Paul McCartney/Wings-song by song thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Bemagnus, Sep 11, 2019.

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  1. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

  2. Who Cares

    Who Cares Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    Here Today

    A beautiful and heartbreaking acoustic song. Paul is opening his heart to pay tribute to John, with great but melancholic lyrics, a terrific arrangement and a simple and direct expression of love.

    Lyrics:

    And if I said
    I really knew you well
    What would your answer be?
    If you were here today
    Here today

    Well knowing you
    You'd probably laugh and say
    That we were worlds apart
    If you were here today
    Here today

    But as for me
    I still remember how it was before
    And I am holding back the tears no more
    I love you

    What about the time we met?
    Well I suppose that you could say that
    We were playing hard to get
    Didn't understand a thing
    But we could always sing

    What about the night we cried?
    Because there wasn't any reason left
    To keep it all inside
    Never understood a word
    But you were always there with a smile

    And if I say I really loved you
    And was glad you came along
    Then you were here today,
    For you were in my song
    Here today

    Credits:

    Produced by George Martin
    Written by Paul McCartney
    Arrangement, Guitar, Vocals by Paul McCartney
    Arrangement by George Martin
    Violin by Jack Rothstein, Bertrand Partridge, Patrick Halling, Laurie Lewis, Alan John Peters, Galina Solodchin, Michael Rennie
    Viola by Ian Jewel, John Underwood, George Turnlund, Ken Essex
    Cello by Keith Harvey, Dennis Vigay, Alexander Kok, Peter Willison
    Label: Parlophone
    Release Date: April 26, 1982
    Recorded at AIR Studios, London / Odyssey Studios, London
    Length: 2:29 minutes

    Paul's own words:

    From the press kit, Paul McCartney in conversation with Stuart Grundy & Alexis Korner (starting at 10:17 minutes)

    Andy Peebles BBC Radio 1 Interview (Starting at 16:21)

    Promo Film:

     
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  3. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    Let s face it
    We all enjoy different aspects to f Macca
    Actually I prefer most Mczvartmey albums over Back to the egg. Even though O find that procent n
     
  4. Who Cares

    Who Cares Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    More about Here Today...

    The following video is a tribute to John . This is not an official promo film but...

     
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  5. Who Cares

    Who Cares Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    More about Here Today...

    From the archive:

     
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  6. Who Cares

    Who Cares Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    More about Here Today...

    A live touching performance version, album Amoeba Gig:

     
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  7. Who Cares

    Who Cares Forum Resident

    Location:
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    More about Here Today...

    You Gave Me The Answer - Kate from the UK asks… (October 30, 2015)

    “In the song ‘Here Today’ you say, ‘What about the night we cried’. Can you tell us anymore about that story?”

    Paul: “Thanks for your question, Kate. Well we were in Key West with The Beatles and we had been diverted there because there was a hurricane at Jacksonville, where we were supposed to play. So we had to take a couple of days off while the hurricane passed. We ended up in Key West, which at that time was sort of like the ends of the earth! I understand now it’s all very built up and it’s a bit like Miami. But back then, there were just a couple of huts there – and we were in one of them! We had a drunken night where we sang and talked and cried, at one point. All four of us.”
     
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  8. edrebber

    edrebber Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Tug of War is too somber. I listened to it when it was first released for a while and tried to come back to it a few times, but I'm just not interested.
     
  9. Who Cares

    Who Cares Forum Resident

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    theMess likes this.
  10. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

    Both scratch different itches.
    Different albums, but I rate ‘em about the same.
    Very strong, with one or two lesser moments thrown in. I also don’t think McII is any worse. Just different as well. It speaks volumes about the man’s versatility.
     
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  11. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

    Have to disagree.
    The reds and blues just look right throughout the artwork. It conveys the album’s mood pretty well.

    Now, speaking about bad cover art, the next two albums in line, umm...... :sigh:
     
  12. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

    I understand he recorded some classical pieces, but isn’t this stretching it a bit too far? :angel:
     
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  13. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun Thread Starter

    :):wave:
     
  14. WilliamWes

    WilliamWes Likes to sing along but he knows not what it means

    Location:
    New York
    Somebody Who Cares (8.5/10)
    McCartney’s writing is much more universal on this album as if he’s singing to the huge audience he has and this is another that reaches way beyond the ‘placeholder’ lyrics he had occasionally used. It just makes any already pretty good song great and that’s what happens here. Fine melody, light/dark tones and a sincere vocal continue a very strong trio to begin Tug Of War. The acoustic guitar has more prominence on this album then it did in Wings and it brings intimacy and closeness to this fine inspiration.

    What’s That You’re Doing (4.5/10)
    A weak tune with a funky clavinet style synth that won’t quit with its bland riff and along with a hookless chorus and little melody add up to a song that goes way way too long and ruins some of the good will that fans who thought this would be a more focused reflective work gave. I don’t blame Paul, this one is on Stevie Wonder. The placement isn’t good but it’s the result of a tendency Wonder had in the 1980’s of dumbing down the melody in his funk numbers to focus more on groove but it’s a sloppy groove – it’s not streamlined and smooth, it doesn’t hit hard, it kind of rambles loosely before crumbling in shambles. Wonder was incredible in the 70’s but his funk/R&B side got weak melodically with exceptions in the 80’s despite having some pretty good softer tunes. This soulless funk number is like a lot of his forgotten 80’s and 90’s funk Stevie did. Good to have something upbeat with all the soft stuff around it but this is too jarring a transition – it could have just been a regular pop/rock tune with some energy – not a 6 minute funkfest that sounds too simple and rough amongst the elegance.

    Here Today (9/10)
    A beauty, the deepest most personal song of Paul’s career and he really did an excellent job especially knowing it would be heavily inspected once people heard it. There was a lot of pressure on Paul after the misread John’s death reaction so Paul needed to convince that it was more than a drag. He kept it simple to acoustic guitar and voice and it was the right move. The lyric is good because he tried and it doesn’t get to deep but shows glimpses and that’s fine enough for a Mac fan that knows the Macman rarely gets personal. 5 songs in and we have one long dud and a bunch of beautiful, thoughtful and mature songs that really feel like a lot of effort was put into them.
     
  15. Piiijiii

    Piiijiii Hundalasiliah

    Location:
    Ruhr Area, Germany
    Here Today 4/5 ~ I really like that his ode to John it turned out to be a quite little album track and not a "big" ballad like "Let It Be" for example.
     
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  16. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

    The thing that actually strikes me the most about it is that it’s totally devoid of funk and with second-phase SW that’s deadly.
     
  17. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

    If there’s one thing tasteless about all that it’s the cameras following his *ss to score a reaction.
    I think he kept it pretty civil.
     
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  18. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

    At face value it might be, but it does have the necessary looser moments. Side 2 is decidedly more upbeat.
     
  19. omikron

    omikron Avid contributor to Paul McCartney's bank account

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    Interesting point about the 'size' of the song. Hadn't considered that before. Like he wanted to keep it a sort of a private matter instead of a big, announced to-do.

    4/5 huh?

    Where's the point deduction coming from if I may ask?
     
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  20. Choba b CCCP

    Choba b CCCP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Russia
    Red and blue are the opposite colours in the spectrum as much as black and white are, and the confrontation between good and bad is the main theme of the album. I might be wrong but that’s how I see it.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2020
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  21. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Well..what does this say about the Beatles Red and Blue albums? They're both good!
     
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  22. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    Hey....why is it McCartney never released a double studio album ?
    If anyone could have he' d be in the running.
     
  23. Piiijiii

    Piiijiii Hundalasiliah

    Location:
    Ruhr Area, Germany
    Well, I don't like the vocal echo and somehow the song doesn't sound 100% finished to me. I can't really put my finger it. It's still very good of course and a core title of his output.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2020
  24. omikron

    omikron Avid contributor to Paul McCartney's bank account

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    Here Today: 5/5 This is the most emotional and sorrowful song Paul has ever recorded. There couldn’t be a more perfect tribute to his friendship with John. Not much to say really other that is still gets me a little misty-eyed from time to time when I hear it. Paul too on occasion when he plays it.

    And just for the sake of conversation . . . I was overjoyed when Paul started playing this live during the Driving Rain tours. I was dismayed though when he started adding that bit of vocal echo in the “what about the time . . .” sections which is there but not terribly noticeable on the studio version. Just go 100% acoustic solo Paul! The song is gorgeous as is!
     
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  25. omikron

    omikron Avid contributor to Paul McCartney's bank account

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    He tried once and thought about it another time. Shot down.
     
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