Worst Beatles Single

I wouldn't call any of the vocals on Plastic Ono Band "convictionless"

Huh? Instant Karma, Imagine, Watching the Wheels, Jealous Guy - all have the germ of perfectly decent rock songs in them, but are mostly ruined by the lazy, convictionless vocal style of the late Lennon.

Sheer madness. Great songs and vocals.

who cares about conviction? I'm sure Wings had plenty of conviction, but in the end, they were still fucking WINGS

It's what you do with conviction... it's what you do with vocals. it's what you do with singing.. it's what you do with orchestrating... etc.

yes. And ditto for "Woman", it doesn't have a "lazy, convictionless vocal" either, if we are talking about the latest work in his book. And to slur the Plastic Ono Band stuff this way, jeez.

I think it's a mix of the attitude problem described, John's own insecurities about his voice (trying to hide behind effects etc.) and just the ruination of said voice from overuse and exhaustion. There's not a Nilsson-esque break point, but by the end I don't think he physically COULD sing the way he used to. I don't mean just that he couldn't go as loud or as high, just the control and clarity and all that. His throat was torn to shreds.

Too bad Yoko was busy buying fur coats and cattle instead of investing in conviction.

t's what you do with conviction... it's what you do with vocals. it's what you do with singing.. it's what you do with orchestrating... etc.
http://www.fleetfeetsyracuse.com/images/newslettermultipleimages/2-5-07/FastTimesAtRidgemontHigh.jpg
You use your face. You use your body. You use everything.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

That's the attitude!

i find lennon increasingly insufferable as a person the older i get, but i don't see how anyone could listen to "cold turkey" or "god" or "instant karma" and say that he's not trying in those performances. he rapidly declined as a vocalist after 1970 (i can't think of any other great singer whose vocal power plummeted so fast in so short a time) but up until then i think there's just as much intensity and conviction there as there was in, say, "money" or "twist and shout."

You guys should hear the Freddie Hubbard (RIP) version of "Cold Turkey"!

re: Lennon's post-Beatles vocals -- wtf? I'd say that's the only thing that DOESN'T suffer in the 70s. Dude always sounded pretty fucking marvelous to these ears, even if he wasn't inspired songwriting-wise ...

Anyhoo, I voted for All You Need Is Love/Baby You're A Rich Man, mainly becuz I heard the former on the radio recently and couldn't get to the end of it. Which almost never happens with Beatles songs! You're A Rich Man is good, but not great. Is Lennon actually singing that "rich, fag jew" backing vocal? I've never been able to tell, but have read that he is ... HMMMM.

I like Ballad of John and Yoko -- I don't really pay attention to the lyrics, but I like the "CHRIST, you know it ain't easy" vocal line. It is a funny song to be a single, though, I'll admit.

Not to belabor the solo Lennon discussion, but one of the things I don't like about a lot of his later stuff is the absence of a lot of the little rhythmic quirks and change-ups that make his best stuff so interesting. Those start to disappear right around when the Beatles broke up, since they're present on the early solo material ("Mother") and the last few Beatles releases ("Across the Universe" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" come to mind).

For that matter, there's a little stop-time change-up in the bridge of "Ballad Of John And Yoko" ("You don't take nothing with you but your soul -- think!") which is probably the best part of the song. One thing about the Beatles is that even in the songs I don't like, there are usually good parts.

I know what Puffin means about the conviction thing in Lennon's later stuff. OTOH, I can't think of many examples that I'd agree with, in the sense of "songs that would've been better with a more raw/intense vocal performance". "Imagine" doesn't need it at all, "Instant Karma" has plenty of commitment to my ears, and "All You Need Is Love" isn't that kind of song.

Maybe "Ballad" might benefit from some more urgency, but I think the best example is the "naked" mix of "Don't Let Me Down". It's way better than the original, and benefits tremendously from the high harmony vocals on the chorus (McCartney, I think?), which do give it something more. So that is an example, actually, of how a little extra can help.

And yeah, Lennon's vocal cords were really in rough shape. "Twist and Shout" did some real damage, IIRC, so there were issues as early as that.

xpost Yes, Hubbard's version is great!

In fairness, Lennon's not the only one who suddenly decided, around 1970, that a more streamlined and straightahead style was the way to go. There are shitloads of great bands who put out weird-ass, awesome shit throughout the latter half of the '60s, and then as soon as 1970 rolled around, they started writing straight-up country-rock, blues-rock, and other things that basically adhered to fixed/genre forms.

Ballad of John and Yoko/Old Brown Shoe

The a-side loses its charm after the first chorus; the b-side is just a total waste of time. Almost went for Get Back/Don't Let Me Down but realised I really like the production on DLMD even if it does drag on a bit.

"Nobody Told Me," released in 1984, is one of my favorite Lennon vocals ("Most peculiar, mama!"), so nuts to the idea of a sudden decline.

"Ballad" is the Nurk twins in the studio together, having a blast!

(That pub in Caversham they played is still there, but no blue plaque)

Surprisingly, no meh for "Hello Goodbye" ?

i always thought H/G got a raw deal. it's daft as hell, but it sounds really good to me. plus, b/w Walrus.

b/w Walrus is important

Ballad of John & Yoko. There are several songs I don't much care for here, but mostly they have a killer flipside.

"Walrus" was also a b-side on the Magical Mystery Tour e.p. so was in the chart twice at the same time.

I suppose "From Me to You" is the one that could most easily be disposed of and not miss anything.

Still, I did vote "HMHB"

I'm at a loss in figuring out that acronym. Am I missing something really obvious here?

Half man, half biscuit.

Sorry, got bored.

I think Hello Goodbye is a great song fuck all y'all

"Ballad of John & Yoko".

I'm admittedly a sucker for pretty much everything they ever recorded, Ringo songs included.

But "Hey Jude" is the stinker here for me. Paul Paul Paul, blah blah blah, na na na na na na.

And the b-side would be cute if it wasn't so long, labored, and generally intolerable.

But "Hey Jude" is the stinker here for me...And the b-side would be cute if it wasn't so long, labored, and generally intolerable.

Either you're mixing up "Hey Jude/Revolution" and "Let It Be/You Know My Name", or you must really hate "Revolution 1".

Absolutely fantastically stunningly classic:
From Me To You/Thank You Girl 10/8
She Loves You/I'll Get You 9/8
I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy 10/9
A Hard Day's Night/Things We Said Today 9/10
I Feel Fine/She's a Woman 10/5
Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out 8/9
Paperback Writer/Rain 9/10
Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane 10/10
All You Need Is Love/Baby You're a Rich Man 10/7
Hello Goodbye/I Am The Walrus 9/10

Quite good, or one classic and one less classic side:
Please Please Me/Ask Me Why 7/8
Ticket To Ride/Yes It Is 7/6
Help!/I'm Down 9/4
Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine 10/5
Something/Come Together 3/10
Let It Be/You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) 9/4

Completely OK and all that, but not usual Beatles quality:
Love Me Do/PS I Love You 4/6
Can't Buy Me Love/You Can't Do That 6/8
Lady Madonna/The Inner Light 7/6
Hey Jude/Revolution 7/7

Unusually weak for Beatles, but would have been OK by the standards of almost anyone else:
Get Back/Don't Let Me Down 5/5
Ballad Of John And Yoko/Old Brown Shoe 5/5

Something/Come Together 3/10

now, I'd have assumed you'd mark that the other way around...

Apart from that, and I'd swap "Cant buy" and "From me", the list looks fine as a breakdown, even though I disagree with a fair few of the individual track markings.

Hate all the early singles, "Hold Your Hand" was the first remotely bearable one. "Ballad of John and Yoko"/ "Old Brown Nose" is realllllly poor, what a piece of shit... but the real answer is "All You Need Is Love", that's just inexcusable.

^orgnoh rieg

'baby you're a rich man' is good.

I know, but it's goodness is obliterated by the A-side

Something/Come Together 3/10

now, I'd have assumed you'd mark that the other way around...

Yep. Didn't noticed they were swapped. Obviously "Something" is a 10 and "Come Together" a 3.

Apart from that, and I'd swap "Cant buy" and "From me", the list looks fine as a breakdown, even though I disagree with a fair few of the individual track markings.

I don't understand why people don't see the greatness about "From Me To You". It is an absolutely perfect pop song, and one of the best singles ever released. Probably in my Top 20 singles of all time, and as a single track, better than any other single track on any Beatles single. Absolutely fantastic and the best middle 8 ever written!
The lyrics may be rubbish, but I don't care about lyrics.

im surprised how much people hate 'come together' going by this and the other poll.

It's not that it's not great, it's just that it's as close to 'generic' as they got. Coming around the same time as PPM, SLY, and IWHYH, it was um, more of the same.

production is tight imo

Yep. Didn't noticed they were swapped. Obviously "Something" is a 10 and "Come Together" a 3.

See, to me the mark makes sense just as it is.

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But "Hey Jude" is the stinker here for me...And the b-side would be cute if it wasn't so long, labored, and generally intolerable.

Either you're mixing up "Hey Jude/Revolution" and "Let It Be/You Know My Name", or you must really hate "Revolution 1".

You are absolutely right. Pretty sure I clicked on Let it Be when I voted though.

I don't really dislike any of them though. Just think "You Know My Name..." is a sad excuse for an experiment. They could have done so many other things with the time and budgets and creativity at their disposal.

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Haha, I'm on a roll.

They did do so many other things etc.

Oh, and check the ska version on Anth3.

Hate all the early singles, "Hold Your Hand" was the first remotely bearable one

Wow, really? Not even "She Loves You"? I think "Please Please Me" is also a head above the others, although that's more just because I think the melody and John's singing are fabulous ("whydoyoumakemeblue," so fun to sing), also great example of the "sad lyrics but happy song" Beatle tactic.

Wow, really? Not even "She Loves You"?

Whoops, yes, I jumped over that one. Not that I ever want to hear it again, mind you.

I can't say I have out right hate for any of the singles. Even the early stuff has elements that still send shivers up my spine. For example, when John and Paul hit those harmonies in the chorus of "Please, Please Me", I hear the Everly Brothers crossed with Buddy Holly as interpreted by a bunch of Liverpool scruffs. Great Stuff. Even "Hey Jude's" endless coda can be soothing if I'm in the right mood. "All You Is Love" is an intentional self-parody of their early style so I let it pass on self-awareness if nothing else.

They were geniuses from "Please Please Me" onwards. "Love Me Do" was nothing special though - just a bunch of white UK guys trying to ape Bruce Channel's "Hey Baby" without adding anything much typically English on top of it.

^^^ 1963: The Year The Beatles Discovered HP Sauce"

I would have thought that if there were one universally loved Beatles song, it would be either "We Can Work It Out" or "All You Need Is Love," and this thread has proven me far, far wrong.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Bruce Channel's "Hey Baby"

Fucking incredible song.