# The Beatles (White Album) - Let's make it a single disc - Which songs do we keep? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310 "2013-10-26T14:40:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/21 "2013-10-26T23:05:37Z")
This was harder than I expected. Revolution 9, Yer Blues, Birthday, and Good Night were easy choices to chop. The album would be better without them, but after that it got harder, and the last two or three were painful. Although it wasn’t one of the final handful to survive, I was also sad when Don’t Pass Me By had to go. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/22 "2013-10-26T23:27:29Z")
The first 7 to remove (difficult choices, but not too difficult): Don’t Pass Me By Good Night Honey Pie Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Revolution 9 The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill Wild Honey Pie Nothing else should be removed under any circumstances, but if forced I’d take out everything after Long, Long, Long so that can end the album without changing the sequence. Remove: Revolution 1 Savoy Truffle Cry Baby Cry That leaves 5 more to get rid of, though again, they most definitely should not be removed: Glass Onion Martha My Dear Piggies Rocky Raccoon Why Don’t We Do It in the Road? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/23 "2013-10-27T00:58:17Z")
The Pies 'O Honey are in last and second-to-last place. I actually like both pies. mmm ---
**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:** [October 27, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/24 "2013-10-27T01:39:25Z")
This wasn’t hard at all. I only chose 11, and a couple of those were iffy. Face it, more than half the album was filler. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/25 "2013-10-27T01:47:39Z")
Back in the U.S.S.R.-Great song with great energy. keep Birthday-Fun song and people actually do play it at birthdays. keep Blackbird-Beautiful. Ties for While my Guitar for best song on album. kepp Cry Baby Cry-meh. drop. Dear Prudence-Good song with interesting story behind it. keep. Don’t Pass Me By-meh. drop. Sorry Ringo. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey-meh. drop. Glass Onion-a song with meta-lyrics. keep. Good Night-meh Happiness is a Warm Gun-Cool song. keep Helter Skelter-a keeper Honey Pie-bleh I Will-meh I’m So Tired-I think I voted against it but it should be a keeper. Sometimes I feel this way. Julia-Good song. keep. Long, Long, Long-meh Martha My Dear-I am charmed by this song. keep. Mother Nature’s Son-meh Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da-Fun song. keep. Piggies-bleh Revolution 1-The single was better. drop. Revolution 9-Almost a keeper for being experimental but I wouldn’t listen to it voluntarily so drop. Rocky Racoon-ok but not worth keeping over other songs. Savoy Truffle-meh Sexy Sadie-meh The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill-ok but not worth keeping over other songs. While My Guitar Gently Weeps-Magnificant song. George’s greatest and possibly the Beatles greatest. keep. Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?-Great song. keep. Wild Honey Pie-bleh Yer Blues-meh ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/26 "2013-10-27T05:57:10Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey” is not getting nearly enough love. It’s a John song with one of Paul’s all-time greatest basslines. Ditto. My band covers this song, and I just freaking love it. It’s real rock and roll for sure. People who don’t know the song at all (or probably even who wrote it) react really well to it. One of the Beatles’ best, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/27 "2013-10-27T08:02:41Z")
I followed the rules, but I’d like to point out that it makes more sense to cut it in half by time rather than number of songs. Revolution 9 is over eight minutes long; if you cut that you should be able to fit in 17 songs. Also, I can’t believe Rev9 got so many votes. It isn’t even a song! ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/28 "2013-10-27T08:33:49Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Revolution 9 is over eight minutes long; if you cut that you should be able to fit in 17 songs. Also, I can’t believe Rev9 got so many votes. It isn’t even a song! Yeah, that was kinda the point of it. Art happened, in a way you didn’t think it would. That’s groovy. Sent from my overflowed broken pipe DADA toilet face thingy. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/29 "2013-10-27T10:57:01Z")
You have to have Don’t Pass Me By so there’s a Ringo song. If pressed, I’d replace it with Glass Onion. Birthday Dear Prudence Don’t Pass Me By Everybody’s Got Something To Hide . . . Helter Skelter Honey Pie I Will Julia Long, Long, Long Martha My Dear Mother Nature’s Son Rocky Racoon Sexy Sadie While My Guitar Gently Weeps Yer Blues ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/30 "2013-10-27T15:57:17Z")
Taking an double-platter that would be in anybody’s top 50 albums of all time, created by what a plurality would be the best band of all time, and saying we need to make a single disc, strikes me as arrogant. Or, in the words of Paul McCartney, “People talk about the White Album. They say it should haven been one record, or it should have been this, or it should have been that…it’s the bloody\* White Album\*. Shut up.” Anyway, I’m in. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/31 "2013-10-27T16:31:30Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Taking an double-platter that would be in anybody’s top 50 albums of all time, created by what a plurality would be the best band of all time, and saying we need to make a single disc, strikes me as arrogant. This poll is a wonderful demonstration of just what an empty cliche the old saw about cutting the White Album down to one disc really is. If the set is so full of filler, you’d think there would be some consensus about which tracks should be cut. Yet there isn’t a single track that 90% of Dopers agree should be eliminated–not even the much-maligned “Revolution 9” or the barely-there trifles like “Wild Honey Pie” and “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road.” Nor is there much more agreement about which songs are the keepers: at present only four songs were chosen by 75% of respondents, and only one tops the 90% mark. It’s a fun exercise, but the real lesson is that the Beatles made the right choice in the first place. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/32 "2013-10-27T17:51:47Z")
I participated just as a larf, but yeah, I agree with the [Paul McCartney quote](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(album)#Editing_concerns_and_release). ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/33 "2013-10-27T17:53:00Z")
And no one has discussed the order of the songs for each side, which, in my opinion, was one of the coolest things about the White Album. Looking at that alphabetical order of songs just made me shake my head… ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/34 "2013-10-27T21:24:07Z")
I know “ **While My Guitar Gently Weeps** ” is a great song, but I’m still impressed that, of 92 voters, only three shit-canned it. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/35 "2013-10-27T23:19:49Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I know “ **While My Guitar Gently Weeps** ” is a great song, but I’m still impressed that, of 92 voters, only three shit-canned it. As a member of the 3% minority that omitted “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” I’d like to offer some reasons. **Clumsy lyrics:** The central trope of his guitar weeping due the the imperfection of this material world is, eh, silly. Presumably he’s playing the damn thing and could switch to some Chuck Berry riffs for a bit. Elsewhere the lyrics rhyme “alerted”, “perverted”, “inverted”, and “diverted.” You should only do that if you’re being playful. And noticing that the floor needs sweeping is, IMO, a dumb line. The melody of the verse is nothing special (the part that goes behind these sections): \* I look at the world and I notice it’s turning While my guitar gently weeps With every mistake we must surely be learning Still my guitar gently weeps\* The arrangements enliven it. John and Paul were brilliant arrangers and George Martin could work wonders, but the tune itself isn’t much. **Clapton’s solo:** It’s better than okay, but I don’t understand the praise commonly heaped on it. It’s not trite or cliched and doesn’t try for literal weepiness (those are its good points) but it’s not technically stunning or even emotionally evocative. **Harrison’s singing:** He’s never had a strong or agile voice, and this isn’t one of his best efforts. On the other side: The chorus is very nice and the guitar fills are very nice and the organ is very nice. The moody rhythmic intro is good. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/36 "2013-10-28T00:24:30Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > The central trope of his guitar weeping due the the imperfection of this material world is, eh, silly. This is actually one of strengths for me in a strange way. Complaining about other people was a tedious message in his a lot of his earlier, mediocre compositions. The fact that a subject that I find annoying in his other work doesn’t bother me at all here because I love the music so much actually adds to my enjoyment. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/37 "2013-10-28T01:55:41Z")
> [@campp](#): > > that was brutal. The last three to go were rough on me. > > Can we re-design the cover also? _ **blasphemy!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/38 "2013-10-28T02:13:58Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > George Martin wanted to make it a single album. It would be interesting to know which ones _he_ would have kept. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/39 "2013-10-28T02:52:31Z")
I am surprised “Dear Prudence” is polling so high. I never liked it much, although the Siouxsie and the Banshees’ version is far superior to the original (and I say that despite the fact that I am not a huge fan of Siouxsie and the Banshees, and that I think that there are very few covers of Beatles songs that are better than the originals). I am also surprised by the apparent disdain for _both_ the Honey Pies. OK, Wild Honey Pie is very slight (though musically quite interesting I think), but the plain Honey Pie is a nice enough song, and although it may not be too ambitious, I think it succeeds better than several of the other tracks that try harder but fail (e.g., Bungalow Bill, Mother Nature’s Son, Yer Blues, Cry Baby Cry). Long, Long, Long may not be the greatest song in its own right, but it needs to stay for the wonderful way Helter Skelter transitions into it. That is the best _moment_ on the whole album in my opinion … well, that and the opening of Happiness is a Warm Gun. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310/40 "2013-10-28T03:06:04Z")
Mine (in order of appearance): Revolution 1 Dear Prudence Glass Onion Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da While My Guitar Gently Weeps Happiness Is A Warm Gun Blackbird I’m So Tired Rocky Raccoon Birthday Yer Blues Cry Baby Cry Sexie Sadie Helter Skelter Julia I think I preserved most of the original’s flow. I’m assuming it’s a CD, since I don’t have a good halfway spot for the Side 1/Side 2 break. My biggest regret is not finding a spot for Bungalow Bill. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-white-album-lets-make-it-a-single-disc-which-songs-do-we-keep/672310.md?page=3)