Meet people from all over the World
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Author Topic: John's last great song as a Beatle  (Read 4464 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Ovi

  • A Thousand Pages
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 1133
  • Tonight, I'm a rock 'n' roll star.
John's last great song as a Beatle
« on: June 01, 2012, 01:33:15 PM »

Ian Macdonald said the following about 'I Am The Walrus' is his book :

"Though its author continued to write exceptional songs for the group, he never rose to this stunning level again."

...and that made me wonder. We all know John kind of lost interest in the group in its last years, but what was the time he really made an effort to come up with something exceptional? A song that can be mentioned among the best the band ever made. What do you think?
Logged
http://tangledupinmusic.wordpress.com - yet another music blog

Klang

  • A Thousand Pages
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 2064
  • Go to the window...
    • Klangville
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2012, 06:27:45 PM »


'Dear Prudence' springs to mind for me. It's beautiful.

'I'm So Tired' is a goodie too.

'Across The Universe'

Which of those was last?

Others from that point on had great seeds of ideas, but not quite the polish of previous work.

Relax. Just my opinion.

 :P

Logged
'...In the name of Preverti, daughter of the mountains, whose embrace with Rani made the whole world tremble...'

tkitna

  • That Means a Lot
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 8617
  • I'm a Moondog,,,,,are you?
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2012, 08:56:14 PM »

Yeah, 'Dear Prudence' would be my choice.

Hombre_de_ningun_lugar

  • A Thousand Pages
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 2105
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2012, 02:05:24 AM »

I think about "Come Together" and "Because", but his last song that is really among my very favourites is "Dear Prudence".
« Last Edit: June 02, 2012, 02:07:21 AM by Hombre_de_ningun_lugar »
Logged
"Love is old, love is new; love is all, love is you."

KelMar

  • Guest
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2012, 02:57:29 AM »

I think about "Come Together" and "Because", but his last song that is really among my very favourites is "Dear Prudence".

Not to sound like I'm just going along with the crowd but "Dear Prudence" would be my choice too. I love the way it starts out with a rather simple melody and then keeps adding layers until, by the end, it's like a feast for the ears. Is that overstating it?   :)
Logged

Ovi

  • A Thousand Pages
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 1133
  • Tonight, I'm a rock 'n' roll star.
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #5 on: June 02, 2012, 08:52:33 AM »

'Dear Prudence' was a good one. Not one of my personal favourites, but I admit it's a worthy track.

But I'll go with 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' since it was recorded a few months later. It is one of my favourite Beatles songs.
Logged
http://tangledupinmusic.wordpress.com - yet another music blog

Toejam

  • A Beginning
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 239
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #6 on: June 02, 2012, 10:50:09 AM »

Ian Macdonald said the following about 'I Am The Walrus' is his book :

"Though its author continued to write exceptional songs for the group, he never rose to this stunning level again."

...and that made me wonder. We all know John kind of lost interest in the group in its last years, but what was the time he really made an effort to come up with something exceptional? A song that can be mentioned among the best the band ever made. What do you think?

My problem with that is it seems to presume John rose to the level of IATW on a regular basis before he wrote/recorded IATW. In fact I'd say he'd only written a handful of songs as good as IATW before that.
Logged
IMAGINE ALL THE PEEPLE

Ovi

  • A Thousand Pages
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 1133
  • Tonight, I'm a rock 'n' roll star.
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #7 on: June 02, 2012, 10:55:09 AM »

My problem with that is it seems to presume John rose to the level of IATW on a regular basis before he wrote/recorded IATW. In fact I'd say he'd only written a handful of songs as good as IATW before that.

Well, he was arguably at his peak before that. They all were, I think. 'Norwegian Wood', 'Nowhere Man', 'In My Life', 'Rain', 'Tomorrow Never Knows', 'She Said She Said', 'A Day In The Life', 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', 'Strawberry Fields Forever' etc. You may not like some of those songs, but you can't deny their influence. Late '65 - '67 was a very creative period for The Beatles, including John.
Logged
http://tangledupinmusic.wordpress.com - yet another music blog

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20089
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #8 on: June 02, 2012, 08:19:36 PM »

But I'll go with 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' since it was recorded a few months later. It is one of my favourite Beatles songs.

Bang Bang Shoot Shoot!


;)
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20089
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #9 on: June 02, 2012, 08:21:26 PM »

Well, he was arguably at his peak before that. They all were, I think. 'Norwegian Wood', 'Nowhere Man', 'In My Life', 'Rain', 'Tomorrow Never Knows', 'She Said She Said', 'A Day In The Life', 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', 'Strawberry Fields Forever' etc. You may not like some of those songs, but you can't deny their influence. Late '65 - '67 was a very creative period for The Beatles, including John.

I'm glad you added this post, Ovi.  I'm in complete agreement.

Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Yeshelloitsmehereagain

  • Getting Better
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 291
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #10 on: June 02, 2012, 10:36:03 PM »

It's probably Across the Universe with it's fabulous verses. It is John's best lyric in a certain sense...

"Limitless undying love with shines around me like a million suns and calls me on and on..."

It flows nicely and wasn't released until '69 or '70, but I guess it was written late '67 early '68 as was recorded in Febuary '68?

Yer Blues, Julia... Child of Nature?

Cold Turkey, Give Peace a Chance. He was still a Beatle then. Just about.
Logged

Hello Goodbye

  • Global Moderator
  • At The Top Of The Stairs
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20089
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #11 on: June 03, 2012, 12:12:52 AM »

Revolution.  It became an anthem.

It's not his greatest song, but it's a great song nonetheless.
Logged
I can stay till it's time to go

Toejam

  • A Beginning
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 239
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #12 on: June 03, 2012, 03:33:49 PM »

Well, he was arguably at his peak before that. They all were, I think. 'Norwegian Wood', 'Nowhere Man', 'In My Life', 'Rain', 'Tomorrow Never Knows', 'She Said She Said', 'A Day In The Life', 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', 'Strawberry Fields Forever' etc. You may not like some of those songs, but you can't deny their influence. Late '65 - '67 was a very creative period for The Beatles, including John.

I love those songs. I just don't think there as good as IATW...then again what is? That's my point!
Logged
IMAGINE ALL THE PEEPLE

TomMo

  • A Beginning
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 224
  • You Can't Do That
Re: John's last great song as a Beatle
« Reply #13 on: June 04, 2012, 05:03:25 PM »

I have to go with "Come Together" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". Not only were they literally among the last, but in spite of all the Beatle-related stress, he did kick ass on the vocals in both cases.
Logged
"Beware of soft shoe shufflers"
 

Page created in 0.422 seconds with 75 queries.