INSIDE THE SONGS with Dennis Alstrand and Mike Montana. Today what we love about Georges SAVOY TRUFFLE. Mike: Well I just finishing listening to the remastered version of George Harrisons Savoy Truffle after researching it and, wow, what a great rocker! I just love this song. Dennis: Yeah, me too. I think when it gets to the last verse, it becomes the highest flying, most moving Beatle song. Mike: ... and we promise to get to that part, big time. Shall we start with the inspiration? Dennis: Sho nuff. Mike: It all began with Eric Clapton coming over to Georges house and eating an entire box of chocolates that was sitting on a coffee table. He ate the whole damn box. Dennis: ... and took Georges wife to boot. Mike: [Laughs} Well thats a story for another day. Apparently Clapton had such a sweet tooth he, had tooth decay and one day he sat down in front of a coffee table with a box of MacKintoshs Good News Chocolates and at the whole damn box. Dennis: Exactly. He was as addicted to chocolates, despite his toothaches. Mike: George is said to have warned him, one more soft centered chocolate and youll have to have all his teeth pulled out. It sounds like a weird premise for a great song, but they based a whole movie on a phrase LIFE IF LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES and isnt it kinda cool how a little incident like that became one of The Beatles best rockers, especially since George didnt write or sing many rockers with The Beatles. Dennis: It was extremely interesting to me to learn the story behind the words. Im more into musicology than lyrics, so through the years I didnt think about the lyrics to Savoy Truffle, just thought they were off the wall, just weird lyrics up there in the either, BUT, that they were sung to one of the best rhythm section recordings of all of the Beatles catalog. Mike: Dennis. did you know that Dereck Taylor helped George with some thoughts on the middle eight by suggesting he work in the title of movie he had just seen called You Are What You Eat which was a very hip movie at that time? Dennis: Yes, I read that today. Did not know that before though. Mike: Lets play one quick round of Jeopardy. Category: How did George Harrison take that movie title and change it to fit the melody of Savoy Truffle? [Theme from Jeopardy plays] [Dennis hits the buzzer] Mike: [As Alec Tribeck] Dennis, your answer please. Dennis: What is,You know that what you eat you are? Mike: Correct. [End of cheesy game show stuff] Given all that silliness, can you break the song down for us musically as you do so well? Dennis: In this case, the drummer and bass player are doing such an incredible job of making Georges song work that it took me years to hear anything but them. [He did ask Ken Scott - and it was Brian Gibson who did the over drive on the saxes.] In this case, the drummer and bass. Mike: The foundation for building a good song into a great Beatles recording. Dennis: Right and me of the cool things to do with a Beatle song that you want to explore is to listen to the start of the song, skip to the middle, then to the end. It’s only then that you realize how much the song has changed. With Savoy Truffle, the song starts innocuously enough. Skip to the end, go to the last verse, 2:17 and you can hear all of the additions being made in real time and WOW, the band is flying high. In fact it may be the most fast moving, high flying song they recorded. Mike: ... because of the last verse, you mean? Dennis: Yeah, as the last verse starts we have George playing off beat stabs on the guitar. The saxophones come in after the vocal and at the same instant Harrison’s heavy rhythm guitar picks up the song. As the rhythm hits the upbeats, Ringo does as expected, hitting crash cymbals and it’s totally effective. Mike: I really love how those beautifully distorted horns and George solo in the break just push each other forward. Its really exciting and then - it really breaks loose - which is a really stupid phrase considering this is one of The Beatles fastest, funkiest and tightest recordings as a band. They were on fire that day. Dennis: Listen to the opening and then the closing, its like two different bands. As I mentioned at the outset, I recommend listening to the drumming and bass playing, try to isolate them as you listen. Its a fantastic recording of the two instruments working together to dive a tune into the stratosphere. Mike: Right and adding in the incredibly funky keyboards on the intro and elsewhere and all the other parts that went on top of it ... a rockin masterpiece. Dennis: The song rocks, no doubt about it, Mike. Mike: So much talk of disharmony on this album, especially from George and John, but this recording is proof that when they were playing good music, they were still a force of nature. And speaking of [dis] harmony, I am sure that is Paul singing harmonies and adding an extra hard rock edge to Georges vocals her, much as he does in George Harrisons lead vocal to give him more vocal power and cleverly mixes in Pauls beautiful backup vocal and his harmonies and strong highs to elevate the finished vocal performance on this track to pure rock and roll status. Dennis: It is Paul, everytime he backed up George vocally on songs like this one, Something and Here Comes The Sun ... they worked very, very well together. Pauls bass playing is loose and inventive too. Mike: How about the guitar work and the horns? George really plays killer guitars on this and his idea to fuzz out the horn section worked perfectly. Dennis: Well, first, the amazing part about that is that they were recorded, along with one of the guitars, in one take. They probably rehearsed it first, but laid that down in one try. Mike: Wow. Secondly, it was Ken Scott, I believe, that arranged the saxophones. Next time through, listen to the bass guitar and saxophones. The saxes were arranged to ride directly on top of the bass. They play the same rhythms frequently! And I never noticed that until I was prepping for this talk. Mike: I will, right after we finish. You know, Dennis, there is a great little part on The Beatles Anthology video where Ken Scott, who youve mentioned was distorting the horns, tells a beautiful story. George had listened to the horns part as they were mixing it and decided they sounded too clean and asked Ken to rough them up. Apparently they were doing that when George Martin poked his head in the door to listen and said, A bit toppy isnt it? Meaning lots of high end equalization and a comment on the distortion. George quickly shut Martin down with the terse comment, Well thats how I want it. according to Ken Scott [the engineer] George Matin took the hint, said All right, then and quickly left. Dennis: I didnt know that. Mike: All in all a brilliant recording with George, Paul and Ringo working extremely well together. Again, something not talked about much when people think of the White Album. Im not sure John was in on that session Dennis: I dont think so either. Mike: Well, Im in the mood to listen to it all over again now. Dennis: Me too! Mike: Next time lets do a lesser know McCartney song, your choice. Dennis: How about Mother Natures Son? Mike: I look forward to it and hope everyone will join for our next look Inside The Songs here on The Beatles Universe Features Page.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 04:19:13 +0000
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