Our mission is to create an episode about every song released by The Beatles, in the order of release. Out latest episode was on Baby’s in Black. Compared to song of our recent episode, it’s a fairly tight, focused discussion. Sorry about that.

Since we started, we have been trailing the fact that, for all the amazing songs we get to discuss, we also get to discuss Mr Moonlight. In truth, we’ve been pretty rude about it to the point where it almost became a weight, something to dread. I am delighted to say that we have now recorded the episode and it feels like the weight has been lifted.

When preparing for the episode, I made the conscious decision to be as fair and open minded as possible. This did not result in a rethinking of the song but more of an explanation about the elements that means it does not stack up against the many dozens of brilliant Beatles recordings. To cut a long story short, the manner in which I first experienced it really count. I first heard it in the late 1980s and Beatles For Sale was probably their last album I owned (possibly along with With The Beatles). Imagine listening to The Beatles out of order. Think of a time when you hadn’t heard Revolver, Rubber Soul, The White Album or Abbey Road (yes, I know I missed a biggie…) and then listening to them in the order you found them in your local second hand record shop.

Then imagine listening to Beatles For Sale. Then imagine getting through most of side one, it’s still pretty good, you’re happy. Then Lennon belts out the opening to Mr Moonlight and the band kicks in with a very strange rhythm and suddenly, there’s a pause for thought. Really? They put this on an album? In 1964? After A Hard Day’s Night? Ok. Interesting choice.

That’s the context. I think it made me a lot less forgiving than, for example, a Beatles fan (such as Kenn, one of our listeners) who saw them on Ed Sullivan, fell in love and then lapped up every release that followed.

A common theme of our discussions is that our reaction to music is an emotional, personal response. Recognising that your personal response may not match the views of others is important and will prevent your fandom become obsessive. Bands are not sports teams (although I have lots of thoughts about people’s obsession with sports teams). It’s ok not to love everything they put out. In fact, it’s pretty weird that someone might like Till There Was You and Helter Skelter. It’s also possible that a die hard fan might love The Beatles and not like Till There Was You and Helter Skelter. Whatever their opinion, it’s not a threat to anybody else’s so sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

Our episode on Mr Moonlight will be out in early December. You can catch up with all fifty-five episodes released so far here: https://beatlesstuffology.podbean.com/