My Favorite Paul McCartney songs

The most commercially successful of the Beatles. Paul was so blessed with huge musical talent. Undoubtedly, he was the most talented musician in the Beatles. That’s not to say he hasn’t written some bad songs, but as a musician, he could have played with anyone. There is a story that Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix wanted to collaborate on a project and attempted to recruit Paul on bass.

He has had so many hits that it would be impossible to not leave one off. Paul is known for his pop hits, but when the mood struck, he could rip out rock and roll with the best of them. I always liked it when Paul would write something with loud guitars. In a stretch in the early 70s, he had quite a few of them. One of them I liked but didn’t make this list was Hi, Hi, Hi. 

  1. Junior’s Farm – This one doesn’t get played as much as some others, but it’s my favorite Paul song. 

  1. Let Me Roll It – I always thought this one could have been written and performed by John Lennon. 

3. Band On The Run – One of Paul’s masterpieces. He pretty much stuck 3 short songs together on this, like he did on Abbey Road. 

4. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me) – The Spanish artist Pablo Picasso died at the age of 91 on April 8, 1973. News of his passing reached Paul McCartney when he was in Jamaica.

While having dinner there with Paul McCartney, Dustin Hoffman told the story of the death of Pablo Picasso and his famous last words, “Drink to me, drink to my health. You know I can’t drink anymore.” Picasso then went to bed and died in his sleep.

Paul had a guitar with him and immediately played an impromptu chord progression while singing the quote. Thus, “Picasso’s Last Words” was born, later recorded and added to the album Band On The Run in 1973. Hoffman later said of Paul writing the song in front of him, the experience was “right under childbirth in terms of great events of my life.”

5. Sally G -I’ve always liked B-Sides… Let’s listen to some Liverpudlian Country Music. I cannot hear this song without thinking of my grandmother. Her name was Sally, and yes, her last name started with G. She lived to the ripe old age of 96. 

6. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five – This song was on arguably McCartney’s best album, Band On The Run. It didn’t chart, but it was released as the B side to the song Band on the Run, and it was played quite a bit on the radio. One of my favorite McCartney album tracks.

Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five was never performed live by Wings, and only became part of McCartney’s live set in 2010.

7. Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey – I remember hearing this before I knew who Paul McCartney was…it was unbelievably catchy, but I had no clue what it was about…still don’t.

Paul combined pieces of various unfinished songs to create this… in the later years of The Beatles, he helped do this for the Abbey Road Medley. As a result, Uncle Albert – Admiral Halsey contains 12 different sections over the course of its 4:50 running time.

8. Jet – It was a terrific single…I like the B side (Let Me Roll It) more, but I love this song. Tony Visconti, who did a lot of production work for David Bowie and Thin Lizzy, did the orchestration on this song.

9. Listen to What the Man Said – It’s far from his best song, but it’s a good pop hit.  It was recorded for the album Venus and Mars. It was a song that McCartney had high hopes for, but early recordings did not live up to the song’s potential. The missing ingredient was Jazz musician Tom Scott’s sax solo. They ended up keeping the first take that Tony Scott played on.

10. Maybe I’m Amazed – I’ve always liked the original version of this song the best. The studio version of this song was never released as a single (no tracks on the album were), but it is one of the most remembered songs on McCartney’s first solo album McCartney. “Maybe I’m Amazed” was written in 1969, just after The Beatles broke up, about Linda.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

89 thoughts on “My Favorite Paul McCartney songs”

  2. Around the time I was dating the girl I’d end up marrying, I was listening to a lot of synth pop. One of them was McCartney II album. Waterfall was a favorite of my wife’s, but I liked Temporary Secretary and both versions of Coming Up. Not my friends, though. But I like most everything Paul puts out. I was a big Ram fan when it came out and knew the words to every song. I drove my schoolmates crazy. (I could smell your breath a mile away.)

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    1. I know the song you are talking about…Waterfall…I had that album.
      Ram is now considered “the first alternative album” which I see in a way. The way he put the songs down was studio to studio….LOL ….it got a bad rap but now it’s considered one of his best.

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    1. Yea after I got through…I noticed…I didn’t have anything in after the 70s as well. I do like Tug Of War and My Brave Face….but not like these. I like Bluebird and The Back Seat of My Car.

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    1. Is it one of his best songs? No…but that is why I put “my favorite”…I have some artistic license lol… no that song means a lot to me and is pure mid-seventies country recorded in Nashville…along with the different Junior’s Farm.

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  6. okay, I’ll work on my Mc list….loved everything on Ram, but I like a lot of his other stuff, like there was a TV show back in the 70s called the Zoo gang, as soon as you heard the theme song you knew it was a Paul creation, and OMG, who has had an air guitar moment with Rockestra?

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    1. Ok…I remember reading in a book about Paul about him writing the theme to that… Warren the one song that I wished I would have included isn’t well known but it’s called “Here Today” about Lennon….I really like that one.

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      1. okay, you’re going to hate this, but here’s my Mc list…..

        1. Put it There. The recent passing of my dad may have some reason for this selection, but has always hit me in the heart
        2. Let it Be. A simple song, and I actually like a lot of the cover versions, some really put the soul into such a simple song..
        3. Another Day. It was interesting to see that tune pop up in the Get Back doc, again a simple song, but as a young kid it was the first thing I heard way back when that told me, yeah, that’s just Paul?
        4. Home Tonight. Does this guy just sit behind a piano or with a guitar and come up with something . This does sound like a throw away, but made me pick up my guitar and learn.
        5. Man We Was Lonely. It took me a long time to appreciate this McCartney album, but now love it almost as much as Ram…..
        6. Heart of the Country. I’ve never looked to see who’s playing guitar here….I want to imagine it’s Mc, but it’s probably Hugh McCracken…but Paul wrote it, and again simple..and catchy.
        7. Soily. Yes the man could rock….Wings Over America on vinyl was worth every cent ( bought it for $5 when I was a kid….I think the same day I bought Frampton Comes Alive for the same price….imagine that, two double albums for $10 !)
        8. The Long and Winding Road…the Let it Be Naked version. Not a song I normally would listen to, but once I heard it with just Mc and not the orchestration…wow…that whole album was a revelation….
        9. Treat Her Gently-Lonely Old People…..okay, a nice tune….along with Alice Cooper’s You and Me a song close to an old man’s heart
        10. We All Stand Together….I was so surprised when I heard this the first time..I didn’t know Rupert the Bear was then…..but come on, how can you not…

        I was going to include so many other songs…it’s kind of a large catalogue and sometimes it’s hard to figure out which are Paul’s and which belongs to others….like I wanted to include Medicine Jar, but a McCullen/Colin Allen tune….

        I was going to include Badfinger’s Come and Get it…but I stuck to just 10

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      2. Warren…I think that is a terrific list. It’s hard to go wrong with Paul. But Heart of the Country, Another Day, and Soily almost made this list…so I’m not that different from you. If I made this list next week…it would probably be slightly different. I didn’t include Beatle songs…thats the only difference. That would nearly be impossible to make just a top 10 on him or John or George.

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  8. Great post. I sometimes can seem to slag Paul a little for some of his ’80s work which was pretty bland and uninspired to my ears but man…. it’s hard to top him. He wrote so many good tunes, both for Wings and of course the Beatles, Ringo and John both seem to have suggested he prodded them into doing way more with the Beatles than they would have left to their own devices, he is a great bassist, is (or at least was) a really good singer. A lot going for him. You put forward a good list – I didn’t know ‘Picasso’s Last Words’ (I remember listening to it once when I wrote about the album but otherwise, nada) and ‘1985’, a bit more familiar and quite good but not on my list. The rest I’d have no quarrel with but I think I’d drop ‘Another Day’ in there somewhere too. ‘Uncle Albert…’, you’re right, I was just a wee kid when it was on radio and I thought it was the most fun.

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    1. Yea Another Day I thought about more than once…there were only two songs that I KNEW would not be on here…My Love and So Bad…but I’m a Paul fan…and yea he was the man on bass or anything else.

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      1. yeah, he could play pretty much anything. What a gift from God- bass, guitar, drums, piano, probably digeridoo…
        I was surprised Randy hadn’t heard ‘Sally G’, because it actually got played as a single by CHUM intoronto back in the day. I heard it just a couple of weeks ago on the 70s station, it sure was different for Paul but it’s a great little tune

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      2. I had it on the B side of Juniors Farm so I knew it as a kid. Like I said…my grandmother was named Sally Gower so it fit!
        That is cool that CHUM played it…it charted in the Country and pop charts I believe.

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      3. And that farm was near your house in real life, was it not?
        My sweetie got the new very expanded ‘Abbey Road’ on Prime music today…cool to hear so many demos and song creations. Though I wouldn’t pay the pesos to get the 3LP or 2CD box.

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      4. Yes…it’s an hour away in Lebanon. Mark, my cousin lives there so I’ve seen it quite a few times.
        LP’s are way too high…I would rather have them but they are crazy high now. Tell me how it is.

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  10. I lost touch with old Paul around Band On the Run (Like that album a lot). I listened to his first two solo albums quite a bit also. I will pick ‘That Would Be Something’ just for you Max. Good tune with some of that bass sound you like. 3 Beatle comments in a week. Maybe Im a closet fan?

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    1. Wow dude…deep cut! I do like that one as well. I can see why you would like his debut…it’s uncluttered and homemade…I liked it. I raided Band on the Run for this list.

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      2. 8-Track….to this day…when I hear Hair of the Dog…I miss the CLICK in the middle of the song switching to another track.
        Band on the Run and Ram were my favorites by him.

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  11. Junior’s Farm – I was surprised how much I enjoyed this although the production choices in parts I found a bit off-putting.
    Sally G – I liked this from the first moment I heard it – probably via your blog.
    Great segment, man. Cheers.

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      1. When you think of ‘Paul’ and ‘Country’ it doesn’t seem to gel at all, but it does somehow in this song. Mind you I prefer Clapton’s country-vibe ‘We’re All The Way’ a lot more. Huge fan of that one.

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      2. Yea…this is Nashville country straight out of 1974. It actually made the country charts.
        Oh yea I like that Clapton song….

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  12. This was an introduction or maybe reintroduction to Sally G and Picasso. I particularly enjoy the Picasso song, and the backstory. The others on your list would easily be on mine as well. I always laugh at anyone’s mention of ‘Jet’. It’s the one people seem to love to argue about–whether it’s a good song or a terrible song. 😀 I think the ‘controversy’ makes me enjoy it more. Let Me Roll It seems to be another of Paul’s mischeivous plays on words (Helen Wheels, etc.). I enjoy the song.

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    1. I just saw your other comments! I will get to them. Sorry but I never peaked this week. Helen Wheels was another one that almost made this list… Jet…it’s the vibe of it that I like so much…and it’s so powerful musically.

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      1. Yeah, I’ve been doing some more catching up. 🙂 We start back to work next week, but I hope I can still stay more current than I have the past year or two.

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  13. I’m a big fan of “Sally G” too. Probably hadn’t heard it from when it was on the radio until YouTube came along. I really like the Venus And Mars album, so I would include the title track, and “Call Me Back Again”, which I think is one of his greatest vocals, right up there with “I’m Down”, and the coda to “Hey Jude”. I’ve always liked “London Town”, even though it’s just a quiet little song. Maybe “Goodnight Tonight”.

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    1. I just listened to Call Me Back Again….it’s been such a long time since I heard it. I need to revist that album. It’s good to hear people bring up album tracks.
      Sally G I’ve always liked…and it’s the one song I don’t think he ever plays live….you would think he would in Nashville but nope.

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      1. Here’s some I forgot: “Helen Wheels”, “Live And Let Die”, and “Mull Of Kintyre”. When I was very small, I loved “Mary Had A Little Lamb”. I know, now we’re veering into “My Love” territory, and everything people love to hate about Paul.

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      2. Helen Wheels and Mull of Kintyre…I kinda regret leaving those two off…yea I’m one of those people…My Love…wooo woo wooo woo wooo wooo….I mean he GAVE Lennon the bullets with that song lol. BUT I have to admit…a great melody…I will say…I can see why people like it…but thats one of his I can’t listen to….and an 80s song called “So Bad”

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      3. I don’t actively hate the song, but I get why people do. The fact that he wrote it for Linda redeems it for me. I keep thinking of other songs. I love his Run Devil Run album, so I would throw the title track on there. OK, I’m done!

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      4. yes…when he did it live the two times I saw him…he mentioned that…the first time he sang it perfectly…the second time 4 years later his voice broke in it…it could be too high for him now.
        I love the title track to Run Devil Run…he sounded “I’m Down-ish” on that one.

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  14. Another good playlist, Max. Paul was my favorite as a little kid because of the love songs and his puppy dog eyes. I think Paul is the most business-headed of the bunch. My top songs of his, not in any order:
    Junior’s Farm
    Too Many People
    Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
    My Love
    Jet
    With a Little Luck
    Band on the Run
    Maybe I’m Amazed

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    1. Too Many People….what a great song that is not played that much…and it’s about John and Yoko.
      I’m glad you like Juniors Farm! It’s hardly ever mentioned people’s lists of him but I love it.

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  16. Out of that list, Maybe I’m Amazed would be my pick. I have his first solo album, the one with the bowl of milk and a cherry, and it, along with Ram, is my two favorites. Every Day is a great acoustic song. After he formed Wings, I lost interest in his music: it became too squishy compared to his early stuff. Adding James Colburn from the In Like Flint movies was genius for that album cover. Of course, it paid to be squishy since he is a Billionaire and I’m not.

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    1. Yea after Band on the Run…he went almost completely pop…not as many rockers after that. I do like Maybe I’m Amazed…that solo Phil…simple but perfect.

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      1. Yeah, he played it on his Epiphone Casino with 2 P90 pickups through a Fender Twin Reverb. I read that somewhere a long time ago. I can get that same tone out of 1978 Casino with just a bit of overdrive. At one time, Momo wanted to go see Sir Paul, but we couldn’t afford the 600. each ticket price to sit at the top of Cowboy Stadium. I only paid 225.00 for great seats at the Rolling Stones show the same year.

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  17. Paul is and was too talented, if that makes sense. A hit song comes out of nowhere and he just adds it to the pile or puts it out as a single. No sweat. Like ‘Silly Love Songs.’ Hookey and hummable as Hell but as substantial as a marshmallow, and I’m not saying that to be a grump! His songs are too sweet at the extreme edge, but he sure can rock out when he wants to. I also like him when he tries something wonky, like ‘Mull Of Kintyre.’ But the so sweet ballads do come too easy (sorry Ringo) to Paul. That said I did like Admiral Halsey’ and a lot of others like ‘Another Day.’

    Yep, ‘Let Me Roll It’ could be a Lennon song!

    I can’t diss Paul for doing what he does- we all like to live in our sweet spot. As for his appeal, well my three year old grandson dances and sings along to ‘Temporary Secretary’ and that song didn’t come his way via his grandparents but from his parents. So, the Paul legacy lives on. (I don’t think the neighbours downstairs appreciate Paul’s ability to get our grandson jumping, jiving ‘n’ singing one thin pinewood floor above them though!)

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    1. You are correct…he just rolls with it. He has a gift…and gift that I complain about but a gift nonetheless. But yes…when he straps on an electric guitar…great things can come from it. I wish he would do it more often but like you said…the slow gushy…or as Nick in Barney Miller says it…mushy mushy (I can’t say this to anyone else) is his stock and trade. But you will end up waking up at 4am humming the damn thing.

      Love to hear about your grandson wrecking the peace and quiet over Pauls music.

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    2. To add one more thing…Lennon said that about Paul…it came too easy but when he tried…when he really tried he could write something brilliant like Hey Jude.

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      1. Yes, obviously when they were pushing each other they were also pushing themselves. Great for every Beatles fan, less so when George and Ringo would like to see a bit more of the action- and then hear ‘Blackbird’ or ‘Monkey.’ Their ‘very good’ can’t compare to ‘bloody great.’

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      2. Well, two comments I made just disappeared off to WPs eternal purgatory for some reason! Ah well. I’ll do a rewrite if I can recall whatever my blatherings were.

        Grandson, step up, and quick march!

        Paul and John really did push each other, but in doing so they pushed and bettered themselves. So they stepped up and sweated and worked away, and it was us Beatles fans who were rewarded. The downside was…George and Ringo wanting to be more than session men, and wanting their fine offerings looked at too. Then when they hear ‘Blackbird’ or ‘Monkey’ they sit back down… and play along. Their ‘very good’ doesn’t beat ‘bloody brilliant!’

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      3. That is so true in that last paragraph…I do feel bad for George and Ringo…I mean how tough it would have been in a band with those two. I do think that it was a better situation than the Stones. People say things about how George was overlooked…try being Brian Jones and Bill Wyman…totally ignored and not allowed anything. I think Bill got one original song in… in over 20 years.

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    1. Thank you for reading…yea some of my picks wouldn’t be a lot of peoples picks…but I enjoy about everything from him. Yea he was great at putting songs together like that and making them work.

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    1. Really? That surprises me. I did leave a lot of his big hits off like My Love, Coming Up, Take It Away etc…and many more! He has so many. At least 3 of these were Bsides.

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    1. I like that one. I always liked when Paul did a little more rock…hence my first two picks. Back Seat Of My Car is one I hated to miss.

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  22. Nice picks, Max. I knew all except for one (“Sally G”). In addition to ballads, Paul certainly has written a good deal of rockers. One of my favorite live albums I’ve heard is “Wings over America.” I got it on triple vinyl – I guess it must have been around 1980. I prefer many of the songs’ live versions over their corresponding studio recordings. Perhaps the most compelling example is “Maybe I’m Amazed.”

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      1. The Paul concert I saw in Dortmund, Germany during the second half of the ’80s came close to replicating “Wings Over America.” I still fondly remember it. Back then, his vocals still sounded like during his time with The Beatles. So, yes, I was amazed and there was no maybe! 🙂

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      2. I wish I could have seen him at that time. Really though…in 2010 his vocals were ON…I mean as close to perfect as you can get…but in 2014 his voice started to break during My Love and I noticed some differences after that. That is when I noticed…but in 2010 he was still in his 60s.

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      4. He may have had a bad night in 2014…but my only dissappointment was he didn’t play Sally G….IN NASHVILLE! People did scream it out.

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  23. great choices, Uncle Albert, Jet, Band On The Run, Listen To What The Man Says, maybe I’m amazed all would make my top 10 Macca post-Beatles. Another Day, Tug Of War, Live & Let Die, Waterfalls, & The Frog Chorus might be the others 🙂 If there is a more child-friendly joyous kiddie tune than We All Stand Together answers on a postcard. Loads of other great songs though well into the 21st century..

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    1. Oh yea…it was hard because I had to leave a lot of them out just like with Lennon. I just happened to love some B sides. But…I never knew Nineteen hundred and eighty five was a B side! I almost put Take It Away on there as well.

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      1. Take It Away is under-rated too, and I also like Pipes Of Piss, as one Scottish presenter called it when it came out, or even later singles like Hope Of Deliverance and ballads in the 21st century.

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      2. My Brave Face I liked as well…with him and really the rest…it is impossible not to leave them off…it’s so many

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