Paul McCartney/Wings-song by song thread

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

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  1. Paul Gase

    Paul Gase Everything is cheaper than it looks.

    Location:
    California
    Maxwell: For all of the grousing from the guys...George plays great bass and guitar, harmonizes well, and Ringo adds perfect touch to a decent album track.

    One thing about Abbey Road: the material is indeed up and down, but the band never phones it in....
     
  2. hEARt PhoniX

    hEARt PhoniX living musical polyamory

    I never cared much for ATN, until I just relaxed and enjoyed the fun of it.
    In adition when watching YS back in the 80s I was initially very disappointed.I wanted to love it, it was a Beatles movie after all, but.
    Fast forward many years.
    Then I listened to the Something About The Beatles episode on Yellow Submarine at 50. I got fascinated, ordered the book and rewatched the movie. This time I really enjoyed it.
    And then came ATN over the End Titles.
    I was singing along, with a huuuge smile on my face.

    By now I have got both YS books, plus for sake of completion Brodax's Up Periscope Yellow.
    And I love All Together Now.
    https://yellowsubmarinebook.com/
    A second volume on the YS story has just been released. I have got it here and am going to read it asap.
    Until then ...
     
  3. hEARt PhoniX

    hEARt PhoniX living musical polyamory

    As a teen in the 80s I loved that guitar intro.
    One New Year's Eve when everyone else outside seemed to get carried away with all those annoying fireworks, I opened my window, put my little mono Phillips cassette recorder on the sill and "blasted" away.
    I doubt anyone in the street heard much, but here I was. I had left my mark.
     
  4. joy stinson

    joy stinson Secret friend

    Location:
    Dickson. Tn
    Liked its quirkiness immediately and its moog...These weird Beatles songs and some of their odd solo style songs caused me to research further ..their genres...what were they imitating in the fluke sounding song? Because of this song I later learned they were imitating...burlesque, a Victorian London and pre WW2 style Berlin stage genre that both Morrison and later Bowie also studied, a genre with dark themes in lyrics with a moral ending with final justice but musically done in a light hearted musical style.. I later also learned that this song has the Beatles most complex rhyme scheme.
     
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  5. joy stinson

    joy stinson Secret friend

    Location:
    Dickson. Tn
    By the demands of its genre....I think his solo 1882 song comes closest to Maxwell but 1882 is more a straight tragedy describing extreme social injustice with public execution of a child but 1882 lacks the contrasting light hearted burlesque musical style...Burlesque songs were intrinsically weird and creepy but always musically light hearted. Burlesque reminds me of the dark aspect of fairy tales, creepy stories read to children before bedtime.

    Of course we all later learned that...John and George hugely exaggerated the number of takes of only Maxwel, 39? I think. I see it along as octypusses garden as a song much needed lifting the mood and varying styles of abbey road, my favorite Beatles album. Somehow oh! Darling now gets tossed around as lightweight or a favorite diss, pastiche, or whatever now as well though don’t remember that being true then as folks I knew and critics seemed to accept the album in total then. I still don’t get how...39 takes of the song Maxwell ...ground George and ringo into the ground..cuz I read even then there were over .,100 takes of a George track for a song ...never used and given away,
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2021
  6. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    The best bit in that clip is Mal trying but failing to hit the anvil on beat.
     
  7. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

    Hadn't really thought of that comparison but you are right, the only other song that tells that much of a fairly dark story that I can think of by Paul is from decades later in Mr. Bellamy, unless you think it's about a cat.
     
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  8. joy stinson

    joy stinson Secret friend

    Location:
    Dickson. Tn
    Forgot about Mr Bellamy and of course there’s the the cat interpretation possibility. Upon finally hearing the 1882, with the dark story lyrics song set in the past, I automatically thought of some story and old fashioned resemblance to Maxwell. Mr Bellamy is a good comparison also.
     
  9. Paul Gase

    Paul Gase Everything is cheaper than it looks.

    Location:
    California
    “Takes” can be just about anything: a full run through, a breakdown along the way, or a false start. Trust me, I’ve been in situations where we might go 10+ times just getting the intro right.

    So comparing 39 to 100 or anything like that, without context, doesn’t really say much.

    Anyhow: if George or Ringo actually exclaimed that multiple takes of Maxwell ground them into the ground....are you disputing their recollection? Is it ok if it actually annoyed them?
     
  10. joy stinson

    joy stinson Secret friend

    Location:
    Dickson. Tn
    It’s fine for any artists or several in a band or in a studio associated with takes of a song to be annoyed with the number of takes, whether 39 for a final used take or over a 100 for an unused song ultimately given away..The context is simply used ...for comparison of the takes.

    I’m sure many songs take multi takes and many songs have not been used by various artists throughout the years. The context is in relation to the above Lennon quote on the thread of the multi takes...I believe it says something like ..the song takes grinding George and ringo into the ground ...but my comment notes Beatles did many more takes of a different unused song..as well as other unused songs like It means a lot, if you’ve got your troubles...

    Your comment noting false starts being included in takes is fair and heard in the Beatles boxsets as well as in solo McCartney rehearsals and demos and rehearsals of many other artists.
    I don’t remember at the time ringo claiming this, but remember George and John complaining about the song ....after the breakup. I’m not disputing that they resented doing the takes, but that they exaggerated their ..being ground down...as the number of takes was far exceeded by another song of that era, George’s.

    Of course by this era they were hardly recording together much. I don’t dispute their annoyance but the complainers expectations that multi takes of their own songs of that era...are ...ok to do and unburdensome to group or studio assistants. No question, it was time for group to break up by AR era if multi takes of a member’s song....annoyed them..and they describe it as..grinding them into the ground. The real miracle is with that attitude, we got the album at all but certainly glad did..as my favorite and has been for a long time. Wouldn’t change a thing about it....
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2021
  11. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

    Now that I think about it Rocky Raccoon kinda fits that mold as well of a seemingly innocent sounding song with fairly dark lyrics if taken literally.
     
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  12. Bruce M.

    Bruce M. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hilo, HI, USA
    All Together Now is lightweight, childlike fun. Definitely not a Beatles masterwork, but there's no harm in an occasional lightweight throwaway.

    Unlike some, I love Maxwell's Silver Hammer. It's weird, catchy, gruesome and silly all at once -- and beat Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy" by a decade.
     
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  13. joy stinson

    joy stinson Secret friend

    Location:
    Dickson. Tn
    Never thought of comparing it to the zevon song...true.
     
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  14. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

    Next Up - OH! DARLING (Lennon/McCartney)



    OH! DARLING (Lennon/McCartney)

    JOHN 1980: "'Oh! Darling' was a great one of Paul's that he didn't sing too well. I always thought that I could've done it better-- it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he's going to sing it. If he'd had any sense he should have let me sing it." (laughs)


    PAUL circa-1994: "I mainly remember wanting to get the vocal right, wanting to get it good, and I ended up trying each morning as I came into the recording session. I tried it with a hand mike, and I tried it with a standing mike, I tried it every which way, and finally got the vocal I was reasonably happy with. It's a bit of a belter and if it comes off lukewarm then you've missed the whole point. It was unusual for me-- I would normally try all the goes at a vocal in one day."
     
  15. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

  16. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

  17. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

  18. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

  19. Dr. Pepper

    Dr. Pepper What, me worry?

  20. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    'Oh Darling ' has a good McCartney vocal. I'll give it that. But it's a very generic 50s style number that just adds to the flabbiness that is Side One of ' Abbey Road '.
    This and 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer ' make this side Macca's weakest Beatles side .
     
  21. Bruce M.

    Bruce M. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hilo, HI, USA
    I don't get Lennon's comment at all. "Oh! Darling!" is a great Paul vocal. The thing is a total hoot.
     
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  22. joy stinson

    joy stinson Secret friend

    Location:
    Dickson. Tn
    Truly...the vocal blew me away upon getting the album...played it on my parents big wooden console and it was booming through the house, the vocals were searing....another song I played on repeat so much that mom yelled for me to turn it off..not just down. It became my favorite Paul Beatles song and has remained it...and in the seventies, he did a few more vocals along this line which I likewise added to my favorite Paul screaming and letting it loose vocals.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2021
  23. joy stinson

    joy stinson Secret friend

    Location:
    Dickson. Tn
    Blasphemy..I declare, total anethema, lol...side 1 of AR is Beatles best album side IMO ....and has their greatest genre variety which is the trait that made the later Beatles the most progressive rock group then, made them leaders, not followers, as they expanded the boundaries of rock by including many different genres for the last time on AR ...Maxwell, is their only burlesque style song, a style which neither the cool dudes Morrison nor Bowie regarded as “flabby” as they each explored that cool pre war Berlin style with dark lyrics contrasted to peppy musical style, This OD song is powerful swamp rock gospel style popular in the late sixties mixed with fifties piano style. OD takes you to rock gospel church and has blues lyrics...

    The song to me is like melody’s big hit around then or a little later of candle in the rain with the black gospel choir and like Joe South’s style I saw in concert in the late sixties .....and side 1 of AR remains my favorite Beatles album side from my favorite Beatles album....and it ends with the mighty best Beatles crescendo bar none..the medley...I’ll die on a hill defending..AR and all it’s beautiful parts and comprised it’s whole all most proto prog rock symphony...Where’s my original vinyl copy which when bought person ahead and behind me was also buying ...I’ll hide it rather than hear it trashed...lol. There’s hardly anything...generic about OD song...as I’d have to had to have found a black gospel singing where I grew up in Alabama to hear anything close to OD’s level of gospel style blues singing.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2021
  24. joy stinson

    joy stinson Secret friend

    Location:
    Dickson. Tn
    He said he really wanted to sing it but couldn’t hit the high note vocally I read. I admit I had to get on the SHF to see some of the denigrating and “pastiche” a forum favorite term and the dismissal of the song in various ways, but not necessarily in you in your comment. I saw the song as very serious and written in disguise as a breakup desperate love song...but probably really about Paul’s anguish at the imminent breakup of the Beatles.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2021
  25. maccafan

    maccafan Senior Member

    Yeah Okay??!!

    Oh Darling - I absolutely love this song! McCartney doing some low-down dirty blues!
    I Like Lennon's enthusiasm but he didn't have the vocal range to sing this song! It's an absolutely fantastic soulful shouter that McCartney nails vocally! One of the Beatle's absolute very best, and one that I always wished McCartney had performed live!
     
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