Four Fab Posts

Woo hoo! The entries are starting to flow in for this month's group writing project Please Please Me in which I invite you to write posts inspired by Beatles song titles or Beatles song lyrics.

B.J.Porter who writes the blog Sail Evenstar about his exploits on a 1997 Hallberg-Rassy 53 is, like many other sailors at this time of the year, up to his neck in boat maintenance. A lot of his projects are almost done; all he has to do to finish them is... You get the idea? So his post is titled All I've Got to Do, not one of the best known Beatles songs. In the UK it was on their second album, With the Beatles and according to one source was "the first time in rock and roll or rock music where the bass player plays chords as a vital part of the song." I didn't know that.

The incomparable O Docker has gone one better than writing a post inspired by a Beatles song; he has written a whole parody of a Beatles song Sailing Blog Writer which is loosely based on the Beatles 1966 hit single Paperback Writer. O Docker's post is a sad tale about a frustrated sailor and blog writer who isn't able to find time for either of those two passions because of his job. I don't know how he thinks up these incredible stories! Apparently Paperback Writer was the first UK Beatles single that was not a love song. I didn't know that but it must be true because I read it on the Internet.

From a guy who doesn't have enough time to be a sailing blog writer to a guy who has way too much time on his hands to write utter nonsense on his so-called sailing blog. This time he has come up with Follow the Sun which seems to be about flowers rather than sailing. Sigh! I'll Follow the Sun was on the 1964 Beatles for Sale album, but was actually written many years before. It's something of a cult favorite. A version recorded in 1960 can be found on the bootleg record You Might As Well Call Us The Quarrymen. I bet you didn't know that but it must be true because I read it on the Internet.

And while I am here I might as well draw your attention to another Beatles related post from my own archives. Like O Docker's entry above it's actually a parody of a Beatles song. The Ballad of Tillerman - Oh No! is a sad sad tale of my blunders while racing in the 2006 Newport Regatta. It was based, of course, on The Ballad of John and Yoko which was was the Beatles’ 17th and final UK number one single and was recorded without George and Ringo. I didn't know that but it must be true... etc. etc etc.

Let's hope these examples inspire others to enter this group writing project. If enough people enter there might even be a prize. It might even be worth having. Full details of how to enter at Please Please Me.