The Beatles

1st Official Post

    Because they're the Beatles.


    Post anything Fabs-related here.


    My favourite albums are Revolver and Abbey Road. I'd love to have been old enough to have experienced the cultural seismic shift of hearing Revolver for the first time on its release (I was 1 year old).


    A Beatles-related thing came up in the Yes thread, about the lyrics to I Am The Walrus. It's not actually the willful stream of gibberish it might appear to be. It's an anti-establishment rant. It was written in the context of authorities starting to clamp down on the newly-found freedoms of youth and pop culture, for example the arrests of Jones and Jagger, and the banning of Radio Caroline. It felt like the establishment fighting back. Add to that, Lennon got the seed of the main riff while sat at home and hearing the 'nee-naw' of a police car siren going past. There are snippets of the lyric that aren't wholly on-topic, e.g. the opening lines are very much in line with his peace and love thinking at the time, and there are little bits of school playground chants mixed in. But, while couched in florid psychedelic language, most of the song is him having a dig at figures or concepts of authority, underlined by his vocal being in prime Lennonesque bitter sneering mode.

    Abandon all reason

    Edited once, last by Backdrifter ().

    Like 2

    I got into music because of them. I picked up the guitar because of them and I started learning English because of them. So, they were quite significant to me.

    I would tend to say that Rubber soul, Revolver and Abbey Road are my favorite album but the truth is that, depending on the mood I can enjoy any of their album or song. They just put me in a good mood.

    Yellow Submarine is the earliest song I can remember. That's of huge significance to me. I have another theory - Help was number 1 when I was born. My Mum liked them and listened to them a lot. There are various speculations about what we might pick up when we are in the womb! Who knows....

    Abandon all reason

    A lot of my favourite songs are non-album tracks like Don’t Let Me Down, Rain and Revolution, that ended up on the original Hey Jude album and more recent compilations like Past Masters Vol. 2.


    Favourite album is Sgt. Pepper’s.


    A Beatles related sidenote …

    For ages, I had this childhood recollection of my two older brothers rushing into the living room and taking over the TV because The Beatles were going to be performing a song. I recall my brothers standing and hovering over the TV, pointing out people seated behind the band, “Oh, look there’s… and there’s…”

    Even though I was three years old, I still remembered the repetitious chorus which years later I was able to identify as “All You Need Is Love.”


    And then well into adulthood, with his hazy memory fading, I started to question whether it really happened – because I knew by that point in their career, the Beatles didn’t perform live. So it didn’t seem to make sense to me that they would be on TV playing that song. Did I just imagine it?


    It wasn’t until the internet and specifically YouTube this mystery was answered.


    One day when that memory popped into my head, I searched YouTube for "All You Need Is Love" and what do I find, but a world premiere performance of that song that aired on TV at the time of its release.

    As you can imagine, it was a revelation to have this faint memory materialize clearly before my eyes, right down to the celebrity guests seated in the background and singing along.

    Nothing beats it Witchwood.

    Reminds me of that verse from ‘Comfortably Numb.’


    “When I was a child

    I caught a fleeting glimpse

    Out of the corner of my eye

    I turned to look but it was gone

    I cannot put my finger on it now

    The child is grown

    The dream is gone.”

    ~ My talents may not be obvious but they are always...always...delicious! ~

    Really? Even with my inner Carlos Castenada in full flow I’m having real difficulties making sense of this snippet below. Guess it’s no surprise I ain’t the biggest fan of ‘The Lamb’, huh?


    “Semolina Pilchard

    Climbing up the Eiffel tower

    Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna

    Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe

    I am the egg man

    They are the egg men

    I am the walrus

    Goo goo g'joob, goo goo goo g'joob

    Goo goo g'joob, goo goo goo g'joob, goo goo”

    ~ My talents may not be obvious but they are always...always...delicious! ~

    The Beatles have been and will likely continue to be my favourite band ever. Although I love most of their biggest hits, I too love the more obscure gems.


    One person who tends to get an unfair shake as a musician is Ringo. People will cite John saying that Ringo isn't even the best drummer of The Beatles. I'm pretty sure he was saying that in jest as all of them have spoke about how much better the band became when Ringo joined them. Ringo's drumming was never about flash and technical prowess. He very much drummed to serve the song. If you are a doubter about how important is drumming is to the feel and ultimately to the success of the song, listen to Long Tall Sally (particularly the end), Ticket to Ride, Rain, She Said She Said, A Day In the Life, the last verse of Dear Prudence (Paul drums the main song, but the last verse has to be Ringo in terms of technique), Come Together. These songs would not be as great without what he brings to each. Many other far more technically proficient drummers sing his praises because they recognize what he is doing as a musician.

    I am the Walrus - deep political comment or meaningless gibberish?


    I know what I think and here’s what John Lennon himself said about it:


    “The words didn't mean a lot. People draw so many conclusions, and it's ridiculous. I've had tongue in cheek all along--all of them had tongue in cheek. Just because other people see depths of whatever in it...What does it really mean, 'I am the Eggman?' It could have been 'The pudding Basin' for all I care. It's not that serious."


    He wrote the song after a couple of acid trips (quelle surprise!) and, according to John, the whole purpose was to write something that couldn’t be analysed and thereby confuse the so-called ‘experts’. It seems this was triggered by two things :

    1. A letter he received from a schoolboy which amused him by talking about how his teacher was holding a class to analyse Beatles’ songs.

    2. Bob Dylan. John thought he had been ‘getting away with murder’ and so decided to show that he could ‘write that crap too’.


    Gibberish or not, it remains a product of its generation and an iconic song!

    ~ My talents may not be obvious but they are always...always...delicious! ~

    It occurs to me that I never mention them as my favorite band but it's like Sean Connery with James Bond: as far as I am concerned, there's him and then there's the rest. I discuss the others. The Beatles are a class of their own.

    Quote from Fabrizio

    It occurs to me that I never mention them as my favorite band but it's like Sean Connery with James Bond: as far as I am concerned, there's him and then there's the rest. I discuss the others. The Beatles are a class of their own.

    I agree. There's so many bands that I love it's hard to list a good order of top artists... Beatles will always be up there with the best IMO ....;)


    Referring to Bond, my favourite top 3 are Daniel Craig, Sean Connery and Roger Moore in that order. :)  

    Quote from Gabble Ratchet

    I am the Walrus - deep political comment or meaningless gibberish?

    Sigh.....


    This silly question reminds me of a psychometric test I sat many years ago, specifically one question: "Would you rather be (a) a vicar (b) a helicopter pilot (c) something inbetween"


    By the way, Lennon was known to be quite fluid in his opinions of Beatles songs and their meanings.

    Abandon all reason

    Quote from Dr. John

    The Beatles have been and will likely continue to be my favourite band ever. Although I love most of their biggest hits, I too love the more obscure gems.


    One person who tends to get an unfair shake as a musician is Ringo. People will cite John saying that Ringo isn't even the best drummer of The Beatles. I'm pretty sure he was saying that in jest as all of them have spoke about how much better the band became when Ringo joined them. Ringo's drumming was never about flash and technical prowess. He very much drummed to serve the song. If you are a doubter about how important is drumming is to the feel and ultimately to the success of the song, listen to Long Tall Sally (particularly the end), Ticket to Ride, Rain, She Said She Said, A Day In the Life, the last verse of Dear Prudence (Paul drums the main song, but the last verse has to be Ringo in terms of technique), Come Together. These songs would not be as great without what he brings to each. Many other far more technically proficient drummers sing his praises because they recognize what he is doing as a musician.

    There's been a reappraisal of Starr's work over the years and it's much more widely accepted how important he was to their overall sound.


    I believe it's McCartney drumming throughout Prudence, Starr was on his stomp-out and wasn't there.

    Abandon all reason

    Quote from Noni

    I agree. There's so many bands that I love it's hard to list a good order of top artists... Beatles will always be up there with the best IMO ....;)


    Referring to Bond, my favourite top 3 are Daniel Craig, Sean Connery and Roger Moore in that order. :)  

    Sean aside, as I said. Craig is the Boss 8)

    Quote from Backdrifter

    This silly question reminds me of a psychometric test I sat many years ago, specifically one question: "Would you rather be (a) a vicar (b) a helicopter pilot (c) something inbetween"


    I hope it wasn't for a job interview but it's quite simple: a helicopter, definitely a helicopter.

    Quote from Dr. John

    The Beatles have been and will likely continue to be my favourite band ever. Although I love most of their biggest hits, I too love the more obscure gems.


    One person who tends to get an unfair shake as a musician is Ringo. People will cite John saying that Ringo isn't even the best drummer of The Beatles. I'm pretty sure he was saying that in jest as all of them have spoke about how much better the band became when Ringo joined them. Ringo's drumming was never about flash and technical prowess. He very much drummed to serve the song. If you are a doubter about how important is drumming is to the feel and ultimately to the success of the song, listen to Long Tall Sally (particularly the end), Ticket to Ride, Rain, She Said She Said, A Day In the Life, the last verse of Dear Prudence (Paul drums the main song, but the last verse has to be Ringo in terms of technique), Come Together. These songs would not be as great without what he brings to each. Many other far more technically proficient drummers sing his praises because they recognize what he is doing as a musician.

    Lennon did not say that about Ringo. English comedian Jasper Carrott said it.


    https://www.ganymede.tv/2015/0…-who-was-nearly-a-beatle/


    They are my favourite band, always were, always will be. Revolver is my favourite album by anybody.

    Backdrifter, I agree with you about Walrus.

    The first albums I heard by The Beatles were the ones nicknamed the "Red" and the "Blue" albums (the 1962 - 66 and the 1967 - 70 albums). My uncle had both, and every time we visited, I immediately went to the turntable and played them again. Even at my tender age, I gravitated to the "Blue" album - yes, I was attracted to "odd" music even then. ^^


    I loved those albums. Of course, later I got all the albums individually, roughly in reverse chronological order. "Abbey Road" is still my favorite, but really every album from "Rubber Soul" onward is just heaven for the ears.


    Even the movies were a significant part of my growing up - "Magical Mystery Tour" was a bit confusing, but the other three were fun. I just watched "Yellow Submarine" a few months ago, and it made me wonder if I followed it as well as I thought I had at the time! ^^ It's actually quite bleak in parts, despite the fact that it's an animated feature.


    Well, so much impressive creativity in so short a time - I'm still gobsmacked as to how they were able to do it.

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...