I have had it up to here waiting for the Beatles catalogue to be remastered

I have nothing against Macca’s « fun » songs (I like « obladi », « maxwell »...).
I hate his late period « bluesy » songs !

lot of trash on this record

i love the trash

I see what you mean but when you consider the songs, one by one, there are not that many that have a dark aspect.

yeah, but when you arrange them in a sequence, as if say, on an album-

oh are we having the "the White Album: Scary or Not" argument again like we did last year around this time

lol i remember that going really well

Turrican got banned iirc

The take of "Yer Blues" on the Stones' Rock and Roll Circus is fantastic. The take on the White Album is, well, rather pale.

if anyone cares to relive that particular debacle: Tusk Vs The White Album

tusk vs the white album lmao it's like saying italian food vs mexican food

that's true because the White Album is Mexican Food and is indisputably better

Ahah yeah I remember that scary debate !

Birthday is the only song I skip. Such a piece of shit.

Don't get the hate for "Birthday" or "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" at all. They're fun, goofy, "Birthday" is one of their more cracking band performances, and they aren't exactly a slog to get through.

But then, I also can't fathom why people apparently despise "The Baby Song" on Husker Du's Flip Your Wig.

beatles at their worst when they're fun/goofy

They're called the Beatles; fun/goofy is baked in.

Who could forget their dour, glum, downbeat performances on Ed Sullivan, which bummed out a nation.

the early beatles stuff is great! they wrote great songs and were a great band

birthday and WDWDITTR are just shitty, dumb songs that no one would ever care about in a million years if they weren't by the beatles

"birthday" is such a good riff, i'll never get the hate

"Why don't we do it in the road" is cool, it's like the Sgt Peppers title track morphed into minimal blues

Yeah, the arrangement makes it. If they'd done a full-band arrangement for that, it wouldn't work at all.

it's not great, it's not awful, it's not long

I don't hate any songs on this album, but I usually skip Obla Di these days.

"I see what you mean but when you consider the songs, one by one, there are not that many that have a dark aspect. And they're mainly John's (and also George's)."

I think even Paul's songs have that tinge to them. It's just in the way the whole thing was recorded. LIke, Mother Nature's Son could be a happy song, but it doesn't sound happy. It sounds creepy. It makes me want to start a race war and kill a pregnant actress.

I’m listening to this album and right now and fuck me I absolutely love every single goddamn song on here. Even the ones everyone hates like “Bungalow Bill” and “Honey Pie”.

I can't imagine skipping any songs. "Honey Pie" is a necessary stepping stone to "Revolution 9" -- one doesn't work nearly as well on the album without the other.

people hate BUngalow Bill? I love that song!

nobody agrees about this album. there are no songs that everyone hates, just as there are no songs everyone loves.

everyone loves Dear Prudence.

don't they?

I think so?

Surely Rocky Raccoon is the most insufferable track here

Macca's cod-cowboy and stupid do-do-dos

i think tarfumes is right in using the phrase "necessary stepping stone" — that's what all of these songs feel like to me, links in a weird chain. my favorite beatles songs aren't on the white album, but the white album is my favorite beatles album.

also, "honey pie" is the most insufferable track here.

obladi is much worse than rocky racoon which at least has a cool opening chord strum

i like honey pie but I do not like his scooby-dooby improvised lyrics "i like this kind of hot kind of moooozik...." ugh

honey pie is pretty aggravating

everyone loves Dear Prudence.

I hope so but..

the one time I saw Phish they did a really nice spacey version of dear prudence
though it was a double edged sword because it was so much better than all of phish's songs

For all of John's bitter rants about Paul's "granny music," he (apparently willingly) puts down a nice solo on "Honey Pie."

that's the best part of the song aside from the intro

I was looking for Dana Carvey's McCartney impression (which is what I now generally associate "Honey Pie" with), and found this, where it's juxtaposed with McCartney talking about...Albert Ayler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz6oJjmAM3g

'Honey Pie' is by far my least favourite song on here, hearing that followed by 'Savoy Truffle' is just... ugh. 'WDWDIITR' is one that's grown on me over the years, it's not great as a standalone song but works fine in sequence. I've always quite liked 'Birthday' - love the piano bit with the phasing going into the guitar break, great vocal too. I guess my only quibble would be that '...Me and My Monkey' does a similar thing better.

This Dana Carvey bit is good too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2KQm6IaXXw

Think "Honey Pie" is brilliant. Had it in my top 20 here.

"Birthday" is one of only two decent birthday songs that isn't "Happy Birthday To You!"

For all of John's bitter rants about Paul's "granny music," he (apparently willingly) puts down a nice solo on "Honey Pie."

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, November 15, 2018 3:21 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And seriously. Imagine Paul walking into Studio 3, announcing, "I've got a song about a bloke who goes on a safari. Linda's even volunteered to sing one of the lines!"

"Birthday" is one of only two decent birthday songs that isn't "Happy Birthday To You!"

And I'm convinced that, long about the 1,000th cover of "Yesterday," Paul said to himself "How can I become even more ubiquitous?" and he went gunning for Patty & Mildred Hill.

WDWDITTR is worse than Birthday for me, mainly because for all the clear evidence that being in the Beatles was one long shagathon/weird circle jerk, something stops me thinking of Paul as a sexual being. Which is why I prefer the reading that it's about not being allowed to cross the street unsupervised.

I do like the liquid sound of George's guitar on it though, so nothing is all bad.

Yes, we can all play the 'these are the bad songs to leave off' game because it's quite a fun game. And it's fun that the Beatles album with a largest number of 'get this trash off here' tracks (for me it's WDWDITTR, Birthday, Rocky Raccoon and Piggies) is also probably now my favourite Beatles album. I guess I'm not in a polished perfection mood these days.

And seriously. Imagine Paul walking into Studio 3, announcing, "I've got a song about a bloke who goes on a safari. Linda's even volunteered to sing one of the lines!"

ahah !
"Birthday" is filler, I find the riff super cheap but there's some fun and energy in the group performance so it's ok.
"WDWDIITR" is just nothing. A jam that shouldn't have made the cut and appeared on bootlegs then on the Anthology or something.
I hate the melody and the performance is so weak/lazy...
anyway, yeah, the fun thing about this album is that nobody agrees about the worst songs (and indeed, "Dear Prudence" might be the only one everybody loves).

my favorite beatles songs aren't on the white album, but the white album is my favorite beatles album.

Yeah, I kinda agree although I'm not sure it's my favourite album.

As for the creepy aspect of the album, without going back to THAT debate it might have to do more with the sound/production than with the songs themselves.
And actually I have always thought this album sounded bad compared to their previous and following stuff : I mean, compared to Revolver/Pepper/Abbey Road, the bass often sounds awful. The drums too.
What happened in the studio for that one ??