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Rating:
The second “Past Masters” is a completely original album. It's really sad to see that some of these masterpieces aren't on the actual albums.
"Day Tripper" was written by Lennon on a bus because EMI needed a single for Christmas 1965. So, a “work song” was needed. And Lennon came up with this one... I've always found it a rewrite of “I Feel Fine,” superior to the original. With lyrics on the same level, today it would be one of Lennon's masterpieces. How great it would have been on “Rubber Soul,” where instead I have to listen to “Run for Your Life.”
“We Can Work It Out” is, as Scaruffi says, “one of the Beatles' melodic masterpieces.” The lyrics aren’t bad either; it simply says not to give up when you're tempted to throw everything away. A nice song, but I've never listened to it much because of the overly sweet melodic variations, which aren't quite my taste. I love beautiful melodies, but let's not overdo it.
"Paperback Writer" is an excellent track with a beautiful bassline, but it surely didn't deserve the A-side of a single that included “Rain.”
“Rain” is, as John Robertson says, a “milestone in modern musical history, because of the use of backward tapes.” I find it amusing when people insist that the Beatles didn't invent anything new at all. The hypnotic guitar is splendid, and the “backwards crashes,” Ringo is excellent (“my best performance”), and Paul is spectacular on the bass. Lennon, in the 70s, said that Paul sabotaged his songs out of envy: certainly not on this song. The lyrics are truly ridiculous: with everything that Lennon could (and was especially capable of) saying, he wrote a song about those affected by weather changes.
"The Inner Light" by Harrison was released as the B-side of the relatively ordinary "Lady Madonna." I've never understood that horse-hoof clopping percussion. When George's singing begins, with the organ in the background, we're faced with one of the Beatles' masterpieces. The lyrics, taken from the Tao, are truly magnificent: “Sometimes the more you look, the less you see; sometimes the more you read, the less you know.” What a shame not to see it on the “White” album.
“Revolution” is indeed a great piece, a rock track with wonderful piano work during the guitar solo, much better than the bland version on the “White” album. I really like the lyrics, a masterpiece of irony against the Maoist radicals, “who wanted to change the world” and who began to pop up all over Europe around that time. The other Beatles begged him not to release it. Lennon, of course, didn’t listen to his friends' advice. Needless to say, he was heavily insulted by the far-left public and press, who accused the song of being a “bourgeois cry of fear.” Ironically, John, in the 70s, became a Maoist. Fortunately, by the mid-70s, he came to his senses.
"Don’t Let Me Down" is another gem by John. One of the most intense and sincere love songs he wrote. Simple and brilliant, in both music and lyrics. Lennon declares his love for Yoko: “No one's ever loved me like she has... I'm in love for the first time... it's a love that has no past (believe me)... She's loved me from the first moment,” leading to the sad final admission: “I don't believe I've ever been truly loved.” What more could you ask of a love song? Like it or not, Lennon wasn’t one to hide, and I like that about him. Sheer madness not to include it on “Let It Be,” where we're forced to listen to “1 After 909.” Fortunately, more than 30 years later, in the “Naked” version, the remaining Beatles corrected the mistake. Better late than never.
"The Ballad of John and Yoko" is a very successful track by John, in my opinion. The music is functional to excellent lyrics, which talk about his marriage to Yoko Ono and the insults the press hurled at him for his “bed-ins for peace.”
"Old Brown Shoe" is an enjoyable song by Harrison, with elaborate lyrics built on opposites.
I conclude with “Hey Jude.” In this song, Paul tries to comfort John's son, little Julian (here called “Jude” for metric reasons) for the suffering he was going through because his father decided to live with Yoko Ono.
And he comforts him like this:
“Hey Jude, don't take it bad,
Take a sad song and make it better,
Let it into your heart, and you can make it better.
Hey Jude, don't be afraid,
You are capable of going out and getting it.
Let it in under your skin, and begin to make it better.
And every time you feel pain, calm down
Don't carry the world on your shoulders.
Go get the song,
Let it into your heart and make it better.
Hey Jude, start,
Are you waiting for someone to sing it?
But don't you know that it's you?
Hey Jude, you can do it.
The movement you need is on your shoulder" The last sentence doesn't make sense. Paul wrote it while waiting to find a better one. But Lennon, when he heard it, told him to keep it because to him it meant “believe in yourself.” Paul left it in and today it's the best nonsense in Beatles lyrics.
What to say about this piece? Lennon was always angry when his best tracks (like “Rain”) were placed as B-sides to Paul's inferior pieces. Instead, he was happy to see “Revolution” as the B-side to “Hey Jude”: “it deserved it, because it was a masterpiece – the biggest song ever written by Paul." Lennon never used the word “masterpiece” for a Paul song again. As far as I'm concerned: the most moving song (not just emotional) I've ever heard.
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