Paul McCartney/Wings-song by song thread

Yes, I realize the realization that you understand the reality of the wonderfulness that “Somedays” occupies in reality, in all of realities various levels.

I couldn’t have said it better. Well, I could have of course, but why make you feel inadequate?


Seriously, “Somedays” ranks up there with the best of Paul’s ballads . A later career highlight for me and a wonderful George Martin score .

But Pepper,you’ve already given the score :

McCartney/10
Martin /10
Tied, no extra innings .

 

Po' Boy was also released as a sandwich. Covered by multiple artists.

 

Young Boy is classic McCartney pop, just unbelievably catchy. It was also the best thing in the movie "Father's Day," which managed to pair Robin Williams with Billy Crystal and make them both not funny.

 

Young Boy - I wasn't too impressed with this when it was released as a single ahead of the album itself, however, I've grown to love it since. I particularly like the slow part at the end - especially the gorgeous organ sound - which highlights how the strong melodies are in this song. Nice one Paul! It's a very strong 4/5, which makes it four very strong tracks out of five so far.

 

NEXT ONE
Calicoe Skies
Ohh my-what a great album this is. Calicoe Skies is without doubt a masterclass in songwriting. A timeless song that easily rank among Pauls finest. Great lyrics to. As good as anything Paul ever has done-alone or with the Beatles
Great song

While it wreaked havoc in the north-east US, the category-three storm Hurricane Bob that made landfall in August 1991 prompted Paul (then staying in Long Island) to sit with an acoustic guitar and write what he describes as “a gentle love song that becomes a sixties protest song”. Paul invited George Martin to co-produce the piece, which-owing to it’s instrumental simplicity-was started, finished and mixed within a single session. The earliest recording on Flaming Pie.

“Bob, the hurricane, knocked out all the power; it was all candle-light, cooking on a woodfire. Very primitive, but we like that enforced simplicity. I couldn’t play records, so I made up little acoustic pieces. This was one of them-it’s primitive little powercut memory.”

Paul McCartney, in Club Sandwitch n°82, Summer 1997:
I wanted to write something acoustic, in the vein of ‘Blackbird’, something that could be recorded without drums or an arrangement. We were in America and Hurricane Bob had knocked out the power for about a week. That caused enforced simplicity: it was primitive and fun and I sat there with an acoustic guitar and wrote ‘Calico Skies’.

Mark Lewisohn, in Club Sandwitch n°82, Summer 1997:

While it wreaked havoc along the north-east US coastline and inland, the category-three storm Hurricane Bob that made landfall in August 1991 happily sparked the creation of ‘Calico Skies’. The McCartneys were on vacation on Long Island when the power went down, and as they welcomed the return of the old pioneer spirit, spending candlelit evenings, cooking over a wood fire and making and receiving visits from neighbours, Paul sat with an acoustic guitar and penned what he’s since described as “a love song that becomes a Sixties protest song, recorded in the vein of’Blackbird’, without drums or an arrangement”. Not entirely suitable, then, for the full-band Off The Ground album taped in 1992, Paul waited until those sessions were over and then invited George Martin to co-produce the piece, which – owing to its instrumental simplicity – was started, finished and mixed within a single session. The tape was then filed away for future use, making it the earliest recording on Flaming Pie.





Club Sandwich No 82 Summer 1997

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In 1999, the song on appeared on Working Classicalinterpreted with a string quartet. From the album liner notes:

‘Calico Skies’ is a piece for acoustic guitar that McCartney wrote in America. The unmistakable suggestion of early music is quite deliberate: when he was composing it, McCartney recalled the image of a medieval musician banging away on a tabor.

 

Calicoe Skies is timeless. This version shows that

 

A folky cover

 

Another one

 

' Calico Skies ' is stunningly beautiful. It has a melody that seems like it's always been with us. Timeless and gorgeous. A supreme earworm.

 

A case could be made for Calico Skies to be Paul's greatest solo song.
Certainly in my top 10 fave songs, works well as a trilogy along with Blackbird and Jenny Wren.
All exceptional songs which Paul does effortlessly.
With Linda's illness it has added poignancy.
5/5

 

Totally agree as a kid thought it was crony, but it's infectious, catchy and the ending is great....

 

Young Boy.
A nice song. Not really much to say about it. Feels like filler, but it's good filler. Not quite sure why it got a single release because no part of it screams "hit" to me.

Calico Skies
One of the most beautiful love songs ever written with of the sweetest vocals of his entire career. Should be as well known and as well loved as Maybe I'm Amazed because it's up there. Proof if proof be needed that when Paul is "on" there is nobody better, and that the people who dismiss his post Beatles work are missing out on some of the greatest music ever recorded.

 

I agree fully. This song is up there with the best acoustic songs he ever wrote.

Amazing that he withheld this from "Off the Ground". I think he made a wise choice

 

If You Wanna. Some had mentioned that this was one of the lesser moments on Flaming Pie. That says a lot about the quality of the album as If You wanna is a pretty good little pop track. Compare it to many of the pleasant but forgettable tracks on Off The Ground and it becomes clear hat this is a keeper.

 

CALICO SKIES - Another one that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE - There's nobody better at writing acoustic songs than McCartney, NUFF SAID!
YOUNG BOY - Okay there's also nobody better at writing a pop song than McCartney! Everything about this song is excellent, really love the guitar playing by STEVE MILLER and the message is one that will never ever grow old! MASTERFUL POP by the POP MASTER!

 

Somedays. This is a lovely song. I hate to say this, but I didn't find many of Pauls acoustic ballads during the 80's and 90's to be any great shakes. But this one is as good as his 70's work, better in many cases. To read that it was dashed off in 90 minutes is staggering. This feels so heartfelt. Beautiful melody & good lyrics.

 

Young Boy. With the catchy melody, snappy pace, efficient guitar licks and acoustic guitar driving it - this song could have been a lost Rubber Soul outtake. Great one.

Another one written while waiting on Linda. Good thing she was a busy woman.

 

Amen , brother...but you're preaching to a choir of Macca Men here. We gotta get this message out to the masses.

 

Calico Skies - another great song from Pure McCartney, um, I mean Flaming Pie. Boy, was Paul on a songwriting roll at this time. He'd stated that he was inspired around this time by the quick songwriting of the Beatles. Unfortunately for Paul, quick often meant unfinished. This is not the case with the Flaming Pie songs. This is a fully realized melody and set of lyrics. Another beauty.

This is the first track where I perceived Paul's voice to be showing it's age. The held "f" on the word life sounded like an older guy. Gotta say I found it somewhat upsetting at the time that Paul was becoming an old guy. He was 55 years old in 1997. Oddly, I am older than that now. But after becoming familiar with the album I wound up looking at it a different way - here was an old guy making vital, relevant music as good as anything he had ever written in his life. Little did I know that he would (mostly) respect the high quality bar he had set in 1997 for the rest of his career.

Who could have predicted?

 

Calico Skies 10/10

Classy piece that adds to the albums diverse sound.

 

Crap. I can’t find anything to make fun of and tease you about in this post.

Please try harder in your next post.

 

As others have said, Calico Skies is just unbelievably beautiful. This is the sort of thing many of us come to Paul McCartney for. It becomes particularly poignant in light of the moment it was released. While written years before Linda became ill, why did Paul pull this one out of mothballs rather than one of the dozens of unreleased tunes he had lying around? I think the answer lies in these lines, repeated several times during the song:

I will hold you for as long as you like
I will hold you for the rest of my life

When the person you love has cancer, that's not a statement. It's a prayer.

 

Wow, brought a tear to my eye. Such a good point.

 

The World Tonight

A highlight. A timeless rocker song. The performance is fantastic with powerful vocals, great melody, nice harmonies and a terrific heavier guitar sound expressing strong feelings. The lyrics are touching the existence of a person, a philosophical expression and evaluation of the past, present and future, a learning process to build a better life. An honest and intimate reflection. Bravo!!!


Lyrics:

I saw you sitting at the centre of the circle
Everybody, everybody wanted something from you
I saw you sitting there

I saw you swaying to the rhythm of the music
Caught you playing,
caught you praying to the voice inside you
I saw you swaying there

I don't care what you want to be
I go back so far I'm in front of me!
It doesn't matter what they say
They're giving the game away

I can see the world tonight
Look into the future
See it in a different light
I can see the world tonight

I heard you listening to a secret conversation
You were crying,
you were trying not to let them hear you
I heard you listening in

Never mind what they want to do
You've got a right to your point of view!
It doesn't matter what they say
They're giving the game away

I can see the world tonight
Look into the future
See it in a different light
I can see the world tonight

I can see the world tonight

I saw you hiding from a flock of paparazzi
You were hoping,
you were hoping that the ground would swallow you
I saw you hiding there

I don't care what you want to be
I go back so far I'm in front of me!
It doesn't matter what they say
They're giving the game away

I can see the world tonight
Look into the future
See it in a different light
I can see the world tonight

Look into the future
I can see the world tonight
See it in a different light
I can see the world tonight
I can see the world tonight


Credits:

Produced by Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne
Written by Paul McCartney
Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums, Electric Guitar, Harmony Vocal, Lead Vocal, Percussion, Piano by Paul McCartney
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Harmony Vocal, Keyboard by Jeff Lynne
Engineered by Geoff Emerick, Jon Jacobs
Assistant engineer: Keith Smith
Label: Parlophone
Release Date: May 5, 1997
Recorded at Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK
Length: 4:03 minutes

Paul's own words:

From Flaming Pie Radio Special:

Paul About 'The World Tonight' (at 29:42):

 

More about The World Tonight...

Promos:

UK Promo CD:





US Promo CD:







Promo Film # 1: