![]() But you’re not really thinking about the songwriterly conceit of second-person pronouns when you listen to “She Loves You,” are you? You’re singing along with those “yeah, yeah, yeahs.” Or shrieking. McCartney (then at the peak of his direct collaborating with John Lennon, in 1964) says he may have been influenced to write from the point of view of “a middleman, an agent, a go-between” by being aware of, if not having read, the novel “The Go-Between” at the time. The rare pop song from the point of view of a love broker. It’s perhaps telling that McCartney wrote this while he was in the last stages of his relationship with Jane Asher, not so very long before he met the Lovely Linda. While he declared that “I Will” is “a song about the joy of love,” listen more closely and it’s an imagined joy of love, written from a still-solitary fellow to his future beloved, whom he hasn’t met yet. McCartney said recently that this White Album track is “still one of my favorites of the melodies I’ve written.” Listen to what the man said - he has good taste. We know what you’re thinking: Will “Wonderful Christmastime” be on the list? No - we’re not monsters, all right? But you may find a guilty pleasure or three - if that should really even be a thing - amid dozens of selections as worthy of veneration as anything to hit a classical concert hall or juke joint in the last hundred years. ![]() This critical list of major, world-changing accomplishments and delightful trifles runs the gamut from “The Long and Winding Road” (sorry to anyone who still has PTSD from the Phil Spector arrangement) to “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road” (sorry, just generally, on that one). But 80 is just enough to cover the breadth as well as greatness of the 20th century’s (and beyond’s) greatest journeyman singer-songwriter, from the Beatles to today. McCartney III spans a vast and intimate range of modes and moods, from soul searching to wistful, from playful to raucous and all points between - captured with some of the same gear from Paul's Rude Studio used as far back as 1971 Wings sessions.On the occasion of Paul McCartney’s 80th birthday weekend, anyone reading this is probably thinking the same thing: Only 80 Paul McCartney songs? The hope, of course, is that he lives to 120, in order to provide a hook for a much easier-to-narrow-down list of his 120 finest. Recorded earlier this year in Sussex, McCartney III is mostly built from live takes of Paul on vocals and guitar or piano, overdubbing his bass playing, drumming, etc. Before long an eclectic collection of spontaneous songs would become McCartney III: a stripped back, self-produced and, quite literally, solo work marking the opening of a new decade, in the tradition of 1970's McCartney and 1980's McCartney II. Paul hadn't planned to release an album in 2020, but in the isolation of Rockdown, he soon found himself fleshing out some existing musical sketches and creating even more new ones. 50 years following the release of his self-titled first solo album McCartney, featuring Paul playing every instrument and writing and recording every song, Paul McCartney releases McCartney III. ![]() ![]() Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket.
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