Overlooked Songs

Volume 26, Track 5

“You Never Give Me Your Money/Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” by The Beatles (1969) [Notes... Total track length = 10:45, "Sun King" starts at 4:03, "Mean Mr. Mustard" starts at 6:29, "Polythene Pam" starts at 7:35, "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window starts at 8:47] Side two of [...]

Volume 7, Track 3

“Yer Blues” by The Beatles (1968) Disc two of the “white album” has the best glimpses of what The Beatles would have sounded like if they had ever become a full-time rock band or power blues band. “Helter Skelter” is the most hardcore (and notorious) example[1] whereas “Yer Blues” is a more complete example of [...]

Volume 2, Track 14

“Love Me Do” by The Beatles (1962) “Love Me Do” was The Beatles’ first single; it was originally released as such in 1962 then put on Please Please Me in 1963. Americans would hear it for the first time in 1964 and the rest is pretty much history. This song is so simple and so [...]

Volume 2, Track 13

“Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” by The Beatles (1965) “Norwegian Wood” is, musically, one of the most beautiful songs that The Beatles ever wrote. The fact that John Lennon’s curt lyrics stand in contrast to the light and mesmerizing sound is quite an accomplishment. It is easy to write a happy song set to [...]

Volume 2, Track 12

“Lovely Rita” by The Beatles (1967) The two main reasons why I love “Lovely Rita”: one, it is a fantastic little number with just enough spunk and psychedelic dabblings to make you think it was 1967 all over again and, two, once the song is over it begins the trifecta of “Good Morning Good Morning,” [...]

Volume 2, Track 11

“If I Needed Someone” by The Beatles (1965) When your other bandmates are John Lennon and Paul McCartney you tend to get overlooked a lot but George Harrison, easily the quietest member of the band, wrote some pretty impressive tracks. Almost everyone identifies “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” as Harrison’s masterpiece and probably rightfully so. [...]

Volume 2, Track 10

“We Can Work It Out” by The Beatles (1965) On the surface, it is easy to see “We Can Work It Out” as a pop song about a relationship but it probably, more so than any other song, reveals–however intentional or not–the complexity of Paul McCartney’s and John Lennon’s creative relationship with each other that, [...]

Volume 2, Track 9

“Rocky Raccoon” by The Beatles (1968) “Rocky Raccoon” is the type of song that fits any setting really. It would not detract from the ambiance if you were to hear it while sitting in an old-fashioned saloon (and who doesn’t find themselves in old-fashioned saloons these days with gas prices being what they are?) nor [...]

Volume 2, Track 8

“And Your Bird Can Sing” by The Beatles (1966) Whenever I hear “And Your Bird Can Sing” I think of the early era Beatles, the four guys with mop haircuts, wearing matching suits and smiling and swaying while playing and singing on The Ed Sullivan Show. The song has the exuberance and pop guitar riffs [...]

Volume 2, Track 7

“Blackbird” by The Beatles (1968) There are two things you should know about me with regards to how I think about music: one, for the most part, I believe lyrics to be overvalued, mostly because an artist’s true meaning can be tricky to decipher and, two, when it comes to songs I really like I [...]

Volume 2, Track 6

“Good Day Sunshine” by The Beatles (1966) Though The Beatles made their share of unabashedly joyful songs (“Here Comes The Sun,” “Yellow Submarine,” and most of their early catalog spring to mind almost instantly), “Good Day Sunshine” may be the best of them all and is probably one of best of all time from any [...]

Volume 2, Track 5

“Mother Nature’s Son” by The Beatles (1968) One of the primary reasons I had The Beatles (better known as “the white album”) ranked at #5 on my greatest rock albums of 1964-1997 list is that there are so many great songs that time and classic rock radio has kept from the casual rock fan and [...]

Volume 2, Track 4

“Something” by The Beatles (1969) The summer of 1996 marked the first time I had tried marijuana. The first half dozen or so times were touch and go as far as whether or I not I was even high as I had never smoked cigarettes. Looking back at it now, I am sure I looked [...]

Volume 2, Track 3

“Hello Goodbye” by The Beatles (1967) “Hello Goodbye” serves as another demarcation point in the history of The Beatles as the song, to the listener, represents another great example of Paul McCartney’s playful lyrical contradictions (“You say stop and I say go, go, go”) and the band’s overall ability to craft a wonderful single. Yet, [...]

Volume 2, Track 2

“I Feel Fine” by The Beatles (1964) It is not that I think there are a lot of similarities between “I Feel Fine” and “Then He Kissed Me” by The Crystals but I feel that they are each other’s doppleganger. Released a year after The Crystals’ masterpiece, “I Feel Fine” perfectly captures one of the [...]

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