The second Beatles album on this list is similar to the first (Sgt. Pepper) in that its reputation and historic importance outweigh the quality of the actual songs.
They also boast the two most famous cover shots in the Beatles catalog (and perhaps in popular music history).
The first Beatles album on this list is one I’ve long considered overrated.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was a game-changing masterpiece — almost by definition — but I’ve never really loved it as a collection of songs. ‘Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite,’ ‘She’s Leaving Home,’ ‘Within You Without You,’ ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ — these songs wouldn’t make it on any Beatles mix tape I’d ever make.
For my final Beatles song, or at least my final Beatles Weekend song, I’m going with not a single track but the medley that closes side two of Abbey Road. Technically, this medley probably begins with ‘Sun King’ or even ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ — I don’t know if the band members ever clarified which songs are officially part of it — but this YouTube clip I found starts with ‘Mean Mr. Mustard.’
This is an odd little group of songs. It starts with sketches of Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam, an interesting brother and sister team… he shouts obscenities at the queen while she dresses in drag.
This weekend marks my 39th and 40th Beatles Weekend selections… five months of the Fab Four. And upon reaching that milestone, I’m going to give the boys a rest and shift my attention to another weekend theme. You’ll find out what that is one week from today.
For the final Beatles Weekend, I’m focusing on their final album, Abbey Road. Certainly one of their finest moments on record, Abbey Road features a combination of their heaviest (‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’), silliest (‘Octopus’s Garden’) and most enduring (‘Here Comes the Sun,’ ‘Something’) songs.
My older daughter, on those morning rides to school, invariably requests ‘I’ve Just Seen a Face,’ the band’s first real foray into country music in their own writing. This is one of my favorite Beatles songs as well.
I remember the first time I heard it… not so much the time or place, which are fuzzy, but the actual experience of hearing it. I remember thinking that the melody was so perfect that I must have heard it before (and I probably had without realizing it). Not to compare Plain White T’s to The Beatles, but I had the same reaction to their ‘Hey There Delilah‘ when I first heard that.
