I like “Lovely Rita,” too…but just think of how awesome Side Two would be with “Strawberry Fields” and “Penny Lane” in between “Sixty-Four” and “Good Morning” !
It’d have to be in that order of course, to properly balance the John vinegar with the Paul honey.
Ummmmm…the guitar?
I’m surprised at the vehemence about certain songs. I’m a fan since I was 6. There is no Beatles song that i have a revulsion for, no hate at all. A lot of the lamer stuff I loved as a kid. Paul’s Goofball stuff was ingenious a lot of the time. Over the years the jokes and humor they put in get worn out and unnoticed. Like how funny the lyric is to honeypie. My idea of the worst is ones that make you go “Why?” My negativity is when I’m comparing great to merely good. I think "From me to you’ is goofy in its own way more so than Maccas later stuff.
Why noone listed:
I’ll follow the sun
Tell me what you see
I really like the Beatles and have since they first arrived in the U.S. I therefore find it absolutely astounding that you have chosen two of my very favorites (What You’re Doing and Eight Days A Week) as your least favorites and three others that I am rather ambivalent about.
My least favorite of all time is Number 9 but My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean sucks pretty bad as well.
Mmm… If they disappeared into the ether I would never miss I, Me, Mine or Piggies. and I’ve never connected to Only a Northern Song. As for non-Harrison songs, Your Mother Should Know does not offer much of a melody and the words aren’t clever.
I think ObLaDee is great and Honey Pie very smart song writing. Hey Jude will never work for me again, but it lived at Number One for a couple months so I can’t view it as bad.
“Rocky Raccoon” is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
Sorry missed the originality qualifier:
Yellow Submarine
If you are saying Your Mother Should Know doesn’t have a melody, like what is your definition of melody? Its the most prominent feature.
Obviously it has one, just not one that I’ve ever felt the urge to sing, whistle, hum, pick out on an instrument, wave my hand in time to, or go out of my way to listen to.
It’s funny you’ve been listening so long and like those two. They’re real jobbers to me and to the Beatles. McCartney called What you’re doing filler, and Lennon has no affection for 8 days a week.
i find 8 Days the most insipid lyric matched with the most immature music. Thats me.
For their regular music, yes. For the specific title I described upthread, no. This was "Cobwebs and Strange, " with Daltrey on trombone, Entwhistle on tuba, Townshend on recorder, and, of course, Keith Moon on drums. My source: Dr. Demento.
Sorry, sorry, I missed that post.
The notes on my reissue copy of A Quick One say “Keith played orchestral cymbals, Pete was on penny whistle, Roger blew through a trombone, and John played the trumpet.”
But I just played it through and there’s definitely a tuba in there. As well as Keith on a full drum kit. Overdubbing? Or did they bring in ringers?
PS: Daltrey really SUCKS on trombone.
Well, the trombone was not his forte, obviously…
I kind of agree with you. I never liked them because they were derived from classical music; I liked them because they were derived from Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly.
“Yes It Is”.
I’m surprised no one else has mentioned it.
Heh. I’d agree if it passed the obscurity test. At least they never got all the way through it.
I taped all the Beatles Christmas albums from WBCN when I was in college, and they are a great record of the dissolution of a great band. I assume they are easily available now, everyone should make time and have a listen.
As for non-obscure songs.
Long and Winding Road, from Let it Be - awful string version. I was subjected to this at work one summer and it took years to recover. Version on LIB Naked is slightly better.
Goodnight - the only Beatles song that sounds better on Muzak.
Honey Pie - it ain’t the 20’s, Paul.
She’s Leaving Home - though I liked it a bit better before I became a parent.
The Word - only bad song on a great album.
Revolution - White album version. I know John liked it better than the single, but it drags for me. Revolution Number 9 has grown on me as I’ve listened to it on my phone where I could see its structure better.
I Want You (She’s so Heavy) - I like the long ending of Hey Jude, not this one.
Is “You Know My Name (Look up the Number)” an original? If so, that one.
Is “Only a Northern Song?” an original? Then that one.
I try to give so called ‘pretentious’ art a devil’s advocate defense at least. “Revolution Number 9” is pretentious shit.
“Wild Honey Pie” is probably the most obnoxious.
There are songs listed here that I feel are so good, they defend themselves (such as “Norwegian Wood”, “I am the Walrus”, “Goodbye, Hello”, and “Come Together”), but I will put in a good word for “Rocky Raccoon,” if only because I find British people doing Southern American accents hilarious. No, I don’t know why. But “RR” makes me smile.
Perhaps no one remembers it. I know I don’t.
“Rocky” was the first Beatles song I ever learned to play on guitar, so I have a fondness for it. I also came across a writer who thought the song a parody of “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest” from John Wesley Harding, which if true adds a layer of interest.
Well, it sold just as many copies as “Ticket To Ride”! 