Amanda Happens To The Beatles - liner note

Q: What the hell is this? A: Amanda Michelina's new arrangements of the Beatles songbook. To use the lingo of academic music, this is an HIP album that uses a mixture of ancient and modern sound recording techniques to emulate the sound of the 1960's. Historically Inspired Performance is much easier when dealing with the man himself. - Q: Did Sir Paul really write a bunch of old show tunes? A: Yes. That's where he started. McCartney/Martin refers to Hugh Martin, not George Martin.

Paul was already writing hits in his teens, much like Taylor Swift.

He sold Hugh Martin some songs.

Frank Loesser was one of his mentors. Paul founded MTI with him.

High Spirits was when he was older. It was a collaboration.

Ruth Crawshaw studied with George Martin.

The song is a joke about my grandfather, Adrian Crawshaw.

Yes, John Lennon really co-wrote Johanna with Victor Garber. - Q: Why are these arrangements so queer?

A: I've been exposing the queerness of The Beatles at Sir Paul's behest.

He didn't want to go to his grave without telling people.

Paul was a transvestite in the 1960's. John was bisexual.

George was ace. Ringo was pansexual.  - Q: Why did you get to do it? A: Because Sir Paul was a fan of mine. Love Can Change The Stars is the song that set all the modern Beatlemania going. I did it at Wellington Classical Guitar Society, and Jane gave Paul an earful about it. Didn't know it was his song! I liked Hugh Martin's songs. Anyway, the puzzled reaction was the inspiration for Yesterday. I'd done Yesterday and Eight Days A Week for the hīkoi movie in 2024. Those were guitar and voice renditions. Sir Paul and Sir Peter knew I'd done a rhythm and voice track of Help! in 2023, so I took their inclusion of the song in the new Anthology as a challenge to overdub myself. This Boy had also caught my ear, but I felt like doing an arrangement rather than a cover. Then Paul got me on acid and let me in on his secret: he overdubbed most of the tracks! In the first album, entire tracks are just Paul doing his McCartney I, II, III thing. Do You Want To Know A Secret was one of those, so I gave it a go and he liked it. Based on that first effort, he asked me to write a draft screenplay for him. I made most of these to get into character while writing Beatles Invade New Zealand! Once it became clear that the album had legs, people gave me a laundry list of requests. Yoko told me that it was inspiring: a recording session which cost thousands of pounds in the 1960's could now be done by one person in their bedroom with a laptop. The point of the album is to put you in the living room of John, Paul, George or Ringo as they work out a new song or play an old one for a party. Other people can tell you all the hidden details about the songs: my job was to get in the groove and bring them to life! A lot of people have noticed the Māori and Pasifika tinges in the arrangements... Those weren't always intentional. It's just how it sounds when I do the songs. Mick Jagger said in an interview that you need to know the blues to do rock. That's what I knew about. - Q: Did you really marry him? A: It was a business decision to protect Imagine. Taylor made the same offer. Great guy, but we weren't like that. He didn't trust his immediate family. Jane is his one of his bastards, so I was whānau enough to protect his money. Most of it is going into secure deposits. Imagine has a centuries-long mission. - Tips: Sir Paul said that the overdubbed vocals shouldn't always match perfectly. Uneven vocals sound more like different voices. Watchin' U has deliberately uneven entries. My electric guitar effect is just my classical guitar shifted up an octave. The bass is my classical guitar shifted down an octave. Found percussion is the term for what I'm doing with the drums. I wanted something more like bluegrass than rock. That idea had been around since my first album, Younger Than Springtime. Didn't have the guts to do it back then. My previous Happens To albums show me mastering the skills to do this one. It's better to make solid rhythm and voice tracks before overdubbing yourself.