My favorite Beatles songs, period.

It's difficult to pick just a few songs out of the Beatles canon as my favorites. It would be easier to make a list of my least favorite Beatles songs; it would be a short list, less than 10, maybe "I Need You" and "Old Brown Shoe" and "Doctor Robert." There are some I tend to skip when I play albums, like "I'm Looking Through You" or "Mother Nature's Son." I can tell you my least favorite Beatles album is the American release Beatles VI. But generally, a Beatles song is a good song; I've even listened to "Revolution 9" more times than I can count, certainly more often than I've listened to any other avant-garde sound collage ever recorded (unless "Pump Up the Volume" counts). So heres a baker's dozen of Beatles songs that give me the most bliss (aside from the first two, in no particular order):

1. "Hey Jude"--such a simple song, endlessly sing-alongable. Some think it's too long, but for me, it always fades out a little too soon.

2. "Strawberry Fields Forever"--fabulous studio trickery that doesn't feel like trickery. And all the variant versions from the Anthology and the bootlegs are also worth hearing more than once.

3. "Can't Buy Me Love"--I think of the Beatles as having three phases in their career: the happy, peppy early stuff; the slower, depressing songs of '65 and '66; the psychedelic stuff and beyond. This song is the epitome of the early stage, a happy opening burst of sound, a swinging beat, and those naughty choirboy harmonies. "A Hard Day's Night" is almost as good.

4. "I Am the Walrus"--the lyrics are total nonsense, but when I was 12, I was sure there was something sinister and profound going on, and who knows, there might be. The definition of "psychedelic music" in about four minutes, rather than the 6 or 8 or 12 minutes it takes Pink Floyd. [BTW, the Oingo Boingo cover of this song is damned good]

5. "A Day in the Life"--another song that struck me as unutterably profound when I was young; now I just think it's brilliant, especially the beautiful orchestral crescendos.

6. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"--druggy, dreamy poetry with meandering ethereal verses and a kickin' chorus.

7. "Boys"--a Ringo Starr rave-up. I don't know why he's singing to his girl about how wonderful boys are, but it's too fun to think much about.

8. "For No One"--Paul's most depressing song; simple, sad, evocative, and with a killer ending, musically.

9. "Tomorrow Never Knows"--the birth of psychedelic music, and I don't care if that's a lie. Like a scary window into an H. P. Lovecraft world.

10. "Across the Universe"--a mellow cosmic meditation; like Strawberry Fields, a song that is worth listening to in its various versions and remixes, and the covers by Fiona Apple and Rufus Wainwright are both fine.

11. "Blue Jay Way"--another wonderful hazy dream.

12. "Things We Said Today"--to this musically unsophisticated listener, this melody sounds complex and adventurous, but still fun to sing along with.

13. "Norwegian Wood"--the best folky song the Beatles did; like others on this list, a little scary sounding with a meaning that seems to be hidden just below the surface.

And how can I leave off "Eleanor Rigby" and "Penny Lane" and "She Loves You" and "The Two of Us" and "Fool on the Hill" and "Back in the USSR" and "Come Together" and "Dear Prudence" and "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Lovely Rita" and ...