Something

When we hear Beatles songs from their albums or singles, we are hearing the finished product. All the work that went into them remains hidden, as it should. But if you want to hear the Beatles at work, listen to their demos.

Cry Baby Cry

A demo Lennon made at Harrison's house.

Black Crowes - My Morning Song

It's important to have morning songs when you're not a morning person.

Sexy Sadie

Another of Lennon's quips: You'll get yours yet.

Pearl Jam - Immortality

From 2003. 

Merlin's Magic - The Heart Of Reiki

I just have to post this one every once in awhile. It's beautiful and very relaxing.

Morgan Freeman Advocates Legalization

So now we have heard from God himself on this issue. What more needs to be said? With cynical dinosaurs like Michele Leonhart running the DEA, apparently, a lot more needs to be said.

Ed Sheeran - You Need Me

Another clip from Latitude Festival.

John and Yoko...and Frank Zappa

Neither the sound nor the visuals are great, but they are good enough. I wonder what Yoko is driving at? And Zappa, well Zappa is a shredder, my friends.

At about 8.40 Zappa's band (the Mothers?) starts imitating Yoko. Hmmm...

Pomplamoose Mashup Gotye, Jespen

It's a super pop mashup.

Miracles of Modern Science - Call Me Maybe

MMS throw down on this cover of C. R. Jespen's monster hit "Call Me Maybe" (h/t Cover Me).

Lana Del Rey - Heart-Shaped Box

The prospect of the hated Lana Del Rey covering Nirvana sets up a negative knee jerk reaction. Del Rey, long considered by indie purists to be inauthentic, toying with the work of the sainted Kurt Cobain amounts to, as Stereogum's Tom Breihan puts it, "trolling the universe". One commenter on the post compared it Miley Cyrus's ill advised cover of "Smalls Like Teen Spirit".



I completely disagree with this lazy comparison. Del Rey pulls off a compelling take on a song that, coming from her, has a great deal of meaning. Breihan writes, "Given that all of LDR’s moves are painstakingly calculated and clearly all fame and its effects, this isn’t just a case of a singer singing a song she likes."

The song is unintentionally enhanced by the position of the phone filming Del Rey, which forces us to peek over the hedges to see her, as if she's literally the girl next door dreaming of being a famous singer and acting it out in her backyard. It's the innocent antithesis of pop fame.

Julia

If you don't know already that Julia was Lennon's mother, run down by an automobile when Lennon was about 16, well, you don't know Jack.

Violent Femmes - Kiss Off

I hope you know, this will go down on your permanent record.

Slow Club -- Nothing Can Stop Us Now

From the recent Latitude Festival.

Abbey Road Medley

The medley on the second side of Abbey Road supplies one of the most significant moments in 20th century music. And let this post stand for our daily dose of John Lennon for The Year of John Lennon, 2012.

Elliott Smith - Alameda

"So now you see your first mistake..."

Jerry Seinfeld Drives. Larry David Eats A Pancake.

This is episode one of Jerry Seinfeld's fun new web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Wonder what that show is about.

From Crackle: Larry Eats A Pancake

Mr. Seinfeld is going out on tour. Brooklyn Vegan has details.

John Lennon - Hold On

1970.

Missy Higgins - Hello Hello

I know not of this Missy Higgins, but she did well for herself on The Tonight Show.

The Elected - Have You Been Cheated

Hard to believe it's been over a year since Bury Me in My Rings came out.

Alex Clare - Too Close

Nice acoustic rendering of that cool dub-step song from that commercial.

John Lennon - Well Well Well

From Lennon's minimalist Plastic Ono Band album, 1970.

John Lennon - Imagine, Acoustic

Yeah.

Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

From 1997's The Dance.

Lissie - Pursuit of Happiness

Lissie turned rapper Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness" into a dynamic rock anthem.

Florence and the Machine - The Chain

Florence and the Machine entertain the hoards with this one time only cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain".

John Lennon - Oh My love

With George Harrison on guitar, and Nicky Hopkins on piano. They have all left us.

1971.

Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter

It amazes me to see this South American stadium fully engaged with this song, which was left off the 1991 album Ten.

Refused - New Noise

Back from the 90s, hard core Swedish band Refused stopped by Fallon to smack some people around with their awesomeness. It's delightful to see heavy music done well. There's just not a lot of that kind of thing anymore.  

Lissie - Go Your Own Way

Positively brilliant Fleetwood Mac cover.

Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop

Form the first inauguration of William Jefferson Clinton.

Fleetwood Mac - Chain

Aaron Lariviere has a great post up on Stereogum about the history of Fleetwood Mac.

The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling

I dig these guys.

Linda Ronstadt and The Muppets - Blue Bayou

Circa 1980. Part one of full episode here.

John Lennon - Jealous Guy

A beautiful melody.

Lissie - Hello

Is it me you're looking for?

2012 - The Year Of John Lennon

People say the world is going to end in 2012. So we will be listening to John Lennon.

Free As A Bird

The late, great, John Lennon sings an early, unproduced version.

Lissie - Record Collector

Lissie stopped by the Current studios in Minnesota. The whole performance is here.

John Lennon - Isolation

I like the stripped down, minimalist arrangement.

Fiona Apple at Largo

Short set by the great Fiona Apple.

Sarah Blasko - Don't Dream it's Over

"...but you turn right over to the TV page."

This Land Was Made For You And Me

We must post this for Woody Guthrie's centennial. It is required.

Woody Guthrie - Pretty Boy Floyd

I like Guthrie's observation about men robbing you with a fountain pen, but outlaws don't drive families from their homes. Ain't that the truth. It takes a lawyer to do that.

Woody Guthrie Centennial

Guthrie was born a hundred years ago today in Okemah, Oklahoma. If you don't know about Guthrie, you should, because he was a major figure in inspiring the folk music of the 60s, and he gave voice to the hope of justice and prosperity for the poor and oppressed.

1912-1967.

13Chicken - Summer of The Drugs

YouTube Uke-ist busts a surreal, yet charismatic rendition of Soul Asylum's cover of Victoria Williams's "Summer of Drugs".

Across the Universe, I Want You (She's So Heavy)

A lot of people I talk to didn't like this movie at all. I thought it was really good. It's totally insane and doesn't seem to be grounded in any way, but it's got colorful and passionate re-creations of Beatles songs.

More Zen Garden

I just can't get enough of this music!

John Lennon - Give Peace A Chance

I'm not sure that everyone is talking about this stuff, but let's give it a chance.

Skeeter Davis - The End Of The World

Whenever the Station Agent posts a cover of a song from the 60's, I guess I can't resist posting the original.

The Last Names - The End of the World

Every bit as melancholy and infinitely sad as the original. 

Year Of Mourning For Rilo Kiley Ends

Like Beatles people back in the 1970s, the dedicated staff at The Walrus Speaks will continue to hope that Rilo Kiley will get back together, but for now we are taking guitarist Blake Sennett's declaration that the band is finished. The Walrus Speaks has been observing a year long period of mourning for the band.

For the finale of our year of mourning I am posting "The Good That Won't Come Out" because it is the Rilo Kiley song that started it all for me. The Station Agent made this video several years ago, while a cat and I watched. This one's for you, Jayman.

Good Will Hunting Bar Scene

The classic scene that made Matt Damon and Gordon Wood famous.



Messiah College history professor John Fea has an interesting blog post about this scene here.

JJAMZ - Heartbeat

Finally got my hands on the new JJAMZ album Suicide Pact. I concur with Time Out New York's Mikael Wood who writes, "Far from a half-assed vanity project, Suicide Pact could end up the year’s best indie-rock record, full of sticky tunes, chewy guitar textures and some excellently icy vocals by [Z] Berg, who never sounded this sexy-scary in the Like."

Rilo Kiley - The Execution Of All Things

This song really grew on me.

Good Morning, Good Morning

More Lennon gold.

Elliott Smith - Miss Misery

This is the ending sequence from the film Good Will Hunting. This is the fulfillment of Chuckie's wish that one day he would knock on Will's door and he would be gone.

The song is Elliott Smith's "Miss Misery".  

Blind Melon - Soup

Behold, the impossible voice of Shanon Hoon. 

Nowhere Man

One of my very favorite Lennon compositions.

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

Blistering 2007 performance. 

Meiko - Leave The Lights On

On tour this summer.

Rilo Kiley - The Good That Won't Come Out

Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley.

John Lennon - Beautiful Boy

Beautiful indeed.

Elliott Smith - Say Yes

From his 1997 album Either/Or.

Grouplove - Tongue Tied

Amazing how groups can spring onto the scene and I still don't hear about them until a year later. 

Ticket To Ride

From the Ed Sullivan Show, August 14, 1965.

Mary Timony

From about 2005, I have heard. The drummer kicks you know what, does he not?

Caroline Smith - She Ain't Got It

From her 2010 stop at Current studios.

Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in The Dark

The boss dances with his daughter.

Rilo Kiley - With Arms Outstretched

Beautiful.

John Lennon - Watching The Wheels

This is Lennon in his house husband phase. Well do I know it.

2012 - The Year Of John Lennon

A girl with kaleidoscope eyes...

Blind Melon - Walk

Recently finished reading the book A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon. My review is here. This is a live version of "Walk" the band recorded for MuchMusic back when MuchMusic was a thing.

You're Going To Lose That Girl

You better treat your woman right.

John Adams

If you have not seen John Adams, well, you simply must.

Jimi Hendrix - Star Spangled Banner

Happy Independence Day. How fares the Republic?

Of Monsters and Men - Dirty Paws

From their performance at the Bowery in New York earlier this year.

Andy Griffith (1926-2012)

Griffith beats all.

The Word

I feel that "The Word" deserves more attention. Classic Lennon lyrics. "I'm here to show everybody the light."

Jonathan Krohn Gets Real

Jonathan Krohn is the 13 year old kid who wrote a conservative book in 2009, and was feted by the Red State Confederacy and discussed as an up-and-coming with potential. So what made him turn away from conservatism? He studied philosophy. It seems that his conservative ideas could not brook the cleansing power of critical thinking, a Foreword by former "Drug Czar" William Bennett notwithstanding.

Read about him.