The Beatles (The White Album) — Side 1
Ongoing series trying to critically evaluate the Beatles in modern terms, blah blah, originally the series was inspired by this subthread on a Hacker News post dealing with the Beatles critical influence, which had the following quotes
Technically that doesn’t mean they were bad at the time, that just aged much worse than the other bands you mention, so depends whether you rate them in context of their era or in present day, some things age bad, some age good.
followed by
To me they are like Citizen Kane: it’s a great movie because what it did had never been done before but I have no interest in watching it ever again.
and that followed by
Funnily enough I share same sentiment about Beatles as about Citizen Kane, I forced myself to watch it together with Casablanca and few other “classics” and it’s horrible movie by nowadays standards and I’d say you don’t need to see it even once unless you are really movie nerd…
This is dealing with the songs on the first side of The Beatles — also commonly known as the White Album.
On the Sgt. Peppers article I said “So this is the big one, the album that is in the public imagination as the one cementing the Beatles status as the greatest band of Rock and Roll”, which personally never worked for me — Sgt. Peppers was not as cool as either Revolver or this one in my mind, although that might have been because when I was younger I thought Happiness is a Warm Gun was found on Revolver, because of course it made thematic sense. Unfortunately The Beatles were never as thematically ordered as say Pink Floyd or Bob Dylan, so things often showed up in suboptimal placements.
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Well, yeah
Woo!
OohFlew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C
Didn't get to bed last night
On the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man, I had a dreadful flightI'm back in the U.S.S.R
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the U.S.S.RBeen away so long, I hardly knew the place
Gee, it's good to be back home
Leave it 'til tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey, disconnect the phoneI'm back in the U.S.S.R
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the U.S
Back in the U.S
Back in the U.S.S.RWell
The Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my mindOh, come on!
Woo! (Hey)
Woo! (Yeah)
Woo! (Yeah)
Hell, yeahHey, I'm back In the U.S.S.R
You don't know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the U.S.S.RWell
The Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my mindOh, show me 'round your snow-peaked mountains
Way down south
Take me to your daddy's farm
Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warmI'm back In the U.S.S.R
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the U.S.S.ROh, let me tell you, honey
Hey, I'm back
I'm back In the U.S.S.R
Hey, it's so good to be home
Yeah, back In the U.S.S.R
I like this song, but let’s face it, it’s sort of cheesy. A nice Chuck Berry rocker / Beach Boys parody, and once you have the concept “Back in the U.S.S.R” instead of “Back in the U.S.A” this is the totally non-surprising result.
Sure “Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out” is a nice line but essentially it is a funny Beach Boys parody competently done.
Obviously in the historical context it meant or at least implied something more, given the cold war, but historical context doesn’t last.
I like this song, because it is really to my taste, but I’m not sure it is really that good.
What I mean by that can be better understood in these articles.
Who should do cover of this song? Jack Malik, he should do a version while on the way to be a fronting band for Ed Sheeran in modern day Russia. I bet he would do a killer version.
GOD — THAT MOVIE SUCKED!
It’s perhaps a bit difficult to choose who should cover this song, it’s an “old” sounding song, but a fake old sound. Just as the lyrics are ironic or sarcastic, depending on how you want to view those moods, so is the sound.
Billy Joel covered it in 1987, which is very a propos, and Lemmy covered it in 2006 which helped bring out the rock side of the song.
So I don’t really have any reasonable suggestion better than either of those two.
Dear Prudence.
Dear Prudence
Won’t you come out to play?
Dear Prudence
Greet the brand new day, hey
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It’s beautiful, and so are you
Dear Prudence
Won’t you come out to play?
Dear Prudence
Open up your eyes
Dear Prudence
See the sunny skies
The wind is low, the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence
Won’t you open up your eyes?
Look around, ‘round
(Round, round, round, round, round)
(Round, round, round, round, round)
Look around, ‘round, ‘round
(Round, round, round, round, round)
(Round, round, round, round, round)
Look around (Ah-ah-ah-ah)Dear Prudence
Let me see you smile
Dear Prudence
Like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see you smile again
Dear Prudence
Won’t you let me see you smile?Dear Prudence
Won’t you come out to play?
Dear Prudence
Greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It’s beautiful, and so are you
Dear Prudence
Won’t you come out to play?…
This song is just on the side of my taste, a little bit less jangly and not my taste. Also the lyrics are not especially great, so it is just barely to my taste. But I like it much more than one would expect, given how little it is like what you would expect I like. So given my theory about detecting quality already mentioned
I would suggest it is pretty good.
But it is a song that doesn’t really reward any great analysis, not to say that people don’t do it
in fact I would say this song, while not a great one for analysis, is quite good, and trippy sounding, and by The Beatles, during their Maharishi time — so it is a great song for inspiring the most pretentious statements possible from Rock critics — which is pretty damn pretentious!
Who should do a cover? They already did it.
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace
Molly is the singer in a band
Desmond says to Molly, “Girl, I like your face”
And Molly says this as she takes him by the hand
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, brah
La-la, how their life goes on
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, brah
La-la, how their life goes on
Desmond takes a trolley to the jeweler’s store (Choo-choo-choo)
Buys a twenty-karat golden ring (Ring)
Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door
And as he gives it to her, she begins to sing (Sing)
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, brah (La-la-la-la-la)
La-la, how their life goes on
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, brah (La-la-la-la-la)
La-la, how their life goes on
YeahIn a couple of years, they have built a home sweet home
With a couple of kids running in the yard
Of Desmond and Molly Jones (Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha)Happy ever after in the marketplace
Desmond lets the children lend a hand (Arm, leg)
Molly stays at home and does her pretty face
And in the evening, she still sings it with the band
Yes!Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, brah
La-la, how their life goes on (Heh-heh)
Yeah, ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, brah
La-la, how their life goes onIn a couple of years, they have built a home sweet home
With a couple of kids running in the yard
Of Desmond and Molly Jones (Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha)
Yeah!
Another song that is just barely on this side of I like it. It’s a nice poppy song, however remember the article from Hacker News I mentioned earlier
There’s a comment in there
80’s kid here. I never liked any Beatles songs. Not a single one. And “classic rock” from the 60’s and 70’s is my go-to genre. I always assumed their recognition was more historical. They kicked off the pop band phenomenon as we know it today, and the base rhythms of their songs were no doubt influential. But I’ve never felt that their actual songs were very good. Many of them are downright corny and cringe by the time I listened to them
Now I have to say this song, despite having that McCartney pop sensibility that lets it go down easy, is pretty damn “cringe”.
In fact, given the changing fashions of Racism and Anti-Racism over the years
I suppose if you had some kids listen to it and afterwards tell them it was the Beatles the first comment would not be anything about how cool it was, but rather questioning why they were trying to sound Jamaican.
For someone familiar with our modern discourses about these kinds of things the song does feel somewhat icky.
Who should do this song?
Well, No Doubt did it ‘97.
I generally love No Doubt but I don’t like this song for them, but I gotta say they look like they love playing it, so that’s good.
Who I’d like nowadays — Nadia Rose. Just thought of that. She could make something out of that song that was not so cringey, and maybe also way over the line into loving it territory.
maybe there might also be some things about the song that she might like to talk some shit about.
Wild Honey Pie
Honey pie,
Honey pie,
Honey pie,
Honey pie,
Honey pie,
Honey pie,
Honey pie,
Honey pie,
Honey pie,I love ya.
The lyrics, man. I tend to like well written lyrics, with clever phrases, there is something to be said for the brilliance of this song that I remembered it as having decent lyrics.
Other than that, not much to say here either.
Who should do this song?
I think Bjork.
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill.
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?He went out tiger hunting with his elephant and gun
In case of accidents
He always took his mum
He’s the all American, bullet-headed
Saxon mother’s son
All the children singHey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?Deep in the jungle, where the mighty tiger lies
Bill and his elephants were taken by surprise
So Captain Marvel zapped him right between the eyes
All the children singHey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?The children asked him if to kill was not a sin
“Not when he looked so fierce,” his mummy butted in
“If looks could kill, it would have been us instead of him”
All the children singHey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
Hey, Bungalow Bill
What did you kill, Bungalow Bill?
The rhetorical point of this song is nowadays so universally agreed upon that it is a big yawning cliche, as such this song is also sort of ‘cringe’.’
Again it’s a song I sort of like, it is too my taste, but when listening one has to get into the music and get past the preachy moral rhetoric and that is sort of difficult for me, because I listen to the lyrics.
That said the lines
“Not when he looked so fierce,” his mummy butted in
“If looks could kill, it would have been us instead of him”
always makes me laugh.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping
Still, my guitar gently weepsI don’t know why nobody told you
How to unfold your love
I don’t know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold youI look at the world and I notice it’s turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake, we must surely be learning
Still, my guitar gently weepsI don’t know how you were diverted
You were perverted, too
I don’t know how you were inverted
No one alerted youI look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
(I look) Look at you all
Still, my guitar gently weeps
Oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, ooh
And Harrison brings the classic on this side. Again a song that is not so much to my taste that I quite like, but it has sort of worn itself out in my head so I don’t listen too much to it. It makes a good addition to playlists though.
I’ve noted before that until Costello there was no great writer in Rock and Roll who could write a song that Bob Dylan couldn’t have written.
That said the Beatles often came close, often because the songs were quite British but other things as well bring forth this observation.
Dylan could have written this song but he would not have written the lines
I don’t know how you were diverted
You were perverted, too
I don’t know how you were inverted
No one alerted you
Or at least not with the same meaning of perverted. Dylan, like probably everybody else in rock and roll would have needed to make some libidinous pun with perverted, that is to say sexual perversion but Harrison it seems to me means the original, non-sexualized, meaning of perverted —
of a change for the worse, to an unnatural state, the character Harrison is talking to has been perverted by society to be a worse version of the person they could have been, of who they were meant to be.
The Beatles lyrics are seldom clever all the way through, they do not have a surfeit of cleverness or depth, but they are not all simple either.
I appreciate good lyrics, and the Beatles sometimes had very great parts of songs that otherwise were lyrically pedestrian.
We already know about the cover of course
Happiness is a Warm Gun
She’s not a girl who misses much
Do do do do do do, oh yeah
She’s well-acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand
Like a lizard on a window pane
The man in the crowd with the multicolored mirrors
On his hobnail boots
Lying with his eyes while his hands are busy
Working overtime
A soap impression of his wife which he ate
And donated to the National TrustI need a fix ’cause I’m going down
Down to the pits that I left uptown
I need a fix ’cause I’m going downMother Superior jumped the gun
Mother Superior jumped the gun
Mother Superior jumped the gun
Mother Superior jumped the gun
Mother Superior jumped the gun
Mother Superior jumped the gunHappiness is a warm gun (bang, bang, shoot, shoot)
Happiness is a warm gun, momma (bang, bang, shoot, shoot)When I hold you in my arms (ooh, oh, yeah)
And I feel my finger on your trigger (ooh, oh, yeah)
I know nobody can do me no harm (ooh, oh, yeah)
BecauseHappiness is a warm gun, yes it is (bang, bang, shoot, shoot)
Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun (happiness, bang, bang, shoot, shoot)
Well, don’t you know that happiness is a warm gun momma?
(Happiness is a warm gun, yeah)
HAH HAH — I get it — The Gun is a Penis!!
Wow, pretty deep.
OK, not especially fair, and actually I like this song a lot and it is to my taste. I like it a lot more, personally, than all the other songs on this side. But it is sort of cringey because the metaphor of gun = penis is so common nowadays.
The problem was that while clever guys, they Beatles were not that deep, and Lennon was generally not as deep as he was given credit for and that he liked to pretend he was because of issues I suppose. What they were, were guys who very much exemplified the zeitgeist and were maybe slightly ahead of the curve, and were great musicians with lots of money and reach. That allows one to seem very deep when you are only at middling depth.
Although maybe I am being put out by memories of my parents when I was 10 in the late 80s listening to this song, and pontificating (a type of spoken thought that aged hippies would often do regarding Beatles songs) that not very many people probably got the connection to the gun = penis thing, that people thought that it was a straight ahead song and that John Lennon evidently was singing “Happiness is a warm gun” non-ironically.
Anyway, that’s the kind of thing that makes you not respect the music of the older generation as much as it might deserve.
Who should do a cover — well it would be nice Prince, but not happening for obvious reasons so someone who can actually make the song sound salacious.
Maybe it should be a woman.
Lady GaGa.
OK — Folks, that’s the end of Side 1.
Side 2 below
