The Beatles Thread

cycling writer ...
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guitar intro ...

 

Well, you could say that about any non-hit song on any album by anybody.

"I Will" is not a profound or lasting Paul song, but it's a nice light pop love song in the vein of "For No One" from Revolver, and provides the album narrative with a funny twist coming right after "Why Don't We Do It In The Road."

"Rocky Raccoon" and "Don't Pass Me By" are considered trash by a lot of people, but they allow the album to take a quick turn to Frontier America, the country-folk style in which Dylan and the Byrds and The Band dabbled at the time.

"Bungalow Bill" is kind of a lead-in to "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" as a commentary on gun-happy modern society (quite a topic of 1968 with assassinations, and sadly later in John's own case). "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is trashed as a brainless Paul pop ditty, but it was really pretty notable as one of the first attempts by any mainstream rock groups to incorporate reggae styles.

On a 30-song album, you can stretch out, put things on you wouldn't put on a 12-14 song single album.

 

You could say that about any non-hit song by anybody. That's my point.
You accept it from the Beatles when you would not accept it from others.

I really love the album with the exception of 'Revolution 9,' which is a waste of time. Saying it is what John was into does not change that.
John might have been into putting turds in boxes. Doesn't mean I should be happy if I tried to buy a record and ended up with a turd in a box.

But I really love this album overall.
'I Will' is actually my favorite song on it.
Love 'Don't Pass Me By,' 'Wild Honey Pie,' - I could go on and on. I just love the album.
Except 'Revolution 9.'
And 'Ob-La-Di,' which I don't hate but I can certainly do without. I know McCartney has said it is 'inspired' by early reggae but it has no real reggae in its composition.

 

Georgia Satellites did a great version of "Don't Pass Me By"

 

Some people say they wish John would have lived longer so the Beatles could have re-assembled.

I wish John could have lived longer so he could walk back some of the bitchy shit he said about some of the Beatles' songs.

Sure, some of the derision aimed at the targets are well-deserved, but not all. Now his opinions are frozen in place and time as if they were gospel instead of an evolving thought process.

Most artists who have longevity have a period where they get sick and tired of some of their songs. I remember the Bee Gees in the 80s saying they'd want to set fire to their white suits as they distanced themselves from the then-uncool Saturday Night Fever era. I doubt they felt that way even five years later.

John never got a chance to re-assess some of the Beatles stuff. A shame.

 

I nodded in agreement throughout reading this, but I also thought about the other side of that coin: He did live long enough that he didn't stay frozen in place and time in other ways, but not everyone got a chance to see it. People who were still holding some of his remarks from the mid-1960s against him in 1980 missed the fact of his personal growth in the last years of his life. His time spent largely away from the spotlight and his time spent as "Mr. Mom" gave space for him to blossom in ways that enriched his views about a lot of things, which struck me when I listened to the last (I think) recorded interview with him (highly recommended), from right before his death. People all too often want to peg you as permanently being the person who said x, y or z, and that x, y and z are all you are, and it makes me sad that there are so many people who won't or can't see the ways in which he was different in 1980 than in 1965 or whenever.

But yes, well said.

 

One thing is that many if not most of the John interview quotes come from either the 1970 Jann Wenner interview accompanying the release of Plastic Ono Band, or the spate of interviews he gave in 1980 for Double Fantasy.

His viewpoints on many of the songs do change considerably in between. In 1970 he is trying to deconstruct the myth of the Beatles and separate himself from it. And also incidentally to trash Paul.

In 1980 he is a lot more measured about it. He speaks in much more positive terms of the Beatles and gives Paul plenty of credit -- especially as a bass player.

Obviously by 1980 he didn't feel he had to convince everybody what a great idea it was to get out of the Beatles anymore, or that the breakup was particularly anybody's "fault."

The 1980 Playboy interview is really good -- they pretty much run down almost the complete Beatles catalog for John's capsule opinions.

You definitely get the idea from the 1980s interviews that he didn't think a potential reunion would happen any time soon, but he hadn't completely closed off the idea.

One thing many people don't realize is that in Dec. 1980, it was mainly John and George who were in the middle of a mini-feud.
George had written an autobiography in 1979-80 that didn't mention John's name at all, and John's nose was out of joint about it.

Supposedly in summer 1980, John and Paul talked on the phone several times.

 

The Playboy interview may be where the audio I heard in the early '80s came from. Or perhaps it was one of the others he gave during that time. I do remember it was shortly before he was killed, maybe only a day or two before. And yeah, the changes were obvious.

 

I prefer the Stones much more than the Beatles but I do love their early records, so much energy, Ringo powering the rhythm section and in Lennon and McCartney, not only two genius songwriters but two of the greatest shouters rock and roll ever produced. There were so many great singles and albums through Revolver, the albums from Sgt. Pepper on - with the exception of Abbey Road - don't do much for me.

I used to work with a guy who grew up in Liverpool when they were on their way up. He knew them all to some extent (he had his own band and his girlfriend, later wife, was related to one of the guys in Gerry and the Pacemakers) and he said going to see them was just something you did when they were gigging around the area. (He recalled occasionally grabbing a smoke between sets with Lennon.) He said in his mind it was preposterous to think they would become that famous because with the exception of people like the Queen and Churchill and maybe a guy like Richard Burton, British people just didn't get that kind of fame.

 

Lennon reminds a lot of the Gallagher bros. Incredibly talented, equally sensitive and egotistical.
The Gallagher boys are far, far worse, but Lennon set the bar.

 

Total fucking assholes. Blew it up when they were still the very best.

 

Yeah, the Gallagher punks are like if both John and Paul adopted the attitudes of John at his pissiest/ bitchiest and never backed off an inch.

Ray and Dave Davies are well behaved in comparison.

As noted above, John cooled his jets considerably between 1970 and 1980.