Talk:Doctor Robert

Possible incorrect music theory
I completed four semesters of music theory at UA in Tuscaloosa.

Ok here's my issue. The article reads the song is in A Major but the key center (I'm assuming tonic) is B - "this makes it the Mixolydean mode". In a major a B tonic would produce B dorian.

E Mixolydean (tonic being E) is the mixolydean mode of A major. Unless the song modulates the theory stated is incorrect. If it does modulate (and I didn't hear a modulation) this section of the article is poorly worded at best and dead wrong at worst.

I haven't played with it, but this doesn't seem correct to me. I would encourage investigation into this. Burnedfaceless (talk) 10:01, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

Completely agree. This song is not in A mixolydian. Whoever said that is confused about the Mixolydian mode. The previous poster is correct that a song in the key of A, centered on B would be Dorian, not Mixolydian. And the key center of this song is not B in any case, though the chorus/bridge moves to a B major chord, which gives the song an interesting sound. The sentence about Mixolydian is wrong and should be removed. Adj7388 (talk) 20:24, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

Moved from article until sourced
The following section contradicts what Lennon himself has said about the subject of the song. Hence I think it needs a source, preferably a a more reliable one than, say, the Beatles songfacts site, which could have borrowed the info from us anyway.--194.145.161.227 21:48, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

"Dr. Robert" was written about a New York physician who became known for injecting "vitamin" shots — laced with amphetamines — to his celebrity patients. This Dr. Robert Freymann was a 60-year old German physician who boasted having 100 celebrity patients in the 1960s. He lost his license in 1968 and was removed from the New York Medical Society in 1975. He died in 1987.

Dr. Robert has also been incorrectly identified by several sources as a Dr. Charles Roberts but this name was an alias given by Edie Sedgwick — the anorexic "superstar" in several of Andy Warhol’s films — to protect the identity of another doctor who was rather liberal with dispensing drugs.

It has also been rumoured that the song is about the Beatles' friend and art dealer Robert Freeman. Others believe it may be a reference to Bob Dylan, who first introduced the Beatles to marijuana.

Dr. Robert is a synonyme for "Dr. Feelgood" like Dr. Robert Freymann. A Dr. Feelgood is a doctor who made prescriptions without any reason so he sells on a "legal" way drugs. Until 1968 doctors were allowed to made prescriptions for Cocaine and heroine.

From the lyrics it says "My friend works for the national health, Doctor Robert"... pretty hard to believe Doctor Robert was anything but British. Tiffany78 (talk) 22:55, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Robert
Hello,

In 2007 I found out that the song Doctor Robert is not about a drug dealer or Dr. Robert Freymann. It is clear that the Wikipedia page has some serious speculations that are damaging the reputation of a living person, if John Lennon has referred to him in his lyrics of Doctor Robert.

I discovered that I am the person John Lennon was singing about in this Beatles song.

I wrote to Wikipedia because I have a dispute with an administrator that is quite distressing. You can read the discussion on the following page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Rodhullandemu#Good_faith

The disagreement from the side of administrator Rodhullandemu started with the following text I want to add to the 'Doctor Robert' page:

The one and only Doctor Robert that the Beatles have referred to in their song in 1966 has revealed himself in 2007, when he first realised that he must be the one that the lyrics of the song are about. He was just two years old when a true miracle happened, making him worldfamous while he and his family didn't even realize this happened. Beware of fraud!!! If you don't believe this, just check all the contradictions regarding the true identity of Doctor Robert. Certainly the Beatles were smart enough in 1966 to avoid an ode to a doctor prescribing amphetamine like Robert Freymann. Being serious musicians, they already knew the severe consequences of using such a destructive drug. And why would John Lennon call himself Doctor Robert? Doctor John would have been more logical if he was carrying around all the pills in the early days. The year 1966 certainly doesn't belong to the Beatles' early days anymore, since they started to record with George Martin. Lennon had a very fine British (or should I say Celtic?), cynical sense of humour and liked to play around with this name. He created a mysterious birdnest, expecting that one day the true identity of Doctor Robert would inevitably be revealed. In the meantime it remained one of the best kept secrets of the Beatles...

This is a case that seems hard to resolve. The only true experts that can help out are George Martin, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr and Sean and Julian Lennon. I don't want to reveal all the facts, because there is a chance that a motion picture will be created about my life.

I hope you can inform me about the steps to take in order to get the above text on the Doctor Robert Wikipedia page. For more information about me and my work I refer to the following URLs:

Yours sincerely,

Robert van der Velden Virtualizer (talk) 09:23, 7 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I just moved this new addition to the bottom of the talk page, where new contributions need to be placed. I also put loads of URL's in HTML tags as this appears to be some strange attempt to provides one's own websites with loads of hits. This user put his theories on Dutch Wikipedia as well. Come on, the Beatles did a song about a Dutch two-year-old? Hahaha... Erik1980 (talk) 18:43, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

This ignorant man finds my story hard to believe. He is not the only one. Actually, hardly anyone believes it. Therefore his thoughts on Doctor Robert are not very original. Fact is that Paul McCartney wrote their biggest hit single 'Hey Jude' two years later. It was about Julian Lennon, who was five years old at that time. Furthermore, why would John Lennon write a song about someone who's Dutch? Well, why not. If the story is worth telling. A few days ago I wrote a letter to Sir Paul McCartney, hoping to achieve more clarity on the subject. Meanwhile, if you are responding to this topic, try to make sense. Don't just start ridiculizing the story, while you haven't got the slightest idea what you're writing about. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Robert van der Velden (talk • contribs) 07:03, 10 August 2009 (UTC) Robert van der Velden (talk) 08:10, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Rock band?
They used to be a ‘pop group’. That was the term back then. What has happened? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:44B8:3102:BB00:35F3:1C83:170E:FAEC (talk) 21:37, 22 June 2021 (UTC)