Oh, and as a sidenote - IIRC, Paul McCartney actually wrote “A World Without Love” when he was 15 or 16, making it even more impressive.
We’re getting into the years where I actually remember hearing some of this stuff contemporaneously. (I turned seven in 1964.) When we get to 1969 or 70 when I started hearing pretty much everything contemporaneously, my views will get much more pronounced! (Of course, after about 1974 or 75, when I started losing interest in top 40 type music, my views will contract again, but what the hell. You know?)
This. I thought this would be a good chance to show my hip knowledge and erudition*…but I have to answer the OP truthfully.
*Which would have meant, what, in this case? The Supremes? The Animals? Satchmo?
Funny that, in the year before, IWTHYH was the follow-on tune to She Loves You. And *Love Me Do *came out in 1962! Neat to observe just from this list of #1’s how the American public went backwards through their catalogue, catching up with the English fans.
The local top 40 station did their own local hit list every week of the top ten songs. My one memory of it is the week that 9 of the 10 were Beatles songs. The tenth? “We Love You, Beatles.” (By The Carefrees. I had to look that up.)
The best of these six Beatles songs is “I Feel Fine,” with its fine harmony and fine instrumentation. And yet they did a bunch of songs that year that were even better.
So I’m breaking ranks and voting for “I Get Around,” and one of the catchiest hooks ever written. Brian Wilson is our great mad genius.
In the United States, Capitol records, which had “first dibs” on the Beatles records, decided that the earlier recordings weren’t right for the U.S. market, therefore leased the songs to minor labels, which in 1964 suddenly found themselves with extremely valuable rights. Thus, in the U.S. chart-topper She Loves You was on the Swan label, while Love Me Do was released on the obscure Tollie label, which also got Twist and Shout (went to #2). Meanwhile, Tollie’s parent label, Vee-Jay, released Please Please Me (#3) and Do You Want to Know a Secret (#2).
“Hard Day’s Night” was the first Beatles song I really, really liked (I was nine in 1964).
Tied for second: Peter and Gordon, Beach Boys, Dean Martin.
I *love *I Get Around, Oh Pretty Woman, House of the Rising Sun, and others.
That said, every Beatles song listed here trumps every one of the others.
I went with A Hard Day’s Night.
mmm
Huh. I knew that he gave it to Peter Asher while living with the Asher family; never knew it was already “old” by then. I think he wrote the middle eight (“So I wait, and in a while…”) after Peter & Gordon decided to record it.
Speaking of the Asher family, those of you who are old enough to remember Jane should take a moment to google recent photos of her. She has aged very well.
I knew going in I was going to pick a Beatles song. I just wasn’t sure which one. I narrowed my choices down to “A Hard Day’s Night” and “I Feel Fine” and ended up choosing the former.
My non-Beatles runners up: “Oh, Pretty Woman” (even though I think it’s way overplayed), “Where Did Our Love Go”, “Come See About Me”, “The House of the Rising Sun”, and “I Get Around”. It should tell you something about the crop of 1964 #1s that I would’ve easily chosen any of those songs over anything offered in 1962 or 1963.
Next up is another excellent year: 1965. I went over to Wikipedia and looked at what hit #1 that year. So far, I’ve narrowed my choices down to 16.
Hard Day’s Night seems to be getting the most love here so far, but I’m more partial to Can’t Buy Me Love. The Beach Boys’ first #1 is also a real gem.
As the 2nd poster on this thread, “shit just got real”. There’s some great music for the next eight years or so.
Listen to the 4th chord on the final (if not earlier) run of “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah” - that was a progression that had never (I suspect) been heard in pop music - kinda a warning shot that 3-chord rock was about to be seriously out-gunned.
I don’t know enough about music theory to say why that chord stuck out, or even what the 4th chord in that progression “should” have been.
I remember my ears catching it and thinking “what is going on here?”. For the next 8 years the Beatles, then John as a solo act, would be repeatedly re-defining rock.
That’s the celebrated sixth chord: G major with an E on top. It’s the tonic chord of the song, so it is the expected chord to resolve on, except for that extra note that gives it a piquant twist.
I agree with Sir Prize, “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” by the Shangri-Las is the best song of this year, or maybe “Girl From Ipanema” by Getz/Gilberto which was only a #5.
From the actual list I’ll go with “A Hard Day’s Night,” great song and interesting arrangement.
No love for Leader of the Pack? It makes me laugh every time I hear it, but I didn’t vote for it either. I went with Hard Day’s Night.
I’ll be in the club car on the Beatles train for the next few stops.
I very nearly picked “Hard Day’s Night” because of that unique, crazy chord at the start. Music theorists and guitarists are still trying to figure out exactly how it was done. I wound up voting for “I Feel Fine” because I’ve always enjoyed it, it has one of the first classic Harrison riffs, and the feedback, intentionally included as a touch of electronic music, was revolutionary.
Psst! Here you go: Beatles - Totally Cool! The Hard Day's Night Chord - Unravelled! - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Rock and Roll is popular again!
I had to go with the House of the Rising Vox Organ.
I also was looking forward to this poll, with the Beatles coming over and all. It’s a refreshing change from the bubblegum crap that hit #1 so often in the previous years. Nevertheless, I voted for House of the Rising Sun.
The “Andrews Sisters” chord. It was George’s idea (Harrison). As always, IF I remember correctly.