Ultimate Battle of The Beatles

Ficheall

Arghus wrote: »

I've been guilty of this a lot and I can understand how people find it tedious, but to me it makes a competition a lot more interesting and involving if people get into why they voted a certain way. I like to read people's passion and a bit of back and forth, it livens things up and at the end of the day it's only meant in good spirit, but, it is also true that I genuinely can't fathom why some songs get picked over others.

I actually find it really boring just reading plain oul song title choices, without any sense about why people have voted the way that they do. I don't see much interest in that tbh.

I've enjoyed reading your blurbs, even if I disagree with many of your choices.
At this stage of the comp though, it felt like too many songs to come up with an individual bit on (for me).

Ficheall

Group G

I Am The Walrus vs Lady Madonna
For No One vs All You Need is Love
I Feel Fine vs A Hard Day's Night



Group H

The Long and Winding Road vs Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds vs Yellow Submarine
Ticket To Ride vs Get Back

Zaph

Group G

Lady Madonna
All You Need is Love
I Feel Fine


Group H

The Long and Winding Road
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Get Back

Couple of really tough choices there, one because I love both songs, the other because I don't like either.

Nerdlingr

Group G

I Am The Walrus
For No One
I Feel Fine

Group H

The Long And Winding Road (Surprised myself picking this one...but gotta go for one of Paul's soppy numbers at least)
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Get Back ( very tough choice this. Love Ticket to Ride...can't believe I'm voting against it )

Purgative

Group G

Lady Madonna
For No One
I Feel Fine

Purgative

Group H

The Long and Winding Road
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Ticket To Ride

Rigor Mortis

Group G

I Am The Walrus
For No One
A Hard Day's Night



Group H

The Long and Winding Road
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Get Back

AdrianBalboa

Group G

I Am The Walrus
For No One
I Feel Fine


Group H

Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Get Back

The Long and Winding Road is not a very good song, even in spite of it’s well known over-production. Happiness is a Great Song.

loyatemu

Group G

I Am The Walrus vs Lady Madonna - no contest here, Lady Madonna is a great tune but it's no Walrus
For No One vs All You Need is Love
I Feel Fine vs A Hard Day's Night - not much between these.

Group H

The Long and Winding Road vs Happiness Is a Warm Gun - TLAWR continues to plod on; HIAWG is a great little suite, more Donovan-inspired guitar and LSD inspired lyrics.
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds vs Yellow Submarine - I'm not crazy on either of these; I've gone with Ringo.
Ticket To Ride vs Get Back - both great, Get Back by a nose.

abff

Group G

I Am The Walrus vs Lady Madonna
For No One vs All You Need is Love
I Feel Fine vs A Hard Day's Night

Group H

The Long and Winding Road vs Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds vs Yellow Submarine
Ticket To Ride vs Get Back

Arghus

Group G -

I Am The Walrus vs Lady Madonna: Lady Madonna is pretty great, but the out there banging weirdness of Walrus beats it all day long.

For No One vs All You Need is Love: For No One is one of McCartney's best, properly sincere and unusually bleak for him. AYNIL is, out of all the "big ones" that everybody knows inside and out, a bit comparatively weak. I've always found it a bit slapdash and unsubstantial. Not necessarily bad, but not necessarily all that great either.

I Feel Fine vs A Hard Day's Night: Very close this one, but I give the vote to AHDN. It has more drive and energy, more sophistication and passion and it's a great Lennon McCartney collaboration.

Collie D

Group G

I Am The Walrus vs Lady Madonna
For No One vs All You Need is Love
I Feel Fine vs A Hard Day's Night

Eggonyerface

Group G

I Am The Walrus
For No One
Hard Day's Night

Group H

Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Ticket To Ride

Arghus

Group H -

The Long and Winding Road vs Happiness Is a Warm Gun: TLAWR continues its slow inexorable soporific march to what now is beginning to feel like an inevitable eventual victory. It's a relatively boring song, smathered and lathered with a Phil Spector level of cheese.

HIAWG, on the other hand, is an exciting multipart opus which is consistently interesting, angular and weird. It's got great dirty riffs, nightmarish and poetically surreal lyrics and a warped falsetto finish. An while it may not all hang together as a coherent statement, the general mood it establishes of a feverish uneasiness is pretty damn effective and memorable.

Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds vs Yellow Submarine: I like Lucy, without being totally in love with it, but it has the edge over Yellow Submarine, which is definitely charming, but also a bit plodding, simple minded and dreary.

Ticket to Ride vs Get Back: This was a tough one, as both of these songs are excellent, I would have no issue with either going through, but I'd marginally favour TTR. Its changes of tempo, rhythm and mood work for me and I just like that dry guitar sound of that period. And all those hooks. I also think it has more meaning and feels actually about something. Get Back is great, but it is a bit of a pastiche with no real meaning. A brilliant pastiche, played brilliantly, but TTR feels realer to me. So it gets my vote.

Collie D

Group H

The Long and Winding Road vs Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds vs Yellow Submarine
Ticket To Ride vs Get Back

Reberetta

Arghus wrote: »

HIAWG, on the other hand, is an exciting multipart opus which is consistently interesting, angular and weird. It's got great dirty riffs, nightmarish and poetically surreal lyrics and a warped falsetto finish. An while it may not all hang together as a coherent statement, the general mood it establishes of a feverish uneasiness is pretty damn effective and memorable.

I don't agree with your assessment of HIAWG.:pac:

Below is how I described it in my recent Walrus.

From the overrated, bloated and, I suppose, culturally significant and influential White Album, I guess I should bow down to its brilliance, but this is merely bang average fare. Sedated and mostly snail-paced, the lyrics are twaddle and Lennon's vocals are corny as hell. Mundane oldie that would have been a throwaway if it wasn't recorded for a double album by one of the greatest bands ever.

It's fair to say I'm not anywhere near as big a Beatles fan as you.

Arghus

Reberetta wrote: »

I don't agree with your assessment of HIAWG.:pac:

Below is how I described it in my recent Walrus.



It's fair to say I'm not anywhere near as big a Beatles fan as you.

All very fair points.

None of which I agree with.

El Gato De Negocios

Through to the next round.

Group G
I am the Walrus
For No One
I Feel Fine

Group H
Happiness is a Warm Gun
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Get Back

El Gato De Negocios

Full line up for the next round.

She Loves You
Day Tripper
Hey Jude
Nowhere Man
We Can Work It Out
I'm Only Sleeping
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Help!
And Your Bird Can Sing
Back in the U.S.S.R
Here Comes The Sun
Eleanor Rigby
Paperback Writer
Blackbird
Come Together
In My Life
Got to Get You Into My Life
A Day in the Life
I Am The Walrus
For No One
I Feel Fine
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Get Back


Next round will kick off around 20:00 or so this evening.

Ficheall

A few great songs there. I expect them to be promptly voted out.

El Gato De Negocios

Ficheall wrote: »

A few great songs there. I expect them to be promptly voted out.

I'm really pleased to see For No One getting this far. One of their far lesser known songs but imo one of their best.

EmmetSpiceland

Ficheall wrote: »

A few great songs there. I expect them to be promptly voted out.

Ask 100 people what Procul Harum’s “best” song is and 99, or even 100, will say ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ but anyone who’s a bit of an anorak knows it’s clearly either ‘Whaling Stories’, ‘A Salty Dog’ or ‘In Held ‘Twas in I’.

But none of those were hits that sold 10 million worldwide. It would be a shock if a “best” Beatles track wasn’t on either the red or blue “Best of” albums.

El Gato De Negocios wrote: »

I'm really pleased to see For No One getting this far. One of their far lesser known songs but imo one of their best.

A great song, one of the best on ‘Revolver’. One of those you never “skip” when it starts.

Reberetta

Not a single person mourned the exit of Yesterday, the most covered song of all-time if I'm not mistaken? Overplayed and the public have had their surfeit perhaps?

EmmetSpiceland

Reberetta wrote: »

Not a single person mourned the exit of Yesterday, the most covered song of all-time if I'm not mistaken? Overplayed and the public have had their surfeit perhaps?

Paves the way for ‘Hey Jude’ to become the bookies favourite.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Reberetta wrote: »

Not a single person mourned the exit of Yesterday, the most covered song of all-time if I'm not mistaken? Overplayed and the public have had their surfeit perhaps?

I'm sure the actual public would be outraged at some of the results, but we who are voting are a small minority of people who aren't afraid to vote against the most popular song in favour of the better song. Yesterday is a fine song, but its not even in the Top 20 greatest Beatles songs for me, so much better and lesser know songs on offer.

Yesterday and Let It Be both taken out in the last round ; would have been two of the bookies favourites to win I'd say. I'm glad to see some of these Goliaths get taken out, makes it a more interesting tournament.

Reberetta

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Paves the way for ‘Hey Jude’ to become the bookies favourite.

I would only vote for Hey Jude ahead of about six of the remaining contenders; it's quality, anthemic with a melodious verse, but the lyrics are vapid and it plods along rather than pulverizes. Below I've bolded the songs that I think have a shot at winning:


She Loves You
Day Tripper
Hey Jude
Nowhere Man
We Can Work It Out
I'm Only Sleeping
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Help!
And Your Bird Can Sing
Back in the U.S.S.R
Here Comes The Sun
Eleanor Rigby
Paperback Writer
Blackbird
Come Together
In My Life
Got to Get You Into My Life
A Day in the Life
I Am The Walrus
For No One
I Feel Fine
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Get Back

EmmetSpiceland

Reberetta wrote: »

I would only vote for Hey Jude ahead of about six of the remaining contenders; it's quality, anthemic with a melodious verse, but the lyrics are vapid and it plods along rather than pulverizes. Below I've bolded the songs that I think have a shot at winning:


She Loves You
Day Tripper
Hey Jude
Nowhere Man
We Can Work It Out
I'm Only Sleeping
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Help!
And Your Bird Can Sing
Back in the U.S.S.R
Here Comes The Sun
Eleanor Rigby
Paperback Writer
Blackbird
Come Together
In My Life
Got to Get You Into My Life
A Day in the Life
I Am The Walrus
For No One
I Feel Fine
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Get Back

I’d love to see ‘We Can Work It Out’ do well, it’s a blinder of a track and oft-overlooked.

quickbeam

Delighted to say goodbye to Yesterday and Let it Be. Just need Hey Jude to be next. Agree with Rebertta about its vapidness and ploddiness.

Some cracking tunes left, and my altogether favourite still there too.

Reberetta

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Yesterday is a fine song, but its not even in the Top 20 greatest Beatles songs for me, so much better and lesser know songs on offer..

It came up against Paperback Writer, otherwise I would have voted for it over others and I think there's a good chance it would have still been in the competition with an easier draw.

I think it would sneak into my top 20, definitely top 25. Yesterday, along with Hey Jude, but even moreso than HJ, is the definitive Beatles song, the song the casual fan or member of the general public would associate most with The Beatles undoubtedly in my opinion; ironic, considering John is the biggest icon and most revered of the foursome and it was written by Paul after a dream of course.

Spike Milligan was a big fan of Yesterday and talked about it on Room 101, calling pop music "crap other than The Beatles".

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Reberetta wrote: »

It came up against Paperback Writer, otherwise I would have voted for it over others and I think there's a good chance it would have still been in the competition with an easier draw.

I think it would sneak into my top 20, definitely top 25. Yesterday, along with Hey Jude, but even moreso than HJ, is the definitive Beatles song, the song the casual fan or member of the general public would associate most with The Beatles undoubtedly in my opinion; ironic, considering John is the biggest icon and most revered of the foursome and it was written by Paul after a dream of course.

Spike Milligan was a big fan of Yesterday and talked about it on Room 101, calling pop music "crap other than The Beatles".

I think I voted for Yesterday over Paperback Writer actually. PW is another song I have nothing against, it's a great song, but probably wouldn't scratch my Top 20 Beatles Songs either.