I don't know if this is a testimonial to their tunesmithing abilities but in the classical guitar world (where my alter-ego sometimes resides), two of the sometime forerunners of modern guitar composition have seen fit to do arrangements of Beatles tunes. The Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu in a series of 12 songs for solo guitar chose to include 4 Beatles songs: Here, There and Everywhere - one of my own favourites - Michelle, Hey Jude and Yesterday (this was along with Summertime and Over The Rainbow, but also The International and The Londonderry Air). The Cuban Leo Brouwer composed a suite for guitar and orchestra called From Yesterday To Penny Lane, which included She's Leaving Home (another of my favourites - I'm a sucker for sentimental ballads), A Ticket To Ride, Here There And Everywhere, Yesterday, Got To Get You Into My Life, Eleanor Rigby and Penny Lane.

It may be significant that although both of these composers were part of the avante-garde movement in the 60s and 70s, they both also wrote tremendous amounts of film-soundtrack music (Takemitsu won an award for one of them) so may have the ears for spotting a good catchy tune.

Mick