Beatles Covers

I submitted my four top Beatles songs to the Sirius Radio Beatles Channel today. Maybe I will get lucky and get a little air time.

I picked these four songs, somewhat arbitrarily; This boy, Don't bother me, Hey Bulldog and a Day in the life, my absolute favorite. I could have picked a hundred others but thought that I would throw these out there and see if they stuck.

This Boy, which is titled Ringo's theme in my Beatles Songbook, because it is my favorite early Beatle's harmony. Don't bother me because I wanted a George song, my favorite Beatle. Hey Bulldog for its grittiness and Day in the life needs no explanation, their magnum opus.

But I almost stuck in Anna, their Arthur Alexander cover. 

I was thinking about this song yesterday and musing about the fact that the Beatles were scouring record stores in Liverpool for American music, but it was the new music they were grooving on, not old standards like artists typically cover. They then recorded each of them in their own brilliant way, with the patented Beatles sound and harmony.

Anna was written in September of 1962, the Fab Four recorded it five months later in March of 1963. The Donays track was cut in August of 1962, they recorded it in November of 1963.

The Beatles loved Arthur Alexander, recorded his Soldier of Love the same year. It is said that this song, written by Buzz Cason and Tony Moon, influenced three Beatles songs, Not a Second Time, It Won't Be Long and All I've Got to Do.

Alexander also wrote, You better move on, recorded by the Stones.

The Beatles released about 66 covers, if my math is right, ranging from bands like the Cookies to W.C. Handy. So glad they were listening. 

Chains was released by the Cookies in 1962. It was written by Goffin and King.