u/stumpkat

I'm well-versed on all the Beatles' solo work in the 70s. But once John is killed, I have paid far less attention to what they were doing from the 80s-present. Particularly Paul. Most of the Paul stuff I listen to is from the 70s or Flowers in the Dirt, which is my favorite post-1980 solo album of his, but I've started to extend out and listen to other stuff too now that Boys of Dungeon Lane dropped.

So my question to you is this: if I'm looking for specific individual songs that he has done that sound the most like the Beatles, or his more classically-influenced type of writing (think Long and Winding Road, Blackbird, and Yesterday), what are some songs that you would recommend I check out?

My faves so far are: Calico Skies, Beautiful Night, Somedays, and You Tell Me. And most of Flowers in the Dirt.

Any suggestions for other songs would be welcome. Thanks in advance!

I've been down a Beatles rabbit hole lately and stumbled onto a thought experiment that keeps growing the more I think about it.

What if John Lennon wasn't shot in 1980? I know lots of people have speculated in the past, but I have been doing more thinking about it after reading more books and interviews and watching newer documentaries that have been released in the past 5-10 years.

I think that a tour would've been less likely than just a bunch of friends getting together in the studio again to record some stuff. Maybe it would be more intimate and not so experimental, but I think it would've happened sooner or later - perhaps not in the 80s, but by the time the Anthology rolled around in the early 90s.

Think about how different the Anthology would've felt if all four surviving members worked on it? It would've been a celebration of the Beatles instead of a more somber retrospective by the three left alive. It saddens me to think that John is basically the patron saint of Missed Reunions....

A lot of people think a tour would've happened, but I don't think so. I think they were done with the crowds and the Beatlemania even though it didn't exist in the 90s anymore. I go back to George and the Traveling Wilburys and I think that he was trying to re-create a space where a group of friends could just relax and make music together and it would be FUN! George was not having fun in 1969 with the Beatles. He was over it.

But in the 90s, he smiled again playing with Dylan and Lynne. I think Paul tried to do the same thing with Wings in the 70s (based on the Man on the Run documentary I recently viewed). John was getting more personal and less musical and died before he had the chance to try the same strategy. But they were all obviously interested in playing with a group of guys, being creative, and having FUN again.

What do you think?