Can someone define "Granny music?"

I should have made the connection. It was clear in your thread starter. Maybe it's just a "Granny Smith" thing.

 

A lot of my elder's music tastes, I like, I enjoy, I even hunt copies of. That is mom, dad, and grandparents, and even great grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

 

#2.

 

The direct quote from John about this came from a Melody Maker interview given December 6th, 1969 where he said:

The Beatles can go on appealing to a wide audience as long as they make albums like Abbey Road, which have nice little folk songs like Maxwell's Silver Hammer for the grannies to dig.

John also allegedly, "openly and vocally detested" the song, O-bla-di O-bla-da. calling it Paul's "granny music ****" according to studio engineer Geoff Emerick, in Here There and Everywhere, p.246

O-bla-di O-bla-da was supposedly a (failed) attempt at a Jamaican reggae style song. The Beatles were 5 weeks into the white album sessions when they began work on O-bla-di O-bla-da and up to that point they had not worked on anything of Paul's as a group. Emerick claims John despised the song from the first take, so it was not being asked to repeat it that caused him to dislike it.

These were the only songs that John specifically referred too afaik. Therefore it is not clear that it applies to all the songs mentioned in #2 and it is related to #6 though whether his objection was the lyrics is unclear. He was talking about "nice little folk songs"

 

Thanks for that. That sounds like the comment I remembered... so the term is very loosely defined as music that grannies would dig, as I recalled. Emerick's recollections should be taken with a grain of salt, as his memory is apparently very poor and his book has numerous fact errors. So the only song we know for certain Lennon regarded as a "granny song" is Maxwell. The rest is all speculation/extrapolation about what a grandmother might dig.

 

My Granny was a HUGE Miles, Coltrane, Isaac Hayes, and James Brown fan!

 

In the future, future grannies may enjoy Justin Bieber.

That's how Criswell would put it

 

Any recommendations for Granny Music comps ?

 

Not sure l could define it, but l think it's got a connection to the term, 'he's an all round entertainer'.

 

My Gran liked Arthur Askey:



Very similar to Paul's work.

 

My grandmother used to play this on a 78.



It's not unlike some of the pastiches McCartney and others came up with in the 60s, except back then the "vocal refrain" was very much an afterthought (it doesn't appear until 1.38). I quite like it - good tune and witty lyrics.

 

I can define "Granny Music" it's how John Lennon defines the audience for a song when he's in a bad mood.

We really weren't meant to be talking about it 47 years later

 

You should ask your mother...

 

I agree wholeheartedly. Transcending the demographics is another nail in the coffin of ageism.

 

Good idea. Sounds like something I would buy.

 

Calling "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" granny music I can see, but the description wouldn't have made sense for some of the other tunes on Abbey Road, such as "Come Together" or "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

 

This is what I have always heard, and it's an odd comment. John probably meant all those dancehall style tunes (#2 in the original post) but Obladi Oblada doesn't belong in that group.

Jamaicans might have some grounds to criticize the track (the " Ice Ice Baby" of reggae/ska?), but it's not "granny music".

 

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song about a serial killer. My granny would have been horrified.

 

I do not advocate the consumption of nefarious substances, but I've heard that Granny music is more enjoyable if you smoke crawdads before listening.

 

The Beatles - Good Night

Written by John Lennon.

 

Granny music? I prefer the term pre-Elvis

 

I know, but it's a quaint song about a serial killer.

 

And I love it! Beautiful song. Both this one and Paul's "Honey Pie" were covered by Barbra Streisand on her What About Today? album.

 

My gram (may she rest in piece) loved this song, because it was "cute" and "had a good beat".