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Wayne (a good contributor, if a trifle eccentric at times) poses some interesting questions. In another thread he just started, he asks us to compare She's A Woman with Another Girl. I get the joke implied in pairing these two, but apart from that, there's no particular reason to compare them.

But I've often wondered how these Lennon eccentricities would be compared by Phans. So tell us:

Which of these three do you like best, and why.

REVOLUTION 9
YOU KNOW MY NAME (LOOK UP THE NUMBER)
WHAT'S THE NEW MARY JANE

Remember to say why ... otherwise it's boring!

You Know My Name gets my vote, as it's funny (a bit) AND you can sing along with it. There are fan mixes around that combine the single version with the Anthology version to provide a nice long version. Get it if you can.

I have a hard time deciding between the other two. However, Mary Jane is silly and fun and singable, but at the end of the day is a lightweight. It's third. John was even relegating it as B-side to You Know My Name when he was thinking of releasing the pair as a Plastic Ono Band single.

Revolution 9 is an unusual and very heavy track. I admire what John was trying to do, and I think he succeeded. But I do think the track is one of the Beatles' most inaccessible and challenging efforts. A long way from Love Me Do!

[Beatle Ed]

YOU KNOW MY NAME (LOOK UP THE NUMBER) gets my vote

I particularly like the variations of the song on the Anthology tapes. The other 2 barely merit a mention. lol sadly.

[The End]

Two of these could be classed as comedy tracks - You Know My Name more than What's The New Mary Jane. Of these two I choose You Know My Name simply because it's far more musically interesting and actually funny! Mary Jane is still an interesting piece, but for me, it is the bridge between You Know My Name and Revolution #9 - almost funny, almost avant garde.

Revolution #9 exists on its own - obviously unlike anything else The Beatles had released up to that time; it IS a sound montage of a revolution. It's disturbing, humorous and apocalyptic and, unlike Till There Was You, it's a track I actually look forward to!

This isn't noise - its calculated noise! Listen to it in a darkened room and tell me you don't feel unnerved! It works.

[tkitna]

I agree with TE that 'Whats the New Mary Jane' is the most musically pleasing of the three. I'll stick with that one as the best.

You Know My Name- Lets see,,,,,when I listen to it, it has some decent music, some changed tempos and styles, and its a quirky, funny tune. You would think that I would enjoy this, but I dont. When I hear it, I always wonder why they made it so long. I feel like one of those people in the middle ages that was sent to the rack for punishment when this song comes on. Not for me.

Revolution #9 - Heres 8 minutes and 22 seconds worth of wasted tape. Why? More power to all the fans, artists, critics, people that can sit through this mess. I cant. I recently let this song play for the first time in 10 to 15 years and I had to stop the car and beat the crap out of myself for doing it. I just cant enjoy something that sounds like a 50 vehicle pileup.

Name.  The best, most accessible and musical of the lot.

Mary Jane.  Some bright moments in the first minute and a half, then rapidly downhill from there.

#9.  Least favorite of all Beatles officially released canon.  While once every 20 years or so I might hear it and marvel and the sculpture in sound, there's nothing normally there to hang one's hat on.

[zipp]

1.Rev.9.After the initial shock and disappointment over the years this has become one of my favourite tracks on the white album.
2.Mary Jane.Lennon pushing the English language to the brink and more successfully than on Dig A Pony.Should have been on the white.
3.Name.A repetitious riff,less funny than a lot of the stuff on the Xmas records.Who cares if it's singable?

The Beatles first and foremost produced music that people enjoyed, whether listening to or singing.

It matters.

And Rev 9 was not even music.  Nor was Jane.  Sound collages are fine, but most did not want to hear that from the Beatles.

At the time it was a *major* disappointment.  And shock.

Now of course after all the weird sh*t we've become used to over the years it sounds tame.  Boring but tame.

[John@work]

I vote for "you know my name"  BECAUSE it's fun and easy to sing along to.  You listen to this song and forget about your troubles. I especially like the one bit where it sounds like lounge singers from Vegas.  It show how diverse the fab can be.

It's one of my least favourite Beatles songs but I pick "You Know My Name." I like the music in it. It does get annoying how it goes on and on and most times I don't have the patience to sit and listen to it all the way through.  I listened to the entire song once and found it funny. They seemed to have fun doing this song. I agree with John@work about the bit where they sound like lounge singers.


The End, I'm going to have to listen to Revolution 9 in the dark sometime.

[zipp]

[quote by=misterchaz link=Blah.pl?b=songs,m=1082499474,s=7 date=1082562748]The Beatles first and foremost produced music that people enjoyed, whether listening to or singing.

It matters.

And Rev 9 was not even music.

[Fried_Chicken]

I listen revolution 9 when i meditate

[quote by=zipp link=Blah.pl?b=songs,m=1082499474,s=10 date=1082564636]

What I meant m.c. is that just because a song is singable it doesn't make it a good song.
And one sound collage on one album was obvoiously not a major trend.
I don't think 'tame' really describes Rev.9.
Do the T.E. test.
Put it on loud in a darkened room and see how tame it sounds.[/quote]

Well, I have heard it in many circumstances, including fried on LSD.  So I know it has powerful elements.  In fact, I've heard it quite a few times backwards which is MORE horrific as it seems to really be about a horrible car accident, complete with screams and such.  Much more so than onemight imagine from hearing it normally.

And I will never figure out how they were able to get the phrase 'number nine' to sound like 'turn me on deadman' backwards, but it most certainly does.  Creepy.

But my point was that Zappa or anyone then could do the same thing.  But Zappa you would expect it from, and therefore seek it out if you wanted it.  The Beatles were not Zappa.

As a first-gen I can only relate to how shocking it was then, which probably colors what I say about it.  People who just picked it up at some point rather than in real time are definitely going to have a different thought, especially as I said by these days it's tame.

For a collage, it's well done.  But then, I wasn't looking for a sound collage then or now. 

Ah well, the White Album is nearly my least favorite anyway so maybe I'm just a burnt out old curmudgeon.

[zipp]

Don't worry m.c. the white is my least favourite album too but here we're comparing three tracks and I just think Rev.9 is by far the most interesting and if the two others hadn't existed I certainly wouldn't have missed them!
And I was around at the time too and at a party by the time people got to the middle of the last side somebody would always get up and put another record on.But it was FUN to see how long it took before somebody realised you couldn't dance, relax or chat up a girl with this in the background.

Indeed.

I suppose I would actually listen to 9 before Jane now that I think of it.  I like Lennon's singing and lyrics on MJ but it just doesn't last long enough.

Nice to know I'm not the only old foof in here! 

I've enjoyed reading what people have been saying about these ... tracks.

I wonder if the proposed Plastic Ono Band single You Know My Name/What's The New Mary Jane would have been a hit? The Lennon name then was a big pull to buy a record. But this pair of songs ... maybe not: the record buying public (en masse) is too consevative!

It sure was back then.

[zipp]

[quote by=Maria link=Blah.pl?b=songs,m=1082499474,s=15 date=1082582071]I've enjoyed reading what people have been saying about these ... tracks.

I wonder if the proposed Plastic Ono Band single You Know My Name/What's The New Mary Jane would have been a hit? The Lennon name then was a big pull to buy a record. But this pair of songs ... maybe not: the record buying public (en masse) is too consevative![/quote]

It would have been a minor hit, a bit like Cold Turkey.
And it would have kept the songs off Beatles records, which I would have much appreciated.

[Bruno]

Out of those weird songs I think my favorite is You Know My Name, it's a funny and weird song.
I remember when I was a kid my friend and I were trying to find the "hidden" messages in Revolution 9 by making the LP go backwards but nothing special happened, just some weird noices.

[Bobber]

You Know My Name is obviously the most listenable and the only one the other Beatles besides John considered to be a single. Mary Jane was never taken serious except for John and I would like to think that John forced Rev #9 on the White Album. All in all, it's experimental stuff that deserves its place in the Beatles catalogue. No more and no less. And I think we shouldn't take it too serious.