Paul McCartney Explained Why The Beatles Always Included a ‘Killer B-Side’ on a Single

During the 1960s, music fans would always anticipate the latest single from The Beatles, who were taking the music industry by storm. The single’s A-side was almost guaranteed to be a hit, with the B-side usually landing with mixed results. However, Paul McCartney said The Beatles always tried to deliver excellent B-sides, even if they flopped. 

The Beatles sometimes had B-sides better that were better than the A-sides

The Beatles had many excellent A-side singles like “Hey Jude” and “Can’t Buy Me Love” that dominated the charts in the 1960s and are still widely listened to today. However, there are a few deep-cut B-sides that many people, including The Beatles themselves, believe are better than the A-side they were on. A few examples of these include “I Saw Her Standing There”, “I Am the Walrus”, and “Rain”.

“Rain” was released as the B-side to “Paperback Writer”. “Paperback Writer” was a No. 1 single, but The Beatles thought “Rain” was the better song. In the book The Beatles: Off the Record, Ringo Starr said “Rain” is one of his favorite Beatles songs and said it’s the best piece of drumming he did with the band. 

“I think it’s the best out of all the records I’ve ever made,” Starr said. “‘Rain’ blows me away. It’s out in left field. I know me and I know my playing… and then there’s ‘Rain’.”

Paul McCartney wanted The Beatles to have ‘killer B-sides’ to give people their money’s worth

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Paul McCartney explained why The Beatles placed so much value on their B-sides. The B-side was typically reserved for a single that a group thought was the lesser of the two songs. However, people spent money to get those singles, and McCartney wanted to ensure fans were getting their money’s worth by getting two solid songs. 

“I remember talking to Phil Spector in the early days,” McCartney said. “Phil used to say to us, ‘You guys, you put too much value on. You put an A-side, and you put a good song on the B-side!’ There had been a song called ‘Sally Go Round the Roses,’ an early thing, and on the other side they’d put ‘Sing Along With Sally Go Round the Roses’ – just the backing track. And we’d say, ‘Aw, Phil, you can’t do that, man. They paid good money for this. We would feel cheated by that.’ And he said, ‘Nah, you can do that. It’s cool.’”

 “That became actually the big Beatle policy,” he added. “It was always to put a really serious B-side on there – so you got ‘Strawberry Fields’ with ‘Penny Lane,’ and people now talk about that. That was a factor of the Beatles’ success, I think. It was always a killer B-side, which people often thought was as good or better than the A-side. That was really from the same thing of giving value for money, which George Martin used to call ‘VFM.’”

One of McCartney’s favorite Beatles songs is a ‘zany’ B-side

Some of The Beatles’ weirdest but most experimental songs were released as B-side singles. They aren’t accessible to mainstream audiences, but hardcore Beatles fans find a lot to appreciate within them. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, McCartney said one of his favorite Beatles songs is “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” because he had so much fun making it. 

“[It’s] a zany, zany little B-side that nobody knows, but we had so much fun making it,” McCartney shared. “But there’s a lot of songs that I love of the Beatles.”