Revolution - Official ILX Beatles tracks poll results

as a kid I remember asking my mom what Day Tripper was about and she said "someone who takes drugs during the day". which... isn't right (is it)?

Completely nuts to me that The Ballad of John and Yoko isn't even in the top 100.

It's pretty slapdash though.

That rough energy is a big part of its appeal!

Absolutely!

song's always seemed like a throwaway to me. Paul's contributions are honestly the best thing about it

Great list! I think I mainly voted Lennon rockers cos his voice just always pushed the Beatles over the top for me. "Happiness is a Warm Gun" wins because of the last section, with the "bang bang shoot shoot" backing vocals and John's "When I hold you in my arms" speaking section. Glad to see it got placed up there.

Beatles should've made a whole trippy tape-loop dance EP like "Tomorrow Never Knows" imho. I guess you could put "It's All Too Much" there as well.

I don't think of it as a Beatles song, but as some kind of closet Lennon solo joint. Obviously it's not, but the fact that it's about John and Yoko just seems so indulgent...

Yeah but that's a majority of Beatles material post-66.

Over the years I've really gotten into their solo-while-Beatles stuff, like the "Wonderwall" soundtrack, John/Yoko's experimental records, etc. Sort of wish that stuff was more included in the Beatles canon, as it's often just as brilliant, usually more experimental, and tends to help clarify some of the stranger Beatles concoctions.

Yes, it's all pretty self-indulgent but then again I think the late 60's were the best time to be self-indulgent.

Until a few seconds ago, I heard "Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl" as "Oh man, she's just a pretty nice girl." I'll have to tell my wife, who's managed to find one other person in the world besides herself who spent a lifetime hearing the lyrics in "Penny Lane" as "there beneath the blue suburban skies I sit and eat wild rice."

I say they really are saying "I get high" in "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

Already rethinking my Top 20:

1. Eight Days a Week
2. There's a Place
3. Here Comes the Sun
4. Revolution
5. Blackbird
6. In My Life
7. She Loves You
8. Golden Slumbers
9. Ticket to Ride
10. Hey Jude
11. I'll Follow the Sun
12. Yellow Submarine
13. With a Little Help From My Friends
14. Your Mother Should Know
15. Please Please Me
16. Two of Us
17. Nowhere Man
18. Don't Bother Me
19. All You Need Is Love
20. The End

"I'll Follow the Sun" is lovely, but a glib kiss-off once you listen to the lyrics, which I'd managed to avoid somehow until today. I'd replace it now with "Misery." And the posts above convince me "She Loves You" should be higher.

Excellent results!! I was expecting a snooze, but "For No One" and "Dear Prudence" placing so high was definitely not expected and completely welcome.

only voter for four songs! 28/f/Canadiana
4 Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
15 Maxwell's Silver Hammer* my dog's name, so I sing it all the time.. Eleanor Rigby, my bird, did not rate a vote
17 One after 909
18 Devil In Her Heart

Paul's dad's reaction when they first played him their new composition She Loves You: "shouldn't it be 'yes, yes, yes'?"

My list, lots of Sgt. Pepper love:

1 Strawberry Fields Forever
2 A Day in the Life
3 I Am the Walrus
4 Happiness Is a Warm Gun
5 She Said She Said
6 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
7 Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
8 Help!
9 Getting Better
10 Penny Lane
11 Ticket to Ride
12 With a Little Help from My Friends
13 Tomorrow Never Knows
14 Eleanor Rigby
15 A Hard Day's Night
16 Come Together
17 Magical Mystery Tour
18 She's Leaving Home
19 In My Life
20 Let It Be

Really surprised, given the love for McCartney on ILM, that nine of the top ten are Lennon songs.

lol someone said the exact opposite upthread expecting more love for Lennon

"Dear Prudence" is a great sleeper classic. Wonderful playing all around, even though it's only John and Paul.

wiki says George is on it...? sounds like his lead guitar style for sure

86 It Won't Be Long (Points: 104, Votes: 7, NumberOnes: 0)

George might be on Dear Prudence, but Paul def played dem drums.

Dear Prudence is like the anti Strawberry Fields for me. i love the way it keeps building - with SF i could never get into the way it would start going somewhere then sort of restart itself.

"Dear Prudence" is a great sleeper classic. Wonderful playing all around, even though it's only John and Paul.

― Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, July 20, 2011 11:42 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wiki says George is on it...? sounds like his lead guitar style for sure

― No Broehner (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, July 20, 2011 11:43 AM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark

According to the Beatles Recording Sessions:

A basic track was taped first: George's and John's guitars (John supplied the hypnotic picking which opens and the runs thought the song) and Paul on drums.

40/USA/chaotic neutral

40/USA/chaotic neutral

winner

Yeah oops George is there.

I like the DP comparison w SFF there! Very true!

I guess when I play the Beatles, more even than with other "song" bands (as opposed to, I guess, "sound" bands) the thing I listen for over everything else is melody. After all, Lennon & McCartney are, along with Stevie Wonder and Brian Wilson, the greatest melodists of the rock era. After that is probably production/arrangement and then, way down the line, lyrics. So while a great melody can lift pedestrian lyrics, the reverse is a lot less true for me with the Beatles. That's why I can't understand why something like "Dear Prudence" made top 10 - and why "If I Fell" didn't make top 60. Hell, "Michelle" wasn't even top 100 - to my ears, the most gorgeous set of chord changes McCartney ever wrote. Are the Fronsh lyrical asides really that gross? I think they're kind of funny myself.

are you geir

Dear Prudence is awesome because the groove rocks, the lead guitar bit at the end rocks, the finger-picking is dreamy and droney, and the whole thing is alot more futuristic than people realize.

Also, spooky backing vocals.

the white album is creepy/spooky in general.

not surprising it caused all those murders

You're kidding, right? Or do i have to go into that again?

was kidding

I missed this poll! Here's what I what have voted:

#1 Tomorrow Never Knows (Anthology 2 version)
#2 A Day In The Life
#3 Rain
#4 It's All Too Much
#5 Within You/Without You (Anthology 2 version)
#6 Dear Prudence
#7 Here, There and Everywhere
#8 In My Life
#9 Golden Slumbers
#10 Blackbird
#11 Norwegian Wood
#12 Flying
#13 We Can Work It Out
#14 I'm Only Sleeping
#15 And Your Bird Can Sing
#16 Here Come's The Sun
#17 Good Morning (Anthology 2 version)
#18 Getting Better
#19 Across The Universe (Anthology 2 version)
#20 Misery

I have to admit that I'd never heard a Beatles record all the way through until embarrassingly recently when I got FLACs of the mid/late period remasters.

Long, Long, Long is really amazing... had never heard that song until today. Great thread for that alone!

is Long Long Long the highest placing George song...?

[i]are you geir

― No Broehner (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, July 20, 2011 1:35 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark[/b]

That hurt, dude.

aggh html fuckups

not given this any thought but i think my list would be a lot like steve shasta's there.

My ballot, 1-20:

There's A Place
For No One
Not A Second Time
You Never Give Me Your Money
Long, Long, Long
I'll Be Back
Ticket To Ride
She's Leaving Home
A Day In The Life
Every Little Thing
Eleanor Rigby
She Said She Said
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Fixing A Hole
Paperback Writer
Cry Baby Cry
Wait
Strawberry Fields Forever
Blue Jay Way
Martha My Dear

Really should have had 'No Reply' in there somewhere.

only one George song in the top 20, none in the top 10... screwed again

I love early and mid-period Beatles. I think late Beatles is vastly overrated - check out my comments upthread. I assume Geir feels exactly the opposite. Also, Geir loves prog. Yuck.

In the context of the Beatles' oeuvre, I put a premium on melody because that's one of the things they're goddamn good at. I guess "Dear Prudence" has a good groove, but it isn't Stones-level or anything. Supposedly, Paul played drums on that one, which makes sense - "groove" is not one of Ringo's strong points.

George Harrison does not belong in the top 10 of anything

I love early and mid-period Beatles. I think late Beatles is vastly overrated - check out my comments upthread. I assume Geir feels exactly the opposite.

Breakin' it gently to you...

For me, George's percentage of great songs is very high. Which is of course a condition of the songwriting arrangement they had--to break through and get something on an album, it pretty much had to be great.

Haha, sockpuppetry abounds.

^^^

looking at the range of, er, ideas and attitudes expressed in George's songs is pretty funny. "I'm too rich to pay taxes!", "I have achieved enlightenment," "the rich are scum!", "oooh dessert!"

"all we are is dust in the wind"

so otfm I just played "guess this dead celeb" with that quote on twitter

so otfm I just played "guess this dead celeb" with that quote ("I'm too rich to pay taxes!", "I have achieved enlightenment," "the rich are scum!", "oooh dessert!") on twitter