Author: Anthony Cusumano

#144: Good Morning, Good Morning

Anthony Cusumano, ,

This may be the single hardest Beatles song for me to rank, no joke. At its core, there is a great song here. A fantastic song in fact. But like much of the Sgt. Pepper album, that great song is buried among layers of production tricks and I have to be honest, I find it virtually unlistenable. If that were the only version available, “Good Morning, Good Morning” would have probably ended up closer to the back end of the top 200.

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Also, any song based around having to get out of bed in the morning automatically loses points.

 

However… Continue reading “#144: Good Morning, Good Morning” →

#144: Good Morning, Good Morning

#145: She Said She Said

Anthony Cusumano, ,

I’m listening to this song right now and I truly have nothing to criticize. Every element of this recording hits the spot. The precisely sharp guitar licks, the understated but psychedelic organ, Ringo’s crashing cymbals, and yes, of course, the harmonies. (Oddly enough, this time around it’s John and George–this is an unusual Beatles song in which Paul sat out.) If push comes to shove, I would nominate this as one of the coolest tracks in their catalog.

Coolness and weirdness are not, however, mutually exclusive and I think I have to be in a certain mood to fully get in the spirit of listening to a song that Continue reading “#145: She Said She Said” →

#145: She Said She Said

#146: I’ll Be Back

Anthony Cusumano, ,

Man, this track was such a surprise to me when I first heard it for so many reasons. It was the closing song on the Beatles’ third album, and given that the first two concluded with “Twist and Shout” and “Money,” I was all set for another intense rocker to wrap up A Hard Day’s Night.

That is not this song.

Also, like every person on the planet since 1984, I Continue reading “#146: I’ll Be Back” →

#146: I’ll Be Back

#147: You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away

Anthony Cusumano, ,

I know, it’s too low. I’m sorry. But I don’t much care for Bob Dylan, and this is John Lennon trying to be Bob Dylan. He still produces a much better result than the actual Bob Dylan, and at least he didn’t make a career out of trying to be Bob Dylan like Roger McGuinn, but then again, Continue reading “#147: You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” →

#147: You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away

#148: Hold Me Tight

Anthony Cusumano, ,

“Hold Me Tight” offers everything you could want in early Beatles album filler: it’s a catchy call-and-response Lennon/McCartney original with lyrics guaranteed to make the girls scream. It doesn’t have anything substantial to say, but that’s not its purpose. Its job is to fill a couple centimeters of vinyl with reproduced sound that’s good enough to get stuck in your head but not so great that Continue reading “#148: Hold Me Tight” →

#148: Hold Me Tight

#149: I Want to Tell You

Anthony Cusumano, ,

“He wasn’t particularly quiet; he just didn’t demand to be heard.” So said Paul Simon following George Harrison’s passing, and it’s a quote that always stuck with me for close to two decades now.

As a former super-shy kid who admittedly still struggles with that sometimes, it was pretty easy for me to relate to the so-called “quiet Beatle.” George didn’t Continue reading “#149: I Want to Tell You” →

#149: I Want to Tell You

#152: What Goes On

Anthony Cusumano, ,

Listen here, cowboy, I’ve got a bone to pick with country music. Several in fact. I’m all for jokes like, “A horse walked into a bar. The bartender asked, ‘Why the long face?'” but I draw the line at actually giving beer to horses. Also, there are approximately 750 award shows devoted specifically to country music annually. This is an excessive and not at all hyperbolic number. And country music artists are by far the most Continue reading “#152: What Goes On” →

#152: What Goes On