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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Fool On The Hill’ Was Obviously About Benny

Compiled By Staff Writer Rick Bo

“Good Morning” came from a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes commercial. “Helter Skelter” is actually a spiral-shaped playground slide.

And “Strawberry Fields Forever” immortalized a Salvation Army orphanage where John Lennon played as a boy.

Those are among the fascinating facts about Fab Four phraseology in Steve Turner’s new book “A Hard Day’s Write - The Stories Behind Every Beatles’ Song” (HarperCollins).

Lennon came up with the title of one of his best-known tunes when his 4-year-old son, Julian, described a drawing of a classmate as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Paul McCartney’s grammatically minded father wanted him to start one song with “She loves you, yes, yes, yes.” And the original lyrics for “Yesterday” began: “Scrambled eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs.”

Loose talk

Film director Julie Cypher, on her girlfriend, singer Melissa Etheridge: “I believe it’s the person you fall in love with. Not the equipment they come with.”

We’ll bet we know who’s the boss around home

Patty Scialfa turns 39 today.

Naturally, it went on the charts with a bullet

While the family of former Pennsylvania treasurer R. Budd Dwyer is none too pleased that his televised 1987 suicide is the subject of Filter’s hit song “Hey Man Nice Shot,” band members insist it’s a tribute. More precisely, “an expression of the guts and determination of a person standing up for what they believe is right.”

With ideals like that, who needs alarm clocks?

Speaking of principles, don’t expect rock poet Henry Rollins to ever abandon America. “If I left this country I would be wimping out,” he told Axcess magazine. “I’d be walking away from the Civil Rights movement. I’d be saying it’s OK to kill Martin Luther King Jr. … I’m staying here and I’m fighting it until I’m done. It’s one of the things that gets me up in the morning.”

From bad brains come, well, really bad ideas

A different H.R. (real name Paul Hudson), lead singer of the band Bad Brains, was arrested in Lawrence, Kan., for hitting two fans over the head with a microphone stand. Reported the police: “As far as we can discern there was no apparent reason for the attack.”

He certainly didn’t get the idea from his mom

Yoko Ono was on hand at a small club in upstate New York when Sean Lennon, her son by the late John Lennon, debuted his rock group, The Pits. All of whom, incidentally, wore dresses.

This one’s bound to become a cult classic

And speaking of “Helter Skelter,” a CD of tunes recorded by Charles Manson behind bars during the early 1980s is being released by a Seattle label. “Commemoration” includes several songs about ecology, as well as a tribute to Hank Williams.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color Photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino