Take a Sad Song and Extract Every Last Ounce of Spontaneity from It: the Beatles Uber-Ballad Poll

"Thank you, Ringo, that was wonderful."

(and with a guest appearance from the "Ringo was a great drummer" challops as well).

Huh? He was a great drummer, and my post was not meant to be challopsy.

Hating on Ringo was a challops for decades.

Yeah Ringo's drums are one of the best things on "Hey Jude". The build-up, the way he drops in with that ride cymbal, all of it.

Plus the anecdote about him back from a bathroom break and sitting down at the kit after they had already started

random sampling of Google hits - I searched for the Buddy Rich quote- comes up with a good defense here:
http://tommendoladrums.com/ringo-starr-in-defense-of-a-drummers-perspective/

Had never made the connection about song #1 that now makes me go "D'oh!"

I bet they would be at or near the top of most people's lists

Very debatable--not on ILM, anyway. ("Hey Jude" at #26 was the highest-ranking in the ILM poll a few years back.) Anyway, I assure you this thread wasn't meant to provoke. I'm just interested in trying to figure out why a couple of these songs have withstood massive overplay with me, and to compare that with other people's reactions. Maybe it's just completely arbitrary, with no explanation.

XP re:bathroom break. Jeez no wonder he quit the band shortly after.

random sampling of Google hits - I searched for the Buddy Rich quote- comes up with a good defense here:
http://tommendoladrums.com/ringo-starr-in-defense-of-a-drummers-perspective/

Had never made the connection about song #1 that now makes me go "D'oh!"

― Maria Felix Kept On Walking (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, June 7, 2015 2:23 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha! I'd never made that connection either!

Missing from that list: "Here Comes the Sun." Ringo effortlessly swings through the cycle of 11/8, 4/4, and 7/8 in the bridge.

I still like Let It Be

Songwriting aside, Ringo def. my favorite player of the 4

Voted TLAWR by a nose from Let It Be.

It's between these two for me. TLAWR is devastating, it really sounds like the end of a relationship. how can people rep for "without you" on the nilsson poll and badmouth this??

'michelle' seems to have lost a bit of the cultural cachet it had when i was young (i.e. the '90s), feels like i heard it all the time then but it's somehow become a relic of that time for me

girl > michelle

Bear with me, haters, but there's this part in the Billy Joel bio about his shows closing out Shea Stadium in its final year. This whole chapter about how they had to add a second show, controversies in ticket prices, how Joel rounded up all of these celebrity guests like Tony Bennett to sing "New York State of Mind" -- all leading up to trying to get Paul McCartney to show up as the cherry on top.

Negotiations went on for weeks, Paul jetting across the Atlantic, still in the air when the show started. Joel gets a note midway through proclaiming that his secret guest was "in New York airspace." Plane lands, McCartney and crew get rushed out by the airport by NYPD, bypassing Customs supposedly, with a motorcade all the way out to Queens.

McCartney comes on with Billy, crowd goes wild, they do some songs, and backstage before the final encore in Joel's hometown, McCartney says, "You know what you we have to close it out with, right?" Joel, deferring to his hero, says "What did you have in mind?" ... and Paul says, "We have to close it out with... LET IT BE."

You can just about hear the air leave the sails, deflating the whole chapter with those words. You get this idea that wherever Macca goes, he's doing something like telling Neil Young at the Bridge Benefit 'YOU KNOW WHAT WE HAVE TO CLOSE IT OUT WITH, RIGHT?"

whereas Joel wanted him to close with "Daytime Nighttime Suffering."

'michelle' seems to have lost a bit of the cultural cachet it had when i was young

This had crossed my mind too--it's not quite as uber as when I first started obsessing over the Beatles (early/mid-'70s). Didn't know this till I looked it up: it won the Grammy for Song of the Year in '67. The competition--"Born Free", "The Impossible Dream", "Somewhere My Love," and "Strangers in the Night"--is perfect. I'm sure "Michelle" seemed like it was from a different universe at the time; today, the continuum there is much greyer.

(I would have voted for either "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" or the Mothers' "Trouble Every Day," but apparently neither was nominated.)

today, the continuum there is much greyer.

I dunno, so are the voters still.

I would have voted for "I'm indifferent to all five" if that had been included in the choices. As is I voted for Yesterday.

Has to be TLAWR, just to annoy Beatles fans.

what about "while my guitar gently weeps"?

"Yesterday" is great

(xpost) It seems like something very different to me. I wouldn't even call it a ballad, even though it's slow--seems more like trancey drug music.

Am I supposed to vote for the song which most deserves to fuck off or which song can be spared whilst its brothers suffer a miserable, bloody death? I still like Michelle. Hey Jude on the other hand makes me want to walk around and slap strangers.

"michelle" is definitely the one i enjoy most now, it seems a lot more jokey and droll than soppy. definitely feels more spontaneous and innocent than the other songs, you can just imagine 23-year-old paul beaming with pride at how sharp and sophisticated he sounds putting these french lines into his song.

Vote for the one you like best, FFM, if there is one.

J.D. OTM, "Michelle"'s lightheartedness wins it for me. Second place probably "Yesterday," and then a three-way tie of indifference.

all great songs hope all ilmers die

Paul's poking fun at himself and his limited French, right?

lord please take me first for posting in the ira kaplan vs neil haggerty thread

I'm voting "Let It Be" right now partly because of the version with the better solo (the snarly one that rises out of the organ break). Also because the I-vi-IV-V progression can be so agreeably mashed up with "No Woman No Cry," "Tomorrow Wendy," "You're Beautiful," "Torn," and so very many other songs.

well too late, i voted for the most unbearable (HJ)

NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!(Judy Juude, a-juuuude, a-juuudey judey jude!)
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!(Jude Juuuude, a-juuuude, a-juuudey wooo-yeah!)
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!(Judy! Judy! a-juuuude looks like a juuude-ay!)
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!(a-Jude jude, wooo, a-yeah whoo-oa-yeah jude!)
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!(I said a-Judy Juude, a-juuuude, a-juuudey judey jude!)
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!(Whoa now Jude Juuuude, a-juuuude, a-juuudey wooo-yeah!)
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!(Judy! Judy! a-juuuude looks like a juuude-ay!)
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!
NAAAAAA, NAA, NAA, NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA! NA-NA-NA-NAAAAAAAA, Heeeey Juuude!(I said whoa a-Jude jude, wooo, a-yeah whoo-oa-yeah jude!)
(repeat hundreds of times until audience is dead)

a-juuuude looks like a juuude-ay!

irl lol

oh, someone transcribed paul's adlibbing during the outro:

“Jude Judy Judy Judy Judy Judy… ow, wahow!"
"Ow ho, my my my"
"Jude Jude Jude Jude Joooo……"
"Na na na na na, yeh yeh yeh"
"Yeah you know you can make it, yeah Jude, you not gotta break it"
"Don’t make it bad Jude"
"Take a sad song and make it better"
"Oh Jude, Jude, hey Jude, woooooow"
"Oh, Jooooooode"
"Yeah"
"hey, hey, hey-yay"
"Hey, hey, hey"
"Now Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude, yeah yeah yeah yeah"
"Woh yeah yeah"
"ah nanananananana cause I wanna"
"Nanananana…. nanalalal ow ow ow"
"oh God"
"The pain won’t come back Jude"
"Yeah, eh hehe heh"
"Make it through"
"Yeyeye Yeah… yeah y-yeah… yeah hahahaha…"
"Godeveningladiesandgentlemen mymymymy mahhhhh"
"ooooo"
"woooooh"
"Well then a na-nanan”

I'm voting for the version of "Yesterday" that my college a capella group did that had an interpolation of Schuetz-style choral arrangements on the reprise of the first verse.

can we poll those options

xpost

Yeah

imagining this as a Beavis and Butthead exchange:

"The pain won’t come back Jude"
"Yeah, eh hehe heh"

I like this story:

http://www.stereogum.com/4447/love_is_hey_jude_on_repeat/news/

predictably/gratifyingly someone has uploaded a 10 hour edit of the Hey Jude outro to youtube

though listening to it, it seems like they have just looped the first couple of minutes of na na na nas and don't even get to the 'ju-deh ju-deh ju-dehwow oh-wow!' part? maybe they kick in around the six hour mark or something

why the need to make a sad song better in the first place? what if it was a good sad song? what if jude, by mucking with it, makes it worse?

julian doesn't have to worry about having good songs

Saw a possible vanity license plate today on a car that had a help! window sticker and some kind of beatles license plate holder. It doesn't make any sense, but doesn't fit any of my state's standard alphanumeric configurations either. Any chance it's beatles-related?

027M527

OATMEAL?

oh fuck, maybe that's it.

nvm, that's probably not it. They'd have used a 3 for the E.

"Julia"

Tempted to vote for Hey Jude just for

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNDs571E9k4

yeah there are no rules. jagger/richards could have credited jones, wyman, taylor, etc.
they just decided no to.

errr... the melody of the organ part of "whiter shades of pale" is by JS Bach !

(well inspired by...)

Jagger/Richards should have credited Wyman on 'Jumpin' Jack Flash', I think.

Jagger-Richards not crediting Taylor for "Sway" or "Moonlight Mile" is rank bullshit.

I think that financial aspects put aside, the jagger/richards, lennon/mccartney just thought it was cooler if all the tracks had this signature even when someone else had an input or when the song was solely by one of them.

one of the examples of the subjective aspect of the songwriting credits is the aforementioned "Give Peace a Chance" which was credited lennon/mccartney although the latter had nothing to do with it.

the (bowel) movement you need is on your shoulder

are you expecting a songwriting credit ?

<<I'm a drummer myself, and wouldn't naturally expect praise or credit or extra payment for standard patterns that are off-the-shelf, so to speak.>>

not sure why you deserve any less (or more) credit than the guitarist who comes up with off-the-shelf I-IV-V chord changes.

<I think that financial aspects put aside, the jagger/richards, lennon/mccartney just thought it was cooler if all the tracks had this signature even when someone else had an input or when the song was solely by one of them.>>

i'm sure jagger, richards, lennon and mccartney all thought it was cool indeed. taylor, wyman, harrison, etc., might not feel the same way, obviously. songwriting credits in pop music are ENTIRELY a financial decision.

fcc otm

As I say,the credit on the song does not necessarily relate to who gets paid what.

Jagger-Richards not crediting Taylor for "Sway" or "Moonlight Mile" is rank bullshit.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, June 19, 2015 2:58 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and 'Time Waits For No One', too.

I learned a piano chord I didn't know before from TLAWR, so it gets pass marks from me.
― The Manner of Crawly (Tom D.), Wednesday, June 17, 2015 7:50 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink