I never liked Come Together but am a huge fan of Michael Hedges. Who, you say? Get to know Michael Hedges: Come Together
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2022 FBG, 172 to 1 Beatles Countdown 1-25 lists... And 173 to 1 Countdown from 1-64 lists! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Zegras11
- Start date
ProstheticRGK
Footballguy
He's a clean old manyou washing, too?
have at 'em.
line is long, but it seems to move fast ...
GAWD.
EDIT: just wanted to post directly after @pecorinobecause we both rock the big P.
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Mine's a little "p", actually, in case you hadn't noticed. Please do not infer anything from that, but it is what it is.
krista4
Footballguy
On today's date in 1931, the first electric shavers went on sale to the public. Seemed apt to mention this somehow.
More directly relevant to the Beatles, on today's date in 1996, Anthology 2 went on sale. The release had been delayed a few weeks due to a re-ordering of the tracks by request of Paul. He wanted "I'm Down" to be track three instead of track six.
The record debuted at #1 on the charts and sold over 1.7 million copies.
More directly relevant to the Beatles, on today's date in 1996, Anthology 2 went on sale. The release had been delayed a few weeks due to a re-ordering of the tracks by request of Paul. He wanted "I'm Down" to be track three instead of track six.
The record debuted at #1 on the charts and sold over 1.7 million copies.
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Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
If Paul McCartney says “Her Majesty should be track three,” I say “yes, sir.”On today's date in 1931, the first electric shavers went on sale to the public. Seemed apt to mention this somehow.
More directly relevant to the Beatles, on today's date in 1996, Anthology 2 went on sale. The release had been delayed a few weeks due to a re-ordering of the tracks by request of Paul. He wanted "I'm Down" to be track three instead of track six.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
I forgot to translate:
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
I love stumbling across Beatles fans trying to discern what John really meant (any song.) Here's a good one for Come Together:
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
2022 Ranking: 19
2022 Lists: 29
2022 Points: 355
Ranked Highest by: @DaVinci (2) @Eephus (3) @Gr00vus (5) @whoknew (5) @Tom Hagen (6) @Dennis Castro (7) @prosopis(7) Son1 (8) @Encyclopedia Brown (9) Holly (10) @fatguyinalittlecoat (10)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 16/18/181
Getz: 29 votes is a high for the count down so far. Only slots #1, #4, #18 and #24 failed to get a vote for this one. We enter a much greater tier in the countdown as this song had 49 more points than the #20 song. Eleven Top 10 votes is the first song to crack double digits. The rest will all do this.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 21
2019 write-up:
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (Help!, 1965)
C'mon. I realize some Beatles songs are love/hate, but this has to be one that nobody hates, right? Every person in the world sings along starting with that "Hey!", don't they? C'mon.
Everybody knows this was heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, but did you also know that it was banned in Lilliput because the line "feeling two-foot small" was deemed offensive to the island's inhabitants? Well of course not, because that's just dumb. C'mon.
Back to Dylan, though. The musical influence of Dylan is obvious, from the (nearly all) acoustic nature to the folky feel; perhaps even John's sometimes off-key vocal are an homage? In addition to the music, though, we can hear Dylan's influence on John's lyrics. While John had started to explore more personal themes on a few songs in this same time period (such as "I'm a Loser," also influenced by Dylan), this song seemed like the most significant break from the lighter lyrics on earlier works, becoming more introspective and delving much deeper into John's personal pain. Some of the themes seen in many of John's later works - isolation, bitterness, vulnerability - seem to have first been explored here. I guess I should mention that some have speculated that this was about Brian Epstein, or about John's alleged tryst with Epstein, but none of that has ever been confirmed.
As @Nigel Tufnel pointed out, this song is simpler than many that I have rated lower than it. As a result, I don't have a ton to say about the musical style or structure. What I love about it is more the overall feel; it hits some unidentifiable magic for me. I love the folk ballad style in 3/4 time. I love that the lyrics are evocative rather than obvious. I love John's slightly off-key and subdued vocal performance that then gains strength in the later verses, and I love that in this case there aren't harmonies or double-tracked vocals that would detract from the gravelly lead. I love the gradual addition of more percussion and other instrumentation, from the tambourine to the maracas to, of course, those flutes. To me the most musically interesting part of the song is that final verse, which is all instrumental and acts as the finale to the song instead of going into another chorus; that was a bold and unexpected step at the time.
Fun fact: This was the first Beatles song to feature a session musician, flautist Johnnie White. (I pretend the Andy White session on "Love Me Do" did not happen.) "Flautist" is a fun word to say. Fla-u-tist. Flau-tist.
Mr. krista: "Obviously I really like it and especially what Lennon does with his voice, in that lower register like Alex Chilton in the Box Tops. Cool anthemic quality. Singing in that register means everybody can sing that song. All folk songs should be in that key."
Suggested cover: Since @JZilla just rejoined the thread, this is a good time for Eddie Vedder. So many covers by him of this song, but I guess this is "official"? I like this live version quite a bit.
2022 Supplement: Falling out of my top 25 this year for no particular reason, this song is still one of my favorites. What to say, what to say? Let’s re-read my 2019 write-up… Dylan influence? Check. Almost entirely acoustic sound? Check. Possible affair with Brian Epstein? Check. Hmmm…how about a fun fact? Apparently the line “feeling two foot small” was originally “feeling two foot tall,” but John, as usual, mis-sang his lyrics and decided to keep it in because pseudo-intellectuals would love it, which I don’t exactly understand, but I do like the line better, so now I’m wondering if I am one.
Say, how about an alternate take of the song? Take 5, released on Anthology 2, starts out adorable, with John riffing on Paul’s accidentally breaking a glass, and proceeds to a lovely, slightly slower version with a fantastic John vocal that might be better than the released version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS4WmUVq51o No fla-u-tist, though.
Guido Merkins
John, once again, channeling Bob Dylan as he did on I’m A Loser and comes up with a song called You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away. It’s mostly an acoustic song, except for Paul’s bass. The song is also notable that it’s the first time since Love Me Do, where an outside musician (other than George Martin) performed on a Beatles record. Love Me Do had Andy White on drums with Ringo playing tambourine. This was when Ringo first joined and George Martin was still unsure about Ringo. On You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, a session musician named Johnnie Scott played tenor and alto flute.
My favorite version of the song is actually on Anthology 2 and, once again, I ask myself why they re-recorded it. I love the Lennon vocal more on Anthology 2, not that the recorded version is bad, but you wonder what they hear that makes them re-record songs.
So what is the song about? The most scandalous version is that it’s about John and Brian Epstein’s supposed affair in Spain. John denied that it ever got physical, but others have said otherwise. We’ll never know since both men are gone. John never really said what the song was about other than he was in his Dylan period so it was certainly written about something specific. Maybe it was like Norwegian Wood and it was about an affair he was having.
2022 Ranking: 19
2022 Lists: 29
2022 Points: 355
Ranked Highest by: @DaVinci (2) @Eephus (3) @Gr00vus (5) @whoknew (5) @Tom Hagen (6) @Dennis Castro (7) @prosopis(7) Son1 (8) @Encyclopedia Brown (9) Holly (10) @fatguyinalittlecoat (10)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 16/18/181
Getz: 29 votes is a high for the count down so far. Only slots #1, #4, #18 and #24 failed to get a vote for this one. We enter a much greater tier in the countdown as this song had 49 more points than the #20 song. Eleven Top 10 votes is the first song to crack double digits. The rest will all do this.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 21
2019 write-up:
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (Help!, 1965)
C'mon. I realize some Beatles songs are love/hate, but this has to be one that nobody hates, right? Every person in the world sings along starting with that "Hey!", don't they? C'mon.
Everybody knows this was heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, but did you also know that it was banned in Lilliput because the line "feeling two-foot small" was deemed offensive to the island's inhabitants? Well of course not, because that's just dumb. C'mon.
Back to Dylan, though. The musical influence of Dylan is obvious, from the (nearly all) acoustic nature to the folky feel; perhaps even John's sometimes off-key vocal are an homage? In addition to the music, though, we can hear Dylan's influence on John's lyrics. While John had started to explore more personal themes on a few songs in this same time period (such as "I'm a Loser," also influenced by Dylan), this song seemed like the most significant break from the lighter lyrics on earlier works, becoming more introspective and delving much deeper into John's personal pain. Some of the themes seen in many of John's later works - isolation, bitterness, vulnerability - seem to have first been explored here. I guess I should mention that some have speculated that this was about Brian Epstein, or about John's alleged tryst with Epstein, but none of that has ever been confirmed.
As @Nigel Tufnel pointed out, this song is simpler than many that I have rated lower than it. As a result, I don't have a ton to say about the musical style or structure. What I love about it is more the overall feel; it hits some unidentifiable magic for me. I love the folk ballad style in 3/4 time. I love that the lyrics are evocative rather than obvious. I love John's slightly off-key and subdued vocal performance that then gains strength in the later verses, and I love that in this case there aren't harmonies or double-tracked vocals that would detract from the gravelly lead. I love the gradual addition of more percussion and other instrumentation, from the tambourine to the maracas to, of course, those flutes. To me the most musically interesting part of the song is that final verse, which is all instrumental and acts as the finale to the song instead of going into another chorus; that was a bold and unexpected step at the time.
Fun fact: This was the first Beatles song to feature a session musician, flautist Johnnie White. (I pretend the Andy White session on "Love Me Do" did not happen.) "Flautist" is a fun word to say. Fla-u-tist. Flau-tist.
Mr. krista: "Obviously I really like it and especially what Lennon does with his voice, in that lower register like Alex Chilton in the Box Tops. Cool anthemic quality. Singing in that register means everybody can sing that song. All folk songs should be in that key."
Suggested cover: Since @JZilla just rejoined the thread, this is a good time for Eddie Vedder. So many covers by him of this song, but I guess this is "official"? I like this live version quite a bit.
2022 Supplement: Falling out of my top 25 this year for no particular reason, this song is still one of my favorites. What to say, what to say? Let’s re-read my 2019 write-up… Dylan influence? Check. Almost entirely acoustic sound? Check. Possible affair with Brian Epstein? Check. Hmmm…how about a fun fact? Apparently the line “feeling two foot small” was originally “feeling two foot tall,” but John, as usual, mis-sang his lyrics and decided to keep it in because pseudo-intellectuals would love it, which I don’t exactly understand, but I do like the line better, so now I’m wondering if I am one.
Say, how about an alternate take of the song? Take 5, released on Anthology 2, starts out adorable, with John riffing on Paul’s accidentally breaking a glass, and proceeds to a lovely, slightly slower version with a fantastic John vocal that might be better than the released version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS4WmUVq51o No fla-u-tist, though.
Guido Merkins
John, once again, channeling Bob Dylan as he did on I’m A Loser and comes up with a song called You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away. It’s mostly an acoustic song, except for Paul’s bass. The song is also notable that it’s the first time since Love Me Do, where an outside musician (other than George Martin) performed on a Beatles record. Love Me Do had Andy White on drums with Ringo playing tambourine. This was when Ringo first joined and George Martin was still unsure about Ringo. On You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, a session musician named Johnnie Scott played tenor and alto flute.
My favorite version of the song is actually on Anthology 2 and, once again, I ask myself why they re-recorded it. I love the Lennon vocal more on Anthology 2, not that the recorded version is bad, but you wonder what they hear that makes them re-record songs.
So what is the song about? The most scandalous version is that it’s about John and Brian Epstein’s supposed affair in Spain. John denied that it ever got physical, but others have said otherwise. We’ll never know since both men are gone. John never really said what the song was about other than he was in his Dylan period so it was certainly written about something specific. Maybe it was like Norwegian Wood and it was about an affair he was having.
krista4
Footballguy
Tom Hagen
Footballguy
I’d like to have some deep, meaningful reason why I ranked this so high but the truth is it’s simply my favorite Beatles song to sing along to.
Hey!
simey
Footballguy
I ranked this song #11. John's voice sounds so great with the lyrics of the song. I love it.
Zegras11
Footballguy
# of Songs to Have Appeared in the Top 25 to Date (7 songs have been posted)
1 --Oliver Humanzee(Dad)---5
2 --DocHolliday---5
3 --Gr00vus---5
4 --Krista (TJ/Slug)---5
5 --Heckmanm---4
6 --Krista (Doug)---4
7 --falguy---4
8 --Tom Hagen---4
9 --ProsteticRKG---4
10 --Krista (TJ/Holly)---4
11 --WorrierKing---4
12 --Bobby Layne---4
13 --Shaft41(Son2)---3
14 --FairWarning---3
15 --Shaft41(Daughter)---3
16 --ekbeats---3
17 --Krista4---3
18 --Krista (TJ/Alex)---3
19 --yankee23fan---3
20 --Wrighteous Ray(Hub)---3
21 --Lardonastick---3
22 --Shaft41(Son1)---3
23 --shuke---3
24 --Westerberg---3
25 --Dennis Castro---3
26 --WhoKnew---3
27 --Eephus---3
28 --prosopis---3
29 --DaVinci---3
30 --Uruk-Hai---2
31 --Krista (TJ/Michael)---2
32 --Oliver Humanzee---2
33 --murph---2
34 --OTB_Lifer---2
35 --Dr. Octopus---2
36 --John Maddens Lunchbox---2
37 --Dinsy Ejotuz---2
38 --AAABatteries---2
39 --jamny---2
40 --Pip's Invitation---2
41 --wikkidpissah---2
42 --Ted Lange as your Bartender---2
43 --Wrighteous Ray---2
44 --BinkyTheDoormat---2
45 --turnjose7---2
46 --Just Win Baby---2
47 --pecorino---2
48 --Encyclopedia Brown---2
49 --fatguyinalttlecoat---2
50 --jwb---2
51 --ConstruxBoy---2
52 --zamboni---1
53 --PIK 95---1
54 --Krista (Rob)---1
55 --Neal Cassady---1
56 --ManOfSteelhead---1
57 --Krista (Sharon)---1
58 --Dwayne Hoover---1
59 --anarchy99---1
60 --Alex P Keaton---1
61 --Getzlaf15---1
62 --rockaction---1
63 --Man Of Constant Sorrow---1
64 --Simey---1
65 --Ilov80s---1
66 --landryshat---1
67 --Mac32---1
68 --Guido Merkins---0
69 --Krista (Craig)---0
70 --Krista (Worth)---0
71 --Shaft41---0
1 --Oliver Humanzee(Dad)---5
2 --DocHolliday---5
3 --Gr00vus---5
4 --Krista (TJ/Slug)---5
5 --Heckmanm---4
6 --Krista (Doug)---4
7 --falguy---4
8 --Tom Hagen---4
9 --ProsteticRKG---4
10 --Krista (TJ/Holly)---4
11 --WorrierKing---4
12 --Bobby Layne---4
13 --Shaft41(Son2)---3
14 --FairWarning---3
15 --Shaft41(Daughter)---3
16 --ekbeats---3
17 --Krista4---3
18 --Krista (TJ/Alex)---3
19 --yankee23fan---3
20 --Wrighteous Ray(Hub)---3
21 --Lardonastick---3
22 --Shaft41(Son1)---3
23 --shuke---3
24 --Westerberg---3
25 --Dennis Castro---3
26 --WhoKnew---3
27 --Eephus---3
28 --prosopis---3
29 --DaVinci---3
30 --Uruk-Hai---2
31 --Krista (TJ/Michael)---2
32 --Oliver Humanzee---2
33 --murph---2
34 --OTB_Lifer---2
35 --Dr. Octopus---2
36 --John Maddens Lunchbox---2
37 --Dinsy Ejotuz---2
38 --AAABatteries---2
39 --jamny---2
40 --Pip's Invitation---2
41 --wikkidpissah---2
42 --Ted Lange as your Bartender---2
43 --Wrighteous Ray---2
44 --BinkyTheDoormat---2
45 --turnjose7---2
46 --Just Win Baby---2
47 --pecorino---2
48 --Encyclopedia Brown---2
49 --fatguyinalttlecoat---2
50 --jwb---2
51 --ConstruxBoy---2
52 --zamboni---1
53 --PIK 95---1
54 --Krista (Rob)---1
55 --Neal Cassady---1
56 --ManOfSteelhead---1
57 --Krista (Sharon)---1
58 --Dwayne Hoover---1
59 --anarchy99---1
60 --Alex P Keaton---1
61 --Getzlaf15---1
62 --rockaction---1
63 --Man Of Constant Sorrow---1
64 --Simey---1
65 --Ilov80s---1
66 --landryshat---1
67 --Mac32---1
68 --Guido Merkins---0
69 --Krista (Craig)---0
70 --Krista (Worth)---0
71 --Shaft41---0
Zegras11
Footballguy
krista4
Footballguy
I think we should climb those golden stairs and shoot for the Final 20 to be done.
Tomorrow Never Knows will be interesting.
rockaction
Footballguy
I can’t believe "I Want To Hold Your Hand" wasn't in my top twenty-five. Huh. Great song, and one of my favorites.
I guess Peter Fonda took precedence over a great love song.
I guess Peter Fonda took precedence over a great love song.
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rockaction
Footballguy
What the heck did I miss in here today? Ay de mi.
Zegras11
Footballguy
hopefully you didn't miss fatguy's post that might have got lost in the
crap that hopefully is gone forever.
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rockaction
Footballguy
Ah, I did. I hope the train wreck is over. I like all the people involved, so I'm not sure what the impetus was, what its effect was, is, or what the resolution hoped for is, so I'll just sort of keep my mouth shut. I hope it was all in good fun. I'm not sure it was delivered or taken that way. I have nothing to add on that front. That's too bad.hopefully you didn't miss fatguy's post that might have got lost in the
Where's fatguy's post? Seems like a doozy of a good one.
rockaction
Footballguy
And all I can think of is how MoCS would appreciate Jesus and his friend cleaning their bowling balls in the bowling alley in The Big Lebowski when it comes to Preston.
https://tenor.com/view/big-lebowski-ball-clean-bowling-gif-5440038
https://tenor.com/view/big-lebowski-ball-clean-bowling-gif-5440038
Zegras11
Footballguy
rockaction
Footballguy
Send panties by mail. LOL. Love it. But wasn't fatguy a longhair blondie last we met?
Ay, fatguy, great work and that took you-know-what, man. You know what.
And so it begins. They celebrated that night at a fancy restaurant until 5:00 am. I love this picture - Brian Epstein with a pot on his head. Look how happy they all look. https://www.beatlesbible.com/wp/media/640116-beatles-brian-epstein-george-martin_01.jpg
I never really stopped to think about the time period when Beatlemania erupted in the United States. December of 1963 - a month after the Kennedy assassination. Probably the perfect time to come along and provide a much needed distraction and boost of happiness. Anyone old enough to remember that time period?
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
John Lennon in his lengthy Rolling Stone in 1971*:
"I was in Kenwood (his home at the time) and I would just be songwriting. The period would be for songwriting and so every day I would attempt to write a song and it's one of those that you sort of sing a bit sadly to yourself, 'Here I stand, head in hand...'"
"I started thinking about my own emotions - I don't know when exactly it started like 'I'm a Loser' or 'Hide Your Love Away' or those kind of things- instead of projecting myself into a situation I would just try to express what I felt about myself which I'd done in me books. I think it was Dylan helped me realize that - not by any discussion or anything but just by hearing his work - I had a sort of professional songwriter's attitude to writing pop songs; he would turn out a certain style of song for a single and we would do a certain style of thing for this and the other thing. I was already a stylized songwriter on the first album. But to express myself I would write Spaniard in the Works or In His Own Write, the personal stories which were expressive of my personal emotions. I'd have a separate songwriting John Lennon who wrote songs for the sort of meat market, and I didn't consider them - the lyrics or anything - to have any depth at all. They were just a joke. Then I started being me about the songs, not writing them objectively, but subjectively."
*There is audio of it somewhere out there, maybe YouTube - it's like 3-1/2 hours, Yoko is (of course) with him. Never got all the way through it but then one I found the unedited transcript.
I love this song. #nohomo
Sometimes when I hear this, I think about childhood mates who came out later. I grew up in a village of 200, our high school was 8 miles away in a blue collar factory town of 7,000. Off the top of my head, at least six friends out of the 290 who graduated with the Class of 1980 were LBGTQ2. Many of them didn't come out for decades - one of my best friends from Junior High only came out at the beginning of the pandemic. Two of them married their female high school sweethearts, came to realize they were gay, got divorced (one spouse was supportive, the other....it got messy.) The first girl I kissed (Traci, 6th grade science camp) later became a single mom, adopting a little girl from Guatemala. She didn't come out until she had Stage 4 cancer. We lost her a couple years ago.
Sorry. It's a beautiful song. I'm a huge Dylan fan and I love how he influenced them. Turned them on to weed, and freed them from pop music.
Ted Lange as your Bartender
Footballguy
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
Hey all, thanks for all the nice comments about my video, I had a ton of fun trying to learn the song. To answer to some questions, yes it’s a Pokey LaFarge T-shirt, and yes I am excited to receive granny panties by Pony Express. That seems more authentic to the time period anyway, I’m sure Paul’s stage was littered with undergarments that provide full coverage.
Anyway, I do just want to write a few words of praise for my #1 song I Want to Hold Your Hand. This is the second of my “perfect” Beatles songs to be posted. I love the cheeky lyrics, I love how they clearly sing “I get high” for “I can’t hide” because of course they did. I love the harmonies, I love the hand claps, I love that the song just never takes a breath it just plows through with just a burst of a couple minutes of awesome fun and energy. I love the “ha-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-yand” at the very end, it feels like the entire song has been just one giant breath and they’ve like totally spent themselves and are just squeezing every last bit of breath into those last notes before they play that last chord and can inhale again. Every bit of the song feels fun and fresh and full or promise and hope and energy and excitement.
I don’t know why this one just resonates with me so much but I’m so glad I learned it on guitar I’m going to play it and enjoy it for the rest of my life.
Anyway, I do just want to write a few words of praise for my #1 song I Want to Hold Your Hand. This is the second of my “perfect” Beatles songs to be posted. I love the cheeky lyrics, I love how they clearly sing “I get high” for “I can’t hide” because of course they did. I love the harmonies, I love the hand claps, I love that the song just never takes a breath it just plows through with just a burst of a couple minutes of awesome fun and energy. I love the “ha-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-yand” at the very end, it feels like the entire song has been just one giant breath and they’ve like totally spent themselves and are just squeezing every last bit of breath into those last notes before they play that last chord and can inhale again. Every bit of the song feels fun and fresh and full or promise and hope and energy and excitement.
I don’t know why this one just resonates with me so much but I’m so glad I learned it on guitar I’m going to play it and enjoy it for the rest of my life.
fatguyinalittlecoat
Footballguy
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away is also amazing and a good suggestion for another Beatles song for me to learn.
krista4
Footballguy
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
My rank: 9Get Back
2022 Ranking: 26
2022 Lists: 23
2022 Points: 265
Ranked Highest by: @falguy (3) @ConstruxBoy (4) @prosopis (4) @Getzlaf15 (5) @heckmanm (6) @jwb (7) @Wrighteous Ray (8) @Pip's Invitation (9) @rockaction (13) @jamny (13) @Westerberg (15)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 53/8/63
Getz: Misses Top 25 by 5 pointsNo bandwagon here as I had this at #16 in 2019. #5 this time. I found 7 of the 8 voters from 2019, and only @worrierking also had it back then. The other five didn't vote this time. So 15 more voters, 202 more points and moves up 27 slots. I wonder why? Rank it 63rd? I wanna hit her with that frying pan I tell you!
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 63
2019 write-up:
Get Back (Let It Be, 1969)
John called this "a better version of 'Lady Madonna'," and I agree. Adding Billy Preston elevates any song about 16 levels, and this is no exception - his electric piano shines throughout the song and gives it an excellent groove, and Preston was actually featured on the label of this single ("The Beatles with Billy Preston"), being the only non-Beatle ever so credited. This also features a great guitar solo by...John! I've a special fondness in my heart for this song being the opener and closer of the London rooftop show, and the guys seemed to have a fabulous time with it. Well, maybe not George, who never looked like he was enjoying that performance.
This is a fun groove but doesn't get me rocking the way it does for some people; I almost feel like I don't quite understand the song. This might be a function of its history, as it was meant to be a satirical look at the UK's racial unrest at the time. But eventually some of the lyrics were dropped as being too open to possible misinterpretation, such as an entire section on Pakistani people that included the line, "Don't dig no Pakistani taking all the people's jobs." Paul was likely right to drop all that, as evidenced by the fact that when those versions were discovered, the group was accused of racism when, of course, they were instead trying to make an anti-racist statement. But in losing the political statements, the song might have lost some of the edge or grittiness that I wish I heard in it. The grittiness is there in each of the covers I've linked below. Still an awesome song that's painful to rank in the 60s.
Mr. krista: "It’s the Billy Preston and Ringo show. And Paul McCartney – the bass is really good. I like Ringo’s galloping bumpadudump. My least favorite part is Paul’s vocals, and the lyrics are dumb."
Suggested cover: Actually I like each of these better than the Beatles version. Al Green Billy Preston, naturally Holy hell you can try to tell me there's a sexier woman than Tina Turner in her prime but I won't believe you
2022 Supplement: Well, I’m not sure there’s much new to say now that the documentary has dropped. Even though this is still not one of my top favorites from Let It Be, seeing Paul pull the song out of thin air might have been, aside from the rooftop performance itself, the most amazing scene in the doc. Watching them in a later rehearsal was great fun, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVi8V5_jHRo
Paul has indicated that the song “Get Back” contains a wistful aspect. He knew that the band was breaking up, and he was hopeful that they could “get back” to their roots, how they were in Liverpool, before they did so. The idea of “getting back” was also imbued in the song’s style of flat-out rock and roll. Paul desperately wanted them to become “a damn good little band” again, to be the group that simply knew how to fall in with each other and play together. While John was escaping to a new place in his new relationship with Yoko, Paul in his own words thought they “should escape to an old place.” He knew it was impractical, and he says the others laughed at the notion, but Paul’s dream was to get back to where they once belonged. Eventually, Paul says he came to a place where he didn’t just accept John’s decision to leave the band, but to where he actually admired John for it, for his ability to “get back” to a new place instead of an old one.
Guido Merkins
I loved the Get Back movie by Peter Jackson. It really put a more balanced spin on January 1969. One of my favorite parts is one morning when they are still at Twickenham and John is late (again) Paul just starts strumming his bass and gets a rhythm going. It seems to be very random. George and Ringo look kind of bored, but Paul starts humming the unmistakable melody of Get Back, within like 2 minutes. Suddenly Ringo and George are paying attention and soon after, Paul has “get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.” I’m sure everyone can make up a #1 song and a rock classic in just a few minutes, right? Right?
Get Back is a great, rocking track that features Paul on bass, Ringo on drums, Billy Preston on organ, John on lead guitar and George on rhythm guitar. John was on lead because George quit the group temporarily and John worked out the solo. The guitar solo and the organ solo are outstanding on the song. Ringo, as usual, hit’s the perfect shuffle rhythm on the song, on fact he starts clapping said rhythm within the first 2 minutes of Paul making up the riff. It’s an amazing moment. Maybe the most amazing moment in the whole 8 hours.
John called the song “a better version of Lady Madonna” which, I love Lady Madonna, so I guess that’s really good. The song is also notable in that there is the infamous “No Pakistanis” verse that was originally in the song that was taken out. This has been colored by some people as proof that the Beatles were racist, but it was actually an anti racist verse because he was speaking against a prevailing anti immigrant feeling in Britain at the time.
Also there is some confusion about the version of Get Back on the Let It Be album. Phil Spector edited it to make it sound like it was played live on the roof, but the truth is, it was just the single version with the ending edited out and John edited in saying “I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and myself I hope we passed the audition.” There were 3 versions of the song done on the roof and, for whatever reason, they were not included on the Let It Be album.
Was already a favorite, and watching Paul come up with it spontaneously in Get Back made it even more so. It's got a driving groove that offers serious movement and grit, while sacrificing none of their pop gifts. I have always loved John's solo and Billy Preston's electric piano fills.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
My rank: 30
Get Back/Don't Let Me Down is up there with the best Beatles single pairs, which is saying a lot. John's vocal is raw but soulful, the rhythm section twists and turns in unexpected ways, and the electric piano solo is fantastic. It has a little Beatles Grunge in it and made my 90-minute cassette. I don't know why this wasn't put on the Let It Be album proper, since its A-side was.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
This is really no different from the poppier material they did between 1964 and 1966. The arrangement is more ornate and the lyrics go a different direction into nostalgia, but otherwise it's the same stuff. Much to krista's chagrin, this is one of Paul's most enduring songs and will still be remembered long after all of us are gone.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
My wife is a Disney obsessive, so I have a high tolerance for "Disney music." Say what you will about those folks, but they are VERY good at creating and deploying music that evokes emotions. And that is what Paul does here (in both versions). This song makes me sad and wistful and I can't exactly explain why.
Given how much Paul hated the Spector arrangement, it doesn't surprise me that this was one of the five Beatles songs he played when Wings toured internationally for the first time.
I found it amusing in Get Back that when they were listening to the version of this song from which the basic tracks were used on the album, Paul and George Martin said something to the effect of "well, this is a good start, we'll just have to add a few things to finish it off." Little did they know what "adding a few things" would turn out to be.
Last edited by a moderator:
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
My rank: 11
One of my favorite George songs. The bass and drums drive this song in the grooviest of ways, and the guitars are stunning, especially Paul's solo (for the reasons that everyone said above). The lyrics may come from a simplistic urge, but they are cleverly done. This is one of those songs where I HAVE to turn it up every time it comes on.
This song is so powerful that The Jam rewrote it as Start! and turned it into a UK #1.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
Along with She Loves You, this is the best example of the excitement and frenzy of Beatlemania. The unison vocals on "HAAAAAAAAAAAND!!!!!!!!" are some the most exuberant sounds that ever emerged from the radio. And the rest of the song is no slouch either.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
My rank: 10
Even my son, who has ADHD and finds most rock and roll too loud and overwhelming for him, loves this song. It has been a favorite of mine since I was young, for the awe-inducing drum fills, groovy electric piano, triumphant lead guitar and keening vocals. Its also emblematic of the "warmer" sound I love so much that they achieved on Abbey Road due to technological advances.
DocHolliday
Footballguy
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
Well. Well. Another of the great songs from Help! It’s a simple song that is mostly an acoustic guitar and voice. Of course, the voice is magic and the chorus is always a sing along.
Well. Well. Another of the great songs from Help! It’s a simple song that is mostly an acoustic guitar and voice. Of course, the voice is magic and the chorus is always a sing along.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
I think I'm allowed to praise Preston's playing as long as I don't imply that he's a deity. I could be wrong, though, as I scrolled through those discussions pretty fast.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Did you know Billy was known as the fifth & a half Beatle?
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
One of the best things to come out of their Dylan influence. The emotions conveyed in these lyrics are very complex, and weren't the kind of stuff you saw in pop music in 1965 except in a few cases like Dylan.
I don't remember this song being put in the pantheon of greatest Beatles songs until Eddie Vedder covered it. That could just be a function of the friend groups/bubbles I moved in, or it could be that by the time of Vedder's cover, the world was more attuned to the issues that would make someone write lyrics like these.
Zegras11
Footballguy
Across The Universe
2022 Ranking: 18
2022 Lists: 23
2022 Points: 363
Ranked Highest by: @whoknew (1) @Man of Constant Sorrow (1) @krista4 (2) @jwb (4) @ProstheticRGK (5) @ManOfSteelhead(6) @Oliver Humanzee (6) @turnjose7 (6) @simey (7) @DocHolliday (8) @Uruk-Hai (9) @pecorino (9) @ekbeats (10) @shuke (13) @landrys hat (15)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 23/11/153
Getz: 15 Top 10 votes out of 23 votes cast is quite impressive. Moves up five slots in 2022.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 2
2019 write-up:
Across The Universe (Let It Be, 1970)
There’s no reason I should love this song so much. I can’t connect with the spiritual vibe of “Jai guru deva om” (approximate translation is “Victory to God divine”), and I don’t get some soccer-mom-faux-empowerment feeling from the “nothing’s gonna change my world” part. And yet, if I could hear the right recording of it, it would probably be my #1 song. Something in there just scratches my musical itch. What do I mean by the right recording? Well, there are four officially released versions, not to mention any bootlegs, and each of them has something that I wish were slightly different in order to make it my “perfect” version.
I’ll get to the issue of the recordings below, but first here’s what I love most about the song: John’s vocal, the meter, the phrasing, and the lyrics. On the not-messed-with recordings, his voice sounds delicate and gentle, intimate and as beautiful as it’s ever sounded. As for the meter, I love the breathless propulsion and then dramatic slow-down resulting from John’s only singing one note for every syllable in the verses until each time he gets to “universe,” where he gives it a little trill. And finally, there are the lyrics and phrasing. My favorite non-Beatle songwriter is legit-poet Leonard Cohen, and the lines in this song are to me as stunning a work of poetry as some of Cohen’s best works. The imagery is stunningly evocative, and the internal rhymes are sublime. The verses are every bit as masterful when read simply as poetry as when committed to song:
Words are flowing out
Like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me
Images of broken light
Which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
Restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe
Sounds of laughter, shades of life
Are ringing through my opened ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love
Which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
The lyrics came to John as he was lying in bed with his first wife and irritated with her for some reason, but they quickly turned into a “cosmic song” for him: “They were purely inspirational and were given to me. I don't own it, you know; it came through like that. I don't know where it came from, what meter it's in, and I've sat down and looked at it and said, 'Can I write another one with this meter?' Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship; it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. It's like being possessed; like a psychic or a medium. The thing has to go down. It won't let you sleep, so you have to get up, make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep.” John considered these possibly the best lyrics he ever wrote, and this time I agree with John – they’re perfectly breathtaking.
As to those recordings… The song was originally recorded in early 1968 and intended as a possible single, but it was shelved in favor of “Lady Madonna” and others. On these first recordings were John on vocal, George on a sitar for the intro and tambura elsewhere, John and Paul on acoustic guitars, and Ringo on svaramandal. Take two of these recordings was released on Anthology 2 in 1996.
As the band continued to record and re-record the song, Paul decided to step outside the studio and ask a couple of the Apple Scruffs to join the newly harmonized chorus on backing vocals. Two teenage girls then joined as singers on the chorus, and the group also added the wah-wah guitar part, maracas, and Paul on piano. The first officially released version was based on this version and released in December 1969 on a charity album for the World Wildlife Fund. But before release, the sounds of birds and children playing were added, and the song was sped up a semitone from D to E flat.
The next version to be released was the Spector-ized version on Let It Be in 1970. For this version, Spector slowed the song back down, all the way to D flat, stripped out the existing backing vocals, and added a 50-piece orchestra and a choir.
In 2003, the Let It Be...Naked version was mixed and released, stripping out from the Let It Be version all but John’s vocal and acoustic guitar and George’s tambura.
Or something like that. Whew.
What we ended up with, then, were wildly different versions of the same song, all with different tempos and feels. John loved the Spector version, calling it one of his best songs, and he even went so far as to accuse Paul of having sabotaged the earlier versions (for instance, by bringing in girls from the street to sing backing vocals). I, as usual, don’t enjoy the Spector-ization at all. But I also am not a fan of the WWF version due to all the bird noises and faster tempo, which I think makes John vocal sound wrong. That leaves me with the naked version, which I find too stripped down, and the Anthology version, which ends up as my favorite but I really want that wah-wah guitar and some other elements on there.
Ideally, this is what someone needs to do for me: take the version recorded for WWF before the birds and #### were added and it was sped up, then also strip out the crappy girls’ voices and add the sitar from Anthology 2. Or, take the Anthology 2 version and add the backing harmonies from Paul and George, the maracas, the bass, and the wah-wah guitar. Get to it!
Fun fact: In 2008, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this song and NASA’s 50th anniversary, the song was transmitted into space, toward the star Polaris, 431 light years from Earth, becoming the first song ever intentionally transmitted into deep space.
Mr. krista:
[Regarding naked version.] “That’s definitely what John Lennon sounds like. He doesn’t sound like that in the other one.
[Regarding Let It Be version.] It’s slowed down, so it sounds like a lower key. There’s all that reverb because that’s how Phil Spector could make it sound dreamy, because he’s a hack. Listen to all that whoo-ooo-ooo part.
“Obviously I really like that song. The naked version is the best version. Really not digging Phil Spector version. Seems like the studio stuff they’d done before was for joyful experimentation or to make a point on the record, and this is just tricks and hacks and Phil Spector’s trying to justify a paycheck. That orchestration is how you’d orchestrate an Esther Williams dream sequence in a Hollywood production, which is where he’s at. It’s a lovely song. I like the straight eighth-notes, because it seems breathless since the end of the line is the beginning of the next line. It’s strange that more people don’t recognize it as one of the best Beatles songs, and that they seemed so unsatisfied even though they recorded it 500 different times.”
Suggested covers – Rufus Wainwright Fiona Apple David Bowie
2022 Supplement: This song remains my second favorite but is still a “what else could have been” for me, due to the issues with the various versions of this song, none of which were exactly finished to the point where John would have liked them. It had the potential to be one of few songs that I would deem “perfect.” But good news! Amazingly enough, in addition to the four versions I linked in 2019, we have several more to choose from as well:
There’s Take 6, which was released in the 50th anniversary edition of the White Album (despite not being on that album): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-kDjCi5DP4 This is now my favorite!
There’s Glyn Johns’s 1970 mixing of what sounds like the same take, which was released last year as part of the super-deluxe 50th anniversary set for Let It Be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auTzvaAbpVs Not sure why this one was rejected. Sounds great to me.
There’s Giles Martin’s 2021 re-mixing that was issued in the same anniversary set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqUzU552X8A He toned down the Spector but not enough for me. Sounds pleasantly lush, though.
And, there are various electric snippets that we’ve seen now due to the Get Back documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLtAzE3izng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZfn1Wm5E74
And more audio only of those sessions here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdRk31viNgg
Please, Peter Jackson – I want more! I’ve asked nicely twice now. Next time might not be so nice, if you know what I mean. [NARRATOR: No one, in fact, knew what she meant.]
Guido Merkins
John expressed dissatisfaction with the way some of his Beatles songs were recorded. One such some was Across the Universe. Across the Universe, for my money, is John’s best set of lyrics being poetry set to music. The vivid imagery of “words flowing out like rain into a paper cup” or “limitless undying love that shines around me like a million suns” are first-class rock lyrics.
There are 2 released versions of Across the Universe and an outtake on Anthology 2, plus a reworked version on Let It Be Naked. The first released version was given to the World Wildlife Fund and you know it because it has the female vocals on the chorus. The 2nd released version was from the Let It Be album with John on an acoustic guitar with Phil Spector’s choirs and strings. They slowed it down, so to my ears, John sounds stoned. The version on Let It Be Naked is the same version as the one on Let It Be, except they sped John’s voice back up and removed the Spector stuff and added some Leslie speaker effect to John’s guitar. This is my favorite version. My second favorite version is the one on Anthology 2, which is different entirely with sitar, tambura and swarmandel.
Once again, I am actually not sure why the version that is on Anthology 2, which I think is the earliest version, was not released. I don’t like it as much as the Naked version, but if they had released it, the Naked version wouldn’t have existed and I wouldn’t have known the difference anyway.
2022 Ranking: 18
2022 Lists: 23
2022 Points: 363
Ranked Highest by: @whoknew (1) @Man of Constant Sorrow (1) @krista4 (2) @jwb (4) @ProstheticRGK (5) @ManOfSteelhead(6) @Oliver Humanzee (6) @turnjose7 (6) @simey (7) @DocHolliday (8) @Uruk-Hai (9) @pecorino (9) @ekbeats (10) @shuke (13) @landrys hat (15)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 23/11/153
Getz: 15 Top 10 votes out of 23 votes cast is quite impressive. Moves up five slots in 2022.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 2
2019 write-up:
Across The Universe (Let It Be, 1970)
There’s no reason I should love this song so much. I can’t connect with the spiritual vibe of “Jai guru deva om” (approximate translation is “Victory to God divine”), and I don’t get some soccer-mom-faux-empowerment feeling from the “nothing’s gonna change my world” part. And yet, if I could hear the right recording of it, it would probably be my #1 song. Something in there just scratches my musical itch. What do I mean by the right recording? Well, there are four officially released versions, not to mention any bootlegs, and each of them has something that I wish were slightly different in order to make it my “perfect” version.
I’ll get to the issue of the recordings below, but first here’s what I love most about the song: John’s vocal, the meter, the phrasing, and the lyrics. On the not-messed-with recordings, his voice sounds delicate and gentle, intimate and as beautiful as it’s ever sounded. As for the meter, I love the breathless propulsion and then dramatic slow-down resulting from John’s only singing one note for every syllable in the verses until each time he gets to “universe,” where he gives it a little trill. And finally, there are the lyrics and phrasing. My favorite non-Beatle songwriter is legit-poet Leonard Cohen, and the lines in this song are to me as stunning a work of poetry as some of Cohen’s best works. The imagery is stunningly evocative, and the internal rhymes are sublime. The verses are every bit as masterful when read simply as poetry as when committed to song:
Words are flowing out
Like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me
Images of broken light
Which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
Restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe
Sounds of laughter, shades of life
Are ringing through my opened ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love
Which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
The lyrics came to John as he was lying in bed with his first wife and irritated with her for some reason, but they quickly turned into a “cosmic song” for him: “They were purely inspirational and were given to me. I don't own it, you know; it came through like that. I don't know where it came from, what meter it's in, and I've sat down and looked at it and said, 'Can I write another one with this meter?' Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship; it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. It's like being possessed; like a psychic or a medium. The thing has to go down. It won't let you sleep, so you have to get up, make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep.” John considered these possibly the best lyrics he ever wrote, and this time I agree with John – they’re perfectly breathtaking.
As to those recordings… The song was originally recorded in early 1968 and intended as a possible single, but it was shelved in favor of “Lady Madonna” and others. On these first recordings were John on vocal, George on a sitar for the intro and tambura elsewhere, John and Paul on acoustic guitars, and Ringo on svaramandal. Take two of these recordings was released on Anthology 2 in 1996.
As the band continued to record and re-record the song, Paul decided to step outside the studio and ask a couple of the Apple Scruffs to join the newly harmonized chorus on backing vocals. Two teenage girls then joined as singers on the chorus, and the group also added the wah-wah guitar part, maracas, and Paul on piano. The first officially released version was based on this version and released in December 1969 on a charity album for the World Wildlife Fund. But before release, the sounds of birds and children playing were added, and the song was sped up a semitone from D to E flat.
The next version to be released was the Spector-ized version on Let It Be in 1970. For this version, Spector slowed the song back down, all the way to D flat, stripped out the existing backing vocals, and added a 50-piece orchestra and a choir.
In 2003, the Let It Be...Naked version was mixed and released, stripping out from the Let It Be version all but John’s vocal and acoustic guitar and George’s tambura.
Or something like that. Whew.
What we ended up with, then, were wildly different versions of the same song, all with different tempos and feels. John loved the Spector version, calling it one of his best songs, and he even went so far as to accuse Paul of having sabotaged the earlier versions (for instance, by bringing in girls from the street to sing backing vocals). I, as usual, don’t enjoy the Spector-ization at all. But I also am not a fan of the WWF version due to all the bird noises and faster tempo, which I think makes John vocal sound wrong. That leaves me with the naked version, which I find too stripped down, and the Anthology version, which ends up as my favorite but I really want that wah-wah guitar and some other elements on there.
Ideally, this is what someone needs to do for me: take the version recorded for WWF before the birds and #### were added and it was sped up, then also strip out the crappy girls’ voices and add the sitar from Anthology 2. Or, take the Anthology 2 version and add the backing harmonies from Paul and George, the maracas, the bass, and the wah-wah guitar. Get to it!
Fun fact: In 2008, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this song and NASA’s 50th anniversary, the song was transmitted into space, toward the star Polaris, 431 light years from Earth, becoming the first song ever intentionally transmitted into deep space.
Mr. krista:
[Regarding naked version.] “That’s definitely what John Lennon sounds like. He doesn’t sound like that in the other one.
[Regarding Let It Be version.] It’s slowed down, so it sounds like a lower key. There’s all that reverb because that’s how Phil Spector could make it sound dreamy, because he’s a hack. Listen to all that whoo-ooo-ooo part.
“Obviously I really like that song. The naked version is the best version. Really not digging Phil Spector version. Seems like the studio stuff they’d done before was for joyful experimentation or to make a point on the record, and this is just tricks and hacks and Phil Spector’s trying to justify a paycheck. That orchestration is how you’d orchestrate an Esther Williams dream sequence in a Hollywood production, which is where he’s at. It’s a lovely song. I like the straight eighth-notes, because it seems breathless since the end of the line is the beginning of the next line. It’s strange that more people don’t recognize it as one of the best Beatles songs, and that they seemed so unsatisfied even though they recorded it 500 different times.”
Suggested covers – Rufus Wainwright Fiona Apple David Bowie
2022 Supplement: This song remains my second favorite but is still a “what else could have been” for me, due to the issues with the various versions of this song, none of which were exactly finished to the point where John would have liked them. It had the potential to be one of few songs that I would deem “perfect.” But good news! Amazingly enough, in addition to the four versions I linked in 2019, we have several more to choose from as well:
There’s Take 6, which was released in the 50th anniversary edition of the White Album (despite not being on that album): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-kDjCi5DP4 This is now my favorite!
There’s Glyn Johns’s 1970 mixing of what sounds like the same take, which was released last year as part of the super-deluxe 50th anniversary set for Let It Be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auTzvaAbpVs Not sure why this one was rejected. Sounds great to me.
There’s Giles Martin’s 2021 re-mixing that was issued in the same anniversary set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqUzU552X8A He toned down the Spector but not enough for me. Sounds pleasantly lush, though.
And, there are various electric snippets that we’ve seen now due to the Get Back documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLtAzE3izng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZfn1Wm5E74
And more audio only of those sessions here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdRk31viNgg
Please, Peter Jackson – I want more! I’ve asked nicely twice now. Next time might not be so nice, if you know what I mean. [NARRATOR: No one, in fact, knew what she meant.]
Guido Merkins
John expressed dissatisfaction with the way some of his Beatles songs were recorded. One such some was Across the Universe. Across the Universe, for my money, is John’s best set of lyrics being poetry set to music. The vivid imagery of “words flowing out like rain into a paper cup” or “limitless undying love that shines around me like a million suns” are first-class rock lyrics.
There are 2 released versions of Across the Universe and an outtake on Anthology 2, plus a reworked version on Let It Be Naked. The first released version was given to the World Wildlife Fund and you know it because it has the female vocals on the chorus. The 2nd released version was from the Let It Be album with John on an acoustic guitar with Phil Spector’s choirs and strings. They slowed it down, so to my ears, John sounds stoned. The version on Let It Be Naked is the same version as the one on Let It Be, except they sped John’s voice back up and removed the Spector stuff and added some Leslie speaker effect to John’s guitar. This is my favorite version. My second favorite version is the one on Anthology 2, which is different entirely with sitar, tambura and swarmandel.
Once again, I am actually not sure why the version that is on Anthology 2, which I think is the earliest version, was not released. I don’t like it as much as the Naked version, but if they had released it, the Naked version wouldn’t have existed and I wouldn’t have known the difference anyway.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Zegras11
Footballguy
simey
Footballguy
ProstheticRGK
Footballguy
I love people who write words good. John wrote words real good in this one.Across The Universe
2022 Ranking: 18
2022 Lists: 23
2022 Points: 363
Ranked Highest by: @whoknew (1) @Man of Constant Sorrow (1) @krista4 (2) @jwb (4) @ProstheticRGK (5) @ManOfSteelhead(6) @Oliver Humanzee (6) @turnjose7 (6) @simey (7) @DocHolliday (8) @Uruk-Hai (9) @pecorino (9) @ekbeats (10) @shuke (13) @landrys hat (15)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 23/11/153
Getz: 15 Top 10 votes out of 23 votes cast is quite impressive. Moves up five slots in 2022.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 2
2019 write-up:
Across The Universe (Let It Be, 1970)
There’s no reason I should love this song so much. I can’t connect with the spiritual vibe of “Jai guru deva om” (approximate translation is “Victory to God divine”), and I don’t get some soccer-mom-faux-empowerment feeling from the “nothing’s gonna change my world” part. And yet, if I could hear the right recording of it, it would probably be my #1 song. Something in there just scratches my musical itch. What do I mean by the right recording? Well, there are four officially released versions, not to mention any bootlegs, and each of them has something that I wish were slightly different in order to make it my “perfect” version.
I’ll get to the issue of the recordings below, but first here’s what I love most about the song: John’s vocal, the meter, the phrasing, and the lyrics. On the not-messed-with recordings, his voice sounds delicate and gentle, intimate and as beautiful as it’s ever sounded. As for the meter, I love the breathless propulsion and then dramatic slow-down resulting from John’s only singing one note for every syllable in the verses until each time he gets to “universe,” where he gives it a little trill. And finally, there are the lyrics and phrasing. My favorite non-Beatle songwriter is legit-poet Leonard Cohen, and the lines in this song are to me as stunning a work of poetry as some of Cohen’s best works. The imagery is stunningly evocative, and the internal rhymes are sublime. The verses are every bit as masterful when read simply as poetry as when committed to song:
Words are flowing out
Like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me
Images of broken light
Which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
Restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe
Sounds of laughter, shades of life
Are ringing through my opened ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love
Which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
The lyrics came to John as he was lying in bed with his first wife and irritated with her for some reason, but they quickly turned into a “cosmic song” for him: “They were purely inspirational and were given to me. I don't own it, you know; it came through like that. I don't know where it came from, what meter it's in, and I've sat down and looked at it and said, 'Can I write another one with this meter?' Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship; it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. It's like being possessed; like a psychic or a medium. The thing has to go down. It won't let you sleep, so you have to get up, make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep.” John considered these possibly the best lyrics he ever wrote, and this time I agree with John – they’re perfectly breathtaking.
As to those recordings… The song was originally recorded in early 1968 and intended as a possible single, but it was shelved in favor of “Lady Madonna” and others. On these first recordings were John on vocal, George on a sitar for the intro and tambura elsewhere, John and Paul on acoustic guitars, and Ringo on svaramandal. Take two of these recordings was released on Anthology 2 in 1996.
As the band continued to record and re-record the song, Paul decided to step outside the studio and ask a couple of the Apple Scruffs to join the newly harmonized chorus on backing vocals. Two teenage girls then joined as singers on the chorus, and the group also added the wah-wah guitar part, maracas, and Paul on piano. The first officially released version was based on this version and released in December 1969 on a charity album for the World Wildlife Fund. But before release, the sounds of birds and children playing were added, and the song was sped up a semitone from D to E flat.
The next version to be released was the Spector-ized version on Let It Be in 1970. For this version, Spector slowed the song back down, all the way to D flat, stripped out the existing backing vocals, and added a 50-piece orchestra and a choir.
In 2003, the Let It Be...Naked version was mixed and released, stripping out from the Let It Be version all but John’s vocal and acoustic guitar and George’s tambura.
Or something like that. Whew.
What we ended up with, then, were wildly different versions of the same song, all with different tempos and feels. John loved the Spector version, calling it one of his best songs, and he even went so far as to accuse Paul of having sabotaged the earlier versions (for instance, by bringing in girls from the street to sing backing vocals). I, as usual, don’t enjoy the Spector-ization at all. But I also am not a fan of the WWF version due to all the bird noises and faster tempo, which I think makes John vocal sound wrong. That leaves me with the naked version, which I find too stripped down, and the Anthology version, which ends up as my favorite but I really want that wah-wah guitar and some other elements on there.
Ideally, this is what someone needs to do for me: take the version recorded for WWF before the birds and #### were added and it was sped up, then also strip out the crappy girls’ voices and add the sitar from Anthology 2. Or, take the Anthology 2 version and add the backing harmonies from Paul and George, the maracas, the bass, and the wah-wah guitar. Get to it!
Fun fact: In 2008, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this song and NASA’s 50th anniversary, the song was transmitted into space, toward the star Polaris, 431 light years from Earth, becoming the first song ever intentionally transmitted into deep space.
Mr. krista:
[Regarding naked version.] “That’s definitely what John Lennon sounds like. He doesn’t sound like that in the other one.
[Regarding Let It Be version.] It’s slowed down, so it sounds like a lower key. There’s all that reverb because that’s how Phil Spector could make it sound dreamy, because he’s a hack. Listen to all that whoo-ooo-ooo part.
“Obviously I really like that song. The naked version is the best version. Really not digging Phil Spector version. Seems like the studio stuff they’d done before was for joyful experimentation or to make a point on the record, and this is just tricks and hacks and Phil Spector’s trying to justify a paycheck. That orchestration is how you’d orchestrate an Esther Williams dream sequence in a Hollywood production, which is where he’s at. It’s a lovely song. I like the straight eighth-notes, because it seems breathless since the end of the line is the beginning of the next line. It’s strange that more people don’t recognize it as one of the best Beatles songs, and that they seemed so unsatisfied even though they recorded it 500 different times.”
Suggested covers – Rufus Wainwright Fiona Apple David Bowie
2022 Supplement: This song remains my second favorite but is still a “what else could have been” for me, due to the issues with the various versions of this song, none of which were exactly finished to the point where John would have liked them. It had the potential to be one of few songs that I would deem “perfect.” But good news! Amazingly enough, in addition to the four versions I linked in 2019, we have several more to choose from as well:
There’s Take 6, which was released in the 50th anniversary edition of the White Album (despite not being on that album): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-kDjCi5DP4 This is now my favorite!
There’s Glyn Johns’s 1970 mixing of what sounds like the same take, which was released last year as part of the super-deluxe 50th anniversary set for Let It Be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auTzvaAbpVs Not sure why this one was rejected. Sounds great to me.
There’s Giles Martin’s 2021 re-mixing that was issued in the same anniversary set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqUzU552X8A He toned down the Spector but not enough for me. Sounds pleasantly lush, though.
And, there are various electric snippets that we’ve seen now due to the Get Back documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLtAzE3izng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZfn1Wm5E74
And more audio only of those sessions here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdRk31viNgg
Please, Peter Jackson – I want more! I’ve asked nicely twice now. Next time might not be so nice, if you know what I mean. [NARRATOR: No one, in fact, knew what she meant.]
Guido Merkins
John expressed dissatisfaction with the way some of his Beatles songs were recorded. One such some was Across the Universe. Across the Universe, for my money, is John’s best set of lyrics being poetry set to music. The vivid imagery of “words flowing out like rain into a paper cup” or “limitless undying love that shines around me like a million suns” are first-class rock lyrics.
There are 2 released versions of Across the Universe and an outtake on Anthology 2, plus a reworked version on Let It Be Naked. The first released version was given to the World Wildlife Fund and you know it because it has the female vocals on the chorus. The 2nd released version was from the Let It Be album with John on an acoustic guitar with Phil Spector’s choirs and strings. They slowed it down, so to my ears, John sounds stoned. The version on Let It Be Naked is the same version as the one on Let It Be, except they sped John’s voice back up and removed the Spector stuff and added some Leslie speaker effect to John’s guitar. This is my favorite version. My second favorite version is the one on Anthology 2, which is different entirely with sitar, tambura and swarmandel.
Once again, I am actually not sure why the version that is on Anthology 2, which I think is the earliest version, was not released. I don’t like it as much as the Naked version, but if they had released it, the Naked version wouldn’t have existed and I wouldn’t have known the difference anyway.
One of my favorites, and kudos on the Leonard Cohen drop. Yuge fan.
Pip's Invitation
Footballguy
My rank: 29Across The Universe
2022 Ranking: 18
2022 Lists: 23
2022 Points: 363
Ranked Highest by: @whoknew (1) @Man of Constant Sorrow (1) @krista4 (2) @jwb (4) @ProstheticRGK (5) @ManOfSteelhead(6) @Oliver Humanzee (6) @turnjose7 (6) @simey (7) @DocHolliday (8) @Uruk-Hai (9) @pecorino (9) @ekbeats (10) @shuke (13) @landrys hat (15)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 23/11/153
Getz: 15 Top 10 votes out of 23 votes cast is quite impressive. Moves up five slots in 2022.
Krista4
My 2019 ranking: 2
2019 write-up:
Across The Universe (Let It Be, 1970)
There’s no reason I should love this song so much. I can’t connect with the spiritual vibe of “Jai guru deva om” (approximate translation is “Victory to God divine”), and I don’t get some soccer-mom-faux-empowerment feeling from the “nothing’s gonna change my world” part. And yet, if I could hear the right recording of it, it would probably be my #1 song. Something in there just scratches my musical itch. What do I mean by the right recording? Well, there are four officially released versions, not to mention any bootlegs, and each of them has something that I wish were slightly different in order to make it my “perfect” version.
I’ll get to the issue of the recordings below, but first here’s what I love most about the song: John’s vocal, the meter, the phrasing, and the lyrics. On the not-messed-with recordings, his voice sounds delicate and gentle, intimate and as beautiful as it’s ever sounded. As for the meter, I love the breathless propulsion and then dramatic slow-down resulting from John’s only singing one note for every syllable in the verses until each time he gets to “universe,” where he gives it a little trill. And finally, there are the lyrics and phrasing. My favorite non-Beatle songwriter is legit-poet Leonard Cohen, and the lines in this song are to me as stunning a work of poetry as some of Cohen’s best works. The imagery is stunningly evocative, and the internal rhymes are sublime. The verses are every bit as masterful when read simply as poetry as when committed to song:
Words are flowing out
Like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
Are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me
Images of broken light
Which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
Restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe
Sounds of laughter, shades of life
Are ringing through my opened ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love
Which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
The lyrics came to John as he was lying in bed with his first wife and irritated with her for some reason, but they quickly turned into a “cosmic song” for him: “They were purely inspirational and were given to me. I don't own it, you know; it came through like that. I don't know where it came from, what meter it's in, and I've sat down and looked at it and said, 'Can I write another one with this meter?' Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship; it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. It's like being possessed; like a psychic or a medium. The thing has to go down. It won't let you sleep, so you have to get up, make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep.” John considered these possibly the best lyrics he ever wrote, and this time I agree with John – they’re perfectly breathtaking.
As to those recordings… The song was originally recorded in early 1968 and intended as a possible single, but it was shelved in favor of “Lady Madonna” and others. On these first recordings were John on vocal, George on a sitar for the intro and tambura elsewhere, John and Paul on acoustic guitars, and Ringo on svaramandal. Take two of these recordings was released on Anthology 2 in 1996.
As the band continued to record and re-record the song, Paul decided to step outside the studio and ask a couple of the Apple Scruffs to join the newly harmonized chorus on backing vocals. Two teenage girls then joined as singers on the chorus, and the group also added the wah-wah guitar part, maracas, and Paul on piano. The first officially released version was based on this version and released in December 1969 on a charity album for the World Wildlife Fund. But before release, the sounds of birds and children playing were added, and the song was sped up a semitone from D to E flat.
The next version to be released was the Spector-ized version on Let It Be in 1970. For this version, Spector slowed the song back down, all the way to D flat, stripped out the existing backing vocals, and added a 50-piece orchestra and a choir.
In 2003, the Let It Be...Naked version was mixed and released, stripping out from the Let It Be version all but John’s vocal and acoustic guitar and George’s tambura.
Or something like that. Whew.
What we ended up with, then, were wildly different versions of the same song, all with different tempos and feels. John loved the Spector version, calling it one of his best songs, and he even went so far as to accuse Paul of having sabotaged the earlier versions (for instance, by bringing in girls from the street to sing backing vocals). I, as usual, don’t enjoy the Spector-ization at all. But I also am not a fan of the WWF version due to all the bird noises and faster tempo, which I think makes John vocal sound wrong. That leaves me with the naked version, which I find too stripped down, and the Anthology version, which ends up as my favorite but I really want that wah-wah guitar and some other elements on there.
Ideally, this is what someone needs to do for me: take the version recorded for WWF before the birds and #### were added and it was sped up, then also strip out the crappy girls’ voices and add the sitar from Anthology 2. Or, take the Anthology 2 version and add the backing harmonies from Paul and George, the maracas, the bass, and the wah-wah guitar. Get to it!
Fun fact: In 2008, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this song and NASA’s 50th anniversary, the song was transmitted into space, toward the star Polaris, 431 light years from Earth, becoming the first song ever intentionally transmitted into deep space.
Mr. krista:
[Regarding naked version.] “That’s definitely what John Lennon sounds like. He doesn’t sound like that in the other one.
[Regarding Let It Be version.] It’s slowed down, so it sounds like a lower key. There’s all that reverb because that’s how Phil Spector could make it sound dreamy, because he’s a hack. Listen to all that whoo-ooo-ooo part.
“Obviously I really like that song. The naked version is the best version. Really not digging Phil Spector version. Seems like the studio stuff they’d done before was for joyful experimentation or to make a point on the record, and this is just tricks and hacks and Phil Spector’s trying to justify a paycheck. That orchestration is how you’d orchestrate an Esther Williams dream sequence in a Hollywood production, which is where he’s at. It’s a lovely song. I like the straight eighth-notes, because it seems breathless since the end of the line is the beginning of the next line. It’s strange that more people don’t recognize it as one of the best Beatles songs, and that they seemed so unsatisfied even though they recorded it 500 different times.”
Suggested covers – Rufus Wainwright Fiona Apple David Bowie
2022 Supplement: This song remains my second favorite but is still a “what else could have been” for me, due to the issues with the various versions of this song, none of which were exactly finished to the point where John would have liked them. It had the potential to be one of few songs that I would deem “perfect.” But good news! Amazingly enough, in addition to the four versions I linked in 2019, we have several more to choose from as well:
There’s Take 6, which was released in the 50th anniversary edition of the White Album (despite not being on that album): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-kDjCi5DP4 This is now my favorite!
There’s Glyn Johns’s 1970 mixing of what sounds like the same take, which was released last year as part of the super-deluxe 50th anniversary set for Let It Be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auTzvaAbpVs Not sure why this one was rejected. Sounds great to me.
There’s Giles Martin’s 2021 re-mixing that was issued in the same anniversary set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqUzU552X8A He toned down the Spector but not enough for me. Sounds pleasantly lush, though.
And, there are various electric snippets that we’ve seen now due to the Get Back documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLtAzE3izng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZfn1Wm5E74
And more audio only of those sessions here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdRk31viNgg
Please, Peter Jackson – I want more! I’ve asked nicely twice now. Next time might not be so nice, if you know what I mean. [NARRATOR: No one, in fact, knew what she meant.]
Guido Merkins
John expressed dissatisfaction with the way some of his Beatles songs were recorded. One such some was Across the Universe. Across the Universe, for my money, is John’s best set of lyrics being poetry set to music. The vivid imagery of “words flowing out like rain into a paper cup” or “limitless undying love that shines around me like a million suns” are first-class rock lyrics.
There are 2 released versions of Across the Universe and an outtake on Anthology 2, plus a reworked version on Let It Be Naked. The first released version was given to the World Wildlife Fund and you know it because it has the female vocals on the chorus. The 2nd released version was from the Let It Be album with John on an acoustic guitar with Phil Spector’s choirs and strings. They slowed it down, so to my ears, John sounds stoned. The version on Let It Be Naked is the same version as the one on Let It Be, except they sped John’s voice back up and removed the Spector stuff and added some Leslie speaker effect to John’s guitar. This is my favorite version. My second favorite version is the one on Anthology 2, which is different entirely with sitar, tambura and swarmandel.
Once again, I am actually not sure why the version that is on Anthology 2, which I think is the earliest version, was not released. I don’t like it as much as the Naked version, but if they had released it, the Naked version wouldn’t have existed and I wouldn’t have known the difference anyway.
This is one of my go-to songs when I want to get blissed-out and Zen. The lyrics are extraordinary engaging and the music, regardless of which version, has a calming effect on me. I like all the versions, and am not really bothered by the Spector-ization of the Let It Be version or the birds and Apple Scruffs in the WWF version.
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