Your favorite Beatles/John Lennon, McCarthney(sp?) song/s?

[2009AD]

Great thread. One suggestion: please add links to the songs. I was not a Beatles fan in my teens, but I've learned to appreciate their contributions to rock.

Taxman:

Paperback Writer:

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right

[MacShreach]

It could be said that George Harrison would have been better off if he hadn't been a Beatle, because he was overshadowed, maybe even kept down by John and Paul. His best Beatle songs were "Here Comes the Sun" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

Otherwise I would choose Hey Bulldog, You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, Hey Jude, Let it Be, The Long and Winding Road, I'm Only Sleeping and A Day in the Life.

I won't argue with you about George being talented. Guitar Gently Weeps is probably in my top 5 beatles songs. The unfortunate thing back then was that it was all band-based...everyone was in a band. The other unfortunate thing is that George (from his interviews) was quite the shy fellow. He may have been kept down..but John was the ballsy "leader".

Some of George Martin's references suggest to me that this was a management/record company policy that was probably begun by Epstein and carried forward to Apple, by which time Lennon/McCartney were well established as the "hit factory." You have to remember that it wasn't until the late 60's that albums became important commercially and a valid art form in their own right (in pop, anyway, which was years behind jazz.) Most albums of the era are just collections of A and B sides. Harrison's writing was definitely more introspective (in a way that Lennon actually adopted later,) and I suspect he was just not encouraged in the early days because his stuff wasn't considered commercial enough, especially to Martin, who was very "old school" in that sense.

By the 70's all that had changed and people were expecting to hear a range of moods--and funnily enough the Beatles themselves were instrumental in causing that change, esp with Sgt Pepper, of course, but mostly with the White Album, which is the one everybody seems to forget but which was, for me anyway, their definitive work. It lost the relentless (and to me annoying) quality of mid-era albums like Revolver and Rubber Soul and had developed a maturity which, sadly, because of the internal tensions in the band, was never really followed through.

[tstv_lover]

I agree that it's a great thread but an impossible choice!

How about I pick my favourite 53 rather than just one? lol

A John Lennon song that hasn't been mentioned is Beautiful Boy, which he wrote for his son. IMO it's even better than Imagine.

[tstv_lover]

I've been in a "Just Gimme Some Truth" kind of mood lately.

I think we all need a bit of that these days.

Yes, and more of this one - Give Peace A Chance...

[deee757]

My john Lennon song would have to be "John Sinclair" named after a white anti-war activist. Lennon performed this song on stage with notorious Black Panther Bobby Seale

[Star Angel 86]

She Loves You
Help
Day Tripper
I Feel Fine
Strawberry Fields

[silbersack]

Elanor Rigby
Strawberry Fields Forever
Revolution
Hey Jude

[russ23]

Can't believe no-one's mentioned Working Class Hero, great lyrics, beautiful guitar. .

[Hara_Juku Tgirl]

@Dengoza - Love Michelle also

@The Piper - And also, Penny Lane

:P

~Kisses.

HTG

[acacab]

Here Comes the Sun, love the optimism.
She's So Heavy
Dig Paul's vocal on Oh Darling!
Good Morning, Good Morning
I'm Only Sleeping
Norwegian Wood
A Day in the Life
They also did a great cover of Please Mr. Postman, John belts it out.

Go see the Cirque Du Soleil Love Show in Vegas...it is fantastic. They manage to create a moment at the starts of the show where it is like they are performing on stage together again. What a feeling, however brief.