Cut the White Album down to a single LP

Cafe Society
#1

So, how would you cut (and sequence) the White Album to fit on one LP? I like it as a double, but occasionally someone will complain that it would be better as a oner.

Sometimes I feel that way myself, and will just queue up my favorite songs and skip the rest. (That happens with all albums at times.)

If it was a single album would it be their best?

Feel free to sequence it either as two LP sides, or a short CD, but no more than 14 songs, please.

Here’s the song list in random order:
*Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
Martha My Dear
Revolution 1
Long, Long, Long
Glass Onion
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Wild Honey Pie
Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Good Night
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
I’m So Tired
Blackbird
Cry Baby Cry
Piggies
Rocky Raccoon
Don’t Pass Me By
Julia
Birthday
Yer Blues
Mother Nature’s Son
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Dear Prudence
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
I Will
Honey Pie
Savoy Truffle
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Revolution 9
*

#2

Harder than I thought. Getting rid of Revolution 9, Wild Honey Pie, Why Don’t We Do It In The Road and all the other little fillers was easy enough, but it’s hard to lose things like Yer Blues, Martha My Dear, and Glass Onion, songs that should be on an album, but not this one (for the purposes of this therad).

My last cut was to Don’t Pass Me By. It was going to stay on as Ringo’s token song, but it sucks, so off it went.

My list, in no particular order:

While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
I’m So Tired
Blackbird
Cry Baby Cry
Rocky Raccoon
Julia
Mother Nature’s Son
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Dear Prudence
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
Savoy Truffle
Back in the U.S.S.R.

#3

Oh, the OP said sequenced too. Okay, I’ll give it a shot:

Side 1:
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Dear Prudence
Cry Baby Cry
Savoy Truffle
Mother Nature’s Son
Rocky Raccoon
While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Side 2:
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Julia
Blackbird
Helter Skelter
Sexy Sadie
I’m So Tired
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey

#4

Side 1
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Piggies
I’m So Tired
Helter Skelter
I Will
Cry Baby Cry

Side 2
Revolution 1
Sexy Sadie
Birthday
Martha My Dear
Blackbird
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Julia

Tough, but I tried to eliminate some of the tonal and content redundancy, while also keeping things balanced and quirkily diverse in a way the Beatles were shooting for. Hence:

“Julia” is a better lullaby than “Good Night” and more whistful than “Prudence”
“Birthday”'s a better sing-along than “Obla-Di”
“Guitar” is better mournful George than “Long Long”
“Piggies” is a tarter George throwaway than “Savoy”
“Martha”'s a better example of Paul’s songwriting nostalgia than “Honey”
“Gun” is more acidic John than “Yer Blues”
“Skelter” is harder and rougher than “WDWDIITR?” or “Monkey”
“Cry Baby” is more haunting than the similarly surreal (but more meta) “Glass Onion”

And I ditched both story songs (“Rocky” and “Bill”) since they don’t improve the balance any.

Not all those decisions were easy (and the final result still isn’t as good as Revolver, IMHO), but there you go…

#5

Harder than I thought it would be. While I’ve not got a lot of favorites on this album, there are still a lot of decent songs on it. The ones I really don’t care for tend to taint my opinion of the album as a whole. (Curiously, not the same as most folks. You guys like Rocky and Bill? And Julia?!)

Mostly I’m happy with the order as presented on the original album, so this is mostly in no particular order. Cry Baby Cry and Savoy Truffle both strike me as closers for some reason, but then again, I’m the guy who usually listens to his entire music collection on shuffle. I’m (mostly) deaf to transitions.

Anyway, no further ado:

Back in the USSR
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness is a Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
Don’t Pass Me By
I’m So Tired
Helter Skelter
Sexy Sadie
Birthday
Cry Baby Cry
Savoy Truffle

#6

Single disc? Fuck that.

Side 1
Revolution (fast version)
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
I’m So Tired
Piggies
Honey Pie
Yer Blues
Julia

Side 2
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Sexy Sadie
Wild Honey Pie
Not Guilty
Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

Side 3
Martha My Dear
Glass Onion
The Inner Light
Birthday
Cry Baby Cry
Don’t Pass Me By
Mother Nature’s Son

Side 4
Lady Madonna
Dear Prudence
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Long, Long, Long
I Will
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Blackbird
Side 5
Helter Skelter (27 minute version)

Side 6
Hey Jude
Savoy Truffle
Rocky Raccoon
Revolution 1
Revolution 9
Good Night

#7

No “Savoy Truffle”?

sobs

But it has the word “montelimar” in it! Nougat! How can you hate creamy, yummy nougat?

And yes, IT IS GOOD NEWS! AND YOU KNOW IT!

It must be incredibly lonely in your Beatleistic Puritan Ivory Tower…without NOUGAT!

#8

Side 1
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Dear Prudence
Piggies

I’m So Tired
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
I Will
Julia

Side 2
Birthday
Blackbird
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Yer Blues
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Helter Skelter
While My Guitar Gently Weeps

#9

I love me some nougat, but that’s song’s all air, like cotton candy (w/horns). And what’s sweet now turns so sour.

And you’ll notice, by omitting “Mother Nature’s Son”, that I don’t like too much cheez either. :wink:

#10

For comparison purposes, here’s the latest time we did this topic. I’m going to repeat my answer from that thread because I really think it works. I’ll have to test it sometime.

#11

Except this time, the OP limits the album to 14 tracks. You have 16.

So which 2 would you jettison?

#12

That’s what I get for not reading more carefully. I’d toss Wild Honey Pie and, I think, Cry Baby Cry.

#13

…and if anyone was wondering what happens to the standard version of “Helter Skelter” (not bloody likely, I know), it comes out as a single, with “Child of Nature” on the flip.

ETA: How the hell did the OP’s name get in the quote box? Changed to my own.

#14

Nice points. I’m still trying to do my own sequence, but don’t have many mid-tempo favorites, and that complicates things.

Don’t need the story songs, but Julia is one of my 4 or 5 favorite LenMc songs. It’s similar in feel to Across the Universe, but the biographical aspect makes it more affecting. Haunting. When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.

Damn, less than a year? I really should search before posting.

On the 3-disk set could you switch out Piggies and Wild Honey Pie, for Hey Bulldog and It’s All Too Much?

#15

How about expanding the original side 2’s animal theme:

Martha My Dear (supposedly inspired by Paul’s sheepdog)
Hey Bulldog
Blackbird
Piggies
Rocky Raccoon
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide But Me And My Monkey
Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (mentions elephants & tigers, title puns on buffalo)

Too bad “Octopus’s Garden” wasn’t written yet.

#16

Here’s my response from the last thread on this, edited to fit the new rules:

Side 1
2:43 – Back in the U.S.S.R.
3:56 – Dear Prudence
2:17 – Glass Onion
4:45 – While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison)
2:43 – Happiness Is a Warm Gun
2:28 – Martha My Dear
2:03 – I’m So Tired
1:41 – Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
Side 2
4:01 – Yer Blues
2:48 – Mother Nature’s Son
2:24 – Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
3:15 – Sexy Sadie
4:29 – Helter Skelter
3:04 – Long, Long, Long (Harrison)

#17

This was easier than I thought -in fact I’m going to make this version for myself

Helter Skelter
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Blackbird
Dear Prudence
Revolution 1
Glass Onion
Revolution 9
Birthday
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Piggies
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?

#18

I am not going to attempt a full list here. I do not think I can comfortably cut it down enough. However, I am amazed at how many people want to keep Birthday and Yer Blues: both in my opinion abominations quite in the league of Revolution 9. (In some ways they are worse, because they do not have the excuse of being arty and “experimental.” Revolution 9 tries something different, and fails badly, but Birthday and Yer Blues are unoriginal as well being tuneless, witless dirges.) I would also prefer to lose Goodnight, and would not much miss Bungalow Bill, Rocky Raccoon, or Cry, Baby Cry.

What I really came to say, though, is that Long, Long, Long must come right after Helter Skelter. How can people include both songs but not put them together?! Even though Long, Long, Long itself is merely a good rather than a great song, for me, the transition from the joyous mayhem of Helter Skelter to the sudden melancholy calm of Long, Long, Long is the best moment of the whole album (and one of the best on any Beatles album). woodstockbirdybird does well in placing them together right at the end. (How different from finishing with Revolution 9 and the cringeworthy Goodnight!)

#19
  1. Revolution 1
  2. Dear Prudence
  3. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
  4. Happiness is a Warm Gun
  5. Blackbird
  6. I’m So Tired
  7. Cry Baby Cry
  8. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
  9. Helter Skelter
  10. Mother Nature’s Son
  11. I Will
  12. Long, Long, Long
  13. Revolution 9
#20

Sequencing could possibly be improved, but here’s the 14 I came up with in my current mood:

  1. Birthday
  2. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road
  3. Blackbird
  4. Glass Onion
  5. Martha My Dear
  6. I’m So Tired
  7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
  8. Savoy Truffle
  9. Dear Prudence
  10. Don’t Pass Me By
  11. I Will
  12. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey
  13. Helter Skelter
  14. Revolution 1

I actually like Revolution 9 (in doses), but with the 14 song limit, it’s hard to keep it.