Ummmm..bit of a stretch, don’t ya think?
Say what?
I seem to recall that part of the theme of that song was combining a number of different things that he had read in the newspaper, and one of the things he had read was about a survey of the number of potholes in the streets of Blackburn, London. The result was 4,000 potholes.
I may not be exactly right but its something like that.
Nope. It was based on a news report of a certain amount of holes in Blackburn, Lancashire. Lennon found it amusing that someone had counted the holes. All of Lennon’s verses in that song are based on real events. The Guinness heir killed in a car wreck was the man who “blew his mind out in a car”, and “English Amy had just won the war” is a reference to a film Lennon appeared in called “How I Won the War”.
The beginning of this song was based on two stories John Lennon read in the Daily Mail newspaper: Guinness heir Tara Browne dying when he smashed his lotus into a parked van, and an article in the UK Daily Express in early 1967 which told of how the Blackburn Roads Surveyor had counted 4000 holes in the roads of Blackburn and commented that the volume of material needed to fill them in was enough to fill the Albert Hall. Lennon took some liberties with the Tara Browne story - he changed it so he “Blew his mind out in the car.”
John Lennon stated this regarding the article about Tara Browne: “I didn’t copy the accident. Tara didn’t blow his mind out. But it was in my mind when I was writing that verse.” At the time, Paul didn’t realize the reference was to Tara. He thought it was about a “stoned politician.” The article regarding the “4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire” was taken from the UK Daily Express, January 17, 1967 in a column called “Far And Near.”
John’s friend Terry Doran was the one who completed John’s line “Now they know how many holes it takes to fill...” Terry told him “fill the Albert Hall, John.”
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=129
I believe he was referring to arms with holes in them, i.e. from shooting drugs with needles. I.e. needle holes.
Thus, “4000 holes” are 4000 thousand people - which I believe is the capacity of the Albert Hall.
If you are actually serious, this might be the biggest stretch I've ever seen of the Beatles' lyrics. It is epic.
No further entries for Idiotic Vanity Post of the Day will be accepted.
Reminds me of a 1966 interview with McCartney where an idiot (there’s that term again) reporter kept badgering him about hidden meanings in songs.
After repeatedly telling the reporter that “they were just lyrics” an exasperated Paul asked the reporter if he really believed the Beatles lived in a yellow submarine.
The next time you consider posting a vanity, don’t.
Absurd.
My first thought was "Mick Jagger in a Beatles video?" (I admit there was some "this idiot doesn't know the difference between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones" in that thought - sorry.) I did my due diligence and clicked the link, and lo and behold: "with guests including Mick Jagger and Keith Richards."
I was surprised - the video was really good. When was it put together? If it was actually edited and created back in the day, it's way ahead of its time, but I suspect the video is a recent creation. It has a very 2017 feel to it - a lot of techniques that are popular today. It's still a great song - I'd be interested to know how much the orchestra concept was inspired by the Moody Blues "Days of Future Past".
I didn't think Jagger looked old, he has just always been ugly.
“This verse of the song always perplexed me, could have John Lennon meant by “rather small” holes, bullet holes to fill the Albert Hall?”
You’ll find the answer in psychedelics.
Yeah. And I killed John Lennon with mindbeams while in port at Yokosuka.
Acoustic tiles have holes in them.
That’s what I assumed the lyrics were about.
Another LSD inspired song.
If this theory is correct it can mean only one thing:Donald Trump is the walrus!
That part of the song was based on news headlines Lennon had read (another section of the song was written by McCartney, the “get out of bed, drag a comb across my head” part). The part about “4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire” was from an actual news headline in the UK Daily Express in 1967 about a Blackburn roads surveyor counting potholes and commenting that the amount of material needed to fill them all in would “fill the Royal Albert Hall”.
Holes to fill seats, if ye take my meanin’.