Help!

Serving as the title song for the 1965 film and soundtrack album, 'Help!' was written by John Lennon (but credited as Lennon - McCartney).
In an interview with Playboy, Lennon stated that "[He] was fat and depressed and [he] was crying out for help" (Spitz, 2005, p. 555) which inspired the lyrics such as 'Help me if you can, I'm feeling down'
Originally meant to be at a slower tempo which Lennon intended it to be, it was made more upbeat to make it more commercial.

The song featured:

• Lennon on a twelve stringed rhythm guitar while providing lead vocals (double tracked as he always did)
• McCartney on bass guitar and providing backing vocals
• Harrison on lead guitar and providing backing vocals
• Starr on drums and tambourine

'Help!' went to number one on both the UK and US charts in late summer of '65 and was the fourth of six number one singles in a row on the American charts: 'I Feel Fine', 'Eight Days A Week', 'Ticket To Ride', 'Help!', 'Yesterday', 'We Can Work It Out' (Wallgren, 1982, pp. 38-45).

With all that in mind, I recently learned how to use  Pro Tools which is a bit like Audacity however it is more professionally used in recording studios. Like with anything new, it looked complicated however like most things, the hands on approach works wonders. It soon became apparent that it's not a difficult program to use and it was simple to correct a mistake when made.

Learning how to use Pro Tools gave me the perfect opportunity to try and create something, and what would be better than the song the song I've been analysing.

Finding the chords for the song was easy to do (http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/b/beatles/help_crd.htm) and to do the chords on piano was relatively straight forward, seeing as I'm stranger to it. 

First, I started off with using a piano sound (up the octave) and recording that, then adding on another layer down the octave. Then from there, adding on a 12 string rhythm guitar and bass.

At that point, I decided to be creative in the way I was playing each 'instrument' to make it different and also, I added on same male 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' to try and input harmonies. From there, I would have inputted actual vocals of the lyrics however I felt that from where it was, it was a good starting point.

The 1960s In Film (And Music's Influence)

The 1960s was the decade where free love and counterculture emerged meaning movies could be more graphic and lest 'prim and proper' as opposed to it's predecessors. This new found sense of freedom gave directors a chance to spread their wings and movies that people had never experienced before came onto the big screen. 

Psycho
Released: 1960

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Although not deemed as a good movie by critics when the movie first came out, public consensus meant that critics re-reviewed with TIME magazine  switching it’s opinion from "Hitchcock bears down too heavily in this one” (TIME, 1960) to "superlative" and "masterly”

Bernard Herrmann wrote the score with the movie even thought at first, Hitchcock did not want any music in the movie although later remarking "33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music”(Smith 1991, p. 241)

Perhaps one of the most iconic sounds originates from this film with the violin, viola and cellos in the shower scene, simply called “The Murder”.

The sound of the knife entering the flesh was the sound of stabbing a melon (which is what they do even now, for example, for Doctor Who)

Breakfast At Tiffany's

Released: 1961

Director: Blake Edwards

‘Moon River’ – Henry Mancini & Johnny Mercer

“The song was tailored to Hepburn's limited vocal range, based on songs she had performed in 1957's Funny Face” (Spoto, 2006, p. 204 – 205)

"Moon River" is sobbed by a plaintive harmonica, repeated by strings, hummed and then sung by the chorus, finally resolved with the harmonica again.” (TIME, 1962)

The Sound Of Music

Released: 1965

Director: Robert Wise

Music and lyrics written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II respectively, based on the book by the same name by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse (based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers”, 1949)

Popular songs:

‘The Sound of Music’ (Ranked tenth in the American Film Institutes list of the 100 Greatest songs in Movie History)

‘My Favourite Things’ (Skoda Fabia advert featuring the car made out of cake. Also covered on many Christmas albums from Rod Stewart to Kelly Clarkson and even by the cast of Glee) 

‘Edelweiss’ (During the 1970s in the US, the song became a popular tune to sing the blessings to in some Christian churches)

‘So Long, Farwell’ (Natwest advert)

It's easy to see how how music has been so pivotal in the film industry even going back 55 years ago with the shower scene from Psycho. If Hitchcock had his way, that scene would've been silent and the movie would not have been as memorable as it is now. With the use of the music in the final cut however, it's clear that music has and will always have a great impact on the way we watch films

The Swingin' Sixties

Previous to the 60's, music in the UK (and even the US) was tame. It consisted of simple songs, all about love and happiness and that was it. There wasn't any experimenting in terms of music, because that's how it was.

Come the 60's, there was a huge rush of new genres of music that excited the nation. Gone were the days of singing about love, and in were the lyrics of drugs, sex and rock & roll. 

Amongst the chaos and the free love of the 60s (and sticking it to the man), many new artists emerged that have greatly shaped and influenced the music scene as it now is. Artists like The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin, to name a few, have continued to inspire people into thinking free. (For example, Bob Dylan is one of Ed Sheeran's main inspiration because of his ability to let the lyrics speak for themselves, in protest to the current social unrest at that time).

Genres

Rock - The Beatles (started off) / Rolling Stones

Hard Rock - Led Zeppelin / Jimmy Hendrix

Bubblegum Rock - The Monkees / Archies

Psychadelic Rock - Pink Floyd / 13th Floor Elevators

Folk Songs - Bob Dylan (both plugged and unplugged)

Soul - Otis Redding / Aretha Franklin

Motown -  The Supremes / Stevie Wonder

Surf Music - The Beach Boys

As you can see, the 60s introduced many new genres of music that was influenced from 50s genres (Jazz, Rock & Roll, R&B, Blues).

The new technology in the 60's also meant that new things could be done with music that had never been done before. Reverb was a heavy feature in psychedelic music as was distortion to create the 'free vibe' of that genre. Double track / multitrack taping was also prominent and meant that the sound could be recorded on both then one was slightly offset creating a 'warmer' sound (which is what John Lennon always did, as he didn't like the sound of his own voice). 

One of the bands that emerged in the 60's and were part of the British Invasion (were British musicians travelled to America to take them by storm), were The Kinks. Fronted by lead singer Ray Davies in London, they started the same time as The Rolling Stones which they shared common music styles from their 'heavy guitar riff based sound' from the Stones to their 'popular melodic style and a willingness to experiment' from The Beatles (Hurry, 2001, p. 160). Their single 'All Day and All of the Night' reached number 2 in the UK charts in 1964 and was their second major hit (with their first being 'You Really Got Me').

The simplicity in the song is the minimalistic guitar riff that is played right from the beginning, making it memorable, even if the words are not remembered. Coupled with the simple chorus (repeated twice with an almost jazz styled impressed guitar solo as a bridge), it is clear why the song became so popular.

In terms of the of lyrics and the singing, Davies almost speak sings (coupled with distortion), with a very small vocal range (only three pitches) and even in the harmonies, they're parallel, meaning they move in parallel with the melody, not so difficult in terms of music. Although a danger of making the song too tedious if too long, it works well for the song which spans 2:23 minutes.