Beatles: A Song-a-Day
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111: Flying
Flying is the only instumental among The Beatles’ official releases, and one of just two tracks credited to all four Beatles (the other is Dig It). Arising from a studio jam session, it was composed as incidental music for the Magical Mystery Tour TV special and included on the Magical Mystery Tour album and EP.…
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112: Things We Said Today
Things We Said Today is a track from the A Hard Day’s Night album, and was the B-Side to the single release of A Hard Day’s Night, too. Written by Paul McCartney, it is a particularly cleverly crafted song and all the more so because it wears its sophistication very lightly; this is a classically…
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113: Think For Yourself
Think For Yourself is one of two George Harrison songs on the Rubber Soul album (the other being 57: If I Needed Someone, which by accident I reviewed yesterday, out of sequence). Musically, Think For Yourself has an unusual chord progression, which musicologists find hard to pin to a specific key. As Allan Pollack comments:…
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57: If I Needed Someone
If I Needed Someone is one of two George Harrison songs on Rubber Soul (the other being Think For Yourself). The story of this track sheds light on George’s continued growth as a songwriter, his relationship with other artists and aspects of his personality as he came to terms with fame. Musically the song is…
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114: You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away is a track from the Help! Album written by John Lennon. It is a close as Lennon ever came to directly imitating another artist (Bob Dylan), and he describes this song, like I’m A Loser before it, as belonging to his Dylan period. In the long term, the…
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115: Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Dizzy Miss Lizzy is the top-ranked (in this ranking) of the Beatles’ three Larry Williams covers (with 141: Bad Boy and 195:Slow Down). I think it’s fair to surmise that as Williams was among the most covered artists in the Beatles’ official recorded catalogue that he was an important influence. Lennon sings all three covers…
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116: I Should Have Known Better
I Should Have Known Better is a track from the A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack and album, written by John Lennon. It’s taken me a few days to get around to writing this article, and partly this was because I fancied taking a couple of days off, but I must admit it was partly because…
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117: I’m A Loser
I’m A Loser is a track from Beatles For Sale, written mainly by John Lennon, and one of his first introspective songs. According to several internet sources including the Beatles Bible and Beatles Music History, Lennon attributed this new direction to a meeting with journalist Kenneth Allsop who had interviewed him in connection with Lennon’s…
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118: Revolution 1
Revolution 1 is the original “unplugged” version of the song, written by John Lennon, which appears on the White Album. A faster, rockier version of Revolution was released as a single, the B-side of Hey Jude. The single version was released before, but recorded after the album version. This was the Beatles most overtly political…
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119: Roll Over Beethoven
Roll Over Beethoven is a Chuck Berry Cover from the Beatles’ second album, With The Beatles, sung by George Harrison. Though the Beatles were big fans of Berry, only two covers, Roll Over Beethoven and Rock And Roll Music, made their official catalogue (thirteen others were, at various times, performed as part of their repertoire).…
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120: Birthday
Birthday is a lightweight but inoffensive and fairly rocky track from the White Album. It was composed mainly by McCartney in an abbreviated studio jam session, scheduled to allow the band to watch The Girl Can’t Help It which was being shown on TV that evening. The story of the song is well explained (with…
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121: Mr. Moonlight
Mr Moonlight is a cover of a song, originally recorded by Dr Feelgood and the Interns, that appears on the Beatles For Sale album. Looking back at the underlying ratings that support its ranking on this blog, I see that I rated it highly for performance, and a good proportion of that score is due…