Since their breakup in 1970, the former Beatles and those representing their estates have pieced together various compilations of their music. In 1973, the former band members released “The Beatles 1962-1966 (The Red Album)” and “The Beatles 1967-1970 (The Blue Album).” In the 1990s the three surviving Beatles released the three-part “Anthology” series that contained many previously unreleased demos, auditions and early recordings, along with outtakes and rejected versions of songs and other rarities. More recently there was “The Beatles 1” CD containing all the singles that topped the music charts in the US and/or the UK.
In this age of iPod, MP3 and downloading, we can assemble collections on our own. But for those of us who still enjoy listening to CDs, wouldn’t it be great if the remaining Beatles and those representing the estates of the deceased members would release a double-CD collection of the best of the Beatles solo careers? (Paul McCartney’s efforts with Wings and Linda McCartney would count as being part of his solo career for our purposes). Each Beatle would have eight solo or post-Beatles efforts on the CD, and the songs could be arranged in chronological order or with each individual’s eight songs grouped together. It would be hard to limit each to eight, especially in the case of McCartney, who had so many huge solo hits. But which songs would make the cut? (The chart positions cited in this article are taken from “The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, Fifth Edition,” and “The Billboard Book of Number One Albums.”)
Let’s start with Ringo Starr, who turned out to be a surprising hit-maker as a solo artist. While with the Beatles he was given mostly country-flavored album fillers to sing, and his only hit single as a lead singer was “Yellow Submarine.” But as a solo artist he had numerous hits and even topped the Billboard singles chart a couple times. The following would be his contributions to our dream CD.
“Photograph” – from 1973, this was his first number one song. George Harrison helped write the song.
“You’re Sixteen” – a cover version of a hit by Johnny Burnette, this was Ringo’s second number one hit.
“Only You” – a cover version of a Platters hit, Ringo took this into the top ten.
“It Don’t Come Easy” – Ringo’s first big solo hit, the song was written by Ringo and peaked at number four in June of 1971.
“Back Off Boogaloo” – another top ten hit from 1971.
“Oh My My” – a fun song from 1974.
“No No Song” – a clever and humorous anti-drug and substance abuse song that reached the top five.
“Goodnight Vienna” – it came down to this or “Snookeroo.”
At the time of the Beatles breakup, George Harrison was arguably writing their finest songs. Something” and “Here Comes the Sun” were probably the best two tracks on “Abbey Road,” the Beatles last recorded album. Harrison was the most underappreciated of the Fab Four and his contributions as a guitarist, background singer and songwriter are often overlooked. “I’ve always looked at ‘All Things Must Pass’ (his number one album from 1971) like somebody who has had constipation for years and then finally they get diarrhea,” Harrison was quoted as saying in “The Billboard Book of Number One Albums.” He continued, “I was allowed to do my one or two (tunes) on Beatle albums, so I had a backlog of songs. When I did ‘All Things Must Pass,’ it was just good to get them out of the way.” The choices for Harrison:
My Sweet Lord” – the first number one song by a former Beatle, it topped the chart for four weeks at the end of 1970 and the beginning of 1971. It was later determined by the courts to sound too similar to “He’s So Fine” by the Chiffons, although Harrison was found to not have deliberately plagiarized the song.
“Give Me Love” – another spiritual song that topped the chart, this time in the summer of 1973.
“What Is Life” – a great song from the “All Things Must Pass” album.
“You” – with good reason this made it onto his “The Best of George Harrison” collection.
“Got My Mind Set on You” – a third Harrison chart-topper, this one from 1988.
“Crackerbox Palace” – a top 20 hit from 1977.
“Blow Away” – another top 20 hit, this one from 1979.
“All Those Years Ago” – a tribute to the late John Lennon that reached number two in 1981.
John Lennon released less commercially-oriented material than his former band mates, and he was the last Beatle to have a number one solo hit. Yet his music was at least as brilliant and as aesthetically-pleasing as what anyone in the music business could produce. His selections for this CD:
“Instant Karma!” – his first major solo hit, reaching number three in 1970.
“Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” – his first number one single, reaching the apex in 1974.
#9 Dream” – had lyrics that were poetic, along the lines of the Beatles song “Across the Universe.
“Mind Games” – another song whose lyrics were deep, probing and intellectually stimulating.
“Imagine” – an idealistic song along the lines of “All You Need Is Love.”
“Beautiful Boy” – a tribute to his son Sean and the anticipation of watching him grow up, which sadly Lennon never got to experience.
“(Just Like) Starting Over” – the biggest hit from his “Double Fantasy” album.
“Woman” – one of his songs saluting Yoko.
As a solo artist, Paul McCartney continued writing his wonderfully melodic tunes, and in terms of chart performance, he was the most successful Beatle as a solo artist. Again we are counting his songs that were done with Wings and with Linda McCartney as being part of his solo or post-Beatles career.
“Baby I’m Amazed” – a song that has grown in stature over the years, first released in 1970.
“Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” – a number one song from 1971.
“My Love” – one of his great tunes, hitting number one in 1973.
“Band on the Run” – a number one song in 1974.
“Jet” – a powerful rocker from 1974.
“Silly Love Songs” – was the number one single for the entire year of 1976, according to Billboard.
“Coming Up” – a live recording that was a number one song in 1980.
“Another Day” – Paul paying homage to the woman who gets up every morning and goes to work for a living.
A CD with hits from the solo years of the former Beatles would be snapped up on the Internet, would fly off the store shelves and would soar up the music charts.
Sources:
“The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, Fifth Edition,” by Fred Bronson, Billboard Books, 2003
“The Billboard Book of Number One Albums” by Craig Rosen, Billboard Books, 1996
Popular and Rock Price Guide, 3rd Edition”, Osborne-Hamilton
“The John Lennon Collection,” Audio CD, Capitol Records, 1989
“The Best of George Harrison,” Audio CD, EMI Records, 1976
