ranking the beatles’ catalogue, #90-76

90. “Dig A Pony” (Let It Be): This track continues an unfortunate trend that would continue throughout the 70s: Lennon writing abject nonsense, expecting that literati would bail him out and proclaim toss-off work as genius. It mostly worked here, with lines like “pick a Moondog,” and “syndicate any boat you row.” If you put that aside, however, this is one of the only times that the “Get Back” sessions succeeded in the manner in which they were intended. As a bare-bones rocker that builds tension, drips soul, and works beautifully as an ensemble piece, it truly plays out like the Beatles returning to–and indeed, elevating–their roots.

89. “Oh! Darling” (Abbey Road): The Beatles were enamored of Fifties pastiches during the final leg of their journey together– “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” is very much in that same vein. The pitch-perfect vocals, Paul’s melodic bass-playing, and barrelhouse piano make this a strong exercise in doo-wop channeled through Little Richard. Paul’s vocals, indeed, were rarely as uninhibited as they were in recording this track.

88. “Helter Skelter” (White Album): And here we have perhaps the most raucous song in the Beatles’ entire catalog. This whole song feels like its rewriting the laws of gravity, heavy yet fluid, like a different band somehow inhabited the Beatles’ bodies while they recorded “Helter Skelter.” To this day, I still find it a little bit frightening to listen to this track at night.

87. “Think For Yourself” (Harrison, Rubber Soul): It’s impressive how much George’s songwriting improved in just a handful of months between Help! and Rubber Soul. George is, again, sour–essentially dismissing a former lover–but it works beautifully in the song’s medium. In America, with a different track list, Rubber Soul was marketed and consumed as folk-rock, and this song stands up with the very best of that genre, with tight harmonies from John and Paul, with some tasty fuzz bass heavy in the mix.

86. “Don’t Let Me Down” (b-side): It’s hard to believe that John and Yoko were together for less than a year when this track was recorded. John’s visceral need for her fills every pore of this song–made poignant by the fact that she’s filling the role of companion and confidant that his mates in the band once had. While most of the “Get Back” outtakes sound like the songs are controlling the band, the band is holds the reins confidently. Billy Preston’s rock organ fills some tasteful flourishes, and John sings with a soulful desperation he rarely matched at any point in this career.

85. “The Long and Winding Road” (Let It Be): I once saw this track listed among the worst #1 hits of all time. I don’t agree, especially given that it’s up against “Hey Paula,” “You Light Up My Life,” “Don’t Forget My Number,” and “Never Gonna Give You Up.” But my God was this song poorly served. Strings and a chorus drown out what was intended as a slow R&B number in the spirit of Ray Charles or Aretha Franklin. Worse, Ian MacDonald digs deep in the tracks when writing Revolution in the Head to find some unforgivably bad bass work by John–MacDonald falls just short of considering it sabotage when presented as finished work. In spite of the track’s tortured history, there’s no denying its kernel of greatness, written in the midst of Paul’s season of the soul-searching that also birthed “Let It Be.”

84. “Birthday” (White Album): Sure, this number is dumb. Certainly, Ringo’s drum solo is fascinatingly bad. Indubitably, it serves as an example of what happens when you base a song around a riff and do nothing to move beyond it. But this is the only time the band sounds like they are actually having fun recording The White Album. I can’t penalize that.

83. “Yellow Submarine” (Revolver): It might be one of the most famous of all Beatles songs. Due to its prolific presence on children’s records, it was probably the first Beatles song many of us heard. While it lacks the true escapism and the heart of “Octopus’s Garden,” it is still an arresting children’s song that can also be read as a journey into the mind. And like “Birthday,” the band’s glee at letting loose in the studio is very much palpable, especially Lennon’s mad call-and-response to Ringo’s vocals in the third verse.

82. “Love You To” (Harrison, Revolver): If “Norwegian Wood” gave us some Indian flavors to what is otherwise a Western folk ballad, “Love You To” is closer to a true Indian-style composition, with fuller instrumentation. It radically departed from Top 40 norms with classic South Asian improvisation at the beginning and the coda, and the use of the drone, it’s melody never straying from a mere five-note range. It is still vintage George, concluding “I’ll make love to you, if you want me to” with shades of the same indifference betrayed on “If I Needed Someone.” I’ve always found it fascinating that one of George’s songs on Revolver was a rejection of Western materialism, and another basically groaned about his tax bracket. We are composed of multitudes.

81. “I’ve Got a Feeling” (Let It Be): I have to admit that I’m a sucker for songs that have distinct movements that combine into one at the very end. “Silly Love Songs” is one. “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature” by The Guess Who is another. This rare technique works delightfully, taking two songs that would have been half-baked on their own and merging them into something greater. Paul is optimistic while John bemoans his “hard year,” Paul gets to scream, George plays some confident lead guitar that never overwhelms the song, and Billy Preston–in the background far more than in other tracks from this session–keeps it all together.

80. “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (Sgt. Pepper’s): The opening salvo of an album many consider the greatest of all time. Paul and George Martin pull out all the stops to establish the Edwardian nostalgia that pervades the rest of the album (and yes, Sgt. Pepper does have coherent themes and motifs, although skeptics will try and argue otherwise.) From brass bands, to music hall clichés about their audience being lovely and wanting to take them home, it is a self-aware act of table setting to songs that look back on the English pastoral. Also– kudos to Paul for some lead vocals that are much more difficult than they sound– listen to the track’s vocals in isolation some time. You’ll be surprised at how high-pitched they are.

79. “Don’t Bother Me” (With the Beatles): George’s first composition on a Beatles record is a hidden gem of their catalog. His sullen, solitary song is more self-aware, allow the author to permeate the song, to an even greater degree than Lennon-McCartney’s material at the time. With an unusual chord sequence, liberal use of minors,  and a spartan percussive track, it might be the most complex Beatles song recorded in the year of our Lord, 1963.

78. “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” (Sgt. Pepper’s): Again, the key to Sgt. Pepper is seeing it as equal parts psychedelic journey of the mind and exercise in Edwardian nostalgia. Nowhere are these dual identities more clear than in the track that brings Side One to a close. With lyrics taken nearly verbatim from an old circus poster, a fairground atmosphere is created through a litany of ingenious effects, descending into madness at the very end. It’s interesting that four songs from this era- Sgt. Pepper, Kite, the Sgt. Pepper reprise, and Magical Mystery Tour– are all acts of salesmanship, selling a show, a tour, a carnival.

77. “I’m Looking Through You” (Rubber Soul): Good on the British version, great on the folky American LP. I do wish that they had another day or two to keep working the song– the electric guitar part is jarring and incongruous, although it provides some needed contrast. Maybe get Brian Jones to come in and play a mandolin or something. McCartney is taking a page from Lennon, writing more introspective songs drawn from real life instead of inventing the romantic conceits that defined the first handful of Beatles albums.

76. “For No One” (Revolver): Just listen to that plaintive French horn solo on this song. Although it is filled with clever piano exercises, it’s one of the most beautiful instrumental passages on any Beatles track.

 

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