How would "Here Comes the Sun" have done as a single for The Beatles?*

It was the Beatles in 1969. They could do no wrong and the song was that good. #1 with a bullet!

 

I'd have to disagree with you. HCTS is nice little song, but it doesnt have #1 magic.

 

B-Side, how about "Who Has Seen the Wind" kinda goes with Here Comes the Sun, get it?

 

I don’t normally play the “Why wasn’t this a smash??” game, but in this case, a number #1 for HCTS seems a no-brainer to me. And, in the great radio tradition of “put something unsuited for AM airplay on the B-side so that programmers will stick to the A-Side”, I propose:

Here Comes The Sun/Revolution #9 (edit)

 

Its odd that Ringo never ever does that song with the All Starr band. He does just about every other song he sang with the fabs though.

 

In my opening post:

I really don’t care about the “stand alone” tradition in this discussion. If it makes you feel better since this is a “what if” thread, you can pretend it was a stand alone single. With that, how would it have done?

 

Toshiba EMI reckoned that both sides were A. See the typography. They use the same font.

 

That is odd. I didn't know that. Wonder why? It is one of his best for sure.

 

Golden Slumbers (if it could be edited to stand alone).

 

It's always been one of their most popular album cuts, so I'm sure it would have been a smash hit if released as a single. The same is true of many other Beatles ''deep cuts" (There is hardly such a thing as an officially released Beatles "obscurity") that weren't hits simply because they weren't singles. It would have been further vindication for George to have 2 hits instead of just one in the band's waning days.

 

Top 10 in the US, Then Let It be would have usurped it

 

Historically speaking, I don't think so.

That version of Come And Get It was recorded as a demo for Badfinger [or was it the Iveys?] for the Magic Christian soundtrack. If it had been considered good enough for a Beatles release, then Paul would probably have tried to get at least one more of the Fabs to play on it with him. [Ballad Of John & Yoko, anyone?]

 

And let's not forget that Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby was released on the same day as Revolver... [just to keep the record straight]

 

...as opposed to obvious hit single material such as "Give Ireland Back..." (UK #16) and Mary Had A Little Lamb (UK #9)?

I'd say "Back Seat" stalling at UK #39 had far more to do with it being extracted from a three month old album that it does its actual quality - certainly as opposed to those two stand-alone singles.

 

Since it's like the best song..like...everrr, ok?....... I think it would have sat at number 1 for a long time. Perhaps until some Beyonce' song with 38 different writers took over the top-spot 40 years later.

 

That single stalling at #4 in the UK had far more to do with the fact that it came out AFTER the release of its parent album than the actual quality of those two songs.

Plus that single was strong on both sides, so if it couldn't make #1, then why do you assume a different choice of single "Here Comes The Sun" would better its performance if it had been released instead?

To chart in the UK a single had to SELL. Airplay was 100% irrelevant to a single's chart position. This explains why in the UK at the time it was quite unusual to extract singles from already released album.

So (especially depending on what they put on the flip) "Here Comes The Sun" would have (at best) matched Something/Come Together's chart performance if it were released instead, but probably would have done worse (again depending what they put on the other side of the single).

I doubt many Brits at the time really felt compelled to have both the Abbey Road album that they bought immediately upon its release, as well as a nearly two months later released 7" extracted single (regardless of whichever two album songs they decided to include on the single).

If Something/Come Together came out prior to the album (or even on the same day as the album) it most likely would have been a UK #1 single - as would 'Here Comes The Sun' if it was chosen as a single instead (depending on what they chose to put on the flip - a single that's strong on both sides obviously has greater sales potential than a single with a crap B-Side - value for money and all that...)

 

It did get to no.10 in the UK chart, but it was a cover by Steve Harley, and isn’t nearly as good as the original.

 

Unlikely since it had just been released as a single by Apple Records band 'Trash". I doubt that the Beatles would have chosen to torpedo the sales potential of a single released on their own record label, by also releasing it as a single themselves.

They often did this - having other artists cover songs from the latest (or upcoming) Beatle album as singles:

Marmalade had a UK #1 hit in Jan 1969 with Obladi Oblada
The Hollies had a UK #20 (relative flop for them) in Jan 1966 with 'If I Needed Someone' (at George Martin's suggestion)
Michelle was covered twice in early 1966 - one version being bigger in the US and the other being bigger in the UK
The Silkie covered You've Got To Hide Your Love Away in 1965 (with Lennon producing and McCartney & Harrsion playing on the track) which was a top 10 in the US, and Top 30 in the UK.

...etc...

This was a way for the Beatles to have their cake and eat it too. They could release all the singles they wanted without flooding the market by releasing all those songs as Beatles singles, instead having other performers record them (with their approval, and sometimes even participation).

Anyway here's the Trash single and how they "edited it" for single release (not edited actually as they never recorded a full "album version" of it):

 

It's a single now and #1.

 

I need to find my back issue of Goldmine that showed Beatles singles around the world and how they fared on the charts.

 

I take your points and yes, it was perhaps a mistake that the single was released after the album had been released. It was to become a far more common practice in the 70's, but was still a rare occurrence in the late 60's.

However, I still think Here Comes the Sun would have had the better chance of reaching the top spot. Many of the Beatles fan base back then (like me) could not afford their albums - we only purchased singles. I still remember being at school and a couple of my 12-year old schoolmates sauntering in one day and declaring "Have you heard the new Beatles record? It's really boring!" It appeared that Kevin and Gary of form 1b at Riversmead School, Cheshunt were not yet ready to embrace the sophistication of what would later become George's most celebrated song. I myself had previously bought Hey Jude (my first ever Beatle purchase), Get Back and Ballad of J&Y but the new Beatles single didn't exactly light my fire either and my precious pocket money was spent elsewhere (although I grew to love both songs years later!)

I think the upbeat Here Comes the Sun could perhaps have appealed more to the casual fan - and also the young lads of Form 1b.

 

It certainly would have been an easy #1 & as great a single as they'd ever released... regardless of the B-side...

 

#1 huh?
I was thinking between #3-5 possibly...


Probably my favorite song from Abbey Road though. Always lifts me up.

 

I never realized it wasn't released as a single.
I'm not that big into Beatles history , but it's so popular that I just assumed it was.

Learn something new every day.

 

1969 Here Comes The Sun b/w Something
US 1 UK 1 CAN 1 AUS 1 IRE 1 NZ 1