The Beatles: Note By Note

On this episode of our Beatles podcast, you are going to lose assumptions you had about this Help! era song. Joined by Cameron from NationSquid and FeedYourHead, we dig deep and try to uncover the essence of this song. As usually, we talk about the songwriting, the recording process and how it was released. But we also dive into adjacent topics such as American cinema and the tech world. Do yourse...

In this Beatles lecture series, Kenyon analyzes the lyrics and music for Paul McCartney's Another Girl. Underneath a fun blues jam, a sinister story starts to emerge. And while the song may seem like another one of Paul's work songs for the movie, Paul experiments with the melody's phrasing and the song's form. The middle 8 is one of the most fascinating of the early Beatles middle 8s, and we brea...

On this episode of our Beatles podcast, we cover another song, Another Girl. For the first time in a while, it's just Kenyon and Peter alone together, so things get loose pretty quickly. We come into the episode talking about a minor Paul song, but by the end, we talk about the major pivot point that this song represents. It's insightful and it's a little chaotic. What we cover: -Unconventional so...

In this Beatles lecture series, Kenyon begins by focusing on the word "need." We follow the story from George's devotion to his heartbreak and devastation. From there, the music takes over and the volume-pedal guitar motif takes center stage. The music and lyrics are working together and tell us more of the story than the song seems to say at first. Website: https://www.notebynoteseries.com Patreo...

On this episode of our Beatles podcast, "small" George Harrison song becomes bigger once everyone brings their own meaning to it. This episode, we are joined by the hosts of The Inner Light Podcast, Sophie and Harry. Since this is only our second Harrison track, we got to dig deeper into George’s distinct voice, and why he fits so perfectly into the space John and Paul leave open as songwriters an...

In this Beatles lecture series, Kenyon looks at John Lennon's beautiful ballad, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. We take a look at the lyrics and how John avoids locking into one specific meaning without really feeling vague. On the music side, we talk about the compound meter, how the harmony is a product of the guitar voices, and how the melody tells us what kind of lyric this is. Website: htt...

On this episode of our Beatles podcast, we are joined by guest Andrew Shakespeare to discuss one of the most intimate John Lennon songs so far. From there, we attempt to break down how it was written, how it was recorded, and what it could mean to us. Our track by track trip through Help! continues to give us surprises. We cover: -The Dylan comparisons -Pete Shotton's visit to the studio -Johnnie...

In this Beatles lecture series, Kenyon breaks down the lyrics and music of The Night Before. The song feels immediate, but the lyrics keep shifting under your feet. We look at the craft of Paul’s phrasing, showing how short, telegram-like lines stretch and change once the music takes over. Musically, the episode follows the song through blues color, a warped doo-wop progression, flat-seven chords,...

On this episode of our Beatles podcast, we really put this song up to the test. Growing up, Peter felt that this might be one of the greatest Beatles songs, but does he still feel that way today? Together, with our guest Rob Collier (Beatles Bass Lines), we dive deep into the song and see what is going on beneath the surface. By the end, we settle the score and decide where this song lands in the...

On this episode of our Beatles podcast, we are joined by our special guest and film correspondant, Stephen Ptacek along with another super-special surprise guest. The episode is long and loose but the conversation is engaging about one the weirdest, most interesting and complicated Beatles projects. We take on the film’s bigger questions, move through it scene by scene, dig into behind-the-scenes...

In this Beatles Lecture Series, Kenyon shows how I’m Down is doing several jobs at once: answering the emotional weight of the A-side, giving Paul a sharper and more frustrated voice, and building the whole song out of contradictions, call-and-response, and release. It makes you hear it not as throwaway chaos, but as a carefully placed Beatles move that is funny, tense, and explosive for very spec...

This Beatles Lecture Series episode makes the case that “Help!” is not just a blunt cry for rescue but one of John’s sharpest balancing acts, pairing some of his plainest words with music that keeps shifting underneath them. Once you hear that tug between stillness and motion, the song stops sounding merely direct and starts feeling brilliantly constructed. Website: https://www.notebynoteseries.co...

In this Beatles podcast, we are joined by bass player Erik McIntyre to discuss the B-side of the Help! single. Written on the back of a telegram, this song was conjured up as a replacement for Little Richard's Long Tall Sally in The Beatles' set list. In the conversation, we dive into the history of the song and, with Erik's help, explore why this song was necessary in the Beatles catalog at this...

This Beatles podcast episode attempts to get at why Help feels so relatable even after all these years. We are joined by songwriter Jeremy Ivey and open up the song as a John Lennon turning point, a George Harrison guitar showcase, and a surprisingly strange bit of Beatles detective work. We cover: -George Harrison’s lead guitar part, the chromatic descent, and the countrified feel of the playing...

In this Beatles Lecture Series episode, Kenyon argues that “That Means a Lot” is one of Paul McCartney’s strangest songs, sounding deeply like Paul and strangely unlike him at the same time as an apparently simple love song turns anxious, vulnerable, and hard to pin down. It makes you hear the song less as a minor castoff and more as a fascinating anomaly, where emotional need, uncertainty, and re...

In this Beatles podcast episode, Mary Devlin joins us for a songwriter’s conversation about That Means a Lot, one of the more interesting Beatles deep cuts. As usual, there is more here than meets the eye, and we have a sharp discussion about songwriting, social media, and Beauty and the Beast. We cover: -How That Means a Lot could be Paul's response to Ticket to Ride -Is there a number of chords...

On this episode of our Beatles podcast, we take a song Peter barely knew and turn it into one of the most spirited conversations in the series. On Bad Boy, Note by Note brings in Jesse Pollack from All You Need Is Pod to talk about this iconic track, one of the last of its kind. We cover: -Larry Williams’ original versus the Beatles version and what changed in the arrangement -John Lennon’s vocal...

In this Beatles Lecture Series, “Yes It Is” stops sounding like a simple warning about a color and starts sounding like grief masked as control, with the lecture arguing the real “it” is pride and the performance carries a ghost-like weight. You also get a guided listen through the three-part harmony, why it feels unusually crunchy and a little unstable, how it shifts between tight clusters and ba...

This Beatles Lecture Series argues that Ticket to Ride is built on contradictions: the words keep flipping between heartbreak and irritation while the track itself feels bright enough to sound like a shrug. Once you hear how “not caring” can read like a mask instead of confidence, you’ll stop taking the song’s attitude at face value. Website: https://www.notebynoteseries.com Patreon: https://www.p...

On this Beatles podcast, Note by Note goes deep on Yes It Is and why it lands like a private confession. We explore the emotional core, the craft behind the recording, and how this B-side fits into the bigger "cry for help" thread. We cover: -Storytime: Peter and Kenyon band history and origin story -Comparisons: Yes It Is next to This Boy and the A-side Ticket To Ride -Recording details: how the...

Season 2 kicks off with Ticket To Ride on this Beatles podcast, and it turns into one of those conversations where the song keeps getting bigger the longer you sit with it. We jump through personal memories, the emotional push and pull of a happy-sad track, the feel of that unforgettable guitar line, and a few surprising detours that shed more light on this song's role in the Beatles canon. We cov...

A Beatles podcast where a “throwaway” closer turns into a full-on investigation with Dan Rivkin, the guy who went second-by-second through the Get Back Nagra tapes. If you’ve ever skipped “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby,” this episode is a serious attempt to make you hear why it matters. We cover: - Dan Rivkin’s Nagra-tape method and why it changed Get Back study - Beatles for Sale’s closer, Geo...

This week on our Beatles podcast, we bring in a fourth voice and it gets delightfully nerdy fast. Guest Raymond Schillinger from You Can’t Unhear This joins us to re-hear “What You’re Doing” like it is hiding in plain sight. We cover: - Why “What You’re Doing” feels like a throwaway song - The song’s girl group fingerprints in the call and response vocals - The bass fill at the end, maybe the firs...

In this Beatles Lecture Series episode, Kenyon argues that “What You’re Doing” is less a breakup complaint than a song about powerlessness, where the core question is not why it hurts, but what is even being done to you. You will start hearing how the lyric framing, the repeated phrasing, and even the band’s stylistic choices work together to make that confusion feel like the point. Website: https...

In this Beatles podcast episode, we argue “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” only works because every Beatle leaves a crucial fingerprint. With special guest Dr. Terry Hamblin, we hear the song as a full-band fusion, not just a “John song.” We cover: - Songwriting origins on the 1964 North American tour and the country western frame - The September 29, 1964 session and the nine takes vs nineteen ta...