My husband tells me that it came back at about 10am EST.

I don’t know what to say about that except that I really, really wish that Road Runner had an actual competitor in the area.  It was extremely important to me to make it all the way through the Blogathon this year.  I was going to make it all the way through the Blogathon this year.  But.  Well . . .

In any case, the total pledges for SAFER have come to a whopping $601.59, which is $100 over goal, and almost $150 more than what I raised last year.  Of course, some of those pledges were hourly, so it’s up to those sponsors whether they end up donating the amount they would have if I’d been able to make it the full 24 hours, though obviously that would be very nice.  (For the record, I was able to complete 20 hours.)

No matter what, I’m awed, thrilled, and humbled by the generosity.  So thank you so much to the 26 of you who acted as sponsors.  And thank you to all of those who kept me company in the comments and on Twitter while I was still here.  That certainly helped a lot.

I have no idea what the fuck I was thinking.

Probably, I was thinking that it was on Beatles For Sale, which is largely crap as an entity, and that I’d only listened to it in passing. In any case, while not exactly a pop music masterpiece, this song isn’t just catchy, it’s also quite good. I mean, you can only get so catchy before it just has to be good and there’s no possible other explanation. Paul pulls out some excellent vocals, that guitar lick is as infectious as hell, there’s two or three hooks here, and those opening drums? Damn. Filler it may have been, but it’s some fucking good filler.

Also, George is not getting nearly enough love. And George totally deserves the love. I mean, listen to this shit. He is fucking awesome.

p.s. When you remember that the Beatles were actually being charged over 90% of their income, George sounds a lot less like a Republican. That helps.

So you know the theory.  But now you ask yourself: IS IT TRUE?

Let us examine the facts.

Supporting Paul being dead:

• Throughout his life, Paul McCartney did not always look exactly the same.  COINCIDENCE???
• Paul McCartney still, to this very day, does not look exactly as he did in 1965.
• On the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, if you place a mirror on the bass drum in the middle of LONELY HEARTS, it says, “1 ONE 1 X HE () DIE.”  I think we all know what that means.
• This one time, he totally wore a black carnation
• And then, this other time, he was barefoot.
• Oh, and also, John Lennon sang, “the walrus was Paul.”  As we all know, all walruses are dead.  (We’ll therefore discuss how John Lennon was really dead at the time of recording next!)
• In A Day In The Life, John sings about a man who blew his mind out in a car.  Could it really just be happenstance that Lennon wrote those lyrics years before the details of Paul’s death came to light??? How would he have known how Paul died unless it actually happened?
• At the end of Strawberry Fields Forever, John says “cranberry sauce,” widely known to be the dish that Paul McCartney always wanted to have served at his wake.
• If you play Revolution 9 backwards, it sounds really fucked up, man.
• “Paul” was once quoted as saying “so, right after I replaced the real Paul, you know, when he died, I mean, uh . . . hey, what’s that over there?  Wanna hear me sing Yesterday?”

Opposing Paul being dead:

• Paul McCartney is still the same person he was 45 years ago, and is alive.*

IS PAUL REALLY DEAD?  YOU DECIDE.

*And in the enormously tiny chance that he wasn’t, dude. They found a guy who looks like Paul, walks like Paul, talks like Paul, sounds like Paul, sings like Paul, plays bass like Paul, has all of the same mannerisms as Paul, is a total dork like Paul, and writes brilliant fucking songs like Paul, and then convinced people that he really was Paul for 40 years. Shut the fuck up. They earned that shit.

It’s incredibly entertaining to watch the individual Beatles. Unfortunately the video here isn’t clear enough to make out facial expressions very well, but that just frees you up to watch their dance moves. Paul is obviously giving this his 100% best effort and taking it really seriously while trying to look like he’s having a great time. George is totally cruising, and still probably dancing the best out of all of them. John is simply fucking around (you particularly tell when you can see the enormous, cheesy grin on his face). And Ringo . . . well, poor Ringo is just failing all over the place.

Funnily enough, when you can see facial expressions, George looks fairly miserable and pissed off at Paul for making him do it — and yet, in the Anthology, he remarks on this scene and said that he particularly enjoyed doing it. That George, you could never quite pin him down. Though, of course, saying he enjoyed the scene could’ve also just been another instance of his dry humor. Who knows.

Also? Paul is dead. You can tell by the fact that he’s wearing a black carnation. As you undoubtedly know, you can only wear a black carnation if you are a dude who has taken over the life of another very famous dude who is actually dead, all in an incredibly elaborate ruse to fool the fans of the world’s most famous band. FACT.

Well, I think the song that most people probably believe to be the most inspirational and which probably speaks to the most generations is Hey Jude.  But for me, personally, Let It Be wins by a landslide.

I’m not even going to get into my reasons at the moment. It’s much too late in the night to open that can of worms. I will just say that there are exceedingly few songs that have ever made me cry just by hearing them. This is one of them. I will also say that a lot of people think that Hey Jude is Paul’s masterpiece. Others will argue Yesterday. This is generally seen as conventional wisdom, I find.

But no, Let It Be. Let It Be is Paul’s most shining moment. It’s beautiful. It is a masterpiece. It is absolute fucking perfection.

First up, the first Beatle to Beatle tribute ever written, George Harrison’s song for John Lennon, All Those Years Ago. It’s a great song, includes lots of Beatles references, is unbelievably sweet, and perhaps best of all, features musical contributions from Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.

Next up, the most recent Beatle to Beatle tribute, Ringo Starr’s song for George Harrison, Never Without You. Admittedly, it’s not a musical masterpiece, but it’s a lovely and heartfelt tribute. Especially so knowing how close George and Ringo were throughout their lives.

And lastly, Paul McCartney’s song for John Lennon. My husband thinks that it’s sappy. While I’m rarely one to defend Paul against charges of sappiness (I’m usually the one laying them), I think it’s beautiful. You can listen to the album version here. But I’m posting this live version below, because it is one of the most touching things I’ve ever seen. Twenty-five years after John’s death, Paul Fucking McCartney is so overcome with emotion that he’s almost rendered unable to sing. Really, it’s incredibly moving.

It’s not going to win any awards for best Beatles song, but it’s catchy, John puts in a good effort on the vocal, George pulls off a nice little guitar solo, and how many Beatles songs have cowbell? (No, really, how many? I think it’s just this one, but I’ve never, you know, actually thought about it before.)

Really, though, it has a special little place in my heart for a different reason. The first time I heard this song — because again, it’s a fairly obscure track — it wasn’t the Beatles version. Cover, you ask? Yeah, kind of.

I first heard the song by watching this video, of Ringo Starr performing this song to John Lennon, at a show marking the 10th anniversary of his death.

Spot Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty performing with him?

In any case, it’s of course not nearly as good as the Beatles version. But it is one of the sweetest damn things I’ve ever seen and made me tear up the first time I saw it. Ringo may pull the grouchy thing every now and then, but he’s a total sweetheart.

(Thanks to Hubbit, who has been entertaining me on Twitter, for the post inspiration!)

Lots of people who follow me various places will know that I love this song, and that I love this video, because, well . . . I talk about it all the time! Ha.

In any case, I call it one of the best Beatles songs, the best Lennon/McCartney collaboration, and just all around awesome. The video is just pure joy, with John and Paul having a grand old time together. Every time John makes Paul laugh (or John makes himself laugh), I can’t help but crack a grin, too. Also, Paul totally earns his “cute Beatle” status here.

You know who else I’m sure is a pretty big fan of this song/video? My good friend Frau Sally Benz! (She also loves the Hello Goodbye video, in case you were wondering.) Sally is busy participating in the Blogathon, too, over at her place Jump Off The Bridge. So while I’m probably getting this up too late for anyone other than her to read it, if you are reading it, go pay her a visit, hmm? Also, while I’ve met my pledge goal (yay!), she’s still looking for sponsors for her organization READ. Check them out, and if you’ve got a few bucks, I hope you’ll drop them her way.

This song originally started out slower, at a waltz tempo. It was changed for the sole reason that John thought — and I quote from where he messed up and ended the take — “it’s too hard to sing!” And I guess that at that pace, the “I thought that you would realize . . .” part would indeed be rather difficult. In any case, rather than work at the vocal to get it right, the Beatles being Beatles just decided to make the song easier to sing by speeding it up, and had it sounding great the next take (though I think it took them a couple more to perfect it. Sorry folks, I’m not pulling out the Mark Lewisohn book to check.)

Having heard both the original attempt (it’s on the Anthology) and the final version, I enjoy both but like the official release better. It’s more Beatle-y.