Ranking the Beatles sorting tool

I agree. What puzzles me is why so many people seem to hate Revolution 1.

 

I don't hate it, but "Revolution 1" is to "Revolution" as "Country Honk" is to "Honky Tonk Women."

 

Not to me, I love the groove.

 

A few more coincidental oddities I noticed on my ranking:

- They put "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club" at #32 and The Reprise right after it (#33).
- I have "Blackbird" and "Blue Jay Way" back to back at spots #67 and #68
- Either George or Ringo takes lead vocal on four of my Top 5 Beatles songs!

 

Count me as one of the "haters." It's a real snoozer. Maybe if I hadn't heard the single version first I would have liked it a little biy more.

I can't think of a good analogy off-hand but Country Honk, while not close to Honky Tonk Women, is miles better than Revolution 1.

 

As far as keys go, my Top 10 Beatles songs break down as follows:

1. Here Comes The Sun (Am)
2. Paperback Writer (G)
3. Good Night (G)
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Am)
5. With A Little Help From My Friends (E)
6. Help! (A)
7. Helter Skelter (E)
8. Fixing A Hole (F Dorian)
9. Do You Want To Know A Secret (E)
10. Strawberry Fields Forever (B Flat Major)

- Both of George's entries are in A minor.
- E Major leads the way with three entries out of the top ten.
- Major keys are most prevalent within my Top 10 making up 8 of the 10 selections.
- Leave it to Paul to have an entry in the key of F Major Dorian (Fixing A Hole).
- And leave it to John to have an entry in the key of B Flat Major (Strawberry Fields Forever).
- A is the only musical scale to have entries in the top ten in both Major and Minor.

This is all important stuff you know!

 

The results from my use of this tool had a serious error with one of the top four (ranked as '1') beging a song I never to my knowledge up-voted.

Other than that I got a pretty list that confirmed what I already know – which are my preferred Beatles songs.

 

Ok - I'll play - I had some time to spare on a long train trip today, so after 15 months on this forum I'll make my first Beatles post.



The ranking makes quite a bit of sense to me - and it's a good starting point to reflect on some Beatles albums, songs, and preferences.

1) I never felt that I had to pick any Beatle as my favorite, but on the basis of this list I might have to conclude that I have a clear preference for Lennon songs.

2) Revolver era Beatles seems to be my best liked period: my top 50 has 9 Revolver song as well as 'Rain' and 'Paperback Writer'.

3) The best songs of both Magical Mystery Tour (3 in top 7) and Beatles For Sale (5 in top 50) do really well, but hardly any other songs from these albums come even close to the high positions of these standout tracks.

4) I expected more songs from A Hard Day's Night, Rubber Soul, and The Beatles. But maybe I appreciate the first two of those mostly for their consistency and the last one for its diversity rather than for their standout songs.

5) Even if I would have attempted to make a rank like this all by myself (which I'll never do), I would have no idea where to put 'Revolution 9', but I feel that #25 is a nice position.

6) I am perfectly fine with 'All Together Now' on the last position. I enjoy fun light-weight songs quite a bit (both Maxwell's Silver Hammer' and 'Yellow Submarine' made my top 100), but I've never understood how people are able to find dozens of songs in the Beatles catalogue that they like less than 'All Together Now'.

7) The very low score of 'Taxman' is probably unfair. I like a lot of the Revolver era stuff for its melodies and proto-psychedelic, warm, soundscapes and 'Taxman' always seemed like an odd start to the album. It's always come across to me as a unmelodic but not quite rocking song that I just want to get over with to get to the real good stuff. However, if it would have been on any other album, it might have ended up 50-70 places higher on the list.

8) 'All You Need Is Love' is another song that never worked to me. I've always felt that it was an unmelodic, shouty song beefed up with an arrangement that's just too pompous. It doesn't help that the title track of the Magical Mystery Tour album is somewhat similar to it, with the exception that the bells and whistles on that tune somehow make it a fun, engaging album opener to me.

9) I did not expect that 'Only A Northern Song' would do so well, but it combines two qualities to me that don't go together all that often: it's a total earworm and it has great replaying value. The melodic, ironic resignation works for me - and because I only learned about the Yellow Submarine soundtrack about 10 years after I heard most of the Beatles' other songs, it's one of the songs that teenage me has not played to death.

 

I have to take offence at you calling ' There's A Place' a "bottom dweller".
That is a fantastic early Lennon-McCartney number. The singing on this duet is incredible; the vocals swoop and soar as they go from harmony to unison.
One of the best.

 

My Top 10:
1- In My Life
2- She Said She Said
3- And Your Bird Can Sing
4- For No One
5- Strawberry Fields Forever
6- Everybody's Got Something To Hide
7- Ticket to Ride
8- Helter Skelter
9- A Day in the Life
10- Drive My Car

 

I like “Country Honk”, too.

 

I went through this whole thing the other day, and then I didn’t feel like figuring out how to post it. It took way too long for me to do again, and that was even excluding covers, Anthologies, and George Martin’s YS tracks. So you’ll never get to know.

I do remember I ended up with “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at #1, which I would never have named as my favorite (I do love it, but I’d pick easily at least ten songs before it). It’s not even my favorite George Harrison-penned song on that album.

 

"There's a Place" (#21 on my list) is the first really "John" song. And if it weren't for "Please Please Me," it would have been his first great song.

 

Some people apparently don't like early Beatles. Go figure.

 

Looks pretty accurate. I didn't include Anthology.

My Top 10

1 - Strawberry Fields Forever
2 - A Day In The Life
3 - Happiness Is A Warm Gun
4 - I Want You (She's So Heavy)
5 - Help!
6 - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
7 - Come Together
8 - All My Loving
9 - Hello, Goodbye
10 - Here, There & Everywhere

The Bottom 5

207 - Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
208 - Maggie Mae
209 - You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
210 - Run For Your Life
210 - When I Get Home (a tie for some reason)

 

Their loss.
'A Hard Day's Night' is the equal to if not better than any of the later albums.

 

Not to me, it's been for years among the many early tracks I regularly skip. Besides a few select songs (as you can see on my list), I'm not a fan of their early material overall.

 

Order
Name
1
Strawberry Fields Forever
2
A Day in the Life
3
For No One
4
In My Life
5
Eleanor Rigby
6
Tomorrow Never Knows
7
Hey Jude
8
Let It Be
9
Yesterday
10
Back in the U.S.S.R.
11
Hey Bulldog
12
Here Comes the Sun
13
I Am the Walrus
14
Nowhere Man
15
Rain
16
Something
17
Norwegian Wood (This Bird..
18
Two of Us
19
Across the Universe
20
I Saw Her Standing There
21
Blackbird
22
All My Loving
23
While My Guitar Gently We..
24
Penny Lane
25
Paperback Writer
26
Help!
27
The Fool on the Hill
28
Drive My Car
29
I've Just Seen A Face
30
Baby, You're a Rich Man
31
A Hard Day's Night
32
Dear Prudence
33
Please Please Me
34
Revolution
35
Taxman
36
And Your Bird Can Sing
37
Ticket to Ride
38
You've Got to Hide Your Lo..
39
It Won't Be Long
40
I Will
41
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart..
42
The Ballad of John and Yoko
43
Day Tripper
44
Lucy in the Sky with Diamo..
45
All You Need Is Love
46
I'm Only Sleeping
47
Get Back
48
Hello, Goodbye
49
I'm A Loser
50
Things We Said Today
51
I Feel Fine
52
Here, There and Everywhe..
53
Helter Skelter
54
Twist and Shout
55
We Can Work It Out
56
With a Little Help from My ..
57
Come Together
58
I Want to Hold Your Hand
59
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart..
60
The End
61
You're Going to Lose That ..
62
If I Needed Someone
63
Being for the Benefit of Mr. ..
64
Doctor Robert
65
There's A Place
66
Lady Madonna
67
I'll Be Back
68
I'm Looking Through You
69
Martha My Dear
70
And I Love Her
71
No Reply
72
If I Fell
73
Lovely Rita
74
I Should Have Known Better
75
The Long and Winding Road
76
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
77
You Never Give Me Your M..
78
It's Only Love
79
Magical Mystery Tour
80
Any Time at All
81
I'm Down
82
Julia
83
The Word
84
This Boy
85
The Night Before
86
She Loves You
87
The Inner Light
88
Eight Days A Week
89
Can't Buy Me Love
90
Golden Slumbers
91
Money (That's What I Want)
92
Within You Without You
93
Not A Second Time
94
Birthday
95
What You're Doing
96
Good Day Sunshine
97
Piggies
98
I'll Follow the Sun
99
Run for Your Life
100
Everybody's Got Somethin..
101
Because
102
I'm So Tired
103
Octopus's Garden
104
Cry Baby Cry
105
Good Morning Good Morni..
106
Old Brown Shoe
107
I'll Get You
108
Don't Bother Me
109
Got to Get You into My Life
110
Roll Over Beethoven
111
She Said She Said
112
I Need You
113
Getting Better
114
For You Blue
115
Michelle
116
Mean Mr. Mustard
117
I Me Mine
118
I Want to Tell You
119
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
120
I'm Happy Just to Dance wi..
121
When I'm Sixty-Four
122
Words of Love
123
I've Got a Feeling
124
Mother Nature's Son
125
Only a Northern Song
126
She's Leaving Home
127
Fixing a Hole
128
Polythene Pam
129
The Continuing Story of Bu..
130
It's All Too Much
131
Girl
132
Thank You Girl
133
She Came In Through the ..
134
You Won't See Me
135
I Don't Want to Spoil the Pa..
136
Another Girl
137
Carry That Weight
138
Bad Boy
139
All I've Got to Do
140
Don't Let Me Down
141
Glass Onion
142
Yes It Is
143
I Call Your Name
144
Please Mr. Postman
145
Love Me Do
146
Yellow Submarine
147
Devil in Her Heart
148
Savoy Truffle
149
Think for Yourself
150
Wait
151
You Can't Do That
152
Long, Long, Long
153
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
154
Boys
155
Every Little Thing
156
Sun King
157
Tell Me Why
158
I'll Cry Instead
159
Baby's in Black
160
She's a Woman
161
I Want You (She's So Heav..
162
From Me to You
163
Ask Me Why
164
One After 909
165
Slow Down
166
Baby It's You
167
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
168
Little Child
169
You Really Got A Hold On ..
170
Love You To
171
Anna (Go to Him)
172
Sexy Sadie
173
Good Night
174
Oh! Darling
175
Dig a Pony
176
Tell Me What You See
177
Rock and Roll Music
178
Long Tall Sally
179
Rocky Raccoon
180
P.S. I Love You
181
Till There Was You
182
Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey,..
183
I Wanna Be Your Man
184
Blue Jay Way
185
Misery
186
Honey Don't
187
Everybody's Trying to Be M..
188
Honey Pie
189
Yer Blues
190
When I Get Home
191
Act Naturally
192
Hold Me Tight
193
Flying
194
Do You Want to Know a Se..
195
All Together Now
196
You Like Me Too Much
197
Matchbox
198
You Know My Name (Look ..
199
A Taste of Honey
200
Chains
201
What Goes On
202
Revolution 1
203
Dig It
204
Her Majesty
205
Mr. Moonlight
206
Why Don't We Do It in the ..
207
Your Mother Should Know
208
Don't Pass Me By
209
Maggie Mae
210
Wild Honey Pie
211
Revolution 9

 

It’s the only Beatles album that doesn’t have any tracks I would choose to remove.

 

I’m also pretty sure I had “Love Me Do” come out lower than “Revolution 9”… which is accurate.

 

Let me guess: George Harrison fan?

 

What the heck, I'm at work, I got time to kill...….

 

My Top 25:

1. A Day in the Life
2. For No One
3. Here Comes the Sun
3. Nowhere Man
5. Hey Jude
6. Something
7. I Feel Fine
8. We Can Work It Out
9. I Am the Walrus
9. Penny Lane

Thoughts: Both of George's Abbey Road compositions are here. Two of the songs are the two most quintessential John/Paul collaborations. I Feel Fine and Nowhere Man are power pop classics. Walrus and Lane are John and Paul at their '67 best. I have no problem with this list.

11. Eleanor Rigby
12. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
13. Dear Prudence
14. Yesterday
15. Let It Be
16. Strawberry Fields Forever
17. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
18. Get Back
19. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
20. I've Just Seen A Face
21. And I Love Her
22. Drive My Car
23. Paperback Writer
24. Blackbird
25. Taxman

 

It's been really great to see "And I Love Her" getting some love here. One of Paul's greatest works. It was the closest thing in music to some feelings I was having as a teenager.

 

I tried.. but am not patient enough.

Tried to not to make ties....but got some hard tasks. Run for your life vs Octopuss... two 5-stars masterpieces...

Also struggled with Wait over Ballad.

Other where easy.
Did not take a half a second to choose Mr. Moonlight (not ironic) over Yesterday....

And One after 909 beat While my guitar

I know for sure (or it should be).. bottom picks.. no order.
Yesterday
Long and wind (Spectorized version)
Revolution 9
Julia
Elanor
Not a second time.

This will take too long time... imagine a Stones or Dylan... are we talking a week of clicking?