Paul McCartney’s Lyrics-what happened?

He's given enough. I'm satisfied.

 

You may be right, but we're not talking about music here, we're talking about songs. And songs are about the lyrics just as much as the music.

 

And Paul, under your logic, shouldn't get off the hook for writing about love while cheating shamelessly on Jane Asher.

So in other words, screw the lot of them!

 

I highly doubt Macca's core fans are pre-pubescent

 

How many songs about love did he actually write during the Asher relationship? Most of his songs regarding relationships then were sad or just pissed off.

Not to mention there have been rumblings of Jane's infidelity during the same time...

 

we were referring to come on to me and fuh you

 

I fully agree. Also McCartney probably wrote most of his melodies by improvising a vocal line over guitar/piano licks and chords, so the narrowing of his vocal range surely plays a major role in limiting his melodic choices, as opposed to composers who write for other singers, who will write the melodies in the piano (for instance, Burt Bacharach or Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks).

 

Or this gem from "The Other Me" on Pipes of Peace:

"I know I was a crazy fool
For treating you the way I did
But something took a hold of me
And I acted like A DUSTBIN LID"

 

That's British slang, part of that rhyming thing. It's been explained dozens of times.

 

Fine...but does that make it good? I am a lifelong Macca fan, but the man has been unnecessarily lazy with lyrics throughout his solo career.

 

That's why when I was a kid here in Brazil and didn't speak English at all, I loved Paul's solo career even more than I do now. Turns out knowing too much can ruin things

Oh, to think Little Lamb Dragonfly actually meant something... I miss those days

 

Not necessarily good, but it's not the nonsensical horror that US people like to make it out to be.

And sorry, "throughout his solo career"? There's no need to single out "solo" there. It's like everything The Beatles put out gets a free pass and scrutiny is only applied to the post-1970 material. Everyone wants to bitch about "Fuh You" or "Bip Bop" but won't point out that "All Together Now" and "What You're Doing" are lyrically poor.

 

Oh baby, how I love your legs

 

I agree.

Although, to be fair, I think All Together Now was meant to be a children's song.

But you're right.

 

I don't think he completely fell off the side of a cliff. He's always had the ability to write some really great lyrics and has always turned in some real garbage too. I think he's well aware of that. He likes to work fast and get things done. It doesn't always turn out the best product, but in his mind I think he has so much that he wants to do that he can't be bothered to take years to write one song. Good for him I guess. I mean, he's put out a TON of work. SO much of it is still great. Some of it is not. I give him a pass on some of the stuff unless the offense is so egregious that it needs to be singled out.

Paul is okay by me. For every "Come On To Me" you'll get an "I Don't Know" and a "Dominoes", songs that work in a more complex way (either musically or lyrically). And yes, I specifically picked new songs because I do still believe in the power of Paul McCartney. Guy has given us quite a bit of good material for nearly 60 years. Again, he's okay by me.

 

I'm not sure how much I agree with the idea that it was John's presence that caused Paul to write his best lyrics. After all, he wrote "Hello Goodbye" while still within John's presence, and "Jenny Wren" twenty-five years after John died (to give just two examples). I think it's just like people have said -- he's written both good and bad lyrics. I think that attaching the label "Beatles" to something may cause people to overlook bad lyrics, and not having the label "Beatles" on something may cause people to overlook good lyrics.

 

I mean, Paul admitted that having John there to compete with made him do his best work. Take that for what you will.

 

Paul overvalues the Beatle period and undervalues his solo material. It's something he's been fairly consistent in.

 

Also, this isn't directly related to the question of lyrics, but I get the impression that the 70s and 80s Paul McCartney, the man who released multiple children's songs, and who seemingly went out of his way to be as uncool as possible, is a man much more comfortable in his own skin than the 60s McCartney with his involvement in the avant-garde and more "serious" art. Not that Paul's interest in avant-garde music wasn't, and isn't, genuine, I just think that Linda gave him enough support at home that he could be as "uncool" as he wanted to be in public, and didn't really have to care about being "Paul McCartney."

 

That's like saying "Compare 'Imagine' to 'Beef Jerky.'" There's no point comparing apples with oranges.

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

 

Yes - I said and stand by my "solo career" qualification. Anyone who doesn't see a falloff between his Beatle-era lyrics and many of his solo lyrics just isn't paying attention. We could spend an entire thread discussing the lyrics of Red Rose Speedway alone on this matter.

Also - I never said that they were a "nonsensical horror" either - but thanks for speaking for me. Sorry also for being one of those uninformed, backwater "U.S. People" that you refer to...

 

I don't know why your comment made me think of this, but I have to post it because it's so hilarious (ignore the political aspect of it).

 

George openly talked about his flaws, and I can think of several songs where it was apparent he was talking about himself. Olivia has flatout said more often than not he wrote those songs as being for himself to try and be better. Most people just don't bother reading enough about George to understand where he was coming from.

I regularly see Imagine interpreted as preachy and hypocritical, so...

 

That's just untrue. There are plenty of solo lyrics that are better than Beatle lyrics and plenty of Beatle lyrics that are better than solo lyrics. The solo years have a larger amount of worse and better lyrics simply due to it being lengthier.

I never quoted you as saying they were a nonsensical horror therefore I never spoke for you, nor did I ever mention the words "uniformed" or "backwater". It's funny you think me - a United States born citizen - has animosity towards the people of the United States.