There’s no doubt Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison had huge success as The Beatles, but their careers certainly didn’t end once the band broke up in 1970.
All four members went on to have successful solo careers, and now Rolling Stone is taking a deep dive into their solo material with its just-released list of the 100 best Beatles solo songs.
The list is compiled by music journalist Rob Sheffield, who knows a thing or two about The Beatles, having written the 2017 book Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World. In a post on social media he said compiling the list was a “true labor of love.”
Topping the list is McCartney’s 1970 classic “Maybe I’m Amazed,” which he wrote for wife Linda McCartney. Sheffield writes that McCartney “wrote his most soulful, passionate, unforgettable love song for Linda, in the aftermath of The Beatles break-up,” adding the tune “captures the moment when their romance was just beginning.”
The couple married in 1969 and were together for 29 years until Linda’s death in 1998.
Coming in at #2 is Lennon’s 1970 track “God,” which is described as the “most ferocious performance of his lifetime, or practically anyone’s.”
Harrison’s “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” comes in at #3, followed by Ringo’s “It Don’t Come Easy” at #4 and Lennon’s “Mind Games” at #5.
Rounding out the top 10 are: McCartney & Wings’ “Band on the Run” at #6, Harrison’s “Isn’t It a Pity” at #7, McCartney’s “Too Many People” at #8, Lennon’s “Imagine” at #9 and Harrison’s “Pure Smokey” at #10.
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