When the four Beatles went their separate ways, the acrimony from their split seemed substantial enough that the men writing songs about their former group might have seemed a definite no-go. And yet it wasn’t long before they each addressed the subject in songs that ran the gamut from nasty to nostalgic.
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In fact, they did it enough that we had to cut out some excellent tracks that would have otherwise qualified for this list (including Paul McCartney’s touching John Lennon tribute, “Here Today”). Here are our choices in a surprisingly stout sub-sub-genre of Fab Four solo music about The Beatles.
1. ”Early Days” (by Paul McCartney from the album NEW, 2013)
McCartney has never addressed his time with The Beatles in song as directly as he does on this bittersweet track. On the one hand, it’s a series of reminiscences about his time with John Lennon as a youth before they hit it big. But it also serves as a somewhat harsh rebuke to those who make claims about the Fab Four without actually having been around to experience what truly happened.
They can’t take it from me if they try, Macca sings. I lived through those early days. It’s a surly side we don’t often see of McCartney, but he has every right to display it in this case. Anyway, the warm memories that filter through the song soften the blow of those stinging words.
2. “When We Was Fab” (by George Harrison from the album Cloud Nine, 1987)
George Harrison generally seemed unsentimental about his former group whenever asked about them by interviewers. Yet he tended to harken back to them more than his other bandmates in his songs, whether with winking titles (“This Guitar [Can’t Keep from Crying]”) or sardonic references to their lawsuits (“Sue Me, Sue You Blues”).
On “When We Was Fab,” the highlight of his fantastic comeback album Cloud Nine, he does an amazing job (with help from producer Jeff Lynne) of recapturing the 1967-vintage Beatles with woozy atmospherics and psychedelic touches. In between cheeky callbacks to famous song titles, Harrison slips in subtle commentary about those who would focus on the negative aspects of the band’s breakup: The microscopes have magnified the tears / Studied warts and all. The overall tone of this winning pastiche of past sounds suggests a much more benign reckoning with his former band.
3. “All Those Years Ago” (by George Harrison from the album Somewhere in England, 1981)
As mentioned above, McCartney also paid homage in song to John Lennon shortly after Lennon’s death in 1980. But “Here Today” was more a one-to-one message, while this Harrison track took a look back at that entire era while also mourning Lennon.
Harrison started writing the track with Ringo Starr in mind, but repurposed it after Lennon’s death. He still used Starr on drums, while also having Paul and Linda McCartney sing backing vocals, making it a semi-reunion of sorts. Harrison’s lyrics focus on the senselessness of the murder, but they also found time to reconcile his feelings for John: Living with good and bad / I always looked up to you.
4. “How Do You Sleep?” (by John Lennon from the album Imagine, 1971)
This song is still a thorn in the side of people who like to view The Beatles and their interpersonal relationships in a pristine light. To be fair to Lennon, Paul McCartney had fired the first shot on his song “Too Many People” (You took your lucky break / And broke it in two).
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While lines like that could easily have been explained away as being about something else, there was no doubting who was the target of Lennon’s riposte on “How Do You Sleep?” The lyrics contain references to several songs by Macca, but the biggest grenade was saved for the final verse: The sound you make is muzak to my ears. The relationship between the two men was repaired, but you can still drown in the bile pouring forth from this track.
5. “Early 1970” (by Ringo Starr as a B-side, 1971)
Lost in the hype over the Lennon/McCartney feud after The Beatles broke up was the fact that the relationship between McCartney and Starr also took a major hit. An incident in the group’s closing days where Macca shouted at Ringo, who was trying to speak on behalf of the other members, was the impetus.
In true Starr fashion, he stowed away any animosity when he wrote about his ex-bandmates in the song “Early 1970.” He doesn’t mention any of the three by name, but you know which band member belongs to which verse by the loving caricatures he draws of them. In the final end, he pines for a détente in their cold war. And when I go to town, I wanna see all three, sings Starr, and you can hear the genuine longing for that in his voice.
Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images
