The best song about each member of The Beatles
It’s hard to tell whether just ten years of The Beatles is one of music’s greatest tragedies or blessings. On one hand, more greatness always sounds like a good idea. As the swinging sixties gave way to a 1970s packed with prog and glam rock, who knows where their experimentation could’ve gone. On the other, we’ve seen time and again how tired sequels to creativity can drag a legacy down.
But if the band members’ solo careers tell us anything, there was no expiry date on their greatness. Individually, they went on to pen hits that rivalled some of their band’s greatest work and—before the tragic death of John Lennon in 1980—left fans wondering what a reunited Beatles could eventually sound like.
They didn’t just imprint their legacy on masses of impressionable fans. No, they became artistic leaders for some of the all-time greats, be it Bob Dylan, Elton John, or Stevie Nicks. From their humble beginnings in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, they became creative world leaders whose artistic influence can still be heard in some of the greatest contemporary music.
So when they broke up in 1970, a seismic shift in pop culture took place. Artists and fans were left picking up the scraps of whatever remaining influence they could take from the iconic four-piece. Although it may not have seemed like it at the time, the stellar individual careers they embarked on thereafter extended the path of innovation they had already forged together. Artists couldn’t help but pen lyrics in tribute to the band, but, more interestingly, the band members themselves also couldn’t stop writing about each other, quietly conceding that they, too, felt the everlasting impact of their work.
But why waste time listening to me talk about their impact when you can hear what some of the all-time greats had to say? For, let’s face it, no one was shy.
The best song about each member of The Beatles:
John Lennon: ‘Edge Of Seventeen’ – Stevie Nicks
There’s no shortage of music written about John Lennon. Even before his life was cut short, his cultural influence was heralded as almost biblical, and his day-to-day life was the subject of scrutiny and admiration. In terms of the subject matter, most of the former came from his songwriting partner McCartney in the wake of The Beatles split.
Before they were labelled ‘diss tracks’, the two Liverpudlians aired their grievances for one another over song, musing on the various creative and personal wedges that were driven between them. McCartney’s ‘Too Many People’ was a pretty scathing take on what he thought was Lennon and Yoko Ono’s obnoxiousness, and Lennon was pretty swift to form his own responses—which we’ll get into later.
But such is Lennon’s influence that despite being the outright icon she is, Stevie Nicks’ most famous solo effort is an ode to him. Boasting one of rock’s most infectious riffs and rousing rhythm sections, ‘Edge of Seventeen’ saw Nicks explain the theory of the ‘white-winged dove’ and its symbolism as the spirit leaving the body.
“I was in Australia when John Lennon was shot,” Nicks once explained. “Everybody was devastated. I didn’t know John Lennon, but I knew Jimmy Iovine, who worked with John quite a bit in the ’70s and heard all the loving stories that Jimmy told about him. When I came back to Phoenix, I started to write this song.”
Paul McCartney: ‘How Can You Sleep’ – John Lennon
So, when Macca had a pop at Lennon for doing “a lot of preaching” in his 1971 track ‘Too Many People’, Lennon whipped his gloves off and responded with a rather cutting, “The only thing you done was yesterday / And since you’ve gone you’re just another day”.
“I wasn’t really feeling that vicious at the time,” Lennon explained to Playboy in 1980. “But I was using my resentment toward Paul to create a song, let’s put it that way.”
Naturally, given the salaciousness of Lennon’s press coverage, he was continually asked about the reference to his former songwriting partner to a point where he felt it necessary to downplay it, most likely in a bid to foster some genuine appreciation for the song. But, any idea that the track boasts anything other than vitriol towards Macca is refuted by a studio outtake of the song where Lennon infamously spat out the line, “Tell me, how do you sleep, you c**t?”
George Harrison: ‘Friends To Go’ – Paul McCartney
Not to downplay Harrison’s nuance, but as the most affable member of the iconic four-piece, tracks about him are relatively scarce. Somewhat living in the shadows of McCartney and Lennon, he never received quite the acclaim, nor did he catch any strays in the war of words that ensued after the band’s break-up.
While Ringo Starr penned the track ‘Never Without You’ as a tribute to Harrison after his death, the subtle work of Macca’s tribute song stands out as a finer piece of work. Knowing that Harrison would be gushed about by plenty, McCartney instead penned a track that channelled all of his sensibilities. A soft-rock melody gives way to the sort of understated vocals Harrison was quietly worshipped for.
Explaining the track, McCartney told BBC Radio 6 Music, “The funny thing about it was I felt as if I was almost George Harrison during the writing of that song. I just got this feeling, this is George. So it was like I was writing, I was like George, writing one of his songs. So I just wrote it, it just wrote itself very easily ’cause it wasn’t even me writing it.”
Ringo Starr: ‘Ringo, I Love You’ – Cher
Given Cher’s calm and unimpressed disposition, it’s hard to imagine her writing something so forthright about someone. But in her debut single—yes, debut single—Cher confessed her love for the mop-topped drummer in a song that carried little to no ambiguity.
Adopting the sonic conventions of early doo-wop Beatles music, Cher sings: “Ringo, I love you, Yeah yeah yeah, More than anything in this world, I wanna be your girl, Please let me hold you, Ringo, they say yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll never get to hold ya tight, But still I dream of you at night, Please let me hold your hand.”
Ultimately, the single flopped for Cher, who, in retrospect, is probably quite relieved. Sonically, it was very much of the time, but perhaps her rather left-field choice of Beatle to lust after was what prevented the singalongs.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.