Author

Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist whoâs worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer and is a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.
Global Beatles Day is June 25, so PennStakes.com decided to take a break from monitoring PA online casinos and look at Pennsylvaniaâs favorite songs from the Fab Four.
Whatâs amazing is that all these songs are more than 50 years old and still resonate with audiences of all ages. It would be like asking people during the heart of 1960s Beatlemania what their favorite Van & Schenk songs were from the 1910s. Who were Van & Schenk? Exactly.
But everybody still knows the Beatles.
To rank Beatles songs, we utilized Google Trends to determine the most searched song by the Beatles in each state of the United States. After completing the trends over the past 12 months (from June 15th, 2022, to June 15th, 2023), we were able to find results to get the top Beatles songs for the state of Pennsylvania.
And the most popular Beatles song in the Keystone State is 1970âs âLet It Be,â off the album of the same name. Itâs especially memorable to multiple generations because Paul McCartney has been performing it live in concert for more than five decades. The original single version of the song, produced by George Martin, is a little more low-key than the album version produced by Phil Spector. The lyric âMother Maryâ refers to McCartneyâs own mother, Mary Patricia McCartney, although many analyses of the song give it more religious significance. The song also features the only appearance on a Beatles record by Paulâs wife, Linda, who sang backing vocals. âLet It Beâ reached No. 1 on the U.S. charts but peaked at No. 2 in the UK. The single was released shortly before McCartney announced he was leaving the band and was the groupâs second-to-last single â the last one being âThe Long and Winding Road.â
Coming in at No. 2 is 1969âs âSomething,â composed by George Harrison for the âAbbey Roadâ album. Even though he had been writing Beatles songs for a few years, âSomethingâ was Harrisonâ first composition released as an A-side single. It was paired with âCome Together,â which was also a hit. Along with McCartneyâs âYesterday,â released a few years earlier, âSomethingâ is the bandâs greatest ballad, and has been recorded by hundreds of artists, including Shirley Bassey and Frank Sinatra. The song is alleged to have been written for Harrisonâs first wife, Pattie, who nearly a decade later would leave him for Eric Clapton.
In third place is the trippy âStrawberry Fields Forever,â from 1967, written by John Lennon, and sharing a single with McCartneyâs âPenny Lane.â The song was released between the âRevolverâ and âSgt. Pepperâ albums, and later included on the âMagical Mystery Tourâ album. It offers the very Lennon-esque lyric, âLiving is easy with eyes closed/
Misunderstanding all you see,â and Lennon said the song was influenced both by his childhood playing in Liverpoolâs Strawberry Field, and by his adult life playing with LSD. After Lennon was murdered in New York City in 1980, a portion of Central Park near his apartment in the Dakota, was renamed Strawberry Fields.
Author
Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist whoâs worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer and is a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.
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