10 Criminally Underrated Beatles Tracks

8. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCsgZ9zU7IA Often dismissed as a throwaway comedy ditty, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) deserves more credit for not only its light-hearted jollity but the opening pounding mantra. The track opens with a short chant, originally planned as being fifteen minutes long (which would have been amazing) before making way for McCartney (as bumbling crooner Denis O€™Bell) who acts like an inebriated Sinatra over a lounge samba backing. Lennon interrupts, channelling Spike Milligan with a succession of silly voices, all the while repeating the refrain €˜you know my name, look up the number€™. The band continue to emulate their comedy heroes The Goons, Pete and Dud and Monty Python while echoing the zany anarchism of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. The Beatles€™ attempts at humour didn€™t always come off but this silliness is infectiously amusing and both Lennon and McCartney remembered the song fondly. Paul has even said it's his favourite Beatles song, "just because it's so insane". Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones pops in to contribute some alto saxophone while road manager and assistant Mal Evans adds some ambience by running a spade through gravel. Despite being recorded in mid-1967 You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) didn€™t see the light of day till 1970 when it featured on the b-side to the band€™s final single Let it Be.
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Loves: Nostalgia, drums and Guided by Voices. Hates: Mondays