“___ Blues” (song on the Beatles’ “White Album”) - NYT Crossword Clue

Introduction

Today's clue, "“___ Blues” (song on the Beatles’ “White Album”)", is a classic fill-in-the-blank that tests your knowledge of music history. It specifically points to one of the most famous albums by one of the most famous bands in the world. While the band is universally known, the song itself is a bit of a deeper cut, making this a potentially tricky three-letter answer.

Clue Analysis

The clue provides all the necessary information, but it requires specific trivia to solve directly. Let's break it down:

• "___ Blues": This tells us the structure of the song title. We are looking for a word that precedes "Blues".
• "song on the Beatles' 'White Album'": This is the core of the clue. It identifies the artist (The Beatles) and the source album. The Beatles, released in 1968, is universally known as the "White Album" due to its minimalist cover art. The solver must recall a song from this double LP that fits the "___ Blues" pattern.

The challenge lies in the non-standard spelling of the missing word, which can be a hang-up if you're trying to guess based on sound alone.

Thinking Approaches

There are a few ways to tackle this clue:

1. Direct Recall: If you're a Beatles fan, you might immediately recognize the song "Yer Blues" from the "White Album". This is the fastest path to the answer.
2. Using Crossings: For a short, three-letter answer like this, crossing letters are your best friend. If you don't know the song, wait until you have one or two letters filled in from other clues. If you have Y _ R, the answer becomes much more apparent.
3. Phonetic Guessing: You might think of words that could fit before "Blues," like "My," "The," or "Your." If you consider that rock and roll often uses colloquial or stylized language, you might land on a phonetic spelling of "Your," which leads to the answer.

Background Context

The song in question is "Yer Blues," a track from side three of the Beatles' 1968 double album, The Beatles (the "White Album"). Written by John Lennon during the band's retreat in India, the song is a raw, heavy, and somewhat tortured piece of blues rock.

The title's spelling, "Yer," is a colloquial, informal transcription of "Your," often associated with certain British dialects. This stylistic choice fits the song's unpolished and direct emotional tone. The track itself is sometimes seen as both a sincere expression of Lennon's feelings of isolation and a parody of the booming British blues scene of the late 1960s, which included bands like Cream and Fleetwood Mac.

Conclusion

This clue is a great example of how pop culture trivia can range from the universally known to the more niche. While everyone knows the Beatles, knowing the track list of the "White Album" is a taller order. For solvers, it's a reminder that sometimes the answer isn't a standard dictionary word but a stylized or colloquial term from a specific cultural context. When in doubt, let the crossing clues guide your way.

Hints

1. Hint 1: The clue refers to a song by a legendary British rock band from the 1960s.
2. Hint 2: The song's title features a deliberately non-standard, almost dialectal spelling of a common possessive pronoun.
3. Hint 3: The song was written by John Lennon and is a raw, blues-influenced track, parodying the British blues boom of the late 1960s.
4. Hint 4: The missing word sounds like 'your' but is spelled with three letters, reflecting a specific accent or style.