Top 10 Paul McCartney Post Beatles Songs
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Let's try to boil it down to Paul's Best Post Beatles' Songs from 1970 to today...we're talking 50 Years since the Beatles' Broke Up. I know this is very hard and very subjective. As just as big of a Paul fan as he was as a Beatle, I think I can do it so I'm sure many others here can do it too. I'm going to start at #10 and work my way to #1.
TOP 10 PAUL MCCARTNEY SONGS POST BEATLES
#10. RIDING TO VANITY FAIR - one of my favorites on Chaos and Creation
# 9. TOO MUCH RAIN - another great one on Chaos and Creation
# 8. ONLY MAMA KNOWS - great rocker on Memory Almost Full
# 7. PUT IT THERE - One of my favorites on Flowers in the Dirt
# 6. LITTLE WILLOW - One of my favorites on Flaming Pie
# 5. WANDERLUST - One of my favorites on Tug of War
# 4. BEAUTIFUL NIGHT - another great one on Flaming Pie
# 3. BAND ON THE RUN - never get tired of it
# 2. I DON'T KNOW - one of my favorites on Egypt Station
# 1. MAYBE I'M AMAZED - Paul's early signature Solo Song
I could easily put together my next 10 and the quality would be just as good. Honorable mentions and my next 10 would include:
Calico Skies
Every Night
Dear Boy
1985
Letting Go
Somebody Who Cares
Pipes of Peace
Jenny Wren
New (the song)
Hand In Hand
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I find it almost impossible to seperate the song from the performance so my Top 10 is going to have to be a combination of both. I might feel less favourably about some of these 'songs' however if they were sung by Donny Osmond for example.
So keeping that in mind and with your format B.J, my Top 10 selection are:
#10. HOW KIND OF YOU.
# 9. LETTING GO.
# 8. SOMEDAYS.
# 7. WINTER ROSE.
# 6. YOU TELL ME.
# 5. LOVE IN SONG.
# 4. LITTLE LAMB DRAGONFLY.
# 3. RIDING TO VANITY FAIR.
# 2. SCARED.
# 1. WATERFALLS.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Let's try to boil it down to Paul's Best Post Beatles' Songs from 1970 to today...we're talking 50 Years since the Beatles' Broke Up. I know this is very hard and very subjective. As just as big of a Paul fan as he was as a Beatle, I think I can do it so I'm sure many others here can do it too. I'm going to start at #10 and work my way to #1.
TOP 10 PAUL MCCARTNEY SONGS POST BEATLES
#10. RIDING TO VANITY FAIR - one of my favorites on Chaos and Creation
# 9. TOO MUCH RAIN - another great one on Chaos and Creation
# 8. ONLY MAMA KNOWS - great rocker on Memory Almost Full
# 7. PUT IT THERE - One of my favorites on Flowers in the Dirt
# 6. LITTLE WILLOW - One of my favorites on Flaming Pie
# 5. WANDERLUST - One of my favorites on Tug of War
# 4. BEAUTIFUL NIGHT - another great one on Flaming Pie
# 3. BAND ON THE RUN - never get tired of it
# 2. I DON'T KNOW - one of my favorites on Egypt Station
# 1. MAYBE I'M AMAZED - Paul's early signature Solo Song
I could easily put together my next 10 and the quality would be just as good. Honorable mentions and my next 10 would include:
Calico Skies
Every Night
Dear Boy
1985
Letting Go
Somebody Who Cares
Pipes of Peace
Jenny Wren
New (the song)
Hand In Hand
Hard list to compile and could always change in time (lol) but these were the ones I thought of first.
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Dance Til We're High
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House Of Wax
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About You
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Little Willow
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Tug Of War (song)
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Too Much Rain
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Maybe I'm Amazed
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1985
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Band On The Run
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How Kind Of You
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Kestrel wrote:
I find it almost impossible to seperate the song from the performance so my Top 10 is going to have to be a combination of both. I might feel less favourably about some of these 'songs' however if they were sung by Donny Osmond for example.
So keeping that in mind and with your format B.J, my Top 10 selection are:
#10. HOW KIND OF YOU.
# 9. LETTING GO.
# 8. SOMEDAYS.
# 7. WINTER ROSE.
# 6. YOU TELL ME.
# 5. LOVE IN SONG.
# 4. LITTLE LAMB DRAGONFLY.
# 3. RIDING TO VANITY FAIR.
# 2. SCARED.
# 1. WATERFALLS.
Great list Kestrel. Your list includes more "deeper cuts" which is very good. All of your songs would probably make my Top 30 McCartney songs after the Beatles. Love the deepeer cuts on your list like Love In Song, Little Lamb Dragonfly, Somedays, Scared, Winter Rose and How Kind of You. I also like the fact that many of your songs are Post 70's/Post Wings. As Yankeefan and I have repeatedly said, many older/Beatle fans think that Paul's music career ended after the 70's. Of my Top 10 List, I only had 2 that were in the 70's. I like "You Tell Me" too but don't like the production as a whole on Memory Almost Full. Hopefully we'll get an Archive Remaster CD on MAF down the road without the "loud noises".
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Let's try to boil it down to Paul's Best Post Beatles' Songs from 1970 to today...we're talking 50 Years since the Beatles' Broke Up. I know this is very hard and very subjective. As just as big of a Paul fan as he was as a Beatle, I think I can do it so I'm sure many others here can do it too. I'm going to start at #10 and work my way to #1.
TOP 10 PAUL MCCARTNEY SONGS POST BEATLES
#10. RIDING TO VANITY FAIR - one of my favorites on Chaos and Creation
# 9. TOO MUCH RAIN - another great one on Chaos and Creation
# 8. ONLY MAMA KNOWS - great rocker on Memory Almost Full
# 7. PUT IT THERE - One of my favorites on Flowers in the Dirt
# 6. LITTLE WILLOW - One of my favorites on Flaming Pie
# 5. WANDERLUST - One of my favorites on Tug of War
# 4. BEAUTIFUL NIGHT - another great one on Flaming Pie
# 3. BAND ON THE RUN - never get tired of it
# 2. I DON'T KNOW - one of my favorites on Egypt Station
# 1. MAYBE I'M AMAZED - Paul's early signature Solo Song
I could easily put together my next 10 and the quality would be just as good. Honorable mentions and my next 10 would include:
Calico Skies
Every Night
Dear Boy
1985
Letting Go
Somebody Who Cares
Pipes of Peace
Jenny Wren
New (the song)
Hand In Hand
Hard list to compile and could always change in time (lol) but these were the ones I thought of first.
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Dance Til We're High
-
House Of Wax
-
About You
-
Little Willow
-
Tug Of War (song)
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Too Much Rain
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Maybe I'm Amazed
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1985
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Band On The Run
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How Kind Of You
Great list Yankeefan. Like me, you had a few tracks from the 70's but most are from albums/songs from the 80's till today. Like your "deeper cuts" like Dance Till We're High, House of Wax, About You and How Kind of You.
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It's great seeing Chaos getting the love it deserves in this thread.
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As BJ said, this is nearly impossible. And my own list could change on any given day -- there are 25 or 30 songs that I regard as basically irreplaceable and about equally great. But here's a list for now -- in approximately chronological order because I really can't rank these:
Maybe I'm Amazed
Band on the Run
Here Today
Wanderlust
Somedays
Too Much Rain
The End of the End
Mr. Bellamy
Hand in Hand
Do It Now
(on any given day Calico Skies, The Pound Is Sinking, Dominoes, Jenny Wren, Anyway, Friends to Go, Little Willow and a whole bunch more could be on here).
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This is a bit like David Letterman's top tens. Pretty impossible really but here goes:
10. My brave face
9. Another day
8. Mull of Kintyre
7. My love
6. Wanderlust
5. 1985
4. Back seat of my car
3. Band on the run
2. Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey
1. Maybe I'm amazed
I assume it's just original songs, otherwise I'd have chosen covers like Love is strange.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Let's try to boil it down to Paul's Best Post Beatles' Songs from 1970 to today...we're talking 50 Years since the Beatles' Broke Up. I know this is very hard and very subjective. As just as big of a Paul fan as he was as a Beatle, I think I can do it so I'm sure many others here can do it too. I'm going to start at #10 and work my way to #1.
TOP 10 PAUL MCCARTNEY SONGS POST BEATLES
#10. RIDING TO VANITY FAIR - one of my favorites on Chaos and Creation
# 9. TOO MUCH RAIN - another great one on Chaos and Creation
# 8. ONLY MAMA KNOWS - great rocker on Memory Almost Full
# 7. PUT IT THERE - One of my favorites on Flowers in the Dirt
# 6. LITTLE WILLOW - One of my favorites on Flaming Pie
# 5. WANDERLUST - One of my favorites on Tug of War
# 4. BEAUTIFUL NIGHT - another great one on Flaming Pie
# 3. BAND ON THE RUN - never get tired of it
# 2. I DON'T KNOW - one of my favorites on Egypt Station
# 1. MAYBE I'M AMAZED - Paul's early signature Solo Song
I could easily put together my next 10 and the quality would be just as good. Honorable mentions and my next 10 would include:
Calico Skies
Every Night
Dear Boy
1985
Letting Go
Somebody Who Cares
Pipes of Peace
Jenny Wren
New (the song)
Hand In Hand
My next ten below:
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Beware My Love
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Dear Boy
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Wanderlust
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Take It Away
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Mull of Kintyre
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Riding To Vanity Fair
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Despite Repeated Warnings
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Hope Of Deliverance
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I Can Bet
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My Brave Face
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New, Daytime/Night time Suffering, Too Much Rain, Anyway, That Would Be Something, Dance til We're High, Sun Is Shining, Bluebird, One More Kiss, Arrow Through Me
Next Ten: Too Many People, Maybe I'm Amazed, Hold Me Tight Medley, Monkberry Moon Delight, Sally G, World Tonight, Calico Skies, Souvenir, My Love, The Mess
Next Ten: Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey, Hand In Hand, Despite Repeated Warnings, Tug Of War, People Want Peace, We Got Married, Jet, Early Days, Alligator, Scared
There are just two many jewels to choose from...good problem to have, for him !
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Let's try to boil it down to Paul's Best Post Beatles' Songs from 1970 to today...we're talking 50 Years since the Beatles' Broke Up. I know this is very hard and very subjective. As just as big of a Paul fan as he was as a Beatle, I think I can do it so I'm sure many others here can do it too. I'm going to start at #10 and work my way to #1.
TOP 10 PAUL MCCARTNEY SONGS POST BEATLES
#10. RIDING TO VANITY FAIR - one of my favorites on Chaos and Creation
# 9. TOO MUCH RAIN - another great one on Chaos and Creation
# 8. ONLY MAMA KNOWS - great rocker on Memory Almost Full
# 7. PUT IT THERE - One of my favorites on Flowers in the Dirt
# 6. LITTLE WILLOW - One of my favorites on Flaming Pie
# 5. WANDERLUST - One of my favorites on Tug of War
# 4. BEAUTIFUL NIGHT - another great one on Flaming Pie
# 3. BAND ON THE RUN - never get tired of it
# 2. I DON'T KNOW - one of my favorites on Egypt Station
# 1. MAYBE I'M AMAZED - Paul's early signature Solo Song
I could easily put together my next 10 and the quality would be just as good. Honorable mentions and my next 10 would include:
Calico Skies
Every Night
Dear Boy
1985
Letting Go
Somebody Who Cares
Pipes of Peace
Jenny Wren
New (the song)
Hand In Hand
My next ten below:
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Beware My Love
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Dear Boy
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Wanderlust
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Take It Away
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Mull of Kintyre
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Riding To Vanity Fair
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Despite Repeated Warnings
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Hope Of Deliverance
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I Can Bet
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My Brave Face
Thanks Yankeefan. Here's another Top 10 (trying not to duplicate other choices that others have given)
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Happy With You
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Confidante
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Early Days
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Alligator
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Sing the Changes
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Only Our Hearts
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My Valentine
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Ever Present Past
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Vintage Clothes
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My Brave Face
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Distractions
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
New, Daytime/Night time Suffering, Too Much Rain, Anyway, That Would Be Something, Dance til We're High, Sun Is Shining, Bluebird, One More Kiss, Arrow Through Me
Next Ten: Too Many People, Maybe I'm Amazed, Hold Me Tight Medley, Monkberry Moon Delight, Sally G, World Tonight, Calico Skies, Souvenir, My Love, The Mess
Next Ten: Uncle Albert/ Admiral Halsey, Hand In Hand, Despite Repeated Warnings, Tug Of War, People Want Peace, We Got Married, Jet, Early Days, Alligator, Scared
There are just two many jewels to choose from...good problem to have, for him !
Love so many of your choices especially the B-sides like Sally G, Daytime/Nightime Suffering, and The Mess.
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Excellent choices BJ, although to be honest I was never a big fan of "My Valentine". Will list 10 more songs and then stop because I don't want to get carried away - lol.
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Soily
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Old Siam Sir
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What It Is
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Every Night
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Too Many People
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We Got Married
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Jenny Wren
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Calico Skies
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Sing The Changes
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Here Today
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
Excellent choices BJ, although to be honest I was never a big fan of "My Valentine". Will list 10 more songs and then stop because I don't want to get carried away - lol.
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Soily
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Old Siam Sir
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What It Is
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Every Night
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Too Many People
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We Got Married
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Jenny Wren
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Calico Skies
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Sing The Changes
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Here Today
I always liked My Valentine but I also liked the "Kisses" album better than most fans. I loved Eric Clapton's guitar solo on "My Valentine". As usual, he did it perfectly. I remember when Paul did it "live" on national TV (I think it was on the Grammy's telecast that year). I was specifically waiting for the guitar solo but it was being done by Joe Walsh. Unfortunately, he did a terrible job inho. Ruined the performance for me. I agree with you that Paul started overplaying it over the last few years as a tribute to Nancy. I think we were calling Paul to do something different like "Happy With You" once ES was released. I've really gotten to like "Only Our Hearts" even better than "My Valentine". Love Stevie Wonder's harmonica solo and Paul's vocal is pretty good too.
Love your latest list! I have a soft spot for "What It is" since he was playing it for Linda before Run Devil Run was released and when Linda was really sick. Glad you listed it...one of my favs on Run Devil Run.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Excellent choices BJ, although to be honest I was never a big fan of "My Valentine". Will list 10 more songs and then stop because I don't want to get carried away - lol.
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Soily
-
Old Siam Sir
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What It Is
-
Every Night
-
Too Many People
-
We Got Married
-
Jenny Wren
-
Calico Skies
-
Sing The Changes
-
Here Today
I always liked My Valentine but I also liked the "Kisses" album better than most fans. I loved Eric Clapton's guitar solo on "My Valentine". As usual, he did it perfectly. I remember when Paul did it "live" on national TV (I think it was on the Grammy's telecast that year). I was specifically waiting for the guitar solo but it was being done by Joe Walsh. Unfortunately, he did a terrible job inho. Ruined the performance for me. I agree with you that Paul started overplaying it over the last few years as a tribute to Nancy. I think we were calling Paul to do something different like "Happy With You" once ES was released. I've really gotten to like "Only Our Hearts" even better than "My Valentine". Love Stevie Wonder's harmonica solo and Paul's vocal is pretty good too.
Love your latest list! I have a soft spot for "What It is" since he was playing it for Linda before Run Devil Run was released and when Linda was really sick. Glad you listed it...one of my favs on Run Devil Run.
I loved the album "Run Devil Run". I thought McCartney did a fantastic job of writing three original songs that fit in perfectly with the 50's classic songs. I have said it a bunch of times, McCartney vocals on this album may have been his best vocal performance on any album since the 70's. No offense to any of his touring bands or Wings lineup but the band for this ablum was the best he has played with since the Beatles -lol
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Thanks to everyone for contributing. While realizing this is a small sampling, it was nice to see that so many of the songs listed were from Paul's Solo Career well after his big commercial successes in the 70's. I also realize that most of us here are more "hard core" Paul fans compared to moderate Beatle fans who know far more of him from the 60's and 70's.
Couldn't help notice how well certain Paul albums (with great songs) really resonated at least on these lists of "best songs" since the 80's. Those albums include Tug of War. Flaming Pie, Flowers in the Dirt, Chaos and Creation, Memory Almost Full, New and Egypt Station. Even Electric Arguments had a good amount of love.
Conversely a couple of Paul albums since the 80's didn't seem to resonate very much relative to containing great songs. Not surprising that the album Press to Play wasn't listed with any songs, but "Driving Rain" certainly didn't get much love either. I guess you could say that of all of Paul's albums since Flaming Pie, Driving Rain was a definite mistep for Paul. I think you have to be really hard core fan to remember very much from the album. The song "About You" did get a vote but that was more of a deeper cut and hidden gem from Driving Rain. The song "Magic" is another one in retrospect I might have listed but it just didn't jump out to me when putting my list together. But the big songs and "Singles" from the album just didn't get listed. I thought "Your Loving Flame was a good Paul ballad on Driving Rain, but Paul's record company might have been late promoting it as a single from my memory.
All in all, it just shows that if you listen to many of Paul's material from the 80's onward, he has had a very good Solo career and is still writing great songs to this day.
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Forgot to mention, I really got a kick out of so many people who couldn't stop at just 10.
There were also a couple of other Solo albums that just got one song listed like Pipes of Peace and Off the Ground. Still for those albums that only got one or no songs listed, there are plenty of hidden gems on all those albums not to mention all the B-Sides, extra songs later added plus unreleased songs. We love our Paul.
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Yankeefan2 wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Excellent choices BJ, although to be honest I was never a big fan of "My Valentine". Will list 10 more songs and then stop because I don't want to get carried away - lol.
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Soily
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Old Siam Sir
-
What It Is
-
Every Night
-
Too Many People
-
We Got Married
-
Jenny Wren
-
Calico Skies
-
Sing The Changes
-
Here Today
I always liked My Valentine but I also liked the "Kisses" album better than most fans. I loved Eric Clapton's guitar solo on "My Valentine". As usual, he did it perfectly. I remember when Paul did it "live" on national TV (I think it was on the Grammy's telecast that year). I was specifically waiting for the guitar solo but it was being done by Joe Walsh. Unfortunately, he did a terrible job inho. Ruined the performance for me. I agree with you that Paul started overplaying it over the last few years as a tribute to Nancy. I think we were calling Paul to do something different like "Happy With You" once ES was released. I've really gotten to like "Only Our Hearts" even better than "My Valentine". Love Stevie Wonder's harmonica solo and Paul's vocal is pretty good too.
Love your latest list! I have a soft spot for "What It is" since he was playing it for Linda before Run Devil Run was released and when Linda was really sick. Glad you listed it...one of my favs on Run Devil Run.
I loved the album "Run Devil Run". I thought McCartney did a fantastic job of writing three original songs that fit in perfectly with the 50's classic songs. I have said it a bunch of times, McCartney vocals on this album may have been his best vocal performance on any album since the 70's. No offense to any of his touring bands or Wings lineup but the band for this ablum was the best he has played with since the Beatles -lol
Thinking about Little Richard and what an influence he had on Paul, the song "What It is" (as you mention, one of the 3 original songs Paul wrote for Run Devil Run) has such a Little Richard sound and vocal on it.
Maybe someone could attach a youtube video of "What It is"
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B J Conlee wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
B J Conlee wrote:
Yankeefan2 wrote:
Excellent choices BJ, although to be honest I was never a big fan of "My Valentine". Will list 10 more songs and then stop because I don't want to get carried away - lol.
-
Soily
-
Old Siam Sir
-
What It Is
-
Every Night
-
Too Many People
-
We Got Married
-
Jenny Wren
-
Calico Skies
-
Sing The Changes
-
Here Today
I always liked My Valentine but I also liked the "Kisses" album better than most fans. I loved Eric Clapton's guitar solo on "My Valentine". As usual, he did it perfectly. I remember when Paul did it "live" on national TV (I think it was on the Grammy's telecast that year). I was specifically waiting for the guitar solo but it was being done by Joe Walsh. Unfortunately, he did a terrible job inho. Ruined the performance for me. I agree with you that Paul started overplaying it over the last few years as a tribute to Nancy. I think we were calling Paul to do something different like "Happy With You" once ES was released. I've really gotten to like "Only Our Hearts" even better than "My Valentine". Love Stevie Wonder's harmonica solo and Paul's vocal is pretty good too.
Love your latest list! I have a soft spot for "What It is" since he was playing it for Linda before Run Devil Run was released and when Linda was really sick. Glad you listed it...one of my favs on Run Devil Run.
I loved the album "Run Devil Run". I thought McCartney did a fantastic job of writing three original songs that fit in perfectly with the 50's classic songs. I have said it a bunch of times, McCartney vocals on this album may have been his best vocal performance on any album since the 70's. No offense to any of his touring bands or Wings lineup but the band for this ablum was the best he has played with since the Beatles -lol
Thinking about Little Richard and what an influence he had on Paul, the song "What It is" (as you mention, one of the 3 original songs Paul wrote for Run Devil Run) has such a Little Richard sound and vocal on it.
Maybe someone could attach a youtube video of "What It is"
See below. I could not find one live that did not include other songs but this should do.
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B J Conlee wrote:
Thanks to everyone for contributing. While realizing this is a small sampling, it was nice to see that so many of the songs listed were from Paul's Solo Career well after his big commercial successes in the 70's. I also realize that most of us here are more "hard core" Paul fans compared to moderate Beatle fans who know far more of him from the 60's and 70's.
Couldn't help notice how well certain Paul albums (with great songs) really resonated at least on these lists of "best songs" since the 80's. Those albums include Tug of War. Flaming Pie, Flowers in the Dirt, Chaos and Creation, Memory Almost Full, New and Egypt Station. Even Electric Arguments had a good amount of love.
Conversely a couple of Paul albums since the 80's didn't seem to resonate very much relative to containing great songs. Not surprising that the album Press to Play wasn't listed with any songs, but "Driving Rain" certainly didn't get much love either. I guess you could say that of all of Paul's albums since Flaming Pie, Driving Rain was a definite mistep for Paul. I think you have to be really hard core fan to remember very much from the album. The song "About You" did get a vote but that was more of a deeper cut and hidden gem from Driving Rain. The song "Magic" is another one in retrospect I might have listed but it just didn't jump out to me when putting my list together. But the big songs and "Singles" from the album just didn't get listed. I thought "Your Loving Flame was a good Paul ballad on Driving Rain, but Paul's record company might have been late promoting it as a single from my memory.
All in all, it just shows that if you listen to many of Paul's material from the 80's onward, he has had a very good Solo career and is still writing great songs to this day.
I always thought "Your Loving Flame" was a poor choice for single, should have been something like "About You" or even the song "Driving Rain". I think the song "Freedom" was released as a single and last minute put on the album.
