Sunday, January 25, 2009

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE: An enterprising soul has ranked all 185 of the original Beatles songs in a worst-to-first countdown, together with his reasons for each ranking. An index of the rankings is here.

I find the essays accompanying each song generally insightful. I particularly appreciate the way that the author (JBev) has embedded links to each of the songs on youtube.

I am not wildly at odds with his rankings of the less successful songs (is "Yer Blues" anyone's favorite Beatles song?), but as the list progresses I disagree with the author's views more often. "I'll Cry Instead" is ranked too low (at #161) in my view (my introduction to the Beatles was listening countless times to my parents' LP of "Something New, Something New"). At #21, "Yes It Is" is ranked way too high in my view (it's ahead of "Blackbird", "Yesterday", and "Ticket to Ride").

Although I would agonize over the decision, I would have the song ranked #7 on this list ranked #1 on my list. My reasons are similar to those in the author's essay about that song.

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