20 Best Beatles Songs

For most recording artists, a Top 20 list would be excessive (or even impossible), but in the case of the Beatles, the difficulty lies in narrowing it down to just 20 songs. This is a band that had 32 songs reach the top 10 (20 of which hit #1), and 14 #1 albums in the US between 1962 and 1970.

This isn't a list of the band's biggest hits or best-selling songs, but simply a list of what one musician, songwriter, and long-time fan considers to be their 20 best songs (with a little Beatles history thrown in for context where appropriate). Ranking songs of this calibre against one another is impossible, so the songs are presented in chronological order. Release dates and other information is based on the original UK releases.

Twist and Shout

• Album: Please Please Me
• Released: March 22, 1963

Twist and Shout, the only cover song on the list, is the closest we can get to hearing how the Beatles sounded at The Cavern in Liverpool. The song was recorded live in one take, with no overdubs, at the end of a 12-hour recording session, and the performance is as powerful and energetic as if it were the band's first song of the day.

A Hard Day's Night

• Album: A Hard Day's Night
• Released: July 10, 1964

In 1964, Beatlemania was at its peak, and A Hard Day's Night - both the song and the film - capture the feeling of that era perfectly. It's a catchy, uptempo number featuring Ringo's trademark backbeat, vocals from John and Paul, and the jangly sound of George's 12-string Rickenbacker, which inspired many people, most notably the Byrds' Roger McGuinn, to take up the instrument.

Yesterday

• Album: Help!
• Released: August 6, 1965

If anyone in 1965 still doubted that the Beatles were more than just another pop group, Yesterday put those doubts to rest once and for all. One of the most covered songs of all time, Yesterday is a timeless piece of songwriting. McCartney, singing and playing acoustic guitar, is backed by producer George Martin's arrangement for string quartet. Strings had been used on pop records before, but not like this.

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

• Album: Rubber Soul
• Released: December 3, 1965

Norwegian Wood shows Lennon's songwriting moving beyond simple love songs. Influenced by Bob Dylan, his lyrics were becoming more sophisticated, even quite dark at times, as in this song, which ends with the singer setting fire to a girl's apartment. Norwegian Wood also contained the first use of the sitar by a rock group.

Producer George Martin's role in the sound and success of the Beatles cannot be overstated. Martin produced all of their records (with the exception of the Let It Be album), and was instrumental in helping the band realize their unusual musical ideas, by arranging parts for other musicians (often some of the best classical musicians in the world) and developing innovative new studio techniques.

In My Life

• Album: Rubber Soul
• Released: December 3, 1965

In My Life, one of John Lennon's most personal compositions, is not just one of Lennon's best songs, it's one of the best pop songs ever written. In a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine, Lennon said he considered the song to be his "first real major piece of work". The classical-sounding keyboard instrumental in the middle was composed and performed by George Martin.

Paperback Writer

• Album: none (single A-side)
• Released: June 10, 1966

The common perception of McCartney as the balladeer and Lennon as the rocker is far from accurate. Lennon wrote some of the Beatles' most beautiful ballads, and McCartney was responsible for some of the band's heaviest rock numbers, including Paperback Writer. To achieve the bass sounds he was hearing on American R&B and Motown records, McCartney switched from his trademark Hofner bass to a Rickenbacker, and his amplifier was recorded in a way that better picked up the low frequencies. The song's lyrics are in the form of a letter, a technique McCartney had used previously, on P.S. I Love You and All My Loving.

With songs such as Eleanor Rigby, it was becoming obvious that the Beatles were composing and recording music they could never hope to perform live. Set lists for their 1966 concerts did not include any songs from the Revolver album, and in August, 1966 the Beatles announced that they were giving up live performance in order to focus entirely on making music in the recording studio.

Eleanor Rigby

• Album: Revolver
• Released: August 5, 1966

Eleanor Rigby is the only Beatles record on which none of the Beatles actually play. The accompaniment consists entirely of a double string quartet, scored by George Martin. The use of classical music elements to the exclusion of all else was very unusual at the time (even Yesterday had featured Paul strumming an acoustic guitar), but was perfectly suited for McCartney's beautiful melody and powerful lyrics about "all the lonely people".

Strawberry Fields Forever

• Album: none (single A-side)
• Released: February 17, 1967

In 1965, John Lennon was introduced to LSD, and it affected (some might say "expanded") his songwriting in unusual ways. Tomorrow Never Knows, from the Revolver album, was the first acid-inspired Beatles track, but it was only an album track. When Strawberry Fields Forever was released as a single (backed with Penny Lane, another piece of psychedelic pop), it heralded a new direction in Beatles music. Their psychedelic masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, would be released just 4 months later.

A Day in the Life

• Album: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Released: June 1, 1967

A Day in the Life is a perfect example of a whole being greater than the sum of its parts. An unfinished song of John's is connected to one of Paul's by 24 bars of controlled orchestral cacophony (George Martin again). Each of the parts is interesting, but combined, and backed by Ringo's creative and unusual drum fills, the result is one of greatest songs in rock history.

All You Need is Love

• Album: none (single A-side)
• Released: July 7, 1967

Because of its simplicity and sing-along nature, All You Need is Love is sometimes dismissed as one of the Beatles' more lightweight songs. It is the song's simplicity, however, that actually makes it a great piece of songwriting. The Beatles had been asked by the BBC to represent the UK in Our World, a program that would be broadcast live by satellite to 26 countries around the world, and to perform a song with a simple message that could be understood by viewers of all nationalities - a task the Beatles performed brilliantly with All You Need is Love.

I Am the Walrus

• Album: Magical Mystery Tour (double EP)
• Released: December 8, 1967

Some consider the lyrics of I Am the Walrus to be merely acid-induced nonsense, while others have actually tried to analyze their meaning. Both groups miss the point. The lyrics are a form of opaque poetry, where words and vivid images are combined not in order to create literal meaning, but to create an interesting flow of sounds and ideas - almost like using words as musical notes. Well, that's what I think, anyway. At any rate, no one hearing the psychedelic music and words of I Am the Walrus could doubt that anything was now possible on a pop record.

According to Billboard magazine, Hey Jude was the biggest hit for the decade of the 1960s.

Hey Jude

• Album: none (single A-side)
• Released: August 30, 1968

Hey Jude is over 7 minutes long (unheard of for a single at the time), with a 4-minute coda consisting of a single repeated phrase. McCartney's vocal improvisations, utilizing his entire vocal range, keep the repetitive coda interesting to the very end. The song itself contains some of McCartney's best lyrics, and even John Lennon considered it one of McCartney's masterpieces.

Revolution

• Album: none (single B-side)
• Released: August 30, 1968

Revolution is perhaps John Lennon's most misunderstood song. The late 1960s was a time of violent social protest around the world, and many people believe that Revolution is supporting - or even inciting - violence as a means of achieving social change. In fact, exactly the opposite is true. Lennon suggests that those advocating violence don't have the answers ("We'd all love to see the plan") and should look at changing themselves instead ("You tell me it's the institution, well, you know, you better free your mind instead").

Until the late 1960s, stereo mixes of rock and pop records were generally an afterthought. For all Beatles albums up to and including the White Album, the mono mix was considered the important mix, and was given the most attention. Today most people prefer stereo, but purists believe that to really hear these albums as the Beatles intended, you need to listen to the mono mix.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

• Album: The Beatles (aka The White Album)
• Released: November 22, 1968

By 1968, George Harrison's songwriting had matured to the point where many of his songs were as good as those being written by Lennon and McCartney. While My Guitar Gently Weeps is Harrison's first true classic. George invited his friend Eric Clapton to play guitar on the track, which undoubtedly made the rest of the band try just a little bit harder, making this one of the standout tracks on the White Album.

Blackbird

• Album: The Beatles (aka The White Album)
• Released: November 22, 1968

McCartney again displays his underrated talent for lyrics with Blackbird, making a statement about the civil rights movement without being heavy-handed: "Take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise". The arrangement consists of Paul playing acoustic fingerstyle guitar and singing, the only percussion being the sound of Paul's foot tapping. A very understated approach - but sometimes a whisper is louder than a shout.

Come Together

• Album: Abbey Road
• Released: September 26, 1969

Come Together is fairly simple in songwriting terms, with more of Lennon's "opaque" lyrics. What makes it an outstanding track is the arrangement and performance, especially McCartney and Starr's inspired bass and drum parts. Lennon's vocal is excellent, and, while there's not much solo guitar on the track, what Harrison does play is memorable and enhances the song.

Something

• Album: Abbey Road
• Released: September 26, 1969

Something is George Harrison's best song - a love song as good as anything written by Lennon and McCartney. It was the first Beatles single that was not a Lennon-McCartney composition. The arrangement is again inspired, with extraordinary bass playing by McCartney, and one of Harrison's best guitar solos. Frank Sinatra called it the "greatest love song ever written", and added it to his live performances.

Here Comes the Sun

• Album: Abbey Road
• Released: September 26, 1969

Here Comes the Sun, another George Harrison composition, features some nice vocals and acoustic guitar by Harrison, as well as one of the first recorded uses of the Moog synthesizer. There are some interesting time signature changes in the bridge, which sound quite natural, thanks to Ringo's drumming.

Let It Be

• Album: Let It Be
• Released: May 8, 1970

The Let It Be album was the soundtrack for the 1970 motion picture of the same name. The film - which ended up being a documentary of a very unhappy band in the process of falling apart - was disappointing, but the music itself was still very good. With its gospel-flavored music and inspiring lyrics, Let It Be is one of McCartney's most memorable songs.

The Long and Winding Road

• Album: Let It Be
• Released: May 8, 1970

Despite being severely over-produced, with layers of strings, harps and female voices added by producer Phil Spector (Paul McCartney was quite unhappy with the result), McCartney's sad and beautiful The Long and Winding Road was still good enough to become the Beatles last #1 single.

Looking over this list, I notice how evenly spaced it is chronologically, with songs from every year between 1963 and 1970. This was not intentional on my part, it's simply the result of the high level of songwriting and musicianship that the Beatles, aided by producer George Martin, maintained throughout the entire decade. From their very first release to their last, there was something special about every new Beatles record.