In an old interview with Jann Wenner (of Goddess In The Doorway fame), Bob Dylan confessed that if he was jealous of anything - it was of Paul McCartney's songwriting talent. Praise does not get any bigger than that. And while Paul McCartney was not my favourite Beatle, and his best solo albums have all been frustratingly imperfect (I find "Mrs Vanderbilt" to be unpalatable) and in need of an outside opinion (Nigel Godrich did good), the man is a songwriter of singular talent. In my world, "You Never Give Me Your Money" alone would be enough to validate that statement.
He has been writing great songs for sixty years now, and despite occasional missteps and harrowing lapses of taste, he has never really lost it ("Women and Wives" from his latest album is case in point). The way Pete Townshend has lost it. The way Ray Davies has. And today Paul McCartney is 80 years old.
To celebrate this date, I am not going to post his greatest Beatles songs. It has been done to death. And I am not going to post his greatest Wings songs. Again, there would be too many. Instead, I am doing a list of post Beatles songs that have not received the attention they deserve. It is a very short list, just five songs, but such is the stature of Paul McCartney. He does not deal in obscure. However, like any artist, he has to sometimes deal in underappreciated. So here it is, a list of five Macca songs that fame forgot.
1. "I'm Carrying" (1978)
London Town was the only Wings album with meaningful contributions from other band members. Still, while "Deliver Your Children", "Children Children" and title song were all brilliant tunes (co-written by Denny Laine), it was Macca's sweetly orchestrated "I'm Carrying" ballad that was the best. A melody of striking simplicity and of equally striking beauty.
2. "The Pound Is Sinking" (1982)
Tug Of War may have been slightly overrated over the years, but it remains McCartney's only good album of the 80s. However, it is not about "Take It Away" or the title song for me. It is all about the brilliant "The Pound Is Sinking" mini-suite. A terrific onslaught of melodies and intriguingly untypical lyrics. How in God's name did he put so many great ideas in one song and then released something as anemic as "Ebony and Ivory" that same year? Baffling.
3. "She's Given Up Talking" (2001)
Well, and how about this? A dark, sinister song that trumps everything else on the admittedly decent Driving Rain album. Busy instrumentation, spooky lyrics (petrifying if you consider the recent death of Linda Eastman) and spine-tingling vocal effects. A total triumph. I wish he did this sort of disturbing stuff more often.
4. Travelling Light" (2008)
Over the years, Paul McCartney has taken part in quite a few collaborations - with varying degrees of success. Arguably, three albums under the Fireman moniker were the best. Released with the Killing Joke bassist (!), they gave Paul the chance to experiment (some people tend to forget that he was the principal disruptor in the Beatles). To me, Fireman's best album was the last one, titled Electric Arguments. "Travelling Light" was a five-minute ballad - atmospherically dark and melodically uplifting.
5. "Hand In Hand" (2018)
I'm only including "Hand In Hand" here because I honestly believe that this is one of his greatest tunes in years. Maybe decades. However, most reviews I have read of Egypt Station barely even mention it. Classic piano chords, effortless melodicism and a haunting flute solo to top it off. Sweet, not cheesy. Should be on any meaningful Paul McCartney compilation.
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Most importantly, though, my life in music could have been entirely different (dull and empty, I'm guessing) had I not heard "The Fool On The Hill" back when I was seven years of age. Happy birthday, Paul McCartney. And thank you.
