History YMMV / PaulMcCartney

* TearJerker: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-_ZVBsY5YU "Here Today"]], his tribute to Music/JohnLennon. The song was based on an imaginary conversation the two might have had. He has still been known to choke up when performing the song live.

** "The moon is right!"[[labelnote:Explanation]]A common mishearing of the opening line of "Wonderful Christmastime", which in actuality is supposed to say "the moo'''d''' is right." The fact that the mishearing sounds perfectly in-line with Paul's trademark lyrical eccentricity--it's not any stranger than, say, "The willow turns his back on inclement weather"--allowed it to rapidly catch on, leading to, among other things, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt0dflSPD5o an edit]] of "Wonderful Christmastime" where every line is replaced with a pitch-shifted copy of "the moon is right" (even altering the line to say "moon" instead of "mood").[[/labelnote]]

* SignatureSong: Despite not ever having been released as a single, "Maybe I'm Amazed" is considered one [=McCartney=]'s finest [[SillyLoveSongs love songs]] and got extensive radio play upon its release. It is still often regarded as [=McCartney=]'s best post-Beatles song; ''Magazine/RollingStone'' even ranked the song #347 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list in 2011.

** "The moon is right!"[[labelnote:Explanation]]A common mishearing of the opening line of "Wonderful Christmastime", which in actuality is supposed to say "the moo'''d''' is right." The fact that the mishearing sounds perfectly in-line with Paul's trademark lyrical eccentricity allowed it to rapidly catch on, leading to, among other things, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt0dflSPD5o an edit]] of "Wonderful Christmastime" where every line is replaced with a pitch-shifted copy of "the moon is right" (even altering the line to say "moon" instead of "mood").[[/labelnote]]

** "This Paul [=McCartney=] guy gonna be huge!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]When McCartney collaborated with Music/KanyeWest a lot of the latter's fans were unfamiliar with his work. The result was a lot of sarcastic snark about how lucky "this Paul McCarntney guy" was to be given a chance at stardom from such a big name from the media.

** "This Paul McCartney guy gonna be huge!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]When McCartney collaborated with Music/KanyeWest a lot of the latter's fans were unfamiliar with his work. The result was a lot of sarcastic snark about how lucky "this Paul McCarntney guy" was to be given a chance at stardom from such a big name from the media.

** This applies to Paul as a whole after Music/TheBeatles broke up. Back in the day he was less popular than Music/JohnLennon and Music/GeorgeHarrison critically, [[CriticalDissonance yet his albums kept selling]]. Partly a case of ItsPopularNowItSucks Also a case of TrueArtIsAngsty, as Paul was unapologetically writing SillyLoveSongs while John was doing [[ProtestSong Protest Songs]] and George was writing spiritual-themed material--though Paul's trademark whimsy, like releasing a version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as a single, didn't always help his case either. In later years, this began to wear off, and not only have Paul's musical contributions been revalued upwards-- he was the most cosmopolitan Beatle, and the one who first investigated avant-garde art and music-- his solo work has been reevaluated too.

** Arguably, Macca's unreleased output is as every bit rocking and danceable as his actual released material - just take a listen to "Cage" https://youtu.be/gsvcv7vjt-g - a New Wave track once considered to be amongst the final track listing on Music/{{Wings}}' final album (1979's "Back to the Egg"), but was rejected at the last minute, supposedly as it's upbeat and relatively light-hearted sound didn't mesh well with the "serious & heavy" sounding material of the actual record itself.

* CultClassic: ''[=McCartney=] II'' is this for a lot of fans. He knocked it off by himself in a month, partly as a way to test his new synthesisers, while Music/{{Wings}} was preparing what would be its final tour, and it was released to what had become predictably negative reviews. In the early 2010s was when it began to be hailed as a precursor to a lot of modern indie pop, and it now sounds like one of his freshest, quirkiest and most interesting albums.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: [=McCartney's=] output during the 1980's is this for a lot of fans and critics. ''[=McCartney II=]'' got VindicatedByHistory 30+ years later and ''Tug of War'' was widely praised from the outset (though "Ebony and Ivory" is still infamous for how {{glurg|e}}y it is), but the next few albums after that are among [=McCartney's=] least popular, owing to a perceived lack of direction and the fact that [=McCartney=] spent much of it [[WereStillRelevantDammit playing catch-up with the popular zeitgeist]]-- a far cry from his culture-rewriting days with Music/TheBeatles-- which came to a head with the gratuitously synth-heavy ''Press to Play''. This bad streak was ultimately broken in 1989 with ''Flowers in the Dirt'', which was praised as a major improvement over his recent albums and a more than welcome return to form for [=McCartney=].

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: ''Flowers in the Dirt'' is considered this by critics, who felt that the majority of the 80's encompassed an AudienceAlienatingEra for [=McCartney=] (especially in light of ''Press to Play'', which saw heavy accusations of WereStillRelevantDammit) and found ''Flowers'' to be an unexpected-- but very much welcome-- return to form.

* WereStillRelevantDammit:
** He got accused of this when he released the {{Disco}}-infused "Goodnight Tonight" in 1979.
** ''Press To Play'' is also accused of this, containing gratuitous [[TheEighties '80s]] production (courtesy of Hugh Padgham) and an overabundance of synths and drum machines.