Five Beatles songs that sound way ahead of their time
The Beatles are actually such a bizarre band, when you stop and genuinely take the time to think about it.
I don’t mean that in an insulting way; in fact, quite the opposite. It’s just strange that a band so intrinsically embedded into the heart of the culture of the 1960s, standing as one very specific moment in time, could still remain as transcendental and vital to the musical scene today as they ever were some six decades ago.
It should go without saying, but the Fabs were the ultimate beacons and changemakers for the state of music as we know it today. That extends far beyond the walls of just the genre of rock, too – ask almost any artist from any corner of the world what their most classic or formative influences are, and in some way or another, all roads will eventually lead back to The Beatles.
But, of course, that would never have happened if the Liverpudlian had stayed in their lane. They were cornerstones of the ‘60s, but were the maestros of such a massive back catalogue that often inevitably veered into territory far beyond their years. The Beatles themselves may have been mortal, but their music will never be. Indeed, it was the taste of the future the world never knew it needed.
Five songs by The Beatles that were years ahead of their time:
‘A Day In The Life’
Of all the possible futuristic Beatles songs ever out there, ‘A Day In The Life’ is perhaps not one of the most prominent examples that springs to mind. It remains among one of the band’s most famous tunes, but with its lyrics containing almost every ‘60s countercultural reference you could ever imagine, it seems easily a contender for a song that would date rapidly.
Yet that has never been the case, and it’s all largely thanks to one single concept: psychedelia. That’s a word you’ll likely hear a lot throughout this list, as well as when discussing the Fab Four’s discography at large, because it was infused in everything they sang and did. But the reality is: can you ever be stuck in a time and place when your head is in the clouds?
‘A Day In The Life’ embodied that spirit, but also took popular music beyond its wildest dreams with layered sounds and orchestral arrangements, the likes of which had never been heard before.
‘Rain’
‘Rain’ is a hilarious tune, but not for the reason that you might think. While for most other bands out there, this would represent a career-defining song because it’s so forward-thinking and transcendental, for The Beatles, it only ever made the B-side of a single. That’s the calibre we’re talking about here, where they would let futuristic masterpieces fly under the radar.
A single listen to the B-side of ‘Paperback Writer’ is enough for every bell in your head to be ringing, because how is it that perhaps the first ever example of Britpop could be found way back here in 1966, some three decades before the cannon was fired? Listen closely to the pronunciation and elongated vowels of the word “sunshine” – does that not remind you more than a little of Oasis on ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’? That’s the effect of the Gallaghers’ musical heroes right there.
‘Tomorrow Never Knows’
More than any other song of theirs, ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ was the absolute manifestation of The Beatles running wild.
It was 1966, but they were no longer concerned by the feat of having to produce their precise sound live. The far more interesting thing was pushing the equipment in the recording studio to its furthest limit, and that’s where we find this cacophony of technological uproar.
Somewhere between a religious incantation, drum and bass, and avant-garde is the only way that ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ could be described. The point is that it is both all of these things and none of them. It has no likeness, no label, no theme. It is simply experimentation, but in itself, this lit the path for a whole future where technology could become the most important instrument in music.
‘Oh! Darling’
By comparison, ‘Oh! Darling’ is anything but technological.
It is deep-seated and classic rock and roll with a blues twist, something that is defined as the bread and butter of The Beatles and the very genesis of where their roots began. So what exactly about this made it remotely ahead of its time?
Sure, the sound was similar to the early tunes of Fleetwood Mac, and the lyrical sentiments reminiscent of those shared by Elvis Presley, but the essential difference is Paul McCartney tearing his guts out to get the vocal performance over the line. No longer were the Fabs like they were in the early days, a harmonising barbershop quartet, but out-and-out rock gods. The screaming soul of Macca on ‘Oh! Darling’ was stadium rock before it ever had that name.
‘Helter Skelter’
In the years that followed after The Beatles had met their demise, it was easy to see the rock scene as having performed a complete pivot, as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin took the mantle, and heavy metal was here to stay. But this is almost unfairly cropping the Fabs out of the story, because they still had as much influence on the successor genre as any other.
In reality, the original mantra for ‘Helter Skelter’ was far simpler than the legacy it would go on to create: all McCartney wanted to do was harbour “the most raucous vocal, [and] the loudest drums”. To a certain extent, that has always been the end goal of rock, but it took The Beatles putting that into practice to really light the fuse.
Of course, The Beatles were no heavy metal band – but equally, that whole genre would never have existed without them.
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