Paul McCartney/Wings-song by song thread

I've always felt like John's sort of snarky reply to this song was Good Morning from Sgt. Pepper, but if so then John kind of missed the point of Paul's wonderful positivity in his songs. It's part of the important ying/yang of Paul and John's approaches to songs and life in general.

 

The cool thing about Revolver is that Paul contributed two of his least positive songs: Eleanor Rigby and For No One. His range in 1966 was incredible.

 

Good Day Sunshine is one of those quintessentially Paul songs that John would never have thought to write: Chirpy, cheery, bouncy, slightly antique without quite going all the way to "granny music" land. Not a masterpiece but much fun. And given the rest of Revolver, these bits of unrestrained happiness are a useful change of mood.

 

Next Up - "For No One"



FOR NO ONE (Lennon/McCartney)

JOHN 1972: "Another of his I really liked."


JOHN 1980: "Paul's. One of my favorites of his. A nice piece of work."


PAUL 1984: "I wrote that on a skiing holiday in Switzerland. In a hired chalet amongst the snow."


PAUL circa-1994: "I suspect it was about another argument. I don't have easy relationships with women, I never have. I talk too much truth."

 

OK... you're crazy.

 

Just want to mention too that ' Revolver ' marks McCartney's emergence as the new ' leader ' of the group.
His songs here are top-tier and outshine Lennon's considerably. A stunning leap forward from earlier works.
From here on in McCartney is the dominant force of The Beatles.

 

I have to respectfully disagree. Revolver to me represents the moment when John and Paul were equal. I will agree that he took a leadership role going forward.

For No One is my favorite of Paul's songs on Revolver. (My favorite of John's songs is And Your Bird Can Sing). While Here There And Everywhere is certainly among the best melodies Paul has ever written, For No One is among the most perfect and most complete songs. Yes, it's got a fantastic melody. It also has great lyrics. Very much like Yesterday, Paul is able to universalize and compress the tragedy of "a love that should have lasted years". Except, this time, he speaks in the second person. He's singing about the listener. Ending the song on the unresolved G7 is brilliant. It leaves the listener wondering.

 

For No One is pretty much perfect. Seeing him do it solo a the piano on tour in -- what, 2005? -- was electrifying.

 

Also, John brought the rock, Paul brought the ballads, to Revolver. I guess if you mean outshine that Pauls songs would be featured on The Voice before John’s or George’s, then sure. But in the battle for turning the volume up and rocking out, John beats Paul by a decent measure on Revolver.

 

All the lads shine in their own way on Revolver!

 

For No One, such a simple track but extremely effective. The solo is great. The bass really helps drive the song for me.

 

Great to have you on this thread!

 

Great to be here, doc!

 

I really like the almost music hall style piano playing here on this version
For No One is one of those songs that makes me think, “wow. Music was so special back then.”

 

My previous ID (a Facebook login) seems to have been rendered unworkable by the recent board maintenance so I am starting over with a new one.

I think McCartney and Lennon were firing on equal cylinders during this period. But McCartney's output was decidedly more commercial, which would give him the edge here and going forward.

I'll echo the praise for For No One. It's a sad but wonderful little tune and it will always remain one of the hidden gems on the Revolver album.

This seems to mark the point where McCartney begins to intentionally craft songs for piano, which becomes a standard gambit for him in the years to come.

 

For No One - This is such a great song that would be a career defining tune for vast majority of musicians. Yet, it is arguably not even in top 3 from this album.

This is my favorite sub 2 minute song of all time.

 

It appears this thread has run out of steam. Too bad. We're getting into an interesting period for Paul.

 

We had a server problem and not many posted since.

 

The problem , my fellow Macca fans, is that the rats have abandoned this ship and are all losing their minds over the forthcoming ' McCartney III ' album and are babbling, at times incoherently, about the various permutations, configurations and related merchandising of it on the thread about it.
But... this thread was very enjoyable. Sorry to see it sputter out.