Yes I know that The Beatles were the greatest group any of us are likely to experience but, let’s face it, the Fabs wrote a few real clunkers.
My vote for their all time worst track is Harrison’s “Piggies” which has a horribly ornate arrangement, a childish sing-song tune and a lyric that sets a new low in misanthropy. To think that this toe-curling satire on “straight” society was included on The White Album instead of George’s infinitely superior “Not Guilty”.
C’mon Fabs Fans - can you think of a worse Beatles’ track ?
“The Inner Light” (flip side of “Let It Be” or something of that vintage).
I personally like “Piggies”, and while I’d rather listen to “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road” a lot less often than most of the “White Album” songs, I don’t mind it every now and then. Beats the hell out of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” on Abbey Road. Of course, that might be another good nominee.
Here’s a question along the same lines: of the Beatles’ singles (not counting B-sides this time, where there was a clear B-side), which was the worst?
My vote in this category is for “Eight Days a Week” - I find both the music and lyrics rather monotonous.
I’m not really a huge Beatles fan, though I do respect their influence on rock music, in which they really have no peer. The one song I absolutely can’t stomach is “Come Together”.
I could easily make an enjoyable cd for myself from all the songs listed above. The one, ok, two Beatles songs that I always skip over are “Run for Your Life” and “Revolution #9”. The first one just plain bothers me. The second one induces sleep - I’ve never made it through the whole song.
This was actually an okay song before Phil Spector had his wicked way with it. (He was the one who added lashings of orchestral arrangements, and IIRC Paul was none-too-pleased.) I dunno if the original version has been released on cd, but it can be seen on the Let It Be video. I agree that the one released on the LP is nauseating.
I agree with the haters of several of the above choices, particularly “Michelle,” “Octopus’s Garden,” “Long & Winding Road,” “Come Together,” and “Mr. Moonlight” (do non-Lennon/McCartney/Harrison songs count?).
On the other hand, I enjoy “Piggies,” “The Inner Light,” and “Drive My Car.” “Drive My Car” I actually enjoy a LOT.
I’ll be a little more controversial and choose one that has loads of fans…I really dislike “And I Love Her.” I consider it to be McCartney Schmaltz at its absolute worst, and want to whack him over the head with his bass every time it comes around on the radio.
Once I asked on an online forum whether people thought that while the Beatles’ later work was very accomplished, the Beatles’ early work, as a whole, was oftentimes just kind of… annoying. I was specifically thinking of “She loves YOU, yeah yeah” and “I wanna hold your haaaaaa-aaaaa-aaaand” and other songs based on the algorithm of “Express an adolescent sentiment, stretch out the vowels, and repeat it over and over again in a faintly whiny, nasal tone.” (But I love Yellow Submarine- different algorithm, you see.) One person responded with a long, heartfelt, tearful statement about how she talked it over with her husband, and how they decided that these days young people like me are just too cynical to enjoy the Beatles, what with the economic downturn and the specter of nuclear war, but she’d like to share something with me and she hoped it would reach my heart through my Ecstasy-hardened, extreme-sports Gen-X exterior. She then quoted the lyrics of “Imagine.”
Hello? Correct me if I’m wrong, but “Imagine” not only isn’t part of the Beatles’ early work, it’s not even a fricken Beatles song! It was written after they broke up!
Anyway, I think the moral of this thread is that the Beatles are like Madonna, minus the toplessness. Every person has at least one Beatles song they love, and at least one they hate, but there is no consensus on which song belongs in which category.
I love all the songs. Except the George Harrison song on “Yellow Submarine”. It’s so bad, I’ve blocked it out of my mind. It’s not “Only A Northern Song”, it’s the other one.