Jim Beviglia - Counting Down the Beatles: Their 100 Finest Songs

Their 100 Finest Songs

Jim Beviglia

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York Toronto Plymouth, UK

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Beviglia, Jim.

Title: Counting down the Beatles : their 100 finest songs / Jim Beviglia.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2017] | Series: Counting down | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016032749 (print) | LCCN 2016033693 (ebook) | ISBN 9781442271548 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781442271555 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: BeatlesCriticism and interpretation. | Rock musicHistory and criticism.

Classification: LCC ML421.B4 B55 2017 (print) | LCC ML421.B4 (ebook) | DDC 782.42166092/2dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032749

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

In remembrance of my father, Robert Beviglia Sr.

The long and winding road that leads to your door

Will never disappear

Every time I get the chance to write one of these books, I tell myself Im going to keep this section brief. Im following through on that this time around, but trust me when I say that if I mentioned everyone to whom Im beholden on both a professional and personal level, the acknowledgements would run longer than the list itself.

Many thanks to my publishers Rowman & Littlefield for giving me the chance to continue the Counting Down series, which, Im proud to say, is now branching out to other authors. I must also thank Bennett Graff for giving me my first shot at being published and Natalie Mandziuk for her excellent editing on my last two releases. My friends at Ascot Media continue to do a great job of publicizing my work far better than I could possibly do on my own.

In terms of research for this book, you can check out the endnotes and bibliography to find the many valuable sources I used. But I must make special note of a website that collected many of these sources as well as crucial information on the recording, instrumentation, and general history of each song. It is known as the Beatles Bible (www.beatlesbible.com). If you are a fan of the Fab Four and havent already found this invaluable site, check it out now and thank me later.

On the personal side, Im blessed with a loving group of friends and family. From the latter, I have to thank my brothers, Bob and Rich, who endured my love of the Beatles growing up; and my mom, Diane, who indulged it by purchasing for me not just Beatles music but also the Beatles solo music, Wings music, the Travelling Wilburys music, and so on.

Although my daughter, Daniele, has long since moved on to modern music, she still harbors enough love for the Beatles from our days of watching Yellow Submarine together that she plans to read this book; I appreciate her for that and because shes such a great kid. As for my wife, Marie, lets just say that I never truly understood In My Life until I met her.

Finally Id like to thank the Beatles. I know that two of them can only hear me on some cosmic level and the other two are probably too busy to ever read these words. But I still have to say it, because their music not only has brought me immense joy over the years but also helped shape my outlook on life, always for the better. Thats powerful stuff, and Im grateful that Ive had the chance to listen to music like that. That I get to write a book about it, well, my eight-year-old self would never have believed it possible.

Although I chose the Beatles as the fourth installment of the Counting Down series, they were actually the inspiration for the format of the books in the first place. Years ago I decided I was going to make a mixtape, back when people still did such things manually, of the finest songs of the Fab Four. Wanting to be thorough, I had the idea of going through their catalog, picking out what I thought were their very best songs, and then ranking them to ensure that only the finest would make the cut.

Like every music-loving child who grew up in the seventies and eighties, I was a huge fan of Casey Kasem and his countdown shows on radio and television, so I decided then to put the twenty-five or so songs that fit onto the ninety-minute cassette into descending order so that the first song on the tape was number 25 and the last was number 1. I remember thinking that it would be neat to go through and rate the entire Beatles catalog in such a manner. I also thought that it would be cool to read a book like that, never envisioning that I would be the one to write it.

The other reason that the Beatles are responsible for the Counting Down series is, without them, I wouldnt have become the rabid music fan I am now. As an eight-year-old kid I discovered their music from an album of their greatest hits that my older brother had bought in the wake of John Lennons death. After a morning, afternoon, and evening of listening to that album, I had memorized the lyrics to all the songs and had pretty much inherited the album from my annoyed brother. My love of pop music and all its permutations can be traced back to that day.

Because they recorded for such a finite period of time (only about eight years worth of singles and albums, which is less than one-sixth as long as the Rolling Stones have been putting out records) and because they were so great, the Beatles left behind a pristine legacy. One song followed the next, each one more ambitious than the one before, each one brilliant. In terms of their albums, they didnt really have any clunkers from which they needed to rebound. You could probably point to a misstep here and there if you really wanted to be picky about it, but, for the most part, their music was spotless.

As you might imagine, trying to separate songs of such impeccability was quite the task, but one that I wouldnt trade for anything. Not that I needed a reason, but it afforded me the opportunity to dig deep into their catalog again. And whenever you listen to the Beatles, you find out something new about the songs, about the world, about yourself, even if youve heard them a million times before.