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?
I wouldn't call it genius, but it is a work of art. It certainly marks the White Album apart from every other Beatles record. We did go round and around on the subject recently in a thread with a far less charitable opening post: What was the purpose of "Revolution #9" and what was John Lennon's reason for creating it?
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.
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"
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.
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.
Yet another pointless Beatles thread that has been discussed recently to the max..... What was the purpose of "Revolution #9" and what was John Lennon's reason for creating it?
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.
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.
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.
You believe there’s room for a new thread that’s redundant to another recent one, just because you typed out the words?
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.
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.
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.
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.