What's the next? New BBC stuff or BFS Deluxe?

[Lord Reith]

I don't think the early Beatles are any less popular in fact I think people generally like many of the early songs . I mean, so many post 1966 Beatles songs are about animals or just nothing at all. The hippies loved it but there's nothing for people to relate to in many of those songs anymore.

cause the songs have a walrus or whatever in their title, it doesn´t mean its bout animals. what exactly in walrus is bout a walrus. imo the later stuff is much more bout life and how it relates to people. but interesting how everything they did has to be interpretated. I think reality was much simpler. whatever came to their mind had the chance to be part of a song. freud once said: "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". I 2nd that

Of course, I was exaggerating but there are a plenty of animal references in their later period and some of the songs are actually about animals. I mean, I'm not an animal-hater or anything, but I don't give a stuff about Paul's dogs Martha or Eddie.

Don't get me wrong, I love the later period too. But if a stranger asked me to put on a Beatles song, I sure wouldn't put on Martha My Dear or I Am the Walrus. I'd feel like some kind of weirdo.

(Of course, I am weird, so it shouldn't matter).

[beckman99]

Don't get me wrong, I love the later period too. But if a stranger asked me to put on a Beatles song, I sure wouldn't put on Martha My Dear or I Am the Walrus. I'd feel like some kind of weirdo.

well I think it depends to whom u play walrus and what his musical preferences r. if it would be a person who likes for example trip hop, the bristol sound of the nineties where they used tons of samples from other songs , walrus with all its sounds would be the right choice. massive attack also quote the beatles on a song on their first album, with here comes the sun little darlin, here comes the sun and it´s allright. just a snippet but they know their musical heritage.

martha, never really associated it with pauls dog, still I know its so, would be a good example how different the vibe of another record side can be and that the beatles were no longer making music depending on what was hip at the time. it´s just a song which u can´t no longer classify to a certain music style.

[eclipsed1]

Oddly enough, Walrus would likely be the first song I would play to a Beatles newbie....
It is an amazing snapshot of a profound moment in pop culture,
and it's also a song so deeply imprinted in my DNA that I cannot help but enthuse over it.

[Lord Reith]

If the person you were playing songs to was a bit of a freak and liked weird stuff then yes Walrus would be a good choice. But I think most people would look at you like "What the..." It's not the song I would pick to play to a stranger, it's just too weird and out of the box.

But then, it's impossible to recommend music to people anyway. Every time someone recommends me stuff they think is fabulous, I find it underwhelming. Then I'll hear some random song on their playlist and go "Wow! I like that song! What's that called?" You literally cannot pick another person's taste. Thus the downfall of Pandora Music with its teams of human curators, who always seemed to suggest to you music you couldn't stand.

In my younger days my strategy for making Beatle Converts was to make a cassette with as wide a variety of their songs as possible, and either give it to them ("Hey, for me? thanks!") outright or put it on in the car. In those days music was harder to come by so they were more likely to listen. These days of course another song is only a click away. Too easy for someone to say "Nahh, I don't like that" after ten seconds and switch to something else.