It is no easy feat to rank the songs that The Beatles recorded. It is even harder to rank songs recorded by The Beatles without personal opinions or memories getting in the way. I have some unconventional favorite songs that most fans would probably disagree with.
Firstly, there will be no covers on this list. It will only consist of songs that The Beatles originally wrote. Secondly, there will be no solo works on this list. As much as I adore Paul McCartney’s solo career, I cannot put those songs on this list. Unfortunately, I will also not be able to rank remixes such as the songs featured in Cirque du Soleil’s “Love” show in Las Vegas. Anthology versions of these songs and covers by individual artists or other bands will not be taken into consideration.
It was incredibly hard for me to pick my tenth place song. I was considering hits like “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “Dig a Pony,” “The Fool on the Hill” or even “I’m Down.” In the end, though, I decided to go with “Rocky Raccoon,” a McCartney track from the “White Album” released in November of 1968. In “Rocky Raccoon,” Paul McCartney tells the story of an epic Western-style showdown between the main character and his rival in an attempt to win a girl’s heart. “Rocky Raccoon” is a song that never fails to make me smile, not only because of its admittedly, silly lyrics, but also because I have always loved the scatting that McCartney does throughout the song to accompany the piano; it is something that he does in many other songs, too, such as “Hey Jude,” but here it just works so well.
Another hard decision for me was ninth place. I eventually decided to give it to “I Me Mine,” recorded by George Harrison and featured on the 1970 album “Let it Be.” “I Me Mine” is particularly notable for being the last song that the Beatles recorded before the band ultimately broke up. I cannot explain what I particularly enjoy about this song, just that I enjoy it. Whenever I listen to this song, a scene from the 1970 documentary “Let it Be” that was also featured in the 20201 documentary “The Beatles: Get Back” comes to mind in which John Lennon dances with his wife, Yoko Ono. “I Me Mine” strikes me as a sad song, but it is also hauntingly beautiful.
In eighth place comes “Savoy Truffle,” a song written and sung by George Harrison and inspired by his friend, Eric Clapton’s fondness for sugar. As one article puts it, it is “the first and only Beatles song about candy.” It is another song from The White Album, and it will not be the last on this list, either. I enjoy the instrumentation that accompanies Harrison’s saccharine lyrics. Interestingly enough, John does not play on this song at all – it is only Paul on bass, Ringo on drums and George on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. “Savoy Truffle” is one of my favorite Beatles songs just because it is so spirited and fun.
“Your Mother Should Know” easily takes seventh place – bonus points if it’s the anthology version – if listeners want an extra treat, the anthology take of “Your Mother Should Know” is amazing. I enjoy the harmony in the back as Paul McCartney, who wrote the song, takes lead vocals. The song has a sort of nostalgic feeling to it, though I am not entirely sure why. It was released in 1967 on the “Magical Mystery Tour” record, and, in the “Magical Mystery Tour” film – which is quite nonsensical – the song is accompanied by the visual of the four Beatles walking down a set of stairs in a ballroom in matching white suits whilst guests twirl and dance around them. I enjoy this song very much and I believe that it is an incredibly underrated Beatles track.
With some hesitation, “Eleanor Rigby” places in sixth place. I know that many fans think very highly of this Beatles masterpiece from “Revolver,” and rightfully so. It was the first Beatles song I ever heard back when I was in elementary school. I fondly remember asking my dad to play it over and over again. I can confidently say that “Eleanor Rigby” was my favorite song growing up. However, for me personally, today the track, unfortunately, does not hold up as well, as I have heard all of the Beatles discography. There are other songs that I enjoy more, even though “Eleanor Rigby” will always have a special place in my heart. It is a truly beautiful song from the mind of Paul McCartney. The orchestra that George Martin added in the background really helps to enhance the mood of this great song. The lyrics are haunting and the instrumentation only helps to amplify that fact. I love “Eleanor Rigby” – I always have and I always will.
“Back in the U.S.S.R.” ranks at fifth place. My greatest memory with this song is spraining my ankle whilst trying to dance to it. I laughed pretty hard after that; I was just so giddy with excitement when “Back in the U.S.S.R.” came on our record player that I could not help but make a fool of myself. This song is another McCartney track, something that is, admittedly, quite common on this list as Paul is, and always will be, my favorite Beatle. “Back in the U.S.S.R.” comes as the opening track to the White Album and it does its job well along with “Dear Prudence,” a Lennon song which comes right after “Back in the U.S.S.R.” I love this song so very much. It is another McCartney song, like Rocky Raccoon, that manages to craft a story for the listener. The lyrics reveal “Back in the U.S.S.R.” to be the story of an individual coming home to Soviet Russia from America. It is delightfully upbeat and has an amazing chorus that I cannot help but sing along to every time. Whenever this song comes on, I am instantly filled with a happy sort of energy.
A sharp contrast to the last song on this list, “Golden Slumbers” comes in fourth. “Golden Slumbers” is just one of the songs in the medley that comes on side two of “Abbey Road.” Paul McCartney’s voice is absolutely stunning in this track. It transitions flawlessly into the next track, “Carry that Weight,” and then into “The End.” I can always count on “Golden Slumbers” to make me cry, although it is by no means a song with overly sad lyrics. Something about the opening line: “Once there was a way / to get back homeward” accompanied by a gorgeous arrangement of stringed instruments makes my heart weep. The song’s title and lyrics come from a 1603 lullaby from a play by Thomas Dekker – intriguingly enough. I cannot exactly put words to just how much I love “Golden Slumbers.” I feel that it is the most beautiful Beatles song out there – perhaps it is even the most beautiful song ever created.
“Tomorrow Never Knows” darts into third place. I have a vivid memory of lying in my bed late one night, just staring up at the ceiling listening to this song. I never expected to fall in love with “Tomorrow Never Knows” as deeply as I have, but it has made its way to my third place. “Tomorrow Never Knows” made its debut on “Revolver” in 1966 as the ending song of the album. Written by John Lennon, it is an interesting progression of strange sounds and cryptic lyrics that somehow fit together – for example, the “seagull-like” noises throughout the song are actually a sped up recording of McCartney laughing. I do not know how, but they do. In fact, as my guitar teacher told me a year or so ago, “Tomorrow Never Knows” does not even have a key. Its components should not work together, and yet they do. “Tomorrow Never Knows,” according to legendary Beatles website “Beatles Bible,” was inspired by “The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead” – a book of how to reach “enlightenment” via the use of psychedelic drugs – by Harvard psychologists Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert. In “The Beatles Anthology,” George Harrison says in reference to “Tomorrow Never Knows”: “I am not too sure if John actually fully understood what he was saying. He knew he was onto something when he saw those words and turned them into a song. But to have experienced what the lyrics in that song are actually about? I don’t know if he fully understood it.”
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” comes in triumphant second. I can confidently say that hearing this song for the first time was when I fell entirely in love with the Beatles. It is the debut song off of the album of the same name released in 1967. According to one article, the album debuted in the UK at number one – where it stayed for twenty-two weeks as the soundtrack of the “Summer of Love,” also becoming number one in America and many other countries around the world. This album is repeatedly said to have changed the face of music forever. This song features Paul McCartney’s lead vocals and is overall an excellent introduction to one of the most influential albums of all time. I am not sure exactly why I fell in love with this song in particular, but something about it absolutely captivated me.
My pick for my favorite Beatles song of all time is “Magical Mystery Tour.” I know that this is an unconventional one, but I personally believe that it deserves way more love than it gets. I rarely ever see it mentioned when it is overshadowed by other hits such as “I Want You (She’s so Heavy)” or “Here Comes the Sun.” It is the opener for the 1967 Beatles album of the same name, and it is absolutely remarkable. According to the album’s page on the Beatles website, Paul McCartney once said that “It was like we were in another phase of our career, you know, we’d done all the live stuff and that was marvelous, now we were into being more artists. We got more freedom to be artists.” The track itself features guitar, piano, drums, bass, tambourine, maracas, cowbell, trumpets and of course vocals. Throughout the song, the Beatles beckon the listener to “roll up for the mystery tour.” I cannot explain how I fell so incredibly deeply in love with this one song, but somehow I did. It is, in my opinion, the best and most criminally underrated Beatles song of all time.
All of the Beatles songs are remarkable in their own way. It was so very hard to rank them. Of course, this is just my personal opinion. I always love to see how others interpret and rank Beatles songs. Feel free to share yours in the comments below.