1968 was also the year that Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were both assassinated just 2 months apart, America grieving yet again resulting in deadly riots across the country. All of this just one year after the summer of love, talk of violent revolution in the air, which became part of the growing chaos that the Beatles returned to after meditating in peace with Maharishi.
It's been 44 years since I heard it, so Youtube informs me. It's not genius, I think for that it needs to be something very original, it's interesting and therefore worthy.
Well said. "Audacious" is indeed the perfect word. I respect bands that aren't afraid to construct and release a track like this, knowing full well that many will simply scorn it. Even a half century later! This is especially true when it is 1968 and you are the biggest pop group in the world. As stated before, if everyone found this track logical, engaging and worthwhile, then it would defeat the very reason why it was made. "Liking" this track was not the purpose of it.
Whenever I make love to someone, I play Revolution #9 as mood music. If the song and my face don’t terrify the person, I know it’s love.
Can one of you Rev 9 scholars out there post a list of extant Revolution tracks that could be cobbled together into an album?
You are allowed an opinion, although some think that means they brow beat others to avoid a thread simply because it exists.
Amen Brother. Take 20 of Rev 1 (with all the great overdubs missing on the Deluxe White Album take) also blew my head wide open when it was briefly available on the Net. THAT track is pure genius, not Rev 9. The reason? Because there's a constant musical backing track (and endless shoo-be-do-wahs) behind all the mayhem and freakiness going on, on top. Rev 9 without a backing track is just random audio cut and paste. I will say however Rev 9 is well done and has a flow to it but it would have been better suited for one of John's solo Zapple albums instead of a Beatles album. Hey Jude or It's All Too Much (along with the full length Rev 1) would have a much better choice for Side 4 of White Album IMO. FYI there is a 'best of both worlds' Revolution edit on the Beatles Minus One series where the compiler overlays some sound effects of Rev 9 on to take 20. It's also very well done.
They should have put Take 20 on the White Album box. Luckily, I snagged the boot when it was released. Fantastic version.
It's the track that impressed me the most when I first heard the 'White Album'. That doesn't mean it's the one I enjoyed the most, or thought was best, but it did impress me. I doubt it's a work of genius, but it does demonstrate skill and intention. And it says something. I think I probably still see it as the 'White Album's' defining track.
If there's such a thing as an artistic genius, Lennon was one. And this is his work. During his prime. And it's a great song. Of course, as others have pointed out, he and Yoko did not invent musique concrète. But I can't think of a more … musical example; it's so engrossing — hell, it's downright catchy. And the lyrics are hilarious. There are self-proclaimed Beatles fans who hate it. There are also Beatles fans who hate Old Brown Shoe. Go figure. This is a great Beatles track and The Beatles would be incomplete without it. With all the disparate numbers that precede this track, the double LP comes to a real climax with this most outré selection. The denouement that follows wisely suggests slumber. Gee, what a great album.
Great post. The Beatles may not have invented rock ‘n’ roll either but they sure did make it their own.
Thanks! Context can mean everything when it comes to the Beatles because it helps me further understand how songs came to be. After all, we seem to live in an age when it’s popular to take things out-of-context, unlike listening to complete albums in one session. How John edited those recordings & reassembled them with his signature is what makes his version of musique concrete unique in my view.