Top 20 Solo Beatles ’80s Songs

The ’80s were marked by dizzying highs and catastrophic lows for ex-members of the Beatles.

The horrifying first year of the decade saw John Lennon score his first U.K. No. 1 album in almost 10 years before being murdered by a deranged fan. Paul McCartney released his worst album ever but rallied late in the ’80s amid a new songwriting partnership with Elvis Costello.

George Harrison experienced his own ups and downs. He took a long break after 1982’s Gone Troppo failed to even chart in the U.K. then rallied with platinum-selling albums under his own name and with his Traveling Wilburys supergroup. Ringo Starr was actually dropped by his label before getting sober and founding his long-running All-Starr Band late in the ’80s.

READ MORE: John Lennon’s Top ’70s Songs

Lennon died before he could release a planned companion album to 1980’s Double Fantasy, leaving his widow Yoko Ono to complete 1984’s Milk and Honey. (She also oversaw a pair of archival projects, Live in New York City and Menlove Ave., both from 1986.) There were a few partial reunions in his absence, including “Take It Away” (featuring McCartney, Starr and former Beatles producer George Martin), “When We Was Fab” (Harrison and Starr) and, most memorably, “All Those Years Ago” (Harrison, McCartney and Starr).

Yet the group most associated with the era will always be Harrison’s new star-studded amalgam. His rebound had also been spurred by a new collaborator, as Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra fame co-produced his comeback, 1987’s Cloud Nine. He then rounded out an incredible Traveling Wilburys lineup that also included Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty.

Despite unspeakable tragedy and some very notable stumbles, these former bandmates somehow ended up notching their fair share of successes. We return to the best of them in the following list of Top 20 Solo Beatles ’80s Songs:

No. 20. “Stranglehold,” Paul McCartney
From: Press to Play (1986)

This song’s positioning at the lead track on the sometimes exhaustingly mechanized Press to Play should have had Paul McCartney brought in on false-advertising charges. With “Stranglehold,” however, he finds a smart little reed-honking groove, then barks out the lyrics with a whiskey shot of vigor. The result is very nearly a “Jet”-level anthem, despite his penchant for getting lost in Fairlight synth presets elsewhere. Next, McCartney would tear through the oldies-filled Choba B CCCP and finally start to get his mojo back.

No. 19. “Wreck of the Hesperus,” George Harrison
From: Cloud Nine (1987)

The title of this sharp and snarky rocker, originally found in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, became a colloquial term used by the Brits in reference to a disheveled appearance. That opened the door for a winking glance at George Harrison’s newfound status as a dinosaur rocker: “I’m not the wreck of the Hesperus,” “feel more like the Wall of China,” “getting old as Methuselah,” etc. Ringo Starr was, of course, the perfect choice to drum up a sense of humorous self-effacement.

No. 18. “Not Such a Bad Boy,” Paul McCartney
From: Give My Regards to Broadstreet (1984)

On an album that would represent the nadir not just of this decade but of his career (yes, McCartney re-recorded Beatles songs; no, that wasn’t a good idea), “Not Such a Bad Boy” arrived like a bolt of lightning out of the blue. At this point, McCartney had scarcely attempted a rock song since the final edition of Wings flew apart, and this flinty aside about a reformed rebel now reduced to kitchen-pass adventures shows just what an awful loss that had been. He wouldn’t let loose like this again until Run Devil Run.

No. 17. “Unknown Delight,” George Harrison
From: Gone Troppo (1983)

This LP was also defined by the use of then-hip synths, but Gone Troppo actually plumbed some notable emotional depths as Harrison spoke to a desire to be part of smaller things after the big things have let you down. (In this way, it could be favorably compared with the pastoral joys of John Lennon’s earlier Double Fantasy.) Proof can be found in “Unknown Delight,” a lovingly crafted track dedicated to his son Dhani. This song remains a miniature triumph on one of Harrison’s most up-tempo, if instantly dated, releases.

No. 16. “One of These Days,” Paul McCartney
From: McCartney II (1980)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the strongest tracks on this goofball experimental dud of an album finds McCartney at work with an acoustic guitar. Sure, he double tracks, and weirdly synthesizes, his voice but that’s the extent of the adornments to be found on the quietly effective “One of These Days.” “Quietly effective” may sound like a back-handed compliment. But in the ’80s, and on an LP that found McCartney focused so completely on at-home doodles with a new-fangled keyboard, that counts as high praise.

No. 15. “This Is Love,” George Harrison
From: Cloud Nine (1987)

“Got My Mind Set on You” became a chart-topping smash, and “When We Was Fab” was the album’s sentimental favorite. But “This Is Love,” with one of Harrison’s most openhearted vocals, should have been the hit. Credit in part goes to Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne, whose sonic fingerprints are everywhere. He also co-produced the album, sang background vocals, played bass, guitar and keyboards, and co-wrote three songs with Harrison – including “This Is Love.” The results are simply infectious.

No. 14. “I Don’t Wanna Face It,” John Lennon
From: Milk and Honey (1984)

A still-resonant tune with biting introspection, “I Don’t Wanna Face It” begins with the smeared sound of a tape machine engaging — this powerful reminder that Milk and Honey includes the incomplete, posthumous recordings of a murdered genius. Even so, you’ll find that all of the parts are still there in this half-chiseled monument to creative rebirth for Lennon: He works in antithesis, throws away a bit of ageless wisdom, acts a little silly. It was more evidence that Lennon’s muse was still intact, despite five years away.

No. 7. “Figure of Eight,” Paul McCartney
From: Flowers in the Dirt (1989)

McCartney had a very McCartney theme (“better to love than give in to hate“) and the creative momentum to cut this track live. You hear it in his rough-hewn vocal. But then co-producers Trevor Horn and Steve Lipson kept tinkering with the track in an effort to “modernize” its sound. McCartney pushed back and some elements were changed, but he was never completely happy with the results. It’s a shame because no song on Flowers in the Dirt more completely reanimated his former hit-making sound.

No. 13. “That’s What It Takes”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)

Cowritten with Lynne and Gary Wright, “That’s What It Takes” sounds like the completely realized mid-’70s hit Harrison never quite managed. Many of his collaborators on this song dated to that era – beginning with Wright, who’d been collaborating with Harrison since All Things Must Pass. Eric Clapton, who takes a quickly elevating second solo, had been friends even longer. Lynne admittedly adds some late-’80s polish amid Harrison’s nicely understated turn on slide, but not enough to disturb the throwback vibe.

No. 12. “I’m Losing You,” John Lennon
From: Double Fantasy (1980)

Double Fantasy was sometimes more gossamer than necessarily great. Lennon was, at his zenith, a scratched-and-dented treasure, funny but all edge, and too often seemed to have settled into middle-aged domesticity on this LP — both figuratively and, by employing the prevailing pop veneer, literally. That’s blown apart by “I’m Losing You,” which boasts a familiar kinetic grit. Lennon was beginning to understand what was ahead — a quieter, more settled life — but there was fight still left in him.

No. 11. “Got My Mind Set On You,” George Harrison
From: Cloud Nine (1987)

George Harrison discovered James Ray’s version of this song while browsing record shops during a 1963 visit with his sister in rural Illinois – months before the Beatles first appeared on Ed Sullivan’s show. He didn’t return to “Got My Mind Set on You” for decades, but Harrison’s timing was impeccable. Powered along by a stomping Jim Keltner drum sample, this thrillingly modern update became Harrison’s third No. 1 single just as his old band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

No. 10. “Nobody Told Me,” John Lennon
From: Milk and Honey (1984)

Lennon always had a way with call-and-response lyrics. “Nobody Told Me” traced directly back to the sharp wit and word-play whimsy of his late-Beatles period. So, of course, the single surged into the Top 20 – but Lennon was already gone. Yoko Ono completed Milk and Honey, with its now-familiar shared song sequencing, after he’d been brutally murdered. A heartbreaking demo of Lennon singing “Grow Old Along With Me” found elsewhere on the LP made clear just what she’d lost.

No. 9. “You Want Her Too,” Paul McCartney
From: Flowers in the Dirt (1989)

It seemed McCartney’s spell of ’80s disappointments could only be broken with a new collaborator in the vein of John Lennon. McCartney found that person in Elvis Costello, who helped him back to the charts — and, more importantly, back to respectability. With its straight-razor wit and sharp-elbowed vocals, this duet plays out like a canny update of earlier Beatles successes like “We Can Work it Out” and “I’ve Got a Feeling,” but without feeling derivative. Then it all ends, hilariously, with a crashing big-band coda.

No. 8. “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy),” John Lennon
From Double Fantasy (1980)

Lennon began writing this tender song well before sessions for Double Fantasy began, alternating between the song’s titles while celebrating the househusband era of parenting his son, Sean. Original home demos included draft lyrics that were later discarded. None became more poignant after Lennon’s December 1980 murder than this: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

No. 7. “When We Was Fab”
From: Cloud Nine (1987)

Poking some good-natured fun at the Beatles’ Summer of Love-era excesses, “When We Was Fab” allowed Jeff Lynne to play every psychedelic card in the deck – adding strings, backward tapes and, of course, a sitar. The delightful video included sideman Starr and an actor miming McCartney’s left-handed bass while wearing a walrus costume. Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall also passes by at one point with a copy of Lennon’s 1971 album Imagine. All of it felt like a bittersweet reverie, even then.

No. 6. “Watching the Wheels”
From: Double Fantasy (1980)

Ironically, this paean to doing absolutely nothing was originally titled “Emotional Wreck.” Later, Lennon began calling it “I’m Crazy.” Neither hinted at where “Watching the Wheels” was headed as Lennon explained why he stepped off a music-industry merry-go-round which required an annual album and tour. This same laconic rebel spirit carried over to the recording session, where Lennon had a street person play the dulcimer.

No. 5. “Handle With Care,” George Harrison
From: The Traveling Wilburys’ Vol. 1 (1988)

Harrison’s smash hit about sly resiliency was originally recorded as a throwaway B-side, until his label intervened. He called up Jeff Lynne, who was then working with Roy Orbison. They arranged to use Bob Dylan’s studio, then Tom Petty got involved when Harrison stopped by to retrieve a guitar. All of sudden, one of rock’s greatest supergroups was born. Warner Bros. refused to bury their first song on the back of Harrison’s “This Is Love” single. Lucky us.

No. 4. “Take It Away,” Paul McCartney
From: Tug of War (1982)

Celebrated at the time as a partial Beatles reunion, this patented McCartney pop confection boasts a deceptively intricate bass, a feverish horn counterpoint and an indecipherable narrative. So, in other words, “Take It Away” could have emerged from Wings at their chart-topping peak. 10cc alum Eric Stewart’s presence apparently encouraged McCartney to dabble in some of that group’s famous layering of background vocals. “Take It Away” ends with a soaring loop of sighs from a thousand Pauls, Erics and Linda McCartneys.

No. 3. “Woman,” John Lennon
From: Double Fantasy (1980)

Lennon so rarely returned to core approaches from the Beatles era that it gave new gravitas to rare nostalgic returns like 1974’s unabashedly psychedelic “#9 Dream.” But no Lennon solo song ever had the throwback pop smarts of “Woman,” Lennon’s first posthumously released single. He knew it, too. While recording his vocals, Lennon mused: “I feel like I’m still in the f—ing Beatles with this track.”

No. 2. “All Those Years Ago,” George Harrison
From: Somewhere in England (1981)

Under label pressure, Harrison provided some late-session replacement songs that included this No. 2 hit, a requiem for the late John Lennon. His awful murder sparked an unlikely reunion that included Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Beatles producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick. Even Denny Laine and Linda McCartney from Wings were there. “All Those Years Ago” became so incandescent that it almost – but not quite – make up for the dreck found elsewhere on Somewhere in England.

No. 1. “(Just Like) Starting Over,” John Lennon
From: Double Fantasy (1980)

Lennon once again achieved astounding success by cramming song scraps together, following “I Am the Walrus,” “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” and “God.” Released just before his death, “(Just Like) Starting Over” was actually a compendium of three ideas, made complete in the studio with a fun throwback ’50s feel. Lennon told engineer Lee DeCarlo he wanted to sound like “Elvis Vincent,” a mash-up of Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent. He was clearly having the time of his life – and, for a while, so were we.