Danny Boyle names his favourite songs by The Beatles
It’s no secret that English filmmaker Danny Boyle is a massive fan of The Beatles. While Boyle has expressed his admiration for the beloved band on multiple occasions, he released his cinematic love letter to The Beatles in 2019 in the form of Yesterday.
Starring Himesh Patel as a failed musician who is about to give up on his dreams and aspirations, Yesterday imagines an unimaginably bleak alternate universe where The Beatles never existed. Patel’s character is one of the few people on the planet with memories of the band’s songs which is why he is able to capitalise on the situation by selling The Beatles’ masterpieces as his own.
Although Yesterday was subjected to a mixed reception from fans and critics, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr revealed that they loved Boyle’s interpretation of their legacy. If you’re curious about Boyle’s preferred songs by The Beatles, look no further. In a conversation with Yahoo, Boyle and screenwriter Richard Curtis sat down to discuss their favourite band.
While talking about one of his favourite Beatles albums, Boyle said: “When you get really into it it’s Abbey Road. The second half of Abbey Road just for me… it’s that medley on the second half, it’s never been matched I don’t think. For just how cheeky you can be, you know… that it’s cheeky. That pop music is so meaningful because it’s just very moving and touching and… but it’s also just cheeky.”
The director also revealed that ‘Day in the Life’ was his most-played Beatles song. He explained: “Just because it’s so… what they did they wrote separately. You know all the stories you read about the separateness of them or what they can connected on or what they did that was just: this verse is him, then this verse is him. It’s John, it’s Paul, it’s John.”
Check out the full list below.
Danny Boyle’s favourite songs by the Beatles:
- ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’
- ‘Please, Please Me’
- ‘Love Me Do’
- ‘I Am The Walrus’
- ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’
- ‘Day in the Life’
- ‘Her Majesty’
- ‘Helter Skelter’
The Beatles have always been a major part of Boyle’s life because some of his earliest memories have been linked to their music. When asked about it, he responded: “The first one is linked to my first memory, which is playing upstairs in our house.”
The filmmaker added: “When we went to bed, me and my twin sister when we were seven, and my parents were playing the original seven inches downstairs and I still have them. ‘Please, Please Me’, ‘Love Me Do’. I mean they’re just incredible.”
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