We here at Walrus Comix are top 10 freaks, and after a night's lengthy discussion on the merits of Lennon vs McCartney (Lennon ultimately winning the fight) we were inspired to come up with a new feature: "The Walrus Comix Ultimate Top 10 Songs of…"  And as Mac was part of that inspiration, we decided to begin with him..

Paul McCartney is a genius, there's no denying that.  However, his solo work has been inconsistent to say the least.  It was a difficult process, but we believe these ten songs represent the cream of the crop as far as his post-Beatle work is concerned...

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I’ll Give You a Ring - This was a b-side to the single ‘Take It Away’ , I remember receiving it as a birthday present by a friend of mine who was a fellow Beatle fanatic. I never understood how this never made it onto an album somewhere. The boogie-woogie piano, The Einstein level catchiness, the snappy lyrics, it’s  McCartney at his McCartney-est.. The bridge really leavens the dough, and the ‘ooh ooh’ preceding the second bridge is way cool man!

Single Pigeon – This gem comes off of 'Red Rose Speedway', which is my personal favorite album of his. The spare piano sound is filled with a melancholic longing that gets me every time. He keeps the simple instrumentation up all the way up until the last verse where an ever so slightly off key trumpet pops in, which just adds to the dissonant emotions struck up in the listener. The imagery in this song is so evocative as well.. A lover thrown out in the cold relating to the solitary pigeon soaring over Regent’s Park Canal.. I’ve never been there, but after listening to this song I feel I have..

She’s my Baby – McCartney at his funkiest. This is off of ‘Speed of Sound’, which I believe has his finest bass sound, and this song is exemplary in that respect. ‘Like gravy down to the last drop, I keep mopping it up, mopping it up..’. You really get the sense here that Paul woke up one morning and started playing this ditty on the guitar for Linda, it really has that extemporaneous fluidity of true love. This song is the ultimate song to Cosby dance to…

On The Way – This haunting blues number comes of  McCartney II.. He plays all the instruments, and plays them damn well.. Ballsy guitar, full, round bass tone.. The lyrics are also uncommonly good for solo McCartney, perfectly consistent with the melodic setting.. It proves he can write a good lyric when he’s not being lazy… The high note he hits at the end of the song goes straight to your heart, and the final major note on the guitar ties it all up to perfection..

Wildlife – This is McCartney doing his version of primal scream… The title song off of ‘Wild Life’, McCartney is making some kind of political statement here, but I think what really lies beneath it is post-Beatles ennui..  What’s so striking about this song is how sonically relevant it sounds.. I think Chris Isaak stole the chord progression here and had a hit with it with ‘Wicked Game’.. Ironically, in this instance McCartney took the less commercial route with it!

Daytime Nighttime Suffering – This was the b-side to the single 'Goodnight Tonite'…I always felt like this was the bookend to his first post-Beatles single ‘Another Day’, I also always liked it much better… ‘What does she get for all the love she gave you?’ – Daytime Nighttime suffering… That’s pretty heartbreaking stuff..The bluesy bridge in minor is fantastic, and the lyrics are again perfectly encapsulated and well expressed..  The harmonies are lush and Linda is remarkably in-key.. This is McCartney entering his 1979 ‘scratchy voice’ phase which you can really hear at the end of the song where he tears the motherfucker up!

Tug of War – The title song off of ‘Tug of War’… Perhaps McCartney’s finest set of post-Beatles lyrics…He uses the act of a ‘Tug of War’ as a metaphor for both inter-personal relationships as well as human conflict on a global scale.. Listening to this song today, it’s lyrical relevance is incredibly moving… The bridge is perhaps his finest and most soaring.. This was McCartney’s first collaboration with producer George Martin since the Beatles' break up, and the orchestration is lush and sad…

Junk – This comes off of his first post-Beatles album ‘McCartney’.. It almost was disqualified simply for the fact that Cameron Crowe used it in the film ‘Jerry Maguire’, but it was too beautiful to leave off..  Gorgeous melodic bass, his pretty voice acrobatically twisting with jazzy flair.. This is McCartney at his sweetest..

Flaming Pie – This song just kicks ass.. At 55 McCartney writes his most Beatle-sy song post Beatles ever… The great barreling piano riff-age, the masterful guitar work, the lo-fi production this is totally out of bounds! Sadly the back-story here was that Linda was dying, so he must have been in a terrible amount of pain… Yet, through all that he comes up with this gem… It always struck me as this song was taken from a quote of tJohn’s on how he had come up with the name for the Beatles that there must have been some sort of somber tie-in there in his subconscious.. An old friend dead, and his true love dying, way too soon..

Warm and Beautiful – This ultimate McCartney ballad is the closer to ‘Speed and Sound’, and it closes our ultimate top 10 McCartney songs as well.. Sad, yearning, and somewhat stately.. It almost sounds like he was writing a recital piece for beginning piano.. This tune really embodies what he’s all about.. Melody, simplicity, warmth and that inescapable twinge of pain that goes hand in hand with all things beautiful…