The Beatles Band • Page 31

the chin straps below their lower lip was too much for me man

 

Please Please Me is a top 5 lads album imo

 

wtf

 

1. Something
2. In My Life
3. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
4. Across the Universe
5. Tomorrow Never Knows

That's just what initially popped in my head, but damn I think that top 5 would change day to day.

 

unordered top 5 tracks as of 12/3/2021

"Dear Prudence"
"I'm Looking Through You"
"A Day in the Life"
"Please Please Me"
"Hey Jude"

 

if this ever got officially released it would be there too

their best unreleased outtake imho

 

i really really love the blues jam improv at the end of episode 2 but i haven’t been able to find a recorded version anywhere

 

I think Yoko's biggest problem here is that she seems SO boring and not-fun. Does she smile even once in the entire doc?? I am all for her and John's love, but lordy she seems like a drag during this time.

I laughed in part 3, she asks a question... I forget exactly what, and Paul replies to her with a joke and smiles. She does not respond to him, stands there deadpan. After a few seconds, Paul changes his demeanor to defeated and answers her question without joke. Felt to me like a summation of Paul & Yoko's relationship, he has no problems with her but obviously doesn't connect with her

 

mostly off the cuff whittling down of a fairly solid top 20 to 5

1. She Said She Said
2. A Day in the Life
3. Here Comes the Sun
4. Paperback Writer
5. Happiness is a Warm Gun

ironically, Paul is my favorite. but it's not really fair to do a top 5 and count 'abbey rd side b' as 1 song now is it.

fire pick with I'm Looking Through You - definitely underrated gem. the whole chorus bit "why tell me why" etc is such a perfect encapsulation of Paul's melodic sense

 

Yeah my completely baseless theory is that probably a notable reason John liked her so much was that she didn't really care that he was John Lennon. But she also seems completely apathetic towards everything except John, and yeah just on a personal level I would find it deeply irritating and deeply relatable -- when a friend starts dating someone new and brings them around everywhere, but they just don't even try to vibe with you lol

 

Tomorrow Never Knows
I Am the Walrus
Hey Jude
Blue Jay Way
Happiness is a Warm Gun

Only five songs is impossible. There's probably 10 others I like just as much as those

 

Something like this:

I've Just Seen a Face
I'm Only Sleeping
A Day In the Life
Dear Prudence
Get Back

 

Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand
Wild Honey Pie
Honey Don't
Boys
Piggies

 

Interesting lack of SFF so far. I feel like recent years there's been faux internet backlash at calling the 'big ones' (ADITL, Strawberry Fields, etc) the best songs, but I dunno, they kind of are? I've been jumping around the discography all week and A Day in the Life in particular holds up to just about all the effusive praise it's had heaped on it. Even if you strip away the Paul verse, the orchestra part, the dramatic piano chord ending...the verses alone still have to be near the very top of things JL ever wrote.

 

the "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" double A-side is without hyperbole possibly the greatest pop single ever

 

re: @Surfwax 's point about pushing back against the "big ones," I was personally at that point with "Hey Jude" for several years up until the last couple years where it came back for me in a huge way to the point that it's now indisputably one of my favorites again

McCartney has dozens like this but when you get to that euphoric refrain at the end it's hard to not find yourself questioning how one person came up with this (not to erase any contributions Lennon, Harrison, or Starr added to the track but you get what I mean) / how had this melody not already been a song at this point

Song rocks

 

Not in order per se:

Hey Jude
Revolution
Let It Be
Something
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window / Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End

Seems like a futile exercise to try to just pick a top 5 for these guys... I honestly tried to start jotting down what I thought were their best songs without overthinking it too much, and I had about 20+ songs easily that all felt essential.

 

I kinda wanted to do a joke list, like pick 5 Ringo songs, but I didn't want to contribute to Ringo mocking because I love the guy and think he is incredible. Or pick 5 of their songs that people usually crap on, like Rocky Raccoon, Wild Honey Pie, Revolution 9, etc.

I do tend to prefer their later recordings in general, but I realize my list completely misses Rubber Soul and Revolver, which is a crime. I do think In My Life is a Top 5 Beatles songs despite the list I just posted.

 

I've always liked Rocky Raccoon. Ever since I heard it for the first time when I was like 12 lol.

 

People crap on Rocky Raccoon? It's fantastic

 

My dad is from England, huge Beatles fan, had a giant Beatles memorabilia collection and his FAVORITE Beatles song was Rocky Raccoon.

 

I knocked up a joke list real quick and honestly you can't tell by looking at it. They are too good.

 

Don't get me wrong, I acknowledge that I see a lot of hate for Rocky Raccoon. I think it is pretty widely regarded as a bottom tier Beatles song.

I just find it to be a pleasant sort of song that seems to always rattle around in my head long after I listen to it.

 

they have a handful of songs i dont like but rocky raccoon is not one of them. fun tune
my top 5 is probably:
1. it's all too much
2. tomorrow never knows
3. and your bird can sing
4. the inner light
5. she said she said

 

I love Rocky Raccoon. It wouldn't personally make my Top 5 of all time from them, but it's a great song. I just read people crapping on it a lot, like Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. (Another song I love.)

I have recently been going back through their catalog and paying attention to who the primary songwriter was, and I realize that I had always let the 'Grandma songs' label lobbed at Paul McCartney color my thinking a bit when considering Beatles songs. I always assumed any song of theirs that rocked out a little bit was Lennon-driven and it's really not accurate at all. Lennon has some great ones to be sure, but so does Paul.