The Beatles' song 'A Day in the Life', written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, has been voted the band's greatest ever track by Rolling Stone magazine. The publication has - for the first time - rated the best 100 songs from the Liverpool band's back catalogue, and it was the experimental track that features vocals from both songwriters that came out on top. In second place was the 1963 single 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' - a track that kick-started the wave of Beatle-mania that enveloped Britain, and much of the world from thereon in. 'Strawberry Fields Forever', the Lennon penned psychedelic single that recalls his childhood, was voted third.
The list has been compiled as part of the magazine's special collector's edition, entitled 'The Beatles: 100 Greatest Songs", which celebrates the 40th anniversary of the group's final studio album - the 1970 record, 'Let It Be'. Elvis Costello, who himself is influenced by the Fab Four, writes in the edition's introduction; "Lennon, MCCartney and Harrison had stunningly high standards as writers. Then they started to really grow up: simple love lyrics to adult stories... and on to bigger ideas than you would expect to find in catchy pop lyrics."
Other notably placed tracks included 'Yesterday', which was voted the fourth greatest song, and 'In My Life', in fifth.