# What is the definitive Beatles song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817 "2003-11-23T06:29:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lux\_Interior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@Lux\_Interior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Interior)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/41 "2003-11-24T14:40:14Z")
I would second “A Day in the Life” > [@](#): > > on the teenagers hijack - I’m 19 and I’ve adored the Beatles’ music since I was 13/14. Since you were 11.14 months old? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/42 "2003-11-24T21:28:16Z")
What made the Beatles special? IMHO harmonies, great guitar riffs, and especially song subject matter way beyond what anyone else was doing at the time. Walrus is wonderful, but it is way too John to be definitive. My three choices, all previously mentioned are I Want to Hold Your Hand - harmonies, great beat, and risque lyrics “my love I can’t hide???” Perhaps this is the first Beatles song that connected with me. Day Tripper - Great riff, great vocals, and subject matter no one else could get away with. Day in the Life - John and Paul working together, but showing their differences. While The End is also great, I think it has too much self knowledge. They were trying to get back to their roots, it didn’t just happen. They succeeded though. ---
**Author:** ![Burnt\_Sugar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@Burnt\_Sugar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burnt_Sugar)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/43 "2003-11-24T23:47:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gmork \* > \*\*on the teenagers hijack - I’m 19 and I’ve adored the Beatles’ music since I was 13/14. \*\* Yeah, my mum likes The Beatles, so I’ve been singing along since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I’m 19 too. I think a great deal of kids would know who they are. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/44 "2003-11-25T01:09:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Voyager \* > **and risque lyrics "my love I can’t hide???"** Wow, I never thought of it that way, and I always considered myself relatively perverted. Actually, when I first heard that line, I made the same mistake Bob Dylan did, which was thinking that they’re singing “I get high.” ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/45 "2003-11-25T01:44:15Z")
“A Hard Day’s Night.” Later on, “A Day in the Life,” and finally “Get Back.” ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/46 "2003-11-25T01:50:27Z")
Well, the movie _A Hard Day’s Night_ would be hard to top for even professional actors, which the Beatles weren’t. At least they weren’t Elvis Presley or Justin and kelly when it comes to film. ---
**Author:** ![born\_too\_late](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@born\_too\_late](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/born_too_late)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/47 "2003-11-25T02:11:41Z")
Another vote for “A Day In the Life” - it seems like a magnum opus, integrating their weirdness, but not getting too out of hand and running the full gamut of musicianship and studio magic. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/48 "2003-11-25T02:29:34Z")
I fourth or fifth “A Day in the Life.” It was the first thought I had when I read the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/49 "2003-11-25T02:57:37Z")
Yeah, “Day in the Life” was actually my second choice. I just wasn’t sure it really showcased George enough. It probably is the quintessential Lennon/McCartney composition, though. ---
**Author:** ![Unix\_Geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unix_geek/32/19368_2.png) [@Unix\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unix_Geek)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/50 "2003-11-25T04:27:00Z")
Mrs Geek says that “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” from _Rubber Soul_ gets her vote. George plays the sitar. The Beatles as World Musicians? ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/51 "2003-11-25T05:17:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Already in Use \* > \*\*What do you mean by this? I think I hear what you’re talking about (from the “sitting in an English garden” point onward), but what is it technically? Is it that technique where certain frequency ranges from a mono mix are assigned to the right channel and others to the left? \*\* The section of the song from “Sitting in an English garden…” onwards is the part which also contains the Shakespeare broadcast. This was added to the recording at random from a live radio feed while they were making the mono mixdown. This would have made it impossible to make a true stereo replication of that section for the stereo mix of the song, as they’d have to be able to get the radio broadcast again and mix it in at the identical locations. However, it was locked in the mono mix. The only alternative available for a stereo mix was to do what you suggested, one channel brighter and the other duller from that point on. There is some subtle panning back and forth of the fake stereo image, but it is, nonetheless, mono. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817/52 "2003-11-25T22:07:41Z")
I could make a case for about fifty, but I want to second the nomination for There’s a Place. Have you listened to it lately? It’s an under-the-radar song. Here they were in 1962 [yeah that’s right '62, cause there’s a live version of it on the German Star Club album] singing: There’s a place / I can go when I feel low / when I feel blue Pretty standard, but then they veer into: and it’s my mind / and there’s no time [beat] when I’m alone And the harmonies on “and it’s my mi-i-i-i-ind” are unexpected and fresh, and the lyric is both earnest, young, and wise, and poignant. Definitive? Maybe. It was probably one of those songs written “eyeball to eyeball” as Lennon put it. It’s a two and a half minute burst of fresh air, and a signal that these guys knew how to get to that place, and take you there too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definitive-beatles-song/214817.md?page=2)