In this thread I rank my favorite Beatles songs: 204-1. (3 Viewers)

[worrierking]

I just listened to Wild Honey Pie for the first time in years.  Not good, but not the worst.  

This will be a fun thread.  

 

[wikkidpissah]

This is going to be yummy. 

I was 10 when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan and i'll never forget walking to school the next day and watching the kids cluster & squeal & make exclamatory gestures knowing this all was world-changing and that the veil which had been over us since Kennedy was shot was being lifted.

The actual Beatles stuff got too silly for me, though, and i was glad when the Stones came along and gave me sumn i didnt have to so much share with icky girls. And, as i've recounted before, you had to choose in those days - you couldnt like both Beatles & Stones. The divide was actually pretty Trumpy. I proudly took my lumps for giving my baby sister's Beatles posters the complete pimple/moustache/glasses treatment and my bangs (i had 5 minutes of cool cuz i was the only kid in school with Beatle bangs when they hit - i didnt tell anyone it was because i wanted to look like Moe in 3Stooges) trended a lot more Brian Jones-y than Paul McCartney.

That divide held til my bff's sister brought home Rubber Soul. She was hot and cool and lived in Greenwich Village, so she coulda spun a Shostakovich record and received my rapt attention. And the stuff was pretty good. Then Norwegian Wood came on and matched the fantasy i was having about this Dana right at that moment and i was 12 and started to feel funny and suddenly knew what love & girlshapes & babyboners & sweaters & weirdly exciting but ultimately unsatisfying transactions between males and females were all about and wOw. So i furtively bought a copy (my sis would have soooo ratted me out) of Rubber Soul and listened over&over&over. I was very glad when Sgt Pepper came along and ended the divide between Beatles & Stones fans cuz i dont think i could have borne my secret shame much longer.

And then it was just magic. I'm not going to try and recreate how unprecedented every moment between 1965-1970 felt to a kid except to say it never has been nor will be matched. I feel just as lucky for that period as that 4 billion years of miracles had to occur so i could laugh & cry & sing & swoon & be so moved by what others could do. And the Beatles crystalized that with each mode & every note. And then it was over, almost before it began, and felt even more like a miracle for what it dissolved into.

I never went back and rescued those missed albums from the rivalry period, but actually got to listen to the Beatles in an even better way for over 30 yrs. Late 70s, i think, some radio station announced they were going to celebrate something Beatle that weekend by playing their catalog in alphabetical order. I was in NYC in between showbiz gigs so i had the time and bought a box of cassettes and taped A-Z, editing the ramps & commercials, through the whole thing. Still have 8 of those 10 90-min tapes and it was such a treat for all those decades to have Rain, the Revolutions, and Rock&Roll Music bounce off each other in such a beautiful chaos-order-chaos way.

Bring it on, krista. Deliciousness.

p.s. scanned wiki's Beatle songlist and didn't see anything i really liked less than Honey Pie. If that's the case, this is just gonna be soooo yummy!!

 

[AAABatteries]

My attempt at guessing the top 10, in no particular order.

1. I've Just Seen a Face ... Tough call between this and Hide your Love Away from Help Album
   
2. Nowhere Man ... One of those songs where lyrics matter
   
3. I'm Looking Through You
   
4. And Your Bird Can Sing
   
5. She Said She Said
   
6. Lovely Rita
   
7. Blackbird
   
8. Something ... 14 year-old me did not dig this song, but it is sooooo beautiful. It's perfect
   
9. Across the Universe
   
10. Penny Lane ... It's easy to dismiss this as ordinary pop, but I think we all have something inside crying to live in a Penny Lane world.  It speaks to me.
    

Love several of these but seems to have some obvious exclusions. No In My Life??

 

[AAABatteries]

Since we're into the classics, I feel like I should probably do my top 10 IDLES tunes here @rockaction

for this insanity. 

HARD PASS

 

[facook]

Krista single-handedly reviving the FFA.  You go gurl.

 

[AAABatteries]

Disagree.  If you are both incredibly drunk and dating a woman named Michelle, and at karaoke night, there is at least an outside chance that the song Michelle might get you into a woman’s bed. 

Nothing good will ever happen to you as a result of Wild Honey Pie. 

Nothing. 

Yeah, but I’m married - Michelle is dreck and this is coming from someone who may listened to The Beatles more than anybody on the bored.  I will concede that I’m being hyperbolic putting in last but it’s definitely an insta-skip for me when it comes on Amazon Music.

 

[DocHolliday]

This is going to be fun.   The Beatles are not my favorite band but they are the greatest band.  I probably listen to at least part of a Beatles album every week.   it never gets old.   

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Really looking forward to this.  #204 was a good choice for last place.  Mrs APK is following this with interest too.   Quote from her:  "other than hearing updates about Tri-man, this is the only noteworthy thing you've mentioned from that website in the last 14 years."

 

[Eephus]

The Background:

I don’t remember exactly when or why I decided to do this, but it’s been rumbling around in my head for a while to put the Beatles song into an order of personal preference.  When I mentioned this in passing in the Beatles thread, a few folks – @Uruk-Hai, @rockaction, @Ilov80s– encouraged me to do it and post it, while @Eephusnotably told me I was crazy to pursue it. 

I stubbornly maintain my original position

 

[AAABatteries]

Really looking forward to this.  #204 was a good choice for last place.  Mrs APK is following this with interest too.   Quote from her:  "other than hearing updates about Tri-man, this is the only noteworthy thing you've mentioned from that website in the last 14 years."

Your old lady has a thing for Tri-man, huh?

 

[krista4]

I get that for sure.

OTOH, what I love about McCartney is perfectly encapsulated in Silly Love Songs.  He hears your criticism, thinks about it a bit, shakes his head, "Nah"... and "here I go again".  He leans into it and embraces it.

Watch the vid for Silly Love Songs where he shows each member of the band during the repeated "I Love You"s.  It's sincere and open and vulnerable.  He knows it's simple and schlocky and still wants to crow about how lucky he is.  I love that about him.

1.  I was drunk when I typed that and I’m not sure even I agree with me.

2.  It’s both awe-inspiring and irritating that I think Paul can basically fire off a decent love song.  He’s like a computer generator - just a few inputs and he spits out a good song.  

Sorry I’m behind here; been hiking all morning and will have some lunch and drinks and then drunk post more later.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Paul's a fantastic song writer but the over-the-top sickly sweet kitsch of "Silly Love Songs" that is a recurring theme in his oeuvre to greater and lesser degrees is one of the many reasons I find John to be the superior talent. It never even occurred to me that there might be people that genuinely like that song but to each their own obviously. I tend to the darker side of things so that might explain it.

And another  for the thread.

Paul could create just about anything. Helter Skelter, Live or Let Die, or some wimpy but still well constructed thing like that. 

 

[Courtjester]

Should be a good read--I have found myself listening to Abbey Road this past week and just love some of the tracks on there.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Paul's a fantastic song writer but the over-the-top sickly sweet kitsch of "Silly Love Songs" that is a recurring theme in his oeuvre to greater and lesser degrees is one of the many reasons I find John to be the superior talent. It never even occurred to me that there might be people that genuinely like that song but to each their own obviously. I tend to the darker side of things so that might explain it.

And another  for the thread.

HA!  I was looking at how much more I like Paul's songs than John's -- and lamenting it a bit since Lennon's have more depth -- and it occurred to me that, for me, a lot of Lennon's songs are better as ideas or as writing than they are songs.

I was also sorry that I didn't like more of Harrison's output.  The three that made my list, My Sweet Lord, What is Life and Give me Love are such a great mix of depth and listenable.  All three will be in my top-10 when I get around to ranking them.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Paul's a fantastic song writer but the over-the-top sickly sweet kitsch of "Silly Love Songs" that is a recurring theme in his oeuvre to greater and lesser degrees is one of the many reasons I find John to be the superior talent. It never even occurred to me that there might be people that genuinely like that song but to each their own obviously. I tend to the darker side of things so that might explain it.

And another  for the thread.

This is interesting to me, as I find Lennon a far more naive songwriter than McCartney (or Harrison, for that matter).

 

[BobbyLayne]

he was part of all those timdraft™s i useta quit

timdraft™s are what drew me out of TSP

 

[Uruk-Hai]

What an interesting word, naive. I'd love for you to expand on this a little.

My rudimentary knowledge of the Beatles will probably be exposed, but #### it, that's why we're here.

Nah, this is my opinion only. There's no right or wrong. One of the interesting things about art is that we can kind of bend it to mean whatever we want.

Before I give my thoughts, can you clarify a little what you meant by "I tend to the darker side of things" in relation to John? I'm not trying for a "gotcha!" or anything, just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding where you're coming from.

Plus, I need a bit to collect what I mean so as to make some sense. Been drinking and cooking all day in a snowstorm 

 

[Mister CIA]

1.  I was drunk when I typed that and I’m not sure even I agree with me.

2.  It’s both awe-inspiring and irritating that I think Paul can basically fire off a decent love song the way the rest of us can fire off a fart (but not in front of our husbands).  He’s like a computer generator - just a few inputs and he spits out a good song.  

Sorry I’m behind here; been hiking all morning and will have some lunch and drinks and then drunk post more later.

Would love if this forum had an option to text me when you drunk post.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Meh.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I mentioned this in another thread, but having multiple songwriters is a huge plus for any group. In this case you have three aces plus another singer to give you a very diverse soundtrack. 

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

#1 My Sweet Lord (Harrison)
#2 Instant Karma (Lennon)
#3 What is Life (Harrison)
#4 Imagine (Lennon)
#5 Silly Love Songs (McCartney)
#6 It Don't Come Easy (Starr [Harrison])
#7 Band on the Run (McCartney)
#8 Jet (McCartney)
#9 Photograph (Starr)
#10 Give Me Love (Harrison)
#11 With a Little Luck (McCartney)
#12 Live and Let Die (McCartney)
#13 Maybe I'm Amazed (McCartney)
#14 Listen to What the Man Says (McCartney)
#15 Stand by Me (Lennon [King])
#16 Give Peace a Chance (Lennon)
#17 Another Day (McCartney)
#18 Happy X-mas (Lennon)
#19 Whatever Gets You Through the Night (Lennon)
#20 Let Em In (McCartney)
#21 Watching the Wheels (Lennon)
#22 Starting Over (Lennon)
#23 Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (McCartney)
#24 Woman (Lennon)
#25 #9 Dream (Lennon)


First, thanks to Krista for inspiring this.  I'd been thinking about it for a while and she motivated me to pull it together.  (NO idea how you could do this with 200+ songs -- I struggled a ton sorting out the middle ten here.)

Notes:

--It would be impossible for this list to be any more subjective.  It's my favorites, not "best".

--Cheated with one cover, but Lennon's version of Stand By Me is a great song and a lot better than the other contenders I had at #25.

--Was pleasantly surprised my Top-10 was more balanced than I expected -- Lennon had two of my top four.  But then nothing again until #15.  I just like McCartney's songs better on average.

--Harrison killed it at #1, #3, #6?, and #10.

--Both of Ringo's were in the top 10 too, but one of those is actually a Harrison tune (It Don't Come Easy).

--If anyone ever asks you which solo song is most like the Beatles -- you can suggest "Another Day".  Not sure which album I'd drop it onto, but it'd fit somewhere.

--Other considered, but cut:  Crackerbox Palace, All Those Years Ago, Isn't It a Pity (Harrison), Hi Hi Hi, My Love, Coming Up, Junior's Farm, 1985 (McCartney), Working Class Hero, Power to the People (Lennon), You're Sixteen (Starr).

 

[Mister CIA]

And, as i've recounted before, you had to choose in those days - you couldnt like both Beatles & Stones.

Back in my '79-'81 Bucks County days, Springsteen was verboten in the world of heads (as in potheads).

 

[krista4]

Paul could create just about anything. Helter Skelter, Live or Let Die, or some wimpy but still well constructed thing like that. 

Absolutely.  If you doubt Paul's range, there's not just that, but listen to this madness from 1980:  Temporary Secretary.  He can write any type of song.  Any. 

 

[AAABatteries]

Meh.

Your face is meh!

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Absolutely.  If you doubt Paul's range, there's not just that, but listen to this madness from 1980:  Temporary Secretary.  He can write any type of song.  Any. 

plus one he wrote with Elvis Costello that I always liked

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_hy7Jgt6t0

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

I forgot that the latter lost some of its lustre

How do you feel about the 33 year old Ringo Starr going to #1 singing "You're 16, You're Beautiful and You're Mine"?

Also, fun trivia... Carrie Fisher is his love interest in the official music video (in 1978 -- she was 22).

 

[krista4]

Just catching up on the interesting discussion of the differences between Paul's and John's writing.  My view has always been more aligned with bananafish's in this respect.  I do see John's songs as generally darker - in fact, as I was putting this list together it occurred to me that some of the John songs I like the best are those where I feel like he's practically screaming for help (or literally in one case).  I won't mention them specifically so as not to blow the suspense of the countdown.  On the other hand, I see Paul as just so damn sunny.  It's not that he can't write angst, but in life he just seems untroubled compared to John.  And so he can turn out these sweet sunny songs that might seem throwaway to some - sure, Michelle fits that bill - but really are quite lovely.  I always think of Lovely Rita in regard to this - he wanted to write a protest song against the introduction of parking meters to London, but instead it turned out to be a love song.  

I've always though of the difference in their songwriting - and certainly I'm not breaking any new ground in this thinking - was that John wrote about himself and the world around him, while Paul often conjured new worlds to describe (Eleanor Rigby, Rocky Raccoon, Fool on the Hill, etc etc).  John's approach was so much more personal, really exposing even the ugly sides of himself, and that approach generally appeals to me more.

 

[AAABatteries]

I tried to paste this but it looked like it was formatted by Hipple wearing oven mits.

http://www.myrsten.nu/worldnet/beatlesongs.htm

 

[krista4]

plus one he wrote with Elvis Costello that I always liked

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x_hy7Jgt6t0

Thought this was going to be Veronica!  This is a great tune, too.  I just learned today that not only was Elvis Costello's "Veronica" (co-written with McCartney) about Costello's grandmother, but that Paul McCartney's song "That Day is Done" (co-written with Costello) is also about Costello's grandmother.

How do you feel about the 33 year old Ringo Starr going to #1 singing "You're 16, You're Beautiful and You're Mine"?

Also, fun trivia... Carrie Fisher is his love interest in the official music video (in 1978 -- she was 22).

I can't listen to that song.  Completely creeps me out.

 

[krista4]

I tried to paste this but it looked like it was formatted by Hipple wearing oven mits.

http://www.myrsten.nu/worldnet/beatlesongs.htm

Ooooo, great resource!  Bookmarking.

OK, I should post another song.  Need to go find a cover of it.  This is going to be a challenge.

 

[DocHolliday]

Should be a good read--I have found myself listening to Abbey Road this past week and just love some of the tracks on there.

I have been listening to Help! a lot in the past month. The album is full of great tracks but I cannot get enough of the title song and ticket to ride.  

 

[wikkidpissah]

Back in my '79-'81 Bucks County days, Springsteen was verboten in the world of heads (as in potheads).

This kind of thing was a social phenomenon throughout my youth. Hippies would fall down hard on music that got snapped up by jocks & rotsies & "beeries" and it prevented me from enjoying stuff like Ten Years After & JGeils & Tommy & Rod Stewart, no matter how i might be inclined to on the merits alone. Dunno why, but that bias could get huge.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

I have been listening to Help! a lot in the past month. The album is full of great tracks but I cannot get enough of the title song and ticket to ride.  

I Need You.

 

[krista4]

203.  Revolution 9

Beatles version

Feel like I'm going a bit chalky here with these first (or last) two, but rest assured that the full list will be aggravatingly un-chalky.  I really want to like this and am a more natural audience for it than most people, as I'm interested in sound collages and in musique concrète.  Wait, is this where we should start talking about Yoko?  Maybe I'll save more Yoko discussion for when we get to Ballad of John and Yoko or something else, but here's a preview:  I think Yoko is talented.  There, I said it.  And I'm not sure I can name another song where her influence is so directly felt.  But in my opinion this just...doesn't work.  I like some of the sounds, but it's too much of a mishmosh of ideas.  Even this type of work needs a structure - or maybe better put, a logic - and cohesion, and this doesn't have it.  And good lord, it's too long.  At three minutes I might listen to it when it comes on, but at 8+, that's a big nope.

It's interesting to me that Paul was doing so much more work in the avant-garde realm at this time, and yet this composition by John was the one to make the album.  Maybe that's why Paul didn't want it on there.  I know he's said that he (Paul) didn't think his avant-garde work was worthy of their albums, and I doubt he thought John's was either.

John thought he was painting a picture of revolution and spent more time on this song than any other, though I'm not sure if he was pleased with the result since he said later that he mistakenly painted a picture of anti-revolution.  I've read that there is a humor in the way it's constructed, and certainly John was known to have a fantastic sense of humor and has said the "number nine" part at the beginning is in there because he just found the way it was said hilarious.  Unfortunately Charles Manson heard a lot he liked in this composition and was inspired by it; I guess the "revolution" idea got through to someone.  So there are plenty of people - some of them presumably not mass murderers - who "understand" this work better than I do.  I'd be interested in hearing from someone who likes this one as to what you like about it.  I'm open to learning on this.  When it comes down to it, I'm glad they tried this, even though I don't like it.

Mr. krista's thoughts:  "My problem with this is that I think that sound collages and tape art…I’m very interested in that stuff.  Glenn Gould’s are some of the best things I’ve ever listened to.  And it’s clearly artful in the way they’ve done it, but they’re long, immersive, complicated things that need to be perfect in order to work well.  It can’t be a montage where you could take any part of it and replace it and it would be the same thing.  It still needs to function in the same way as music does. Stuck in the midst of a record like this with pop songs, it’s flung at you.  And it doesn’t draw you in.  If anyone is interested in this, then Steve Reich, or Glenn Gould’s The Idea of North are really good places to start, and you can then go back to this and see what Yoko was on about.  But it’s a lot less artful than the best of collage art.  I feel like my aesthetic is much more sympathetic to something like that, and yet I don’t like it."

Suggested cover version:  Alarm Will Sound  I thought this would be a hard one to find a cover of, but there are a shocking number of cover versions.  People be cray.  But holy hell, these people performed it live.  Though I still don't enjoy the song, this is worth a viewing just for the ballsiness of it.  Impressive.

 

[krista4]

I have been listening to Help! a lot in the past month. The album is full of great tracks but I cannot get enough of the title song and ticket to ride.  

Until I started this process, I generally hadn't thought of the Beatles songs in terms of what albums they were on (which is probably weird for a Beatles fanatic).  I had no idea how much I loved Help! until I did this.  As crazy as it might seem, I think it's my third favorite of their records.

 

[DocHolliday]

Until I started this process, I generally hadn't thought of the Beatles songs in terms of what albums they were on (which is probably weird for a Beatles fanatic).  I had no idea how much I loved Help! until I did this.  As crazy as it might seem, I think it's my third favorite of their records.

That's not crazy.  Help! is an incredible album.  It's difficult to rank Beatles albums since so many are so great.  

 

[AcerFC]

I cant even rank my favorite kids and I only have two of them. 200+ songs is nuts. 

 

[AAABatteries]

Revolution 9 as a song is garbage - as auditory art it’s still garbage but interesting.

 

[krista4]

#1 My Sweet Lord (Harrison)
#2 Instant Karma (Lennon)
#3 What is Life (Harrison)
#4 Imagine (Lennon)
#5 Silly Love Songs (McCartney)
#6 It Don't Come Easy (Starr [Harrison])
#7 Band on the Run (McCartney)
#8 Jet (McCartney)
#9 Photograph (Starr)
#10 Give Me Love (Harrison)
#11 With a Little Luck (McCartney)
#12 Live and Let Die (McCartney)
#13 Maybe I'm Amazed (McCartney)
#14 Listen to What the Man Says (McCartney)
#15 Stand by Me (Lennon [King])
#16 Give Peace a Chance (Lennon)
#17 Another Day (McCartney)
#18 Happy X-mas (Lennon)
#19 Whatever Gets You Through the Night (Lennon)
#20 Let Em In (McCartney)
#21 Watching the Wheels (Lennon)
#22 Starting Over (Lennon)
#23 Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (McCartney)
#24 Woman (Lennon)
#25 #9 Dream (Lennon)


First, thanks to Krista for inspiring this.  I'd been thinking about it for a while and she motivated me to pull it together.  (NO idea how you could do this with 200+ songs -- I struggled a ton sorting out the middle ten here.)

Notes:

--It would be impossible for this list to be any more subjective.  It's my favorites, not "best".

--Cheated with one cover, but Lennon's version of Stand By Me is a great song and a lot better than the other contenders I had at #25.

--Was pleasantly surprised my Top-10 was more balanced than I expected -- Lennon had two of my top four.  But then nothing again until #15.  I just like McCartney's songs better on average.

--Harrison killed it at #1, #3, #6?, and #10.

--Both of Ringo's were in the top 10 too, but one of those is actually a Harrison tune (It Don't Come Easy).

--If anyone ever asks you which solo song is most like the Beatles -- you can suggest "Another Day".  Not sure which album I'd drop it onto, but it'd fit somewhere.

--Other considered, but cut:  Crackerbox Palace, All Those Years Ago, Isn't It a Pity (Harrison), Hi Hi Hi, My Love, Coming Up, Junior's Farm, 1985 (McCartney), Working Class Hero, Power to the People (Lennon), You're Sixteen (Starr).

I wanted to swing back to this as I'd skipped over it feeling like I needed to post another song first.  Thank you for doing this!  It's so freaking difficult, isn't it?  

On my list, the top and the bottom were somewhat easier, but the middle has been a #####.  And I consider the middle to be "songs 13-194" or so.   Once we get out of these first dozen or so that I actually turn off, everything above that is highly listenable for me.  So I'm going to end up with a song at, say, 170 that is a song I really like.  And of course, it changes day to day.  There's one song that moves around the list rather dramatically depending upon my mood; when I'm happy it goes higher, and then drops down if I'm having a bad day.  

As for your list, it's chock full of so much goodness, and of course the ones you left off are some favorites, too.  Instant Karma at #2 - I really can't argue with that.  The rhythms on that kill me.  Give Me Love is a favorite of mine, too, and Whatever Gets You Through the Night is a blast.  I've never identified why I like Jet so much, but I do.  And Ringo gets two in your top ten!  Love this list.  

 

[krista4]

I cant even rank my favorite kids and I only have two of them. 200+ songs is nuts. 

2.  Acer's older kid

I'll post the rest of the list tomorrow.

 

[simey]

For John, going with the well-knowns again, I'll take Watching the Wheels.

"Watching the Wheels" is my favorite John post-Beatles song, and one of my favorite John songs period. As you said somewhere above, many of his lyrics were personal, and this one certainly was. I love everything about the song. The lyrics, the melody, his voice, his message.  Sadly, his return from his five year hiatus would be very brief , but what a great song he gave us while departing this world. Even though he isn't physically with us anymore, he still shines on...like the moon and the stars and the sun.

 

[wikkidpissah]

203.  Revolution 9

Beatles version

Can't argue that #9 is the 203rd most enjoyable Beatles song, but i've listened to the White Album str8thru more than all other Beatles albums combined and never skip R9. It's like a chance to hear Einstein's dreams, see how a magic trick is done. This is not avante-garde, it's the noise in the brainclouds of the most creative ensemble ever assembled. As dreams are what fall behind the file cabinets of the mind, creativity is the trust and dexterity to grab for one of those files before the drawer closes on your hand. Lennon, McCartney et al were the first great artistic minds to have a BBC producer with as much skill as they had inspiration at their disposal and Mr. Martin captured the sound of their braincloud much more closely than AI has yet been able to replicate human intelligence. Skip, OK. Dismiss, no. It is one of the few chances normal folk have to be under the F-1s right up to blast-off.

ETA: McCartney was into avant-garde because, in mid 60s London, they threw the best parties

 

[Henry Ford]

Can't argue that #9 is the 203rd most enjoyable Beatles song, but i've listened to the White Album str8thru more than all other Beatles albums combined and never skip R9. It's like a chance to hear Einstein's dreams, see how a magic trick is done. This is not avante-garde, it's the noise in the brainclouds of the most creative ensemble ever assembled. As dreams are what fall behind the file cabinets of the mind, artistic creation is the trust and dexterity to grab for one of those files before the drawer cuts off your hand. Lennon, McCartney et al were the first great artistic minds to have a BBC producer with as much skill as they had inspiration at their disposal and Mr. Martin captured the sound of their braincloud much more closely than AI has yet been able to replicate human intelligence. Skip, yes. Dismiss, no. It is one of the few chances normal folk have to be under the F-1s throughout the countdown.

Kinda this.  If anyone asks what Beatles song to put on next, 9 is never the answer. But it’s from the days when albums were albums and not collections of songs... if I could remove it from the album I wouldn’t. 

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

203.  Revolution 9

Beatles version

Feel like I'm going a bit chalky here with these first (or last) two, but rest assured that the full list will be aggravatingly un-chalky.  I really want to like this and am a more natural audience for it than most people, as I'm interested in sound collages and in musique concrète.  Wait, is this where we should start talking about Yoko?  Maybe I'll save more Yoko discussion for when we get to Ballad of John and Yoko or something else, but here's a preview:  I think Yoko is supremely talented.  There, I said it.  And I'm not sure I can name another song where her influence is so directly felt.  But in my opinion this just...doesn't work.  I like some of the sounds, but it's too much of a mishmosh of ideas.  Even this type of work needs a structure - or maybe better put, a logic - and cohesion, and this doesn't have it.  And good lord, it's too long.  At three minutes I might listen to it when it comes on, but at 8+, that's a big nope.

It's interesting to me that Paul was doing so much more work in the avant-garde realm at this time, and yet this composition by John was the one to make the album.  Maybe that's why Paul didn't want it on there.  I know he's said that he (Paul) didn't think his avant-garde work was worthy of their albums, and I doubt he thought John's was either.

Lennon thought he was painting a picture of revolution and spent more time on this song than any other, though I'm not sure if he was pleased with the result since he said later that he mistakenly painted a picture of anti-revolution.  I've read that there is a humor in the way it's constructed, and certainly John was known to have a fantastic sense of humor and has said the "number nine" part at the beginning is in there because he just found the way it was said hilarious.  Unfortunately Charles Manson heard a lot he liked in this composition and was inspired by it; I guess the "revolution" idea got through to someone.  So there are plenty of people - some of them presumably not mass murderers - who "understand" this work better than I do.  I'd be interested in hearing from someone who likes this one as to what you like about it.  I'm open to learning on this.  When it comes down to it, I'm glad they tried this, even though I don't like it.

Mr. krista's thoughts:  "My problem with this is that I think that sound collages and tape art…I’m very interested in that stuff.  Glenn Gould’s are some of the best things I’ve ever listened to.  And it’s clearly artful in the way they’ve done it, but they’re long, immersive, complicated things that need to be perfect in order to work well.  It can’t be a montage where you could take any part of it and replace it and it would be the same thing.  It still needs to function in the same way as music does. Stuck in the midst of a record like this with pop songs, it’s flung at you.  And it doesn’t draw you in.  If anyone is interested in this, then Steve Reich, or Glenn Gould’s The Idea of North are really good places to start, and you can then go back to this and see what Yoko was on about.  But it’s a lot less artful than the best of collage art.  I feel like my aesthetic is much more sympathetic to something like that, and yet I don’t like it."

Suggested cover version:  Alarm Will Sound  I thought this would be a hard one to find a cover of, but there are a shocking number of cover versions.  People be cray.  But holy hell, these people performed it live.  Though I still don't enjoy the song, this is worth a viewing just for the ballsiness of it.  Impressive.

If you make it through to #1 you're gonna be able to bundle all 200+ of these, add and edit them into a book and retire.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

My 1st-grade lunchbox ...#####es.  When it mattered what metal lunchbox you had, and Thermoses were still cool.  

So yeah, you could say I'm a little partial to the Beatles.  

 

[Mister CIA]

My 1st-grade lunchbox ...#####es.  When it mattered what metal lunchbox you had, and Thermoses were still cool.  

So yeah, you could say I'm a little partial to the Beatles.  

That's awesome.

 

[AAABatteries]

My 1st-grade lunchbox ...#####es.  When it mattered what metal lunchbox you had, and Thermoses were still cool.  

So yeah, you could say I'm a little partial to the Beatles.  

Ha, you’re old.

 

[simey]

My 1st-grade lunchbox ...#####es.  When it mattered what metal lunchbox you had, and Thermoses were still cool.  

So yeah, you could say I'm a little partial to the Beatles.  

That is awesome. It was fun picking out a metal lunch box before every school year. This isn't nearly as cool as your lunchbox, but a friend gave me this a few years ago. I stash my prescription pills in it. 

 

[Leroy Hoard]

https://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/6023948/il_570xN.350149332.jpg

Beat that Beatle freaks.

 

[simey]

https://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/6023948/il_570xN.350149332.jpg

Beat that Beatle freaks.

  Did you have a Miss Beasley doll?