Things The Beatles Should Have Done Differently

[LonesomePolecat]

*Originally posted by MaxTheVool *
**Or does that just prove what a bad Beatles fan I am? **

Bad Beatles fan! No jelly beans!

[HeatMiser]

*Originally posted by RTFirefly *

• snip! -**
  I don’t see the point in trying to condense the White Album to a single disc. After “Revolution #9”, “Why Don’t We Do It In the Road”, and “Good Night”, what are you going to cut? I’d cut “I Will”, maybe, but that’s only 4 cuts, which still leaves us with 26 songs, and I’ve already probably stepped on someone’s toes.
  **

Well, since you practically asked for some dissent, I’ll be happy to oblige.

“Why Don’t We Do It In the Road”: It’s a funny little song, and it pains me to imagine losing another opportunity to hear Paul really cut loose with the vocals and scream like a rocker.

“Revolution #9” and “Good Night”: These songs, in that order and in their current position at the end of the album, are absolutely, critically necessary for the full enjoyment of the entire work under the influence of chemical substances. Reportedly.

So in short, I agree with your assessment 100%: leave the double-album alone. Well, 107%, since I’d leave those other songs too.

[gex_gex]

originally posted by RTFirefly
Everyone else was putting out albums almost as frequently as they were. I can’t see that it was a bad thing, especially not in the Beatles’ case; how many bad songs did they have?

I’m not a huge Beatles fan, but I can look at their career objectively, and they had a huge amount of filler.

Let’s take a look, for instance, at their opus, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Side One

1. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Novelty song

2. A Little Help From My Friends

Obligatory Ringo track, terribly sung, almost universally considered inferior to the subsequent cover version.

3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

John goes trippy with drugs. I bet it sounded really out there back in the 60s on acid, maaaan.

4. Getting Better

Standard Beatle pop. Nothing special.

5. Fixing A Hole

Novelty Song

6. She’s Leaving Home

At last, a classic.

7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite

Novelty Song
Side Two

1. Within You, Without You

Very interesting piece of experimentation. I rate it.

2. When I’m Sixty-Four

Paul expresses his ghastly love for 40s era popular music. Terrible. This is what current affairs shows play when they want background music for a feel good piece about old people.

3. Lovely Rita

OK pop song, nothing special, but nothing awful like other tracks.

4. Good Morning, Good Morning

I learnt this song in kindergarten, and got over it about the same time I got over Three Blind Mice and One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Once I Caught A Fish Alive. Then again, the Beatles have always done nursery rhymes - Octopus’ Garden… Yellow Submarine.

5. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

Reprise of a novelty song.

6. A Day In The Life

Decent song, worthy of inclusion.

---

It’s hardly a gem-laden work. Other albums are similar. Compare that to an OK Computer, a Doolittle, a Velvet Underground and Nico, a My Aim is True or a Murmur.

Sure, the Beatles produced some acclaimed work, but they also produced a hell of a lof of crap. Since you asked about the White Album, Bungalow Bill and Oblah-di Oblah-da in particular are terrible songs that the world could do without.