Ten From the Beatles: Their Worst Songs
Right from the start, this one will be controversial. Someone will read this, see a song he or she really likes and become outraged. I have seen other lists like this and have always found them lacking and by lacking I mean WRONG! Of course, it is this kind of passionate discussion that makes these exercises enjoyable. So, let me know where you disagree, and what you would put on the list instead.
First, a few ground rules. I am only considering original compositions from the group’s 1962-1970 recordings. This excludes cover songs (and there are some lousy ones there such as “Mr. Moonlight” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy”) as well as post-break up releases (LOTS of Anthology stinkers to choose from such as “What’s the New Mary Jane” and “If You’ve Got Trouble”). I’m also excluding song snippets such as “Dig It,” “Wild Honey Pie,” or “Her Majesty.” The idea is to take a good look as fully realized, proper songs with a critical eye and determine what was not up to snuff. And as a final rule, I will not be considering “Revolution 9.” Yes, it is the track most likely to top lists such as these, but strictly speaking it is not a song, and it does occupy a critical place on the White Album regardless of whether most people like it or not (or have even listened to it).
With that in mind, let’s get to the worst songs ever released by the Fab Four. Here they are in chronological order:
“Hold Me Tight” (With the Beatles)
This McCartney composition was a trouble spot for the band, and it shows. They tried to record the song for their first album, only to abandon and later resurrect it for their sophomore effort. Paul’s vocal sounds out of tune at times, the bridge is a mess, and the mix is awful. You can hear the potential, perhaps explaining why they tried so many times to get it right. They just never did. Kudos to George, however, for a complicated guitar part which he plays live while singing backing vocals with nary a mistake.
“When I Get Home” (A Hard Day’s Night)
Lennon was absolutely on fire during the time of “A Hard Day’s Night,” penning most of the songs from the film and dominating a record that is rightly considered their first true masterpiece. This makes it all the more puzzling that this number ends up as the only black mark on an otherwise perfect pop record. Was McCartney really struggling that much? (Though he contributes three absolute classics – “And I Love Her,” “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Things We Said Today” – those are his only tunes on the 13-track collection.) Regardless, the Beatles’ catalog would not be hurt had this number never seen the light of day. The “Woah-oh-oh-IIIIIIIIII!” of the chorus is grating, and the less said about loving her “’til the cows come home” the better. It is the only song to skip on the album, and I skip it every time. If I never hear the horrendous line “Come on if you please, I’ve got no time for trivialities” again it will be too soon.
“She’s a Woman” (B-side of “I Feel Fine”)
Someone out there will be appalled that I list “She’s a Woman” as one of the Beatles’ worst songs, but it is here mostly due to its dreadful opening couplet: “My love don’t give me presents. I know that she’s no peasant.” Good grief. And not content at that, McCartney foists the line upon us multiple times. Such a throwaway was this song, there are numerous errors in the guitar part, including a couple of occasions where whomever is playing those off-the-beat chords *misses the strings entirely* and leaves a blank hole for no apparent reason other than sloppiness. The song does include one of the group’s earliest specific drug references in using the phrase “turn me on,” a similar line to “A Day in the Life’s” “I’d love to turn you on,” which would get that song banned just a couple of years later.
“It’s Only Love” (Help!)
This Lennon number from “Help!” just isn’t a very good song. In later years (the Playboy interviews), John was a harsh critic of his own work, sometimes overly so. But in this case, he had it pretty much spot on (“I always thought it was a lousy song. The lyrics are abysmal. I always hated it.”). Look no further than verse two for proof: “Just the sight of you makes nighttime bright, very bright” – ughh. But much of side two of that record shows signs of filler needed to flesh out an album – and signs that the band was beginning to tire of their non-stop schedules. Regardless, I am with John. This is a lousy song.
“Run for Your Life” (Rubber Soul)
The final track on “Rubber Soul” is another of Lennon’s low points. The message of the song is this: Be true to me or I will kill you. And not in the outlaw Johnny Cash kind of way, just in the “I am a big jerk” kind of way. Through the years the author was consistently dismissive of the track (“Sort of a throwaway,” “I didn’t think it was that important,” “I never liked it,” “I always hated that one” and “it was phony”) and again I agree. Perhaps the times were different such that no one really noticed the subject matter or didn’t care, and I am not the hypersensitive type, particularly where art is concerned. It is just not a very good song – the unquestioned blemish on an otherwise incredible album.
“She’s Leaving Home” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band)
A Paul number that sometimes occupies high rankings among the groups’ BEST songs, I must take issue. While the melody is lovely, the story touching, and the back and forth between John and Paul a great touch, it is the music that lets down an otherwise strong composition. George Martin’s orchestrations were always so good, we tend to take them for granted. His imaginative reinterpretations of melody and subtle touches create a sound that perfectly compliment the songs and never overwhelm them. Just consider his work on “I am the Walrus” or “Yesterday.” And this is the problem with “She’s Leaving Home.” Martin was not available when Paul wanted to arrange and record the song, so he stepped out on the bands’ longtime producer. The results are overly pretentious and dominate the song. Had McCartney waited on Martin, the results would no doubt be much better. It’s a rare misstep from Paul during his Beatle days that would have best been left to Martin’s subtle touch. Add to this the bizarre version differences between mono and stereo (the mono is so speeded up it sounds like the record is playing at the wrong speed) and you have a mess of a recording that could have been much more than it was.
“Blue Jay Way” (Magical Mystery Tour EP)
I love George Harrison. He is my favorite Beatle and perhaps the one most responsible for the group’s sound (his solo work is the most “Beatley”). I love his Indian compositions and his wry wit, but I do not love “Blue Jay Way.” The other-worldly moaning is unsettling, the lyrics are banal (“please don’t be long, please don’t you be very long, please don’t be long or I may be asleep”), and despite a decent sequence in the “Magical Mystery Tour” movie, the song just bores me. I’d much rather they had included “It’s All Too Much” in its place.
“All You Need is Love” (Magical Mystery Tour EP)
You probably love this song, so I am sorry. Yes, the “One World” event was a seminal 1967 moment, and yes, the flower-power is heavy here. But this is perhaps the most overrated song in the Beatles’ catalog, venerated for no reason other than the fact that it was 1967 and it suited the day. Time has not been kind to this, the most dated of the bands compositions and taken on its own merit, it is a weak track. The best thing about it remains the performance, but the song itself simply fails to rise to the occasion. Perhaps the lackluster result stems from the speedy way the song was thrown together – or maybe the whole psychedelia thing was simply starting to grow passé to John. After all, a full two years prior the band had recorded a much more successful attempt in the genre (“The Word” from Rubber Soul), effectively pre-creating what by 1967 had become so mainstream it would soon dissipate.
“Don’t Pass Me By” (The Beatles aka The White Album)
Ringo had been kicking this title around for years and finally finished it into his first proper song (following partial writing credits for “What Goes On” and “Flying”). This song, like “She’s Leaving Home,” exists in two versions at radically different speeds with the mono version flying along so fast it sounds like the drummer is on speed. And helium. It’s fine as a place holder on the White Album, and they “had to” have a Ringo song on disc 1, but how much better would an already fantastic record be if this had been scrapped in favor of adding George’s “Not Guilty” somewhere?
“For You Blue” (Let it Be)
There’s nothing particularly terrible about George’s 12-bar blues from January 1969. Under different circumstances it would be an inoffensive attempt at the genre with a nice slide guitar (played by John no less). But two things combine to land “For You Blue” on this list. First, the piano is mixed so loudly and is so boringly played it grates on the nerves. For someone of Paul’s level on the keys (see “Lady Madonna” or “Martha My Dear”), it is an embarrassing performance. Second, and more importantly, is the reason this number ended up on the record in the first place. The Beatles had rejected “All Things Must Pass” despite George’s best attempts and persuasions for group to record the song. Upon seeing such an excellent composition ignored by John and Paul, the guitarist pulled his good material from consideration and saved it for his debut solo masterpiece of the same name. Fortunately, he relented and offered A-level material later in the year for Abbey Road (“Something” and “Here Comes the Sun,” perhaps his two best Beatles tracks), but the inclusion of “For You Blue” is a reminder that the short shrift George was receiving was little more than another nail in the group’s coffin and the quality of the finished product suffers because of it. I marvel that almost five decades later, a definitive and accurate portrait of the “Get Back” sessions does not exist. But mostly I still can’t reconcile how Lennon and McCartney could hear “All Things Must Pass” and think it wasn’t good enough to record – especially given the struggles the drug-addled Lennon was having in coming up with decent material at the time.
Jb
#fabfour
#beatles
First, a few ground rules. I am only considering original compositions from the group’s 1962-1970 recordings. This excludes cover songs (and there are some lousy ones there such as “Mr. Moonlight” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy”) as well as post-break up releases (LOTS of Anthology stinkers to choose from such as “What’s the New Mary Jane” and “If You’ve Got Trouble”). I’m also excluding song snippets such as “Dig It,” “Wild Honey Pie,” or “Her Majesty.” The idea is to take a good look as fully realized, proper songs with a critical eye and determine what was not up to snuff. And as a final rule, I will not be considering “Revolution 9.” Yes, it is the track most likely to top lists such as these, but strictly speaking it is not a song, and it does occupy a critical place on the White Album regardless of whether most people like it or not (or have even listened to it).
With that in mind, let’s get to the worst songs ever released by the Fab Four. Here they are in chronological order:
“Hold Me Tight” (With the Beatles)
This McCartney composition was a trouble spot for the band, and it shows. They tried to record the song for their first album, only to abandon and later resurrect it for their sophomore effort. Paul’s vocal sounds out of tune at times, the bridge is a mess, and the mix is awful. You can hear the potential, perhaps explaining why they tried so many times to get it right. They just never did. Kudos to George, however, for a complicated guitar part which he plays live while singing backing vocals with nary a mistake.
“When I Get Home” (A Hard Day’s Night)
Lennon was absolutely on fire during the time of “A Hard Day’s Night,” penning most of the songs from the film and dominating a record that is rightly considered their first true masterpiece. This makes it all the more puzzling that this number ends up as the only black mark on an otherwise perfect pop record. Was McCartney really struggling that much? (Though he contributes three absolute classics – “And I Love Her,” “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Things We Said Today” – those are his only tunes on the 13-track collection.) Regardless, the Beatles’ catalog would not be hurt had this number never seen the light of day. The “Woah-oh-oh-IIIIIIIIII!” of the chorus is grating, and the less said about loving her “’til the cows come home” the better. It is the only song to skip on the album, and I skip it every time. If I never hear the horrendous line “Come on if you please, I’ve got no time for trivialities” again it will be too soon.
“She’s a Woman” (B-side of “I Feel Fine”)
Someone out there will be appalled that I list “She’s a Woman” as one of the Beatles’ worst songs, but it is here mostly due to its dreadful opening couplet: “My love don’t give me presents. I know that she’s no peasant.” Good grief. And not content at that, McCartney foists the line upon us multiple times. Such a throwaway was this song, there are numerous errors in the guitar part, including a couple of occasions where whomever is playing those off-the-beat chords *misses the strings entirely* and leaves a blank hole for no apparent reason other than sloppiness. The song does include one of the group’s earliest specific drug references in using the phrase “turn me on,” a similar line to “A Day in the Life’s” “I’d love to turn you on,” which would get that song banned just a couple of years later.
“It’s Only Love” (Help!)
This Lennon number from “Help!” just isn’t a very good song. In later years (the Playboy interviews), John was a harsh critic of his own work, sometimes overly so. But in this case, he had it pretty much spot on (“I always thought it was a lousy song. The lyrics are abysmal. I always hated it.”). Look no further than verse two for proof: “Just the sight of you makes nighttime bright, very bright” – ughh. But much of side two of that record shows signs of filler needed to flesh out an album – and signs that the band was beginning to tire of their non-stop schedules. Regardless, I am with John. This is a lousy song.
“Run for Your Life” (Rubber Soul)
The final track on “Rubber Soul” is another of Lennon’s low points. The message of the song is this: Be true to me or I will kill you. And not in the outlaw Johnny Cash kind of way, just in the “I am a big jerk” kind of way. Through the years the author was consistently dismissive of the track (“Sort of a throwaway,” “I didn’t think it was that important,” “I never liked it,” “I always hated that one” and “it was phony”) and again I agree. Perhaps the times were different such that no one really noticed the subject matter or didn’t care, and I am not the hypersensitive type, particularly where art is concerned. It is just not a very good song – the unquestioned blemish on an otherwise incredible album.
“She’s Leaving Home” (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band)
A Paul number that sometimes occupies high rankings among the groups’ BEST songs, I must take issue. While the melody is lovely, the story touching, and the back and forth between John and Paul a great touch, it is the music that lets down an otherwise strong composition. George Martin’s orchestrations were always so good, we tend to take them for granted. His imaginative reinterpretations of melody and subtle touches create a sound that perfectly compliment the songs and never overwhelm them. Just consider his work on “I am the Walrus” or “Yesterday.” And this is the problem with “She’s Leaving Home.” Martin was not available when Paul wanted to arrange and record the song, so he stepped out on the bands’ longtime producer. The results are overly pretentious and dominate the song. Had McCartney waited on Martin, the results would no doubt be much better. It’s a rare misstep from Paul during his Beatle days that would have best been left to Martin’s subtle touch. Add to this the bizarre version differences between mono and stereo (the mono is so speeded up it sounds like the record is playing at the wrong speed) and you have a mess of a recording that could have been much more than it was.
“Blue Jay Way” (Magical Mystery Tour EP)
I love George Harrison. He is my favorite Beatle and perhaps the one most responsible for the group’s sound (his solo work is the most “Beatley”). I love his Indian compositions and his wry wit, but I do not love “Blue Jay Way.” The other-worldly moaning is unsettling, the lyrics are banal (“please don’t be long, please don’t you be very long, please don’t be long or I may be asleep”), and despite a decent sequence in the “Magical Mystery Tour” movie, the song just bores me. I’d much rather they had included “It’s All Too Much” in its place.
“All You Need is Love” (Magical Mystery Tour EP)
You probably love this song, so I am sorry. Yes, the “One World” event was a seminal 1967 moment, and yes, the flower-power is heavy here. But this is perhaps the most overrated song in the Beatles’ catalog, venerated for no reason other than the fact that it was 1967 and it suited the day. Time has not been kind to this, the most dated of the bands compositions and taken on its own merit, it is a weak track. The best thing about it remains the performance, but the song itself simply fails to rise to the occasion. Perhaps the lackluster result stems from the speedy way the song was thrown together – or maybe the whole psychedelia thing was simply starting to grow passé to John. After all, a full two years prior the band had recorded a much more successful attempt in the genre (“The Word” from Rubber Soul), effectively pre-creating what by 1967 had become so mainstream it would soon dissipate.
“Don’t Pass Me By” (The Beatles aka The White Album)
Ringo had been kicking this title around for years and finally finished it into his first proper song (following partial writing credits for “What Goes On” and “Flying”). This song, like “She’s Leaving Home,” exists in two versions at radically different speeds with the mono version flying along so fast it sounds like the drummer is on speed. And helium. It’s fine as a place holder on the White Album, and they “had to” have a Ringo song on disc 1, but how much better would an already fantastic record be if this had been scrapped in favor of adding George’s “Not Guilty” somewhere?
“For You Blue” (Let it Be)
There’s nothing particularly terrible about George’s 12-bar blues from January 1969. Under different circumstances it would be an inoffensive attempt at the genre with a nice slide guitar (played by John no less). But two things combine to land “For You Blue” on this list. First, the piano is mixed so loudly and is so boringly played it grates on the nerves. For someone of Paul’s level on the keys (see “Lady Madonna” or “Martha My Dear”), it is an embarrassing performance. Second, and more importantly, is the reason this number ended up on the record in the first place. The Beatles had rejected “All Things Must Pass” despite George’s best attempts and persuasions for group to record the song. Upon seeing such an excellent composition ignored by John and Paul, the guitarist pulled his good material from consideration and saved it for his debut solo masterpiece of the same name. Fortunately, he relented and offered A-level material later in the year for Abbey Road (“Something” and “Here Comes the Sun,” perhaps his two best Beatles tracks), but the inclusion of “For You Blue” is a reminder that the short shrift George was receiving was little more than another nail in the group’s coffin and the quality of the finished product suffers because of it. I marvel that almost five decades later, a definitive and accurate portrait of the “Get Back” sessions does not exist. But mostly I still can’t reconcile how Lennon and McCartney could hear “All Things Must Pass” and think it wasn’t good enough to record – especially given the struggles the drug-addled Lennon was having in coming up with decent material at the time.
Jb
#fabfour
#beatles
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
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