Another Girl - The Beatles - Help! - 1965

So I was hanging with my friend Shani on Thursday night. We went to check out this new bar in her hood called The Richardson. Decent place, definitely knocking back the Rat Pack vibe with it's faux-loungey decor and jukebox that ends at 1962. It's the kind of place where you are going to spend $9 on an old fashioned, but the old fashioned will have real Agostino bitters and a freshly muddled cherry at the bottom.

Sadly, what Shani ensured me was a quiet bar on other nights was on that particular night swarmed with a party for Urban Outfitters, and it was at that moment that I remembered that I detest humanity. What exactly goes through people's brains that they think that working in the ad design department for a mildly trendy clothing chain in some way makes you the coolest person in the world? The level of pretention in the place was just ridiculous. Shani and I made it through about two drinks, during which time we had to shout most of our conversation, before we just grabbed her roommate and went back to her place, where the drinks were cheap, the music controlable, and the conversation could be had at a managible level.

This is the Beatles, so I'm not obligated to say anything at all. But I will say, this is the rare Beatles song that isn't simply etched into my brain. I actually don't even know the words to this one. How refreshing.

Andy Warhol - David Bowie - Hunky Dory - 1971

Speaking as I was of artist that I appreciate more than I enjoy, there's always Andy Warhol. It's easy to see him as ridiculous symbol of Boomer Cool. A weird dude with crazy hair, and odd mannerisms, with art that at first seems fairly banal, he is the kind of artist that needs to be taken in context. On one hand, it's really easy to look at his stuff and say "It's a fucking soup can"...but then we tend to think of a can of soup as being a thing that just exists, like a rock or a tree...but at some point, in our culture's past, someone engineered that can. They figured out the design on the label, the red banner over white, the script, the little circle emblem...all of that is design that we take for granted, and it is useful that someone drew attention to that.

Beyond that his ideas on pop culture are what lead us as a culture to believe that there is art to be found in what we consider disposable entertainment. Without Warhol (or someone like him) it's doubtful that we'd ever consider things like The Beatles, The Godfather, Motown, Star Wars, etc, etc to be art. He presented the idea that pop culture was something to be observed.

Now Bowie, on the other hand, is an artist that I immensely appreciate AND enjoy...though I could do without the 52 seconds of studio chatter about how you pronounce Warhol's last name. But whatever, daring artist have some licence to fuck up from time to time.

And Your Bird Can Sing - The Beatles - Revolver - 1966

I'm hardly breaking new ground in saying The Beatles contain multitudes. In their decade of existance they were: The German hooker bedding rockabilly cover band, the original boy band, the song writing movie stars, the Dylan worshipping balladeers, the hard rocking guitar band, the studio experimenting acid heads, and finally the burnt out, strung out and hung over men trying to find their bearings. But of all those, Revolver Beatles have always been my favorite, and this is probably my favorite of John's songs on the album.

I like The Beatles most when they were honestly a band, writing and playing together, still playing live shows. You can hear all of them at their best here: John's ability to weave an acerbic sensibility into a rock melody, Paul's boyant bass line and even more boyant harmony vocals, George's searing circular guitar work, and Ringo's...okay, well maybe Ringo played the drums, who would know?

All You Need Is Love - The Beatles - All You Need Is Love (Single) - 1967

Okay, so I gave myself a pass about having to write about over played classic rock songs, and this is most certainly that...but I do actually have a story about it.

I used to date this girl who hated this song...that's not really a story. I mean, I kinda hate this song too (It's a sign of what a completionist dork I am that I have songs on here that I hate), but unlike me it was not the hippy nostalgia, the cloying sentimentality, or whimsical horn parts that made her hate the song. She hated it for one little moment.

As the song comes to a close, descending into cacaphony, the band incorporates pieces of many other songs...La Marseillaise, a bit of Bach, Greensleaves, a Glenn Miller tune. In this stew Paul sings a small snippet of "She Loves You". Now this particular girl had an issue with any overt display of ego, and to name check your own song in the mix of these undeniably timeless tunes to her was arrogant in the extreme. (She'd grown up the youngest of five sisters, and was therefor uncomfortable with a great deal of typical male behavior).

I counter-argued that, despite not particuarly caring for the song, I did respect it's efforts at being a post modern pastiche...she was fine with that, it was the self elevation that bothered her. I pointed out that, even as early as 1967, "She Loves You" was already a part of the musical canon, but still the self-congratulatory aspect of bothered her too much.

It's always odd when you find yourself in the position of defending something you don't even like that much.

Act Naturally - The Beatles - Help! - 1965

Probably Ringo's finest hour.