{"id":63,"date":"2024-12-02T16:56:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T16:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/?p=63"},"modified":"2025-07-14T12:18:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T12:18:39","slug":"195-slow-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/195-slow-down\/","title":{"rendered":"195: Slow Down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I have a lot of affection for this song which was one of the many Beatles covers we used to do when I was in a band at school.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-beatles-card-song-info\"><div class=\"beatles-card-content\"><div class=\"bible-section\"><div class=\"source-heading\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-content\/plugins\/beatles-card\/src\/icons\/BeatlesBibleApple.svg\" alt=\"Beatles Bible\" class=\"source-icon\"><span>The Beatles Bible<\/span><\/div><div class=\"bible-text\"><p class=\"bible-paragraph\">First appearing on The Beatles\u2019 Long Tall Sally EP, \u2018Slow Down\u2019 was a cover version of Larry Williams\u2019 1958 song, and was originally the b-side to his hit single \u2018Dizzy Miss Lizzy\u2019.<\/p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beatlesbible.com\/wp\/media\/usa_slow_down-580x574.jpg\" alt=\"Slow Down single artwork - USA\" title=\"Slow Down single artwork \u2013 USA\" class=\"bible-thumbnail\" width=\"200\" height=\"auto\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beatlesbible.com\/songs\/slow-down\/\" class=\"continue-reading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Continue reading on Beatles Bible \u2192<\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"wiki-section\"><div class=\"source-heading\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-content\/plugins\/beatles-card\/src\/icons\/WikipediaLogo.svg\" alt=\"Wikipedia\" class=\"source-icon\"><span>Wikipedia<\/span><\/div><div class=\"wiki-text\"><div class=\"wiki-excerpt\">&quot;Slow Down&quot; is a rock and roll song written and performed by Larry Williams. Recorded in 1957, AllMusic writer Stewart Mason describes it as &quot;raucous enough to be punk rock\nnearly a full two decades before the concept was even in existence.&quot;[1] Speci&#8230;<\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Slow_Down_(Larry_Williams_song)#The_Beatles_rendition\" class=\"continue-reading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Continue reading on Wikipedia \u2192<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>I like the way the band stops to emphasize the last line of the verse and the beginning of the chorus. I always love a bit of silence in a pop\/rock song!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I like Lennon&#8217;s double tracked vocal with all the whoops and howls.<br>I think the rock n&#8217; roll piano gives the track a boost too. In my memory it was even better (and maybe you need mono to hear it properly in the mix). Apparently George Martin played it.<br>The lead guitar is a bit hit and miss. It&#8217;s considerably better on the BBC version (although that doesn&#8217;t have piano).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Slow Down (Live At The BBC For &quot;Pop Go The Beatles&quot; \/ 20th August, 1963)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Nx0-wjpGu3Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I hadn&#8217;t ever listened to the Larry Williams original until today. I liked it &#8211; an old school rock n&#8217; roll sound, but I think the Beatles, and especially Lennon&#8217;s approach to the vocal really added a new kind of energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"228\" src=\"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-1024x228.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-64\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-1024x228.png 1024w, https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-300x67.png 300w, https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-768x171.png 768w, https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image-1536x343.png 1536w, https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image.png 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is my favourite bit: the rapid melisma* under the word &#8220;fast&#8221;**. I can&#8217;t read music myself and I don&#8217;t know how accurate it is, but this is a really distinctive and bluesy run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my mind this song sits alongside You Can&#8217;t Do That, another cover we used to do, which I like for similar reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>*<\/summary>\n<p class=\"is-style-default\">I didn&#8217;t know this technical term for a run of notes within a single syllable, but I learned it from Andrew Hickey&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/500songs.com\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/500songs.com\/\">History of Rock Music in 500 Songs<\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>**<\/summary>\n<p class=\"is-style-default\">The clip of the score is taken from The Complete Beatles Scores &#8211; a fantastic book. I got my copy when (I think) it was unavailable in England and I think it cost me the best part of \u00a3100. Certainly it has $69.95 printed on it. I don&#8217;t regret it and I bought a copy for my brother, too. If you want to take print music recommendations from someone who can&#8217;t read music, of course!<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have a lot of affection for this song which was one of the many Beatles covers we used to do when I was in a band at school. I like the way the band stops to emphasize the last line of the verse and the beginning of the chorus. I always love a bit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19,30],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-song-a-day","tag-cover","tag-ep-track"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227,"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions\/227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}