Your top 3 Paul McCartney Basslines?

[harlon]

I'm on my way to see Sir Paul tomorrow night in Houston!! I'm so excited I won't be able to sleep tonight. I've been overloading on Beatles and solo Paul tunes as I get closer to the show. I'm curious - what are your favorite 3 basslines that Paul played? I know there are a lot of Sir Paul threads here. But ... well ... here's another one! I'm an excited dude. I'm about to see a Beatle!

My 3 (although it could change any day)

Silly Love Songs
Rain
Dear Prudence

(I could easily add 10 more, but at the moment those are my top 3).

 

[Peace Cee]

When I'm 64
Ballad of John and Ugmoe
Silly Love Songs

 

[Hamlet7768]

Paperback Writer, Nowhere Man, and Taxman are my favorites.

 

[scrimjer]

Baby You're a rich man
Lovely Rita
old brown shoe

 

[tdelamont]

Silly Love Songs, hands down. Perfection. In my estimation, this part and Lee Sklar's line on JT's Your Smiling Face are two of the best basslines to ever hit mainstream radio.

 

[funkytoe]

Rain
Hey Bulldog
Paperback Writer

 

[rockinrayduke]

Rain
Hey Bulldog
Paperback Writer

If I had to pick 3 I'd agree with those.

 

[bggeezer]

Come Together
Taxman
Day Tripper

 

[LeopoldBoom]

Something, Oh Darling and Silly Love Songs!

 

[MartinG1957]

Paperback Writer
Come Together
Day Tripper

 

[john_martin_sai]

Something
Rain
Hey Bulldog

 

[Jazz Ad]

Taxman
Come Together
Helter Skelter

 

[bill reed]

Come Together,
Something,
While my guitar gently weeps, love all the double stops near the end.
also very hard just to pick 3 songs.

 

[GtenderG]

Hello Goodbye
Penny Lane
Lovely Rita


3 beautiful bassslines!

 

[haystack55]

i want you (she's so heavy)
taxman
come together

 

[ewe2]

With A Little Help From My Friends
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
Lovely Rita

Agreed, three is too few.

 

[MrLenny1]

Something
Come Together
Guitar Gently Weeps

 

[Ric5]

Come Together
Taxman
Day Tripper

+1

 

[Groove Doctor]

Coming Up (Wings)
Silly Love Songs
Something

Runner Up:
Getting Better is interesting mostly because of the way McCartney treats the choruses.... It isn't an arpeggiation of the chords, but rather it is a melodic figure that descends through the chords - and because it is also the bass line, it changes the way we hear the chords in this passage. It's a very classical-esque contrapuntal bass line.

It's just such an unusual bass line for a pop song, but it gives a clue as to how McCartney was thinking of the harmony in this passage. He doesn't feel the need to arpeggiate each chord the piano is playing - he just treats this section as if it is in the "tonal area" of C Major. The piano chords just become a sort of 'harmonic coloration' instead of a true harmonic progression. McCartney plays a melody beneath those ascending triads as if they're only a tonal guideline."
Brilliant!!
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[mr13ump]

This thread is why Sir Paul is and always will be my favorite player. Out of everyone that has posted here so far, almost all of the lists are different. He has so many awe-inspiring basslines that it is almost criminal. Anyway, here are my top three.

Dear Prudence
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
With a little Help from my Friends