2020 Beatles Bible Bracket Challenge | Page 12 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

I’m… not comfortable having this conversation

sir walter raleigh said
Strawberry Fields Forever vs. Please Please Me

We Can Work It Out vs Here Comes The Sun

Twist And Shout vs. I Will

Taxman vs Norwegian Wood

It is in a state of awe that Strawberry Fields Forever must’ve left the listener back in 1967. An always moving valley of colours that proves scary yet comforting. Given it was released before Sgt. Pepper ’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the idea of the Beatles’ fondness for experimentation had only been toyed with in Revolver , and it wasn’t yet clear if it would be a definitive change of musical style or just a short distraction from conventional pop-rock. Strawberry Fields Forever probably was the point at which it felt official; this was the pathway that this young men were choosing. The first 90 seconds of the track mix some of the most unexpected instruments and edits in rock and roll history. An intro flute, rambling guitar arpeggios from the hand of George Harrison , tape loops and slide guitar flooding through the left channel. And onwards it gets even more outlandish. A middle string section, a bridge featuring a sitar, and finally ending horns. Strawberry Fields Forever is truly the band’s ultimate all-in. Every verse feels more violent than the one before and it builds upon the song a sense of progression that almost feels sad, as most sections of the song could make for an entire classic if they were repeated enough times. But Lennon’s ambition, and his bandmates’ as well, took this unconvincing composition and converted it into one of the most astonishing oddities of the 1960s. Please Please Me feels trapped in its era. The only edit that is noticeable harms the track by butchering the final 15 seconds, ending the song on the wrong foot. It must’ve probably been as exciting as Strawberry Fields Forever when it came out, but not for the same reasons, not for the same demographic and definitely not for the same amount of time. On the title track of their debut we hear some of the earliest brilliant harmonies Lennon & McCartney were known for as the best singing duo that ever lived. But that was also incorporated into the fourth verse of Strawberry Fields Forever , making it tie the band together in this imperfect opera that is difficult not to stare at. We get to travel through John’s childhood presented as this abstract piece of lyrics expressing magical imagery, and can only win against a suspiciously vague piece of writing featuring the line “please me, whoa yeah, like I please you”. Kind of a shallow artistic statement. As energetic and fun as the rhythm section is on Please Please Me , it can only hope to be as groovy and psychedelic as Ringo’s drumming on the Sgt. Pepper ’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions. One is fantastic in context but the other is timeless.

Abbey Road ’s side B has stood up as one of the best back ends of any record and it mainly owes it to the medley. But would the medley be as well received if it wasn’t for the bright punch up of Here Comes The Sun with its simplicity yet unending beauty? Most likely it would be a different story. George Harrison writes what is probably his greatest expressive piece, backed up by one the most well-rounded production an acoustic track has ever seen. Putting strings, vocal harmonies, organs and drums into a song without it sounding overblown is the mark of a good producer. It establishes the beginning of the end of the Beatles, opening the second side of their last album, and it only gains importance when the last track is called The End , and features one of the greatest career finales of all time. That was the sun, the end was the sun, and the medley was the road the sun had to travel in order to “come”. It was rewarding, and hopeful, and interesting, and essentially the last piece of work by the Fab Four. Here Comes The Sun was a prelude to all that. We Can Work It Out is a fantastic single the band worked on around the mid-60s, right before Rubber Soul ’s subtle experimentation began. This is noticeable by the percussive side of the song variating from a 32/8 tambourine insistence to a 3/4 time signature on the bridge, or the harmonium Lennon decides to flavor the song with. The vocal harmonies are excellent, and the message of the song is in essence pretty similar to Here Comes The Sun . It is a call for understanding, and letting confrontation and anger pass. Although, We Can Work It Out builds it upon a single relationship. At first it sounds like a love interest, but the duo sings “there’s no time for fuzzing and fighting, my friend”, so it could easily be about pals. It is singed in the second person and feels very close and specific. Here Comes The Sun feels bigger. It isn’t about you and me resolving problems we have between us, but resolving our problems with the entire world, and finally stepping out of a bubble of pain, feeling the sun in our face after so much time remaining in darkness. It tells a much more grandiloquent story and I’ll give it the win for it.

Between these two tracks there isn’t much poetry. “Shake it up baby, Twist And Shout ”, “Love you forever and forever, love you with all my heart”. So it is more of sonic battle. Twist And Shout presents some of the most infectious conventions in traditional pop-rock from its time. Every line in it feels like a fresh bucket of energy splashed into your face. Not once does John feel uninspired. His voice cracks all over the track in a landmark sound that not even he ever tried to imitate again, and was the result of hours of working in the studio during the short-lived Please Please Me sessions. It is a case of lightning caught in a bottle, something that only happened once and by sheer chance it ended up way better than it was intended to or could’ve resulted otherwise. I Will is a studio song, performed multiple times with edits that are constantly forcing the song to be more insightful than it really is. Even though there’s a decent progression to this two minute wonder, it feels as though McCartney is adding voices, inconsistent bits of percussion and extra guitar licks to compensate for the song not having a lot of personality in its original state. And even with the heavy production, I Will accomplishes less than a fantastic stage performance like Twist And Shout in relatively the same amount of time.

Both embody their cover arts astonishingly well. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) features relaxing but powerful acoustic performances that represents the free-flowing vibe in the misshaped cover of Rubber Soul . We are covered by green trees, desiring to get into the cabin John is visiting. Lennon wrote and performed the track, and fittingly enough he’s the only one looking straight up to the camera. It is the lyrics that impress the listener, in a pace as calculated and simple as something like Bob Dylan’s chorus-free influence in folk-rock. The sitar Harrison adds to the song gives it a rustic atmosphere that simulates the warm feeling of putting your hands by the fire. In this case, John puts his hands by the fire of a girl he will never get; there is clearly a lot of symbolism in this piece. The lyrics are short and to the point, without it feeling rushed, or badly paced. It is a precise work of wording to its maximum capacity, making it the first lyric by him that reads like the work of a poet instead of a popstar. It is the confidence in failure the narrator posses what makes the song so compelling. It is nihilistic but uncompromising. On Taxman , as much as Revolver , George Harrison is the only one looking towards us as well, in this case ready to reveal the secrets he’s been keeping about the economics of success. “Let me tell you how it would be, there one for you, nineteen for me. ‘Cause I’m the taxman”. George sounds mad, but flowing with creativity, in that sketchy, confusing black and white aesthetic. The song features metallic noises coming from the drums and bass that only deliver on the promise the album makes. The Revolver opener is an instant win for its album and surely gets hopes up for more. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), however, is more of a central piece to its tracklist, and it is the delivery something like Taxman only could prepare you for.