Written by:  George Harrison
Album:  Abbey Road
Single:  Double A side with Come Together

Entered Charts:  22 October 1969
Entry Point:  40
Highest Position:  1
Weeks In:  19

Wow … what a song.

Great melody, great lyrics and a great performance.

It really was a toss up between this song and yesterday’s Yesterday for the number one but I went with Something because I think that it’s a stronger performance by the band and a slightly happier song. Yesterday, by it’s nature, is a song of regret. This is a celebration of sorts.

Interestingly, Something is the second most-covered Beatles song with over 150 cover versions available, including a version by Joe Cocker that was released two months before the Beatles version. Frank Sinatra called it “the greatest love song ever written”. Even John and Paul were known to be impressed saying that it was George’s finest song and the best track on Abbey Road.

It is also the only Harrison composition to be catalogued as the primary single on a Beatles double A-side single (or in some countries, the A-side of a conventional single).

So, there you go .. number one in The Radio Ga Ga Top 30 Beatles Countdown. I’ll be back in July with the next Radio Ga Ga Countdown.

Speak to you then!

Written by:  Lennon / McCartney (Paul McCartney)
Album:  Help!
Single:  Double A side with Act Naturally

Entered Charts:  20 October 1965
Entry Point:  31
Highest Position:  3
Weeks In:  16

What an amazing piece of music – simple melody, simple words, simple everything really.

This is a song that has re-defined words like classic and standard. So much has been written about the song that anything I do here is not going to it any justice. It is the most covered song of all time – name an artist or band and there’s a better than reasonable chance that they have recorded it.

I heard Frank Sinatra’s version the other day and it struck me, once again, just how wonderful the original is. Often the recording artist tries to do something to make their own mark on a song but even someone like Sinatra can’t do it. The couple of attempts to change the rhythm, add emphasis in certain sections simply takes away from the song.

This is one of those examples of “the original and the best”. Interestingly, John, George and Ringo do not appear on this recording – it’s just Paul supported by a string quartet. Again, simplicity is the key.

It’s just about perfect … but still not my favourite. Come back tomorrow to find out what my favourite Beatles song is.

Written by:  Lennon / McCartney (John Lennon)
Album:  Magical Mystery Tour (US only)
Single:  Double A-side with Penny Lane

Entered Charts:  22 March 1967
Entry Point:  26
Highest Position:  1
Weeks In:  15

Well, yesterday I said that I Am The Walrus was Lennon at his finest and here I am, 24 hours later, declaring another of his songs to be higher on my list of favourites.

It was a line ball decision between these two songs but at the end of the day, I prefer Strawberry Fields Forever to I Am The Walrus. That said, I think that the Walrus is a better song and does more to highlight Lennon than today’s song. If that’s a bit illogical, then that’s just the way life is sometimes.

This is another complex piece of music with almost a haunting melody. Very different to anything else the Beatles did in my opinion.

For the record, Strawberry Fields was the name of a Salvation Army children’s home just near where John grew up. He used to spend a lot of time in the woods behind the home.

This song was supported by one of the Beatles’ earliest promotional videos, filmed in Sevenoaks near London.

Written by:  Lennon / McCartney (John Lennon)
Album:  Magical Mystery Tour (US only)
Single: Double A side with Hello Goodbye

Entered Charts:  13 December 1967
Entry Point:  14
Highest Position:  1
Weeks In:  15

Like Penny Lane, yesterday, I Am The Walrus was not released on an album in the UK. It was released as the second named song on the double A side with Hello Goodbye.

This is a song rich with imagery and amazing chord progressions. It is simply a work of art. What is semolina pilchard, anyway??

There’s not much to say except that it is John Lennon at his best – musically, lyrically and vocally. You could argue that Imagine was better but that didn’t quite stretch the imagination like the Walrus. Incidentally, there is a reference to this song in another Lennon song – Glass Onion from The Beatles (White) album:

“I told you about the walrus and me, man
You know that we’re as close as can be, man
Well, here’s another clue for you all
The walrus was Paul”

Written by:  Lennon / McCartney (Paul McCartney)
Album:  Magical Mystery Tour (US only)
Single:  Double A side with Strawberry Fields Forever

Entered Charts:  22 March 1967
Entry Point:  26
Highest Position:  1
Weeks In:  15

Penny Lane was recorded during the Sgt Pepper sessions but was left off the album and released as a double A side single with Strawberry Fields Forever in early 1967.

Penny Lane is an area in the band’s hometown of Liverpool and has become a major tourist attraction. The council have had no end of trouble trying to keep the area signposted due to the number of signs being stolen. It was a location where John and Paul used to meet to catch a bus into town when they were younger.

The single was released in a picture sleeve – the first time the Beatles had that with one of their singles.

The song was ultimately included on the Magical Mystery Tour album in the US. The Magical Mystery Tour film spawned too many songs for an EP and not enough for an album. In the UK, they released a double EP, containing only songs from the film. In the US, where EP’s were less popular, they padded the album out by adding the 1967 singles, including Penny Lane.

Written by: Lennon / McCartney (Paul McCartney)
Album:  Let It Be
Single B side:  You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Entered Charts: 18 March 1970
Entry Point:  27
Highest Position:  1
Weeks In:  27

Along with Hey Jude, Let It Be ranks as the longest charting song that The Beatles had in Australia – both songs peaked at number 1 and stayed in the charts for 27 weeks.

This song was an intensely personal song for Paul, with the inspiration coming from his late mother, who had died from cancer when he was 14. It was the last single released by the Beatles before he announced his departure from the band and, I think, has a certain finality in its lyrics and in the closing chords. It just seems to put a full stop on the band.

Billy Preston played keyboards on the track and this is the only known example of Linda McCartney singing on a Beatles track. Paul, George and Ringo performed the song at Linda’s memorial service in 1998. It was also the track used to closed the epic Live Aid concert in 1985. The sound system malfunctioned and so the vocals on the DVD and video release were added after the event.

The top 5 starts tomorrow with three songs from the same album filling positions 3,4 and 5.

Written by:  George Harrison
Album:  Abbey Road
Single:  Not released as a single

Entered Charts:  -
Entry Point:  -
Highest Position:  -
Weeks In:  -

What an uplifting song … the sort of thing you should listen to on a clear winter’s day …

One of the absolute highlights of the Abbey Road album and another great example of George Harrison’s songwriting talents. The song was written on a day off by George, walking around the gardens of Eric Clapton’s house.

This song was proposed as part of the Voyager Golden Record – a collection of songs that were recorded and attached to each of the rockets of the Voyager space mission. The idea was to provide samples of human civilisation to any beings who found parts of the spacecraft out there. And they say that The Beatles were on drugs?? In the end, EMI wouldn’t release the song for the project and so those little green folks out there have no idea of just how good the song is.

Written by:  Lennon/McCartney (John Lennon)
Album:  Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Single:  Not released as a single

Entered Charts:  -
Entry Point:  -
Highest Position:  -
Weeks In:  -

Picture yourself in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies …

What an extraordinary collection of images described in this hauntingly beautiful piece of music.

Unless you’ve been completely oblivious to the music scene for the last 40 years, you’ll already know the story about Lucy being a classmate of Julian Lennon’s and the whole controversy about LSD so I won’t waste space here.

The girl in question, Lucy O’Donnell, was diagnosed with the auto-immune syndrome lupus and passed away in 2007. Julian Lennon remained in contact with her towards the end of her life.

This song also holds a special significance for me – my daughter is called Lucy and she IS “the girl with the sun in her eyes”, as far as I’m concerned. You can hear this Lucy on 3WBC’s The Fifth Saturday (www.facebook.com/5thSaturday) program at 11:00am every time there’s five Saturdays in the month.

Written by:  Lennon/McCartney (Paul McCartney)
Album:  Rubber Soul
Single:  Not released as a single in Australia

Entered Charts:  -
Entry Point:  -
Highest Position:  -
Weeks In:  -

A simple tune. A simple story about an English-speaking suitor trying to communicate with a French-speaking girl. For many listeners, it became the only French they ever learned … sont des mots qui vent tres bien ensemble - very handy if you ever needed to say “these are words that go together well” in French! The initial phrase “Michelle, ma belle” was provided by Jan Vaughan, a French teacher who was married to one of Paul’s friends. Paul added the next line “these are words that go together well” and had Vaughan translate them as well.

This song won the Grammy Award for the Best Song for 1966 beating Born Free, The Impossible Dream, Somewhere My Love and Strangers In The Night.

The song was performed sporadically by McCartney in his solo performances over the years, although was regularly included in concerts in France. Most recently, the song made the news when McCartney, having just been awarded the Gershwin Prize for popular song by President Barack Obama, sang the song to Michelle Obama.

Written by:  Lennon/McCartney (Paul McCartney)
Album:  Let It Be
Single B Side:  For You Blue

Entered Charts:  25 June 1970
Entry Point:  40
Highest Position:  3
Weeks In:  21

The last single to chart for the Beatles during their existence (a couple of “lost” songs charted in the 1990′s) and was well and truly a nail in the coffin for the band. Paul was so incensed by the amount of sound engineering done on the song by Phil Spector, he cited it, in court, as one of the reasons the Beatles had to be dissolved.

The song is a melancholy ballad written by McCartney on his farm in Scotland and is thought to have been inspired by the long and winding road that led to the farm.

It remains a McCartney favourite and is often included in play-lists, including, most famously, the Winds Over America play-list.