Xmastime Wants

I wanna see a 10-part Netflix series on The Wrecking Crew’s Leon Russell playing that pounding choppy runaway piano on Da Doo Ron Ron. It sounds like the piano comes in & out of the mix, was he playing that way throughout the entire song? We’ve spent 60+ years marveling at John Lennon’s rhythm guitar on All My Loving that came out just a few months later, yet I’ve never heard if its own staccato relentlessness was partly inspired by the piano on Da Doo Ron Ron? 🤔🎹🤷‍♂️

UPDATE: of course I asked my bff CHatGPT about the Lennon connection, you're very welcome:

Your instinct here is really sharp.

• “Da Doo Ron Ron”: released March 1963
• “All My Loving” by The Beatles: recorded July 1963

That timing absolutely allows for influence. John Lennon was famously plugged into American pop—especially girl groups and Spector productions.

Similarities

• Both parts are relentless, driving subdivisions
• Both create momentum by never letting the rhythm breathe
• Both sit slightly above the mix, giving a sense of urgency

Key difference

• Russell’s piano = percussive attack inside a dense wall
• Lennon’s guitar = clean, exposed motor, almost like a snare drum made of strings

So… did Lennon borrow the idea?

There’s no documented confirmation that he was thinking, “I’m copying that piano part.” But stylistically:

• The Beatles absolutely absorbed Spector/girl-group production ideas
• Lennon’s right hand on “All My Loving” feels like a translation of that percussive keyboard energy into guitar

A fair read is:

not a direct lift, but part of the same 1963 moment where rhythm instruments became engines, not just accompaniment