The Solo Songs Paul McCartney Isn’t Playing in Concert

Paul McCartney has written or co-written 32 chart-topping singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 – including seven as a solo act and with Wings. His 24 total No. 1 songs in the U.K. are more than any other artist.

He plays those a lot. In many cases, the best-known singles from his catalog became the most performed songs in concert – but not always. For every blockbuster like “Band on the Run,” “My Love” and “Maybe I’m Amazed,” there are surprising examples of McCartney regularly digging deeper into his solo material.

The least-played songs weren’t necessarily the worst, either. Some albums arrived when McCartney was off the road, so they never found their way to the stage.

READ MORE: Top 40 Paul McCartney ’70s Songs

For instance, McCartney didn’t tour between 1980, the same year former bandmate John Lennon was murdered, and his Tripping the Live Fantastic Tour in support of Flowers in the Dirt in 1989-90. During that quiet era, McCartney released 1982’s Tug of War, 1983’s Pipes of Peace, 1984’s Give My Regards to Broadstreet and 1986’s Press to Play.

A few tracks from Tug of War and Press to Play later filtered into McCartney’s set lists. But he has yet to return to Pipes of Peace or Give My Regards to Broadstreet, even though they were home to the international Top 10 hits “Say, Say, Say” and “No More Lonely Nights,” respectively.

Other songs have been played literally hundreds of times – in particular when you combine performances by McCartney as a solo act and performances with his ’70s-era band Wings. Using data from setlist.fm, we’ve crunched the numbers to determine the most and least played song live from every Paul McCartney album.

Album: McCartney III (2020)

Most played: “Women and Wives” (47)
Least played: “Slidin'” (1)

Deep into pandemic-era quarantines, McCartney decided to complete the third installment in a series of solo recordings that already included 1970’s McCartney and 1980’s McCartney II. Inspiration came from smaller things in that quiet, isolated time: The bluesy “Women and Wives” arrived while McCartney was reading a book on the Louisiana legend Lead Belly. McCartney sang the original with a harder, flatter tone while playing a bass that belonged to early Elvis Presley band member Bill Black. “Slidin'” has roots in a jam session that grew out of a soundcheck with his regular band in Dusseldorf, Germany. McCartney made an initial pass at the song during sessions for 2018’s Egypt Station.

 

Album: Egypt Station (2018)

Most played: “Come On to Me” (107)
Least played: “Happy With You” (1)

These two songs could not be more different. The thrice-married McCartney imagines himself as a youthful pickup artist on the frankly perfunctory rocker “Come On to Me,” originally released as a advance double-A side single with the far, far superior “I Don’t Know.” “Happy With You,” though undoubtedly slight, is a better song, too. Nobody conveys the comforts of everyday contentment quite like Paul McCartney.

 

Album: New (2013)

Most played: “Queenie Eye” (216)
Least played: “Appreciate” (1)

Well deserved, since “Queenie Eye” was the best song on New. Its ruminative orchestral opening, fizzy word play, nervy grooves and processed vocal point like a streaking arrow back to his late ’60s successes with George Martin and the rest of the Beatles. In a sign of just how confident this McCartney album is, there’s even a perfectly landed false ending. He then does what every Beatles trope says he should do: Start all over again, with a swirling chorus of vocals, a banging piano and a second sudden stop. Elsewhere, “Appreciate” works as a preview of the very modern experiments to come on 2020’s McCartney III.

 

Album: Memory Almost Full (2007)

Most played: “Dance Tonight” (226)
Least played: “Nod Your Head” (4)

Ironically, the last song written for McCartney’s deeply underrated Memory Almost Full became its most played. Nominated for a Grammy, “Dance Tonight” was a personal moment inspired by the exuberance of his young daughter. McCartney played every instrument. Described as a “little stompy rocker,” “Nod Your Head” served as a more light-hearted album-closer after a five song-medley (from “Vintage Clothes” to “The End of the End”) in which McCartney examines a life’s arc. “We thought we couldn’t leave everyone going, ‘Oh God, I’m not going to listen to that again,'” McCartney later joked.

 

Album: Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005)

Most played: “Follow Me” (44)
Least played: “At the Mercy,” “Riding to Vanity Fair” and “Too Much Rain” (1)

A complete return to form, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard wasn’t just one of the best Paul McCartney albums in ages. It’s one of the best ever. New producer Nigel Godrich helped McCartney get there by convincing him to scrap almost all of the early band-based versions of these songs in favor of a more settled solo approach. Godrich’s fingerprints are everywhere, from making McCartney slow down on “Riding to Vanity Fair” to the dark forces at work in “At the Mercy” and “Too Much Rain.” “Follow Me,” with its churchy “Let It Be”-type overtones, was one of the few early takes that survived. It was only played four more times than the Top 20 U.K. single “Fine Line” and the “Blackbird”-esque “Jenny Wren.”

 

Album: Driving Rain (2001)

Most played: “Your Loving Flame” (94)
Least played: “From a Lover to a Friend” (1)

Driving Rain made the Top 30 in the U.S., but finished at a paltry No. 46 in McCartney’s native U.K. “From a Lover to a Friend” was its highest charting single, a step back at No. 45 in the U.K. But this also marked the debut of guitarist Rusty Anderson and drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., two members of McCartney’s longest-standing band. “Your Loving Flame,” a rather generic love song for McCartney’s new wife, was played just two more times than runner-up “Lonely Road.” (Thankfully, he only performed the boring, surprisingly jingoistic “Freedom” some 55 times.) “From a Lover to a Friend,” on the other hand, boasts an fascinatingly irregular meter that McCartney chose to keep from his original demo.

 

Album: Flaming Pie (1997)

Most played: “Flaming Pie” (115)
Least played: “Beautiful Night,” “The World Tonight” and “Somedays” (1)

After spending much of the mid-’90s deep in the Beatles archives for the Anthology series, McCartney returned with an album dotted with references to the old days. The title of Flaming Pie was lifted from an old John Lennon quote. (Someone asked about the band name. “It came in a vision – a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, ‘From this day on you are Beatles with an A,'” Lennon told Mersey Beat in 1961.) “Beautiful Night” featured Ringo Starr and orchestration by George Martin and joined McCartney’s nervy rocker “The World Tonight” in the U.K. Top 30. Martin scored “Somedays,” too.

 

Album: On the Ground (1993)

Most played: “Hope of Deliverance” (101)
Least played: “Cosmically Conscious” (1)

The best songs from On the Ground (“Mistress and Maid,” “The Lovers That Never Were”) featured collaborative songwriting with turn-of-the-’90s songwriting partner Elvis Costello. Those were not the songs that were released as singles. U.K. fans dutifully sent the slight “Hope of Deliverance” into the Top 20 but the single couldn’t get past No. 83 on the Billboard chart. That was McCartney’s best finish during this cycle of singles. “Cosmically Conscious” began life as a raucous coda to the album-closing “C’mon People” before McCartney resurrected it during 2009’s Change Begins Within benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall.

 

Album: Flowers in the Dirt (1989)

Most played: “My Brave Face” (120)
Least played: “How Many People” and “Distractions” (2)

Costello brought a smart sense of history to his first songwriting sessions with McCartney. “My Brave Face” helped the Beatles star channel his former pop self, right down to the vintage bass. As with those old records, McCartney and Costello raced through recording “My Brave Face” in just two days. “How Many People,” with its somewhat questionable reggae vibe, quite obviously emerged from sessions with people not named Elvis Costello. On the other hand, “Distractions” features an intriguing arrangement from longtime Prince collaborator Clare Fischer.

 

Album: Press to Play (1986)

Most played: “Only Love Remains” (2)
Least played: “Stranglehold” (1)

The Hugh Padgham-produced Press to Play peaked at a solo worst No. 30 in the U.S., becoming his first ever not to at least reach gold certification. McCartney’s first single, the annoyingly mechanized “Press,” just missed the Billboard Top 20 – and it was all downhill from there. “Only Love Remains” didn’t reach the Billboard chart at all, though it became this LP’s second U.K. Top 40 single after “Press.” “Stranglehold” was the only other charting single in the U.S., and it stalled at No. 81. Still, the song represented the first frail flowering of a creative rebound, as McCartney sets a smart little reed-honking groove then barks out the lyrics with a whiskey-shot of vigor. He’d soon began a creative rebound with Costello.

 

Album: Tug of War (1982)

Most played: “Here Today” (475)
Least played: “Take It Away” and “Dress Me Up as a Robber” (1)

The tender, deeply personal “Here Today” closed out Side 1 of the first album McCartney issued after his childhood friend and collaborator John Lennon was killed by a deranged fan. The loss still clearly ran deep: McCartney wouldn’t begin playing “Here Today” on stage until 2001. “Take It Away” was pitched as a partial Beatles reunion, with Starr on drums and Martin at the mixing board. But this patented McCartney pop confection, with its deceptively intricate bass, feverish horn counterpoint and indecipherable narrative, really speaks more to the band that followed: “Take It Away” could have emerged from Wings at their chart-topping peak. As for “Dress Me Up as a Robber,” one performance seems like enough.

 

Album: McCartney II (1980)

Most played: “Coming Up” (367 solo; 20 with Wings)
Least played: “Temporary Secretary” (82 solo)

The original version arrived as part of a largely improvised solo synth experiment, with tinny vocals courtesy of a vari-speed tape machine. U.K. fans sent this take to No. 2, while American disc jockeys turned the single over to play Wings’ B-side version from their final concert. Recalling the band’s previous success with an update of “Maybe I’m Amazed,” Wings produced the bigger hit as “Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)” went to No. 1 in the U.S. Meanwhile, “Temporary Secretary” finally made a concert debut in 2016. McCartney said he returned to it after a DJ made the song popular in dance clubs across Europe.

 

Album: Back to the Egg (1979)

Most played: “Spin It On” (20 with Wings, 1 solo);
Least played: “Rockestra Theme” (2 with Wings)

Wings was still touring behind this LP when McCartney got busted for drugs in Japan. He ended up spending nine days in jail. McCartney then returned home, completed McCartney II, and Wings never issued another album. Most of the material from Back to the Egg, including the funky single “Arrow Through Me,” was played 20 times during the final concerts by Wings – except for “Spin It On.” McCartney returned to it once, moving the B-side to the Top 20 hit “Getting Closer” past the others. “Rockestra Theme,” a Grammy-winning supergroup recording featuring Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Ronnie Lane, John Bonham and others, has likely remained off the set list simply because of its massive scale.

 

Album: London Town (1978)

Most played: “Mull of Kintyre” (21 with Wings; 41 solo)
Least played: “I’ve Had Enough” (20 with Wings)

The most played song from the London Town sessions – and the era’s best-selling single – was left off the original track listing for reasons that are difficult to fathom. (Later editions rectified the problem.) “Mull of Kintyre” was written with Wings bandmate Denny Laine in tribute to the peninsula in western Scotland where McCartney’s farm is located, and recorded in a converted barn on the property with the local Campbeltown Pipers. As expected, the results were far, far more popular in the U.K., where “Mull of Kintyre” held the No. 1 spot for nine weeks while selling more than two million copies. The single didn’t even chart in America. “I’ve Had Enough,” a tough little Billboard Top 40 rocker, fared much better.

 

Album: Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976)

Most played: “Let ‘Em In” (314 solo, 43 with Wings)
Least played: “Cook of the House” (19 with Wings)

McCartney rushed out Wings at the Speed of Sound ahead of his first U.S. tour since the Beatles’ final bow in 1966. The results were occasionally feather light, as with “Let ‘Em In,” but also irresistible: The LP shot to the top of the charts over seven non-consecutive weeks while producing consecutive gold-selling Top 5 singles. (Some of those found knocking at the front door were real friends and relatives and some weren’t. Ironically, McCartney later married Nancy Shevell, who has both a “Sister Susie” and a “Brother Jon.”) Unfortunately, McCartney gave the mic over to everyone else during this head-scratchingly democratic era – and that included Linda McCartney for the pretty embarrassing “Cook of the House.”

 

Album: Venus and Mars (1975)

Most played: “Letting Go” (203 solo, 67 with Wings)
Least played: “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” (35 solo; 67 with Wings)

“Letting Go” just missed the Top 40 in the U.K.; it barely crept into the Billboard Top 40. Yet McCartney returns to “Letting Go” more than any other track from Venus and Mars – even the No. 1 smash “Listen to What the Man Said” (78 solo, 68 with Wings). They couldn’t be more different: McCartney explored that narrow space between love and obsession in the strikingly dark “Letting Go,” even as the pop-perfect “Listen What the Man Said” became the bigger hit. Meanwhile, “Venus and Mars/Rock Show” reflects this LP’s settled atmosphere. McCartney had now established himself away from the Beatles, so there was suddenly time to look toward the stars. “Rock Show” then provided a winking travelogue to bring fans back home.

 

Album: Band on the Run (1973)

Most played: “Band on the Run” (712 solo, 87 with Wings)
Least played: “Picasso’s Last Words [Drink to Me]” (1 solo)

No surprise here. Can Paul McCartney even have concert without the thrillingly episodic title song from Band on the Run? “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)” emerged from a dinner party hosted by actor Dustin Hoffman during sessions for the album. In a friendly challenge, Hoffman handed him a copy of Time magazine and asked McCartney to write a song using a random article. McCartney found a quote attributed to Picasso from just before he died – and started singing this song’s chorus. Hoffman could only exclaim: ‘He’s doing it! He’s doing it! Come and listen!'”

 

Album: Red Rose Speedway (1973)

Most played: “My Love” (230 solo; 123 with Wings)
Least played: “Big Barn Bed” (8 solo)

Sure, McCartney’s “My Love” lyrics are saccharine (and the strings even more so), but he just sells it. Then Wings guitarist Henry McCullough steps forward to complete “My Love” with a searing solo turn that he had to fight hard to include. “Big Barn Bed” is another example, and perhaps the best one, of how McCartney could put everything he had into a song – except a proper conclusion. Thankfully, the first half of this is so perfect, so joyous and loved filled, that it carries Wings past another bad end.

 

Album: Wild Life (1971)

Most played: “Wild Life” (54 with Wings; 1 solo)
Least played: “Love Is Strange” (1 solo)

The title track from Wild Life helped introduce McCartney’s new band, and they regularly performed this song in concert. At least, early on. The LP was a critical bomb and McCartney quickly moved on: He only performed “Wild Life” one more time, according to setlist.fm. He’s likewise performed “Love Is Strange” just once. In fact, the most played track from Wild Life since Wings split is the delicately involving “When the Wind Is Blowing.” McCartney has returned to it twice.

 

Album: Ram (1971)

Most played: “Ram On” (158 solo)
Least played: “3 Legs” (1 solo)

McCartney used “Ram On” as a recurring motif on Ram, then repurposed its closing lines – “who’s that coming round that corner? Who’s that coming round that bend?” – in the first stanza of “Big Barn Bed,” the opener on Wings’ Red Rose Speedway in 1973. (He’d earlier used the pseudonym Paul Ramon to remain anonymous on an early Beatles tour and as a sideman with Steve Miller.) “3 Legs” was inspired by a drawing of a friendly canine drawn by McCartney’s daughter Heather; the original demo had been titled “A Dog Is Here.”

 

Album: McCartney (1970)

Most played: “Maybe I’m Amazed” (513 solo; 133 with Wings)
Least played: “Junk” and “The Lovely Linda” (1 solo)

“Maybe I’m Amazed” is not just the most played song from Paul McCartney’s first proper solo album. It’s also the most played song by Wings, the group he formed a year later in 1971. Their live version resurrected a treasured deep cut as “Maybe I’m Amazed” became a Top 10 hit following its release on 1977’s Wings Over America. “Junk” actually dated back to McCartney’s days with the Beatles, though the song never moved past the demo phase.

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