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In this thread I rank my favorite Beatles songs: 204-1. (9 Viewers)

Getzlaf15 said:
Never had a lunch box  :bag:
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After a while us older kids ditched our ours for paper bags containing a minimum lunch. We would wolf that down and leave for the playground which was directly across the street from a party store.  Where we would spend all our money on junk food like chips and candy bars.

 
Leroy Hoard said:
After a while us older kids ditched our ours for paper bags containing a minimum lunch. We would wolf that down and leave for the playground which was directly across the street from a party store.  Where we would spend all our money on junk food like chips and candy bars.
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I always had the brown paper bag, with a PBJ, a bag of chips, sometimes an apple and some change to hit the vending machine for a milk and an ice cream sandwich.  All of which was consumed in about 90 seconds and then off to play hoops.

 
Ilov80s said:
I always thought the medley was perfect and Majesty really only would work on The White Album.
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That's an intriguing idea.  

Leroy Hoard said:
Last couple really not bad songs.
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I don't think Honey Pie is a bad song, either.  We're getting into the realm of not bad but just stuff I personally don't like so much, or stuff that gets docked for being a snippet or a cover not as good as the original.  And the Beatles had so many good songs that something ranked, say, 150th is still going to be pretty damn good.

By the way, people shouldn't feel hesitant to say they disagree with me.  There will be tons of differing tastes in here, and I'd like to hear what people love in the songs I dislike, or hate in the songs I love.  That's what it's all about.  There are some where I guarantee 95-100% of you are going to disagree with me.   :)  

 
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Speaking of covers that aren't as good as the originals...

195.  Chains (Please Please Me, 1963)

Beatles version: Spotify  YouTube

Written by Carol King and originally recorded by The Cookies:  original version.  I like that the Beatles took up several songs from girl groups.  Some of them that we'll get to later work better than this one.  One of the problems I have with a few of these early covers is...George.  I love George!  But I feel like his voice just wasn't developed enough at this point to handle some of these songs, which I'll call out again on a later cover or two.  He was a wee bit younger than the others, and sometimes it shows.  On this one his voice sounds particularly tinny and slightly out of tune, maybe because of some small country(?) affect it sounds like he's trying to inflect in it.  I do dig the harmonica intro on the Beatles version a lot.

Fun fact:  this was the first song they recorded with three-part harmonies.

Mr. krista:  "Great song for George at the time.  It’s a nice song, kinda out of tune." 

 
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194.  Not a Second Time (With the Beatles, 1963)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube  

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.   :lmao:  

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.

 
krista4 said:
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?
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Guess what my answer is...

(though I figure the Beatles are good for somewhere like 75 to around 100 solid tunes)

 
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It's a "With the Beatles" run:

193.  Little Child (With the Beatles, 1963)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

When @wikkidpissah made reference to something along the lines "their clangy early stuff" (although I'm sure he said it in more eloquent words), I immediately wondered if this was one of the songs he had in mind (the other that jumped to mind was Hold Me Tight).   I enjoy the energy of this song, and the harmonica, and for some reason I'm particularly enamored with Paul's harmonies on it - it might just be me, but I hear sarcasm in the "I'm so sad and lonely."  But the song, like Not a Second Time, seems to go nowhere, albeit with great energy.  It's also a bit sloppy - the drums sound off to me, the guitars seem drowned out, and there are actual mistakes, such as overdubbing of John singing two different sets of lyrics.  Kind of an upbeat mess.

Mr. krista:  "I like that you can tell all these songs are probably recorded in the same two-hour window.  And the piano was really good in that.  A little barnburner there."

Suggested cover:  Smithereens

 
rockaction said:
Aww, shucks. I always liked this song. But I had black and white Beatles posters on my wall in college, so you know where I stand with respect to early vs. late Beatles.  
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I knew I'd "lose" you as soon as I got into lower rankings for some early stuff, instead of just picking on the White Album all the time. ;)   Never fear, more White Album coming soon!

 
We're about 10-15 songs from starting into the ones I really like, then really really like, then love, then really really love, etc.  (I'm using a variant of tim's system of breaking the eras up into segments.)

 
krista4 said:
I knew I'd "lose" you as soon as I got into lower rankings for some early stuff, instead of just picking on the White Album all the time. ;)   Never fear, more White Album coming soon!
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Eh, it's all subjective. God Bless picking on the White Album, though. 

I kid. Every Beatles album has great songs on it. I just need to be in the right frame of mind to listen to the later stuff. I also thought I couldn't listen to the early to mid '70s Kinks, either, and simey got me into Muswell Hillbillies, which wound up being this year's Xmas gift from the folks, so ignore the barbs from this part of the audience and maybe I'll have some new stuff to revere when the list drops and becomes more into focus for the rest of us.  

 
rockaction said:
Eh, it's all subjective. God Bless picking on the White Album, though. 

I kid. Every Beatles album has great songs on it. I just need to be in the right frame of mind to listen to the later stuff. I also thought I couldn't listen to the early to mid '70s Kinks, either, and simey got me into Muswell Hillbillies, which wound up being this year's Xmas gift from the folks, so ignore the barbs from this part of the audience and maybe I'll have some new stuff to revere when the list drops and becomes more into focus for the rest of us.  
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This list is fluid, too.  It was a last-minute decision to drop Not a Second Time and Little Child down in the rankings - they were ~8 slots up earlier today (not that that's a huge difference).  I have these in not-sure-how-many tiers at this point, generally of about 10-12 each, and songs are continuing to move around in those tiers.  I had actually done the whole write-up for a different song before deciding to move those down instead.  Even now I look and think I should have switched just those two...  I had to start this thread just so I'd commit to the rankings and stop thinking about it.

 
krista4 said:
This list is fluid, too.  It was a last-minute decision to drop Not a Second Time and Little Child down in the rankings - they were ~8 slots up earlier today (not that that's a huge difference).  I have these in not-sure-how-many tiers at this point, generally of about 10-12 each, and songs are continuing to move around in those tiers.  I had actually done the whole write-up for a different song before deciding to move those down instead.  Even now I look and think I should have switched just those two...  I had to start this thread just so I'd commit to the rankings and stop thinking about it.
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This is a Herculean effort, as far as online rankings are considered. Fun. Love your and Mr. Krista's comments about the songs. I totally cannot analyze music in that way. Impressed.   

 
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rockaction said:
This is a Herculean effort, as far as online rankings are considered. Fun. Love your and Mr. Krista's comments about the songs. I totally cannot analyze music in that way. Impressed.   
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Thanks.  I haven’t done much analysis yet (“these drums make me angry” probably won’t qualify), but promise to include a lot more once we get to songs I rank more highly.  Right now I’m just slogging through to get to my favorite stuff.

 
Gr00vus said:
I should have been clearer. I was just hoping that @krista4 would note in the summary list where the good stuff starts. It would be nice for those of us who can't keep up with the thread to know where to start listening in while avoiding the dregs.

Sorry if my initial post came off as snarky, that was not my intent.
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Oh man.  You don’t have to apologize when I’m the d*ck.

 
Binky The Doormat said:
YOUR HILLBILLY ### NEEDS TO ROOT FOR BAMA!!!!  

Ain't nobody south of the Mason Dixon line would ever consider these two jagaloons even close to The Beatles. 

Still very popular.   :)
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When Krista makes an epic thread ranking your posts, my color would be something like:

”Strong capslock game and EXCELLENT use of the jagaloon.  Timeless.  Not a lot of dudes using multiple punctuation marks at that time, either.”

 
One more so east-coasters have something to talk about in the morning.  I have freaking conference calls starting at 7 a.m., so I'll be back in the later morning to see how it goes.  

Reminder that we're in the realm of not-awful now, but it's the Beatles so something still has to be in the 190s, and I'm sure I have this lower than many of you would.

192.  Why Don't We Do It in the Road?  (White Album, 1968)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

As I look back at it, I probably should have kept this in a lower position, since it's the only song left that kind of irritates me.  What's done is done!

Paul knocked this out without input from John or George, which apparently hurt John's feelings, though John later professed (perhaps sarcastically) to loving this song.  I appreciate Paul's description of the inspiration for the song, which was based on an experience in India:  "I was up on the flat roof meditating and I'd seen a troupe of monkeys walking along in the jungle and a male just hopped on to the back of this female and gave her one, as they say in the vernacular. Within two or three seconds he hopped off again, and looked around as if to say, 'It wasn't me,' and she looked around as if there had been some mild disturbance but thought, Huh, I must have imagined it, and she wandered off. And I thought, bloody hell, that puts it all into a cocked hat, that's how simple the act of procreation is, this bloody monkey just hopping on and hopping off. There is an urge, they do it, and it's done with. And it's that simple. We have horrendous problems with it, and yet animals don't. So that was basically it. Why Don't We Do It In The Road? could have applied to either ####### or ####ting, to put it roughly. Why don't we do either of them in the road? Well, the answer is we're civilised and we don't. But the song was just to pose that question. Why Don't We Do It In The Road? was a primitive statement to do with sex or to do with freedom really. I like it, it'd just so outrageous that I like it."

I appreciate the sentiment here (how you doin'?), but what makes the song irritating to me is Paul's vocal.  What is he trying to do?  This is one of those times when I feel like Paul's ability to perform in different genres almost slips into unintended parody, unlike John's "Yer Blues," which will be ranked much higher.  

But as to Paul's vocal, let's have Mr. krista take over:  "Such a throwaway track.  One good line, but the song doesn’t really go anywhere. Pretty half-assed.  Can you imagine if George had had something to do with it, like a killer guitar part?  George could have really helped that song.  So dumb, so half-assed.  Trying to sound like BB King.  Shut your British hole.  You're doing it in the bed, the curtains closed.  It's a well appointed room, or whatever the opposite of a road is.  [20-minute diatribe regarding English people trying to co-opt the blues, complete with comparison to if we tried to make a Native American song by doing the woo-woo-woo with our hands hitting our mouths and saying "how?".] 

Suggested cover:  Lowell Fulsom  Holy hell, this is how blues should sound.  And listen to those angry guitars.  

 
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Oliver Humanzee said:
When Krista makes an epic thread ranking your posts, my color would be something like:

”Strong capslock game and EXCELLENT use of the jagaloon.  Timeless.  Not a lot of dudes using multiple punctuation marks at that time, either.”
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I was raised well.  

We all thank you two for your time and effort.  It is much appreciated.  Please allow me to send you a fruitcake.  

 
Ted Lange as your Bartender said:
Wow - I fell behind here.  I had never heard the Abbey Road medley with Her Majesty shoved in the middle, though I knew that was the intent.

Thank God they cut it out of there, as the Mustard/Pam smash cut is one of my favorite things in all of Beatledom.  Majesty kills that medley vibe dead
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My favorite transition is between Polythene Pam and She Came In Through the Bathroom Window.  Kills me every time.  Look out!!

 
krista4 said:
ARrrrrrgghhhhh, just typed all this up and lost it.  Here's a newly truncated version.

196.  Her Majesty (Abbey Road, 1969)
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Did not know that about the medley. Coo-ul and right choice

krista4 said:
Speaking of covers that aren't as good as the originals...

195.  Chains (Please Please Me, 1963)
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This is one of the songs that made it easier to draw pimples & such on sis's Beatle poster

krista4 said:
194.  Not a Second Time (With the Beatles, 1963)
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Hitmaking. Each four bars here there's a one-note change off a proven Beatle motif. If the adults have lots of cash, sometimes you listen...

krista4 said:
It's a "With the Beatles" run:

193.  Little Child (With the Beatles, 1963)
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By 'clangy', i meant the ringing sound of Rickenbackers that made their filler songs perky enough to be forgiven. This is more clunky

krista4 said:
One more so east-coasters have something to talk about in the morning.  I have freaking conference calls starting at 7 a.m., so I'll be back in the later morning to see how it goes.  

Reminder that we're in the realm of not-awful now, but it's the Beatles so something still has to be in the 190s, and I'm sure I have this lower than many of you would.

192.  Why Don't We Do It in the Road?  (White Album, 1968)
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Between 1965-75, i hitchhiked almost a quarter of a million miles. It's lonely work and, in sparser regions, you end up doing little more than staring at a lot of pavement for hours on end. Singing WDWDIITR as you do helps.

 
krista4 said:
One more so east-coasters have something to talk about in the morning.  I have freaking conference calls starting at 7 a.m., so I'll be back in the later morning to see how it goes.  

Reminder that we're in the realm of not-awful now, but it's the Beatles so something still has to be in the 190s, and I'm sure I have this lower than many of you would.

192.  Why Don't We Do It in the Road?  (White Album, 1968)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

As I look back at it, I probably should have kept this in a lower position, since it's the only song left that kind of irritates me.  What's done is done!

Paul knocked this out without input from John or George, which apparently hurt John's feelings, though John later professed (perhaps sarcastically) to loving this song.  I appreciate Paul's description of the inspiration for the song, which was based on an experience in India:  "I was up on the flat roof meditating and I'd seen a troupe of monkeys walking along in the jungle and a male just hopped on to the back of this female and gave her one, as they say in the vernacular. Within two or three seconds he hopped off again, and looked around as if to say, 'It wasn't me,' and she looked around as if there had been some mild disturbance but thought, Huh, I must have imagined it, and she wandered off. And I thought, bloody hell, that puts it all into a cocked hat, that's how simple the act of procreation is, this bloody monkey just hopping on and hopping off. There is an urge, they do it, and it's done with. And it's that simple. We have horrendous problems with it, and yet animals don't. So that was basically it. Why Don't We Do It In The Road? could have applied to either ####### or ####ting, to put it roughly. Why don't we do either of them in the road? Well, the answer is we're civilised and we don't. But the song was just to pose that question. Why Don't We Do It In The Road? was a primitive statement to do with sex or to do with freedom really. I like it, it'd just so outrageous that I like it."

I appreciate the sentiment here (how you doin'?), but what makes the song irritating to me is Paul's vocal.  What is he trying to do?  This is one of those times when I feel like Paul's ability to perform in different genres almost slips into unintended parody, unlike John's "Yer Blues," which will be ranked much higher.  

But as to Paul's vocal, let's have Mr. krista take over:  "Such a throwaway track.  One good line, but the song doesn’t really go anywhere. Pretty half-assed.  Can you imagine if George had had something to do with it, like a killer guitar part?  George could have really helped that song.  So dumb, so half-assed.  Trying to sound like BB King.  Shut your British hole.  You're doing it in the bed, the curtains closed.  It's a well appointed room, or whatever the opposite of a road is.  [20-minute diatribe regarding English people trying to co-opt the blues, complete with comparison to if we tried to make a Native American song by doing the woo-woo-woo with our hands hitting our mouths and saying "how?".] 

Suggested cover:  Lowell Fulsom  Holy hell, this is how blues should sound.  And listen to those angry guitars.  
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I think this is a spot-on position for this dreck.  This came on the Beatles channel a few nights ago when my wife was with me, and I hadn't heard it in a long time.  Granted, she is not the Beatles appreciator I am, but, after about 30 seconds of Paul repeating himself, she was like "Is this song about what I think it's about?  If so, it's dumb."  And I had to agree.  

This song, along with "Blue Jay Way" on the countdown so far, are, to me, perfect examples of the idea of just because you CAN write a song at that moment doesn't mean you SHOULD.  

 
krista4 said:
197.  Blue Jay Way (Magical Mystery Tour, 1967)

Beatles versions:  Spotify  YouTube
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A little late to the game, but I agree with wikkid here. One of my favorite Beatles tunes, but different viewpoints are what make this thread. And then again, I like just about anything by George. 

And this was my first lunch box. :rampart:

 
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Experiencing dissonance over Little Child.  I couldn't recognize it by name but if you called "I'm so sad and lonely" I'd have immediately responded with "Baby, take a chance with me."  The song is familiar when I listen to it, but not directly, more like I know some cover of it.  I couldn't find a more familiar cover than the original, though.  C'est la vie.  

I like most of the lowly White Album songs and agree they work better in the context in full album listens.  I'm particularly fond of harmonies and picking out and switching from part to part as I sing along.  So Wild Honey Pie is a fun guilty pleasure.  I've had enough of #9 though.  

 
krista4 said:
One more so east-coasters have something to talk about in the morning.  I have freaking conference calls starting at 7 a.m., so I'll be back in the later morning to see how it goes.  

Reminder that we're in the realm of not-awful now, but it's the Beatles so something still has to be in the 190s, and I'm sure I have this lower than many of you would.

192.  Why Don't We Do It in the Road?  (White Album, 1968)
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I love this song.  I will grant they have so much good that there is a ton that was "better," but while the ones that have been posted before it won't make me stop too often to listen, this one will every time.  Which I guess is one of the intended/unintended points to this exercise - there is so much here.

Meanwhile, slightly off topic, I haven't listed any demands yet, but I would really like to know what you were wearing and the food/drink being consumed, if any, when you first heard the songs.  The mood and setting, if you will.  kthanxbye.

 
zamboni said:
A little late to the game, but I agree with wikkid here. One of my favorite Beatles tunes, but different viewpoints are what make this thread. And then again, I like just about anything by George. 

And this was my first lunch box. :rampart:
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That's a dead-on Kevin Tighe :thumbup:

 
zamboni said:
A little late to the game, but I agree with wikkid here. One of my favorite Beatles tunes, but different viewpoints are what make this thread. And then again, I like just about anything by George. 

And this was my first lunch box. :rampart:
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BRRRRAAAAANNNNNGGGGG..... 

Station 51...child trapped in cigarette vending machine...1515 North Sam Forty Avenue...time out: 15:46

Station 51, 10-4 KMG 365

 
I have a few minutes between meetings.  

I've realized from this exercise that I enjoy the White Album significantly more as a whole than as the sum of its parts.  Some songs from it will be ranked highly; I'm just kinda feeling sorry for it right now.  On that theme:

191.  Good Night (White Album, 1968)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

It's our first Ringo-sung song on the countdown, though the song was written by John.  It's meant to be a lullaby for Julian, but to me it sounds like track four on a Disney film's soundtrack.  You know, not the intro music that sets the stage, or the closing song where everyone is happy because the princess was saved, or the recurring theme that everyone comes out of the movie humming.  It's that nice-enough song in the middle somewhere.  What I feel is over-orchestration contributes to the Disneyfication of the song.  But maybe that was all a necessary grounding in a familiar and calming style, since this follows Revolution 9 on the album.

I'm a fan of Ringo's singing voice, but not quite as much on this track - seems warm but overly dramatic, maybe?  Ringo has said he thought he sounded nervous on it.  I'd like to have heard what John would have sounded like singing it, as I wonder if he could have expressed the tenderness of it better than Ringo did.  I've read many times that Ringo was particularly popular with children everywhere, so maybe that's why John gave him the song instead.  

Mr. krista:  "I feel like this would be really good with just Ringo playing and a piano, but this is George Martin saying 'I’m going to justify my salary.'  I feel like there should be mermaids or synchronized swimming, Esther Williams stuff. It’s really sweet, but they didn’t need to do anything.  If they’d just made that last part the end, without scoring a 1940s musical, that could have been great.  They could have said, that’s it, we’re the Beatles, we’re done, good night and god bless."

Suggested cover:  I found quite a few good covers of this one, which speaks to how good the "bones" of the song are.  My favorite was The Carpenters  Wow.  Without excess orchestration added to the song, the purity of Karen's voice is stunning.

 
By the way, loving the different perspectives being expressed, particularly on Why Don't We Do It in the Road, which seems pretty polarizing.  I'm not doing a good job of responding because I am trying to get more songs posted.  Am I posting them too fast?  Too slow?  

 
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krista4 said:
By the way, loving the different perspectives being expressed, particularly on Why Don't We Do It in the Road, which seems pretty polarizing.  I'm not doing a good job of responding because I am trying to get more songs posted.  Am I posting them too fast?  Too slow?  
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That song has been stuck in my head all morning now. LOL.

Your pace is fine.  Post when you can.

 
krista4 said:
I have a few minutes between meetings.  

I've realized from this exercise that I enjoy the White Album significantly more as a whole than as the sum of its parts.  Some songs from it will be ranked highly; I'm just kinda feeling sorry for it right now.  On that theme:

191.  Good Night (White Album, 1968)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube
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Never a personal favorite, which is funny, because Billy Joel's Lullabye is basically the same song message and feel wise, and Iove that.

 
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