Off The Beatle Track

Before you read any further, guess how many Beatles’ songs don’t feature the title of the song in the lyrics. I guessed 35, somewhere in the range of 15-20% of their catalog.

Then I did the research.¹ But before I reveal the results, shouldn’t there be a name for songs that don’t mention the title in the lyrics? I’ll get back to that at the end of the post.

Notes on methodology

In compiling the list, I had to make a few linguistic decisions. For example, do The Beatles sing “I want to hold your hand”–the song’s title–or “I wanna hold your hand”? I decided that for the purposes of this list, it didn’t really matter. Their intent was to sing the song’s title, even if their pronunciation briefly failed them.²

What about the cases, such as with Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!, in which they sing all the words in the title, but not in succession? Again, I’ve decided that since the lyrics mention all the words in the title, they have, in fact, sung the song’s title.³

The list

1. Anna (Go to Him). Right out of the gate, a controversial entry. As I wrote in my searing expose of parenthetical Beatle song titles, John never sings “go to him,” but “go with him.” So, technically, the title doesn’t appear in the lyrics.
2. Love You To. George sings that he’ll make “love to you,” which might be why some fans refer to this song as “Love To You.”⁴
3. Tomorrow Never Knows. Maybe the best-known example of song in which the lyrics never even hint at the title.
4. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite! The first line that John sings is “for the benefit of Mr. Kite,” but he doesn’t add “Being.”
5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise). Sigh. Around here is where I start to question my sanity, i.e., would any sane person expect The Beatles to sing the word “reprise”? But given the ground rules that I’ve established, I suppose I must count it.
6. A Day In The Life. They never sing the words “day”–though John does sing “today” three times–or “life” in this song.
7. The Inner Light. The second George song on the list, and the first to appear on a single (it was the B-side to Lady Madonna).
8. Wild Honey Pie. The first and only entry on the list written solely by Paul.
9. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill. Two songs in a row from the same album! I’ve always found “The Continuing Story Of” unnecessary, but who am I to judge?
10. Yer Blues. The only reference to the title occurs when John sings “blue mist ’round my soul.”
11. Revolution 1. Hey, they put the “1” there, not me!
12. Revolution 9. This one does include the spoken word “nine,” of course, but doesn’t contain the word “revolution.”
13. The Ballad of John and Yoko. The only single A-side on the list.

Only 13?!

So I was way off in my estimation. I thought the list would be about three times longer than it is. But I’m glad I counted. I guess.

Back to the question of what we should call these songs in which the title doesn’t appear in the lyrics. Based partly on my desire to show George a little love and partly on my attempt to incorporate one of these song titles into the new label, I’m going to propose “inner lights.” You know, because the inner part of the song is a little light when it comes to mentioning the song’s title.

Don’t like it? I don’t blame you. I mean, email me at beatletrack@gmail.com to propose a better name.

1. By which I mean that I looked at a list of their songs. ↩︎
2. This exception can also be applied to All I’ve Got To Do and You’re Going To Lose That Girl. ↩︎
3. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) also fits into this category, though John sings “this bird had flown.” Should one letter put it on the list? You may disbelieve me, but I sincerely worry about that question. In Within You Without You, George adds “and” after the first “you,” but he does sing all the words in the title. Paul sings both “hello” and “goodbye,” but never the two together in Hello, Goodbye. In Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey, John routinely adds “for” between “except” and “me,” but he does sing all the words in the song’s title. I Want You (She’s So Heavy) also fits this exception. ↩︎
4. “Love You Too” is also a popular mistake. ↩︎