From Reggae to Costello Co-writes: 6 Underrated Gems in Paul McCartney’s Solo Discography

October 24, 2023 11:10 am

In 1969, as The Beatles breakup loomed, an exasperated Paul McCartney turned to his wife, Linda, for help. Her comfort prompted him to write “Maybe I’m Amazed,” a love song that kickstarted his solo career. McCartney played every instrument on the song—guitars, bass, drums, organ, and piano—in a move that showcased just how capable of a musician he truly was, whether or not he was with the Fab Four. When the song officially appeared on his solo debut, McCartney, in 1970, it heralded a new era for the former Beatle.

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There have been numerous highlights in McCartney’s solo career. Here are six gems from a half-century’s worth of work—from reggae experiments to Elvis Costello co-writes.

6. “Check My Machine“

Set to a backdrop of reggae rhythms, gobbledegook lyrics, and electronica samples from a 1950s cartoon, “Check My Machine” was one of the oddest songs recorded for an album full of oddities. That album was McCartney II, which arrived in 1980 after a number of well-received Wings releases (and a few highly publicized drug busts for weed). New wave and electronica had begun to enter the mainstream, and McCartney II was McCartney’s own attempt at wrangling those new sounds into submission.

Songs like “Coming Up” were hits on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but the synth-heavy McCartney II was deemed too weird for most McCartney fans. Even so, “Check My Machine”—which was originally released as a B-side to the “Waterfalls” single, before appearing on McCartney II‘s reissued edition in the 1990s—stands as an example of just how experimental McCartney could really get. Of course, weed might have had something to do with it.

5. “Monkberry Moon Delight“

At first glance, this song’s lyrics make even less sense than “Come Together.” Well, I know my banana is older than the rest / And my hair is a tangled beretta / But I leave my pajamas to Billy Budapest, McCartney sings in a bluesy, full-throated howl. With its funhouse atmosphere and haunting, minor-key chord progression, “Monkberry Moon Delight” sounds demented and delicious, like a Broadway number from the unreleased sequel to Sweeney Todd.

Instead, the song was released on McCartney’s second solo album, Ram. Despite its trippy production, “Monkberry Moon Delight” is actually a children’s song, with McCartney taking inspiration from the way his kids mispronounced “milk” as “monk” during their younger years. “Monkberry moon delight was a fantasy drink, rather like ‘Love Potion No. 9,’” he explains in The Words and Music of Paul McCartney: The Solo Years. “It was a fantasy milkshake.” Whatever it was, fans drank it up—including Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, who was so moved by McCartney’s vocal performance that he recorded his own version of the song.

4. “Bluebird“

Released on the chart-topping, multi-platinum album Band on the Run, this acoustic highlight was overshadowed by more popular tracks like “Jet” and “Let Me Roll It.” It’s a lovely, mid-tempo number, rooted in island-friendly percussion (which may have been inspired by McCartney’s time in Jamaica, where he allegedly wrote the song in 1971) and overlapping vocal harmonies from Linda McCartney and Denny Laine. The saxophone solo was performed by Howie Casey, who also appeared on T. Rex’s immortal hit “20th Century Boy,” and the Calypso beat was played by Nigerian percussionist Remi Kabaka. Like a bird’s midair flight, “Bluebird” is graceful and unhurried.

3. “Big Barn Red“

Depending on who you ask, this deep cut from Red Rose Speedway is either underdeveloped or under-appreciated. We’re fans of the latter description. There’s something utterly compelling about McCartney’s vocals, which are so muddied with echo that the lyrics are barely intelligible. That may be for the best, since McCartney’s words—including lines like Sleeping on a willow, sleeping on a pillow, leaping armadillo—are far from poetic. Nonetheless, “Big Barn Red” casts a strange and wonderful spell, thanks to lush vocal harmonies and a rhythmic post-chorus that makes room for bursts of acoustic guitar and leaping bass.

2. “My Valentine“

Kisses on the Bottom, McCartney’s jazz album from 2012, mostly consisted of traditional covers like Irving Berlin’s “Always” and the Guys and Dolls staple “More I Cannot Wish You.” “My Valentine” was one of only two originals that McCartney wrote for the record, and it’s a stunner, laced with upright piano, light touches of strings, and an acoustic guitar solo from Eric Clapton.

In the album’s liner notes, McCartney explained that he wrote the song in Morocco, while on a honeymoon with his third wife, Nancy Shevell. Rainy weather kept the couple indoors on Valentine’s Day, and a piano in the pair’s hotel kept McCartney occupied. “I was in the foyer, and without anyone noticing except a couple of waiters who were clearing up, I sat at the piano and started knocking around with this little tune,” he recalled. The result is one of the finest latter-day McCartney songs, with a melody worthy of the Great American Songbook.

1. “The Lovers That Never Were”

Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello wrote a number of songs together during the late 1980s, many of which appeared on Flowers in the Dirt in 1989. “The Lovers That Never Were”—a nostalgic track that channeled Burt Bacharach, Smokey Robison, and Dusty Springfield—didn’t make it onto Flowers in the Dirt, but McCartney resurrected it for Off the Ground in 1993.

The studio recording is a showcase not only for the song’s timeless melody, but also McCartney’s voice, which still retained every ounce of its Beatles-era power during the early ’90s. That said, the song’s original demo is worth seeking out, too. Speaking to Mojo in July 2011, Costello called that demo recording “one of the great vocal performances of [McCartney’s] solo career. He’s standing up playing a 12-string guitar and, weirdly enough, I’m playing piano, just thinking, “Don’t fuck up! He’s really singing this! He’s singing a ballad in the voice of ‘I’m Down!’”

Photo by Frank Tewkesbury/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images