Ranking the 6 Best Beatles Songs on Which Only One Member Appears
The Beatles succeeded in large part due to the chemistry evident whenever the four men plugged into play. They honed that chemistry via years of playing live shows, as they learned how to complement each other on both their original songs and choice covers.
But there were a few times during their amazing run where individual members would go sort of solo, even though those songs were released on Beatles albums. Let’s rank the best six of these Beatles/solo tracks.
6. “Good Night”
The White Album is the source for many of these recordings featuring just one of The Beatles. After all, it was a time when the group was churning out a ton of material and weren’t always waiting on the others to do it. “Good Night” is the only one of these songs, however, where the lone member appearing didn’t write the track. Ringo Starr was given the opportunity to close out the double album with this lullaby, credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney (although by all accounts Lennon did most of the writing). And Starr does a charming job with it, even if the song isn’t too substantial.
5. “Julia”
Many folks know how John Lennon addressed the pain of mother’s death on his solo song “Mother.” But he first called out to her on this meditative acoustic track from the White Album, one where no other Beatle appears. It’s just Lennon and his acoustic guitar, trying to come to terms with the memories of his mother that haunted him. “Julia” is quite a lovely song, but the imagery is sort of vague and laboriously poetic. It doesn’t really render a flesh-and-blood portrait of his mother as much as idealize her. As a result, it doesn’t hit nearly as hard as the later song, where he fearlessly confronts her premature death.
Source: Jim Beviglia/American Songwriter
