Comments on: Mr Moonlight

By: dgw28

dgw28 — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 11:10:18 +0000

So glad to read so many positive comments on Mr Moonlight given the negativity it has received over the years. I’ve always loved it, John’s brilliant vocal is one of his best…and the way their voices blend together on some phrases sends chills!

By: crazycrab58

crazycrab58 — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 06:02:42 +0000

As a young kid, I was not a fan of this song at all. Over the years, I’ve come to like it much more. As stated over and over here, Lennon’s vocals are amazing.

By: BillyShear

BillyShear — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 13:59:20 +0000

One of the most underrated Beatles rockers imo. What a great tune John absolutely killed it on this song.

By: J Neo Marvin

J Neo Marvin — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 20:33:07 +0000

The thing I liked least about Emerick’s book was his condescending attitude toward George.

By: Giles

Giles — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 17:21:18 +0000

I always like singing along with this one. Not always easy, as ever, because you have the three-part harmonies…at which they were excellent…

By: Max

Max — Fri, 20 May 2016 14:53:57 +0000

That’s a pretty interesting point, actually. It’s a weird song, before they were really known for doing weird songs. Like, who exactly is Mr. Moonlight?

Anyways, it’s a really bizarre song, mainly due to organ solo and stranger lyrics, but I rather enjoy it for those reasons.

By: John Canale

John Canale — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 00:46:23 +0000

I remember hearing this at eight uears old, thinking that the keyboard solo sounded weird. Why that dreary organ? And that drum?

By: jennifur Sun

jennifur Sun — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 23:26:38 +0000

NO way. Kitten to me is John at his best. same way with Bad Boy although others have paned it on this web page.

By: NEIL

NEIL — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 12:22:57 +0000

I prefer it to Eight Days a Week and Rock ‘n Roll music.

By: jon poole

jon poole — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 07:53:31 +0000

Mr Moonlight is pretty shite, but its fun…..I dunno why John liked it so much, coz its a pretty dreadful song anyway. What makes it even worse is that it is on the same album as Eight days a week and Rock n roll music!

By: jay garrett

jay garrett — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 08:26:45 +0000

It’ a fine cover, but superior to Leave My Kitten Alone?

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 25 May 2015 10:17:19 +0000

I don’t get the hate. Sure the lyrics are corny but so what? The Beatles could’ve made The ABC Song sound good. Putting the lyrics aside, this song is ear candy at a purely pleasure level. Both the vocals and the gorgeous, gorgeous guitar playing during the vocals. (Okay, the organ solo could’ve been better, but maybe that part was meant as a joke.) So it’s not dripping with symbolism or double-meaning or drugs references, big whopping deal. The Beatles weren’t singing for a bunch of hardcore academic analysts in 2015, they were singing for a 1960s audience consisting largely of teenagers. If “Mr. Moonlight” had never been covered by the Beatles, and instead Lennon stuck something about a “Mr. Moonlight” into the lyrics for ‘I am the Walrus’, you over-critical types would be overflowing with nonsense about how meaningful and deep it was.

By: kenlacouture

kenlacouture — Sat, 08 Nov 2014 21:43:10 +0000

The stereo mix of this tune is especially weak in comparison to the mono. One wonders whether this track would have a less despised reputation had the stereo version not become the more common listening experience in the the roughly two decade period between the stereo LP takeover and the release of the first official BfS CD release in mono.

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 18:03:08 +0000

As stated above, this song was a staple of the Beatles’ live act for some years & it’s included on their repertoire on their Star Club, Hamburg stint in 1962. It is a regular or one of their favorite cover song on their live lineup that time so when 1964 came, they included it in the Beatles For Sale album not just an album filler.
Just my opinion.

I like this song because of John’s voice/rendition & Paul & George’s voice harmony.

By: andrethegiantpart2

andrethegiantpart2 — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 04:55:47 +0000

Thoroughly agree with you. And thoroughly disagree with the assessment above that it can in any way be described as “least successful”. If anything it is the most energised vocal performance John has left us. A five star recording.

By: Dudley Woods

Dudley Woods — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 01:57:34 +0000

If The Beatles were Burgers on this one:
John would be flame broiled
Paul would be with cheese
It is a true talent to keep a song that simple – yet perfect.

By: S. B. Fields

S. B. Fields — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 19:02:03 +0000

One of my many theme based playlists is built with songs that have “Mister” or “Mr.” in the title.

I only have one version of each title, sometimes a difficult choice, due to lots of great covers out there, but I wrote my rules, and I try to make my playlists ‘album length’ …10-12 cuts. Since they had to be songs I like, I waivered with Mr. Moonlight because I have always disliked Lennon’s opening “scream”. Even though I understand his need to scream (later revealed when he publicized the details of his psychotherapy with Dr. Arthur Janov), I STILL DON’T LIKE HEARING IT — fortunately, because of digital magic, I could, and did, amputate the offending noise. My 49 year old vinyl version of Beatles ’65 has scratches and pock marks right after I’ll Follow the Sun where I had yanked the needle arm away, a hundred times, sometimes at mid-scream, just to avoid hearing Mr. Moonlight. Without that yelp, it is a fine specimen

The list has 4 Beatles songs and the others are culled from my collection. The order doesn’t matter, because I always listen on “shuffle”. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite (Beatles)
Dear Mr. Fantasy (Traffic)
Mean Mr. Mustard (Beatles)
Mr. and Mrs. (Incredible String Band)
Mr. Bojangles (Jerry Jeff Walker)
Mr. Dieingly Sad (Critters)
Mr. Moonlight (Beatles)
Mr. Spaceman (Byrds)
Mr. Tambourine Man (live Dylan version UK 1966)
Please Mister Postman (Beatles)

I would probably add the oldie Mr. Bassman, but hadn’t thought of it until now.

By: Graeme

Graeme — Wed, 28 May 2014 11:09:58 +0000

Interesting comments. I’ve always heard people saying how Mr Moonlight is the nadir of The Beatles recorded output but it’s never occurred to me…I could come up with a few others that I would consider worse.
I was interested to read the comment about Paul being a better guitarist at this stage…suggesting that he could have nailed the solo but instead opted to play the wonky organ solo. Not saying you’re wrong but it’s always been my impression that George had the edge at this time…dating back to the late 50s.

By: Lennon fan

Lennon fan — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 07:31:11 +0000

I agree that this would be a difficult song for any guitarist to make a good solo out of. The tempo is very slow, it doesn’t have very many chords, and the chords that there are are pretty predictable. So what the @#$% are you going to do except stay pretty close to the stupid melody, the way Paul does on the organ?

Ive always thought of it as the worst Beatles cover of all time, with the possible exception of “Bad Boy”.

The fact that Lennon was able put so much heart and soul into such inferior material is the only thing that salvages it… but to me it also reveals another facet of his extraordinary personality, in all its glorious mixture of arrogance and humility: it’s almost like he’s secretly smirking “Get a load of this shite— I could sing the fucking phone book and make these mugs think it’s great!”

By: stustrang

stustrang — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 01:40:33 +0000

you are absolutely right…and besides…anyone who can cover a song that is somewhat a-typical of their style…and completely own it…well , they deserve a hell of a lot of credit !!!