Since The Beatles were the most popular and famous band in the world during their heyday, you’d think they would have one at least one Grammy for Song of the Year… and they did. In 1967, at the ninth annual Grammy Awards ceremony, the Fab Four took home the prestigious trophy for the ballad “Michelle.”
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As a songwriters honor, the trophy was presented to Paul McCartney and John Lennon. “Michelle” beat out “The Impossible Dream,” from the musical Man Of La Mancha; the Frank Sinatra classic “Strangers In The Night”; “Farewell My Love (Lara’s Theme),” from the film Dr. Zhivago; and the title theme to the movie Born Free.
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That was the only time a Beatles composition won the Song of the Year prize, but it wasn’t the only time the band was nominated. From 1965 through 1971, four other Beatles tunes composed by Lennon and McCartney were in the running for the honor, but they lost every time.
Here’s a look at the Fab Four’s other Song of the Year contenders:
“A Hard Day’s Night” (1965)
At the 1965 Grammy ceremony, The Beatles were honored as the Best New Artist, while their song “A Hard Day’s Night” also won in the Best Performance by a Vocal Group category.
Meanwhile, Lennon and McCartney received a Song of the Year nomination for “A Hard Day’s Night.” The song was the title tune to the soundtrack of the band’s 1964 debut film.
The 1965 Song of the Year honor went to “Hello, Dolly!”. That song was written by Jerry Herman and performed by Louis Armstrong.
The other nominees were “Who Can I Turn To?,” co-written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and performed by Newley; “People,” co-written by Bob Merrill and Jule Styne, and performed by Barbra Streisand; and “Dear Heart,” co-written by Ray Evans, Jay Livingston, and Henry Mancini, and performed by Mancini.
In August 1964, “A Hard Day’s Night” spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Yesterday” (1966)
The Beatles’ classic McCartney-sung ballad “Yesterday” was nominated for Song of the Year in 1966.
The winning tune that year, though, was “The Shadow of Your Smile,” a romantic ballad popularized by crooner Tony Bennett. The song originally appeared in the 1965 film The Sandpipers and was co-written by Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis Webster.
Also nominated for the honor were “I Will Wait For You,” co-written by Michel Legrand, Norman Gimbel, and Jacques Demy, and performed by Connie Francis; “The September Of My Years,” co-written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, and performed by Sinatra; and “King Of The Road,” written and performed by Roger Miller.
In 1965, “Yesterday” spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in October.
“Hey Jude” (1969)
The Fab Four’s signature anthem “Hey Jude” was nominated for Song of the Year in 1969.
The winner that year, though, was the pop tune “Little Green Apples.” The song, which was penned by country-pop songwriter Bobby Russell, was the only major hit for veteran soul singer O.C. Smith.
Russell also was nominated that year for “Honey,” a hit for Bobby Goldsboro. The other 1969 Song of the Year nominees were “Harper Valley PTA,” written by Tom T. Hall and performed by Jeannie C. Riley; and “Mrs. Robinson,” written by Paul Simon and performed by Simon & Garfunkel.
“Hey Jude” took over the top of the Hot 100 for nine weeks in the fall of 1968.
“Let It Be” (1971)
The Beatles’ fifth and final Song of the Year nomination came in 1971. That was for the title track of the band’s last studio album, Let It Be. The Fab Four had announced their breakup in April 1970. That was only a month before the album arrived and a month after “Let It Be” was released as a single.
The tune that did take home the 1971 Song of the Year Grammy was the enduring Simon & Garfunkel ballad “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” That song was written, of course, by Paul Simon.
The other nominated tunes were “Everything Is Beautiful,” written and performed by Ray Stevens; “Fire And Rain,” written and performed by James Taylor; and “We’ve Only Just Begun,” co-written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams and performed by The Carpenters.
“Let It Be” was a No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 for two weeks in April 1970.
(Photo by Cummings Archives/Redferns)
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