These days, I love this album and most of the songs on it. The first time I heard it, I thought it was complete shit. It’s basically a fucking sound check recorded for posterity. He then just starts screaming gibberish for a few minutes while the band boogies. “Take it Tony!” shouts Paul at the beginning of the first song of the first Wings album. Why his abilities to do so were often overlooked by Lennon’s rocking out in The Beatles is beyond me. Here we have him doing his patented rocking out. Obviously Ram was a much more inspired production than its predecessor, as Paul was trying out a little of everything. “Gotta horse, gotta sheep, gonna get me a good night’s sleep” sings Paul just doing his own thing and livin’ off the land. Let’s play nice now, boys.Ī fine song about clean living and the country air and getting away from everything else that in turn led everyone to believe that you had died and had planted a bunch of clues about it all over various albums by your former band. On this track, McCartney sneers about “Too many people preaching practices.” The back of Ram’s sleeve also features a picture of a beetle screwing another beetle. The lyrical sniping on albums between John Lennon and Paulie was on. When he moans in tune after the line “Sing like a blackbird,” you can’t help but wonder if he’s reacting to his own stress from having just left the Beatles.
This is the funkiest and toughest track from his debut album. When Paul hums along to the opening riff of this tune and then declares “walkin’ tough,” he’s right.
But they didn’t, and it remains a standout from the debut. This song is classic Macca and seems so simple that anyone should have been able to do it. Paul could still write ‘em, even if he was starting all over on his own terms and escaping his recent past as quickly as possible. Coming from anyone else at the time (or now), it would have fallen flat on its ass. He then woo-hoos and scats a bit and sings the verse some more. “That would be something / It really would be something / That would be something / To meet you in the falling rain, mama / Meet you in the falling rain.” That’s it. The first track on his debut album, “The Lovely Linda,” was slight and short. Paul went from the great lyrical pursuits of Abbey Road to…this. But he always maintained that Wings was as much a band as the Beatles were and his '70s output is undoubtedly the most experimental of his solo work, as he tried to find his own voice without leaning back on past successes and nostalgia. It wasn't until the mid-'70s when McCartney finally started re-embracing his not-too-distant past and started playing a few Fab Four chestnuts live. The fans clamored for Beatles songs during live shows, and for a while there was plenty of talk about a reunion. As Clint Harrigan (whoever the hell that was) said in the liner notes on the back of the first Wings album, “Can you dig it?”Īs Paul left behind his legacy in the Beatles and began reworking his solo career, he made it a point to not look back for quite a while. If you’re not, just read, learn, and enjoy it all just as well. If you’re Paul McCartney, we’re going to be discussing those bits right now. Luckily, though, you happen to have some tasty non-chart topping album cuts that are worth discussing. Your fans are there and they will embrace something of yours out there somewhere. If you’re Paul McCartney, you can continue to do these types of things, as you have tons of money and at this point in your career it doesn’t matter at all if you get back on the charts. But you’ve also found the time to put things out that weren’t released as singles or just became little bits of treasure to certain circles of fans. Many of these have been worldwide hits, no doubt. If you’re Paul McCartney, you’ve had a lot of albums and singles released under your name. And be sure to check out our list of Beatles Deep Cuts!