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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

All My Loving is the quintessential early Paul song: a gentle, almost ballad-like melody stamped on the accelerator. John's relentless triplet rhythm guitar gives it the propulsive force of Beatlemania and turns sweetness into motion. beatles208.substack.com/p/51-all-my…

beatles208.substack.com

51. All My Loving

The quintessential early McCartney song

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Sunday morning, two kids in my lap, watching the NWSL. Is this heaven?

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It's hard for any Beatles song to be underrated, but this one qualifies

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Nowhere Man turns alienation into something life-affirming. The descending melody and minor-key turn suggest isolation, but Paul's bubbling bass, luminous guitars and those three-part harmonies surround John with warmth, support and joy. beatles208.substack.com/p/53-nowher…

beatles208.substack.com

53. Nowhere Man

A life-affirming song about depression

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

If I Fell really does sound like angels singing. But its beauty depends on two bits of dissonance: lyrics trapped in the wreckage of an old heartbreak, and harmonies that strain just enough at the edges to reveal John and Paul inside them beatles208.substack.com/p/58-if-i-f…

beatles208.substack.com

58. If I Fell

An unspeakably beautiful song, with a few discordant notes to counterpoint

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If not for the girl groups, there would probably be no #Beatles. Please Mr. Postman shows how their rock and roll aggression fused with beautiful harmonies and earnest devotion to create something wholly new beatles208.substack.com/p/60-please…

beatles208.substack.com

60. Please Mr. Postman

If not for the girl groups, there would probably be no Beatles

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Norwegian Wood is a template for a lifetime of musical discovery. Every time I experience that jolt of delight at encountering some new song, I'm hearing an echo of it. beatles208.substack.com/p/61-norweg…

beatles208.substack.com

61. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

This song changed my life

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The entire state government of California is a parable about how giving people more opportunities to vote on something is not, in fact, the same thing as making your political system more democratic.

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Revolution infuriated the political left in 1968, but its uncertainty has aged better than many of John's later, more strident political declarations beatles208.substack.com/p/67-revolu…

beatles208.substack.com

67. Revolution

A revolutionary song about the dangers of revolution

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It Won't Be Long takes the melodrama of the girl-group sound and turns it into a rock and roll thunderclap. The #Beatles didn't keep any ironic distance from that emotional intensity. They gave themselves over to it completely beatles208.substack.com/p/75-it-won…

beatles208.substack.com

75. It Won't Be Long

A girl-group inspired potboiler that turns melodrama into a rock and roll classic

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

At the start of the most astonishing scene in Peter Jackson's Get Back, Paul has nothing. Less than four minutes later, John has arrived, the whole band is playing, and a number-one single has sprung into existence before our eyes beatles208.substack.com/p/80-get-ba…

beatles208.substack.com

80. Get Back

What a gift to be able to watch the birth of a number one hit

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I do basically agree that people are too invested in identity=electability arguments. But ‘you can win if you’re a generational political talent (running against an unpopular war and a financial collapse)’ does not prove very much.

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

In addition to all that, Rob Sand is very intentionally running as the most moderate moderate to ever moderate. This is a deeply embarrassing take!

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

No, the conclusion should be that these are two different candidates, running for two different jobs, against two different opposing candidates, who are therefore differentiated in many different ways. SMH

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Can't Buy Me Love is probably the least intrinsically-interesting of the #Beatles 1964 mega-hits, but it's a perfect avatar for their year of world domination beatles208.substack.com/p/91-cant-bu...

beatles208.substack.com

91. Can't Buy Me Love

The relentless enthusiasm of Paul McCartney and the peak of Beatlemania

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

George wrote Love You To only a few months after picking up the sitar, which remains one of the most impossible facts in a #Beatles story full of impossible facts beatles208.substack.com/p/93-love-you-to

beatles208.substack.com

93. Love You To

George wrote this song just a few months after picking up the sitar. That is every bit as impossible as it sounds

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Joe Patrice @joepatrice.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The problem with voter ID laws is that white people are NOT overconfident. It's a "velvet rope regime" where white people's shoddy ID will be "good enough" and Black people's identical ID gets scrutinized and votes possibly thrown out by some 2020 election denialist running a local board.

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

A petition is going viral demanding Charles III use his powers as King to resurrect John Lennon and George Harrison and reunite the Beatles.

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Getting Better might be the perfect entry point into the John/Paul partnership: Paul's optimism and John's realism sharpening each other into something neither could have made alone beatles208.substack.com/p/96-getting-better

beatles208.substack.com

96. Getting Better

It's time to take 'Lennon/McCartney' seriously, and literally

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Brutal from Argentina, of course, but also pretty impressive for Spain to only accumulate 1.2 xG from all those shots

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Mike Goodman @themlg.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

The degree to which the nastiness in the Michigan senate primary exploded the minute Platner dropped out in Maine sure suggests that the most prominent issue at play here is that a bunch of assholes [factional definition neutral] need something to do.

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Kind of makes it seem like the extreme tentativeness when defending a lead in a big game is actually a player pathology more than anything to do with the coaching

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Pretty funny that they finally moved on from Southgate and then played the most Southgate game that ever Southgated

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Always feels a bit like Digne is just some guy who won a contest where the prize was you get to play for the national team.

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

As a teenager, Paul wrote Michelle to try to pick up girls. It ended up being one of their most popular and enduring hits beatles208.substack.com/p/98-michelle

beatles208.substack.com

98. Michelle

Straddling the line between parody and sincerity, Michelle is a perfect and somewhat inexplicable gem

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

In the past three weeks, my five year old has discovered that goals often don’t end up counting and now says it doesn’t feel good to clap when they just ‘get taken away.’ Thanks VAR

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Have you considered supporting teams who always get eliminated early? Highly recommended! 🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

The Ballad of John and Yoko was their final UK #1, a fact that seems unbelievable no matter how many times I say it. Great song, but one that feels much more like a Plastic Ono Band cut than a #Beatles chart-topper beatles208.substack.com/p/104-the-ba...

beatles208.substack.com

104. The Ballad of John and Yoko

The Ballad of John and Paul and John and Yoko

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Girl is a wistful ode to an imagined love, in the form of an almost-perfect presaging of John's feelings for Yoko beatles208.substack.com/p/103-girl

beatles208.substack.com

103. Girl

A song about a dream girl--whose perfection is defined by her casual indifference

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The US spent two decades as plucky overachievers. Interesting change of pace for them to now be a pretty good team who absolutely wilted under the bright lights.

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

It was a very Bluesky-Brain thing for people to assume that the world was rooting against the US in the World Cup (when in fact global football fans were reasonably warm to the USMNT. Except it turns out the Bluesky Brainers were kind of right after all.

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

What on earth is happening in Mexico City. This is just nonstop madness

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Only thing that would be more College Soccer Vibes would be to kick someone in the face five or six times and get a verbal warning.

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I once saw a college soccer game where the consensus was that someone scored by missing her header but lashing it with just enough of the ponytail to get a change of direction. Was in like...2017 or 2018 maybe?

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Giving me flashbacks to Scotland 3-3 Argentina at the 2019 World Cup, which was possibly even more bonkers of an ending.

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

My most old-man-yells-at-cloud football opinion is that holding up your arm for an offside call while the ball is in play should be a bookable offense

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The Fool on the Hill is a beautiful song about the haunting isolation of wisdom beatles208.substack.com/p/107-the-fo...

beatles208.substack.com

107. The Fool on the Hill

Paul gets philosophical about the burdens of being human

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I'm not saying that Charles Manson correctly divined the meaning. But still, his madness did expose an element of truth here. Helter Skelter really is a shockingly violent song.

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

My principled stance is that refs need to assign more red cards regardless of intent. Dangerous play is dangerous. My biased fan stance is that this is the greatest travesty in the history of the World Cup.

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

The fight for third-place qualification turned out as good as you could possibly hope for, but playing 70 games to eliminate 16/48 teams is ridiculous. Expand to 64 imo.

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

When I'm Sixty-Four isn't a critical favorite, but I think it's actually one of the most compelling (and subversive) songs on Sgt. Pepper beatles208.substack.com/p/109-when-i...

beatles208.substack.com

109. When I'm Sixty-Four

Paul singing a song at 26 that he wrote at 16 in a style that was popular when he was 6 about being 64

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

The McCartney Pastiche is its own amazing genre. He's earnest, empathetic, engaged: fully committed to making the song a genuine version of itself, while still injecting his own unique personality into every experiment.

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

It was written looking backward, toward the music that HIS mother might have known. But it lives on today as a song that still delights kids who are now almost six full decades removed

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

When I was a teenager and #Beatles obsessive, Real Love was the closest I ever got to experiencing my favorite band as a real living thing beatles208.substack.com/p/113-real-l...

beatles208.substack.com

113. Real Love

Of all the new Beatles songs, this one sounds the most like The Beatles. For better and for worse

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Because is one of the most beautiful #Beatles songs, but one that I've never quite been able to love. Perhaps that's because the song itself evokes feelings that seem to exceed the human experience beatles208.substack.com/p/114-because

beatles208.substack.com

114. Because

Ethereal harmonies that feel like they might just stretch out to infinity

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Lennon and McCartney are famously among the most gifted songwriters in history, but they spent years as a cover band before ever writing any of their own hits. That's not a coincidence.

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

P.S. I Love You commemorates a very literal thing that happened: the #Beatles writing letters back home to their fans while they were in Hamburg open.substack.com/pub/beatles2...

open.substack.com

116. P.S. I Love You

This soppy little love song actually defines a critical, and transformational moment in the history of the Beatles

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Charles Olney @olneyce.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Would you like to guess which of these two teams Ian Darke and Landon Donovan think are playing exceptionally well and which one is embarrassed at their performance?

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Reposted by Charles Olney

Oh That Magic Feeling @beatles208.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

John Lennon called Run For Your Life his least favorite Beatles song. But the song's flaws are also part of what make it worth examining and (maybe) celebrating open.substack.com/pub/beatles2...

open.substack.com

120. Run For Your Life

Can we get past the misogyny? Should we try to get past the misogyny?

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