On House and The Beatles

Let’s rewind a few days. Back to Tuesday.

House returned to FOX on Tuesday for its final three episodes of the fourth season with a Very Special Christmas Episode.

Unlike previous Very Special Christmas Episodes, Dr. Gregory House didn’t OD himself into oblivion. He had case. He had his new team. He had new mind games to play with, well, everyone.

And House even went to church.

I loved it. House was back, even though come Tuesday House will be finished for the season.

But wait! Didn’t I write above “three episodes”? I did — the other episode is on tomorrow night, after the Super Bowl. Go Tom Petty! Yeah, that’s what I’ll be watching the Super Bowl for. Tom Petty.

I digress.

It’s always fun to watch a television show and hear, in the background, a song that you know that you’re absolutely certain no one else knows. And that’s what happened to me on Tuesday.

I heard a Fab Four song.

I don’t remember the scene exactly. It doesn’t matter. But in the background on one scene, The Fab Four’s “Little Drummer Boy” played in the background.

The Fab Four are a Beatles tribute band. And they released two CDs of Beatles-inspired Christmas music. “Little Drummer Boy,” for instance, sounds like “Sun King” from Abbey Road. It has the distinctive instrumental opening of “Sun King,” and then segues into a Beatle-tinged “Little Drummer Boy.”

I thought it was absolutely awesome.

And I knew exactly what it was. 🙂

Other people heard it. How do I know?

People are looking for “Beatles Drummer Boy Mash Up.” Or they’re looking for “Beatles Christmas Drummer Boy.” Or similar search phrases.

Based on the phrases searched for, I have the impression that viewers think the Beatles were the ones to record “Little Drummer Boy.” Just an impression. 😉

The recent redesign, in this case, isn’t helping them find the information they’re looking for. The new tag pages, for example, don’t have text, but that’s what recent Google-crawls indexed. So they’re not finding the post where I broke down the twenty Christmas songs the Fab Four recorded, and the Beatles songs they used as their templates.

And now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

As for House

I’m glad it’s back. Even if it’s just for three more days.

After a definite dip in its third season, I loved the Survivor-style contests that dominated the first part of the season. It was time for the Ducklings to move on. The interpersonal dynamics had become a bit too… bland. I like Taub. I like Kuttner. I like Thirteen. I do miss Cutthroat Bitch, though.

The post-Super Bowl episode looks good and exciting. A format-breaker. House needs more format breakers.

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

9 thoughts on “On House and The Beatles

  1. I had the shock of my life hearing the Pipettes in the background of a pub brawl in the first episode of Torchwood. I need the new House to start over here.

  2. I’ve enjoyed noticing the background music in Torchwood. Though I’ve thought that the use of older Travis songs in the background of several first season episodes was… odd, given that Torchwood took place in the near-future.

    I remember an episode of Jonathan Creek where I sat up and said, “Did I just hear ‘Some Might Say,’ by Oasis? I did just hear ‘Some Might Say,’ by Oasis!” Jonathan and Maddy were in a bar, and there it was.

    It’s just something you don’t hear in American television. Crowded rooms, where you would expect to hear muzak in real life, have only the din of the crowd. The music clearance rights would be murder.

  3. I heard it, hollered “it’s the beatles mashed up with Little Drummer Boy — I HAVE TO HAVE IT” and then got it for Christmas (yah super boyfriend!). I *love* this album!

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