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Least favorite Beatles song...


daveinspain

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"Act Naturally" - I didn't like it by Buck Owens & His Buckaroos either. It's not a particularly bad song, there is just something about it that doesn't speak to me.

 

Revolution 9 didn't work for me either - but that wasn't really a song, but more of a soundscape. (number 9 number 9 number 9)

 

On the other hand, they did a lot of excellent stuff and the medley on the Abbey Road album is about as good as it gets.

 

I think George Martin's arrangement skills were priceless as they took a very mediocre song like "I Am The Walrus" and made it into something very interesting and likable to me.

 

When they first arrived, I thought it was a step backwards in music, as I was into blues and they were almost country. The songs were light and tinny (too much treble) and with no 'blue notes'. Then as they progressed starting with the "Help" album I started to appreciate them more and more from a musical standpoint. "Help" caught my ear with the melody that stayed in the same pitch and the descending harmony under each line. And I thought, "that's pretty cool, let's see what else is on the LP." By the time "Rubber Soul" was out, my early opinion completely changed.

 

Now as the years have gone by and even as I hear the early things that didn't appeal to me then, I see value in them. Especially the "B" parts or bridges. They had some of the most concise bridges in pop music. They got off the tonic key and led back into it with great skill and efficiency. The B parts seem simple, but that's deceptive. I find writing B parts like that next to impossible with my songwriting skills.

 

But like every group or every singer/songwriter, they had their highs and their lows.

 

As a live performer, I have my highs and lows too, but if I'm improvising a solo on stage and the muse is just not with me that night, it isn't recorded for all posterity to hear the solo of regurgitated, uninspired licks that I've played so many times before and my efforts to no avail to make something sublime out of it. But alas, on those other nights when I think the muse is there and I'm being absolutely brilliant, it doesn't hang around for all posterity either.

 

Notes

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The White album without Revolution#9 but with the single at the time Hey Jude / Revolution + GH's Not Guilty would have made it one unbelievable album.

 

Such a vast variety of music maybe ever on an album. Is every song my cup of tea? No but man you better have some chops to even attempt all the styles they tackle on there.

 

 

 

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Some I never liked...

 

When I'm 64

Piggies

With a Little Help from My Friends

Hey Jude

The Long and Winding Road

All You Need is Love

Maxwell's Silver Hammer

 

 

These are from Rubber Soul on. I don't listen to the albums before that at all.

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I've never been particularly into the Beatles music - through strangely (?) I don't mind the very early and very late stuff. Just prefer different types of rock I guess (bluesier, heavier etc).

 

having said that...

 

Admiration and respect - absolutely. quite amazingly gifted songwriters and musicians - and for just being 'Beatles'.

Gratitude - you bet! I'm sure many of the bands I've loved since wouldn't have existed or been like they were had it not been for the Beatles

Fascination - again, yes - I've read several of the 'mega' biographies - what amazing lives and what a story.

 

The impact they had on the youth of that era (though before my time) I'd never expect to see again.

 

I even feel for them in some ways - I've read many of their concerts (post Hamburg/Liverpool era) were only about 30 mins long - and even then all they'd hear would be the screaming. 30 mins!! - now, I play in what must be one of the more amateurish rock bands on this planet but we still do 3 x 45-50 min sets, and I'd hate to get off the stage about the time I'd just warmed into the task - hell, we'd spend 30 mins looking for all our leads and powerboards before the show even starts...

 

poor old Beatles... [biggrin]

 

..oh yeah, a vote for Maxwell's Silver Hammer please.

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I LOVE The Beatles! Always have, always will! [biggrin] But then, I was part of that

youth, that experienced them, saw them "live," and felt "Beatlemania," first hand! It

was like nothing before, or since. And, to think they did all they did, all that wonderful

music, "analog," and/or with a fraction of the "technology," that garage bands turn their noses

up at, these days. I love their great songs, their "stupid" songs, their "silly love songs," ALL OF IT!

 

(Yeah, that little nurse got me back into therapy, and on my meds, again!) [biggrin]

 

But, all of the above previous paragraph is True! At least, for Me!

 

CB

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I'm not going to single out anything.

That's not to say there were no 'duff' songs - there were quite a few as has already been mentioned - but IMO there were few, if any, unneccessary songs.

 

These four chaps were re-writing the book of 'Popular Songwriting & Composition' as they went along. They were constantly experimenting with their music.

In the same way that not everything created by Picasso was a masterpiece it is true that not all of the Beatles' songs are 'stand-out tracks' when taken in isolation.

But without having made these lesser musical forays I believe they could never have written what are clearly their more successful compositions.

They needed to do the bad stuff they did in order to create their works of genius.

 

Even the whimsy of the much-derided Ringo-penned songs would have had an influence on the works by the other members.

Their output also has the unusual quality in that some songs will appeal to people of particular age groups.

Older people with appreciate their more complex works whereas children especially will love those same Ringo songs that the 'grown-ups' ridicule.

If my daughter loved 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' and 'Yellow Submarine', and if her love of these songs got her interested enough to listen to 'Sgt. Pepper's' than I'm happy.

 

And, bear in mind, all this music - from the simplistic early pop tunes to, for instance 'A Day in the Life' was written between 1960 and 1970!

There has never been a band who could touch this "quantity-with-quality-and-variety-in-such-a-short-space-of-time" in the history of music : either before or after.

 

All IMHO, of course.

 

P.

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as a kid, I wasn't caught up in Beatlemania at all, By the time they were done, I was about 13 years old, and I really could have cared less. I was far more into Hendrix, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, (I've never liked the Stones, or the Grateful Dead)

 

it wasn't until much later, (like when i was in my 30s) when I revisited the body of work and discovered that after all I was a bit of a fan.

 

I don't worship the ground they walked on, nor air the breathed, but they were unique, I mean think about it, There's been no new songs/albums since 69/70, depending on which way you look at it, was it Abbey Road, .. last recorded, vs Let It Be the last released.

 

44 years later the music is still in the mix, and how many years did it take them to do this?

 

less than 10 years?

 

There's no one that is on the top of the music industry today (or maybe ever) that will be this relevant 40+ years after they write their last song. .

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When the Beatles came out I was in school band. My loves were Symphonic from the Romantic period on, Jazz (Getz, Turrentine and Desmond were happening), blues, and rock. I wasn't into country at all back then and overlooked a lot of decent music because of my blinders. And when the Beatles came out, they represented a step back to the Buddy Holly days of Country infused Rock. So while I didn't dislike them, I like everyone else listened to them, but didn't favor them. Their music wasn't as dark as Motown and their harmonies weren't nearly as elegant as The Beach Boys.

 

But as their music grew, I grew to appreciate them and I really love a number of their cuts. Some of their music eventually approached symphonic level and the arrangements were often brilliant.

 

And though I disliked Revoluton-9, it was much better if listened to under the influence of LSD. And you have to take into account the time it was released in.

 

And I also attribute their genius to the fifth member, George Martin. Comparing their other work to the "Let It Be" album that IMHO even Phil Spector couldn't save from being quite mediocre lends me to believe that Martin was in some ways the most important Beatle. But that's pure speculation on my part.

 

They were a major influence in Rock and the last Icon of a Generation, following in the footsteps of Elvis, Sinatra, Crosby and even Jolson before. After the Beatles there has never been an artist that defined an entire generation. Michael Jackson came the closest, but by then the generation was fragmented and everyone no longer listened to the same radio station. There were rock stations, pop stations and disco stations, and ever since then the succeeding generations have been fragmented.

 

And the Beatles opened the door to the UK recording industry, who at the time were much more adventurous than the 3 minute pop cut US business model. Without the Beatles we may have never had Jethro Tull, Moody Blues, Procol Harum, Queen, Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Argent, ELO, Pink Floyd and others that along with the Beatles elevated rock music from 3 chords to a semi-symphonic state.

 

So like all accomplished artists, they had some great work, some mediocre work, and some poor work - and which is good and which is bad is quite up to the listener. But like them or not, their contribution to popular music cannot be ignored.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

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In 1976 The Beatles had a bump in popularity (at least as per my observation) due to the release of the movie Helter Skelter and a renewed interest in the White Album, the release of a double album "The Beatles - Rock n Roll Music" and a rumor going around that they might get back together. At least I heard it, not sure how prevalent it was. Then to top it off, out of the blue, (think about this, they had been broken up for SIX YEARS), they release a "new" (old) recording as a single:

 

Got to Get You Into My Life.

 

Ick.

 

That's not the Beatles I knew. If that was a harbinger of the kind of crap they would do if they reunited, then I prayed they stayed apart.

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Some I never liked...

 

When I'm 64

Piggies

With a Little Help from My Friends

Hey Jude

The Long and Winding Road

All You Need is Love

Maxwell's Silver Hammer

 

 

These are from Rubber Soul on. I don't listen to the albums before that at all.

 

I never have to hear When I'm 64 again.

I've been skipping it for years.

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