The Solo Paul McCartney Beatles Album That Never Was

In late 1965, in the wake of the success of the 'Yesterday' 45, Capitol Records had an idea to put together a solo McCartney album. In this video we uncover evidence about this intreguing proposal as well as put together a track-list and even some cover designs for the project. Could its release have meant the end of The Beatles?

Many thanks to Jeff Uleau for the fantasy cover art.

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[Julio.H.P.]

It is mentioned during the Beatles Anthology documentary, but Paul said he did not remember such a suggestion and if so, he would've turn it down... which is consistent with the fact that Paul tried very hard to keep the Beatles together for the last few years of the band's existence. So a solo career is not something he ambitioned.

[Vince_Tasciotti]

It would have been a bad idea to release a solo Paul McCartney Beatles album. The royalties would have gone to Lennon - McCartney as songwriters and George Harrison and Ringo Starr left out entirely. A release like this would have stirred the pot a little too much.

[johnbrock]

I think 1965 would have been too early for a solo album, but always thought they could have saved the group by doing solo albums after Let it Be. Each member could have gone off and completed their solo projects and then come back together once in a while to do a Beatles album. George implied this idea in a conversation with John in the Get Back film.

[dreammachine]

I always dug "I'm down", one of Paul's finest rockerso

[stevekirk]

A double album compilation with 1 side consigned to each member of the band might have been quite interesting. Ringo's side with perhaps "Goodnight" at the end would have been surprisingly strong. No... I'm just looking forward to whatever gets released next. When you get to my age, you just hope they come around a bit quicker.

[jasonpp]

Brian Wilson released Caroline No as a solo single, around the time of Pet Sounds, which also featured the song.

[joedepoto]

Andrew that period correct Sears Hi-Fi price tag in the thumbnail sold me on this video!😮

[EricSchultz-zshz]

I like your videos, and the hypothetical album is very imaginative. I especially like the front and back cover designs. For the rocking side of Paul, I certainly would have included "I'm Down, " which is a great rocker. The Beatles themselves considered it good enough to play on their final live appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, one day before the Shea Stadium concert (where they also played "I'm Down").

[Toast]

So as this was a Capitol idea, I think it would have been half originals, half covers. Had this gone ahead, I think Paul would have recorded a bunch of the songs he and John had given away along with a bunch of covers that he liked. John, George and Ringo would have recorded it with Paul and given themselves pseudonyms and the four would have had a laugh over it. I see the track list being something like this:

1. Yesterday (Lennon/McCartney)
2. That Means a Lot (Lennon/McCartney)
3. Besame Mucho
4. Like Dreamers Do (Lennon/McCartney)
5. She Said Yeah

6. It's For You (Lennon/McCartney)
7. All Shook Up
8. Woman (Lennon/McCartney)
9. Blue Moon of Kentucky
10. Love of the Loved (Lennon/McCartney)
11. Honey Hush

I think as they had "That Means a Lot" finished, that would have gone on the album. Most US audiences would not have been aware of the songs John and Paul wrote for Cilla Black and other Epstein managed acts, so I think those tracks would have been recorded with Paul singing lead and then the boys would have gone ahead with recording Rubber Soul.

[LNERFlyingScotsman]

Should be noted that here in the US, David and Jonathan's version of Michelle was much bigger than the Overlanders.

[remixandkaraoke]

Good track list! I also added "Thinks We Said Today, " "Can't Buy Me Love, " "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Long Tall Sally"to make a 14 song album and it's still only 32 minutes in total.

[anthonyvigliotti]

Outstanding video, Andrew! Kudos to you for finding the Dexter memo. Wow!

[NewCreatures]

I will be surprised if anybody scrolls down to this comment and reads it, but... Paul had a batch of recordings he could have used in 1965. There is a recording of "A Love For You" recorded back then, filled with that fantastic fuzz bass sound that is typical of 'Rubber Soul'. It differs from the version released on the latest edition of 'Ram' in that there is no electric keyboard in the '65 version, and Linda McCartney didn't sing back-up in that version. (BTW, this version was released with overdubs, in 2002 on the soundtrack, "The In-Laws")
There was also "That Means A Lot", as heard on Anthology 2. While the Beatles rejected this one, Paul could have collaborated with George Martin, made all of the decisions and created something delicious out of it. If Anthology is any indication, the other Beatles probably wouldn't have cared.
As others have already commented, "I'm Down" would have been a prime candidate for this LP.
For the record, when the Beatles (meaning, Paul as soloist) played Yesterday in Japan, Paul was given sole credit for the song, and was allowed to play solo as the rest of the band exited the stage. So the other Beatles already regarded this song as a Paul McCartney solo effort.
I don't think it would have hurt the band had a McCartney solo LP popped up in '65. Sure, they would have been miffed, maybe even Paul himself, but Capitol was used to doing things without the band's approval, so they probably could have gotten away with it.

[Man_of_Oil]

this channel never fails to deliver fresh, quality Beatles content. Seriously the best there is on YT!

[mcarp]

In a similar vein, I know some countries (possibly Mexico) released EP's featuring individual Beatles, such as Ringo singing _Yellow Submarine, Octopus's Garden, With A Little Help From My Friends_ and maybe _Act Naturally_ or _Boys._ And of course, in 1967 or 1968 Paul toyed with the idea of a solo album of his experimental stuff, called _Paul McCartney Goes Too Far._ John loved that title and urged him to do it, but of course he didn't.

[tonyfox]

Mccartney did eventually become the first Beatle to release a solo album with "The Family Way" soundtrack with music composed by Paul McCartney on January 6th, 1967.

[EddieG]

If you're doing a "rocker" side, its impossible to end it with anything other than I'm Down, which could arguably be considered as one of the first punk tracks ever.

[davidtoups]

Another great video Andrew! Every one of your videos is like taking a course in advanced "Beatleology". I always learn something new from them!

[barrypickering]

Yet again Andrew you’ve delivered more wonderful & insightful content. The effort you put into the creative styling is the best out there. I can’t wait for the next nugget!

[gnukev]

This is a very interesting video. I was a lucky American kid in the 1960's whose father was an audiophile and who would bring home the Parlophone (UK) versions of Beatles albums for me and my brother. We had a different take on what constituted a "real" Beatles album than what our friends thought. I was a little too young to appreciate the earliest Beatles albums but by 1965, I had seen the movie "Help!" and was deeply affected by Beatlemania. (I got to see the Beatles penultimate concert performance on 8/28/66 at Dodger's Stadium in LA.) I was particularly aware of the differences between the UK and the US versions of "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" and thought the UK versions were vastly superior. To this day, I think many Americans don't appreciate the song, "Drive My Car" because it was omitted from the American version of "Rubber Soul". Clearly, Capitol thought the American audience would like the country-tinged "I've Just Seen a Face" better than "Drive My Car" and opened the album with it instead of DMC. This was possible because they had left "I've Just Seen a Face" off "Help!", where it originally appeared in the UK. But unfortunately, by omitting "Drive My Car" from "Rubber Soul", Capitol changed the whole feel of the album for Americans. The Beatles were big fans of American R&B and Motown and successfully covered several of these songs, particularly "Twist and Shout", "Please Mr. Postman" and "Long Tall Sally". I've always held that by calling the album "Rubber Soul", the Beatles were making a play-on-words, implying that with their original songs on "Rubber Soul" like "Drive My Car", "You Won't See Me", "The Word" and "Think For Yourself", they had actually written some "R&B" songs on par with their American counterparts. What I find most strange with Capitol's "bastardization" of Beatles albums is what they did to "Revolver". The three songs they omitted from the UK version were all Lennon songs. ("I'm Only Sleeping", "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Dr. Robert"). This left Lennon singing lead on only 2 songs. ("She Said, She Said" and "Tomorrow Never Knows"). Harrison uncharacteristically sang lead on 3 songs, Ringo got one and McCartney sang lead on all the rest. I always wondered how Lennon felt about his greatly reduced presence on Revolver in the US or if he even cared. Surely he was aware of it and how this contributed to the erosion of his preeminent position as the "leader" of the early Beatles. Finally, starting with their next album, Sgt. Pepper, the UK and US versions of Beatles albums ceased to have different songs.