No ‘Hey Jude’ for Jude Law? From Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling to Yo-Yo Ma and Taylor Swift, stars weigh in on their best-loved songs from John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
Come Together or While My Guitar Gently Weeps
“I love the psychedelic phase, but yeah, that’s really tough for me to pick. 'Come Together’ is [great]. I can’t tell you why. I’m not good that way. I just know it works for me.”
Joe Klamar, AFP / Getty Images
Tomorrow Never Knows
“The Beatles did everything long before anyone else. They weren’t afraid to try things and to experiment with a lot of sounds. In 200 years, when you look up 'rock and roll’ in the dictionary, it’ll have a picture of the Beatles next to it.”
Ian Gavan / Getty Images
Here Comes the Sun
“I listen to this whenever I’m feeling down, or on cloudy days, and it makes me feel like somehow everything is going to be OK.”
Jeff Vespa, WireImage / Getty Images
Penny Lane
“The descending bass line, the high trumpet voluntary, the great lyric painting a picture of suburban life in Liverpool in the ’60s—the barber, the banker, the fireman ... and a sense of observing it at once up close and from a great distance.”
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Something
“I also love 'And I Love Her’ ... I like all of the different periods. Every period, there’s something so great about their work. If you ask what’s my favorite in the early period, I think 'All My Loving’ is incredible.”
Kevin Mazur, WireImage / Getty Images
She’s Leaving Home
“What an exquisite arrangement. The originality of that band continues to dumbfound me. I don’t know where they were drawing from, but it was such a magnificently original place.”
Frederick Breedon / Getty Images
“It marks the beginning of social commentary—an observation about conformity, which is different from their earlier songs about youth and love. It shows the evolving musical maturity, deeper meaning, and reflection that eventually led to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, which changed
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
“It’s hard, because it depends on where you are in your life and what day it is, because they really covered everything. I got into
this song because it’s this strange, dark song. I like their weird stuff, too, even when they did ‘Blue Jay Way’ and ‘Fool on the Hill.’ You listen to it, and it was so ahead of its time. You hear Radiohead nowadays and you’re like, wow, I can see these strange similarities.”
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
“George did a great job of writing that song. I love it. There’s just something about it.”
Revolution (single version)
“The slower [album] version is good, too, but I prefer the heavier version. It’s so Slayer! I’m a big Beatles fan. Every song on their albums counted.”
For No One
“It’s a lovely tune. It’s just that sad thing, ‘The day breaks, your mind aches, you find that all her words of kindness linger on when she no longer needs you.’ It’s a great, great popular tune that has that melancholic canopy over it.”
Hey Jude
“It’s got nothing to do with him [pointing to Law]. It’s philosophical. It’s a deep song.”
Mathis Wienand / Getty Images
Across the Universe
“It wouldn’t be ‘Hey Jude.’ I’ve got so many memories of that song being played. Thank God it’s a good song. It would be terrible to be named after an awful song. ‘Across the Universe,’ actually. I’ve always enjoyed Lennon’s nonsense verse.”
Adam Pretty / Getty Images
In My Life
“It explains love amongst people, how the passage of time impacts them. I just think it’s gorgeous.”
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
“That sticks out because of the movie. Everything they did ... incredible talent, man. It’s just amazing how great they were, how they influenced our culture, and how the music still stands up today.”
Paul Archuleta, FilmMagic / Getty Images
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
“There’s an emotion there in John’s voice. The chord structure of it—the way he put the song together—has always given me goose bumps. And don’t forget: buy the mono versions. That’s all we had.”
Here, There and Everywhere
“My mother is a huge Beatles freak, so I grew up on their music, and that’s all we listened to in the house. Favorite Beatles song? This is a real test. This
is where the rubber meets the road. Why this one? You can’t ask me that. It’s going to take me another five minutes to figure that one out.”
She’s Leaving Home
“I have many, many, many favorite Beatles songs, but that one stands out in particular. It never ceases to choke me up every time I listen to it.”
Long, Long, Long
“It’s so beautiful. Everything you’d want in a song.”
Donna Ward / Getty Images
Help!
“I like the words, I like the melody. It’s a good song. It’s the first song that comes to mind, because we’re going through a lot of stuff in our country.”
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
“I love that record!”
Yesterday
“It’s such a beautiful song. Out of all their songs, I just really connect to that one.”
Michelle
“I just always really liked it. Maybe because of the French lyrics.”
In My Life or Here, There and Everywhere
“They just make me sort of cry. I feel like I’d like ‘In My Life’ played at my funeral, and ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ is just the most romantic, heartbreaking, sad, beautiful song that I know.”
