take a sad song & make it better

So, here are my top ten all-time favorite Beatles songs. Please contain your excitement! Calm down, really. I only went in depth with the top five though. Enjoy! Go listen to all of these asap. I'm not kidding...

10. "I Saw Her Standing There", on Please Please Me
9. "Hey Jude", on Past Masters 1 & 2
8. "Blackbird", on The Beatles (White Album)
7. "Let it Be", on Let it Be
6. "Yesterday", on Help!

5. "Eleanor Rigby", on Revolver

“All the lonely people, where do they all come from. All the lonely people, where do they all belong.”

Alright, this song is semi-depressing. Hello, it’s talking about loneliness. It’s awesome though! Only timing in at a little of two minutes, it may be one of the shortest songs the Beatles ever wrote, but it is certainly not one of the least impacting. Fun fact- none of the four played any instruments on this tune. And while Lennon and Harrison contributed to the harmonies of the song, the song only consisted of a double string quartet. It is often described as a “lament for lonely people” or a “commentary on post-war life in Britain”. “Eleanor Rigby” was a breakthrough song for the Beatles on their Revolver album, from pop tunes to more experimental songs. 

4. "All You Need is Love", on Magical Mystery Tour

“There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known. Nothing you can see, that isn’t shown. Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be. It’s easy. All you need is love.”

If you were to ask a group of people to name a couple of Beatles songs, at the top of their head, odds are this song would be one of them. This song is one of the best known and most recognized Beatles songs out there. The Fab Four deliver a powerful message, in such a simple song. Because if we think about it, in all reality, the only thing we really need in this life is love. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE. Say we had to get rid of everything we had. What would still be there? Love. Yes, yes, yes. “All You Need is Love” was first performed on Our World, the first global television link. John Lennon was all about making slogans to send a message to the world, such as “Give peace a chance” and “Power to the people” and this song was no different. Lennon wrote it to send this message to the world, that all you need is love.

3. "A Day in the Life", on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

"And somebody spoke and I went into a dream..."

If a single Beatles song could simply be described as epic, this would be the one. This song tore down so many barriers from their other songs, and was so different than the others. This was another song included in the psychedelic rock genre of the times, that helped define the genre all together. One of the most interesting things about this song is that it included a full forty piece orchestra. The musical score for the orchestra was compiled of twenty four bars. At the start and throughout the orchestra part, the musicians were asked to play the lowest not possible, and at the end, they were asked to play the highest. The result coming from this was “mad”, for this was how the musicians felt about it. At the end of the orchestral crescendo, the chord that ringed out was one of the most famous chords ever played in a song, and rings outs for good amount of time, which in my opinion, ended one of the best songs in all of history.

2.  "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", on The Beatles (White Album)

“In every mistake, we must surely be learning.”

Words can barely express how much I love love love this song. I wouldn’t call it a ballad, but it is far from an ordinary Beatles tune. The guitar parts, along with Ringo’s drumming, the excellent harmonies, and the introductory piano part, makes this song not only one of my all-time Beatles’ songs but one of my favorite songs ever, out of everything. The song was written by George Harrison, and fun fact: Eric Clapton was featured on it, on lead guitar. George Harrison said he opened a random book and began to write the song. Here is what he said about it: "I wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at my mother's house in Warrington. I was thinking about the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Changes... The Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be, and that there's no such thing as coincidence - every little item that's going down has a purpose.

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was a simple study based on that theory. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book - as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw 'gently weeps', then laid the book down again and started the song."

...and the moment you've been waiting for. 

1. "Strawberry Fields Forever", on Magical Mystery Tour

“Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.”

Shocker? It is to some people that have asked me. They just knew it would be “I Am the Walrus” because they consider that the most trippy Beatles song, and that might be true, but when it comes to trippy Beatles tunes, this one takes the cake. Are the trippy songs the ones that most people pay attention to? Probably. Is that why I picked this song to be my favorite Beatles song of all-time? No way. I have multiple, upon multiple reasons for choosing this song. Strawberry Fields Forever is more than just a Beatles classic. It represents everything that the Beatles were to me. I don’t think a band has or will ever evolve like the Beatles did in their years of music. Strawberry Fields Forever is a prime example of how their music and lives developed over their years together. 

This song was groundbreaking for music and is regarded as one of the finest works of the psychedelic rock genre that evolved in the 60’s. It was written by John Lennon, and inspired by memories of him playing in the garden of a Salvation Army house, that was named “Strawberry Field”, near his home in Liverpool. Interesting instruments used in the song included the mellotron, which is a polyphonic keyboard/piano, that McCartney played the intro with, and also ends with the fading of a guitar, cello, and swarmandal. The swarmandal is an Indian harp. This was also used in “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”, “Within You Without You”, and several other timeless classics. George Harrison, lead guitar player, began experiencing with Middle Eastern music at some point, and soon started to incorporating it into the Beatles’ songs. 

There you have it! I'm sure this changed your life. Enjoy!  :)

you are always good

Hmm...so when is the last time I blogged? Over a month ago. Sad, I know. Don't judge me. You don't know the busy life of Taylor Hamm. After I typed that I realized that I've been on break for the past month, therefore I really wasn't busy at all. Oh well, I was just too lazy to blog then. The truth comes out... But since we're being honest, I've really become attached to my journals the past few months, more than I've usually been, and that's probably the main reason for me being lame and not writing blogs as much I used to! So, with great sadness, I will gladly say boo on myself. Shame shame shame. Anywho, now onto my life, because I hope that is what you magnificent followers have come here to read about. Yeah, I'm awesome. Don't remind me all the time. Sheesh.

Christmas break-
I have three words to perfectly describe it.
1. relaxing
2. rejuvenating
3. interesting/flippin awesome

I feel no shame, due to the fact that two out of those three mainly refer to sleep/rest. Why? Because that is what I did a big part of the time I spent at home. The last three or four weeks, heck, the last couple of months of fall semester were so exhausting. Between marching band, lack of sleep, and studying like crazy to make it through rock class, I was ready to sleep for a week straight after finals. Being at home for a little over three weeks was great. Good times with family and old friends. By the way, it's odd referring to high school friends as old friends now. Just saying. From hanging out at Mama Sue's, getting smoothies with the smoothie club, and having lunch dates with folks to catch up, break was incredible! Those countless hours spent at Koinonia with one of the most amazing people ever weren't too bad either... :)

My favorite part of break? Having some good quality time with God. It had been absolutely forever since I actually just sat down, relaxed, and dug into the Word, without any distractions at all. It was amazing to be able to do that every day for three weeks. By doing this, it really rejuvenated me in different ways. I'm pretty sure that I grew majorly in my relationship with Him during the time at home. I found my self praying more and more, researching every little thing I found interesting in Scripture, and  I was so focused on Him, and because of this, when I returned to Mobile, I remained focused and continued to have that time with Him every day, when the past semester I had been neglecting that.

Ask anyone this, what do I hate? Reading books. I've never liked it. Yeah, I know, strange, considering my mom has bookcases upon bookcases of books that she reads like crazy. Should be in my genes to read alot, right? Not. Anyways, I decided that over the break, I would actually try reading a couple of books, to possibly break my habit of hating to read. My goal of reading two books over the course of three weeks, turned into me reading four books, and two more books within the first couple of weeks of school. Can you believe it? Yeah, me either. Anyone would probably say that the process of shopping for books to read is an easy one. Hello, just pick books that interest you. Duh. I'll buy books, no problem with that. But borrowing them is a pleasant option as well. Did God know which books I was going to read? No doubt. I'm fairly certain that He told me which ones to read/borrow/buy. Why? The books I have read so far have challenged me more than you can imagine. If a book could possibly stick out a hand to slap you and wake you up, then all of the books I have read would have most definitely done that. They have been just what I've needed.

What books did I read? Why thank you for asking!
1. Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis
2. Revolution in World Missions, by KP Yohannan
3. The Power of Persistence: Breakthroughs in Your Prayer Life, by Michael Catt
4. The Vertical Self, by Mark Sayers
5. Forgotten God, by Francis Chan
6. Peppermint Filled Pinatas, by Eric Michael Bryant
and currently reading Jesus Manifesto, by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola
GOOD STUFF! You must read all of these. Kthanks.

So, now spring semester has commenced. I feel legit taking some communication classes. Yeahhh! I look forward to what opportunities God has for me and everyone else the next few months! Oh and did I mention that I will be going to Haiti in May? Yep. True story.  :)