Monday, June 4, 2012

For No One

In the vast expanse of YouTube amazingness—from double rainbows to badass George Washington raps to "Don Draper Says What" to this embarassingly awesome "reunion" of Van Halen with David Lee Roth that literally fails as it happens—this is my favorite thing that YouTube has to offer. Hands down.

All it is is one of the greatest love songs ever written by perhaps rock-n-roll's greatest genius, performed in a primitive walk-through years after it was released on Revolver in 1966. Macca literally takes the engineers through this wondrous little song note by note, even simulating Alan Civil's epic french horn solo. It's as if he had just written it—that's how new and fresh it seems.

So much to love here. The way his voice starts a tiny bit rough but then so quickly becomes pitch perfect and, well, Paul-like. His imitation of a french horn.  The way he transitions from the "horn solo" into the final verse without missing a beat. And that stunning moment at 1:38 when, for whatever reason, he chooses to go up on "...when all the things you said will fill your head," hitting it spot-on in what had to have been a spur of the moment decision.

This is two minutes and five seconds of watching an artistic concept become realized, right before our eyes. Maybe it's not as sanguinely satisfying as watching Diamond Dave implode in front of the world, but it's so much more pleasing.

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