Would "Maybe I'm Amazed" have been a number 1 hit if it was released as a single from "McCartney"?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Pizza, Mar 20, 2017.

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  1. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    after AR..
    That's the theory, but nothing is written as far as I know documenting the songs genesis.
     
  2. videoman

    videoman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lake Tahoe, NV
    So it probably would have been less finished and used in the medley...... ;)
     
  3. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Maybe I'm Man "then solo.
    Also inventive end coda lead gtr.

    Be interesting with GM producing.
     
  4. AFOS

    AFOS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brisbane,Australia
    I've never really liked Maybe I'm Amazed nearly as much as most. Don't dislike it,just don't love it. Perhaps with a more sophisticated GM production and the other Beatles I'd like it a lot more.
     
  5. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    He could have the finished song already and was saving it for his debut solo album, as it's the strongest song on it.
     
  6. videoman

    videoman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lake Tahoe, NV
    It's got a verse. Then a "B" section (call it bridge or chorus) Then a solo over the verse. Then the B section again. Then another verse. Then an instrumental B section. Then another solo over the verse yet again and out.

    It only has two sections and he wrote an ending bit. "You Never Give Me Your Money" has more going on in some ways as the B section is more of a departure from the A section.

    MIA is only more of a "complete song" because he filled it out with guitar solos making it 4 minutes long. But there is no more 'song' there.
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2017
  7. cellery

    cellery Well-Known Member

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Totally. Might be his best post-Beatles tune and right on the heels of the groups breakup people were pining for this sort of thing. They woulda sent it to the top of the charts in no time.
     
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  8. videoman

    videoman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lake Tahoe, NV
    He could have written it when he was with the Quarrymen and saved it for his first solo album 'someday' because he knew it was SOOOOO strong! Or maybe he heard Ringo humming the melody and stole it.

    Most likely is what we know. He wrote the song after Abbey Road when he started work on his solo album. If he had some of the ideas in his head already beforehand? Maybe he did, maybe he didn't.
     
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  9. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    It's complete, it's a classic.
    Did AR need it, proberly no.
    It would have made side one more evenly ballanced.

    Now was John Lennon short changed on AR (complete songs) ?
    I do believe he was.
     
  10. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    Not only does it only have two sections, but a listen to the isolated vocal track reveals that while most of the vocals were done live with the initial piano take, the vocals for verse 2 were punched in afterwards. That has me wondering if the second verse had even been written at the time of recording - it might mean that Paul only came up with this alternate verse later on in the recording of the song (and maybe just repeated the first - and otherwise only - verse originally).
     
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  11. videoman

    videoman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lake Tahoe, NV
    You Never Give Me Your Money and Golden Slumbers are just as classic, just as well written and are completed by having other bits of songs around them rather than just repeating the same two bits over and over like Maybe I'm Amazed does.

    Maybe he should have repeated them 7 times each, making MIA 8 minutes long and therefore we could call it an "epic"?

    Could MIA been good on Abbey Road had he already written it? Sure. So would have Another Day. Or any other number of songs he hadn't written yet. "Jet" would have been nice on there too, I suppose. Imagining songs he hadn't written yet being on the album is kinda silly, really.

    But to say his contributions to Abbey Road weren't as worthy because they aren't as "complete"? Then you don't really understand the songwriting.
     
  12. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Well the premise of this thread title is hypothetical. My posts are just taking that idea a little further. :)
     
  13. videoman

    videoman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lake Tahoe, NV
    Perhaps. Or he botched a lyric or his voice cracked or something and he went back over the 2nd verse later.
     
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  14. videoman

    videoman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lake Tahoe, NV
    It's John who didn't have much in the way of complete songs to bring to the sessions. It was Paul who put the medley together working with the unfinished bits that John had. Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam don't even have choruses or B sections. Just 2 short verses each.
     
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  15. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    Yes, it could be. But it might be significant that the only lyrics that deviate from the main verse and bridge were punched in (later in the session?)

    This has the backing vocals on it too (and it's incomplete), but you can hear the lack of the live piano on the second verse here:

     
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  16. Haristar

    Haristar Apollo C. Vermouth

    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    What's wrong with "song"/"wrong"?
     
  17. ukrules

    ukrules Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kentucky
    Not me...I was in diapers when the original came out!
     
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  18. daveidmarx

    daveidmarx Forem Residunt

    Location:
    Astoria, NY USA
    Too short? Let It Be is 3:50, The Long And Winding Road is 3:40. Maybe I'm Amazed is 3:49. I'd say it's just right, length-wise.
     
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  19. daveidmarx

    daveidmarx Forem Residunt

    Location:
    Astoria, NY USA
    Another Day was written by January '69:

     
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  20. AFOS

    AFOS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brisbane,Australia
    I'd take any of Paul's Abbey Road songs over Maybe I'm Amazed - even my least favorite Oh Darling.

    But as is often the case with John his songs are the highlights. His two songs are my favorites from side 1 and Because may be my favorite song from Abbey Road. And all his little snippets are great especially Sun King and the two you mentioned
     
  21. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Top ten maybe. The question really is how would it have worked in rotation on AM radio. That was still the driver for singles in 1970.
     
  22. bob60

    bob60 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London UK
    Wow, 84% voted for yes, what a huge shock!
    Whoever would have thought it....
     
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  23. AFOS

    AFOS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brisbane,Australia
    I'm thinking top 20/40. Another Day is a far superior pop song and didn't get to number one - close though. Number 2 in the UK or US
     
  24. bward

    bward Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston, MA USA
    I love the McCartney album, as unfinished and ragged as it is. There's somethign about it that keeps me returning to it.

    BUT. Here's a what if.

    What if Paul had released Maybe I'm Amazed/Junk as a stand alone singe. That'd be a clear answer to Instant Karma.

    Then a few months later Every Night/Man We Was Lonely is a second stand alone.

    In the meantime, Paul works on the rest of the songs, or RAM becomes his first full solo album.

    But as was the case in this era, raw emotion over the breakup of the Beatles took over, and things played out the way they did that don't seem to make a lot of sense nearly 50 years later.

    As great as Maybe I'm Amazed is, I don't know if it would have gone number one. Charts are fickle things and anything could have happened. Top 5 for sure. And as someone noted up thread, MIA could have blocked Long And Winding Road from the top spot.
     
  25. Rojo

    Rojo Forum Resident

    I think it would have been at last Top 5, considering that it was a good song and released close to the Beatles' breakup.

    Whether it would have reached No.1 or not, I think it depends on precise timing. Sometimes a huge hit comes in the way.
     
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