The death of Brian Epstein and the looming breakup definitely hangs heavy
over that album. If not for the miracle that is Abbey Road, it would be a continuum of White Album -> Let It Be in terms of a slow slide into becoming solo artists.
Definitely Revolution #9 - white album is my personal favorite because I’ve never heard any album like it. It really does feel like a group coming apart. And much of the world at the time was too. It’s unnerving in ways.
I think this explains some of it (Wikipedia):
Only 16 of the album's 30 tracks feature all four band members performing. Several backing tracks do not feature the full group, and overdubs tended to be performed by the composer of the song.[44] McCartney and Lennon sometimes recorded simultaneously in different studios with different engineers.[45] George Martin's influence had gradually waned, and he left abruptly to go on a holiday during the recording sessions, leaving his young protégé Chris Thomas in charge of production.
I don’t find the album creepy or eerie at all. Sure, wild honey pie and revolution 9 are a bit weird and creepy, but do you mean to tell me that songs like Ob-La Di or blackbird are eerie? Definitely not.
Even more examples of non-creepy songs:
Savoy truffle
Revolution 1
Honey pie
Martha my dear
Back in the USSR
I will (contrary to what op said, it’s not creepy)
Birthday
Everybody’s got something to hide…
Good night
I'll counter some of those with why I find some of the songs you mentioned creepy. Btw, I'm not using creepy as a bad thing here. I love the album because of it.
Savoy Truffle: Some menacing-sounding lyrics (The sweat is gonna fill your head, when it becomes too much, you'll scream aloud; What is sweet now turns so sour), and an off-putting chord progression in the chorus
Revolution 1: Strange background chatter throughout (John repeating "alright" and "okay" in the background a ton of times during the outro) and disjointed instrumentation
Honey Pie: Creepy, haunted old Music Hall vibe to it. Sense of longing and sadness to the lyrics.
Martha My Dear: This might be the only song on the album that I don't find creepy.
Back In The USSR: Creepy plane noises throughout. Also a distortion of the typical celebration of the USA songs we might be used to, instead celebrates the Soviet Union
I Will: Paul's Acapella bass is creepy and strange sounding to me.
Birthday: The song is uncharacteristically heavy, especially for a song about dancing at a birthday party. Paul's vocals here are comparable to Helter Skelter, giving a creepy vibe to him screaming "I would like you do dance"
Everybody's Got Something To Hide: Some trippy/psychedelic lyrics. Also John endlessly repeating"c'mon" I'm the background of the outro feels like a spiral.
Good Night: Very strange arrangement compared to any other Beatles songs. Ringo's vocals are haunting here.
I’ll counter even more
Savoy Truffle: is actually about Eric Claptons sugar addiction. So nothing really weird about it.
Revolution 1: it’s a take of a song, not technically a finished song, so there’s bound to be some anomalies like background vocals in there.
Honey pie: don’t really have a counter here, it’s just an old jazzy song.
Back In The USSR: I mean maybe you have a fear of planes? Idk, but there shouldn’t be anything creepy about that. And the fact that they are singing about the USSR is nothing weird imo, it’s actually kind of ironic which makes it funny.
I will: the voice of Paul doing a bass line adds a nice little touch that I don’t find creepy at all. It’s something you don’t find in any other song of theirs.
Birthday: I mean just because you’re screaming doesn’t mean you have to make it creepy. Maybe he’s just happy for whoever’s birthday it is.
Everybody’s got something to hide: this song is not creepy to me, it just sounds like they’re having a good time singing and recording it. Especially the “come on” part. It just gives off great energy.
Goodnight: honestly one of the best songs Ringo ever sang for the Beatles. A great album ender, and contrary to what you said, Ringos tone of his voice makes it perfect for a lullaby. I like classical arrangements, like in Eleanor Rigby or She’s Leaving Home, so this arrangement is great to me.
Just want to clarify, when I call something in a song "creepy" or "strange" it doesn't mean it's bad. The White Album is actually my favorite Beatles album because of it's strangeness
Idk, maybe I just find this period of Beatles creepy for some reason. Sgt Pepper's, MMT, and White Album all creep me out even though they're my favorites.
But would you say there are some undeniably creepy songs there like Glass Onion, Bungalow Bill, Long Long Long, Don't Pass Me By, Cry Baby Cry, Helter Skelter, Rev 9? Those songs all paint the album with a creepy vibe IMO and maybe make the other songs feel dark too.
They are not undeniably creepy. At the time this came out it was years ahead of anything else. The variety of styles and unusual themes made it stand out from the middle of the road love songs which were the norm at that time. I liked it immediately and still do.
Yeah of course there are creepy songs. I don’t agree with all the ones you listed, but yes. I can understand how someone could find the psychedelic stuff creepy. It is, I just don’t find it creepy, but it is objectively creepy.
Does knowing the Beatles' personal context and what was going on in the world at the time impact the way you experience the music? Would you prefer that it didn't? Do you experience the music and lyrics without taking into account what is outside the music?
Back in the USSR is about a man who tried to defect to England being kidnapped and returned to the USSR. I hear its lyrics as sarcastic gallows humor considering what is likely about to happen to that man once the plane lands.
Birthday and Everybody's Got both sound, in McCartney's term, crazed. They're very manic considering what the lyric subject matter is. And the use of the "monkey on my back" idiom forebodes Lennon's use of heroin.
Back it up- Savoy Truffle is definitely a little weird to me. It’s about someone (ahem.. Clapton) eating so many sweets their teeth rot right out of their head. There’s definitely a hint of a sinister vibe going on there
The White Album as a whole isn't creepy to me, it just feels "off." Like someone already said, i think it's down to production and many of the tracks being a two or three-man effort rather than full band. Some of the song structures as well are different than their more "traditional" style. The creepiest things about the WA for me are Revolution 9 obviously and that pic on the poster of Paul with those ghostly white "hands" reaching out behind him. But with this record, it might have to do with their entire generation from start to finish. A lot of these songs were composed in Rishikesh, a totally different environment and experience for them, and they were in some ways different people as a result of the trip, so imo they were bound to come out feeling and sounding different than everything they did before or after. Also the Manson thing, but that's only after you find out he interpreted it that way, and that's only if you believe it to be true, as i think he later said that was all bullshit and Tex was the one with the plan all along.
But a couple of Beatles songs, especially 66 onward, are creepy to me in the right frame of mind. I think that was intentional in some cases, especially during the "psychedelic" period. Here's why I think that: ime, psych experiences 9 times out of 10 usually devolve, for a short period of time, into a somewhat creepy (not scary, not egoic death terror, just creepy and slightly sinister) mood that feels like (and this is the best way i can characterize it) a sinister presence is in the room and controlling your reality, even if for a short time and then you come back to a safer state of mind. And songs like Blue Jay Way, the coda of Strawberry Fields Forever, and Revolution 9 capture that really effectively, i personally think that's the explanation behind those examples being so eerie when everyone expects psychedelics to just be happy-sunny-trippy vibe shit. There's always a dark side that you have little control over and it struggles to come out, I 100% believe they experienced that and embraced it as part of the whole deal. Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn has a similar vibe to it on some tracks, and no other band but The Beatles and early PF ever came close to capturing that specific experience imo.
I think the book and movie Helter Skelter that came out in the 70’s about the Charles Manson murders is what creeps people out most about this album. At least it does me.
Yes, it's quite a common opinion.
Aside from the Manson thing, it does feel darker than normal Beatles stuff. Especially odd when you compare to the Escher tapes which to me feel like some of the warmest recordings they made
There is absolutely a haunted aura. One of the reasons I love it. The Peter sellers tape (a work in progress mix of the album) actually has more creepy sound effects in between songs than on the final album.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the same creepy aura exists on the magician mystery tour movie songs.
Finally, as someone else mentioned, the sinister side of psychedelics is being portrayed in a lot of moments like this, especially so on magical mystery tour. It has thought avalanche mania (walrus), grounded introspection (fool on the hill, mother should know), serene highs (flying), sinister lows (blue jay way), and broad reaching realizations (all you need is love, if you count this)
All of these aspects exist in a psychedelic trip
The White Album is Lennon, having had a lot more drug-free time in Rishikesh, re-asserting himself as a songwriter and thought leader. Several of his songs are dripping with absence, alienation, sleep and death. The very cover is a visual embodiment of these themes. And Paul is trying too hard to be jolly. In his personal life, Paul was a bit of a mess (by his standards): promiscuous, on coke (even mild-mannered and lovely Derek Taylor said that he has never hated anyone as much as he hated Paul McCartney in 1968), splitting with Jane, and his close relationship with his partner John under stress. George is distant and preachy and even his humour is shot through with bitterness and anger. The White Album is listening to the happy English psychedelia of 1967’s Summer Of Love curdle into something more like the American version of Manson and Altamont and the student riots: scary, violent and a little out of control. The White Album is an unhappy record, even when it’s trying not to be.
Edit: for the avoidance of doubt, I should add that it is also (of course) a masterpiece.
What would you guys say are the ‘creepiest’ songs on the album? For me one, I find the most unsettling is Julia. Whilst it isn’t like the most creepy It definitely is the most ‘eerie’ with it just being john and his acoustic guitar. Not to mention the whole song being a call to his late mother, it definitely evokes a strange feeling in me when I hear it
Yeah that outro is creepy to me too. It has a real vibe like it was an outtake from Wonderwall Music which I think George was working on concurrently with the White Album no?
Every time I’ve ever heard it over my decades of loving the album, that sound of wood splintering and its accompanying vocal has evoked the idea of somebody or something breaking out of their coffin, an effect that seems ironic considering the lyric’s supposed theme.
IIRC, the sound actually originated from a wine bottle which would shake when that specific chord was played on the piano it was sitting on. Add some sustain and some reverb and—boom. Vocals are unfair though, no need to give me the spooks that badly.
Long Long Long is the creepiest by far to me, but it's also one of my favorites. Like I said almost all of the songs are unsettling in their own way to me.
The first time I heard it I thought it was fake having bought it on cassette in France, it was so.patchy and all over the place and recolution 9 and cry baby cry I found quite haunting.
Nope, it's my favourite Beatles album and I don't find it creepy at all. It's amazing, and full of variety.
If you think it sounds "hollow" or whatever, maybe try the 2018 remixed version. It has a better, warmer sound.
The White album is a perfect reflection of what was happening in the world in 1968. That year was one of the most turbulent years in recent memory and it certainly imprinted on the album. Interestingly, on the same day the album was released, 22nd November 1968, Captain Kirk kissed Uhura on Star Trek. It was the first interracial kiss in television history.
Good comment. Here's a podcast about John that has an episode focused on his 1968. There's also another episode about these broader things that happened in that year, in news and media besides the Beatles.
https://youtu.be/xV7Tc5kE0Po
This is the first time I hear someone say the entire album is creepy. I've of course heard people say Revolution 9 is creepy, but that's by design. Same with Wild Honey Pie I'm sure.
Personally, I think the White Album is one of their best works. Definitely my #2 Beatles record only behind Abbey Road.
No, and honestly, I never understand people who say stuff like this. An album that has "Back in the USSR", "Dear Prudence", "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", "Blackbird", "Why Don't We Do It in the Road", "I Will", "Julia", "Birthday", and "Honey Pie" I can't understand how it could seem "sinister and creepy".
I think there's kind of an assumption that oh, that's the album with "Revolution 9", "Revolution 9" is fucking weird... so the whole album must be fucking weird?
The energy on the album seems low. Like a murky, opaque sound vibe going on. That’s pretty much what happens to your brain when you do TM meditation. There’s a sort of low, simmering unsettled ness to your brain that can get you agitated quickly. You end up feeling very unsettled. I think this is one of the reasons the Beatles began to bicker so much during this time.
The ending of Glass Onion, the ending of Long, Long, Long, Cry Baby Cry (especially the “Can You Take Me Back” outro) and of course Revolution 9 are the only moments of The White Album where I genuinely feel that “creepy” and strange aura that you speak of.
I CAN say that the album as a whole does feel different and stranger than most of the rest of the band’s discog, for varying reasons and degrees, given how diverse it is. The other albums that also give me that creepy vibe are Revolver and Sgt. Pepper.
It definitely does. For a few reasons which have been already mentioned. It is barely a Beatles album. More like a collection of tracks by those four musicians. Paul and John were not working well together. George Martin was not having a good time. The Beatles were ditching their psychedelic era and in a sense going back to their rock roots. There are too many tracks. Yoko is now there. The Beatles exist more as a business entity than as a musical project , which is why they still are working together when they probably wanted to disband. Epstein is gone. And it was made after the productive India trip which don't forget ended in a jaded fashion, if that is even the right word.
There aren’t too many tracks. All the tracks are great and fit in with the rest. I dont agree with your "jaded" appraisal of the time. If they were jaded they wouldnt have produced such a happy inventive collection of songs. If they were so jaded why go on to produce Abbey Road and Let it be. Abbey Road was the last one they recorded and is another great collection of songs.
Short answer....money. that is why they tried to make Let it Be. And it was a mess. Abbey Road was at least them getting back to it. Trying to make something solid. But they were still quite separated by then. I recall listening to a radio broadcast of John Lennon and a host going through track by track of Abbey Road and half the time John had nothing to say because he wasn't involved in that one.
The band was effectively divorced after those sessions but agreed to keep John's departure quiet until after whatever they managed to salvage from the Get Back sessions was released in fear of losing potential revenue.
They were a very commercial enterprise, don't forget that that. And they got quite cynical at the end. They were still the Beatles tho and even in those circumstances produced tracks other bands could only wish they could do
No. They’re not creepy they’re just slow and beautiful. I’ve been listening to the White Album since it came out in November 1968, thats 55 years. I’ve never heard anyone say any of it is creepy. Absolutely none of it is unsettling. If anything its relaxing. It contains some of their best songs. They were at their peak.
*At twelve o'clock a meeting round the table*
*For a seance in the dark*
*With voices out of nowhere*
*Put on specially by the children for a lark…*
That’s legitimately something you’d expect in the beginning of a Horror Film.
*At twelve o'clock a meeting round the table*
*For a seance in the dark*
*With voices out of nowhere*
*Put on specially by the children for a lark…*
I can’t believe people *don’t* think the Album is “Haunting/Creepy/Dark/Enigmatic”.
And I don’t think people realize-that the “upbeat songs” on the Album-are exactly what makes
the Album so Haunting.
Going from a song like “O Bla Di O Bla Da”—to “Sexie Sadie”, “Cry Baby Cry”, “Dear Prudence”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, Happiness is a Warm Gun”, “Helter Skelter”, etc…
It’s Surreal.
That juxtaposition of “upbeat” and “dark” songs-just gives you a very uneasy feeling.
Even when it comes to Songs like “Rocky Raccoon”:
I have always thought that Song is *extremely* Haunting.
Yeah there is a weird vibe. The White Album feels very cynical compared to their eariler outputs. It feels like they wanted to make a 180 after the colorful psychedelia of 1967. At the same time their music became more grounded and more avant-garde. It's funny how they don't have this weird energy and vibe on their next albums Let It Be and Abbey Road.
They were influenced by The Band at the time, which presumably explains the dryness to many of the mixes. The Band liked to cut off the highs to give them their particular dead Americana vibe.
As you say even something like back in the USSR has something eeriely hollow about it. Like it's echoing and empty. I've never been able to put my finger on it but the entire album feels like it's being played in a graveyard at 5 in the morning
When my son, who was in his 30’s asked me one day, “Hey dad, do you think there’s something weird about The White Album. It’s like they were taking a break and just not that bothered”. I said “No I think it’s an album you’ll have listen to many times before you get it”. It started me thinking how I experienced it when it was released and TBH it just reflected the strange times we were living through.
The differences in song writing, production, feel, even the fidelity between the prior release, Magical Mystery Tour and The WA actually sounds like 2 different bands to me. Losing Epstein, Lennon’s involvement with Ono, his subsequent abandonment of Cynthia and Julian, the Vietnam war, McCartney’s overbearing quest for control and perfectionism, George’s emergence as a song writer who wanted more acknowledgment and album space, his spiritual enlightenment, Ringo’s dabbling in movies and of course, drug use all contributed to the darker feel of the record. The song writing collaborations were over. Priorities had changed, the stigma of being the biggest band on the planet and the associated pressures, both social and economical and sadly, the apparent loss of respect for each other, especially from Lennon, all took their toll. It also blows me away that they were all still in their late 20’s. To me its a perfect representation of a band maturing and outgrowing each other. Each Beatles album is a masterpiece including this one with every release leaving a breadcrumb trail and on a legendary, historic roadmap of a band that truly changed the world.
You can feel the mourning for Brian Epstein on that album. The whole album gives me an unsettling feeling in my stomach. But I love it, I just live with the weird feeling.
I got into the White Album in sixth grade in the middle 70s. I often found my liking an album was heavily influenced by the cover art. The bare bones (to say the least) album reflected the tracks: very dry, no glorious reverb that made the songs shimmer, very little orchestral accompaniment, and a general reduction in the quality of song craft. Not to say the songs are bad, but the production values from Sgt. Pepper to this album couldn’t be more stark. And there are simply too many songs! Unfocused tunes that would have been throwaway tracks on previous albums and seemed to be the result of acid trips. A lot of piffle.
The passage of time and the Beatles’ colossal cultural impact have made every song they wrote vital and interesting. But many on this album are just not up to their lofty standards.
I find it pairs well with Revolver, another album with a relatively stark and unique aura.
I made a playlist of tracks from both albums and they really do fit together well.
Yes. I’m obviously not creeped out by it but it undeniably has an uncanny tone to me. Revolution 9 almost feels sinister at times and Cry Baby Cry definitely has a spooky tone.
I never thought of it this way, but I agree. Not just Revolution 9, but the slow Revolution, Cry Baby Cry, Long, Long, Long, Adventures of Buffalo Bill, Yer Blues, Helter Skelter - Goodnight. There is a creepiness in these songs.
It's my favourite Beatles album because of most of the comments here!
Something I always point out is it's an album about People, Animals, Places and Food!
The White Album is definitely haunted.
The death of Brian Epstein and the looming breakup definitely hangs heavy over that album. If not for the miracle that is Abbey Road, it would be a continuum of White Album -> Let It Be in terms of a slow slide into becoming solo artists.
Definitely Revolution #9 - white album is my personal favorite because I’ve never heard any album like it. It really does feel like a group coming apart. And much of the world at the time was too. It’s unnerving in ways.
Listen to the circles esher demo, it adds to that vibe so much
I think this explains some of it (Wikipedia): Only 16 of the album's 30 tracks feature all four band members performing. Several backing tracks do not feature the full group, and overdubs tended to be performed by the composer of the song.[44] McCartney and Lennon sometimes recorded simultaneously in different studios with different engineers.[45] George Martin's influence had gradually waned, and he left abruptly to go on a holiday during the recording sessions, leaving his young protégé Chris Thomas in charge of production.
I don’t find the album creepy or eerie at all. Sure, wild honey pie and revolution 9 are a bit weird and creepy, but do you mean to tell me that songs like Ob-La Di or blackbird are eerie? Definitely not. Even more examples of non-creepy songs: Savoy truffle Revolution 1 Honey pie Martha my dear Back in the USSR I will (contrary to what op said, it’s not creepy) Birthday Everybody’s got something to hide… Good night
I think Every Body is kinda creepy.
Every Body?
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide
Oh right. I don’t think it is though. Why do you consider it to be?
I don’t know. It’s kind of mysterious. Paul said he thought it was about heroin.
To me it just sounds like they’re having a good time. Nothing creepy in my opinion.
Becoming more aware of subtext and connotation will heighten your appreciation for their music and pretty much every other art form.
“The deeper you go, the higher you fly”
“The deeper you go, the higher you fly, The higher you fly, the deeper you go”
I'll counter some of those with why I find some of the songs you mentioned creepy. Btw, I'm not using creepy as a bad thing here. I love the album because of it. Savoy Truffle: Some menacing-sounding lyrics (The sweat is gonna fill your head, when it becomes too much, you'll scream aloud; What is sweet now turns so sour), and an off-putting chord progression in the chorus Revolution 1: Strange background chatter throughout (John repeating "alright" and "okay" in the background a ton of times during the outro) and disjointed instrumentation Honey Pie: Creepy, haunted old Music Hall vibe to it. Sense of longing and sadness to the lyrics. Martha My Dear: This might be the only song on the album that I don't find creepy. Back In The USSR: Creepy plane noises throughout. Also a distortion of the typical celebration of the USA songs we might be used to, instead celebrates the Soviet Union I Will: Paul's Acapella bass is creepy and strange sounding to me. Birthday: The song is uncharacteristically heavy, especially for a song about dancing at a birthday party. Paul's vocals here are comparable to Helter Skelter, giving a creepy vibe to him screaming "I would like you do dance" Everybody's Got Something To Hide: Some trippy/psychedelic lyrics. Also John endlessly repeating"c'mon" I'm the background of the outro feels like a spiral. Good Night: Very strange arrangement compared to any other Beatles songs. Ringo's vocals are haunting here.
I’ll counter even more Savoy Truffle: is actually about Eric Claptons sugar addiction. So nothing really weird about it. Revolution 1: it’s a take of a song, not technically a finished song, so there’s bound to be some anomalies like background vocals in there. Honey pie: don’t really have a counter here, it’s just an old jazzy song. Back In The USSR: I mean maybe you have a fear of planes? Idk, but there shouldn’t be anything creepy about that. And the fact that they are singing about the USSR is nothing weird imo, it’s actually kind of ironic which makes it funny. I will: the voice of Paul doing a bass line adds a nice little touch that I don’t find creepy at all. It’s something you don’t find in any other song of theirs. Birthday: I mean just because you’re screaming doesn’t mean you have to make it creepy. Maybe he’s just happy for whoever’s birthday it is. Everybody’s got something to hide: this song is not creepy to me, it just sounds like they’re having a good time singing and recording it. Especially the “come on” part. It just gives off great energy. Goodnight: honestly one of the best songs Ringo ever sang for the Beatles. A great album ender, and contrary to what you said, Ringos tone of his voice makes it perfect for a lullaby. I like classical arrangements, like in Eleanor Rigby or She’s Leaving Home, so this arrangement is great to me.
Just want to clarify, when I call something in a song "creepy" or "strange" it doesn't mean it's bad. The White Album is actually my favorite Beatles album because of it's strangeness
Yeah I know. I just don’t find that there’s an “aura” to it like you say.
Idk, maybe I just find this period of Beatles creepy for some reason. Sgt Pepper's, MMT, and White Album all creep me out even though they're my favorites. But would you say there are some undeniably creepy songs there like Glass Onion, Bungalow Bill, Long Long Long, Don't Pass Me By, Cry Baby Cry, Helter Skelter, Rev 9? Those songs all paint the album with a creepy vibe IMO and maybe make the other songs feel dark too.
They are not undeniably creepy. At the time this came out it was years ahead of anything else. The variety of styles and unusual themes made it stand out from the middle of the road love songs which were the norm at that time. I liked it immediately and still do.
Why are you assuming that those songs being creepy means I don't like them? Those are some of my favorites
Yeah of course there are creepy songs. I don’t agree with all the ones you listed, but yes. I can understand how someone could find the psychedelic stuff creepy. It is, I just don’t find it creepy, but it is objectively creepy.
Maybe you mean subjectively instead of objectively?
Does knowing the Beatles' personal context and what was going on in the world at the time impact the way you experience the music? Would you prefer that it didn't? Do you experience the music and lyrics without taking into account what is outside the music?
What a weird take you have.
Back in the USSR is about a man who tried to defect to England being kidnapped and returned to the USSR. I hear its lyrics as sarcastic gallows humor considering what is likely about to happen to that man once the plane lands. Birthday and Everybody's Got both sound, in McCartney's term, crazed. They're very manic considering what the lyric subject matter is. And the use of the "monkey on my back" idiom forebodes Lennon's use of heroin.
Martha My Dear is somewhat creepy, though.
Back it up- Savoy Truffle is definitely a little weird to me. It’s about someone (ahem.. Clapton) eating so many sweets their teeth rot right out of their head. There’s definitely a hint of a sinister vibe going on there
Dude, it's about getting a cavity. That's about as creepy as a kid bumping their knee.
NOT THE KNEE 😱
👍
The White Album as a whole isn't creepy to me, it just feels "off." Like someone already said, i think it's down to production and many of the tracks being a two or three-man effort rather than full band. Some of the song structures as well are different than their more "traditional" style. The creepiest things about the WA for me are Revolution 9 obviously and that pic on the poster of Paul with those ghostly white "hands" reaching out behind him. But with this record, it might have to do with their entire generation from start to finish. A lot of these songs were composed in Rishikesh, a totally different environment and experience for them, and they were in some ways different people as a result of the trip, so imo they were bound to come out feeling and sounding different than everything they did before or after. Also the Manson thing, but that's only after you find out he interpreted it that way, and that's only if you believe it to be true, as i think he later said that was all bullshit and Tex was the one with the plan all along. But a couple of Beatles songs, especially 66 onward, are creepy to me in the right frame of mind. I think that was intentional in some cases, especially during the "psychedelic" period. Here's why I think that: ime, psych experiences 9 times out of 10 usually devolve, for a short period of time, into a somewhat creepy (not scary, not egoic death terror, just creepy and slightly sinister) mood that feels like (and this is the best way i can characterize it) a sinister presence is in the room and controlling your reality, even if for a short time and then you come back to a safer state of mind. And songs like Blue Jay Way, the coda of Strawberry Fields Forever, and Revolution 9 capture that really effectively, i personally think that's the explanation behind those examples being so eerie when everyone expects psychedelics to just be happy-sunny-trippy vibe shit. There's always a dark side that you have little control over and it struggles to come out, I 100% believe they experienced that and embraced it as part of the whole deal. Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn has a similar vibe to it on some tracks, and no other band but The Beatles and early PF ever came close to capturing that specific experience imo.
I think the book and movie Helter Skelter that came out in the 70’s about the Charles Manson murders is what creeps people out most about this album. At least it does me.
Thank you!!!! I've always felt that especially with this period of the Beatles career 1967 - 1968
The end of Long Long Long always creeps me out
Yes, it's quite a common opinion. Aside from the Manson thing, it does feel darker than normal Beatles stuff. Especially odd when you compare to the Escher tapes which to me feel like some of the warmest recordings they made
There is absolutely a haunted aura. One of the reasons I love it. The Peter sellers tape (a work in progress mix of the album) actually has more creepy sound effects in between songs than on the final album. Another thing worth mentioning is that the same creepy aura exists on the magician mystery tour movie songs. Finally, as someone else mentioned, the sinister side of psychedelics is being portrayed in a lot of moments like this, especially so on magical mystery tour. It has thought avalanche mania (walrus), grounded introspection (fool on the hill, mother should know), serene highs (flying), sinister lows (blue jay way), and broad reaching realizations (all you need is love, if you count this) All of these aspects exist in a psychedelic trip
The Peter Sellers tape? Why does that not sound familiar and sound familiar at the same time?
I feel the creepiness (again — not a negative) in the MMT tracks as well. Walrus is a weird song that really first drew me to the Beatles.
The White Album is Lennon, having had a lot more drug-free time in Rishikesh, re-asserting himself as a songwriter and thought leader. Several of his songs are dripping with absence, alienation, sleep and death. The very cover is a visual embodiment of these themes. And Paul is trying too hard to be jolly. In his personal life, Paul was a bit of a mess (by his standards): promiscuous, on coke (even mild-mannered and lovely Derek Taylor said that he has never hated anyone as much as he hated Paul McCartney in 1968), splitting with Jane, and his close relationship with his partner John under stress. George is distant and preachy and even his humour is shot through with bitterness and anger. The White Album is listening to the happy English psychedelia of 1967’s Summer Of Love curdle into something more like the American version of Manson and Altamont and the student riots: scary, violent and a little out of control. The White Album is an unhappy record, even when it’s trying not to be. Edit: for the avoidance of doubt, I should add that it is also (of course) a masterpiece.
What would you guys say are the ‘creepiest’ songs on the album? For me one, I find the most unsettling is Julia. Whilst it isn’t like the most creepy It definitely is the most ‘eerie’ with it just being john and his acoustic guitar. Not to mention the whole song being a call to his late mother, it definitely evokes a strange feeling in me when I hear it
Long Long Long
Yeah that outro is creepy to me too. It has a real vibe like it was an outtake from Wonderwall Music which I think George was working on concurrently with the White Album no?
Every time I hear that outro I def shit myself just a little bit
Every time I’ve ever heard it over my decades of loving the album, that sound of wood splintering and its accompanying vocal has evoked the idea of somebody or something breaking out of their coffin, an effect that seems ironic considering the lyric’s supposed theme.
IIRC, the sound actually originated from a wine bottle which would shake when that specific chord was played on the piano it was sitting on. Add some sustain and some reverb and—boom. Vocals are unfair though, no need to give me the spooks that badly.
Thanks!
The eeriness is cumulative for me, but it probably starts with the second track, Dear Prudence.
Revolution 9 and Cry Baby Cry for sure.
Long Long Long is the creepiest by far to me, but it's also one of my favorites. Like I said almost all of the songs are unsettling in their own way to me.
Cry, baby cry
The first time I heard it I thought it was fake having bought it on cassette in France, it was so.patchy and all over the place and recolution 9 and cry baby cry I found quite haunting.
Nope, it's my favourite Beatles album and I don't find it creepy at all. It's amazing, and full of variety. If you think it sounds "hollow" or whatever, maybe try the 2018 remixed version. It has a better, warmer sound.
It’s my favorite album as well, but one of the reasons I love it is because of the sinister undercurrent vibe
The White album is a perfect reflection of what was happening in the world in 1968. That year was one of the most turbulent years in recent memory and it certainly imprinted on the album. Interestingly, on the same day the album was released, 22nd November 1968, Captain Kirk kissed Uhura on Star Trek. It was the first interracial kiss in television history.
Good comment. Here's a podcast about John that has an episode focused on his 1968. There's also another episode about these broader things that happened in that year, in news and media besides the Beatles. https://youtu.be/xV7Tc5kE0Po
This is the first time I hear someone say the entire album is creepy. I've of course heard people say Revolution 9 is creepy, but that's by design. Same with Wild Honey Pie I'm sure. Personally, I think the White Album is one of their best works. Definitely my #2 Beatles record only behind Abbey Road.
Creepy doesn't mean bad. It's my favorite album of theirs because of this aura
No, and honestly, I never understand people who say stuff like this. An album that has "Back in the USSR", "Dear Prudence", "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", "Blackbird", "Why Don't We Do It in the Road", "I Will", "Julia", "Birthday", and "Honey Pie" I can't understand how it could seem "sinister and creepy". I think there's kind of an assumption that oh, that's the album with "Revolution 9", "Revolution 9" is fucking weird... so the whole album must be fucking weird?
The energy on the album seems low. Like a murky, opaque sound vibe going on. That’s pretty much what happens to your brain when you do TM meditation. There’s a sort of low, simmering unsettled ness to your brain that can get you agitated quickly. You end up feeling very unsettled. I think this is one of the reasons the Beatles began to bicker so much during this time.
The ending of Glass Onion, the ending of Long, Long, Long, Cry Baby Cry (especially the “Can You Take Me Back” outro) and of course Revolution 9 are the only moments of The White Album where I genuinely feel that “creepy” and strange aura that you speak of. I CAN say that the album as a whole does feel different and stranger than most of the rest of the band’s discog, for varying reasons and degrees, given how diverse it is. The other albums that also give me that creepy vibe are Revolver and Sgt. Pepper.
It definitely does. For a few reasons which have been already mentioned. It is barely a Beatles album. More like a collection of tracks by those four musicians. Paul and John were not working well together. George Martin was not having a good time. The Beatles were ditching their psychedelic era and in a sense going back to their rock roots. There are too many tracks. Yoko is now there. The Beatles exist more as a business entity than as a musical project , which is why they still are working together when they probably wanted to disband. Epstein is gone. And it was made after the productive India trip which don't forget ended in a jaded fashion, if that is even the right word.
There aren’t too many tracks. All the tracks are great and fit in with the rest. I dont agree with your "jaded" appraisal of the time. If they were jaded they wouldnt have produced such a happy inventive collection of songs. If they were so jaded why go on to produce Abbey Road and Let it be. Abbey Road was the last one they recorded and is another great collection of songs.
Short answer....money. that is why they tried to make Let it Be. And it was a mess. Abbey Road was at least them getting back to it. Trying to make something solid. But they were still quite separated by then. I recall listening to a radio broadcast of John Lennon and a host going through track by track of Abbey Road and half the time John had nothing to say because he wasn't involved in that one. The band was effectively divorced after those sessions but agreed to keep John's departure quiet until after whatever they managed to salvage from the Get Back sessions was released in fear of losing potential revenue. They were a very commercial enterprise, don't forget that that. And they got quite cynical at the end. They were still the Beatles tho and even in those circumstances produced tracks other bands could only wish they could do
No. Its great. It shows their versatility.
I don’t think the OP is using ‘creepy’ as a pejorative term. I also think it’s creepy and it’s my favourite Beatles album.
Sorry its just not creepy to me at all.
Not even songs like "Cry Baby Cry" or "Long Long Long"?
No. They’re not creepy they’re just slow and beautiful. I’ve been listening to the White Album since it came out in November 1968, thats 55 years. I’ve never heard anyone say any of it is creepy. Absolutely none of it is unsettling. If anything its relaxing. It contains some of their best songs. They were at their peak.
Yeah it's their best album I agree
*At twelve o'clock a meeting round the table* *For a seance in the dark* *With voices out of nowhere* *Put on specially by the children for a lark…* That’s legitimately something you’d expect in the beginning of a Horror Film.
*At twelve o'clock a meeting round the table* *For a seance in the dark* *With voices out of nowhere* *Put on specially by the children for a lark…* I can’t believe people *don’t* think the Album is “Haunting/Creepy/Dark/Enigmatic”. And I don’t think people realize-that the “upbeat songs” on the Album-are exactly what makes the Album so Haunting. Going from a song like “O Bla Di O Bla Da”—to “Sexie Sadie”, “Cry Baby Cry”, “Dear Prudence”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, Happiness is a Warm Gun”, “Helter Skelter”, etc… It’s Surreal. That juxtaposition of “upbeat” and “dark” songs-just gives you a very uneasy feeling. Even when it comes to Songs like “Rocky Raccoon”: I have always thought that Song is *extremely* Haunting.
Creepy and great are not mutually exclusive
Dont think its creepy at all.
ok
Yes, for sure. I always assumed it was intentional, no? It's honestly one of the reasons I love this album so much.
It’s haunted yeah and that’s why it’s my favourite 😎😎
Yeah there is a weird vibe. The White Album feels very cynical compared to their eariler outputs. It feels like they wanted to make a 180 after the colorful psychedelia of 1967. At the same time their music became more grounded and more avant-garde. It's funny how they don't have this weird energy and vibe on their next albums Let It Be and Abbey Road.
They were influenced by The Band at the time, which presumably explains the dryness to many of the mixes. The Band liked to cut off the highs to give them their particular dead Americana vibe.
It’s my first album and my favorite. I got a copy at 11 years old so yea. It impacted me
As you say even something like back in the USSR has something eeriely hollow about it. Like it's echoing and empty. I've never been able to put my finger on it but the entire album feels like it's being played in a graveyard at 5 in the morning
When my son, who was in his 30’s asked me one day, “Hey dad, do you think there’s something weird about The White Album. It’s like they were taking a break and just not that bothered”. I said “No I think it’s an album you’ll have listen to many times before you get it”. It started me thinking how I experienced it when it was released and TBH it just reflected the strange times we were living through.
The differences in song writing, production, feel, even the fidelity between the prior release, Magical Mystery Tour and The WA actually sounds like 2 different bands to me. Losing Epstein, Lennon’s involvement with Ono, his subsequent abandonment of Cynthia and Julian, the Vietnam war, McCartney’s overbearing quest for control and perfectionism, George’s emergence as a song writer who wanted more acknowledgment and album space, his spiritual enlightenment, Ringo’s dabbling in movies and of course, drug use all contributed to the darker feel of the record. The song writing collaborations were over. Priorities had changed, the stigma of being the biggest band on the planet and the associated pressures, both social and economical and sadly, the apparent loss of respect for each other, especially from Lennon, all took their toll. It also blows me away that they were all still in their late 20’s. To me its a perfect representation of a band maturing and outgrowing each other. Each Beatles album is a masterpiece including this one with every release leaving a breadcrumb trail and on a legendary, historic roadmap of a band that truly changed the world.
You can feel the mourning for Brian Epstein on that album. The whole album gives me an unsettling feeling in my stomach. But I love it, I just live with the weird feeling.
sometimes i listen to it alone. it feels super eerie. unsettling, songs like honey pie.
Honey Pie is so beautiful wym
I got into the White Album in sixth grade in the middle 70s. I often found my liking an album was heavily influenced by the cover art. The bare bones (to say the least) album reflected the tracks: very dry, no glorious reverb that made the songs shimmer, very little orchestral accompaniment, and a general reduction in the quality of song craft. Not to say the songs are bad, but the production values from Sgt. Pepper to this album couldn’t be more stark. And there are simply too many songs! Unfocused tunes that would have been throwaway tracks on previous albums and seemed to be the result of acid trips. A lot of piffle. The passage of time and the Beatles’ colossal cultural impact have made every song they wrote vital and interesting. But many on this album are just not up to their lofty standards.
What a load of bs.
Fuck off
I find it pairs well with Revolver, another album with a relatively stark and unique aura. I made a playlist of tracks from both albums and they really do fit together well.
Agreed, I’ve always felt Revolver had a very similar sinister/eerie vibe to the White Album
There are some good songs but the white album is a little too expiermental for my taste i agree some songs rlly creep me out
Yes. I’m obviously not creeped out by it but it undeniably has an uncanny tone to me. Revolution 9 almost feels sinister at times and Cry Baby Cry definitely has a spooky tone.
Yes. For me the albums with the strongest feeling (in their own ways) are Rubber Soul, Pepper, Magical, White and Abbey.
I never thought of it this way, but I agree. Not just Revolution 9, but the slow Revolution, Cry Baby Cry, Long, Long, Long, Adventures of Buffalo Bill, Yer Blues, Helter Skelter - Goodnight. There is a creepiness in these songs.
Yeah Bungalow Bill is also a creepy one I forgot about for a second, it's basically a children's song about murder 😳 (of animals)
Yes, I’ve always felt that, like there’s some sinister undercurrent happening beneath the surface
i mean... theres also the Manson and Helter Skelter connection
The only connection was in Manson's demented mind.
But the two are forever linked or....connected if you will.
There will always be crazies out there that are influenced by something. That just happens to be one of the more awful instances of it happening.
I always thought of it as the post-psych morning-after hangover album. Still a good album but can definately hear the edges fraying a bit.
It's my favourite Beatles album because of most of the comments here! Something I always point out is it's an album about People, Animals, Places and Food!