May 5, 20241 yr Author 24th: 381 points Twist And Shout b-VAxGJdJeQ 2010 download chart run: {48}-69->2 steve201 48 ben08 47 Roba. 44 danG 42 …ready for it 38 jimwatts 33 Severin 31 WhoOdyssey 25 popchartfreak 24 gooddelta 24 Bjork 23 Notorious D.O.T. 2 Jade 0 Chez Wombat 0 King Rollo 0 dandy* 0 JulianT 0 Brer 0 Other than “Baby It’s You” this is the only cover version in the rate. It was written in 1961 and the most notable prior version is by the Isley Brothers. A later version by Brian Poole And The Tremeloes reached #4 in the UK in 1963. The Beatles version wasn’t a UK single but reached #2 in the US. The track was recorded at the end of the “Please Please Me” sessions and is notable for John’s incredibly hoarse voice. He was ashamed of the performance at the time but his version has come to be regarded as the definitive version of one of the greatest early rock ‘n’ roll songs.
May 5, 20241 yr Author 23rd: 382 points I Want To Hold Your Hand jenWdylTtzs Chart run: 10-{1}-1-1-1-1-2-3-6-7-15-15-17-25-24-25-32-42-40-48-50-48R(3)->22 ben08 48 …ready for it 43 Bjork 39 Severin 37 steve201 30 Chez Wombat 29 gooddelta 29 jimwatts 26 Roba. 23 WhoOdyssey 23 dandy* 16 King Rollo 15 JulianT 14 popchartfreak 10 Jade 0 danG 0 Notorious D.O.T. 0 Brer 0 This is their 2nd biggest pure seller and one of the 20 biggest ever in the UK with more than 1.8 million sales. It was their first Billboard #1 and the first of their UK Christmas #1. The song was very much a joint writing effort by John and Paul, and their first song to use multi-track recording. Here this is the highest placed song before “A Hard Day’s Night”, meaning all the early material is now out. There are now also several other voters joining gooddelta in having voted for everything that is left.
May 5, 20241 yr Twist and Shout is way too high for me. It’s really not my type of thing at all. I Want to Hold Your Hand is definitely one of their best early singles, I felt it was quite a step up when I listened to vote.
May 5, 20241 yr Their early material isn't on the same level of their experimental stuff, but I Want To Hold Your Hand is probably my favourite of them, a very timeless song. The German version bangs too x
May 6, 20241 yr Day Tripper is great but always preferred t'other side, while I want To Hold Your Head was one dad bought so I grew up with it - in the US this was the monster biggest-selling frenzy-causing scene-changing iconic pop culture moment of 1960's US history, so it's only right it should be the highest-charting of the early stuff.
May 6, 20241 yr Twist & Shout, though, was huge at the time thanks to EP's getting treated like singles and along with Let's Twist Again spearheaded that dance-obsession that gripped the UK in 1962/3. John's vocals are amazing and lift the recording up from great to classic.
May 6, 20241 yr Author 22nd: 405 points Across The Universe 90M60PzmxEE JulianT 48 King Rollo 47 Brer 44 Jade 40 Chez Wombat 37 Notorious D.O.T. 35 popchartfreak 27 danG 27 dandy* 27 WhoOdyssey 22 Bjork 17 gooddelta 10 Roba. 9 ben08 7 …ready for it 5 jimwatts 3 Severin 0 steve201 0 This is included on “Let It Be”, though the first version of it appeared on a 1969 compilation album. It was considered by John to be one of his lyrically best and most poetic ballads. It was influenced by Transcendental Meditation, and the Sanskrit phrase “Jai guru deva om” loosely translates as “all hail the divine guru”. In 2008 NASA transmitted the song as an interstellar message in the direction of Polaris. As a heavy daydreamer this has been a big favourite for me both as a child and an adult. Chartjack2’s 48 points from the last part would have carried it into the Top 20 but alas it falls just shy.
May 6, 20241 yr Author 21st: 415 points I Am The Walrus 2qVn1lMixEM King Rollo 44 popchartfreak 41 Notorious D.O.T. 40 Brer 39 Jade 38 dandy* 37 JulianT 35 Chez Wombat 31 Severin 29 jimwatts 23 danG 18 Steve201 15 …ready for it 10 gooddelta 9 WhoOdyssey 6 Bjork 0 ben08 0 Roba. 0 This was written by John and included on the “Magical Mystery Tour EP” and the film of the same name. He was partly inspired by Lewis Carroll’s similarly nonsensical poem “The Walrus And The Carpenter” in writing this. Here it’s the highest placed song from the EP which peaked at #2 in the UK, and it was held off by “Hello Goodbye” which had “I Am The Walrus” as its B side, meaning that it had the unique honour of featuring in the UK #1 and #2 simultaneously. This would also have been in the Top 20 had chartjack2’s votes counted.
May 6, 20241 yr Author (1962-1966 Disc 1) 1. Love Me Do 2. Please Please Me 3. I Saw Her Standing There 4. Twist And Shout 5. From Me To You 6. She Loves You 7. I Want To Hold Your Hand 8. This Boy 9. All My Loving 10. Roll Over Beethoven 11. You Really Got A Hold On Me 12. Can’t Buy Me Love 13. You Can’t Do That 14. A Hard Day’s Night 15. And I Love Her 16. Eight Days A Week 17. I Feel Fine 18. Ticket To Ride 19. Yesterday (1962-1966 Disc 2) 20. Help! 21. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away 22. We Can Work It Out 23. Day Tripper 24. Drive My Car 25. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) 26. Nowhere Man 27. Michelle 28. In My Life 29. If I Needed Someone 30. Girl 31. Paperback Writer 32. Eleanor Rigby 33. Yellow Submarine 34. Taxman 35. Got To Get You Into My Life 36. I’m Only Sleeping 37. Here, There And Everywhere 38. Tomorrow Never Knows (1967-1970 Disc 1) 39. Strawberry Fields Forever 40. Penny Lane 41. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 42. With A Little Help From My Friends 43. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 44. Within You Without You 45. A Day In The Life 46. All You Need Is Love 47. I Am The Walrus 48. Hello, Goodbye 49. The Fool On The Hill 50. Magical Mystery Tour 51. Lady Madonna 52. Hey Jude 53. Revolution (1967-1970 Disc 2) 54. Back In The U.S.S.R. 55. Dear Prudence 56. While My Guitar Gently Weeps 57. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 58. Glass Onion 59. Blackbird 60. Hey Bulldog 61. Get Back 62. Don’t Let Me Down 63. The Ballad of John and Yoko 64. Old Brown Shoe 65. Here Comes The Sun 66. Come Together 67. Something 68. Octopus’s Garden 69. Oh! Darling 70. I Want You (She’s So Heavy) 71. Let It Be 72. Across The Universe 73. I Me Mine 74. The Long And Winding Road 75. Now And Then 90s Top 10 hits: 76. Baby It’s You 77. Free As A Bird 78. Real Love
May 6, 20241 yr Author Points left to give /1,275: 1 (4) danG 713 2 (2) Chez Wombat 709 3= (1) Roba. 693 3= (6) Jade 693 5 (7) JulianT 683 6 (9) Brer 663 7 (8) gooddelta 648 8 (3) steve201 644 9 (13) dandy* 619 10 (15) Notorious D.O.T. 607 11 (11) King Rollo 598 12 (12) Bjork 585 13 (14) jimwatts 574 14 (5) Severin 569 15= (9) ben08 530 15= (16) popchartfreak 530 17 (18) WhoOdyssey 406 18 (17) …ready for it 399 And chartjack2 would have 563 at this point (ignoring the fact that the Top 20 would have been different). :)
May 7, 20241 yr Slid off from the top now. Expected lol. Glad a lot of my high pointers still in and making top 20 but not a surprise most of them!
May 7, 20241 yr ... the EP which peaked at #2 in the UK ... This EP did make no. 1 in the DISC magazine singles chart and in the Melody Maker chart.
May 7, 20241 yr Author 20th: 418 points Paperback Writer yYvkICbTZIQ Chart run: 2-{1}-1-2-7-14-19-21-30-40-50->11 WhoOdyssey 46 dandy* 46 Roba. 42 Brer 42 …ready for it 34 steve201 29 Jade 28 Severin 26 Notorious D.O.T. 24 goodelta 23 jimwatts 22 JulianT 19 Chez Wombat 17 King Rollo 11 danG 8 popchartfreak 1 Bjork 0 ben08 0 This was largely a Paul written song and their 10th consecutive UK #1 from an official release in 1966. It was the last new song to be featured on their final tour. The song is notable for the opening statement where the voices come in one by one in harmony, and the boosted bass guitar sound. It also sees them moving into more diverse lyrical subject matters, and Paul apparently based it on a letter he had received from a budding novelist.
May 7, 20241 yr Author 19th: 422 points Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) Y_V6y1ZCg_8 Severin 49 Jade 48 dandy* 41 JulianT 41 danG 40 steve201 40 Brer 35 jimwatts 32 popchartfreak 29 Notorious D.O.T. 19 Chez Wombat 16 King Rollo 13 Bjork 8 ben08 8 gooddelta 3 …ready for it 0 Roba. 0 WhoOdyssey 0 This was mainly written by John with contributions from Paul, and appears on “Rubber Soul”. The introspective lyrics were Dylan inspired, and the sitar part played by George was the first appearance of that instrument on a Western recording and marked the beginning of the group’s and especially George’s association with Indian classical music. It topped the Australian charts when released as a single with “Nowhere Man”. I love the gentle simplicity of this, both with the straightforward repeated tune and the delightfully mundane lyrics, and it’s surely up there with the group’s finest ballads. It has done very well here especially with its top end votes, receiving half a dozen scores of 40 or more and 2 podium scores.
May 7, 20241 yr Two of my top 10 falling :( Love Norwegian Wood - although I should confess that the first time I heard the song was the PM Dawn cover version on their Bliss Album :hide: Paperback Writer gone far too early even though it did make top 20. It's just really distinctive with the guitar lines and harmonies, one of my absolute favourites of theirs.
May 7, 20241 yr Huh, I quite like 'Norwegian Wood' and thought I'd given it some points! It must have slipped my mind.
May 8, 20241 yr Author 18th: 430 points We Can Work It Out Qyclqo_AV2M WhoOdyssey 43 JulianT 42 dandy* 40 Chez Wombat 35 danG 30 Brer 30 popchartfreak 26 King Rollo 24 …ready for it 21 steve201 21 Notorious D.O.T. 21 jimwatts 19 Roba. 17 ben08 16 gooddelta 14 Jade 12 Bjork 12 Severin 7 Like its double A side single twin “Day Tripper” this was recorded during the “Rubber Soul” sessions but not included on the album. The double A side was the 7th biggest selling single of the 1960s in the UK and The Beatles’ 5th highest after “She Loves You”, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “I Feel Fine”. “Hey Jude” is now the only pure million seller remaining in the rate. Paul is thought to have written the song about his relationship with Jane Asher. However John wrote the “Life is very short…” bridge section which might be seen to contrast with Paul’s optimistic message. This is the highest of the 5 Christmas #1 tracks and the first song to have received points from all 18 voters, something which even some of the very top tracks didn’t achieve as we’ll see.
May 8, 20241 yr All classic tracks there, love I Am The Walrus especially, but am surprised at Paperback Writer being so popular - at the time it was far and away the least-known song of their 60's hits, I genuinely don't recall hearing it at all until the 70's when it was used as the theme tune to Read All About It book review show, whereas I knew all of the other Beatles singles bar Strawberry Fields (little airplay) and Come Together (Something got the all the fame). In 1976, though, it was the 5th best-selling Beatles single behind Yesterday (top 10), Hey Jude (12), Back In The USSR (top 20), and Get Back (top 30). Nearly 50 years on, here at least it beats 2 of those singles - but drops behind some others. For info, Strawberry Fields was top 40 (Penny lane not listed) and a bunch of others were in the 51-75 range had they been publishing charts that long then.
May 8, 20241 yr Author 17th: 440 points A Hard Day’s Night Yjyj8qnqkYI Chart run: 3-{1}-1-1-2-2-5-6-10-15-19-24-28->13 …ready for it 45 Severin 43 steve201 38 gooddelta 37 ben08 36 Brer 31 WhoOdyssey 30 Roba. 28 Bjork 26 danG 22 King Rollo 21 popchartfreak 19 Jade 16 dandy* 15 JulianT 15 Notorious D.O.T. 11 Chez Wombat 7 jimwatts 0 This was a John written song as well as the title track of both their 3rd studio album and their 1st feature film. It was the first time that both a single and album by the same artist topped both the UK and US charts. Peter Sellers reached the UK Top 20 in 1965 with a comic spoken cover version. The opening chord, played by George on a Rickenbacker 12 string guitar, is one of the most discussed song openings of all time, and the closing instrumental part is also much discussed and inspired bands such as The Byrds. For me the single represents a significant step forward from the band from catchy unchallenging pop-rock to something much more adventurous.
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