60s

Day Tripper - The Beatles (1965) - Day Tripper - Type O Negative (1999)

The Beatles: released in 1965, meant to be released under the 'Rubber Soul' album, released separately - Day Tripper was originally quoted by John Lennon ‘Day Tripper’ was written under complete pressure, based on an old folk song I wrote about a month previous. It was very hard going, that, and it sounds it. It wasn’t a serious message song. It was a drug song. In a way, it was a day tripper – I just liked the word". However of course Day Tripper is about people that like to “Trip Out” on the drug that is Acid. John Lennon knew exactly this was what he was writing and why he wrote this song as he himself - as he has been documented for his extensive acid use. Produced by George Martin - referred to as 'The Fifth Beatle', known for his extensive collaborative efforts with the band.

This joyful yet bluesy (this is as the song is based on a 12-bar blues in E, switching up a tone (F#) for the chorus) and free-spirited tonality of the song is embedded by being set in e major - a more brightful key,  set at an upbeat 137 bpm allowing for a rhythm that is easy to follow along yet at a faster pace - the song itself feels as if it's a constant journey building up off the suspense and bliss of the 'high' that acid, as suggested, may have given John.

Verse 2:

She's a big teaser

She took me half the way there

She's a big teaser

She took me half the way there, now

Chorus:

She was a day tripper

One way ticket, yeah

It took me so long to find out

And I found out

In the first verse: the original lyrics were meant to have 'she's a big teaser' be written as 'she's a big prick teaser' - however unserious they had been about the song, they still did not follow suit - which some argue may allude to the song being about a prostitute: "I remember with the prick teasers we thought, That’d be fun to put in. That was one of the great things about collaborating, you could nudge-nudge, wink-wink a bit, whereas if you’re sitting on your own, you might not put it in". 

-Paul McCartney

In the chorus: the narrator refers to the song title 'Day Tripper' - a knowing reference to the burgeoning drugs-based counterculture of the mid-1960s. The term ‘Day tripper’ referred to a person who failed to fully embed themselves into the hippy lifestyle.

Type O Negative: released in 1999 under the 'World Coming Down' album - which contrastingly had been produced by members of the band - frontman Peter Steele and Josh Silver (keyboardist and producer for the band), the song embeds itself as a medley contrast to the original where it follows the same melodies whilst with a drawn out messy and doom inspired incoherence, articulated with Pete's doom-esque haunting shattering vocals. Frontman Peter Steele moving away from the original tonal range using his signature haunting vocal style - the song now set in the key of F sharp major staying at a slower darker rhythm of 108 bpm - fitting that dark gothic - doom-y sound that the band is known for - almost hopeless.

Using the distorted doom-y power chords of E5,F5,A5,G#5...with other power chords in place at sections of the song broken up with melodies in between of repeated phrasing, all in their 'Type O' tuning of B standard (B,E,A,D,F#,B) with the real chords being set all a perfect fourth down of (2 tones and a semi-tone) hauntingly drawn out vocals - all contrasted with heavy - slamming instrumentals creating this eerie hopeless nature of the song. Now almost melancholic and dark in complete subvertion to the joyful nature of The Beatles.