Tuesday, August 12, 2008

one trick pony: day tripper

How to Tune Your Guitar

Step One: Ask yourself: Is my faith in the Beatles (by faith in the Beatles I mean faith in their tuning) complete, total and unshakable? (Answer: Yes, before 1966)

Step Two: Put on this song.



It is pretty hard to find a video of them lipsynching that song in which they don't look kinda bored and resentful. Sorry dudes. Tyra Banks wasn't around yet to teach them how to smile with their eyes.

Step Three: Tune your E string to the first note of this song. Tune the rest of your guitar off of it. You will only be a little flat if you do it right.

"Day Tripper" was the first song I ever learned to play on the guitar. My dad always sang it "Gay Stripper". "Took me so long to find out" gains new meaning in that iteration. Apparently the lyric "she's a big teaser" was originally "she's a prick teaser" (no my dad did not tell me that ergo it is probably true). It bums me out hard that the Beatles had to censor themselves. I would love to hear them sing about dick. Paul McCartney has also said shit in interviews about "Day Tripper" being about drugs, esp his own reluctance to try LSD. Sort of a weird conflation of narratives, eh? Some dick hole in my favorite scholarly resource thinks the girl in "Day Tripper" is the same girl as in "Norwegian Wood". I don't know man. They got all kinds of girls. If I was the Beatles, I'd be handing out single servings, if you know what I mean. Hit it and quit it. One song and I kick you to the curb.

1 comment:

'stina said...

GAAAAAAAAAAY STRIPPER