Rock/R&B/Soul/Rap

Chuck Berry

Induction Year: 1986

Induction Category: Performer

"While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chassis in his very first single, “Maybellene.” Combined with quick-witted, rapid-fire lyrics full of sly insinuations about cars and girls, Berry laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance. The song included a brief but scorching guitar solo built around his trademark double-string licks. Accompanied by long-time piano player Johnnie Johnson and members of the Chess Records house band, including Willie Dixon, Berry wrote and performed rock and roll for the ages. To this day, the cream of Berry’s repertoire—which includes “Johnny B. Goode,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Rock and Roll Music” and “Roll Over Beethoven”—is required listening for any serious rock fan and required learning for any serious rock musician.

Charles Edward Berry was born in St. Louis on October 18, 1926. In the early Fifties, Berry led a popular blues trio by night and worked as a beautician by day. He befriended Muddy Waters, who thought highly enough of Berry’s ability to introduce him to Leonard Chess, head of Chicago-based Chess Records. It was not his bluesy numbers that convinced Chess to sign Berry but a song on his audition tape called “Ida Red,” an uptempo, R&B-country hybrid that Berry later reworked into “Maybellene.” Released on August 20, 1955, “Maybellene” went to Number 5 in Billboard and established Berry as a rarity: a black artist who successfully crossed over to the largely white pop charts. Asked why he made the transition when so many other deserving black artists in the Fifties had been locked out, Berry replied: “I think it had a lot to do with my diction. The pop fan could understand what I was saying better than many other singers.” It also had a lot to do with his knack for language. Berry offered eloquent testimony to the experience of being a teenager in the changing world of the Fifties, whether he was describing the boredom of classroom-bound students in “School Days” ("Soon as three o’clock rolls around/You finally lay your burden down") or the liberating appeal of rock and roll itself in “Rock and Roll Music” ("It’s got a backbeat, you can’t lose it"). In his words, “Everything I wrote about wasn’t about me, but about the people listening.”

Berry gave rock and roll an archetypal character in “Johnny B. Goode” and was responsible for one of its most recognizable stage moves, his “duckwalk.” All the while, his repertoire—not only the hits, but lesser-known songs like “Little Queenie” and “Let It Rock”—were being mastered by eager apprentices on the other side of the ocean, such as Keith Richards and John Lennon. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and many other British Invasion acts covered Chuck Berry at a time when the master himself was serving two years in prison on what now appear to be trumped-up charges. Released in 1964, Berry proved he still had some rock and roll classics left in him ("No Particular Place to Go,” “You Never Can Tell,” “Promised Land"). All the while, even groups like the Beach Boys plundered Berry for inspiration. Their 1963 hit “Surfin’

U.S.A.” so blatantly appropriated the melody and rhythm of Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” that he sued and won a songwriting credit. Ironically, this venerable rock and roll pioneer achieved his one and only Number 1 hit, “My Ding-a-Ling”—a risque novelty song he’d long been performing in adult nightclub settings—in 1972. By this time, his music had grown so entrenched that he didn’t even tour with a band, preferring to recruit pickup musicians in each new town. In those days, if you knew how to play rock and roll, it was a given that you’d cut your teeth on the songs of Chuck Berry.”

TIMELINE

October 18, 1926: Charles ("Chuck") Edward Anderson Berry is born in St. Louis, Missouri.

December 31, 1952: Needing a replacement for an ailing saxophonist for a New Year’s Eve show, pianist/bandleader Johnnie Johnson calls a guitar-playing acquaintance named Chuck Berry.

1955: Chess releases Chuck Berry’s “Maybelline” and Bo Diddley’s “Bo Diddley.” Diddley’s single is released on Chess Record’s subsidiary label, Checker.

May 1, 1955: Chuck Berry signs with Chess Records, landing a contract on the strength of his songwriting. Label head Leonard Chess is particularly impressed with Berry’s version of an old country & western song, “Ida Red,” which he’s rewritten as “Maybellene.”

May 21, 1955: Chuck Berry records “Maybellene” – an uptempo rewrite of the country-flavored “Ida Red” – with pianist Johnnie Johnson, bass player Willie Dixon and drummer Jasper Thomas. It is the first of Berry’s many hits for Chess Records.

1955: Chuck Berry hits #2 on the R&B chart with the Chess single “Thirty Days.”

August 1, 1955: “Maybellene” by Chuck Berry reaches #5 on Billboard’s Best Sellers chart and tops the R&B chart for eleven weeks.

June 30, 1956: Chuck Berry hits #2 on the R&B chart and #29 on the pop chart with the Chess single “Roll Over Beethoven.”

January 21, 1957: Chuck Berry records “School Days” on Chess Records.

May 1, 1957: Chuck Berry’s first LP, After School Session, is released. It contains such classics as “School Day,” “Too Much Monkey Business,” “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” and “Havana Moon.” Neither it nor its six successors—One Dozen Berrys, Berry Is On Top, Rockin’ At the Hops, New Juke Box Hits, Chuck Berry Twist and More Chuck Berry—will make Billboard’s album charts, as rock and roll is still largely a singles medium.

May 13, 1957: Chuck Berry hits #1 on the R&B chart and #3 on the pop chart with “School Day” and #6 on the R&B chart and #8 (12/23) on the pop chart with “Rock and Roll Music.” Both singles are released on Chess Records.

September - November, 1957: Chuck Berry tours with the “Biggest Show of Stars for ‘57,” sharing stages with Buddy Holly, the Drifters, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, the Everly Brothers, Clyde McPhatter and more.

February 24, 1958: Chuck Berry’s biggest hit of the rock & roll era, “Sweet Little Sixteen,” is released. It reaches #2 on Billboard’s pop chart (held back from the top position by the Champs’ “Tequila") and #1 on the R&B chart.

March 17, 1958: Chuck Berry hits #1 on the R&B chart and #2 on the pop chart with “Sweet Little Sixteen” and #2 on the R&B chart and #8 (6/09) on the pop chart with “Johnny B. Goode.” Both singles are released on Chess Records.

June 14, 1958: The rock and roll classic “Johnny B. Goode,” written by Chuck Berry about pianist/sidekick Johnnie Johnson, makes the Top Ten.

1959: Chuck Berry hits #3 on the R&B chart and #32 (5/04) on the pop chart with the Chess single “Almost Grown.”

May 31, 1961: Berryland Amusement Park opens outside St. Louis.

April 13, 1963: “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” the Beach Boys’ thinly veiled rewrite of “Sweet Little Sixteen,” enters the Top 40 at a time when Chuck Berry is serving a term in a federal penitentiary for violating the Mann Act. Berry later sues for and receives a co-writing credit on “Surfin’ U.S.A.”

May 25, 1963: The Beach Boys score their first Top Ten hit with “Surfin’ USA,” Brian Wilson’s reworking of Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.”

October 24, 1964: Chuck Berry appears in the TAMI ("Teen-Age Music International") Show with the Rolling Stones, James Brown, the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and others. The concert, held in Santa Monica, California, is released the next year as a feature film.

October 28-29, 1964: The concert film ‘The TAMI Show’ is recorded in Santa Monica, CA, featuring James Brown, the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones and the Supremes.

June 1, 1966: Chuck Berry leaves Chess for Mercury Records. Among his Mercury recordings are Live at the Fillmore Auditorium (1968), on which he’s backed by the Steve Miller Band. He ultimately re-signs with Chess in 1970.

May 1, 1972: ‘The London Chuck Berry Sessions’ is released. One side was recorded in a London studio on February 5th with members of the Faces, while the other comprised material from a concert in Lanchester two days earlier, including “My Ding-a-Ling.” It became Berry’s best-selling album, reaching #8 on the Billboard chart and earning gold-record status.

October 21, 1972: Chuck Berry’s only #1 hit, the novelty song “My Ding-a-Ling,” reaches the top of the charts. He’d originally recorded it as “My Tambourine” back in 1958.

1973: After 30 years, pianist Johnnie Johnson leaves Chuck Berry’s band.

March 1, 1978: Chuck Berry plays himself in ‘American Hot Wax’, a film biography of seminal rock and roll deejay Alan Freed.

June 1, 1979: Chuck Berry performs at the White House at the request of President Jimmy Carter. A month later, Berry begins a five-month sentence for income tax evasion.

February 26, 1985: Chuck Berry is given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards. He is cited as “one of the most influential and creative innovators in the history of American popular music.”

January 23, 1986: Chuck Berry is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the first induction dinner, held in New York City. He is inducted by Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who said, “It’s hard for me to induct Chuck Berry, because I lifted every lick he ever played!”

October 8, 1987: ‘Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll’, a movie documentary and concert tribute to Chuck Berry, with Keith Richards as musical director, debuts. A year later, Berry publishes his autobiography.

September 2, 1995: Backed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Chuck Berry performs “Johnny B. Goode” and “Rock and Roll Music” at the Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

November 30, 2001: A multi-count lawsuit against Chuck Berry is filed on behalf of pianist Johnny Johnson. It seeks a share of royalties for Johnson, who allegedly co-composed numerous hit songs with Berry that have heretofore been credited to Berry alone.

Essential Songs

Back in the U.S.A. Maybellene Rock and Roll Music Brown Eyed Handsome Man Too Much Monkey Business Roll Over Beethoven Sweet Little Sixteen School Day Johnny B. Goode Memphis

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/chuck-berry

Back in the U.S.A.by Chuck Berry

Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today,We touched ground on an international runwayJet propelled back home, from over the seas to the U.S.A.

New York, Los Angeles, oh, how I yearned for youDetroit, Chicago, Chattanooga, Baton RougeLet alone just to be at my home back in ol’ St. Lou.

Did I miss the skyscrapers, did I miss the long freeway? From the coast of California to the shores of Delaware BayYou can bet your life I did, till I got back to the U.S.A.

Looking hard for a drive-in, searching for a corner caféWhere hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and dayYeah, and a juke-box jumping with records like in the U.S.A.

Well, I’m so glad I’m livin’ in the U.S.A.Yes. I’m so glad I’m livin’ in the U.S.A.Anything you want, we got right here in the U.S.A.

Maybelleneby Chuck Berry

Maybellene, why can't you be trueOh Maybellene , why can't you be trueYou've started back doin' the things you used to do

As I was motivatin' over the hillI saw Mabellene in a Coup de VilleA Cadillac arollin' on the open roadNothin' will outrun my V8 FordThe Cadillac doin' about ninety-fiveShe's bumper to bumper, rollin' side by sideMaybellene

The Cadillac pulled up ahead of the FordThe Ford got hot and wouldn't do no moreIt then got cloudy and started to rainI tooted my horn for a passin' laneThe rainwater blowin' all under my hoodI know that I was doin' my motor goodMaybellene

Maybellene

The motor cooled down the heat went downAnd that's when I heard that highway soundThe Cadillac asittin' like a ton of leadA hundred and ten half a mile aheadv The Cadillac lookin' like it's sittin' stillAnd I caught Mabellene at the top of the hillMaybellene

Maybellene

Maybellene, why can't you be trueOh Mabellene, why can't you be trueYou've started back doin' the things you used to do

As I was motivatin' over the hillI saw Mabellene in a Coup de VilleA Cadillac arollin' on the open roadNothin' will outrun my V8 FordThe Cadillac doin' about ninety-fiveShe's bumper to bumper, rollin' side by sideMaybellene

The Cadillac pulled up ahead of the FordThe Ford got hot and wouldn't do no moreIt then got cloudy and started to rainI tooted my horn for a passin' laneThe rainwater blowin' all under my hoodI know that I was doin' my motor goodMaybellene

Maybellene

The motor cooled down the heat went downAnd that's when I heard that highway soundThe Cadillac asittin' like a ton of leadA hundred and ten half a mile aheadThe Cadillac lookin' like it's sittin' stillAnd I caught Maybellene at the top of the hillMaybellene

Maybellene

Rock and Roll Musicby Chuck Berry

Just let me hear some of that rock'n'roll musicAny old way you choose itIt's got a backbeat, you can't lose itAny old time you use itIt's gotta be rock - roll musicIf you wanna dance with meIf you wanna dance with me

I have no kick against modern jazzUnless they try to play it too darn fastAnd change the beauty of the melodyUntil it sounds just like a symphonyThat's why I go for that rock'n'roll musicAny old way you choose itIt's got a backbeat, you can't lose itAny old time you use itIt's gotta be rock - roll musicIf you wanna dance with meIf you wanna dance with me

I took my loved one over 'cross the tracksSo she could her my man a - wailin' saxI must admit they have a rockin' bandMan they were goin' like a hurricaneThat's why I go for that rock'n'roll musicAny old way you choose itIt's got a backbeat, you can't lose itAny old time you use itIt's gotta be rock - roll musicIf you wanna dance with meIf you wanna dance with me

Way down South they gave a jubileeThem country folks they had a jamboreeThey're drinkin' home - brew from a wooden cupThe folks dancin' got all shook upAnd started playin' that rock'n'roll musicAny old way you choose itIt's got a backbeat, you can't lose itAny old time you use itIt's gotta be rock - roll musicIf you wanna dance with meIf you wanna dance with me

Don't care to hear 'em play the tangoI'm in no mood to dig a mamboIt's way too early for the congoSo keep a - rockin' that pianoSo I can hear some of that rock'n'roll musicany old way you choose itIt's got a backbeat, you can't lose itAny old time you use itIt's gotta be rock - roll musicIf you wanna dance with meIf you wanna dance with me

Brown Eyed Handsome Manby Chuck Berry

Arrested on charges of unemployment,he was sitting in the witness standThe judge's wife called up the district attorneySaid you free that brown eyed manYou want your job you better free that brown eyed man

Flying across the desert in a TWA,I saw a woman walking across the sandShe been a walkin' thirty miles en route to BombayTo get a brown eyed handsome manHer destination was a brown eyed handsome man

Way back in history three thousand yearsIn fact ever since the world beganThere's been a whole lot of good women sheddin' tearsFor a brown eyed handsome manIt's a lot of trouble was brown eyed handsome man

Beautiful daughter couldn't make up her mindBetween a doctor and a lawyer manHer mother told her darlin' go out and find yourselfA brown eyed handsome manJust like your daddy, he's a brown eyed handsome man

Milo Venus was a beautiful lassShe had the world in the palm of her handBut she lost both her arms in a wrestling matchTo get brown eyed handsome manShe fought and won herself a brown eyed handsome man

Two, three count with nobody onHe hit a high fly into the standRounding third he was headed for homeIt was a brown eyed handsome manThat won the game; it was a brown eyed handsome man

Too Much Monkey Businessby Chuck Berry

Runnin' to-and-fro - hard workin' at the mill.Never fail in the mail - yeah, come a rotten bill!Too much monkey business. Too much monkey business.Too much monkey business for me to be involved in!

Salesman talkin' to me - tryin' to run me up a creek.Says you can buy now, gone try - you can pay me next week, ahh!Too much monkey business. Too much monkey business.Too much monkey business for me to be involved in!

Blond have good looks - tryin' to get me hooked.Want me to marry - get a home - settle down - write a book! Too much monkey business. Too much monkey business.Too much monkey business for me to be involved in!

Same thing every day - gettin' up, goin' to school.No need for me to complain - my objection's overruled, ahh!Too much monkey business. Too much monkey business.Too much monkey business for me to be involved in!

Take home - something wrong - dime gone - will holdOrder suit - hoppered up for telling me a tale - ahh!Too much monkey business. Too much monkey business.Too much monkey business for me to be involved in!

Been to Yokohama - been fightin' in the war.Army bunk - Army chow - Army clothes - Army car, aah!Too much monkey business. Too much monkey business.Too much monkey business for me to be involved in!

Workin' in the fillin' station - too many tasks.Wipe the windows - check the tires - check the oil - dollar gas!Too much monkey business. Too much monkey business.Don't want your botheration, get away, leave me!Too much monkey business for me!

Roll Over Beethovenby Chuck Berry

I'm gonna write a little letter,gonna mail it to my local DJIt's a rockin' rhythm recordI want my jockey to playRoll Over Beethoven, I gotta hear it again today

You know, my temperature's risin'and the jukebox blows a fuseMy heart's beatin' rhythmand my soul keeps on singin' the bluesRoll Over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news

I got the rockin' pneumonia,I need a shot of rhythm and bluesI think I'm rollin' arthritissittin' down by the rhythm reviewRoll Over Beethoven rockin' in two by two

Well, if you feel you like itgo get your lover, then reel and rock itRoll it over and move on up justa trifle further and reel and rock it,roll it over,Roll Over Beethoven rockin' in two by two

Well, early in the mornin' I'm a givin' you a warnin'don't you step on my blue suede shoesHey diddle diddle, I am playin' my fiddle,ain't got nothin' to loseRoll Over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news

You know she wiggles like a glow worm,dance like a spinnin' topShe got a crazy partner,oughta see 'em reel and rockLong as she got a dime the music will never stop

Roll Over Beethoven,Roll Over Beethoven,Roll Over Beethoven,Roll Over Beethoven,Roll Over Beethoven and dig these rhythm and blues

Sweet Little Sixteen by Chuck Berry

They're really rockin' in BostonIn Pittsburgh, Pa.Deep in the heart of TexasAnd round the 'Frisco BayAll over St. LouisAnd down in New OrleansAll the cats wanna dance withSweet Little Sixteen

Sweet Little SixteenShe's just got to haveAbout half a millionFamed autographsHer wallet filled with picturesShe gets them one by oneBecomes so excitedWatch her, look at her run.

"Oh Mommy, MommyPlease may I goIt's such a sight to seeSomebody steal the show""Oh Daddy, DaddyI beg of youWhisper to MommyIt's alright with you"

'Cause they'll be rockin' on BandstandIn Philadelphia, Pa.Deep in the heart of TexasAnd round the 'Frisco BayAll over St. LouisWay down in New OrleansAll the cats wanna dance withSweet Little Sixteen

Sweet Little SixteenShe's got the grown - up bluesTight dresses and lipstickShe's sportin' high - heel shoesOh but tomorrow morningShe'll have to change her trendAnd be sweet sixteenAnd back in class again

Well they'll be rockin' in BostonPittsburgh, Pa.Deep in the heart of TexasAnd round the 'Frisco BayWay out in St.LouisWay down in New OrleansAll the cats wanna dance withSweet Little Sixteen

School Days by Chuck Berry

Up in the mornin' and out to schoolThe teacher is teachin' the Golden RuleAmerican history and practical mathYou study' em hard and hopin' to passWorkin' your fingers right down to the boneAnd the guy behind you won't leave you alone

Ring ring goes the bellThe cook in the lunchroom's ready to sellYou're lucky if you can find a seatYou're fortunate if you have time to eatBack in the classroom open you booksGee but the teacher don't knowHow mean she looks

Soon as three o'clock rolls aroundYou finally lay your burden downClose up your books, get out of your seat

Down the halls and into the streetUp to the corner and 'round the bendRight to the juke joint you go in

Drop the coin right into the slotYou gotta hear something that's really hot

With the one you love you're makin' romanceAll day long you beenWantin' to danceFeelin' the music from head to toe'Round and 'round and 'round you go

Drop the coin right into the slotYou gotta hear something that's really hot

Hail, hail rock'n'rollDeliver me from the days of oldLong live rock'n'rollThe beat of the drum is loud and boldRock rock rock'n'rollThe feelin' is there body and soul

Johnny B. Goodeby Chuck Berry

Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans,Way back up in the woods among the evergreensThere stood a log cabin made of earth and wood,Where lived a country boy named of Johnny B. GoodeWho never ever learned to read or write so well,But he could play the guitar like ringing a bell.

Go GoGo Johnny GoGo GoJohnny B. Goode

He use to carry his guitar in a gunny sackOr sit beneath the trees by the railroad track.Oh, the engineers used to see him sitting in the shade,Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made.The People passing by, they would stop and sayOh my that little country boy could play

Go GoGo Johnny GoGo GoJohnny B. Goode

His mother told him someday you will be a man,And you would be the leader of a big old band.Many people coming from miles aroundTo hear you play your music when the sun go downMaybe someday your name will be in lightsSaying Johnny B. Goode tonight.

Go GoGo Johnny GoGo GoJohnny B. Goode

Memphisby Chuck Berry

Long distance information, give me Memphis TennesseeHelp me find the party trying to get in touch with meShe could not leave her number, but I know who placed the call'Cause my uncle took the message and he wrote it on the wall

Help me, information, get in touch with my MarieShe's the only one who'd phone me here from Memphis TennesseeHer home is on the south side, high up on a ridgeJust a half a mile from the Mississippi Bridge

Help me, information, more than that I cannot addOnly that I miss her and all the fun we hadBut we were pulled apart because her mom did not agreeAnd tore apart our happy home in Memphis Tennessee

Last time I saw Marie she's waving me good-byeWith hurry home drops on her cheek that trickled from her eyeMarie is only six years old, information pleaseTry to put me through to her in Memphis Tennessee

No Particular Place To Goby Chuck Berry

Ridin' along in my automobileMy baby beside me at the wheelI stole a kiss at the turn of a mileMy curiosity runnin' wild

Cruisin' and playin' the radioWith no particular place to go.

Ridin' along in my automobileI'm anxious to tell her the way I feel,So I told her softly and sincere,And she leaned and whispered in my earCuddlin' more and drivin' slow,With no particular place to go.

No particular place to go,So we parked way out on the KokomoThe night was young and the moon was boldSo we both decided to take a strollCan you imagine the way I felt?I couldn't unfasten her safety belt!

Ridin' along in my calabooseStill tryin' to get her belt unlooseAll the way home I held a grudge,But the safety belt, it wouldn't budge

Cruisin' and playin' the radioWith no particular place to go.

You Never Can Tellby Chuck Berry

It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them wellYou could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselleAnd now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell,"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck saleThe coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale,But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blastSeven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazzBut when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

They bought a souped-up jitney, 'twas a cherry red '53,They drove it down New Orleans to celebrate their anniversaryIt was there that Pierre was married to the lovely mademoiselle"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

All I Have To Do Is Dreamby Boudleaux Bryant

Drea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dreamDrea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dreamWhen I want you in my armsWhen I want you and all your charmsWhenever I want you, all I have to do isDrea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream

When I feel blue in the nightAnd I need you to hold me tightWhenever I want you, all I have to do isDrea-ea-ea-ea-eam

I can make you mine, taste your lips of wineAnytime night or dayOnly trouble is, gee whizI'm dreamin' my life away

I need you so that I could dieI love you so and that is whyWhenever I want you, all I have to do isDrea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dreamDrea-ea-ea-ea-eam

I can make you mine, taste your lips of wineAnytime night or dayOnly trouble is, gee whizI'm dreamin' my life away

I need you so that I could dieI love you so and that is whyWhenever I want you, all I have to do isDrea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dreamDrea-ea-ea-ea-eam, dream, dream, dream

Wake Up Little Susieby Felice and Boudleaux Bryant

Wake up, little Susie, wake up Wake up, little Susie, wake up We've both been sound asleepWake up, little Susie and weep The movies over, its four o'clockAnd were in trouble deep Wake up little Susie Wake up little Susie, well

What are we gonna tell your mama What are we gonna tell your pa What are we gonna tell our friends When they say ooh-la-laWake up little Susie Wake up little Susie

Well I told your mama that you'd be in by ten Well Susie baby looks like we goofed again Wake up little Susie Wake up little SusieWe gotta go home

Wake up, little Susie, wake up Wake up, little Susie, wake up The movie wasn't so hotIt didn't have much of a plot We fell asleep, our goose is cookedOur reputation is shot Wake up little Susie Wake up little Susie, well

What are we gonna tell your mama What are we gonna tell your pa What are we gonna tell our friends When they say ooh-la-laWake up little Susie Wake up little SusieWake up little Susie

Last Nightby Buddy Holly

Last night as I watched the stars from my window I pray Lord above to guide and protect you though I'm not wanted now - I still love you somehow that is my only prayer - for you

Last night as I gazed through the mist in my eyes I wanted you here to hold you so near but silence tells me - you didn't hear my plea

I miss you so much since you left me my heart ached apart since you left me

though I'm not wanted now - I still love you somehow that is my only prayer - for you

I Can't Stop Loving Youby Don Gibson

I can’t stop loving youSo I’ve made up my mindTo live in memoryOf such an old lonesome time

I can’t stop wanting youIt’s useless to saySo I’ll just live my lifeIn dreams of yesterday.

Those happy hoursThat we once knewThough long ago,They still make me blue

They say that timeHeals a broken heartBut time has stood stillSince we’ve been apart

Bob Dylan

Induction Year: 1988

Induction Category: Performer

Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica; born May 24, 1941)

Bob Dylan is the uncontested poet laureate of the rock and roll era and the pre-eminent singer/songwriter of modern times. Whether singing a topical folk song, exploring rootsy rock and blues, or delivering one of his more abstract, allegorical compositions, Dylan has consistently demonstrated the rare ability to reach and affect listeners with thoughtful, sophisticated lyrics.

Dylan re-energized the folk-music genre in the early Sixties; brought about the lyrical maturation of rock and roll when he went electric at mid-decade; and bridged the worlds of rock and country by recording in Nashville throughout the latter half of the Sixties. As much as he’s played the role of renegade throughout his career, Dylan has also kept the rock and roll community mindful of its roots by returning to them. With his songs, Dylan has provided a running commentary on our restless age. His biting, imagistic and often cryptic lyrics served to capture and define the mood of a generation.

For this, he’s been elevated to the role of spokesmen - and yet the elusive Dylan won’t even admit to being a poet. “I don’t call myself a poet because I don’t like the word,” he has said. “I’m a trapeze artist.”

Bob Dylan was born Robert Zimmerman on May, 24th, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota and grew up in the iron-mining town of Hibbing. He learned to play harmonica and piano by age ten and was a self-taught guitarist. As a high-school student in the late Fifties, he listened to everyone from Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie to Roy Orbison and Chuck Berry, cultivating a lifelong appreciation for traditional folk, country and rock and roll. While attending the University of Minnesota, Dylan traded his electric guitar for an acoustic instrument and began to pattern himself after quixotic folksingers of the previous generation.

In January 1961, Dylan moved to New York City, where he gravitated to the folk and blues scene on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. He debuted at the premiere Village folk club, Gerde’s Folk City, on April 11th, 1961, opening for bluesman John Lee Hooker. After playing harmonica on a session for folksinger Carolyn Hester, Dylan was signed by producer John Hammond to a contract with Columbia Records. Except for a brief hiatus in the early Seventies, Dylan has recorded for and remained with the label since 1961. Near the outset, fellow folksinger Pete Seeger remarked, “He’ll be America’s greatest troubadour, if he doesn’t explode.”

On Dylan’s self-titled first album he recorded topical folk songs, accompanying himself on harmonica and guitar. Bob Dylan contained only two originals ("Song for Woody” and “Talking New York"). Made in a matter of hours, it cost $402 to record, according to John Hammond. By

contrast, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, released in May 1963, was almost entirely self-composed. That album included three classic antiwar songs - “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Masters of War” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” – that astonished the cognoscenti in folk circles and established Dylan as a formidable composer and rising star.

In early 1964, as the Beatles began conquering young America, the articulate and challenging Dylan occupied the minds of a slightly older set. He released two albums that year: The Times They Are a-Changin’, his most overtly message-oriented album, and Another Side of Bob Dylan, which represented the artist in a more introspective and personal guise with such songs as “My Back Pages” and “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”

Dylan’s gradual move from folk to rock and roll was inspired by the Beatles (whom Dylan “secretly dug") and the Byrds (whose electrified folk-rock arrangement of Dylan’s then-unreleased “Mr. Tambourine Man” eventually went to #1 in June 1965). Dylan tested the waters with Bringing It All Back Home, one side of which was acoustic and the other electric. His lyrics were as demanding and literate as ever, but on songs like “Subterranean Homesick Blues” they were now set to slangy, ramshackle rock and roll. In May 1965 Dylan undertook his first tour of the U.K., toting an acoustic guitar and an often confrontational attitude. That stormy affair was documented in stark black and white by filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker in Don’t Look Back. Dylan returned to the States fit for battle, and the next skirmish occurred with the folk-music crowd that had so revered him. On July 25th, 1965, Dylan strode onstage at the Newport Festival with an electric guitar in hand and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band backing him up. He was booed offstage after only three songs, at which point he returned with an acoustic guitar and a message for all the folk purists: “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”

A few weeks after the Newport debacle, Dylan notched his first major hit with “Like a Rolling Stone,” a scornful six-minute epistle whose distinctively ruminative mood owes much to organist Al Kooper and guitarist Michael Bloomfield. “Like a Rolling Stone” was the opening track on Highway 61 Revisited, a landmark pop album that set Dylan’s surrealistic verse to raw, careening rock and roll. Early in 1966 he headed to Nashville to record the double album Blonde on Blonde, a career milestone that even Dylan allows was “the closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind...It’s that thin, that wild mercury sound.” Recorded in Nashville with the cream of country-music sessionmen, Blonde On Blonde included the hit singles “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” and “I Want You,” as well as deeper, more ambitious pieces such as “Just Like a Woman,” “Visions of Johanna” and the side-long “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.”

That spring, he embarked on a tempestuous world tour that found him backed by the Hawks (later known as The Band) and facing down audiences that still hadn’t forgiven him for “going electric.” On July 29, he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident near his home in Woodstock, New York. Dylan dropped out of sight for a year and a half, rehearsing and recording with The Band at their rustic basement studio at a home (christened “Big Pink”) in nearby Saugerties while he recovered. The quaint, quirky songs from those sessions turned up on some of rock’s first bootlegs (such as The Great White Wonder), serving an audience that hungered for anything Dylan-related. A selection of these fascinating, low-fidelity Dylan and Band tracks saw legitimate release as The Basement Tapes, a double album, in 1975.

Dylan’s first post-accident release was John Wesley Harding, a folk-country album that found Dylan penning inscrutable parables about historical characters and outlaws as a metaphorical means of deflating the audience-hero relationship. Jimi Hendrix took one of its songs, “All Along the Watchtower,” and turned it into an electrified, apocalyptic anthem for the ages. Dylan changed course in December 1969 with his most overtly “country” record, Nashville Skyline, which found him singing engaging, accessible songs like “Lay Lady Lay” in a newly mellow voice.

Overall, Dylan proved less consistent on record in the Seventies, especially on such relatively minor works as Self-Portrait (1970), a misbegotten collection that included some ill-chosen covers (e.g., Paul Simon’s “The Boxer” and Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”); Planet Waves (1974), a studio album hastily cut in three days with The Band; and Street-Legal (1978), which had a distinctly sour mood. There were also a number of live albums, but with the exception of Before the Flood - a compelling document of his 1974 tour with The Band - none is as memorable as what would later be released in The Bootleg Series.

Dylan struck the mark at mid-decade with such essential recordings as Blood On the Tracks (1975), partially recorded back home in Minnesota, and Desire (1976), which contained “Hurricane,” his most trenchant protest song since the Sixties. Between the release of those albums, Dylan organized the Rolling Thunder Revue, an unwieldy but inspired caravan of troubadours and hangers-on. Dylan’s rollicking cast of characters included Rambling Jack Elliot, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Neuwirth, Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell and Mick Ronson (late of David Bowie’s Spiders from Mars). A watershed year for Dylan fans, 1975 also saw the release of Dylan and the Band’s often-bootlegged Basement Tapes.

In 1976, Dylan provided some of the most riveting performances at The Band’s farewell concert, The Last Waltz, recorded at San Francisco’s Winterland. Beginning in 1979, Dylan took his most unexpected career turns by embracing fundamentalist Christianity on a trilogy of albums: Slow Train Coming, Saved and Shot of Love. Thereafter, he turned his attention to the state of the world, offering moralistic commentary on three albums that are the core of his work in the Eighties: Infidels (1983), Empire Burlesque (1985) and Oh Mercy (1989).

Bob Dylan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, the same year as the Beatles. His presenter was Bruce Springsteen, who’d derived no small amount of influence from Dylan’s career. “Bob freed your mind the way Elvis freed your body,” said Springsteen. “To this day, wherever great rock music is being made, there is the shadow of Bob Dylan.”

Dylan’s career was retrospectively appraised to great effect in the boxed sets Biograph (1985) and The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3 (1991). His first album of new material in the Nineties, the star-studded Under the Red Sky, included cameos from the varied likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, George Harrison, Elton John, Bruce Hornsby and Al Kooper. Thereafter, Dylan recorded two consecutive albums – Good As I’ve Been to You and World Gone Wrong – of unadorned folk songs drawn from the public domain. In a sense, these recordings brought Dylan full circle, echoing the eponymous first album of folk songs he’d cut three decades earlier. Between those releases, in October 1992, Dylan’s 30th anniversary as a recording artist was recognized with a lengthy tribute concert at Madison Square Garden. Participants included Eric Clapton, George

Harrison, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and Stevie Wonder. Privately, Dylan himself was disinclined to celebrate former glories. “Nostalgia is death,” he remarked earlier that year to Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times.

In 1997, Dylan inaugurated a stunning late-career renaissance as a recording artist. The pace of releases slowed down, resulting in fewer but stronger albums. Though only three appeared over the course of a decade – Time Out of Mind (1997), Love and Theft (2001) and Modern Times (2006) – each was a certifiable classic that could stand next to Dylan’s best work. Whether atmospheric in texture, like the Daniel Lanois-produced Time Out of Mind, or stripped down to basics, as with Dylan’s self-produced Love and Theft and Modern Times, all three captured an artist in peak form, with much to say and in complete control of his materials. Dylan’s embedded his words in flinty, blues- and country-inflected grooves. These albums personified the term “Americana,” coined to describe a more ecumenical approach to roots music adopted by a wave of younger musicians around this time. When Modern Times debuted at #1 – representing Dylan’s first chart-topper since Desire in 1976 – the then 65-year-old singer/songwriter set a record for longest span between #1 albums by a living artist.

Dylan has spent much time on the road over the past few decades. In 1986 he toured with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backing group, and in 1987 he did the same with the Grateful Dead (who had always been one of his strongest interpreters). In 1988, Dylan embarked on what has since been dubbed the Never Ending Tour (“NET,” for short). The seeds for Dylan’s wholehearted embrace of live performance began with a revelation during a concert in Locarno, Switzerland, on October 5, 1987. “That night, it all just came to me,” he recalled in 2002. “All of a sudden, I could sing anything.” He also gives credit to the evolving ensemble of musicians he put together. “This is the best band I’ve ever been in, I’ve ever had, man for man,” Dylan told Rolling Stone in 2006. “I got guys now in my band, they can whip up anything, they surprise even me.” The Never Ending Tour is said to have commenced on June 7, 1988, and Dylan has not been far from a stage in the ensuing 20 years.

Back 1964, Dylan said he hoped to carry himself like Big Joe Williams, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and Lightnin’ Hopkins when he was older, and indeed he has done just that. Having embraced the role of wandering troubadour, Dylan is doing what his mentor Woody Guthrie no doubt would have done, had failing health not prevented him: performing his songs for people till the end of his days.

“If you are going to go out every three years or so, like I was doing for awhile, that’s when you lose your touch,” Dylan has said. “If you are going to be a performer, you’ve got to give it your all.” And so this uniquely American legend remains alive and well, not to mention highly accessible as a performer.

In 2008, Bob Dylan’s unique contributions to American arts and letters received acknowledgement in the form of a Pulitzer Prize. His is the first popular musician to receive the honor. The citation from the Pulitzer committee recognized his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”

TIMELINE

May 24, 1941: Bob Dylan is born in Duluth, Minnesota. His birth name is Robert Allen Zimmerman.

October 1959: Using the stage name Bob Dylan, the former Robert Zimmerman performs as a folksinger at the Ten O’Clock Scholar, a Minneapolis coffeehouse.

January 24, 1961: Bob Dylan arrives in New York City, performing a few songs this same night at a hoot night at the Cafe Wha? Dylan had relocated here in order to visit his idol, Woody Guthrie, who lay dying in a New Jersey hospital.

April 11, 1961: Having impressed folk-scene gatekeeper and mainstay Dave Van Ronk, Bob Dylan performs at Gerde’s Folk City, in New York’s Greenwich Village.

March 19, 1962: Bob Dylan’s self-titled first album, produced by John Hammond, is released on Columbia Records. Its highlight is Dylan’s “Song for Woody.”

April 12, 1963: Bob Dylan performs his first major solo concert, at New York City’s Town Hall. He concludes with a poem, “Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie.”

September 7, 1963: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, the singer/songwriter’s second album, enters Billboard’s album chart, where it will peak at #22.

January 13, 1964: Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ is released. It is his first completely self-composed album, and the prophetic title track is a highlight.

August 8, 1964: Bob Dylan’s fourth album, Another Side of Bob Dylan, is released. Marking a turn towards more personal material, it includes “Chimes of Freedom,” “My Back Pages” and “Spanish Harlem Incident.”

August 28, 1964: Bob Dylan and the Beatles meet in a New York hotel room. According to Paul McCartney, Dylan turned the Fab Four on to marijuana for the first time.

March 1965: Bringing It All Back Home, by Bob Dylan, his half-electric and half-acoustic fifth album, is released. It includes “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Maggie’s Farm” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”

April 3, 1965: “Subterranean Homesick Blues” becomes Bob Dylan’s first Top Forty single, reaching #39 for one week.

June 26, 1965: The Byrds’ recording of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” reaches #1 on Billboard’s singles chart. It is the first and only #1 hit penned by Dylan.

July 25, 1965: Bob Dylan is booed for “going electric” at the Newport Folk Festival when he is backed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and keyboardists Barry Goldberg and Al Kooper.

August 1965: Highway 61 Revisited, by Bob Dylan, is released. Featuring keyboardist Al Kooper and guitarist Mike Bloomfield, it is his first all-electric album. It includes “Highway 61 Revisited,” “Desolation Row” and “Like a Rolling Stone.”

May 1966: Bob Dylan’s double-album classic, Blonde on Blonde, is released. Recorded in Nashville with session musicians, along with stalwart Dylan accompanists Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, it yields such classics as “I Want You,” “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” “Just Like a Woman” and “Visions of Johanna.”

May 17, 1966: Bob Dylan performs with the Hawks (better known as The Band) at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. This electrifying concert becomes a popular bootleg, erroneously titled The Royal Albert Hall Concert. It is officially released as Live 1966, the fourth volume in Dylan’s Bootleg Series, in 1998.

May 21, 1966: “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” by Bob Dylan, peaks at #2 on Billboard’s singles chart.

July 29, 1966: Bob Dylan is injured in a motorcycle accident near Woodstock, New York. During his recovery he casually records new material with The Band. Selections from the roughly 100 songs they laid down are released, nearly ten years later, as The Basement Tapes.

March 10, 1967: Woody Guthrie dies of Huntington’s Chorea at the age of 55. Dylan will perform at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concerts, at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the following January.

March 27, 1967: Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits is issued while the artist is out of commission. It becomes his best-selling album and was, in 2001, certified five times platinum (5 million copies sold) by the RIAA.

December 1967: Bob Dylan releases John Wesley Harding, an album of apocalyptic folks songs recorded with country musicians in Nashville. Among them are “All Along the Watchtower,” which Jimi Hendrix will recast in a rock arrangement.

April 9, 1969: Bob Dylan releases his most unabashedly country-sounding record, Nashville Skyline, which yields the Top Ten hit “Lay Lady Lay.”

June 9, 1970: Bob Dylan receives an honorary doctorate from Princeton University.

November 1970: Bob Dylan’s New Morning is released only four months after Self-Portrait. It is a return to form for Dylan after the poorly received double album that preceded it.

October 27, 1973: “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” by Bob Dylan, peaks at #12 on Billboard’s singles chart. It is the highlight of Dylan’s soundtrack to the film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

February 17, 1974: Planet Waves, Bob Dylan’s first #1 album – and only studio album during a brief hiatus with Asylum Records - tops the charts for the first of five weeks.

March 1, 1975: Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks reaches #1 on Billboard’s album chart for the first of two weeks. It also produces a hit single: “Tangled Up in Blue” (#31)

October 30, 1975: Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue Tour commences in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

February 7, 1976: Desire, by Bob Dylan, tops Billboard’s album chart for the first of five weeks. It also yields two charting singles: “Hurricane” (#33) and “Mozambique” (#54).

January 25, 1978: Renaldo & Clara, filmed during Bob Dylan’s rambling Rolling Thunder Revue, is released to scathing reviews. The nearly four-hour film had been edited down from 80 hours of tour footage.

August 1979: Slow Train Coming, the first of three Christian-themed albums by Bob Dylan, is released. It is coproduced by Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett and features Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits) on guitar.

October 20, 1979: Bob Dylan appears on Saturday Night Live, performing “Gotta Serve Somebody” and two other songs.

March 15, 1982: Bob Dylan is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at a ceremony in New York. Dylan wryly notes: “I think it’s pretty amazing, really, because I can’t read or write a note of music.”

November 1, 1983: Bob Dylan releases Infidels, coproduced with Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. Memorable tracks include “Jokerman” and “Sweetheart Like You.”

June 8, 1985: Empire Burlesque, by Bob Dylan, is released. Curiously, it is mixed by dance-music producer Arthur Baker.

September 22, 1985: Bob Dylan participates at the first Farm Aid concert, a yearly event that was inspired by a comment he made from the stage at the Live Aid concert.

December 7, 1985: Biograph, a 53-track compilation of highlights and rarities spanning Bob Dylan’s career, is released. Selling strongly for a box set, it reaches #33 on the album chart.

October 5, 1987: During a concert in Locarno, Switzerland, Bob Dylan experiences a personal epiphany concerning live performing, laying the groundwork for his Never Ending Tour.

January 20, 1988: Bob Dylan is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 3rd annual induction dinner. Bruce Springsteen is his presenter.

February 25, 1988: Time Out of Mind, by Bob Dylan, wins Album of the Year at the 40th annual Grammy Awards. He also wins Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “Cold Iron Bounds.” These are the first Grammy Awards of his career.

October 18, 1988: Volume One, by the Traveling Wilburys, is released. This anonymous supergroup comprises Nelson Wilbury (George Harrison), Lucky Wilbury (Bob Dylan), Lefty Wilbury (Roy Orbison), Otis Wilbury (Jeff Lynne) and Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. (Tom Petty). The album is a hit, reaching #3 and selling more than 3 million copies.

September 1989: Oh Mercy, by Bob Dylan, is released. Recorded in New Orleans with Louisiana musicians, it includes “Political World” and “Everything Is Broken.”

February 20, 1991: Bob Dylan receives the Lifetime Achievement Grammy. In his brief acceptance speech, he quotes his father: “You know, it’s possible to become so defiled in this world that your own father and mother will abandon you, and if that happens, God will always believe in your ability to mend your ways.”

October 16, 1992: An all-star gathering of musicians pays tribute to Bob Dylan to mark his 30th anniversary as a recording artist. An edited version of the marathon-length Madison Square Garden concert is released in audio and video formats.

November 3, 1993: Good as I Been to You, an album of old folk and blues songs by Bob Dylan, is released. it is his first solo acoustic recording since Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964.

October 26, 1993: World Gone Wrong, Bob Dylan’s 40th album – and second set of traditional folk songs in a row – is released.

December 7, 1997: Bob Dylan is honored at the Kennedy Center. Dylan, actress Lauren Bacall, actor Charlton Heston, singer Jessye Norman and ballet dancer Edward Villella are recognized for making “significant and lasting contributions to the performing arts. They have been instrumental in uplifting the hearts and spirit of the American people.”

May 24, 2001: Bob Dylan turns 60.

September 11, 2001: Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft is released the same day that religious extremists attack the U.S. using hijacked airplanes.

February 27, 2002: Love and Theft, by Bob Dylan, wins Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 44th annual Grammy Awards.

August 19, 2003: Fifteen of Bob Dylan’s albums are released in the hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD) format, representing a significant sonic upgrade of Dylan’s catalog. The titles are available individually or as a box set.

September 26, 2005: No Direction Home, a Bob Dylan documentary produced by Martin Scorsese, debuts on PBS.

August 29, 2006: Modern Times, by Bob Dylan, is released. It debuts at #1 on Billboard’s album chart.

February 11, 2007: Bob Dylan’s Modern Times wins Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album at the 49th annual Grammy Awards.

November 21, 2007: I’m Not There, a film that imagines the life and times of Bob Dylan, opens in U.S. theaters. A half-dozen actors (including Cate Blanchett) represent different phases of Dylan’s career.

April 7, 2008: Bob Dylan is awarded a Pulitzer Prize, making him the first rock and roll musician to be accorded this high journalistic honor.

Essential Songs

Like a Rolling Stone Mr. Tambourine Man Tangled Up in Blue Visions of Johanna Masters of War Blowin’ in the Wind It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue The Times They Are A-Changing Highway 61 Revisited Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/bob-dylan

Like A Rolling Stoneby Bob Dylan

Once upon a time you dressed so fineYou threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"You thought they were all kiddin' youYou used to laugh aboutEverybody that was hangin' outNow you don't talk so loudNow you don't seem so proudAbout having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feelHow does it feelTo be without a homeLike a complete unknownLike a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss LonelyBut you know you only used to get juiced in itAnd nobody has ever taught you how to live on the streetAnd now you find out you're gonna have to get used to itYou said you'd never compromiseWith the mystery tramp, but now you realizeHe's not selling any alibisAs you stare into the vacuum of his eyesAnd ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feelHow does it feelTo be on your ownWith no direction homeLike a complete unknownLike a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clownsWhen they all come down and did tricks for youYou never understood that it ain't no goodYou shouldn't let other people get your kicks for youYou used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomatWho carried on his shoulder a Siamese catAin't it hard when you discover thatHe really wasn't where it's atAfter he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feelHow does it feelTo be on your ownWith no direction homeLike a complete unknownLike a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty peopleThey're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it madeExchanging all kinds of precious gifts and thingsBut you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babeYou used to be so amusedAt Napoleon in rags and the language that he usedGo to him now, he calls you, you can't refuseWhen you got nothing, you got nothing to loseYou're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feelHow does it feelTo be on your ownWith no direction homeLike a complete unknownLike a rolling stone?

Mr. Tambourine Manby Bob Dylan

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,Vanished from my hand,Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,I have no one to meetAnd the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heelsTo be wanderin'.I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fadeInto my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,I promise to go under it.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun,It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the runAnd but for the sky there are no fences facin'.And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhymeTo your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind,I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you'reSeein' that he's chasing.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind,Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Tangled Up In Blueby Bob Dylan

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',I was layin' in bedWond'rin' if she'd changed at allIf her hair was still red.Her folks they said our lives togetherSure was gonna be roughThey never did like Mama's homemade dressPapa's bankbook wasn't big enough.And I was standin' on the side of the roadRain fallin' on my shoesHeading out for the East CoastLord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first metSoon to be divorcedI helped her out of a jam, I guess,But I used a little too much force.We drove that car as far as we couldAbandoned it out WestSplit up on a dark sad nightBoth agreeing it was best.She turned around to look at meAs I was walkin' awayI heard her say over my shoulder,"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woodsWorking as a cook for a spellBut I never did like it all that muchAnd one day the ax just fell.So I drifted down to New OrleansWhere I happened to be employedWorkin' for a while on a fishin' boatRight outside of Delacroix.But all the while I was aloneThe past was close behind,I seen a lot of womenBut she never escaped my mind, and I just grewTangled up in blue.

She was workin' in a topless placeAnd I stopped in for a beer,I just kept lookin' at the side of her faceIn the spotlight so clear.And later on as the crowd thinned outI's just about to do the same,She was standing there in back of my chairSaid to me, "Don't I know your name?"I muttered somethin' underneath my breath,She studied the lines on my face.I must admit I felt a little uneasyWhen she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe"I thought you'd never say hello," she said"You look like the silent type."Then she opened up a book of poemsAnd handed it to meWritten by an Italian poetFrom the thirteenth century.And every one of them words rang trueAnd glowed like burnin' coalPourin' off of every pageLike it was written in my soul from me to you,Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on Montague StreetIn a basement down the stairs,There was music in the cafes at nightAnd revolution in the air.Then he started into dealing with slavesAnd something inside of him died.She had to sell everything she ownedAnd froze up inside.And when finally the bottom fell outI became withdrawn,The only thing I knew how to doWas to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew,Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm goin' back again,I got to get to her somehow.All the people we used to knowThey're an illusion to me now.Some are mathematiciansSome are carpenter's wives.Don't know how it all got started,I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.But me, I'm still on the roadHeadin' for another jointWe always did feel the same,We just saw it from a different point of view,Tangled up in blue.

Simple Twist Of Fateby Bob Dylan

They sat together in the parkAs the evening sky grew dark,She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle to his bones.'Twas then he felt alone and wished that he'd gone straightAnd watched out for a simple twist of fate.

They walked along by the old canalA little confused, I remember wellAnd stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burnin' bright.He felt the heat of the night hit him like a freight trainMoving with a simple twist of fate.

A saxophone someplace far off playedAs she was walkin' by the arcade.As the light bust through a beat-up shade where he was wakin' up,She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gateAnd forgot about a simple twist of fate.

He woke up, the room was bareHe didn't see her anywhere.He told himself he didn't care, pushed the window open wide,Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relateBrought on by a simple twist of fate.

He hears the ticking of the clocksAnd walks along with a parrot that talks,Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailers all come in.Maybe she'll pick him out again, how long must he waitOnce more for a simple twist of fate.

People tell me it's a sinTo know and feel too much within.I still believe she was my twin, but I lost the ring.She was born in spring, but I was born too lateBlame it on a simple twist of fate.

Visions Of Johannaby Bob Dylan

Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny itAnd Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy itLights flicker from the opposite loftIn this room the heat pipes just coughThe country music station plays softBut there's nothing, really nothing to turn offJust Louise and her lover so entwinedAnd these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chainAnd the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" trainWe can hear the night watchman click his flashlightAsk himself if it's him or them that's really insaneLouise, she's all right, she's just nearShe's delicate and seems like the mirrorBut she just makes it all too concise and too clearThat Johanna's not hereThe ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her faceWhere these visions of Johanna have now taken my place

Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriouslyHe brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerouslyAnd when bringing her name upHe speaks of a farewell kiss to meHe's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and allMuttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hallHow can I explain?Oh, it's so hard to get onAnd these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trialVoices echo this is what salvation must be like after a whileBut Mona Lisa musta had the highway bluesYou can tell by the way she smilesSee the primitive wallflower freezeWhen the jelly-faced women all sneezeHear the one with the mustache say, "JeezeI can't find my knees"Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the muleBut these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for himSayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him"But like Louise always says"Ya can't look at much, can ya man?"As she, herself, prepares for himAnd Madonna, she still has not showedWe see this empty cage now corrodeWhere her cape of the stage once had flowedThe fiddler, he now steps to the roadHe writes ev'rything's been returned which was owedOn the back of the fish truck that loadsWhile my conscience explodesThe harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rainAnd these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

Blowin' In The Windby Bob Dylan

How many roads must a man walk downBefore you call him a man?Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sailBefore she sleeps in the sand?Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls flyBefore they're forever banned?The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain existBefore it's washed to the sea?Yes, 'n' how many years can some people existBefore they're allowed to be free?Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,Pretending he just doesn't see?The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look upBefore he can see the sky?Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man haveBefore he can hear people cry?Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knowsThat too many people have died?The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,The answer is blowin' in the wind.

It's All Over Now, Baby Blueby Bob Dylan

You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last.But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.Yonder stands your orphan with his gun,Crying like a fire in the sun.Look out the saints are comin' throughAnd it's all over now, Baby Blue.

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense.Take what you have gathered from coincidence.The empty-handed painter from your streetsIs drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.This sky, too, is folding under youAnd it's all over now, Baby Blue.

All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home.All your reindeer armies, are all going home.The lover who just walked out your doorHas taken all his blankets from the floor.The carpet, too, is moving under youAnd it's all over now, Baby Blue.

Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you.Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you.The vagabond who's rapping at your doorIs standing in the clothes that you once wore.Strike another match, go start anewAnd it's all over now, Baby Blue.

The Times They Are A-Changin'by Bob Dylan

Come gather 'round peopleWherever you roamAnd admit that the watersAround you have grownAnd accept it that soonYou'll be drenched to the bone.If your time to youIs worth savin'Then you better start swimmin'Or you'll sink like a stoneFor the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and criticsWho prophesize with your penAnd keep your eyes wideThe chance won't come againAnd don't speak too soonFor the wheel's still in spinAnd there's no tellin' whoThat it's namin'.For the loser nowWill be later to winFor the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmenPlease heed the callDon't stand in the doorwayDon't block up the hallFor he that gets hurtWill be he who has stalledThere's a battle outsideAnd it is ragin'.It'll soon shake your windowsAnd rattle your wallsFor the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathersThroughout the landAnd don't criticizeWhat you can't understandYour sons and your daughtersAre beyond your commandYour old road isRapidly agin'.Please get out of the new oneIf you can't lend your handFor the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawnThe curse it is castThe slow one nowWill later be fastAs the present nowWill later be pastThe order isRapidly fadin'.And the first one nowWill later be lastFor the times they are a-changin'.

Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlandsby Bob Dylan

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times,And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes,And your silver cross, and your voice like chimes,Oh, who among them do they think could bury you?With your pockets well protected at last,And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass,And your flesh like silk, and your face like glass,Who among them do they think could carry you?Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,Should I leave them by your gate,Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheets like metal and your belt like lace,And your deck of cards missing the jack and the ace,And your basement clothes and your hollow face,Who among them can think he could outguess you?With your silhouette when the sunlight dimsInto your eyes where the moonlight swims,And your match-book songs and your gypsy hymns,Who among them would try to impress you?Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,Should I leave them by your gate,Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

The kings of Tyrus with their convict listAre waiting in line for their geranium kiss,And you wouldn't know it would happen like this,But who among them really wants just to kiss you?With your childhood flames on your midnight rug,And your Spanish manners and your mother's drugs,And your cowboy mouth and your curfew plugs,Who among them do you think could resist you?Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,Should I leave them by your gate,Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

Oh, the farmers and the businessmen, they all did decideTo show you the dead angels that they used to hide.But why did they pick you to sympathize with their side?Oh, how could they ever mistake you?They wished you'd accepted the blame for the farm,But with the sea at your feet and the phony false alarm,And with the child of a hoodlum wrapped up in your arms,How could they ever, ever persuade you?Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands,Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,Should I leave them by your gate,Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

With your sheet-metal memory of Cannery Row,And your magazine-husband who one day just had to go,And your gentleness now, which you just can't help but show,Who among them do you think would employ you?Now you stand with your thief, you're on his paroleWith your holy medallion which your fingertips fold,And your saintlike face and your ghostlike soul,Oh, who among them do you think could destroy youSad-eyed lady of the lowlands,Where the sad-eyed prophet says that no man comes,My warehouse eyes, my Arabian drums,Should I leave them by your gate,Or, sad-eyed lady, should I wait?

Ballad Of A Thin Manby Bob Dylan

You walk into the roomWith your pencil in your handYou see somebody nakedAnd you say, "Who is that man?"You try so hardBut you don't understandJust what you'll sayWhen you get home

Because something is happening hereBut you don't know what it isDo you, Mister Jones?

You raise up your headAnd you ask, "Is this where it is?"And somebody points to you and says"It's his"And you say, "What's mine?"And somebody else says, "Where what is?"And you say, "Oh my GodAm I here all alone?"

Because something is happening hereBut you don't know what it isDo you, Mister Jones?

You hand in your ticketAnd you go watch the geekWho immediately walks up to youWhen he hears you speakAnd says, "How does it feelTo be such a freak?"And you say, "Impossible"As he hands you a bone

Because something is happening hereBut you don't know what it isDo you, Mister Jones?

You have many contactsAmong the lumberjacksTo get you factsWhen someone attacks your imaginationBut nobody has any respectAnyway they already expect youTo just give a checkTo tax-deductible charity organizations

You've been with the professorsAnd they've all liked your looksWith great lawyers you haveDiscussed lepers and crooksYou've been through all ofF. Scott Fitzgerald's booksYou're very well readIt's well known

Because something is happening hereBut you don't know what it isDo you, Mister Jones?

Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to youAnd then he kneelsHe crosses himselfAnd then he clicks his high heelsAnd without further noticeHe asks you how it feelsAnd he says, "Here is your throat backThanks for the loan"

Because something is happening hereBut you don't know what it isDo you, Mister Jones?

Now you see this one-eyed midgetShouting the word "NOW"And you say, "For what reason?"And he says, "How?"And you say, "What does this mean?"And he screams back, "You're a cowGive me some milkOr else go home"

Because something is happening hereBut you don't know what it isDo you, Mister Jones?

Well, you walk into the roomLike a camel and then you frownYou put your eyes in your pocketAnd your nose on the groundThere ought to be a lawAgainst you comin' aroundYou should be madeTo wear earphones

Because something is happening hereBut you don't know what it isDo you, Mister Jones?

Don't Think Twice, It's All Rightby Bob Dylan

It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babeIt don't matter, anyhowAn' it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babeIf you don't know by nowWhen your rooster crows at the break of dawnLook out your window and I'll be goneYou're the reason I'm trav'lin' onDon't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babeThat light I never knowedAn' it ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babeI'm on the dark side of the roadStill I wish there was somethin' you would do or sayTo try and make me change my mind and stayWe never did too much talkin' anywaySo don't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in callin' out my name, galLike you never did beforeIt ain't no use in callin' out my name, galI can't hear you any moreI'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' all the way down the roadI once loved a woman, a child I'm toldI give her my heart but she wanted my soulBut don't think twice, it's all right

I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road, babeWhere I'm bound, I can't tellBut goodbye's too good a word, galSo I'll just say fare thee wellI ain't sayin' you treated me unkindYou could have done better but I don't mindYou just kinda wasted my precious timeBut don't think twice, it's all right

Forever Youngby Bob Dylan

May God bless and keep you always,May your wishes all come true,May you always do for othersAnd let others do for you.May you build a ladder to the starsAnd climb on every rung,May you stay forever young,Forever young, forever young,May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,May you grow up to be true,May you always know the truthAnd see the lights surrounding you.May you always be courageous,Stand upright and be strong,May you stay forever young,Forever young, forever young,May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,May your feet always be swift,May you have a strong foundationWhen the winds of changes shift.May your heart always be joyful,May your song always be sung,May you stay forever young,Forever young, forever young,May you stay forever young.

Girl From The North Countryby Bob Dylan

Well, if you're travelin' in the north country fair,Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline,Remember me to one who lives there.She once was a true love of mine.

Well, if you go when the snowflakes storm,When the rivers freeze and summer ends,Please see if she's wearing a coat so warm,To keep her from the howlin' winds.

Please see for me if her hair hangs long,If it rolls and flows all down her breast.Please see for me if her hair hangs long,That's the way I remember her best.

I'm a-wonderin' if she remembers me at all.Many times I've often prayedIn the darkness of my night,In the brightness of my day.

So if you're travelin' in the north country fair,Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline,Remember me to one who lives there.She once was a true love of mine.

Highlandsby Bob Dylan

Well my heart's in the Highlands gentle and fairHoneysuckle blooming in the wildwood airBluebelles blazing, where the Aberdeen waters flowWell my heart's in the Highland,I'm gonna go there when I feel good enough to go

Windows were shakin' all night in my dreamsEverything was exactly the way that it seemsWoke up this morning and I looked at the same old pageSame ol' rat raceLife in the same ol' cage.

I don't want nothing from anyone, ain't that much to takeWouldn't know the difference between a real blonde and a fakeFeel like a prisoner in a world of mysteryI wish someone would comeAnd push back the clock for me

Well my heart's in the Highlands wherever I roamThat's where I'll be when I get called homeThe wind, it whispers to the buckeyed trees in rhymeWell my heart's in the Highland,I can only get there one step at a time.

I'm listening to Neil Young, I gotta turn up the soundSomeone's always yelling turn it downFeel like I'm driftingDrifting from scene the sceneI'm wondering what in the devil could it all possibly mean?

Insanity is smashing up against my soulYou can say I was on anything but a rollIf I had a conscience, well I just might blow my topWhat would I do with it anywayMaybe take it to the pawn shop

My heart's in the Highlands at the break of dawnBy the beautiful lake of the Black SwanBig white clouds, like chariots that swing down lowWell my heart's in the HighlandsOnly place left to go

I'm in Boston town, in some restaurantI got no idea what I wantWell, maybe I do but I'm just really not sureWaitress comes overNobody in the place but me and her

It must be a holiday, there's nobody aroundShe studies me closely as I sit downShe got a pretty face and long white shiny legsShe says, "What'll it be?"I say, "I don't know, you got any soft boiled eggs?"

She looks at me, Says "I'd bring you somebut we're out of 'm, you picked the wrong time to come"Then she says, "I know you're an artist, draw a picture of me!"I say, "I would if I could, but,I don't do sketches from memory."

"Well", she says, "I'm right here in front of you, or haven't you looked?"I say," all right, I know, but I don't have my drawing book!"She gives me a napkin, she says, "you can do it on that"I say, "yes I could but,I don't know where my pencil is at!"

She pulls one out from behind her earShe says "all right now, go ahead, draw me, I'm standing right here"I make a few lines, and I show it for her to seeWell she takes a napkin and throws it backAnd says "that don't look a thing like me!"

I said, "Oh, kind miss, it most certainly does"She says, "you must be jokin.'" I say, "I wish I was!"Then she says, "you don't read women authors, do you?"Least that's what I think I hear her say,"Well", I say, "how would you know and what would it matter anyway?"

"Well", she says, "you just don't seem like you do!"I said, "you're way wrong."She says, "which ones have you read then?" I say, "I read Erica Jong!"She goes away for a minute and I slide up out of my chairI step outside back to the busy street, but nobody's going anywhere

Well my heart's in the Highlands, with the horses and houndsWay up in the border country, far from the townsWith the twang of the arrow and a snap of the bowMy heart's in the HighlandsCan't see any other way to go

Every day is the same thing out the doorFeel further away then ever beforeSome things in life, it gets too late to learnWell, I'm lost somewhereI must have made a few bad turns

I see people in the park forgetting their troubles and woesThey're drinking and dancing, wearing bright colored clothesAll the young men with their young women looking so goodWell, I'd trade places with any of themIn a minute, if I could

I'm crossing the street to get away from a mangy dogTalking to myself in a monologueI think what I need might be a full length leather coatSomebody just asked meIf I registered to vote

The sun is beginning to shine on meBut it's not like the sun that used to beThe party's over, and there's less and less to sayI got new eyesEverything looks far away

Well, my heart's in the Highlands at the break of dayOver the hills and far awayThere's a way to get there, and I'll figure it out somehowBut I'm already there in my mindAnd that's good enough for now

Hurricane by Bob Dylan

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom nightEnter Patty Valentine from the upper hall.She sees the bartender in a pool of blood,Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!"Here comes the story of the Hurricane,The man the authorities came to blameFor somethin' that he never done.Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a beenThe champion of the world.

Three bodies lyin' there does Patty seeAnd another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously."I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand.I saw them leavin'," he says, and he stops"One of us had better call up the cops."And so Patty calls the copsAnd they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'In the hot New Jersey night.

Meanwhile, far away in another part of townRubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around.Number one contender for the middleweight crownHad no idea what kinda shit was about to go downWhen a cop pulled him over to the side of the roadJust like the time before and the time before that.In Paterson that's just the way things go.If you're black you might as well not show up on the street'Less you wanna draw the heat.

Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops.Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' aroundHe said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweightsThey jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates."And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head.Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"So they took him to the infirmaryAnd though this man could hardly seeThey told him that he could identify the guilty men.

Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in,Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs.The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eyeSays, "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!"Yes, here's the story of the Hurricane,The man the authorities came to blameFor somethin' that he never done.Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a beenThe champion of the world.

Four months later, the ghettos are in flame,Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his nameWhile Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery gameAnd the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame."Remember that murder that happened in a bar?""Remember you said you saw the getaway car?""You think you'd like to play ball with the law?""Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?""Don't forget that you are white."

Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure."Cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a breakWe got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend BelloNow you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow.You'll be doin' society a favor.That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver.We want to put his ass in stirWe want to pin this triple murder on himHe ain't no Gentleman Jim."

Rubin could take a man out with just one punchBut he never did like to talk about it all that much.It's my work, he'd say, and I do it for payAnd when it's over I'd just as soon go on my wayUp to some paradiseWhere the trout streams flow and the air is niceAnd ride a horse along a trail.But then they took him to the jailhouseWhere they try to turn a man into a mouse.

All of Rubin's cards were marked in advanceThe trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slumsTo the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bumAnd to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger.No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.And though they could not produce the gun,The D.A. said he was the one who did the deedAnd the all-white jury agreed.

Rubin Carter was falsely tried.The crime was murder "one," guess who testified?Bello and Bradley and they both baldly liedAnd the newspapers, they all went along for the ride.How can the life of such a manBe in the palm of some fool's hand?To see him obviously framedCouldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a landWhere justice is a game.

Now all the criminals in their coats and their tiesAre free to drink martinis and watch the sun riseWhile Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cellAn innocent man in a living hell.That's the story of the Hurricane,But it won't be over till they clear his nameAnd give him back the time he's done.Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a beenThe champion of the world.

I Shall Be Releasedby Bob Dylan

They say ev'rything can be replaced,Yet ev'ry distance is not near.So I remember ev'ry faceOf ev'ry man who put me here.I see my light come shiningFrom the west unto the east.Any day now, any day now,I shall be released.

They say ev'ry man needs protection,They say ev'ry man must fall.Yet I swear I see my reflectionSome place so high above this wall.I see my light come shiningFrom the west unto the east.Any day now, any day now,I shall be released.

Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,Is a man who swears he's not to blame.All day long I hear him shout so loud,Crying out that he was framed.I see my light come shiningFrom the west unto the east.Any day now, any day now,I shall be released.

Idiot Windby Bob Dylan

Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the pressWhoever it is I wish they'd cut it out but when they will I can only guess.They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy,She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me.I can't help it if I'm lucky.

People see me all the time and they just can't remember how to actTheir minds are filled with big ideas, images and distorted facts.Even you, yesterday you had to ask me where it was at,I couldn't believe after all these years, you didn't know me better than thatSweet lady.

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth,Blowing down the backroads headin' south.Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,You're an idiot, babe.It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

I ran into the fortune-teller, who said beware of lightning that might strikeI haven't known peace and quiet for so long I can't remember what it's like.There's a lone soldier on the cross, smoke pourin' out of a boxcar door,You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done, in the final end he won the warsAfter losin' every battle.

I woke up on the roadside, daydreamin' 'bout the way things sometimes areVisions of your chestnut mare shoot through my head and are makin' me see stars.You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies.One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzin' around your eyes,Blood on your saddle.

Idiot wind, blowing through the flowers on your tomb,Blowing through the curtains in your room.Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,You're an idiot, babe.It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apartYou tamed the lion in my cage but it just wasn't enough to change my heart.Now everything's a little upside down, as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped,What's good is bad, what's bad is good, you'll find out when you reach the topYou're on the bottom.

I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blindI can't remember your face anymore, your mouth has changed, your eyesdon't look into mine.The priest wore black on the seventh day and sat stone-faced while the buildingburned.I waited for you on the running boards, near the cypress trees, while the springtimeturned Slowly into autumn.

Idiot wind, blowing like a circle around my skull,From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol.Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,You're an idiot, babe.It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

I can't feel you anymore, I can't even touch the books you've readEvery time I crawl past your door, I been wishin' I was somebody else instead.Down the highway, down the tracks, down the road to ecstasy,I followed you beneath the stars, hounded by your memoryAnd all your ragin' glory.

I been double-crossed now for the very last time and now I'm finally free,I kissed goodbye the howling beast on the borderline which separated you from me.You'll never know the hurt I suffered nor the pain I rise above,And I'll never know the same about you, your holiness or your kind of love,And it makes me feel so sorry.

Idiot wind, blowing through the buttons of our coats,Blowing through the letters that we wrote.Idiot wind, blowing through the dust upon our shelves,We're idiots, babe.It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves.

It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)by Bob Dylan

Darkness at the break of noonShadows even the silver spoonThe handmade blade, the child's balloonEclipses both the sun and moonTo understand you know too soonThere is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scornSuicide remarks are tornFrom the fool's gold mouthpieceThe hollow horn plays wasted wordsProves to warnThat he not busy being bornIs busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the doorYou follow, find yourself at warWatch waterfalls of pity roarYou feel to moan but unlike beforeYou discoverThat you'd just beOne more person crying.

So don't fear if you hearA foreign sound to your earIt's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfallPrivate reasons great or smallCan be seen in the eyes of those that callTo make all that should be killed to crawlWhile others say don't hate nothing at allExcept hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets barkAs human gods aim for their markMade everything from toy guns that sparkTo flesh-colored Christs that glow in the darkIt's easy to see without looking too farThat not muchIs really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fatesTeachers teach that knowledge waitsCan lead to hundred-dollar platesGoodness hides behind its gatesBut even the president of the United StatesSometimes must haveTo stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodgedIt's only people's games that you got to dodgeAnd it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con youInto thinking you're the oneThat can do what's never been doneThat can win what's never been wonMeantime life outside goes onAll around you.

You lose yourself, you reappearYou suddenly find you got nothing to fearAlone you stand with nobody nearWhen a trembling distant voice, unclearStartles your sleeping ears to hearThat somebody thinksThey really found you.

A question in your nerves is litYet you know there is no answer fit to satisfyInsure you not to quitTo keep it in your mind and not fergitThat it is not he or she or them or itThat you belong to.

Although the masters make the rulesFor the wise men and the foolsI got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authorityThat they do not respect in any degreeWho despise their jobs, their destiniesSpeak jealously of them that are freeCultivate their flowers to beNothing more than somethingThey invest in.

While some on principles baptizedTo strict party platform tiesSocial clubs in drag disguiseOutsiders they can freely criticizeTell nothing except who to idolizeAnd then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fireGargles in the rat race choirBent out of shape from society's pliersCares not to come up any higherBut rather get you down in the holeThat he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put faultOn anyone that lives in a vaultBut it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairsLimited in sex, they dareTo push fake morals, insult and stareWhile money doesn't talk, it swearsObscenity, who really caresPropaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot seeWith a killer's pride, securityIt blows the minds most bitterlyFor them that think death's honestyWon't fall upon them naturallyLife sometimesMust get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyardsFalse gods, I scuffAt pettiness which plays so roughWalk upside-down inside handcuffsKick my legs to crash it offSay okay, I have had enoughWhat else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seenThey'd probably put my head in a guillotineBut it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.

Let Me Die In My Footstepsby Bob Dylan

I will not go down under the ground"Cause somebody tells me that death's comin' 'roundAn' I will not carry myself down to dieWhen I go to my grave my head will be high,Let me die in my footstepsBefore I go down under the ground.

There's been rumors of war and wars that have beenThe meaning of the life has been lost in the windAnd some people thinkin' that the end is close by"Stead of learnin' to live they are learning to die.Let me die in my footstepsBefore I go down under the ground.

I don't know if I'm smart but I think I can seeWhen someone is pullin' the wool over meAnd if this war comes and death's all aroundLet me die on this land 'fore I die underground.Let me die in my footstepsBefore I go down under the ground.

There's always been people that have to cause fearThey've been talking of the war now for many long yearsI have read all their statements and I've not said a wordBut now Lawd God, let my poor voice be heard.Let me die in my footstepsBefore I go down under the ground.

If I had rubies and riches and crownsI'd buy the whole world and change things aroundI'd throw all the guns and the tanks in the seaFor they are mistakes of a past history.Let me die in my footstepsBefore I go down under the ground.

Let me drink from the waters where the mountain streams floodLet me smell of wildflowers flow free through my bloodLet me sleep in your meadows with the green grassy leavesLet me walk down the highway with my brother in peace.Let me die in my footstepsBefore I go down under the ground.

Go out in your country where the land meets the sunSee the craters and the canyons where the waterfalls runNevada, New Mexico, Arizona, IdahoLet every state in this union seep in your souls.And you'll die in your footstepsBefore you go down under the ground.

My Back Pagesby Bob Dylan

Crimson flames tied through my earsRollin' high and mighty trapsPounced with fire on flaming roadsUsing ideas as my maps"We'll meet on edges, soon," said IProud 'neath heated brow.Ah, but I was so much older then,I'm younger than that now.

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth"Rip down all hate," I screamedLies that life is black and whiteSpoke from my skull. I dreamedRomantic facts of musketeersFoundationed deep, somehow.Ah, but I was so much older then,I'm younger than that now.

Girls' faces formed the forward pathFrom phony jealousyTo memorizing politicsOf ancient historyFlung down by corpse evangelistsUnthought of, though, somehow.Ah, but I was so much older then,I'm younger than that now.

A self-ordained professor's tongueToo serious to foolSpouted out that libertyIs just equality in school"Equality," I spoke the wordAs if a wedding vow.Ah, but I was so much older then,I'm younger than that now.

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my handAt the mongrel dogs who teachFearing not that I'd become my enemyIn the instant that I preachMy pathway led by confusion boatsMutiny from stern to bow.Ah, but I was so much older then,I'm younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threatsToo noble to neglectDeceived me into thinkingI had something to protectGood and bad, I define these termsQuite clear, no doubt, somehow.Ah, but I was so much older then,I'm younger than that now.

Subterranean Homesick Bluesby Bob Dylan

Johnny's in the basementMixing up the medicineI'm on the pavementThinking about the governmentThe man in the trench coatBadge out, laid offSays he's got a bad coughWants to get it paid offLook out kidIt's somethin' you didGod knows whenBut you're doin' it againYou better duck down the alley wayLookin' for a new friendThe man in the coon-skin capIn the big penWants eleven dollar billsYou only got ten

Maggie comes fleet footFace full of black sootTalkin' that the heat putPlants in the bed butThe phone's tapped anywayMaggie says that many sayThey must bust in early MayOrders from the D. A.Look out kidDon't matter what you didWalk on your tip toesDon't try "No Doz"Better stay away from thoseThat carry around a fire hoseKeep a clean noseWatch the plain clothesYou don't need a weather manTo know which way the wind blows

Get sick, get wellHang around a ink wellRing bell, hard to tellIf anything is goin' to sellTry hard, get barredGet back, write brailleGet jailed, jump bailJoin the army, if you failLook out kidYou're gonna get hitBut users, cheatersSix-time losersHang around the theatersGirl by the whirlpoolLookin' for a new foolDon't follow leadersWatch the parkin' meters

Ah get born, keep warmShort pants, romance, learn to danceGet dressed, get blessedTry to be a successPlease her, please him, buy giftsDon't steal, don't liftTwenty years of schoolin'And they put you on the day shiftLook out kidThey keep it all hidBetter jump down a manholeLight yourself a candleDon't wear sandalsTry to avoid the scandalsDon't wanna be a bumYou better chew gumThe pump don't work'Cause the vandals took the handles

Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Bluesby Bob Dylan

Well, I was feelin' sad and feelin' blue,I didn't know what in the world I was gonna do,Them Communists they wus comin' around,They wus in the air,They wus on the ground.They wouldn't gimme no peace. . .

So I run down most hurriedlyAnd joined up with the John Birch Society,I got me a secret membership cardAnd started off a-walkin' down the road.Yee-hoo, I'm a real John Bircher now!Look out you Commies!

Now we all agree with Hitlers' views,Although he killed six million Jews.It don't matter too much that he was a Fascist,At least you can't say he was a Communist!That's to say like if you got a cold you take a shot of malaria.

Well, I wus lookin' everywhere for them gol-darned Reds.I got up in the mornin' 'n' looked under my bed,Looked in the sink, behind the door,Looked in the glove compartment of my car.Couldn't find 'em . . .

I wus lookin' high an' low for them Reds everywhere,I wus lookin' in the sink an' underneath the chair.I looked way up my chimney hole,I even looked deep inside my toilet bowl.They got away . . .

Well, I wus sittin' home alone an' started to sweat,Figured they wus in my T.V. set.Peeked behind the picture frame,Got a shock from my feet, hittin' right up in the brain.Them Reds caused it!I know they did . . . them hard-core ones.

Well, I quit my job so I could work alone,Then I changed my name to Sherlock Holmes.Followed some clues from my detective bagAnd discovered they wus red stripes on the American flag!That ol' Betty Ross . . .

Well, I investigated all the books in the library,Ninety percent of 'em gotta be burned away.I investigated all the people that I knowed,Ninety-eight percent of them gotta go.The other two percent are fellow Birchers . . . just like me.

Now Eisenhower, he's a Russian spy,Lincoln, Jefferson and that Roosevelt guy.To my knowledge there's just one manThat's really a true American: George Lincoln Rockwell.I know for a fact he hates Commies cus he picketed the movie Exodus.

Well, I fin'ly started thinkin' straightWhen I run outa things to investigate.Couldn't imagine doin' anything else,So now I'm sittin' home investigatin' myself!Hope I don't find out anything . . . hmm, great God!

With God On Our Sideby Bob Dylan

Oh my name it is nothin'My age it means lessThe country I come fromIs called the MidwestI's taught and brought up thereThe laws to abideAnd that land that I live inHas God on its side.

Oh the history books tell itThey tell it so wellThe cavalries chargedThe Indians fellThe cavalries chargedThe Indians diedOh the country was youngWith God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-AmericanWar had its dayAnd the Civil War tooWas soon laid awayAnd the names of the heroesI's made to memorizeWith guns in their handsAnd God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boysIt closed out its fateThe reason for fightingI never got straightBut I learned to accept itAccept it with prideFor you don't count the deadWhen God's on your side.

When the Second World WarCame to an endWe forgave the GermansAnd we were friendsThough they murdered six millionIn the ovens they friedThe Germans now tooHave God on their side.

I've learned to hate RussiansAll through my whole lifeIf another war startsIt's them we must fightTo hate them and fear themTo run and to hideAnd accept it all bravelyWith God on my side.

But now we got weaponsOf the chemical dustIf fire them we're forced toThen fire them we mustOne push of the buttonAnd a shot the world wideAnd you never ask questionsWhen God's on your side.

In a many dark hourI've been thinkin' about thisThat Jesus ChristWas betrayed by a kissBut I can't think for youYou'll have to decideWhether Judas IscariotHad God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'I'm weary as HellThe confusion I'm feelin'Ain't no tongue can tellThe words fill my headAnd fall to the floorIf God's on our sideHe'll stop the next war.

A Change Is Gonna Comeby Sam Cooke

I was born by the riverIn a little tent, and ojust like that riverI've been running ever since

It's been a long long time coming, but I knowA change is gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard livingbut I'm afraid to die'cause I don't know what's up therebeyond the sky,

It's been a long time coming, but I knowA change is gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtownSomebody keep tellin medon't hang around

It's been a long time coming, but I knowA change is gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brotherand I say brother help me pleaseBut he wind up knocking meback down on my knees

There have been times that I thoughtI couldn't last for longBut now I think I'm able to carry on

It's been a long time, but I knowA change is gonna come, oh yes it will

I Just Wasn't Made For These Timesby Tony Asher

I keep looking for a place to fitWhere I can speak my mindI've been trying hard to find the peopleThat I won't leave behind

They say I got brainsBut they ain't doing me no goodI wish they could

Each time things start to happen againI think I got something good goin' for myselfBut what goes wrong

Sometimes I feel very sadSometimes I feel very sad(Can't find nothin' I can put my heart and soul into)Sometimes I feel very sad(Can't find nothin' I can put my heart and soul into)

I guess I just wasn't made for these times

Every time I get the inspirationTo go change things aroundNo one wants to help me look for placesWhere new things might be found

Where can I turn when my fair weather friends cop outWhat's it all about

Each time things start to happen againI think I got something good goin' for myselfBut what goes wrong

Sometimes I feel very sadSometimes I feel very sad(Can't find nothin' I can put my heart and soul into)Sometimes I feel very sad(Can't find nothin' I can put my heart and soul into)

I guess I just wasn't made for these times

The Beatles

Induction Year: 1988

Induction Category: Performer

George Harrison (guitar, sitar, vocals), John Lennon (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals), Ringo Starr (drums, percussion, vocals)

The impact of the Beatles has often been noted but cannot be overstated. The “Fab Four” from Liverpool, England, startled the ears and energized the lives of virtually all who heard them. Their arrival triggered the musical revolution of the Sixties, introducing a modern sound and viewpoint that parted ways with the world of the previous decade. The pleasurable jolt at hearing “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” - given the doldrums into which rock and roll had fallen in recent years - was comparable to the collective fever induced by Presley’s “That’s All Right (Mama)” and “Heartbreak Hotel” nearly ten years earlier.

The Beatles’ music - with its simultaneous refinement (crisp harmonies, solid musicianship, canny pop instincts) and abandon (energetic singing and playing, much screaming and shaking of mop-topped locks) – ignited the latent energy of youth on both sides of the Atlantic. They helped confer self-identity upon a youthful, music-based culture that flexed its muscle in myriad ways - not just as music consumers but also as a force for political expression, social commentary and contemporary lifestyles.

Landing on these shores on February 7, 1964, they literally stood the world of pop culture on its head, setting the musical agenda for the remainder of the decade. The Beatles’ buoyant melodies, playful personalities and mop-topped charisma were just the tonic needed by a nation left reeling by the senseless assassination of its young president, John F. Kennedy, two months earlier. Even adults typically given to dismissing rock and roll conceded that there was substance in their music and cleverness in their quick-witted repartee. Between the lines, and without obvious disrespect, the Beatles announced the ascendancy of youth - and the inevitable coming of a generation gap as a result.

The long journey resulting in the mob scene that greeted the Beatles’ arrival at Kennedy Airport began in Liverpool. In 1958, John Lennon formed a skiffle group called the Quarrymen. Lennon was raised on Fifties rockabilly and was especially partial to Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent. He met a similarly rock-smitten schoolkid named Paul McCartney. Impressed by McCartney’s knowledge of song lyrics and ability to tune a guitar, Lennon recruited him into the Quarrymen. A schoolmate of McCartney’s, George Harrison, came next. The youthful Harrison’s mastery of guitar licks by Duane Eddy impressed the skeptical Lennon.

With a rhythm section consisting of bassist Stu Sutcliffe (a sharp-looking art student with negligible musical ability) and drummer Pete Best, the group eventually settled on the Beatles as their name. They became a fixture on the rough-and-tumble club scene in Hamburg, Germany, where their five-set-a-night marathons helped mold them into a tight performing unit. Their repertoire comprised well-chosen rock and roll and rhythm & blues covers by such trailblazers as

Chuck Berry and Little Richard. In April 1961, Sutcliffe left and McCartney switched from guitar to bass. On the local scene in their hometown of Liverpool, the group landed a lunchtime residency at a club called The Cavern, where they were discovered by a local record merchant and entrepreneur, Brian Epstein, who became their manager in December 1961. In January 1962, a fan poll in Mersey Beat declared them the top group in Liverpool.

Epstein helped polish the group’s appearance. He attired them in dapper collarless gray suits, which made them appear more accessible than the menacing leathers they’d worn in Hamburg. The Beatles signed with EMI-Parlophone in April 1962 after impressing producer George Martin. In August, fellow Liverpudlian Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey), then a member of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, replaced Pete Best. The group’s first single, “Love Me Do”/”P.S. I Love You,” briefly dented the U.K. Top Twenty in October 1962, but their next 45, “Please Please Me,” formally ignited Beatlemania in their homeland, reaching the Number Two spot. It was followed in 1963 by four consecutive chart-topping British singles: “From Me to You,” “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

They conquered the U.K., even inducing a classical music critic from the London Sunday Times to declare them “the greatest composers since Beethoven.” Moreover, they were the greatest rockers since the composer of “Roll Over, Beethoven” - i.e., Chuck Berry. The freshness and immediacy of the Beatles’ sound stemmed from the fact they assimilated and synthesized the most vital sources for rock and roll that preceded them.

Writing in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, Greil Marcus observed that “the form of the Beatles contained the forms of rock and roll itself. The Beatles combined the harmonic range and implicit equality of the Fifties vocal groups with the flash of a rockabilly band (the Crickets or Gene Vincent’s Blue Caps) with the aggressive and unique personalities of the classic rock stars (Elvis, Little Richard) with the homey, this-could-be-you manner of later rock stars (Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran) with the endlessly inventive songwriting touch of the Brill Building, and they delivered it all with the grace of the Miracles, the physicality of ‘Louie, Louie,’ and the absurd enthusiasm of Gary ‘U.S.’ Bonds.”

The Beatles’ success can be attributed to a combination of factors, including Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting genius, Harrison’s guitar-playing prowess, Starr’s artful simplicity as a drummer, and the solid group harmonies that were a hallmark of their recordings. Personally, they had youthful high spirits, good looks, quick wit and refreshingly down-to-earth dispositions to commend them. George Martin’s production and Brian Epstein’s management were important elements as well.

The Beatles’ conquest of America early in 1964 launched “the British Invasion,” a torrent of rock & roll bands from Britain that overtook the pop charts. The Fab Four’s first #1 single in the U.S. was “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” released on Capitol Records, EMI’s American counterpart. This exuberant track was followed by 45 more Top Forty hits over the next half-dozen years. During the week of April 4, 1964, the Beatles set a record that is likely never to be broken when they occupied all five of the top positions on Billboard’s Top Forty, with “Can’t Buy Me Love” ensconced at #1. Their popularity soared still further with the release of their

anarchic Marx Brothers-as-rock-stars documentary film, A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and its equally playful followup, Help! (1965).

When all was said and done, the Beatles charted twenty #1 singles in the States – three more than runner-up Elvis Presley. It is estimated by EMI, their British record company, that the Beatles have sold over a billion records worldwide. For feats of sales and airplay alone, the Beatles are unquestionably the top group in rock and roll history. Yet their significance extends well beyond numbers to encompass their innovations in the recording studio. The Beatles’ legacy as a concert attraction, during their harried passage from nightclubs to baseball stadiums, is distinguished primarily by the deafening screams of female fans more overcome by their appearance than the music they played. Consequently, the Beatles began to indulge their creative energies in the studio, layering sounds and crafting songs in a way that was experimental yet still accessible. This retreat from the ceaseless mayhem of pop celebrity yielded such musically expansive and lyrically sophisticated albums as Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966). The former, with its acoustic leanings and thoughtful lyrics, betrayed the influence of Bob Dylan upon the band, while the latter stands as a tour de force of tuneful, concise pop psychedelia.

The Beatles retired from touring for good after a San Francisco concert on August 29, 1966. Like Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who abandoned touring to focus on his music, the Beatles thereafter became creatures of the studio. Ten months later, they released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album that has almost universally been cited as the creative apotheosis of rock and roll, a watershed event in which rock became “serious art” without losing its sense of humor - or, in Lennon’s case, sense of the absurd. Realizing the band members’ collective ambitions took four months and all the technical wiles of producer George Martin could muster. A completely self-contained album meant to be played and experienced from start to finish, Sgt. Pepper broke the mold in that no singles were released.

The album’s artistic reach further cemented the notion of a viable counterculture in the minds of youthful dropouts everywhere. Anyone who was alive in the summer of 1967 can remember the pleasant shock of hearing it and the reverberations it sent outward into the world of rock and roll and beyond. As writer Langdon Winner observed, “For a brief moment, the irreparably fractured consciousness of the West was unified, at least in the minds of the young.” Sgt. Pepper was followed by perhaps the greatest two-sided single in rock history, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” which exhibited the creative sensibilities of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, respectively, at their zenith.

In the wake of Sgt. Pepper, the Beatles began to splinter in ways that were initially subtle but gradually grew more pronounced. Subsequent events included the death of manager Epstein due to an overdose of sleeping pills; the release of the TV film Magical Mystery Tour, which earned the Beatles some of their first negative reviews; a trip to India to meditate with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, about whom Lennon wrote “Sexy Sadie”; and the launching in January 1968 of Apple Corps, Ltd., a well-intentioned but ultimately mismanaged entertainment empire that helped bring down the Beatles.

Through all the chaotic events of the late Sixties, however, the Beatles retained their ingenuity and focus as recording artists. Released in August 1968, the single “Hey Jude"/"Revolution" became their most popular single. The Beatles (1968), a double-LP popularly referred to as the White Album, found the group refracting into four estimably talented individuals. This 30-song tour de force included such Beatles classics as “Back in the U.S.S.R,” “”While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Blackbird,” “Birthday,” “Helter Skelter” and “Revolution.”

The album and film Let It Be, recorded in 1969 but shelved until 1970, documented the Beatles’ dissolution. Internal squabbles and the discomfiting presence of John Lennon’s new soulmate, Yoko Ono, revealed widening cracks within the group. Even in this tense atmosphere, the Beatles playfully harked back to their origins with impromptu performances of early rock and R&B classics in the studio.

The Beatles exited on a high note, coming together in the summer of 1969 to record a fitting swan song, Abbey Road. That album included numerous highlights: a playful pastiche of shorts songs, with Paul McCartney as chief instigator, on the second side; a pair of John Lennon’s most emotionally unguarded songs ("Come Together,” “Don’t Let Me Down"); and impressive contributions from George Harrison ("Here Comes the Sun,” “Something"). On April 10, 1970, Paul McCartney announced his departure from the Beatles, and the group quietly came to an end. Throughout the Seventies, fans hoped for an eventual reunion, while the group members pursued solo careers with varying degrees of artistic and commercial success. Those hopes were dashed by the senseless murder of John Lennon in New York City on December 8, 1980.

The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Paul McCartney did not attend the ceremony, leaving surviving Beatles Harrison and Starr and Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, to be inducted by fellow British Invasion legend Mick Jagger, of the Rolling Stones. McCartney released a brief statement that read: ‘’After 20 years, the Beatles still have some business differences which I had hoped would have been settled by now. Unfortunately, they haven’t been, so I would feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion.’’

In 1995, the three ex-Beatles regrouped harmoniously for The Beatles Anthology, which produced a six-hour video documentary aired over the course of three nights on ABC-TV; three double-disc anthologies of Beatles music, including much rare and unreleased material; and a massive coffee-table book with new and archival pictures and interviews. Yoko Ono provided home demos of two unreleased Lennon songs for the project, and McCartney, Harrison and Starr completed the recordings under the guiding hand of their longtime producer, George Martin. This resulted in the first new Beatles singles in 25 years: “Free as a Bird” (#6) and “Real Love” (#11). It was the closest the group came to a reunion since their breakup in 1970.

One of the latest eruptions of Beatlemania occurred in 2005 with the release of 1, a single-disc collection of 27 songs that topped the American and/or British charts. In July 2006, LOVE – an elaborate Cirque de Soleil production that pays tribute to the Beatles - opened at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.

Though popular music has changed considerably in the decades since the Beatles’ demise, their music continues to reach and inspire new generations of listeners. Half a century after their humble origins in Liverpool, the Beatles remain the most enduring phenomenon in the history of popular music.

TIMELINE

July 7, 1940: Richard Starkey - a.k.a. Ringo Starr - is born in Liverpool, England.

October 9, 1940: John Winston Lennon is born at Oxford Street Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, England, to Julia Stanley and Alfred Lennon.

June 18, 1942: James Paul McCartney is born in Liverpool, England.

February 24, 1943: George Harrison is born in Liverpool, England.

1956: John Lennon’s mother, Julia, buys him his first guitar through a mail-order ad.

July 6, 1957: John Lennon meets Paul McCartney at the Woolton Parish Church after a performance by Lennon’s skiffle group, the Quarrymen. McCartney is invited to join the group.

October 18, 1957: Paul McCartney makes his performing debut as a member of the Quarry Men at a club in Liverpool.

February 1, 1958: Paul McCartney introduces George Harrison to the Quarrymen at the Morgue, a basement club in Liverpool. Harrison, a guitar-playing schoolmate of McCartney’s, joins the group.

1959: The Quarry Men change their name to Johnny and the Moondogs.

January 1960: Stuart Sutcliffe joins John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison – a.k.a., Johnny and the Moondogs, the Silver Beatles and the Beatles - on bass guitar.

August 1, 1960: The Beatles debut in Hamburg, West Germany, with Stu Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums.

January 1, 1961: The Beatles peform at Liverpool’s Cavern Club for the first time.

November 1, 1961: 1961: Brian Epstein becomes the Beatles’ manager, having checked out the band at the Cavern Club after receiving requests for their single “My Bonnie” at his Liverpool record shop.

January 1962: Decca Records passes on the Beatles after their audition, leaving A&R Dick Rowe with the unenviable reputation as “the man who gave away the Beatles.”

March 7, 1962: The Beatles debut on the BBC, performing Roy Orbison’s “Dream Baby” and two other songs.

April 10, 1962: Stu Sutcliffe, who’d played bass in the Beatles, dies of a brain tumor.

June 1, 1962: The Beatles audition for George Martin at Parlophone/EMI Records. He agrees to sign the group but insists that drummer Pete Best be replaced.

August 1962: Richard “Ringo” Starkey, the popular drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, joins the Beatles.

September 4-11, 1962: The Beatles hold their first recording sessions at EMI Studios in London, with George Martin as producer.

October 1962: “Love Me Do” becomes the Beatles’ first U.K. single for the Parlophone label, reaching #21.

March 22, 1963: The Beatles’ first album, Please Please Me, is released in England.

November 22, 1963: The Beatles’ second album, With the Beatles, is issued in the U.K. on the same day President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

December 26, 1963: “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” by the Beatles, is released. It is their first release on Capitol Records.

February 1, 1964: “I Want to Hold Your Hand, by the Beatles, tops the Billboard singles chart for the first of seven weeks.

February 7, 1964: The Beatles arrive in America and hold a quip-filled press conference that sets the antic tone for their two-week stay.

February 9, 1964: The Beatles make the first of four appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Their TV debut in the U.S. is viewed by a record-breaking audience of 75 million.

February 11, 1964: The Beatles kick off their first U.S. tour with a sold-out show at the Coliseum Theater in Washington, D.C.

February 15, 1964: Meet the Beatles!, the Fab Four’s first album on Capitol Records in the U.S., tops the charts for the first of 11 weeks.

April 4, 1964: “Can’t Buy Me Love,” by the Beatles, reaches #1. The next four positions on the singles chart are held down by the Fab Four as well. It is a feat that’s never been matched before or since.

July 6, 1964: The Beatles’ first film, A Hard Day’s Night, premieres in London.

August 19, 1964: The Beatles’ first American tour begins at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

September 20, 1964: The Beatles’ first American tour ends with a charity performance at Brooklyn’s Paramount Theater.

April 1, 1965: John Lennon composes “Help!” the title song for the Beatles’ second film. He later reveals the lyrics were a cry for help and a clue to his confusion at the time.

July 29, 1965: The Beatles’ second film, Help!, premieres in London.

August 15, 1965: The Beatles play for nearly 60,000 fans at New York’s Shea Stadium.

August 27, 1965: The Beatles spend the evening talking and playing music with Elvis Presley at Graceland, his Memphis estate.

October 9, 1965: “Yesterday,” by the Beatles, hits #1 for the first of four weeks. It is the most covered song in pop history, with more than recorded 2,500 versions.

October 26, 1965: The Beatles are awarded England’s prestigious MBE (Members of the Order of the British Empire). Lennon later returns his in opposition to Britain’s involvement in the Vietham War.

March 1, 1966: The London Evening Standard publishes an interview in which John Lennon says the Beatles are “more popular than Jesus now.”

July 31, 1966: John Lennon’s controversial comments on Christianity – made in March, but only recently picked up in the U.S. - spark protests and record burnings on the eve of the Beatles’ 1966 American tour.

August 29, 1966: After performing at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the Beatles declare that their touring days are over.

March 18, 1967: “Penny Lane,” by the Beatles, reaches #1, and the flip side, “Strawberry Fields Forever,” peaks at #8.

June 1, 1967: The Beatles’ magnum opus, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, is released in Britain. It appears a day later in America.

July 1, 1967: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by the Beatles, tops the U.S. charts for first of 15 weeks.

August 1, 1967: Beatle George Harrison and his wife, Patti, stroll through the streets of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district at the height of the hippie movement.

August 19, 1967: The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” hits #1.

September 1, 1967: John Lennon composes “I Am the Walrus” while under the influence of LSD. It will be one of six new Beatles songs included in their quixotic TV film, Magical Mystery Tour.

December 30, 1967: “Hello Goodbye,” by the Beatles, reaches #1 for the first of three weeks. The flip side, John Lennon’s experimental opus “I Am the Walrus,” peaks at #56.

February 15, 1968: The Beatles depart for Rishikesh, India, for an advanced course in transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They are joined by Donovan, Mike Love (of the Beach Boys), and sisters Mia and Priscilla Farrow.

May 1, 1968: The Beatles launch Apple Corps, Ltd., a business venture that includes Apple Records, in London.

September 28, 1968: The Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” a seven-minute song highlighted by an extended singalong coda, tops the charts for the first of nine weeks. It holds the record among Beatles singles for most weeks at #1.

Novenber 22, 1968: The Beatles’ sprawling, self-titled double album – generally referred to as the White Album – is released. It tops the U.S. charts for nine weeks.

January 30, 1969: The Beatles make their final live performance with an impromptu, five-song set on the rooftop of Apple headquarters, on London’s Savile Row, during the filming of Let It Be.

May 24, 1969: The Beatles reach #1 with “Get Back,” which features Billy Preston on keyboards.

September 26, 1969: The Beatles release Abbey Road, which tops the American charts for 11 weeks.

November 29, 1969: The Beatles reach #1 with “Come Together.” Only four months later, the Beatles will come apart.

April 10, 1970: Paul McCartney announces he is leaving the Beatles due to “personal, business and musical differences.”

May 8, 1970: Let It Be, by the Beatles, is released. It is followed five days later by the Let It Be documentary film.

June 13, 1970: “The Long and Winding Road” becomes the Beatles’ 20th and final #1 single.

April 14, 1973: Two simultaneously released double-album compilations – The Beatles/1962-1966 (“the Red Album”) and The Beatles/1967-1970 (“the Blue Album”) – enter the Billboard album chart. They will peak at #3 and #1, respectively.

January 2, 1975: The Beatles’ formal legal dissolution takes place in London.

June 19, 1976: The Beatles, now defunct for half a decade, have a Top Ten hit with “Got to Get You Into My Life,” a song that had been recorded a decade earlier.

December 8, 1980: John Lennon is shot by a deranged assailant as he and Yoko return to the Dakota after a recording session. He is pronounced dead at New York’s Roosevelt Hospital.

April 10, 1982: “The Beatles’ Movie Medley,” a seven-song mashup, enters the Top Forty, where it will peak at #12.

March 7, 1987: The Beatles enter the digital age with an initial release of three albums in the compact disc format. The CDs are configured like the original British albums, not the altered American versions.

June 1, 1987: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by the Beatles, is issued on compact disc exactly 20 years after its original release.

January 20, 1988: The Beatles are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 3rd annual induction dinner. Mick Jagger, of the Rolling Stones, is their presenter.

December 6, 1994: The Beatles’ Live at the BBC, a 56-song double-disc collection assembled by producer George Martin, is released.

November 19, 1995: “Free as a Bird,” a John Lennon demo from 1977 that’s been newly overdubbed by the three surviving Beatles, enters the singles chart, where it will peak at #6.

November 19-23, 1995: The Beatles Anthology, a comprehensive documentary based on archival footage and fresh interviews, airs on ABC in three parts.

December 9, 1995: Anthology 1, the first of three archival double-disc releases by the Beatles, tops the Billboard 200 for the first of three weeks.

March 23, 1996: “Real Love,” the second “new” Beatles single based on a John Lennon demo, enters the charts, where it will peak at #11.

Octobe 5, 2000: The Beatles Anthology, a 368-page coffeetable-book companion to the 1995 TV documentary and three double-CD sets, is published.

November 29, 2001: George Harrison dies at age 58 after battling lung and brain cancer.

November 13,2000: 1, a collection of 27 Beatles songs that topped the U.S. and/or U.K. charts, is released. Demonstrating the Beatles’ undiminished appeal, it will top Billboard’s Top 200 album chart for eight weeks.

November 11, 2004: At a ceremony in London, the Beatles are inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in its first year. The other inductees, each representing a particular decade: Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, Madonna and U2.

November 16, 2004: The first four Beatles albums that were issued in the U.S. by Capitol Records in 1964 are reissued on CD as the box set The Capitol Albums, Volume 1. All four albums appear in both mono and stereo mixes.

April 15, 2005: The Beatles’ 1 hits collection is certified diamond (10 million copies sold) by the RIAA.

July 1, 2006: Cirque du Soleil salutes the Beatles’ legacy with LOVE, a multimedia production featuring over 100 Beatles songs, collaged and remixed by George Martin.

Essential Songs

I Want to Hold Your Hand Hey Jude Strawberry Fields Forever Can’t Buy Me Love A Hard Day’s Night Help! Yesterday Let It Be A Day in the Life I Am the Walrus

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/the-beatles

Paul McCartney

Induction Year: 1999

Induction Category: Performer

"Inductee: Paul McCartney (vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards, drums; born 6/18/42)

Paul McCartney was the first of the Beatles to work on an extracurricular recording project (the soundtrack to the 1966 film The Family Way) and also the first to release a bonafide solo album of songs (McCartney, which appeared as the Beatles were dissolving in 1970). McCartney has been the most prolific ex-Beatle and has also enjoyed the greatest measure of commercial success.

Between his work with the Beatles and as a solo artist and leader of Wings, McCartney has written or cowritten more than 50 Top Ten singles. With and without Wings, McCartney has been extremely prolific, averaging an album a year since the appearance of McCartney. Moreover, he’s been eclectic as well, not only recording pop and rock but also dabbling in various classical forms and ambient dance music. In the post-Beatles era McCartney has cracked the Top Forty 35 times. When combined with the Beatles’ 49 Top Forty U.S. singles, it is a matter of statistical fact that Paul McCartney is the most successful pop-music composer ever and the second greatest hitmaker, behind Elvis Presley. Without question he is one of the most important musicians of the 20th century.

Beyond the numerical achievements, McCartney’s career is noteworthy for the purposeful way in which he demystified himself as a rock star in the wake of the Beatles. During the Seventies-a decade of ego-tripping superstars, flamboyant glam-rockers and defiant punk-rockers-McCartney modestly presented himself to the world as a family man who happened to be a working musician. His songs often celebrated the mundane pleasures of everyday life. As a songwriter who delights in the quotidian, as opposed to edgier rock and rollers steeped in mystique and risk-taking, McCartney has rarely been a favorite of rock critics. However, his body of work-some of it admittedly lightweight, much of it unjustly dismissed-has given boundless pleasure to the music-loving public. Having been the primary melodist within the Beatles, it is not surprising that McCartney’s knack for an ear-catching pop tune remained very much in evidence. 

McCartney’s low-key solo debut belied the turmoil that attended the simultaneous breakup of the Beatles. Recorded on a four-track machine, this collection of simple songs and fragments found him playing keyboards, guitar, bass and drums. A one-man show that added up to an evocation of (in his own words) “home, family, love,” McCartney anticipated the singer-songwriter movement that would fill the early-Seventies void after the chaos and clamor of the Sixties. McCartney appeared in April 1970, two weeks before Let It Be, the Beatles’ last studio release. A year later came Ram, credited to Paul and Linda McCartney. (The couple were married in March 1969; it was the second marriage for Linda.) Ram became a favorite with FM rock deejays and even yielded a #1 single, the whimsical, ambitious “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.”

For the rest of the decade, save for the odd solo single, McCartney devoted his creative energies to Wings. Under the banner of Wings, McCartney worked with Linda (who played keyboards and sang) and a fairly stable lineup of musicians. Technically, Wings were an entity longer than the Beatles, though there occurred several personnel changes between their formation in 1971 and disbanding ten years later. McCartney clearly intended Wings to be perceived as a band, and he willingly submerged his identity within the group framework, especially on Wings’ much-maligned 1971 debut, Wild Life. Their best recording-it was, in fact, attributed to Paul McCartney and Wings-was Band On the Run (1973). Recorded in Africa by the McCartneys and singer/guitarist Denny Laine (formerly of the Moody Blues), it struck many as McCartney’s attempt to deflect criticism that his post-Beatles’ work lacked substance. The album and its three Top Ten hits-"Jet," “Band on the Run” and “Helen Wheels"-were catchy, energetic and fun, much like the best of the Beatles.

With the addition of guitarist Jimmy McCullough and drummer Joe English, Wings expanded to a five-piece band for Venus and Mars. preserved on Wings Over America, was a major rock and roll event.  Commercially, McCartney had his finger on the pulse of the Seventies. Five consecutive Wings albums-Red Rose Speedway, Band on the Run, Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound and Wings Over America (a triple live album)-topped the album charts. At the height of punk-rock in 1977, McCartney must be considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Wings’ sentimental tribute to hearth and home, “Mull of Kintyre,” became the best-selling single in British history. So popular were Wings that in 1978 the group could fill a 13-track best-of, Wings Greatest, with nothing but hits. In 1979, Wings switched labels, from Capitol to Columbia, and released their last album, Back to the Egg. The group officially disbanded in April 1981.

McCartney resumed his solo career with 1980’s McCartney II. He followed it with Tug of War (1982), which reunited him with Beatles producer George Martin and was regarded as his strongest outing since Band On the Run. McCartney duetted with Stevie Wonder on Tug of War‘s “Ebony and Ivory” and sang with Michael Jackson on “The Girl Is Mine,” which appeared on the latter’s Thriller; both songs went to #1. Another duet with Jackson, “Say Say Say,” turned up on McCartney’s Pipes of Peace (1983). Give My Regards to Broad Street, a feature film and accompanying soundtrack, released in 1984, included his reworkings of several Beatles songs.

The McCartney catalog has swelled since the mid-Eighties as he’s tackled an eclectic assortment of projects. These include a solid run of solo albums (Press to Play, Flowers in the Dirt, Off the Ground), live albums from two world tours (Tripping the Live Fantastic and Paul Is Live), an acoustic session for MTV (Unplugged: The Official Bootleg), an album of vintage rock and roll covers (Choba B CCCP, initially released only in the Soviet Union), and a pair of electronic “rave” albums issued under the alias “The Fireman.” McCartney also explored classical forms with his Liverpool Oratorio (1991), written with conductor Carl Davis, and the orchestral piece Standing Stone (1997), composed in celebration of the 100th anniversary of EMI, his record label. Also in 1997 came Flaming Pie, a modest masterpiece that nodded to the past while reaffirming his skills as a pop craftsman. McCartney claimed to have been inspired by his involvement in the Beatles’ Anthology, the 1995 TV miniseries and three-volume retrospective of the Fab Four’s recorded work: “The Anthology was very good for me because it reminded me of the Beatles’ standards and the standards that we reached with the songs,” he said.

Another project close to his heart was Wide Prairie, an album of songs by his late wife, Linda McCartney. Highly regarded in her own right as a photographer, animal rights activist and vegetarian cook-not to mention wife, mother and inseparable companion-Linda died of breast cancer in 1998. McCartney returned to his rock and roll roots for the 1999 album Run Devil Run, whose 15 tracks were cut in only one week-much like the Beatles had worked back in the early days. Erasing any doubts that he’d “gone classical,” McCartney asserted, “I still love my rock and roll.”

TIMELINE

June 18, 1942: James Paul McCartney is born in Liverpool, England.

July 6, 1957: John Lennon meets Paul McCartney at the Woolton Parish Church in Liverpool during a performance by John’s group the Quarrymen. Impressed by Paul’s ability to tune a guitar and by his knowledge of song lyrics, John asks him to join the group.

October 18, 1957: Paul McCartney makes his debut with the Quarrymen, a skiffle group founded by John Lennon.

February 1, 1958: Paul McCartney introduces George Harrison to the Quarrymen at a basement teen club called the Morgue. George joins the group.

August 1, 1960: The Beatles make their debut in Hamburg, West Germany, with Stu Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums.

August 17, 1960: A quartet comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best (later replaced by Ringo Starr) performs as “the Beatles” for the first time in Hamburg, Germany.

January 1, 1961: The Beatles make their debut at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

November 1, 1961: Local record store manager Brian Epstein is introduced to the Beatles. He soon signs a contract to manage them.

April 10, 1962: Stu Sutcliffe dies of a brain hemorrhage.

June 1, 1962: The Beatles audition for George Martin at Parlophone/EMI Records. He agrees to sign the group, but insists that Pete Best be replaced. Within months, Richard “Ringo” Starkey joins the group.

September 4-11, 1962: The Beatles record their first sessions at EMI Studios in London, with George Martin as producer.

February 11, 1964: The Beatles begin their first U.S. tour at the Coliseum in Washington, D.C.

1964: Peter and Gordon reach Number One in the U.S. with “World Without Love,” a song written by Paul McCartney, but never recorded by the Beatles.

July 6, 1964: The world premiere of The Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ takes place in London.

August 15, 1965: The Beatles play in front of almost 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City.

October 26, 1965: The Beatles are awarded England’s prestigious MBE (Members of the Order of the British Empire). John comments, “I thought you had to drive tanks and win wars to get the MBE.”

August 29, 1966: After their concert at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the Beatles declare this to be their final concert tour.

June 1, 1967: ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ is released in Britain.

May 1, 1968: Apple Corps, Ltd. begins operating in London. It is the Beatles’ attempt to take control of their own creative and economic destiny. Later that month, John invites Yoko to his house in Weybridge. They make experimental tapes all night.

January 30, 1969: The Beatles make their last performance as a group on the roof of the Apple building during the filming of ‘Let It Be’.

March 12, 1969: Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman are married in London.

October 12, 1969: Commencing with a call to a Detroit disk jockey, rumors that Paul McCartney is dead begin circulating. These based on a number of apparently planted “clues” divined from Beatle lyrics and album covers. The “Paul is dead” hoax is laid to rest when Paul McCartney emerges from seclusion in Scotland, announcing that “rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

April 9, 1970: Paul McCartney announces his “break with the Beatles” in a typed statement enclosed in copies of the solo album McCartney sent to the British press. Paul McCartney attributes the split to “personal differences, musical differences, business differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family.”

April 10, 1970: Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving the Beatles due to “personal, business and musical differences.”

April 17, 1970: ‘McCartney’ on which the ex-Beatle played all the parts, is released.

August 3, 1971: Paul McCartney unveils his new band, Wings, comprising Paul McCartney and Linda with Denny Laine (guitar) and Denny Seiwell (drums). Though there will be personnel changes, Paul McCartney and Linda remain loyal to the Wings rubric for the next ten years. Albums released during the Wings era: Wild Life (1971), Red Rose Speedway (1973), Band on

the Run (1973), Venus and Mars (1975), Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976), Wings Over America (1976), London Town (1978), Wings Greatest (1978) and Back to the Egg (1979).

April 13, 1974: ‘Band On the Run’, credited to Paul McCartney and Wings, hits the top of the U.S. album chart, where it will remain for four weeks.

September 9, 1975: Wings’ ambitious world tour, the first such undertaking by a Beatle, kicks off in Britain. It runs for 13 months, ending in October 1976. ‘Wings Over America’, a three-record set released in December 1976, is culled from U.S. dates on the tour.

April 24, 1976: ‘Wings at the Speed of Sound’ hits the top of the U.S. album chart, where it will remain for seven weeks.

December 3, 1977: In the thick of the punk-rock blitzkrieg, Paul McCartney tops the U.K. charts for nine weeks with the pastoral waltz “Mull of Kintyre.” It surpasses the Beatles’ “She Loves You” as the best-selling U.K. single of all time; curiously, it is only a B-side (of the “Girls School” single) in America.

June 1, 1980: ‘McCartney II’, which is represented as Paul’s second solo album—all of the others since ‘McCartney’ being group projects with Wings—is released.

June 22, 1980: Coming Up (Live at Glasgow) (Paul McCartney & Wings) was a hit.

May 1, 1982: ‘Tug of War’, which reunites Paul McCartney with Beatles producer George Martin, is released to glowing reviews and strong sales. A duet with Stevie Wonder, “Ebony and Ivory,” tops the singles chart for seven weeks.

July 13, 1985: Paul McCartney’s performance of “Let It Be” closes the Live Aid benefit concert at Wembley Stadium in Britain.

February 1, 1989: CHOBA B CCCP ("Again in U.S.S.R."), an album of classic rock and roll, is released only in Russia on the state-run Melodiya label. The heavily bootlegged album is legally issued elsewhere in the world, with an additional 14th track, in 1991.

September 28, 1989: Paul McCartney commences a world tour that will run through July 29, 1990. ‘Tripping the Live Fantastic’, an album of concert highlights that includes many Beatles songs, appears in November 1990.

February 21, 1990: Paul McCartney is given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

June 27, 1991: Paul McCartney’s ‘Liverpool Oratorio’ is performed at the Liverpool Cathedral by the Liverpool Orchestra. It is also performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall in November, and a recording of Paul McCartney’s quasi-autobiographical oratorio appears in December.

February 27, 1993: Off the Ground enters the U.S. chart at #17. A month later, Paul McCartney kicks off another world tour in Perth, Australia. ‘Paul Is Live’, his third live album, appears in November.

January 19, 1994: Paul McCartney inducts John Lennon into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “I love him to this day and I always did love him,” says Paul McCartney.

May 27, 1997: ‘Flaming Pie’, Paul McCartney’s first studio album in four years, is released.

September 23, 1997: ‘Standing Stone’, Paul McCartney’s first symphonic work, is released on the EMI Classics label.

April 17, 1998: Linda McCartney dies of breast cancer at age 56.

March 15, 1999: Paul McCartney is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the fourteenth annual induction dinner.

October 5, 1999: Paul McCartney releases ‘Run Devil Run’, a collection of vintage rock and roll covers plus three originals.

Essential Songs

Band On the Run Maybe I’m Amazed Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey Tug of War Jet Mull of Kintyre Live and Let Die Listen to What the Man Said Silly Love Songs My Brave Face

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/paul-mccartney

PAUL 1966: "I don't know whether poets think they have to experience things to write about them, but I can tell you our songs are nearly all imagination-- ninety percent imagination. I don't think Beethoven was in a really wicked mood all the time."

Yesterdayby Paul McCartney

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away Now it look as though they're here to stay Oh, I believe in yesterday

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be There's a shadow hanging over me oh, yesterday came suddenly

Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play Now I need a place to hide away oh, I believe in yesterday

Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play Now I need a place to hide away oh, I believe in yesterday, Mm

JOHN 1966: "'Yesterday' is Paul completely on his own, really. We just helped finishing off the ribbons 'round it, you know -- tying it up."

PAUL 1968: "I just started playing it and this tune came, 'cuz that's what happens. They just, sort of-- they COME, you know. It just came and I couldn't think of any words to it, so originally it was just, 'Scrambled Egg.' It was called 'Scrambled Egg' for a couple of months, until I thought of 'Yesterday.' And that's it. True story."

JOHN 1980: "Paul wrote the lyrics to 'Yesterday.' Although the lyrics don't resolve into any sense, they're good lines. They certainly work, you know what I mean? They're good-- but if you read the whole song, it doesn't say anything; you don't know what happened. She left and he wishes it were yesterday-- that much you get-- but it doesn't really resolve. So, mine didn't used to either. I have had so much accolade for 'Yesterday.' That's Paul's song, and Paul's baby. Well done. Beautiful-- and I never wished I'd written it."

PAUL 1984: "It fell out of bed. I had a piano by my bedside and I... must have dreamed it, because I tumbled out of bed and put my hands on the piano keys and I had a tune in my head. It was just all there, a complete thing. I couldn't believe it. It came too easy. In fact, I didn't believe

I'd written it. I thought maybe I'd heard it before, it was some other tune, and I went around for weeks playing the chords of the song for people, asking them, 'Is this like something? I think I've written it.' And people would say, 'No, it's not like anything else, but it's good.'"

PAUL 1986: "The hits are always the ones you thought wouldn't be hits, like 'Yesterday' or 'Mull Of Kintyre.' I didn't want to put them out. We didn't put 'Yesterday' out in England, it was only here (America) that it was a single. We didn't think it was going to be a good idea... so it's crazy how it goes."

PAUL 1988: "We didn't think it fitted our image. In fact, it was one of our most successful songs."

Eleanor Rigbyby Paul McCartney

Ah, look at all the lonely people Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been Lives in a dream Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door Who is it for

All the lonely people Where do they all come from? All the lonely people Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear No one comes near Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there What does he care

All the lonely people Where do they all come from? All the lonely people Where do they all belong?

Ah, look at all the lonely people Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby, died in the church and was buried along with her name Nobody came Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave No one was saved

All the lonely people Where do they all come from? All the lonely people Where do they all belong?

PAUL 1966: "I was sitting at the piano when I thought of it. The first few bars just came to me, and I got this name in my head... Daisy Hawkins picks up the rice in the church. I don't know why. I couldn't think of much more so I put it away for a day. Then the name Father McCartney came to me, and all the lonely people. But I thought that people would think it was supposed to be about my Dad sitting knitting his socks. Dad's a happy lad. So I went through the telephone book and I got the name McKenzie. I was in Bristol when I decided Daisy Hawkins wasn't a good name. I walked 'round looking at the shops, and I saw the name Rigby. Then I took the song down to John's house in Weybridge. We sat around, laughing, got stoned and finished it off."

JOHN 1980: "Paul's baby, and I helped with the education of the child... The violin backing was Paul's idea. Jane Asher had turned him on to Vivaldi, and it was very good."

PAUL 1984: "I got the name Rigby from a shop in Bristol. I was wandering round Bristol one day and saw a shop called Rigby. And I think Eleanor was from Eleanor Bron, the actress we worked with in the film 'Help!' But I just liked the name. I was looking for a name that sounded natural. Eleanor Rigby sounded natural."

Here, There, and Everywhereby Paul McCartney

To lead a better life I need my love to be here

Here, making each day of the year Changing my life with a wave of her hand Nobody can deny that there's something there

There, running my hands through her hair Both of us thinking how good it can be Someone is speaking, but she doesn't know he's there

I want her everywhere And if she's beside me I know I need never care But to love her is to need her

Everywhere, knowing that love is to share Each one believing that love never dies Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there

I want her everywhere And if she's beside me I know I need never care But to love her is to need her

I will be there, and everywhere Here, there and everywhere

JOHN 1972: "This was a great one of his."

JOHN 1980: "That's Paul's song completely, I believe. And one of my favorite songs of the Beatles."

PAUL 1984: "I wrote that by John's pool one day. When we were working together, sometimes he came in to see me. But mainly, I went out to see him."

PAUL circa-1994: "'Here, There and Everywhere' has a couple of interesting structural points about it... each verse takes a word. 'Here' discusses here, Next verse, 'there' discusses there, then it pulls it all together in the last verse with 'everywhere.' ...John might have helped with a few last words."

She's Leaving Homeby Paul McCartney

Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day begins Silently closing her bedroom door Leaving the note that she hoped would say more She goes downstairs to the kitchen clutching her handkerchief Quietly turning the back door key Stepping outside she is free

She (we gave her most of our lives) is leaving (sacrificed most of our lives) home (we gave her everything money could buy) She's leaving home after living alone for so many years (bye bye)

Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown Picks up the letter that's lying there Standing alone at the top of the stairs She breaks down and cries to her husband Daddy our baby's gone Why would she treat us so thoughtlessly How could she do this to me

She (We never thought of ourselves) is leaving (never a thought for ourselves) home (we struggled hard all our lives to get by) She's leaving home after living alone for so many years (bye bye)

Friday morning at nine o'clock she is far away Waiting to keep the appointment she made Meeting a man from the motor trade

She (what did we do that was wrong) is having (we didn't know it was wrong) fun (fun is the one thing that money can't buy) Something inside that was always denied for so many years (bye bye) She's leaving home (bye bye)

The Fool on the Hillby Paul McCartney

Day after day alone on the hill The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still But nobody wants to know him They can see that he's just a fool And he never gives an answer

But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head See the world spinning round

Well on the way, his head in a cloud The man of a thousand voices is talking perfectly loud But nobody ever hears him Or the sound he appears to make And he never seems to notice

But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head See the world spinning round

Oh, round, round, round, round, round And nobody seems to like him they can tell what he wants to do And he never shows his feelings

But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head See the world spinning round

Oh, round, round, round, round, round And he never listen to them He knows that they're the fools But they don't like him

The fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head See the world spinning round

JOHN 1980: "Now that's Paul. Another good lyric. Shows he's capable of writing complete songs."

PAUL circa-1994: "'Fool On The Hill' was mine and I think I was writing about someone like the Maharishi. His detractors called him a fool. Because of his giggle he wasn't taken too seriously... I was sitting at the piano at my father's house in Liverpool hitting a D6 chord, and I made up 'Fool On The Hill.'"

Penny Laneby Paul McCartney

In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs Of every head he's had the pleasure to know. And all the people that come and go Stop and say hello.

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar, The little children laugh at him behind his back. And the banker never wears a mack In the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes. There beneath the blue suburban skies I sit, and meanwhile back

In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen. He likes to keep his fire engine clean, It's a clean machine.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes. A four of fish and finger pies In summer, meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray And tho' she feels as if she's in a play She is anyway.

In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer, We see the banker sitting waiting for a trim. And then the fireman rushes in From the pouring rain, very strange.

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes. There beneath the blue suburban skies I sit, and meanwhile back. Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes. There beneath the blue suburban skies, Penny Lane.

PAUL 1966: "I like some of the things the Animals try to do, like the song Eric Burdon wrote about places in Newcastle on the flip of one of their hits. I still want to write a song about the places in Liverpool where I was brought up. Places like The Docker's Umbrella which is a long tunnel through which the dockers go to work on Merseyside, and Penny Lane near my old home."

JOHN 1968: "We really got into the groove of imagining Penny Lane-- the bank was there, and that was where the tram sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there. It was just reliving childhood."

JOHN 1980: "Penny Lane is not only a street but it's a district... a suburban district where, until age four, I lived with my mother and father. So I was the only Beatle that lived in Penny Lane."

PAUL circa-1994: "John and I would always meet at Penny Lane. That was where someone would stand and sell you poppies each year on British Legion poppy day... When I came to write it, John came over and helped me with the third verse, as often was the case. We were writing childhood memories-- recently faded memories from eight or ten years before, so it was recent nostalgia, pleasant memories for both of us. All the places were still there, and because we remembered it so clearly we could have gone on."

Blackbirdby Paul McCartney

Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night 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 the dark black night Blackbird fly, blackbird fly Into the light of the dark black night You were only waiting for this moment to arise You were only waiting for this moment to arise

PAUL 1968: "It's simple in concept because you couldn't think of anything else to put on it. Maybe on 'Pepper' we would have sort of worked on it until we could find some way to put violins or trumpets in there. But I don't think it needs it, this one. You know, it's just... There's nothing to the song. It is just one of those 'pick it and sing it' and that's it. The only point where we were thinking of putting anything on it is where it comes back in the end.... sort of stops and comes back in... but instead of putting any backing on it, we put a blackbird on it. So there's a blackbird singing at the very end. And somebody said it was a thrush, but I think it's a blackbird!"

JOHN 1980: "I gave him (Paul) a line on that one."

PAUL circa-1994: "The original inspiration was from a well-known piece by Bach, which I never know the title of, which George and I had learned to play at an early age-- he better than me actually. Part of its structure is a particular harmonic thing between the melody and the bass line which intrigued me... I developed the melody based on the Bach piece and took it somewhere else, took it to another level, then I just fitted words to it. I had in my mind a black woman, rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil-rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about. So this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the states... 'Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.' As is often the case with my things, a veiling took place. So, rather than say 'Black woman living in Little Rock' and be very specific, she became a bird, became symbolic, so you could apply it to your particular problem."

Hey Judeby Paul McCartney

Hey Jude, don't make it bad take a sad song and make it better Remember to let her into your heart Then you can start to make it better

Hey Jude, don't be afraid You were made to go out and get her The minute you let her under your skin The you begin to make it better

And anytime you feel the pain Hey Jude refrain don't carry the world upon your shoulders For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder

Hey Jude don't let me down You have found her, now go and get her Remember to let get into your heart then you can start to make it better

So let it out and let it in Hey Jude begin You're waiting for someone to perform with And don't you know that it's just you Hey Jude, you'll do The movement you need is on your shoulder

Hey Jude, don't make it bad take a sad song and make it better Remember to let her under your skin Then you can begin to make it better

JOHN 1968: "Well, when Paul first sang 'Hey Jude' to me... or played me the little tape he'd made of it... I took it very personally. 'Ah, it's me,' I said, 'It's me.' He says, 'No, it's me.' I said, 'Check. We're going through the same bit.' So we all are. Whoever is going through a bit with us is going through it, that's the groove."

JOHN 1972: "That's his best song."

PAUL 1974: "I remember I played it to John and Yoko, and I was saying, 'These words won't be on the finished version.' Some of the words were: 'The movement you need is on your shoulder,' and John was saying, 'It's great!' I'm saying, 'It's crazy, it doesn't make any sense at all.' He's saying, 'Sure it does, it's great.'"

JOHN 1980: "He said it was written about Julian. He knew I was splitting with Cyn and leaving Julian then. He was driving to see Julian to say hello. He had been like an uncle. And he came up with 'Hey Jude.' But I always heard it as a song to me. Now I'm sounding like one of those fans reading things into it... Think about it: Yoko had just come into the picture. He is saying. 'Hey, Jude'-- 'Hey, John.' Subconsciously, he was saying, 'Go ahead, leave me.' On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead. The angel in him was saying, 'Bless you.' The devil in him didn't like it at all, because he didn't want to lose his partner."

PAUL 1985: "I remember on 'Hey Jude' telling George not to play guitar. He wanted to do echo riffs after the vocal phrases, which I didn't think was appropriate. He didn't see it like that, and it was a bit of a number for me to have to 'dare' to tell George Harrison-- who's one of the greats-- not to play. It was like an insult. But that's how we did alot of our stuff."

PAUL circa-1994: "There is an amusing story about recording it... Ringo walked out to go to the toilet and I hadn't noticed. The toilet was only a few yards from his drum booth, but he'd gone past my back and I still thought he was in his drum booth. I started what was the actual take-- and 'Hey Jude' goes on for hours before the drums come in-- and while I was doing it I suddenly felt Ringo tiptoeing past my back rather quickly, trying to get to his drums. And just as he got to his drums, boom boom boom, his timing was absolutely impeccable."

Golden Slumbersby Paul McCartney

Once there was a way to get back homeward Once there was a way to get back home Sleep pretty darling do not cry And I will sing a lullaby

Golden slumbers fill your eyes Smiles awake you when you rise Sleep pretty darling do not cry And I will sing a lullaby

Once there was a way to get back homeward Once there was a way to get back home Sleep pretty darling do not cry And I will sing a lullaby

GEORGE 1969: "Another very melodic tune of Paul's which is very nice."

JOHN 1969: "Paul layed the strings on after we finished most of the basic track. I personally can't be bothered with strings and things, you know. I like to do it with the group or with electronics. And especially going through that hassle with musicians and all that bit, you know, it's such a drag trying to get them together. But Paul digs that, so that's his scene. It was up to him where he went with violins and what he did with them. And I think he just wanted a straight kind of backing, you know. Nothing freaky."

PAUL 1969: "I was just playing the piano in Liverpool at my dad's house, and my sister Ruth's piano book... she was learning piano... and 'Golden Slumbers and your old favorites' was up on the stand, you know-- it was a little book with all those words in it. I was just flipping through it and I came to 'Golden Slumbers.' I can't read music so I didn't know the tune... I can't remember the old tune... so I just started playing 'my' tune to it. And then, I liked the words so I just kept that, you know, and then it fitted with another bit of song I had-- which is the verse in between it. So I just made that into a song. It just happened 'cuz I was reading her book."

Let It Beby Paul McCartney

When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom Let it be And in my hour of darkness She is standing right it front of me Speaking words of wisdom Let it be

Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be Whisper words of wisdom Let it be

And when the broken hearted people Living in the world agree There will be an answer Let it be For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see There will be an answer Let it be

Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be yeah, there will be an answer Let it be Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be Whisper words of wisdom Let it be

Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be Whisper words of wisdom Let it be

And when the night is cloudy There is still a light that shines on me Shine until tomorrow Let it be I wake up to the sound of music Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom Let it be

Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be There will be an answer Let it be Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be There will be an answer Let it be

Let it be, let it be Let it be, let it be Whisper words of wisdom Let it be

JOHN 1980: "That's Paul... I think it was inspired by 'Bridge Over Troubled Water.' That's my feeling, although I have nothing to go on. I know he wanted to write a 'Bridge Over Troubled Water.'"

PAUL 1986: "I had alot of bad times in the '60s. We used to lie in bed and wonder what was going on and feel quite paranoid. Probably all the drugs. I had a dream one night about my mother. She died when I was fourteen so I hadn't really heard from her in quite a while, and it was very good. It gave me some strength."

PAUL circa-1994: "One night during this tense time I had a dream I saw my mum, who'd been dead ten years or so. And it was great to see her because that's a wonderful thing about dreams, you actually are reunited with that person for a second... In the dream she said, 'It'll be alright.' I'm not sure if she used the words 'Let it be' but that was the gist of her advice, it was 'Don't worry too much, it will turn out okay.' It was such a sweet dream I woke up thinking, 'Oh, it was really great to visit with her again.' I felt very blessed to have that dream."

The Long and Winding Roadby Paul McCartney

The long and winding road that leads to your door will never disappear I've seen that road before It always leads me here Lead me to your door

The wild and windy night that the rain washed away Has left a pool of tears crying for the day Why leave me standing here let me know the way

Many times I've been alone and many times I've cried Any way you'll never know the many ways I've tried

But still they lead me back to the long winding road You left me standing here a long long time ago Don't leave me waiting here lead me to your door

But still they lead me back to the long winding road You left me standing here a long long time ago Don't leave me waiting here lead me to your door

PAUL 1970: "The album was finished a year ago, but a few months ago American record producer Phil Spector was called in by John Lennon to tidy up some of the tracks. But a few weeks ago, I was sent a re-mixed version of my song 'The Long And Winding Road' with harps, horns, an orchestra, and a women's choir added. No one had asked me what I thought. I couldn't believe it. The record came with a note from Allen Klein saying he thought the changes were necessary. I don't blame Phil Spector for doing it, but it just goes to show that it's no good me sitting here thinking I'm in control because obviously I'm not. Anyway, I've sent Klein a letter asking for some things to be altered, but I haven't received an answer yet."

JOHN 1980: "Paul again. He had a little spurt just before we split."

PAUL circa-1994: "It's rather a sad song. I like writing sad songs, it's a good bag to get into because you can actually acknowledge some deeper feelings of your own and put them in it. It's a good vehicle, it saves having to go to a psychiatrist. Songwriting often performs that feat-- you say it, but you don't embarrass yourself because it's only a song, or is it? You are putting the things that are bothering you on the table and you are reviewing them, but because it's a song, you don't have to argue with anyone... It's a sad song because it's all about the unattainable; the door you never quite reach. This is the road that you never get to the end of."

Band on the Runby Paul McCartney

Stuck inside these four wallsSent inside foreverNever seeing no one nice again like youMama you, mama you

If I ever get out of hereThought of giving it all awayTo a registered charityAll I need is a pint a dayIf I ever get out of hereIf we ever get out of here

Well the rain exploded with a mighty crashAs we fell into the sunAnd the first one said to the second one thereI hope you’re having fun

Band on the runBand on the runAnd the jailer man and Sailor SamWere searching every one

For the band on the runBand on the runFor the band on the runBand on the run

Well the undertaker drew a heavy sighSeeing no one else had comeAnd a bell was ringing in the village squareFor the rabbits on the run

Band on the runBand on the runAnd the jailer man and Sailor SamWas searching every one

For the band on the runBand on the run

Yea the band on the runBand on the runBand on the runBand on the run

Well the night was falling as the desert worldBegan to settle downIn the town they’re searching for us every whereCause we never will be found

Band on the runBand on the runAnd the county judge who held a grudgeWill search for evermore

For the band on the runBand on the runBand on the runBand on the run

Maybe I'm Amazedby Paul McCartney

Baby I'm amazed at the way you love me all the timeMaybe I'm afraid of the way I love youBaby I'm amazed at the way you pulled me out of timeHung me on a lineMaybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you

Baby I'm a man and maybe I'm a lonely manWho's in the middle of somethingThat he doesn't really understandBabe I'm a man and maybe you're the only womanWho could ever help meBaby won't you help me to understand

Baby I'm a man and maybe I'm a lonely manWho's in the middle of somethingThat he doesn't really understandBabe I'm a man and maybe you're the only womanWho could ever help meBaby won't you help me understand

Baby I'm amazed at the way you're with me all the timeMaybe I'm afraid of the way I leave youBaby I'm amazed at the way you help me sing my songYou right me when I'm wrongMaybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you

Mull of Kintyreby Paul McCartney

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the seamy desire is always to be hereOh, Mull of Kintyre

Far have I travelled and much have I seenDarkest of mountains with valleys of greenPast painted deserts and sun sets on fireas he carries me home to the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the seamy desire is always to be hereOh, Mull of Kintyre

Sweep through the heather like deer in the glenCarry me back to the days I knew thenNights when we sang like a heavenly choirof life and the times of the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the seamy desire is always to be hereOh, Mull of Kintyre

Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rainStill take me back where my memories remainFlickering embers go higher and higheras they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the seamy desire is always to be hereOh, Mull of Kintyre

PAUL: "I certainly loved Scotland enough, so I came up with a song about where we were living; an area called Mull of Kintyre. It was a love song really, about how I enjoyed being there and imagining I was travelling away and wanting to get back there."

My Brave Faceby Paul McCartney

My brave face.I've been living in styleUnaccustomed as I am to the luxury life.I've been hitting the town and it didn't hit back.

I've been doing the roundsUnaccustomed as I am to the time on my hands.Now I don't have to tell anybody when I'm gonna get back.

Ever since you went away I've had this sentimentalInclination not to change a single thing.As I pull the sheets back on the bed I want to go bury my headIn your pillow.

Now that I'm alone again, I can't stop breaking down again,The simplest things set me off againAnd take me to that placeWhere I can't find my brave faceWhere I can't find my brave faceMy brave, my brave, my brave face.

I've been living a lieUnaccustomed as I amTo the work of a housewife,I've been breaking upDirty dishes and throwing them away.

Ever since you left I have been trying toCompose a baby will you please come home noteMeant for you.As I clear away anotherUntouched TV dinnerFrom the table I laid for two.

Now that I'm alone againI can't stop breaking down again,The simplest things set me off againAnd take me to that placeWhere I can't find my brave face,Where I can't find my brave face,My brave, my brave, my brave face.My brave face.

John Lennon

Induction Year: 1994

Induction Category: Performer

Inductee: John Lennon (vocals, guitar; born October 9, 1940, died December 8, 1980)

John Lennon didn’t invent rock and roll, nor did he embody it as toweringly as figures like Elvis Presley and Little Richard, but he did more than anyone else to shake it up, move it forward and instill it with a conscience. As the most daring and outspoken of the four Beatles, he helped shape the agenda of the Sixties - socially and politically, no less than musically. As a solo artist, he made music that alternately disturbed and soothed, provoked and sought community. As a human being, he served as an exemplar of honesty in his art and life. As Jann Wenner wrote in the foreword to a collection of writings entitled The Ballad of John and Yoko, “Of the many things that will be long remembered about John Lennon - his genius as a musician and singer, his wit and literary swiftness, his social intuition and leadership - among the most haunting was the stark, unembarrassed commitment of his life, his work and his undernourished frame to truth, to peace and to humanity.”

Lennon was born in 1940 during the Nazi bombing of Britain and given the middle name Winston, after prime minister Churchill (he would later change his middle name to Ono). At age five, Lennon was sent to live with his “Aunt Mimi” after his parents separated. In 1956, Aunt Mimi bought Lennon a guitar. His incessant playing prompted her to remark, “The guitar’s all very well as a hobby, John, but you’ll never make a living out of it.” That same year, Lennon formed his first group, the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles.

Having experienced the horror of a world at war as a child and then living through the Vietnam era as a young man, Lennon came to embrace and embody pacifism. His was the voice and vision that powered such Beatles classics as “All You Need Is Love” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Yet Lennon also had a dark side that found expression in pained outcries dating as far back as “Help,” and his was the most naturally adventuresome musical spirit in the band, as evidenced by such outre tracks as “I Am the Walrus” and “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” The uncensored, self-lacerating aspect of the Lennon persona reached a fevered pitch with the drug-withdrawal blues of “Cold Turkey,” a 1969 single released under the name Plastic Ono Band.

Although Lennon was a complicated man, he chose after the Beatles to simplify his art in order to figure out his life, erasing the boundaries between the two. As he explained it, he started trying “to shave off all imagery, pretensions of poetry, illusions of grandeur...Just say what it is, simple English, make it rhyme and put a backbeat on it, and express yourself as simply [and] straightforwardly as possible.” His most fully realized statement as a solo artist was 1970’s John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. It followed several collaborative sound collages recorded toward the end of the Beatles era with Yoko Ono, his wife and collaborator. The raw, confessional nature of Plastic Ono Band reflected the primal-scream therapy that Lennon and Ono had been undergoing with psychologist Arthur Janov. He dealt with such fundamental issues as “God” and “Mother”

and the class system (“Working Class Hero”) on an album as full of naked candor as any in rock has ever been.

Many of Lennon’s post-Beatles compositions – “Imagine,” “Mind Games,” “Instant Karma,” and “Give Peace a Chance” – have rightfully become anthems, flaunting tough-minded realism, cosmic epiphany, hard-won idealism and visionary utopianism in equal measure. For all of the unvarnished genius of Lennon’s recordings, however, much of what lingers in the public memory goes beyond musical legacy. Rather, it has to do with leading by example. The relationship between John and Yoko endured challenges to became one of the most touching and celebrated of 20th-century romances. They were gallantly foolish in undertaking performance art pieces - bed-ins, happenings, full-page ads declaring “War Is Over!” - that spread their message of peace.

During the early Seventies Lennon fought the U.S. government to avoid deportation – a campaign of harassment by Nixon-era conservatives that was overturned by the courts in 1976 – and came to love his adopted city of New York. That same year, Lennon had his first #1 single – somewhat ironically, he was the last Beatle to top the charts as a solo artist – with “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night,” from the album Walls and Bridges. He was joined on vocals by Elton John, who cajoled Lennon into joining him onstage at Madison Square Garden on November 28, 1974. It would turn out to be Lennon’s last public performance.

Beginning with the birth of his second son, Sean Ono Lennon, in 1975, John Lennon dropped out of sight for five years. During this spell, he chose to lay low and raise Sean as a proud househusband. Simply by stepping back and “watching the wheels,” John Lennon made a statement about priorities that said more than words and music. His eventual return to the recording scene in 1980 was one of the more eagerly anticipated musical events of the year. The album Double Fantasy, jointly credited to John Lennon and Yoko Ono and named for a flower he’d seen at a botanical garden, was released on November 17, 1980. On December 8, a brilliant life came to an untimely end when Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment. He was returning from a recording session for an album that was posthumously released as Milk and Honey. Three weeks after his death, with the entire rock world still in disbelief and mourning, “(Just Like) Starting Over” (from Double Fantasy) hit #1.

TIMELINE

October 9, 1940: John Lennon is born at Oxford Street Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, England, to Julia Stanley and Alfred Lennon.

1945: Julia, separated from Alfred, entrusts her son, John Lennon, to the care of her sister, Mary Elizabeth Stanley Smith, “Aunt Mimi.”

1956: Julia, John Lennon’s mother, bought him his first guitar through a mail order ad. His incessant playing prompts John’s Aunt Mimi to say, “The guitar’s all very well as a hobby, John, but you’ll never make a living out of it.” John forms his first group, the Quarrymen.

July 6, 1957: John Lennon meets Paul McCartney at the Woolton Parish Church in Liverpool during a performance by John’s group the Quarrymen. Impressed by Paul’s ability to tune a guitar and by his knowledge of song lyrics, John asks him to join the group.

February 1, 1958: Paul McCartney introduces George Harrison to the Quarrymen at a basement teen club called the Morgue. George joins the group.

August 1, 1960: The Beatles make their debut in Hamburg, West Germany, with Stu Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums.

January 1, 1961: The Beatles make their debut at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

November 1, 1961: Local record store manager Brian Epstein is introduced to the Beatles. He soon signs a contract to manage them.

April 10, 1962: Stu Sutcliffe dies of a brain hemorrhage.

June 1, 1962: The Beatles audition for George Martin at Parlophone/EMI Records. He agrees to sign the group, but insists that Pete Best be replaced. Within months, Richard “Ringo” Starkey joins the group.

August 23, 1962: John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell. The marriage will last six years.

September 4-11, 1962: The Beatles record their first sessions at EMI Studios in London, with George Martin as producer.

April 8, 1963: John Charles Julian Lennon is born to John and Cynthia Lennon at Sefton General Hospital in Liverpool.

February 11, 1964: The Beatles begin their first U.S. tour at the Coliseum in Washington, D.C.

March 23, 1964: John Lennon’s first book, ‘In His Own Write,’ is published and becomes an instant best-seller.

July 6, 1964: The world premiere of The Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ takes place in London.

April 1, 1965: John Lennon composes “Help!” the title song for the Beatles’ second film. He later confides that the lyrics are a cry for help and a clue to the confusion and despondency he feels.

June 24, 1965: John Lennon’s second book, ‘A Spaniard in the Works’, is published.

August 15, 1965: The Beatles play in front of almost 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City.

October 26, 1965: The Beatles are awarded England’s prestigious MBE (Members of the Order of the British Empire). John comments, “I thought you had to drive tanks and win wars to get the MBE.”

March 1, 1966: London’s ‘Evening Standard’ publishes an interview with John Lennon in which he states that the Beatles are “more popular than Jesus now.” The comment provokes several protests, including the burning of Beatles records.

July 31, 1966: John Lennon’s comments on the state of Christianity – made in March, but only lately picked up in the U.S. - spark protests and record burnings on the eve of the Beatles’ 1966 American tour.

August 29, 1966: After their concert at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the Beatles declare this to be their final concert tour.

September/October 1966: John Lennon makes his first appearance away from the Beatles in the role of Private Gripweed in Richard Lester’s film ‘How I Won the War’. He writes “Strawberry Fields Forever” during the filming.

November 9, 1966: Yoko Ono and John Lennon meet at a preview of her art show, Exhibition #2, at Indica Gallery in London.

June 1, 1967 ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ is released in Britain.

September 1, 1967: John Lennon writes “I Am the Walrus” while under the influence of LSD. He also anonymously sponsors Yoko Ono’s Half a Wind Show (subtitled Yoko Plus Me) at London’s Lisson Gallery.

May 1, 1968: Apple Corps, Ltd. begins operating in London. It is the Beatles’ attempt to take control of their own creative and economic destiny. Later that month, John invites Yoko to his house in Weybridge. They make experimental tapes all night.

May 1968 - June 15, 1968: John Lennon and Yoko Ono exhibit their first official joint venture at the Arts Lab in London. Soon after, they plant acorns outside Coventry Cathedral as a conceptual “living arts sculpture.”

Summer 1968: John Lennon moves out of his house in Weybridge. He and Yoko Ono move into Ringo Starr’s apartment in Montague Square.

July 1, 1968: John Lennon holds his first art exhibition, entitled You Are Here—To Yoko from John, with Love.

October 18, 1968: John Lennon and Yoko Ono are arrested and charged with possession of cannabis.

November 1, 1968: John Lennon pleads guilty to marijuana possession charges. He pays a nominal fine but insists that the drugs were planted by police.

November 8, 1968: A divorce is granted to John and Cynthia Lennon.

November 11, 1968: John Lennon and Yoko Ono release their first album together, ‘Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins’. The cover, a full-frontal shot of them naked, is banned.

December 11-12, 1968: The Rolling Stones film the ‘Rock and Roll Circus’, with guests Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Jethro Tull and the Who.

January 30, 1969: The Beatles make their last performance as a group on the roof of the Apple building during the filming of ‘Let It Be’.

March 20, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono marry on the island of Gibraltar.

March 25-31, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono celebrate their marriage by hosting a “bed-in” – their “commercial for peace” – at the Amsterdam Hilton.

April 22, 1969: John officialy changes his name to John Ono Lennon.

May 26 - June 2, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono conduct a bed-in at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. They record “Give Peace a Chance,” with Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary and others.

June 4, 1969: “The Ballad of John and Yoko” - a musical summary of Lennon and Ono’s relationship, containing the lines, “The way things are going/They’re gonna crucify me” - is released. Credited to the Beatles, it will reach #8.

July 26, 1969: “Give Peace a Chance,” recorded by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band, enters the charts. It will peak at #14, which barely suggests its lasting significance as a peace anthem.

August 1, 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono move to Tittenhurst Park, a 400-acre estate in Ascot.

September 1, 1969: John Lennon returns his MBE. He says it is to protest the British government’s involvement in Biafra, its support of the U.S. in Vietnam and the poor chart performance of his latest single, “Cold Turkey.”

September 12, 1969: John Lennon appears at the Toronto Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival concert, accompanied by Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Alan White and Yoko. ‘The Plastic Ono Band – Live Peace in Toronto’ is released in December.

September 13, 1969: John Lennon appears at the Toronto Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival concert, accompanied by Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Alan White and Yoko Ono. ‘The Plastic Ono Band – Live Peace in Toronto’ is released in December.

December 16, 1969: “War Is Over! If You Want It!” billboards go up in 11 cities around the world, as a Christmas message from John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

April 5, 1970: “Instant Karma (We All Shine On),” credited to John Ono Lennon and produced by Phil Spector, hits #3 on the singles chart. The #1 album that week is “Let It Be,” by the Beatles.

December 26, 1970: ‘John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,’ Lennon’s debut album as a solo artist, enters the album charts. This stark, confessional recording is regarded by many as his greatest achievement.

June 6, 1971: John Lennon & Yoko Ono jam with Frank Zappa at the Fillmore East in New York City, recorded for subsequent release on the Plastic Ono Band album ‘Sometime in New York City’.

July 1, 1971: John Lennon cuts ‘Imagine’ at his home studio. The anthemic title track is inspired by a message in Yoko Ono’s book ‘Grapefruit.’

November 1, 1971: John Lennon appears at a benefit concert at the Apollo Theater for the families of inmates at Attica Prison.

January 1, 1972: The staff of the U.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee prepares a memo about John Lennon’s involvement with such radicals as Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman and Rennie Davis.

February 4, 1972: In a secret memo, Senator Strom Thurmond suggests to Attorney General John Mitchell that John Lennon, whom the government suspects of consorting with “known radicals,” be deported.

February/March 1972: With the expiration of John Lennon’s U.S. non-immigrant visa, deportation proceedings begin. Lennon will wage a four-year battle with the federal government to remain in the U.S.

June 12, 1972: ‘Some Time in New York City,’ a double album by John Lennon backed by the New York rock group Elephant’s Memory is released.

August 30, 1972: John Lennon performs at Madison Square Garden. It will be his last concert as a headliner. The show will posthumously be released in 1986 as Live in New York City.

April 1, 1973: John Lennon and Yoko Ono purchase an apartment at the Dakota on Central Park West and West 72nd Street in New York.

Fall 1973: John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin an 18-month separation, during which Lennon embarks on his infamous “lost weekend” in Los Angeles.

November 1, 1973: John Lennon’s ‘Mind Games’ is released. It peaks at #9, and the title track reaches #18.

August 1, 1974: John Lennon records his ‘Walls and Bridges’ album. He claims to have written ten of the songs in a single week. The album goes to #1, as does its leadoff single, “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.”

November 28, 1974: John Lennon performs three songs with Elton John at Madison Square Garden. It will turn out to be his last public performance.

January 2, 1975: John and Yoko are reunited. The Beatles’ final dissolution takes place in London.

January 11, 1975: “#9 Dream,” from John Lennon’s Walls and Bridges, enters the Top Forty, where it will peak, appropriately, at #9.

September 20, 1975: “Fame,” a song from David Bowie’s ‘Young Americans’ album, tops the US singles charts. It is cowritten by Bowie, John Lennon and guitarist Carlos Alomar.

October 9, 1975: Sean Taro Ono Lennon is born at New York Hospital on father John Lennon’s 35th birthday.

July 26, 1976: John Lennon’s application to remain in the U.S. as a permanent resident is approved at a special hearing.

1977 - 1979: The majority of John Lennon’s time is spent as a “househusband” – taking care of Sean – while Yoko handles the family’s business affairs.

June 1, 1980: John Lennon takes a cruise to Bermuda, where his songwriting muse is rekindled.

October 23, 1980: John Lennon’s first new single in more than five years,, “(Just Like) Starting Over,” is released.

November 17, 1980: ‘Double Fantasy,’ by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, is released.

December 8, 1980: John Lennon is shot by a deranged assailant as he and Yoko return to the Dakota after a recording session. He is pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital.

December 27, 1980: “(Just Like) Starting Over,” by John Lennon, reaches #1 for the first of five weeks.

February 24, 1982: John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s ‘Double Fantasy’ wins Album of the Year for 1981 at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards.

January 21, 1984: “Nobody Told Me,” by John Lennon, from the posthumously released ‘Milk and Honey’ album, cracks the Top Forty. It will peak at #5 and be the last of 13 charting singles by Lennon spanning 15 years.

March 21, 1984: An opening ceremony is held for Strawberry Fields, an area in New York City’s Central Park dedicated to John Lennon.

October 9, 1990: On what would have been John Lennon’s 50th birthday, “Imagine” is broadcast simultaneously in 130 countries.

February 25, 1992: John Lennon is given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards.

January 19, 1994: John Lennon is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the ninth annual induction dinner. Paul McCartney is his presenter, and Yoko Ono accepts the award on behalf of her late husband.

November 19, 1995: “Free as a Bird,” the first new Beatles single in 25 years, is premiered on the televised Beatles Anthology. The song, a 1977 demo by John Lennon completed in 1995 by the three surviving Beatles, reaches #6 on the singles chart in early 1996.

March 23, 1996: “Real Love,” a 1979 John Lennon demo finished in 1995 by the other Beatles, becomes the second new Beatles single to chart in less than three months. Released as part of ‘The Beatles Anthology’ recordings and TV special, it reaches #11 – not bad for a band that broke up in 1970.

November 3, 1998: ‘John Lennon Anthology,’ a four-CD box set of unreleased songs and performances, is released.

Essential Songs

Imagine Instant Karma (We All Shine On) Give Peace a Chance Mother Jealous Guy Watching the Wheels Working Class Hero Mind Games (Just Like) Starting Over Whatever Gets You Thru the Night

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/john-lennon

PAUL 1988: "We knew we were good. People used to say to us, 'Do you think John and you are good songwriters?' and I'd say-- "Yeah it may sound conceited but it would be stupid of me to say 'No, I don't,' or 'Well, we're not bad' because we are good." Let's face it. If you were in my position, which was working with John Lennon, who was a great, great man-- It's like that film 'Little Big Man.' He says, 'We wasn't just playing Indians, we was LIVIN' Indians.' And that's what it was. I wasn't just talking about it, I was living it. I was actually working with the great John Lennon, and he with me. It was very exciting."

Helpby John Lennon

(Help) I need somebody (Help) Not just anybody (Help) You know I need someone (Help)

When I was younger, so much younger than today I never needed anybody's help in any way But now these days are gone I'm not so self assured Now I find I've changed my mind I've opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being 'round Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please, please help me

And now my life hand changed in oh, so many ways My independence seems to vanish in the haze But every now and then I feel so insecure I know that I just need you like I've never done before

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being 'round Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please, please help me

When I was younger, so much younger than today I never needed anybody's help in any way But now these days are gone I'm not so self assured Now I find I've changed my mind I've opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down And I do appreciate you being 'round Help me get my feet back on the ground Won't you please, please help me

JOHN 1965: "We think it's one of the best we've written."

JOHN 1980: "The whole Beatle thing was just beyond comprehension. When 'Help' came out, I was actually crying out for help. Most people think it's just a fast rock 'n roll song. I didn't realize it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie. But later, I knew I really was crying out for help. So it was my fat Elvis period. You see the movie: He -- I -- is very fat, very insecure, and he's completely lost himself. And I am singing about when I was so much younger and all the rest, looking back at how easy it was. Now I may be very positive... yes, yes... but I also go through deep depressions where I would like to jump out the window, you know. It becomes easier to deal with as I get older; I don't know whether you learn control or, when you grow up, you calm down a little. Anyway, I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for help."

PAUL 1984: "John wrote that... well, John and I wrote it at his house in Weybridge for the film. I think the title was out of desperation."

You've Got To Hide Your Love Awayby John Lennon

Here I stand head in hand Turn my face to the wall If she's gone I can't go on Feeling two foot small Everywhere people stare each and every day I can see them laugh at me And I hear them say

Hey you've got to hide your love away Hey you've got to hide your love away

How can I even try? I can never win Hearing them, seeing them In the state I'm in How could she say to me "Love will find a way?" Gather round all you clowns Let me hear you say

Hey you've got to hide your love away Hey you've got to hide your love away

JOHN 1965: "We think it's one of the best we've written."

JOHN 1980: "The whole Beatle thing was just beyond comprehension. When 'Help' came out, I was actually crying out for help. Most people think it's just a fast rock 'n roll song. I didn't realize it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie. But later, I knew I really was crying out for help. So it was my fat Elvis period. You see the movie: He -- I -- is very fat, very insecure, and he's completely lost himself. And I am singing about when I was so much younger and all the rest, looking back at how easy it was. Now I may be very positive... yes, yes... but I also go through deep depressions where I would like to jump out the window, you know. It becomes easier to deal with as I get older; I don't know whether you learn control or, when you grow up, you calm down a little. Anyway, I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for help."

PAUL 1984: "John wrote that... well, John and I wrote it at his house in Weybridge for the film. I think the title was out of desperation."

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)by John Lennon

I once had a girl Or should I say she once had me She showed me her room Isn't it good Norwegian wood?

She asked me to stay And she told me to sit anywhere So I looked around And I noticed there wasn't a chair

I sat on a rug biding my time drinking her wine We talked until two and then she said "it's time for bed"

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath

And when I awoke I was alone This bird had flown So I lit a fire Isn't it good Norwegian wood?

JOHN 1972: "Me. But Paul helped me on the lyric."

GEORGE 1980: "I had bought, earlier, a crummy sitar in London... and played the 'Norwegian Wood' bit."

JOHN 1980: "'Norwegian Wood' is my song completely. It was about an affair I was having. I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, Cyn, to know that there really was something going on outside of the household. I'd always had some kind of affairs going on, so I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair... but in such a smoke-screen way that you couldn't tell. But I can't remember any specific woman it had to do with."

PAUL 1985: "It was me who decided in 'Norwegian Wood' that the house should burn down... not that it's any big deal."

In My Lifeby John Lennon

There are places I remember All my life, though some have changed Some forever not for better Some have gone and some remain All these places had their moments With lovers and friends I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers there is no one compares with you And these memories lose their meaning When I think of love as something new Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I'll often stop and think about them In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I'll often stop and think about them In my life I love you more In my life I love you more

JOHN 1980: "It was the first song I wrote that was consciously about my life. (Sings) 'There are places I'll remember/ All my life though some have changed...' Before, we were just writing songs a la Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly -- pop songs with no more thought to them than that. The words were almost irrelevant. 'In My Life' started out as a bus journey from my house at 250 Menlove Avenue to town, mentioning every place I could remember. I wrote it all down and it was ridiculous... it was the most boring sort of 'What I Did On My Holiday's Bus Trip' song and it wasn't working at all. But then I laid back and these lyrics started coming to me about the places I remember. Paul helped with the middle-eight. It was, I think, my first real major piece of work. Up till then it had all been sort of glib and throw-away. And that was the first time I consciously put my literary part of myself into the lyric."

PAUL 1984: "I think I wrote the tune to that; that's the one we slightly dispute. John either forgot or didn't think I wrote the tune. I remember he had the words, like a poem... sort of about faces he remembered. I recall going off for half an hour and sitting with a Mellotron he had, writing the tune... which was Miracles inspired, as I remember. In fact, a lot of stuff was then."

Tomorrow Never Knowsby John Lennon

Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream It is not dying It is not dying

Lay down all thought Surrender to the void It is shining It is shining

That you may see The meaning of within It is being It is being

That love is all And love is everyone It is knowing It is knowing

That ignorance and hate May mourn the dead It is believing It is believing

But listen to the color of your dreams It is not living It is not living

Or play the game existence to the end Of the beginning Of the beginning Of the beginning Of the beginning Of the beginning Of the beginning

JOHN 1968: "'Tomorrow Never Knows' ...I didn't know what I was saying, and you just find out later. I know that when there are some lyrics I dig, I know that somewhere people will be looking at them."

JOHN 1968: "Often the backing I think of early-on never comes off. With 'Tomorrow Never Knows' I'd imagined in my head that in the background you would hear thousands of monks chanting. That was impractical, of course, and we did something different. It was a bit of a drag, and I didn't really like it. I should have tried to get near my original idea, the monks singing. I realize now that was what I wanted."

JOHN 1972 "This was my first psychedelic song."

JOHN 1980 "That's me in my 'Tibetan Book of the Dead' period. I took one of Ringo's malapropisms as the title, to sort of take the edge off the heavy philosophical lyrics."

PAUL 1984: "That was one of Ringo's malapropisms. John wrote the lyrics from Timothy Leary's version of the 'Tibetan Book of the Dead.' It was a kind of Bible for all the psychedelic freaks. that was an LSD song. Probably the only one. People always thought 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' was but it actually 'wasn't' meant to say LSD."

Lucy in the Sky with Diamondsby John Lennon

Picture yourself on a boat on a river With tangerine trees and marmalade skies Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green Towering over your head Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes and she's gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers that grow so incredibly high

Newspaper taxies appear on the shores Waiting to take you away Climb in the back with your head in the clouds and you're gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

Picture yourself in a train in a station With plasticine porters with looking glass ties Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile The girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

JOHN 1980: "My son Julian came in one day with a picture he painted about a school friend of his named Lucy. He had sketched in some stars in the sky and called it 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,' Simple. The images were from 'Alice in Wonderland.' It was Alice in the boat. She is buying an egg and it turns into Humpty Dumpty. The woman serving in the shop turns into a sheep and the next minute they are rowing in a rowing boat somewhere and I was visualizing that. There was also the image of the female who would someday come save me... a 'girl with kaleidoscope eyes' who would come out of the sky. It turned out to be Yoko, though I hadn't met Yoko yet. So maybe it should be 'Yoko in the Sky with Diamonds.' It was purely unconscious that it came out to be LSD. Until somebody pointed it out, I never even thought it, I mean, who would ever bother to look at initials of a title? It's NOT an acid song. The imagery was Alice in the boat and also the image of this female who would come and save me-- this secret love that was going to come one day. So it turned out to be Yoko... and I hadn't met Yoko then. But she was my imaginary girl that we all have."

PAUL circa-1994: "I went up to John's house in Weybridge. When I arrived we were having a cup of tea, and he said, 'Look at this great drawing Julian's done. Look at the title!' So I said, 'What's that mean?' thinking Wow, fantastic title! John said, 'It's Lucy, a friend of his from school. And she's in the sky.' ...so we went upstairs and started writing it. People later thought 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' was LSD. I swear-- we didn't notice that when it first came out."

Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kiteby John Lennon

For the benefit of Mr. Kite there will be a show tonight on trampoline The Hendersons will all be there late of Pablo Fanques' fair, what a scene Over men and horses hoops and garters and lastly through a hogshead of real fire In this way Mr. K will challenge the world

The celebrated Mr. K performs his feats on Saturday at Bishopsgate The Hendersons will dance and sing as Mr. Kite flies through the ring, don't be late Messers K. and H. assure the public their production will be second to none And of course Henry the Horse dances the waltz

The band begins at ten to six when Mr. K performs his tricks without a sound And Mr. H will demonstrate ten somersets he'll undertake on solid ground Having been some days in preparation a splendid time is guaranteed for all And tonight Mr. Kite is topping the bill

JOHN 1968: "'Mr. Kite' was a straight lift. I had all the words staring me in the face one day when I was looking for a song. It was from this old poster I'd bought at an antique shop. We'd been down to Surrey or somewhere filming a piece. There was a break, and I went into this shop and bought an old poster advertising a variety show which starred Mr. Kite. It said the Henderson's would also be there, late of Pablo Fanques Fair. There would be hoops and horses and someone going through a hogs head of real fire. Then there was Henry the Horse. The band would start at ten to six. All at Bishopsgate. Look, there's the bill-- with Mr. Kite topping it. I hardly made up a word, just connecting the lists together. Word for word, really."

JOHN 1972: "The story that Henry the Horse meant 'heroin' was rubbish."

JOHN 1980: "It's all just from that poster. The song is pure, like a painting. A pure watercolor."

A Day in the Lifeby John Lennon

I read the news today oh, boy About a lucky man who made the grade And though the news was rather sad Well, I just had to laugh I saw the photograph He blew his mind out in a car He didn't notice that the lights had changed A crowd of people stood and stared They'd seen his face before Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords

I saw a film today oh, boy The English army had just won the war A crowd of people turned away But I just had to look Having read the book I'd love to turn you on.

Woke up, got out of bed dragged a comb across my head Found my way downstairs and drank a cup and looking up, I noticed I was late Found my coat and grabbed my hat Made the bus in seconds flat Found my way upstairs and had a smoke Somebody spoke and I went into a dream Ah

I read the news today oh, boy Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire And though the holes were rather small They had to count them all Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall I'd love to turn you on

JOHN 1967: "I was writing the song with the 'Daily Mail' propped up in front of me on the piano. I had it open to the 'News In Brief' or whatever they call it. There was a paragraph about four thousand holes being discovered in Blackburn Lancashire. And when we came to record the song there was still one word missing from that verse... I knew the line had to go, 'Now they know how many holes it takes to --something-- the Albert Hall.' For some reason I couldn't think of the verb. What did the holes do to the Albert Hall? It was Terry Doran who said 'fill' the Albert Hall. And that was it. Then we thought we wanted a growing noise to lead back into the first bit. We wanted to think of a good end and we had to decide what sort of backing and instruments would sound good. Like all our songs, they never become an entity until the very end. They are developed all the time as we go along."

JOHN 1968: "'A Day in the Life' --that was something. I dug it. It was a good piece of work between Paul and me. I had the 'I read the news today' bit, and it turned Paul on. Now and then we really turn each other on with a bit of song, and he just said 'yeah' --bang bang, like that. It just sort of happened beautifully, and we arranged it and rehearsed it, which we don't often do, the afternoon before. So we all knew what we were playing, we all got into it. It was a real groove, the whole scene on that one. Paul sang half of it and I sang half. I needed a middle-eight for it, but Paul already had one there."

JOHN 1980: "Just as it sounds: I was reading the paper one day and I noticed two stories. One was the Guinness heir who killed himself in a car. That was the main headline story. He died in London in a car crash. On the next page was a story about 4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. In the streets, that is. They were going to fill them all. Paul's contribution was the beautiful little lick in the song 'I'd love to turn you on.' I had the bulk of the song and the words, but he contributed this little lick floating around in his head that he couldn't use for anything. I thought it was a damn good piece of work."

PAUL 1984: "That was mainly John's, I think. I remember being very conscious of the words 'I'd love to turn you on' and thinking, Well, that's about as risque as we dare get at this point. Well, the BBC banned it. It said, 'Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall' or something. But I mean that there was nothing vaguely rude or naughty in any of that. 'I'd love to turn you on' was the rudest line in the whole thing. But that was one of John's very good ones. I wrote... that was co-written. The orchestra crescendo and that was based on some of the ideas I'd been getting from Stockhausen and people like that, which is more abstract. So we told the orchestra members to just start on their lowest note and end on their highest note and go in their own time... which orchestras are frightened to do. That's not the tradition. But we got 'em to do it."

PAUL 1988: "Then I went around to all the trumpet players and said, 'Look all you've got to do is start at the beginning of the 24 bars and go through all the notes on your instrument from the lowest to the highest-- and the highest has to happen on that 24th bar, that's all. So you can blow 'em all in that first thing and then rest, then play the top one there if you want, or you can steady

them out.' And it was interesting because I saw the orchestra's characters. The strings were like sheep-- they all looked at each other: 'Are you going up? I am!' and they'd all go up together, the leader would take them all up. The trumpeters were much wilder."

Strawberry Fields Foreverby John Lennon

Let me take you down cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever

Living is easy with eyes closed Misunderstanding all you see It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out It doesn't matter much to me

Let me take you down cause I'm going to Strawberry FieldsNothing is real and nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever

No one I think is in my tree I mean it must be high or low That is you can't, you know, tune in but it's all right That is I think it's not too bad

Let me take you down cause I'm going to Strawberry FieldsNothing is real and nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever

Always know sometimes think it's me But you know I know when it's a dream I think I know I mean, ah yes but it's all wrong that is I think I disagree

Let me take you down cause I'm going to Strawberry FieldsNothing is real and nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever Strawberry Fields forever Strawberry Fields forever

JOHN 1968: "Strawberry Fields was a place near us that happened to be a Salvation Army home. But Strawberry Fields-- I mean, I have visions of Strawberry Fields. And there was Penny Lane, and the Cast Iron Shore, which I've just got in some song now, and they were just good names-- just groovy names. Just good sounding. Because Strawberry Fields is anywhere you want to go."

PAUL 1974: "That wasn't 'I buried Paul' at all-- that was John saying 'Cranberry sauce.' It was the end of Strawberry Fields. That´s John´s humor. John would say something totally out of sync, like cranberry sauce. If you don´t realize that John´s apt to say cranberry sauce when he feels like it, then you start to hear a funny little word there, and you think, 'Aha!'"

JOHN 1980: "Strawberry Fields is a real place. After I stopped living at Penny Lane, I moved in with my auntie who lived in the suburbs... not the poor slummy kind of image that was projected in all the Beatles stories. Near that home was Strawberry Fields, a house near a boys' reformatory where I used to go to garden parties as a kid with my friends Nigel and Pete. We always had fun at Strawberry Fields. So that's where I got the name. But I used it as an image. Strawberry Fields Forever. 'Living is easy with eyes closed. Misunderstanding all you see.' It still goes, doesn't it? Aren't I saying exactly the same thing now? The awareness apparently trying to be expressed is-- let's say in one way I was always hip. I was hip in kindergarten. I was different from the others. I was different all my life. The second verse goes, 'No one I think is in my tree.' Well, I was too shy and self-doubting. Nobody seems to be as hip as me is what I was saying. Therefore, I must be crazy or a genius-- 'I mean it must be high or low,' the next line. There was something wrong with me, I thought, because I seemed to see things other people didn't see. I thought I was crazy or an egomaniac for claiming to see things other people didn't see. I always was so psychic or intuitive or poetic or whatever you want to call it, that I was always seeing things in a hallucinatory way. Surrealism had a great effect on me, because then I realized that the imagery in my mind wasn't insanity; that if it was insane, I belong in an exclusive club that sees the world in those terms. Surrealism to me is reality. Psychic vision to me is reality. Even as a child. When I looked at myself in the mirror or when I was 12, 13, I used to literally trance out into alpha. I didn't know what it was called then. I found out years later there is a name for those conditions. But I would find myself seeing hallucinatory images of my face changing and becoming cosmic and complete. It caused me to always be a rebel. This thing gave me a chip on the shoulder; but, on the other hand, I wanted to be loved and accepted. Part of me would like to be accepted by all facets of society and not be this loudmouthed lunatic musician. But I cannot be what I am not."

All You Need Is Loveby John Lennon

Love, love, love Love, love, love Love, love, love

There's nothing you can do that can't be done Nothing you can sing that can't be sung Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game It's easy

There's nothing you can make that can't me made No one you can save that can't be saved Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time It's easy

All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need

Love, love, love Love, love, love Love, love, love

All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need

There's nothing you can know that isn't known Nothing you can see that isn't shown No where you can be that isn't where you're meant to be It's easy

All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need

All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need

Love is all you need That is all you need That is all you need That is all you need That is all you need

PAUL 1967: "We had been told we'd be seen recording it by the whole world at the same time. So we had one message for the world-- Love. We need more love in the world."

JOHN 1971: "I think if you get down to basics, whatever the problem is, it's usually to do with love. So I think 'All You Need is Love' is a true statement. I'm not saying, 'All you have to do is...' because 'All You Need' came out in the Flower Power Generation time. It doesn't mean that all you have to do is put on a phoney smile or wear a flower dress and it's gonna be alright. Love is not just something that you stick on posters or stick on the back of your car, or on the back of your jacket or on a badge. I'm talking about real love, so I still believe that. Love is appreciation of other people and allowing them to be. Love is allowing somebody to be themselves and that's what we do need."

PAUL circa-1994: "'All You Need Is Love' was John's song. I threw in a few ideas, as did other members of the group, but it was largely ad libs like singing 'She Loves You' or 'Greensleeves' or silly little things like that at the end, and we made those up on the spot."

Dear Prudenceby John Lennon

Dear Prudence won't you come out to play Dear Prudence greet the brand new day The sun is up the sky is blue It's beautiful and so are you Dear Prudence won't you come out to play

Dear Prudence open up your eyes Dear Prudence see the sunny skies The wind is low the birds will sing That you are part of everything Dear Prudence, won't you open up your eyes

Look around round Look around round round Look around

Dear Prudence let me see your smile Dear Prudence like a little child The clouds will be a daisy chain So let me see your smile again Dear Prudence won't you let me see you smile

Dear Prudence won't you come out to play Dear Prudence greet the brand new day The sun is up the sky is blue It's beautiful and so are you Dear Prudence won't you come out to play

JOHN 1980: "'Dear Prudence' is me. Written in India. A song about Mia Farrow's sister, who seemed to go slightly balmy, meditating too long, and couldn't come out of the little hut we were livin' in. They selected me and George to try and bring her out because she would trust us. If she'd been in the West, they would have put her away... We got her out of the house. She'd been locked in for three weeks and was trying to reach God quicker than anybody else. That was the competition in Maharishi's camp-- who was going to get cosmic first. What I didn't know was I was 'already' cosmic." (laughs)

PAUL circa-1994: "He (John) wrote 'Dear Prudence, won't you come out and play...' and went in and sang it to her, and I think that actually did help."

Happiness is a Warm Gunby John Lennon

She's not a girl who misses much Do do do do do do oh, yeah She's well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand Like a lizard on a window pain The man in the crowd with the multicolored mirror on his hobnail boots Lying with his eyes while his hands are busy working overtime A soap impression of his wife which he ate and donated to the National Trust

I need a fix cause I'm going down Down to the bits that I left uptown I need a fix cause I'm going down Mother Superior jump the gun Mother Superior jump the gun Mother Superior jump the gun Mother Superior jump the gun Mother Superior jump the gun Mother Superior jump the gun

Happiness is a warm gun Happiness is a warm gun mama When I hold you in my arms and I feel my finger on you trigger I know nobody can do no harm Because Happiness is a warm gun mama Happiness is a warm gun, yes it is Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun Ah, don't you know that Happiness is a warm gun mama

PAUL 1968: "The idea of 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' is from an advert in an American paper. It said, Happiness is a warm gun, and it was 'Get ready for the long hot summer with a rifle,' you know, 'Come and buy them now!' It was an advert in a gun magazine. And it was so sick, you know, the idea of 'Come and buy your killing weapons,' and 'Come and get it.' But it's just such a great line, 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' that John sort of took that and used that as a chorus. And the rest of the words... I think they're great words, you know. It's a poem. And he finishes off, 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun, yes it is.' It's just good poetry."

JOHN 1972: "They all said it was about drugs, but it was more about rock 'n roll than drugs. It's sort of a history of rock 'n roll... I don't know why people said it was about the needle in heroin. I've only seen somebody do something with a needle once, and I don't like to see it at all."

JOHN 1980: "A gun magazine was sitting around and the cover was the picture of a smoking gun. The title of the article, which I never read, was 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun.' I took it right from there. I took it as the idea of happiness after having shot somebody. Or some animal."

I'm So Tiredby John Lennon

I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink No, no, no

I'm so tired, I don't know what to do I'm so tired, my mind is set on you I wonder should I call you but I know what you'd do You'd say I'm putting you on But it's no joke It's doing me harm, you know I can't sleep I can't stop my brain, you know it's three weeks I'm going insane You know I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind

I'm so tired, I'm feeling so upset Although I'm so tired, I'll have another cigarette And curse Sir Walter Raleigh He was such a stupid get You'd say I'm putting you on But it's no joke It's doing me harm, you know I can't sleep I can't stop my brain, you know it's three weeks I'm going insane You know I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind

JOHN 1980: "'I'm So Tired' was me, in India again. I couldn't sleep, I'm meditating all day and couldn't sleep at night. The story is that. One of my favorite tracks. I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well."

PAUL circa-1994: "It has that very special line, 'And curse Sir Walter Raleigh/ He was such a stupid git.' That's a classic line and it's so John that there's no doubt who wrote it. I think it's 100 percent John."

Juliaby John Lennon

Half of what I say is meaningless But I say it just to reach you Julia,

Julia, Julia ocean child calls me So I sing a song of love Julia

Julia Seashell eyes, windy smile calls me So I sing a song of love Julia

Her hair of floating sky is shimmering Glimmering in the sun

Julia, Julia Morning moon touch me So I sing a song of love Julia

When I cannot sing my heart I can only speak my mind Julia

Julia Sleeping sand, silent cloud touch me So I sing a song of love Julia

JOHN 1972: "Me. Yoko helped me with this one."

JOHN 1980: "Julia was my mother. But it was sort of a combination of Yoko and my mother blended into one. That was written in India... We wrote tons of songs in India."

PAUL circa-1994: "The interesting thing for me on 'Julia' is the finger-picking (guitar) style. He learned to fingerpick off Donovan or Gypsy Dave... That was John's song about his mum, folk finger-picking style, and a very good song."

Yer Bluesby John Lennon

Yes I'm lonely wanna die Yes I'm lonely wanna die If I ain't dead already Ooh, girl you know the reason why

In the morning wanna die In the evening wanna die If I ain't dead already Ooh, girl you know the reason why

My mother was of the sky My father was of the earth But I am of the universe And you know what it's worth I'm lonely wanna die If I ain't dead already Ooh, girl you know the reason why

The eagle picks my eye The worm he licks my bone I feel so suicidal Just like Dylan's Mr. Jones Lonely wanna die If I ain't dead already Ooh, girl you know the reason why

The black cloud crossed my mind Blue mist round my soul Feel so suicidal Even hate my rock and roll wanna die Yeah, wanna die If I ain't dead already Ooh, girl you know the reason why

Yes, I'm lonely wanna die Yes, I'm lonely wanna die If I ain't dead already Ooh, girl you know the reason why Yes, I'm lonely wanna die

JOHN 1980: "'Yer Blues' was written in India, too. Up there, trying to reach God and feeling suicidal."

Revolution 1by John Lennon

You say you want a revolution Well, you know We all want to change the world You tell me that it's evolution Well, you know We all want to change the world But when you talk about destruction Don't you know that you can count me out... in Don't you know it's gonna be all right

You say you got a real solution Well, you know We'd all love to see the plan You ask me for a contribution Well, you know We're doing what we can But when you want money for people with minds that hate All I can tell is brother you have to wait Don't you know it's gonna be all right

You say you'll change the constitution Well, you know We all want to change your head You tell me it's the institution Well, you know You better free your mind instead But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow Don't you know it's gonna be all right

JOHN 1980: "Completely me. We recorded the song twice. The Beatles were getting real tense with each other. I did the slow version (Revolution 1) and I wanted to put it out as a single: as a statement of the Beatles' position on Vietnam and the Beatles' position on revolution. The first take of 'Revolution' ...well, George and Paul were resentful and said it wasn't fast enough. Now, if you go into the details of what a hit record is and isn't, maybe. But the Beatles could have afforded to put out a slow, understandable version of 'Revolution' as a single, whether it was a gold record or a wooden record."

JOHN 1968: "On 'Revolution' I'm playing the guitar and I haven't improved since I was last playing, but I dug it. It sounds the way I wanted it to sound."

JOHN 1972: "I should never have put that in about Chairman Mao. I was just finishing off in the studio when I did that."

JOHN 1980: "The statement in 'Revolution' was mine. The lyrics stand today. It's still my feeling about politics. I want to see the plan. That is what I used to say to Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Count me out if it is for violence. Don't expect me to be on the barricades unless it is with flowers. For years, on the Beatles' tours, Brian Epstein had stopped us from saying anything about Vietnam or the war. And he wouldn't allow questions about it. But on one of the last tours, I said, 'I'm going to answer about the war. We can't ignore it.' I absolutely wanted the Beatles to say something about the war."

Across the Universeby John Lennon

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup They slither while they pass They slip away across the universe Pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting thorough my open mind Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes They call me on and on across the universe Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box they tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of life are ringing through my open ears inciting and inviting me Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Jai guru deva Jai guru deva

JOHN 1972: "One of my best songs. Not one of the best recordings, but I like the lyrics."

JOHN 1980: "I was a bit more artsy-fartsy there. I was lying next to my first wife in bed, (song originally written in 1967) you know, and I was irritated. She must have been going on and on about something and she'd gone to sleep-- and I kept hearing these words over and over, flowing like an endless stream. I went downstairs and it turned into a sort of cosmic song rather than an irritated song-- rather than 'Why are you always mouthing off at me?' or whatever, right? ...and I've sat down and looked at it and said, 'Can I write another one with this meter?' It's so interesting. 'Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup/ They slither while the pass, they slip away across the universe.' Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship-- it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. I didn't want to write it... and I couldn't get to sleep until I put it on paper... It's like being possessed-- like a psychic or a medium. The thing has to go down. It won't let you sleep, so you have to get up, make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep. That's always in the middle of the night when you're half-awake or tired and your critical facilities are switched off."

Working Class Heroby John Lennon

As soon as your born they make you feel smallby giving you no time instead of it allTill the pain is so big you feel nothing at allWorking Class Hero is something to beWorking Class Hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at schoolThey hate you if you're clever and despise a foolTill you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rulesWorking Class Hero is something to beWorking Class Hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd yearsthen they expect you to pick a careerWhen you can't really function you're so full of fearWorking Class Hero is something to beWorking Class Hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion, sex and T.V.and you think you're so clever and classless and freebut you're still fucking peasants as far as I can seeWorking Class Hero is something to beWorking Class Hero is something to be

There's room at the top I'm telling you stillbut first you must learn how to smile as you killif you want to be like the folks on the hillWorking Class Hero is something to be

Yes, A Working Class Hero is something to beIf you want to be a hero well just follow meIf you want to be a hero well just follow me

Godby John Lennon

God is a Concept by whichwe measure our painI'll say it againGod is a Concept by whichwe measure our painI don't believe in magicI don't believe in I-chingI don't believe in BibleI don't believe in TarotI don't believe in HitlerI don't believe in JesusI don't believe in KennedyI don't believe in BuddhaI don't believe in MantraI don't believe in GitaI don't believe in YogaI don't believe in KingsI don't believe in ElvisI don't believe in ZimmermanI don't believe in BeatlesI just believe in me...and that reality

The dream is overWhat can I say?the Dream is OverYesterdayI was the DreamweaverBut now I'm rebornI was the WalrusBut now I'm Johnand so dear friendsyou'll just have to carry onThe Dream is over

Imagineby John Lennon

Imagine there's no heavenIt's easy if you tryNo hell below usAbove us only skyImagine all the peopleLiving for today

Imagine there's no countriesIt isn't hard to doNothing to kill or die forAnd no religion tooImagine all the peopleLiving life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamerBut I'm not the only oneI hope someday you'll join usAnd the world will be as one

Imagine no possessionsI wonder if you canNo need for greed or hungerA brotherhood of manImagine all the peopleSharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamerBut I'm not the only oneI hope someday you'll join usAnd the world will live as one

Gimme Some Truthby John Lennon

I'm sick and tired of hearing thingsFrom uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocriticsAll I want is the truthJust gimme some truthI've had enough of reading thingsBy neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politiciansAll I want is the truthJust gimme some truth

No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky DickyIs gonna Mother Hubbard soft soap meWith just a pocketful of hopeMoney for dopeMoney for rope

I'm sick to death of seeing thingsFrom tight-lipped, condescending, mamas little chauvinistsAll I want is the truthJust gimme some truth now

I've had enough of watching scenesOf schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnasAll I want is the truth nowJust gimme some truth

No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky DickyIs gonna Mother Hubbard soft soap meWith just a pocketful of hopeIt's money for dopeMoney for rope

Ah, I'm sick and tired of hearing thingsFrom uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritesAll I want is the truth nowJust gimme some truth now

I've had enough of reading thingsBy neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politiciansAll I want is the truth nowJust gimme some truth now

All I want is the truth nowJust gimme some truth nowAll I want is the truthJust gimme some truthAll I want is the truthJust gimme some truth

Cold Turkeyby John Lennon

Temperature's risingFever is highCan't see no futureCan't see no sky

My feet are so heavySo is my headI wish I was a babyI wish I was dead

Cold turkey has got me on the run

My body is achingGoose-pimple boneCan't see no bodyLeave me alone

My eyes are wide openCan't get to sleepOne thing I'm sure ofI'm in at the deep freeze

Cold turkey has got me on the run

Cold turkey has got me on the run

Thirty-six hoursRolling in painPraying to someoneFree me again

Oh I'll be a good boyPlease make me wellI promise you anythingGet me out of this hell

Cold turkey has got me on the run

Instant Karmaby John Lennon

Instant Karma's gonna get youGonna knock you right on the headYou better get yourself togetherPretty soon you're gonna be deadWhat in the world you thinking ofLaughing in the face of loveWhat on earth you tryin' to doIt's up to you, yeah you

Instant Karma's gonna get youGonna look you right in the faceBetter get yourself together darlin'Join the human raceHow in the world you gonna seeLaughin' at fools like meWho in the hell d'you think you areA super starWell, right you are

Well we all shine onLike the moon and the stars and the sunWell we all shine onEv'ryone come on

Instant Karma's gonna get youGonna knock you off your feetBetter recognize your brothersEv'ryone you meetWhy in the world are we hereSurely not to live in pain and fearWhy on earth are you thereWhen you're ev'rywhereCome and get your share

Well we all shine onLike the moon and the stars and the sunYeah we all shine onCome on and on and on on onYeah yeah, alright, uh huh, ah

Well we all shine onLike the moon and the stars and the sunYeah we all shine onOn and on and on on and on

Well we all shine onLike the moon and the stars and the sunWell we all shine onLike the moon and the stars and the sunWell we all shine onLike the moon and the stars and the sunYeah we all shine onLike the moon and the stars and the sun

Beautiful Boyby John Lennon

Close your eyes,Have no fear,The monsters gone,He's on the run and your daddy's here,

Beautiful,Beautiful, beautiful,Beautiful Boy,

Before you go to sleep,Say a little prayer,Every day in every way,It's getting better and better,

Beautiful,Beautiful, beautiful,Beautiful Boy,

Out on the ocean sailing away,I can hardly wait,To see you to come of age,But I guess we'll both,Just have to be patient,Yes it's a long way to go,But in the meantime,

Before you cross the street,Take my hand,Life is just what happens to you,While your busy making other plans,

Beautiful,Beautiful, beautiful,Beautiful Boy,Darling,Darling,Darling Sean.

Watching the Wheelsby John Lennon

People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing,Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin,When I say that I'm o.k. they look at me kind of strange,Surely you're not happy now you no longer play the game,

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away,Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me,When I tell that I'm doing Fine watching shadows on the wall,Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball?

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,I really love to watch them roll,No longer riding on the merry-go-round,I just had to let it go,

People asking questions lost in confusion,Well I tell them there's no problem,Only solutions,Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind,I tell them there's no hurry...I'm just sitting here doing time,

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,I really love to watch them roll,No longer riding on the merry-go-round,I just had to let it go.

Mind Gamesby John Lennon

We're playing those mind games togetherPushing the barriers planting seedsPlaying the mind guerrillaChanting the Mantra peace on earthWe all been playing those mind games foreverSome kinda druid dudes lifting the veilDoing the mind guerrillaSome call it magic the search for the grail

Love is the answer and you know that for sureLove is a flower you got to let it grow

So keep on playing those mind games togetherFaith in the future out of the nowYou just can't beat on those mind guerrillasAbsolute elsewhere in the stones of your mindYeah we're playing those mind games togetherProjecting our images in space and in time

Yes is the answer and you know that for sureYes is surrender you got to let it go

So keep on playing those mind games togetherDoing the ritual dance in the sunMillions of mind guerrillasPutting their soul power to the karmic wheelKeep on playing those mind games togetherRaising the spirit of peace and love(I want you to make love, not warI know you've heard it before)

Nobody Told Meby John Lennon

Everybody's talking and no one says a wordEverybody's making love and no one really caresThere's Nazis in the bathroom just below the stairsAlways something happening and nothing going onThere's always something cooking and nothing in the potThey're starving back in China so finish what you got

Nobody told me there'd be days like theseNobody told me there'd be days like theseNobody told me there'd be days like theseStrange days indeed -- strange days indeed

Everybody's runnin' and no one makes a moveEveryone's a winner and nothing left to loseThere's a little yellow idol to the north of KatmanduEverybody's flying and no one leaves the groundEverybody's crying and no one makes a soundThere's a place for us in the movies you just gotta lay around

Nobody told me there'd be days like theseNobody told me there'd be days like theseNobody told me there'd be days like theseStrange days indeed -- most peculiar, mama

Everybody's smoking and no one's getting highEverybody's flying and never touch the skyThere's a UFO over New York and I ain't too surprised

Nobody told me there'd be days like theseNobody told me there'd be days like theseNobody told me there'd be days like theseStrange days indeed -- most peculiar, mama

George Harrison

Induction Year: 2004

Induction Category: Performer

George Harrison (guitar, vocals; born February 24, 1943, died November 29, 2001)

George Harrison was known as the quiet Beatle, and he was also the quietest ex-Beatle. His was not the way of the rock star, as he neither courted nor relished fame. Yet his seeming diffidence was deceptive, as he left behind an impressive legacy as a solo artist. Harrison’s 11 solo albums (not counting best-of’s) include the masterful All Things Must Pass (1970) and a memorable late-career milestone, Cloud Nine (1987). He was the first Beatle to tour as a solo artist and the only one to start his own label (Dark Horse Records). Most important, Harrison wrote and sang about spirituality and transcendence. He immersed himself in Indian music at Beatlemania’s height and became a lifelong devotee of Hindu religion, Krishna consciousness and Vedic philosophy.

In hindsight, Harrison’s albums lay bare his conflicted sensibilities: real-world engagement vs. spiritual retreat and popular artist vs. private recluse. He titled one of his best-selling albums Living in the Material World, and that summed up his quandary. Harrison forthrightly addressed weighty matters on record and made his ruminations appealing as popular music, too. Incorporating spirituality into popular music was not an easy thing to do, and it won him the respect of fans and colleagues. Derek Taylor, the Beatles’ publicist and a longtime friend, called him “the boldest man I ever met.”

Born in Liverpool in 1943, Harrison joined the Quarry Men - which included John Lennon and Paul McCartney - as lead guitarist at age 15. When they changed their name to the Beatles in 1960, he was still only 17. Harrison’s influences ran to rockabilly heroes like Carl Perkins and British skiffle legend Lonnie Donegan. His retooled rockabilly licks were key to the Beatles’ early sound, while his sharp, innovative lead guitar was essential to later recordings. During the Beatles’ tenure he introduced Western ears to Indian music. Harrison first played the sitar on “Norwegian Wood” (1965) and then unleashed a full-blown sitar showcase, “Within You Without You,” on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). When Delaney Bramlett (of Delaney & Bonnie) introduced Harrison to slide guitar in 1968, he became a leading exponent of that style.

Harrison wrote some of the Beatles’ best-loved songs, including “If I Needed Someone,” “Taxman,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Something,” “Here Comes the Sun” and “I Me Mine.” He also figured prominently in the group’s decision to abandon live performances, where they were routinely drowned out by screams, and instead devote their time to the recording studio. Of life with the Beatles, he pithily remarked, “We met everyone in the world and never had a moment’s peace.” Harrison stormed out of sessions for Let It Be in 1969. Though he would return, he regarded the glare of fame as a Beatle with wary disdain. “They used us as an excuse to go mad, the world did,” he said in The Beatles Anthology, “and then blamed it on us.” In 1969,

Harrison purchased a sprawling rural estate known as Friar Park, and it became his refuge from the world.

Soon after the Beatles’ breakup in 1970, Harrison released All Things Must Pass. It was his first true solo album (not counting Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound, experimental releases from the Beatles era). Harrison’s songwriting talent, largely kept under wraps in the Beatles, poured forth on the three-disc set, which contained two albums of songs and one of jams. Harrison’s spiritually slanted tunes were given the full “Wall of Sound” treatment by producer Phil Spector. Standout tracks include “Isn’t It a Pity,” “Beware of Darkness,” “What Is Life” and “My Sweet Lord.” Rolling Stone hailed the album as “Wagnerian, Brucknerian, the music of mountaintops and vast horizons.” Both All Things Must Pass and “My Sweet Lord” went to #1. (Noting the resemblance of “My Sweet Lord” to “He’s So Fine,” by the Chiffons, the latter’s publisher sued Harrison, who was ultimately found guilty of “unconscious plagiarism.”) Re-released in 2002 on CD with bonus tracks and a new version of “My Sweet Lord,” All Things Must Pass remains among the most esteemed of all Beatles solo works.

Harrison’s next masterstroke was The Concert for Bangladesh, rock’s first large-scale benefit concert, organized to raise awareness and money for war-torn Bangladesh. Held on August 1, 1971, at Madison Square Garden, the star-studded affair included Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, and Harrison’s Indian-music mentor, Ravi Shankar. Proceeds from the concert, soundtrack album and documentary film were earmarked for the United Nations Children’s Fund for Relief to Refugee Children of Bangladesh. It became a model for rock-benefit projects from Live Aid to The Concert for New York City. Over time, Harrison’s donations to UNICEF for Bangla Desh from concert, film and album proceeds totaled over $13 million.

Living in the Material World (1973), a single album, topped the album chart for five weeks and contained the #1 single ”Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth),” as well as Harrison’s biting commentary on the Beatles’ ongoing legal travails, “Sue Me, Sue You Blues.” The next year Harrison launched Dark Horse, a record label (distributed by A&M) that would release albums by himself and others, including Ravi Shankar and Splinter. His ambitions were modest: “I want it to be reasonably small,” he said. By calling his new album and label Dark Horse, Harrison was implicitly stating that the Beatles’ dark horse - “The one that nobody’s bothered to put any money on,” said Harrison’s - was coming in a winner. Dark Horse charted highly, reaching #4, yet received lukewarm reviews. The North American tour that followed - the first stateside concerts by an ex-Beatle - proved problematic because Harrison had strained his voice in rehearsals. Another unremarkable album, Extra Texture (Read All About It), appeared in 1975.

Harrison rebounded with Thirty-three & 1/3 (1976), highlighted by “This Song” (#25), a wry retort to the “My Sweet Lord” lawsuit, and “Crackerbox Palace” (#19), a paean to his beloved Friar Park. During the three-year hiatus from recording that followed, Harrison divorced his first wife, Patti (who subsequently wed his close friend Eric Clapton), and married Olivia Trinidad Arias, with whom he’d spend the rest of his life. He also launched HandMade Films, a production company that debuted with Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Over the next 11 years, HandMade released 27 movies, including Time Bandits (1981) and Mona Lisa (1986). Harrison also produced, appeared in and greatly savored The Rutles, a mock-documentary Beatles parody.

Harrison’s next solo album, George Harrison (1979), contained several of his loveliest songs, including “Blow Away” (#16) and “Here Comes the Moon.” Next came Somewhere in England (1981), notable for “All Those Years Ago” (#2), written after John Lennon’s murder. With backing vocals from Paul and Linda McCartney and drumming by Ringo Starr, it became a sizable hit. The laid-back Gone Troppo appeared in 1983, and then Harrison didn’t record for another five years.

Keeping to himself for much of the Eighties, Harrison laid low at homes in England and Maui while pursuing such hobbies as Formula One car racing and gardening. He re-emerged in 1987 with Cloud Nine, a spirited comeback. “We used real guitars, real keyboards, real drums and real people playing real songs,” he noted wryly. Coproduced by Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, Cloud Nine was Harrison’s most Beatlesque solo record. Harrison had softened in his attitude toward the Beatles, as evidenced by the comically poignant “When We Was Fab.” The album yielded Harrison’s third #1 hit, “Got My Mind Set On You,” an infectious soul remake.

Harrison’s next project was the Traveling Wilburys, a low-key supergroup consisting of Harrison, Lynne, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison. It was Harrison’s first band since the Beatles. Their low-key albums - Volume One (1988) and Vol. 3 (1990) - were as pleasurable as they were unexpected. In 1992, Harrison undertook a tour of Japan - his first since the Dark Horse debacle 18 years earlier - with Eric Clapton and his band. The two-disc set Live in Japan was released a year later. At the time he enthused, “Maybe it’s time to do some playing in England and Europe…maybe eventually even America.” But that would not come to pass.

The last ten years of Harrison’s life were largely lived out of the limelight. In I Me Mine, a book of lyrics with autobiographical notes, Harrison wrote, “I’m really quite simple. I don’t want to be in the business full time because I’m a gardener. I plant flowers and watch them grow. I don’t go out to clubs and partying. I stay at home and watch the river flow.”

In 2000, All Things Must Pass was reissued in a two-CD box under Harrison’s auspices. He re-recorded its most famous track as “My Sweet Lord (2000)” and added several bonus tracks, as well as candid notes: “It’s been 30 years since All Things Must Pass was recorded…. All these years later I would like to liberate some of the songs from the big production that seemed appropriate at the time, but now seem a bit over the top with the reverb in the wall of sound. Still, it was an important album for me and a timely vehicle for all the songs I’d been writing during the last period with the Beatles.”

He also worked on his final solo album, Brainwashed, up until his death. Brainwashed, coproduced by son Dhani Harrison and Jeff Lynne, was released posthumously in 2002. He wrote one last song, a philosophical summing-up entitled “Horse to the Water,” that appeared on British keyboardist Jools Holland’s Small World Big Band. It’s somehow fitting that the quiet Beatle got in a final word before departing the material world.

George Harrison died of brain cancer on November 29, 2001, at a friend’s home in Los Angeles. He was 58 years old. Exactly a year later, Eric Clapton and Olivia Harrison organized The Concert for George - a tribute performance that involved the remaining ex-Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as concert supervisor Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and

Ravi Shankar. Proceeds went to Harrison’s Material World Charitable Foundation, which he’d founded back in 1973.

TIMELINE

February 24, 1943: George Harrison is born in Liverpool, England.

1956: George Harrison acquires his first guitar, which he masters by mimicking the recorded styles of Buddy Holly and Lonnie Donegan.

1965: George Harrison becomes interested in the sitar while filming Help! on location in India with the Beatles.

November 1, 1968: While still with the Beatles, George Harrison releases the Eastern-flavored Wonderwall Music, a film soundtrack and the first release on the Beatles’ Apple label.

May 9, 1969: George Harrison’s Electronic Sound, an avant-garde synthesizer album, appears on the Beatles’ short-lived Zapple imprint.

November 29, 1969: “Something,” by the Beatles, becomes George Harrison’s first (and only) composition for the band to reach the top of the charts.

November 27, 1970: George Harrison’s three-album masterwork, All Things Must Pass, is released. It will top the charts for seven weeks.

December 26, 1970: “My Sweet Lord,” by George Harrison, tops the charts for the first of four weeks. The first single by an ex-Beatle to reach #1, it will sell 5 million copies.

August 1, 1971: The Concert for Bangla Desh, an all-star benefit for flood and famine relief organized by George Harrison, is held at New York’s Madison Square Garden. A triple-album box set is released in December and a concert film appears in March.

June 30, 1973: “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth),” from George Harrison’s Living in the Material, tops the charts.

May 1974: George Harrison announces the formation of his own record label, Dark Horse. It’s roster will include Harrison and other artists he signs.

November 2, 1974: George Harrison, the first ex-Beatle to tour, kicks off his two-month Dark Horse tour in Vancouver, BC.

October 1975: Extra Texture (Read All About It), by George Harrison, is released. It will be his last album for Apple, freeing him to release subsequent works on his own Dark Horse label.

November 20, 1976: George Harrison and Paul Simon are the musical guests on Saturday Night Live, duetting on Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun.”

November 27, 1976: The Best of George Harrison enters the charts. One side consists of Harrison’s most popular Beatles songs, while the other collects solo hits.

December 11, 1976: George Harrison releases Thirty-three & 1/3, which includes “This Song” and “Crackerbox Palace.”

1978: George Harrison co-founds HandMade Films, which is credited with revitalizing the British film industry. Its first production, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, is released a year later.

September 2, 1978: George Harrison marries Olivia Arias in England.

March 17, 1979: The self-titled George Harrison enters the charts and yields a hit single, “Blow Away.”

August 22, 1979: I Me Mine, George Harrison’s book of song lyrics and autobiographical reminiscences, is published in a pricey limited edition.

May 23, 1981: “All These Years Ago,” George Harrison’s tribute to the late John Lennon, enters the Top Forty. It will peak at #2 and stay there for three weeks.

November 1987: George Harrison releases Cloud Nine, his first album in five years and his first platinum album since All Things Must Pass.

January 16, 1988: “Got My Mind Set On You,” from Cloud Nine, becomes George Harrison’s first #1 hit since 1973.

November 12, 1988: The Traveling Wilburys - George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison - release Volume One, which reaches #3 and sells 3 million copies.

November 17, 1990: The Traveling Wilburys’ second album, Vol. 3, is released.

December 18, 1991: George Harrison performs in Tokyo, finishing a 13-date Japanese tour that marks his first concerts since 1974.

July 1992: George Harrison releases Live in Japan, a double-disc documentary of his Japanese tour from the previous year.

December 9, 1992: George Harrison is given Billboard magazine’s first century award at the trade journal’s third annual Billboard Music Awards.

December 29, 1999: George Harrison is stabbed by a deranged intruder at his Friar Park estate. The knife narrowly misses his heart, and he is hospitalized with a punctured lung.

November 29, 2001: George Harrison succumbs to brain cancer in Los Angeles.

November 19, 2002: George Harrison’s final album, Brainwashed, is posthumously released. It is his first album of new material since 1987’s Cloud Nine.

November 29, 2002: The Concert for George, a tribute organized by Olivia Harrison and Eric Clapton, is held at Royal Albert Hall on the one-year anniversary of Harrison’s death.

March 15, 2004: George Harrison is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the nineteenth annual induction dinner. Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne are his presenters.

Essential Songs

My Sweet Lord Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) What Is Life When We Was Fab All Things Must Pass Living in the Material World Isn’t It a Pity Crackerbox Palace Dark Horse All Those Years Ago

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/george-harrison

GEORGE 1966: "John and Paul's standard of writing has bettered over the years, so it's very hard for me to come straight to the top, on par with them. They gave me an awful lot of encouragement. Their reaction has been very good. If it hadn't, I think I would have just crawled away."

Taxmanby George Harrison

Let me tell you how it will be There's one for you, nineteen for me 'cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five percent appear too small Be thankful I don't take it all 'cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet Taxman

'Cause I'm the taxman, Yeah, I'm the taxman

Don't ask me what I want it for (ha ha Mr. Wilson) If you don't want to pay some more (ha ha Mr. Heath) 'cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die Declare the pennies on your eyes 'cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman And you're working for no one but me

GEORGE 1980: "'Taxman' was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes. It was and still is typical."

JOHN 1980: "I remember the day he (George) called to ask for help on 'Taxman,' one of his first songs. I threw in a few one-liners to help the song along because that's what he asked for. He came to me because he couldn't go to Paul. Paul wouldn't have helped him at that period. I didn't want to do it. I just sort of bit my tongue and said OK. It had been John and Paul for so long, he'd been left out because he hadn't been a songwriter up until then."

PAUL 1984: "George wrote that and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what could happen to your money."

GEORGE 1987: "I was pleased to have Paul play that bit on 'Taxman.' If you notice, he did like a little Indian bit on it for me."

Within You Without Youby George Harrison

We were talking about the space between us all and people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion never glimpse the truth then it's far too late when they pass away

We were talking about the love we all could share When we find it to try our best to hold it there with our love, with our love we could save the world if they only knew

Try to realize it's all within yourself no one else can make you change And to see you're really only very small and life flows on within you and without you

We were talking about the love that's gone so cold and the people who gain the world and lose their soul They don't know, they can't see Are you one of them

When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find peace of mind is waiting there And the time will come when you see we're all one and life flows on within you and without you

GEORGE 1967: "I'm writing more songs now that we're not touring. The words are always a bit of a hangup for me. I'm not very poetic. 'Within You Without You' was written after dinner one night at Klaus Voorman's house. He had a harmonium, which I hadn't played before. I was doodling on it when the tune started to come. The first sentence came out of what we'd been doing that evening... 'We were talking.' That's as far as I got that night. I finished the rest of the words later at home."

JOHN 1967: "George has done a great indian one. We came along one night and he had about 400 indian fellas playing, and it was a great swinging event, as they say."

JOHN 1980: "One of George's best songs. One of my favorites of his, too. He's clear on that song. His mind and his music are clear. There is his innate talent. He brought that sound together."

While My Guitar Gently Weepsby George Harrison

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping While my guitar gently weeps I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping Still my guitar gently weeps

I don't know why nobody told you how to unfold you love I don't know how someone controlled you they bought and sold you

I look at the world and I notice it's turning While my guitar gently weeps With every mistake we must surely be learning Still my guitar gently weeps

I don't know how you were diverted you were perverted too I don't know how you were inverted no one alerted you

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping While my guitar gently weeps I look at you all Still my guitar gently weeps

GEORGE 1980: "I had a copy of the I Ching-- the Book of Changes, which seemed to me to be based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else, as opposed to the Western view that things are merely coincidental. The idea was in my head when I visited my parents' home in the North of England. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book-- as it would be relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it-- saw 'gently weeps' --than laid the book down again and started the song. Some of the words to the song were changed before I finally recorded it."

GEORGE 1987: "I worked on that song with John, Paul, and Ringo one day, and they were not interested in it at all. And I knew inside of me that it was a nice song. The next day I was with Eric Clapton, and I was going into the session, and I said, 'We're going to do this song. Come and play on it.' He said, 'Oh no. I can't do that. Nobody ever plays on the Beatles records.' I said, 'Look, it's my song, and I want you to play on it.' So Eric came in, and the other guys were as good as gold-- because he was there. Also, it left me free to just play the rhythm and do the vocal. So Eric played that, and I thought it was really good. Then we listened to it back, and he said, 'Ah, there's a problem though; it's not Beatley enough.' So we put it through the ADT (automatic double-track) to wobble it up a bit."

Piggiesby George Harrison

Have you see the little piggies crawling in the dirt And for all the little piggies Life is getting worse Always having dirt to play around in

Have you see the bigger piggies In their starched white shirts You will find the bigger piggies Stirring up the dirt Always have clean shirts to play around in

In their sties with all their backing They don't care what goes on around In their eyes there's something lacking What they need's a darn good whacking

Everywhere there's lots of piggies Living piggy lives You can see them out for dinner With their piggy wives Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon

GEORGE 1980: "'Piggies' is a social comment. I was stuck for one line in the middle until my mother came up with the lyric, 'What they need is a damn good whacking' which is a nice simple way of saying they need a good hiding. It needed to rhyme with 'backing,' 'lacking,' and had absolutely nothing to do with American policemen or Californian shagnasties!"

JOHN 1980: "I gave George a couple of lines about forks and knives and eating bacon."

Savoy Truffleby George Harrison

Creme tangerine and montelimar a ginger sling with a pineapple heart a coffee dessert yes you know it's good news But you'll have to have them all pulled out after the Savoy truffle

Cool cherry cream and a nice apple tart I feel you taste all the time we're apart Coconut fudge really blows down those blues But you'll have to have them all pulled out after the Savoy truffle

You might not feel it now but when the pain cuts through you're gonna know and how The sweat is gonna fill you head when it becomes too much, you'll shout aloud

But you'll have to have them all pulled out after the Savoy truffle

You know that what you eat you are but what is sweet now turns so sour We all know ob-bla-di-bla-da but can you show me where you are

Creme tangerine and montelimar a ginger sling with a pineapple heart a coffee dessert yes you know it's good news But you'll have to have them all pulled out after the Savoy truffle Yes, you'll have to have them all pulled out after the Savoy truffle

GEORGE 1977: "'Savoy Truffle' on The White Album was written for Eric (Clapton). He's got this real sweet tooth and he'd just had his mouth worked on. His dentist said he was through with candy. So as a tribute I wrote, 'You'll have to have them all pulled out after the Savoy Truffle.' The truffle was some kind of sweet, just like all the rest-- cream tangerine, ginger sling-- just candy, to tease Eric."

GEORGE 1980: "'Savoy Truffle' is a funny one written whist hanging out with Eric Clapton in the '60s. At that time he had alot of cavities in his teeth and needed dental work. He always had a toothache but he ate alot of chocolates-- he couldn't resist them, and once he saw a box he had to eat them all. He was over at my house, and I had a box of 'Good News' chocolates on the table and wrote the song from the names inside the lid. I got stuck with the two bridges for a while and Derek Taylor wrote some of the words in the middle-- 'You know that what you eat you are.'"

Somethingby George Harrison

Something in the way she moves Attracts me like no other lover Something in the way she woos me I don't want to leave her now You know I believe and how

Somewhere in her smile she knows That I don't need no other lover Something in her style that shows me I don't want to leave her now You know I believe and how

You're asking me will my love grow I don't know, I don't know You stick around and it may show I don't know, I don't know

Something in the way she knows And all I have to do is think of her Something in the things she shows me I don't want to leave her now You know I believe and how

JOHN 1969: "I think that's about the best track on the album, actually."

PAUL 1969: "I like George's song 'Something.' For me I think it's the best he's written."

GEORGE 1969: "I wrote the song 'Something' for the album before this one, but I never finished it off until just recently. I usually get the first few lines of words and music together, both at once... and then finish the rest of the melody. Then I have to write the words. It's like another song I wrote when we were in India. I wrote the whole first verse and just said everything I wanted to say, and so now I need to write a couple more verses. I find that much more difficult. But John gave me a handy tip. He said, 'Once you start to write a song, try to finish it straight away while you're still in the same mood.' Sometimes you go back to it and you're in a whole different state of mind. So now, I do try to finish them straight away."

GEORGE 1969: "I could never think of words for it. And also because there was a James Taylor song called 'Something In The Way She Moves' which is the first line of that. And so then I thought of trying to change the words, but they were the words that came when I first wrote it, so in the end I just left it as that, and just called it Something. When I wrote it, I imagined somebody like Ray Charles doing it. That's the feel I imagined, but because I'm not Ray Charles, you know, I'm sort of much more limited in what I can do, then it came out like this. It's nice. It's probably the nicest melody tune that I've written."

GEORGE 1980: "'Something' was written on the piano while we were making the White Album. I had a break while Paul was doing some overdubbing so I went into an empty studio and began to write. That's really all there is to it, except the middle took some time to sort out. It didn't go on the White Album because we'd already finished all the tracks."

Here Comes the Sunby George Harrison

Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun, and I say It's all right

Little darling It's been a long cold lonely winter Little darling It feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun, and I say It's all right

Little darling The smiles returning to the faces Little darling I seems like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun, and I say It's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

Little darling I feel that ice is slowly melting Little darling It seems like years since it's been clear

Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun, and I say It's all right Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun It's all right It's all right

GEORGE 1969: "It was written on a nice sunny day this early summer, in Eric Clapton's garden. We'd been through hell with business, and on that day I just felt as though I was sagging off, like from school, it was like that. I just didn't come in one day. And just the release of being in the sun and it was just a really nice day. And that song just came. It's a bit like If I Needed Someone, you know, like that basic sort of riff going through it is the same as all those 'Bells Of Rhymney' sort of Byrd-type things."

GEORGE 1980: "...written at a time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen-- all this signing accounts, and 'sign this' and 'sign that.' Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever; by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided, 'I'm going to sag-off Apple,' and I went over to Eric Clapton's house. I was walking in his garden. The relief of not having to go and see all those dopey accountants was wonderful. And I was walking around the garden with one of Eric's acoustic guitars, and wrote 'Here Comes The Sun.'"

I Me Mineby George Harrison

All through the day I me mine, I me mine, I me mine All through the night I me mine, I me mine, I me mine Mow they're frightened of leaving it Everyone's reading it comin' on strong all the time

All through the day I me mine I me me mine, I me me mine I me me mine

All I can hear I me mine, I me mine, I me mine Even those tears I me mine, I me mine, I me mine No one's frightened of playing it Everyone's saying it Flowing more freely that wine

All through the day I me mine I me me mine, I me me mine I me me mine

All I can hear I me mine, I me mine, I me mine Even those tears I me mine, I me mine, I me mine No one's frightened of playing it Everyone's saying it Flowing more freely that wine

All through the life I me mine

GEORGE 1980: "'I Me Mine' is the ego problem. I looked around and everything I could see was relative to my ego. You know, like 'that's my piece of paper,' and 'that's my flannel,' or 'give it to me,' or 'I am.' It drove me crackers-- I hated everything about my ego-- it was a flash of everything false and impermanent which I disliked. But later I learned from it-- to realize that there is somebody else in here apart from old blabbermouth. 'Who am I' became the order of the day. Anyway, that's what came out of it: 'I Me Mine' ...it's about the ego, the eternal problem."

What Is Lifeby George Harrison

What I feel, I can't sayBut my love is there for you any time of dayBut if it's not love that you needThen I'll try my best to make everything succeed

Tell me, what is my life without your loveTell me, who am I without you, by my side

What I know, I can doIf I give my love now to everyone like youBut if it's not love that you needThen I'll try my best to make ev'rything succeed

Tell me, what is my life without your loveTell me, who am I without you, by my sideTell me, what is my life without your loveTell me, who am I without you, by my side

What I feel, I can't sayBut my love is there for you any time of dayBut if it's not love that you needThen I'll try my best to make everything succeed

Tell me, what is my life without your loveTell me, who am I without you, by my sideOh tell me, what is my life without your loveTell me, who am I without you, by my side

What is my life without your loveTell me, who am I without you, by my side

Oh tell me, what is my life without your loveTell me who am I without you by my side

When We Was Fabby George Harrison

Back then long time ago when grass was greenWoke up in a dazeArrived like strangers in the nightFab - long time ago when we was fabFab - back when income tax was all we had

Caresses fleeced you in the morning lightCasualties at dawnAnd we did it allFab - long time ago when we was fabFab - you are my world you are my only love

And while you're in this worldThe fuzz gonna come and claim youBut you mo better wiseWhen the buzz gonna come and take you awayTake you awayTake you away

The microscopes that magnified the tearsStudied warts and allStill the life flows on and onFab - long time ago when we was fabFab - but It's All Over Now Baby BlueFab - long time ago when we was fabFab - like this pullover you sent to me

Fab - And You've Really Got A Hold MeFab - long time ago when we was fab

Dark Horseby George Harrison

Well, you thought that you knew where I was and whenBut it looks like you've been foolin' you again,You thought that you'd got me all staked outBut baby looks like I've been breaking out

I'm a dark horseI'm running on a dark race courseI'm a blue moonSince I stepped from out of the wombI've been a cool jerkJust looking for the sourceI'm a dark horse.

Well, you thought you had got me in your gripBaby looks like you was not so smartAnd I became too slippery for youBut let me tell you that was nothing new.

I'm a dark horseI'm running on a dark race courseI'm a blue moonSince I picked up my first spoonI've been a cool jerkJust looking for his I'm a dark horse

Well, I thought that you knew it all alongUntil you started getting me not rightIt seems as if you heard a little lateBut I warned you whenWe both were at the starting gate

I'm a dark horseI'm running on a dark race courseI'm a blue moonSince I stepped from out of the wombI've been a cool jerkJust looking for the sourceI'm a dark horse.

I'm a dark horseI'm running on a dark race courseI'm a blue moonSince I stepped from out of the wombI've been a cool jerkJust cooking at the sourceI'm a dark horse.

All Those Years Ago by George Harrison

I'm shouting all about loveWhile they treated you like a dogWhen you were the one who had made it so clearAll those years ago

I'm talking all about how to giveThey don't act with much honestyBut you point the way to the truth when you say"All you need is love"

Living with good and badI always looked up to youNow we're left cold and sadBy someone, the devil's best friendSomeone who offended all

We're living in a bad dreamThey've forgotten all about mankindAnd you were the one they backed up to the wallAll those years agoYou were the one who imagined it allAll those years ago..

Deep in the darkest nightI send out a prayer to youNow in the world of lightWhere the spirit free of liesAnd all else that we despised

They've forgotten all about GodHe's the only reason we existYet you were the one that they said was so weirdAll those years agoYou said it all though not many had earsAll those years agoYou had control of our smiles and our tearsAll those years ago.