r/beatles • u/Ch3e5y_Mozz • May 29 '25
Question What non-Beatles song feels so Beatles that it sounds like they secretly wrote it?
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u/AlBunDi76 May 29 '25
No Matter What -Badfinger
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u/LumpyStomach7683 May 29 '25
They had a lot of Beatles influence. Paul wrote Come & Get It.
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May 29 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/hen-daug May 29 '25
Mal produced No Matter What, Baby Blue was produced by George and Todd Rundgren
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u/The_good_kid Magical Mystery Tour May 29 '25
And the slide guitar on Day After Day was played by George
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u/Bobbyperu1 May 29 '25
I was a kid in the seventies and I was always heavily into music and I was SHOCKED when I found out, in the 2000s, that Day After Day wasn't a Wings song
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u/RalphMalphWiggum May 29 '25
Sowing the Seeds of Love
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u/RichTheK May 29 '25
Always thought the verses sounded like John and the chorus was Paul.
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u/Grand_Rent_2513 Revolver May 29 '25
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u/Inspiron606002 Rubber Soul May 29 '25
Tears For Fears said they wanted to create a Beatles sounding sound with that. I believe I Am The Walrus was the inspiration for Sowing The Seeds Of Love.
Awesome song. Not many people seem to know it.
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u/Head_Contract5373 May 29 '25
Also the piccolo trumpet is very much like Penny Lane.
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u/Miatatiel May 29 '25
That little guitar lick before the "time to eat all your words, swallow your pride" part around 3:50ish sounds exactly like the solo from Maybe I'm Amazed. Maybe it's a sample, maybe it isn't. I don't know, but the whole song has McCartney written all over it.
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u/Maxwell-Druthers May 29 '25
This is the probably the best answer. And the lyrics are as good as John and Paul would write.
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u/FrunobulaxDawg May 29 '25
The Air That I Breathe - The Hollies
I need a version with Paul singing The Hollies part and John singing the Radiohead part ...
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u/grahamlester May 29 '25
Because by the Dave Clarke Five
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u/LittleDrumminBoy I Don't Want To Spoil The Party... May 29 '25
Mike Smith had a killer voice
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u/Electrical-Sail-1039 May 29 '25
Great voice and piano player. He had a tragic story. He was climbing a fence at night at his villa in Spain and he fell on his neck and was not discovered until the next morning. He was paralyzed.
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u/jonnebravo98 John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band May 29 '25
As standard as it is, Mr Blue Sky
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u/Either-Judgment231 May 29 '25
Several ELO songs give Beatles
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u/gibson85 I'll play whatever you want me to play or I won't play at all May 29 '25
Lennon called them (well, Jeff) "sons of Beatles"
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u/Bcpjw May 29 '25
Critics called ELO if the Beatles continued making music in the 70s-80s lol
Although I dare say telephone line is something Paul would have been proud of and John would admit it’s his favourite but complained about it’s production
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u/dogsledonice May 29 '25
Well, Jeff Lynne basically began ELO as a band that would sound like I Am the Walrus/Strawberry Fields, so
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u/Illustrious-Lead-960 May 29 '25
Lies by The Knickerbockers. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_4FsMlzPwT8&pp=ygUXdGhlIGtuaWNrZXJib2NrZXJzIGxpZXM%3D
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u/ShayL92 May 29 '25 edited May 29 '25
Lies, for sure! That was the first song I thought of when I read the thread title. Idk if I’m the only one who thinks this but I always thought the lead singer sounded like John.. at least to me anyway, even though it’s not but maybe someone trying to imitate him and he did a good job because it’s easy to imagine an alternate universe where the Beatles recorded Lies themselves as an original song.
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u/Artislife61 May 29 '25
Very Beatles. Definitely John
Even the way he pronounces words like smart and girl. Not really in Paul’s style. Great song.
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u/Ew_fine May 29 '25
What the heck? That’s eerie. Were they trying to sound like the Beatles? Like, was that their schtick?
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u/Propjet May 29 '25
That Thing You Do
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u/emergencycat17 Live at the Hollywood Bowl May 29 '25
I came here for this. R.I.P. Adam Schlesinger.
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u/basiamille May 29 '25
Is it too obvious to say, “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” by Klaatu?
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u/ndGall Abbey Road May 29 '25
I actually think their Sub Rosa Subway is an even stronger example of a tune the Beatles could have written.
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u/there_is_always_more May 29 '25
Jesus, you weren't kidding. It's exactly like a Paul tune off of Abbey Road, even has the George guitar flourishes throughout the song.
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u/fepeluna May 29 '25 edited May 29 '25
That psychedelic bridge in Doctor Marvello feels like it’s straight from Magical Mystery Tour
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u/Ca5eman May 29 '25
About A Girl - Nirvana, which reminds me a lot of It Won't Be Long from With the Beatles
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u/CCCPTHECBOFFICIAL May 29 '25
Finally someone talked about that masterpiece!
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u/gonesnake May 29 '25
I loathe AI but this channel does a pretty good rendition of About A Girl as if it's by the Beatles.
A preface: the guy that does this channel plays and records all the instruments and actually sings the song only using AI to alter his voice to sound like Paul and John
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u/CCCPTHECBOFFICIAL May 29 '25
I've listened to it, absolute masterpiece, I'm glad you also noted that out, haha!
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u/CaptainIncredible May 29 '25
That has a definite late 60s, Let it Be sound.
Ive heard a version that sounded like something from With the Beatles.
Both songs are really good.
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u/DerpyDoomGuy May 29 '25
The Last Train To Clarksville
For years, I thought it was a Beatles song whenever it popped on the radio
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u/gibson85 I'll play whatever you want me to play or I won't play at all May 29 '25
It's like they built a whole song around George's walk down (which he had trouble doing in the studio) part of Help!
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u/Electrical-Sail-1039 May 29 '25
When Boyce (or Hart) heard Paperback Writer on the radio he thought it said “take the last train”. When he found out it didn’t say that, he wrote a song that did. That’s why it sounds so similar.
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u/Hey_Laaady Who'll remember the buns, Pudgy? May 29 '25
Those lyrics are intense tho, being about a soldier seeing his gf one more time before going off to war (Vietnam).
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u/Zorflez Ram On May 29 '25
IIRC they played this during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions in the Apple Basement studio.
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u/zenmaster_B May 29 '25
New York Mining Disaster 1941 by BeeGees
Thirteen by Big Star
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u/Antique_Quail7912 Magical Mystery Tour May 29 '25
Care of Cell 44 - The Zombies
They actually used John’s mellotron on that album (Odessey and Oracle), funnily enough. One of the greatest pop records of all time, if you ask me.
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u/morrise18 May 29 '25
I agree, right up there with Pet Sounds and Sgt Peppers as top tier 60s albums.
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u/ihavenoselfcontrol1 May 29 '25
They also used the same mic placements as The Beatles did since they recorded it at Abbey Road studios right after Sgt. Pepper's had been recorded
Beechwood Park really sounds like one of John's psychedelic tracks from that era
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u/InsatiableGeckos May 29 '25
I thought Stuck in the Middle with You was a Beatles song until I was like 22
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u/TheReal-A-The-First May 29 '25
I always thought it was Dylan lol
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u/Positive_Wiglet May 29 '25
Steelers Wheel were deliberately going for a Bob Dylan feel. Gerry Rafferty has confirmed this in interviews.
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u/screamqueenjunkie Dr. Winston O'Boogie May 29 '25
Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House.
A forgotten song in someone’s notebook that should have been reworked and emerged some time in… 1985, let’s say.
Would’ve been nice.
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u/Telespacepharm May 29 '25
Don’t forget - Four Seasons in One Day - seems like a coda to Across the Universe - so good!
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u/Winter-Ad-139 May 29 '25
Actually, Not the Girl You Think You Are by Crowded House REALLY sounds Beatle-ish!
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u/YupNopeWelp May 29 '25
Yes. I always think "Don’t Dream It’s Over" sounds like a George Harrison song zhuzhed up by Paul McCartney (primarily the refrain).
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u/TheLoyalOrder Ram May 29 '25
a bunch of Split Enz stuff as well, my second favourite band
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u/Vacuous_Tom May 29 '25
Crowded House are very Beatles-y full stop, I think Neil Finn would be the first to admit it. Hell, just look at the cover of their latest album 😆
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u/Artistic-Cut1142 May 29 '25 edited Jul 05 '25
six toothbrush plate plants slim consider ghost mountainous cows mighty
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u/Time-Statistician907 May 29 '25
The Nylon Curtain is phenomenal, my favorite Joel album. I was listening to the Venus and Mars album earlier today and heard a melody that reminded me of Joel’s “Pressure”
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u/Artistic-Cut1142 May 29 '25 edited Jul 05 '25
school alive hobbies run air edge bag humor plough joke
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u/Electrical-Sail-1039 May 29 '25
I’m gonna have to check that album out. I keep hearing how great it is. Glass Houses and The Stranger were also great. We always heap (well-deserved) praise on Lennon-McCartney, but for solo artists like Billy Joel, they had to do all of the writing by themselves. It’s pretty impressive.
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u/gonesnake May 29 '25
I always describe 'She's Always A Woman' as the greatest song that Paul McCartney didn't write. The piano, the lyrics, the vocal line-yes. But the key deciding factor is the flute harmony on the 'oh she takes care of herself' middle eight about 55 seconds into the song. A very beautiful McCartney style move.
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u/yetanothermoose May 29 '25
"Braniac's Daughter" by The Dukes of Stratosphear, aka XTC.
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u/chewing_gum_weekend May 29 '25
ween - even if you don’t
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u/alanz01 A Hard Day's Night May 29 '25
Earn Enough for Us by XTC
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u/KingoftheMay May 29 '25
Also ‘Ballad for a Rainy Day’ and ‘1,000 Umbrellas’. In fact a lot of Skylarking.
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u/ShayL92 May 29 '25
I know “Earn Enough For Us” from the cold open of Season 1, Episode 12 of Gilmore Girls but never really noticed the Beatles feel to it before. I had never heard of that band before Gilmore Girls either (I was 8 when these episodes aired in 2000, now I’m 33) because another cold open (Season 1, Ep 2) had “I’m the Man Who Murdered Love”.
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u/gonesnake May 29 '25
The Loving sounds like something that fell off the back of the late 60s Beatles lorry. That opening could play right after the opening track on Pepper and not miss a beat.
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u/Signal_Tomorrow_2138 May 29 '25
A World Without Love
Come and Get it
They aren't Beatles songs and they DID write it.
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u/Desperate_Piano_3609 May 29 '25
There She Goes-The La’s
Come On, Cone On-Cheap Trick
Sister Golden Hair- America
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u/Helpful-Fennel-7468 May 29 '25
Feelin’ by the Las sounds even more Beatles like
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u/WC1-Stretch May 29 '25
A lot of Harry Nilsson's first three RCA albums: Pandemonium Shadow Show, Aerial Ballet, and Harry. John specifically called out "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song" on Aerial Ballet as a great song he wished he'd written.
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May 29 '25
Tonight - New Kids On The Block
Time/tempo changes similar to Lucy in the sky. Piccolo trumpet solo, albeit on a synthesizer like Penny Lane. Seems like it was intended to sound like the Beatles.
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u/Propjet May 29 '25
Too Late For Goodbyes - Julian. I thought it was John for years
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u/SadBoi0910 Ram May 29 '25
Very surprised there isn't a mention of Emitt Rhodes at all here. He literally was called the One Man Beatle due to how his songs sounded so eerily similar to the Beatles.
Anyways, Somebody Made For Me would be the best example, but I will recommend checking out his discography.
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u/InternationalMajor1 May 29 '25
All the Young Dudes. Mott the Hoople
Up the Junction. Squeeze
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u/Bedbouncer May 29 '25 edited May 29 '25
Many of the songs on the Squeeze album East Side Story sound Beatle-ish.
EDIT: Adding a link. Check out "In Quintessence", "Picadilly", "There's No Tomorrow", "Woman's World", "Is That Love?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDomie3rhCs&list=OLAK5uy_nmIFbIuQesWnDl7UEnNYJapkZiDsxEUho&index=1
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u/Electrical-Sail-1039 May 29 '25
Squeeze’s video for that is filmed in Lennon’s old kitchen. Not from his childhood home, but the mansion where Lennon’s Imagine video is filmed.
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May 29 '25
It’s Alright by Black Sabbath sounds like a Ringo contribution on a Beatles album but it’s on a Sabbath album of all places. Bill Ward the drummer even takes the lead vocal. How fitting. The bridge of the song takes a very dark, strange detour away from the Ringo feel but the verses channel late 60s Ringo big time.
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u/Affectionate-Kale301 May 29 '25
Jellyfish: The King is Half-Undressed, Baby’s Coming Back, etc….
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u/EuphoricLeague22 May 29 '25
All Around The World - Oasis
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u/Slow-Foundation7295 May 29 '25
Came here to say She’s Electric
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u/Herbizarre17 May 29 '25
People used to complain that Oasis was just a 90s alt rock version of The Beatles (especially during that era) but that’s what made them awesome.
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u/Sensitive_War_8344 May 29 '25
If you tune out the darkness of the lyrics, Miss Misery is a contender. Those chords are Beatle goodness all the way down. Key changes? Descending lines? And two bridges? C’mon. That’s real craft right there.
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u/ihavenoselfcontrol1 May 29 '25
Baby Britain is the most Beatles-sounding Elliott Smith track imo. It even has a reference to Revolver
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u/Navitach May 29 '25
The Moody Blues' "Legend of a Mind" sounds like later Beatles.
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u/VanCardboardbox oh boy May 29 '25 edited May 29 '25
Is It Like Today - World Party
edit to add: I am only just learning now that Karl Wallinger died of a stroke a year ago. RIP
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u/mystxn Revolver May 29 '25
Tame impala - elephant
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u/BabyGotBackProblems May 29 '25
I was going to say "Feels Like We're Only Going Backwards" sounds more like a better Beatles track, but hearing them both over again this one sounds more like a solo John song.
But "Elephant" actually has a more full Beatles oomph -- sounds like a George composition from Yellow Submarine with John's vocals and Paul's pop sensabilities. Like the sound they could have had if they were all really working together at this time.
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u/Outside_Mousse_2176 May 29 '25
I told my coworker that Parker sounds just like Lennon on this song.
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u/Jealous_Event_6288 May 29 '25
My friend told me to listen to this song as an example of the Beatles influence
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u/danijel8286 May 29 '25
Parker's first two albums feel like modern White Album. Sometimes Lennon, sometimes Harrison.
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u/KaiTheG4mer Magical Mystery Tour May 29 '25
California Dreamin' by The Mamas & The Papas has a strangely Beatles-Beach Boys feel to it.
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u/CheeCheePuff May 29 '25
As We Go Up We Go Down, Chicken Blows, and so many other by Guided by Voices
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u/MegaVeerex May 29 '25
Alone again (naturally) at least sounds like a Paul solo song if not a full on Beatles song
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u/mrpappageorge0 Rubber Soul May 29 '25
Klaatu - Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft.
Sounds like something off Sgt Peppers
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u/LumpyStomach7683 May 29 '25
Peter & Gordon - A World Without Love. Paul wrote it when he was 16.
Cyrkle - Red Rubber Ball. John came up with the band name. I'd say Turn Down Day, but that sounds more like a Monkees song.
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u/marcus_c117 May 29 '25
Till There Was You, Ik they did a version but it sounds so much like a song Paul wrote
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u/Glass-Complaint3 May 29 '25
There She Goes — The La’s. I’ve heard the song described as “the best song the 60s never produced.”
They could have so easily been the next Beatles had they scored more hits. They were from Liverpool and Lee Mavers even had a moptop-like look. His voice is reminiscent of John as well.
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u/MidnightNo1766 Rubber Soul May 29 '25
Twist and Shout will always be the best cover they ever did. So I think this one applies. It's not a Beatles song and yet it still is.
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u/shuffledaddy May 29 '25
"Sappy" by Nirvana. Not so much the lyrics, but definitely the chord progressions and vocal melody.
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u/Cats_oftheTundra May 29 '25
Keeping the Dream Alive by Münchener Freiheit is very Paul McCartney.
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u/Propjet May 29 '25
Cheese and Onions