Hello, friend! So, you’ve found yourself at what is likely the end of days. You’ve accepted that the future is bleak and that you’re quite possibly going to die a horrible death, alone—the only connection with your family being an online virtual meeting chat service with an inappropriately playful name. But hang on! Before you go zoom-ing off to an early grave, here are some tips and tricks that might help you turn that frown upside-down… Not that anyone would be able to tell the difference with that mask on, but you get the idea. Let’s go!
1. Wear A Mask. No longer do you need a buddy to smother you with a pillow in your sleep! With masks, you can do this on your own, slowly and painfully over the course of days or weeks. Best of all, you’ll have the encouragement of your peers. Despite all scientific proof that masks don’t actually do anything for healthy people except make their faces sweaty, you’ll be treated like a social pariah if you dare to question the herds of sheep who get their medical advice from Dr. Oz and your Great Aunt Margaret on Facebook who once yelled at a mother in a grocery store because her baby sneezed.
2. Wash Your Hands. Wash your hands a lot. Then, wash them again. Wash them until they bleed, or until you have no germs left anywhere on your body (whichever comes first). The goal is to make everyone feel like we’re living on Planet Hospitalis, where immune systems no longer exist and a tiny speck of a crumb of a molecule will infect your body and turn you into one of the baddies from “The Walking Dead.” Side note: if you do find yourself at the end of your rope, you might want to consider putting on gloves before tying the noose.
3. Don’t. Go. Anywhere. I can’t emphasize this enough. Don’t go anywhere and don’t do anything. Don’t see anybody, don’t touch anybody. In fact, if it falls under the category of Things That Nearly All Human Beings Need To Remain Human, just don’t do it. The goal is to stay in a place of perpetual trauma and fear. Be afraid of silly things like hugs and kisses. Be afraid of handshakes and high fives. At some point you’ll become so frightened of touching other people, you might even be afraid to touch yourself. Which is really a shame, because no one else is going to do it for you.
4. Trust Your Overlords. The Corporations, The Government, and The Media: let’s think of them as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of conflicting information coming from these sources, so you’ll be able to remain on edge in a perpetual state of confusion and anxiety at all times. Is it safe to go back to work? Yes! Is it safe to be in a place with other humans? No! Is it safe to shop? Sure! Is it safe to be out in public, anywhere? Doubtful! Lockdowns and quarantines are great news for these powerful entities. They’re a crucial step in the complete dismantling of free speech, including the right to assemble. But we have Netflix, so we don’t really care about doing that anyway.
5. The End Is Outta Sight. Congratulations on making it this far! You’ve toughed it out and survived this, but don’t get comfortable yet—because this is just the beginning. In fact, this quarantine experiment is working so well, we’ll be bringing it back for another season! And another… And another… And another… And another. I know you wanted things to return to normal, but let’s face it: this is normal now. This is the gateway into the fun-filled Orwellian society that The Lovely Powers That Be have wanted for us all along. In order to maintain our dystopia, we need to sacrifice all things human. The desire to be free, the need to congregate, any natural sense of empathy. Going, going, gone. It’s only taken a few months for these things to decrease to levels near absolute zero. Just imagine what a glorious future is in store for us years from now! Picture a society with not just racial, sexual, and economic discrimination, but health discrimination as well. And anytime human beings teeter on the edge of breaking through our shackles… boom! Another pandemic. Kudos to them for making it look so easy.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide, and that it helps you stay safe and comfortable during these times. Just remember, you’re never alone, because we’re all in this together. But we’re also completely alone, so there’s that too. Maybe that’s what drugs and alcohol are for?
10. Let It Be (1969): Here’s Paul to describe the process of this legendary Beatles track: “One night during this tense time I had a dream I saw my mum, who’d been dead 10 years or so. And it was so great to see her because that’s a wonderful thing about dreams: you actually are reunited with that person for a second; there they are and you appear to both be physically together again. It was so wonderful for me and she was very reassuring. In the dream she said, ‘It’ll be all right.’ I’m not sure if she used the words ‘Let it be’ but that was the gist of her advice, it was, ‘Don’t worry too much, it will turn out OK.’ It was such a sweet dream I woke up thinking, Oh, it was really great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing the song Let It Be. I literally started off ‘Mother Mary’, which was her name, ‘When I find myself in times of trouble’, which I certainly found myself in. The song was based on that dream. ‘Mother Mary’ makes it a quasi-religious thing, so you can take it that way. I don’t mind. I’m quite happy if people want to use it to shore up their faith. I have no problem with that. I think it’s a great thing to have faith of any sort, particularly in the world we live in.” Song trademark: For me, this song is just about perfect, from start to finish. Having said that, I love Billy Preston’s organ part– as well as George’s solo. There are now three official versions of the song. The single (which is likely the most often heard version) has a nice yet somewhat anemic guitar solo, in my opinion. The album version features more orchestration and a louder solo that sounds great, but feels inappropriate given the song’s content. My favorite is the ‘Naked’ version, which sounds terrific and preserves the overall vibe of the song. It also corrects a flubbed piano note around the three-minute mark that you’ll now never be able to unhear in the other two versions. You’re welcome!
9. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (1968): This has always been a favorite of mine. George may have only had four tracks on the sprawling 30-song ‘White Album,’ but on this one he knocks it out of the park and overshadows his more prolific bandmates. George recalls just how frustrating it could be when you were in a band with Lennon and McCartney: “We tried to record it, but John and Paul were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine. It wasn’t happening. They weren’t taking it seriously and I don’t think they were even all playing on it, and so I went home that night thinking, ‘Well, that’s a shame,’ because I knew the song was pretty good. The next day I was driving into London with Eric Clapton, and I said, ‘What are you doing today? Why don’t you come to the studio and play on this song for me?’ He said, ‘Oh, no – I can’t do that. Nobody’s ever played on a Beatles record and the others wouldn’t like it.’ I said, ‘Look, it’s my song and I’d like you to play on it.’ So he came in. I said, ‘Eric’s going to play on this one,’ and it was good because that then made everyone act better. Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro and they all took it more seriously.” Song trademark: Clapton does play a very groovy solo, but it’s remarkable how well the whole band came together to give the song the kind of serious arrangement it deserved.
8. Help! (1965): The title track to their second feature film, John secretly wrote the song as a response to tremendous pressure. John: “When ‘Help!’ came out, I was actually crying out for help. Most people think it’s just a fast rock ‘n’ roll song. I didn’t realise it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie. But later, I knew I really was crying out for help. So it was my fat Elvis period. You see the movie: he – I – is very fat, very insecure, and he’s completely lost himself. And I am singing about when I was so much younger and all the rest, looking back at how easy it was.” Song trademark: At barely over two minutes long, the song flies at you at a frantic pace and never lets up. My favorite bits are the harmonies with Paul and George, breaking with John to sing little melodies in the background before meeting up again by the end of each verse. It’s a small touch that goes a long way. In my opinion, this is the culmination of the “Beatlemania” period at its finest.
7. Penny Lane (1967): Paving the way for ‘Sgt. Pepper,’ “Penny Lane” is a throwback to an earlier, more carefree time. Paul: “We were often answering each other’s songs so it might have been my version of a memory song but I don’t recall. It was childhood reminiscences: there is a bus stop called Penny Lane. There was a barber shop called Bioletti’s with head shots of the haircuts you can have in the window and I just took it all and arted it up a little bit to make it sound like he was having a picture exhibition in his window. It was all based on real things; there was a bank on the corner so I imagined the banker, it was not a real person, and his slightly dubious habits and the little children laughing at him, and the pouring rain. The fire station was a bit of poetic licence; there’s a fire station about half a mile down the road, not actually in Penny Lane, but we needed a third verse so we took that and I was very pleased with the line ‘It’s a clean machine’. I still like that phrase, you occasionally hit a lucky little phrase and it becomes more than a phrase. So the banker and the barber shop and the fire station were all real locations.” Song trademark: Where to begin? From Paul’s whimsical lyrics to the lush instrumentation, to the brass section– flutes, piccolo, trumpets, oboes, and flugelhorn! This is Paul at his most imaginative. To this day, I can’t hear this song without a smile on my face.
6. Strawberry Fields Forever (1966): Backed with “Penny Lane” in what could easily be considered the greatest single of all time, John’s composition required intense care and preparation. The Beatles spent an unprecedented 55 hours in the studio working on the song, with the song completed in the last weeks of 1966. After fully remaking the song in different styles a few times, John decided he liked both the dreamy take 7, as well as the much heavier-sounding take 26. Here’s George Martin: “[John] said, ‘Why don’t you join the beginning of the first one to the end of the second one?’ ‘There are two things against it,’ I replied. ‘They are in different keys and different tempos. Apart from that, fine.’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you can fix it!’” Song trademark: The resulting edit, accomplished by slowing down the first recording and speeding up the second, has to be one of music history’s finest accomplishments. It’s amazing to me that such a thing was accomplished using a pair of editing scissors and a speed controller. Combine that twist with the false ending, the absolutely wild drumming from Ringo, backwards cymbals, and John’s classic lyrics, and you’ve got a recipe for the perfect Beatles song.
5. Something (1969): George’s contributions to ‘Abbey Road’ prove that he was not only an even match for John and Paul as songwriters, but he had actually managed to eclipse them at this point in terms of quality. “Something” is the ultimate love song, expressing admiration and affection while also admitting uncertainty. George discussed the song with typical humility: “It has probably got a range of five notes, which fits most singers’ needs best. When I wrote it, in my mind I heard Ray Charles singing it, and he did do it some years later. At the time I wasn’t particularly thrilled that Frank Sinatra did ‘Something.’ I’m more thrilled now than I was then. I wasn’t really into Frank – he was the generation before me. I was more interested when Smokey Robinson did it and when James Brown did it. But I’m very pleased now, whoever’s done it. I realise that the sign of a good song is when it has lots of cover versions. I met Michael Jackson somewhere at the BBC. The fellow interviewing us made a comment about ‘Something,’ and Michael said: ‘Oh, you wrote that? I thought it was a Lennon/McCartney’. Song trademark: George’s voice is in fantastic form here, and the composition as a whole comes together perfectly. The string section soars, Ringo’s drumming has never been better. Plus, it’s got a terrific guitar solo! About how many love songs can you say that?
4. Hey Jude (1968): Paul’s 1968 behemoth was inspired by John’s divorce from his wife, Cynthia, with an attempt to provide some comfort to their son, Julian. In an interview, John had an additional theory: “He said it was written about Julian, my child. He knew I was splitting with Cyn and leaving Julian. He was driving over to say hi to Julian. He’d been like an uncle to him. You know, Paul was always good with kids. And so he came up with ‘Hey Jude.’ But I always heard it as a song to me. If you think about it… Yoko’s just come into the picture. He’s saying, ‘Hey, Jude – hey, John.’ I know I’m sounding like one of those fans who reads things into it, but you can hear it as a song to me. The words ‘go out and get her’ – subconsciously he was saying, Go ahead, leave me. On a conscious level, he didn’t want me to go ahead. The angel in him was saying, ‘Bless you.’ The devil in him didn’t like it at all because he didn’t want to lose his partner.” The song featured– get this– ten violins, three violas, three cellos, two double basses, two flutes, two clarinets, a bass clarinet, a bassoon, a contrabassoon, four trumpets, two horns, and four trombones. What more can I say? Song trademark: Na, na na, na na na na, na na na na…
3. In My Life (1965): No Beatles song has sparked as much debate about its authorship as this one, with both Paul and John claiming they each wrote the melody (though John undoubtedly wrote the lyrics). Paul: “As I recall, he didn’t have a tune to it, and my recollection, I think, is at variance with John’s. I said, ‘Well, you haven’t got a tune, let me just go and work on it.’ And I went down to the half-landing, where John had a Mellotron, and I sat there and put together a tune based in my mind on Smokey Robinson and the Miracles… I recall writing the whole melody. And it actually does sound very like me, if you analyse it. I was obviously working to lyrics. The melody’s structure is very me. So my recollection is saying to John, ‘Just go and have a cup of tea or something. Let me be with this for ten minutes on my own and I’ll do it’… I tried to keep it melodic but a bit bluesy, with the minors and little harmonies, and then my recollection is going back up into the room and saying, ‘Got it, great! Good tune, I think. What d’you think?’ John said, ‘Nice,’ and we continued working with it from then, using that melody and filling out the rest of the verses… So it was John’s original inspiration, I think my melody, I think my guitar riff. I don’t want to be categorical about this, but that’s my recollection… I find it very gratifying that out of everything we wrote, we only appear to disagree over two songs.” Song trademark: Easily my favorite ‘Rubber Soul’ track, this song is just a beauty in its entirety. John’s lead vocal pairs perfectly with Paul’s harmonies, and I adore George Martin’s baroque piano solo (which was recorded at a slower speed to give it a quick, sparkly sound on the finished recording). If there was ever a Beatles song to bring a tear to my eye… this one would do the trick.
2. Here Comes The Sun (1969): The shining peak of ‘Abbey Road,’ “Here Comes The Sun” was absolutely inspired by George getting tired with The Beatles. He recalls: “‘Here Comes The Sun’ was written at the time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: ‘Sign this’ and ‘Sign that’. Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever; by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided I was going to sag off Apple and I went over to Eric Clapton’s house. The relief of not having to go and see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric’s acoustic guitars and wrote ‘Here Comes The Sun.’” Song trademark: This is George’s best song, period. His guitar melody is bright and lovely, his vocals are crisp and clean, and the Moog synthesizer (a very new instrument at the time) provides an element of sonic depth that was still relatively unheard of in 1969. Fun fact– this is both the most streamed and the most downloaded Beatles song of all time, proving that its revolutionary sound is still a hit with young listeners as well as fans who bought the album fifty years ago. It’s my pick for the single most timeless and essential Beatles track.
1. A Day In The Life (1967): Here it is, my number one, my favorite Beatles song ever. “A Day In The Life” is of course known for being the closing track off ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ but outside the context of that album the result is even more impressive. See, the first Beatles album I ever bought with my own money was the ‘1967-70’ compilation sometimes known as the ‘blue album.’ Out of all the songs on that collection, this was the one that I listened to time and time again. I was absolutely transfixed by John’s vocals, Paul’s middle eight, and far out lines (for 1967, and also for a child in the 1990s) like, “I’d love to turn you on.” I remember reading the lyric booklet and wanting to memorize everything so I could sing along. Even as a kid, I loved things like, “Although the holes were rather small, they had to count them all. Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.” I didn’t know what any of it meant and I didn’t care. Something about this band– this song, in particular– gripped me and I had to understand why. Song trademark: The massive orchestral build-up was conducted by George Martin and Paul, with some really bizarre instructions for the classically trained musicians (many of whom were from the Royal Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras). George Martin: “At the very beginning I put into the musical score the lowest note each instrument could play, ending with an E major chord. And at the beginning of each of the 24 bars I put a note showing roughly where they should be at that point. Then I had to instruct them. ‘We’re going to start very very quietly and end up very very loud. We’re to start very low in pitch and end up very high. You’ve got to make your own way up there, as slidey as possible so that the clarinets slurp, trombones gliss, violins slide without fingering any notes. And whatever you do, don’t listen to the fellow next to you because I don’t want you to be doing the same thing.’ Of course they all looked at me as though I was mad…” This culminated in a single crashing piano chord, played by John, Paul, Ringo, and assistant Mal Evans on three pianos simultaneously. For me, it’s the band’s peak moment, and it’s really representative of what they were all about: always bucking the trend, breaking new ground, musically inventing a way where there wasn’t one before. A world without The Beatles would be a very dull one indeed– but hey, at least you would never have to buy headphones.
20. I Want To Hold Your Hand (1963): Half a century later, it’s hard to imagine the impact that one song could have on popular culture as a whole. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” would go on to be the song that would propel the band to international stardom by giving them their first number one hit in the United States. Capitol Records were so overwhelmed by the demand that they had to enlist help from Columbia and RCA to press extra copies. Song trademark: I love those handclaps, as well as the vocal harmonies. Here’s John referencing one of my favorite chord changes: “We wrote a lot of stuff together, one-on-one, eyeball to eyeball. Like in ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand,’ I remember when we got the chord that made the song. We were in Jane Asher’s house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had, ‘Oh you-u-u… got that something…’ And Paul hits this chord and I turn to him and say, ‘That’s it!’ I said, ‘Do that again!’ In those days, we really used to absolutely write like that – both playing into each other’s nose.”
19. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (1967): John’s whimsical song was initially rumored to be about LSD. Indeed it could have been, ahem, fueled by it– but the inspiration came from a drawing given to him by his son, Julian. John wrote the bulk of the song, with some help from Paul. Paul: “I showed up at John’s house and he had a drawing Julian had done at school with the title ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ above it. Then we went up to his music room and wrote the song, swapping psychedelic suggestions as we went. I remember coming up with ‘cellophane flowers’ and ‘newspaper taxis’ and John answered with things like ‘kaleidoscope eyes’ and ‘looking glass ties’. We never noticed the LSD initial until it was pointed out later – by which point people didn’t believe us.” Song trademark: The weird, spooky melody in the intro came from a Lowrey DSO Heritage Deluxe electric organ, played by Paul. George’s tambura part is what gives the song that swirling drone-like sound. In the original mono mix, John’s vocals have a surreal, layered effect while on the stereo mix they sound clean. The recent ‘Sgt. Pepper’ remix uses somewhat of a hybrid of the two, and it’s my preferred version by far.
18. She Loves You (1963): The song that launched Beatlemania in Europe, “She Loves You” is probably the greatest Lennon/McCartney collaboration of the early sixties. Paul recalls the writing process at his family’s home in Liverpool: “We sat in there one evening, just beavering away while my dad was watching TV and smoking his Players cigarettes, and we wrote ‘She Loves You.’ We actually finished it there because we’d started it in the hotel room. We went into the living room – ‘Dad, listen to this. What do you think?” So we played it to my dad and he said, ‘That’s very nice, son, but there’s enough of these Americanisms around. Couldn’t you sing, “She loves you. Yes! Yes! Yes!”‘ At which point we collapsed in a heap and said, ‘No, Dad, you don’t quite get it!’ …For a working-class guy that was rather a middle-class thing to say, really. But he was like that.” Song trademark: I absolutely adore the minor chord shift in the word “bad” and the major shift up to the word “glad.” This was such a departure from ordinary love songs of the era, it’s no wonder it made such an impact. Yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah… yeah!
17. Eleanor Rigby (1966): Imagination is a funny thing. How much of it comes from our own mind and how much is from the world around us? Paul: “I thought, I swear, that I made up the name Eleanor Rigby… I remember quite distinctly having the name Eleanor, looking around for a believable surname and then wandering around the docklands in Bristol and seeing the shop there. But it seems that up in Woolton Cemetery, where I used to hang out a lot with John, there’s a gravestone to an Eleanor Rigby. Apparently, a few yards to the right there’s someone called McKenzie.” This song was one of my favorites as a kid, and I still remember a day in high school when we used the song as an example of storytelling analysis in Journalism. Song trademark: I love the detailed lyrics, beginning with Eleanor Rigby not sweeping the rice or brushing it away, but *picking up* the rice. It’s filled with so many great lyrical moments like that. Meanwhile, George Martin’s string arrangement is one of his best ever, and this is the only instance I can think of in which The Beatles had a hit single with none of them playing an instrument. The result is breathtaking and timeless, and it’s hard to imagine it any other way.
16. A Hard Day’s Night (1964): John wrote this song, what would become the title track of their first feature film, based on an odd phrase coming from Ringo and a conversation with director Dick Lester. John: “I was going home in the car and Dick Lester suggested the title ‘Hard Day’s Night’ from something Ringo had said. I had used it in In His Own Write but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropisms. A Ringoism, where he said it not to be funny, just said it. So Dick Lester said we are going to use that title, and the next morning I brought in the song. ‘Cause there was a little competition between Paul and I as to who got the A side, who got the hit singles.” Song trademark: That opening guitar chord is a Beatle trademark for sure, accomplished by George on his Rickenbacker, one of the first commercially available 12-string electric guitars. It’s such an odd sound that it’s difficult to replicate in a live setting– indeed, it was even for The Beatles themselves!
15. Come Together (1969): John’s last great psychedelic groove, “Come Together” was initially crafted as a political anthem for activist Timothy Leary. John recalls: “The thing was created in the studio. It’s gobbledygook; ‘Come Together’ was an expression that Leary had come up with for his attempt at being president or whatever he wanted to be, and he asked me to write a campaign song. I tried and tried, but I couldn’t come up with one. But I came up with this, ‘Come Together,’ which would’ve been no good to him – you couldn’t have a campaign song like that, right?” The line “Here comes old flat top” would later land Lennon in a lawsuit with Chuck Berry, which would be settled with the 1975 album, ‘Rock And Roll.’ Song trademark: There are rumors that the four verses reference each band member specifically, but this has never been confirmed by the band. Having said that, the usual John Lennon wordplay is at the top of its game here, with lines like, “Got to be good looking ‘cause he’s so hard to see” being among my absolute favorites. It’s also worth noting that the song has one of the most distinctive basslines of any track in their discography, and it frequently tops lists for favorite Beatles song by “average” listeners. In short, even people who don’t love The Beatles, love “Come Together.”
14. Blackbird (1968): Written by Paul shortly after returning from India, “Blackbird” isn’t about a bird at all– it’s a message of hope directed toward what was happening in America at the time. Paul: “Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: ‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.’ As is often the case with my things, a veiling took place so, rather than say ‘Black woman living in Little Rock’ and be very specific, she became a bird, became symbolic.” Song trademark: Paul is the only Beatle on the track. He alternates tapping both feet to keep the rhythm while playing guitar. The bird sound effects were a nice touch, but I think the song’s simplicity is what makes it so heartfelt in the first place.
13. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (1965): John wrote this somewhat cryptic song about an affair he was having. Paul made some contributions as well, including a rather dark twist at the end. He says: “I came in and he had this first stanza, which was brilliant: ‘I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me.’ That was all he had, no title, no nothing. I said, ‘Oh yes, well, ha, we’re there.’ And it wrote itself. Once you’ve got the great idea, they do tend to write themselves, providing you know how to write songs. So I picked it up at the second verse, it’s a story. It’s him trying to pull a bird, it was about an affair. John told Playboy that he hadn’t the faintest idea where the title came from but I do. Peter Asher had his room done out in wood, a lot of people were decorating their places in wood. Norwegian wood. It was pine really, cheap pine. But it’s not as good a title, ‘Cheap Pine,’ baby… So she makes him sleep in the bath and then finally in the last verse I had this idea to set the Norwegian wood on fire as revenge, so we did it very tongue in cheek. She led him on, then said, ‘You’d better sleep in the bath’. In our world the guy had to have some sort of revenge. It could have meant I lit a fire to keep myself warm, and wasn’t the decor of her house wonderful? But it didn’t…” Song trademark: This was the first Beatles song that featured a sitar, played by George. It gives the song an eerie sound and it’s definitely the most prominent thing that keeps it from sounding like a standard folk song.
12. Yesterday (1965): Written entirely by Paul, “Yesterday” still holds the Guinness world record for most covered song of all time. The melody allegedly came to him in a dream, and he wrote the lyrics as “Scrambled Eggs” until more suitable lines came to mind. John recalled how the song impacted him: “Well, we all know about ‘Yesterday.’ I have had so much accolade for ‘Yesterday.’ That’s Paul’s song and Paul’s baby. Well done. Beautiful – and I never wished I’d written it… I go to restaurants and the groups always play ‘Yesterday.’ Yoko and I even signed a guy’s violin in Spain after he played us ‘Yesterday.’ He couldn’t understand that I didn’t write the song. But I guess he couldn’t have gone from table to table playing ‘I Am The Walrus.’” Song trademark: The string quartet part was co-written with producer George Martin. Early rehearsals for the song had Paul on guitar and John playing a Hammond organ, but it was wisely decided to scrap that idea. The final arrangement is gorgeous, even after hearing it hundreds if not thousands of times.
11. Revolution (1968): John’s furious rocker began as a slow, bluesy track in a version that ultimately saw release on the ‘White Album.’ John: “We recorded the song twice. The Beatles were getting real tense with each other. I did the slow version and I wanted it out as a single: as a statement of The Beatles’ position on Vietnam and The Beatles’ position on revolution. For years, on The Beatles’ tours, Brian Epstein had stopped us from saying anything about Vietnam or the war. And he wouldn’t allow questions about it. But on one of the last tours, I said, ‘I am going to answer about the war. We can’t ignore it.’ I absolutely wanted The Beatles to say something about the war.” Song trademark: That legendary guitar distortion! The effect was achieved by plugging two fuzz-toned guitars directly into the Abbey Road console and deliberately overloading the meters. The effect is edgy, biting and brilliant. The song sounds as timeless fifty years later as it did when it first hit the shelves in 1968.
30. I Saw Her Standing There (1963): The Beatles’ opening song from their first album, “I Saw Her Standing There” is a classic rock and roll number that the band started performing a year earlier at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. Paul recalls the writing process with John: “We were learning our skill. John would like some of my lines and not others. He liked most of what I did, but there would sometimes be a cringe line, such as, ‘She was just seventeen, she’d never been a beauty queen.’ John thought, ‘Beauty queen? Ugh.’ We were thinking of Butlins so we asked ourselves, what should it be? We came up with, ‘You know what I mean.’ Which was good, because you don’t know what I mean.” Song trademark: This song is the culmination of all the things that made the band so groundbreaking right from the start. The legendary ‘one, two, three, fah!’ count-in kicks it into high gear. Ringo’s skiffle beat, the shouts and ‘woo’s, the play between George and John’s guitars, Paul’s awesome bassline all contribute to make this an easy favorite.
29. Happiness Is A Warm Gun (1968): This is a complex suite of song styles that go so many places, it’s easy to overlook the fact that it’s not even three minutes long. John revealed the origins of the song’s unusual title: “George Martin showed me the cover of a magazine that said, ‘Happiness is a warm gun’. I thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you’ve just shot something.” Song trademark: Some of John’s best vocals are on this track, as well as some brilliant abstract lyrics, like, “She’s well-acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand, like a lizard on a windowpane.” The song’s conclusion features some great harmonies from Paul and George in a fifties doo-wop style, making the subject matter all the more confusing and surreal to the listener.
28. Here, There And Everywhere (1966): Often regarded as one of Paul’s best love songs, “Here, There And Everywhere” was a favorite of John’s, too. Paul remembers an exchange that occurred during the filming of the 1965 film, ‘Help!’: “John and I shared a room and we were taking off our heavy ski boots after a day’s filming, ready to have a shower and get ready for the nice bit, the evening meal and the drinks. We were playing a cassette of our new recordings and my song ‘Here, There And Everywhere’ was on. And I remember John saying, ‘You know, I probably like that better than any of my songs on the tape.’ Coming from John, that was high praise indeed.” Song trademark: Paul’s impressive vocal performance was inspired by Marianne Faithfull, but what really shines here are the three-part harmonies from John, Paul, and George, arranged by producer George Martin. Here’s what Martin had to say about it: “The harmonies on that are very simple, just basic triads which the boys hummed behind and found very easy to do. There’s nothing very clever, no counterpoint, just moving block harmonies. Very simple to do… but very effective.”
27. Day Tripper (1965): Recorded in a rush to put out a single during the ‘Rubber Soul’ sessions, “Day Tripper” is one of relatively few Beatles songs built around a distinct blues riff. Paul: “‘Day Tripper’ was to do with tripping. Acid was coming in on the scene, and often we’d do these songs about ‘the girl who thought she was it’… But this was just a tongue-in-cheek song about someone who was a day tripper, a Sunday painter, Sunday driver, somebody who was committed only in part to the idea. Whereas we saw ourselves as full-time trippers, fully committed drivers, she was just a day tripper.” Song trademark: John plays the guitar solo during the song’s climax, which features some brilliant ascending harmonies. Considering the song’s rushed production, and the fact that it was completed in three takes (only the final of which was actually complete), goes to show that even a ‘throwaway’ can end up being a number one hit when you’re The Beatles.
26. We Can Work It Out (1965): Released as the world’s first double A-side single with “Day Tripper,” “We Can Work It Out” certainly sounds the more polished of the two. Paul remembers: “I had the idea, the title, had a couple of verses and the basic idea for it, then I took it to John to finish it off and we wrote the middle together. Which is nice: ‘Life is very short. There’s no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.’ Then it was George Harrison’s idea to put the middle into waltz time, like a German waltz. That came on the session, it was one of the cases of the arrangement being done on the session.” Song trademark: Another addition to the song during recording was John’s swirling harmonium part, and it’s hard to imagine the song without it. It adds a level of mystery and depth, playing between Paul’s verses and John’s “Life is very short…” This was one of my favorites as a kid, and I still adore it to this day.
25. All You Need Is Love (1967): Written and recorded specifically for the world’s first satellite link television broadcast, “All You Need Is Love” plays like the ultimate ode to the Summer of Love in 1967. Ringo: “We were big enough to command an audience of that size, and it was for love. It was for love and bloody peace. It was a fabulous time. I even get excited now when I realise that’s what it was for: peace and love, people putting flowers in guns.” Due to the relatively new technology for such a broadcast, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Producer George Martin recalls: “I was on camera for the broadcast. It was a bit of a panic because it was done in the big number one studio at EMI. The control room was then just at the bottom of the stairs. It wasn’t very large, and there was Geoff Emerick, the tape operator and myself in there. We had prepared a basic track of the recording for the television show, but we were going to do a lot live. There was a live orchestra, the singing was live, the audience certainly was, and we knew it was going to be a live television show. There was also a camera in the control room. With about thirty seconds to go, there was a phone call. It was the producer of the show, saying: ‘I’m afraid I’ve lost all contact with the studio – you’re going to have to relay the instructions to them, because we’re going on air any moment now.’ I thought, ‘My God, if you’re going to make a fool of yourself, you might as well do it properly in front of 350 million people. At that point I just laughed.” Song trademark: The song’s intro (the opening to the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise”) followed by Ringo’s snare drum roll reveal early on the scope of how The Beatles were trying to create a truly epic track. Ultimately, the song’s message sums up the band’s views on life very simply. All you need is love, love is all you need.
24. Ticket To Ride (1965): This song was the first single to be released from their film, ‘Help!’ It was primarily written by John with help from Paul, but there’s some debate about who wrote what. The single continued the band’s string of seemingly endless number one hits. Song trademark: Aside from Ringo’s unusually heavy drum beat for 1965, what’s most special to me about the song is its coda. Here’s Paul to tell you all about it: “I think the interesting thing was a crazy ending: instead of ending like the previous verse, we changed the tempo. We picked up one of the lines, ‘My baby don’t care’, but completely altered the melody. We almost invented the idea of a new bit of a song on the fade-out with this song; it was something specially written for the fade-out, which was very effective but it was quite cheeky and we did a fast ending. It was quite radical at the time.”
23. Helter Skelter (1968): Paul’s inspiration for this song came from an unlikely source– Pete Townshend of The Who, who had recently released their classic single, “I Can See For Miles.” Paul: “I was in Scotland and I read in Melody Maker that Pete Townshend had said: ‘We’ve just made the raunchiest, loudest, most ridiculous rock ‘n’ roll record you’ve ever heard.’ …That got me going; just hearing him talk about it. So I said to the guys, ‘I think we should do a song like that; something really wild.’ And I wrote ‘Helter Skelter.’ …We got the engineers and George Martin to hike up the drum sound and really get it as loud and horrible as it could and we played it and said, ‘No, still sounds too safe, it’s got to get louder and dirtier.’ We tried everything we could to dirty it up and in the end you can hear Ringo say, ‘I’ve got blisters on my fingers!’ That wasn’t a joke put-on: his hands were actually bleeding at the end of the take, he’d been drumming so ferociously. We did work very hard on that track.” Song trademark: Not one, but two false endings are present here, ending in Ringo’s infamous ‘blisters’ remark. Anyone who claims The Beatles couldn’t play hard rock need to be redirected to this song, which is edgier than anything Led Zeppelin ever did. [For the record, I love Led Zeppelin, but let’s be honest…]
22. I Am The Walrus (1967): One of John’s greatest psychedelic achievements, “I Am The Walrus” has a memorable scene in the otherwise uninteresting ‘Magical Mystery Tour.’ The song’s title came from Lewis Carroll’s poem, “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” although John would later acknowledge that he’d identified with the villain of the piece: “It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles’ work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realised that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, shit, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, ‘I am the carpenter.’ But that wouldn’t have been the same, would it?” Song trademark: Too many to name. John’s wordplay is his very best here, with things like, “Expert texpert, choking smokers, don’t you think the joker laughs at you?” George Martin’s orchestral arrangement culminates in a chorus of voices singing phrases that still haven’t been properly identified (everything from the unlikely “everybody smoke pot” to “everybody’s got one” and “oompa, oompa, stick it up your jumper”). The song then ends in featuring a live radio broadcast of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” that just happened to be on at the time. It’s all oddball, it’s all crazy, it’s all eggman, it’s all walrus. Goo goo g’joob.
21. Nowhere Man (1965): One of John’s most personal songs, “Nowhere Man” was written during a bit of an identity crisis and writer’s block. Paul recalls: “When I came out to write with him the next day, he was kipping on the couch, very bleary-eyed. It was really an anti-John song. He told me later, he didn’t tell me then, he said he’d written it about himself, feeling like he wasn’t going anywhere. I think it was actually about the state of his marriage. It was in a period where he was a bit dissatisfied with what was going on; however, it led to a very good song. He treated it as a third-person song, but he was clever enough to say, ‘Isn’t he a bit like you and me?’ – ‘Me’ being the final word.” Song trademark: It just may be the ultimate pop song. The amount of treble on those guitars is otherworldly. The three-part harmonies are intoxicating. But the icing on the cake? The one stray note George plays at the end of the solo that seems to drift into oblivion. The pristine, sparkling beauty of this song cannot be overstated.
40. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967): Inspired by West Coast hippie bands, Paul came up with both the name and the concept of a fictional group for the band’s landmark 1967 album. The Beatles’ road manager and personal assistant, Neil Aspinall, described the event: “At my place he carried on writing and the song developed. At the end of every Beatles show, Paul used to say, ‘It’s time to go. We’re going to go to bed, and this is our last number’. Then they’d play the last number and leave. …I said to Paul, ‘Why don’t you have Sgt Pepper as the compère of the album? He comes on at the beginning of the show and introduces the band, and at the end he closes it. A bit later, Paul told John about it in the studio, and John came up to me and said, ‘Nobody likes a smart-arse, Neil’.” Song trademark: Sounds like the live orchestra tuning up and an audience applauding must have been interesting to hear on the band’s first album after their touring years came to an end. The lead guitar part is crunchy, loud, and fantastic! Jimi Hendrix loved the sound so much that, within only days of the album’s release, he was already performing the song live at his shows. The Beatles were huge fans of his, and in fact it’s hard to find another instance in which they sounded more flattered by another artist covering their work.
39. With A Little Help From My Friends (1967): Undoubtedly one of Ringo’s greatest vocal performances, “With A Little Help From My Friends” was truly a classic Lennon and McCartney collaboration from start to finish. Here’s how Ringo remembers it: “The song ‘With A Little Help From My Friend’s was written specifically for me, but they had one line that I wouldn’t sing. It was, ‘What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?’ I said, ‘There is not a chance in hell am I going to sing this line,’ because we still had lots of really deep memories of the kids throwing jelly beans and toys on stage; and I thought that if we ever did get out there again, I was not going to be bombarded with tomatoes.” Song trademark: The song has one of the most quintessential and cryptic John lyrics ever— “What do you see when you turn out the light? I can’t tell you, but I know it’s mine.” The song sounds like a product of the emerging hippie culture, and one Ringo still performs live to this day.
38. I Should Have Known Better (1964): John’s harmonica-driven song from ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ was captured in a memorable early train scene in the 1964 film of the same name. The band filmed that scene on a studio set inside of a van, with members of the crew rocking it back and forth to mimic the motion of a train. The song is fairly straightforward pop with Bob Dylan vibes, but it’s an incredibly tight performance and really stands out among their other work at that time. Song trademark: The harmonica is what really drives the song, but I’d also highlight George’s sparkly 12-string guitar during the middle eight. There’s nothing at all flashy going on here— in fact, one could say the song sounds downright primitive compared to what was soon to come. Still, every note works to great effect and the song remains one of my all-time favorites.
37. I Want To Tell You (1966): Some Beatles songs are noticeably complex, while others seem deceptively simple and therefore slip under the radar. This song is the latter. Written without a title in mind, “I Want To Tell You” demonstrates George’s rise to being a masterful songwriter. According to him, it was written “about the avalanche of thoughts that are so hard to write down or say or transmit.” Song trademark: The song’s sound is perfectly reflective of its lyrics. Paul’s backing vocals are slightly dissonant as the song builds in tension, which is then alleviated before the next verse begins and the process repeats itself. It is in this bit of musical tension that George first uses the E7b9 chord, which he invented specifically for this song. It gives the track an unsettling edge, and the shift between major and minor chords keep the listener slightly disoriented. This is a vastly underrated song, and definitely one of the highlights from ‘Revolver.’
36. She Said She Said (1966): Another ‘Revolver’ track, “She Said She Said” was inspired by an LSD-influenced conversation between John Lennon and Peter Fonda. Here’s John recalling the experience: “That was written after an acid trip in LA during a break in The Beatles’ tour where we were having fun with The Byrds and lots of girls… Peter Fonda came in when we were on acid and he kept coming up to me and sitting next to me and whispering, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead.’ He was describing an acid trip he’d been on. We didn’t want to hear about that! We were on an acid trip and the sun was shining and the girls were dancing and the whole thing was beautiful and Sixties, and this guy – who I really didn’t know; he hadn’t made Easy Rider or anything – kept coming over, wearing shades, saying, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead,’ and we kept leaving him because he was so boring! And I used it for the song, but I changed it to ‘she’ instead of ‘he’. It was scary… Don’t tell me about it! I don’t want to know what it’s like to be dead!” Song trademark: The guitars are truly perfect on this one. The switch from 4/4 time to 3/4 time was George’s doing, as John was struggling with the song’s middle and benefited from a few of his suggestions. I’ve particularly always loved the way the song rushes into, “No, no, no, you’re wrong, when I was a boy…”
35. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (1965): One of the most noticeably Dylan-esque of John’s songs, this one was a highlight from the ‘Help!’ film and soundtrack. It was also the first song of theirs since 1962 to feature a session musician, flautist Johnnie Scott. At one point during recording, Lennon mistakenly sang “too foot small” instead of his previously written “two foot tall” and decided it was a better line. Song trademark: The alto flute at the end of the song is the most notable thing here, but I’ve also always appreciated John’s vocal performance. The variation between his verses and the shouts of, “Hey! You’ve got to hide your love away,” makes it feel like a deeply personal track. The scene from ‘Help!’ is great too, with the band miming the song in their weird quirky house they all share together!
34. For No One (1966): Paul’s somber tale from side two of ‘Revolver’ features a clavichord, a fairly unusual instrument for a Beatles track. To match the distinct sound, he had producer George Martin bring in musician Alan Civil to play the French horn. In a cheeky move, Martin and McCartney wrote a note that was outside the player’s usual range. Paul: “We came to the session and Alan looked up from his bit of paper: ‘Eh, George? I think there’s a mistake here – you’ve got a high F written down. Then George and I said, ‘Yeah,’ and smiled back at him, and he knew what we were up to and played it. These great players will do it. Even though it’s officially off the end of their instrument, they can do it, and they’re quite into it occasionally. It’s a nice little solo.” Song trademark: Alan Civil absolutely nails his performance on the French horn. I also love the song’s descending bassline that forms the melody, which is one of my all-time favorites.
33. Girl (1965): John’s song about a fictitious ‘dream girl’ is one of his most lyrically interesting, with lines like, “She’s the kind of girl you want so much, it makes you sorry. Still, you don’t regret a single day.” Additionally, John claimed there were overtones about the Catholic church: “I was just talking about Christianity in that – a thing like you have to be tortured to attain heaven. I’m only saying that I was talking about ‘pain will lead to pleasure’ in ‘Girl’ and that was sort of the Catholic Christian concept – be tortured and then it’ll be all right, which seems to be a bit true but not in their concept of it. But I didn’t believe in that, that you have to be tortured to attain anything, it just so happens that you were.” Song trademark: The sharp intake of breath after each “girl, girl” is totally weird and wonderful, as are the decidedly immature background vocals. As Paul describes, “The Beach Boys had a song out where they’d done ‘la la la la’ and we loved the innocence of that and wanted to copy it, but not use the same phrase. So we were looking around for another phrase, so it was ‘dit dit dit dit’, which we decided to change in our waggishness to ‘tit tit tit tit’, which is virtually indistinguishable from ‘dit dit dit dit’. And it gave us a laugh. It was to get some light relief in the middle of this real big career that we were forging. If we could put in something that was a little bit subversive then we would. George Martin might say, ‘Was that “dit dit” or “tit tit” you were singing?’ ‘Oh, “dit dit”, George, but it does sound a bit like that, doesn’t it?’ Then we’d get in the car and break down laughing.”
32. All My Loving (1963): One of their very best early songs not to be released as a single in America or in Britain, “All My Loving” is most notable for being the set opener from the infamous first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. It’s the song that kicked off Beatlemania for so many audiences worldwide. Paul: “It was the first song I’d ever written the words first. I never wrote words first, it was always some kind of accompaniment, I’ve hardly ever done it since either. We were on a tour bus going to a gig and so I started with the words. I had in mind a little country and western song. We played the Moss Empire circuit a lot, and there were always these nice big empty backstage areas. The places have all become bingo halls now. We arrived at the gig and I remember being in one of these big backstage areas and there was a piano there so I’d got my instrument. I didn’t have a guitar, it was probably with our road manager, and I remember working the tune out to it on the piano. It was a good show song, it worked well live.” Song trademark: John and George play great rolling guitar licks, while Paul gives one of his most convincing vocal performances of that time period. Even John was later highly complimentary of the song, saying, “‘All My Loving’ is Paul, I regret to say. Ha-ha-ha. Because it’s a damn good piece of work!”
31. Tomorrow Never Knows (1966): The final track off ‘Revolver’ was an exercise in purely innovative psychedelic experimentation. Written around a single C chord and featuring a ton of tape loops, it was initially called “The Void” before John settled on a phrase that Ringo had said. John: “That’s me in my Tibetan Book of the Dead period. I took one of Ringo’s malapropisms as the title, to sort of take the edge off the heavy philosophical lyrics.” Song trademark: Tape loops and recording tricks aside, the lyrics are profoundly far out for early 1966. George certainly found the subject matter interesting, too: “Basically it is saying what meditation is all about. The goal of meditation is to go beyond (that is, transcend) waking, sleeping and dreaming. So the song starts out by saying, ‘Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream, it is not dying.’ Then it says, ‘Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void – it is shining. That you may see the meaning of within – it is being.’ From birth to death all we ever do is think: we have one thought, we have another thought, another thought, another thought. Even when you are asleep you are having dreams, so there is never a time from birth to death when the mind isn’t always active with thoughts. But you can turn off your mind, and go to the part which Maharishi described as: ‘Where was your last thought before you thought it?’ The whole point is that we are the song. The self is coming from a state of pure awareness, from the state of being. All the rest that comes about in the outward manifestation of the physical world (including all the fluctuations which end up as thoughts and actions) is just clutter. The true nature of each soul is pure consciousness. So the song is really about transcending and about the quality of the transcendent. I am not too sure if John actually fully understood what he was saying. He knew he was onto something when he saw those words and turned them into a song. But to have experienced what the lyrics in that song are actually about? I don’t know if he fully understood it.”
50. Within You Without You (1967): George’s sole contribution to ‘Sgt. Pepper’ (his “Only A Northern Song” wouldn’t see release until the ‘Yellow Submarine’ album) is a cosmic wonder, featuring Indian musicians playing dilruba, tamboura, and tabla, while George himself played the sitar. It may be easy for western listeners to brush this aside as a weak spot on a classic album, but its greatness is revealed on repeat listens. Even John, who was extremely critical of George’s work, gave the song tremendous praise: “One of George’s best songs. One of my favourites of his, too. He’s clear on that song. His mind and his music are clear. There is his innate talent; he brought that sound together.” Song trademark: Indian musicians who worked with George over the years often commented on how remarkable it was that he was able to write western pop songs with instruments in mind that are, overall, difficult to use in such arrangements. He had to write detailed parts for each instrument and coach seasoned Indian musicians on how to play them in a particular way– proving, once and for all, what a brilliant composer he was in his own right. Also of note, George worried that the subject matter may be too ‘heavy’ for listeners. This is the reason for the laughter at the end of the track. I think he was wrong about that, but it’s a curious choice nonetheless.
49. Paperback Writer (1966): As The Beatles expanded beyond straightforward love songs, the inspiration for new ideas often came about in unusual ways. Paul: “I arrived at Weybridge and told John I had this idea of trying to write off to a publishers to become a paperback writer, and I said, ‘I think it should be written like a letter.’ I took a bit of paper out and I said it should be something like ‘Dear Sir or Madam, as the case may be…’ and I proceeded to write it just like a letter in front of him, occasionally rhyming it. And John, as I recall, just sat there and said, ‘Oh, that’s it,’ ‘Uhuh,’ ‘Yeah.’ I remember him, his amused smile, saying, ‘Yes, that’s it, that’ll do.’ Quite a nice moment: ‘Hmm, I’ve done right! I’ve done well!’ And then we went upstairs and put the melody to it. John and I sat down and finished it all up, but it was tilted towards me, the original idea was mine. I had no music, but it’s just a little bluesy song, not a lot of melody. Then I had the idea to do the harmonies and we arranged that in the studio.” Song trademark: This would become one of the very last new Beatles songs to be performed during their touring days, with the brilliant a capella intro sounding almost cartoonishly bad in concert. They shot a short film to promote the song when they couldn’t make TV appearances– a revolutionary new idea at the time. It’s absolutely worth watching, with the band miming the song in a garden, and featuring an extremely bored and sad-looking Ringo every now and then. I guess his drum kit wouldn’t fit in the car on the ride over?
48. Back In The U.S.S.R. (1968): This song is done in a style that parodies surfer rock and roll, and is the perfect opener to an album that features so many diverse styles of music. Here’s Paul again: “It’s tongue in cheek. This is a travelling Russkie who has just flown in from Miami Beach; he’s come the other way. He can’t wait to get back to the Georgian mountains: ‘Georgia’s always on my mind’; there’s all sorts of little jokes in it… I remember trying to sing it in my Jerry Lee Lewis voice, to get my mind set on a particular feeling. We added Beach Boys style harmonies.” Ringo briefly quit the group during the song’s recording, so that’s Paul on drums. The best instrumental take was then sped up slightly before the band added their vocals. Song trademark: The airplane intro and outro, of course– recorded at London Airport and a part of Abbey Road studio’s sound effects collection.
47. Dear Prudence (1968): Trying to separate this song from “Back In The U.S.S.R.” proved to be an impossible task for me. This is yet another song The Beatles wrote while studying meditation in India. John: “A song about Mia Farrow’s sister, who seemed to go slightly barmy, meditating too long, and couldn’t come out of the little hut that we were living in. They selected me and George to try and bring her out because she would trust us. If she’d been in the West, they would have put her away. We got her out of the house. She’d been locked in for three weeks and wouldn’t come out, trying to reach God quicker than anybody else. That was the competition in Maharishi’s camp: who was going to get cosmic first.” Song trademark: The song has one of my favorite circular guitar riffs, and some wonderful backing vocals. Also of note, the drumming is fantastic! Ringo was still on a temporary hiatus from the group, so Paul was on drums again. It seems to be the source of some debate, however, because there are moments toward the end of the song that sound almost like two different drummers. Did Ringo overdub an additional performance later? Either way– the culmination of all the instruments building up to that final verse and plunging the listener back into that signature riff has to be one of my favorite moments on any Beatles record.
46. Drive My Car (1965): In another universe, this catchy introduction to ‘Rubber Soul’ could have very well been a terrible song called “Golden Rings,” and it’s a good thing it wasn’t. Paul remembers: “The lyrics were disastrous and I knew it… This is one of the songs where John and I came nearest to having a dry session. The lyrics I brought in were something to do with golden rings, which is always fatal. ‘Rings’ is fatal anyway, ‘rings’ always rhymes with ‘things’ and I knew it was a bad idea. I came in and I said, ‘These aren’t good lyrics but it’s a good tune.’ The tune was nice, the tune was there, I’d done the melody. Well, we tried, and John couldn’t think of anything, and we tried and eventually it was, ‘Oh let’s leave it, let’s get off this one.’ ‘No, no. We can do it, we can do it.’ So we had a break, maybe had a cigarette or a cup of tea, then we came back to it, and somehow it became ‘drive my car’ instead of ‘gold-en rings’, and then it was wonderful because this nice tongue-in-cheek idea came and suddenly there was a girl there, the heroine of the story, and the story developed and had a little sting in the tail like ‘Norwegian Wood’ had, which was ‘I actually haven’t got a car, but when I get one you’ll be a terrific chauffeur.’” Song trademark: Aside from all the suggestive overtones, there’s the playful “beep beep, beep beep, yeah!” This is one of those songs were the term ‘lightweight’ is called for in the best possible way.
45. I’m Only Sleeping (1966): John’s first song off ‘Revolver’ is an appropriately dreamy acoustic number, featuring one of the first ever backwards guitar solos. The idea allegedly came about by accident, after a tape operator threaded the tape into the machine the wrong way. Paul: “It played backwards, and, ‘What the hell is going on?’ Those effects! Nobody knew how those sounded then. We said, ‘My God, that is fantastic! Can we do that for real?’… So that was what we did and that was where we discovered backwards guitar. It was a beautiful solo actually. It sounds like something you couldn’t play.” George wrote the notation for the solo he wanted, reversed them, and then recorded them twice. The result is striking, and perfect given the song’s subject matter. Song trademark: Around the two minute mark, John (or possibly George) prompts, “Yawn, Paul.” And a few seconds later, he does! It’s a moment that shows how much fun the band could have in the studio, adding great little touches along the way.
44. Fixing A Hole (1967): The harpsichord, the unique chord progression, the jazzy drums all contribute to make this song a highlight from the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album. The song was recorded at Regent Sound Studio in London, as their usual studio was unavailable. Paul recalls how an unusual guest attended the session: “A guy arrived at my front gate and I said, ‘Yes? Hello,’ because I always used to answer it to everyone. If they were boring I would say, ‘Sorry, no,’ and they generally went away. This guy said, ‘I’m Jesus Christ.’ I said, ‘Oop,’ slightly shocked. I said, ‘Well, you’d better come in then.’ I thought, Well, it probably isn’t. But if he is, I’m not going to be the one to turn him away. So I gave him a cup of tea and we just chatted and I asked, ‘Why do you think you are Jesus?’ There were a lot of casualties about then. We used to get a lot of people who were maybe insecure or going through emotional breakdowns or whatever. So I said, ‘I’ve got to go to a session but if you promise to be very quiet and just sit in a corner, you can come.’ So he did, he came to the session and he did sit very quietly and I never saw him after that. I introduced him to the guys. They said, ‘Who’s this?’ I said, ‘He’s Jesus Christ.’ We had a bit of a giggle over that.” Song trademark: The aforementioned harpsichord is great, but I also dig the groovy bassline. Oh, and George’s shimmery guitar solo is superb!
43-41. “The Long One,” Part 2: Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End (1969): The epic conclusion to the ‘Abbey Road’ medley features a pretty piano piece from Paul, a reprise of the “You Never Give Me Your Money” theme, and what would practically serve as a message of goodbye to listeners everywhere, the appropriately titled “The End.” Song trademark: “Golden Slumbers” begins as a quiet number but features a great vocal performance from Paul once the drums really kick in. This leads into the more bombastic “Carry That Weight,” which is just about the only instance I can think of that features vocals from only Paul and Ringo. Finally, “The End” is a showy number. Ringo plays his only drum solo in the band’s entire discography, followed by rotating solos from all three band members. Recording engineer Geoff Emerick said it best: “The idea for guitar solos was very spontaneous and everybody said, ‘Yes! Definitely’ – well, except for George, who was a little apprehensive at first. But he saw how excited John and Paul were so he went along with it. Truthfully, I think they rather liked the idea of playing together, not really trying to outdo one another per se, but engaging in some real musical bonding. Yoko was about to go into the studio with John – this was commonplace by now – and he actually told her, ‘No, not now. Let me just do this. It’ll just take a minute.’ That surprised me a bit. Maybe he felt like he was returning to his roots with the boys – who knows? The order was Paul first, then George, then John, and they went back and forth. They ran down their ideas a few times and before you knew it, they were ready to go. Their amps were lined up together and we recorded their parts on one track. You could really see the joy in their faces as they played; it was like they were teenagers again. One take was all we needed. The musical telepathy between them was mind-boggling.” This is then followed by the immortal line, “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Beautiful and simple, but with an element of mystical complexity– I can’t imagine a better eulogy to Beatles fans everywhere.
60. Get Back (1969): The Beatles’ first single of 1969, “Get Back,” was also the first product from the infamous sessions of the same name to see an official release. The song was originally written as a parody about immigration, but these lyrics were wisely abandoned once Paul realized they might be taken seriously by the listener. Song trademark: As tensions within the group grew deeper, Billy Preston was brought in to help boost the mood. Sure enough, this song benefits greatly from his funky keyboard part. It would go on to be the only time the group released a single sharing a credit with any other artist (“The Beatles with Billy Preston”). Also, bonus points for yet another clever false ending, which was edited on from an earlier take.
59. Across The Universe (1968): John’s last great psychedelic anthem features some of his best lyrics ever, and it’s a wonder it ever saw release at all. Recorded in February 1968, it didn’t see its first release until late 1969 for a World Wildlife Fund charity album. It was drastically sped up, and featured bird sound effects and two women singing backing vocals. In 1970, producer Phil Spector dramatically slowed down the original recording, burying it in his own orchestration. Thankfully, it was restored to its proper speed and tuned correctly for the ‘Let It Be… Naked’ release, which is by far the best version of the three. Song trademark: Regardless of the version you listen to, it’s remarkable to me how a truly classic song can’t be ruined by poor production. The song was always one of my favorites as a kid, but it wasn’t until I heard more “stripped down” arrangements that I began to appreciate the beauty of it. John was especially at the top of his lyric game here. “Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup” might just be my vote for best opening line in any song.
58. Lady Madonna (1968): The last single before The Beatles dropped Parlophone and Capitol Records for their own Apple label, “Lady Madonna” is one of their tightest rock and roll performances. As a kid, it was in my top ten Beatles songs– I probably played it nonstop! It’s just so much fun. Paul: “‘Lady Madonna’ was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing. I got my left hand doing an arpeggio thing with the chord, an ascending boogie-woogie left hand, then a descending right hand. I always liked that, the juxtaposition of a line going down meeting a line going up. That was basically what it was. It reminded me of Fats Domino for some reason, so I started singing a Fats Domino impression. It took my voice to a very odd place.” Song trademark: Paul’s voice is great here, as are the band’s “brass” backing vocals, but the best bit is the subtle descending guitar part just before the last two verses. It’s such a minor touch but it really makes the song move!
57. Old Brown Shoe (1969): George’s mid-1969 single may have been given the B-side treatment, but don’t let that fool you– it’s criminally underrated, and one of his absolute best songs. Here he is to tell you all about it: “I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don’t really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites… Again, it’s the duality of things – yes no, up down, left right, right wrong, etcetera.” Song trademark: The song has two distinct attributes– the incredible bassline, played by George; and the stunning overdubbed guitar solo, also played by George. Seriously though, it’s possibly my favorite solo in any Beatles song. Listen closely and you’ll understand why: it’s just sonically perfect, every single note. I never get tired of hearing it.
56-52. “The Long One,” Part 1: You Never Give Me Your Money/Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (1969): You didn’t honestly think I’d leave this out, did you? As a series of individual tracks, these might not all rank so highly. But as these are part of a large medley, let’s keep them together! Most of these songs were actually unfinished fragments– a couple of them were certainly first considered for the White Album sessions, while others were given run-throughs during the ‘Get Back’ sessions. It’s remarkable to me, then, how perfectly streamlined these songs are. “You Never Give Me Your Money” transitions beautifully into the dreamlike “Sun King” and “Mean Mr. Mustard,” while “Polythene Pam” is the perfect balance to “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.” Song trademark: Where to even begin? “You Never Give Me Your Money” showcases Paul’s vocal stylings in each part of the suite. “Sun King” and “Mean Mr. Mustard” have some great nonsense lyrics from John. “Polythene Pam” is great, heavy fun with John singing in a thick Liverpool accent. “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” is a complete song in its own right, with brilliant harmonies and some great drumming from Ringo.
51. I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (1969): The first song recorded for ‘Abbey Road’ and one of the last to be completed, “I Want You” is nearly eight minutes long and contains just 14 different words. Needless to say, it’s one of the most intriguing numbers in the band’s discography. John: “A reviewer wrote of ‘She’s So Heavy’: ‘He seems to have lost his talent for lyrics, it’s so simple and boring.’ ‘She’s So Heavy’ was about Yoko. When it gets down to it, like she said, when you’re drowning you don’t say, ‘I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,’ you just scream. And in ‘She’s So Heavy’ I just sang, ‘I want you, I want you so bad, she’s so heavy, I want you,’ like that.” Billy Preston returns to play a memorable organ part. Ringo plays bongos, and George lands an impressive bluesy solo. Song trademark: John played the white noise generator on a Moog synthesizer to create the white noise that builds during the song’s climax, set against an infinitely repeating guitar pattern that builds to a crescendo and then stops, dead. Silence. Time to flip the record over and hear the other half of what’s next.
The Beatles pose for the ‘Rubber Soul’ album cover, 1965.
70. Because (1969): Everything about this song has an unusual, dreamlike quality, from the Moog synthesizer right down to the melody itself. John explains: “Yoko was playing ‘Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano. She was classically trained. I said, ‘Can you play those chords backward?’ and wrote ‘Because’ around them. The lyrics speak for themselves; they’re clear. No bullshit. No imagery, no obscure references.” Song trademark: The three part harmonies from John, Paul, and George were recorded three times apiece, and those nine voices make for a downright overwhelming listen. I’ve always thought the song strikes a balance between beauty and a mysterious element of uneasiness that I’ve never been able to understand. A truly phenomenal track.
69. Things We Said Today (1964): For me, this is easily the highlight from side two of the ‘Hard Day’s Night’ soundtrack. The strained, melancholy folk-pop in the opening verses contrast well with the rock sound of the middle eight. Song trademark: The sunny optimism in the lyrics are completely overshadowed by the moody vibe throughout, which gives the song an almost biting quality. Also note the presence of a strange chord change throughout– first apparent when Paul sings the line, “…wishing you weren’t so *far* away.” Instead of shifting from F major to F minor, the song moves to B flat major. A subtle thing, but it’s the kind of detail that gives the song a somewhat unsettling quality.
68. The Ballad Of John And Yoko (1969): John’s story about the events surrounding his marriage with Yoko Ono eventually went to number one in the charts in the UK. Meanwhile, in the United States, it was banned on many radio stations because of his “Christ!” exclamation. Regardless of opinions at the time, the song has such a fun vibe that it’s difficult not to love. John and Paul were the only two who played on it, as George and Ringo were unavailable. Paul: “John was in an impatient mood, so I was happy to help. It’s quite a good song; it has always surprised me how with just the two of us on it, it ended up sounding like The Beatles.” Song trademark: The way the song stops completely when John yells the word, “THINK!” was something that cracked me up as a kid. When the song kicks back in after that, it never fails to put a smile on my face.
67. Can’t Buy Me Love (1964): This song is the perfect example of the breakneck speed The Beatles worked at in early 1964. It was both written and recorded in the midst of a grueling tour in Paris, in which The Beatles played 19 shows (!) in 18 days– all while writing material for their first feature film. This song was a huge hit for the band, and would go on to be a staple on tour as well. Song trademark: It’s not always about what’s here. Sometimes the best decisions are what got left behind on the cutting room floor. Early takes of the song featured harmonies from John and George, but upon listening to them the band agreed they were too distracting. Thus, this became the first Beatles single not to have backing harmonies. The result is that Paul’s vocal performance punches front and center. It’s hard to imagine the song any other way.
66. I’ve Got A Feeling (1969): In classic Lennon-McCartney fashion, this is actually the product of two unfinished songs from Paul and John, married together in a brilliant way. Song trademark: The entire track absolutely rocks! Once again, I prefer the ‘Naked’ version. While the ‘Let It Be’ album uses one of the live rooftop concert takes, this one is a composite of the best moments from two different attempts. To my ears, the band sounds tighter and more focused here. This is definitely a major highlight from the ‘Let It Be’ sessions as a whole.
65. Hello, Goodbye (1967): The Beatles’ final single of 1967 was also the band’s first release after the death of manager Brian Epstein. Here’s Paul: “‘Hello, Goodbye’ was one of my songs. There are Geminian influences here I think: the twins. It’s such a deep theme in the universe, duality – man woman, black white, ebony ivory, high low, right wrong, up down, hello goodbye – that it was a very easy song to write. It’s just a song of duality, with me advocating the more positive. You say goodbye, I say hello. You say stop, I say go. I was advocating the more positive side of the duality, and I still do to this day.” Song trademark: I’m a sucker for a false ending, and this one is a classic. The song seems to drift off, and then the “Hey-la, hey-ba hello-ah!” chanting comes in with some heavy reverb on the drums. It’s a really cool effect that absolutely makes the song.
64. Rain (1966): Probably one of the band’s most infamous B-sides, “Rain” employs several experimental techniques. The song was recorded at a fast tempo and then slowed down to give it an otherworldly quality. Ringo’s drumming, in particular, is very different from the norm. He recalls: “I think I just played amazing. I was into the snare and the hi-hat. I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat.” Song trademark: It’s another false ending! This one features backwards vocals from John. George Martin claimed he came up with it, while John claimed it was his own idea. Either way, it works wonders for the song.
63. Lovely Rita (1967): One of my favorite Beatles songs as a kid, “Lovely Rita” is a love song about a traffic warden. Paul found the concept interesting: “There was a story in the paper about ‘Lovely Rita’, the meter maid. She’s just retired as a traffic warden. The phrase ‘meter maid’ was so American that it appealed, and to me a ‘maid’ was always a little sexy thing: ‘Meter maid. Hey, come and check my meter, baby.’ I saw a bit of that, and then I saw that she looked like a ‘military man’.” Song trademark: There are all these little noises scattered throughout the track that are absolutely wonderful. Among them are groans, sighs, yells, and toilet paper threaded through combs for a kazoo-like effect. My favorite touch? The champagne cork popping immediately following “…had a laugh, and over dinner…”
62. Savoy Truffle (1968): It’s literally a song written about guitarist Eric Clapton’s love of chocolate. George: “‘Savoy Truffle’ on The White Album was written for Eric. He’s got this real sweet tooth and he’d just had his mouth worked on. His dentist said he was through with candy. So as a tribute I wrote, ‘You’ll have to have them all pulled out after the Savoy Truffle’. The truffle was some kind of sweet, just like all the rest – cream tangerine, ginger sling – just candy, to tease Eric.” The thing is, the track absolutely cooks! Song trademark: George Harrison got into an argument with producer George Martin, who thought the horns were too “toppy,” but Harrison wanted it to sound overwhelming. I think he was right in his decision– they blend with the distorted guitar to lift this soul-inspired number into truly classic territory. Sweet.
61. Hey Bulldog (1968): It really is a shame that this song didn’t see release until the ‘Yellow Submarine’ cartoon came out, as it could have definitely been a successful single in its own right. It once had quite a reputation for being “underrated,” but I think the cat’s out of the bag now– this performance is simply legendary. In fact, it was probably the last time The Beatles ever had so much fun together in a studio. Paul: “I remember ‘Hey Bulldog’ as being one of John’s songs and I helped him finish it off in the studio, but it’s mainly his vibe. There’s a little rap at the end between John and I; we went into a crazy little thing at the end!” Song trademark: The barking banter between John and Paul at the song’s conclusion is loads of fun! Also of note is Paul’s fantastic bassline, and George’s stellar solo. It all culminates in one of the most quirky and exciting things the band would ever commit to record.
80. Two Of Us (1969): Paul wrote this song in reference to his relationship with his soon-to-be-wife Linda. As a duet with John, however, it seems to invoke a more nostalgic theme of friendship. Song trademark: “I Dig A Pygmy by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids! Phase one, in which Doris gets her oats.” This out-of-nowhere line from John drops us right into the raw Let It Be sessions, giving the song a light and playful vibe. If recording that album was ever dreary and bleak, it certainly doesn’t sound so here.
79. Julia (1968): Inspired by his mother but written about Yoko Ono, “Julia” is undoubtedly one of the prettiest songs John ever wrote. The Beatles hung out with Donovan in India, where he taught John the distinct fingerpicking technique he used throughout. Song trademark: I love the way John overlaps his vocals at the start and end of each verse. The entire track has a dreamy, floating feel to it. It likely served as a prototype for much of John’s early solo material on albums like Plastic Ono Band and Imagine.
78. If I Needed Someone (1965): George wrote the song based on Roger McGuinn’s guitar style with The Byrds. In his humble opinion: “‘If I Needed Someone’ is like a million other songs written around a D chord. If you move your finger about, you get various little melodies. That guitar line, or variations on it, is found in many a song; and it amazes me that people still find new permutations of the same notes.” The song is the only George Harrison original composition to have been played on tour, which was a concert staple at every show throughout 1966. Song trademark: That circular guitar line throughout, combined with John and Paul’s lush harmonies, make this song a vastly underrated power pop gem.
77. What You’re Doing (1964): Speaking of underrated, why not mention the most underrated Beatles song from the most underrated Beatles album? Another song written around a circular guitar riff, “What You’re Doing” completely slides under the radar, like most of the Beatles For Sale album. Song trademark: Musically, the song still sounds like very early Beatles tracks, but there are actually some pretty nifty tricks going on. The pacing of the lyrics is unusual, rhyming “doing” with “blue and,” and so on. George also plays a very distorted guitar part for 1964, while Ringo’s drumming is already paving the way for songs like “Ticket To Ride” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.” As a blueprint for what was soon to come, this song breaks a lot of new ground.
The Rooftop Concert. January 30, 1969. Apple Corps, Savile Row, London.
76. Don’t Let Me Down (1969): The B-side to “Get Back,” this was one of John’s relatively few new compositions from the Let It Be sessions. Here’s Paul: “It was a very tense period. John was with Yoko and had escalated to heroin and all the accompanying paranoias and he was putting himself out on a limb. I think that as much as it excited and amused him, at the same time it secretly terrified him. So ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ was a genuine plea… It was saying to Yoko, ‘I’m really stepping out of line on this one. I’m really letting my vulnerability be seen, so you must not let me down.’ I think it was a genuine cry for help. It was a good song.” Song trademark: Billy Preston’s keyboard part helps drive the bluesy sound, and without it the song wouldn’t be half as good. I vastly prefer the ‘Naked’ version over the single, which is actually an edit of two performances from the infamous rooftop concert. (John flubbed different lines each time they played it, so this is the best of each.) It’s significantly more up-tempo and fun, so it gets my unofficial seal of approval!
75. I’ve Just Seen A Face (1965): In the U.K., it was a part of the ‘Help!’ soundtrack, but in America it was released as the opening track to Rubber Soul. Typically, I find the American versions to be badly paced, and inferior in just about every way– but as the intro to Rubber Soul, it oddly just works. Paul: “It was slightly country and western from my point of view. It was faster, though, it was a strange uptempo thing. I was quite pleased with it. The lyric works: it keeps dragging you forward, it keeps pulling you to the next line, there’s an insistent quality to it that I liked.” Song trademark: At barely over two minutes, the song picks up and never lets go. It would be easy to confuse this folk-country ditty with a Simon & Garfunkel composition from the same period. And I mean that in the most complimentary way.
74. Yer Blues (1968): Don’t let the lyrics fool you– the song was actually one of the highlights from the White Album sessions, with all four band members recording the track together in an unusual way. Here’s sound engineer Ken Scott: “George had this idea that he wanted to do it in the control room with the speakers blasting, so that he got more of an on-stage feel… John Lennon came in at one point and I turned to him and said, ‘Bloody hell, the way you lot are carrying on you’ll be wanting to record everything in the room next door!’ The room next door was tiny, where the four-track tape machines were once kept, and it had no proper studio walls or acoustic set-up of any kind. Lennon replied, ‘That’s a great idea, let’s try it on the next number!’ The next number was Yer Blues and we literally had to set it all up – them and the instruments – in this minute room. That’s how they recorded Yer Blues, and it worked out great!” Song trademark: John plays the first solo, wobbly and full of distortion; but then George comes in with the second, which is blistering and crunchy! Rock and roll at some of its finest.
73. Getting Better (1967): This co-written song has an upbeat message overall, with an optimistic chorus from Paul juxtaposed against some darker themes from John. Here’s John describing it: “It is a diary form of writing. All that ‘I used to be cruel to my woman, I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved’ was me. I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically – any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn’t express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace, you see. It is the most violent people who go for love and peace. Everything’s the opposite. But I sincerely believe in love and peace. I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence. I will have to be a lot older before I can face in public how I treated women as a youngster.” Song trademark: That droning tambura at the start of the third verse (just before the guitar, drums, and Wurlitzer kick back in) is really out of this world– easily one of my favorite touches on any Beatles song.
72. And Your Bird Can Sing (1966): Unusually, there are two lead guitar parts here, played by Paul and George. Paul says he likely assisted John with the lyrics: “‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ was John’s song. I suspect that I helped with the verses because the songs were nearly always written without second and third verses. I seem to remember working on that middle eight with him but it’s John’s song, 80-20 to John.” Song trademark: The song features some of my favorite vocals from John, as well as some great harmonizing from Paul and George. The guitar sound is shimmery and fantastic, and I love the effective use of handclaps. Sometimes you just can’t have enough handclaps.
71. Oh! Darling (1969): Paul’s blues-inspired ‘Abbey Road’ number has him on piano, John on guitar, and George playing bass. The vocals came with great patience and effort from Paul. Engineer Alan Parsons says: “Paul came in several days running to do the lead vocal on ‘Oh! Darling.’ He’d come in, sing it and say, ‘No, that’s not it, I’ll try it again tomorrow.’ He only tried it once per day, I suppose he wanted to capture a certain rawness which could only be done once before the voice changed. I remember him saying, ‘Five years ago I could have done this in a flash,’ referring, I suppose, to the days of ‘Long Tall Sally’ and ‘Kansas City.’” Song trademark: Aside from Paul’s vocal performance, I truly love the doo-wop vocals from John and George. The whole thing is just a tight rocking performance, from start to finish.
John gives Paul a “haircut.” Horne Brothers Barbershop, Liverpool, 1963.
90. It Won’t Be Long (1963): Mostly written by John, with some help from Paul, this early song would have likely been a huge hit for any other band. When put side by side with the likes of “She Loves You” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” however, it merely stands out as a very solid effort from the group. Song trademark: Again, that middle eight is just pure Lennon/McCartney magic. Also of note is the clever juxtaposition of “be long” and “belong,” proving these moptops were intellectuals even then.
89. I Me Mine (1970): The Beatles’ only recording from 1970 features the band as a trio, as John was unable to attend the session. George wrote the song about egocentricity, which makes it somehow fitting that it would be the last song recorded by the group. Song trademark: The song varies between the verses, in which it is a dramatic waltz, and the chorus, which is chugging and uptempo. The original recording was extremely short, at just 1:34. Phil Spector worked his producer magic to extend it to a more palatable 2:25. However, he also drenched everything in noise to the point of inducing headaches, so the ‘Naked’ version is the one I vastly prefer. You can’t win ‘em all, I guess.
88. Sexy Sadie (1968): It’s not about someone sexy and it’s not about someone named Sadie. John wrote this song about the Maharishi, after feelings of distrust arose during The Beatles’ trip to India. Song trademark: Those doo-wop backing vocals from Paul and George steal the show, but I’ve always loved the pun of “turn on everyone” to simultaneously mean ‘enlighten’ as well as ‘betray’. Groovy stuff, man.
87. I’m A Loser (1964): John’s first (but not last) attempt at writing something in the style of Bob Dylan, this song was a pretty big breakthrough in The Beatles’ transition to art pop. John: “I objected to the word ‘clown’, because that was always artsy-fartsy, but Dylan had used it so I thought it was all right, and it rhymed with whatever I was doing.” Song trademark: The harmonica contrasts brilliantly with George’s guitar part, and is probably the most distinct feature of the song. John at times seemed uncomfortable with the song, and resorted to his usual wit to get through it. On one notable BBC performance in 1965, he sang one of the lines as, “Beneath this wig, I am wearing a tie.”
86. Yellow Submarine (1966): Ringo was the only one who could have possibly done John and Paul’s whimsical childlike song any justice. Contrary to popular belief, Ringo really could carry a tune (albeit with a fairly limited range). The single was a number one hit, making it the only time a Ringo-sung Beatles song achieved that status. Fans are often divided on the song– is it a family-friendly standard, or an annoying bit of novelty on an otherwise flawless Revolver? Even as a diehard fan, I can’t deny how much fun the song is, so leaving it off this list would be a glaring omission. Song trademark: The Beatles had heaps of fun utilizing the large studio at Abbey Road to record the various shouts and sound effects during the instrumental break. My favorite bits are John’s call-and-response during the final verse, culminating in his final, “…submarine, A HA!” The original release accidentally omitted his first “a life of ease” line, which has been restored only in recent remixes.
85. I Feel Fine (1964): The trademark feedback at the start of the song might sound tame to modern ears, but the Parlophone record label strictly prohibited feedback at the time. This meant the band had to pass it off as an accident, while it was planned from the very start. The trick was achieved by Paul strumming a single bass note while John held his guitar up against the amplifier just before pulling it away to play the opening riff. The resulting sound helped elevate a fairly straightforward pop song into a blueprint for further experimentation. Song trademark: Opening riff aside, check out Ringo’s unique drum pattern for the track. Inspired by “What I’d Say” by Ray Charles, sort of an R&B Latin-inspired beat. I can just picture kids with big hairdos and hip clothing dancing around to this song on the jukebox in 1964. Fab!
84. I Will (1968): This sweet and simple song from Paul is brief, clocking in at just under two minutes. Completing it, however, took an exhausting 67 takes– proving that Paul was certainly keen on getting it perfect. George wasn’t present on the track, but John and Ringo are. Ringo played bongos and cymbals, while John kept time by beating wood blocks known as temple blocks or “skulls.” The result is a stripped down, yet warm love song that is a major highlight on side two of the White Album. Song trademark: Paul overdubbed a traditional bass line, but more interesting is his singing vocal bass that gives the song such an organic sound.
83. You’re Going To Lose That Girl (1965): One of my favorite sequences from the movie “Help!” features the band performing this song in a smoke-filled studio. The song itself slides under the radar among obvious classics like “Help!” and “Ticket To Ride,” but it’s still one of John’s very best of the period. Song trademark: The backing vocals from Paul and George are the highlight here, as well as Ringo’s overdubbed bongos.
82. Mother Nature’s Son (1968): Another White Album track, “Mother Nature’s Son” was written in India during the band’s visit with the Maharishi. It always reminds me of warm summer days as a kid, without a care in the world. Song trademark: George Martin’s brass arrangement is an excellent compliment here, but I’ve also always thought Paul does a great job of singing this tune.
81. Octopus’s Garden (1969): No, this isn’t a mistake! I have a lot of love for Ringo’s second and final Beatles composition. At this point, it’s no secret that George Harrison helped with the lyrics, but the end result is all Ringo. Here’s George: “Octopus’s Garden is Ringo’s song. It’s only the second song Ringo wrote, and it’s lovely. Ringo gets bored playing the drums, and at home he plays a bit of piano, but he only knows about three chords. He knows about the same on guitar. I think it’s a really great song, because on the surface, it just like a daft kids’ song, but the lyrics are great. For me, you know, I find very deep meaning in the lyrics, which Ringo probably doesn’t see, but all the things like ‘resting our head on the sea bed’ and ‘We’ll be warm beneath the storm’ which is really great, you know. Because it’s like this level is a storm, and if you get sort of deep in your consciousness, it’s very peaceful. So Ringo’s writing his cosmic songs without noticing.” Song trademark: Again, this song is well suited for Ringo’s vocal style. John’s swirling guitar pattern actually sounds like waves. George plays a shimmering solo while a number of sound effects are featured, including Ringo blowing bubbles into a glass of water. It’s a country song for kids… but what other band could even get away with that?
Moose Crossing. 