This past Saturday, November 22, marked a special day for music fans. It was the 40th Anniversary of the release of The Beatles (more commonly known as The White Album). To try and commemorate and honor this album, which some argue is The Beatles’ greatest achievement, we put out a call to student bands and musicians all across College Park and the University of Maryland to cover these songs – in their own style. What we got was something pretty cool. Some of these takes stay on track with the fab four, while others turn kind of folksy… there’s even some heavy metal in there.

Anyway, this is our tribute to The Beatles’ White Album and you can have it for free!!! Settle down, settle down, you can listen to the songs and find the downloads below, after which, each artist explains their particular song selections.

DOWNLOADS:
01 Polaris One – “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
02 Biowhaque – “Helter Skelter”
03 Sunshine Fun – “Long, Long, Long”
04 The Humblebees – “Cry Baby Cry”
05 The Humblebees – “Long, Long, Long”
06 David King – “While My Beat Gently Weeps”

The following are some words from the artists explaining their song selections and expressing the meaning behind them…

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by Polaris One
“Usually music that starts in a minor key tend to have a great appeal to us due to the amount of emotions which can be evoked and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” starts in a minor key then changes it to a major key. These changes are very interesting and our cover was to follow the same chord progression and similar melody as the original.”
-Jonathan Lee of Polaris One

“Helter Skelter” by Biowhaque
“We admit that we’re not huge Beatles fans, but Helter Skelter is a pretty cool tune and we thought we could make it our own. We really like the droning guitar part in the song, so we tuned way down and emphasized it. The spastic little lead parts throughout the song were also cool. The vocals were kind of tough to do; we couldn’t sing it because that isn’t our style. They came out alright though. Overall we had a good time doing this and we hope you enjoy it. Be our friend at www.myspace.com/biowhaque!”
-Joey Mallonee of Biowhaque

“Long, Long, Long” by Sunshine Fun
“Perhaps because of how understated the recording is, “Long, Long, Long” is still one of the most unappreciated songs the Beatles ever wrote. We tried to bring the song out a bit more while remaining true to its spirit. Hope you enjoy it!”
-Paul Zimand of Sunshine Fun

“Cry Baby Cry” by The Humblebees
“I first heard this song on one of the Anthology albums.  I don’t know what about it stuck with me, but it became one of my favorites.  It was even cooler on the White album, with layered bass lines and effect-laden guitar.  We first attempted a ¾-time drum and distortion heavy version, but it somehow morphed into a swinging folk song with gospel and bluegrass-y harmonies.  We had a great time experimenting with this song, especially the end.”
-Meg Ruddick of The Humblebees

“Long, Long, Long” by The Humblebees
“Whenever I listened to the White album, I was always struck by this song and how quickly it came and went.  I enjoyed it while listening to it, but I could never remember it afterwards.  When I was choosing a song to play, this immediately came to mind.  I wanted to take the opportunity to get to know it since I was so unfamiliar with it.  I really love how it turned out; we tried to keep the abruptness and mystery of the song intact.  But, now of course I can’t get it out of my head.”
-Meg Ruddick of The Humblebees

“While My Beat Gently Weeps” by David King
“While I’m fascinated with “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”, “Julia” (and the much-maligned “Goodnight”), I found an old studio session with an string arrangement I did for ”..Gently Weeps” and decided to update it. It’s really ‘variations on a theme’ - I can’t decide how much of it is ironic; I think the bridge is sincere. Either way, it contrasts genres that are normally best apart (60’s rock, orchestral, and today’s “urban radio”). My emphasis is on the transition between sections and how they mix. My other challenge was to compensate for my lack of a Clapton solo”
-David King is a UMD marketing graduate (‘07) turned composer

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I hope you all enjoy this tribute. It’s amazing to see The Beatles influence on a new generation of people 40 years later; but that’s not the best part – keep checking back because we’ve got more tribute songs coming your way!

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