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Worst Beatles Song
19 September 2015
5.26am
Wigwam
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SaxonMothersSon said

Wigwam said
Question……….

Can anyone say……hand on heart. that The Long And Winding Road ……….is not as good as ‘Act Naturally ‘?

Actually, that’s a Buck Owens song that Ringo and George liked, country boys that they were. It was not written by a Beatle. Unfortunately, Long and Whiny was….

Yes that’s true……..I posted a video of Buck and his Buckeroos elsewhere……

 

Point is Saxon……..Which song do you hand on heart prefer?

 

I ask in hope!!

14 October 2015
2.24am
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Shamrock Womlbs
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i have another “worst” song to add (apart from “The Long And Winding Road “) and it’s “Baby’s In Black ” … i really can’t deal with it… everything sounds so wrong produced to me… like if it was done in a hurry… and the music never touched me anyways…

"I Need You by George Harrison"

14 October 2015
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georgiewood
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Come to think of it, I agree that Baby is pretty bad. I do think it is a long way (maybe a long and winding way) from the worst, however.

I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did'.
Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake, 1997

14 October 2015
12.38pm
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Jolly Jimmy
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This isn’t a worst song per se, but it gets my vote as the worst influence the Beatles gave song wise.  That would be the long “na na” chorus that takes up half of Hey Jude

Don’t get me wrong.  I like all 7+ minutes of Hey Jude .  But I don’t like the way it prompted other artists to record what they conceive as their own magnus opus epic song featuring lots of endless repetition that gets on my nerves.  Some examples which come to mind are:

1)  Hot Love by T. Rex –    This could have been a rock classic, but it is spoiled by way too many  “la la la la la la la” choruses at the end.  Marc Bolan would have been better off ending song much earlier

2)  The World Is A Ghetto by War  – I can see why there had to be a short version for AM radio.  The long version seems to just add on the band repeating song title over and over.  Okay, we get the point

3)  Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen – I get impatient with the way he just keeps going “All right”  over and over as main riff just keeps repeating.  Another example of stretching a song longer than necessary.

All of these songs could have been at least a minute shorter with time devoted on their album to other songs.

You know what I mean?  Do you have other examples like this?

PS:  Sorry if this is too much off topic.  I don’t know where else to put it.

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14 October 2015
2.04pm
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Zig
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I feel your pain on all of those examples. There are times I feel that way about the middle of John’s ‘Well Well Well’. There’s a nearly 2 minute stretch that could have been condensed. I love the song and put up with that 2 minutes, but…

To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.

15 October 2015
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sigh butterfly
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@Jolly Jimmy I know what you mean about the Hey Jude coda. When the song comes on the radio I usually only last one go around before switching the station. I will say though in the late sixties that was a favorite part of the song to jam to. I recall everyone at the party screaming the na-na-nas at the top of their lungs on into the night. Just when you thought it was over someone who holler “C’mon Jude” and the song would start again.

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Longer than the road that stretches out ahead

15 October 2015
6.51pm
Wigwam
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Actually there’s hardly any repetition in Paul’s extemporised singing……..(They were aping MacArther’s (sp) Park for length)…..Paul needed a long chant to get it to within 10 secs of the other song’s length.

I agree though. Once  I had learnt all of Paul’s bits my attention would falter long before the song ends…..And i’d switch over to Revolution .

Same as Donovan’s Atlantis which is a right load of old cod’s-wollop ……….Though I thought it an opus at the time.

15 October 2015
7.42pm
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Jolly Jimmy
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Some people may also not like the long ending to I Want You (She’s So Heavy). I even heard it faded out on the radio once.  But at least there we have a subtle musical buildup as the distortion gets louder. So it’s not total repetition like the examples I gave earlier.   Donovan’s Atlantis is indeed another great example I should have thought of.

Grand Funk Railroad keeps singing “I’m getting closer to my home” in Closer To Home.  But that one’s okay since the music in the background keeps building up to a crescendo. 

The long na na in Hey Jude was a novel idea when it came out.  But at least it was on a 45.  If on an album, I’d think that was space that could have been used for another song.  But on the other hand, it’s certainly great in a live setting to get the audience to sing along and have fun. 

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15 October 2015
8.29pm
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trcanberra
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^ na – too long in any setting for mine 🙂

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15 October 2015
8.52pm
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It depends on how the song is taken to be at such a length. I rarely seek out ‘Hey Jude ‘ but i love it when i do as i get a true sense of unity through it – tho i hate how its done by Paul in concert when he gets different groups of people to sing, far too cheesy.

John’s throat-wrenching vocal and the band rocking saves ‘Well Well Well’ but I have to be in the right frame of mind (needs to be too played very loud), and the same with version 1 of ‘Isn’t It A Pity ‘ which does go on.

Not repetitious but one track that lasts an eternity is Meat Loafs ‘I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) which runs for 12 minutes. Strangely the radio (5:22) and video (7:43) edits are nowhere near as good as its such an over-the-top recording i need it all. Same goes for ‘It’s All Too Much ‘ where if playing it i’d rather have the 8:22 full track over the 6:22 edit which i find too long (yeah, that’s stupid considering its shorter) and the 2:31 film edit.

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15 October 2015
9.03pm
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lillo78 said
i have another “worst” song to add (apart from “The Long And Winding Road “) and it’s “Baby’s In Black ” … i really can’t deal with it… everything sounds so wrong produced to me… like if it was done in a hurry… and the music never touched me anyways…

For my very first post on this site I have to jump in and defend Baby’s In Black . The “Oh how long will it take….” bit is a tiny taste of early Beatles musical scrumptiousness. The rest is pretty good too.

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Shamrock Womlbs
16 October 2015
6.35am
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Welcome to the forum @MarthaMyDear  : ) glad you like that song, and glad you let us know! : )

"I Need You by George Harrison"

17 October 2015
12.39am
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My kneejerk response to the question “what is the worst Beatles song” would be to say “that’s an oxymoron”. But then, I start thinking “number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine…..”

 

I don’t know if Revolution 9 qualifies as bad. I am completely unfamiliar with avant garde art, so I don’t know what makes something of that category good or bad. But my ears tell me that to me, it’s the worst song they made. If someone wants to torture me, that one would be a good tool to fray my nerves.

 

There are others I’m not as fond of as the majority of their catalog. Bungalow Bill springs to mind, as do Blue Jay Way , Wild Honey Pie , Love You To , and a few others. But none of those compare to Number 9…. Number 9…. Number 9…..

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trcanberra

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17 October 2015
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JPM-Fangirl said I don’t know if Revolution 9 qualifies as bad.

If you don’t like it then it is bad in your world. 

I think it’s better than John Yoko. That gave me a headache.

https://youtu.be/52nwiTs7bk8

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20 October 2015
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Linde
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Jolly Jimmy said
This isn’t a worst song per se, but it gets my vote as the worst influence the Beatles gave song wise.  That would be the long “na na” chorus that takes up half of Hey Jude

Don’t get me wrong.  I like all 7+ minutes of Hey Jude .  But I don’t like the way it prompted other artists to record what they conceive as their own magnus opus epic song featuring lots of endless repetition that gets on my nerves.  Some examples which come to mind are:

1)  Hot Love by T. Rex –    This could have been a rock classic, but it is spoiled by way too many  “la la la la la la la” choruses at the end.  Marc Bolan would have been better off ending song much earlier

2)  The World Is A Ghetto by War  – I can see why there had to be a short version for AM radio.  The long version seems to just add on the band repeating song title over and over.  Okay, we get the point

3)  Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen – I get impatient with the way he just keeps going “All right”  over and over as main riff just keeps repeating.  Another example of stretching a song longer than necessary.

All of these songs could have been at least a minute shorter with time devoted on their album to other songs.

You know what I mean?  Do you have other examples like this?

PS:  Sorry if this is too much off topic.  I don’t know where else to put it.

Here’s another great example for you: All Around The World by Oasis. It’s a ridiculous 10 minutes song with loads of nanana’s. It screams coke and arrogance.

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Jolly Jimmy
20 October 2015
10.56am
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Bongo
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Did I mention Revolution 9 ?????two-virgins

  Screen-Shot-2022-10-04-at-7.52.07-PM.png   BEATLES Music gives me Eargasms!  apple01

20 October 2015
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Did i mention that ‘Revolution 9 ‘ isnt a song, its a sound-collage?

I dont know why but its one of those that bugs me – that’s calling it a song. Sorry.

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

20 October 2015
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meanmistermustard said
Did i mention that ‘Revolution 9 ‘ isnt a song, its a sound-collage?

Can’t it be both?

https://youtu.be/52nwiTs7bk8

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20 October 2015
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Annadog40 said

meanmistermustard said
Did i mention that ‘Revolution 9 ‘ isnt a song, its a sound-collage?

Can’t it be both?

No

9049491.gifImage Enlarger

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

20 October 2015
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It’d be like calling Beethoven’s 5th a “song” when it clearly isn’t. Music comes in many forms, and the “song” form is just one of the many. Revolution 9 , a sound collage as mmm says, fits most easily into the “musique concrète” form. One thing it most definitely isn’t is a “song”.

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