The Songs

The Beatles Rock Band game is going to feature some of the classic, most iconic songs of the fab four. Here is some information on the song list and what’s stands behind these timeless masterpieces.

1. I Saw Her Standing There:
is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and is the opening track on the The Beatles’ debut album Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 22 March 1963.

In December 1963, Capitol Records released the song in the United States as the B-side on the label’s first single by The Beatles, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. The single topped the U.S. charts for seven weeks starting 18 January 1964. “I Saw Her Standing There” entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 8 February 1964, remaining there for 11 weeks, peaking at number 14. In 2004, the song was ranked #139 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

2. Twist And Shout:
“Twist and Shout” is a song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns. It was originally recorded by the Top Notes and then covered by The Isley Brothers. It was covered by The Beatles, with John Lennon on the lead vocals, and originally released on their first album Please Please Me. The song was covered by The Mamas & the Papas (in the style of a ballad) in 1967 on their album Deliver. It was also covered by Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Most recently, Chaka Demus and Pliers (featuring Jack Radics and Taxi Gang) reached #1 on the UK charts with their version in January 1994.

3. Do You Want To Know A Secret:
“Do You Want to Know a Secret” was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney (see Lennon/McCartney), inspired by “I’m Wishing”, a tune from Walt Disney’s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which Lennon’s mother, Julia Lennon, would sing to him as a child. The first two lines of the song in Disney’s movie (”Want to know a secret? Promise not to tell?”) come right after the opening lyrics (”You’ll never know how much I really love you… You’ll never know how much I really care…”). McCartney said it was a “50-50 collaboration written to order,” i.e., for Harrison to sing.

4. I Want To Hold Your Hand:
I Want to Hold Your Hand” is a song by the English pop and rock band The Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment. McCartney and Lennon did not have any particular inspiration for the song. Instead, they had received specific instructions from manager Brian Epstein to write a song with the American market in mind.
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” was the band’s first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, starting the British Invasion of the United States music charts. The song entered the chart on January 18 1964 at number 45 before it became the number one single for 7 weeks and went onto last a total of 15 weeks in the chart. It also held the top spot in the United Kingdom charts. A million copies of the single had already been ordered on its release. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” became The Beatles’ best-selling single worldwide.

5. Can’t Buy Me Love:
“Can’t Buy Me Love” is a song composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released by The Beatles on the A side of their sixth British single, “Can’t Buy Me Love/You Can’t Do That.”
When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song’s “true” meaning, McCartney denied that “Can’t Buy Me Love” was about prostitution, stating that, although it was open to interpretation, that suggestion was going too far, saying: “The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won’t buy me what I really want.” Although he was to later comment: “It should have been ‘Can Buy Me Love’ ” when reflecting on the perks that money and fame had brought him.
Ironically, the line “I don’t care too much for money / Money can’t buy me love” expresses the opposite sentiment from their earlier cover, “Money (That’s What I Want)”.

6. I Wanna Be Your Man:
“I Wanna Be Your Man” is a rock song written by Paul McCartney with John Lennon, and recorded separately by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones’ version was released earlier.

7. I Feel Fine:
I Feel Fine” is a riff-driven rock song mainly written by John Lennon (although credited to Lennon/McCartney) and released in 1964 by The Beatles as the A side of their eighth UK single. The song reached the top of the UK charts on 12 December of that year, displacing The Rolling Stones’ “Little Red Rooster,” and remained there for five weeks. The b-side was She’s a Woman, mainly written by Paul McCartney. It also reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1964.

8. Eight Days A Week:
“Eight Days a Week” is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, which was recorded by The Beatles and released on their December 1964 album Beatles for Sale.
According to Paul McCartney the title was inspired by a remark from a chauffeur who drove him to Lennon’s house in Weybridge.
“ I usually drove myself there, but the chauffeur drove me out that day and I said, ‘How’ve you been?’ – ‘Oh working hard,’ he said, ‘working eight days a week.’ ”

9. Day Tripper:
“Day Tripper” is a song by English rock band The Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, it was released as a double A-side single with “We Can Work It Out”. Both songs were recorded during the sessions for the Rubber Soul album. The song topped the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

10. Paperback Writer:
“Paperback Writer” is a 1966 rock song recorded and released by The Beatles. Credited to Lennon/McCartney, the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single. The single went to the number one spot in the United States, United Kingdom, West Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. Written in the form of a letter from an aspiring author to a publisher, “Paperback Writer” was the first UK Beatles single that was not a love song (though “Nowhere Man”, which was a single in the U.S., was their first album song released with that distinction). On the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, The song’s two-week stay at number one was interrupted by Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night”.
“Paperback Writer” was the last new song by The Beatles to be featured in their 1966 touring.
Although the song was never included in any original Beatles album, it was included in several compilation albums.

Watch Paperback Writer music video

11. Taxman:
“Taxman” is a song by The Beatles, opening the Revolver album, about high levels of progressive tax taken by the government. George Harrison, who wrote the lyrics, performs the role of a tax collector on the song in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
Harrison was inspired to write “Taxman” when he discovered how much he was earning after accounting for taxes. As Harrison said, “‘Taxman’ was when I first realised that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes. It was and still is typical.” The Beatles’ large earnings placed them in the top tax bracket in the United Kingdom, with the band liable to a “supertax” of 95% on top income that had been introduced by Harold Wilson’s Labour government. In a 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, fellow Beatle Paul McCartney agreed with Harrison’s depiction of the circumstances surrounding the writing of “Taxman”: “George wrote that and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what he’ll do with your money.”

12. And Your Bird Can Sing:
“And Your Bird Can Sing” is a song by The Beatles, released on their 1966 album Revolver in the UK and on Yesterday…and Today in the U.S. The songwriting credit is Lennon/McCartney, though the song was written solely by John Lennon. The working title was “You Don’t Get Me”. Lennon was later dismissive of the song, referring to it as “another of my throwaways…fancy paper around an empty box”.

12. Yellow Submarine:
“Yellow Submarine” is a 1966 song by The Beatles (credited to Lennon/McCartney), and lead sang by Ringo Starr. Although it had previously been released on the Revolver album, it became the title song for the 1968 animated United Artists film, also called Yellow Submarine. It is also the title for the soundtrack album to the film, released as part of The Beatles’ music catalogue.
The song was better received in Britain than in the United States. The single went to #1 on every major British chart, remained at #1 for four weeks and charted for 13 weeks. It won an Ivor Novello Award for the highest certified sales of any single issued in the UK in 1966. However, it failed to reach #1 on the American charts. A contributing factor may have been the “Bigger than Jesus” controversy.

13. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band:
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by English rock band The Beatles. Released 1 June 1967, it became a defining album in the emerging psychedelic rock style; it has since been recognised by prominent critics and publications as one of the most influential albums of all time.
Recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966, Sgt. Pepper sees the band exploring further the experimentation of their previous album, 1966’s Revolver. Making use of orchestras, hired musicians and innovative production techniques, the album incorporates elements of music hall, rock and roll, western classical and traditional Indian music; its lyrics deal particularly with themes of childhood and everyday life. The album is loosely based on a concept that the Beatles are performing as the fictitious band of the album’s title; the cover art, depicting the band posing in front of a montage of famous individuals, has itself been widely acclaimed and imitated.
The album was a commercial success, spending a total of 27 weeks at the top of the UK Album Chart and 15 weeks at number one in the American Billboard 200. It was critically acclaimed upon release and won four Grammy awards in 1968. Sgt. Pepper frequently ranks at or near the top of published lists of the greatest albums of all time, including the top of Rolling Stone magazine’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

14. With A Little Help From My Friends:
“With a Little Help from My Friends” (originally titled A Little Help from My Friends) is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, released on The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. The song was written for and sung by Beatles drummer Ringo Starr as the character “Billy Shears”; it is ranked #304 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

15. Tomorrow Never Knows:
“Tomorrow Never Knows” is the final track of The Beatles’ 1966 studio album Revolver. It is credited as a Lennon/McCartney song, but was written primarily by John Lennon.
The song is significant because it contains the first example of a vocal being put through a Leslie speaker cabinet (which was normally used as a loudspeaker for a Hammond organ) to obtain a vibrato effect, and the use of an ADT system (Automatic double-tracking) to double the vocal image.
“Tomorrow Never Knows” ends the Revolver album in a more experimental fashion than earlier records, which contributed to Revolver’s reputation as one of the group’s most influential and expressive albums.

16. I Am The Walrus:
“I Am the Walrus” is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. Lennon claimed he wrote the first two lines on separate acid trips. The song was in The Beatles’ 1967 television film and album Magical Mystery Tour, and was the B-side to the #1 hit “Hello, Goodbye”.
Lennon composed the avant-garde song by combining three songs he had been working on. When he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyse Beatles’ lyrics, he added a verse of nonsense words.
The walrus is a reference to the walrus in Lewis Carroll’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter” (from the book Through the Looking-Glass). Lennon expressed dismay upon learning that the walrus was a villain in the poem.

17. Back In The U.S.S.R:
“Back in the U.S.S.R.” is a 1968 song by The Beatles (credited to the song writing partnership Lennon/McCartney but mainly written by Paul McCartney) which opens the double-disc album The Beatles, commonly referred to as The White Album. It segues into the next song on the album, “Dear Prudence”.

18. Octopus’s Garden:
“Octopus’s Garden” is a song written by Ringo Starr with fellow Beatle George Harrison (although it is credited solely to Starr, as “Starkey”). It is featured on The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road, and their later albums The Beatles 1967-1970, Anthology 3 and most recently the mash-up album Love.
Harrison commented: “‘Octopus’s Garden’ is Ringo’s song. It’s only the second song Ringo has ever written, mind you, and it’s lovely.” Ringo’s first solo composition had been “Don’t Pass Me By” on The Beatles album. He added that the song gets very deep into your consciousness “because it’s so peaceful. I suppose Ringo is writing cosmic songs these days without even realizing it.”

19. Birthday:
“Birthday” is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and performed by The Beatles on their eponymous double album The Beatles (commonly known as The White Album). It is the opening track on the third side of the LP (or the second disc in CD versions of the record). This song is a prime example of the Beatles’ return to more traditional rock and roll form, although their music had increased in complexity and it had developed more of its own characteristic style by this point.

20. Revolution:
“Revolution” is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and attributed to Lennon/McCartney.
The song appeared in two distinctly different incarnations, a raucous electric “Revolution”, and a slowed “Revolution 1″. A third connected piece written by Lennon, the heavily experimental “Revolution 9″, appeared on the same album side as “Revolution 1″ on The Beatles. Both were on the second side of the second disc. A third unconfirmed version, “Revolution 1, Take 20″ has surfaced on the internet.

21. Here Comes the Sun:
“Here Comes the Sun” is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road.
The song, one of Harrison’s best-known Beatles contributions alongside “Something”, originated from a song-writing collaboration between Harrison and close friend Eric Clapton called “Badge,” recorded by Clapton’s group Cream, and featuring an arpeggiated guitar riff that is similar to the one that forms the bridge of “Here Comes the Sun”. 1969 was a difficult year for Harrison: he was arrested for marijuana possession, he had his tonsils removed, and he had temporarily quit the band. The song was written while Harrison was away from all of these troubles.

22. Dig A Pony:
“Dig a Pony” is a song by The Beatles, originally released on their 1970 album Let It Be, and later re-released on Let It Be… Naked in 2003. “Dig a Pony” was the penultimate song played at the concert on the rooftop of Apple Studios in Savile Row, London on January 30, 1969.
John Lennon was the song’s composer and singer but the song was credited to Lennon/McCartney. Lennon would later comment that he thought the song was “a piece of garbage,”[1] though he has shown similar scorn for many of his songs. It was written for his soon-to-be wife Yoko Ono, and featured a multitude of strange, seemingly nonsense phrases which were strung together, culminating in the chorus “All I want is you”, aimed at Yoko.

23. Get Back:
“Get Back” is a song by The Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney. The song was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to “The Beatles with Billy Preston.” It later became the closing track of Let It Be (1970), which was The Beatles’ last album released before the group formally split. The single reached number one in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, France, West Germany, and Mexico. It was The Beatles’ only single that credited another artist (Preston), although Tony Sheridan had shared billing with The Beatles on his own single “My Bonnie” when issued in the UK in 1962 (and again in 1964).
“Get Back” was The Beatles’ first single release in true stereo in the U.S. In the UK, Beatles singles remained monaural until the following release, “The Ballad of John and Yoko.”

24. I’ve Got A Feeling:
“I’ve Got a Feeling” is a song by The Beatles, from the 1970 album Let It Be. It is one of the songs on the album from the famous Rooftop Concert. It is actually a combination of two unfinished songs strung together: Paul McCartney’s “I’ve Got a Feeling” and John Lennon’s “Everybody Had a Hard Year” from the White Album sessions (where it was demoed as “Everyone Had a Hard Year”), with the main guitar riff coming from Lennon’s unfinished “Watching Rainbows”.