In the UK Parlophone/Apple release sequence, which we have been using for the purposes of these polls, Day Tripper was the lead single that went with Rubber Soul, released on the same date.
The US Capitol release sequence until Rubber Soul was not as concerned with segregating the singles, which were all expected to make it to an album eventually. Between UK standalone singles, B-sides and EPs, alternate takes, material they lost and recovered the rights to, soundtrack score tracks, and tracks that were excluded from the US versions of the UK albums, Capitol assembled another half dozen studio albums. That’s really maximizing your market take.
“Studio” is an odd way to put it. “Non-studio” generally means “live in concert,” like the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl LP released in the 70s (recorded in '64 and '65).
The Past Masters songs were all recorded in a studio, it’s just that most were never released on a (canonical) UK album – rather, as singles. For these, if you happened to have it on a (non-canonical) US album, you already had the song, and now you have two copies – end of story. Only a few Past Masters tracks appeared on a UK album, but were included because their single version was notably different.
This was a tough one even after eliminating the quasi-duplicates. “Paperback Writer” and “We Can Work It Out” are both very strong contenders. “Day Tripper” is a bit more conventional, but still pretty good. “The Ballad of John and Yoko”, “Revolution”, and “Lady Madonna”, they are pretty good too. “Old Brown Shoe” is fun and melodic. In the end, though, my vote goes, reluctantly deciding, to “Don’t Let Me Down”, a masterpiece of stripped-down musical and lyrical simplicit,y and raw emotion, and something that foreshadows and overshadows the best of what John would do in his uneven solo career.
I have never understood why so many people seem to love (or perhaps it is really more, admire) “Rain” so much. To me it is a dull dirge concealing a nasty sneer. There is some musical innovation there, I guess, but no more than in many other tracks even on this platter (or the other side of the same single), let alone the band’s oeuvre as a whole. I think I do understand why people love “Hey Jude”, and its facile attempt at life coaching from a superstar, but I do not share their view.
And how come “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” is getting votes? More than “Don’t Let Me Down” at the minute! I mean, OK, its a fun bit of goofy, light relief, but no way is it a great song, and there are plenty of truly great songs here.
Two of my most tenacious ear worms are in this collection: Lady Madonna (especially the bass line) and Let It Be. And I associate a couple of others (We Can Work It Out and Hey Jude with fond memories from the time they came out. For whatever reasons I finally settled on Let It Be.
I personally picked “Old Brown Shoe”(though I’d have to admit Day Tripper is better) because it’s a George song and has a very George riff that’s irresistible.
Are you sure about that? I thought that Octarine’s wider project, when we get to the second round and vote amongst the winners of each collection, was indeed to find the best Beatles song (by popular acclamation). Anyway, some people seem to be using their own idiosyncratic criteria, like “most innovative”* or the fact that one single came from the sessions associated with a better album than another did.
*I mean, seriously! The fact that “I Feel Fine” innovated by using feedback makes it a better, or, indeed, more likeable, song than "She Loves You " or “I Want to Hold Your Hand”? Give me a break!
I am not surprised at all, but I don’t approve. “Rain” is one of the very few Beatle songs I actively dislike, but it is very hip to say you like it.
Njtt, I loved “Rain” from the moment I heard it, listening to my friend’s “Hey Jude” LP (I was about nine years old). I didn’t know it was from the Revolver sessions at the time, but it made sense when I found that out later (Revolver had been my first Beatles love, at age four), so that’s why I mentioned the connection.
Nothing hip about it, for me. Just awesome drum fills, simple arpeggiated chords to contrast the not-so-simple blow-away bass lines, a hint of psychedelia but mainly a straightforward rock song that would work well on stage. Obviously akin to “She Said She Said,” which I picked as my fave from “Revolver.”
Trust me, I was the unhippest nine-year-old around.
To continue my “Rain” story…when I was nine years old, I had been actively creating a planet – mapping it, figuring out the history of its cultures and languages, etc. (I warned you – not hip). Naturally, I invented rock groups, each with lineups, albums, songs, concert tours… Some songs I made up (usually just the title, occasionally the entire song), others I borrowed from Earth’s musical acts. When I heard “Rain,” I loved it so much I decided to make it the signature hit of one of the rock groups on my planet. It was the biggest bit of their career. They weren’t exactly one-hit-wonders, those guys, but they would always be associated with that song, and had to trot it out at all their shows lest the fans go home disappointed.
It’s on *Magical Mystery Tour *-- the British “double EP” which was released around the same time as the TV show and the American LP with extra tracks. Most consider MMT a canonical “project”…though you’re right that AYNIL doesn’t fit as well with “Walrus,” “Hello Goodbye,” etc., because it was recorded several months before those.
It was not on the double EP. However, since the American LP version of MMT was included in the original CD reissue campaign in 1987, the “side two” songs were covered and thereby not included on Past Masters. (Anyway, it was also already on Yellow Submarine.)
Though deservedly a B-side, “Rain” is a good song and a stellar production. I think if it suffers in any way it’s because “She Said She Said” covers similar sonic terrain to better effect. (SSSS being Lennon’s best song on Revolver, in my not at all humble opinion.)
