Great pick.
‘Bathroom Window’ is there. If I’d thought of ‘Dig a Pony’ or ‘Mother Nature’s Son’, I would have included them.
Also, I’m kicking myself for overlooking ‘Julia’, one of my favorites.
(to a lesser extent, ‘Martha My Dear’ as well)
mmm
Well, shit, you’re right. It is there. Further, I voted for it.
Senility is not a pretty thing.
Within You Without You and Revolution 9 are favourites of mine that I very rarely see mentioned in discussions about great Beatles songs.
I’ll put in another vote for Dig A Pony.
It’s about the only Beatles song I’m not thoroughly sick of.
Some of those I didn’t vote for because I don’t consider them underrated. For others, I like Across the Universe, and the full version of “Dig It,” not the one on Let it Be which is too short.
Is “Old Brown Shoe” considered underrated? If so, I might vote for that also.
For No One is a song that almost never gets played but it is a real kick in the gut (in a good way). Paul really captures the feel of a lover whose love no longer cares.
I also picked Hey Bulldog which is a great song that almost never gets played.
My other is Martha My Dear.
The are a lot of great songs listed in the poll that I have heard played too much on the radio to consider them under-rated.
Lovely Rita, Meter Maid.
Julia.
We Can Work it Out.
I’ll also second Martha, My Dear.
I always liked “I’m Down”
A friend once explained to me what a masterpiece “Oh Darling” is and I’ve been swayed to his POV.
Who knows though, maybe these songs are beloved among fans though they don’t get all the glory. How about “Blackbird”? I like it much better than “Yesterday.”
I feel somewhat vindicated for answering “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” to “melancholy song” in the Beatles’ song feud here a few months back, though it was a unique or almost unique response then.
I voted “Dear Prudence,” “Hey Bulldog,” and “I’ve Got a Feeling.” However, I would not call “Dear Prudence” underrated by any stretch. I thought it was a universally well-received and championed part of their catalog.
I also voted “Other.” That vote is for “Things We Said Today.”
I agree.
I think I’ve mentioned this in another thread, but this song gets less & less dated the older it gets.
I may be mistaken, but I think some people are confusing “underrated” with “overrated.”
I think I have to agree with you on this. I have no beef with the Beatles, but is there any single aspect of their career that hasn’t been hyped to hell? Even their pointless arguments and crappy studio outtakes get a run.
My votes were And Your Bird Can Sing, Here There and Everywhere, Hey Bulldog, and If I Fell. Important: it has to be the mono mix for If I Fell. The opening vocal in the stereo mix is double-tracked and in mono it isn’t. It makes listening to the song a vastly different experience, even though the rest of the song is basically the same.
Also Other: Ask Me Why
I liked “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”, it just resonates with me. And I’ve always loved “Within You Without You”.
I tried not to vote for just about everything, so I decided to pick only a few and to look at songs that didn’t chart very highly. I picked five from your list (And Your Bird Can Sing, Dear Prudence, For No One, Hey Bulldog, Rain). Then based on what other people listed so far, I would have chosen five more (You Know My Name (Look Up the Number), Happiness is a Warm Gun, Savoy Truffle, Mother Nature’s Son, Oh! Darling). Then I threw in one of my own choosing (I’ve Just seen a Face). I’ve Just Seen a Face has such a cool rhythm to the lyrics and a cool acoustic intro.
Of those 11 songs, only one charted in the US, that being Rain making it to #23.
I bet I was that friend! Oh! Darling is my favorite Beatles song (actually, it is my favorite song). John has said that he thought he would have done a better job singing it, but I can’t imagine that. Paul’s voice is at its peak power, the best voice in pop at that moment. He gets all of the emotion to come out through the verses, becoming more ragged by the end, as the singer begs his lover to not leave him. I’ve heard that Paul actually thought his voice was too clear (even with all of his power and range) and that he was only attempting it on various takes early in the morning to get extra rasp out of it.
The instrumentation is very elegant; each instrument plays a very simple bit, while the combination comes through brilliantly. I think the back-up vocals are tremendous, as just background building blocks (no words) on the chord structure. The bridge/refrain structure is genius, fully thought out and used more like a second set of verses.
I love the accents such as the extra emotion on “beg” in the second verse, on “if” and “make it” in the third verse, and on “let” and “do you no harm” in the fourth verse. I enjoy the almost spoken additions of “believe me darling” after the third verse and “oh believe me darling” halfway through the fourth verse. I love the pounding on the rhythm piano just making the sound board and the string box ring out. The lead guitar uses closed off chords during the singing but when there is no singing, the chords are allowed to ring for a while . If you listen carefully, there’s a couple of echo effects used on some vocals as the singer’s plaintive wailing fades away at the ends of some lines of verse, especially the bridge/refrain. And I like the lonely six string walk down to end it, as if perhaps the singer is giving up on his plea…
My pick is “I Feel Fine”, because it’s my favourite Beatles song but it never makes any top ten lists.
I nominate “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” as being thoroughly underrated (if not outright despised) by most people I know.
Good discussion. Some random thoughts from the OP:
I wouldn’t consider radio airplay as the only factor for a song being under/overrated. I was looking more for tunes that you’ve always felt generally do not get the respect they deserve among music lovers (radio airplay has very little to do with quality).
Still pissed that I missed ‘Julia’. ‘Oh, Darling’ would have fit in, too.
I always considered ‘Dear Prudence’ to be very good - not great - Beatles. I am surprised by the love for it here. Maybe I should give it a listen.
Could someone point to an example of this?
Zelski: Great input on ‘Oh, Darling’, a song I always cite as an example of soul-wrenching vocals.
‘I Feel Fine’: Yeah, that should have been there, too. God I love that opening feedback followed by a kick-ass guitar riff.
Also a bit disappointed at the lukewarm reception to ‘This Boy’. Lame lyrics, yeah, but listen to how the vocals build to a strong crescendo ("…until, he sees you cry-y-y-y…"), then instantly revert back to the calm and tuneful “this boy…”. Always felt this song didn’t get its due.
mmm