Rhyming Some More With the Fabulous Four Quiz

Answer: In our yellow submarine

1966's "Revolver" moved the Beatles into full acceptance by "serious" music critics with its incredible breakthroughs in recording technology and lyrics. This song, "Yellow Submarine," was a lighter throwaway on the record, sung by Ringo and released as the "B" side to the far more serious "Eleanor Rigby." The sound effects (bells, bubbling, hoses) were made by the Beatles themselves, playing around in the studio and having fun.

Answer: If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet

George Harrison wrote "Taxman" as an angry outcry when he and the other Beatles learned how much money they were actually losing to British taxes (as much as 95% of their income). The song "called out" British leaders Harold Wilson and Edward Heath by name. Within a few years, all four Beatles would have established residencies outside England to escape the taxes.

The serious lyrics are set against a tune that Harrison derived from the theme music to the American television program "Batman." He liked both the song and the show!

Answer: But they're guaranteed to raise a smile

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" - the song and the album from which it came - are said to have redefined popular music. The innovative packaging, the bright colors on the album cover, the idea that the songs were somehow thematically connected, were all new concepts in 1967.

The Beatles may have first realized the significance of the work when, shortly after its release, they went to see Jimi Hendrix in concert, and he played the song. In 2005, Paul McCartney and U2's Bono sang it together to open the Live 8 concert.

Answer: The girl with kaleidoscope eyes

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" inspired panic, outrage, and song bans because its initials were "LSD." John Lennon, who wrote and sang the song, maintained at the time that the title came from a painting that his young son Julian had done of a friend of his at school. Julian later supported this explanation, and in fact, a woman named Lucy O'Donnell eventually came forward to claim that she'd sat next to Julian at his school at the time and was the inspiration for the drawing.

The psychedelic lyrics and hazy delivery do add to the "drug mystique" of the song, however.

Answer: Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall

"A Day in the Life" was the last song on "Sgt. Pepper." Starting with two news stories - a Guinness heir dying in a car accident, and four thousand potholes being counted in Blackburn, Lancashire (requiring enough patching material to fill the Albert Hall) - Lennon wrote a song that incorporated a middle section describing the mundane beginnings to a mundane day.

The ending of the middle section ("Had a smoke, and somebody spoke and I went into a dream"), and the repeated use of the line "I'd love to turn you on" were too suggestive of drug use for the BBC's taste, and the song was banned.

Answer: And I'll try not to sing out of key

As originally written, "With a Little Help from My Friends" began with the words "What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you throw ripe tomatoes at me?" John and Paul very much wanted Ringo to sing it, and he agreed to do so on the condition that they change the line - he was afraid that if he ever performed it live, people actually WOULD pelt him with tomatoes! This was the second song on "Sgt. Pepper," the first record the Beatles made after they'd given up touring.

The audience cheering at the song's beginning comes from their 1965 Hollywood Bowl concert. Joe Cocker made the song even more famous when he performed it at Woodstock in 1969, and the Cocker version was later used as the theme music for the 1987-93 US television show "The Wonder Years."

Answer: It doesn't matter much to me

"Strawberry Fields Forever" derived its name from an orphanage near where John Lennon grew up, and of which he had some fond memories from his childhood. Released as a 1967 single, and on the US "Magical Mystery Tour" album, the song rose to #2 on the British charts, where it was unable to topple Englebert Humperdinck's "Release Me" from the top spot.

After Lennon was murdered in 1980, a portion of Central Park facing his apartment was renamed "Strawberry Fields" in commemoration.

Answer: As you are me and we are all together

John wrote "I am the Walrus" after receiving a letter from a schoolboy telling him that his teacher was having the class analyze the lyrics of Beatles songs for deeper meanings. Lennon started with the framework of Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter," threw in some nonsense words ("goo goo g'joob") adapted from James Joyce's "Finnegan's Wake," then got weirder from there; his intent being to write a song that would be impossible to interpret. Of course, decades of analysis and interpretation have since followed.

Answer: Stop and say hello

Released as the flip side of the 1967 "Strawberry Fields Forever" single, "Penny Lane" was written by Paul McCartney as he sat on a bench on Liverpool's Penny Lane and noted the nearby businesses and people coming and going. The two songs, one merry and whimsical, the other mysterious-sounding, complemented each other well, but the release became the first Beatles single since 1963's "Please Please Me" to not top the charts, ending a run of 11 consecutive #1 singles for the group.

Answer: Nothin' you can see that isn't shown

"All You Need is Love" was the Beatles' contribution on behalf of their native England to the television show "Our World," which on June 25, 1967 showcased the first worldwide live television link. Written with intentionally simple lyrics to convey a universal theme, the Beatles sang the song live on the broadcast, accompanied in studio by a small orchestra and such prominent friends as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithful, Keith Moon, and Eric Clapton. Lennon was dissatisfied with his performance and rerecorded his vocals prior to the song being released as a single.