Lenny Kravitz Covers the Beatles on ‘Letterman’
Beatles Week continued on 'The Late Show With David Letterman' last night, with Lenny Kravitz stopping by to deliver his rendition of 'Get Back.'
Kravitz, a well-known Beatles fan, records with the group's old console; as he told MusicRadar in 2011, "I got it 20 years ago, and it goes where I go. Historically, it's a beautiful piece of gear -- when you see pictures of the Beatles sitting around it, it always blows my mind -- but also as a piece of audio equipment it's beautiful, the mic pre-amplifiers and the EQ are beautiful."
Kravitz's 'Get Back' cover comes after Broken Bells performed 'And I Love Her' and Sting delivered his rendition of 'Drive My Car.' Tonight, Letterman's scheduled to play host to the Flaming Lips and Sean Lennon, who will reportedly perform 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.'
Kravitz described Paul McCartney as "a modern-day Mozart" during a 2005 interview, adding, "Let's be real. I'd like to see the best writer today write his worst song. A lot of people don't have ears. They don't realize what it takes to write a great song. It's like people say Ringo [Starr] can't play drums. He's amazing. He's a lyrical drummer. He moves with the music. How can you not love the Beatles and McCartney?"
He was more of a latecomer to John Lennon's solo work; as Kravitz admitted to Rolling Stone, he didn't get around to hearing 'Plastic Ono Band' until people told him his own debut record reminded them of the Lennon LP. "I listened, and it blew my mind," he recalled. "The thing that touched me was the brutal honesty. The recordings were raw and stripped down. They were so real."