McCartney once described "Without You" as "... the killer song of all time." I don't believe that translates as him wishing he wrote it (although I'm sure he'd welcome its royalties), but he was just exaggerating and being nice. It's a successful ballad in a Beatley style.
A couple of my friends have his debut at least, one who was around at the time might have more, but I've never found them.
I've never heard of him until 2 years ago! Me neither. McCartney can write stuff like this in his sleep! It's been a while since I heard stuff from me. Oh wait, I heard Sugarman on the radio a few weeks ago. But still, it's once in a looooooooong while!!!
If you put 100 Paul McCartneys at 100 pianos for 100 years they would eventually write the complete works of the Monkees.
The best McCartney myth quote is that he said "Neil Finn was the best songwriter in the world"...or words to that effect. I agree Neil Finn is, but Macca didn't say it.
He doesn't quite live up to his lofty reptutation - at least for me - but his albums are a decent listen. Worth picking up if you see any of them going at a reasonable price.
Don’t know about the Wilson track, but… Is there one song by someone else you wished you had written? from Carol Price, Coventry, England; Kate Graham, Weybridge, England; and Adrian Rider, St Ives, England I don’t really want to have written anyone else’s songs, but, as a fantasy question, I love ‘Stardust’, by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish. It’s a beautiful song. And I remember thinking that Billy Joel’s first hit, ‘Just The Way You Are’, was a nice song, I’d like to have written that one too. ‘Stardust’ first, though.” The Club Sandwich Interview
I'm far from a Billy Joel fan—plastic stuff like "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" drives me up a wall. But even I wish I'd written "Just the Way You Are." It's a classic melody, even with syrup dripped all over it. Same goes for "Fields of Gold."
I just finished reading that whole interview, and even though it’s nearly 20 years old, it’s a good one. Appears to be questions from the fans, edited by Lewisohn. Perfect combo, imo. Recommended.
Is it unpopular to like Rodriguez or something? Never seen the documentary but I own his first two albums, and I think his debut is really good.
Paul wishes he wrote "Penny O'Dell": For those who collected vinyl bootleg LPs in the late 1970s, this songs was collected on a few bootlegs and listed as a Wings track from the 1974 Nashville sessions. BUT despite what it says at the start of the Youtube clip, it is not Paul/Wings at all. It is a song called "Homecoming Queen" by someone named Kenny O'Dell.
Too bad this thread churned out a few Emitt haters. Sure, there's a lot of McCartney influence that was flowing through that guy. The album was released later in the year so I'm sure he was probably listening to Paul's first album a lot. It seems flippant to call him generic. Some of his sounds just seem a little too close to what Paul was doing. Mainly it's the guitar solos and the fact he had a great voice. It gets tagged that way because anyone who wants to tell you about music they like, they have to relate it somehow. Throw on five decades of having to tag it, well... it's not going to be able to stand on it's own merit. Shame as Rhodes is one of those guys that got screwed by the business and it certainly affected the rest of his life.