Beatle's Michelle

[KarlGauss]

I am having trouble finding the air-dates of the Beatle's Michelle. Using the Net, I seem to only be able to prove that it was a top chart hit for David and Jonathan.

One excellent site, 1050 CHUM in Toronto, doesn't even seem to have the Beatle's version on their very comprehensive CHUM charts. Am I losing my mind? Didn't the Beatle's version top, or even make, the charts?

[pldennison]

Actually, "Michelle" was never released as a single (A- or B-side) by the Beatles. It did, however, win the 1966 Grammy award for Song of the Year.

[Guy Propski]

You are not losing your mind. According to the Beatles on the The Charts website (http://members.tripod.com/~taz4158/charts.html), "Michele" never even entered the charts.

[warmgun]

Speaking of which, can anyone settle this:
Do the 'french'(?) words in that song make sense or are they gibberish?

[KarlGauss]

Thanks, but I must be losing my memory if not my mind. I was sure I remembered hearing the Beatles version on the radio when I was a kid.

[panamajack]

Although I knew someone who'd been named after her parents heard the song on the radio, but that would have been in the mid-70's. Does this mean the radio was just playing the song off the album, or would that have been possible (perhaps she meant they heard it because the album was playing, not that it was aired)? I know some stations play entire album sides on occasion -- is there anything that stipulates that they should only play singles or are those released more in a promotional sense, i.e. distributing the single's easier & cheaper?

panama jack

Michelle, ma belle, sunday monkeys won't play piano soft, play piano soft

[pldennison]

warmgun

Do the 'french'(?) words in that song make sense or are they gibberish?

Of course they make sense. So much sense that Paul McCartney then repeats them in English. "Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble" is French for "These are words that go together well."

panamajack:

Does this mean the radio was just playing the song off the album . . .?

Sure. There's nothing that prevents radio stations from playing whatever cuts they want. In fact, back in the day, the arrival of a new Beatles album was something of an event, so it's likely that stations played them in their entirety upon receipt.

I hear plenty of Beatles songs on the radio today that were never singles. Listeners just like to hear them.

. . .is there anything that stipulates that they should only play singles or are those released more in a promotional sense, i.e. distributing the single's easier & cheaper?

The singles are the songs that record companies are pushing to have played on the air, and they, or their "independent promoters" in any case, offer . . . er, "incentives" to play the currently charting single. Singles (especially advance singles) are indeed a promotional tool, though; if you hear and like them, you're more likely to buy the artist's album.

[Arnold Winkelried]

Originally posted by warmgun
Do the 'french'(?) words in that song make sense or are they gibberish?

Michelle, ma belle, sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble, très bien ensemble

Michelle, my pretty, are words that go together very well, together very well

[pldennison]

Stupid Arnold and his stupid accent grave, or aigu, or whatever . . .

[Arnold Winkelried]

That's accent grave to you, buddy!

Everytime I see the lyrics listed, it says "sont les mots..." but it would be more correct to say "sont des mots..." From listening to the song, it sounds like Paul is singing "les mots...". Shame on him!

The difference would be
These are the words that go together well (les)
vs.
These are words that go together well (des)

Obviously the second version is more gramatically correct.

[jmullaney]

Tou mean its not: "sunday monkey play piano song?"

[ubermensch]

Originally posted by pldennison
panamajack:

Sure. There's nothing that prevents radio stations from playing whatever cuts they want. In fact, back in the day, the arrival of a new Beatles album was something of an event, so it's likely that stations played them in their entirety upon receipt.

I hear plenty of Beatles songs on the radio today that were never singles. Listeners just like to hear them.

kinda like "stairway to heaven". it was first released as a single just last year.

[KarlGauss]

I agree that radio stations often play tracks from albums, especially in the absence of a released single. But the only station I listened to from 1963 to 1969 was strictly AM, literally and figuratively. They played only singles.

[darkcool]

So sorry , I was thinking of the words to "Sun King".
Anybody got a handle on those 'non-sense' or no 'non-sense' words.
Sorry for the hi-jack.

[bibliophage]

Originally posted by darkcool
So sorry , I was thinking of the words to "Sun King".
Anybody got a handle on those 'non-sense' or no 'non-sense' words.
Sorry for the hi-jack.

I think they're nonsense Italian, not French. Not being a speaker of Italian, I can't say for sure they're nonsense. One version I found has:

Quando paramucho mi amore de felice carathon
Mundo paparazzi mi amore cicce verdi parasol
Questo abrigado tantamucho que canite carousel

when

[August West]

Originally posted by jmullaney
You mean its not: "sunday monkey play piano song?"

Of course not! It's "someday monkey play piano song".