#scintilla13: these are words that go together well

[jon_chaisson]

What is the longest thing you know by heart (for example, a prayer, speech, commercial jingle, etc.)? Why did you learn it?

I know pretty much every officially released songs by the Beatles by heart. I'm still learning how to play a lot of them, something I'm doing while I'm writing my Blogging the Beatles posts, but I've listened to the albums for so long that I know all the lyrics and much of the instrumentation and can hear them clearly in my head if I thought about them (I'm thinking of the guitar and bass saxophone back-and-forth in "Savoy Truffle" as I type this). And yes, I even know "Revolution 9" pretty well.

I can also quote nearly all of Yellow Submarine if given a prompt, since I've watched that movie countless times since I was probably eight or nine.

The best payoff, though, was when A. and I went to see a version of Shakespeare's King Lear. Come Act 4 Scene 6 in which Edgar and Edmund duel to the death, I started quoting the play verbatim under my breath, much to A.'s complete surprise. And why did I know this one bit, when I can only quote small bits and pieces of other Shakespeare plays? Because of the last minute of "I Am the Walrus". ;)

Comments

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about "I am the Walrus" but I should have.

I know a lot of the Beatles songs by heart. Grew up hearing them over and over and over.

Is there a best boxed set?

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

If you're looking for a good compilation, the Red Album (1962-1966) and the Blue Album (1967-1970 are good samplers and my favorites of the many "hits" albums. 1 is a lengthy collection of songs that hit #1 on the US and/or UK charts, but misses out on some of their great album cuts. I believe all three have been released with the new remasters at this time.

Of course, getting all the 2009 remastered cds are well worth it. ;)

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

The answer I was looking for was "the 2009 remastered cds" -- wasn't sure what the most current bestest version was.

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

Ah! Gotcha. I answered well before I had my coffee and misread your question. Sorry about that. ;)

The stereo box set is wonderful--excellent sound and great packaging, and for those like me who get into the minutiae of the songs, you can definitely hear a big improvement over the 1987 cd releases.

I'm not sure if he mono box set is still available, but that's fun too if you're a completist. Interesting differences from the stereo mixes, as they were done separately at the time rather than using the same mix for both versions.