The Beatles singles/albums rule  | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

The rule was generally singles stood alone so fans who bought both the single and the album got value for money but it was never hard and fast, written in steel and screwed into the EMI Studio 2 wall for easy reminding and there were always exceptions.

Back in 1963 record companies used the singles to sell the album. Get a hit single, record an album full of other songs and announce it as loudly as possible the hit single was on the album as there was little else on it of any note, hence why ‘Love Me Do ‘ and ‘Please Please Me ‘ were on their first album and the cover plugs the hits. It was standard practice. The Beatles changed that in the songs weren’t crappy facsimiles of the hit. The EP’s were used to highlight LP’s and give fans who couldn’t afford the albums the best moments, albeit delayed.

The film titles went on the album for obvious reasons, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love ‘ and ‘Ticket To Ride ‘ were in the films so went on the albums. I presume a lack of original material was one reason for ‘Things We Said Today ‘ and ‘You Can’t Do That ‘ featuring on ‘A Hard Day’s Night ‘, the only alternative being ‘I Call Your Name ‘. There is every possibility the Beatles were going to record a Ringo track and another original (‘No Reply ‘, ‘You Know What To Do’ were both demoed, ‘It’s For You’ being for Cilla) on the day Ringo got hit by tonsillitis and they would have been omitted, pure speculation and I can’t remember the mixing history for the album.

Generally, when a new album came out a new [standalone] single was also released, with ‘Revolver ‘ there was nothing available. 

“Yellow Submarine ” was released internationally as a single, but that wasn’t always the plan.  “The decision was Brian’s alone,” remarked Paul in 1966 in reference to their manager Brian Epstein.  “It wasn’t really scheduled for release, but Brian thought the best two tracks should be made into a single before anyone else could cover them.”

George Harrison agreed:  “We just thought that we may as well put it out instead of sitting back and seeing dozens of cover versions all getting hits.  We might as well cop a hit as well as anybody else…It’s a good commercial single.”  Ringo added:  “It was made originally just for the LP.  But then, Brian and our recording manager, and people like that, were talking to us and they thought that ‘Yellow Submarine ’ was commercial and they wanted to release it as a single.”

It was standard practice in Britain not to release singles from British albums but instead to release a single simultaneous to the album that contained non-album tracks, hence the comment from Ringo from 1966 that it “was the first time we have released anything off an LP as a single.”  While this wasn’t strictly true (see “Please Please Me ,” “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help !” as a few examples), it did break the usual British tradition of the time. 

[source: beatlesbooks.com]

 ‘Come Together ‘/’Something ‘ was Klein getting cash for Apple and was the first and only time a Beatles single was selected from an album after the album had been released. 

‘Don’t Let Me Down ‘ and ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ were the b-sides and neither are on ‘Let It Be ‘. 

I’m ignoring the U.S. singles (and every other country) except to add that I cannot remember the reason for ‘The Long And Winding Road ‘ single, probably Klein using it as another means of getting cash, although this time only in the US.