There are many questions about what would have happened if The Beatles would have stayed together. Their inspiration for songs may have been different, some of the songs that were released may have not been released due to the competition of getting songs on an album. George Harrison is the one who would have most negatively affected. Would John Lennon taken time off from music from 1975-1980 to raise Sean? Most importantly, would John Lennon been assassinated?
We don’t know the answer to these questions, we can only speculate and look at the music that was actually released. In my previous articles, I have looked at what The Beatles’ albums from 1970-1975 may have looked like. Now I am going to speculate on what their 1980 album may have looked like. Since George is the only Beatle to release an album in 1981 (and the hit song on it was a tribute to John Lennon), I am going to assume that 1980 was the last year for a Beatles album. I know John had recorded most of his album Milk and Honey, George released an album in 1981 and Paul released an album in 1982. It is possible that an album could have been released in 1981 or later using some of the songs from John’s unfinished album…not to mention Real Love and Free As A Bird that was included on the Anthology album. I am actually going to look at the songs from John’s Milk And Honey album to include in 1980 since that is when the song were actually recorded.
It was tough to find a song for Ringo. He released albums in 1976, 1977 and 1978 but only the album from 1976 made the top 100. Ringo’s Retrograve peaked at #28 on the U.S. album charts in 1976. The hit single from the album, A Dose Of Rock ‘N’ Roll peaked at #26 on the U.S. charts. The song was not written by a Beatle, so I am not including on the album.
Due to a lack of options, I am going back to the 1973 album Ringo and selecting a song co-written by George Harrison and Mal Evans. Evans was a roadie and personal assistant to The Beatles so there is a Beatle connection there. The song in You And Me (Babe).
George
George Harrison released albums in 1976, 1979 and 1981. The hit song from George’s “Somewhere In England” album was All Those Years Ago which was a tribute to John Lennon. There is no way that song would have made a Beatle album in 1980 while John was still alive.
I am selecting 3 songs from 1979 from George. Blow Away which peaked at #16 on the U.S. charts, Love Comes To Everyone and one of my favorite George Harrison songs, Faster.
Paul McCartney
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