Worst Beatles song on Rubber Soul

Previously:
Worst Beatles song on Please Please Me ("A Taste of Honey")
Worst song on With The Beatles
Worst Beatles song on A Hard Day's Night
Worst song on Beatles For Sale
Worst Beatles song on Help!

Easy - What Goes On by a country mile.

i love this album, but this one is actually easy for me: i never, ever liked "michelle." ever.

beep beep, beep beep, no

(should add that any answer besides "michelle" is mad, since all the other songs are great)

Michelle. terrible song, never liked it.

run for your lives it's the last song on rubber soul

If (and it's a big if) you can ignore the lyrics of Michelle, it does have a lovely melody. What Goes on is not great - grate, I'll give you, but not great.

OF course, if Mr Lennon were here he would be voting for Run For Your Life, but he'd be RONG.

I'm not particularly fond of "I'm Looking Through You," but, yeah, "Michelle."

Michelle...you smell.

"In My Life"...

JUST KIDDING lol

"Run for your life" is a nick from elvis, one line extended to a whole song.

And for once, JL is right: It's wrong.

"The Word" is the worst: the drony chorus drags down the (melodically) interesting verses. Still, I love this song.

"I'm Looking Through You"? "Michelle"? I'd like to hear more about what's wrong with these, exactly. I know I'm getting my Geir on but "Michelle" has such a pretty melody, with the "I need you"s straining Paul's register without breaking it.

run for your lives it's the last song on rubber soul

― Dr X O'Skeleton, Monday, September 21, 2009 3:34 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I find "Michelle"'s melody maudlin – it actively gets on my nerves – quite apart from the words.

Michelle - lyrically unbelievably banal, nothing interesting going on production-wise, I don't find the melody particularly compelling and its rather repetitive. it doesn't rock but it's a bit too uptempo for a ballad... I dunno it just fails

Either What Goes On or Michelle. Or maybe Girl.

So it's a personal matter, then. No problem. My reaction to "The Word"s chorus is similarly a matter of annoyance that I can articulate as "boring drone" but I love lots of other drones on this album, e.g. "If I Needed Someone"'s middle eight, so my articulation is pretty subjective.

It's funny, I have to work hard to be conscious of the words with Beatles songs...and when I do, I typically regret it.

xxp

^^^ also I have no idea what middle eight means

I find "Michelle"'s melody maudlin – it actively gets on my nerves – quite apart from the words.

^^^

As many people have already said, "Michelle" is a bit of a stinker. Not bad, per se, just not up to the competition. This is really John's album.

also since i grew up knowing the american version, i really miss "i've just seen a face," which to me feels way more rubber soul than help!

"Michelle" easily, even though it's my wife's name.
Never got all the hatred for 'Run for Your Life." OK, so it's misogynistic and the narrator's a prick. So what? Aren't there tons of songs out there with a similar message, or worse?

Eh, I think "Michelle" rates about average for this album; I'll take it over "Think For Yourself" and "Run For Your Life" (and I think you all will let me keep it too!).

"Michelle" has one of the best bass lines ever, so I can't dismiss it. Actually, I like every single song on this album. Hard pressed, I'd pick "What Goes On".

The Word

"the word" is proto-hippie drippy, but the harmonies on it kill and the rhythm's pretty hot too.

piano on "The Word" is awesome - love that opening riff

Worst: "What Goes On" - I do like it but it ruins the gestalt. It seems more like a chore than anything ("ugh right - we need to make room for a Ringo"*). Although I do like the perversity of opening side two with it. "Michelle," second worst, is refreshingly spare which siphons off a lot of the NutraDeath. Plus the "oooh"'s make for a chilly counterpart to Macca's French 101.

Best: "The Word" - Wtf Euler?? Why do you not want your Beatles funky? And positively bursting at the seams? Have you heeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaard the word is "love?"

* Please Beatles dorks. Don't pull out a factoid proving that it didn't really go like this. It's just a feeling.

The Word and Michelle are both great. What Goes On is the worst.

'If I Needed Someone' seems to go on forever, and I don't remember 'Wait' at all. But I've never liked 'Nowhere Man' and I just don't get the praise heaped on it, so that's where my vote's going.

I like the verses on "The Word" a lot, but I'm mixed on the chorus. It's still a great song!

Wait and The Word are both terrific.

Thanks, guys. I now realize this has more duds than the other major period albums.

This is of course a really great album and there aren't any bad tracks on it. "What Goes On" still has to be my obvious pick here, because it doesn't really fit in. Would have worked perfectly on some Lovin' Spoonful album from the same era though.

And shame on those "Michelle" haters. Pretty is good!

Pretty is good; "Michele" is a pig with lipstick.

And of course the clue about "Michelle" is the harmonies. Some really advance harmonic stuff that you don't usually find much of in "rock" songs.

Tracks I hate: "Michelle."

Tracks I dislike: "I'm Looking Through You," "Run For Your Life"

Tracks that leave me cold: "Wait," "The Word."

That's a lot of duds.

But Alfred, the rest are so damn good it surely makes up for the weak ones.

Sure, but I never thought about how flawed this thing is.

what goes on cause i don't even remember how it sounds

How can 'The Word' leave you cold? It's the ultimate happy harmony summer smiley song.

it's always sounded like sub-par Beatles to me--not bad per se, but certainly not as good as The One That Came After It.

On the other hand, "Girl," along with "I'm So Tired," reminded why John Lennon is utterly sui generis as a singer.

How can 'The Word' leave you cold? It's the ultimate happy harmony summer smiley song.

That's "Drive My Car."

i guess What Goes On for me.

I'm So Tired is one of the most boring Beatles songs, but that's a matter for another thread.

rubber soul is not flawed to me but dear god did i listen to it one too many times. it'll be years before i have any desire to listen to it again.

Tracks that leave me cold: "The Word."

You need to have your buttcheeks looked at, Soto.

there are many days when i think most songs on this album are terrible and that is an awkward transitional album between the early and later stuff

no way, this is their best album and the mood of brittle unpleasantness that runs through most of it is what makes it compelling

I had a theory about all of the songs on this album coming in pairs, You Won't See Me + Nowhere Man, What Goes On + Run for Your Life etc

McCartney has suggested that You Won't See Me and I'm Looking Through You were both about the same relationship through the eyes of the opposite partners.

Yeah, I've always 'twinned' them though it sounds a bit lame like that: "You won't see me!" "Confirmed, I sure can't!"

an awkward transitional album between the early and later stuff

Funny thing, they recorded Rubber Soul and Revolver pretty much back-to-back. They finished RS in November, 1965, and started Revolver the following April, with no intervening tours or live performances.

yea but a lot of dope and lsd were consumed in those few months

no way, this is their best album and the mood of brittle unpleasantness that runs through most of it is what makes it compelling

yup, has long been my favorite

I always thought Help! was the awkward transitional record, encompassing the stoned heaviness of "Ticket To Ride," the stoned banality of "The Night Before," the tunesmith-hackery of "Tell Me What You See," and their last oldie rock 'n' roll cover ("Dizzy Miss Lizzie").

Rubber Soul blows. three excellent songs - Girl, In My Life, I'm Looking Through You. rest is sexist crap

Why is Girl less sexist than Michelle or The Word? Just wondering.

God, John (or maybe Paul) sounds hoarse as shit on that recording! The overdubs must have been particularly welcome in this period, though they also conveniently expand the pothead love-in feel they were probably going for.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, May 7, 2015 2:24 PM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm sure he thought the same way, that's why just about every Lennon song from then on is covered in effects. Only when he met Yoko and did the White Album and try out minimalism did he get better.

I think you can say this is also a consequence of the Beatles being unable to perform music, screaming girls and poor amplification/concert technology overshadowing any shows they did. Stopping playing shows was the best thing they could do for their music in more ways than simply indulgence and novelty. Freed from spending the whole day in busses to and from press events and venues, they could just show up around midnight and play music together all night long.

You could make a graph, with x being hours per day playing music together and y being quality of performance and chart it alongside their evolution. Starting out of course doing music all the time multi shows a night in Hamburg etc producing virtuoso rock like "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Twist and Shout". When Beatlemania struck it paid a heavily toll on their performances, and they cited it as one of the main reasons for stopping.

Drugs/Dylan were part of that too, once they entered the picture the songs took themselves less seriously. "Beatles for Sale" / "Rubber Soul" is a kind of proto punk rock folk album series. They didn't smile on the covers, they embraced primitive/shitty performances, wrote comedy songs, ended an album w a song about abuse. John always said it was his "Fat Elvis" period, I'm sure they hung around enough cool art shows and stuff to hear from underground people that they were fake and corporate now. They even felt that way about themselves, I think.

The songwriting was always good, and the chemistry between the players, even if the performances suffered. I think in some songs they intentionally played bad. But they were never technically amazing individual performers imo in a music school sense. They knew that, I'm sure, because every time they had an overdub all of the orchestra players would be laughing about this pop crap. So the Beatles started freeing up and trying experiments, even if it was annoying or bad in the normal sense. They knew this stuff wouldn't be played at shows. Nobody bothered setting up a decent PA at these massive shows they were playing, so it didn't matter what they were playing. They knew they were laying golden shits.

The cranked-up misogyny are perhaps revealing of some horrible real world stuff that nobody will ever know. This was a different era after all and covering up that stuff was/is rampant in the biz. Then again it seems deliberate, maybe a reaction to people telling them the Rolling Stones are real bad boys and the Beatles are plastic corporate shills.

iirc correctly this was the first album they did that was not on the strict 9-5 office hours/union regulations basis. there's a whole spiel about it in the remastered booklet.

I've always liked "Girl" - it fascinated me as a child, particularly the bleak way John sings the "Was she told when she was young" verse. If you weren't hypnotized by it at a tender age, though, I can understand the urge to shout "NOPE" and turn it off when he leads with "Is there anybody going to listen to my story?" the way I do every time that Green Day song comes on the radio.

i like the melody on 'Girl'. I'm with you, hd

It is pleasingly otherworldly.

xposts, yes the final way John spits out "Will she still believe it when he's Dead!" and then goes softly back into the nice chorus again.

boy, I love George's work on "What Goes On."

Also...that this album, "Run for Your Life" aside, is misogynist is...a strange take. Rob Sheffied was correct:

Rubber Soul has the coolest girls of any Beatles record. “Girl,” “I’m Looking Through You,” “If I Needed Someone” — these are complex and baffling females, much like the ones the Beatles ended up with in real life. No happy romantic endings here, with the notable exception of “In My Life” — but even when the girls are way ahead of them, the boys spend the album straining to keep up. Baby, you’ve changed.

I don't really get the aversion to "What Goes On" either.

"Michelle" voters are nuts.

"What Goes On" isn't "How She Boogalooed It" ffs

You're right, "How She Boogalooed It" is better.

I think of 'Run For Your Life' as grotesque pantomime, in a way which reminds me of Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP. Lennon putting these horrible lyrics to a psychotically jaunty tune, it just sounds like black humour, and successful black humour too. I know Lennon didn't feel this way about it, but I really can't hear anything else.

that actually seems otm. reminds me of lennon's drawings and poems from the same era, which have a similar kind of black humor.

I've always heard it as dark humor, but then I've always heard "Under My Thumb" the same way, so it's possible I'm just in denial.

worth remembering that those opinions were expressed in 1980 when his views on women had changed radically

(Lennon’s opinions on RFYL I mean)

I don't suppose they ever played it live

The thread title is a real trick question though isn't it?

Yes esp as there's no 'all of them, except maybe three" option

Also...that this album, "Run for Your Life" aside, is misogynist is...a strange take. Rob Sheffied was correct:

Rubber Soul has the coolest girls of any Beatles record. “Girl,” “I’m Looking Through You,” “If I Needed Someone” — these are complex and baffling females

To write off women as 'baffling' is not a particularly enlightened take; the girl in Girl is definitely made out to be needy & manipulative. Also the long drawn-in sigh in the middle of the chorus is... odd.

To my ears the songs don't write them off – the songwriters seem puzzled by adulthood – nor is it unusual for women to baffle young men.

It's a sigh? I took it as a drag on a cigarette.

nor is it unusual for women to baffle young men

ok but that's less 'complex and baffling females' than 'naive and baffled males'.

"I'm Looking Through You" is 50% a sad, how-did-things-go-wrong "Caroline No" type song, and 50% a Dylan "you're so dumb" song - I'm on a higher plane than you and can see through you etc. I wouldn't quite call it misogynistic, but it does fit into a pattern of songs where women are, yeah, unknowable and alien and kinda "difficult." Like as a whole this isn't an album where women come off well or as complete human beings, but except for "Run For Your Life" I also don't think it stands out as particularly egregious for 1965.

that's fair

post

As far as male posturing, the Harrisongs come off worse.

It's a sigh? I took it as a drag on a cigarette.

https://i.imgur.com/PgqkZ7R.jpg

Still maintain this album's theme is a macabre or supernatural obsession with invisibility or intangibility.
This is not least abetted by the spooky rumours surrounding the album's cover, the Beatles' first forays into psychedelic drugs, and their weariness at being recognised everywhere they went.
'I'm Looking Through You' and 'You Won't See Me', are the obvious ones from the song titles.
'Nowhere Man' too, denotes a figure living a half-life in a half-world. I've always pictured the title character standing and looking at the world from the edge of a cliff.
'Girl' - this mysterious, anonymous spectral woman who drifts into John's life to cause him heartbreak before gloaming back out, that sharp intake of breath giving the song a sinister turn.
'In My Life' could be seen as the reflections of someone on the edge of death, his life flashing across his eyes before his soul leaves him.
And then there's the threatening 'Run For Your Life' - Is that the spectre of In My Life's dead man coming back to haunt his former lover OH NO PAUL IS DEAD OH NO!!!

I have never ever understood what the controversy on the sigh or the 'tit tit tit' background vocals were. do I seriously thyink they were hilariously slipping the word 'tit' into a song that would get radio play? no, it sounds like 'dit dit dit' to me. I have zero idea what people think the sign represents....seething anger? resignation? an orgasm? what am I missing?

Didn't George and Paul both admit they wanted to say "tit"

But instead of “la la la,” they’d put a spin on it with “dit dit dit.” Taking it a step further in what Paul called their “waggishness,” they changed it to “tit tit tit tit.” He remembered George Martin, the Beatles’ buttoned-up producer, wondering what exactly they were saying in a moment like that.

“Martin might say, ‘Was that “dit dit” or “tit tit” you were singing?'” Paul said. “‘Oh, ‘dit dit,’ George, but it does sound a bit like that, doesn’t it? Then we’d get in the car and break down laughing.”

i guess they were easily amused

Didn't you ever write "BOOBS" on a calculator

Then again this is more like painting boobs on a canvas and selling it to people

*takes mournful drag on cig*

LOL @ dog latin still trying to find some sort of concept behind this album.

i guess they were easily amused constantly high as balls