My favorite 15 Beatles songs

(cover versions excluded)

March 2, 2015. I wanted to make a Top 10 list, but it proved too hard to do so I extended the list with five tracks.

#1 Dear Prudence

#2-#15 (not in order of preference)

The Night Before
Ticket To Ride
Strawberry Fields Forever
I'll Cry Instead
When I Get Home
You Can't Do That
I Don't Want To Spoil The Party
And I Love Her
If I Needed Someone
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Tomorrow Never Knows
Here Comes The Sun
Norwegian Wood
I've Got A Feeling

+one track out of regular track listings: That Means A Lot (the version used in film 'Help')

#1 Dear Prudence

#2-#15

The Night Before

A wonderful McCartney track with John's keyboard.

Ticket To Ride

There is just something extraorbital in that opening guitar riff and the subsequent musical athmosphere. When I heard this for the first time in 1980s, I imagined rotating archive tapes reproducing this sound. A sound from the past.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Ever since the Mellotron starts those hazy flute sounds, a feeling of something velvety surrounds the listener.

I'll Cry Instead
When I Get Home
You Can't Do That
I Don't Want To Spoil The Party

Listening to these four songs conveys the idea what was so great about the Beatles - vigor and joy in playing, musical cohesion as well as perfect voices on these four tracks. How to top on that?

And I Love Her

A song with wonderful atmosphere and emotion that garners the listener.

If I Needed Someone

Nice guitar sound.

I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Tomorrow Never Knows

Musical heavy loads by John Lennon :)

'I Want You (She's So Heavy) being one of the first, if not the first, progressive rock songs played already in 1969.

*Tomorrow Never Knows' is an intriguing experiment with backward tapes and recording techniques. I suppose those seagull sounds are not actual birds.

Here Comes The Sun

A mature, balanced composition by Harrison. 'Something' may have more depth to it, but the guitar sound here is unique and stands out over time.

Norwegian Wood

The sitar by Harrison brings depth and width to this modest song (by John Lennon's standards).

I've Got A Feeling

Simple guitar riff together with the roof-top acoustic kind of underlines the meaning of the last Beatles gig. This was it. No more.

That Means A Lot

The version used in the film 'Help' is like a musical postcard for the 1960s.