Beatles lyrics and the words they used most

The Beatles wrote and recorded hundreds of songs. These are the lyrics they used most
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Beatles lyrics as a wordle View larger picture
Beatles lyrics as a <a href="http://www.wordle.net">Wordle</a>. Click on the image to make it bigger

So, now you can get the entire Beatles output on itunes.

Buy it from amazon.co.uk

  1. Buy the CD
  3. The Beatles
  4. The Beatles Box Set - Remastered in Stereo
  5. Parlophone
  6. 2009

The Beatles might have failed the X factor but their legacy lives on - not least in the Datablog's obsession with John, Paul, George and Ringo's creative output.

We wanted to work out, of the 300-odd songs they wrote and recorded, which words they used most. So, thanks to the Beatles lyrics archive and some nifty work by Daniel Vydra we extracted the lyrics for every track they recorded and put it through our word count tool.

While "you" and "love" are the top words, others surface too, including "yeah", "gonna" and "baby". Is there anything surprising in there? Take a look - we've added the word count spreadsheet below, plus the text file of every Beatles song recorded too. There are some caveats - it includes covers. But take a look and let us know what you think.

Download the data


• DATA: the Beatles lyrics word count
• TEXT: every song recorded by the Beatles

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Data summary

Top 100 words used by The Beatles

Click heading to sort
WORD
COUNT
you 2262
I 1736
the 1355
to 1097
me 1060
and 962
a 858
love 613
my 610
in 513
be 497
it 466
that 466
all 437
know 436
I'm 404
your 403
don't 401
of 369
on 368
Oh 343
she 330
is 328
do 321
it's 321
for 307
so 306
baby 300
her 285
when 285
Well 265
if 259
but 256
What 244
with 235
can 232
Now 225
got 220
say 218
Go 211
see 209
want 206
no 200
I'll 196
like 194
you're 194
get 191
come 183
Just 183
will 183
girl 170
gonna 164
Hey 164
She's 164
little 162
can't 151
tell 150
down 147
One 147
way 144
back 141
Yeah 139
day 136
up 136
was 135
time 134
we 130
there 129
right 124
said 123
out 122
never 121
how 120
too 120
why 119
Let 116
make 116
home 115
I've 115
have 114
good 113
at 111
he 111
long 110
that's 107
not 105
take 105
as 102
man 101
yeh 101
from 99
They 99
need 96
are 94
night 93
Please 92
mine 91
here 89
Yes 88
been 87

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Beatles lyrics as a wordle

Beatles lyrics as a wordle Photograph: Public Domain