George Martin (1926-2016) Tribute List

Sir George Martin died on March 8, 2016 at the age of 90. There are many candidates for the title of " fifth Beatle"- the band's manager, other musicians who played on their records, etc. but no one had more influence on their sound than The Beatles producer, George Martin. From the very beginning of The Beatles' career, he was collaborating and consulting on how songs should be structured and what instruments should be used. George Martin made a tremendous contribution to a legacy that changed pop music forever- a legacy that is secure more than 50 years after The Beatles first burst onto the scene. Here are 12 vocabulary words from quotes from George Martin.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. arrogant
    having or showing feelings of unwarranted importance
    When you’re young, you’re not only confident, but...arrogant. I was full of myself and thought I was terrific. I didn’t realise how inadequate I was.
  2. inadequate
    lacking the requisite qualities or resources to meet a task
    When you’re young, you’re not only confident, but...arrogant. I was full of myself and thought I was terrific. I didn’t realise how inadequate I was.
  3. precedent
    coming before in time, order, or significance
    Because there wasn’t a rock ‘n’ roll precedent, The Beatles when they came turned everything upside down and made a revolution, which I didn’t foresee.
  4. foresee
    picture to oneself; imagine possible
    Because there wasn’t a rock ‘n’ roll precedent, The Beatles when they came turned everything upside down and made a revolution, which I didn’t foresee.
  5. mayhem
    violent and needless disturbance
    Eventually the flood gates opened in America in 1964 with 'I Want To Hold Your Hand,' and from that point on it was mayhem. But you see, I didn’t spend all that much time with them because they were on tour all the time. Recording time was issued out to me very sparingly.
  6. sparingly
    to a meager degree or in a meager manner
    Eventually the flood gates opened in America in 1964 with 'I Want To Hold Your Hand,' and from that point on it was mayhem. But you see, I didn’t spend all that much time with them because they were on tour all the time. Recording time was issued out to me very sparingly.
  7. perennial
    lasting an indefinitely long time
    On the Yellow Submarine movie

    I think that one of the nice things about the Yellow Submarine movie is that it seems to be perennial. People enjoy watching from each generation. And it was like the Beatles themselves. You know the Beatles seem to find new audience each time another generation comes along.
  8. inexplicable
    incapable of being explained or accounted for
    There was an inexplicable presence when all four[ Beatles] were together in a room. Their music was bigger than they were.
  9. inquisitiveness
    a state of active curiosity
    The Beatles and I were of a like mind. We always wanted to try something new. The Beatles in particular were constantly coming to me saying, “What can you give us? What instruments do you know about that we could use? What recording ideas can you give us?” Their inquisitiveness pushed us into new territory. They lapped up new ideas. They were very curious people and wanted to look beyond what everyone else could do.
  10. fierce
    marked by extreme and violent energy
    My approach [ to the string arrangement on "Eleanor Rigby"] was greatly influenced by Bernard Herrmann and his film score for Psycho. He had a way of making violins sound fierce. That inspired me to have the strings play short notes forcefully, giving the song a nice punch. If you listen to the two, you’ll hear the connection.
  11. meander
    an aimless amble on a winding course
    Fool on the Hill—not bad. Not really great though. It was a bit of a meander. Lovely song and I enjoy it still, but not a great song.
  12. artifice
    the use of deception or trickery
    We were going through take after take trying to get the song right, raw—without any artifice. Ordinarily we would have spliced-out the mistake and splice in the fix. Not this time.
    "Artifice" here refers to technological devices used when recording a song to make it seem like a song done in different parts at different times was part of a singular smooth performance.
Created on Wed Mar 09 06:19:59 EST 2016 (updated Wed Mar 09 07:03:09 EST 2016)

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