Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.
In this thread I rank my favorite Beatles songs: 204-1. (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter krista4
- Start date
krista4
Footballguy
Got it. Interesting as I suspect that’s one that people are surprised I haven’t posted yet.
zamboni
Footballguy
Last edited by a moderator:
simey
Footballguy
I didn't make a Top 25, but if I had, "I'm so Tired" would be in it. It wouldn't be in my top 10.
Last edited by a moderator:
simey
Footballguy
Check this out, zam. Someone gave me that for my birthday a couple weeks ago. I read the directions, and it doesn't sound like you have to know anything about the BB to play it. I was surprised to see Robert Reed on the box since he refused to sign a contract with Paramount soon before he died, that would have allowed them to license his image. The game box has their faces move at different angles when you turn the box, and the pic of Mike shown at the angle in the pic may not be Robert Reed, but when he looks right at you it looks like RR. Here is a chip in the game that looks pretty much like mike, and there is a card in the game that looks like him too. 
heckmanm
Footballguy
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Doubtful unless you are talking about the version on the 1980s American Rarities LP. While it does have the trumpet ending this is not a genuine mix since it was the stereo version with the trumpet notes mixed into it. Even the Anthology version is a combination of mixes deliberately made to make a distinct new version.
To my knowledge the original 1967 mono single radio promo is the only true version that has the alternate trumpet ending. That said, it wouldn't shock me if there was an obscure release somewhere in the world that did have it. There are several books that track all of the alternative mixes, covers, printings. etc. and the variations are mind-boggling.
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Great, great song. One of George's best and it would have cracked the top 40 foe me, maybe a little higher.@zamboni said I should post what would piss the most people off. Unfortunately the next one I had listed is in the top 10 of both zamboni and @Mister CIA, so I guess I'm doing my job. Sorry.
81. If I Needed Someone (Rubber Soul, 1965)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
Having sat in on a recording session of The Byrds in August 1965, George was inspired to write this song by Roger McGuinn's 12-string riffs on "The Bells Of Rhymney." McGuinn had in turn been inspired by...The Beatles, including George's 12-string Rickenbacker work on A Hard Day's Night: "I first saw The Beatles on television in 1963, in New York. It was the clip with all the screaming girls. I loved the music! I got it right away and started playing folk songs with a Beatle beat down in Greenwich Village."
This song has such an amazing groove, starting with that dreamy opening riff. George's guitar work throughout is just brilliant, and those harmonies, sung off-the-beat or syncopated as most of the melody is, are not just gorgeous but due to the off-beat timing seem to drive the song along, increasing the tension and leading in and out of the bridge. I love the bridge's upbeat tempo and tambourines, giving it just enough of a different texture to feel satisfying but not interfere with the song's smooth groove as a whole. I often feel like George's songs, more than any other Beatle's, should be longer. There's so much complexity and texture in sometimes seemingly straightforward packages that I'd like to have heard them given even more time to develop.
This is one where it's worth mentioning how wonderful the lyrics are, too. As you might have figured out by now, I'm not much of a traditional romantic, so the "I love you"s don't do it for me in love songs. The genius in these lyrics is how hypothetical, conditional, and non-comital they are - check out the "if" and "I guess" and "maybe"s here, but then with the bold declaration of being "too much in love":
If I needed someone to love
You're the one that I'd be thinking of
If I needed someone
If I had some more time to spend
Then I guess I'd be with you my friend
If I needed someone
Had you come some other day
Then it might not have been like this
But you see now I'm too much in love
Carve your number on my wall
And maybe you will get a call from me
If I needed someone
Mr. krista: "It’s such a good jam. His songs are so dreamy. It produces such interesting sonic experiments. Like that jangly 12-string, it starts turning up across the world in other songs. Such an expressive guitar player."
Suggested cover: James Taylor (I'm not posting the cover by The Hollies, which reached #20 on the charts, because George himself didn't care for it.)
I have no idea why George did not care for the Hollies version which I think is pretty darn good. You would have thought that George would have been a little more flattered since I think it was the first time anyone had ever covered a Harrison song (could be wrong about that I think that is right). The thing that separates the Beatles and Hollies versions in my opinion are the harmonies of John, Paul and George. As great as the Hollies vocals were, no one could touch the Beatles back then, including the Beach Boys.
Godsbrother
Footballguy
The Anthology version has some interesting takes where they were trying out how to do the intro. I think they chose wiselykrista4 said:
rockaction
Footballguy
Blasphemy. The Hollies and The Beach Boys were easily as good as the Beatles, IMHO.
Godsbrother
Footballguy
They are great no doubt but for my money the Beatles 3-parts were the best. Just my
of course
rockaction
Footballguy
Yeah, I said that with a laugh. I love them all. For my money they're all Mount Rushmore of harmony and there's no need to pick nits on my end. I was being cheeky.They are great no doubt but for my money the Beatles 3-parts were the best. Just my
I'm also a Beach Boys honk, just like a Patriots/Brady/Belichick honk would be.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Stay out of the shark pool, they have decided to have a civil war over Brady and Belichick.
rockaction
Footballguy
I saw that. I can't believe it's still going. I was thinking it was like the political subforum over there and was going to say something about the comparison but thought better of it.
Last edited by a moderator:
Shaft41
Footballguy
Both in my top 25. By the way, I would not recommend going three days in a row not reading this thread. It's like Ringo leaving and coming back and finding out that not only did he miss "Back in the USSR" and "Dear Prudence" but also the entire Abbey Road album, and now he's randomly looking around going "What the hell happened around here?" in a daze.These are the two remaining that I thought wouldn't be in anyone's top 25: (1) Mother Nature's Son, and (2) Monkey monkey monkey firebell song. Someone had those? That's great!
That also means that every pick I make from 66->25 is going to piss someone off.
krista4
Footballguy
I’m skimming through right now and going to have a busy workday, so people will probably have a chance to catch up.
Sebowski
Footballguy
I don't remember posting this...
Needless to say it isn't as eloquent as I'd have liked.
Shaft41
Footballguy
One of the few things in my life that I am probably a bigger fan of than the Beatles is Seinfeld. I will still usually watch an episode or two most nights, even though I've seen them all dozens of times. The other night, "The Barber" came on, and I watched it and found myself thinking that I've probably only seen it maybe 5 times, and there were parts I didn't remember about it. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just needed to reacquaint myself with it.
"I Want to Tell You" is "The Barber" of this list so far. Hadn't heard it in a long time. I rarely hear it on the Beatles Channel. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.
rockaction
Footballguy
I will fight you. I will fight all of you!I don't remember posting this...
Zegras11
Footballguy
There is no crying in Beatles rankings.I still have to put 12 more songs outside the top 50. This isn't fair!!
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
***OFFICIALLY MOVED TO NUMBER 47!***
47. We Can Work It Out (single, 1965)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
This whole thing was a bad idea. Whose idea was this? I don't mean the song; I mean ranking the songs. Killing me.
Anyway, love this song. Always a big fan of songs where Paul and John each contributed significantly, and in this one George also made a major impact. It's no surprise that Paul wrote the optimistic verses as he tried to work through his relationship with Jane Asher, a relationship that will also be at the heart of, and treated more negatively in, "You Won't See Me" and "I'm Looking Through You." John contributed the more downbeat bridge, but it was George's idea to put the bridge in waltz time. Nifty thought that raises the song to a whole new level. As usual in these collaborative songs, the verses show their optimism in sunny major chords, while the bridge falls into a minor key to emphasize the pessimism. Both Paul and John are in excellent voice on this song, but I think Paul's the standout with that pure vocal sound and those high harmonies; it's one of my favorite Beatles performances from him. This was the first song in which the Beatles used the harmonium that would later show up more frequently, and I love the use of the volume pedal on it by whoever was playing it.
This was a double-a-side single along with "Day Tripper," still to come, the first double-a-sided single released in the UK. In the US, the popularity was tracked separately, with this song hitting #1 but "Day Tripper" only reaching #5. Probably not at the level of Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields for "best double-a-single ever," but should be in the conversation.
Mr. krista: "Pretty good single. The lyrics are funny to me. It’s about working it out, but it’s all about hectoring the other people into agreeing with your point of view. And time will tell you that I’m right. Those are really bad arguing tactics, Sir Paul. I still think it’s a really good song; it just makes me laugh. It’s a song about cooperation, but it’s so not."
Suggested cover: Here we have it, my favorite cover of any Beatles song: Stevie Wonder
47. We Can Work It Out (single, 1965)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
This whole thing was a bad idea. Whose idea was this? I don't mean the song; I mean ranking the songs. Killing me.
Anyway, love this song. Always a big fan of songs where Paul and John each contributed significantly, and in this one George also made a major impact. It's no surprise that Paul wrote the optimistic verses as he tried to work through his relationship with Jane Asher, a relationship that will also be at the heart of, and treated more negatively in, "You Won't See Me" and "I'm Looking Through You." John contributed the more downbeat bridge, but it was George's idea to put the bridge in waltz time. Nifty thought that raises the song to a whole new level. As usual in these collaborative songs, the verses show their optimism in sunny major chords, while the bridge falls into a minor key to emphasize the pessimism. Both Paul and John are in excellent voice on this song, but I think Paul's the standout with that pure vocal sound and those high harmonies; it's one of my favorite Beatles performances from him. This was the first song in which the Beatles used the harmonium that would later show up more frequently, and I love the use of the volume pedal on it by whoever was playing it.
This was a double-a-side single along with "Day Tripper," still to come, the first double-a-sided single released in the UK. In the US, the popularity was tracked separately, with this song hitting #1 but "Day Tripper" only reaching #5. Probably not at the level of Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields for "best double-a-single ever," but should be in the conversation.
Mr. krista: "Pretty good single. The lyrics are funny to me. It’s about working it out, but it’s all about hectoring the other people into agreeing with your point of view. And time will tell you that I’m right. Those are really bad arguing tactics, Sir Paul. I still think it’s a really good song; it just makes me laugh. It’s a song about cooperation, but it’s so not."
Suggested cover: Here we have it, my favorite cover of any Beatles song: Stevie Wonder
Last edited by a moderator:
krista4
Footballguy
worrierking
Footballguy
This one is in my top 25. I posted earlier about how I really like the ones where sunny Paul is brought back to earth by cynic John. This is the very best example of that. Brilliant.
Shaft41
Footballguy
I agree, I've always loved the Paul vocal on this one. It just seems so clear and pure. The point about the time change to 3/4 is a good one; it's amazing for 4 guys who couldn't read music, how they were so intuitive with time changes within songs, sometimes going back and forth multiple times.
heckmanm
Footballguy
I threw my "top 25" together without a ton of thought, TBH, and since then there have been about a dozen times that K4 has posted (or someone has mentioned) a song, and I've thought "holy hell, that's a great song - that could have been in my top 25!" But then I go look and really can't find one that I'd easily discard.
Showing (once again) what an incredible catalog these guys have.
Showing (once again) what an incredible catalog these guys have.
krista4
Footballguy
I find it brilliant and completely get why it would be in someone's top 25. It's around now that I realize what a ridiculous exercise this is, but it's made for a fun thread anyway.
Last edited by a moderator:
rockaction
Footballguy
Genius move by George. I love waltz time, and loved when the Beatles did just that. I don't want to spoil the party (see what I did there?) but there's another song in waltz time by the Beatles that I absolutely adore and made my top twenty-five, easily.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
My upper-list is getting Napalmed now, but I suspect many are. 6, 8, 9, and 11 (Penny Lane, in case anyone was wondering) gone in three days.
Back to the record. I had it at #6 because of the collaboration krista talked about. To me, everything about this record works. It ####### ZOOMS, man.
Also agree that Stevie's cover is 1A - those "Heys!" are sublime. However, this isn't the cover I mentioned lo-those-many-pages-ago. 1B's still coming, @Godsbrother. Yes it is, preciousssssss.
krista4
Footballguy
rockaction
Footballguy
Yep. At least, I'm pretty sure. I'd probably have noticed. I think I've read every page of the thread.
eta* And I'm listening to Panda Bear right now but want to turn on that song and listen to the Beatles. Curse this thread. Love this thread.
Last edited by a moderator:
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
Bonzai
Footballguy
timschochet
Footballguy
Mr. Krista has it right. The lyrics always cracked me up. Happy Paul says we can make this work, all you have to do is agree with me.
Later on Paul reprises this theme in "With A Little Luck"- also very catchy.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Good thing all these Paul lyrics happened before the internet.
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
Man, I still have the 45 I bought at the Woolworth's of Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out somewhere in the attic with a few other tidbits of my childhood.
Weird it didn't make my top 70. I think I unfairly treated some of their early stuff - still assigning a "more juvenile Beatles" take to a lot of it.
Weird it didn't make my top 70. I think I unfairly treated some of their early stuff - still assigning a "more juvenile Beatles" take to a lot of it.
krista4
Footballguy
62. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
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
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
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
Last edited by a moderator:
krista4
Footballguy
Feels like you might be giving too much away with posts like this, but it's up to you.
krista4
Footballguy
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
A little bit of advice from someone who has now sorted through thousands of covers of Beatles songs: if you decide to start a Beatles cover band and want a pun or play on words involving "Beatles" or the title to one of their songs or a lyric from one of their songs, sorry but they're all already taken.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
Ted Lange as your Bartender
Footballguy
Gave serious consideration to making this my #1. imo it’s one of the songs that most perfectly encapsulates what the Beatles were, or at least what the Paul and John dynamics were within the Beatles.
And yes, Stevie’s cover is amazing
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Good points with the double sided singles. Some groups had some real crap hiding on the other side of the 45.
