# Best of the Beatles: Past Masters, Volume One **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351 "2014-04-17T16:50:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/1 "2014-04-17T16:50:40Z")
After wrapping up the original studio albums with [_Let It Be_](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=720783), the quest to find the greatest Beatles song continues with the two _Past Masters_ volumes. These collections are all the songs never put on the studios - The Beatles tried to avoid placing hit singles onto albums, as they felt it was unfair to make their listeners pay twice for the same song. Complied by Mark Lewisohn and released in 1988, the songs range from some of The Beatles’ most famous to obscure B-sides. Volume One spans from 1962 to 1965. A few notes: “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” and “Sie Liebt Dich” are German versions of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You,” respectively. Also, the “Love Me Do” seen here is the version from the single release, rather than the one found on _Please Please Me_. Fun Fact: Paul McCartney once said that it only really hit him how popular The Beatles had become when, one morning lying in bed, he heard a milkman outside on the street whistling “From Me to You.” Let’s vote! ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/2 "2014-04-17T16:57:04Z")
Oh, and I forgot to mention in the OP: like in the earlier polls, all songs marked with an asterisk are covers. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/3 "2014-04-17T17:29:32Z")
My vote went to “She Loves You.” I remember listening to [the album it was on](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles%27_Second_Album) once, and being struck by how good that particular song was: for an early-career pop song whose chorus is essentially “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” it’s a well-written, meaningful song. (It probably helped that it’s easily the best song on that particular album.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/4 "2014-04-17T18:17:29Z")
This isn’t a great selection of songs, on the whole. Only She Loves You and I’m Down are even in consideration, IMO. In the end, it’s the latter that gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/5 "2014-04-17T20:10:43Z")
In the new remasters, Past Masters is one (two-disk) set … is the original two-volume PM set even in print? Either way, my vote is I Feel Fine. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/6 "2014-04-18T00:04:27Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > The Beatles tried to avoid placing hit singles onto albums, as they felt it was unfair to make their listeners pay twice for the same song. Well, if it is true that they “tried” to do that, they “failed” at it about as often as they succeeded, and that is true even if you confine your counts to the original, canonical British releases. (It seems plausible that they, and especially George Martin, had more control over,and paid more attention to, what got released in Britain rather than what got released elsewhere.) From the beginning to the end of their career they released albums that contained songs also released as singles, although they also released singles that did not appear on albums, and sometimes a single A-side would also be on an album but the B-side would not. (I can’t, offhand, think of any examples that are the other way around, unless you count “Revolution” and “Revolution 1”.) Sometimes, but more often not, single and album versions of the same song would be slightly, usually barely noticeably, different, and in one case (“Revolution” and “Revolution 1” again) radically different. I can see no consistent policy being followed as to whether songs released as singles should also be on albums. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/7 "2014-04-18T00:34:57Z")
Easy one. **“She Loves You”** the first Beatles record I ever bought (the Swan 45). I’d heard about them, my parents had watched them on Sullivan but I pointedly ignored it, prissy little twerp that I was. I must have overheard them on the radio but paid no attention. Decided one day to find out what was going on. Went to Unimart (remember Unimart?) and saw She Loves You/I’ll Get You on the rack, bought it. I’d never heard the song. Took it home, put it on my crappy little record-player (remember crappy little record players?). Two minutes later I was a Beatles fanatic, for life as it’s turned out so far. Believe it or not, 50 years later I can clearly remember the moment- the time of day, which room’s floor I was sitting on, what I was wearing. Anyway- for me SLY is second only to Please Please Me as the Fabs’ perfect pop single. On the list posted, **I Feel Fine** would be my second place. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/8 "2014-04-18T00:40:17Z")
By the way, any of you boys and girls who like “Two Of Us” should have a look at the Let It Be thread. New link to a good video. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/9 "2014-04-18T01:12:03Z")
I Feel Fine is my favorite Beatles song, and I hope it wins the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/10 "2014-04-18T01:32:57Z")
_I Want to…_ you know the rest. Their first international smash hit, and the signature song of the early years, all for good reason. I was hooked by age six, but that was in 1976… **Treacherous Cretin** , I bow to you. You were _there,_ man! ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/11 "2014-04-18T01:54:35Z")
**This Boy** is one of my favorite Beatles songs - and criminally underrated - but I couldn’t \*not \*vote for **I Want To Hold Your Hand**. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/12 "2014-04-18T01:54:55Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I can see no consistent policy being followed as to whether songs released as singles should also be on albums. I think that the closest thing to a policy was “If there’s enough new material for an album, do that; if not, recycle.” During more productive periods, like _Sgt. Pepper_, they could afford to not put single releases like “Strawberry Fields” and “Penny Lane” on - but with, say, _Yellow Submarine_, the rules were bent. Which isn’t really a criticism, as looking back, the whole idea of not putting your hits on your albums seems unnecessarily strict. Oh, and I voted for IWtHYH, because it’s a great song, but it’s also historically important - The Beatles were popular in the US before it was (kinda-sorta illegally) released, but once it was out, the truly insane Beatlemania started. I do love “I Feel Fine,” though, especially the feedback and riff at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/13 "2014-04-18T02:16:10Z")
I Want To Hold Your Hand is still a fresh song to me, even after listening to it thousands of times. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/14 "2014-04-18T02:17:05Z")
Slow Down. I love John’s vocals. “_OW!_ If you want our love to last.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/15 "2014-04-18T02:19:10Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > From the beginning to the end of their career they released albums that contained songs also released as singles Now that you mention it, it’s really surprising that no one ever seems to challenge the conventional wisdom that the Beatles kept their album and singles tracks separate, at least for the UK releases. It wasn’t until I charted it out that I realized just how often that didn’t hold true. Here’s a list of the Beatles UK singles; tracks issued on a more or less contemporaneous album–counting only the “canonical” albums–are in green, tracks placed on an album after the fact are in red. (I’m not counting “Revolution,” as “Revolution 1” is such a substantially different recording.) **Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You Please Please Me/Ask Me Why From Me To You/Thank You Girl She Loves You/I’ll Get You I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy Can’t Buy Me Love/You Can’t Do That A Hard Day’s Night/Things We Said Today I Feel Fine/She’s A Woman Ticket To Ride/Yes It Is Help/I’m Down We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper Nowhere Man/What Goes On Paperback Writer/Rain Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever All You Need Is Love/Baby You’re A Rich Man Hello Goodbye/I Am The Walrus Lady Madonna/The Inner Light Hey Jude/Revolution Get Back/Don’t Let Me Down The Ballad Of John And Yoko/Old Brown Shoe Something/Come Together Let It Be/You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)** ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/16 "2014-04-18T02:56:45Z")
The UK release schedule seems to have tried to have a stand-alone single released some time ahead of a _studio album_ release, from _With the Beatles_ to _Abbey Road_; they also did of course singles/EP releases _from_ the albums _after_ those dropped (plus the _Long Tall Sally_ stand-alone EP just to muddy the waters). Projects such as the Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine soundtracks however did result in a number of the mid-carrer standalone singles making it onto “albums” out of sequence. Then at the end the Get Back/Let It Be project threw things into disarray – with its first single (Get Back/Don’t Let Me Down) being released so far ahead it came out even before the lead-in single for Abbey Road which was a true double-A stand-alone (Ballad of John & Yoko/Old Brown Shoe); and an alternate second lead-in single for LIB (You Know My Name/What’s The New Mary Jane) ending up unreleased. It was complicated. This volume is something of an early-career sampler. As of this post there are three clear leaders and they are of course IWHYH, the iconic harbinger of Beatlemania across the oceans; She Loves You, the archetype of their sound for this time period; and I Feel Fine, that first hint of experimentation and expansion of the sound. Can’t possibly find fault with any of those choices. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/17 "2014-04-18T04:02:36Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Now that you mention it, it’s really surprising that no one ever seems to challenge the conventional wisdom that the Beatles kept their album and singles tracks separate, at least for the UK releases. It wasn’t until I charted it out that I realized just how often that didn’t hold true. Here’s a list of the Beatles UK singles; tracks issued on a more or less contemporaneous album–counting only the “canonical” albums–are in green, tracks placed on an album after the fact are in red. (I’m not counting “Revolution,” as “Revolution 1” is such a substantially different recording.) > > **Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You > Please Please Me/Ask Me Why > From Me To You/Thank You Girl > She Loves You/I’ll Get You > I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy > Can’t Buy Me Love/You Can’t Do That > A Hard Day’s Night/Things We Said Today > I Feel Fine/She’s A Woman > Ticket To Ride/Yes It Is > Help/I’m Down > We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper > Nowhere Man/What Goes On > Paperback Writer/Rain > Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby > Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever > All You Need Is Love/Baby You’re A Rich Man > Hello Goodbye/I Am The Walrus > Lady Madonna/The Inner Light > Hey Jude/Revolution > Get Back/Don’t Let Me Down > The Ballad Of John And Yoko/Old Brown Shoe > Something/Come Together > Let It Be/You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)** I hate to do this to you, as you are backing up my point, but “Nowhere Man/What Goes On” was not a British single (and if we start counting non-British singles, let alone albums, we are going to get _a lot_ more examples of songs that were released in both formats. On the other hand, “I am the Walrus” was both on the B-side of “Hello, Goodbye” and on the _Magical Mystery Tour_ double EP, which probably ought to count. There were also a number of other (single) EP’s containing mostly songs that also appeared on either albums or singles or both, that were released in Britain in the earlier days of _The Beatles_’ success. and which attained high positions (mostly #1) in the UK singles chart. (There was also material, largely covers apart from the _Magical Mystery Tour_ stuff, that The Beatles released _only_ in EP form in Britain.) “Yellow Submarine” was not only issued as a single, but appeared on _two_ of the canonical albums (at least if we use the standard criterion of being canonical: having been released, in Britain, by either Parlaphone or Apple, during the band’s lifetime). Then we have several songs that were on _Beatles_ albums and were also released at about the same time as cover singles by other bands, often charting quite high. Examples are “I Wanna be Your Man”, covered by _The Rolling Stones_, “Michelle”, covered by _The Overlanders_, and “Obla-di, Obla-da”, covered by _The Marmalade_ . (There may be others I have forgotten.) It is well known that _The Stones_’ release of “I Wanna be Your Man” was sanctioned and encouraged by _The Beatles_ themselves, and I would not be at all surprised if that were the case with the releases by _The Overlanders_ and _The Marmalade_ too. All in all, the notion that, _The Beatles_, even just in Britain, avoided releasing the same song in more than one format, so that their more completist fans would not have to buy it twice, is a complete crock. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/18 "2014-04-18T04:06:13Z")
I voted “She Loves You” somehow without noticing “I Feel Fine” on the list which I would have probably voted for instead, but to me they are pretty much 1a and 1b. But I think “I Feel Fine” has better overall vocal harmonies and I love that guitar sound, and the interplay between the guitar, bass and cymbal work at the intro of the song right before the first verse begins. Classic. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/19 "2014-04-18T04:23:30Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I hate to do this to you, as you are backing up my point, but “Nowhere Man/What Goes On” was not a British single Yeah, I knew I was going to screw that up _somewhere_. (I deleted all the non-Parlophone singles from the list I copied but missed that one.) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351/20 "2014-04-18T05:33:07Z")
Huh. The one I chose, “I Feel Fine,” is in the lead right now. (Subject to change without further notice.) Didn’t see that coming. First-ever deliberately used guitar feedback on record. Decent riff and arrangement, and the band just holds it together really well. Lyrics nothing special, can’t win 'em all, but not too bad. Overall a nicely crafted tune. If not for that, I would have gone with “I’m Down.” Just a straight-ahead rocker of the kind McCartney had a talent for. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-beatles-past-masters-volume-one/686351.md?page=2)