A Day In The Life vs. Egbe Mi O (Carry Me I Want To Die)
Friday, February 18, 2011

Here we are.  Just another day in the life of The AfroBeatles, literally.  Today we smash-up John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "A Day In The Life" with Fela Kuti's "Egbe Mio" which means Carry me, I want to die. 

Strangely enough, while working on this. we stumbled upon this entire sub-culture that we had no idea existed.  I told you from the beginning I knew very little about The Beatles before starting this project, but really, do all the fans out there know about this "Paul McCartney is dead" business???   

B, I'm sayin that there is an entire set of people walking this planet who believe that Paul McCartney died in a car-accident in 1966 and that the dude we have been living with all these years is not at all Paul McCartney.  The progenitors of this belief system weave an intense web of British Secret service involvement, assassination, and deception to maintain the cash cow that is the Beatles brand and, as exemplified in www.ispauldead.com, go to extreme lengths to document the extensive evidence supporting this theory.  There is even a flick called Paul McCartney Really Is Dead which supposedly features recordings George Martin made on his deathbed admitting that Paul was indeed killed and that our Paul is this dude Billy Shears.  The cover of SGT. PEPPERS is supposed to have some of the most blatant clues from John, George and Ringo that Paul is no longer with us, along with a backmastered run-out groove on the original vinyl that some interpret as the Beatles saying "Paul Is Dead, Paul Is Dead". The rabbit hole is DEEP on this one folks so decide if you want to take the blue pill or the red pill.  Happy listening!

  • A Day In The Life Vs. Carry Me I Want To Die (Egbe Mio)
    The AfroBeatles
    The AfroBeatles: FELA meets The Boys from Liverpool (The Black & White Album)

    •  A Day In The Life vs. Car... The AfroBeatles The AfroBeatles: FELA mee...



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Valentine's Day The AfroBeatles Way... Can't Buy Me Love
Monday, February 14, 2011

The Beatles never picked up many Grammys on their comeup, but yesterday, they won for best historical album at the 2011 Grammy Awards, just as The Beatles / Cirque Du Soliel "LOVE" album makes its digital release debut exclusively on the iTunes Store. Seems like there is still ALOT of LOVE for The Beatles.  But, when it comes to The Beatles and FELA, however, there is an interesting twist.

According to The Observer's Peter Culshaw:

Paul McCartney found himself in Lagos in August 1972. The plan had been to record a new record - the record that became Band on the Run - at somewhere other than Abbey Road and EMI had offered one of its studios in Rio de Janeiro or Peking. Instead, the former Beatle insisted on the Nigerian capital, picturing himself 'lying on the beach all day doing nothing and recording at night'.

As he drily noted later, 'it didn't turn out quite like that', what with being held up at knife point, the lepers in the streets, the omnipresent military, the corruption and the lack of security. Still, Lagos had its attractions. Chief among these was the chance to check out Fela Ransome-Kuti's band - 'the best band I've ever seen live ... When Fela and his band eventually began to play, after a long, crazy build-up, I just couldn't stop weeping with joy. It was a very moving experience.'

Thrilled by his experience, McCartney thought of recording with some of the musicians. When Fela caught wind of the plan he denounced McCartney from the stage of The Shrine and then arrived unannounced at the studio to berate him for 'stealing black man's music'.

As McCartney said at the time: 'We were gonna use African musicians, but when we were told we were about to pinch the music we thought, "Well, up to you, we'll do it ourselves." Fela thought we were stealing black African music, the Lagos sound. So I had to say, "Do us a favour, Fela, we do OK. We're all right as it is. We sell a couple of records here and there."

Wow... so, Paul McCartney of The Beatles LOVED FELA and FELA showed NO LOVE BACK!!!  

When venturing down the path to do this mashup, I NEVER considered the possibility that Fela Kuti and The Beatles might have crossed paths. About a month ago @thisisjohnbook hit us with this tweet:

"If Fela Kuti did not threaten Paul McCartney in 1973 for suspicions of musical theft, it might have lead to@AfroBeatles afrobeatles.com"
 
I didn't know quite what that meant but it was my first clue that Fela and The Beatles had indeed mixed it up. After stumbling upon Culshaw's article from 2004, I got the full rundown which made working on this project even more precious. We are putting together greats that could have rocked together but didn't.  This experiment shows what might have come from this collabo.  But let's explore why Fela dissed Paul with the smashup of Can't Buy Me Love and Expensive Shit.

"Can't Buy Me".. meaning it's too expensive or priceless.

Thinking about the pairing from a race and colonialism perspective which constantly fueled Fela Kuti's music, i think specifically of the Diamond Industry and how the British, amongst other European nations, have pillaged and exploited the lands, resources and peoples of Africa so literally that the trade is often called Blood Diamonds due to the toll on human life to retrieve the precious stones from African mines and sell them in the World market.  The Beatles and the "British Invasion" were so emblematic of the that White world power, Fela's response is essentially 'i don't care who you are, you can't buy my love.'  The lyrics themselves say it most plainly.  Happy Valentine's Day, The AfroBeatles way.


Can't buy me love, love 
Can't buy me love 
I'll buy you a diamond ring my friend if it makes you feel alright 
I'll get you anything my friend if it makes you feel alright 
'Cause I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love 
I'll give you all I got to give if you say you love me too 
I may not have a lot to give but what I got I'll give to you 
I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love 
Can't buy me love, everybody tells me so 
Can't buy me love, no no no, no 
Say you don't need no diamond ring and I'll be satisfied 
Tell me that you want the kind of thing that money just can't buy 
I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love 

 


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Jules Verne Especiale- The AfroBeatles Octopus's Garden vs. Yellow Submarine vs. Who No Know Go Know
Tuesday, February 08, 2011

The AfroBeatles celebrate the pioneering imagination of Jules Verne and go 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea in their Yellow Submarine to visit an Octopus's Garden in the shade.

The AfroBeatles have maintained a pretty heavy political mood for the last few releases. Today, on Jules Verne's birthday, we take some time to celebrate the fanciful, playful, imaginative vibes of the writer, Fela Kuti, and The Beatles.  


Join us on an epic, "trip" around the world and below it's surface aboard this mash of "Yellow Submarine", "Octopus' Garden" & Fela's "Who No Know Go Know"

 

Music Is The Weapon of The Future

Jules Verne

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jules Gabriel Verne; February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905) was a French author from Brittany who pioneered the science-fiction genre. He is best known for novels such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the third most translated individual author in the world, according to Index Translationum. Some of his books have also been made into films. Verne, along with Hugo Gernsback and H. G. Wells, is often popularly referred to as the "Father of Science Fiction".[1]


Yellow Submarine (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yellow Submarine is a 1968 British animated feature film based on the music of The Beatles. It is also the title for the soundtrack album to the feature film, released as part of the Beatles' music catalogue. The film was directed by animation producer George Dunning, and produced by United Artists (UA) and King Features Syndicate. 


 


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