The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Beatles’ Best and Worst Songs cover art

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Beatles’ Best and Worst Songs

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Beatles’ Best and Worst Songs

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 When we discuss the greatest band in rock history, we tend to focus on the triumphs—the revolutionary albums, the screaming fans, the cultural earthquakes. But what makes The Beatles truly fascinating is that even they, with all their genius, occasionally laid an egg. Who doesn’t? For every “A Day in the Life,” there’s a “Wild Honey Pie.” For every “Strawberry Fields Forever,” there’s a “Revolution 9.” Or a “Mr. Moonight.” 🎸Because music appreciation is subjective, there’s no single “official” list of their best and worst work. But here is a deep analysis aggregated from professional critics, fan polls, streaming analytics (play counts and skip rates on Spotify and Apple Music), and the band members’ own testimonies from interviews, the Anthology series, and Mark Lewisohn’s recording session documentation. And I’ve sprinkled in my own opinions here and there. 📊The Good: Five Songs Acknowledged as Their Best1. A Day in the LifeNearly universally ranked as The Beatles’ greatest achievement, this Sgt. Pepper closer is praised for its ambitious structure, orchestral crescendos, and profound lyricism drawn from Lennon and McCartney at their creative peak. Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Beatles Songs” consistently places it at No. 1, and for good reason. John worries about holes in the road, while Paul gets startled by his alarm clock, all building to that apocalyptic orchestral climax and final piano chord. 🎹2. Strawberry Fields ForeverHas there ever been a more perfect marriage of tripped-out psychedelia with pure, perfect pop? This Lennon masterpiece appears in the top three of virtually every critical ranking. Pitchfork and Vulture, which tend to favor the “art-rock” side of the band, consistently champion this as peak Beatles. Originally recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, George Martin later removed it from the album to release it as a double A-side with “Penny Lane”—a marketing misstep, perhaps, but one that only added to the song’s mystique. 🍓3. In My LifeIt’s maybe impossible to say that any one Beatles song is their best, but it’s hard to argue against “In My Life.” Helped along by George Martin’s sped-up piano solo, it’s a gorgeous, heartbreaking, and nostalgic meditation on memory and loss. What’s remarkable is that Lennon was only 24 when he wrote it, transforming a long poem about riding a bus through Liverpool into this perfectly realized reflection. “It was the first song I wrote that was consciously about my life,” John said. “I think this was my first major piece of work.” 💭4. YesterdayOne of the most covered songs in music history (over 2,000 versions), “Yesterday” remains what Entertainment Weekly calls “the untouchable gold standard” for The Beatles’ melodic legacy. McCartney’s simple, emotional ballad—recorded with just acoustic guitar and string quartet—proves the band didn’t need complexity to achieve greatness. Sometimes less is more. Though some critics now find it mawkish and overplayed, its enduring popularity is undeniable. By 2012, the BBC calculated that “Yesterday” had generated some £19.5 million in royalty payments. 💰 Not bad for a song Paul thought up while he was sleeping.5. Hey JudeThe Beatles’ best-selling UK single and the song that launched a billion wobble-headed “Na-na-na-naaaa!”s. This seven-minute epic starts as Paul’s consolation to John’s son Julian during his parents’ divorce and builds to one of rock’s most iconic singalong endings. It was the first Beatles song recorded on then-state-of-the-art eight-track equipment and remains a massive moment during McCartney’s solo shows. 🎤Honorable mentions that appear across multiple “best of” lists: “Something,” “Let It Be,” “Help!,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “Come Together” ✨A footnote: The Beatles’ early up-tempo songs are often the favorites of Baby Boomers (like me) who were alive in 1964 and grew up experiencing the band in real time, album by album. If you tried telling me that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There” aren’t two of the best pop songs ever, I’d tell you to get your ears examined 🤣.The Bad and Ugly: Five Songs Most Frequently CriticizedThe “worst” list is harder to track. So this data comes from Reddit survivor polls (where thousands of fans vote off their least favorite tracks), streaming skip-rate data, and—most tellingly—the band members’ own commentary. 🗣️1. Revolution 9Eight minutes of avant-garde sound collage that tops almost every “worst Beatles songs” list. It’s not that John Lennon’s experimental piece is totally terrible—in its jarring, abrasive way, it’s “art” on the most outré level. It just doesn’t belong on a Beatles record, not even one as wildly uneven as the White Album. On Reddit’s “Survivor” polls, where thousands of fans vote off their least ...
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