Tag Archives: The Beatles

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Song of the Day #521: ‘Helter Skelter’ – The Beatles

Ben Folds once said that every band in the world formed by taking some piece of what The Beatles did and turning it into their own thing. According to his theory, The Beatles are the superset from which all popular music is derived.

It’s a good theory and one that’s easy to support when you listen to just about any modern pop or rock band. I’ve read a lot of praise of Radiohead recently, about how their output in the 00’s revolutionized popular music… but is there really anything on Kid A that doesn’t sound a little bit like ‘Tomorrow Never Knows,’ ‘A Day in the Life’ or ‘Revolution 9?’ Give me a break.

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Song of the Day #520: ‘Mother Nature’s Son’ – The Beatles

It’s funny how now matter what Beatles song you pull up on YouTube or elsewhere on the Web, you’ll always find several people who consider it their favorite song.

I suppose, given the long tail of the World Wide Web, that’s the case with pretty much any song by any artist. I could probably post an obscure B-side by a band that put out one poorly-received album in the 90s and find somebody who wants it played at his funeral.

But when it comes to The Beatles, I can understand it. Just about every one of their songs is worthy of being somebody’s favorite.

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Song of the Day #514: ‘Day Tripper’ – The Beatles

Here’s the flip side of that double-A single I mentioned yesterday, and while ‘Day Tripper’ wasn’t as big a hit as ‘We Can Work It Out’ (and isn’t as good a song) it’s still an excellent tune.

John was the principal author of ‘Day Tripper,’ though there are conflicting accounts about how much of a role Paul played. It’s funny how the two men are in agreement about the authorship of so many of their songs but once in awhile you come upon one that they can’t seem to agree on. Just a case of fuzzy memories, I suppose, because it’s not like either man needed a bigger piece of ‘Day Tripper’ to solidify his songwriting bona fides.

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Song of the Day #513: ‘We Can Work It Out’ – The Beatles

This weekend I’ll highlight two more of The Beatles’ non-album tracks, starting with the more popular song on their 1965 double-A side release of ‘We Can Work It Out’ and ‘Day Tripper.’

Though Lennon and McCartney shared songwriting credit on every one of their songs, it was very rare that they actually collaborated. ‘We Can Work It Out’ was one of those infrequent collaborations — Paul wrote the verses and chorus while John contributed the bridge (“Life is very hard and there’s no time…”). For that reason, and because it’s so damn good, this is generally considered one of the band’s best songs.

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Song of the Day #507: ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’ – The Beatles

Here’s the “favorite song” from Please Please Me I alluded to yesterday. There’s something so simple and lovely about this tune, which you can say about so many great Beatles songs. And I love the use of the intro before the main melody kicks in… similar to Lennon’s opening to ‘If I Fell.’

George Harrison handled lead vocals on this one. Normally George sang only on the tracks he wrote (about two per album, starting with the band’s second release) but he also handled several of the covers (‘Devil in Her Heart’ is a standout among that group) and occasionally, as in the case of today’s song, John and Paul let him take the lead on one of their compositions.

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