Paul Simon named some of The Beatles‘ songs that he thought would remain prominent. He said one of the Fab Four’s tracks was deeply important to him. On the other hand, John Lennon didn’t think the song in question was all that popular.
Paul Simon said 1 of The Beatles’ songs is an ‘example of a total record’
During a 1972 interview with Rolling Stone, Simon was asked to name which Beatles songs he thought would last. “I would pick ‘Yesterday,’” he said. “I would pick ‘Strawberry Fields [Forever]’ — although there is your example of a total record. A very important record to me, I like it a lot. You can’t even sing the song. It’s really hard to sing the song.”
He also discussed how musical tastes evolve. “It may take a song instead of being dated after three years, maybe some songs won’t be dated for five years,” he said. “Eventually all records are dated, but the song comes back. ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was a really fine song. There’s no way of picking out the best songs.” Simon felt many 1960s songs would have multiple lifespans.
Paul Simon contrasted The Beatles with Bob Dylan and some famous soul singers
In the same interview, Simon said rock ‘n’ roll was his favorite style of music and revealed his opinion of two of the great rock acts of the counterculture. “The Beatles were great,” he said. “[Bob] Dylan was great, I gotta say he was great. I don’t feel that at the moment, but I feel that he was great.”
Simon contrasted Dylan with fellow stars Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and Sam Cooke. “Although now we’re into another category, because I wanted to save that, I think he’ll come in more as a writer, those other people are performers,” he said. “Except The Beatles are both.” Simon’s comment is way off the mark, as Redding, Franklin, and Cooke were great songwriters and great performers.
In 1980, John Lennon named the Fab Four songs he felt received the most
attention
While Simon singled out “Yesterday” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” as Beatles songs that would last. During a 1980 interview from All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, John had a different take on the situation. He said that a handful of Beatles songs remained radio staples. The songs he named were “Yesterday,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Help!,” “Something,” and “Let It Be.” While Simon and John had similar feelings about “Yesterday,” John didn’t see “Strawberry Fields Forever” as an enduring favorite.
John was dissatisfied with the way the public reacted to The Beatles’ tunes. He felt the band had a “wealth of material” but the radio only played a handful of songs. Once, “Glass Onion” was on the radio and he felt compelled to listen to it because it was so rare for a station to play “Glass Onion.”
Simon and John had different attitudes toward “Strawberry Fields Forever” but they both agreed The Beatles gave us great music.
