Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

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Blue Jay Way

An unheralded gem
21
38%
Good
18
32%
Average
4
7%
Poor/Minor Beatles
13
23%
 
Total votes: 56

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the hanging monkey
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby the hanging monkey » 16 Apr 2010, 15:28

If The Beatles had recorded themselves pissing into a tin bath ensemble then somebody on here would proclaim it a work of heart-rending genius.
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Balboa
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Balboa » 16 Apr 2010, 15:32

Well I fucking LOVE it.
Of course, I was mostly stoned at the time.

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soundchaser
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby soundchaser » 16 Apr 2010, 15:42

Nice psychedelic embellishments notwithstanding, it's a piss poor song, probably written by Harrison when he was too stoned to know any better.

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Davey the Fat Boy
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Davey the Fat Boy » 16 Apr 2010, 15:49

Lately Magical Mystery Tour has been my favorite Beatle album, and "blue Jay Way" is the track I most look forward to hearing when I put it on. It has a great undercurrent of menace to it that always evokes a reaction in me. And Ringo's drumming is genius on it.

I vote "gem". In fact I'd rate it among my very favorite Beatle songs.
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Molony

Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Molony » 16 Apr 2010, 16:31

I think that it's a gem. This period of George Harrison's writing fascinates me. I love all that drone-influenced, slightly off-key, stuff that he did ('Only A Northern Song', 'I Want to Tell You' and so on). This is murky and spooky and brilliant. Count me in.

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harvey k-tel
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby harvey k-tel » 16 Apr 2010, 16:35

I fucking love it, too! Always have, and always will. MMT was probably the first Beatles album I listened to as a kid (the booklet was fascinating to me as well), so not only does it hold a special spot in my memory, but its a killer tune, and I love all the shit that goes on during the ending.
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Mike Boom
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Mike Boom » 16 Apr 2010, 16:52

Love it.
I can see how people would dislike it, the pace is verrrryyy slooooww, and generally that can put me off too, but in this case thats part of why I l ike it, the slow pace just adds to that overall wonderfully wooozy vibe.
Spooky.

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Quaco
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Quaco » 16 Apr 2010, 17:33

I think it's great. It does go on a couple too many times at the end maybe, but I love the slow pacing of the melody (The Beatles didn't often use diminished fifths this prominently) and the "stuck"-ness of the lyrics (maybe it's an L.A. thing, we're used to just sitting around in sort of a self-made purgatory), and of course the sound, especially the drumming.

Also, after 30+ years of listening to these guys, it's generally the ones that create a mood and allow me in that I can enjoy regularly. Thus, I find myself listening to "Flying" and "Blue Jay Way" a lot more than "Penny Lane" and the like.

It's hard to call any Beatles song unheralded when I've heard the "laughing" version of "And Your Bird Can Sing" in the supermarket, but I'd pretty much put this one in the top category.
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Sneelock

Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Sneelock » 16 Apr 2010, 17:51

I voted "unheralded gem" even though I've been around enough Beatles fan to know that nothing they did is really unheralded. still, what's in a word? I think it's a gem. I love that record and can't imagine the record without that track.

from time to time I need to do some work in a room where I can hear some sort of hum. maybe it's a motor or a light fixture. whatever it is, I get that track stuck in my head just from hearing the hum.

some of Harrison's psychedelic era stuff is a little bit creepy. I love that!

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Guy E
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Guy E » 16 Apr 2010, 18:01

il Baron wrote:I won't vote because I don't think it's an unheralded gem, it's just a straight up gem.
I understand people's criticisms of it -- that it's a throwaway song or whatever, but that's really irrelevant.


Snarfyguy wrote:Great song; great production; you guys are trippin'. What do you like, The Fool on the Hill?

What's the matter, the melody line doesn't do enough acrobatics for you? The subject matter is too mundane? It's dreary?

Well get over yourselves. It's a masterpiece of paranoia and foreboding and a key psychedelic track, brilliantly prefiguring the Manson killings and generally significantly upping the ante as far as what moods rock music could express.

And the sound of it! George's otherworldly incantation and all those phased drums and swirling cellos, Good God a'mighty, how does this not appeal? What is it you people want?

Look out. Me and Baron and Snarfy constitute a pretty formidable gang!

I think it's great too. It's one of the most vivid songs in the Beatles repertoire... LA probably doesn't get fogged-in too often, but I've always pictured it thusly. It's one of the only songs about pop star ennui that actually translates as something we can all relate too. And the music expresses the lyrical perspective so perfectly.

It's one of my favorites and is a highlight of Harrison's career.
Last edited by Guy E on 16 Apr 2010, 18:07, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Bungo the Mungo » 16 Apr 2010, 18:07

Guy E wrote:and is a highlight of Harrison's career.


bollocks.

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Guy E
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Guy E » 16 Apr 2010, 18:09

solarskope wrote:
Guy E wrote:and is a highlight of Harrison's career.


bollocks.

No, bluejays.
["Minnie the Stalker"]The first time that we met I knew I was going to make him mine.

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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Bungo the Mungo » 16 Apr 2010, 18:12

Guy E wrote:
solarskope wrote:
Guy E wrote:and is a highlight of Harrison's career.


bollocks.

No, bluejays.


i will not fight you on this, guye.

you have dropped your own bomb, and you shall reap the wreckage.

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Billybob Dylan
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Billybob Dylan » 16 Apr 2010, 18:22

Snarfyguy wrote:What is it you people want?

We wanna be free! We wanna be free to do what we wanna do! And we wanna get loaded! And we wanna have a good time! That's what we're gonna do! We're gonna have a good time! We're gonna have a party!
"I've been reduced to thruppence!"

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Guy E
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Guy E » 16 Apr 2010, 18:31

solarskope wrote:i will not fight you on this, guye.

you have dropped your own bomb, and you shall reap the wreckage.

I suppose you're one of the people who would drop Long, Long, Long from the White Album in pursuit of stiff upper lip single album frugality. :roll:
["Minnie the Stalker"]The first time that we met I knew I was going to make him mine.

Bungo the Mungo

Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Bungo the Mungo » 16 Apr 2010, 18:35

Guy E wrote:
solarskope wrote:i will not fight you on this, guye.

you have dropped your own bomb, and you shall reap the wreckage.

I suppose you're one of the people who would drop Long, Long, Long from the White Album in pursuit of stiff upper lip single album frugality. :roll:


i will do what's right for BCB.

i have no stiff upper lip where long, long, long is concerned.

think on.

sloopjohnc
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby sloopjohnc » 16 Apr 2010, 18:39

Trans-Chigley Express wrote:I vote 'Good'. I always enjoy when it starts but get bored by the end. Like M says the monotony of the "Don't Be Long" sequence drags a bit but I really like the mood as it slowly gets going into its plodding rhythm.


That's it for me too, although I don't think I get as bored by the end as you do.
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Sneelock

Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Sneelock » 16 Apr 2010, 18:41

have you no psylosibin? no magic mushrooms?

Sneelock

Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Sneelock » 16 Apr 2010, 18:42

no banana peels? no sterno?

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Charlie O.
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Re: Beatles song no 2: Blue Jay Way

Postby Charlie O. » 16 Apr 2010, 19:10

the hanging monkey wrote:If The Beatles had recorded themselves pissing into a tin bath ensemble then somebody on here would proclaim it a work of heart-rending genius.

And it quite possibly would be!

The Beatles were capable of making Magic out of the damnedest shit, and here's Exhibit A.

A gem, in spite of itself.
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