Karlin's A Darlin -- But You Knew That

I always like to visit Karlin Lillington's blog, Techno/Culture. She's got an interesting post about George Martin describing the Beatles recording process for Sargent Pepper and she asks the all important question:

Did you have a favourite Beatle? We all had to have one when I was a kid. My cousins and I debated this subject endlessly while listening to worn Beatles LPs on my dad's huge mono record player. I liked George (he always looked kind of quiet and smart, and I liked his moustache and long hair, but I stopped liking him best when he got to that Abbey Road frizzy beard space cadet stage).

Mine was obviously ... come on, you know ... John Lennon. Just too sexy and bad boy for his own good.

And that boy could really sing harmony. Just take a listen to "If I Fell" and John's wonderful pulling weighty voice going bass and south, as Paul went tenor and north. Creates a terrific wrenching tension, that is the epitome of the message of that song and all it's anxiousness. It's as if you can hear him think through the options -- fall for the girl or not -- with the painful fact lingering in the back of his mind, that this could crash and burn like the last time. It takes the most poignant and painful turn in terms of key on the words "LIKE HER" as if we are all plunged into a bittersweet memory of a true love gone wrong and left feeling pretty anxious about the future:

If I trust in you, oh please
Don't run and hide
If I love you too, oh please
Don't hurt my pride like her
'Cause I couldn't stand the pain
And I would be sad if our new love was in vain