The 100 Best Beatles Solo Songs
When the Beatles broke up in 1970, they figured it was the end of the story. But they got that wrong. Over 50 years later, John, Paul, George, and Ringo are more influential, famous, beloved than ever. That means the world is finally catching up with one of the weirdest chapters in the Beatles’ saga: their solo music. All four Fabs kept making music, on their own eccentric terms. All four dropped classic albums. All four released total garbage. The solo Beatles story is a gloriously messy, crazed, chaotic world of its own.
So let’s celebrate that story: the 100 greatest Beatles solo songs, starring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The hits, the flops, the deep cuts, the fan favorites, the cult classics, the covers. Some of these songs are legendary tunes sung around the world at weddings and parties. Some are buried treasures only the most hardcore Beatlemaniacs know. And one is “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.” As a great man said, it don’t come easy.
Every fan would compile a different list—that’s the beauty of it. We love to keep arguing about the Beatles’ solo records. I have spent my life arguing that Ringo’s 1970 country album Beaucoups of Blues is an underrated masterpiece, and I will argue this forever. Hell, I once had this argument with Ringo. (I can’t tell if I persuaded him or not—he was too busy laughing at me.)
Keep in mind: this is NOT a list of their greatest hits. These songs aren’t here because of commercial success, radio airplay, sales or popularity. The only thing that matters is the level of Beatle magic. That means some incredibly famous hits didn’t make the cut. To pick just the most obvious example, the words “say,” “say,” and “say” do not appear consecutively here at all.
These days, fans dig deeper than ever into the solo Beatles’ music. Records that were once impossible to find are now easy to hear with one click. So the arguments keep getting more sophisticated. When Paul released Ram in 1971, the whole world agreed it was an atrocity. Now it’s easily his most famous and acclaimed album. Fans are just now discovering gems like John’s Mind Games or George’s Living in the Material World. The arguments keep changing—that’s what makes it fun.
This list gives all four Beatles room to make noise. Obviously, it’s tricky because Paul has a far bigger songbook than the others combined—he’s still thriving as a songwriter in his 80s, while John and George had their lives cruelly cut short. But the whole point of is list like this is mixing them up as equally as possible, or at least as far as the music demands. So they’re all fighting for space on this list, just as they always were on Beatles albums. (The Top Ten has three songs by each of the main songwriters, plus a Ringo banger.) But all 100 of these songs live up to that Beatles spirit. The dream will never be over.
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John Lennon, ‘How?’ (1971)
Image Credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images “How?” is a perfect place to start, just because it’s a song by a John full of questions that have no answers. He’s setting off into his 30s, his post-Beatles life, his solo career, a new decade with his new wife. He’s done the drugs and paid for the therapy. But he’s never felt more confused. “How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing?” “How can I have a feeling when I don’t know if it’s a feeling?” “How can I give love when I just don’t know how to give?” These are questions that all four Beatles could relate to after the band split, in their very different ways.
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Wings, ‘With A Little Luck’ (1978)
Image Credit: Chip HIRES/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images) A Number One hit so smoothed-out it makes “Silly Love Songs” sound like “Helter Skelter.” “With a Little Luck” is a Seventies couples-therapy session with synthesizers: Paul promises, “There is no end to what we can do together,” which rhymes with (love this line) “the willow turns his back on inclement weather.” When Macca goes for yacht-rock, he goes all the way; “With a Little Luck” is the rare yacht-rock hit that was recorded on an actual yacht, moored near the Virgin Islands with a mobile studio on board. And maybe, just maybe, a few drugs.
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George Harrison, ‘I’d Have You Anytime’ (1970)
Image Credit: Steve Morley/Redferns/Getty Images George kicked off his solo debut All Things Must Pass with a ballad he wrote with his friend and future Wilbury mate Bob Dylan, “I’d Have You Anytime.” It’s a tribute to their musical brotherhood—but also a flex to remind the other Beatles who was Dylan’s favorite Fab. They co-wrote “I’d Have You Anytime” at Dylan’s home in Woodstock, on Thanksgiving 1968. “We finally got the guitars out and it loosened things up a bit,” Harrison said. “It was really a nice time with all his kids around, and we were just playing.” But just a few weeks later, he was back with the Beatles for the Get Back sessions, still fighting to get them to play his damn songs.
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Ringo Starr, ‘No No Song’ (1974)
Image Credit: Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images Damn right we’ve got Ringo on this list. Get used to it. “The No-No Song” has everything you want in a quality Ringo solo jam: an upbeat groove, a vocal that can give you third-degree charm burns, a witty lyric, and a little help from his friends who would jump on a grenade for this man because he’s Ringo. (In this case, the friend is Harry Nilsson.) “The No-No Song” is a trip through Hollywood decadence, turning down marijuana, cocaine, and moonshine, long before he (fortunately) got sober. He’s in his 80s, he lives on broccoli and blueberries, and he’s still a better dancer than you. He’s Ringo. We’ll hear from him again.
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Paul McCartney & Nirvana, ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ (2012)
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage All you need is grunge. Paul teams up with the surviving Nirvana dudes, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear. They banged out “Cut Me Some Slack” in three hours, for Grohl’s documentary Sound City, and debuted it at the NYC Concert for Hurricane Sandy on 12/12/12. Maccavana won a Grammy for this song, which meant the surreal sight of Paul smiling at the podium alongside one of The Germs. (And Pat Smear is one of the few rockers with a perma-grin to rival Paul’s.) Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, whatever, nevermind.
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John Lennon, ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ (1980)
Image Credit: Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images “Starting Over” hit Number One in the aftermath of John’s death, but there’s nothing grim about it—his voice and guitar are full of doo-wop joy. It’s the song of an adult romantic resolving to make something out of the time he’s got left with Yoko. The opening chimes connect to “Mother” from Plastic Ono Band, a decade earlier, except now he’s facing his future instead of his past. The ebullience in the music is a musical and spiritual high note.
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George Harrison, ‘The Day The World Gets ‘Round’ (1973)
Image Credit: Thomas Monaster/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images George’s spiritual crises send him back to his guitar—the wisest guru he ever had. “The Day The World Turns ‘Round,” the capper from Living in the Material World, is George turning 30, seemingly on top of the world, yet wondering how it all went so wrong, as all that talk of peace and love turned into lawyers, accountants, dealers, junkies, divorces. The woozy proto-indie guitars have a Pavement vibe—it could come straight from Brighten The Corners or Wowee Zowee.
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John Lennon, ‘Old Dirt Road’ (1974)
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images John Lennon, in his Lost Weekend madness, set loose in L.A., was like a Molotov cocktail. Now add alcohol. And for the lighted match: ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Harry Nilsson! That guy sure had a way of making things blow up. John producing Harry’s Pussy Cats album wasn’t the greatest move for either one’s mental health, or for the long-suffering bartenders of Hollywood. But they sound right in tune in “Old Dirt Road,” their piano-ballad collabo on Walls and Bridges, two old rogues by the side of the road, begging for water when they’d rather guzzle Brandy Alexanders.
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Wings, ‘Listen To What The Man Said’ (1974)
Image Credit: Michael Montfort/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images How strong were the drugs in the Seventies? Put it this way: musicians kept joining Wings, then complaining they didn’t have creative input. My dudes. You’re in Paul McCartney’s band. Nobody’s out there in the crowd yelling “‘Medicine Jar!’” “Listen To What The Man Said” is prime Wings: Paul consults his love guru (an updated Fool on the Hill for the Me Decade) over plush boogie, with a Tom Scott sax break. What wisdom does Paul get from his guru? “Love is fine.” Most quintessential Macca detail: the way he follows the line “soldier boy kisses girl” with an audible smooch. The wonder of it all, baby.
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George Harrison, ‘Awaiting On You All’ (1970)
Image Credit: Universal Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images George sings about the joys of Krishna Consciousness, with a band full of drug fiends and a hopefully unarmed Phil Spector. But the joyful clamor of “Awaiting for You All” achieves that Spector girl-group spirit, lifted high by Derek and the Dominoes and loads of percussion.
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Ringo Starr, ‘Stardust’ (1970)