McCartney Alphabetically

My most recent posts have been pretty "serious" and I'll admit that I'm feeling pretty down.  I thought it was time to turn things around a bit and try and have some fun.  As I write this, it's Paul McCartney's birthday.  He and his music have had a big impact on my life and I thought maybe it might be fun to list my favorite songs by Paul A-Z.  Or almost A-Z; there is only one choice for Q - Queenie Eye and Z - Zoo Gang.  U only gives me two choices, which really isn't one. Feeling have the options that I wanted I'm forgoing those three.  Some letters had way too many choices; so I gave myself a little latitude there as well.  Finally, I'm ONLY listing McCartney songs from the solo/Wings years.  If I included Beatles, I'd have a nervous breakdown trying to make decisions!  It was hard enough just culling through the solo stuff!  

So with all that in mind:

• A - Another Day: I've always wondered how Paul got into my head/life?  Am I the only one who has been the protagonist of this song?  How did he know?

• B - Beautiful Night:  If it had come out earlier (I know it had been kicking around previously), this would have been my wedding song.  It's soft and sweet and then it kicks.  The arrangement IS George Martin!  Those horns!  (You know what I mean!)

• C:  Calico Skies:  This is such a comfortable song.  It speaks to me of soft breezes and sunny skies.  How can you NOT relax with this one?

• D:  Down to the River: It's simple, it's sweet and like water, it's refreshing.  Love the guitar and accordion on this one.

• E - Every Night:  The perfect description of love; a lasting and comfortable relationship.  I just want to stay in and be with you?  Perfection.

• F - Freedom:  I never understood why this one didn't catch on.  I know it's simple and that's part of the beauty of it.  It's the beating of a heart; it is the breath of air.  It's a call that we all can answer and sing along with.

• G:  Get Out of My Way:  Angry?  Frustrated?  Put this sucker on and let it all out.  (I'd say put the top down on your convertible and just DRIVE, but that might not be the safest advice!)

• H - Hi, Hi, Hi:  Just a great rocker.  So maybe I thought "bootleg" meant that someone was standing there with a boot in their hand.  Polygon?  So I don't understand it (or didn't).  Who cares?  Just dance!

• H - Heaven on a Sunday:  Gave myself a pass when it comes to H because I couldn't pass up this song.  It IS Heaven on a Sunday.  It is a hot cup of coffee in a comfortable chair with a good book.  It is a glass of wine while watching the sunset.  It is the moments in life that we can't get enough of.

• I - (I Want to) Come Home:  I'm not sure if this is a cheat or not, but it's longing hits me deep in my chest.  I could not pass this one by.  So sorrowful and yet full of memory

• I - I've Had Enough:  Another one that I want to turn up loud and sing at the top of my lungs when I truly have had it.  When I hit that wall...this is the one to break it down.

• J - Junk:  This song captures why we have all that "stuff".  Why it calls out to us, whether in our homes or in a shop window.  It is just a sentimental jamboree.

• K - Kicked Around No More: Don't we ALL feel this way some time?  Maybe even Paul McCartney feels this way?  (Is that possible?)  This is not angry, not sad, but resigned.  It's one big sigh.

• L - The Loveliest Thing:  This just may be the most perfect love song ever written.  Not just ever written by Paul, but ever written period.  Ladies, listen to this with care and if you're not a pool of mush but the end of it...well maybe you aren't human after all!

• M - Mull of Kintyre:  A waltz.  A waltz with bagpipes.  It shouldn't work.  But it works.  A love letter to place that I have never been, but I can imagine just based on the lyrics. (And I am totally jealous of all of the people who have been lucky enough to see Paul perform this live.)

• N - New:  This song and this album came as a surprise to me.  It is fresh.  It is fun.  It is pure McCartney pop!

• O - Once Upon a Long Ago: A fairy tale in music.  Memories of youth lyrically laid out.  It's a shame that this song isn't better known (at least here in the US.)  I didn't discover this gem until I purchased the UK version of All The Best...and it was worth it for this song alone.

• P - Picasso's Last Words:  Supposedly written at a dinner party, this is by no means the "best" McCartney song ever written. But it a fun song.  Close your eyes and you can envision how things song came to be around a candlelight dinner table after the meal has been consumed along with plenty of wine.  Drink to me; drink to my health.

• R - Rockestra Theme:  Has an instrumental ever rocked so hard?  (Why haven't I had any dinner?)  You can hear the fun the musicians had.

• S - San Ferry Anne:  I've always felt that this is an overlooked gem from The Speed of Sound album.  It's another soft, simple song, but that's what is so charming about it.  If nothing else the horns alone make it worth a listen.

• S - Smile Away:  I'll admit it; when I was a teen I bought the album Ram because I thought Paul looked cute on the cover.  But the music inside...amazing.  Smile Away closes out the first side. (Remember when there were sides?)  This song brings me back to the days when I first heard the album.  I can see my room and remember what I was feeling, just with a listen of this track.

• S - Spin It On:  Back to the Egg was an "odd" album; at least it was too me.  There were ballads, seemingly half-finished songs sewn together and some great rockers.  Pump up the volume on this one and dance!  (No one is watching!)

• T - Twice In A Lifetime:  Another one that I would consider a hidden gem.  Did anyone see the film it was from?  Thank goodness for bonus track.  Frankly, many of McCartney's bonus tracks are stronger than cuts that made the original album.  This is especially true, in my opinion of this cut.  (It is much more deserving in my book than "Average Person" or "Sweetest Little Show")

• V - Vanilla Sky:  Yes, I picked this one over Venus and Mars.  Yes, I saw the movie...and loved part of it and hated the rest.  The song is one of its redeeming factors.  Too saccharine?  That's okay by me.

• W - We Got Married:  The perfect description of marriage.  Lyrically this could be anyone's married life.  It's all so simple; and yet so complex.

• Y - You Gave Me The Answer:  Paul goes back to those wonderful whimsical vaudevillian routes.  As Paul says:  Shall we dance?  This is fun.  It IS.

So there you have it.  What did I omit that you would have included?  Love my choices?  Hate them? It's all part of the complex beauty of the music of Paul McCartney.