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In this thread I rank my favorite Beatles songs: 204-1. (11 Viewers)

93.  Run for Your Life (Rubber Soul, 1965)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

It's a great song that I dock 40 spots for murderous impulses and terroristic threats.  Only 1/4 joking about that - the lyrics to this song bring it way down the list from where it would otherwise be.  They are disturbing on their face, but made more so by the particularly menacing way in which John sings them and by his sometimes violent history with women.  While a lot of John's songs allude to his jealousy and temper, this one is far too explicit about it for me.

The lyrics were based around a line from an Elvis Presley song, "Baby, Let's Play House":  "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man."  That line in itself can be read as just a particularly pitiful lament, but John added lyrics that made a lament into a series of threats:

Well, I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl

Well, you know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind
And I can't spend my whole life
Trying just to make you toe the line

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl

Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm determined
And I'd rather see you dead

It's icky.  And it's too bad, because musically this is a helluva jam.

Mr. krista:  "It’s disturbing when you see how poorly John Lennon treated women.  It’s also a song about jealousy, and while I don’t think you can ascribe stuff to the first person, he beat the #### of out his first wife and abandoned his kids.  It’s a great rockin’ blues song.  Sort of transgressive as far as the Beatles go.  Kind of bold and leaning toward darker territory."

Suggested cover:  Cowboy Junkies

 
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I didn't dock it for the lyrics, but probably should have it. 

The tune is great - I have it at #57 ...but as I keep saying, none of these rankings even close to definitive for me, I just happened to finally stop moving them around hourly.  Exhausting.  

 
Binky The Doormat said:
I didn't dock it for the lyrics, but probably should have it. 

The tune is great - I have it at #57 ...but as I keep saying, none of these rankings even close to definitive for me, I just happened to finally stop moving them around hourly.  Exhausting.  
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I hate to make an analogy about magic football on an unrelated site such as this, but it is impossible to have definitive rankings when dealing with 200+ "players" .

 
I wonder of songs like "Run For Your Life" - given today's climate - are going to get winnowed out of radio playlists.

I know - by sometime in the late '90s - you couldn't hear stuff like "Indian Reservation", "Indian Giver", and "Running Bear" on oldies channels anymore.

I realize the definition of "radio" has changed in the last 20 years, but even so.....

 
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Damn, I would have had "Run For Your Life" much higher in my list, but as we've said ad nauseum, at this stage the margin of quality is razor thin.

 
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krista4 said:
93.  Run for Your Life (Rubber Soul, 1965)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

It's a great song that I dock 40 spots for murderous impulses and terroristic threats.  Only 1/4 joking about that - the lyrics to this song bring it way down the list from where it would otherwise be.  They are disturbing on their face, but made more so by the particularly menacing way in which John sings them and by his sometimes violent history with women.  While a lot of John's songs allude to his jealousy and temper, this one is far too explicit about it for me.

The lyrics were based around a line from an Elvis Presley song, "Baby, Let's Play House":  "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man."  That line in itself can be read as just a particularly pitiful lament, but John added lyrics that made a lament into a series of threats:

Well, I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl

Well, you know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind
And I can't spend my whole life
Trying just to make you toe the line

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl

Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm determined
And I'd rather see you dead

It's icky.  And it's too bad, because musically this is a helluva jam.

Mr. krista:  "It’s disturbing when you see how poorly John Lennon treated women.  It’s also a song about jealousy, and while I don’t think you can ascribe stuff to the first person, he beat the #### of out his first wife and abandoned his kids.  It’s a great rockin’ blues song.  Sort of transgressive as far as the Beatles go.  Kind of bold and leaning toward darker territory."

Suggested cover:  Cowboy Junkies
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I'll admit the lyrics are disturbing on their face and perhaps this is more a case of me trying to justify my love for it, but for me I always viewed this as "tongue in cheek" playing against their nice guy image. I think John always hated the fact that the Stones wore the mantle of bad boys while the Beatles were the clean cut kids next door.

 
92.  From Me To You (single, 1963)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

Written on a tour bus during their 1963 tour with Helen Shapiro, this song was inspired by a column called "From Us to You" in the British weekly, New Musical Express, and became the first Beatles song to hit #1 on all three British pop charts ("Please Please Me" reached #1 on two of the three) and the first in a string of 11 singles that would hit the top of all the UK charts.  Although "Thank You Girl" was pegged to be their next single, once people (including others on the Helen Shapiro tour) heard this one, the decision was clear to make this the a-side and relegate "Thank You Girl" to the b-side of the single.  Interestingly, it didn't catch hold in the US very quickly, not even breaking the top 100, and a cover by Del Shannon that was released within a week of the Beatles's version performed slightly better on the charts than the original.  It was only later, when the song was re-released as the b-side to "Please Please Me" in the US, that the song became a US hit.

The song had double the musical "trick" that Paul described them as having employed at the time, which was to put the word "I," "You," or "Me" in the song to make it seem like they were singing directly and personally to the fans.  The chord progressions in the middle eight represented a departure that it seems in interviews that Paul was particularly proud of:  in the part that goes "I've got arms that long..." they slip into a minor chord (G-minor) that was unexpected and different from the structure of their prior efforts.  Beautiful harmonies here that weave perfectly in and out of the unison singing, along with a great bluesy feel with the usual-at-that-time harmonica.  I find the opening sweetly melodic and intriguing - if I hadn't heard the song before, those "da da da dun dun"s would have me excited to find out what was to come.  A wee bit of pop perfection.

Mr. krista:  "I think it’s a fine pop song, but the stuff that gets me excited about other Beatles stuff it doesn’t seem to have. Kind of clever lyrics, but just a nice pop song."

Suggested cover:  Have to admit that the Del Shannon cover mentioned above was pretty damn good.  Faster tempo and feels almost surf-y to me.

 
Dr. Octopus said:
I'll admit the lyrics are disturbing on their face and perhaps this is more a case of me trying to justify my love for it, but for me I always viewed this as "tongue in cheek" playing against their nice guy image. I think John always hated the fact that the Stones wore the mantle of bad boys while the Beatles were the clean cut kids next door.
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I wondered what you'd say to this one since IIRC this was in your top 10.  I could buy part of the explanation:  while I think John very well could have been trying to change their image, I think the feelings he expressed were based in reality and not tongue in cheek - check out all his other "jealousy" songs - but perhaps "enhanced" for effect.  That being said, even if he absolutely meant every word, I could see ignoring the lyrics and enjoying the song anyway for everything else about it.  While I'm legit disturbed by the lyrics, at this point I'll use any reason I can to distinguish among a bunch of great songs, so they gave me a little bit of an easy out to drop it below some others.

 
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Uruk-Hai said:
I wonder of songs like "Run For Your Life" - given today's climate - are going to get winnowed out of radio playlists.

I know - by sometime in the late '90s - you couldn't hear stuff like "Indian Reservation", "Indian Giver", and "Running Bear" on oldies channels anymore.

I realize the definition of "radio" has changed in the last 20 years, but even so.....
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Someone mentioned this upthread, but I'm much less disturbed by this one than I am when I hear Ringo's "You're Sixteen" come on the radio, which it still does (including on the Beatles channel).  That one seriously creeps me out.

 
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krista4 said:
I wondered what you'd say to this one since IIRC this was in your top 10.  I could buy part of the explanation:  while I think John very well could have been trying to change their image, I think the feelings he expressed were based in reality and not tongue in cheek - check out all his other "jealousy" songs - but perhaps "enhanced" for effect.  That being said, even if he absolutely meant every word, I could see ignoring the lyrics and enjoying the song anyway for everything else about it.  While I'm legit disturbed by the lyrics, at this point I'll use any reason I can to distinguish among a bunch of great songs, so they gave me a little bit of an easy out to drop it below some others.
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I guess I see it as so "over the top" that I can't take it seriously - but perhaps I should reevaluate a bit.

 
krista4 said:
93.  Run for Your Life (Rubber Soul, 1965)
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My wife detests this song due to the lyrics.  John hated the song but it apparently it was a favorite of George's.

For me I always thought it was the worst song on Rubber Soul but being a Beatles fanatic still like it.     It wouldn't sniffed the top 100 but that's just me.

 
krista4 said:
Someone mentioned this upthread, but I'm much less disturbed by this one than I am when I hear Ringo's "You're Sixteen" come on the radio, which it still does (including on the Beatles channel).  That one seriously creeps me out.
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The Beatles have a few non politically-correct lyrics in their repertoire like Getting Better "I used to beat my woman and kept her apart from the things that she loved".  There are a few others that escape me at the moment but I'm sure others will chip in...

 
krista4 said:
92.  From Me To You (single, 1963)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

Written on a tour bus during their 1963 tour with Helen Shapiro, this song was inspired by a column called "From Us to You" in the British weekly, New Musical Express, and became the first Beatles song to hit #1 on all three British pop charts ("Please Please Me" reached #1 on two of the three) and the first in a string of 11 singles that would hit the top of all the UK charts.  Although "Thank You Girl" was pegged to be their next single, once people (including others on the Helen Shapiro tour) heard this one, the decision was clear to make this the a-side and relegate "Thank You Girl" to the b-side of the single.  Interestingly, it didn't catch hold in the US very quickly, not even breaking the top 100, and a cover by Del Shannon that was released within a week of the Beatles's version performed slightly better on the charts than the original.  It was only later, when the song was re-released as the b-side to "Please Please Me" in the US, that the song became a US hit.

The song had double the musical "trick" that Paul described them as having employed at the time, which was to put the word "I," "You," or "Me" in the song to make it seem like they were singing directly and personally to the fans.  The chord progressions in the middle eight represented a departure that it seems in interviews that Paul was particularly proud of:  in the part that goes "I've got arms that long..." they slip into a minor chord (G-minor) that was unexpected and different from the structure of their prior efforts.  Beautiful harmonies here that weave perfectly in and out of the unison singing, along with a great bluesy feel with the usual-at-that-time harmonica.  I find the opening sweetly melodic and intriguing - if I hadn't heard the song before, those "da da da dun dun"s would have me excited to find out what was to come.  A wee bit of pop perfection
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Once again, all that under 2 minutes.

 
Dr. Octopus said:
I guess I see it as so "over the top" that I can't take it seriously - but perhaps I should reevaluate a bit.
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That's what I meant by "enhanced" - do I think he's literally threatening to kill?  Well no.  But given his documented violence toward women, it's hard to listen to these words from him.  If Paul wrote and sang the song, I'd see it differently.

 
krista4 said:
93.  Run for Your Life (Rubber Soul, 1965)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

It's a great song that I dock 40 spots for murderous impulses and terroristic threats.  Only 1/4 joking about that - the lyrics to this song bring it way down the list from where it would otherwise be.  They are disturbing on their face, but made more so by the particularly menacing way in which John sings them and by his sometimes violent history with women.  While a lot of John's songs allude to his jealousy and temper, this one is far too explicit about it for me.

The lyrics were based around a line from an Elvis Presley song, "Baby, Let's Play House":  "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man."  That line in itself can be read as just a particularly pitiful lament, but John added lyrics that made a lament into a series of threats:

Well, I'd rather see you dead, little girl
Than to be with another man
You better keep your head, little girl
Or you won't know where I am

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl

Well, you know that I'm a wicked guy
And I was born with a jealous mind
And I can't spend my whole life
Trying just to make you toe the line

You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand, little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end'a little girl

Let this be a sermon
I mean everything I've said
Baby, I'm determined
And I'd rather see you dead

It's icky.  And it's too bad, because musically this is a helluva jam.

Mr. krista:  "It’s disturbing when you see how poorly John Lennon treated women.  It’s also a song about jealousy, and while I don’t think you can ascribe stuff to the first person, he beat the #### of out his first wife and abandoned his kids.  It’s a great rockin’ blues song.  Sort of transgressive as far as the Beatles go.  Kind of bold and leaning toward darker territory."

Suggested cover:  Cowboy Junkies
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I wasn't super familiar with this song until a few weeks ago.  After hearing this a few times on the Beatles Channel, I was shocked at the sheer audacity of the lyrics.  Whereas 2-3 years later, we'd be trying to read everything into the possible meaning of John's lyrics, there's no mystery here.  While reprehensible, the sheer honesty and ownership of John singing this prompts me with a modicum of respect, while probably makes me a terrible person.  And it's an awesome song musically.  And I'm a complete hyprocite, because, as I've said, generally with the Beatles, I'm all about the tune rather than the lyrics, unless it's "Come Together" and "Lucy".  

 
krista4 said:
93.  Run for Your Life (Rubber Soul, 1965)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube
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I was raised by a Shanty Irish tyrant, an ugly bitter woman who has sucked the joy out of every room she's inhabited for almost 95 years. She does not ask when she can order, nor speak when she can snarl. She's kept a book (like the Squire Daneher character, whom she resembles, in The Quiet Man) on everybody she knows since she could count and, though she can barely remember what she had for breakfast now, she knows to the farthing precisely whether & how much everyone she's known is in arrears to her. She hates having to be nice to me because i feed & diaper her and immediately takes it out on me Da as soon as i'm out of sight. I broke away from her successfully when i was 12yo and my proudest life achievement is that i haven't been successfully told what to do since.

Needless to say, between that and being regularly overwhelmed by the tenement connubial donnybrooks of the Irish/Italian slum i grew up in, i was not inclined to respect women. When i saw the cost most of them put to whatever value they had and felt the malarial effect their attention had upon me, i was near to lost. 

So John Lennon's & Jagger/Richard's misogyny was one of my favorite things about the British Invasion. Lennon's especially, because i instantly felt he suffered it in the same way i did. I never got more free of it than he did in his time and, not til i learned kindness the hard way from a series of remarkable women, could i say i'd beat it. But i'm so glad i watched him fight it as he grew as an artist or i wouldn't know the struggle was there to be had. nufced

 
krista4 said:
Someone mentioned this upthread, but I'm much less disturbed by this one than I am when I hear Ringo's "You're Sixteen" come on the radio, which it still does (including on the Beatles channel).  That one seriously creeps me out.
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so you're saying you're not a big fan of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap's playlist then.  

 
91.  It's All Too Much (Yellow Submarine, 1969)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

Written by George based on realizations from an LSD trip and confirmed by meditation.  Grabs me from the get-go with that guitar sound; loses me by the end.  That droning chord with the fantastic guitar riffs. That basso continuo with all the instruments interlaid on top.  Those expansive drums and jubilant trumpets and clarinet.  Who needs good lyrics?  This song sounds like the best of a rock-psychadelia-Indian mishmosh to me for about four minutes but loses me in the rambling chaos of the last two minutes or so.    

There seems to be a spot of disagreement about who played lead guitar on this one, with all of John, Paul, and George being claimed at one point or another.  @Godsbrother, what's your opinion?

Mr. krista:  "The bassline is really neat, but that flurry of notes sounds like pulses; this neat textural thing that Paul didn’t usually do. It’s a really trippy ####### song. It’s supposed to be.  It’s long and trance-like.  I like it a lot.  I like the horn overdubs.  I guess I like drones.  Have you ever said the same word over and over [narrator:  this goes one for a while] until it sounds different? That’s what I like about music like that.  It involves one on a pre-conscious level."

Suggested cover:  The Flaming Lips

 
Shaft41 said:
And I'm a complete hyprocite, because, as I've said, generally with the Beatles, I'm all about the tune rather than the lyrics, unless it's "Come Together" and "Lucy".  
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I don't think any of us can claim to be entirely consistent on this; I'm certainly not.  And I laughed when copying Mr. krista's comments about "Good Day Sunshine," when he praised the vaudevillian quality of it.

 
krista4 said:
91.  It's All Too Much (Yellow Submarine, 1969)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

Written by George based on realizations from an LSD trip and confirmed by meditation.  Grabs me from the get-go with that guitar sound; loses me by the end.  That droning chord with the fantastic guitar riffs. That basso continuo with all the instruments interlaid on top.  Those expansive drums and jubilant trumpets and clarinet.  Who needs good lyrics?  This song sounds like the best of a rock-psychadelia-Indian mishmosh to me for about four minutes but loses me in the rambling chaos of the last two minutes or so.    

There seems to be a spot of disagreement about who played lead guitar on this one, with all of John, Paul, and George being claimed at one point or another.  @Godsbrother, what's your opinion?

Mr. krista:  "The bassline is really neat, but that flurry of notes sounds like pulses; this neat textural thing that Paul didn’t usually do. It’s a really trippy ####### song. It’s supposed to be.  It’s long and trance-like.  I like it a lot.  I like the horn overdubs.  I guess I like drones.  Have you ever said the same word over and over [narrator:  this goes one for a while] until it sounds different? That’s what I like about music like that.  It involves one on a pre-conscious level."

Suggested cover:  The Flaming Lips
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I love this song and glad to see it make it inside the top 100.   I always liked the reference to Patty at the end of the song with George singing the first line from the Mersey's Sorrow which is quite a good song.  As for the lead guitar I think it is probably George but possibly Paul.  It doesn't sound like John to me but that's just my thoughts.

s

 
Top 25 List Cutoff Time - Friday, February 8.   Send list to me via PM.

I've decided to have a cutoff date.   I'd like to start commenting about the composite list as Krista counts down.  Like today, one of her picks has not been selected by any one so far.  (composite has 118 songs. Krista is down to 92) .  I went back a few pages here for these names.  Would love to have a Top 25 list from these guys and anyone not mentioned. Thanks!

@cosjobs
@BobbyLayne
@DocHoliday
@zamboni
@Ted Lange as your Bartender
@rockaction
@Godsbrother
@Gr00vus
@grateful zed
@Officer Pete Malloy
@Atomic Punk

 
krista4 said:
I have major breaking news.

ANNOUNCE:

After years of refusing to name a tenth top 10 song, Mr. krista declared to me tonight, unprompted, that he had chosen a tenth favorite and that it might even be higher than tenth.

That song is, shockingly:  “In My Life.”
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Smart man

 
Ted Lange as your Bartender said:
krista4 said:
I have major breaking news.

ANNOUNCE:

After years of refusing to name a tenth top 10 song, Mr. krista declared to me tonight, unprompted, that he had chosen a tenth favorite and that it might even be higher than tenth.

That song is, shockingly:  “In My Life.”
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Smart man
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The song I thought he was going to name, which he'd indicated before was probably his tenth, is the song I just listed as my #91.  This was a good choice instead.   :)  

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Top 25 List Cutoff Time - Friday, February 8.   Send list to me via PM.

I've decided to have a cutoff date.   I'd like to start commenting about the composite list as Krista counts down.  Like today, one of her picks has not been selected by any one so far.  (composite has 118 songs. Krista is down to 92) .  I went back a few pages here for these names.  Would love to have a Top 25 list from these guys and anyone not mentioned. Thanks!

@cosjobs
@BobbyLayne
@DocHoliday
@zamboni
@Ted Lange as your Bartender
@rockaction
@Godsbrother
@Gr00vus
@grateful zed
@Officer Pete Malloy
@Atomic Punk
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I haven't been following the various competitions that closely (I can barely keep up with just the songs being posted) - would this be our personal top 25 or guessing what K's top 25 is?

 
90.  Money (That's What I Want) (With the Beatles, 1963)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

Featuring another blistering vocal by John, this is the second of three Beatles covers that I enjoy much more than their originals.  The original by Barrett Strong had a great Motown vibe, but the Beatles's version flat-out rocks.  There's a lot to rave about here, including the backing vocals and George Martin's piano work, but for me it all comes back to that John lead vocal - it seems to encapsulate all of his emotions into this one song by being at times angry, at times vulnerable, at times wild, at times humorous, and always powerful and intense.

Mr. krista:  "I like the Beatles's better than the original; it seems heavier and more rougher-edged.  Original lacks sense of fun.  'Your love don’t pay the bills':  it’s depressing, especially given how Motown treated their artists.  Beatles were more aware of it being funny, but also heavy and rough-hewn and jagged where it needed to be jagged.  A good fun, tough, rock song."

89.  Within You Without You (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

I get that George's three heavily-Indian-influenced songs -  this, "The Inner Light" (ranked previously), and "Love You To" - aren't for everyone.  They work for me, however, and I love each of them; on any given day, I might prefer any of the three to the others based on what I want out of a song that day, whether it's "The Inner Light" for the beautiful melody, or this one for its mesmerizing quality.  This is another case where I enjoy a song more outside of its location on an album; on Sgt. Pepper's it feels like an odd fit, but as a stand-alone track it's outstanding.  

George wrote this as a "mini version" of a 30+-minute-long Ravi Shankar piece, and George is the only Beatle on the record, all the other music having been played by Neil Aspinall and a variety of Indian musicians on traditional instruments, and a group of string musicians directed by George Martin.  Apparently the other Beatles were dubious of the song when George first brought it in; strumming some of the lines on an acoustic guitar didn't give a good impression of the grandeur of the song once all the other musicians would be added.  Clearly the finished product grew on them, though.  Ringo loved it, and Paul has called it "completely landmark...in Western recording."  Even John, ever critical of his own music and everyone else's, had good things to say about this track, calling it one of George's best:  "He's clear on that song. His mind and his music are clear. There is his innate talent; he brought that sound together."

I think the two Georges did amazing work on this song and that in particular the layering of the Western strings with the Indian instruments and rhythms is brilliantly accomplished.  This song has so much texture, and if I were a more spiritual person I could imagine being transported by it into a state of calm connection with the world.  Without that spirituality, I still find the song hypnotic and soothing, and while George's sleepy vocal wouldn't be my favorite in another context, here it seems perfect for the mood.  The only aspect of the song that I don't enjoy is the laughter at the end, which was added by George to break up the somber mood but I find unnecessary.    

Mr. krista:  "This is what I wished 'Love You To' had been.  It’s pretty direct in what it’s about but the music achieves it.  I really like it.  It’s obviously about it being a construct of our own minds that we’re separate from one another and attempts to bridge that gap.  It’s at once expansive yet really intimate.  There’s very little that’s Western about it – not the sentiment or the music – except the lyrics in English.  You don’t need the lyrics to get the song anyway; the melody is enough. I’m guessing it’s not super-complex for Indian music but slides right in rather seamlessly.  I love the layered odd strings and drones."

Suggested cover:  Sonic Youth  Patti Smith

 
I didn't intend to group those together, but I'd already written up Without You Without You when I decided to put it above Money instead, and I didn't want to have to cut and paste the links again.   :)  

 
88.  Do You Want to Know a Secret (Please Please Me, 1963)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

I've accused two songs in this list of sounding too Disney-fied, yet here's one actually inspired by a Disney song, and I love it.  John wrote this based on a song his mother sang to him as an infant, a version of the introduction to "I'm Wishing" from the wishing well scene in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  John gave the song to George because at the time George's vocal ability had developed much (at least according to John, who actually stated this more bluntly) and the song "only had three notes."  George himself wasn't happy with his vocal on the song, saying, "I didn't know how to sing; nobody told me how to."

I happen to adore George's vocal on this; not only does he smoothly hit his "three notes" but more importantly he brings a quiet, wispy tenderness to the song.  It's actually one of my favorite George vocals, and when he says, "Do you want to know a secret," I always respond "yes" and feel myself actually scooching in closer to hear the secret whispered in my ear.  I'm similarly compliant when he sings, "closer," which is my favorite part of the song, just edging out that dramatic Spanish-influenced opening, the solid backing vocals, an interesting bridge, and George's terrific guitar work.  This is one of those songs that seems slight but is irresistibly lovely.  While I don't recommend it for vacuuming, it would be good background for general boop-a-dooping around the house, perhaps while cleaning windows or looking for your keys.

Fun fact:  John recorded a demo of this in the loo at one of the Hamburg nightclubs, because he said it was the only place quiet enough to do it.  That demo, unfortunately lost at this point, was said to end on the sound of pulling of the toilet's chain.    

Mr. krista:  "Kind of hiding the fact that this song doesn’t really change.  The chords… After 'hear,' that little half-time part…that rocks.  Otherwise it would be sugary pop music.  It’s like they couldn’t help but rock.  Given every opportunity not to rock, they still rocked.  Like here’s a Bacharach song written for a girl group…still rocks."

Suggested covers:  Oddly (for me), my favorite covers are all from female singers.  Fairground Attraction  Mary Wells  Sharon Clark

 
krista4 said:
88.  Do You Want to Know a Secret (Please Please Me, 1963)

Beatles version:  Spotify  YouTube

I've accused two songs in this list of sounding too Disney-fied, yet here's one actually inspired by a Disney song, and I love it.  John wrote this based on a song his mother sang to him as an infant, a version of the introduction to "I'm Wishing" from the wishing well scene in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  John gave the song to George because at the time George's vocal ability had developed much (at least according to John, who actually stated this more bluntly) and the song "only had three notes."  George himself wasn't happy with his vocal on the song, saying, "I didn't know how to sing; nobody told me how to."

I happen to adore George's vocal on this; not only does he smoothly hit his "three notes" but more importantly he brings a quiet, wispy tenderness to the song.  It's actually one of my favorite George vocals, and when he says, "Do you want to know a secret," I always respond "yes" and feel myself actually scooching in closer to hear the secret whispered in my ear.  I'm similarly compliant when he sings, "closer," which is my favorite part of the song, just edging out that dramatic Spanish-influenced opening, the solid backing vocals, an interesting bridge, and George's terrific guitar work.  This is one of those songs that seems slight but is irresistibly lovely.  While I don't recommend it for vacuuming, it would be good background for general boop-a-dooping around the house, perhaps while cleaning windows or looking for your keys.

Fun fact:  John recorded a demo of this in the loo at one of the Hamburg nightclubs, because he said it was the only place quiet enough to do it.  That demo, unfortunately lost at this point, was said to end on the sound of pulling of the toilet's chain.    

Mr. krista:  "Kind of hiding the fact that this song doesn’t really change.  The chords… After 'hear,' that little half-time part…that rocks.  Otherwise it would be sugary pop music.  It’s like they couldn’t help but rock.  Given every opportunity not to rock, they still rocked.  Like here’s a Bacharach song written for a girl group…still rocks."

Suggested covers:  Oddly (for me), my favorite covers are all from female singers.  Fairground Attraction  Mary Wells  Sharon Clark
Click to expand...
Always been a fan of this one.   My kids are sick of it because I've listened to it so many times since you started this thread.   This is one of the songs I remember my mom listening to when I was a little kid.....

 
Yankee23Fan said:
Within Without You is on my 25 as well. 

🤒
Click to expand...
I suspect we won’t have a lot in common in our 25.  Just an impression based on vague memories of your music-related posts.

I wonder, if I submitted my top 25 to Getz, if I’d add any new ones to his list.  I think one might be a possibility, but the others are probably already on there.

 
krista4 said:
I suspect we won’t have a lot in common in our 25.  Just an impression based on vague memories of your music-related posts.

I wonder, if I submitted my top 25 to Getz, if I’d add any new ones to his list.  I think one might be a possibility, but the others are probably already on there.
Click to expand...
Probably - no biggie.  When it comes to "your favorite" song of a group there are just some groups where there are no wrong answers to me.  The Beatles, Queen and Billy Joel are those types of artists/groups for me.  Their collection is so good, for so long, in so many different ways that even I would probably change my favorites at any given time.

The only thing that I get slightly annoyed at is people that refuse to "like" the more popular songs of a group because they popular.  There was a time when Queen fans hated Bohemian Rhapsody because it got overplayed by Wayne and Garth and there was far too often when people would say that it isn't even their best song.  As a musical movement, it is by far their best song.  There are few songs in rock history that match its power on numerous levels.  But I can understand it not being a personal favorite from their collection - I'm not sure it's my favorite.  But to not give certain songs their due simply because they are popular is an exercise with no satisfying result to me.

 
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