Making A Case For Revolution No. 9 ? Genius?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by JFSebastion, Sep 29, 2021.

  1. JFSebastion

    JFSebastion Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Maricopa Arizona
    Lyrics ( spoken/sing)

    Bottle of Clarett for you if I'd realized
    I'd forgotten all about it George, I'm sorry
    Will you forgive me?
    Mom yes

    Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9,
    Number 9, number 9, number 9,
    Number 9, number 9, number 9,
    Number 9, number 9, number
    Then there's this Welsh Rare it
    wearing some brown underpants
    About the storage of grain in
    Hertfordshire
    Everyone of them knew that as time went by they'd get a little bit older and a little bit slower but
    It's all the same thing, in this case
    Manufactured by
    Someone who's always umpteen
    Your father’s giving it diddly-i- dee
    district was leaving
    Intended to die
    Ottoman
    Long gone through
    I've got to say irritable and
    Floors, hard enough to put on
    Per day's MD in our district
    There's was not really enough light
    to get down
    And ultimately
    Slumped down
    Suddenly
    They may stop the funding
    Place your bets
    The original
    Afraid she'll die
    Great colours for the season
    Number 9, number 9
    Who's to know?
    Who was to know?
    Number 9, number 9, number 9
    Number 9, number 9, number 9
    Number 9, number 9, number 9
    Number 9, number 9, number 9
    I sustained nothing worse than
    Also, for example
    Whatever your doing
    A business deal falls through
    I informed him on the 3rd night,
    when fortune gives
    People ride, people ride
    Ride, ride, ride, ride
    Ride
    Number 9, number 9, number 9,
    number 9
    Ri-i-i-i-ide
    Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ide
    Number 9, number 9, number 9,
    number 9
    I've missed all of it
    It makes me a few day's late
    Compared with like wow!
    And weird stuff like that
    Taking our sides sometimes
    Floral bark
    Rough doctors have brought this
    specimen

    I have nobody's short cuts, aha
    Nine, number 9
    With the situation
    They are standing still

    The plan, the telegram
    ( Hubbbbba hubbbbba, hubbbbbbba,
    hubbbbbba, hubbbbba number 9, number Hubbba )
    A man without terrors from beard to false

    As the headmaster reported to my son
    He can really try, as they do, to find
    function
    Tell what he was saying, and his voice
    was low and his hive high
    And his eyes were low

    Alright!
    It was on fire and his glasses were the
    same
    This thing know if it was tinted
    But you know it isn't

    To me it is...
    Number 9, number 9, number 9,
    Number 9, number 9, number 9
    Number 9, number 9, number 9
    Number 9, number 9

    So the wife called me and we better
    go to see a surgeon
    To price yellow underclass
    So any road, we went to see a dentist
    instead
    That gave her a pair of teeth which
    wasn't any good at all

    So I said I'd marry, join the ****ing
    navy and went to sea
    Block that kick, block that kick
    In my broken chair, my wings are
    broken and so is my hair
    I'm not in the mood for whirling

    How?
    Dogs for dogging, hands for clapping
    Bird's for birding, and fish for fishing
    Them for themming and when for whenning

    Only to find the night-watchman
    Unaware of his presence in the building
    Number 9, number 9, number 9
    Number 9, number 9, number 9

    Industry allows financial imbalance
    Thrusting it between his shoulder blades
    The watusi, the twist
    Eldorado

    Take this brother, may it serve you well
    Maybe it's nothing
    What? What oh...
    Maybe even then, impervious in London

    Could be difficult thing
    It's quick like rush for peace because it's so much
    Like being naked
    It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright

    It's alright, it's alright, it's alright,
    it's alright
    If you've become naked
    Block that kick, Block that kick,
    Block that kick, Block that kick

    Block that kick, Block that kick
    Block that kick, Block that kick
    Block that kick, Block that kick
    Block that kick, Block that kick
    Block that kick, Block that kick
    Block that kick, Block that kick
    Fade out

    Is this genius at work?
    I've listened to this collage many times. Too me it never gets old.
    Unlike anything the Beatles released. Giving a nod to Carnival of Light which has yet to see a release.
    It was a cause for division within the band. John defended it's release
    Paul objected.
    What is your take ?
    I think it makes the White Album
    that much better.
    I know this is out there, but so is the song.
    Opinions?
     
  2. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    the_redgrin, boggs, Bern and 11 others like this.
  3. Mr.Mustache

    Mr.Mustache Forum Resident

    I like the song a lot, and I also skip past it often.
     
  4. DVEric

    DVEric Satirical Intellectual

    Location:
    New England
    It isn’t genius, nor is it original. It’s just Musique Concrete. John Lennon added nothing to the genre/exercise. And to call it art means nothing. Every song on The White Album is art.
     
    Zongadude, zphage, GowG and 21 others like this.
  5. AFOS

    AFOS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brisbane,Australia
    Like I said in another thread it's arguably the Beatles greatest work of art. Genius IMO. Reading through the lyrics it's quite likely it was an influence on Radiohead's "Fitter Happier" Especially as we know that "Paranoid Android" was influenced by "Happiness Is A Warm Gun"

     
  6. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    I think it achieves what it set out to do, which is to be an audio chronicle of what an actual revolution would sound like: disorganized chaos, and not even in the sirens-wailing Hollywood description. It's like looking out a window at your burning street rather than following the action. It's unsettling and it doesn't offer any closure. It's realistic in that way.

    As far as experimental music goes, I think it's exceptionally boring and not enjoyable to listen to. I like experimental music, but I don't think it's a good entry in the genre. Genius? No. Just because it achieves what it set out to do doesn't mean it's genius. If that were the case, the Macarena song would be genius, and anyone with ears can tell you that it's not.

    I respect "Revolution 9" for successfully capturing the essence and spirit of an actual revolution in musical form. I dislike it for the same reason.
     
  7. Evethingandnothing

    Evethingandnothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon
    Is it not Welsh Rarebit (a.k.a cheese on toast)?

    Number nine, number nine........

    Doesn't matter to me if the musique concrete sound collage patchwork thingy had been done before. Regular songs had been done before, so not much difference there. Only thing that matters is does it work and do I like it? Answer to both is yes indeedy.
     
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2021
  8. onlyconnect

    onlyconnect The prose and the passion

    Location:
    Winchester, UK
    I rate it above 8 and a little below 10.

    Tim :)
     
  9. klaatuhf

    klaatuhf Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
  10. dsdu

    dsdu less serious minor pest

    Location:
    Santa Cruz, CA
    As opposed to pointed Beatles threads?
     
    SolMerse, starduster, keef00 and 7 others like this.
  11. Heavy Metal Snow White

    Heavy Metal Snow White Just A Rock N' Roll Clown

    Location:
    USA
  12. JFSebastion

    JFSebastion Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Maricopa Arizona
    And yet I tried pulling up anything with Revolution 9 in the title and nothing came up. However, did anyone offer to type out the spoken and sung words to this work? No. And that's only the one aspect of this piece. Its sound affects almost hang together like a song. The piece ebbs and flows. Unlike a lot of avant-garde work where the listener can be more puzzled or left cold by the work. This conceptualized piece is instead thought provoking and far and away better than most works of this type.
    I meant no disrespect to any other thread that covered any part of Revolution 9. I believe there's room for both.
     
  13. JFSebastion

    JFSebastion Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Maricopa Arizona
    I don't skip it, but I marvel that the album closes with Good Night which is also a Lennon song. They couldn't be further apart as songs go.
     
  14. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    It's a perfect end to the 'white album'.* After being caressed, charmed and assaulted by this astonishing variety of sounds and styles, "Revolution 9" leaves no surreal/Dadaistic/found sound stone unturned to climax the album and send you off to Dreamland.


    *Yes, yes, I know, "Good Night". But that track doesn't feel like the end of the album, it's more the music playing as the credits roll.
     
    EricSwan, Joe N, Jerquee and 18 others like this.
  15. Gregalor

    Gregalor Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    You believe there’s room for a new thread that’s redundant to another recent one, just because you typed out the words?
     
    BluesOvertookMe, 905 and ARK like this.
  16. Galeans

    Galeans Forum Resident

    Location:
    Italy
    No, it's not genius and it's not groundbreaking: experiments like these had already been done before and I have heard better ones. This said, I find it well made and I enjoy listening to it. John created an interesting nightmarish soundscape.
     
  17. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
  18. Kassonica

    Kassonica Forum Resident

    It’s in my top 10 all time Beatles tracks and up there with the best the 60’s had to offer.

    There is nothing like it that I know from any other mainstream band of the time and it was light years ahead of its time even though it was heavily inspired by musique concrete, it brought that genre into the mainstream.

    10 out of 10 and I rate very few Beatles track that high.
     
  19. Saul Pimon

    Saul Pimon Co-hosts Nothing Is Real Beatles Podcast (Jason!)

    Location:
    Dublin

    Has everyone seen this? It’s very good.
     
  20. Kassonica

    Kassonica Forum Resident

    Never from a mainstream band and never in such a way.

    It was truly groundbreaking, context is everything and the white album is way better because of it.
     
  21. Cledwyn

    Cledwyn Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Wales
    FWIW, Revolution 9 and Good Night are the only (non-German language) tracks I ever skip on Beatles albums - in part because it's easy to just press stop after Cry Baby Cry. I appreciate how they contribute much to the slightly "creepy" vibe of the White Album but just don't like them that much - though I do quite like the Good Night outtake in the White Album SDE.

    I would also skip Fitter Happier if it was any longer. :)
     
  22. AFOS

    AFOS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brisbane,Australia
    Why must some whine and whinge about a thread,if it upsets your delicate sensibilities just ignore
     
  23. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    It's a piece of nothing.
     
  24. docwebb

    docwebb Forum Resident

    I wish Carnival of Light would be released so we could have a poll on which is better.
     
  25. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    No such thing.
     

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