THE TOPPERMOST OF THE POPPERMOST

Concluding my PoP 10 selection of my favorite Beatles songs (for now). Read Part 1 and Part 2.

7. YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY

Even as Abbey Road famously includes a suite of loosely inter-connected songs from Sun King to The End, just before that is You Never Give Me Your Money which is a mini-suite in itself. This mini-suite consists of essentially five (!) parts – a pseudo-classical opening, then a honky-tonk country section, followed by an instrumental passage backed by helium backing vocals, a downright bluesy couple of bars and finally, the closing guitar pattern/riff with the nursery rhyme-like fade-out “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7/All good children go to heaven”. Heaven indeed!

8. RAIN

The template for almost every psychedelic rock song that followed, Rain was the B-side of Paperback Writer and contains the legendary backward John Lennon vocals at the coda. Also the subject of one of the earliest music videos.

9. LADY MADONNA

I once dismissed Lady Madonna as McCartneysque fluff (!!!) but recently have been using it as a superb example of how arrangements can be used to cement hooks into listener’s head. Now it’s one of my favorites. I dig the music video as well.

10. YOU CAN’T DO THAT

Somehow, this track off Hard Day’s Night exudes a whole lot more power and attitude than many of the Beatles songs of that early period. Lennon’s role-playing of the jealous guy is par for the course whilst the Rickenbacker-driven rhythms keeps the song on edge. Genius!

Yes, only ten… not easy to distill but appropriate for present purposes, I think. More lists to come…

Comments welcome, of course.

THE TOPPERMOST OF THE POPPERMOST

I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone out there that the Fab Four are my favorite band of all time. Forty years after their demise, their music still enthralls and touches me. Two years ago (!), I did my PoP Ten of my favorite Beach Boys tunes, here’s part 1 (of 3) of my list for the Beatles. Comments welcome, of course…

1. A DAY IN THE LIFE

The finest recording ever? Two distinct songs from John Lennon and Paul McCartney cobbled together by the most inventive instrumental section ever committed to magnetic tape. Lennon provides some of his best non-sequitur lyrics – “Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall” and his singing is haunting and evocative throughout. McCartney contributes an incongruous jaunty middle part equally memorable. This is what I mean when I say “legendary”.

2. HELP!

One of my favorites from the early Beatles period, Lennon’s impassioned vocals and the tight harmonies gets me everytime. Of course, the heartfelt lyrics are something anyone can identify with. Great beat and melody. Hypnotic.

3. PENNY LANE

Originally, In My Life was supposed to reflect upon the childhoods of Lennon and McCartney and would refer to specific landmarks in their hometown Liverpool. That didn’t materialize and the concept was only fully realized on Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. Both tracks were recorded during the Sgt Pepper’s sessions. Penny Lane is brilliantly nostalgic, colorful in both words and music, its music hall sensibility echoes the Kinks and the piccolo flute at the coda now the stuff of legend.

Stay tuned for Part 2…

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