Things We Love Today: The Beatles’ D & E Songs

And we’re back with Things We Love Today, our episodic series in which we review every Beatles song in alphabetical order.

And focus on absolutely one thing we love about it. Even if we don’t particularly care for the song. There’s always something great therein.

And if not? Your pizza is free!!*

(*figurative, may not be honored)

So let’s jump right in with the Ds and Es, shall we?

Day Tripper — this classic mid-era Beatles rocker has everything going for it. John and Paul collaborating on the verses, George coming in for the three-part harmonies on the choruses, that iconic central riff… gosh! But you know what stands out to me right now? Ringo’s drumming. His fills, his strong metronomic percussive spine, his flourishes on the outro. With all that greatness around it, without Ringo’s buttkickin’ drumwork the song would lose its spine. And we can’t have that.

Dear Prudence — this is a top 10 Beatles tune for me. Maybe top 5, if I had any kind ranking of such things. Which I don’t. But despite Paul’s lousy drumming on this track (ease off the high-hat Macca), it’s John’s Donovan-inspired (and Donovan-taught) fingerpicking that lends the song its folksy, pastoral beauty.

Devil in Her Heart — another cover, this one originally by Ricky Dee and covered less than a year later by the Fabs. The song is middling, although George sings it beautifully. I’ll give his vocal performance the big thumbs up here (although his melodic guitar work during the intro is a beauty as well)

Dig a Pony — is it the false intro? Nah. Is it because Doris got her oats? No, that’s another tune, “I Dig A Pygmy”. Is it that muscular riff? Almost. Nope, it’s John and Paul harmonizing on “Be-cauuuuuuuuse” that makes the song so memorable. I don’t know why. It just does, man.

Dig It — you know, this one just comes out of nowhere and leaves in the middle of a strange falsetto outro. I realize it’s part of a longer improvised jam and we’re just getting a snippet here, but man. What an oddity. So I’ll just give it to the strange falsetto outro in which John says “That was Can You Dig It? by Georgie Wood, and now we’d like to do Hark, the Angels Come” Because it leads right into “Let It Be”, and the angels show up there in full force.

Dizzy Miss Lizzy — if you love a good earworm riff, this is your huckleberry. DML is a solid rocker and John sings the hell out of it. But zowie is it repetitive as hell. Although you know what I love? The start of the third verse where it sounds like George missed his cue on the central riff. But he didn’t he just played it on the backbeat and righted the ship afterward. I don’t know if that was a mess-up or intentional, but there’s something cheeky fun about it.

Do You Want to Know a Secret — I don’t know why, but a lot of Beatlenerds don’t particularly care for this tune. I’ve always liked it. It’s simple and silly, but sweet and earnest. But it’s the vocal intro I love best. Especially the way George nasally delivers the final word in “You’ll never know how much I really care…”

Doctor Robert — an epic tune from an inimitable album, good ol’ Doc R. is one of their best album cuts. And man. Sometimes picking one thing you love out of an entire song you love is harder than picking one from a cut you entirely loathe. But right now, I love John’s harmonium chord overlay on the bridges. Very church-like. Very melodic. Slightly disturbing. Just like the song.

Don’t Bother Me — speaking of Beatlenerds, we’ll be the first to remind anyone who’s listening (which is usually no one) that this is the first George composition to appear on a Beatles record. And it’s a great tune to boot. I absolute love the minor key chord progressions on the verses, chorus, and bridge. Very different-sounding from their usual tonal phrasings of the era.

Don’t Let Me Down — ahh yes. How many times did we hear this during the Get Back documentary? More than a breadbox, that’s for sure! Whatever that means. But there’s only clear answer for me here, and that’s that lovely countermelody on the bridge by George and Paul on guitar and bass.

Don’t Pass Me By — speaking of first compositions on a Beatles record, here’s Ringo with his! If you don’t count “What Goes On” from Rubber Soul, where he got a co-write with John and Paul. And I don’t. Because that was just a gimme. This song is a patchwork mishegas, but a charming one of sorts. But I’m all in for guest musician Jack Fallon’s zany fiddle playing throughout the tune.

Drive My Car — more classic Rubber Soul goodness. And you’re forgiven for hating this tune because every damn morning zoo radio station would use that “beep beep mm beep beep yeah!” drop for their traffic reports. And it made you spaghetti. But the song has so many inventive riffs, from the intro to the verses to Paul’s wicked little solo. So Paul’s getting the love this time around, not for his solo but for that cheeky little piano response to the first two lines in each chorus. I don’t know why, but that just hits me the right way every time.

Eight Days a Week — I always felt the silliness of the title was a reflection of the silliness of “A Hard Day’s Night”. And sure, I realize it grew out of the original title for “Help”, which was supposed to be “Eight Arms To Hold You”. But what really makes the song memorable, at least to me, are the four “clap-clap” breaks in each pre-chorus. You know, the “Hold me (clap-clap), Love me (clap-clap)” bit. It’s a small touch, but it lands so perfectly.

Eleanor Rigby — this song radiates such enchanting baroque-pop beauty from start to finish, asking me to choose one thing to love about it is an exercise of self-imposed why-me boo-hoo’ism that it hardly abides the telling. So I’ll stop whining and go with what hits me immediately: Paul’s dual vocals on the outro when he is simultaneously singing “Ahh look at all the lonely people” and “All the lonely people, where do they all come from/belong?” That moment radiates a melancholy madness of sorts.

Every Little Thing — anyone who craps on Beatles for Sale will answer to my wrath. Because the covers aside, there are so many bangers on this record. Especially “Every Little Thing“, and especially that timpani break during the chorus. A short blast of melodic percussion that stuns every time.

Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby — George doing rockabilly/country/western covers again. Sigh. Here’s something goofy. When George sang “Went out last night, I didn’t stay late / (be)fore I got home I had 19 dates”, I used to think he sang “… / so I got home, had an ice cream cake”. Which quite frankly is agreeable because man, have you had a Carvel ice cream cake? To paraphrase Patton Oswalt, you couldn’t cut that thing with a lightsaber! But they were so good. So I’ll just go with those lines and leave it there.

Damn.

Now I want some ice cream cake.

Anyway, that’s it for today, all the Ds and Es. Tune in next time, when we’re really gonna F things up!