After the last poll in this series where “I Saw Her Standing There” currently is in the lead for [the best song on *Please Please Me *](the best song on the Please Please Me album) (although there are still a few days left before the poll closes, so vote now!) it’s time for their next studio album: With the Beatles.
Admittedly one of their lesser known albums, With the Beatles is nevertheless a fair collection of both Beatles songs and covers. Like the previous poll, all covers are marked with asterisks.
I thought about changing the polls to allow voters to choose more than one song, but ultimately decided to keep it as one choice. Later on, when the decisions get harder to make with some of the later albums, I believe only having one vote will be a feature rather than a bug. With that, let’s begin!
I really like their version of You Really Got a Hold on Me, but I had to vote for All My Loving. I couldn’t pull the trigger for a cover.
I voted for All My Loving, same reasoning as Happy. I think all of the covers on this album are great, but I had to go for an original.
Reading the list of songs, this is not one of their stronger efforts; with others, I’d had a hard time choosing because there were so many good choice, but for this, my problem is that they’re so few.
Nothing bad, per se, but nothing really great. I went with “All My Loving” in a close race over “Money.”
Love the walking bass on “All My Loving,” so I picked that one.
Yeah, I’m not picking a cover on this one, but I d1d on the last one. (Twist and Shout)
There are few good originals on this one; it came down to “All MY Loving” and “Not a Second Time” for me.
I went with “Not a Second Time” for reasons I can’t explain. Something about minor chords maybe?. I’m not a musician. And I like whatever that solo is in the middle: piano?
Hold Me Tight. Definitely a very minor effort, and I should have voted for All My Loving…but HMT is just so darn catchy.
And one of (at least) 2 songs in the canon that use a Only One/Lonely One rhyme.
I went with “All My Loving”, but there were times when “Not A Second Time” and “All I’ve Got To Do” were very popular with me.
This was supposed to say, “There are a few good originals on this one”: which changes the meaning entirely.
I was actually surprised at how unimpressive this album was; I thought that the albums had more hits.
Then I remembered: I have only listened to the original U.S. albums: Meet the Beatles, The Beatles Second Album, Something New, Beatles '65, and Beatles VI. Capitol divvied out the best songs among them to make sure there were a few on each.
But…but…It Won’t Be Long is the one with the Aeolian Cadences!!!
(some Brit newspaper music critic commented on the use of AC’s in the song, and John later cited that as a turning point where music critics started taking them more seriously as songwriters vs. just being teenybopper idols - I think it refers to the back-and-forth Yeah’s that come after they sing It Won’t Be Long - Yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah!).
As for me - I vote for Money. That song has such a great riff and freakin’ rocks - go Berry Gordy, who was one of the writers on it. I love the Beatles version best, but there plenty out there that work, with the obvious nod to the Flying Lizards’ version…
Of their originals, I would agree with folks who voted for All My Loving…
I recall that after being told that by the critic, Lennon said, “I always though an Aeolian Cadence was a type of exotic bird . . .”
Also, it’s kind of embarrassing how many times I’ve listened to that song and never picked up on the wordplay (“it won’t be long 'till I belong to you”).
For this one, I went with “All My Loving”. It’s just so . . . pretty. It’s also one of the only Beatles songs (or at least McCartney songs) that started as a poem and was then put to melody.
Actually, “Not a Second Time” is the one with the celebrated Aeolian cadences at the end of each verse (D7 to Em, or V7-vi in the key of G).
Btw…I’ve been a Beatles fan since I saw them on Ed Sullivan. And I’ve *never *heard “Not a Second Time”, ever, not once in my life. How did that happen?
I’m with you. You Really Got a Hold on Me is a show case for their early vocal talent. I know it’s a cover but it is very tight and well done. A sing along song.
For those of us who grew up with the American versions of the LPs, it was the last song on Meet the Beatles. Did you never hear that album all the way through?
No, actually; nor none of their early albums. I started listening to Top 40 radio obsessively then, but didn’t buy an album of any artist for another 3 years (Revolver).
Curse your accuracy Biffy!!! 
This album, unfortunately, is mostly filler, both the self penned stuff and the cover versions, which is odd considering how many wonderful new songs John and Paul were able to come up with for A Hard Day’s Night, just a few months later (and while they were shooting a movie too!). I think there are really only three truly worthwhile tracks on this, “All My Loving”, “Money”, and, in a distant third place, “You Really Got a Hold on Me.”
“Money” is a great song, and John gives it a great interpretation, but the main credit must go to Barrett Strong and his Motown co-writers, not The Beatles, so “All My Loving” easily wins the vote. It really does stand out on this album, but it would have stood out on better albums too. It could easily have been another number one hit single for them (it is certainly far better than “From Me to You”), and is a prime example of Paul’s amazing genius for melody.
(I am a bit surprised “Money” isn’t getting a few more votes, though. It is currently tied with “Roll Over Beethoven”.
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I picked It Won’t be Long. All My Loving is one of my least favorite songs. Not sure why, I’m more familiar with the song’s placement on the 1962-1966 Red album. I’d put Not a Second Time, Little Child, and Hold Me Tight above All My Loving on this album. I Wanna be your Man is a better Rolling Stones song, although I’m glad Ringo got a vocal.