We love both John and Paul, and we know they belong together. But it’s interesting to find out who you really are more fond of. We put together a little test of some of the best of John’s songs against some of the best of Paul’s songs (obviously, they’re mostly Lennon-McCartney, but we all know that one usually had more of a hand than the other). We’ve tried to be fair in the match-ups and tried to match songs of similar subject and/or time period. For each pair you can choose: (A) John, (B) Paul, or (C) draw. Let us know who wins. If you have to, listen to the song. – Billy and Dad
1.
Ticket to Ride
Yesterday
2.
She Said She Said
For No One
3.
I’m Only Sleeping
Good Day Sunshine
4.
Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
5.
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
I’ll Follow the Sun
6.
I’m So Tired
Blackbird
7.
A Hard Day’s Night
Can’t Buy Me Love
8.
Help!
I’ve Just Seen a Face
9.
Across the Universe
Hey Jude
10.
Norwegian Wood
Michelle
11.
In My Life
When I’m Sixty-Four
Bonus Match-ups
12.
Mind Games
Jet
13.
(Just Like) Starting Over
Maybe I’m Amazed
14.
Jealous Guy
My Love
Leave a comment with your score or answers!
Billy and Dad's Music Emporium 
1. A (Ticket: one of my very favorite Beatles songs)
2.A (come on, man!)
3.A again, although this one is close
4.A. Strawberry Fields–but this one is really both (I think I read somewhere about their collaboration on this one)
5. A Hide Your Love Away–easy pick here
6.B good song–I like squeaky strings
7. A. Assuming that is a hard day’s night
8. A. Help (someone needs to Help! Paul)
9.Whoa–not fair. I love both songs–C
10. A. Easy
11. A. In My Life
12. A (Don’t ever make me listen to Jet again–ever, please)
13. B (I’ve got to give this one to Paul–the rare post-Beatles win for him)
14. A. Jealous guy easily wins this for me.
You should put some George on here. Here Comes the Sun, My Sweet Lord, etc.
Looks like I’m a John man, as I suspected.
Good contest, and great blog guys!
This is like one of those tennis matches where the final score is lopsided even though all the games go to deuce. I had Paul ahead, 7-3 (1 tie). If you count the bonus round, it’s Paul by 8-5. But I can’t believe you made me vote against Across the Universe.
No contest- nearly straight As. ‘She Said She Said’ and ‘Strawberry Fields’ are simply two of the best sides in the entire Beatles’ catalog and alone are probably enough to put Lennon over the top. I do think ‘Penny Lane’ wins against most of the other Beatles’ singles and is perhaps unfairly paired against it’s B-side here. I also might suggest the timing of this poll- so close to the anniversary of John’s death- might skew your results. Not to go all Nate Silver on you. Maybe a follow-up poll of ‘most overrated Beatles songs’? Paul maybe wins that one.
For the record, Billy and Dad answer as follows, mostly agreeing:
1. C 2. Billy – C, Dad – A 3. A 4. A 5. A 6. C 7. B. 8. A 9. B 10. A 11. A 12. A 13. B 14. A
But, as Chris says, a lot of the match-ups go into extra innings.
Billy is too pious to think of overrated Beatles tunes, but Dad immediately starts humming Magical Mystery Tour.
Another of the best in the Beatles’ catalogue is “Happiness Is a Warm Gun,” which I believe is mostly John but still a lot of Paul.
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR IS SO NOT OVERRATED!
1-A (in a vacuum I might have said C)
2-B (A is a better song but B takes me right back to when I broke up with my girlfriend in high school.)
3-A
4-A (even though I am a huge fan of clean fire engines)
5-A (see #2)
6-B (brings back memories of watching Mister Mister from the grandstands at the Ohio State Fair in 1986. Yikes, they were terrible!)
7-B
8-C
9-A (not a fair fight)
10-A (Paul once again attempting to punch above his weight)
11-A
12-B (post Beatles Lennon songs make me think of Yoko Ono)
13-B (I wanted to go with D, neither, but then I remembered the Faces were able to give B some soul)
14-A
What’s next? How about Ringo v. George?
A lot of people thought #9 was unfair. Speaking of #9, I think Revolution #9 is underrated!
You know, I took the test and I was definatly a Paul fan. But now that I think about it, my two top favorite beatles’ songs of all times are Sun King and Because, which are both written by John Lennon, so I might be a John person after all. I also really like Honey Pie, which is George, and Yellow Submarine, which is Ringo. You should have a George versus Ringo. I actually think I would be a Ringo person because I love Act Naturally, oh but I really love George songs, I’ll have to think about it.
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Hey! This is Mary. I first took this test in November last year, nearly a year ago. I came out as a Paul fan. I decided to take the test again and change my name for the comments from Mary to whichever Beatle I like the best. I am now DEFINATELY a John Lennon fan. So my new comment name is Lennon&Co. Here were my test results.
A B A B A A B B A A A A B A
I’m just kidding, m name is still Mary.
Oh, uh, I guess that last comment doesn’t make any sense. So just forget about it. I took this test last November, almost a year ago. I came out as a Paul fan. But I took it again and I am definatly a John fan. Here were my test results.
ABABAABBAAAABA