Latest / Barber Cuts: Beats and Bars / Imagine - John Lennon

Transcript

Imagine - John Lennon · Barber Cuts: Beats and Bars

0:15
Welcome to Barbara Cuts, Beads and Vars.
0:17
We're a father daughter music podcast that slices into some of
0:20
the greatest albums, one cut at a time.
0:22
With no industry ties or formal training, just a shared love of
0:25
music, we explore albums across genres, rating favorites and
0:29
skips while digging into what makes each one iconic.
0:33
I bring the beats. And I bring the bars and
0:36
together we deliver real talk and fresh takes from both sides
0:39
of the sound. Hey everybody, it's Riley.
0:42
And this is Todd, and welcome to this week's episode of Barbara
0:46
Cuts, where we are talking about John Lennon's album Imagine from
0:52
1971. So pretty right on the heels of
0:58
a Beatles album. So this is either interesting or
1:03
not. You can decide.
1:05
We'll jump right into it. Least favorite songs?
1:08
Riley. My least favorite songs were
1:13
Jealous Guy and surprise surprise Oh Yoko.
1:19
Oh Yoko, talk about it. Oh Yoko, Oh Yoko made my list as
1:24
well. Talk about a sign that gets
1:27
bored into your head and it's so annoying if you think if you
1:31
think Maxwell's Silver Hammer was bad.
1:34
Yeah, I think I'd rather have the Silver Hammer than O Yoko.
1:40
Yeah, yeah, this. It's bad.
1:42
And then jealous guy. It just makes me feel
1:46
uncomfortable. That's.
1:48
With most John Lennon things, it just felt like having a dream
1:54
and being a jealous guy. But I will also say I don't
1:57
necessarily love the lyrics of like, I didn't mean to hurt you.
2:01
I'm I'm just jealous. Yeah, I'm.
2:03
Just jealous. Like no, that's not how this
2:06
works my man. True.
2:08
I mean, nothing compares to Oyoka.
2:10
Yeah, I wrote in my notes. That's like, I get that this is
2:17
a love song to his wife, but I'd be mad if this was my love song
2:22
and like, you just came off The Beatles.
2:26
I know what you're capable of, my man.
2:29
Don't give me yo Yoko. Like, come on.
2:32
I will say, I will say the little that I know about Yoko
2:35
Ono, she loved it. I was about to say this given
2:39
like, you know, not not to this is a judgement free zone unless
2:43
we're passing judgement. And it sounds like it sounds
2:46
like this is a song that Yoko would have loved right up her
2:50
alley. But you know, so my, my other
2:55
one was I don't want to be a soldier Mama.
2:59
And it felt like it's the longest song on the album. 6
3:03
minutes. It felt like it was 6 minutes of
3:06
the same melody, the same tune, the same lyrics.
3:11
Like I, I went and looked just to make sure there are some
3:15
different lyrics, but not much. And it is.
3:20
It is funny though, and I'll throw this caveat in there
3:24
because I do recognize a little bit of hypocrisy here, if you
3:31
will, that by. You or by linen.
3:35
By me because I listed it as a not so favorite song.
3:41
The music makes a difference because lyrically on Go back to
3:47
Abbey Road and I Want You, she's so heavy.
3:52
I mean, lyrically there were maybe 20 words in that entire
3:56
song. But yeah, the music was so good.
4:00
And here it's again, repetitive on the lyric side, but and the
4:06
the music just wasn't as good. So, so it it made it, it made it
4:12
as one of my least favorites. So favorites.
4:18
So one of my favourites was, oh gosh, one of my favourites was
4:22
Give Me Some Truth. I liked how it sounded more than
4:27
some of the other ones. I liked how he kind of does his
4:31
like he did, he did it sometimes in some of The Beatles songs
4:35
that I've listened to. And I like it where he kind of
4:37
like does the like like the upside short sighted.
4:41
Never mind. It's like that kind of very like
4:44
repetitive. He does it.
4:47
I remember hearing him on The Beatles.
4:49
I like it. I like that sound and I liked it
4:52
in this song. I think this one he also does a
4:58
similar Beatles trope with just kind of saying thing that sounds
5:02
fun at some part. He also has a point to it though
5:06
and I think this one to me or for me is the better commentary
5:12
when compared to Imagine Imagine it's the big commentary song on
5:17
this album. True.
5:19
It's like, oh, imagine a perfect world with communism, but this
5:25
song? Is another commentary.
5:27
Talking about all things. You broke out there, you said.
5:30
Imagine a perfect world. Silence.
5:34
Communism. Oh, that is what I said.
5:38
Oh, OK, I was wondering. No, he just, I, I didn't know if
5:44
if it was a dramatic pause or if you were saying something and
5:49
didn't intend for your next word after that to be communism.
5:54
No, no, I was doing a dramatic pause because thank you.
5:56
That's just just wanted to make sure.
5:58
Yeah, that's really what the song is referencing as what
6:01
would create the perfect world. Just remember sarcasm over audio
6:07
is very difficult to achieve. Seeing it on screen, people can
6:12
realize but. I think this one was a better
6:18
commentary of, like, what things are going on without it being
6:24
boring or communist. Yeah.
6:28
But my favorite one was how do you sleep?
6:33
This one, you get a little bit more rock.
6:36
It mentioned Sergeant Pepper, which is really fun.
6:40
True. It plays better.
6:42
I think he does a better job at being kind of angry than he does
6:45
being in love. Yeah.
6:48
Or being like introspective or like imagine, like I think he
6:53
does a lot better job at the, like, angrier songs or he can be
6:56
a little bit rougher. Yeah, I I liked those songs a
7:00
lot better than I did the ones where he was kind of like just.
7:05
Yeah, so, so do you know what this song's about?
7:09
No. So it, it, it hit me on my in
7:13
that first line, and I'm glad you brought it up because I I
7:16
would have just because it's awesome.
7:19
This is a diss track. Like he was railing on
7:23
McCartney. That's funny.
7:25
So SO22 lyrics. So I think it's in the first
7:30
verse, those freaks was right when they said you was dead.
7:36
So this goes like he's calling out that Paul is dead conspiracy
7:42
theory and he's saying they're they're right.
7:46
Like you're toast, man, you're no good.
7:49
And I'm like, that's harsh, funny and uses a conspiracy
7:53
theory to throw shade at McCartney.
7:56
And then the other one was the only thing you'd done was
8:00
yesterday the song. And since you've gone again
8:06
playing into the Paul is Dead, you're just another day like,
8:11
oh, that's that's that's that's pretty tough.
8:15
And the guitar solo in it is really good.
8:19
And the guitar solo is by George Harrison, another Beatle which I
8:24
find funny. They.
8:25
Were both just railing on Paul McCartney?
8:27
I mean, he just played a guitar solo, so I don't know if he was
8:30
in on it, but that was funny that he even like he he had to
8:35
know what the song was about. And supposedly this was an
8:39
answer to what Lennon thought. McCartney threw some shade his
8:45
way in the album Ram. And so they were going back and
8:50
forth. So this was really his
8:52
retaliation, this song, you know?
8:55
A pretty face may last a year or two, but.
8:57
Pretty soon. They'll see what you can do.
8:59
Yeah, I will say it is funny. Now this.
9:02
Is funny. So like so, so like all you, all
9:04
you youngsters with is it Drake and Kendrick Lamar?
9:08
Kendrick Lamar. Like there's right at the.
9:11
Side you should be on. Like, go back.
9:13
Like, are you Paul McCartney or John Lennon?
9:16
Yeah, the real 1. Which I'm gonna go ahead, I'm
9:20
gonna go ahead and throw this out there.
9:22
Neither one of them are as good solo as they were with The
9:25
Beatles. Yeah, yeah, they never should
9:27
have broke up, but I well, it's. Sorry, it's not surprising that
9:32
I liked the guitar in this thing because it was George Harrison,
9:35
not John Lennon. Yeah, makes a little bit more
9:38
sense. I will say, though, also now
9:40
it's funny that he references jump on your mom and tell you to
9:43
do anything or tell you anything.
9:45
Yeah. Was he referencing?
9:47
Was that him referencing that McCartney just did what his mom
9:51
told him to do? Or some of the lyrics, I don't
9:54
know, I I just picked up on on some of them.
9:57
If that's the case, Lennon, you may want to think twice before
10:02
judging for that. Yeah, because let me tell you,
10:06
when they think about someone being manipulated by a woman,
10:10
McCartney is not the one they think of.
10:11
No, it's like go go go look 2 songs later.
10:17
Oh, Yoko. Oh gosh, I that's have you?
10:23
Have you ever seen the clip of Lennon, Yoko Ono and Chuck Berry
10:27
trying to sing and they turned off Yoko Ono's mic?
10:31
No, but I can. She's like, she's wailing in it
10:34
and Chuck Berry, like makes like a face and it's like freaked
10:38
out. And they turn off her mic.
10:40
And so just very quietly, you can hear her still, like
10:43
screeching. It's like.
10:45
It's lots. Of drugs must have been involved
10:47
in this decision. She's a character.
10:49
There was a today I watched the Insta karma, you know that John
10:55
Lennon song and they were had a YouTube video and you know he's
11:00
singing. They got the band and she's in
11:03
the video like as as a band member, like she's sitting with
11:07
a microphone and in front of like her chest area, but like so
11:13
not up where her mouth is, like down here where her hands are.
11:17
And for the entire song she's knitting like at the microphone
11:22
she's knitting. And I'm like, that's, that's a
11:26
little strange. And I mean, it makes me laugh.
11:29
I'd so I don't it's so funny. But anyway, probably all kinds
11:34
of things we could find. So so my 2 favorites, so one of
11:41
mine is imagine and I almost because it is the song of the
11:49
album. Like I, I tried really hard to
11:51
say let's find a different song. But I you know.
11:56
And and so in saying all this, I don't necessarily agree with all
11:59
the lyrics because, you know, it's essentially an anti
12:03
everything song except for peace.
12:07
Anytime there's this peace need, it's the song.
12:11
It's a unit. You know, it becomes this
12:13
universal cry for peace and seems to be played anytime that
12:18
message is needed. But at this this all, I may
12:22
repeat when we get into why do you listen to this album?
12:26
The rest of the album to me is especially lyrically from what I
12:33
picked up, is him trying to reconcile what he wants and
12:38
imagine, but he's reconciling that with reality that it can't
12:43
happen and in some cases his own reality.
12:47
Hence the diss track like you can't have peace if you're doing
12:51
retribution like those. Those two don't don't jive but
12:57
you know lyric lyrics aside from you know, his own what I'll call
13:02
personal utopian dream. It's a nice tune you mentioned
13:08
not not too long ago maybe it was Hotel California with a song
13:12
that people like to play as they learn guitar.
13:17
Imagine is one that people like to learn when they learn.
13:20
That was that was The Beatles. It was Here Comes.
13:23
The sun. Oh, here comes the sun.
13:24
That's right, it was. So Imagine is one that people
13:28
love to learn when they play the piano because it is a nice piano
13:34
piano tune. And just imagine itself like it
13:37
is a good song, you know, peeked at #3 you know, on the charts
13:41
when it released the best selling single of his solo
13:45
career and been named, you know, all these great songs.
13:51
It's in the lot, you know, Grammy, Hall of Fame, Library of
13:54
Congress, you know, more than 200 artists have performed or
13:59
covered the song. Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Joan
14:02
Baez, Lady Gaga, David Bowie, Elton John, Diana Ross.
14:08
The only thing with this song that you have to kind of throw
14:11
out because it jaded is the COVID version.
14:15
Oh, oh, what a time of life that was.
14:19
But Gal Gadot, what a woman. You.
14:20
Are but I think I think that is a fair statement to say about a
14:25
lot of things in life like you have to throw out the COVID
14:29
times. I just, I just want to know what
14:32
they thought they were doing. Yeah, like, I guess as a as a as
14:37
a soccer fan there, there's, you know, a United fan there.
14:41
There's a certain team that did really well in the COVID years
14:43
that we just throw that out because it helps us, you know,
14:47
but you know, so, so Imagine was one of my songs.
14:53
The other one I agree with you was Give Me Some Truth.
14:57
It's got a driving beat that I like.
15:01
I like the strained singing of of linen.
15:05
And you can you can see that imperfection like the guitar
15:10
solo there again, that's another George Harrison special slide
15:14
guitar on Give Me Some Truth. And it's a protest song.
15:19
So political song against all the politicians of the time,
15:22
against the Vietnam War, calls out Richard Nixon by his
15:28
nickname. And and many of the critics call
15:32
it either his best political solo song or or one of his best.
15:36
And one of the things that I find ironic about it, though, is
15:41
it's McCartney that's actually credited for the line Money for
15:46
Rope, money for Dope. But he actually wasn't credited
15:50
with it on the album. It was some video documentary of
15:56
like previous where he was fiddling with that line.
15:59
And then it's found in some of Lennon's notes about this album
16:02
where he talked about McCartney wrote it.
16:04
Like, so I was like, that's, that's kind of funny. 2 songs
16:08
after using his. I know, and then also you can't.
16:12
Call him nothing and then use his lyrics.
16:14
I know that's that's so like there, there, there.
16:16
There's some things that you know, Linen's working through
16:20
here. He's Billy.
16:22
But also for us just to bring it back to again episode 3 of
16:28
Primal Scream. Primal Scream covered Give Me
16:32
Some Truth as AB side released to one of their songs singles in
16:37
2006, but the version they they covered was from a Generation X
16:43
cover. Generation X was a punk band
16:47
from the 70s. So if you want to hear Give Me
16:51
Some Truth as a punk song, go listen to either Generation X or
16:56
find the Primal Scream version online and and you'll be able to
17:01
see it. And then another fun trivia bit
17:04
of things that you may never need to know.
17:06
Generation X punk band from the 70s is was the first lead
17:13
singing appearance of Billy Idol.
17:17
So Billy Idol is well known for his Rock of the 80s, White
17:23
Wedding, things like that. Billy.
17:26
Idol. Yeah, Billy.
17:28
Billy Idol was the one Rebel yell.
17:30
Yeah. He was the one that me and my
17:36
boyfriend were watching music videos.
17:40
Oh, is this the one that you didn't know who he was?
17:42
He played it and he's like, this is like the song of my
17:46
childhood. I loved the song and I was like,
17:49
I had no idea who this song is. And he was like, this is
17:51
criminal, this is criminal. And I had no idea who he was
17:56
'cause we're not Big 80s. No, we we are not.
18:00
And so so I had no idea and I had to learn who Billy Idol was
18:06
very quickly. Yes, so two things.
18:08
One, the teaser, my song of the week is from the 80s.
18:13
Go figure. And two, now you can go tell him
18:18
before this comes out that you know where Billy Idol's first
18:23
lead singing gig was, and I bet he would not know that it was
18:26
Generation X. Yeah, his family is coming in
18:30
town this weekend, so I can maybe impress them with the
18:32
trivia that I don't know. There you go.
18:35
You may want to go and learn a couple other songs because you
18:37
know your trivia depth is not going to be that deep on Billy
18:44
Idol. So, all right, so let's move on
18:52
to why would or why should people go and listen to Imagine
18:59
the album? For one, it it is John Lennon.
19:02
He was part of The Beatles. Like, that's still like, there's
19:05
still some credit to his name. And this was soon after The
19:08
Beatles. And this one went bigger.
19:11
He went bigger than most Beatles did, like solo.
19:15
And so that also deserves some credit.
19:18
Even if someone like. I'll be frank with everyone
19:20
here. I don't like Lennon.
19:24
I don't know if that surprises anyone.
19:27
I I just don't really like him. So therefore I I do criticize
19:33
his music a little harsher because of that.
19:36
And I also don't really like the style of music, as I've tried to
19:39
say. But imagine it's like, like you
19:44
said, it's used in everything as like a song for peace.
19:48
And it does cry for peace. It's a political commentary.
19:52
It has a lot of depth in its own things, like it's not a surface
19:58
level album. That said, I just don't really
20:01
like. Yeah, I agree.
20:04
I mean, I'm. Really trying.
20:06
I'm really trying. No, I know they.
20:08
You know why? So why you go listen to it would
20:13
be like you mentioned. I mean it, it's his second
20:17
studio album after the breakup of The Beatles.
20:20
There's still a big Beatles vibe to it.
20:23
I mean, he he wrote a lot of the music and even if it was then
20:28
back and forth with with the others as they go through the
20:33
ideation musical process to get to a song, you know, he was
20:38
still heavily influenced and all those.
20:40
So it still sounds a lot like Beatles music.
20:44
You know, this one reached this album reached number one on both
20:47
the UK and the US charts. And obviously we talked about it
20:54
widely heralded for the title song.
20:58
And odds are you've heard that song somewhere.
21:04
You may not have liked the version that you heard COVID
21:09
version, but you you may have, you know, or you may, you may
21:16
like the one that you had, you know, and and So what what I
21:19
would say is go go listen to the original.
21:24
So go listen to this imagine song by John Lennon on this
21:29
album. Pick your side on the lyrics.
21:32
You know, the one that causes the most controversy really is,
21:36
is where he talks about no religion, you know, no heaven,
21:39
no hell. And, and so, you know, pick the
21:42
side that you fall on on the lyrics.
21:45
OK, I'm, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna dive deep on that.
21:49
And then from my point of view, because I'm not the lyrics
21:53
person, just listen to the music of the song.
21:56
Like it's a really good song with the piano and then adding
22:01
to it. So it it sounds good lyrically.
22:06
The rest of the album like, and you touched on this, it covers a
22:10
wide range of topics. You know, piece from imagine
22:14
love. We talked about it, politics,
22:17
protest. Lennon was going through
22:20
something called Primal Scream therapy during that time.
22:24
And there's a couple songs about his interactions with that.
22:28
And you know, we already talked about the diss track with with
22:31
Paul McCartney. And so lyrically, there's a lot
22:36
that he covers musically, there's also a a bit of a range
22:40
as well as you get some of the songs that sound like The
22:43
Beatles and then others have what I'll call in in quotes here
22:48
because you just know it, that linen sound.
22:53
And and so again, like you may not, you may not like that John
22:57
Lennon sound versus The Beatles sound, but that is on there.
23:03
It's got some rock, it's got some silliness and some of the
23:06
tunes. And yet then you also have what
23:10
I think. Again, I'll put in quotes
23:13
because I couldn't do it. The simplicity of Imagine, but
23:16
yet the album does get more complex musically.
23:20
And again, we both said Oh Yoko was not our favorites.
23:26
So really all we're asking you to do is listen to 9 songs, you
23:31
know, Oh Yoko is the last song. You want to skip that one?
23:35
OK, great. I'm I'm not gonna.
23:38
Have. It in fact.
23:39
If you wanna skip that one, in fact, you'll wanna skip that.
23:42
One, yeah. So I will also say I think there
23:46
is a novelty to if you like The Beatles, like you said, this is
23:51
similar enough to where this is more Beatles for you.
23:53
Like you get that a little bit and you get that fixed.
23:58
That's great if you if you like that and you left that.
24:01
I'm not hating on that. I think that's great that you
24:04
have this opportunity. And you'll also know to to that
24:07
point and and continue when I get done.
24:10
You'll also know the ones as soon as you really start
24:13
listening that have that heavy Yoko influence that do take them
24:19
away from The Beatles. And so you'll know, OK, I can, I
24:22
can move on past that one because that there is a
24:25
difference. Like John Lennon of The Beatles,
24:29
John Lennon by himself and John Lennon with the Yoko.
24:33
All those musics are different. Yeah.
24:36
Oh gosh. Oh, the other thing I wanted to
24:38
say is I think Imagine is one of those songs that has been
24:44
drastically overplayed and misused for a lot of people in
24:47
my opinion. I agree.
24:49
I will say, if that is what you're basing this album on,
24:52
that is a good enough reason to go listen to this album is to
24:55
like hear it for its own. Hear it for what he like.
24:59
Purely is what he intended, whether you agree it or not.
25:02
Purely is his song and not a a different political message or
25:08
peace message or whatever. Hear it for what it is and then
25:11
listen to a few more because you might find one that you like
25:14
better just because. Just because the song is so used
25:19
for so many different things. Like I said, I joked about the
25:23
COVID 1. I had heard it before, then
25:25
COVID one kind of messed with it for a little bit.
25:28
It's still a good song despite its message, despite the
25:33
weakness of linen and it's weird, it's worth a listen
25:38
purely in its in its like in a vacuum chamber.
25:43
Just ignore everything else and listen to some of the his songs.
25:47
I agree. And, and he's got some other
25:50
some other good solo songs. So I mean, it's, it's beautiful.
25:56
Beautiful boy. OK, Merry Merry Xmas or whatever
26:00
it is. Instant Karma is a good song.
26:04
So we're about to we're about to start Christmas season, so.
26:08
Merry Xmas is the reason I probably don't like linen.
26:11
Happy Xmas, whatever it is I. Don't like that song, Beautiful
26:15
boy. The beautiful, beautiful,
26:19
beautiful, beautiful boy. Do you know, do you know the,
26:25
the story behind that? No, he had like another kid and
26:29
he wrote that for his new like an estranged child.
26:32
Like he had a kid who he like never knew or anything or
26:37
abandoned or something. And he had a new kid and he
26:40
wrote that song for his new kid. And someone was like, imagine
26:42
being a teenager and hearing the love song, the sweetest love
26:45
song that has ever been written for a little boy child and it
26:50
being your father who abandoned you.
26:52
However, it was used in a movie called Beautiful Boy.
26:56
And keep girl singing it. And it made me cry.
27:01
I don't cry during movies. Yeah.
27:02
But can you? Can you Genuinely, I thought
27:05
about that. Can you imagine being that kid?
27:07
Like, it's regarded as one of the sweetest love songs for
27:10
like, a kid. Yeah, I'll have to go.
27:14
I'll have to go look it up there.
27:15
There's, I know there was one that he wrote for his son.
27:19
I think it was Julian Lennon that 'cause I had this was yeah,
27:25
I guess I would have had to be because he was still with The
27:28
Beatles and but he never sung it.
27:32
He like that. There's a demo supposedly of him
27:36
singing it, but he gave it to Ringo to sing because the like
27:41
the entire band and even he said it, it's not his style.
27:45
So he just couldn't sing it because it like, it just didn't
27:49
fit. I'm like OK that's a but anyway,
27:55
best beat and bar. So best, best lyric.
27:59
My favorite lyric is probably from Give Me Some Truth.
28:02
Like I said, some of the lyrics are just kind of like repetitive
28:05
words that work, but they make me trickle a little bit.
28:12
Some of them are kind of funny. I think some of them are also
28:16
requires some introspectiveness from our friend, but I like the
28:23
tight lip condescending Mama's little chauvinist.
28:27
That's just a funny. Lyric.
28:29
And that's just politics. Too.
28:33
But I think that's really funny. The one that does think I think
28:37
it's funny is I've had enough of watching scenes of
28:40
schizophrenic, egocentric, paranoid prima donnas.
28:43
And it's like, again, respectfully, lovingly, look who
28:48
you're married to. Sorry, this is this is some Yoga
28:51
Ono. Hey, I'm surprised.
28:53
I apologize to any yoga Ono fans that may be there.
28:56
Come on, my. Man, Yeah, yeah.
28:58
Prima Donna. Yeah, and much, you know, and,
29:01
and he also called flak from imagine, you know, a lot like
29:07
this is this is some of the flak that the the COVID version
29:11
called with the celebrities singing about it.
29:14
He caught some, he caught some flak talking about no
29:17
possessions being a, you know, super wealthy rock star, talking
29:21
about some of the things that he talked about.
29:25
And and he caught some flak and and some of it.
29:27
But yeah, there is, there is sometimes a a tone deafness that
29:32
that happens. Yeah, his the big.
29:35
Thing go there with you. The big thing now is that the
29:39
communist thing, that's why I keep making that joke that the
29:43
ideal world is communism because it's the brotherhood of men, no
29:47
possession. And it's like, did people do try
29:51
to try that and they're suffering from it so.
29:54
But but, but, but to be fair, even in in and communism, you
30:01
can't have possessions, but the government gets all the
30:03
possessions. Wealthy can, right?
30:05
Yeah, they may. So yeah, so in so in his world,
30:09
it's not like it's not what his song is obviously not communism.
30:14
It's it's close to it because of some of the things.
30:17
But obviously in in communism, there's still possessions, yes,
30:22
but it's it's. You know this song to.
30:27
Me and I know you weren't you weren't saying that it is about
30:29
communism. It it it's very close to it and
30:32
and he even admitted that that it's that it's very close to
30:35
communism. So.
30:36
I joke about that all the time because I think that's a really
30:38
funny argument to this song. But this song feels like when
30:43
people people say I think I've said it before too.
30:47
Or communism is perfect in theory but it can never work in
30:51
reality. Like the idea of like in theory
30:55
no one needing anything, everyone is equal, no one like
30:59
nothing directly sets people apart.
31:01
Like that is a great theory if it could work.
31:04
And then humans. And then humans get involved.
31:07
But we don't do that. So this song, this song feels
31:11
like someone trying to convince someone.
31:12
That's like, no, communism works in theory.
31:14
It's great in theory. So just like, give it a chance
31:18
in theory. And then you get people involved
31:20
and we, you know, goes back to the last resort from the Eagles.
31:26
We hit paradise and we mess it up because that's, you know,
31:31
it's our favorite thing. Humans are good at it.
31:34
It's our favorite. So I my best beat.
31:38
I'm gonna introduce a new song. It is the opening 20 seconds ish
31:46
of. It's so hard.
31:49
So it's got a bluesy rock and beat, you know, and you're
31:53
sitting around. OK, that's nice.
31:55
And then you get the saxophone that comes in and you're like,
32:01
you were talking last week about the angry face, like, Oh, yeah,
32:06
I like that, you know, And I like, and I think you do, too.
32:12
I like whenever you've got something going and you like it,
32:15
and then all of a sudden they put something in unexpected that
32:19
makes it even better. And you're like, oh, man, yeah,
32:22
that's good. So opening 20 or so seconds of
32:26
it's so hard. And the other thing that's neat
32:28
about it is in my mind, as the saxophone was playing and it's
32:33
like this opening little, little saxophone solo.
32:36
And. And in my head it's going and I
32:38
keep it going and it does seem to cut off abruptly to where it
32:43
like, oh, that's even interesting, the way it just
32:46
cuts off all of a sudden. Yeah.
32:49
But all right. So ratings, would you rate it?
32:53
Oh. Good, good.
32:56
Yeah, objective. Yeah, I was wondering how, you
33:02
know, in Full disclosure, a lot of times we don't talk about
33:05
this, but every once in a while we'll we'll run across something
33:07
that we have. We have, we have discussed your
33:10
dislike for imagine the song before.
33:15
So I knew going into this that you weren't a real fan of the
33:19
song. So I was, I was wondering if the
33:21
rest of the album would. Yeah.
33:26
So how the rest of the album would share?
33:28
I did enjoy some of the songs more than I was expecting.
33:32
I'll admit to that. There are some, a few songs that
33:35
like I, I would listen to again and enjoy them and be able to
33:38
like get past that. It's just still not like in the
33:43
realm of the The Beatles. And we talked about it a little
33:46
bit. You get parts of The Beatles
33:48
where you get to see each of their like individual styles and
33:50
where they thrive. And mine tended to fall to hair
33:56
Carson and McCartney. Those would be the two that like
34:00
I could pick out and be like, I like those ones.
34:03
They they specifically Harrison, just his guitar.
34:06
I liked his rockier side of things.
34:10
And then it was just the one that always kind of fell behind
34:12
for me. And also reading things and
34:16
watching things and all of that. I just don't like him.
34:21
So like that has an effect on how I listen to his music.
34:26
I'll admit to that. But I can I can separate art
34:30
from artists when it's stuff like that, where it's not like
34:34
major detrimental to his character.
34:35
It's just a personal choice. So I I gave it a fair listen.
34:40
I gave it time. I like some of the songs and
34:42
I'll admit to that. Didn't like some of the songs
34:45
because I didn't like the songs, not because I have like this
34:48
deep seated hatred in me. It's not that deep.
34:51
I will say though, I think it's one of the weaker albums we've
34:55
listened to for iconic. I I think the one that the song
34:59
that really pushes it it through as like an iconic album that you
35:02
have to listen to is imagine. And I think this is one of the
35:06
albums where you could take the song imagine and that's the most
35:10
iconic part about it. The rest of the album is just
35:14
kind of like you said, The Beatles.
35:16
It it's not life changing or it's not very other than some of
35:22
the political takes. It's not very sharp edge or
35:26
cutting edge styles or music. It it's but you know, for
35:32
objective, I put it as a 7, which is low.
35:36
I think it's really good quality.
35:37
It's just when you're comparing it to a lot of these albums that
35:40
we've listened to thus far, they're like challenging the
35:43
status quo. They're redefining music for
35:46
their time. They're like talking about
35:49
cutting edge things that like we don't talk about and this had a
35:53
little bit of it, but other than imagine, like I said, it just it
35:56
wasn't that cutting edge. It wasn't that different.
36:00
Personal rating. I put it as a four.
36:03
That's about how many songs I liked on the album.
36:05
So OK. 4 out of 10. That makes 10 songs.
36:09
You like 4 of them. OK that makes that makes sense.
36:14
I can see that. So yeah, that puts it, puts it
36:19
down there pretty far. Yeah, this one just had an
36:21
easier rating system 'cause there was.
36:24
Right there, right there with the doors.
36:26
So my my personal rating was a six.
36:31
And again, I you know that there were I probably did like more of
36:36
the songs than you did. Wasn't my favorite and you know,
36:40
even last week, like I'm I'm, I'm not a huge Beatles fanatic.
36:48
And so when you take away 3/4 of The Beatles and replace it with
36:56
Yoko Ono, like it, it, it can't be, it can't be as good, you
37:02
know? And, and like you said, I, I
37:05
think even in the musical realm, I, I would tend to learn more to
37:10
where you were with, I mean, and there's a lot of McCartney's
37:14
solo stuff that I'm not a fan of either.
37:16
So it's it's like, and and I said it at the beginning, like
37:21
The Beatles were Better Together than they were individually.
37:27
Now, were they good individually?
37:29
Yes, they were, but not near as good as they were together
37:35
objectively. And eight.
37:38
So just a little bit higher than yours.
37:40
Just again, critically, it did have some some good reception.
37:47
It is still lyrically covers a wide range musically covers a
37:53
wide range of different things in there.
37:56
So so objectively I can I can still rate it fairly high, but
38:01
still not not near as what it was with The Beatles.
38:07
So there we go. And I also wonder, going off
38:11
this mysterious poster, if you have linen before The Beatles in
38:18
there, would it have made any of a difference?
38:21
Or if there was a bigger gap between listening to The Beatles
38:26
and then a John Lennon album, if that would have made any
38:29
difference, I don't know. But just so close to listening
38:38
to Abbey Road, which again, one of the best Beatles albums, one
38:45
of the best albums, especially a rock albums all time, Like not
38:50
not just a rock all time albums. Like we listened to that two
38:54
weeks ago, the Eagles and then John Lennon.
38:58
And so, like, it may be a little unfair to this album that we did
39:02
listen to it so close. But again, what are you going to
39:06
do? Song of the week?
39:10
What is your song of the week? My song of the week is Black
39:14
Hole song son in honor of Soundgarden being inducted into
39:19
the Hall of. Fame, yeah, shout out to The
39:23
White Stripes, too. We've got a White Stripes
39:26
episode that you should go listen to in honor of them.
39:30
And I will swear up and down that when we went to Nashville,
39:39
Yeah, where you went? And I guess it was Monday.
39:42
So like 2 weeks ago we went to The Cheesecake Factory and I
39:47
swear I sat across from Jack just now figuring that yeah, I
39:51
swear I saw Jack White this. Is.
39:53
How my family I. Will I I.
39:55
Will I will die on that sword that I saw Jack White so.
40:00
Jack White, if you're listening, ha ha ha.
40:03
But if you're listening and you were in Cheesecake Factory, you
40:06
know, leave us a comment. That'd be awesome.
40:09
So sorry, slight tangent there. Yeah.
40:14
Black hole. Sun Sound.
40:17
Something people may not Chris Cornell special place in my
40:22
heart. I'm sad.
40:24
He is a great vocalist. I think he's one of the best, if
40:27
not the best vocalist. I mean just incredible.
40:31
The groups he was in, the solo career he had incredible and the
40:38
impact he had on grunge, just incredible and so many different
40:44
ways. And Soundgarden.
40:46
Black Hole Sun is obviously one of the most well known ones.
40:50
So just really happy for them, happy that they're getting
40:53
recognized. I wish he was here to see it and
40:57
see all the love that he has coming at him.
41:03
And the tribute was just really pretty and sweet.
41:07
They performed and honored Chris Cornell in their performance and
41:11
it was just very sweet. So in honor of that and in
41:15
celebration of that well deserved recognition, was my
41:19
song of the week. Excellent.
41:20
So my song of the week again from the 80s is by is Patience
41:29
by Guns and Roses. But yeah, that tracks.
41:33
Yeah, so. And it was actually, though,
41:38
inspired by John Lennon. So in the middle of Jealous Guy,
41:43
there is a part where all of a sudden he breaks out in a
41:47
whistling tune. And it made me think of this
41:50
song. And, you know, later I was like,
41:54
not too many songs that have whistling.
41:57
And you know, Doc of the Bay came to mind fairly quickly.
42:02
So that gives you a little bit of my musical taste that the
42:06
Guns and Roses popped in my head sooner than Otis Redding.
42:10
But say what you will about that, I'm OK with my choice.
42:15
But this is a single from 1988 album Lies.
42:20
It's a acoustic song and it starts off with the famous
42:25
whistling there, but it's a ballad from what would normally
42:31
have been considered a rocking hair band, glam band.
42:35
I don't know what you would want to call them, but yeah, I don't
42:40
know. This is definitely a shift from
42:44
from their normal sound and, and most people generally accept it
42:48
to be about the relationship between Axl Rose and his wife.
42:53
And since you mentioned it, I also had a note.
42:57
Chris Cornell has a very good version of a cover of the song
43:02
that was, I believe it was released posthumously, but it's
43:08
a very good version. Patience.
43:12
So while you're at it, since Riley brought up Soundgarden and
43:16
Chris Cornell, go listen to both versions.
43:20
The One thing about Guns and Roses and the cover by Chris
43:23
Cornell. One thing about Chris Cornell is
43:25
that man can do a cover. Yeah, it's got a Think thank you
43:29
by Zeppelin version, a cover that is really, really good.
43:33
Billie Jean. Billie Jean is really, really
43:35
good. I think that's I, I think that
43:38
Billie Jean cover is the best cover of all time.
43:41
Yeah. Not a Billie Jean.
43:43
I think the best cover, yeah. Like I, I.
43:46
And that's that's that's that's that's when it hurt by Johnny
43:50
Kashuk this everyone let that be known.
43:53
Well, Johnny, I mean, he's the original singer of that one.
43:59
That's right, Sarcasm does not work on audio, does it?
44:04
A wise man once said. Sarcasm doesn't work on audio.
44:09
That will not take you got to. Be careful, our seven fans.
44:16
Yeah, yeah. Speaking of hurt, though, if
44:20
you've never heard the original by 9 Inch Nails to listen to
44:24
that song, go listen to that album.
44:26
That's a really you know, unless unless if you're in a depressed
44:34
mood, like that's probably not the best album for you to listen
44:39
to because it is like downward spiral.
44:43
That's another we talked about. It's tangent here.
44:48
Concept albums. That is a concept album,
44:50
Downward Spiral, but it's it's a really good one.
44:56
Except also maybe skip. Maybe skip Animal or whatever
45:01
that song is. Pig.
45:02
Yeah, if you're, if you're, if you're lyrically sensitive,
45:08
yeah, there's a couple of those you may want to skip or be
45:11
prepared, you know, we'll, we'll give you fair, fair warning.
45:16
Headphones, yeah, and listen to it by yourself.
45:19
Fair fair warning from our family friendly podcast thus far
45:24
and. Also, yeah.
45:25
We're we're, we're gonna have some issues ourselves with with
45:29
some of the albums that I've seen coming up, but we'll have
45:32
to figure that out when we get there.
45:35
Of a of a story really quick one.
45:37
Yeah, this is APSA to all my lyric people out there.
45:42
If you at any point are not paying attention to your lyrics,
45:47
be careful before telling someone you like a song.
45:50
Because one of the most traumatizing memories that
45:54
sticks with me and I'm not even sure you'll remember this or
45:57
understand why this is like haunts me is when you still
46:00
bought when we still bought songs on iTunes, right.
46:03
This is this is this is the age we were at.
46:05
I was in like second or third grade.
46:07
I bought 3 songs on iTunes that I loved and I don't think I got
46:13
them approved by y'all before I asked before I got them and I I
46:19
confessed to the Qdoba parking lot that this was one of my
46:22
favorite songs and I played it. I played it and it was the song
46:27
Whistle. Whistle.
46:29
Yep, I. Don't know if.
46:32
I can you blow my whistle, baby. And I was told that I was not
46:39
allowed to listen to that song anymore.
46:41
So there you go. Hello.
46:45
Parenting one O 1, sorry. For everyone out there, be very
46:51
aware before you tell your parents you like a song, think
46:55
about it. Yeah, so.
46:58
Well, there we go. So what are we at now?
47:03
Next album, right? Yeah, that was sad songs and the
47:11
songs and the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder.
47:14
Yeah, OK, I like Stevie Wonder. That was my impression.
47:17
Riley's doing? That's just wrong.
47:20
No, he shakes his head a lot. He does.
47:23
That's what I was doing. To keep keep the beat and all
47:26
the I'm. Playing piano AM.
47:28
I going to get cancelled to not be able to see and and play an
47:32
instrument as well. Like that's that's impressive.
47:36
So songs and the key of life. This is another that's very
47:40
highly rated like if I'm not mistaken, top five maybe in most
47:48
critics lists, like Marvin Gaye was up there as number 123, like
47:54
Abbey Roads up there. I think this is another one
47:56
that's up there for most of it that you'll see.
48:00
So yeah, should be a good. One I've heard, I've heard, I've
48:03
heard the name a lot, but I've never listened to I think any
48:06
Stevie Wonder like of my own. Yeah, Accord.
48:09
So. Well, there we go.
48:11
So Stevie Wonder is on deck. Start listening to it with us.
48:15
And until no before next time, we've got to mention Instagram X
48:23
Facebook and YouTube and Barbara Cuts pod is the name Barbara
48:31
Cuts pod@gmail.com. You can e-mail us comments as
48:36
well. So and one day we'll post again.
48:41
Yeah, hopefully this week. School.
48:44
Yeah. Is a thing.
48:46
Oh well, we'll. Get there and it the old boy,
48:51
will the return be glorious? Yeah, she just, you know,
48:55
Reliant K and in Riley's opinion, nothing else gets as
48:58
good as that. So we're done.
49:01
True, not. True.
49:03
But anyway, until next time, I'm Todd.
49:07
I'm Riley and this has been another episode of Barbara.
49:15
Cuts.