Ranking all 30 songs from The White Album | Page 6 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

30. Revolution 1 – This is by no means a bad song, I do quite enjoy the more relaxed take on the song with some fun brass arrangements. However, given that it had already come out in an arguably superior form as a single, to me it’s probably the least *essential* track on the album, and for that reason it’s at the bottom. 

29. Wild Honey Pie – Obviously just a bit of fluff, but I do actually enjoy it as a interlude. You can remove it from the track list over my dead body.

28. Don’t Pass Me By – A pretty dull song with a sightly grating Ringo vocal, saved by some really unusual lyrics (“You were in a car crash, and you lost your hair”) and a really nice fiddle part. Looking it up now I’m astonished to see Ringo wrote this all the way back in ’62! Nevertheless, it’s the weaker of the two country songs on the album. 

27. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill – For me, this song is similar to Baby, You’re A Rich Man in that the verses are absolutely fabulous, but are let down by a rather unimaginative chorus (the chorus on this one is much inferior to BYARM, mind). Still, there’s lots to love here, especially Yoko’s little vocal cameo. 

26. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? – Another fairly inconsequential track, but I like the energy of the whole thing. The crazed vocals are a lot of fun, too. 

25. Piggies – Some interesting lyrics and arrangements here, but I can’t say I ever listen to it out of the context of the album, which gives it its low placement. 

24. Revolution 9 – Like many other fans, I almost never listen to this all the way through, it’s that unpleasant. But it’s absolutely essential to the character of the album. Just like the atonal sections on A Day In The Life , this track feels like a dark commentary by The Beatles on their own self-image. 

23. Birthday – Some really nice guitar playing, a great romp. I particularly like the guitars in that breakdown section halfway through. The lyrics are a bit inconsequential, though, they could’ve come up with something better.

22. Good Night – This is where it starts to get really tricky. This one doesn’t get talked about too much, but it’s a lovely send-off with beautiful string arrangements and one of Ringo’s best vocals. He was born to sing this stuff. If I ever have kids, I’d love to sing this to them as a lullaby.

21. Rocky Racoon – A great country pastiche. I’ve always loved narrative songs, so that box is ticked here, but the arrangement with guitar, harmonica and honky-tonk piano is perfection.

20. Glass Onion – After the gorgeous ending of Dear Prudence , this one can feel like a bit of a jarring snap back to reality. Maybe older Forum members will remember that I quite disliked this track in my early days here. Nowadays, I do appreciate it for how wacky it is, and all the little lyrical and musical details, like the references to previous Beatles songs. It’s all very meta.

19. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey – A great rocker with some awesome guitar playing. 

18. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da – So much fun! A great ska-style arrangement, with great lyrics and lots of fun details. Worth all the frustration it gave the other members while recording.

17. Yer Blues – A scorching, bluesy rocker. Lots of ignorants dismiss The Beatles as not really being a rock band, but in mind John could do the blues as authentically as any British singer could. The Dirty Mac version is great as well.

16. Cry Baby Cry – Ahead of its time, somehow. I could imagine a contemporary indie group writing a song a bit like this.

15. Honey Pie – I’m surprised at myself how high this one made it. I guess I just really love the jazzy style and the complete commitment to the bit, with the crackly old-record style vocal bit in the intro, and the wonderfully understated guitar solo. Paul was just so good at writing in this style people often assume they were covering old Tin Pan Alley songs. 

14. Savoy Truffle – Fiery horn arrangement, and the shrill guitar (perhaps intended to sound like a dentist’s razor) is a great touch. 

13. I Will – Less than two minutes long, but one of the most simple and perfect love songs ever written. Paul could come up with this stuff so effortlessly. 

12. Back in the U.S.S.R. – A riot of a song, doesn’t let up for its whole runtime. I like the Beach Boys style sections the best. 

11. Long, Long, Long – Lush & meditative perfection. It’s so restrained right until its last moments. 

10. Martha My Dear – A lovely, heartwarming McCartney romp with a great arrangement. 

9. Mother Nature’s Son – Gorgeous, pastoral folk. The guitar fingerpicking is very clever, and the horn arrangement makes it really soar. 

8. I’m So Tired – A less blissful but nonetheless worthy successor to I’m Only Sleeping . Great lyrics. 

7. Helter Skelter – Given its reputation you’d be forgiven for assuming this song would be something of a gimmick, like a ‘let’s see how loudly we can play’ song without much more thought given to it. You’d be wrong, though, as it’s actually an incredibly compelling rocker that truly soars. Back in school I actually used this song to convince a hardcore Beatles sceptic that they were worth his time. 

6. Blackbird – There’s not really much I can say about this one that hasn’t already been said a thousand times. 

5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Pretty much the same goes for Blackbird . I don’t actually listen to this one a whole lot, but it’s such a great composition it would be an injustice to rate it lower. 

4. Sexy Sadie – When I first got into The Beatles, I didn’t pay this one much attention. But somehow it’s only risen higher and higher in my esteem. 

3. Happiness Is A Warm Gun – A dark masterpiece on every level. From the absolutely brilliant lyrics in the first verse (“the man in the crowd will the multicoloured mirrors on his hobnail boots” is a wonderful turn of phrase, even if its meaning is somewhat unsavoury”) to the properly rock n roll final section, it’s a joy to listen to.

2. Julia – This is one of those songs you save to only listen to a couple times a year ago because you don’t want it to lose its charm. Still hasn’t, though. I like how droning the main melody (“So I sing a song of love”) is, right until the last verse, when John achieves an amazing impact just by raising the melody a couple of notes up.

1. Dear Prudence – A strong contender for my favourite Beatles song ever, just absolute perfection. It works so wonderfully with Back In The USSR as an opener – you get Paul introducing you to the album with a bang, but then when the plane noise fades and that droning guitar pattern comes in, it feels like coming home.