The Music

   THE BEATLES BRITISH DISCOGRAPHY

The music is, after all, a big part of what made the Beatles enormously famous worldwide.

Between 1962 and 1970 The Beatles released 12 Studio albums and 22 singles in the United Kingdom. Their international discography is much more complicated however, as there have been various re-issues of singles and different versions of their albums, particularly by Capitol Records in the United States. Here, I present the Beatles discography as the band intended (which means no compilation albums or the singles with them backing Tony Sheridan, just what the Beatles themselves recorded) and also the highest chart position it reached in the UK. (If for some reason you haven't got one of the many albums released by the Beatles, we have them all for sale in the store.)


THE SINGLES

Love Me Do/PS I Love You
(Released on October 5th 1962 and reached #17)

Please Please Me/Ask Me Why
(Released on January 11th 1963 and reached #1)

From Me To You/Thank You Girl
(Released on April 11th 1963 and reached #1)

She Loves You/I'll Get You
(Released on August 23rd and reached #1)

I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy
(Released on November 29th and reached #1) 

Can't Buy Me Love/You Can't Do That
(Released on March 20th and reached #1) 

A Hard Day's Night/Things We Said Today
(Released on July 10th and reached #1)

I Feel Fine/She's A Woman
(Released on November 27th and reached #1)

Ticket To Ride/Yes It Is
(Released on April 9th 1965 and reached #1)

Help!/I'm Down
(Released on July 23rd 1965 and reached #1)

Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out
(Released December 3rd 1965 and reached #1) 

Paperback Writer/Rain
(Released June 10th 1966 and reached #1) 

Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine
(Released August 5th 1966 and reached #1)

Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane
(Released February 17th 1967 and reached #2)

All You Need Is Love/Baby You're A Rich Man
(Released July 7th 1967 and reached #1)

Hello Goodbye/I Am The Walrus
(Released November 24th 1967 and reached #1)

Lady Madonna/The Inner Light*
(Released March 3rd 1968 and reached #1)

Hey Jude/Revolution
(Released on August 30th 1968 and reached #1) 

Get Back/Don't Let Me Down
(Released on April 11th 1969 and reached #1)

Ballad of John & Yoko/Old Brown Shoe*
(Released on May 30th 1969 and reached #1)

Something*/Come Together
(Released on October 31st 1969 and reached #1)

Let It Be/You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
(Released on March 6th 1970 and reached #2)


 All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except * written by George Harrison.

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THE ALBUMS

1.  Please Please Me
(Released on March 22nd 1963 and reached #1 for 30 consecutive weeks)

10 songs for the Beatles debut album were recorded in a marathon 16-hour session, and the band wasn't even fully fit. John was suffering from a cold and by the time they recorded the last song, he was bare chested due to a high fever, and his vocals were in tatters. But that didn't stop him from delivering a show-stopping, truly rock & roll performance on 'Twist and Shout'.

Track Listing:

01. I Saw Her Standing There
02. Misery
03. Anna (Go To Him)  (Arthur Alexander)
04. Chains (Goffin/King)
05. Boys (Dixon/Farrell)
06. Ask Me Why
07. Please Please Me
08. Love Me Do
09. P.S. I Love You
10. Baby It's You (David/Williams/Bacharach)
11. Do You Want To Know A Secret
12. A Taste of Honey (Scott/Marlow)
13. There's a Place 
14. Twist and Shout (Medley/Russell)

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.


2.  With The Beatles
(Released on November 22nd 1963 and reached #1)

Sessions for the Beatles second LP began amidst a hectic British tour and contained eight original compositions, seven by the Lennon/McCartney powerhouse and one by George Harrison, his first recorded and released. Despite George not liking it too much later on, I think it's a rockin' little number that stands up well next to John & Paul's songs.

Track Listing:

01. It Won't Be Long 
02. All I've Got to Do
03. All My Loving
04. Don't Bother Me (George Harrison)
05. Little Child
06. Till There Was You (Meredith Wilson)
07. Please Mister Postman (Dobbins/Garrett/Gorman/Holland/Bateman)
08. Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry)
09. Hold Me Tight
10. You Really Got a Hold on Me (Smokey Robinson)
11. I Wanna Be Your Man
12. Devil in Her Heart (Richard Drapkin)
13. Not a Second Time
14. Money (That's What I Want) (Bradford/Gordy)

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted


3.  A Hard Day's Night
(Released on July 10th 1964 and reached #1)

The Beatles were making their first feature film and the first seven were used on the soundtrack. This was the first Beatle album to contain all original compositions and no covers of other artists' material.

Track Listing:

01. A Hard Day's Night
02. I Should Have Known Better
03. If I Fell
04. I'm Happy Just to Dance with You
05. And I Love Her
06. Tell Me Why
07. Can't Buy Me Love
08. Any Time at All
09. I'll Cry Instead
10. Things We Said Today
11. When I Get Home
12. You Can't Do That
13. I'll Be Back

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney.


4.  Beatles For Sale
(Released on December 4th 1964 and reached #1)

Beatles For Sale was released at the end of a hectic year for the band which had seen them take the world by storm. As a result the mood of this album is somber, sad affair which is compounded by the cover photograph of them taken in Hyde Park in London showing them looking tired and weary.

Track Listing:

01. No Reply
02. I'm a Loser
03. Baby's in Black
04. Rock and Roll Music (Chuck Berry)
05. I'll Follow the Sun
06. Mr. Moonlight (Roy Lee Johnson)
07. Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! (Lieber/Stoller/Penniman)
08. Eight Days a Week
09. Words of Love (Buddy Holly)
10. Honey Don't (Carl Perkins)
11. Every Little Thing
12. I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
13. What You're Doing
14. Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby (Carl Perkins)

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.


5.  Help!
(Released on August 8th 1965 and reached #1)

Another film and another soundtrack. As with A Hard Day's Night the first seven songs were used in the film. The cover photograph shows the four using their arms to spell out "NUJV" in flag semaphore which don't stand for anything but hold it up to a mirror and you get the letters "LPUS" - "Help Us", perhaps?

Track Listing:

01. Help! 
02. The Night Before

03. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
04. I Need You (George Harrison)
05. Another Girl 
06. You're Going to Lose That Girl
07. Ticket to Ride
08. Act Naturally
09. It's Only Love
10. You Like Me Too Much (George Harrison)
11. Tell Me What You See
12. I've Just Seen a Face
13. Yesterday
14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.


6.  Rubber Soul
(Released on December 3rd 1965 and reached #1)

This album marked the last time the Beatles would record two albums a year. It was also the first time the band actually could take time to record an album rather than the shotgun sessions in between tour dates they had done on their previous albums. This album also marked the first time the band's drummer, Richard "Ringo Starr" Starkey, got a songwriting credit.

Track Listing:

01. Drive My Car
02. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
03. You Won't See Me
04. Nowhere Man
05. Think For Yourself (George Harrison)
06. The Word
07. Michelle
08. What Goes On (Lennon/McCartney/Starkey)
09. Girl
10. I'm Looking Through You
11. In My Life
12. Wait
13. If I Needed Someone (George Harrison)
14. Run For Your Life

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.


7.  Revolver
(Released August 5th 1966 and reached #1)

Revolver was released in the summer of 1966 and it immediately became clear the Beatles were not just a "passing phase" as many parents and elders had confidently predicted. Backwards guitars, tape loops and a string octet are among the new sounds the Beatles are debuting for their fans and critics here.

Track Listing:

01. Taxman (George Harrison)
02. Eleanor Rigby
03. I'm Only Sleeping
04. Love You To (George Harrison)
05. Here, There and Everywhere
06. Yellow Submarine
07. She Said She Said
08. Good Day Sunshine
09. And Your Bird Can Sing
10. For No One
11. Doctor Robert
12. I Want to Tell You (George Harrison)
13. Got to Get You into My Life
14. Tomorrow Never Knows

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.


8.  Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
(Released on June 1st 1967 and reached #1)

After a disastrous world tour in 1966 including a terrifying stop in the Philippines and the threat of assassination in the deep south of the United States after a remark made by John Lennon was quoted widely out of context, the band finally put their Beatle boots down and then took them off and hung them up. Although they'd made no formal announcement, they made their concert at Candlestick Park their last ever concert on American soil. The Beatles would never tour again and for the months afterward their fans feared they had split up and the critics started growing restless.

"The critics started saying; 'What are the Beatles doing? Drying up I suppose.' so it was nice to put this album out and say 'Yeah, drying up, hmmm, that's about right" -Paul McCartney

Apart from a single in January (Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane) nothing had been heard from the Beatles until they unveiled Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album was very eagerly anticipated, ushered in a new era of music and, for many people, encapsulated the press-coined "Summer of Love" that was engulfing the western world. When the Beatles launched the album at a party thrown by their manager Brian Epstein, and attended by some of the most popular musical groups and artists at the time, the press were shocked when the band finally appeared. One reporter who was there said later:

"They looked so different, they weren't in matching suits, they had on different, colourful clothes. John was so thin. They all had moustaches, I didn't recognize any of them until Paul spoke and said "It's the Beatles! Live!" None of us knew what to ask first. They had really changed."

Track Listing:

01. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
02. With a Little Help from My Friends
03. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
04. Getting Better
05. Fixing a Hole
06. She's Leaving Home
07. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
08. Within You Without You (George Harrison)
09. When I'm Sixty-Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day in the Life

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.


9.  Magical Mystery Tour*
(Released on December 8th 1967 and reached #1)

Preempting the release of the TV film of the same name, this was a double Extended Play (EP) rather than an album. It also was the first time an instrumental, and a song that was composed by all four band members, appeared on a release.

Track Listing:

01. Magical Mystery Tour
02. Your Mother Should Know
03. I Am the Walrus
04. The Fool on the Hill
05. Flying (Instrumental) (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey)
06. Blue Jay Way (George Harrison)

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.


10.  The Beatles (The White Album)
(Released on November 22nd 1968 and reached #1)

The Beatles' first double album was recorded amid a very tense and volatile atmosphere with the Beatles going through a major crisis. With the death of their manager, Brian Epstein a year earlier and John bringing his new girlfriend, Yoko Ono, to the sessions the band were finding it hard to be a creative, cohesive unit. Their longtime producer George Martin decided to go on holiday due to the icy reception the band were giving him in the studio and left Chris Thomas to take care of them and, feeling isolated, Ringo too decided to leave and went on holiday to Sardinia, leaving Paul to play the drums on the first two tracks of the album. (Ringo eventually returned and walked into the studio which was decked out in flowers by George Harrison) Indeed, most of the songs are obvious solo compositions and the album plays out much like that but despite all the bickering and tensions they still had what it took to make a great album. Ringo even got his first ever solo composition on it! On the album's release, it was simply called The Beatles but due to it's blank white cover it quickly got re-dubbed 'The White Album' by everyone on the planet. It was also the only time Eric Clapton appeared on a Beatles album, playing a blindingly brilliant lead guitar on 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'.

Track Listing:

Album One
01. Back in the USSR
02. Dear Prudence
03. Glass Onion
04. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
05. Wild Honey Pie
06. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
07. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (George Harrison)
08. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
09. Martha My Dear
10. I'm So Tired
11. Blackbird
12. Piggies (George Harrison)
13. Rocky Raccoon
14. Don't Pass Me By (Richard Starkey)
15. Why Don't We Do It in the Road?
16. I Will
17. Julia

Album Two
01. Birthday
02. Yer Blues
03. Mother Nature's Son
04. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
05. Sexy Sadie
06. Helter Skelter
07. Long, Long, Long (George Harrison)
08. Revolution 1
09. Honey Pie
10. Savoy Truffle (George Harrison)
11. Cry Baby Cry
12. Revolution 9
13. Good Night

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.


11.  Yellow Submarine
(Released on January 17th 1969 and reached #2)

This was mainly the George Martin soundtrack to the animated film of the same name that The Beatles had a live cameo in at the very end. Due to it not being a full Beatles album and having material that had previously been released, it didn't reach number one.

Track Listing:

01. Yellow Submarine
02. Only a Northern Song (George Harrison)
03. All Together Now
04. Hey Bulldog
05. It's All Too Much (George Harrison)
06. All You Need is Love
07. Pepperland (George Martin)
08. Sea of Time (George Martin)
09. Sea of Holes (George Martin)
10. Sea of Monsters (George Martin)
11. March of the Meanies (George Martin)
12. Pepperland Laid Waste (George Martin)
13. Yellow Submarine in Pepperland

All songs written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.


12.  Abbey Road
(Released on September 26th 1969 and reached #1)

Recorded in the Summer of 1969 and after disastrous sessions for a documentary film called 'Get Back' in early 1969 at Twickenham film studios, the band decided to not let that be their goodbye to the world.

Abbey Road proved to be the Beatles parting gift to their fans and the world, a soaring, sorrowful, bittersweet goodbye that culminated in the often-repeated mantra: "And in the end, the love you make, is equal to the love you take"

After posing on the pelican crossing outside the studios for the cover photograph, the Beatles split up with an official announcement from Paul in April 1970.

Track Listing:

01. Come Together
02. Something (George Harrison)
03. Maxwell's Silver Hammer
04. Oh! Darling
05. Octopus's Garden (Richard Starkey)
06. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
07. Here Comes The Sun (George Harrison)
08. Because
09. You Never Give Me Your Money
10. Sun King
11. Mean Mr. Mustard
12. Polythene Pam
13. She Came In Through the Bathroom Window
14. Golden Slumbers
15. Carry That Weight
16. The End
17. Her Majesty*

All song written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.
*This was originally a hidden track.


13.  Let It Be
(Released on May 8th 1970 and reached #1)

Phil Spector was brought in by John to re-mix the aborted January 1969 sessions and turn them into an album for release, but was instructed to keep the feeling that it was a live album. Opinion on his efforts is divided, especially among the Beatles themselves. The album was released to coincide with the film of the same name, well after John, Paul, George & Ringo had gone their separate ways, and a month after an official announcement of the split was made by Paul. Perhaps not as successful as other albums released by the Beatles, Let it Be, was still superior to many other albums released by other musical groups and artists at the time.

Track Listing:

01. Two Of Us
02. Dig a Pony
03. Across the Universe
04. I Me Mine (George Harrison)
05. Dig It (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey)
06. Let It Be
07. Maggie Mae (Trad. Arr. Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey)
08. I've Got a Feeling
09. One After 909
10. The Long and Winding Road
11. For You Blue (George Harrison)
12. Get Back

All song written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney except where noted.

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The Beatles' music is their ultimate reason for their ongoing fame. One only has to look at the Beatles discography to understand just how impressive it truly is. Teenagers all over the world fell in love with their distinct personalities and appearance, and are still falling in love to this day. But as their producer, George Martin, has said many times, their music is timeless and will find a new generation of fans for centuries to come.