I've had quite a bit of Brit on the mind these days. There is the tabloid love for the royals getting married (yes, I love Kate's style, rock that plunging neckline), the big Oscar night for The King's Speech, and the news that Phil Collins has to retire simply because he has rocked too long. I was listening to his celebrity playlist on the way in to work, and since he made a cameo in A Hard Days' Night as a teenager, my ultimate Beatles list was born.
I guess I'm embarrassed that I will be stating some obvious choices, but will do my best to incorporate favorites that are deeper album cuts.
A Day in the Life - I love this song because I consider it their mini-symphony. It is the perfect embodiment of what made the Beatles so successful, the collaboration of Lennon/McCartney and their mix of sour and sweet. Two of my favorite skating performances of the last 10+ years has been to an instrumental of this song. One of my favorite ad campaigns quotes this song to sell coffee, of all things. Then you have that insane 45-second note. "Then I woke up and I fell into a dream. Ahhhhhhhhhhh"
Across the Universe - Lennon at his most spacey.
Boys - a cover version of a girl group number that Ringo Starr simply wails on. It is the maximum amount of joy crammed into 2 minutes. Bop shu-ah, a bop bop shu-ah.
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight string - I was first introduced to this medley upon seeing Sergent Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band, an awful movie I didn't know was awful in my love of All Things Beatles in my single digit girlhood. Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees as pallbearers to a girl in a clear box was sad and romantic, not nearly as creepy as I found it later on. Anyway, I found the original version, with all the other song snippets strung together, a vast improvement over the movie version. Figure skating angle: Kim Navarro and Brent Bommentre skated to it.
Don't Bother Me - Let's just say it, George Harrison was underrated and this gem is from With the Beatles and featured in the A Hard Days' Night dance scene. The Quiet Beatle grouses about privacy over a deep bass groove. I don't think anyone has skated to it.
Here There and Everywhere - when I was little, my exposure to Beatles music was the limited collection on the Red and Blue greatest hits albums and whatever songs were featured in the Beatles cartoons. Imagine hearing this soft romantic ode for the first time as a lovelorn 17-year-old. It was like getting knocked over by the world's largest heart-shaped box of candy. Standing under an avalanche of rose petals. Slo-mo rom-com climax montage. This song redefined love songs and romance in general. So soft, it's easy to get swept away with the simple melody. When I'm ready for a new artistic/dramatic, I may propose this song as a way to get in touch with my girly side.
Hey Bulldog - This song is so much fun, a beer parlor romp with banging piano, a cool song buried on the Yellow Submarine album, a song that was cut from the cartoon movie in the United States. I used to play this song as a lead-in for my newscasts and sports report when I was a DJ at Ferris. Glad the DVD version of the movie is not only cleaned up, but now includes the 4-headed bulldog going nuts.
I Feel Fine - another entry from my favorite Beatles era, the Help!/Rubber Soul/Revolver years. Groovy little reverb opens it up, and then we have those amazing harmonies and a little high hat/drum groove in the middle bars.
In My Life - tender, reflective, heartfelt and sad. It's my funeral song.
It's Only Love - Important to note that it's the Anthology 2 version I like, and not the one on the Help! soundtrack. One of producer Sir George Martin's missteps of over-production. Lennon's stripped down version is simple, with just him and a guitar. His vocals are raw, emotional, and much more powerful.
Matchbox - bluesy cover sung by Ringo. Makes me wonder what he could have done with some of the Beatles later work from the White album.
Norwegian Wood - guitar plus sitar and Lennon's voice like honey. I had absolutely no idea this song was about an illicit affair, and at 7, wouldn't have known what an illicit affair was.
Nowhere Man - again with the honeyed Lennon vocals and rich harmonies. I say that my favorite album is Revolver, but thus far, Rubber Soul is coming up the winner. Hmm....
Oh! Darling - McCartney's vocal gymnastics turns this into one torchy song. Dead ass sexy.
Paperback Writer - Great energy in this song, think this was produced between Rubber Soul and Revolver. The clackity-clack typewriter backdrop is a great frame for the tale of a pulp fiction writer.
She's a Woman - featured in the movie Help! another bluesy McCartney tune. I don't think Oh Darling could exist without this one first.
Something - Shall I revisit 1987 again and tell you what this song does to a 17 year old's libido? What kind of cultural revolution in rock ballads happened in 1969 once this hit the airwaves? Bravo George, bravo.
Taxman - George Harrison opens Revolver with a sneer and a delivers the rebellion that rock and roll promises. The Verve Pipe, a local band that made good on the national scene a few years back, did a cover of this song back when they were a college band.
Things We Said Today - a passive, art house/coffee shop/beatnik entry by McCartney from A Hard Days Night. I love the musical progression in the song, from subtle to urgent.
Til There Was You - a cover of the song from The Music Man, one that I sang along to at a theater production. Appears it is a favorite of my husband's as well.
Tomorrow Never Knows - Good Lord, what was Lennon smoking when he dreamed this up? The answer is a big, fat doobie. To think he went from sweet pop songs to singing from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Oh thank God the original boy band was allowed to grow up and produce crazy shit like this.
Two of Us - from Let it Be, I've heard differing stories on the origins of this song. Some say it was written early in the Beatles career, and just now I'm reading Paul wrote it for Linda. The one story I've heard straight from McCartney is the song always reminds him of when he and John shared a microphone and were "eyeball to eyeball, like the Everly Brothers."
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - I know Eric Clapton was the guest lead guitarist on this song, but he is merely a foil to the genius Harrison displays in this song. It should be known this is the first song my son ever heard and his response to it is nothing less than joyous.
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away - A song so wrapped in Beatle angst, that when featured in the Help! movie, the only response was to have a troll trimming grass in George's indoor garden with novelty chattering teeth. Lennon's vocals are tinged with bitterness, and Ringo's tambourine keeps time. Fantastic guitar work.
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