5. The Beatles, "Abbey Road"

 


Did you see the other day that Paul almost got flattened while crossing Abbey Road?  Like, this just happened a couple of day ago!  I mean, I'm glad the guy's OK, but wouldn't that be like the most poetic ending possible, especially since the album's cover was integral to the whole "Paul is dead" theory that was a thing in the late 60s because people didn't have the bandwidth for "The CIA is overthrowing Central American countries for the United Fruit Company" or the horrible real conspiracies that were happening.

I've thought about it a lot and this might be the album I've listened to more than any other.  That is due, in no small measure, to my studio art teacher in high school, who used to regularly play this album while I was in the studio working on my terrible paintings and whatever.  I had it cassette and CD.  So yeah, I've heard it a ton, but not a lot recently.

I used to think of this as One of My Favorite Albums and I guess I still do but you know what?  When I relistened to it for this post, I had the shocking revelation that I don't like it as much as I used to.  I always kind of had it in my top 10; now I'm not sure if it's even one of my favorite Beatles albums.  It's a young person's record, with Paul's deliberately silly and singsongy "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (which John Lennon derided as "more of Paul's granny music," lol) and Ringo's obligatory silly and singsongy "Octopus' Garden."  If you heard the first side, you might go "Ok, medium Beatles effort, I like it."

But. BUT.  Then there's side 2, and suddenly this album is a wonder.  Side 2 starts with "Here Comes the Sun," a crystalline little acoustic jewel box, a George Harrison composition that would become not just famous but culturally iconic.  There are very few people in the English-speaking world who haven't heard at least a little bit of the song.  Then there's "Because," a trippy chamber-baroque-psych-pop Lennon song, with lyrics that have haunted me:

Because the world is round, it turns me on
Because the world is round
Because the wind is high, it blows my mind
Because the wind is high

What are you talking about?  Do round things routinely turn you on?  I could not figure it out as a kid, or as an adult for that matter.  But no bother; it's a lovely song, 

And then comes the medley.  Just imagine have so much musical talent that your throaway song fragments are better than almost anyone else can write and you can just string them together on an album and everybody will think it's amazing.  The Medley starts with "You Never Give Me Your Money," which I had always interpreted as a metaphor; like, if you really loved me, you'd give me some of your money.  And it sort of is, but it's about the relationships in the band and the money problems they were embroiled in.  It's got movements within the song, itself a medley of sorts.  Apropos of nothing, I love this part:

One sweet dream
Pick up the bags, get in the limousine
Soon we'll be away from here
Step on the gas and wipe that tear away
One sweet dream came true today
Came true today
Came true today
Yes, it did

It fades out with the sound of crickets - literally the cliche used to describe a band playing for no one (or no response).  And the crickets carry over into the next song, "Sun King," an ethereal Lennon song with showstopping vocals and a bunch of meaningless foreign-sounding stuff at the end (that actually has been translated and yep, is gibberish).  Then comes "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam," which ends in that great break down (remember "whoa, look out" as it crests?)  as it feeds directly into "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window."

Then, of course, there's "Golden Slumbers," a heartwrenchingly beautiful Paul song (with some lyrics by 17th century poet Thomas Dekker, who gets no credit for his contribution) that I can only imagine has been more than one person's funeral song.  I get choked up just thinking about it.  And then "Carry That Weight," with its callbacks to "You Never Give Me Your Money" and, of course, "The End," which was not actually the end since Let It Be would still come out but was the end of the group.  (A final hidden track, "Her Majesty," that McCartney wrote and recorded alone, was supposed to be between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" but was cut, probably the right choice.)

OK, so now I'm re-re-evaluating after listening to side 2 again and writing about it and yes, side 2 of this album is one of my favorite albums so I guess it'll drag side 1 over the finish line with it.  

SPOILER: This is the last top 5 album that's in my personal Top 100.

Is this album in my personal Top 100? Top 10, probably, yes.

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