Your Beatles '2' tracklist

In 2000, the Beatles released 1, a collection of 27 of their singles that topped the US and UK charts. The album was a huge success, selling 31 million copies worldwide, and earning the distinction as the best-selling album of the 2000s.

In 2002, an Elvis Presley release followed suit, entitled 30 #1 Hits, with a similar format of compiling US and UK chart-toppers onto one disc. It was also a huge seller, and even though its sales were about half of the Beatles' version, 16 million copies worldwide is nothing to scoff at.

A year after the release of 30 #1 Hits, another Elvis compilation was released as a sequel, entitled 2nd to None, covering the best songs that weren't included on the first volume.

While a similar sequel to the Beatles' 1 album (assumed to be titled "2") has been speculated since the release of the original, nothing ever surfaced.

If you were to make a sequel to Beatles 1, which songs would you include on 1 disc? (approximately 27 songs, but no more than 80 minutes in length)

 

Misery
All I've Got To Do
I Should Have Known Better
I'm A Loser
The Night Before
Norwegian Wood
Eleanor Rigby
With A Little Help From My Friends
The Fool On The Hill
Dear Prudence
Yer Blues
Only A Northern Song
Something
Dig A Pony
From Me To You
We Can Work It Out

 

"Please Please Me"
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
left off of "1"

 

I guess I'd collect songs that made #2 on the charts. Since I'm too lazy to look that information up I'll offer this hodge-podge of personal favorites no found on 1:

Strawberry Fields
Sexy Sadie
Savoy Truffle
Your Mother Should Know
Fixing a Hole
She's Leaving Home
Baby's In Black
All My Loving
You Never Give Me Your Money
Wait
Nowhere Man
Yes It Is
I'll Be Back
No Reply
I Don't Want to Spoil The Party
Only A Northern Song
Misery
I'll Follow The Sun
And Your Bird Can Sing
Across The Universe
Because
Mother Nature's Son
I'm Only Sleeping
Octopus' Garden

I'm also too lazy to put it in chronological order or figure out if I've exceeded the 80 minute mark.

 

Eleanor Rigby, Something, From Me To You and We Can Work It Out are already on '1'.

 

Not a full disc's worth, but for starters:

"Please Please Me"
"Twist and Shout"
"All My Loving"
"Things We Said Today"
"Norwegian Wood"
"Nowhere Man"
"In My Life"
"Tomorrow Never Knows"
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
"With a Little Help from My Friends"
"A Day in the Life"
"Strawberry Fields Forever"
"Revolution"
"Back in the USSR"
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
"Helter Skelter"
"Here Comes the Sun"
"Across the Universe"

 

And rudely so, I might add.

 

As is "From Me to You".

 

I'd just noticed that!

 

I know. It was actually my weak attempt at a joke- I just took the 2nd song off each LP. Feel free to ignore!

 

I think it would be more interesting to collect most of the B-sides instead.

P.S. I Love You
Ask Me Why
Thank You Girl
I'll Get You
This Boy
You Can't Do That
Things We Said Today
She's a Woman
Yes It Is
I'm Down
Rain
Baby, You're a Rich Man
I Am the Walrus
The Inner Light
Revolution
Don't Let Me Down
Old Brown Shoe
You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
For You Blue
Free as a Bird (thrown in as a bonus)
Real Love (bonus)

 

Great joke! I like it. Unfortunately, I didn't "get" it until you explained. But I like the way you think!

 

Roll Over Beethoven
Do You Want To Know A Secret?
Twist And Shout
P.S. I Love You
Please Please Me
I Should Have Known Better
She's A Woman
Nowhere Man
Strawberry Fields Forever
Come Together
Free As A Bird
Real Love

I think this is all of their top 10 hits that didn't actually hit #1. Did I miss any?

 

Please Please Me
Twist And Shout
I Saw Her Standing There
Thank You Girl
I'll Get You
This Boy
All My Loving
And I Love Her
I Should Have Known Better
She's A Woman
Yes It Is
I'm Down
Nowhere Man
Got To Get You Into My Life
Rain
Strawberry Fields Forever
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
With A Little Help From My Friends
Baby You're A Rich Man
I Am The Walrus
The Inner Light
Revolution
Back In The USSR
Don't Let Me Down
Old Brown Shoe
Here Comes The Sun
You Know My Name
For You Blue
Beatles Movie Medley
Free As A Bird
Real Love
Now And Then

32 songs, but I think it would all fit on one CD since the early ones are so short. Mostly "B" sides and US hits that didn't get to #1. I included "Here Comes The Sun" to get a song from ABBEY ROAD and because it was the top selling songs when the Beatles songs became available on-line.

 

I thought that was a bit of an odd list - but couldn't work out why. I just have to come up with one now... let's have a think about this.

 

I heard they're going to tax Beatles threads.

 

Finally - a tax I don't mind paying!

 

Just a few seconds under 80 mins... looks a bit random - 'cos it is.

From Me To You
Twist And Shout
Please Please Me
Misery
Don't Bother Me
All I've Got To Do
If I Fell
Any Time At All
Long Tall Sally
No Reply
What You're Doing
She's A Woman
I'm Down
You're Going To Lose That Girl
Think For Yourself
You Won't See Me
Rain
Taxman
Tomorrow Never Knows
Strawberry Fields Forever
Fixing A Hole
Lovely Rita
Blackbird
Long, Long, Long
Yer Blues
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
I've Got A Feeling
Don't Let Me Down
Two Of Us

You'll see how well represented Abbey Road is... but then it was hard finding tracks that haven't been used on comps before and there are a few I wanted to re-use that were already on Rock 'N' Roll music. So harder than I thought in some ways but it didn't take too long and I think it's interesting to have some 'deep cuts' that a lot of casual fans might not know. I'd be interested in burning a CD-R of this to see how it flows; might just do that. Some are not particular favourites and I kept it as chronological as I think it suited, with some strategic placings - e.g. I like the look of Two Of Us as the closing song.

 

If, like with 1, we use only the US (Billboard) and UK (Record Retailer) singles charts, only five songs qualify:

Please Please Me
Twist and Shout
Do You Want to Know a Secret
Strawberry Fields Forever
Free as a Bird

 

Here's the text from a post I made in a similar thread way back in 2009:

26 songs

I saw her Standing There
Please Please Me
All My Loving
If I Fell
And I Love Her
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
In My Life
Michelle
Nowhere Man
Here There and Everywhere
Got To Get You Into My Life
Strawberry Fields Forever
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band
With a Little Help From My Friends
Lucy in the Sky with diamonds
A Day in the Life
Fool On the Hill
I Am the Walrus
Back in the USSR
While my guitar gently weeps
Obladi Oblada
Revolution
Don't Let Me Down
Octopus's Garden
Here Come the Sun
Across the Universe


Total time burned at disc-at-once: 79:39


I made this a few years ago as a companion cd-r to the Beatles 1 disc approaching it as if this disc (along with Beatles 1) were to replace the Red and Blue comps (which IMO should be deleted, since in the CD age, spreading 2 CDs worth of songs over 4 CDs is a total rip-off). So its not necessarily a personal favorites disc but more of a "What songs would make sense along with those already on Beatles 1 in telling the Beatles story on two discs and what is my closest guess as to what the real tracklist would be if a disc like this was officially compiled."

Chronological with a couple of slight fudges for listenability's sake. I used the remaining Red and Blue tracks as a basic template, replacing tracks in a way that I believe makes sense. For example, on 62-66 Rubber Soul was overrepresented and Revolver was underrepresented. I balanced that out somewhat.

Also, like the Red and Blue albums - no cover songs, and Octopus's Garden is included as I believe (questions of quality aside) it would be guaranteed a place on an official Beatles 2 comp to earn Ringo some writer royalties.

I think its a pretty good guess as to what the real thing would look like - if it ever happens.

 

Any time I try to come up with a realistic track listing, I can narrow it down to about 40 candidates, but whittling it down to 27 is almost impossible. It really depends what the record company would be going for.

Sure, there are the locks:

• Please Please Me
• Twist and Shout
• I Saw Her Standing There
• In My Life
• Strawberry Fields Forever
• A Day in the Life
• I Am the Walrus
• Revolution
• While My Guitar Gently Weeps
• Here Comes the Sun

and then there are a bunch of songs that I think would likely make the cut, even if they aren't a 100% guarantee:

• Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
• Nowhere Man
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• With a Little Help from My Friends
• Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
• Across the Universe

That's already 16 songs there, leaving only about 10 slots left, and it depends on whether the record company would want to include more commercial songs and/or hits, like any of the following:

• Do You Want to Know a Secret
• All My Loving
• And I Love Her
• If I Fell
• I Should Have Known Better
• Drive My Car
• Michelle
• Got to Get You Into My Life
• Magical Mystery Tour
• The Fool on the Hill
• Back in the USSR
• Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
• Octopus's Garden
• Free as a Bird
• Real Love

...or more critical darlings and fan favourites, like:

• Rain
• Here, There and Everywhere
• Tomorrow Never Knows
• Helter Skelter
• Blackbird
• Happiness Is a Warm Gun
• Golden Slumbers
• Carry That Weight
• The End

...and there's also a few songs that are beloved, but not overly commercial or overly acclaimed:

• You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
• I've Just Seen a Face
• Baby, You're a Rich Man
• Dear Prudence
• Don't Let Me Down
• Hey Bulldog

I would feel inclined to include all #2 hits, just to go along with the title, so that adds in "Do You Want to Know a Secret" and "Free as a Bird" to my original 16, even if neither of them ever show up on any critics' best-of lists. If you include "Free as a Bird," how can you not include "Real Love"? There are a lot of songs I would be disappointed if they didn't make the cut ("Blackbird," "Golden Slumbers" medley, "Don't Let Me Down," "And I Love Her," "Here, There and Everywhere"), and there are a handful of critical darlings that I'm not a big fan of that I'm sure would create a lot of backlash if they weren't included ("Tomorrow Never Knows," "Helter Skelter," "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," "Rain"). It would seem odd not to include "Michelle," as it won the Grammy for Song of the Year, but along with many other fans, it is far from my favourite.

 

Very ingenious. Maybe a little clue next time. Have you seen 'Only Connect'?

 

Pet Shop Boys released in 2003 brilliant double "Best Of" "Popart" with two different discs.
So my disc two:
1. P.S. I Love You
2.Misery
3. Ask Me Why
4. I Wanna Be Your Man
5. I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
6. I'll Be Back
7. I Don't Want To Spoil a Party
8. Every Little Thing
9. The Night Before
10. I Need You
11. Drive My Car
12. Nowhere Man
13. Wait
14. And Yout Bird Can Sing
15. For No One
16. Tomorrow Never Knows
17. Being For The Benefith Of Mr. Kite
18. All Together Now
19. Good Morning, Good Morning
20. The Fool On The Hill
21. Flying
22. Hey Bulldog
23. Across The Universe
24. While My Guitar Gently Wheeps
25. Birthday
26. I Me Mine
27. Come & Get It
28. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End

 

And Magical Mystery Tour.