Thursday 14 April 2011

12:25 Her Majesty



Reporter: Have you got a leading lady for your movie? 
George: We’re trying to get the Queen. She sells.

I'm all conflicted. I want to skip over this 23 second Paul McCartney vignette but for the sake of completeness AND because I know people who love this little guy here it is.

I don't think this song has much to teach us, but here's my best shot on the pros and cons

Good Points
  • An original angle
 'I'm in love with the Queen of England (I'm sure that's the context rather than any generic queen) but I see her as just a “pretty nice girl” who I'm going to date'. Name me one other song with the same subject and angle. You can't. Boo Yah! Having a totally unique angle (Ticket 42) will pop up again when we look at one of the remaining Abbey Road songs. Can you guess which one?
  • A nice nimble melody
  • The unexpected Bsus2 chord on “love her a lot”



    Bad Points

    • It's one more incomplete song on an album full of incomplete songs
    • Stock jazz chord progression
    • What's with the nasty slide in the 13th bar?
    • Weird effect due to panning and reverb as the track fades in
    • The placing in the running order ruins the effect of 'The End' being The End.

    Next time – The First and the Last Long One song.

    5 comments:

    1. Sorry. I think it's a presumptuous, pretentious and frivolous waste of tape.

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    2. I kind of agree but I was trying to be nice! (It only wasted a little bit of tape)

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    3. You're obviously a better Christian than I am. And you're right; it was only a tiny piece of tape. So, if we're going to rank sins, it was a little one. We love The Beatles, so we'll extend all the grace we can.

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    4. That's right Gary, I'm so holy I even treat small songs with respect!

      Wait till we get to Dig It - then you're gonna see me backslide!

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    5. Utter blasphemy. This "album of incomplete songs" is a symphony, and probably my personal favorite album. I love the chord progression, even though it may be a stock jazz progression he puts a twist on it by fingerpicking it and making it a folk song. I love the slide in it. The weird fade in never bothered me, and i love the lost chord that starts it off. Also, I love that "The End" is NOT the end, and that this happy little simple tune is the afterthought that we're left with after being blown away by an album full of what I consider masterpieces.

      I've always loved this song, and I had to stick up for it. I couldn't just let you hurt it's feelings like that!

      ReplyDelete