# Best of the Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067 "2014-03-07T01:00:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/21 "2014-03-07T14:14:06Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Care to explain this? John Lennon is _rumored_ to sing “Baby you’re a rich fag Jew” towards the end. I don’t hear it or believe it, myself. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/22 "2014-03-07T14:24:42Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > John Lennon is _rumored_ to sing “Baby you’re a rich fag Jew” towards the end. I don’t hear it or believe it, myself. And, that he was thinking of Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager who passed away around the time “Baby…” was being written. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/23 "2014-03-07T15:02:58Z")
I couldn’t decide between “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” so I voted for “I Am the Walrus.” 🙂 “The Fool on the Hill” is also worthy of consideration. But “All You Need Is Love” is IMHO vastly overrated. If I wanted a banal, childish sing-along, I’d listen to “Yellow Submarine.” ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/24 "2014-03-07T15:15:33Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > John Lennon is _rumored_ to sing “Baby you’re a rich fag Jew” towards the end. I don’t hear it or believe it, myself. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > And, that he was thinking of Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager who passed away around the time “Baby…” was being written. Never heard that before. Thanks. I don’t believe it at all. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/25 "2014-03-07T15:20:44Z")
“Penny Lane.” Easy choice. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/26 "2014-03-07T16:49:11Z")
I voted for “Hello/Goodbye”, one of the weaker singles in their entire catalog, for the simple reason that it’s the first Beatles song my daughter and I would sing together and play _Rock Band: The Beatles_ to. So while there are four or five songs that are easily “better”, this one shot straight up the chart of my heart when Sophia became a Beatles fan because of H/G. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/27 "2014-03-07T17:05:13Z")
I said in the Sgt. Pepper thread that Strawberry Fields Forever is by far my favorite Beatles song from that period. Whatever my conception of Beatles chronology is, I didn’t think of I Am the Walrus being from the same period. They started recording Strawberry Fields in November 1966 and released it the next February, while they started working on Walrus in August 1967, after Sgt. Pepper was already out, and then released the song in November. I’m not saying they’re from distinct periods, but I’d never thought of them that way. Strawberry Fields is psychedelic and strange, but to me, Walrus is even further out there. Strawberry Fields is rooted in John’s childhood, but Walrus is almost totally untethered to the real world. It starts with The Walrus and the Carpenter and just _goes_. In fact these are probably my two favorite Beatles songs. I’ve seen a lot of Dopers say “I can’t vote” in that situation, but I saw Walrus on the track list and clicked the button without reading any of the other songs because I forgot Strawberry Fields was also on the album. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/28 "2014-03-07T17:26:35Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Has this ever been confirmed? I think maybe Lennon once _said_ to someone that this lyric change had occurred to him as a funny little thought, but he never actually _sang_ it. > > But if that’s still reason enough for you to dislike the song, I understand. (But perhaps your criticism would be softened a little by remembering the thought was directed at a _particular_ wealthy homosexual Jewish man, one who probably made an uncomfortable advance at Lennon during a vacation in Spain a few years before.) > > I’m not trying to excuse Lennon’s well documented nasty streak, though. I heard it quite clearly the first time I heard the song on my Mobile Fidelity LP. Very clearly. The latest remastering does not have it, and those I listened to a few minutes ago. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/29 "2014-03-07T17:52:11Z")
A strange album. It sounds like a collection of Yellow Submarine outtakes, whimsy and experiment but short on genuine compositional creativity. I also agree with a previous post that described most of these as over-produced and over-processed. The McCartney vibe is strong with this one, and much of this album was reincarnated better as **Wings**. I may be unnecessarily harsh, but only because there are so many superior Beatles works out there. The whimsy and studio experiments of the White Album, for example, sound like virtuoso musicians in their element. On Mag Myst Tour, it sounds fumbling and amateurish. **Penny Lane** is the only stand-out to me as a complete song that still feels timeless and fresh today. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/30 "2014-03-07T18:08:00Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I do not consider this a truly canonical album, as it was not originally released in Britain in this form. _Magical Mystery Tour_ was released as a double EP of songs that were used for the (execrable) _Magical Mystery Tour_ TV Special (the TV show was awful, but the songs were well up to standard). For the US market these songs were released as the first side of an album, with the second side filled up with songs that had been previously released as singles and B sides, and whose original single releases had already been major media events. (Well, “Hello, Goodbye” may have been released as a single roughly simultaneously, but all the others were from several months earlier, and had already been major hits.) The album version was not released in the UK until many years later. > > The best song that _really_ belongs to _Magical Mystery Tour_ is undoubtedly “I Am the Walrus”, but it is overshadowed by the content from what was almost certainly their strongest ever single release, from almost a year earlier, the double-A-side of “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” (both recorded during the _Sgt. Pepper_ sessions, but released well before even that album was, let alone _Magical Mystery Tour_). > > I find it truly hard to choose between “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields” (and I rather regret not being able to give a vote to “I Am the Walrus” too). I think I actually _like_ the sunny and beautifully produced “Penny Lane” better, but I am voting for “Strawberry Fields” on account of its more innovative sound, greater emotional depth, and the sheer strangeness of its melody. (ho else but Lennon could have got away with a whole line of a song being on a single note?) Pretty much spot-on with my thinking all around. Well put. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/31 "2014-03-07T18:20:06Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I heard it quite clearly the first time I heard the song on my Mobile Fidelity LP. Very clearly. The latest remastering does not have it, and those I listened to a few minutes ago. Interesting, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/32 "2014-03-08T00:25:48Z")
It was really tough to decide between “I Am The Walrus” and “Strawberry Fields” but I wound up leaning just a little more towards “Walrus”. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > (“Walrus” is awesome, too. That BBC Shakespeare was so fortuitous.) I’m not sure what you mean by “fortuitous”. Is there a story behind it? I thought it was just some random stuff thrown in there for weirdness’ sake. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/33 "2014-03-08T00:45:42Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > (ho else but Lennon could have got away with a whole line of a song being on a single note?) Lennon’s habit of using repeated notes in melodies is always pointed out in musicological studies of the Beatles’ songwriting, but surely Macca deserves a Johnny-One-Note prize for “Silly Love Songs,” which begins with a G repeated 13 times in a row. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/34 "2014-03-08T01:07:45Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Lennon’s habit of using repeated notes in melodies is always pointed out in musicological studies of the Beatles’ songwriting, but surely Macca deserves a Johnny-One-Note prize for “Silly Love Songs,” which begins with a G repeated 13 times in a row. Paperback Writer? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/35 "2014-03-08T01:40:02Z")
I vote for [“Death Cab for Cutie”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5rCc2bzFAs)! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/36 "2014-03-08T01:41:02Z")
I actually saw the film. It wasn’t very good, but the high point for me was the Bonzo Dog Band performing “[Death Cab for Cutie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Whc9VxdP2E?t=45m20s).” In any case, “I am the Walrus” is the standout on a very good collection of songs. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/37 "2014-03-08T02:01:23Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean by “fortuitous”. Is there a story behind it? I thought it was just some random stuff thrown in there for weirdness’ sake. It happened to be on the radio right when they were recording that track. An irreproducible, perfect moment. (As a child, I always heard the words “Edgar Allan Poe” being spoken, echoing the line from the song. Turns out it’s “Earl of Gloucester” that’s being spoken there.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/38 "2014-03-08T02:17:29Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > John Lennon is _rumored_ to sing “Baby you’re a rich fag Jew” towards the end. I don’t hear it or believe it, myself. Same. Even trying to hear it, nope. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/39 "2014-03-08T14:13:25Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > It happened to be on the radio right when they were recording that track. An irreproducible, perfect moment. > > (As a child, I always heard the words “Edgar Allan Poe” being spoken, echoing the line from the song. Turns out it’s “Earl of Gloucester” that’s being spoken there.) I didn’t know that. I figured it was something already on tape that they just mixed in. And yeah I’ve always heard “Edgar Allan” something in there too. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067/40 "2014-03-08T14:16:32Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > John Lennon is _rumored_ to sing “Baby you’re a rich fag Jew” towards the end. I don’t hear it or believe it, myself. It is perhaps worth pointing out that “fag” is _not_ a British slang term for a homosexual. We have our own ways of denigrating homosexuals, thank you very much. In fact, “fag” in British slang, means a cigarette. A sentence like “I could just murder a fag,” carries no homophobic connotations in Britain at all. I doubt whether the American slang sense of “fag” was even particularly well known in Britain in 1967, as it probably would have been censored from most movie and TV scripts, which is where most Bits get most of their knowledge of American English from. As The Beatles had spent a fair bit of time in America by this time, it is quite likely that they would have been familiar with the American meaning of “fag”, but it does not seem likely that it would have come naturally to Lennon to actually use the word that way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-magical-mystery-tour/683067.md?page=3)