The Beatles: My Top Ten Singles

As with my "Red Album" review, before progressing to the album, a little background for you....

I have always had a strange relationship with The Beatles. On the one hand, aged about five, I owned a plastic Beatles guitar, so they were the first musical memory I had, along with a vague knowledge of Elvis. A lot of their output was easy for a young child to sing - the puerile "she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah" was probably the first I learnt, to the frustration of my parents, who hated me saying "yeah" instead of "yes". The accursed Yellow Submarine was number one in primary school playgrounds all over the country.

In the mid sixties, The Beatles were simply everywhere, even for five-six year old kids like me. On the other hand, as the years went by and I started to develop a musical taste, I found the edgy, bad boy, rebellious appeal of The Rolling Stones far more attractive. Even at eight or nine, I viewed The Beatles as "goody-goodies" - despite the flower power garb and later-era beards - and The Stones as the exact opposite. I knew which side my bread was buttered. Musically too, the riffy, bluesy decadence of The Stones' sound was what I wanted, not what I viewed by 1968 as twee, as I certainly did The Beatles' pre-1965 output. 

So, you will have gathered by now that The Beatles are not the holy grail for me. Far from it.

Despite owning everything they recorded - including the much-valued "Beatles In Mono" box set - David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Roxy Music, Mott The Hoople, Van Morrison, The Clash and The Jam just for starters are far more important to me on a day-to-day basis. 

There are also parts of their output I do not consider worthy of a supposed "rock group" - mainly dreadful McCartney whimsy, music hall pastiches or "Yellow bloody Submarine". Rock group my arse. Led Zeppelin were a rock group. Mott The Hoople were a rock group. Nazareth were a rock group. Etc etc etc. The Beatles properly rocked on surprisingly few occasions. However, their sheer variety of compositions was such they remain almost unclassifiable. There is no doubting that they were thoroughly unique.

However, all that said, I was lucky enough to develop my musical taste in the said sixties and there are some Beatles songs that are indelibly imprinted on my entire consciousness. 

I could tell you exactly where I was when I first heard them - Good Day Sunshine (on my parents' enormous, bulky reel to reel tape machine); Hello Goodbye (on the top deck of a bus one evening before Christmas in Leicester with my Mother, and it was played by some teenagers on their transistor radio); Hey Jude (over the Tannoy before the match at Leicester City v West Bromwich Albion in October 1968); Lady Madonna and Let It Be (at home at the kitchen table listening to the radio with my Mother). 

So, like it or not, The Beatles will forever be a part of my life. Ain't nothin' I can do about it. As a non-fan I will try to do their remarkable output justice.

⑩ WE CAN WORK IT OUT (1965)

A non-album single written mainly by McCartney about his problems in love with Jane Asher, the song is extremely infectious, with a hooky chorus (and verses too). I've always felt there was something a bit Motown-y about it, but that is probably not to do with The Beatles' version but because Stevie Wonder did a really good upbeat cover of it in 1970. Deep Purple covered it too, on their 1968 Book Of Taliesyn album. McCartney said that the song "might have been personal" but remained coy about it. Lennon said of the song's genesis - "in We Can Work It Out, Paul did the first half, I did the middle eight. But you've got Paul writing, 'We can work it out / We can work it out' – real optimistic, y'know, and me, impatient: 'Life is very short, and there's no time / For fussing and fighting, my friend." In this one song, the differences in their characters is represented. 

⑨ HELLO GOODBYE (1967)

This comparatively shallow song is not in here for its gravitas. It is here for the memories it inspires. I remember being on a bus in late 1967 going to the pictures with my parents on a dark November night and some teenagers were playing Hello Goodbye at the back on their tinny transistor radio. That was the first time I had heard it. Every time I hear it I can't help but recall that night. It is so damn evocative. I've never forgotten that moment, as if I knew I was listening to a part of history. Musically and lyrically, it is another hippy hymn. This is McCartney's retrospective analysis of it - "the answer to everything is simple. It's a song about everything and nothing ... If you have black you have to have white. That's the amazing thing about life". There you go then, it means nothing. It's amazing how something that means nothing can mean so much. It is part of my life's soundtrack. 

⑧ TICKET TO RIDE (1965)

The jangly, instantly recognisable strains of the marvellous Ticket To Ride need no introduction, do they? It has been said by several writers over the years that this was recorded around the time The Beatles first dabbled in LSD. If true, the drug did a good job. The song is perfectly created and performed, possibly the high point of their career so far. The guitar sound on here would continue with successful songs like Nowhere Man and Paperback Writer. By now it now goes without saying that the sound is fucking awesome. It almost gets a sometime Beatles sceptic like me seriously loving them! This a proper jangly, ballsy rock song. Incidentally, Lennon claimed the song was three-quarters his, whereas McCartney said it was actually only 60%, in a (possibly) typically parsimonious fashion. 

⑦ PAPERBACK WRITER (1966)

A fine McCartney non-album single rocker with countless hooks, both lyrical and musical. Like Day Tripper it was another highly credible Beatles rock song. Notably for McCartney at the time, it was not a lovelorn song addressed at Jane Asher, but one featuring an imaginary character who wants to be a successful author. Its lyrics are wry and clever, sung from the aspirant young man's point of view. It is said that McCartney's aunt asked him to write a song about something other than love, about something "important". So, instead of going all Bob Dylan and issue-driven, he wrote this unique song about a young man desperate to make it as a writer. Its lyrics are wry and clever. Whatever, its sound is superb, those guitars are just great and it bubbles with an irresistible vibrancy. I have always loved it. It could possibly have got higher in this chart. 

⑥ PLEASE PLEASE ME (1963)

Now we get is the wonderful Please Please Me, composed largely by Lennon at his Aunt Mimi's house, with McCartney and Lennon in perfect harmony on vocals (after a few arguments, it is said) and that marvellous, spine-tingling iconic harmonica riff. Bloody marvellous. Even now, all these years later. The group's second single (and what a barnstormer it was), there has long been debate as to whether it got to Number One or not. It certainly did so on the charts published by various music papers but not, it seems on what was considered the official chart, therefore it doesn't appear on the 1 compilation, somewhat unfairly. For me, it the absolute best of the early Beatles singles. Love those descending guitar riffy bits. On this remaster, just listen to McCartney's throbbing bass! Heaven. Those harmonies too, man. Wow. 

⑤ I FEEL FINE (1964)

This is one of my absolute favourite Beatles non-album singles from the period. Vocally, the harmonies are top notch and it just overflows with irrepressible, romantic enthusiasm. Up there in my Beatles "best of" list. I just love Ringo's surprisingly rhythmic, rolling drum sound (he almost steals the whole song, even having a micro-solo at one point) as well as the unusual single note intro. The bits where they sing "I'm so glad that she's my little girl" in joyous harmony is just glorious. Love it to death. Always have done. It was, incidentally, one of the first singles to use feedback. John Lennon later said of the song - "I told them I'd write a song specially for the riff. So they said, 'Yes. You go away and do that', knowing that we'd almost finished the album Beatles for Sale. Anyway, going into the studio one morning, I said to Ringo, 'I've written this song but it's lousy'. But we tried it, complete with riff, and it sounded like an A-side, so we decided to release it just like that." So, a Lennon song, then. Thought so. 

④ PENNY LANE (1967)

In total contrast to it's double 'a' side partner, Lennon's druggy Strawberry Fields Forever, McCartney also delved into his nostalgia bank, thinking back to the blue suburban skies of his optimistic post-war upbringing. Like Lennon's song, it is positively overflowing with imagery from the past, characters and objects that stick in your head forever - the barber, the "clean machine", the pretty nurse. Like with Paperback Writer, McCartney is deviating from doleful love songs once more and gave us a kaleidoscope of multi-coloured images. The thing that has always grabbed my attention in Penny Lane is its vibrant colour. It is a song that lives. Even its brass section is just so beautifully vivacious. A truly great song. McCartney said of it - "Penny Lane was kind of nostalgic, but it was really about a place that John and I knew ... I'd get a bus to his house and I'd have to change at Penny Lane, or the same with him to me, so we often hung out at that terminus, like a roundabout. It was a place that we both knew, and so we both knew the things that turned up in the story". 

③ LET IT BE (1970)

Why is this one at number three, many may ask. Well, it's because, however many times I hear it, it never fails to move me. Music is about moving the soul, and this does, so it's here. Sorry Mr. Lennon. As it happens, I have always enjoyed the more raw, edgy, slightly more Lennon-influenced cut of Let It Be - with its muscular guitar solo and infectious percussion - that was used on its album to the single version. It is far more of a rock song as presented on that album as opposed to a maudlin hands in the air anthem. Look, the single version is ok and I guess that was the one I first heard, to be honest, and it is singles we are talking about here. Anyway, over-sentimental it may often be accused of being, but I can't help but get a tingle down my spine whenever I hear it. It makes me emotional every time, so there you go. It works, whatever Lennon thought (he hated it, of course). 

② GET BACK (1969)

Anyone who has read my Beatles reviews will know that what I like is when The Beatles rock. No McCartney whimsy for me, thanks all the same. That's why this is number two. Actually dating from before Abbey Road, nobody can really argue with Get Back as a copper-bottomed rocker, particularly with regard to the totally barnstorming version that appears on the Let It Be album. It is possibly The Beatles' best ever true rock song. Only right at the very end of their career did they start properly rocking. The single version, to be honest, is just as good. If only they rocked out a bit more, because they didn't nearly enough for me. This was how good they could be. Quite what the lyrics were about, however - who knows? Who was Loretta Martin? Who was Jo Jo? 

① HEY JUDE (1968)

It's clichéd to put this at number one, I suppose, but this list (and all of them) is as much about memories as actual merit in many ways. That's why this is number one so - get those hands in the air, light up those phones....McCartney's seven minute-plus singalong number remains my favourite Beatles song of all. Why? As I said - pure, unadulterated nostalgia. I first heard it at half time at a football match in October 1968. I was nine years old and I can still remember its effect on me - the minimalist, haunting opening, the timbre of McCartney's voice, the joy of the chorus. They ate into my DNA and remained. It was special and it now may be hackneyed and over-played but I still love it. Oh, and Lennon gets away with saying "fucking hell" a few minutes in and no-one noticed!

Bubbling under - From Me To You, The Ballad Of John & Yoko, All You Need Is Love, Something, Help!, Can't Buy Me Love....