# 10 Beatles singles



## Guest (Jun 30, 2018)

No, it's not a poll, but I'm interested to know - from Beatles fans, not their detractors - which of their singles represent the best of what they did, and which rank alongside the best of popular music for the period, and can hold their own 50-60 years later.

To refine that a little more, we should remember that what was pre-eminent in the charts in 1963 was of a different quality than what was charting in 1968-9. So it's reasonable to propose singles from the early period withot having to justify how they stand up to singles from the later.

Some rogue will doubtless suggest album tracks rather than singles - which is fine, but let's try to confine ourselves to these (unless someone spots an error in the list):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_discography#Singles

My choices

_PS I Love You
All My Loving
And I Love Her
We Can Work It Out_
_Norwegian Wood (not Nowhere Man as originally posted )
*Eleanor Rigby
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane*_

And album tracks - _

And Your Bird Can Sing
Blackbird
Long, Long, Long_

The three in bold represent their finest work and in my experience (which is not necessarily broad, but goes back a bit) there's been little in the charts since of comparable quality.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Happiness Is a Warm Gun
_Nowhere man
_Norwegian Wood
_Get Back
A day in the life
Something
_*While My Guitar gently weeps
Taxman
*Dear Prudence
Across the Universe


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Singles:
A Hard Day's Night
Yesterday
Eleanor Rigby
Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever
Hello, Goodbye/I Am the Walrus
The Ballad of John and Yoko

Album tracks:
For no one
A day in the life
She's leaving home
Blackbird


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

If we are sticking strictly to singles, and I presume both UK and US releases are valid, then surely Paperback Writer/Rain would have to be in contention along with the obvious Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane. I would also add Hard Days Night, Help, We Can Work It Out, Please Please Me, Love Me Do and She Loves You. I listen regularly to my Beatles stuff and maybe it's just me but they all still sound as fresh as they did fifty odd years ago when I first heard them. Imprint music.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I've gone for eight singles and two b-sides in chronological order.

Although not usually rated as one of their better singles, _Lady Madonna_ from March 1968 was arguably the most significant - after the group helped to define psychedelia in 1966-67 Paul McCartney kicks it unceremoniously into oblivion with a slice of retro barrelhouse boogie. After their own flirtations with psychedelia the Rolling Stones, the Who and Steve Marriott (with Humble Pie) were to follow suit with a similarly direct approach. But that was one of the Beatles greatest strengths - having a natural instinct for being ahead of the curve when they needed to be.

_Ticket to Ride_
_We Can Work it Out_
_Paperback Writer_
_Rain_ (b-side)
_Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever _ (double a-side)
_Lady Madonna_
_Hey Jude_
_Revolution_ (b-side)
_Get Back_


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

elgars ghost said:


> I've gone for eight singles and two b-sides in chronological order.
> 
> Although not usually rated as one of their better singles, _Lady Madonna_ from March 1968 was arguably the most significant - after the group helped to define psychedelia in 1966-67 Paul McCartney kicks it unceremoniously into oblivion with a slice of retro barrelhouse boogie. After their own flirtations with psychedelia the Rolling Stones, the Who and Steve Marriott (with Humble Pie) were to follow suit with a similarly direct approach. But that was one of the Beatles greatest strengths - having a natural instinct for being ahead of the curve when they needed to be.
> 
> ...


Yes, that's a list I can work with. Nice!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

_Hey Jude_, has been flogged on radio way too much for me to ever want to hear it again

Now Come together on the other hand


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

1)Helter Skelter
2)Shes leaving home
3) Octopus's garden
4) i want to hold your foot
5) rocky raccoon
6)Maxwells hammer
7)her comes the sun
8) yellow sub
9)N0. 9
10)blue jay way
11)Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
12)piggies
13)little help from my talk classical friends
14)her majesty


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## San Antone (Feb 15, 2018)

You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Ticket to Ride
Daytripper
In My Life
Taxman
Eleanor Rigby
All You Need is Love
Hey Bulldog
Golden Slumbers
Across the Universe


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Singles

From Me to You
I Want to Hold Your Hand
Long Tall Sally
I Feel Fine
She's a Woman
Ticket to Ride
I'll Follow the Sun
Penny Lane
Hey Jude
Get Back

Album Tracks

All My Loving
And I Love Her
Every Little Thing
Norwegian Wood
Good Day Sunshine
Got to get you into my life
When I'm Sixty Four
While my guitar gently weeps
Here Comes the Sun
Let it Be


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

I grew up during this time period. I have two older sisters who had a record collection that had everything from late 50's to late 60's. You name it, Beatles, Stones, Animals, Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, DC5, Elvis.....all the albums, tons of singles - some of which I still have. (Think of that scene in _Almost Famous_ where the young Jeffrey Miller is given his sister's album collection.)

So having lived through that remarkable time my list specifically comes from the heading of: "Hey, I've never heard THAT before."

_ I Want To Hold You Hand_ - The blues turn around lick turned around
_A Hard Days Night _ - hello Rickenbacker 12
_I Feel Fine_ - great guitar riff
_Day Tripper_ - another great guitar lick
_*Yesterday*_ - The _Greensleeves_ of the era
_Rain_ - early psychedelic effect
_*Eleanor Rigby*_ - string quartet
_*Penny Lane*_ - a tone poem
_*Strawberry Fields Forever*_ - another tone poem

And though it was never a single, _*In My Life*_ - timeless melody - rounds out my ten.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Not a bad collection at all (but more than 10). 
https://www.amazon.com/Beatles-1/dp/B00004ZAV3


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## Guest (Jul 1, 2018)

ldiat said:


> 1)Helter Skelter
> (etc0





San Antone said:


> Golden Slumbers


I said there'd be rogues! 

Of course, looking at the lists posted so far, I realise that 10 isn't enough to encompass all that is good about their output.



Barbebleu said:


> If we are sticking strictly to singles, and I presume both UK and US releases are valid, then surely Paperback Writer/Rain would have to be in contention along with the obvious Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane. I would also add Hard Days Night, Help, We Can Work It Out, Please Please Me, Love Me Do and She Loves You. I listen regularly to my Beatles stuff and maybe it's just me but they all still sound as fresh as they did fifty odd years ago when I first heard them. Imprint music.


Yes, UK and US releases are valid. Your last two words sums up what this is about for me too, so I'm wary of making the grand claim I wrote in the OP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_(psychology)

Reared in a house where The Beatles were the most important cultural signifier (aside from _Swallows and Amazons_), it's almost impossible for me not to connect their songs with some memory of my family and my childhood. In fact, for a number of years as I grew older, I couldn't listen to their songs because they only reminded me of my parents' divorce and the pre-happy and post-miserable years. It explains why my favourites come from 1966-7 and anything post 1968 has a peculiarly melancholy tint.

So, back to objectivity: what I should have asked for is what we think is their best and why. I'm torn between _Penny Lane_, _Strawberry Fields Forever _and _Eleanor Rigby_. I think I'd have to discount the latter because they themselves make no instrumental contribution, and whilst their vocal harmonies are a trademark, so is Ringo's drumming and Paul's bass and George's guitar and Martin's production. That means _Strawberry Fields Forever _is number one.


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

Barbebleu said:


> If we are sticking strictly to singles, and I presume both UK and US releases are valid, then surely Paperback Writer/Rain would have to be in contention...


I can actually remember buying that single when it was released in the US. In my region, _Rain_, even though it was the B side, got lots of airplay too. I always thought that both songs were outstanding.

My God, that was a long time ago.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

MacLeod said:


> Reared in a house where The Beatles were the most important cultural signifier (aside from _Swallows and Amazons_), it's almost impossible for me not to connect their songs with some memory of my family and my childhood. In fact, for a number of years as I grew older, I couldn't listen to their songs because they only reminded me of my parents' divorce and the pre-happy and post-miserable years. It explains why my favourites come from 1966-7 and anything post 1968 has a peculiarly melancholy tint.


Wow. Exactly my same situation even down to the years!


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

MacLeod said:


> I said there'd be rogues!
> 
> Of course, looking at the lists posted so far, I realise that 10 isn't enough to encompass all that is good about their output.
> 
> ...


I said there'd be rogues!


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I'll pick sides from UK singles in order of like from most to less. I favour John much more than cute Paul. 

I Am the Walrus
Strawberry Fields
Elenor Ribgy
Rain
Ticket to Ride
Come Together
Get Back
Day Tripper
Revolution
I Feel Fine


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

My favorite (not 10, but I didn't feel strongly about any of the others):

I Want to Hold Your Hand
I Saw Her Standing There
Ticket to Ride
Help!
Yesterday
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Get Back
Let It Be


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Strictly from singles, in chronological order, I like these, and apart from the first (which has mega-charm, all the same), I think they will last:

1. Love me do
2. A Hard Day's Night
3. We can work it out
4. Eleanor Rigby
5. Hey Jude.
6. Let it be.
7. Yesterday. 

But I stopped listening to The Beatles soon after that, in favour of traditional music and progressive folk, so cannot say more.


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## St Matthew (Aug 26, 2017)

I can't stand the Beatles at all elsewise but I'll happily take:

1. She So Heavy
2. Revolution #9


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2018)

Taking the OP's original idea along with the recommended qualifiers I extended the concept by including the B-sides to the actual singles as released here in Canada (which largely matched those within the US) because for every A-side there was a corresponding B-side, often it was the pairing that most lives on within our collective memories, and in the examples numbered 5 through 10 a virtually ironclad case can be made that the Beatles essentially invented the "Double A-Sided" single.

1. I Want to Hold Your Hand/ This Boy

2. A Hard Day's Night/ I Should Have Known Better

3. Eight Day's A Week/I Don't Want to Spoil The Party

4. Help!/I'm Down

5. We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper

6. Paperback Writer/Rain

7. Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine

8. Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever

9. Hey Jude/Revolution

10. Something/Come Together

And remember no fair adding non-single album tracks like this one for example just because you really really like them -


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Sydney Nova Scotia said:


> Taking the OP's original idea along with the recommended qualifiers I extended the concept by including the B-sides to the actual singles as released here in Canada (which largely matched those within the US) because for every A-side there was a corresponding B-side, often it was the pairing that most lives on within our collective memories, and in the examples numbered 5 through 10 a strong virtually ironclad case can be made that the Beatles essentially invented the "Double A-Sided" single.
> 
> 1. I Want to Hold Your Hand/ This Boy
> 
> ...


This is a bonny list. So much so that I'm going to make a playlist on my iTunes!


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## Guest (Jul 9, 2018)

Barbebleu said:


> This is a bonny list. So much so that I'm going to make a playlist on my iTunes!


'Tis a right bonny list indeed! - But first finish your "Scots Wha Hae" playlist, eh? :lol:


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