Tag: b-side
-
93: Revolution
Revolution was the B-side of the Beatles’ Hey Jude single, written by John Lennon, released in August 1968. A different version of the song, Revolution 1, was included as a track on the White Album. Revolution 1 was the first version to be recorded, but the single was released before the album. Revolution 9, which…
-
106: You Can’t Do That
You Can’t Do That, written by John Lennon, was the B-side of the Can’t Buy Me Love single and was included on the A Hard Day’s Night album. You Can’t Do That – recorded in early 1964 – can be seen as the start of a sequence of songs in which Lennon’s lyrics deal with…
-
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…
-
143: I’ll Get You
I’ll Get You wound up as the B-side to She Loves You, but it had earlier been considered as a potential single in its own right. It was co-written by Lennon and McCartney and features dual vocals throughout. To me there’s a slightly strange sound to the vocals as if Lennon and McCartney are imitating…
-
148: Ask Me Why
Having been written and performed live before the Beatles were signed, Ask Me Why was an early Lennon-McCartney collaboration, with the main idea coming from John Lennon. It appeared as the B-side to Please Please Me, and on the album of the same name. Lyrically it is a conventional but well-crafted love song. Musically it…
-
160: Old Brown Shoe
Old Brown Shoe is song written by George Harrison and originally rehearsed by the Beatles during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, but only released later, after further recordings, as the B-side of a single, The Ballad Of John And Yoko. However, it was also selected for inclusion on the Blue Album. I am pretty…
-
167: The Inner Light
The Inner Light was a George Harrison song which was the B-side of Lady Madonna. The single was recorded in early February 1968 just prior to the Beatles’ meditation retreat in Rishikesh India, so that it could be released while they were away from mid-February to (as it turned out) mid-April. The song illustrates both…
-
173: She’s A Woman
She’s A Woman was originally released as the b-side of I Feel Fine, but I mainly know it from Live At The Hollywood Bowl and from playing it as one of several Beatles covers we did as a band during my school days. She’s A Woman was introduced (according to setlist.fm) to the Beatles live…
-
174: Thank You Girl
This was a relatively early Lennon-McCartney collaboration originally intended as a single to follow up the Beatles first UK number 1, Please Please Me. It wound up as the B-side to From Me To You. It’s interesting that Lennon and McCartney were already intentionally writing songs to fulfil specific functions. In this case the song…
-
180: Baby You’re A Rich Man
This is a lively psychedelic sibling of its A-side All You Need Is Love and cousin to With A Little Help From My Friends and Hey Bulldog with perhaps second cousin relationship to It’s All Too Much and Only A Northern Song, all songs written and recorded around the same time. Baby You’re A Rich…
-
187: P.S. I Love You
This is perhaps another aberration in my ranking as it is a very nice song and all the more impressive since it is one of McCartney’s first original contributions to the Beatles recordings, appearing as the B-side to Love Me Do. Apparently it could not be considered as a potential A-side since it shares its…
-
188: I’m Down
I’m Down, a McCartney composition, was the B-side of (Lennon’s) Help! and it’s interesting that both songs – superficially at least – deal with negative emotions, but in different ways. Lennon’s song is sincere and concerned with self-doubt, albeit disguised by the upbeat style of the performance. McCartney’s song may be about (sexual) frustration and…