Spotify's "This is: Paul McCartney" Channel
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Nancy R wrote:
'Mary had A Little Lamb' followed the BBC banned 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish' single but Paul later admitted that it wasn't planned as a kind of screw you gesture at having the Wing's debut single banned. 'Mary....' just happened to be the next single but Paul did realise, even at the time, that it did tend to make him look good.
*confused* Did you mean to say it "didn't" tend to make him look good?
The thing I recall is Paul saying he did the song for his daughter Mary.I need to locate the actual interview (I think it was one he did for Q or Mojo) but he said that by putting out the Mary single after the Ireland single, it made him look cool. As if it was planned that way. But Mary just happened to be the next single anyway and was totally unrelated to the banning of the previous single. Yeah, the song was inspired by his daughter who liked to hear her name being sung in a song.
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Kestrel wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
*confused* Did you mean to say it "didn't" tend to make him look good?
The thing I recall is Paul saying he did the song for his daughter Mary.I need to locate the actual interview (I think it was one he did for Q or Mojo) but he said that by putting out the Mary single after the Ireland single, it made him look cool.
Okay, it took an hour of skimming through countless magazines containing interviews by Paul but I eventually found it.
It was actually an interview in the May 2001 edition of Record Collector. Here is the question and answer in full.
You put out "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" which got a lot of stick for being political and then followed it up (with) "Mary Had A Little Lamb", which surprised people.
I couldn't begin to explain it - I don't plan these things. I'm a great believer in just doing what you fancy. "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" - for me, the excuse was that I perceived that our soldiers had done something bad in our name, so as a British citizen I wanted to protest about that. I still think that is valid, and allowed under our constitution. And it was No. 1 in Ireland, and in Spain.
Then, completely unrelated in my mind, came "Mary Had A Little Lamb. Now, the reason for that was that I had a child called Mary, who was most amused by the fact that I sang the nursery rhyme to her., and I didn't know the tune ...I'm not sure if anyone does know the tune - it's like a nursery rhyme, it doesn't have a tune. So I decided it needed a tune, just to sing to my daughter. And having thought of a tune, I recorded it. It turned out to be a catchy little pop song, with a singable refrain. And that was really all it meant to me, it wasn't of any more significance that that.
But of course, following on the heels of a banned potitical protest record, to an analyst that would seem significant. To me, it didn't seem the least bit significant, because I'd forgotten what I'd released last anyway. I didn't do it,as was said at the time, as a sort of 'f**k you' - although I think it would have been very smart to have done it as that, and I'm glad people perceived it as that, because it looks like a rather clever move on my part. I probably shouldn't give the game away, but it actually wasn't like that, it was just me doing the next thing ...
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Thanks Kestrel - now I get what you meant. In the U.S. the song (MHALL) was not received well, that's why I was confused.
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Nancy R wrote:
Thanks Kestrel - now I get what you meant. In the U.S. the song (MHALL) was not received well, that's why I was confused.
It wasn't really received well in the UK either to be honest,despite making the Top 10. A lot of critics were quite hostile towards it, with a kind of 'so its come to this has it?' type attitude. But I think that's one of the reasons I became such a big Wings fan (admittedly after MHALL had been released), the fact their music was so 'all over the place' in styles. From 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' to 'Old Siam Sir', from 'Jet' to 'Silly Love Songs'. they were always inventive and interesting.
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Kestrel wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
Thanks Kestrel - now I get what you meant. In the U.S. the song (MHALL) was not received well, that's why I was confused.
It wasn't really received well in the UK either to be honest,despite making the Top 10. A lot of critics were quite hostile towards it, with a kind of 'so its come to this has it?' type attitude. But I think that's one of the reasons I became such a big Wings fan (admittedly after MHALL had been released), the fact their music was so 'all over the place' in styles. From 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' to 'Old Siam Sir', from 'Jet' to 'Silly Love Songs'. they were always inventive and interesting.
Thanks for doing the research Kestrel and both posts were great.
You hit if right on the head as why I became a huge Paul and Wings fan. In 2018 when I bought the Red Rose Speedway Remaster (2 Disc set) for like $15 at Target. I actually loved the 2nd CD even better showcasing many of the songs that were originally going to be on the Double Album Red Rose Speedway. Of course, the Record Company shot that idea down but it was the 2nd CD that i really wanted to hear. I had bought the original CD years ago and while I liked it, the double album would have made Red Rose so much better because it has a much wider range of songs including some really good rockers. I loved hearing songs like: The Mess, Best Friend, I Lie Around, Seaside Woman, 1882, Night Out, Live and Let Die etc etc.
One of the first things I noticed was "Mary Had a Little Lamb" was the first track. I remembered hearing the song on radio back in the early 70's. Hearing it again, I wasn't surprised that rock critics slammed it at the time. Their comments were like..this is the guy that wrote Eleanor Rigby or Here There and Everywhere and he is putting out a nursery rhyme as a single. But again, that is who Paul is. He writes great melodies at the drop of a hat and these "wanna be" critics slamming Paul McCartney. Are you kidding me? Yes, it was a song written for his very young Daughter because she liked it. Paul can do anything he wants so there is nothing wrong with that in my opinion. Some of these same critics loved John Lennon who they thought was the genius of the Band. John was a genius but Paul is every bit as much of a genius as John was. Musically, I think Paul was more wide ranging than John and that is why I became a huge Paul fan. He is "all over the place" and is the reason I love his music.
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On a humorous note: Years ago a friend of mine was really putting down songs like Paul's song Mary Had A Little Lamb. Then he started putting down Paul because of some of his lyrics .... There was a party at his house. I walked past his room and he was playing the Police ... do do do da da da ... (Oh well).
From The Beatle days to the solo career: I love Paul's music and like the way he keeps it fresh. Not repeating the same sound record after record. I like a ballad, I like a rocker, perhaps an oldie sounding song, harmonies, a fun song and songs that changed their pace or direction ... In other words all the songs that he does.
The optics of Mary Had A Little Lamb did seem like a response - you're going to ban my song ... well what do you think of this? Is this okay? * Thanks for the Paul quotes about it.
I randomly picked Get On The Right Thing, Tomorrow, Dear Friend and Monkberry Moon Delight as background to typing this ... I can pick most Paul songs and be glad that I did. The McCartney album was cool because Paul did all the instruments and that was impressive to me. Ram was a lot of Paul with a few others coming into the picture and then Wildlife and Wings , then 45's and Red Rose Speedway and taking the show on the road was getting clearer. Venus and Mars .... I played in my car all the time and wore it out.
I don't know why... A lot of people tried to talk me out of liking Paul McCartney. Some would try to put their favorites in front of me. I was sure of my decision musically and knew what I liked ... a few close friends had the same opinion of liking Paul. Surprisingly some who knocked Paul's music saw him in concert and changed their minds years later.
I play guitar and Paul inspired me to write my own songs and I play a lot of his and don't get tired of playing these songs. I played in basement band that was not going to go anywhere, but we had fun and were all Beatle and Paul solo fans. *(I also enjoy John, George and Ringo solo songs). Now I play mostly acoustic guitar just for myself and to this day have a major treasure of songs to pick from Beatles and Solo. Since this thread is Paul solo; I still have lots of treasures to pick.
To this day when I see Paul in concert, hear new material or see videos, I want to pick up the guitar and play - always an inspiration. Most of my words are all over the place and I haven't even zero'd in on how the song walks, wanders off, daydreams, becomes aware and returns .... how three different things are being done and it is heard as one.
I enjoy reading and am playing some songs that I haven't played in a little while. That's it for now.
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You are no "Fool" Fool!
Why'd you pick that screen name anyway? -
I think he chose it from the song "The Fool On The Hill." I wish he had used the complete title for his nic .
Later on, I wished I'd used "Sexy Sadie" but it wouldn't let me change my nic, here (sullen pout). I thought of others I would have liked too.
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The_Fool wrote:
On a humorous note: Years ago a friend of mine was really putting down songs like Paul's song Mary Had A Little Lamb. Then he started putting down Paul because of some of his lyrics .... There was a party at his house. I walked past his room and he was playing the Police ... do do do da da da ... (Oh well).
From The Beatle days to the solo career: I love Paul's music and like the way he keeps it fresh. Not repeating the same sound record after record. I like a ballad, I like a rocker, perhaps an oldie sounding song, harmonies, a fun song and songs that changed their pace or direction ... In other words all the songs that he does.
The optics of Mary Had A Little Lamb did seem like a response - you're going to ban my song ... well what do you think of this? Is this okay? * Thanks for the Paul quotes about it.
I randomly picked Get On The Right Thing, Tomorrow, Dear Friend and Monkberry Moon Delight as background to typing this ... I can pick most Paul songs and be glad that I did. The McCartney album was cool because Paul did all the instruments and that was impressive to me. Ram was a lot of Paul with a few others coming into the picture and then Wildlife and Wings , then 45's and Red Rose Speedway and taking the show on the road was getting clearer. Venus and Mars .... I played in my car all the time and wore it out.
I don't know why... A lot of people tried to talk me out of liking Paul McCartney. Some would try to put their favorites in front of me. I was sure of my decision musically and knew what I liked ... a few close friends had the same opinion of liking Paul. Surprisingly some who knocked Paul's music saw him in concert and changed their minds years later.
I play guitar and Paul inspired me to write my own songs and I play a lot of his and don't get tired of playing these songs. I played in basement band that was not going to go anywhere, but we had fun and were all Beatle and Paul solo fans. *(I also enjoy John, George and Ringo solo songs). Now I play mostly acoustic guitar just for myself and to this day have a major treasure of songs to pick from Beatles and Solo. Since this thread is Paul solo; I still have lots of treasures to pick.
To this day when I see Paul in concert, hear new material or see videos, I want to pick up the guitar and play - always an inspiration. Most of my words are all over the place and I haven't even zero'd in on how the song walks, wanders off, daydreams, becomes aware and returns .... how three different things are being done and it is heard as one.
I enjoy reading and am playing some songs that I haven't played in a little while. That's it for now.
Great Post "Fool".
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I think he chose it from the song "The Fool On The Hill." I wish he had used the complete title for his nic .
Later on, I wished I'd used "Sexy Sadie" but it wouldn't let me change my nic, here (sullen pout). I thought of others I would have liked too.
I know it's from the song The Fool On the Hill, just wondered why "The Fool." (when he could have picked Rocky Raccoon, Bungalow Bill, Sun King or any number of names)
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Nancy R wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I think he chose it from the song "The Fool On The Hill." I wish he had used the complete title for his nic .
I know it's from the song The Fool On the Hill, just wondered why "The Fool." (when he could have picked Rocky Raccoon, Bungalow Bill, Sun King or any number of names)
Weren't 'The Fool' some arty group who worked for Apple?
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Paul said his nursery rhyme song was done for his child Mary but that it accidentally made him look cool, a sarcastic musical rebuke to his "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" naysayers at the time, like it was him saying "Well, is this innocuous and non-controversial enough for you, then? Inoffensive enough?" Kiss my arse ! (LOL)
His very first album with the bowl of cherries on its cover was disparaged by disappointed music critics still upset over the Beatles' disbanding, called too bare bones and simplistic , musically lazy and carelessly constructed and all that--but later came to be regarded as a true classic and ahead of its time...a precursor to the soft rock and back to nature crazes and to today's Americana genre, in a way, to folk rock. To country folk rock. I really love his "Heart of the Country" on "Ram" and it makes me think fondly of his first album.
I wonder if "Ram" was titled with him thinking "if you don't like this, well ram it where the sun don't shine" or something to that effect, highlighted with the little beetles screwing each other illustration. Very clever.
It took me awhile to understand "Electric Arguments" when it first came out. I couldn't quite grasp the avant-garde aspect or that it was meant to be spontaneous, off the cuff and not fully worked out, its songs, in some aspects. I hadn't been aware of his avant-garde "Fireman" genre. Totally out of the loop. I still don't like the song "Sing the Changes" all that much, but am crazy about others like "Dance Til We're High" "Sun is Shining" "Two Magpies" etc. I'm enamoured of the sheer variety of styles in his ouevre. It's difficult to be bored with Paul McCartney music, overall. Which his special Spotify channel devoted to him glorifies and spotlights.
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Kestrel: "Wasn't 'The Fool' some arty group who worked for Apple?"
Yes, it was, Dutch artists who illustrated things for them. The Fool might have had that in mind too, when he chose his nic, not just "The Fool on the Hill" song. Which is clever and witty of him.
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Kestrel wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
I think he chose it from the song "The Fool On The Hill." I wish he had used the complete title for his nic .
I know it's from the song The Fool On the Hill, just wondered why "The Fool." (when he could have picked Rocky Raccoon, Bungalow Bill, Sun King or any number of names)
Weren't 'The Fool' some arty group who worked for Apple?
Yeah, that's right - Marijke Koger and Simon Posthuma. Paul supposedly had a fling with her.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_(design_collective)
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Paul said his nursery rhyme song was done for his child Mary but that it accidentally made him look cool, a sarcastic musical rebuke to his "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" naysayers at the time, like it was him saying "Well, is this innocuous and non-controversial enough for you, then? Inoffensive enough?" Kiss my arse ! (LOL)
His very first album with the bowl of cherries on its cover was disparaged by disappointed music critics still upset over the Beatles' disbanding, called too bare bones and simplistic , musically lazy and carelessly constructed and all that--but later came to be regarded as a true classic and ahead of its time...a precursor to the soft rock and back to nature crazes and to today's Americana genre, in a way, to folk rock. To country folk rock. I really love his "Heart of the Country" on "Ram" and it makes me think fondly of his first album.
I wonder if "Ram" was titled with him thinking "if you don't like this, well ram it where the sun don't shine" or something to that effect, highlighted with the little beetles screwing each other illustration. Very clever.
It took me awhile to understand "Electric Arguments" when it first came out. I couldn't quite grasp the avant-garde aspect or that it was meant to be spontaneous, off the cuff and not fully worked out, its songs, in some aspects. I hadn't been aware of his avant-garde "Fireman" genre. Totally out of the loop. I still don't like the song "Sing the Changes" all that much, but am crazy about others like "Dance Til We're High" "Sun is Shining" "Two Magpies" etc. I'm enamoured of the sheer variety of styles in his ouevre. It's difficult to be bored with Paul McCartney music, overall. Which his special Spotify channel devoted to him glorifies and spotlights.
I always thought that the cherries represented the phrase "life is like a bowl of cherries" but on the cover they are spilled and not in the bowl. (Beatles were breaking up)
Ram, I don't know, but I loved the one beetle screwing the other!
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Kestrel: "Wasn't 'The Fool' some arty group who worked for Apple?"
Yes, it was, Dutch artists who illustrated things for them. The Fool might have had that in mind too, when he chose his nic, not just "The Fool on the Hill" song. Which is clever and witty of him.
I just saw Marijke Koger of "The Fool" 's documentary "Summer of Love" at her website and suggest interested fans here view it. She tells about and shows their journey from Amsterdam to London to L.A. in the late '60's and the London part details their art work for the Beatles at their short-lived Apple boutique, at the Beatles' homes, well, John's and George and Pattie's homes painting things for them --and designing cute, colorful, highly imaginative art works and fashions for the Harrisons to wear to the Monteray pop festival and Haight Ashbury in San Francisco. And wonderful fashions and designs for the Apple boutique. (The first time Marijke met Paul was at a London costume party, where Paul was "dressed like an Arabian sheik" and she said, "I caught his eye." That's all she says about that (she was discreet and genteel, LOL).) Later John and Paul visited The Fool's art gallery in London and were amazed. That was the start of their artistic association. The Fool also worked for Cream in London and Marijke saw Ginger Baker "set his flame red hair on fire. He quickly put it out" (I guess so !) She said "the jobs were rolling in." The Fool was invited to Hollywood by Graham Nash who wanted to produce albums for them, with Booker T. Marijke and Simon Posthuma were surprised as they were not professional musicans, but they sailed there on a big cruise ship and wrote and recorded songs. Graham Nash "was a very good friend to me" and she and Simon had their "first Thanksgiving dinner" at Mama Cass's L.A. home. The Fool were commissioned to produce big art projects, gigantic murals in several big American cities. Simon later returned to Europe, but Marijke loved California and stayed; still working there as a successful artist all these years, married musician/film maker Don Dunham and they own and run a small horse farm and art gallery. At the documentary's end, Marijke says she hopes "the pendulum swings back" to Peace and Love... the ideals of the Sixties.
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^ Sounds like a great documentary - will be on the lookout for it!
Marijke and Simon were married at one point. He passed away earlier this year, but she is still alive.
This is what he died of - sounds like an awful way to go!
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SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
SusyLuvsPaul wrote:
Kestrel: "Wasn't 'The Fool' some arty group who worked for Apple?"
Yes, it was, Dutch artists who illustrated things for them. The Fool might have had that in mind too, when he chose his nic, not just "The Fool on the Hill" song. Which is clever and witty of him.
I just saw Marijke Koger of "The Fool" 's documentary "Summer of Love" at her website and suggest interested fans here view it.
Thanks Susy, I'll check that out.
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Nancy R wrote:
You are no "Fool" Fool!
Why'd you pick that screen name anyway?I see some good Fool stories and material and could b.s. about how I took the song, the artist and the tarot card of the_fool, the play, the movie, the stockmarket person, and use some song website that says: Paul McCartney wrote this song. It's about a man who is considered a fool by others, but whose foolish demeanor is actually an indication of wisdom.
I could do all the clever, wisdom, really thought it out stuff, but I won't.
My reason is probably boring and bland. From one of the older message boards. I would read posts as a guest and did not sign up or enter for a long time. I posted under another screen name and gave that one up. I missed the board so I returned. It would not let me use the other name, so I signed up again. I needed a screenname as was feeling silly, goofy, smart alec like, foolish... that's it! The fool on the hill. On the older board there was something like that already and others that were The fool on the hill 6742 or some values in there. It didn't seem right to think of "the fool on the hill 6742 sees the sun going round and the eyes in his head..."
Then I tried it without the hill. "the_fool" okay. I figured that I would do a few posts. The board was busier then, like an instant message at the time. I did a few goof around comments and replies without caring that I may have sounded foolish. I tried not to watch and edit my words and just replied and had some fun. I posted more. Then left again for a very short time. I got a bunch of ideas and returned and did some threads. Alll of this was going to be temporary.
Until about a year and some ago my signiture had "Dancing foolishly on the hills"
The good thing about the choice is to hide in plain sight - do a "Google or similar engine search" for the fool and see thousands of possibilities.
I do like the song and get a kick out the Magical Mystery Tour of The Fool On The Hill.... Paul run/dance/skip/ eyes in his head seeing the sun going down and the world spinning 'round and 'round and 'round.
I probably said too much and probably should have left it to everyone's imagination and not bored every one here.
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The_Fool wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
You are no "Fool" Fool!
Why'd you pick that screen name anyway?I see some good Fool stories and material and could b.s. about how I took the song, the artist and the tarot card of the_fool, the play, the movie, the stockmarket person, and use some song website that says: Paul McCartney wrote this song. It's about a man who is considered a fool by others, but whose foolish demeanor is actually an indication of wisdom.
I could do all the clever, wisdom, really thought it out stuff, but I won't.
My reason is probably boring and bland. From one of the older message boards. I would read posts as a guest and did not sign up or enter for a long time. I posted under another screen name and gave that one up. I missed the board so I returned. It would not let me use the other name, so I signed up again. I needed a screenname as was feeling silly, goofy, smart alec like, foolish... that's it! The fool on the hill. On the older board there was something like that already and others that were The fool on the hill 6742 or some values in there. It didn't seem right to think of "the fool on the hill 6742 sees the sun going round and the eyes in his head..."
Then I tried it without the hill. "the_fool" okay. I figured that I would do a few posts. The board was busier then, like an instant message at the time. I did a few goof around comments and replies without caring that I may have sounded foolish. I tried not to watch and edit my words and just replied and had some fun. I posted more. Then left again for a very short time. I got a bunch of ideas and returned and did some threads. Alll of this was going to be temporary.
Until about a year and some ago my signiture had "Dancing foolishly on the hills"
The good thing about the choice is to hide in plain sight - do a "Google or similar engine search" for the fool and see thousands of possibilities.
I do like the song and get a kick out the Magical Mystery Tour of The Fool On The Hill.... Paul run/dance/skip/ eyes in his head seeing the sun going down and the world spinning 'round and 'round and 'round.
I probably said too much and probably should have left it to everyone's imagination and not bored every one here.
Not bored at all! So now we know it was not for the duo The Fool. I always thought it was for the song. Anyway, I enjoy your posts!
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