Barely three years ago, I had to be talked into buying an iPod. At the time, I wasn’t really sure why I needed music available in that format when I could already listen all I wanted, to CDs or the radio, in my home or in my pickup.

“I think if you get one, you’ll really like it,” said my son Bob, who like his sister Pam already was an iPod owner.

Well, in this case at least, Bob was right. Not only do I really like it, it’s changed my life in that it’s made any number of activities — running, mowing, etc. — a lot more pleasant.

However, a couple mysteries persist: How come, when it’s set on “shuffle songs,” does it tend to play the same 200 (out of, in my case, about 700) songs rather than work its way, eventually, toward all of them? And how come it will play back to back — and in some instances it seems, back to back to back — songs by the same band or artist?

While mowing last weekend, for example, I tended to get a lot more of the Beatles than one would reasonably expect if the selections were truly being shuffled.

The benefit, though — aside from the fact that I like the Beatles; hence their presence on my iPod — is that it gave me an idea for this week’s list, my favorite songs from former Beatles:

1. Working Class Hero, John Lennon, 1970. “There’s room at the top they are telling you still. But first you must learn how to smile as you kill. If you want to be like the folks on the hill. A working class hero is something to be … .”

2. It don’t come easy, Ringo Starr, 1970. “I don’t ask for much, I only want trust, and you know it don’t come easy.”

3. Maybe I’m Amazed, Paul McCartney, 1970. The guitar solos are what I like best about this one.

4. Another Day, Paul McCartney, 1970. “Slipping into stockings, stepping into shoes, dipping in the pocket of her raincoat. It’s just another day.”

5. With a Little Luck, Paul McCartney and Wings, 1978. “There is no end to what we can do together; there is no end; there is no end; the willow turns his back on inclement weather, and if he can do it, we can do it, just me and you.”

6. What is Life? by George Harrison. “But if it’s not love that you need, then I’ll try my best to make everything succeed.”

7. Jet, Paul McCartney and Wings, 1974. “Jet, with the wind in your hair of a thousand laces. Climb on the back and we’ll go for a ride in the sky.”