The Beatles bad for society?

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Epistemes said:
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” never has seemed to bother me. The lyrics seem quite cartoonish to me, for some reason. Probably because it’s Paul.

“Run for your Life,” on the other hand, has always made me wonder, probably because it’s John.
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I agree. “Maxwell’s silver hammer” even has the little “clang-clang” sound effect. Actually I find that song pretty annoying, and totally out of place on Abbey Road. I would rather they just extend “I want you - she’s so heavy” by a couple more minutes. It’s like they just ran out of room on side one and it got cut off. Or heck, give us an extended guitar solo on Octopus’s Garden. It’s a silly song too, but not annoying, and it kinda rocks.
 
I am a Catholic man and have been a Beatles fan since 1964. I have also written many articles on the band.
The original post had many innacuracies in it that I would like to clear up.
First the quote from John was incorrect, and the inference was inncorrect. If you want to look it up, it was in an interview with Maureen Cleeve. It was an off-hand remark to begin with. He was decrying the fact that the Beatles meant more to kids than Jesus did. He did do this in an off-hand manner but it wasn’t meant as it was interpreted by a lot of nutballs.
I have never in all of the books I have read ever seen anywhere where Paul said “LSD was better (or whatever) than Jesus”.
This is not to say that the Beatles were highly religous people, they weren’t. Neither were they antagonistic towards religion either.
But as entertainers, they were the most positive force in pop music in the 20th century. There were some songs that may not be perfectly “Christian” per se, but nothing dangerous in general. You can read in almost all of the books written about them that they wanted to be positive and good.
This on the other hand doesn’t mean that they avoided controversy or off subjects. They did.
I also would do some reading before you make blanket statements about the songs. some examples:
  1. the oft cited Helter Skelter is simply based on a spiral slide, which in England was called a “Helter Skelter”
  2. "Norwegian Wood is actually based on a joke and not to promote anything per se. If you want to see what the joke is, read the book aboutPaul McCartney written by Miles
    I would also suggest that you lighten up on this stuff. If you are secure spiritually you can survive enjoying the Beatles and many other forms of entertainment out there.
    I have been listening to them for over 40 years and I am a candidate for the deaconate. Thanks.
 
"I’d rather see you dead little girl
than to be with another man’

And if this lyric bothers you you may want to go after Elvis Presley who wrote this phrase in one of his songs which John simply “lifted”…👍
 
And if this lyric bothers you you may want to go after **Elvis Presley who wrote this phrase **in one of his songs which John simply “lifted”…
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True to a point, except that Elvis didn’t write it. He actually wrote very little original music. The actual writer was Albert Gunter and Lennon freely admitted to the lift.

For myself I like a Lennon quote that goes something to the notion that music doesn’t drive society, it only reflects it.

John
 
Bobby_Jim said:
That’s “Run for your life” from Rubber Soul (overall a great album). Between that one & “Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendirx, I realize that misogyny & violence against women is nothing unique to 1990s & 2000s rap and hip-hop.
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Hmm, but couldn’t it be considered that the ideas in these songs are exaggerating to make a point? That men take loyalty very seriously? Not that I think killing a woman for her unfaithfulness is justified (though some other middle easterns would), but I can understand a guy being pretty mad about it.

One song that I particularly like about this situation is ‘Guilty Conscience’ by Dr. Dre and Eminem. I’ve had bits of this stuck in my head lately, in fact. (It’s pretty vulgar though). In this song the conscience and the bad voice are kinda arguing at the start about what the guy should do. Funny thing is, at the end, the conscience ends up agreeing with the bad voice and recommending that he shoots 'em both.
 
My husband and I are devout, but we also love The Beatles. I especially love “I Will” and “Blackbird”. (My husband used to serenade me with that on a guitar when we were dating.)

I listen to this kind of music as well as secular operas, or ballets, etc. for enjoyment value. Not to receive moral instruction or spiritual enlightenment. I save that for the sacred and absolute music of the classical realms.

I was a fairly intelligent child, but stil very innocent and naive in the actual meanings of these songs including the post Beatles songs of Lennon and McCartney. They were just fun songs to me. I remember always singing “Michelle” to my baby sister after she was born since her name was also Michelle. My siblings and I used to own a yellow raft and when we went swimming in our pond, we’d turn it upside down and start singng “The Yellow Submarine”. I had no idea of what “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was all about until high school. I had even written a music research report on them while everyone else was writing reports on the current bands of my day - which I could care less about. I knew more them than I wanted to from that report, but by then my parents had ingrained in us a strong moral and religious compass. So nothing the Beatles did or any celebrity did, for that matter, could ever influence me to lead my life in a “wrong” way. I just enjoyed the music.

I do agree,though, that “Run for Your Life” is a bit disturbing. “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” is really more cartoonish than serious. But most of the rest of their songs are great fun.
 
john1863 said:
True to a point, except that Elvis didn’t write it. He actually wrote very little original music. The actual writer was Albert Gunter and Lennon freely admitted to the lift.

For myself I like a Lennon quote that goes something to the notion that music doesn’t drive society, it only reflects it.

John
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Thanks you are correct on that one…I don’t remember the Lennon quote but it sounds like him. I agree that most of it is a reflection and per-se it is up to the individual to gain what they will from it. Since they were (and are) so huge people would read more into the work than often is there in the first place, or what was intended. They were serious about the actual work, but much has been read into what they did that simply isn’t there. If you knew that , for example, that Paul usually wrote the tune first and “found” lyrics that fit you would think differently. Yesterday, for example, was in his head a year and a half before they recorded it. There are accounts from those around him talking about how they were annoyed with this ditty he kept playing which didn’t yet have words…and when it began to he used “Scrambled Eggs oh my baby how I love you legs” for the first line instead of “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away”…so it didn’t necessarily come from some heart felt sentiment…:).
My overall concern, and I have seen it a lot, is that there is this over worrying about what could happen listening to music. It is as if there is evil in the music waiting to grab you, and there simply isn’t. If one has to worry so much about such things, then they have bigger problems than anything the Beatles ever could inflict on you.
My wife referred me to this forum because I am a Beatles fan and a Catholic and she thought I would find it interesting.
 
My fiance and I are having our first dance to, 'In My Life"-a beautiful song. “In My Life” will be inscribed in our wedding bands. I love the Beatles, they have some weird stuff but their good stuff is great.
 
A lot of the songs on the White Album have some creepy lyrics!

*At twelve o’clock a meeting round the table
For a seance in the dark
With voices out of nowhere
Put on specially by the children for a lark.
*

-Cry, Baby Cry
 
spangler1982 said:
A lot of the songs on the White Album have some creepy lyrics!

-Cry, Baby Cry
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Oh man, that’s like one of THE BEST songs on that album! That’s in my top 10 favorite Beatle songs.

Thanks spangler. Now it’s stuck in my head and I’m gonna havta pull out that CD when I get home!
Qwikness said:
My fiance and I are having our first dance to, 'In My Life"-a beautiful song. “In My Life” will be inscribed in our wedding bands. I love the Beatles, they have some weird stuff but their good stuff is great.
Click to expand...
Another favorite. I serenaded my wife with this song back in the days when I was “woo-ing” her. 😊 My oldest son was “colicky” {read allergies and we didn’t know it} when he was a baby so I spent many nights singing to him trying to get him to calm down and fall asleep and this one always made it in there.
 
beatle said:
I am a Catholic man and have been a Beatles fan since 1964. I have also written many articles on the band.
The original post had many innacuracies in it that I would like to clear up.
First the quote from John was incorrect, and the inference was inncorrect. If you want to look it up, it was in an interview with Maureen Cleeve. It was an off-hand remark to begin with. He was decrying the fact that the Beatles meant more to kids than Jesus did. He did do this in an off-hand manner but it wasn’t meant as it was interpreted by a lot of nutballs.
I have never in all of the books I have read ever seen anywhere where Paul said “LSD was better (or whatever) than Jesus”.
This is not to say that the Beatles were highly religous people, they weren’t. Neither were they antagonistic towards religion either.
But as entertainers, they were the most positive force in pop music in the 20th century. There were some songs that may not be perfectly “Christian” per se, but nothing dangerous in general. You can read in almost all of the books written about them that they wanted to be positive and good.
This on the other hand doesn’t mean that they avoided controversy or off subjects. They did.
I also would do some reading before you make blanket statements about the songs. some examples:
  1. the oft cited Helter Skelter is simply based on a spiral slide, which in England was called a “Helter Skelter”
  2. "Norwegian Wood is actually based on a joke and not to promote anything per se. If you want to see what the joke is, read the book aboutPaul McCartney written by Miles
    I would also suggest that you lighten up on this stuff. If you are secure spiritually you can survive enjoying the Beatles and many other forms of entertainment out there.
    I have been listening to them for over 40 years and I am a candidate for the deaconate. Thanks.
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:clapping:
 
I’m 21 and have recently started listening to the music of the beatles. I’m not going to say I like every song by them.
I do the same with some of their music that I do with any other artist I like. If I find a song on their album that has something questionable, I won’t listen to that song, I’ll just skip over it.
Not if itunes will only start carrying their music:(
 
puzzleannie said:
don’t confuse the music of the beatles, who broke up in 1968, with later music by any of them when they were on their own or with other groups. Lennon went off on his own tangent, and his later music is not Beatles. Compared to other groups of the 60s, their stuff is neither more or less objectionable, you want objectionable, look at the Stones. compared to rap, hip hop and alternative playing on the airwaves now, the beatles are positively innocence personified.

why would your kids be listening to the beatles anyhow, don’t they regard that as old folks music, like my grandkids do?
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not really some of the beatles songs are just as bad… even if they sound more innocent…

Which is why i prefer artists like Elvis to the beatles 😉 can’t say his music is bad at all…
 
A lot of interesting viewpoints here. As far as song lyrics go, I think it’s fair to say any number of them could be easily targeted for any point of controversy. There will always be those who don’t care one way or the other, are crazy about it, or think it’s awful. So what does that say about the song? Little more than it comes down to a matter of opinion, like anything else. Who’s going to say this or that about Beatles’ songs and be absolutely ‘correct’? Let’s not over-analyze this, ok. It’s JUST a song. If you don’t like it, that’s all right. If you don’t want your kids listening to it, maybe they’re old enough to decide for themselves. It’s their right just like it was ours, remember?
 
Heh heh heh… I thought about this when I was getting dressed this morning, deciding if I would post or not. Basically my thoughts come down to three points:
  1. As an artist, I greatly admire John Lennon because he had talent and he used it to try to make the world a better place. Do I agree with things he did, like his drug use and adultery? Of course not. But I do find his message of peace very relevant to the human condition. I was listening to “Give Peace a Chance” earlier today and it did strike a cord.
  2. He didn’t say the Beatles were more powerful then Christ, but that they were more popular then Christ and he did find it absurd. Also, “Imagine no heaven/hell/and no religion too” wasn’t anti-religion. On a DVD I have of his music, he’s talking that it’s not imagine there’s no God, though a person is entitled to do that as well. But what he was talking about was a world where everyone could hold their beliefs and practice them without persecution. No, it’s not the message we as Christians promote, because we know Jesus is the Truth, the Way and the Light, but that leads us to point three:
  3. Do we believe wisdom can only come from Christians? Was Ghandi not a great man and was Confucious not wise because they weren’t Christian? And should we not learn from them because they don’t share our faith? When it comes to the cause of peace, I find John Lennon’s (and some of the Beatles) music to be very wise.
Oh, and even if “Let It Be” was about Paul’s mother Mary, it always lifts my heart and reminds me of OUR Mother Mary. 🙂
 
I know this thread is pretty old…but…if its about The Beatles. ha

“I need a fix ‘cause I’m going down,” from Happiness is A Warm Gun reference his own addiction to heroin. Tomorrow Never Knows is obviously about an LSD trip based on books by Timothy Leary.

^ Well first, John saw a magazine article advertizing guns saying clearly on the page ‘Hapiness is A Warm Gun’ and that is what gave him the idea for the title. I’m not sure about Tomarrow Never Knows, although. The whole John Lennon/Beatles being bad for society? I don’t think so. I’d rather listen to them then other bands of the 60s and 70s. Along with music from today…I find John very inspiring in his own matter. He had opinions. I don’t really care if they conflict with my religion. He inspires me to get more involved with peace around the world. what more can i say?
 
RandomRhapsody said:
Heh heh heh… I thought about this when I was getting dressed this morning, deciding if I would post or not. Basically my thoughts come down to three points:
  1. As an artist, I greatly admire John Lennon because he had talent and he used it to try to make the world a better place. Do I agree with things he did, like his drug use and adultery? Of course not. But I do find his message of peace very relevant to the human condition. I was listening to “Give Peace a Chance” earlier today and it did strike a cord.
  2. He didn’t say the Beatles were more powerful then Christ, but that they were more popular then Christ and he did find it absurd. Also, “Imagine no heaven/hell/and no religion too” wasn’t anti-religion. On a DVD I have of his music, he’s talking that it’s not imagine there’s no God, though a person is entitled to do that as well. But what he was talking about was a world where everyone could hold their beliefs and practice them without persecution. No, it’s not the message we as Christians promote, because we know Jesus is the Truth, the Way and the Light, but that leads us to point three:
  3. Do we believe wisdom can only come from Christians? Was Ghandi not a great man and was Confucious not wise because they weren’t Christian? And should we not learn from them because they don’t share our faith? When it comes to the cause of peace, I find John Lennon’s (and some of the Beatles) music to be very wise.
Oh, and even if “Let It Be” was about Paul’s mother Mary, it always lifts my heart and reminds me of OUR Mother Mary. 🙂
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I also like your post very much:) i thought i was the only one on here that actually liked the beatles ha
 
The Beatles began in a very positive, easy for Catholics to relate to kind of way. “She Loves You,” “I Wanna Hold Yer Hand.” Then drugs, easterm mysticism, and after, John and Yoko.

"Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright, alright
“Be it wrong or be it right, it’s alright, alright…”

It reflected, to some degree, the morals and values of the early 1960s and by the end of the decade, they changed, crashing into the “Sexual and Drug Revolutions.” They lost me. George Harrison went toward Krishna. Paul started Wings which was OK, but no Beatles.

So, they started out good and got caught up in all the Hippie, Yippie, Free Love immorality that marked the end of the 1960s. Sad.

The song “Imagine” was about atheism and Communism. In the 1960s, the U.S. government was constantlyv reminding the American people that our enemy was Godless Communism.

Interestingly, our current problem seems to Godless Media Americanism.

Don’t be fooled into believing anything that happened in the 1960s was “innocent.” The people who denounced the Church, their parents, and The Establishment" knew what they were doing.

And by the way, most rap/hip-hop is obscene and profanity filled and should be banned.

God bless,
Ed
 
<<< "Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright, alright
“Be it wrong or be it right, it’s alright, alright…” >>>

For every lyric like that by the Beatles/Lennon there’s another one like: “All we are saying is give peace a chance” or “All you need is love.”

To me I think their message was mostly about peace and love, as was John Lennon’s. Was it a perfect message? No. But is any message outside of the Bible itself perfect? Does a message have to be Christian or from a Christian to be inspirational to us? I say no, but I’ve been around alot of non-Christians over the course of my life.

I fully plan on playing “Grow Old With Me” by John Lennon during the aisle march at my wedding instead of the standard wedding march. My mother, a very faithful Christian, had picked the song out for her daughter’s wedding when it first came out, at least a decade before my birth. She’s the one who got me into the music of John Lennon and my father taught me a winter’s afternoon two weeks before Christmas well over a decade ago that the Beatles were “real” music.

shrug My two cents…
 
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