MovieChat Forums > The Beatles Anthology (1995) Discussion > Your Favorite Beatle and Why?

Your Favorite Beatle and Why?


Paul McCartney. I think Paul is, with little doubt, one of the most talented musicians ever. The guy could play a Chihuahua if he had to (though tuning it would be tough). You also can’t touch his writing output. Most casual Beatles fans are really McCartney fans without knowing it. Also, if you look at his post-Beatles success, no other member of the band even comes close. John may have been the heart of the Beatles, but Paul was the soul.

I remember an interview he did with one of the guitar mags, Guitar Player I think, where he was aksed about his inability to read music. The interviewer asked if he ever thought about learning now, Paul replied that he was afraid if he knew what he was doing he might not do it as well. He also pointed out that, in spite of this handicap, he’d done alright for himself.

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I love them all but....

George Harrison. He is probably the most like me as a person...Pisces, spiritual,mystical, quiet, laid back. I admire the guts and determination it took for him to stick in there and keep pushing his songs when he had to compete with two geniuses who were also extraordinarily productive and raging egomaniacs. But he did. He had the best three songs on the Beatles two last most fully realized albums.

I think he had the strongest solo career, at least in terms of his first and last albums. He lived the closest to his values. He loved and lost but forgave and healed and ended up with a wonderful wife who would brain anyone trying to stab him.

As a person, he is the most admirable of the four. He is my fave.

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You make some good points, but Paul put out some pretty strong albums himself. What about “Band on the Run”? That’s as good an album as anything that any of the Beatles put out after the break-up. “Live and Let Die” is also an amazing song. Hit after hit after hit, I know you’re going to say he sold out. If you look at his work with the Beatles, though, he was always the “pop” guy. His songs tended to have the most commercial success.

Of course, he dropped some stinkers, Broadstreet and “With a Little Luck,” but overall he was most consistent in his output. Also, the man can play anything.

Don’t get me wrong, I love all the boys. I wept when John was shot. I remember it like it was yesterday. There was a group of us at my high school that were all big fans; to have died that way…

I suppose you need to balance things with George’s work with Handmade Films. “Life of Brian”? Too cool. Also, as a person, he was untouchable. I like the egomaniac thing; even Ringo was that way (Though he was jealous that Paul could play drums better than he could. There was a song that Paul had laid down a temporary drum track for, I can’t remember which, that ended up being used because George Martin said it was better than Ringo’s). Not George though. I’ve read a dozen books about the Beatles and, without exception, they all say that George was a really sweet guy.

I know we're talking about personal favorites, just sharing!

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No, I was not going to say Paul "sold out". He makes very assessable, commercially successful music that lots of people enjoy. Why is that a problem?

Musically he is the best musician in the Beatles, although I would give John the nod as a singer.

Band on the Run was a fine album, and Wings Over America is one of the greatest live albums ever made. His post Beatle acccomplishments as a live artist exceed the other four put together.

Nevertheless, George is my "favorite" for purely personal grounds as I stated.

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Sorry but Paul was a way better singer than John (ask any musician--by that I don't mean posers, I mean people who can actually play & sing). John had a unique voice (meaning you could tell who it was after listening to one of his songs for five seconds) but Paul was a chameleon vocally. He could scream with the best of them (Hey Jude, Long Tall Sally, Maybe I'm Amazed, etc.) & turn around & croon a beautiful love song (I Will, My Love, Long & Winding Road, And I love Her)or sing great harmony that blended well with John (Ticket to Ride, 8 Days a Week, most of their early stuff actually), George (While My Guitar Gently Weeps, I Want to Tell You) & even Ringo (Act Naturally).
But I agree with you about George. You probably saw "Concert for George" which was an all-star tribute to him after he died. I was really amazed at all the great songs he'd written. His body of work is really substantial. He doesn't get the songwriting credit he deserves because he's always been in the shadow of Lennon/McCartney.

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I love them all but....

George Harrison. He is probably the most like me as a person...Pisces, spiritual,mystical, quiet, laid back. I admire the guts and determination it took for him to stick in there and keep pushing his songs when he had to compete with two geniuses who were also extraordinarily productive and raging egomaniacs. But he did. He had the best three songs on the Beatles two last most fully realized albums.

I think he had the strongest solo career, at least in terms of his first and last albums. He lived the closest to his values. He loved and lost but forgave and healed and ended up with a wonderful wife who would brain anyone trying to stab him.

As a person, he is the most admirable of the four. He is my fave.


How dare you post all my thoughts before I had a chance to post them myself. HOW DARE YOU SIR OR MADAM. Beautifully said, all of it.

I am a lifelong George man. It would be ridiculous to downplay the towering accomplishments of the other songwriters (or for that matter the artistry of Ringo, my favorite drummer of all time), but I've always identified with George the most. He always struck me as the most complex and thoughtful. It's like being a cat person or a dog person. I love dogs. Dogs are amazing. I loved mine when I had one, and I want another one now that I don't. But in my heart I'll always be a cat person, because an animal that's independent and cool and will hang out for a while and then go over and mind his own business instead of getting all up in your face and staying there -- that's an animal I can relate to. You're either a cat person or a dog person, and you're either a John, Paul, George, or Ringo person, and I'm a George person. All his defining characteristics are either how I am, or how I wish I could be. He's one of my heroes. And, of course, he was a great guitarist and a genius songwriter. Go Team George.


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Ringo.

Funny, charming, gentle.


None of the abrasive violence like John's personality; none of the grand ego like Paul; not led around like a zombie by gurus like happened to George.



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Ringo.

Funny, charming, gentle.


None of the abrasive violence like John's personality; none of the grand ego like Paul; not led around like a zombie by gurus like happened to George.

That's the first I've ever heard of that take on George. He always struck me as particularly independent-minded, especially about his spirituality.

I will agree that Ringo is the sweetest and most charming of the bunch. Of the four of them, he's the one I'd want to just have a beer with and talk to.


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John is my favorite. He always seemed to be the coolest of the four of them, and I've always liked his songwriting the best. I do admit he could be a prick, and he did get a little too far out there for my liking, but he's my favorite.

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I would pick him too, he was the rebel to me.

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Yeah, I think you're really onto something here. John may have been the spirit, the heart, & the Beatle willing to take the most risks, but Paul was the most talented. He's one of the five best singers in rock ever, one of the five best bass players in rock ever, & arguably the best songwriter ever (not arguable if you go by most successful saleswise).

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I don't have a fave but I think Ringo is the sweetest since he was the only one who tried to get along with Yoko, and forgave George was engaging in an affair with Maureen. He even broke down talking about him in the recent "Material World" film. This was a friend that hurt him in the worst way, and he mourned him. That says a lot. He also stayed civil with Maureen after they divorced. Of course we all know he cheated too. None of the Fab Four were angels.

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Ringo, because Ringo.

Who busts the Crimebusters?

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John, I liked his lyrics much better, liked his music more, Paul was too cute and poppy. John was the best actor. John tried his hand at prose and poetry. John seemed more intelligent and deep. John's politics were awesome.

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John was not a lesser singer than Paul! Pauls great musicianship aside, Johns voice expressed sincerety and validity in his songs which was a gret balance to Pauls great shake´m rock voice and his melodically folksinger voice. Just listen to MONEY from their 2nd LP and say John Lennon is not the greatest English rocksinger. Cool that their joint effort created this "covering" all kinds of musical emotions and innovations. The wonderful thng is that they always were themselves, and they all were so different. Love Ringo for his gentleness and understanding, George for his unlikely cynism and deep, Paul for his uncompromising curiosity for music and other artforms such as filming and sounds as well as being a wonderful bassist and John, for his understanding of lyrics, poetry and pain. They loved eachother. And we love them!

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Here comes the sun
Something
All things must pass (classic)
All those years ago
Cheer down
Need I say did Sir Paul top any of these??

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John. His lyrics. Enough said.

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I can’t see how you can glibly say, “Enough said.” Don’t get me wrong; anyone that writes a song like “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, based solely on an old advertising poster, is someone special. If John had been in another band, like the Stones, he would be special; in The Beatles he didn't even stand out from the crowd. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, “Octopus’ Garden”, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”, and numerous others display the diverse songwriting everyone displayed.

I’m not putting George and Ringo on par with John and Paul; the history of modern music can’t be written without prominent attention being paid to these two. Of course, because they were Beatles, Ringo and George are also indispensable (creative talent is what we’re talking about and George made extensive contributions to movies and pioneered many tools of the music video). I suppose the fact that any list of the best songs of the 20th Century will have a number of songs penned by Lennon and McCartney. I guess that best illustrates the advantage of being in a band instead of being Disney’s latest Instant Rock Star. None of the Beatles wrote songs that would be on a Beatles album. I love their solo stuff (Watching the Wheels… goose bumps just thinking about it), but they lacked that certain something, an indefinable ingredient provided by other band members. I know this from first-hand experience.

Really this whole discussion is like arguing about whether you want your $10 million dollars in $50’s or $100’s; no matter what you’ll come out ahead. I went back and read some of the older posts; I was initially surprised by George’s popularity, but reading the posts certainly granted credence to their devotion.
Excuse this tangent, though I think you’ll appreciate it, I recently watched a TEDTalks about happiness; they quoted Pete Best as saying his life would be worse if he had continued in The Beatles. Leading the speaker to comment that apparently not being a Beatle is the way to happiness.

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John Lennon. He was the best singer and songwriter in the group, and also the one with the strongest personality. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and he didn't care if anyone disagreed with him or harbored any sort of hatred for him for his views. I don't care for the feminist stance he developed in his late 20s, because I'm an anti-feminist. But if I had to pick a favorite Beatle, it would be John.

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GEORGE HARRISON 1943-2001 < MY IDOL AND INTROVERT
RINGO STARR 1940
PAUL MCCARTNEY

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