Does Paul have the greatest back-catalog of songs?
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Seriously sometimes it's hard to believe how many good songs this guy has written over the years, in fact in my opinion he has the greatest music catalogue of exceptionally good songs even if your just including a portion of the songs he wrote in the Beatles from 1963-1969: (The no.1's included on my list from the US/UK are in bold) 1963-1964 I Saw Her Standing There All My Loving Can't Buy Me Love And I Love Her Things We Said Today She's A Woman I'll Follow The Sun 1965 I'm Down The Night Before Another Girl I've Just Seen A Face Yesterday Drive My Car You Won't See Me Michelle I'm Looking Through You We Can Work It Out 1966 Paperback Writer Eleanor Rigby Here, There And Everywhere Yellow Submarine Good Day Sunshine For No One Got To Get You Into My Life 1967 Penny Lane When I'm 64 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Getting Better Fixing A Hole She's Leaving Home Lovely Rita The Fool On The Hill Your Mother Should Know Hello Goodbye 1968 Lady Madonna Hey Jude Back In The U.S.S.R. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Martha My Dear Blackbird I Will Mother Nature's Son Birthday Helter Skelter Honey Pie 1969 All Together Now Get Back Oh Darling You Never Give Me Your Money She Came In Through The Bathroom Window Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End Two Of Us Let It Be I've Got A Feeling The Long And Winding Road That's not including collaborations like Day Tripper, She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Love Me Do, Eight Days A Week, From Me To You, A Day In The Life ect. Looking at that list it's not even like he needed to write music after the Beatles broke-up! But of course he continued to make many wonderful songs after the sixties even if it is often overshadowed by his Beatles library of music: (1970-1974) Maybe I'm Amazed Every Night Junk Another Day Uncle Albert, Admiral Halsey Too Many People Dear Boy Heart Of The Country The Back Seat Of My Car Dear Friend Hi, Hi, Hi My Love Live And Let Die Band On The Run Jet Let Me Roll It Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five Junior's Farm (1975-1983) Listen To What The Man Said Venus And Mars / Rock Show Silly Love Songs Let 'Em In Mull Of Kintyre With A Little Luck I'm Carrying Goodnight Tonight [Single] Daytime Nightime Suffering [B-Side Single] Coming Up Tug Of War Take It Away Here Today Wanderlust Pipes Of Peace (1984-2012) No More Lonely Nights My Brave Face This One Hope Of Deliverance The World Tonight Calico Skies Little Willow Beautiful Night From A Lover To A Friend Fine Line Jenny Wren Too Much Rain This Never Happened Before Ever Present Past Only Mama Knows Sing the Changes Dance 'til We're High (I Want To) Come Home My Valentine For those who were curious, thats 56 McCartney penned Beatles songs I mentioned (not including 50-50 collaborations) and 52 Solo and Wings songs which equals 108 major McCartney written songs off the top of my head that I love, and of course i've left many, many more good songs off. So how does this guys back-catalog stand up against other artists such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie, Crosby, Miles Davis etc? Does Paul McCartney have the greatest back-catalog of songs in your opinion?
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Yes...
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One word: Staggering.
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MaccaBeatles:
So how does this guys back-catalog stand up against other artists such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie, Crosby, Miles Davis etc? Does Paul McCartney have the greatest back-catalog of songs in your opinion?
He has simply the best catalogue in mainstream. Elvis, Sinatra or Bing Crosby never writed a song so it can't be compared to Paul at all. Then there is some that kind of "in his league" but not as superfab as him. Probably Elton John (with Bernie Taupin) has the 2nd best catalog in the mainstream, quite on the same level of many others like John Lennon, Paul Simon, Springsteen, Jagger/Richards, Noel Gallagher, Billy Joel, Serrat, Roger Hodgson, U2, Freddie Mercury, Brian May... Though wait a minute, I don't Paul should be considered "mainstream" today as he's not advertised, his new songs virtually don't play on the radio, neither his video clips... Paul McCartney is kind of underground now... you must kind of "search" for finding his new stuff.
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I don't think there's any doubt about it. YES!
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21st Century Paul:
MaccaBeatles:
So how does this guys back-catalog stand up against other artists such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie, Crosby, Miles Davis etc? Does Paul McCartney have the greatest back-catalog of songs in your opinion?
He has simply the best catalogue in mainstream. Elvis, Sinatra or Bing Crosby never writed a song so it can't be compared to Paul at all. Then there is some that kind of "in his league" but not as superfab as him. Probably Elton John (with Bernie Taupin) has the 2nd best catalog in the mainstream, quite on the same level of many others like John Lennon, Paul Simon, Springsteen, Jagger/Richards, Noel Gallagher, Billy Joel, Serrat, Roger Hodgson, U2... Though wait a minute, I don't Paul should be considered "mainstream" today as he's not advertised, his new songs virtually don't play on the radio, neither his video clips... Paul McCartney is kind of underground now... you must kind of "search" for finding his new stuff.
I've seen his videos on television a LOT more than I've heard his music on the radio. And, yes, he is most definitely a mainstream artist. As Beatle-heavy and oldies-heavy as his setlists can be, there are still several newer songs that have been played live regularly: -Sing The Changes -Dance Tonight -I Want To Go Home -Highway -Only Mama Knows -My Valentine
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audi:
21st Century Paul:
MaccaBeatles:
So how does this guys back-catalog stand up against other artists such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie, Crosby, Miles Davis etc? Does Paul McCartney have the greatest back-catalog of songs in your opinion?
He has simply the best catalogue in mainstream. Elvis, Sinatra or Bing Crosby never writed a song so it can't be compared to Paul at all. Then there is some that kind of "in his league" but not as superfab as him. Probably Elton John (with Bernie Taupin) has the 2nd best catalog in the mainstream, quite on the same level of many others like John Lennon, Paul Simon, Springsteen, Jagger/Richards, Noel Gallagher, Billy Joel, Serrat, Roger Hodgson, U2... Though wait a minute, I don't Paul should be considered "mainstream" today as he's not advertised, his new songs virtually don't play on the radio, neither his video clips... Paul McCartney is kind of underground now... you must kind of "search" for finding his new stuff.
I've seen his videos on television a LOT more than I've heard his music on the radio. And, yes, he is most definitely a mainstream artist. As Beatle-heavy and oldies-heavy as his setlists can be, there are still several newer songs that have been played live regularly: -Sing The Changes -Dance Tonight -I Want To Go Home -Highway -Only Mama Knows -My Valentine
hmmm... all these songs have not been played here, so maybe he remains mainstream in some places but not anymore in others
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21st Century Paul:
audi:
21st Century Paul:
MaccaBeatles:
So how does this guys back-catalog stand up against other artists such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie, Crosby, Miles Davis etc? Does Paul McCartney have the greatest back-catalog of songs in your opinion?
He has simply the best catalogue in mainstream. Elvis, Sinatra or Bing Crosby never writed a song so it can't be compared to Paul at all. Then there is some that kind of "in his league" but not as superfab as him. Probably Elton John (with Bernie Taupin) has the 2nd best catalog in the mainstream, quite on the same level of many others like John Lennon, Paul Simon, Springsteen, Jagger/Richards, Noel Gallagher, Billy Joel, Serrat, Roger Hodgson, U2... Though wait a minute, I don't Paul should be considered "mainstream" today as he's not advertised, his new songs virtually don't play on the radio, neither his video clips... Paul McCartney is kind of underground now... you must kind of "search" for finding his new stuff.
I've seen his videos on television a LOT more than I've heard his music on the radio. And, yes, he is most definitely a mainstream artist. As Beatle-heavy and oldies-heavy as his setlists can be, there are still several newer songs that have been played live regularly: -Sing The Changes -Dance Tonight -I Want To Go Home -Highway -Only Mama Knows -My Valentine
hmmm... all these songs have not been played here, so maybe he remains mainstream in some places but not anymore in others
I've seen all but one of them live.
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21st Century Paul:
MaccaBeatles:
So how does this guys back-catalog stand up against other artists such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie, Crosby, Miles Davis etc? Does Paul McCartney have the greatest back-catalog of songs in your opinion?
He has simply the best catalogue in mainstream. Elvis, Sinatra or Bing Crosby never writed a song so it can't be compared to Paul at all.
I can't agree with that, pre-Beatles it was the exception, not the rule that music artists wrote their own songs. Often it was the case of the writer coming up with a song specifically for an artist, for example from Wikipedia ""Come Fly with Me" is a 1957 popular song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn. "Come Fly with Me" was written for Frank Sinatra". Also back in the 30's-40's, all of those millions of people weren't buying Bing Crosby records only because of the lyrics, they were also buying them because they were fans of Crosby's voice and how he performed the song. Sometimes it's not just about how the song is written, but also the expression and artistry the singer and band brings to the music and lyrics written by others. Also off-topic but Bing was IMO the greatest singer of the 30's and 40's, especially the 30's! Check out this excellent but very short performance of a song called Temptation:
Brilliant! -
MaccaBeatles:
21st Century Paul:
MaccaBeatles:
So how does this guys back-catalog stand up against other artists such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie, Crosby, Miles Davis etc? Does Paul McCartney have the greatest back-catalog of songs in your opinion?
He has simply the best catalogue in mainstream. Elvis, Sinatra or Bing Crosby never writed a song so it can't be compared to Paul at all.
I can't agree with that... Also back in the 30's-40's, all of those millions of people weren't buying Bing Crosby records only because of the lyrics, they were also buying them because they were fans of Crosby's voice and how he performed the song. Sometimes it's not just about how the song is written, but also the expression and artistry the singer and band brings to the music and lyrics written by others...
That is the best argument I've heard yet -- you've said it much better than I could. It's not always the song, itself. Case in point: All those bad cover versions of classics and standards, like James Brown's terrible version of "Something" and Elvis' sloppy recording of "Hey Jude."
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audi:
21st Century Paul:
audi:
21st Century Paul:
MaccaBeatles:
So how does this guys back-catalog stand up against other artists such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie, Crosby, Miles Davis etc? Does Paul McCartney have the greatest back-catalog of songs in your opinion?
He has simply the best catalogue in mainstream. Elvis, Sinatra or Bing Crosby never writed a song so it can't be compared to Paul at all. Then there is some that kind of "in his league" but not as superfab as him. Probably Elton John (with Bernie Taupin) has the 2nd best catalog in the mainstream, quite on the same level of many others like John Lennon, Paul Simon, Springsteen, Jagger/Richards, Noel Gallagher, Billy Joel, Serrat, Roger Hodgson, U2... Though wait a minute, I don't Paul should be considered "mainstream" today as he's not advertised, his new songs virtually don't play on the radio, neither his video clips... Paul McCartney is kind of underground now... you must kind of "search" for finding his new stuff.
I've seen his videos on television a LOT more than I've heard his music on the radio. And, yes, he is most definitely a mainstream artist. As Beatle-heavy and oldies-heavy as his setlists can be, there are still several newer songs that have been played live regularly: -Sing The Changes -Dance Tonight -I Want To Go Home -Highway -Only Mama Knows -My Valentine
hmmm... all these songs have not been played here, so maybe he remains mainstream in some places but not anymore in others
I've seen all but one of them live.
well, I meant these songs are not played in Spanish radio stations and tv channels
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audi:
MaccaBeatles:
21st Century Paul:
MaccaBeatles:
So how does this guys back-catalog stand up against other artists such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Bowie, Crosby, Miles Davis etc? Does Paul McCartney have the greatest back-catalog of songs in your opinion?
He has simply the best catalogue in mainstream. Elvis, Sinatra or Bing Crosby never writed a song so it can't be compared to Paul at all.
I can't agree with that... Also back in the 30's-40's, all of those millions of people weren't buying Bing Crosby records only because of the lyrics, they were also buying them because they were fans of Crosby's voice and how he performed the song. Sometimes it's not just about how the song is written, but also the expression and artistry the singer and band brings to the music and lyrics written by others...
That is the best argument I've heard yet -- you've said it much better than I could. It's not always the song, itself. Case in point: All those bad cover versions of classics and standards, like James Brown's terrible version of "Something" and Elvis' sloppy recording of "Hey Jude."
well, then you're not talking about a catalogue of SONGS but a catalogue of RECORDINGS then... I really don't know... most artists I like the most virtually only recorded music they composed... Well, in classical music the best catalogue is probably Berliner Philarmoniker and Wiener Philarmoniker. In overall music... well... Glee are into recording every single classic or so... Elvis Presley recorded a lot of classics. Anyway when it comes to sheer brilliancy on the studio I can't think of anyone but Queen. And they never recorded anything not written by themselves!, I think. Though I don't know, I would have to know every little thing Elvis recorded and released mainstream way... so the Berliner and Weiner Philarmoniker. Ok, I'll say a name, lol. Wiener Philarmoniker has the best catalogue of recordings. Beethoven's 9th-Wiener Philarmoniker
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It's a shame this threads died so quickly. Maybe it's because we all agree that Paul has the best back-catalog of music. But I would like to hear if there's anyone out there that thinks John Lennon, for example, wrote a better music back-catalog from 1962-1980 than Paul. Also something absolutely MIND-BOGGLING is the fact that Paul was still only 27 when the Beatles broke up!!!
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MaccaBeatles:
It's a shame this threads died so quickly. Maybe it's because we all agree that Paul has the best back-catalog of music. But I would like to hear if there's anyone out there that thinks John Lennon, for example, wrote a better music back-catalog from 1962-1980 than Paul. Also something absolutely MIND-BOGGLING is the fact that Paul was still only 27 when the Beatles broke up!!!
Well, I don't!!!
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little-lamb-dragonfly:
MaccaBeatles:
It's a shame this threads died so quickly. Maybe it's because we all agree that Paul has the best back-catalog of music. But I would like to hear if there's anyone out there that thinks John Lennon, for example, wrote a better music back-catalog from 1962-1980 than Paul. Also something absolutely MIND-BOGGLING is the fact that Paul was still only 27 when the Beatles broke up!!!
Well, I don't!!!
I like John's catalogue from 1962 - 1980 better than McCartney's. I listen to it more anyway. The Beatles is where John really wins it for me, I prefer many of his songs way over Pauls. Most of my fav Beatles songs ever, all Johns on the White Album, Rain, Baby You're A Rich Man, all the early stuff and covers, I prefer John in the Beatles. and I'm a fan of Lennon and his artistic work in general. I think I like it overall better than Paul's, just speaking of 1962-1980. However, over all there is no question in my mind Paul has the best catalogue of written songs than any other writer, including Leiber/Stoller, Dylan, Leonard Coen, whoever/whoever, all the greats. Paul's catalogue is the best quality. and has the most hits I bet too. And you're right, I didn't reply to this thread cause to me it was an obviously yes for Paul's catalogue being the best
John's my favorite rock artist of all time though, always will be. -
Yes
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Well, is true, Paul has the best cataloge that I know, and in my far away country, Paul is playing in the radio, not all them but in some station who play anglo music, Paul is always there: is a classic, at the last Christmas, his song Dance Tonight, was playing in the Christmas message of a local TV channel.
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You know what? He might just come a close second to Dylan wink I might have a listen-off to decide!
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How would Paul answer this question?
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kapoo:
John's my favorite rock artist of all time though, always will be.
I agree with you here. With Paul and Dylan next.
