It’s Only Love – The Beatles

My Dad suggested doing this song and I made it happen. “It’s Only Love” comes from The Beatles album Help! which got played around my house a lot when I was a kid. To say McCartney/Lennon songwriting was a big influence on me is an understatement. I think it’s been an influence not only as a songwriter, but as a singer too. I’m always trying to make a memorable melody for the vocal when I write a song. There isn’t one Beatles song that I can think of that isn’t recognizable and hummable. My Dad says that no matter what else is going on in popular musc, be it image, trend shifts, and popularity contests, it always comes back to the songs. He feels lucky to have been a part of an era of so much growth in the world of rock ‘n’ roll and the golden age of radio. He was also happy that I was born on October 9th, which happens to be John Lennon’s birthday too… For years I cranked “Birthday” from the White Album every morning on October 9th.

So for the song I didn’t want to copy the original recording too much, ’cause Beatles music is uber classic. I kept the vocal and guitar parts the same, but put a drum machine beat with a different bass line and it ended up morphing into some kind of lounge/calypso thing. This might make someone puke. But I had fun doing it and there’s no end to the amount of gunk that you can put up on the internet anyway. I think the real question here is: if John Lennon were still alive, would he have a blog???

Best, Peter – ACA