MovieChat Forums > A Hard Day's Night (1964) Discussion > Top 10 Best/ Worst Beatles Songs

Top 10 Best/ Worst Beatles Songs

posted 14 years ago by Covlat1
58 replies | jump to latest

WORST:

No covers. I'm also not including Revolution 9, because its less of a song than an experimentation with sound. Also not Wild Honey Pie, because that isn't a song.

10. I Want You (She's So Heavy)

--What saves this from being lower is the guitar riff, which is decent enough. However, the song drags for over 7 minutes, over half being that same dull monotone "She's So Heavy" riff over and over. The song also feels like it stayed back in the 60's, if you follow me. Most Beatles songs transcribe to present day well, but this doesn't. Also, the lyrics are God-Awful. Only 16 original words in the entire song.--

9. Why Don't We Do it In The Road?

--Pretty self explanatory. Would have been lower, but its a fairly fun song.--

8. Doctor Robert

7. Blue Jay Way

--"Please Don't Be Long" x 500--

6. Yer Blues

5. And I Love Her

--Some love this song. Some hate it. Im for the latter. Schmaltzy lyrics, even for an early beatles song, on top of a overly predictable guitar riff which is boring. Looking back, the lyrics also SUCK entirely.--

4. Don't Pass Me By

--Ringo...--

3. Flying

2. Honey Pie

--Take and I love her, cheese the lyrics up by 50 times, add a generic piano riff and some of the most over the top, schmaltzy as hell vocals, and you have this song. --

1. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill/ Rocky Racoon (TIE)

--WTF is this crap??--

BEST:

This list was considerably more fun to conceive. If your looking for Hey Jude or Let It Be, prepare to be disappointed.

10. We Can Work It Out / All You Need Is Love (TIE)

9. Something

8. Nowhere Man/ Tomorrow Never Knows (TIE)

7. Here Comes The Sun

6. For No one

5. Rain/ Strawberry Fields Forever (TIE)

4. I Don't Want To Spoil The Party / I am The Walrus (TIE)

3. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End

2. She's Leaving Home / While My Guitar Gently Weeps (TIE)

1. A Day In The Life

[–] ilahilda 12 years ago

Although there are songs they should have left on the shelf , so to speak as a group and solo artists, I have to disagree about "And I Love Her", it's a beautiful song. The melody is really pretty. But different strokes for different folks.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Rockhound6165 12 years ago

You could make a top 10 worst songs off of the White Album alone. That was an album where it was painfully obvious that the band was out of ideas and just made an album, a double album of that, of a hodgepodge of songs. Out of the 30 songs on that album, maybe 2 were Beatle worthy songs:

While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Julia(I don't agree with the guy who said Julia is one of the worst. I think it's a beautiful tribute to John's mother...Paul's song about his dog not so much)

Thankfully they redeemed themselves with Abbey Road(their swan song as Let It Be was recorded before AR). That said, my 10 favorites are(in no order):

1: Old Brown Shoe(surprised no one mentioned this song as it kicks ass)
2: Something
3: Norwegian Wood
4: Long and Winding Road
5: I've Just Seen A Face
6: Day Tripper
7: Girl
8: She's Leaving home
9: Two Of Us
10:You Won't See Me

Hell, Rubber Soul is a brilliant and underrated album. Someone mentioned Run for your Life as being a bad song, Lennon said he always hated that song. That said, of the group I thought George was the more talented song writer.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Rockhound6165 12 years ago

And we all know that your opinion is the only one that counts.

[–] help_im_a_fishy 12 years ago

Best:
Dear Prudence
While my guitar gently weeps
If i needed someone
If i fell
In my life
Back in the USSR
A day in the life
Oh darling
Happiness is a warm gun
Helter skelter

Worst:
Within without you
Being for the benifit of Mr Kite
I cant really think of any others I dislike but I never really taken a fancy to all of the samey ones on Beatles for sale/With The beatles,

[–] keith-s-russell 12 years ago

I am surprised that so many hate Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite, I love it, as I do the whole of SPLHCB, apart from Within You without you, a total bore. I think its the first track on side 2 of the old vinyl so you could easily miss it out by putting the stylus down on track 2. Now I make use of the skip facility on the cd. Would agree that the White Album is patchy, like most doubles it would have made a great single album. But again I like the songs that have been singled out as the worst : Piggies, Bungalow Bill. Helter Skelter is the worse song they ever wrote, closely followed by Yellow Submarine and Octopus Garden. Maybe I'm not a true fan because I love Let it Be and Hey Jude. I cannot really think of any others I detest although most of the Let it Be album is pretty poor ( not Long and Winding Road of course and I LOVE the Phil Spector version rather than Paul's preferred stripped down version) and Flying is boring ( I love Your Mother should know, another that has featured on" worse" lists).

[–] ShellOilJunior 11 years ago

There are no "Worst" songs with The Beatles. There are only varying shades of greatness.

[–] fomao5 11 years ago

Best: "If I Fell" - clever slip-sliding chord progression in the intro, thoughtful, sensitive lyric, great melody skillfully woven into a quintessential Lennon/McCartney vocal duet - the complete package, a 2 1/2 minute pop music masterpiece.

Worst: "I Am the Walrus" - I don't care if John was inspired by a police siren, or if the Walrus was Paul, or how many pundits says it's reminiscent of Lewis Carroll. It's still crap.

[–] kenny-164 10 years ago

I don't really think thare are any "worst" songs. I know it's a relative term, and by that measure some of theirs are not as good as others, obviously. But worst also means bad, even awful. There are no awful songs written by the Beatles. I can't even think of any bad ones.

A top ten of best is also difficult, for different reasons. It seems kind of arbitrary, and what I might put in on one day might be different a week later.

I'd say Rain is my favorite, though.

[–] Tresix 10 years ago

Favorite: "I Am the Walrus"; worst: "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da".

"There will be blood. Oh, yes! There will be blood."-Jigsaw; "Saw II"

[–] musicbymartin 10 years ago

It's interesting to read how people are split between those who love the traditional song structures and those who prefer the boundary pushing experimental work.

For me, I love the experimental stuff, and in these, George Martin's influence can't be underestimated. I read somewhere that it was Paul who discovered Stockhausen in the band, but in I Am The Walrus, Strawberry Fields, Revolution 9 it appears to have been john who embraced those ideas the most.

The play out of All You Need is Love is incredible and still influential in the way it mixes Glenn Miller, LE Marsaillaise, She Loves You. I Am The Walrus similarly. Dance music owes this stuff a great deal.

Tomorrow Never Knows is genius too, doesn't sound like a four piece rock band at all.

Having said that, I have a lot of time for the feel good pop they made on Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper. Day Tripper, Paperback Writer, The Word, You Won't See Me, Got to Get You into my Life, she Said, Good day Sunshine, Penny Lane, a Little help from my Friends, Getting better, Mr Kite, Revolution. For me, this is an unparalleled sequence of harmony-guitar-pop packed with ideas and creativity. Experimental in a different way, bringing a dope-haze groove to rock, but beautifully uplifting.

After 67 there were only occasional snatches of either sort of this genius. A shame that the high water mark of these two years ebbed away so quickly.

[–] FinnurE 10 years ago

I've been told I have some unusual opinions when it comes to Beatle-songs I like/dislike, but I see that the lists here are highly variable, so I'm not sure whether it's justified. For the "least favourite" list I've decided to skip the cover tracks of the first five albums, otherwise that list would be nothing but covers! Anyway, here goes...

FAVOURITE (Runners Up: Hey Jude, Long Long Long, Ticket to Ride, Nowhere Man, Think for Yourself, If I Needed Someone, For No One, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kyte, Magical Mystery Tour, Your Mother Should Know, Something, Revolution 9 (yes, I'm serious), Wild Honey Pie (serious, again), Mother Nature's Son, Revolution, Lady Madonna, Eleanor Rigby, I'll Be Back, and many, many more!)

10. Sexy Sadie - An fantastic piano-dominated song, I can't help but think it had a major influence on David Bowie.

9. Here Comes the Sun - There's no stopping me from smiling when I hear this one, love the moog!

8. Within You, Without You - This song can almost bring me into a trance, most successful of Harrison's Indian ventures.

7. Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 7) - I prefer the mellotron dominated take 7 to the spliced version that was issued as a single. It's available on bootlegs and, for the most part, on Anthology 2 or 3.

6. Got to Get You into My Life - Love the energy of this one, I prefer the stereo over the mono during the fade-out.

5. Norwegian Wood - Such a nice, relaxed song. Groundbreaking use of the sitar

4. You Never Give Me Your Money - This one often gets overlooked, probably because of its loose structure and the fact that it forms a part of a longer medley, but this song stands on its own pretty damn good. McCartney's Happiness is a Warm Gun, in my opinion!

3. I'm Only Sleeping - So psychedelic and haunting. I much prefer the stereo mix to the mono, even though the Beatles themselves would disagree.

2. I Am the Walrus/Tomorrow Never Knows - Two incredibly different but similarly awesome psychedelic freak-outs. Can't get enough of them. I am the Walrus is particularly good on the LOVE compilation!

(Favourite)1. Happiness is a Warm Gun - After careful consideration, I can't find a single song to beat this absolute masterpiece of composition and performance.

LEAST FAVOURITE (Runners Up: Hold Me Tight, Hello Goodbye, Honey Pie, Goodnight)

10. Helter Skelter - I know a lot of people like this one but I'm sorry to say I just find it annoying as hell. The only thing I do like is Ringo's "I've got blisters on my fingers" which wasn't even included in the mono version!

9. Thank You Girl - Expendable

8. What Goes On - Ditto

7. I Me Mine - I suspect Harrison just planned to abandon this song after rehearsing it during the Get Back sessions. The finished recording of this song runs only a minute and a half and was probably only recorded because the song makes an appearance in the film. Phil Spector made it even longer by repeating the first verse (thanks, Phil)

6. Dig It! - Not a song per se, but this snippet of a jam session completely ruins the mood before the pastoral Let It Be. Thanks, again Phil!

5. It's All Too Much - It's all too long

4. Doctor Robert - This one just annoys me for some reason

3. The One After 909 - I much prefer the rejected version from "With the Beatles" (on Anthology 1) to this rushed, soul-less rendering.

2. All Together Now - Paul wasn't even trying with this one.

(Least favourite)1. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) - I realize this was a joke, I just don't find it funny... at all!

[–] krdement 10 years ago

I wish you had indicated your age and had asked responders to divulge theirs. Might be interesting... FYI I am 60, and the Beatles are still one of my favorite bands. By my count you have finagled 17 "songs" into your list of Worst 10! So, I will just offer a list of however many in whatever order, with this caveat: the three songs I like least are Hey Jude, The Long and Winding Road and All You Need Is Love.

WORST:
1. Hey Jude
2. The Long and Winding Road
3. All You Need Is Love
4. Till There Was You
5. Anna (Go to Him)
6. From Me to You
7. Blue Jay Way
8. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
9. Why Don't We Do It in the Road
10. A Taste of Honey (I know it is a cover, but the Fab Four should catch grief for ever having recorded it!)

BEST (order would depend on my mood):
1. I Want to Hold Your Hand
2. Please Please Me
3. I Should Have Known Better
4. Can't Buy Me Love
5. I'm Happy Just to Dance With You
6. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
7. Ticket to Ride
8. I Feel Fine (perhaps my fave...)
9. If I Needed Someone
10. Day Tripper
11. It's All Too Much
12. Get Back
13. Come Together

I had fun thinking about these lists. Thanks for the opportunity. Cheers!

John 3:16

[–] ridge-m-1 10 years ago

"Dr. Robert" ROCKS man!

Although Keith Richards identifies Dr. Robert as gallery owner Robert Fraser also known as "Groovy Bob", more likely the song is based on a New York doctor named Dr. Robert Freymann also known as Dr. Feelgood. One of his most infamous patients was Jackie Kennedy. He specialized in dispensing amphetamine.

"Ring my friend, I said you call Dr. Robert"

[–] ATG6 (3000) 3 years ago

I agree. They were at the peak of their songwriting powers for Revolver.