Ranking The Beatles
140 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago -Musician and self-described Beatles fanatic Jonathan Pretus ranked the entire recorded catalog of the Beatles, because he's a big, big nerd. Then he decided to make a podcast to talk with other people and learn about their connection with The Beatles' music.
Tune in as Jonathan and his guests, joined by his co-host/wife Julia (a more level-headed, casual fan) discuss the rankings, what they think makes each song so great (or not-so-great), and see if it really is a fool's errand to try and rank the music of the greatest band of all time. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rankingthebeatles/support
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Episodes
#87 - You Never Give Me Your Money with Tom Hunyady (co-host, 2Legs and Talk More Talk podcasts)
June 27, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 82.8 MBIn many ways, Paul McCartney is the ultimate storyteller. He's got an unparalleled ability to craft characters and a situations that are so vivid, you can't easily tell when he's hiding his own feelings and life stories in them. So when we writes a song where he's totally upfront about a situation, no story, no characters, you can bet it's something important to him. And that's what he's doing with "You Never Give Me Your Money" from Abbey Road. Maybe the first time we get. real glimpse of t...
#88 - No Reply with guest Jeff Slate (musician, journalist)
June 20, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 79.6 MBThe journey of "No Reply" is a curious one. A song John seemed to not think much of, and originally offered to another Brian Epstein-managed artist, it also was possibly slated to be the final song recorded for A Hard Day's Night. If not for Ringo's tonsillitis, who knows what would've happened with it. After spending some time with it though, and working it into a bit more interesting arrangement, it turned out to be the lead off track to the band's 4th album, and a real signpost to where t...
#89 - Lady Madonna with Davis Rogan (pianist, host DJ Davis' Tasting Notes))
June 13, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 65.4 MBAfter spending a year and half out firmly planted in psychedelia, The Beatles returned to Earth at the beginning of 1968 with "Lady Madonna," a Paul-penned tune that pays tribute to the strength of women, a topic he mines throughout his career. The song also serves an homage to New Orleans' piano legend and rock and roll trail blazer Fats Domino, and marks maybe the first time the band created their own intentional throwback to the early rock and roll of their youth. It's a grooving song wit...
#90 - The Inner Light with Caitlin Larkin (DJ, Sirius XM The Beatles Channel)
May 30, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 73.4 MBThere seems to be somewhat of a misconception of The Beatles having a really big "Indian period." In reality, there's only 3 songs that really fit that bill, and the 3rd a final one, "The Inner Light," may be the most open hearted and enlightened one. After being inspired/challenged by a scholar he met on the David Frost show, George took lyrics from the Tao Te Ching and created a gorgous song that found it's home on the b-side of the Lady Madonna single. Recorded in Bombay while working on ...
#90 - The Inner Light with Caitlin Larking (DJ, Sirius XM The Beatles Channel)
May 30, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 73.4 MBThere seems to be somewhat of a misconception of The Beatles having a really big "Indian period." In reality, there's only 3 songs that really fit that bill, and the 3rd a final one, "The Inner Light," may be the most open hearted and enlightened one. After being inspired/challenged by a scholar he met on the David Frost show, George took lyrics from the Tao Te Ching and created a gorgous song that found it's home on the b-side of the Lady Madonna single. Recorded in Bombay while working on ...
#91 - Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkee with guest Brian Marchese (host, Where's That Sound Coming From?)
May 24, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 99.9 MBThe longest titled song in the Beatles' catalogue is also one that maybe flies a bit below the radar. Buried on side 3 of the White album, "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey" is one of the heaviest rockers in the back half of their career. Inspired by the Maharishi, and also possibly by a growing drug issue, John leads the band through a frantic and hard tune with lyrics that maybe don't quite make sense. George's playing is at his heaviest and most guitar-hero, as if...
#91 - Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey with guest Brian Marchese (host, Where's That Sound Coming From?)
May 24, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 99.9 MBThe longest titled song in the Beatles' catalogue is also one that maybe flies a bit below the radar. Buried on side 3 of the White album, "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey" is one of the heaviest rockers in the back half of their career. Inspired by the Maharishi, and also possibly by a growing drug issue, John leads the band through a frantic and hard tune with lyrics that maybe don't quite make sense. George's playing is at his heaviest and most guitar-hero, as if...
BONUS! A Let It Be Podcast Roundtable Chat
May 16, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 105 MBAfter decades of hiding in the Apple vaults, the Beatles' 1970 film Let It Be is finally out! Lovingly restored thanks to Peter Jackson's team, the documentary directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg finally gets it place in the sun. What better way to celebrate than with Beatle pals!?!? We were thrilled as could be to join our pals from the Blotto Beatles, Paul or Nothing, BC The Beatles, and Fans on the Run podcasts to talk all things Let it Be. First thoughts, long time thoughts, expectations, ...
#92 - If I Needed Someone with Ethan Alexanian (host, Fans on the Run)
May 09, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 68.4 MBImagine the feeling you'd get when the band that was the inspiration for YOUR band put out a song and told everyone YOUR band inspired that song? Probably a pretty amazing feeling. That's exactly what happened when The Beatles released the George Harrison-penned "If I Needed Someone" on Rubber Soul in December 1965. George was quick to give credit to Roger McGuinn and The Byrds for the 12 string riff that propels the song, as it's a pretty direct descendant of The Byrds' "The Bells of Rhymne...
#93 - Honey Pie with Dr. Christine Feldman-Barrett, author (A Women's History of the Beatles, The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Record Store)
May 02, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 64.7 MBMuch has been discussed of Paul McCartney's love of what John Lennon called "granny music." The music of his parents' generation, British Music Hall, Vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley...you know the genre...the stuff Lennon loved to complain about when it came from Paul, but seemingly had no problem with his favorite group, Nilsson, whos stock and trade was the song tradition rooted in that era. Paul, however, loved, and still loves, music and art from that time. It gives him a chance to embody the ...
#94 - Free As A Bird with Skylar Moody (Beatles content creator, journalist)
April 25, 2024 06:00 - 1 hour - 78.4 MBSome 25 years after the Beatles' break up, new music from the band emerged via a cosmic combination of technology and enduring love...and the career-spanning Anthology project. Using a solo John piano demo, the remaining Threetles completed "Free As A Bird," a stately and beautiful track, complete with the still gorgeous Beatle harmony, brilliant lead guitar, some new lyrics by Paul and George, a bit of that trademark Beatle cheekiness...it was them, all over again. In my opinon, the song ho...
#95 - Savoy Truffle with Chris Carter (host, Breakfast with the Beatles)
December 28, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 70.4 MBAfter a few years of producing some fairly heady and serious musical output, George found himself wanting to lighten the load a bit in 1968. Not everything needed to be Within You Without You, inspiration didn't always have to be divine. It could come from anywhere, even your friends gross teeth. Thanks to his friend Eric (you know who)'s love of chocolates and disregard of dental hygiene, George came up with Savoy Truffle, an under-rated (imo) tune in which Paul and Ringo provide some of th...
#96 - It Won't Be Long with Ken Womack (author, "Living the Beatles Legend, The Untold Story of Mal Evans")
December 21, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 74.7 MBRiding high on the success of a chart topping debut album and #1 singles, the Beatles were searching for what the next big hit would be. While "It Won't Be Long" didn't turn out to be that hit, it did provide a brilliantly urgent shot with which to start their sophomore album. It absolutely fires out of the speakers, grabbing the listener immediately with a passionate lead vocal from John that volleys back and forth "yeah!" "yeah!" "yeah!"s with Paul and George. A great guitar hook, tight sy...
#97 - Good Morning, Good Morning with Red Rockers
December 14, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBIt can be tough to write songs when you're not out living real life experiences. After the Beatles stopped touring, John often found himself at home, bored and isolated from the social scenes he'd been in while on the road. But John could find inspiration in anything...posters, newspapers, even commercials. That's where he found inspiration for this rocking ode to everyday malaise that would find a home towards the end of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Driven by some gnarly sounding ...
#98 Hello Goodbye with Debbie Davis (singer, musician)
December 07, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 77.7 MB1967 was arguably the top of the mountain for the Beatles. With the Sgt. Pepper album, they provided the soundtrack that encapsulated global consciousness, while also elevating themselves beyond just a mere pop band; they were artists of the highest order. It was also the beginning of the end, with the death of Brian Epstein kicking off a long series of events that would eventually unravel the band. But by the year's end, they were just too big to fail. As such, "Hello, Goodbye" made it's ...
#99 I Will with guest Mike Viola (singer, songwriter, producer)
November 30, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 68.7 MBWe're into the top 100 songs in our rankings! We can't turn back now!! Paul McCartney seems to have a knack for making sure he finishes things. "Now and Then" is a good example; he saw something there worthwhile and though it took a couple of decades, he saw it through to completion. The same can be said for "I Will," a song for which he had a melody kicking around a long time before he was able to complete a lyric for. After tossing lyrics he worked on in India with Donovan, and after John...
#100 I Should Have Known Better with Laurie Kaye
November 29, 2023 19:43 - 52 minutes - 48.9 MBAs Paul noted in the Get Back series, The Beatles seemed to excel when their backs were against a wall. They were certainly feeling the time crunch during a several week residency in Paris in early 64. They hadn't yet conquered America, but they were due to be there in a couple of weeks. They also had their first movie on the horizon, and they had to finish writing most of the songs for the film and it's accompanying album. All while playing a bunch of shows, and trying to enjoy the fact tha...
#101 - Every Little Thing with Joe Adragna, singer, songwriter (The Junior League, The Minus 5)
November 16, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 71.1 MBWhile the exact time and place of this song seems to have been lost to the fog of 80+ years of memories, Paul does remember that he wrote this song with the thought it might end up as the Beatles next single in 1964. It seemed to lack that certain Beatle magic singles required, but it found a home on the back half of Beatles For Sale, albeit a home that maybe doesn't do it the justice it deserves. It's sneaky in a few different ways. It's got melodies and hooks for days, from the verse melod...
#103 You're Going to Lose That Girl & #102 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) with guest Mary Lasseigne
November 09, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 85.3 MBBeen a long time since we did a two-fer episode! Here we go! The Beatles often seemed to turn in some of their best work when up against a deadline. A handful of songs that would make up most the Help! album seemed to come about in short order, as the band had to write and record a big majority of the album before leaving to film. "You're Going to Lose That Girl" is one John knocked out in short order that really shows the band's growth as a unit, and represents them at maybe the most profe...
Now & Then - a round table discussion from Ranking the Beatles, Blotto Beatles, & BC The Beatles
November 06, 2023 16:30 - 1 hour - 103 MBIT'S HERE!! New Beatles music in...2023!?!?! What a time to be a Beatles fan. After blowing our collective minds with the Get Back documentary in 2021, Peter Jackson and co. have again used their MAL software to allow separation of John's vocal and piano from his original demo, solving the issue that seemed to have stalled the completion of this song in the 95 Anthology sessions. With the help of Giles Martin, Paul and Ringo have finally seen this one over the finish line, the last new Bea...
#104 - You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) with Sam Whiles, host of "Paul or Nothing"
November 01, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 77.4 MBAfter what must have been a creatively exhausting few months creating Sgt. Pepper, The Beatles blew off steam by recording a track that was more in line with the Goon Show humor they grew up loving, filled with weird voices and sound effects, creating comedic environments and asides, purely for the enjoyment of doing something that appeased them. It took them several sessions over a couple years to finish it, with Paul and John working in on it together even during some of their most tumultu...
#105 - Across The Universe with Dan Wilson (guitarist)
October 25, 2023 21:05 - 1 hour - 77.4 MBLots of songwriters point to the idea that the best songs are the ones that tend to find the you, letting the writer be the vessel or medium. Much like "Yesterday" did for Paul, "Across The Universe" seemed to come to John from within a dreamstate, appearing in his subconscious while lying in bed, almost pushing him to get up and go write down the words and find the melody that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. An absolutely gorgeous lyric no doubt influenced by the band's recent immersion ...
#106 - Baby, It's You with Chuck Gunderson, author "Some Fun Tonight"
October 19, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 58.4 MBIt almost seems a shame that the Beatles only ever recorded one Burt Bacharach song. There are arguably no finer melodicists in modern popular music than Bacharach and Lennon/McCartney. But "Baby, It's You" is the only song from his catalogue they ever laid to tape. Recorded for their first album and a product of their well documented love of girl-group R&B, it's a chance for John to show his fantastic, soulful voice. His voice really carries the track with an impassioned delivery, bolstered...
#107 - I Feel Fine with Laurence Juber (guitarist, composer, Wings)
October 10, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 72.8 MBAt the end of what was probably the busiest year they'd ever have, the Beatles needed a single for the Christmas market in 1964. They needed to churn it out while also wrapping up work on their 4th album. John picked up a riff from a Bobby Parker song and wrote what he thought was "a lousy song" around it, but nevertheless, brought it to the band. Thankfully, his fellow Beatles all had deep bags of tricks to pull from. Ringo added a latin groove straight out of "Tequila," George added a Chet...
#108 - I've Got A Feeling with Julian Fulco Perron (singer, songwriter)
October 03, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBThough the Lennon/McCartney partnership really only existed in name by 1969, the two songwriters still knew who the best person was to help complete a half-written tune. As they'd done before on songs like "We Can Work It Out" and "A Day in the Life," each brought an unfinished piece they were able to stick together to make a whole with "I've Got A Feeling," combining Paul's verse idea and John's bridge. It's a song they worked on constantly during their January '69 sessions and was the sour...
#109 I'll Cry Instead with Phoebe Lorde of Another Kind of Mind
September 26, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 73.3 MBIn early 1964, John was certainly on a hot streak as a songwriter. He had the lion's share of material on the band's 3rd album, the soundtrack to their film "A Hard Day's Night." He wrote the title song essentially on command. He was the main or sole writer on the majority of the album, and had the most lead vocals. In the film, he's presented as the cocky, confident leader of the group, an image Lennon would be saddled with to present day. Yet that image isn't really the truth. In reality, h...
#110 I Need You with guest Kit O'Toole (host of Talk More Talk & Toppermost of the Poppermost)
September 19, 2023 13:53 - 1 hour - 61.9 MBGeorge Harrison's journey as a songwriter began later than his other bandmates. After delivering his first self-penned track for the band's 2nd album, he had to rely on a Lennon/McCartney song for the 3rd, and a Carl Perkins cover on the 4th. But by the time of the Help! album, he had 2 on the table, and found his abilities starting to really grow. With "I Need You," he drops the dour, bitter persona he is sometimes known for to deliver an open, honest, vulnerable track that's economical in ...
#111 - Here, There, & Everywhere with Dave Depper (guitarist, Death Cab For Cutie)
September 12, 2023 06:05 - 1 hour - 61.3 MBThe friendly creative rivalry between the Beatles and the Beach Boys arguably hit it's peak in 1966 when the bands released two albums that routinely top "best album ever" lists, the Beatles' Revolver and the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Lennon and McCartney had been inspiring Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson to up his songwriting, and vice versa. On Revolver, this influence shines through in the harmony-laden "Here, There, and Everywhere," a song Paul managed to scribble together while waiting...
#112 - Two of Us with guests Sodajerker (Brian O'Conner & Simon Barber, songwriters and hosts of Sodajerker on Songwriting)
June 20, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 91.9 MBOne of the first songs The Beatles worked on for the Get Back sessions of 1969, Paul's "Two of Us" was inspired by his road trips to nowhere with his new love, Linda; piling in the car, picking a direction and getting lost, just for fun. When he brought it to the band, it was originally conceived as a fast, chugging rocker, with a dual harmony vocal for Paul and John to harness their inner Everly Brothers on. This is the song the band were working on when George has his infamous "I'll play w...
#113 - Piggies with guest Andre Bohren (musician, The Walrus, 1000s of others)
June 13, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 78 MBBy the time of the White Album, George Harrison had mellowed considerably, thanks in part to his immersion in meditation. His newfound enlightenment replacing the dour, bitter side that came out in earlier songs like "Don't Bother Me," or "Taxman." So it's interesting that this chilled out version of George would decide to pickup the abandoned-in-1966 song "Piggies" to complete for the band's 1968 album. But indeed he does, and with a big assist from Abbey Road engineer Chris Thomas, turns i...
#114 - Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby with guest Felix Wohlleben (guitarist, The Walrus)
June 06, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 60.7 MBThough George was still a budding songwriter in 1964, deadlines and heavy workloads meant he didn't have anything ready for the band's 4th album. John and Paul didn't seem to have the time to write him something new either, so when the clock was ticking, the band reached back into their bag of beloved covers to find a spotlight for their lead guitarist. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby, a song by one of their heroes Carl Perkins (or was it?) proved a formidable track to give George a chance ...
#115 - It's Only Love with guest David Pomerleau (bassist, The Walrus, Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes)
June 01, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBWhen you're cranking out 2 albums a year, plus singles, plus a movie, plus BBC sessions, plus tv appearance, AND touring, it can be a little difficult to crank out nothing but brilliance. While most of us hardcore Beatle fans are not quick to deride many songs in their catalog, the Beatles themselves certainly could be, and both John and Paul minced no words in describing this Help! album track. "Abominable," "Abysmal," "Lousy," and "Not literature" are just a few of the descriptors they gav...
#116 - Lovely Rita with guest Matt Hobbs (songwriter, creator of "Puppy Songs")
May 23, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 68.8 MBIt takes a certain higher level of creativity to write a song based around the more mundane and every-day-type affairs. Obviously, that's something Paul McCartney has in spades, as he was able to turn an encounter with a meter maid into the Sgt. Pepper track "Lovely Rita." A bouncing song held down with a really funky groove from Ringo, a ridiculously cool bass part from Paul, all manners of vocal effects and sounds, it's the kind of track that they Beatles could've only put out on the Sgt. ...
#117 - You Really Got A Hold On Me with guest Robert Dean (author)
May 09, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 65.7 MBThe Beatles's love of Motown is no secret. They were HUGE fans. So it's no shock that their second album featured 3 different songs from the Motown catalog. In fact, the first song cut especially for the album was their powerful cover of Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got A Hold On Me." Now, even though a business deal between Brian Epstein and Motown head Barry Gordy assured its' placement on the record, the band hold nothing back in delivering their heartfelt performance. Buoyed with a great...
#118 - She Said She Said with guest Jon Auer (The Posies, Big Star)
May 02, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 85.6 MBIf Revolver is the record where The Beatles remove any illusion to their drug use, "She Said She Said" may be one of the cornerstones of that moment. A song with origins from an evening of tripping on LSD in Los Angeles, it's a song that straddles a number of different lines. It rocks, but it's not rocking. It's psychedelic but not trippy. It's autobiographical but filled with illusion. It's probably my favorite guitar tone of all time. It's also a song that's a bit mysterious. Whoever "She" ...
#119 - I Call Your Name with guest Jude Kessler (author, "The John Lennon Series")
April 25, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 82.1 MBWhat was originally a song given away to fellow Liverpudlian singer Billy J. Kramer, "I Call Your Name" is claimed to be one of John's earliest song attempts, pre-dating the Beatles when he was first learning to play guitar. The song was spruced up with Paul for Kramer, but then reclaimed by the Beatles in early 1964 in consideration for songs for A Hard Day's Night. That plan fell by the wayside, but the track found its' home on the Long Tall Sally EP and The Beatles Second Album in the US,...
#120 - All Together Now with guest Madeline Bocaro (author, "In Your Mind - The Infinite Universe of Yoko Ono")
April 04, 2023 06:00 - 50 minutes - 46.7 MBAfter almost a half a year of intense work on the Sgt. Pepper album, it's hardly surprising that, though there was plenty of work to be done for future endeavors, the Beatles were looking to blow off some steam and take things a little bit lighter. "All Together Now," a song that even by Paul's own admission is pretty slight in the grand scheme of things, certainly fits that bill. It eventually found its' home in the Yellow Submarine film and accompanying soundtrack. In the film, it's the fi...
#121 I'll Follow The Sun with guest Julie Elody
March 30, 2023 08:31 - 1 hour - 63.2 MBIn the fall of 1964 as the Beatles began working on what would become their 4th album, Beatles for Sale, it was only a couple of months after their 3rd album hit stores. They'd been constantly touring, making their first feature film, recording BBC sessions, essentially going non-stop. Time for songwriting was becoming precious and hard to find, so consequently, they started looking back at more of their favorite covers and originals that had been pushed to the back burner. One of those was ...
#122 - Please Mr. Postman with guests Blotto Beatles
March 21, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 74.6 MBThe Beatles' love of r&b, Motown, and especially Smokey Robinson are no secret. They were such fans, their 2nd album, 1963's With The Beatles featured 3 motown covers, including "Please Mr. Postman," originally by the Marvellettes, and the first chart topping single for the Motown label. While it wasn't as big a hit in the UK, it was a hit with the Beatles, who added it to their set as early as December 1961. By the time they were working on their second album, they had turned it into a scor...
#123 - She's Leaving Home with guest Olivia Nilsson (Harry Nilsson's daughter)
March 14, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 57.8 MBLennon and McCartney were masters at finding inspiration all around them, not just from their own personal lives. On the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, John was inspired by a poster in his house and wrote "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite." Paul found inspiration in reading a news story about a young teenage runaway, and turned that into the harp and string-laden drama ballad "She's Leaving Home." Another of those great Macca Mind Movies where the story is so vivid you not onl...
#124 - I Wanna Be Your Man with guest Narada Wise (drummer, Sean Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band)
March 07, 2023 07:00 - 57 minutes - 53.4 MBFrom the moment he joined the band, Ringo's popularity meant he'd have a song or two to sing each night. This was a practice for The Beatles even when Pete Best was in the band, but once things really took off, and Lennon and McCartney were becoming more solidified songwriters, they knew it'd be good to have an original for Ringo to sing. "I Wanna Be Your Man" was written while the band was working on their second album, and according to some tellings, was written on the spot for a young, up...
#125 Fixing A Hole w/ guest Sonia Tetlow (singer, songwriter, musician)
February 28, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 55.8 MBSelf-care isn't always something that gets prioritized when we're in our 20s. But the notion of taking the time to check in with yourself, to be mindful of the things going on around and inside of you seems to be something that Paul McCartney was tuned into in 1967. He credits this with the freedom to discover himself that he found through mind-expanding stimulants of the time, namely marijuana and LSD. "Fixing A Hole" is the result of this, a metaphorical look at taking personal stock and l...
#126 - Mother Nature's Son with guest Susan Shumsky (author "The Inner Light: How India Influenced the Beatles")
December 28, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 58.3 MBOriginally sketched out in a notebook of song ideas started in Rishikesh, Paul's "Mother Nature's Son" is part of a trifecta of White Album songs where he emerges as fully formed solo artist, the only Beatle on the track. It's a beautiful acoustic-based song about the solitude and peace one finds in nature. Featuring a nice bit of Nilsson-influenced brass, it provides fantastic imagery and scenery, another of those great Beatle mind movies. And to my ears, it's also a LOT more autobiographic...
#127 - Not Guilty with guest Sam Whiles (host of "Paul or Nothing")
December 20, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 88.6 MB"We made a mistake," said John. "We thought there was more to him than there was, you know?" said Paul. After their stay in Rishikesh ended, the Beatles' overall disillusionment with the Maharishi lead to John and Paul publicly distancing themselves from the Eastern philosophy and path to enlightenment that George had lead them all to pursue. And while the unit a whole distanced themselves, marking the end of that phase for the group, George continued his practice and involvement for the res...
#128 - Baby You're A Rich Man with guest James C., host of The Oasis Podcast
December 06, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 94.3 MBThey say there's no rest for the wicked, but throughout the 60s, there was often no rest for the Beatles. As soon as work was done on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, they began working on more songs with an eye towards the recently-contracted-Yellow Submarine film. Inspired by an acid-fuled evening spent at the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream and his immersion into the hippy scene of '67, John began working on a song called "One of the Beautiful People." At some point, he paired w...
#129 - Things We Said Today with guest Laurie Jacobson (author, "Top of the Mountain: The Beatles at Shea Stadium 1965")
November 29, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 58.3 MBPaul McCartney seems to always have a fondness for looking through time. He looks to older age in songs like "When I'm 64," too his own passing in "The End of The End" from Memory Almost Full. He presents quasi case studies in the music of yesteryear with songs like "Honey Pie" or "Your Gave Me The Answer." With "Things We Said Today," he's looking to the future to look at the present, thinking that one day, what he's experiencing NOW will be but a memory. Or something like that. That's how ...
#130 - Revolution 9 with guest James Campion (author, TAKE A SAD SONG… The Emotional Currency of “Hey Jude”)
November 22, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 91.5 MBHindsight being what it is, one can only imagine the reaction listeners had when they first reached the back half of side 4 of the White Album in November 68, and the sounds of "Revolution 9" came out of their stereos for the first time. While adjectives such as "bewilderment" or "confusion" probably are safe bets, The Beatles had been sowing seeds of avant-garde & outside influence in their music since they introduced the sitar on Norwegian Wood in 1965, moving to tape loops and backwards t...
#131 - I Me Mine with guest Micah McKee (singer, songwriter)
November 15, 2022 07:00 - 56 minutes - 52.4 MBIt only took a few days of the Get Back project for George to lose any real optimism he may have entered it with. Malaise, indecision, and ego had been building for a while, and as they took root in the project, George took to pen to put down his feelings towards his song-writing bandmates’ (and humanity in general’s) egos and selfishness, the minor key “I Me Mine.” In the end, the track only features the lineup that would go on in the 90s to be coined The Threetles, as John was on holiday ...
#132 - Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey with musician Kyle Melancon (drummer, Imagination Movers, ex-Dash Rip Rock)
November 08, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 61.7 MBBy the time of Beatles for Sale at the end of '64, the band were exhausted, overworked, and for good reason. They'd been working nonstop for YEARS with a schedule that most artists would shudder at. While their previous album had been their first of all originals, this time, the tank was a bit lower than before, and the band had to revert back to covers they'd been doing since the Cavern and Hamburg days. Even though they may have been tired, they pulled out a fiery cover of Little Richard's ...
133 - Got To Get You Into My Life with guest Sean Nelson (singer, songwriter, musician)
October 25, 2022 06:00 - 1 hour - 104 MBNote: This episode was originally taped several days before the release of "Got To Get You Into My Life (Second Version/Unnumbered Mix)" from the upcoming Revolver Super Deluxe reissue. We reconvened several days after that track's release to discuss the alternate version, and how it not only compares to the original, but how it changes our perceptions of the track. That conversation has been added to the end of our ranking discussion. One of the defining traits of Revolver is the vast dif...