Sic Semper Tyrannis

The Last Word on The White Album

Okay, so now for my highlights off The White Album:

1) While My Guitar Gently Weeps-this is one of the more memorable Harrison songs for me. The reverb-laden piano sound at the beginning lends a very dramatic voice to the song and of course there’s guest musician Eric Clapton’s solo that’s pretty epic. Right up there with Jimmy Page’s “Stairway” solo. Minor key verses and Major key choruses. It’s a blueprint for success.
2) Happiness is a Warm Gun-it’s basically two songs smushed into one. I always liked the “Bang Bang Shoot Shoot” background vocals.
3) Martha My Dear-Total McCartney. Tricky piano part with lots of syncopation and a great climbing vocal line
4) Piggies-another Harrison song that may lay the social commentary on a little thick, but this is so far removed from any pop music I had ever heard before that it can be excused. Heavily features harpsichord and strings for goodness sake!
5) I Will- another beautiful, flowing McCartney melody accompanied by sparse acoustic sounds. This open acoustic sound is what I most often associate with this album
6) Julia- one of the most, if not THE most gentle songs in the Beatles catalog. During the verses, John’s voice rarely strays from one pitch and the harmony stays stagnant except for the moving bass line. Two lines of text always struck me from this song, (A rarity for me): “When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind,” and “Half of what I say is meaningless, But I say it just to reach you, Julia.” As a sensitive high schooler, it was not hard to relate.

I’ve always kind of felt bad for the songs on the second half of the White Album, because they never got listened to quite as much. You’re usually wiped out by the first half. And it seems that second disc has some more “out-there” music.

7) Yer Blues- one of the few songs that was a real band recording, all of them in the room at the same time. Total John Lennon rock n’ roll
8) Mother Nature’s Son-yet another McCartney acoustic number and one of my favorites to sing and play at my house when no one’s listening
9) Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey- not really one of my favorites; actually the clanging sounds during the verses can be pretty jarring. But I’d still take it over just about 90% of new music that’s on offer today.
10) Helter Skelter- quite simply, this is The Beatles trying to out-rock The Who. Again, not one of my favorites, probably because I don’t care to hear the Beatles “rawk.”
11) Honey Pie-I always liked this one because of George’s stretching out with some extended jazz harmonies and I’ve always been a sucker for McCartney’s “show tune” excursions.
12) Revolution 9- John Lennon’s attempt at musique concrete. And while I must say I get very little pleasure from listening to this, I am amazed at the chutzpah they had to even release this. With this one song, (as well as most of this album), The Beatles challenged their audience, something that rarely happens today, at least in mainstream music. But that’s just the thing-the Beatles WERE the mainstream of their time. I gotta respect them for that.
13) Good Night-this song’s beauty is more George Martin’s doing than any of The Beatles’. The string arrangement speaks for itself.

That’s a lot to take in my friends, and that’s just the highlights. I know, a lot of reading. So, enough for today.

Any White Album fans out there?

posted by Mike @ 2:23 PM