Best of 2023: The Beatles Now And Then

 

The Last Song by The Beatles

"Now And Then", the song recorded by The Beatles was released on November 2. The song written by John Lennon was given to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono, John's widow in 1994 along with the songs "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love".

In 1994 George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney worked on the three songs releasing two of them on the Anthology I and Anthology II albums that came out in 1995 and 1996. "Now And Then" laid on the back burner for more than 25 years due to technical reasons. You can learn more about "Now And Then" by watching the short video documentary below:

"Now And Then" made its debut on my Current Top 20 chart at #3 on November 3. By the next week it jumped to #1, replacing "Angry" by The Rolling Stones at that position. "Now And Then" has been the #1 song on my Current Top 20 for the four weeks now. The latest chart as of December 1 is shown below.

"Now And Then" is one of my favorite songs of 2023 and we'll see where it ends up in my end of the year Top 100 for 2023.

Best of 2023: Mel’s Spotify Wrap

 Spotify Wrap 2023

I became a paid Spotify subscriber after using the service off and on in the free ad supported tier since 2011. What prompted me to subscribe to Spotify is the fact that they have a very deep and up to date library of more than 90 million songs, many of which I will never listen to.

I love the fact that I can create as many custom playlists as I want to on Spotify and share them with anyone with the link or an embed to a website. I have more than 250 playlists that cover many music genres and eras. Check them out at my Spotify Profile page.

Like last year, Spotify issued their annual "Spotify Wrap" which is a compilation of the most played tracks from their library to my username macprohawaii. For 2023 my top 5 artists were 1. The Beatles 2. Ed Sheeran 3. Lewis Capaldi 4. The Rolling Stones and 5. Taylor Swift. "Angry" by The Rolling Stones was my most played song on Spotify.

Here for your listening pleasure is my Spotify Wrap playlist and brief stats.

Spotify Wrap playlist for 2023:

Mel’s Top 100 Hits of 1969

 Get Back is My Favorite Song of 1969

I was only 12 back in 1969. The biggest event of that year was the manned landing on the moon by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins. 

Music wise 1969 was another year of great rock and pop music that wrapped the decade of the 1960s up. We had some great big classic hits by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival and many others.

In retrospect my favorite songs from 1969 are those by The Beatles. My #1 song of the year is "Get Back" and I list it with its 45 rpm B-side "Don't Let Me Down". My #2 song of the year is another Beatles song that was never released as a single. It is George Harrison's greatest song of all time... "Here Comes The Sun" from the Abbey Road album. He also showed up with The Beatles at #12 with "Something". John Lennon had Beatles tracks on my top 100 with "The Ballad of John & Yoko" at #9, "Come Together" at #21 and his first solo track, "Give Peace a Chance" at #58, which is shown on the record's label at John Lennon / The Plastic Ono Band. 

The Rolling Stones had a couple of big hits in 1969, with my favorite being "Honky Tonk Woman" at #3 for the year.

Several songs in my Top 100 of 1969 were not in the Billboard Top 100 of 1969. They include It's a Beautiful Day's "White Bird" at #4, The Youngbloods' "Get Together" at #11 (originally released in 1967), and "The Boxer" and "Baby Driver" 45 from Simon & Garfunkel. Several other songs that did not score high enough on the year end Billboard Chart of 1969 made this chart.

All of the songs on this chart can be streamed on my Spotify playlist. The Top 100 Hits of 1969 list is posted below. Enjoy!

Rank	Title	Artist
1	Get Back / Don't Let Me Down	The Beatles
2	Here Comes The Sun	The Beatles
3	Honky Tonk Women	The Rolling Stones
4	White Bird	It's A Beautiful Day
5	In the Year 2525	Zager & Evans
6	One	Three Dog Night
7	Crimson and Clover (album version)	Tommy James and the Shondells
8	Bad Moon Rising / Lodi	Creedence Clearwater Revival
9	The Ballad of John & Yoko / Old Brown Shoe	The Beatles
10	Time of the Season	The Zombies
11	Get Together	The Youngbloods
12	Something	The Beatles
13	Everyday People	Sly and the Family Stone
14	Fortunate Son / Down on the Corner	Creedence Clearwater Revival
15	Dizzy	Tommy Roe
16	Hair	The Cowsills
17	Crystal Blue Persuasion	Tommy James and the Shondells
18	Green River / Commotion	Creedence Clearwater Revival
19	Eli's Coming	Three Dog Night
20	I Heard It Through the Grapevine	Marvin Gaye
21	Come Together	The Beatles
22	Proud Mary / Born on the Bayou	Creedence Clearwater Revival
23	Love (Can Make You Happy)	Mercy
24	Suspicious Minds	Elvis Presley
25	Put a Little Love in Your Heart	Jackie DeShannon
26	Someday, We'll Be Together	Diana Ross & The Supremes
27	It's Your Thing	The Isley Brothers
28	Sugar, Sugar	The Archies
29	These Eyes	The Guess Who
30	Sympathy for the Devil	The Rolling Stones
31	Hawaii Five-O	The Ventures
32	Touch Me	The Doors
33	Lay Lady Lay	Bob Dylan
34	Easy to Be Hard	Three Dog Night
35	Hot Fun in the Summertime	Sly and the Family Stone
36	Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye	Steam
37	A Boy Named Sue	Johnny Cash
38	Soul Deep	The Box Tops
39	Time Is Tight	Booker T. & the M.G.'s
40	More Today Than Yesterday	Spiral Starecase
41	Sugar on Sunday	The Clique
42	Spinning Wheel	Blood, Sweat & Tears
43	The Boxer / Baby Driver	Simon & Garfunkel
44	Whole Lotta Love	Led Zeppelin
45	Marakesh Express / Helplessly Hoping	Crosby, Stills & Nash
46	Atlantis	Donovan
47	Laughing	The Guess Who
48	I'd Wait a Million Years	The Grass Roots
49	I Can Hear Music	The Beach Boys
50	My Cherie Amour	Stevie Wonder
51	What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)	Jr. Walker & The All Stars
52	You've Made Me So Very Happy	Blood, Sweat & Tears
53	You Showed Me	The Turtles
54	Smile a Little Smile for Me	The Flying Machine
55	Traces	Classics IV
56	Ramblin' Gamblin' Man	Bob Seger System
57	Tell All The People	The Doors
58	Give Peace A Chance	John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band
59	Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town	Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
60	Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In	The 5th Dimension
61	Backfield in Motion	Mel and Tim
62	I Can't Get Next to You	The Temptations
63	Wishful Sinful	The Doors
64	Build Me Up Buttercup	The Foundations
65	This Magic Moment	Jay and the Americans
66	Maxwell's Silver Hammer	The Beatles
67	In the Ghetto	Elvis Presley
68	Everybody's Talkin'	Harry Nilsson
69	Baby It's You	Smith
70	The River is Wide	The Grass Roots
71	Too Busy Thinking About My Baby	Marvin Gaye
72	Good Morning Starshine	Oliver
73	Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'	Crazy Elephant
74	Wedding Bell Blues	The 5th Dimension
75	It's Getting Better	Mama Cass Elliot
76	Sweet Caroline	Neil Diamond
77	Games People Play	Joe South
78	Baby, Baby Don't Cry	The Miracles
79	Take A Letter Maria	R.B. Greaves
80	Israelites	Desmond Decker & The Aces
81	Jingle Jangle	The Archies
82	Galveston	Glen Campbell
83	Undun	The Guess Who
84	Octopus's Garden	The Beatles
85	Goodbye	Mary Hopkin
86	I'm Gonna Make You Love Me	The Supremes & The Temptations
87	Bella Linda	The Grass Roots
88	That's the Way Love Is	Marvin Gaye
89	Hooked on a Feeling	B.J. Thomas
90	This Girl Is a Woman Now	Gary Puckett & The Union Gap
91	Only The Strong Survive	Jerry Butler
92	Ruben James	Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
93	Time Machine	Grand Funk Railroad
94	Try A Little Tenderness	Three Dog Night
95	Baby, I Love You	Andy Kim
96	Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon	Paul Revere & the Raiders
97	Can I Change My Mind	Tyronne Davis
98	Gitarzan	Ray Stevens
99	Grazing in the Grass	The Friends of Distinction
100	Keem-O-Sabe	Electric Indian

10,000 Scrobbles* for THE BEATLES

 THE TOP 25 MOST SCROBBLED BEATLES SONGS

The First Scrobble: June 7, 2006 - I'll Follow The Sun

I scrobbled 10,000 songs by The Beatles on Last FM from June 7, 2006 to April 3, 2022. It's taken more than 15 years to reach this milestone in scrobbling history... but here it is.

Of the 568 songs scrobbled, the YouTube link above features the Top 25 recurring songs by The Beatles that I scrobbled up to April 2022. Listen and enjoy. 

Beatles songs are still scrobbling today. By now the scrobble list has surpassed the 10,000 track milestone.

Here are the last 5 scrobbles that took my list to 10,000 on April 3, 2022.

9996 - I Should Have Known Better

9997 - For You Blue

9998 - Rain

9999 - Get Back

10,000 - Let It Be

The TOP 100 SCROBBLED Tracks by THE BEATLES
June 7, 2006 to April 3, 2022.

Rank	Title	Scrobbles*
1	Let It Be	348
2	Get Back	152
3	Rain	150
4	For You Blue	148
5	I Should Have Known Better	142
6	I Am the Walrus	122
7	Hey Jude	119
8	Here Comes the Sun	107
9	I Want to Hold Your Hand	107
10	A Hard Day's Night	106
11	Eleanor Rigby	105
12	Across the Universe	102
13	Taxman	98
14	Don't Let Me Down	96
15	The Long and Winding Road	96
16	She Loves You	95
17	Yesterday	95
18	Something	93
19	Yellow Submarine	92
20	Two of Us	91
21	The Ballad of John & Yoko	89
22	Lovely Rita	88
23	And I Love Her	86
24	I Me Mine	82
25	Can't Buy Me Love	81
26	Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds	80
27	Revolution	79
28	One After 909	78
29	Come Together	74
30	Dig a Pony	71
31	Paperback Writer	71
32	Dig It	68
33	Help!	68
34	Here, There & Everywhere	66
35	When I'm Sixty-Four	66
36	I've Got a Feeling	64
37	Penny Lane	64
38	Ticket to Ride	63
39	We Can Work It Out	63
40	Lady Madonna	62
41	Nowhere Man	62
42	Old Brown Shoe	62
43	Eight Days a Week	61
44	Got to Get You Into My Life	61
45	Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)	61
46	Let It Be (Album Version)	59
47	For No One	58
48	I'm Only Sleeping	57
49	Honey Don't	56
50	Michelle	56
51	Girl	55
52	In My Life	55
53	I'll Follow the Sun	54
54	From Me to You	53
55	Get Back (Album Version)	53
56	Doctor Robert	52
57	Revolution #1	52
58	Love Me Do	51
59	While My Guitar Gently Weeps	51
60	All You Need Is Love	50
61	I Feel Fine	50
62	Octopus's Garden	50
63	The Ballad of John and Yoko	50
64	Maggie Mae	49
65	Day Tripper	47
66	Drive My Car	47
67	Hello, Goodbye	47
68	All My Loving	46
69	Honey Pie	46
70	Tomorrow Never Knows	46
71	And Your Bird Can Sing	45
72	Good Day Sunshine	44
73	I Want to Tell You	44
74	You've Got to Hide Your Love Away	44
75	Any Time at All	43
76	I'm Happy Just to Dance with You	43
77	Love You To	43
78	Strawberry Fields Forever	43
79	She Said She Said	42
80	Act Naturally	41
81	If I Fell	41
82	Magical Mystery Tour	41
83	She's Leaving Home	41
84	Within You Without You	41
85	Getting Better	40
86	What Goes On	40
87	Rain [Stereo]	39
88	Things We Said Today	39
89	Run for Your Life	38
90	I'm a Loser	37
91	I'm Looking Through You	36
92	Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da	36
93	With a Little Help From My Friends	36
94	You Can't Do That	36
95	A Day in the Life	35
96	Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite	35
97	Fixing a Hole	35
98	Good Morning Good Morning	35
99	Revolution (mono mix)	35
100	The Fool on the Hill	35

* Total tracks scrobbled by The Beatles: 568 - 2006 to 2022. 10,000 times for The Beatles All The Beatles songs scrobbled by Mel through Last FM. What is a Scrobble? Definition from Last FM: It is a music tracking system developed by Last FM. "Track the music you stream by connecting Last.fm to a music service or via our web client, app or a browser plugin." Offline scrobbles can be manually input through the use of Open Scrobbler website. This allows you to scrobble non-digital, non-streaming music resources such as vinyl records, CDs, cassettes and radio airplay.

Chart is dated for April 3, 2022 only. Subsequent scrobbles after this date will impact scrobble counts and song rank.

Overall I have scrobbled 223,713 tracks since I started scobbling back in 2006. More than 7,400 artists have been scrobbled. You can see my artist list at Last FM. The Beatles are my most scrobbled artist, far outpacing the next artist at #2, Elton John. So far this year, I have scrobbled more than 2,400 tracks.

Christmas Song of the Day #10 - John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band - Happy Xmas (War is Over)

Christmas Song of the Day #10

December 8 is forever etched into our troubled history as the date when former Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed in cold blood. Today is the 40th anniversary of his passing.

John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono have left audiences the world over with one of the most controversial holiday songs ever... "Happy Xmas (War is Over)". The song is a tribute to peace which is still a fleeting concept all over the world. Its message is timeless and the song is a classic. "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" has over the last 49 years become an annual holiday radio play as well as being covered by numerous artists including Sarah McLachlan, The Fray, Andy Williams, Neil Diamond, The Moody Blues, Darlene Love, Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow to name a few.

Let's hope we can find peace in the world during our lifetime.

Running Playlist

Nov. 29 - "Mary Did You Know" - Mat and Savanna Shaw
Nov. 30 - "Being Home For Christmas (2020 version)" - Ivan and Alyosha
Dec. 1 - "Take Me Home For Christmas" - Dan + Shay
Dec. 2 - "Mele Kalikimaka Medley" - Kapena
Dec. 3 - "Rockin 'Round the Christmas Tree" - Brenda Lee
Dec. 4 - "Holidays" - Meghan Trainor featuring Earth, Wind & Fire
Dec. 5 - "12 Days of Christmas" - Pentatonix
Dec. 6 - "O Come All Ye Faithful" - Mat and Savanna Shaw
Dec. 7 - "Oh Santa!" - Mariah Carey featuring Arianne Grande & Jennifer Hudson
Dec. 8 - "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" - John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band

Additional Information and Links

The Beatles
Murder of John Lennon
John Lennon on YouTube
The Beatles on YouTube
Imagine: John Lennon shot on his doorstep 40 years ago (Yahoo News)

Imagine...

Classic Hits Night with Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band

The Beatles are an endangered species. Only 2 members of the Fab Four survive today. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are the only two members of the band who actively perform their own hits as well as those they made as a member of The Beatles.

After being a Beatles fan for more than 50 years, I finally got to see one of them perform live. Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band, consisting of a roster of highly talented musicians entertained an appreciative crowd at the Blaisdell Center Arena in Honolulu on November 8, 2016.

Ringo and his band ground through 25 classic rock and pop hits that spanned the decades of the 1960s to the 80s. Band members Todd Rundgren, Steve Lukather (of Toto), Greg Rolie (of Santana & Journey), Richard Page (Mr. Mister), Warren Ham and Greg Bisonnette shared the spotlight with Ringo as they performed individual hits.

Cover songs like "Black Magic Woman," "Hold the Line", "Bang the Drum All Day" and "Kyrie" were one of many audience favorites that for the most part were just about dead on accurate to their original hit records.

Of course no one can deny Ringo, who belted several of his Beatles and solo hits including "Matchbox", "It Don't Come Easy," "What Goes On," and "Boys" to name a few. Audience members sang along with "Yellow Submarine" and appreciated Ringo's two #1 hits, "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen."

The rousing "Back of Boogaloo", "Don't Pass Me By" from The Beatles White Album and Buck Owens' country hit, "Act Naturally" were highly appreciated. Ringo took turns singing his vocal set stage front as well as behind the drum kit on several hits. He is the world's most famous drummer and he did well on the skins covering the hit songs by his touring bandmates.

Second drummer Greg Bisonnette filled in on sets where Ringo was stage front as well as delivering solid sets with guitarists Rundgren, Lukathar and Page. Rolie was extremely competent with the keyboards.

Overall it was a great night for classic rock with every song being an audience favorite.







More Concert Photos from Mel's Flickr Page

RINGO STARR & HIS ALL STAR BAND
November 8, 2016
Concert Set List - Neil S. Blaisdell Center, Honolulu, HI.

1. Matchbox
(Carl Perkins cover / The Beatles) - Ringo on vocals, drums

2. It Don't Come Easy
(Ringo Starr song) - Ringo's Top 10 hit from 1971.

3. What Goes On
(The Beatles cover) - From the Beatles album "Rubber Soul".

4. I Saw the Light
(Todd Rundgren cover) - 1972 Top 40 hit

5. Evil Ways
(Willie Bobo / Santana cover) - Greg Rollie

6. Rosanna
(Toto cover) - 1982 hit

7. Kyrie
(Mr. Mister cover)

8. Bang the Drum All Day
(Utopia cover) - Todd Rundgren

9. Boys
(The Shirelles / The Beatles cover) -Ringo

10. Don't Pass Me By
(The Beatles cover) - Ringo

11. Yellow Submarine
(The Beatles cover) - Ringo

12. Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen
(Santana cover; originally by Fleetwood Mac / Peter Green)

13. You're Sixteen
(Johnny Burnette cover) - Ringo #1 hit 1974

14. Back Off Boogaloo
(Ringo Starr song) - Ringo

15. You Are Mine
(Richard Page cover)

16. Africa
(Toto cover) - 1982 Top 10 hit

17. Oye como va
(Tito Puente / Santana hit cover) - Greg Rollie

18. I Wanna Be Your Man
(The Beatles cover)

19. Love Is the Answer
(Utopia cover / England Dan & John Ford Coley hit) - Todd Rundgren

20. Broken Wings
(Mr. Mister cover)

21. Hold the Line
(Toto cover) - 1978 hit

22. Photograph
(Ringo Starr song / #1 hit in 1973)

23. Act Naturally
(Buck Owens cover / Beatles B Side to "Yesterday")

24. With a Little Help From My Friends
(The Beatles cover)

25. Give Peace a Chance
(Plastic Ono Band cover)

Thanks to Daniel for the ticket.

Review in StarAdvertiser.com

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

The Beatles’ Apple Corps. & Cirque du Soleil have released this new video of the famous George Harrison song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.

The video is laid an acoustic arrangement of the Harrison song with most of the original instrumentation and vocals by the other Beatles left out. In 2006, producer George Martin added in a new string section to make this rock tune sound mostly like a light piece of classical music. The track was used as part of Cirque de Soleil's Beatles Las Vegas show and included with the Fab Four's "Love" album.

The end result is a beautiful ethereal piece that rivals Paul McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby” and other light orchestral works.

The video itself features one of the dancers from Cirque du Soleil which celebrates their 10th year as a Beatles Las Vegas attraction.

The original version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" first appeared on The Beatles "White Album" in 1968. It has been recorded by many other artists since.

Crap From The Past Tribute to George Martin

One of my favorite downloadable and streaming podcasts on the internet is really a radio show. It's called CRAP FROM THE PAST and is hosted by Ron "Boogiemonster" Gerber on KFAI radio in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area of Minnesota. The weekly radio show features a smorgasbord of pop and rock music from the 1960s to 1990s with emphasis on obscure and rare tracks from the 1970s and 1980. It is a fun show to listen to.

Occasionally the show will focus of special subjects like "lost 45s", and recently deceased music personalities such as Casey Kasem and most recently producer George Martin.

For this posting I have included a link to the March 11 podcast of CRAP FROM THE PAST which is largely a tribute to George Martin who is often recognized as "the 5th Beatle" since he produced nearly all of the records of The Beatles.

The show is available as a download as well as a stream, as presented below:

PLAYLIST

KARN EVIL 9 - Emerson Lake And Palmer (1973)
IN MY LIFE [mono mix] - Beatles (1965)
HELP [US LP mono version] - Beatles (1965)
YESTERDAY [mono mix] - Beatles (1965)
MAN ON YOUR MIND [previously unreleased mix] - Little River Band (1982/2000)
TAKE IT EASY ON ME [previously unreleased mix] - Little River Band (1982/2000)
A DAY IN THE LIFE [mono mix] - Beatles (1967)
FERRY ACROSS THE MERSEY - Gerry And The Pacemakers (1965)
TAKE IT AWAY - Paul McCartney (1982)
TIN MAN - America (1974)
RAIN - Beatles (1966)
GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE [mono mix] - Beatles (1966)
I FEEL FINE - Beatles (1964)
SHE'S A WOMAN - Beatles (1964)
STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER - Beatles (1967)
PENNY LANE - Beatles (1967)
THE NIGHT OWLS [previously unreleased mix] - Little River Band (1982/2000)

The Beatles Set To Stream

The Beatles music is set to start streaming on various music services starting on December 24. This is good news for Beatles fans who don't have all of their recordings on various analog or digital medias. Starting tomorrow just go to your favorite streaming service and look for and listen to The Beatles there.

The Fab Four's music will stream on all of the leading services including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Tidal, Slacker, Rhapsody, Deezer and Microsoft Groove.

Beatles music has for the longest of time streamed for free on the "Internet Radio" tab of Apple's iTunes music application as well as on iHeart Radio.

Flashback Friday: The Beatles - The Night That Changed America

FLASHBACK FRIDAY on Mel's Internet Universe Music Blog

50 Years ago this weekend The Beatles made their U.S. Debut on CBS TV's "The Ed Sullivan Show". They sang 4 songs on that first show including "All My Loving," "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" the latter being the #1 single in the U.S. at that time.

I was a kid when The Beatles debut on "Ed Sullivan". I remember watching with glee as they sang their songs, shook their heads and got the audience filled with screaming girls all fired up. It was something. They sounded great on our console style, Zenith black and white TV. My Dad shook his head in mild disapproval over their hair style.

I remember watching The Beatles subsequent appearances on "Ed Sullivan" several more times (I was a young fan now), and still my Dad never liked them. I remember him telling me, "I don't like them because they were not Americans". So what? The music was great.

My Dad was not a big fan of rock n roll music and preferred big band, jazz and Hawaiian music. Funny thing is a few years later I remember watching a TV concert featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival and he liked them. My Dad also liked Elvis when he was doing the Las Vegas thing in his later years.

One thing for certain. After seeing The Beatles on TV for that first time many years ago, I became a fan and have listened to their music continuously for many years now.

This weekend CBS will be doing a Beatles retrospective commemorating their first appearance on "Ed Sullivan" on a special this Sunday night called "A Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute". The show will feature contemporary artists covering a range of Beatles songs including Stevie Wonder, Maroon 5, Alicia Keys and Keith Urban. The two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will also appear on the program.

It will certainly be a show that Beatles fans will watch and reflect on 50 years of history. Should be great.





The original audio on this clip was overdubbed with the studio version of the track.

Flashback Friday: The Beatles - 50 Years Ago

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: The Beatles "I Want To Hold Your Hand"

A day late but not a dollar short, the Flashback Friday track for today takes us 50 years into the past and the release and charting of the first American hit for The Beatles. Yes, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" a single penned by Lennon and McCartney and vocalized mainly by John Lennon became the first big hit in America by the Fab Four. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on January 18, 1964 and by early February was a #1 hit single. It held on to the #1 spot for 5 weeks and established The Beatles as a bonafide hit making rock n roll group.

They would invade America a few weeks later by showing up for their famous live performances on CBS TV's "Ed Sullivan Show". The rest as they say, is history!




Original Capitol Records issue 45 rpm.


My CD3 version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand"

50 Years ago I was only a kid when I first heard the song. From the time I heard it on the radio or somewhere unknown, I was hooked. The Beatles became my favorite rock n roll group of all time... the gold standard to all other rock acts that followed. To me "I Want To Hold Your Hand" is the first signature song among many that was recorded by The Beatles until their break-up in 1970.

I never owned the original 45 but have many reissues of the song on various Beatles singles and albums on different types of media.