The quiet Beatle was anything but silent about his inspirations. He carried his love of Chuck Berry's chugging rock riffs from the band to his solo career, plus a particularly English humor and bounce encapsulated by the music-hall tunes of George Formby. The sparkling guitars and floating harmonies of The Byrds, the sweet romanticism of Smokey Robinson, and the sitar-led ragas of Ravi Shankar all made an indelible mark.