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Length of The Beatles' Songs
Tatsuki Koyama
a
a
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Published online: 01 Mar 2012.
To cite this article: Tatsuki Koyama (2012) Length of The Beatles' Songs, CHANCE, 25:1, 30-33
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09332480.2012.668464
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length of the beatles’ songs
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Tatsuki Koyama
song length
Many criteria could be considered to illustrate The
Beatles’ transition from mop-headed pop idols to
psychedelic cultural icons. I chose song length. Simple,
straightforward, dry, statistical. To chronicle The
Beatles’ transition in any other way would probably
require painstaking research and deep understanding
of Sixties culture.
Beatles fans of all ages can probably agree that the
band got weird as their career progressed. “Revolution
9” is weird, and perhaps so are “I Want You (She’s So
Heavy)” and “Her Majesty,” but weirdness is subjective.
Not everyone will agree which Beatles’ songs are weird.
By contrast, song length is objective and no cultural
insight is required to make statements such as, “The
Beatles’ songs got longer as their career progressed.”
More importantly, song length data are readily available.
The data show something a bit more complex than
“their songs got longer.”The Beatles indeed had longer
songs in the latter part of their career, but their shortest
songs also came from that time. Dichotomization of
a continuous variable is usually discouraged, but the
distribution of The Beatles’ song lengths, as visualized in the plot, begs for a dividing line right after
“Revolver” (August 5, 1965) to split their career into
ength of The Beatles’ Songs” shows the length early and late phases.
and release date of each of The Beatles’ 210
Most striking from the plot is the consistency
songs. Perhaps the figure should include more of The Beatles’ song lengths in the early phase. The
than 210 songs, as the list of Beatles songs on Wiki- majority of the songs (110/128=86%) in this phase are
pedia.org (visited 9/5/2011) gives 305 songs with the between two and three minutes. This amazing consiscaveat, “many more … should be added.” Two-hun- tency and complete lack of songs lasting more than
dred and ten is the number of songs released between four minutes (fairly common in the post-“Revolver”
the band’s debut single and last studio album, give era) allow the main discussion of the plot to be preor take. Perhaps, “Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey” sented in the empty space above the pre-“Revolver”
should be counted as two songs. Also, maybe “Revo- data, enhancing the immediacy of the information
lution” (single version) and “Revolution 1” (album describing the plot. Though obvious from a look, conversion) should be counted as two songs, given that sistency of pre-“Revolver” song lengths is confirmed
the versions differ by nearly one minute in length.
in the statistics, as shown in Table 1.
“L
vol. 25.1, 2012
30
Table 1. Summary of Song Lengths on The Beatles’ Studio Albums
Song Length
Release
Date
Number
of Songs
Mean
SD
Min
Please Please Me
1963/ 3/22
14
2’20
0’21
1’50
2’23
2’57
With the Beatles
1963/11/22
14
2’23
0’20
1’48
2’22
3’02
A Hard Day’s Night
1964/ 6/26
13
2’21
0’16
1’49
2’20
2’46
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Album
Median Max
Beatles for Sale
1964/12/ 4
14
2’21
0’18
1’46
2’27
2’55
Help!
1965/8/6
14
2’24
0’20
1’54
2’23
3’10
Rubber Soul
1966/12/ 3
14
2’33
0’18
2’05
2’29
3’22
Revolver
1966/ 8/ 5
14
2’29
0’20
2’01
2’44
3’01
Sgt. Pepper
1967/ 6/ 1
13
3’05
1’06
1’20
2’54
5’33
The Beatles
1968/11/22
30
3’06
1’16
0’52
3’21
8’13
Yellow Submarine
1969/ 1/17
6*
3’37
1’23
2’10
2’45
6’28
Abbey Road
1969/ 9/26
17
2’46
1’38
0’23
3’20
7’47
Let It Be
1970/ 5/ 8
12
2’54
1’05
0’41
2’33
4’01
*The B side of “Yellow Submarine” consists of six instrumental songs composed by George Martin and another credited to
John Lennon-Paul McCartney (arranged by Martin), all of which are not considered Beatles songs or included in the plot.
Table 2. Songs Composed by Rare Combinations of The Beatles
Title
Release Date
Credits
Length
What Goes On
1965/12/ 3
Lennon/McCartney/Starkey
2’50
Flying
1967/12/ 8
Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey
2’16
Don’t Pass Me By
1968/11/22
Starkey
3’50
Octopus’s Garden
1969/ 9/26
Starkey
2’51
Dig It
1970/ 5/ 8
Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey
0’49
Maggie Mae
1970/ 5/ 8
Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey
0’41
As well as providing the big picture of the song
lengths, the plot also includes details (e.g., song
names) of interest. The unusually long and short
songs are all labeled, as well as the songs mentioned
in the discussion.
The composers are another piece of information depicted in the plot. Of 210 songs, 161 (77%)
are credited to John Lennon-Paul McCartney and
20 to George Harrison. This leaves 23 cover songs
and six compositional outliers (Table 2). “Maggie
Mae,” released on August 8, 1970, should probably
be regarded as a cover song; however, all four Beatles
were credited as composers of this public domain
piece, robbing Maggie of the distinction of being
the first cover song in nearly five years (since “Dizzy
Miss Lizzy” and “Act Naturally” released in Help! on
August 6, 1965) and the shortest song The Beatles
ever covered. Crediting The Beatles for “Maggie Mae”
maintains the truth of the claim: “All 23 cover songs
came in the early phase.”
Perhaps The Beatles is not the only band that
shows these trends with regard to song lengths in
this era. Superimposing similar data for another
band or for the top 10 songs from each year might
be of interest.
About the Author
Tatsuki Koyama is a research associate professor in the division of
cancer biostatistics, department of biostatistics, and an investigator in the Center for
Quantitative Sciences at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. His research has
primarily focused on adaptive and flexible clinical trial design methodologies.
CHANCE
31
Lengths of the Beatles’ Songs
ne
Introduction
The Beatles released 210 songs, give or take, from their debut single Love Me Do (released October 5, 1962) to their final studio album Let It Be (May 8, 1970), in the space of just under eight
years. This plot shows length versus release date of each of their songs. All release dates are for the UK market with one exception (“Bad Boy”) discussed later.
Data and Notation
The closed circles indicate songs included on their 12 studio albums, the titles and release dates of which appear in the abscissa. The Beatles also released 44 songs as singles, shown here with
open circles. Sixteen songs were released twice each, both as a single and as part of an album; all of these pairs are identical in both versions except for “Revolution”, “Get Back” and
The
Beatles
released
210 was
songs,
givethree
or take—from
McCartney;
red 5,
indicates
Harrison
as songwriter;
the
“Let
It Be”.
“Yellow
Submarine”
released
times: first as atheir
singledebut
and on Revolver
(both on August
1966), andGeorge
later on Yellow
Submarine
(January 17, 1969).
8
single,“Love Me Do”(released October 5, 1962) to their final studio
purple originates with other combinations of the Beatles; and the
The studio albums and singles encompass all but ten of their 210 songs. Two of their 13 extended play albums (EPs), Long Tall Sally and Magical Mystery Tour, consist of songs that were
album, Let It Be (May 8, 1970)—in just under eight years. This plot
blue points are cover songs.
never released elsewhere. A total of nine songs from these two EPs are also shown in the plot. Magical Mystery Tour includes “I am the Walrus”, which is not shown in the plot because it was
shows length
versus
release
date
each
song.
All
dates
aresingle, or EP:
To “Bad
prevent
withonexactly
the10,same
and release
previously
released
as a single.
One
songofwas
never
a part
of release
any studio
album,
Boy” songs
was released
December
1966, length
on a compilation
album, A Collection of Beatles
for thewith
United
Kingdom
exception
(“Bad
date from
on top
other,ondata
arewhen
jittered
Oldies,
15 other
songs, all market
of whichwith
were one
previously
released.
This Boy”).
track was available
in theappearing
US market more
thanofa each
year earlier,
Junepoints
14, 1965,
it was included in Beatles VI,
and it is shown with the release date for the US market. This track was recorded on thehorizontally
same day as “Dizzy
Miss Lizzy,”
which
was subsequently
in the necstudio album Help!.
by a small
amount
equivalent
to fourincluded
days when
For the
example,
both “And
Can Sing”
and
“For No
The
black points
songs credited to Lennon−McCartney, red indicates Harrison asessary.
songwriter,
purple originates
withYour
otherBird
combinations
of the
Beatles,
Data
andareNotation
One” from Revolver are two minutes and one second long. Also,
and the blue points are cover songs.
The closed circles indicate songs included on the Beatles’ 12 studio
single
released
on the
same
day asbywas
To prevent songs with exactly the same length and release date from appearing on topinoftwo
eachinstances,
other, data a
points
are was
jittered
horizontally
when
necessary,
a an
albums, the titles and release dates of which appear in the abscissa.
with
Beatles
for Sale
andminutes
another
These
small amount equivalent to four days. For example, both “And Your Bird Can Sing”album—once
and “For No One”
from
Revolver
are two
andwith
one Revolver.
second long.
TheinBeatles
also released
as on
singles,
shown
with
Also
two instances,
a single 44
wassongs
released
the exact
samehere
day as
wasopen
an album: two
once singles
with Beatles
Salemoved
and another
withright
Revolver.
These
two so
singles
alsoFor
were
to the
by four
days
the data
circles.
were
released
twice
each,
as singles and as
were
alsoSixteen
moved tosongs
the right
by four
days so
the data
canboth
be seen.
can be seen.
7
part of
an album; all these pairs are identical in both versions, except
Some
Observations
for vast
“Revolution,”
“Get inBack,”
andphase
“LetofIttheir
Be.”career
“Yellow
The
majority of songs
the early
(up toSubmarine”
Revolver) are between two and three minutes in length, perhaps reflecting expectations for
was play
released
threeThe
times—as
a asingle
andlarge
on number
Revolver
(both
onduringObservations
radio
at the time.
inclusion of
relatively
of cover
songs
this period may also have been intended to attract a wider audience. All
23
of their 5,
cover
songs
come
thisSubmarine
early phase. ( January 17, 1969).
August
1966)
and
onfrom
Yellow
The vast majority of songs in the early phase of the Beatles’ career
Theofstudio
singles
encompass
buttook
10 place
of the
(up29,to1966,
Revolver)
and three
in the
length,
The end
this earlyalbums
phase is and
marked
by their
final concert,all
which
on August
24 daysare
afterbetween
the releasetwo
of Revolver.
Afterminutes
this concert,
Beatles
started
spendTwo
muchof
more
time
the studio creating
less traditional
radio−friendly
songs.expectations
Songs lastingfor
longer
minutes
Beatles’
210 tosongs.
their
13inextended-play
albums
(EPs), andperhaps
reflecting
radiothan
playthree
at the
time.became
The inclucommonplace,
though
also released
songs
contribution
was songs
much more
prominent
Long Tall Sally
and they
Magical
Mysterymany
Tour,short
consist
of during
songs this
thatsame
weretime period.
sion ofFurthermore,
a relativelyHarrison's
large number
of cover
during
this period
during this later phase.
never released elsewhere. A total of nine songs from these two EPs
also may have been intended to attract a wider audience. All 23 of
single, or EP; “Bad Boy” was released on December 10, 1966, on a
Beatles started to spend much more time in the studio creating less
traditional and less radio-friendly songs. Songs lasting longer than
three minutes became commonplace, though they also released
many short songs during this time. Furthermore, Harrison’s contribution was much more prominent during this later phase.
Acknowledgement
also are shown in the plot. Magical Mystery Tour includes “I am the
their cover songs come from this early phase. The end of this phase
Data
were gathered
modified
based
on the
actual length isofmarked
songs onbyCDs,
andfinal
R version
2.13.1
was took
used place
to create
plot. 29,
Walrus,”
which isfrom
not wikipedia.org
shown in theandplot
because
it was
previously
their
concert,
which
on the
August
Rafe Donahue made a number of suggestions that greatly improved the plot. Thanks also go to Shaun Haskins and Lynne Berry who edited the discussion of
released
as
a
single.
One
song
was
never
a
part
of
any
studio
album,
1966,
24
days
after
the
release
of
Revolver.
After
this
concert,
the
the plot.
).
The
data and R codes
areAavailable
upon
emailwith
to the15
author
([email protected]
compilation
album,
Collection
of request
Beatlesvia
Oldies,
other
songs,
all of which were previously released. This track was available in the
U.S. market more than a year earlier, on June 14, 1965, when it was
included in Beatles VI, and it is shown with the release date for the
U.S. market. This track was recorded on the same day as “Dizzy
Miss Lizzy,” which was subsequently included in the studio album
Help!. The black points are songs credited to John Lennon−Paul
5
Note: The data and R codes are available upon request. Email the
author at [email protected].
Long Tall Sally (EP)
4
3
Song Length (Minutes)
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6
You Won't See Me
St
●
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3
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Dizzy Miss Lizzy
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Love Me Do
2
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P.S. I Love You
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Bad Boy
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And Your Bird Can Sing
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For No O
Sgt. Pepper
2
1
0
1
1962 →
1963 →
Mar 22
Oct 5
Ple
se
lea
P
ase
Nov 22
Me
t
Wi
Dec 4
Jun 26
les
eat
eB
h
hT
1964 →
ar
AH
y's
a
dD
ht
g
Ni
Be
es
atl
r
Fo
le
Sa
1965 →
Aug 6
He
lp!
Dec 3
ber
b
Ru
So
ul
1966 →
Au
ve
vol
Re
Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
just under eight
9
RevolutionRevolution
9 ●
●
8
hown here with
“Get Back” and
8
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
songs that were
t because it was
ction of Beatles
ed in Beatles VI,
elp!.
●
●
Hey Jude
7
Hey Jude
7
It's All Too Much
It's All Too Much
●
●
6
A Day in the Life
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A Day in theWithin
Life ●You Without You
Within You Without You
6
●
●
5
●
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
●
Helter Skelter
●
Revolution
1
●
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
●
I am the Walrus
Strawberry Fields Forever
I am the Walrus
Helter Skelter
●
Revolution 1
●
5
Come Together
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Revolution
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r Bird Can Sing
Magical Mystery Tour (EP)
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For No One
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Get Back ●●
●●
●●
Get Back
●
●
●
3
●
●
●
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Carry That Weight
●
Golden Slumbers
Polythene Pam
●
Mean Mr. Mustard
●
●
●
●
●
2
●
1
●
nely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
Aug 5
t. P
Sg
1967 →
er's
Dig It
●
●
●
Carry That Weight
Golden Slumbers
y
nel
Lo
Jun 1
Maggie Mae
●
ea
H
Jun 1
lub
C
rts
Polythene Pam
Mean Mr. Mustard
1969 →
Nov 22 Jan 17
1968 →
Wild Honey Pie
nd
Ba
1968 →
m)
e
rin
bu
Al ubma
ite
S
h
(W ellow
es
Y
atl
●
●
●
Sep 26
bey
Ab
●
oad
R
1970 →
May 8
0
1
Dig ItIt B●e
et
L
Maggie Mae
●
e
eB
Th
●
●
●
Her Majesty
ver
vol
Re
epp
Wild Honey Pie
●
1967 →
2
●
●
I Will
Why Don't We Do It in the Road?
3
●
●
●
●
Magical Mystery Tour (EP)
4
●
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I Will
Why Don't We Do It in the
Road?
●
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Get
● Back
●
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
Let It Be
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Let It Be
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Revolution
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Get Back
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Let It Be
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Come Together
●
●
Let It Be
●
●
●
●
erry Fields Forever
●
Her Majesty
1969 →
Nov 22 Jan 17
●
Sep 26
1970 →
May 8
0