krista4
Footballguy
These were so sweet. I've always thought of George as being mostly unhappy as a Beatle, so I love seeing him looking back at it so fondly.
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In this thread I rank my favorite Beatles songs: 204-1. (13 Viewers)
- Thread starter krista4
- Start date
Sebowski
Footballguy
Travis Henry! I used to have a joke that Travis Henry had a Shawn Kemp poster on his wall and always looked up to him. And then it went something like "oh he's a great basketball player" and Henry would say "he played ball?" or something like that. I lost it. Cromartie is probably the GOAT there though.
Sebowski
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
Shaft41
Footballguy
This is one I never used to really like that now, depending on the day, moved up in my rankings, which I say as if anyone actually was daft enough to try and rank all the Beatles songs. I don't regularly have insomnia, but, when I do, I completely understand the pull of this song.
heckmanm
Footballguy
Updated now that the White Album is completed. Hard Day's Night currently the highest average ranking.
Album Hi Lo Avg Med
----- --- --- --- ---
Please Please Me 35 202 131 147
With the Beatles 12 194 140 149
A Hard Day’s Night 23 161 82 72
Beatles for Sale 56 185 137 149
Magical Mystery Tour 44 197 143 160
The Beatles (aka White Album) 10 204 114 120
Yellow Submarine 31 171 114 127
Yet to be completed: Help! (1 remaining), Rubber Soul (2), Revolver (2), Sgt Pepper's (1), Abbey Road (1), Let it Be (1), Singles, etc. (1)
Album Hi Lo Avg Med
----- --- --- --- ---
Please Please Me 35 202 131 147
With the Beatles 12 194 140 149
A Hard Day’s Night 23 161 82 72
Beatles for Sale 56 185 137 149
Magical Mystery Tour 44 197 143 160
The Beatles (aka White Album) 10 204 114 120
Yellow Submarine 31 171 114 127
Yet to be completed: Help! (1 remaining), Rubber Soul (2), Revolver (2), Sgt Pepper's (1), Abbey Road (1), Let it Be (1), Singles, etc. (1)
krista4
Footballguy
9. Rain (single, 1966)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
While Paul's unbelievable bass work prevents me from declaring this A RINGO SHOWCASE!, it's undoubtedly one of his best performances. Ringo agrees: "My favorite piece of me is what I did on 'Rain.' I think I just played amazing. I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat. I think it's the best out of all the records I've ever made. 'Rain' blows me away. I know me and I know my playing, and then there's 'Rain.' I feel as though that was someone else playing – I was possessed!" You go, Ringo!
The deep, heavy feel of this song was accomplished via a technical trick that was novel at the time. The rhythm tracks were played at an extremely fast tempo and then slowed down at playback, giving that "big, ponderous, thunderous backing" that Paul ended up loving. Considering how amazing both Paul and Ringo sound on the song, imagine how much even more impressive their playing was when heard at the speed they actually played it!
Much like the accidental brilliance of the backward guitar on "Tomorrow Never Knows," this song has a backward vocal and backward guitar that also came about by chance. John had left the studio after the original sessions for this song, taking the tapes with him to listen later that night. When, under the influence of The Evil Weed, he threaded the tape, he accidentally did it backwards and loved the sound. He brought it back into the studio the next day and asked (well, more like demanded) that the engineers find a way to run his vocals backward for the song's fade-out and George's guitar backward for parts of the song, which they dutifully accomplished, making this the first recording to feature a backward vocal track.
I don't have a lot of deep analysis of why I love this song; the lyrics, for instance, aren't notable to me, and the vocals are great but y'know, Beatles. I just love the heavy groove and that it rocks my face off.
Bonus! Around this time the Beatles started doing promotional videos for their singles; here's the one for "Rain."
Mr. krista: "It’s called Rain and the whole song sounds like it’s underwater. Gives this great impression of being sung in a rainstorm or a car wash or something. You can listen to the Velvet Underground and imagine 16-year-old Iggy Pop listening to it. With this you just know 16-year-old Robyn Hitchcock listened to that song and thought, 'there’s a new direction.' There are whole genres of music based on that song. I don’t know why it’s not more popular or lauded. It sounds perfectly contemporary; there’s nothing dated about it at all."
Suggested cover: This is so disappointing. Some musical heavy-hitters apparently love this song, because I listened to all their versions - from Freddie Mercury to Fairport Convention, Gregg Allman to Todd Rundgren, even listened to the Grateful Dead! - and I disliked all of them. Why oh why can't someone do a great cover of this song?
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
While Paul's unbelievable bass work prevents me from declaring this A RINGO SHOWCASE!, it's undoubtedly one of his best performances. Ringo agrees: "My favorite piece of me is what I did on 'Rain.' I think I just played amazing. I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat. I think it's the best out of all the records I've ever made. 'Rain' blows me away. I know me and I know my playing, and then there's 'Rain.' I feel as though that was someone else playing – I was possessed!" You go, Ringo!
The deep, heavy feel of this song was accomplished via a technical trick that was novel at the time. The rhythm tracks were played at an extremely fast tempo and then slowed down at playback, giving that "big, ponderous, thunderous backing" that Paul ended up loving. Considering how amazing both Paul and Ringo sound on the song, imagine how much even more impressive their playing was when heard at the speed they actually played it!
Much like the accidental brilliance of the backward guitar on "Tomorrow Never Knows," this song has a backward vocal and backward guitar that also came about by chance. John had left the studio after the original sessions for this song, taking the tapes with him to listen later that night. When, under the influence of The Evil Weed, he threaded the tape, he accidentally did it backwards and loved the sound. He brought it back into the studio the next day and asked (well, more like demanded) that the engineers find a way to run his vocals backward for the song's fade-out and George's guitar backward for parts of the song, which they dutifully accomplished, making this the first recording to feature a backward vocal track.
I don't have a lot of deep analysis of why I love this song; the lyrics, for instance, aren't notable to me, and the vocals are great but y'know, Beatles. I just love the heavy groove and that it rocks my face off.
Bonus! Around this time the Beatles started doing promotional videos for their singles; here's the one for "Rain."
Mr. krista: "It’s called Rain and the whole song sounds like it’s underwater. Gives this great impression of being sung in a rainstorm or a car wash or something. You can listen to the Velvet Underground and imagine 16-year-old Iggy Pop listening to it. With this you just know 16-year-old Robyn Hitchcock listened to that song and thought, 'there’s a new direction.' There are whole genres of music based on that song. I don’t know why it’s not more popular or lauded. It sounds perfectly contemporary; there’s nothing dated about it at all."
Suggested cover: This is so disappointing. Some musical heavy-hitters apparently love this song, because I listened to all their versions - from Freddie Mercury to Fairport Convention, Gregg Allman to Todd Rundgren, even listened to the Grateful Dead! - and I disliked all of them. Why oh why can't someone do a great cover of this song?
krista4
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
This is the one that has two #1 votes.9. Rain (single, 1966)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
While Paul's unbelievable bass work prevents me from declaring this A RINGO SHOWCASE!, it's undoubtedly one of his best performances. Ringo agrees: "My favorite piece of me is what I did on 'Rain.' I think I just played amazing. I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat. I think it's the best out of all the records I've ever made. 'Rain' blows me away. I know me and I know my playing, and then there's 'Rain.' I feel as though that was someone else playing – I was possessed!" You go, Ringo!
The deep, heavy feel of this song was accomplished via a technical trick that was novel at the time. The rhythm tracks were played at an extremely fast tempo and then slowed down at playback, giving that "big, ponderous, thunderous backing" that Paul ended up loving. Considering how amazing both Paul and Ringo sound on the song, imagine how much even more impressive their playing was when heard at the speed they actually played it!
Much like the accidental brilliance of the backward guitar on "Tomorrow Never Knows," this song has a backward vocal and backward guitar that also came about by chance. John had left the studio after the original sessions for this song, taking the tapes with him to listen later that night. When, under the influence of The Evil Weed, he threaded the tape, he accidentally did it backwards and loved the sound. He brought it back into the studio the next day and asked (well, more like demanded) that the engineers find a way to run his vocals backward for the song's fade-out and George's guitar backward for parts of the song, which they dutifully accomplished, making this the first recording to feature a backward vocal track.
I don't have a lot of deep analysis of why I love this song; the lyrics, for instance, aren't notable to me, and the vocals are great but y'know, Beatles. I just love the heavy groove and that it rocks my face off.
Bonus! Around this time the Beatles started doing promotional videos for their singles; here's the one for "Rain."
Mr. krista: "It’s called Rain and the whole song sounds like it’s underwater. Gives this great impression of being sung in a rainstorm or a car wash or something. You can listen to the Velvet Underground and imagine 16-year-old Iggy Pop listening to it. With this you just know 16-year-old Robyn Hitchcock listened to that song and thought, 'there’s a new direction.' There are whole genres of music based on that song. I don’t know why it’s not more popular or lauded. It sounds perfectly contemporary; there’s nothing dated about it at all."
Suggested cover: This is so disappointing. Some musical heavy-hitters apparently love this song, because I listened to all their versions - from Freddie Mercury to Fairport Convention, Gregg Allman to Todd Rundgren, even listened to the Grateful Dead! - and I disliked all of them. Why oh why can't someone do a great cover of this song?
This song has shot way up my list since you started this. So thanks!! It's been stuck in my head several days. Love the opening....
krista4
Footballguy
Another one that also ranks highly in the Krista Family Consensus, since it's in the top 10 for both of us.
ETA: Must be polarizing as I remember someone said that it shouldn't have been in the top 50, though amazingly I don't remember who said it.
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Mister CIA
Footballguy
Insomniac's untie! I'm convinced Alzheimer's lies ahead for me. A couple of Sunday's ago, thanks to great food, high-ABV beer, and two consecutive days with barely any sleep, I fell asleep around 9:00 pm. Woke up two hours later and spent the eight hours thinking about random ####. :JustShootMe:
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
Now that you're done with it, one of the things i love most about the White Album - as is the case with this song - is that ten of its songs are under two & a half minutes.
For this entire decade, i've been working on a movie musical based on Alice in Wonderland. I backed into the idea but i love it, it's handsdown the best thing i've ever written (as close to a MontyPythonish musical - with modern musical numbers instead of folksyass Idle tunes - as i could get) and, except for Alice's trial - which is a 14-singing-part integrated multi-tune number which i can't complete without a professional arranger - all 23 numbers are written. Because i'm not a capable musician and because it helped with the flow, I wrote a lot of minor-character numbers that are pretty damn catchy & fun but very short. As an old A&R guy, this violates every rule of musical commerce i ever learned and the only thing that's helped me keep the courage of my convictions was listening to the White Album, which is great BECAUSE it hops & hops & hops. Bless you boys. Happy Birthday, George.
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krista4
Footballguy
Damn it, I want you to finish this! Everyone in this thread can come to the premiere.
Appropriate to work in a Monty Python reference on George's birthday, too.
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
Absotively. Nothing more George than when his business people asked him why he would even imagine to put millions into Life of Brian when the CofE was planning to ban it before it was even written, George replied "because i want to see it".
Sebowski
Footballguy
And this board wants to see your musical. Let us know when you set up a fundme or whatever. I've got 5 on it.
krista4
Footballguy
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
when I googled it for Todd, I found what sounds like a very poor live version - his voice is roasted (had a picture of a flower).9. Rain (single, 1966)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
Suggested cover: This is so disappointing. Some musical heavy-hitters apparently love this song, because I listened to all their versions - from Freddie Mercury to Fairport Convention, Gregg Allman to Todd Rundgren, even listened to the Grateful Dead! - and I disliked all of them. Why oh why can't someone do a great cover of this song?
1
You may not like it either - but this is the studio version off of the Faithful album. Todd - Rain.
Mister CIA
Footballguy
Mister CIA
Footballguy
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Spock
Footballguy
So glad this made it all the way to your #9 song. As mentioned, Paul and Ringo really stand out, and John’s vocals are eerily soothing to me. Unreal this was a b-side release. Just Imagine if they threw it on Revolver.9. Rain (single, 1966)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
While Paul's unbelievable bass work prevents me from declaring this A RINGO SHOWCASE!, it's undoubtedly one of his best performances. Ringo agrees: "My favorite piece of me is what I did on 'Rain.' I think I just played amazing. I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat. I think it's the best out of all the records I've ever made. 'Rain' blows me away. I know me and I know my playing, and then there's 'Rain.' I feel as though that was someone else playing – I was possessed!" You go, Ringo!
The deep, heavy feel of this song was accomplished via a technical trick that was novel at the time. The rhythm tracks were played at an extremely fast tempo and then slowed down at playback, giving that "big, ponderous, thunderous backing" that Paul ended up loving. Considering how amazing both Paul and Ringo sound on the song, imagine how much even more impressive their playing was when heard at the speed they actually played it!
Much like the accidental brilliance of the backward guitar on "Tomorrow Never Knows," this song has a backward vocal and backward guitar that also came about by chance. John had left the studio after the original sessions for this song, taking the tapes with him to listen later that night. When, under the influence of The Evil Weed, he threaded the tape, he accidentally did it backwards and loved the sound. He brought it back into the studio the next day and asked (well, more like demanded) that the engineers find a way to run his vocals backward for the song's fade-out and George's guitar backward for parts of the song, which they dutifully accomplished, making this the first recording to feature a backward vocal track.
I don't have a lot of deep analysis of why I love this song; the lyrics, for instance, aren't notable to me, and the vocals are great but y'know, Beatles. I just love the heavy groove and that it rocks my face off.
Bonus! Around this time the Beatles started doing promotional videos for their singles; here's the one for "Rain."
Mr. krista: "It’s called Rain and the whole song sounds like it’s underwater. Gives this great impression of being sung in a rainstorm or a car wash or something. You can listen to the Velvet Underground and imagine 16-year-old Iggy Pop listening to it. With this you just know 16-year-old Robyn Hitchcock listened to that song and thought, 'there’s a new direction.' There are whole genres of music based on that song. I don’t know why it’s not more popular or lauded. It sounds perfectly contemporary; there’s nothing dated about it at all."
Suggested cover: This is so disappointing. Some musical heavy-hitters apparently love this song, because I listened to all their versions - from Freddie Mercury to Fairport Convention, Gregg Allman to Todd Rundgren, even listened to the Grateful Dead! - and I disliked all of them. Why oh why can't someone do a great cover of this song?
Man of Constant Sorrow
Footballguy
Now that i know this, I would like to explain that my very 1st post here, about "Across The Universe", that was too obscure (nonsensical) to understand...Whoever wins the #1 contest can designate this as their charity.
Well, that was my attempt to say, "This is k4's #1!"
Unfortunately, it was past the deadline, so...
Also, I will eventually explain the meaning in full detail, at the appropriate time.
In regards to "I'm So Tired", I got a lot to write as well. Coming a little later.
Knock it outta da paak, Wikkid!
Rustoleum
Footballguy
Mister CIA
Footballguy
Thought idea: Banana Pudding eatables, or as I wont to call it, Nanana Pudding.
ETA: or, NomNaNomNaNomNomNomNa Pudding.
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heckmanm
Footballguy
Singles, etc close out with 9-198-98-99. I’ll format it tomorrow when I’m not on iPad
krista4
Footballguy
I think it was that live version I found, with the vocal all blowed-out. This is better. I'll allow it!
Man of Constant Sorrow
Footballguy
Oh, K4, one other thing, my comments on "I'm So Tired" will have a heavy dose of Grandman of Constant Sorrow. So, prepare yourself. 
(Note: Grandman of Constant Sorrow is the name Krista gave my pop. He's got a lotta nicks, but this is my favs.)
(Note: Grandman of Constant Sorrow is the name Krista gave my pop. He's got a lotta nicks, but this is my favs.)
Shaft41
Footballguy
Might be me who said that; it's not like anyone is reading my posts. I think my overall least favorite subgenre of Beatles tubes are the heavy, dirgy, ponderous ones, in which I place this, along with half of Let It Be. Just not a fan, although I certainly respect the musicianship.Another one that also ranks highly in the Krista Family Consensus, since it's in the top 10 for both of us.
ETA: Must be polarizing as I remember someone said that it shouldn't have been in the top 50, though amazingly I don't remember who said it.
krista4
Footballguy
8. For No One (Revolver, 1966)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
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.
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
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.
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krista4
Footballguy
Is it going to make me cry? I'm already weepy after listening to "For No One" a dozen times in a row.Oh, K4, one other thing, my comments on "I'm So Tired" will have a heavy dose of Grandman of Constant Sorrow. So, prepare yourself.
(Note: Grandman of Constant Sorrow is the name Krista gave my pop. He's got a lotta nicks, but this is my favs.)
Man of Constant Sorrow
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
Big Blue Wrecking Crew
downsized
Spock
Footballguy
zamboni
Footballguy
heckmanm
Footballguy
Album Hi Lo Avg Med
----- --- --- --- ---
Please Please Me 35 202 131 147
With the Beatles 12 194 140 149
A Hard Day’s Night 23 161 82 72
Beatles for Sale 56 185 137 149
Magical Mystery Tour 44 197 143 160
The Beatles (aka White Album) 10 204 114 120
Yellow Submarine 31 171 114 127
Singles, etc. 9 198 98 99
Remaining: Help! (1), Rubber Soul (2), Revolver (1), Sgt Pepper's (1), Abbey Road (1), Let it Be (1)
Godsbrother
Footballguy
I think it is great as-is but if I had to choose I would definitely take the electric version over the strings version.
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Obviously I like this song a great deal but would not even be close to my Top Ten. I doubt it would make my top 50. Oh well, to each his/her own.
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
Guitar guy outside my subway stop was singing a song just for krista this morning: https://youtu.be/QKjaK_JWDgg
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
Every time @krista4 posts a song now, I wonder how I left it out of my top 25 - and then I look at my top 25 and I honestly only see two songs that I could boot to make room and not feel like I was throwing away an old photo album with pictures I could never part with. Only my #24 and #25 songs seemed to have been just thrown in there because I couldn't bear sorting it out anymore.
ETA: and even those two songs bring me joy.
ETA: and even those two songs bring me joy.
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rockaction
Footballguy
Yeah, I don't have much to say other than I was jazzed to see Rain included, as this very board was how I was introduced to the song in one of the old, old music threads. Anyway, "Rain" and "For No One" are both great tracks accompanied by informative takes, not the least of which is the story about the horn in "For No One." Sort of a neat anecdote that says a lot about the place, time, idealism, generational pull...
Interesting.
Interesting.
krista4
Footballguy
With only seven songs left, I was surprised we hadn’t come to the second one where you rock our faces off, and then I realized that it must be that you are going to perform the entire Abbey Road medley. Bravo!
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
Well it will be a special treat that I get to post a video of me butchering one of your favorite Beatles songs.
Alex P Keaton
Footballguy
I've listened to it again 5 times since it was posted as #9 and still just find it boring. It probably works on too deep of a level for me to appreciate.9. Rain (single, 1966)
Beatles version: Spotify YouTube
While Paul's unbelievable bass work prevents me from declaring this A RINGO SHOWCASE!, it's undoubtedly one of his best performances. Ringo agrees: "My favorite piece of me is what I did on 'Rain.' I think I just played amazing. I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat. I think it's the best out of all the records I've ever made. 'Rain' blows me away. I know me and I know my playing, and then there's 'Rain.' I feel as though that was someone else playing – I was possessed!" You go, Ringo!
The deep, heavy feel of this song was accomplished via a technical trick that was novel at the time. The rhythm tracks were played at an extremely fast tempo and then slowed down at playback, giving that "big, ponderous, thunderous backing" that Paul ended up loving. Considering how amazing both Paul and Ringo sound on the song, imagine how much even more impressive their playing was when heard at the speed they actually played it!
Much like the accidental brilliance of the backward guitar on "Tomorrow Never Knows," this song has a backward vocal and backward guitar that also came about by chance. John had left the studio after the original sessions for this song, taking the tapes with him to listen later that night. When, under the influence of The Evil Weed, he threaded the tape, he accidentally did it backwards and loved the sound. He brought it back into the studio the next day and asked (well, more like demanded) that the engineers find a way to run his vocals backward for the song's fade-out and George's guitar backward for parts of the song, which they dutifully accomplished, making this the first recording to feature a backward vocal track.
I don't have a lot of deep analysis of why I love this song; the lyrics, for instance, aren't notable to me, and the vocals are great but y'know, Beatles. I just love the heavy groove and that it rocks my face off.
Bonus! Around this time the Beatles started doing promotional videos for their singles; here's the one for "Rain."
Mr. krista: "It’s called Rain and the whole song sounds like it’s underwater. Gives this great impression of being sung in a rainstorm or a car wash or something. You can listen to the Velvet Underground and imagine 16-year-old Iggy Pop listening to it. With this you just know 16-year-old Robyn Hitchcock listened to that song and thought, 'there’s a new direction.' There are whole genres of music based on that song. I don’t know why it’s not more popular or lauded. It sounds perfectly contemporary; there’s nothing dated about it at all."
Suggested cover: This is so disappointing. Some musical heavy-hitters apparently love this song, because I listened to all their versions - from Freddie Mercury to Fairport Convention, Gregg Allman to Todd Rundgren, even listened to the Grateful Dead! - and I disliked all of them. Why oh why can't someone do a great cover of this song?
Alex P Keaton
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
