Across the Universe

Across the Universe by the Beatles



I'm sure there are bands out there who changed as much as the Beatles did in terms of song writing, style, and even ability over the course of their career. But no one has ever done it as well as the Beatles. Think about it—the Stones pretty much kept writing the same style song over and over again. Even when they 'broke away' like on "Exile on Main Street", really it's just stripped down Stones songs off of other albums. The Who tried different means of writing (the rock opera), but Townshend never really changed his style, he always wanted to rock out. U2 claims they have, but they really haven't and when they really did they didn't do it nearly as well. As R.E.M. and Pearl Jam matured, they weren't nearly as good. Bruce Springsteen didn't even bother to even try to change. Marvin Gaye did on "What's Going On" but then went back to being Marvin Gaye (only more sexual). And every singer song writer just keeps writing the same type of song over and over again. The only band I can come up with is Radiohead. Early Radiohead and Radiohead of today is like two different bands. And the same is true for the Beatles.

The Beatles were a pop band, and they remain the greatest pop rock band. But, and I'm not breaking any new ground here, in the mid-60s the Beatles basically said "fuck it" to pop and set out to write killer songs—even Paul (once in a while). John was the most ambitious, and sometimes it didn't work, but much of the time it did (thanks, apparently to Paul, who was the best thing ever to happen to John Lennon, only John Lennon sort of forgot this/never realized this. Even though I think every music critic would disagree, John needed Paul more than Paul needed John. This is probably because Paul is a pretentious bore and wasn't murdered by a rabid fan, therefore we give John the benefit of the doubt. But most great Beatle songs seem to have Lennon as the main author, but it was Paul's subtle influence that put many of these songs over the top).

Like Across the Universe. Paul's influence is limited, but like all songs by the Beatles, someone was saying something to these guys in the studio. Who it was and what it was is always sort of a mystery, but it's obvious it was going on since neither Lennon or McCartney even came close to writing songs during their solo career that can compete with their work with the Beatles.