Celebrating The Beatles, Please Please Me Turns 50

[Tusk]

It is the depth of their song writing that means there will never be a 'definitive' and correct ranking of their songs. Anyone who grew up as the Liverpool Lads evolved connected with different songs depending on when or what those songs happened in their lives.

The generation before mine probably attached to the 'simpler times' Beatles songs, the Ed Sullivan generation. While, I attached to the "Sgt Peppers/Rubber Soul/Revolver/Let it Be" era.

They were the friend that grew with us as we grew

Thnx for bringing up the RS list so I can look it up. Hard to argue with "A Day In The Life" as Number one....

In truth, the song was far too intense musically and emotionally for regular radio play. It wasn't really until the Eighties, after Lennon's murder, that "A Day in the Life" became recognized as the band's masterwork. In this song, as in so many other ways, the Beatles were way ahead of everyone else.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/...s-20110919

I enjoyed reading the forward to the list by Elvis Costello

I was exactly the right age to be hit by them full-on. My experience — seizing on every picture, saving money for singles and EPs, catching them on a local news show — was repeated over and over again around the world. It wasn't the first time anything like this had happened, but the Beatles achieved a level of fame and recognition known previously only to Charlie Chaplin, Brigitte Bardot and Elvis Presley, along with a little of the airless exclusivity of astronauts, former presidents and other heavyweight champions.

Every record was a shock. Compared to rabid R&B evangelists like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles arrived sounding like nothing else. They had already absorbed Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers and Chuck Berry, but they were also writing their own songs. They made writing your own material expected, rather than exceptional.