Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today let’s go into another Three Tune Tuesday post.
As always, thanks to 
Today’s set circles around a loose theme: Irony and Longing. See if you think they fit. Let’s jump in.
The Beatles – Back in the U.S.S.R. (Let It Be… Naked version)
This song has always been a joke with layers. On the surface, it’s a Beach Boys pastiche filtered through Cold War satire. As many of us know, the Beatles — especially Paul — were fans of the Beach Boys and were always trying to one-up them. This was a direct response to “Surfin’ USA”. But there is a second layer: underneath, it’s The Beatles playing with the idea of America as fantasy—sun, girls, freedom—mirrored back through a Soviet lens.
The Let It Be… Naked treatment strips away the wall of sound and lets the song breathe. What comes through more clearly here is how tight and playful the band still was, even while everything else around them was beginning to fracture. As much as I love the original, this one may be replacing it in many of my playlists. This is really fantastic.
The irony still works because it’s affectionate rather than cruel. You laugh, but you don’t feel mocked.
The Beatles – I’m a Loser (2026 Stereo Remix)
I have to admit, I’m usually not much for early Beatles songs. As amazing as their harmonies could be on those early tracks, the boy band thing just doesn’t do it for me. Later psychedelic Beatles experimentation and confidence hits much better. That said, I’m a Loser is an early exception, and this remix sharpens that feeling rather than polishing it away.
There’s no bravado here. Just a young man admitting failure before the world forces him to. It’s self-knowledge arriving too early to be comfortable. Placed after Back in the U.S.S.R., the contrast is telling.
Vulnerability was always part of their DNA, even when the haircuts and harmonies made it easy to miss.
Sammy Davis Jr. & Count Basie – The Girl From Ipanema
And from the Beatles, we go to an American jazz legend and an American entertainer covering a Brazilian song about distance, beauty, and unattainable grace.
I’ve always loved this song, and especially this performance of it. Sammy doesn’t oversell it. Basie doesn’t crowd it. The arrangement glides instead of swings, which feels exactly right. This isn’t about conquest or desire fulfilled; it’s about watching someone pass by and knowing that’s all it will ever be.
In a way, it’s the emotional inverse of the first two songs. No irony. No confession. Just acceptance.
Sometimes the most honest relationship you can have with an ideal is to let it walk past you.
So which one hits you this week?
| David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. |
