The History and Popular Music of the ’60s class learned about the Beatles’ complex, 1968 self-titled double LP. Here are their reactions.
Lily Brooks:
“The White Album” was my first introduction to real music. My iPod was filled with Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber until I went to see the “White Album” performed live [as covers]. I believe my first year going I was six, it was probably my first concert too. My dad and about 20 of his friends would gather in front of the theater early to get seats all together. I was convinced I wouldn’t like the cover band called The Nowhere Band: until “Back to the U.S.S.R.” started playing. The quick and loud drums immediately drew me in and before I knew it I was tapping my foot to the beat. Despite the fact that there was a circus performing on one half of the stage, the concert felt like a party. Corny but good songs like “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Piggies” and “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” had the audience up from their seats and singing along as an actor set himself on fire or acrobats swung across the stage. Then songs like “My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Blackbird” would pull me into an emotional trace. The album is not cohesive by any means. Songs like “Revolution 9” and “Good Night” being put next to each other proves this. Despite this “the White Album,” in my opinion, is the best Beatles album. It showcases the band’s talent and humor as musicians/songwriters by creating a mix of goofy and sentimental songs. There is not a song on this album that I don’t like. I even appreciate the pure chaos of “Revolution 9” because it was something that the Beatles had never done before.
It’s almost impressive that this album was finished in the first place. McCartney and Lennon treated the rest of the group like their backup, as the majority of the songs that made it onto the album was written by one of the two. The behind the scenes drama such as Ringo Starr quitting for a short period and the controversial relationship between Lennon and Yoko created tension. That being said, that tension and pressure made a diamond: their album. I wish George Harrison had more songs on the album (and in general) because I think he offered a different perspective that would have deepened the emotional depth of their songs.
I personally like the first half of the record more, not to say that the second half is bad either. My favorite songs from it are ever changing but currently are “Julia,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Yer Blues.” The plain white cover does not do the album justice, which I assume was an intentional choice made by the band. I wondered why the Beatles chose such a bland cover when previously they had beautiful artwork on Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolver. I then realized that there is not a piece of art that can encapsulate the experience of this album simply because of its wide variety of contents. It stands out from their other albums, looks wise, again I’m sure was intentional.
Sam Swartley:
I went in depth on the song “Rocky Racoon,” which is one of my all-time favorites. The imagery and emotions this song gives me is really something special, I did a drawing of the moments and feelings that really stood out. I highlighted this theme of red, showing love, hate and death.
Alex Skiles:
This is my artistic response to the song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. The anecdote goes that George Harrison wrote the song as an exercise in randomness. He picked up a book at random, saw the phrase “gently weeps,” and started writing. The fact that my favorite song on this album was created purely by chance is a super cool idea to me, and I want to simulate what some alternate reality George Harrison might have came up with if they had picked up different books and chosen different random words, so I wrote a script that takes a random adverb and verb, puts them together, and adds it to “while my guitar,” and adding an ‘s,’ Mad-Libs style. You can see the cost of my lack of proofreading some of these words with “doubtfully qualifys” and “upside-down interferes,” but I think it gets the idea across. The hope is that you read some of these to the tune of the song and imagine George Harrison lamenting the disharmony of the Beatles while describing how his guitar lovingly exercises, or anxiously heaps. If there was one thing I could change about this, I’d make the instrument random too.
Conor McGeady:
The Beatles’ self titled album, more commonly known as “The White Album,” is nothing short of an embodiment of the rock and roll movement. While this LP plays more like a compilation than a digestible album, that doesn’t take away from the brilliance of many of the tracks. Songs like “Dear Prudence,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Julia” and “Revolution 9” are all serious contenders for some of the most well-known Beatles songs of all time, up there with “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” or “Here Comes the Sun.” In other words, this album is the quintessential Beatles album. If you’re a fan of anything that came out of the ’60s rock and roll scene, then you will definitely be able to find something that you enjoy on this record.
Beyond the standout tracks, another point of interest of this record is the variety it offers. If you are at all interested in rock music, especially from the ’60s-’70s, then it’s pretty much guaranteed to like at least a few tracks on this album. If you’re more into the slower, more lyrically based songs, similar to Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen, there are songs such as “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” or “Julia.” If you like the more energetic poppy side of rock, similar to the Beach Boys or the Who, there are options such as “Back in the U.S.S.R., or “Birthday.” For psychedelic fans, there are tracks such as “Don’t Pass Me By,” or “Happiness is a Warm Gun.” Long story short, there’s something for everyone on this album.
While there are some outstanding tracks on the LP ranging from many different genres, I will say that the variety of sound can also feel slightly disorganized and scattered, which can be a little awkward to listen to, even if you have it on in the background. There are times where it seemingly changes from a slow ballad like “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” straight into an almost country-ish and experimental song like “Happiness is a Warm Gun.” In my opinion, it doesn’t take away from either song individually, but can take a little away from the listening experience overall.
Pritam Khalsa:
The Beatles’ self titled album––often referred to as “The White Album”––was written when the band members were struggling to work well together. They wanted the music to go in different directions which resulted in a double album containing 30 songs. Each song sounds different from the next and most of the music does not go together compared to other albums. Despite this, “The White Album” is considered a great album. For my response, I chose to look at the song “Cry Baby Cry” which was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It has beautiful imagery in the lyrics and I could imagine what everything looked like in this world. The king of Marigold and the queen making breakfast, playing the piano and going about their day. I painted how I imagined the first verse of them cooking and playing the piano. In my mind, the kind is a marigold flower and the queen is an aster flower which live well together.
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