As charming as any of Pauls other silly pop songs, the song makes brave and promising use of a dated style to give The Beatles an expanding dynamic and sensibility underneath their rock star images. This blog is a workshop for developing my analyses of The Beatles' music. Written some 10 years prior by a young Paul McCartney, 'When Im Sixty-Four' finally came to life in 1967 - the year Pauls dad turned 64.
There is something to that idea, and I will definitely be coming back to it! While I forced structure on my work life when I first began working from home in 2003. I am going to have to figure this retirement thing out. I wonder about similarities between the Beatles' Middle 8s and Beethoven's developments. Who could ask for more Menu Home About Month: August 2020 Day 9: Mostly Lists but Trigger Warning a Spider Too AugSeptem Dona 3 Comments. Beethoven's chops as a composer shine most clearly in the development sections. This makes me wonder about a parallel between the Beatles and Ludwig van Beethoven. In "When I'm Sixty-Four", however, it is 17 measures long. In fact, the middle 8 is so called because its length is typically 8 measures long. By the time of "When I'm Sixty-Four", then, the middle 8 has developed to the point where it actually contains two separate sub-sections within the larger framework of the middle 8. T his division of the middle 8 is indicative of the increased emphasis on the middle 8 as a structural component observable over the Beatles' development: The middle 8, which originally served as a simple contrast to the verses, has grown in importance. The middle 8s both incorporate two distinct subsections - the first section featuring the lyrics, "Every summer we could rent a cottage." the second, "Grandchildren on your knee.". Formal structure of "When I'm Sixty-Four":Ĭomments: "Sixty-Four" is only the third Beatles track so far to feature a palindromic structure (the other two being "I'll Be Back" and "Strawberry Fields Forever").