"What do you think is the Beatles' best album?" 42.6>3

[loverofknowledge]

Hi Rosada,
Make a suggestion if you'd like as to a song that correlates well either with the hexagram as a whole or individual lines. I'll then include that when I write up the results.

I think we need to look at the actual words for hexagram 16. ENTHUSIASM!
It's not a sweet lullaby. It's about the power of music to bring together all of mankind and heaven too.

ENTHUSIASM.
It furthers one to install helpers and to set armies marching!
Make music to honor merit and offer it with SPLENDOR to the Supreme Lord of Heaven.
Invite everyone you know to the celebration.
Woo-Hoo!

 

[loverofknowledge]

It's an imaginative exercise, so it's natural to explain ourselves, -- that's how I look at it. Thanks for your input.

I thought of it as a youthful kind of silly song in a way because they had never actually been there although it sounded like they had. It was written during the cold
war i believe.
You maybe right 56 maybe better for that song.
Ok ok maybe there could be a better choice, I got mixed up before with another song and hex as well earlier in the thread.
This is twice i have had to explain myself in this thread (LOL)

Steve

PS I do really like the song though it should fit somewhere

 

[loverofknowledge]

I'll write up all that we have -- soon -- then we can look at the whole list and make comments. I plowed through a lot of them, just to get it done (one weekend while I was obsessed with it!).
Feel free to offer more of your suggestions.
As I have it now, there are multiple hexagrams, sometimes, for a single song, but not multiple songs for a single hexagram, and we have at least one song for each hexagram. That is: using a single Beatles song only once, but citing the hexagrams sometimes more than once (particularly, if I include moving lines)/

Don't worry you can have any song you like I just couldn't see how you got hexagram 4 from that song.

Thanks for explaining

 

[rosada]

16. Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.

Rousing music that sets armies marching and everyone - even the ancestors /lovely audience - is invited to sing along.

 

[rosada]

16. Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.

Rousing music that sets armies marching and everyone - even the ancestors, the "lovely audience" - is invited to sing along.

 

[loverofknowledge]

OK, though we have that one for Number 7.
(Right now, we're not using songs more than once but I'll add this under hex #16)

16. Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.

Rousing music that sets armies marching and everyone - even the ancestors, the "lovely audience" - is invited to sing along.

 

[rosada]

44. Why don't We Do It In The Road?

...because 44. is all about a seemingly harmless temptation and the image refers to the prince traveling the world proclaiming his commands.

(What is the other recommendation for 44? I can't seem to find it.)

 

[loverofknowledge]

Great Suggestion!
Sexy Sadie (I think) has been suggested too.

 

[Trojina]

Sexy Sadie was written about the Maharishi not a woman called Sadie http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=168 maybe you already said that.

For fairness I don't think there is any such evidence Maharishi did anything wrong http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ual-guru-never-made-a-pass-at-Mia-Farrow.html

I'm not sure you have had Yellow Submarine

 

[rosada]

Ooh..just checked out the lyrics to Sexy Sadie. It might have been written about the Maharishi but I do see how it fits with 44!

37. Family = Yellow Submarine, maybe? "We all live in a yellow submarine.."

 

[steve]

44 does suit do it in the road though haha, yes 37 is great for yellow submarine, i was showing my son that song the other day, he liked it.
The lyrics are about people being close really.

Steve

 

[steve]

16 I see what you mean, it sounds like birthday to me but I think thats somewhere else

Steve

 

[loverofknowledge]

Done

1. Hexagram: LOVE ME DO
(because it’s the Beatles’ first song)
OR: BIRTHDAY
(Because it's the birthday of the I Ching, the day it comes into being)

2. Hexagram: Let It Be

3. Hexagram : HEY JUDE

HEXAGRAM 3
Sprouting begins everywhere, abundant and pure. No need to go far: gain by naming allies.

Remember to let her into your heart (OPEN, SPROUT)
Then you can start to make it better (START)
You were made to go out and get her (YOU DON'T NEED TO GO FAR)
The minute you let her under your skin (SHE IS NEARBY)
Then you begin to make it better (BEGIN)
So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin (BEGIN -SPROUT)
You're waiting for someone to perform with (NAME ALLIES)


4. Hexagram : When I’m Sixty Four
(it’s a youthful folly to imagine being 64 as very old and even un-loveable)

5. Hexagram: Wait
(on Rubber Soul Album)
"It's been a long time
Now I'm coming back home
I've been away now
Oh how, I've been alone
Wait till I come back to your side" etc.

6. Hexagram: We Can Work it Out

7. Hexagram: Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

8. Hexagram
8.5 to 2: ANNA
Joining: Manifestation of holding together.
In the hunt the king uses beaters on three sides only
And forgoes game that runs off in front.
The citizens need no warning.
Good fortune.

“Anna (Go To Him)
You come and ask me, girl
To set you free, girl
You say he loves you more than me
So I will set you free
Go with him (Anna)
Go with him (Anna)”

9. Hexagram
9.4 to 1 : Don’t Pass Me By

No blame. He meets him without passing by.
Going brings danger. One must be on guard.
Do not act. Be constantly persevering.

Don't pass me By

Don't pass me by, don't make me cry, don't make me blue.
'Cause you know darling, I love only you.
You'll never know it hurt me so,
I hate to see you go.
Don't pass me by, don't make me cry.

10. Hexagram: The Long And Winding Road
(or: Penny Lane)

11. Hexagram: Give Peace a Chance
(John Lennon but originally attributed to the Beatles)

12. Hexagram: Yesterday.
“now I need a place to hide away”
“The superior man withdraws.”

13. Hexagram

13.5 to 30: I don't want to spoil the party

Bound in fellowship, first he weeps and lament, but afterward he laughs. After great struggles they succeed in meeting.

"Though tonight she's made me sad
I still love her
If I find her I'll be glad
I still love her"




14. Hexagram: Baby You're a Rich Man

15. Hexagram
15.4 to 2 : Something
The fourth line, magnetic, shows one whose action would be in every way advantageous, stirring up the more her temperance.

"Somewhere in her smile she knows
That I don't need no other lover
Something in her style that shows me"

16. Hexagram : TWIST AND SHOUT
(the shaking, exploding, the music)
Statement: What delight! Gain by naming allies. Move armies.
The image Thunder explodes, shaking the earth: delight. The early kings made music, glorifying virtue as the highest offering to God, and so they were worthy of their ancestors.
OR: HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN
(16 to me is more lounging around with a book, maybe a comfortable chair than shaking it (baby). The Linus blanket of hexagrams. The thing that makes you feel happy because you know you're comfortable and safe, not because you're manic and excited).
OR Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Or: Oblee dee Oblee Da
(light-hearted)

17. Hexagram: I'll Follow the Sun
The TAO -- he chooses to follow the SUN, the Tao, instead of the normal conventional patterns of life.

And now the time has come
And so my love I must go
And though I lose a friend
In the end you will know, oooh

18. Hexagram: Fixing a Hole
or: 48.2 to 39

19. Hexagram: Paperback Writer
(approaching success)
“It's a thousand pages, give or take a few
I'll be writing more in a week or two
I can make it longer if you like the style
I can change it round and I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer”

20. Hexagram: I'm Looking Through You

21. Hexagram
21.6 to 51: Think For Yourself
The sixth line, dynamic, shows one wearing the cangue, and deprived of his ears. There will be evil.

“Although your mind's opaque
Try thinking more if just for your own sake”
OR: Maxwell’s Silver Hammer

22 Hexagram : Beautiful Boy
(is this Lennon or the Beatles? - I think the Beatles sang it together..)

23. Hexagram: I AM THE WALRUS
(splitting from reality and the status quo)
OR: Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
“Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Came down upon her head.
Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer
Made sure that she was dead.”


24. Hexagram: GET BACK
or: The Long and Winding Road
(because it’s about returning )

25. Hexagram : Things We Said Today
The Unexpected (innocence)
“Me, I'm just the lucky kind
Love to hear you say that love is luck”

26. Hexagram
26.6 to 11: Stairway to Heaven
(the Beatles sang this, but it was not composed by them)
OR: The End
“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
(because it’s the way of heaven)

27. Hexagram: A TASTE OF HONEY

28. Hexagram: Eight Days a Week
(because it’s one too many)

29. Hexagram: HELP
OR: A Hard Day’s Night
“It's been a hard day's night, and I'd been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log”

30. Hexagram: And Your Bird Can Sing
AND 30.3 to 21: While my guitar gently weeps

31. Hexagram : I Wanna Hold your Hand
Or: Dizzy Mizz Lizzy
Or: Roll Over Beethoven (more electric feeling)




32. Hexagram : I WILL
(constancy)
“Love you forever and forever
Love you when we're together
Love you when we're apart”

33. Hexagram: PIGGIES

34. Hexagram : LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
(actually, the words are very surrealistic, but somehow the image is vigorous)
or: 22.1.3.6 to 1
(an illustration of the heavenly ornamentation of Heaven and the sky is the limit)
or: Hexagram 38
(disparate elements yoked together)

35. Hexagram : Blackbird
“Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly”
AND: 35. 2: Your Mother Should Know
“When progress comes with sadness, persistence brings good fortune.
He receives good fortune from the Queen Mother”


36. Hexagram: NO REPLY
OR: You’ve Got to Hide your Love Away

37. Hexagram : There's a Place
(family -- where you go for unconditional love )
There is a place
Where I can go
When I feel low
When I feel blue
OR : We All Live in a Yellow Submarine

38. Hexagram: Stranger in My Arms

39. Hexagram

39.5 to 15 With a Little Help from my Friends
39.5 to 15 In the midst of the greatest obstructions, Friends come

40. Hexagram
40.2. 6 to 35 : Bungalow Bill
(hunting motifs)

41. Hexagram : Yer Blues
(decrease, sacrifice)
(because it’s about feeling empty)
“Yes, I'm lonely, wanna die
Yes, I'm lonely, wanna die
If I ain't dead already
Ooh girl, you know the reason why”
AND 41.5 to 61: She’s Leaving Home
(41.5 -- she must leave home, it is her destiny, and her fortune, thus decreasing her involvement with her family. She follows her inner sincerity)

42. Hexagram : Money (That’s What I want)
(increasing)
AND : 42 Line 6 to 3 : HEY JUDE
comment: No increase when someone attacks. Setting the heart without constancy: misfortune. The image Wind and thunder: increase. The noble one sees perfection and shifts to fit its pattern, and corrects his own faults.

Line 6: his heart is not constant and he is attacking himself , he is burdened, thus he cannot increase . He must correct his faults

Hey Jude, don't make it bad (SELF TORMENT; CORRECT FAULTS)
Hey Jude, don't be afraid (FEAR)
And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain (PAIN)
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders (BURDENED)
For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder (COLD; INCONSTANT -- BOTH PAIN AND COLD)
You were made to go out and get her (CROSS THE GREAT STREAM)

43. Hexagram
43.3 to 58 : RAIN
If the rain comes they run and hide their heads
They might as well be dead
If the rain comes, if the rain comes....

Can you hear me, that when it rains and shines
(when it rains and shines)
It's just a state of mind?
(when it rains and shines)
Can you hear me, can you hear me?

44. Hexagram: Sexy Sadie or Why Don't we Do It in the Road

45. Hexagram: Come Together


46. Hexagram: Getting Better
And: 46.3 to 7. Nowhere Man
(Rising into an empty city)




47. Hexagram
47.1.5.6 to 38: STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER

No one I think is in my tree
I mean it must be high or low
That is you can't, you know, tune in
But it's all right
That is I think it's not too bad"

Always, no sometimes, think it's me
But you know I know when it's a dream
I think I know I mean a yes
But it's all wrong
That is I think I disagree"

The 47 of 38. The Labyrinth of Solitude. Strawberry Fields Forever.
All he has to do is come down from his damn tree...

48. Hexagram : Penny Lane
The well as the source for the community—and so, too, Penny Lane

49. Hexagram: REVOLUTION

50. Hexagram : Across the Universe
(it’s a song about transformation)

51. Hexagram: Roll Over Beethoven
or: 15. 5 (dethrone and take over Rock and Roll)
or: Helter Skelter
Or: Twist and Shout
(lots of shocks, like thunder)
You know, my temperature's risin'
And the jukebox blows a fuse
My heart's beatin' rhythm
And my soul keeps a-singin' the blues
Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news

52. Hexagram: the Fool on the Hill
"Alone on a hill
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still"

53. Hexagram: PS I LOVE YOU
AND: I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND
53. 6 : Happy Just to Dance With You
Just to dance with you
It's everything I need
Before this dance is through
I think I'll love you too
I'm so happy when you dance with me

OR THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
(which leads to your door…)

53.3 to 20: Eleanor Rigby
(unfulfilled dreams of getting married)
"Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?"

54. Hexagram: NORWEGIAN WOOD
(it's about an extramarital affair).
AND: Eleanor Rigby


55. Hexagram: HERE COMES THE SUN

56. Hexagram: She's Leaving Home
OR: Back in the USSR
AND 56.2.3.5 to 44 : Tomorrow Never Knows
( Surrealism) " But listen to the colour of your dreams
It is not living, it is not living"



57 Hexagram: Because
Winds following one upon the other: the image of the gently penetrating.

"Because the wind is high it blows my mind
Because the wind is high...aaaaaaaahhhh
Love is old, love is new
Love is all, love is you"

58. Hexagram

58. Hexagram

58.3.5 to 34

(He trusted in one who would hurt him)
"Tell Me Why"

Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me
Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me

Well I gave you everything I had
But you left me sitting on my own
Did you have to treat me oh so bad
All I do is hang my head and moan

Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me
Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me


59. Hexagram : Within Without You
(about dissolution of boundaries)

59. 3 : He dissolves his self. No remorse.
"When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find
Peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we're all one
And life flows on within you and without you"

60. Hexagram
Success. Bitter limitation should not be continued.

60.6 : Taxman

The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject enacting regulations severe and difficult. Even with firmness and correctness there will be evil. But though there will be cause for repentance, it will by and by disappear.

Taxman
"Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman"

61. Hexagram

61.2 to 42: Do you want to know a Secret
“Listen… do you want to know a secret? Do you promise
not to tell… I’m in love with you”

61.2 to 42
A crane calling in the shade.
Its young answers it.
I have a good goblet.
I will share it with you.


62. Hexagram : Every Little Thing
"Every little thing she does,
She does for me, yeah."
THE JUDGMENT
PREPONDERANCE OF THE SMALL. Success.
Perseverance furthers.
Small things may be done; great things should not be done.
The flying bird brings the message:
It is not well to strive upward,
It is well to remain below.
Great good fortune.


63. Hexagram: IN MY LIFE

"And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new"

64. Hexagram : Hello, Goodbye
Hello Goodbye indicates the circular nature of the Oracle, whereby "goodbye", the last hexagram (64), gives way to 1 (the first, Hello), in a cycle, just as Hello gives rise to Goodbye.

 

[rosada]

How about i tack this thread on to the one over in Exploring Divination? I think it's fun to see how the masterpiece evolved!

 

[loverofknowledge]

Maybe you could add a link to this thread -- that way people can come over here to follow the conversation.
Thanks for being a responsible steward of the Beatles I Ching.

 

[Lavalamp]

OK sorry I know this is an old thread that went all over, but...

What is the Best Beatles Album? 42.6>3
3 Beginners.
42 Increase
42.6 The sixth line, dynamic, shows us one to whose increase none will contribute, while many will seek to assail him. He observes no regular rule in the ordering of his heart. There will be evil.

Sounds like a "Best Of The Beatles" album. Duh. When you release Greatest Hits albums people always criticize the song selection (seek to assail him.)
I'd say Beatles Greatest Hit Volume One, because the Yi specifies "beginning" with Hex 3 as context.
Since they are already released songs "no one can contribute" anything more.
It's not a concept album (a regular rule) the songs are somewhat arbitrarily chosen by popularity but this is sometimes subjective. Rules out their Album "Number 1" which were all number one hits, with a regular rule.

I think the Yi is saying it liked the Beatles when they were Beginners (3) and just hitting their stride (42) the best. I can see that.

- LL

 

[rosada]

Thanks for bringing this thread to our attention again! It's fun remembering the Beatles and it's fun remembering when we were all creating this thread!

 

[bologna_tendra]

42.6 I think points to "The Beatles” (1968) aka The White Album. There is talk of “inconsistent mind” – consistent with the situation of the album’s recording – the band were beginning to disintegrate into separate artists with different lives – for instance Yoko Ono’s presence – with attendant friction. Some commentators have written of 42.6 “do not persist in this attitude, for that would lead to misfortune” – which it did - the breakup of the band, a little over a year later. There is reference to “no one increases it” – arguably evident from both the length and quality of the album (subsequent efforts of Abbey Rd and Let It Be, after the artistic peak of 1966-68 I would argue are a slackening of quality).

From the structure of the album it seems to me not surprising that The White Album should be the one most pleasing to Yi - because it encompasses all and is an album of ceaseless change - for instance Bungalow Bill shifting into While my Guitar Gently Weeps, shifting into Happiness is a Warm Gun - which itself changes several times within the same song. In this album, the only constant is change.

The songs may look like they don’t sit together well (on paper) however the album flows very well to the listener despite the surface disjunctions. This is The Beatles at their most universal; perhaps why they chose simply the name of the band as the title of the album, with plain white artwork – a blank slate into which anything can be projected.

And as it is an album of constant change it is also an album of continual beginnings, which is perhaps hinted at in hexagram 3.

 

[susieq777]

OMG this thread!

There's so much here I am going to come back when it's not 2am. But for now I just want to chime in with what the Yi thinks is The Beatles best album and say Revolver.

42.6 is describing him not bringing any benefit to anyone and people assailing them. As soon as I read it, it reminded me of their US tour in 1966, which was their last tour before they all were so fed up with touring they chucked it for good.

The noise levels at the gigs in the US were so loud that they can't be heard, and no one was much listening anyway cos they were having a mass hysteria scream session in the stands. Revolver was lukewarmly received in the US too after John's comments (RIP darling) about the band being more popular with the kids than Jesus sent another section of the populace.into a hissy fit.

More background: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolver_(Beatles_album)