Beatles tune named greatest song ever
LONDON - Quick, name the greatest song of all time.

When Mojo music magazine asked that question, a phalanx of songwriters, including a Beatle (Paul McCartney), a Beach Boy (Brian Wilson) and half the team behind "Hound Dog" and countless other hits (Jerry Leiber) came up with.

"In My Life." Written by John Lennon, the autobiographical song is contained in the Beatles' 1965 album, "Rubber Soul."

The 1960s are heavily represented in the listing. Songs from that decade which made the cut include "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Here, There and Everywhere," "Tracks of my Tears," "The Times They Are A-Changing" and "People Get Ready."

Two songs pre-date that era -- "Over The Rainbow," released in 1939, and "Strange Fruit," which debuted in 1944.

Other greats include "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "You've Lost That Loving Feelin'." BMI, the performance-rights organization, recently noted that the latter song is the most-performed song of the century.

The full list, with the artists who made then famous:

1. "In My Life" -- The Beatles (released 1965)
2. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" -- Rolling Stones (1966)
3. "Over The Rainbow" -- Judy Garland (1939)
4. "Here, There And Everywhere" -- The Beatles (1966)
5. "Tracks Of My Tears" -- Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (1965)
6. "The Times They Are A-Changin"' -- Bob Dylan (1964)
7. "Strange Fruit" -- Billie Holiday (1944)
8. "I Can't Make You Love Me" -- Bonnie Raitt (1991)
9. "People Get Ready" -- The Impressions (1965)
10. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin"' -- The Righteous Brothers (1970)

He puffs Kools instead of stogies, but in every other flamboyant excess, Bill Sargent is the Don King of the showbiz hill. So it figures that a Beatles' reunion has been a bubble on his Barnumesque brain almost from the acrimonious day in 1970 when they first went asunder. If the Beatles were again to come together -- especially with today's breakthroughs in satellite-fed transmission for closed-circuit -- promoter Sargent could be back into the seven figures. By his own account, Bill has, at 48, made and blown a million on seven different occasional. He has also accrued two heart attacks.

As of now, the Beatles seem more likely to provide Sargent with Coronary No. 3 than Fortune No. 8. Which perhaps says more about their lawyers than their current prestige. The Liverpool Four have not only altered the drift of popular culture for their contemporaries -- the boys are now approaching their middle 30s -- but have also turned on a younger generation that digs them only by hearsay. Marvels McCartney: "When these kids come up to me for my autograph, I feel like their Uncle Paul."

None of this was lost on a shrewdie like Sargent, and his feel-out bid in 1974 was $10 million. This January, the ante was sweetened to $30 million, and in February to $50 mil. Now, the wheeler-dealer has temporarily withdrawn his offer to concentrate on another closed-circuit extravaganza: Australian Wall Gibbins will fight to the death with a 14-ft., 2,500-lb. killer shark in a lagoon off Western Samoa. "It really says something about our world that people would be sick enough to buy tickets to see something like this," Sargent moralizes. But who's peddling the tickets at $10-$20 per?

Sargent has made a career of that sort of outrage. The son of an Oklahoma oilman, Bill shined shoes at 9, specialized in electronics in the Navy and numerous colleges (none of which he graduated from) and patented a pay-TV system back in 1959. His claimed credits include the first TV fight of Cassius Clay, Richard Burton's Electronovision "Hamlet" of 1964 and last year's filmed version of James Whitmore's Truman reenactment, "Give 'Em Hell, Harry." Sargent also hyped some spectaculars that never happened, like an Elvis Presley dramatization of Rudolph Valentino. Along the way, Bill accumulated two wives, five kids and several homes. But he and his second wife, an ex-airlines stew, now rent modestly in the lower Beverly Hills.

Bill's shop, though is an imposing suite in L.A.'s Century City, known facetiously as Kellogg Hill, because of its disproportionate population of flakes. But when the trade scoffs at Sargent, he snaps: "They have a beautiful record for being wrong here." At the same time, he concedes defeat in bringing the Beatles together by his original target date of July 5, 1976. The obstacle, he says, is McCartney, who starts a 20-city U.S. tour next week and is not about to risk diminishing its box office by allowing announcement of the comeback of the Fab Four. "Nothing is left of the Beatles, only memories," declares Paul -- for effect at least.

It is true that the four of them have spun off in centrifugal directions, musically and philosophically. And a reunion might be as poignant as baseball Hall of Famers sloppily getting together for Old-Timers Day. But a top-level rock functionary reports: "I know for a fact that George, John and Ringo have talked among themselves about a reunion, and their attorneys say it is possible. But," he adds, "they would rather go with someone less carnival-like than Sargent." Bill doesn't buy that. "I'm a professional winner," he crows. "Just about the time everybody counts me out, I bounce back."

Paul McCartney sang, wrote songs (with John Lennon), and played bass in The Beatles, the most successful and influential rock and roll band of all time. He was considered the "nice" Beatle, mostly due to his amiable personality and his boyish good looks, and his penchant for writing melodic ballads even grown-ups could love. "Yesterday," which he wrote with John Lennon, is one of the most recorded songs in history. In 1970, Paul embarked on a solo career that included a collaboration with his late wife, Linda McCartney, and a band (Wings). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Beatles in 1988, and as a solo artist in 1999.

James Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942 in Liverpool, England. Liverpool was a port city, where sailors returned from trips to America carrying armloads of old American jazz and rhythm and blues records. English kids devoured these records and were inspired to form their own bands. Paul had musical roots. His father, James McCartney, was a bandleader. When Paul was growing up, the big music in England was skiffle, a mixture of rhythm and blues and English folk. In 1957, Paul met John Lennon, a fellow skiffle enthusiast and the two formed a band, The Quarrymen. John and Paul shared many influences, from the exquisite harmonies of The Everly Brothers, the songwriting craft of Buddy Holly, and Elvis Presley, who they would eventually overtake in popularity. The pair began to write their own songs, beginning one of the most popular and productive collaborations in popular music history.

In 1961, the band, now called the Silver Beatles, with pal George Harrison on lead guitar, caught the attention of Liverpool record store owner, Brian Epstein, who became their manager. In short order, the "Silver" was dropped from their name, their wardrobe was upgraded from leather jackets and T-shirts to suits and ties, and their drummer, Pete Best, was sacked, to be replaced by Ringo Starr, who had been a member of a rival Liverpool group.

After being rejected by almost all of the major record labels in England, the band was signed to EMI in 1962, and given a producer, George Martin, who was accustomed to recording comedy records. The Beatles charm quickly won him over, and the group would only record with one other producer during the decade. "Please, Please Me," their second single went to #1 in England, along with the accompanying debut album. "Beatlemania" was born. In 1964, The Beatles conquered America. At one point, the group had the top five singles on the Billboard charts. The hits continued, with Paul singing lead on two Grammy-winning "Yesterday" and "Michelle," showcasing the mellower, adult-friendly side of the band.

In 1966, at the height of their fame, the band quit performing live, choosing to experiment in the studio and make more sophisticated recordings that were difficult to reproduce on-stage. With the help of George Martin, The Beatles created what was to become a pop landmark, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in 1967. It was also the beginning of the end for the band; later that year Brian Epstein died, and "Magical Mystery Tour," their hour-long television program, was a critical disaster. Their next album The Beatles, was more a collection of songs by individuals rather than a full-blown collaboration and John and Paul began to write songs on their own. "Hey Jude," released that year, and mostly written by Paul, because one of the band's biggest hits. By 1970, The Beatles were finished, the tensions within the band exploding when Paul refused to be managed by Allen Klein, whom the other three had picked to handle their money. It was around this time that Paul married Linda Eastman, an American, who had made a name for herself by photographing some of the biggest names in the music industry.

In 1970 Paul released his first solo album, McCartney. He played all of the instruments on the album himself, anticipating the do-it-all spirit of Stevie Wonder and Prince. Ram, his second album, was credited to "Paul and Linda McCartney" and featured the hit single "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" which reflected Paul's intention of making whimsical yet accessible pop music, as opposed to some of the more bombastic "heavy metal" and "progressive" rock music being made during the time period. It was also Paul's intention to include his wife on all future musical collaborations, inviting her to join his next band, Wings. Linda played keyboards and sang backup with the group, which would win a Grammy for the 1974 album Band on the Run.

By 1980, Paul had turned solo once more, recording McCartney II, where he played most of the instruments himself. He collaborated with Stevie Wonder on the hit "Ebony & Ivory" and with Michael Jackson on "Say, Say, Say" and "The Girl is Mine," which was included on Jackson's multi-million selling album Thriller. The McCartney's starred in a feature film in 1984, Give My Regards to Broad Street, which was a critical and financial flop, although the movie featured the hit single "No More Lonely Nights." He and Linda made the news for decidedly non-musical reasons as well. In 1980 Paul was arrested for marijuana possession while touring Japan. In 1984, it was Linda's turn, as she was charged with marijuana possession in England upon the McCartney family's return from a trip to Barbados (having cut their Caribbean vacation short after being fined for possession there as well). Paul was candid about his stand on the marijuana issue; "I'd like to see it decriminalized," he told the Associated Press at the time.

As the decade wore down, Paul's musical popularity declined, although he formed fruitful collaborations with former 10cc member Eric Stewart on the 1986 album Press to Play and Elvis Costello, who co-wrote a few songs on Paul's Flowers in the Dirt (1989) with Paul returning the favor on Elvis' 1989 album Spike, which featured the McCartney/Costello hit "Veronica."

The '90s saw Paul return to the stage with a world tour, including one in the United States, which was one of the most successful concert tours of the year. In 1995, the three surviving Beatles reunited for a TV special, The Beatles Anthology to promote a three volume retrospective of their work, which included the hit single "Free as a Bird" a 1977 demo recording of John's, featuring Paul, George, and Ringo on new backing tracks. Paul even branched out into classical music, composing the chart-topping Liverpool Oratorio in 1993 and Stepping Stone in 1997, the premiere of which was upstaged by Linda McCartney, whose appearance confirmed rumors that she was suffering from breast cancer. Linda, who had become famous in her own right for her animal rights activism, as well as a line of frozen vegetarian foods marketed in her name in England, died the following year, leaving Paul to chart the future alone, the second great partner and collaborator of his life having passed away. -- SEAN GRIFFIN