It was George, not John, wasn’t it?
I once heard someone singing “I’ve Just Seen a Face” to himself, and surprised him by singing along. Nobody else around recognized it. That’s probably my favorite Not All That Famous Beatles song.
I came in to say “I’ve Just Seen a Face” as well. I guess two of us makes it mainstream. My other favorite obscurish song would be “You Won’t See Me.”
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Yup, as a little kid, LONG before I had the slightest bit of musical training, knowledge or vocabulary of music theory, I can still remember being intrigued by the exact chord transition you are referring to. In general, I feel like pop music makes more frequent use of a major chord transitioning to a minor chord of the same root, than the reverse. So it definitely sticks with you when you hear it. Good ear!!
There is much much more I could write on this topic, but it will have to wait until I have more time to do so.
I said, who put all those things in your head?
Things that make me feel like I’m mad
and you’re making me feel like I’ve never been born
Nowadays, they’re obscure. Back in the early 80s, shortly after Lennon was murdered, reprints were everywhere. I still have my paperback copy that contained both. Christmas or birthday present, don’t remember which.
I guess I can brag that I saw Let It Be in a theatre (revival house in the early 80s). Given that it hasn’t been released on home video since a VHS version in 1981, way before most people had a VCR, that’s kind of worth bragging about. Too bad it isn’t that great of a film. Mostly depressing, except for the rooftop concert at the end.
When the occasion warrants it, I’ll use George’s line “Eh, it’s been done.” (A line from his guest appearance on The Simpsons)
Ah. Thanks all!
She Said She Said is a top three Beatles song for me right now.
Oh, I’ll say the haiku simplicity of John’s lyrics in Rain about folks who “get it” vs those who don’t. John being a bit of a hipster himself 
I believe that “Face” got a cultural boost from the 2007 film Across the Universe. I haven’t watched the film, but on YouTube the very peppy version featuring bowling alley hijinks is popular — there are 3 separate clips with over a million hits apiece.
A quick, unexacting search makes me think “Face” is the YouTube favorite from the film, along with the slow, wistful, very sweet f/f “I Want to Hold You Hand”.
::totally braggy::
I have a 1st UK Edition of Spaniard. And a 1st U.S. of the full Playboy interview in book form. Back when I was collecting fiction, I came across them at dealers and snapped ‘em up.
In the Anthology TV documentary that came out in 1995, there’s a scene in a hotel room during their touring period, I think 1964 or 1965, in which John picks up a melodica and plays the intro to Strawberry Fields, years before the rest of the song was written and recorded. I haven’t found another Beatles nut yet who is aware of this little tidbit.
Yeah, I loved that. Through my teens and 20s “Strawberry Fields” was my favorite song (along with “Heroin” by the Velvets) and it was fascinating to see how Lennon had preserved that one fragile scrap of melody for years.
Finally, someone who recognized it! I think we are members of a very small club.
I did the email promotion for a showing of the film at a small, “arty”, music club — so I had reason to read reviews and commentary before watching the movie, and was forewarned about the “Strawberry Fields” motif.
But I think I would have noticed it even watching the film cold — there it was, the beginning of my favorite song, three years before it was written.
I hadn’t heard that. Here’s the clip. I’d put that under “unproven”, as he’s doing something that’s musically quite elementary (major chord with two notes of chromatically descending bass) and, in any case, it was Paul who came up with the flute mellotron intro for that song, but maybe John’s melodica doodling had lodged in his mind.
Lennon once asked producer George Martin to make a song sound like an orange (“Sun King” apparently).
I was always a reader who never shied from thick books so I was pleased when Shout by Philip Norman was released in 1981, considering it better researched, but less “on the scene”, than Hunter Davies’s 1968 book.
Davies’s book is worth checking out as he sat on the Pepper recording sessions and has a few good vignettes about how J&P wrote lyrics, including one passage about the lyrics for “With a Little Help…” where they were stuck on a line and somebody, not a band member and, iirc, female suggested the line “I just feel fine”.
John responded with “we don’t use the word ‘just’ as it is a filler word”, or something like that. Even then (I was ten when I read Davies’ book) was pretty sure the Beatles have used the word in their lyrics.
Anyway, if you are a fan of the Beatles and are interested in a contemporary account by a man who sat with them on their most important and influential recording sessions, I strongly recommend the book.
Off topic rambling (this is a rambling kind of thread):
In one of his books/columns Dave Barry was making fun of something silly Paul had written, but threw in the counter-example of how the great “I’m Down” was written by the same guy. My take on that was that Barry was a little older than myself, and had a soft-spot for the Greaser Rock that came a bit before the Beatles. Which is fine, but made me think about that song in a slightly different manner.
Another random comment that made me think about the Beatles overall style:
A woman (possibly on SDMB) was discussing why she loved Elvis, but had never really cared for the Beatles. She said that Elvis did a lot of “torch” songs — and she asked if the Beatles had done any torch songs that she should listen to.
That made me go, “hmmm.” I guess a torch song would be a slow/medium ballad which has the singer expressing strong, sincere longing. Such as “I Can’t Help Falling In Love with You”. The Beatles didn’t do many songs like that.
At least once a year I’ll mutter “I’ve got a 'ole in me pocket”
Nobody catches the reference, although I consider it a plot-critical line in Yellow Submarine.
I read this somewhere: the original line in A Little Help From My Friends was “would you throw ripe tomatoes at me?” (instead of “would you stand up and walk out on me?”). But it was changed in light of the fact that fans used to throw “jelly babies” at the group and the fear that they might throw tomatoes instead.
“And how old are you?
32.
Get away!”
“You’ve just been elected as independent candidate from Paddington!”
“What do you want?
We have been granted permission, O Wise One.
Ahhhh! Pass in peace!”
“They’d like to thank you for a wonderful year.
We’d like to thank you for a wonderful year.
Thank you for a wonderful year.”
Yeah, me, too. It’s possible that it was inspired there, I suppose, but, like you said, take a major chord and just chromatically descend the bassline isn’t exactly novel. I was expecting much more than that, given the description. It’s just some guy noodling around on a melodica to me.