#Middle Period

[beatleshistoryblog]

LECTURE 15: THE BARDS OF POP: These are the original handwritten lyrics – jotted down by Paul McCartney – for what has been called his most “profound” and “mysterious” song: “Eleanor Rigby.” Journalist Hunter Davies, who interviewed the Beatles numerous times in the 1960s, wrote a story about the making of the song for the Sunday Times of London, which appeared on September 18, 1966. Davies asked McCartney about the describe the experience of writing the song. McCartney responded: “I was sitting at the piano when I thought of it. Just like Jimmy Durante. The first few bars just came to me. And I got this name in my head – Daisy Hawkins, picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been. I don’t know why…. I was in Bristol when I decided Daisy Hawkins wasn’t a good name. I walked round looking at the shops and I saw the name Rigby. You got that? Quick pan to Bristol. I can just see this all as a Hollywood musical.” Even though McCartney wrote much of “Eleanor Rigby,” the song was also a collaborative effort. Hunter Davies explains: “It was Ringo who suggested he was darning his socks. George came up with the line all the lonely people. Paul was then stuck for an ending, and [John Lennon’s childhood friend] Pete [Shotton] says that it was he who first suggested the two characters should be brought together: Eleanor, the lonely spinster, and Father McKenzie, the sad priest.” The resulting song is not only widely regarded as one of the greatest Beatles songs of all time, its haunting poetic content has been studied extensively by scholars and music historians. “Eleanor Rigby” is also one of many Beatles songs that represents a sharp break from the Early Period and a distinct shift into the band’s more experimental Middle Period. Incidentally, the lyrics above are housed at an archive at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

A murder mystery film set in a medieval village. After an outbreak of plague, the villagers make the decision to shut their borders so as to protect the disease from spreading (see the real life case of the village of Eyam). As the disease decimates the population, however, some bodies start showing up that very obviously were not killed by plague.

Since nobody has been in or out since the outbreak began, the killer has to be somebody in the local community.

The village constable (who is essentially just Some Guy, because being a medieval constable was a bit like getting jury duty, if jury duty gave you the power to arrest people) struggles to investigate the crime without exposing himself to the disease, and to maintain order as the plague-stricken villagers begin to turn on each other.

The killer strikes repeatedly, seemingly taking advantage of the empty streets and forced isolation to strike without witnesses. As with any other murder mystery, the audience is given exactly the same information to solve the crime as the detective.

Except, that is, whenever another character is killed, at which point we cut to the present day where said character's remains are being carefully examined by a team of modern archaeologists and historians who are also trying to figure out why so many of the people in this plague-pit died from blunt force trauma.

The archaeologists and historians, btw, are real experts who haven't been allowed to read the script. The filmmakers just give them a model of the victim's remains, along with some artefacts, and they have to treat it like a real case and give their real opinion on how they think this person died.

We then cut back to the past, where the constable is trying to do the same thing. Unlike the archaeologists, he doesn't have the advantage of modern tech and medical knowledge to examine the body, but he does have a more complete crime scene (since certain clues obviously wouldn't survive to be dug up in the modern day) and personal knowledge from having probably known the victim.

The audience then gets a more complete picture than either group, and an insight into both the strengths and limits of modern archaeology, explaining what we can and can't learn from studying a person's remains.

At the end of the film, after the killer is revealed and the main plot is resolved, we then get to see the archaeologists get shown the actual scenes where their 'victims' were killed, so they can see how well their conclusions match up with what 'really' happened.

[mangozic]

archivist be upon ye

[lionofchaeronea]

Hellelil and Hildebrand (The Meeting on the Turret Stairs), Frederic William Burton, 1864

[kaninchen-reblogs]

I think this is the funniest fucking notifications I've ever gotten in Morrowind.

[tempo-takoyaki]

Happy April Fool's Day!

[memories-of-ancients]

Silver disc brooch with blue glass, Frankish, 7th century

from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[moonyackertarg]

behind every hot girl there is a deep history of obsessing over a particular time period or historical figure

[zivazivc]

when you pass a payphone and you decide to stop and call your brother to ask what's up, and you learn that in the couple of weeks since you've last heard from him you've become an uncle

[insert image of les sitting on the ground in front of the payphone after putting down the handset, bawling like a baby]

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

political opinion: fingers should have more joints

[not-with-you-but-of-you]

Forgive me, Jess, please know that I tried To hold on to the days When you were mine

— requested by @emmafallsinlove

[beatleshistoryblog]

BEATLES MUSIC BREAK: With all the heavy-duty talk in Lecture 16 about the dreaded “More Popular Than Jesus” controversy and the many other dark episodes of 1966, we could definitely use a Beatles music break in History 207! Here is one of the most beloved singles from the Beatles’ Middle Period, “Paperback Writer,” a song attributed to Lennon–McCartney, but written primarily by Paul McCartney. The song ticks off all the boxes of a classic Middle Period Beatles tune: the “dirty” sounding guitar lick (as John described it), a heavy bass line that matched up beautifully with Ringo’s emphasis on bass drum, great harmonizing vocals, and groovy lyrics about a person aspiring to become a “paperback writer.” Released as the band’s eleventh single in May 1966, the song skyrocketed to the #1 spot in multiple countries, including Canada, the United States, and the UK. And it was the first non-love song to enjoy that distinction, a sign of the changing times. The promotional film for “Paperback Writer,” posted here, was filmed at the palatial Chiswick House in West London. Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who later directed the Beatles documentary Let It Be (1970), helmed this promotional film, shooting it in breathtaking colour. It’s a delight to watch!

[recycledmoviecostumes]

This gorgeous ombré chiffon evening gown first made an appearance in the 1997 film Titanic. It was worn by an extra walking in a first-class corridor shortly after the ship hit the iceberg.

The dress makes a surprising appearance in Season 5, Episode 11 of Malcolm in the Middle, in 2004. Kristina Hayes briefly wore it as Julia, an actress hired for a dinner theater show.

You can see the full dress in all its glory on the Fox Costumes and Wardrobe Rental Website.

Costume Credit: Bmiranda97

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[aquitainequeen]

Because I am on the rack of my own hormones, I'm fairly sure Tolkien never considered the matter and I've always been curious about this:

[lionofchaeronea]

The Two Crowns, Frank Dicksee, 1900

[echoes-in-echoclan]

This is MY comic and I say Auburn forgives him

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