The Beatles Appreciation Thread

[Gant]

I heard recently that "Your bird can sing" is a little dig at Jagger and his then girlfriend Marianne faithful.

[Lucky Punk]

1. Rain
2. Dr Roberts
3. ( no way am I touching Taxman either Matt ) so...........
Please don't make me do it oh well, if you insist 
   Paperback Writer

[Matt]

That ends Round 22. This time we lose "Paperback Writer" and "Doctor Robert".


BEATLES SONG SURVIVOR - ROUND TWENTY-THREE

All of the songs in this round are from the "Revolver" album.

As before, vote off two of the following songs, and list an alternate third choice that will only be used as a tie-breaker if needed. The three surviving songs from this round will be brought back later in the game to compete with the other rounds' survivors.

1.  "I'm Only Sleeping" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Lennon, with McCartney
2.  "Eleanor Rigby" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: McCartney, with Lennon
3.  "For No One" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: McCartney
4.   "Yellow Submarine" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Starr, with Lennon, McCartney and Harrison
5.   "I Want To Tell You" (Harrison); Lead vocal: Harrison, with Lennon and McCartney


(When I end a round and start the next, I'll need to take the songs from the previous round down so that the next round's songs will fit on the website. Therefore the links in each round will still show up, but they won't work once that round has ended.)

You can join in the game anytime. You don't need to have been voting from the beginning to play.

[Matt]

I'm very happy to vote off Yellow Submarine. It's a great soundtrack, but god I hate this song. The other two choices are tough. I love all the other songs. Eleanor Rigby can still give me chills when I hear it... it's simply one of the best songs ever written, and the strings (thanks to George Martin) are absolutely perfect. I think some songs should be credited Lennon/McCartney/Martin, and this is one of them. What he added to some of these songs with his string and brass scores can't be emphasized enough.  But, two songs must go to keep the game going.

1) Yellow Submarine
2) For No One   
3) I Want To Tell You 

[The Schofield Kid]

1- Yellow Submarine ( great song,when you're a kid,now I just cringe when I hear it )

2- For No One

3- I Want To Tell You

Another hard round.I couldn't make up my mind on For No One/Eleanor Rigby.When I look at the five songs each round I give them a rating out of 5,and go from there,but I couldn't split these two. I'd make a decision then go to hit post and then have second thoughts.So I had to flip a coin.

[Matt]

Please don't touch Eleanor Rigby. It's one of my five favorite McCartney songs. Even the "strings only" version on Anthology is gorgeous.

I changed my vote a few times before putting up the final post too. Man, it was tough.

[Doug]

1 For No One  (Kind of a throw-away song, if you ask me.)
2 Yellow Submarine  (And yes, I like the song )
3 I'm Only Sleeping  (I hate to do it, but I'm pretty sure it'll survive the round.)

[[email protected]]

) Yellow Submarine
2) For No One

 
3) I Want To Tell You (d..I like this song!)

[Lucky Punk]

Oh Boy!
This album is peerless, I used to play this every morning during my military training, I could "play" it in my head during runs and speed marches to take my mind of the pain
20 years before folks ran wearing i Pod
I probably don't need to listen to them to make up my mind,
but I will since Matt went to all this trouble

1. Yellow Submarine (the Beatles were so high they even let Ringo sing a few tunes - Bill Hicks)
2. For No One (throw-away Doug? If it is, it's a masterclass in throw-away songwriting. Still has to go though )
3. I'm Only Sleeping (I hope this survives too Doug )

Don't nobody touch Rigby or we'll send the boys round

[Doug]

2. For No One (throw-away Doug? If it is, it's a masterclass in throw-away songwriting. Still has to go though )

I agree with all of that.  Still, it sounds pretty ordinary compared to all the other songs on Revolver, simply because this was the height of creativity for the greatest rock band in history.   

[Matt]

this was the height of creativity for the greatest rock band in history.   

  

[Gant]

Very tough round.. I'm Only Sleeping is one of my all time favorite Beatles songs.... No way can it go...

1   Yellow Submarine.. I agree, good kids song.
2   For No One

3 I Want To Tell You


I'm already missing Dr Robert....

[Matt]

1   Yellow Submarine.. I agree, good kids song.

As much as I dislike the song, I have to admit to yelling "Lock the chambers! Lock the chambers!" at the appropriate time, every time.

[Americanbeauty]

Please don't touch Eleanor Rigby.

Who could possibly vote it off?? 
That song is beautiful. I love it. Couldn't stop listening to it this morning 

ANYWAY here's my vote:

1. I'm Only Sleeping
2. I Want To Tell You
3. Yellow Submarine

[Matt]

(the Beatles were so high they even let Ringo sing a few tunes - Bill Hicks)

And thank God they did. Or else, some of these rounds would be impossible.

[Lin Sunderland]

1   Yellow Submarine          Bye Bye. PLEASE

2    I Want to Tell You

3    I'm only Sleeping



Apart from Yellow Submarine this was a difficult round again.  There is no way I can vote Eleanor Rigby off.    I am with you  Matt.   Fantastic arrangement.

[The Schofield Kid]

Does anyone know the story behind Yellow Submarine?This song seems so out of place on the Revolver album.I could understand if it was recorded for the movie in 1968 but that was still two years away.Were they desperate for a track for Ringo?I just wish they could have found something better.

[Matt]

tgy, I had just looked up "Yellow Submarine" in the A Hard Day's Write book, to see what the story was behind that song, and then happened to come here to find your question. What a wild coincidence. Since we were both curious, I'll type it all out here:

Lying in bed late one night, the idea of writing a children's song about different coloured submarines came into Paul's head. This was to develop into 'Yellow Submarine', the tale of a boy who listens to the tall stories of an old sailor about his exploits in the "land of submarines" and decides to go sailing and see for himself.

Between 1962 and 1965, the Beatles had obeyed the unwritten rules for writing pop singles: they should have love as their subject; be just two minutes long, and be easily reproducible in concert. Now, gradually, they were enjoying seeing how many of these rules could be broken while still retaining the immediacy and excitement of chart music. 'Paperback Writer' was their first non-love single; 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'Rain' were the first of their songs to chart but not be played in concert, and 'Yellow Submarine' was their first singalong song.

Paul chose only short words because he wanted it to be a song which would be picked up quickly and sung by children. While writing it, he visited Donovan at his flat in Maida Vale. "We were in the habit of just dropping in on each other," remembers Donovan. "I was just waiting for the release of my album Sunshine Superman and so we played each other our latest songs. One of the songs Paul played me was about a yellow submarine but he said he was missing a line or two. He asked me if I'd like to make a contribution. I left the room for a bit and came back with "Sky of blue and sea of green, in our yellow submarine". It wasn't an earth shattering creation but Paul liked it enough to use it on the eventual recording."

Released as the flip side of "Eleanor Rigby" in August 1966, the same month that Revolver came out, the rumour quickly spread that the yellow submarine was a veiled reference to drugs. In New York, Nembutal capsules started to be known as "yellow submarines". Paul denied the allegations and said that the only submarine he knew that you could eat was a sugary sweet he'd come across in Greece while on holiday. These had to be dropped in water and were known as 'submarines'. "I knew 'Yellow Submarine' would get connotations," said Paul, "but it really was a children's song."

From "A Hard Day's Write" by Steve Turner, p. 108-109

[Matt]

Before we start the next round, here's an extra treat for everyone. In honor of what would have been John Lennon's 65th birthday today (October 9th), here's Paul's tribute song to John, Here Today.

I only have the live recording from the "Back in the U.S., Live 2002" album. I don't know how to edit sound files to fade in the applause, and to fade it out at the end, so I'm sorry for the abrupt start and finish to the track. It's a beautiful song, though... and an appropriate day to listen to it.

[Matt]

That ends Round 23. This time we lose "Yellow Submarine" and "For No One".


BEATLES SONG SURVIVOR - ROUND TWENTY-FOUR

This round, we'll hear the last three songs recorded for the Revolver album, the "B" side to the "Penny Lane" single, "Strawberry Fields Forever," (we'll hear "Penny Lane" next round),



and the first song recorded for the 8th Beatles album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released on June 1, 1967:



(Both "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" would later be released on the Magical Mystery Tour album.)

As before, vote off two of the following songs, and list an alternate third choice that will only be used as a tie-breaker if needed. The three surviving songs from this round will be brought back later in the game to compete with the other rounds' survivors.

1.  "Good Day Sunshine" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: McCartney, with Lennon
2.  "Here, There and Everywhere" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: McCartney
3.  "She Said She Said" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Lennon
4.   "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: Lennon
5.   "When I'm 64" (Lennon/McCartney); Lead vocal: McCartney


(When I end a round and start the next, I'll need to take the songs from the previous round down so that the next round's songs will fit on the website. Therefore the links in each round will still show up, but they won't work once that round has ended.)

You can join in the game anytime. You don't need to have been voting from the beginning to play.