I don’t mean the best song, necessarily, and I don’t mean individual statements like Lennon’s “Across the Universe” or McCartney’s “Yesterday.” I mean what song wpould you say best defines and typifies the Beatles collectively as a band.
My vote would go to “All You Need Is Love.” It has Lennon’s word play and philosophic sense, Paul’s melodic signature, a typically simple yet distint guitar solo from George and, as always, Ringo’s solid and underrated drumming. To me it sums up the Beatles as a band with both it’s message and it’s music.
“There’s A Place” was off their first album, and I don’t think it ever became a hit. I have never heard it on the radio even. It’s one of their less noted songs…yet it captures their collective personality very well.
The cliche is the Beatles wrote simple boy loves girl songs until “Help!” or “Nowhere Man” in 1965, when they began to emulate Bob Dylan. But here is a introspective song with despair and loneliness balanced with optimism way back in early 1963, with one of the best blends of Lennon and McCartney’s voices.
The suggestions so far are all good. But it would be hard (for me) to choose just one song that defined the Beatles. They did all change from their beginning to the break-up, both in musical styles and taste and, I believe, personally. They were so young when they started out, and still pretty young when they became big. (Granted, I mean young by the standards of their time - I realise today’s pop charts are flooded with teens.)
But don’t let that stop you guys from defining what they mean to you:)
I also thought of All You Need Is Love as being a signature tune for the Beatles, since that title encapsulated some much of their song lyrics. But then, on a good day the Hollies or the Bee Gees could have thought up a song a lot like that, too.
Which leaves my other choice: I Am the Walrus. The psychedelic lyrics. The use of rock band and orchestral instruments. The complex aural layering (think of the glissando “ewwwwwws” during the chorus, the switch from true stereo to fake stereo at the midpoint, or the Shakespeare broadcast at the fadeout). Nobody else could have done that song in 1967 but the Beatles.
But how is that reflective of their earliest stuff, which is some of their greatest? “I Saw Her Standing There,” “She Loves You,” “I Feel Fine,” are all terrific, and they invoke images of a certain phase of the Beatles that “AYNIL” does not. How does “AYNIL” compare to the stuff on Revolver, for that matter, or Rubber Soul?
Question’s unanswerable. The Beatles’ collective works simply cover too many styles and types of production, and span too many phases of the Beatles, and there is greatness in all of it. Fun to think about it, though.
I don’t think there’s any one song, but my vote would go to Help!. Perhaps reflective of what the four guys – and not just Lennon – were going through at the time (and afterwards).
LOL. I remembered the You Know My Name suggestion, but not that it had been made by you. Indeed, I thought it odd at the time (you made it), but I figured it was been made seriously – even if I couldn’t understand why.
OK, no need for further crazy/go nuts answer: you’ve already done enough…
I nominate two songs to capture the two main points on the arc of the Beatles’ development:
I Want to Hold Your Hand - while the Boys were huge in the UK, they hadn’t crossed the pond, and it was the act of coming to the States and doing the Sullivan show that blew them into the stratosphere - they single-handedly gave Americans something to be happy about after the death of JFK. And this was the song that was their big hit as they arrived and that they played on the show. Plus, it captures the melodic creativity of Paul and rocker of John (a song they both claim they wrote together), with some tasteful trademark licks of George’s - it is a quintessential song, with the hugest cultural and historic impact of their more traditional pop-rock songs. Plus, although it is a simple pop song, it is well-written and stands the test of time. And it rocks.
Tomorrow Never Knows - the last song, the anchoring foundation of Revolver, IMHO their best album and the best album every produced. While most of the songs on the album are amazing, this is the song where the Beatles turn a corner - jumpting feet first into full-blown studio experimentation, psychedelic lyrics that are not the least bit poppy, yet holding onto their songcraft roots enough to ensure that the song is melodic and accessible. Coming after Rubber Soul - sophisticated pop - and before Sgt. Pepper’s - full-blown concept psychedelia - this song represents the Beatles coming out as mature artists capable of producing music as innovative as anyone in history. And it rocks.
Please Please Me- Everly Bros style harmony(Paul is great), quick intro, George’s lead guitar, Lennon’s harmonica & lastly John’s screw up on the lyrics(which he did a lot). And it was the title of their 1st album- on Vee Jay.
syncro-it was the flip of “Twist & Shout.” I heard it on the radio in 1964-not since. Agree it is great & much overlooked.
