Lockdown listening: the 25 greatest B-sides of all time
Those who were born in the years after vinyl records were replaced by CDs may never appreciate the joy of B-sides. But they were utterly glorious. The vacant grooves on the other side of a single could be filled with anything, anything at all; bands would mess about, experiment, be deliberately obscure, or do covers of the theme-tune from Batman or The Banana Splits.
All sorts of things emerged from the wrong side of the tracks, including some of the greatest records ever made. Here’s our top 25.
25. You Only Live Twice (1983) by Soft Cell
(B-side of Soul Inside)
This classic Bond theme song from 1967 was originally sung by Nancy Sinatra, but the Soft Cell version, recorded the year before the electronic duo split up, finds a magnificent, doomed grandeur in John Barry’s cascading melodies. It’s as surprising in its way as the epic romance that Whitney Houston found in Dolly Parton’s quiet, heartfelt I Will Always Love You. Marc Almond wrings every ounce of mystery and sex from Leslie Bricusse’s lyrics, “And love is a stranger who’ll beckon you on/ Don’t think of the danger or the stranger is gone”. A magic spell that doesn’t wear off.
24. Jane B (1969) by Jane Birkin
(B-side of Je t’aime… moi non plus)
“No sex please, we’re British” certainly didn’t apply when it came to the eroticism of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s orgasmic Je t’aime… moi non plus, which so shocked the nation in 1969 that they rushed out to buy it, sending it to number one. But it was no novelty hit. On the flip side was the wonderful Jane B, in which Gainsbourg set Chopin’s beautiful, melancholic Prélude no. 4, op.28 to swelling bass and drums, with Birkin’s soft, boarding school voice telling us about herself: “Yeux bleus/ Cheveux chatains/ Jane B/ Anglaise/ De sexe féminin.” French cool doesn’t get any cooler than this.
23. Acquiesce (1995) by Oasis
(B-side of Some Might Say)
It’s not about the Gallagher brothers, it’s not about the Gallagher brothers, it’s not about the Gallagher brothers… Acquiesce’s romping, stomping guitar thrash with its soaring chorus, “Because we need each other/ We believe in one another”, is a capsule of all that was great about the Manchester rockers in their early days: tunes, atittude and ardour. They meant it, maaan.
22. Maybe, Maybe (1986) by a-ha
(B-side of Cry Wolf)
“Maybe it was over when you chucked me out the Rover at full speed/ Maybe, maybe,” sings Morton Harket in this playful B-side to the po-faced Cry Wolf. Eighties synth-pop never quite got over the gloomy atmospherics that former Kraftwerk producer Conny Plank wreathed around Ultravox’s Vienna at the start of the decade, but Oslo’s a-ha had more trouble than most with being sombre and humourless, and it kept breaking out on their B-sides. This one’s breezy and fun, in a melancholy kind of way.
21. Not Fade Away (1957) by Buddy Holly
(B-side of Oh Boy!)
“I’m a-going to tell you how it’s going to be/ (Ooo-bop, wop-bop-bop)/ You’re gonna give your love to me.” The gawky, bespectacled Buddy Holly sure didn’t look like the future of rock ’n’ roll, but his influence would prove to be enormous. It was Holly who inspired the Beatles to write their own songs, and this stripped-down classic would later provide The Rolling Stones with their first UK hit. Drummer Jerry Allison beat out its stop-start rhythm on a cardboard box, guitar is used as punctuation, and Holly reaches yearningly for the top notes. Lo-fi perfection.
20. Into the Groove (1985) by Madonna
(B-side of Angel)
One of the oddities about the international nature of modern music is that songs can be released in different ways in different territories. UK fans will remember this song as a chart-topping A-side, with the accompanying video of the superstar drying her underarms in a “restroom” in the film from which it came, Desperately Seeking Susan. In America, however, it was released as a B-side of the 12” single Angel, which meant that however many dancefloors it filled, it wasn’t eligible for the Billboard charts.
19. Poor Old Soul Pt 2 (1981) by Orange Juice
(B-side of Poor Old Soul)
This might seem a bit of a cheat, given that Poor Old Soul Pt 1 is on the A-side, but there is a whole category of B-sides that are actually slightly different versions of the song on the A-side – and on such fine distinctions are choices made. Some people, for instance, prefer the faster, synthier version on the flip of the original vinyl single of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. But this particular B-side gives me a chance to tip a nod to the poppy greatness of Edwyn Collins and Postcard Records. Pt 2 gives itself a little more space to work its spell than Pt 1, but the chant of “No more rock ’n’ roll for you” at the end is the clincher.
18. Urge for Going (1972) by Joni Mitchell
(B-side of You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio)
This delicate ballad, written much earlier but finally recorded by Joni Mitchell for inclusion on her iconic 1971 album, Blue, was jettisoned at the last minute in favour of newer songs. That was probably the right decision, but it’s completely of a piece with the sound of Blue, and still feels like a long-lost cousin. It was released as a B-side in the following year, but wasn’t widely heard until it was released as track one on a greatest hits album in 1996.
17. Jocko Homo (1977) by Devo
(B-side of Mongoloid)
“God made man/ But he used the monkey to do it.” The B-side to the Ohioan weirdos’ first single is this bizarre electronic essay on evolution, produced by Brian Eno, which stakes a claim that humanity is not simply an ape society but a very strange one at that: “Monkey men all/ In business suits/ Teachers and critics/ All dance the poot.” And if you’ve ever wondered what the poot is – and who hasn’t? – it’s apparently the “dance of mockery, originally coined to mock terrible art in the Kent State student galleries”, according to the Genius lyrics website. So there you go.
16. Mercedes-Benz (1970) by Janis Joplin
(B-side of Cry Baby)
“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a colour TV…” She’s joking! (I think.) The great white blues singer recorded this B-side just three days before she died in October 1970, at the age of 27, from an accidental heroin overdose. The raw power of her voice is unadorned as she reels off a list of expensive consumer goods, the prompt delivery of which would prove that God loves her – including the Mercedes-Benz of the title. There’s just a hint that the satire runs both ways, and that faith isn’t going to buy the next round. But what stands out is Joplin’s astonishing voice, her humour and lust for life. Her cackle at the end – “That’s it” – says it all.
15. Isn’t It a Pity (1970) by George Harrison
(B-side of My Sweet Lord)
George Harrison’s sadder, more sorrowful flipside to his first solo hit My Sweet Lord in 1970 was a wistful lament about the human condition – “how we break each other’s hearts” – and how pain stops us seeing the beauty that surrounds us. It later underwent an alchemical transformation when it was dusted off by indie royalty Galaxie 500 in the late-Eighties. They replaced the piano part with guitar and somehow made it even sadder. The original is a fragile beauty.
14. 1963 (1987) by New Order
(B-side of True Faith)
It was a toss-up between this and These Days by Joy Division, but it seemed a bit unfair to have two songs by the same musicians in the list. This track is the less immediate flip-side to True Faith, but its melodies are sweeter, its rhythms harder and its lyrics infinitely more impenetrable. “Oh God Johnny, don’t point that gun at me.”
13. We Will Rock You (1975) by Queen
(B-side of We Are the Champions)
Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. “We will, we will rock you.” Sing it. That’s it, really. Well, except for Freddie Mercury’s revved-up vocal and that Brian May guitar solo – which builds from a distant, menacing sound of feedback into something like the moment when Godzilla breaks into your living room and proceeds to wreak unimaginable havoc. It’s only 2 minutes and 2 seconds long, but it doesn’t need to be a single second longer.
12. You’ve Got a Woman (1975) by Lion
(B-side of But I Do)
The very definition of a buried treasure, this exquisite slice of syncopated soul was hidden on the B-side of the only single ever released by this duo, comprising Dutch prog-rock drummer Peter de Leeuwe and soul singer Glenn Robles. Percussion meets melody in a swooning embrace that evokes all sorts of things that shouldn’t fit together – Christine McVie-inflected Fleetwood Mac, white calypso, even the pristine pop super-producers of today. Beyond gorgeous.
11. Piss Factory (1974) by Patti Smith
(B-side of Hey Joe)
Punk’s poet laureate arrived with intent. The B-side of her very first single skips along jazzily until the moment when Smith announces herself with a hot stream of desperation, anger and inalterable self-belief about her days working a low-paid job in a factory, with not even a window to look through, dreaming of boys, of New York, of fame – “I got something to hide here/ Called desire/ And I will get out of here”. Anyone who ever wanted something more than the life that seemed to be on offer will find this song inspirational.
10. The Only Living Boy in New York (1970) by Simon and Garfunkel
(B-side of Cecilia)
The A-side, Cecilia, was the obvious choice for a single, but this B-side is a near perfect example of Paul Simon’s meticulous songwriting craft: every element – melody, harmony, instrumentation – has proportion and balance, yet somehow its complexity never intrudes on its gentle beauty. That it is almost a break-up song for the duo, written when Simon was kicking his heels alone in New York, after being axed by director Mike Nicholls from his film of Catch-22 (Garfunkel stayed on), makes it even more poignant. “Tom, get your plane right on time,” Simon sings, evoking the days when the two styled themselves Tom and Jerry. A marvel.
9. The Model (1981) by Kraftwerk
(B-side of Computer Love)
Released in German in West Germany as Das Model in 1978 (complete with the voice of a real-life Düsseldorf bartender rasping “Korrekt!”), The Model was merely a stand-out album track on The Man Machine in the UK until the release of the single Computer Love in 1981. When it was added as a B-side, British DJs immediately flipped the record and set it on course for number one. The lyrics – “She’s a model and she’s looking good” – were written from life, according to former Kraftwerk percussionist Wolfgang Flür, who described in his memoir I Was a Robot how founder member Ralf Hütter and collaborator Emil Schult were obsessed with German model Christa Becker (Schult wrote the words). The group’s home town was West Germany’s fashion capital. The song feels timeless.
8. Maggie May (1971) by Rod Stewart
(B-side of Reason to Believe)
The song that launched Faces frontman Rod Stewart’s solo career, Maggie May raced to number one in the UK then did the same in the US after DJs flipped Rod’s cover version of Tim Hardin’s Reason to Believe. But the song barely even made it out of the bin. Stewart worked out the structure with guitarist Martin Quittenten over an evening, struggled with the words, recorded it in two takes, never saw it as a single and almost left it off his debut album. But everything that is great about Stewart’s voice and songwriting is in this song about an older lover – and its earthy soul endures. “Nice enough song, good little tale,” wrote the singer in his autobiography, still sounding surprised.
7. How Soon Is Now? (1984) by The Smiths
(B-side of William, It Was Really Nothing)
Long before Morrissey’s increasingly troublesome pronouncements began to make his songs of innocence and experience turn to dust in the mouth, The Smiths were busy proving that their B-sides were anything but an afterthought. The shimmering wall of guitar through which you enter this world of adolescent otherness, shyness, loneliness, makes it utterly magical. The whistling is the cherry on top. One of the band’s greatest ever songs.
6. God Only Knows (1966) by The Beach Boys
(B-side to Wouldn’t It Be Nice)
It’s possibly The Beach Boys’ greatest song. It certainly ran away with Rolling Stone’s readers’ poll on the subject, but God Only Knows was originally the B-side to Wouldn’t It Be Nice when it was released as a single in 1966 (the latter came in at number four in the same poll). Interestingly, given how much pop was originally influenced by gospel, God was a no-no in pop song titles at the time, but at its heart this is a love letter to a living, breathing human being: “If you should ever leave me… what good would living do me?” Whole dissertations have been written about the harmonic sophistication that Brian Wilson employs in this song.
5. Crazy Love (1970) by Van Morrison
(B-side of Come Running)
The eternal mystery of Van Morrison – how can someone renowned as such a curmudgeon possess such a transcendently soulful voice – gives way to a smaller mystery here: how did Crazy Love, surely the most tender love song Morrison ever recorded, end up on a B-side. “I can hear her heartbeat from a thousand miles,” he hymns, as his backing singers add sweet harmonies and gospel-inflected layers – “I need her”, “I need her”. A miracle.
4. I Am the Walrus (1967) by The Beatles
(B-side to Hello, Goodbye)
Pop often goes for the safe over the eccentric, which might explain why John Lennon’s thoroughly weird psychedelic masterpiece ended up on the B-side of Paul McCartney’s Hello, Goodbye in 1967 (the A-side inevitably shot to number one at home and abroad). Whether LSD was more influential in the writing of the lyrics than Lennon’s love of The Goons, Lewis Carroll and nonsense verse is hard to say, but musically it’s clear that it comes from the period when The Beatles had turned their back on touring forever and become a studio band. Lennon is experimenting, having fun and his vocal performance is charged and passionate. Whatever the hell it’s about, when Lennon sings “I am the eggman/ They are the eggmen/ I am the walrus”, he means it.
3. Always on My Mind (1972) by Elvis Presley
(B-side of Separate Ways)
This naked, honest lament for lost love had been written two years previously, and already recorded by BJ Thomas, Gwen McCrae and Brenda Lee when Elvis put this version on the B-side of his dreary divorce ballad Separate Ways, in which he detailed the deadening pain of the failure of his marriage to Priscilla (they’d separated for good earlier that year). But this is the song, it seems, he really wanted to sing to her (“Tell me, tell me that your sweet love hasn’t died/ Give me, give me one more chance”). The result is an emotional outpouring for the ages.
2. I Say a Little Prayer (1968) by Aretha Franklin
(B-side of The House That Jack Built)
Dionne Warwick had already had a hit with this Bacharach and David number a year earlier, in 1967, when the record’s backing singers, the Sweet Inspirations, began singing it for fun in rehearsals with Aretha Franklin. Bacharach loved Warwick’s light, note-perfect phrasing on his songs, but the breezy, wistful quality she brought to this one underwent a stunning transformation in Franklin’s hands. By the time the famous Muscle Shoals studio players had finished with it, the music had depth and soul, and Franklin’s voice was ready to send her prayer all the way up to heaven.
1. A Change Is Gonna Come (1964) by Sam Cooke
(B-side of Shake)
It’s amazing now to think that this enduring classic, which captures the pain and hope of the civil rights movement, began life as a B-side to the preppy Shake. It was inspired by Cooke’s own experience of being turned away, with his band and entourage, from a whites-only hotel in Louisiana. That Cooke should respond with a song so profoundly beautiful says everything about the shame that America should still feel about that moment. “It’s been a long, a long time coming/ But I know a change gonna come.” Amen.