It’s been a big week for Sir Paul McCartney. Monday was the 10-year anniversary of Meet Free Monday, a campaign started by McCartney to encourage people to cut meat out of their diet for just one day a week. McCartney, who has been a vegetarian for almost 40 years, told National Geographic that it’s all about compassion: compassion for animals, compassion for our environment, as well as the positive health factor that eating less meat has on people. “We’re on this incredible planet, and there doesn’t appear to be another one in sight…and alongside us are these little dudes- these animals, and we’ve all got this chance in life to survive. I like the idea of giving them their best shot.” McCartney recognizes that for many people, being totally vegetarian would be extremely difficult and foreign to them. He also realizes that raising livestock is how some people make a living. For these reasons, McCartney suggests that committing to just cutting out meat one day a week will still help the planet immensely, and help to spread awareness on the cause.
Not only did we celebrate 10 years of Meat Free Monday this week, we also celebrated Paul’s 77th Birthday! This classic rock star is still living large and staying active, continuing to write new music, doing interviews, supporting important social and environmental causes, and meeting fans.
In celebration of this hard working, iconic world-wide figure, we’re counting down McCartney’s top 20 songs of all time! As this list is meant to be a fun read, I hope to also encourage all of you music lovers to support artists who put their all into their music, write about real things, and support causes outside of the entertainment world for the good of the planet and all of us living together on it.
Ok, here it is!
20. Let me roll it
Released by Wings in 1973, fans say this song sounds very similar to something off of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album, although Paul disagrees. The Beatles only split up three years prior, so of course the influence and sounds of each other carried over to each individual album.
19. All my loving
This song on the Beatle’s second album is generally considered to be one of Paul’s earliest major songwriting accomplishments. Paul said, “It was the first song I’d ever written the words first.” The song was written while the band was on tour with Roy Orbison in mid-1963.
18. Eat at home
In 1970, Paul and Linda McCartney co-wrote this song about loving the home life the two shared. The song could be interpreted literally- the two enjoying a nice, home-cooked meal, or as a euphemism for sex, which is probably just as likely.
17. Live and Let Die
Originally written for the 1973 James Bond film, this song became one of Wings’ most popular.
16. Saw her standing there
This song opens the Beatles first album, Please Please Me, and was written by Lennon and McCartney one day when the Liverpool boys “sagged off school.”
15. When I’m Sixty-Four
"When I’m Sixty-Four" was released on the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album in 1967, but the song was originally written when Paul was only 15. “I thought I was writing it for Sinatra,” said Paul. The song was later dusted off the same year McCartney’s father turned 64.
14. Band on the Run
Paul began to write “Band on the Run” after Beatle George Harrison said in an Apple meeting a few years prior, “If I ever get out of here…” acting as if they were all prisoners in the business. Paul took the line and ran with it, not stopping with this song, but making “If I ever get out of here…” and Band on the Run two central themes of the album.
13. Maybe I’m amazed
"Maybe I’m Amazed" is the obvious highlight on McCartney’s first solo album after the Beatles, and pays tribute to his wife Linda who inspired him to keep writing through the depression of the Beatles mess.
12. Can’t buy me love
"Can’t Buy Me Love" became the Beatle’s first single to feature just one singer. The song topped the charts of just about every country in which it was released.
11. You Never Give Me Your Money/ Golden slumbers
Ok, ok, this is technically two songs, but a part of the same medley. The second half of Abbey Road opens with "You Never Give Me Your Money," a rock n’ roll production, while "Golden Slumbers," written like a lullaby, soothingly brings the famous medley to a close.
10. Jet
Jet was the name of one of Paul’s dogs. That’s about the only meaning this song has, but the fact that he turned it into a masterpiece just from that is quite impressive.
9. In Spite of All the Danger
This song was the first recording by John Lennon, McCartney, and George Harrison. Before Ringo came into the picture, and before they even obtained the name “Beatles,” they were the Quarrymen, and this was their only original song. This is the Beatles’ most uniquely credited song, as it is the only song writing by McCartney and Harrison. The song is sung by John Lennon.
8. Oh! Darling
Alan Parson, an Abbey Road engineer, said, “Paul came in several days running to do the lead vocal on Oh! Darling. He'd come in, sing it and say, 'No, that's not it, I'll try it again tomorrow.' He only tried it once per day, I suppose he wanted to capture a certain rawness which could only be done once before the voice changed. I remember him saying, 'Five years ago I could have done this in a flash,' referring, I suppose, to the days of "Long Tall Sally" and "Kansas City.'”
7. Here Today
One of the most honest song’s he’s ever written, "Here Today" is Paul’s tribute to John Lennon, written less than a year after he was shot and killed by a fan. The song is a conversation between Paul and John that never got to happen.
6. Eleanor Rigby
Paul began writing this song on the piano of girlfriend Jane Asher’s house. Over time, he was able to fill in everything but the name. At first, McCartney settled on the name Miss Daisy Hawkins, but wanted something more realistic. He got the name Rigby when we walked by a store front in Bristol: Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers. Eleanor was the name of the female lead in the Beatle’s movie Help. They found out later that Eleanor Rigby was a real person. “it seems that up in Woolton Cemetery, where I used to hang out a lot with John, there's a gravestone to an Eleanor Rigby. Apparently, a few yards to the right there's someone called McKenzie,” said Paul.
5. Sgt. Pepper
When the Beatles decided they would no longer tour, McCartney came up with the idea of sending an album on tour for them. The band on the album, their alter ego band, would be called Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
4. Blackbird
The lyrics of "Blackbird" were inspired by the civil rights movement. “I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: 'Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope,” said McCartney.
3. Let It Be
In 1969, the Beatles were fighting constantly, and obviously to one another, would not be working together for very much longer. Paul felt alone, initially being the only one trying to keep the group together. One night in his sleep, Paul had a dream of his mother, Mary, who had passed away ten years prior. She told him to just ‘let it be.’ Let it Be was the last single to be released before the Beatle’s announced their split to the press.
2. Yesterday
Written by Paul McCartney, "Yesterday" holds the record as the most covered song in history, according to the Guinness Book of Records. The song came to Paul in his sleep, but he was convinced that his subconscious picked it up from somewhere else. Paul went around asking everyone he knew if they recognized the tune. Paul temporarily names the song Scrambled Eggs, and was playing it constantly on the set of Help! Richard Lester got to the point where he said to Paul, “If you play that bloody song any longer have the piano taken off stage. Either finish it or give up!” The song became "Yesterday," and was the first Beatles song to only feature one member: Paul, alone with his acoustic guitar.
1. Hey Jude
"Hey Jude" was a ballad written by Paul to comfort John Lennon’s son Julian during the divorce of his parents. John said Hey Jude is “a damn good set of lyrics and I made no contribution to that.” But according to Paul, when he was showing it to John for the first time and sang the line, “the movement you make is on your shoulder,” he looked over at John telling him he’s going to change that line, that that was just a filler. John told him not to change it, and that that was his favorite line. Hey Jude is a key part of McCartney’s live shows today, with the whole crowed of his concerts singing along to the “na na na na na na na, hey Jude.”