The first two songs on “The Beatles” (1968, aka “The White Album”)

The double album "The Beatles" (1968), or "The White Album", as fans immediately dubbed it, has so many songs I'll just comment on the first two's lyrics. Paul McCartney's "Back in the USSR" lives from its specificity, such as the BOAC flight from Miami Beach to the Soviet Union, and its humor, which peaks in the verse alluding to The Beach Boys song "California Girls": "Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out." John Lennon's "Dear Prudence" is much simpler in its address to Prudence, but it spins out variations on a theme, from "Won't you come out to play?" to "Open up your eyes" and "Let me see you smile." (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 3 July 2024)