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Michelle is one of McCartney’s earliest compositions. It was probably written around 1959 on his Zenith acoustic guitar. The Zenith was McCartney’s first guitar. He had been given a trumpet for his fourteenth birthday, but decided to trade it for this instrument. The Zenith made it to Hamburg on the Beatles’ first tour, having been electrified by means of a small bridge pickup.
Apart from being a very early song, Michelle is notable for perhaps two main reasons. It being quite a sophisticated composition, including a number of diminished chords and switches between F major and F minor. Secondly, it is the first original Beatles song that has an overtly national characteristic – Michelle is a love song with an overt French theme.
The French Influence
McCartney used to play Michelle at parties as a ruse to appear sophisticated. As he recalls:
There used to be a guy called Austin Mitchell who was one of John’s tutors at art school and he used to throw some pretty good all-night parities. You could maybe pull girls there, which was the main aim of every second; you could get drinks, which was another aim.
Sacha Distel and Juliette Greco
McCartney elaborated:
I member sitting around there, and my recollection is of a black turtleneck sweater and sitting very enigmatically in the corner playing this rather French tune. I used to pretend I could speak French, because everyone wanted to be like Sacha Distel or Juliette Greco.
Sacha Distel (1933-2004) was a French singer, guitarist and actor. He rose to fame in 1958 with the song Brigitte; a homage to Brigitte Bardot.
Juliette Greco (1927-) is a French singer and actress. McCartney sang her praises, “Have you ever seen her? Dark hair, real chanteuse, really happening.” John Lennon also commented, “I’d always had a fantasy about a woman who would be a beautiful, intelligent, dark-haired, high-cheek-boned, free-spirited artist à la Juliette Gréco”.
For those unacquainted with Greco, here she is singing a particularly fine and expressive ballad, Romance:
Other aspects of French popular music culture that had migrated to Britain in the 1950s included:
- Edith Piaf (1915-1963). Popular French singer, with hits such as La Vie en Rose.
- Maurice Chavalier (1888-1972). French actor and cabaret singer.
- The film Gigi (1958), starring Chavalier and set in La Belle Epoque Paris.
- The film Moulin Rouge (1952), set in late-19th century Paris.
- Charles Aznavour (1924-2018). French singer, dubbed “the French Frank Sinatra”.
How French Is Michelle?
The most obvious tribute to France is in the song’s lyrics. However, the words were only decided on when Lennon suggested that McCartney should resurrect the song for the recording sessions that became Rubber Soul.
McCartney hadn’t pursued French as an option at school (but he did pass his Spanish O-Level a year early), so he enlisted the help of the wife of his old schoolfriend, Ivan Vaughan. Jan Vaughan recalled
He asked me if I could think of a French girl’s name, with two syllables, and then a description of the girl which would rhyme. He played me the rhythm on his guitar and that’s when I came up with ‘Michelle, ma belle,’ which wasn’t actually that hard to think of! I think it was some days later that he phones me up and asked if I could translate the phrase ‘these are words that go together well’ and I told him that it should be ‘sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble.’”
Apart from this, there is nothing on a purely musical level that lends a French character to the song. Michelle evokes, in a very broad sense, the languid mood of Parisian cafe culture, with its long melodic phrases and moderate tempo. The use clever chord progressions is perhaps a generic nod to the sophistication of post-war bourgeois French society.
Harmonic Design
Michelle starts with four-bar acoustic guitar riff that begins in F minor and runs through F major7 and Fm6 before landing on Bb/F and then C major – the dominant chord of the home key.
The song uses common chord shapes, but makes use of a capo on the fifth fret. This reinforces the idea that Michelle was originally conceived as a guitar instrumental solo. If the song is played without a capo in the key of C major, it pushes the vocal in the “love you, I love you” middle eight up to the note of C5.
For this reason, when McCartney performed the song on the 1973 James Paul McCartney TV Special, he de-tuned his guitar a minor third and performs the song in the key of A major with guitar shapes in C major without a capo. In fact, the whole acoustic section makes uses the de-tuned guitar, with Blackbird in the key of E, as opposed to G major:
F major or F minor?
Much of the interest in Michelle rests on the ambiguity of the song’s tonal centre. The song’s introduction begins in F minor. The “I love you, I love you” bridge section is in F minor, but the verse begins on the chord of F major. Michelle is usually notated in F major, but some of the chords of the verse, such as Eb6 on the words “these are words” obviously belong to F minor. In addition, the prevalence of both Db and Ab in the vocal melody strongly suggest F minor.
In my opinion, Michelle is in the key of F minor, but the opening chord of F major represents a reverse take on the idea of tierce de picardie.
The “Gretty Chord”
The “Gretty chord” is a chord shape named after the shop assistant and jazz guitarist at Hessy’s music store in Liverpool, where the young Beatles purchased their first instruments. Jim Gretty showed Harrison and McCartney the chord shape in question. Being “unschooled” musicians, they did not know that the chord in question was a dominant seventh with a sharp ninth.
The chord has a distinctive sound due to the clash of the minor third (or “sharp ninth”) with the major third. In the case of Michelle, the chord is Bb7#9. The chord can be heard on the words “ma belle” at 0:11. Here, the vocal melody moves from Db5 to Ab4, reinforcing the sharp ninth and minor seventh of the chord.
The “Gretty chord” also makes an appearance at the end of George Harrison’s solo (1:21) on Till There Was You from 1963. In this case, the chord is Gb7#9 and is used as a tritone substitute for the chord of C7.
Diminished Chords
Only two bars later, McCartney puls another harmonic trick out of the bag in the use of diminished chords. The vocal melody here also formed from a diminished arpeggio that begins on F:
Although it is difficult to hear in the final recording, from the James Paul McCartney TV Special, it seems that McCartney begins on the chord of Ab diminished 7, then slides up to B diminished on fret nine, then D diminished on fret twelve, and then B diminished on fret nine.
In fact, all of these diminished chords are inversions of one-another. For example, Ab diminished is formed form the notes Ab Cb Ebb Gbb, which is enharmonically identical to B diminished B (Cb) D (Ebb) F (Gbb) Ab. Of course, jazz musicians and classical players are aware of this fact, but it is impressive that a very young McCartney probably discovered the mutability of diminished seventh chords quite by accident.
Here, the Brazilian composer Villa Lobos employs a run of inversions of a diminished chord in much the same manner as McCartney:
In terms of function, the bar of diminished chords has a pre-dominant function, as it precedes the chord of C major here an also in the following bar on the words “tres bien ensemble”.
The chord of D diminished occurs in the F melodic minor scale, lending further credence to the view that each verse of Michelle is in fact more closely aligned with F minor than F major.
Bridge Section
In the early 1960s McCartney’s song consisted of the verse section only. According to an interview with Lennon shortly before his death in 1980, he came up with basis for song’s bridge:
He and I were staying somewhere and he walked in and hummed to first few bars, with the words, and he says, ‘Where do I go from here?’ I had been listening to (blues singer) Nina Simone. I think it was ‘I Put A Spell On You.’ There was a line in it that went, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’ That’s what made me think of the middle-eight for ‘Michelle.
I have started this clip at the relevant point for the purpose of comparison.:
In contrast to Simone, the “I love you” vocal phrases are based on a descending melody, formed from quarter-note/crotchet triplets:
This descending triplet-based motive bears more than a passing resemblance to the end of each verse of Besame Mucho. Besame Mucho (Kiss Me A Lot) had been written as long ago as 1940 by the Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velasquez.
The Beatles had performed the song as part of their ill-fated Decca Audition and also recorded the track on the 6th June 1962 at Abbey Road. Besame Mucho more fiery and red-blooded than Michelle, but has a similarly exotic blend of chords from both parallel major and minor keys – in this case, G minor.
Guitar Solo
George Martin claimed that he composed the guitar solo for Michelle. The solo follows the chord structure of the verse and is performed on Harrison’s Epiphone Casino guitar. Interestingly, the solo dovetails over McCartney’s vocal of “I love you”.
Harmony Vocals
The vocal harmonies represent another sophisticated offering from the band. Rather than a single descant part (as had been the standard in the early period), the harmonies are in three parts in addition to the lead vocal. Two close harmonies in third form a sustained chord-effect descant and a lower part sits below the main vocal in the low-tenor range:
Bass Line
The bass part in Michelle represents McCartney’s true coming of age as a “melodic” bass player in The Beatles. McCartney himself recognises this fact:
I’ll never forget putting the bass line in ‘Michelle’… It really turned the song around. You could do that with bass, it was very exciting
Focussing on the bass, it is clear that McCartney is thinking about lending the instrument its in truly “horizontal” sense, connecting chords with short runs and passing notes that break free from the main quarter-note/crotchet pulse. This cover version focuses the attention on the bass guitar part:
Coda
The song ends with the a fade-out repeat of Harrison’s guitar solo over the chords of the verse. The major/minor ambiguity of the song is tactfully avoided through the use of this fade-out.
However, McCartney could have chosen to end the song with a more decisive major or minor chord and laid to rest the major/minor dichotomy.
As an experiment, I decided to clumsily edit the song to end decisively on either a major or minor chord. You can decide for yourself which sounds better:
Major Ending
Minor Ending
Conclusion
Michelle is a landmark in The Beatles’ recording career. With the help of John Lennon, McCartney successfully re-fashioned a very early instrumental piece into a coherent and timeless song.
It is the first original Beatles composition to embrace a strong national character. This French element can be traced back to a number of vocalists who enjoyed success in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Other outstanding features in Michelle include:
- A sophisticated harmonic design that fluctuates between F major and F minor
- The use of the sharp-ninth “Gretty chord”.
- A secure understanding of the function and versatility of diminished seventh chords
- A highly melodic bass guitar part
- Three-part vocal harmonies that sits astride the main vocal
And Finally:
Please think about supporting my work. By purchasing one of my books (click on the books below).
I’m completely self-funded but provide regular posts to explain the magic of McCartney’s music.
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- Appendices
- Baccarat Analysis
- Miscellaneous
Introduction
Baccarat is a game steeped in superstition. The vast majority of players keep careful track of the shoe history, either on paper or with the aid of screens that show every hand since the shoe began. There are various ways of recording this information. The companies that market the screens that display the shoe history present it in various ways, according to the most popular methods of trying to define patterns.
Before going further, let me give my usual comment on notation. When referring to an actual bet, I use capital letters. When referring to the player playing the game, I use lower case. I invite the rest of the world to follow this convention, to help avoid confusion.
For those who don't know me, let me take a moment to say that all this effort at trying to predict the next hand is a waste of time. For all practical purposes, the odds are the same for every hand, and the past history does not matter. Now before the perfectionists out there write to me, yes, I know if you had the use of a computer, a card counter could make computer-perfect decisions according to the composition of the remaining cards, which would very rarely result in an advantage on some bets. However, that is not what I'm talking about it. I'm saying that trying to find a pattern in past Player and Banker wins is as useless as predicting the next color in roulette (on a fair wheel) according to past reds and blacks.
Although I personally don't play baccarat, I have wondered for years about some of the tables in those displays of the shoe history. The staff at the Venetian has been very helpful in helping me understand, so that I may enlighten the rest of the world. So, with the introductions out of the way, let's get started. Here is a picture of a typical sign, seen at the Venetian. There are various components of display, which I will address individually.
How to Read Them
Bead Plate
This section above is called the 'bead plate.' It used to be that players could buy a tray with cubes with sides noting Player, Banker, and Tie wins. Wins are recorded as follows:
- Blue = Player win
- Red = Banker win
- Green = Tie win
The player starts in the upper left hand corner and makes his way down. When he reaches the bottom row, he moves over one column to the right and back to the top row.
Big Road
The next section, pictured above, is called the 'Big Road.' This primarily keeps track of Player and Banker wins. Tie and pair wins are also noted with slashes and dots. To be specific, a tie is noted with a green line through the previous Player or Banker win. A Player pair is noted with a blue dot in the lower right corner of the hand it occurred in. A Banker pair with a red dot in upper left. In the interest of simplicity, in this example there were only Player and Banker wins. Much like in the Bead Plate, the player starts in the upper left, as well as marking Player wins in blue, and Banker wins in red. However, instead of a solid circle, with a Chinese character in the middle, the Big Road has only the blue and red outlines of circles.
Unlike the Bead Plate, in the Big Road the player starts at the top of a new column with each change in Player and Banker winning. Note the grid is six rows deep. In the event there are seven or more consecutive Player or Banker wins, the results will move to the right, creating what is known as a dragon tail. In this example that never happens, as there was never more than four consecutive wins on the same side.
Abu Casona Kitchen
Big Eye Boy
With the next table, it is no longer so obvious what is going on, and it is here where I started to need help. As mentioned before, baccarat players are a very superstitious bunch. While the strategies they use to find patterns can be a complicated topic, one basic truth is they like predictability and repeating patterns. For example, if the last 12 hands were BBBPPPBBBPPP, I would bet that everybody at the table would bet on the Banker the next hand. Note how wins happen in groups of three. The Big Eye Boy table is useful in gauging how repetitive the shoe is. Red entries are a sign of repetition, and blue entries are a sign of a chaotic, 'choppy' shoe. It is important to note that in the Big Eye Boy table, blue and red are not associated with Player and Banker wins, as they are on the previous two tables.
The first entry in the Big Eye Boy table is the hand after the first entry in the second column of the Big Road, so that there is enough information to judge if a pattern is developing or not. Here is where the air starts to get thin, so pay attention. Every entry in the Big Eye Boy table, as well as the next two tables, will refer to a specific entry in the Big Road. Each entry in the Big Eye Boy is recorded as follows:
- If the hand in question causes a new column in the Big Road, then compare the previous two columns in the Big Road. If they are the same in depth, then record a red circle in the Big Eye Boy. If they are not, then record a blue circle.
- If the hand in question is the same outcome as the previous hand (skipping ties), then compare the cell to the left of the newly created entry in the Big Road with the cell directly above that one. If these two cells are the same, whether both Player, both Banker, or both blank; then mark a red in the Big Eye Boy. Otherwise, mark a blue.
In other words, consider the latest entry in the Big Road. Then, move one cell to the left. Then, move up. If the move up does not result in a change, mark red, if it does, mark blue.
In the event the Big Road forms a dragon tail, for purposes of the Big Eye Boy as well as the Small Road and Cockroach Pig, assume that the Big Road is infinitely deep, and ask yourself what would have happened under that assumption.
Note that if the Big Road consisted entirely of an alternating pattern of x Player wins with x Banker wins, then the Big Eye Boy would be entirely red.
To help with this part, I explain below every entry in the Big Eye Boy table that follows. I put the results in Excel so you could refer to the exact points in the grid I'm referring to.
For example, the first entry shows cell A1 on the Big Eye Boy table. This corresponds to the same hand represented in cell C1 of the Big Road table. Since cell C1 is the beginning of a new column, we check if the previous two columns are equal in length. They are, so we color the Big Eye Boy red for cell A1.
Big Road
Big Eye Boy
Big Eye Boy — Play by Play
| Big Eye Boy Cell | Big Road Cell | Color | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | |||
| B1 | |||
| A1 | C1 | Red | Columns A and B equal in length |
| B1 | C2 | Blue | B1 and B2 don't match |
| B2 | D1 | Blue | Columns B and C unequal in length |
| B3 | E1 | Blue | Columns C and D unequal in length |
| B4 | E2 | Blue | D1 and D2 don't match |
| C1 | E3 | Red | D2 and D3 match |
| C2 | E4 | Red | D3 and D4 match |
| D1 | F1 | Blue | Columns D and E unequal in length |
| D2 | G1 | Blue | Columns E and F unequal in length |
| E1 | HI | Red | Columns F and G equal in length |
| E2 | I1 | Red | Columns G and H equal in length |
| F1 | I2 | Blue | H1 and H2 don't match |
| F2 | J1 | Blue | Columns H and I unequal in length |
| G1 | J2 | Red | I1 and I2 match |
| H1 | J3 | Blue | I2 and I3 don't match |
| H2 | K1 | Blue | Columns I and J unequal in length |
| I1 | K2 | Red | J1 and J2 match |
| I2 | K3 | Red | J2 and J3 match |
| I3 | L1 | Red | Columns J and K equal in length |
| I4 | L2 | Red | K1 and K2 match |
| J1 | M1 | Blue | Columns K and L unequal in length |
| J2 | N1 | Blue | Columns L and M unequal in length |
| J3 | N2 | Blue | M1 and M2 don't match |
| K1 | N3 | Red | M2 and M3 match |
| L1 | O1 | Blue | Columns M and N unequal in length |
| M1 | O2 | Red | N1 and N2 match |
| N1 | P1 | Blue | Columns N and O unequal in length |
| O1 | P2 | Red | O1 and O2 equal |
| O2 | Q1 | Red | Columns O and P equal in length |
| P1 | R1 | Blue | Columns P and Q unequal in length |
| Q1 | S1 | Red | Columns Q and R equal in length |
| R1 | S2 | Blue | R1 and R2 don't match |
| S1 | S3 | Red | R2 and R3 match |
| T1 | T1 | Blue | Columns R and S unequal in length |
| U1 | T2 | Red | S1 and S2 match |
| U2 | T3 | Red | S2 and S3 match |
| U3 | U1 | Red | Columns S and T equal in length |
| U4 | U2 | Red | T1 and T2 match |
| V1 | V1 | Red | Columns T and U equal in length |
| W1 | V2 | Red | U1 and U2 match |
| W2 | W1 | Blue | Columns U and V unequal in length |
| X1 | X1 | Blue | Columns V and W unequal in length |
| Y1 | Y1 | Red | Columns W and X equal in length |
| Z1 | Y2 | Blue | X1 and X2 don't match |
| AA1 | Y3 | Red | X2 and X3 match |
| AB1 | Z1 | Blue | Columns X and Y unequal in length |
| AB2 | AA1 | Blue | Columns Y and Z unequal in length |
| AB3 | AA2 | Blue | AA1 and AA2 don't match |
| AB4 | AB1 | Blue | Columns Z and AA unequal in length |
| AB5 | AC1 | Blue | Columns AA and AB unequal in length |
| AB6 | AC2 | Blue | AB1 and AB2 don't match |
| AC1 | AC3 | Red | AB2 and AB3 match |
| AD1 | AD1 | Blue | Columns AB and AC unequal in length |
| AD2 | AE1 | Blue | Columns AC and AD unequal in length |
| AD3 | AE2 | Blue | AD1 and AD2 don't match |
| AE1 | AE3 | Red | AD2 and AD3 match |
| AE2 | AE4 | Red | AD3 and AD4 match |
| AF1 | AF1 | Blue | Columns AD and AE unequal in length |
| AF2 | AG1 | Blue | Columns AE and AF unequal in length |
| AG1 | AH1 | Red | Columns AF and AG equal in length |
| AG2 | AI1 | Red | Columns AG and AH equal in length |
| AG3 | AJ1 | Red | Columns AH and AI equal in length |
| AH1 | AJ2 | Blue | AI1 and AI2 don't match |
| AI1 | AJ3 | Red | AI2 and AI3 match |
| AJ1 | AK1 | Blue | Columns AI and AJ unequal in length |
| AJ2 | AL1 | Blue | Columns AJ and AK unequal in length |
Small Road
The next table, in the bottom left of the display, is the 'Small Road.' The Small Road works exactly like the Big Eye Boy, except it skips the column to the left of the current column in the Big Road. To have enough information to go on, the Small Road must wait until the entry after the first entry in the third column of the Big Road. Here is exactly how the Small Road is recorded.
- If the hand in question causes a new column in the Big Road, then compare the first and third columns to the left of the new column in the Big Road. If they are the same in depth, then record a red circle in the Small Road. If they are not, then record a blue circle.
- If the hand in question is the same outcome as the previous hand (skipping ties), then compare the cell two cells to the left of the newly created entry in the Big Road with the cell directly above that one. If these two cells are the same, whether both Player, both Banker, or both blank; then mark a red in the Small Road. Otherwise, mark a blue.
In other words, consider the latest entry in the Big Road. Then, move two cells to the left. Then, move up. If the move up does not result in a change, mark red, if it does, mark blue.
The Small Road in the sign pictured was too big to fit in the grid, so the first four columns dropped off. They would have been BBRRBR.
Cockroach Pig
The next table, in the bottom right of the display, is 'Cockroach Pig.' The Cockroach works exactly like the Small Road, except it skips two columns to the left of the current column in the Big Road. To have enough information to go on, the Cockroach Pig must wait until the entry after the first entry in the fourth column of the Big Road. Here is exactly how the Cockroach Pig is recorded.
- If the hand in question causes a new column in the Big Road then compare the first and fourth columns to the left of the new column in the Big Road. If they are the same in depth, then record a red circle in the Cockroach Pig. If they are not, then record a blue circle.
- If the hand in question is the same outcome as the previous hand (skipping ties), then compare the cell three cells to the left of the newly created entry in the Big Road with the cell directly above that one. If these two cells are the same, whether both Player, both Banker, or both blank; then mark a red in the Cockroach Pig. Otherwise, mark a blue.
In other words, consider the latest entry in the Big Road. Then, move three cells to the left. Then, move up. If the move up does not result in a change, mark red, if it does, mark blue.
Ab4 Casino Reviews
Other Statistics
Finally, the above picture shows the upper right part of the display. The left part shows overall shoe statistics for how often each bet won. This is not a very realistic example, as I put in Player and Banker wins only, for purposes of example. The right part shows what will happen on the Big Eye Boy, Small Road, and Cockroach Pig according to whether the next hand is a Player or Banker win.
Links
Fate in the cards: understanding baccarat trends (part 1) and (part 2) by Andrew W Scott
Ab4 Chemistry
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the friendly and helpful staff at the Venetian for suffering my many questions about this topic and letting me take pictures of their sign.