44 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Elton John) 213 Pts

 

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (stand alone single, later Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy album USA#1 UK#10)

 

In 1974, Elton John released a cover version as a single. Recorded at the Caribou Ranch, it featured background vocals and guitar by John Lennon under the pseudonym Dr. Winston O'Boogie. The single topped the Billboard pop charts for two weeks in January 1975 and also appeared on the 1976 musical documentary, All This and World War II. The B-Side of the single was also a John Lennon composition, "One Day (At a Time)," a song from Lennon's 1973 album Mind Games. As with the A-Side, Lennon appears on the B-Side, playing guitar.

 

During their collaboration, Elton John appeared on John Lennon's song "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night". Lennon promised to appear live with John at Madison Square Garden if "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night]" became a number 1 single. It did, and on Thanksgiving Night, 28 November 1974, Lennon kept his promise. They performed "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night", and "I Saw Her Standing There".

 

43 Twist and Shout (Beatles) 213 Pts

 

Twist and Shout (Please Please Me album USA#2, UK EP lead track - chart inelligible)

 

"Twist and Shout" is a song written by Phil Medley and Bert Russell. It was originally recorded by the Top Notes and then covered by The Isley Brothers. It was covered by The Beatles, with John Lennon on the lead vocals, and originally released on their first album, Please Please Me.

 

Two takes were recorded, and the first take is heard on the album. George Martin said, "I did try a second take ... but John's voice had gone." This is one of The Beatles' first songs featuring the group singing in harmony, which would become a trademark of the early Beatles and "Beatlemania".

 

The Beatles' cover was released on 2 March 1964 in the U.S. as a single, with "There's a Place" as its B-side, by Vee-Jay Records on the Tollie label. It reached #2 on 4 April 1964, during the week that the top five places on the chart were all Beatles singles. (In the Cashbox singles chart for the same week, "Twist and Shout" was #1.) In the United States, "Twist and Shout" was the only million-selling Beatles single that was a cover record, and the only Beatles cover single to reach the Top 10 on any national record chart.

 

In the UK, "Twist and Shout" was released on an EP with three other tracks from the Please Please Me album. Both the EP and Album reached #1 (see Twist and Shout (EP)). In Canada, it became the title track to the second album of Beatles material to be issued by Capitol Records of Canada on February 3, 1964.

 

It is regarded as one of the finest examples of British rock and roll for its vocal performance. The song was used as a rousing closing number on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963 and at The Royal Variety Show in November 1963, the former signalling the start of "Beatlemania." They also performed it on their Ed Sullivan Show appearance in February 1964.

 

42 Photograph (Ringo Starr) 214 Pts

 

Photograph (Ringo album USA#1 UK#8)

 

"Photograph" is a song written by Ringo Starr and George Harrison. It was released by Starr as a single on October 5th, 1973, reaching number eight and number one in the UK and U.S. singles charts, respectively. It can also be heard on the Ringo album and several compilation and live albums.

 

On "Photograph", Starr is the lead vocalist and plays drums, and Harrison plays 12-string acoustic guitar and sings harmony vocals; Jim Keltner (drums), Klaus Voorman (bass), Nicky Hopkins (piano), Vini Poncia (acoustic guitar), Jimmy Calvert (acoustic guitar), Lon and Derrek Van Eaton (percussion), Bobby Keyes (tenor saxophone solo) are also featured. The orchestral arrangements are by Jack Nitzsche, and Richard Perry produced the recording.

 

41 Instant Karma! (John Lennon) 219 Pts

 

Instand Karma (stand alone single, later Shaved Fish album USA#3 UK#5)

 

"Instant Karma!" was recorded for and is John Lennon's third solo single on Apple Records. The song is one of three Lennon solo songs, along with "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance", in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It ranks as one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history, recorded (at London's Abbey Road Studios) the same day it was written, and coming out only ten days later. Lennon remarked to the press, he "wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we're putting it out for dinner." The song was produced by music producer Phil Spector, the first of many solo recordings by The Beatles that Spector worked on through 1970; Lennon may have been trying out Spector for work on the then-dormant Let It Be / Get Back project, which Spector would controversially rework for release that May.

 

Featuring a version of the ever-changing Plastic Ono Band — Lennon on lead vocals, acoustic guitar and electric piano, Billy Preston on grand piano, Klaus Voorman on bass guitar and backing vocals, Alan White on drums, George Harrison on electric guitar and backing vocals, Yoko Ono on backing vocals, Beatles assistant Mal Evans on chimes and handclaps, Beatles then-manager Allen Klein and a dozen or so late-night pub revellers from Hatchetts Pub on overdubbed backing vocals — it was released on February 6, 1970.

40 Yesterday (Beatles) 232 Pts

 

Yesterday (Help album USA#1, UK#8 in 1976)

 

According to the Guinness Book of Records, "Yesterday" has the most cover versions of any song ever written. The song remains popular today with more than 3,000 recorded cover versions, the first hitting the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) asserts that it was performed over seven million times in the 20th century alone. The song was not released as a single in the UK at the time of the US release, and thus never gained number 1 single status in that country. However, "Yesterday" was voted the best song of the 20th century in a 1999 BBC Radio 2 poll of music experts and listeners. In 2000, Yesterday was voted the #1 Pop song of all time by MTV and Rolling Stone Magazine.

 

McCartney composed the entire melody in a dream one night in his room at the Wimpole Street home of his then girlfriend Jane Asher and her family. Upon waking, he hurried to a piano and played the tune to avoid letting it slip into the recesses of his mind.

 

39 Fame (David Bowie) 234 Pts

 

Fame (Young Americans album USA#1 UK#17)

 

"Fame" was inspired by a guitar riff written by Carlos Alomar the title was from John Lennon, and was hurriedly engineered by Bowie with Lennon contributing in the studio. Lennon was given a co-writing credit due to the lyrics being inspired by conversations he had with Bowie on the subject, and because Bowie acknowledged that Lennon singing "Fame!" over Alomar's guitar riff was the catalyst for the song. Lennon's voice was heard at the ending of the song, repeating the word: "FAME, FAME, FAME", from a fast track to a slow track of his voice, as it started from a high voice, culminating in his regular voice, and ending in a lower deep voice, before Bowie finished the song with the words: "Fame, What's your name, what's your name, what's your name, what's your name, what's your name".

 

38 With A Little Luck (Paul McCartney/Wings) 238 Pts

 

With A Little Luck (London Town album USA#1 UK#5)

 

"With a Little Luck" is Wings' #1 (U.S.) single from their 1978 album London Town. The song was written by Paul McCartney in Scotland and recorded on board the boat "Fair Carol" in the Virgin Islands prior to the departure of lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English from Wings. The song was released on St. Patrick's Day 1978, and hit number one in the United States later that spring.

 

37 Band On The Run (Paul McCartney/Wings) 240 Pts

 

Band On The Run (Band On The Run album USA#1 UK#3)

 

The title track of Paul's most successful and iconic post Beatles album. It is composed of a three-part structure that revolves around the themes of escape and liberation. The song tells a story about a band being confined to prison and then escaping and going on the run.

 

Probably the best song ever written about the Beatles: Paul's narrative thinks about giving everything away if he does escape. George Harrison unwittingly contributed the first line of the second part of the song: "If we ever get out of here" when he said it during one of the many Beatles' business meetings.

 

36 Live And Let Die (Paul McCartney/Wings) 241 Pts

 

Live and Let Die (Live and Let Die OST USA#2 UK#7)

 

"Live and Let Die" is the main theme song of the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die and was performed by Paul McCartney and Wings on the movie soundtrack and on the soundtrack album. The song was one of Wings' most successful singles, and the most successful Bond theme to that point. Commissioned specifically for the movie and credited to Paul McCartney and his wife Linda, it reunited McCartney with Beatles producer George Martin, who both produced the song and arranged the orchestral break.

 

35 Let 'Em In (Paul McCartney/Wings) 241 Pts

 

Let 'Em In (Wings At The Speed Of Sound album USA#3 UK#2)

 

"Let 'Em In" was the second single from the Wings' 1976 album Wings at the Speed of Sound. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney. In Canada the song was #3 for 3 weeks on the pop charts and #1 for 3 weeks in Germany.

 

The lyrics include references to a list of McCartney's friends and relatives: "Sister Suzy, Brother John, Martin Luther, Phil and Don, Brother Michael, Auntie Gin, Open the door and let 'em [them] in." In the second verse, "Brother Michael" is replaced by "Uncle Ernie," and in the third, "Auntie Gin" is replaced by "Uncle Ian."

34 You're Sixteen (Ringo Starr) 245 Pts

 

You're Sixteen (Ringo album USA#1 UK#3)

 

In January 1974, a cover version by Ringo Starr hit number one. The latter performance reunited Ringo Starr with his former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney. McCartney is credited on the album cover as having played the instrumental solo on a kazoo. Starr's version remains one of the few #1 singles to feature a kazoo solo. Harry Nilsson sang backing vocals.

 

33 The Girl Is Mine (Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney) 247 Pts

 

The Girl Is Mine (Thriller album USA#2 UK#8)

 

The track was written by Jackson and was produced by Quincy Jones for the singer's sixth solo album, Thriller (1982). The song was recorded at Westlake Studios, Los Angeles, from April 14 to 16, 1982. The year before, Jackson and McCartney had recorded "Say Say Say" and "The Man" for the latter's fifth solo album, Pipes of Peace (1983). Some of the public were not impressed by "The Girl Is Mine"; they felt that Jackson and Quincy Jones had created a song for the white pop audience.

 

32 From Me To You (Beatles) 256 Pts

 

From Me To You (Past Masters Vol 1 album USA#41 in 1964, UK#1)

 

Lennon and McCartney began writing "From Me to You" while on a coach heading to Shrewsbury as part of the Beatles' tour with Helen Shapiro. They had been reading the New Musical Express and noticed the letters section of the magazine: From You to Us. McCartney noted that their early songs tended to include the words I, me, or you in them, as a way of making them "very direct and personal".

 

 

 

31 Mull Of Kintyre / Girls School (Paul McCartney/Wings) 265 Pts

 

Mull Of Kintyre

 

Girls' School

 

(Double A stand alone single, later appeared on London Town CD USA#33 UK#1)

 

The song was written by McCartney and bandmate Denny Laine in tribute to the picturesque Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, where McCartney had owned a home and recording studio since the late 1960s. The song was Wings' biggest hit in the United Kingdom, and the first single to sell over two million copies in the UK.

 

"Mull of Kintyre" was recorded in August 1977 in London, during a break in recording the London Town album caused by Linda McCartney's advanced pregnancy, which led to the departure of Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English from Wings. Bagpipes from Kintyre's local Campbeltown Pipe Band were included as a prominent part of the recording. "Mull of Kintyre" and "Girls' School" (a rocker that had been previously recorded for London Town) were released as a double A-sided single on 11 November 1977, independently of the album.

 

The song's broad appeal was maximised by its pre-Christmas release and it became a Christmas number one single in the UK, spending 9 weeks at the top of the charts. It also became a massive international hit, dominating the charts in Australia, Germany and many other countries over the holiday period. It went on to become the first single to sell over two million copies in the UK, earning McCartney the first ever 'rhodium disc' and becoming the UK's best-selling single of all-time (eclipsing The Beatles' own "She Loves You") until overtaken by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" in 1984 (which also featured McCartney on the B-Side). The song remains the UK's best-selling completely non-charity single. (Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" has sold more in its two releases, but the profits of the 1991 release went to charity.)

 

"Girls' School" was in complete contrast to the A side being an uptempo rock song. In the United States the songs on the record were flipped with "Girls' School" being the more prominently played side.

30 Ticket To Ride (Beatles) 271 Pts

 

Ticket To Ride (Help! album USA#1 UK#1)

 

It was recorded 15 February 1965 at Abbey Road Studios and released two months later. In 2004, this song was ranked number 384 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The song was written primarily by John Lennon (credited to Lennon/McCartney), with Paul McCartney's contributions in dispute. Lennon said that McCartney's contribution was limited to "the way Ringo played the drums". McCartney said that was an incomplete response, and that "we sat down and wrote it together... give him 60 percent of it... we sat down together and worked on that for a full three-hour songwriting session." Lennon said the double-time ending section (with the lyric "My baby don't care") was one of his "favourite bits" in the song. This song was also the first song by the band in which McCartney was featured on lead guitar.

 

Lennon proudly claimed that it was the first heavy metal song given the droning bassline, repeating drums, and loaded guitar lines.

 

29 A World Without Love (Peter & Gordon) 276 Pts

 

Peter and Gordon - A World Without Love (stand alone single, USA#1 UK#1)

 

"A World Without Love" is a song recorded by the English duo Peter and Gordon and released as their first single in February 1964, reaching #1 in the UK Singles Chart in April. The song was written by Paul McCartney and attributed to Lennon/McCartney. McCartney did not think the song was good enough for The Beatles. Prior to giving the song to Peter and Gordon, he offered it Billy J. Kramer, who rejected it.

 

McCartney described John Lennon's reaction to the song: "The funny first line always used to please John. 'Please lock me away –' 'Yes, okay.' End of song."

 

This song was never released by The Beatles and the only known recording of the song by any member of The Beatles is the original demo of the song performed by Paul McCartney which is now in the possession of Peter Asher.

28 Paperback Writer 278 Pts

 

Paperback Writer (Past Masters Vol 2 album, USA#1 UK#1)

 

ritten in the form of a letter from an aspiring author to a publisher, "Paperback Writer" was the first UK Beatles single that was not a love song. "Paperback Writer" was the last new song by The Beatles to be featured in their 1966 touring. The track was recorded between 13 April and 14 April 1966. The song was written three months after McCartney helped John Dunbar and others set up the bookshop for Indica Gallery.

 

"Paperback Writer" is marked by the boosted bass guitar sound throughout. McCartney achieved this effect by "using a loudspeaker as a microphone and positioning it in front of the bass speaker." John Lennon allegedly demanded to know why the bass on a certain Wilson Pickett record far exceeded the bass on any Beatles records. However, this changed for good with the "Paperback Writer" single.

 

"'Paperback Writer' was the first time the bass sound had been heard in all its excitement," said Beatles' engineer Geoff Emerick in Mark Lewisohn's book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. "To get the loud bass sound, Paul played a different bass, a Fender. Then we boosted it further by using a loudspeaker as a microphone. We positioned it directly in front of the bass speaker and the moving diaphragm of the second speaker made the electric current."

27 We Can Work It Out (Beatles) 280 Pts

 

We Can Work It Out ((double A-side UK single with Day Tripper) Past Masters Vol 2 USA#1 UK#1)

 

"We Can Work It Out" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles as a "double A-sided" single with "Day Tripper". McCartney wrote the words and music to the verses and the chorus, with lyrics that "might have been personal" and thus a reference to his relationship with Jane Asher. McCartney then took the song to Lennon: "I took it to John to finish it off and we wrote the middle together." According to Lennon, he "did the middle eight."

 

With its intimations of mortality, Lennon's contribution to the twelve-bar bridge contrasts typically with what Lennon saw as McCartney's cajoling optimism. As Lennon told Playboy in 1980, "You've got Paul writing, 'We can work it out / We can work it out'—real optimistic, y'know, and me, impatient: 'Life is very short, and there's no time / For fussing and fighting, my friend.'"

 

The Beatles recorded "We Can Work It Out" on 20 October 1965, four days after its accompanying single track, with an overdub session on 29 October. They spent nearly 11 hours on the song, by far the longest expenditure of studio time up to that point.

 

In a discussion about what song to release as a single, Lennon argued "vociferously" for "Day Tripper", differing with the majority view that "We Can Work It Out" was a more commercial song. As a result, the single was marketed as the first "double A-side," but airplay and point-of-sale requests soon proved "We Can Work It Out" to be more popular, and it reached No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, The Beatles' fastest-selling single since "Can't Buy Me Love," their previous McCartney-led A-side in the UK.

 

26 Please Please Me (Beatles) 283 Pts

 

Please Please Me (Please Please Me album USA#3 UK#2)

 

"Please Please Me" is the second single released by the The Beatles in the UK, and the first to be issued in the US. It was also the title track of their first LP, which was recorded to capitalise on the success of the single. It was originally a John Lennon composition, although its ultimate form was significantly influenced by George Martin.

 

On 22 February 1963 the song reached #1 on the singles charts compiled by the New Musical Express (the most recognised chart at the time) and the Melody Maker, but it only reached #2 on the Record Retailer chart, which subsequently evolved into the UK Singles Chart and is the most widely quoted today.

 

The single, as initially released with "Ask Me Why" on the B-side, failed to make much impact in the U.S., but when re-released there on 3 January 1964 (this time with "From Me to You" on the B-side) it reached #3 in the US Hot 100.

 

25 Love Me Do (Beatles) 284 Pts

 

Love Me Do (Please Please Me album USA#1 in 1964, UK#17 in 1962, UK#4 in 1982)

 

"Love Me Do" is an early Lennon/McCartney song, principally written by Paul McCartney in 1958–59 while playing truant from school. John Lennon wrote the middle eight. The song was The Beatles' first single, backed by "P.S. I Love You" and released on 5 October 1962.

 

* The Beatles first recorded it on 6 June 1962 with Pete Best on drums, as part of their audition at EMI Studios at 3 Abbey Road, London. This version (previously thought to be lost) is available on Anthology 1.

* By 4 September, Best had been replaced with Ringo Starr (producer George Martin did not approve of Best's drumming), and on that day The Beatles with Starr recorded a version again at EMI Studios.

* One week later, on 11 September, The Beatles returned to the same studio and they made a recording of "Love Me Do" with session drummer Andy White on drums while Starr played tambourine. As the tambourine was not included on the 4 September recording, this is the easiest way to distinguish between the Starr and White recordings.