Your Top 10 Post-Beatles McCartney songs

Great list and idea ! By 'Heading For The Light' do you mean 'Road' from the 'New' album?

 

1. Old Siam, Sir
2. Nineteen-Hundred and Eighty-Five
3. Waterfalls
4. Don't Let It Bring You Down
5. Backwards Traveler
6. One of These Days
7. The Pound Is Sinking
8. Band on the Run (my favorite being the Am-D, "If we ever get out of here" - I usually turn it off after that)
9. Let 'Em In
10. Mrs. Vandebilt

 

Maybe I'm Amazed
Junk
Too Many People
My Brave Face
No Words

Beware My Love
Letting Go
Wino Junko
Another Day
Hi, Hi, Hi

 

I'm gonna cheat and nominate (2) of Sir Paul's performances during the Concert For George:

Something

All Things Must Pass

 

Every Night
Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey
Waterfalls
Tug Of War
Band On The Run
Let Me Roll It
Letting Go
Call Me Back Again
Beware My Love
I've Had Enough

hard to whittle them down to that, and still thinking about it, but they are all top notch songs for me.

 

I could make this list many times over, because for me there are so many top 10 post Beatle McCartney songs! The man has written so many fantastic songs since the Beatles it makes your head spin! This is just the first ten that come to mind...

Venus and Mars/Rockshow - An absolutely fantastic hard rocking opener for the album and especially the historic Wings world tour of 1975/76! I would even say this is one of the greatest openings to a concert in rock history!
Stranglehold - This is just an awesome snare pounding rocker with stellar vocals and harmonies!
Same Love - One of the absolute best ballads of McCartney's entire career, can't believe it didn't make any album?!
Hunt You Down - This bad boy just rocks!
Whole Life - Same as above, just a fantastic hard rocker!
I Wanna Cry - Is there no style McCartney can't do, some low down and dirty blues!
What It Is - McCartney does low down dirty blues, but he also can do some rocking blues, just fantastic!
This Never Happened Before - Another one of those great ballads that only McCartney can do! One of my absolute favorites!
Oh Woman Oh Why - Absolutely love the guitars on this gutsy rocker!
Hi Hi Hi - This high energy song with it's hyper speed hard rocking ending is the perfect encore song, it would always be the very last song I performed in a show, leaves the crowd wanting more! All of this is just awesome music by McCartney, just as good as the Beatles!

As I said this is just the first list, another is already coming to mind!

 

Band on the Run
Another Day
Jet
Listen to What the Man Said
Deliver your Children
With a Little Luck
Wanderlust
Today
Dress me Up Like A Robber
My Brave Face

 

This is will be very heavy on RAM and Band On The Run.

10. Listen To What The Man Said
9. No More Lonely Nights
8. Hope Of Deliverance
7. Every Night
6. Ram On
5. 1985 — An absolute powerhouse. Good rockin' Paul.
4. That Would Be Something — An inventive track out of nowhere, that shows you that Paul transpired music.
3. Monkberry Moon Delight — Speaking of inventive tracks, what the hell was this about? I don't know, but I surely wanna suck some of that Monkberry Moon Delight.
2. Heart Of The Country — A song that condenses all that is Paul. Lovely and melodic.
1. Band On The Run — Best track Paul ever wrote. And yes, I'm counting all those in the 60s.

 

Maybe I’m Amazed
Every Night
The Back Seat of My Car
My Love
Jet
Junior's Farm
Let 'Em In
Mull of Kintyre
I'm Carrying
Wanderlust

 

• Maybe I'm Amazed
• Junk/Singalong Junk
• Monkbery Moon Delight
• Another Day
• The Back Seat of My Car
• Mrs. Vanderbilt
• Let Me Roll It
• Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
• Letting Go
• Hope of Deliverance

Alternative

• Oo You
• Dear Boy
• I Am Your Singer
• C Moon
• Let 'Em In
• Soily
• Coming Up (Live in Glasgow)
• The World Tonight
• Flaming Pie
• Lonely Road

 

Not in any particular order, and very subject to change

Man We Was Lonely
Dear Boy
Goodnight Tonight
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
Band On The Run
The Pound Is Sinking
Souvenir
Lonesome Town
Jet
Little Lamb Dragonfly

 

Thanks for the correction!

 

You've created a monster with this one, many of McCartney's best songs were not even on his albums so here's another ten...

I Can Bet - This one was on the album and it should have been the very first single, sounds like a hit to me, just a great song! Oh yeah, even now McCartney should be performing this one live!
Style Style - I love the thumping bass on this great song!
Kicked Around No More - I absolutely love McCartney in blue eyed soul mode!
The First Stone - love the vocals and the guitars on this rocker!
Call Me Back Again - Another album track, McCartney in his prime and at his blue eyed soul best, one of my absolute favorites!
Long Leather Coat - It's the vocals again, just a good song!
This Loving Game - McCartney is the absolute king of the ballad, love it!
Loveliest Thing - I love this song, it should have been on the album at the time. Excellent guitar solo!
Best Friend - Loved this blues rocker from the very first time I heard it. A great live performance by the Early Wings!
Nothing For Free - This should have been the very first single from McCartney's latest album! I think it would have been a hit, it is that good!

Again absolutely awesome music by McCartney, and the quality hasn't dropped one single bit!

 

This is just an amazingly difficult list for me to make, and no matter what I choose to include I will literally be leaving out hundreds of his solo/Wings songs that I love. I could easily change my mind and compile another list right away, but for now, these are ten of my absolute favourites, the songs I feel have to be mentioned, and they also all happen to be songs that the general public wouldn't know:

Wanderlust - A wonderful ballad, the greatest song on what for me is a great album from start to finish, and a song that would have even been a stand out ballad in the Beatles catalogue. Martin's production works perfectly here, helping to highlight a beautiful melody from Paul, and the sense of escaping and becoming free that the song conjures.

1985 - My favourite song on the 'BOTR' album, which is saying something when you consider the title song, 'Jet', 'Let Me Roll It', etc. I have never heard another song quite like this, it is the sort of thing only Paul could write, and for me it is as unique for 1973 (or any age) as something like 'Love To You' or 'Norwegian Wood' were in the mid-60's. I am so pleased that Paul added this to his live shows a few years ago, it deserved the extra attention, and I am also pleased that a DJ recognised what a great groove it has, even if I am not keen on his remixes.

Dominoes - I am a huge fan of every song from the 'Egypt Station' album sessions, including the Tedder collaborations, but even with first class compositions like 'Hand In Hand' and 'I Don't Know', this song still stood out to me as being in a league of it's own. When I first heard this, I was immediately reminded of the mid-period Beatles, it just instantly hit me, even with the twists and turns that the song takes. My parents have never really been interested in the solo Beatles work outside of a few hit singles, but when I played this in the car they both greatly enjoyed it. I am someone who highly rates Paul's solo work and who feels he has been on an awesome run since 'Flaming Pie', and even with all of the fantastic songs released since that album, I place this right at or very near the top.

The Backseat Of My Car - My favourite song on what is arguably my favourite of Paul's albums since The Beatles, a wonderful song with fantastic vocals and a gorgeous melody, arranged in a way that only Paul could, bringing to mind the 50's, The Beach Boys and The Beatles in one beautiful melting pot. I have no idea how this didn't become a hit single at the time, and it is such a shame that Paul has only ever performed a very small fragment of the song live.

Jenny Wren - A song described as a modern day cousin of 'Blackbird' and one that amazingly doesn't suffer from the comparison, it is that good. The addition of the Duduk was an inspired choice from Paul and Godrich. My favourite song on the absolutely fantastic 'Chaos' album, just edging out the Harrison-esque 'Friends To Go'. In future, I hope that this will be seen as a classic in his songbook, up there with his best 60's and 70's hits.

Calico Skies - Another beautiful Beatlesque acoustic ballad from Paul, one that I wouldn't have had a problem with the Threetles recording for the Anthologies due to the quality of the song. This is the song I often use to highlight the hidden gems in Paul's solo music to those who are Beatles fans but who have never rated or explored his solo career. I always associate this song with the moving footage of Paul recording it and performing it in the woods, serenading Linda.

Love In Song - In my mind this is both arguably the most underrated McCartney solo ballad and the most underrated Wings song. It has such a wonderful melody and vocal and it conveys a mood not quite like any of his other songs. If only he has performed this in 1975/76!

Little Lamb Dragonfly - The highlight of 'RRS', a song that moves me whenever I hear it, even though I am not always sure what it is about. Sometimes I hear it as being a song that reaches out to John, and at other times a song about respecting animal life. Either way, it is beautifully sung and arranged, and I never tire of listening to it. I hope that the recent remasters of 'WL' and 'RRS' introduced this fantastic song to new listeners.

Dear Friend - This is such a strange and simple song in many ways, and it is repetitive, but I never want it to end when I listen to it, and in some ways wish it had been ever longer. You can really hear in this (as on 'Here Today') how much Paul loved John and how he wished their relationship would recover. That alone would make me love the song, but when you add in his wonderful vocals, the spot on production which rightfully is quite restrained and the melody, it takes the song up into classic status for me. Paul baring his soul as John did on 'POB'.

The Lovers That Never Were (1988 Studio Demo) - I have always enjoyed the 'Off The Ground' studio version of this song and the original demo from 1987, but upon hearing the 1988 studio demo, I knew that I had heard the definitive version of the song, and it felt like being gifted a new classic Beatles/McCartney ballad in the same category as 'Let It Be' or 'Maybe I'm Amazed'. I completely agree with Costello that Paul's vocals on this are incredible and give such power to the song. This deserved to be much more widely known that it is.

 

There's a handful of songs on this list that I haven't heard! Look forward to checking them out.

 

Love your alternative list (though haven't heard "Oo You"). Nice to have a call out for "C Moon"--I love its uniquely loose vibe, and was tempted to put it in my own list. Another outlier that is up there for me is "1882" (I only know the live version).

 

10! Well, I’ll try to stop there.

These do it for me:

1. Sing the Changes
2. One of these Days
3. The Song We Were Singing
4. Too Much Rain
5. The Pound is Sinking
6. Queenie Eye
7. Summer’s Day Song
8. Tug of War
9. The Lovers that Never Were (Emerick mix)
1o. Magneto and Titanium Man

Stayed away from the obvious choices. These are essential for me.

 

Great topic OP, thank you. This is very difficult. I could only pare it down to 14. Paul McCartney just has so many great songs! His musical career is just otherworldly.

In no particular order:

Maybe I'm Amazed
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Jet
Junior's Farm
With a Little Luck
Coming Up (live version)
Temporary Secretary
Take It Away
No More Lonely Nights
Distractions
We Got Married
I Owe It All To You
Peace In The Neighborhood
Heaven on a Sunday

By the way, Off The Ground is a masterpiece from beginning to end. I hope to get the Complete Works soon. It seems very expensive.

 

In chronological order:

Maybe I'm Amazed
Bluebird
Mamunia
Warm and Beautiful
I'm Carrying
Pipes of Peace
Distractions
This One
Somedays
Flaming Pie

 

I haven't properly heard Off the Ground. I guess I've been waiting for the box set, or--more likely--various box sets to come out (Off the Ground First Class Traveler Edition, Off the Ground Frequent Flyer Edition . . . etc . . . etc). On a serious note, I look forward to getting around to hearing the album properly.

 

Ohhhh god, how could you do this to me? Only ten songs from the greatest composer of all time? Alright, here goes - alphabetically:

"A Love For You"
"Ballroom Dancing"
"Beautiful Night"
"Coming Up"
"Flying To My Home"
"House of Wax"
"I Love This House"
"Live and Let Die"
"Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five"
"Tropic Island Hum"

And that'll probably change in the next fifteen minutes.

 

Don't know which ones you haven't heard, but whichever they are, you are in for a real treat!

 

Nicely varied list and, as ever, illuminating comments that I'll refer to as I give each one a deeper listen! You just love those delicate acoustic ballads, don't you?

"Dear Friend" is one of those special songs. I have to be in the mood for it because it is so highly emotive and primal. I haven't properly listened to your last song ("The Lovers that Never Were") even though I rate Flowers in the Dirt as a top five album.

 

Thank you ! Yes, I am a sucker for the sort of songs that Paul is often criticised or stereotyped for writing. I am someone who greatly enjoys Paul's melodic pop, his beautiful ballads, his rockers and his unusual songs, which is why he is my favourite songwriter and performer, but it does seem that the ballads make up most of what I consider to be his very best solo work. Having said that, I do look through other's lists and think 'oh I should have included 'Temporary Secretary' or a unique song like 'Secret Friend', which just missed out on my list.

I completely agree with your comments regarding 'Dear Friend', it really is a special song and like you say, it is one where you have to be in the suitable mood to listen to it.

 

1) Every Night – I love McCartney’s first album. Any number of tracks could have appeared on the list.

2) Maybe I’m Amazed. As above. Great guitar solo.

3) Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five.

4) Venus and Mars/Rock Show

5) Goodnight Tonight. Great bassline. Great song.

6) Coming Up. Like the video, too.

7) No More Lonely Nights. I really like Give My Regards to Broadstreet and loved this single when it came out. David Gilmour on guitar, too.

8) Ballroom Dancing (Give My Regards to Broadstreet version)

9) Stranglehold. Great opener on Press to Play. I like quite a few songs on this.

10) Jenny Wren. Beautiful song. Say no more.