Ticket 2 Ride

Back in the age of dinosaurs, record singles used to be released on 45 rpm vinyl records to DJ’s and the record buying public. The song intended to be the “single” was the A-side. On the flip side, either an album track or a song left over and not released on the album, would fill out the B-side. The B-side songs were throwaways or songs not strong enough to be singles. When CDs came along, the practice of including a B-side continued, but since a CD has more digital space, bands began including live tracks, demos or remixes of the single, as a means of giving the public something not on the album CD.

B-sides often were quirky, unusual songs, and some of them were pretty interesting. The Beatles, used a system of using the B-sides of single for John or Paul, whichever one didn’t have the A-side. Writing a song on the B-side was valuable because of the publishing revenue. The B-side writer pockets as much as the A-side writer for units sold. Since John and Paul split the income from all Lennon-McCartney penned songs, having both sides was great. Only later did they start giving some B-sides to George.

The Beatles also did something unusual, occasionally they had double A-sided singles. Two hits on one 45 rpm. Other artists were happy with just a good A-side, but the Beatles were rich in hits and some of those A-sides didn’t even appear on albums. For example, “We Can Work it Out”/“Day Tripper” released December 3, 1965, “Eleanor Rigby”/“Yellow Submarine” released August 5, 1966.

From my list of old 45s and a bit of help from the internet, here are some interesting Beatle B-sides.

“Rain” was the B-side of “Paperback Writer” by the Beatles. I always considered “Rain” to be the superior song, full of psychedelia and great John Lennon vocals.

“Strawberry Fields Forever” / “Penny Lane” released February 13, 1967. “Hello, Goodbye” / “I Am the Walrus” released November 24, 1967. “The Inner Light” was George Harrison’s first B-side, the flip of “Lady Madonna, released March 15, 1968. “Revolution” was the flip side of “Hey Jude,” released August 26, 1968. “Don’t Let Me Down” was the B-side of “Get Back,” released May 5, 1969. “The Ballad of John and Yoko” a non-album A-side, released on May 30, 1969, has George’s non-album “Old Brown Shoe” as the B-side.

Other, solo Beatle and non-Beatle B-side treasures.

“Hey, Hey, What Can I Do” was the B-side of “Immigration Song” and did not appear on Led Zeppelin III.

The Monkees during the time their show aired were awash in material, so much so that they had some non-album B-sides. “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” (written by Mike Nesmith) was the flip side of “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You.” “Goin’ Down” a (co-written by all four Monkees) most unusual Monkee song, was the flip of “Daydream Believer.” And finally, “Words,” a downbeat and heavy song, the flip side of “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” was lost in the shuffle and later included in a reissued album.

“La Bamba” somehow was relegated to the B-side of Ritchie Valens’ single “Donna.”

“Sugar Mountain” was only released on Neil Young’s Decade album, but first appeared as the B-side of “The Loner,” and was the B-side of a number of his later singles such as “Heart of Gold.”

“Silver Springs” was a mystery, the flip side of Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your On Way.” The song garnered a lot of radio play but was left off of the mega-hit Rumours album.

“Play with Fire” was the B-side of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time.”

“Who’s Driving Your Plane?”, a little known Rolling Stones song was the B-side of “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?”

“Dandelion” is a great mid-1960s song that was the B-side of The Rolling Stones’ “We Love You” in the U.K. In the U.S., it was the opposite. Neither song was on an official studio album.

“Child of the Moon” was the flip side of The Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

“Waspman” was written by Keith Moon and the B-side of “Relay,” two non-album songs by The Who. Moon was not a songwriter which makes this song quite unique.

“Miss O’Dell” was the B-side of “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth),” the 1973 single by George Harrison. Chris O’Dell was an employee of Apple Records and then personal assistant to Harrison. The song’s first album appearance was the 2006 remaster of Living in the Material World.

In the early 1970s, Ringo Starr released single non-album singles. “It Don’t Come Easy” was backed with “Early 1970,” a song written by Ringo. Later, he released “Back Off Boogaloo” which was backed with”Blindman, more songs credited to Ringo.

“Mill of Kintrye”/“Girls School” was released on November 11, 1977 by Paul McCartney & Wings, as a double A-side.

And finally, another Rolling Stones B-side, “Everything Is Turning to Gold” which has the rarity of being co-written by Ronnie Wood. It’s the flip side of “Shattered,” and is an interesting song.