worst beatles song

But really, though, the Beatles? Can't we let them rest?

Or maybe 'Rocky Raccoon'.

'The Long and Winding Road'. *Sigh*. I'll never understand why people are scornful of this song. For some reason it gets lumped together with the mawkish tat of 'Let it Be' as an example of McCartney's unfettered sentimentality. How anyone can fail to be affected by the romance of the song's imagery, I'll never know. Bloody cynics. It's a simple trick I suppose, but its evocation of time passed and broken dreams and a journey that you didn't even realise you had taken until it was over and it's the end of the Beatles and the end of the 60s and I feel like one day I'll be that person ending up at her door again and Jesus that song spooks me.

I'm bored of being bored with the Beatles.

I also hate "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", which is pure stodge.

My own personal pick would probably end up being "Hello Goodbye". Painfully banal, inappropriately bouncy, and all-around Hell-On- Earth. I'd be a happy man if I never ever heard it again.

"The Long And Winding Road" is annoyingly produced, yes, but underneath that is a fantastic song. Any a capella arrangement of it that is sung well will prove this. Same with "Yesterday".

The worst? "I Want You" is pretty terrible, I think.

All right then, You Like Me Too Much is pretty awful, as are most of the original songs on Help! I might have voted for Help itself, but having recently heard Pete Wylie doing a slowed down stripped down version of it, I've seen the light. But Help! - I mean, if you'd bought Rubber Soul and got really excited, wouldn't that album have been a let down? You'd have assumed they were done for.

Worst? The Beatles didn't ever write anything that could be described as bad, so I'll plump for 'Piggies', which is.... actually, it is bad.

Harvey

Yeah?

Yeah.

With lyrics like that, you know it must be bad.

Horrible overdubs, yes. Try to hear the version in the 'Let it Be' film.

There are, of course, many dreadful Beatles songs. 'Piggies' is indeed a nasty little piece of work. Harrison also annoys me on 'Taxman' - great tune, lousy sentiments. Never understood how people put up with him whining about his fiscal affairs. I mean get a fucking grip, man.

I always think 'Help!' is underrated, Michael. But then it was the only early Beatles album I had when I was growing up, so maybe I'm biased. And you seem to be under the impression that it came out after Rubber Soul, which it didn't. I think it's a lot better than the preceding 'Beatles for Sale', anyway, which is largely an unhappy mix of dodgy rock and roll covers and Lennon's attempts to work Dylan through his system. 'Help!' is the P!O!P! choice, you might say. But yes, 'A Hard Day's Night' beats them both.

Other dire Beatles songs:

'Love me do' (chugga-chugga boo); 'Rocky Raccoon' (obviously); 'Ob-la-di-ob-la-da' (which, like 'Let it Be' even gets slagged off on its own album); 'Why don't we do it in the road?' (McCartney tries to get low down and dirty and just succeeds in making me feel sick); 'Dig it' (dreary dreary dreary), 'It's Only Love' (nice intro but made preposterous by the line "Just the sight of you makes nighttime bright... very bright"; 'It's All Too Much' (I can't even remember how this dirge goes. The House of Love covered it); 'All Together Now' (more bollocks from 'Yellow Submarine'); 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' (it's tuneless, it's weedily-produced, it annoys me with its very first line and I couldn't care less whether it's about drugs, Julian's scrawlings or the wider cosmos. It's shit.)

N. x

As for Lennon and McCartney's songs, I've spent so much of my life listening to them that I can just about find something worthwhile in them all. I would have gone for The Long and Winding Road, but the Anthology version (and Kevin Rowland's version) changed my mind about that. If pushed then, I'd have to go for Get Back - a pivotal song in that it marked the dramatic decline of McCartney's vocal range (no, really, it did) and suggests that had The Beatles carried on for much longer they'd have ended up as embarrassing lumpen 'rockers' (as evidenced by their pitiful solo careers).

Well, no, it's not, but it's nowhere near, say, Octopus's Garden in uselessness.

As for the Phantom Beatles sound of the early 70s, it would have been either stodgy Rockism cf Get Back / I Want You / Don't Let Me Down, or the bland overcooked AOR sound of ELO. Probably both at once, in fact. Their mythological status is largely due to their splitting just as they were about to be overtaken, IMHO, indeed they probably were already falling off in 1969 (as David Stubbs accurately wrote recently in Uncut). Had the Beatles continued until, say, 1976, it might actually have been a good thing for us today, since they'd have made many more downright irrelevant, mediocre and unnecessary records than they did, therefore they'd be less of a holy grail and more widely denigrated, and they wouldn't be forced down your throat all the time as The Band Who Never Got Shit. Had the Beatles continued into the early 70s and shown their later true mediocre colours *as a group*, we could well have been spared the worst aspects of the mid- 90s.

Ian MacDonald rightly states in "Revolution In The Head" that during the 80s The Beatles were a museum piece. Certainly in post punk and synth Britain (1979 - 1982) the Beatles had almost been forgotten right across the various cultures and by 1984/5, interest in them was probably at an all time low. I reckon it all started to pick up again in June '87 when there was a piece on the 9 o clock news about McCartney celebrating "It was 20 years ago today.... After that there was the 1988/89 movement of indie bands recreating a more real 60's type sound again. One of the hard aspects about Lennon's death was that he never experienced the real acclaim that comes with 20-25 years hindsight --- during the 70s there were real proper books or in depth magazine articles (like Stubbs' Let It Be piece) giving the historical perspective on the Beatles --- he never saw in a proper context what The Beatles meant in the overall scheme of things.

I do recall "Love Me Do" being given a 20th-anniversary re-release with a fair amount of hoo-har in late '82 and barely charting. For some reason, I associate the mid-80s CD re-issue programme as kick- starting the Beatles' second coming.

Worst song? I don't really know the LPs, but "Get Back" is a crap single. I'd like to meekly add my support to the Resistance who are sticking up for "Long and Winding Road" in the face of hooting derision and name-calling.

As for the likelihood of The Beatles turning into stodgy rocker/ELO types - well, it actually happened with Free As A Bird and Real Love, which had Jeff Lynne's nauseating production sound all over it. McCartney's fault that because, feeling guilty over the way he'd treated Harrison during the Beatle years, he allowed him to bring his mate in, instead of George Martin. McCartney should have stood firm and treated Harrison like the junior, inferior talent he really is.

Harrison's an unpleasant sod, isn't he? I mean, no one likes being stabbed at Christmas, but all that drivel about his assailant 'basically getting off on a technicality', when he was clearly raving...

Er, I don't seem to be able to find any supporting evidence for that quote on the Web...

"Long, Long, Long" still very much to treasure of course, as is "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" in its way, despite its AOR / stadium rock-prefiguring song structure.

Who is he?

We've got a Beatles station in town, which I listen to constantly. The only time I ever switch the station is when this drivel comes on.

yellow submarine's no picnic either

Rocky Racoon sounds okay sped up

why do you hate fun, mr. blount?

*ducks*

even tweer than the ramones!

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"'s like those geeks in high school who were always quoting Monty Python

within you, without you
being for the benefit of mr. kite (what PF would've sounded like had Syd taken some real weak acid that day)
she's so heavy
the "golden slumbers" suite-thing on abbey road (pointless)

I mean, "But really, though, the Beatles? Can't we let them rest?" WHY???

WHY DOES EVERYBODY HATE THE BEATLES?

anyway... as for the thread.

"Run For Your Life" is the clear winner here, as mentioned above for the same above reasons... besides being a shit tune. For this song alone, "Rubber Soul" would have been my favorite Beatles album if it wasn't for this song.

The close runner up would be "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)".. goofy in all bad angles. Monty Python should cringe if this song indeed was influenced by them.

Others that annoy:
"The Ballad of John and Yoko"
"I Me Mine"
"One After 909"
all of their covers on the first four albums

the "Golden Slumbers" suite is only great if you believe it's great, but if you believe it's great it's REALLY great

I actually don't know why I started this thread three years ago. I wouldn't do it now.

I think most of the Beatles' covers are great, especially the girl group ones and the great Lennon "Twist and Shout"/"Money"/"Rock and Roll Music" trilogy. (Awful one: "Devil In Her Heart")

Am I the only person who likes Run For Your Life? I mean obv. the message is no good but it's certainly no different a message than like "Kim" or something. I actually really like the song.

AND I like The Ballad of John and Yoko, I think it's clever, god help me.

Yup. especially "Twist and Shout". Even Ferris Bueller couldn't save it.

Monty Python didn't exist yet (formed 1969 I think) when the Beatles did You Know My Name (1967).

Doh! You're right. Well, if vice versa, then dear lord did the Python improve upon it.

What generally annoys me about "The ballad of john and yoko" is that it's a stilted Beatles song that mentions the names of stilted band members of the Beatles (one of them by proxy) -- and is SERIOUS. Extreeeeemely tacky right there. And also, it's a boring lame bluesy tune. Thankfully, Ono's "Plastic Ono Band" would improve greatly upon it.

Otherwise, I really like all of the above mentioned goofy Harrison, Ringo, and Paul songs that everyone else here hates.

"ballad of john and yoko" is better than "rico suave," that much credit i'll give it.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! no.

Monty Python quoting high school geeks are SO much cleverer than Maxwell's Silver Hammer.

how can you say this?!

You say yes,
Hm, not too bad a start, that. Nice simplistic Macca stacca rhythm: tum-dum-dum-dum-dum....

I say no.
Ah, dialectics.

You say stop,
What could possibly come next, contrasting with "stop" and rhyming with "no"?

And I say go, go, go.
Right. Oh I say, that proto-ob-la-di bassline is a bit annoying, isn't it?

Oh no!
Huh-huh-huh, these lyrics suck.

You say goodbye,
Reasonable cadence seems to be coming up here.

and I say hello.
There, closure. Well, it's a bit silly , but not too...

HELLO HELLO!
WTF was that?? Curb your manic greetings, you chipper bast!

I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello.
Oh I see, it was all a "device" to bring about a variation of the end of the stanza. Still should be worked on though, that major-triad trick was damned painful. OK, onwards to next verse or whatever...

HELLO HELLO!
AAAAARGH!

etc. Even all that "Hela, heba, helloa" nonsense at the end cannot make it any worse than it already is.

"Love Me Do"'s got that harp that people will occasionally call 'bluesy' but thankfully isn't 'bluesy', no way it's worst

"Don't Bring Me Down" heavily 'inspired' "I'll Be There For You", no way it's worst

Everybody can relate to "Revolution No. 9", everybody's been at that party, no way it's worst

"Get Back" is such a tossed off lazy single, no way it's worst

"Free As A Bird" on the other hand is Goerge Michael in 'look, I don't want to talk about me bum anymore' mode so hyper-BORING, it's worst though George's slide might save it, in which case "Fool on the Hill" over "Octopus' Garden" only cuz "OG"'s bridge sounds so manic, like Ringo's thinking 'man oh man, I can just picture it! a fucking Octopus' Garden - Lord why do you taunt me with such visions of paradise?'

oi, ye merry gentlemen, ye gotten carried away there - waznot a biitlz tone, that (& waznot covered by Gene either)
;-)

I don't think this is the worst song, but "R9" is certainly the most overrated Beatles song.

Ned.. "Don't Bring Me Down"? I know Jeff Lynne was given far too much access to the Beatles' privates and all, but you can't just go back and claim an ELO song as a Beatles song. (especially since it's the acest ELO song)

(Ahem, "Don't Let Me Down" you mean?)

Yellow Submarine, followed by Yesterday. Bor-ing.

b-but everyone's always going on about how shit it is!

I hate it so much I got the title wrong! ;-)

Seriously, nobody hear can actually say that ANY song from the mid-late era was worse than some of the stuff they put out in the beginning. It seems like for every gem they put out 63-65 (All My Loving, In My Life, Help, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, I'll Follow The Sun, Tell Me Why, Nowhere Man, Norwegian Wood, Girl, etc.) they paired with one - originals and covers alike - that wouldn't have made it into the studio in the later half of the decade (P.S. I Love You, Chains, Please Mr. Postman, I'm Looking Through You, etc.). If I had to pick one to be the worst, I'd say I Wanna Be Your Man. They keep saying the same thing over and over again in a barely-melodic manner that just really agrivates me. Still, it was pretty much better than any song put out by any other artist during that time period (see smash hit: Chiffons - He's So Fine).

If not, I'd go for "Little Child". Pretty dull.

Worst single would have to be "We Can Work It Out"

I have to go with "Good Night" from the white album as my least favorite.

Weird thing about McCartney's music-hall ditties and me: Either I love 'em (Maxwell, When I'm 64) or hate 'em (Honey Pie, Your Mother Should Know), no middle ground. Weird.

My favorite is the Wings-era album track "You Gave Me The Answer," although I don't listen to it much.

Worst? "I Dig A Pony" trumps even Macca's most annoying music-hall impulses.

I'd say it's a toss up between "Yellow Submarine", "Mr. Moonlight", "Little Child", "All Together Now", and "Thank You Girl."

(I like "All Together Now" and "Thank You, Girl," though, even if both are lighweight).

I nominate "Yellow Submarine" and "Nowhere Man".

And sorry, even John's vocals don't do much for me on "Mr. Moonlight." I haven't heard the Anthology II version with Paul on the mike, but now I want to check it out!

Yeah. I might like "Honey Pie" more, though, personally. And Geir was correct in saying that "Your Mother Should Know" is a pop masterpiece.

Goodnight!

Wierdly I don't mind all that much "Ballad of John & Yoko", though it is a very John MEMEMEMEME MY LIFE IS INTERESTING LISTEN TO MEMEMEMEMEME! song, which is obviously typically cunty and annoying.

Just because a song is overplayed or is liked by the wrong sort of people doesn't mean it's disqualified from greatness.

George Burns' cover is mah-velous.

Sorry for the detour, but End of the Century is easily the best Ramones album.

I quite like Macca's stuff, but his sentimental stuff really pisses me off!

I'll go with one of Macca's more soppy moments - Yesterday is kinda tolerable, but Long and Winding Road ewwwww

Good to know, but I was talking about the mood of the song. Of course, you probably are aware of that, and were just trying to inject some humor into the thread, and that's cool.

Yes, thankfully, as it's the Beatles' best song.

Some complete insanity on this thread - Twist and Shout, Love Me Do and She Loves You shit?!! WTF??!!

And just cos songs like Get Back and Don't Let Me Down presage the stodgy 70s rock sound doesn't make them shit in themselves. The latter is full of yearning loveliness.

Run For Your Life - true story or not, it's nasty and drab. Undoubtedly one of the worst.
Piggies has a nice arrangement, but it's a case of George Martin polishing a turd.
Bungalow Bill's chorus pretty awful - although the verse is actually quite decent, has a nice sense of drama. I kinda see the Space Oddity comparison.

Your Mother Should Know is grate. Paul pulling off the nostalgia for once. Honey Pie I hated when I was 14, quite like now.
I'm really liking some solo Paul. Ram is rightly enjoying a reappraisal but Band On The Run is pretty damn sweet. He didn't trul jump the shark until Mull Of Kintyre, when he cleared the beast and kept on flying into oblivion.

There may be something there I am missing, but that seemed pretty much an overproduced mail-in.

honey pie strikes me immediately as one that's SO bad that it's unlistenable. it pains me to hear it. as much as you may dislike act naturally - or any song anywhere for that matter, does it actually cause that much discomfort to merit hate?

But I also don't like Michelle and Tommorrow Never Knows

I've always disliked "Hello, Goodbye" and "The long and winding road", but I won't dare saying they are bad songs, I'm simply not touched by them. And to people who say they hate "Hey Jude" and "Penny Lane"... get some help.

By the way, I disagree with most of the songs in this thread, especially concerning Harrisongs. Why is the man so underrated? 'Within you without you', 'Love you to', 'Piggies'... bad songs??!!! COME ON!! I also find "Run for your life" entertaining and hilarious, "I want you (She's so heavy)" an interesting experiment, and I ADORE the suite at the end of Abbey Road (I even think that placing "Her Majesty" at the end was a good idea). And I love "Free as a bird"!!

P.S.: of course, I'm not considering "Revolution 9" a song.

I thought it characteristic of Macca that, in the authorised biog 'Many Year from Now', he is still rankled 30 years on by David Bailey asking him if that song was taking the piss.

michelle is one of my favorites.

"I saw David Bailey down the Ad Lib not long after it came out and he said, "'Ere, that 'Michelle'. It IS tounge in cheek; you ARE joking with that, aren't you?" He thought it was a parody of a French song, which in many ways it is. He thought that was funny."

"I said, 'Fuck off!', quite taken aback that he thought it was a joke. I was very insulted. But I knew what he meant."

Macca Defense Front out today: Keep ya guard up, hataz!

Paul.

McCartney.

"Devil in her Heart" may be my most honest response to the question.

Runners-up: "Run For Your Life" (yep) and "What You're Doing" (completely awkward vocal part that seems dubbed in from an entirely different song).

http://www.beatles-discography.com/lyrics/no-pakistanis.html

Rocky Raccoon, Bungalow Bill, Revolution 9: all good reasons why the skip button was invented.

Just really self-indulgent, throwaway nonsense fuelled by willful "randomness."

"Eleanor Rigby", then...never hated it, but always disliked it...

x-post

IIRC, you yourself did one on the Beatles POX thread.

PS If he'd only overuled the rest of the group and released it as a single like he originally wanted...Revolution No9 at No1...it would have been quite possibly pop's greatest ever moment

Every one a classic!

"Well he worries his teacher
Till at night... SHE'S READY TO POOP?!?!?!??!"

I love this post.

(Doesn't make Revolution no 9 any more listenable, though)

what a totally overblown statement

"Long and Winding Road" -- pure treacle.

101 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
100 Run For Your Life
99 You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)
98 Shimmy Shake
97 Octopus's Garden
96 I'll Be Back
95 All My Loving
94 Flying
93 Michelle
92 It's Only Love
91 Mother Nature's Son
90 Back In The USSR
89 Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
88 Glass Onion
87 Money
86 Lovely Rita
85 It's All Too Much
84 You Won't See Me
83 Good Morning, Good Morning
82 All I've Got To Do
81 Because
80 Long, Long, Long
79 Got To Get You Into My Life
78 Yer Blues
77 Get Back
76 I'll Get You
75 Only A Northern Song
74 Day Tripper
73 The Ballard Of John and Yoko
72 We Can Work It Out
71 The Fool On The Hill
70 I Should Have Known Better
69 Julia
68 There's A Place
67 Yellow Submarine
66 I'm Down
65 Revolution #9
64 Lady Madonna
63 No Reply
62 Blackbird
61 Hold Me Tight
60 You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
59 Hey Bulldog
58 For No One
57 Yes It Is
56 You're Gonna Lose That Girl
55 Sexy Sadie
54 I Will
53 Help!
52 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
51 Love Me Do
50 Let It Be
49 Getting Better
48 Taxman
47 From Me To You
46 Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey
45 I Feel Fine
44 Dear Prudence
43 If I Fell
42 Drive My Car
41 And Your Bird Can Sing
40 Twist and Shout
39 Helter Skelter
38 I Am The Walrus
37 Paperback Writer
36 Hello Goodbye
35 It Won't Be Long
34 I Want You (She's So Heavy)
33 She's Leaving Home
32 Across The Universe
31 Don't Let Me Down
30 Here, There and Everywhere
29 I'm Only Sleeping
28 All You Need Is Love
27 The Long and Riding Road
26 She Said, She Said
25 Nowhere Man
24 Please Please me
23 Ticket To Ride
22 I Saw Her Standing There
21 Here Comes The Sun
20 Rain
19 Norweigen Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
18 Can't Buy Me Love
17 While My Guitar Gently Weeps
16 Revolution
15 With A Little Help From My Friends
14 I Want To Hold Your Hand
13 Come Together
12 Hey Jude
11 Eleanor Rigby
10 A Hard Day's Night
9 Penny Lane
8 Happiness Is A Warm Gun
7 Something
6 In My Life
5 She Loves You
4 Tomorrow Never Knows
3 Yesterday
2 Strawberry Fields Forever
1 A Day In The Life

No "Girl", "You Never Give Me Your Money", "Eight Days A Week", "I'm So Tired" or "And I Love Her" here and some awful dreck in place (101, 100, 98 and 92 jump straight out) "Long, Long, Long", "It's All Too Much" and "Back In The USSR" all below "Hey Bulldog" and "Love Me Do"?

By year.

1962 2
1963 13
1964 7
1965 17
1966 12
1967 15
1968 19
1969 11
1970 5

1. Only A Northern Song
2. What Goes On
3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer
4. I Need You
5. Another Girl
6. Love You To
7. I've Got a Feeling
8. Ask Me Why
9. It's All Too Much
10. One After 909

I don't like Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam - really shit.

my vote: ACT NATURALLY. worse (yes it is shush) than even
IF YOU'VE GOT TROUBLES.

You know what to do
and
Plenty of Jam Jars.

that's a very interesting stat from MOJO there. no irony intended.

That's crazy talk.

"...oh bla di bla da brother!"

Sure, but why did you pick one of the few good rockers they did. "Back In The USSR" has that Beach Boys-influenced middle-eight that saves it from being just as boring as "Yer Blues", "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" and "Come Together".

And whoever said Act Naturally - well, for a start it's a Buck Owens song, and he's the man. Not a great cover, but a great song nonetheless.

Most overrated Beatles song - Across The Universe?
Spector's olegienous production does ruin what is a sweet, if rather drippy song. It's the precursor to Imagine in many ways, which doesn't do it any favours.

There are some odd comments in there. The bloke from the Zutons thinks Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey is about wanking, when surely it's a fairly obvious heroin reference?

Still, some nice unexpected choices too. Top marks to Norman Blake for picking out Mother Nature's Son, one of Paul's loveliest.

never liked that song.

Revolution No 9: a work of absolute genius at least 20 years before its time...made even more staggering when it's heard in the context of what Lennon said about it in 1968 ie words to the effect that "one day all music will be made this way" and "it won't even be necessary to be a musician to create it".
If anything says that if Lennon had been born 25 years or more later he would have been making electronic music and not shitey contemporary guitar music it's surely that...

Revive!

"What's the New Mary Jane?"

No way, there's about a hundred worse than that

"Plenty of Jam Jars"

I find Hello Goodbye quite irritating myself. It's probably not their worst, but it's their most well known song that I think is a bit shit.

How the fuck has no one mentioned that "When I'm Sixty-Four" piece of shit yet?

They did so many shit songs it's hard to know where to start

"Free As A Bird"

Elanor Rigby is such a crap

"Your Mother Should Know" is dreadful, so is the accompanying promo film.

No, those are good. 'All You Need Is Love' is the rotten one.

"All You Need Is Love" is brilliant!

Once again I'm with Geir on this.

Worst one for me is always going to be You Know My Name (Look Up the Number). Yawn fest.

"The Long and Winding Road" is just so dry and boring it's the main reason I hardly ever listen to Let It Be. You think about being George, John, or Ringo, and finding out you're going to be working on this for the next month straight. No wonder the band broke up soon after.

Interesting fact: "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" is Paul's favorite Beatles song ever!

Adam Bruneau OTM OTM OTM

For me, Wild Honey Pie is not a song I can listen to without trying to suffocate myself with a pillow. As for all you people who hate Mr. Moonlight, I don't know where you're coming from. That's one of my favorite covers by them. As for With the Beatles, That's definitely my least favorite Beatles album, and there's only 2 songs on it that I really care for (It Won't Be Long; Money). And I don't understand people who don't like George. He was my favorite Beatle, and there are no songs by him that I dislike. Love You To is absolutely a favorite, along with The Inner Light.

Hold Me Tight from With The Beatles blows chunks. By far the worst cover was Till There Was You>

come together

Wild Honey Pie

doctor robert

regular honey pie, yeesh

paul's granny music indeed

across the universe

come together is a drag. wild honey pie is kinda great. doctor Robert just doesn't work properly as a song.honey pie is just fine. never understood why across the universe was so bad and hated - total melancholy for me. just emptiness and angst and existentialism. I actually love it.
I don't like Come Together or Back in the USSR or anything where they were just trying to do like really strutty rock songs. I always liked the silly Beatles. Piggies, Bungalow Bill, Maxwell. I loved those when I was first getting into them and it really hurt when I found out people more or less hate those.

Across the Universe?????????????????
man, in John's top 5 imo

Never understood the v widespread hate of wild honey pie, it's a minute long and it sounds weird and cool. I like regular honey pie but I get why one would pick that.

If any of y'all haven't heard the Esher Demos, check that shit out asap. May 1968 stoned four track acoustic demos of white album songs and outtakes (the version of Junk on there is better than the one on McCartney, and the demo of Mother Nature's Son made me appreciate the album version). Sweet vocal double tracking slipping in and out of place, little jokes, sounds, 30-ish songs

Ok, I'll take back by Wild Honey Pie vote (and though I don't think regular Honey Pie is that great, its placement in the sequence always pleases me)
Is Mr Moonlight a cover? I can't take that one at all

Come Together? Idgi. Incredible bass and drum intro, surrealist Poe-etic lyrics with a Chuck Berry steal, what's not to like?

it's got an iconic groove and semi-clever wording but I guess its adoption by the post-Weller Brtipop crowd in the mid-90s affected my opinion of it. just feels stodgy and solid and rote

You might wanna try listening to it for the first time again

mind = blown

i feel the same way as dog latin, i mean for one thing it's one of the only songs John ever ripped off, and everything about is so fucking wack - the bassline, the turgid pace, the embarrassing lyrics. whenever i hear it i think an ad for a car or a burger or whatever is about to start. i hate abbey road (save the george songs), feels like BEATLES: THE DISNEYLAND RIDE!

The lyrics are great v sly portraits of each beatle

it still sounds like slam poetry

Predates slam poetry by 2 decades so thats backwards

doctor robert is an insane choice, i'm sorry. it's dopey from a certain point of view but naming any of their mod-rocker tunes as 'worst' is ridic; it's so snappy and punchy and energetic and yet with some real lush detail put into it. i mean if you're going to pick some throwaway album track like that there are so many better picks.

So many suspect opinions in this thread. OG posters enthusiastically defending long and winding road for chrissakes.

Dr. Robert is great for the half-time middle right alone

"The Long and Winding Road" is great fuiud

yeah I think it's hammy and touching I'm all the right ways. I could see it being done really well by someone like Tom Waits or something.

*in, not I'm

i didnt realise i was posting here to be attacked!

dr robert, right, listen now- it sounds shit.

it has a shit sound.

there may be technical or literary reasons that this is ok for you.

its not ok for me.

They did so many shit songs it's hard to know where to start

― Tom D., Thursday, 10 July 2008 16:38 (eight years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I am much more of a Beatles fan than you are, but I appreciate your approach.

Pretty much anything off of With the Beatles...

I hate that early stuff most of all - with some notable exceptions, even I'm prepared to admit they could write a good song or two.

someone should start talking about how terrible yoko was (followed by 40 people defending yoko) to make this 2016 internet beatles opinion discussion complete.

or maybe just start a thread called *what's the big deal with the beatles? - also why do people even like pet sounds? - also yoko sucks!* and just let this year die the fiery death it deserves.

Not sure what you're expecting to read in a thread called worst beatles songs?

at least 50% of their tunes

no attack really! just goofing around, though it does seem so weird that "doctor robert" would jump out as bad/worst in their catalog. would never even occur to me to put it in the bottom third, to be honest.

right thats it im starting yr ban thread

my stock answer to this is always Get Back. it's not what i think is the actual worst beatles song, but it gets played on the radio so completely out of proportion to what it deserves. i also really hate paul's voice on it.

"Not sure what you're expecting to read in a thread called worst beatles songs?"

maybe something other than boring and typical internet beatles opinion. but this thread does had a long and proud 16 year history of boring and typical. i expect better from you people! make beatles hate new. that's my motto.

get back is kinda toothless for a "let's rock again!" song. and i hate Paul's habit of giving his characters really dumb names like 'Jojo' (though I love Ob La Di Ob La Da, fwiw).

what could possibly make for an exciting opinion on the Beatles at this point? .... "strawberry fields is shit"?

the section of side 2 of the White album that goes Piggies/Rocky Raccoon/Don't Pass Me By/Why Don't We Do It in the Road? is pretty hard going. I've come around to the idea that Don't Pass Me By is actually good and quite charming when listened to outside of that context, other three are irredeemable though, couldn't pick between them for the worst, the full horrible effect is more than the sum of its parts

i dig Don't Pass Me By, and i love that Ringo had been trying to get that on a Beatles album since he joined the band

make beatles hate new.

I doubt this is possible.

"strawberry fields is shit"

see, that's the boring stuff i'm talking about. not exciting at all. there is soooo much beatles fan-trolling on the internet. it's a thing. being anti-beatles is very au courant. which is fine. it's a reaction against countless reissues and rock god worship and holy writs and all that. i get it. i think it's even healthy for young people to deny thy beatle dad and all that. but it's still boring. but honest and well-written critiques about WHY strawberry fields is shit are always a good thing to me. those i would read.

but i take it all back. i don't know why i would expect more from you guys. it's just a fun shit thread. it's all good.

make something that people have been doing for decades new

i have reviewed a complete list of their catalog and i think i can say from a long life on beatles threads and such that these are the only legitimate choices for "worst song." you can post that one of these is the worst song and i will nod approvingly while also recognizing it as a boring opinion. if you pick a different beatles song, that is sort of interesting, but also sort of just challopsing and you are under obligation to provide minimum 200 words making your case, more if the song is some two-minute background album track that nobody ever notices and that you never even have to hear if you don't want to. doing this offers the slim possibility that it will be a good, non-boring post given the constraints of a worst song thread about a very good band where nearly all the songs are pretty good. your other option is to identify previously-unrecognized or particularly well-worded and cutting reasons why these are so bad and hated. fwiw i love most of those at some level and i have probably slightly underrepresented mccartney though i tried to include all his twee granny songs.

"12-Bar Original"
"Act Naturally"
"All Together Now"
"All You Need Is Love"
"Ask Me Why"
"Baby, You're a Rich Man"
"The Ballad of John and Yoko"
"Carnival of Light"
"Christmas Time (Is Here Again)"
"The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"
"Dig a Pony"
"Dig It"
"Drive My Car"
"Flying"
"Free as a Bird"
"Hello, Goodbye"
"Honey Don't"
"Honey Pie"
"I Me Mine"
"If You've Got Trouble"
"I've Got a Feeling"
"Lady Madonna"
"Little Child"
"Let It Be"
"Mr. Moonlight"
"Nowhere Man"
"Piggies"
"P.S. I Love You"
"Real Love"
"Revolution 1"
"Rocky Raccoon"
"Run for Your Life"
"A Taste of Honey"
"Tell Me What You See"
"The Long and Winding Road"
"Wait"
"What Goes On"
"When I Get Home"
"When I'm Sixty-Four"
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"
"Wild Honey Pie"
"The Word"
"You Can't Do That"
"Your Mother Should Know"

I like quite a few of those tracks!

you've heard Carnival of Light?? do tell!

i like nearly all of those tracks! some quite well! just yknow, trying to separate out the canon of 'bad beatles songs' from novelty challops picks or w/e so we can get down to brass tacks

do people dislike The Word?

as far as Rubber Soul songs go, The Word is fine. i had never listened to the record all the way thru until 4 years ago, and i was shocked by the petty misogyny running throughout a lot of it. also it sounded remarkably staid/not the huge leap forward it's always talked about as. i've always loved Revolver and idk why it took so long for me to get around to Rubber Soul but it's p crap besides Girl, Norwegian Wood, and I'm Looking Through You.

i dislike the word

if you focus on the harmony that they use when they sing "the WOOOOOOOORD", and how it's repeated, and how bad it is, and how it appears over and over again, it is a contender for the very worst beatles song

dr casino i notice Get Back is missing from that list, and i don't understand why it's not included.

that is a legitimate oversight, it should be there.

thank you. not saying it really is the worst, but when applying the overexposure formula,

overexposure = (1/songQuality) * radioPopularity

get back is off the charts

(I usually skip "Doctor Robert" too. I like the middle eight, though.)

make beatles hate new.

Ringo should have been burned as a warlock for being left-handed!