What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

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

Getzlaf15 said:
Yellow Submarine
2022 Ranking: 85
2022 Lists: 6
2022 Points: 58
Ranked Highest by: @John Maddens Lunchbox (2) Krista(Sharon) (15) Shaft41(Son2) (16) @ekbeats (19) @Dennis Castro (23)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: NR

Getz comments:  From zero votes to six.  How was this not voted for last time? Love this song.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  116

2019 write-up:

Yellow Submarine (Revolver, 1966)

“Yellow Submarine" is just irresistible, with its whooshing of the waves, its cocktail party chatter, John blowing bubbles, Brian Jones clinking glasses, and of course that marching band bit. It was a perfect goofy song to give to always-affable Ringo, and the band seemed to have a great time with it when not under the watchful eyes of George Martin, who was at home sick the day the recording began.  On the second night of recording they were joined by Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Marianne Faithfull, Patti Harrison, and others, who proceeded to form what Emerick called a "whole marijuana-influenced scene...completely zany, straight out of a Marx Brothers movie."  The group played any instruments or other sound effects they could find, from bells to whistles to gongs to the aforementioned wine glasses, while John became obsessed with getting the sound of him actually singing underwater.  After singing while gurgling didn't work, he lobbied for a tank to be brought in into which he could be submerged.  Instead, Emerick convinced him to try singing through a mic that was submerged, and the team dispatched to find first a milk bottle that was filled with water, and then something the mic could be put into to protect during submersion.  The roadie Mal Evans eventually came up with it - a condom!  John was delighted and remarked that this was brilliant because they wouldn't want the mic to get "in a family way."  Unfortunately, the idea didn't work as the sound became too muffled and wasn't usable, but the anecdote shows how much fun this recording was.  Full steam ahead! 

Mr. krista:  "Did they have a budget to bring in a marching band? I love this part, too.  The bubbles, the guy’s voice, like a vaudevillian or carnival barker type thing.  Silly.  I ####### LOVE IT.  It’s obviously not the best Beatles song or the best song on the record, obviously. But its inclusion is great.  It’s a kids’ song.  The soundscapes, and what self-important mother####ers would call musique concrète that people use to evoke mood.  They get to experiment with all that, but with this unserious purpose that’s pure joy and fun.  They get to create this underwater world that’s sailing to the sun in a submarine or whatever.  In the late 90s, etc., all these bands came out with the kind of kitchen sink recordings, I’m thinking specifically of Neutral Milk Hotel, who were more like recording projects rather than bands.  Who made basically a bunch of Yellow Submarine songs that were pure nonsense and 1/10 of the fun.  They’re considered now like a classic album, but it’s Yellow Submarine, man.  It’s Ringo.  It’s self-important, joyless, Yellow Submarine.  But it’s not fun and you wouldn’t let your children listen to it."

Suggested cover:  Making an exception to my "no foreign-language versions" rule for Maurice Chevalier.  I don't know what They Might Be Giants are doing here, but I often don't, to my delight.

2022 Supplement:  If you don’t find this at least somewhat delightful, you have no soul.  In recent years, Paul has cited numerous influences for this song, including the seemingly omni-present Lewis Carroll, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and TV programming such as “Flipper” and “Sea Hunt.”  He’s also indicated that there was a subtext to the idea of a submarine, in the sense that at that time the Beatles were living in their own capsule, own microclimate, own capsule.  Paul says that they found the underwater world “quite magical” and somewhat borne of their experiences as post-war kids thinking about a place where everything was possible, moving from bombs and rationing into a world more full of color.  He believes that the Beatles contributed to this (and how could anyone argue against that), taking an active role in helping people move from black-and-white into a vibrant world with “sky of blue and sea of green.”  :heart:

Guido Merkins

Yellow Submarine, in general has two schools of thought.  The first being, how can you ruin the greatest album of all time with this goofy crap.  The other being that it’s a very clever recording and the Beatles, along with everything else they are, can write a stone cold children’s classic. 

I am halfway between the two schools.  Personally, I would live for Yellow Submarine to have been the flip side of Paperback Writer and Rain to have been on Revolver.  Having said that, though, Yellow Submarine does expand the musical palette on Revolver and sits well next to some of the darker songs on the album.  It’s kind of an oasis.  It was mostly written by Paul, but John helped and Donovan even gave them the line “sky of blue and sea of green.”

In any event, whatever you think of the song, it IS an extremely clever recording, just as well done as anything else on Revolver. Originally there was a spoken intro, the “Land O Groats” intro as it’s become known, that had the sound effect of marching feet (coal shaken in a box like on Lennon’s Power to the People in 1971.)  The song itself if filled with different effects.  The sound of swishing water, which were chains in a tub of water.  There were also glasses chinking together, excited chattere, Pattie’s high pitches squeals, chains rattling, and a brass band section which was a section of tape from the EMI library.  John stood in the door of an echo chamber to deliver the “in the life of ease” and “everyone of us” repeating of Ringo’s lines.  Note, on the mono version, it starts with “in the life of ease”.  In stereo it begins with “everyone of us.”

The song was written to be children’s song, but the fadeout, IMO, has always sounded like a drunken sing a long, which isn’t far from the truth.  Apparently Mal Evans was leading a conga line around the studio playing a large bass drum while Paul, George, Ringo, Pattie, Brian Jones of the Stones and the other EMI staff followed him.

George Martin has experience recording Peter Seller and the Goons, which the Beatles were huge fans of.  Yellow Submarine was, in many ways, a Goons recording moreso than being a Beatles recording.  It’s supposed to be funny.  If people listened to it that way, maybe they would get it and like the song more.
Click to expand...
LOL... This song take a dive (Binky: floats to top) from 1-25 countdown.

64 List Rank: 157

64 List Voters/Points: 2/30

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 2

#39  :bag:  and #61

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
2022 Ranking: 109
2022 Lists: 3
2022 Points: 31
Ranked Highest by: @Gr00vus (12) Krista(Mom/Hub) (17) Krista(TJ/Alex) (17)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 106T/1/14

Getz:  Fond memories of this played on the Dr. D show.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  153

2019 write-up:

Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Abbey Road, 1969)

A favorite of noted FFA nice-guy @Gr00vus, this song might be the only one with Ringo listed on "anvil."  I've probably rated this higher than many others would, including the rest of the Beatles who all hated it.  John didn't even play on it but claimed that the numerous takes led it to cost more money to make than anything else on the record.  

It's another bit of Paul's "granny music" with a made-up cast of characters, so different in style to the more personal songwriting of John and George.  I loved this description from Paul of the differences in their writing styles:  "Some of my songs are based on personal experiences, but my style is to veil it.  A lot of them are made up, like 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer,' which is the kind of song I like to write.  It's just a silly story about all these people I'd never met.  It's just like writing a play:  you don't have to know the people; you just make them up.  I remember George once saying to me, 'I couldn't write songs like that.'  He writes more from personal experience.  John's style was to show the naked truth.  If I was a painter, I'd probably mask things a little bit more than some people."

Though in a similar style, it gets a slight nod from me over "When I'm Sixty-Four" by virtue of the fact that it cracks me the hell up. You can just find yourself humming along with this jaunty ditty and then realize it's about murder.  Paul McCartney is one weird dude.  He has said that the song is supposed to be symbolic of when something suddenly goes wrong in your life (all is going well and then "bang bang!"), but I prefer just to enjoy it as a homicidal rampage.

The song's placement on Abbey Road seems a little jarring to me, so I wasn't surprised to learn that Paul originally wrote it for the White Album but it wasn't recorded in time to make the cut.  My favorite aspects of this song are those anvil hits on the "Bang bang," the synth, the slurring of the bass to make it sound like a tuba, and of course the humor.  Paul sings it in a fashion almost like he's telling a children's story - a violent, gruesome children's story.

Mr. krista:  "I think the lyrics are good.  I like songs about guys who kill people with hammers. But I don’t much like this song."

Suggested cover:  Though it's from The Film That Shall Not Be Named, I'm such a fan of his that I can't resist:  Steve Martin

2022 Supplement:  I wonder if this will get a “Get Back” bump, as I’d think seeing Mal Evans on the anvil (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifPOpFY5LyE) or John’s version of the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a281gs_OQq4) might have charmed people.  Paul has ascribed some of the time spent on this song, which he pegs at three days, to the fact that Robert Moog showed up to Abbey Road with his Moog synthesizer, and they were having fun playing around with that.  He does acknowledge that the other Beatles were getting pissed at how much time they spent on this, though he also has said that, no matter what troubles they were having, they was always great joy among them in the studio right until the end, which I think we’ve seen in the Get Back documentary.  But a bit sadly, he has analogized the feel of this song to the end of the Beatles, too:  “…there we were, recording a song like ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ and knowing we would never have the opportunity to perform it.  That possibility was over.  It had been knocked on the head like one of Maxwell’s victims.  Bang bang.”

Fun fact:  Paul took the word “pataphysical,” which he rhymed with “quizzical,” from a radio broadcast he heard of a work by French dramatist Alfred Jarry, which was subtitled “a pataphysial extravaganza.”  The “word” is just a bit of nonsense with no meaning, that was meant to poke fun at intellectuals, and Paul loved the idea of using it in this rhyme scheme.

2022 Mr. krista Supplement:  I like this a lot more than I did.  I really enjoyed seeing Mal Evans with the anvil.  This doughy, pudgy dude forging a knife off-time…he never got the bang-bang part right, could never get his hammer up in time.  The lyrics are fun and they seemed to be having a good time and not taking it seriously.  In the documentary it looked like John had a lot of fun with it, too.

Guido Merkins

John, George, and Ringo all hated this song.  Paul liked to write these kind of old fashioned jazzy numbers.  I can deal with When I’m 64 because it fits the Sgt Pepper album in theme and musically.  But Paul had, at least, one of these songs, seemingly, for every album he released, even into the 1970s.  Some are better than others.  This one I’m not a huge fan of.

Paul was trying to contrast the kind of corny music with the telling of the story of a serial killer who killed people with a “bang bang Maxwell’s silver hammer came down upon his/her head.”  Mal Evans sat and banged an anvil with a hammer as a sound effect.  This song, like some of the others on Abbey Road features a Moog synthesizer. 

The other Beatles claimed that they spent weeks on the song.  Paul claimed that they spent 3 hours.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but this is, IMO, the weakest song on Abbey Road, by far.  Hard to believe that almost any of the songs that we know George had for All Things Must Pass wouldn’t have been better than this.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 156

64 List Voters/Points: 2/31

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 2

#38 and #61

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Mr.Moonlight
2022 Ranking: 102
 
Click to expand...


the #38 rank is MINE!

"MISTEEEEHHHHHRRRR MOOOOOHHHOOOOOHOOOONLIIIITE"

"AND THE NIGHTCHA DON'T COME MY WAY"

glorious friggin' mess, one of my favorite John vocals ... that COTdamn organ solo! feels like a Coney Island sideshow. 

another that i first heard on the fakakate 'Beatles '65' release ... this #### stays with me. 

OTB factoid: Goff godfathers Bauhaus tributed John via this song ... guitarist David Jay's homage to Mr. Moonlight himself ... love ❤️ 

someone shot nostalgia in the back/ someone shot our innocence

 
Getzlaf15 said:
So 173 made this countdown.  One more than the 2022 #1-25 List countdown.

Here are the 16 songs that received a vote in the 2022, #1-25 List countdown, that did NOT get a vote in the #1-64 List countdown.   

165-Rocky Racoon
Click to expand...
I'm surprised Rocky Racoon didn't get one vote.

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Run For Your Life
2022 Ranking: 122
2022 Lists: 3
2022 Points: 23
Ranked Highest by: @Anarchy99 (16) Krista (Sharon) (17) @zamboni (22)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 70/3/35

Getz:  Three votes again, but 12 less points…

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  93

2019 write-up:

Run for Your Life (Rubber Soul, 1965)

It's a great song that I dock 40 spots for murderous impulses and terroristic threats.  Only 1/4 joking about that - the lyrics to this song bring it way down the list from where it would otherwise be.  They are disturbing on their face, but made more so by the particularly menacing way in which John sings them and by his sometimes violent history with women.  While a lot of John's songs allude to his jealousy and temper, this one is far too explicit about it for me.

The lyrics were based around a line from an Elvis Presley song, "Baby, Let's Play House":  "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man."  That line in itself can be read as just a particularly pitiful lament, but John added lyrics that made a lament into a series of threats:

Well, I'd rather see you dead, little girl

Than to be with another man

You better keep your head, little girl

Or you won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl

Hide your head in the sand, little girl

Catch you with another man

That's the end'a little girl

Well, you know that I'm a wicked guy

And I was born with a jealous mind

And I can't spend my whole life

Trying just to make you toe the line

You better run for your life if you can, little girl

Hide your head in the sand, little girl

Catch you with another man

That's the end'a little girl

Let this be a sermon

I mean everything I've said

Baby, I'm determined

And I'd rather see you dead

It's icky.  And it's too bad, because musically this is a helluva jam.

Mr. krista:  "It’s disturbing when you see how poorly John Lennon treated women.  It’s also a song about jealousy, and while I don’t think you can ascribe stuff to the first person, he beat his first wife and abandoned his kid.  It’s a great rockin’ blues song.  Sort of transgressive as far as the Beatles go.  Kind of bold and leaning toward darker territory."

Suggested cover:  Cowboy Junkies

2022 Supplement:  We’ve talked enough about the lyrics to this one.  The best part of this song, for me, is George’s guitar work, at least four different guitar parts that he performed on two different guitars.  John has said that this was one of George’s favorites, which is understandable considering his leading role in it.  Paul has called this “a macho song” that showed John “on the run” because he was married and not supposed to be messing around, while Paul was in an open relationship with Jane Asher.  Check out this fun version the gang played around with years later, during the “Get Back” sessions:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAwHVuDMZqc

Guido Merkins

“I’d rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man” starts the final track on Rubber Soul called Run for Your Life.  John stole that line from Elvis’ Baby Let’s Play House.  Once again, John viewed this song as a throwaway, but George liked it.  I can see why since George’s guitar is the best part of the song.  The lead phrases are very Carl Perkins with the solo being kind of in Paul’s style more than George’s, yet everything I’ve read says it was George.  

It was a very quick session, as were many of the sessions on Rubber Soul, which took 30 days to record.  A masterpiece in 30 days?  Yep, such was life as a Beatle.  As much as I love Rubber Soul, I always thought this was kind of a disappointing ending.  Compared to Twist and Shout and Money and Tomorrow Never Knows and A Day In the Life.  Having said that, I can’t think of another song that should have ended the album either.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 152

64 List Voters/Points: 1/36

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 1

#29 vote

 
Getzlaf15 said:
You Like Me Too Much
2022 Ranking: 140
2022 Lists: 1
2022 Points: 16
Ranked Highest by: Krista (Sharon) (10)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: NR

Getz: The first song listed to get a Top 10 vote.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  157

2019 write-up:

You Like Me Too Much (Help!, 1965)

A George song that sounds decidedly un-George to me, with the sparkling harmonies (provided not only by Paul but by a double-tracked George vocal), sunniness, and slight old-timey-ness I think it feels more like a Paul track.  I dig the tremolo on the opening piano part and John's work overall on the Pianet.  The piano parts were George Martin and Paul playing at different ends of the piano, giving it that old-timey swing feel.  Maybe it's just a fluffy bit of pop, but it makes me want to go do the Lindy.  [Note:  I do not know how to do the Lindy.]  Recommend this one for vacuuming while singing it to your pet.

Mr. krista:  "This song’s kind of ####ed up.  I would like to know…when someone says 'I really do' you immediately doubt them...I wonder if the Beatles knew so much they were being sardonic.  But maybe it was just lazy."

Suggested cover:  The Challengers   

2022 Supplement:  I’ve been staring at this screen, then finding something else to do instead, then staring, then finding something else, then staring…for over an hour.  I just don’t have much to say about this song.  For god’s sake, I went and cleaned the sink instead of writing about it.  I do think the interplay between George’s guitar and the two piano parts is very good, trading ascensions and descensions.  George Martin and Paul were clearly having a rollicking good time.  And it’s cool that there’s a third piano (or pianet) part played well by John.  Good but not great song to me.

Guido Merkins

By the time of the Help album, George had settled into his 2 compositions per album, which would continue, with George becoming increasingly displeased, for much of the remainder of the Beatles career.  So the 2nd song that George wrote for the Help album was You Like Me Too Much, which was considered for the film, but I Need You was chosen instead, so You Like Me Too Much was relegated to the second, non soundtrack side of the album.

You Like Me Too Much is a relatively straightforward recording.  There is a grand piano and electric piano played during the intro which is one of the more unique intros in the Beatles catalog.  The lyrics were written, presumably, with Pattie Boyd in mind.  I like the inclusion of the electric piano throughout the song.  I also like the way the piano and the guitar kind of “trade licks” on the solo.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 151

64 List Voters/Points: 1/38

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 1

#27 vote

 
Getzlaf15 said:
64 List Rank: 151

64 List Voters/Points: 1/38

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 1

#27 vote
Click to expand...


YOU LIKE ME TOO MUCH

#27 was mine. 

you can take all his Sitar stuff, and his "hits", tyvm ... i'll hang wif George's deeper cuts - his vocal here is one i'm envious of ... the melody is gorgeous, the flow is divine. 

was it Martin on the piano intro?  i know for damn sure it wasn't Go-, errrr, Billy Preston. 

:lmao:

this is my George sweet spot, my Dark Horse buddy. 

groove it. 

 
Getzlaf15 said:
So 173 made this countdown.  One more than the 2022 #1-25 List countdown.


Here are the 16 songs that received a vote in the 2022, #1-25 List countdown, that did NOT get a vote in the #1-64 List countdown.   That also means that 17 songs that did not get a #1-25 vote got one in the #1-64 lists.  How odd. LOL.

 

(2022 #1-25 List placement/Song Title)
139-Baby's in Black

143-Why Don't We Do It In The Road

147-Old Brown Shoe

150-Roll Over Beethoven

163-Long Tall Sally

164-I Call Your Name

165-Rocky Racoon

123T-Revolution 9

125T-Your Mother Should Know

130T-Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey

132T-Till There was You

134T-Bad Boy

148T-What Goes On

151T-All Together Now

157T-Dizzy Miss Lizzy

171T-You Know My Name
Click to expand...
So presumably the people that voted for these in the 1-25 did not participate in the 1-64. 

None of these shock me, but Paul’s counting went underappreciated if none of us could find room for All Together Now.

Old Brown Shoe and For You Blue were the two that went up (Binky: down) in my estimation after my recent viewing of The Concert for George.

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Sexy Sadie
 

64 List Rank: 155

64 List Voters/Points: 2

64 List Top 5: 33

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 2

#47 and #50
Click to expand...
I’m the 50. This and Slow Down were my only two songs that did not get a vote on any 1-25 list. 

It’s one of my favorite John songs on the White Album. The scathing lyrics are its calling card, but I am also a big fan of its melody and vocal arrangement.

 
Pip's Invitation said:
So presumably the people that voted for these in the 1-25 did not participate in the 1-64. 

None of these shock me, but Paul’s counting went underappreciated if none of us could find room for All Together Now.

Old Brown Shoe and For You Blue were the two that went up (Binky: down) in my estimation after my recent viewing of The Concert for George.
Click to expand...


I think my Mom had a couple of them on her 25, but she did a really intensive relisten and changed things up dramatically.

I'm sorry to see that Old Brown Shoe, Roll Over Beethoven, Long Tall Sally, I Call Your Name, and Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey didn't make the cut this time.

 
Getzlaf15 said:
So 173 made this countdown.  One more than the 2022 #1-25 List countdown.


Here are the 16 songs that received a vote in the 2022, #1-25 List countdown, that did NOT get a vote in the #1-64 List countdown.   That also means that 17 songs that did not get a #1-25 vote got one in the #1-64 lists.  How odd. LOL.

 

(2022 #1-25 List placement/Song Title)
139-Baby's in Black

143-Why Don't We Do It In The Road

147-Old Brown Shoe

150-Roll Over Beethoven

163-Long Tall Sally

164-I Call Your Name

165-Rocky Racoon

123T-Revolution 9

125T-Your Mother Should Know

130T-Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey

132T-Till There was You

134T-Bad Boy

148T-What Goes On

151T-All Together Now

157T-Dizzy Miss Lizzy

171T-You Know My Name
Click to expand...
None of these even made my 67-96. However, Old Brown Shoe and What Goes On probably should have. I retroactively dub them 97 and 98.

 
krista4 said:
I think my Mom had a couple of them on her 25, but she did a really intensive relisten and changed things up dramatically.

I'm sorry to see that Old Brown Shoe, Roll Over Beethoven, Long Tall Sally, I Call Your Name, and Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey didn't make the cut this time.
Click to expand...
Kansas city just missed mine. 

 
Ringo announced the second leg of his 2022 tour.  Coming to Seattle October 11.  :pickle:   Check for tour dates near you!

 
Getzlaf15 said:
P.S. I Love You
2022 Ranking: 121
2022 Lists: 1
2022 Points: 24
Ranked Highest by: @PIK95 (2)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: NR

Getz:  Last song with only one voter.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  152

2019 write-up:

P.S. I Love You (Please Please Me, 1963)

The b-side to their debut "Love Me Do" single and later included on Please Please Me, this sweet but slight song was written in their Hamburg days and was particularly popular with the ladies when played live back in the day; I picture a lot of fainting.  I love the interplay of the three voices on this, including the way John and George pop in for a word in each bar...treasure...words...'gether, and I love the "ohhhh"s at the end and the ascending "you you you"s.  The song meanders a bit, but it's still lovely.

Notably, this was one of the recordings that caused tension between Ringo and George Martin for a while, as it was recorded during the session in which Martin brought Andy White in to sit for the recordings.  After Martin determined that Pete Best wasn't cutting it, the lads hired Ringo to replace him, and he sat in on a session in early September 1962.  Martin wasn't impressed and brought in White for the next session a week later, at which this song was recorded.  White played the woodblocks on this one, and Ringo was relegated to the maracas.  Martin realized in this session that White wasn't any better than Ringo, so thereafter Ringo was the drummer (except when he briefly quit during the White Album), but it took Ringo a while to forgive Martin for that.

Mr. krista:  "Nice cha-cha beat.  Are those bongos?"

Suggested cover:  I listened to a bunch of covers of this song and liked exactly none of them.  Couldn't even find one with a cheesy video to redeem it.

2022 Supplement:  The Beatles received a telegram in Hamburg in May 1962 from Brian Epstein that he had secured them a record deal and that they should be rehearsing new material, so Paul and John set about writing some new songs for the record.  Later they’ve both agreed that this was largely – it not entirely – a Paul composition, which he said was written in the form of a letter, a device he noted was popular with songwriters at the time (and which he adapted again later in “Paperback Writer”).  He was inspire by both The Shirelles “Soldier Boy” and Pat Boone’s “I’ll Be Home” (which included the line “as I write this letter) for the lyrics, and incorporated a Latin musical feel such as they’d been using in their covers of “Besame Mucho” and “Till There Was You.” 

Amazing fact about this song:  10 takes of the song were recorded in about an hour, with the 10th deemed best and put on the single and album, a live version with no overdubs or editing.

Guido Merkins

When the Beatles first entered the recording studio, producer George Martin liked the group a lot.  One thing, however, he didn’t like was their drummer.  Pete Best was fine in concert, but Martin wanted somebody more exact for recording.  So for their next session, he hired a professional drummer named Andy White, not knowing the Beatles had replaced Pete Best with Ringo Starr.  Martin had no idea whether or not Ringo could play, so he decided for that session to stick with Andy White.  So, other than the random songs where Paul McCartney played drums, there are  only two songs without Ringo on drums one of which is PS I Love You.  Ringo plays maracas on the song which appears on the B side of the Love Me Do single.  Note, the single version of Love Me Do featured Ringo on drums while the album version features Andy White with Ringo on tambourine.

PS I Love You is kind of a precursor to Paperback Writer in that it’s Paul writing a letter.  John said it was Paul trying to write Soldier Boy by the Shirelles.  It is doubtful that John had much to do with the song.  It is very much in Paul’s style.  I like the dark chord behind the word “you” after he says PS I Love You.  Not sure what the story is with that, but it keeps the song from being just a straight ballad.  I also like the way John just sings the harmony on the first word of each line of the verse.  
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 149

64 List Voters/Points: 2/40

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 2
 

#41 and #49 votes.

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Not A Second Time
2022 Ranking: 167T
2022 Lists: 1
2022 Points: 4
Ranked Highest by: @otb_lifer
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 102/1/16

Getz comments:  One 22nd this time....One 10th in 2019.

Krista4

My 2019 ranking:  194

2019 write-up: 

Not a Second Time (With the Beatles, 1963)

I'll admit it; I'm struggling to come up with much to say about these songs.  Could I skip to #10 or at least #50 or something I'm excited about?

Anyway, this song is not bad, just somewhat boring.  I keep waiting for it to go somewhere - I don't know where, but somewhere - but instead it stays flat.  Even the first and second verses are identical.  It does strike a somewhat interesting mood, as it seems to me both desperate and hurt yet sung with a determination that is at odds with those lyrics.  I wonder if that confusion is deliberate, or just a product of less sophisticated songwriting at the time.

I wish I could see the song more like William Mann did in his well-known critique at the time:  "Harmonic interest is typical of their quicker songs, too, and one gets the impression that they think simultaneously of harmony and melody, so firmly are the major tonic sevenths and ninths built into their tunes, and the flat submediant key switches, so natural is the Aeolian cadence at the end of Not A Second Time (the chord progression which ends Mahler's Song of the Earth)."  John's response:  I was just trying to write a Smokey Robinson song.   

Mr. krista:  "I feel like a little more effort could have been put into these lyrics.  You should rhyme 'cry' with 'why' again."

Suggested cover: Robert Palmer Fun, and even adds his own verse.  There's also a Pretenders cover out there I hear often, but it's too much mimicry for me.

2022 Supplement:  I still don’t have a lot more to say about this song.  I might appreciate the lyrics and their place in the progression of John’s songwriting more than I did in 2019, but I still find the song lacking much of interest to me.  I’ve wondered if it could be the absence of a middle eight; it seems like a change somewhere in the middle could have added depth and interest.  It probably doesn’t deserve a #194 ranking, but these are Beatles songs, and there aren’t many to rate below it simply due to the strength of their catalog.

Guido Merkins

Some people thought the Beatles were a total bubblegum group when they first came out, but not everyone.  A music critic named William Mann wrote  about the “Aeolian cadence of ‘Not A Second Time’” and compared the chord progression to Mahler’s Song of the Earth.  John didn’t know what any of that meant, but he thought Aeolian cadence sounded like “exotic birds” and claimed that the chords were just “normal chords, like trying to write a Smokey Robinson.” 

I like Ringo’s drum fills, and George Martin’s piano.  It’s also a song that George Harrison doesn’t play on, which has to be one of the few.  It’s an interesting song, IMO, that they probably didn’t spend enough time on and only viewed it as an album track.  It’s got all of John’s quirkiness, irregular 14 bars and a chorus which sounds more like a middle.  It’s always been one that I liked more than most people.  Kind of a closet classic, IMO.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 148

64 List Voters/Points: 1/43

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0 

64 List 1-25 votes: 1

64 List 26-64 votes: 0

#22 vote

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Flying
2022 Ranking: 171T
2022 Lists: 1
2022 Points: 1
Ranked Highest by: @Man of Constant Sorrow
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 138T/1/1

Getz: Miss you GB!

Krista4

My 2019 ranking:  166

2019 write-up:

Flying (Magical Mystery Tour, 1967)

Since this is my third attempt at a write-up, I'll keep it short.

I know a lot of people don't appreciate this one, but I find it soothing and could listen to it for hours.  So suck it.

Fun fact:  first song to be credited to all four of the lads.

Mr. krista:  "“[10 seconds in] I like this a million times better [than Fool on the Hill].  I like this one.  I like that song.  I wish it were 20 minutes long.  I like it’s all spacey and surfy in the beginning, like Shadowy Men, like a really extended theme song to a great comedy sketch show.  I like the lalalalalas.  It’s clear it’s transitional music to get from one part of the thing to the other part, but for what it is, it’s great.  It’s excellent sorbet after the ##### sandwich that is Fool on the Hill.”"

Suggested covers:  OMG here it is with Chet Baker on flugelhorn!  But I actually enjoy this one more, though it might be the cover pic of Mr. Rourke(?) and the "zee plane, zee plane" guy that gets me over the finish.

2022 Supplement:  Instead of doing a new write-up myself, I want to post what was written by the person with whom I mostly closely associate this song.  RIP to our lovely Man of Constant Sorrow.  Here’s what he said in 2019, which I think encapsulates him beautifully.

Flying

This song has me from the very first note. I mean that literally.

As soon as I feel the first, I'm flying...

... 

Ellipses. What a wonderfully versatile punctuation. I love em...and often abuse em. 

Flying is the perfect ellipsis. 

As Mr. K excellently notes:

"It's clear it’s transitional music to get from one part of the thing to the other part, but for what it is, it’s great."

However, I submit that it is not merely great, but rather sublimely supreme in what it does. 

1)Walking 

I'm guessing that most here have seen Saturday Night Fever, or at least the part when Travolta walks along the street to Staying Alive. 

Well, scratch that Staying Alive and start Flying instead. It has the perfect gait inducing beat, that will transform your 20-something strut into a laid back shuffle worthy of the Dude. Do the ladies now flail themselves at me?

No...but one will occasionally trip in my wake now...big step up! 👍

2) Dealing with a persistent pest

Ever experience the frustration of debating something...like maybe Beatles tunes... and coming head-to-head with the loudest jackhammer in the place? 

That don't happen here, obviously... 

But, if it did, Flying is the perfect solution. 

Post it. 

LA LA LA lala... 

BAM! There's your easy win button, mi amigo. 

CYA jackhammer - you can't reach me! 👋

3) Bathrooming

Anyone who has reached a certain age has come to know the true importance of this room. Flying provides a multifaceted envelope that caters to most all aspects of this special experience. 

As outlined in the Walking section, you begin your procession with the perfect laid back gait...something that says - I'm in no rush. 

Control. It's all bout control. 

And once your throned, the la la la lala's take you on their magical mystery tour to toliet nirvana. 

Highly recommended. 🙂

4) Karaoke

Let's face it...we all ain't a bunch a @Nipsey 's and @fatguyinalittlecoat 's. Some of us less blessed in the vocalin' need to stop butchering  tunes that make us look worse than the fool on the hill. 🥴

Time for Flying! 

Not only are the lyrics easy to remember - it only took me a few hours - but it can encourage a sing-a-long that strategically masks my own wailings. Brilliant. 😌

Plus, if there is a jackhammer in the joint, you can flip him the bird as everyone sings la la la lala to him. 

5) Playlist transition 

As I compiled my 25, I did all the work on Spotify. As all here know, cutting down to 25 is not easy. 

My first cut had 83 songs. Over the next few days, I gradually moved some over to my 25 list. When I had 24 locked in, I scanned what was left of my original 83. Not a single one could seemingly make an argument that it was better than the others. 

Hmmm. 

Then I looked deeper into Flying. It was on my list. And I remembered my good friend ellipsis... 

Wikipedia:

"An ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Ancient Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, 'omission' or 'falling short') is a series of dots (typically three, such as "…") that usually indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning.[1]"

Flying 

That was it! 

It was the perfect 3 dots to place at #25, because it encapsulated all the rest that nearly made my list...only to fall short...omitted. 

Flying, as Mr. K describes, transitions to my other equally loved tunes that couldn't make my 25. 

So, that's it. Nothing profound, but I do loves Flying. 

(Oh, I gotta give bonus points for the fact that it played to outtakes from Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove. One of my favs movies of all time. But that's another thread.)

Finally, to all you jackhammers out there that don't agree... 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?

LA LA LA lala... 🙂

Guido Merkins

The only song credited to Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starkey, Flying is the only instrumental recorded by the Beatles that EMIO released.  Their pre-fame days had Cry for a Shadow and they attempted 12 Bar Original during the sessions for Rubber Soul, but that was never released.

Flying is meant to be kind of incidental music for the film Magical Mystery Tour and it had it’s own sequence with clouds and such which came across very badly in BBC black and white.  The main instrument is John on mellotron with everyone else on their main instruments.  The only other part that is different is the ending with tape loops and such, done by John and Ringo, apparently.  All of them contributed the wordless vocal.

The song is short, which makes it tolerable, but it’s a novelty.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 147

64 List Voters/Points: 1/43

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0 

64 List 1-25 votes: 1

64 List 26-64 votes: 0

#22 vote

 
Getzlaf15 said:
This Boy
2022 Ranking: 169
2022 Lists: 1
2022 Points: 3
Ranked Highest by: krista(Worth)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: NR (Not Rated in 2019)

Getz comments:  This is the first of FORTY songs ranked in 2022, that were not ranked in 2019. It's going to shock you what was left off from back then.
 @krista4had several friends and friends of friends send her lists. That's who Worth is!!  Excellent live video from 1963. Love John's vocals and the harmonies on this one. (ETA: As you will see, none of us read the others write ups before we write ourselves)

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  85

2019 write-up: 

This Boy (single, 1963)

Glorious harmonies on the verses broken up with that sizzling John vocal on the middle eight.  NufcedTM.

Mr. krista:  "That’s good.  Not my favorite.  It’s a’ight. The probably had to have a slow number for the dances."

Suggested cover:  No one can do those harmonies the way the Beatles did, but I'll post Sean Lennon, Rufus Wainwright, and Robert Schwartzman just because it's nice seeing Sean do that solo (though Rufus could have done it better).

2022 Supplement:  Neither my write-up nor my ranking did justice to this song in 2019.  I actually put it in the mix for consideration for my top 25 this year, though it ended up in the low (Binky, high) 50s and still didn’t make the cut.  These are probably in my top three favorite Beatles harmonies, and These are probably in my top three favorite Beatles harmonies, and their best execution of trying to emulate Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.  John’s solo parts are, as I said in 2019, sizzling.  So full of emotion – love and sorrow in equal parts.  Check out this performance of the song at their second performance on the Ed Sullivan song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BdNrReDhGs  How do they do that?!?!  All hunched around the same microphone, playing those beautiful guitar parts while harmonizing so intricately?  I’m sorry that this wonderful song was relegated to a B-side in its release and to the 80s in my initial rankings. 

Fun fact:  As in the Ed Sullivan clip above, in the recording of this song for the album, at their request the three non-Ringo Beatles harmonized while clustered around one microphone.

Guido Merkins

Only the Beatles could do something this good, with those harmonies and that shouting middle and throw it away as a B side to I Want to Hold Your Hand, but that’s what they did with This Boy.

This Boy is another one that music critic William Mann loved pointing out the “pandiatonic clusters.”  I’m not musically educated enough to know what that means, but I do know that the track has a great melody and a great propulsive guitar part.  It was a John song that he claims was trying to be a Smokey Robinson type song.  

As said above, the main feature is those harmonies and that blistering John vocal in the middle.  This is one of the songs they did on the Ed Sullivan show, John Paul and George all on one mic (good bit of showmanship there.) 

This Boy was used in the film A Hard Day’s Night and given the title of “Ringo’s Theme” in instrumental form.  Apparently Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame played on that session for the film score, although I’m not sure he played lead.  Anyway, in the film, it’s the scene where Ringo goes off by himself, looking depressed, which people gave him credit for in acting circles.  In reality, there was no acting going on.  In Ringo’s words he “felt like ####” because he had partaken of too much drink the night before so they just filmed him walking around looking downtrodden.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 146

64 List Voters/Points: 2/43

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 2

#40 and #47 votes

 
Getzlaf15 said:
I Need You
2022 Ranking: 166
2022 Lists: 2
2022 Points: 4
Ranked Highest by: @Encyclopedia Brown Krista/Rob
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 131T/1/5

Getz comments:  First song to get two votes!  Not bad for the 7th song listed...Love the Petty cover below... This song should be on more lists....

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  64

2019 write-up:

I Need You (Help!, 1965)

This was sent on a last-minute downward trajectory.  I am so in love with George's use of the volume pedal on his 12-string Rickenbacker that I've likely had it higher on the list than where I actually rate it.  Basically I listen to this song and wait for that sound and sing a loud "wah-wah!" every time he does it.  Actually just went to the bathroom and came back out singing the "wah-wah"s, with Mr. krista complimenting me on my soulful delivery.

In addition to that highlight, the song has a lovely sorrowful melody sung with beautiful inflection by George, with his melancholy tone matched by that volume pedal. In addition to the usual fantastic harmonies, we have an unusual line-up here, with John on snare and Ringo hitting the back of an acoustic Gibson guitar for his percussion parts, plus Ringo on cowbell(!) on the middle eight, which as we know always take a song a notch up for me.  The song structure is interesting in that it follows the at-that-time typical aababa format, but with odd measures - the bridge has nine measures with the last taking down the emotion of the eighth as a compelling lead back into the verse.

George offered this for the Help! movie and had it accepted by Richard Lester, and George was apparently ecstatic about that.  In the credits to Help!, he suddenly materializes to say the words "'I Need You,' by George Harrison," presumably indicating in a droll fashion that he was happy to get the credit.

Mr. krista:  "This song freaks me out it’s so good.  Is that a chorus pedal or a volume pedal?  The song is super weird and very compelling.  It’s in a ####ed up key that I can’t identify, but the changes resolve to the relative minor of whatever that chord is, so it sounds like modal music, and that effect with the harmonic pedal or whatever it is is so strange that it sticks right out there, that it almost seems like a mistake at first, but it’s amazing.  But amazing that they did it, amazing that it worked, and amazing that someone said it was OK for the most famous band in the world to let that stay in their song.  Background harmonies are ghostly.  Would like to hear those in isolation, would sound insane."

Suggested cover:  Tom Petty

2022 Supplement:  I still get excited whenever this song comes on and am amazed that no one but OH seems to love it as much as I do.  Well, I guess OH and whoever put it in their top 25.  This song seems to have been a favorite of George and those who loved him, given that it was selected as one of the songs performed in the “Concert for George” tribute in 2002 (and from which the Tom Petty cover I’ve linked above emanates).  To me it evidences a big step for George as a songwriter, with the melancholy and ethereal tone matching the lyrics.   

Guido Merkins

The Beatles were always interested in new sounds.  In 1965, George Harrison came across a device called a volume pedal for his guitar.  This device was kind of the precursor to a wah wah pedal.  When George was looking for something to make his song I Need You sound different, he decided to use the volume pedal.

George’s songs on the Help album were the first ones that had made it to an album since Don’t Bother Me.  I Need You was the better of the two songs and ended up in the movie.  The sequence of the film in which it appears has the military guarding the Beatles in a field as they play. 

The song was written in rather melancholy style which was typical of George.  Apparently George had an issue at this point of coordinating between the guitar and the foot pedal, so some of the effects was John kneeling in front of George and turning the volume knob on the guitar.  I like the volume pedal effects and at the end of the song, it almost sounds like George wants to do something clever with the effect, but thinks better of it and just ends the song.  
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 145

64 List Voters/Points: 3/43

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 3

#45,51,56 votes

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Within You Without You
2022 Ranking: 103
2022 Lists: 3
2022 Points: 36
Ranked Highest by: @ProstheticRGK (4) @MAC_32 (13) @Yankee23Fan (25)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 138T/1/1

Getz:  Off the one vote, one point 2019 mat and up to 3/36. Yankee2Fan on the board!

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  89

2019 write-up:

Within You Without You (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967)

I get that George's three heavily-Indian-influenced songs -  this, "The Inner Light" (ranked previously), and "Love You To" - aren't for everyone.  They work for me, however, and I love each of them; on any given day, I might prefer any of the three to the others based on what I want out of a song that day, whether it's "The Inner Light" for the beautiful melody, or this one for its mesmerizing quality.  This is another case where I enjoy a song more outside of its location on an album; on Sgt. Pepper's it feels like an odd fit, but as a stand-alone track it's outstanding.  

George wrote this as a "mini version" of a 30+-minute-long Ravi Shankar piece, and George is the only Beatle on the record, all the other music having been played by Neil Aspinall and a variety of Indian musicians on traditional instruments, and a group of string musicians directed by George Martin.  Apparently the other Beatles were dubious of the song when George first brought it in; strumming some of the lines on an acoustic guitar didn't give a good impression of the grandeur of the song once all the other musicians would be added.  Clearly the finished product grew on them, though.  Ringo loved it, and Paul has called it "completely landmark...in Western recording."  Even John, ever critical of his own music and everyone else's, had good things to say about this track, calling it one of George's best:  "He's clear on that song. His mind and his music are clear. There is his innate talent; he brought that sound together."

I think the two Georges did amazing work on this song and that in particular the layering of the Western strings with the Indian instruments and rhythms is brilliantly accomplished.  This song has so much texture, and if I were a more spiritual person I could imagine being transported by it into a state of calm connection with the world.  Without that spirituality, I still find the song hypnotic and soothing, and while George's sleepy vocal wouldn't be my favorite in another context, here it seems perfect for the mood.  The only aspect of the song that I don't enjoy is the laughter at the end, which was added by George to break up the somber mood but I find unnecessary.    

Mr. krista:  "This is what I wished 'Love You To' had been.  It’s pretty direct in what it’s about but the music achieves it.  I really like it.  It’s obviously about it being a construct of our own minds that we’re separate from one another and attempts to bridge that gap.  It’s at once expansive yet really intimate.  There’s very little that’s Western about it – not the sentiment or the music – except the lyrics in English.  You don’t need the lyrics to get the song anyway; the melody is enough. I’m guessing it’s not super-complex for Indian music but slides right in rather seamlessly.  I love the layered odd strings and drones."

Suggested cover:  Sonic Youth  Patti Smith

2022 Supplement:  Though they were initially skeptical, the rest of the Beatles eventually came around to this song, as described in 2019.  Even George Martin eventually was a supporter:  “It was a bit of a relief all around.  The tune struck me as being a little bit of a dirge, but I found what George wanted to do with the song fascinating.” To set the mood for the visiting Indian musicians, the team covered the floor of the recording studio with woven carpets, dimmed the lights, and lit some joss sticks.  Since George Martin, unlike George Harrison, couldn’t read Indian music, George Harrison (who at this point had trained under Ravi Shankar) walked around the studio instructing each Indian musician on their parts in Martin’s score, using Indian traditional notations.  Though these Indian-influenced songs are not for many casual Beatles fans, they remain some of my favorites from George and gave a preview of some of his brilliant post-Beatles work with Shankar.  To me, this early instrumental take on the song is as compelling as, or even more so than, the finished product; I could listen for days:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NfaMyWPysQ

Guido Merkins

George’s first foray into Indian music was Revolver’s Love You To, but less than a year later, he went even deeper with Within You Without You

The song’s heavy philosophical lyrics were uncommon of rock records at this time.  Talking about people who “hide behind a wall of illusions who never glimpse the truth”, the meaning of the song is about the true nature of existence.  

The song itself, in true Indian fashion, has limited chord changes and strange time signatures.  George Martin also got Western classical musicians to play on the song, so it was a true mix of East-West musically speaking.  The section of the song with the Indian musicians playing something, that is then answered by the Western orchestra is the most interesting part of the song.  The other oddity is, after the heavy philosophical lyrics and the strange mixture of East and West, George insisted on ending the song with laughter.  Maybe he was self conscious about the heaviness of the song and wanted to lighten the mood, but I always found it a strange inclusion.

Like George’s other Indian flavored songs, it took me a while to come around to this song.  I used to skip it when I played Pepper, but over time it has grown on me.  It is probably the deepest song the Beatles ever recorded and George Harrison’s innate talent is on full display.  
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 144

64 List Voters/Points: 2/49

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 1

64 List 26-64 votes: 1

#19 and #62 votes

 
Getzlaf15 said:
I Don’t Want to Spoil The Party
2022 Ranking: 144
2022 Lists: 2
2022 Points: 13
Ranked Highest by: Krista (Worth) (15)  Krista (Mom) (24)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: NR

Getz comments:  Krista's Mom blazing through her list with her fifth song. 🔥.    We still have 45 voters without one song listed. I agree with @krista4 on the Rosanne Cash version.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  123

2019 write-up:

I Don't Want to Spoil the Party (Beatles for Sale, 1964)

Another country-tinged song, and originally written for country-music-fan Ringo to sing lead.  It's unclear why/when it changed to John, but it was a good move instead to have John's double-tracked vocals on the verses with Paul's harmonies on the bridge.  I don't even understand how Ringo could have sung this one, but I'm glad he was there to keep it all tight on the drums.  I'm a fan of George's twangy, Chet-Atkins-style guitar work on this one, even though he's a bit messy with it.  I like to compare and contrast this with some of John's other, more aggressive "you're leaving me" songs (such as "Run for Your Life"), and in this case I appreciate the vulnerability without threats of violence.

Mr. krista:  "They were just trying to write a county song. We're back to really morose.  They can’t really write country, so it sounds like he’s hiding a real misery in this pastiche.  But I think dude was sad."

Suggested cover:  The only cover of a Beatles song to reach #1 on the country charts, Rosanne Cash (don't tell anyone, but I like this version better than the original)

2022 Supplement:  Not much more to say here.  I still think this is a lovely but sweetly sad song, sung beautifully in both in the melody and the harmonies.  The middle eight is killer, especially Paul’s high harmonies and Ringo’s drumming.  Sounds like a song they would have written for Ringo, which they did, but works better with John in the lead.  You can really hear the beginnings of John’s singer-songwriter, Dylan-esque phase here, which culminated of course in “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.”

Guido Merkins

I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party fits the overall country and western vibe of Beatles For Sale quite well.  John claimed it was his song, a very personal song.  What exactly it is about, he never said, but I can only assume he showed up at a party and the girl he wanted to see didn’t show up.  Sort of a male It’s My Party, I guess.

Paul said he helped out a bit.  Mostly the lead is sung by John, with Paul coming in on the middle “though tonight she makes me sad…” and, as usual, lifts the whole thing.

The best part of the song are the harmonies and George’s country and western style guitar and Ringo, who was a huge country and western fan, with the drumming.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 143

64 List Voters/Points: 2/49

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 2

#33 and #48 votes

 
Getzlaf15 said:
All I’ve Got To Do
2022 Ranking: 114
2022 Lists: 2
2022 Points: 28
Ranked Highest by: Krista(TJ/Michael) (5) @rockaction (19)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 90/1/20

Getz:  Still stuck at 26 voters without a song posted yet. Susanna Hoffs video below!! 

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  135

2019 write-up:

All I've Got To Do (With the Beatles, 1963)

I suspect I have this higher than many would, but it's another song with a standout soulful vocal.  John once again was trying to mimic a Smokey Robinson song, and I think this one was more successful, especially the opening and the "mmm, mmm, mmm"s at the end.  

I read half the Geoff Emerick book on the way home yesterday, and he spoke a lot about how unconfident John often was with his vocal performances.  Personally I prefer his voice to Paul's, but John was an insecure dude in many ways, so I guess it's not surprising that he felt this way.  In any case, his vocal on this song seems to evoke his overall insecurity, which I think is intentional and incredible.  When he sings, for instance, the first verse:

Whenever I want you around yeah 

All I gotta do 

Is call you on the phone 

And you'll come running home 

Yeah that's all I gotta do

It sounds on the vocal more like a pleading than statements made in confidence.  The same goes for the second verse, where I don't believe him that he can kiss [you] by whispering the right words in [your] ear - again, it sounds tentative and soft, as if he's trying to convince himself, complete with the stuttering "I"s.  Contrast that with his vocal on the bridges, where he gains energy and confidence to make the firm statement "you just gotta call on me," joined by Paul in strong harmony in order to solidify the point.  The vocal is a jumble of emotions and once of John's best, in my opinion.

Ringo's offbeat drum patterns on this one are terrific as well at setting the mood of erratic emotions.

Guess I caught Mr. krista with this one while he was tired:  "Shows off John's vocals well."

Suggested cover:  To keep you guys interested, Susannah Hoffs (also she does a great job with it)

2022 Supplement:  One of two songs I’ll identify as being those that would jump the most if I did a full re-ranking.  The other one is “Dig A Pony,” which we might or might not have covered yet.  THIS WAS #28 ON MY RE-RANKING THIS YEAR.  Unlike Pony, which I always loved, this is the one that’s grown on me the most in the past three years.  I did rave about John’s vocal in 2019, and that’s still what really pulls me in.  I also love the way it moves into humming and fades out with that; after being such an urgent song, the juxtaposition to suddenly turning mellow and wistful appeals to me.  This is yet another song in which we can hear the strong influences of Smokey Robinson and Arthur Alexander.

This song, entirely a John composition, was introduced to the group by him on the day the Beatles recorded it.  They performed 15 takes of the song that day, decided the last one was good enough, then never played the song again in studio (as far as anyone knows) nor did it ever make it into their live shows.  What a shame.

2022 Mr. krista Supplement:  Ringo’s drumming is like a proto-“In My Life.”  Hitting the high hat once per measure with a bunch of big open spaces between notes.  I keep forgetting about this song, and it’s great.  It fades out; not a lot of Beatles songs faded out like that.  I don’t know, it’s a good song.  Mint, mint jam.

Guido Merkins

The Beatles loved chords.  A Hard Day’s Night has one of the most famous chords in history.  Not as well-known, but still cool is 1964’s All I’ve Got to Do which is an Eaug11 chord or something like that.  I saw a video with the chord played and it sounded right.  

All I’ve Got to Do has a moodiness and a sophistication that shows the Beatles growing songwriting.   Also they were discovering stuff like start-stop, which they employed heavily on this song.  Ringo’s drum beat seems like the template for In My Life, later.  It’s interesting because of the way Ringo employs the hi-hat, only hitting it on the 1 and not on all 4 beats as a drummer would usually do.  Absolutely less is more.

As usual the harmonies are spot on and I love the outro with Lennon humming on the way out.  It adds to the moodiness of the track, IMO, almost like he couldn’t be bothered to sing anymore.  
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 142

64 List Voters/Points: 3/49

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 3

#28. 57. 62 votes

 
Getzlaf15 said:
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
2022 Ranking: 116
2022 Lists: 2
2022 Points: 26
Ranked Highest by: Krista (Rob) (11) OTB_Lifer (15)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: NR

Getz comments:  Five of the next six songs were not rated in 2019.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  178

2019 write-up:

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (White Album, 1968)

What I love:  the Ennio Morricone feel at the beginning, Yoko's dissonance, John's vocal, the way it leads into While My Guitar Gently Weeps.  What I don't, at all:  the singalong.  Unlike my view of Savoy Truffle, I do find this one funny.  It makes me smile to listen to it, until it starts to drive me mad with that chorus.  John wrote this one based on an experience in India, about "a guy in Maharishi's meditation camp who took a short break to go shoot a few poor tigers, and then came back to commune with God. There used to be a character called Jungle Jim and I combined him with Buffalo Bill. It's a sort of teenage social-comment song and a bit of a joke."  I like the joke. 

Fun fact:  Yoko singing "Not when he looked so fierce..." was the first lead vocal from a woman on a Beatles record.

Mr. krista:  "I prefer this to Rocky Raccoon.  You can pick Yoko out of those background vocals. Did Bungalow Bill ever get back to us on what he killed?  Or was it just the Beatles’ self-respect?”"

Suggested covers:  Dawn Kinnard/Ron Sexsmith - I'm not 100% sold on this, but (1) I love Ron Sexsmith, and (2) I like the switch to an off-key female for the lead singer.  For some serious inventiveness, check out the version by Deerhoof.

2022 Supplement:  Continued listening did not make me think more fondly of this one over the past three years; in fact, I’d probably drop it down 20ish slots.  Many years later, Paul said it’s one of his favorite on the White Album and claimed this as an animal rights song on behalf of John, saying that it made him realize John felt the same way he (Paul) did, even though John wasn’t an animal activist.  Ehhhhh, I dunno. 

What did the inspiration for the song, Richard Cooke III, think of all this?  I don’t think he was terribly pleased, but his experiences with the maharishi and the Beatles did make him give up hunting and become a wildlife photographer instead, working for many years for National Geographic.  He had at first been very excited about killing the tiger, but quickly he began to feel guilty and scheduled a meeting with the mararishi, and John and Paul happened to be nearby.  The maharishi was horrified at the act, and Cooke said he’d never kill an animal again.  He’s described his time with the Beatles as being generally good, and that everyone was very nice to him other than John (who was aloof), but that they had little in common.  Nevertheless, his mother Nancy (who might also have been named Magill or Lil), who is also referenced in the song, remained friends with George until his death.

In case you don’t have a root canal scheduled for a while and need a substitute, here’s an earlier take of this song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI6QgHR058g

Guido Merkins

In Rishikesh, India the Beatles came across quite a few characters.  One such person was a man who came to commune with God, yet went out every now and then to shoot tigers.  Jungle Jim and Buffalo Bill were combined as only John could to come up with Bungalow Bill.  John meant the song as a social commentary.  The man probably left the commune having no idea he had inspired a new Beatles song

The recording is done in a very very loose, sing a long kind of way, maybe almost as a precursor to Give Peace A Chance.  It is most notable, however, for the first and only appearance of Yoko Ono on a Beatles record on the line “not when he looked so fierce.”  

As much as John hated Obla Di Obla Da, this one isn’t much better and in fact, is worse because it doesn’t have the goofy charm of the Paul song.  John sounds like he’s trying to say something important, but it comes across as lightweight.  Paul is trying to be lightweight so you can just relax and take it for what it is.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 141

64 List Voters/Points: 1/50

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 1

64 List 26-64 votes: 0

#15 vote

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Rock and Roll Music
2022 Ranking: 127
2022 Lists: 2
2022 Points: 22
Ranked Highest by: @ConstruxBoy (9) @DaVinci (21)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: NR

Getz:  Another set of four NR’s coming your way. YT live from Munich 1966

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  172

2019 write-up:

Rock and Roll Music (Beatles for Sale, 1964)

To me, a much superior Chuck Berry cover to the flat "Roll Over Beethoven," this one was recorded in one freaking take that features the brilliant vocals by John.  The reason it can't be higher is because Chuck freakin' Berry, but the energy of this thrills me when it comes on shuffle.  I love the way each verse seems to build into a frenetic chorus, and OMG Ringo's cymbals on this.  #######' rocks.  

Mr. krista:  "You know how I feel about Chuck Berry and you know how you feel about Beatles rave-ups so you know I think it’s awesome.  Any song with big long five/six note breaks with someone singing over top of it, especially the way Lennon does, does it for me.”

2022 Supplement:  I used up all my hilarious Chuck Berry/John/Yoko on the Mike Douglas Show clips on a “this date in history,” and a lot of my Chuck Berry-influence bits in writing the “Roll Over Beethoven” supplement, so now I’m kinda lost.  Here’s some more from John on his feelings about Chuck Berry, who called him, “one of the all-time great poets; a rock poet, you could call him. He was well advanced of his time, lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him, including Dylan. I've loved everything he's done, ever. He was in a different class from the other performers. … The lyrics were fantastic, even though we didn't know what he was saying half the time. … In the Fifties, when people were virtually singing about nothing, Chuck Berry was writing social-comment songs, with incredible metre to the lyrics.”

As we know now, the Beatles also played this during the Get Back sessions, as shown in the documentary:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJEos3ptGXY

Guido Merkins

The Beatles were influenced by many people.  None more so, however, than Chuck Berry.  When you think of the number of Berry numbers they covered in their recording career and in their live performances, it is truly amazing.  Sweet Little Sixteen, Little Queenie, Johnny B Goode, Carol, I’m Talking About You, Memphis, etc.  Not to mention songs like I Saw Her Standing There and Come Together which are heavily influenced by Berry.  They obviously loved him.

Rock and Roll Music is another Chuck Berry cover recorded during the Beatles For Sale album.  Although there is a lot of country/rockabilly on the album, Rock and Roll Music gives it some balance with a little rock.  John delivers another blistering vocal and, once again, the Beatles perform it in one take.  George Martin provides piano.  Interestingly, this song is recorded in a marathon 9 hour session where 7 songs were recorded.  I mean, their entire first album is recorded in one day, so what’s half an album in 9 hours??
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 140

64 List Voters/Points: 1/50

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 1

64 List 26-64 votes: 0

#15 vote

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Baby, You’re a Rich Man
2022 Ranking: 156
2022 Lists: 1
2022 Points: 9
Ranked Highest by: @Anarchy99 (17)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: NR

Getz comments:  Our 7th song without a vote in 2019. Anarchy takes the lead in the Chalk with his second song listed.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  106

2019 write-up, written in two parts:

Baby You're a Rich Man (single, 1967)

This is another Beatles song I love, but apparently a little less than 100 or so others.

I should take a nap.

Mr. krista:  "I like it. It’s vaguely Harrison-influenced. I like his falsetto.  Seems way ahead of its time.  You could see Happy Mondays or some of those factory bands playing a song like that."

Suggested cover:  I dunno, sleepy.

OK, to improve upon this one:

Another of the songs to combine a John fragment with a Paul fragment, this one just ####### grabs me right out of the gate with that sped-up clavioline part over the driving bass and percussion.  Yes, I had to look up what that was, as I had written it down as "that funky snake-charmer-sounding hoozit."  I ####### love it.  #1 Fan of Clavioline.  Unfortunately that part of the song is by far my favorite part of it, with only the John vocal as the other standout, and the song loses me nearly completely on the "baby you're a rich man" part that revolves around just one note.  I can understand why Uruk is bored by it.  But damn, that opening.  I'd like a 20-minute song of just all that noise.

It's thought that Mick Jagger might be on backing vocals on this one, btw.

Still couldn't find a good cover of this, though.  Thought for sure there'd be a version out there with a guy playing a shehnai to mimic the clavioline part, but I was wrong.

2022 Supplement:  It’s weird how I associate songs with particular people now, and I associate this one with the idea that @Uruk-Hai doesn’t like it.  Well hell with that guy – I do!  Some people have alleged that this song was targeted to Brian Epstein (and even say that John rehearsed it using a couple of slurs directed toward him), but I tend not to believe it.  Those guys adored Epstein.  John said about this song that, “the point was, stop moaning, you’re a rich man and we’re all rich men, heh heh, baby!”  I’ll stop moaning and also stop typing because I don’t have much more to say. 

Guido Merkins

Several times in the Beatles career, John had a fragment, Paul had a fragment, so they put the two fragments together and made a song.  We Can Work It Out, A Day in the Life, and Baby You’re a Rich Man.

Released as the B side of All You Need Is Love, John had a song floating around called “One of the Beautiful People” and Paul had a bit floating around that went “baby you’re a rich man” that acted as the chorus.  The song used a clavioline, which was kind of the precursor to a synthesizer.  Ringo holds the song together in typical fashion, and has great fills.  I love the dreamy vocal on the verses. Paul’s bass is impeccable.  

The song is very psychedelic and fits perfectly on the Magical Mystery Tour compilation, one of the few times Capital Records got it right.  

And aside to this song is that, supposedly John was singing “Baby you’re a rich Jew” in the studio as a comment towards Brian Epstein.  Kind of like at the end of I Am the Walrus where if you want to hear “smoke pot smoke pot, everybody smoke pot” that’s exactly what you’ll hear, if you listen to the end of Baby You’re a Rich Man, you’ll hear what you want to hear.  It sounds like something John would do, but at this point, not sure what he’s saying at the end.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 138

64 List Voters/Points: 3/50

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 3

#40.52,53 votes

 

 
Getzlaf15 said:
What You’re Doing
2022 Ranking: 123T
2022 Lists: 2
2022 Points: 23
Ranked Highest by: @Encyclopedia Brown (10) Krista (Craig) (19)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: NR

Getz:  25th song to be NR in 2019.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  168

2019 write-up:

What You're Doing (Beatles for Sale, 1964)

Another that John and Paul aren't too impressed with, and I am more so.  The drum solo at the beginning (repeated at the end), followed by George's Rickenbacker riffs, immediately hook me in and make me feel groovy, and I like the lilting-but-angsty sound of Paul's vocal.  Big fan of that middle eight and some of the clever internal rhymes in the lyrics, too.  What I don't like about it, which is a part loved by many others, are the shouty parts - "YOU!" 

Mr. krista:  "I like the Rickenbacker riff and the heavy chords. It sounds good too, great arrangement.  Sounds so good, great arrangement, might be a better recording than a song.”

2022 Supplement:  The Beatles hadn’t been satisfied in the beginning with the sound of the bass on their recordings, which they wanted punched up.  This song is an example of their success in getting that sound, as the heavy mix on the bass combines with those heavy drums and guitar to test the limits of the recording equipment.  Still love the drums on this one, and the shouting doesn’t bother me as much as it did three years ago.

To hear some of the progression of this song, listen to this earlier take:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97KVTxw4Hhw  You can hear why they went to the “shouting” of the back vocals, given John’s wandering around aimlessly when trying to provide harmonies.  That is a rough, rough sound.  This version is also missing the heavy drum sound and the intro from the drums, which I think are key to the success of the song.

Paul called this song “filler,” but I think he sells it short.

2022 Mr. krista Supplement:  This just tells you how hard it is to write a song.  It’s a steep curve, to go from nothing on a blank page to something.  This is better than silence.

Guido Merkins

Over the years there has been this thing about the Beatles being tremendously influenced by the Byrds.  This is absolutely true.  However, what that part of the story leaves out is that it was the Byrds who were first influenced by the Beatles.  Roger McGuinn and other members of the band went to see A Hard Day’s Night and loved the sound of George’s guitar, but they couldn’t figure out how he was getting that sound, until he turned to reveal his 12 string Rickenbacker.  McGuinn loved that sound and got him a Rick and the rest is history.  Undoubtedly one of the songs they were influenced by was What You’re Doing from the Beatles For Sale album.

What You’re Doing is a song written by Paul that he doesn’t seem to care much for, but it was written, it seems like, after some issue with Jane Asher (Paul has a lot of those songs) and featured that jingly jangly 12 string sound.  I also like Ringo’s drum intro.  

This song has a really good alternative version that did not appear on any of the Anthologies, take 11.  Once again, I like this song far more than the composer does.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 137

64 List Voters/Points: 3/51

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

 64 List 26-64 votes: 3

#29, 52, 63

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Getzlaf15 said:
Getting Better
2022 Ranking: 130T
2022 Lists: 2
2022 Points: 20
Ranked Highest by: @Anarchy99 (8) @Dinsy Ejotuz (24)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 138T/1/1

Getz comments:  One Point in 2019!  In before @Leroy Hoard says it's getting better all the time.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  83

2019 write-up:

Getting Better (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967)

I'm a fan of these songs where John and Paul contribute distinctive parts that you can identify as being theirs alone.  I'm a fan of the stabby guitars (reminiscent of "She's a Woman" and "Taxman"), the bass that comes in just a little early on every beat, and those slightly off-key harmonies. The best part of this, though, is how the edgy John parts cut through the hopeful Paul parts to showcase the differences in their personalities.  It feels like a true "Beatles" song instead of a Paul or John song.

The Paul part of the song is characteristically optimistic and - Martha the sheepdog alert! - came to him when he was out walking his dog and recalled Jimmy Nicol, their short-term fill-in drummer while Ringo was ill during their 1964 tour.  Any time someone asked Jimmy how it was going, he responded, "Getting better."  As a counterpoint to Paul's optimism, John chimed into the songwriting with the cynical "can't get no worse," and of course the lines about an angry young man who used to beat his women are about John as well.  I can at least admire how willing John was to admit to this, regret it, and vow that he had changed, but that he still had work to do.  In an interview not long before his murder, he described this song:  "It is a diary form of writing. All that 'I used to be cruel to my woman, I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved' was me. I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically – any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace, you see. It is the most violent people who go for love and peace. Everything's the opposite. But I sincerely believe in love and peace. I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence. I will have to be a lot older before I can face in public how I treated women as a youngster."    

Nearly tragic story associated with one of the sessions for this song:  John showed up to the session tripping on LSD, and during recording of some backing vocals indicated he wasn't feeling well.  George Martin, perhaps purposefully naive to the drug use going on at the time, thought John might have eaten something bad and took him up to the roof for some air.  A while later, Martin returned to the control room alone, having left John on the roof to look at the stars.  A few seconds later, the rest of the group realized what was going on and made a mad dash to the roof to rescue John, who was tripping on a narrow parapet 30 feet above the street below.  Whew.

Mr. krista:  "I’m not sure I like it, but I do like that it’s a seemingly bouncy, cheerful song that comes from a bunch of instruments playing one note.  It’s all staccato – plank, plank, plank-plank.  You could beat that melody out on a tin can.  How did they figure out it was going to make that kind of song? I like that song a lot more now."

Suggested cover:  Gomez

2022 Supplement:   Paul has also described some of the process for writing this one:  “I often try and get on to optimistic subjects in an effort to cheer myself up and also, realizing that other people are going to hear this, to cheer them up too. And this was one of those. The ‘angry young man’ and all that was John and I filling in the verses about schoolteachers. We shared a lot of feelings against teachers who had punished you too much or who hadn’t understood you or who had just been ******* generally. … I was just sitting there doing ‘Getting better all the time’ and John just said in his laconic way, ‘It couldn’t get no worse,’ and I thought, Oh, brilliant! This is exactly why I love writing with John… It was one of the ways we’d write. I’d have the song quite mapped out and he’d come in with a counter-melody."

 I made a mistake in 2019 regarding one of the elements of the John/LSD story.  He didn’t show up tripping but accidentally mistook the LSD for something else:  "I never took it in the studio. Once I did, actually. I thought I was taking some uppers and I was not in the state of handling it. I took it and I suddenly got so scared on the mike. I said, ‘What is it? I feel ill.’ I thought I felt ill and I thought I was going cracked. I said I must go and get some air. They took me upstairs on the roof, and George Martin was looking at me funny, and then it dawned on me that I must have taken some acid.” 

So sue me.

2002 Mr. krista Supplement:  I like that Paul’s line is “getting better all the time,” and then John is the perfect antidote to his personality “can’t get much worse.”  “I used to be cruel to my woman I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved?”  That’s not cruel, that’s kidnapping and human trafficking and stuff.  That’s terrible.  Did everybody just casually treat women like that back then?  I mean, it really couldn’t get much worse.  Low bar to clear, to get better from that mess.

Guido Merkins

One sometimes has to wonder how John Lennon and Paul McCartney became friends.  Obviously, they had a shared love of music which bonded them, but two more different guys you’d never meet.  John was the resident cynic while Paul was the resident optimist.  Now, this is a little too simple to be true as they could both have their moments on the other side, but it’s a stereotype that has an element of truth.

So it is with a song like Getting Better on Sgt Pepper.  Paul loves to tell the story of him playing Getting Better in the studio and John jumping in with “can’t get much worse.”  The phrase “getting better” was apparently something Jimmy Nichol, who filled in for Ringo on drums for part of a 1964 tour, used to say.  The session for this song also was rather infamous for John accidently taking LSD instead of an upper and George Martin bringing him to the roof for some fresh air.  Needless to say, when the other Beatles found out, they rushed to the roof to prevent an accident.

Anyway, the coolest part of the song is the middle, where the song just completely changes over the words (I used to be cruel to my woman. I beat her and kept her apart from the thing that she loved), which was a John self-confessional line.  George’s tamboura was the instrument over that part, which gives it a dark, foreboding atmosphere as opposed to the brightness of the rest of it.The piano in the song is played by George Martin, but it’s him directly plucking the strings…always something different.

I like this song very much.  It was one of the ones that first struck me the first time I heard Pepper, other than the other well known ones that I already knew.
Click to expand...
64 List Rank: 136

64 List Voters/Points: 6/53

64 List Top 5: 0

64 List Top 10: 0

64 List 1-25 votes: 0

64 List 26-64 votes: 6

#45, 53, 56, 59, 60, 64.  Won't see another six vote song until #109.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Official Stephen King Publication Countdown - 2. 'Salem's Lot, 1. The Stand
5 6 7
Replies
334
Views
22K
turnjose7
T
titusbramble
  • Locked
FBG FFA Countdown - The Greatest Video Games Ever - project on hold
2 3
Replies
115
Views
4K
FBG Moderator
F
Scoresman
The Top 300 Greatest TV Shows of All Time: FBG Consensus: 50 Lists received. 2: Seinfeld 1: Breaking Bad
145 146 147
Replies
7K
Views
430K
Psychopav
Psychopav

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top