Food in the Beatles' White Album

Food in the Beatles' White Album

My daughter is taking a Beatles class (yes, it’s at an accredited university) and she needed some help with ideas for a final project. I suggested tracing food imagery through the White Album, as in:

• Savoy Truffle (obvious)
• Piggies ("you can see them out for dinner, with their piggy wives," etc.)
• Ob-La-Di (Desmond and Molly are in the marketplace)
• Honey Pie (and Wild Honey Pie)
• Glass Onion (ref: to Strawberry Fields in there -- and this food image is key to what the Beatles thought of their own music: onion has layers that you can see right through)
• Cry Baby Cry/Rev 9 (ref: bottle of claret in transitional dialogue)

Blackbirds and raccoons...also edible.

Wasn't this their first album on the Apple label? And didn't it inspire the Manson Murders, commited (in part) with forks? See, it's all about the food.

And white is the color of...tablecloths and napkins (except in some of Chicago’s trendier places).

As part of her presentation, she’d serve Savoy truffles (if we can find a recipe), bacon, honey pies, etc.

One question you might ask, why is food important to the Beatles oeuvre? Because they were very conscious of themselves as consumable products (Sergeant Pepper's cover is a catalog of celebrities consumed by the public – Marilyn, etc. -- and it seems they’re standing on a huge cake). The band provided a critique of consumer culture even while they were a big part of it, always realizing that "love is the one thing that money can't buy." She's leaving home...buy, buy.

Good video of Beatles eating here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-gTcF6K4Wk

Open to suggestion here, folks.

David “Cheese, cheese, cheese!” Hammond

"Cheese and Onions" by the Rutles sounds like it could've been on the White Album.

tapler wrote:"Cheese and Onions" by the Rutles" sounds like it could've been on the White Album.

And it was, I think, kind of reference to an expression common in Liverpool: "Sh*t n' Onions." This expression comes up in Ulysses, too, which makes sense as dear dirty Dublin was not far from liddypool (as a second generation Liverpudlian, it's something my granddad might have said once or a million times.)

More food in the white album, although not really:

I am the Walrus:
Sitting on a cornflake waiting for the van to come...
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen...
Semolina Pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower...
Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye...
Crabalocker fishwife...

JoelF wrote:More food in the white album, although not really:

I am the Walrus:...

Magical Mystery Tour actually. Not White Album.

Goo goo ga joob

Just found some food in my copy of the Beatles White album ... there were a few crushed Fritos, probably from 1969 ... they lost their crunch, though.

wak wrote:

JoelF wrote:I am the Walrus:...

Magical Mystery Tour actually. Not White Album.

Goo goo ga joob

Darn. I go through all the trouble of remembering the lyrics, but not the album.

David,

"Why don't we do it in the road?" Perhaps the "it" is eating lunch from the trunk of one's car?

Has she considered expanding this to their career (or a portion of it) rather than this singular album? Sure, there are a few bits of food imagery in The White Album, but I don't see it as particularly strong with this one particular album.

Best,
Michael

I would say "my monkey", but there could be children reading this board. I'm surprised I beat GWiv to this one!

I found some crunchy things in my album,
but I'm not sure if it's food...
maybe I could incorporate it into food,
but that might be another topic...

David:

Your daughter was lucky. My son was closed out of the Beatles class at his college.

Jonah

Jeez, maybe I should quit teaching "Intro to Logic" and switch to "Philosophy and the Beatles"? That way I could close my class even earlier... :^)

[Actually, I have to tread lightly here: I had an article published a couple of months ago in a volume called Beer and Philosophy! Really--from Blackwell's of all things...]

Geo

Food is almost as obvious a theme as Paul McCartney's death.

Geo wrote:[Actually, I have to tread lightly here: I had an article published a couple of months ago in a volume called Beer and Philosophy! Really--from Blackwell's of all things...]

You really ought to have told us all about that more directly! That (and it's companions "Wine and Philosophy" and "Food and Philosophy") look like things of natural interest to LTH'rs, and all the more if you contributed! Or maybe you did bring them up and I missed 'em -- but I'm looking forward to checking these out, even though my to-read stack is already in danger of imminent collapse.

Tnx for the nice words germuska, much appreciated. Actually, I'm not sure why I didn't bring it up before. Duh. But you're right, of course, it IS of pretty much interest to LTHers. So now I'll say it: I've got articles in both Beer and Philosophy and Wine and Philosophy. Both take the view that evaluating these beverages is strongly related to the actual contents of the glass; that is, put most simply, there is a vast difference between saying "This is a fine wine" and "I like this wine." In fact, these two judgments are independent of one another. Or so I argue. Needless to say, there are lots of folks who disagree with my view. But what the hey! that's where being a philosopher gets fun.

Another pub of interest *should* appear by the end of the year: The Great Dying on the Vine, which is my history of the phylloxera disaster, from 1867 France to 1980 Sonoma County. Univ. of Calif. Press will be bringing it out, lord willin' and the crick don't rise!

Geo

If only I could have taken a class on the Beatles..my favorite subject (even more than food!)

-Cry,Baby Cry references two meals..breakfast (the King of Marigold cooking it for his queen) and tea (Duchess of Kinkady was always late for it)

I would also suggest widening the scope beyond the White Album.

Sgt Pepper has:

"When I'm 64" which mentions a bottle of wine as well as the great lyric 'will you still need me, will you still feed me'?

"Lucy in the Sky" has lots of food references: tangerine trees, marmalade skies and of course, marshmallow pies (she could serve Moon Pies!)

"Lovely Rita" is wooed with tea and dinner.

Tea again in "Good Morning, Good Morning"

Abbey Road has "Mean Mr. Mustard" as well as "Come Together" with its mention of Coca Cola.

why is food important to the Beatles oeuvre

I guess I get the consumerism--although Apple Corp (beyond the record label) sure wasn't a money maker and their one attempt at retail turned out to be a free for all giveaway/ripoff.

I do think food is prevalent more in the later albums. By then, the Beatles had moved beyond straightforward rock/pop songs and the love songs of their early stuff; they were writing more about people and ideas than feelings. Being working class guys, they tended to stick close to their roots; young women running away from home, meter maids, marketplaces and homey things like teatime. Maybe that's why they talk about money as much as food. They're pretty basic subjects day to day. The fantastic imagery and deeper insights in some of the songs are balanced or contrasted with almost mundane activities. I think they were geniuses at composing songs 'about' something and at the same time, accessible as opposed to just trying to be clever or 'trippy'..as was the case with a lot of late 60s music.

jersette wrote:If only I could have taken a class on the Beatles..my favorite subject (even more than food!)

-Cry,Baby Cry references two meals..breakfast (the King of Marigold cooking it for his queen) and tea (Duchess of Kinkady was always late for it)

I would also suggest widening the scope beyond the White Album.

Sgt Pepper has:

"When I'm 64" which mentions a bottle of wine as well as the great lyric 'will you still need me, will you still feed me'?

"Lucy in the Sky" has lots of food references: tangerine trees, marmalade skies and of course, marshmallow pies (she could serve Moon Pies!)

"Lovely Rita" is wooed with tea and dinner.

Tea again in "Good Morning, Good Morning"

Abbey Road has "Mean Mr. Mustard" as well as "Come Together" with its mention of Coca Cola.

why is food important to the Beatles oeuvre

I guess I get the consumerism--although Apple Corp (beyond the record label) sure wasn't a money maker and their one attempt at retail turned out to be a free for all giveaway/ripoff.

I do think food is prevalent more in the later albums. By then, the Beatles had moved beyond straightforward rock/pop songs and the love songs of their early stuff; they were writing more about people and ideas than feelings. Being working class guys, they tended to stick close to their roots; young women running away from home, meter maids, marketplaces and homey things like teatime. Maybe that's why they talk about money as much as food. They're pretty basic subjects day to day. The fantastic imagery and deeper insights in some of the songs are balanced or contrasted with almost mundane activities. I think they were geniuses at composing songs 'about' something and at the same time, accessible as opposed to just trying to be clever or 'trippy'..as was the case with a lot of late 60s music.

beyond the white album one might include the infamous Yesterday and Today "butcher shop" cover

(imo: beatles reverence and nostalgia is a wonderful emetic)

More food in the white album, although not really:

I am the Walrus:...

Magical Mystery Tour actually. Not White Album.

But John does sing "the Walrus is Paul"

figjustin wrote:

More food in the white album, although not really:

I am the Walrus:...

Magical Mystery Tour actually. Not White Album.

But John does sing "the Walrus is Paul"

Yes, I believe the complete couplet was/is:

"And here's some barbecue for you all
The Walrus is Paul."

http://www.amazon.com/She-Came-Through-Kitchen-Window/dp/1559724978/ref=cm_cmu_up_add_glance

I find it necessary to post in this thread.

David Hammond wrote:Savoy Truffle (obvious)

One Beatles book I read had a picture of the Savoy Truffle box that was the inspiration for this song. I thought it was The Beatles Anthology but I flipped through and didn't see it. This would be worth tracking down. You probably already know that the song was about Eric Clapton's love of sweets. The picture showed all the different truffles that George Harrison mentions in the song.

David Hammond wrote:Blackbirds and raccoons...also edible.

Not sure that Sir Paul would approve of this angle....then or now.

David Hammond wrote:And didn't it inspire the Manson Murders, commited (in part) with forks?

I just watched a special on the Manson murders that described the use of the fork in graphic detail. IMHO this is really not something that you'd want to associate with the Beatles' wonderful music or food.

For some interesting anecdotes about the Beatles attitude toward food, try "Here, There, and Everywhere" by Geoff Emerick. He worked in the studio as an engineer for almost all the Beatles records and the book is full of information about how the music was recorded. He discusses their odd attitude toward food and eating and how that played out in the studio, sometimes resulting in pretty humorous situations.

Cynthia Lennon's "John" also has some details about what the Beatles ate, and how moving to London made them slightly (but not much) more sophisticated.

I've often thought an interesting topic would be the Beatles' changing attitude towards food over their lives. John followed a macrobiotic diet off and on once he was with Yoko. Paul, George, and Ringo all became vegetarians. You could get into the kinds of foods that they ate growing up in Liverpool and how those foods remained important to them. This topic could be probably as short or as long a paper as you wanted, depending on how much you want to dig.

"A soap impression of his wife, which he ate and donated to the National Trust."

David Hammond wrote:


http://www.amazon.com/She-Came-Through-Kitchen-Window/dp/1559724978/ref=cm_cmu_up_add_glance

So I ordered this book in the interests of my daughter's higher education, and it is simply imbecilic. Basically, the recipes are all "inspired by" dumb puns on Beatles' tunes, to wit:

• Ticket to Rice
• The Long and Winding Ragout
• Paella Lane
• Being for the Bruschetta of Mr. Kite
• Heart of the Coleslaw (not even a pun but rather a moronic reference to "Heart of the Country," which is not even a Beatle's creation, appearing on McCartney's second solo album)
• And Your Breasts Can Sing

Okay, that last one sounds interesting, but the damn book does not even contain a recipe for Savoy Truffle.

A better title for the book, perhaps, would be "I'm Cooking Through You."

I thought of this thread the other day, when the radio played McCartney's Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (yes, not really a Beatles song, but still) - I've always been curious about if something approximating Butter Pie was actually possible. Lo and behold, while searching for Derby recipes, I came across this one from a cook in Beaver Dam, Kentucky. I'm terribly curious about the physics of it - unfortunately, I don't have time to experiment this weekend, but it's on my list to try someday.

(FWIW, Butter Pie also came up as a kind of Lancashire main-dish vegetarian pie also known as "Friday Pie")

Mhays wrote:(FWIW, Butter Pie also came up as a kind of Lancashire main-dish vegetarian pie also known as "Friday Pie")

Good find, Mhays!

I'd guess this (or something much like it) was the source of the Butter Pie reference, as McCartney is Catholic and vegetarian.

How did your daughter's project go, or how is it going? (Not sure if she's on semesters or quarters.) Did she end up using your idea?

grits wrote:How did your daughter's project go, or how is it going? (Not sure if she's on semesters or quarters.) Did she end up using your idea?

Her final weeks are coming up, so I don't think she's made a final decision, but I believe she thought this idea was too weird. Kids.