the sitar in 1967 pop music

Listening to some of the great pop songs of the mid-60s, you cannot help but notice the prevalence of the sitar on most tracks. And chances are good that if you hear a sitar in a western pop-song... it's from 1967, when the sitar fad exploded due to George Harrison and Shawn Phillips.

George Harrison is the first musician to be recognized for introducing the sitar into popular music, using the instrument on Norweigian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" on Rubber Soul (1965).

Harrison went on to play the sitar on Revolver (1966) and to write various sitar tracks on that album, most notably "Love To You," and my favorite, "Tomorrow Never Knows" which can be considered the first psychedelic rock song (beyond the sitar, there's the reverse guitar, crazy drumming, and of course, famously, a Leslie Speaker cabinet for John's vocals).

Here's a great clip detailing the making of the song



These songs not only mark the emergence of the sitar in pop music, but, for Harrison, they represent some of his finest contributions to the Beatles' catalogue. It's clear at this point that he is exploring his interest and training with the sitar. However, taking the lyrics into consideration, it's obvious that Harrison is also exploring his own experiences with eastern philosophy-- especially heard on his later composition, "Within Without You" on Sgt. Pepper's (1967).

After George Harrison, my other favorite pop-sitar player is Shawn Phillips. Phillips played with Donovan throughout the 60s and here he is playing on "Three King Fishers" (another personal favorite, from "Sunshine Superman", 1966).

The clip is from Pete Seeger's show "Rainbow Quest." Stay until the end to see a really sweet interview between Seeger and Phillips.



Harrison and Donovan are a large part of why the sitar starts appearing in pop music-- for both it was their time spent in India exploring eastern religion. For Harrison, it was his training with Ravi Shankar:



In 1967, there is an explosion of the sitar in rock n' roll and pop. Here are some my favorite highlights:

The sitar is used by Brian Jones on "Paint it Black".

Here's a clip from the show Ready, Steady, Go! in 1967



Jones also plays the sitar on "Street Fighting Man" (1968).

Lemon Pipers "Green Tambourine" (1967) features an electric sitar-- although not seen here, on this hilariously bad video



Kinks "Fancy" from the LP "Face to Face" has an GREAT sitar, and it's an amazing song (unfortunately, not a very good video):



Often overlooked, one of the most extensive users of the sitar were Mike Heron and Robin Williamson of The Incredible String Band (a personal favorite), who combined folk, psychadelia with eastern influences in their music. This video is fantastic quality... with some crazy sitar playing!

"Iron Stone" from the LP "The Chelsea Sessions" (1967)



While each of these songs use the sitar to effect an eastern, psychedelic, groovy sort of atmosphere, the sitar begins to expand beyond such denotations. For examples, check out the Cowsills "The Rain the Park and Other Things" (1967)-- although not prominent, you can hear the sitar starting at 1:45



(Damn, I need to do an entire blog on the Cowsills.... that's a story).

And, you can hear it on the beginning of Stevie Wonder's 1970 hit "Signed Sealed Delivered"....



Yes, that's a sitar you're groovin' to...!

hurdy gurdy girl

At one point I had a blog over at myspace. However, no one (including myself) is really over there anymore. Therefore, I've decided to blog over here on strictly pop music and other pop related things.

I'll be adding some posts from the myspace... and blogging new ones.

Thanks for reading!

a very beatles childhood

The other day, someone asked me, "what were you like as a child?"

I was really stumped for an answer. It's hard to think "What was I like as a kid?" because, when you're a child, you're not self-aware. It's easier to think "what was I like when I was 20?" (answer: impulsive, irrational, moody, brooding, and self-consciously-artistic... a.k.a. a annoying). All I could attribute to my childhood was vague adjectives: happy, stubborn, willful. Most of my time was spent: watching tv, reading books, laying on my pink shag carpet listening to music. I didn't play outside much. I didn't have that many friends.

So, I asked my older sister, "what was I like when I was a child?" and she said, "Beside being obsessed with the Beatles? You were hilarious, a lot of fun, and told crazy fantastic stories. Not much has changed. Only you watched a lot more tv."

This is all true. As a kid, I told a lot of fantastical lies and lived in a bit of a fantasy world. In fact, as a kid I was obsessed with two things:

- The Beatles
- Classical Mythology



I would spend entire afternoons laying on the shag, reading and re-reading myths, or the backs of LP jackets, often pouring over the lyrics printed on the inside sleeve, or looking at the pictures of "other great EMI artists!"... and listening to the Beatles over and over again on the record player.

And this is probably how, in many way, the Beatles became gods. They were iconic. They possessed amazing harmonization. They were archetypal. I could have endless conversations with my sister over which Beatle was the best while I braided her hair and she did homework. (answer: John. Always John. My sister liked Paul. That pretty much explains our relationship right there). Whether I really grasped who they were as actual human beings was irrelevant. I knew that they weren't a band anymore, John Lennon only recently had been killed, but none of that registered with me. The Beatles were "always already" the Beatles. Infinite.

My father bought a VCR pretty early into the home-entertainment technology craze. There was only one video store in town and we'd go every Friday night to get movies for the weekend. I rented "HELP!" every other weekend.

..">

HELP! was produced in 1965 and the plot is so ridiculous it's not even worth summarizing. But the style of the movie is very typically British-- eventually influencing Monty Python and "Are you Being Served?" It was ahead of it's time-- attempting to parody James Bond films. Later, the Monkees would use it as inspiration for their own weekly show.

In the movie, the Beatles completely relinquish themselves as individuals. Unlike "Hard Days Night" which was somewhat based upon their actual experience as a band, "HELP!" was complete Beatle-eye-candy. A string of exotic music videos with a loose plot to hold it all together.

I just purchased the remaster DVD of the film. And I watched it recently with SUCH JOY... laughing more at the MEMORIES of the movie than the movie itself... because in some way they were memories of my own childhood: I remembering pausing over again so I could see what book John pulls out of his secret library to read-- only to discover that it was his own book, "A Spaniard in the Works"-- which I scoured England for at the age of 20, and eventually found and bought an original copy. I told myself that, one day, I would have an apartment just like John's with the sunken bed surrounded by bookshelves-- I still want that.

The plot of the film hasn't improved since I was a kid. But I never watched the movie for the plot... I watched it for this:

..">

The intensity in which John "Heys!" on that last refrain, to this day, THRILLS me. An image of John Lennon, or the sound of his voice (like on "It's Only Love") and I swoon into a haze of childhood bliss. Back then, I didn't know what love was, or what men and women were, or what sex was. I just knew that John Lennon-- in the same way that Hades of the Underworld-- had it all right: witty, artistic, brooding, sensitive, irrelevant, quick, dashing... and John played the mouth organ.

free design- kites are fun

Here's a fab animation of Free Design's "Kites are Fun"... doesn't it make you want to get out there and run around with some kites?? Of course it does!!! Go do it!!!

pentangle- traveling song

It's a change of season, and with that a change of tunes. Over the summer i've been heavily rotating the sunshine pop sounds of The Association, Free Design, etc. And now, that fall is rolling in... pumpkins, apple cider, fallen leaves... my ears tingle to the sounds of Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Steeleye Span, The Drake, etc.

Here is a fantastic video of a very early Pentangle, performing one of my favorites, "Traveling Song"

beau brummels

For their innovation alone, the Beau Brummels should be considered in the same class as the Beach Boys, Byrds, Lovin' Spoonful and other champions of American pop music of the 60s.

While their dress and mod style were influenced by the Beatles... and they took their name from the inventor of dandyism.... the Beau Brummels were steeped in Americana, often blending country, folk, and pop.

The Beau Brummels had three Top 40 singles:

"Laugh, Laugh"



"Just a Little"



My favorite song though comes from the b-flick "Village of the Giants" (starring a very young Beau Bridges)

("When it Comes To Your Love")