Tag Archives: paul mccartney

#1224: Paul & Linda McCartney – Smile Away

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Well, I’ve got no qualm in saying that I think Ram is my favourite out of all the Paul McCartney solo albums he’s ever done. Quite funny too because it’s technically not even a solo album, being credited to him and wife-at-the-time Linda and everything. The LP was burned at the stake back when it was released, mainly by critics who hadn’t got over the Beatles breakup and blamed McCartney for it. As the years rolled on, more and more people recognized its quality. I’ve come to think of it as a response to anyone who may have thought his first album was underbaked and lacking of substance. People wanted a bigger-sounding record, so this is what they got, with fuller band arrangements and wilder vocal performances.

‘Smile Away’ is a number on Ram, one which I don’t think people take much notice of. I would guess that’s because of the somewhat inconsequential subject matter. McCartney reminisces about a time when he was walking down the street and a friend of his came up to him and said ‘I could smell your breath/feet/teeth a mile away’. The song’s title is sung in response. And that’s pretty much the whole song. Now, you could take it at face value. But I read an interpretation that said it was about the times when McCartney would just be out in public and people would make fun of him or take slights at him ’cause of the whole Beatles breakup thing and, being the clean-cut, PR man he is, McCartney would just grin and bear it instead of taking things to a physical level. I don’t know if that’s true. But I’ve always thought about the song in a different way since.

Though the song seems silly, the McCartneys and the backing musicians ham things up to make the track one of the most enjoyable to listen to from the album. Paul McCartney puts on his American soul voice, hollering and whooping and laying things on thick throughout right up to the song’s ending where he’s straight up hooting like a monkey. Linda McCartney’s supporting vocals change from “Don’t know how to do that” to “Learning how to do that”, which I think is pretty cool. I initially thought she was just singing wordless phrases. The fuzz on the bass guitar is immense, cutting through the mix and coming in with a vengeance particularly around two minutes and 50 seconds in. The whole affair’s delivered to be this big one-night-only showtime kind of song, which is hilarious considering what the McCartneys are singing about, but it works somehow.

#1159: Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson – Say Say Say

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Where to start with this one? I don’t think I have a very deep story to tell with this one, as to how I came across it for the first time. I want to say I have a memory of hearing it on the radio a long, long time ago when I was a child. But even then I’m not so sure. Though if I’m going with this story, I wouldn’t have known who was singing, nor would I have even been aware that there were two different singers on there. I’m sure the kid me thought it was really good. To be very honest, I think I actually became aware of ‘Say Say Say’ through a sample of it that was used in this house track from 2006. It’s very generic. But then through becoming a fan of The Beatles and probably seeing its music video on TV too, it was an instance of “Oh, that’s what that song was sampling.” And it sounded much better in comparison.

Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson decided to get together during the spring of 1981. Story goes Jackson called McCartney up, the latter thought it was a prank. When it was clear it wasn’t, the two came to an agreement to “make some hits” and Jackson stayed round Paul and Linda McCartney’s place during the recording sessions. It may have also been during this time that McCartney advised Jackson to get into song publishing, but that’s another story altogether. The sessions with Jackson and McCartney went swimmingly, with a couple tracks making it out alive as a result. One being ‘The Man’, and ‘Say Say Say’. Between the two, it’s clear which one was always going to be that hit that the two envisioned.

Completed in 1981, it wouldn’t be until a couple years later that the track would see the light of day, when it was released as the first single from McCartney’s Pipes of Peace album. And it got the works. Thriller was probably still in the charts somewhere when ‘Say Say Say”s release came around, and with Jackson being the biggest star on the planet and McCartney still being a former Beatle and all, the song had to also get the big music video (above) to highlight the camaraderie between the two. Also nice to see Linda McCartney in there too. As for the song, well, it’s about a man (whose perspective is sung by the two artists) left hung out to dry by a woman of his affection. He just wants to know if she feels the same way. She’s got to say, say, say, is what it comes down to. McCartney and Jackson are brilliant on the vocals, trading off, harmonising, makes for an engaging listen. Possesses a very tight groove. It’s a dang classic to me.

#923: Wings – Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

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After a year of ploughing through YouTube for videos, reading Wikipedia articles and downloading Beatles albums, the time came that it only made sense to listen to each member’s solo material. 2010 was the year. Not knowing where to start, I chose what I presumed to be the most popular solo albums – leaving me the options of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, Band on the Run and All Things Must Pass. Not too bad to start off with. My own experience with Band on the Run has varied with time. Twelve years ago, I thought it was great from front to back. Now I don’t revisit it too much. The songs are still enjoyable, but it does sound really 70s. Which does make sense seeing as it was recorded then. But you know when you hear something and it sounds like it could only have been released during that time.

So I haven’t really listened to a track from that album for some time, except ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five’ which, in my eyes, beats all of the others on there hands down. It’s the album’s big finale. It’s a bop. It brings the album’s themes of love and escape into focus here, overloading it with a dramatic production of busy minor-chord pianos, harmonious backing vocals, organs, the whole lot. I don’t know if anyone’s put it down to a tee of what the track is about. McCartney stated that he had the song’s first line in his head for months before eventually carrying on with it. But what I gather from it is a ‘love will conquer all’ kind of message. While everyone’s thinking about themselves and their own worries, Paul and Linda (who I assume he’s probably singing about) don’t have so much of a burden because they have each other. Although, it could just be a case where the lyrics came to McCartney and sounded good with the music with not much thought put into them. It’s all speculation.

Really, the highlight of the entire track is its ending, which really begins with two minutes left of its running time. While Paul McCartney’s adlibbing in the background, grunting, yelling, wooping, making all kinds of noises, the instrumental builds and builds. McCartney’s going wild on the guitar performing these bends and licks. A droning synthesizer is introduced followed by blaring horns. What I think is a clarinet comes in and pulls of this crazy run of notes. The music gets louder and louder before crescendo-ing into its explosive final chord, which then segues into a reprise of the album’s opening track. I get goosebumps every time. A big fan of songs with great endings over here, and this one is up there with the best of them.

#727: Wings – Let ’em In

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So I’d got through The Beatles catalogue very quickly around 2009/10; the only logical way was to explore the band member’s solo material. I’m not on my house computer so I’m not able to tell you which albums I went to first and who out the four I listened to the most. As if you would want to know that anyway. From what I remember, Imagine and Band on the Run were instant downloads because I’d always heard just from television that they were must-hears. All Things Must Pass followed along the way. Other songs arrived here and there, including ‘Let ’em In’, which I either heard for the first time via a live Paul McCartney performance or on we7.com where the track played randomly. It was 10 years ago; the mind’s going.

‘Let ’em In’ begins Wings at the Speed of Sound, Paul McCartney’s fifth album with his band Wings from 1976. It’s a comforting track, made to welcome the listener to the record and what’s to follow. McCartney hears people knocking on his door and ringing the doorbell, including his brother and aunt, the Everly Brothers and German professor Martin Luther, and implores everyone to let them into the house to have some good times with some glorious harmonies courtesy of himself, Linda McCartney and other members of the group. All this done with a military-style drum beat that takes over at some points of the track and some tasteful horns during the instrumental break. I enjoy how the verses are basically anchored by one note on McCartney’s piano and Jimmy McCulloch’s bass. Builds a sense of tension that way. And as you think it’s going to fade out to silence, the final two notes of the whole track suddenly jump back to normal volume to properly close it out.

It’s a real song for the family, you know? Just one saying “Hey, good to see you, come inside, we’ve been waiting for ages.” Very sweet.

My iPod #508: Wings – Helen Wheels

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“Helen Wheels” was written and recorded by Paul McCartney and his post-Beatles band Wings during the sessions for the great album Band on the Run released in 1973. Being released as a single prior to the album’s release, the track was not included in the album’s final tracklisting in the UK. It was in the US though, placed between “No Words” and “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)“. Good decision by Capitol Records to ask McCartney for the change. To me, the album doesn’t seem as right without it.

The song details a journey from the Shetland Isles near Scotland down to London via Glasgow, Carlisle, Liverpool, and Birmingham. This all takes place in “Helen Wheels”, the Land Rover Paul and his lovely lady Linda once owned and the track is a dedication to the vehicle’s reliability, comfort and overall awesomeness. Set to a shuffling bluesy rhythm, McCartney sings with a Southern state inflection before unleashing his chest voice with the “HELEEEEEN” that begins each chorus. That amongst many other little parts make this one of his most enjoyable songs to listen to. Like those backing vocals which echo the last three words of each line in the final verse, or when Paul forgets to start playing the bass for a second and comes in a bit late at one point. The little guitar licks and improvised fills are satisfying too.

The song is a great rocker, and a very good one to drive to of course.