Slowly returning and Beatles

Working on getting this back operational again. It's at least slightly less horrible. I'll be upgrading again to 4.23 and at that point it should be done and I'll finally get it back to looking decent.

But since I bothered to post, I'll link to the greatest thing I've found recently. An article in which the author, a serious Beatles fanatic, ranks all 185 Beatles songs from last to first, with detailed explanations of his reasoning as well as fascinating background on many of the songs and the band drama behind them.

This is only recommended if your a pretty serious Beatles nut. If you can name more than 5 album names and half of the songs on those albums, then you are ready for this list (and probably didn't need me to tell you that). But if you like a few Beatles songs and couldn't which album any Beatles song is on, you can safely skip it.

I disagreed with him on a number of rankings, but that's only obliquely the point of this countdown. Its more interesting as an examination of one man's relationship with all of the Beatles music, and how it causes you to reflect on your own.

Excerpts:

169. "Don't Pass Me By"

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There apparently is evidence of Ringo Starr mentioning on a BBC program somewhere around 1964 that he had been working on a song called "Don't Pass Me By." It was finally released on The White Album in 1968. That means it took 4 years for Starr to polish up this song, his first solo composing credit with the group.

The other odd thing about this number...is that, considering it was written by a drummer, it's got probably the clunkiest rhythm of any Beatles track out there.

Considering all of that time spent, you might have expected something Beethovenesque as the result. Instead, we got a bizarre, fiddle-laden, country number which finds Ringo moaning over a love who keeps him waiting. I don't know why he'd be so worked up, since it appears the girl in question is now bald as a result of an auto accident. Maybe she had an early prototype for the Flobee, and things went horribly awry when she tried to give herself a trim using the rear-view. Don't cut and drive, people. It's the law.

The other odd thing about this number (actually there are about a million odd things about this number, but let's keep it brief) is that, considering it was written by a drummer, it's got probably the clunkiest rhythm of any Beatles track out there. Usher couldn't dance to this song.

But, then again, it's quintessentially Ringo, isn't it? It's charming in an oddball way, and the whimsy is unforced, as opposed to some of the unsubtle attempts at humor found elsewhere on The White Album. We'll give Ringo a pass here, and hope that the girl in the song discovered Rogaine somewhere along the way.

44. "Back In The U.S.S.R."

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An ingenious pastiche of Chuck Berry and The Beach Boys, two of Paul McCartney's chief idols/inspirations, "Back In The U.S.S.R" starts the White Album off with a heaping helping of old-fashioned, American-style rock'n'roll. The album would veer wildly away from such straightforward pleasures, but the incongruity of this track's placement as the opener is somehow fitting.

...it's well-known that the creative rivalry (McCartney) indulged in with Brian Wilson led to some of the most breathtaking music of the 60's...

McCartney gets every detail spot on, and it's easy to understand why. His debt to Chuck Berry's nimble storytelling is clear in early songs like "I Saw Her Standing There," so it's no surprise that he pulls it off well here. And it's well-known that the creative rivalry he indulged in with Brian Wilson led to some of the most breathtaking music of the 60's, so it's only right that he should pay his respects with the expert mimicry of the trademark Beach Boy vocals in the bridge to this song.

The ironic thing, of course, is that all of this Americana flavoring serves lyrics that pay tribute to the top U.S. rival throughout much of the decade. Paul makes sure not to mess up his references to the U.S.S.R.; it must have been quite a thrill when he realized that "balalaikas" was such a perfect metrical fit. (This may also be the only Beatles song that alludes to one of them vomiting, as Paul implies that he did the Technicolor yawn during his song-opening flight from hell.)

The unfortunate thing here is the absence of Ringo Starr. The song was recorded while Starr had temporarily left the band in frustration, partly due to Macca's criticism over his inability to get this particular song right. Paul played the drums capably on the song, but it's interesting to note that, while he was practicing Glasnost in his lyrics, he couldn't help but be enmeshed in a Cold War within his own band.