To dispel the miasmatic pall I have spread over my own blog, I'd like to talk about a video I found on youtube by the most spiritual of the Beatles, George Harrison--or Harry Georgeson, as he was cutely called to hide his participation in friends' music-making. This video reminds me once again that while Harrison was the most spiritual Beatle, he was also the most likely to mention mundane matters such as money and lawsuits.
The video is for Harrison's song "This Song"--which I had totally forgotten about, even though I loved it when it was released, that is, as far as the music goes. I can understand the emotions behind the lyrics, which were inspired by Harrison's losing a plagiarism lawsuit over "My Sweet Lord" to the writers of "He's So Fine." I'm sure Harrison unconsciously adopted the melody (unlike, say the writers of [CENSORED] did when they stole the melody of [CENSORED]--references deleted upon advice of legal counsel).
"This Song" is the result, and the song is bubbly, happy, and Beatleish in the best sense, and the video is good-natured for all the bitterness that inspired it. I particularly like the expression on George's face as he mimes, "This song is in E." The other participants in the video are on the edge of being recognizable--the vampiric lawyer looks like Eric Idle, but isn't, I don't think: same with the second rock star in drag (Ronnie Wood?). Are the horn players supposed to be droogs? The court stenographer is an actual piano player, I think--she's in Pete Townshend's video for "Slit Skirts."
Silly stuff--but [CENSORED] 'em if they can't take a joke.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Awww, George was always my favourite. His heart seemed to be in the right place, he seemed the least self-righteous, and he was also the best-looking. Though his sweet lord stuff got tiresome.
I tried to do some celebrity-spotting, but the only person I can even hazard a guess at is the police officer...Harry Nilsson?
The piano player is incredible, I have to find out who she is.
Some claim that one of the drag-ladies is Eric Idle; apparently it is his VOICE, anyway. The judge is played by drummer Jim Keltner. The piano is played by Billy Preston (though obviously not in the video).
Incidentally, the video itself is from Saturday Night Live apparently, "in a courtroom along with a cast of many of his friends (dressed up as the jury, bailiff, defense experts, etc.)"
Aha, here we go. The woman playing the piano in the video seems to be Virginia Astley:
http://www.virginiaastley.com/
Your skill at rooting out this information puts me to shame, lazy sod that I am--thank you!
If that's Harry Nilsson, then he was much larger than I imagined him to be, or George a lot shorter--all of which could be true; I always thought pop stars were taller than they actually were. I love the way George clomps down the hall with the cop, like he's being hauled to the principal's office.
Virginia Astley--that makes sense, at least as far as Townshend goes. She's his sister-in-law. (He married her older sister Karen.) Their brother Jon beame the engineer for the Who, and the bane of many Who fans, who cannot stand his mixes and remixes.
Thanks again!
It was your "slit skirts" connection that finally tipped me off about Virginia Astley. As an aside, it makes me sad that there's simply no way (yet) to get a "cast list" for music videos. The performers seem to just be paid off and sent on their way...
As for the motorcycle cop, you're probably right. Harry Nilsson was a bear of a man, but the copy REALLY dwarfs Harrison in the hallway.
(copy == cop)
More thoughts: I can see that being Keltner--the eyes are the same as in the Concert for George (wig in one, beard in the other.)
SNL--the one person I think I CAN identify here is Harry Shearer in one of the chicken outfits.
And I got the sound to work on youtube on this computer again!
Youtube is like stumbling across an attic in your mind full of of a jumble cultural bric-a-brac that you had thought were at best lost and at worst forgotten. I should be correcting essays, not looking up videos by the Beau Brummels!
Definitely, YouTube is like a rummage sale, with all those buried gems amid the cheap knick-knacks and crappy macrame.
When I find something I like, I download it an keep it...because you never know when it will disappear.
Post a Comment