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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Paul McCartney On Songwriting

I went to a Paul McCartney concert a few years ago, and just like most people, I was totally blown away. As a Grammy winning producer/songwriter friend explained, "It's like watching Beethoven!" The funny thing was that a while later I ran into Brian Ray, one of Macca's guitar players, and when I told him how much I loved the show, he said, "You've got to come hear us now. We're so much better!" Sounded very much like a club band player, but it made me realize that musicians are still musicians and bands are still bands no matter what level you're on.

Here's a great video from the Michael Parkinson talk show of Paul talking about songwriting in general, writing a song for Sinatra, and playing a few of his lesser-known songs. Note a rather bored looking David Gilmour in the background, which is understandable since he wasn't doing much.


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6 comments:

Ed Bruner said...

Paul needs John to reach his potential. Sssheesh, he might as well be Barry Manilow

Philip Linford said...

I'm pretty tired of hearing that. As a hard-core Beatle fan for many many moons, I think they were more than the sum of their parts for certain. Yet there is no way I buy the "John was the creative, edgy guy who pushed Paul to be good" crap. John's solo output was spotty at best, and very limited compared to Paul's. (don't get me wrong... I love John too!)

Paul takes chances (Liverpool Oratorio, the Fireman, Run Devil Run) and is adept at many styles. In the 70's he rocked harder than John too with shredding rocker vocals and some great wings performances.

For a guy in his late 60's he is amazing, and I hope I have that much life and creativity by then. The comparison to Manilow is rediculous and offensive to any TRUE Beatles fan.

Just Sayin' :-)

Giuliana said...

well said philip! agreed 100%

and paul live today is unbelievable!

RAM-ON PAUL!!!

noise said...

I do wish he talked a bit more about the writing of the songs though. I don't think these songs were his best work (however I will always refer to the Beatles as "The Masters") but I think more insight into his process would have been more interesting than just hearing him play.

Fred Decker said...

I admire McCartney. He's always going to be compared to the Beatles and some people will inevitably find him not as good now as he was then. The only way he could avoid these criticisms is to stay home and never play live again.

I thought this performance was entertaining and interesting. Thanks Bobby Owsinski for making it available on your blog.

Fred Decker

Anonymous said...

Pound for pound Lennon adds up to more in my opinion: Just look at the song: Imagine, Instant Karma, Watching the Wheels, Love, God, Hold On, Gimme Some Truth, Woman, Just Like Starting Over, War is Over--there is just far more meat on these songs. Paul's best tunes are: Maybe I'm Amazed, Band on the Run, Let Me Roll It, Coming Up, and Jet. The rest of his material is all fun and characteristically Paul, but they don't have much depth lyrically. Both Paul and John are musical geniuses, but I just think John contributed more meaningful and timeless songs on his own

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