Paul McCartney’s 20 Best Songs After Age 50
Paul McCartney has spent 50 of his 69 years making sweet, sweet music and he's not ready to call it quits yet. Just this week he released a new album of jazz-pop standards (for a taste of Kisses on the Bottom, you can stream Paul’s in-studio live performance Thursday night).
Even if his new album skews toward the old-timey, Macca is anything but past his prime. We decided to take a look at some of his songs that challenge the notion of McCartney as the “cute Beatle." Here are 20 songs released since Paul passed the 50 year mark that show he's making some of the most risky, vital, and hard-rocking music of his career.
20. "Big Boys Bickering": This environmental protest song finds the typically polite Paul using the F-word… seven times! Don’t mess with Mother Nature’s Son, apparently. [Off the Ground: The Complete Works, 1993]
19. “My Valentine”: Backed by Diana Krall’s jazz band and assisted by Clapton, McCartney crafted this original song for his latest covers-heavy album. It’s a melancholy ballad that Chet Baker would have been happy to have been sad enough to sing. [Kisses on the Bottom, 2012]
18. “It’s So Easy”: Covering his teenage hero Buddy Holly, Macca hoots and hollers on this barnstorming cover like he’s lost his mind… or maybe just his dentures. [Appears on Rave On Buddy Holly compilation, 2011]
17. "Free Now": Using unreleased studio chatter from the Beatles and employing the Super Furry Animals as his helper monkeys, McCartney released an experimental album of patched-together electronica, reminding us he takes far more risks than his detractors give him credit for. [Liverpool Sound Collage, 2000]
16. "Riding Into Jaipur": Recorded around the time George Harrison was dying, it seems likely that this gentle Eastern-inflected tune was Paul's tribute to his departing mate. [Driving Rain, 2001]
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