Paul McCartney's 10 favourite songwriters of all time (2024)

“One of my biggest thrills for me still is sitting down with a guitar or a piano and just out of nowhere trying to make a song happen.” — Paul McCartney

It’s no secret that most of The Beatles’ songs were co-written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, at least on paper. But if we were to look at McCartney’s prowess as a songwriter separately, there’s no better way than to list his countless achievements throughout his life.

Both with and without The Beatles, Mccartney has written over 150 charting songs and is credited with writing more than 32 number-one hits. He has won 18 Grammys and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. That’s without considering the widespread critical acclaim most of these tracks have enjoyed.

Though The Beatles’ legacy perhaps precedes McCartney’s solo work, his time with The Beatles was a phase in his long and exciting musical journey. A self-taught musician, McCartney believed more in his instincts than the theoretical rules of music. He has even said in a number of interviews that there isn’t any proper way to write a perfect song, and even if it does exist, he is unaware of it. In fact, the absence of a map is what intrigues him the most about composing a song.

If there’s one artist’s opinion on songwriting we take seriously, it’s Paul McCartney’s. That’s why, given that he’s shared such superlatives about the ten names below, their work should be of paramount importance to any music lover.

Paul McCartney’s favourite songwriters:

John Lennon

Among McCartney’s inspirations, the first name on the list is John Lennon‘s. Lennon and McCartney were, in fact, a duo long before the Beatles were formed. McCartney had joined Lennon’s amateur teen band called The Quarrymen after they caught each other performing at a village fete. Macca gave Lennon a backstage show that he would never forget, and The Quarrymen later evolved into The Beatles.

At the beginning of the band, the pair worked like a well-oiled machine, writing some of the most memorable songs in pop history. As they naturally separated during the band’s rise to prominence, choosing to write mainly on their own, the two writers came to the studio with most of their songs somewhat formed. It meant McCartney got to witness Lennon’s writing from a new perspective.

Elucidating on the songwriting procedure of the duo, he said, “When we worked together on something, often what would happen is that whoever would be the creator of this song would bring in the first verse, and then we’d sit down, and we’d take it from there. Little things he did were brilliant.”

George Harrison

During a chat with Jarvis co*cker at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and Culture, McCartney revealed how much he admired all of his “fellow Beatles” to wild applause: “John [Lennon], who was pretty cool, and George [Harrison] and Ringo [Starr]. Having worked with John so one-on-one, I got to see his [songs] before the world. I’m a big fan.”

George Harrison had to be among McCartney’s most admired musicians, too. The band’s lead guitarist Harrison wrote a few songs in the early years but could never seem to have many of his songs land within the band nor did he try particularly hard to land them. During his visit to India, he focused more on strengthening his songwriting skills, and the result was a number of hits like ‘Within You Without You’ and ‘Love You To’. In fact, most of the Beatles’ albums from 1965 onwards have at least two compositions by Harrison. Though initially sceptical about his songwriting capabilities, McCartney later told Lennon, “Until this year, our songs have been better than George’s. Now this year his songs are at least as good as ours.”

Though the duo had a famously tense relationship, especially as Harrison began to flourish as a songwriter, but there’s no doubt that McCartney thought fondly of his bandmate as a creator.

Ringo Starr

Talking about the band’s drummer, Ringo Starr, McCartney said, “Ringo would do these little malapropisms, he would say things slightly wrong like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical … they were sort of magic.” Starr’s idiosyncratic turns of phrases were so unique that it was called “Ringoisms.”

Phrases like “a hard day’s night” and “tomorrow never knows” were even used as song titles by Lennon. Starr often helped to finish half-written Lennon-McCartney songs such as ‘Eleanor Rigby’ which contains the line “darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there”. Though Ringo Starr isn’t the primary songwriter of the group, his work outside of The Beatles is some of the band’s most celebrated solo material.

Bob Dylan

Inevitably, next on McCartney’s list is Bob Dylan, an icon who doesn’t need any introduction. “I always like what he does. Sometimes I wish I was a bit more like Bob. He’s legendary … and doesn’t give a sh*t! But I’m not like that,” McCartney told the Uncut.

He even confessed that Dylan inspired many Beatles songs: “Yeah, we certainly got a lot from Dylan, and I know I had one of his first LPs at home before The Beatles. I used to play that quite a lot so I was steeped in him… There’s an awful lot more because ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘Penny Lane’, those are very much us remembering our youth.”

It’s not a stretch to say that Dylan, one of the most influential songwriters of his age, was widely admired by all in The Beatles, Paul McCartney included.

Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly may not have the same worldwide acclaim as Chuck Berry, but to four lads from Liverpool, he was just as instrumental. His songs are often cited as some of the very first to blend rock and roll with pop; numbers such as ‘Peggy Sue’ and ‘That’ll Be The Day’ stick out as obvious contenders as his finest. For The Beatles, and certainly McCartney, Buddy Holly was to be thought of as a pioneer.

He had such an impact on the band, in fact, that McCartney and the rest of the group, though then known as The Quarrymen, would cover Holly’s song ‘That’ll Be The Day’ in their first-ever recording session. There are even suggestions that Holly and his group, The Crickets, were the reason for naming the band after insects. Though that may be debated, there can be no argument that Holly and his music shaped the way McCartney approached his own work and, therefore, changed pop music forever.

Stevie Wonder

While interacting with Jarvis co*cker, McCartney also named Stevie Wonder one of his inspirations, calling him a “musical monster”. He even collaborated with Wonder a couple of times, the first being ‘Ebony and Ivory’ and the latest being ‘Only Our Hearts’ from his album Kisses On The Bottom. “Stevie came along to the studio in LA, and he listened to the track for about ten minutes and he totally got it,” McCartney said. “He just went to the mic and within 20 minutes had nailed this dynamite solo”.

“When you listen you just think, ‘How do you come up with that?’ But it’s just because he is a genius, that’s why,” said McCartney, talking about their recording sessions of ‘Only Our Hearts’. A genius doesn’t come around very often, but it’s likely they can recognise one another.

Billy Joel

It would not be surprising to see the name of Billy Joel on McCartney’s list. The famed pop songwriter has delivered some of the most beloved songs of the 20th century. Naturally, finding fame in the 1970s and ‘80s, Joel would likely rank McCartney as one of the greats, but Macca would have a similar feeling once claiming a Joel song to be one of the few he wishes he had written.

In a Club Sandwich newsletter from 1994, McCartney labelled Joel’s track ‘Just The Way You Are’ as one that he truly loved. The duo have also shared plenty of moments together, including on stage when Billy Joel joined Macca to perform ‘Let It Be’ live at the Shea Stadium. McCartney rarely shares a stage with those he doesn’t admire.

Chuck Berry

There’s one name that will forever remain on this list for his huge influence on McCartney and his Beatles bandmates — the duck-walking rock juggernaut Chuck Berry. While John Lennon was always outspoken about his adoration for Berry, once saying that he was the embodiment of the sound, McCartney was also a huge admirer. Sharing a tribute to the ‘Johnny B. Goode’ artist following his passing, the singer wrote on his website: “To us, he was a magician making music that was exotic, yet normal, at the same time. We learnt so many things from him which led us into a dream world of rock & roll music.”

“From the first minute we heard the great guitar intro to ‘Sweet Little Sixteen,’ we became fans of the great Chuck Berry,” he continued. “His stories were more like poems than lyrics – the likes of ‘Johnny B. Goode’ or ‘Maybellene.’” The singer concluded his tribute by referring to Berry as “one of rock ‘n’ roll’s great poets.”

Sting

Sting isn’t the most potent name on this list. He doesn’t have the grandeur of John Lennon or Bob Dylan, but he still has a few quality tracks up his sleeve which prove him to be one of the greats. In fact, some of his songs remain untouchable, with ‘Every Breath You Take’ likely to be a tune that outlives us all. And it was one of those tunes that McCartney instantly connected with and, by-proxy, gained a spot on this list.

”There’s always a couple that I hear that I think I’d have liked [to have written],” McCartney told host co*cker at the Liverpool Institute in 2018. “I liked Sting’s ‘Fields Of Gold’, and I thought, ‘Y’know what, I should have written that. How dare he?’ I told him, ‘You stole my song.’ I thought that was a nice one, y’know?” There are few comments as great for a songwriter than when McCartney claims a track should’ve been his own. For that reason alone, Sting has earned his spot on the list.

Brian Wilson

The Beach Boys’ frontman Brian Wilson is also among McCartney’s favourite songwriters. The most significant and innovative musicians of the late 20th century, Paul McCartney rightly called him “one of the great American geniuses” at his Songwriters’ Hall Of Fame induction in 2000. The variety of work that he has done, ranging from the Beach Boys single ‘Surfin’’ to the revolutionary album Pet Sounds is remarkable. Even McCartney’s favourite song of all time is ‘God Only Knows’ from the album.

“God Only Knows’ is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It’s really just a love song, but it’s brilliantly done,” stated McCartney after performing the song with Wilson in 2007. “It shows the genius of Brian. I’ve actually performed it with him and I’m afraid to say that during the soundcheck I broke down. It was just too much to stand there singing this song that does my head in and to stand there singing it with Brian”.

Related Topics