BEATLES MAGAZINE: STEPHEN KING's FAVORITE SONG BY THE BEATLES

Tuesday, 7 October 2025

STEPHEN KING's FAVORITE SONG BY THE BEATLES

Stephen King, the undeniable master of horror fiction, has shared his choice for the best Beatles track.

During a 2006 interview with Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs, King singled out the music of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as particular highlights.

A massive Beatles enthusiast, King has worked countless references to the band into his bibliography. As a product of the 1960s, it's fitting that the group is a recurring motif in his writing, appearing in a diverse list of titles, including Deadzone, Christine, Doctor Sleep, and most famously, The Shining.

In fact, one of King’s most iconic titles, The Shining, was reportedly inspired by a John Lennon lyric. The phrase "we all shine on" from Lennon's track 'Instant Karma' is said to have immediately grabbed King's attention while he was trying to name his chilling hotel novel.

However, his ultimate pick from the Fab Four is a track from their early, energetic pop era: 'She Loves You'. For King, this song remains a standout, noting: "Of all The Beatles songs, it seems to me that it’s travelled the best over the years to my ear. It still sounds absolutely fresh when I hear it today, just as it did when I first heard it, when I was probably at 16 years old. It just cuts straight to the point, it has only one thing to say, and it says it."

While it's considered a pop staple, 'She Loves You' actually represented a departure from the musical conventions of its time, cementing the band as pioneers in the pop landscape. As McCartney recalled in Barry Miles’ Many Years From Now: “It was again a she, you, me, I, personal preposition song. I suppose the most interesting thing about it was that it was a message song, it was someone bringing a message. It wasn’t us any more, it was moving off the ‘I love you, girl’ or ‘Love me do’, it was a third person, which was a shift away. ‘I saw her, and she said to me, to tell you, that she loves you,’ so there’s a little distance we managed to put in it, which was quite interesting.”

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