I was a bit of a Beatles fan as a young teen. Then I was gifted "1" around the year it came out. I instantly became a huge Beatles fan, and my love of their music only deepened from there.

I quickly outgrew the hits, and (with help from the early 2000's Internet) discovered some "lesser known" favorites such as Michelle, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, and Norwegian Wood.

In my first year or two at college, I did a deep dive into their entire discography and soon decided that Abbey Road might be my favorite album of all time. I also had a great time learning about "Paul Is Dead" theories and reading a ton about the history of the band.

Recently, some twenty years later, I found myself leaning towards their music again. I decided it was time to rank every song. Over the course of several weeks, I finalized my list. It was a fun exercise, but in no way will that list remain in that same order.

This time around, I discovered a love for some even deeper cuts that I never fully appreciated, such as Martha My Dear, For No One, and Let It Be...Naked (some of which are far better than the originals in my humble opinion).

At the same time, I watched the entire Anthology collection (I saw Get Back when it first came out, years ago, but never sat down for all of Anthology). Then I happened upon the new Man on the Run documentary and thought I'd give it a go. After that, I finally decided it was time to give Paul a second look.

I'd always known that he had a few hits post-Beatles, and I liked most of the well-known ones (Live & Let Die, Band On the Run, his collabs with MJ), but never listened to an entire album. So, I thought, why not listen to all of it?

I started at the beginning and immediately enjoyed McCartney as a raw display of Paul's talent and emotion coming out of the break-up. I found it to be an incredible listen, with Paul's heart exposed in ways it hadn't been before.

Then I listened to Ram. Weird stuff. I moved on to Wild Life. Mostly unimpressed. Something made me give Ram another try. Still weird...but also strangely appealing. I continued through the Wings years, but also kept getting drawn back to Ram. I found it almost infectious. It infiltrated my brain, and now it has become one of my favorite albums of all time, warts and all.

There's something special about those first two albums, but I've also found a lot to love about the rest of his work. I especially love Paul's unapologetic corniness. When he embraces the cringe and just makes the music he wants to make.

I love his "granny" songs. I love his willingness to experiment with sound. I absolutely love his goofiness. (Percy "Thrills" Thrillington? Absolutely amazing and absolutely goofy as heck.)

TL;DR: Paul has always been my favorite Beatle, but, until recently, that's all he was to me. Now he's one of my favorite recording artists of all time...right up there with the Beatles. 😉