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Steve M.
04-13-2005, 03:43 PM
Here are some sly, dastardly tricks the Beatles pulled in their songs -

"I Saw Her Standing There" - Paul's count-in sounds like he's saying "One-two-three-f:censored:!"

"I Feel Fine" - On some foreign pressings of the song, several seconds of mysterious whispering are heard.

"Girl" - Paul and George sing a naughty word that rhymes with "sit" in the background.

"Paperback Writer" - John and George sing "Frere Jacques" in the background.

"Rain" - The song fades out with a backward Lennon vocal.

"Yellow Submarine" - At the end of the third verse, where Paul repeats the lyrics in an exaggerated spoken voice, Ringo seems to sing "slubmarine."

"Strawberry Fields Forever" - John says "cranberry sauce;" millions believe he said "I buried Paul."

"Penny Lane" - Paul later admitted that he had something other than fire engines in mind when he sang about a fireman keeping his "machine" clean; fish and finger pie is Liverpool slang for something you can't get at a fish-and-chips place. (If you tried to get it in the Bible Belt, you'd be in big trouble!)

"A Day In the Life" - the song is followed by a dog whistle (which is actually nearly audible on compact disc; you'll feel a low twinge in your ear), then followed by repetitive gibberish at the end that sounds like, "Never curse your tanning underwear."

"I Am The Walrus" - Oswald's death scene in King Lear (Act IV, Scene 6) is heard from a September 1967 BBC Radio 3 production of the Shakespeare tragedy. (Sir John Gielgud played the title role, but while Lear is in Act IV, Scene 6, the portion of the scene on record features only Oswald, Edgar, and the Earl of Gloucester.) Also, the Mike Sammes Singers chant "Everybody's got one" in the fadeout.

"Hey Jude" - An undeleted expletive is heard nearly three minutes into the song.

"Savoy Truffle" - The saxophones were recorded cleanly, then deliberately distorted by George with electronic overload.

"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" - John and George shout out "arm," "leg," and "foot" in the background. Also, there's that reference to transvestism in the last verse.

"Get Back" - Another transvestism reference, plus some coy drug slang - "California grass" had nothing to do with a manicured lawn in Orange County.

Any others? :D

Pus$y Galore
04-13-2005, 05:21 PM
:lol: Better watch it - someone may accuse you of the Jerry Falwell Syndrome of playing records backwards to get hidden messages!!! :lol:

I'll have to haul out my Beatles collection and give it another close listen!!!

I love that "fish and finger pie" reference!!! (There are two things in this world that smell like fish.....one is fish!!!) :lol:


Thank you - and I hope we passed the audition!

Penny Lane
04-13-2005, 07:45 PM
Steve, where are you getting your info? If that is what Paul is saying in "I Saw Her Standing There" it would have been banned in 1964! I refuse to believe it!

He said "One Two Three Four" Get your mind out of the gutter. :mad:

Steve M.
04-13-2005, 08:16 PM
Steve, where are you getting your info? If that is what Paul is saying in "I Saw Her Standing There" it would have been banned in 1964! I refuse to believe it!

He said "One Two Three Four" Get your mind out of the gutter. :mad:

Greil Marcus, in his chapter on the Beatles in the 1980 edition of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, originally made the charge.

This is not unlike when Chicago mayor Richard Daley allegedly called Connecticut senator Abraham Ribicoff a "faker" at the 1968 Democratic convention, and many people insisted that Daley had called him something else.

If Paul did indeed say "f:censored:," then the Beatles slipped one by the censors. :eek:

Penny Lane
04-13-2005, 08:28 PM
Greil Marcus, in his chapter on the Beatles in the 1980 edition of The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, originally made the charge.

This is not unlike when Chicago mayor Richard Daley allegedly called Connecticut senator Abraham Ribicoff a "faker" at the 1968 Democratic convention, and many people insisted that Daley had called him something else.

If Paul did indeed say "f:censored:," then the Beatles slipped one by the censors. :eek:


I just listened to I Saw Her Standing There" on my windows media player. It sure sounds like "Four " to me! :lol:
Case in point............. Hey Jude for example. My Mom always thought that they were talking about drug abuse. And My dad insisted it was about sex. The Jerry Falwell syndrome strikes again! :lol: Whatever they sang is just fine and dandy with me! I never read anything sinister in their lyrics. Naive? Maybe so but they are the greatest as far as I am concerned! And I will never change my mind. Compared to some of the song lyrics of today................. :rolleyes:

Steve M.
04-13-2005, 08:38 PM
Some other interpretations of Beatles songs:

"Can't Buy Me Love" - Some heard it as being about a prostitute. "That's going too far," Paul responded.

"Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" A few people thought the wood was a reference to pot.

"With A Little Help From My Friends" - The help was supposed to be a joint. "I get high with a little help. . . ."

"Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" - You probably know the story by now.

"Fixing A Hole" - Some folks charged it was about a junkie.

"She's Leaving Home" - In America it was said this song was about a girl who discovers she's pregnant, and runs away from home after making an appointment with an abortionist - "the man from the motor trade." As any Brit will tells you, a man from the motor trade is a car salesman. Brian Epstein's friend Terry Doran was the car salesman the song referred to. (Morons!)