"Run for Your Life" is, hands down, the most obnoxious, violent, evil stinker of a song the Beatles ever did. Fie on’t, say I. John Lennon regretted having perpetrated it.
Are you guys nuts?! “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is one of the coolest songs the Beatles ever did, one of my all-time favorites. On Abbey Road, only “Come Together” is cooler.
I love “Within You Without You” and I totally love “The Inner Light”. Don’t go dissing those songs that did more than anything to bring Indian music to the West and set in motion the World Music phenomenon.
As for Beatles songs I don’t like, well, you’ll probably flay me alive for this, but I always thought “Love Me Do” was not especially brilliant; in fact, it was trite. Cut 'em some slack, since it was their first outing.
"Do You Want to Know a Secret"could have been a good song, except that George’s out-of-tune nasal delivery ruined it. He learned to sing some time after recording that one.
"Good Night" might annoy some people for its extremely syrupy sound, but <ha ha> that was the point of it, it was supposed to be ironic, and only squares would fail to get it. It came right after “Revolution 9”, the dissolution of reality as we know it.
Oh yeah, K364, I have to agree with you, “Blue Jay Way” lacks any justification for existing.
BTW, folks, it’s considered good style to put
<Dr. Evil crooking two pairs of fingers next to his head>
“quote marks”
</Dr. Evil>
around the titles of songs. (And to italicize the names of albums. Just like you put quotes around the title of a short story, and italicize the title of a book.)
I cannot stand I Want You (She’s So Heavy) and She’s Leaving Home. The second disc of the White Album has little going for it as well, but it’s listenable. I’m usually in the mood to dig George’s Indian experiments, though, although I’m not exactly reaching for my copy of Wonderwall here…
You know, I thought about all the songs mentioned…and decided that I like all of them.
But I can’t believe nobody mentioned What Goes On off of Rubber Soul. I really can’t stand that song.
For me, it’s a cage match between “Fool on the Hill” and “The Long and Winding Road.” They’re the only Beatles songs I skip over on CD. When Paul is good, he’s very very good, but when he’s bad, I need an insulin shot.
pepperlandgirl…I had no idea it was about his dead mother. Jeez, do I feel like a heartless creep.
Never mind, then.
There is no song by The Beatles that I hate.
Some are better than others, of course. But with all their output, we struggle to come up with a couple that weren’t so great.
I say let’s give 'em a break in general.
Even Jesus wasn’t perfect…he got violent in the temple, ya know. And contradicted himself a time or two. Still, a pretty OK dude, IMHO.
[slight hijack] To me, it’s the same deal with CCR. They are not my absolute favorite band (in the Top Twenty, probably)…but I can honestly say that they never did a song I didn’t like. Not one.
[/slight hijack]
Okay, I better leave before I piss someone off.
Actually, TN*hippie, “Julia” was half about his mother, half about Yoko Ono. So if you want to only half-dislike it, I can’t see anyone faulting you for it.
As for myself- it’s weird; fifteen years ago I would have put “Within You Without You” at the top of the list; but as I’ve listened more and more to Sgt. Pepper, the song has just grown on me- the sitar doesn’t sound nearly as off, and I’ve grown to appreciate the sentiment and wordplay in the lyrics. Likewise, “Revolution 9” is no longer just “noise between songs”.
So I’d have to say my least favorite Beatles song at this point is “It’s Only A Northern Song”. Amusingly wry lyrics, but the music itself is just a little too droning.
How can anyone like “Till There Was You” from With the Beatles? They usually made good choices for their cover songs, but this one really stinks. It is the only Beatles’ song that makes me cringe when I hear it.
Gosh, I really love most of the songs mentioned here, especially Within You, Without You[sup]*[/sup] and The Inner Light, which, as Jomo Mojo pointed out, introduced Indian ragas to a Western audience.
While I don’t hate any Beatles songs, there are some that I like much less than others. My Bottom 6 Beatles tunes include the following
[ul]
[li]**6. Savoy Truffle[/li][li]5. Martha, My Dear[/li][li]4. Wild Honey Pie ** (as opposed to Honey Pie, a fun little homage to the pop tunes of the 1920s)[/li][li]**3. Baby, You’re a Rich Man[/li][li]2. Flying[/li][li]1. Oh, Darling[/li][/ul]
[sup]*[/sup] To Jomo Mojo**: Chicago says to use quotation marks or italics (bold), but not both.
I heard somewhere that the original lyrics to this song were
“Baby, you’re a Jew Fag” but I’ll have to find the cite. I believe it was in “The Summer Of Love”, by George Martin.
Have to second ** Mr Moonlight ** as well…god that was one annoying song, I listened to it just to say I had…and if Revolution #9 was a song it would be up there too…I can’t quite vote for an audio collage though.
“Eleanor Rigby” as one of their worst? That’s one of the last songs I ever expected to see mentioned here. From a lyrical perspective, many musical thinkers consider it one of the best songs they ever did. But, you’re entitled to your opinion, Fluffy, so I’ll stop that rant before it starts.
My least favorite has to be “Glass Onion” off the White Album. What a self-indulgent piece of tripe. When you’re writing songs about your own songs it might be time to consider if that double album is really worth the trouble.
What was that one song from Yellow Submarine (the film), which is all silly and self-referential? The lyrics are something like, “This song is not out of key/Because we wrote it that way.”
Obviously, I’m not very well schooled in the Beatles, but I do have a lot of respect for them and look forward to learning them much better later in life. But that one tune… it honestly pissed me off.
It came right after “Revolution 9”, the dissolution of reality as we know it.