{"id":25357,"date":"2021-05-17T11:17:52","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T15:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/?p=25357"},"modified":"2022-08-01T07:42:43","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T11:42:43","slug":"best-and-worst-beatles-song-endings-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/2021\/05\/best-and-worst-beatles-song-endings-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Best and Worst Beatles Song Endings: Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my last post<\/a>, I listed the nine most regrettable endings of the 200-plus songs recorded by The Beatles.\u00a0 Because, as even their most devout fan must admit, Beatles song endings were not all Good Day Sunshine — some of them were sheer Misery.<\/p>\n

But now I’ll flip the record and play the A-side, the Getting Better side.\u00a0 Let’s turn to the Fab Four’s nine best song endings, the ones that served to define their sound and deliver their message.\u00a0 And yes, I think the Beatles had a message, though the band often insisted otherwise.\u00a0 In their best years, their message was hopeful and affirming — the Secret that you and I desperately wanted to know.<\/p>\n

Again, in the name of Fair Use<\/a>, I offer a sample of each song ending to refresh memories.\u00a0 Some of these samples last a minute or more, out of necessity.<\/p>\n

The 9 Quintessential Beatles Song Endings<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A quintessential<\/em> ending to a Beatles song is one that not only adds something special to the work but marks it as their own, a signature of sorts.\u00a0 So here is my list of the songs whose endings best typify the band, their talents and their times.\u00a0 (Album titles and recording dates are in parentheses.)<\/p>\n

9 \u2022 Lovely Rita (Sgt. Pepper, March 1967)<\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/End-Rita.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

You know, it didn’t come easy deciding which Beatles song ending deserved the No. 9 spot. But, in the end, after considering the psychedelic coda to Flying<\/em> and the animal stampede rounding up Good Morning Good Morning<\/em>, I selected the echoey ending to Lovely Rita<\/em>.\u00a0 What I like about this ending is the nearly-seamless transition from a mostly major-chord song body to the ominous minor-key piano wanderings.\u00a0 Maybe the band overdid it a little with the Zappa-esque moans and groans, but it did give the album some of its character.<\/p>\n

8 \u2022 Cry Baby Cry (White Album,September 1968)<\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/End-CryTake.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Two elegant things about this ending.\u00a0 First, the ambiguous E-minor-fourth chord (with Paul singing a high minor-third) that accompanies the final “cry<\/em>“, immediately followed by a barely-audible E-flat piano note… this casts a sad, mysterious spin on what preceded.\u00a0 Then, after a short pause, the untitled 28-second clip of Paul’s Can You Take Me Back?<\/em> with John and Ringo adding percussion.\u00a0 I’ve heard it so often that I’ve lost perspective, but this ending just seems to fit Cry Baby Cry<\/em> as if the song had been written this way.<\/p>\n

My only regret is that this ending leads to the tedious and badly-focused Revolution<\/em> 9<\/em>.<\/p>\n

7 \u2022 Hey Bulldog (Yellow Submarine, February 1968)<\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/End-Bulldog.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

My favorite thing about the ending to Hey Bulldog <\/em>(an extended clip was necessary here) is the fun the Beatles seemed to have while making it.\u00a0 Catch the promo video<\/a> if you can. John and Paul appear to play off\/encourage each other, for perhaps the last time.<\/p>\n

The Beatles Bible<\/a> provides context for the state of affairs when Hey Bulldog<\/em> was recorded, just before the band made their transformative visit to India : “[Hey Bulldog <\/em>was] cited by The Beatles\u2019 engineer Geoff Emerick as one of their final true group efforts, with equal contributions from all…\u00a0 Following their Indian jaunt, The Beatles\u2019 sense of togetherness began to sour; they tended to work separately, with increasingly frequent disagreements which eventually led to their split.”<\/p>\n

So, I list this ending because, in retrospect, it feels like the end of The Beatles’ second act.<\/p>\n

6 \u2022 Dear Prudence (White Album, August 1968)<\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/End-Prudence.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

The highlights of this ending — starting with the final refrain — are (1) Paul’s (not Ringo’s) inspired, syncopated drumming, (2) the two piano chords that fill a musical hole after the final “Dear Prudence<\/em>” and (3) the gentle, circular guitar stylings that close the song the same way it began.\u00a0 Very stirring, very moving, very pretty.\u00a0 I had always thought this was Ringo’s most inventive drumming until I learned who actually played that part and why<\/a>.<\/p>\n

5 \u2022 I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (Abbey Road, August 1969)<\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/End-WantYou.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

I’m not doing justice to I Want You<\/em> by sampling only the last 30 seconds of the ending, as the power of its abrupt finish comes from being immersed in it so long that one loses track of time.\u00a0 The five-measure chord progression is cut short on its 15th repetition, if anyone is counting — and I had to count twice because I wasn’t sure I got it right the first time.<\/p>\n

I’m disappointed that recent remixes of this song seem to have upped the volume of the synthesizer whooshing.\u00a0 It sounds much more prominent now than I remembered from the vinyl days. (Or it could be that it was always this way and my turntable just sucked.)<\/p>\n

4 \u2022 I Am The Walrus (Magical Mystery Tour, September 1967)<\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/End-Walrus.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

I sampled the ending of I Am The Walrus<\/em> in its totality, as most radio stations of the day refused to play much of it, if they dared play the song at all.\u00a0 Hello Goodbye <\/em>was the safe, commercial side — only “underground<\/a>” radio played Walrus<\/em>, the flip side.\u00a0 Any song that broke as many rules as I Am The Walrus<\/em> did was an automatic favorite of mine.\u00a0 And there weren’t many of those in 1967.\u00a0 (That was the year of Daydream Believer, Georgy Girl, Happy Together<\/em> and Somethin’ Stupid<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

But about that ending.\u00a0 While it was fun picking out the musical and vocal tidbits in that free-for-all, what I really enjoyed were the intriguing chords: the band and the orchestra played the progression A — G — F — E7<\/sup><\/span> — D9<\/sup><\/span> — C#11<\/sup><\/span> — Em\/B\u00a0 three-plus times, one octave higher each time.\u00a0 The violins started out on A3 (the A below middle C) and ended on D7 as the song faded to silence — this represents 90% of the violin’s playable range.<\/p>\n

The chords were fun for me to reverse engineer and bang out on the piano way back when. Although, I played it in the key of C instead of A because it was easier.<\/p>\n

My only complaint about the ending is that, to my ears, Ringo seems to wander off the beat for 7-8 seconds around the 4:00 mark of the song (about halfway through my clip).\u00a0 Maybe that was Paul!<\/p>\n

3 \u2022 Hey Jude (Hey Jude \/ Revolution single, August 1968)<\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/End-Jude.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

The ending that was a song in itself.\u00a0 Although the flip side of the single was Revolution<\/em>, Hey Jude<\/em> was a revolution of its own, clocking in at 7:11 when most songs on Top 40 Radio were in the 2:40 to 3:00 range.\u00a0 (That said, MacArthur Park<\/em>, sung by Richard Harris, was released as a single four months earlier and was 9 seconds longer.\u00a0 Just for the record<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I remember the night that Hey Jude \/ Revolution<\/em> was first played on the radio in the U.S.\u00a0 My buddies and I were doing a sleep-over in my basement, and we had the radio tuned to one of the Chicago stations (WCFL, I think) that we could pull in late at night.\u00a0 The station had promised to debut the single at midnight — which meant we had to wait until 1 AM Eastern Time.\u00a0 Anyway, after we heard it, the three of us went out and strolled the dark\u00a0 empty streets of the neighborhood for an hour or so singing the “la-la-la” ending.\u00a0 And no, we weren’t high on anything other than The Beatles and our youth.<\/p>\n

The sample clip features the musical parts of the ending that I always anticipate: the drum crescendo and the hey-hey-hey vocal part.<\/p>\n

2 \u2022 Rain (Paperback Writer \/ Rain single, April 1966)<\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/End-Rain.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

The ending The Beatles devised for Rain<\/em> firmly established the band as experimentalists (even Peter, Paul and Mary paid tribute<\/a> to their backwards clips) and it paved the way for further boundary-pushing in songs such as Strawberry Fields Forever <\/em>and Helter Skelter<\/em>.\u00a0 (Which is why those two songs didn’t make my list, but Rain<\/em> did.)\u00a0 What I appreciate most about Rain<\/em>‘s ending is how clean the guitar, how cool the drums.\u00a0 It was like The Beatles vs. The Byrds, except one of these bands had John and Ringo and George Martin.<\/p>\n

For a fun create-your-own experience, I suggest you drive into an automatic car-wash and cue up Rain<\/em> on your sound system.\u00a0 The swirling brushes and pulsating water will attend to your metallic hull, while the music cleanses and refreshes what’s within.<\/p>\n

1 \u2022 She Loves You (She Loves You \/ I’ll Get You single, July 1963)<\/span><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/End-SLY.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Sometimes you just can’t beat a climactic finish, and She Loves You <\/em>has one of the best of all time.\u00a0 Gen Xers and Millennials won’t remember that The Beatles were first (and often derisively) known for their Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!<\/em> rather than the backwards instruments and mystic messages.\u00a0 New York Times<\/em> columnists of the era were generally apoplectic<\/a> about the popularity of the band and used “Yeah Yeah Yeah” as a dismissive insult.\u00a0 On the other hand, when Queen Elizabeth toured Canada in October 1964, she was greeted<\/a> with signs that read, “We Love You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!”<\/p>\n

But what an ending.\u00a0 The band instinctively focuses all of their energy and emotions into a laser-like sound beam aimed straight for the heart.\u00a0 The sound of jubiliation is addictive — we want that kind of joy!\u00a0 So we listen, over and over again.\u00a0 We buy more Beatles records.\u00a0 The Beatles build on this success, leading them to create more artistic and intricate works. Which, decades later, still inspires articles like this.\u00a0 It is a once-in-a-lifetime story.<\/p>\n

The Beatles were more than a phenomenon, because they were phenomenal.\u00a0 The End.<\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

P.S.\u00a0 Haey, haey, haey.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my last post, I listed the nine most regrettable endings of the 200-plus songs recorded by The Beatles.\u00a0 Because, as even their most devout fan must admit, Beatles song endings were not all Good Day Sunshine — some of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creativity","category-interests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25357"}],"version-history":[{"count":90,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25477,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25357\/revisions\/25477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}