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In this thread I rank my favorite Beatles songs: 204-1. (5 Viewers)

Binky The Doormat said:
"Don't Bother Me" is one of my favorites.  :thumbup:

I didn't realize how much the George songs struck me ...I didn't know which ones were George songs when I was a kid, but it was odd when I found out later how many of them stuck out for me.    
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I used to get his and John's mixed up. Never with Paul and Ringo.

 
A few more oldies, before we get to some covers and some later stuff the ranking of which will piss a few of you off.   :)

169.  Hold Me Tight (With the Beatles, 1963)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

Originally intended to be a single and then considered for the Please Please Me record, they were churning out so many good songs at this point that this didn't make the cut, and the completed song was recorded over or thrown away.  They decided to revisit and re-record for the later album, and there it became another good original song on an album with a bunch of covers.  I can see why many, including the Beatles themselves, don't rate this song as highly as I do, as the lyrics aren't impressive and the production quality is questionable at best.  But what I love about it are the off-key, raw vocals, the menacing minor-key bridge, and especially especially that relentless, driving ostinato from George, joined in by Paul on bass, that ensures the song rocks, period.  

Fun fact:  This was an early instance of the recording being sped up in production (something they'd do much more in the later years), resulting in a key change from E major to F major.

Mr. krista:  "I like how there’s something oddly menacing about the part about the last chorus, where everyone is playing straight down to some minor chord.  Then it slowed down and just stopped.  Something really appealing about it."

Kinda suggested cover:  People rave about this one.  I can't stand it - sounds like lounge singer style not rocker style to me - but judge for yourself.  I couldn't find another I liked either.

168.  What You're Doing (Beatles for Sale, 1964)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

Another that John and Paul aren't too impressed with, and I am more so.  The drum solo at the beginning (repeated at the end), followed by George's Rickenbacker riffs, immediately hook me in and make me feel groovy, and I like the lilting-but-angsty sound of Paul's vocal.  Big fan of that middle eight and some of the clever internal rhymes in the lyrics, too.  What I don't like about it, which is a part loved by many others, are the shouty parts - "YOU!" 

Mr. krista:  "I like the Rickenbacker riff and the heavy chords. It sounds good too, great arrangement.  Sounds so good, great arrangement, might be a better recording than a song.”

Barely acceptable cover by whoever this guy is, but the best I seem to be able to do:  Nick something or other

 
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Spock said:
You shouldn't get to any Revolver songs for quite some time. 

Having a blast following this thread and all of your anecdotes, Krista!
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Thank you!!  

There are two on Revolver that I like but don’t love, and one I either love or hate depending upon my mood, but overall I expect it to have the highest rated songs for me.

 
Binky The Doormat said:
"Don't Bother Me" is one of my favorites.  :thumbup:

I didn't realize how much the George songs struck me ...I didn't know which ones were George songs when I was a kid, but it was odd when I found out later how many of them stuck out for me.    
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Yeah I could never understand why they were all so down on it.  Sure, it's not as polished as his later songs, but neither were John or Paul's.  Very solid effort out of the gate for Mr. Harrison imo

 
I have a ton (probably close to all) of Beatles songs in the one enormous playlist that is on my phone. Those somehow ended up that way when I ripped a big collection of CD’s into iTunes I picked up when I helped my dad clean out his deceased cousin’s apartment. I am too lazy and unmotivated to fix the messed up playlist so I end up skipping a lot of songs.

Anyway,  in the spirit of your thread, I decided not to skip any Beatles songs when they came up for the two hours I was in the car today. You haven’t come to this on yet (not trying to spotlight here), but the only good thing I can say about “Dig a Pony” is that it knocked the “Mr. Kite” ear worm out of my head that has been there since merely reading your  write up. (I swear I haven’t listened to even a snippet  of that song in at least a month.)

 
krista4 said:
175.  You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) (Single, 1970)

Beatles:  Spotify  YouTube

(Quick aside:  I've noticed that @DaVinci always mentions this song as his favorite, which I've always assumed was sarcasm, but I'd love to hear his thoughts on it either way.)
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It is a fun, goofy song that is obviously not meant to be taken seriously. When discussing top Beatles songs it has much more comedic value than dreck like Wild Honey Pie or Revolution 9.

Let's hear it for Denis O'Bell.

 
I started to re-object to Mr. Kite being behind these last few songs @krista4, but then realized you're probably going to have Sexy Sadie or somesuch #1, and decided to keep my powder dry.

Also, this is already an all-time thread.  Legendary.  By the time you're done it's likely to become the go to Beatles' song-ranking guide on the Internet.  So I figured I should mind my manners for posterity.

 
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Despite @Uruk-Hai's wise counsel, I've been re-ordering the next 40 or so.  What I've realized is that, as many times as I've listened to these, when addressing them in order the songs from ~130-190 got shorter shrift.  I'd usually start at the beginning (skipping the 12 songs I know are in my top 12 in some order or another), and by the time I got there I was tiring of the whole thing.  The bottom ones are the bottom ones, but this mid-low tier is all out of whack.

By the way, I've learned that while I always thought I was a sucker for cello, I'm really a sucker for cowbell.

 
Rustoleum said:
I have a ton (probably close to all) of Beatles songs in the one enormous playlist that is on my phone. Those somehow ended up that way when I ripped a big collection of CD’s into iTunes I picked up when I helped my dad clean out his deceased cousin’s apartment. I am too lazy and unmotivated to fix the messed up playlist so I end up skipping a lot of songs.

Anyway,  in the spirit of your thread, I decided not to skip any Beatles songs when they came up for the two hours I was in the car today. You haven’t come to this on yet (not trying to spotlight here), but the only good thing I can say about “Dig a Pony” is that it knocked the “Mr. Kite” ear worm out of my head that has been there since merely reading your  write up. (I swear I haven’t listened to even a snippet  of that song in at least a month.)
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I like that song more than most humans do.

Dinsy Ejotuz said:
I started to re-object to Mr. Kite being behind these last few songs @krista4, but then realized you're probably going to have Sexy Sadie or somesuch #1, and decided to keep my powder dry.

Also, this is already an all-time thread.  Legendary.  By the time you're done it's likely to become the go to Beatles' song-ranking guide on the Internet.  So I figured I should mind my manners for posterity.
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Object to your heart's content; I don't mind!

Mr. Kite is the one that stands out to me right now as being ranked differently than I wish it were (suck it, Savoy Truffle fans).  As I was going over the next couple of tiers, I found several I'd put below it.  The problem it faced was that I moved it down right before ranking, but when I moved it down I didn't look at what was above it and move those down as well.

This thread's most important contribution is distracting some of us from the political forum a bit.

 
krista4 said:
Despite @Uruk-Hai's wise counsel, I've been re-ordering the next 40 or so.  What I've realized is that, as many times as I've listened to these, when addressing them in order the songs from ~130-190 got shorter shrift.  I'd usually start at the beginning (skipping the 12 songs I know are in my top 12 in some order or another), and by the time I got there I was tiring of the whole thing.  The bottom ones are the bottom ones, but this mid-low tier is all out of whack.

By the way, I've learned that while I always thought I was a sucker for cello, I'm really a sucker for cowbell.
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Oh, no! I'd hoped you'd actually rank-ordered 204-1 like you said you had. Heehee. That's impossible, though, and we know its impossibility. Good luck with the rest of the countdown.  

 
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rockaction said:
Oh, no! I'd hoped you'd actually rank-ordered 204-1 like you said you had. Heehee. That's impossible, though, and we know it'd impossibility. Good luck with the rest of the countdown.  
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Oh, I had!  I've worked on it for 6-7 months and thought I was "done."  But I can't stop myself from continuing to move things around!

Heading out for eating and drinking.  I'll check in later, hopefully with some more choices, and maybe even italicized lyrics.

 
My opinion that Rubber Soul is better than Revolver has never wavered, but this thread led to ponder the alternative. In the end Rubber Soul prevails. The audio production brilliance of Revolver is second to none,  but the songs on Rubber Soul squeeze me from the inside.

 
Rustoleum said:
I have a ton (probably close to all) of Beatles songs in the one enormous playlist that is on my phone. Those somehow ended up that way when I ripped a big collection of CD’s into iTunes I picked up when I helped my dad clean out his deceased cousin’s apartment. I am too lazy and unmotivated to fix the messed up playlist so I end up skipping a lot of songs.

Anyway,  in the spirit of your thread, I decided not to skip any Beatles songs when they came up for the two hours I was in the car today. You haven’t come to this on yet (not trying to spotlight here), but the only good thing I can say about “Dig a Pony” is that it knocked the “Mr. Kite” ear worm out of my head that has been there since merely reading your  write up. (I swear I haven’t listened to even a snippet  of that song in at least a month.)
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You should listen to Mr Kite.  I can't imagine not listening to it.  It's so good.  

 
krista4 said:
By the way, I've learned that while I always thought I was a sucker for cello, I'm really a sucker for cowbell.
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Went to an intimate setting concert tonight, and the musicians had two acoustic guitars, a cajon box, and....yes, a cello. They played in the round & setup on the floor instead of the stage. No seats, about 350 people (I was 2nd row), super high ceiling cathedral space. Percussionist had a bunch of shakers, rainmakers, I believe a tambourine on one song (which was  :lol: ), and for the last song....yaass cowbell.

Its like bacon, more cowbell is always a good idea.

 
Mister CIA said:
Intermission Song:  This is not The Beatles.
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Coincidentally just heard this song (on the Beatles channel) while driving earlier this week, and admitted sheepishly to Mr. krista how much I liked it, but that I couldn't name another Badfinger song.  I know of their existence and that they recorded on Apple Records for a time, but they've escaped my notice.  He googled and gave me a list of their other well-known songs, but neither of us could identify any by title, though I'm sure we'd recognize some if we heard them.  Anyway, this is a good jam IMO.

 
krista4 said:
Coincidentally just heard this song (on the Beatles channel) while driving earlier this week, and admitted sheepishly to Mr. krista how much I liked it, but that I couldn't name another Badfinger song.  I know of their existence and that they recorded on Apple Records for a time, but they've escaped my notice.  He googled and gave me a list of their other well-known songs, but neither of us could identify any by title, though I'm sure we'd recognize some if we heard them.  Anyway, this is a good jam IMO.
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😥

 
I'm back already and full of booze, but have to get up early to take my mom to the airport, so I'll see if I can put together some rankings in the next few hours.

in the meantime...

ANNOUNCE:

The ranking for the Beatles song, "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is officially under review.  While we do not anticipate any other post-hoc reviews of prior rankings, we feel the Russian judge might have been compromised in this instance and are conducting a thorough investigation, the results of which will be announced in this very thread.  In the meantime, all odds have been taken off the board, and please adjust your draft sheets accordingly.

 
Binky The Doormat said:
That you two musical aficionados do not know of the brilliance that is known as Bad Finger?  Once known as the "next Beatles", intimately tied to the Beatles and Apple?  

OH COME ON!!!!
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I think it might have been the band name, for all these years.  It's terrible.  I will check 'em out fully.  Which songs/albums do you recommend for a starter kit?

 
krista4 said:
I think it might have been the band name, for all these years.  It's terrible.  I will check 'em out fully.  Which songs/albums do you recommend for a starter kit?
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No Dice and Straight Up albums.  Just give the albums a listen all the way through.  

The main singles you would recognize are "Day After Day", "No Matter What", "Come And Get It", and "Baby Blue".  The band is a tragic story ...but that's for another day.  

ETA: No Dice front/back album cover. 

 
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DocHolliday said:
You should listen to Mr Kite.  I can't imagine not listening to it.  It's so good.  
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I would not have skipped it if it came up on the playlist, but almost two days of having circus music that no one else could hear in my head was starting to get a little disconcerting.

I think  what I like best about  Mr. Kite is the way the vocals feel like they are speeding up although the actual tempo isn’t increasing (at least I think it isn’t speeding up). 

 
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krista4 said:
Coincidentally just heard this song (on the Beatles channel) while driving earlier this week, and admitted sheepishly to Mr. krista how much I liked it, but that I couldn't name another Badfinger song.  I know of their existence and that they recorded on Apple Records for a time, but they've escaped my notice.  He googled and gave me a list of their other well-known songs, but neither of us could identify any by title, though I'm sure we'd recognize some if we heard them.  Anyway, this is a good jam IMO.
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Really?

 
So it's the next several songs, along with "All Together Now," that made me see that "Kite" is too low for my taste.  Stand by for future updates, but for now:

167.  Every Little Thing (Beatles for Sale, 1964)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

Winner of the "Biggest Drop from Initial Rankings" award!  When we did the album-by-album listen, I was forced to listen to some songs that I usually don't focus on, and in the context of that album both Mr. krista and I thought this was great.  So it went into a higher-than-justified tier and has spent its remaining months dropping and dropping.  Don't get me wrong, I still think this song is terrific, but it also has flaws that I was reminded of on frequent listens.  Those flaws include but are not limited to...those drums.  You know the part.  Those big bashing timpani that seem, charitably, inappropriate.  WTF is going on there?

This song is unusual in that it appears to be a rare one in which the chief songwriter (Paul) is not the lead singer (John), though I say "appears to be" because, as in many instances, it's not entirely clear who should get most of the songwriting credit and who is singing which part, though it seems clear John's the lead in the verses and that Paul is the backing vocal and not an overdub of John.  But some disagree.  It's a bit of a mess in that regard.  It's also not clear who is playing which guitar parts, though the consensus is John is on a Rickenbacker.  This is just one of many, many instances of not knowing who did what on a Beatles song, which I think is interesting and notable considering how full our information is these days.  I haven't read the Geoff Emerick book about recording the Beatles (I know, I know, I must - I've bought it but haven't read), but I think he must have the most information to solve some of these questions.

I just realized I haven't said anything that i like about this song.  I do love the vocals and think that what I hear as the softer side of Paul and the acerbic side of John make for a great blend.    That is also evident to me in the lyrics:  what could be taken as simple, even trite, lines sound instead like there's more than that beneath them...the line "Yes, I know I'm a lucky guy" always makes me question if that's meant to be sincere or sarcastic, or more likely a combination of both.  There's something about that descent of that line in particular that draws me in and makes me want to know what comes after, and then surely enough, despite being written (we think) by sunny Paul, it is:  

"I remember the first time
I was lonely without her
Can't stop thinking about her now"

Italics for Friday-night emphasis.

And so right after he says how lucky he is, he is mourning being without her.  🤭

Aw hell, I've written so much about a song ranked in the 160s, but I find it so intriguing.  It's sneakily complex, and despite that timpani I love to hear it.

Mr. krista:  "This is my favorite song on the record so far. I’d like to listen to it again. Surprisingly heavy and kind of dark. This is like the black album. Pretty sweet timpani action."

Suggested cover:  There is a pretty well-known Yes cover of this song, and if Yes if your thing, go for it.  For me, I'll take Lou Ann Barton instead.  I don't love it, but it's not Yes.

 
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the rover said:
This is one of my favorite threads of all time.  It’s like listening to a World Series with Vin Scully announcing and Joe Garagiola doing color commentary.
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The color guy!  I love it.  Some of his best commentary is still to come.

Ilov80s said:
Is this complicated or am I just drunk? 
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Absolutely.

shuke said:
Really?
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Oh yeah, I know this, and it's great.  There's just a whole category of bands I never really paid attention to because they were before my time and not the Beatles, Zeppelin, etc.  I only recently learned that All the Young Dudes was a hit for Mott the Hoople and not just a Bowie song.  I do have a big blind spot on these i need to fix.

shuke said:
Do you even Breaking Bad, bro?
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I The Wire and The Leftovers, bro.

 
krista4 said:
So it's the next several songs, along with "All Together Now," that made me see that "Kite" is too low for my taste.  Stand by for future updates, but for now:

167.  Every Little Thing (Beatles for Sale, 1964)

Suggested cover:  There is a pretty well-known Yes cover of this song, and if Yes if your thing, go for it.  For me, I'll take Lou Ann Barton instead.  I don't love it, but it's not Yes.




 
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I like both.  

 
Speaking of big climbs and drops...I encourage everyone who's a fan to take a critical listen for a while of every Beatles song.  Now, unless you are literally insane, you won't try to rank them, but you might find some differences in what you think you love and what you newly discover.  I had a song in my top 20 or so that I had for years thought was a favorite, but when really listening over and over I realized I kind of tuned out in the midst of it, and it dropped...  On the other hand, there's a White Album track that for half of my adult life I hadn't listened to because I was certain I didn't like it, and now it's in my top 20*.  It's been an enlightening process.

*Always subject to change.

 
Twice now I've written up a song and then hit the wrong button and lost everything.  ####!  The perils of drunken countdowns.   :(

Third time's a charm.

 
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