The Beatles (White Album) Post Index

I'm almost finished with the White Album! Only four songs left (as of Jul 2020). Here are links to all the posts so far...

1 The Beatles aka The White Album: Introduction
2 Julia (pt.1) Introduction
3 Julia (pt.2) Chords
4 Julia (pt.3) Melody
5 Julia (pt.4) Lyrics
6 Julia (pt.5) Structure
7 Why Don't We Do It In The Road
8 The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
9 I'm So Tired (pt.1) Introduction
10 I'm So Tired (pt.2) Melisma, Madrigalism & Melody
11 I'm So Tired (pt.3) 12 Bar (Non) Blues, Chords And Contrasts
12 Long Long Long
13 Martha My Dear (pt.1) Contrapuntal Writing, Structure And McCartney's Approach To Lyrics
14 Martha My Dear (pt.2) The Sgt Pepper Horn Part
15 Martha My Dear (pt.3) 'Silly' vs 'Stupid' Vocabulary
16 Martha My Dear (pt.4) Time And Key Signature
17 Martha My Dear (pt.5) Melodic Cells And Double Bridges
18 Martha My Dear (pt.6) Lyrics
19 Savoy Truffle
20 Honey Pie (pt.1) Style, Structure, Lyrical Craft And Arrangement
21 Honey Pie (pt.2) Melody/Chord Relationship, Rhythm And Melodic Shape
22 Happiness Is A Warm Gun (pt.1) Genesis And Structure
23 Happiness Is A Warm Gun (pt.2) Polyrhythms And Other Rhythmic Ideas
24 Happiness Is A Warm Gun (pt.3) Coherence And Misc Songwriting Ideas
25 Piggies (pt.1) Origins, Arrangement And The Producer's Role
26 Piggies (pt.2) Writing For Children
27 Piggies (pt.3) Recycling And Developing Themes
28 Birthday
29 I Will (pt.1) Demo And Lyrics
30 I Will (pt.2) Melody, Structure And Chords
31 Glass Onion (pt.1) Surrealism And Self Reference
32 Glass Onion (pt.2) Bad Points, Good Points
33 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (pt.1) Introduction And Overview
34 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (pt.2) Lyrical Hall Of Shame
35 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (pt.3) Contrasts, Chords And Good Lyrics
36 Dear Prudence (pt.1) Inspiration, Oddities, Ringo And Paul
37 Dear Prudence (pt.2) Scales And Chords
38 Back In The USSR (pt.1) The Art Of Parody
39 Back In The USSR (pt.2) Stuttering
40 Back In The USSR (pt.3) Blues Influence
41 Wild Honey Pie
42 Rocky Racoon
43 Yer Blues (pt.1) Time Changes
44 Yer Blues (pt.2) Avoiding Blues Cliches
45 Mother Nature's Son (pt.1) Overview And Lyrics
46 Mother Nature's Son (pt.2) Drones, Chords, Structure
47 Hey Jude (pt.1) Mistakes, Myths And Background
48 Hey Jude (pt.2) Lyrics
49 Hey Jude (pt.3) Rhyme Scheme (Again) - Nicholas Tozier
50 Hey Jude (pt.4) Melody
51 Sexy Sadie (pt.1) Background
52 Sexy Sadie (pt.2) Melody And Harmony Disconnect
53 Sexy Sadie (pt.3) Recording
54 Sexy Sadie (pt.4) The Seven Drop
55 Helter Skelter (pt.1) Recording, Bad Points
56 Helter Skelter (pt.2) Structure, Chords, Lennon-isms
57 Cry Baby Cry (pt.1) Background
58 Cry Baby Cry (pt.2) Lyrical Inspiration and Structure
59 Cry Baby Cry (pt.3)  Music
60 Cry Baby Cry (pt.4) Coda (Can You Take Me Back)
61 Revolution (pt.1) Did George Play Bass on Revolution 1?
62 Revolution (pt.2) What's The Difference Between the Album, Single and Video Versions?
63 Revolution (pt.3) Album or single - Which is the definitive version?
64 Revolution (pt.4) Rhyme Schemes and Lyric Structures
65 Revolution (pt.5) The Pre-Chorus: Chords and Melodic Development
66 Revolution (pt.6) Mistakes, Embellishments, Edits and Extensions
67 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (pt.1) Melody and Lyrics
68 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (pt.2) Why The Arrangement Didn't Work And How John Fixed It
69 Good Night

Other Related Posts

Hey Jude's Outro Lyrics
Experimentation And The White Album
McCartney's Expanded Role As Guitarist On The White Album
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill's Mystery Spanish Guitarist 
Did George Harrison Get A Raw Deal Or Just Work Too Slowly?
Golden Ticket: The Seven Drop
Golden Ticket: Keep The Tonics Apart Until The End

Please Please Me Post Index

With The Beatles Post Index

Let It Be Post Index

Abbey Road Post Index

Links

70+ Songwriting Tips From The Beatles
The BeAtletudes
About Beatles Songwriting Academy
Let's Build An Airport EP

Let It Be Post Index

here's a complete list of posts on Let It Be

1 I Me Mine (pt.1) - structure and chords
2 I Me Mine (pt.2) – structure (again), hooks and getting away with a weak chorus
3 I Me Mine (pt.3) - lyric structure/rhyme scheme
4 One After 909
5 The Long And Winding Road (pt.1) - overview
6 The Long And Winding Road (pt.2) - lyrics and rhyme scheme
7 The Long And Winding Road (pt.3) - developing the main theme
8 The Long And Winding Road (pt.4) - arriving 'home'/madrigalism
9 Let It Be
10 For You Blue
11 Dig It and Maggie Mae
12 Two Of Us (pt.1) - overview and lyrics
13 Two Of Us (pt.2) - time changes and melodic cells
14 Get Back (pt.1) - simplicity, staying off the root note and the mixolydian mode
15 Get Back (pt.2) - bad lyrics and 13 songwriting tips
16 Don't Let Me Down
17 I've Got A Feeling
18 Dig A Pony
19 Let It Be Conclusions

Other related posts

Let It Be vs Abbey Road – both were made by dysfunctional bands – why is one a classic?
The Best Of The Best Of Let It Be – Naked or Spectorised?

Blessed Are The Mundane – why Let It Be was doomed to fail

The Many Guitar Solos Of Let It Be (the song)
Everyone Hates The Long And Winding Road
Get Back To The Drawing Board – How many versions are there really?

Please Please Me Post Index
With The Beatles Post Index
Abbey Road Post Index

Abbey Road Post Index

Here's a complete list of all the posts on Abbey Road

0 Abbey Road introduction – Let It Be vs Abbey Road
1 Because 1 – background, Beethoven and chords
2 Because 2 – vocal harmonies
3 Because 3 - bridge
4 Because 4 – music/lyric disconnect
5 Because 5 – lyrics
6 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 1 – lyrics (hall of shame)
7 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 2 - questions about keys, sections and starting points
8 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 3 – answers about keys, sections and starting points
9 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 4 – that D minor chord
10 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 5 – contrasting sections
11 Polythene Pam
12 Mean Mr Mustard
13 Sun King
14 The End
15 Come Together 1 – nonsense songs
16 Come Together 2 – parallel lyrics
17 Come Together 3 - melody
18 Come Together 4 – structure, missing notes, misc ideas
19 Maxwell's Silver Hammer 1 – why is it so bad?
20 Maxwell's Silver Hammer 2 – lyrics (hall of shame)
21 Here Comes The Sun 1 – contrasts and parallels
22 Here Comes The Sun 2 – intro and hooks
23 Carry That Weight
24 Golden Slumbers
25 Her Majesty
26 You Never Give Me Your Money 1 - structure
27 You Never Give Me Your Money 2 – six good points
28 The Long One (Medley) - overview
29 Octopus's Garden 1 – how to write a bad song
30 Octopus's Garden 2 – good points
31 Oh! Darling 1 - strengths
32 Oh! Darling 2 – weak points
33 Something 1 – story, influences and cover versions
34 Something 2 – unusual elements
35 Something 3 – melody
36 Something 4 – descending melodies, harmonies and bass line
37 Old Brown Shoe (hall of shame)
38 Something 5 – lyrics
39 Something 6 – contrasting sections
40 Something 7 – misc ideas
41 Something 8 - bridge
42 The Ballad Of John And Yoko 1 - overview
43 The Ballad Of John And Yoko 2 – blues structure
44 I Want You (She's So Heavy)
45 Abbey Road Concluding thoughts


Other related posts

The Fab Faux play The Long One (Medley)
Separated At Birth? Something/For No One – how two completely different songs use the same chord sequence
Three Hammer Prevention Questions – how to avoid writing a song like Maxwell's Silver Hammer

2:14 With The Beatles Post Index And Conclusion

This is the summary post for With The Beatles. Here’s all the songs covered in the second chapter of the Beatles career and where to find ‘em. The single tracks (in italics) are on the Past Masters CD.

1 She Loves You (pt.1) - the chorus
2 She Loves You (pt.2) - chord progressions and breaking new ground
3 She Loves You (pt.3) - intro, outro and edits
4 I’ll Get You, You Really Got A Hold On Me, Money (That’s What I Want), Devil In Her Heart, Till There Was You, Please Mr Postman and Roll Over Beethoven
5 I Wanna Be Your Man and Little Child
6 It Won’t Be Long and All My Loving
7 All I've Got To Do (pt.1) - chords
8 All I've Got To Do (pt.2) - melody
9 Not A Second Time
10 Don’t Bother Me
11 Hold Me Tight
12 I Want To Hold Your Hand
13 This Boy

Other related posts

The Band Who...Needed No Introduction (intros on With The Beatles)
Breaking The 12 Bar Blues Rule (Can't Buy Me Love and Roll Over Beethoven)

Conclusions

With The Beatles is an obvious step forwards from Please Please Me. The Beatles clearly didn’t suffer from second album syndrome. Partly because they still had the option of doing covers, something modern bands don’t really do. And whereas modern bands often take years to write their first album and months to write their second, the Beatles didn’t really produced anything significant writing wise till after they were signed.

So based on growth as writers plus a better class of cover songs I’d give this 'chapter' a 7/10.

1:13 Please Please Me Post Index and Conclusions

Here's all a complete list of all the posts on Please Please Me (singles/b-sides are in italics)

1 Please Please Me (album introduction)
2 P.S. I Love You
3 Love Me Do
4 Please Please Me
5 Ask Me Why
6 There's A Place
7 A Taste Of Honey

8 I Saw Her Standing There

9 Thank You Girl and Misery
10 Do You Want To Know A Secret?
11 Anna (Go To Him), Chains, Boys, Baby It's You and Twist And Shout
12 From Me To You

Other related posts

From Me To You Too - Best Beatles Songwriting Sites
Conclusions

The Beatles of mid-1963 are obviously a fantastic live band with two classic singles and some nice songwriting ideas but show only a few signs of greatness musically and none at all lyrically. They especially seem to struggle with writing decent bridges.

As only one of the classic singles appears on the album I’d rate Please Please Me = 4/10 from a songwriters point of view.