Rolling Stone declares Greatest Beatles Songs

[dbailey62]

Ringo wrote Don't Pass Me By, which I like very much; certainly more than Octopus' Garden.

If I had to pick my top 20 Beatles tunes, there would probably be about 16 of John's songs, two of Paul's and two of George's. Lennon's compositional style and execution can really work for me. Another major factor is how McCartney tended to push the limits of bass playing on John's songs moreso than on his own.

.... and he co -wrote "What Goes On" with Lennon and McCartney.

[winston]

Personally I liked it better when the two main writers worked together. John and Paul were magical as a writing team using each other as a catalyst.

Individually when their writing traits shone over the work of the team, then I found that tended not to listen to the song too much. At times I found that their singularly influenced compositions could be a bit annoying (as I wrote that Ob La Di Ob La Da came to mind), but I also have to say that there were definitely times they were very good individually.

Anyway like I said I liked them much better as a team that developed a song all the way through to the final product. That's where their magic evolved and came into play to suit my taste.

Just my two cents (for what it is worth) to be added to what has turned out to be a very interesting thread.

[shamustwin]

I found the article in RS to be pretty good. They seem to be making their points with a good deal of modernisms, perhaps to pique the interest of the younger crowd now reading the mag. And there are a few items I hadn't known before.
Though I think the list is flawed and very weird in some places.

Hasn't RS historically leaned toward Lennon? I mean he was on the first cover.

That said, as a songwriter with a songwriting partner, I firmly believe there's a lot more contributions by Paul in John's music than we'll ever hear about. John did once state that Paul "ruined" (or something to that effect) Strawberry Fields Forever. Sure it was a beautiful song in it's acoustic demo version, but the "ruined" version is what makes it "edgy". I believe Paul has more "edge" than he's been given credit for. He just might not have wanted to push things as much on his own songs.

I'd take Paul's word on the matters of their songs over the contradictions of John any day. Obviously, if John knew he'd be cut down before all was said and done, he might have been more precise on his assessments and rememberances of the songs. But one cannot help notice Lennon spoke differently on the subject depending on mood and how close to the breakup he was being asked. Mac's been pretty consistant, and generally kind to John.

BTW, my copy of RS goes to song 30 something, then goes backward down the list, page numbers too. Later it picks up the list in the 70's. So I missed out on the middle of the countdown.

[FretlessOnly]

To me, Paul's edgiest work was on bass, which I tried to make clear - his bass playing is a large part of why I took up bass in 1980 and still play bass today.

If I recall, John was upset about the way Strawberry FIelds was recorded, not so much at what Paul layed down on it. The single track that I recall Lennon mentioning Paul's "sabotage" of his works is Across the Universe. John was unhappy with the pitch of his own vocal and that of the harmonies, so, according to Lennon's telling, Paul went and got a couple of Apple-heads to come in and prattle along; the result is the train-wreck of a version that appeared on the 1969 WWF charity album, 1980s Rarities and CD #2 of the past master's in the remastered stereo reissue from last year.

Regardless of how that all happened, and certainly Lennon was adept at stretching or misrepresenting history to suit his needs, it is clear to me that Paul was far more experimental in his bass-playing on John's songs (and, to a lesser extent, George's; simply due to volume of output) than on his own. Partly why I tend to prefer John's songs to Paul's is that the subject matter is generally darker, more abstract and "in your face," and the bass playing is very progressive. My comments are most generally directed at 1966-1968, which is the peak of their creativity in my book. For equal time, here are the Paul songs I hold in highest regard (I diverge back to '65 for this):

I've Just Seen a Face
Paperback Writer (a very singular example of progressive bass playing on his own material)
For No One
FIxing a Hole
Penny Lane
A Day in the Life (in keeping with my earlier note)
Your Mother Should Know
You Never Give Me Your Money

And I forget to add Hey Bulldog to my list of Lennon tracks.

[servant]

...For equal time, here are the Paul songs I hold in highest regard (I diverge back to '65 for this):

I've Just Seen a Face
Paperback Writer (a very singular example of progressive bass playing on his own material)
For No One
FIxing a Hole
Penny Lane
A Day in the Life (in keeping with my earlier note)
Your Mother Should Know
You Never Give Me Your Money

Of course he played bass on most of those, too, but it struck me that most of those are Paul on Piano songs.

[johnnysain]

That Rolling Stone list is being ripped all over the net,....@ the seemingly low PM rankings.

Eleanor Rigby 22
Can't Buy me Love 29
Penny Lane 32
Paperback Writer 35
Blackbird 38
Get Back 41
I've Just Seen a Face 58
Back in the USSR 85
Lady Madonna 86
Long and Winding Road 90
Hello, Goodbye 100

'The Fool on the Hill' and 'For No One' miss the top 100 entirely

These is the top 4 Beatle songs in The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list...
as voted by 172 musicians, critics and music industry figures
* (#) denotes rank in the 500

Hey Jude (#8 )
Yesterday (#13)
I Want to Hold Your Hand (#16)
Let it Be (#20)

[simer4001]

Only from the greatest band in the world can we argue about which songwriter wrote the greatest song. I was young when the Beatles were a band and when they broke up. For you "of the age" did people have these arguments when the group was together?

[craigh]

If it's in Rollong Stone, it has to be true.

Craig

[vynesmusic]

Gee at Studio Z is not a fan of Rolling Stoned magazine....

All 10 songs are good, great tunes, but songs 1, 2, 3, and 5 are clearly Prime Beatles

----the rest of those songs were done in the Yoko-zone and reflect the breakdown of a real good band.....

The best the Beatles ever produced ended with "Magical Mystery Tour".....just my considered opinion as a Bar Wars veteran.....

I'm harmless......

[winston]

For you "of the age" did people have these arguments when the group was together?

No not at all. They were simply The Beatles...........the best band in the universe at that time. In their early years together, every new song was considered a masterpiece. Well all except Ringo's

[jimk]

For you "of the age" did people have these arguments when the group was together?

No not at all. They were simply The Beatles...........the best band in the universe at that time. In their early years together, every new song was considered a masterpiece. Well all except Ringo's

Oh, I dunno....He did a fairly respectable job covering Buck Owens' "Act Naturally," don't you think?
JimK

[winston]

True Jim, but let's face it I Wanna Be Your Man was a train wreck compared to The Stones version.

[winston]

As far as I can recall these were songs where Ringo sang lead:

Please Please Me - Boys
With the Beatles - I Wanna Be Your Man
Beatles for Sale - Honey Don't
Help - Act Naturally
Rubber Soul - What Goes On
Revolver - Yellow Submarine
Sgt. Pepper's - With a Little Help from My Friends
The Beatles (white album) - Don't Pass Me By, Good Night
Abbey Road - Octopus's garden

Btw John Lennon described I Wanna Be Your Man as a throw away song years later.

[wolfgang]

hello winston,
two more songs from Ringo:
Matchbox from the Long Tall Sally EP
and
If You've got troubles from the Help! sessions, never released, now available on Antholgy II, and not too bad, if you edit out both middle eights.

btw: to me, I wanna be your man (The Beatles) is like The Rolling Stones playing live in 1963. Wild. Loud.


Wolfgang

[vynesmusic]

Oh, I dunno....He did a fairly respectable job covering Buck Owens' "Act Naturally," don't you think?
JimK

then there's "What Goes ON??", "Honey Don't"......"Little Help From My Friends"......besides being one of the greatest drummers of the era, I think Ringo was a TRUE Beatle....