Category Archives: Today in history

Beatles, Music et al, Music of the 60s, Today in history

Beatles I Feel Fine

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Beatles I Feel Fine

On December 26, 1963 Capital had released the Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (“I Saw Her Standing There” B-Side) It hit number one on February 1, 1964.

Exactly a year later, on December 26, 1964, their “I Feel Fine” was the Billboard #1 single. Their sixth #1 song of 1964 in which they had 30 entries on the chart, giving them a total of 18 weeks at the top of the charts.

Beatles I Feel Fine

Alan W Pollack

Alan W Pollack manages soundscape.info. It is an amazing site for anyone, but particularly for Beatle fans who want to know details.

About “I Feel Fine” his top paragraph points out that:

Key: G Major Meter: 4/4 Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Bridge | Verse | Verse (guitar solo) | | Verse | Bridge | Verse | Outro (fade-out)
CD: “Past Masters”, Volume 1, Track 14 (Parlophone CDP 90043-2) Recorded: 18th October 1964, Abbey Road 2 UK-release: 27th November 1964 (A Single / “She’s A Woman”) US-release: 23rd November 1964 (A Single / “She’s A Woman”)

And that’s just the start. Go here (Soundscapes site) if you want to learn more about the musical structure of “I Feel Fine” than you ever imagined.

Beatles I Feel Fine

What was that?

Beatles I Feel Fine
The 45

For those who first heard the song on November 23, 1964 (its US release), its famous intro, was an odd surprise. Perhaps even confusing. What was that? Was is a mistake? Why would The Beatles put a mistake at the beginning of a song?

Of course it was no mistake but it is, apparently the first time that anyone had deliberately place feedback on a recording. Oh you Beatles you!

Click to hear just one example of the can of sound they opened >>>

No really. Click!

Beatles I Feel Fine

In conclusion…

To finish, Alan Pollack says, “Perhaps the single most exceptional gesture in this particular number is to be found in its unaccustomed display (for John) of such effusive romantic euphoria, completely uncomplicated for a change by even the slightest second thoughts, anxiety, or self-doubt.”

The rule that Paul writes the happy songs and John the disillusioned ones just doesn’t work here. The exception proves the rule.

Beatles I Feel Fine
Today in history, Vietnam

Hero James Tom Davis

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Hero James Tom Davis

James T Davis, Tom to his friends, was one of the first American to die in action in Vietnam. He was killed on December 22, 1961. He was 25 years old.

President Lyndon Johnson, in a speech made years later, referred to Specialist 4 James T. Davis as “…the first American…”  to die in Vietnam and now several web sites refer to Davis this way. Even this blog had listed Davis that way. I have corrected that misstatement.

As the Virtual Wall site points out, “The first hostile action losses were two members of an Army advisory team, Major Dale R Buis of Pender, Nevada and Master Sergeant Chester M Ovnany, of Copperas Cove, Texas, who were killed (along with two ARVN security guards) in a VC raid on the team’s Bien Hoa headquarters on 8 July 1959.

None of which, of course, detracts in any way from SP4 Davis’s service to our country.

 

Cryptologic Hero James T Davis
Cryptologist James T Davis in the field

In 1961, the word Vietnam in 1961 meant nothing to most Americans. Only government officials involved in the deployment of American forces, the families of those forces, and  the very few media reporters assigned to the story could find it on a map.

Hero James Tom Davis

Cryptologist

Davis was in the 3rd Radio Research Unit. It used electronics to pinpoint the enemy’s location. The Vietnamese terrain made that job difficult and cryptologists had to get in close.

Hero James Tom Davis
Davis with fellow Vietnamese soldiers

Traveling in country, a landmine struck the truck Davis was in.  Davis and the other Vietnamese soldiers with him fought the following attack, but all died. (for a fuller explanation of Davis’s job See The Story of a Cryptologic Hero for a fuller explanation of Davis’s job and his death)

Hero James Tom Davis

Davis Station

Hero James Tom Davis
Following his death, the base was renamed in his honor

 

In 2009, Billy Petross, a friend of Tom wrote: I first met James Davis when we were in school at Tennessee Tech. During the short time that I had the honor of knowing James we became very close friends. James was an avid fisherman and we spent many hours together on the Dale Hollow lake near his home in Livingston. He was a quite and unassuming person. I met James’ mother at their home in Livingston. She was a wonderful person. I recall that once she fixed a steak dinner for us after one of our fishing trips. I was aware that James dropped out of college and joined the army because I recall trying to persuade him to stay in college. The last time I saw James was once after he joined the army he came back to the Tech campus while on leave. I never saw him after that. The next time I heard anything about James was an article in the Orange County Register in California about a James Davis from Livingston, TN who was the first soldier killed in action in Vietnam. He was a good friend. Billy Pettross  June 3, 2009 

Hero James Tom Davis

The Wall

Other comments about James T Davis from The Wall site)

Cryptologic Hero James T Davis

Cryptologic Hero James T Davis
Grave site of Davis

James T Davis’s name appears on Panel 1E, Row 4 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Hero James Tom Davis
Birthdays, Music et al, Today in history

Alvin Graham Barnes Lee

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Alvin Graham Barnes Lee
December 19, 1944 — March 6, 2013

Alvin Graham Barnes Lee

And if you say Alvin Lee or Ten Years After, most music fans will say, “I’m Goin’ Home” and think of his Woodstock Music and Art Fair performance.

Alvin Graham Barnes Lee

Home albatross

It likely surprised Lee that he garnered so much fame from that song’s particular performance.  An albatross laying a golden egg. He was already a great guitarist when he began his trek along 1969’s festival trail. How many times did he play “I’m Going Home” before Woodstock that summer?  Likely dozens of times.

Alvin Graham Barnes Lee

Busy Band

Here’s theie North American tour list just for June and July:

  • July 4, Newport Jazz Festival
  • July 5, Action House, Island Park, NY
  • July 12, Laurel Pop Festival, Maryland
  • July 13, Singer Bowl, NYC
  • July 16, Schaefer Music Festival, Wollman Skating Rink  NYC
  • July 22 – 24, Fillmore West, San Francisco
  • July 25,   Seattle Pop Festival
  • July, 17, Balboa Stadium, San Diego
  • August 2, Tea Party, Boston
  • August 16, St Louis
Alvin Graham Barnes Lee

The Pinnacle 

Their Woodstock performance was Sunday evening on August 17. Following that they went to:

  • Aug 20, The Catacombs, Houston
  • Aug 24, The Rose Palace, Pasadena, CA
  • Aug 26 > 28, Fillmore West, San Francisco
  • Sept 1,  Texas International Pop Festival
  • Sept 12 – 13, Fillmore East, NYC
Alvin Graham Barnes Lee

The music never stopped

After the Fillmore East dates, they flew back to do a European tour and did 20 more concerts! By the way, they’d already had done 40 European and American before returning for the summer of 1969. (complete list)

And while they may not have played “I’m Goin’ Home” at every gig, surely many heard it again and long before the album cut or the movie scene appeared in 1970.

But its filming at Woodstock preserved it and sent it worldwide. His name was and will forever be associated with that song and that performance.

Alvin Graham Barnes Lee
Remembering Alvin Lee

Some  facts about Lee:

  • he was originally influenced by his parent’s collection of jazz and blues records
  • began playing guitar age 13
  • by aged 15 his Jaybirds band formed the core of Ten Years After
  • moved to London and changed the band’s name to Ten Years After in 1966
  • the band’s performance at the Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival in 1967 led to their first recording contract.
  • October 1967. Release of Ten Years After, the band’s first album.
  • concert promoter Bill Graham who invited the band to tour America for the first time in the summer of 1968. Ten Years After would ultimately tour the USA 28 times in 7 years, more than any other U.K. band.
  • Ten Years After had great success, releasing ten albums together between 1967 and 1973.
  • after the breakup of Ten Years After, Lee continue to form bands and record music.
  • Lee’s overall musical output includes more than 20 albums.
  • neither Alvin Lee nor Ten Years After are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Alvin Lee website

Lee died on March 6, 2013. (NYT Obit)

Alvin Graham Barnes Lee

Remembering Alvin Lee