In the September 11th issue of Entertainment Weekly the magazine looks at “The 50 Best Songs The World’s Greatest Band Ever Wrote.” No, not Grizzly Bear, the Beatles. Yes, they are a band your parents know about, too. So why now? As EW puts it:
With The Beatles: Rock Band and [remastered] reissues of all their albums hitting stores, it’s time for another Beatles revolution. This week’s Entertainment Weekly offers fans our guide to what’s new — and to the 50 best songs the world’s greatest band ever wrote as well as a gallery of rare behind-the-scenes candid photographs.
That’s right, The Beatles: Rock Band‘s out next week on 09/09/09. Because it’s that monumental. According to EW, even Paul McCartney thinks “It’s very cool.” (Hopefully the 45 songs on it don’t include any of the ones EW pans. That would not be very cool.) We’ll have to wait until we get a hold of the actual magazine (on stands today) to see everything, but for now we do have EW‘s Top 20 best Beatles songs as well as the top five worst. (UPDATE: All 50 are now listed.) One thing we’ve concluded after spending a little time with these: The magazine hates The White Album and Magical Mystery Tour. EW‘s worst song made Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Songs Of All Time” back in 2004, which hints at something we already knew: Yes, there will be arguments. But what else are you gonna do over a holiday weekend? Also, EW forgot to list song 19 in their blast, so you’ll just have to fill that one in yourself.
50 “All You Need Is Love”
49 “I’m So Tired”
48 “Here Comes The Sun”
47 “Helter Skelter”
46 “Ticket To Ride”
45 “Lovely Rita”
44 “Come Together”
43 “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
42 “I’m Down”
41 “Day Tripper”
40 “With a Little Help From My Friends”
39 “Taxman”
38 “You Won’t See Me”
37 “She Said She Said”
36 “Dear Prudence”
35 “Nowhere Man”
34 “I’ve Got a Feeling”
33 “I Should Have Known Better”
32 “I Am The Walrus”
31 “All My Loving”
30 “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”
29 “I Saw Her Standing There”
28 “Rain”
27 “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”
26 “Paperback Writer”
25 “I’m A Loser”
24 “I’m Only Sleeping”
23 “We Can Work It Out”
22 “If I Fell”
21 “Revolution” (single version)
20 “Can’t Buy Me Love”
19 “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End”
18 “Blackbird”
17 “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love”
16 “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
15 “In My Life”
14 “Hey Jude”
13 “Help”
12 “Penny Lane”
11 “Eleanor Rigby”
10 “Across The Universe”
09 “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”
08 “Tomorrow Never Knows”
07 “Let It Be”
06 “She Loves You”
05 “Something”
04 “Strawberry Fields Forever”
03 “Yesterday”
02 “A Day in the Life”
01 “A Hard Day’s Night”
This is how they explain the choice of “A Hard Day’s Night”:
Forty-five years after this single hit the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, it’s still nearly impossible to get any two people to agree on what chord that famous opening clang! actually is. But with one majestic, mysterious Rickenbacker distress call, the Beatles as we first met them on The Ed Sullivan Show four months earlier were gone. They’d grown up. The lads had become unwitting passengers on a manic locomotive they’d never be able to disembark from, and the song’s title hints at that weariness. It’s right there in the opening scene of the 1964 film that bears the same name, as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr are chased by a mob of screaming, ravenous fans. This isn’t just a pop song, it’s a cathartic cry for Help!
Nice of George and Ringo to get a mention since they don’t appear on the cover. The worst Beatles songs according to EW:
05 “Flying”
04 “Don’t Pass Me By”
03 “Dig It”
02 “Wild Honey Pie”
01 “All You Need Is Love”
You’ll find more Beatles-related words over at EW.
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For the love of God enough with the “mystery” chord, its not a mystery, any decent guitar player can figure it out. (Low to high) FAGECG, hold the low “F” with your thumb, make sure you’re hitting all 6 strings and give it a good schwing preferably on a Richenbacher 12. Then proceed to the G chord (with the high D) and for the chorus hold the high G with each of the G, C and F chords, “but when I get home to you” do not hold the high D on the C and D chords. Bridge is Bm to Em to Bm, then Bm to G to Em to C to D then back to chorus as above.
Correction: FADACG
There is no way “A Hard Day’s Night” is better than “Strawberry Fields Forever !”
http://www.mybeatleslist.com
check it. my dad’s website
Come on. “I Want You (She’s so Heavy)” #30. Lame. And nothing else from Abbey Road. Poor, poor list.
Uhhh…HELLO?!? ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and ‘Something’ are both also from Abbey Road.
THIS LIST IS CRAP. Wild Honey Pie has one of the best guitar solos I’ve ever heard (at the very end). And George Harrison didn’t even want to include it in the song, because he was goofing around with it, and didn’t take it seriously. GOOFING AROUND! COME ON, PEOPLE! Entertainment Weekly needs to seriously re-evaluate their editors. Helter Skelter and Here Comes The Sun at the bottom of the list? MORONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a hits list.
There are many people on this site with awesome musical tastes that will have varying reasons why other songs should be in differing place of such numbers. Either way, look at the source. It’s a conglomerate magazine, preaching nothing other than the antithesis of what true artists appreciate in music. Hits or not.
That being said, I wish, at any number, Rocky Raccoon made it. What is wrong with music today?
It’s official. The people who now consider themselves the Beatles’ number one fans are the very people who would have hated the band and all they stood for when they first came out.
Like Elvis, the danger and true drama of the music has been watered down and paved over and turned into an aural pacifier so the toothless brainless masses can shop most happily. The humans from Wall-E are all no doubt big Beatles fans.
And let me guess, Kevin Burton Smith, you’re not?
third on “for no one” deserving to be in the top 10 (and certainly in the top 50).
dear prudence should probably also be a little higher than 38.
I’m a mega fan, but for me listing the 5 worst Beatles songs is liking listing the 5 worst colors. Yeah, you might have some that are not your particular favorites, but that’s like your opinion man. I’ve been a Beatles fanatic since I was nine and the Beatles Anthology came on tv. My music tastes have been over the map since then, except for the unwavering love of the Beatles. If I was jumping in time like the folks on Lost, Abbey Road would probably be my constant. Just for the hell of it here are five Beatles songs that I would maybe label my favorite.
Abbey Road Side B (You Never Give Me Your Money to Her Majesty, It’s cheating, I know, but I refuse to consider anything on this side out of context of the entire suite.)
Hey Jude
A Day in the Life
Let It Be
I Am the Walrus
Haven’t they made enough money?
They had made enough money before the 60′s were even over, BRAH.
Has anyone noticed that Stereogum has REALLY killed off comment rating by making you sign in? Nothing but tons of of 0′s on every post.
What about “You’re gonna lose that girl”? This list sucks.
The first poster, Bob, is right. We should not discuss the merits of the list because it is music. That is all it is. Each song has it’s own merit to everyone, for one reason or another. There is no definite answer to this “list” as is obvious. I understand the purpose of debate but I could make my own list and could conjure up a debate of my own without the aid of a huge magazine name. There are an infinite amount of things to be said about the Beatles and their music and to put a list together of what are their best songs only serves that point. Everyone has their own opinion on the band but like Zappa said “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”.
Revenge of the Sith sucked!!!
I don’t see “No Reply” in the Top 50. It’s my favourite :/
not that EW’s opinion on anything is worth a damn, but no “love you too”? really? maybe they forgot Revolver was even an album. it happens to those who know nothing about music.
?!?!?!?! All you Need is Love DOES NOT belong on worst songs.
I can’t believe they even had a worst song list for the Beatles in the first place. But the fact that All you Need is Love is quite honestly bullshit.
What was this worst song list generated from a scrambler?! Just doesn’t make sense at all.
You know what would be funny? If the Beatles had penises
Don’t Let Me Down is a good song
ok, so this list is terrible. first of all, i don’t know about you guys, but george is my favorite beatle, and he isn’t on the cover. Hard day’s night is a good song, but not even top 10 material in my opinion, not because its “bad” but the beatles have so many AMAZING songs. my top 10 favorite (in no order because that is impossible) are… Sgt Peppers/With A Little Help From My Friends, Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Dear Prudence, Girl, Within You Without You, Rocky Racoon, and Here Comes the Sun. That’s 9, because the only “ordered” one is my overall favorite, “In My Life” off of Rubber Soul.
we all do list our favorites?
top ten: things we said today, help, here there and everywhere, fixing a hole, getting better, all my loving, i feel fine, i want to hold your hand, long long long, i need you.
This list is seriously gay.
And am I the only one to notice that ‘All You Need is Love’ is on both the best AND the worst list? You can’t put the same song on both list you idiots. Besides I happen to really like that song.
Also why the hell is ‘Hello Goodbye’ not on the best list?! And what about ‘Hey Jude’?! I don’t know what the people at EW are smoking but they obviously need to stop especially when they can’t even generate a decent list. This list was a HUGE waste of paper and ink.
Not only that I agree that all four of the members should be on there. I don’t care that McCartney and Lennon wrote most of the songs. There are FOUR members of the Beatles, not two and its about ALL of them so it only makes sense to have a picture of all of them. Its not hard to find a picture with all of them in it.
Flying….worst beatles song ever? Why is that? Because there is no singing? Has anyone listened to the guitar parts on that song….they are AWESOME!! Don’t Pass Me By and Dig it are bad songs too? There must be something wrong with me…cause those are great songs as well! I love Paul, but unfortunately two of his songs, one surprisingly is in the top three of the best list…but I’m sorry….Yesterday and The Long and Winding Road, would top my worst of list.
This is the worst shitty list ever made. The people that wrote this garbage clearly have no clue what The Beatles were or wrote. And there can’t possibly a “worst list”.
Even the front cover is all wrong, though I like the picture, it doesn’t represent The Beatles. Where is George and Ringo? They wrote songs too.
There is no worst song list by the Beatles they are all classics,like the class band they are and all you Nit-Tit-Wits that are running them down truly are not fans of the four greatest.You all missed one song Babys in Black,lets have your sick opinion on this one.
This is one of the worsts “Best of The Beatles” list I’ve ever seen. “Let It Be” and “Yesterday” have been way overrated. What does “Let it Be” accomplish that “Hey Jude” already doesn’t? What does Paul McCartney’s cry in “Yesterday” accomplish that John Lennon’s dreamy, haunting farewell in “Julia” doesn’t accomplish more?
And “All You Need is Love” as their worst are you KIDDING ME?! That’s one of their best songs. I’d like to see them try to make a pop song in 7/4 time and have it sound awesome. They must have something against love to rank it that low.
my top 10 best Beatles songs:
1. A Day in the Life
2. Hey Jude
3. All You Need is Love
4. In My Life
5. Strawberry Fields Forever
6. I Am the Walrus
7. Tomorrow Never Knows
8. Dear Prudence
9. The End
10. I Want to Hold Your Hand
all you need is love is easily a top 10 and don’t pass me by is easily a top 25
revolution 9 should be the worst song despite not being a song really (It still shouldn’t even have been released)
also, switch 1 and 2 on the best list please
How can “All You Need is Love” be on both lists?
I disagreed with many of the top songs, but I was willing to overlook the flaws in that list. I’m not willing to overlook “All You Need is Love” as the number one worst song The Beatles ever wrote. I love that song, I like it better than “A Hard Days Night,” and there are dozens of terrible Beatles songs that didn’t make that list (Revolution 9?).
i personally don’t believe the beatles had “worst,” songs. although some of them were pointless.
and why the hell all you need is love number one on this “worst,” list?
What about “I Will” ????????????????????? That is such a nice song
It should be number 1
“Girl” needs to be on there, same with “Oh Darling”
oh and “Michelle” !!!!!!!!!
i love michelle.
but it’s just a pretty paul ballad.
i don’t argue it being omitted.
The five “supposed” worst Beatle tracks are actually pretty good. Then again, you have to take everything EW says with a five pounds of salt.
what the hell?
this list is so messed up. i’m glad nearly everybody disputes it.
because honestly, this is just another pathetic representation of somebody’s ear keen for pop tunes and eyes only for popularity.
upon reading this list, and showing it vehemently to my friend, we both duly noted how low revolution is placed.
how could ‘can’t buy me love’–in any shape, form, way, whatever–POSSIBLY be better?
this list was obviously crudely pieced together by someone with a taste for what sounds good.
i seriously doubt this person knows anything of most of these songs’ purpose, meaning, influence, etc
if it sounds good, the higher it goes.
i challenge a hard day’s night as first place.
reasoning behind it?
it was ‘iconic’–please spare me the lame help! joke.
that song was written off of a title, which was just another of many ringoisms.
if you’re going to choose a catchy little number to headline this list, by all means go for help!
help! was the first of the autobiographical john songs and was a turning point for them as songwriters.
a subtle one at that, but a turning point still.
i greatly dispute the omission of many songs, such as ‘blue jay way’ & ‘get back’ and the inclusion of songs like ‘i should of known better’.
i’m slightly miffed that penny lane scored higher than revolution.
that song was awful.
and what’s with the worst song being ‘all you need is love’ and it being number 50 on the best list?
what the hell is with that?
3. help!
2. revolution
1. a day in the life
clearly, the person has eyes and ears only for what sells.
not what actually displays talent.
People people their isnt supposed to be a top list for the beatles because ALL their songs ranged from good to fucking amazing. Everything on that list is based on opinion so relaxx u have your opinions and i have mine. The only song i dont like by them is wild honey pie so people RELAX. The beatles didnt want the people to argue over their song they wanted us to enjoy their music. ok people?
She Loves You and A Hard Day’s Night better than Tomorrow Never Knows and Hey Jude? I think not.
ogame oyun oyna
film izle
Here’s my own beatles list: http://extrove.com/top-ten-beatles-songs-ever/ my number one is Strawberry Fields