Instructions:
1. Play the first video.
2. Read while you listen (also it keeps your eyes averted from the sad picture montage).
3. Listen to how the song ends (the vid is accurate to the album version). Skip to the end when you start playing it, if you want to save time.
4. Pray for a quick end to your meager existence.
5. Play the second video, paying attention to the end of the tune.
So Lucy and I are just sitting around today, listening to Abbey Road. I've gotta say it's my favorite Beatles album. My favorite song on it is "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".
Yes I know the period is outside of the quotation marks. It's my blog.
The way the song ends is what really attracts me. I've got to admit, I never noticed how heavy that song is until I heard the Type O Negative cover, contained within their song "Day Tripper (Medley)". So I'm basically asking you to watch both of these videos till the very end. They're both like over seven minutes long, so I apologize for that.
But it's my blog and you'll play by my rules.
It took a band from my time, whose style I really appreciate, to make me appreciate more a band from my parents' time. The Beatles were already in my tape player as a teenager, but I didn't really understand how cool they are until I got a little older.
With the TON version, you get a medley of The Beatles' songs "Day Tripper", "If I Needed Someone" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". I really like the IWY(SSH) part, because they only cover the very end of the song. The coolest part! What a great idea. The ending to the song is what's most important; what gives the song most of its character.
I can do without blues. I mean, blues is cool sometimes, and IWY(SSH) is pretty bluesy until it goes into the She's So Heavy parts, which are more dirge-y and rocking and slow and methodical and bitter. Fucking sweet. Give me the negativity, Lennon. I love that guitar line along with the bass line. Starr pulls off some pretty sweet drumming there, too.
The song itself seems to be a sort of smashing together of two songs--I Want You, and She's So Heavy. Maybe we should call them 'parts' instead of 'songs.' They must not have been complete enough on their own for Lennon, so he combined them into a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
When I heard that Type O Negative cover for the first time, I knew I was in love. It's probably my favorite cover of all time. They don't bother paying attention to the whole song, just the best part of it. Brilliant! I was unfamiliar with the Beatles' version at that time, so this was my first exposure to it. I though they were saying "Heaven" instead of "heavy" at first. It made the "she's so.." parts make less sense, but I liked thinking that those three voices all screaming "HEAVEEEEEEN" in perfect minor harmony was really cool.
I love the way TON slow every verse down, and I love the distorted bass and guitar playing together, and the keyboards playing the rhythm guitar part from the original. It's a beautiful moment for all music.
RIP Peter. I miss you.
There are enough people missing John and George. I don't need to. Peter was my one true gothic doom metal love.
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