What's my reaction to the song?
As far as I know, there weren't any surveys done at the time on the song or album, but it's safe to say that the opinions would have run the spectrum. Some probably loved it, some probably hated it, and others were probably in between.
Generally, though, the album Revolver was well-received in both its British and international formats. Music criticism was still in its infancy, and the popular press was not in the general habit of reviewing albums yet, but there were a few outlets who did give a review. One was the Village Voice in New York City. The review can be read in full here. They found the album to be “profound”:
...there is more than mere adulation behind the sudden conquest of Britain by this particular LP. Revolver is a revolutionary record, as important to the expansion of pop territory as was Rubber Soul. It was apparent last year that the 12 songs in Rubber Soul represented an important advance. Revolver is the great leap forward. Hear it once and you know it’s important. Hear it twice, it makes sense. Third time around it’s fun. Fourth time, it’s subtle. On the fifth hearing, Revolver becomes profound.
On "Taxman" in particular, they didn't have much of anything to say, except to give an explanation of what the song was about. So, if this is a reflection at all of the public/teenage reaction in the U.S., the reaction seemed to be "Huh?":
“Taxman” is the album’s example of political cheek, in which George enumerates Britain’s current economic woes. At one point. the group joins in to identify the villains. “Taxman — Mr. Wilson… Taxman — Mr. Heath.” They lay it right on the non-partisan line.
That last line there does seem to be intended to provide reassurance to listeners who might be wondering if the Beatles are taking some strong political viewpoint that the listener might not like. Though that might be reading a little bit too much into it.
In Los Angeles, radio station KRLA published a review of the album in the September 10, 1966, issue of their newsletter KRLA Beat. The review was very positive, and they singled out “Taxman” for praise:
One of the best and most commercial George Harrison compositions for some time is the first cut on the album, "Taxman." It is also one of the best, most concise satirical comments on the British society and current tax situation (not to mention our own!) to come along from anyone for some time.
While not singling out “Taxman” in particular, several of the Beatles’ contemporaries have related their reaction to first hearing the Revolver album, including David Crosby and Brian Wilson. Both remembered being highly impressed.
One contemporary who was not impressed, however, was Ray Davies of the Kinks. He was invited by Disc and Music Echo magazine to review Revolver, concluding that it was “a load of rubbish”. On “Taxman” specifically, Davies wrote:
“It sounds like a cross between the Who and Batman. It's a bit limited, but the Beatles get over this by the sexy double-tracking. It's surprising how sexy double-tracking makes a voice sound.”
That might be slightly kinder than he was to the album as a whole, but in a 1969 interview, he again indicated he didn’t have a whole lot of love for the song.
Another detractor can be found in a question posed to John Lennon in 1968. According to author John C. Winn, Lennon was interviewed in mid-December of that year for a Dutch television show, and while discussing the song “Revolution,” the interviewer remarked:
"I was angry at you for doing the 'Taxman' thing...It [the song] might be used to, say, lower taxes, and I want high taxes, because I want to liberate people..."
Lennon defends the song along the same lines of his message in the song "Revolution," that he doesn’t want to support a government he doesn’t approve of by paying taxes to them. Lennon then turns his real ire toward businessmen who he feels have cheated the Beatles out of money. Regardless, the informative thing here is that the journalist’s question may give a little insight into the public reaction. Some politically-minded, or economically-minded, teenagers with left-wing sympathies may have been annoyed with the song’s message.
Of course, Wilson, Crosby, Davies, and the aforementioned reporters were all in their twenties, or so. They weren’t teenagers. What did actual teenagers think?
Some insight might be gained elsewhere in KRLA Beat. In each issue, the periodical published a “Top 40 Requested Songs” received by the radio station in the past two weeks. Presumably, this at least represents some of the teenage sentiment toward the song. After Revolver was released, five different songs from the album appeared on the list between September and November 1966. “Taxman” was not one of them.
Perhaps more informative, in the fall of 1966, the Beatles’ official monthly fanzine, the Beatles Book, published several letters from teenage fans praising the recently-released Revolver album. Of particular note is one published in the September 1966 issue, written by “Miss Leslie Samuels” from New York City:
Dearest George,
After hearing "REVOLVER" a few times thanks to a tape recorder and a delinquent radio station (WMCA), all I can say is "WOW!". This album shows how you've matured, and it brings out the best in all of you....
In December of that year, 13-year-old Richard Inverarity from Scotland wrote to the Beatles Book to ask George about "Taxman," among other things:
Dear George,
I think that the L.P. "Revolver" is absolutely fantastic but on side 1, just before you start to sing, "Taxman" is it you that goes 1-2-3-4 etc.?
Also...I see you have a moustache, why on earth did you grow it? I hope you take it off.
I wrote this letter as everytime I look at the ltters in the Beatles' Books they are always written by GIRLS! So next time I HOPE there'll be a boy in it.
Harrison replied:
Now there's a boy on the letters page—you. John did the counting bit on "Taxman". I grew the moustache because I liked it. But I'm not sure yet whether I'll keep it.
That’s one thing to keep in mind. There was very little public information about the Beatles’ songs and recordings at the time, so of the little fan reaction that is published between 1963-70 relating to specific songs, a lot of it is fans asking basic informational questions. Who sang the high harmonies? Who played the piano? That kind of thing.
The Beatles’ first public appearances after the Revolver album was released was their U.S. concert tour in August 1966. At each city they performed in, they also held a half hour press conference, taking questions mostly from professional journalists. However, few questions were actually about their music. The main topic of discussion was the “Bigger Than Jesus” fiasco that broke immediately before their arrival in the U.S. There was only ever one question asked about Taxman during the tour, by one of the teenage fanclub secretaries invited to the press conference in Los Angeles. The Village Voice relayed the answer Harrison gave to the question this way: "George is the one who coughs on 'Tax Man'".
Looking at actual teen magazines of the time might give some additional insight, but I am unaware of any that singled out “Taxman” in any way. But they might not be all that reflective of actual teenage sentiment anyway. For instance, according to author Winn, the magazine Teen Life featured columns about the Beatles’ U.S. tour — all written by the band’s U.S. publicist.
Probably the most insightful clue as to how teenagers reacted to “Taxman” at the time is to listen to teenagers’ reactions to another two songs by the Beatles that were released just a few months later. The Beatles’ follow-up single to the Revolver album was the double-sided “Penny Lane” / “Strawberry Fields Forever”. The music videos (“promo films” in those days) were broadcast on U.S. television on American Bandstand, and the studio audience watched and listened to the songs for the first time ever there in the studio. After listening to each of the two songs, host Dick Clark asked several of the teenage/young adult audience members for their reaction. You can see the exchanges here. In reaction to “Strawberry Fields Forever,” the comments were:
“I thought it was great.”
“I don’t like their hair, their mustache.”
“They looked older, and it ruined their image a little.”
“I thought it was funny.”
“I liked it.”
“They’re ugly.”
“Their mustaches are weird.”
“[At least] they went out with a twist.”
“They look like grandfathers or something.”
“I thought they looked OK.”
“Looked good.”
And then reactions to “Penny Lane”:
“It was different.”
“It was a little brighter, on the brighter side...They smiled, at least.”
“I thought it was weird.”
“Weird.”
“They’re OK.”
“It reminded me of Hollywood about a hundred years ago.”
“It was all right.”
“They’re as bad as the Monkees.”
“They just look different than they used to.”
“I thought they looked good.”
“It was a change.”
“They have a right to look any way they want.”
“Mick Jagger.” (Apparently, a rogue Stones fan.)
“They just looked entirely different.”
“It was all right.”
“Not much of a change.” (The audience laughs at this.)
The comments on their hairier, new look aside, this probably isn’t entirely different from the reaction a group of teenagers would have had upon listening to “Taxman” for the first time six months earlier: weird, OK, different, great, funny, and “just as bad as the Monkees.”
(end of part 1)
