Pilgrimage To Macca is about my trip to Liverpool one weekend in the beginning of June 2015. I had been spending 10 days a month in England, working mostly in Newcastle (Tyneside), using my weekends to explore other cities, York, Durham, London, Edinburgh, Manchester and as mentioned, Liverpool (Merseyside). While in Liverpool, I found myself a sole attendee on a Mop Top Tour and took it all in and filed it for future songwriting use.

With the bunch of observations, photos and facts in hand, I had long wanted to create a song based on my experience. For several years, musically, I just had the descending chord progression [E A5/E | D/E Em7no5 | C/D Cs2b5/D | Bb/D C9no5/D | A7 | A7 | D | G5/D | D | G5/D] and what turned out to be the chorus [E E/G# | F#m B | E E/G# | GM7 A | F F/A | Bb BbM7/C | D | G5/D] collectively somewhat a mix of Penny Lane and I am The Walrus reflections.

The song finally started to flow out when it occurred to me that the bunch of unrelated facts and experiences I wanted to convey together lent themselves to a compositional approach similar to Abbey Road side two. And in the end, the song seems to me a bit more “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” than “Abbey Road” but, I’ll take that since Billy Joel did have McCartney guest at the “Last Play at Shea”.

And now  a line by line discussion of the Pilgrimage to Macca lyrics

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls and welcome to…Magical Mystery Tour

(This is a sample from the Magical Mystery Tour movie and the song starts with a musical reference to Magical Mystery Tour song intro. I played it on synth and Bill doubled on real horns)

Liverpool launched four lads and one liner

(The Beatles are from Liverpool and Liverpool was home to White Star Line and the port of registry of the RMS Titanic. (Ocean) Liners are designed to undertake a line voyage, between point A and point B across a large expanse of open ocean. One liner can also be a reference to the Beatles propensity for one liners)

The boys rode the waves that boat lesser luck

two stories down a million more up

(At the original Cavern Club there were 18 stone steps (two stories) to go down, at the bottom of which clubbers paid a shilling to enter)

Here I’m on the tour where the Italians often cry. Nino, Pino, Bino there misty eyed

(I took the tour Mop Top Tour with my Tour Guide Stevie. On this day I happened to be the only one on the tour so I rode up front with Stevie and I asked him a bunch of questions and made comments that kept knocking him off of his script. At one point he told me about two Italian guys, Nino and Pino who take his tour often and always cry)

Stevie’s humming handy everywhere we go

(Part of Stevie’s script was to hum song related to what we were about to see foreshadowing the tour throughout)

on my pilgrimage to Macca, Walrusly wayfaring

(Macca is a McCartney nickname and the Walrus references John)

Sneaking up behind me, two sheets in the wind

que British wit and lickety split we’re stepping it through the twelves

(After the tour I was sitting on the bench below across from the “Phil” bar where they used to hang out when the two characters also below, Jim and Tony, were walking towards me carrying a backpack and a mixed sixpack. They stopped as I watched them and put the beers in the back pack and passed me with the empty six pack carrier. Then then tried to sneak up behind me and place the empty carrier at my feet. I turned around and we started talking. They noticed my accent and then asked me if I wanted to go to Tony’s birthday party with them at a local Pub. So I tagged along)

Liverpool launched four lads and one liner the

boys rode the waves that boat lesser luck

two stories down a million more up

let’s continue on our journey where the birthday wish begins

Ollie, Anne, Tony T Jim and Julian

(Tony and Jim took me to meet their other friends at the Pilgrim Pub and then we went to several other places including MFC Chicken which reappears in the final verse and is where the group picture was taken)

Pint packing up

(refers to Tony filling his bag with beers)

ye cracking up, his back is up to the door

(Earlier in the day on the tour Stevie took me to Ye Cracke, a pub on Rice Street off Hope Street in Liverpool which has an historical connections with the Beatles because it was frequented by John Lennon and his girlfriend Cynthia when they were at art school. According to Stevie my tour guide, Lennon would most often sit in the center booth with his back to the front door)

Liverpool launched four lads and one liner the

boys rode the waves that boat lesser luck

two stories down a million more up

Three hundred fifty four for sure (all together now)

(First-class passengers on the Titanic were given a music book containing 352 songs. Musicians on board were required to know them all, in case requests were made)

One hundred eighty eight and twenty five by four (all together now)

(The 4 Beatles recorded 213 songs and wrote 188 originals and covered 25 songs by other writers)

One hundred twenty five (all together now) Five of eight they played (all together now)

(There were 8 musicians on the Titanic, members of a three-piece ensemble and a five-piece ensemble were all employees of C.W. and F.N. Black, a Liverpool-based agency 5 of them played for 2 hrs and 5 minutes as boat sank)

Eighteen hundred on the stage they stayed

(The Beatles concert at Shea lasted 30 minutes or 1800 seconds)

You can stand at the start.

(John Lennon was born on 9 October 1940 in the Liverpool Maternity Hospital, Oxford Street, Liverpool.)

You can stand at the end

(John Lennon died on 8 December 1980 in the archway of the Dakota Building, 1 W 72nd Street, New York)

the in between we all pretend to know

(after seeing the building where Lennon was born and remembering I had also been at the Dakota where he died, I was struck I was struck with this thought)

…no no no

(a play on Yeah Yeah Yeah)

Sashes in the morning. The only thing recalling yesterday

(Liverpool is one of top 10 “Hen Party” destinations in the world. Where brides-to-be spend a final night of fun before they get married. In 2014 - Newcastle #3, Liverpool #7)

… hey hey hey (hey Baby)

(“yesterday” and “hey hey hey baby” are refences to the Beatles songs)

They just kept on playing like night before (Beatle song reference)

the band played on and played some more as the waves roared every door

(reference to the Titanic band playing while the boat sank)

They were never yellow even though they knew every boat’s not a submarine

(Yellow submarine reference)

blue cool can be so mean…. blue cool can be so mean

(Yellow submarine and a drowning in icy waters reference)

Liverpool launched four lads and one liner the

boys rode the waves that boat lesser luck

two stories down a million more up

Tyneside to Merseyside I’m north countrywide

(on my visit I traveled from Newcastle’s Tyne river to Liverpool’s Mersey river)

boarding punks in Manchester with ticket to ride

(When the train stopped in Manchester there were these punks on the platform and another Beatle song reference)

before Johnny’s airport

(Liverpool airport, better known these days as Liverpool John Lennon Airport, was the first provincial airport in the country when it opened on 1 July 1933)

first there came that train

(In September 1830, the world’s first ever passenger railway line, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened connecting Liverpool’s Crown Street to Manchester’s Liverpool Road)

destined for the Graces….

(Pier Head, renowned for it’s trio of buildings known as the Three Graces– the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building. The

Oh I should have known a better way

(I should Have Known Better is the song the Beatles are singing on the Train in “A Hard Day’s Night”)

No you’ll never walk alone if Liverpool was once your home

("You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and is sung at association football clubs around the world, where it is performed by a massed chorus of supporters on match day; this tradition developed at Liverpool F.C. after the chart success of the 1963 single of the song by the local Liverpool group Gerry and the Pacemakers)

a Scouser stew of this and that

(Natives of Liverpool are referred to as “Scousers”, a reference to a form of stew that was eaten by the people of Liverpool in the 19th century. The word “Scouse” has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect)

of lovely lasses, lucky lads

no you’ll never walk alone…you’ll never walk alone

once Liverpool has been your home you’ll never walk alone

Liverpool’s red ….

(Liverpool Football Club’s nickname is The Reds. The other major team in town, Everton, wears a Blue jersey)

London just greener so off they went

(According to the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England, Liverpool has 10 listed parks, including two Grade I and five Grade II, more than any other UK city except London)

With Titanic plans, those mop Toppin’ dreamers made thier ascent

(Top of the Pops is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC)

Their standing at home a pair of Cathedrals connected by hope,

(Liverpool has two cathedrals: one Catholic and one Anglican; they are each located at opposite ends of Hope Street)

(John Lennon lived at Mendips, 251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton, Liverpool L25 from 1945 until around 1963)

(Paul McCartney lived at 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton, Liverpool L18 from 1955, also until around 1963)

Crosswords never meant

(Arthur Wynne. born on June 22, 1871, in Liverpool, England invented the first crossword puzzle. John and Paul made up before John died)

four story tall, a million more lent

(Liverpool was the first city in the world to have a subscription lending library)

Somehow we made it to the corner just outside the chicken spot

(After a night of drinking we ended up getting food at 3 in the morning at MFC)

cheese cake running by us from a party over wrought

(As we were standing outside MFC this guy comes buy offering everyone Cheese cake which he had taken from a party he was at because they had “way too much food”)

it’s three in the morning the Casbah’s serving Chinese

(The Casbah Club was a rock and roll music venue in the West Derby area of Liverpool, England, that operated from 1959 to 1962. Started by Mona Best, mother of early Beatles drummer, Pete Best, in the cellar of the family home. Liverpool is known as home to Europe’s longest established Chinese community)

my Pilgrimage to Macca was now coming to a close

a silver beetle parked outside whose bumper sticker knows

(When we went to visit Paul McCartney’s childhood home there was a Silver Beetle parked outside his house)

the love we make less all we take is all there is in the end

(an obvious reference to the closing of the Abbey Road medley)

Liverpool launched the lads and one liner the

boys rode the waves that boat lesser luck

two stories down a million more up

if you ever see Penny Lane, likely it’ll be through the rain

no little pretties in the round about standing handing poppies out

If you ever see Penny Lane

pretty certainly you’ll say the same

Penny Lane sounds better than it looks

This was the tour I took

http://moptoptours.com/

Stevie In Action - Liverpool's Hope Street Tour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9loqjifWxo

The Mop Top Tour Beatles and Liverpool Extravaganza!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkRt8cP4nls

Mop Top Tours Memories of 2015 - Liverpool's Favourite Beatles Tour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiRMgd_5jgE