165: Another Girl
Album: Help!
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: An unusual verse structure and I enjoy the swing-beat. Paul’s guitar playing ain’t bad either. But there’s not a lot of energy to this one and it’s very forgettable. Continue reading Beatles Song Countdown: 165-161
170: Hold Me Tight
Album: With the Beatles
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: I like this better than the band did that’s for sure. The verses, like most of their early stuff, is garbage. But I think the chorus has a pretty neat hook. Paul and John harmonize well, and I like how it crescendos upwards until Paul belts “It’s you!” But yeah, faint praise. Continue reading Beatles Song Countdown: 170-166
175: Long, Long, Long
Album: The Beatles
Writer: Harrison
Singer: Harrison
Verdict: I’ve been really picking on George lately. While reading up a bit on this song, I found little but endless accolades, with some even considering it George’s best song, doubling as both a love song and a painful and moving message to God. So I just fired it up again to give it another chance. Nope. The lyrics are fine, but it sounds like George is mumbling into a tunnel. I want to shake him and tell him to sing already. The ending also sounds like someone is farting aluminum cans. Continue reading Beatles Song Countdown: 175-171
180: I Need You
Album: Help!
Writer: Harrison
Singer: Harrison
Verdict: Harrison tries really hard here. His guitar playing is a nice change of pace with the suspended chords and whatnot, and he would improve upon this later with If I Needed Someone. The cowbell in the the second verse really throws me off. Continue reading Beatles Song Countdown: 180-176
185: All I’ve Got To Do
Album: With the Beatles
Writer: Lennon
Singer: Lennon
Verdict: “I had the image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the ‘phone, although I have never called a girl on the ‘phone in my life! Because ‘phones weren’t part of the English child’s life.” Okay props to Lennon for writing a song for an American audience about something he had never done. Also apparently the first song in rock and roll history where the bass plays chords vital to the song. I just wish the lyrics or the melody were interesting.
190: You’re Going To Lose That Girl
Album: Help!
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Singer: Lennon
Verdict: As simple and unimaginative as anything on their earlier albums. Saying exactly what you mean is fine in song; country artists have been doing it for years. But then don’t rely on repetitive choruses.
195: Ask Me Why
Album: Please Please Me
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Singer: Lennon
Verdict: This is a interesting song from a musical standpoint. The structure changes a few times and John does some interesting things with his voice. I dig the line, “That I, I, I, I should never, never be blue.” But Paul’s backing vocals are needless and distracting and ultimately, the lyrics themselves are underwhelming. If this were an a cappella solo I’d probably like it more.
200: Why Don’t We Do It In The Road
Album: The Beatles
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: A song about two monkeys having sex in the street. Or two humans. The song leaves it up to your imagination. What doesn’t require imagination is the song’s lyric. There are a total of fourteen words here, repeated over and over. That seems to be a common theme among these songs down here.
205: Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Album: Help!
Writer: Larry Williams
Singer: Lennon
Verdict: Help! is not the greatest album, but it’s solid and begins to show the promise that would come out in full force with Rubber Soul. The best part is that it ends with a huge fan favorite Yesterday. Oh wait. It doesn’t. It ends with this piece of garbage, a cover song no less. Which would be less a problem if it was stuck in the middle of the album, but it’s just so maddening sitting right there at the end. Ian MacDonald said this about the song: it’s “an unprepossessing shambles of ersatz hysteria and jumbled double-tracking.” I have no idea what that means, but I agree wholeheartedly. I regret ever listening to it and honestly I regret not ranking it lower in the countdown.
210: Wild Honey Pie
Album: The Beatles
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: One of the few Beatles songs where literally nobody else had anything to do with it. If they had, they might have told Paul to just fucking stop it already. He admits it’s purely an experimental track (another song where there are no lyrics other than the title) that he wasn’t even considering putting on the white album until Pattie Boyd raved about it. Thanks Pattie.
Death By Troggles 
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