Paul McCartney's best songs with the Beatles

 

Although most Beatles songs were credited to the songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, that collaborative unit produced songs that were distinctively tied to only one of those songwriters.
Here's a Top 5 of McCartney's best with the Beatles:

"I'll Follow the Sun" (1964): Originally released on the "Beatles For Sale" album in Great Britain, this acoustic ballad is one of the first departures from the band's high-spirited early hits. Although more introspective, the song still boasts a few surprising melodic turns.

"Yesterday" (1965): Originally released on the "Help!" soundtrack album, McCartney initially titled the song "Scrambled Eggs," a phrase that fit with the melody stuck in his head. McCartney recorded it alone, with accompaniment of a classical string quartet. More than 2,200 different versions by other acts would follow.

"Penny Lane" (1967): Released as a single that also featured "Strawberry Fields Forever," Paul McCartney's vision of a bustling intersection in his childhood home was flavored by shimmering salvos of piccolo trumpet inspired by Bach's 2nd Brandenburg Concerto. Producer George Martin considered the single to be the best ever released by the band.

"Hey Jude" (1968): The first single on the Beatles' new Apple Records, "Hey Jude" began as "Hey Jules," a song that McCartney had addressed to John Lennon's son, Julian. Despite running more than seven minutes, the song spent nine weeks at the top of the charts in the United States, the longest ever for a Beatles song.

"Let It Be" (1970): The title track of the final Beatles album, "Let It Be" offers a gospel frame for McCartney's soaring tenor, showcased in lyrics inspired by a dream about his mother, Mary, who died when he was 14. George Harrison's guitar solo gives the song a rock edge.

Jim Abbott

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