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To most Beatles fans, choosing between the songs of the Fab 4 is a bit like choosing between children. But, on the JamsBio exclusive, Playing The Beatles Backward, one intrepid fan dares to rank the original songs of The Beatles and give his reasons why in a worst-to-first countdown. Check back each day for the next five songs on the list, prepare to hit the message boards to defend your favorites, and follow the countdown all the way to Number 1.

The complete list to date.

The Last Five:

34. “And Your Bird Can Sing”

33. “I Saw Her Standing There”

32. “Taxman”

31. “The Fool On The Hill”

30. “Two Of Us”

29. “Here Comes The Sun”

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The Beatles took on the sun in quite a few songs with varying results, but George Harrison’s radiant take on Abbey Road is by far the best. That opening riff on the acoustic guitar brings to mind the very first moments of a sunny day, full of expectation and possibilities for what’s to come.

This is once again a case of one of the members of the group taking a bad situation and making something marvelous out of it. Harrison had apparently been worn down trying to take care of business amidst the chaos of Apple, and one day he decided to play truant. He hung out at his buddy Eric Clapton’s house strolling the grounds with an acoustic in hand, and the relief of being away from the stress coupled with the fine weather birthed this track, which clearly would have been a smash had it been chosen for a single.

For the first time in years, the group went back to their old trick of putting the chorus right up front, and it sets the happy vibe for the rest of the way. The nice build-up from the middle section into the last verse really ratchets up the anticipation, which is then released with George and Paul harmonizing on “little darling.” The synthesizers always sounded a little bit wobbly and the song could have done without them, but it’s strong enough to easily survive this.

What you’ve got is another ode to joy that lacks any irony or skepticism. That is territory that the music of The Beatles inhabits almost exclusively on the rock music scene to this day.

28. “You Won’t See Me”

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Jane Asher has been a successful actress in Great Britain for about four decades now, both in TV and film. She is a best-selling author and owns a company that makes cakes for parties. She has been married to the artist who did the animation for The Wall by Pink Floyd since 1971, and she is actively involved in several worthy causes.

But to most of the world, she is remembered best as a muse. For it was Asher’s publicly happy but privately tumultuous 5-year relationship with Paul McCartney that inspired several of the quiet Beatle’s most memorable songs, which run the gamut from heartfelt testimonials of love to bitter recriminations. “You Won’t See Me,” a gem off Rubber Soul, falls into the latter category, a rebuke hidden in a pristine pop package.

That package sure is lovely. The piano is the driving force, but Ringo’s twitchy high hats and Paul’s roaming bass are crucial as well. And the “ooh-la-la-la” falsetto backing vocals are a luscious bit of frosting.

But Paul sings the song with barely-veiled disappointment at the object of his affection’s reluctance to make the time for him. At times he seems less like a heartbroken suitor and more like a scolding father: “I have had enough so act your age.” I’m surprised he didn’t send her to her room while he was at it.

To her credit, Asher has never spoken publicly about her time with Macca, although it certainly could have been personally profitable for her to do so. It seems we’ll always see this relationship through Paul’s eyes, and his songs tell a striking saga of the one that got away.

27. “Within You Without You”

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The temptation is to write this Sgt. Pepper’s marvel off as George Harrison simply regurgitating the tenets of Hinduism and other Eastern religions that he was studying. But that would sell George short on two very important fronts.

First of all, he put all of those ideas together into one focused, persuasive message. By framing the story as a conversation between friends (“We were talking”), he emphasizes the need for people to discuss the things with which they might not be familiar and for them to join together in pursuit of these ideals. He doesn’t didactically preach his sermon here; he lays it all out for everyone to discuss.

At times during the song, George gets emotional in his attempts to get his message across. He practically screams out, “If they only knew,” letting his frustration show. It adds a much-needed bit of flesh and blood to what could have been a lofty educational treatise. He also turns the onus briefly to the listener when he asks “Are you one of them?” in reference to those who fail or simply choose not to see the truth.

The other thing that must be noticed is that this is a breathtaking piece of music. The two Georges, Harrison and Martin, did an amazing job marrying the exotic Eastern instruments (swordmandels and dilrubas, anyone?) to the Western strings. The two musical cultures have their own fascinating conversation much like the one Harrison depicts in the lyrics. There is also a subtly lovely melody at play that doesn’t come at the expense of the defining drone of the Indian instruments.

Harrison really put it all together here. Although your own personal beliefs may prevent it from saving your soul, “Within You Without You” and its message of love is guaranteed to engage your mind and touch your heart.

26. “No Reply”

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Hooky in a dark and dramatic sort of way, “No Reply” is a great opening track for 1964’s Beatles For Sale. The song kicks off with John breaking in suddenly a cappella with “This happened once before.” It’s a clever way to pique interest and get the listener involved in the song.

What happened apparently is that John’s lady has been clandestinely sneaking around with another guy while avoiding John’s calls. It’s a tale we’ve all heard before, but The Beatles keep it fresh by really playing up the drama and suspense.

The acoustic guitars are nice and friendly at the start, but when John and Paul come screaming in with “I saw the light,” a perfect line for self-revelation, a thudding bass note makes things sound much more sinister. Ringo’s drums also come crashing in much more aggressively at this point, as if mirroring the narrator’s desire to bust in the door and find out the truth.

Lennon wrote this number, and the shadowy feel to it is in marked contrast to most of what had come before in the group’s catalog. It’s a look at the other side of the sunny boy-girl pop songs they had been writing, hinting at jealousy, obsession and deceit. Our boys were growing up.

25. “Ticket To Ride”

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Although I’m not ready to buy John Lennon’s claim that “Ticket To Ride” was the first heavy metal record, I’m willing to agree that is heavier than what the group was producing. The heaviness emanates from the verses where three instrumental parts repeat over and over in a locked-in groove: the main guitar riff, a single-note played on the bass, and Ringo’s uniquely thunderous drum pattern.

This music seems to represent the doldrums of John’s character in the song, who is depressed about the imminent departure of his girlfriend. In the chorus, the music briefly snaps out of this downbeat groove, gliding to an entirely new rhythm as if there is some sign of hope. But the final line of the refrain, “And she don’t care,” snaps things right back into that rut again.

The bridge and the coda feel like the parts of different songs altogether, and yet they’re woven into the main fabric seamlessly. That fade-out is especially notable. With its country hoedown double-time and the hilarious falsetto voices, it adds a nice leavening touch after the more brooding aspects of the arrangement to that point.

The boys clearly were in a little bit of a nether region at this point in their careers (the song is found on the Help! soundtrack), somewhere between the raucous innocence of their early hits and the boundary-smashing mind-expansion of their Rubber Soul and Revolver triumphs. “Ticket To Ride” straddles these worlds and comes out the other end sounding like a thrilling combination of both.

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