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.
2022 FBG, 172 to 1 Beatles Countdown 1-25 lists... And 173 to 1 Countdown from 1-64 lists! (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Zegras11
- Start date
I love seeing all the different music tastes expressed in this thread, but still can't fathom how it is possible that there are 13 people in the entire world, let alone this thread, that think Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is one of the 25 best Beatles songs. I can't even listen to the Arthur Conley version despite the fact that Duane Allman is my favorite musician of all time and I spend a not insignificant portion of my life hunting down every note he's ever recorded.
Zegras11
Footballguy
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
People aren’t necessarily saying what they think is “best” but what their own favorites are. Sometimes those don’t intersect. My favorites aren’t always what I’d objectively consider “best.” Some songs might be selected because of an association of the song with a time or event in the person’s life.
Last edited by a moderator:
krista4
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
Can’t Buy Me Love
2022 Ranking: 49
2022 Lists: 15
2022 Points: 156
Ranked Highest by: @Encyclopedia Brown (6) Krista(Doug) (7) @PIK95 (8) @falguy (8) @whoknew (9) @wikkidpissah (11) @DocHolliday (14) @Dinsy Ejotuz (16) @AAABatteries (17)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 51/8/67
Getz: I had this at #21 in 2019. Didn't make the cut this time. Live YT with 24m views.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 58
2019 write-up:
Can't Buy Me Love (A Hard Day's Night, 1964)
Composed and recorded while on their Paris tour in January/February 1964, this is one of the six straight #1 songs that the Beatles had in 1964. Amazingly, that streak also included a date in March in which the top five songs on the charts were all Beatles songs (this one, "Twist And Shout," "She Loves You," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," and "Please Please Me"), which is a record that's never been broken, and a date in April on which they held 14 of the top 100 spots.
The song was composed entirely by Paul, using a piano they'd had brought to their hotel room so they could work in between shows. The recording session in Paris, where they also recorded the German versions of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You," was the group's only recording session outside of London. Paul has said he intended do a bluesy song, and originally he conceived of his lead being joined by George and John with backing vocals to sound like the Motown girl groups. In fact, such backing vocals were recorded but didn't make the final cut of the record. As a result, this became the first song released as a Beatles single that featured only one singer, as the song includes only Paul's voice double-tracked. Once again, George Martin contributed a crucial idea to the song, which was to start with the chorus in order to catch the listener immediately.
It's a buoyant, bouncy, bubbly song with enormous energy. To my ear the song has a lighter touch than the bluesy song Paul first intended; in addition to scrapping the backing vocals, by the final version Paul's vocal doesn't have the bluesy inflection that he had originally contemplated. Most of all I hear an infectious pop song. Love George's guitar solo; the sound of the overdubbing with the quiet solo in back was actually a mistake based on technical limitations at the time, but I think it adds a nice feel.
Speaking of mistakes, for many years there were questions surrounding an unnamed mystery drummer that had, according to EMI records, been paid for one session of the Can't Buy Me Love overdub tapings back in London. In Geoff Emerick's book, he cleared up the mystery. After the master tape was brought from Paris to London, "perhaps because it had been spooled incorrectly, the tape had a ripple in it, resulting in the intermittent loss of treble on Ringo’s hi-hat cymbal. There was tremendous time pressure to get the track mixed and delivered to the pressing plant, and due to touring commitments The Beatles themselves were unavailable..." So George Martin enlisted the help of the engineer, Norman Smith, who "headed down into the studio to overdub a hastily set-up hi-hat onto a few bars of the song, simultaneously doing a two-track to two-track dub." All of this was done without ever telling the Beatles themselves!
Mr. krista: "I love Beatles rave-ups, especially John Lennon. [Narrator: I tell him this is a Paul song.] They’re all really good when they play 12-bar blues really fast. And they’re such good lyricists that there will also be a good turn of phrase. And they put it right up front with the chorus so you know what the song’s about."
Suggested cover: Ella Fitzgerald
2022 Supplement: John and Paul thought of themselves as “Lennon and McCartney” from their early days, trying to pattern themselves after the songwriting pairs they listened to such as Leiber and Stoller. Paul describes a time in which he and John were just churning out songs. It wasn’t just for the money but for the pure joy of creation. But, they also thought that hey, if they could churn out hits like Goffin and King were doing, they might not buy love but at least could get a car. The demands on them for original songwriting became increasingly strong, with Brian Epstein directing that they “take a week off” and write an album. Paul says they wrote at least a song a day during those times, meeting at one of their houses with a couple of guitars, pads of paper, and pencils.
This song was written, as described in my 2019 write-up, under very different circumstances. In addition to doing two sets a day in Paris, they were in the recording studio for their German versions of their two biggest hits, and at the same time being told to come up with more new songs. Paul says that there was some irony in the fact that, while they were writing about there being more to the world than material possessions, they were surrounded by opulence.
This song was written as a standard 12-bar blues, and I actually prefer Paul’s vocal and the guitar solo in this earlier version (but do not enjoy the weird backing vocals): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS0Tf7fY4xw  
Guido Merkins
Beatles stereotypes have John as the rocker and Paul as the sappy balladeer, but the fact is, both were very adept at writing rock songs. Paul wrote I Saw Her Standing There, Back in the USSR, Helter Skelter, and 1964’s Can’t Buy Me Love from the A Hard Day’s Night album.
Can’t Buy Me Love is fairly straight forward rock and roll song, a 12 bar blues, which was not something the Beatles usually did. George Martin suggested starting the song with the chorus to immediately draw in the listener, so that’s what they did. The earlier takes had a much bluesier lead vocal from Paul (think of She’s A Woman) that you can hear on Anthology 1. It also had some strange echoing background vocals that they dropped (thankfully.) So what was left was a rocking Paul vocal, a great solo by George, and Ringo laying it down.
The part in the movie with the Beatles running around in a field was originally going to feature I’ll Cry Instead, but Can’t Buy Me Love was a far better, and more energetic choice. That part of the film is so influential. Lots of music movies had segments were music was being played. Usually the artist standing there pretending to play or sing the song. Can’t Buy Me Love is just the Beatles acting silly in a field while the music plays. There are quick edits, slow motion, blurry shots, shots from different perspectives….in other words, everything you would associate with a music video is here. It’s a brilliant piece of filmmaking and the fact that the Beatles star in it and have this great song to go along with it adds to the experience.
2022 Ranking: 49
2022 Lists: 15
2022 Points: 156
Ranked Highest by: @Encyclopedia Brown (6) Krista(Doug) (7) @PIK95 (8) @falguy (8) @whoknew (9) @wikkidpissah (11) @DocHolliday (14) @Dinsy Ejotuz (16) @AAABatteries (17)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 51/8/67
Getz: I had this at #21 in 2019. Didn't make the cut this time. Live YT with 24m views.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 58
2019 write-up:
Can't Buy Me Love (A Hard Day's Night, 1964)
Composed and recorded while on their Paris tour in January/February 1964, this is one of the six straight #1 songs that the Beatles had in 1964. Amazingly, that streak also included a date in March in which the top five songs on the charts were all Beatles songs (this one, "Twist And Shout," "She Loves You," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," and "Please Please Me"), which is a record that's never been broken, and a date in April on which they held 14 of the top 100 spots.
The song was composed entirely by Paul, using a piano they'd had brought to their hotel room so they could work in between shows. The recording session in Paris, where they also recorded the German versions of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You," was the group's only recording session outside of London. Paul has said he intended do a bluesy song, and originally he conceived of his lead being joined by George and John with backing vocals to sound like the Motown girl groups. In fact, such backing vocals were recorded but didn't make the final cut of the record. As a result, this became the first song released as a Beatles single that featured only one singer, as the song includes only Paul's voice double-tracked. Once again, George Martin contributed a crucial idea to the song, which was to start with the chorus in order to catch the listener immediately.
It's a buoyant, bouncy, bubbly song with enormous energy. To my ear the song has a lighter touch than the bluesy song Paul first intended; in addition to scrapping the backing vocals, by the final version Paul's vocal doesn't have the bluesy inflection that he had originally contemplated. Most of all I hear an infectious pop song. Love George's guitar solo; the sound of the overdubbing with the quiet solo in back was actually a mistake based on technical limitations at the time, but I think it adds a nice feel.
Speaking of mistakes, for many years there were questions surrounding an unnamed mystery drummer that had, according to EMI records, been paid for one session of the Can't Buy Me Love overdub tapings back in London. In Geoff Emerick's book, he cleared up the mystery. After the master tape was brought from Paris to London, "perhaps because it had been spooled incorrectly, the tape had a ripple in it, resulting in the intermittent loss of treble on Ringo’s hi-hat cymbal. There was tremendous time pressure to get the track mixed and delivered to the pressing plant, and due to touring commitments The Beatles themselves were unavailable..." So George Martin enlisted the help of the engineer, Norman Smith, who "headed down into the studio to overdub a hastily set-up hi-hat onto a few bars of the song, simultaneously doing a two-track to two-track dub." All of this was done without ever telling the Beatles themselves!
Mr. krista: "I love Beatles rave-ups, especially John Lennon. [Narrator: I tell him this is a Paul song.] They’re all really good when they play 12-bar blues really fast. And they’re such good lyricists that there will also be a good turn of phrase. And they put it right up front with the chorus so you know what the song’s about."
Suggested cover: Ella Fitzgerald
2022 Supplement: John and Paul thought of themselves as “Lennon and McCartney” from their early days, trying to pattern themselves after the songwriting pairs they listened to such as Leiber and Stoller. Paul describes a time in which he and John were just churning out songs. It wasn’t just for the money but for the pure joy of creation. But, they also thought that hey, if they could churn out hits like Goffin and King were doing, they might not buy love but at least could get a car. The demands on them for original songwriting became increasingly strong, with Brian Epstein directing that they “take a week off” and write an album. Paul says they wrote at least a song a day during those times, meeting at one of their houses with a couple of guitars, pads of paper, and pencils.
This song was written, as described in my 2019 write-up, under very different circumstances. In addition to doing two sets a day in Paris, they were in the recording studio for their German versions of their two biggest hits, and at the same time being told to come up with more new songs. Paul says that there was some irony in the fact that, while they were writing about there being more to the world than material possessions, they were surrounded by opulence.
This song was written as a standard 12-bar blues, and I actually prefer Paul’s vocal and the guitar solo in this earlier version (but do not enjoy the weird backing vocals): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS0Tf7fY4xw  
Guido Merkins
Beatles stereotypes have John as the rocker and Paul as the sappy balladeer, but the fact is, both were very adept at writing rock songs. Paul wrote I Saw Her Standing There, Back in the USSR, Helter Skelter, and 1964’s Can’t Buy Me Love from the A Hard Day’s Night album.
Can’t Buy Me Love is fairly straight forward rock and roll song, a 12 bar blues, which was not something the Beatles usually did. George Martin suggested starting the song with the chorus to immediately draw in the listener, so that’s what they did. The earlier takes had a much bluesier lead vocal from Paul (think of She’s A Woman) that you can hear on Anthology 1. It also had some strange echoing background vocals that they dropped (thankfully.) So what was left was a rocking Paul vocal, a great solo by George, and Ringo laying it down.
The part in the movie with the Beatles running around in a field was originally going to feature I’ll Cry Instead, but Can’t Buy Me Love was a far better, and more energetic choice. That part of the film is so influential. Lots of music movies had segments were music was being played. Usually the artist standing there pretending to play or sing the song. Can’t Buy Me Love is just the Beatles acting silly in a field while the music plays. There are quick edits, slow motion, blurry shots, shots from different perspectives….in other words, everything you would associate with a music video is here. It’s a brilliant piece of filmmaking and the fact that the Beatles star in it and have this great song to go along with it adds to the experience.
Zegras11
Footballguy
MAC_32
Footballguy
Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane are phenomenal songs. They're also nowhere near one of my favorites. I'm sure they'll have a place in my 64 immediately after my favorites list is exhausted along with a pile of 1963-1965 releases.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
A perfect fusion of blues, pop and rock and one of the best songs of their early years. Still holds up today.
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
AAABatteries
Footballguy
I'm not sure you people know this but From Me to You was the Beatles' first number 1 hit on what became the official UK singles chart.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
That's right - YOU people.
Zegras11
Footballguy
All My Loving (Live At The Festival Hall in Melbourne) 6/17/64
2022 Ranking: 48
2022 Lists: 18
2022 Points: 160
Ranked Highest by: @Eephus (4) @krista4 (13) @Ilov80s (13) @John Maddens Lunchbox (14) @jwb (15)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 58/6/55
Getz: This song got quite the surge when after about 60% of the votes were in, when 11 of the next 25 voted for this song. First song to have 18 votes, yet 17 of them were after #12.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 12
2019 write-up:
All My Loving (With the Beatles, 1963)
If I have a guilty pleasure among my top songs, I guess this would be it. It's notable historically as being the first song that signaled that Paul was stepping out of John's shadow to become a co-leader of the group, and of course for being the first song The Beatles sang on their iconic Ed Sullivan Show appearance. It's not lyrically interesting, and the structure isn't complex or ground-breaking I love it, though, because it's loads of fun. I can sing along with those fabulous harmonies, and the rhythm guitar lines get me happily bouncing and swaying more than any other Beatles song. George's first Chet-Atkins-style solo is terrific, and I looooove Paul's walking bass part. Even surly John loved this one: "'All My Loving' is Paul, I regret to say. [laughs] Because it's a damn good piece of work. [sings] All my loving... But I play a pretty mean guitar in the back."
Turn it up, sing and dance along, and have a blast!
Mr. krista: "The breaks are key. Surprised at how countrified the guitar solo is. It’s great. Guess it’s really a country song. It’s neat. It’s funny how much you internalize these songs without really listening to them."
Suggested cover: The good singers (such as Amy Winehouse) turned this into a ballad, which loses everything I love about it. Please enjoy this cover by Paul himself instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXdGOYo_fsE
2022 Supplement: Hanging in at #13 (down one spot) in my 2022 rankings, this is still my “guilty pleasure” song. It’s not the most clever nor the best sung (Paul sounds slightly uncomfortable in the low ends of the range), but it makes me bounce along happily.
Paul came up with these lyrics while on a tour bus on the “Moss Empires circuit,” a package tour with several other bands (including Roy Orbison) to various music halls owned by Moss Empire company. He called these lyrics a reflection on where the Beatles were at the time, leaving behind loved ones to experience new adventures. When the bus arrived at the next stop, he put together the chords of what he described as initially being a “straight country-and-western song.”
John’s triplets on the guitar – the most distinguishing feature of the song – were a last-minute idea that Paul acknowledged transformed the entire song and gave it the driving rhythm that propels the song and matches its theme of travel and motion, going on a trip. Paul describes it as another “letter song” in the vein of P.S. I Love You.
Of course, this became the song that opened the Beatles’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, and after it became the first song that the US public saw the Beatles perform. Soon they had the top five songs on the Billboard charts. Paul uses this song to illustrate how quickly everything moved for the band at this stage: “ ‘All My Loving’ helped us go from the Moss Empires circuit to conquering American in a little over six months. And a few months later I turned twenty-two.”
Guido Merkins
The first time an American audience heard the Beatles on TV, they heard “Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles………….Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you…) Yes, the Beatles led off the Ed Sullivan performance with an album track!!!!
All My Loving was written by Paul with the words coming first and the music after, something Paul said he hardly ever did again. Although the song was not released as a single in the UK or the US, but received significant radio airplay. It was the Beatles first GREAT album track.
In 1963, albums were a single and a bunch of substandard material. The fact that the Beatles had a song of such quality as All My Loving and stuck it on the With the Beatles album is, once again, proof of an embarrassment of riches. All My Loving announces itself with John Lennon strumming amazingly fast triplets on his guitar (if you think it’s easy, you try it for 2 and a half minutes). The song also has a great country and western style guitar by George. Most of the song has Paul singing a double tracked vocal, but I love the end when Paul goes to the high harmony and George sings the lead. John said he was the “invisible guitarist” and George was the “invisible singer.” This is proof of that.
2022 Ranking: 48
2022 Lists: 18
2022 Points: 160
Ranked Highest by: @Eephus (4) @krista4 (13) @Ilov80s (13) @John Maddens Lunchbox (14) @jwb (15)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 58/6/55
Getz: This song got quite the surge when after about 60% of the votes were in, when 11 of the next 25 voted for this song. First song to have 18 votes, yet 17 of them were after #12.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 12
2019 write-up:
All My Loving (With the Beatles, 1963)
If I have a guilty pleasure among my top songs, I guess this would be it. It's notable historically as being the first song that signaled that Paul was stepping out of John's shadow to become a co-leader of the group, and of course for being the first song The Beatles sang on their iconic Ed Sullivan Show appearance. It's not lyrically interesting, and the structure isn't complex or ground-breaking I love it, though, because it's loads of fun. I can sing along with those fabulous harmonies, and the rhythm guitar lines get me happily bouncing and swaying more than any other Beatles song. George's first Chet-Atkins-style solo is terrific, and I looooove Paul's walking bass part. Even surly John loved this one: "'All My Loving' is Paul, I regret to say. [laughs] Because it's a damn good piece of work. [sings] All my loving... But I play a pretty mean guitar in the back."
Turn it up, sing and dance along, and have a blast!
Mr. krista: "The breaks are key. Surprised at how countrified the guitar solo is. It’s great. Guess it’s really a country song. It’s neat. It’s funny how much you internalize these songs without really listening to them."
Suggested cover: The good singers (such as Amy Winehouse) turned this into a ballad, which loses everything I love about it. Please enjoy this cover by Paul himself instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXdGOYo_fsE
2022 Supplement: Hanging in at #13 (down one spot) in my 2022 rankings, this is still my “guilty pleasure” song. It’s not the most clever nor the best sung (Paul sounds slightly uncomfortable in the low ends of the range), but it makes me bounce along happily.
Paul came up with these lyrics while on a tour bus on the “Moss Empires circuit,” a package tour with several other bands (including Roy Orbison) to various music halls owned by Moss Empire company. He called these lyrics a reflection on where the Beatles were at the time, leaving behind loved ones to experience new adventures. When the bus arrived at the next stop, he put together the chords of what he described as initially being a “straight country-and-western song.”
John’s triplets on the guitar – the most distinguishing feature of the song – were a last-minute idea that Paul acknowledged transformed the entire song and gave it the driving rhythm that propels the song and matches its theme of travel and motion, going on a trip. Paul describes it as another “letter song” in the vein of P.S. I Love You.
Of course, this became the song that opened the Beatles’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, and after it became the first song that the US public saw the Beatles perform. Soon they had the top five songs on the Billboard charts. Paul uses this song to illustrate how quickly everything moved for the band at this stage: “ ‘All My Loving’ helped us go from the Moss Empires circuit to conquering American in a little over six months. And a few months later I turned twenty-two.”
Guido Merkins
The first time an American audience heard the Beatles on TV, they heard “Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles………….Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you…) Yes, the Beatles led off the Ed Sullivan performance with an album track!!!!
All My Loving was written by Paul with the words coming first and the music after, something Paul said he hardly ever did again. Although the song was not released as a single in the UK or the US, but received significant radio airplay. It was the Beatles first GREAT album track.
In 1963, albums were a single and a bunch of substandard material. The fact that the Beatles had a song of such quality as All My Loving and stuck it on the With the Beatles album is, once again, proof of an embarrassment of riches. All My Loving announces itself with John Lennon strumming amazingly fast triplets on his guitar (if you think it’s easy, you try it for 2 and a half minutes). The song also has a great country and western style guitar by George. Most of the song has Paul singing a double tracked vocal, but I love the end when Paul goes to the high harmony and George sings the lead. John said he was the “invisible guitarist” and George was the “invisible singer.” This is proof of that.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
Many of the elements that worked best on their early stuff — fantastic beat, George channeling Carl Perkins, compelling lead vocal, intricate harmonies that didn’t sound cloying or WASPy — are all here in this song. Most of their contemporaries would have killed to have a song as good as this, but for the Beatles, it was an album track (before albums were the biggest art form of rock.)
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Last edited by a moderator:
Zegras11
Footballguy
Paperback Writer
2022 Ranking: 47
2022 Lists: 13
2022 Points: 161
Ranked Highest by: @Encyclopedia Brown(1) Krista(Rob) (2) @Anarchy99 (7) @Dinsy Ejotuz (9) @FairWarning (9) @Eephus (11) @Yankee23Fan (14)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 18/14/178
Getz: Song with probably the second largest hit from 2019. One less vote and 17 fewer points dropped it 29 slots from 2019. Maybe the Krista effect on this one?
It did get a #1, #2 and five Top 10 votes.
Three votes on the last six ballots rallied this from around #58. And it was behind the “Dot” song until @prosopis gave it a #16 and 10 points with his third to last ballot that came in. This was the song I mentioned that was around #85 when 25 votes have been counted. I had it at #23, down 5 spots from 2019.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 66
2019 write-up:
Paperback Writer (single, 1966)
Might be surprising not to see this one higher, because it's a helluva jam, with memorable guitar licks, amazing bass line, and Ringo wailing fantastically on the drums. The vocals are particularly tight and beautiful. But...that title...those lyrics...they're just so...dumb. The premise of the song is clever enough, written as a letter a la their previous work on "P.S. I Love You." It's just the notion of the "paperback writer" that gets on my ever-loving nerves. Unfortunately, the beautiful harmonies are used to sing this title over and over, and so I'll be rocking along to the song realizing the lyrics are going nowhere but thinking that's OK, and then I'm hit with that "paperback wri-i-terrrr" and I cringe. It's just a personal quirk that no one could have predicted since this song is otherwise up my alley. Gonna be a curveball thrown now and then. Obviously still a big fan of the song outside of that part.
Mr. krista: "I think it’s a great rock song, that would work better as an instrumental because the lyrics are distractingly dumb. Who writes a song about being a writer and makes it a giant run-on sentence? It could just as easily be about a sanitation worker. [singing] San-ita-tion wor-ker. But it really rocks and the bass line is incredible. It’s so propulsive I can’t help but really like it. A song like that is really hard to keep time to, and Ringo crushes it."
Suggested cover: The B-52s
2022 Supplement: Paul had been challenged by his Auntie Lil to write about something other than love: "Years ago my Auntie Lil said to me, 'Why can't you ever write about a horse or the summit conference or something interesting? So I thought, 'All right, Auntie Lil. I'll show you’." Paul had always been a reader, kicking around the local bookstore in Liverpool, Philip Son & Nephew (what an awesome name, by the way), as often as he had the guitar and record shops. Now as the band had become famous, he got the opportunity to spend more time with some of the writers that he was reading, such as Kingsley Amis, Harold Pinter, and John Mortimer. From there, he got the idea of composing a song about an aspiring writer who is trying to sell himself to a publishing company, name-checking one of their other favorite writers, Edward Lear. He patterned the harmonies after, as usual, the Everly Brothers, but this time he added a dollop of what he’d been hearing from the Beach Boys as well. And he plugged in his brand-new Epiphone Casino, which he still uses on stage to this day, turned it up loud, and came up with that riff, which he calls “quite a nice, easy riff” that doesn’t move too far from its anchor, due to his professed lack of musical proficiency.
Yes, that’s right. He said that in most of his compositions, there’s a “trick” or a holding position because “I’m not massively proficient.” Paul McCartney. Not proficient.
Sheesh.
Anyway, love the riff and most elements of this song, but the meandering still causes it not to click with me as much as most do. Or maybe it’s because Paul just isn’t good enough.
Guido Merkins
George Martin was an outstanding producer and he and EMI staff did a great job with the Beatles. However, in the 1960’s there was a bit of technology gap between the UK and the US in record making. One such thing the American record companies did a better job at because of better technology was the recording of bass guitar.
For those that don’t know, bass can be a trickly thing to record when making records because too much bass can cause the stylus to jump out of the groove. The Beatles were listening to a lot of Motown records (so was everyone else) and they loved that deep, groovy bass they heard on those records (James Jamerson is a whole thread unto himself, but he was the primary bassist during the golden era of Motown.) The Beatles wanted that sound on their records, but EMI couldn’t give it to them, that is until 1965 on Rubber Soul where there is a noticeable difference in the bass sound. Paul was still playing his Hofner for those sessions. By 1966, Paul wanted a whole different sound, so he switched to a Rickenbacker bass and started playing in a different more melodic style, creating counter melodies on the bass. This is first heard in all its glory on Paperback Writer.
Paperback Writer was written on mostly one chord, showing some of the Indian influence they had at the time with a loud, fuzzy guitar (Paul playing lead) and that unbelievable bass guitar. The lyrics were in the form of a letter that a writer might write to a publisher. The bass sound was made by using a loudspeaker as a microphone and placing it directly in front of the bass amp. By this time they had figured out how to get that heavy bass without the issue of the stylus jumping out of the groove, so they did that. Also interesting about the recording were the background vocals, no doubt inspired by the Beach Boys and George and John singing Frere Jacque.
Also interesting for this song is that the Beatles didn’t want to appear on TV to promote the song so they created a short promotional film for Paperback Writer and the flip side Rain. Paul can be clearly seen with a chipped tooth, the result of a moped accident in which Paul was killed and replaced with a lookalike…..just kidding. But this video was seen as a clue as to Paul’s “death” later on
2022 Ranking: 47
2022 Lists: 13
2022 Points: 161
Ranked Highest by: @Encyclopedia Brown(1) Krista(Rob) (2) @Anarchy99 (7) @Dinsy Ejotuz (9) @FairWarning (9) @Eephus (11) @Yankee23Fan (14)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 18/14/178
Getz: Song with probably the second largest hit from 2019. One less vote and 17 fewer points dropped it 29 slots from 2019. Maybe the Krista effect on this one?
It did get a #1, #2 and five Top 10 votes.
Three votes on the last six ballots rallied this from around #58. And it was behind the “Dot” song until @prosopis gave it a #16 and 10 points with his third to last ballot that came in. This was the song I mentioned that was around #85 when 25 votes have been counted. I had it at #23, down 5 spots from 2019.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 66
2019 write-up:
Paperback Writer (single, 1966)
Might be surprising not to see this one higher, because it's a helluva jam, with memorable guitar licks, amazing bass line, and Ringo wailing fantastically on the drums. The vocals are particularly tight and beautiful. But...that title...those lyrics...they're just so...dumb. The premise of the song is clever enough, written as a letter a la their previous work on "P.S. I Love You." It's just the notion of the "paperback writer" that gets on my ever-loving nerves. Unfortunately, the beautiful harmonies are used to sing this title over and over, and so I'll be rocking along to the song realizing the lyrics are going nowhere but thinking that's OK, and then I'm hit with that "paperback wri-i-terrrr" and I cringe. It's just a personal quirk that no one could have predicted since this song is otherwise up my alley. Gonna be a curveball thrown now and then. Obviously still a big fan of the song outside of that part.
Mr. krista: "I think it’s a great rock song, that would work better as an instrumental because the lyrics are distractingly dumb. Who writes a song about being a writer and makes it a giant run-on sentence? It could just as easily be about a sanitation worker. [singing] San-ita-tion wor-ker. But it really rocks and the bass line is incredible. It’s so propulsive I can’t help but really like it. A song like that is really hard to keep time to, and Ringo crushes it."
Suggested cover: The B-52s
2022 Supplement: Paul had been challenged by his Auntie Lil to write about something other than love: "Years ago my Auntie Lil said to me, 'Why can't you ever write about a horse or the summit conference or something interesting? So I thought, 'All right, Auntie Lil. I'll show you’." Paul had always been a reader, kicking around the local bookstore in Liverpool, Philip Son & Nephew (what an awesome name, by the way), as often as he had the guitar and record shops. Now as the band had become famous, he got the opportunity to spend more time with some of the writers that he was reading, such as Kingsley Amis, Harold Pinter, and John Mortimer. From there, he got the idea of composing a song about an aspiring writer who is trying to sell himself to a publishing company, name-checking one of their other favorite writers, Edward Lear. He patterned the harmonies after, as usual, the Everly Brothers, but this time he added a dollop of what he’d been hearing from the Beach Boys as well. And he plugged in his brand-new Epiphone Casino, which he still uses on stage to this day, turned it up loud, and came up with that riff, which he calls “quite a nice, easy riff” that doesn’t move too far from its anchor, due to his professed lack of musical proficiency.
Yes, that’s right. He said that in most of his compositions, there’s a “trick” or a holding position because “I’m not massively proficient.” Paul McCartney. Not proficient.
Sheesh.
Anyway, love the riff and most elements of this song, but the meandering still causes it not to click with me as much as most do. Or maybe it’s because Paul just isn’t good enough.
Guido Merkins
George Martin was an outstanding producer and he and EMI staff did a great job with the Beatles. However, in the 1960’s there was a bit of technology gap between the UK and the US in record making. One such thing the American record companies did a better job at because of better technology was the recording of bass guitar.
For those that don’t know, bass can be a trickly thing to record when making records because too much bass can cause the stylus to jump out of the groove. The Beatles were listening to a lot of Motown records (so was everyone else) and they loved that deep, groovy bass they heard on those records (James Jamerson is a whole thread unto himself, but he was the primary bassist during the golden era of Motown.) The Beatles wanted that sound on their records, but EMI couldn’t give it to them, that is until 1965 on Rubber Soul where there is a noticeable difference in the bass sound. Paul was still playing his Hofner for those sessions. By 1966, Paul wanted a whole different sound, so he switched to a Rickenbacker bass and started playing in a different more melodic style, creating counter melodies on the bass. This is first heard in all its glory on Paperback Writer.
Paperback Writer was written on mostly one chord, showing some of the Indian influence they had at the time with a loud, fuzzy guitar (Paul playing lead) and that unbelievable bass guitar. The lyrics were in the form of a letter that a writer might write to a publisher. The bass sound was made by using a loudspeaker as a microphone and placing it directly in front of the bass amp. By this time they had figured out how to get that heavy bass without the issue of the stylus jumping out of the groove, so they did that. Also interesting about the recording were the background vocals, no doubt inspired by the Beach Boys and George and John singing Frere Jacque.
Also interesting for this song is that the Beatles didn’t want to appear on TV to promote the song so they created a short promotional film for Paperback Writer and the flip side Rain. Paul can be clearly seen with a chipped tooth, the result of a moped accident in which Paul was killed and replaced with a lookalike…..just kidding. But this video was seen as a clue as to Paul’s “death” later on
falguy
Inconceivable!
Overall Song total by album from song 172 to song 51 (i.e. not including the 4 from today)
18 White Album
16 Singles
11 Beatles for Sale
11 Rubber Soul
11 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
8 A Hard Day's Night
8 Revolver
8 With The Beatles
7 Help!
7 Magical Mystery Tour
7 Please Please Me
5 Abbey Road
3 Let It Be
2 Yellow Submarine
Song total by album thus far for top 100 (Song 100 - song 51)
6 Rubber Soul
6 White Album
5 A Hard Day's Night
5 Revolver
5 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
5 Singles
4 Beatles for Sale
3 Abbey Road
3 Magical Mystery Tour
3 Please Please Me
2 Help!
2 Let It Be
1 With The Beatles
Totals above do not include the 4 songs from today (songs 50, 49, 48, 47)
18 White Album
16 Singles
11 Beatles for Sale
11 Rubber Soul
11 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
8 A Hard Day's Night
8 Revolver
8 With The Beatles
7 Help!
7 Magical Mystery Tour
7 Please Please Me
5 Abbey Road
3 Let It Be
2 Yellow Submarine
Song total by album thus far for top 100 (Song 100 - song 51)
6 Rubber Soul
6 White Album
5 A Hard Day's Night
5 Revolver
5 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
5 Singles
4 Beatles for Sale
3 Abbey Road
3 Magical Mystery Tour
3 Please Please Me
2 Help!
2 Let It Be
1 With The Beatles
Totals above do not include the 4 songs from today (songs 50, 49, 48, 47)
Last edited by a moderator:
krista4
Footballguy
On today's date in 1969, Paul officially went off the market. The wedding was supposed to be a secret, but oopsie. My favorite parts of the video are the sobbing girls just before one minute in, and the inexplicable appearance of a kitten starting just before the two-minute mark.
None of the other Beatles attended, nor did any family other than Paul's brother Mike (who was best man) and Linda's daughter Heather, along with lovable galoot Mal Evans as a witness. Paul has said that he and Linda got in a huge row the night before and nearly called it off.
None of the other Beatles attended, nor did any family other than Paul's brother Mike (who was best man) and Linda's daughter Heather, along with lovable galoot Mal Evans as a witness. Paul has said that he and Linda got in a huge row the night before and nearly called it off.
Zegras11
Footballguy
I’ve Got a Feeling
2022 Ranking: 46
2022 Lists: 15
2022 Points: 171
Ranked Highest by: @prosopis (1) @Dr. Octopus (6) @ProstheticRGK (9) @Murph (11) @ConstruxBoy (12) @Westerberg (13) @Man of Constant Sorrow (14) @Pip's Invitation (14) @Wrighteous Ray (14)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 40/6/99
Getz comments: Moves up six slots from 2019, with a solid, 72 more points. Thought it would do better being on Get Back.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 50
2019 write-up:
I've Got A Feeling (Let It Be, 1970)
Love these Paul/John mishmosh songs, linking a song fragment from each of them, and I think this is one of their most successful fusions. As was often (always?) the case, the Paul portion is generally upbeat, this time reflecting his love for Linda. Despite this being written at a particularly tough time for John, though - coming on the heels of his drug bust, Yoko's miscarriage, his divorce, and more - I don't hear the usual pessimism or cynicism from John in his portion. If anything, he sounds more laid-back, maybe detached and resigned to circumstances.
The best part of this song for me is that, unlike the other similar collaborations, this one doesn't simply go Paul-John-Paul or John-Paul-John, but late in the song merges the two song parts together, one on top of the other. Interlaying John's mellow sound on top of Paul's more aggressive rock part works beautifully. The song rocks, thanks to...well, everyone involved. Paul contributes a passionate rock vocal, though perhaps tending too far into a "cookie monster" feel for my taste, and John and George wail on the guitars after an understated opening riff. Billy Preston adds another level of groove on the electric piano, and Ringo's fills connect everything together perfectly. It's great rock, but also playful and fun; the rooftop concert evidences how much they enjoyed this one.
Mr. krista: "It’s a really good rock song. It’s like they did The Faces as good or better than The Faces. And I love The Faces."
Suggested covers: I feel like Eddie Vedder overplays the vocal, but Pearl Jam . Found several live versions by Robyn Hitchcock; this had the best sound quality but not great.
2022 Supplement: This song snuck into my top 25 at the last minute, when I pulled a switcheroo between this and “I’m Looking Through You” for the coveted #24 spot. It’s undoubtedly a result of the Get Back documentary and a warm and fuzzy feeling of goodwill between John and Paul that this song conjures for me. The song arose at a particularly difficult time for John – the breakdown of his marriage, the heroin addiction, and the deterioration of the band. Paul says all of that is encapsulated in some of the lyrics, such as “everybody pulled their socks up”: “Those lines refer in some way to…the state of the Beatles.”
Paul has described this song as “a shotgun wedding” between the two songs that each of them had already written (John’s was called “Everyone Had A Bad Year”), and working to put them together evidenced the magical interplay that they had as a songwriting duo. He describes songwriting together as much easier and their ability to interact and grow and learn from each other as miraculous. To this day, Paul says he has John whispering in his ear: “I’m often second-guessing what John would have thoughts – ‘This is too soppy’ – or what he would have said differently, so I sometimes change it.”
Enjoy more from Get Back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S4PYfwuMQs
Guido Merkins
By 1969, John and Paul were not working together very much. They were trying to recapture something in the Get Back sessions (which would become Let It Be), so that album had a lot more collaboration.
Enter I’ve Got a Feeling, two unfinished songs by John and Paul that they put together. Paul singing “i’ve got a feeling”, John singing “everybody had a hard year.” As usual, together they created a better song than each of the individual pieces.
Paul with the really intense, bluesy vocal on his part, John with the more laid back vocal of the bridge. Great lead licks by George throughout. Ringo, as usual, holding it down on the drums. And Billy Preston killing it on the electric piano.
My favorite part is the end where both John and Paul sing their parts together and they fit like a jigsaw puzzle. The version that appears on the Let It Be album was recorded on the roof, live. A fantastic performance and proof that the Beatles ALWAYS could do it live, despite what Mick or anybody else said.
2022 Ranking: 46
2022 Lists: 15
2022 Points: 171
Ranked Highest by: @prosopis (1) @Dr. Octopus (6) @ProstheticRGK (9) @Murph (11) @ConstruxBoy (12) @Westerberg (13) @Man of Constant Sorrow (14) @Pip's Invitation (14) @Wrighteous Ray (14)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 40/6/99
Getz comments: Moves up six slots from 2019, with a solid, 72 more points. Thought it would do better being on Get Back.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 50
2019 write-up:
I've Got A Feeling (Let It Be, 1970)
Love these Paul/John mishmosh songs, linking a song fragment from each of them, and I think this is one of their most successful fusions. As was often (always?) the case, the Paul portion is generally upbeat, this time reflecting his love for Linda. Despite this being written at a particularly tough time for John, though - coming on the heels of his drug bust, Yoko's miscarriage, his divorce, and more - I don't hear the usual pessimism or cynicism from John in his portion. If anything, he sounds more laid-back, maybe detached and resigned to circumstances.
The best part of this song for me is that, unlike the other similar collaborations, this one doesn't simply go Paul-John-Paul or John-Paul-John, but late in the song merges the two song parts together, one on top of the other. Interlaying John's mellow sound on top of Paul's more aggressive rock part works beautifully. The song rocks, thanks to...well, everyone involved. Paul contributes a passionate rock vocal, though perhaps tending too far into a "cookie monster" feel for my taste, and John and George wail on the guitars after an understated opening riff. Billy Preston adds another level of groove on the electric piano, and Ringo's fills connect everything together perfectly. It's great rock, but also playful and fun; the rooftop concert evidences how much they enjoyed this one.
Mr. krista: "It’s a really good rock song. It’s like they did The Faces as good or better than The Faces. And I love The Faces."
Suggested covers: I feel like Eddie Vedder overplays the vocal, but Pearl Jam . Found several live versions by Robyn Hitchcock; this had the best sound quality but not great.
2022 Supplement: This song snuck into my top 25 at the last minute, when I pulled a switcheroo between this and “I’m Looking Through You” for the coveted #24 spot. It’s undoubtedly a result of the Get Back documentary and a warm and fuzzy feeling of goodwill between John and Paul that this song conjures for me. The song arose at a particularly difficult time for John – the breakdown of his marriage, the heroin addiction, and the deterioration of the band. Paul says all of that is encapsulated in some of the lyrics, such as “everybody pulled their socks up”: “Those lines refer in some way to…the state of the Beatles.”
Paul has described this song as “a shotgun wedding” between the two songs that each of them had already written (John’s was called “Everyone Had A Bad Year”), and working to put them together evidenced the magical interplay that they had as a songwriting duo. He describes songwriting together as much easier and their ability to interact and grow and learn from each other as miraculous. To this day, Paul says he has John whispering in his ear: “I’m often second-guessing what John would have thoughts – ‘This is too soppy’ – or what he would have said differently, so I sometimes change it.”
Enjoy more from Get Back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S4PYfwuMQs
Guido Merkins
By 1969, John and Paul were not working together very much. They were trying to recapture something in the Get Back sessions (which would become Let It Be), so that album had a lot more collaboration.
Enter I’ve Got a Feeling, two unfinished songs by John and Paul that they put together. Paul singing “i’ve got a feeling”, John singing “everybody had a hard year.” As usual, together they created a better song than each of the individual pieces.
Paul with the really intense, bluesy vocal on his part, John with the more laid back vocal of the bridge. Great lead licks by George throughout. Ringo, as usual, holding it down on the drums. And Billy Preston killing it on the electric piano.
My favorite part is the end where both John and Paul sing their parts together and they fit like a jigsaw puzzle. The version that appears on the Let It Be album was recorded on the roof, live. A fantastic performance and proof that the Beatles ALWAYS could do it live, despite what Mick or anybody else said.
krista4
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
"I've Got a Feeling" is one of the new entrants to my list this year, as mentioned above, and while I've always loved it (#50 three years ago), it undoubtedly benefitted from the Get Back bump. Probably should have had "I'm Only Sleeping," "I'm Looking Through You" or "Blackbird" in there instead. For some reason I still think of this as @timschochet's brother's favorite Beatles song.
zamboni
Footballguy
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
My rank: 14
This is another of the songs I “claimed as my own” when I got the entire catalog on CD. I don’t think I’d heard it before then. I have loved it ever since and it shot even higher (Binky: lower) for me after I saw Get Back. There, you can see how much Paul and John cared for the song. And my heart fluttered when I learned that the rooftop performance was the take they used on the record.
I love that it’s a true collaboration between Paul and John, which they didn’t do much in the late ‘60s, abd that their separate parts fit so well together. And I love the guitars and the electric piano. It’s gritty and passionate, yet not just a retread of their previous rockers, and arguably best encapsulates Paul’s original vision for the project. (I don’t think the other three had any vision for the project.)
Pearl Jam was one of my favorite bands of the early ‘90s, and when I got a bootleg tape of a live show where they covered this and Rockin’ in the Free World, I was like, “they get me.”
I was hoping this would be ranked higher (Binky: lower) due to Get Back recency bias, but it was not to be.
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
Paperback Writer is so great, I had it on my list. The lyrics make me smile every time I hear them. Wait why are the Beatles singing this song about this guy trying to get a job as a paperback writer? (wait maybe I should go back and read the writeups and find out)
Anyway the song is just so catchy. Paperback WRITER!
Anyway the song is just so catchy. Paperback WRITER!
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
OMG just quoting my post to say I read the writeups and:
1) Thank you @krista4for the info on Paul claiming to get challenged to write a non-love song and hanging out with authors and stuff. Perfect.
2) Also if you think the lyrics to Paperback Writer are dumb then you’re dumb.
ETA: I think if we did a countdown of just the lyrics no music, Paperback Writer is a top 10.
Last edited by a moderator:
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
This isn’t in my 36 because… reasons? I have no idea. Maybe because I like the flip side better? I got nothing.
Mad riffage, mad momentum, mad harmonies, this covers most of my pleasure principles. Definitely a strong contender for my 64.
And I once again need to bring up this anecdote from Jason Falkner:
“In the studio with McCartney, [Falkner] remembers, "I was trying out guitar amps -- we were just walking around with my guitar cord, plugging it into amps and trying to get the right sound. Just jokingly, I started playing 'Paperback Writer,' the beginning. And Paul's like, 'Oh, Jase, you know that? You know, I played that. Let me show you how it went.' And he leaned over my shoulder and put his arm around me on the other side. And he was like, 'I'm a lefty, so this is kind of tricky, but here's how you play that.' And he showed me how you play it, and it's totally different than how I was playing it. And I was just like, 'Wow, I don't know how that eluded me for so long. But I knew I was never playing it right.' He was like, 'Yeah, you've gotta have the G string ringing the whole time.' It was so cool."”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/author-still-unknown-the_b_604062/amp
Zegras11
Footballguy
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
Strange story on this one... About 20 years ago my ex-wife's sister, who was mentally challenged, was dating this guy named Jay. Sweetheart of a guy, but he too had all sorts of issues. Physically he was unlike any person I had ever seen, with long, jet-black hair and a very long beard. He walked with a fancy cain even though he didn't have any physical ailments. He also had the worst stuttering problem I've ever heard. It was brutal. He'd get tied up on a word and relentlessly try to fight through it. The anxiety and fustration would build up with each passing second, and eventually he'd lose his breath and turn beet red. I felt so bad for the guy. He couldn't get through one single sentence. People would laugh at him, try to complete his sentences, all the things you aren't supposed to do.
Anyhow, one night we double dated and went to a movie. I drove and Jay was sitting shotgun. The radio was on low as my ex and her sister were talking in the back seat. Paperback Writer comes on the radio and Jay jumps out of his seat. He turns the volume WAY up, does some air guitar during the into, and then starts singing the song in a loud, confident voice. NO STUTTER. He not only sounded completely normal, he actually had a great voice. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen. The song ends, he turns down the radio, and in his usual stuttering voice says, "My favorite song ever".
I found out later he also had an extreme case of OCD and had listened to that song thousands of times.
Last edited by a moderator:
Shaft41
Footballguy
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
There’s really no right or wrong answers here. Truly.
Sure that's fair and that goes for my list as well. But still shocked by this ranking. There are certainly songs I don't like as much but I understand other people loving them. I'm thinking of the Zeppelin thread in which Ramble On is one of the top-ranked song. It wouldn't be one of my top 25 Zeppelin songs, but I can easily understand how other people love it. Can't say the same for this song, though I would certainly like to hear more from those who do love it what draws them to it.
Ha. It is pretty apparent that our musical tastes are quite different. When we get to this song I think that will be highlighted.
The love/hate with Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-D fascinates me. I LOVE this song, always have. I ranked it #11 on my list and I easily could have put it in my top 5, that's how much I like it. I think it goes back to 4th grade when we sang it in Chorus. Easily our favorite song. Even the duds who would normally just mumble their way through most songs would come alive and belt this one out.
I honestly don't get the hate. It's fantastic! Great beat, great bass line running through the whole thing, fun stuff thrown in (which we made good use of in Chorus), and one of those Beatles lines that has always stuck with me for some unknown reason - "with a couple of kids running in the yard". To this day every time I hear it it makes me happy. You know what? Now that I write all this I'm regretting not having ranked it better.
Last edited by a moderator:
Interesting little bit with Paul talking to Howard Stern about this song. He talks about the intro but doesn't mention John being mad. Being gracious? https://youtu.be/vyh3WLTO82E
krista4
Footballguy
Strange story on this one... About 20 years ago my ex-wife's sister, who was mentally challenged, was dating this guy named Jay. Sweetheart of a guy, but he too had all sorts of issues. Physically he was unlike any person I had ever seen, with long, jet-black hair and a very long beard. He walked with a fancy cain even though he didn't have any physical ailments. He also had the worst stuttering problem I've ever heard. It was brutal. He'd get tied up on a word and relentlessly try to fight through it. The anxiety and fustration would build up with each passing second, and eventually he'd lose his breath and turn beet red. I felt so bad for the guy. He couldn't get through one single sentence. People would laugh at him, try to complete his sentences, all the things you aren't supposed to do.
Anyhow, one night we double dated and went to a movie. I drove and Jay was sitting shotgun. The radio was on low as my ex and her sister were talking in the back seat. Paperback Writer comes on the radio and Jay jumps out of his seat. He turns the volume WAY up, does some air guitar during the into, and then starts singing the song in a loud, confident voice. NO STUTTER. He not only sounded completely normal, he actually had a great voice. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen. The song ends, he turns down the radio, and in his usual stuttering voice says, "My favorite song ever".
This. This is what we're here for!
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
Once a week, WXPN does a feature called "The Worst Song in the World," where they play a listener suggestion for that title. Most of what gets played is brutally awful. One week, they played it, because someone requested it, citing said innerweb poll and John and George's professed hatred of it. It was even introduced with "Ladies and Gentlemen ... the Beatles!"
Similar threads
