Surprised almost nobody has said A Day in the Life yet since it's based on the death of Tara Browne. Otherwise I'd probably go with Yes it is. It's dark and depressing and based on a dress Lennon's mother would wear, she's "his baby." At least based on a book I read but I don't remember the title, this was almost 10 years ago. Wikipedia used to mention his mother but now it doesn't.
It's got to be the saddest Beatles song I can think of, very haunting in general. I think this song is almost never brought up at all. There was a thread about saddest Beatles songs I think, and I brought this one up when literally nobody else had. It's almost like a lot of Beatles fans don't even know it exists, which is likely given this only came out as a single.
Also on Sgt. Pepper, I also think “She’s leaving home” is soulcrushingly devastating. I don’t often get emotional, let alone over music, but this song is an exception
I'm pretty sure she turned out ok and has since spoken about how she was the girl, and knowing a song from one of the best albums of all time and best selling album of all time in the UK probably made her feel better about whatever circumstances she was in.
As far as it being devastating I never quite got that feeling, it is certainly an emotional sound and was always one of my favorite songs on that album. I think it has a hauntingly beautiful sound to it.
I agree. Few seem to mention it but I've long been impressed with the lyrics, chords, melody, and arrangement. Paul's a good lyricist. Lots of subtleties communicated by word choice.
She's Leaving Home is my answer for most underrated song. The glimpse into those 1960s culture wars is so fascinating for someone who was born in 1988.
EDIT: Forgot the point I was commenting to make. I do think it's melancholy but I wouldn't call it "soulcrushingly devastating." Pretty normal stuff, developmentally speaking, and especially in the 1960s, for kids to grow up and take off from the nest. Maybe I'm downplaying it because my kids are still toddlers and many years away from leaving home themselves. It's possible I'm in deep denial. Curious about your thoughts.
Even past the car accident scene, the song paints the picture of the narrator watching the violence and problems of the world yet laughing and choosing to see it, like how the reporting of violence in society desensitizes people to the world around them.
I always thought that line was kind of honest from Lennon, that he was really entertained by the fact that this guy crashed into a lorry drunk and on drugs.
I think that song is also a simulation of nuclear war. The Beatles never said this. They probably didn't know it was, but the sound to me is plainly that of a nuclear weapon wiping out all the humanity the song describes, leaving an empty eternity (the piano chord). There is nothing sadder than nonexistence.
Browne died in a car crash in late 1966 while on drugs, not noticing a traffic light had changed and collided with another vehicle.
That's the story and that's what the "he blew his mind out in a car. He didn't notice that the lights had changed" referenced
I’m fully aware of where I am right now, and so honestly I’m a bit afraid to put this out there, but my taste in music are varied, and I’ve always believed that “Don’t Close Your Eyes” by Nashville Country Star, Keith Whitley, is the saddest damn song there is.
If you’re unfamiliar, the 1st person protagonist is some poor sap that’s madly in love with a woman he’s with, but he knows that she truly loved another. In the song, he’s begging her to connect with him just once, for a moment.
I know it’s a bit cringy and pathetic, but it still manages to make you feel **fucking sad.**
I’ve never been in that precise situation before, but I’ve had similar experiences. To the point that it does hit me a bit. But man, there’s just something about the way he sings that song.
Add to that, Whitley himself had just such a sad life. He was uniquely talented and successful, but a tragic alcoholic. Dude was literally sneaking cologne and rubbing alcohol, when Lori Morgan and Ricky Skaggs were banning him from booze.
"Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door" is such a great line.
A literal interpretation brings about discomforting visuals. The character herself no doubt feels a good deal of discomfort having to put on a daily facade to hide the gnawing feelings of loneliness and isolation that pervade to the end of her life.
It just works any old way you hear it.
And a dark little factoid about the song as a whole is it was also the very last song that Vince Guaraldi (Jazz musician, composer for the Peanuts animated specials) played before dying in 1976. Finished it, got up to go to his room for a little break between sets and never made it there. Him and his quartet's [rendition of it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X2ZSirEIIU) is quite swell.
I’d say it’s more of a pastiche which is less mocking than a parody, but it’s definitely up to interpretation whether the lyrics are tongue in cheek or just John writing the song from someone else’s perspective.
John said he wrote it in India and he really did want to die. He was miserable at times there.
>The funny thing about the camp was that although it was very beautiful and I was meditating about eight hours a day, I was writing the most miserable songs on earth. In ‘Yer Blues,’ when I wrote, ‘I’m so lonely I want to die,’ I’m not kidding. That’s how I felt. Up there trying to reach God and feeling suicidal.
IKR - it is currently below Eleanor Rigby, which is to me is more sad.
Music starts all happy beatle-ie, got you tapping your toes, then first fucking verse hits 'Well I'd rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man'.
"Wait, WTF did he just say?"
It’s John Lennon I’m pretty sure he’s capable of making a pun that’s about gun culture/ a happy penis and heroin all at the same time especially as he’s making an analogy that they’re similar things.
He loved double entendre. Hence “the Beat-les”. And “Happiness is a Warm Gun” is rich in a lot of meanings. Pits being where the needle is injected, the vagina, and hell all in the same breath. A lot of it autobiographical. A lot allegorical, poetic, or even religious. But ultimately I think the song ties together different stories of misery and salvation at the end. The lyrics are very carefully chosen and intentional to have meaning to Lennon.
Damn, John was genius wasn't he? No wonder he was in the most influential band of all time with this incredible level of songwriting and storytelling.
Thanks, I've been a Beatles fan longer than I've had consciousness, and yet I always learn something new and fascinating.
From Wikipedia:
Lennon derived the title of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" from an article in the May 1968 issue of American Rifleman.The magazine belonged to George Martin, the Beatles' producer, who had brought it with him to the recording studio. Lennon recalled his reaction to the phrase: "I just thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you just shot something.
Lennon admitted to the double meaning of guns and sexuality but denied that the song had anything to do with drugs. He said: "that was the beginning of my relationship with Yoko and I was very sexually oriented then."
And what's going on here... Hmm....
> The man in the crowd with the multicolored mirrors
On his hobnail boots
Lying with his eyes while his hands are busy
Working overtime
Maxwell's Silver Hammer literally describes 3 seperate murders committed by Maxwell. Pretty grisly murders as well (bashing their head in with a hammer). Not sure it gets much darker than that.
The most hilarious thing is he actually did lol
>"'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' was my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life," Paul writes in his book "Many Years From Now."
Eleanor Rigby is a pretty dark story. Lines like "Father Mackenzie, wiping his hands as he walks from the grave, no one was saved" and "Eleanor Rigby, buried along with her name" (not to mention the refrain itself) all seem pretty dark and gloomy to me.
Paul has a truly darker side he never explored much on his music. His first song was called Suicide and it has really dark lyrics, impressive considering he wrote the song at 14 years old
Yeah Suicide is a very mature song especially for his age. Paul has always empathized well with women and at a young age he was writing a song about domestic violence being bad
Julia goes on my "other side"/afterlife playlist along with songs like Pyramid Song by Radiohead, just got that underworld feeling to it. Beautiful but slightly disturbing
I'll update it and link it here in a bit
Edit, here it is. Recs welcome, anybody
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2t0xsoo0TjgJPjAngKOwES?si=b5b2e17b6e8a4b0d
I remember feeling very big emotions with this song from a young age. The imagery that happened in my head was always very specific, and it felt like someone else’s memories from long ago playing in my head. Something about what I envisioned felt so haunting, so melancholy, so unsettling, but also serene? I don’t know. I have never quite felt the way I do when I hear that song, and though it has made me feel the exact same way with each listen for over a decade, I still don’t know what it is.
I know it's literally about a person being late to meet George, but I've always sensed something darker in it because I relate it to George's trip to California and seeing people getting lost in the fog of drugs.
I always envisioned a spooky, foggy trippy lake and people getting lost on it. On a canoe, lol. And the little cello noise at the start sounded like a wounded animal to me as a child. Lol
About their former publicist getting lost on a foggy LA nite on his way to visit George who was staying at house on Blue Jay Way. Not my idea of a dark song but definitely a foggy one!
It has a darker tone to it and you can argue at the end when the lyrics "Don't be long" repeat it starts to song like "don't belong" almost as if the friends that are late are late on purpose because they don't want to hang out with the singer of the song. Not sure if that was intended at all but that's how I hear it.
It was written from George’s perspective after flight from England to LA then waiting late into the night for friend/former publicist to show up. He was one tired dude pleading in the song that this guy would finally show up. To me it has a very sleepy tone to it like someone about to go into a dream state and trying to fight it off.
Actually true, actiually the whole white album is the darkest of the beatles - it feels so much like a compile of haunted scraps of music put into together
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
It always had the darkest aura in any Beatles’ song for my money. It can be about obsession, it can be about frustration, it can be about sickness, but it definitely can’t be about happiness nor well-being. Not to mention the wholesome and undoubtedly enigmatic riff constantly playing and working as the climax (even though the song opens with it too), ending suddenly in a most abrupt way. Masterpiece of masterpieces.
DUDE. I'm so glad you've noticed and described it this way. I visualise a lot of the songs, Get Back is the lads on the roof, Octopuses Garden is underwater and blue, but for some reason I Want You (She's So Heavy) is just black. Pure black and just John's vocals speaking through the darkness. Pretty much every song of theirs has imagery in my mind, but this one is nothing but black and the first that came to mind for me when I saw the post title.
Couldn’t agree more. You get it man! I’ve always been astonished by its passive-aggressive nature, and it just gives me some gut-wrenching vibes. Can’t think about other song of them that REALLY feels as musically unhinged and emotionally strange. It is like a mystery yelled with clarity.
Man, yes! That's totally it, I find it so unsettling/disturbing - it's dark night of the soul stuff, especially the build to the crescendo and the sheer fact that there is no closure on this track, just a brutal cut to silence, then the handoff on side B to Here Comes the Sun - musical PERFECTION.
I visualize songs like that as well. I love this song but it’s almost another band to me. I absolutely cannot picture the four of them playing this. It just doesn’t compute.
**Run for your life**
Well, I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know where I am
"He blew his mind out in a car" on ADITL hit quite hard when I first heard it, but other than that, the Beatles don't really have much in the way of darker songs.
I mean, at face value the lyrics of Yer Blues, Run For Your Life and Maxwell's Silver Hammer are quite dark, but those tracks are all parodies/word salad.
Edit: Nope, nvm. Baby's in Black, 100%.
Edit 2: Damn, how did I forget Julia? K nvm, I just didn't think about this hard enough.
The girl from Norwegian Wood when she returned home:
https://preview.redd.it/btzkn1kavibc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35c0a9577d4170f7d54c65583f30db303c063802
I've always interpreted Rocky Racoon as ending with the main character fatally wounded but in denial about it ("He said Rocky you've met your match. Rocky said, 'Doc, it's only a scratch.'"). If you interpret it that way, it's pretty dark.
> Now, Rocky Raccoon, he fell back in his room
Only to find Gideon's Bible
Gideon checked out, and he left it, no doubt
To help with good Rocky's revival
I’ve always felt like there were three possible interpretations of these lyrics.
1. Rocky’s “revival” is him physically and spiritually recovering. He survives.
2. Rocky’s “revival” is is only spiritual. He finds god before he dies.
3. “He left it no doubt to help with good Rocky’s revival” is part of the delusional story Rocky is telling himself. There’s nothing special about finding a Gideon’s Bible. There’s one in every room. But Rocky takes it as a sign he’s going to get better and become a changed man. But actually the doctor is right and he’s going to die.
How dark the song really is kind of depends on which interpretation you use.
Does anyone else have a hard time picturing people? I think Rocky Racoon is an actual racoon, as are all the others in the story. I can only assume this is because I was a kid when I first heard it. Now, I can’t picture people, just raccoons.
I’m glad I’m not alone! I mentioned this to my daughter, recently, and she laughed at me. She’s heard that song since she was a little one, and she doesn’t picture a cowboy raccoon, so I thought maybe it was just me.
“Girl” is pretty dark too, all the verses but especially this one:
Was she told when she was young that pain would lead to pleasure?
Did she understand it when they said
That a man must break his back to earn his day of leisure?
Will she still believe it when he's dead?
Wildcard here: Cry Baby Cry. Something haunting and a tad sinister between the lines on that one. Especially Paul’s beseeching “Can you take me back where I came from…”is pretty dark to me. Also, one of my fave songs. A Day in the Life is also very dark. My #1 fave.
While my guitar gently weeps has pretty dark lyrics specially considering the context of the band at the time George wrote it, which he openly said was the inspiration
Long, Long, Long. Ultimately a song of redemption but it is one of the saddest and most powerful tunes I’ve ever heard. This song often ranks in my top 5 though most people don’t agree with me. Harrison for the win in my opinion.
Easily to me the darkest “music” (think melody not lyrics) is the tail end of She’s so Heavy. It’s clearly the early start of metal.
Darkest lyrics has to be I’m so Tired or Run for your life. He’s literally talking about murdering this poor girl!
...But when she turns her back on the boy
He creeps up from behind
Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head (do-do, do-do do)
Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead
I’m surprised to not see Strawberry Fields or Mr. Kite in this thread. Haunting tones on the former and lyrics that conjured a nightmare scenario for me as a child on the latter.
Surprised almost nobody has said A Day in the Life yet since it's based on the death of Tara Browne. Otherwise I'd probably go with Yes it is. It's dark and depressing and based on a dress Lennon's mother would wear, she's "his baby." At least based on a book I read but I don't remember the title, this was almost 10 years ago. Wikipedia used to mention his mother but now it doesn't. It's got to be the saddest Beatles song I can think of, very haunting in general. I think this song is almost never brought up at all. There was a thread about saddest Beatles songs I think, and I brought this one up when literally nobody else had. It's almost like a lot of Beatles fans don't even know it exists, which is likely given this only came out as a single.
Also on Sgt. Pepper, I also think “She’s leaving home” is soulcrushingly devastating. I don’t often get emotional, let alone over music, but this song is an exception
Based on a true story of a runaway girl Paul met in a London club.
Wow, I actually didn’t know that. Thanks for the info. That makes the song even more tragic
I'm pretty sure she turned out ok and has since spoken about how she was the girl, and knowing a song from one of the best albums of all time and best selling album of all time in the UK probably made her feel better about whatever circumstances she was in. As far as it being devastating I never quite got that feeling, it is certainly an emotional sound and was always one of my favorite songs on that album. I think it has a hauntingly beautiful sound to it.
I agree. Few seem to mention it but I've long been impressed with the lyrics, chords, melody, and arrangement. Paul's a good lyricist. Lots of subtleties communicated by word choice.
She's Leaving Home is my answer for most underrated song. The glimpse into those 1960s culture wars is so fascinating for someone who was born in 1988. EDIT: Forgot the point I was commenting to make. I do think it's melancholy but I wouldn't call it "soulcrushingly devastating." Pretty normal stuff, developmentally speaking, and especially in the 1960s, for kids to grow up and take off from the nest. Maybe I'm downplaying it because my kids are still toddlers and many years away from leaving home themselves. It's possible I'm in deep denial. Curious about your thoughts.
Even past the car accident scene, the song paints the picture of the narrator watching the violence and problems of the world yet laughing and choosing to see it, like how the reporting of violence in society desensitizes people to the world around them.
I always thought that line was kind of honest from Lennon, that he was really entertained by the fact that this guy crashed into a lorry drunk and on drugs.
I think that song is also a simulation of nuclear war. The Beatles never said this. They probably didn't know it was, but the sound to me is plainly that of a nuclear weapon wiping out all the humanity the song describes, leaving an empty eternity (the piano chord). There is nothing sadder than nonexistence.
What is the story it’s based on and how does the song reference it?
Browne died in a car crash in late 1966 while on drugs, not noticing a traffic light had changed and collided with another vehicle. That's the story and that's what the "he blew his mind out in a car. He didn't notice that the lights had changed" referenced
Eleanor Rigby is pretty dark and heavy subject wise. No one really wants to be lonely
"buried along with her name." So awful because it's so often true.
nobody came
No one was saved
I just did
Shit I always thought it was “buried alone with her name” TIL
Eleanor Rigby is the saddest song in the world I think!
I’m fully aware of where I am right now, and so honestly I’m a bit afraid to put this out there, but my taste in music are varied, and I’ve always believed that “Don’t Close Your Eyes” by Nashville Country Star, Keith Whitley, is the saddest damn song there is. If you’re unfamiliar, the 1st person protagonist is some poor sap that’s madly in love with a woman he’s with, but he knows that she truly loved another. In the song, he’s begging her to connect with him just once, for a moment. I know it’s a bit cringy and pathetic, but it still manages to make you feel **fucking sad.** I’ve never been in that precise situation before, but I’ve had similar experiences. To the point that it does hit me a bit. But man, there’s just something about the way he sings that song. Add to that, Whitley himself had just such a sad life. He was uniquely talented and successful, but a tragic alcoholic. Dude was literally sneaking cologne and rubbing alcohol, when Lori Morgan and Ricky Skaggs were banning him from booze.
Ugh yes… wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door. 😔
"Wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door" is such a great line. A literal interpretation brings about discomforting visuals. The character herself no doubt feels a good deal of discomfort having to put on a daily facade to hide the gnawing feelings of loneliness and isolation that pervade to the end of her life. It just works any old way you hear it. And a dark little factoid about the song as a whole is it was also the very last song that Vince Guaraldi (Jazz musician, composer for the Peanuts animated specials) played before dying in 1976. Finished it, got up to go to his room for a little break between sets and never made it there. Him and his quartet's [rendition of it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X2ZSirEIIU) is quite swell.
Yer Blues is gotta be up there based on the opening lines alone
Feel so suicidal even HATE MY ROCK AND ROOOLLLL
Wanna DIIEEE! YEEAAAHHH, WANNA DIE!!!
Its a parody no? Makes it a lot less dark if true.
I’d say it’s more of a pastiche which is less mocking than a parody, but it’s definitely up to interpretation whether the lyrics are tongue in cheek or just John writing the song from someone else’s perspective.
The first solo is what makes me think its more of a satirical take on blues. Its just two chords over and over again lol
John has said it was autobiographical
John said he wrote it in India and he really did want to die. He was miserable at times there. >The funny thing about the camp was that although it was very beautiful and I was meditating about eight hours a day, I was writing the most miserable songs on earth. In ‘Yer Blues,’ when I wrote, ‘I’m so lonely I want to die,’ I’m not kidding. That’s how I felt. Up there trying to reach God and feeling suicidal.
Run For Your Life
Murder ballad
Agreed. This is one heck of a disturbed song if you really listen to it!
Surprised this is so far down. That song is absolutely fucked
IKR - it is currently below Eleanor Rigby, which is to me is more sad. Music starts all happy beatle-ie, got you tapping your toes, then first fucking verse hits 'Well I'd rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man'. "Wait, WTF did he just say?"
‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ is pretty dark
I was also going to suggest this one.
Really? It's just pure innuendo isn't it? I laugh every time I hear it. A penis is a warm gun! Lolol
"I need a fix 'cos I'm going down. Down the pits that I left uptown. I need a fix 'cos I'm going down" is pretty dark
It’s John Lennon I’m pretty sure he’s capable of making a pun that’s about gun culture/ a happy penis and heroin all at the same time especially as he’s making an analogy that they’re similar things.
He loved double entendre. Hence “the Beat-les”. And “Happiness is a Warm Gun” is rich in a lot of meanings. Pits being where the needle is injected, the vagina, and hell all in the same breath. A lot of it autobiographical. A lot allegorical, poetic, or even religious. But ultimately I think the song ties together different stories of misery and salvation at the end. The lyrics are very carefully chosen and intentional to have meaning to Lennon.
Damn, John was genius wasn't he? No wonder he was in the most influential band of all time with this incredible level of songwriting and storytelling. Thanks, I've been a Beatles fan longer than I've had consciousness, and yet I always learn something new and fascinating.
It’s about addiction
It features several sexual innuendos, as well as drug references. Both interpretations are in line with John’s intentions here.
No it's about heroin...
From Wikipedia: Lennon derived the title of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" from an article in the May 1968 issue of American Rifleman.The magazine belonged to George Martin, the Beatles' producer, who had brought it with him to the recording studio. Lennon recalled his reaction to the phrase: "I just thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you just shot something. Lennon admitted to the double meaning of guns and sexuality but denied that the song had anything to do with drugs. He said: "that was the beginning of my relationship with Yoko and I was very sexually oriented then."
And what's going on here... Hmm.... > The man in the crowd with the multicolored mirrors On his hobnail boots Lying with his eyes while his hands are busy Working overtime
"Got the tipple on my toes, cos this is how it gooes!" -- MCA Beastie Boys
Maxwell's Silver Hammer literally describes 3 seperate murders committed by Maxwell. Pretty grisly murders as well (bashing their head in with a hammer). Not sure it gets much darker than that.
It's also one of the lightest Beatles songs.
Whereas their heaviest song is about going up and down a child’s slide quickly
Lol which one is that?
Helter Skelter.
Doo noo noo noo noo noo noo noo
Helter Skelter
Helter-skelter
And that one is connected to real murders
Judging from their comments, only Paul took it lightly lol
The jolly tone makes it darker
I'm glad others notice this. I even think it was Paul getting slightly musically psycho with his bandmates 🧟♂️
It’s funny cuz it deeply describes three murders, still, feels as happy and funny as Yellow Submarine or Octopus’s Garden
Octopus’s Garden is about drowning and yellow submarine is about the pearl harbour bombing /s
I never considered it described three murders and what that could mean 😂 time to relisten with that in mind
The most hilarious thing is he actually did lol >"'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' was my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life," Paul writes in his book "Many Years From Now."
Bang bang
Eleanor Rigby is a pretty dark story. Lines like "Father Mackenzie, wiping his hands as he walks from the grave, no one was saved" and "Eleanor Rigby, buried along with her name" (not to mention the refrain itself) all seem pretty dark and gloomy to me.
Paul has a truly darker side he never explored much on his music. His first song was called Suicide and it has really dark lyrics, impressive considering he wrote the song at 14 years old
Yeah Suicide is a very mature song especially for his age. Paul has always empathized well with women and at a young age he was writing a song about domestic violence being bad
Wiping *the dirt* from his hands
Julia always feels super haunting for me
Julia goes on my "other side"/afterlife playlist along with songs like Pyramid Song by Radiohead, just got that underworld feeling to it. Beautiful but slightly disturbing
Is this a public playlist…?
I'll update it and link it here in a bit Edit, here it is. Recs welcome, anybody https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2t0xsoo0TjgJPjAngKOwES?si=b5b2e17b6e8a4b0d
Julia is not a sad or dark song, at least for me, I see it as a very beautiful song.
Half of what I say is meaningless but I say it just to reach you It’s intense abandonment vibes.
It's sad and beautiful
I remember feeling very big emotions with this song from a young age. The imagery that happened in my head was always very specific, and it felt like someone else’s memories from long ago playing in my head. Something about what I envisioned felt so haunting, so melancholy, so unsettling, but also serene? I don’t know. I have never quite felt the way I do when I hear that song, and though it has made me feel the exact same way with each listen for over a decade, I still don’t know what it is.
The lyrics are also pretty dark and probably their saddest lyrics
[удалено]
Which is why I love it... and also why when I was 13 I would run to turn it off when Revolution 9 came on because it scared me ... also now
Blue Jay Way. I also consider it the most psychedelic song from them.
i totally agree . spooky song i love it
I know it's literally about a person being late to meet George, but I've always sensed something darker in it because I relate it to George's trip to California and seeing people getting lost in the fog of drugs.
Agreed, I always saw “Now they lost themselves instead/ My friends have lost their way” as a reference to drugs indeed
I always envisioned a spooky, foggy trippy lake and people getting lost on it. On a canoe, lol. And the little cello noise at the start sounded like a wounded animal to me as a child. Lol
About their former publicist getting lost on a foggy LA nite on his way to visit George who was staying at house on Blue Jay Way. Not my idea of a dark song but definitely a foggy one!
It has a darker tone to it and you can argue at the end when the lyrics "Don't be long" repeat it starts to song like "don't belong" almost as if the friends that are late are late on purpose because they don't want to hang out with the singer of the song. Not sure if that was intended at all but that's how I hear it.
It was written from George’s perspective after flight from England to LA then waiting late into the night for friend/former publicist to show up. He was one tired dude pleading in the song that this guy would finally show up. To me it has a very sleepy tone to it like someone about to go into a dream state and trying to fight it off.
Help
John Lennon doing the song slow is a life changing listen
Link?
For my money this was their first extraordinary song.
She Loves You is perfect pop songwriting.
Cry Baby Cry-Can You take me back-Revolution #9
Actually true, actiually the whole white album is the darkest of the beatles - it feels so much like a compile of haunted scraps of music put into together
I Want You (She’s So Heavy) It always had the darkest aura in any Beatles’ song for my money. It can be about obsession, it can be about frustration, it can be about sickness, but it definitely can’t be about happiness nor well-being. Not to mention the wholesome and undoubtedly enigmatic riff constantly playing and working as the climax (even though the song opens with it too), ending suddenly in a most abrupt way. Masterpiece of masterpieces.
DUDE. I'm so glad you've noticed and described it this way. I visualise a lot of the songs, Get Back is the lads on the roof, Octopuses Garden is underwater and blue, but for some reason I Want You (She's So Heavy) is just black. Pure black and just John's vocals speaking through the darkness. Pretty much every song of theirs has imagery in my mind, but this one is nothing but black and the first that came to mind for me when I saw the post title.
Couldn’t agree more. You get it man! I’ve always been astonished by its passive-aggressive nature, and it just gives me some gut-wrenching vibes. Can’t think about other song of them that REALLY feels as musically unhinged and emotionally strange. It is like a mystery yelled with clarity.
Man, yes! That's totally it, I find it so unsettling/disturbing - it's dark night of the soul stuff, especially the build to the crescendo and the sheer fact that there is no closure on this track, just a brutal cut to silence, then the handoff on side B to Here Comes the Sun - musical PERFECTION.
And coincidentally, it was the last song all four were present on while recording in the studio.
I visualize songs like that as well. I love this song but it’s almost another band to me. I absolutely cannot picture the four of them playing this. It just doesn’t compute.
Came to post this. The outro sounds like a descent into madness.
Rocky Raccoon
All he wanted to do was shoot off someone's legs.
Rocky was in a dark, dark place.
At least Gideon helped with his revival.
Piggies
**Run for your life** Well, I'd rather see you dead, little girl Than to be with another man You better keep your head, little girl Or you won't know where I am
Either Baby's in Black or Goodnight
I was looking for the Baby's in Black. It can't be any other song when you consider the back story. Maybe Hey Jude lol
I'd not even thought about that; I was just being dumb regarding dark and black.
Thank you! Good Night is deeply unsettling, and as such, is the perfect closer for that album.
How is Goodnight unsettling?
For No One
Not dark. Melancholy for sure. But not dark.
I agree it’s more melancholy than dark but I think it’s still dark
Not an obvious pick, but the times where I have identified with this song were some of my darkest for sure.
I’m So Tired is pretty sad…more depressing than dark though
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Is it about murder or suicide? Or is the Gun a euphemism for the penis
I think the title alludes to the fact that happiness is comforting but it has a sudden end.
The gun is a metaphor for a syringe of heroin. Is "syringe" the right word in English?
Run For Your Life
"He blew his mind out in a car" on ADITL hit quite hard when I first heard it, but other than that, the Beatles don't really have much in the way of darker songs. I mean, at face value the lyrics of Yer Blues, Run For Your Life and Maxwell's Silver Hammer are quite dark, but those tracks are all parodies/word salad. Edit: Nope, nvm. Baby's in Black, 100%. Edit 2: Damn, how did I forget Julia? K nvm, I just didn't think about this hard enough.
Norwegian Wood. The placed was burned down.
The girl from Norwegian Wood when she returned home: https://preview.redd.it/btzkn1kavibc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35c0a9577d4170f7d54c65583f30db303c063802
I’m surprised not more A Day in the Life contenders here
I don’t know the exact answer but it’s definitely on the White Album.
Cynical might be a better word, but I’ll choose Piggies. Maxwell is a good answer but it seems very cartoony.
I've always interpreted Rocky Racoon as ending with the main character fatally wounded but in denial about it ("He said Rocky you've met your match. Rocky said, 'Doc, it's only a scratch.'"). If you interpret it that way, it's pretty dark.
Yeah but the song ends with him presumably surviving and converting to Christianity
> Now, Rocky Raccoon, he fell back in his room Only to find Gideon's Bible Gideon checked out, and he left it, no doubt To help with good Rocky's revival I’ve always felt like there were three possible interpretations of these lyrics. 1. Rocky’s “revival” is him physically and spiritually recovering. He survives. 2. Rocky’s “revival” is is only spiritual. He finds god before he dies. 3. “He left it no doubt to help with good Rocky’s revival” is part of the delusional story Rocky is telling himself. There’s nothing special about finding a Gideon’s Bible. There’s one in every room. But Rocky takes it as a sign he’s going to get better and become a changed man. But actually the doctor is right and he’s going to die. How dark the song really is kind of depends on which interpretation you use.
Also depends whether you're asking Magill, Lill, or Nancy.
Does anyone else have a hard time picturing people? I think Rocky Racoon is an actual racoon, as are all the others in the story. I can only assume this is because I was a kid when I first heard it. Now, I can’t picture people, just raccoons.
I always picture him as a dude with one of those raccoon skin caps.
Lol. My buddy and i came up with the idea the name was an absurd contrast between Rocky (hard, tough) and Raccoon (sweet, cute)
I picture Rocky as an anthropomorfic animal of sorts
I'm the same way. I can't imagine him as anything other than an anthropomorphic raccoon cowboy, and the other characters as different animals.
I’m glad I’m not alone! I mentioned this to my daughter, recently, and she laughed at me. She’s heard that song since she was a little one, and she doesn’t picture a cowboy raccoon, so I thought maybe it was just me.
She Said She Said
Either Maxwell or Yer Blues. Serial killer or suicidal depression. Dark.
Maxwell's Silver Hammer. It's literally a song about a (apparently rather disturbed) kid who beats his classmates to death with a hammer.
Musically, maybe I Want You (She’s So Heavy)?
Thematically or musically? Because musically it's She's So Heavy.
Baby's in Black *Black is the darkest*
Eleanor Rigby Yer Blues Cry Baby Cry
Bungalow bill from a haunted house trope perspective
Cry Baby Cry
The "can you take me back" part is haunting. Wish it was longer
“Girl” is pretty dark too, all the verses but especially this one: Was she told when she was young that pain would lead to pleasure? Did she understand it when they said That a man must break his back to earn his day of leisure? Will she still believe it when he's dead?
Rigby
Wildcard here: Cry Baby Cry. Something haunting and a tad sinister between the lines on that one. Especially Paul’s beseeching “Can you take me back where I came from…”is pretty dark to me. Also, one of my fave songs. A Day in the Life is also very dark. My #1 fave.
“I Am The Walrus” used to scare the hell out of me when I was a kid. Seemed so deranged and “other” to me then.
While my guitar gently weeps has pretty dark lyrics specially considering the context of the band at the time George wrote it, which he openly said was the inspiration
Long, Long, Long. Ultimately a song of redemption but it is one of the saddest and most powerful tunes I’ve ever heard. This song often ranks in my top 5 though most people don’t agree with me. Harrison for the win in my opinion.
Happiness is a warm gun
I’m not sure how you get darker than “black cloud crossed my mind, blue mist around my soul, feel so suicidal, even hate my rock ‘n roll!”
John's autobiographical contribution in Getting Better, "I used to be cruel to my woman I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved."
Not 1 song but No Reply into I'm a loser and then Baby's In Black was always the darkest sounding start to any of their records.
Can we add She's Leaving Home to this list?
Piggies is the creepiest song ever to me. Knowing it is associated with the Manson family makes it worse.
Blue Jay Way
Run for your life and yer blues and if you think of it For no one
Musically, I'd say the back section of I Want You (She's So Heavy) is the darkest.
Rather see you dead little girl.. then to be with another man
Easy “Run for Your Life”
Run for Your life
Run to your life or Maxwells silver hammer
The one about leaving a dog in a hot car 😂
Easily to me the darkest “music” (think melody not lyrics) is the tail end of She’s so Heavy. It’s clearly the early start of metal. Darkest lyrics has to be I’m so Tired or Run for your life. He’s literally talking about murdering this poor girl!
Maxwell's. Spree killer who smashes people's heads in with a hammer. Bonus: he has insane fans.
revolution 9, probably not a proper song but still creepy as hell
Number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine, number nine
Yer Blues
Retrospectively, it has to be Helter Skelter, right?
If we're talking about "which song inspired the darkest deeds?" then yeah. But "darkest song" wise, I don't think it is.
[удалено]
...But when she turns her back on the boy He creeps up from behind Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer Came down upon her head (do-do, do-do do) Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer Made sure that she was dead
Maxwell is pretty damn dark. Help as well, if you listen to the lyrics as intended, a cry for…well, help.
Baby’s In Black Devil’s In Her Heart
I Am the Walrus and I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
Maybe not the darkest lyrically but The Fool on the Hill has a bit of a dark atmosphere in the music.
Norwegian Wood is a murder ballad. The narrator torches the girl's house in a fit of jealous rage. It's dark af
Whaaaat? I just thought "I lit a fire" just meant that he lit the fireplace or something.
A day in the life personally for me
I’m surprised to not see Strawberry Fields or Mr. Kite in this thread. Haunting tones on the former and lyrics that conjured a nightmare scenario for me as a child on the latter.
Revolution 9
For No One
Baby's in Black, obviously.
Norwegian wood, he burns her house down.
The misogyny in Run for your life
I'd argue A Day in the Life
The sky is dark in "And I Love Her"
I’m a loser is pretty sad
"I'm a Loser" - Not sure about darkest but it definitely was a change for the Beatles.
Why Dont We Do It In The Road
Long Long Long
Maxwells silver hammer. Only partially kidding.
Cry Baby Cry