Featured Stories

To most Beatles fans, choosing between the songs of the Fab 4 is a bit like choosing between children. But, on the JamsBio exclusive, Playing The Beatles Backward, one intrepid fan dares to rank the original songs of The Beatles and give his reasons why in a worst-to-first countdown. Check back each day for the next five songs on the list, prepare to hit the message boards to defend your favorites, and follow the countdown all the way to Number 1.

The complete list to date.

The Last Five:

129. “Love Me Do”

128. “The Night Before”

127. “Mean Mr. Mustard”

126. “Get Back”

125. “Michelle”

124. “The Inner Light”

LISTEN HERE  

George gets his drone on in this 1968 B-side, combining monotone instrumental touches with pretty, melodic verses. The result creates quite a nifty contrast: the Indian instruments produce a hypnotic effect and the verses are like an awakening.

Recorded in Bombay, “The Inner Light” features no Beatles playing. They just provide vocals with Harrison on lead and Lennon and McCartney briefly on back-up. The lyrics are a riff on the words of Lao-Tsu from the 6th-century B.C. Presumably George didn’t have to worry too much about sharing a songwriting credit with him.

In terms of Harrison’s Eastern musical forays with The Beatles, this is a relatively minor effort. The fact that he didn’t put any of his own spin on the lyrics renders the song a bit too academic and cold, especially considering the beauty of the tune. The message at the heart of “The Inner Light” is certainly profound, but the song only provides existential answers without ever really deigning to visit the real world. Thus it creates a pleasant mood that quickly dissipates after its 2 ½ minutes are spent.

123. “Baby’s In Black”

LISTEN HERE  

The boys’ songwriting takes a bit of a somber turn in this Beatles For Sale number, as John and Paul bemoan the fate of a girl pining for her lost love. And, considering the girl’s color of choice for her attire, we can assume that this lost love is gone with a great deal more finality than in the group’s usual odes to hurt pride and misunderstandings.

I’ve heard speculation in the past that this song is about Astrid Kirchherr, friend of the Beatles from their Hamburg days, and how she supposedly never got over the premature death of her love, and one-time Beatles’ bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe. Seeing as how neither John nor Paul has confirmed this in any interview I’ve ever read, I’m a little skeptical.

After all, it’s a bit cynical to believe that the pair, who wrote the song together, would trivialize their friend’s death for the sake of an album cut. And, if we are to believe that this is about Kirchherr, shouldn’t we expect something with a little more depth than “Baby’s in black and I’m feeling blue”? They were extremely tight with Astrid and Stu, who influenced everything from their fashion to their famous moptop hairdos. Lennon and Sutcliffe had a particularly tight bond that’s always been the subject of much speculation on its own. Maybe John and Paul used the basic story as a jumping-off point to get an idea for a song, but to say that this is an ode to their doomed pal and the girl left behind is a gigantic and questionable leap in logic.

Anyway, even thought the subject matter is decidedly downbeat, the music, although by no means a rocker, isn’t exactly a mournful hymn either. Ringo’s beat is almost a waltz and George’s guitar fills are very country, while the harmonies of John and Paul, sung at the same mike, hint at a Motown influence. It all adds up to give the song a vibe that’s just a bit askew.

An interesting departure, definitely; a halfway-realized idea, perhaps. But a heartfelt elegy to lost friends? Not likely.

122. “Think For Yourself”

LISTEN HERE  

Not too many Beatles’ songs circa 1965 defied easy dissection. The band’s rate of musical experimentation and boundary pushing was expanding a little faster than the depth of their lyrics, which, while often clever and wonderfully apt to the melodies they served, with some notable exceptions, still tended to be about your basic boy-girl stuff.

“Think For Yourself,” written by George Harrison and included on Rubber Soul, cannot be accused of any such shallowness. It seems to have a lot on its mind and a strong point of view. It’s just never quite clear to whom George is directing his caustic wit and withering put-downs.

At times he seems to be hinting at a heartless lover (“I know your mind’s made up/You’re gonna cause more misery”). Or maybe it’s the government or organized religion in his crosshairs (“You’re telling all those lies/ About the good things that we can have if we close our eyes”). And maybe, shudder to think, he’s got a message in there for all of us who would try to glean wisdom from pop stars (“Think for yourself ‘cause I won’t be there with you”).

Whoever it is, George has little patience with them (“Although your mind’s opaque” -Ouch!). And yet he still holds out hope at the end for the possibility of change (“And you’ve got time to rectify all the things that you should”).

Musically there’s not much to this song beyond McCartney’s driving, effects-laden bass guitar. But the lyrics are a vast wonderland for anyone with the inclination to dig deep for meaning. But don’t look to George for help. When commenting about it many years later, even he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly “Think For Yourself” was about.

121. “I Me Mine”

LISTEN HERE  

On January 3, 1970, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr gathered at Abbey Road to work on the last new song they would record together as The Beatles until their mid-90’s reunion. John Lennon was absent, having already checked out on the group the previous fall, although he hadn’t yet made it official. The next day would feature the recording of overdubs for “Let It Be,” but the bulk of that work had already been done. So, in many ways, the song recorded on the 3rd was the closing word for the group.

How fitting then that the track they played and finished that day was “I Me Mine,” a Harrison contribution that warned about the pitfalls of ego. Do you think that some eyeballs were darting around the room (or that Lennon’s ears were burning) as George sang “All I can hear/I me mine/I me mine/I me mine”?

The only reason they were forced to record “I Me Mine” in the first place was because they had taken a look at a rough cut of the Let It Be film and saw that one of the group’s first attempts at the song in rehearsal was going to be included in the movie. That might be a reason that the song has an unfinished feel to it, with just two brief verses in the waltz-like section and then the “I me me mine” refrain. This is one of the few occasions where Phil Spector’s orchestration actually added something on Let It Be, as the heavy strings and horns amplified the sense of dread and foreboding in Harrison’s words and music.

Certainly you can make a case that the lyrics were just another byproduct of George’s interest in Eastern philosophy. But the sentiments involved were likely pretty close to the surface on that fateful January day. No translation of Sanskrit necessary; their faces probably said it all.

120. “All I’ve Got To Do”

LISTEN HERE  

John Lennon’s love of Smokey Robinson propels this infectious little number on With The Beatles, but Ringo Starr’s nimble drumming is the real hero. In the verses, when Lennon is looking for his love, Starr’s stop-and-start rhythm sets the tone. Then, when John professes in the chorus that it’s just a matter of saying the word and his girl will come running, Ringo lays on the swagger with a strutting beat.

I guess you could call these lyrics cocky, but it’s a break from the “aw-shucks” modesty that permeated most of their first few albums. They were The Beatles, you know. It’s not inconceivable that they merely needed to snap their fingers and females from all points on the map would commence a land rush to get there first.

Lennon would return often to the old big-crescendo-vocal-in-the-bridge ploy (see also “Yes It Is,”, “Anna (Go To Him)” and “This Boy”). He clearly liked the crowd-pleasing dramatic effect it had, but it doesn’t make as much sense here since he already has the girl wrapped around his rhythm guitar and he doesn’t need the glory note to win her over.

That’s a bit of nitpicking, I admit. “All I’ve Got To Do” finds the young group at the peak of their musical confidence, and it’s once case where they’ve got the lyrical braggadocio to match.

Comments (2)