Favorite Beatle

Dave at A Sound Day invited me to write a post in his series Turntable Talk. He wanted to know either our favorite Beatle or someone close to them. I picked the only choice I could.

Ever since I was 8 years old I was always drawn to the long-haired guy with those round glasses on the album cover. When I heard his songs and heard about his personality, I knew he was The Beatle I looked forward to in interviews and songs.

On the surface the reasons are many. The man’s voice was one of the best rock voices I’ve ever heard. I favored his voice over McCartney, Harrison, and Starr. He probably could write better rock songs than the other Beatles and he also had a great sense of melody that could keep up with Paul and at times surpass him on ballads. Yes, he could be witty, sharp, and downright hateful at times. A little about his childhood will say a lot.

His childhood was tragic in many ways, but he wasn’t poor. He was the most middle-class out of all of the Beatles. He was abandoned by his father and then his mother gave him to her sister and brother-in-law to raise. John drew close to his aunt and uncle, especially his Uncle George. They were building a strong bond but when John was 14 Uncle George died suddenly at age 52.

He then just had his Aunt Mimi, and she was very strict…and strict didn’t go well with Lennon at that time or anytime. Uncle George was friendly with John while the black or white Mimi didn’t stand for anything out of line. Lennon’s mother came back in his life when John was 16. He got to know her more and they visited each other. As soon as they were getting close in 1958, she was hit by a car by an off-duty policeman walking back home from Mimi’s house.

Later on, one of his best friends was Stuart Sutcliffe who played bass for the Beatles and was one of the best artists in Liverpool at the time. Stuart would stay close to John even when he quit The Beatles. Stuart would die at 21 years old when John was 21. He felt like when people got close to him they would die or be abandoned. This can help explain the rude and crude Lennon of the sixties. By the seventies, he seemed to be much calmer and more relaxed. By many fans’ accounts…he was the most fan-friendly out of all of them. There are multiple stories of him inviting fans into his home talking to them and showing them around.

The main reason though…I just think his songwriting was the most powerful out of them all. Yes, Paul was the most successful after The Beatles, but you are only as strong as your weakest album tracks. That is where John had Paul beat, to me anyway. It’s not all about hits. Songs like Working Class Hero, God, Gimme Some Truth, and I Know (I Know) were better than many of his and Paul’s hits. John was the leader, the muscle, and the architect of The Beatles.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

57 thoughts on “Favorite Beatle”

  3. Hey Max…I was a George Harrison (‘Crackerbox Palace’) guy…for some reason when we were little kids I loved his singles stuff. But, all of the Beatles post Beatles were in their prime in our childhood & were great pop artists in the 70’s.

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    1. I’ve noticed that a lot of people have picked George since the Anthology especially… I guess I like the “mean” one lol…but yea…it took all of them to be special in the end.

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  7. If I was forced to look at each member after they left the band, my favorite was George Harrison. McCartney was too sugar coated, Lennon was a head case and Ringo just kept on plugging along. Harrison had the true musical ability. Every lead riff he took, blended with the song, no noodling from him, and he had no problem repeating those licks time after time, always like the record.

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      1. Gotta go with Phil there. Just listening to a long set by him , a rare treat, …man! It just blows me away and helps make me happy. He was amazing as a guitarist and person

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      2. Yea man…Phil is great…and I’m going hunting for more of those Texas bands including Phil’s band.

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  8. Thanks again for taking part Max, and a great post! As it happens, I’ll have a new topic coming tomorrow on my site (as you know). All 4 are tremendous talents, as many have pointed out, and all had their own strengths and weaknesses, but more and more I’m coming to like Ringo’s personality and George’s music best. Kind of odd since when most people casually think of The Beatles, it’s going to be just John and Paul they remember.

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    1. A lot of people pick George now…I think people are listening to his catalog and really liking it. I like George as well…and Ringo…John is just down my alley more.

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      1. George’s music just gets to me more consistently than the others’ though there are any number of great songs I like by all three of the others, Ringo included. His sense of calm or positivity is a big plus and I think his slide guitar really puts it over the top. But, no dissing of John either, nor Paul (at least pre-Ebony & Ivory) or Ringo

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  9. The Beatles were a fluke of history, adored and reviled by different camps. For some, they just morphed into long-haired hippies with a drug habit and no sense of direction (their many records and commercial successes proved differently). Because of their new looks and lifestyles, they turned off some of the fuddy-duddy older crowd, hard as that may be to believe since all we see are cheering crowds in the vids that preserve something of the era.

    I don’t have a favorite Beatle. My favorite Beatle is Elvis, progenitor of them all. Now there was a sex god.

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    1. Elvis was alright and I respect him…but he was not The Beatles. I’m a musician and to not only sing and write your own songs…trumps him for me.

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  11. John is a great pick. He was my first favorite Beatle, before I moved on to Paul, followed by George until I finally arrived at Ringo. Each of them brought something unique to the table.

    When it comes to John, I would say it was the songwriting, in particular. With “In My Life,” you included one of my absolute favorites. I also loved John’s voice.

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    1. John’s voice is what I love…plus…John put a little of the Stones in the Beatles with his at times rough voice and raw on edge songwriting…he wasn’t always polished like the rest.

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  12. I guess I would have to say George, with a three-way tie for second place. I don’t know, I like them all, but I guess I like George just a tiny bit better.

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  13. Have you ever the interview with Aunt Mimi? For years, I had this real negative image of her as a sort of killjoy. After I saw the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRqU2teFtw8), I wished I had known that side of her. She loved and adored him, and he loved and adored her. Sure they fought: she wasn’t afraid to put her foot down if she felt he needed it. She was really his mother, in the truest sense of the word.

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    1. Yes I have John… I love that interview and I wish it would went on longer. She was a powerful woman in his life for sure. When his uncle George died she became everything to him….but yea not without fights.

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      2. Yes…I think she was much more agreeable than what we have been led to know…you can see the stern part somewhat but she couldn’t have been as bad as we have known. Some describe her as a tyrant….I didn’t see that.

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  14. If we have to separate the Four-Headed Monster (not a name I made up, BTW), then my answer is with no doubt or hesitancy at all George. Ringo is sweet and harmless and just happy to be so blessed in life. John was either a prince or a prick, very insecure with a rapier wit which was deadly. Paul, while immensely talented, is incredibly full of himself and has to be in control of everything at all times. George was a loving, accepting, forgiving, peaceful man who was also a masterful musician with a very clever and charming personality. He was quite easy on the eyes, too. Yeah, it’s George.

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    1. George won this by a landslide! He has gained a lot of popularity…if someone would have asked this in the 90s…I doubt it would be so high…I’m happy that people found his music now.

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    1. George is the over all winner with this post! He has gained a lot of popularity…I think in part to Martn Scorsese’s documentary and Concert for George.

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  17. Pingback: Favorite Beatle – MobsterTiger

  20. This was cool Max. In my younger days, Lennon was my favourite by far, but that’s because I had limited exposure to Harrison’s music. Now if I had to pick just one, it would be Harrison, but it’s a difficult choice. I just heard his ‘Cheer Down’ which Nancy just presented. Have you heard it?
    Apart from ‘Live and Let Die’ and a few other ones, I could never get into Paul. Also I find him the least interesting of the 4, but that’s not taking anything away from his stellar singer-songwriting.

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    1. It’s that rawness that John had that the others didn’t…that is the reason for me. Reading about him as a person…he seemed to be the most open and that of course helped get him killed. One of his last decsions was NOT to get a body guard…he said what if that person was killed because of me? I could never get over that.
      Yes George’s stock has risen through the years dramatically. I think it’s because of the Concert for George and the documentary on him…that has helped. I love George as well…but I just like that madman quality in Lennon and his music.

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      1. The rawness, openness, charisma and creative genius goes to Lennon bar none. If he had not been so carefree about his security, it’s scary to consider what his contributions and legacy would have been given how legendary he already is. I’m glad he was able to detach from the ‘wheels’ eventually re. his ‘Watching the Wheels’ song and the ontological shock and world-wiew change associated with that.
        I don’t think I have ever seen the Concert for George, but I have seen some Dylan music in it. I didn’t realise how significant it was cementing his place.

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      2. Yea that Concert for George was huge for his legacy…the most touching moment for me was seeing Paul sing All Things Must Pass…he had never covered it before…that was Clapton’s idea.
        Yea I respect John for thinking what he did about the body guard…but I wish he would have reconsidered.

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  21. John’s Aunty Mimi used to live in the house John bought in Sandbanks, the wealthiest real-estate area in the UK these days, and she lived there till she died a few years ago, Yoko sold the house at that point. I live a few miles away in Dorset. John is the best singer of the Fabs, by some distance I think, he had a passion in it that the others had to work at to come close.

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