Fans of the legendary rock group The Beatles remain split on whether their incredible White Album has “filler” tracks.
Filler songs are pieces of work there to plug a gap between stronger works, and it appears the r/Beatles subreddit users have spotted a few filler moments on the White Album. A user asked: “Does the White Album have filler? I’ve heard different opinions on this, I love almost all the songs on the album, and I think they each add something to it.” The White Album features classics like While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Back in the U.S.S.R., and Dear Prudence. But longtime listeners believe there are a few filler tracks featured on the album, though nobody could quite decide which ones should be cut.
Some users agreed even more songs should be added to the album though, with one user suggesting songs which later featured on a solo album from George Harrison could fit into the White Album. One user wrote: “I would definitely add Junk and Not Guilty.” Another added: “Must add Teddy Boy, Junk’s twin. Both are calm and melancholic tunes, my favourites from George Harrison’s first solo album.”
Another user suggested dropping Revolution 9, though others have defended the song for being “pretty ahead of its time.” One user wrote: “Revolution 9 is actually pretty ahead of its time. Parts of it sound like something a post/noise rock band would make in the 90s.
“I will say it doesn’t stand up to the other stuff on the album but it’s a very experimental track and there’s a lot of stiff competition on the record. Also it’s at the very end of the album right before Goodnight (which I honestly like less than Revolution 9) so it doesn’t get in the way of the album’s flow.”
A third added: “I don’t mind Revolution 9 but I really wish they’d kept Revolution 1 as a ten minute track with the best five minutes of Revolution 9 during the fadeout, we still would have basically had the concept of Revolution 9 but it would have freed up space for a more conventional song. I also would have been into Revolution 9 being swapped out for What’s The New Mary Jane.”
Some have since suggested removing Wild Honey Pie, which was dubbed more an “interlude” than a “filler” song. One user wrote: “Wild Honey Pie is just an interlude, hard to consider it filler.
“The whole thing is meant to flow like an album, which it does, and doesn’t really fit the Spotify bite-sized playlist mindset. For an album where part of the motivation was to release as many tracks as possible to fulfill a contract it hangs together insanely well.”
Another replied: “Yeah, but unless you’re a superfan, it is a bad interlude. Interludes can make an album so much better (I love Intermission by TOOL, it hints at the guitar riff next on the tracklist with a ragtime organ ditty) but on the other side you’ve got literally every other TOOL interlude, especially all the ones on their newest album, which are just garbage noise between good songs. I like Wild Honey Pie for what it is but I wouldn’t defend it against someone calling it bad because it is pretty bad.”
Longtime listeners of the White Album have, however, stated there are no such things as filler tracks for The Beatles’ 1968 effort. One wrote: “No filler to be found on the whole record.” Another added: “Agreed.” A third wrote: “No and it kind of irks me when people try to edit the track list and sequencing. The White Album is a beautiful mess and removing a single song ruins the experience.”
