They're not at all my favorites. But they are so varied, which I think illuatrates the greatness of the band. My favorites change with the day, but I always like While My Guitar..., The Fool On the Hill, Don't Let Me Down, and In My Life.
OT: The Beatles
- Thread starter RUboston
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I'm a month away from 66, so same age. How in hell did you not experience Beatlemania growing up?? If you turned on the radio you wouldve heard them at least a couple of times a day and leys not forget watching them on the Ed Sullivan show ( a really big shoe)
Is it the first chord of ‘Hard Day’s Night’ (George Harrison) that no one seems to be able to identify or duplicate?
Good point about how people’s many and varied favorites illustrates the greatness of the band. I couldn’t pick a single favorite but I’d include Tell Me Why, No Reply, Don’t Let Me Down, Oh Darling, Help, Eight Days a Week, and The Long and Winding Road. I play acoustic guitar, mostly finger style Chord Melody instrumentals, and In My Life and If I Fell lend themselves very well to that style. Those are my favorite for playing.
I’ve read it was an Fadd9 with Paul playing a D on his bass. Here is an interesting analysis and a couple points of view.
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I will never skip or fast forward “Twist or Shout”
Apparently I did not word this just right. I certainly heard Beatles songs on the radio. My dad was big into listening to music and had the radio on all the time and a lot of records. He liked rock music despite being born in the early 30s. I don’t think hearing Beatles songs , is “experiencing Beatlemania.” I was a young kid. For me, getting a real emotional impact from any specific band did not occur until I was in my early teens. I hope that clarifies it.
Interesting anecdote about that song. It was recorded in a marathon session for their Please Please Me album, their first to be released. Twist and Shout was the last song to be recorded. By that time, John's voice was absolutely shot and he asked to call it quits for the night. George Martin said nope, for this song, your voice is perfect. What John lacked in tonal quality he made up for in energy. And yes, his raspy, discordant voice was absolutely perfect.I will never skip or fast forward “Twist or Shout”
My top five probably have more to do with the memories at the time hearing them on my little transistor radio because they're great songs but not their greatest songs:
Eight Days A Week; You Won't See Me; We Can Work It Out; Penny Lane; Two Of Us.
Come back in a week when I'll most likely have a different Beatles list!
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Nice post. Thank you. Personally I’ve gone thru phases where I’m completely into them and then I put them down for awhile. Overall I’m a huge fan. About a year and a half ago I went thru a big in phase after reading the book you never gave me your money. It’s basically the story of the breakup, the ensuing battles, friendships and jealousies. I highly recommend it. What has always blown me away was that they accomplished so much in such a short time together. Artists like Adele and Taylor and pink and whomever have been around significantly longer than they were
No, it was a different song. One of the slower ones.
The first chord in "Hard Day's Night" is an F, though. It's actually an Fadd9, which is an F chord with a G on top (George). John is playing a Dsus4 simultaneously, which also has that same G note (1st string, 3rd fret).
So true.I will never skip or fast forward “Twist or Shout”
IMO John Lennon WAS the Beatles.
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I'm 67 and lived through Beatle mania. One of my strongest memories was my dad driving to upstate NY to visit my mom's parents. On the way, the strongest radio signal came from WABC. We must have heard "Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane" 50 times on the way up. I loved it!
Guessing you were around seven years old at the beginning
Some at that age might not have been into music as much as making trouble
outside
I was several years older so I got the full experience
The Beatles, as we know them, actually came from an alternate timeline and another earth where some Hindu dude had already written and performed all their songs.
You talk about a band with some serious musical range. Check out some of the divergent genres they experimented with (with varying degrees of success) on the White Album:
SOFT LOVE BALLADS: I Will, Julia. The latter was John's loving tribute to his deceased mother.
HEAVY METAL: Helter Skelter. John had long maintained that their "Ticket to Ride" was the first Heavy Metal song.
PSYCHEDELIC ROCK: Glass Onion. By the time of the White Album, the Beatles had pretty much gone through their psychedelic phase. Were they poking fun at themselves?
COUNTRY/WESTERN: Rocky Raccoon, Don't Pass Me By. Were these parodies or tributes?
BLUES: Yer Blues. They tried.
ACOUSTIC FOLK: Mother Nature's Son. Simple and sweet.
SATIRE / SOCIAL COMMENTARY: Back in the USSR, Piggies, Blackbird. Sometimes they used the sledgehammer, sometimes the stiletto. Message delivered either way.
1920's DANCE HALL: Honey Pie, Martha My Dear. In America it was known as Vaudeville. Paul tried to recapture that sound and did a pretty good job of it I think. "Martha" was Paul's pet sheepdog.
1950's ROOTS: Birthday. A piano-pounding homage to the 1950's Black American rock that the Beatles cut their teeth on.
EXPERIMENTAL AVANT- GARDE: Revolution #9, Wild Honey Pie. Hey, they were the Beatles, and could do whatever they wanted.
and last but not least, A FREAKIN' LULLABYE! Good Night. Ringo on vocals, some studio backup singers, and a 26 piece orchestra. Perfect.
That was only half the songs on the double album!
We have not seen the likes of the Beatles for over 50 years, and may never again.
SOFT LOVE BALLADS: I Will, Julia. The latter was John's loving tribute to his deceased mother.
HEAVY METAL: Helter Skelter. John had long maintained that their "Ticket to Ride" was the first Heavy Metal song.
PSYCHEDELIC ROCK: Glass Onion. By the time of the White Album, the Beatles had pretty much gone through their psychedelic phase. Were they poking fun at themselves?
COUNTRY/WESTERN: Rocky Raccoon, Don't Pass Me By. Were these parodies or tributes?
BLUES: Yer Blues. They tried.
ACOUSTIC FOLK: Mother Nature's Son. Simple and sweet.
SATIRE / SOCIAL COMMENTARY: Back in the USSR, Piggies, Blackbird. Sometimes they used the sledgehammer, sometimes the stiletto. Message delivered either way.
1920's DANCE HALL: Honey Pie, Martha My Dear. In America it was known as Vaudeville. Paul tried to recapture that sound and did a pretty good job of it I think. "Martha" was Paul's pet sheepdog.
1950's ROOTS: Birthday. A piano-pounding homage to the 1950's Black American rock that the Beatles cut their teeth on.
EXPERIMENTAL AVANT- GARDE: Revolution #9, Wild Honey Pie. Hey, they were the Beatles, and could do whatever they wanted.
and last but not least, A FREAKIN' LULLABYE! Good Night. Ringo on vocals, some studio backup singers, and a 26 piece orchestra. Perfect.
That was only half the songs on the double album!
We have not seen the likes of the Beatles for over 50 years, and may never again.
The Beatles Are Releasing Their "Final" Record. AI Helped Make It Possible
June 13, 2023 Associated Press
June 13, 2023 Associated Press
wow.. I was just going to post about that. Glad it is here already.
Tell you what.. might be the last one "The Beatles" release... but it won't be the last one the way AI is going nuts... I predict many many attempts to post new "Beatles" content.. with law suits and take-down notices aplenty.
One of my favorite films. My favorite part is the songwriting competition between Ed Sheeran and the singer/songwriter/musician guy, Jack, who is one of a small handful of people who didn't "lose" their memory of the Beatles, which takes place after Jack has a really successful concert in Russia, when he's just starting to "break" big. They agree to take 10 minutes to write something completely new and Sheeran goes first and plays a nice new song and the small group of fans/friends still there like it, of course. And then Jack sits down at the piano and plays/sings The Long and Winding Road, which just blows the doors off the place and Sheeran acknowledges Jack is just better comp,aring him to Mozart, while Ed is just Salieri (and commenting that someone ought to shag him this night, since he is about to become a huge star in Ed's opinion). Sheeran, by the way, is great in his modest role in the film.
Best Band Ever! Still in the top of sales 60 years after they came to America and 53 years after they broke up!
Close, but no. When it comes to bands, first there's The Band (by definition). Then the Beatles, followed closely by the Rutles, then everyone else.