Initial reactions to specific Beatles tracks

[Lord Reith]

For me, almost every Beatles song has a specific memory associated with it from the first time I ever heard it. Some are more vivid than others, depending on the impact it had on me.

Twist And Shout - I think this opened Rock And Roll Music which was my first Beatles album as a kid. I can remember sitting on the carpet in the lounge room (what some of you probably know as the sitting room) when it came on. It was night time, probably just after teatime. The thing that really struck me was not "wow what a great rock and roll track" but how different it sounded to anything else I had ever heard. How all the singers (not just John) seemed to be out of their minds. Screaming voices, jangly guitars and really loud clattery drums. I think it took a while to grow on me, but it sure as hell caught my attention!

Help! - I first heard this as a kid when the opening to the cartoon series changed. Once again the singing was unlike anything I had heard before. There was such emotion in the vocal and the music seemed to accelerate until it reached a crescendo on that very high "Pleeeeeease!". Crikey. I was in love. The funny thing is I also loved the little James Bond 007 rip-off that preceeded it and was incredibly dissapointed when I got my second Beatles album (Help!) and it wasn't there!

Helter Skelter - This was also on the RARM album and was way outside my comfort zone, but I took to it all the same. I think I thought of it more as a soundtrack to a horror movie than rock and roll. Still do.

Matchbox - Boy, did I HATE this song! Sounded like Bing Crosby and two other old farts up on stage after they'd had too much to drink. This song was on permanent skip for most of my life until recently.

What You're Doing - Another one I first heard in the cartoon series and really really loved the way Paul sang it. Nobody else sang like that. Years later when I got BFS I was surprised to hear the drum solo which had been edited out in the cartoon.

We Can Work It Out - I first heard this as the background music in a sports broadcast! At first I thought it was Wings because it sounded a bit like the song Band On The Run. Can't remember how I found out it was a Beatles song but it was along time before I acquired it.

Get Back - Yet another one from RARM, and I think I hated this one even more than Matchbox. It was the weedy sounding guitar that really annoyed me. I also couldn't understand what all that mumbling about Loretta and frying pans was at the start.

The White Album - For some reason I remember TWA as if it were one long song. It was late at night the first time I listened to it, through headphones. I remember thinking it was like a radio programme, the way it resembled many different artists linked by weird bits of continuity. I can't dip into the white album. I have to play the whole thing as one to this day.

And Your Bird Can Sing - Another cartoon song which reminded me of the Monkees song "The Girl That I Met Somewhere" because of the solo played in thirds (although the Monkees song used a harpsichord rather than guitars). It was a long time before I got Revolver and heard the whole thing, but it's still my favourite song on that album.

Strawberry Fields - Around 1979 I was buying Beatles singles and EPs because it was less painfull than saving up for albums. This was one that I bought. Loved Penny Lane, but had heard that in the cartoon too. Strawberry Fields I loved right up to the point where it cuts to take 26 from which point on I hated it. It's the only Beatles song I both hated and loved.

Hello Goodbye - Heard this on the radio one morning before school. I remember really liking the song but being surprised to hear at the end that it was by The Beatles. It half made me cross. Where had all this great music been hiding? Aside from the cartoon and the occasional AM play, you just never heard The Beatles when I was growing up. To me it was like I had stumbled on a goldmine, or an Egyptian tomb overflowing with treasure, and I was the only one saying "Hey!!! Look at this!!! This is amazing!!! Listen to this!!!" while nobody else seemed to get it. The Beatles were not just a pop group to me. They were in a different realm to every other band. Even as a ten year old I could recognise the quality of their music and how it was lightyears beyond everything else I was hearing.

I Want To Hold Your Hand - Heard this one in the cartoon and it just knocked me flat. It sounded so spooky the way John sang it, like he was angry even though he was singing about being in love. When I finally got the RARM album I was excited because I thought this song was on it - but it turned out to be the similarly named "I Wanna Be Your Man" which was in the same category as Matchbox to me - yuck!

Not A Second Time - Most people's least favourite song on WTB, but it sure sent chills down my spine simply because of John's amazing vocal delivery.

From Me To You - It was the harmonica I really loved in this one. It grabs you because it comes out of nowhere and doesn't sound like any other harmonica I can think of.

Can't Buy Me Love - My first Beatles "moment". I was ten, never even heard their name and the cartoon came on one Saturday morning and that was it. Life changing moment. Forever after there was a "before Can't Buy Me Love" and an "after Can't Buy Me Love".

[ringo9]

What a nice read, Lord. I give a couple of mine for those you metioned yourself.

Twist and Shout is the song used in Argie's most popular and longest running TV show. The TV show sucks big time but it must have been the first time I heard it as that stupid show started before I was born (most likely) Of course I was shocked by the singing. Those longs ahhhhh made a lasting impression n me.

Help! is one of the earliest songs I remember because my mum said something like ''He's remembering when he was younger. They were so young then!''

The first beale related memory I have is putting on some toy glasses and my mum saying 'Oh you look like John' I think I smiled so that she would think I knew him too!

[MP3J]

First Beatles memories for me, 1965 me aged 3 walking with my Dad to get a haircut at Harold's Barbers on Aylestone Rd in Leicester, i had "Help!"running through my head!

1967 aged 5..being in the kitchen and hearing "Penny Lane" on the radio, i thought it was about a girl called Penny

1973 aged 10 ...a family acquaintance gave us a pile of LP's, but we didn't have a record player at the time. I can remember that there were copies of Let It be, Beatles For sale, and A Hard Day's Night amongst them.....i donated them to a school jumble sale!! (this was 5 years before i became a fan).

1976, our local BBC station celebrated 10 years of existence by asking people to vote for their favourite songs over that period....and then playing the Top 100 in a countdown manner. I remember being knocked out by Paperback Writer.

It would be another two years until i started buying records....kicking off with "The Beatles' Million Sellers EP".
Haven't stopped yet!

[Lord Reith]

Another thing which is indelibly linked to The Beatles songs is Alan Aldridge's book "The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics Vol.2"

When I first heard the music on the cartoon, I was annoyed that I couldn't find any Beatles records in my sister's record collection (no taste at all!) However I did find that book and it had the lyrics to some of the songs I had heard. But it was the illustrations that really had an effect on me. Besides the fact that some of them - even by today's standards - are really quite rude, the idea of interpreting lyrics in art is something that blew my tiny child mind. This was at a time when we were singing "Oompa Pa" during school lessons from books which were illustrated with dumb drawings... those kind of drawings which adults always think children love but which are universally despised. So this adult take on the lyrics gave me a vital intellectual boost. It also strengthened my conviction that The Beatles were in a separate category to other musicians - no other group had books published depicting their lyrics in art.

[maccafan2021]

What I find very interesting when people talk about how they started listening to The Beatles or the songs they like the most and the least is to see that a lot of things match what I think.

But my dear Lord, even though I agree with you a lot about Matchbox in the original version (yuck for me too), the 1st BBC version is stunning! Wow, I love Ringo's pure vocals on this one, as well as the spectacular solo - I'm guessing John, or was I taking a wrong guess?

Regarding Not a Second Time, I dare to disagree! It's one of my WTB favorites. I love the accompanying piano rhythm as well as the solo and John's beautiful vocals!

As for Help!, I believe I heard it and saw it for the 1st time on TV, in the movie itself. So you can imagine the impact of knowing a Beatles song and hearing it for the first time in a Beatles movie! It was devastating for me! It scored a lot!

[WilliamShears]

I specifically remember looking at the back of the white album when I was around 10 and seeing “Everybody’s got something to hide except for me and my monkey” and thinking a) wow that’s a long song name and b) which one of them has a pet monkey??

[Lord Reith]

But my dear Lord, even though I agree with you a lot about Matchbox in the original version (yuck for me too), the 1st BBC version is stunning! Wow, I love Ringo's pure vocals on this one, as well as the spectacular solo - I'm guessing John, or was I taking a wrong guess?

Oh yeah, the BBC one is terrific. Ringo shouts "all right John" but it's very easy to spot John's solos because the only thing he knew was Chuck Berry riffs. He couldn't play anything else. On the Star Club version there's two solos and John very obviously does the first sloppy one and George does the second more snappy one, but there's still a great little bit in the second one where they are "duelling" for a moment.

I also think that the EMi version is John too. Like Long Tall Sally, they recorded live with two guitars and then overdubbed a third. In the case of LTS the third guitar doubled the rhythm guitar part but with Matchbox the third guitar did just the solo.

[CooperCat]

I was a year old when the Beatles hit the U.S., and their records were always in my house so there are no first memories. They were just there, always, and they have never been nothing less than the very core of my being, as religion is to some people. And I'm probably the least fanatical about them than anyone else here. But I was working one of those 1960's suitcase turntables when I was 3 years old, and I remember putting albums on the turntable before I could read just by looking at the cover or the Capitol label. I used to get pissed when I put a Capitol label on the turntable and it wasn't the Beatles. Everything else just sounded terrible. But I appreciate having liked them as a toddler, as a teenager, and as an adult. Loving them as a toddler, I think, is testament to their talent. The hype and press had no impact on a 3 year old. Just the music.

[AdamBound]

I remember being 8 and listening to a White Album CD I got for my birthday.. I saw Revolution 9 on the track listing and was really interested since I expected it to be some sort of continuation of Revolution 1 or the single version, when I heard it I was terrified! I kept checking the artwork to make sure what I was listening to was actually Revolution 9