Desert Island Beatles 45

[mn dave]

Take a look at the list linked below and pick your favorite Beatles single (back in the old days, kids, vinyl singles had an A side and a B side, so take the B side into consideration when making your choice, because you only get a total of 2 songs on this island--for the rest of your life!)

Please only choose only ONE SINGLE!! (I know, it will be difficult.) That's one song and its B side.

http://www.jpgr.co.uk/i_beatles7_date.html

[North Star]

Since I'm going to an island, this seems appropriate: Eleanor Rigby & Yellow Submarine
(although Day Tripper & We Can Work It Out, my other choice, is hardly less so..)

[Sergeant Rock]

The single I would choose isn't listed    It's the first Beatles' single by Capitol records, released in the U.S. in Dec 1963, a single my sister bought...and which I hated    I've since come to respect her taste 

A Side: "I Want To Hold Your Hand"
B Side: "I Saw Her Standing There"

If I have to choose from your list, then it would be "Strawberry Fields Forever" with "Penny Lane."


Sarge

[Szykneij]

If I'm not mistaken, the Beatles were responsible for the death of the "A" side - "B" side tradition after virtually every one of their 45's began to have hits on both sides.
I also have to pick the "Eleanor Rigby"/"Yellow Submarine" release since it was one of the first 45s I ever bought.

[Sammy]

With a little help - A day in the life.

[NJ Joe]

Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane

I would also like to point out that 50 years ago this month, on the chart dated April 4, 1964, Beatles singles occupied the top 5 slots on Billboard's Hot 100 list as follows:   5. Please Please Me 4. I Want To Hold Your Hand 3. She Loves You 2. Twist And Shout 1. Can't Buy Me Love. The feat has not been matched.

[Jay F]

No other possible choice. My high school anthem.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5c-LVYnafg

[Karl Henning]

If I'm not mistaken, the Beatles were responsible for the death of the "A" side - "B" side tradition after virtually every one of their 45's began to have hits on both sides.

Only if you believe that all singles released afterwards were double A-sides

[Todd]

Something / Come Together.

[mn dave]

"Help"/"I'm Down" turned me on to the Beatles. Lennon on the A side and McCartney belting it out on the B. I was knocked out and never looked back after that bit of plastic. And the goofy B side of "Let It Be" is fun (I have a story about that one). "Hey Jude", "Hello, Goodbye", "Eleanor Rigby", "Strawberry Fields...", so difficult... BUT...

I'm giving it to the awesome A/A asskickage of "Paperback Writer" and "Rain"!!!

[mn dave]

(although Day Tripper & We Can Work It Out, my other choice, is hardly less so..)

Oh, yeah!! drooool....

[NJ Joe]

The single I would choose isn't listed    It's the first Beatles' single by Capitol records, released in the U.S. in Dec 1963, a single my sister bought...and which I hated    I've since come to respect her taste 

A Side: "I Want To Hold Your Hand"
B Side: "I Saw Her Standing There"

If I have to choose from your list, then it would be "Strawberry Fields Forever" with "Penny Lane."


Sarge

The first two tracks on Meet the Beatles, side 1.  When I was 7-8 years old my aunt gave me her copy of Meet the Beatles because I liked it so much. I listened to side one of that album every day for probably two months straight.

[Gurn Blanston]

This is even harder than trying to pick my favorite piece of literature!!

I would take With a Little Help / Day in the Life, mainly because the B side is one of the Great Songs!

[Brian]

What's most surprising about this list, to me, is how few of my favorite Beatles songs were singles!

[Karl Henning]

What's most surprising about this list, to me, is how few of my favorite Beatles songs were singles!

!!!

Thread Duty:

"Let It Be" b/w "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)""

[mn dave]

!!!

Thread Duty:

"Let It Be" b/w "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)""

Interesting!

[Karl Henning]

Interesting!

While it isn't a song I need to hear every week . . . "Let It Be" has always hit just the right spot when I hear it, the tone of the music, the song's poignant alloy of melancholy and optimism.  And although the first I ever heard of the B-side was in reading a book about The Fab Four (with the predictable Good God, what a disappointment this song is! hand-wringing), I've just always enjoyed "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)," too. Yeah, so they're The Beatles; aren't they as entitled as anyone, to just goof off and have a good time now and again?

[mn dave]

While it isn't a song I need to hear every week . . . "Let It Be" has always hit just the right spot when I hear it, the tone of the music, the song's poignant alloy of melancholy and optimism.  And although the first I ever heard of the B-side was in reading a book about The Fab Four (with the predictable Good God, what a disappointment this song is! hand-wringing), I've just always enjoyed "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)," too. Yeah, so they're The Beatles; aren't they as entitled as anyone, to just goof off and have a good time now and again?

In a bar in WI, when I was 17, my friend and I replayed "You Know My Name" repeatedly on the jukebox, probably because we were being drunk jerks.

[bwv 1080]

I would lash some coconuts together and paddle over to Stones single island and pick up a copy of Wild Horses / Sway

[Philo]

I don't think any of Spector's mixes were made into singles, but those would be my selections if that choice was given.

"Bell has described his music as being heavily influenced by The Beatles and The Beach Boys, with the Beatles being his main influence.[20] He says that three of his other influences are Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly,[21] and Elvis Costello."