“My Bonnie” is the first commercially released record to feature The Beatles, issued in Germany in October 1961 as Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers. At that point they were still a Hamburg club backing band behind Sheridan, so the…
“Mr Moonlight” is a Roy Lee Johnson song best known for The Beatles’ 1964 cover on Beatles for Sale. John Lennon takes the lead vocal and opens the track with a bare, a cappella shout (“Mister… Moonlight!”) before the band…
“Mother Nature’s Son” is a Paul McCartney-written Beatles song (credited to Lennon-McCartney) released in 1968 on The Beatles (White Album). It is a stripped-back acoustic folk performance with a warm brass lift, built around a simple melody and a nature-driven…
“Moonlight Bay” is not a Beatles studio recording. It is a 50-second comedy performance from The Beatles’ ATV television appearance with Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, later released on Anthology 1 (1995). The song itself is a 1912 standard (often…
“Money (That’s What I Want)” is a hard-driving R&B cover that closes The Beatles’ 1963 album With The Beatles. John Lennon takes the lead vocal and sells it with one of his rawest early performances, pushing the song into full-throttle…
“Misery” is a McCartney-Lennon Beatles song released in 1963 on Please Please Me. John Lennon and Paul McCartney share the lead vocal, giving it a punchy, almost call-and-response feel that suits the song’s brisk pace. It is also an early…
“Michelle” is a Paul McCartney-led Beatles song (credited to Lennon-McCartney) released on Rubber Soul in 1965. It is a quiet, intimate love song with a French chorus, built around acoustic guitars and one of McCartney’s most memorable melodies. It also…
“Memphis, Tennessee” is a Chuck Berry song that The Beatles regularly played in their early live and radio sets. The band performed it for the Decca audition tape in 1962 and returned to it repeatedly for BBC radio between 1962…
“Mean Mr Mustard” is a John Lennon-written Beatles song (credited to Lennon-McCartney) released in 1969 as part of the Abbey Road side-two medley. It is a sharp, comic character sketch about a miserly man, delivered in just over a minute…
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” is a Paul McCartney-written Beatles song (credited to Lennon-McCartney) released in 1969 on Abbey Road. It is a jaunty, music hall-styled singalong that hides a pitch-black story: Maxwell Edison, a student, kills multiple people with a hammer….
