In the rock world, the majority of The Beatles’ best songs are regarded as timeless classics. There are more experimental tracks like “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” that saw them pushing the boundaries of what rock and roll could do. For every pop masterpiece like “I Want To Hold Your Hand” or “Hey Jude,” there’s an equally innovative and groundbreaking side to The Beatles. John Lennon was usually the first to acknowledge when the band didn’t hit the mark. However, they were able to turn many of their best ideas into solid gold.
Lennon would spend most of his time criticizing various Beatles songs that he felt were subpar. This continued ever since the band broke up. Lennon could be equally ruthless when discussing his masterpieces. However, Paul McCartney wrote a lot of the songs he disliked the most from the group.
Regarding the band’s early work, Lennon frequently stated that he never felt a personal connection to any of his songs. He believed instead that he was merely penning songs for the meat market. By the time he began to open up more with songs like “Help!,” Lennon had completely changed the way he approached songwriting. He frequently collaborated on multiple compositions that were manifestations of his individuality.
Though these tracks paved the way for experimental explorations, Lennon remained dissatisfied with the results of many of them. Even though a song like “Strawberry Fields Forever” became a huge landmark, John Lennon believed it would have been better to record the Beatles all over again. He preferred this approach rather than reissuing the entire catalog.
It would be impossible for the Beatles to reunite after John Lennon’s tragic death in 1980. However, in the 1990s, the surviving band members recorded two new songs for the Anthology project. Fans also got a taste of never-before-heard songs from the band’s catalog, including alternate takes on beloved songs. They deleted tracks, in contrast to the typical greatest-hits compilations.
‘That Means A Lot,’ written around the time the band completed the film Help!, was one of the new tracks. Lennon acknowledged that the song was ruined by The Beatles adding their trademark touch. Despite the band usually having no trouble with this kind of pop song.
“The song is a ballad that Paul and I wrote for the film,” Lennon later acknowledged when questioned about the song. “But we found we just couldn’t sing it.” We thought it would be best to hand it off to someone more qualified after we made a mess of it. The song was never used, but the band worked on it in the studio, going through as many as twenty takes. They teased a country-infused rendition.
Although even McCartney would admit the song wasn’t all that great, it’s still a beautiful ballad from the era. It evokes a combination of the abrasive tones of “Ticket to Ride” and McCartney’s more sentimental ballads. The fact that The Beatles could tell when a track wasn’t working is proof of their excellent quality control. This held even on their less-than-great songs.
