Hail to thee, Alan W. Pollack!

More than 20 years ago, the distinguished American musicologist Alan W. Pollack began analyzing in-depth every single Beatles song (both originals and covers). It took him ten years to finish the project, which is posted here.

Many Beatles scholars have examined the Beatles' music, but none have done as exhaustive a job as Pollack. A few years ago, I spent several months reading Pollack's Notes. As a guitar player and bassist, I particularly appreciate Pollack's outlining of chord structures; but he's also aware of the non-musical, dramatic dimensions of some Beatles' performances, as in the conclusion to his discussion of "You're Going to Lose that Girl":

In the "Help!" film the Beatles appear as though performing this song live in the studio. The scene, for all its absurd, staged surreality — (Paul alternately playing bass guitar and sitting a grand piano, and Ringo alternately behind the drum kit or sitting on the floor with the bongos) — it provides a delightful fantasy of what the real recording sessions might have been like. The tobacco companies must have also like this scene. Ringo is shown drumming with a cigarette precariously clenched in his teeth. And we get a long close-up of Paul and George facing each other, hunched on opposite sides of a single microphone in order tightly execute the backing vocals. The scene is filmed with back lighting such that you can see the rhythmic thrust of their sung syllables punctuate like skywriting the generally smokey haze that builds up as the scene progresses. It's the kind of thing that looks cool enough to persuade a person of a certain mindset to want to start smoking as soon as possible, even if the thought has never before occurred to that person. So much for not particularly subliminal persuasion.

And here's the scene:



I agree--the Beatles even make smoking look cool.