The best songs on ‘Revolver’, according to Paul McCartney
“We didn’t have to deal with anything other than making the record.” That’s what Paul McCartney said about the process of creating Revolver – an album that set The Beatles free. They had officially quit touring and performing live, meaning they no longer had to consider how a song would sound on stage or work to any deadline. The possibilities were endless, and out of everything they made, a selection of songs from that album stood out as some of McCartney’s all-time favourites.
It’s impossible to understate the shift in energy that came when The Beatles started making Revolver. Up until this moment, they’d been on the conveyor belt: write songs, record songs, put songs out, tour songs, write more songs on the road, come home to record them, put them out and perform again. They did it on and on across six albums, but there were also added pressures. Not only were the band facing up to the ultimate level of fandom as Beatlemania meant that their every thought and move was soundtracked by screaming, taking a clear toll on their mentalities, but they also had to keep the stage in mind all the time.
Before this point, the songs they wrote had to work on stage because they would be taken on the road. They also had to be relatively simple enough as the band didn’t have in-ears or backing tracks or anything bands have now. Instead, they were simply feeling their way through their sets, barely able to hear themselves, let alone each other, over the sound of the crowd. So, evolution was stunted.
“It was a pretty serious thing to say, but they said, ‘We don’t want to know about it. All we want to do is make records in the studio with George, and that’s it.” That was George Martin’s recollection of the moment the band quit the rigmarole of touring. And that was the start of Revolver – an album that could be made with no limitations, allowing the group the chance to truly level up.
That process birthed some of Paul McCartney’s all-time favourite Beatles songs, including the one that, at a push, he’d give the number one slot. “I’m often asked what my favourite song I’ve ever written is, and I don’t ever really want to answer it,” McCartney said before admitting, “But if pushed, I would go to ‘Here, There and Everywhere’.”
Another firm favourite of his own work on the album is ‘Eleanor Rigby’, a song that feels like a precursor to the kind of storytelling works he would dive even deeper into later. “Allen Ginsberg told me it was a great poem, so I’m going to go with Allen,” he told The New Yorker, recalling praise from a legend.
Some of his other all-time favourites from his bandmates live on that album, too. Lennon’s effort, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’, stands out to him too as he called it “a nice song” and recalled a fond memory of the friends falling into a “fit of the giggles while we were doing the double-track.”
Ringo Starr’s ‘Rain’ is another favourite, which was recorded during these sessions but cut from the tracklist. Either way, McCartney said he “really enjoyed that one,” considering it to be Starr’s finest hour.
Paul McCartney’s favourite songs on Revolver:
- ‘Here There and Everywhere’
- ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’
- ‘Eleanor Rigby’
- ‘Rain’
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