The McCartney Hour

Paul was never my favorite Beatle. At least three quarters of the concert scene audience in “A Hard Day’s Night” was screaming “Paul”, but I always viewed him as less “genius” than John, less “cool” than George, and less “identifiable” than Ringo. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” was clearly a Paul song while “Norwegian Wood” was pure John. I loved “Rocky Raccoon” but I thought that Paul could go no deeper.

Sirius XM Beatles Channel featured The McCartney Hour recently — Beatles songs written and sung by Paul alone. It was an eye-opener. Paul actually wrote this misogyny in “Getting Better All the Time”. “I used to be cruel to my woman. I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved.” That sounds like a rap lyric that would be banned from radio. Of course, Paul followed up with ”Man, I was mean, but I’m changing my scene. And I’m doing the best that I can.”

Surely, if there was a “John” song, it had to be “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window”. Only John could write “And so I quit the Police Department. And got myself a steady job.”

Wrong! Paul wrote and sang it.

“Bathroom Window” is brilliant poetry. “Sunday’s on the phone to Monday. Tuesday’s on the phone to me.” What does that mean? Discuss amongst yourselves.

“And though she tried her best to help me. She could steal, but she could not rob.” Say what?

“But now she sucks her thumb and wanders. By the banks of her own lagoon.” Huh?

Paul McCartney put vivid poetry to music. Others tried and failed. Not to bad-mouth Neil Diamond, but his lyric in “I Am I Said” involved sentinent furniture. “I am I said. To no one there. And no one heard at all. Not even the chair.”

Furniture cannot hear a word you’re saying, Neil. Also, lots of non-furniture-related words rhyme with “there”. Bears have excellent hearing for example.

By Ed Dufton