I have had it up to here waiting for the Beatles catalogue to be remastered

i never got how people who loathe maxwells dont loathe octopus' garden more

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), M

Ringo, bro

I love George's guitar work on "Octopus's Garden," which really expands on the few but charming fills he applied to "Maxwell's." Song just works better as a kids' song too - Ringo's modest delivery probably does it in that respect. (Wasn't this a zoo jingle in Illinois at one point? I feel like there was one with a swimming elephant that I used to see on TV but could be a kid's imagination.)

Saw a 1993 interview on youtube where George Martin said he wanted "Produced by George Martin. Overproduced by Phil Spector" on the Let It Be credits.... but the production seems to have been all Glyn Johns.

Yes, Giles goes over this exact quote in great detail for the new box set reissue, and he does say it shortchanges what Johns did for the whole project.

i should say, i like "maxwell" and "octopus" both. (to me, "because" has always sounded like the obvious weak link/sore thumb on abbey road)

I hate these 2 songs equally

I've cooled on Abbey Road considerably over the years

weirdly enough in the past two years i've become an abbey road superfan, after years of being a white album or bust person

the ilm post-beatles poll profoundly changed my relationship to their work in a good way. i had all of their records as a teenager but felt like i just stopped short of totally "getting" it (ofc i was also clashing with the old stereo mixes on the cds up to and including sgt. pepper). but exploring their solo careers, and especially figuring out how much i loved ram and all things must pass, made me cherish the core, the heart music so much more

“Octopus’” is charming. “Maxwell’s” is relentlessly insisting you find its utter charmlessness charming.

(Wasn't this a zoo jingle in Illinois at one point? I feel like there was one with a swimming elephant that I used to see on TV but could be a kid's imagination.)

I don’t think so. If a Beatles song was used in a Chicago-area zoo ad when I was a kid, I would’ve flipped my shit and insist that my parents take me to said zoo. I do remember, however, Magical Mystery Tour airing on a Chicago UHF station (either channel 44 or 66) in 1978 or ‘79 in the middle of a weekday. I very fortunately had school off that day, so I got to watch it. I’d had the album for a few months at that point, and I found the movie delightfully baffling.

There's a layer of sonic gloss over everything on Abbey Road which doesn't destroy the great songs, but really limits the listenability of the average stuff. The crispness and detail they had only a year before is gone.

..... what

i love the gloss! but in a different way than i love the crunch of the earlier records.

i wonder how many people around my age really got put off the Beatles by the original CDs. i was already well into the band on my parents' vinyl when I first heard the CD of Sgt. Pepper's and couldn't believe how tinny and unimpressive it sounded. OTOH i heard Revolver first on CD (one of the first three discs i ever got!) and adored it. can still kinda hear the too-crisp separation of the tracks in my head...

finally: suppose Ringo sang on Maxwell's... how many of the haters hate the song, versus hating the up-in-your-face Paulness of it?

..... what

I don't like the compressed, over-stuffed and reverbed sound, I prefer the dryness of The Beatles.

it sounds so good tho

my parents only owned the red and blue comps on cassette when i was a kid. they couldn't stand the psychedelic beatles. weird to me in retrospect bc my parents' favorite bands ended up being led zeppelin and fleetwood mac

with sickening inevitability i have been whistling the melody line to maxwell's silver hammer all morning

do do do do do

my parents only owned the red and blue comps

correction they only owned the red comp. diehard early beatlesers

maxwell's silver hammer is a fun song to play on the piano. lots of paul's granniest of granny songs are, to be honest (honey pie, when i'm 64, good day sunshine)

abbey road is def one of my top albums
i like it’s warmth, soundwise, love every track and the final collage/medley is unfuckwithable … and the finality is like a garnish of bittersweet sadness

The strangest thing this show has brought to my attention is the fact that there are people out there who don't like "Dig A Pony", which is inconceivable to me as it's one of my favourite Beatles tracks and always has been. Admittedly the rooftop performance, which is the one included on Let it Be (with the beginning and end chopped off) is what sells it best, its just terrific. But no reason to separate the song from its performance. I just love it, and cant understand how anyone can't. I almost think they're lying (which is a bonkers thought obviously, but its so alien to me, how can you not like that fantastic performance??).

dig a pony rules, ppl are stupid

"dig a pony" is so dope

i decided to try out the '69 glyn johns mix from the let it be box and boy this sucks

Dig a Pony was a very very slow grower for me --- when i first got LiB as a teen I found it kinda boring, didn't like the texture, verse wasn't melodically hooky or headsticky (for me), etc. but it's been one of the biggest earworms for me this past week, so i guess that's a good index of how much my listening tastes have evolved!

We had the blue album on vinyl. I listened mostly to the first LP, it seemed "kid-friendly" while the second LP had a gritty "adult" feel that intimidated me a little (at 6 or 7).

Love “Dig A Pony,” always have. And watching Get Back, I’m reminded that editing out the “all I want is you” after the riff/before the verse was a very smart move (on the part of Lennon or Spector, not sure who made that decision). “Dig A Pony” is probably my favorite song on the Let It Be record, for that matter…or maybe neck-and-neck with “I’ve Got A Feeling.”

pro-Pony here and also surprised that people could not (ahem) dig it

i read one of the worst beatle songs threads on here recently, and got a sense that maybe people didn't like the "just another stodgy 70s rock band" feel of get back/don't let me down/pony/i got a feeling

"just another stodgy 70s rock band" could never have made "i've got a feeling"

yes sorry not endorsing that POV at all - i like all those songs - but trying to understand the objections

I also didn't know people didn't dig Dig a Pony, which I like a lot

Will never buy into Maxwell's Silver Hammer apologia, goofy peepee poopoo baby crap

It just occurred to me: the difference between "Maxwell" and "Octopus" is the difference between Paul and George as producers.

Harrison is the only one who selflessly produced other acts. He lived to jam! He wanted to make new acts comfortable! And "Octopus" sounds like a quietly painstaking production.

otm

Octopus is a much better song. Simple, memorable melody that's not trying too hard, nice little guitar figure. (though it would be hard to try harder then Maxwell's Silver Hammer the most try-hard song in history)

wouldve been great to hear Buck Owens cover Octopus Garden, just as a fun reversal since Ringo did act naturally— i can totally picture buck singing octopus

One of my earliest musical memories, if not my earliest, is going on a field trip in 2nd grade to a state park and seeing a puppet show which included "Here Comes the Sun". I remember being very affected by the song and telling my parents about it when I got home and my parents explaining who The Beatles were. "The Talk", if you were.

xpost can totally hear Buck Owens doing OG

right!? its such a happy Buck-y kinda tune

Dig a Pony would be all-time for the Beeee-cause alone.

Re: Rocky Racoon...I can't get past Paul's faux cowboy accent. Mick Jagger seems a lot better at it.

And if he sang Get Back in a more rock voice, a la Back in the USSR I'd like that tune a lot better instead of that kermit-sounding shit

id like to be
under the sea
with goofy peepee poopoo
baby crap

And our friends are all aboard
goofy peepee
baby crap

i'll cop to being a 'dig a pony' skeptic', didnt hate it but it always sounded like forgettable filler to me. after hearing it 275 times in the doc, i'm sold, it rocks.

is there a thread for country covers of beatles tunes? gene clark did a killer version of dount let me down

Harrison is the only one who selflessly produced other acts.

Yep. When Paul produced Badfinger’s “Come And Get It,” they said, “Um…can we play the song the way we play it?” Paul shut that down: “That won’t be a hit. Do it my way.”

And then Mal Evan's produced their next single which pissed all over Come and Get It. And it continued with Harrison producing the one after that. Everyone at Apple had a go.

So much unnecessary Rocky and Maxwell slander! I live for Paul’s silly songs

same!! i like the simplicity, remind me of nursery rhymes… plus i think most of his sillier songs were in my childhood singing books at school so i was indoctrinated v early to love them :D

Next these people are coming for Honey Pie, aren’t they?!

I previously had only mild love for Let It Be but man, this documentary leaves you no choice but to love it in the end

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" lyrics are a bit of a shaggy dog story, in that you keep waiting for something interesting to happen, but no, Max just keeps beaning people with his hammer. The (oft repeated) punch line is deliberately groan inducing. The song peaks early; the funniest line is in the opening verse: "Late nights all alone with a test tube/Oh, Oh, oh, oh." The music is one of Paul's baroque whimsical numbers, meticulously arranged, as usual. The marriage of low-brow nastiness and high-brow musical construction makes me think of Zappa. Within the Beatles oeuvre it's in that lineage of "Rocky Raccoon" and "Bungalow Bill". I guess zany black comedy was very much in the zeitgeist in the late '60s, though it works best when the comedy seems a thin veneer over something truly depressing. Its very hard to imagine Paul ever being truly depressed for longer than a few minutes, so the effect is undermined a bit in his hands.

That bit at the end of Part 1 where they work up Let it Be is pretty magical.

I’ve legitimately never understood the widespread hate for Rocky Raccoon, I’ve always heard a vein of legitimate melancholy in it, but it gets tons of hate for being another of Paul’s silly frivolities

Doesn’t belong in the same convo as Maxwell imo