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”
1965
#150: Bad Boy
The earliest days of this blog produced a great rivalry that kept readers on the edge of their seats, biting their nails, pulling out their hair, and losing their lunches. I’m referring of course to the Great Carl Perkins vs. Larry Williams War of 2016, which historians consider Continue reading “#150: Bad Boy”
#152: What Goes On
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”
#159: The Word
Fans of Family Guy and pre-Beatles rock music are well aware that in 1963, Minnesota’s own The Trashmen established definitively and without question that “bird” is the word. It may have been occasionally accompanied by stutters of differing lengths, but the veracity of its prominent place in the lexicon was not up for debate.
And yet in 1965, two cocky young songwriters Continue reading “#159: The Word”
#161: I’ve Just Seen a Face
Oh Paul McCartney, you delightful trickster, you. The longing strums that open “I’ve Just Seen a Face” make for one of the most deceptive intros in the Beatles’ catalog. Because what follows those first 11 seconds is one of the Continue reading “#161: I’ve Just Seen a Face”
#164: It’s Only Love
Surprise, surprise, here’s another song John Lennon wrote and subsequently bad-mouthed a few years later. “I always thought it was a lousy song,” he said in 1980. “The lyrics were abysmal. I always hated that song.”
Ok, so he wasn’t Continue reading “#164: It’s Only Love”
#170: Yes It Is
If I weren’t such a sucker for harmonies, this boring funeral march would likely land in the bottom ten. Yes it would. John Lennon apparently asked himself, “Hey, remember that great b-side I wrote a few years ago, ‘This Boy’? What if I wrote that song again, but made it terrible this time?” Then he probably Continue reading “#170: Yes It Is”
#181: I Need You
Look, I actually do like this song. Honest. But I’m going to go on record as saying this might be the most generic set of lyrics ever written, not just by the Beatles, but by any major band from any era. (“Generic” of course is not synonymous with “worst.” Don’t worry, Black Eyed Peas, that title lies safely with “My Humps.” At least Alanis Morissette salvaged it somewhat.) That probably explains why, as with “You Like Me Too Much,” George Harrison didn’t Continue reading “#181: I Need You”
#188: You Like Me Too Much
Perhaps content that “Don’t Bother Me” shut up the journalists who kept asking him when he would start writing songs, George Harrison left it up to John and Paul to take care of the original material for the next two Beatles albums. When he gave it another shot for Help! he delivered two below-average songs so unimpressive that Continue reading “#188: You Like Me Too Much”
#197: Run for Your Life
Imagine binge-watching a great season of your favorite show and every episode is awesome, and then you get to the finale and they throw in some unexpected plot twist that isn’t enough to retroactively ruin the season, but it leaves a pretty sour taste in your mouth. That’s sort of what listening to Rubber Soul is like.
Tonight on CBS: the series finale of How I Met Your Mother and Then Killed Her Off 20 Minutes Later.*
I mean, I won’t deny that Rubber Soul‘s concluding track, “Run For Your Life,” is catchy. It is. But any song Continue reading “#197: Run for Your Life”
Anthony Cusumano 