To ask who your favourite Beatle is/was?

George by a country mile, beautiful, talented, brave.

Paul ruined the entire Olympic ceremony so for that alone he can't be my favourite.

Used to like John because he was the edgy one, but in reality he was a self centred navel gazer who sadly would probably have aged badly and turned into the sort of person who goes on chat shows and retells the same stories ad infinitum.

Ringo? Indifferent.

John, although I don’t think he would have got as far without Paul. Individually great but together, untouchable. Overall, John’s songs are the ones that I love the most. Agree with everything deepbluesea18 wrote upthread

DP is one of these people who likes to be contrary and dismiss The Beatles. Being partially deaf he doesn’t listen to a lot of music, however he recently heard Blackbird and was surprised at how good it is Funny that, it being good, considering it was written and performed by one of the greatest singer-songwriters to ever live 😂😂

Got to be the stag

John Lennon gave a significant amount of money to Michael de Freitas' defence fund. de Freitas was a particularly nasty piece of work who hacked two people to death and seemed genuinely surprised to be hanged. That, in tandem with the way he treated his first wife and child, put him well past me in terms of thinking of him as a decent human being. He also wrote some utterly bobbins songs, btw. But he was a genius. Probably.

And the comments Ringo made about Liverpool - he grew up in the slums, an incredibly deprived area so I can understand where he's coming from. I slag off the bad areas of my hometown too!

I recall sitting in a cab in Liverpool with a cabbie who trilled "if John Lennon was alive now he's be worse than fooking Bono". He's probably right.

Loved their music, but they have terrible track records with relationships. An few evenings in front of BBC 4 though and pretty much every musician ever has lived a similar lifestyle. Who knows if their difficult relationships are down to the era, their upbringing, their fame or just unpleasant personalities?

Some of the Beatles songs are absolutely awful (Yellow Submarine 🤔)

I don't think Ringo was "lucky." Obviously he didn't have the singing or songwriting skills that the other 3 did but he was considered the best drummer in Liverpool and the band he was in were more successful than the Beatles at the time. There's a reason why the most talented songwriters of a generation wanted him in their band!

@carben,

LOL, right?

That’s why so many Mumsnet users ‘hate’ the Beatles. They don’t know the first thing about them.

And how many songs written by Ray Davies could 9 out of 10 people name? None, that’s how many. Because most people have never heard of him. He’s just that amazing.

Ringo is largely hated in Liverpool, because of his nasty comments about the city he came from.

DGRossetti
Imagine" - such an obvious Oasis ripoff I'm surprised lawyers weren't involved

Huh? Is that the same Imagine first released in 1971? Liam Gallagher wasn't even born until 1972

@monkeyonthetable,

You haven’t heard enough Beatles songs!

Personally, I think George’s songs are boring, repetitive and dull. They all sound like dirges to me, but you’re right - it’s subjective.

However, facts are facts, and the people who claim that George was the ‘most talented’ are deluded frankly.

John and Paul were a phenomenon, a miracle, a once in a lifetime thing. They were both touched by God. George was lucky to be in their orbit. He learnt from them, but he never got close to their genius.

He couldn’t reconcile this and it turned him into an angry and bitter man. He never forgave Paul for ‘marginalising’ him. His relationship with John was more complex because he looked up to John and coveted his attention. But John wasn’t interested in George because he was too obsessed with Paul. And George hated Paul for that.

Paul wasn’t bossy - it was just the label he got stuck with when they all turned on him for these deeply personal reasons. Because he was the bigger man, he took their shit, but it ruined his public image,

John Lennon but I liked them all.

My favourite Beatle is Ray Davies of the Kinks.

I think he was a far better songwriter in every way and nothing the Beatles wrote (though they wrote some good songs) matches his work.
Whenever I hear the Beatles I find I like their songs but never love them. Something doesn't quite do it for me.

I didn't know it was 'fashionable' to like George 😂 It's not a particularly strong field but out of a cast of pseuds, abusers, philanderers and providers of financial support to particularly vicious murders, he's probably the best. Also did a lot to boost the U.K. film industry with HandMade Films etc. Also - the OP said 'favourite'. Not 'most talented'. As it happens I have a soft spot for Ringo's theme from 'Curly Sue' but I do recognize that he's the one of luckiest men in popular music.

Reading it back it was meant to say ‘among my favourite Beatles songs’ which maybe makes more sense to you

Music is very personal. I don’t make claims that they are better than other songs the Beatles wrote. Just that they are the ones that speak to me and I return to.

Yup deepblue

@MoonriseKingdom,

So of the 200 + songs that the Beatles wrote, the four or so songs written by George (one of which was plagiarised) are the ones that stand out for you?

I find that ... extraordinary. I mean, I know it’s fashionable to love George, but really?

Also ‘Beware of Darkness’ is a phenomenally good song!

George - his songs are my favourite Beatles songs and I listen to his solo work a lot. I love his brief appearance in Life of Brian in the queue for crucifixion.

I do admire the relationship Paul and Linda had and the way they brought up their children. I just wish he’d retired about 2 decades ago!

Paul from the early days till now. Lovely guy who was so kind to DD when she served him coffee on Eurostar and spilled it on his coat. "This coat's nearly as old as me, love, don't worry!"

The legacy and innovation of the Beatles is incontrovertible. Popular music was bloody awful before them, apart from a few sub genres, like the British blues bands.

They were all as awful as any young men who shot to such heights of fame so young, in the 60s might be. They were products of their time.

I liked John the best, despite his many faults, and I remember when he reflected on them in later life, acknowledging that he was a “violent man who had learned not to be violent“