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5.29pm
8 November 2012
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An article from Diffuser.fm. Here’s the list:
10. Day Tripper
9. Magical Mystery Tour
8. With A Little Help From My Friends
7. Got To Get You Into My Life
6. I Am The Walrus
5. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
4. She Said She Said
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
2. Tomorrow Never Knows
1. Strawberry Fields Forever
The article lists others as honorable mentions.
Do you agree? What other songs would you include? For me, notably absent is A Day In The Life , and I certainly wouldn’t have omitted it in favor of Day Tripper or With A Little Help From My Friends .
parlance
5.42pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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Most noticeable absence has to the song about New York fixer-upper, Dr Robert.
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5.44pm
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1 May 2011
Offline Why Magical Mystery Tour ?
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5.45pm
16 September 2013
Offline parlance said
What other songs would you include?
I would put “Dr. Robert” on the list, for sure.
5.49pm
8 November 2012
Offline meanmistermustard said
Why Magical Mystery Tour ?
According to the article, it’s the “Roll Up!” line.
parlance
5.50pm
9 January 2014
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I’m not sure what they mean by “druggiest”. On the one hand, they are listing songs that seemed to be very much inspired by drugs: Strawberry Fields, Tomorrow Never Knows . On the other hand, they are listing songs that make explicit or admitted-to drug references: Got To Get You Into My Life , With a Little Help . The songs that have the references don’t sound particularly “druggy” – does Day Tripper sound druggy? So there is a kind of inconsistency in the list. Obviously the period from around Revolver to MMT is going to have the songs that were written contemporaneous with the period that the band was using LSD. At the same time, if I have my chronology right, a song like Come Together would have been written during the period when John took heroin. Meanwhile, the Help /Rubber Soul period had songs written while the band was “smoking marijuana for breakfast.” So, what do they mean? What are the most psychedelic sounding songs? In that case, yes, A Day In The Life should definitely be on there. So should Blue Jay Way and Only A Northern Song and maybe Rain . If it’s songs with admitted-to drug references then something like Dr. Robert should be on the list.
6.03pm
Reviewers
1 November 2013
Offline I still don’t believe that Day Tripper is referencing drugs. It was recorded before Rubber Soul , so they weren’t seriously taking LSD at that point, And just the word “trip” doesn’t automatically mean it’s about LSD. Doctor Robert is WAY more of a drug song than Day Tripper .
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6.06pm
8 November 2012
Offline Yeah, I wasn’t gonna touch their definition of druggiest, but they seem to have included a mish-mash of psychedelia with songs that simply have references to drugs. Oddly enough, Dr. Robert didn’t even make their honorable mentions. As for Day Tripper , they say:
could be read as a song about a jock-blocking tease. Or it could be about recreational drug use, as both John Lennon and Paul McCartney suggested.
6.09pm
16 September 2013
Offline The Diffuser article is mildly entertaining, but it is not terribly deep or well-thought out. I think a lot of Beatles Biblers could quickly and easily punch out a list of Beatles’ songs with a common theme: for instance, the most “religious” songs, or the most “political” songs. Just find a line or two from a song that you can “shoehorn” into your chosen theme, and voila, there’s another “comprehensive” list.
6.14pm
8 November 2012
Offline Bungalow Bob said
The Diffuser article is mildly entertaining, but it is not terribly deep or well-thought out.
I agree. I posted it as a jumping-off point for discussion.
parlance
6.18pm
9 January 2014
Offline IveJustSeenAFaceo said
I still don’t believe that Day Tripper is referencing drugs. It was recorded before Rubber Soul , so they weren’t seriously taking LSD at that point, And just the word “trip” doesn’t automatically mean it’s about LSD. Doctor Robert is WAY more of a drug song than Day Tripper .
Good point. I feel like “Day Tripper ” being a nod to drugs is a retroactive interpretation, even by Lennon and McCartney. It seems to be much more about a girl who does one night (or one day) stands (and even then not very good ones, it turns out!). Lyrically very similar to Norwegian Wood – Lennon must have been in full swingin’ mode at the time.
7.21pm
21 November 2012
Offline I agree with ivaughan. What does ”druggiest” even mean? It’s a weird list and there are a lot of other songs that actually qualify.
7.46pm
9 January 2014
Offline This might be an interesting discussion. The list seems to be premised on an assumption which I think many people unconsciously have which is that LSD has a sound. In other words you can hear a song like Tomorrow Never Knows and Strawberry Fields or Lucy and say, “This sounds like someone has been on acid.” However, can you say the same about other drugs? Outside of songs that overtly reference the drug itself, is there a marijuana sound? A heroin sound? A cocaine sound (maybe – something really obnoxious and excessive?)? How about an uppers sound? Or an alcohol sound? Or is it really the case that the Acid movement happened to come at a time when, say, Indian/sitar music was gaining prominence? Where certain effects pedals were being made? When things like the Moog synthesizer were being invented? That, in fact, there is no Acid sound just two things happening at the same time?
8.12pm
16 September 2013
Offline ivaughan said
This might be an interesting discussion. The list seems to be premised on an assumption which I think many people unconsciously have which is that LSD has a sound. In other words you can hear a song like Tomorrow Never Knows and Strawberry Fields or Lucy and say, “This sounds like someone has been on acid.” However, can you say the same about other drugs? Outside of songs that overtly reference the drug itself, is there a marijuana sound? A heroin sound? A cocaine sound (maybe – something really obnoxious and excessive?)? How about an uppers sound? Or an alcohol sound? Or is it really the case that the Acid movement happened to come at a time when, say, Indian/sitar music was gaining prominence? Where certain effects pedals were being made? When things like the Moog synthesizer were being invented? That, in fact, there is no Acid sound just two things happening at the same time?
I always felt that “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Money” was the ultimate caffeine song; the jittery lead guitar, the lurching stop/start rhythm, the way Lennon pleads “C’mon, c’mon”… he is obviously begging to have his coffee cup refilled. It’s dificult to listen to him in the throes of such an addiction.
8.18pm
9 January 2014
Offline I can’t tell you the amount of times in college me and my friends would go to the basement, put on “Monkey” and started a brew. Sometimes we put sugar in it.
9.00pm
8 November 2012
Offline During my history of rock class, our text and teacher discussed how, with the onset of LSD, pop songs became more experimental and longer, and with it a greater demand for depth and introspection. I couldn’t comment on any differences between a “marijuana song” and an “LSD song,” though. But I would imagine some of the more frenetic synth music of the late 70s and 80s could probably be attributed to cocaine.
parlance
9.32pm
Reviewers
1 November 2013
Offline parlance said
During my history of rock class, our text and teacher discussed how, with the onset of LSD, pop songs became more experimental and longer, and with it a greater demand for depth and introspection. I couldn’t comment on any differences between a “marijuana song” and an “LSD song,” though. But I would imagine some of the more frenetic synth music of the late 70s and 80s could probably be attributed to cocaine.parlance
You have a history of rock class??? How do i sign up?
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9.35pm
8 November 2012
Offline IveJustSeenAFaceo said
You have a history of rock class??? How do i sign up?
Yeah, it was awesome. It’s part of the music history/appreciation department.
parlance
9.40pm
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20 August 2013
Offline parlance said
IveJustSeenAFaceo said
You have a history of rock class??? How do i sign up?
Yeah, it was awesome. It’s part of the music history/appreciation department.
parlance
We have an “American Popular Music” class that covers rock.
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9.45pm
Reviewers
1 November 2013
Offline Ahhh Girl said
parlance said
IveJustSeenAFaceo said
You have a history of rock class??? How do i sign up?
parlance
We have an “American Popular Music” class that covers rock.
Why does everyone else have cool classes, and I have to sit through plain english, algebra, and physics.
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