YOU CAN'T DO THAT

Those two clips were of Mike and Bernie Winters, who were popular at the time but couldn't hold a candle to the other comedy duo of Morecambe and Wise (stripey blazer sketch).
M and W were THE most popular programme on Christmas TV for about fifteen years running, with the vast majority of the British population glued to the screen when their show was on.
They were famous for getting megastars on to their show and then sending them up mercilessly. There was a queue of stars wanting to appear, as it was considered a great honour.
I know it diverts the thread slightly, but as an exmple, here's what they did to Shirley Bassey.....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xvln035znM

There's a Canajun comedy series like that, "This Hour Has Twenty-two Minutes'" which is politically focused. They have a mock television news format, and they roast politicians unmercifully--yet the pols line up to appear on the show (proving that there is no such thing as bad publicity). They also do "ambush journalism," in which Mary Walsh goes to the homes of politicians and catches them as they leave for work. I suspect that both in M & W and the 22 Minutes shows, the benefit is showing that you're a good sport. The fat, obnoxious Tory mayor of Toronto was approached by Mary Walsh one morning, and he ran back in the house and dialed 911 (emergency services). He had all of Canada laughing at him, and not sympathetically, either.

Another example of how they drew on the music hall tradition . . .

From their Indian experiences . . .



(I think this video was used for another song posted here.)

Ever seen the Rutles Beatles take-off? Here's one example.

The Beatles and what was called the British invasion in America brought a lot of money in for Britain. But a good hunk of that cash came out of the pockets of the performers. George Harrison wrote this song after learning that he'd be paying a 95% supertax.



Nevertheless, Harrison continued to live in England, first in Surrey and then in Oxfordshire.

Once they split and went their separate ways, did you have a favourite? Together or as individuals they produced some brilliant music.

No, not really. I did like Lennon's album Rck 'n' Roll, and of course Paul became a fixture in popular music for many years, although he was no more impressive to me than many other popular bands of the era. I like George's solo albums, too, and if i had to choose one, it would be George.

I agree with you about Lennon's album, Rock 'n' Roll, it was well produced - some of it by Phil Spector. His version of Stand by Me is a stand-out track. Here he is performing it on The Old Grey Whistle Test.



Ringo didn't do too badly either - he made You're Sixteen and Photograph.

I liked this song from the album of the same name--the sentiments didn't mean much to me, but it's a rockin' little number i want my jockey to play . . .



I also liked his cover of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love" which he entitled "Bye Bye, Love" (think about it.) It is said to be about his wife, Patty Boyd, leaving him.



Cloud Nine was my favorite Harrison album, with lots of great songs.

I thought that "When We Was Fab" really captured the Beatles sound from the mid- to late 1960s.



"Devil's Radio" recalled to me the old rocker George Harrison.



But i could post nearly everything George did after leaving the group, so i'll stop now . . .

I like this one of George's -



Patti Boyd inspired another song - Leyla by Derek and the Dominos (Eric Clapton and Duane Allman) -

I find it interesting that there are only three musicians featured on the album sleeve of Sgt Pepper apart from the Beatles themselves - Bob Dylan, Dion, and the late Stuart Sutcliffe.

Stu Sutliffe was undoubtedly included as a tribute--he died so young. If what you say is true, then Dylan would be there as a tribute to his influence of John's songwriting. Dion, of Dion and the Belmonts was a typical example of the long-standing tradition of street corner harmonizing in cities on the east coast of the United States, particularly in Philadelphia and New York (Dion was from the Bronx, i.e., New York). I suspect the Belmonts may have had a big influence on the group's harmonizing.

One of my favourite doo wop songs is 'Ruby Baby' by Dion and the Belmonts.

Yeah, that sure is a keeper!

Here, Billy Joel makes a tribute to the street corner singers of Brooklyn and Queens (two of the boroughs of New York):

The only Beatles song I wasn't 100% keen on was 'Twist and Shout'. I'd loved the Isley Brothers' earlier version, and felt that the Beatles copied it too exactly? Perhaps I'm wrong. What do you think?

I think that John was very canny about the group performing popular songs that the crowds would know and like. John is sometimes overshadowed by Paul's high order musical ability, but it's important to remember that John had been one of the Quarrymen for years before Paul asked to join, and then introduced George. I have always thought that John was the guiding genius (once again, the old sense of genius) of the group.

Paul always seemed to me to be the 'Tin Pan Alley' songwriter - his songs were more show-biz, whereas John's had a harder edge. Personally I preferred John's style. I think he had an awful lot still to give to the world - so sad that his life came to such a abrupt end!

As i've said about the group as a whole, i think Paul was heavily imbued with the music hall tradition. His father was a music hall performer.