You know my name (Look up the number) - Beatles poll

I really love this track - lots of people don't. It's a jokey song, but I wouldn't consider it throwaway. It's a bit of a departure, even for the Beatles with the ska/funk influence etc, and the collage-style makes for a light-relief version of Revolution 9.

I'm voting for the intro because it's great, but could have gone for the Goon-Show'n'Clangers bit in the middle.

Which one of these options is the bit where they sound like old ladies?

I think that's the Goon Show thing I was referring to, but I don't know the option in the poll.

That'll be "The cuckoo noises and slap sounds bit" ok?

When I get home, I'll send you all a link to my FULL REASSEMBLED 6:20 EDIT made by stitching together the two released versions (since neither is entirely intact)

Oh, that's nice. ta.

Totally a tribute to the Bonzos this track, innit? And that's fine by me!

All of it, really. heaveh heaveh.

Oh wait, just remembered a link halfway down this page here.

Am I crazy? There's only 4 parts to this song.

I'd divide it into 5 parts, to wit:

Part 1:
The ramshackle opening/intro
The Sam and Dave Shouty bit

PArt 2:
The Ska version (See Anthology 3)
The fraction of a second left from the ska version on the released version

Part 3:
Good evening and welcome to Slaggers"
Denis O'Dell's strip tease bit

Part 4:
The cuckoo noises and slap sounds bit
"You know my name you know my number what's up with you.. That's right?"

Part 5:
The jazzy bit part one
The two mumbly blokes
"Dooooh yez. Doooh yez. (Heavy heaveh)"
Brian Jones' sax solo
"Hmm heah the bears hinaus. Heh!"

Mark just found some individual moments of the song to be so charming that he included them as choices as well.

Which is totally cool. It's definitely a song that has its moments.

You know you know my name!

always disappointed by this song, it starts out so awesome with the intro and the shouty part, then devolves into dumb jokiness

Voted for "jazzy bit part one" because of that little piano solo that starts it off. Was this played by a Beatle? They are f-ing geniuses obviously...

Love the intro too tho. Love so many parts of this song. Kinda wish they had done more 'comedy' stuff like this towards the end.

I thought it was recorded in '67?

always disappointed by this song, it starts out so awesome with the intro and the shouty part, then devolves into dumb jokiness

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, March 26, 2010 10:25 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^ This.

They started it then and continued to work on it in 68 and 69. It was actually the b-side on the last Beatles single if i remember correctly...

Right, I don't think they were in too jocular a mood in the latter days of the band

Oh, they had their fun moments.

Witness "Ballad of J&Y" for example.

Also, what i've heard of the "Abbey Road" sessions put that photo to the lie...

you know my NAAAAAAME

this is one of my favourite beatles tracks and i'm not trolling.

love this song. I actually discovered it fairly early in my Beatles history, and it was one of the songs that cemented them as some kind of genius song gods

Well, for me it was a trawl in a local (south shields) second hand record shop (in Chi, Pash remembers it I'm sure) getting all the singles I didn't have back when they got reissued on those rubbish green sleeves.

So, That one, "The Inner Light" and "Baby You're a rich man" got discovered last, for me.

WELCOME TO SLAGGER'S

..

This is paul's favorite beatles song.

always disappointed by this song, it starts out so awesome with the intro and the shouty part, then devolves into dumb jokiness

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, March 26, 2010 10:25 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^ This.

― you can beat my box any time (PappaWheelie V), Friday, March 26, 2010 3:40 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

it starts out so awesome with the intro and the shouty part, then devolves into dumb jokiness

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, March 26, 2010 10:25 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^ This.

― you can beat my box any time (PappaWheelie V), Friday, March 26, 2010 3:40 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

― lube and (Euler), Sunday, March 28, 2010 3:26 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this was the b-side to Let It Be

Yeah isn't that insane? The Beatles were some weird, funny guys. Love em.

this was one of my first ever favourite beatles songs. <3 weirdo beatles and wish they had gotten freaky more often.

i do kind of love the idea of this being the yang to Revolution #9's yin...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

sam and dave shouty bit obviously

not sure if this is true or not but i remember reading that this is the only song in the catalog with all four members given credit?

isn't that "Flying'?

yes, i think you're right. whoops! :-P

too late, your Beatles nerd membership card has been revoked.

hah it is widely known on the NOIZE BORAD that I first heard the key Beatles albums in their entirety in the year 2010.

Flying is still the best Beatles song. You can drop that in a club and people will want to get down.

or "Hey Bulldog", that does the same.

I love this unreservedly.

it's such an awesome closer for past masters 2, one of my favorite beatles cds. yea i kno recorded in 67 but what a way to go out! would not have been out of place on the white album, imo

Yeah, I always thought this would have fit nicely between Revolution #9 and Good Night.

The applause of recognition when Dennis O'Bell starts singing is a great little detail.

I always thought the opening beat etc. would make a nice loop for something else, so I voted for the first thing.

Other than that, this song vexes me for some reason. I like the slight disjointedness of the music, actually. I think it is all the whooping and hollering that turns me off. Nothing against whooping and hollering, per se, just this particular instance of it.

Voted for the mumbly blokes, especially the bit where Lennon nearly breaks character and loses his shit.
Always found it hilarious how they kept this one in the can, labouring for three years like it's some elaborate masterpiece in the works, and what finally emerges is this goofy stoned nonsense.

cool trivia on wiki that Lennon wanted to release this with 'What a Shame (Mary Jane)' as a Plastic Ono Band single but Paul nixed the idea, I guess since it's his favorite Beatles song and all.

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

well, no doubt it was "mary jane" that paul most strongly objected to - he didn't have any involvement in that recording whatsoever.

xpost

nobody digs the ska bit?

(btw,Myonga, d/led the 'whole' version, great stuff!

Ok I thought he was saying "daddys old bell" for the past 20 years

What are the weirdest beatles songs?

Solo or otherwise?

Temporary Secretary

Id like to be one of those nerds who really knows the chronology of their recording history.. IMO it gets really interesting around '67.

It looks like this was recorded around the same time as Baby You're a rich man & its all too much.. this is my favorite era of beatles.. just after sgt pepper

Yeah, I love the period between completing Pepper and Epstein passing when they were doing some crazy shit like trying to buy an island to live on and mixing up with all those Magic Alex type weirdos.

Id like to extend that to include everything up to side 1 of MMT.. that's my fav beatles of the moment

for you billstevejim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixKCfJhW_x8

What are the weirdest beatles songs?

Flying, It's All Too Much, Blue Jay Way, Rain, and The Word

i'd throw "tomorrow never knows" in with that bunch^^

and Wild Honey Pie

bungalow bill too

why is the word weird?

was gonna say ... what's weird about the word?

the WOOOORD the WOOOOORD the WOOOOORD

its like a chant not a pop song

also the one-note drone organ that comes in. what is this, noise rock in 1965?

A year after "I want to hold your hand" John Lennon is singing "I'm here to show everybody the light"

Also the nearly-dissonant opening, prob my favorite part of the song really.

I'd add the last 3 or 4 fan club Christmas singles to the weird list.

I guess Revolution 9 isn't really that weird.

yeah everyone was doing Stockhausen pastiches in those days *yawn*

The Word should not be on any "weirdest" list. I love it and contains plenty of examples of the Beatles' creative ingenuity, but it's just a little garage rock ditty/.

For anyone who hasn't heard these:

http://morethings.com/mp3/beatles-1967_fan_club_christmas_record.MP3
http://www.morethings.com/mp3/beatles-1969_fan_club_christmas_record.MP3
http://morethings.com/mp3/beatles-1968_fan_club_christmas_record.MP3

The half-songs in some of these are really charming!

"The Word" has 12-bar choruses, yet the verses are merely 4 bars apiece, so that's kinda weird.

Interesting how those Xmas flexis parallel their recording career, starting out cute in 1963, becoming more self-consciously clever and inventive in '64-5, then downright weird for the '66-67 ones; and by '68-69 they're recording all their parts separately and not collaborating at all.

are the pre-67 ones up somewhere...? I've never heard these. the '68-'69 ones are kinda worthless tbh

I think these still work
http://www.beatlesource.com/bs/mains/audio/xmas/xmas.html

"The Word" is also only one chord during the verses. It's definitely an undercover pop song but I think it's 50% on its way to being a 12-minute "Revolution"-style hypnotic psych jam.

Here's some more:

http://www.snuhfiles.com/sound/beatles-1963-christmas_record.mp3
http://www.snuhfiles.com/sound/beatles-1964-christmas_record.mp3
http://www.snuhfiles.com/sound/beatles-1965-christmas_record.mp3
http://www.snuhfiles.com/sound/beatles-1966-christmas_record.mp3

'66 one seems like the best

damn these things are long!

I've been thinking that the Beatles could have really put out a solid psych album in between Pepper & The White Album if they hadn't spread themselves so thin in late '67/early '68:

Side 1

Magical Mystery Tour
Across the Universe
Flying
Hello Goodbye
The Inner Light
All Together Now
Your Mother Should Know
I Am the Walrus
It's All Too Much

Side 2

Lady Madonna
Baby You're a Rich Man
It's Only a Northern Song
The Fool on the Hill
Hey Bulldog
Blue Jay Way
You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
All You Need is Love

Funny you should say that - I've spent the last coupla months assembling "Alternate History Tour" - an imaginary self-indulgent DOUBLE album consisting of all of the above plus "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane", mostly in rare alternate mixes. Plus documentary/archival stuff and a few mashup-type things, much of it linked together with "Magical Mystery Tour" dialogue and Xmas-flexi nonsense, and with a whole shitload of stupid audio-FX on top. (It's a real mess!)

sounds fun -- I love this era of the beatles ... are you going to share it anywhere?

Yeah, that sounds great!

I'll probably post the bulk of it to my Sendspace account if I've got enough free space (can't take down that popular Bob Seger compilation yet!)

They probably wouldn't have released an album with 17 songs, which isn't such a bad thing.. I kinda think the "Lady Madonna" b/w "The Inner Light" single works just as well on its own to sorta bookend this era, right before India and "Hey Jude."

Also "Hey Bulldog" was recorded during The White Album (I think) so that would give the record a normal 14 songs length.

Actually Hey Bulldog, Across the Universe, Lady Madonna, and The Inner Light were all recorded in February 1968 pre-India. The White Album sessions started in May 1968.

"The Inner Light" was recorded *in* india, for the most part.

That's right - the music was recorded in India during January and then the vocals were overdubbed in February at Abbey Road.

They actually had plans to release a post-MMT EP but it never happened and the songs went elsewhere...

OK, if anyone's curious, here's "Side Two":

http://www.sendspace.com/file/0661yi

Triff!

Was there a side 1?

Sides 1, 3 and 4 are being tweaked!

(It's like I'm Brian Wilson and this is my "SMiLE")

Just to say that if you like them all middle-period wacky and larksome but haven't heard the Kenny Everett 67 show where he plays tracks from Pepper for the very first time with the boys messing about and suchlike then you should aim your mouse at Soulseek at all speed. He's kinda been written out of history has Kenny poor chap.

Yes,

"Goodbye to Kenny Everett, he is our very pal...."

'Allo, Sid Snot 'ere!

Kenny Everett seems cool. They did another show w him right at the start of the White Album sessions, or John & Paul did, and they were definitely on some funny drugs. I have a Zombies box that includes them on Kenny performing a wonderful acapella them for the fellow...

"Doooh yez" wuz robbed..