1. “Dig A Pony”
Dig A Pony contained mostly nonsense lyrics, which Lennon dismissed in 1980 as “another piece of garbage”. However, some tantalising references can be found, including to The Beatles’ one-time name Johnny and the Moondogs (“I pick a moondog”) and Mick Jagger (I roll a stoney/Well you can imitate everyone you know”).
2. “Sun King”
Next in the Abbey Road medley is one of the Beatles’ most beautiful yet mysterious tracks, “Sun King.” In later years, John Lennon dismissed “Sun King” as “a piece of garbage I had around,” but its lovely harmonies and mystical lyrics transform it into an entrancing listening experience.
3. “Mean Mr. Mustard”
John Lennon wrote most of this when he was in India at the Maharishi’s meditation camp with the other Beatles in 1967. He didn’t think much of the song, calling it and “Polythene Pam” “finished bits of crap that I wrote in India.”
4. “Rocky Raccoon”
He was very embarrassed by this one, especially all the cover versions of it that came along. “I saw Bob Hope doing it once on the telly years ago,” he said in an interview. “I just thanked God it wasn’t one of mine.”
5. “Birthday”
“I think Paul wanted a song like ‘Happy Birthday Baby,’ the old ’50s hit,” he said. “It was a piece of garbage.”
6. “Cry Baby Cry”
The song was completed in India, and the group recorded a demo at George Harrison’s Esher house in May 1968.
Lennon was later dismissive of Cry Baby Cry, describing it in 1980 as “a piece of rubbish”. The song’s most obvious debt was to the nursery rhyme Sing A Song Of Sixpence, with which it shares a number of lyrical themes:
Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?The king was in his counting house counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!
7. “Hello, Goodbye”
John was furious that this song was chosen to be an A-side over his more experimental “I Am the Walrus.” “It wasn’t a great piece,” he said of the McCartney tune. “The best bit was the end, which we all ad-libbed in the studio, where I played piano.”
8. “Lady Madonna”
“Good piano lick, but the song never really went anywhere,” he said. “Maybe I helped [Paul] with some of the lyrics, but I’m not proud of them either way.”
9. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”
John despised this song, and resented that the band spent more time on it in the studio than anything else on the White Album.
10. “Martha My Dear”
Both John and George hated this one, and saw it as an example of Paul writing songs that were not very personal.
11. “When I’m Sixty-Four”
John snidely referred to this one as “granny music.” When asked about the authorship of the song, he said it was “Paul’s, completely. I would never dream of writing a song like that.”
12. “Lovely Rita”
John saw this as an example of the sort of fictitious, message-free song he disliked. “I’m not interested in writing about people like that,” he said, dismissing the tune. “I like to write about me, because I know me.”
13. “Good Morning, Good Morning”
John never liked this one, and would eventually call it “a piece of garbage.”
14. “Run for Your Life”
John dismissed this one as “just sort of a throwaway song.”
15. “A Taste of Honey”
Lennon thought the Bobby Scott/Rick Marlow song was too old-fashioned and spitefully called it “A Waste of Money.”
16. “It’s Only Love”
“That’s the one song I really hate of mine,” he told Hit Parader in 1972. “Terrible lyric.”
John was John. I didn’t like A Taste of Honey but some of the ones he thought were bad I thought were either pretty good or at least they had a nice melody and served their purpose on the album. I especially disagree with him about “It’s Only Love” which is very simple I agree but has a very nice melody and feel to it. In other interviews some of the songs that John loved I thought were just O.K. but to him it was all about the lyric, or the experimental element that was out there. I admired him for that but I also think that from the listener/fan’s standpoint he wasn’t always right. Sorry John to disagree some but I wish you were here today so we could argue about it. We all love you still and miss you.
My favorite Beatles record was “Beatles for Sale” where they aren’t under much pressure for lyrics, just jamming out or “smoking other peoples’ shit”…while their own songs are priceless this album just rocks out. Only a group that established with the hearts of the world could make OPS sound like they owned it all no matter what.
I always enjoyed “Beatles for Sale” the album sold in America where they rock out on “other peoples’ (stuff)”. No pressure on them to write anything just belt out fine rock n roll standards. That album proved to me that no matter what they sang, wrote or played, the Beatles were a true rock n roll band. The songs they’d written on that record were of course great too but the sound of all of them unleashing on those standards always raises the hair on my neck and forces my foot down a little farther on the old accelerator…particularly “Mr. Moonlight” (Lennon), “Kansas City” (McCartney), “Everybody’s Trying to be my Baby” (Harrison), and “Honey Don’t” (Starr)…no matter what John says the campy, oddball tunes they managed to get away with once in awhile remain charming when you look at their entire work. Somehow they were able to sell “hello hello, I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello” and everybody thought they were geniuses…I guess they were.