The songs in this group are not significantly ahead of the ones from yesterday. We’re still in the territory of songs that are pleasant enough but I very rarely go out of my way to play. They’ve got some good (occasionally great) elements, but all have their flaws, too.
175. What You’re Doing from Beatles For Sale
It’s got a decent little guitar riff, and the opening drum beat is very solid. This is one of those songs that I may have ranked lower than I would have because of my disappointment in what it fails to do. This has some of the elements of a great little Spector-esque song that would really come over the top. But instead, it just hints at that without ever taking off. The guitar solo in the middle is pretty weak, and the melody is just inexplicably a little bit off. A better production of the song could really have bumped it up a lot, but the version we actually got is just a testament to the fact that even The Beatles made mistakes sometimes.
174. Another Girl from Help!
Don’t really have much to say about this one. Nothing spectacular. I guess it shows how good the Beatles were that thrown-together songs, rushed to be ready for the movie, could still be pretty good.
173. Dr. Robert from Revolver
There are three basic themes in rock and roll. 1) I’m in love; 2) My life is miserable; 3) I have a doctor who prescribes me crazy drugs. This song falls into the third category. So there’s that. It’s got a nice little beat and the “well, well, well, I’m feeling fine” segment is among the best moments on Revolver. Still, it’s definitely the weakest track from the album (which really is praising with a faint damn)
172. Roll Over Beethoven from With The Beatles
There’s really nothing wrong with this song. It’s a great cover, with guitar-playing as good as anything on Chuck Berry’s original, and one of George’s best vocal performances of the early years. So why’s it so low? It’s more to do with my personal tastes than anything else. The Beatles always seem best to me when they’re breaking new ground, or when they’re delving back into less rock-oriented genres. It may seem weird, but The Beatles as a straight-up rock band have always been the least impressive to me. So this is a faithful translation of Chuck Berry, but I guess I’d just rather hear them cover Smokey Robinson.
171. Love You Too from Revolver
The first song on which they really put the sitar to use. It doesn’t have quite the appeal of the other sitar-songs, though. This is due mostly to the fact that it is very close to the genuine article where a song like Norwegian Wood is really just a regular Beatles song with the sitar as an extra instrument. Even “Within You, Without You” is really two separate musical portions, one the droning Indian-influenced background and the other a George Martin orchestrated, and very Western classical score. So, while I find “Love You To” to be interesting in its faithful effort, I just can’t really get into it. My musical tastes are pretty decidedly western, so I enjoy harmonies and melodies. Which means this is one of a number of Beatles songs where I can appreciate the artistry without necessarily wanting to listen to it all the time.
170. All Together Now from Yellow Submarine
I don’t get mad at this song for being ridiculous, over-the-top, and silly. It’s meant to be that and it works just fine on those terms. It’s just that I have to be in the mood for a silly song to really have any desire to listen to it. And while those moods aren’t exactly uncommon, this song can’t beat out the majority of their catalogue which are more versatile and meaningful. But seriously, who doesn’t love the “Yellow Submarine” movie?
169. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You from A Hard Day’s Night
168. Do You Want To Know A Secret from Please Please Me
These songs would be higher if they just didn’t feel so precious. I know that a lot of the songs at the time were the same, but it’s just a little too much for me to deal with. They’re great little 2-minute pop songs, though. “Do You Want to Know a Secret” in particular has an interesting chord progression and the little introduction “You’ll never know how much I really love you; you’ll never know how much I really care” which is never returned to. Both are sung by George, for what it’s worth.
167. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill from The White Album
Let’s get it out of the way: the three seconds when Yoko sings drag this song down a bit. I really like Yoko, but this song really could have done without her. As for the rest of it, it’s wacky, zany, maybe even kooky. I like the tune fine, and vaguely metaphoric “Shooting an Elephant”-esque story is fine, but it’s not one of their stronger songs.
166. Tell Me What You See from Help!
I really wish this song was better. The arrangement is a little lackluster, and on about a third of the lines, the vocals are just terrible. It almost sounds like they’re trying to spit…out…each…word…sep…er…ate…ly… and enunciate perfectly, which is fine for a grammar school class, but hardly appropriate for rock and roll. It’s really a shame because it’s a beautiful song, particularly the “look into these eyes now” section. A little bit better done and this could have jumped up 60 or 70 spots.
165. I Want You (She’s So Heavy) from Abbey Road
When I’m in the right mood, I really enjoy this song. When I’m not, I wonder who decided that they needed to spend 8 minutes on the subject of “I want you, I want you so bad it’s driving me mad. She’s so heavy.” I’ve always enjoyed the sudden cut-off at the end and after many listens have become quite good at pinpointing it. As for the song itself, it’s technically very well done, with a neat little bass line, some fine drumming, nice guitar flourishes, a well-placed organ, and the heavy, almost bruising extended coda. Also, I like it as a a counterpoint to the medley which dominates side-two. Back in the days of records that you had to actually get up and turn over, there was something appealing about the symmetry (or lack thereof) in one side being a bunch of tiny songs melded to make one extended song, while the other is a very short song extended for a very long time.
164. Baby It’s You from Please Please Me
A cover from their first album. I’ll admit that I haven’t heard the original so I’m not sure what to compare it to. It does seem like a song more suited to a woman’s voice, but in spite of that, John does a really fantastic making it his own. It’s got a great 50’s feel to it with the sha-la-las and John’s flourishes. They would soon move on to bigger and better things, but if they had never moved past this kind of stuff, they still would have been a pretty great band.
163. I’m Down from Past Masters, Vol 1
162. Long Tall Sally from Past Masters, Vol 1
I never used to like these two songs all that much (see my comments on “Roll Over Beethoven”) but I’ve come around on them a bit. They’re frantically paced and feature some of Paul’s best rock-and-roll vocal performances. “Long Tall Sally” was their usual show-closer, and was replaced by “I’m Down” for some of their last concerts. It’s one of the few situations where I can imagine that The Beatles live would be even better than the studio versions. Also, my brother’s band used to do a cover of “I’m Down” that I really enjoyed.
161. Devil In Her Heart from With The Beatles
Not their most impressive cover, but not too shabby either. The back-and-forth dialogue between John and Paul who warn George “she’s got the Devil in her heart,” and George who insists “no, she’s an angel sent to me” is a little cutesy, but it works okay.
All entries:
Beatles from worst to first 11 (the top 10)
Beatles from worst to first 10 (30-11)
Beatles from worst to first 9 (50-31)
Beatles from worst to first: Interlude
Beatles from worst to first 8 (75-51)
Beatles from worst to first 7 (100-76)
Beatles from worst to first 6 (120-101)
Beatles from worst to first 5 (140-121)
Beatles from worst to first 4 (160-141)
Beatles from worst to first 3 (175-161)
Beatles from worst to first 2 (190-176)
Beatles from worst to first 1 (206-191)
Beatles from worst to first: Introduction