Name 5 Beatles tunes you thought were hits, but were never singles

Until I got older & learned about charts like Billboard, I mistakenly thought a lot of songs were hits, but were never even singles ! Or only a single in a small country I'd never been to

Name 5 you thought were hits, or should have been. Here's mine

1. Girl
2. Michelle
3. Here Comes The Sun
4. While My Guitar GWeeps
5. Lucy In The Sky WD

OK your turn

 

No Reply
I'm A Loser
I'll Follow The Sun
I'll Be Back

These are just a few of the many Beatles songs that I'd heard as a kid, and thought were hit songs.
Apparently, I heard Beatles '65 a lot back then.

However, even then I knew "Mr Moonlight" was not a winner.

 

Michelle
Back in the USSR
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Octopus's' Garden
Here Comes the Sun

And I have to include "Revolution 9" because of my experimental nature. Curiosity about how high it would climbed the charts in 1968.

 

With a Little Help From My Friends
A Day in the Life
Across the Universe
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Here Comes the Sun

 

When other kids were reading Choose Your Own Adventure books or some such, my constant companion was the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, so from about the age of ten, I knew what were Beatles singles and what weren't. Prior to that, I was most familiar with The Beatles Ballads, but to me, they were just a batch of songs and I didn't distinguish between singles and non-singles. I do remember Siouxsie and the Banshees covering Dear Prudence in 1983 and being surprised at people saying it was "a Beatles song", 'cos I'd not heard The White Album at the time.

 

the whole 'sgt pepper' album (except 'within you") could have been hits, and none of them were even released as singles as far as i know.

 

Around the time I started buying records, I also bought two books: "The Beatles: An illustrated Record" and the discography "All Together Now ". I knew the Beatles US and UK releases pretty well.

 

Birthday

 

I Saw Her Standing There
Twist And Shout
I Should Have Known Better
Money (That's What I Want)

 

I recall when I started to catch up and buy the Beatles albums, until then I had a few EP's and heard them on the radio. There were many times when I was listening to an album for the first time, and hearing songs that had not registered as being Beatles songs when I had heard them on the radio. The only specific one which is in my memory is "Drive My Car".

 

I really started to get into the Beatles in 1973. Oh, I'd heard them before that, but in that year I started to devour everything I could read and started also to buy their records.

The songs that I heard on the radio before '73 on AM radio, so I thought they must have been singles until I found out they weren't, were:

1. Here Comes the Sun
2. Michelle
3. With a Little Help from My Friends
4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da *
5. Birthday **

* belatedly issued as a 45 in 1976 but wasn't a substantial hit
** it's possible that I heard the Underground Sunshine version on the radio; I know for sure that the first time I played the White Album, the song sounded familiar

 

Things We Said Today
No Reply
I'm A Loser
Rock And Roll Music
I'll Follow The Sun

 

I'm guessing part of the issue is that some people likely took the Red/Blue albums to be greatest hits compilations

 

1. All My Loving-yes I know it charted as an import from Capital of Canada, but it was not top 40. I remember hearing it as much as I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You as a little kid when the Beatles first came out and was amazed years later to find out it wasn't a #1 hit.
2. Michelle-I knew it was a Grammy nominated song and I remember hearing it on the radio (maybe I heard the David And Jonathan cover?) and was thus surprised to discover it wasn't a single.
3. Sgt Pepper/With A Little Help From My Friends-another one I heard on the radio a lot and knowing the popularity of the album I figured it must have been a single.
4. Fool On The Hill-as with Michelle, maybe I remember the cover version (in this case Sergio Mendes), but I thought it was such a great song it surely must have been a single.
5. Octopus Garden-I remember this being in a countdown of biggest hits on a radio station and I had heard the song a lot so I assumed it must have been a single.

 

Twist and Shout
All My Loving
It Won't Be Long
Money
I Should've Known Better
Things We Said Today
Drive My Car
Good Day Sunshine
Got to Get You Into My Life
Lucy In The Sky
Back in the USSR
Ob La Di
Here Comes The Sun

 

So many to choose...

 

Twist & Shout was a 45 in the USA, #2 Billboard, #1 Cashbox. Charted in other countries too. An EP by that name hit #1 in the UK.

 

In My Life would have been a number one single had it been released as one.

 

Growing up in the late 70s - early 80s with the Red and Blue albums, it was so hard to not believe that some of those great songs were not released as singles. Here's my 5:
1. Here Comes the Sun
2. Michelle
3. Norwegian Wood
4. In My Life
5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

 

I Saw Her Standing There
Twist And Shout
All My Loving
Eight Days A Week
Yesterday

 

Ob La Di
Magical Mystery Tour
A Little Help From My Friends
Back in the USSR
All My Lovings

And many more.

I was thrilled when I discovered the MMT EP in the import section of a record store. I bought it on the spot and cherished it since.

 

'I Saw Her Standing There' was the B side to "I Want To Hold Your Hand' and IIRC charted on its own in Canada and the US. I don't believe it was released as a single in the UK, however it was the first song on the A side of a UK EP, 'The Beatles' No. 1', which charted #1 in the UK.

'Twist and Shout' was a A side single and charted top ten in Canada and the US and in other countries. I don't believe it was released on a single or EP in the UK.

'I Should Have Known Better' was the B side of 'A Hard Day's Night' and charted on its own, although not very high, in the US. It also was the first song on Side A of 'A Hard Day's Night' UK EP, which charted #1 in the UK.

'Money (That's What I Want)' appeared on the B side of the UK 'All My Loving' EP, which charted #1 in the UK.

 

Twist and Shout was an EP in the UK, hit #1 on the charts for 21 weeks, I take it the EP charts aren't as crowded.

 

since the beatles catalog is on itunes, technically all of their songs are singles.

 

Well, the overwhelming majority of these tracks WERE actually released as singles in one country or another! There really aren't many Beatles songs that weren't issued on a 45 somewhere in the world. For instance, yesterday, I finally acquired the Back In The U.S.S.R. 45 from Denmark which has Don't Pass Me By on the flip! There's even an unofficial 45 (with a fake Capitol swirl label) that has Revolution 9 backed by Wild Honey Pie!