someone had taken a hammer to a giant pocket watch until the springs inside collapsed in heavy, discordant agony." Herstgaard says it was "perhaps the most extreme case of self-indulgence on the album". In his contemporary review of the album, Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone wrote a one-sentence summary of "Wild Honey Pie": "[The song] makes a nice tribute to psychedelic music and allied forms." In 2003, Stylus Magazine ranked "Wild Honey Pie" at number 1 on its list of the "Top Ten Filler Tracks" and described the song as "the greatest piece of filler to ever clutter an over-ambitious double album". They praised the "painfully discordant guitar" and felt the song to be "[o]ne of the most famous half-songs in history." A "Playing God" piece by the same magazine from the following year, in which the author creates a personalised version of the track listing, included the song as the album's opening track, saying "instead of [an] acclimation track like 'Back in the USSR', sound-wise at least, this version of The White Album utilizes the sproing guitar and yarbled vocals of 'Wild Honey Pie' as its opening salvo. It's meant here to let the listener know that this is going to be like no Beatles album they've ever heard." Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the White Album's release, Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent listed "Wild Honey Pie" in last place in his ranking of the album's 30 tracks, and commented: "Thankfully one of The Beatles' shortest songs." Personnel According to author Ian MacDonald: Paul McCartney – lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitars, bass drum, other percussion Notes References External links The Beatles songs Experimental pop songs 1968 songs Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Pixies (band) songs Songs published by Northern Songs Psychedelic folk songs