Paul McCartney Picks the Beatles Song He’d ‘Showcase to Curious Aliens’
The Beatles are international cultural staples, and if aliens ever visited earth, they would most likely discover the band’s music while analyzing the human race’s culture. Paul McCartney has several Beatles songs he thinks curious aliens would find fascinating, but he picks one of their biggest hits.
Paul McCartney shares which Beatles song he’d show to curious aliens
In an interview on his website, Paulmccartney.com, the former Beatle was asked which song he’d show to curious aliens. Paul McCartney lists a few of The Beatles’ songs he wrote and chooses one he believes is the best choice.
“It’s always very hard to narrow down favorite songs, so what I do is just make a guess. What comes to my head for The Beatles would be ‘Yesterday’ – I’d say that was an important moment. But then again, my inner voice says, ‘What about ‘Hey Jude’? What about ‘Let It Be’…?’ So it is a very difficult question to answer. But I’ll plump for ‘Yesterday’.”
McCartney also picked a few songs from his time with Wings and his solo career.
“For the Wings period I’ll go for ‘Band on the Run’, although I’ve just heard recently the song ‘Arrow Through Me’ is really getting all sorts of attention, so maybe the aliens would like that! I always liked it myself as a song, but it’s obviously been played somewhere recently and people are going mad on the streaming…Then for my solo period I would go for ‘Coming Up’ from McCartney II.”
McCartney says ‘Yesterday’ would be a great song to show aliens
“Yesterday” is one of The Beatles’ most iconic songs, even though it is basically a solo song for Paul McCartney. McCartney wrote the song about a break-up and discovered the tune one night while asleep. “Yesterday” became a hit for the band, reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.
“Hey Jude” and “Let it Be” are also massive Beatles hits. Both hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hey Jude” remaining number one for nine weeks. What’s notable is that all three of the songs McCartney listed are slow ballads based on depressing topics. “Let it Be” came to McCartney after he had a dream where he was visited by his deceased mother, while “Hey Jude” and “Yesterday” stem from broken relationships.
It would also be worthwhile to show aliens a few of The Beatles’ more psychedelic songs, such as “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.” This would expose aliens to Earth’s more unique and bizarre pieces of culture.
McCartney’s music has already been to space
If aliens do exist, it’s possible they may have already heard music from McCartney and The Beatles. In 2008, NASA beamed The Beatles’ “Across the Universe” into space to commemorate the song’s 40th anniversary and NASA’s 50th anniversary.
McCartney also shared his music with space as he broadcasted a concert into space in 2005. The former Beatle was performing at Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, CA, and was able to make contact with astronauts in the International Space Station. The session lasted 15 minutes, but he could still play a few songs for them.
