Lennon and McCartney wrote most of their songs apart, and the quality of their output owes much to the way they pushed each other as the chief songwriters of the greatest band of their era.

I don’t see Wilson and Macca having the same dynamic. Both men are peerless melodicists, so the only benefit that could possibly come from a collaboration would have to be in the lyrics department. And Brian Wilson is not the type who could push McCartney to write his best work. He’s always needed a demanding producer to do that — as with Nigel Godrich, who helmed “Chaos and Creation.”

Having said that, I think McCartney is having an artistic renaissance and is personally driven to put out his best work. So let’s say he and Wilson were to collaborate: Brian’s contribution would clearly be in melody and orchestration. But I don’t see how that would be a significant improvement over what McCartney could do on his own.

I don’t know if it could work — I know Lennon/McCartney pushed Brian and Brian pushed Lennon/McCartney. Now what about a single by McCartney/Wilson?