What was the last Beatles song?

What would most people consider the last Beatles song?

The way I see it, there's several different candidates for the last Beatles song, all of which have different reasons.

1. The End - The final song to be recorded collectively by all four Beatles.

2. I Me Mine - The last new song to be recorded by the Beatles before they broke up.

3. Get Back - The last song on the last Beatles album, and the last song the Beatles played live.

4. Real Love - The last new song to be released under the name the Beatles.

If there's any other song you'd like to argue as being the last Beatles song, then feel free.

What do you consider to be the last Beatles song?

 

Real Love has got more Beatles than I Me Mine does...

 

Get Back also has the "last song the Beatles played live" argument

But I go with I Me Mine - which really should be credited Harrison/McCartney as Paul wrote the 4/4 section.

 

I consider "The End" to be the last Beatles song, but first I'm going to explain why I don't count the other songs as the last Beatles song.

I Me Mine - Not all four Beatles were present during the recording, and the song originated from the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, albeit as a rehearsal, predating some of the Abbey Road album.

Get Back - It was released as a single in early 1969, so calling it the last Beatles song would be a bit unusual. It does end with the "I hope we passed the audition" line though which provides a fitting, tongue in cheek ending to the Beatles.

Real Love - Yes, technically it is so far the last original song to be released under the name the Beatles, but only three of them were present for the recording of the Beatles version, and it was released years after the Beatles had ended.

The End provides a very suitable ending to the Beatles, and it was the last song to be recorded by all four Beatles at the same time.

 

Aboout 3/4 of Abbey Rd debuted in rehearsal versions in those (or earlier) sessions. At least Something, Maxwell, Octopus, I Want You, You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Polythene Pam, Carry That Weight & Her Majesty

 

That's fair enough but "I Me Mine" still predates "The End".

 

Wonderwall - oasis

 

Across The Universe (Take 6)

 

What's your reasoning?

 

It won't be popular, but I've gone for IMM - for the reason that, at the point at which it was recorded, there was no absolute certainty that the band would not be continuing. So, the three Beatles present may have been working on the assumption that John Lennon would have a change of mind (as George had done a year earlier) and be back in the fold before long.


Isn't there a (slight) case for Long And Winding Road - the session at which Ringo was the only Beatle present?

 

Were all four present at the orchestral overdub of "The End"? Seems to me you are holding it to a different standard. "Real Love" has all four on it albeit at different times

 

An argument could be made for For You Blue.
If a person listened to all their authorized releases in order of release, this is the last new song they would hear (at least until BBC release - at which point John was no longer able to approve Beatles releases) - as Get Back had been out as a single much earlier.

 

"Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)" probably should have been one of the last Beatles songs, especially if it was recorded by just John, George and Ringo (with or without Billy) for the "Let It Be" LP.

 

But John never participated in the recording of I Me Mine, so The End stands as the last song they recorded as a four piece all at the same time.

 

"The Long And Winding Road" has been considered for years by many first-generation fans to be the "last Beatles song", by virtue of being the last single.

 

I Me Mine came to mind first but there’s a good argument for all of them.

 

The question is unanswerable without a mutually agreed-upon definition of "last." Otherwise...

...So it's the last Beatles song for now, until the next reissue project? A 60th anniversary "Love Me Do" single reissue would make "P.S. I Love You" their last song?

 

Going with that release, I would use the last previously unreleased by The Beatlss composition it contains. Would that be Circles or Sour Milk Sea?

 

Those compositions were both released decades ago, on Gone Troppo and a Jackie Lomax single, respectively. If performance by a different artist makes them "new," then the jams on the session discs should count even though the Beatles didn't write them.

 

I'm with you on this.

As for Real Love, that's an easy "nope" for me as Lennon wasn't alive. The wishywashy part, again for me, is when I acknowledge that the song is credited to The Beatles, and thus contributed income and Billboard chart stats to The Beatles. Still, I separate it out as Beatles-the band, and Beatles the corporation. Real Love falls under corporation, decades after the demise of the working unit.

 

That is why I said "previously unreleased BY THE BEATLES"

 

I thought I Want You (She's So Heavy) was the last track that all 4 Beatles recorded. No?

Anyway, I vote for The End taking a little poetic license. It's just such a perfect final song .

 

I voted I Me Mine because it was the last song the guys worked on before the split (well, 3 of the guys anyway), but Real Love is correct as it is a "The Beatles" song and was their last original to be released.

 

Except it wasn't, because Paul worked on it alone for weeks after they recorded those 90 seconds all together