Songs The Beatles Covered That Changed Music Forever
- 01. Songs the Beatles covered that fans still argue over
- 02. Core list of Beatles covers
- 03. Early Beatles covers and their impact
- 04. Later Beatles covers and stylistic debates
- 05. Iconic Beatles covers that feel like originals
- 06. Table of significant Beatles covers (illustrative)
- 07. Fans still argue over "ownership" and authenticity
- 08. How many Beatles covers exist?
- 09. Arguments over arrangement and style
- 10. Legacy and fan-built meaning
Songs the Beatles covered that fans still argue over
The Beatles covered at least 21 officially released tracks throughout their career, borrowing material from American R&B, rock-and-roll, girl groups, and traditional folk before transforming many of them into what fans now regard as "Beatles songs" rather than mere covers. These Beatles covers span their early, club-band years on the 1963 debut album Please Please Me through to their final studio outing, 1970's Let It Be, and include well-known numbers such as "Twist and Shout," "Money (That's What I Want)," and "Mr. Moonlight."
Core list of Beatles covers
Experts who have cataloged Beatles covers conservatively count around two dozen released tracks that were not written by Lennon-McCartney, Harrison, or Starr, even though they often sound like they were. Below is an illustrative, non-exhaustive
- that highlights some of the most frequently cited Beatles covers:
- "Anna (Go to Him)" - originally by Arthur Alexander, 1962.
- "Chains" - written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, first recorded by The Cookies.
- "Boys" - written by Luther Dixon and Wes Farrell, first recorded by The Shirelles.
- "Baby It's You" - written by Mack David, Luther Dixon, and Burt Bacharach, first by The Shirelles.
- "A Taste of Honey" - written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow, first an instrumental for the 1960 Broadway musical of the same name.
- "Twist and Shout" - written by Phil Medley and Bert Russell, first a hit for The Isley Brothers in 1962.
- "Please Mr. Postman" - written by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland, and Robert Bateman, first a 1961 hit for The Marvelettes.
- "Roll Over Beethoven" - written and originally recorded by Chuck Berry in 1956.
- "You Really Got a Hold on Me" - written by Smokey Robinson and first recorded by The Miracles in 1962.
- "Devil in Her Heart" - written by Richard B. Drapkin, first recorded by The Donays.
- "Money (That's What I Want)" - written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford, first recorded by Barrett Strong in 1959.
- "Rock and Roll Music" - written by Chuck Berry in 1957.
- "Mr. Moonlight" - written by Roy Lee Johnson, first recorded by Dr. Feelgood and the Interns.
- "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" - medley based on Leiber and Stoller's "Kansas City" plus a Little Richard hook.
- "Words of Love" - written and first recorded by Buddy Holly in 1957.
- "Honey Don't" - written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1956.
- "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" - written by Carl Perkins, drawing on an earlier 1936 country song.
- "Act Naturally" - written by Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison, first a hit for Buck Owens in 1963.
- "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" - written and first recorded by Larry Williams in 1958.
- "Maggie Mae" - a traditional Liverpool folk number, authorship unknown.
Early Beatles covers and their impact
On the 1963 debut Please Please Me, fully eight of the fourteen tracks were covers, reflecting the band's roots in the Merseybeat club circuit and the need to pad albums with proven hits. Songs such as "Twist and Shout" and "Please Mr. Postman" became so closely associated with the Beatles that many later listeners are unaware they were beatles covers of American R&B and girl-group material.
Beatle biographers estimate that by the time of Please Please Me's release in March 1963, the band had performed most of these covers live in Hamburg and Liverpool over 1,000 times, giving them a tight, punchy feel that contrasted with their studio originals. This "live in the studio" aesthetic helped cement the idea that even borrowed songs could be reshaped into distinctly Beatles tracks, a template later acts would copy when covering their own material.
Later Beatles covers and stylistic debates
By the mid-1960s, original writing dominated but the Beatles still leaned on covers for specific moods or pastiche moments. For example, "Rock and Roll Music" (1964) and "Mr. Moonlight" (also 1964) appeared on the Beatles for Sale album, while "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Act Naturally" surfaced on 1965's Help! soundtrack record.
Critics and fans still debate whether these later beatles covers were nostalgic tributes or contractual filler. Some commentators argue that the band's 1964-65 covers helped bridge classic rock-and-roll with the emerging psychedelic era, while others feel they diluted the sense of rapid innovation seen on albums like Rubber Soul and Revolver.
Iconic Beatles covers that feel like originals
Several Beatles covers have become so embedded in the canon that their status as covers is often forgotten. A 2024 deep-dive into the band's discography logged roughly 21 officially released tracks that were not Lennon-McCartney-penned originals, yet still charted or achieved cult status. Among these, "Twist and Shout," "Money (That's What I Want)," and "Roll Over Beethoven" routinely appear atop "best Beatles cover" polls.
Psychologically, this "ownership" effect likely stems from how tightly the Beatles' arrangements, vocal phrasing, and studio treatment were tied to their wider beatles sound. A 2023 survey of Beatles fans found that 68% either could not name the original artist of at least one of these covers or believed the Beatles had written it themselves, underscoring the band's power to make borrowed material feel like their own.
Table of significant Beatles covers (illustrative)
The HTML
| Beatles title | Original writer(s) | Beatles release year | Why fans argue |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Twist and Shout" | Phil Medley, Bert Russell | 1963 (Please Please Me) | Some fans see it as the definitive version; others think the Isley Brothers' original is cleaner and more authentically R&B. |
| "Please Mr. Postman" | Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, et al. | 1963 (With The Beatles) | Debates center on whether the Beatles' version romanticizes a Motown classic or dilutes its soulful edge. |
| "Roll Over Beethoven" | Chuck Berry | 1963 (With The Beatles) | Traditional Berry purists argue the Beatles' version is too pop-polished; others praise its energy and clarity. |
| "Money (That's What I Want)" | Berry Gordy, Janie Bradford | 1963 (With The Beatles) | Barrett Strong's original has a grittier, more sinister feel; the Beatles' take is often seen as brighter and more direct. |
| "Mr. Moonlight" | Roy Lee Johnson | 1964 (Beatles for Sale) | Fans split between calling it a charming oddity and an awkward fit for the Beatles' evolving sound. |
| "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" | Larry Williams | 1965 (Help!) | Arguments focus on whether John Lennon's growl and the band's rawness improve or distort the original's rock-and-roll schoolgirl vibe. |
| "Act Naturally" | Johnny Russell, Voni Morrison | 1965 (Help!) | Country fans often prefer Buck Owens' twang; some Beatles-only listeners enjoy Ringo's dry, comic delivery more. |
Fans still argue over "ownership" and authenticity
The phrase in the referenced title, "songs the Beatles covered that fans still argue over," points to a persistent debate about ownership and authenticity in rock history. For example, "Twist and Shout" and "Money (That's What I Want)" are still contested in online forums, with fans of the original American R&B acts accusing the Beatles of "whitening" source material, while others counter that the Beatles accelerated integration of black repertoire into mainstream pop.
Academic surveys of Beatles-centric fan communities suggest that arguments over these covers tend to cluster around three axes: fidelity to the original's spirit, racial and genre politics, and the broader question of whether a band can "own" a song simply by performing it more often. These conversations mirror wider debates about who benefits when white rock acts cover Black artists, a topic that has only intensified in recent years.
How many Beatles covers exist?
Comprehensive reference libraries cataloging Beatles covers list around 21 officially released tracks that were not written by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, or Starr. These include early rock-and-roll staples, Motown hits, girl-group numbers, and one traditional folk song, "Maggie Mae," which appeared on the 1970 album Let It Be.
Analysts of Beatles discography note that if you count unreleased and studio-outtake covers, the total number climbs into the low forties, but only the 20-odd officially released tracks are usually cited in mainstream writing. This distinction matters for arguments about legacy: fans arguing over "best Beatles covers" are usually debating this narrower, widely circulated set rather than rarities.
Arguments over arrangement and style
Arrangement choices are another flashpoint in fan debates about Beatles covers. For instance, the Beatles' version of "Roll Over Beethoven" strips out some of the guitar-heavy virtuosity Chuck Berry deployed in 1956, replacing it with a more pop-amenable structure and harmonized vocals.
Some Berry-centric critics argue that this sanitizes the original's dangerous edge, while Beatles-focused commentators see it as a disciplined refinement that helped introduce younger British and American audiences to rock-and-roll's roots. Similar fault lines appear around "Please Mr. Postman," where the Beatles' tighter harmonies and slightly slower tempo are praised by some as more melancholy and criticized by others as tamer than the Marvelettes' jangly, assertive original.
By contrast, only a handful of the Beatles' original songs-many of which were never singles-have comparably faded into obscurity, which helps explain why fans still argue so forcefully over whether these covers "belong" more to the Beatles or their original writers.
At the same time, defenders of the original Isley Brothers performance argue that the Beatles' version, while exciting, loses some of the nuanced call-and-response dynamics and deeper soul inflections present in the 1962 recording. Similar split-loyalties appear with "Please Mr. Postman" and "Money (That's What I Want)," where fan communities tend to split roughly 50-50 on whether the Beatles or the original artists delivered the stronger take.
Music-industry historians estimate that more than 560 Beatles songs have been covered by other artists since the 1960s, but the reverse-songs the Beatles covered-remains a smaller, more tightly contested canon. This asymmetry amplifies debate: each of the Beatles' covers carries outsized weight, making it easier for fans to fixate on whether the band "honored" or "co-opted" the source material.
A 2023 aggregation of Beatles-themed polls suggested that roughly 75% of respondents who answered "favorite Beatles cover" chose one of these five tracks, underscoring how small that debated core canon really is relative to the Beatles' broader catalog. That narrow focus feeds the sense that these covers are classic battles in an ongoing, fan-driven debate about authorship and influence.
Legacy and fan-built meaning
Over time, the Beatles covers have accrued meanings that often exceed their original context. "Twist and Shout," for example, is now as much a cultural shorthand for the band's early live energy as it is a tribute to Arthur Alexander and The Isley Brothers.
By contrast, traditional-style tracks like "Maggie Mae," which closed side one of Let It Be in 1970, are more often discussed as historical curiosities than as fan-fighter tracks. Yet even here, aficionados argue about whether the Beatles' brief, almost throwaway rendition honors the Liverpool folk tradition or reduces it to
Helpful tips and tricks for Songs The Beatles Covered That Changed Music Forever
What songs did the Beatles cover that became famous as Beatles songs?
According to discography guides, several Beatles covers achieved such strong association with the band that they are now widely perceived as Beatles originals. These include "Twist and Shout," "Please Mr. Postman," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Money (That's What I Want)," and minor tracks like "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Act Naturally," all of which appear on major studio albums and have been reissued countless times.
Are there Beatles covers that fans say are better than the originals?
Surveys of Beatles-centric online forums and fan polls show that some listeners openly claim certain Beatles covers surpass the originals, even as they acknowledge the source material's importance. "Twist and Shout" is the most common example: fans often cite the band's explosive, take-two-may-be-take-one energy and John Lennon's hoarse vocals as reasons they regard the Beatles' version as definitive.
Why do fans still argue about Beatles covers 60 years later?
One reason fans still argue about Beatles covers is that they sit at the intersection of history, authenticity, and identity. For older listeners, the originals represent a formative era of R&B and rock-and-roll; for younger fans, Beatles-centric versions are often the first exposure they have to these songs.
Which Beatles covers are most frequently cited in fan polls?
In fan polls and retrospective roundups, the most frequently cited Beatles covers are usually "Twist and Shout," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Please Mr. Postman," "Money (That's What I Want)," and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy." These tracks appear repeatedly in lists titled "ten Beatles covers that fans still argue over," often alongside notes about how each version either amplifies or smooths the original's character.