Listific: The Toplist Resource

How can anyone come up with a top list of the best Beatles songs? It is an impossible endeavor, akin to plucking stars straight from the sky and sorting them as to which ones are the brightest. Moreover, there are hundreds of songs in the Beatles discography – some more commercially successful than the others, some more profound, some pure nonsense, but definitely masterful, a showcase of the Beatles’ musicianship.

Without further ado, here is our paltry attempt at what we think are the best of the Beatles’ songs, based on their general appeal.

• 13. “Something” (Abbey Road, 1969)

  “Something,” the first song written by George Harrison to land on the A-side of a Beatles album, is very tender and very sentimental. The voice it uses is so common that it is almost like telling your friends over a few cans of beer that there is this girl you like and you do not know how to approach her. It is also one of the most covered songs of the band, right next to “Yesterday.”

• 12. “Here, There and Everywhere” (Revolver, 1966)

  “Here, There and Everywhere” is definitely one of the most beautiful love songs ever written. Paul McCartney both wrote and sang the song. It may be quite cheerful to listen to, but it underplays the bittersweet sentimentality of the lyrics. It is like listening to your best friend, one whom you have known since childhood, tell you that he/she has been in love with you for as long as he/she remembers.

• 11. “Here Comes the Sun” (Abbey Road, 1969)

  “Here Comes the Sun” is a somewhat bubblegum-like song written by George Harrison, sometimes read as an expression of Harrison’s relief from being able to come out alive and on top during the horrible times he had in 1969. In that year, Harrison had his tonsils taken out, was made to go on leave from the band and had to go into rehab for drug abuse. The relief can be felt in the optimism and upbeat tune of the song.

• 10. “Help!” (Help! 1965)

  John Lennon was reported to have said that “Help!” was one of the two songs he ever wrote for the band that he considered to be authentic Beatles. The song may sound cheerful at first, but you will actually come to feel the frantic and desperate cry underneath that layer of cheerfulness if you listen to the song closely.

• 9. “Eight Days a Week” (Beatles for Sale, 1964)

  “Eight Days a Week” is such a fun song to listen to, with the upbeat and danceable tempo accompanied by handclaps. Though it is a love song, it may be hard to take it seriously if one is a girl. It is a fun song, but it is too cheeky to be taken as a serious declaration of love.

• 8. “The Long and Winding Road” (Let It Be, 1969)

  A song written and sung by Paul McCartney, “The Long and Winding Road” is the last single to be released by the Beatles as a band. It also has an interesting history, given that the oversealous treatment that producer Phil Specter gave the song despite McCartney’s protests was cited as one of the reasons why the band broke up. Melodically, it is another melancholy song by the Beatles that leaves you both haunted and hoping.

• 7. “Yesterday” (Help!, 1965)

  Another sentimental and nostalgic song written by Paul McCartney, it is the one Beatles song that was most covered by other artists, including the likes of Frank Sinatra, Matt Monro, Ray Charles and Elvis Presley. It is so easy to fall in love with this song because it echoes the regret felt when letting someone go, an emotion that everyone feels every once in a while.

• 6. “In My Life” (Rubber Soul, 1965)

  For quite a nostalgic and sentimental song, “In My Life” is rather upbeat and cheerful. Its happy notes are catchy and the song itself makes you think of the good times that happened in the past and of the people you shared it with.

• 5. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles, 1968)

  Despite the huge tensions that were ripping through the Beatles in their latter years, they managed to experiment with various genres and incorporated them in their own sound. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” is one of those songs, a trippy attempt by the Beatles at ska, and even though John Lennon hated it, he came up with that awesome piano section at the beginning of the song.

• 4. “Day Tripper” (Past Masters, Volume Two, 1965)

  You may not care about the lyrics of this song, although they are quite good, but you cannot deny that the Beatles were at the top of their game with this song. The guitar riffs were just amasing – pure rock and pure Beatles at their best.

• 3. “I Am the Walrus” (Magic Mystery Tour, 1967)

  John Lennon’s “I Am the Walrus” is a really trippy song, not just because of the fact that it was reputed to be written partially during a couple of acid trips that Lennon had. If people thought “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was weird and nonsensical, one wonders what they thought about “I Am the Walrus.” In this song, the Beatles managed to merge a couple of different and seemingly syncopated melodies and made it work magically.

• 2. “Whilst My Guitar Gently Weeps” (The Beatles, 1968)

  If you do not weep at this song the first time you hear it, you may have to question where your heart really is. The guitar literally weeps a haunting melody here, and the profoundness of the lyrics written by George Harrison is just amasing. The guitar solo in this song is reputed to be written and played by Eric Clapton.

• 1. “Hey, Jude” (Past Masters, Volume Two, 1968)

  An uplifting melody with so many layers to it and with many different ways of reading into it – that is what the song “Hey, Jude” is. It is very comforting and if you listen to it on a gloomy day, you can actually see the grayness lifting off you. Paul McCartney truly achieved his purpose in this song, which is to comfort young Julian Lennon when his parents John and Cynthia Lennon divorced.