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USA Today picks top 20 Beatle songs

post #1 of 15
6/11/12 at 5:19pm
Thread Starter 
lots of surprises on the list:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/story/2012-06-11/best-beatles-songs/55519146/1
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post #2 of 15
6/11/12 at 8:19pm
You know, its not a bad list.. Oh, there are a couple choices that wouldn't make my top 50 list, and some glaring omissions, but in something as subjective as a list like this, I found it pretty thoughtful.Totally agree that Ticket to Ride is a great rock and roll song, but I'd also mention Paul's lead guitar giving it a tough edge. But choosing Here, There, and Everywhere over For No One totally mystifys me.
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post #3 of 15
6/11/12 at 10:24pm
Its hard to pick the 20 best Beatles songs. I was glad to see 'Fool on the Hill' on the list. Rolling Stone did a 100 best Beatles songs list, and left out 'Fool on the Hill', 'Michele', 'Getting Better', and 'Fixing a Hole'. I felt they were dissing Paul, and I'm a Lennon fan. I also would have picked' For No One' over 'Here, There and Everywhere'.

Songs I would have left off the list are 'I Want to Hold Your Hand, 'I Saw Her Standing There', and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. I think they have a lot of songs better than those three. I never got the appeal of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. It's near the bottom of my favorite Harrison songs. I like the other three songs he wrote on the White Album better than that one.
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post #4 of 15
6/12/12 at 6:28am
Wow, you mean Paul McCartney was in another band before Wings? Who'd a thunk it!
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post #5 of 15
6/12/12 at 10:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjsm250 View Post

Songs I would have left off the list are 'I Want to Hold Your Hand, 'I Saw Her Standing There', and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'.

I agree with the last two, but I think "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is actually appropriate. It was not only one of their best songs from that part of their career, but the song that really pulled them away from the rest of the Merseybeat bands. Plus, it was the song that made them superstars on this side of the pond, paving their success for all their future albums. Without it, I don't even know where they would have ended up.

There might be better songs technically than that one, but I think for sheer pop power and for its very important place in Beatles history it needs at least a mention.
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post #6 of 15
6/12/12 at 2:16pm
no way there can be any consensus to a list like this, but it sure is fun.

i would add i am the walrus. the only pop song i know that recites shakespeare.
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post #7 of 15
6/12/12 at 2:44pm
Very hard to pick the top 20 but I think they did a good job. I made a playlist of the list and listened to it today. It's a good mix to listen to. Personally I would have had Help! and Yesterday on the list.
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post #8 of 15
6/12/12 at 3:09pm
I think the takeaway from this is that the Beatles had so many good songs it'd be tough to pin down the top 20 for anyone.
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post #9 of 15
6/12/12 at 3:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr. wally View Post

no way there can be any consensus to a list like this, but it sure is fun.
....

Yeah, I'll second that.

That list, in particular was too heavily weighted to the first phase Beatles songs for my taste. IMO, as important and influential as those songs were in their day, most of them really don't hold up.

Personally, I'd strike Ticket To Ride, I Want To Hold Your Hand, I Saw Her Standing There, Please Please Me and Drive My Car from the list. I also consider the Abbey Road "Medley" as a cheat to sneak more than twenty songs onto the list.

I'd reduce the "Medley" to just Carry that Weight. And I'd replace the first phase stuff with Something, Yesterday (one of the only first phase songs that really holds up), Michelle, Blackbird and for the final slot maybe You Never Give Me Your Money or She's Leaving Home or a couple of others that I could be convinced to go with.

My own personal list would include Tomorrow Never Knows and Within You Without You, but I know I'm in a tiny minority that loves those songs.

But the original list was pretty good. I agree with about 75% of it with no reservations.
Edited by Mac The Knife - 6/12/12 at 3:16pm
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post #10 of 15
6/12/12 at 3:16pm
My list would include Hello Goodbye.... But then as has been noted, this is all subjective.
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post #11 of 15
6/12/12 at 3:36pm
Surprised, but happy, to see the Abbey Road "side 2"medley making the list. Has any other band, at the end of it's recording career, cleared out the bin of unfinished ideas & jammed them into one relatively cohesive piece?
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post #12 of 15
6/12/12 at 4:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac The Knife View Post

Yeah, I'll second that.
That list, in particular was too heavily weighted to the first phase Beatles songs for my taste. IMO, as important and influential as those songs were in their day, most of them really don't hold up.
Personally, I'd strike Ticket To Ride, I Want To Hold Your Hand, I Saw Her Standing There, Please Please Me and Drive My Car from the list. I also consider the Abbey Road "Medley" as a cheat to sneak more than twenty songs onto the list.
I'd reduce the "Medley" to just Carry that Weight. And I'd replace the first phase stuff with Something, Yesterday (one of the only first phase songs that really holds up), Michelle, Blackbird and for the final slot maybe You Never Give Me Your Money or She's Leaving Home or a couple of others that I could be convinced to go with.
My own personal list would include Tomorrow Never Knows and Within You Without You, but I know I'm in a tiny minority that loves those songs.
But the original list was pretty good. I agree with about 75% of it with no reservations.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jwebb1970 View Post

Surprised, but happy, to see the Abbey Road "side 2"medley making the list. Has any other band, at the end of it's recording career, cleared out the bin of unfinished ideas & jammed them into one relatively cohesive piece?



agree with both of you. tomorrow never knows is an overlooked classic and one of my fave beatle songs. i love their psychedelic phase. love the version they used in suckerpunch.

also very clever, creative and beatlesque for them to make a symphonic like medley of their unused half written songs. aside from george's dozens of great songs that never made beatle albums,
mccartney had "another day" written before the beatles broke up, but it never made it onto any of their albums.
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post #13 of 15
6/12/12 at 6:31pm
Way too much of the early catalogue, way too many love songs.
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post #14 of 15
6/12/12 at 6:38pm
Yeah, you'd think the world would have had enough of silly love songs.
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post #15 of 15
6/12/12 at 9:27pm

Heck, I'd have picked Day Tripper over Drive My Car anyday.

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