'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite' - John Lennon, 1967 - arranged, extra-composed, and performed by Daniel Mantey - Music All Sorts; organ, hurdy-gurdy, pennywhislte, bass viol, folk-guitar, and accoustic bass-guitar. John was so John. George Martin was reminding him of the VERY quickly aproaching deadline for songs for 'Sgt. Pepper' and John was just so John, he just used things around the house, and turned them into songs. Very good thing John WAS a genius (though he was mad as well), as he wrote some very good songs that week-end! A circus poster from 1849 was hanging on his wall, and that became the theme for 'Mr. Kite!' (That's a copy of it in the vidoe!) ACTUALLY, most of the words are NOT from the poster, but based on it. Won't go into details, but for instance, only one Mr. Henderson, who didn't dance or sing, no band, and so they didn't start at ten to 6:00, and the horse's name was Zanthus, and he didn't waltz.... But great words and a very fun song. In 1967, I was a mid-teen, very into circuses, saw them all the time on TV and at the Big-Tops, and really enjoyed John doing a Circus-advert song. My favorite acts were aways the tumblers and jumpers, as was Mr. Kite! The final full song itself, other than the melody, chords (?) and words was largely the work of Sir George Martin, in the studio. John did his vocals, and maybe a simple organ part (?) and left, asking George to make the rest sound like a 'bunch of hurdy-gurdys!' Well, John was refering to the barrel-organ hgs, and not the stringed instrument hg, but that was my cue to get started. I arranged an organ part (?) into a hurdy-gurdy part, did Paul's bass line on bass viol, and wrote a flute part to fill out the texture. My goal was to create a small street-busker ensemble that might have advertised the up-coming circus at the Market, or wherever in town (Rochdale): a singer, flute, hurdy-gurdy, cello (I would use a viol), and small field-organ (small foot-pumped ones used in armies, etc.). And I began recording. I also wanted a more focused ending, as George Martin's ending used cut-up calliope tape bits randomly taped back together (John's requested hurdy-gurdys!); I needed some real notes. So I wrote a sonata-like ending for the piece, reverting back to the 3/4 of Henry's waltz, and aimed to give the piece an almost Mendelsohn/Brahms like feel to it? But my flute part was a bit to athletic for my old wooden (key-less) flute, and so that part got transfered to the organ, and a full organ part came forth. It still could be played on a field-organ, but would keep the player very busy indeed. My version was coming along, but needed something more. As I was practicing the vocal part, I would accompany myself on guitar, to help with pitches, and I sort of accidentally arranged a very nice, very 19th-century sounding guitar part. That got recorded. I added the bass-guitar to fill out the bottom, and then listened to the Anthology takes to see if there were any surprises, and YES, THERE WAS! John was being John. During the waltz (which is in 3/4!) he started humming his part from the earlier 4/4 section against is, and it sounds just so fantastic! I cannot believe they did not do that for the album!?! So, in my busker's group, the singer happens to have his pennywhistle in his pocket, and plays along when he is not singing, in imitaion of John's humming! And recorded the vocals (that's me!), done. Please imagine that the recording (1849?) was done at the Rochdale city church, as a final dress rehearsal, before the buskers took to the streets? They might have even done it at the morning service as an advert for the concert, as (I am making this up) two of the church members were the amature tight-rope walkers that joined Mr. Kite that evening for his first tight-rope walk of the season (THAT IS on the poster!) Hmmm, might add more as I think of it, need to go cook dinner... Enjoy! - p.s. Listened to this last night, and darn, the low-fi just doesn't sound as good as I wish. This sounds so amazing on the CD...I will get MP3s available ASAP!, Hang in there... D
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Big Daddy - Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite! (1992)by ticktock70689 views
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