Released: December 4, 1964

Songwriter: Lennon-McCartney Paul McCartney John Lennon

Producer: George Martin

[Intro]
I'm a loser
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be

[Verse 1]
Of all the love I have won or have lost
There is one love I should never have crossed
She was a girl in a million, my friend
I should have known she would win in the end

[Chorus]
I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be

[Verse 2]
Although I laugh and I act like a clown
Beneath this mask I am wearing a frown
My tears are falling like rain from the sky
Is it for her or myself that I cry?

[Chorus]
I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be

[Harmonica and Guitar Solos]

[Verse 3]
What have I done to deserve such a fate?
I realise I have left it too late
And so it's true, pride comes before a fall
I'm telling you so that you won't lose all

[Chorus]
I'm a loser, and I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be

The Beatles

The Beatles are arguably the most famous, critically-acclaimed, and successful rock band of all time—certainly the preeminent group of the 20th century. They started out as four teenagers playing grimy basement clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, but they progressed to become world-beating rock stars who are still influential to this day.

John Lennon first formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen in March 1957. A fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined shortly thereafter, eventually inviting his friend George Harrison to audition for the band. After finally impressing John with his guitar skills, George was asked to join—but this juncture would be short-lived as John’s departure to college signaled the other quarrymen to go their separate ways.

By 1960, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison had re-branded from ‘Johnny & the Moondogs’ to ‘The Silver Beetles’ at the behest of their new bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe. The name would eventually evolve into ‘The Silver Beatles’ by July of that year, before settling on ‘The Beatles’ come August—just in time for their trip to Hamburg with new drummer, Pete Best. Though club residencies in Germany would prove fundamental to the group’s progress as a whole, the tour turned out to be a blessing and a curse, following the deportation of a then-seventeen-year-old George Harrison, and the eventual tragic death of Stuart Sutcliffe.