Did Paul's Voice Really Change?
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Hendrix Ibsen:
Again and Again and Again. If one didn't know better one could say that the song was inspired by.
By what?
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Well, had you not been through many times/ like again and...
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Nancy R:
RMartinez:
Nancy R:
RMartinez:
Hendrix Ibsen:
Yeah maybe, not sure if I view the lyrics of "Yesterday" as old man thoughts, but a young man's version of an older... perhaps, I think the regretfulness of the song reminds more of an episode than someone looking back decades. That's why I think "Yesterday" seems somehow personal but not specifically what. He did this stuff more obviously with "Eleanor Rigby", one of his masterful storytelling songs. In "When I'm Sixty-Four" he puts himself in a situation many years in the future. It turned out perhaps not quite like it, but it's still a good song!
Well, it has been written widely that the words were strange for a 23 year old to sing. An older person would long for yesterday, not someone in their early 20s.
Why wouldn't a 23 year old long for his youth (prior to age 14) when his dear mother was alive and well? (and Paul always said he grieves in private--he hides his melancholia well)
It's not about his mother. IF it was, then yeah. But, it's not. Yesterday is about a guy losing a girl. It's a love song. But I could accept a 23 year old being sad about losing a girlfriend. Which is what the song is about.
So you have said many times and I disagree. We've already been through this. :
To you, Paul wrote Yesterday about his mom. Ok. I can live with that!
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RMartinez:
Hendrix Ibsen:
Yeah maybe, not sure if I view the lyrics of "Yesterday" as old man thoughts, but a young man's version of an older... perhaps, I think the regretfulness of the song reminds more of an episode than someone looking back decades. That's why I think "Yesterday" seems somehow personal but not specifically what. He did this stuff more obviously with "Eleanor Rigby", one of his masterful storytelling songs. In "When I'm Sixty-Four" he puts himself in a situation many years in the future. It turned out perhaps not quite like it, but it's still a good song!
Well, it has been written widely that the words were strange for a 23 year old to sing. An older person would long for yesterday, not someone in their early 20s.
It's interesting that at roughly the same time period, John and Paul were both writing songs looking back at the past in ways that sounded older than their years when writing them -- Paul in Yesterday and John in In My Life.
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Yes, I remember sitting with buddies and we could be quite so nostalgic. It will be the same age. I think it was a kind of mood, we talked about childhood and maybe people we had been friends with at school but had lost contact with after we had got jobs in different directions. What I remember is that five years back in time felt much longer than it does now, I can't look back five years and be nostlagic about yesterday now, but I could back then, in my twenties.
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Bruce M.:
RMartinez:
Hendrix Ibsen:
Yeah maybe, not sure if I view the lyrics of "Yesterday" as old man thoughts, but a young man's version of an older... perhaps, I think the regretfulness of the song reminds more of an episode than someone looking back decades. That's why I think "Yesterday" seems somehow personal but not specifically what. He did this stuff more obviously with "Eleanor Rigby", one of his masterful storytelling songs. In "When I'm Sixty-Four" he puts himself in a situation many years in the future. It turned out perhaps not quite like it, but it's still a good song!
Well, it has been written widely that the words were strange for a 23 year old to sing. An older person would long for yesterday, not someone in their early 20s.
It's interesting that at roughly the same time period, John and Paul were both writing songs looking back at the past in ways that sounded older than their years when writing them -- Paul in Yesterday and John in In My Life.
I agree, those are both timeless songs. Bring a tear to my eye, same with The Long and Winding Road.
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That book by Ray Coleman made me cry with its focus on the beautiful song "Yesterday" and its overall great appreciation of McCartney music. Yes indeed Paul and John demonstrated wisdom beyond their years in their greatest songs composed as youths. Revealing they had/have a lot of character and deep feelings and compassion. Lennon could seem embarrassed by tender feelings and tried to hide them at times. Macca was able to wear his heart on his sleeve occasionally. Young people can be hard-hearted, they could too sometimes, but were also the opposite.
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Hendrix Ibsen:
Well, had you not been through many times/ like again and...
Ask a silly question, get a silly answer I guess. : I know English is not your first language, but I was asking because I didn't understand your statement.
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RMartinez:
Nancy R:
RMartinez:
Nancy R:
RMartinez:
Hendrix Ibsen:
Yeah maybe, not sure if I view the lyrics of "Yesterday" as old man thoughts, but a young man's version of an older... perhaps, I think the regretfulness of the song reminds more of an episode than someone looking back decades. That's why I think "Yesterday" seems somehow personal but not specifically what. He did this stuff more obviously with "Eleanor Rigby", one of his masterful storytelling songs. In "When I'm Sixty-Four" he puts himself in a situation many years in the future. It turned out perhaps not quite like it, but it's still a good song!
Well, it has been written widely that the words were strange for a 23 year old to sing. An older person would long for yesterday, not someone in their early 20s.
Why wouldn't a 23 year old long for his youth (prior to age 14) when his dear mother was alive and well? (and Paul always said he grieves in private--he hides his melancholia well)
It's not about his mother. IF it was, then yeah. But, it's not. Yesterday is about a guy losing a girl. It's a love song. But I could accept a 23 year old being sad about losing a girlfriend. Which is what the song is about.
So you have said many times and I disagree. We've already been through this. :
To you, Paul wrote Yesterday about his mom. Ok. I can live with that!
Thank you.
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Nancy R:
RMartinez:
Nancy R:
RMartinez:
Nancy R:
RMartinez:
Hendrix Ibsen:
Yeah maybe, not sure if I view the lyrics of "Yesterday" as old man thoughts, but a young man's version of an older... perhaps, I think the regretfulness of the song reminds more of an episode than someone looking back decades. That's why I think "Yesterday" seems somehow personal but not specifically what. He did this stuff more obviously with "Eleanor Rigby", one of his masterful storytelling songs. In "When I'm Sixty-Four" he puts himself in a situation many years in the future. It turned out perhaps not quite like it, but it's still a good song!
Well, it has been written widely that the words were strange for a 23 year old to sing. An older person would long for yesterday, not someone in their early 20s.
Why wouldn't a 23 year old long for his youth (prior to age 14) when his dear mother was alive and well? (and Paul always said he grieves in private--he hides his melancholia well)
It's not about his mother. IF it was, then yeah. But, it's not. Yesterday is about a guy losing a girl. It's a love song. But I could accept a 23 year old being sad about losing a girlfriend. Which is what the song is about.
So you have said many times and I disagree. We've already been through this. :
To you, Paul wrote Yesterday about his mom. Ok. I can live with that!
Thank you.
You are quite welcome, Nancy!
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Nancy R:
Hendrix Ibsen:
Well, had you not been through many times/ like again and...
Ask a silly question, get a silly answer I guess. : I know English is not your first language, but I was asking because I didn't understand your statement.
It was probably just clumsy me, a ligthearted thing, it's not always my humor comes through, even when I write in Norwegian. :
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I heard an interview to Paul a year ago. He said that songs like 'Yesterday' and 'Let It Be' has an unconscious to his mom. Those two and many others.
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WingsOfMacca:
I heard an interview to Paul a year ago. He said that songs like 'Yesterday' and 'Let It Be' has an unconscious to his mom. Those two and many others.
Paul is saying a LOT of things these days about songs written fifty years ago!!
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WingsOfMacca:
I heard an interview to Paul a year ago. He said that songs like 'Yesterday' and 'Let It Be' has an unconscious to his mom. Those two and many others.
Let It Be was not _sub_conscious, but I believe Yesterday was at the time. (but he was _un_conscious when he dreamed the tune!)
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I managed to hear high-quality audio of the entire Budokan concert, and this is what I shared with some friends online: "Listening to this show has me reassessing the state of Macca's voice. Yes, it's a far cry from what it used to be -- and YES, he needs to never sing "Maybe I'm Amazed" again -- but I think a lot of the YouTube uploads may be doing a bit of disservice to the true timbre of McCartney's singing. This Japan show is displaying a relatively in-tune, healthy singing voice...."
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Here's a good sampling of that show:
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I rarely listen to live filming on youtube that people recorded with their phones. Not only is it very thin sounding but I think the technology in the phones color the sound. It sounds like a concentrate of the synthetic soundS of 80s. Some of it may be interesting...
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oobu24:
Here's a good sampling of that show:
Sounds pretty damn good to me!
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Fun to watch. His voice sounds fine, I think. I've gotten used to it. It has stabilized, as the voice of an older McCartney.
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It's hard to tell the real state of his voice from this collection of short snippets, which likely is edited to pick out highlights and omit any really weak moments, vocally or otherwise. That said, from the samples here this seems to be about as good a vocal performance as Paul does these days -- cetainly there's nothing awful or embarrassing like some of the one-off TV gigs that have generated so much discussion. But it's also unmistakably a voice that's aged and is at best maybe 50% of what it once was. That's better than some singers of a roughly comparable age are doing (I'm looking at you, Elton), but it still makes me a little sad.