I suspect the very worst thing you could do to Kemi Badenoch, from Kemi Badenoch’s point of view, is feel sorry for her. But there is no uncontroversial answer to the (stupid) question about your favourite Beatles song.
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Apart from the fact, that she chose Yellow Submarine, often regarded as not the finest Beatles track. The culture warrior clearly knew sod all about the Beatles.
My favourite Beatles song isn't even "real": it's Anybody Else from the brilliant 2009 mashup album Everyday Chemistry.
My favourite real Beatles song would be Eleanor Rigby or Strawberry Fields.
And I like Get Up And Go by The Rutles more than Get Back.
I would have struggled with that one. My household never played Beatles stuff. Mum absolutely loved Simon & Garfunkel and my era was the 80s, so I would have switched it in interview. Sound of Silence or Scarborough Fair / 80s Any George Michael music or Duran Duran.
Wings is almost the Beatles, right? At least from a Tory Leader perspective.
I mean it's not like saying "No Scrubs", which would be more her style, but obviously not true - so either an attempt not to answer or a downright lie.
Yeah… funny how that pronunciation has only been of concern recently. It didn't bother her in 2015 when she was first elected, otherwise I should have thought she would have advised the offices/staff in HoC. 🤷♂️
Nonsense. Music has a vast repertoire from many centuries. Not being familiar with one group, as great as they are, is hardly a sin. Now, as you value music and the arts so much what is your view in Black Dyke’s interpretation of Graham’s ‘Time’?
Your missing my point entirely. It's an ansygiven by someone who doesn't actually know much about human emotion. I'm not suggesting it's 'wrong', just lazy
Surely the only good answer is “I prefer Drill so I’m not qualified to answer that question”. If that’s problematic she could always say Vaughan Williams
Was it because it’s the only song she knew from the Beatles backlog and didn’t want to look a tit trying to name others. Unfortunately that boat has long sailed!
The most dangerous thing that you could do with someone like Badenoch, is giving her legitimacy by making her leader of one of the major parties. Her views now become relevant and amplified by those of an angry and ham coloured persuasion.
To be honest, Rachel Reeves' answer was pretty woeful too. Not her actual choice - Hey Jude - which is a work of utter genius naturally, but the way it was made slightly grudgingly, after unnecessarily complaining that she's "more of a Bejonce person".
Unnecessary? She's not of an age to have been immersed in Beatality. "If I must answer, I'd say X" is a perfectly reasonable response to an irrelevant but potential trap door question. (See Badenoch's fallout).
There's not one bandwagon she hasn't jumped on yet.
In terms of polls its not Labour voters going to Reform its Tory voters. Not one policy announcement if this is what she calls rebuilding Trust will turn out like a Johnson Hospital.
Just say it’s your favorite. Who the hell can argue about that? “______ is the BEST” will keep the argument going all day.
(Hint: Which Beatles song is deemed the best by the metric of having been covered the most by jazz musicians? Bonus: Name one Stones single regularly covered by jazz players.)
As a true millennial born ten years after the Beatles broke up she has no claim on the Beatles catalogue frankly nor Abba who disbanded two years after she was born. Although in her mind, Waterloo is a truly British war song
It's pretty uncontroversial to me that my favourite is Twist & Shout even though they didn't write it. Ferris Beuller may have something to do with it!
If people continue to watch this crap they will continue to provide it. Laura is definitely the Ringo of political journalists. Not even the best drummer in The Beatles etc
there are PLENTY of wrong answers to "what's your favorite beatles song"
just cause there are 100 or so great songs that can be someone's favorite and another 100 right under that level, doesn't mean there are 0 objectively awful, horrible songs.
The worst thing you could do to Kemi Badenoch is to ignore her - she would hate to think that her "pearls of wisdom" are not being listened to by "the people".
It's such a weird question to ask someone of her (my) generation. For a lot of us under 50s the Beatles just aren't that resonant. Obviously their influence is felt indirectly, but we can go for literally years without hearing their songs.
BBC must mean his "Handlers." Many, many people with Dementia can perform "on stage" aka in public and then desolve into their confused state in private. Don't be fooled.
I don’t recall there being this much outrage about the young lad who shot dead 5 people (inc a 3 year old girl) in Plymouth a few years back. And that is despite the fact the police gave him back the gun he used to commit mass murder. Maybe that is because he was white. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-58197414.amp
I just want a politician, when asked this kind of stupid question about their musical tastes, to answer something like Ty Cobb by Soundgarden or Closer by Nine Inch Nails... just something with a lot of very interesting lyrics.
I'd rather they said, 'I'm making decisions that affect people's everyday lives, sometimes in a profound way.....please tell me you have something more insightful to ask?'
Yes, there is.
You simply say you have no favourite and it's a ridiculous question.
Nothing controversial about telling the truth.
Not that she and truth have ever occupied the same space.
Despite her overzealous I am integrated, look at me-I all but bleach my skin & I am working class because I worked in McDonalds- she has no idea what songs the Beetles sung..simple. imagine(deliberate pun)getting caught out not knowing a basic British fact.
That's my second favourite, because my favourite - While My Guitar Gently Weeps - I can listen to on repeat for an hour and still not be annoyed by it.
I'm 'meh' abot Yesterday. Everyone thinks Yellow submarine is a Paul song for kids, but it didn't start out that way. It was a melancholic John song that began 'in the town where I was born, no one cared, no one cared'. It became what we know in the studio, Paul's chorus, John's rewritten verses.
My red hot take is that every Beatles album has at least one stinker on it. (Although I'm not sure it's 100% true there's a Hey Jude/Octopus' Garden on most of them)
I don't agree. Almost Beatles album has one 'lesser' song on it, but very, very few stinkers (What goes on, Wild Honey Pie, Dizzy Miss Lizzy etc) and certainly Hey Jude is not among them. A Hard Day's Night, Sgt Pepper and Revolver for example, contain not one whiff of a stinker.
If “Yellow Submarine” is the first thing that comes into your head when asked about the entire body of work of one of the greatest cultural influences we’ve known, you need to have a good hard think about how you have spent your time
It is surely OK to not be too fussed about the Beatles.
(I would also question how influential they actually were; the strange thing is, there are very few later bands that you can really hear the influence of the Beatles in.)
That wasn’t your post though was it.
Your post suggested that they hadn’t influenced many bands. I just shared a few bands that are clearly influenced by their music.
And I forgot ELO 😳
You could have added Billy Joel, Eagles, Paul Weller, Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen, Beach Boys & Paul Simon who have all credited Beatles with some influence on their own music
Of course it’s ok not to be fussed about the Beatles. In which case the answer to “what’s your favourite Beatles track” is “I’m not a fan so I don’t really have one” - or such like.
On your second point, fine question away and of course that’s a reasonable opinion to hold.
Personally I don’t agree
But that’s cool isn’t it? Each to their own. I really hate jazz. Some people probably rightly say that makes me a philistine, but it’s who I am.
The world would be crazily dull if we all agreed - we just need to be civilised towards each other when we disagree
Not really. It was judging someone who rather than say I don’t have a favourite because it’s not my cup of tea decided to bluff it out. And it was quite easy to bluff out that (tbf quite asinine question) by naming virtually any other of their very many famous songs.
Nobody in the stones matched John Lennons songwriting or creativity.
Paul and John helped the stones write songs after their first album, which was all cover versions.
A Day In The Life
Can't be matched
Exactly. When you’re interviewing any politician, when the world is in a time of turmoil and instability, it’s a banal question, that Badenoch should have ducked answering. Had she said she’s not really a fan, no one would have batted an eyelid. A 45 year old who is not a Beatles fan. No big deal.
I too am not sure the Yellow Submarine answer is the one people should be focusing on....
But on that part of the interview where she said the Southport killings were a failure of integration and when pressed could provide NO EVIDENCE. ..... just her personal FEELINGS
It doesn’t have to be a stupid question… but of course it is if you are a political correspondent interviewing the opposition leader during a cost of living crises.
Are you allowed to confess you've never been a Beatles fan and therefore that's why you can't remember any of their songs? And while we're at it, the Rolling Stones too.
I have no idea who Kemi Badenoch is,
but I remember seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.
Favs: Come Together, followed by Day In The Life. Also, When I Saw Her Standing There, realizing ya outta leave those seventeen year olds alone.
I'm old
I'm tired
You kids quit doing that on my lawn
(1) My Guitar Gently Weeps - See the Prince cover
(2) I am the Walrus - See the Oasis cover
(3) Come Together - So many covers but Aerosmith and Garry Clarke Jr are the most well known.
Have you heard the Oasis cover of "I am the Walrus"? 🙂
It's amazing! It does something really quite different from the original, really stretching what the song can be in the best way!
I used to work with a bloke who was utterly incapable of doing his job to the point where his fear was palpable and you could see the vacant, god help me please look in his eyes.
The same look I see in Badenoch eyes each pmqs.
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'I'd have to say, The Best of The Beatles.'
Best Of Techno (Vol. IV)
My favourite real Beatles song would be Eleanor Rigby or Strawberry Fields.
And I like Get Up And Go by The Rutles more than Get Back.
🥵
She could have at least started the grilling with "what's your favourite cheese?"
Definitely not red Leicester, and none of that euro crap.
Take that Farage!
Wonderwall
I mean it's not like saying "No Scrubs", which would be more her style, but obviously not true - so either an attempt not to answer or a downright lie.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/598583/bizarre-origins-behind-popular-songs
Funnily enough a New York psychiatrist used that song to brainwash her cousin into killing her ex-husband at his office.
She played "Maxwell's silver Hammer" to him repeatedly
Full Episode below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS8yXu7XibE
I've clearly had one to many dry ciders!
You can't very well say, "You're wrong. Your favorite is something else."
I'm sure my favorite will be different from your favorite. But that's hardly controversial. It's the nature of having a preference.
Do one.
Sorry.
I don't hate Kemi. I hateuch of the vacuous, hate filled stuff she stands for. But I don't hate anyone
Thought Rachel did brilliantly today ,although LK didn't seem her normal nasty self.
In terms of polls its not Labour voters going to Reform its Tory voters. Not one policy announcement if this is what she calls rebuilding Trust will turn out like a Johnson Hospital.
or You Know My Name Look Up My Number, they’re practically the same song
Unlike Robot Reeves who appeared to short-circuit again.
(Hint: Which Beatles song is deemed the best by the metric of having been covered the most by jazz musicians? Bonus: Name one Stones single regularly covered by jazz players.)
Why? Because almost 25 years ago I was sat in a pub, petrified, with someone I was really REALLY scared wouldn’t want me.
That song came on…. and she *did* hold my hand. Still married today.
Doesn't excuse hers.
there are PLENTY of wrong answers to "what's your favorite beatles song"
just cause there are 100 or so great songs that can be someone's favorite and another 100 right under that level, doesn't mean there are 0 objectively awful, horrible songs.
You Know My Name ( Look Up the Number) - Throwaway nonsense track
Revolution #9 - Noise, interrupted by other noise
Run for Your Life - Misogynist tripe
Mr Moonlight - No words
The Word - Summer of Love preview
Think for Yourself - More misogyny
Savoy Truffle - Forced diet
Good Night - Tripe
Out of 217 songs, not a bad average!
That lets you give an answer without casting judgement on everyone else's favourite. It also gives you an opportunity to sound human. Maybe not then.
(The Best of the Beatles).
You simply say you have no favourite and it's a ridiculous question.
Nothing controversial about telling the truth.
Not that she and truth have ever occupied the same space.
Is, I believe, the only uncontroversial answer.
Stupid gotcha questions are what they are.
I generally refuse to engage them.
Just my approach of course.
I do LIKE Yellow Submarine, but my (9 YO) son has a lot to do with that.
I don't like Yesterday, I know it's the most recorded one, but I just don't like it.
I’d have to say ‘The Best of The Beatles’.
Oh, and I'd say that The White Album is the only correct response btw :p
A felon's Nazi dream,
A felon's Nazi dream.
(I would also question how influential they actually were; the strange thing is, there are very few later bands that you can really hear the influence of the Beatles in.)
Blur?
The Shins?
Arctic Monkeys?
The1975?
Tame Impala?
Your post suggested that they hadn’t influenced many bands. I just shared a few bands that are clearly influenced by their music.
And I forgot ELO 😳
On your second point, fine question away and of course that’s a reasonable opinion to hold.
Personally I don’t agree
The world would be crazily dull if we all agreed - we just need to be civilised towards each other when we disagree
Paul and John helped the stones write songs after their first album, which was all cover versions.
A Day In The Life
Can't be matched
But on that part of the interview where she said the Southport killings were a failure of integration and when pressed could provide NO EVIDENCE. ..... just her personal FEELINGS
her feelings are irrelevant
Oh, I heard it in McDonalds
And I'm just about to eat some lunch
Oh McNuggets yeah
Pair of cunts.
I suspect that’s the only song of theirs she could think of.
but I remember seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.
Favs: Come Together, followed by Day In The Life. Also, When I Saw Her Standing There, realizing ya outta leave those seventeen year olds alone.
I'm old
I'm tired
You kids quit doing that on my lawn
You’re welcome.
(2) I am the Walrus - See the Oasis cover
(3) Come Together - So many covers but Aerosmith and Garry Clarke Jr are the most well known.
But Oasis and Aerosmith? Really?
It's amazing! It does something really quite different from the original, really stretching what the song can be in the best way!
The same look I see in Badenoch eyes each pmqs.