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Song · The Beatles

“Rocky Raccoon” by The Beatles

Released 1968

“Rocky Raccoon” by The Beatles appears on 23 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 1996 and 2026. It was first released in 1968. Its best result is #110 on the WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,063 indie & aaa song of all time.

23countdowns
9stations
#110best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1996–2026years charted

Watch

Rocky Raccoon (Remastered 2009)

Video from YouTube (The Beatles - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

Paul McCartney started "Rocky Raccoon" in Rishikesh, India, in early 1968, while the Beatles were off studying Transcendental Meditation, and it wound up on that year's sprawling double album, The Beatles, better known as the White Album. It's credited to Lennon–McCartney but it's mostly Paul's, with John Lennon and Donovan, who'd joined them on the retreat, chipping in along the way. The hero started out as Rocky Sassoon until McCartney decided Raccoon sounded more like a cowboy, and Beatles historian Kenneth Womack traces the idea to Robert W. Service's poem "The Shooting of Dan McGrew".

What comes out is a shaggy country ballad, McCartney strumming acoustic guitar and spinning the yarn, Lennon wheezing away on harmonica and harmonium, and George Martin, who produced, rattling off saloon-bar piano.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Indie & Adult Alternative

Classic Rock

All Rock Formats

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1996 315 WNEW-FM WNEW Firecracker 500 (1996) 500
1997 110 102.3 WBAB WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) 1023
2001 1826 WFPK WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time 2000
2002 899 92.3 KGON KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2002) 923
2004 896 92.3 KGON KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2004) 923
2004 521 WXPN WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) 885
2009 572 WXPN WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) 885
2011 831 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1100 Countdown (2011) 1100
2012 870 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) 1200
2013 752 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) 1000
2014 738 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) 1000
2014 503 WXPN WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) 885
2015 757 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) 1007
2016 765 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 1007
2018 624 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs 892
2019 764 WYEP WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 1099
2019 764 WYEP WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 1017
2021 819 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) 1043
2022 518 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022) 1043
2023 604 WYEP WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 1229
2024 1024 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024) 1043
2025 459 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2025) 1043
2026 679 WYEP WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time 1180

Also listed as: Rocky Racoon.

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