Rank the White Album

1. "Helter Skelter"
2. "Happiness is a Warm Gun"
3. "Glass Onion"
4. "Savoy Truffle"
5. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide `cept for me and my monkey"
6. "Why Don't We Do it In the Road"
7. "Revolution #9" (for the creep-out factor)
8. "Happy Birthday"....

...and then everything else.

"Goodnight" and "Long, Long, Long" should've been stricken from the final mix. Come to think of it, there's an awful lot of filler on this album.

that's about it, the rest, blehh. Would've made a nice EP, that album. It does have a creepy air about it I like but I mean, what I am I, crazy? I haven't listened to the goddam thing in ten-fifteen years and have no intention of doing so.

"His inside is out/And his outside is in,
His outside is in/When his inside is out,
So come on/Come on"

And "Not Guilty" is a white album Harrison outtake that's much, much better than "Long, Long, Long" though the end oscillating moaning part used to scare me, too. ("Used to...", who am I kidding?)

The worst stretch for me has always been those animal songs: "Blackbird", "Piggies", and "Rocky Raccoon" leading right into that prize-winner of "Don't Pass Me By". Yech.

the rest can go to hell. especially the Honey Pies

Long, Long, Long is lovely

2 was the bass in Dear Prudence. Even though it's Paul

The rest I can't be bothered to rank it's so mediocre.

It is a mess and that is why it is brilhant There is no filler - the sequence is responsible for the enjoyment - you have to hear "revolution 9" before "good night" to understand the beauty of these song.

My favorite beatles album.

I could do it in a life or death situation but would under no other circumstances.

AWESOME
Savoy Truffle
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Sexy Sadie
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
Julia
Helter Skelter
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
I Will
I'm So Tired
Piggies
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Why Don't We Do It In The Road
Birthday
Wild Honey Pie

OK
Long, Long, Long
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Blackbird
Revolution 1
Back in the USSR
Good Night
Revolution 9

SUCK
Martha My Dear
Mother Nature's Son
Cry Baby Cry
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Yer Blues
Rocky Raccoon
Don't Pass Me By
Honey Pie

1. Julia
...
30. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

It kind of seemed there was regarding two tracks. Until I Billy Dods' list that is :-)

1. Julia
2. Long, Long, Long
3. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
4. Revolution 9
5. Martha My Dear
6. Dear Prudence
7. Cry Baby Cry
8. Glass Onion
9. Helter Skelter
10. Birthday
11. I'm So Tired
12. I Will
13. Good Night
14. Why Don't We Do It In The Road
15. Don't Pass Me By
16. Mother Nature's Son
17. Sexy Sadie
18. Yer Blues
19. Rocky Raccoon
20. Blackbird
21. Back In The USSR
22. Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
23. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
24. Revolution 1
25. Savoy Truffle
26. Piggies
27. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
28. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
29. Wild Honey Pie
30. Honey Pie

not Liverpool but maybe Newcastle

Why? Liverpool is in the North of England.

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Wednesday, February 12, 2025 7:53 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh, yeah. That's a point.

I guess my default for "North" made it "North East".

Then again, Liverpool is more south than Newcastle but point taken anyway...

"Close your eyes and I'll close mine"

Line wins.

Liverpool isn't very far north but then neither is Manchester.

Interesting revive. "Long, Long, Long" is definately the most 21st century song of the batch, but to look at Spotify plays it's down there with the normie-skip stuff. "Blackbird" seems like it's a modern standard a la "Hallelujah" rather than an original top-tier track. "I Will" ranked so high surprises me, is it a youtube cover favorite?

Blackbird 545,934,901.00
While My Guitar Gently Weeps 297,050,157.00
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da 291,861,412.00
Back In The U.S.S.R. 141,038,742.00
I Will 126,875,583.00
Helter Skelter 88,932,768.00
Dear Prudence 83,434,270.00
Happiness Is A Warm Gun 60,384,306.00
Rocky Raccoon 56,402,552.00
I'm So Tired 43,407,719.00
Julia 41,088,442.00
Glass Onion 40,425,502.00
Martha My Dear 38,526,088.00
Birthday 34,251,311.00
Mother Nature's Son 31,120,152.00
Sexy Sadie 27,385,135.00
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill 25,729,001.00
Revolution 1 25,682,514.00
Yer Blues 25,482,528.00
Why Don't We Do It In The Road? 24,338,284.00
Don't Pass Me By 23,349,333.00
Piggies 22,752,034.00
Wild Honey Pie 21,491,645.00
Honey Pie 21,259,237.00
Long Long Long 20,805,681.00
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey 20,109,368.00
Cry Baby Cry 19,601,881.00
Good Night 16,750,852.00
Savoy Truffle 16,272,106.00
Revolution 9 13,785,340.00

sorry for the .00!

The bottom 13 from least popular to middling makes an excellent tracklist for a fuck y'all album

Revolution 9
Savoy Truffle
Good Night
Cry Baby Cry
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Long Long Long
Honey Pie
Wild Honey Pie
Piggies
Don't Pass Me By
Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
Yer Blues
Revolution 1

xp Spotify plays are often affected by where the track comes in the album sequence, so that's why maybe LLL and Cry Baby Cry are quite low down the list. I'm guessing from the list that few people sit around thinking "I really need to hear Revolution 9 right now"

spotify playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2tbGBvYlNVuihkUaGwmVGd?si=5f1600600a6e46e0

"I Will" ranked so high surprises me, is it a youtube cover favorite?

When I first moved to China, it was to work in a little college in the backwoods of one of the great gray industrial metropolises of the dusty north. There were speakers set up around campus that would broadcast music and announcements three times a day. The evening playlist had a muzak arrangement of I Will. Absolutely no clue why.

Sometimes I don't understand how other people listen to music

What they need's a damned good whacking

"I Will" ranked so high surprises me

It's popular at weddings.

5
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Martha My Dear
I'm So Tired
Rocky Raccoon
Julia
Helter Skelter

4
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Dear Prudence
Blackbird
Mother Nature's Son
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Revolution 9
Good Night

3
Glass Onion
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Don't Pass Me By
I Will
Birthday
Long, Long, Long
Revolution 1

2
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Wild Honey Pie
Piggies
Why Don't We Do It in the Road?
Yer Blues
Sexy Sadie
Savoy Truffle
Cry Baby Cry

1
Honey Pie

"Revolution 9" was my first exposure to musique concrete so it gets a "forever classic" designation from me

I'm generally a "early Beatles only" kind of Beatles fan but some latter-day tracks like "Dear Prudence" and "Day In The Life" and even "Helter Skelter" are so unbelievably amazing that I can't help but be a simp

xp I'm so glad "Honey Pie" is getting what it deserves on this revive.

"Wild Honey Pie" gets more love than it should from me because as a teen I rinsed the Pixies BBC version of it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s32_pJAvRp4

yeah I almost gave revolution 9 for similar reasoning and it would probably have been the more truthful ranking

Gave it 5, I mean

I love Long, Long, Long, but also a fan of George’s in general so I see it in that context. I don’t really think it’s above and beyond what he was, as often as not, able to accomplish. I absolutely think there are better songs on All Things Must Pass. Long, Long, Long has subtle charms. The song of his that may be most similar is the B-side of All Those Years Ago, a song called Writing’s on the Wall.

I’m obviously a million years old since I posted a ranking of these songs about 20 years ago (yikes) which I would probably completely reorder if I did it again. In a way I think maybe ranking the songs on the White Album misses the point. The jokey songs are just as important as the serious ones. This is one of the first rock albums that I know of where they were obviously just fucking around in the studio to see what they would come up with, like on Why Don’t We Do It In The Road, or pushing a genre song over the edge with a deliberately grating arrangement, like on Don’t Pass Me By, and that spirit of self-indulgence and almost self-sabotage is what makes it special.

o nate otm X10000

is "why dont we do it in the road" the first song about fucking in a car?

iirc it was inspired by seeing monkeys fucking in the road in India

I always thought it was about having sex in the burning asphalt as the local government pours it

I'm only half joking

I cant see this thread title without misreading it as 'wank the right album'

I'm sorry but Why Don't We Do It In The Road is absolutely not about having sex in a car.

was gonna say. have listened to that song hundreds of times and have never once thought a car was involved

crash.jpg

cars are a great answer to the question "why don't we do it in the road?"

There’s an interview with Paul where he says that it could be taken as being about f***ing or sh**ting in the road. I never would’ve come up with the second interpretation.

how do you even get in a road?

I'm sorry but Why Don't We Do It In The Road is absolutely not about having sex in a car.

Yes, because in India monkeys are forbidden to drive anything but trucks.

do you know how many times I have taught the in/on/at prepositions lesson?

I just for the first time saw the George Carlin bit where someone says to get on the plane & he’s like “fuck you! I’m getting IN the plane!! Go FUCK yourself!”

(This is what reading that stupid phrases you hate thread is like also #onethread)

My favorite will always be Robert Ashley - “These are stories about the corn belt and the people who live in it…or on it.”

There’s an interview with Paul where he says that it could be taken as being about f***ing or sh**ting in the road. I never would’ve come up with the second interpretation.

Related, ".. which he ate and donated to the National Trust" means to take a shit in a public park, it's something Derek Taylor used to say iirc

oh i LOVE that

The Hague

Wild Honey Pie
Piggies
Good Night

B-b-but these are great!

Tangent: as a child my grandparents had that record of Moog arrangements of Beatles songs (already an impossibly ancient artifact to juvenile me ca.1990) and that "Good Night" rendition was the most hauntingly beautiful thing I'd ever heard lol. ( *looks it up* This LP. )

There's a definite "two virgins" vibe on that front cover!

xp its v good version

I’m positive I’ve posted about it before, maybe even on this thread, but the Ramsey Lewis album of White Album songs “Mother Natures Son” is heavy on the moog & is phenomenal imho

checking out Lennon's version of Yer Blues on Rock & Roll Circus, with Richards, Clapton & Mitch Mitchell, think I prefer the white album version to be honest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeFwaWFTGYU

I always wondered if the name of the supergroup for that, The Dirty Mac, was against McCartney ?

XP: that Ramsey Lewis record is pretty cool. More textural juxtapositions than an olde hi-fi demonstration disc or whatever lol.

esher demo of honey pie is... good actually? surprised me.

This post from The Beatles official social media account plus Peter Jackson's claim of 3-4 hours of unreleased White Album sessions makes me wonder about this years inevitable media drop...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib8Q2ySaFoY

Yeah this was exciting news; I'd gladly watch all three hours of that but even a 90 minute distillation would be cool