I should clarify my stance on “Love Me Do”…the version you most commonly hear on, say, oldies radio, that version is fine IMHO, if a bit campy. It’s this-album,single,hell, I forget which-version that just doesnt lock in to anything. My understanding is that Ringo was trying to play assorted hand percussion along with the drumkit, and was just kinda hacking away, and here goes Sir George, “Oh well, better get a real drummer…” No explanation for Paul’s voice though. I love the rest of their catalogue, but this one song, it just really rubs me wrong…
The White Album has taken alot of shit in this thread.
And while I agree it has alot of filler, it also has some great fuckin songs. I, along with many other, have always felt that it could have been trimmed down to a long single LP and that the overall quality would have improved. Maybe into being their finest effort. As it stands, the inclusion of too much weak material prevents it from ranking with their best work (Abbey Road, Revolver, Rubber Soul)
Here is my suggested playlist:
Back in the USSR
Dear Prudence
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness is a Warm Gun
BlackBird
Rocky Raccoon
Julia
I Will
Birthday
Mother Nature’s Son
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide
Helter Skelter
Long Long Long
Cry Baby Cry
Revolution #9
There you have it, half of the original songs edited out, leaving just the cream of the crop. Tough choices had to made, leaving off fine tracks such as Sexy Sadie, I’m So Tired, Why Don’t We Do It In The Road, & Yer Blues.
And none of these songs ought to be listed on anyones list of ** lousiest Beatles songs!**
thermalribbon, I’d agree with your selection, for the most part, but I’d have to add Sexie Sadie and Yer Blues, and lose Long, Long, Long and Mother Nature’s Son.
The worst Beatles song has to be She’s Leaving Home.
Happy
Only half a dozen votes for Michelle? Only Beatles song I really hate is Michelle. Let me count the ways I hate it. It isn’t in English. I like operas not in English, but they need to be a little more complex. I took French lessons for several years, but I’ve never bothered to translate Michelle, it just isn’t interesting enough. It’s slow. It’s got a crappy melody. WTF was Paul thinking?
I have been a die-hard Beatles fan since birth (1967). Their albums were the only ones my dad owned for a few years. So, I get a little defensive abouth them at times. Unequivocally, however, the absolute worst song is The Long and Winding Road. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to it all the way through.
My least favorites come from the second disc of the White Album, also. Michelle, I have to agree, is complete drivel. But to say I’m A Loser and Run For Your Life aren’t good is just wrong. Run For Your Life is fun to listen to on headphones, and I’m A Loser has John in excellent voice.
Not bad. I’ve been pondering this question ever since Paul Himself raised it in Anthology (his response: shrug…it’s the White Album. It’s the Beatles. Deal with it.) Substitute Sexy Sadie, I’m So Tired (love that song) Revolution and Savoy Truffle for Revolution #9, and you got a winner. (If Helter Skelter needs to go, to keep it on 1 LP…no big loss.)
Spartacus…it’s not in French–it’s got one line in French, and Paul translates it on the fly: sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble…these are words that go together well.
(Sunday monkey won’t play piano song)
And my vote for the OP: Long & Winding Road.
I like Back In The USSR, I think it’s just “clever”.
My answer to the OP is the final part of Hey Jude…
Well, I admit it, the whole song
I actually like all the songs already mentioned as “awful”. I even like Mr. Moonlight, Michelle and Revolution 9
The top five worst Beatles songs would be;
5. Oh, Darling
4. Got to Get You Into My Life
3. The Long and Winding Road
2. Mother Nature’s Son
- Getting Better
Yeah, but don’t you love it when the Wurlitzer kicks in?
Love Me Do, while exceptionally simplistic, is still a toe tapper. OTOH, Michelle, as stated elsewhere, is pretty abysmal both musically and lyrically.
I’m waiting for PepperLandGirl to chime in with what I expect to be the definitive answer.
I, too am puzzled. Could you possibly be referring to ELO’S
Telephone Line which has a kind of “Beatlesque” sound?
To my knowledge The Beatles never recorded a tune b y that name.
Q