DR vs LR

[yomptepi]

The only thing primary school here is the level of your argument which, as usual, belongs in the playground.

There are great things about Dr Robert - I've said them, Bent Fabric has said them, Hatz has said them. We're not making it up, they are there.
.

They are both Americans. What do they know about the Beatles?

[Goat Boy]

[Robert]

I really like both. But 'Doctor Robert' would be an 8/10 while Rita would be 7.5 ..or something.

The strengths of 'Rita' are in the production and arrangement, I love that bouncy piano, but also its ghostly intro and fade. But "Doctor Robert" is, for me, the more interesting song -lyrically it's fascinating, the idea of this doctor being a drug peddler (and Lennon's attitude within the song towards this is tantalisingly ambiguous). Musically it's got more elements I love - that great countryish riff, the high harmonies, the wonderful contrast of the hymnal middle eight, Lennon's sarcastic vocal. But look I can see why one might prefer one to the other, it's just in your original post you made it sound like an obvious choice and it really isn't.

I’m sure you know this, they didn’t make it up:

Dr. Robert Freymann (c. 1906–1987) was a German-born Manhattan physician known to New York's artists and wealthier citizens for his vitamin B-12 injections, which also featured liberal doses of amphetamine. Freymann bragged that he could rattle off 100 names of his celebrity patients (reportedly including Jackie Kennedy) "in 10 minutes." Freymann, who authored a 1983 autobiography called What's So Bad About Feeling Good?, lost his medical license in 1975. The US government began cracking down on amphetamine distribution in the early 1970s after a series of deaths and an increasing number of addicts. Freymann said he thought speed was "a good drug" that had its reputation ruined by addicts. He died in 1987.[1]

[The Modernist]

Yeah I knew it was based on a real New York doctor, but I didn't know he was actually called Robert. I'd always thought that may have been a nod to Robert Fraser (it may still have been of course).

[Count Machuki]

Yeah I knew it was based on a real New York doctor, but I didn't know he was actually called Robert. I'd always thought that may have been a nod to Robert Howard from The Blow Monkeys (it may still have been of course).

Unlikely given the time frame, G.

[sloopjohnc]

Yeah I knew it was based on a real New York doctor, but I didn't know he was actually called Robert. I'd always thought that may have been a nod to Robert Fraser (it may still have been of course).

That's what I thought too.

[bobzilla77]

Yeah I knew it was based on a real New York doctor, but I didn't know he was actually called Robert. I'd always thought that may have been a nod to Robert Fraser (it may still have been of course).

Edie Sedgwick talks about Dr. Robert in Ciao Manhattan - she would line up with everyone else to get a daily shot of "B-12". There may be footage of him shooting her up, I can't really remember.

[naughty boy]

Ultimately of course it's the choice between something small and black and white


- or something BIG and in colour

[yomptepi]

Ultimately of course it's the choice between something small and black and white


- or something BIG and in colour

exactly this. Lennon's smug and self regarding name dropping. Set to a decent pop tune.

Or Macca's kaleidoscopic whimsy about having a date with a parking meter maid, which not only rocks, but sounds like an entire MGM musical.

No contest

[naughty boy]

SENSE at last

[Jimbly]

good lads

[sloopjohnc]

Ultimately of course it's the choice between something small and black and white


- or something BIG and in colour

exactly this. Lennon's smug and self regarding name dropping. Set to a decent pop tune.

Or Macca's kaleidoscopic whimsy about having a date with a parking meter maid, which not only rocks, but sounds like an entire MGM musical.

No contest

Some people don't need the frills.

I think the bridge in Dr. Robert is one of their best - inventive, yet short and sweet.

I don't need it all dolled up to camouflage it from the mundanity of the lyrical theme.

[Goat Boy]

The sleeves play a part in this perception too. At times like.

[sloopjohnc]

The sleeves play a part in this perception too. At times like.

Not sometimes. Always.

[pcqgod]

"Doctor Robert" is my clear favorite.