Solo Beatles single by single thread

Beautiful Night - my favourite late career (1988 onwards) McCartney song of all time. More on that later though.

Far better than C'mon People in my opinion.

 

Paul tries to change it up though (the coda starts with It's such a beautiful, beautiful night, then goes into Paul singing Beautiful night over and over, then Ringo backs him up. More similar to "All You Need is Love" than Hey Jude in my opinion).

 

Again the beautiful thing about McCartney's music is there's something for everyone, because personally Beautiful Night does absolutely nothing for me!

C'mon People has those classic McCartney moves that I love.

 

I think C'mon People would be much better if the tempo was about twice or three times faster. And not just to make it shorter. It just sounds like a fast song to me, and the dirge like tempo really ruins it.

 

George Martin may have thought C'mon People a "super song'' but it sounded rather fatuous and overblown to me.

Was waiting for Ringo's 'Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go' (1992) to appear on this thread but after a little research I discover it was a 'Germany only' single, and therefore not qualifying for discussion here? A shame, as I think it was potentially one of his best ever singles, which would at the very least have served as another worthy 'trailer' for his excellent Time Takes Time album - and who knows, might even have crept into the lower reaches of the UK or US chart.

Anyway, here it is for any of our German viewers who may otherwise be slightly miffed by its omission

 

I have it on a promo CD single. Is that rare or something?

 

In a lot of ways, Off The Ground is the nadir of his career. C'mon People just comes across as trying really hard to write the grand message song. He soon gave this up and just write about his life: much better. I'm not even someone who listens to lyrics first, I can only imagine how much the lyrical audience would be annoyed.

Having said that, I still enjoy listening to it because there's always something in almost everything he does.

ps. I'm not quite sure why so many think Long Leather Coat is preferable to Looking For Changes. LLC is, to me, one of the most preachy, awkward and, simultaneously, pretentious lyrics he ever wrote. He made the right decision to leave it off. Looking For Changes isn't bad, it's catchy though the 50s rock'n'roll groove isn't particularly conducive to the angry lyric.

pps. how on earth did "Kicked Around No More" get left off the album? That is a great track.

 

Ok, I can hear that as well.

JcS

 

Looking at it objectively, "Hope of Deliverance" has always struck me as okay -- good, but not great, basically a good idea for a song that never completely came together. But it came out shortly after the one great love of my life passed away, and I can never hear the lines, "We live in hope of deliverance from the darkness that surrounds us," without choking up.

 

C'mon People and all the various associated b-sides...they all make very good arguments that McCartney should have released more instrumentals. Multiple discs tracked down yet again upon release, played once--disgust registered--put in storage evermore.

 

I just can't hit "like" for that post so instead I'll say: so sorry for your loss...

 

One of my face Ringo tunes

 

Kicked Around should have been the second single

 

I don't even know what to write. Music is one powerful SOB.

 

Classic! And you're not very far off in yer assessment of the song, either, IMO.

Well speak of the devil!

 

The lyrics are not good but, in general, they do make sense. "We failed to change the World in the 60s. We surely did many things wrong. But that is not a reason to give up´.- Let's keep trying. Maybe this time we have to do some things differently. Perhaps form a party. It'll take long but it's worth the effort."

The ideas are not well laid out and the topic could be insincere. But I think it's possible to grasp what he is trying to say. It's not totally incoherent.

 

Once again the B sides to "C'mon People' were almost better than the A side and deserved to be on the album as well! "Down To The River" is a great little obscure Macca song.

 

The lyrics is just fine for me. They sound nice enough with the music. They might not be literature but there is no rule for songs nor lyrics to be. It came out in a period when i was still young and social and a party guy with hopes for the future and we drank beer and sang along. It worked better than to sit with your friend the computer and listen to it.

 

One man's utopia is another man's hell. It's just the way it is.

 

I'm usually too lazy for this kind of thing, but this period is really interesting. My Off The Ground (remixed with way less vocal and drum processing):

1. Off The Ground (more like the original demo)
2. Kicked Around No More
3. Cosmically Conscious
4. Big Boys Bickering
5. Golden Earth Girl
6. Keep Coming Back To Love
7. The Lovers That Never Were (Original demo with Elvis)
8. I Owe It All To You
9. Hope Of Deliverance
10. Down To The River
11. Looking For Changes
12. Can't Buy Me Love (acoustic version)
13. Peace In The Neighbourhood

Turns out to be a lot more acoustic. With a few lyric changes (Peace, Looking and I Owe), this could've been a classic album IMHO. But melodically, every tune is killer.

 

C'mon People makes no damn sense...

But it illustrates a good point about McCartney.

People seem to critique Paul for being insincere - I don't think this is the case at all. Take the infamous Bip Bop. At the end of Wingspan they show that home movie with him laying on the grass with his departed love Linda and his small children playing at his feet, scatting the song. If that were my memory of Bip Bop, I'd put it on my album and I'd put it on my collection (Pure McCartney and Wingspan). That is sincere and actually touching.

C'mon People I think is equally sincere - what Paul really wants to say is "All I want is the truth, just gimmee some truth" - he just can't find the words. I don't think C'mon People is any less sincere than anything by John.

 

There is thematic similarity between Mamas Little Girl and Put It There - so I can see that. And he had already used Cold Cuts track My Carnival for a b-side - so maybe he decided he'd just put them out as b-sides

 

Don't forget at this time Paul had in the can the following songs, available to be worked up for OTG:
Calico Skies, Great Day (both recorded in 1992), Beautiful Night (1986), Return To Pepperland (1987), Tommy's Coming Home (Costello track from 1987), Shallow Grave (Costello track)

Imagine...
1. Hope of Deliverance/2. Big Boys Bickering/3. Tommy's Coming Home/4. Calico Skies/5. The Lovers That Never Were/6. Mistress and Maid/7.Kicked Around No More /8. Off the Ground / 9. I Owe It All To You/ 10.. Great Day/11. Beautiful Night/12. Cosmically Conscious/13. Shallow Grave


That rivals Flaming Pie as a great record

 

Aww yeah, that's right! Some great songs just sitting there. Replace Mistress with Golden Earth Girl and this is a better record than Flaming Pie, IMHO.