Album Title: Revolver
Artist: The Beatles
Release Date: August 5, 1966
Side One
Taxman (Harrison)
Eleanor Rigby (McCartney)
I'm Only Sleeping (Lennon)
Love You To (Harrison)
Here, There and Everywhere (McCartney)
Yellow Submarine (McCartney)
She Said She Said (Lennon)
Side Two
Good Day Sunshine (McCartney)
And Your Bird Can Sing (Lennon)
For No One (McCartney)
Dr. Robert (Lennon)
I Want to Tell You (Harrison)
Got to Get You Into My Life (McCartney)
Tomorrow Never Knows (Lennon)
Note On Song Authorship: Credit is given according to the primary writer of the song (even though Lennon and McCartney songs are official credited to both). In fact, on many songs other Beatles or even outsiders made contributions, particularly to the lyrics. John wrote a few lines on Harrison's "Taxman" and both he and singer-songwriter Donovan contributed to "Yellow Submarine". Paul helped on Lennon's "Dr. Robert". Several sources, including John, have said that George helped come up with the "all the lonely people" line on "Eleanor Rigby". John also claimed to have written the bulk of the lyrics to "Eleanor Rigby", though he acknowledged that the initial idea, melody, and first verse were Paul's. If John's claim were accurate that should be enough to give him a co-credit. However, not only did Paul deny that John made any significant contribution to the song, but Pete Shotton, John's childhood friend, wrote an account of how the song was finished up after Paul brought it in according to which John did not contribute anything, though Ringo suggested the line about darning socks and Shotton himself suggested having Father McKenzie conduct the funeral ceremony for Eleanor Rigby, a suggestion John belittled at the time. Since McCartney and Shotton both agree that John did not contribute much to the song and John's own claim is rather vague and not backed up by anyone else, I have not given him credit on this one.
There are countless lists of the "greatest albums of time", and on most of the widely-cited ones an album by the Beatles is at the top, or at least very close to it. But while there is general agreement about the Beatles belonging in the top spot, there is more debate about which of their albums is their greatest (and therefore the greatest of all time). The discussion is complicated by the question of whether "greatest" means simply the album that as a whole is the most enjoyable to listen to, or whether it means in part "most influential". By the latter standard, I'd say the balance of opinion seems to be inclined to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, because of the loose concept it included, the printed lyrics and elaborate artwork and gatefold sleeve, and the impact it had at the time on the public consciousness. But nevertheless there are also many people who argue for albums like Abbey Road or The Beatles (popularly called the White Album), and particularly the album I want to talk about today, Revolver.
Revolver has been named the greatest album of all time multiple times, including by VH1, in successive editions of All Time Top 1000 Albums, by Rolling Stones readers and more. It generally ranks at or near the top on the All Time chart on the website Rate Your Music. It was also named one of the top 10 pop albums of all time by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano (some media reports said it was named No. 1, but though I haven't seen the original report, I gathered from all the secondhand reports that the list was chronological and Revolver was simply released the earliest, so I don't think they intended to rank the albums). One critic on PopMatters calls it "the sound...of the individual members of the greatest band in the history of pop music peaking at the exact same time." Paul McCartney himself said of Revolver that "it depends what you what from an album, but if you really look at it bluntly, most people just want good songs. There's a lot of good songs on Revolver. In fact, they're all good."
Paul pretty much hit the nail on the head, though he was understating the case somewhat. I would say that almost all the songs the Beatles put out in this era were good, including pretty much everything on albums like Sgt. Pepper's and Abbey Road. But the songs on Revolver are not just good, most of them are great. The album may lack the concept and mystique of Sgt. Pepper's or the immaculate production of Abbey Road, or even the sprawling breadth of The Beatles (aka the White Album), but song for song I'm inclined to say that it beats all of them. And that's while encompassing a variety which while not as extensive as that of the White Album is nevertheless astounding for a 35-minute album; it is downright incredible that one album contains songs as varied as "Eleanor Rigby", "Love You To" and "Tomorrow Never Knows". John wrote some excellent songs for the album, with "Tomorrow Never Knows" in particular standing out as a classic, and Paul really outdid himself with a whole batch of classics (though he could often be critical of Paul's songs, John singled out three of the ones on Revolver as great). George, meanwhile, contributed more songs to this album than any other Beatles album except the double album The Beatles, and while most would probably argue his songwriting peaked in the period from 1968 to 1970 when he wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Something", "Here Comes the Sun" and the songs that appeared on his solo album All Things Must Pass, his songs here are pretty close to that standard. The album also features some top-notch playing from all four Beatles, with Ringo doing some of his best drumming. So while it may not equal some later albums by the Beatles and others as a unified work of art, if I had to pick the best album ever and I did so based purely on the quality of the songs, I'd probably have to name Revolver.
Revolver Song by Song
Taxman: George Harrison gets the lead track for the first time ever on a Beatles album, and it's a classic. It's the first Beatles song to feature political commentary, and also the first song to demonstrate George's sardonic humor, seen again in "It's Only a Northern Song", "This Song" and many other later compositions. It also has an excellent guitar solo from Paul.
Eleanor Rigby: One of the two contemporary hits from the album, and one of the Beatles' most mature, sophisticated compositions yet. Having seen how effective the string backing was on his "Yesterday", Paul took it one step further by using a string octet as the only instrumentation, with the Beatles (specifically Paul, John and George) only contributing vocals. With an excellent set of lyrics featuring more social commentary, the Beatles also showed that they had expanded their repertoire far beyond the love songs that had predominated in the past. Jerry Leiber supposedly once said, "The Beatles are second to none in all departments. I don't think there has ever been a better song written than 'Eleanor Rigby.'"
I'm Only Sleeping: On the album's third straight non-love song, John does a great job of conveying the feeling of lazing around in bed, while throwing a philosophical observation about the excessively fast pace of modern life.
Love You To: George's second contribution to the album was also his first to be fully built around Indian music (the sitar on John's "Norwegian Wood" being merely an overdub, though a prominent one). At least one writer has claimed it was the first Western pop song to use non-Western musical forms for its basic structure and instrumentation. Regardless, it is another excellent track and one of the reasons Revolver is so brilliantly varied in the ground it covers musically.
Here, There and Everywhere: Cited by John as one of his favorite Beatles songs, this ballad by Paul, like many of his other songs, has become something of a standard, covered by many other artists. It was also named the 4th greatest song of all time by Mojo. While I personally prefer "For No One" and "Eleanor Rigby", this is without question an excellent contribution from Paul with a beautiful melody and cleverly constructed harmonies (inspired in part by the Beach Boys).
Yellow Submarine: The second song from the album to be a hit single (released as a double A-side with "Eleanor Rigby"), this was a favorite of mine when I was a child. Nowadays I tend to think of it as one of the weakest tracks on the album, but only relative to all the other great songs present. It's still an excellent children's song, and has some very clever sound effects, especially considering the limitations of the technology.
She Said She Said: John's story of a conversation he had while on LSD, this song is one of his best contributions to the album, brilliantly conveying the disjointed feel of an acid trip. I particularly like the transition to the line "when I was a boy, everything was right." Ringo's drumming is also particularly good on this song.
Good Day Sunshine: While this is more lighthearted and lyrically simplistic than Paul's other songs on the album (with the exception of "Yellow Submarine"), its bouncy, joyful feel is still immensely likeable. It has also received praise for Paul's vocals and George Martin's production, and Leonard Bernstein praised its construction.
And Your Bird Can Sing: Interestingly enough, John himself was dismissive of this song, calling it a "throwaway". I have to disagree with him on this one, as it is an excellent song both in terms of melody and lyrics. It also features some great tandem lead guitar playing from George and (apparently) Paul.
For No One: Another one of Paul's outstanding contributions to the album, this song features an absolutely brilliant melody and a great classically-inspired arrangement, and has also become something of a standard. Though neither he nor George played on the recording, John named it as one of his favorite songs by Paul, and in this case I am in complete agreement.
Dr. Robert: For some reason, I've never been able to get into John's song about the drug-dispensing doctor to the extent that I can the rest of the album. It's still a good song, with clever lyrics and a solid melody and arrangement. It just pales slightly compared to all the other brilliant songs here.
I Want to Tell You: While George's third contribution to the album doesn't stand out as much as the other two, I've always liked it, particularly the dissonant chord (apparently an E7♭9) George plays a little under a minute into the song. It's also got a good set of lyrics.
Got to Get You Into My Life: A Motown-inspired song by Paul, this is another great contribution from him, featuring great vocals and an inspired arrangement. Interestingly, while on the surface it sounds like a love song, he has since said it was really about marijuana. John also cited this as one of Paul's best.
Tomorrow Never Knows: John's acid-inspired tour de force. It features a great set of philosophical lyrics and the more revolutionary sound yet heard in pop music, with an Indian-inspired drone, instruments that included a sitar and a tambura, and tape loops prepared under Paul's direction. John's voice was recorded using experimental methods to create the effect of being heard at a great distance. Put together, the result was a brilliant finale to one of the greatest albums ever.
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