What was it about the "Ram" lp that Lennon found so offensive?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by audio, Nov 5, 2006.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Lord Hawthorne

    Lord Hawthorne Currently Untitled

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    He also says to Donovan that he had played it to Diana Ross the other night and that she was offended.
     
  2. Lord Hawthorne

    Lord Hawthorne Currently Untitled

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    I take it be like a lot of the other songs an that album, to Yoko, with whom he had just split up.
     
  3. Veech

    Veech Space In Sounds

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Spinning considerably off-topic here, I've always felt that "Wild Honey Pie" was inspired by Yoko in one way or another. The dissonant vocal harmonies especially strike me as something that came from way out in left field for a Paul song, and possibly something written with her avant-garde (a clue) performances in mind.
     
  4. Marry a Carrot

    Marry a Carrot Interesting blues gets a convincing reading.

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I forgot about that. Here's a quick transcript:

    Paul: I sang it to Diana Ross the other night. She took offense. Not really. [Both laugh.] But I did mean it like that originally.
    Donovan: Really?
    Paul: Yeah, I just sort of read something in the paper about riots and that.
     
  5. Inscape

    Inscape New Member

    Location:
    Montreal
    Thank you for the transcript! This seems to make it pretty much undeniable that Paul in fact did have the civil rights/Black power movement in mind when he wrote the song.
     
  6. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Theres' also been rumors that Yoko slept with Paul before she first met John. Who knows?
     
  7. Anthology123

    Anthology123 Senior Member

    One thing about John that was certain more so than the others is that he listened to the music the other three were doing.
     
  8. Chief

    Chief Over 12,000 Served

    I'm blown away. Marry a Carrot, I was serious about "Dear Boy". Paul certainly said it was about Linda's ex.

    John said that the last McCartney album he heard in full was Red Rose Speedway. I'm sure he couldn't escape the singles from the following years as he later commented on "Goodnight Tonight" and "Coming Up".

    George said (somewhere) that "I'm Carrying" was his favorite from London Town. Who even would've thought that George listened to London Town???
     
  9. Magill

    Magill New Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Your right, he did. The woman he mentions is Diana Ross and the germ of the idea come from reading about the civil rights riots; Here's a transcription of the boot;

    Transcript for No. 3 Abbey Road N.W. 8" bootleg CD from November 1968:

    Paul: (singing) Black bird singing in the dead of night...
    Donovan: Yeah, that's beautiful.
    Paul: (singing) Take these broken wings and learn to fly...
    Donovan: This is the one just for the guitar on the LP, eh? (apparently Paul
    nods.) Yeah.
    Paul: (singing) All your life... (speaking) It's about a blackbird.
    Donovan: Yeah. A black bird playing a tune, eh?
    Paul: (singing) You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
    Donovan starts making bird noises, similar to those heard on the final
    recording. Mary Hopkins can be heard trying to sing quietly along with Paul in
    the background.
    Donovan: Fantastic.
    Paul: (singing) Blackbird singing in the dead of night... (Donovan joins in
    attempting to harmonize)...take these sunken eyes and learn to see,
    All your life...you were only waiting for this moment to be free,
    Blackbird fly,
    Blackbird fly,
    Into the light of a dark black night.
    Donovan: You see now, there are so many blackbirds (black birds?) now.
    Paul stops playing.
    Paul: I sang it to Diana Ross the other night. She took offense.
    Everyone laughs.
    Paul: Not really. But I did mean it like that originally.
    Donovan: Really?
    Paul: Yeah, I remember... I'd just read something in the paper about riots and
    then (singing briskly) Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these
    broken wings and learn to fly, all your life, you were only waiting...
    Donovan: That's funny, 'cause when you were just singing I was saying 'What a
    way to color a blackbird' There're so many beautiful colors to lift a blackbird
    into people's eyes. So it's...that's wild. But you'll see so many blackbirds,
    as well. When I wrote about a magpie, every time I drive now, they cross the
    path, they're everywhere you go, as if they're going (makes a whistle sound,
    like a bomb being dropped, followed by a small splatting sound)
    Everyone bursts out into laughter.
    Paul: (laughing) Thanks Don, got it...got it, Don. Nice.
    Donovan: Nice one.
    Paul: Beautiful.
     
    khanrahan likes this.
  10. Magill

    Magill New Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Yeah, in a Mojo interview. :righton:


    MOJO (while on the subject of "Ram"): "I think John might have taken DEAR BOY
    as an attack on him."

    PAUL: "'Dear Boy' wasn't getting at John, Dear Boy was actually a song to
    Linda's ex-husband: 'I guess you never knew what you had missed.' I never
    told him that, which was lucky, because he's since committed suicide. And it
    was a comment about him, 'cos I did think, 'Gosh, you know, she's so amazing, I
    suppose you didn't get it.'"

    In reference to Paul's dig at John on "Ram," ("Too Many People") Du Noyer
    contrasts that with a song on "Wildlife": "And this time there's a friendlier
    song for John."

    Paul: DEAR FRIEND was to do with John, a bit of longing about John. Let's
    have a glass of wine and forget about it. A making up song."


    .................................................................................................
     
  11. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    Read it in a book somewhere, but with the Beatles, who knows?


    Evan
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine