Rolling Stone picks Paul McCartney's 40 Greatest Solo Songs

I would be okay with switching Mull with either Band On The Run, or Uncle Albert. That still leaves three-fourths of the rest of the list that needs to be replaced all together.

 

I have a broad ranging taste in music,from Ella and Sinatra to Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys but it is McCartney who I laud because of his diverse and consistent body of work.The list is great but it is the richness of his cannon that one could easily choose another forty tracks.Is there any other artist where there is such a lack of agreement as to his best songs.This forum has encouraged me this last week to play with Chaos and Memory tracks in audacity to improve the tracks- high pass filters,eq and declipping.I have made them listenable!So my 40 greatest songs at the moment would have tracks like Why so blue,Mr Bellamy,A certain softness,Riding to vanity fair,How kind of you and 222.New found appreciation.

 

yep! whats wrong with that!

 

I would be okay with the list if they added "Bip Bop" at #1 and then included any random smattering of 39 Paul songs...

 

22 from the list I rate.

 

I'm all for adding some great non singles but Angry is horrible.
The reason is because he didn't have the voice for it anymore.
He was pushing it on Ballroom Dancing.
How any 40 track list can not include
Pipes of Peace, Take it Away, Getting Closer, Daytime Nightime Suffering, Junior's Farm, Arrow Through Me, My Love, Wanderlust, Tug of War, My Brave Face, Put It There, No More Lonely Nights, Ballroom Dancing, The Pound Is Sinking......My God!

 

Junior's Farm is on the RS list, no?

And I agree with your sentiments about "Angry" It's a low ranker from Press To Play for me and for it to be deserving of a spot on that list and not have "Press" be on there is absurd. The production on that song is what kills it. You are right when you say his voice couldn't handle the feeling of the song. It needed more of an "Old Siam, Sir" vibe. That being said, it's tempo should've been slowed down and the sound of the instruments should have been less "syrupy".

 

Yes, it is. So the anguish, as expressed by the other poster, can go down a notch.

 

One oversight on my list.
My notch level remains.

 

Your #3 made me laugh for like 3 minutes straight. Tears came out

 

my list:

40. "Getting Closer"
39. "Souvenir"
38. "Lonely Road"
37. "One of these days"
36. "Footprints"
35. "Calico Skies"
34. "The Back Seat of My Car"
33. "Too Many People"
32. "Somedays"
31. "Mull of Kintyre"
30. "Put It There"
29. "Goodnight Tonight"
28. "House Of Wax"
27. "Heart of the Country"
26. "Waterfalls"
25. "Hope of Deliverance"
24. "Listen to What the Man Said"
23 "Another Day"
22. "Letting Go"
21. "Here Today"
20. "Jet"
19. "Jenny Wren"
18. "Junior's Farm"
17. "Live and Let Die"
16. "Pipes Of Peace"
15. "Bluebird"
14. "Hi, Hi, Hi"
13. "This Never Happened Before"
12. "Junk"
11. "No More Lonely Night"
10. "Warm and Beautiful"
09. "Only Mama Knows"
08. "Band on the Run"
07. "My Love"
06. "Once Upon a Long Ago"
05. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
04. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five"
03. "I Want To (Come Home)"
02. "Maybe I'm Amazed"
01. "Beautiful Night"

 

you're entitled to your opinion, but I totally disagree!

I think McCartney has way more than 40 great songs in his solo material!

Many on this very forum have listed a bunch of them!

 

If this list contained 40 totally different songs from his solo material, these exact same type comments would be posted!

Absolutely no list of McCartney's solo material is going to please everyone!

 

Except I love Band On The Run and Uncle Albert.........

 

My list no particular order

Mrs. Vandarbilt
Mamunia
Let Me Roll It
Jet
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
Band On The Run
Little Lamb/Dragon Fly
Maybe I'm Amazed
Every Night
Too Many People
With A Little Luck
Take It Away
London Town
Getting Closer
Arrow Through Me
Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)
Take It Away
Tug Of War
Wanderlust
Ballroom Dancing
Pipes of Peace
The Other Me
So Bad
Average Person
My Brave Face
Put It There
You Want Her Too
That Day Is Done
The World Tonight
Hope of Deliverance
Daytime Nightime Suffering
Beware My Love
Silly Love Songs
Venus and Mars /Rock Show
Listen To What The Man Said
Magneto and Titanium Man
No More Lonely Nights
Juniors Farm
Hi Hi Hi
Helen Wheels

 

I listed Take it Away Twice so I'll add Junk

 

Took a quick look -- no way would "Fine Line" be on my list, not even top 100.
My top 20 list would include "Too Much Rain," "One of These Days," and "The Song We Were Singing."

And "My Brave Face." Others from Flowers as well.

 

I like Band On The Run the song although it's way over exposed. Agree about My Love - one of my least favorite Macca songs. Cookie cutter bland love song.

 

Always scratch my head when "Sally G" doesn't appear on these lists.
It's one of his best.

 

It gets better when it hits top 15, but I think there were a lot of reaches in the bottom half.

At least they get props for understanding Wings and Paul McCartney & Wings = Paul McCartney.

 

Proudly...I don't give a **** what RS came up with.

 

I like it but it's sorta tongue in cheek

 

Off the top of me head it's missing several classics no real order
1. Calico Skies
2. Dance Tonight
3. Great Day
4. Souvenir
5. My Love woah oo woah oh how could they miss this?
6. C Moon. So corny it's amazing
7. Oh Woman, oh Why
8. Put it there


I'd add those easily over the following
1. Angry
2. Fourfiveseconds
3. Waterfalls
4. Goodnight tonight
5. I've had enough
6. You gave me the answer
7. Magneto and titanium man
8. Say say say

The great thing about Macca is also the frustrating thing, he's eclectic and tends to lean towards schmaltz

The good in that is he has tons of solid tracks, the bad is he has tons of misses

I can't say this list is bad as there really isn't a clunker, but I'd have a different list by at least 20-30%...

 

My top 10 in order
1. Maybe I'm Amazed
2. Jet
3. Live and Let Die
4. Too Many People
5. Mull of Kintyre (this yankee loves it!!)
6. Dance Tonight
7. Great Day
8. The Back Seat of My Car
9. Let Me Roll It
10. Oh Woman, oh why

 

It still boggles my mind that Sgt. Pepper is considered by many (not me) to be the greatest rock album ever and McCartney wrote eight of the songs, Lennon only three. Lennon slaughters him in the final analysis.