100: The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)
"The paradox of the 'White Album' is that there is no way to extract its weaker material and still maintain the menacing dream-logic which makes the entire experience so powerfully psychically dislocating. I wonder if it is the first LP to consciously employ bad songs as a tactic."
In 1968, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr traveled to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh, India, buckling under the pressures of more fame than any band had experienced to that point and seeking spiritual release. It didn’t work, but their colorful experiences formed the bedrock of the double album The Beatles, colloquially referred to as “the White Album.” It’s a sprawling, diffuse, maddening, and bloody brilliant group of songs, and whether or not it’s your favorite Beatles album, it did a lot to expand the definition of what an album could be and what types of songs a band could even write. Which makes it the perfect album for Discord & Rhyme’s gala 100th-episode celebration! We’ve rounded up the whole D&R gang for this one, and we all have completely different perspectives on which songs are keepers. And true to the spirit of the album, our discussion spans two super-sized episodes, so you have been forewarned: This one’s gonna be long, long, long.
Miscellany
The walrus is not actually a symbol of death as far as anyone knows; somebody made that up to support the Paul Is Dead story.
Do not miss the performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and make sure you watch until the very end, when Prince throws his guitar into the audience and strolls off the stage.
“The Heart Gently Weeps” also features Dhani Harrison, George’s son, playing acoustic guitar.
As much as John liked to diss Paul, toward the end of his life he said the two best artists he’d ever worked with were Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney.
We borrowed our intermission from the excellent and hilarious movie Help!. You should see it if you haven’t already.
Ringo may have been the thwarted country singer of the Beatles, but Paul had some latent country tendencies as well. Besides “Rocky Raccoon,” just listen to those high harmonies on “What Goes On” and “Act Naturally,” plus he’s responsible for “I’m Looking Through You” and “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” which are both secretly country songs.
Speaking of which, Ringo re-recorded “Don’t Pass Me By” for his 2017 album Give More Love and it is excellent.
One of the greatest troll moves of all time happened in 1965, when Pete Best released an album titled Best of the Beatles.
None of the album tracks were released as singles in the UK or the US, but “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” was released in other markets and was very successful in most of them.
Magic Alex was a nonstop con artist and overall big fat liar, so really nobody should ever have taken his word for anything.
It’s possible that part of the reason “Long, Long, Long” was so quiet originally is because it’s in the center of the LP and just didn’t have very much space available to make it louder.
Van Halen famously had an item in their tour rider requesting a bowl of M&Ms with the brown ones removed. If they found brown M&Ms, they knew the rest of their instructions regarding lighting and stage design and whatnot hadn’t been followed.
Amanda misspoke about the memorability of Living in the Material World; it has “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” on it, a wonderful song that you should all love.
The reason Paul is a ghost at the end of “Cry Baby Cry” is because he’s dead. It’s another clue.
Jeff Blehar, who came up with the “childhood nightmare suite” scenario for the end of the album, has been on our podcast before to discuss Pavement and Genesis, and also has his own podcast called Political Beats that you should listen to.
The “Revolution 100” sound collage was brilliantly constructed by Producer Mike and includes clips from the following episodes:
Other links
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn (Amazon affiliate link)
Tune In by Mark Lewisohn (Amazon affiliate link)
“Beatles! Stop fighting here in India!” (YouTube)
The Drum Mystery in The Beatles' Most Beautiful Song (YouTube)
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (YouTube)
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the Concert for George (YouTube)
“Good Morning” on Family Guy (YouTube)
Discord & Rhyme’s The Beatles playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Rich Bunnell
Mike DeFabio
Phil Maddox
Ben Marlin
John McFerrin
Amanda Rodgers
Dan Watkins
The Beatles tracklist
Side 1
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Wild Honey Pie
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Side 2
Martha My Dear
I’m So Tired
Blackbird
Piggies
Rocky Raccoon
Don’t Pass Me By
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
I Will
Julia
Side 3
Birthday
Yer Blues
Mother Nature’s Son
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
Long, Long, Long
Side 4
Revolution 1
Honey Pie
Savoy Truffle
Cry Baby Cry
Revolution 9
Good Night
Other clips used
The Beatles:
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
I Feel Fine
Please Please Me
All My Loving
A Hard Day’s Night
Every Little Thing
Help!
Norwegian Wood
Taxman
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
Day Tripper
Carry That Weight
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (Anthology 3 version)
If I Needed Someone
Love You To
Rocky Raccoon (Anthology 3 version)
Boys
Don’t Pass Me By (Anthology 3 version)
Why Don’t We Do It In the Road (Anthology 3 version)
I Will (2018 mix)
Julia (Rehearsals)
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey (2018 mix)
Sexy Sadie (Anthology 3 version)
Helter Skelter (2018 mix)
Long, Long, Long (2018 mix)
Revolution 1 (Take 20)
Back in the USSR (Take 5 - Instrumental)
Others:
Chuck Berry - Back in the USA
The Beach Boys - Transcendental Meditation
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence
XTC - 1,000 Umbrellas
Patti LuPone and the cast of Life Goes On - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Pixies - Wild Honey Pie
The Mothers of Invention - Concentration Moon
King Crimson - Travel Bleary Capricorn
Wu-Tang Clan - The Heart Gently Weeps
John Lennon - (Just Like) Starting Over
The Left Banke - Walk Away Renee
The Dukes of Stratosphear - Brainiac’s Daughter
“Weird Al” Yankovic - Nature Trail to Hell
Susan Carter - I’m So Tired
Alex Chilton - I’m So Tired
Johann Sebastian Bach - Bourrée in E Minor
Mr. Mister - Broken Wings
Wings - Bluebird
Paul McCartney - Jenny Wren
Oingo Boingo - No Spill Blood
Ween - I’m in the Mood to Move
Billy Joel - The Ballad of Billy the Kid
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
The Cars - My Best Friend’s Girl
Alison Krauss & Union Station - I Will
Anamanaguchi - I Will
Tim Curry - I Will
Donovan - Sand and Foam
Danger Mouse - Dirt Off Your Shoulder
Ramsey Lewis - Rocky Raccoon
Van Halen - Finish What Ya Started
Bob Dylan - Ballad of a Thin Man
John Lennon - Child of Nature
George Harrison - Not Guilty
Fats Domino - Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Ramsey Lewis - Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
The Feelies - Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Beatallica - Everybody’s Got a Ticket to Ride Except for Me and My Lightning
Radiohead - Karma Police
Ringo Starr - Devil Woman
Elton John - I’ve Seen That Movie Too
Meat Beat Manifesto - Helter Skelter
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Helter Skelter
Soundgarden - Helter Skelter
U2 - Helter Skelter
Hakuhodo - Sakeru Gummy vs. Long Sakeru Gummy
Bob Dylan - Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Irvin’s 89 Key Marenghi Fair Organ - She Loves You
Rush - The Trees
The Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man
Vangelis - One More Kiss, Dear
Paul McCartney - Temporary Secretary
They Might Be Giants - Savoy Truffle
Ella Fitzgerald - Savoy Truffle
Phish - Savoy Truffle
Can - Aumgn
The Mothers of Invention - Help, I’m a Rock
The Rolling Stones - Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
Pearl Jam - Hey Foxymophandlemama, That’s Me
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Hymnen: Region III
Alarm Will Sound - Revolution 9
Pink Floyd - Fearless
Ringo Starr & Herb Alpert - When You Wish Upon a Star
Smashing Pumpkins - Farewell and Good Night
Band/album personnel
The Beatles:
John Lennon - vocals, guitars, keyboards
Paul McCartney - vocals, bass, guitars, drums, keyboards
George Harrison - vocals, guitars, keyboards
Ringo Starr - vocals, drums, percussion
Featured Guests:
Yoko Ono - lead and backing vocals, tape loops, general Yokoing
Mal Evans - backing vocals, handclaps, trumpet
Eric Clapton - guitar
Jack Fallon - violin
Pattie Harrison - backing vocals
Jackie Lomax - backing vocals
Maureen Starkey - backing vocals
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
The Beatles - Glass Onion (this episode only)
You can buy or stream The Beatles and other albums by the Beatles at thebeatles.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you for the next 100 albums, and keep as cool as you can.