We Can't Work It Out: The Fab War -- Round 8

"I Am the Walrus" v. "Hello Goodbye" v. "Something" v. "Good Night"

In recent years, "Hello Goodbye" has become one of my very favorite Beatles' songs, but in the context of these bad boys I am having to once again reconsider it.

"Good Night" is nice and all, but its no real contender. Sure Ringo does a good job singing it, but its not that tough to sing, and his drumming is literally nonexistent. This definitely gets fourth this round.

Meanwhile, the dark horse is finally starting to pull his weight. "Something" is simply gorgeous. The songwriting is impeccable, and George's guitar lays down a guitar line tender enough for Al Green to sing over. Each sting simmers with emotion and nuance. Mark it a win for George.

So who's really left to battle it out is John and Paul, fittingly with a pairing of songs that originally appeared as opposite sides of a 45. "I Am the Walrus" is the quirkier and more experimental number. Lyrically, it is more or less nonsensical, but that's not entirely true. The title comes from Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter" and the song is a pastiche of several portions of ancient, obscure nursery rhymes. The sound effects are great, expecially the laughter of the joker at the expert textpert choking smoker, which brings up the amazing wordplay. There is a ton of great alliteration that is included for the sake of enjoying language. Some words are more fun to say than others, and "I Am the Walrus" picks up on that. Then there's that weird guy in the background rambling on about what sounds to be an "Edgar Allen duck." Great song.

"Hello Goodbye" is poppy and the chord structure works very well for it, but other than sounding good I'll have to admit that it is fairly lightweight. Granted, I prefer relying on the practical things like melody, and this song has those aspects in spades, but overall it lacks the fun and doesn't elicit the awed wonder that "I Am the Walrus" does. The lyrics, especially, drag on a bit after awhile.

This round:

John - 3
Paul - 2
George - 4
Ringo - 1

Totals thus far:

Paul - 24
John - 24
George - 18
Ringo - 14