Ballad of John and Yoko, The by The Beatles – ****

First released: 1969

It’s absolutely amazing that a song hailing the relationship of John Lennon and Yoko Ono would only feature John and Paul. It’s kind of ironic. As for the song, it’s a solid 50s inspired rocker whose success in the US was cut short by the frequent use of the word “Christ” in the lyrics. Of the numerous number one hits by The Beatles over the years, this is only one of a couple that was never performed live. Of course, the autobiographical nature of it all and the impossibility of Lennon singing it now, curtailed this possibility. Originally just a single, the song made its album debut on the "Hey Jude" compilation. It's also on "1967-1970". It first appeared on CD on "Past Masters, Volume Two" in 1988, and it’s on the "Imagine: John Lennon" soundtrack from 1988, 2000's "1", and "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" from 2006.

Ballad of John and Yoko, The by The Beatles – ****

First released: 1969

It’s absolutely amazing that a song hailing the relationship of John Lennon and Yoko Ono would only feature John and Paul. It’s kind of ironic. As for the song, it’s a solid 50s inspired rocker whose success in the US was cut short by the frequent use of the word “Christ” in the lyrics. Of the numerous number one hits by The Beatles over the years, this is only one of a couple that was never performed live. Of course, the autobiographical nature of it all and the impossibility of Lennon singing it now, curtailed this possibility. Originally just a single, the song made its album debut on the "Hey Jude" compilation. It's also on "1967-1970". It first appeared on CD on "Past Masters, Volume Two" in 1988, and it’s on the "Imagine: John Lennon" soundtrack from 1988, 2000's "1", and "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" from 2006.

Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, The by The Beatles – *

Unreleased.

The Beatles do a brief parody of this song during the 1969 "Get Back" sessions.

Badge by Cream – ****

First released: 1969

The notorious story about this Cream song written by George Harrison is that Eric Clapton mistakenly thought that Harrison’s scribble of the word “Bridge” was actually “Badge” and so the joke became the title. Not a bad idea, since the title would probably be “I Told You” or “You Told Me” or something like that had it been titled correctly. This originally appeared on Cream’s final studio album "Goodbye". I believe that there is an unreleased Harrison demo version in existence as well, but I don’t have it. It’s a very good song and has been part of Clapton’s live repertoire ever since.

Bad to Me by The Beatles – ***

Unreleased.

Though this song was released by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, this review concerns the John Lennon version recorded in 1963. Only recorded as a demo, the song had potential, as a Beatles track, but apparently Lennon felt it wasn’t quite good enough. And unlike Harrison who would resurrect older compositions in later years for his solo albums, John never went back to this old tune.

"Bad Boy" by Ringo Starr – ***

First released: 1978

A return to form of sorts for Ringo, but the damage of "Ringo’s Rotogravure" and "Ringo the 4th" had been done, coupled with a so-so TV special that’s of the “so bad, it’s good” variety. Some of Ringo’s best tunes are on this album like "Heart on My Sleeve", "Who Needs a Heart" and "Hard Times", but there’s also a lot of inappropriate filler, too. It might have fared better if "Heart on My Sleeve" was issued as the first single instead of "Lipstick Traces" (in the US) or "Tonight" (in the UK).

Bad Boy by Ringo Starr – **

First released: 1978

This is the “I’m just a bad boyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoy….” version of this song and not The Beatles version where John’s telling Junior to behave himself. It was written by Liv Armstrong and Avon Long and was a hit for The Jive Bombers in 1957. Nothing to do with Miami Sound Machine either. Not a bad track, but nothing great either. Check out the original on the "Cry Baby" soundtrack. Ringo's is on his album of the same name.