The Beatles (White Album) - Let's make it a single disc - Which songs do we keep?

Cafe Society
61

[quote=“weef, post:57, topic:672310”]

The top 15 so far:

While My Guitar Gently Weeps 150 94.34%
Back in the U.S.S.R. 145 91.19%
Blackbird 132 83.02%
Dear Prudence 132 83.02%
Helter Skelter 113 71.07%
Happiness is a Warm Gun 107 67.30%
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 102 64.15%
Revolution 1 98 61.64%
Julia 90 56.60%
I’m So Tired 87 54.72%
Rocky Racoon 85 53.46%
Martha My Dear 83 52.20%
Birthday 81 50.94%
Glass Onion 81 50.94%
I Will 70 44.03%
The rest:

Sexy Sadie 68 42.77%
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey 63 39.62%
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road? 61 38.36%
Cry Baby Cry 58 36.48%
Mother Nature’s Son 58 36.48%
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill 56 35.22%
Savoy Truffle 50 31.45%
Piggies 46 28.93%
Yer Blues 46 28.93%
Don’t Pass Me By 40 25.16%
Revolution 9 34 21.38%
Long, Long, Long 33 20.75%
Honey Pie 30 18.87%
Good Night 26 16.35%
Wild Honey Pie 11 6.92%

[/quote[

I left off “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”, “Birthday” and “Glass Onion”.

I included “…Me and My Monkey”, “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?”, “Cry Baby Cry”, “Mother Nature’s Son”, and “Honey Pie”. Maybe I voted for 16 songs if that’s possible.

The White Album is my favorite Beatles album and a 5-star album as far as I’m concerned, so cutting songs was not easy. In particular, I like “…Bungalow Bill”, “Piggies”, “Long, Long, Long” and “Savoy Truffle” is alright. I also like “Glass Onion” a lot, so I’m not really sure if or why I left it off. “Back In The U.S.S.R.” is a great song but I left it off just because I’ve heard it so much, it wouldn’t hurt me if I never heard it again. “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” is another great song with great lyrics that’s immensely popular and used to be one of my favorites, but I’ve grown tired of the throwback harmony vocals chorus.

I see I’m almost alone in liking “Honey Pie” but I like the variety of music styles on the album. Although I used to like “Mother Nature’s Son” a lot, with its acoustic guitar and laidback vibe, I probably wouldn’t miss it much if it were replaced with “Glass Onion” or “Piggies”. “Wild Honey Pie” is a brief interlude more than a song but adds something to the mix, so I would squeeze it on the record if at all possible.

62

I wonder how the Manson Family would have been influenced by a single-disc White Album?

63

Songs that are not doing well, that I feel should be included:

Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey (what a title!)
Yer Blues
Long, Long, Long

Songs that are doing well that I would reject:
Helter Skelter
Glass Onion
Revolution 1

64

This song’s poor performance in the poll really surprises me. It’s one of the sweetest and most moving things the Beatles ever recorded, IMO.

65

+1 “LLL” must stay. Vote Early and Vote Often.

66

Biggest surprise to me is how well Blackbird is doing. I mean it’s okay, but the third-best on the album? Seriously?

And, yes, the affection shown for Helter Skelter is also . . . well . . . unexpected.

67

I sometimes entertain the thought that the White Album was the Beatles’ terribly clever attempt to show that people would buy any old rubbish if it had the Beatles name on it. Had it been by anyone else, it would surely be forgotten now.

Still, it’s the Beatles, so the odd half-decent track did slip through. I would make an EP of it: Dear Prudence, Revolution 1, Glass Onion, with Blackbird and Julia on the B-side.