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

[AAABatteries]

That story dropped right when the Beatles had completed a show in Detroit. Their next stop was the following week at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

My then 17 year-old mother had a ticket to that concert. A few months earlier she had snuck out of her house at 2AM with a sleeping bag and camped out in front of the Comiskey Park box office to make certain she could procure that ticket.

My grandmother was a devoted, hardline Irish Catholic. The word came down from the local parish that anything Beatles related was an abomination, an egregious sin that must be eradicated. My grandmother's response was to forbid my mother from attending the concert. She demanded the ticket from my mother's bureau so she could tear it up into pieces and flush it down the toilet.

My mother's response was to bring the ticket and her completed admissions form to Illinois State University. She told my grandmother if the Beatles ticket was torn up so would the admissions form, and she would refuse to fill out another one.

My grandmother relented and my mother always said the concert was one of the happiest days of her life.

This clip is of John in Chicago at their hotel trying to clarify his remarks: https://youtu.be/ONYVxatB1U4?t=26

Ironically enough, this is exactly what should have happened with Michelle

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Martha My Dear > Michelle

 

[Tom Hagen]

I think this is the reaction of about 97% of us.

Les paroles ne sont pas bonnes.

See how much smarter and more sophisticated I sound when I use French.

 

[rockaction]

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.

I love this song. It was #26, just missing the cut. I had no idea Donovan provided the needed line of "sky of blue and sea of green," but now that I hear it, it's completely something Donovan would write. 

If you like this song you have no soul, says k4, and I might be inclined to agree, though not as dramatically. This is just an awful fun sing-a-long. I love those. 

 

[rockaction]

Michelle
2022 Ranking: 82T
2022 Lists: 5
2022 Points: 63
Ranked Highest by: @John Maddens Lunchbox (1) WrighteousRay(hub) (5) @neal cassady (21) @rockaction (25)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 86/3/23

As discussed in 2019, Paul went to art parties with older, cooler John, and wandered around “playing a French-sounding song and making guttural noises,” hoping someone would think he was French, “possibly even a French intellectual.” 

I was sort of out yesterday doing other things, so I didn't get a chance to comment. This one was clinging with fingernails to #25. It took a tumble from last time in my rankings. But I love it. So smooth in musical and lyrical delivery. 

The above astute comment in light blue by k4 is part of precisely why I like this song so much. You can tell Paul really didn't know French and was trying to impress the girl/woman, which is a tall order. You try wooing someone with utterances they can't understand. Well, we can understand music, and Paul does his best to convey his smitten thoughts over her beauty (for that is all it can be, really). Plus, it seems very like Paul to want to speak French like a real intellectual, but not be able to, yet still write an all-time classic with a line or two in it that is dilettantish, but has a mood and muse that an intellectual can love anyway.  

Yeah, just happened to come across a line or two in French here and made it a Grammy winner...

 

[krista4]

If you like this song you have no soul, says Mr. Krista, and I might be inclined to agree, though not as dramatically. This is just an awful fun sing-a-long. I love those. 

?  It was me who said if you don’t like the song you have no soul.

 

[rockaction]

?  It was me who said if you don’t like the song you have no soul.

Ohhh. Okay. I missed it in the formatting, then. Sorry about that. Credit given where credit is due, then. Great comment and also as astute as the astute comment above about "Michelle." 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Martha My Dear > Michelle

Well, duh. Martha My Dear is great.

 

[turnjose7]

You realize he was one of only a few who had this on his list (16!)?

Ha. Actually hadn't noticed. Nice!

 

[AAABatteries]

Because it’s horrible.

It’s Science!

 

[Zegras11]

Savoy Truffle
2022 Ranking: 80
2022 Lists: 5
2022 Points: 73
Ranked Highest by: @Man of Constant Sorrow(2) @ManOfSteelhead (4) @Binky The Doormat(11) @heckmanm (18) @Shaft41 (22)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 66/2/44

Getz: Chalk race tightens up a tad...
2 --ManOfSteelhead---638.5
5 --Shaft41---569
7 --Man Of Constant Sorrow---520.5
11 --BinkyTheDoormat---360.5

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  179

2019 write-up:

Savoy Truffle (White Album, 1968)

I get that it's supposed to be humo(u)rous.  "Oh, Eric Clapton's teeth are all rotted out, but he loves chocolate soooooo much!"  I don't need to hear about all the chocolates Eric Clapton likes, and I cringe when I hear the beginning "creeeee-am tangerine."  What I do like is the jazziness of it all - especially the horns and the organ.  Apparently George later apologized to the brass players for making their sound "dirty" through the distortion, but, as he explained to them, it's the way he wanted it.  I'm with George on that decision.  This is also a song where I think Ringo's drumming stands out by virtue of his refusal to stand out.  I need to do a separate "Ringo" write-up in here soon, but what I love most about him, evidenced well on this song, is his commitment to the support of the song, the subtle ways in which he makes a song better without making it about him.  Listen closely to his work on this one, hitting the perfect groove at every moment.   

Mr. krista gets the humo(u)r:  "I think it’s funny.  And I think it’s funny that these bad-assed, drug-addled rockers are chocoholics.  Everybody’s heroin-addled and Clapton just wants a Milky Way.  And it rocks.  It’s a pretty good rock song.  The drums are good, and horns are good."

Suggested cover:  @Eephus might disapprove of this countdown, but I'm stealing his suggestion for a cover of this one anyway.  Ella Fitzgerald.      Getz suggets: Dahni Harrison

2022 Supplement:  I associate both this song and “Glass Onion” with @manofsteelhead and apologize to him again that I don’t enjoy this any more today than I did three years ago.    I have a little contest with myself when it comes on the Beatles Channel to see if I can turn the channel before they get to “tannn-ger-ine.”  (I always lose.)

There are probably worse songs about candy.  There’s “The Candy Man” by Sammy Davis, Jr.  That song really sucked.  But there are also better songs about candy, like “I Want Candy” by Bowwowow (sp?) and “Chocolate Jesus” by Tom Waits.  Marcy Playground’s “Sex and Candy.”  Iggy Pop with “Candy,” which wasn’t good by any means but better than this.  And most notably, the Velvet Underground’s “Candy Says,” while not really about candy, inspired the name of our cutest pinhead kitten, who smells like diapers but purrs all the time.  Here he is wondering why his head is so small but his belly so big that it’s spilling over the side of the box:  https://imgur.com/FqbLNrR

Guido Merkins

Eric Clapton’s relationship with George Harrison was well-known. What might not be so well-known is that Eric had a sweet tooth.  He loved sweets.  He had problems with his teeth, but he still couldn’t stop eating them.  Seems like it wouldn’t be fertile ground for a song, but Savoy Truffle proves that it was.

George described it as basically reading a candy box to get the lyrics.  So you come up with things like cherry cream, coconut fudge, cream tangerine, apple tart before declaring that “you’ll have to get them all pulled out after the Savoy Truffle.”  

The lyrical content isn’t exactly deep, but the song is still great because it’s a funky track.  Great drumming, a funky organ, and a great, distorted horn section.  Lewisohn in his book describes Harrison as being really happy with the horns, but that they were a bit too clean, so he apologized to the horn section, then said “distort it.”  They did and it sounded great.  

The song is also notable in that John has no participation, which is a common occurrence in the later years.  For all of the vitriol George has for Paul, IMO, it was John that showed the most disdain for George’s songs.  Also, in this period, George usually wrote songs with deep meanings.  Savoy Truffle is notable in that it’s not deep, but it’s just a great sounding track.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I also want to say that I strongly disagree with this characterization of Yellow Submarine and Octopus's Garden as the same song. Sure they are both fun children's songs about being underwater, sung by Ringo. And neither is the Beatles' best song. But the melody to Octopus's Garden is more complex and interesting than Yellow Submarine. Doesn't mean you can't think Yellow Submarine isn't a better song. But I don't think they are the same. Plus Octopus's Garden has the really cool guitar riff. 

Yeah, sorry if I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t saying they were exactly the same or even really sounded the same. They’re similar in theme and the Ringo connection - both are kids songs (at least to some extent).

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I’m surprised I haven’t had a song listed yet. I certainly have “chalk” in my top 25 but a few songs I would have guessed would have been in the same range as some of the songs already announced. 

 

[Zegras11]

It’s Science!

  The first time I opened it, your phone didn't show up on my screen. Had to scroll to see it the second time.

 

[DocHolliday]

The Night Before
2022 Ranking: 81
2022 Lists: 5
2022 Points: 72

I didn’t include this in my top 25 but I love the song.  It’s beautiful.  Easily a top 50 Beatles song for me and it’s one of the reasons that the Help! album is one of my favorites.   Side 1 of the album is unbelievable.  I have probably listened to that side of Help! as much as I have listened to any side of any other Beatles albums.   

 

[Tom Hagen]

I didn’t include this in my top 25 but I love the song.  It’s beautiful.  Easily a top 50 Beatles song for me and it’s one of the reasons that the Help! album is one of my favorites.   Side 1 of the album is unbelievable.  I have probably listened to that side of Help! as much as I have listened to any side of any other Beatles albums.   

This is word for word how I feel about The Night Before and Help!

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

I’m surprised I haven’t had a song listed yet. I certainly have “chalk” in my top 25 but a few songs I would have guessed would have been in the same range as some of the songs already announced. 

It seems like we’ve gone through a lot, but we’ve only revealed like 15% of the votes so far. 

 

[Zegras11]

It seems like we’ve gone through a lot, but we’ve only revealed like 15% of the votes so far. 

Interesting to think it would be this low...   just ran it... 13.52%.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I will compose a love letter to Savoy Truffle tonight. I was bummed that I couldn’t make room for it in my 25. It did make my 36.

 

[Zegras11]

Octopus’s Garden
2022 Ranking: 79
2022 Lists: 7
2022 Points: 75
Ranked Highest by: Krista(TJ/Alex) (5) Shaft41(Son2) (6) Shaft41(Daughter) (10) @ekbeats(14) @John Maddens Lunchbox(23) @landrys hat(24) @fatguyinalittlecoat(25)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 138T/1/1

Getz:  From one point in 2019 to seven votes and 75 points in 2019. This the third highest amount of slots (59) a song has moved up from 2019 to 2022. This song was in the Top 40, when around 35 voters had been counted. 

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  115

2019 write-up:

Octopus's Garden (Abbey Road, 1969)

Two kids' songs sung by Ringo [EDITOR’S NOTE:  in 2019 I grouped this with “Yellow Submarine”], and though I love them both, I give "Octopus's Garden" the slight nod not because of anything musically, but because if I were going to visit somewhere, I'd like it to be the octopus's garden.  In fact, Ringo does a masterful job of making this underwater abode appealing that I'd kind of like to buy a house there.  I don't care what anyone says:  I love "Octopus's Garden."  Love the vocal, with Geoff Emerick "feeding the vocals into a compressor and triggering it from a pulsing tone" that gave the middle an "underwater" sound.  Love octopi.  Love the visual imagery.  Love George's Stratocaster running through the Leslie speaker and his run of notes at the beginning.  Love the under-the-sea bubble-blowing doo-***-y quality.  

"Octopus's Garden" was written by Ringo during the time during the White Album sessions that he had stormed off and quit the band.  He and his family traveled to Sardinia on Peter Sellers's yacht, and while out for the day Ringo was served octopus for the first time (he'd expected fish and chips) and started asking the captain all about octopi and their habits.  Per Ringo:  "He told me that they hang out in their caves and they go around the seabed finding shiny stones and tin cans and bottles to put in front of their cave like a garden.  I thought this was fabulous, because at the time I just wanted to be under the sea, too."  Then he got the telegram begging him to come back to the band, but in the meantime you can see in the lyrics he wrote how much he desired to escape the band's tension at the time; for instance, "We would be warm below the storm, in our little hideaway beneath the waves."  George assisted quite a lot and was a big fan of this song, imbuing the lyrics with a deeper meaning about consciousness and peacefulness than Ringo probably thought he was writing.

Mr. krista:  "It’s really funny, it’s like the second song Ringo ever wrote.  It’s a great song; it’s fun; it’s so simple.  You hear these psycho-dramas of Paul McCartney, like Eleanor Rigby, etc., and he’s just like 'I want to be in an octopus’s garden.'  It’s not as trite as the faux-vaudeville stuff McCartney does."

Suggested covers:   I don't know who Jeffrey Lewis is, but I like his take on it.  And of course, the Muppets, with octopus on bongos.

2022 Supplement:  Another of the most delightful parts of the Get Back documentary for me was seeing George and Ringo work on this song together.  We knew that George, alone among the other Beatles, contributed a lot to this song, but seeing these two best friends create together brought warmth to my soul:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99mEl-DAi2c  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIkn7RB3eEU   I’m happy to see this song make so many lists (I’m taking into account that we were previously informed that two of four of the Shaft lists had it). Love all the #### I mentioned in 2019, love the impetus for the song, love the performance, love the fun, love the camaraderie of Ringo and George, once and forever the closest of friends.   George had an affection for the lyrics of this song, ascribing to them a deeper cosmic meaning:  “I think it's a really great song, because on the surface, it's just like a daft kids' song, but the lyrics are great. For me, you know, I find very deep meaning in the lyrics, which Ringo probably doesn't see, but all the things like 'resting our head on the sea bed' and 'we'll be warm beneath the storm' which is really great, you know. Because it's like this level in a storm and if you get sort of deep in your consciousness, it's very peaceful. So Ringo's writing his cosmic songs without noticing it."

Guido Merkins

People seem to either love or hate Ringo’s songs.  No in between.  Personally, I love Ringo’s songs.  Yeah, he doesn’t have a great voice, but what other band has a 4th guy who can sing and actually carry a tune.  Yeah, the songs don’t have much range, but he injects just as much personality into his singing as he does in his drumming.

One such song that I like that many people hate is Octopus’s Garden.  Some people view it as just kind of a Yellow Submarine Part II (many people hate that song too).  And true, much like Yellow Submarine, it takes place underwater and has the requisite sound effects.  

But I like it for several reasons.  First, I love the story behind it. Ringo read something about octopuses stacking stones on the seabed making little gardens, just like people.  He thought it was a beautiful image.  Second, I love the way Ringo says things that are profound, almost by accident, like A Hard Day’s Night or Tomorrow Never Knows.  In Octopus’s Garden he talks about “we would be warm, below the storm….” which perfectly describes what was going on with the band at the time.  Certainly a storm within the group, but they all rally around Ringo to help him with his song which has a certain peaceful vibe.  He is the everyman.  The glue that holds them together.  Third, I have no idea idea how anybody could ever completely dismiss a song with that guitar solo by George.  If nothing else, it’s worth that little 20 second passage.  Fourth, love the harmonies by Paul and George. 

 

[Zegras11]

Very fun song - but surprised to see it get this much love - in many ways its very similar to the much maligned Octopus' Garden.

Absolutely.  It was part of a double-A-side single.  And there was an animated movie later.

At least Octopus got the Muppets treatment, but that's about it.

yeah, this song always gets the shaft.

Ranked Highest by: Shaft41(Son2) (6) Shaft41(Daughter) (10)

 

[Tom Hagen]

I like both Yellow Submarine and Octopus's Garden and understand why they get grouped together. To me the biggest difference is that Yellow Submarine is just pure fun while Garden has a tinge of sadness and longing to it.  My preference between the two probably changes depending on what kind of mood I am in.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

Octopus's Garden was the song I mentioned earlier that I included on my list for sentimental reasons, even though it probably doesn't "deserve" to be in the top 25 based on merit.  I've always really liked the song and especially the guitar intro.  But what really is special to me about this song is that it's a favorite song for me and my kids to share.  When they were really little and listening to crap like The Wiggles in the car, I decided to put together a couple of mixed CDs for my kids with music that I liked that was also kid friendly.  We listened to those CDs a lot and they were really the first introduction to rock music for my kids.  Octopus's Garden was always a favorite and we would sing along together.  It's a great song for kids - it isn't condescending or babyish -- it's just relatable and fun and wonderful.  We all want to have a special hideaway to escape when things are crappy.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure if my son Peter had filled out a survey, this would be his #1 song.  I had to include it somewhere.

 

[krista4]

I like both Yellow Submarine and Octopus's Garden and understand why they get grouped together. To me the biggest difference is that Yellow Submarine is just pure fun while Garden has a tinge of sadness and longing to it.  My preference between the two probably changes depending on what kind of mood I am in.

Great point.  I think the sadness came from what was going on at the time (written originally when he had left the band) and his desire to escape the infighting.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Oh, I see.

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

Also “resting our heads on the sea beds” is a great line but what I really love is the line “I’d ask my friends to come and see, my octopus’s garden with me” because that is totally what a kid would say.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Down now to the double digits,  just like kicks sleepers keep getting harder to find. 

98 Fixing A Hole

97 I'm Down

90 Anytime At All

89  I'll Follow The Sun

87  I'll Be Back

86  Glass Onion

84  You Can't Do That

81 The Night Before

80  Savoy Truffle

 

[Zegras11]

The Fool On The Hill
2022 Ranking: 78
2022 Lists: 6
2022 Points: 77
Ranked Highest by: @Oliver Humanzee(dad) (5) @Binky The Doormat (7) Shaft41(Son1) (11) @Wrighteous Ray(hub) (11) @FairWarning (21) @zamboni (24)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 91/2/19

Getz: I had this at #25 until I used Binky’s mulligan and put in Two Of Us. @shuke and I were the only ones to rank it in 2019, and neither of us did in 2022. I had it at #12 in 2019.  OH’s Dad is on the board. 8 left now….   Annie Lennox cover is awesome. Sergio cover is more upbeat and a great listen.  Oh and  at this being OH's dad's first song after his son's write up below.
Getz Covers: 
Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 - The Fool On The Hill (1968)
Annie Lennox sings Fool On The Hill

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  164

2019 write-up:

The Fool on the Hill (Magical Mystery Tour, 1967)

Is it as bad as Mr. krista alleges?  Is it indeed a sandwich composed of excrement?  Check page 6 to find out!!!

So anyway, obviously I like this one more than Mr. krista does.  It's one of those "imagined worlds" from Paul, and for whatever reason I always associate it with "Rocky Raccoon."  I guess it's the fact that both are Paul-created worlds relating to a solitary (by choice or by circumstance) man who is perhaps misunderstood.  As I've previously mentioned, I have mixed feelings about these fictitious Paul worlds; I prefer the personal style of John, but the creativity with which Paul can paint these pictures is amazing to me.  I always feel like I can literally picture the people he describes.

I think this song is gorgeous, love the tempo change at the end, and enjoy the flautists.  Really I just wanted to be able to type "flautists."  What a pleasing word. And I gotta say it's my favorite song with Paul on recorder.  But the song suffers for me from some self-importance or...wait...let me have Mr. krista explain.

Mr. krista:  "I do not really care for that song very much. When the best part of the song is the flute, your song is pretty well ####ed.  Unless you’re a Beethoven sonata…  Yeah, I didn’t care for that song.  It’s a standard trope of the fool outcast as the visionary.  There are a million douchebags on the internet that think they’re that guy now; they’re on libertarian websites in their mom’s basements, wearing a fedora."

Suggested covers:  Aretha Franklin holy ####.  WTF version from The Four Tops.  If Yoko had sung it - Bjork.

2022 Supplement:  I cede my time to the gentleman from the great State of Idaho. 
hahaha... Don't get why people dislike this and give Strawberry Fields so much love.  Kinda of similar songs to me.

Guido Merkins

The Magical Mystery Tour movie was absolutely panned by critics, but the response to the music in the film was much more positive.

Case in point, The Fool on the Hill.  Paul wanted to write a song about people who are misunderstood, yet they are very wise.  Paul described it as “gurus who live in a cave.”  John thought the lyrics were really good and gave McCartney rare praise for the lyrical content.

In many ways, it’s the typical Paul piano ballad, but with some psychedelic touches, in the form of a tape loop that sounds like a seagull, kind of like Tomorrow Never Knows.  Also a recorder is featured on the album, played by Paul.  Once again, the Beatles loved to switch between major and minor keys, in this case, verses in major and chorus in minor.

There is a really good version of this song on Anthology 2, a little heavier with the guitars more prominent.  The other good version of the song that I heard was from Paul’s 1990 tour where he samples a piece of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.  

 

[Zegras11]

With only 8 left to have a song to be posted, here's a look at the other end....
 

62 --Krista (TJ/Slug)---8

63 --Just Win Baby---8

64 --WorrieKing---0

65 --Westerberg---0

66 --Tom Hagen---0

67 --pecorino---0

68 --Krista4---0

69 --Krista (Doug)---0

70 --Dr. Octopus---0

71 --Bobby Layne---0

Top 10 Least Chalk

When you have a song from your 1-25 list that is posted, I will assign a score to that song and keep a running total on who is "most" and "least" chalky. Song ranked #172 will get one point. Song ranked #1 will get 172 points. All of this is for fun and means nothing

 

[FairWarning]

You don’t hear many psychedelic piano songs.  FOTH fits the bill, very unique sounding song.  

 

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

Cross-thread hot take:

Fool in the Rain >>> Fool on the Hill.

 

[Zegras11]

Cross-thread hot air:

Fool in the Rain >>> Fool on the Hill.

and I had Rain #10 over there.

 

[ManOfSteelhead]

Savoy Truffle
Krista4

My 2019 ranking:  179

2022 Supplement:  I associate both this song and “Glass Onion” with @manofsteelhead and apologize to him again that I don’t enjoy this any more today than I did three years ago.    

If it were anyone else I would have to figure out how to report you, but apology accepted.....

 

[krista4]

The Fool On The Hill

hahaha... Don't get why people dislike this and give Strawberry Fields so much love.  Kinda of similar songs to me.

Tell me you hate music without telling me you hate music.   

 

[krista4]

Cross-thread hot take:

Fool in the Rain 

I like this one a lot.

 

[Zegras11]

Reminders...

Not that far from #60....  I'll post a randomized list of the last 60 songs and I'll need your guesses on the Top 15 three days later.  Charity prize for the winner!

Also would love to get 20-30 to give me their 1-64 lists when this is all done.  Now is a good time to start making notes  if songs might make your 64 or not.   The results will be a quick and dirty roll out with no write ups. 

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Reminders...

Not that far from #60....  I'll post a randomized list of the last 60 songs and I'll need your guesses on the Top 15 three days later.  Charity prize for the winner!

Also would love to get 20-30 to give me their 1-64 lists when this is all done.  Now is a good time to start making notes  if songs might make your 64 or not.   The results will be a quick and dirty roll out with no write ups. 

One of the reasons I’m commenting on every song is so I have a paper trail when I go to decide on my 37-64.

 

[FairWarning]

Cross-thread hot take:

Fool in the Rain >>> Fool on the Hill.

Nooooooo

 

[Zegras11]

Super 70's Sports Beatles tweet just now

 

[Zegras11]

Tell me you hate music without telling me you hate music.   

I like this one a lot.

This is what happens when you are from Seattle and visit Arizona and don't wear sunscreen.  

 

[krista4]

This is what happens when you are from Seattle and visit Arizona and don't wear sunscreen.  

Ah, trip had to be canceled.  And I'm Casper-colored so always have sunscreen!   

 

[prosopis]

That story dropped right when the Beatles had completed a show in Detroit. Their next stop was the following week at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

My then 17 year-old mother had a ticket to that concert. A few months earlier she had snuck out of her house at 2AM with a sleeping bag and camped out in front of the Comiskey Park box office to make certain she could procure that ticket.

My grandmother was a devoted, hardline Irish Catholic. The word came down from the local parish that anything Beatles related was an abomination, an egregious sin that must be eradicated. My grandmother's response was to forbid my mother from attending the concert. She demanded the ticket from my mother's bureau so she could tear it up into pieces and flush it down the toilet.

My mother's response was to bring the ticket and her completed admissions form to Illinois State University. She told my grandmother if the Beatles ticket was torn up so would the admissions form, and she would refuse to fill out another one.

My grandmother relented and my mother always said the concert was one of the happiest days of her life.

This clip is of John in Chicago at their hotel trying to clarify his remarks: https://youtu.be/ONYVxatB1U4?t=26

That is a great story. Good for your mom!

 

[prosopis]

Ah, trip had to be canceled.  And I'm Casper-colored so always have sunscreen!   

Bummer

If you ever come down, let me know. I am in the Tucson area.

 

[prosopis]

I love Octopus garden. It's a fun song.

 

[Zegras11]

Lady Madonna
2022 Ranking: 77
2022 Lists: 10
2022 Points: 80
Ranked Highest by: @Binky The Doormat (5) Shaft41(Daughter) (6) Krista(Rob) (16) @Shaft41(19) Krista(Doug)(19)
@Anarchy99(20) @MAC_32(22) @AAABatteries(24) @Alex P Keaton(24) @shuke(25)
2019 Ranking/Lists/Pts: 59T/5/51

Getz: First song with 10 voters. Krista(Doug) now on the board. That leaves seven to go. 7 of the 10 voters had this is the 19-25 range, so not a ton of points there. A'99 with his 14th song.

Krista4
My 2019 ranking:  120

2019 write-up:

Lady Madonna (single, 1968)

As a piano player, I probably rate the songs with good piano higher than others might.  Love the piano in this, though I'm not usually a fan of too much boogie-woogie style.  Overall the song's a great groovy-bluesy number that catches you immediately with that hook.  The main reason it doesn't get to the top half of my rankings is the lyrics.  Paul has said it's a tribute to working-class mothers, or all mothers, or all women, and I've no reason to think he's not sincere, but...the lyrics just sound condescending to me.  It might be the "Did you think that money was heaven sent" line.  I'm not sure; I know that the lyrics fall flat to me.  If this were mostly an instrumental with only the "Seeeee how they ruuuun" vocal part, I'd rate it higher.

Mr. krista:  "I don’t know.  I don’t like that song that much.  I’m not sure I know why.  It’s the brahpbrahpbrahpbrahp.  Try typing that.   It’s annoying."

Suggested covers:  Fats Domino.  Junior Parker.  Since we had a Beatles cover of a Buck Owens song earlier, seems fair to post the Buck Owens cover of this one.  I think Paul sounds like Elvis in this vocal, so I'll also post Elvis stumbling all over it.

2022 Supplement:  Still don’t know why I can’t get into this song much, since everyone including Paul seems to love it.  It’s still a favorite at his live shows.

Paul has said that this is a tribute to women in general, inspired by his having seen a National Geographic photo of a Malayo-Polynesian woman surrounded by her children.  "She looked very proud and she had a baby. And I saw that as a kind of Madonna thing, mother and child… You know, sometimes you see pictures of mothers and you go, 'She's a good mother.' You could just tell there's a bond and it just affected me, that photo."  This is the photo in question:  https://imgur.com/MWtBwwB

He's also relayed, however, that a song portraying a nurturing mother was influenced by the loss of his own mother when he was 14.  He says that the line about how she manages “to feed the rest” is particularly poignant, as he saw himself as being left out, one of “the rest.” 

Paul has identified the recurring line, “see how they run,” as his favorite part of the song, lending a slightly darker theme based on “Three Blind Mice” mixed with abiding childhood memories of women’s stockings.  The repetition was a device he’s called “one of the most powerful components in songwriting” but, like everything else, was self-taught given that none of the Beatles formally studied music.  

Guido Merkins

In the early years, George Martin was the primary piano player when the Beatles needed it on a track.  However, by 1968 Paul has gotten proficient enough to play a New Orleans boogie woogie in the style of Fats Domino that you hear on Lady Madonna.

The lyrics are kind of a nod to all those hard working women out there.  Was Paul thinking about his mother Mary or was he thinking of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or maybe it was a combination of both?  We don’t know exactly.  But Paul wonders how she feeds her kids, and how she’ll pay the rent, and if she wonders if the money was “heaven sent.”  Could apply to either I guess.

Great piano lick, great distorted guitar, and the horns, some of them real and some of them the Beatles vocalizing horns.  Despite John not liking the song, it was another #1 hit.

Lady Madonna is a return to a more rock and roll sound, which several other artists were also doing as a reaction maybe against the psychedelic 1967.  Much has been written about  Jumpin Jack Flash and Beggar’s Banquet being a return to roots and giving the Stones credit for the movement after the psychedelic 1967.  But Lady Madonna was released before both.  I’m not saying the Beatles were the first to get back to roots.  Not sure who that could be credited to, but I know Lady Madonna was before Jumpin Jack Flash by about a month and Beggaars Banquet by 9 months.  Just food for thought….

Another interesting thing is if you go watch the promotional video, it has the Beatles working in the studio on Lady Madonna, except they aren’t.  They are really working on Hey Bulldog.  Somebody synched the video to Hey Bulldog and it’s on Youtube and it’s brilliant!!!!!

 

[simey]

Cross-thread hot take:

Fool in the Rain >>> Fool on the Hill.

 

[Zegras11]

Top 10 Least Chalk

62 --Lardonastick---13

63 --Krista (TJ/Slug)---8

64 --Just Win Baby---8

65 --WorrieKing---0

66 --Westerberg---0

67 --Tom Hagen---0

68 --pecorino---0

69 --Krista4---0

70 --Dr. Octopus---0

71 --Bobby Layne---0

So, the thing is, all of these guys will wind up with at least 2700 points... (4000 is the max score if someone hits all 25 in the top 25)

 

[Binky The Doormat]

getting hammered these last few ...

77  Lady Madonna (5)

78  The Fool On The Hill (7)

80  Savoy Truffle (11)

81  The Night Before (19)

 

[krista4]

Bummer

If you ever come down, let me know. I am in the Tucson area.

I'd love to.  We were going to be in the Phoenix area this time for spring training, which isn't happening.

Lady Madonna

Getz: First song with 10 voters. Krista(Doug) now on the board. That leaves seven to go. 7 of the 10 voters had this is the 19-25 range, so not a ton of points there. A'99 with his 14th song.

Crazy as I was just responding to an email from Doug when you posted this!  I still think he has a good chance of being chalkiest.

 

[Zegras11]

getting hammered these last few ...

77  Lady Madonna (5)

78  The Fool On The Hill (7)

80  Savoy Truffle (11)

81  The Night Before (19)

That's pretty crazy.  What are the odds?