Rolling Stone misses the mark

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/photos/28431/194023

Rolling Stone is a fine publication. But its editors got it all wrong when listing the top 10 Beatles songs of all time.

The mag’s pick? “A Day in the Life.”

I’ll concede that it’s a fine tune. But the best of all time? Hardly. It’s not even as good as “Strawberry Fields” or “Get Back.”

I’ve been saying for decades that the best song ever recorded — by any artist ever — is another Beatles ditty: “Hey Jude,” all 7 minutes 11 seconds of it. But that’s just my opinion.

How do I measure this song’s greatness? It’s the only song that I can remember where I was the very first time I heard it. That event ranks right up there with President Kennedy’s murder, the first moon landing and 9/11. For the record, that moment came in my barracks at Fort Lewis, Wash., as I listened to a transistor radio on my bunk in the late summer of 1968. I had just joined the Army and was taking a breather after a day of the usual harassment doled out by drill sergeants to a platoon of young recruits. I have no clue where I was when I first heard “A Day in the Life.”

Rolling Stone rated “Hey Jude” at No. 7 all time. Aw, c’mon. What have those guys been smoking?