Previous polls (still active): Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Beatles For Sale, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, **Sgt. Pepper’s**, and Magical Mystery Tour/Yellow Submarine
This album is divided into two polls. But for this disc, there can be only one–which would you choose?
Revolution 1. Oh, shoo-bee-doo-wah…alright.
This particular poll really needs the option of voting “All tracks are shite.”
Failing that, “Revolution 1” is marginally less repellant than the rest of the tracks.
Not as good a disk as disk one…had the whole album been a single poll, not a one of these would have been in the running. Not that they’re bad, mostly (Revolution 9 excepted), but the first disk leaves them pretty thoroughly in the dust.
But, for this disk, unfortunate associations aside, Helter Skelter takes it, hands down. It’s just a seriously rocking tune.
Hard choice, as usual. I went with “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide” over “Yer Blues” and “Revolution #1” (which would have won if they used the single version).
I went with “Helter Skelter”, but I’m sad to say I don’t think there’s a truly essential song on this disc.
This one basically came down to two songs: “Mother Nature’s Son” and “Long, Long, Long”. I went with the former. Terrific also-rans being: “Savoy Truffle”, “Cry Baby Cry”, and “Sexy Sadie”.
All of you people are crazy. Or you need to give that album another listen. I can’t imagine being so dismissive of Sexy Sadie, Cry Baby Cry, Long, Long, Long (which is unbelievably beautiful), Yer Blues, Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey or Revolution 1. These are fucking great songs.
Well, I’ve been listening to it for about 30 years, and I consider these all second-tier songs.
I do believe the next album (assuming ArchiveGuy’s going in the order the albums were released) might actually be the toughest choice yet. Yes, even tougher than the Revolver and Hard Day’s Night polls.
And there’s a whole disk of other songs that are better on the album.
Wow. I just don’t get the hate for Disc 2. This is the better half of one the greatest albums in rock history. Don’t really care if YMMV.
I went with “Yer Blues”.
Never much liked the slow-ass version of “Revolution.” It really needs that more aggressive sound (particularly the direct-injected guitar), IMO - otherwise, it’s just another well-written blues tune. Lennon’s energy and fire in the singles version elevates it to true heights.
Although it was tough not to vote for “Helter Skelter,” one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded, I ended up voting for “Everybody Has Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey.” It’s the “Hey Bulldog” of the White Album sessions - a stomping tune with great energy, a memorable hook, and a fabulous groove, which somehow gets overlooked by most Beatles fans.
“Sexy Sadie” was another close runner-up for me.
Yeah, this is… not a great album. The only winners for me are Helter Skelter, Revolution No. 1, Mother Nature’s Son, Everybody’s Got Something to Hide…, and Sexy Sadie. Which, let’s face it, ain’t a bad ratio of decent:meh for any other group. But the Beatles aren’t just any group, so I expect better from 'em.
I went with Revolution No. 1, but I admit only because it’s riding the coattails of the faster, rockin’er version, which I vastly prefer. My heart wanted to pick Helter Skelter. I just really wanted to go for a John song this time around so I don’t seem like such a gushy Paul fangirl.
For me it was between “Helter Skelter” and “Yer Blues” and I closed my eyes and went with “Yer Blues.” I love the whole blues vibe, but I have a little buyer’s remorse for not picking “Helter Skelter.”
Helter Skelter got my vote because it rocks and it rolls.
I couldn’t vote for Revolution because the single version of that song is *clearly *superior and I am not voting for the inferior version of any song. If the single version were on the album that would have gotten my vote. I also almost went with Helter Skelter because of the significance, but honestly it’s a song I have played in various bands something like 5000 times in my lifetime, and it’s simplistic to the point of being annoying. It’s not even fun simple like All Day and All of the Night by the Kinks.
Yer Blues is a great song, and probably would get my vote if I were in a different mood, but it is just very slightly unsatisfying as a blues tune.
So my vote went to Cry Baby Cry, a significantly underrated song with some really interesting things going on both musically and lyrically.
Sexy Sadie is one of my favorite Beatles songs.
Disc 2 has quite a few songs that only work if you’re in the right mood for them (IME); otherwise, they’re just boring. But I always enjoy listening to “Savoy Truffle.” It’s catchy, it’s sinister, it rocks, it’s menacing, and it’s about candy.
I’ve got your back on Cry Baby Cry. The lyrics are well crafted but also sound casually tossed off.
The melody is simple, but with the lyrics evokes a complex mood.
The lyrical genre is sad original fantasy/fairytale. A similar song is Dancing Bear by the Mamas & Papas.