‘Step Inside Love’ was written by Paul McCartney for Liverpudlian singer Cilla Black, who had previously also been managed by Brian Epstein.
Credited to Lennon-McCartney, the song was written especially for Black’s first BBC TV series, Cilla, which first aired on 30 January 1968. Released as a single, her version peaked in the UK charts at number nine on 10 April 1968.
McCartney recorded a simple demo of the song in 1967, at his home in Cavendish Avenue, London, featuring vocals and acoustic guitar.
I ended up writing a few songs for Cilla, actually. ‘Step Inside Love’ was a later one. Cilla Black was getting her first TV show with a guy called Michael Hurll and they came to see me backstage somewhere and asked me, would I write the theme tune for it, so I said yes. I did a little demo of it, with myself double-tracked, up at Cavendish, and that was it. I quite like the song, it’s very cabaret, it suited her voice. It was just a welcoming song for Cilla.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
McCartney’s demo arrangement was adapted and used for the programme’s earliest episodes, but was later extended to three verses.
All he had given us was one verse and a chorus with him playing on guitar. We played it that way for the first couple of weeks and then decided that we needed a second verse. Paul came over to the BBC Theatre in Shepherd’s Bush and sat with me and Cilla and worked on a second verse. It started off with the line, ‘You look tired, love’, because Cilla was tired after a lot of rehearsing and most of what he wrote related to what was going on that day.
A Hard Day’s Write, Steve Turner
In the studio
During a 16 September 1968 session for the White Album, in which Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr recorded ‘I Will’, McCartney led the group through a spontaneous run-through of ‘Step Inside Love’.
Together with the improvised ‘Los Paranoias’, ‘Step Inside Love’ was included on Anthology 3 in 1996. The session recording was longer than the released edit, however; the Anthology version was faded early at 2’31”, having originally lasted for more than six minutes.
The same edit was released again in 2018 on the White Album 50th anniversary box set
The main point of interest to me is that this song is clearly a bossa nova. I wonder whether Paul was specifically listening to Brazilialn music at that time or was it just in the air? After all, The Girl From Ipanema is the second most recorded song after Yesterday.
McCartney wrote so many brilliant songs, and no matter who covered them they have that distinctive sound. Whilst Cilla does a great job of this one, for a real rock version, take a listen to the cover Steve Dawson included on his 2002 album “Pandemonium Circus”.
I’ve been wondering this for a while; where is the full version of this session? The ‘I Will Session” starts with Step Inside Love, but it fades in. Where is the beginning of the whole recording? I also wanted to add that Paul recorded a demo of just him playing the song, with his acoustic guitar and I think some overdubs with the same guitar. Cilla was not in that demo. I’m not sure where a better quality recording can be found, but it’s on the internet on a few websites and it’s only on one Youtube video as far as I’ve seen. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyHMXXcoBSw
Apparently this was broadcast on BBC by Kenny Everett. It’s the only full demo of the song by Paul that I could find anywhere, other than the fade in demo from Anthology, which isn’t even complete. Does anyone have any more info on this, or techniques to restore this demo? Thanks, Jude
I just found a webpage that gives a date that the demo was aired, and what station. Step Inside Love (Paul 1967 demo, from MW Radio broadcast Nov 1967)
Maybe I’m missing something but I think this was in the top 5 of the songs he ever wrote. The dynamics of the music just take your breath away. Just think if the Beatles had actually properly got hold of it.
I agree 100%, a massively under appreciated composition, and how beautifully the melody flows on the back of a complex harmonic structure. The thought of a proper Beatles arrangement of this masterpiece is almost too much excitement for one to bear.
I can only agree, this is yet another example of the extraordinary versatility in composition skill and maturity that McCartney had at a relatively young age, as the structure and dynamic range of the song could well have come from any one of the long established song writers of the sixties.
I so agree, the chord structure and melody are fantastic. amazed it didn’t chart higher.