Excellent history and analysis. Damien, as a former professional guitarist , I've been checking your posts for over a decade: digging your mix of loopy humour, encyclopedic knowledge of the swing and jump blues roots of rockabilly, and I really commend both your increasing fluidity in and tutorials in swing and even bop jazz stylings. History. Knowledge. Skill. Diversity. Sure looks and sounds like Rock-n-Roll to me....
🔥🎸 John borrowed that lick for sure, he always studied the old school Rock'n'Roll, not only Chuck Berry! Damian, many thanks for this great lesson and the inspiring trip to history of music 🇩🇪👍
What a fantastic deep dig, Damian. Great work! The Beatles never strayed too far for too long from the 50s r&r canon that inspired them from the start, but hearing this stuff in that context makes it all the more evident. And how classic is that riff- minus the distortion - in so many early Mississippi slide tunes??? Again, context. Rock - and dig on, my friend.
Damian, Just found your western swing tutorials and can’t wait to dig in! Circa 1984, Pee Wee was opening for Big Joe Turner and Percy Mayfield at a little South Central L.A. nightclub. Pee Wee had a full horn section, a B3, an accordionist, a harpist, and a full rhythm section ready to go… but the drummer was AWOL. He leaned into his mic and said, “Pee Wee needs a drummer!” I happily volunteered. That was something. The band was killing. After the 3rd number, Delmar “Mighty Mouth” Evans joined us. Standing 5’4,” Delmar was bald before bald was cool. After shouting two verses Mighty Mouth started grabbing chairs off a stack; the first, he gripped between his teeth. He hooked each successive chair to another. Pee Wee soloed while Delmar built a towering club chair tornado sculpture, balanced in his jaw. Pee Wee was loving it! What a night!
Thank you for shining a light on the great Pee Wee Crayton, Mr. Bacci. His lead guitar style is sure to appeal to fans of both T-Bone Walker and Chuck Berry. In fact, I can picture a young Chuck Berry learning the sliding sixth and ninth licks off of Pee Wee's great T-Bone Walker-inspired 1948 instrumental single "Blues After Hours", later applying them to songs like "Memphis, Tennessee". He is one of those players that cause me to ask, "Why didn't I discover him and his wonderful music sooner?" Ah well ... Better late than never. Hope that all is well with you and take care!
I vote for "borrowed." Lennon and McCartney (like many of their peers in England) loved American blues / R&B records and sought them out. I hadn't thought about the "Helter Skelter" connection but you're on to something there too. I don't think there's anything wrong with this: songwriters put things they learn from others into their own songs. It's really what it's all about: tying together influences to make "your own thing." If we weren't knocked out by music as kids, we wouldn't become musicians at all, and as we find our way on the instrument, we stumble on things we heard our heroes did and we think, "That's great---I want to use that!"
Starts out about the same, then like you said heads in a different direction quickly. Love the history with Fender and all. Very cool song! Never heard of Pee Wee, so many terrific artists in the past. And you are so correct, we all borrow and learn from one another.Thanks Damian!
Great stuff Damian. John and the other Beatles definitely got ideas from early rock and roll heroes and it wouldn't suprise me if they listened to Pee Wee Crayton as well. They covered Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins tracks in the early days and if you listen to the end of The Ballad of John and Yoko you'll hear the similarity to the end of Johnny Burnette and the rock and roll trios Lonesome tears in my eyes. ps they also played that live as well in 1963, so American rock and roll and Rockabilly was on their radar very early on in their musical careers.
Good morning Damian. Engaging content as always, thanks so much for the story/history and the lesson 🤠 I’m also feeling that second connection mentioned, the one to Helter Skelter.
Always good stuff on your channel Damian. I say the Beatles were inspired. For me the best part of the video was the inspiring word at the end. Something we can all learn from.
Thanks again Damian, at a guess I would say the lick was borrowed, on purpose or not we will probably never know but we do know the Beatles were massive fans of the Blues. Cheers man.
I only heard of pee wee Clayton after reading B.B. King's life story recently. The book is called King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B. B. King, where pee wee is mentioned with other influences on BB. Lennon possibly heard of him later in the Beatles career as he was a fan of B.B. King guitar playing.
Damian, My answer to your question, "Did Lennon borrow that opening riff from Pee Wee or was it a coincidence? Hmmm? " The Beatles in general were known for grabbing stuff from others and making it their own. So, perhaps he did borrow it. Of course, only Lennon knows the answer to that one. But, you are so right that any successful musican grabs bits and pieces from other musicians from the past or current to come up with their own sound. Thanks for passing this along. 🎸 Tim
John had the blues shuffle and most of the song, it was actually George in one of the recording sessions that was noodling and came up with the lead into riff, theyre are versions of revolution without the recognizable guitar part
Borrowed? Oh, I don't know. That lick Lennon used is such a rock'n' roll standard. It could have come from anywhere. On first hearing, I thought it was directly from Chuck Berry. I think that lick was just in the air, so to speak.
Lennon may have never heard of PeeWee Crayton, but I'll bet Eric Clapton knew who he was, and since they were all hanging out around this time, I wouldn't be surprised if that's how he got ahold of it.
Robert Johnson used it throughout his 1936 song "Dust My Broom". But the thing is that this "riff" is so elementary that any beginner guitarist or pianist can do it without even thinking. Chuck Berry's and John Lennon's intros were all different from this and each others. Lennon may have used this slightly changed riff as a homage as Lennon is so talented that he could have easily come up with something complex like he did numerous times before in other songs.
Now I wonder which came first.......Pee Wee's lick or Chuck Berry's even more famous similar "Go Johnny, go!" intro, Damian? Regardless, great lesson and historical fun ride as always coming to us out of Tampa Bay!! Jim C.
It was clear to me that John was paying tribute to Chuck with the opening lines of Come Together, but he ended up paying a lot more than tribute! NOT FAIR! I wish someone could just ask Paul if they were lifting that riff from Pee Wee. It wouldn't suprise me if they knew that song, they were serious Blues History buffs.
Things tend to repeat themselves over and over again. In between, people born and people die. Many teenagers (nowadays) never listened to Rockabilly. In fact, I believe that trends are nothing more than the old made new in repetitive generational cycles. I bet that Rockabilly will be rediscovered in the future and become a new hype again (maybe some generations later). Summarizing: Nobody invented the wheel but we reinvent it everyday. Lenon did just that.
John grabbed plenty from others like Come Together that Paul had to rearrange and add to so it did not copy Chuck Berry completely. But he used some of the lyrics which Roulette sued him for.
I have no doubt Lennon might have copped the first 3 bars of that intro but on the 4th he goes up a step and 1/2 and bends up so he changed it and from there the melody is totally different. The only thing that’s maybe odd is that The Beatles, none of them, were known as particular “Blues fanatics” and Pee Wee Crayton was certainly not a big well known star…maybe he was hanging out with Keith Richards! He was known to hang with KR right during that period for various reasons..possibly heroin connections being one of them unfortunately. Keith was well known to have a big collection of old blues records….this is all forensic guess work and it takes nothing away from Lennons brilliance for me. The Helter Skelter lick is more of a stretch I think to claim the origin…who knows…probably McCartney!
Had Pee-Wee's record of "Do Onto Others" before Revolution came out. We all "borrow" from the past and believe John didn't "nick" it intentionally even though somewhere in the past he might have heard it.
@@Damianblf - I knew that and is a great Guitar. A friend of mine has that model that John and George had and he removed the finish like John did. It changed the tone of the guitar. Plays like butter even though I'm a piano and keyboard player first.
"Borrowed" is being extremely kind, especially considering that Lennon ripped off Chuck Berry to the point that he recorded his solo Rock 'N' Roll LP as part of the legal settlement. Lennon grew up listening to music like Crayton's, so I highly doubt that he'd never heard of it. Yes, we all incorporate bits and pieces of music that influences us, but some people seem to get carried away. Just ask Led Zeppelin.
Chuck Berry's riffs and licks were ripped off so much he could have had a career in filing and probably winning a lot of lawsuits. Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, Zeppelin, and on and on ad nauseum. Rockers in general are not the most creative bunch. But they play fast and made some sweet cash through the years thanks to Berry and the original blues guys. It ain't fair.
Beatles didn't steal, they only occasionally lifted small segments of music from others - actually, they were often ripped off by other musicians. Anyway, cross-pollination is common in music.
No, not the same, it's closer to Johnny B Goode. And being a musician you should know that music is layered one song on top of another and built with elements of previous songs from over many years. There is not a musician around no matter what instrument they play that hasn't been inspired by or borrowed something from other songs or artists. Your claim is total BS!
The connection between Peewee Crayton's "Do Unto Others" and the Beatles "Revolution" and "Helter Skelter" is undeniable. The two examples you cited are almost identical to Crayton's guitar licks.
I cannot stand, ridiculously stupid comments/accusations like this! When I was learning the guitar, I created many runs, riffs and tunes in blues...it wasn't until I listened more to blues recordings I realised that, when you are learning guitar in the same system/style as others, it is inevitable to tread in the footsteps of others...few, if any are original!!!
I'm not sure if I have heard of pee wee Clayton, but I know who he us now thanks to this video, love the song and the way it's recorded, thank Damian!
yeah... thanks, young man...
Excellent history and analysis. Damien, as a former professional guitarist , I've been checking your posts for over a decade: digging your mix of loopy humour, encyclopedic knowledge of the swing and jump blues roots of rockabilly, and I really commend both your increasing fluidity in and tutorials in swing and even bop jazz stylings. History. Knowledge. Skill. Diversity. Sure looks and sounds like Rock-n-Roll to me....
🔥🎸 John borrowed that lick for sure, he always studied the old school Rock'n'Roll, not only Chuck Berry! Damian, many thanks for this great lesson and the inspiring trip to history of music 🇩🇪👍
What a fantastic deep dig, Damian. Great work! The Beatles never strayed too far for too long from the 50s r&r canon that inspired them from the start, but hearing this stuff in that context makes it all the more evident. And how classic is that riff- minus the distortion - in so many early Mississippi slide tunes??? Again, context. Rock - and dig on, my friend.
Damian, Just found your western swing tutorials and can’t wait to dig in! Circa 1984, Pee Wee was opening for Big Joe Turner and Percy Mayfield at a little South Central L.A. nightclub. Pee Wee had a full horn section, a B3, an accordionist, a harpist, and a full rhythm section ready to go… but the drummer was AWOL. He leaned into his mic and said, “Pee Wee needs a drummer!” I happily volunteered. That was something. The band was killing. After the 3rd number, Delmar “Mighty Mouth” Evans joined us. Standing 5’4,” Delmar was bald before bald was cool. After shouting two verses Mighty Mouth started grabbing chairs off a stack; the first, he gripped between his teeth. He hooked each successive chair to another. Pee Wee soloed while Delmar built a towering club chair tornado sculpture, balanced in his jaw. Pee Wee was loving it! What a night!
Thank you for shining a light on the great Pee Wee Crayton, Mr. Bacci. His lead guitar style is sure to appeal to fans of both T-Bone Walker and Chuck Berry. In fact, I can picture a young Chuck Berry learning the sliding sixth and ninth licks off of Pee Wee's great T-Bone Walker-inspired 1948 instrumental single "Blues After Hours", later applying them to songs like "Memphis, Tennessee". He is one of those players that cause me to ask, "Why didn't I discover him and his wonderful music sooner?" Ah well ... Better late than never. Hope that all is well with you and take care!
I vote for "borrowed." Lennon and McCartney (like many of their peers in England) loved American blues / R&B records and sought them out. I hadn't thought about the "Helter Skelter" connection but you're on to something there too. I don't think there's anything wrong with this: songwriters put things they learn from others into their own songs. It's really what it's all about: tying together influences to make "your own thing." If we weren't knocked out by music as kids, we wouldn't become musicians at all, and as we find our way on the instrument, we stumble on things we heard our heroes did and we think, "That's great---I want to use that!"
😮😂😢😂 Borrowed. The English Cat's borrowed the Entire Genre's of Blues, R&B, Rock n Roll, and jazz and swing before That. 😊😂😂😂
Been listening to Pee Wee Crayton since the 1980's...A favorite. Thank you Damian.
Thanks for watching. Cheers & keep on rockin' :)
Hey Damian, You’re my hero Mate! Thanks a lot. Rod in London
Mr. Crayton, another gem revealed by Damian! Thanks, brother.
Love your voice. So smooth. More please.
Always good thanks 😊 great saying as well 👍 🙏
Thanks Damian you’re a great teacher.🏴🇬🇧
Pee Wee Crayton! Yes! Thanks as always, Damian! You're the best!
Starts out about the same, then like you said heads in a different direction quickly. Love the history with Fender and all. Very cool song! Never heard of Pee Wee, so many terrific artists in the past. And you are so correct, we all borrow and learn from one another.Thanks Damian!
Glad you enjoyed the video Frank. Cheers & keep on rockin' my friend :)
Great stuff Damian. John and the other Beatles definitely got ideas from early rock and roll heroes and it wouldn't suprise me if they listened to Pee Wee Crayton as well. They covered Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins tracks in the early days and if you listen to the end of The Ballad of John and Yoko you'll hear the similarity to the end of Johnny Burnette and the rock and roll trios Lonesome tears in my eyes. ps they also played that live as well in 1963, so American rock and roll and Rockabilly was on their radar very early on in their musical careers.
Good morning Damian. Engaging content as always, thanks so much for the story/history and the lesson 🤠
I’m also feeling that second connection mentioned, the one to Helter Skelter.
Congratulation on 100,000 subscribers Damian!!! Great video, as always!
That Epiphone sounds great and so does your voice.
A total lift from the original!.... Thanks again Damien!
Hello Damian, hope you're staying safe at the moment. Let's pray this storm disperses quickly.. Thoughts are with you and yours my friend..
I'm safe and doing good. Just got back power & internet. Life is returning to normal slowly. Thanks for checking in :)
Perhaps Clapton introduced the Beatles to Pee Wee's music. Great video! 👏 👍
Always good stuff on your channel Damian. I say the Beatles were inspired.
For me the best part of the video was the inspiring word at the end. Something we can all learn from.
Like the strat story..love how he played it for his whole life..simple gestures with huge payoffs!!
Oh yeah. It was either Paul or John who said "we're the best nickers in the business..". And why not? It's only smarmy if you won't own up to it...
Great history of guitar evolution/revolution !
Thanks again Damian, at a guess I would say the lick was borrowed, on purpose or not we will probably never know but we do know the Beatles were massive fans of the Blues. Cheers man.
If nothing else, John liked Chuck Berry and Chuck probably lifted it from peewee extremely similar
I only heard of pee wee Clayton after reading B.B. King's life story recently. The book is called King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B. B. King, where pee wee is mentioned with other influences on BB. Lennon possibly heard of him later in the Beatles career as he was a fan of B.B. King guitar playing.
I thought of Helter Skelter right away when you played that riff
Like my brother!!
Damian, My answer to your question, "Did Lennon borrow that opening riff from Pee Wee or was it a coincidence? Hmmm? " The Beatles in general were known for grabbing stuff from others and making it their own. So, perhaps he did borrow it. Of course, only Lennon knows the answer to that one. But, you are so right that any successful musican grabs bits and pieces from other musicians from the past or current to come up with their own sound. Thanks for passing this along. 🎸 Tim
Damian, I’m digging the Van Halen shirt. 🤘🏼
Lovely tone
John had the blues shuffle and most of the song, it was actually George in one of the recording sessions that was noodling and came up with the lead into riff, theyre are versions of revolution without the recognizable guitar part
Now that's cool.
Love Pee Wee Crayton!
Thank you for watching :)
Such a cool powerful riff , demands your attention. Plenty of players would make that lick their own , Chuck , Stevie Ray thanks to Pee Wee .
Thanks for watching :)
Borrowed? Oh, I don't know. That lick Lennon used is such a rock'n' roll standard. It could have come from anywhere. On first hearing, I thought it was directly from Chuck Berry. I think that lick was just in the air, so to speak.
John lifted the end riff for "Ballad of John and Yoko" from "Lonesome Tears In My Eyes" by Johnny Burnette.
Yes definitely inspired from that :)
Good singin, Damian 🙂
Thank you :)
I think John was probably playing a simplified Chuck riff. But it doesn't matter. I like it all! That's good rockin' and no mistake.
Lennon may have never heard of PeeWee Crayton, but I'll bet Eric Clapton knew who he was, and since they were all hanging out around this time, I wouldn't be surprised if that's how he got ahold of it.
Robert Johnson used it throughout his 1936 song "Dust My Broom". But the thing is that this "riff" is so elementary that any beginner guitarist or pianist can do it without even thinking.
Chuck Berry's and John Lennon's intros were all different from this and each others.
Lennon may have used this slightly changed riff as a homage as Lennon is so talented that he could have easily come up with something complex like he did numerous times before in other songs.
Now I wonder which came first.......Pee Wee's lick or Chuck Berry's even more famous similar "Go Johnny, go!" intro, Damian? Regardless, great lesson and historical fun ride as always coming to us out of Tampa Bay!! Jim C.
Besides Carl Hogan, Chuck "borrowed" Goree Carter.
Got a chuck berry vibe as well them multi string bends
Damian, where did you get that cool hat? I want one.
Man, I first thought ,the intro to Sexy Ways .
Thanks for watching :)
John Lennon was an avid collector of rock'n'roll records- the more high quality and obscure,the better. Likely he DID know the song.
It was clear to me that John was paying tribute to Chuck with the opening lines of Come Together, but he ended up paying a lot more than tribute! NOT FAIR! I wish someone could just ask Paul if they were lifting that riff from Pee Wee. It wouldn't suprise me if they knew that song, they were serious Blues History buffs.
Another great video. I have a question. Who is the pianist (or group) playing in the background at the beginning of the video? Thanks again.
Things tend to repeat themselves over and over again.
In between, people born and people die.
Many teenagers (nowadays) never listened to Rockabilly.
In fact, I believe that trends are nothing more than the old made new in repetitive generational cycles.
I bet that Rockabilly will be rediscovered in the future and become a new hype again (maybe some generations later).
Summarizing: Nobody invented the wheel but we reinvent it everyday. Lenon did just that.
Very nice!!😂
John grabbed plenty from others like Come Together that Paul had to rearrange and add to so it did not copy Chuck Berry completely. But he used some of the lyrics which Roulette sued him for.
I prefer the word inspired over stole.
Thanks for watching the video :)
Inspired doesn't mean stolen.
👍💯
There was definitely an influence.
I have no doubt Lennon might have copped the first 3 bars of that intro but on the 4th he goes up a step and 1/2 and bends up so he changed it and from there the melody is totally different. The only thing that’s maybe odd is that The Beatles, none of them, were known as particular “Blues fanatics” and Pee Wee Crayton was certainly not a big well known star…maybe he was hanging out with Keith Richards! He was known to hang with KR right during that period for various reasons..possibly heroin connections being one of them unfortunately. Keith was well known to have a big collection of old blues records….this is all forensic guess work and it takes nothing away from Lennons brilliance for me. The Helter Skelter lick is more of a stretch I think to claim the origin…who knows…probably McCartney!
John heard it while tripping and never realized where he got it
Had Pee-Wee's record of "Do Onto Others" before Revolution came out. We all "borrow" from the past and believe John didn't "nick" it intentionally even though somewhere in the past he might have heard it.
Thanks for watching :)
@@Damianblf nice tone and touch you have. Can't see the headstock perhaps on purpose, but have a good idea what it is. LOL
@@cguzelli1 Thank you. I'm playing my Epiphone Dot. It's a great guitar. The headstock is shown later on in the video. Cheers :)
@@Damianblf - I knew that and is a great Guitar. A friend of mine has that model that John and George had and he removed the finish like John did. It changed the tone of the guitar. Plays like butter even though I'm a piano and keyboard player first.
Just as well John Lennon did not also borrow Pee Wee's Strat as he might have stripped off the cool paint job as per his Casino.
Chuck berry too
Sunny Tampa…today?
It wasn't those few days
"Borrowed" is being extremely kind, especially considering that Lennon ripped off Chuck Berry to the point that he recorded his solo Rock 'N' Roll LP as part of the legal settlement. Lennon grew up listening to music like Crayton's, so I highly doubt that he'd never heard of it. Yes, we all incorporate bits and pieces of music that influences us, but some people seem to get carried away. Just ask Led Zeppelin.
Why wasnt the original a huge hit?
Chuck Berry's riffs and licks were ripped off so much he could have had a career in filing and probably winning a lot of lawsuits. Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, Zeppelin, and on and on ad nauseum. Rockers in general are not the most creative bunch. But they play fast and made some sweet cash through the years thanks to Berry and the original blues guys. It ain't fair.
The Beatles stole a lot.
Beatles didn't steal, they only occasionally lifted small segments of music from others - actually, they were often ripped off by other musicians. Anyway, cross-pollination is common in music.
Half ( or more ).of the old blues songs would be gone ... lyrics , music , styles , technique
Hey ! You tune your guitar the way I do !
W.T.F.?
Stealing is not borrowing?
Playing guitar is also a similarity too. Definitely stolen!
Recollection ..
stole a blues lick, huh? did he steal the blues progression too?
Why bait folks with the Lennon jive? Just so you can show off a couple of Berry licks? Clickbait!
Bla Bla Bacci. What about total rip off when Chuck Berry stole Johnny B Good intro from Louis Jordan’s “Ain’t that just like a woman”?????
No, not the same, it's closer to Johnny B Goode. And being a musician you should know that music is layered one song on top of another and built with elements of previous songs from over many years. There is not a musician around no matter what instrument they play that hasn't been inspired by or borrowed something from other songs or artists. Your claim is total BS!
Borrowed
Thanks for watching :)
The connection between Peewee Crayton's "Do Unto Others" and the Beatles "Revolution" and "Helter Skelter" is undeniable. The two examples you cited are almost identical to Crayton's guitar licks.
English "blues" guitar players were notorious for lifting Riffs from American black blues men. Page, Clapton, ect, ect....Great vid, Damien.
Thank you :)
I cannot stand, ridiculously stupid comments/accusations like this! When I was learning the guitar, I created many runs, riffs and tunes in blues...it wasn't until I listened more to blues recordings I realised that, when you are learning guitar in the same system/style as others, it is inevitable to tread in the footsteps of others...few, if any are original!!!
Like my brother!!
Thank you so much :)