# What's the best song off of "With the Beatles"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185 "2010-09-09T15:11:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/1 "2010-09-09T15:11:47Z")
Previous poll (still active): [**Please Please Me**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=577382). There can be only one–which would you choose? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/2 "2010-09-09T15:21:07Z")
_All My Loving_ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/3 "2010-09-09T15:31:49Z")
No question about it. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/4 "2010-09-09T15:44:11Z")
I’m going to give the nod to “It’s Won’t Be Long” because I like the chords so much. It looks like my iTunes play count agrees with this. Although “Little Child” is in second place, which seems weird to me. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/5 "2010-09-09T16:02:11Z")
“All My Loving.” It has the Beatles’ trademark interesting chord changes (I love that it doesn’t even approach the tonic key for the first two measures), and great vocal performances too. “It Won’t Be Long” and “I Wanna Be Your Man” are close choices too. “Money” almost makes the cut for John’s fab vocal. I’ll never pick a cover over an original, but if I _were_ going to, I’d be tempted by “Twist and Shout” (from PPM) and now “Til There Was You,” because it’s such a bizarre choice for them, and I love Paul’s voice on it (except for the odd pronunciation of “saw” as “sore,” which takes me outta the moment every bloody time). Plus, I have tremendous affection for _The Music Man_, so the lads get props for using it. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/6 "2010-09-09T16:09:07Z")
One of my least fave albums, and while “All My Loving” will clearly win here and is considered a Classic, I find it too simplistic and redundant, with not as much interesting going on musically to compensate. I picked George’s one song on this record, “Don’t Bother Me”, which manages to be prickly, provocative, and a better window into the groups real potential. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/7 "2010-09-09T16:10:17Z")
_It Won’t Be Long_ with the rockin’ yeahs… ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/8 "2010-09-09T16:14:19Z")
Not a Second Time. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/9 "2010-09-09T16:56:03Z")
Also one of my least favorite albums, and “All My Loving” gets the nod. I don’t care much for the chorus, but I really love the verse (not so much the lyrics, which are typical bubblegum stuff, but the melody and rhythm). ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/10 "2010-09-09T18:44:00Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > _It Won’t Be Long_ with the rockin’ yeahs… You mean the “aeolian cadences”? 😉 You can read here, a few quotes down, where John is quoted as saying that when the London Times commented on the aeolian cadences in that songs, he could finally see that they were being taken seriously by critics… I voted for Money - sure it’s a cover, but it’s my favorite song on the album and better than All My Loving, which is the song of theirs I would’ve voted for… ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/11 "2010-09-09T19:15:25Z")
Sorry - forgot to add the [link](http://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/it-wont-be-long/)to the [Beatlesbible.com](http://Beatlesbible.com) site… ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/12 "2010-09-09T19:20:09Z")
I went with All My Loving. I actually really enjoy this whole album, but I think it’s clearly the strongest song of the group. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/13 "2010-09-09T20:09:21Z")
I would normally expect this choice to be hard, but this is really not their best collection. “All My Loving” is the best, but it’s not among the groups best songs itself. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/14 "2010-09-10T15:46:34Z")
I’m not expecting the same volume of response for this album as the last one, so I’ll give her a bump and then post the next album right before the weekend starts… ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/15 "2010-09-10T15:56:16Z")
Of all the Beatles albums, this is the one I knew without any doubt what most people would pick for the best song. Definitely what I consider to be a lesser album by the band, along with **Beatles for Sale** and **Let It Be**. ETA: Actually, **Sgt. Pepper** ’s best song seems like a lock, as well. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/16 "2010-09-10T16:00:14Z")
I used to listen to a long-running Australian radio show called the Hot 30, which was once hosted by a DJ called Kyle Sandilands, who back then was actually not that bad - since then of course he’s become an almighty dickhead. Anyway, the Hot 30 was essential listening for me, and shaped my first few years of music fandom - and every night they would sign off after number one with a rock version of ‘All My Loving’. It was years before I knew it was a Beatles song, but it always stuck with me and I find the lyrics so beautiful, and with the nostalgia attached to it there is absolutely no competition for the best song on this record. ‘All My Loving’ by a _mile_. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/17 "2010-09-10T16:03:15Z")
In the realm of useless trivia nobody except fans care about, “All My Loving” was the song they used to open their first Ed Sullivan appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/18 "2010-09-10T16:53:23Z")
This is harder than I would think, because “With the Beatles” wasn’t released in the USA in 1963 - “Meet the Beatles” was. Then you had “The Beatles Second Album” released in the USA. Tracks from BOTH those albums comprise the Parlophone release “With the Beatles.” I was 12 years old when these songs were released. That 12 year-old kid would have voted for “All My Loving” as the best track on the album. But I well remember as a 21-year old in 1972, listening to “Money” long after Beatlemania had faded. The Beatles had broken up. By then I’d been exposed to the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, the Who, the Stones, Cream, Led Zepplin, etc. And I sat bolt upright and thought, “That song rocks as good as any rocker I’ve heard!” So I picked a cover - I picked “Money.” ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/19 "2010-09-10T17:08:39Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I voted for Money - sure it’s a cover, but it’s my favorite song on the album and better than All My Loving, which is the song of theirs I would’ve voted for… Agreed. I love their version of Money, and while All My Loving is the next best song on the album by a wide margin, I don’t love it the way I love Money. On a side note, it’s interesting to see how much stronger _Please, Please Me_ was in comparison to this album. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185/20 "2010-09-10T18:21:22Z")
This is the album where I think the covers outshine the originals. I went with “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” but it was a tight race between that and “Roll Over Beethoven,” with “Money” also putting up stiff competition. Of the originals, yeah, “All My Loving” is hard to beat, but I must give a nod to “Don’t Bother Me,” the first hint of a slightly darker, less cheerful side to the Beatles. Good ol’ standoffish George. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-song-off-of-with-the-beatles/553185.md?page=2)