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2022 FBG, 172 to 1 Beatles Countdown 1-25 lists... And 173 to 1 Countdown from 1-64 lists! (2 Viewers)

Pip's Invitation said:
He’s been obsessed with that band/album since we were teenagers. As have I.
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Oddly enough, I’m 53 years old and most of my music life was with classic rock but for whatever reason that album had managed to escape me until about two months ago. I’m not kidding, and I thought it was amazing so was kind of pissed I never listened to it.

 
simey said:
Me too. I'm going to see a longtime college friend that I haven't seen in almost three years, and that has been by choice, and the pandemic some too. I have been in contact with her some during that time. She turned into a political fanatic a few years ago. The last time I saw her, she was drunk and called me a snowflake, and told me that being an Independent was worst than anything, because that means I'm nothing but a fence sitter that can't make a decision. That was just a part of her many rants that weekend. What can go wrong this weekend? :lol:    She and one of our friends from college (who is was her best friend) have not spoken in over a year 1/2 due to political junk.  :(   I'm hoping for the best this weekend.  I want to shake the egg and have fun!
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Good luck with all of that.  I've been independent that last six years.  Not a fence sitter at all.

I'm flying out Sat afternoon to Houston for Texas State Poker Championships.  Three events Su-Tu.  Very excited to meet and have lunch with Big Bottom on Monday. We're both in the same frat from different schools.

 
Getzlaf15 said:
That's it!!! :SlamsDownCalculator:    I'm going to not fix all the bad YT links you given me any longer.  :lmao:  (like a dozen so far)

Also, for those have not heard this before, my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Brakesman, was in Playboy the year before, and my college freshman English teacher passed away about six weeks into the class.  We were given the choice of taking a "C" right there and leaving the class or staying with the sub.  Guess what I chose?   :D   So sue me.

At least I know how to use a paragraph and I don't spell loser as "looser."   WTF do so many people do that?
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I don't check any of the links from my 2019 write-ups.  :shrug:   The new links I give for 2022 should all be good, though.  Thanks for fixing the old ones!  

You also, as far as I know, don't say things like, "You'll always be apart of my life," which drives me particularly crazy for saying exactly the opposite of what the person is attempting to convey.

 
Getzlaf15 said:
I'm flying out Sat afternoon to Houston for Texas State Poker Championships.  Three events Su-Tu.  Very excited to meet and have lunch with Big Bottom on Monday. We're both in the same frat from different schools.
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I hope you know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em.  My second oldest nephew is a freshman at UNC, and joined the Chi Phi frat. I call it Sci Phi. 

 
krista4 said:
I don't check any of the links from my 2019 write-ups.  :shrug:   The new links I give for 2022 should all be good, though.  Thanks for fixing the old ones!  

You also, as far as I know, don't say things like, "You'll always be apart of my life," which drives me particularly crazy for saying exactly the opposite of what the person is attempting to convey.
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Irregardless, it might be a mute point, but noticing grammar misteaks is just a French benefit of a good education.

 
krista4 said:
That's one that is going to go waaaaaay up if we do the 64-song lists.  Barely missed my top 25, and I can't believe where it landed.  I would have figured top 20 overall.
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Yep. It wasn't in my last round of cuts, but it was on the second one. I didn't expect to be the only one, but there is clearly a consensus...which I was not expecting.

 
I Feel Fine
2022 Ranking: 51
2022 Lists: 15
2022 Points: 153
Ranked Highest by: @Uruk-Hai (4) @DaVinci (6) @Getzlaf15 (9) @Ted Lange as your Bartender (11) @Pip's Invitation (17) @Encyclopedia Brown (18) @Just Win Baby (20) @Anarchy99 (21) @Dennis Castro (22) @whoknew (22) @Dinsy Ejotuz (22) @Eephus (22) Krista(Sharon) (24)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 50/4/73

Getz comments:  I didn’t rank this in 2019 and have it at #9 this time. Love the opening. The harmonies.  All of it.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  46

2019 write-up:

I Feel Fine (single, 1964)

The feedback at the beginning is legendary (one of the first times on a record), but it came about by accident.  During the recording of "Eight Days A Week," John had set his semi-acoustic Gibson with a pick-up against the amp without turning the pick-up down.  When Paul played a bass note, this feedback sound came out, which they all loved and decided to use on this record.  John added it to the riff that he'd also come up with during the session, a riff that was inspired by Bobby Parker's "Watch Your Step," and the song was born.  Obviously the feedback and the guitar riffs are the highlights - my favorite part is the descending repeated riff in the instrumental section starting ~1:15.   But don't focus on the riffs at the expense of Ringo's masterful Latin-style drumming, including those doubles and triplets on the ride, and that fill that follows the guitar solo.  Paul called this their "What'd I Say" style of "Latin R&B" drumming, patterned after Milt Turner's work with Ray Charles.

Mr. krista:  "It’s one of the first great Beatles songs. That riff in the beginning. They’re really riff monsters.  You don’t really think of them that way – you think of them as jangly.  But…they could riff.  It’s pretty amazing.  It’s a jam for sure.  Fo sho jam. Pret-ty pret-ty mint."

Suggested cover:  New record for number of terrible covers I listened to, with an alarming number of them on ukulele.  There might be a good country song in there, but no one seems to have found it yet.

2022 Supplement:  I don’t know how I neglected to include one of my favorite Beatles videos in my initial write-up.  Yes, of course I’m speaking of the promo with Ringo riding a stationary bike:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAV5EVI4tU

And if that’s not enough for you, please enjoy this other promo where they are merely eating fish and chips:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-hPXwVheHU

Oh, by the way, still a mint jam.

Guido Merkins

The Beatles had many influences, a lot of them off the beaten path.  One such is an  R&B singer named Bobby Parker.  They used to play a song of his called Watch Your Step in their live sets in Hamburg in the early 60s.  Influenced by that distinctive riff, John wrote a song called I Feel Fine (the riff is similar, but I Feel Fine is longer and slightly different, but definitely influenced). 

The main part of the song is the distinctive riff and Ringo’s drum beat over the verses (sounds like Ray Charles What I Say), which is kind of Latin flavored.  The beat on the chorus is more of a traditional 4/4 rock beat.  Ringo switching back and forth so effortlessly, that’s why he is Ringo and I’m not.

But the part of the song which gets the most discussion is the opening of the song with that buzzing noise.  In 1964, most people had no idea exactly what it was.  Somebody said it was the sound of a buzzing bee amplified.  What it was is something called feedback.  Apparently, John leaned his guitar against his amp without turning down the volume. Paul plucked the A string on his bass, which caused the strings on John’s guitar to vibrate which caused the feedback. John loved the sound and wanted to use it for something. When recording I Feel Fine, they recorded it and stuck it to the front of the record.

John claimed it was the first feedback ever on any record.  Not sure that’s true, but it was one of the first on a record.  The Kinks, for example, has used it in concert, but not on a record.  

Great, funky track and another #1

 
Ok..... Going to pause on posting any countdown songs until Saturday at 11am ET.

So that gives everyone tonight, Friday and Sat AM to get their picks on for the Guess The Final Top 15 In Order Contest,  Rules are on page 44.

Here's a new RANDOM list of the countdown's final 50 songs.  It is NOT the Countdown's final 50 in order.  Use this list only to help what you think the Top 15 songs (in order from 1-15) will be on the countdown.
 

List Randomizer

There were 50 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

Can't Buy Me Love

Taxman

A Hard Days Night

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Norwegian Wood

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

She Loves You

Rain

Hey Bulldog

I am The Walrus

Paperback Writer

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

Strawberry Fields Forever

I Saw Her Standing There

The Long and Winding Road

All My Loving

With A Little Help From My Friends

Tomorrow Never Knows

Two Of Us

I've Just Seen a Face

Here Comes The Sun

And I Love Her

Revolution

Don't Let Me Down

Penny Lane

Get Back

Abbey Road Medley

Hey Jude

A Day in the Life

Dear Prudence

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

Across The Universe

Yesterday

Things We Said Today

I've Got a Feeling

Eleanor Rigby

In My Life

We Can Work it Out

Helter Skelter

Nowhere Man

Back in the USSR

I Want To Hold Your Hand

Day Tripper

Something

Ticket To Ride

And Your Bird Can Sing

Come Together

Help!

Let It Be

Got To Get You Into My Life

IP: 160.2.167.14
Timestamp: 2022-03-11 02:11:12 UTC

 
MAC_32 said:
Several, but Across the Universe sticks out like a sore thumb. Other cuts may not be my jam, but I get their appeal. Just listened to this again to see if I'm missing something and I'm still bored just hoping it'll end.
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:hot:  

neal cassady said:
Well, that was SO long ago.  Really, I could choose any of about 3-4 as my favorite, but this go-around I had it slightly ahead.  Think I had it top 10 actually.  Love the White Album. 
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I seem to associate everyone with a Beatles-related song.  I associate you with "Beware of Darkness."

 
MAC_32 said:
**duck and cover**
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Read my argument in favor of it whenever we get there, listen to the various released versions to understand the plusses and minuses of each (I don't know which one you just listened to again), and if you still feel that way, I'll allow it.  ;)

 
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Dr. Octopus said:
Oddly enough, I’m 53 years old and most of my music life was with classic rock but for whatever reason that album had managed to escape me until about two months ago. I’m not kidding, and I thought it was amazing so was kind of pissed I never listened to it.
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By the 80s, which is when I started to develop my own musical tastes, the album -- and anything else from the band -- was pretty much ignored by commercial radio. But it would get props from the music writers of the day, which is what led me to check it out -- and then I got my friend into it, and you see what effect it had on him. So if you were our age, it was something you had to go looking for. 

 
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krista4 said:
You also, as far as I know, don't say things like, "You'll always be apart of my life," which drives me particularly crazy for saying exactly the opposite of what the person is attempting to convey.
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I try not to be grammar police, but I did rant on Facebook about it a year or so ago, when I got an email at work FROM A COMMUNICATIONS FIRM with this mistake IN THE SUBJECT LINE. 

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
2022 Ranking: 55
2022 Lists: 14
2022 Points: 139
Ranked Highest by: @whoknew(7) @Wrighteous Ray(hub)(9) @Yankee23Fan (10) @DocHolliday(11) @lardonastick (16) @Ilov80s (18) @JustWinBrady (18) @ConstruxBoy (21) @John Maddens Lunchbox (24) @heckmanm(24)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 36/7/106

Getz comments: The first of three songs today that take a pretty decent hit from 2019 in the rankings. Despite getting seven more votes and 33 more points.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  62

2019 write-up:

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967)

This is a song that used to be a "skip" for me most of the time; once I had the benefit of being forced to listen to it for this project it just kept growing on me.  I think what's turned me off in the past is mostly John's vocal on it, and I'm still not a huge fan of the tone of it, though I like the mellow dreaminess.  But I love the dreamy quality of the song as a whole, love the bass line, love the drum part that kicks everything up a notch into the chorus, and love the 6/8 to 4/4 and back tempo changes between the verses and chorus.  More than anything else, love that Mellotron opening.  Some of the lyrics are nonsense, but somehow they still paint a vivid picture for me.  And I'm not even taking LSD at the moment!

The belief that the song was about LSD caused it to be banned by the BBC, but John has insisted (and is backed up by Paul) that this was not about LSD and instead is based on this drawing that Julian did of his friend Lucy O'Donnell.  When John asked what the drawing was, Julian said was "Lucy in the sky with diamonds."  John also has said that the imagery was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, though Paul recalls bouncing psychedelic phrases off each other at John's house.  The line "plasticine porters with looking glass ties" appears to have come from The Goon Show, which John loved.

Fun fact:  Probably the only song to have 3.2-million-year-old skeletal remains named after it.

Mr. krista: "I like how it started with descending, falling down a staircase, Alice in Wonderland stuff going into psychedelic, like every teenager’s introduction into fantasy or surreality, suspending disbelief.  Wish the record had started out with this song; it’s sort of playful but there’s a real menace as well, much like Lewis Carroll’s work.  It’s also disorienting and impossible."

Suggested covers:  Elton John  Black Crowes  Bono & Secret Machines  And, of course, we can't talk about the song without this classic:  William Shatner

2022 Supplement:  I still struggle with this song sometimes and should have knocked it down a bit on my 2019 rankings.  Everything I loved about it then I still do, except the dreamy quality, which is I think where my ambivalence lies.  Sometimes it’s just a bit too much psychedelia for me.  Never having dropped acid must have its downsides.

Lucy Vodden, the childhood friend of Julian Lennon about whom he drew the picture, died of lupus in 2009.  A few months later, Julian released a tribute song, “Lucy,” with a portion of the proceeds going to two lupus-related charities:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IoW4EFQZf0 Love me some Julian.  Say what you will about John’s abilities as a father to Julian, but he sure did end up with an outstanding son.  Two of them, actually, as Sean is by all accounts a fantastic person as well.

Guido Merkins

John really disliked people trying to read things into his lyrics.  Case in point, one day Julian comes home from school with a drawing of a girl floating in the clouds surrounded by stars.  John asked what it was, Julian said “Lucy in the sky with diamonds.”  Lucy was one of Julian;s classmates.  John thought it was beautiful and writes a song around it.  The record comes out and somebody notices that the letter spell LSD.  I’ve seen pictures of the drawing and Lucy was a real person, she died a few years back and Julian talked about it.  John wrote plenty of acid songs and usually admitted it, but was adamant that Lucy was not an acid song.

John was into Lewis Carroll and the song is inspired by Alice In Wonderland.  The lyrics are surreal.  Newspaper Taxis, Plasticine Porters, Looking glass ties, tangerine trees, marmalade skies are just some of the images in the song.

The song is interesting in that the verses are in ¾ time and the chorus is in 4/4 time.  Paul’s bass part is almost the lead instrument along with the organ.  George plays a great guitar part though a Leslie speaker.  Ringo coming in on the 4/4 chorus is also a highlight.  Lennon’s vocal is just stunning.  This is another song that is slightly different in mono and in stereo.  The mono version has some flutter on Lennon’s lead vocal.

Lennon was having issues coming up with material, but Lucy is so spectacular that people forget about that.  It’s definitely one of the highlights on Pepper.
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I definitely see the Lewis Carroll comparison. You could insert many of the phrases from this song into his books and no one would question it.

My favorite part is the transition into the harder-edged part where they sing the title phrase. 

 
Getzlaf15 said:
All You Need Is Love
2022 Ranking: 54
2022 Lists: 15
2022 Points: 141
Ranked Highest by: @John Maddens Lunchbox (5) @Dinsy Ejotuz (6) @whoknew (8) @prosopis (9) @ProstheticRGK (13) @Tom Hagen (18) @ekbeats (18) @Just Win Baby (19) @Alex P Keaton (23) @BobbyLayne (24) @ConstruxBoy (25)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 48/7/78

Getz comments:  Five of the Bottom 10 Chalk list selected this one. And down goes Bobby Layne, leaving Krista4 as the only one without a song posted so far. I had this at #20 in 2019. Just could not find room for it on the 2022 list. Enjoyed the Elvis cover. The Echo cover was eckkk.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  43

2019 write-up: 

All You Need Is Love (single, 1967)

From @OrtonToOlsen:  "Love the lyrics and vocals but the ‘bun duh dunna dun’ really detracts from everything else."  For once, I agree with him on something (other than cats)!  I realize I've gone on and on about John's vocal in a variety of songs, but for some reason this is my favorite vocal from him.  It's not flashy or difficult like "Twist & Shout" or some of the others, but the tone in his singing here does it for me.  His voice sounds sleepy but sincere, and incredibly fluid and hypnotic; it almost feels like a lullaby to me, and I'm entranced by it.  The lyrics are lovely; Ringo summed them up as, "It was for love and bloody peace.  It was a fabulous time.  I even get excited now when I realize that's what it was for:  Peace and love, people putting flowers in guns."  [Requisite photo of dorky t-shirt I own.]  What I don't like in the song, and I dislike it enough to take this from a top 20 down to here, is the simplistic chorus and especially the "bun duh dunna dun."  It sounds cheesy, circus-y, and brings the song down.

Setting that aside, there's so much else to love, including the impressive production that I'll cover below.  With respect to the song itself, I love to try to keep time through the frequent tempo changes and especially love tapping out those alternating 4/4, 3/4 beats in the intro and the verses.  There's something about that dropped note that's charming; I'm just glad I wasn't Ringo.   I'm also a huge fan of Fifth Beatle George Martin's arrangement on this; starting with La Marseillaise (French national anthem) to open, through the coda with, among others, snippets of "Greensleeves" and "In the Mood," along with a bit of one of the Brandenburg concertos, the orchestration is outstanding.  Speaking of that coda, I love the sonic cornucopiaTM of it.  

While I said my write-ups might be truncated for a bit, the background of this song's coming to be is too important and interesting to skip.  Might sound quaint now, but the song was written for what was a very big deal at the time:  the first live international satellite television broadcast, a BBC show called Our World.  More than 20 countries were scheduled to participate, and the Beatles were selected to represent Great Britain in the "Artistic Excellence" portion of the show, much to their...indifference.  Brian Epstein showed up to the studio during one of the Sgt. Pepper's recordings, greatly excited to announce this to the lads, but he was met with yawns.  It didn't get better for him, as, when pressed by Epstein to be more enthused, John spoke for the group by telling him, "that's what you get for committing us to doing something without asking us first."  It seemed the Beatles saw this as a violation of their desire not to perform live anymore, but John unenthusiastically agreed that he'd write a song for it.

Several weeks later, Paul casually asked John if he'd written anything yet, and realizing that they had only a couple of weeks to prepare, John got down to writing the song.  The band recorded some backing tracks, including George on a violin(!), but when it came to the vocal, John boldly declared that he would not lip-sync but instead would do the lead vocal live.  Not to be outdone, Paul then stated that he would also play the bass live, and the two of them together talked George into performing a live guitar solo as well.  Luckily for Ringo, due to technical issues of microphone seepage from the orchestra that would be playing, the drums would have to be pre-recorded, though a last-minute decision did allow him to do a live version of the snare drum roll at the beginning.  Though the backing vocals were also pre-recorded, Paul was given a live mic for the show for the ad libs you hear at the end of the song.

The night of the broadcast arrived, and in addition to the Beatles and their wives and girlfriends, a variety of friends were enlisted to sit on the floor surrounding the band while it performed, including usual suspects Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, and Keith Richards.  John was visibly nervous, perhaps because he couldn't use his lyric sheet as he normally would.  The broadcasters had decided to station an additional camera in the control booth, and when the broadcast began about 40 seconds early, they nearly caught George Martin and Geoff Emerick in a Scotch toast; they had to scramble madly to hide the bottle and glasses from the camera.  Another mad dash was then made to get the pre-recorded tape spooled back to its correct spot to start the song.  But somehow, despite everything that could go wrong with a live broadcast, everyone pulled it off! As mentioned, John's vocal is astounding, despite the fact he forgot to take his chewing gum out before they started and he did flub a couple of lyrics.  The orchestra hit all its marks perfectly.  George pulled off the guitar solo he'd been so nervous about, though he did hit an off note or two starting ~1:26.   Most amazingly, there were no technical glitches with the music, but the broadcast did lose video for a few seconds.

The song was then rushed into the studio for some overdubbing in order to release the single, but not much had to be done to it.  John redid two lines of flubbed vocal, and Ringo replaced the snare roll they'd made a last-minute decision to perform live.  A "wobble" was added to the end of George's solo to mask the bad last couple of notes.  Most people might not have even realized the single version wasn't precisely the same as the version they'd watched on TV a couple of weeks prior.

(By the way, for some reason I previously had this listed under Yellow Submarine.  While it was used on that as well as Magical Mystery Tour, based on how I've listed other songs this should probably be under the "Singles, etc." category.)

Mr. krista:  "Nice job. All-star cast.  I think one needs other things – food, shelter.  Love is definitely up there.  You need love before you need, say, a Nintendo 64.  But there are other things I’d put above love. So I disagree with the lyrical premise."

Suggested covers:  Nothing can replace that John vocal for me, but if you're Elvis Costello, you can surely come close.  Surprised to like this one, but I enjoyed their incorporation of other Beatles's motifs:  Echo & the Bunnymen.  Daniel Johnston gets to the heart of the matter.

2022 Supplement:  Good lord, do you see all those paragraphs up there?

Guido Merkins

In the summer of 1967 the Beatles were a big deal.  Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was a phenomenon.  Like Thriller or Nevermind later on, Pepper was THE album of the moment. Everyone was grooving on it.

The Beatles were asked to represent Britain on the Our World TV broadcast which was the first show that would be broadcast all over the world via satellite.  Days before the broadcast, John said “oh yeah, I need to write something for that.”  As usual, the pressure didn’t impact the quality of the work as All You Need Is Love was the PERFECT song for that summer.

All You Need Is Love is like most of the best of Lennon’s work.  Seemingly very simple, but with a depth that was more than it seemed on the surface.  “All you need is love, love is all you need” is just about as simple a message as can exist, but of course, if you think of the ramifications of what that means, and especially if you believe in a higher power, love IS all you need.  The world revolves around love and love is what makes human beings unique.

Apart from the philosophy of the song, the song is interesting.  First, John loved songs with changing time signatures, not because he did it on purpose, but because he would write lyrics first sometimes.  4/4, 7/4, 6/4 etc.  Second, there are several musical quotations in the song.  Greensleaves, Brandenburg Concerto, In the Mood, La Marsailles, and the Beatles own She Loves You are quoted in the intro (La Marsailles) and during the fade out (everything else.)  In fact, John singing “she loves you yeah yeah yeah she loves you yeah yeah yeah” is one of the great moments, IMO, in Beatles history.

All You Need Is Love is, in many ways, the Beatles at their absolute zenith.  Sure, they would have better songs, but released only weeks after Pepper, at this point the Beatles domination of popular culture was absolute.  Just as Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane were a part of Pepper because they led the sessions, All You Need Is Love is kind of a Pepper postscript.  They could only go down from here.  Brian Epstein would die soon after, then everything would change.
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Very hippie dippie, but quite the composition. 

Paul Weller closed his encore with this when I saw him in 2006. 

 
Getzlaf15 said:
For No One
2022 Ranking: 53
2022 Lists: 14
2022 Points: 145
Ranked Highest by: Shaft41(Son1) (3) @Shaft41 (6) @landrys hat (11) @neal cassady (11) @Ilov80s (12) @krista4 (12) @simey (16) @Binky The Doormat (17) @pecorino (18) @Alex P Keaton (20) @turnjose7 (23) @jamny (25)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 32/10/121

Getz: Another song today taking a sharp downturn from 2019.  Down 21 spots. And Krista4 has her first song appear!

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  8

2019 write-up:

For No One (Revolver, 1966)

For all my inconsistency, there's one thing I believe I've been consistent on, which is that I much prefer Paul's more personal songs to those about fictitious worlds.  It's fitting that the two purely Paul songs in my top 10 (I'll give him 85% of the Abbey Road medley) fit this category, and in fact that are opposite ends of the same spectrum, from first moments of love in "I've Just Seen A Face" to the end of love in this song.  When he's not just spitting out perfect pop songs - when he stops being polite and starts getting real (hey, I love terrible reality TV) - he writes lyrics that are as deeply affecting as John's or anyone else's.

While there's much to love about this song, I have to start there, with the lyrics, because those are the main reason this song is propelled into my top 10.  I think "You Won't See Me" and "I'm Looking Through You" have some devastating lyrics, but they fall more into bitterness than deep sorrow, and none of them compare to the misery of these:

And yet you don't believe her when she says her love is dead

You think she needs you

Or:

You stay home, she goes out

She says that long ago she knew someone but now he's gone

She doesn't need him

Or, the most devastating part:

And in her eyes you see nothing

No sign of love behind the tears

Cried for no one

To repeat:  "cried for no one."  She has erased you completely. I love how Paul wrote this in the second person, to pull us even more strongly into the story and make us relate to what is occurring.  It feels as if it's just happened to me.  Good god, it practically brings me to tears simply reading the lyrics.

This song is so despondent that it could have slipped into maudlin in the hands of someone not named Paul, John, or George.  Paul is clearly too brilliant to let that happen, so instead of cheesing it up with a bunch of orchestration or backing vocals, he kept it very simple with single-tracked vocals with no harmonies, little reverb, subtle hi-hats, and piano and clavichord on the verses, then bringing in light bass and tambourine beginning with the chorus.  Neither John nor George played on this song, though John frequently referred to this as one of Paul's best works, "superb" even.  Just Paul, Ringo, and Alan Civil, the French horn player.   

I adore the piano parts on the choruses, and as a piano player I always air play them when they come on, which can be a problem since I'm usually driving when I hear this.  Love the use of the clavichord, too, and Paul's vocal is gorgeous, with a cold affect that works to cast him as the narrator of someone else's pathos.  The change from major to minor keys from the verse to the chorus accentuates the most despairing lyrics, and the transition back into major through the addition measure at the end of the choruses is a lovely, unexpected touch.

What's special about the instrumentation of this song, though, is obviously that French horn.  Paul had loved the French horn as a child and wanted to use it here, so George Martin arranged for Alan Civil, formerly of the London Philharmonic and at that time the principal horn player for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, to join the session.  When Martin asked Paul what he wanted Civil to play, Paul tried to sketch it out as a vocal.  As Martin wrote it out, he came to the end and explained to Paul that the high E was the furthest the French horn could go, not the F that Paul wanted.  Paul was not dissuaded:  "We came to the session and Alan looked up from his bit of paper: 'Eh, George? I think there's a mistake here – you've got a high F written down. Then George and I said, 'Yeah,' and smiled back at him, and he knew what we were up to and played it. These great players will do it. Even though it's officially off the end of their instrument, they can do it, and they're quite into it occasionally."  Geoff Emerick describes Martin as having played a bit of a middleman between the two generations - the "kids" like Paul who didn't understand any limitations, and the more staid generation of Civil and Martin who weren't quite sure how to relate to this new type of musician, but appreciated being included in it.  

The solo that Civil laid down was extraordinary, including that high F, somehow expressing a loss even deeper than that suggested by the lyrics.  Sometimes music can suggest what mere words are insufficient to express.  As much as I love the solo, I'm even more entranced by the way the horn reappears in the last verse, softly repeating a portion of its solo on top of Paul's vocal, as if one last memory of this love affair appears and then fades away.  It's magical.  I also love the ending of this song...if you hadn't heard it before, you might expect a resolution, an additional note to get you back down into the home key, but instead the last note floats out there and it just...ends.  That's it, life sucks, sorry, g'bless.

Mr. krista:  "Was that a real song?  I mean, was it when he broke up with Jane Asher or something?  It’s really cold, and the ending is cold.  What’s the JD Salinger short story?  Seymour Glass is the protagonist.  It’s a couple at a resort, and then the guy walks off the elevator and kills himself.  It seemed like that.  Where it only hinted at loneliness and despair, then it makes it explicit. Ended just like that song ended."

Suggested covers:  Much like Otis Redding, if there's an Emmylou Harris cover you can be guaranteed I'm going to post it.  Good chance I'll always post a Diana Krall cover (this one with James Taylor), too.

2022 Supplement:   If you think I’m reading all those paragraphs to see what I already said, you’re sorely mistaken.  This song slipped out of my top 10 this year, but today I might put it right back up there.  It’s simply brilliant and simply brilliant.

In The Lyrics, Paul described the breakdown of his relationship with Jane Asher as having “little bits of the jigsaw [that] weren’t quite fitting.”  He couldn’t put his finger on it, as he’d been with her for several years and expected to marry her, but little things didn’t match up.  It was only when he met Linda, after he and Jane split, that he thought, “This is more me.  And I’m more her.”  He describes this song as one that came to him a bit out of the blue, where certain words just presented themselves and then he told the story around it.  As with many of his lyrics, certain phrases had a double meaning, such as “your day breaks” meaning both that the day has begun and that it is broken, or “she makes up” referring both to cosmetics and reconciliation.  He described this composition as a magical place of just grabbing the bits that the cosmos gave him because there is a need to explain something to someone, beginning with yourself.

Guido Merkins

Paul was peaking in 1966.  Here, There and Everywhere was one of his best ballads.  One ballad like that on an album is plenty, but to then write For No One on the same album is just unreal.

For No One is one of the rare McCartney songs that Lennon praised liking the music and the lyrics.  It’s not a typical Paul ballad in that it’s about the breakup of a relationship so it has a melancholy to it not typical of McCartney.

Paul and Ringo are the only Beatles that play on the song, but it’s most distinguishing characteristic is a French horn part played by Alan Civil, who received the rare credit on a Beatles album.  Civil recalled that, at first, he thought the song was called For No. 1.  He also remembered that the song was written between B and B flat, so it made tuning difficult.  He turned in a great performance.  George Martin recalled that Paul was initially unimpressed with the take that Civil turned in and asked him to do it again.  Civil said something like “I’m sorry, I can’t do it any better than that” with Martin admonishing Paul (Good God man, you can’t ask him to play that again.”  They kept the take.  There is also a note that is technically outside the range of the French horn.  Of course, Civil could play the note….and he did.

Apparently the song was initially even darker than the finished version and was called Why Did it Die?  
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This is a song I started to pay more attention to after reading krista's original writeup. It doesn't move me quite to the extent that Here, There and Everywhere does, but it's nearly as compelling. This is not the kind of thing I was primed for when I got the entire Beatles catalog during the apex of grunge, but it's grown on me as I've gotten older. 

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Blackbird
2022 Ranking: 52
2022 Lists: 16
2022 Points: 150
Ranked Highest by: @Oliver Humanzee(dad)(4) @wikkidpissah (9) @Wrighteous Ray (10) @Eephus (12) @Gr00vus (16) @fatguyinalittlecoat (17) @zamboni (18) @lardonastick (20) @prosopis (21) @ManOfSteelhead (22) @BobbyLayne (22) @Pip's Invitation (23) @Ted Lange as your Bartender (23)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 17/19/178

Getz: Dropped 35 slots!! To get three less votes and 28 less points with 36 more voters in 2022, to me, is quite stunning. And only five of the 16 votes this time ranked it lower than #16. What the hell happened here? During the entire vote counting process, it was only under #50 after the first vote cast and then dropped all the way to #82 at one point. 6-7 of the voters in 2022 didn't vote in 2019.

After digging a little further, I think a good portion of the fall is due to the Get back influence on the list.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  39

2019 write-up:

Blackbird (White Album, 1968)

I always intended to rank these two together [EDITOR’S NOTE – I grouped this with “Mother Nature’s Son” in 2019]  and do the write-ups together, because I think they're the same song.  Ok, one has tweety-bird sounds and the other doesn't, but otherwise they're similar.  They're both Paul songs on which no other Beatles perform. They're both acoustic guitar driven with Paul's finger-picking style.  They both feature pure, peaceful Paul vocals.  They were both composed just after the India trip and included on the White Album.  They both have simple but stunningly beautiful melodies and redolent lyrics.  They both have "nature" overtones, though Paul years later asserted that "Blackbird" was about the US civil rights movement.  In both you can hear Paul's feet tapping.  The chord progressions even sound the same to me, though I'm too lazy to look it up right now.  Some differences exist, though, such as the small tempo changes in "Blackbird" that aren't in the comparatively simple "Mother Nature's Son," and the absence of stupid bird noises in "Mother Nature's Son." Also, not every human with a guitar plays "Mother Nature's Son."

I love both of these songs as gorgeous, near-perfect creations, the only downside of them being that they seem like Paul solo works instead of Beatles songs, primarily because they were. Actually I enjoy "Mother Nature's Son" even more than "Blackbird," finding its melody and lyrics slightly more enchanting, and that four-note guitar run at the end of the second line of the second and third verses does it for me.  I prefer it, that is, until we get to the end.  That last line, where Paul sings, "Mother Nature's soooon" as if he were ending a Broadway show, jazz hands and all, drives me batty and makes me rank it just behind "Blackbird."

Fun fact:  the recording engineer accidentally used the sound of a thrush instead of a blackbird in the initial mix of "Blackbird."  Luckily someone else caught it and corrected the error.  How embarrassing would it have been to have a thrush when everyone knows that's not a blackbird?  Whew!

Mr. krista (Blackbird):  "The chords are so pleasing; no wonder everyone with an acoustic guitar learns this song.  It’s perfect the way it is.  That line - into the light of the dark black night - is so evocative.  Those are some of Paul McCartney’s best lyrics and writing and it bothers me that Paul McCartney, who is clearly a fantastic writer, feels that Western trap that everything has to be symbolic, that everything has to represent some larger concept. That a thing can’t just be what it is and beautiful on its own account.  But this is some of his best songwriting.  The Tweety Bird noises don’t help it, though."

Suggested cover (Blackbird):  Well, duh......It's FatGuy!!.

2022 Supplement:  I think my 2019 incorrectly implied that Paul’s assertion that this song was about the Civil Rights Movement was a later-added retelling of the impetus for it.  I believe Paul, especially given how assertive the Beatles were in insisting that their shows be open to all in places like Florida where they were going to be segregated.  The band was extremely cognizant of what was going on in the US at the time.  They were also well aware of the history of their own town of Liverpool, which had been a slave port and later had the first Caribbean community in England, which meant that they, according to Paul, “met a lot of Black guys, particularly in the music world.”  And of course they also admired, covered, and patterned original songs after much of what they heard from Black musicians in the US.  This song was written not only for the little girls in Little Rock who were integrating schools there, but it came about shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King. Jr.  Paul has tied the imagery of “sunken eyes” and “broken wings” specifically to that event.

I probably should have made room for this in my top 25, in 2019 and now. 

I recently came across this rehearsal footage for the first time!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1LletEaBD0

Guido Merkins

1968 was a rough year in the United States.  Forced integration in Little Rock reached the ears of Paul McCartney and he decided to write a song giving encouragement to those little girls walking into school in Little Rock.  So he wrote a song called Blackbird, which was a message for the civil rights struggle.

Paul claimed that he modeled Blackbird from a piece by Bach called Bouree in E minor that he and George had learned on guitar years before.  I’ve listened to the piece, but it doesn’t sound that much like Blackbird.  I think it’s more likely he was influenced by the method of playing the guitar than the melody itself.  The Donovan picking style is in full display for this song. This is a solo performance by Paul McCartney with only his acoustic guitar and his foot tapping being heard on the final recording.  EMI engineers found the sound of birds chirping and put them on the final mix which, apparently, are actual blackbirds.  Not sure how true this is, but I read it from Mark Lewison in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions.

Love the song.  My favorite part is the descending “blackbird cry….” part.  Just sends chills up my spine. This is one of the songs that Paul played even into his Wings years as it’s part of the acoustic set on Wings Over America, which is funny since Bluebird from Band on the Run, I’ve always thought was an inferior(but still excellent) Blackbird, but he features both on that tour. 
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My rank: 23

This reflects a recency bias that has nothing to do with Get Back. My son was learning this on guitar when I was putting the list together. I take him to and sit in on most of his lessons, and I was fascinated by his teacher's explanation of how the guitar part works. But I have always loved it, as I think the lyrics are incredibly special and the music is the perfect accompaniment for it. (The blackbird tweets at the end never bothered me.) 

I am also biased because I love and have repeatedly listened to CSN's version. It was part of their live sets (including at Woodstock) from their inception, and they cut a studio version during sessions for their debut album* that finally surfaced on their 1991 box set (that version is in the link.) 

* Stills, being the blowhard he can be sometimes, has claimed they heard Paul recording it for the White Album while the band was auditioning for Apple, but the timelines don't match up. 

 
Getzlaf15 said:
I Feel Fine
2022 Ranking: 51
2022 Lists: 15
2022 Points: 153
Ranked Highest by: @Uruk-Hai (4) @DaVinci (6) @Getzlaf15 (9) @Ted Lange as your Bartender (11) @Pip's Invitation (17) @Encyclopedia Brown (18) @Just Win Baby (20) @Anarchy99 (21) @Dennis Castro (22) @whoknew (22) @Dinsy Ejotuz (22) @Eephus (22) Krista(Sharon) (24)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 50/4/73

Getz comments:  I didn’t rank this in 2019 and have it at #9 this time. Love the opening. The harmonies.  All of it.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  46

2019 write-up:

I Feel Fine (single, 1964)

The feedback at the beginning is legendary (one of the first times on a record), but it came about by accident.  During the recording of "Eight Days A Week," John had set his semi-acoustic Gibson with a pick-up against the amp without turning the pick-up down.  When Paul played a bass note, this feedback sound came out, which they all loved and decided to use on this record.  John added it to the riff that he'd also come up with during the session, a riff that was inspired by Bobby Parker's "Watch Your Step," and the song was born.  Obviously the feedback and the guitar riffs are the highlights - my favorite part is the descending repeated riff in the instrumental section starting ~1:15.   But don't focus on the riffs at the expense of Ringo's masterful Latin-style drumming, including those doubles and triplets on the ride, and that fill that follows the guitar solo.  Paul called this their "What'd I Say" style of "Latin R&B" drumming, patterned after Milt Turner's work with Ray Charles.

Mr. krista:  "It’s one of the first great Beatles songs. That riff in the beginning. They’re really riff monsters.  You don’t really think of them that way – you think of them as jangly.  But…they could riff.  It’s pretty amazing.  It’s a jam for sure.  Fo sho jam. Pret-ty pret-ty mint."

Suggested cover:  New record for number of terrible covers I listened to, with an alarming number of them on ukulele.  There might be a good country song in there, but no one seems to have found it yet.

2022 Supplement:  I don’t know how I neglected to include one of my favorite Beatles videos in my initial write-up.  Yes, of course I’m speaking of the promo with Ringo riding a stationary bike:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrAV5EVI4tU

And if that’s not enough for you, please enjoy this other promo where they are merely eating fish and chips:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-hPXwVheHU

Oh, by the way, still a mint jam.

Guido Merkins

The Beatles had many influences, a lot of them off the beaten path.  One such is an  R&B singer named Bobby Parker.  They used to play a song of his called Watch Your Step in their live sets in Hamburg in the early 60s.  Influenced by that distinctive riff, John wrote a song called I Feel Fine (the riff is similar, but I Feel Fine is longer and slightly different, but definitely influenced). 

The main part of the song is the distinctive riff and Ringo’s drum beat over the verses (sounds like Ray Charles What I Say), which is kind of Latin flavored.  The beat on the chorus is more of a traditional 4/4 rock beat.  Ringo switching back and forth so effortlessly, that’s why he is Ringo and I’m not.

But the part of the song which gets the most discussion is the opening of the song with that buzzing noise.  In 1964, most people had no idea exactly what it was.  Somebody said it was the sound of a buzzing bee amplified.  What it was is something called feedback.  Apparently, John leaned his guitar against his amp without turning down the volume. Paul plucked the A string on his bass, which caused the strings on John’s guitar to vibrate which caused the feedback. John loved the sound and wanted to use it for something. When recording I Feel Fine, they recorded it and stuck it to the front of the record.

John claimed it was the first feedback ever on any record.  Not sure that’s true, but it was one of the first on a record.  The Kinks, for example, has used it in concert, but not on a record.  

Great, funky track and another #1
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My rank: 17

Much of what I have to say about this, I already said when She's a Woman came up. I think both sides of this single represented a great leap beyond what they had done up to that point. I see them as a pair, and had them back-to-back on my 90-minute cassette and on my list (she's a woman was my #18).

I would like to point out again that this is A RINGO SHOWCASE. For all the reasons that krista and Guido said. Other major high points for me are the feedback intro (unheard of on a pop record in 1964), and the main riff, which splits the difference perfectly between jangle-rock and power rock. 

 
"I Feel Fine" puts me over the halfway point on my list, so - scorebored time: 

25. I Should Have Known Better

24. She's Leaving Home

23. Every Little Thing

22. Not A Second Time

21. Blue Jay Way

20. Happy Just To Dance With You

19. 

18. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite

17. It Won't Be Long

16. 

15. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill

14. 

13. Hello, Goodbye

12. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

11.

10. 

9. It's All Too Much

8. I Feel Fine 

7.

6.

5. 

4. 

3. 

2. 

1.

 
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