Paul McCartney

Paul’s new album arrives today and I thought it would interesting to showcase some of his best songs that never seem to show up on greatest hits collections yet are some of his best.

“Return to Pepperland” is one of my favorites and you’ve probably never heard this one before because he decided not to release it! It only shows up on bootlegs, which is a real shame. Groups like Jellyfish and Klaatu spent time trying to sound Beatle-ish in the way Paul would write, and here is one of the most Beatle-ish songs ever. It was done in 1988, twenty years after the “Yellow Submarine” film, and Paul asks in the song why we’re still fighting for peace and love — but in a very fun way. Some of the lyrics are obvious (“Twenty years later, who would have guessed / Nelson Mandela still under arrest”) and some parts just have him quacking. Seriously. Backward tapes and great fun. One of my favorites.

“Back on My Feet” was the B-side to a single in Britain but never got attention here. It’s a great song written with Elvis Costello, and Elvis really helped Paul put out some great songs. I can imagine Elvis saying, “Nice melody, Paul, but let’s spend a bit more than five minutes on the lyrics, shall we?”

“You Want Her To” is another McCartney/Costello collaberation and Elvis sings his bits in the song as well. Clever song, some interesting time changes, and then a strange little fade out that sounds like the song was just taken over by a big band that’s walking out the door.

“Ever Present Past” is a great song from his excellent album “Memory Almost Full.” He did a nice video for it as well.

“I Lie Around” was the B-side to “Live and Let Die” but it was a Wings song where Paul let Denny Laine handle the lead vocals until the end when it needed someone to sing higher. It’s obvious when Paul kicks in. (Oh, except Paul gets to do his Elvis Presley impersonation at the start when he says “all over the place.”) A great, fun tune.

“English Tea” is one of those typical Paul songs that could have fit on the White Album. “Nanny bakes fairy cakes…”

“Fine Line” is from the album “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard” — a great, overlooked album. (“English Tea” is also on that album.) Catchy hook!

“This One” was a single but it never got higher than 95 or so, which is a shame. It was a hit in Britain. This is from the album “Flowers in the Dirt.”

“Give Ireland Back to the Irish” was protest single Paul rushed out after Bloody Sunday in 1972. It was the first Wings single. As you may expect, British airways banned it and American audiences weren’t too keen on it, but it’s really a great song!

And, finally, one of my favorite McCartney songs, from the album “Ram” — this nonsensical ditty is just plain old great fun. Paul must have been “smoking monkberry moon delight” indeed.

I’ll probably change my mind about this list over and over again, but hey, hope you enjoyed these.

I just am not feeling political today, so let’s talk about music instead.

Way back when, I gave the Beatles challenge, wherein I listed 100 songs the Beatles had written in the period of about seven years and challenged anyone to come up with any other group or composer who had written so many memorable songs in such a short period of time.

So today I decided do the same with Paul McCartney’s solo work.

Of course the comparison is not valid; Paul has had 43 years to come up with this list, not seven. But you have to admit he’s written some pretty good songs.

There are some really bad ones, too. If I never hear “Ebony and Ivory” again, all the better. Paul’s biggest problem tends to be lyrics, even today. He needs a John Lennon challenging him to be his best and not settle for the first lyrics that come into his head. (Some of his best post-Beatles lyrics came when he worked with Elvis Costello, one of the best lyricists of our day.)

As I worked on this list, I included all of the singles (even if I didn’t like them) plus album songs I really liked. And then I surprised myself by only coming up with about 75 songs instead of 100. Just goes to show you that even Paul freakin’ McCartney couldn’t beat the Beatles even when given six times as much time.

Still, if you were making a CD of Paul’s 75 greatest hits, it would probably look like this. They’re listed in order of release date, and the number in parenthesis is the highest they reached on the Billboard chart if released as a single: