Off The Beatle Track

George Martin believed in sequencing The Beatles’ albums so that each side started and ended with a bang (or a banger). A strong side opener would give the audience a reason to keep listening, and a strong closer would encourage them to flip the album.

To say that The Beatles started their albums well would be an understatement.¹ In this post, I’ll rank the album openers from 12 to 7. I’ll rank 6 to 1 in the next post. For the purposes of this exercise, I’ll skip the Yellow Submarine album, whose opener, the title track, appeared previously on Revolver.

12. Two of Us (Let It Be). Here’s where I have to offer my standard disclaimer: I like The Beatles, and I like all of the songs that opened their albums. But I like Two of Us a little less than the other eleven. I appreciate the idea of John and Paul dueting on an Everly Brothers-like harmony on the last released Beatles album, but this version drags. They’re both singing, but they don’t sound particularly happy about it.²

11. It Won’t Be Long (With The Beatles). A nice jolt of energy to kick off their sophomore effort, and I enjoy John’s word play (“It won’t be long till I belong to you”). Overall, it sounds like an earnest but failed attempt to write a single. Which, apparently, it was.

10. No Reply (Beatles for Sale). Again: I like The Beatles! I really do! But something has to be number 10. The inherent problem of ranking The Beatles’ songs is that comparing any group to The Beatles, even The Beatles themselves, is unfair. No Reply is a terrific song, and marks a step forward in John’s songwriting, but it doesn’t immediately hook me the way that higher entries on this list do.

9. Magical Mystery Tour (Magical Mystery Tour). For me, the highlight of the 2023 Blue Album (The Beatles 1967-1970) was a remixed version of Paul’s rewrite of the opening track from their previous 1967 album (see below). The horns sound punchier, and I’ve always liked the psychedelic bridge and the piano in the long fadeout.

8. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band). This may be the rock-iest (that is, rock as opposed to rock and roll) of the openers, and it’s the only one that spawned a reprise later on the album. It might not stand on it own as a great song, but it does perfectly introduce the album’s concept (not to mention With a Little Help From My Friends).

7. Drive My Car (Rubber Soul). Famously left off of the U.S. Rubber Soul, this track did open 1966’s Yesterday and Today North American compilation. I think of Drive My Car as a sturdy song. It’s not their most inspired, and I don’t often put it on, but I’m always glad to hear it. Plus, it immediately establishes Rubber Soul‘s sub-theme of female empowerment.

I’ll finish the list in part 2. You won’t believe what’s number 1!³

1. Spoiler: They did almost everything well. ↩︎
2. Let It Be was the only one of their four “soundtrack” albums that didn’t begin with the title track from the accompanying film. ↩︎
3. Oh, of course you will. But number 5 will shock you to your core! ↩︎