjoy reading the free-associations, even if they may also seem to be flights of self indulgence. I'm always curious if they resonate with anyone.

    Marginalia: that is so goddam funny! (Speaking from an empathic---not a sadistic---viewpoint.) The music industry kingpins were very perceptive to know they could sell the sounds of self-pity like hotcakes! As "wallow" songs go, though, I think "Yes It Is" is a rare gem. Lennon's little volume pedal (or knob) trick added just the right touch.

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