Another experimental piece from the White Album. Not so much a song but more of a sound collage.

The Beatles Bible

Dividing audiences since late 1968, John Lennon’s sound collage ‘Revolution 9’ was an exercise in musique concrète influenced heavily by Yoko Ono and the avant-garde art world.

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Wikipedia

"Revolution 9" is a sound collage from the Beatles' 1968 self-titled double album (also known as the "White Album"). The composition, credited to Lennon–McCartney, was created primarily by John Lennon with assistance from Yoko Ono and George Harrison…

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Maybe it really is a purposeful work of art connecting with Yoko Ono’s visual work and avant garde composers like Stockhausen, but if so Revolution 9 doesn’t really connect with me, although I admit it does have a unique, dark and unsettling texture…

Lennon perhaps still thought he had to prove that the Beatles were not the loveable mop-top teen idols they had been taken for. Fine: Revolution #9 is the very opposite of pop and as accessible as James Joyce – we’ve got the message!

However, I think the real genius of the Beatles was the way they redefined popular music. And Revolution 9 is a step too far from “popular” and “music” for me.

As the Beatles started to work independently of one another during 1968 I wonder if there was a bit of a passive-aggressive “F*ck You” in the decision to include them on the album? ‘If you’re going to insist on “Revolution 9” then I’ll insist on “Wild Honey Pie”’ (and so on)?

Spoiler: the next two selections are also from the White Album, so there’s a pattern here. It’s down to a quirk with my bizarre rating system. But perhaps after 210 I will say more about the album and the feelings that it evokes for me.