Beatles For Sale

The Beatles were (are) the world's most popular recording artists, and in 1964 they were following an Elvis-like path that saw them using absolutely every minute of their lives to milk the Franchise. Which is not to say that they weren't artists, only that they were owned by Capitol. And Parlophone. And, it must have seemed to them, the world.

Hence the much-discussed cover of Beatles For Sale, a cover that speaks volumes. The Beatles don't look vibrant, they look worn out and unhappy, a strange fate for four lads who many thought were living king's lives. And by this time, they were. The most astonishing piece of the Beatle legend may be how they managed to fit two albums, numerous singles, tours, public appearnaces, and photo shoots into each year, and not only emerge with their talent intact, but broadened. The Fabs had the hearts of lions. They simply worked harder. (Elvis faltered somewhat under the same hectic demands, and he never had to create, only perform.)

Still, Beatles For Sale (note that title!) is probably the biggest disappointment of the Beatles' career, if only because it's the one time they consciously backed up from a previous accomplishment. After the triumph of A Hard Day's Night, it looked like they were merely giving us another Please Please Me.

I'm A Loser Written at least partially on an airplane flight, this song brings John's love of Dylan to the fore. Even more importantly, it shows how his songs were becoming more personal and breaking free of Socratic notions of "feel-good" pop hits. John's not talking about being heartsick for some girl, he's talking about everything, and it's a main reason that this is one Fab song John never spoke ill of.

Baby's In Black More formula; a nice play on color imagery, but that's about all. Some nice harmonies, though. This was written by John and Paul together, an occurrence that was becoming increasingly rare.

Rock And Roll Music An old Cavern barn-burner, this Chuck Berry cover doesn't quite do the original (or their previous Berry covers) justice. John gives it the old college try, however.

I'll Follow The Sun An example of reaching back that works. Paul's interesting little acoustic number (written in Quarrymen days) fits in nicely with the earlier albums' similar quiet moments ("Till There Was You", "And I Love Her", "A Taste Of Honey"). It's still a scavenger hunt, though, because it's not as melodically strong as any of the others.

Mr. Moonlight Probably the most hated of the "official" Beatle songs (at least until "If You've Got Trouble"). Another obscure cover dusted off by John, but it feels stillborn; instead of transforming shlock into gold, like in the old days, they just alter it a little.

Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey This raveup was a Little Richard cover (L.R. basically ripping up the blues classic "Kansas City" and then going off into the stratosphere halfway through and calling it a medley). Paul and the boys do a bangup job, although it doesn't quite match the original, which felt like it might explode in your face like a pipe bomb. This is a little more controlled. Just a little.

Eight Days A Week John would later call it "crap" (as he would lots of other made-to-order Beatles songs) but he's wrong on this one... how does a song this good get buried on this album? Like "Please Please Me" or "All My Loving", you can nearly hear the sound of teenagers around the world squirming in their seats from hormones and puppy love. And dig the fade-in, a last-minute and wildly unconventional bit of mixing that presaged their later studio trickery.

Words Of Love Paul and John spend far too much time on Beatles For Sale paying homage to their forbears. This Buddy Holly number isn't even one of Holly's best, but it does showcase where Paul gets a lot of his ideas from. Ringo beats on a packing case, a possible hommage to Holly's similar percussive invention in "Everyday".

Honey Don't Carl Perkins gets two tributes on BFS - this and "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby". Both are superior to the Richard/Berry/Holly covers, for whatever reason. Ringo is utterly charming, and the Sun sound is reproduced to a T.

Every Little Thing Tympani? Hmm. Another tribute to Jane Asher, this song is slight but intriguingly skewed in a way that makes this seem like the forerunner to "Penny Lane" and other songs with simliar jumps in chord structure. Think of it as the butterfly beginning to move inside the cocoon.

I Don't Want To Spoil The Party John's other "personal" BFS number, disguised as another lost-or-misplaced-love song -- if he's a Beatle, why isn't he happy? And why can't he show anyone? Again, there's a definite folk sound, though the (wonderful) harmonies come off more countryish than anything.

What You're Doing The other classic on BFS, an example of the Fabs using earlier discoveries to ever-better effect. The march-time drums, the major-to-minor lurches, the jangly guitars; it's all there, but at the service of better songs. "Nowhere Man" may have been inspired by the Byrds, but this was one of the Byrds' inspirations. Believe it.