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In this thread I rank my favorite Beatles songs: 204-1. (4 Viewers)

Ambien seems awful. I mean I have drank and smoked too much and posted stupid #### here but Im never touching Ambien. 
I have indulged unwisely in my life, and was confident I could handle it. 

I was wrong! It kicked my butt. 

And the next time I visit my doc, I'm kicking hers for giving it to me! 🤬

 
I have indulged unwisely in my life, and was confident I could handle it. 

I was wrong! It kicked my butt. 

And the next time I visit my doc, I'm kicking hers for giving it to me! 🤬
Really should, that stuff is not for people who have any drug history. But indulging unwisely is one of the best parts of life. 

 
I finished the links to my write-ups going back through song #85, comprising songs posted in the last 40 pages of this thread.  Good god, this is the most tedious thing I've done in years, and if you read my write-ups, which no one does, you know I know tedium.  

ETA:  Went ahead and did the first ten pages, too, which took me down to #172, and omg i want to die please kill me now not enough wine in the world for this.

 
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I finished the links to my write-ups going back through song #85, comprising songs posted in the last 40 pages of this thread.  Good god, this is the most tedious thing I've done in years, and if you read my write-ups, which no one does, you know I know tedium.  

ETA:  Went ahead and did the first ten pages, too, which took me down to #172, and omg i want to die please kill me now not enough wine in the world for this.
Just think of all the free time you’ll have when the countdown is over. 

 
:tebow:   :tebow:   :tebow:  

Holy ####, I was listening to the first few lines thinking, "Is he going to double-track that high harmony," and then there it was!  And fantastically done!  Hell yeah.  One of your top three so far.  Not that I'm going to be officially ranking anything again anytime soon.   :lol:  
:hifive: It took awhile to figure out (much less sing) that John sings the high part on that first "hold your hand" and Paul goes high on the second one. Those guys were animals.

 
Just think of all the free time you’ll have when the countdown is over. 
:lmao:  I am not kidding that I was thinking of this earlier today!  Figured I might reacquaint myself with some friends, start working out every day again...then it will be NCAA tourney time so there's that...maybe do my taxes...the world will be my oyster!

 
I finished the links to my write-ups going back through song #85, comprising songs posted in the last 40 pages of this thread.  Good god, this is the most tedious thing I've done in years, and if you read my write-ups, which no one does, you know I know tedium.  

ETA:  Went ahead and did the first ten pages, too, which took me down to #172, and omg i want to die please kill me now not enough wine in the world for this.
I'll send you some wine for this. You deserve more, but it's what I can do. How do you feel about Saunsares? 🤔 

 
I never have time on my computer if it isn't work so this is a phone board for the most part these days. That means I don't really click on the links. I clicked on that Al Green one. Thank you for that. My cat though does not appreciate audio form my phone and Al Green's glorious voice was no different. As I was digging the groove she was digging in teeth into the blanket that seperate her from my knee. It was adorable. She ran away. But now she's back making biscuits.

Maybe she resents a song about hands because since she has no hands to speak of? Or maybe she only hears I want to bite your kneeeeeee. I WANT TO BITE YOUR KNEE! 

 
I'll send you some wine for this. You deserve more, but it's what I can do. How do you feel about Saunsares? 🤔 
Your idea to put the links in the first post was great.  It's my own damn fault for not thinking to do it from the beginning.

I am not, however, scrolling through the whole thread again to add links to the best comments on a ranking, the best lunchboxes, or best cures for insomnia.

I never have time on my computer if it isn't work so this is a phone board for the most part these days. That means I don't really click on the links. I clicked on that Al Green one. Thank you for that. My cat though does not appreciate audio form my phone and Al Green's glorious voice was no different. As I was digging the groove she was digging in teeth into the blanket that seperate her from my knee. It was adorable. She ran away. But now she's back making biscuits.

Maybe she resents a song about hands because since she has no hands to speak of? Or maybe she only hears I want to bite your kneeeeeee. I WANT TO BITE YOUR KNEE! 
:lmao:   We have a cat who goes freaking insane when I'm on speakerphone!  She will start running in circles and then biting me, hard, until I take it off speaker.  Sounds like your cat's issues!

 
... and if you read my write-ups, which no one does... 
K, it's your own dang fault! 

Lemme tell ya, I went back to read em all, as I noted the other day. I was impressed - truly. 

But, then I read this:

"There were only like 73.5 million people in the US at that time, meaning more than 99% of Americans were watching, including infants and prisoners.  Sure, I totally made that up."

Wat?!

You make stuff up?! 

I feel soo naive now!

P. S. 🤣

Great stats! 

 
Really should, that stuff is not for people who have any drug history. But indulging unwisely is one of the best parts of life. 
Oh, you are so right, the indulging was awesome. 🙂

However, I began paying for it when I hit 50. 😖

😁

Also, I should be less harsh on my doc. She only gave me 3 pills last month to try if I needed. I tried the 1st one last night. 

Actually, I'm grateful that my 1st use was so bad. It could have been much worse if I liked em and didn't get burned until it was too late. 

Uh, I thought I mentioned it last night, but I just checked, and I didn't; I have an appointment with a sleep specialist in early March. That doc will take over my insomnia issues, so the ambien was never meant to be long term. Rather, just a contingency plan until the expert got hold a me. 

Still - a damn bad idea in retrospect. 

 
I think you already told me about this one.  Would wind up around 70th.
I figure the two lowest ranked of what I have remaining are “For No One” and “I’m So Tired.”  Maybe there’s something unexpected but those seem most likely.  “For No One” is in the top 10 so I don’t think you would have mentioned it.  I guess it’s a minor spoiler, but “I’m So Tired” is not next either.

Top 18 now locked in; no more changes.  

Had 15-18 filled in when Mr krista came home and, out of curiosity, I asked him what his favorites were.  He said, “Obviously [my 15] first, then [my 16].  [pause]  [my 17] next and then [my 18].”   :hifive:

 
I figure the two lowest ranked of what I have remaining are “For No One” and “I’m So Tired.”  Maybe there’s something unexpected but those seem most likely.  “For No One” is in the top 10 so I don’t think you would have mentioned it.  I guess it’s a minor spoiler, but “I’m So Tired” is not next either.

Top 18 now locked in; no more changes.  

Had 15-18 filled in when Mr krista came home and, out of curiosity, I asked him what his favorites were.  He said, “Obviously [my 15] first, then [my 16].  [pause]  [my 17] next and then [my 18].”   :hifive:
Ima carrying "I'm So Tired" in my pack of 25.

Keep rising my insomnia ode! 

 
Sorry if this has been posted already but caught this while reading about the band

Let It Be has not been officially available on home video since the 1980s, although original and bootleg copies of the film still circulate, while early attempts to release the film on DVD and Blu-ray did not come to fruition.[2] In 2019, it was announced that a new version of the film incorporating previously-unseen footage, directed by Peter Jackson, would be released to coincide with the album and film's fiftieth anniversary, and will be followed by a remastered re-release of the original film.

 
Great write-up of I Want To Hold Your Hand. I'm eliminated from the number one competition, but it seems worth it. The opening of that song just absolutely rocks, as Mr. krista points out, and as you point out, the time signature changes are cool. 

Once again, waltz time! 

Anyway, I know we're not really nostalgic here, but it does evoke memories of my early adulthood and childhood. The first five or six seconds of that song are probably what hooked me into rock n' roll for life. 

PS I also thought that the 79 out of 79.5 million and  "infants and prisoners" line deserved a  :lmao: , so here it is.  

PPS I think, through this thread, some of your frustration about people kvetching and not adding substance is precisely because the write-ups are so thorough and well done that in order to acknowledge the work and love that went into it, we can only relate our own personal stories and feelings about the music. Just a thought I've had, and probably a little late, but that might be something to consider.  

Peace.  

 
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krista4 said:
19.  I Want To Hold Your Hand (single, 1963)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

"I Want To Hold Your Hand" knocked "She Loves You" off the top spot on the UK charts, selling over a million copies in advance of its release!  While Beatlemania was in full swing in the UK, it hadn't blossomed much yet in the US.  Maybe everybody knows the background of this song, but in case someone wandered into the thread from Mars or Mississippi...  An interview with the Beatles and story about their UK success was aired on CBS News on December 10, 1963, and a teenager viewer named Marsha Albert wrote to Carroll James, a DJ in DC, asking him to play something from the Beatles.  James secured a copy of the song in advance of its official release and asked Albert onto the show to introduce it, which she did with the now-famous words, "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time on the air in the United States, here are The Beatles singing 'I Want To Hold Your Hand.'"  Soon the song was being played by DJs around the country, and Capitol advanced its release to accommodate the overwhelming response, selling over a million copies in ten days.  It quickly became the first Beatles song to hit #1 in the US, coincidentally being replaced by "She Loves You" after a seven-week run.  

It's hard to imagine now how monumental it was at that time for a British band to maintain this kind of presence on the US charts, but it just didn't happen before that.  Even for the Beatles, three singles - "Please Please Me," "From Me To You," and "She Loves You" - had previously been released mostly to yawns.  The Beatles were in the midst of their Paris shows when word came in that they had hit #1 in the US, and Paul said they all jumped on Mal Evans and tried to ride him around the hotel room while, as Ringo described it, they “all just started acting like people from Texas, hollering and shouting ‘Yahoo!’”  A US tour was quickly organized, including the iconic first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show that had more than 73 million viewers!  There were only like 73.5 million people in the US at that time, meaning more than 99% of Americans were watching, including infants and prisoners.  Sure, I totally made that up.  But holy hell, 73 million was a lot of viewers in 1963.

As their works tended to be at the time, this was a true collaboration between Paul and John - "eyeball to eyeball" as they termed it.  It was so well-crafted by the first time they brought it into the studio that Geoff Emerick thought to himself how much time they must have put into writing and rehearsing it, and though they made 17 takes, the Beatles were on point from the very beginning, sounding polished and confident.  George even laid down his guitar licks to everyone's immediate delight.  Emerick described the atmosphere during this recording as joyous, such as when they recorded the handclaps:  "As I watched the four Beatles gathered around a single mic, clowning around as they added the part, it was apparent to me how much fun they were having, how much they loved doing what they were doing."  

That intoxicating energy exudes from this song, as does the dollop of confidence they'd gain with their success in the UK market.  The song is best enjoyed for me as just a "feel," to get swept up in the excitement and fever and not think about it too deeply.  But since I am still me, I'll note a few things I particularly love.  Like several of my highly ranked songs, it starts with an infectious hook and then builds excitement, though this one is unusual in that respect; though it's hard to imagine not knowing what happens after those opening guitar licks, for just a second try to put yourself in the place of someone who's never heard this song before.  Where is it going?  How do I dance to this?  It's only ~5-6 seconds in that the song starts to resolve itself and give you an idea where it's going.  Like "She Loves You," it gives me the feeling of having been plopped into the middle of something wondrous that I don't yet quite understand.

The verses then start out normally enough, with some melodic unison singing punctuated by fun handclaps, until we get to that last line, where suddenly there's a break into an extremely high harmony for "I want to hold your hand," followed by - oh my god it's another reference to a drum fill but here we go - a phenomenal little drum fill.  Things turn normal again for most of a line in unison, whew, until again the vocal breaks into an unexpected harmony that descends in a staggered pattern.  What just happened here?  I don't know.  Luckily, we then go into a mellow bridge, and all is right with the world until oh my god there are those harmonies again and they're getting kind of loud and aggressively ascending and why are they shouting "I get high!" at me??  Relax, they're actually saying, "I can't hide," though Bob Dylan misheard those lyrics as "I get high" until the Beatles corrected him.  (I did not make that part up.)  Then we settle back into some verses and another bridge and everything goes fine because the harmonies are more consistent and we get to that "ha-a-a-a-a-and" part that all seems perfectly normal and is in waltz time and so no, mom, they are not bad boys, they are nice because look they are in suits and flicking their heads around cutely and that was 3/4 time and so you see this is all perfectly safe and you needn't worry and screeeeaam shrieeeeeek I'm gonna die if I can't make babies with them RIGHT NOW.  

Mr. krista:  "That’s a song that has gone up in my estimation. I love the chords that open it. I’m not 100% sure the rest of the song lives up to it, since it seems like something overwhelming is going to happen but it’s just 'I want to hold your hand.'  I feel like that’s a substitute phrase for something desperate and full of pathos."

Suggested cover:  Al Green
Counter Cover. Done as a Quiet Storm jam.

Lakeside arrived too late to catch onto the Black rock-&-funk mid-70s wave. P- Funk was falling apart and the world was changing. They had one fine dance-funk-your-house-off-its-foundation number in It's All The Way Live.

They had some pop sense, though, and covered a bunch of older songs in an early-80s, I'm-coked-up style. They also hit big with white audiences with the funk/rap crossover Fantastic Voyage

In any case, nothing they ever did was as good as Al Green's worst fart but I'm going to give them points for trying.

 
krista4 said:
  Two more knocked out.  Down to 15 if we don't count Mrs. Punk (whom I've listed but probably shouldn't be officially eligible) and the two who chose the song that I stated in the first post wasn't my #1. ;)  

  1. simey – Abbey Road medley
  2. Mister CIA – She Said She Said
  3. timschochet – Paperback Writer
  4. pecorino – Hey Jude
  5. Binky the Doormat – In My Life
  6. wikkidpissah – Taxman
  7. Dr. Octopus – Got To Get You Into My Life
  8. Nigel Tufnel – You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
  9. Uruk-Hai – Ticket to Ride
  10. Dinsy Ejotuz – Let It Be
  11. Tom Hagen – Eleanor Rigby
  12. Spock – Rain
  13. Leroy Hoard – A Day in the Life
  14. rockaction  - I Want to Hold Your Hand
  15. Ted Lange as Your Bartender – In My Life
  16. shuke – Abbey Road medley
  17. Alex P Keaton – Something
  18. Getzlaf15 – With A Little Help From My Friends
  19. zamboni – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
  20. neal cassady – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
  21. Shaft41 – Hey Bulldog
  22. Ilov80s – Norwegian Wood
  23. Officer Pete Malloy – I Want to Hold Your Hand
  24. Godsbrother – Dear Prudence
  25. ManofSteelhead – Eleanor Rigby
  26. mike9289 – I’m Looking Through You
  27. heckmanm: Eleanor Rigby
  28. Atomic Punk – A Day in the Life
  29. [Mrs. Punk – In My Life]
  30. bananafish – Abbey Road medley
  31. bonzai – Abbey Road medley
  32. fatguy – Here Comes the Sun
  33. ScottNorwood- Yesterday
  34. Sebowski – I’m So Tired
Mrs Punk is real!!!!

 
Coffee pot is on and me and Missus are doing the new routine of catching up on this thread and playing the tunes in order - most of them multiple times so we can listen to the specifics you write about.

Simply brilliant way to start a Saturday!

 
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Same here. But on a brighter note, the song you and Mrs. Punk are named after is one of the most underrated songs in the VH discography.
Agreed. I may have to throw that on and take a break from the endless loop of Beatles that has been on at my house for the last month or so.

 
Final final post-Beatles Beatles' song rankings.  Not sure how different this actually is from the last one, but I didn't want to move anything when I reopened it just now.

Code:
Post-Beatles Beatles

#1 My Sweet Lord (Harrison)
#2 Instant Karma (Lennon)
#3 What is Life (Harrison)
#4 Imagine (Lennon)
#5 Silly Love Songs (McCartney)
#6 Band on the Run (McCartney)
#7 It Don't Come Easy (Starr [Harrison])
#8 With a Little Luck (McCartney)
#9 Jet (McCartney)
#10 Live and Let Die (McCartney)
#11 Listen to What the Man Says (McCartney)
#12 Oh Yoko! (Lennon)
#13 Stand by Me (Lennon [King])
#14 Photograph (Starr)
#15 Give Me Love (Harrison)
#16 Maybe I'm Amazed (McCartney)
#17 Give Peace a Chance (Lennon)
#18 Another Day (McCartney)
#19 Happy X-mas (Lennon)
#20 Whatever Gets You Through the Night (Lennon)
#21 Let Em In (McCartney)
#22 Starting Over (Lennon)
#23 Watching the Wheels (Lennon)
#24 Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (McCartney)
#25 Woman (Lennon)
 
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I heard on the news this morning that Arianna Grande is now the first artists since the Beatles to have the top three songs on the Billboard chart at the same time.

I look forward to her top 204 ranked songs in 2058 on FootballGuysandGals.com*

* meetoo movement forces Joe to change the name eventually.

 
18.  Dear Prudence (White Album, 1968)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

The award for Biggest Jump in the Rankings goes to "Dear Prudence."  This is a song that I used to turn off when it came on; I was convinced that I couldn't stand it.  Would have been in Tier 5 were it not for forcing myself to listen to it over and over, and now it lands in the top 20!  WTG Prudence!

Prudence herself was Mia Farrow's crazy little sister, who was at the Maharishi's ashram at the same time as the lads in 1968.  According to John, Prudence "seemed to go slightly barmy, meditating too long, and couldn't come out of the little hut that we were living in. They selected me and George to try and bring her out because she would trust us. ... She'd been locked in for three weeks and wouldn't come out, trying to reach God quicker than anybody else."  Others described Prudence as being in a near-catatonic state, and the Maharishi provided her a full-time nurse.  While the song didn't lure her out - she didn't hear it until the album was released - Prudence did finally emerge from her state and spend some time with John and George, who told her that the song had been written about her. 

Ringo alert!  This is my highest ranked song with no Ringo, having been recorded while he'd temporarily quit the band.  That's Paul on drums, and, unlike on "Back in the U.S.S.R.," I think Paul acquits himself quite nicely here, especially on the fills and in the last verse when he goes nutso playing every pattern known to man.  Paul also played, in addition to the usual bass, piano and flugelhorn.  Because if you're Paul McCartney and see a flugelhorn lying around, naturally you can play it.  

John puts the finger-picking style he learned at the ashram from Donovan to great use here; I love how the song begins and ends with that delicate circling guitar line over Paul's soft one-note bass and tambourine.  Though it starts quietly and delicately, the song picks up incredible intensity, first by filling out the bass part and adding the drums in the first verse.  Though the second verse tracks the same melody with a continuation of that meandering double-tracked guitar line and John's double-tracked vocals, it adds a delicious descending bass line, then gorgeous high falsetto harmonies, and then George's low guitar chords to continue the build.  It's when Paul's descending bass starts providing those harmonies to John's guitar that this song gets exciting for me.  From that second verse we head into the bridge, which features George adding a more prominent lead vocal part and our first non-John vocals, with swelling harmonies provided by, among others, Mal Evans and Jackie Lomax (recently signed to the Apple label).  Rounding back out of the bridge, the intensity continues to build as George's guitar now distinctly winds around John's vocal, and Paul adds a series of slightly jarring downward arpeggios on piano; then handclaps and loud tambourines and double-tracked guitar and Paul's inexplicable drum solo and whirling high-pitched piano notes and gigantic glissando and things seem slightly out of control until...resolution.  This song has what must be the most satisfying resolution of any in the Beatles catalogue - John extends out the vocal lines while each of the instruments first briefly falls into a standard pattern instead of the preceding madness, and then each fades away, bringing us back to the beginning and leaving us with just John's finger-picking guitar. 

I find everything about this song mesmerizing.

Mr. krista: "I like it a lot.  Surprisingly heavy.  I didn’t think I liked it.  Love the Indian guitar sound with slight distortion coupled with the finger-picked part.  The drums sound kind of blowed out and heavy. You could put a song like that on a Flaming Lips record and it would not be at all out of place."

Suggested cover:  If you're not going to be able to capture it, and you're not, might as well go really different:  Siouxshie and the Banshees

 
ONE MORE JOINS THE TOP 10! The selection of “Dear Prudence” means that “I’m So Tired” lands in my top 10, much to the dismay of Getzlaf. :lol:   Only two people selected “I’m So Tired,” and Bonzai moves up into the current leaders with this selection.

Current Leaders (three correct)

ScottNorwood

simey

pecorino

tim

Bonzai

A Day In The Life

Shaft 41

Bonzai

Ted Lange 

Atomic Punk

bananafish

Heckmanm

fatguy

ilov80s

ManofSteelhead

Getzlaf

ScottNorwood

rockaction

simey

Dr. Octopus

tim

Spock

Tom Hagen

mike9289

Binky

pecorino

Across The Universe

ManofSteelhead

ScottNorwood

Mister CIA

simey

pecorino

And Your Bird Can Sing

Bonzai

ScottNorwood

Mister CIA

Simey

tim

Tom Hagen

Alex P Keaton

pecorino

For No One

Shaft41

Tim

I’m So Tired

Bonzai

Uruk

 
One more down:

  1. simey – Abbey Road medley
  2. Mister CIA – She Said She Said
  3. timschochet – Paperback Writer
  4. pecorino – Hey Jude
  5. Binky the Doormat – In My Life
  6. wikkidpissah – Taxman
  7. Dr. Octopus – Got To Get You Into My Life
  8. Nigel Tufnel – You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
  9. Uruk-Hai – Ticket to Ride
  10. Dinsy Ejotuz – Let It Be
  11. Tom Hagen – Eleanor Rigby
  12. Spock – Rain
  13. Leroy Hoard – A Day in the Life
  14. rockaction  - I Want to Hold Your Hand
  15. Ted Lange as Your Bartender – In My Life
  16. shuke – Abbey Road medley
  17. Alex P Keaton – Something
  18. Getzlaf15 – With A Little Help From My Friends
  19. zamboni – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
  20. neal cassady – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
  21. Shaft41 – Hey Bulldog
  22. Ilov80s – Norwegian Wood
  23. Officer Pete Malloy – I Want to Hold Your Hand
  24. Godsbrother – Dear Prudence
  25. ManofSteelhead – Eleanor Rigby
  26. mike9289 – I’m Looking Through You
  27. heckmanm: Eleanor Rigby
  28. Atomic Punk – A Day in the Life
  29. [Mrs. Punk – In My Life]
  30. bananafish – Abbey Road medley
  31. bonzai – Abbey Road medley
  32. fatguy – Here Comes the Sun
  33. ScottNorwood- Yesterday
  34. Sebowski – I’m So Tired
 
ONE MORE JOINS THE TOP 10! The selection of “Dear Prudence” means that “I’m So Tired” lands in my top 10, much to the dismay of Getzlaf. :lol:   Only two people selected “I’m So Tired,” and Bonzai moves up into the current leaders with this selection.
:bowtie:

 
Prudence seems like one of those names that you don't hear much anymore. Sort of like Beatrice and Bertha.
I don't think I've ever met a Beatrice or Prudence.  They seems like pretty names.  Think there were a couple of old ladies named "Bertha" at church when I was growing up.

 
 Paul also played, in addition to the usual bass, piano and flugelhorn.  Because if you're Paul McCartney and see a flugelhorn lying around, naturally you can play it.  
As someone with no musical ability whatsoever,  I can't wrap my head around someone like Paul's musicianship. When George couldn't get a guitar solo just right Paul bangs it out in a couple takes. When Ringo walked out Paul fills in on drums.  It seems like whatever instrument the Beatles wanted to include Paul just picked it up and played.

 

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