This blog originally appeared in 2015. Click here for tickets and info for this year’s Beatles Marathon.
Take it Joe:
9. Revolution 9: I actually love this song, it is sequenced really well, there is a continuity about it, and John definitely had a few magical moments putting it together. The piano bits are alluring. That said, year one was the only year I felt like we captured the spirit of this composition, and I always feel like I've come up short in performing this song.
8. You Like Me Too Much: Help is such a great record, and this song does the almost impossible task of derailing the album. It would be OK on another record, but sandwiched between classic after classic, it flops.
7. Hold Me Tight: We actually have this song worked up pretty well this year, but damn, it's not a great song: it's hard to sing "making love to only you" and not cringe.
6. Mr Moonlight: Beatles for Sale is a near masterpiece that loses its momentum with this poorly placed cover. After singing “I'm a Loser,” “Baby's in Black,” “No Reply,” and tearing through “Rock and Roll Music,” this song is a huge letdown.
5. For You Blue: We thought about ending the show with Let It Be this year, but this song would then be the penultimate song of the show. Inoffensive, but at the same time, when was the last time you heard someone say “For You Blue” was a favorite? Love the slide guitar, though. It's not a bad song, it would be a nice find as an unreleased outtake, as a second-to-last tune on the swan-song album though, it feels a little underwhelming.
4. I've Got A Feeling: This song is just so hard to sing in any way that sounds good. Love the guitar licks, and I apologize in advance for any vocal disservice I give this song.
3. Savoy Truffle: I've never come around to this song, maybe this is the year that we play it and I have the "aha" moment with it.
2. Taste of Honey: This song is so out of place, even on the first album. The lyrics themselves are alright, the first year I treated this song as if it were a Tom Waits song and it might have been my favorite version we've done of the song. The acoustics of the Bluestone might very well elevate the song this year, and it may become a favorite. It's part of the fun: every year I find new songs and details and chords and melodies to love.
1. Only a Northern Song: I hate this song, if I could find a way to circumvent it, some technicality that I could claim makes it not a Beatles song, I would do it, a meandering song if there ever was one. That said, its sister song on Yellow Submarine - “It's All Too Much” - crushes.
(poster from the 2015 Marathon reproduced below)
