Worst Beatles song on the White Album

Apologies to people who thought it should be two polls; but you can't buy 'em separately, so you can't vote for 'em separately.

I haven't a clue how this one will pan out.

Got to be "Revolution 9". Even though "Helter Skelter", "Yer Blues" and "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" are all horrible too.

"Bungalow Bill", "Honey Pie" and "Martha My Dear" are all way better than their reputation though.

tricky. for a such a long and diverse record, the quality level is really high on this one.

either 'sexy sadie', 'don't pass me by' or, most likely, 'ob la di'.

hating 'helter skelter' is utterly incomprehensible to me.

Honey Pie, I suppose, although I never skip any on this album, not even R9. I think that this album works best when played in order from start to finish.

hating 'helter skelter' is utterly incomprehensible to me.

I hate hard rock and "Helter Skelter" is hard rock.

Pussy.

"Glass Onion", reluctantly. It rolls but doesn't rock, and breaks the killer momentum of the first two. So I vote for it mostly on sequencing grounds.

I love the ones that will dominate this, e.g. "Revolution 9" and "Honey Pie" and "Good Night" and even "Ob La Di".

Ha! I love how these polls are coming so fast. Do them ALL RIGHT NOW! Why wait?

I'm going with unhumability here and thus "Long Long Long" although McCartney is very obnoxious on this album. Not sure if being able to hum "Honey Pie" is worse but I suppose it's better than no impression at all.

Best: "Wild Honey Pie"

The mono remaster erases the accidental "down" before "I need a fix" in "Happiness is a Warm Gun" if anyone on earth cares. But those ragtags moments make it THE Beatles album to obsess over.

Revolution 9 is one you don't want to hear that often but you're very glad The Beatles tried to be that experimental and it is really pretty crucial.

The Beatles' best album. So many utterly fantastic songs, but quite a few throwaways as well. Not much fond of Ob La Di, Piggies, Honey Pie or Rocky.

My first inclination is to say Bungalo. For numerous reasons, especially the same jarring verse to chorus transitions that make me dislike Lucy in the Sky.

There are a number of contenders though, and I'm goinb to think on this one.

Has to be a McCartney track, so "Honey Pie" over "Ob La Di".

I really like Ob La Di. Honey Pie is pretty shite, though.

I love Wild Honey Pie; having always dismissed it as pointless filler, the remaster turned it into a thrilling percussion segue.

i'm a bore, 'revolution 9'

From the Wikipedia Ob La Di entry: 'According to studio engineer Geoff Emerick, John Lennon openly hated the song, calling it "Paul's granny shit"'

Think I'm with John on this one.

you and me both. an easy pick really.

so much shit on this. maybe 'piggies'.

I've really got to check if posts in these threads are by Geir before reading them, I can't stand this many WTFs.

A few irritating numbers here, I'm leaning towards Rocky Raccoon but I'll give the album another listen before voting.

Rocky Racoon is pretty teeth-grindingly awful, that accent he puts on at the beginning...

"Long Long Long" and "Don't Pass Me By" are pantheon for me--sometimes I'm just not even on the same page in these polls..."Revolution 9" should win easily, and it will deserve to. The Beatles command of melody existed in some other stratosphere, so them wanting to be John Cage or Frank Zappa for 10 minutes made about as much as sense as Albert Pujols deciding he wants to focus on stolen bases next year. It's probably the biggest waste of space on any of their albums, but on the premise that it's not really a song (and therefore can't be the worst), I'll instead vote for "Good Night."

The problem with voting in this poll is that you kind of have to open up and accept White Album as a whole, warts and all. It was by far my favourite when I first got into the band, as I was obsessed with eclecticism. The whole thing destroyed me.

SO what to pick, what to pick? Picking one is a bit like picking your worst Beatle really. I never got along too well with USSR - too sore throat Chuck Berry for me, although I can see why people like it.

Obladi was one of several Beatles songs (along with Yellow Sub, 64, Penny Lane etc) we were made to sing in primary school and I think I was conscious of it a long time before I knew of it as a Beatles song. For a long time I actually assumed it was an old West Indian religious song that the Beatles had covered. I know a lot of people hate on it, but I am really fond of it - I listened to the Anthology version last night and really enjoyed the slightly different groove. I also like the helium "la la la la la la laaaaa" backing vocals on the chorus.

I loved Bungalow Bill and Piggies as a teenager, thought they were hilarious. Blackbird was the first bit of music I learnt to play on the guitar and it's still my go-to piece if I'm trying one out.

The whole album steams merrily along until I get to two acoustic tracks - I Will and Julia. I always found those a bit meh - yeah I know Julia's about John's muvver, but it doesn't make me like it much more. Still, Julia's a lot better than I Will, which is a still just a bit slight and unintrusive to be deemed the "worst".

The opening of disc 2 is a bit wonky. "Birthday" has that memorable blues riff and I often whack it on if I'm DJing a birthday party, but it's not THAT great apart from the cool little breakdown just before "And we'd like you to dance". I find "Yer Blues" a bit of a chore "Yes I'm lonely, wanna die" - pastiche or not, it's indicative of Lennon's solo obsession with grassroots rock and blues, something I'm completely and utterly allergic to.

I can see a lot of McCartney haters voting for "Mother Nature's Son", but I've always suffered his saccharine side quite gladly, and quite enjoy the twee finger picking and flutes.

Then there's another boisterous rocker with "Monkey", the lyrics of which always make me laugh - a rousing call to arms to "take it easy" - Well, Mr McCartney, I'd like to if you weren't playing your guitar and yelling so loud. A funny song, not a fave though.

"Helter Skelter"'s often credited as being "heavy metal" - not sure about that one, but it's definitely the closest the band got to melting your face off. Sometimes I find it painful though - I haven't heard the reissue but the original is so trebly and distorted. I guess that's the point though.

Really love the George songs on White Album, especially "Long Long Long" - after all the dirty bluesrock on side 2, it's like diving into a cool blue psychedelic pool. The synthetic/melltron(?) flutes and sung-from-the-other-end-of-the-room vocals are welcome and it kind of reminds me of the Moody Blues at points, in a good way.

The lyrics of Revolution always irked me, and his stripped down version doesn't really help to make me like it much more. John Lennon at his most giveafuck self indulgent, and arguably going back to the Beatle-Tory values of "Taxman" etc.

You kind of have to let Paul do his vaudeville thing, so I'll allow "Honey Pie", even though it's not that great. Continuing with a food-related theme "Savoy Truffle" is just a plain odd attempt to equate hot'n'steamy sex with ummm... desserts. Yeah w/e.

Just when you think White Album's running out of steam, "Cry Baby Cry" comes along - really nice song that I always enjoyed, can't say much more than that, although some of the lyrics are a bit goofy "the queen was painting pictures for the children's holiday" (sic) what???

So much has been said about Revolution 9 - I just admire the Beatles' guts. I love the fact that the majority of the voices weren't samples from movies and newsreels, but the Beatles themselves. And some of the phrases "The watusi... the twist", "take this brother, may it serve you well" are now imprinted on my brain like a hot pie or a pasty.

"Goodnight" is obviously a schmaltzy genre exercise, but it was a good move to get Ringo to close the album.

I'm going to vote for "Yer Blues", just plain annoying, lumpen and everything I don't like about Lennon from this period onwards.

Rocky Racoon is pretty teeth-grindingly awful, that accent he puts on at the beginning...

It starts out pretty horrible, but because a nice ballad after that.

"Goodnight" is great, it's like a David Lynch type ending to the album or something.

You kind of have to let Paul do his vaudeville thing

what?

Then there's another boisterous rocker with "Monkey", the lyrics of which always make me laugh - a rousing call to arms to "take it easy" - Well, Mr McCartney, I'd like to if you weren't playing your guitar and yelling so loud.

what the fuck?

I like Rocky Raccoon - I always heard the mock-American accent, and the whole song, as being tongue-in-cheek. If you hear the Anthology version he adlibs in that silly voice for some time.

The two Ringo tracks would have been pretty obvious duds on most other albums, but they kind of work here, compared with John's worst moments.

I am not a fan of this album in general actually. George provided some nice stuff and quite good quality all over even though I am no fan of "Savoy Truffle". Paul's songs are better, but the ballads seem sort of unfinished and a bit too low-fi for their own best. John, as I said, was at his best until 1967, and several of his contributions here are horrible. But he did of course also manage to come up with "Julia", "Cry Baby Cry", "Dear Prudence", "Bungalow Bill" and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" so it's not all bad, really.

Still, I stand by the feeling that this would have been better off as a single album. But then, a lot of people disagree with me what shouldn't be in there, and I guess that is the problem, that people wouldn't agree which of the tracks should have been cute. Surely I would NOT want to cut "Honey Pie" or "Martha My Dear" off it!

which of the tracks should have been CUT even :)

"Don't Pass Me By" ... didn't even have to think twice.

"Don't Pass Me By" is a fave for me :-)

Standard "the beauty of this album ..." spiel here.

My favourite Beatles album, for sure - such an all-encompassing emotional range. It's between Rocky Racoon and Honey Pie. Voted Honey Pie because it has always left me cold, but now starting to think that Rocky Racoon is actually the worse of the two.

xpost which I have to believe i as much as anyone, given I rate "Rev 9" in this album's top 5.

Oh man, couldn't you have spaced these polls out a bit? I was really enjoying having a bit of time to think about each album.

There're quite a few here I don't like. 'Glass Onion' is a smarmy. 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' preachy and ponderous, and then 'Piggies' picks up that baton but ditches its redeeming qualities for a bit of nasty sneering. 'Don't Pass Me By' and 'Birthday' have nothing to them. 'Savoy Truffle' too, but at least it's a puzzle. 'Long Long Long' I assume is good, but I can barely hear it. 'Good Night' needs a bit of subtlety and Ringo isn't the man to provide it.

Tie between 'Glass Onion' and 'Piggies'; the latter gets my vote for having a less interesting sound. I was going to say also for inspiring a murder (though that's hardly its fault) but not entirely sure that they don't both carry that burden.

'Long Long Long' I assume is good, but I can barely hear it.

Buy the remaster.

Long Long Long is so beautiful after Helter Skelter on the remaster. Genius bit of sequencing.

Apologies, Ismael, for squishing so many of these in today; I was going to just do MMT but then it struck me that Yellow Submarine was so short it seemed pointless to wait for it, and then I got carried away. I've had a very repetitive morning at work and this was my solace!

"Glass Onion" is, imo, unfuckwithable.

's ok. I've got Monday off, so suspect I'm going to have to squeeze in a lot of listening then. No bad thing!

The real answer is "Rocky Raccoon" but somehow I voted "Honey Pie". Those are the only two songs I'd even consider axing.

You made the right choice. Rocky Raccoon is a great song after the "Hills of Dakota" part.

yeah i voted for honey pie too. not really a fan of any of paul's music hall b.s. on here but martha my dear and ob-la-di have some redeeming factors

"Long Long Long" is one of the most amazing Beatles songs ever, right up there with "A Day in the Life", but nobody knows it. Over the years it has edged "Happiness" from my White Album top spot.

"while my guitar" & "yer blues" & "rev #9" are the ones i skip. "ob la di" is dumb as all hell, but something about the way it's engineered sounds really good to me.

This is far and away my favorite Beatles album, maybe my favorite album ever. But, given the constraints of the poll, I pick "Wild Honey Pie," which is so slight it's almost not there.

NO! Listen to the remaster loud!

This is tough... face off between Honey Pie and Ob-la-di. Unlike n/a the latter has no redeeming factors. I just cannot hear the song anymore.

(Voting for 'Dear Prudence' will automatically get you a life long site ban right? Because it should)

I don't agree with SB but that is kind of OTM (ditto Happiness Is A Warm Gun)

You said it

I'm kinda being rubbish at these polls, coming on and talking about my favourite tracks! I have work to be doing anyway...

Ob La Di. I love all the other kiddie songs, especially Piggies.

Man, if only Paul did die and we wouldn't have to put up with Abbey Road, Let It Be and Wings. (A theory that only works if Ob La Di was the last song he recorded for this album.) Or just went all Syd Barrett.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. Easy. Worst Beatles song on the best Beatles record.

btw I am not Geir.

clearly!

I always felt like "Don't Pass Me By" was the even more annoying version of "Ob-La-Di" (sorry Ringo). Those are the only two tracks I ever end up skipping on this great album.

The whole album steams merrily along until I get to two acoustic tracks - I Will and Julia. I always found those a bit meh - yeah I know Julia's about John's muvver, but it doesn't make me like it much more. Still, Julia's a lot better than I Will, which is a still just a bit slight and unintrusive

Your opinion is so wrong. These are the two most affecting songs on the album.

"Your Opinion is Wrong" would be such a great name for a Christian rock band.

White Album is so funny, cos I think picking the worst song would be easy and I go to something like "Savoy Truffle" or "Don't Pass Me By" but when I listen they sound like the Beatles had so much fun taping them it's so difficult to hate on. Even "Obladi" has those silly voices and fun piano intro. Even the lousy songs are indispensable.

Damn you fun-loving Beatles!

Rocky Raccoon - shite song about a LuSoR.

So when people tell us to hear the remasters for this album, do y'all mean mono or stereo?

Ob La Di

Continuing with a food-related theme "Savoy Truffle" is just a plain odd attempt to equate hot'n'steamy sex with ummm... desserts. Yeah w/e.

Maybe it's odd because he isn't equating anything with desserts, he's just listing them.

And some of the phrases "The watusi... the twist", "take this brother, may it serve you well" are now imprinted on my brain like a hot pie or a pasty.

awesome fuckin metaphor, kid.

They're not desserts either; it's a list of the selection from from Eric Clapton's favourite box of (cheap) chocolates - George is taking the piss out of Eric.

who the fuck is this history minge guy?

I think we should poll the box of chocolates.

So when people tell us to hear the remasters for this album, do y'all mean mono or stereo?

I've only heard the mono, which sounds amazing.

I've only heard the stereo, which sounds amazing.

i don't love everything on here, but this is another one where i can't really vote. i like everything for one reason or another.

glass onion

El Dorado.

"Cool cherry creme, nice apple tart, a ginger sling with a pineapple heart . . ."

http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/blogs/outsidetheframe/Forrest-Gump-p11.jpg

I voted for cool cherry creme over the ginger sling.

Who could hate Sexy Sadie? Besides the Maharishi I suppose...

i say this on every white album thread but the anthology versions of a lot of these songs are fucking awesome and imo sometimes preferable to the album versions. there's an awesome, slower version of 'helter skelter' that contains some of my favorite of paul's singing. also sparse, gorgeous acoustic versions of 'WMGGW', 'cry baby cry,' & 'sexy sadie'

I'm withholding my vote til I pick up the remaster next week. I need some time to recover from the trauma of the Sgt Pepper poll...

That slower version of 'Helter Skelter' is an edit of a 27-minute monster (going from memory of the sleevenotes here - I may be exaggerating). There must be a link somewhere, and if there is I would like to know about it.

Yeah, that's true but it's never shown up on bootleg. The Beatles' "Sister Ray"?

(the 27-minute version, that is)

we should have "Rolling Beatles Fantasy Songs" and have

"John singing Oh Darling"
"27 minute version of Helter Skelter"

"Carnival of Light"
"Ich Bin Der Walrus"
everything off "Let It Be", but done properly

I don't understand the huge ILM love for "Dear Prudence" either. Sure, it's OK, probably among the better John tracks here, but still a bit to spare to really be among my fave tracks on the album. I actually prefer Siouxie & The Banshees' cover version to the original, because it's fuller and more "produced".

pffft

During the 18 July 1968 sessions, a version of the song lasting 27 minutes and 11 seconds was recorded, although this version is rather slow and hypnotic, differing greatly from the volume and rawness of the album version.[10] Another recording from the same day was edited down to 4:37 for Anthology 3, which was originally twelve minutes long. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helter_Skelter_%28song%29

i want the 27 minute version!

Jeez Geir, you couldn't leave it alone could you?

I have to confess that I don't own this and am basing this on the a tape a mate made for me 15 years ago. For some reason (presumably because he thought they were shit) he left off Piggies, Don't Pass Me By, and Good Night. So I can't say if one of those is the worst song on the album: I know everything else and it's patchy enough to make me not bothered to seek out the tracks that he didn't even consider worth taping for me.

It's not that anything is really shit, but you could easily turn the White Album into a two separate albums, one of which would be great (definitely including Dear Prudence and Helter Skelter), and the other would be pretty boring. Revolution 9 is unlistenable really, but is kind of supposed to be like that, so doesn't count as the worst for me. The ones that bug me the most are I'm So Tired and Sexy Sadie - there's just nothing going on there.

"Sexy Sadie" is definitely among the better John ones here. A lot of great interesting chord changes on that one. Great vocal harmonies too.

Bores me to death.

It's karma police.

listening to the mono remasters really draws attention to how close some of this material still is to the "Magical Mystery Tour" sound. "cry baby cry" in particular could've been on the previous album if the drums had a bit more of that heavy compression on 'em. also the same with "dear prudence". it could easily be on "MMT". i've known that song for so long that it took the remasters to make me really pay attention to what's going on. that song is arranged perfectly. it fades in from nothing, slowly adding more and more parts (backing vox are amazing, it's always seemed to me they were singing with purposeful spookiness), until it climaxes at the end with everything sounding triumphantly, hits that final THUMP before the "won't you come out to play?", and everything drops off and fades away to the guitar which soon fades out into silence. mccartney often gets a lot of flack for his drumming, but i think it's undeserved and on this song his playing is wonderfully inventive (and syncs perfectly with one of his very best basslines), especially when he starts going crazy to trigger the final buildup.

"sexy sadie" is one of the very best beatles songs.

"Honey Pie" is the one I dread. The only one, really.
But on the subject of Beatles fantasy songs, it'll be funny when 'Carnival of Light' is released and it suuuuuucks.

The Beatles always remind me that I live in an alternate musical universe—I don't see how anyone could really enjoy Piggies after age 12, and both My Guitar Gently Weeps and Blackbird sound like schmaltzy crap to me.

Don't get me wrong, I like quite a bit off this album, but out of 30 songs, I'd only keep 17 of 'em. And in trying to choose the worst song, I just can't choose between music hall crap and the songs my high school principal used to ruin on school picnics. The idea of lauding the whole album just seems so fundamentally alien to me that I can't understand the mindset of people who do, except that they've listened to it from childhood on, whereas I really did come to it as an adult.

could be true -- this was really the first Beatles album I got heavily into as a kid, so that might be why it's my fave to this day.

'Blackbird' is terrific and fits no definition of schmaltz that I know. I saw a clip of Paul playing it at the time of the album and it was lovely, but what really sticks in my mind is that he looked like he was wearing ten-pin bowling shoes.

I wonder how much of that explains my Beatle preferences—I think all of their albums are pretty good through Rubber Soul, then they've got moments of undeniable brilliance but also a lot of stuff that just bores the hell out of me, then I really like Let It Be. I can understand a lot of what they're doing, but so much of it is more interesting, for me, from a production sense than it is as songs. And again, because I always get the response that I'm just one of those people who hates the Beatles because I'm a contrarian or some shit, I like a lot of specific songs (Here Comes The Sun is brilliant), but I can't imagine ever listening to most of the mid-period stuff as albums ever. It's like, in '68, the Rolling Stones finally overtook the Beatles, not necessarily in terms of innovation (I think the Beatles were trying a lot harder on that front), but in terms of being consistently great. And I wonder how much that perception is based on not having grown up with these songs, and not having any particular sentimental attachment to them (not to make my subjective opinion sound more objective than it is).

"'Blackbird' is terrific and fits no definition of schmaltz that I know."

schmaltz | sh mälts; sh môlts| (also schmalz)
noun informal
excessive sentimentality, esp. in music or movies.

"Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise"

Long Long Long is the best Beatles song

Ob la Di Ob La Da

This album is so varied and largely self-indulgent that I don't really begrudge votes for any of the songs. Except Long Long Long and Dear Prudence.

My standard answer was Honey Pie but I think I listened to it recently and found it just kind of mediocre as opposed to awful. So I don't know.

The line "Take these broken wings and learn to fly", is just devastating.

"Long Long Long" though - that is the ultimate hidden gem in the entire Beatles career.

The line "Take these broken wings and learn to fly", is just devastating.

Remember that Mr. Mister tune wasn't written until 17 years later though. ;)

Thanks thread for inspiring my new display name.

"Honey Pie" is the one I dread. The only one, really.

Yes.

"I'm in love but I'm lazy..." you gotta be kidding me .. one of the few beatles songs it hurts me to listen to

"Honey Pie". The only song I would have cut from this album.

Mother Nature's Son

^^^^^^^^^^crazy

I love every single one of the Paul songs that's gotten dissed here (and on every other White Album thread ever). No matter how lazy John got, Paul was still spinning out great hooks and catchy twists and so on. You just wish they'd been working as closely as they were early on, or that Paul had been humbler to listen or something - certainly there's some lyrics that might have needed another go-over.

Which isn't to say that John's lazy across the board here; he has probably the three best tracks, but he's definitely not burning the midnight oil on this thing the way Paul was, IMO. And then you have "Revolution 1," which beats out "Piggies" for worst by being not only draggy and pointless, but also redundant. The single version was awesome or at least distinctive - there's no reason at all to have this song here. It's not like this album needed filler for god's sake.

Shit! I forgot all about "Revolution 1." I change my vote.

never mind earlier, mother fuckin nature's son you disgust me snrub

I think there need to be more ladies on this thread so Honey Pie can get a little more love! Voted for EGSTHEFMAMM.

Woah it took 67 (!) takes to get "Long Long Long". I wonder what take one sounds like jeeez....

Doctor Casino pretty much OTM about this album in general.

I really like a lot of the usual suspects that ppl diss on when it comes to this record (DPMB, Rocky, Piggies, Yer Blues). So I'm voting for "Why Don't We Do it in the Road." One Lennon blues mantra is enough for the album & I'll take YB over WDWDIITR.

revolutiuon 1 is awesome.

o wait. Why don't we do it in the road is Macca. Well, whatever..

I have never been able to get behind "Happiness Is A Warm Gun"

This is tough... face off between Honey Pie and Ob-la-di. Unlike n/a the latter has no redeeming factors. I just cannot hear the song anymore.

(Voting for 'Dear Prudence' will automatically get you a life long site ban right? Because it should)

― young depardieu looming out of void in hour of profound triumph (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 25 September 2009 13:58 (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't agree with SB but that is kind of OTM (ditto Happiness Is A Warm Gun)

― should probably be practising shorthand (country matters), Friday, 25 September 2009 13:58 (2 days ago) Bookmark

crutis you just broke my heart

and i just broke my promise, consider yourself either immune or loved yet

ob la di, or don't pass me by, which is the only one i don't remember

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"Long Long Long" has always kinda bored the piss out of me, but "Revo 1" is pretty pointless compared to the single, so it gets the axe. And "Ob La Di" is great, 'specially on headphones (the percussions!), so fuck all y'all.

And for those of you predicting a "Revolution 9" win, get thee to this thread: when i get to the bottom i go back to the top of the WHITE ALBUM POLL

(Wow, PERFECT thread title, in that context!)

I love Rocky Raccoon. The intro almost ruins the song but it's lovable when the real song starts. It's one of the few Beatles songs I love singing along to in public. I used to sing it on the streets with my guitar when I ran out of bus money in highschool.

"Rocky"'s one of the few I learned to play passably, too.

xpost - PERFECT title on that link, considering my context

The more I think about Revolution 1 the more smug, clueless and obnoxious it becomes - idiotic lyrics without the saving grace of the single's rebel energy. Yet Piggies is more obnoxious still.

As the years progress, I'm far more aggravated by smugness and petulance than by Paul's sappiness and gimmicks.

And for those of you predicting a "Revolution 9" win, get thee to this thread: when i get to the bottom i go back to the top of the WHITE ALBUM POLL

That track is the exact kind of track that might win both kinds of polls though, although I doubt it will win here.

Dunno, the "other haters" have not reached consensus, so it's possible.

I have the impression there is quite some agreement amongst "Revolution 9" lovers that "Honey Pie" is the worst song on this album. It represents, well, in many ways the opposite of "Revolution 9".

Savoy Truffle does nothing for me and it barely sounds like the Beatles. It's just dumb.

it's a shame that George got two incredible classic songs on here (Guitar and Long Long Long) and two giant stinkers (Piggies and Savoy)

If they had edited it down and decided that this should be the White Album:
Glass Onion, Ob La Di Ob La Da, Wild Honey Pie, The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, I'm So Tired, Piggies, Why Don't We Do It In The Road, I Will, Birthday, Savoy Truffle, Good Night
...that would be a terrible album.

eh, it would still be a pretty awesome album

hey Piggies is awesome!

btw does anyone know how they got that insane piano sound on "Birthday"

if Rev No. 9 wins this I am going to be v.v. disappointed

even though i bow to the awesomeness of the single version of Revolution, I also love Revolution 1 - becuz they seem to be taking the piss out of themselves a bit with it. also, need it be mentioned that y'allz need to get that recently discovered 10-minute Take 20 of Revolution? Because it is rad.

I believe the "Birthday" piano was amplified through a Leslie speaker - that was one of their favourite techniques for awhile.

where can i find it? xp

also where can i find the 20-minute helter skelter?

You can find the Revolution thang here: http://nevergetoutoftheboat.blogspot.com/2009/02/beatles.html
You can find the 20-min. Helter Skelter collecting dust in the EMI archives. You may have to do some Mission: Impossible-style shit to hear it, though.

Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out.

thanks tyler!

You can find the Revolution thang here: http://nevergetoutoftheboat.blogspot.com/2009/02/beatles.html

holy shit this is awesome

The "mama/papa" falsettos at the end of that extended Revolution take are awesome.

I think a lot of what I like about Martha My Dear, which is awesome, btw, is the fact that the right-channel trumpets during the first verse, the REALLY DEEP ONES, sound more like a phat 303 line than real trumpets.

Whoa that revolution take 20 is lovely.

i need to vote

went Wild Honey Pie

xxpost yeah! i think there's talk of it on the carnival of light thread ... it's pretty much the best unreleased Beatles thing floating around out there imo.

Revolution 9 is the worst song It's just gibberish

Went with 'Savoy Truffle', terrible dogshit.

http://www.fab4collectibles.com/images/158%29%20Savoy%20Truffle.jpg

erm it really is ob-la-di ob-la-da isn't it (he says having listened to all the potential worst songs)

No way! 'Ob La Di' is still the only remaster I've actually heard (over the speakers in hmv the day of release) and it sounded joyous. The snide touches are the bad things on this album (mostly George's, why was he so pissed off?)

They completely overdo the 'laughing' effect on OLDOLD, once would have been ok but more than once and it's tacky as fuck, plus the tune kinda sucks and not even a decent trumpet line can salvage it from pure skipness

(imo, not heard the remaster)

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

well f-in' done

I cannot believe I'm the only one who voted for glass onion

I can only applaud this result!

I'm amazed at how much more "Honey Pie" is disliked than "Wild Honey Pie."

"Wild Honey Pie" is under a minute, and it doesn't really wear out its welcome. "Honey Pie" is interminable.

She was a working girl
North of England way
Now she's hit the big time
In the U.S.A.
And if she could only hear me
This is what I'd say.

Honey pie you are making me crazy
I'm in love but I'm lazy
So won't you please come home.

Oh honey pie my position is tragic
Come and show me the magic
of your Hollywood song.

You became a legend of the silver screen
And now the thought of meeting you
Makes me weak in the knee.

Oh honey pie you are driving me frantic
Sail across the Atlantic
To be where you belong.

Honey pie, come back to me.

I like it like that,
Oohh, I like this kinda, hot kind of music.
Hot kind of music, play it to me,
Play it to me Hollywood blues

Will the wind that blew her boat
Across the sea
Kindly send her sailing back to me.

Honey pie you are making me crazy
I'm in love but I'm lazy
So won't you please come home.

god this song fucking SUCKS

i think i've listened to it all of twice in the 12 years i've had this album and prob 100 times i've listened to it

wild honey pie actually sounds like they were having fun

I cannot believe I'm the only one who voted for glass onion

I can. It's great.

i think i've listened to it all of twice in the 12 years i've had this album and prob 100 times i've listened to it

?

he has had the album for 12 years, has listened to the album 100 times, but has only listened to that particular song twice

i.e. he almost always skips that song

ah merci!

thanks n/a

was it really that hard to read?

I cannot believe I'm the only one who voted for glass onion
Listened to both overdubbed and naked (Anthology) versions of GO today and you are plain wrong. (Butthatsalright: you're allowed.) It might not be much of a song but it's a hell of a performance. Oh YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAGH!

Maybe I should have voted for "Helter Skelter" instead. It would have deserved at least one vote. "Revolution 9" is worse though - "Helter Skelter" is a song at least.

There's not a fucking thing wrong with music outside the song form, you, you....ugh.

Thank god these threads are coming to a close--there's enough bad blood in the world

Lennon has some super funny shit on this album.

Alright hands up, who the fuck voted for "I Will"?

Can we just rename this board to I Love Boring John Lennon Songs And Resent On Principle Paul McCartney, IE, I Hate Fun?

replace the "boring" with the "fun" and you almost got it right, except that it's not on principle - Mccartney did wrote great songs too.

Would "The Complete White Album Sessions" be the greatest album ever? No, but I want to hear it anyway.

how come Revolution 9 is the 3rd worse song on the album while it won the BEST song of the album in an earlier poll?

when i get to the bottom i go back to the top of the WHITE ALBUM POLL

I really want to hear the John Lennon-sung version of "Good Night". Before they issue Carnival of Light they need to release that!

flood
heavy rocks
akuma no uta
boris at last - feedbacker

oops sorry

How much of this was a vote against the Thatcher clan?

http://static.tvguide.com/MediaBin/Galleries/Imported/Editorial/T-Z/TVs_Most_Heartwarming_Shows/Heartwarming-Shows-LifeGoesOn10.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a8JQDae7Jc&feature=related

I voted for "Glass Onion"! At least I meant to. I guess I have to vote twice in polls? It seems like I can usually vote again after a couple of days, which probably means my first vote didn't work. Obviously this is the most important issue in the world.

Alright hands up, who the fuck voted for "I Will"?

even more criminally, three people voted for 'happiness...' as the worst song on this album.

Can we just rename this board to I Love Boring John Lennon Songs And Resent On Principle Paul McCartney, IE, I Hate Fun?

doctor, heal thy butt

There's nothing wrong with Ob La Di, Ob La Da, idiots. Honey Pie is reprehensible shite, though.

Astonished that Happiness Is A Warm Gun got more votes than Martha My Dear, which I really like but through would get a few votes. I guess if you dislike Martha you probably LOATHE Honey Pie, though.

will the dear prudence voter out themself

Quite surprised Sexy Sadie got no votes either; I like it, a lot, but I'm sure there were a few negative comments about it.

I bet Prudence got voted for by someone who loves Ringo.

So, let's strip this down to an amazing 15 song single album...

Back In The USSR
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Ob La Di Ob La Da
Wild Honey Pie
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Blackbird
Helter Skelter
Long Long Long
Cry Baby Cry
Martha My Dear
Sexy Sadie
Mother Nature's Son
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Julia

How's that?

Yeah I thought like 3 people had said they were voting Sadie! Glad they didn't.

Ooh Nick I totally forgot to do that myself...gimme a mo

1. Cry Baby Cry
2. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
3. Mother Nature's Son
4. Sexy Sadie
5. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
6. Blackbird
7. Rocky Raccoon
8. Dear Prudence
9. Long Long Long
10. Helter Skelter
11. Yer Blues
12. Glass Onion
13. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
14. Julia
15. Back In The USSR

"Back in the U.S.S.R."  
"Dear Prudence"  
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"  
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun"  
"Martha My Dear"  
"I'm So Tired"  
"Blackbird"  
"I Will"  
"Julia"  
"Mother Nature's Son"  
"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey"  
"Helter Skelter"  
"Long, Long, Long"
"Cry Baby Cry"

This is what a perfect 15 song White Album should have looked like:

Back in the U.S.S.R.
Dear Prudence
Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
Blackbird
Piggies
I Will
Julia
Mother Nature's Son
Sexy Sadie
Long, Long, Long
Honey Pie
Cry Baby Cry

One could possibly also put in "Not Guilty" in the place of "Cry Baby Cry".

Back In The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro
Blackbird (Helter Skelter Version)
The Further Adventures Of Bungalow Bill
Ad Al Bo Id Al Bo
Revolution 5
Short Short Short
Birthday (Funeral Version)
Revolution 9 (Live)
I'm So Bored...

Somehow missed this poll. But these songs are all terrible: Ob La Di Ob La Da, Honey Pie, Piggies, Don't Pass Me By, Yer Blues, Revolution 1, Good Night, Why Don't We Do It In The Road

wild honey pie actually sounds like they were having fun

― congratulations (n/a), Monday, September 28, 2009 8:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol at "they." McCartney's the only one on the track IIRC.

Maybe the other three had fun because of that?

McCartney probably had more fun recording "Yesterday" alone with a string quartet.

those two people who voted julia must have a heart of stone. if i had to pick one love song in the musical universe it would be julia. i find it still pretty unbelievable that lennon actually published it despite its extreme private character.

Alex OTM- that was my most wtf? moment with the results (and Happiness getting votes).

those two people who voted julia must have a heart of stone. if i had to pick one love song in the musical universe it would be julia. i find it still pretty unbelievable that lennon actually published it despite its extreme private character.

I like "Julia" a lot and would never have voted for it. But you don't think those who voted for it may have though it a bit too private? I mean, surely, I think most of the "Plastic Ono Band" album is.

fuck outta here

eh, who couldn't identify with "half of what I say is meaningless/but i say it just to reach you" ... one of Lennon's best lines, imo

I can't believe nobody mentioned how on their show Tony Orlando & Dawn had this recurring segment where would sing a bit of Ob La Di Ob-La-Da interspersed with humorous skits. Except instead of singing "Life goes on - BRA!" they would sing "Life goes on -ON!" It was perfectly idiotic, but it reminds me of how people used to get 'ideas' by listening to Beatles songs. Not always good ones. Never good ones.

eh, who couldn't identify with "half of what I say is meaningless/but i say it just to reach you" ... one of Lennon's best lines, imo

― tylerw, Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:57 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

Too bad he fuckin' stole it from Khalil Gibran.

haha, well there you go. Lennon's best theft, then.

"Genius Steals!"

I said that.

you expect me to read through that khalil gibran crap?

I wonder what the reception of "Honey Pie" was like in Britain in 1968. I've been listening to Anthology 1, and while the first disk doesn't have any songs that sound exactly like "Honey Pie", it's clear that the Beatles were fluent in a side of pop that's foreign to me. Like, when they play "Moonlight Bay" and the guy they play with says "this is a song that your father would know", the band pulls the song off fine. Or, "Bésame Mucho". If your pop landscape includes songs like those, how does "Honey Pie" sound?

guy they play with = Eric Morcambe

recognise people.

who the hell voted for "Happiness is a Warm Gun"??

And who are the three people that voted for "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey?"

That song is a complete mess. I didn't vote for it though.

Rave on, Khalil Gibran.

"Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey" is not at all good. But "Revolution 9", "Yer Blues", "Why Don't We Do It On The Road" and "Helter Skelter" are all worse.

"Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey" is incredible are you kidding me

OK, the part in the end where they are all 'Cmon cmon cmon cmon' and running around in circles going crazy, that part is amazing. And that dinner bell is really badass (I remember reading about Paul throwing his arm out every time they recorded it).

^^^the Feelies put an amazing version of this on their Crazy Rhythm album.

xp

Crazy Rhythms, even.

I love George's guitar riff on "Monkey" and John's noise guitar on "Helter Skelter." I think my ideal White Album would be nothing but Beatles rave-ups and noise.

The great thing about Beatles albums is how you can know every single detail of them by heart, for years, and still individual songs and moments can sneak up on you and hit the exact right note at the right time. Feel like the White Album is maybe the epitome of this just for having so much stuff floating around. Like, the ending of "I'm So Tired" just hit me like a stack of bricks. Damn.

oops, meant to post that to when i get to the bottom i go back to the top of the WHITE ALBUM POLL - carry on.

are there really people out there who would rather listen to piggies than ob la di, ob la da?

I definitely would

yeah, that's crazy. piggies is wretched and always has been. loved "ob la di" as a kid, so it'll always have a place in my heart.

likewise baffled by votes for "revolution", "savoy truffle" (so good!), and "happiness is warm gun", but forget it, treeship, it's ILX.

all of these songs are awesome, even (maybe especially) the stupid ones. it always drives me crazy when i encounter someone who thinks it should have been boiled down to one album.

relieved to see no votes for 'cry baby cry,' one of lennon's greatest moments.

savoy truffle votes are bonkers but i'm glad nobody voted for cry baby cry or martha my dear. xp!

three people voted for long, long, long!

wtf "Savoy Truffle" is a jam

i agree. i'm happy helter skelter didn't get any votes though.

tbh, i'd cut "piggies", "bungalow bill" and "rocky racoon". the former's shitty mean, and the latter two are children's songs i didn't like even as a kid. b-side material.

^ opinions, everybody got one

'long long long' is george's finest hour, even ian macdonald thought so!

it did always bug me that paul didn't bother to write an actual ending for 'rocky raccoon.'

i'd keep bungalow bill and rocky raccoon, especially the latter one. those kinds of weird storybook songs, for better or worse, are part of what this album's all about. wild honey pie is pretty worthless though, in my view. xpost

the mind reels @ votes for "julia", "glass onion" & "dear prudence". especially, yeah, in light of "piggies" and "wild honey pie".

i mean, i kind of get why someone might hate, say, "blackbird" or "while my guitar gently weeps". they're arguably maudlin and overplayed to death. me, i still love 'em to death.

anthology version of 'while my guitar' is better imo. the white album demos are pretty amazing in general.

i think some people just hate george harrison and are blinded by their hatred.

the lyrics to glass onion are kind of obnoxious tbh.

yeah, but i like the music & performance too much to care. plus it's another one where childhood devotion blinds me to the flaws. seemed so mysterious to me as a kid, this song about those other songs, like there was a riddle to be solved.

kinda dopey now though

i mean, it might have been cool in the 60s when that kind of meta-textuality was an interesting novelty in pop songs. it just seems sort of disdainful of the audience's guile in a way that is annoying, and reminds me that john lennon was not the most interesting thinker ever. i hear it as him saying "you think this means anything? idiots." maybe that's the wrong reading of the song.

sorry, i meant "gullibility" not guile above

'glass onion' awesome if only for that weird sinister tone to it esp the part w/ lennon's 'oh yeah. OH. YEAH. OH YEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!' over the strings and that beat. love that the beatles not only could do beatles songs better than anyone else could they did beatles songs better than anyone also, as if dylan had decided to top mouse and the traps. groan at 'revolution 9' (predictably) getting that many votes, was gonna moan at 'birthday' getting votes for worst (and no votes for best in the other) until i saw ppl giving votes for worst to damn near anything. i mean 'julia' got two votes.

I think my least favorite song on this album is actually Yer Blues. It's fine and all but kind of generic british blues and hence doesn't have the 'special' factor almost every other song on the album has, where everything feels like a discrete, unique little short story composition. Seems much more suited to a Lennon solo album.

three people voted for long, long, long!

they were so rong....rong...rong...this time

i know the white album is the best ever because pretty much any song that gets voted as the worst sparks visceral outrage

'glass onion' awesome if only for that weird sinister tone to it esp the part w/ lennon's 'oh yeah. OH. YEAH. OH YEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!' over the strings and that beat. love that the beatles not only could do beatles songs better than anyone else could they did beatles songs better than anyone also

Harry Nilsson beat them to the punch by a year - pretty sure this is where they got the idea from given John and Paul's love for this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-3IH3T1DoE

shameful fact: I got a fraternity jersey that said "GLASS ONION" on the back.

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

Sound familiar? ;)

"Wild Honey Pie" is a classic interlude. Its placement in the sequencing on Side 1 helps to establishes the album's playful atmosphere.

A similar case could be made for "Honey Pie," but I just simply hate it as a song on its own. I would personally enjoy Side 4 a lot better if they had instead opted for "Not Guilty" or "What the New Mary Jane" or "Hey Bulldog" or "Junk" or "The Inner Light" or really anything.

so what all did Yoko do on this album...? It's weird how much I've listened to this music and still notice new details. For ex. it had never occurred to me that that's Yoko answering Paul's vocal in the "I would like you to dance/take a ch-ch-chance" bit of "Birthday". was wondering if some of the other high vocal harmonies on various songs are hers. I assume Lewinson's documented this somewhere...

She sings on "Bungalow Bill" too. Re-listening to this album it's kind of mindblowing once you've spent a few years getting to know "Plastic Ono Band", "Fly", etc. A shame The Beatles didn't just stick together and let Yoko join the band, they could've been the next Velvet Underground.

God, the sequence on this album that goes Piggies/Rocky Raccoon/Don't Pass Me By/Why Don't We Do It In The Road is really a slog.

I guess Patti Harrison also sings on "Birthday"...?

" A shame The Beatles didn't just stick together and let Yoko join the band, they could've been the next Velvet Underground"

not really

true say. shame Macca doesn't share the same view

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow6W7U-ccd0

My parents didn't own the White Album and my local library didn't have a copy of it so it ended up being one of the last Beatles albums that I got to hear, meaning I had spent several years reading about before I ever listened to it, and I was really disappointed by quite a few of these tracks. Everything I read about it made it sound so amazing, this sprawling mess of out-there weirdness, but it's more like an album and a half of really great stuff and then some outakes.

I think some of Yoko's albums actually have this out there weirdness thing that my imaginary White Album did.

Junk and Come And Get It shoulda been on it in place of Piggies and Rocky. IMO.

There's a few Beatles songs I'm not that interested in, but I thing Piggies and Rocky Racoon are the only ones that make me want to back in time and smack Harrison and McCartney around the head, Godfrey Bloom style.

make me want to go travel in time, even

to travel back in time, goddamnit

also you have to factor in the fact that they were partly responsible for multiple murder.

To all who don't like "Honey Pie", Lennon played the awesome pseudo-jazz guitar solo in it, which ought to make it immune to dislike. Somewhere I read that he played that off the cuff (just like the piano intro to OLDOLD), it wasn't like George's famous "thought-out" solos. Which makes it even more awesome because Lennon was a pretty rough 'n' ready guitarist.

i dunno, i think i'm just a white album believer at this point, it's all great

"Savoy Truffle" has become my favorite WA Harrisong.

I like Ob La Di Ob La Da, Honey Pie and Revolution 9 a lot, can't get my head around them being more unpopular than Piggies and Rocky Raccon.

Piggies has that rad harpsichord solo in it.

Terry Manning (engineer on Zep III & Tres Hombres) did a wild version of "Savoy Truffle" in 1969, it's what showed me the good news

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ4jeRWjQ0Y

i think the only WA track i could do without is the slow version of 'revolution,' lennon's wishy-washiness re: "you can count me out...IN!!!" always kind of irked me.

so the four best songs on this album include Martha My Dear eh

the Bee Gees song about Barry's dog is better fwiw

Martha My Dear is great. But that's not really how "worst song" polls work anyway.

I know and I can't remember if/what I voted for here but Martha always bugs me. Paul and his dopey cutesy shit.

It is how we should elect presidents maybe. (I'm think of the president as an involuntarily drafted service position a la one of those Arthur C Clarke novels).

so many animals on this album - raccoons, pigs, dogs, birds - what's up with that

monkey..

I also strongly dislike Martha My Dear, and I was surprised to see it show up in the top 70 in the big Beatles poll, just behind, like, Day Tripper and Can't Buy Me Love.

Martha My Dear. I like the way the guitars break in during the "take a good look around you" part. Depending on what day of the week it is Paul says it's inspired by a sheepdog, Jane Asher, and the voice in his head, his 'muse', that helps him write songs.

I'm not saying that when you look up the term "unreliable narrator" in the dictionary you see the term illustrated with a picture of Paul McCartney. I'm just saying that if you mentioned the term "unreliable narrator" to Paul, he'd tell you that he invented it.

Tiger + elephant in Bungalow Bill btw.

When we did the poll four years ago, I had "Martha My Dear" at #2 (looked it up). Didn't get a single vote otherwise. Haven't changed my mind.

Check that (same mistake I made at the time); I wasn't the only vote, but it missed the Top 60.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1ApYUxlw6I

so many animals on this album - raccoons, pigs, dogs, birds - what's up with that

― Οὖτις, Friday, April 17, 2015 6:02 PM (28 minutes ago)

Allegory, dude

Wow, that's amazing (xpost). Dave Hill looks like the Big Bang Theory guy.

The White Album is Noah's Flood but instead of an ark it's a psychedelic attic.

Did that harpsichord demo of "Something" ever come out? I remember reading George taped some stuff when they were SI'ing onto "Piggies".

I love that even later Slade also covered Moby Grape's "Omaha" and Fairport Conventions "It's alright ma it's only witchcraft" (up on youtube from the BBC collections)...and plenty more, they had pretty eclectic tastes