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The use of the number 20 by the Beatles
14 November 2013
4.42am
Callum
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While I was Listening to the anthology I started to notice the number 20 was popping up a lot, especially considering how little other numbers are used in Beatles songs. After a quick peep this is what I found so far with the number 20 relating to Beatles lyrics…

 

Desmond takes a trolley to the jewellers stores
Buys a twenty carat golden ring (Golden ring?)
Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door
And as he gives it to her she begins to sing (Sing)

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

 

it was twenty years ago today,
Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play
They’ve been going in and out of style
But they’re guaranteed to raise a smile
So may I introduce to you
The act you’ve known for all these years
Sgt. Pepper ‘s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper ‘s Lonely Hearts Club Band

 

Let me tell you how it will be,
There’s one for you, nineteen for me

Taxman

 

On the original takes of “A Day In The Life ” Paul counts to 20 during the section where  the orchestra was latter added.

 

Well I got a girl with a record machine,
When it comes to rocking she’s a queen.
I took her to a dance on a saturday night,
All alone where I can hold her tight.
She lives on the twentieth floor uptown.
The elevator’s broken down.

“Twenty Flight Rock” – Paul McCartney

 

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?

The Nursery Ryhme “Sing A Song Of Sixpence” which John turned into “Cry Baby Cry

 

Maybe it has to do with meditation as George said once….

The meditation sessions were increasingly long, they were as long as you could handle. It was a very sensible thing. He basically said, ‘Your mind is confused with day-to-day stress so I want you to try and do twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening.’ That’s what they start you on. Twenty minutes in the morning is not going to hurt anyone. You sit still, I suppose you regulate your breathing and, if nothing else, you rest your muscles for twenty minutes. It’s like a lie-in. That’s pretty good. The meditation helps your productivity that day. And then twenty minutes in the evening; I used to liken it to sitting in front of a nice coal fire that’s just sort of glowing. That sort of feeling, that very relaxed feeling, a twilight feeling which I quite like. Are you dreaming or are you awake? There’s a nice little state that they recognise halfway between it…”

 

Anyone know of other 20’s in Beatles related items, lyrics, quotes?

 

MAYBE THIS IS THE CLUE TO WHAT HAPPENED TO PAUL! haha I’m just kidding about that part.

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
With out looking out of your window
You can know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

14 November 2013
5.27am
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Ron Nasty
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Welcome Callum!

An interesting observation.

One correction I would make is that it is Beatles roadie Mal Evans who conducts the two twenty bar counts during A Day In The Life .

I’m also not sure how well it stands up.

The Paul McCartney song you quote is actually a Carl Perkins song. You include two sums, one that adds to twenty (George moaning about their tax rate) while the second adds to twenty-four. Meditation came after all but one (Ob-La-Di) of the examples you cite, unless you count the nursery rhyme John based Cry, Baby, Cry on as well, which dates back to the 18th Century.

Though, of course, should we take sums into it, Paul’s mythical death occurred on 9 November 1966. 9 + 11!

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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

14 November 2013
5.50am
Bungalow Bob
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Callum said

Anyone know of other 20’s in Beatles related items, lyrics, quotes?

Welcome, Callum. The significance of numbers, especially 20, in Beatles songs? This is exactly the kind of offbeat trivia that I get a kick out of kicking around. So, let’s see: “One After 909 “… “Eight Days A Week “… “When I’m 64″… Hmm… “One and one and one is three”… I’m not getting any pattern here yet, but I’ll keep thinking about this. A good Beatles fan ought to be able to make these numbers add up to, uh… “Something .”   :)

14 November 2013
3.53pm
Callum
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haha thanks,

When I first started to think about how several songs had 20, or the sum as you guys say, I thought it would be fun to post it on this forum and see if there were any any other uses of the number that I didn’t think of.

 

Also there was a best of Beatles Album with songs picked by the Beatles called the “20 Greatest Hits” with, as you may have guessed, 20 songs. 

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
With out looking out of your window
You can know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

14 November 2013
4.22pm
Bungalow Bob
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Callum, I was about to throw in the towel on this mysterious numerical investigation, and then it hit me: The song title clearly states “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number.)” So… just like with all the clues to Paul’s “death,” there is something here; we just have to figure out what it is. “The band begins at ten to six“… “ten summer sets”… “Fifty acorns tied in a sack”… “P.C. Thirty one“… “Number nine, number nine, number nine…”  “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, all good children go to Heaven”…

What could all these Beatles numbers possibly, uh… add up to? I guess it is up to us to do the math! ;-)

14 November 2013
4.43pm
Callum
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Hmmm, so In Revolution 9 I believe he says Number 9 54 times, however it might be 53-55 Its hard to tell. Also “One after the 909” do you think those two songs have a relation at all? both songs have 9 as the main focus.

Also I might have thought of something interesting….

Some Revolution 9 Lyrics

 

“I informed him on the third night, when fortune gives…
Be alright, be alright
Right, right, right, right
Right
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine”

 

“Afraid she’ll die (…)
Great colours for the season
Number nine, number nine
Who’s to know?
Who was to know?
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine”

 

“Rouge doctors have brought this specimen
I have nobody’s short-cuts, aha…
Nine, number nine”

 

“With the situation
They are standing still
The plan, the telegram…number nine, number 9″

 

“A man without terrors from beard to false
As the headmaster reported to my son
He really can try, as they do, to find function…
Tell what he was saying, and his voice was low and his hive high,
And his eyes were low…
Alright!
It was on fire and his glasses were the same
This thing know if it was tinted,
But you know it isn’t
To me it is…
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine
Number nine, number nine, number nine”

Notice how most number 9 sequences come after words about injury, or death. Maybe it’s not about how many 9’s there are maybe they signify which lyrics are important, maybe its a code saying which words to take out or skip over??

 [Also why is my GIF signature cutting off half way?]

 

 

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
With out looking out of your window
You can know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

14 November 2013
4.51pm
Callum
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14 November 2013
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Also I found this quote on this very site about the number 9

 

John Lennon mentioned in a number of interviews the significance of the number nine. His songs included Revolution 9 and #9 Dream, and a number of key dates in his life took place on the ninth of the month.

“That was something I wrote when I was about seventeen. I lived at 9 Newcastle Road. I was born on the ninth of October, the ninth month [sic]. It’s just a number that follows me around, but, numerologically, apparently I’m a number six or a three or something, but it’s all part of nine.”
John Lennon

All We Are Saying, David Sheff

 
I wish I could change the title I think this has become the Beatles use of numbers thread haha.

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
With out looking out of your window
You can know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

14 November 2013
5.06pm
Bungalow Bob
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“Well, she was just seventeen, you know what I mean”… Hmm, Paul we thought we knew what you meant; now we’re not so sure. But we are reassessing things here in this Beatles Bible thread. :)

14 November 2013
5.21pm
Callum
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Maybe she took a Ticket To Ride on the One After 909 ?

 

[Still can’t figure out this signature problem haha, just splits it in half for me]

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
With out looking out of your window
You can know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

14 November 2013
5.37pm
Bungalow Bob
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Callum said
Maybe she took a Ticket To Ride on the One After 909 ?

 

[Still can’t figure out this signature problem haha, just splits it in half for me]

Callum, this is a thread about Beatles numbers, and that would include fractions; which could possibly explain the appearance of only half of your signature. Let’s not forget George Harrison ‘s dire warning, “Should 5% appear too small”… So 50% of a signature picture might be all we can expect in this thread.

Actually, I expect one of the Beatles Bibles moderators to appear any time now, and fix your problem. Unless… (those eerie numbers again)… it is just the “Two Of Us here. ;-)

14 November 2013
5.59pm
Callum
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It all makes sense now!

Also I found a random thing online which someone posted of numbers in Beatles songs. Hopfeully I don’t spoil the fun

there are 4000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire

8 Days in a week

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes

And Paul said he would have 3 grand children when he was 64…Vera Chuck & Dave

People running round it’s five o’clock Everywhere in town is getting dark Everyone you see is full of life It’s time for tea and meet the wife

You say you’ve seen seven wonders And your bird is green But you can’t see me You can’t see me

Sleeps in a hole in the road Saving up to buy some clothes Keeps a ten-bob note up his nose Such a mean old man

To the port of Liverpool They returned me to Two pounds ten a week, that was my pay

She said she’d always been a dancer She worked at fifteen clubs a day And though she thought I knew the answer Well I knew what I could not say

And Mr H will demonstrate Ten summersets he’ll undertake on solid ground

“Three Cool Cats” and “12 Bar Original” anthology songs

She tells Max to stay when the class has gone away So he waits behind Writing 50 times

P.C. Thirty-One says We caught a dirty one

Woke up last night, half past four, Fifty women knocking at my door

You’d say I’m putting you on But it’s no joke, it’s doing me harm You know I can’t sleep, I can’t stop my brain You know it’s three weeks, I’m going insane You know I’d give you everything I’ve got For a little peace of mind

 

Still after all these numbers 20 and 9 are in the lead!

 

 

 

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
With out looking out of your window
You can know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

14 November 2013
6.01pm
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Ron Nasty
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Callum said
[Still can’t figure out this signature problem haha, just splits it in half for me]

There is a maximum height/length to signatures, I think equivalent to about 3/4 lines. I would suggest the gif you’re trying to use exceeds that restriction.

Re. your double post, there has been, unfortunately, problems with deleting since the last update of the site software. Should you need something deleted, mention you need something deleted in the “Weird things happening in the forum” thread in “Getting Better “, along with the thread it is in and the post number, and one of the moderators will happily do it. I have removed the one in this thread for you.

"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty

To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

14 November 2013
7.05pm
Bungalow Bob
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Callum said

Still after all these numbers 20 and 9 are in the lead!

Amidst all the wild ad-libbing at the end of “Hey Bulldog ,” John or Paul bizarrely shouts out “Don’t Look At Me , I’ve only got ten children”… Hmm, that’s “ten children,” to go along with “ten sommersets,” “ten-bob note,” and “two-pound ten a week, that was my pay.” The number ten just might be a contender… for what, we don’t know yet… :)

14 November 2013
7.12pm
Callum
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Hmm yes 10 might be making a come back… However 10 is half of 20, so maybe 10 is actually appears more? Maybe all these 20’s are just two tens that are good friends?

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
With out looking out of your window
You can know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

14 November 2013
8.19pm
Bungalow Bob
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In “I Am The Walrus ,” John sings the line “If the sun don’t come, you get your tan from standing in the English rain”… After repeated listenings, I’m beginning to hear that line as “…you get your ten from standing in the Engish rain”… “ten,” not “tan”… Yeah, I know it doesn’t make any sense… yet. And remember, the word net played backwards would sound out exactly as “ten.” Now I’ve got to search the Beatles lyrics to find the word “net.” Onward with this investigation! ;-)

15 November 2013
12.04am
Callum
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Haha,

Although getting a tan in the rain would be hard, getting a ten sounds a bit more likely.

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
With out looking out of your window
You can know the ways of heaven

The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing

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