Mad Men: Lady Lazarus (featuring Tomorrow Never Knows)

11/27/23 • 58 min

Mad Men's Matthew Weiner paid $250,000 to use the Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows in season 5, episode 8, "Lady Lazarus". We talk about the licensing of Beatles music in film and TV, which is also referenced in the episode, where the agency is trying to find a song for a Hard Day's Night parody advert. This episode is in August 1966 and we discuss how the characters are feeling the paranoia of the sixties closing in on them. America is tense and chaotic: the Richard Speck murders in Chicago and the Texas University sniper shootings have just happened, just as the Beatles are flying in to protests because of John Lennon's "bigger than Jesus" comments.

As for Don Draper, his young wife has left copywriting to become an actor, and she's bought him a copy of Revolver to play while she goes out to a class. Start with the last track, she says. Don sits in his chair, kicks off his shoes, and hears the sound of a generation about to leave him behind.

Watch Mad Men: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/tv-series/mad-men
Don Draper listens to Tomorrow Never Knows: https://youtu.be/6OquASU1y5A
The song Don can’t tell from the Beatles is September in the Rain by The Wedgwoods: https://youtu.be/IFCqKSrrMJQ
And in fairness he's not far off: the Beatles did it in the Decca audition: https://youtu.be/EElKJao9cmA
The University of Texas tower shootings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting
The Richard Speck murders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Speck
The book Pete Campbell reads, Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Crying_of_Lot_49/Py5bngEACAAJ
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_New_York_Trilogy/VRfe-QG_ls4C
Read Ed's 2012 review of Mad Men season 5: https://www.theshiznit.co.uk/review/mad-men-season-five.php

Meet the Beatles Films Podcast

The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.

But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:

Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpod
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/
Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Watch Mad Men: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/tv-series/mad-men
Don Draper listens to Tomorrow Never Knows: https://youtu.be/6OquASU1y5A
The song Don can’t tell from the Beatles is September in the Rain by The Wedgwoods: https://youtu.be/IFCqKSrrMJQ
And in fairness he's not far off: the Beatles did it in the Decca audition: https://youtu.be/EElKJao9cmA
The University of Texas tower shootings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting
The Richard Speck murders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Speck
The book Pete Campbell reads, Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Crying_of_Lot_49/Py5bngEACAAJ
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_New_York_Trilogy/VRfe-QG_ls4C
Read Ed's 2012 review of Mad Men season 5: https://www.theshiznit.co.uk/review/mad-men-season-five.php

Meet the Beatles Films Podcast

But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:

Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpod
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/
Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Paul McCartney: In the World Tonight

First shown in May 1997 on VH1 and ITV, Geoff Wonfor's promotional documentary for Paul McCartney's Flaming Pie album is a bit of a puff piece, but an interesting one. For context, this is all shot when Linda McCartney is receiving cancer treatment, which the public doesn't know about. We talk about how the film and the album might give insights into Paul's state of mind, and what sort of future he's contemplating.

Watch the film: https://youtu.be/-BhnIClthqQ
Watch the video for the Smokin' Mojo Filters' cover of Come Together, featuring Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Steve Cradock, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, and Paul, Linda, Stella and Mary McCartney: https://youtu.be/IK0sMC5ntpc
Read about the David Blaine incident in 2003: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/sep/19/marketingandpr
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168065/

Meet the Beatles Films Podcast

But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:

Twitter https://twitter.com/beatlesfilmpod
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622/
Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspod

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Stuart Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle

This 2005 BBC Four documentary, narrated by Paul Morley and featuring contributions from Astrid Kirchherr, Pauline Sutcliffe, Tony Sheridan, Rod Murray and Horst Facher, looks at the life of fifth Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe before his tragic death at 21. It makes the case that he would’ve been a significant artist in his own right, but spends a lot of its time looking at his work with the Beatles, so we discuss how well it manages to fulfil its brief.

It’s also not the only BBC documentary of this period to be a bit coy about the idea of John Lennon having had a sexual relationship with a man (see also our episode on The Brian Epstein Story), and we ask how helpful this approach is and examine the techniques the film uses to further the suggestion.

Watch the film free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/k1Yrwyfk2NQ
Narrator Paul Morley is a regular figure on BBC pop music documentaries. He’s on record as not being a Beatles fan, and fair enough, but perhaps if you’re writing articles for the Guardian – albeit interesting and well-argued ones – about how the world wouldn’t be any different without them, you’re not the best candidate to voiceover documentaries about them: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/sep/06/showing-off-the-beatles
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499080/