Paul McCartney Rumor or reality? (1 Viewer)

[Grant B]

Recording some of my old 45s to cd because I dont normally have my turntable hooked up and started listening to the Mac. I have some pretty rare tracks but there is a reason they are rare.
My wife was amazed after listening to such songs as, "Mary had a lttle Lamb" and "Rudolf the Red Nose Reggae" that he would record such trash. Then listening to "Wings at the speed of sound" hearing him trash Beatle songs you wonder if the rumor (Paul is Dead Miss Him Miss Him) doesn't have some merit?
I guess it was the fact that Lennon wasn't around to Mock him when he really needed someone (instead of yes men)
Still a couple of gems like "C Moon" B side to Hi Hi Hi and "Give Ireland back to the Irish" but a lot of fluff to say the least.
BTW I dont really believe the rumor....just thought it sort of fit

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

I don't buy into the rumor either, but I do think that Lennon and McCartney were good foils for each other. Lennon's solo work could be too acerbic, and McCartney's solo work could be too campy, but in each other's presence their collaborations and solo efforts within the Beatles were rather well balanced.

I still think that "The World Tonight" (1997) was a great single by McCartney. Such a cool electric guitar intro/bridge.

-JNS

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Then listening to "Wings at the speed of sound" hearing him trash Beatle songs

??? I have no idea what this statement means...

 

[KeithH]

Jagan, I think "campy" is a perfect descriptor for some of McCartney's solo efforts. As a result, I have never been a big fan of McCartney's solo works. However, I love The Beatles.

 

[Grant B]

??? I have no idea what this statement means...

The live version of Fool on the Hill sounds like something the cover band Rain would do; except they would do it better

 

[JackJD]

Then listening to "Wings at the speed of sound" hearing him trash Beatle songs

Wings Over America, maybe...?

 

[Jon Sheedy]

Don't think so....Fool On The Hill isn't included on that album. Besides WOA ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!

As far as Mary Had A Little Lamb goes, I seem to remember that it came about for one of these two reasons:

1.) It was a response to the U.K. banning of Give Ireland Back To The Irish.
or
2.) He wrote it for one of his children.

Maybe a bit of both, or I could be completely wrong as it's been a long time since I read the story behind it.

Jon

 

[Grant B]

Sorry it was either the WOA or Live in Tokyo (Japanese import).I listened to quite a few.
Jon, Think you are right about the response. Many song writers sing to there kids, most dont release them as a single.
I think I hit the limit

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

"The World Tonight" is a great song from Flaming Pie, which might be the best post-Beatles album by any of them. Highly recommended.

 

[James Q Jenkins]

1.) It was a response to the U.K. banning of Give Ireland Back To The Irish.
or
2.) He wrote it for one of his children.

Maybe a bit of both, or I could be completely wrong as it's been a long time since I read the story behind it.

You forgot to mention 0. the Banning of "Hi Hi Hi" for obvious reasons. McCartney was very frustrated with two singles being banned, one for drug references, one for political references. He came out with "Mary" largely as an effort to mock the people who were banning him. "Here, ban this!"

Context is very important with that song.

I agree with Andrew, "Flaming Pie" is a brilliant recording, comparable to "Band On The Run", easily one of the best recordings by any of the Beatles in their post-Beatles years.

Oh, Grant, I agree, "C Moon" is a brilliant little song, though a B-Side it's one of Paul's most inspired.

 

[Grant B]

I gave up on him by Flamimg Pie. If I see a used copy of it I'll give it a shot. Thanks
Thanks also reminding me of the context it was put out. After 25 years people forget about those things and just wonder what he was smoking at the time

 

[Al B. C]

I swear the guy forgot how to write a song.
He was such a brilliant tunesmith. Maybe he just burned himself out. :frowning:

 

[Ricardo C]

Re: Paul's -real or perceived- decline as a songwriter.

This is from a 1984 Playboy interview:

PLAYBOY: That brings up an interesting question: Does too much emphasis on day-to-day life, on domesticity, dull the edge in a composer? It's commonly felt that your earlier stuff had more bite--and meat--than your more recent music.

PAUL: I can see that argument. I can see that if you have a domestic situation, let's say, it's less likely that you're going to hear a lot of new music throughout an evening--as opposed to when you're young and single and music is all you fill your time with. In my case, maybe the kids want to watch a TV show or I want to just sit or whatever. So I think a domestic situation can change you and your attitudes. I suppose if you did get a bit content, then you might not write savage lyrics and
stuff. But I don't know. I don't really believe all that. I hate formulas of any kind.


And

PLAYBOY: Paul, when you and John were still hungry, you'd say to yourselves before composing a song, "Let's write a car. Let's write a house."

PAUL: Yeah. "Let's write a swimming pool."

PLAYBOY: What do you say now? Is there anything left for you to want? Isn't sommething important gone?

PAUL: Yes. I think greed is gone. You know, the hunger. You're right: It probably is good for a greyhound to be lean and toughened up. It will probably run faster.

LINDA: But Picasso wasn't hungry.

PAUL: Exactly. That's what I was saying about formulas. It's not always that important to be hungry, actually. I think it's just one of those artistic theories, as Linda says. Picasso wasn't hungry, and there are a lot of artists who haven't lost anything to domesticity. In my case, it probably did happen. When I was not at all domestic, and clubbing it and knocking around and boozing a lot and whatever in the Sixties, it probably did expose me to more and leave me with more needs to be fulfilled which you use songwriting for. Songwriting's like the thumb in the mouth. The more crises you have, the more material you have to work on, I suppose.

But then again, I don't know if it's true! I mean, we'd really have to decide which song we're going to pick on. If we're going to pick on Yesterday, well, let's see, I can't remember any crisis surrounding that one. So it may not be true at all. I think that I could easily turn
around and be more content and have less edge and write something really great.

PLAYBOY: You're obviously ambivalent about the subject.

PAUL: For me, the truth of this domesticity thing is confused. In my case, it wasn't just domesticity that changed me. It was domesticity, plus the end of the Beatles. So you can see why I would begin to believe
that domesticity equals lack of bite. I think it's actually lack of Beatles that equals lack of bite, rather than just domesticity. The lack of great sounding boards like John, Ringo, George to actually talk to about the music. Having three other major talents around . . . I think that had quite a bit to do with it.

 

[Louis C]

Then listening to "Wings at the speed of sound" hearing him trash Beatle songs

That's news to me too. There was "Too Many People" on Ram where he slammed Lennon, but that is the only one I know of.

 

[Grant B]

Ricardo_C
Thanks for the interview!

Louis Cornell
I was talking about the live version of "Fool on the Hill"
I listened to way too many McCartney records that day and got confused on the title
I didn't think Too Many People was written about Lennon?
I know "Let Me Roll It" was a response to "How do you sleep" (and a piss poor response at that)

 

[Grant B]

Anyone have or ever heard Thrillington By Paul. Never heard of it until I found this
Pretty Weird
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...=Aczen97y7krgt

 

[JackJD]

Yes, I have the CD... I like it alot; Of course I love RAM.
If you are a BIG McCartney fan of a completionist(I am both), its definately worth having. -JD

 

[Louis C]

I didn't think Too Many People was written about Lennon

Judge for yourself:

Too many people going underground,
Too many reaching for a piece of cake.
Too many people pulled and pushed around,
Too many waiting for that lucky break.

That was your first mistake,
You took your lucky break and broke it in two.
Now what can be done for you?
You broke it in two.

 

[andrew markworthy]

If I remember correctly, Too Many People was a response to Lennon's How Do You Sleep? which was directed at McCartney.

To be honest, I think that all the ex-Beatles stuff post-Beatles with the exception of a tiny fraction of Lennon and Harrison's work is disposable. Before people howl at me, try answering this question.

Just suppose that the Beatles hadn't existed and Lennon, McCartney and Harrison *as solo artists* tried to get record deals with their work. They *might* have got record deals, but do you honestly think that they would have had long and successful recording careers? Lennon would probably be remembered as a one-hit wonder with 'Imagine', McCartney for something like Mull of Kyntire and Harrison for 'My Sweet Lord' (and would probably have been quietly dropped by his record company after the plagiarism case). The only reason they had long recording careers was because they were ex-Beatles, IMHO.

 

[Tim Gerdes]

If I remember correctly, Too Many People was a response to Lennon's How Do You Sleep? which was directed at McCartney.

Actually "How Do You Sleep?" was a response to "Too Many People", which John and Yoko perceived as an attack against them. They also believed that "Dear Boy" was an attack on John, but Paul has attributed it to Linda's first husband. Once I listened to the song in that context it made perfect sense.

When "Imagine" was released, John made a second dig at Paul by included a picture of himself handling a pig, as a mocking reference to "Ram."

Paul's response to "How Do You Sleep?" was the beautiful "Dear Friend" on "Wings Wild Life."

Tim