Beatles News
Paul McCartney has been a mainstay in the songwriting industry since the early 1960s. Over those many, many decades in the business, McCartney has contributed some of the all-time greatest additions to the pop music canon. However, of those many decades, we’d argue that one five-year period was more impressive than others.
From 1970 to 1975, McCartney was undergoing several life transitions. The Beatles broke up. He was a new husband and father. The musician was, in many ways, shedding one identity and growing into another. And it was during this heavy experimentation that McCartney was at his best.
Videos by American Songwriter
“Band On The Run” (1974)
Kicking off this list of all-time greatest Paul McCartney songs is, expectedly, “Band On The Run” from the 1973 album of the same name. Released as a single the following spring, this iconic Wings track saw McCartney experimenting in real time. With distinct, separate grooves ranging from soulful R&B to easy listening to driving rock ‘n’ roll, “Band On The Run” was the natural consequence of giving McCartney the freedom to stretch his legs with no restrictions.
“Heart Of The Country” (1971)
Paul McCartney offered some of his best love songs to The Beatles’ canon, but his proclivity for romance didn’t stop with the Fab Four. While “Maybe I’m Amazed” is, for all intents and purposes, the Paul McCartney love song, this writer would argue that “Heart Of The Country” makes just as big an impact—and perhaps even a more realistic one. It takes considerable skill to romanticize unassuming rural living so convincingly.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
From Mariah Carey and Taylor Swift to legendary icons like the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley, countless artists have topped the Billboard charts—but only one holds the record for the most No. 1 singles and albums.
Billboard released its list of which music acts have the most Billboard 200 and Hot 100 No.1s in history combined, with the winner at the very top, none other than the Beatles. Based on the charts to July 18, 2026, they concluded that the legendary rock band has surpassed other hit icons like Michael Jackson, Madonna, and even band memberPaul McCartney/Wings.
Since their start in Liverpool in 1960, the Beatles have been reported to have had 20 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during their career. As well as 19 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart. In retrospect, the band released 12-13 albums during their run, with Billboard including a few hit soundtracks in their list.
Their list of No. 1 albums includes the very beginning with Meet the Beatles! and all the way up until Anthology 3. The last album was released in 1996 as a compilation and catalogs tracks from the final two years of the band, from the initial sessions for The White Album to sessions from Let It Be and Abbey Road in the late '60s to the start of 1970.
Their hit albums also include soundtracks to what many consider to be some of the best rock movies of all time, like A Hard Day's Night and Help! The soundtracks for the TV film Magical Mystery Tour and the documentary Let It Be are also included.
Source: yahoo.com/Gabriela Silva
When Philip Norman was working on “Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation,” his landmark 1981 biography of the Beatles, writing about pop music was seen as a little disreputable. “I was told I was mad,” he said. “I didn’t like to mention the word ‘Beatles.’ I was embarrassed.” Today, it’s a much different landscape, and books about pop music are big business.
Books about the Beatles are still best sellers, even more than 50 years since the band broke up. There are scholarly, sober books such as Mark Lewisohn’s “All These Years,” whose first, nearly 800-page volume takes the story only up to 1962, the cleaned-up, bowdlerized history in Hunter Davies’ authorized 1968 “The Beatles” and sordid, sensationalist tripe like Albert Goldman’s “The Lives of John Lennon.” Wikipedia currently lists 43 books about the band, and that doesn’t include books by people who worked with the Beatles, such as “All You Need Is Ears,” by George Martin.
One figure that has been left behind is Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ gay, Jewish manager. With “Mr. Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles,” Norman aims to redress the omission. Even though he was responsible for much of the Beatles’ career from 1962 until his death at the age of 32 in 1967, there hasn’t been a substantial biography of Epstein since Ray Coleman’s 1989 book.
Source: jewishjournal.com/Steven Mirkin
Paul McCartney performed a surprise show on the Ed Sullivan Theater marquee in New York.
McCartney was at the theater to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman. His appearance took place 45 years after The Beatles made their debut at the same theater on The Ed Sullivan Show.
McCartney treated the crowd gathered on the streets of New York to seven songs, including “Get Back,” “Sing The Changes,” “Coming Up,” “Band On The Run,” “Let Me Roll It,” “Helter Skelter” and “Back In The U.S.S.R.”
McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater in May for the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Source: 977theriver.com
Sometimes rock stars are going to geek out just like we do, and with an event as big as this one, it makes sense someone like Paul McCartney would have to see it. Of course, I'm talking about Bon Jovi's return to the stage after lead singer Jon Bon Jovi's massive vocal surgery.
The band haven't been active since 2022, when Bon Jovi needed to undergo a major vocal surgery after his voice was beginning to decay. The recent set of shows at Madison Square Garden have been the band's first shows in a long time, and fans have been absolutely delighted. As it turns out, "fans" includes former Beatle Paul McCartney, who was spotted in attendance at one of the recent Bon Jovi shows in New York.
Not only is he there, but he looks pretty into it! Pointing on beat with the song while also singing along with the crowd is super relatable. It's awesome to see that such a legend can let go and enjoy himself at a show like this. Fans felt similarly, being super charmed by seeing McCartney let go and just be a fan in the crowd like the rest of us. Taking to the comments, they shared their thoughts.
"That's a big compliment having Sir Paul McCartney at your concert, and his wife is totally jamming along to what ever song is being played." "You don't even know how lovely and important this is to me. I grew up absolutely loving the Beatles, especially Paul McCartney along with Bon Jovi right next to them. This is amazing!"
"And he's actually watching the concert instead of watching it through the lens of his phone." Bon Jovi's return has been a musical event for all, and the celebration shows no signs of stopping. We're lucky to have such an iconic group back in action.
Source: yahoo.com/Rylan Fischer
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr recently recorded their first duet on the song “Home to Us,” which appears on Mr. McCartney’s new album “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” news outlets report.
Mr. Starr initially joined Mr. McCartney to play drums on his album but ended up sharing full vocal credits with Mr. McCartney for the first time in their more than 50-year solo careers after The Beatles’ breakup in 1970.
Mr. Starr told People magazine at his 86th birthday event that although they’d sung on each other’s tracks before as fellow bandmates, this was the first time they’d done a song together “like a couple.”
The song reflects on their working-class Liverpool roots, with Mr. McCartney referencing Mr. Starr’s upbringing in England’s rough Dingle neighborhood.
In a statement, Mr. McCartney said the song reflects the theme of rising up from humble beginnings, recalling that Mr. Starr “used to get mugged coming home,” because he worked.
“Home to Us” is the second single released from the album, following “Days We Left Behind.”
Source: washingtontimes.com/Juliet La Sala
Mick Jagger: I stupidly took John Lennon’s advice not to meet Elvis
Stones singer says Beatle put him off speaking to Presley after being disappointed by ‘the King’. It was the great rock and roll encounter that never happened.
The two hip-swivelling singers – one British, one American – could have talked for hours about their musical influences, rabid fans and, of course, colourful love lives.
Yet when Sir Mick Jagger had the chance to meet Elvis Presley, he did the unthinkable and turned it down, after “stupidly” taking advice from another music legend: John Lennon. The Rolling Stones singer has revealed that the Beatle had warned him not to meet his hero after his own disappointing encounter with Presley.
Sir Mick, 82, said the Beatles had been introduced to Presley in Los Angeles, and Lennon had been so underwhelmed he told him more than once he should avoid meeting the King.
Sir Mick said he did not want to shatter his illusion of what Elvis would be like, but admitted he had made the wrong decision.
He said on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast: “No, I never met Elvis. You know why? I’ll tell you why. There was a showbiz journalist, I can’t remember his name, but he was famous at the time, and he took the Beatles in Los Angeles to visit Elvis. And there’s pictures of this.
“So they went up to Elvis’s house and his pool. They don’t remember anything. But I remember John telling me: ‘You know you should never meet your heroes, I would never meet Elvis, Mick, if I were you.’ And so I didn’t.”
Source: telegraph.co.uk/Telegraph Reporters
Although his solo work made an immeasurable impact, there wasn’t a lot of John Lennon’s post-Beatles output when you get right down to it. If you don’t count the two experimental albums with Yoko Ono before the band broke up (and you do count the posthumous Milk And Honey), there are just eight solo albums in his catalog.
And yet there are still some amazing songs that flew somewhat under the radar. Here are four that we love that you might not know that well.
“Look At Me”
More than most artists, John Lennon realized that a song could feature a relatively simple structure and still turn out to be quite affecting. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he had a voice that could pierce through even the humblest backing to create something haunting. That kind of effect certainly comes to the fore on “Look At Me”. Whereas much of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album in 1970 features Lennon grinding out tough arrangements with Klaus Voorman and Ringo Starr, this track is just John and his finger-picked acoustic guitar. Originally written in India, you could easily imagine “Look At Me” sneaking onto The White Album. But it works just fine in the solo setting as well.
“Crippled Inside”
Lennon was intensely proud of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. But he was also competitive enough to want to score the hits that some of his other Beatles were delivering as solo artists. As such, he made Imagine much more pop-friendly. “Crippled Inside”, in a lyrical sense, easily could have fit with the previous record. The song speaks of putting on a show on the outside while unsuccessfully trying to hide the void within. But instead of primal screaming it, Lennon counterintuitively turns the song into a bit of a hoedown. Nicky Hopkins on tack piano and George Harrison on dobro helped to bring about that effect. It makes the medicine of the lyrics go down much smoother.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
The music world suffered a great tragedy on November 29, 2001, when George Harrison died at just 58 years old. The lead guitarist of the Beatles, Harrison is still one of the most influential musicians in modern music, but to Paul McCartney, he was so much more. As McCartney told Uncut, "He was my little baby brother." Just days before Harrison died, McCartney went to visit his former bandmate one last time. The two weren't as close as they had been some 40 years prior, but the love was still there and, as McCartney explained, "it was lovely, really lovely, and the years just stripped back."
When McCartney and fellow Beatle Ringo Starr visited him in New York, Harrison was dying of cancer. The three men who had shared an experience that no one else could ever truly understand talked of old times, having a few laughs and shedding a few tears. Harrison, having spent the last year traveling to clinics from Minnesota to Switzerland to New York in the hopes that the disease could be stopped, complained about the constant travel, wishing that he could just stay in one place and rest. McCartney called back to their shared childhood in Liverpool, suggesting, 'We should go to Speke Hall.' And he's going, 'Oh, that'd be great...'"
Sadly, the two never got to revisit their old stomping grounds together. When Harrison died, a visibly shaken McCartney spoke to the press who were camped outside his home, asking that the media respect Harrison's son, Dhani, and his wife, Olivia's, privacy. "I'm just privileged to have known him, and I love him like he's my brother," he said.
Source: yahoo.com/Derek Faraci
George Harrison was a lot more than just a pop songwriter. He was a musician on a spiritual quest. Here are three of his most reflective songs, to help you if you’re on a quest of your own. “Within You Without You”
“Within You Without You” can be found on The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album. This song was written by Harrison and uses a variety of Indian instruments. In this tune, the Quiet Beatle delivers an honest message about how true change comes from within.
Try to realize it’s all within yourself
No one else can make you change
And to see you’re really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you.
“Living In The Material World”
In 1973, Harrison released his album Living In The Material World. Most of the publishing royalties from this album go to his charity, the Material World Foundation, which supports charities like Shelter, UNICEF, NSPCC, and more. The title track of the album explores the phrase “material world” from a different angle.
“…I wrote a song called ‘Living In The Material World’ and it was from that I decided to call the foundation the Material World Foundation,” he explained of the track. “Most people would think of the material world as representing purely money and greed and take offense. But in my view, it means a physical world. It’s the idea that if it is money and greed, then give the greedy money away in the material world.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Kat Caudill
