“Matchbox” is a Carl Perkins rockabilly song that The Beatles recorded in 1964 with Ringo Starr on lead vocal. It was issued in the UK on the Long Tall Sally EP, appeared in the US on Something New, and later…

“Martha My Dear” is a Paul McCartney-written Beatles song released in 1968 on The Beatles (White Album). The title came from McCartney’s Old English Sheepdog, Martha, but the finished lyric works on two levels: it reads like a gently bossy…

“March Of The Meanies” is a George Martin orchestral cue released on the Yellow Submarine album (1969). It is part of the film’s score material (side two of the LP), not a Beatles performance, and it functions as a character…

“Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues” is a Buddy Holly-era rocker that The Beatles only captured on tape as a late-period jam. They recorded it at Apple Studios on 29 January 1969 during the Get Back sessions, and the heavily…

The “Magical Mystery Tour” song is the opening track and theme song for The Beatles’ 1967 TV film of the same name. Unlike the theme songs for A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, it was not released as a single….

“Maggie Mae” is a 40-second Beatles performance on Let It Be (1970) and the second-shortest track on any Beatles studio album (after “Her Majesty” on “Abbey Road“). It is not a finished “song” in the usual sense. It is a…

“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” is a John Lennon-led Beatles song released in 1967 on the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Credited to Lennon-McCartney, it is one of the defining studio creations of the Sgt Pepper period:…

“Lucille” is a Little Richard rock ‘n’ roll classic from 1957 that The Beatles kept in their live set for years. They never made an Abbey Road studio master, but they did record it twice for BBC radio in 1963,…

“Lovely Rita” is a Paul McCartney-led Beatles song from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). It is built around a cheeky idea: take the American phrase “meter maid”, translate it into a very British situation, then turn the whole…

“Love You To” is George Harrison’s Indian-influenced Revolver track, and it is the point where the sitar stops being colour and becomes the structure. After the sitar cameo on “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)“, Harrison built “Love You To”…