Martinex1: We have been getting a great number of responses to the various topics that the team suggests each Tuesday, so keep it up! It is of course time for Follow the Leader. Somebody get us started today down a new path of discussion in the comments section; if your suggestion touches on the Bronze Age (even peripherally) it can be a topic here at BitBA. Good luck. Have fun. And cheers!
27 comments:
It was interesting to read the recent enthusiastic comments about a new Beatles radio channel but...
...which are your least-favorite Beatles songs ?
Interesting question!
There's one on Magical Mystery - Blue Jay Way... Not sure what that was all about but it is hard on my ears.
"Mr Moonlight" by a country mile.
And, while it may have been all avant garde at the time, I'm in no hurry to hear "Revolution No 9" anytime in the future.
'Good Night' on the White Album. Sweet sentiment, nice backstory, since Lennon wrote it as a lullaby for Julian. But I've always thought the orchestrations are a bit syrupy and I've never cared for Ringo Starr's vocal either.
'Baby's In Black' (from 'Beatles For Sale') features simplistic lyrics and is performed in a manner that doesn't exactly scream enthusiasm. But they performed it on tour until their last concert, likely because it was easy to play and they needed a slow song.
Second on "Mr Moonlight," which at least they didn't write. As far as originals, I never cared much for "Within You Without You," which seemed to go on forever.
J.A, I agree about, "Goodnight." I always skip it on the album.
I do though love, "Baby's in Black," because of the almost supernatural harmonies. I can't even work out how they came up with them. The way McCartney's voice pulls away from the main melody, seems completely counter-intuitive.
I will definitely second Revolution No. 9.
While I don't hate it, I much (MUCH) prefer the original version of One After 909 to the later rendition that appeared on Let It Be.
Doug
Mr Moonlight is certainly 'a contender'..., along with You Know My Name, Wild Honey Pie (left on the album thanks to Patti Harrison's suggestion) and perhaps rewrites like Yes It Is.
I love the idea of Revolution #9, nearly as much as the track itself. In the landscape of a 'double-album', the very concept begs for some type of climatic ending for it, if it's to achieve it's purpose. Else you simply have four sides of songs..., essentially. A vast range of styles, but a rather dull format, an opportunity missed.
You really **need** something for the album to head towards.., in a sense.
In hindsight, Helter Skelter could have filled that same duty if put on the final side just fine, but I love the essence of what Lennon (with George Harrison and Yoko both involved as well) were trying to achieve with it.
And only John could write a schmaltzy ending after that climax for Ringo, wonderfully, humbly executed (as only Ringo could do...) with John singing along just out of microphone range. Interestingly, the melody for 'Good Night' is very similar to 'Julia' if you listen close enough, similar chord progressions.
More votes here for "Mr. Moonlight" and " Revolution 9". A couple tracks I always skip. Another one I skip: "Why Don't We Do it in the Road". Seems like several of my least liked Beatles songs come off the "White Album", although there are obviously many great cuts.
I'm a big Beatles fan and somewhere along the way I hit that point where they could do no wrong by me - although I guess that should read "did" no wrong, past tense, as I discovered them long after they broke up.
That said, points well taken on all of the above. I'll throw in a few by Lennon like No Reply and Run For Your Life. I listen to those differently now since someone pointed out to me that those are some pretty creepy stalker songs.
Tom
I'll also echo Run for Your Life and its implications of violence against women. Certainly not "we're only trying to get us some peace", huh?
You Know My Name is also not among my faves.
I can live without All Together Now, although when in need of a beer hall singalong, it's the ticket.
Doug
I never liked the very short "Dig It" from Let It Be.
But I am also pretty sure that I am in the minority here saying that I think "Yellow Submarine" is not a good song. I liked it when I was seven but now it seems like something that would have been a weak novelty one-hit wonder if done by anybody else but the Beatles. I know there will be disagreement. I just like less sing- songy type music. Maxwell's Silver Hammer may fit here as well. Though extremely catchy, I just find it an odd part of the repertoire.
And yes I am also in the camp that Revolution No. 9 is something to skip over.
Great topic Colin.
Another Bronze Icon has left us.., sleep well, Sir Roger Moore.
He was always 'my James Bond'.
Yep, 'Yellow Submarine' I typically skip when I'm playing the nice revised/remastered soundtrack CD from a few years back. I can go long periods without listening to it.
'It's Only a Northern Song' comes close, now that I think of it. Just sort of drags.
Love the movie though. :)
While on the subject, I was listening to I Saw Her Standing There a few days ago and really isolated my interest on McCartney's bass playing. I wondered if I could find just the bass track on YouTube. Found better -- a very skilled player covering that part. It's linked here - enjoy! And while you enjoy, consider that Paul was what -- 21 or 22 when he wrote it?
Doug
As a college freshman, I did my English Comp term paper on The White Album. I always thought, and stated in my paper, that with a little editing and discretion on the lads' part, The White Album could have been an excellent single disc album instead of a very good double album. Maybe that could be a good idea for a future Follow The Leader.....what songs would you keep if it were a single disc album?
Graham..,
I love Paul's answer to that point to everyone listening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow6W7U-ccd0
Paul: "It's the bloody Beatles White Album, shut up..." he says kiddingly.
LOL.
I agree on 'Run For Your Life', I usually stop my Rubber Soul CD before it gets to 'RFYL'.
Another vote for Revolution #9. Yellow Submarine never did much for me either.
Thanks for all the comments. Nobody mentioned Octopus's Garden :D
I'm not the world's biggest Beatles fan, but "I Feel Fine' always makes my hairs stand up a little. Maybe it's the feedback.
What an incredible song. But my favorite is "Hello Goodby", something about Ringo's karate-chop drumming always gets me.
Great discussion!
M.P.
Somewhere I read that there is always at least 10% of the population that won't like a song, no matter how popular. Anyone else ever read/heard that? Just curious...
Colin, thanks for the Octopus mention, funny as it is, I personally don't rank Abbey Road all that high on the favorite albums. I KNOW I'll be the smallest of minorities here.
Some great songs and the wonderful Macca suite on side 2, but as for a 'collective whole' or cohesive identity, the album itself doesn't measure up for me as well as Revolver, Pepper or even the White Album (even as diverse as the White Album was..).
Dunno why, but the Stones 'Let It Bleed' kinda does the same thing for me: A nice collection of great tracks, but somehow not a satisfactory 'album experience' or collective whole.
Why O why do the greatest topics hit on the days when I can't sit down to my computer?? Rassafratchet. . .
But heck-- do I really have anything significant to add?
Actually, sure-- YOU KNOW MY NAME (LOOK UP THE NUMBER) is probably my least-favorite "legitimately" released track. Even more than some of the obviously dashed-off tracks on the White Album, it comes across as a self-indulgent half-effort with very little invested in it.
However, in the old bootleg world WHAT'S THE NEW MARY JANE? was readily available, and I daresay that would take the overall prize for "ugh" in my book. While I don't care for MR MOONLIGHT much, John really does seem to surrender wailing the heck out of it vocally on the recording, which had to have been tough, since it was a staple of their endless Hamburg gigs in earlier years. Even in those early bad recordings, they sound dead-sick of singing it.
And while I don't care for REVOLUTION 9 as a listening experience, it's obvious that there was a TON of labor-intensive editing work put into it-- so it gets my respect on that score.
Graham, IIRC there were at least a couple of album reviewers in 1968 who agreed with your assessment of the White Album, yes. No lack of great material at all-- but not enough to stretch it to four full sides.
But yeah, I'm such a huge, shameless fan that I've grown to love (to some degree) songs that I previously couldn't stand (MATCHBOX; TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS)simply because of familiarity.
HB
I LOVE LOVE LOVE "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)!" :)
I am with those that rank "Goodnight" and "Revolution 9" as least favorites. But you know which Beatles's song I REALLY dislike, and I think it is partially because so many people mention it as a fave and I find it schmaltzy and boring? "In My Life" I skip that song every time.
"Octopus's Garden" is also terrible. :)
Even Lennon expressed disdain for "Run for Your Life", part of the lyrics of which were taken from an Elvis Presley song. Sort of expresses the bad side of him that he sang about on "Jealous Guy". I actually like "Revolution #9" for its strangeness and I've been giving the entire White Album a listen to at least once a year or so for nearly 40 years, since I added the vinyl version to my collection back in 1978. If I had to name my least favorite Beatles song, "Mr. Moonlight" is the one that comes to mind right off as it was one I really disliked as a teen, listening to it as the closing track on Beatles '65, when I was otherwise really getting into the Beatles, but in the decades since it has grown on me a bit. It sort of fits in with the overall tone of the Beatles for Sale lp, a mix of cover songs that had long been staples of Beatles' concerts and originals in which a wistful, weary feeling dominated, aside from the cheery pop of "Eight Days a Week".
When I was a kid, I had this dog that hated my action figures. I loved that dog, but he really did a number on a couple of my G.I. Joes.
And what he did to Stretch Armstrong was just plain mean, man. Jelly comin' outta him...
I mean, how? That thing was as big as than he was! It weighed as much as a bowling ball.
Half-border collie mutts are smart, but they're also nuts. I forgave him.
M.P.
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