Paul's "Sticking Out of My Back Pocket" feature on this Site

Yankeefan2 wrote:

B J Conlee wrote:

I wonder how many people are keeping up with Paul's monthly feature...Siicking Out of My Back Pocket.  I particularly like April's Playlist with a theme about "home and kindness".  I have particulaly wanted to hear music during this terrible virus and to hear some of Paul's Solo and Post Beatles songs have been so inspiring.

Hear are April's "home and kindness" songs:

1.Home Tonight - I love this extra song from the Egypt Station sessions.  How did Paul not include this on the original album is beyond me but the guy just has so many songs in his head.  I also love the B-side...In a Hurry

2. With a Little Luck - some critics like to bash this song but I always liked it especially the album London Town version which Spotify smartly plays it here instead of the edited radio version which leaves out the best Paul vocal part.

3. Somebody Who Cares - In my opinion the best hidden gem on Tug of War.  I love Paul's solo spanish guitar in the middle.

4. Mama's Little Girl - Who can't love this great little song that never made it on a Paul original album.  Glad that Paul finally put it on the Red Rose Speedway Archive Remaster 2nd Disc sold at Target

5. How Kind of You - Great hidden gem on Chaos and Creation.  What a terrific song!

6. Sweetest Little Show - One of my favorite hidden gems on Pipes of Peace

7. I Owe it All To You - Another great hidden gem on "Off the Ground".  Check out one of the live versions on Youtube.

8. Hand in Hand - One of my absolute favorites from Egypt Station.  One of Paul's best love songs ever in my opinion

9. Put It There - Probably my favorite song on Flowers in the Dirt and I like Paul's live versions evern better

10. I Am Your Singer - I think Paul loves this song from Wildlife because of Linda's vocals.

11. Eat At Home - one of my personal favorites on Ram.

Great selection for April.  I look for this feature on Paul's website at the beginning of each new month and what the theme is.  I especially like this feature because they include "back pocket" hidden gems.  This month had a bunch of them.  These are perfect examples of why I always object with any music critiic who mocks Paul's Post Beatles and Solo Career.  Beyond the singles, Paul has great songs on every album and then all the songs that never make it on one of his original albums.

 

I have looked at it quickly and then kind of dismissed it. Like most things McCartney chooses, it is very hit or miss with me.  For April, I love songs like "How Kind Of You", "Somebody Who Cares", "Home Tonight", "Put In There" and "Hand In Hand". I have never liked "With A Little Luck", the synthesiser just annoys me and not a big fan of the McCartney vocal. I admit I hated basically everything on "Wild Life" and "I Am Your Singer " is no exception. "Mama's Little Girl"  is nice little song which is ok for this kind of thing but nothing more. "Eat At Home" is decent uptempo song but prefer others like "Dear Boy" off RAM. All of this being said, it is a nice idea for McCartney to look back at songs that for the most part were not hits and for most people considered "deep" cuts.

Hey Yankeefan...I always check this feature out and I think April's list is the best so far for its theme of "home and kindness".  Like you, I like the idea that most of the songs are "deep" cuts.  My guess is that  Paul himself has little to do with the selections.  My gut feel is that this feature was started by someone or a couple of people directly involved with his Website.  I don't know that for sure however. 

I agree with all of the songs that you love.  I also have grown to really like  "Home Tonight" (extra songs from Egypt Station Sessions) along with its B-Side "In a Hurry".  Don't know why but I kind of like "Sweetest Little Show" after a few repeated listens when the Pipes of Peace Archive came out.  I actually liked the demo of "Sweetest Little Show" on the 2nd CD even better.  I also like "I Owe It All to You" and as I said, I like the"live" version significantly better.  I think its from the show the Band did at the Ed Sullivan Theatre as the pre-launch to the "Off the Ground"Album.  That was a great show by the way.  Get Out of My Way and Looking for Changes were killer versions at that show.

I agree with you on "I Am Your Singer".  It was by far the weakest song on the list.  Maybe whoever put this list together knows that Paul has a soft spot for the song since Linda basically sings the song with Paul.  I do like "With a Little Luck" better than many fans but it has to be the "album"(and longer) version for me.  It's on this version that I think Paul's "vocal" really stands out and the "edited" version totally leaves it out.  While it's not the 2 or 3 best songs on Ram, I do like "Eat at Home".  Overall, however I liked April's list and I'll definitely look at May's list.  

From that list my personal favourite is How Kind Of You, one of the highlights from Chaos & Creation. Somebody Who Cares is another classic McCartney song which sadly gets overlooked in the same was as Love In Song does from Venus & Mars. I also like I Am Your Singer. Hardly the best song Paul has written but its a lovely performance and wouldn't have sounded out of place on the McCartney album. Edits don't always work but I think it does with With A Little Luck. Even on the London Town album, it perhaps goes on a couple of minutes longer than it needed to. 

"With a Little Luck" has always been one of my favorite songs.  Critics can blow me.

Nice post BJ.  I always absolutely loved How Kind of You; thought it was directed directly to his solo year fans.  And thought Sweetest Little Show was a minor masterpiece and led right into one of my top McCartney tunes of all time, Average Person.  And of course, Eat At Home comes from my all time favorite album RAM, so kudos for mentioning this crunching rock song.

Well the Month of May's "Sticking Out of My Back Pocket" has just been released with the May Theme being Working Together and Collaborations.  A good theme for this particular time but in my opinion only, this is the weakest list yet (again only my opinion).  Here's the run down with my brief comment:

1. What's That Your Doing - My least favorite track (by far) on an album I love Tug of War (far more of a Stevie Wonder song (who I love) and it goes on way, way too long (well over 6 minutes).  My favorite Stevie and Paul collaboration is by far...Only Our Hearts from Kisses.  Stevie's harmonica solo on this song is out of this world.  A much better pick 

2. FourFive Seconds - Yes it was Paul's last Top 5 hit but there are like 4 writers listed for this song and Paul doesn't even appear vocally (I think I'm right on that).  Anyway, I wouldn't have picked this one at all.

3. Out of Sight - Paul's collaboration with Youth (Fireman) and imo a good pick although I like the 2nd Fireman pick better.

4. Mistress and Maid  With Elvis Costello -  Another good pick but I like a few more Paul/Elvis tracks better like "The Lovers that Never Were (Paul/Elvis demo track that is fantastic), Tommy's Coming Home (Paul/Elvis Demo), Twenty Five Fingers (Paul/Elvis Demo), So Like Candy (Paul/Elvis Demo), and a couple from the main album like My Brave Face, You Want Her Too and This Day is Done.  Mistress is a good pick but they could have gone with "Deeper" cuts like the ones from the Paul/Elvis Demo CD.

5. Used to be Bad with Steve Miller - Another decent pick but "Young Boy" is my favorite Paul/Steve Miller collaboration on Flowers in the Dirt by Far.

6. Ebony and Ivory - Nothing against E&I but as a whole I wished this monthly series was "all Deep Pockets aka Deep tracks" like songs

7. Dance Till We're High - the best pick for May so far. great and deep pocket type song with Youth/Fireman

8. Long Hair Lady - again not a bad pick and a deep pocket song but I like other Paul/Linda songs on Ram much better.  If you're going with a Paul/Linda collaborated song, I would have gone with "Great Day" from Flaming Pie where Linda's singing with Paul is terrific.

9. We Got Married - another good pick as a deep track from Flowers in the Dirt and David Gilmour is a special guitarist 

10. Temporary Secretary - a "lightning type Paul song (people really like it or hate it).  I don't like this song on the whole and another bad pick for May imo.  There were far better deep tracks from McCartney 2 like Waterfalls or On the Way.  (One of These Days has been picked on a previous Month)

11. Uncle Albert - another big hit so like I said earlier, I would prefer this Monthly Feature to highligh only "Deeper tracks".

This feature emphasizes that the selections are done by "the Team at Paul McCarney.com".  Well I said in my opening, this is one of the weakest Monthly List (for a working together theme) so far.  Some other selections I would have personally picked for "Collaborations" would have been:

Footprints - a great Paul/Eric Stewart collaboration on Press to Play (and great deep cut)

Paul and Foo Fighters - Cut Me Some Slack

Any of the songs on Run Devil Run where Paul is playing with his special Band on this album

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

B J Conlee wrote:

Well the Month of May's "Sticking Out of My Back Pocket" has just been released with the May Theme being Working Together and Collaborations.  A good theme for this particular time but in my opinion only, this is the weakest list yet (again only my opinion).  Here's the run down with my brief comment:

1. What's That Your Doing - My least favorite track (by far) on an album I love Tug of War (far more of a Stevie Wonder song (who I love) and it goes on way, way too long (well over 6 minutes).  My favorite Stevie and Paul collaboration is by far...Only Our Hearts from Kisses.  Stevie's harmonica solo on this song is out of this world.  A much better pick 

2. FourFive Seconds - Yes it was Paul's last Top 5 hit but there are like 4 writers listed for this song and Paul doesn't even appear vocally (I think I'm right on that).  Anyway, I wouldn't have picked this one at all.

3. Out of Sight - Paul's collaboration with Youth (Fireman) and imo a good pick although I like the 2nd Fireman pick better.

4. Mistress and Maid  With Elvis Costello -  Another good pick but I like a few more Paul/Elvis tracks better like "The Lovers that Never Were (Paul/Elvis demo track that is fantastic), Tommy's Coming Home (Paul/Elvis Demo), Twenty Five Fingers (Paul/Elvis Demo), So Like Candy (Paul/Elvis Demo), and a couple from the main album like My Brave Face, You Want Her Too and This Day is Done.  Mistress is a good pick but they could have gone with "Deeper" cuts like the ones from the Paul/Elvis Demo CD.

5. Used to be Bad with Steve Miller - Another decent pick but "Young Boy" is my favorite Paul/Steve Miller collaboration on Flowers in the Dirt by Far.

6. Ebony and Ivory - Nothing against E&I but as a whole I wished this monthly series was "all Deep Pockets aka Deep tracks" like songs

7. Dance Till We're High - the best pick for May so far. great and deep pocket type song with Youth/Fireman

8. Long Hair Lady - again not a bad pick and a deep pocket song but I like other Paul/Linda songs on Ram much better.  If you're going with a Paul/Linda collaborated song, I would have gone with "Great Day" from Flaming Pie where Linda's singing with Paul is terrific.

9. We Got Married - another good pick as a deep track from Flowers in the Dirt and David Gilmour is a special guitarist 

10. Temporary Secretary - a "lightning type Paul song (people really like it or hate it).  I don't like this song on the whole and another bad pick for May imo.  There were far better deep tracks from McCartney 2 like Waterfalls or On the Way.  (One of These Days has been picked on a previous Month)

11. Uncle Albert - another big hit so like I said earlier, I would prefer this Monthly Feature to highligh only "Deeper tracks".

This feature emphasizes that the selections are done by "the Team at Paul McCarney.com".  Well I said in my opening, this is one of the weakest Monthly List (for a working together theme) so far.  Some other selections I would have personally picked for "Collaborations" would have been:

Footprints - a great Paul/Eric Stewart collaboration on Press to Play (and great deep cut)

Paul and Foo Fighters - Cut Me Some Slack

Any of the songs on Run Devil Run where Paul is playing with his special Band on this album

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

I couldn't even sing most of those songs (in other words, I don't remember the lyrics) so to me they are definitely deep cuts. Of course I know E&I and UA/AH. Why those 2 are on the list is beyond me.