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

Fuck it. In no particular order:

If I needed someone
Norwegian wood
You never give me your money
Eleanor Rigby
Ticket to ride
Happiness is a warm gun
Hey Jude
Tomorrow never knows
Eight days a week
Strawberry fields forever
Here there and everywhere
I feel fine
It won’t be long
I want you (she’s so heavy)
A hard days night
Everybody’s got something to hide except for me and my monkey
What you’re doing
A day in the life
I’m only sleeping
Got to get you into my life

20 favourites off the top of my head

Glass Onion
If I Needed Someone
A Day in the Life
Dear Prudence
Good Morning Good Morning
It Won't Be Long
Here Comes the Sun
Girl
The Night Before
For No One
I've Got a Feeling
Back in the U.S.S.R.
We Can Work It Out
Things We Said Today
Julia
Act Naturally
In My Life
Paperback Writer
Penny Lane
And Your Bird Can Sing

Good stuff.

In no particular order except the first seven or eight are probably my top seven or eight

I am the walrus
The long and winding road
A day in the life
Two of us
While my guitar gently weeps
Strawberry fields forever
Across the universe
This boy
All my loving
We can work it out
Bring for the benefit of Mr Kite
Happiness is a warm gun
Cry baby cry
And your bird can sing
You never give me your money
Revolution 9
Things we said today
Long, long, long
Fixing a hole
Tomorrow never knows

By the way, anyone who's on this thread should really listen to this in-depth interview with Peter Jackson about the film - apologies if already mentioned. I'm not sure who it was upthread who said he'd been quoted as saying he wasn't into music, but I don't know how that squares with this interview. It'a an amazing listen – real fan service – and I'm only through the first part:

http://somethingaboutthebeatles.com/224a-the-making-of-get-back-part-one/

Roughly chronological top 20:

There's a Place
I'll Be Back
Every Little Thing
Ticket to Ride
I'm Looking Through You
We Can Work It Out
Paperback Writer
Rain
For No One
She Said She Said
I Want to Tell You
A Day in the Life
Getting Better
She's Leaving Home
Dear Prudence
Sexy Sadie
Martha My Dear
Long, Long, Long
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
You Never Give Me Your Money

I thought they looked like they were all genuinely having a blast on the rooftop. It is funny, though, that the police arrived just in time to shut them down before they ran out of material or had to go through the songs a third time. I was thinking up ways they could have delayed the two young cops further.

It was cool they came back the next day, kept screwing around, and came up with the album version of Let It Be.

Sad this is over and I don't get to live in 1969 anymore :(

Nice to see affection for "Long Long Long." If I'd praised it to my fellow Beatle maniacs in high school, I'd have gotten long long long stares.

The sound of that song was so muffled on my 1987 CD, I always dismissed it. But it blew me away when I got the mono box set - its a mini-epic.

^^ same experience with original White Album CD.

These lists are great. Good to see the love for “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”- which I’ve seen dismissed on ILM as proto-heavy metal.

Does no one rate “I’m Down” ? When Paul said “Remember when we go send to rock?”, I picture him having that one in mind. There’s a great description somewhere by George of John playing the keyboards for that one with his elbows/forearms, and saying he thought John was cracking up under the pressure.

* remember when we used to rock ?

I *love* I'm Down

love it. Didn't really notice it til hearing the Beastie Boys scrapped version, which is cute.

It was cool they came back the next day, kept screwing around, and came up with the album version of Let It Be.

Lennon sitting in front of the piano with his head tilted at a 75º angle to the floor, asking "What the Fuck is Going On?" quietly to himself was the most I've ever emphasized with him.

I remember the Aerosmith version of "I'm Down".

"Same DAMN thing happen every day!"

ah yeah!

I'm Down rules!

The "cracking up" anecdote is told in the Anthology doc, with footage from Shea Stadium IIRC.

I hate lists but if you asked me now The Long One would be top of my list with The End as my favorite constituent part.

for some reason i associate "i'm down" with my regret at not seeing the beatles at shea -- i was almost seven so technically possible but so not gonna happen. maybe there was a tv or news report of them playing a couple seconds of "i'm down"?

Nice to see affection for "Long Long Long." If I'd praised it to my fellow Beatle maniacs in high school, I'd have gotten long long long stares.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 12:42 (four hours ago) link

The sound of that song was so muffled on my 1987 CD, I always dismissed it. But it blew me away when I got the mono box set - its a mini-epic.

― ma dmac's fury road (PBKR), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 13:25 (three hours ago) link

What made the quietness even worse was that if you tried to turn it up you'd be greeted by the moaning at the end of the track coming in at an ear-splitting volume! I always skipped the whole song rather than dealing with that, and when I finally gave it a real chance I was also blown away. Felt kind of like being let in on a secret -- I remember talking to my Beatles-fan cousin and being like "did you know Long Long Long is actually GOOD?"

"Long Long Long" is the only track on the new Giles Martin White Album that suffers from the cleaned up mix IMO. The murkiness of the original is perfect. The one time George Martin's inattentiveness to a Harrison track pays off.

voodoo's 25 fav beatles songs to play on the piano (no order outside of the top 6)

you never give me your money
here there everywhere
lady madonna
penny lane
when i'm 64
martha my dear

oh darling
i want you (she's so heavy)
lovely rita
girl
for no one
let it be
a day in the life
if i fell
your mother should know
strawberry fields forever
hey bulldog
sexy sadie
if i needed someone
i'm only sleeping
rocky raccoon
got to get you into my life
being for the benefit of mr kite
something
good day sunshine

could make a whole 'nother list of solo songs, they really were the best at writing for the best instrument

george's songs are fun to interpret on the piano because he uses such weird chords!

My affection for Long, Long, Long definitely influenced by reading Revolution in the Head at an impressionable age.

MacDonald does like that tune.

I have a theory that an unusually large number of the songs that get called Beatles pastiches are imitations of George's songs. McCartney's songs rely too much on his particular gift for melody, and John's rely a lot on his attitude and point-of-view, but such George trademarks as descending minor-key chord progressions, less complex melodies and arrangement touches are easier for other songwriters to emulate, but still sound "Beatles" to listeners.

many songs that try to imitate paul wind up sounding like beach boys pastiches

Whereas Andy Partridge's Beach Boys pastiche "Pale and Precious" sounded like Paul McCartney to Brian Wilson.

I recently completed a Beatles marathon listening session, using a playlist I put together which lists their work chronologically by the date on which recording first started for each song. The ones that particularly jumped out at me were "It's Only A Northern Song" (which I don't know so well anyway), and to my surprise, "Lovely Rita" (which bangs harder than I remembered). Also, it turns out that I'm fine with Spector's production on Let It Be - the puny versions on Naked don't do any of the songs justice.

That's always fun. There's usually a day every year (typically a bad weather day) where I listen to the entire Beatles discography in order of release, and it always knocks me out how much they grew throughout those eight years. (I save Abbey Road for the end though - I usually play my own version of Get Back right after "The White Album" and before "The Ballad of John & Yoko" single.)

Halfway there

I have a theory that an unusually large number of the songs that get called Beatles pastiches are imitations of George's songs. McCartney's songs rely too much on his particular gift for melody, and John's rely a lot on his attitude and point-of-view, but such George trademarks as descending minor-key chord progressions, less complex melodies and arrangement touches are easier for other songwriters to emulate, but still sound "Beatles" to listeners.

Um sorry to say this Halfway, but there are a coupla Gallagher brothers out back in the alleyway who would like a word with you

about descending minor-key chord progressions, that is

I'm sure it's just about chord theory

innit

I've still got a track somewhere around here of five- to ten-second snippets of each Beatles song, lined up alphabetically.

First time I heard it and "Free as a Bird" showed up after "For You Blue" knocked me back. Yes, I guess the canon changed!

What is interesting is that they have 2/3rds of a good album at the end of January and less than a month later they've dropped all those songs and started recording Abbey Road, many of which's songs were previewed in the Get Back sessions. I didn't realize was how little gap there was between the two projects. So what happens if they don't throw away the Get Back songs, but, as George suggested, come up with the rest of the songs to complete the album. So I played around with what it could it look like (only using songs that appeared in Get Back, so no Come Together):

1. "Two of Us" McCartney with Lennon 3:36
2. "Dig a Pony" 3:54
3. "Something" Harrison 3:02
4. "Oh! Darling" McCartney 3:27
5. "I Me Mine" Harrison 2:26
6. "Let It Be" McCartney 4:03

1. "I've Got a Feeling" McCartney and Lennon 3:37
2. "The Long and Winding Road" 3:38
3. "For You Blue" Harrison 2:32
4. "Get Back" 3:09
5. "Octopus's Garden" Richard Starkey Starr 2:51
6. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Lennon 7:47

Preserved the Let It Be running order as much as possible. Might put Get Back as Side 2, Track 1, which seams its lot. What would others do?

old brown shoe should be on this speculative record

Old Brown Shoe and Don't Let Me Down would make it 14 songs.

I was sooooo pumped as an early 90s teen when "Old Brown Shoe" inexplicably showed up on The Blue Album

Totally forgot about Don't Let Me Down. But that AND "Old Brown Shoe" brings you to 50:58 which is too long. Plus, they weren't going to give Harrison 4 songs at this point. So how about:

1. "Two of Us" McCartney with Lennon 3:36
2. "Dig a Pony" 3:54
3. "Something" Harrison 3:02
4. "Don't Let Me Down" 3:36
5. "I've Got a Feeling" McCartney and Lennon 3:37
6. "I Me Mine" Harrison 2:26
7. "Let It Be" McCartney 4:03

1. "Get Back" 3:09
2. "The Long and Winding Road" 3:38
3. "For You Blue" Harrison 2:32
4. "Oh! Darling" McCartney 3:27
5. "Octopus's Garden" Richard Starkey Starr 2:51
6. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Lennon 7:47

And holy shit I never new that both Don't Let Me Down and Sun King were taken from the chord changes in Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross".

that's actually a pretty interesting tracklist. but in this reality does "Abbey Road" as such ever happen? not a lot left to play with. i mean clearly any right-thinking person would begin building a concept album around "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," but with all the drugs and what-not i'm not sure John and George are seeing it that way in February 1969.

Peter Jackson speculates in the interview I linked to above that the reason they didn't pursue I Want You and Something for the Get Back album was they had settled on the idea of a no-overdubs album and songs like that seemed better off with more of a production on them on another project.

the more i look at that tracklist the better it looks. a pretty plausible 1969 release by popular rock act The Beatles. would probably play a little better than LiB as we know it.

a much worse use of the abbey road material though

1. "Two of Us" McCartney with Lennon 3:36
2. "Dig a Pony" 3:54
3. "Something" Harrison 3:02
4. "Oh! Darling" McCartney 3:27
5. "I Me Mine" Harrison 2:26
6. "Let It Be" McCartney 4:03

1. "I've Got a Feeling" McCartney and Lennon 3:37
2. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Lennon 7:47
3. "For You Blue" Harrison 2:32
4. "Octopus's Garden" Richard Starkey Starr 2:51
5. "The Long and Winding Road" 3:38
6. "Get Back" 3:09

Get Back has to be last IMHO. Long and Winding Road is hot garbage and deserves to come after Ringo discovering A minor on the piano. I could also see switching #4 and #5.

Side 1 is amazing, tho

I spent the morning playing with the different versions of the above tracklist - prioritizing the rooftop versions and staying away from the 2019 mixes. I'm pretty convinced my tracklist would have been considered better than Let It Be and a roughly as good as any other Beatle album. I am enamored of the idea of them ending the album with the cut at the end of I Want You as a sort of callback to A Day in the Life.

It's very possible there is no Abbey Road in this time stream, but there is material around if you wanted to construct an "Abbey Road" that comes out in 1969 or 1970. Side 2 of Abbey Road is completely intact. Side 1 is rough (Maxwell's and Teddy Boy is death) unless you seriously dig into the 1970 solo releases:

1. "Come Together" Lennon 4:19
2. "All Things Must Pass" George Harrison Harrison 3:44
3. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" McCartney 3:27
4. "Old Brown Shoe" Harrison Harrison 3:18
5. "Teddy Boy" McCartney 2:24
6. "Ballad of John and Yoko" Lennon 3:37

1. "Here Comes the Sun" Harrison Harrison 3:05
2. "Because" Lennon, McCartney and Harrison 2:45
3. "You Never Give Me Your Money" McCartney 4:03
4. "Sun King" Lennon, with McCartney and Harrison 2:26
5. "Mean Mr. Mustard" Lennon 1:06
6. "Polythene Pam" Lennon 1:13
7. "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window" McCartney 1:58
8. "Golden Slumbers" McCartney 1:31
9. "Carry That Weight" McCartney, with Lennon, Harrison and Starr 1:36
10. "The End" McCartney 2:05
11. "Her Majesty" (hidden track) McCartney 0:23

But I think the more likely answer is that there is no Abbey Road.

Another possibility is they release this version of Let It Be, they decide to take a break on slightly more amicable terms, release solo albums in 70-71, and decide to regroup in 1972 or 73 for a collective effort.

Something like that has always been my "only way the Beatles could have stayed together" daydream. I dunno if it's really plausible though --- surely the time apart, calling the shots on their own terms, would only make it harder to come back together and find those old habits/dynamics limiting things again. Plus just the "I only get X songs per record again?" effect, unless it's a double album which I guess is plausible. Sad, because all of their 72-73-era material would surely have benefited tremendously from both the collaboration and the necessity of editing.

Peter Jackson speculates in the interview I linked to above that the reason they didn't pursue I Want You and Something for the Get Back album was they had settled on the idea of a no-overdubs album and songs like that seemed better off with more of a production on them on another project.

― Alba, Thursday, December 16, 2021 6:01 AM (forty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this was my interpretation as well, i assume that's why they abandoned "maxwell's" too

a lot of ppl upthread complained that they'd rather see the making-of literally any other beatles album, but i kinda love that they had so much footage documenting this one slow motion failure in the discog. it's the first conceptual framework paul introduces that just falls apart instantly. humanizing