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This ranking was originally published in 2017.
Its since been updated to include 2023s Now and Then.
At Beatles anniversary time, the stories write themselves.
It was 25/30/40 years ago today!
The act youve known for all these years!
A splendid time was guaranteed for all!
But the song doesnt make sense if its not put in context.
The list is based on the bands British releases, which is how they thought of their work.
The so-called White Album,The Beatles, was a two-record set.
This doesnt get said enough: These songs were specifically designed to pack their punch at high volume.
Try em with real speakers, not headphones.
They didnt fuss about it; its what they wanted to do.
They loved to turn us on.
But this one is beyond the pale.
Its blaring, received, and strident.
Even by McCartney standards (Getting Better, Hello Goodbye) the title is inane.
Its the worst song in the Beatles classic period.
And it ruinsRevolver, otherwise the most consistent and mind-blowing collection of pop-rock songs ever conceived by man.
McCartney sometimes produced schlock, but rarely work as annoying as this.
Little Child,With the Beatles(1963)
Probably the worst of Lennon and McCartneys early efforts.
Filler from the second album.
Now, McCartney is throwing around words like artificial intelligence and machine learning to justify this particular excavation.
Lennons voice is spectral and vulnerable.
(But note how he cleverly repurposes the idiom now and then.)
Docked 100 notches for going back to the well once too often.
Tell Me What You See,Help!
Dig a Pony,Let It Be(1970)
Doggerel from Lennon.
The most uninteresting song on one of the bands least interesting albums.
The lyrics are nonsense, but all he wants is you.
(The first of these ended when authorities discovered George Harrison was underage; he was unceremoniously deported.)
Ask Me Why,just just Me(1963)
I love you / Woo-woo-woo-woo.
Ask Me Why was one of Lennon and McCartneys first compositions, as the lyrics here attest.
He auditioned the band and didnt not like what he heard.
He advised them to write some new material and get rid of their drummer.
His former songwriting partner, one Paul McCartney, added six lines as a sort of bridge.
(Whatever happened to / The love that we once knew?)
Twenty years later, it still enrages me.
Docked 100 notches for corpse desecration.
Shes Leaving Home,Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967)
A bathetic lugubrious mess, the nadir ofSgt.
PeppersLonely Hearts Club Band.
Its unquestionably a pretty song.
Docked 100 notches for grave robbing and general dishonesty.
Ill Get You, single (1963)
Lots ofOh, yeahs here.
you could hear McCartney working it on the bass, though.
It was important, they said.
They might have a record contract.
Theres an unconvincing vocal by Lennon and some inappropriate drum sounds.
The backing track is clompy, and we dont need to hear all theyou-you-you-yous anymore.
McCartney doesnt sound natural singing, either.
Historical value aside, McCartney and Lennon had vetoed it forSgt.
Definitely in the top five of Most Irritating Songs Paul McCartney Ever Wrote.
It took a long time for the band to get this right in the studio.
Newsflash:No one cares about Desmond and Molly Jones.
The lyrics are inane even by McCartney standards.
To Starrs credit, we have to acknowledge that the wordsunfairandhairdo rhyme, so theres that.
The odd piano sound and aimless violin dont do anything for it.
And that repetitious backing track goes on for nearly four minutes.
You Like Me Too Much,Help!
(1965)
A very simple George Harrison song, dumped as filler on the second side ofHelp!
Martin recalls thinking the songs were marginal.
He was unsure about the group … but decided to go for it.
Not that much as a song, though.
It was a stage favorite that is a little tepid on record.
SincePlease hey Me, eight months earlier, the band had had three No.
1 singles in England, and a fourth that went to no.
The release ofWith the Beatleswas where things in England began to get weird.
Stores were overrun by teenagers wanting the record.
Its Only Love,Help!
(1965)
A Lennon song from the bands second movie soundtrack.
In the bands early songs, both Lennon and McCartney affected a knowingness about love affairs.
They worked out the logic of this or that scenario, and delivered verdicts or advice accordingly.
It took a while before actual love songs with recognizable people and situations in themwould be in the offing.
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!,Sgt.
(The new six-disc mega rerelease ofSgt.
Pepperincludes a reproduction of the actual poster.)
But what I dont get is this.
The Beatles set themselves up as Sgt.
Peppers band for this, their most celebrated (and technically advanced) album.
So why were Sgt.
Pepper & Co. writing songs about some other entertainment endeavors?
Pepperdoesnt live up its reputation.
The song helped fill out the second side ofA Hard Days Night.
For You Blue,Let It Be(1970)
A winsome romp from George Harrison.
McCartney and Lennon were tossing half-baked, substandard throwaways onto the bands later releases.
Its only fair that Harrison was able to do so as well.
The overall production values ofLet It Beare lousy; Harrisons voice never sounded so thin and insubstantial.
Maxwells Silver Hammer,Abbey Road(1969)
This song is catchy as hell.
The anvil sound is hilarious.
But its still one of those weird McCartney tracks.
Wait Maxwell kills people?
Docked 50 notches for the verse in which Maxwell kills the pataphysical scientist.
Its not a coherent track for an album.
An anticlimax to the last uninteresting album the band would release for several years.
The Ballad of John and Yoko, single (1969)
Yoko Ono didnt break up the Beatles.
They broke up for a lot of reasons.
But one big cause was John Lennons dickish moves.
Then Lennon started using heroin.
Fun times, fun times.
Later he tried to paint the other Beatles as the bad guys.
The result is just that show-offy.
I dont think Lennon pulls it off.
This first turned up on an American release,Beatles VI.
The vulnerability is charming, though.
Theres a goofy, off-kilter solo.
One of the least interesting songs on the otherwise sparklingRubber Soul.
Ringo Starr grew up Ritchie Starkey without a father and in the slums.
He nearly died from an infection at 6 remaining in a hospital for a full year.
The dismal future that awaited him was thwarted by chance.
His natural likability and gifted affinity for the drums changed everything.
He came alive on stage sporting a streak in his hair and flashy rings.
He sang lead on 11 songs.
No Reply is more anonymous than the others.
Think for Yourself,Rubber Soul(1965)
Harrison cant help sounding judgmental on songs like this.
Great groovy fuzzed-out bass line, though.
Supposedly recorded in one take.
One assumes this was a live crowd-pleaser, because its charms are elusive on disc.
Lennon could of course be much crueler about it.
Harrison responded by leaving Lennon out of his autobiography.
The songs precision and internal logic undoubtedly was an influence on McCartney.
He even sang it at the bands debut appearance onThe Ed Sullivan Show, in February 1964.
Mother Natures Son,The Beatles(The White Album) (1968)
Some fans love this song.
I think its too similar to Blackbird, and another sign of the unnecessary bloat of The White Album.
The lyrics are among McCartneys worst.
Too many of this albums tracks arent good enough.
The song about the meter maid, fine.
McCartneys doo-dee-doo vocalizings are irritating, too.
Dizzy Miss Lizzy,Help!
Much later, Lennon would play it with the Plastic Ono Band.
Its lulling, and nothing wrong with that, but its also kinda boring.
Together its the Beatles worst single release.
(you’re able to hear it on I Need You, too).
This song was the B side to the much better Ticket to Ride.
He, too, grew up marginally in a damaged city; he lost his mother at 14.
He was also how to put this?
Here, a number for toddlers.
The B side to I Feel Fine.
And some people say he was a humorless moralist.
The lack of quality control on The White Album is striking when you get to songs like this.
Theres even a passing reference to Oh-Bla-Di, Oh-Bla-Dah, which no one made George take out.
They werent unfair; he had three songs onRevolver, and McCartney provided assists on many of his tracks.
Lennon called McCartneys worst instincts granny music.
Still, this is a cliched and received idea.
Docked five notches for the Rudy Vallee microphone at the beginning.
Why were they filling out their fourth album with more R&B covers?
This one, by Roy Lee Johnson, is a genuine oddity, partly crooned, party wailed.
He has an amazing voice.
Fixing a Hole,Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967)
The argument for this song is that its about something.
The argument against it is that it is in the end an argument for the status quo.
Given his place in the universe, of course Paul McCartney liked things the way they were.
Im just saying he didnt need to write so many songs about it.
Baby, Youre a Rich ManMagical Mystery Tour (1967)
A lot of yelling.
McCartney can make anything sound catchy; theres a mildly interesting Lennon call-and-response going on, too.
Which makes me think its just another Paul McCartney nonsense song.
The very antithesis of a moon-spoon-June love song.
This is a takeoff onAnimal Farm, and anything but subtle.
Funny voices, too.
But it doesnt hide the fact that its a dumb song.
Just before the band returned to the studio, he called an emergency meeting at the bands Apple headquarters.
This is a slow grinder, sung earnestly by Lennon.
Matchbox,Long Tall Sally EP(1964)
Ringo blasting through a Carl Perkins classic.
Way too much echo on the track, though.
Pete Best sang it in the bands Hamburg days.
(For the Benefit of Mr.
Kite!, by contrast, has nearly 100 different words.)
It was the bands first single, and rose to no.
17 on the British charts.
Some people love it, and its arguably the groups lushest vocal moment, but its still a fragment.
Not when he looked so fierce, incidentally, is Yoko Ono.
Love the segue to While My Guitar, though.
Octopuss Garden,Abbey Road(1969)
A rare Ringo songwriting credit.
If you grew up withAbbey Roadyou probably still love it.
And in the wake of Come Together and Something it seems even slighter.
Its just as bad as Everybodys Got Something to Hide.
Yellow Submarine,Revolver(1966)
One of Ringos signature songs.
The 1969 animation filmYellow Submarinewas built around it years later.
133.It Wont Be Long,With the Beatles(1963)
The exuberance keeps on coming.
And no one could reproduce the inherent manic feel of the Beatles.
I Want You (Shes So Heavy),Abbey Road(1969)
A tedious workout.
Its just a little artless.
It finally ends, abruptly, with a sharp cut, mid-note.
It was Lennons idea, over the objection of engineer Geoff Emerick, as the latter tells the story.
Later, Emerick came to feel Lennon was right.
Its All Too Much,Yellow Submarine(1969)
A promising rock-out of a beginning goes nowhere.
Heres another one, though the magic doesnt quite manifest.
But at best its a goof, and none of it means anything.
And in the end the center didnt hold.
The band shelved the material and eventually re-formed to record and releaseAbbey Road.
This is a great song, and the Beatles dont ruin it.
Tell Me Why,A Hard Days Night(1964)
The Beatles early middle period was weird.
This is one of them.
It cant compare to the original, however.
With a sober nod to the past, they played it during the recording ofLet It Be.
This was two minutes and 12 seconds of their lives listeners in the 60s would never get back.
(It has an all-white cover.
Its official name is merelyThe Beatles.)
Another Girl,Help!
The plot: A group of cartoony and fanatical Indians chase after one of Ringos rings.
A sunny McCartney track.
Hes got a million of em.
And even hypocrisy would be okay if it were done artfully; the lyrics are among Lennons least creative.
I know it has a melody you cant get out of your head.
I know its fun to sing along to, as well.
They do; hes really good at what he does.
Theres a lame oompah instrumental break.
Kansas City is a Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller song that was a hit for Wilbert Harrison.
Wait,Rubber Soul(1965)
Signs of growth, but boy this is an uninteresting song.
The intro is one of their drabbest.
Too many of his songs consist of the title words repeated over and over in the chorus.
It turned up as the B side of the Get Back single.
Blue Jay Way,Magical Mystery Tour(1967)
Harrisons contribution to theMagical Mystery Toursoundtrack.
Some nice sounds though.
Ive Just Seen a Face,Help!
McCartney was thinking, If I let this go, it will only encourage him.
(Indeed, Harrison has three songs on the album.)
Sound and music and meaning came together for the band here in a way that it never would again.
As for Taxman (cf.
In Harrisons autobiography, he reproduced a tax check he sent in for a million pounds.
Docked 15 points for being a rich mans complaint.
Thats McCartney playing the (pretty good) solo, incidentally.
The result is a poor mans Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band track.
The song ended up on the B side of Let It Be, the bands penultimate number one single.
Here, Lennons are.
Note the waltz time in the middle eight, with the melancholy insert from Lennon.
The B side of the single was Day Tripper, a weirder and better song.
Rock and Roll Music, single (1964)
A crisp and clean take on the Chuck Berry classic.
Lennons raspy voice is a standout.
The band barrels through the verses at top speed, not noticing they are supposed to done herky-jerky style.
The Fool on the Hill,Magical Mystery Tour(1967)
Everything thats good and bad about McCartney.
We take it all for granted now, but the sound spaces created on the track are exquisite.
The result is lulling and stately, a dream in audio Technicolor.
McCartneys vocals capture the plight of the title figure, whatever it is exactly.
Too much of the lyrics are clumsy.
The sound he appears to make?
They dont like him?
Is Paul himself the Fool on the Hill?
Good Morning, Good Morning,Sgt.
Lennons successes in 1967 have obscured the fact that his regular LSD doses were changing his personality.
A Day in the Life aside, theres little of Lennon onSgt.
Pepperto compare with the three or four landmark tracks he delivered onRevolver.
This song took its inspiration from a Corn Flakes commercial.
Get Back,Let It Be(1970)
McCartney can write a great rock song out of anything.
The Lennon-McCartney songwriting sessions were supposed to take care of vapid lyric conceptions like this.
McCartney is barely even processing what he is saying.
Why is Loretta Martin another man?
Hes not making a point here, just mouthing words that sound good.
Yes, yes, I know its one of the most highly pleasurable rock songs of all time.
Docked ten notches for all the crap about Lorettas mother wearing a low-necked sweater.
And its one of the more forgettable songs from the movie.
When Im Sixty Four,Sgt.
I sing along every time it comes out of a speaker within earshot, just as you do.
But its still very slight.
I Need You,Help!
The vocals are worth breaking down: Harrison double-tracked, with McCartney chiming in where needed.
McCartneys protean voice and delivery expand here considerably.
At the time, though, few noticed, and an inferior song jetted straight to no.
(Still in the U.K. only, of course.)
The chorus rocks okay.
Owing to the decline in Lennons work, it doesnt seem out of place onLet It Be.
Flying,Magical Mystery Tour(1967)
A somewhat forgotten novelty instrumental fromMagical Mystery Tour.
Im Looking Through You,Rubber Soul(1965)
Another bit of relationship knowingness.
Getting Better,Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967)
Things are getting better.
Better, better, better.
The singer used to beat his wife, but things are getting better.
Better, better, better.
The song comes from deep in the Beatles memory.
This is a very pretty John Lennon song whose lyrics go on and on across the universe.
He was proud of it; to me, the whole thing, including thefaux-Indian chorus, sounds dated.
(The Indian chant basically means god is so great.)
The original version is onPast Masters.
Theres another interesting take on the secondAnthologyalbum.
The song is not well served by the clunky break.
The B side of the Help!
A great find by the band.
I dont understand the part about the bulldog.
Its got one of those amazing Beatles choruses.
I mean, besides projection.
Docked 20 notches for making you sing along with a guy who wants to kill his girlfriend.
Its very hard to feel sorry for him.
He had so many advantages, and lived an amazing life.
So he was of course entitled to and deserving of expiation artistically.
It feels like he wants to have it both ways.
I feel so suicidal / Just like Dylans Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones wasnt suicidal, and Lennons wild delivery of the line gives no hint hes being ironic.
All the guitar workouts seem forced.
Lennon would tame and focus these feelings to much better effect a few years later onPlastic Ono Band.
With a Little Help From My Friends,Sgt.
His voice was so limited McCartney fashioned a melody for him largely centered around five contiguous notes.
The ending presented a challenge.
An instrumental of it is played over part of Ringos wanderings inA Hard Days Night.
(Baby, youre a rich fag Jew, hed sing.)
Still, he and Epstein were close.
He died of what was apparently an accidental overdose shortly afterSgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band,Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967)
Sgt.
Were going to make a record with sounds no ones heard before, John announced.
McCartney came up with the conceit of the band-within-an-album to dampen the groups high profile.
This, the title song, might have been a good introduction to it.
But the conceit didnt extend past the second song.
That said, within the confines of the record, the song certainly rocks, albeit harmlessly.
The release of the album was a worldwide event.
Eight Days a Week, Beatles for Sale (1964)
Happy, happy, happy.
A great hook for the only good song onBeatles for Sale.
The title came from McCartneys chauffeur.
The verses are just pointless variations on a theme that goes nowhere.
Again, the effortless rise in the melody was tracked unerringly by his supple voice.
Not too many harmonies here, and the band hadnt yet learned to double-track.
The Night Before,Help!
(1965)
Of the myriad call-and-response numbers McCartney threw together, this is one of the most lethal.
Great ending, too.
Im So Tired,The Beatles(The White Album) (1968)
This Lennon throwaway speaks multitudes.
But the title song is a marvel.
Its insular and doesnt mean anything, which means it doesnt really resonate.
And one of those lovely Beatles codas.
Still, docked ten notches for false advertising.
Love You To,Revolver(1966)
A hard-rock Indian song.
Harrison found a thunderous riff in the music and uses it well.
It trails off from time to time, though.
It was a shtick, a trick, we knew it.
But we couldnt stop singing along.
Theres a snazzy transition out of the middle eight, too.
Act Naturally,Help!
Doesnt really fit in with the tunes onHelp!Upped 20 notches for subtext.
You Wont See Me,Rubber Soul(1965)
A classicRubber Soultrack.
The key lyric I will lose my mind / If you wont see me has a nice triple meaning.
(See meaning date, see meaning look at, and see meaning acknowledge as a person.)
Michelle,Rubber Soul(1965)
A melancholy love song from McCartney for once.
Another tossed-off track that outclasses virtually everything else around.
The track mirrored developments in his life.
During this time, he was dating a model named Jane Asher who came from a privileged family.
In continental fashion, the family invited McCartney to live with them.
But he had three creditable songs on this album.
Its another Harrison track that might have benefitted from more help from McCartney and Lennon.
They and producer Martin expressed regret in later years for not being more available.
Songwriting was slow for Harrison.
He had to start from scratch, without a partner, and in public.
Theres a personal aspect to this as well.
Harrison and McCartney, remember, were best friends before McCartney met Lennon.
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967)
Another important Lennon-McCartney collaboration.
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds is another famous song fromSgt.
Peppersthat on inspection is somewhat less than it seems.
The pair stitched together three verses of psychedelic patchwork as a joint project, with a six-word chorus.
Lennon makes the patchwork convincing, and infuses the song with an import that probably isnt there.
Starrs drumming contributes a lot.
Hello, Goodbye,Magical Mystery Tour(1967)
Chirpy Paul at his chirpiest.
But if youre going to use a pedestal to preach, why not preach this?
The song later turned up on theYellow Submarinesoundtrack album.
I Feel Fine, single (1964)
This scorching track was, amazingly, just another 1964 single.
McCartney, of course, wins in the pop realm.
In other words, the melody itself tells a story.
Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison then lock into the harmonies that helped make their name.
Girl,Rubber Soul(1965)
An interesting example of Lennons approach to songwriting.
The tit-tit-tit-tit-tit part, incidentally, was in fact as Lennons informed us later about tits.
Sexy Sadie has the same beats as Maharishi.
Its devilishly sung and performed.
And who were the Beatles to point fingers at a guy sleeping with his groupies?
But in the end Lennon and Harrison split as well, despite the Maharishis entreaties.
Its a rambling rave-up that stood, hardy and ready, some ten years after it was written.
His keyboard work here is as powerful a hard-rock piano line as I can think of.
And I know he meant the song to be sympathetic to women.
Its still a bit paternalistic.
(Confidential to P. McC: Men have something to do with babies, too.)
Youre Going to Lose That Girl,Help!
(1965)
Another bit of romantic-advice-giving, with a not-so-veiled threat.
Lennon would do it, too.
The call-and-response and Lennons falsetto is irresistible.
McCartney specialized in melodic lines that reached ever upward.
Here he started high and went down, the perfect melody for doing the frug.
The bass line adds a rollicking undertow to an already raucous production, and McCartneys vocals hit every mark.
It feels like it was put on the album without much attention paid to it.
Pissed off, vengeful, threatening …
Stand back, girls, hes taken.
Within You Without You,Sgt.
Two quibbles: Leaving aside the line that includes the title words, the lyrics are quite lame.
And whether it belongs onSgt.
The bridge has a character, and the ending fanfare works as well.
(Lennon couldnt even survive in art school.)
1 and stayed there for five more weeks.
In America, it would be no.
1 for seven weeks, the first of the Beatles 31 top-ten hits and 65 weeks at no.
1 in the next seven years.
In other words, the Beatles occupied the no.
1 spot on theBillboardcharts 20 percent of the time during their career.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise),Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967)
Recorded in the studio live, with just an overdubbed piano.
Critics sometimes play the game of What concert would you have liked to see?
I think watching the four of them lay this down might be mine.
On this one, based on sheer velocity, good humor, and talent, he gets a pass.
George and Ringo sided with John, and the rift was never healed.
The record shows that McCartney was almost certainly right.
The debacle almost certainly cost the band hundreds of millions of dollars over the ensuing decades.
Youve Got to Hide Your Love Away,Help!
(1965)
TheHelp!soundtrack blew the Beatles creativity out in myriad directions.
Here, Lennon, playing a bit with Dylanesque vocal stylings, produces another passionate pop song about self-doubt.
At this point it was flush the pairs aesthetics were veering off from each other.
(Though not always: See For No One.)
The development began to create enormous artistic tension in the band, which would lead to its greatest works.
Notice how the song, innovatively, ends with a flute solo.
This is everything a rock recording should be.
Fun fact: Come Together, a run-of-the-mill no.
(In fact, McCartney says he contributed a lot to it.)
It turned out that nothing could withstand the force of the Beatles, not even the Beatles themselves.
The title came from Ringo, who delighted the band with his nonce catchphrases.
(Another was tomorrow never knows.)
(The two rhythms guitars are whatever the aural equivalent of mesmerizing is.)
The opening chord, incidentally, was the handiwork of George Harrison.
Lennon and McCartney also manage to pull off making what could be a whiny song sound joyous and game.
It was recorded a few days later.
Paperback Writer, single (1966)
At this point, innovation bled into every song the band recorded.
The song pauses now and again, only to rev up again, all on the same unchanging chord.
As for the lyrics, McCartney was approaching his golden era.
1, and, of course, became the pop standard of its time.
But Lennon helped him get the lyrics right.
The chorus was originally Baby you could buy me golden rings(!).
Ill Cry Instead,A Hard Days Night(1964)
Mid-range Lennon, again in confessional mode.
Help!,Help!
(1965)
This was one of Lennons very first baldly personal songs.
But Lennon never really had a mother or a father.
Why did he write the song Help!?
I was fat and depressed, he said in his longPlayboyinterview.
To him we owe the era of the confessional pop poet, with all its discontents.
The tragedy for him was that it also took him into excessive acid and, later, heroin use.
You either buy into this or you dont.
Just as McCartney sometimes crafted careful lyrics about nothing, Lennon spewed clever nonsense about nothing as well.
Here, your mileage may vary.
Just a few months later, on The White Album, hed assert, The Walrus was Paul.
For No One,Revolver(1966)
McCartneys later laziness rankles.
Not bad for a schlockmiester.
And notice how McCartneys simple piano work sets you up for the clavichord break.
By 1968, you could feel that Harrisons abilities were evolving even as Lennon and McCartneys were being confounded.
The lyrics are mushy; its a George Harrison song, after all.
Blackbird,The Beatles(The White Album) (1968)
Again, McCartneys casual virtuosity on display.
At some point, it became a McCartney talking point that this song is about the Civil Rights Movement.
I dont recall this being mentioned in the decades after The White Album was released.
And if it is about the movement, its a poorer song.
Why does the movement have broken wings?
Why are they flying into the night?
Seen through this lens, the song loses its stark beauty and becomes condescending, almost insufferably so.
Day Tripper, single (1965)
The B side of We Can Work It Out.
Another scorching riff married to a good-humored assortment of one-liners and other nonsense.
(She was adaytripper!).
Note the doubled vocals, and the novel break out of the guitar solo.
In a word: killer.
Some songs meld into one another; between others there is a distinct pause or a sharp cut.
Perhaps Because belongs, perhaps it doesnt.
(Thats all the stuff about money and negotiations and the limousine.)
The bridge may be the most joyous in the bands oeuvre.
Running for seven minutes, it became the groups biggest hit ever, and remained at no.
1 for nine weeks.
(Because of McCartney,there were fewer No.
1 songs in 1968 than in any other year in the era.
)Today its a big arena sing-along for Paul.
Lovely Rita,Sgt.
Every line is focused, half are funny, and most of these actually advance the quirky tale unfolding.
(Got the bill / And Rita paid it.)
But Im not sure Id like to live in it.
Ticket to Ride,Help!
(1965)
A very heavy record, as Lennon later allowed.
The clangorous overture contains multitudes.
Note also the grinding, regretful coda.
Harmonies arent bad, and the sound crisp and heavy, rumbling with meaning is among the Beatles best.
Its an indestructible song.
(Thats a weird setup with a revolving speaker that is then recorded.)
Let It Be,Let It Be(1970)
This is a beautiful song.
As I mentioned, McCartney lost his mother in his teens.
Unlike Lennon, McCartney didnt air his emotional laundry in public.
That to me makes the unexpected appearance of Mother Mary quite moving.
you’re free to quibble with her advice; it is conveniently McCartneyesque.
McCartneys voice was of course more supple and protean; it is an unearthly instrument.
Lennons was of the earth itself, and things below, never more evident than in his singing here.
And this weak singer delivers his strongest vocal performance to match.
Then came a steadily deflating solo career and a famous embarrassment of a solo tour.
He died at the end of 2001, of cancer.
They were all manipulated in one way or another, but uniformly used as rhythmic or melodic elements.
Here, they are musical parts of the song.
A minute in,the birds take a fucking solo.The suitably cosmic Lennon vocals tie it all together.
The result is mind-blowing, but tasteful; extravagant, but economical; hypnotic, but still rock.
And all done in 2:59.
Upped five notches for the great title.
Other electronic foofaraw was added, too, as you’re free to hear.
Historians say the last seconds sport the first prominent use of a backward track in pop recording.
The strings are ferocious.
He was just trying to rub her soul.
You tend to focus on McCartneys double-tracked vocals and theooh-ing harmonies behind it.
Dear Prudence,The Beatles(The White Album) (1968)
Another almost-perfect rock song.
Johns silky space voice could get old, but its power is unique here.
She Loves You is a paroxysm of sound and emotion.
Im not even sure why it works, given the singers detached relationship to the events in question.
There are hints of a Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern-style mystery here, or maybe just a species of transference.
She Loves You, for example, came out here on an unknown label called Swan.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Upped three notches for the repressed homoerotic undertones.
McCartney had a lot of nice melodies, of course.
After a quiet 80s, he went back on the road, where hes been intermittently available ever since.
He even releases the occasional record, which no one ever listens to.
His voice was slowed down, horns were added, backward bits of sound marked the track.
You cant take sides; its a fight among family, with resentments going back a lifetime.
Lennons solo career ran hot and cold, and sometimes ridiculously so.
A week later he was shot by a deranged fan.
A Day in the Life,Sgt.
But this is, in the end, a John Lennon song.
Thats what the pair wanted to turn us on to.
Those five tracks were combined, making for a momentous sound.
There is time for a breath, and then a final chord on an army of pianos.
That sound goes on for a minute.
The rest is silence.
