Paul McCartney Archive Collection - 'Forthcoming Releases' [TBC]

Raw and plaintive, a beautiful melody. I have no idea what "throw the wine" means but I don't get hung up on it. I like the basic piano and the humming. It just seems so "exposed" (if that makes sense).

 

I've been enjoying everyone's analysis of Wild Life. I propose not my own theory (because I really just don't know) but just some things to consider. Wild Life was just a couple years removed from the spectre of the Beatles. The Beatles. The greatest band on earth who aside from the Let It Be sessions had been recently taking their extensive time in the studio to make masterpiece albums the world adored. Big shoes.

Maybe he felt he couldn't repeat the strength of a Beatles album without the others? It just can't be the same so go a different direction?

Maybe he just wanted to change things up a bit and make some spontaneous music? Two of his first three albums after all were basically just this.

Paul has always been on the avant-garde never hesitating to take chances making his music.

Why not move from the Beatles to a garage band approach with Wings? He did his own "home" album with McCartney, made Ram to satisfy the pop masses and maintain his image, then return to a fresh formula and try out the spontaneous thing again with Wings and Wild Life? Ram was more structured but, it was also goofy and fun as hell.

Imagine the feeling of going into the studio with just a handful of songs? Edgy. Spontaneous. New to Paul. What's going to happen? Who can say? Paul did this on purpose of course. How could he possibly forget the leftover Ram tracks from a few months earlier?

Wild Life was a new experience. Like The Fireman is. Like the Oratoio was. Like writing with Costello was. Like McCartney II was. Like all of Paul's career continues to be.

 

This new remaster may open my eyes to the album for a second time like Pipes of Peace did.

 

Plus, Paul and Linda had a 2-year-old (Mary) and an 8-year-old (Heather) and Linda was 7+ months pregnant with Stella. Yes, the McCartneys had a housekeeper/nanny Rose, but the state of things at home must have had an effect on his work.

 

Did John ever respond to Paul's Dear Friend in song?

 

The Nutopian National Anthem said everything John had to say.

 

Still waiting for a proper remix or remastering of that gem.

 

There's kind of a theory saying that the song I Know (I Know) is not a song addressed to Yoko, but Paul.
That could be true, there's a lot of references about Paul songs in it (The intro sounds like I've Got a Feeling, "Today I love you more than Yesterday", "And I know, it's getting better, all the time", "I know what I was missing" (from Dear Boy "You never knew Dear Boy how much you missed", because John thought it was a song about him, which wasn't but anyway...), etcetera...)
And then they met again on March 28th 1974...
Try to listen to it with all that in mind...
One thing is sure, John replied to the POB's parody Paul's did with Let Me Roll It with that similar guitar riff in Beef Jerky.

 

I always thought the intro to I Know (I Know) was kinda cheesy, even if the song itself wasn't half bad (although perhaps the least memorable track from an album that I really like). There is a rough mix that starts with Lennon singing and quickly fades up the other instruments, and it's really cool. As good as Mind Games is as an album, Lennon made some questionable decisions that are revealed on the bootlegs, like editing out a great solo from Tight A$.

 

I'm trying to figure out the timeline here. It is stated that Dear Friend was a retaliation to John's How Do You Sleep.
Dear Friend is cited as being recorded during the Ram sessions.

BUT, Ram was released 4 months before Imagine was, which means the recording sessions were even earlier. Wild Life was recorded during the summer of '71, months BEFORE
Imagine's release.

Dear Friend was probably written and recorded BEFORE Paul even HEARD How Do You Sleep, but not released until a few months after Imagine.

My theory is that Dear Friend was not in retaliation to How Do You Sleep. Whether recorded during Ram sessions or Wild Life sessions, BOTH sessions happened BEFORE the
release of Imagine.

From a "recording" timeline, How Do You Sleep WAS the last word. From a "released" timeline, it seems like Dear Friend was.

Perhaps someone can clarify for me.

 

Yes, Dear Friend was recorded a few months before John recorded How Do You Sleep.

Interestingly, Some People Never Know (recorded just after HDYS) includes the line 'Some people can sleep at night time'.

McCartney has also said in an interview that Lennon told him that Jealous Guy was about him (Paul).

 

doesn't make any sense

 

I know this may be a stretch but I’d really like to see the aborted 1971 single ‘Get On The Right Thing/A Love For You’ included in the Wild Life set (nothing to do with the album but important as context). Those mixes prepared by Paul & Erik The Norwegian during the Ram sessions were unfortunately left off the Ram reissue (still annoyed they included the Jon Kelly mix of ALFY instead). They would make strong bonus material for the WL set.

 

Maybe, maybe not. I don't see why Paul would make it up though.

Paul McCartney stated in the February 1985 issue of Playgirl: "He (John) used to say, 'Everyone is on the McCartney bandwagon.' He wrote 'I'm Just a Jealous Guy,' and he said that the song was about me. So I think it was just some kind of jealousy."

 

I didn't meaaaan to hurt you ♪♫

5 tracks later...

SO SGT. PEPPER'S TOOK YOU BY SURPRISE
HOW DO YOU SLEEP YOU CU*T

 

Well, that's John

 

Somewhat unrelated but i just heard a great version of Great Day by Brad Mehldau from his new album Seymour Reads the Constitution! It's not the first time that Brad has covered Paul but it really shows what a great melody this song has.

 

It has been suggested without any hard evidence so far that "Dear Friend" was actually recorded during the "Ram " Sessions while others suggest it was indeed recorded during the "Wildlife" sessions. A piano demo was recorded in either mid 1970 or early 1971. Will be fascinating to see what the actual recording date was.
"Some People Never Know" was demoed in mid 1970 on his farm in Scotland and may also have been recorded during the "Ram" sessions as well or not. "Get on The Right Thing" and "Little Lamb Dragonfly" were also reportedly recorded during "Ram" sessions.
"How Do You Sleep" was recorded on May 21, 1971 and most of "Wildlife" was recorded in late July and early August, 1971. So if "Dear Friend" was indeed recorded during the "Wildlife" sessions I doubt Paul would have heard "How Do You Sleep" unless John specifically sent him a tape of it as the "Imagine" album didn't come out until October.

 

Paul McCartney, Club Sandwich interview, 1994:

“Dear Friend” was written about John, yes. I don’t like grief and arguments, they always bug me. Life is too precious, although we often find ourselves guilty of doing it. So after John had slagged me off in public I had to think of a response, and it was either going to be to slag him off in public — and some instinct stopped me, which I’m really glad about — or do something else. So I worked on my attitude and wrote “Dear Friend”, saying, in effect, let’s lay the guns down, let’s hang up our boxing gloves.

 

I often wonder if Let Me Roll it was about / to John. It's funny, I always mentally bracket, LMRI, How Do You Sleep? and Sue Me Sue You Blues together as they have the same musical feel to me.

 

Having much more to work with than when 'Eight Arms To Hold You' was published, I can conclusively say that 'Dear Friend' was recorded during the 'Wild Life' sessions. The first day in fact, Saturday, July 24th, 1971, in E.M.I. Studio Two.

Chip Madinger
www.lennonology.com

 

And not just overdubs onto an earlier recording?

 

And not just overdubs onto an earlier recording.

Chip Madinger
www.lennonology.com

 

How about that! Thank you.

 

Was an earlier version of Dear Friend also tried out for RAM though?