Heartache With Hard Work

We’re still pretty low on the list, but I genuinely enjoy all of these songs. There’s a number of early-period pop numbers, a few later tracks (including one that is sure to surprise some folks), and all three of their under-one-minute songs.

160. Honey Pie from The White Album

One of Paul’s many attempts to re-create the music his father loved. It’s got a nicely loping feel, and would feel perfectly in place on one of Paul’s solo albums from the seventies. Which can be either a good or bad thing, depending on how you feel about the post-Beatles Paul. It’s a pleasant-enough song, though it doesn’t knock my socks off.

159. You Like Me Too Much from Help!

Just a nice song by George. I really enjoy the way the harmony and the rising cymbals from the “it’s nice when you believe me / If you leave me” section transition flawlessly into the resumption of the tone of the verse as George’s voice emerges alone: “I will follow you and bring you back…” And I really enjoy the piano which drives the song and gets the centerstage for the middle of the song.

158. Good Night from The White Album

Too much orchestration. Too much with all the background vocals. But in spite of that, this is one of the few Ringo songs where his voice is a PERFECT match. It just makes you feel good, safe even, to listen. It’s a great lullaby. One thing: it really is a perfect fit to end the White Album, especially given that “Revolution #9” is the second-to-last song. After the madness of that track, having such an old-fashioned, yes, even schmaltzy song, is a palate-cleanser, leaving you free to end the album, turn off the lights, and go to sleep unfettered.

157. Her Majesty from Abbey Road

At just 23 seconds, it’s easily the shortest Beatles track. Originally planned as a connector to follow “Mean Mr. Mustard,” it starts with a single chord which would have been the final sound of the previous track. Then, it’s just Paul and his acoustic guitar, singing a little ditty. The story goes that they had no intention of saving it but someone in the studio liked it so much they tacked in on the end and everyone ended up agreeing that it provided just the right amount of comic and emotional relief. The medley is clearly their crowning achievement, and a fitting end to their career, but it might be just a little bit TOO much on its own. The long pause at its conclusion gives everyone a chance to catch their breath, and then drops this song on you, just to remind you that The Beatles are as clever and fun as they are musically talented.

156. Mr. Moonlight from Beatles For Sale

I know a number of folks who would put this among their least favorites. I can understand why. It’s a cover and feels a bit out-of-place with the rest of the Beatles work, particularly with the weird Hammond organ instrumental bridge. But, for some reason, I am strangely attached to the song. I really enjoy the bass/drum dum-dum-dum-dum-BAM lead-up to John belting out “Mr. Moonlight” which is reversed at the end of the bridge, with the drum-beat and then a series of bass notes.

155. Dig It from Let It Be
154. Maggie Mae from Let It Be

These are hardly songs at all, just snippets tossed onto “Let It Be” to help evoke an organic feeling. It was envisioned as an album about the making of an album, thus the inclusion of some of the more playful moments. However, while these are songlets more than songs, they are not throwaways. Both are a bit of fun, musically and lyrically. “Dig It” represents the jam sessions, with playful, even silly lyrics, and a rising sound. “Maggie Mae” is a fun harmony, with John and Paul doing their best to make Henry Higgins scream. An important consideration is the placement of these songs on the album. They bookend “Let It Be” which is very clearly a very powerful, but possibly overly emotional, song. Placing these two on either side of it provides a little relief and helps to lighten the mood a bit.

153. When I Get Home from A Hard Day’s Night

I like the sound of this song, and John’s “I’ll love her more” is devastating, but it loses a whole lot of points for the lyrics. “Whoa-oh, ahhhh.” And then “I’m gonna love her til the cows come home.” Come on guys.

152. Chains from Please Please Me

A great old Goffin/King song. Nothing particularly special going on here, though it’s one of George’s nicer vocals from the early years.

151. Because from Abbey Road

One of those songs that I’ve always felt that I should like more. It’s very pretty. The multi-tracked three-part harmony is great. But it just doesn’t do that much for me, and I don’t really know why. Part of it is that, like most of Abbey Road, when listened to by itself it is not nearly as enjoyable as when listening to the entire album. This is clearly true for the medley, but I think it’s also the case for every song: the composite exceeds the sum of the parts.

150. Ask Me Why Please Please Me

One of their least-sophisticated sounding songs. Also one of their first compositions, which may be closely connected. The lyrics aren’t anything impressive, but the singing is lovely, and on closer listen, you realize that the progression is a little more complicated than it might seem at first. The verses are virtually identical, but they break off at different points to move into either the chorus or the bridge, depending on the location in the song. Moreover, the chorus flits in and out, almost dropping in at random, and exiting in quite different fashion. The first time it ends abruptly, allowing for a sharp return to the verse. The second and third times, it lingers, easing into the bridge and then the fadeout. These changes are minor, but in my mind, they give it just enough weight to sustain it.

149. Taxman from Revolver

It’s a little too repetitive for me, with the same guitar riff driving the whole song. When the second guitar takes on a larger role toward the end, it really helps, but a little more variation in percussion throughout the song would have been great to alter the tone a bit. In spite of that, the lyrics are clever (it’s one of their first non-love songs) and the guitar interlude is great.

148. Every Little Thing from Beatles For Sale

I love the opening guitar. Pretty standard fare otherwise. Two minutes, double-tracked vocals by John, a John/Paul duet for the chorus. He loves her, she’s great, life will be good from now on because they’re together. This will never be among my favorites, but I also can’t really imagine it coming up and me skipping it.

147. Come Together from Abbey Road

Alright, this is probably a lot lower than most people would put this song. What can I say? It just doesn’t do it for me. For all that I love the bass line and John’s spooky lyrics and the guitar riff as he sings “come together…right now…over me,” the song just sounds a little tired, or maybe quiet. It feels like it ought to be coming after you but instead it just treads water. And the outro seems far too long to me. Still a good song, but I rarely find myself thinking “I really should listen to ‘Come Together’ right now.”

146. Misery from Please Please Me

I like this song more than I probably ought to. There’s nothing particularly impressive about it, other than the general impressiveness that goes along with all of their early work. That said, it’s got a great beat, the jauntiness of which provides a nice counterpoint to the downbeat lyrics. And for some reason I just love the descending piano notes that punctuate the bridges.

145. Yes It Is from Past Masters, Vol 1

I like a lot of things about this song, but it loses substantial points because John sounds so bored. Admittedly, the motif of the song is languorous sadness, but he just sounds disinterested more than anything else. It’s not until the chorus that you remember just how great a singer he is. From that point on, the three-part harmony is much stronger, and the emotional impact of the song is clear. But those first 45 seconds or so really drag it down for me.

144. I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party from Beatles For Sale

I really love the chorus to this song. However, the rest of it just doesn’t do much for me. The background harmonies are pleasant, and the guitar solo is nice, but for some reason the vocals just don’t mesh together right. It all sounds a little flat to me (especially on the line “I think I’ll take a walk and look for her” where they unfortunately try to rhyme “care,” “there,” and “her”). Still, that chorus is something else. Really fantastic John/Paul melody.

143. I Need You from Help!

This is a nice little song, though it doesn’t really stun me at all. I have to say that I can’t really get into the organ or whatever it is that is the primary background instrument. It’s more distracting to me than anything else. George provides serviceable vocals, and the low-key tone works fine to convey the feeling of gentle longing.

142. Oh! Darling from Abbey Road

I go back and forth on this song. I love Paul’s vocal performance – it sounds so ragged and fierce. But it also feels kind of tired. And it’s got the annoying single-guitar-note-as-percussion thing going on. Which I really dislike. When I’m in the mood, it would be ranked higher, and when I’m not, it would be quite a bit lower. So I’m putting it here as a compromise.

141. Till There Was You from With The Beatles

Paul really loved these old show tunes, and he does sing them very well. And George plays a nice guitar, too. Though, for some reason, Paul’s pronunciation of ‘saw’ as ‘sarr’ just drives me up the wall.

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

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

190. I Wanna Be Your Man from With The Beatles

Here we find yet another lowly-ranked early Ringo song. It’s a little too trebly for my tastes. The story goes that it was written in an afternoon to give to the Rolling Stones for a single, while they (the Stones) sat in and watched, impressed with the Lennon/McCartney writing team. Neither version of the song is all that impressive, though, I have to say.

189. Blue Jay Way from Magical Mystery Tour

This song just doesn’t really work. It’s soooooo slowly paced and the vaguely psychedelic background effects don’t really go anywhere. It’s hard to think of it as anything more than plodding, which is not really the term you’d want to attach to a song. I do like the unintentional tension between the real lyric of “please don’t be long” and the misheard one of “please don’t belong.” But it’s one of the few Beatles songs that really has no ability to transcend its era. This is a song that could only have been recorded in the late 60s and it probably needs to stay there.

188. Love Me Do from Please Please Me

This was their first single, which is weird, since it’s probably among their worst songs. But everyone has to start somewhere, even The Beatles. I prefer the version on Please Please Me (with Andy White drumming) to the one on the first Past Masters disc (with Ringo), though it really has nothing to do with the percussion. I just think the vocals are a little tighter and John’s harmonica is better. Anyways… “Love, love me do, you know I love you, I’ll always be true, so pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease…love me do.” Yeah, that’s why it’s this far down.

187. Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! from Beatles For Sale

Many of my lowest ranked songs are, like this one, covers of some of The Beatles’ heroes of early rock and roll. I guess I just think that they so quickly transcended their roots and were producing more complex, interesting, and good music almost immediately. Still, there’s something to be said for a solid cover of a blues classic. And while I don’t really enjoy this song that much personally, it’s a perfectly good cover of a perfectly good song. I just think virtually any Lennon/McCartney song is even better.

186. Slow Down from Past Masters, Vol 1

This song starts so promisingly. The swooping piano intro and the quickly moving beat lead into a great vocal performance by John, including a couple of great screams. It does get a little repetitive, but even with that, it would still have ranked quite a bit higher if not for the MAJOR demerits it receives for containing what is without a doubt the worst guitar solo in any Beatles song. I have no idea what happened here, but it’s just not even close to the beat and gets further and further away as it progresses. By the end, I’m convinced that George was just plucking random strings hoping for it to end.

185. For You Blue from Let It Be

George definitely gets the short shrift in my rankings, with a lot of his later blues-influenced songs not faring very well. It’s not that I think they’re terrible – it just isn’t really my thing. This song sounds basically identical for the entire track. You could start at any moment in the song and really have no way of telling. Except for John’s solo on the slide guitar, which is pretty cool.

184. What Goes On from Rubber Soul

I really want to like this song but every year I realize it’s not quite as good as I thought the year before. I love Ringo, but his singing just doesn’t really do it for me here. Beyond that, the guitar playing on this song just drives me nuts. It’s just a series of short notes. It sounds like perpetually aborted attempts to actually string something together. I just can’t deal with it. And it’s a shame because this could be a good song, if it had been produced differently, I think.

183. The Word from Rubber Soul

This song is the dividing line for me. I really feel like it should be higher, but I can’t really justify moving it ahead of any of the songs above it. That will be the case with virtually every song from here on. It’s ranked where it is because other songs are EVEN BETTER, not because it itself is bad. To put it another way: everything below here is a song I could probably do without. Everything above here is a song I actively enjoy, to some degree. “The Word” is one of the first hippie-oriented songs, about the power of the word: love. And I appreciate it for that. But for some reason I can’t quite define, I’ve just never enjoyed the tune. Maybe it’s the almost-falsetto voice. Or the not-quite-right arrangement. They were really great about incorporating all kinds of instruments and making it fit, but the harmonium feels a little misplaced here.

182. Savoy Truffle from The White Album

Yet another lowly place George song. The horn section adds a nice effect here, and like many White Album tracks, the musicianship is pretty strong – the drumming is good and the guitar solo is well done. Still, let’s face facts: it’s a song about candy. And it inexplicably is lacking in the driving bass beat that featured so prominently in a number of other songs from this era and which could have really helped the song rock out a little more.

181. A Taste Of Honey from Please Please Me

Paul sure did love these old fashioned songs. And this track shows he could croon with the best of them. That’s about it, though.

180. Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand from Past Masters, Vol 1

Not much to say here. It’s obviously got a great tune, since it’s just “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and that’s enough to elevate it a little bit, but I can’t conceive of why I would ever choose to listen to this when I could just have the original. Well, novelty, I guess.

179. I Me Mine from Let It Be

Poor George, making his fourth appearance already. It’s weird because I actually prefer George’s first couple solo albums over any of the others, but he does pretty poorly with his Beatles songs. Part of it is that (as I’ve said) I could do with more of “I write soft, pretty songs” George and less of “I’m into the Blues” George. This one, despite having a more enjoyable sound than some of the others, runs into trouble with the lyrics: focusing on ego, existence, and all that stuff. Alan Pollack, who knows more about the Beatles’ songs than basically anyone in the world makes the following comment: “But here, in “I Me Mine”, I fear that George unwittingly traps himself in the pit of self righteousness, not only by his indiscriminite inclusion of “everyone” as his target, but by the essential scenario of the song in which an individual zealously condemns the entire community for being self-centered.” As a counterpoint, his solo album Living in the Material World has some songs along similar themes, but they’ve got a slightly less abrasive, preachy feel.

178. Matchbox from Past Masters, Vol 1

One of many Ringo cover tunes from the early years. It’s one of the better ones, but it still can’t really stand up to the work Lennon and McCartney were doing. The rockabilly beat elevates this a bit, but it’s really more of a placeholder than anything else.

177. Not A Second Time from With The Beatles

I’m a little conflicted on this song. At times it sounds like a close match to some of their weakest early efforts. At others, it seems to hint at the complexity to come. The instrumentation is unobtrustive, to the point of feeling a little lackluster, but maybe that’s the strength of the song – that John is trying to convince her (and himself) that he’s not going to stand for her nonsense any longer but just doesn’t have the willpower to make it stick. There’s an interesting (if somewhat esoteric) take on the song here.

176. Drive My Car from Rubber Soul

I suspect that this is one of the first songs where my low ranking will conflict with a substantial number of Beatles listeners. I don’t know – it just doesn’t do it for me. The “beep beep, beep beep yeah” thing is annoying. And, for some reason, I just can’t deal with Paul’s vocals. They sound atonal, almost grating. All that said, I love the bass, and the piano over the chorus is quite nice.

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

Alright, here we are at the very bottom. These are the songs that really test the maxim “there’s no such thing as a bad Beatles song.” And while there’s not a song here that I really dislike, even with my absolute love of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, I can still recognize that it might have been better if they had left most of these songs back in the studio.

So, without further ado…

206. Wild Honey Pie from The White Album

So this is the worst Beatles song, but it’s not even really fair to call it that. It’s only a minute long and is more a connector than it is a song in its own right. However, I decided that I would include it, and since I have, it gets the spot at the bottom. That said, it’s not terrible or offensive – it’s just annoying. And while I don’t find it to be particularly pleasant, it’s not like I have to lunge over to hit the skip button (or pick up the needle back in my vinyl days) when “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da” finishes, either. The circular feel to the song is even a little interesting. Still, not very good.

205. Boys from Please Please Me

The lowest ranked of their legitimate songs. It almost doesn’t seem fair to poor Ringo to saddle him with the lowest spot. It’s not his fault that he didn’t really have much of a singing voice. And this isn’t a terribly recorded song. The drumming is actually pretty solid. But the backing vocals are a little off, and bop-shoe-op, bop-bop-shoe-op just doesn’t fit on a Beatles song. And the guitar solo is pretty weak. And why is Ringo singing “boys, yeah!” anyways? The rest of the song is about girls. I guess there’s a chance they were working on Gender Trouble a couple decades before Judith Butler…

204. Little Child from With The Beatles

If not for John’s voice, this would easily have been their worst song. The lyrics, good god, the lyrics! Wow. “little child, little child, little child won’t you dance with me, I’m so sad and lonely, baby take a chance with me.” And the harmonica solo is pretty weak. And really there’s just not much positive to say. But John does sing it pretty well, so it’s rescued from being the absolute worst. Just barely.

203. You Know My Name (Look up the Number) from Past Masters, Vol 2

This song is vaguely Monty Python-esque, though it’s not really all that funny. It’s more weird than anything else. It’s yet another song that I don’t hate, but I don’t really have much desire to listen to, either. And since it’s tucked away as the last track on the second Past Masters album, it’s very very easy to avoid it. Given that, it’s almost certainly my least-listened to Beatles song – probably not more than 20 times ever. I would guess virtually every other song is at least in the 60-70 range, if not far, far more.

202. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? from The White Album

When I first got the White Album as a youngster, this song made me very uncomfortable. I mean, jeez, “why don’t we just do it in the road?” Now that I am older, it doesn’t seem quite as scandalous as it once did, but I can’t really say it does much for me. I do like to hear Paul getting a little down and dirty (if you’ll pardon the pun), and the first two seconds are a pretty neat little drum beat, but I could certainly have lived with a trimmed down White Album that excluded this track.

201. Dizzy Miss Lizzy from Help!
200. Bad Boy from Past Masters, Vol 1

These two songs go together pretty closely in my mind. I used to actively dislike them both (if I had made this list 5 or 6 years ago these would certainly have been the bottom two), but I’ve come around a little bit. Both are covers. Both have the classic John rock-and-roll vocals. Both are pretty tight recordings. And both feature that chiming, piercing guitar that just drives into my skull and makes me hurt a little bit inside. “Dizzy Miss Lizzie” ranks slightly lower simply because of my my anger at its placement on Help!, right after what would have been the perfect album-closer of Yesterday. It really ruins the tender mood and I can’t help but thinking about how jarring it is, even when I listen to it outside of the album context.

199. Revolution 9 from The White Album

I used to hate this track, considering it to be total nonsense gibberish. Then, I had a phase where I convinced myself it was genius. Then I went back to hating it. I’ve settled somewhere in the middle now. I definitely have occasional moments where I really get into it. The pastiche is pretty cool in some places, and it’s definitely interesting if only as a historical artifact. Still, it’s quite a bit to digest, and I really have to be in the mood to be willing to listen to it. — If I was making a list of most significant or interesting Beatles songs, this would probably be quite a bit higher as I really do think it’s compelling as a work of art. It’s just not a song I really have much desire to listen to.

198. One After 909 from Let It Be

This was an old song that they had kicking around for years before it finally showed up on Let It Be. Frankly, I don’t think it would have been missed. It’s pretty innocuous. It’s interesting as an example of a song that would have fit perfectly into their early period played by the 1969 version of the band. So in that sense, it helps you see how they had progressed, but in some ways were coming full circle back to wanting to just play some straighforward rock and roll. But I can’t say it really does much for me other than as a signpost. The version on Let it Be Naked is marginally better and is the only song from that disc that I think is noticeably better than the original.

197. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby from Beatles For Sale
196. Honey Don‘t from Beatles For Sale

Two covers from an album full of inessential covers. The Beatles clearly never produced a bad album, but by far the closest they came is Beatles for Sale. They look tired on the album cover, and the music sounds tired. Even the title suggests that they were a little overwhelmed by Beatlemania. For me, these two tracks pretty much exemplify the notion of “inessential Beatles songs.” They aren’t terrible – they just aren’t really that interesting. Ringo and George take the vocals and it isn’t really the finest moment for either, and the music is serviceable but doesn’t really jump out at you. “Honey Don’t” is clearly the better of the two, and probably could have ranked a few slots higher if it wasn’t so easy to just lump them together.

195. Money (That’s What I Want) from With The Beatles

This is one of those songs I’ve always felt like I should like more than I do. It’s a fun little song. And John does good work with the vocals. But, I don’t know. Something seems like it’s missing. There’s no accounting for taste, I guess.

194. Act Naturally from Help!

The last in series of consecutive lowly-ranked covers. It’s a nice little Ringo country-western song. There’s not really anything wrong with it. It just…you know…is kind of boring. Sorry Ringo.

193. Sie Leibt Dich from Past Masters, Vol 1

Well, it’s in German, so that’s interesting, I guess. But “She leibt dich, yeah, yeah, yeah!”? It just sounds goofy.

192. She’s a Woman from Past Masters, Vol 1

“My love don’t give me presents. I know that she’s no peasant.” There. That’s why this song is ranked lowly. I mean, come on Paul. Beyond that, I’ve never liked the strategy of combining the percussion with a single guitar note over and over and over and over and over. They do this on a fair number of songs, but usually there’s enough going on around it to ease the sound. Here, for the whole song, it’s just sitting there in the left channel: whap, whap, whap, whap, whap, until my ears start bleeding. Ick. This is all a shame, because the song behind all of this is perfectly good. I just can’t get over it.

191. Hold Me Tight from With The Beatles

What’s the deal with Paul’s voice on this song? It really does sound like he’s got a cold or something. There’s not really much to say about this one. It’s pretty standard early-sixties fare. Inane lyrics and all. It’s as good as a lot of stuff you’ll hear on the Oldies station, but it stacks up pretty weakly against the rest of the Beatles catalog.

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

I’m back in the great old Pacific Northwest visiting my family, which is nice, but it unfortunately means my internet connection will be sporadic (and poor) for the next few weeks.

Given that, I’m going to have a few less song links. Instead, I’m going to focus mainly on another project, inspired by a series of posts I ran across by Marathon Man ranking every Beatles song from worst to first.

“Hey, I love The Beatles,” I thought to myself while reading it. “Why can’t I do the same thing?” So here I am. It’s a chance to listen to a lot of Beatles songs, think about why I like them, and see if I can come up with something interesting to say about all of them (which is tougher than I thought it would be. I mean, you tell us something interesting about “Hold Me Tight”). And its always fun to make lists, particularly “best to worst” lists. Of course, “worst” is a relative thing. I mean, the worst Beatles song is still pretty great. Well, okay, some of them are actually kind of bad, but very very few.

So, the ground rules:
1. I’m only working with the songs from official albums (UK versions) and the two Past Masters compilations.
2. If it’s a track, I’ll rank it. So “Wild Honey Pie,” “Maggie Mae,” etc. are going to be on there.
2 1/2. Limited exception to Rule #2: The medley on Abbey Road is getting split up into what I perceive to be its component sections. So “You Never Give Me Your Money/Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” is one track, while “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End” is another and “Her Majesty” is all by itself. Could I just as easily combine the whole thing together? Sure. But those are the sections with noticeable breaks between them, and it’s how I think of them.
3. Alternate versions: I’m just going to pick my favorite and rank it. So it’s the Let It Be version of “Across the Universe,” and the single version of “Revolution,” for example.
4. This is a subjective list. I’m not trying to rank the “best” songs, but rather my favorites. Any attempt to list the “best” songs will invite so many subjective judgments that it seems more fair to just lay my subjective likes and dislikes out there for all to see.
5. I’ll try to do 15-20 songs a day, with occasional breaks to talk about other bands. But no promises.
6. My opinions of these songs change a lot, even after listening to them for many MANY years. So my list in 2 months might be quite different from right now. So it goes.
7. I’m not going to post any of the songs. You really ought to own all of these albums. I mean, come on, it’s The Beatles!

Comments are welcome. I’d love to hear other people’s favorites and I’d love to hear from people who cannot BELIEVE I would rank their favorite song of all-time so low. Both because I enjoy the debate about what makes The Beatles great, but also because I’m always open to being persuaded that I should re-listen to a song and maybe appreciate it more.

I’ve written a fair amount about The Beatles over the past few years (including a fairly extensive research paper in college about the symbiotic relationship between Sgt. Pepper and the counterculture movement). If people are enjoying the Beatles-fest, I may post some of that stuff.

Anyways, while I’m on the subject of influential awesome old bands, head over to I Am Fuel, You Are Friends to hear Message to the Boys, a new song by The Replacements. It sure is nice to hear a new track by these guys. I mean, Paul Westerberg as a solo artist is fine and all but…it just ain’t the same.

Anyways, I’ll begin with the top 16 worst (or is it bottom 16?) Beatles songs tomorrow.

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

This may be the greatest thing of all time. Particularly the line: “And we scream into that bitter night, ‘Hey three plus one makes four!'”

Born to Add – Bruce Stringbean and the S Street Band

Now all I need is to find the Sesame Street where Smokey Robinson sings “U Really Got a Hold on Me” and is chased around by a big U that won’t let him go.

In honor of the theme, here’s some of my favorite number-related songs:

Seven – Sunny Day Real Estate
Eighteen – Slapstick
Me and My 424 – John Vanderslice
405 (acoustic) – Death Cab for Cutie

David Ford/Easyworld

A few years ago I picked up an EP by a band called Easyworld (the link is to their Wikipedia article, since that’s the most comprehensive info I could find about them) called Better Ways to Self Destruct (one of my all-time favorite album names). It was in the same genre of catchy guitar pop as a lot of British bands of the time, though it sounded much less produced, a little more organic, and a lot more fun. It never quite appealed to me enough to get into serious rotation, except for one song:

Lights Out – Easyworld

Shimmery, light, with a fantastic guitar riff, some nice backing vocals, and a chorus so catchy the CDC had to investigate it. One line from the song really explains the feeling that I get from listening: “You said it’s the best day of your life, well, that’s so damn true.” Really great song.

Unfortunately, Easyworld broke up after going through the classic “record company wants indie band to get big, indie band makes an even poppier record, indie band discovers their record wasn’t really any good, no one buys it, what do we do now” phase. I sometimes wonder if getting snapped up by a record company who wants you to churn out some radio hits is really that good for a band. Some manage the transition with a lot of grace, but others not so much. Meh.

However, the former members now have solo projects. One of those is David Ford, who has a “new” album out (it was released in 2005 in the UK) called I Sincerely Apologize For All The Trouble I’ve Caused. If you like singer-songwriters and all that implies, you’ll like this album. There are some pianos, some guitars, a generally quiet feel, with a few scattered explosive moments.

State of the Union – David Ford

This song is a perfect example. His take on love, life, society, religion, politics, and pretty much everything else, it does a great job of engaging the modern zeitgeist in a steadily escalating stream of short verses. It begins quietly and then just builds and builds. It is not a screed directed at any particular group or idea. Rather, it is a lament for 21st century life, with two short phrases being repeated throughout the song: “it’s a shame,” and “we are lost.”

This is nothing new, of course. Artists have been fighting against the meaninglessness of life since time began. But the beauty of this song is that it does not purport to be anything more. It is not an explicitly political song, except insofar as it reveals the difficulty in being a political being when faced with what can often seem to be a world gone mad. It is a song about trying to find your way in a world that often doesn’t make much sense. Nothing more, nothing less.

I was hoping to see him live, but another casualty of my decision to go to Kentucky this weekend is the lost chance to have gone to his show in Somerville tonight. Oh well.

Kentucky is as exciting as ever (which means not very exciting at all). Several trips to the Waffle House, but none to Meijer, unfortunately. I may have to wait until Michigan this summer…

Anyways, here’s something quick while I’m taking a break.

First, even more new Sufjan. Every other blog has already linked to it, but whatever, I will too.

Dear Mr. Supercomputer – Sufjan Stevens

I’ll be honest, I don’t like this one as much as any song on Illinois, or any of the other Avalanche tracks that have been released. Still, it’s not bad, and it’s interesting to see Sufjan go in a slightly different direction. It’s still got the horns, the chorus, the big arrangement but it’s got a much more, I dunno, mechanical sound to it.

Strawberry Fields Forever – Redd Kross

I got this one from Cable and Tweed, along with about a million other Strawberry Fields covers. Not sure exactly why this particular one struck me. I guess it captures a lot of the feel of the original, but is a little less busy. I’d still much rather listen to John, but I’ve been enjoying this one when the mood takes me.

Regret – New Order

Somehow, I managed to never really notice this song until about 3 months ago. It came out in 1993, when I wasn’t really paying attention to any music from after 1970, so by the time I started to get into more contemporary stuff, it was off the radar. And then when I started going back, I stuck with the Joy Division/early New Order phases and didn’t really check out their later stuff. Still, I’m not really sure how I never managed to run into it.

Anyways, it’s a great song, about (shockingly) regret, and how to make a life after great loss. Like lots of their songs, it’s gloomy with a hint of happiness. Ridiculously catchy. And the chorus is as good as anything from the New Wavers in the 80s.

In about an hour, I’m leaving for Lexington, Kentucky (where I intend to eat at the Waffle House and hopefully go to a Meijer), so I may miss a day or two between now and next Tuesday. And what I do post will probably be at least marginally less long-winded.

Tarkio

You like the Decemberists, of course. But you may not have heard Tarkio, Colin Meloy’s band from back in his days in Helena, Montana. Never fear, virtually everything they ever recorded has now been compiled onto a two-disc album Omnibus.

I’ll start with the bad. The Decemberists have been one of my very favorite bands for a few years now (I’d seriously consider Castaways and Cutouts as my choice for best album of the Aughts), but Tarkio is not The Decemberists. The instrumentation is a lot more basic – it is, for the most part, pretty much completely embedded in folk-country-cum-college-rock genre, replete with finger-plucked guitars, prancing organs, and hand-claps. The dreamy atmosphere, the lyrics so clever you can’t believe it, obsessively historical songs, you can sense these things percolating in Meloy’s brain during his Tarkio years, but they are far from being fully realized. A number of these songs start with an interesting hook but let it drag on too long, some of them aren’t really that interesting in the first place (“Kickaround” and “Annabelle Leigh,” for example, are dreary and dull, while “Am I Not Right?” shows that, while Meloy’s voice is usually quirkily pleasant, it can veer into the realm of grating and piercing).

That said, it’s still worth a listen and probably a purchase if you’re a Decemberists fan. The weaker moments are relatively rare and there are a few songs that are quite enjoyable. A couple of my favorites:

Weight of the World

This is a delightfully poppy song. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if Meloy was in an alt-country band, this is your chance to find out. And there’s that moment about two and a half minutes in where the pace slows for a second and his voice cracks when it is just so delightfully imprecise. It’s just the kind of song that sounds like a lot of fun.

Caroline Avenue
Sister Nebraska

These two tracks have a lot of similarities. To pick a word: they’re jaunty. I might even go so far as to call them chipper. There are a couple nicely placed strings, a little bit of the organ, a nice beat, and a rapidly-picked banjo, which just makes it sound perfect for a college coffeehouse show. Even at this point, he was already an excellent lyricist, with a number of interesting phrasings and great images.

To be sure, they’re not as mature as his later work, but that’s part of the charm. My only real complaint about The Decemberists is that they sometimes get a little too dour and serious. The human element doesn’t always get enough room. At its best, Tarkio helps to reveal the soul behind the music. As on “Sister Nebraska” when he sings “I will call you up and say ‘ain’t this life a riot?’ / And you will understand” and then closes the song with “It’s been a long, cold winter, and now I’m coming home.” Both The Decemberists and Tarkio deal with a world that is sometimes baffling (whether it be because of love or because of pirates), but Tarkio helps us remember that sometimes confusion is just an excuse for a grin and an exuberant song. And that’s a reminder that we could use every now and again.

Oh, and check out I Guess I’m Floating (who I link to like it’s my job) for some songs by The Young Republic. One of those bands that I listened to last winter, completely forgot about, and then, after being reminded of them, realized I actually like them quite a lot. It’s nice when that happens.

I’ve been into Mojave 3 (the more laidback successor to shoegazer trail-blazers Slowdive) for a number of years, so I’m very excited that they have a new album coming out soon. Puzzles Like You is due to be released on June 19, according to their official site. The reports suggest that it will continue on the path away from the contemplative, slow, beautiful but occasionally dreary sound of their early work. They’ve got a couple demos floating around which seem to confirm this.

Breaking the Ice

This song, the first single, is scheduled for release on May 29. It’s got a quick tempo, and a slightly more jangly sound than some of their earlier work, though it still resides firmly in the gentle, but insistent, folk-country genre. It’s one of those songs where a minute in you realize your foot is tapping uncontrollably, and by the end of it your whole body is moving with the beat. I already love the song from the demo, and can only hope that the final version will make it even better.

Puzzles Like You

Once again, this is much more of a pop song than older Mojave 3 work. If that disappoints you, this one probably won’t be your cup of tea, but I think it’s got a very nice sound. It’s quick (just over 2 minutes), with a pleasant (but not overwhelming) guitar riff, and some nice harmonies. One thing I notice here is that the drums play a much more important role than on past albums. Not that there are drum solos or even anything particularly complicated, but they is the driving force for the song, not just a means of holding the beat but an instrument in their own right.

Big Star Baby

This one is slightly less rollicking, but smooth and beautiful. It drives home how nice Neil Halstead’s voice really is. I will admit the song drags on a little bit in the second half, though I hope that it’s just a function of it being a demo, and the instrumentation in that section will flesh it out a bit when the final version is released.

In other news: new Sufjan! Check out Stereogum for “The Henney Buggy Band,” a just-released track from The Avalanche: Outtakes And Extras From The Illinois Album. So far, the stuff I’ve heard from Avalanche is not quite as good as Illinois, part 1–you can understand why it got cut in favor of the other songs–but even A-minus work from Sufjan is still pretty darn good.

And, I Guess I’m Floating has some songs by Chebeague, who I had never heard of, but have been enjoying today. They’ve even got a little bit of the Mojave 3 feel, to tie it back in a little.