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.

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” →

If I had to describe “Lovely Rita” in one word it would be…”busy.” There’s a lot going on here, and it all falls short of the sum of its parts. There’s a quirky kazoo sound that pops up a few times; a jaunty piano line; and John Lennon’s repetitive, borderline extraterrestrial “Lovely Rita, meter maid” backing vocals. But all of those elements aren’t enough to distract from the reality that this is kind of a novelty song, the story of a man attempting to woo a public servant. Well, I guess in fairness, that makes it sound a lot more boring than it actually is. You can probably Continue reading “#173: Lovely Rita” →

You may be wondering why I’m ranking the 81-second reprise of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band‘s title track over the original version that oh-so-thematically kicks off the album. “Anthony, quit being so contrarian.” “Anthony, give it a rest with trying to subtly undermine Sgt. Pepper.” “Anthony, stop having hypothetical conversations with yourself on your weird Beatles blog. We’re worried about you. You haven’t eaten in days. You started saving your fingernail clippings in a jar because you said Continue reading “#176: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” →

Pet peeve time: when I listen to music, there are a number of factors that almost inevitably will drive me crazy and shrink the odds of me appreciating a song: stupid rhymes (“dustbin lid,” really?). Unnecessary whistling. And fake audience noise on studio recordings. Especially fake laughter. What hilarity took place Continue reading “#189: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” →