Swinging Through the Sixties: The Beatles and Beyond - Episode #3: 'Notable Namechecks in Song'

Summary: Not tribute songs. More like honourable mentions. Some made in jest. Some a nod and a wink (nudge-nudge, say no more). All cultural reflections of their era. Listened to and contrasted within their proper context, they tell a fascinating Sixties story, populated with colourful characters and some pretty juicy backstories... The tracks in this case—The Beatles’ ‘Taxman and Dig It’, Bob Dylan’s ‘I Shall Be Free’, Paul Simon’s ‘A Simple Desultory Philippic’, John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band’s ‘Give Peace a Chance’, Donovan Leitch’s ‘Sunny South Kensington’, Dion DiMucci’s ‘Abraham, Martin and John’, Eric Burdon & The Animals’ ‘Monterey’, The Mamas and Papas’ ‘Creeque Alley’, Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?’ and Jacqueline Taïeb’s ‘7 Heures du Matin’—reference actors, poets, politicians, fellow musicians and assorted other icons. These include Brigitte Bardot, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Sophia Loren, Phil Spector, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, The Who, Ravi Shankar, The Rolling Stones, John and Robert Kennedy, Andy Warhol, Elvis Presley, Walt Disney, Doris Day, Marlene Dietrich, Liz Taylor, Lenny Bruce, The Grateful Dead, Pablo Picasso, Mary Quant, Timothy Leary… While the names go on and on, this show about them and the songs in which they’re featured is limited by the boundary of time—but not much else. So, sit back, crank up the volume and dive into what Donovan’s track describes as “a flip out, skip out, trip out” with Erik Taros and Richard Buskin as your groovin’-era guides…