Playing the Beatles Backwards

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surely maxwell’s silver hammer should be down the bottom.

agreed with most of your rankings. the write-ups are really well thought out and argued. kudos for that.

my disagreements so far: revolution 9. should be much higher up in my book. Long, Long, Long is a cracking song. The Word and Doctor Robert i think deserve to be higher up as well. besides these songs and a few minor gripes, i think your list is pretty spot, look forward to reading the next installment.

I agree with a good deal with your selections, but was sad to find some of my favorite songs up there. I want you (Shes so Heavy) is one of my favorite songs along with Why Don’t We Do it in the Road. Magical Mystery Tour and Good Day sunshine highly rated with me. To be honest I’d place Piggies before those four, but I suppose it really is all opinion. In any case, very good job!

haha, i am officially discrediting this terrible list – poster obviously has less than bad taste when it comes to good music.. reading the first 5 numbers gave me a laughing fit – i want you? yer blues? good day sunshine? are you talking about some of the coolest tunes a beatles-insider can nothing-but-love? take care.

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julia this low! criminal. i respect your opinion, of course. it’s funny, but the weaknesses you outlined are the very reasons why i enjoy the song.

Hey Beatles Fans,
Thanks for all the comments and keep them coming (even the ones that call me a moron.) This list is entirely subjective, so I understand the disagreements. The purpose of it is to celebrate the group. You have to remember that #145 on a list of Beatles songs would be Top 10 for most normal groups, so keep that in mind. When you look at this amazing catalog, it is staggering what a high percentage of their songs are just flat-out fantastic. Talk to you all again soon.
Jbev

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I am the walrus is their best song

the end

It’s about time that George Harrison will be high up the list. John and Paul always frustrated him by allowing him one or two song per album. Saturday I attended a gret GH Tribute in Amsterdam and realised how great his songs are. Jamsbio is not thinking for himself and already put too many George songs at the end of the list. I hope Savoy Truffle, Taxman, Here comes the sun and especially Something will be at the top of the list. Always fun these kind of subjective lists!
Cheers!
Jan, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Great initiative! I’m really interested in what comes next. I agree with all the commentary that it’s very hard to watch what comes, without being able to do anthing about it. You know, probably I’m the only person that hates “Yellow submarine”. Your choice for #184 made it for me, best choice ever! Keep up the good work.

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awful, just awful. you shouldn’t be allowed to even listen to them.

Hey man great list its about time that people understand how good the Beatles are. I actually partially agree with you on I Want You. Its a great song but it does just sound like one very very very very long jam and Yer Blues that just deppressing. Also Julia it just seems like to me that its just John stoned rambling on about his mum.
Nice List

Support for the low ranking of “I want you”. I think the unreadable text is cyrillic, so it’s either Russian or some other Eastern European language. Google Translate can’t help us.

I didn’t even bother reading the rest after you put Revolution 9 as the worst song. Clearly your taste and mine are very, very different.

my goodness, i want you near he end. no…top 5

How can you put “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” on 182?

Have you ever listened to the bass for instance, it’s brilliant.
Very BAD ranking…. please go back to the drawingboard!

I agree with all the White Albums songs in the low rankings. There are a couple great songs.. but I don’t understand the craze with that album. You should rank by album next… White Album should definelty be near the bottom with Sgt. Pepper. Best album… Revolver all the way!

Oh Darling is ranked too low. It should be on the top 20…

My first thought: I love it! Being a younger Beatles fan (17), I don’t have many opportunities to compare songs or discuss their strengths and weaknesses with friends, and this “master list” does just that (even if it is a one-sided conversation). Of course I disagree with some rankings, but having the time, patience, and overall knowledge of The Beatles’ music to put this entire list together impresses the hell out of me. I sincerely appreciate all of your hard work, and I eagerly await finding out your top Beatles song!

PS–I found out about this list from a Beatles newsletter to which I’ve subscribed from the website beatlesnumber9.com. It includes links to lists (such as this one) and articles related to the Beatles, as well as news on Paul and Ringo; for instance, I’m sure tomorrow will be loaded with sites writing on the 28th anniversary of John’s death. I get one every two or three days, and I highly recommend it to all devoted Beatles fans!

Give me a break. All the songs from Revolver should rank much higher. Need I remind you to recording artists ranked Revolver #1 on VH1s Greatest Albums of All Time. Some of the stuff from The White Album and Let It Be I can understand but Revolver is a shining acheivment in the Beatles catalogue. Every song from that album should be no less than in the twenties or thirties.

Remember this is 1968…

Hello- you are all wrong- this list does not mean that he number 1 is the only Beatles song ever to be played again. If you ask me- I would have to say that all the people who throw the insults at the maker of this list are nothing but incompetent themselves. My personal nuber 1 would be Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds- but it is completely irrelevant- I feel that this list was posted out of opinion and should not be ridiculed. Please send me an email uncannybal.vampyro@yahoo.com

I’ve been keeping up with this list since you were still in the hundreds and I’ve been very excited to see what you unveil each time. People need to understand that this is just one man’s opinion on the subject, and it’s very interesting to see how someone would rank the entire Beatles catalogue from top to bottom. I, of course, have some major hang-ups with the list. I am one of the supporters of I Want You (She’s So Heavy). I’m also a huge fan of the later stuff (from Revolver-Abbey Road), so anything from the Please Please Me/With the Beatles/Hard Day’s Night/etc. era doesn’t quite hit my taste like a Magical Mystery Tour/White Album/Abbey Road and so forth track. My personal favorite song is Happiness is a Warm Gun – though I understand why you list it in the 50’s. I love the B-side of Abbey Road as a whole, but agree that individually the songs don’t warrant top consideration. Some of the let-downs I had on this list that I thought should be much higher were 171) Magical Mystery Tour, 141) Baby You’re a Rich Man, 63) Let It Be, 57) While My Guitar Gently Weeps 42) You Never Give Me Your Money and 37) Across the Universe. I’ve always loved the title track from Magical Mystery Tour, and I think that song combined with I Want You (She’s So Heavy) and criminally underrated on this list.

At this rate, however, it looks like you’ll get Hey Jude in the top five as it should be, as well as Strawberry Fields Forever and a sleeper in Something. Nice work, it’s definitely a blast to read!

i keep waiting this list until it’s done..and also wondering which song would be the number 1.
All you need is love, Hey Jude, A day in the life,Golde Slumbers, Im the walrus..? i really cant wait!
I’am a very very huge beatles fans. Although i’m not really accept with your selection song list, (how come “get back” is #126..?) but still this list shows to us that the beatles is really really ’something’. They are the greatest band ever.. What a fascinating job u’ve done. love it!

Checking in again to see how the list was coming…interesting to see the 5-9 picks. I looked up and down this list a couple of times, and I may be missing it – but am I to believe Golden Slumbers and Carry That Weight are top five songs?? As I’ve said, I’m a huge Abbey Road fan, but I still find it hard to take any of the B-side songs on their own as the Beatles’ best. I happen to love both of those songs, and it seems Hey Jude is going to be the tops – but I’d put Strawberry Fields, In My Life, Something and a bunch more in front of those two! When will the last installment be revealed?

Personally, I’d have ranked a lot of George tracks higher, (specifically Here Comes the Sun, I Me Mine, Taxman, and my personal #1 Beatles song, While My Guitar Gently Weeps)

I’d also have a lot of Sgt. Pepper slightly lower. It’s a good album, but I’ve never gotten the praise it receives, and the songs generally work even less on their own in my opinion. A Day In the Life is still definitely top 5 material though.

My bottom track would have been Dig It or Wild Honey Pie rather than Revolution 9

But regardless of any counter opinions I have, overall it’s a very interesting list that at least brings a pleasant reminder every day I check on just how many great songs the band created. =)

Oh yeah, and “Tell Me What You See”!?!

The last songs seem to be:

- I Am The Walrus
- Hey Jude
- A Day In The Life
- Twist And Shout
- Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
- She’s Leaving Home

there are 6 songs for 5 places left?

And Golden Slumbers, Carry The Weight, The End? hmmmm

And what about the other 3 on the Abbey Road?

k so my pretty limited knowledge about the beatles tells me that number one is either I am the walrus or a day in the life?

don’t know whether to keep holding my breath anticipating the end or be saddened after such a joyride. But then again, that’s also one of the reasons I haven’t finished reading their biographies, so I rest my case.
As for the list, despite the subjective selection, I guess there’s plenty of common ground here -especially among the top 10. And although it’s none of my business to speak for someone else, going by the author’s penchant the number one has to be A Day In The Life….It’s an epic in itself, both lyrically and musically.
But personal favourite -I am the Walrus.

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To use a tainted phrase, your choices were quite “fair and balanced” between Lennon and McCartney, whereas most others would lapse into an all-too-typical “Lennon bias” (yawn).

Placing “She’s Leaving Home” at #3 shows exceptional insight not only into McCartney’s musical brilliance but also the extent to which the very definition of rock and roll can be stretched.

As I mentioned earlier, it looks like you’re “You Like Me Too Much,” “Tell Me What You See,” and “I’ll Be Back.”

Latly, I’d only recommend you give certain Harrison songs another listen (”Think for Yourself,” “Within You Without You”). Had to get my $.02 in…

Congratulations with this list, although if I had made such a list, it would have been a very different one. All You Need Is Love on #6 is ridiculous! And beautiful songs like Because, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Martha, My Dear are standing far too low.

Lists are fine, opinions are fine, and, when it comes to anything,
every person’s opinion will no doubt differ.

But really, with “I Want You” ranking that low, and a piece of goof
like “Dig It”, not really even a song, at 149, you almost certainly
set yourself up for major criticism.

What a task though… rating all these amazing songs.
I get tired just contemplating it!

How many songs have you written that have sold so many copies, translated into languages all over the world, and have been made into instrumentals? How much money have you made as a musical artist? Whether you like it or not, the Beatles have written and performed so many provacative songs that nobody has the right to critique them, besides themselves. Bob Dylan said it best: “Don’t criticize what you don’t understand”.

There should be several of these. Most peoples “favorite” song was the one they heard when they were haveing fun in the back seat of the car. A girls list with all the early “I want to hold your hand” stuff. A technical list. Best performance, best synth use, best guitar work. These guys were together around a decade in the ’60s and are going to be a hit in 2060. The only thing consistant about them was the excellent vocals and well thought out and excecuted music. Always changing. Not like bands who had to try and make their first hit over and over. They changed it all! Beatles!!

this list is assembled by someone that probably didn’t like the beatles and saw across the universe. considering some of their best songs are towards the top. i am absolutly in love with the beatles and if your going to make a list of their songs you should at least listen to all of these extrodinary songs. i was upset to see yellow submarine 95. that song was a hit. please dont make another list of songs by a band that you dont seem to care or know anything about.

this is ridiculous.

how the hell is Penny Lane 140?!?

i can’t take this.

I really appreaciate your work,however,I do not agree with you at some points.I don’t get why everybody likes A Day In Life-lyrics are real good,but music’s a bit boring.I like,that you’ve put Golden Slumbers in such high place,but For No One and Martha,My Dear deserves a slighty higher rating.I agree with you on I Want You(She’s so heavy).The song’s really too slow and ‘heavy’,what makes it boring.The first hundrend of songs are almost the same-ordinary,except that it is still The Beatles’ songs.
P.S:Where’s Real Love?It’s a great song,and it should be there.
Vika.

I demand that this preposterous list be deleted, or at least re-done by someone who has actually listened to all of the songs thoroughly before they made judgements. Some of the reasons you’ve placed certain songs are just stupid. Why is “She’s Leaving Home” #3? It’s a good song, but it’s not Top 3 material. This list is a good idea, but I don’t think you were the person who should’ve created it.