A Millenial, The Beatles, and Feeling Feelings.
My earliest memories of The Beatles were on road trips with my Dad. They broke up two decades before I was born, but 12 year old me could see how much he enjoyed their music and so I gave it a listen, also he has had strict rules as long as I can remember that the driver gets to pick the music; that rule is now mine as well.
He would tell me stories about the making of the songs and would ask me what I thought some of the song’s deeper meanings were. It meant a lot to me to have my interpretations heard and discussed, and I credit that parenting style to giving me and my brothers’ confidence in our ability to form our own opinions on things. If I ever have children, I look forward to listening to The Beatles with them and hearing their thoughts while I share their backstory.
On a solo road trip recently, after having a bit of an emotional breakdown, I decided to listen to every Beatles album released while they were together, in their entirety and chronologically. Maybe I’ll find some kinship or learn something 50 years later as a 28-year-old who isn’t much older than these four guys were when creating these songs.
Thie Beatles created their music during a similarly tumultuous time in history, where the future may have seemed uncertain, and found a path in life when the world seemed out of sorts.
Note** they released 12 studio albums while together; I’ll be reviewing the core album released available on Spotify.
Album: “Please, Please, Me” 1963
This one ended up being far more interesting than I anticipated. I’ve often avoided their early work after feeling it was too campy when hearing songs like Twist and Shout, but this album is remarkably diverse. Various pieces feel like tributes to everything from the 50s and early 60s Motown, Rockabilly, rocks Bluesier Roots. Sometimes I almost felt like I was listening to The Kinks and other times The Temptations.
This album is the work of deeply competent burgeoning artists performing music just like the music they love, and that inspired them to make music.
I chose this song in particular because although it follows the theme that exists on nearly every song on the album, the many forms, and shapes of love. It is one of the album’s best examples of form and style is the goal more than the lyrical content.
It’s also worth mentioning that they were young men here, fresh out of their home town and touring. They wanted people to have fun and enjoy themselves in a beautifully contrasts with the Beatles’ more emotionally evocative and mature music in the years to come. This is stuff meant for some fun and good times, and that is worth keeping in our lives; this song reminds me of that.
P.s. all these songs were written by guys who wanted to get laid, and it shows.
My favorite is the spaghetti western sounding track A Taste of Honey.
https://open.spotify.com/track/7fh53ta3vAOGJMQ4i5tCHe?si=HW_NLlX9S0Wba6kyiEOnjQ&utm_source=copy-link
Album With The Beatles 1963
A compilation album they released the same year, filled with covers that were the songs they played together, shaped the artistic powerhouses they all remained. Of course, the original tracks are still the bangers of their day, and the song Hold Me Tight literally talks about “making love all night.” They were rebels from the start; I could see how parents would get upset when they heard these lyrics, basically Hold Me Tight and I Wanna Be Your Man are the WAP of its day.
I might make a rule called “Zeppelins Rule, were to use a metaphor in any type of rock n roll music; it also has to be a sexual double entendre.
This album gives me respect because all art is derivative, and that’s where we start our artistic journeys, through emulation!
I chose this song as my honorable mention because although it’s not an original, it’s one of my favorite songs played and performed incredibly well by my favorite band. Every band should cover this song and perform it their way at each concert they hold. It’s got some strong magic to me.
https://open.spotify.com/track/7rgUYidQh5tH0YlXCoKaYJ?si=NNeligZmSBquZ9r_4jtmpw&utm_source=copy-link
Top pick
MONEY, The album’s love song for materialism, finally not a love song, and it carries a fun dip into being explicitly critical of society and counter-cultural. By the song, they’re literally shouting (John songs lead with backing by the whole gang). Play this at any event you are at, from a bar mitzvah to a bat mitzvah to a briss; people will have a blast (or a bar or anywhere with a dance floor, it’s just a song that really builds tension, and by the end, it’s almost an ecstatic dam bursting as excitement just fills you and your friends on the dance floor. I’m really glad I decided to listen to every Beatles Album they released while together (in order and their entirety).
Call it anti-cap
Honorable mention
P.s. “I’ve got rocking pneumonia” and blue suede shoes.
Album A Hard Days Night, 1964
Jesus Christ, the 3rd album in 2 years and the next album after this was also released in 1964. Ok, so at this point in the Beatles catalog, they just have like 100 songs they played and just blasted out albums every six months. I like the songs, but I’m also looking forward to getting to their more experimental work.
This is a good practice in presence; instead of sitting here wanting to hear their later work, I should enjoy these tracks; they’re bouncy, fun, and I imagine dancing to this music being performed live was absolutely thrilling.
I chose this song because it feels very much like The Beatles finding their voice and sound, which, even when evolving, still holds the same soul.
Can’t Buy Me Love
Honorable Mention “You Can’t Do That” for having the perfect mix of misogyny and campiness while also having some great cowbell and guitar and just everything. This song makes me feel like I’m in an Austin Powers movie, and I recommend you pretend that while listening to this.
I guess my general feeling on the first four Beatles albums is “well for a generation of crazy sexually repressed young folks terrified of nuclear war; this must’ve been really great to dance to.”
Album Beatles For Sale, 1964
How many songs did these guys freaking make, WOW. This album is fun, and I was really surprised by some country music vibes these four Liverpool guys created.
The music seems to continue the trend of mostly feeling sorry for oneself because a girl doesn’t feel the same, and trying to convince her that she should reciprocate love due to the feelings of the singer being so strong. A pretty dated sentiment, but the songs are solid and fun to listen to.
I chose I’ll Follow The Sun because it has an interesting bounce between melancholy and optimism in both the musical instruments, lyrics, and the moments where the group sings in harmony vs. just one person singing. This song makes me feel good about the future, even when the future certainly won’t be perfect.
Album Rubber Soul 1965
The Beatles went to India, started doing psychedelics, and made this just an incredible, new, nuanced, inventive, and creative masterpiece.
Every track on this album is incredible when I listen to it. Listening to Rubber Soul makes me feel like The Beatles were maturing, learning more about themselves and the world around them. When they sing about love here, they do it with not just more unique instrumental choices but with an insight and sincerity, and authentic vulnerability that has rarely been touched by other artists (Michelle, Girl, Norwegian Wood). They met Bob Dylan and went to India, and so much more happened that clearly influenced them creatively here. We also get to hear plenty of tracks really starting to pick out some societal and existential thoughts (Nowhere Man, The Word, Think For Yourself) and then hearing a 60s British take on country music in songs like “What Goes On” is exciting and lively as an auditory experience.
Some random facts my Dad told me about this album
- “Bob Dylan heard the song Norwegian Wood and felt like it was John Lennon making a song in Bob Dylan’s style.”
- “Different Beatles did their own takes on different types of songs when they couldn’t agree, so Michelle is Paul’s take on a love song while Girl is John’s. This would continue throughout their careers.
- “Paul McCartney said it is The Beatles Comedy Album.”
Picking a favorite on this album just feels impossible; you could ask, what’s my favorite love song on the album? What’s my favorite morally conscious song on Rubber Soul, and more. This is multiple genres, and each of the band’s members had greater or lesser influence from well crafted song to well crafted song. I’ll pick In My Life just because there’s also a powerful Johnny Cash cover it and I could find no other way to not just choose the whole album.
Album: 1966 Revolver
Revolver is a shorter album for this crew with a few songs on it that I really enjoyed and a few I could take or leave. It isn’t a standout, and although I enjoyed it, compared to every other album, it is a bit less impressive just because it doesn’t smack me in the face with how different it is or with how many great tracks it has.
Top track: Eleanor Rigby
Honorable Mention: I’m Only Sleeping
Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967
(aka the first-ever concept album)
The first song, the title track, opens with full spirited rock n roll that also includes a fantastic horn section. At this point, I feel like The Beatles were practically composers of modern music, more than just a standard band.
One of the best song lyrics ever rests on this album:
“I get by with a little help from my friends; I get high with a little help from my friends”
Easily the most cryptic lyrics and psychedelic sounds come from this album, but they hold up unlike so much other music from the last 50 years.
This album is real psychedelic rock, balancing the optimistic, introspective, and upbeat, creative sounds that are possibly the best the 60s had to offer.
Like many folks, I know around my age, and the age the Beatles were when creating this album, I’ve spent too much of my life anxiously trying to move mountains and do things that were impressive to others. When listening to this album, it feels like a reminder of the idea that if you’re enjoying yourself doing nothing, then you’re not doing nothing.” It makes it feel ok to step away from the rat race and make my life mine.
Some of the songs are honestly nonsensical to me. For the Benefit of Mister Kite is like riding through a British vaudeville amusement park while tripping on acid, which teeters between scary and carefree. But don’t worry, just as you find yourself in this aural experience where like Alice In Wonderland, you are both delighted, fascinated, and trying to push out the thought that his may just merry go round may just be going too fast, just then you get to Within You Without You and the Indo-East Asian instrumental influences are there to calm you down and let you know that if you just relax it’ll all work out.
I’m not saying, “you should listen to this album with great speakers while using psychedelics and make sure to put your phone somewhere you won’t look at it,” but maybe do that.
If the early Beatles made me want to rip it up on a dance floor with my friends sweating through our evening suits and ascots, this album makes me want to close my eyes and just hear everything going on with total presence.
Bonus points to this album for having around 20 instruments and animal noises on most of the songs and having them sound beautiful and well crafted instead of a jumbled mess.
First For The Benefit of Mister Kite
https://open.spotify.com/track/3mMv7l7eHDHgpJqJvjXdWx?si=ib9LIYMsTAKGRj0kKtAK7g
Then immediately after, listen to Within You Without You.
1967 Magical Mystery Tour
Another bright psychedelic adventure. From playing sounds backward to using a menagerie of instruments, this album is another fascinating journey. Bright in sound, colorful in language, and exciting in effect, this album felt like if you’d asked an orchestra and psychedelic rock band to collaborate on music for a parade.
We have been treated to more experimental music than ever before by The Beatles, as well as a glimpse into who the heck these guys were and what they cared about, and what they hoped for the world to be.
Songs like Fool on the Hill and Love is All You Need bringing to mind that break from the rat race that every album has increased its call for by an order of magnitude each time. I Am The Walrus and Flying brought to mind the idea that sometimes things are profound and sometimes they’re nonsensical and maybe don’t worry about which is which, ok? They are calling out to us to stop letting other people define us, be here NOW!
Songs like the famous Strawberry Field Forever and Blue Jay Way are expansive, meandering, and mold-breaking in a way I can only describe as being comparable (I’d imagine) as a goddess pouring wisdom honey directly into your ear and letting you know it’ll all work out while her 6th and 7th arms play the Sitar.
My top pick is Fool On The Hill because it is gentle and beautiful, and trusting. Also it was in “Dinner For Schmucks” and has a pretty hilarious music video on YouTube with Paul frolicking alone in a field.
Honorable mention Strawberry Fields forever, listen to this on good speakers, close your eyes, and just be with this song.
Album The White Album 1968
How the hell am I supposed to pick favorites when this album has around 30 songs and even the ones I’m not crazy about are still incredible songs. I really feel like I could write about every single song on this album, we see the Beatles second excursion into having individual band members be the driving force behind each song in a way I don’t think any band before or since has had. Each member of this band has songs on this album alone. This album even includes Ringo Starrs’s first song he wrote all by himself; the country song Don’t Pass Me By.
As a workaround for this feeling that only feels fair, I will now just pick my favorite songs and write a sentence or two about them:
Back in The U.S.S.R
Back in The U.S.S.R. is a tongue in cheek song about hooking up with Comrades in Ukraine (poking fun at the style and content of the songs at the time about California).
Dear Prudence
Dear Prudence is a song about hanging out with Prudence Farrow, the sister of celebrity Mia Farrow while visiting Rishikesh, India. Apparently, Prudence became so laser focused on meditation at the retreat that the song is George and John imploring her to come join the fun outside and take a break. Folklore says the song is actually about the Mahareshi hitting on Prudence all weekend, this is a debated subject but it’s a beautiful song. Guitar plus Sitar is 🔥
Glass Onion
John Lennon apparently loved the phrase for it’s imagery of something both transparent AND layered, the song has an anxious pace and manages to make me feel ready for it to be over while not wanting it to end. Also the song ends with a straining cello and violin portion that slowly fades out.
Oh Bla Do, Oh Bla Da
The worst song The Beatles ever produced, sorry Paul but this is 💩. Although they do say the word Brah in the song, which really shows how ahead of their time they were.
Honey Pie
This song sounds like it’s played with random found objects on an old farm, and it still sounds intriguing and draws you in.
Bungalow Bill
Talk about range; this is the weird story of an ugly man and his mother. They like to hunt, neighborhood kids always ask what he killed, and well, it’s just an odd little journey of a story song that is a bit of a lost art.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Incredible song of an artist’s pain, one of the greatest songs ever written with weeping guitar solos and poetic lyrics that really smack you in the heart and call you a bitch boi.
Happiness is a Warm Gun
Americans are obsessed with guns, guns are kind of like dicks, but mostly it’s about a creepy obsession with guns that is very foreign to the Brits. Oh, also, it’s kind of about Heroin as well. So Guns, Penis, Heroin, then religion a little, but MOSTLY guns. This song a real…Glass Onion…
Martha My Dear
Paul probably just wrote this while thinking of a sweet little filler song. That’s part of the magic I’ve learned from The Beatles, Paul can write a sweet little diddy or John a throwaway blues bit but just because they’re simple doesn’t mean they’re limited or any less enjoyable to hear. There’s a life lesson in there somewhere. Also “when you find yourself in the thick of it, help yourself to a bit of what is all around you” that’s a helluva lyric.
I’m So Tired
A very slow bluesy track with John Lennon unable to sleep and his internal debate if he should call a girl who is upset with him (presumably after a fight that happened 3 weeks ago). The end of the song has something played backwards/mumbled that supposedly says Paul is dead (a conspiracy theory at the time that The Beatles enjoyed poking fun at. Johns songs are getting simpler and bluesier and they are still amazing (tough to say “better” when it comes to The Beatles).Apparently after India, Lennon was a little obsessed with making his songs have as few lyrics and as simple of melodies as possible. In a way, you could say this drive for simplicity was both a call back to the blues roots that started modern american rock, as well as a progenitor to most power chord rock that would come later.
Blackbird
My friend sang this at her Grandfather’s funeral, it’s a transcendent song and the rythem and words will nestle in our hearts if we hear it once or a million times. Also Paul wrote it after seeing a picture of a young black girl being protecting by an armed soldier while entering a school that was being desegregated. The Beatles actually helped end desegregation by refusing to play for segregated audiences, ahhhh capitalism, the cause of, and solution to all our problems.
Little Piggies
I’m just going to assume this is the 60’s version of fuck the police and extra points for line “and they need a damn good whacking”.
Rocky Raccoon
A Paul Mccartney country song about the coal mines of West Virginia and a man who has been hurt.
Don’t Pass Me By
A Ringo jam that feels like it would sound most perfect in if was played in a barn after a harvest. Fun and bouncy with solid fiddle, these guys really transcend genres. Give their country songs a chance even if you don’t like country, scratch that, give them a listen ESPECIALLY if you don’t like country music.
Why Don’t We Do It In The Road
Back when I was in the Air Force this song was my secret weapon for the Airman’s Physical Training Assessment, the tempo and cadence and attitude had me running about 7 minute mile times and it’s only about 90 seconds long. Also why don’t we?
I Will
A bit of a callback to their earlier love songs but this is better. Again, weird to say better but yea, this song is a soothing and romantic promise to the listener and lover. Yes, I said lover, let’s bring that term back big time.
Julia
This songs is a real…Glass Onion (I will be using this phrase in the rest of my life forever now because it describes something I didn’t have a name for). So Julia was Johns mom, she died when he was young, taught him music, and cared for him after John’s father abandoned them. Paul and John both lost their mothers when they were younger this is something that brought them closer. In the song, he sings about his missing mother and also references Ocean Child, which is the translation of Yoko Ono’s name. So it’s a love song where he is singing about missing his mother and also how this woman he loves cares for him and makes him feel safe. A little weird but also, the two women most humans will be closest to are their mother and a long term partner.
Mother Nature’s Son
The simple drums and guitar playing give this so much more of a stripped-down feel than almost everything else The Beatles gave us before. Then the horn section gently dips in and a little bit of some other instruments. This one won’t wake up the neighbors. It’ll just warm your heart with a gentle love song for mother nature.
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey
What can I say? I dig it, a competent, fun, weird, psychedelic track.
Sexy Sadie
In the same vein as Girl and Michelle, we have a classy toned down song about one of the billion ways things can go wrong between people romantically. At this point, I think whoever owns their music should make a compilation of this specific brand of a love song just from Beatles Albums. I’d listen. “Sexy Sadie, she’s the latest and the greatest of them all.”
Helter Skelter
Paul wrote this to prove he could write more than just sweet and poppy songs, he nailed this driving hard rock song, and honestly, this song and Yer Blues make me feel like all modern rock comes from this album most directly and more than any other individual album’s contribution. I really feel like this song could come out today and be beloved. I want to hear these two songs live in my lifetime (with a crowd that hasn’t had too many hip replacements).
Long, Long, Long
A weird one… everyone is singing soft and high pitched. This song feels like a trip where the Beatles are talking to you from the past and inside your brain. If we were making a “Beatles songs to do drugs too,” this would be on it.
Revolution 1
This album continues the increasing social consciousness of the previous albums, and this is a real call to action. “We all want to change the world, but when you talk about destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out” “don’t go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, or you won’t make it with anyone anyhow.” Good advice for activists anywhere today.
Honey Pie
Genre number 10 on this album, ragtime, I guess? Seriously, this song sounds like the most popping lockin zip zop waka flak-in track from 1920 and worth a listen.
Savoy Truffle
The sexiest song I’ve ever heard about English candy and dessert.
Cry Baby Cry
An odd little song with some cryptic lyrics about sad people, maybe sad royalty? Or just how it feels to be a sad, confused kid? Worth listening to. Another story song but meandering and carefully bouncing us from one feeling to another musically.
Revolution 9
The track starts out with two guys arguing, and one calls the other a bitch. Really, I can’t make this up. The track has words and sounds bouncing up and down in volume, tone, and from ear to ear. Maybe revolution 1 is the revolution on the streets, and if you work your way up to Revolution 9, it’s a revolution of reality. This song makes reality feel tenuous.
Good Night
The Beatles wished you goodnight in a track that I would be amazed if I hadn’t heard in a Disney movie before. The Beatles make this music that really is enhanced by listening to an album from start to finish.
Album: Yellow Submarine 1969
It’s well done as a children’s album/soundtrack, but I didn’t care for it. Watch The Beatles Yellow Submarine cartoon if you’re interested, though (they made a few movies throughout their time together).
Album: Abbey Road 1969
Abbey Road is definitely a more cohesive work than the previous album’s. This should be listened to from start to finish; the songs fit together, have a purposeful order, and blend beautifully. I would say that although it is less adventurous than an album like Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, it is no less impressive and impeccably made. It’s beautiful, one of the greatest albums’s ever made, and filled with songs that are clearly written by people who are contemplating the world and their place in it, which is merged so effectively with masterfully crafted songs that they can be enjoyed on a few levels and your experience, in the same way as quality poetry, is enhanced by listening to multiple listens.
Favorite song:
She Came in Through The Bathroom Window
https://open.spotify.com/track/2jtUGFsqanQ82zqDlhiKIp?si=kr3uO93PQsisgrbij2KikA
Honorable Mention
The End
https://open.spotify.com/track/5aHHf6jrqDRb1fcBmue2kn?si=eF4rKhJpQVy0DyvWo3ejWA
Album: Let It Be 1970
Wow, what a journey, and here we are at the last album review! The group knew they were breaking up after this, John and Paul would demand to have the same number of songs they’d written on each album, Paul wasn’t a fan of putting George’s songs on albums (John encouraged him), and everyone was feeling like they were reaching a point where they wanted to do their own thing and could never live up to people’s incredibly high expectations forever.
This album has some of the groups’ most famous and long-lasting songs (who doesn’t love the musicgroups’Let It Be) and has some sillier cuts, such as Maggie Mae, which sounds like they guys half remembering a song they heard while drunk in a bar.
I really enjoyed this more straightforward, stripped-down album. It is incredible that despite a deeply eclectic and completely unmatched style, playing music that was so diverse, what I heard listening to these albums is that The Beatles always sounded like The Beatles. Maybe it’s obvious to say, but their uniqueness fills all of the space of every song they made or covered in a way that, in my view, we only see with true masters and artists.
My favorite: I’ve Got a Feeling
Honorable Mention: Dig A Pony
Here is a link to the entire playlist that includes a few extra tracks
It was worth it, every bit of it. I've travelled the world and never failed to find people singing along to Beatles songs, from India to Mexico to New York City. This music made an impact for a reason and I'm grateful it exists.
About the author, Chris is a former USAF Security Forces Non Commissioned Officer with a Masters in Homeland Security, currently working as a comedian, podcast host, and professional at finding places to nap outside.