Episodes
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#122 – Please Mr. Postman with guests Blotto Beatles
The Beatles' love of r&b, Motown, and especially Smokey Robinson are no secret. They were such fans, their 2nd album, 1963's With The Beatles featured 3 motown covers, including...
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#123 – She’s Leaving Home with guest Olivia Nilsson (Harry Nilsson’s daughter)
Lennon and McCartney were masters at finding inspiration all around them, not just from their own personal lives. On the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album,...
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#124 – I Wanna Be Your Man with guest Narada Wise (drummer, Sean Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band)
From the moment he joined the band, Ringo's popularity meant he'd have a song or two to sing each night. This was a practice for The Beatles even when Pete Best was in the band, but once things really took off...
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#125 – Fixing A Hole with guest Sonia Tetlow (singer, songwriter, musician)
Self-care isn't always something that gets prioritized when we're in our 20s. But the notion of taking the time to check in with yourself, to be mindful of the things going on around and inside of you seems to be something that Paul McCartney was tuned into in 1967...
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#126 – Mother Nature’s Son with guest Susan Shumsky (author “The Inner Light: How India Influenced the Beatles”)
Originally sketched out in a notebook of song ideas started in Rishikesh, Paul's "Mother Nature's Son" is part of a trifecta of White Album songs where he emerges as fully formed solo artist, the only Beatle on the track. It's a beautiful acoustic-based song about the solitude and peace one finds in nature. Featuring a nice bit of Nilsson-influenced brass...
Reviews
Ranking the songs of the Beatles? What could possibly go wrong? But somehow this podcast gets it just right thanks to the wit and charm of the co-hosts and their guests. The listener quickly discovers the rankings are used not to incite heated arguments but rather as a starting point to spark a positive deep dive into every Beatle song. Put simply, Ranking The Beatles is a welcome addition to the Beatle podcast universe.
Required listening if you like The Beatles at all. Great guests every week and Jonathan and Julia are fun and genuinely funny (even the tired Mike Love jokes). I listen every Tuesday morning as soon as I wake up. One week around Christmas they took the week off so I just slept the whole week until there was a new episode. It was worth the wait.
Nice to see a truly excellent new Beatles podcast. This one is hosted by a very appealing young couple, who along with their well selected guests, have a winning combination of professional musical knowledge and the enthusiasm of fans. It’s an interesting format that by definition promises to only get better as it goes along. If they can make the “Only a Northern Song” episode good then they’re unstoppable