Let It Be A Tribute

I thank God for the city of Liverpool for 2 reasons – one of them is Liverpool FC. The other, is the most influential musical act of all time. No other artist comes close to replicating the band’s effect of revolutionising the music industry (no, not even MJ). No other pop act could produce songs with such lyrical insight, musical audacity, and longevity. I am talking about John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – The Beatles.

Abbey Road!

While I was just a little kid, I remember my dad bringing home his friends after dinner and they would just congregate in the living room and belt out Beatles tunes on the karaoke set like there’s no tomorrow. I would say that those cheong-k sessions played a huge role in instilling my interest in their songs. I heard that recently contestants on AI covered their songs, but I bet that they completely butchered every single one of them and didn’t do those musical pieces of art any justice at all.

Asking me what my top 10 favourite Beatles tracks is like asking me which Big Apple doughnut flavour is the best – there are just too many of them that I like! Ask me again tomorrow and I’ll probably revise my preferences. The following 10 are some which I really can’t live without:

10. Anna
Better known as “Go to Him”, this one of the band’s first cover songs. Just like another song further down this list, this song was recorded when John had a cold. The blend of the guitar riff during the verse and John’s coarse vocals made the song haunting yet beautiful at the same time. From my childhood memories, this was probably the first Beatles’ song that I’ve heard. The song responsible for my baptism into Beatlemania deserves a spot on this list!

9. Back In The USSR
We sang this song for House Shout during my time at The Leys! Good times! This is The Beatles’ take on a Beach Boys type of song. Apparently Ringo quit the band during the recording session for this song, so Paul is responsible for drums here.

8. Twist and Shout
If John was still around and The Fab Four brought this song up during a gig, I bet all the girls would go ballistic. Okay, make that both guys and girls. John had a cold while this song was recorded and by the end of his session, his voice completely gave up on him from all the shouting. Good on ya, John! If you listen to the song for yourself, you’ll know what I mean.

7. Ticket to Ride
‘60s pop-rock at its very best without sounding corny in any way. Love the electric guitar intro by George which is repeated throughout the verses. John said that the song was a milestone for the band, because it marked a deviation of musical styles from their previous albums.

6. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
LOL don’t give me that look! I like this song, okay? (smiles sheepishly) “OLD, OLD” was heavily influenced by reggae and ska, hence the uplifting vibe that the song gives out. If I could only sing one Beatles’ song in the shower, this would be it.

5. Paperback Writer
Combines a trademark Paul bass-line and some flawless harmonization of vocals. I like.

4. Come Together
The Beatles go psychedelic rock! Take a bass line to die for (how on Earth did Paul come up with such genius?), an interesting drum pattern by Ringo, an extremely high-on-crack John Lennon and what do you get? An amazing song for you to just kick back on a sofa and drink some JD to. I call it a “stoner’s song”. Lyrical nonsense is in abundance throughout the song, but it doesn’t matter. John was high when he wrote the song anyway.

3. Let It Be
The Beatles’ finest ballad. Please shoot yourself if you’ve never heard it before.

2. Taxman
George Harrison’s sole representation on my list – but it’s a very impressive one at that. And since George is singing the lead, Paul takes over George’s duties to play the freaking guitar solo!!! :D Oh and this is another song in which the bass line really stands out. Somehow I could imagine song being featured in the opening credits of a superhero movie.

1. Hey Jude
I know many people will beg to differ, but this is the definitive Beatles song for me. Paul was on fire when he wrote the song, which was originally meant to comfort John Lennon’s son who was distressed over John’s affair with Yoko Ono. The second half of the song features Paul, being the demented Scouser that he was, backed up with a 36-piece orchestra (featuring violins, trombones, trumpets, clarinets, cellos, etc.), singing (or rather sprouting balderdash) us out until the song fades while the rest of the band bursts into an engaging chorus of “na-na-na-na”s. Amazing vocal from Paul. Superb stuff. Five stars. No, make that ten.

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Honorary mentions go out to Help!, With A Little Help From My Friends, Daytripper, Eleanor Rigby, Revolution, We Can Work It Out, Here Comes The Sun. There are just too many good songs! And since I’m only familiar with their mainstream material, I bet that they also have other gems which I have yet to discover. I suggest that you try to give them a listen on IMEEM.

Disagree with my list? Then feel free to share with me your favourite tracks by the Fab Four J

Political Tsunami

Today (March 8th) was the day of the 12th General Elections of Malaysia. But I'm sure you knew that, unless you:
a) Are not Malaysian
b) Are Malaysian but a social recluse, therefore disconnecting yourself from all external affairs and live a self-dug pit
c) Are Samy Vellu and probably wished that the events today never happened at all

As my father relayed some updates to me over Skype, there was one result which made my heart practically skip a beat. There was a sudden pang of excitement, sheer joy and surprise within me, but within a short timeframe of a few minutes, that excitement started to ebb away, replaced by a sudden dawn of realisation of the consequences that would be brought about by the outcome which my father had announced to me:

"The oppposition has taken Selangor".

My immediate reaction was to spit out whatever was in my mouth at that time (I think it was Nescafe). "Serious ah?" were the only two words that came to mind. I was in a state of euphoria because I am all for change. I've always wanted more opposition voices in the parliament for "check and balance" purposes. That's why I've been following been following DAP ceramahs online (especially Tony Pua) and I was very excited with how the opposition represantatives have managed to garner sizeable support through their speeches. My mom told me that in their speeches, they wanted to carry out their revolution by "sweeping out" the incumbents. I guess the public took it a little too literally and allowed opposition candidates to wipe the floor with their opponents. But while I want a stronger opposition presence in the government, I didn't forsee them actually seizing control of the state. The state in which I grew up in! Really didn't see this coming. I wonder what kind of impact that would have on businesses, investments and developments within the state and the important commercial hubs like PJU.

Key incidents:

• DAP tarpau BN in Penang. Hammered. Swept away a-la-tsunami. Aggressive campaigning strategies in the island state paid off massively. Chief minister and Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon loses.
  
• Tony Pua (Oxford PPE grad of DAP) topples two-term incumbent Chew Mei Fun (MCA) in PJ Utara
• Nurul Izzah of PKR stages an upset over Shahrizat (UMNO) despite late scare of 14 uncounted ballot boxes (expect her to make way for Anwar in the next by-election)
• Samy Vellu (MIC) ousted after more than 2 decades in office (Happy birthday, btw!)
• PAS claims Kedah and retains Kelantan.
• Najib wins in Pekan by a whopping 26k majority while PM Abdullah Badawi scrapes home
  
• Blogger Jeff Ooi wins in Jelutong.
• UMNO's Khairy Jamaluddin wins in Rembau despite reports of the contrary
  
• Selangor falls with the opposition winning 35 out of 56 seats (breakdown: DAP 15, PKR 11, PAS 9)
• Perak also falls with the opposition claiming the major towns in the Kinta Valley
  
• Parliamentary seats as of 5.30 a.m. (219 of 222 confirmed): BN - 137; PKR - 31; DAP - 28; PAS - 23 meaning Barisan Nasional has been denied two-thirds majority.

What would all this mean?

It appears that the main losers are MIC with many of their senior members tasting defeat. However we actually have more Indians being represented in parliament now, except that they're mainly coming from the opposition. The Indian community never needed MIC to help them in the first place!

Keadilan is now the largest opposition party and should Anwar win the by-election after his ban in politics has been lifted, he would be the parliamentary opposition leader. PKR may have the lowest number of state seats, but they account for more seats in parliament. They will lead Selangor while DAP would head Perak and Penang whilst PAS grabs Kedah and Kelantan.

Oh yeah, should PJians stop using the term "opposition" to describe DAP and Keadilan? Now they are effectively just different political parties working together as a ruling coalition. Hmmmmm this would definitely need some getting used to....

OK. Time to be realistic. I've been scouring the net to see what people think of the election results, and what I've found is that people are rejoicing everywhere, and rightly so! (me included, to a certain extent). But while I'm somewhat happy with the inroads that the opposition have made, I think it should also be accompanied with a degree of caution and apprehension. After all, to all my friends who are living in PJ - have you ever lived under opposition rule before? How certain are you that they were not making any empty promises during their ceramahs?And now that city councils MPPJ, MPSJ etc. are under the opposition for the first time, it's going to take time to create synergy between them and the new state government... so there's going to be a lot of boo-boos in the system during the interim period, and what if they can't be ironed out? My conclusion is, happy as we might be that there's a breath of fresh air, we need to evaluate the opposition's performance within the next 5 years to see if they're right for us and whether they can take us forward. Sorta like a probation period for the long term. They've gotta prove themselves to us.

Long day, huh? I'll be praying for stability and prosperity for the nation under the new federal government.

P.S. Malaysian live TV coverage of the polling results was abysmal.