Beatles Countdown – #100. Rocky Raccoon
Feb 24
1960s paul mccartney, the beatles No Comments
We start the countdown off with a unique song in The Beatles catalogue & a personal favorite. At number 100, it’s “Rocky Raccoon!”
The song, mostly written by Paul McCartney, appears on the famed self-titled double album that became known as The White Album where it completes the triad of “animal” songs on side two of disc one. While “Blackbird” & “Piggies” before it both had their form of social commentary, “Rocky Raccoon” was more of a comical hodgepodge of different American folk songs, keeping in step with McCartney’s various genre imitations at the time. Like most from the album, McCartney came up with the idea, originally penned “Rocky Sassoon,” playing guitar with John Lennon & Donovan while in India visiting the Maharishi. What a “lovely” trip they had there. They might not have gotten everything they wanted, but we sure as hell reaped the benefits with the classic songs they brought back with them.
“Rocky Raccoon” tells the story of Rocky’s adventure with lost love, revenge, and salvation. For those looking for a meaningful song, don’t get your hopes up: the song is amazingly tongue-in-cheek. From the three drastically different names the girl goes by to the infamous doctor “stinking of gin,” the song is full of little humorous lines that make the song almost as fun as George Martin’s honky-tonk piano breakdown. Even more tongue-in-cheek has to be McCartney’s over-the-top singing of the song. I’m sure he imagined himself as an old bard on the side of a saloon who really only knows one chord (hence the guitar riff…or lack thereof). It’s hard to listen to this song and not crack a smile really.
Personally, I love this song. It was one of the first from the Fab Four I truly latched onto and is still a favorite of mine to sing drunkenly at karaoke. It’s even made its way into my everyday life as anytime I hurt myself on the jobI’ll just sing “I’ll be better doc as soon as I am able!”
Go Rocky Raccoon! Way to open us up strong with this countdown…
Song: Rocky Raccoon
Album: The Beatles
Year: 1968
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