You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)

My mother has a teaching partner in her science class named Tony.  Tony loved this radio station out of Brookfield, 106.9, that played soft jazz.  Last week, it stopped playing soft jazz.  The company that owns the radio station decided to switch to a different format.  The funny thing is they didn't pick another format. So, for three days that I'm aware of, they've played the Beatles catalog from A to Z, probably in a package kept behind a glass case at all Clear Channel stations in case of an emergency.  There is no disc jockey commenting on the program or any commercials.  When they get to the end of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," they play "A Day in the Life."  It's never ending loop while someone in an office somewhere gets around to choosing a new genre for 106.9.  All they know is that they don't want soft jazz.  Meanwhile, they're losing money on the station.  The songs aren't free.  They have to pay a half cent to Michael Jackson's estate or something for every song they play and there are no commercials.

"You.  You know.  You know my name.  You.  You know.  You know my name.  Look up the number."

I don't remember ever hearing that song before today, but I just found it on my iPod too.  Another one I never paid much attention to before the last few days was: "For red is the color that my baby wore, and what's more, it's true.  Yes it is.  Yes it is.  Oh, yes it is!"  Dumb lyrics but a real emotive song.

"They took some honey from a tree, dressed it up and they called it 'me.'"

"Free as a Bird" was played, because it was released as a Beatles song, but it sounds like a solo Lennon song from the seventies crossed with a Harrison song from the eighties, and its not that great either.  I wonder why they did it.  They just missed old times, I guess.  Probably they weren't hurting financially.  Poor McCarthy's lost three writing partners and a wife.  He is maybe the weirdest of the four.  Lennon pulled them forward and he tugged them back.  Did old timey music: Rocky Racoon, Honey Pie, Maxwell's Silver Hammer.  He was a genius but his heart was tied to old lost modes of expression, which I can empathize with.  Maybe he felt out of place in the modern world, which is strange since he helped define the modern world before he even turned 30.

"Born a poor young country boy: mother nature's son."

Starkey, not appreciated as much.  I went on the Magical Mystery Tour in Liverpool.  Lennon's old house is a national preserved monument.  So is McCarthey's.  George's has a plaque on it.  Ringo's is condemned.  No shit.  They didn't even pull the bus up to it.  They parked at the corner and pointed down the road and said "It's ninth one down on the left."  Really.  But he was the most charismatic of the four, had a lot of heart, it seems.  Probably still does.  I didn't know "Act Naturally" was a cover until today.

"It's so easy for a girl like you to lie.  Tell me why."

Paul's my favorite but I think I'm most like John.  He's moody, arrogant, seems to struggle more for greatness than the other three, who just kind of eased into it.  In interviews, he's real quick to dismiss any number of his songs as garbage and I don't think it's humility.  He was rarely satisfied and I think he really wanted to be satisfied.  You, you know, you know my name...  Look up the number.  Why don't we just do it in the road?

Don't have much to say about George.  He was cool and all, but he brought the sitar into the group, which annoys me a lot.

I know I should call you but I know what you would do.  You'd say I'm putting you on, but it's no joke.  It's doing me harm.

Fucking Quarryman.  They telepath their 60's thoughts to me still.