Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (Album) Song by Song Thread

Paul's pronunciation of poverty is so cool, it's such a regressive sounding word but he makes it so light by not stressing the "v," I wonder if that's the English pronunciation.

 

At The Mercy
(McCartney)

At the mercy, at the mercy
At the mercy of a busy road,
Who can handle such a heavy load?

At the mercy, At the mercy
At the mercy of a busy day,
We can think of nothing more to say

If you show me love, I won't refuse
I know you'd never make me choose
Between the love I've got and the love I'd lose

Sometimes I'd rather run and hide,
Then stay and face the fear inside

At the mercy, at the mercy
At the mercy of a busy day,
Who can bear to turn their head away?

At the mercy, at the mercy
At the mercy of a busy road
We can watch the universe explode

If you take me up, I won't say no
I guess you'd rather see me grow
Into a better man than the one you know

Sometimes my head is hanging low
It's time to get on with the show

At the mercy, at the mercy
At the mercy of a busy day
I can think of nothing more to say

 

At The Mercy - rather poetic in it's structure, I think - and I just love it.

It stuns me to hear so many good songs, with great lyrics, and then have folks go on about how the album doesn't "rock enough".

I daresay those folks are being rather superficial, and not paying attention to the songs themselves.

 

At the Mercy is OK----it sounds sincere like How Kind of You----it’s just not as compelling as that track---but it's not contrived like Jenny Wren and doesn't sound made-up-on-the-spot like Fine Line.

The part of At the Mercy where he sings:

Sometimes I'd rather run and hide,
Then stay and face the fear inside​

---sounds, unfortunately, like Loverboy’s Workin’ For the Weekend:

You want a piece of my heart,
you’d better start from the start​

 

Oh, come now! That's a stretch, Paul's lyrics sound a lot more real and sincere than Loverboys!

 

Right---but
the melody of the vocal (at that particular part) takes me back to 1983 when Q104 would play that damn Loverboy song EVERY Friday at 5PM (seemed like they did it for almost a year).

But it's a tiny part of the song----not enough to ruin it.

 

Now cut that out! Stop comparing Paul McCartney to Loverboy! Alright I'll give you that the melody and phrasing are kind of similar, but now can we let it go?

 

Does the little instrumental bit remind anyone else of Wanderlust?

 

Absolutely! Just wanted to be clear.

I do appreciate this thread. Part of my lack of enjoyment of this record was that it did not measure up (for me) to some of the gushing reviews I read-----i was disappointed at the time.
It's nice to re-examine well removed from the hype.
I am still not in the camp that thinks this is a great record but there are a number of interesting tracks.

 

Always!!

 

At The Mercy

This wasn't a favorite of mine when I got the CD but I must admit it's grown on me. Pauls voice sounds great on this track - parts of it are so steady it could have come from the early 70's. I especially like when he sings 'At the mercy' on top of the piano chords - it's very rich and harmonic.

 

Yes!

Revisiting this album because of this thread. Not that I didn't love it already (because of the Godrich connection, I like to say that this is Paul McCartney's "Sea Change"), but yeah....love the discussion.

 

At The Mercy

This song was a big grower for me. didn't hit me much the first time I heard it but it started to get inside my head and i really like it now.

I have the opposite opinion from moople. While I found How Kind of You to be boring, overproduced dreck - I found At The Mercy to be more organic. Also, as Perian said the instrumental break has a little Wanderlust sound to it and is really quite melodic.

I guess the difference in the two songs for me is that I find How Kind of You to be quite unmelodic (it just sort of drones - which i have never liked) while At The Mercy has a prettier melody line.

This song fits the mood of the album extremely well.

RamblinRed

 

Again, the lyrics feel very real.

His last few albums made me think about how hard it must be to write songs prompted by the crap that's going on in your life when you want to maintain your privacy but every hiccup of your life is reported in the press. I think in this album he's managed to express some really painful emotions but in a way that no one can tie to specific situations - at least not beyond pure speculation. And we haven't even gotten to Vanity Fair!

And the Wanderlust connection - I never heard it before and now I can't see how I missed it

 

At The Mercy is the type of song I wish Paul would do more of on his records. Thoughtful, a bit abstract. Love the piano and his voice stylings on certain parts, where his voice gets deeper. Great track.

 

I think Vanity Fair is one of the worst tracks on the album. Void of any melody whatsoever. I would take any track on Ram over this song.
I really enjoy everything else, especially Fine Line.

 

Oh dear, I can't understand how one could say that Vanity Fair doesn;t have any melody! It's full of melodies! While the "I bit my tongue / I never talked too much / I tried to be so strong" bit is a real nice melody to sing over one chord in my book, the part that goes "the definition of friendship / Apparently ought to be /
Showing support for the one that you love" is just musical heaven. Full of melodies. Listen to those strings! It's just all very subtle, he doesn't do any weird vocal acrobatics or big intervals. Do you have to do that to make a great melody?

 

Friends To Go
(Paul McCartney)

I've been waitin on the other side, for your friends to leave
So I don't have to hide, I prefer they didnt know
So I've been waiting on the other side, for your friends to go

I've been sliding down a slippery slope, I've been climbing
Up a slowly burning rope, but the flame is getting low
I've been waitin' on the other side, for your friends to go

You never need to worry about me, I'll be fine on my own
Someone else can worry about me
I've spent a lot of time on my own
I've spent a lot of time on my own

I've been waitin till the danger past, I don't know
How long the storm is gonna to last, if we're gonna carry on
I'll been waiting on the other side, till your friends are gone

So tell me what I wanna know
I'll be waiting on the other side, for your friends to go

(solo)

Someone else can worry about me
I've spent a lot of time on my own
I've spent a lot of time on my own

I've been waiting on the other side
For your friends to leave so I don't have to hide
I prefer they didnt know
So I've been waiting on the other side, for your friends to go

I've been waiting on the other side
I've been waiting on the other side, for your friends to go

 

Jenny Wren and At The Mercy are Ok.

Friends To Go is one of my faves, I just wish they had given it a harder rock treatment. That constant rhythm guitar stroke and the bigness of the sound lets you know that this song wants to bust loose. A really good one anyway!

 

Unless I'm remembering it wrong, didn't Paul say that "Friends To Go" was his attempt at a "George Harrison" sound? Either way, it totally sounds like a George song.

 

A little late to the party, but C&C is one of my favorite Macca albums -- Top Five for sure -- so I'm just going to dive right in:

FINE LINE: As others have said, I'm not really in love with this song, but it opens the album well, and I suppose that's all it has to do.

HOW KIND OF YOU: I love the IDEA of the song, but the production is a little too smooth, not quite "chaotic" enough for a song built on tape loops. Love the horn part that comes in part way through (but it's too buried in the mix, imo), and I love the way the song kicks in after the line "when I was counted out". I originally didn't like it much, mainly because the production wasn't as clean and focused as the rest of the album, but it grew on me. I still prefer the b-side "Growing Up, Falling Down" in the second song slot.

JENNY WREN: Great song, and it doesn't pale in comparison with "Blackbird" -- no small feat. The duduk solo is inspired, and the instrument was also well-used in the above-mentioned "Growing Up, Falling Down."

AT THE MERCY: An outstanding late-life ballad, like "For No One" but updated with a sadness that only age and experience can bring.

FRIENDS TO GO: A Rubber Soul-ish little acoustic number; I love it -- although I don't quite hear the George Harrison inspiration that Paul claimed for it. The lyrics are quite strange and fascinating, rare for Macca -- as he himself admitted, a psychiatrist would have a field day with this one!

I've written at length about this album in the past. For the curious (or masochistic), here are a couple:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=1298537&postcount=149

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=3219665&postcount=557

This was more about Memory Almost Full, but it also addresses latter-day Macca in general:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=3241990&postcount=730

 

Great to have you with us, Sean. Glenn, chimed in earlier, and I hope he'll be back. Now all we need is the third McCarstateer, Chief, and my favorite trifecta of posters will all be here.

The Dr. Is in!

 

"At The Mercy" is one that hits me everytime I hear it. I get lost in the lyrics, just fine songwriting, really.

Agreed, this sounds like a good GH song.

 

I tried to write some words about this song earlier but had a mental block. Sean's words here contain a mixture of my thoughts and a welcomed enlightenment. I would just add there's a part of me that misses Linda's background vocals on this song more than any other on the album, but that's conflicted with a part of me that feels he wouldn't have been able to write a song with this lyrical content during that blissful union with her.

 

I miss Linda on every Paul album, but I feel that since her passing Paul's lyrics have become more interesting and introspective.