I saw a YouTube video the other day where someone had ranked the Beatles songs into a top 100 list. Some of the choices were pretty solid, but others seemed waaaay off base. (For example, the person had "I Will" -- a minor McCartney ballad from the white album -- at #17, ahead of "A Day in the Life" which was at #19.) So, I figured that I ought to try to make my own top 100 Beatles songs list.
To begin the process, I thought that it would be best to go album by album and put each song in the order of how much I like it. After all of the albums (and non-album songs, on singles and EPs) have had their contents ranked, then it would be easier to mix and match them from best to worst. I did discover, however, that during the mixing and matching process, I sometimes elevated or lower a song's ranking different to how I had done when ranking the album they were on. For example, when ranking the songs on the Please Please Me (1963) album, I had "Twist and Shout" ranked as the 4th best song on that album, but when compiling the overall list below, it became the 2nd highest place song from that album. Go figure.
I didn't go back and listen to any of the songs while compiling the list, relying on my memory of them. This did cause a re-evaluation, though, when -- after completing the list -- I decided to listen to the two longest-ranked Lennon-McCartney songs: "When I Get Home" and "Little Child." Originally I had "Little Child" as the lowest ranked of the two, but when I listened to the current remastered versions of them on YouTube, I decided that "When I Get Home" was worse, and so switched positions for them. The harmonica solo used to be horribly edited in on my old vinyl version (at least in my memory), which had contributed to my negative opinion of that track, but it sounds OK on the remaster.
Obviously this is a personal ranking and other people will place some of the songs higher or lower. Heck, even I would likely rearrange the list in the future (and may end up doing so, at some point). One of the things that I did find difficult to rank was the shorter songs like "Dig It," "Her Majesty" and "Maggie Mae." If I was making a mix tape for somebody, I would definitely include those songs (if there was room on the tape) since they are fun and catchy. But how can those "throwaway" songs compare to a song that the Beatles took more seriously and spent more time working on, which I might not love as much? For example, you can see that I've rated "Her Majesty" and "Maggie Mae" just higher than "Within You Without You" -- which I can see as being a ridiculous notion. But the fact is that I find those two short dittys more enjoyable to listen to. "Dig It" ranked even higher due to having clever lyrics, and the short version on the Let It Be album doesn't overstay its welcome. (If we were to count the long, meandering version that they performed during the Get Back sessions, the song would place much, much lower!)
So, with that introduction out of the way, here's my (preliminary) list of my favorite Beatles songs, in order from best to worst. Only the U.K. album releases from 1963 to 1966 are listed. All songs written by Lennon-McCartney unless otherwise indicated.
1. "Strawberry Fields Forever"
2. "I Am the Walrus"
3. "Penny Lane"
4. "Eleanor Rigby"
5. "A Day in the Life"
6. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
7. "Helter Skelter"
8. "Yesterday"
9. "Hey Jude"
10. "We Can Work It Out"
11. "Let It Be" (single version)
12. "Let It Be" (album version)
13. "Here Comes the Sun" (George Harrison)
14. "Dear Prudence"
15. "Revolution"
16. "Come Together"
17. "All You Need Is Love"
18. "Rain"
19. "She Loves You"
20. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
21. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
22. "Paperback Writer"
23. "Two of Us"
24. "From Me to You"
25. "You Never Give Me Your Money"
26. "Help!"
27. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)"
28. "Got to Get You into My Life"
29. "Yellow Submarine"
30. "I Should Have Known Better"
31. "If I Fell"
32. "Taxman" (George Harrison)
33. "Any Time at All"
34. "I'll Follow the Sun"
35. "Nowhere Man"
36. "Drive My Car"
37. "I Saw Her Standing There"
38. "Eight Days a Week"
39. "For No One"
40. "I'm a Loser"
41. "I've Just Seen a Face"
42. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"
43. "Here, There and Everywhere"
44. "Tomorrow Never Knows"
45. "When I'm Sixty-Four"
46. "Magical Mystery Tour"
47. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"
48. "A Hard Day's Night"
49. "She Said She Said"
50. "And I Love Her"
51. "Good Day Sunshine"
52. "Can't Buy Me Love"
53. "All My Loving"
54. "Get Back" (album version)
55. "Get Back" (1969 single version)
56. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey"
57. "Polythene Pam"
58. "Cry Baby Cry"
59. "Martha My Dear"
60. "I'm So Tired"
61. "Back in the U.S.S.R."
62. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
63. "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"
64. "Hey Bulldog"
65. "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window"
66. "Golden Slumbers"
67. "Carry That Weight"
68. "The End"
69. "Revolution 9"
70. "Sexy Sadie"
71. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun"
72. "Glass Onion"
73. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison)
74. "Day Tripper"
75. "Something" (George Harrison)
76. "Julia"
77. "The Long and Winding Road"
78. "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"
79. "Piggies" (George Harrison)
80. "Rocky Raccoon"
81. "Bad Boy" (Larry Williams)
82. "Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley, Bert Russell)
83. "Please Please Me"
84. "Love Me Do" (album version)
85. "Love Me Do" (original single version with Ringo on drums)
86. "No Reply"
87. "Ticket to Ride"
88. "Birthday"
89. "Love You To" (George Harrison)
90. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (Larry Williams)
91. "Tell Me Why"
92. "I'm Looking Through You"
93. "You're Going to Lose That Girl"
94. "If I Needed Someone" (George Harrison)
95. "Michelle"
96. "In My Life"
97. "Girl"
98. "Blackbird"
99. "Hello, Goodbye"
100. "The Fool on the Hill"
101. "Lady Madonna"
102. "Oh! Darling"
103. "This Boy"
104. "Your Mother Should Know"
105. "Don't Let Me Down"
106. "I Me Mine" (George Harrison)
107. "I Feel Fine"
108. "Because"
109. "With a Little Help from My Friends"
110. "Getting Better"
111. "Across The Universe" (from the 1969 charity album No One's Gonna Change Our World)
112. "Across the Universe" (Let It Be album version)
113. "Good Morning Good Morning"
114. "All Together Now"
115. "The Ballad of John and Yoko"
116. "I Call Your Name"
117. "I'll Be Back"
118. "Things We Said Today"
119. "Wait"
120. "You Won't See Me"
121. "Tell Me What You See"
122. "Think for Yourself" (George Harrison)
123. "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)"
124. "Dig It" (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Richard Starkey)
125. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
126. "Lovely Rita"
127. "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party"
128. "I've Got a Feeling"
129. "You Really Got a Hold on Me" (Smokey Robinson)
130. "You Can't Do That"
131. "Money (That's What I Want)" (Janie Bradford, Berry Gordy)
132. "You Like Me Too Much" (George Harrison)
133. "Another Girl"
134. "And Your Bird Can Sing"
135. "Doctor Robert"
136. "I'm Only Sleeping"
137. "It Won't Be Long"
138. "The Word"
139. "Baby's in Black"
140. "Baby, You're a Rich Man"
141. "What You're Doing"
142. "It's All Too Much" (George Harrison)
143. "I'm Down"
144. "The Inner Light" (George Harrison)
145. "Every Little Thing"
146. "Rock and Roll Music" (Chuck Berry)
147. "Do You Want to Know a Secret"
148. "Yes It Is"
149. "Thank You Girl"
150. "Savoy Truffle" (George Harrison)
151. "Old Brown Shoe" (George Harrison)
152. "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
153. "Mother Nature's Son"
154. "I Will"
155. "For You Blue" (George Harrison)
156. "Dig a Pony"
157. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
158. "Revolution 1"
159. "Octopus's Garden" (Richard Starkey)
160. "Words of Love" (Buddy Holly)
161. "P.S. I Love You"
162. "Slow Down" (Larry Williams)
163. "Blue Jay Way" (George Harrison)
164. "Fixing a Hole"
165. "Mean Mr. Mustard"
166. "Honey Pie"
167. "Yer Blues"
168. "Hold Me Tight"
169. "I Wanna Be Your Man"
170. "It's Only Love"
171. "I Need You" (George Harrison)
172. "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You"
173. "I'll Cry Instead"
174. "She's a Woman"
175. "The Night Before"
176. "Not a Second Time"
177. "All I've Got to Do"
178. "Till There Was You" (Meredith Willson)
179. "Roll Over Beethoven" (Chuck Berry)
180. "Honey Don't" (Carl Perkins)
181. "Misery"
182. "There's a Place"
183. "Please Mr. Postman" (Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman)
184. "I Want to Tell You" (George Harrison)
185. "Only a Northern Song" (George Harrison)
186. "I'll Get You"
187. "She's Leaving Home"
188. "Sun King"
189. "Ask Me Why"
190. "Don't Bother Me" (George Harrison)
191. "Long, Long, Long" (George Harrison)
192. "One After 909"
193. "Her Majesty"
194. "Maggie Mae" (traditional; arranged by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starkey)
195. "Within You Without You" (George Harrison)
196. "Flying" (instrumental; Harrison–Lennon–McCartney–Starkey)
197. "Chains" (Gerry Goffin, Carole King)
198. "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" (Carl Perkins)
199. "Run for Your Life"
200. "Act Naturally" (Morrison–Russell)
201. "Anna (Go to Him)" (Arthur Alexander)
202. "Don't Pass Me By" (Richard Starkey)
203. "Baby It's You" (Mack David, Barney Williams, Burt Bacharach)
204. "Devil In Her Heart" (Richard Drapkin)
205. "Long Tall Sally" (Enotris Johnson, Robert Blackwell, Richard Penniman)
206. "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller/Richard Penniman)
207. "Wild Honey Pie"
208. "What Goes On" (Lennon–McCartney–Richard Starkey)
209. "Good Night"
210. "A Taste of Honey" (Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow)
211. "Mr. Moonlight" (Roy Lee Johnson)
212. "Little Child"
213. "When I Get Home"
214. "Matchbox" (Carl Perkins)
215. "Boys" (Luther Dixon, Wes Farrell)
216. "Sie liebt dich" (Lennon/McCartney/Jean Nicolas/Lee Montogue)
217. "Komm, gib mir deine Hand" (Lennon/McCartney/Jean Nicolas/Heinz Hellmer)
