Silly Love Songs

Pushkin. Hi, everyone, it's Paul muldoon. Before we get to this episode, I wanted to let you know that you can binge all twelve episodes of McCartney A Life and Lyrics right now, add free by becoming a Pushkin Plus subscriber. Find Pushkin Plus on the McCartney A Life and Lyrics Show, pedge in Apple Podcasts, or at pushkin dot fm, slash plus.

The vast majority of people in this city believe in love because they're getting married, or they getting engaged, or they're going to see a film. This idea of love is very strong and sometimes gets knocked because it also can be seen as sloppy. But the romantic thing is one of the things I write about a lot. One day with the bluebird, with the beaches. They're marvelous, the wonderful, the beautiful, idyllic world that we love to just be in, even if he's just in a dream, or even if

I'm Paul will do for a while now. I've been fortunate to spend time with one of the greatest songwriters of the era, and.

Will you look at me I'm going on to I'm actually a performer.

That is Sir Paul McCartney. We work together on a book looking at the lyrics of more than one hundred and fifty of his songs, and we recorded many hours of our conversations.

It was like going back to an old snapshot album looking back on work I hadn't ever analyzed.

This is McCartney, a life in lyrics, a masterclass, a memoir, and an improvised journey with one of the most iconic figures in popular music. In this episode Silly Love Songs, looking back on McCartney's prolific career, it's obvious that the dominant theme across his music is love. I guess this is true across the history of music. Love songs always topped the charts, songs about wanting love, falling in love, being in love, rejecting love. We seem unable to exhaust

And what's wrong with that.

I like to know the rang.

Again.

From his earliest days as a songwriter, Paul McCartney was drawn to songs about romance.

As a.

SENDMA to you, remember that, always be in love with you, treasure these.

Your zose certain set of subjects to write things about. Love is very much wall revenge, breakups, desire, you know, and that covers an awful lot of territory those few categories.

Unlike the small sy love songs of their parents' generation, the Beatles love songs were fresh and cheeky, filled with the light hearted fun of young love. In the early Beatles records, nearly every song was a love song, but often carrying some twist or clever take on tired romance cliches. For example, McCartney was able to use the love song as a vehicle for a critique of materialism My.

Now Rainbow Friends Below Ryan.

It just bangs in, there's no intro, can't Bobby comes right in, so it's very instant, very simple, and then it goes into you know, by your diamond ring, by you anything. But it's still won't part.

Of me love because I don't care you that the money, the money love, so it's.

Just you know, materialism versus love. It really is quite a simple idea. You know, you can have all the money in the world, but that's not kind of by you love. But I found it a neat little way to say it quickly.

That said, the young lads from Liverpool were interested in both love and money, and they caught on that writing about love would be a quick way to reach a big audience.

You know, nowadays people have a slightly sort of more hyphalutin idea of what you're doing when you're writing soult and what we were doing when we were writing them.

Close and I'll kiss you.

There was a certain formula the pronoun I you me him, her, my, she love me, I saw her standing I'll get you, or my look, I want to hold your hand.

But you probably weren't feeling that was formulaic at the time, were you.

No? Not really no, no, we weren't. But looking back on it, all they were all I may love. Because you wanted to contact the fans, there were songs to contact the people with.

The Beatles did contact people on a massive scale, and as they developed their musical style, ernest love songs remained front and center. Take for instance, McCartney's I Will from the White album.

Who Knows hal long I've loved you?

You know?

I love you still?

Will I wait, lo me loud?

Did you want me too? I will see I wasn't actually wait for anyone. But it's a very romantic idea. So it's me as the Troubadour. It's me, you know, wandering around show and Forrest, you know, play.

Alan a Dale the lud playing Troubadour Risk from the nineteen seventy three Disney film Robin.

I love that movie. I love that thing.

It's that kind of thing. It's me as that guy. And then so you know, if if you want me to, I will. And then for if I ever saw you, I didn't catch your name, I never really mattered. I'll always gonna say.

So you I did got your name.

It's too like an amorphous person. Instead of every man, it's every girl. And I'm very much think that I don't have to have a face. It's a dream of a face.

Very mad.

I will.

We feel the same for me. It's so satisfying to get in touch with that feeling. And the other thing is, of course then the tune, the melody. But I'm coaxing out of this thing. I'm getting to this, you know, Alan Dale place strolling minstrel place de body down. Then I'm also trying to make this tune fit these words in feeling. I'm trying to get this chew to have heart and there's tune to be as appealing as this thought of finding love is.

Weird, weird.

All I would have is just a little path through pencil notes with the lyrics. But if I come out with this thing in this case, I will. It's more than satisfying. It's quite a thrill because you know you've done it. Yes.

One of the most fascinating things, one of the most mysterious things, it seems to me, is how one knows that.

I think, just when it's good, it's good. You just know this is I've just written a good tune. This melody is good and these words fit it. And so someone listening to this will relate to this. I just know it because you've cooked this recipe and you just know it's going to taste good. You don't know how offer it to people, and do you know they're going to taste it and go this taste good?

McCarty's Love Songs take their inspiration and from everything and everywhere, but he's often drawn on the edge old tradition of writing to amuse. The song My Love, for instance, was written to his first wife, Linda McCartney.

And where I Go, where I Know my heart can stay with mine. It's a fuel love song to Linda, and it talks about some of the things I value in a song manner. You know, when I go away, I know my heart and stay with my love. You know, that's the idea of faithfulness.

But into just.

Those lines bad for instance, I don't know, even at the breakup of the Beatles, when the couple was getting pretty bare, when me and Linda would go away to Scotland, there was plenty there, you know. So it's just other ways of saying, you know, when we were down and out, she'll still be there. I might go away, She'll be there when I get back. I'm just doing a reaffirmation of my love for Linda. But I also hope that other people, because it doesn't just say my Linda, it is.

My love, so that other people will be able to relate to it and go, yeah, wow, that's great, she.

Said for me too.

There's also my Valentine, which Paul McCartney wrote for his wife Nancy. What if it rained, we didn't care.

She's the that someday soon the sun was gonna shine.

My Mountine is the most definite story. I had fallen in love with my lady Nancy, but we weren't an item yet, and in my case I always got looking over my shoulder for paparazzi. But we went on holiday to Morocco to a quiet little hotel I knew of. And because we weren't tonight and we didn't stay together in the same room, Nancy got a room and I had a room, and my brother and his wife were on holiday with us. They had a room. And it rained the whole bloody time. Might as well have stayed

What him in rain. We didn't care.

She said that someday soon some who's gonna shine And the attitude of it doesn't matter. We're so sort of sweet. There's really resonated with me. I thought that's great. You know.

Paul McCartney had many muses throughout his career. Sometimes the music was inspired by was a little hairy, as was the case in Martha, My Dear, Martha, my.

Dear, the last spend my days in conversation, Remember me, Martha, my love, don't forget me, Martha, my dear.

Martha, my dear.

It was about my dog. She was an English sheep dog.

Here.

I'd never had a dog, and I'd always kind of wanted one, but we hadn't been able to have one because my mom and dad both worked so they were out all day and we were at school, so we never.

Had a dog.

But when I grew up, was in the Beatles and had a house on my own and actually had someone looking after the house, then I could get a dog, I felt, you know. So I went along to a place and selected this little dog, and it was beautiful. There's a little fluffy puppy. They're very cute puppies. Well, all dogs are cute puppies, but this particularly cute. She was a lovely little dog, and I just adored her.

You know.

I used to take her out to the country of long walks, take her out to Regent's Park where she would see a dock on the lake and forget that you couldn't walk on water, so she'd run into it, be like a cartoon. Well, oh, it was very nice, and I remember John being very sort of sympathetic to me. I think he warned me seeing me with a pet. John was a cat guy. He loved his cats.

And when you say warmed to you, yeah, I remember you know him.

I just remember a sort of when he came around and I'd be playing with Martha. I could tell that he liked it.

You know, I heard this time of course of good mind. But I don't know if I knew at the time that Martha wasn't dark.

No, not many people knew that, except the fans who had seen me with with my only issue dog was called Martha again. You know, I like the sort of mystery of songwriting and creating things because it's not like having to write a historical essay it doesn't have to be true, which to me is a great thing. Mother.

Might you have always been my sporation. Be good to me, my love, don't forget.

Me nots might.

All this singing about love over the years has made some harder boiled music fans and critics dismissive. McCartney has contended with accusations of being sentimental, schmaltzy, of lacking sophistication.

I think a lot of people who are cynical about it haven't been lucky enough to feel it, you know. Often sort of wonder what the critic who damns it looks like, what his life, his or her life looks like. I often want to get a photograph of them and go, oh, it's him, not listening to him, because you can't have outlive them anyway, you know, they come and go.

While some of McCartney's critics are tired of love as a subject, others are more specifically disdainful of an over earnest attempt at the sound of love, schmaltz and musical grandeur the way many classic love songs are produced. When Paul McCartney wrote The Long and Winding Road, he initially recorded it as a straightforward ballad, a strict down ode to the mysterious journey of love, the love and.

Winding badly.

Do your.

Will never disappear.

I've seen that road before.

It's a bit creepy, you know, this road of stretching and winding, and I had it also in my mind. There is a road on our farm in Scotland which leads to the road End, as they call it. It's called the road End, which is the tea junction. So this idea of life being a long winding road that never ends, will never disappear. I've seen that road before. Lead me to your door, so give me a clue here.

Me know the word. Many times I've been alone, and many times I'm right.

We recorded it and I'll inclined. That's what he didn't think the record was sort of glamorous enough, so he wanted it to be made more glamorous, and I think everyone went okay.

Klein suggested that the band work with producer Phil Spector, who's more involved or chestral arrangement. Dazzled with sentiment.

Love Wandy doo yr.

Well never disappeared.

I've seen that role before.

This became the Beatles' final number one song in America, but some took issue with the grand production. At least one journalist complained that Specter's production made the song unlistenable. It wasn't the first time critics but complain about McCartney's love songs, and it wouldn't be the last.

I was being accused of just writing silly love songs and was in danger of starting to buy into this idea that you should just be a bit tougher and a bit more worldly, and then asking me, really, that's exactly what love is. It's worldly. So this idea came to me, you know, you think of people would hardy not well? I look around me and I say it doesn't. So some people want to fill the world with sailly love songs. What's wrong with that?

People want to build the world.

What's silly love songs?

What's wrong with that?

I'd like to know, does he want.

To go.

Again instead about lowering songs about love?

Just get on with it, get into it, and don't be embarrassed. Because even though you can't say this is a soppy subject. It actually is the opposite. It's actually very deep and meaningful and basis of most religions and most philosophy. This thing people can feel for each other that makes life better if they can engage in it. So yeah, I mean that there's no more to this than that. That doesn't come in a minute. Love doesn't come in a minute. Sometimes it doesn't come at all.

Love isn't silly.

Was there's a response to someone who actually did say.

This, response to a lot of people who would say that about it. Yeah, that was kind of I was given that reputation, you know, and I had to stand up for it. I think it is easier to get good criticism if you rail against things and probably swear a lot, because it just makes you seem stronger. Oh there's fucking weather. It's fucking unbelievable that I fucking hate thonder, I fucking hate lightning.

What the fuck is God doing this for?

What's the point? I told her? Rather well, said, says the critic was marvelous. You go, Oh, it's a lovely day. It's nice. I like the rain.

Soppy bastard.

So that's a contrary that bold John had a lot of that.

I think often people who do it it's a shield right against life.

The lyrics to Silly Love Songs have McCartney leaning into his sappiest nature, shrugging off is rock star persona. The song is even set to a disco track. He sounds like he's celebrating every romantic cliche he can deploy, and really, what's wrong with that?

What's wrong with that?

I like to know.

The rang go.

Again?

There's nothing wrong with that. I mean, it's so beautifully direct. I love you.

A friend of mine outlawed the word love in asant I thought, I get it. You know, it's been news many times before, and so you know, for maybe a day or two you're trying and avoid it, thinking, yes, good idea, and you should just avoided with them now because I'm known for that, and because I wrote the song saying what's wrong would silly love songs?

Yes?

I mean it's something I think about, you know, I think about this whole planet and the whole human race. And then in China right now there's these two people and they love each other and they getting married and committing the whole lives to each other, or in South America right now, there's a mother having a baby and loving this baby, and the father is loving this baby. So the point I'm making, you know, fairly obvious, is that this love thing is global and goes throughout not

I would have had it not the silly love song.

I'm growing easy, and so.

Some people will.

Silly love songs.

Wrong with.

Silly love songs from Wings at the Speed of Sound, released in nineteen seventy six. In the next episode, that strange and awesome jewel A Day in the Life.

Welcome fell out of bed, dragged a calm across my head.

That's next time on McCartney A Life in Lyrics.

Looking up, I noticed I was late fam Code Grandma McCartney.

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