The Beatles

Every time I listen to The Beatles, I try to figure out what kind of Beatles songs I like best. I think(for me) it's a toss between the quirky songs like "Octopus's Garden" and "Yellow Submarine" and the ballads like "She's Leaving Home." What Beatles songs does everyone else like?

edited 24th Aug '12 5:25:20 AM by MorwenEdhelwen

I'm partial to the mid-period rockin', harmonically more adventurous but still fairly straight forward Beatles songs from Rubber Soul, Help, and Revolver.

I rank my favorite Beatles albums like this:

1. Rubber Soul

2. Help!

3. Sgt. Pepper's

4. Revolver

5. Abbey Road

6. White Album

7. Magical Mystery Tour

8. Hard Days Night

9. Beatles for Sale

10. With the Beatles

11. Meet the Beatles

12. Let it Be (Naked)

13. Let it Be

If I had to pick ten favorite songs, they would be, in no order: Yesterday, Michelle, Norwegian Wood, Penny Lane, If I Needed Someone, I'm Looking Through You, I've Just Seen a Face, Got to Get You Into My Life, Lovely Rita, A Day in the Life.

I love them all. My favorite is "In My Life" though, and "I've Got a Feeling" is also up there, but generally I have different Beatles songs for different moods.

However, I will say that I find With the Beatles and Help! to have a bit too much filler on them...the majority of The Beatles' songs were golden, but I can't say that of "Not a Second Time" or "You Like Me too Much".

@0dd1: now I'm intrigued— I haven't heard the other two. What do they sound like?

I also like "Maxwell's Silver Hammer".

edited 24th Aug '12 8:17:13 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Interesting thing- my brother discovered Ringo's songs fit his range.

I like the catchy poppy stuff.

@Reub: Like "Yellow Submarine"?

"I Want To Hold Your Hand", "Hello Good Bye", "Revolution".

I also like some of their weirder stuff like "Back In The USSR" and "Me And My Monkey".

I love "Back In The USSR".

Why does Let It Be (the entire album) sounds so sad?

Also, Who's your favorite Beatle? I'm a Ringo fan.

edited 7th Sep '12 9:33:27 AM by Smasher

I like Paul and John.

Paul>George>Ringo>John

I was raised in a Lennonist household. Often has my mother said, only half joking, "The wrong two Beatles are dead."

Personally my favourite is the possibly-fictional Simpsons-Ringo.

And my favourite Beatles' song, if I can be said to have such a thing, is probably She's Leaving Home. Brings a nice bit of British post-War-generation poignancy to the yeah-fuck-the-parental-units Boomer zeitgeist that American pop music of the era seems to have leapt for with wholehearted enthusiasm. My other favourites are Eleanor Rigby (my childhood fave; I was kind of a gloomy kid), For No One, Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight (I think they're best appreciated as one song), The Long And Winding Road, I'll Be On My Way, I'm Only Sleeping, and exclusively the drum track of Ticket To Ride.

Now I have the urge to listen to "I'm Only Sleeping."

I don't see it as being that sad, because there's some material in there that's clearly meant to be lighthearted ("One After 909", "Maggie Mae", "Dig It", etc). On the other hand they weren't exactly getting along with each other at the time so maybe that rubbed off on the music.

My favorite album is definitely Sgt. Pepper's. My favorite song is probably "I Am the Walrus". It's very catchy and I love all the goofy imagery and faux-symbolism.

Let it Be has one of my favorite Beatles songs ("I've Got a Feeling") on it. I was shocked when my friend told me he hadn't heard that song and then later told me it was "okay" when he did hear it. No. You're just wrong. It's awesomeness channeled into a song.

@My favorite Beatle: George, without a doubt. He had something about him that none of the others had, a sort of quiet wisdom with a very apparent sense of humor in his music when it was necessary. "This Song" ranks as one of my favorite solo Beatles songs for that reason. And if you need any proof that he's amazing, check out his Live in Japan album, which culls together most of the best of both his Beatles and post-Beatles material. Plus, he has Eric Clapton and his band backing him up, so what's not to love?

@Morwen on "Not a Second Time" and "You Like Me too Much": They just are really boring compared to everything else they did and don't seem to have a distinctive sound. "Not a Second Time" doesn't have an interesting or memorable melody, and it's just a simple breakup song. "You Like Me Too Much" has a nice piano intro, but it's very run of the mill after that. (Ironic, considering that George, who wrote it, would eventually write a much better song called "Run of the Mill".)

Oh, and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was at one point my favorite song ever.

I wanna do a mashup of I've Got A Feeling and Neil Young's Walk On.

@0dd1: When one of my friends lived in England, George was her neighbour.

!!!!!

!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*dies from jealousy*

Yeah, I was pretty jealous when she told me, too.

edited 9th Sep '12 9:41:07 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Considering how much of a recluse he was reported to be and living on a huge huge estate, I doubt she saw very much of him, if at all.

If Martin Scorsese's documentary on him is to be believed, that estate was like his own private womb. Though to be fair, if I lived in such an ornate place, I'd never want to leave it either.

edited 10th Sep '12 1:25:23 PM by 0dd1

I know, I asked her and she said she never met him.

edited 14th Sep '12 3:03:14 AM by MorwenEdhelwen