McCartney Silly Love Songs not performed live since the 70s?

I'm not aware of Paul performing Silly Love Songs live since the 76/77 Wings tour. I haven't seen it appear on any live recordings since then anyway. I find this strange since it was his one of, if not his biggest hit.
Insight?

 

Shame as it’s a great song. The original LP cut is fabulously recorded.

 

The continuing nightmares from the 1984 Broad Street movie version of the song have prevented Paul from ever doing the song again:

 

Denny Laine did it...

 

Pales in comparison to the Wings cut. The moog instead of the horns is terrible.

 

Glad I never sat through that movie.

 

Well, I can't say I'd want to hear it without Linda - she was an irreplaceable part of making that track what it is for me.

Why it didn't get rolled out during the late 80s-early 90s tours is a good question - Hamish would certainly have done a fine job with Denny's vocals and Wix covering the horn parts....I would've loved it personally! But I believe (and correct me anyone) that Paul sort of "disavowed" the song for a while there as he took so much flak from critics over it... one of his most commercially successful songs (and one of his best!) but he really did take some guff at the time, which I think did get to him. Thankfully the song has since been reappraised by folks who once slagged it off and it seems he's more forceful in "defending" it than he once was.

 

I wonder if he looks at this and asks himself, What in the hell was I thinking?

 

I’ve loved the song ever since I first heard it in 1976. I think with Linda’s voice so prominent in the song, he doesn’t want to perform it without her. Probably not, but just a hunch.

 

Fair enough but I was surprised during the 89/90 and 93 tours he didn't do it.

 

Absolute nonsense!

No he doesn't! it's others who put their dislike onto it and then try and pass that on to McCartney! He doesn't think negatively about it at all!
I absolutely love that version of the song with that funky thumping bass played by Louis Johnson from the famed Brothers Johnson!
McCartney's always had singers who could do Linda's part, he just hasn't wanted to perform the song.

 

I'm talking about the film clip on how he's dressed.

 

I believe that Paul has grown to dislike that song quite intensely over the years. Hence his not playing it any more.

 

Is Silly Love Songs the biggest hit of his that he doesn’t perform? (Aside from co-authored Beatles songs that John sang...) Maybe Uncle Albert?

 

Silly Love Songs was massive, at least in the U.S. It spent 5 weeks at the top and Billboard's year end top song of 1976.

 

First single I ever bought.

 

He could put Nancy in the band.

 

Not sure I'd call it "not playing it any more" since he only did it in 1976. It's not like "SLS" was a staple that he dropped.

I think Macca is sensitive to the decades of mockery the song has gotten and avoids it for that reason...

 

It was the first Macca or Beatles-related 45 I ever bought!

George's "Crackerbox Palace" was 2nd!

I think "WOA" was the first Beatles-related album I bought...

 

Maybe, but he has played Temporary Secretary live in recent years, too, and that was pretty consistently mocked for years.

 

Apples/oranges. "Temp Sec" is little known by the masses - it's a deep cut that only a small %age of fans know - whereas "SLS" was/is one of his most famous solo songs.

Also, "Macca II" got a reassessment that made it seem cool, whereas that didn't happen with "SLS".

"SLS" has (unfairly) been painted as pap over the decades, and Macca seems to be sensitive to public perceptions of songs...

 

Which I don't get. If he played it live in spite of the criticism his fans would love it all the more. I mean it is a statement song and he has since then continued to write tons of silly love songs

 

Agree - and I think 99% of the crowd wouldn't care about the criticism.

The criticism was probably overblown anyway. I thought "SLS" was a pretty clever "eff you" to the critics back then, but too many took the lyrics literally and didn't get the message.

Also, who can hate that bassline?

I honestly doubt most paying customers know of the criticism or care even if they do. It's a great song!

It is always possible Macca's skipped it for reasons unrelated to the mockery it's received - dude did play "Ebony and Ivory" in 1989, and that song was already oft-derided by that point - but my gut says it's the negativity the song's inspired that keeps him away from it.

Haven't there been stories that his band has tried to get him to play it?

 

I will say it does make every single best of package, Wings Greatest, All The Best, Wingspan and Pure McCartney and he did rerecord it in 84 so it's not like it's being pushed aside. Possibly it's the harmonies and rehersal time he hasn't wanted to deal with.

 

If I remember correctly, someone on this forum posted that the current band tried it out, but it didn't work. I can imagine that without Linda it just does not feel right. The "lumpy trousers" band might have been able to do it especially since Hamish has an r&b background with AWB and Linda was still with us.