I know this is an eternal argument, but one that I feel strongly about since the popular “music critic” POV is so one-sided. All those songs you mentioned are good songs- and yes, Lennon managed some great songs in his career. But in terms of percentages, he had a lot of filer, and lot of his good songs are just rip-offs of his previous songs. He had a formula for how he wrote pop tunes, even if it wasn’t conscious, that you can hear in “I Am the Walrus” and “Strawberry Fields” all the way through his solo stuff like “Imagine”. He wrote some great songs. His lyrics were definitely stronger than any other Beatle. But musically, he doesn’t even begin to approach what McCartney did and continues to do today as an old geezer.
McCartney on his own has rarely fallen into self-indulgent (although his classical stuff is pretty weak.) Every album he’s ever released has at least a few gems, like, real genuine pop brilliance gems- and many of his albums are solid all the way through. Not to mention he’s constantly trying new things, moving from genre to genre, and having a ton of fun in the process. Not only did no other Beatle ever do that, very few songwriters in pop history have ever done that. When he dies, you’ll see all the critics come out of the woodwork to kiss his dead ass. Until then, though, the myth about him being a joke will continue.
