for his album Imagine, an attack at McCartney featuring musical contributions from George Harrison. McCartney later wrote "Dear Friend", a truce offering to Lennon, and released it on the album Wild Life with his band, Wings. Reception Rolling Stone rated "Too Many People" to be McCartney's 3rd greatest post-Beatles song, 2 slots ahead of its A-side "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" and behind only "Band on the Run" and "Maybe I'm Amazed." Billboard described "Too Many People" as "wailing sentimentality." Capital Journal critic Steve Gettinger called "Too Many People" a high point of Ram stating that it is "bright and bitter, carefully constructed" and "unmistakably Beatles." Boston Globe critic Ernie Santosuosso described it as "a loud meditation about society" with a "particularly violent guitar statement," praising the music more than the lyrics. Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn described "Too Many People" as "a sort of musical extension of Thomas Malthus that includes some of the humorous irony of the vintage Beatles," with lines such as "Too many reaching for a piece of cake" and "Too many hungry people losing weight." Hilburn goes on to state that the song provides a lyric surprise, which he likens to an O. Henry story, in which the lyrics turn to "a statement about the resolution of ones problems in a difficult self-centered world." Hilburn suggests that this may be a reference to McCartney's experience with the Beatles' breakup. According to Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso, the song's "haughty sermonizing" towards Lennon is one of the weaknesses of the Ram album. But fellow Ultimate Classic Rock critic Gallucci rated the song as the 4th best Beatles' post-breakup fight song. Of the instrumental version on Thrillington, Peel states that "rock 'n' roll is transformed into funky jazz with more than a hint of studio experimentation." Personnel Paul McCartney – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar Linda McCartney – backing vocals Hugh McCracken – acoustic guitar, electric guitar Denny Seiwell – drums, percussion References 1970 songs Paul McCartney songs Songs written by Paul McCartney Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney Music published by MPL Music Publishing Songs about John Lennon Songs about Yoko Ono Diss tracks Apple Records singles