Entertainment Weekly Lists Best and Worst Beatles Songs

Entertainment Weekly Lists Best and Worst Beatles Songs

September 8, 2009 11:53 a.m. by Andrew Winistorfer

Thanks to Beatles: Rock Band and their albums getting re-released, it's Beatles week in the music world. And since it's Beatles week, Entertainment Weekly has gone ahead and listed the 50 best Beatles songs (and the five worst) according to them in this week's cover story. The number one pick is debatable (as is the entire list; minus 25 points for not including "Dig a Pony"), but what is not debatable is that George and Ringo should have been on the cover too.

Here's the list:

50 "All You Need Is Love"
49 "I'm So Tired"
48 "Here Comes The Sun"
47 "Helter Skelter"
46 "Ticket To Ride"
45 "Lovely Rita"
44 "Come Together"
43 "I Want To Hold Your Hand"
42 "I'm Down"
41 "Day Tripper"
40 "With a Little Help From My Friends"
39 "Taxman"
38 "You Won't See Me"
37 "She Said She Said"
36 "Dear Prudence"
35 "Nowhere Man"
34 "I've Got a Feeling"
33 "I Should Have Known Better"
32 "I Am The Walrus"
31 "All My Loving"
30 "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
29 "I Saw Her Standing There"
28 "Rain"
27 "Happiness Is A Warm Gun"
26 "Paperback Writer"
25 "I'm A Loser"
24 "I'm Only Sleeping"
23 "We Can Work It Out"
22 "If I Fell"
21 "Revolution" (single version)
20 "Can't Buy Me Love"
19 "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End"
18 "Blackbird"
17 "You've Got to Hide Your Love"
16 "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
15 "In My Life"
14 "Hey Jude"
13 "Help"
12 "Penny Lane"
11 "Eleanor Rigby"
10 "Across The Universe"
09 "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)"
08 "Tomorrow Never Knows"
07 "Let It Be"
06 "She Loves You"
05 "Something"
04 "Strawberry Fields Forever"
03 "Yesterday"
02 "A Day in the Life"
01 "A Hard Day's Night"

The worst:

05 "Flying"
04 "Don't Pass Me By"
03 "Dig It"
02 "Wild Honey Pie"
01 "All You Need Is Love"

[EW]

8 Responses

September 8, 2009 at 1:27 p.m.

EStan

Glass Onion and Ob-La-DiOb-La-Da would make my worst list. On the other hand, the Pixies cover of "Wild Honey Pie" may be the best Beatles cover ever.

September 8, 2009 at 1:55 p.m.

h0gy

No Sgt. Pepper intro either... what a weak list.

September 8, 2009 at 2:09 p.m.

B/|NGER

Eff that list.

Nothing wrong with "Flying" or "Love".

September 8, 2009 at 3:33 p.m.

EStan

They do have "A Day in the Life" at #2, I think that covers Sgt. Pepper.

September 9, 2009 at 9:55 p.m.

OnlySon

Some interesting choices, but a couple of questionable ones near the bottom of the list: axe "I'm Down" in favor of "Don't Let Me Down," and I think there are a few better tunes than "I'm So Tired" off The White Album that aren't on the list.

September 19, 2009 at 11:59 a.m.

Maven

The problem with any "worst of the Beatles" list is that it's inevitably filled with recognizable songs. The makers of such lists aren't really trying to tell you which of the Beatles songs are the worst, just which of the songs YOU RECOGNIZE are "the worst".

For example, there's no way in hell that "All you need is love" is worse than, say, "Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey" from the White Album. But since a list of their TRULY worst would consist entirely of songs nobody remembers, (and therefore would be boring) we instead get lists filled songs that really aren't that bad- I've seen "worst of the Beatles" lists with Yellow Submarine and Octopus's Garden on them, for hell's sakes. Those songs might not be the best the Beatles ever did, but there's no way they're worse than "Hey Bulldog", for example.

September 20, 2009 at 4:38 p.m.

Joey

"All You Need is Love" is on both lists.

why?

September 24, 2009 at 10:58 a.m.

james Miller

Worst song ever - "Run For Your Life" - which promotes domestic violence. I realize things were different in the 1960's and I think if John were here today he would admit its lyrics were inappropriate... A Day in the Life is their masterpiece, as well as the Abbey Road suite... All You Need is Love twice - why - because it can be bad or good depending on how you look at it.