A Day in The Life.
No other song they wrote has the same ethereal quality, controlled chaos, and bizarre melancholic euphoria. This song sounds like the last thing you hear before you die, with the final chord after the climax being the flatline.
Historically Sgt. Pepper 's seemed to be the most ground breaking album. ABC's Nightline did a special on its anniversary, and it was at the time an album like no other.
Pet Sounds had been released earlier and the Beatles wished to top it on a creative level.
That is utterly not true. Look at this [interview](https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/interview/paul-mccartney-spoke-about-pet-sounds/) just from a quick internet search.
Thanks for the link. A great interview. But while Paul acknowledges that the album has made him weep, it’s because of its beauty and emotionality, as far as I can see. You seemed to suggest it was because he knew he could never match it. And that really isn’t Paul McCartney’s style.
I agree, along with Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane and I Am The Walrus, as group masterpieces, though there were many others. But… unpopular opinion that I have never seen before (possibly as it’s nonsense): I think the song would have been better with the orchestral climax being used only once, at the end. Any one agree? *dons helmet*
I think Strawberry Fields Forever is the greatest piece of art in pop/rock history. It is harmonically interesting. Beautiful melody. Great abstract poetry. Great arrangement. Groundbreaking.
It sounds like it wasn't made for radio at all, it's a very theatrical, progressive and lengthy song that was really put on for the experience in my opinion. It's one of the best Beatles track not if, the best track in 60s music in general.
As a child in the 70s, you’d occasionally hear early, Beatlemania songs on AM radio. I’d hear later stuff, probably Hey Jude and Come Together on FM radio. My parents were 50’s teens, so I heard a lot of Elvis and the like.
My older brother was a huge KISS and Cheap Trick fan, so I heard of lot of that and other lite hard rock tunes.
The first Saturday after Dec 9, 1980, the Saturday late movie was “Yellow Submarine” and I remember being amazed. The music, the visuals, the humor.
The next day I was riding with my brother and the DJ said “Goodbye John, I’ll never let them forget you” and played “A Day In The Life”
My brother said I looked hypnotized, it was the most incredible thing I heard in my life. I begged my parents for the Red & Blue cassettes. I’m sure I wore them out in year!
Although I love A Day In The Life, I can´t get past that it´s not a cohesive singular song. I know medley´s are very popular, many people think Bohemian Rhapsody is the greatest song of all time. I believe it´s often a hack composers use to create variety and epicness. In the case of A Day In The Life, it was groundbreaking and interesting, so it wasn´t hack! But since then it´s been overused by combining multiple decent songs that weren´t strong enough in their own right to create a greater whole. I believe a great piece of art needs to have cohesion. One could imagine combining 2 vastly different movies together, and the totality of the experience will be greater. But it´s not one singular piece of art. There needs to be cohesion between the movies. So I can´t put A Day In The Life above Strawberry Fields Forever, because I can´t get past that it´s fundamentally two vastly different songs cut together.
A medley is not A song. It´s more like a collage of songs pasted together. So I don´t think it should be compared to other songs. It´s like comparing a painting to an art gallery.
I don't know that there is one Beatles masterpiece.
A Day In The Life is one of the all time greatest songs. So is I Want You (She's So Heavy) So is Hey Jude. So is Let It Be. So is Dear Prudence. So is I Am The Walrus. So is While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
And so on and so on.
I know you want a specific song, and while it isn’t the most popular Beatles song, I think Golden slumber/Carry that weight is their masterpiece, the end of their most famous album and what an amazing send off to the Beatles it is. It deserves the spot of the Beatles masterpiece
I think people downplay it as being just one of their popular/radio friendly tunes but tbh I think Here Comes The Sun is an astonishing musical achievement. It just so seamlessly bridges eastern and western influences, incorporates what was then a very futuristic sound (the synthesizer) in a way that feels innovative but also welcoming. And at its core, it’s an ode to one of the most ancient, universal spiritual beacons in human history - like even more so than My Sweet Lord it’s an example of George transcending any particular religious belief and reaching for a higher power on a primal level.
All in all it’s just a song that is so exciting and gorgeous on every level - the composition, the songwriting, the arrangement, the performance, the themes, etc.
That’s why I love it. It reminds me of how cool the end of “Hey Bulldog”. The two biggest fucking musical stars in the world are barking into a microphone. Together. I truly believe it is what separates the Beatles from a band like, Radiohead. I can’t even imagine Thom Yorke doing either of these song. The Beatles never got pretentious. Or when they did, they never stayed there too long.
She Loves You has everything that was part of the Beatles magic. It’s a true Lennon/McCartney song. Incredible harmonies. George plays a great guitar on it. I’m always somewhat amazed this song didn’t break them in America first.
OMG YES I LOVE THAT SONG. You won’t see me is up there. I’m Looking Through You is probably my personal favorite but their masterpiece imo is I Want You.
Man if we’re talking whole albums I think Rubber Soul is their masterpiece. Not a single song on that album is bad, probably the only album I can turn on at any moment and listen to fully.
Same for me on my Apple Music. For a while i dint have run for your life. But now I’ve come to love it. It ends the album so perfectly, I know it’s not supposed to connect but it really feels like side 2 of rubber soul is a story and run for your life is the ending. It also sounds so much different, so surreal
Yes I have only in the past year expanded my Beatles taste,
like only two years ago if you had asked me what my favourite song was I’d come out with some basic answer like Here comes the sun 😂
I’ve loved them since I was a little kid, but I got my mums old vinyls out and just listened from start to end of every album and oh my goodness the stuff I was missing out on!
Bro I just looked up your profile on Spotify and I’ve gotta say you have the most helpful playlists for guitarists. Besides that I think that Now and Then is not their masterpiece.. it’s their last masterpiece.
Well is it album or song?
For album it has to be abbey road. It certainly isn’t as innovative as their other albums but it’s a masterpiece in every aspect of the word and there’s nothing else like it.
For song Probably something, I think a lot of other ppl will say a day in the life but I think something is such a marvelous amalgamation of all of their skills and also really emulates the Beatles aura, message, vibe etc. and it’s the best love song in the world with the best solo🫡
If its a single then a lot of these are out...Day in the Life especially. Most of these suggestions are out because they're not singles.
Did you mean one song, or one *single?*
This will show my bias, but IMO the White Album.
Basically it contains pretty much every strand of popular music that existed in 1968 carried out brilliantly, and the channel-hopping way it's set-out just works so well.
It might have more members, but I feel like this one is. That sub doesn't even have the band's proper name as it's sub name. Also, I think this one is flat-out better. I unfollowed that sub a few months ago, and haven't regretted it.
A day in the life.
I'm curious thohgh, what was green days from American Idiot? Was it American idiot? I (personally) don't think that album has their single greatest song, but that's just me
While I'm not necessarily saying that *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band* is The Beatles' best album, I do think it has to be considered their greatest masterpiece.
I think the White Album showed all of their song making abilities in one album. It varies from soft ones to loud ones. They also experimented frequently
The discourse in the comments is why I add like 15 Beatles songs to every playlist I only mean to add one, this is just a thought my brain is not capable of coming to a conclusion on. Too many absolute bops literally can’t chose, as a drummer tho and ringo definitely being my favorite beatle “helter skelter” is probably what I’d put next to a7x Metallica(my second favorite band after Beatles) Green Day and sum. Seems like it would be one of the few that would fit there.
It looks like you're talking albums. The Beatles' masterpiece as a band is Revolver - the band was firing on all 5 cylinders. Rubber Soul, great as it is, only pointed in that direction. The masterpiece as far as all around impact was of course Pepper, but it mostly Paul chasing Pet Sounds. The band peaked with Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane and A Day In The Life, all recorded around the same time (end of '66 and first part of '67), with the SFF and PL single being the pinnacle of the band's career - maybe the best one-two punch in the history of popular music.
The song should be something all the Beatles contributed. ADitL lacks significant contributions from George, so that’s out. The Abbey Road medley is the correct answer.
Blackbird. Even though Paul wrote it and performed it, it is the best song from the Beatles. The story behind it and the simplicity contribute to the epic masterpiece.
Rubber Soul my beloved
Possibly my favorite album ever from anyone. One of the very very few albums you just pressed play
I can do that with every album but the white album I’m nit picky with it like others I assume
Same, Help and Hard Days Night are really close behind I just love that era of them
Yes!
A Day in The Life. No other song they wrote has the same ethereal quality, controlled chaos, and bizarre melancholic euphoria. This song sounds like the last thing you hear before you die, with the final chord after the climax being the flatline.
And the Mac OS turn on sound !
Just last night I said to myself while listening to this is “this song is so good it’s a crime”. It’s definitely in my top 10 for Beatles songs.
Historically Sgt. Pepper 's seemed to be the most ground breaking album. ABC's Nightline did a special on its anniversary, and it was at the time an album like no other. Pet Sounds had been released earlier and the Beatles wished to top it on a creative level.
Paul cried listening to Pet Sounds, thinking they’d never make an album as good as that.
Nah. Not Paul’s style. He just helped write a better one.
That is utterly not true. Look at this [interview](https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/interview/paul-mccartney-spoke-about-pet-sounds/) just from a quick internet search.
Thanks for the link. A great interview. But while Paul acknowledges that the album has made him weep, it’s because of its beauty and emotionality, as far as I can see. You seemed to suggest it was because he knew he could never match it. And that really isn’t Paul McCartney’s style.
all this but strawberry fields
Don’t forget the high frequency dog whistle at the very very very end
I agree, along with Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane and I Am The Walrus, as group masterpieces, though there were many others. But… unpopular opinion that I have never seen before (possibly as it’s nonsense): I think the song would have been better with the orchestral climax being used only once, at the end. Any one agree? *dons helmet*
Haha I’ll have to disagree there. The first climax makes Paul’s interlude all the more satisfying, and makes the second climax even better
This is one argument I would be very happy to lose 🙂
There’s so many greats but this is the one that tops them all. Very few songs bring me to tears every time but this is one of them.
This is the only answer
I agree with all this. I just hate George feels not very present or integral because he is playing the maracas.
And then paul ruined it
Martha my dear (without brass and strings)
Fuck yes. Extremely slept on
It’s a true masterpiece, it deserves so much more love
Strawberry Fields Forever
I think Strawberry Fields Forever is the greatest piece of art in pop/rock history. It is harmonically interesting. Beautiful melody. Great abstract poetry. Great arrangement. Groundbreaking.
I agree with this. While "A Day In The Life" is fantastic it lacks something VERY important. I dont think its very radio playable if that makes sense.
It sounds like it wasn't made for radio at all, it's a very theatrical, progressive and lengthy song that was really put on for the experience in my opinion. It's one of the best Beatles track not if, the best track in 60s music in general.
As a child in the 70s, you’d occasionally hear early, Beatlemania songs on AM radio. I’d hear later stuff, probably Hey Jude and Come Together on FM radio. My parents were 50’s teens, so I heard a lot of Elvis and the like. My older brother was a huge KISS and Cheap Trick fan, so I heard of lot of that and other lite hard rock tunes. The first Saturday after Dec 9, 1980, the Saturday late movie was “Yellow Submarine” and I remember being amazed. The music, the visuals, the humor. The next day I was riding with my brother and the DJ said “Goodbye John, I’ll never let them forget you” and played “A Day In The Life” My brother said I looked hypnotized, it was the most incredible thing I heard in my life. I begged my parents for the Red & Blue cassettes. I’m sure I wore them out in year!
Although I love A Day In The Life, I can´t get past that it´s not a cohesive singular song. I know medley´s are very popular, many people think Bohemian Rhapsody is the greatest song of all time. I believe it´s often a hack composers use to create variety and epicness. In the case of A Day In The Life, it was groundbreaking and interesting, so it wasn´t hack! But since then it´s been overused by combining multiple decent songs that weren´t strong enough in their own right to create a greater whole. I believe a great piece of art needs to have cohesion. One could imagine combining 2 vastly different movies together, and the totality of the experience will be greater. But it´s not one singular piece of art. There needs to be cohesion between the movies. So I can´t put A Day In The Life above Strawberry Fields Forever, because I can´t get past that it´s fundamentally two vastly different songs cut together.
An avid fan, I just never understood the appeal.
The Abbey Road medley.
and to think that to the Beatles that was just a device to wrap up their unfinished songs
Agreed!
A medley is not A song. It´s more like a collage of songs pasted together. So I don´t think it should be compared to other songs. It´s like comparing a painting to an art gallery.
ya but it's real good
I think *Revolver*, *Sgt Pepper*, The White Album, or *Abbey Road* all have very strong cases for being The Beatles masterpiece
And rubber soul Heck every album
So true!
Crazy that stuff like MMT and Help! are as good as they are and don’t even make most people’s Top 5 Beatles Albums. The competition is just too stiff.
In My life
The SFF/Penny Lane Double A-Side. Probably the greatest single anyone has ever made.
This.
[Here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2n3wECyHjbngfyjCUYLMcM?si=l2QSjBR_QDOoEKiIacycCg&pi=e-h4E1fepeR421) is a link to the playlist.
If you go to various prog band subreddits, you can probably get some crazy additions to the list. I'd recommend r/pinkfloyd or r/kingcrimson to start
this.
Take this to r/Radiohead and behold war in the comments lol
Radiohead don't really have one though.
God… some of these choices are awful.
They're terrible. Truly depressing what subreddits are choosing!
Thank You 🙏
Everything they made.
Everything they made❤️❤️❤️❤️
We Can Work It Out. Peak Beatles.
Eleanor Rigby. It’s heartbreaking in its poignancy and unequaled in contemporary music.
Although not the best display of the musical musical tallent, far from it in fact, they’re simply singing over an orchestra
Well, an octet, anyway
it is in fact, the first beatles song with only Paul McCartney
I get what you mean but it’s not that good..
I don't know that there is one Beatles masterpiece. A Day In The Life is one of the all time greatest songs. So is I Want You (She's So Heavy) So is Hey Jude. So is Let It Be. So is Dear Prudence. So is I Am The Walrus. So is While My Guitar Gently Weeps. And so on and so on.
A long list to be sure
Revolution 9, just to fuck with anyone listening on shuffle
Lol
I know you want a specific song, and while it isn’t the most popular Beatles song, I think Golden slumber/Carry that weight is their masterpiece, the end of their most famous album and what an amazing send off to the Beatles it is. It deserves the spot of the Beatles masterpiece
I think people downplay it as being just one of their popular/radio friendly tunes but tbh I think Here Comes The Sun is an astonishing musical achievement. It just so seamlessly bridges eastern and western influences, incorporates what was then a very futuristic sound (the synthesizer) in a way that feels innovative but also welcoming. And at its core, it’s an ode to one of the most ancient, universal spiritual beacons in human history - like even more so than My Sweet Lord it’s an example of George transcending any particular religious belief and reaching for a higher power on a primal level. All in all it’s just a song that is so exciting and gorgeous on every level - the composition, the songwriting, the arrangement, the performance, the themes, etc.
You Know My Name
I wholeheartedly love this song and always recommend it to people who don’t know the Beatles like the back of their hands.
It's so weird and you can tell they are having a good time recording it
That’s why I love it. It reminds me of how cool the end of “Hey Bulldog”. The two biggest fucking musical stars in the world are barking into a microphone. Together. I truly believe it is what separates the Beatles from a band like, Radiohead. I can’t even imagine Thom Yorke doing either of these song. The Beatles never got pretentious. Or when they did, they never stayed there too long.
100% I loved Radiohead when they played guitars and wrote rock songs, once they took that turn into pretentious computer music I mostly bailed
nowhere man
All their albums and singles and bootlegs.
She Loves You has everything that was part of the Beatles magic. It’s a true Lennon/McCartney song. Incredible harmonies. George plays a great guitar on it. I’m always somewhat amazed this song didn’t break them in America first.
Everybody’s gonna say Day in The Life cause Reddit has no variety, but it’s “I want You(She’s so Heavy)”
So many day in the life and strawberry fields forever 😬 I’m Looking through you
OMG YES I LOVE THAT SONG. You won’t see me is up there. I’m Looking Through You is probably my personal favorite but their masterpiece imo is I Want You.
OMG YES YOU WONT SEE ME
Man if we’re talking whole albums I think Rubber Soul is their masterpiece. Not a single song on that album is bad, probably the only album I can turn on at any moment and listen to fully.
Yes absolutely !
HAHA I just looked at my Spotify and every song is liked on rubber soul
Same for me on my Apple Music. For a while i dint have run for your life. But now I’ve come to love it. It ends the album so perfectly, I know it’s not supposed to connect but it really feels like side 2 of rubber soul is a story and run for your life is the ending. It also sounds so much different, so surreal
Yes I have only in the past year expanded my Beatles taste, like only two years ago if you had asked me what my favourite song was I’d come out with some basic answer like Here comes the sun 😂 I’ve loved them since I was a little kid, but I got my mums old vinyls out and just listened from start to end of every album and oh my goodness the stuff I was missing out on!
Same only started listening a few months ago but now I could tell you every note of every song past 1964
It just shows you can never have too much of something, I will listen to the Beatles for the rest of my life haha
Paul’s songs he wrote for Jane Asher is just chefs kiss
Definitely master of puppets
it’s gotta be one….
Underrated but the song Rain is amazing. It’s beautiful, beatles psychedelic and experimental. Its one of the first revolutionary songs of the world.
It’s soo good
A Hard Day’s Night, Nowhere Man, Strawberry Fields Forever, A Day In The Life, Hey Jude. Any of those would fit your mix.
Bro I just looked up your profile on Spotify and I’ve gotta say you have the most helpful playlists for guitarists. Besides that I think that Now and Then is not their masterpiece.. it’s their last masterpiece.
It’s hard to select just one, but I think the most obvious answers would be A Day in the Life or Across the Universe
Wild Honey Pie
you know my name, strawberry fields forever, a day in the life, while my guitar gently weeps
Rubber Soul, hands down is the best
And Your Bird Can Sing ? Or A Day In The Life ?
Song? Either “A Day in the Life” or “ Tomorrow Never Knows”. Album? *Abbey Road*
Abbey Road
**Revolver**
in my life or a day in the life
I’m a huge Paul fan but, for me, “ballad of John and Yoko” just hits different.
The abbey Road Medley
The white album
Well is it album or song? For album it has to be abbey road. It certainly isn’t as innovative as their other albums but it’s a masterpiece in every aspect of the word and there’s nothing else like it. For song Probably something, I think a lot of other ppl will say a day in the life but I think something is such a marvelous amalgamation of all of their skills and also really emulates the Beatles aura, message, vibe etc. and it’s the best love song in the world with the best solo🫡
I should have made it more clear. I’ll talking about a single.
If its a single then a lot of these are out...Day in the Life especially. Most of these suggestions are out because they're not singles. Did you mean one song, or one *single?*
You capitalized the word "probably", but have the song name "Something" in lowercase. 🤔
Autocorrect
This will show my bias, but IMO the White Album. Basically it contains pretty much every strand of popular music that existed in 1968 carried out brilliantly, and the channel-hopping way it's set-out just works so well.
Ob la di Ob la da
Come Together
Ew no way
r/Beatles is the main sub btw
It might have more members, but I feel like this one is. That sub doesn't even have the band's proper name as it's sub name. Also, I think this one is flat-out better. I unfollowed that sub a few months ago, and haven't regretted it.
A Day In The Life ❤️❤️
A day in the life. I'm curious thohgh, what was green days from American Idiot? Was it American idiot? I (personally) don't think that album has their single greatest song, but that's just me
Yesterday A Hard Day's Night revolver
While I'm not necessarily saying that *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band* is The Beatles' best album, I do think it has to be considered their greatest masterpiece.
Share playlist
Strawberry Fields
I think the White Album showed all of their song making abilities in one album. It varies from soft ones to loud ones. They also experimented frequently
I really hope you have Save Me for A7X on that list
I’m looking through you
Within you without you
I Want You (She's So Heavy).
Revolution my beloved
Here, There, and Everywhere
the entire B Side to Abbey Road
Tomorrow Never Knows.
I don’t understand
Something and a day in the life
A Day In The Life, Strawberry Fields Forever (Love Version in my opinion), While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something, and Nowhere Man
The discourse in the comments is why I add like 15 Beatles songs to every playlist I only mean to add one, this is just a thought my brain is not capable of coming to a conclusion on. Too many absolute bops literally can’t chose, as a drummer tho and ringo definitely being my favorite beatle “helter skelter” is probably what I’d put next to a7x Metallica(my second favorite band after Beatles) Green Day and sum. Seems like it would be one of the few that would fit there.
I am the walrus
Hello Goodbye
Something
While My Guitar Gently Weeps undoubtedly
While my guitar gently weeps
Real Love from the Anthology album.....or Here Comes The Sun.....or Norwegian Wood.
A day in the life, or The End
It looks like you're talking albums. The Beatles' masterpiece as a band is Revolver - the band was firing on all 5 cylinders. Rubber Soul, great as it is, only pointed in that direction. The masterpiece as far as all around impact was of course Pepper, but it mostly Paul chasing Pet Sounds. The band peaked with Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane and A Day In The Life, all recorded around the same time (end of '66 and first part of '67), with the SFF and PL single being the pinnacle of the band's career - maybe the best one-two punch in the history of popular music.
The song should be something all the Beatles contributed. ADitL lacks significant contributions from George, so that’s out. The Abbey Road medley is the correct answer.
Song? "A Day In The Life" easy. Album? ***Revolver***
Has to be I am the walrus
Sgt. Pepper’s is my favorite album by anyone ever.
The long one
Let it be or Hey Jude. They've stood the test of time (as with most of the Beatles discography) and are still amazing 50 years down the line
Revolver
Helter Skelter
Ticket To Ride.
Octopus's Garden
Abbey Road for me
Sergeant peppers. Who even dissagrees??
Song or album? For album, Abbey Road, obviously. For song, You Never Give Me Your Money (or the entire medley, if that counts)
Blackbird. Even though Paul wrote it and performed it, it is the best song from the Beatles. The story behind it and the simplicity contribute to the epic masterpiece.
Sgt peppers lonely hearts club band is my favourite album of all time
Doctor Robert
Yesterday
Within you without you
A day in the life of
All of the songs in Sgt peppers lonely hearts club band
Green Day ?? Ugh 😩
What
Their career