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The Beatles Appreciation Thread


Frankie Crisp

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I've never owned a Beatles record or actively spent time listening to them, but I know practically every song. I suspect The Beatles have become a sort of race memory for English people.

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I saw this thread over the weekend, but as I was away, typing my thoughts on an iPhone would have been an arse, so I've waited until today.

 

I LOVE The Beatles. I think Zeppelin are probably my favourite band, but if I was forced at gunpoint and told I could only ever listen to one band's output, I'd pick The Beatles.

 

Has anyone been to the BEATLEMANIA museum on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg? It is INCREDIBLE. A five storey tall museum near the Beatlesplatz that tells the story of the band, and it's one of the best museums I've ever been to. I wish I spoke fluent German so I could apply for jobs there. It starts at the top level with their Hamburg career, with loads of memorabilia, goes down into Abbey Road Studios (full replica) and into a room full of all the various merchandise they had in the early 60s, with a panoramic surround-screen room of the Shea Stadium concert. You go down through Strawberry Fields into the Sgt Peppers zone, where you can have your photo taken in the album cover. You progress to the Engine Room of the fucking Yellow Submarine and then down to the giant headphones where you can listen to the differences between the two versions of Let It Be at your leisure. Even the exit signs are brilliant - in German, 'Ausgang', in English 'Hello Goodbye'. YES. Here is the website. If you're a fan, GO. Two hours from Heathrow.

 

Mattyc on page 1 talked about how

I pretty much already knew all of their songs from memory without realising it
and that's true of me as well. I really got into them in teenage years, and found that as I discovered each album, somehow I already knew the majority of the songs, without ever having consciously listened to them. It's a weird feeling. They're kind of ingrained in the mind - you know The Beatles without even knowing you know them, and you hear a song and think, 'wait, they did this one as well?'

 

They've been part of my musical knowledge from a very early age, though - one of my first musical memories is in reception (age 4 or thereabouts) at school, and one of the teaching assistants keeping us busy by teaching us the words to 'Yellow Submarine'. Quite a few of the lesser-loved songs have got strong memory connections for me - for example, 'Octopus' Garden' always takes me back to painting my nana's living room walls for her.

 

My favourite album is Sgt Peppers. I know this is akin to a Floyd fan liking Dark Side of the Moon or a wrestling fan liking Savage-Steamboat but it's such a good album. I love every single song on it. I also like Rubber Soul if that makes me seem trendier.

 

One of the most amazing things about them is the fact that no matter how you're feeling, The Beatles have a song that fits perfectly with your mood. Fallen in love? Something (maybe my favourite ever love song). Chilled out and content with life? Here Comes The Sun or Dear Prudence. Angry? Helter Skelter. Lonely? She's Leaving Home. Reflective? In My Life. And so on, and so on, I could go on for ages.

 

Sometimes you don't even know how relevant a song is going to be. I was never a huge fan of 'Yesterday' - it was good, but never a first choice. Then one day, about a week after my ex and I broke up (she dumped me. It was brutal.) I was driving to meet some friends and it came on the radio. The impact it had... that song was written about me, it had to be. I know it wasn't, really, but every word was right - it was exactly how I felt at that time. That, to me, is the mark of truly superlative songwriting.

 

I tried to make a CD of my favourite Beatles songs to put in the car. It ended up being 72 songs long - and that was me being selective. You know the moment at a gig where you hear the first notes of your favourite song, the one you came to hear? I saw McCartney last year and got that feeling about twenty times... I'm going to attempt to do as others have done and add a couple of links, and I will have to try really hard not to turn it into a 60-odd long list of links.

 

So, with that in mind, I'll try not to replicate songs others have linked to.

 

I Want You (She's So Heavy) - one of my favourites. I always stick it one when I'm frustrated. There's something about that riff that appeals to anger.

 

- does anyone else rate this as among their very best? It's a perfect fifties-style rock and roll love song. So simple, but absolutely gorgeous. Love it.

 

- there's so much going on in this one. The lyrics are among the best of the 'weird' ones, the time/key changes really work, and there's
which is awesome purely for having Salma Hayek in a nurse's outfit singing the 'bang bang, shoot shoot' lines.

 

Speaking of Across The Universe, which I also love, there's

that cannot help but give me goosebumps all over the place. Stunning. The original version, of course, is just as stirring and moving. I think 'Let It Be' is one of those ones that's so well-known it's almost dismissed, but IT'S SUCH A GOOD SONG.

 

How do people rate the Love album from a few years ago? I really like it, there are some cracking re-arrangements in there. The best track, I think, is

I'd put this above the original. Seriously, I prefer it.

 

(This is partly because Eric Clapton almost ruined my enjoyment of the original by effectively claiming credit for its quality in his book (my personal interpretation of his words). Damn you, Clapton, you're good, but it's George's song no matter how many solos you did!)

 

And finally,

. How amazing is this song? When people talk about the best Beatles songs, quite often they'll look to the post-live era stuff of Sgt Peppers, Abbey Road, etc. But the early years have so many phenomenally crafted pop songs. Who couldn't love 'Paperback Writer'? Love, love, love it (love is all you need).

 

 

I'll stop now. But I :love: The Beatles, and Frankie Crisp for making this thread. :love:

Edited by HarmonicGenerator
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Nice to see the Beatles love on this board for once. I'm off to bed now but will post some songs tomorrow, in the meantime, here's my favourate of all time

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPWc_LUMrs&feature=fvst

 

everything about this song makes me smile, but mainly it's Ringo's drumming. It's so subtle, just ticking along, never taking over the song but completely making it. The change from the first verse to last, with a slightly different timing in the drums ( I think its about half a beat on the snare drum hit) is just beautifully done. I could listen to it all day.

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I'll stop now. But I :love: The Beatles, and Frankie Crisp for making this thread.

And I love you too for that brilliant, enthusiastic response. Just what I was hoping this thread would bring!

 

Reading most of these posts made me think

Edited by Frankie Crisp
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I don't mind The Beatles. You know, they're just...there, always will be and it doesn't offend me. However, I believe Hey Jude is possibly the most overrated song of all time. It's terrible. The last five minutes are pointless, the first two minutes are lyrically uninspiring. I once read reviews from critics who labelled Hey Jude "engrossing", "hypnotic", and "astonishingly transcendental". Actually, it's just a pile of boring shite.

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Love this tune, the drifting between Paul's happy vocals and John's more complexed view are fantastic mixes.

 

Another Girl

Lovely tune from Help, and the video is quite good too, fit 60's lasses.

 

You've Got to Hirde Your Love Away

Another great one from Help, John's vocal is fantastic on this.

 

You Never Give Me Your Money

I love the first bits of this, love the melody, it also reappears in the 'Carry That Weight' section at the end of the Album.

 

OK, the film isn't too amazing but I really love the intro song to the film, it's underated I believe among Beatles fans.

 

Fucking ace these lads

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[

Nice to see the Beatles love on this board for once. I'm off to bed now but will post some songs tomorrow, in the meantime, here's my favourate of all time

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPWc_LUMrs&feature=fvst

 

everything about this song makes me smile, but mainly it's Ringo's drumming. It's so subtle, just ticking along, never taking over the song but completely making it. The change from the first verse to last, with a slightly different timing in the drums ( I think its about half a beat on the snare drum hit) is just beautifully done. I could listen to it all day.

I didn’t even need to click on your link to know what song you were talking about. It’s so simplistic yet so addictive. Like you, I could listen to it all day and is one of the many examples of why the clich

Edited by HarmonicGenerator
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