The Beatles - Please read and comment

[Lincoln]

I've been a little bored, I'm just started my week off school so I was thinking about how people can not like The Beatles. To me, they're the greatest band of all time, and I was once among those who said "Blah blah, they were just another pop group," which was before I actually listened to them. I'd like to break down various songs, albums, etc... to show they were more than just another pop group.

Let's start with the "pop" songs:

I Feel Fine - Here, the boys discover something by mistake. When holding a guitar against an amplifier, John notices that he makes feedback with his guitar. He utilizes this on the beginning. Feedback later becomes a key element for the (arguably) most influential guitar player, Jimi Hendrix.

Ticket To Ride - Using 2 distinctive vocal tones for the ending, singing commences (high voice) "My baaaby (low voice) don't caare". This technique is something which was rather unique for the time. Usually a singer will sing a whole song in one vocal tone, and in this particular example 2 different tones are used in a single bar.

Help! - For a pop song, this sure shows a lot of a lot of emotion. A song which seems to express John's somewhat depressed emotions (while seemingly in parody) still becomes a #1 hit, despite the common misconception that The Beatles only sang about girls. Check this out, simply great:

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won't you please, please help me?

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I've never done before.

Yesterday - Simply a beautiful song. While not truly a Beatles song, Paul McCartney delivers a strikingly emotional and beautiful song, with simple music behind it, once again smashing the misconception of pop songs aimed primarily at girls. Note:

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it look as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
oh, yesterday came suddenly

Beautiful vocals.

Day Tripper - Yet another #1 chocked up to the Fab Four. This song was the first song written by the powerhouse writing team Lennon/McCartney while on acid. This song features an excellent guitar riff and powerful vocals. Also worth checking out is the version with Jimi Hendrix.

Yellow Submarine - Seemingly harmless, this song features great vocals by drummer Ringo Starr. Upon a good listen, the lyrics seem quite tripped out:

As we live a life of ease,
Everyone of us has all we need,
Sky of blue and sea of green,
In our yellow submarine.
We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,

Eleanor Rigby - A simply wonderful and deep song, performed vocally by Paul. This song features a haunting musical backround, and deep lyrics about the lonely, along with a good storyline about both a lonely woman and a troubled Priest who's paths cross:

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name.
Nobody came.
Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave.
No-one was saved.
All the lonely people, where do they all come from?
All the lonely people, where do they all belong?

All You Need Is Love - A wonderfully soulful song. Interestingly enough, the first time this song was attempted is the version you hear on the Magical Mystery Tour album. For a complex song both vocally and musically to be nailed on the first take is incredible.

Hey Jude - This song was written by Paul for John's son Julian to help him deal with his  parents' divorce. Some think it is to young, but I feel it is damn near perfect as it is. One particular line Paul thought was stupid, and John told him not to dare to change it, which makes Paul often choke up when he sings it (that line emphasised):

Hey Jude refrain,
Don’t carry the world upon your shoulders.
For well you know that it’s a fool,
Who plays it cool,
By making his world a little colder.
Hey Jude don’t let me down,
You have found her now go and get her,
Remember (Hey Jude) to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

Get Back - This song features a great guitar, and an excellent keyboard solo from Billy Preston who became the Beatles' good friend while the filmed "Let It Be". This song features simple, yet humourous storytelling by Paul:

Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman
But she was another man
All the girls around her say she’s got it coming
But she gets it while she can.

The Ballad Of John And Yoko - John tells the story of how hard it is to dodge the media when you're that popular by telling of getting married to Yoko Ono. I won't post lyrics because the whole song is the story.

Something - Finally, a George Harrison song which reached #1. This song is beautiful, with George talking about the ideal lover, maybe directed towards his wife:

Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover,
Something in the way she woos me.
I don’t want to leave her now,
You know I believe and how.
Somewhere in her smile she knows
That I don’t need no other lover.

Let It Be - A great track with Paul's vocals, featuring him singing about the beauty of music:

And when the night is cloudy,
There is a light that shines on me,
Shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music,
Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.

Next post: Lesser known (As far as the Beatles are concerned) tracks.

[Lincoln]

Rubber Soul (the whole album) - I can't really recommend just single songs off of this, plus for the fact it has no singles. Despite no singles it still sold extremely well. An excellent album, definetly worth checking out.

Revolver:

Taxman - An interesting social commentary by George about being choked to death by the government through taxes:

Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat,
If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.
Taxman.

I'm Only Sleeping - A strange song by John, this features backwards guitars, while John describes being in a sleepy state:

When I’m in the middle of a dream,
Stay in bed, float up stream (float up stream),
Please don’t wake me, no, don’t shake me,
Leave me where I am, I’m only sleeping.
Everybody seems to think I’m lazy.
I don’t mind, I think they’re crazy
Running everywhere at such a speed,
Till they find there’s no need (there’s no need),

Doctor Robert - Damn catchy and rarely mentioned, this is one of my faves from Revolver.
Features great singing from John.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

A great album which is from the perspective of the Beatles not being the Beatles, but in fact another band.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Some dispute is whether this song is about a picture drawn by John's song with the title, or if it actually stands for LSD. Whatever, it's damn trippy. It features 3 different vocal styles, with crazy lyrics:

Picture yourself in boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalde skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she’s gone.

Fixing A Hole - A great song by Paul. The song is about fixing problems to makes oneself feel better (at least that was my interpretation):

I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go.
I’m filling in the cracks that ran through the door
And kept my mind from wandering
Where it will go.
And it really doesn’t matter if I’m wrong
I’m right
Where I belong I’m right

When I'm Sixty Four - A great song about couples growing old together, it's a fun listen and deep at the same time.

A Day In The Life - 2 songs in one. It's John's song with Paul's stuck in the middle, somehow works quite well. It's about events, such as a man who kills himself in a car, WW2 and holes in the Albert Hall. Well known, download it and I'll bet you say "I've heard that before."

Magical Mystery Tour:

Fool On The Hill - A deep song about a lonely man, seen as the fool on the hill. Has some great singing and lyrics:

Day after day, alone on a hill,
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him,
They can see he’s just a fool
And he never gives an answer.
But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eys in his head see the world spinning round.

I Am The Walrus - Uuuh, what can I say. You'll have to hear it for yourself. Here's the lyrics: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Limo/3518/walrus.htm

The White Album:

The greatest double album of all time in my opinion. It's mostly solo song from each, I'll recommed the best from each:

Paul - Back In The USSR, Martha My Dear, Blackbird, Why Don't We Do It In The Road?, Rocky Racoon, Helter Skelter, Honey Pie

John  - Glass Onion, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, I'm So Tired, Yer Blues, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey, Revolution

George - While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Piggies, Savoy Truffle

Ringo - Don't Pass Me By, Good Night (only songs on the album).

Abbey Road:

The breakup album, recorded while The Beatles were breaking up (obviously):

Oh! Darling - A great song by Paul, it features completely exagerrated vocals. Word is Paul lost his voice after repeatedly doing takes trying to nail this one.

Octopus's Garden - A Ringo original, this song is fun, catchy, and has a great guitar in it. Nice lyrics:

I’d like to be under the sea in an octopus’s garden in the shade,
He’d let us in, knows where we’ve been, in his octopus’s garden in the shade.
I’d ask my friends to come and see an octopus’s garden with me.

I Want You (She's So Heavy) - Repetitive and long, somehow John pulls it off to make it an amazing song.

Tracks 11-17 - Spanning less than 9 minutes, these songs blur into each other and it's great how you suddenly realize it's a different song.

That's all the songs I'm going to touch on, there were lots I left out.

Next post: Conclusions.

[Lincoln]

Conclusions:

The Beatles were a great band, no doubt. While it's evident Ringo isn't the greatest drummer of all time, nor Paul the great bass player, nor John & George the greatest guitarists, nor any of them being the greatest singers from a technical standpoint, the chemistry in undeniable. The way the band held itself together enhances the great sound of the instruments, thus making up for what might not be the technical greatness. The pre-Rubber Soul albums are great, often pop-ish songs which are great on their own. From Rubber Soul to Abbey Road The Beatles created some of the most influential, original, and entertaining songs in music history.

And that's my 2 cents on why I consider The Beatles to be the greatest band of all time.

[Don Breezio]

i can understand why people don't like the beatles....i mean its just not some peoples style....also it kind of depends on thier age i think....i hated the beatles till i was about 18....then i started getting into them a little more...now i love them....eleanor rigby is one of my favorite songs as well as let it be. their albums are great. what i can't understand is why people don't respect the beatles....liking them is one thing, respecting them is another....i mean....i don't like bruce springsteen very much or metallica very much....but i have respect for them. (for their music atleast....metallica to me seems like a bunch of greedy bitches). but all in all i can understand why some people don't listen to them....

[Lincoln]

i can understand why people don't like the beatles....i mean its just not some peoples style....also it kind of depends on thier age i think....i hated the beatles till i was about 18....then i started getting into them a little more...now i love them....eleanor rigby is one of my favorite songs as well as let it be. their albums are great. what i can't understand is why people don't respect the beatles....liking them is one thing, respecting them is another....i mean....i don't like bruce springsteen very much or metallica very much....but i have respect for them. (for their music atleast....metallica to me seems like a bunch of greedy bitches). but all in all i can understand why some people don't listen to them....

I agree. I was just attempting to dispel the myth that they just made pop music for girls and give some recommendations to people who want to check them out.

[Don Jacob]

i can understand why people don't like the beatles....i mean its just not some peoples style....also it kind of depends on thier age i think....i hated the beatles till i was about 18....then i started getting into them a little more...now i love them....eleanor rigby is one of my favorite songs as well as let it be. their albums are great. what i can't understand is why people don't respect the beatles....liking them is one thing, respecting them is another....i mean....i don't like bruce springsteen very much or metallica very much....but i have respect for them. (for their music atleast....metallica to me seems like a bunch of greedy bitches). but all in all i can understand why some people don't listen to them....

metallica arn't greedy they're actually  just as normal as any band protecting their name. there was actually a  site called beatallica.com where this 'band' mixed beatle's and metallica songs together and spoofed them, metallica stated that they loved the site when they could have easily sued for all the merchandise and shit they sold on there, but the paul and ringo thought it was tasteless and sony and whoever else ownes the rights to the beatles songs made Beatallica take their site down or face a multimillion dollar lawsuit..my point being metallica ain't this greedy band people make them out to be.




and about the beatles..............they are one of those groups you HAVE to give props to, it's blasphamous not to.

[white Boy]

yea i pretty much agree with everyone here... i think you have to be a lil older to like or apriciate the beatles, i get really angry wen people are ignorant, and dont realize and aknowledge their greatness.. they are my fav group, the best group, and god damn, i can listen to so many songs over and over, i got like over 30 favs.. but my 1 fav song by them is A day in the life.. btw i dont like metallica cause i cant stand the dudes voice, i feel like im at a nascar race or something, ...

[Rampant]

I think most young people dont care for them because its not there style. They also dont realize how unique they were back when they came out.

[Lincoln]

I think most young people dont care for them because its not there style. They also dont realize how unique they were back when they came out.

Maybe, but The Beatles don't really have just one style, many of their albums have different vibes. I'm hoping by making this thread I could help people see the many sides to their music. I mean, I'm young and I like them.

[Lincoln]

I'm upping this, I'm curious to see what people like Trauma and Shallow have to say, as well as the views of the ignorant. Did anyone actually check these songs out that I recommended and possibly change their views?

[Kill]

well, my opinion has been summed up pretty much by what most people in here said...and btw, i was into the Beatles pretty heavy when i was like 10

[chronic01]

i didnt start listening to the beatles until after i turned 18 because i thought it was crap that my parents listnened too
but now i bump the white album all the time i'll check out the other songs u posted and see if ne others catch my attention

[Lincoln]

i didnt start listening to the beatles until after i turned 18 because i thought it was crap that my parents listnened too
but now i bump the white album all the time i'll check out the other songs u posted and see if ne others catch my attention

Props for being open-minded. 

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Who are the Beatles?

[Trauma-san]

The Beatles were so 'as a matter of fact' that it's without a DOUBT they're the greatest Band of all time.  It's not even open to argument... it's Fact.  Face it: The Beatles simply were the best there ever was, and they're likely the best there ever will be.  For SEVERAL reasons. 

Individually, they weren't necessarily all that talented.  Paul McCartney is likely the most talented of the bunch, but he's himself probably no more talented than a slew of famous musical geniuses: My Brother Brian Wilson, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles list goes on and on and on.  Paul, though, and his other 3 brothers had something spectacular flowing through them... for some reason they always made the right choice at the right time, and the music took on a life bigger than itself.  "A Day In The Life" isn't really all THAT great of a song, but most people place it near the top of the 'greatest of all time' lists... why? ... because the Beatles had something about them like I said that was greater than the actual product.  There's some kind of mysticism or something working, it's really hard to explain.  I have a theory that holds that somehow the Beatles tapped into something greater than themselves, and rode it's coattails: Love.

The Beatles started out singing "She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah Yeah Yeah!" and the "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" with them shaking their heads silly went on to kind of become their representative trademark.  Think of the Beatles, and you likely think of them standing, George on the right with a Microphone, John & Paul singing into the same Microphone, Ringo beating away at the drums, and all 4 shaking their slightly too-long hair around, yelling "YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!" or going "WHOOOOOOOO".  At that moment, they were as great as they ever would be.  Something about them reminds you (or at least me!) of the carefree falling feeling you have when you've just met some girl, you've got a crush on her, and you know that things are only going to get better.  They don't remind me of long, deep seated love that has taken years to grow, they remind me of fresh, fun, exciting love that only takes a couple days.  There's somethign about them saying "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" that perfectly sums up that entire feeling, it's like they tapped into that emotion, and then used everyone's passion and enjoyment of that feeling, to transfer that same feeling to their happy little band.  And so the Beatles have become the most loved band of all time, at least to me, because it reminds me of that emotion everytime I hear or see them.  What a great fucking band. 

They brought such interesting dynamics to the group too, but most importantly of all, never took themselves too seriously.  Even when John was having his 'bed in's" and things for peace, it was always fun, never condescending or condemning.  It was perpetually sillly, like war is silly.  Paul would just as soon write a song called "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?" as he would write a legendary ballad about love called "The Long and Winding Road".  George would write one of the greatest ballads of all time, "Something", and then in the same mind write a driving melodic riff-driven masterpiece like "If I needed someone".  Ringo would show up at the studio with a 2 or 3 lines of a song called "Octopuses Garden", and the other 3 guys, loving him so much, would gladly help him turn it into a full fledged song, and wouldn't think of not having it on the album... they'd even cut greater material from the tracklisting so their best friend could have the song he dreamed up on there.  These are the guys that years after they were forced to stop touring, because they couldn't hear their own instruments... and after they knew the end was coming, and the band would never be the same again... they made the decision one day to haul their instruments and amplifiers up to the roof of their studio, to do one last live concert in the wind up there, with the streets filled with people on their lunchbreaks wondering what the hell all the noise was.  Paul McCartney changed the words to "Get Back" just especially for the police that were staring at him from the doorway of the stairwell on the roof, called because of the complaints of the noise... looking straight at them, he sang "Get Back home Loretta... you've been playing on the roofs again... you know your momma doesn't like that... no, she gets angry, gonna have you arrested!! AAAHOOOWWW GET BACK!!"

Beautiful Band, easily without a doubt, end of discussion, you're going to hell if you think otherwise, the GREATEST OF ALL TIME.  It's like Beethoven Mozart Bach and Gershwin starting a rock group.  They will be talked about and praised 2000 years from now.  You can not, will not, have not ever overspoken the immensity of this band.