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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:

29. “Here Comes The Sun”

28. “You Won’t See Me”

27. “Within You Without You”

26. “No Reply”

25. “Ticket To Ride”

24. “She Loves You”

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Analyzing this song is somewhat of a silly exercise. After all, it really comes down to the yeahs and the oohs. They say more about the exultation of young love than my blabbing could ever hope to express. They speak of joy, of anticipation, of innocence, of hope, of all of the feelings roiling up in people when they’ve found someone special, the feelings that defy dissection and expression but are the most potent feelings of all.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah” and “ooh” (or is “woo” more precise?) are all-encompassing, guttural, hormonal, instinctive, and self-explanatory. “She Loves You” as a song is like a head rush, like the feeling you get on a rollercoaster, or when you get up too quick after lying down for a while, or the impact of love at first sight. If you don’t brace yourself, “She Loves You” can knock you right over.

We’ve talked a million times in this list about The Beatles putting the chorus right up front, and here it just slaps you into attention right after Ringo’s opening drum rumble. “She Loves You,” you idiot. Get out there and do something about it.

If they didn’t convince you with that, no amount of exposition in the verses is going to sway you. You just might be a lost cause. But they make one more try with the suspense-building repetition of the final lines (“With a love like that/You know you should be glad”), really milking the last one for everything it’s worth before crashing back in with one more “yeah, yeah, yeah” repeat. Add one last “yeah” to that for good measure, this one slightly altered in tone to express the feeling that they’ve done all they could possibly do to get through to you, and their work here is finished.

Now the ball is in your court, pal. What else can you say really but “yeah, yeah, yeah”?

23. “Rain”

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You could tell a masterpiece like Revolver was just around the corner when a song as wondrous as “Rain” was being released as a B-side. The Beatles were entering a phase where their songs remained accessible even as the experimentation inherent within them was becoming increasingly evident.

But that experimentation never seemed superfluous. On the contrary, something like the backward vocals found in the coda of “Rain” seem integral, contributing to the sense of unreality that the track conveys. Everything about the song is somehow slightly askew, from John Lennon’s detached vocal to Ringo’s drums, which seem to be everywhere regardless of whether they should be or not.

And while the lyrics on the surface seem to be just a dig at those who would run and hide from the weather rather than enjoying it, the dreamy music easily brings the lurking subtext to the fore. Reality is whatever you want it to be: that’s what Lennon seems to be saying here, hence his contention that the weather is “just a state of mind.”

The playing is beautifully intuitive, as the group sets the mood of psychedelic wonder without once getting heavy-handed about it. There were practically no limits to their ingenuity or musical ambition at this point, and songs like “Rain” were the end result.

22. “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party”

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We’ve all been there. That woeful feeling when the one we love doesn’t seem to be reciprocating. The awful realization that sometimes a room full of people having fun can be the loneliest place around. The misconception that we all buy into that makes wallowing in misery seem more desirable than doing something about it.

While we’ve all been there, the revelatory thing about “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” is how John Lennon makes it clear that he’s been there as well. He does it with such conviction and lived-in realism that we never once feel like he’s playing a part, and it’s that authentic depiction of isolation that makes “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” one of the finest Beatles’ songs even though it remains relatively obscure to all but the true believers.

There is an undeniable country lilt to the song. George plays a guitar break that’s right out of the Grand Old Opry playbook, and Paul plays his bass as if it was a stand-up, all one-note thumps. But the introspective quality of the lyrics owes more to Lennon’s damaged psyche than it does to any Nashville theatrics.

Listen to the way John harmonizes with himself in the verses. The low part is barely making it through the notes, resigned to its misery. The high part is anguished and intense, as if it really wants to get the answers from the wayward girl causing all the heartbreak.

In the end John is left to wander aimlessly in a search for her that we all know will be futile. The party will go on without him, and the fact that we can identify and relate is what makes “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” such an exceptional songwriting achievement.

21. “Yes It Is”

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For my money, this is The Beatles’ close-harmony masterpiece, surpassing even wonderful efforts like “This Boy” and “Because.” I can’t say why the song has become just a footnote in their catalog, because it’s a weeper that’s on a par with The Platters’ “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” or Smokey Robinson’s “Tracks Of My Tears” in terms of the counterintuitive feat of getting a bunch of voices to come together to chillingly portray loneliness.

Harrison sets the tone with his guitar, which, using volume controls to alter its sound, almost resembles a violin. That makes it the perfect accompaniment for John’s tale, which holds a bit more depth than many of the she-done-me-wrong themes of their earlier ballads. In this case the singer has already found someone new, but he can only be with her if she steers clear of clothes that resemble his ex. It’s like a reverse of the Hitchcock classic Spellbound. The memories are too fresh, the wounds too raw, so red is the color to be avoided, the one that will make Lennon “blue, in spite of you.”

But there is nothing in the lyrics that tells the story any better than those three intertwined voices. John, Paul, and George morph into one heartsick young man here. John briefly emerges in the bridge to pour his heart out, but he gets back with the boys for one last verse. After all, misery loves company. And on “Yes It Is,” misery never sounded quite so exquisite.

20. “Here, There And Everywhere”

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It’s easy to hear the echoes of The Beach Boys in this haunting Paul McCartney song off Revolver. “God Only Knows” in particular sounds like an antecedent. But Macca, and The Beatles as a whole, knew the difference between being influenced by something and outright theft.

Therefore, no matter what came before, “Here, There And Everywhere” stands all by itself as a monumental achievement. It’s Paul once again in part-tribute, part-competitive mode, responding with a song of knee-buckling beauty. The rapturous melody is wisely front and center; as a matter of fact, the instruments are barely audible, save for Ringo’s gentle tympani bumps heading into each new section and Harrison’s guitar, which echoes the melody in the bridge.

Paul takes the lead, singing in relaxed falsetto most of the time to match the comfort of the relationship being described. The “oo”-ing backing vocals are like a wordless Greek chorus, seconding the emotions of Paul’s lyrics just by their inflection. Those lyrics speak of a love so powerful that it causes tunnel-vision among the two people involved (“Someone is speaking/But she doesn’t know he’s there”).

By the time Paul nails that final high note, you completely forget about any other influences on the song. All homage has been transcended, and you’re left with a classic that is 100 percent Fab 4.

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