In the era of analog records, singles consisted of an A-side on the front and a B-side on the back.
The A-side was the song aiming for number one on the charts.
The B-side, on the other hand, was included with a different purpose: “It would be a waste to leave the back blank, so let’s just put another track on as a bonus—even if it doesn’t become a hit.” In short, the A-side and B-side had clearly different objectives.
Therefore, most of the popular music that became hits in the past were A-side tracks—songs chosen to appeal to the general public.
By contrast, the B-sides were mostly modest, understated songs.
The A-sides of the Beatles’ singles almost all reached number one on charts around the world.
However, their B-sides also include an astonishing number of masterpieces.
This time, I’ll introduce some of those.
Note: Single releases vary by country, but for this piece I’m using the singles released in the band’s home country, the United Kingdom, as the standard.
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You Can't Do That (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUIcEGH1ICE
It is a work by John Lennon.
Side A is Paul McCartney's 'Can't Buy Me Love.'
You can enjoy John’s powerful vocals.
He’s the one playing the lead guitar in the interlude, and he uses bending—one of the guitar techniques where you pull the string with the fretting finger after picking to change the pitch (often called “choking” in Japanese, but the correct term is bend or bending)—so aggressively that it produces an intensely distorted sound.
This vividly conveys the protagonist’s feelings as he angrily warns his girlfriend, “If you flirt with another guy again, I won’t let it slide!”
Today's Pledge (Things We Said Today) (1964)
Side A features John's “A Hard Day's Night,” which served as the film's theme song.
Paul's work.
The strummed acoustic guitar in the intro beautifully evokes the song’s bittersweet yet powerful mood.
And by singing in a restrained, matter-of-fact manner, Paul conversely imbues the entire song with a deep richness and a sense of refinement.
She's a Woman (1964)
Side A is John's “I Feel Fine.”
This is a piece that Paul created aiming for an R&B-style sound.
The clincher for this song is, above all, John’s two-and-four beat guitar chopping in the intro.
It’s remarkably crisp, and with this one shot it grabs the listeners’ hearts.
And then, the bass and drums come in at just the right time.
Also, I can’t get enough of Paul’s powerful vocals.
The piano also serves as a truly delightful accent.
I'm Down (1965)
Side A is John's “Help!”.
This is a song Paul composed, inspired by Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally, whom he greatly admired.
Without any intro, an intense shout erupts as if smashing through the ceiling of the venue.
Until this song was completed, the Beatles used “Long Tall Sally” as the closing number at their concerts, but after this song was finished, it was used in its place.
Throughout the entire piece, Paul’s high-key vocals and powerful shouts are featured in abundance.
The video is of an outdoor concert held at Shea Stadium in the United States.
Despite the fact that all four of them were ridiculously high at the time, the performance was excellent.
John's performance, doing a glissando across the VOX organ's keyboard with his elbow, was nothing short of breathtaking.
Doing something like that could very well break the keys, but it just shows how much you were really in the groove.
Rain (1966)
Side A features Paul's 'Paperback Writer,' which was also performed at the Budokan.
This song is one of the masterpieces that symbolizes the Beatles’ shift in direction from idols to artists.
John’s dragging, sticky vocals; George Harrison’s shimmering lead guitar; Paul’s booming, growling bass; and Ringo Starr’s heavy, quintessentially laid-back drumming.
By combining these four, an incredible masterpiece was born.
Ringo’s drumming in particular— which he himself has praised as his best performance from the Beatles era— has also been highly acclaimed by top drummers of the next generation.
It can be said to be a work that overturned the conventional wisdom of rock drumming—which had been about keeping a light, upbeat rhythm—and opened up a new era.
I Am the Walrus (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19sAewJH22I
Side A is Paul's “Hello, Goodbye.”
It's John’s work, but I just can't believe such a masterpiece is a B-side!
In the later years of the Beatles, most of the A-sides of their singles tended to be Paul’s songs, and John’s songs were often relegated to the B-sides.
Paul displayed a genius for creating popular songs that appealed to the masses, while John, by contrast, preferred to produce works with complex structures that professionals favored.
Therefore, for A-side singles that absolutely needed broad mainstream appeal, Paul’s compositions were often chosen.
In particular, the lyrics of this song are obscure, and everyone who tried to translate them must have been at their wits’ end.
After all, phrases like “yellow custard pus dripping from the eyes of a dead dog” are strung together one after another, making no sense at all.
However, when you look at it as a whole, it comes together beautifully as a single work.
It’s precisely where John Lennon truly lives up to his reputation as a “troubadour.”
There have been various interpretations of this series of mysterious lyrics.
However, no matter how you interpret it, it might be correct or it might be wrong.
I think it’s fine for everyone to have their own way of understanding it.
Revolution (1968)
Calling such a masterpiece a B-side feels far too lavish, but if the A-side was Paul’s “Hey Jude,” I suppose that couldn’t be helped.
However, looking back, I think it might have been better to release it later as an A-side single.
John produced an insane sound by applying intense distortion in a rough manner—plugging his guitar directly into the recording console and overloading the channel.
Knowing the staff would oppose it, saying it would bring down the studio’s equipment, the Beatles went ahead and did it without getting the staff’s permission.
Although the title sounds ominous with the word “Revolution,” John rejects a violent revolution in the lyrics.
When this song was released, the world was in an anxious period: the Cold War between East and West was in full swing, and the Vietnam War was mired in a quagmire.
Even after the breakup of the Beatles, John would continue, together with Yoko, to advocate for world peace.
Don't Let Me Down (1969)
As for John’s work, the A-side is, once again, Paul’s “Get Back.”
It’s one of the songs John performed during the Get Back session—the guerrilla live show the Beatles put on just before their breakup on the rooftop of Apple’s headquarters.
When John calls out the title, it really sounds like he’s forcing the words out from the depths of his soul.
Also, although the Beatles rarely brought in outside musicians for their recordings, on this occasion George Harrison invited Billy Preston to play keyboards.
The Fender Rhodes electric piano he played, with its light touch that contrasts with John’s heavy, gut-resonant vocals, suits the song perfectly and is one of its highlights.