I just as an exercise tried to whittle down my 10 least favorite, and Blue Jay Way is my least on that album but had enough to keep it out of the bottom 10.
Blue Jay Way, like many of his songs, lacks any time spent into making it a good production. The rhythm track was recorded in 1 take. It just feels like they tried to rush over and finish his songs as quickly as they could so they could move on to their own recording endeavors, and it shows. The production on some Harrisongs is downright lousy, in my opinion.
The Beatles are kind of like Mozart. The “bad songs” are more like failed yet interesting attempts but very much a worthwhile listen to get the greater context of their songwriting genius. What’s crazy is the Beatles gave away more hits than their relatively small number of “bad songs”.
As someone who has conducted great Mozart works, such as Don Giovanni, Magic Flute, Marriage of Figaro and the late symphonies I can say that there is also "bad Mozart". It's true that comparing the Beatles to Mozart may not be the best choice. Lennon in particular despised opera, and could not sit through even a few minutes of a live operatic production. Mozart was a singular genius who did not need a "producer" "arranger" or "orchestrator". He was not however a lyricist, so he did have a writing partner for his operas, either da Ponte or in the case of Magic Flute Schickaneder. (The opera seria works are another matter. Those were long standing texts written by Metastasio, who by today's standards is not considered a good writer.) In any event the blistering 3 minute Lennon song lyric is a completley different animal than even the best Mozart aria text. By the same token the layers of counterpoint in a Mozart operatic sextet blow anything John and Paul conceived away in terms of musical complexity. It really is apples and oranges. I am a fan of both.
@@canalesworks1247 Thank you for this interesting and informative post. As one who studied classical voice (back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, lol), I can tell you I enjoyed singing Beatles songs almost equally with warbling Mozart arias. Have to admit, though, that when it came to performing, "Martha My Dear", for example, was just a weence easier than The Queen of the Night's Vengeance Aria. 😉
I LOVE You Know My Name (Look up the Number)! I'm with Paul here. Actually one of my favourites. I disagree with most of these top 10 picks, but everybody does indeed have their own likes and dislikes. Love your background stories however. Happy Easter sir.
There was a burger joint I used to frequent in the 1990s. They stubbornly held on to a vinyl 45 jukebox way longer than anyone else. They had a Let It Be single in there. Made the point of playing You Know My Name EVERY TIME. Not sure if I pissed off anyone else, but I sure enjoyed it.
@@captainape6807 Hearing the ska break in that version was a revelation for sure! Then I finally saw the complete Around the Beatles with ska legend Millie "My Boy Lollipop" Small as a guest, and it all made sense.
I like it. My first exposure to it was that silly Bee Gees & Peter Frampton movie in the 70's. When I discovered it on Abbey Road, I found an appreciation for it. Not a bad track on that album.
Personally i have always enjoyed the track, some people just cant take dark humor or anything that deviates from the norm. To each their own ,but i can appreciate Love me Do and Maxwell for what they are.
I love Maxwell's Silverhammer. English isn't my native language so when I heard it as a child I didn't understand the lyrics but the melody always made me happy. Decades later when I had learned English and actually got the lyrics, I found the clash between the happy melody and the dark lyrics hilarious.
Interestingly, Helter skelter was the opposite. Heavy heavy tune with fluffy lyrics (taking a ride on a playground slide?). But no one really talks about that.
People didn't like it also because John lifted that one line from Baby, Let's Play House. John himself didn't like it for that same reason. Also, the rather vicious vibe, I suppose. Personally, I've always loved the song.
Nobody had a problem with Run For Your Life until the last couple decades. Even as a 8 year old kid listening to the song I knew the singer was just joking around. It's a good song.
Funny thing is, Nobody Sued John from the Elvis estate for this but when he lifted "Here come old Flat top" for Come Together....Chuck Berry nailed him.
Hot Take here: The album Help! is 5 or 6 really good songs and filler. But, what do I know? One of my favorite albums is Beatles For Sale. Ok. Im ready to be stoned.
I CANNOT stand how Blue Jay Way is on most of these lists. It’s one of the greatest psychedelic songs of all time. Such a spooky/trippy vibe, It’s one George should’ve been very proud of.
Not only is it a great song but I love the mono and stereo mixes with the mono dropping the backward effects…the stereo version with effects in headphones is genius…very underrated song
Was just gonna say this. Both George's and John's performances are stellar. It's first class honky-tonk, funky and crunchy. You can tell they had fun recording this song.
There aren't really any Beatles songs that I don't like. I just happen to like some more than others. I appreciate and love them all. Thank you again, Andrew ! Great video.
I always liked maxwells silver hammer but the rest of the ten I could whole heartedly agree would be better if they weren’t on any Beatles albums. The fact that the white album is so marred by bad songs is a constant trouble to me.
I didn't pay much attention to this song in Help! But when I got the US Album (I think Beatles VI) it's like I listened to it with new ears and it's a really good song.
The full version of You Know My Name is one of my favorite tracks, you can feel the energy of John and Paul's friendship even at a time when their relationship wasn't at their best (mid 1969). The fact that they decided to pick up a track from two years prior and spend a day adding silly voices to it, just to have fun, is still amazing to me.
The song was mostly recorded in May 1967, just two weeks before the release of Sgt. Pepper. John and Paul were clearly getting along just fine during that period. I've always loved it too.
@@GusMozart1 AFAIK just the backing track (which they kept coming back to every few months). The vocals were recorded by Paul and John in a single session in late April 1969
When I was in high school my younger brother, at my encouragement, called the local station in NYC, WABC, and requested that song. I remember the DJ praising him on the air for choosing a song that not everyone had liked or even heard of. Anyway, it was a kind of recognition that I remember almost 60 years later. My brother and I always loved that song and thought it was a riot.
Don't Pass Me By is actually a well written song. It's the clunky arrangement that ruins it. However, Ringo's live performances of the song are 100x better.
I think some of these songs that are "disliked" are people that are fans of solo Beatles not real Beatle fans, they dislike the song because their favorite (Beatle) said he disliked it. Revolution #9 is just sound collage and sounds great if you are stoned, sounds like a big nothing if you're not stoned and if it didnt say Beatles on it, nobody would even have payed attention to it.
“Wild Honey Pie” suits the wild eclecticism of the White Album. Everything, including the kitchen sink! They had nowhere to go, except back to basics for “Let it Be” and “Abbey Road”.
I know. I used to think this was just OK, but one time I was listening to it and the magic grove just clicked . I thought, this a a great song! I learned to play it on guitar. I thought it was an awesome song to play.. It's my personal favorite George song.
I knew that "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" would be #1 but I honestly love it because of how messed up it is. The paradox of a song with such a happy tune being about a homicidal maniac.
Many of the so-called bad songs are by and large decent songs. The Beatles wrote so many genuinely great, classic gems that many of lesser songs mentioned are still better than other's top tier tunes. Wonderful presentation!
Andrew, I used to absolutely hate Revolution 9. But a little podcast called Discord and Rhyme changed my mind about it. If you listen to it as a mini-suite alongside Cry Baby Cry and Good Night, it's actually a child going to bed and experiencing the nightmare, which is Revolution 9. Good Night is the lullabye than calms the child back to sleep. That was a genius move on John's part of the White Album.
I always skipped over it... and when I got the CD decades later, it made it easier to skip it. Then again... ever since I bought my 1st CD player, I've loved how CDs allow you to play ANY given song as if it was a SINGLE!
I don't really like the suggestion of turning it into a "suite" or narrative, because I feel like that's applying a level of rationalization that the music fundamentally and aggressively does not want to have. I would recommend, to everyone, Ian Macdonald's writeup on the song in "Revolution in the Head". He goes through its qualities as sound collage and all of the 'personality' that The Beatles were able to inject into such abstract music.
"Little Child" and "Run for Your Life" are on here largely because people misinterpret the lyrics. The former isn't actually about pedophelia. It's slang. In "Run For Your Life", neither John nor the character actually wants to kill anyone. It's an expression of frustration. Both are lively, enjoyable early Beatles originals and should not have made this list.
Never knew that Wild Honey Pie made the cut because Patti liked it. Strange to think that thevl band would spend twenty four hours working on a sequence for these songs running order and such considerations were made. Of course, if it were not for Patti introducing George, and therefore the Beatles to meditation, there would have been a very different album made without the impetus to go to India. She was there for pretty much the entire Beatles experience and is overlooked in importance in favour of Asher, Ono and Eastman... Even Mo gets a shoutout... Say the words Patti and George to most fans and the focus is always on the breakup and Clapton, but she was so much more than that to a figure that despite the lyric, needed someone. A real member of the inner circle, not really given her due.
@@captainape6807I agree, but again, it's the Clapton/Harrison thing as an object of desire or love. I was referring more to the contributions she made herself, whether as a critic, catalyst or participant. I am not an expert, but Maureen seemed to be around, Cynthia was in the background, Jane was a bolthole when McCartney wanted to chill and Yoko was supposedly a disruptor. Even the much loved Linda is seen as a observer rather than a influence. Patti however I think, gets less coverage for her activities and influences despite being there from Beatlemania through to the breakup and beyond. But then I am one of those guys that still thinks Ringo does not get his due. Whenever there is a Beatles discussion it seems to end with the words 'and Ringo was just, being Ringo'. As if he were a man with no opinion, no character other than caricature. Patti, though obviously no Ringo still seems to be a little overlooked. Recently, even Mal Evans, who though a close friend gets more credit for banging an anvil than Patti did. Wonderful Tonight... I must have encountered fifty teenage heartbreaks to that song. It was only many years later that I found out who it was written for. It seems anything even tangentially related to the Beatles holds some kind of magical longing quality.
@@Zed08gjrkfn Yes, you're right my comment was a little off point. I agree with you about Ringo. His name(Ringo) alone helped the band to success and he upstaged everybody in the movies. He also thought up titles "A Hard Day's Night" etc. His personae, was amazing and I actually believe that he led the most interesting life, of all the Beatles. He even got himself a Bond girl.
Personally, I love much of what John referred to as 'Paul's granny shit'. If Lennon had written 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' it would probably be hailed as a work of genius. As you said in your introduction, Andrew, there aren't any 'worst' Beatles tracks, just some we like less than others. That sums it up for me.
In my seventh-grade music class in 1982, my teacher Mr. Scatenato had us study Maxwell's Silver Hammer. He passed out copies of the score so we could follow along while he played the song on the Abbey Road LP. He regarded it as one of the Beatles' greatest songs, right up there with Eleanor Rigby, which he also had us study. 12-year-old me agreed. I loved Maxwell's Silver Hammer then, and I still love it today. But then, I've always been partial to dark comedy. ;)
Sounds like you and I were both blessed with at least one teacher who appreciated contemporary music. In my senior year of high school, my English teacher Mr. Harriman broke the class into teams of five students. Each team chose one musical act to review; selections included The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Donovan -- in short, songwriters who were informally regarded as poets in 1970. It was a fun week, and it allowed us to come away feeling that poetry wasn't just the domain of those who wrote sonnets five hundred years ago. BTW, I really like Maxwell's Silver Hammer too.
I agree. It doesn't get the credit it deserves. Fans heard the other three Beatles dissing it so they jumped on the bandwagon. One of McCartney's greatest tongue in cheek/satiric songs ever.
Indeed. I always get chills up the spine towards the end when the Moog takes over. I can't understand how so many people dislike it. Probably because it dares to be funny...
I disagree. I love the Beatles and they are amazing songwriters. But I am learning Taxman on drums for a cover band I'm in. God what a dull song. I would rather play any of their other songs lol.
"Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" is how I got into the Beatles. Whether you like the song or not, it's an important part of my personal history. When I was little, my dad would go swimming at the YMCA, and I would be in the nursery while he was doing that. When we'd leave, we'd walk past a gym, and we'd open the door to look into the aerobics class. One time, I think when I was five, the tune they were doing aerobics to was a cover of "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da," and when we got home, my dad wanted to show me the original. He played it, opened the record cover, and said "Here are the guys that did it." He then pointed at each one and told me their names. "That's John. That's Paul. "That's George. That's Ringo." A bit later, I listened to a cassette tape my aunt made for me, and "Love Me Do" was on it. My dad pointed out that that was also John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
@@sergiocaplan1168in the documentary Ringo comes in with two lines and George pretty much writes the rest. Now it's a fairly simple song with only two sections, so ultimately I'd say it's fair to claim 50/50 credit.
@@SteveBluescemi Ringo had the words and the overall melody. Harrison help him with chord progression to enhance the melody. But what I was talking about was that when those guys helped each other out, they didn’t automatically add each other’s names.
YOU LIKE ME TOO MUCH - I couldn't stand this one forever, I usually skipped it. Then one day the tune went through my head and I liked the chords, it sounded nice. It's still not as strong as anything else he ever wrote, even "Don't Bother Me" or "Baby I Love You" (In 1982's Gone Troppo), but Don't Bother Me has some great drumming and Baby I Love You is...cute. Now I like "You Like Me Too Much". No complaints TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE - Are you kidding? A least favorite? The first time I heard it was on "Love Songs". It was either right before or right after "Every Little Thing", so I usually welded the two together, initially confusing the two until I'd listened to them at least 600 times 😅. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE - Detractors don't know what they're talking about. It was an eye-opener, an ear-popper, it was pretty funny, too, with a wicked acoustic riff and electric guitar solo in the same track.
Run For Your Life is just unpopular now because of the misogynistic lyrics. It's a product of its time, similar to Connery's James Bond slapping women around.
@@robgronotte1 When wahmen get offended I'd love to say to them, "it's not about you. This is a piece of fiction, totally made up. Nobody wants to do anything to you."
Very interesting subject and well-done on your part, Andrew. 👍 For me, on a personal level, this is a hard road to go down because I love almost everything The Beatles released. I look at some of these tracks in the context of the entire catalog. There is so much variety in the band's library and that is one of the reasons (to me) that their wonderful canon of music stays fresh. Good job, mate!
I can still listen to Maxwell's Silver Hammer but in retrospect, I think offering Come And Get It to The Beatles would have been a better choice. By the way, I'm sure glad If You Got Troubles was never released at the time. That one while interesting to hear the outtake on Anthology, is flat-out bottom of the barrel material.
Thanks a lot for your work on this amazing list. You can't be blamed for the songs on that list. It's an instering summary of other peoples votes. But I have to confess: "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" is still one of my Beatles' favorites. Maybe it's because it's one of the last Beatles songs I came about to discover in my youth. And I loved from the very beginning. I wonder why Giles Martin didn't pick any opportunity to remix this song in proper stereo. Keep going on your great work and keep on rockin' Love & peace from Germany :-)
What goes on is one of my personal favorite Beatles songs! It's one of the few Beatles tunes with an authentic 50s sound. The lead guitar line (Scotty Moore style) still sounds rich & beautiful & it's one of Ringo's best vocal performances. Man, what a great way to start side two of Rubber Soul
I wasn't a fan of Honey Pie, but it grew on me years later. Same with Within You Without You. I was fascinated with Revolution 9. I guess I loved the weird songs like Wild Honey Pie, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) and the then unreleased song "What A Shame Mary Jane Had A Pain At The Party. Songs (to me) that was poorly produced was the orchestra Phil Spector tracks. I seem to skip those tracks.
I love Paul’s “granny tracks.” I remember singing “Yellow Submarine” as a young child in school during music session. It really is a fun “kids song” that was my gateway to The Beatles as an older kid.
My number 1 worst song WOULD be Revolution 9, but i don't even really consider that a proper song. I removed it from my White Album, and put Hey Jude in it's place, which creates a perfect flow. But the REAL worst song is, without a doubt "Mr Moonlight." I know it's a cover, but the arrangement, and John's droning vocal delivery is just headache-inducing.
25+ years ago this list would've looked much different. Other than a couple of surprises in this list (Revolution 9 didn't top the list? no Mr. Moonlight?) - the biggest difference is the general opinion of Within You Without You. It used to regularly pop up on "least liked" Usenet lists and was always "the one on Sgt Pepper that always gets skipped). What a change to now being revered and loved!!
I knew You Know My Name would be on the list, but it is one of my absolute favorites. I was 6 years old when my older sister brought the Let It Be single home, and I remember she was so disappointed in the B-Side. I LOVED it. Still do.
I don't understand the hate for "Run for Your Life." I love it. People act like the violent lyrics are John advocating the behavior. But it's fiction. To me, all music is just telling stories. Sometimes they reflect real experiences, sometimes emotions you don't show publicly, and sometimes completely fictional. But the condemnation of the lyrics is as weird to me as someone saying they didn't like Star Wars, because Darth Vader is evil.
@Parlogram I’m deciding to single out three Beatles tunes.. As a Beatles fan, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is one I don’t mind hearing once or twice a year. I don’t need to hear it outside of listening to the album. Same thing with Hey Jude. I know people love it, and I can see why, but after 1-2 minutes of the na-na-na’s, I don’t see a point in listening to it any further. I didn’t like The Long and Winding Road for a while, until I heard the Let It Be Naked version, which made me appreciate it more than I used to.
Your number one is literally mine and my late father's favorite Beatles song. I get why other people may not like it, but I've always found it more campy than anything else. It was also one of the first songs I taught myself to play on piano as a kid because I loved it so much! Great list though!! Keep up the great work! 😊
I love "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)"! Many years ago when I read the song was originally 6 minutes 10 seconds long I hoped someday it would be released. Thankfully on 'Anthology' all the missing bits were there, but it faded too early, so I edited it all together in Adobe Soundbooth and I really enjoy listening to the full track. It really is more of a comedy skit than a pop song, in five sections, and I'm sorry the nightclub crooner Paul is hysterical!
There's another one John and Ringo recorded around 67 - 68 called "Chi Chi's Bar" that is only available on bootlegs. That's worth a listen if you like crazy Beatle humour. It was on TH-cam a while ago , I don't know if it's still there.
"You know my name" is a killer track. So much fun! And many thanks for the idea, cdpetee! I'm going to hit the albums and sound app tomorrow and make my own 6 min 10 sec version. Very cool - a new Beatles song cometh! Now, let's hear it for Denis O'Bell ! 🙂🙃
As bad as some say those songs are, I'd be willing to bet that if The Beatles took all of those "bad" songs and put them on one LP, It probably would have topped the charts. Also, you hit it right on the head by saying that as bad a some folks feel that those songs are, I'd rather listen to them than to switch stations on my car stereo. Oh, but to put Little Child on that list will make me lose some sleep! That lyric.... When you're by my side you're the only one, don't you run and hide, just come on, come on..... That lyric is so very much the style of bad boy rock and roll at that time!
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da would be greatly missed from the White Album. It is charming, has a great melody, arrangement and vocals plus one of the most infectious chorusses, ever. If John didn't care for it, it's not evidenced by his enthusiastic background vocals, and he apparently came up with the perfect, fanfare-like opening piano riff. I was a teenager when it was released and my parents weren't big Beatles fans, but they both loved this song and it softened their opinions of the Beatles thereafter.
Some of these were actually fun when hanging out with friends playing our guitars and drinking a few beers. Wild Honey Pie usually made the play list and at moments notice someone would start saying…Number Nine…Number Nine…after which we’d break into the next tune.
My least favorite top 10. 1. Why don’t we do it in the road 2. Mr Moonlight 3. Honey Don’t 4. Its only love 5. What goes on 6. Wild Honey Pie 7. Ob la di ob la da 8. Honey Pie 9. Bad Boy 10. Roll over beethoven
A couple of years ago I asked members of a Beatles Facebook group to name their least favorite Beatles songs (I was careful to phrase it that way). Though some participated, more than few group members were very angry about my request, and ultimately I left the group. The angry members were just being too precious about Beatles songs, something I think the Beatles themselves would find silly.
Okay, I'm going to say it... and I may very well be the only one who does... I love "Run For Your Life." John's voice is SOOO GOOD. Love the guitars. Let me have it, if you will, but it's always been one I've loved.
Fun topic Andrew. Thanks. :- ) When I first heard "You Know My Name" I thought it was an intentional attempt by them to write and record a rotten song on purpose to break the Beatles myth. Maxwell to me is a fine song that I feel people used to like until Lennon trashed it. Then is was 'uncool' to like it. As George wrote.. "Think for yourself." I'm a first generation fan and remember it that way.
Little Child is actually a very good song, featuring a great harmonica solo by Lennon. As for the lyric, it's John's version of I Saw Her Standing There. McCartney wrote a song about meeting a girl at a dance and Lennon responded with a similar take. And I always thought Maxwell's Silver Hammer was Paul's take on Mack The Knife.
I think "Revolution 9" should definitely be at the top (bottom?) of the list, but I suspect that a lot of people don't think of it as a song, but just as a sonic experiment; I regard it as a waste of time and vinyl. "Don't Pass Me By" and "Wild Honey Pie" have never been favourites of mine, but three others from "The Beatles" that I can live without are "Yer Blues," "Helter Skelter," and "Why Don't We Do it in the Road." "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is one that I liked better when I first heard it than I do now, and "Oh Darling" has never been a favourite of mine, mainly because of Paul's screaming near the end (I prefer singing to screaming). I've never liked "Run for Your Life." I've always regarded it as a mediocre tune, and the more I listen to the lyrics now, the more unpleasant they are. John sounds as though he really means it when he says he'd rather see her dead. When it comes to "Blue Jay Way" and "You Like Me Too Much," I like both of them--much more than when I first heard them. I think George's weakest Beatles songs are "Only a Northern Song" and "Within You Without You," although I can tolerate them. "What Goes On" would have made my list for many years, but I've developed a liking for it in recent years. "Little Child," on the other hand, is one that I liked much better when I first heard it than I do now. I'm surprised that "Mr. Moonlight" didn't make the list; was the list limited to Beatles' compositions?
I must say, I consider, “you like me too much” and, “tell me what you see” to be two of the Beatles, finer “comfort food” songs. That is, they are just so relaxing and have enough interesting nuances in the melodies and chords to satisfy my musical cravings. Hence, “comfort food”!
John has said in an interview that the worst Beatle song to him was "Dizzy Miss Lizzy". He thought it was cheap and disposable. Personally, i feel that song should have been vetoed as a track. It would have been far ballsy for the "Help" album to end on a downer with "Yesterday" than a sappy send-off to the album with "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" which is a lazy surface level cover song that had nothing really to say. That song was already an oldie that they performed during the Silver Beatles period that didn't need to be revisited for a great transitional album like "Help".
I would have preferred, Bad Boy, Slow Down, or Leave My Kitten Alone, in its place. Or I'm Down or She's a Woman but it isn't a bad track, just not a fave.
Lennon was a contrary bugger. Dizzy Miss Lizzie was possibly one of their most performed songs live. I mean. He was still playing it in Toronto in 69 as a solo artist!
I like "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", but the best version to me is from the 1965 Hollywood Bowl show(s) - the one that was used for the official "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" album rocks big time, even if Lennon isn't at his best, vocally - but he and the other Fabs sound like dynamite on their instruments! However, it has to be the 1977 mix made by George Martin, the later Eight Days A Week-related HB-album sounds dull in companion. You miss so much of the tuff guitar riff on the latter one. And I don't mind the screams at all.
No matter what songs wind up on a "worst Beatles song" list, you'll find someone who'll say the song is great and it's their favorite. Even "Revolution 9," which is the only one I still actively avoid.
@@albarton7189And it works when using a vintage quadraphonic system and it would blow all 4 speakers away. There also clues on the “Paul Is Dead” theory during “Revolution 9” like “Turn Me On Dead Man” when it was played backwards.
@@Musicradio77Network I happened to have been given an LP in the late 1960's of "musique concrète," a form of electronic music invented in France that involved recording actual noises and reassembling them, spliced together and electronically altered. So when The Beatles did "Revolution 9" I knew exactly what they were doing and where it came from: I remember walking around my high school saying, "Wow! The Beatles are doing musique concrète!" My fellow students probably wondered what drugs I was taking (none, actually).
I would have added "Within You Without You" to this list. It's an overlong rehash of "Love You To" (from the Revolver LP), and doesnt even qualify as rock and roll, as far as I am concerned. It's notable that it's one of the few tracks from the "Sgt. Pepper" LP to get virtually no airplay on 'classic rock' radio.
For me it's a toss-up between Revolution No. 9 and Wild Honey Pie for the worst. Was surprised to see Maxwell at the top of the list... I put it on a Halloween playlist many, many, many years ago and I still love hearing it. Though, I do have to wonder if my love of Spike Jones music might be coming into play with the anvil sounds on Maxwell...
Never understood why What Goes On is so disliked. I think it’s underrated, actually. The Help! picks I kinda expected, but I’d ad I’ve Just Seen A Face as well. And TBH, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer isn’t my least favourite, but it is on the Abbey Road album.
@@shadrach6299I agree, the Beatles were absolute geniuses but there's no way denying that they simply had some real stinkers in their catalogue - songs that were objectively bad ... They often admitted it themselves... It's just inevitable when you release 2 albums a year
@@Cengert1979 : There is no such thing as "objectively bad" when talking about music. There are just some songs that you may not like (subjective opinion), that many others do like and think are good. I guarantee if you were to list songs that you claim are "objectively bad", someone will state that they think they arer good.
@@Housemartinuk I can see your point but I do think that art can sometimes be objectively bad ... There are quite a lot of examples of movies that are pretty much objectively bad ... Regarding the Beatles: I find it hard to think of any person that really unironically enjoys something like Wild Honey Pie 😉 ... I do think that that one was an attempt by Paul to create something intentionally bad and annoying
@@Cengert1979 : I can only repeat what I said before: There is no such thing as "objectively bad" when talking about music. All you have is subjective opinion. As regards "Wild Honey Pie", I like it (I like everything on The White Album), George Harrison's wife, Pattie, liked it (hence why it ended up on the album) and The Pixies liked it enough to do an excellent cover version of it in 1998 for the BBC. And I would be pretty sure that Pattie, The Pixies and I are not the only people who appreciate "Wild Honey Pie". Anymore (ahem) "objectively bad" song you'd care to name?
Little child is probably my least favorite. Besides being kind of annoying, i cant stand the trend of calling the love interest as "child" which seemed to be in many songs of the era. Its so creepy
@@teebodk3917 A lot of those are just creepy too. You're Sixteen, Ringo Starr's version, is extremely uncomfortable. He was in his 30s, going "You're sixteen, you're beautiful, and you're mine".
My parents were huge Beatles fans to the point I think I was confused whether they were family friends. I was born a couple months before they appeared on Ed Sullivan so they were always around. I loved Maxwell’s as I had very macabre humor as a kid. Look up Gashlicrumb Tinies to get an idea of one of my favorite books. The only song I really ever disliked was Piggies and only that because the chord change organ coda at the end came across as an audio jump scare.
Not sure why you'd say that "Don't Pass Me By" is Ringo's only solo composition. He has the sole writing credit on Octopus's Garden. I don't know if there are others.
Isn't it funny how George fought with all his might to get more songs in the Beatles albums and missed many masterpieces like All Things Must Pass and Isn't It A Pity, but then his wife walks in and says she likes Wild Honey Pie and voilà they put in on the A side of the White Album?
Blue Jay Way does not deserve to be on this list. It's an amazing track, ahead of its time.
I just as an exercise tried to whittle down my 10 least favorite, and Blue Jay Way is my least on that album but had enough to keep it out of the bottom 10.
I genuinely LOVE that song. The atmosphere, the mood, the story and picture it paints...
Yeah, one of the best on Magical Mystery Tour album
I love 'Blue Jay Way'
Blue Jay Way, like many of his songs, lacks any time spent into making it a good production. The rhythm track was recorded in 1 take. It just feels like they tried to rush over and finish his songs as quickly as they could so they could move on to their own recording endeavors, and it shows. The production on some Harrisongs is downright lousy, in my opinion.
The Beatles are kind of like Mozart. The “bad songs” are more like failed yet interesting attempts but very much a worthwhile listen to get the greater context of their songwriting genius. What’s crazy is the Beatles gave away more hits than their relatively small number of “bad songs”.
Lmao the Beatles are not mozart
@@boobtuber06 yes, just as "kind of like Mozart" doesn't mean the same thing as "are Mozart".
As someone who has conducted great Mozart works, such as Don Giovanni, Magic Flute, Marriage of Figaro and the late symphonies I can say that there is also "bad Mozart". It's true that comparing the Beatles to Mozart may not be the best choice. Lennon in particular despised opera, and could not sit through even a few minutes of a live operatic production. Mozart was a singular genius who did not need a "producer" "arranger" or "orchestrator". He was not however a lyricist, so he did have a writing partner for his operas, either da Ponte or in the case of Magic Flute Schickaneder. (The opera seria works are another matter. Those were long standing texts written by Metastasio, who by today's standards is not considered a good writer.)
In any event the blistering 3 minute Lennon song lyric is a completley different animal than even the best Mozart aria text. By the same token the layers of counterpoint in a Mozart operatic sextet blow anything John and Paul conceived away in terms of musical complexity.
It really is apples and oranges.
I am a fan of both.
@@canalesworks1247 Thank you for this interesting and informative post. As one who studied classical voice (back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, lol), I can tell you I enjoyed singing Beatles songs almost equally with warbling Mozart arias. Have to admit, though, that when it came to performing, "Martha My Dear", for example, was just a weence easier than The Queen of the Night's Vengeance Aria. 😉
I LOVE You Know My Name (Look up the Number)! I'm with Paul here. Actually one of my favourites. I disagree with most of these top 10 picks, but everybody does indeed have their own likes and dislikes. Love your background stories however. Happy Easter sir.
YES!
I liked the longer Anthology version best.
There was a burger joint I used to frequent in the 1990s. They stubbornly held on to a vinyl 45 jukebox way longer than anyone else. They had a Let It Be single in there. Made the point of playing You Know My Name EVERY TIME. Not sure if I pissed off anyone else, but I sure enjoyed it.
@@captainape6807 Hearing the ska break in that version was a revelation for sure! Then I finally saw the complete Around the Beatles with ska legend Millie "My Boy Lollipop" Small as a guest, and it all made sense.
@@moxievision Funny how it was the skinheads in the UK who popularized Ska and Reggie.
I never knew people disliked Maxwell until now. The juxtaposition of an upbeat/light pop song with the darkness of the lyrics is brilliant.
it's to dark and is a turnoff.
Sophisticated art is not for everyone
i start abbeyroad at oh darling bc of how bad that song is
I like it. My first exposure to it was that silly Bee Gees & Peter Frampton movie in the 70's. When I discovered it on Abbey Road, I found an appreciation for it. Not a bad track on that album.
Personally i have always enjoyed the track, some people just cant take dark humor or anything that deviates from the norm. To each their own ,but i can appreciate Love me Do and Maxwell for what they are.
I love Maxwell's Silverhammer. English isn't my native language so when I heard it as a child I didn't understand the lyrics but the melody always made me happy. Decades later when I had learned English and actually got the lyrics, I found the clash between the happy melody and the dark lyrics hilarious.
Yes, it's very much like Tom & Jerry violence, cartoonesque.
Interestingly, Helter skelter was the opposite. Heavy heavy tune with fluffy lyrics (taking a ride on a playground slide?). But no one really talks about that.
@@katam6471 Paul pushed this song the other three didn't care for it. But it was the most practiced they thought he spent to nmuch time on it.
I am telling you guys, what many will say the Beatles' worst song is better than many artists' best! And I love Run For Your Life.
People didn't like it also because John lifted that one line from Baby, Let's Play House. John himself didn't like it for that same reason. Also, the rather vicious vibe, I suppose. Personally, I've always loved the song.
@@magneto7930 Run For Your Life is great, it just is.
Nobody had a problem with Run For Your Life until the last couple decades. Even as a 8 year old kid listening to the song I knew the singer was just joking around. It's a good song.
Me too
Funny thing is, Nobody Sued John from the Elvis estate for this but when he lifted "Here come old Flat top" for Come Together....Chuck Berry nailed him.
Tell Me What You See's inclusion is insane to me. I love that track and had no idea it wasn't liked by so many. The harmonies are so good
The composition itself is pure subpar. They sound like a parody of themselves on that one.
I've always liked it too
@@HARALDEMANNIs it worse than Piggies and Act Naturally?
100% Agreed. In context NOW it may seem subpar, but think about what came BEFORE it.
Hot Take here: The album Help! is 5 or 6 really good songs and filler. But, what do I know? One of my favorite albums is Beatles For Sale. Ok. Im ready to be stoned.
I CANNOT stand how Blue Jay Way is on most of these lists. It’s one of the greatest psychedelic songs of all time. Such a spooky/trippy vibe, It’s one George should’ve been very proud of.
Agreed it’s one of their best during their psychedelic phase, magical mystery tour is underrated
Blue Jay Way is weird and wonderful. I find it strange people don't like it.
There's a fog upon LA.... Oh! I liked that one!
Not only is it a great song but I love the mono and stereo mixes with the mono dropping the backward effects…the stereo version with effects in headphones is genius…very underrated song
Tell Me What You See has always been a deeply moving song to me. John and Paul's voices harmonize so powerfully and emotionally.
i agree it at least deserves better
'What Goes On' has that great rockabilly guitar on it, love it.
Same here. I love that track, especially how the guitars ate trying to shove each other out of the way. Great fun!
Was just gonna say this. Both George's and John's performances are stellar. It's first class honky-tonk, funky and crunchy. You can tell they had fun recording this song.
Sorry....I never liked that one. I always bypassed it on the album.
@@apexjoe4769 Oh, well. Too each their own.😃
@@cisium1184 I call it DRIVIN Country. LOVE THAT SONG. it is so Carl perkinsish!!! Like think of Matchbox and Honey Don't.
There aren't really any Beatles songs that I don't like. I just happen to like some more than others. I appreciate and love them all. Thank you again, Andrew ! Great video.
I always liked maxwells silver hammer but the rest of the ten I could whole heartedly agree would be better if they weren’t on any Beatles albums. The fact that the white album is so marred by bad songs is a constant trouble to me.
LET IT BE
My least favorite is Mr. Moonlight, but it's a cover.
@@johnhoran9840 Ik,r? With its cheesy organ solo, MM sounds like an escapee from a skating rink.
@@ellynmacgregor8210 It's also one of the rare times when John sounds terrible. You can tell his heart really wasn't in it.
I do like "You like me too much" and "Run for your life".
Two of their Best
@@beatlemaniacwaltdisneyfan4753 their best? I think you're getting carried away.
I like both. "Run for Your Life" in particular is a great song. Violence is a part of music, especially the blues and folk music driving RFYL.
Eid Honey Pie and Revolution 9 absolutely suck. Maybe the only two Beatles songs I say that about.
me too
Always loved the Help album, and both George’s songs….I like ‘ you like me too much’ and ‘ I need you’ , what’s not to like? 👍
I didn't pay much attention to this song in Help! But when I got the US Album (I think Beatles VI) it's like I listened to it with new ears and it's a really good song.
I Like You Too Much is pretty lame.
The full version of You Know My Name is one of my favorite tracks, you can feel the energy of John and Paul's friendship even at a time when their relationship wasn't at their best (mid 1969). The fact that they decided to pick up a track from two years prior and spend a day adding silly voices to it, just to have fun, is still amazing to me.
The song was mostly recorded in May 1967, just two weeks before the release of Sgt. Pepper. John and Paul were clearly getting along just fine during that period. I've always loved it too.
@@GusMozart1 AFAIK just the backing track (which they kept coming back to every few months). The vocals were recorded by Paul and John in a single session in late April 1969
Brian! 🎷
When I was in high school my younger brother, at my encouragement, called the local station in NYC, WABC, and requested that song. I remember the DJ praising him on the air for choosing a song that not everyone had liked or even heard of. Anyway, it was a kind of recognition that I remember almost 60 years later. My brother and I always loved that song and thought it was a riot.
You know my name song was featured on the Dr Demento radio show, his funny 10.
I LOVE Don’t Pass Me By, my favorite Ringo song. I refuse to believe people skip that track.
I can't imagine a 'worst' song with Ringo singing lead. His vocals are among my favorites.
Don't Pass Me By is actually a well written song. It's the clunky arrangement that ruins it. However, Ringo's live performances of the song are 100x better.
Same here-all of Ringo’s songs are feel-good!
100% correct
it’s so much fun to listen to
I really like the ‘Within You Without You’ mash up with TNKs on the LOVE soundtrack.
Cant believe Long and winding road nearly made the list . I think this is one of Pauls finest songs.
I think half of why a lot of people don't like it is because of McCartney's complaints about the album version
your prob. correct .
Love Long and Winding Road
That's my favorite Beatles song.
@@sebastianfischer2082I thought Paul was wrong about that, it sounded majestic and beautiful with the orchestra and choir, the mixing was brilliant.
Wild Honey Pie is too short for me to be bothered by. It's wacky, fun, and adds some personality to the album.
Yes! I think of it more as a link... like the short linking promos on The Who Sell Out.
It baffles me that people can get so pissed about a song that is like 50 seconds long. I mean you spend more time at a red light.
I think some of these songs that are "disliked" are people that are fans of solo Beatles not real Beatle fans, they dislike the song because their favorite (Beatle) said he disliked it. Revolution #9 is just sound collage and sounds great if you are stoned, sounds like a big nothing if you're not stoned and if it didnt say Beatles on it, nobody would even have payed attention to it.
Yeah. It's not even a song. It's a joke . That's all. People can't take a joke I guess.
“Wild Honey Pie” suits the wild eclecticism of the White Album. Everything, including the kitchen sink! They had nowhere to go, except back to basics for “Let it Be” and “Abbey Road”.
Fans only "hate" Maxwell because the other three Beatles hated it. It's not their worst song. Not even a bad one.
no we hated it because it ruined abbey road
"You Like Me Too Much" is a great song! Yayyyy George! I recorded on my compilation CD!
I know. I used to think this was just OK, but one time I was listening to it and the magic grove just clicked . I thought, this a a great song! I learned to play it on guitar. I thought it was an awesome song to play.. It's my personal favorite George song.
It was always one of my favorites.
@@lancep4164 Thanks!
Eesh! Justice for Maxwell’s Silver Hammer! ✊
I knew that "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" would be #1 but I honestly love it because of how messed up it is. The paradox of a song with such a happy tune being about a homicidal maniac.
....released within 24 hours of the Manson murders......
Great point. I love how people say Paul’s songs were too shallow, but then he wrote this and Eleanor Rigby!
Many of the so-called bad songs are by and large decent songs. The Beatles wrote so many genuinely great, classic gems that many of lesser songs mentioned are still better than other's top tier tunes. Wonderful presentation!
Andrew, I used to absolutely hate Revolution 9. But a little podcast called Discord and Rhyme changed my mind about it. If you listen to it as a mini-suite alongside Cry Baby Cry and Good Night, it's actually a child going to bed and experiencing the nightmare, which is Revolution 9. Good Night is the lullabye than calms the child back to sleep. That was a genius move on John's part of the White Album.
I still hate it
I always skipped over it... and when I got the CD decades later, it made it easier to skip it.
Then again... ever since I bought my 1st CD player, I've loved how CDs allow you to play ANY given song as if it was a SINGLE!
I don't really like the suggestion of turning it into a "suite" or narrative, because I feel like that's applying a level of rationalization that the music fundamentally and aggressively does not want to have. I would recommend, to everyone, Ian Macdonald's writeup on the song in "Revolution in the Head". He goes through its qualities as sound collage and all of the 'personality' that The Beatles were able to inject into such abstract music.
I was always glad to hear the soothing Good Night right after suffering through Revolution No. 9.
I seriously doubt that was intentional...
"Little Child" and "Run for Your Life" are on here largely because people misinterpret the lyrics. The former isn't actually about pedophelia. It's slang. In "Run For Your Life", neither John nor the character actually wants to kill anyone. It's an expression of frustration. Both are lively, enjoyable early Beatles originals and should not have made this list.
Never knew that Wild Honey Pie made the cut because Patti liked it.
Strange to think that thevl band would spend twenty four hours working on a sequence for these songs running order and such considerations were made.
Of course, if it were not for Patti introducing George, and therefore the Beatles to meditation, there would have been a very different album made without the impetus to go to India. She was there for pretty much the entire Beatles experience and is overlooked in importance in favour of Asher, Ono and Eastman... Even Mo gets a shoutout...
Say the words Patti and George to most fans and the focus is always on the breakup and Clapton, but she was so much more than that to a figure that despite the lyric, needed someone.
A real member of the inner circle, not really given her due.
Well said! She was also responsible for finding Friar Park for George.
Oh, I don't know. She is recognized as being the inspiration for three rock classic songs. That in itself is very impressive.
@@captainape6807I agree, but again, it's the Clapton/Harrison thing as an object of desire or love. I was referring more to the contributions she made herself, whether as a critic, catalyst or participant. I am not an expert, but Maureen seemed to be around, Cynthia was in the background, Jane was a bolthole when McCartney wanted to chill and Yoko was supposedly a disruptor. Even the much loved Linda is seen as a observer rather than a influence. Patti however I think, gets less coverage for her activities and influences despite being there from Beatlemania through to the breakup and beyond.
But then I am one of those guys that still thinks Ringo does not get his due.
Whenever there is a Beatles discussion it seems to end with the words 'and Ringo was just, being Ringo'. As if he were a man with no opinion, no character other than caricature.
Patti, though obviously no Ringo still seems to be a little overlooked. Recently, even Mal Evans, who though a close friend gets more credit for banging an anvil than Patti did.
Wonderful Tonight...
I must have encountered fifty teenage heartbreaks to that song. It was only many years later that I found out who it was written for. It seems anything even tangentially related to the Beatles holds some kind of magical longing quality.
@@Zed08gjrkfn Yes, you're right my comment was a little off point. I agree with you about Ringo. His name(Ringo) alone helped the band to success and he upstaged everybody in the movies. He also thought up titles "A Hard Day's Night" etc. His personae, was amazing and I actually believe that he led the most interesting life, of all the Beatles. He even got himself a Bond girl.
I don't know about Boyd being overlooked in favour of Asher. I never hear or see much of anything about Jane, but lots about Patti.
You Know My Name works SO WELL as an epilogue for The Beatles’ discography. Every time the piano starts the final verse my eyes tear up.
You Like Me Too Much has always been a favorite of mine! Really love the George and Paul harmonies on that track!
Always reminds me of my ex-girlfriend who (being Jewish) would sing it to me as “You like me too much and I’m a Jew”.
When it comes to bad Beatles songs, there's Revolution 9, and then there's everything else.
Personally, I love much of what John referred to as 'Paul's granny shit'. If Lennon had written 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' it would probably be hailed as a work of genius. As you said in your introduction, Andrew, there aren't any 'worst' Beatles tracks, just some we like less than others. That sums it up for me.
And also for me, and I suspect many of the posters on this site. 😊
In my seventh-grade music class in 1982, my teacher Mr. Scatenato had us study Maxwell's Silver Hammer. He passed out copies of the score so we could follow along while he played the song on the Abbey Road LP. He regarded it as one of the Beatles' greatest songs, right up there with Eleanor Rigby, which he also had us study. 12-year-old me agreed. I loved Maxwell's Silver Hammer then, and I still love it today. But then, I've always been partial to dark comedy. ;)
a really bad song!
Sounds like you and I were both blessed with at least one teacher who appreciated contemporary music. In my senior year of high school, my English teacher Mr. Harriman broke the class into teams of five students. Each team chose one musical act to review; selections included The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Donovan -- in short, songwriters who were informally regarded as poets in 1970. It was a fun week, and it allowed us to come away feeling that poetry wasn't just the domain of those who wrote sonnets five hundred years ago.
BTW, I really like Maxwell's Silver Hammer too.
I agree. It doesn't get the credit it deserves. Fans heard the other three Beatles dissing it so they jumped on the bandwagon. One of McCartney's greatest tongue in cheek/satiric songs ever.
You should listen to John Entwistle then 😄
I read that it is the reason why the Beatles broke up. Paul wanted it to be perfect and the others were sick and tired of trying to record it.
What Goes On? Those interwoven guitars are endlessly relistenable.
If they just were in tune. Which they isn’t.
Totally agree... I love the guitar tones and how they sit in the mix.
I like it because it has almost a ‘50s country sound.
Maxwell is a banger!
Bang bang 🔨
I've always liked it fine and I love the outtake versions like the whistling version and the version where John makes fun of it.
You nailed it there, but I need to get hammered to listen to it.
Indeed. I always get chills up the spine towards the end when the Moog takes over. I can't understand how so many people dislike it.
Probably because it dares to be funny...
This song contains my favorite line of all the Beatles tracks: "De do de DOO do"
There are no bad Beatles songs..some are just better than others
Disagreed
I disagree. I love the Beatles and they are amazing songwriters. But I am learning Taxman on drums for a cover band I'm in. God what a dull song. I would rather play any of their other songs lol.
There are Beatles songs that I absolutely detest, but they are few.
@@peteskyrunner4845 "Taxman" is very overrated
Good one ❤
"Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" is how I got into the Beatles. Whether you like the song or not, it's an important part of my personal history.
When I was little, my dad would go swimming at the YMCA, and I would be in the nursery while he was doing that. When we'd leave, we'd walk past a gym, and we'd open the door to look into the aerobics class. One time, I think when I was five, the tune they were doing aerobics to was a cover of "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da," and when we got home, my dad wanted to show me the original. He played it, opened the record cover, and said "Here are the guys that did it." He then pointed at each one and told me their names. "That's John. That's Paul. "That's George. That's Ringo." A bit later, I listened to a cassette tape my aunt made for me, and "Love Me Do" was on it. My dad pointed out that that was also John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
As "Let It Be" was on most jukeboxes in the 1970's, "You Know My Name..." was played a lot and was always a favorite in public settings.
Octopuses Garden is also solely credited to Ringo, although George did help to write.
He helped, just like the others helped each other. No need to bash the credits here
And Paul!
It's a great song. The Beatles' light songs get a lot of stick, but they wouldn't be the same band without those songs.
@@sergiocaplan1168in the documentary Ringo comes in with two lines and George pretty much writes the rest. Now it's a fairly simple song with only two sections, so ultimately I'd say it's fair to claim 50/50 credit.
@@SteveBluescemi Ringo had the words and the overall melody. Harrison help him with chord progression to enhance the melody. But what I was talking about was that when those guys helped each other out, they didn’t automatically add each other’s names.
YOU LIKE ME TOO MUCH - I couldn't stand this one forever, I usually skipped it. Then one day the tune went through my head and I liked the chords, it sounded nice. It's still not as strong as anything else he ever wrote, even "Don't Bother Me" or "Baby I Love You" (In 1982's Gone Troppo), but Don't Bother Me has some great drumming and Baby I Love You is...cute. Now I like "You Like Me Too Much". No complaints
TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE - Are you kidding? A least favorite? The first time I heard it was on "Love Songs". It was either right before or right after "Every Little Thing", so I usually welded the two together, initially confusing the two until I'd listened to them at least 600 times 😅.
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE - Detractors don't know what they're talking about. It was an eye-opener, an ear-popper, it was pretty funny, too, with a wicked acoustic riff and electric guitar solo in the same track.
I agree with everything you’ve just wrote. 👍👍👍
Run For Your Life is just unpopular now because of the misogynistic lyrics.
It's a product of its time, similar to Connery's James Bond slapping women around.
@@louisludovic926 Thank you
@@robgronotte1 When wahmen get offended I'd love to say to them, "it's not about you. This is a piece of fiction, totally made up. Nobody wants to do anything to you."
I’ve always loved Blue Jay Way, and the story behind it! ❤
I just watched a video where the guy picked it as his favorite Beatles song and spent 20 minutes breaking it down lyrically.
That's funny, Maxwell's Silver Hammer is on my list of favorite songs! It's so ironic!
I agree with a lot of this list, but Maxwell's Silver Hammer being at #1 feels illegal.
It's because everyone likes different things: diff beer, diff jeans, diff fav color. Some like Maxwell, some don't.
@@cajunqueen5125 too many people like Maxwell for it to be last. The "worst" song should be relatively universally disliked
Being the most hated song doesn’t mean it’s the worst 😊
Very interesting subject and well-done on your part, Andrew. 👍 For me, on a personal level, this is a hard road to go down because I love almost everything The Beatles released. I look at some of these tracks in the context of the entire catalog. There is so much variety in the band's library and that is one of the reasons (to me) that their wonderful canon of music stays fresh. Good job, mate!
I can still listen to Maxwell's Silver Hammer but in retrospect, I think offering Come And Get It to The Beatles would have been a better choice. By the way, I'm sure glad If You Got Troubles was never released at the time. That one while interesting to hear the outtake on Anthology, is flat-out bottom of the barrel material.
My thoughts exactly!!
And "That Means a Lot" too!
Wild honey pie is absolutely horrible. It's creepy. I think they were going for that when they wrote it.
Blue jay way is extremely psychedelic and meaningful I think.
Thanks a lot for your work on this amazing list. You can't be blamed for the songs on that list. It's an instering summary of other peoples votes.
But I have to confess: "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" is still one of my Beatles' favorites. Maybe it's because it's one of the last Beatles songs I came about to discover in my youth. And I loved from the very beginning. I wonder why Giles Martin didn't pick any opportunity to remix this song in proper stereo.
Keep going on your great work and keep on rockin'
Love & peace from Germany :-)
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it!
What goes on is one of my personal favorite Beatles songs! It's one of the few Beatles tunes with an authentic 50s sound. The lead guitar line (Scotty Moore style) still sounds rich & beautiful & it's one of Ringo's best vocal performances. Man, what a great way to start side two of Rubber Soul
I wasn't a fan of Honey Pie, but it grew on me years later. Same with Within You Without You. I was fascinated with Revolution 9. I guess I loved the weird songs like Wild Honey Pie, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) and the then unreleased song "What A Shame Mary Jane Had A Pain At The Party. Songs (to me) that was poorly produced was the orchestra Phil Spector tracks. I seem to skip those tracks.
I love Paul’s “granny tracks.” I remember singing “Yellow Submarine” as a young child in school during music session. It really is a fun “kids song” that was my gateway to The Beatles as an older kid.
My number 1 worst song WOULD be Revolution 9, but i don't even really consider that a proper song. I removed it from my White Album, and put Hey Jude in it's place, which creates a perfect flow. But the REAL worst song is, without a doubt "Mr Moonlight." I know it's a cover, but the arrangement, and John's droning vocal delivery is just headache-inducing.
I can still picture my mam coming into my room with a worried look everytime Revolution 9 played (I was 8). 😂
You Know my Name is a treasure! At least we have one song featuring Denis O'Bell 😉
25+ years ago this list would've looked much different. Other than a couple of surprises in this list (Revolution 9 didn't top the list? no Mr. Moonlight?) - the biggest difference is the general opinion of Within You Without You. It used to regularly pop up on "least liked" Usenet lists and was always "the one on Sgt Pepper that always gets skipped). What a change to now being revered and loved!!
I have disliked it since if first came out and still do today.
Blue Jay Way is one of The Beatles (George) best atmospheric tracks. #9 to Goodnight is a great transition, chaos to slumber, brilliant.
Mr Moonlight has some great Lennon vocals.
@@ronalddobis6782 For sure.
I knew You Know My Name would be on the list, but it is one of my absolute favorites. I was 6 years old when my older sister brought the Let It Be single home, and I remember she was so disappointed in the B-Side. I LOVED it. Still do.
Wait, people don't like Yellow Submarine?
Another brilliantly produced video from Parlogram
Thank you!
"You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" is such a classic! I'm definitely OK with Maxwell at #1.
I absolutely love “You Like Me Too Much” and “Run For Your Life”. I thought for sure “Mr. Moonlight” would have been #1. - Roger
Mr. Moonlight was always a fan favorite in their early live shows, but never translated well in the studio. I agree, should have made this list.
I think the list was only supposed to include original songs, no covers.
I don't understand the hate for "Run for Your Life." I love it. People act like the violent lyrics are John advocating the behavior. But it's fiction. To me, all music is just telling stories. Sometimes they reflect real experiences, sometimes emotions you don't show publicly, and sometimes completely fictional. But the condemnation of the lyrics is as weird to me as someone saying they didn't like Star Wars, because Darth Vader is evil.
@Parlogram I’m deciding to single out three Beatles tunes..
As a Beatles fan, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is one I don’t mind hearing once or twice a year. I don’t need to hear it outside of listening to the album.
Same thing with Hey Jude. I know people love it, and I can see why, but after 1-2 minutes of the na-na-na’s, I don’t see a point in listening to it any further.
I didn’t like The Long and Winding Road for a while, until I heard the Let It Be Naked version, which made me appreciate it more than I used to.
Your number one is literally mine and my late father's favorite Beatles song. I get why other people may not like it, but I've always found it more campy than anything else. It was also one of the first songs I taught myself to play on piano as a kid because I loved it so much!
Great list though!! Keep up the great work! 😊
I love "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)"! Many years ago when I read the song was originally 6 minutes 10 seconds long I hoped someday it would be released. Thankfully on 'Anthology' all the missing bits were there, but it faded too early, so I edited it all together in Adobe Soundbooth and I really enjoy listening to the full track. It really is more of a comedy skit than a pop song, in five sections, and I'm sorry the nightclub crooner Paul is hysterical!
It's the closest thing to their Christmas fan club record comedy bits, and reminiscent of Monty Python.
There's another one John and Ringo recorded around 67 - 68 called "Chi Chi's Bar" that is only available on bootlegs.
That's worth a listen if you like crazy Beatle humour.
It was on TH-cam a while ago , I don't know if it's still there.
I always got a laugh from John's mumble-babble at the end
I love this song and especially Paul crooning.
"You know my name" is a killer track. So much fun! And many thanks for the idea, cdpetee! I'm going to hit the albums and sound app tomorrow and make my own 6 min 10 sec version. Very cool - a new Beatles song cometh! Now, let's hear it for Denis O'Bell ! 🙂🙃
As bad as some say those songs are, I'd be willing to bet that if The Beatles took all of those "bad" songs and put them on one LP, It probably would have topped the charts. Also, you hit it right on the head by saying that as bad a some folks feel that those songs are, I'd rather listen to them than to switch stations on my car stereo. Oh, but to put Little Child on that list will make me lose some sleep! That lyric.... When you're by my side you're the only one, don't you run and hide, just come on, come on..... That lyric is so very much the style of bad boy rock and roll at that time!
I love most of the Beatles catalog but Revolution 9 should have been thrown in the garbage bin of time.
The intro of You Like Me Too Much always made me think of a stranger coming into the saloon in a Wild West film!
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da would be greatly missed from the White Album. It is charming, has a great melody, arrangement and vocals plus one of the most infectious chorusses, ever. If John didn't care for it, it's not evidenced by his enthusiastic background vocals, and he apparently came up with the perfect, fanfare-like opening piano riff. I was a teenager when it was released and my parents weren't big Beatles fans, but they both loved this song and it softened their opinions of the Beatles thereafter.
I agree. It's always been one of my favorite Beatle songs. Just such a great melody, clever lyrics, and performed with such childlike joy.
Some of these were actually fun when hanging out with friends playing our guitars and drinking a few beers. Wild Honey Pie usually made the play list and at moments notice someone would start saying…Number Nine…Number Nine…after which we’d break into the next tune.
I like this so too...
My least favorite top 10.
1. Why don’t we do it in the road
2. Mr Moonlight
3. Honey Don’t
4. Its only love
5. What goes on
6. Wild Honey Pie
7. Ob la di ob la da
8. Honey Pie
9. Bad Boy
10. Roll over beethoven
A couple of years ago I asked members of a Beatles Facebook group to name their least favorite Beatles songs (I was careful to phrase it that way). Though some participated, more than few group members were very angry about my request, and ultimately I left the group. The angry members were just being too precious about Beatles songs, something I think the Beatles themselves would find silly.
Maxwell does not deserve that position I Revolution Nine exists! It’s about the 150th best Beatles Song 11:05
Okay, I'm going to say it... and I may very well be the only one who does... I love "Run For Your Life." John's voice is SOOO GOOD. Love the guitars. Let me have it, if you will, but it's always been one I've loved.
Always entertaining and informative! I so look forward to Sunday mornings. Thanks, Andrew!
I never had issue with these songs. Enjoy them all for their originality an quirkiness. Love them all.
Fun topic Andrew. Thanks. :- ) When I first heard "You Know My Name" I thought it was an intentional attempt by them to write and record a rotten song on purpose to break the Beatles myth. Maxwell to me is a fine song that I feel people used to like until Lennon trashed it. Then is was 'uncool' to like it. As George wrote.. "Think for yourself." I'm a first generation fan and remember it that way.
Little Child is actually a very good song, featuring a great harmonica solo by Lennon. As for the lyric, it's John's version of I Saw Her Standing There. McCartney wrote a song about meeting a girl at a dance and Lennon responded with a similar take.
And I always thought Maxwell's Silver Hammer was Paul's take on Mack The Knife.
I think "Revolution 9" should definitely be at the top (bottom?) of the list, but I suspect that a lot of people don't think of it as a song, but just as a sonic experiment; I regard it as a waste of time and vinyl. "Don't Pass Me By" and "Wild Honey Pie" have never been favourites of mine, but three others from "The Beatles" that I can live without are "Yer Blues," "Helter Skelter," and "Why Don't We Do it in the Road."
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is one that I liked better when I first heard it than I do now, and "Oh Darling" has never been a favourite of mine, mainly because of Paul's screaming near the end (I prefer singing to screaming).
I've never liked "Run for Your Life." I've always regarded it as a mediocre tune, and the more I listen to the lyrics now, the more unpleasant they are. John sounds as though he really means it when he says he'd rather see her dead.
When it comes to "Blue Jay Way" and "You Like Me Too Much," I like both of them--much more than when I first heard them. I think George's weakest Beatles songs are "Only a Northern Song" and "Within You Without You," although I can tolerate them.
"What Goes On" would have made my list for many years, but I've developed a liking for it in recent years. "Little Child," on the other hand, is one that I liked much better when I first heard it than I do now.
I'm surprised that "Mr. Moonlight" didn't make the list; was the list limited to Beatles' compositions?
I must say, I consider, “you like me too much” and, “tell me what you see” to be two of the Beatles, finer “comfort food” songs.
That is, they are just so relaxing and have enough interesting nuances in the melodies and chords to satisfy my musical cravings. Hence, “comfort food”!
John has said in an interview that the worst Beatle song to him was "Dizzy Miss Lizzy". He thought it was cheap and disposable. Personally, i feel that song should have been vetoed as a track. It would have been far ballsy for the "Help" album to end on a downer with "Yesterday" than a sappy send-off to the album with "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" which is a lazy surface level cover song that had nothing really to say. That song was already an oldie that they performed during the Silver Beatles period that didn't need to be revisited for a great transitional album like "Help".
That is a bad song for me as well, that repetitive guitar line... i just can't be doing with it.
I would have preferred, Bad Boy, Slow Down, or Leave My Kitten Alone, in its place. Or I'm Down or She's a Woman but it isn't a bad track, just not a fave.
Great guitar work on the song though
Lennon was a contrary bugger.
Dizzy Miss Lizzie was possibly one of their most performed songs live.
I mean. He was still playing it in Toronto in 69 as a solo artist!
I like "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", but the best version to me is from the 1965 Hollywood Bowl show(s) - the one that was used for the official "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" album rocks big time, even if Lennon isn't at his best, vocally - but he and the other Fabs sound like dynamite on their instruments! However, it has to be the 1977 mix made by George Martin, the later Eight Days A Week-related HB-album sounds dull in companion. You miss so much of the tuff guitar riff on the latter one. And I don't mind the screams at all.
No matter what songs wind up on a "worst Beatles song" list, you'll find someone who'll say the song is great and it's their favorite. Even "Revolution 9," which is the only one I still actively avoid.
Hey, Revolution 9 is great and one of my favorites. 😉😉😉
See?@@albarton7189
@@albarton7189And it works when using a vintage quadraphonic system and it would blow all 4 speakers away.
There also clues on the “Paul Is Dead” theory during “Revolution 9” like “Turn Me On Dead Man” when it was played backwards.
@@Musicradio77Network I happened to have been given an LP in the late 1960's of "musique concrète," a form of electronic music invented in France that involved recording actual noises and reassembling them, spliced together and electronically altered. So when The Beatles did "Revolution 9" I knew exactly what they were doing and where it came from: I remember walking around my high school saying, "Wow! The Beatles are doing musique concrète!" My fellow students probably wondered what drugs I was taking (none, actually).
I would have added "Within You Without You" to this list. It's an overlong rehash of "Love You To" (from the Revolver LP), and doesnt even qualify as rock and roll, as far as I am concerned. It's notable that it's one of the few tracks from the "Sgt. Pepper" LP to get virtually no airplay on 'classic rock' radio.
It’s complex, versatile and adds spiciness to the album. Brilliant track and smart placing
For me it's a toss-up between Revolution No. 9 and Wild Honey Pie for the worst. Was surprised to see Maxwell at the top of the list... I put it on a Halloween playlist many, many, many years ago and I still love hearing it. Though, I do have to wonder if my love of Spike Jones music might be coming into play with the anvil sounds on Maxwell...
Never understood why What Goes On is so disliked. I think it’s underrated, actually. The Help! picks I kinda expected, but I’d ad I’ve Just Seen A Face as well. And TBH, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer isn’t my least favourite, but it is on the Abbey Road album.
This is no new revelation: These “worst” songs would be crowning achievements for any other band.
They would be bad songs for any band!
@@shadrach6299I agree, the Beatles were absolute geniuses but there's no way denying that they simply had some real stinkers in their catalogue - songs that were objectively bad ... They often admitted it themselves... It's just inevitable when you release 2 albums a year
@@Cengert1979 : There is no such thing as "objectively bad" when talking about music. There are just some songs that you may not like (subjective opinion), that many others do like and think are good. I guarantee if you were to list songs that you claim are "objectively bad", someone will state that they think they arer good.
@@Housemartinuk I can see your point but I do think that art can sometimes be objectively bad ... There are quite a lot of examples of movies that are pretty much objectively bad ... Regarding the Beatles: I find it hard to think of any person that really unironically enjoys something like Wild Honey Pie 😉 ... I do think that that one was an attempt by Paul to create something intentionally bad and annoying
@@Cengert1979 : I can only repeat what I said before: There is no such thing as "objectively bad" when talking about music. All you have is subjective opinion. As regards "Wild Honey Pie", I like it (I like everything on The White Album), George Harrison's wife, Pattie, liked it (hence why it ended up on the album) and The Pixies liked it enough to do an excellent cover version of it in 1998 for the BBC. And I would be pretty sure that Pattie, The Pixies and I are not the only people who appreciate "Wild Honey Pie". Anymore (ahem) "objectively bad" song you'd care to name?
As a fan of the macabre, I'm quite fond of Maxwell's Silver Hammer. It's a twisted little beast.
I quite agree
George Martin's side two of Yellow Submarine is one I always wanted to skip.
Little child is probably my least favorite. Besides being kind of annoying, i cant stand the trend of calling the love interest as "child" which seemed to be in many songs of the era. Its so creepy
'Tell me what you see' is a great track
No.
The very fact that it matters 60 years later. Still remarkable and still fresh.
98% of bands can’t even come close to the Beatles’ least liked songs and would kill to have this list in their catalog…
no doubt. they set a gold standard that no one has touched 60 years later.
"Run for Your Life" and "I am the Walrus" are the main ones I can do without. I hate those songs.
I've always disliked "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" but my least favorite Beatles song is the terrible "Your Mother Should Know."
Revolution No 9 would be my least favourite self penned song by the Beatles. This is just my opinion though.
I can’t be the only person to sing along to Revolution 9 when it comes on in the car 😂
Number 9, Number 9, Number 9....
Take this, brother. May it serve you well.
@@donaldlush2822Turn me on, dead man.
They are standing still.
Onion soup.
If "little girl" is creepy then shouldn't "baby" also be? But it's in half the songs written over the past 60 years 😂
"Little boy. Baby boy. I want to make love to you".
Charlie Kelly - the Nightman Cometh
And what about old classics like "Only Sixteen", "You're Sixteen", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Sixteen Candles" and so on
"baby" is a lot less specific than "little girl".
@@teebodk3917 A lot of those are just creepy too. You're Sixteen, Ringo Starr's version, is extremely uncomfortable. He was in his 30s, going "You're sixteen, you're beautiful, and you're mine".
@@beyondobscure So what? He was singing as the character of the song...
Love Obla Dee all I have to do is hear the first few notes and my heart starts to dance
"Maxwell's silver Hammer "is way less annoying than "Rocky Racoon" but they're but they're both kind'a similar.
My parents were huge Beatles fans to the point I think I was confused whether they were family friends. I was born a couple months before they appeared on Ed Sullivan so they were always around.
I loved Maxwell’s as I had very macabre humor as a kid. Look up Gashlicrumb Tinies to get an idea of one of my favorite books.
The only song I really ever disliked was Piggies and only that because the chord change organ coda at the end came across as an audio jump scare.
Couldn't care less about songs that people don't like. Negative energy is a waste of time! Love this channel though and Happy Easter! :)
Love Blue Jay Way! It's the height of Psyche-Beatle-Delia ! The production and mix makes the song happen.
Not sure why you'd say that "Don't Pass Me By" is Ringo's only solo composition. He has the sole writing credit on Octopus's Garden. I don't know if there are others.
Isn't it funny how George fought with all his might to get more songs in the Beatles albums and missed many masterpieces like All Things Must Pass and Isn't It A Pity, but then his wife walks in and says she likes Wild Honey Pie and voilà they put in on the A side of the White Album?