Worst Beatles song ever

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Poll Results

OptionVotes
"The Long and Winding Road" (Let It Be) 18
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (Abbey Road) 8
"All You Need Is Love" (Magical Mystery Tour) 8
"Mr. Moonlight" (Beatles for Sale) 7
"Roll Over Beethoven" (With the Beatles) 4
"What Goes On" (Rubber Soul) 4
"All Together Now" (Yellow Submarine) 4
"A Taste Of Honey" (Please Please Me) 3
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (The Beatles) 3
"When I'm Sixty-Four" (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) 3
"Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (Help!) 3
"Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" (Past Masters) 3
"Yellow Submarine" (Revolver) 1
"When I Get Home" (A Hard Day's Night) 0


abanana, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:08 (fifteen years ago)

The Long And Winding Road and When I'm Sixty-Four and All You Need Is Love do not deserve to be touched in this poll

should probably be practising shorthand (country matters), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:12 (fifteen years ago)

Maxwell's Silver Hammer is my favorite beatles song.

A DOG, A BARREL... RIDICULOUS! (jjjusten), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:14 (fifteen years ago)

'Yellow Submarine' is one of their very best.

Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:14 (fifteen years ago)

Long and winding road.

Ringo does not deserve to be on this list, WGO and YS are great.

Samuel (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:15 (fifteen years ago)

long and winding road, easily.

m the g, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:16 (fifteen years ago)

Actually, no, I hate All You Need Is Love more.

The real answer is Hey Jude though.

Samuel (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:16 (fifteen years ago)

The people, they don't want their Beatles twee.

bendy, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:26 (fifteen years ago)

Would a similar series of Who polls result in wishes to excise "It's Not True", "Cobwebs and Strange", "Tattoo", "Belboy", "Squeezebox", etc?

bendy, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:29 (fifteen years ago)

really don't get the LAWR hate at *all*

should probably be practising shorthand (country matters), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:30 (fifteen years ago)

Would a similar series of Who polls result in wishes to excise "It's Not True", "Cobwebs and Strange", "Tattoo", "Belboy", "Squeezebox", etc?

"Tattoo" is brilliant

really don't get the LAWR hate at *all*

I'm with you on that one, it's almost like received wisdom or something

The Prince's choice: making a brush. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:32 (fifteen years ago)

Off this list I really like 64, All Together Now, and Maxwell.

The worst has got to be Long and Winding, Spector version or not...

ColinO, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:34 (fifteen years ago)

Somewhat appropriate, via this week's Harper's Weekly (regarding the G-20 summit): "Anarchists in black sang, to the tune of theBeatles' "Yellow Submarine," "We all live in a fascist bully state."

tylerw, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:34 (fifteen years ago)

i think a taste of honey is the one i could live w/o hearing ever again ...

tylerw, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:35 (fifteen years ago)

"Long and Winding Road" by a long and winding mile.

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:35 (fifteen years ago)

Btw I love all those Who songs except I'm not sure on Bellboy...

ColinO, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:35 (fifteen years ago)

I like that one too!

The Prince's choice: making a brush. (Tom D.), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:36 (fifteen years ago)

really don't get the LAWR hate at *all*

I think the excessive levels of drear have something to do with it.

m the g, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:36 (fifteen years ago)

It's nothing mindblowing, for sure, but the tune's kinda nice, kinda elegant. There's plenty worse by The Beatles.

should probably be practising shorthand (country matters), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:40 (fifteen years ago)

Long and Winding Road by a comfortable margin - an interminably long, repetitive song that hinges on a dirgey melody and treacly lyrics. I don't blame Spector at all, the faults here are pure Paul. Its him at his most maudlin and self-indulgent, lacking in any energy or creative arrangements, it just goes on and on... and on

terrible

man, motherfuck a paddington bear (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 17:42 (fifteen years ago)

"Mr. Moonlight".

Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 18:03 (fifteen years ago)

i might've voted Mr. Moonlight, but I listened to it yesterday and was kinda amazed by Lennon's batshit delivery.

tylerw, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 18:08 (fifteen years ago)

kinda funny that so many of these are Paul's songs

man, motherfuck a paddington bear (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 18:13 (fifteen years ago)

"All You Need Is Love" for me.

Euler, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 18:41 (fifteen years ago)

kinda funny that so many of these are Paul's songs

― man, motherfuck a paddington bear (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, September 29, 2009 2:13 PM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it's because they don't understand whimsy or fun, and they need john lennon to tell them how to feel.

johnnyo, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 18:51 (fifteen years ago)

Here I thought it was that McCartney was a music hall twat. My bad.

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 18:57 (fifteen years ago)

I think Paul is responsible for only 6 of these songs actually.

everything, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:03 (fifteen years ago)

6 McCartney, 3 Lennon, 1 both and 4 covers. So the taint of Macca is strong.

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:13 (fifteen years ago)

Results 1 - 10 of about 221,000 for paul mccartney's taint.

WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:15 (fifteen years ago)

Love Me Do

Niles Caulder, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:16 (fifteen years ago)

A Taint Of Honey.

x-post

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:17 (fifteen years ago)

xpost - The taint of Macca is strong on every Beatles album. He contributed a lot more than the rest overall so it's not surprising that he's got a couple extra here.

Basically if you hate Paul McCartney, then you hate the Beatles.

everything, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:21 (fifteen years ago)

I could have lived a happy life without ever seeing "The taint of Macca"

a misunderstanding of Hip-Hop and contracts (HI DERE), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:23 (fifteen years ago)

uhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Mr. Que, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:24 (fifteen years ago)

these Beatles polls will prove the down fall of ILM

Mr. Que, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:24 (fifteen years ago)

dizzy miss lizzy still the worst of this

akm, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:25 (fifteen years ago)

Basically if you hate Paul McCartney, then you hate the Beatles.

I don't hate him, but I hate some of his material

the taint of Macca is strong (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:26 (fifteen years ago)

Well, I love the Beatles and hate McCartney, so no.

When he was good he was quite good, but similarly his lowlights are truly low.

x-posts

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:27 (fifteen years ago)

i love the beatles and mccartney has some of my favorite beatles songs ever but his bad songs are fucking terrible

mark cl, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:30 (fifteen years ago)

When he was good he was quite good

^ awesome tribute

Ismael Klata, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:32 (fifteen years ago)

Basically if you hate Paul McCartney, then you hate the Beatles.

this is kinda like Peter Bagge's argument that anyone who hates Mike Love doesn't really love the Beach Boys (which is kinda true. After all, he wrote Wrinkles)

the taint of Macca is strong (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:33 (fifteen years ago)

No, it's more like anyone who hates Brian Wilson doesn't really love the Beach Boys.

everything, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:36 (fifteen years ago)

in that case, i don't really hate Mike Love's contributions to the Beach Boys, I just kinda hate him as a person ... but hating Paul McCartney? Don't hate, haterz.

tylerw, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:36 (fifteen years ago)

that these are the 'worst ever songs' written by the beatles is pretty amusing, cause I really like almost all of them

iatee, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:38 (fifteen years ago)

And really, why single out McCartney for the bad songs. Sure he wrote them. The rest played on them, put their names on it and released on their albums. Sure, Paul's a bit of a control freak by some accounts but they could've blocked the likes of Honey Pie if they could have been bothered. It does say THE BEATLES on the cover after all.

everything, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:39 (fifteen years ago)

There are no bad Beatles songs. Live with it.

Nate Carson, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:44 (fifteen years ago)

I agree with that.

everything, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:47 (fifteen years ago)

what would a comp of these tracks sound like, i wonder (bet it makes for a better record than MMT)? anyone wanna do the honors?

eye, music snob... (Ioannis), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 19:52 (fifteen years ago)

diabolical!

iago g., Tuesday, 29 September 2009 20:18 (fifteen years ago)

...but fun.

eye, music snob... (Ioannis), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 20:21 (fifteen years ago)

This has been fun. I disqualified the German song as an of-its-time novelty, and all of the covers because they're not written by the Beatles (and because I like them!)

"When I Get Home" rocks, and the writing/playing on "What Goes On" is fine in my book (the vocal is, you know, Ringo.) "Long And Winding Road" I'm ambivalent about; dreary and maudlin, yeah, but nothing to get worked up about.

Of the twee-er tracks from "Yellow Sub" onwards, all the 1-2-3 A-B-C stuff in "All Together Now" grates like a Raffi song to me, and a quickly tossed-off one at that, so that one.

Such A Hilbily (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 20:25 (fifteen years ago)

A comp of these tracks would be like the greatest Herman's Hermits record ever.

bendy, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 20:33 (fifteen years ago)

If you hate Raffi, you hate the Beatles

I Love Beatles Polls New Answers (Myonga Vön Bontee), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 20:58 (fifteen years ago)

Fuck a Long & Winding Road

govt just cut all ties with acorn squash (Pillbox), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 21:05 (fifteen years ago)

I hated Long and Winding Road for about 20 years, and I've finally come round to appreciating it - though prefer the Let It Be Naked version.

Bob Six, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 21:55 (fifteen years ago)

Let It Be Naked is so fantastic. Listened to it last night.

everything, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 21:56 (fifteen years ago)

Some of McCartney's songs could better have stayed off those albums. I mean, "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" is horrible and harmonically boring, and he wrote "Yellow Submarine" too after all.

But his ballads and pre-rock numbers are mostly beautiful, and when they get all that shit it isn't because they are bad, but because some people have this stupid idea that rock is by definition supposed to be "rebellion" and that whatever your mum and teacher likes must be rubbish.

Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Wednesday, 30 September 2009 01:20 (fifteen years ago)

i really like the sound of his voice on ob-la-di, ob-la-da. i never thought of myself as a superfan but reasons to enjoy damn near any of their songs creep up pretty organically for me. i agree they wouldn't be 'half' the band they were if everything was all raw and curmudgeonly or whatever, i think folks wishing that would feel the same tbh.

alex b. skeaton (tremendoid), Wednesday, 30 September 2009 01:45 (fifteen years ago)

Haha, some of these are pretty good, most are inoffensive.

slagterm, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 01:57 (fifteen years ago)

What? No option for an Anthology track like "Free As a Bird" or "You'll Be Mine"????

Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 01:58 (fifteen years ago)

i'll admit to loving "ob-la-di, ob-la-da" ... I think it's fun, nice beat/melody. I mean, if that's boring melodically, then so is every ska/reggae song.

tylerw, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 01:59 (fifteen years ago)

Every ske/reggae song IS BORING.

Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 02:02 (fifteen years ago)

Ska, even!

Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 02:02 (fifteen years ago)

every ski/raga song is boring

tylerw, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 02:56 (fifteen years ago)

i suddenly liked LAWR when i heard someone cover it with a bit of passion. paul's performance is very blah, like i don't picture him doing anything other than standing at the end of the "road", singing at the ground, shrugging, but i still think it's a better song than dizzy miss lizzy or roll over beethoven, for example.

rent, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 03:42 (fifteen years ago)

> There are no bad Beatles songs. Live with it.
― Nate Carson,

closest to truth statement ever

meisenfek, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 04:48 (fifteen years ago)

long and winding road is great.

fucking hate mr.moonlight

gman59, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 04:52 (fifteen years ago)

xpost...

by that same logic my vote is for "A Taste Of Honey" which represents them at their most embryonic, therefore least enjoyable by whatever "objective" standards I'm able to summon here. I might hate some of the other songs more due to overexposure, but there's no denying their impact and importance to many people. I think ATOH probably summons up the least amount of memories in the collective unconscious. For example, I think I voted for Silver Hammer in the worst Abbey Road poll, but my enduring memory of that song is my sisters enacting a live action version as a play for our family. So I cannot in good conscience pretend it is "the worst", I guess it all comes down to people's subjective interpretations of what "worst" means.

sleeve, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 04:56 (fifteen years ago)

"Tattoo" is brilliant

billstevejim, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 05:04 (fifteen years ago)

I would pump any of these songs before "Honey Pie" ..

billstevejim, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 05:05 (fifteen years ago)

"Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" were just fine.

billstevejim, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 05:07 (fifteen years ago)

> "Tattoo" is brilliant

A lot of what makes 60s albums so great is that the fey songs are right next to the slammers and the experiments. Maybe, even as they were forming the idea of the concept album, they didn't worry so much about the album as a unified thing. A statement. We're worse off for it.

bendy, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 11:45 (fifteen years ago)

The Anthology version of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is terrific, much better than the officially released version.

I really like the Anthology-era B-side remix of Yellow Submarine with all the sound effects boosted up; it shows what a gem of day-glo pop-art proto-psychedelic whimsy it is!

Officer Pupp, Wednesday, 30 September 2009 13:07 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Friday, 2 October 2009 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Saturday, 3 October 2009 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

No problem with the top two at all.

EZ Snappin, Sunday, 4 October 2009 00:47 (fifteen years ago)

I don't get at all why All You Need Is Love is on this poll. But yeah, I can understand why people wouldn't like the first two.

LAWR never stuck out to me (naked or otherwise). But Maxwell's Silver Hammer has such awesome early Moog on it. I'm a sucker for analog synth.

Nate Carson, Sunday, 4 October 2009 06:36 (fifteen years ago)

Further proof that A Hard Days Night is perfect.

billstevejim, Sunday, 4 October 2009 08:15 (fifteen years ago)

i like The Long And Winding Road, for all its schmaltz

surm, Sunday, 4 October 2009 08:17 (fifteen years ago)

anthology version > naked > let it be >>>>> many other beatles songs

alex b. skeaton (tremendoid), Sunday, 4 October 2009 08:26 (fifteen years ago)

my dad, the other day: "I heard this Beatles song on the radio this morning I'd never heard before. It was about this lad that kept killing people but it was, you know, quite jolly. Quite clever. I liked it."

thomp, Sunday, 4 October 2009 08:52 (fifteen years ago)


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