10 classic Beatles singles that didn't appear on a Beatles album
The Beatles with their Sgt Pepper album... and the Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane single that wasn't included on it!
The Beatles were masters of the standalone single - here are ten examples of incredible songs that weren't included on a Beatles studio album.
The Beatles - The Ballad Of John And Yoko: release date 30th May 1969
Written about the events leading up to Lennnon's marriage to Yoko Ono in March 1969, recorded in April and released just a few weeks later, this standalone single was released hot on the heels of its predecessor Get Back. In fact, John was so keen to get the song onto vinyl, he couldn't wait for George and Ringo to return to the UK so the song only features Lennon (vocals, acoustic guitar, lead guitar) and McCartney (bass, drums, piano and vocals). The Ballad Of John And Yoko made its first appearance on an album in the US on the Hey Jude compilation in February 1970, while British fans wouldn't hear the track at 33rpm until the legendary "Blue" album (The Beatles 1967-70) arrived in 1973 .
The Beatles - Hey Jude: release date 30th August 1968
This momentous Paul McCartney song (all 7 minutes and 11 seconds of it) was issued as the very first Beatles release on their own Apple label in August 1968, backed with John Lennon's inciendiary rocker Revolution, a full three months before the next Beatles album arrived, the double "White" album. Hey Jude gave its titled to a 1970 collection issued in the US in 1970, but not officially available in the UK until 1979.
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever: release date 17th February 1967
By the time 1967 dawned, The Beatles had already recorded three tracks for their next album, When I'm Sixty-Four, Penny Lane and the progressive Strawberry Fields Forever. Their first outing since they gave up touring in the summer of '66, Lennon and McCartney had half an idea of writing an LP of songs about their childhood in Liverpool, but when a nervous EMI demanded a single after six months without any Beatle product, Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were hived off as a double-A side. This pair of excellent songs were left off the subsquent album, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Source: radiox.co.uk/Martin O'Gorman
