The Beatles are one of the greatest musical groups that have ever walked the earth, there is no doubt about that. Their music was at the tip of the 1960s counterculture and its timeless quality has made it as popular today as it has ever been.
Along with a few other bands, they were among the first to release songs with longer run times than people were used to. This was considered very risky, but of course, The Beatles did not allow anything to hold their creativity back.
With such exceptional songwriting and musical ability, you could listen to their albums over and over again, as most fans do.
Sometimes you just don’t want their songs to stop, which is why I put together the 10 longest Beatles songs!
1. Revolution 9 – 8:22
Album: The Beatles
Released: 1968
The longest song that The Beatles ever recorded and officially released is “Revolution 9”, which is 8 minutes and 24 seconds long. This is almost unbelievable, especially considering that at the time of its release, long songs were not a thing at all because they would never play it on the radio.
This is just another example of how The Beatles went against the status quo and how they created their own way forward by being truly creative and not letting the dominant culture tell them what to do.
“Revolution 9” appeared on the White Album which is officially known as The Beatles.
The track was an experimental piece of music that was created by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and George Martin.
2. I Want You (She’s So Heavy) – 7:47
Album: Abbey Road
Released: 1969
The second longest song that The Beatles ever released is “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” which comes in at a run time of 7 minutes and 47 seconds.
The track was written by John Lennon but is credited to Lennon-McCartney, the legendary songwriting partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Although this was the first song that the band recorded on their Abbey Road album, it was the last song to be finished. It was finished in the studio on 20 August 1969, which makes it the final time that all the members of The Beatles were in the studio together.
3. Hey Jude – 7:08
Album: Single
Released: 1968
“Hey Jude” is the third track by The Beatles that went over the 7-minute mark. It is also by far their most popular long track.
On YouTube, the video runs for 8 minutes and 10 seconds, and it is their second most-viewed video with over 360 million views. The only video with more views is “Don’t Let Me Down” which has over 450 million views.
The track topped the charts at the time of its release which made it the longest track at that time to top the charts.
4. It’s All Too Much – 6:26
Album: Yellow Submarine
Released: 1969
“It’s All Too Much” is the first song on this list that was not written by John Lennon and /or Paul McCartney. It was written by The Beatles’ lead guitarist, George Harrison. Harrison was sometimes referred to as the “quiet Beetle” and was especially interested in Eastern Philosophy and spirituality.
The track was written as a celebration of Harrison’s experiences with LSD. A lot of their inspiration can be traced back to LSD, although they later mostly gave it up in exchange for similar experiences with transcendental meditation which they learned in India.
5. What’s The New Mary Jane – 6:12
Album: Anthology 3
Released: 1996
“What’s The New Mary Jane” was originally recorded in 1968 and would have formed a part of their album The Beatles, but it was decided that it should be left out. It was then only released almost 30 years later as part of Anthology 3 which is a compilation album with various rare recordings from the band’s final years.
6. A Day In The Life – 5:39
Album: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released: 1967
“A Day In The Life” comes in at just over the 5-minute mark and was released as the final song of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. It was written by the Lennon-McCartney duo and was actually banned from the BBC for containing drug references.
7. Within You Without You – 5:04
Album: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released: 1967
Another 5-minute plus song on the same album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This track was also written by lead guitarist, George Harrison. It was his second composition in the Classical Indian style and it came from his inspiration of staying in India.
8. While My Guitar Gently Weeps – 4:45
Album: The Beatles
Released: 1968
Geoge Harrison wrote this song as an exercise in randomness that is explained in the Chinese text, the I Ching.
It is said that Eric Clapton also contributed to the track by playing some of the original guitar recordings, although he was never given credit for it.
9. I Am The Walrus
Album: Magical Mystery Tour
Released: 1967
The inspiration for writing this song is partly the LSD experiences of John Lennon, and partly the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter”. The song was released as part of the band’s television film.
10. Helter Skelter – 4:29
Album: The Beatles
Released: 1968
Towards the end of this list, the songs are not as long anymore. A song that runs for 4 and a half minutes is considered to be quite conventional in today’s music world.
In this track, The Beatles felt inspired to create a song as loud and as dirty as they could. This was one of the key pieces of music that gave inspiration to the rise of heavy metal music.
It is astonishing to see how many different layers The Beatles had, they were truly pushing the boundaries of creativity.
Alex is a man of many talents. He’s been playing music since he was young, and has been the main content writer at Tone Start for the past few years. Alex loves to play around with different styles of music and enjoys listening to anything from country to classical.