As My Grasshopper Gently Lies Weeping (Heavily)

I’ve really been enjoying Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle, the alt-history sci-fi series based on Philip K. Dick’s tale of an Axis-occupied America in the wake of a WWII defeat. It’s an entertaining, if not exactly plausible, look at what might have been if key historical events had gone another way.

The story got me thinking about another alternative history: what if the Beatles had nor broken up in 1970? What songs would have been on their follow-up to Let it Be?

I’ve created a shared Spotify playlist that tries to resolves those questions—for science! It draws on the solo albums of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr released within a few years of the band’s breakup.

I expect some objections to this playlist. Some will undoubtedly argue that at 18 songs, it’s probably is a few songs too long for a Beatles album. And admittedly, it contains a few duds.

On the first point, let’s not forget that the 1970s featured a lot of experimentation beyond the 10-single model, including not just the simultaneous recording and release of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band-Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band companion albums but George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass triple (!) album. So an 18-song Beatles album is completely plausible, especially under the circumstances I outline below. And come on, let’s not forget this imaginary album comes a few short years after White Album.

On the second point, what Beatles album didn’t include a few clunkers?

If you’re from the popular but misguided “Yoko broke up the Beatles” camp, you may question the presence of Oh Yoko! on this list. I understand the logic: given this conception of history, the Beatles’ structural integrity implies that Yoko is not in the picture, hence no song would have been written for her. I’m going with the theory that Harrison’s justified resentment about his second-string status in the band is the main culprit for the breakup. So in my version of history, McCartney and Lennon keep him happy by giving him three songs on the album (vs. three in the White Album and two in the Beatles’ real final album, Abbey Road). And this is why Ringo gets two songs.

So how would your alt-history Beatles album look like? Am I a modern-day George Martin, or what?