Is Sir Paul the greatest composer of all time?

As I watch the Olympics I'm hearing many of the classical greats as background music. I was thinking that Paul McCartney has been writing longer than most of the classical composers lived. His catalog is massive and he's fluent on all sorts of instruments. Is there anyone living or dead that has contributed more to music?

I don't know how many songs Paul wrote but Telemann's (known) body of work consists of 3000 pieces of music.
 
But even without taking numbers into account. Bach always comes to mind. Even just one piece of music probably contain as much music as the entire Beatles discography. Not to mention that George Martin added a lot of music to some of their songs.
 
You take a fragment of even just a Concerto, something that's considered secondary in the context of that piece of music, an embellishment, a few notes from an harmony - and you can build a complete pop song out of that.
 
And, inversely, to Haydn or Mozart, a finished pop song would maybe represent, in the best of case, a basic idea, a starting point or a fragment of a much much larger piece. 
 
If I'd put them on a scale, I'd say a pop song is like a little country on a tiny planet whereas the work of the great composers is usually more like an entire solar system. 
 
 
That being said, I reiterate, I'm a huge fan of the Beatles and popular music.
 
 
 
 

Rain
 
You take a fragment of even just a Concerto, something that's considered secondary in the context of that piece of music, an embellishment, a few notes from an harmony - and you can build a complete pop song out of that.
 

Yes, and that's been done many times; Greg Lake's 'I Believe in Father Christmas', Manfred Mann's 'Joybringer', Sting's 'Russians', Eric Carmen's 'All By Myself', and about a hundred pop songs based on Pachalbel's Canon in D Major.

jamesg1213

Rain
 
You take a fragment of even just a Concerto, something that's considered secondary in the context of that piece of music, an embellishment, a few notes from an harmony - and you can build a complete pop song out of that.
 

Yes, and that's been done many times; Greg Lake's 'I Believe in Father Christmas', Manfred Mann's 'Joybringer', Sting's 'Russians', Eric Carmen's 'All By Myself', and about a hundred pop songs based on Pachalbel's Canon in D Major.

So I can safely steal from all of them too?

I'm with Clint, though Lennon was my favorite, Paul was a slim second favorite....and I think the case could be easily made.  Guinness World Records made a case for it.  They also call him a composer.
 
 

Achievements

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in March 1999, Guinness World Records described McCartney as "the Most Successful Composer and Recording Artist of All Time", with 60 gold discs (42 with the Beatles, 17 solo and 1 with the Beatles and Billy Preston) and sales of 100 million albums, 100 million singles, and a writer's credit on forty-three songs that have sold over one million copies each.[link=#cite_note-413][366][/link]
According to Guinness, he is "the most successful songwriter" in UK singles chart history and "the most successful musician of all time". He has written or co-written "188 charted records, of which 129 are different songs. Of these records, 91 reached the Top 10 and 33 made it to number 1. In total, the songs have spent 1,662 weeks in the charts (up to the beginning of 2007)."
 
McCartney has written, or co-written 32 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100: twenty with the Beatles; nine solo and/or with Wings; one as a co-writer of "A World Without Love", a number-one single for Peter and Gordon; one as a co-writer on Elton John's cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"; and one as a co-writer with Michael Jackson on "Say Say Say".  As of 2013[update], he has sold 15.5 million RIAA certified units in the United States.
 
Credited with more number ones in the UK than any other artist, McCartney has participated in twenty-four chart topping singles: seventeen with the Beatles, one solo, and one each with Wings, Stevie Wonder, Ferry Aid, Band Aid, Band Aid 20 and "The Christians et al.  He is the only artist to reach the UK number one as a soloist ("Pipes of Peace"), duo ("Ebony and Ivory" with Wonder), trio ("Mull of Kintyre", Wings), quartet ("She Loves You", the Beatles), quintet ("Get Back", the Beatles with Billy Preston) and as part of a musical ensemble for charity (Ferry Aid).
 
"Yesterday" is the most covered song in history with more than 2,200 recorded versions, and according to the BBC, "the track is the only one by a UK writer to have been aired more than seven million times on American TV and radio and is third in the all-time list ... [and] is the most played song by a British writer [last] century in the US".  His 1968 Beatles composition, "Hey Jude", is also a career highlight. It achieved the highest sales in the UK that year, topping the US charts for nine weeks, longer than any other Beatles single. It was also the longest single released by the band, and at seven minutes eleven seconds, the longest ever number one to that point.  "Hey Jude" is the best-selling Beatles single, achieving sales of over five million copies soon after its release.
 
In July 2005, McCartney's performance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 at Live 8 became the fastest-released single in history. Available within forty-five minutes of its recording, hours later it had achieved number one on the UK Official Download Chart.

Grammy for #1 Rock Song this year with Dave Grohl and the remaining Nirvana members.  ....at 70 something....just saying. 

Now if he only played an ambelic and feasted on becan.

Veggie becan just aint becan. 

It is a pretty stupid concept even to begin with. It actually shows the total lack of musical knowledge of the OP'er. Sting is a way better composer than McCartney. Miles Davis was a way better composer than McCartney. Pop music is only a small fraction of music in general. Many great classical works are just so far above anything McCartney has composed it is not even worth talking about.
 
After reading that great book on Lennon by Tim Riley I started to really look into Lennon's music much more. Some of the music he wrote after the Beatles was also great. The thing I got from that book was the combination of Lennon and McCartney that had a certain magic. Lennon's music on his own was a little more serious or something but McCartney on his own seems not as good in comparison. Almost cheesy like. It was the union of the two that seemed to really form the Beatles sound. But Lennon still was the driving force behind the Beatles sound.
 
But as fas as being the greatest composer of all time, no that is just a silly concept. The most successful composer is one thing but being the greatest is seriously another. They are not the same.

After reading that great book on Lennon by Tim Riley I started to really look into Lennon's music much more. Some of the music he wrote after the Beatles was also great. The thing I got from that book was the combination of Lennon and McCartney that had a certain magic. Lennon's music on his own was a little more serious or something but McCartney on his own seems not as good in comparison. Almost cheesy like. It was the union of the two that seemed to really form the Beatles sound. But Lennon still was the driving force behind the Beatles sound.

 
I read this book as well, Jeff and I pretty much agree with that.  They both fed off each other and drove each other through competition.  Paul had his moments, you could make the case for Helter Skelter as one of the original metal songs...pretty much a McCartnery composition.  John had his tender moments as well.  Paul has always been much more on the sappy site, hence, "Silly Love Songs."  Lennon, though, pretty much checked out somewhere in the midst of the White Album with his addictions to heroin.  If it wasn't for Paul becoming the driving force at that point, we may not have the last 3 Beatles LP's.  I think George suprised them both by the time they cut Abbey Road.

Stings out of his league compared to either Lennon or McCartney.

craigb
I'm just going to go with... No.

Economical. I like that.

craigb
George and John are now the decomposers in the group.

Now that is some serious Unfunny if I ever read it.

I do loves me some Macca. But even if you count only "melodies" as composition...which he is very good at creating...he's still an also ran. A top tier songwriter to be sure, but eclipsed by many much better and more consistent tunesmiths. Even some of Paul's biggest hits have fairly weak lyrics. But he'll be remembered as a giant...as he should be. But personally he's not even in my top ten. YMMV.