The new expanded remixes of The Beatles Red Album & Blue Album have had excellent sales; however, hardcore fans have still been complaining about songs that were left off. Plus, Apple knows they can cash in…so they’re releasing The Beatles Green Album.
Just kidding. This is for fun, and to look at the depth of The Beatles’ library of recordings. The Beatles have so many worthy songs that are not among the 75 on the Red & Blue albums. It was a real gift to hear all those older Beatles songs remixed in true stereo, so wouldn’t it be great to get another big batch? In that spirit, here are 40 more songs ready to be put on CD’s or green-vinyl records.
Disc 1:
- It Won’t Be Long
- Money (That’s What I Want)
- Do You Want To Know A Secret
- I Call Your Name
- I Should Have Known Better
- If I Fell
- I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
- Things We Said Today
- Tell Me Why
- I’ll Be Back
- She’s A Woman
- No Reply
- I’m A loser
- Baby’s In Black
- Rock And Roll Music
- I’ll Follow The Sun
- I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party
- The Night Before
- I Need You
- Act Naturally
This song list starts energetically with “It Won’t Be Long”. It was the lead song of The Beatles second album of 1963, With The Beatles. Then it moves on to a cover song with a great John Lennon vocal, “Money (That’s What I Want)”. Farther down the list is another one, “Rock And Roll Music”. Third is a song that hit #2 in the U.S., the George Harrison sung “Do You Want To Know A Secret”. George’s first solo-written Beatles song “Don’t Bother Me” would be an alternate choice.
Then it’s a lot of excellent songs, including…”If I Fell”, “Things We Said Today”, “She’s A Woman”, “I’m A Loser”, “I’ll Follow The Sun”, “I’ll Be Back”, and ending with the third and final cover song, Ringo Starr’s “Act Naturally”. Beatles fans should enjoy them all. If you put the songs into a playlist, you’ll hear the quality of the collection.
Disc 2:
- I’ve Just Seen A Face
- You’re Going To Lose That Girl
- Think For Yourself
- You Won’t See Me
- I’m Looking Through You
- Rain
- Good Day Sunshine
- And Your Bird Can Sing
- For No One
- When I’m Sixty-Four
- She’s Leaving Home
- I Will
- Julia
- Birthday
- For You Blue
- Two Of Us
- Because
- Golden Slumbers
- Carry That Weight
- The End
The second disc starts with the song that led-off the American version of Rubber Soul, “I’ve Just Seen A Face”. Another 19 great songs follow, with the highlights being…”Rain”, “For No One”, “She’s Leaving Home”, “I Will”, “Two Of Us”, and “Because”. It all wraps up with the three-song medley that is the climax of Abbey Road (the last album The Beatles recorded together). Really, the whole list makes an excellent collection. Besides, nowhere else will you find pairings like “You Won’t See Me” & “I’m Looking Through You”. Or the short weather forecast, “Rain” followed by “Good Day Sunshine”.
So, do you know all the songs on the two lists? Most of them are album tracks rather than singles, but they’re likely familiar to the majority of Beatles fans. Even with these extra 40 selections, some fan favorites will still be missing.
Extra: In putting together the lists, I just wanted the best songs, and paid no attention to how many were “John songs” or “Paul songs”. I did consciously make sure to include a decent sampling of “George songs”. After publication, I found there were 17 songs by John, and 17 by Paul. John dominates the earlier Beatles, and Paul dominates the later Beatles.